Urban Agriculture DIY Low Cost Raised Vegetable Bed for Urban Core Sustainability

Our yard soil is well drained sand.  Gardening in Florida sand is difficult to say the least.  It does little good to water with a hose because the moisture disappears almost immediately.

Even our native horsemint, Monada pnctata wilts on a daily basis here in the dry, hot sandy soil.

Here in Palm Coast the Atlantic winds are constantly blowing hot, dry air across our yard.  Even the native plants such as spotted horsemint, Monarda punctata and black eye Susan, Rudbeckia hirta, are all wilting by the time four o'clock in the afternoon arrives.

I wanted to do some serious gardening this year without spending hundreds of dollars each month trying to keep the impossible to irrigate sandy garden patch, irrigated.

The idea of a raised bed filled with organic matter to hold the moisture stayed in my thoughts as I considered different gardening bed design options.

But raised beds can be expensive.  After totaling my first materials list for a 8' long by 4' wide by 3' deep bed, I was shocked at the price tag. No way will I build this.  I'd be better off financially by buying organic veggies from Publix, I told myself.

The affordability component of sustainability and urban agriculture is crucial for long term success.  So rather than spend the four hundred dollars it would cost to buy nice straight cedar boards and stainless hardware, I spent the morning looking at what few scrap materials were stacked neatly (lol) in the backyard.

I soon found out constructing a raised growing bed for pennies can be easily accomplished.

After gathering about thirty metal stakes and laying them out in the shape of a rectangle, I retrieved the big hammer from the garage and enlisted my tall teenager into tapping them into the sandy ground about one meter apart.

Soon the rough outline of the garden bed appeared above the sand.

Recycled stakes and old chicken wire form the perimeter of the urban agriculture raised planting bed

Once the stakes were in place, reused chicken wire was stretched and attached to the stakes with ties fashioned out of copper strands from an old, worn out extension cord.

With the 'frame' in place the next step was to line the interior of the bed with saw palmetto.  Our back backyard is filled with saw palmetto.

Urban agriculture raised bed lined with saw palmetto fronds

Saw palmetto, Serenoa repens, grows broad and fibrous fan shaped leaves approximately two to three feet in diameter.  Saw palmetto, besides being a Florida native plant, provides a variety of ethnobotanical benefits from fiber from the leaves, nectar from the flowers and medicine from the berries.

Urban agriculture planting bed uses saw palmetto fronds as an organic bed liner.

We placed three layers of fresh cut, green saw palmetto fronds inside the chicken wire and over the bare soil.   The fronds served two main purposes of; A. keeping the dirt from spilling out of the chicken wire, and B. slowing down any vertical drainage of water from the bed into the thirsty sand below.

Urban agriculture planting bed layered with leaves and sandy soil

Urban agriculture planting bed layered with leaves and sandy soil

 Once the saw palmetto fronds were in place, sandy soil from our old garden beds was added over the fronds.

With four inches of soil over several inches of fronds in the raised bed, we then added a foot of decomposing oak leaves, another four inch layer of sand-dirt and them more leaves, then more dirt.

Soon our bed was a full three feet full of sand and decomposed leaf compost.  We watered in the bed and allowed the organic planting mass of leaves and dirt to settle for a week.

Urban agriculture planting bed, scatter seeds and water.

Judy always keeps a chest full of seeds in the house, so when it came time to plant I had fun selecting a variety of summer vegetables.  Seed packets are usually so pretty and jump-start a gardener's imagination.

I simply scattered the seeds across the top of the raised bed and watered them in.

The enormous amount of organic matter in the bed holds moisture, keeping the planting area from drying out like the sand in our backyard.

Urban agriculture raised bed, seeds soon sprout and vegetables grow

Earth worms have already made their way to the raised bed and in turn the robins and mockingbirds frequent the area daily in search of any raised bed bugs.

One of the most important keys to a successful urban core agriculture project are pollinators.  The native Rudbeckia hirta, best known as 'black-eyed Susans' grow around the perimeter of the bed, loudly calling the pollinators, attracting them en masse and in turn facilitating the development of many yummy veggies.

Urban agriculture raised bed with pollinator plants, Rudbeckia hirta

The bed is the perfect compost pile.  The raised growing area also keeps the plump, furry saw palmetto rabbits from grazing on our veggies.

Growing plants in the rich, deep leaf humus is so much easier than in our well-drained sand.  Water tends to stay inside the frond lined bed instead of draining away quickly down into the surgical aquifer.

Urban agriculture raised bed easily grows organic vegetables

Urban agriculture raised planting bed with three week old squash plants and lots of baby squash

Urban agriculture raised bed plant roots and saw palmetto fronds hold soil in place, eliminating need for side boards.

Though I first considered lining the outside of the planting bed with boards, I can see now that an outside covering is not necessary.  The root architecture of the plants weaves into the chicken wire forming an impenetrable vertical wall.  In fact, flowers and veggies are growing out of the side, forming an edible and blooming living wall of sorts.

Urban agriculture can be effective without becoming expensive.

Recycling, reuse and use of locally available materials are key.  As is a little imagination.  Just hold a packet of veggie or wildflower seeds in your hand and look out back and think - 'in just three weeks'....

Genius Design. Creating Smart Stormwater and Landscape Ecology.

Land is usually expensive in the urban core and that is why it is so important for the site designer to try and maximize buildable space while incorporating green space, stormwater and parking.

Genius design - combining stormwater and landscape (& using native plants!)

