Day twentynine begins

Cool stuff is happening.

My weight today is 238.6. This indicates that I am in fact losing weight. Despite the fact that I am basically eating like a pig. And having a lot of fun doing it.

My waist is still 47 inches, though. Apparently, I am losing weight in other areas than my waist. That's kind of a bummer, but my son, who has trained as a sports trainer, told me that most folks lose intra-abdominal fat last. That's because it is the stuff your body most wants to hold onto.

Of course, that's the stuff with the greatest health impacts too. Kind of perverse.

Whatever. I'm losing weight. I am definitely not losing muscle. Therefore I am losing fat. It can't hide forever.

After the Blue Corn Cafe yesterday, Ruth and I attended Bikram. Another awesome class. I worked very hard in this class.

After that, I went to my Doctor's appointment last night. Thank goodness Dr. Sharp is open late. Otherwise, I couldn't fit it in. Too much stuff going on.

As I wrote previously, I am strongly incented financilly to work with Dr. Sharp instead of Dr. F. While Dr. F. is the originator of this approach to diet and nutrition (standing on the shoulders of others, of course, like Dean Ornish, Nathan Pritikin, etc.), he is hideously expensive, and his services are not covered under insurance. My cost to do the program would be at least a thousand dollars, straight from my pocket. I can do the same thing with Dr. Sharp for a minor personal expense.

The other issue is one of scalability. If it is true that this approach to diet and nutrition is in fact the cure for all known human diseases (at least the diseases of affluence that are the plague of this century for Americans), then more and more folks need to know about it. How will they find out? One obvious pathway is through their local physician.

As an alternative practitioner, Dr. Sharp is obviously batting for the same team. His clinic, Plum Spring Clinic, is a leader in this area in treating disease in an alternative manner. Working with me, Dr. Sharp will be able to see the results of using this approach to nutrition. If it works, which seems likely, that would be great for everyone. This same model, reproduced a thousand times in a thousand different locations all over the country, is how this practice could become much more common.

Dr. F. does not seem to appreciate this reading the discussion forums on his web site. He reacts with great skepticism and suspicion when one of his members indicates that they intend to work with another physician. Yet he has a chapter in the Fasting for Health book which covers the technical details of supervising fasts, and is intended to be read by health practitioners. I must admit I find this bewildering.

The bottom line is that Dr. F. is no longer responding to me. Instead, Dr. Sharp has agreed to help me. I have a plan to fast again in about 1 1/2 weeks, starting at midnight Thursday night and ending at midnight the following Tuesday. That's five days or 120 hours. I will have a blood draw on Monday to determine what my electrolytes are doing. If my potassium is low, I will refeed immediately. This will be my first fast with physician supervision.

Dr. Sharp also diagnosed a yeast and protozoa infection in the small intestine, which is apparent from my tests run on 12/12/07. He indicated it is possible that this has resolved due to my dietary changes, but it is unlikely. We could treat this with a pharmaceutical like nystatin, but he prefers to use a gentler approach. He prescribed oil of oregano 45 minutes before eating, accompanied by warm water and magnesium. Basically, he is using this combination as a snowplow to move these organisms out of the small intestine prior to my introducing food into the system.

I started this program this morning, and will advise you of how this is going. I am also continuing to take the other supplements Dr. Sharp prescribed, i.e. vitamins B and D, selenium and a vegan omega 3 supplement.

Symptom wise, last night was better, I did sleep soundly for at least part of the night. I have some itching in the crotch area. I am somewhat scaly.

I have a lunch meeting at Cisco I must prepare for. More later