Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

As most of you can attest that are reading this, it’s not easy to get workouts in when you are full time, or family issues, or life’s stresses. My job has been crazy busy, and I am unable to make the gym as much as I want to.

But here’s the thing, I always get my workouts in, even if I only do strength training a few days a week, I still make it a priority. I also make sure I get my steps in each day. If there‘s one invention that has kept me in check all these years, it’s the Apple Watch, with it’s reminder to have me stand every hour.

About a month ago, I had my annual physical That included lab work, blood pressure check, listening to my chest with a stethoscope, etc. 

Eleven years ago, my physical was very different, asI was morbidly obese and had hypertension. This year, my blood pressure was 110/68 and my lab work was awesome!

A few months ago, I happened to catch a video on the dangers of having amalgam (mercury) fillings in your mouth. I first became aware of the issues with the fillings in a video I saw. Dr. Kelly J. Blodgett, a holistic dentist out of Oregon was talking about some of the health risks associated with having mercury in the mouth. One issue is the fillings are incredibly close to the brain. Another issue is that if you have amalgam fillings, you are most likely breathing in mercury vapors whenever you brush your teeth, eat something hard, etc.

I decided to do a consultation with a dentist here in Connecticut. Dr. Mark Breiner owns “Whole Body Dentistry” and is what you call a biological dentist. He believes the teeth are in the same meridian as certain organs in your body. Basically, everything is connected. If someone has a pain and a doctor can't figure it out, it might be related to a tooth issue. He said one story of someone who was having pain in their tailbone. He figured out it was a tooth causing the issue. Once the tooth was fixed, the patient’s pain went away.

According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, what is considered too thin for most Americans is actually what’s considered normal weight. Too many overweight Americans make what looks like normal weight look too skinny in comparison.

I never give my weight any thought. After having lost 150+ pounds over 10 years ago, I just maintain. I stay the same consitent weight, I love the plant based foods I eat and I have no interest in going back to my old habits.

Back in August of 2016, I had plateaued. I had already lost 150 pounds eating a mostly plant based diet, but I was left with a lof of loose skin, especially around my belly. I wanted to shift things into high gear, try other methods to build more muscle to hide the excess skin. That’s when I turned to the internet, the same thing I turned to when I initially lost the weight in the first place.

I had been trying for a few years to pack on muscle but it wasn’t working that well for me at the time. My personal trainer told me to up my protein intake to a whopping 200 grams a day. He wanted me to start having whey shakes. Two things happened that caused my personal trainer’s plan to fail: first, the whey protein shake did not agree with me. It didn’t digest well and there’s no way I could continue. Second, my primary doctor told me that I could damage my liver or kidneys with such a high amount of protein. Both of those instances caused me to rethink what my personal trainer was advising.