Historically the trend has been to specify the square or rectangular stormwater pond and the linear, parallel strips of landscape separately.

Really, the only reason I can think this practice was started was because many civil designers grew up playing with square Legos.

Or maybe neatly compartmentalized site design components on the blueprints were easier to get approved by the planning department.

People get into a mindset.  Most do not like change.  So once the square stormwater pond and parallel strips of landscape islands and no trees and lots of black asphalt became the norm, well... who were civil designers to rock the boat with natural complicated curves?  After all, most schools teach - square stormwater pond plus parallel strips of landscape islands plus sprawl equals quick governmental approval for the project.

But occasionally I see a really successful genius design where the smart engineer foregoes the separate stormwater and landscape components.  Instead they maximize space and create urban ecology by using natural curves and native plants integrated together into a sustainable and cost efficient functioning part of the site layout.

 

The above photo is an example of how to perfectly combine landscape buffer requirements with stormwater obligations and create a wonderful native fern living wall too!

Native wetland trees, cypress, Taxodium spp., were planted in a depression and act as visual barriers to the adjacent highway while also serving as stormwater siphons, transpiring several hundred gallons of water each day into the atmosphere - assisting in water attenuation and flood control.

Instead of a gaping, unsightly, litter filled stormwater pond that requires extra real estate, this designer has created vital urban ecology all the while satisfying stormwater and landscape requirements with the jurisdictional permitting agency.

I can hear the square designers howling now.  Yes, I know that there are many factors in creating adequate stormwater facilities.  But it just makes sense to maximize site density with respect to the environment, the community and the economy.

Think outside the box (square)!

Urban Sustainability Requires Pedestrian Legitimacy

Urban sustainability must be centered around adequate pedestrian infrastructure.

Sidewalks need maintenance just as roads require upkeep.  Many times with pedestrian infrastructure the prevailing attitude is 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Building sidewalks and leaving them to become unusable through neglect and lack of landscape maintenance does nothing to perpetuate the legitimacy of sustainability.

Our cities must become pedestrian friendly.  Our public works department must take pedestrian life seriously with respect to budgets and upkeep.

Here in America we have such a long way to go to recognize the legitimacy of pedestrian life.  WE are too embedded in our seat belts.

Urban Landscape and Stormwater Integration

I always recommend integrating landscape and stormwater.  

Small SWMF feature incorporated into a landscape buffer.

Never could I understand why a developer or engineer would design a site with separate landscape and stormwater facilities, especially with the dire lack of urban vacant land.  

Such a waste.  

However some designers have their thinking caps on correctly and come up with some really awesome stormwater-landscape designs!  

Here is a photo of a small attenuation and treatment stormwater facility designed into the landscape buffer! 

The concept is quite simple and straightforward:

• select a wetland tree or shrubs
• build a berm around a small perimeter to receive rooftop of parking lot runoff
• incorporate into the landscape design
• achieve stormwater credit and landscape credit in the same amount of space.

Love to see more of this type design.

True Urban Sustainability Must Be Foot Traffic Based

Motorized vehicles have put us on a non-sustainable path towards societal failure.

True sustainability incorporates complete integrated pedestrian design - not just sidewalks

We no longer walk like our ancestors.  Instead the obesity epidemic exponentially blossoms and life expectancy may be declining.

Peak oil has come and gone.  Price instability associated with petroleum products is here to stay and impact pocketbooks.

One significant incident of oil or gas supply disruption would rock the markets and ultimately our existence.  We are walking a fine line and possibly unprepared for what could happen.

The answer is simple.  Relearn the foot-centric community design of our grandparents generation.

We should be planing future development around the brilliant pedestrian concept of parks, shops, food and communities interconnected by sidewalks and bikeways instead of blueprinting our cities around roads.

Unfortunately our modern day automobile centered towns are ripe for catastrophic collapse because even in the best of pedestrian focused communities the infrastructure for functional bike and foot transportation is woefully inadequate.

For walking to catch on, the facilities to encourage safe, beautiful and efficient pedestrian movement must be built.

Design and build communities correctly around foot and bicycle traffic with efficient mass transit and the future will be amazingly prosperous.

Yet giving lip service through poor design gets us all nowhere quick.  That is where most of our cities are today.

For instance, Palm Coast has built many miles of bikeways and sidewalks.  You would think the area here is a pedestrian dream city.

We have all fooled ourselves into thinking our cities are eco-friendly because we build sidewalks.  Truth is though that most of these sidewalks are constructed as an after thought to roadways.

We will never approach credible sustainability with the thinking - design for automobiles first - and then design for foot traffic and bicycles as an afterthought.

Each day I walk to Public for our daily food.  The entire walk is about three miles give or take.  Every day I chuckle or curse, depending upon my mood, the weather and how heavy the groceries are when I come to this really nice crosswalk across Belle Terre Blvd.

The wide, nice sidewalk ends two meters away from the crosswalk button.

Yes, I am grateful for the button and crosswalk light.  But for a disabled person - or that matter any pedestrian - stepping across huge mounds of fire ants and sliding down a steep hill above a stormwater ditch to reach the cross walk button is more than a little absurd - and certainly sends the wrong message to would-be-pedestrians.

And this one example is just the tip of the huge, unseen by most, sustainability iceberg.

Few but the dedicated pedestrian really understand.

The planning or civil designer and plans reviewer drives a car home.  They have only limited understanding of anything foot traffic centric.  Many think sidewalks are the solution to community sustainability when sidewalks are only a piece to the overall sustainability puzzle.

