Adjusting My Eating Habits

This blog post is going to be quite different than the usual ones. NO photos of the hounds and dogs or the yard. In fact I have not taken any photos of the hounds and dogs since my last post on the 21st.

Why?

The hounds and dogs are hunkered down inside to escape the heat dome. Until late afternoon, they do not spend any time outside except what they need to clear their systems. Then they run back, all five of them, to the patio door. They drink all of there water inside, in the mud room.

This post is going to be more about my changing styles of eating and why. Not a diet but just adjusting things I am eating now compared to say, two months ago. Nothing dictated it, except me ... I feel best eating this way.

High protein, high fat, low carbs. Since I don't get enough protein most of the time, even eating a lot of beef, I like this Whey protein in an afternoon smoothie with blueberries and ice. I used this in recent years as a post-ride recovery shakes.

I bought some of this milk because it doesn't give me indigestion like regular whole milk gives me. It made those blueberry smoothies taste even better BUT I am addicted to milk. I mean that seriously. I have been since I was I kid ... so when I bought this and had it in my fridge by 10am, those 52oz were gone sometime around 3am that night. Nothing like drinking ice cold milk right from the container. You can do that when you live alone. LOL

Beef gets a bad rap from doctors but really its good for you.

I tried the Mediterranean Diet recently and even a few times in past years. It is rated a good diet, some say the best kind of diet, but all it did for me was gain weight, made me feel lethargic and forced me into taking a daily siesta every afternoon. Nothing wrong with a daily siesta but weight and lethargic I did not want to put up with.

Then I found out for the first time a few weeks ago that pasta increases your triglycerides not just pastry. I love pasta but in the future I will be eating less of it and in much smaller portions. So that shows I am not going totally carnivore or keto, but many days my meals have been nothing more than eggs, ground beef and steaks with a possible steamed vegetable for dinner, with that steak.

I had heard a lot about Seven Sons Farms, located up in NE Indiana. Same state and fast shipping but just more than I need to spend for beef. Here locally I have The Ole Butcher Shoppe where I can buy wild caught salmon, packaged individually for a little over $6. They have great ground beef and the best tasting steaks although at times a little pricey, yet still cheaper than Seven Sons Farms. This order did not seem to be worth the $160 I spent.

Whereas last fall I spent the same amount of money for this ... from Butcher Box where their shipments originated out east. Great tasting steaks, tender but I'd prefer to have all my grass fed beef from the USA, not South America or Australia. 

It was after this I started looking locally again. Between The Ole Butcher Shoppe and my local Schnucks Grocery I can find some pretty good deals for buying steaks, that fit within my budget. 

For example this is a 10oz NY Strip Steak from The Ole Butcher Shoppe cost me $15.61. Not bad and a great taste, plus tender.

At times I don't think grass fed ground beef tastes as good as regular ground chuck. But this 4.7oz grass fed beef was not bad from Seven Sons Farms. It was too expensive though. 

You'll notice there is not a bun around, or bread ... I have stopped eating bread. If I have good bread, a tub of grass fed butter ... my addiction for that kicks in and I cannot stop eating it. I could eat the whole loaf of sourdough bread easily in one setting. Sure I could do portion control but that "in moderation" does not work for me. Believe me, I've tried that "moderation" way of eating and there ends up no moderation. Like a few things in my life it is like an extreme ... all or nothing. 

I hate paying the price for good yogurt but "no added sugar" and a lot of protein made me close my eyes at the price and try just a container of this. Oh my ... I will have to watch myself when I am grocery shopping. I got out of the store the other day without buying any more but it was hard. It is that good. I mixed it with some blueberries.

So what has brought all this on ... these changes. Believe me, it was NOT doctor's orders. In fact they don't even want to talk about diets when I bring up the topic. As a few of you many know, I have written on this blog for years different diets I have tried. I have always watched what I was eating, even when I was a work-a-holic and on a terrible diet .... and based on today's weight ... I was about 39 pounds heavier back in 2003 when I was a work-a-holic.

Still I have always researched diets, foods etc. I use a free food app called Cronometer (No H) that tracks everything I eat and then gives me all the macros for fat, carbs, and protein. Along with Minerals, vitamins, etc.

I tuned into what I was eating a little more in 2019 after I was diagnosed with Aortic Valve Stenosis. I only found that out by the echocardiogram they were required to do the night before my emergency hip replacement due to a bicycle wreck. They are supposed to fix any heart issues before a hip replacement. Long story, too long of a story on why that did not happen. I am glad it did not happen that way.

Back then I turned down medications they wanted to prescribe me and told them I could get the same results by changing my diet or really just tightening up what I was eating. I tried the moderation theory even after that but that did not workout ... although my blood work numbers this past May in 2025 were better than the good numbers in December 2019. They were impressed with my numbers in 2019. 

In 2020 a friend told me about a book called The Sinatra Solution by a cardiologist Stephen Sinatra. Basically he recommended using Q10, L-Carnitine and D-Ribose to make the heart stronger, and repair cell damage. I am taking all three of those supplements now instead of the Entresto they wanted to force feed me.

