Scientific Method at Work

I'm in the middle of a scientific experiment. Last October, when I was in Florida visiting my dad just before he passed away, I was in the waiting room, waiting on my turn to visit him in intensive care, when I overheard a lady saying she had eaten at a Krystal restaurant one time, and it was so greasy that it made her sick. Since Krystal is one of my mainstays when I'm in Florida, this struck a chord with me. I started noticing what I eat. My profile over the past few decades has slowly becoming more and more like Orson Welles' in his latter years. I made some new year's resolutions which I've kept to, about 90% or more: I cut out my almost-daily dose of fast-food fare. I used to eat Whoppers, Double Whoppers, Big Macs, Wendy's Baconators, etc. along with large french fries and supersized sodas with free refills. Every weekday. No more. I've kept track: In the last eight weeks, I've eaten at a burger joint just seven times since mid-December, and five of those were on a trip with Dubby in Florida in early January. I've started eating a healthy breakfast. Oatmeal. With raisins. Every day. And not the instant oatmeal, either... the natural stuff that takes 10 minutes to cook. Every morning. A single-serving portion. I hear a lot about how you are supposed to have servings of natural fruit (the ingredients on the box of raisins says: "Sun-dried grapes". Period. You can't get more natural than that.) I also heard that eating oatmeal is supposed to lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, and have other healthy effects. They also claim that eating whole grains every day is good for you. Oatmeal contains "whole grain oats". I've also reduced the number of times I eat pancakes (with syrup, with a side of eggs and bacon). I used to eat this about once a week (and it was the only breakfast I'd have all week). I read where eating breakfast every day is healthier for you than eating it some days and not others. So now I eat oatmeal almost every day. I've had pancakes (with egg and bacon) twice since mid-December. Last summer the gastroenterologist that gave me the black-snake test told me that I need to eat more frequently but less at each meal. Okay. This semester I teach at lunchtime. Perfect. Instead of a huge supersized fast-food meal at noon, now I take my lunch to work in a bown lunchbag (although I've forgotten it twice and Debbie's graciously brought it into town for me both times). So after a small but healthy breakfast at 7, I eat a single sandwich at 10 (egg salad made by Debbie, or tuna salad made by me, or chicken salad, etc. at my desk. I add a handful of mixed nuts and a handful of Frito's corn chips. (No, I'm not overdoing the corn chips. I purchased four 9-1/4 ounce bags of Fritos at the beginning of January, and I've gone through one, and am halfway through the second, so I'm eating about 3/4 ounce of Fritos per day, four or five days a week. Nuts are supposed be healthy too when eaten daily in small amounts. The nuts are a mixture of cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and almonds. Debbie bought a huge jar at Costco in January, and I'm most of the way through it, so I eat about a quarter cup a day.) After my noon class, I eat a second sandwich (usually peanut butter and jelly or tuna). I should add that I'm drinking water (plain water out of the water fountain) for lunch, not the soda's. I haven't had a single canned drink out of the drink machine since Christmas. Then I eat my normal dinner with Debby around 6 pm, and I have cut out seconds. I don't eat dessert anymore, unless we are going out to eat, and even then, I skip dessert more often than I have it. I've cut out over 98% of my soft drinks. I've consumed probably a grand total, all put together, of about two liters of sodas -- total -- since we got back from Florida January 7. Normally I would have consumed about two liters per day, for lunch, snacks -- every day. I've also cut way back on my popcorn. No longer do I have a big bowl of popcorn with a half-stick of butter every other night. I've had popcorn twice since the tenth of January. Other than that, I haven't changed my diet much. I certainly haven't picked up on any vice-type eating to compensate. I don't snack between the four meals. I haven't started pigging out at dinner to compensate for the lack of grease and oils at lunch or to make up for all the high-fructose corn syrup I'm missing in the sodas, or the half-cup of butter on popcorn in the evening after supper. Debbie usually prepares for me a serving of mixed vegetables, a large serving of meat, and a large serving of potatoes or rice -- the exact same dinner I've eaten for years and years -- she hasn't changed anything, and I've not started eating seconds or thirds or anything. One more thing: I've been taking the stairs up and down to my fifth floor office instead of riding the elevator. Since I teach three classes with an hour in between them, this means that I'm climbing and descending five flights of stairs eight trips per day. And I've worked up a real sweat behind the snow blower a couple of times. And in the course of cleaning off my dresser, cleaning off the floor of my bedroom, and keeping my mom's books over the past few weeks, I've been going up and down the stairs in the house and going out to the garage and back a lot more than I used to. As suggested by my doctor, I've been drinking a single 8-oz. cup of unsweetened chamomile before bedtime several times a week, and wow has it made a difference. I've been falling asleep quickly, and my sleep is deep and refreshing. I wake up in the morning fully rested. I've also been working on being less "bothered" about things, although for me this is harder than it sounds. I've stopped my rants about being surrounded by idiots, and while I still mention it occasionally in a normal tone of voice, Debbie can verify that I've not ranted and shouted about it like I used to do. I consider myself a little more calmer than I was last fall. Finally, I've been taking vitamin supplements every day: a "man's" multivitamin tablet, a 1000-unit D3 capsule, and a calcium tablet (since I don't drink milk -- I'm allergic to it). I've also tried an occasional B12 tablet, perhaps once a week, that Debbie suggested. Results? I have to say that I'm quite surprised at what's happened. The changes in my diet have had a real, noticeable, significant and even drastic effect on my body. Eating oatmeal, a serving of fruit a day, cutting out soft drinks, cutting out the fast-food, fries, and grease, eating smaller meals more frequently, cutting out the popcorn and half-stick of butter, and exercising a bit more, has had what I consider to be a huge, major, measurable and noticeable effect on me: THE CHANGES? I've GAINED seven pounds (eight as of this morning), and my tummy is GROWING FASTER than it ever has before! (My larger pants I bought last fall so I'd have some loose baggy pants to be comfortable in, are now so tight I can't fasten them at the top.) And on top of that, Debbie took my blood pressure with two (2) different blood pressure meters and they both agreed: my blood pressure is now HIGHER than it has ever been before. It's gone from 120/70 (where it has resided rock-solid steadily for the last forty years) to 145/85. So -- What are the conclusions of this experiment? It's still too early to tell -- I plan to continue the experiment a few more weeks. But initial indications are: It appears that eating a healthy breakfast, adding whole grains, adding a serving of fruit, cutting way back on fried foods, eliminating almost all fast foods, eliminating practically all sodas and soft drinks, eating two smaller lunches instead of one huge one, exercising more, eliminating popcorn with loads of butter, and taking multi-vitamin and mineral supplements, all have worked to significantly raise my blood pressure, significantly increase my weight, and significantly expand the fat around my middle. Go figure. I have to admit, I'm a little bit calmer than before, and I'm sleeping better at night. But I attribute at least part of this to the fact that I'm becoming accustomed to my fate of always being surrounded by idiots. I'll give it another month or two. But I honestly can't afford to go on like this, gaining weight so fast, putting on the belly fat so fast, and having high blood pressure. So at the end of this experiment, if things keep going the way they are, I may have to go back to skipping breakfast, eliminating the whole grain, and going back to eating the double-whopper, large fries, and supersize Dr. Pepper with the free refills every day, and eating the nightly bowl of popcorn with the half-stick of butter again. I won't have a choice, I'll have to do that to keep from ruining my health.