Walking has opened my eyes to so much.  Give me a city or municipality that really wants to become eco-sustainable from an environmental, economic and social perspective and with pedestrian perspective and the right opportunity, and amazing prosperity could be created.

But few are willing to give up the automobile approach.

And so the cars will burn oil and our cities will sprawl outwards.

Until a petroleum supply event.

And then we will wonder why we didn't take pedestrian design seriously, sooner, while we are sliding into the stormwater ditch after attempting to press the crosswalk button.

Time to Focus on Sustainability

I have learned a lot being on death's doorstep with my dissected aorta.  My transportation is solely by walking now.  In becoming a pedestrian for the past three years I have had my eyes opened to urban green design issues.

I want to share those.

They may come slow as I am truly physically limited.  But I will share as I can.

Sustainability from a disabled person's perspective is wild!

Can't wait to share some of what I've learned walking along the roadside for the past three years.

Living in a world without a car, in a world designed for automobile life, is a trip.  I now do not think a automobile-centric lifestyle is a sustainable approach.

So over the next while - while I am still alive - I want to share some new ideas on how we can create real sustainable, urban green.

Hope you join me.

Kevin

Step by Step We Overcome Our Challenges

This short note is about walking through challenges, one step at a time.

So far in 2015, each new dawn brings new daily blessings and new challenges.  The blessings are appreciated and the challenges, well, having been forced to become a pedestrain has taught me that we all get through our issues, one step at a time.

One step at a time is also how I get around.

Walking Gives Me a New Perspective on Facing Challenges

In part it sucks, especially living in a place with no public transportation.  We do have plenty of sidewalks here in Palm Coast and they go everywhere and even go nowhere.  You see, when the city was planned big developers were hoping for a megatropolis.  Sidewalks were built to allow for senior citizens to ride big Schwinn tricycles two abreast.  But the crash came.

So we have lots of very wide sidewalks and lots of woods.  I like both.

Lately my walking has been curtailed a little because of encounters with unexpected health issues.

I know I should never expect issues to stop arising.  They always will, that is just part of life.

But sometimes, after a long time of dealing with one body part malfunctioning it seems like there might be light at the end of the tunnel.  Then another body part issues manifests itself and does so usually in a most unpleasant way.

Last week my heart (the thing is already filled with artificial parts) decided to begin mimicking my brain's erratic electrical patterns.  My heart forgot what proper rhythm was all about.

I know now that arrhythmia is much more common than I  thought.  But when it hit me it hurt bad.  I thought the end was closer or near or around the corner somewhere.

So that morning I asked Ruairi to take me to the emergency room in St. Augustine.

The Bigeminy they diagnosed me with hurts.  I feel like someone is squeezing my heart while the organ is dancing around trying to remember how to beat.

Honestly, I could have probably dealt with the Bigeminy better if my aorta valve weren't so clingy loud.

Over the past three years I have come to rely on my metronome-like heart valve to keep all my life in perfect sync.  One loud click each second and a half.  I even half like that steady, audible noise, sometimes now.

So when the heart started jumping and hurting the steady metronome rhythm did something unusual.  The clicking noises switched beats.

The steady click click was gone.  Instead my heart was beating two and three times in the space where one beat should have been.  The doctors explained this to me with the EKG graph as an illustraton.   Actually the second and third beats are not full heartbeats but they originate when the top part of the heart known as the atria contracts again out of sync or the bottom part of the heart, known as the ventricular portion does the same.

Bigeminy (irregular heartbeats) show up on an EKG

Oversimplified, a Bigeminy PAC would be a heartbeat with one good beat and one half beat coming from the top of the heart.  A Bigeminy PVC would be the same except the extra contraction arises from the bottom of the heart.  A Trigeminy PAC of PVC manifests itself as three beats, one full beat and two half beats.

What causes these Bigeminies?  Extra stimulation including; caffeine, sugar, stress or previous open heart surgeries.  Treatments can include a procedure called ablation or a pacemaker, bypass and importantly, adoption of a centered, calm lifestyle - one I find through prayer and meditation.

Yet sometimes I feel like this falling apart mode is never going to end with a dark cloud of worry and depression always just around the corner.

At least the diagnosis has a cool name.  Jiminy Cricket would have been proud.

Discharged with instructions to see my cardiologist asap (my appointment with the electrophysiologist is this week) I spent the weekend thinking, 'how am I going to get through this new challenge?  I want my old heart rhythm back. Back at home I immediately dumped the French roast coffee beans into the garbage.   Judy says hot water is just as good and I am beginning to agree.

Sitting made my loud erratic beat even louder and more obnoxious.

'Just make up your mind, dammit!', I yelled.

After three years I was finally used to and even happy with the plain-jane click, click, steady beat.   Now instead I have this wild, band like drumming going on, producing barbaric rhythms that evoke memories of the most annoying jingles I've ever heard.

'Chili's Baby Back Ribs' and the jingle to one of my teen's favorite television shows, 'The Office' immediately started playing with the aortic beat.  Arrrrgh!   'Who Let The Dogs Out!' and 'YMCA' then started playing.  Finally there was 'Whoomp!  There It Is' and the 'I Wish I Were An Oscar Mayer Weiner' and 'SpongeBob Squarepants'.  Would the nightmare end?

Out the door with my cane.  Time for a walk.  Fresh air and being outdoors always helps me work through issues.  Halfway to Publix I realized, 'I can do this'.  The solution to any new challenge is just like walking.  Step by step you will eventually get there.