I swear cardiologists must have a list or protocol to prescribe meds they think you need only based on what they did or find on an echocardiogram. It's a fight to keep them from force feeding you meds you do not need. 

For example ... "have you ever had chest pains" ... me: No never ... them "we are going to prescribe 0.4mg of Nitroglycerin in case you do"

Or from a Cardiac NP "have you been noticing any weight gain?" ... me: No, in fact with my diet change I am losing about a pound per day" ... them "I am going to prescribe 40mg tablets of Furosemide in case you ever gain 5 pound OVER NIGHT !!!!" .... LOL you have to be kidding me.

"Then if I do have to take the Furosemide, here is another prescription for Potassium Chloride that you take at the same time to replace the potassium chloride that is lost when you take the Furosemide."

If I didn't know any better I'd swear they are on the pharmaceutical manufactures payroll.

I had a follow up echocardiogram last Monday. With the advances in technology I could see the results of that echocardiogram within 24 hours online in my patient portal. Like I have since those appointments in 2019, I have downloaded each one with a file name of yyyy mm ddd name of service, into my computer. When I have more than one service on the same day I add a letter after the ddd and that keeps all the procedures or appointments in order.

Every document on my computer is automatically backed up with Apple's Time Machine, stored on an external hard drive.

The results from last Monday were fantastic. They do not know I have not been taking any of their medications prescribed except for the 81mg Aspirin and Plavix, a blood thinner. What they wanted their meds do I can get the same results with natural food and supplements.

I have a follow up appointment this Monday with my cardiologist about the last echocardiogram. I am not sure if I just keep my mouth shut about my eating changes and supplements, then just nod my head yes when meds may or may not be prescribed and not telling him I am not taking anything they prescribed except the Plavix. 

I have ALWAYS checked with Mayo Clinic's website and Cleveland's Heart Clinic with the supplements I am taking to see if it hinders or conflicts with the blood thinner before adding them to my daily routine. 

I am finding out at my age, old friends I grew up with and still keep in contact with, or people my age that I worked with are all having heart issues. Even my old friend up the street that has never smoked, never drank alcohol, always watched his diet and to this day is still a long distance swimmer in a pool ... is having heart issues, totally unexpected. Genetics. 

I was told last month that my bike riding and diet did not make a difference, heart issues are all genetic. I replied that I felt all the bike riding I did until last summer due to shortness of breath and lack of oxygen to my muscles while riding, my good diet and good bloodwork numbers prevented me from having a heart attack, like every male had on my father's side of the family. The doctor either didn't hear me, ignored me and still didn't respond to what I said. 

From the latest research I have done, I have found that it's not cholesterol that causes heart issues. It's metabolic health, inflammation. A ratio of your triglycerides/HDL is more of an accurate indicator of your heath compared to your total cholesterol number.

I have low cholesterol and did in 2019. Only this time in 2025 it was even lower ... yet they tried to prescribe statins to lower my cholesterol from 155 to 150 ... is that a joke?

They didn't care that once again I have a low HA1C number or good blood pressure .. they wanted to shove meds down my throat and that's not going to happen.

Dog walks and bicycling have to be done very early in the morning right now. The rumor is by the first week of August this heat dome will lighten up where I live and we will have BELOW normal temps ... I, the hounds and the dogs can handle that.

So before I end this ... things are good with my health, no worries there. Things are good with my tall grass and clover in the backyard, as the heat is not killing it like the short cut grass did last summer. The hounds and dogs are good, although they sleep a lot indoors during the day. Cletus has gained weight, and I found on a friend's recommendation, a chew supplement that worked for his allergies and eyes.

The big news in the paper yesterday was the Emergency Vet I went to with Ava is having to reduce their hours due to lack of vets and vet techs that are available. They will now be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and reduced hours all the other days.

The funding is there but not enough people to work. That is another reason 19 vets in this city and not more than 1 is taking new clients four years since I moved here. My vet is good and 27 miles away. Oh ... for emergency vet help since they are reducing hours ... 200 mile north to Indianapolis area, or a few hours east to Louisville Kentucky or Nashville Tennessee.

In the past I know that my hounds would not have lasted that long in the car when I need vet help. Even 12 miles was too long for them.

This is the best money I have ever spent. Only four exercises each day to start for five weeks, rotating a push and pull day with rest days after those. I have never seen such fast changes in any kind of workout I have tried after only 4-5 workouts ... except the X3 System. NO ... I don't want to build muscle like him, I just needed to get stronger as I get older.

I have a few things to buy at Costco. I might be going back to their Kirkland Adult Dog Food. It is quite cheaper in their warehouse than it is online. Plus great ingredients. But ... for over 20 years, the few times I have shopped at Costco ... before I leave, after going through the checkout ... I always stop at the food court for ....

The $1.50 hotdog. I see they are raising prices this year in the food court but they are leaving the hotdog at the same price they have always had ... a $1.50. This is one time I will cheat and have some bread. 

It's hot but good here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.