Step by Step and before you know it the journey is complete

Sometimes a journey looks impossible to complete.  Surgeries can take forever it seems to recover from.  Life events seem as though they are impossibly permanent.  My mile walk to Publix seems forever to me as I start out.

Yet from having walked just about everywhere here for the past couple years I have learned a maxim.  And that maxim is 'before you know it, the journey will be complete'.

Don't worry about how far you have to go.  Just take the first step and then the second.

Importantly, new perspectives may open up along the way.  I have learned so much about urban planning through my walks, especially with respect to just how our cities and living spaces are not planned with disabled or pedestrians or even cyclists in mind.  Our metropolia are planned around the automobile.  So I've learned how best not to get hit by a car when I am walking.  That is where bright orange and lime green socks and show laces come in.

Too, I have learned that the most common sidewalk litter include; previously scratched off lottery tickets, cigarette butts and dog droppings the size of which I am sometimes flabbergasted.  Another good reason to not look too far into the distance but rather focus on what is immediately in front of you.

I've always admired wildflowers.  Florida has some awesome weeds with beautiful blooms.  Florida also has some terribly aggravating (though ecologically important) weeds like Spanish needles aka Bidens alba but that is another story.  Walking has provided me with an opportunity to stop when I need to rest and truly observe nature.

The complexity in simple things, like weed-wildflowers amazes me.  Sometimes, when I see a weed-flower I stop, set my bag and cane down, sit down and just be. I hadn't held a dandelion-like seed head in the wind in decades, but I do so now.  Carrying home blooms I've been trying to create illustrations of these blooms.

When it seems as though I may die, I draw wildflowers.  My best medicine.

Those jingles are slowly fading away.  Acceptance of the regular irregular click is happening.  Something new, yes.  Step by step I will get through this.

Honestly it amazes me just how fast journeys, even hard ones, fly by.

Yep, there will always be new and unexpected journeys we are required to take along the way but step by step will get us there.

It is so much easier for me to focus on a step rather than think about a long path ahead.   One step turns to two and two to three.  Before you know it we are home.

I suppose there is a spiritual lesson here for me too.  Don't focus on the reward at the end.  If you do you will miss out on the journey here and now.  Live life with each step.

Sometimes many or most steps will be so hard.  Other steps will be good, fun and easy.

Pffff….. this morning my heart valve rhythm decided on the 'Meow Mix' jingle.

I am so Over all the Optimism and Heart Health Articles

I just know something is wrong with this study, bad wrong.  But when I try and analyze the findings and results, my reaction is one of confusion and anger.

Yes, I am smiling like the person in the study photo!  I am optimistic! (Fooled you :) )

Confusion is a dissection symptom confronting me daily.  My confusion is not normal, but the fact that I stay confused on a daily basis is a normal daily issue I am used to.

But anger is not one of my normal responses.  So when I got really irritated after reading about the study described below I knew something was up.  I just had to figure out what was wrong.  Why was I so mad?

First of all the study seemed to be positive, good news rather than bad.  The title. "Optimism and Cardiovascular Health.  Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis" even had a 'feel good catchy' ring to it but cost thirty seven dollars to buy.  I stayed content with reading the many third party reviews of the study.  Thirty seven dollars will be better off spent on my numerous medications.

So in all fairness I am not qualified to review the actual study.

But I can give you my thoughts on the way numerous national publications such as, TIME magazine's review of the study in their recent article entitled, "How Optimism Might Be Good For Your Heart"; and U.S. News and World Report's "Study Suggest Correlation Between Heart Health and Optimism".

The U.S. News and World Report's write up offers a by-line  under the title that says: "Smile.  It'll make your heart happy."  The article lead photo features a smiling young person holding a cup of coffee with the caption, "A new study suggest optimism could be linked to cardiovascular health."

The write up quotes the study's author, Rosalba Hernandez, as stating, "individuals with the highest levels of optimism have twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health compared to their more pessimistic counterparts."

Apparently, abundant optimism is more often than not a companion to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels, higher levels of physical activities, healthier body mass index measurements and lower rates of smoking.   The article did not really specify if optimism produced the healthier attributes or if optimism was a collateral product of possessing these healthy attributes.

My immediate take away impression though was one of guilt and anger.  I felt guilty because even though I try to stay optimistic, I am also realistically pessimistic too.  I say realistically pessimistic because I struggle with physical and mental issues each day.  I am not always 'happy go lucky' or all 'smiles' like the photo of the young woman in the article.

I asked myself, 'am I doing something wrong?'  Ouch!  It hurt to smile like that.

What about all my friends who struggle with Marfan Syndrome issues or those living, like me, with aortic aneurysms and dissections?

I think of their ongoing surgeries and pain and daily struggles.  The line from the OneRepublic song "Counting Stars', "everything that kills me makes me feel alive" is so true for many, including myself.

"O.K. Kevin, take the article in context," I told myself.  Perhaps the article was written about the average person, you know, the one without Marfan Syndrome or a dissected aorta or cancer or other serious health issues.  Perhaps the article was written about a 'normal' person.

But many studies show Americans are really less healthy and die sooner than others in the world.

The Huffington Post states that only one in three Americans are truly happy.  Yet Huffington also tells us that 92% of Americans are actually optimistic.

So we are optimistic, unhappy and a third of us are truly healthy.

Is the take away from the articles about optimism supposed to be 'if I smile and act perkily bubbly, then I will be healthy?"  I don't think so.

Thankfully, the last line in the U.S. News and World Report actually helped me make sense of the entire issue of optimism, happiness and cardiovascular health.

The last sentence mentioned a study entitled "Heart Health When Life is Satisfying".  This study proposed that heart health is really promoted when the basics of life - one's job or purpose, one's family, one's sex life and one's self all exist in a stable, satisfactory state.

One's love relationship, leisure activities or standard of living actually had little or no measurable positive impact on cardiovascular health.

I can grasp this concept of a 'stable, satisfactory state' affording a positive benefit to cardiovascular health.

Walking miles for daily water can be a satisfactory state when one returns with water to a loved family, weary but fulfilled after the hard work.

I cannot relate to the more optimism - more heart health line of reasoning when the  whole 'optimism' premiss is based around the ostrich concept.

In fact, I would label this more optimism approach as one of denial.  Deny the fact that our diets do not contain outrageous amounts of sugar, salt and inflammatory substances and our bodies will be deceived into rushing forward, fueled by adrenaline, until we collapse.   Deny that our hectic, out of touch with nature lifestyles contribute to hypertension.

We exist in a state of optimistic denial.

Today I am alive.  I am momentarily stable and I am in a satisfactory state with respect to life's fundamentals.  That is good enough for me.  I can't be the young person with the big gleeful smile in the article's main photo. It'd be a contrived smile.  I can grin a little though.

I am just so over people and media telling me that an optimistic attitude and heart health go hand in hand.

So let's be realistic.  I am alive.  I woke up this morning despite all the hurt and heart-aorta worry and bet that if truth be known, my sometimes pessimistic, dire outlook and attitude, combined with my daily walks, spirituality seeking moments, non-processed food diet and medications make me just as heart healthy as most others - even if it is my own perception.  Yes, "everything that kills me makes me feel alive."  It does.  It really does.  I acknowledge that despite the hurt and pain and struggles, despite the dour smirk, I am complete.

In my old age I have decided that there really are no answers, just questions.

After reading all the optimistic health articles and writing this post I am even more confused about everything heart health related.

I think I'll go take a walk and listen to the birds sing in the drizzling rain outside.  They sound happy and look healthy.  Are birds optimistic?

And it always pays to listen to the little birdies.  When I walked out in the drizzle, one whispered in my ear something astounding!

So I went back into the house and did a little research and the bird was right!

The Huffington Post actually reports that university studies show that pessimists live longer!  It is right here in this link! Yes!

I am vindicated.

And I am even more convinced there are no answers in life.  Only questions and my dour smirk or perky grin, depending on how bad I really hurt.

Seeking and Arrival. Aortic Dissection and Marfan Life Challenges 2015.

2015 is here!  Wow.  I dissected back in 2011, having my last open heart surgery in 2012.  Honestly, the thought of living this long never entered my mind and I remember weeping silently one day at thought of not seeing the two teens up and grown.

Staying warm to keep Raynauds at bay in the hot Florida sun.

But Jincy is off at the university and well on her way to becoming self sufficient.  Ruairi took his first big overnight road trip all by himself last week.  His grades and scores are high enough to get him through college on scholarships and grants.

I still need to finish my what to do when I die notebook, but for the most part all the paperwork is in order.  When this last effort is complete another worry will disappear.

For the most part the 'now I lay me down to sleep' panic attacks are still there.  But now I am able to accept mortality possibility with a 'thank you for another day' and a 'frankly my dear, I don't give a damn', shrug.

No, I am not giving up.  Judy and I have a lots to do together.  I would like to see the kids finish university and enjoy the grandchildren!  But I am wore down from the stress of worrying about living each hour like it is my last.

Time flies by so fast.  Best spend time not worrying so much.

2014 was hard and I was hoping 2015 wold be a fresh start.

And 2015 has already taught me a lot.  But I was hoping for a stress free, better than last year twelve months, season in life.

Yesterday Ruairi said, 'Dad, the butter is soft'.  

We use real butter, I told myself.  Real butter is always soft, right?

'Is the refrigerator OK?', Ruairi asked.

Real butter is always soft, I told myself again.  If I say that enough the refrigerator will be ok.

But something was really wrong with the refrigerator.  I knew it.  The unit had been making funny noises lately, kind of like someone throwing the small cast iron skillet around the kitchen sound.  I thought the problem would go away if I played Carlos Santana long and loud enough.

It Never ends, I thought and shrugged.  I never arrive.  I will never get there.  New roadblocks pop up every day!  Heck and throw in some '#$%&(2@$XXX' for good measure.  It never ends.

Don't they realize… 2014 is over!!!

Lets see.  Last year we repaired or replaced every appliance in the house, except for the garbage disposal and it is next on my list because it too, like me, is dysfunctional.  

In addition to the garbage disposal, the outside air conditioner compressor electronics went out.  We fixed them.  

The inside air handler furnace in the garage caught on fire and burned out the entire unit.  We fixed it.  Thankfully the house did not burn down.

The washing machine died, dead in the water.  We fixed it by ordering and replacing the water pump.  Try disassembling one.  

The clothes dryer stopped drying clothes.  Believe it or not repairing the clothes dryer was more difficult for the family to fix than the washing machine.  

The refrigerator went out in early spring.  We fixed it.

The dishwasher died.  We replaced the dishwasher.

The microwave door fell off.  Turns out it is more expensive to replace the door than buy a new microwave.  We replaced the microwave.

The swimming pool pump caught on fire and burned out.  We replaced the swimming pool pump.

The stove quit working. We found a used stove.  It does not matter to me that it is white while all the other appliances are black or stainless.  The stove works.  Well, all except one eye.

The fiberglass shower stall cracked.  We fixed it.

And that's just the house.  The front end of the car had to be completely rebuilt.  We installed a new windshield as the old one's crack just kept getting bigger.  The stupid under sized spare tire got tossed and new rims and five new tires were purchased along with a ton of new engine parts.

I feel so much better having a full size spare in the trunk, especially since Ruairi is driving so much.  We actually put the small spare on one day and it wouldn't even keep the car frame up off the asphalt.  But I can say unequivocally, Ruairi has learned so much about being tool handy.  Learning about replacing skate board wheel bearings opened many handyman doors for him.

Speaking of automobiles, the State of Florida permanently revoked my drivers license based on my medical condition.  Not a suspension mind you, I am now a permanent 'driver-non-grata'.  

Yes, I have figured out how to bike around town and I walk everywhere and feel better physically for it.  Actually if I don't walk fluid accumulates around my ankles so I must walk every day as far as I can.  

Collaterally, the loss of my drivers license after forty years of being a safe driver, affects my self worth much more than being any inconvenience to getting around.  

Don't get me wrong though.  Pedestrian life is definitely hard.  Even with all the sidewalks around town, this city as well as most others I suspect, are not designed for accommodating pedestrians or bicyclists, especially disabled ones.   

Cities are designed around the automobile.  No wonder we have such a hard time transitioning to sustainable city life.  

One is supposed to be in the prime of their life career during their 50's.  Now if I have someone express interest in my expertise they disappear as soon as my 'no driver's license' issue comes up.

In all reality though I think I may be in more danger of dying from being hit by a car than my imminent aorta rupture.

But the wise medical review board for drivers thinks my existing aorta condition is best kept from behind the steering wheel.   

And 2014 did bring a couple of significant bleed outs.  One was so bad I had Ruairi drive me to the ER in St. Augustine.  I honestly thought my dissected renal artery had popped.  Turns out I lost about a quart of blood from an internal connective tissue tear.  The blood sloshed around my waist for about a month.

Last Bleed Out Episode.

And talk about aneurysms, our second eldest daughter is still recovering from a brain aneurysm that left her almost blind.  We took care of her two teens for half a year which was a true blessing, affording us the opportunity to really spend some quality time with two of our grandchildren.

My cardiologist says, 'we don't want to open a can of worms' when I ask him about what we should do for my large descending aorta and renal artery dissection.  Then there is the carotid dissection that we haven't really started analyzing yet.  Probably because my brain can not even wrap itself around that concept.

I AM so glad I've finally figured out all this is the result of a connective tissue challenge but I still have so many, add another 'so many; for emphasis, unanswered questions.

I just knew 2015 would be the year I could arrive at the answers to my health questions.  

Last year I was able to at least label many of the questions I had about what was wrong with me.

My biggest challenges are (in order of severity): 

1. a paper thin aorta that I can't do anything other than have the entire descending section replaced with a Dacron tube - I don't think I can do this.  The Dacron graft on the ascending portion almost killed me while saving me; 

2. vertigo to the point of having to sit down numerous times on my daily walks.  Interestingly, I think it is a combination of being on the heart-lung machine for so long (pump head symptoms) and a eye-ear-brain short circuit.

Not only does my pulse of 40 beats per minute and low blood pressure make me dizzy, but anything complex sends me reeling. 

For instance, walking on plain white concrete sidewalks is usually OK.  But if I walk across intricately laid pavers I typically spin out and end up on the ground, sitting still with my eyes closed until the vertigo stops (hopefully).  As a passenger in the car at any stop light I have to look away from the whizzing cars in the intersection or the vertigo starts again and BOOM my head is against the door.  

Others have told me how the radio or even the telephone can be a trigger for vertigo.

So I've had to learn to look up when walking across pavers, praying the clouds shapes are not too complex.

Facebook and Twitter are gone from my phone now.  The other day I opened up Facebook and had numerous notifications, somewhere around fifty or so.  My brain instantly painted a picture of fifty small, smiling avatars each calling to me at the same time and BOOM BOOM I was on the floor again. 

Facebook has allowed me to find seriously good, helpful support groups and I've made internet friends around the world.  But I open the app and a cross between the feeling of laughing gas, a walk through the carnival's moving funny house wheel and an out of control ferris wheel kicks in.  I have to find the floor fast and never go anywhere without my cane or crutch.  Surprisingly, I have learned to do some cool baton type twirling with my cane. 

Complexity of any type - visual, audio or motion based brings on instant immobility and a way too intimate relationship with the floor below.

3. immobilizing Raynauds Syndrome - once the temperature drops below 60 F my fingers and toes turn blue, I loose feeling and my pulse jumps into overdrive to try to pump blood into the constricted periphery vessels - there is not much I can do about this other than stay warm or get a job as an icicle (if no drivers license is required);

4. memory loss is so difficult for someone who loves words.  At first the fear of Alzheimer's plagued me constantly.  But now I recognize the inability to recall short term memory as one of the results of surviving those nights in the ER with a disconnected heart.  The neurologist says 'cognitively challenged' as a result of embolistic events.   I hear you Vincent.

5. depression. ugh.  Depression really is a bad thing.  Walking helps.

Thankfully there are those close to me who have gone through similar operations and cannot find the words for their thoughts sometimes and the vertigo and the other issues also.  I am not alone with this challenge.

But I just KNEW 2015 was going to be better.  2015 was going to be the year I arrived.  2015 was the year of the destination.

Then on January 2nd the refrigerator broke.  This was a sign of what was to come!  I was floored (not literally this time but I did have to sit down).

I've got to get to a point in my life where I can focus on what my primary care physician says - 'your number one job is to stay alive, Kevin'.  I need to focus on health, not on machines.

People look at me and see a tall, fit man.  I've managed to control the beta-blocking result of weight gain because I walk so much.  I look healthy.  Because I look healthy people think I am healthy.

If I try to explain what I face daily most scratch their heads and think one word - 'hypochondriac'.

Or the evangelicals sometimes say - 'I am glad I did not buy into believing what my doctors told me'.  I am tempted to ask 'then why are you dealing with those horrible hemorrhoids?'  But instead I just smile and shrug.

So the world expects me to keep going at breakneck speed, machines and people both.

And to start the new year off right, the refrigerator broke.  Not an auspicious start to an arrival year.

Today I placed a chair in front of the stainless doors and sat down, staring alternatively at the closed door, the bright fluorescent light inside and then the outside of the closed door once more.

I know nothing about refrigerators.  I waited for the machine to speak to me and tell me what was wrong.  My cocktail of heart and other such medications sometimes provides unique visions and I hoped for spontaneous enlightenment about freon and condensation and such.  Where are you John Gorrie?

I can't buy a new refrigerator and would not even if I could.

Sitting in the chair I could vaguely see my reflection in the smudgy but pretty clean stainless door.  I felt sorry for the man I watched in the door's reflection.  Pity party time.  But the more I stared the louder  my artificial heart parts clanged (is there such a word?).

Sheez.  I'll never get to where I need to be. I muttered.  Stupid refrigerator.  I need to be exercising my rotator cuff, not probing around inside a dead refrigerator's innards.

Then, as I opened the door once more the fluorescent light inside almost knocked me over - this brilliant, bright light - road to Damascus bright, light popped on and shown deep into my head.  Thankfully it did not blind me.  More thankfully it was not so complex so as to cause me to fall over out of the chair onto the floor.

It was one of those really plain, simple pure white concrete sidewalk moments.

I had already arrived.

All that broken appliance stuff from last year really was meaningless in the big picture.  Happiness, wealth and fortune is not really found in possessing fine appliances and a driver's license.

I may be poor but I am really rich.  I am a rich pauper.  I am truly blessed.

As I sat there staring at that piece of stainless junk….. wait, let me re-phrase….

I had just been gifted over 36,000 heart beats and it still just a little after noon.  Add to the 36 grand heart beats another 5,000 or so breaths.

As Jesus says, 'Peace, be still'.

Thats all that matters.  I am alive.  I have family who are healthy and happy even though they too are struggling with their challenges.

The steel will rust and plastic melt.  If I wait until the machines and people are perfect then I am 'SOL'.

I really have got there.  I found the end of the rainbow in 2015.  

So for the rest of the day I said 'thank you' after each breath.  I tried saying 'thank you' after each heart beat but found myself on the floor again.  Keep it simple.  The destination was never really that far away. In fact the destination I was searching for was always near by.  Dorothy's face floated by.

Yes, my depression won't go away and neither will my dissected aorta or my Raynauds or that horrible vertigo or my friend's hemorrhoids; and the appliances and car will keep breaking.  

But all that I asked for - the space to work on my challenges - is already here.  I just had to accept it.

I have arrived.  I am rich beyond imagination too.

What an awesome 2015!

Cold Weather, Aortic Dissection, Strokes and Ischemic Events

Cold weather is hard on my heart.  In addition to Raynaud's Syndrome I just do not like being cold.  Growing up in South Florida I have always craved warmth and bright sunlight.

This week the arctic blast came through.  My periphery circulation constricts and my heart goes wild trying to pump enough blood to my ice cold finger and toes.  My pulse has doubled over the last week from an average of 45 bpm to well over 100 now.  I have doubled up on my Losartan dosage with my cardiologist's permission.  The increase in Losartan helped last winter.

Some web resources indicate more strokes and ischemic events occur during the cold weather.  Unfortunately, even aortic dissections seem to be more prevalent during cold weather.

Right now I have a hot cup of green tea in my hand while I 'peck' the computer keyboard with my left hand.  Gloves work too.

Stay warm this winter season!

No more Florida Green Roofs - least by me anyway. #Marfan Syndrome #Aortic Dissection

I am dying - I guess we all are - but my dissected aorta is very difficult to live with.

Kevin's dissected aorta.

And so I am no longer able to pursue my passion of green roofs.  Jimmy Sterling with Sterling Roofing will be the person to talk to if you are interested in a green roof in Florida.  Jimmy's website is here.

This hurts me so bad.  In many ways.  Peace.

Chronic Vertigo and Dizziness After Open Heart Surgery

Next month it will be the three year anniversary of my ascending and descending aortic dissection.  I still struggle with chronic dizziness, light headedness and vertigo.  The feeling that I may pass out at any time really hasn't gotten much better and I refer these symptoms as my 'Swirling Head Syndrome'.

Vertigo, Dizziness and 'Blacking Out' are, I think, a result of 'Pump Head' and Blood Flow Issues

Unfortunately, I feel like I am going to faint at almost any given point during the day.  The wooziness though is especially pronounced when I move, stand up, bend over, walk, ride my bike or try to drive.

I do not drive any more for a number of reasons.  First and foremost I recognize I am a danger to those in the car with me and others on the road.

If you have had open heart surgery requiring significant time on a heart-lung machine then you too may be experiencing chronic dizziness, loss of memory, vertigo and other balance-awareness issues.

Some call this phenomena 'Pump Head' after the heart-lung pumping process.  My neurologist refers these symptoms as a result of 'embolistic events' occurring during and post-open heart surgery.

But I have pin-pointed four main symptom-sources of my Swirling Head Syndrome.  They include:

1. My eyes, especially my right eye, will loose focus and everything turns dark grey at random times.  These episodes last for five to ten minutes or so and when they happen I have to sit or lay on the ground to keep from falling over.  As soon as this begins I stop my bicycle, lay it down on the ground and sit until the vision returns.

It takes about three to five seconds for the eyesight to be completely gone and the blurry part lasts about two to three minutes usually.  My eye doctor does not know what causes this but she has told me I do have a small aneurysm in my right eye.

2. Secondly there is that tingly feeling in the top of my head I can best describe as like what I feel when breathing the knock-out gas before a colonoscopy; the kind of fuzzy feeling where my ears start ringing and my awareness seems to dissolve into a state of unconsciousness.  This I usually feel throughout the day and is usually associated with standing up, moving, walking, turning or any activity involving motion.

3. Third reason I become faint is when my right kidney starts hurting really bad or the false lumen in the descending dissection begins to tug and pull.  This is not an incision pain.  Rather this pain is an intense, strong hurt.  I experience this pain most days and have learned to 'breath' through the waves of intensity until they pass.

Sometimes my brain thankfully shuts down and I black out momentarily.  I have never had any of my doctors, not one, ever discuss pain management with me beyond the narcotics I was given for a brief period of time after the open heart surgery incisions.

4. Finally I have a difficult time processing complications.  When I say 'complications' I mean anything non-simple.  If I am walking and come up on a section of walkway with different color paver tiles laid in different patterns then I will quickly become dizzy and have to sit down and look up for the sensation to subside.

Before my drivers license was suspended I would encounter the same situation at intersections.  Soon I became terrified I was going to hurt someone with my inability to process how to navigate the automobile in and around other vehicles.

Well stocked grocery store shelves with hundreds of colorful, different shaped containers send me reeling.

But I am focusing on trying to improve my Swirling Head Syndrome issues through memory and concentration exercises, diet and physical therapy, and writing my blog.  But the blog writing is so frustrating.  Where before I had excellent word recall now I must use a thesaurus or dictionary with the composition of each paragraph.

Maybe, over time, the pump head and other aortic dissection related effects will begin to subside and resolve themselves.

I would really like to be able to drive again someday - that is if I can do so safely.

Apparently 'pump head' or 'Swirling Head Syndrome' is a fairly common challenge aortic dissectees deal with.  After three years it is still swirling through my head.  If you are struggling with the same, don't feel alone.

Designed to Help Disabled? 'Normal' Persons May Not Understand Disabled Life.

As a disability challenged person living in a world designed for 'normal' people, everyday brings on tough new gauntlets to navigate.

Publix bicycle rack is also the location for employee smoke breaks.

As a disabled cyclist I am forced to walk through second hand cigarette smoke to use the Publix Bike Rack

Unfortunately as the world moves ahead with new buildings, roads, cities and infrastructure, those of us who face life physical and mental challenges are still being left far behind.

Yes, there are many advocate groups who do good and help keep the issue of being 'different' than most out in the spotlight, and I am thankful for these efforts.  Groups such as the National Organization on Disability, American Association of People with Disabilities, The Arc, the National Disability Rights Network, and others all have a web presence.  Some offer links to helpful references and other provide useful information such as contact telephone numbers and addresses.

Yet even though advocacy groups may influence broad reaching policy decisions and have a positive effect on me as a 'disabled' person, I still encounter needless and thoughtless situations where I am discriminated against daily, especially with respect to access and transportation.

Yes, today there are many marked improvements in our surroundings and cities that have a profound effect for good for those of us living the disabled life.

Granted, most of us disabled persons can now use sidewalks with non-skid ramps instead of a steep curb, and rely on cross-lights that talk, whistle or beep to alert us of changes in traffic flows.  Too, there are automatic doors and widened bathroom stalls with reachable sinks.  Even most public transportation systems are 'disabled' friendly now, in many ways.  This is all well and good but there is still so much room for simple, straightforward and uncomplicated improvement.

Sometimes the most simplest, obvious things that can help a physically or mentally challenged person are those things 'normal' people tend to overlook and are the easiest for the world in general to forget.

For instance, I bike my world.  I have to bike my world because my drivers license is medically suspended due to my dissected aorta and side effects of the medications I take to keep my heart just barely beating in 'anti-rupture' mode. I am 'OK' with living my life as a cyclist though it presents difficulty at times.

Our local grocery store, Publix on Palm Coast Parkway has graciously installed a bicycle rack to the left of and not too far away from the front door.  I am grateful for the bike rack.  Many stores or facilities, even those you would think would have bike racks, do not provide bike racks.  But they all provide a massive amount of parking spaces in huge asphalt or concrete paved parking lots for the car drivers.

Back to the bike rack.  I am grateful to Publix for the bike rack availability.  I love their grocery store and they are one of the few places where I can purchase high quality, reasonably priced organic foods.  I depend on healthy foods to support my kidneys (which are recovering from total failure after open heart surgery) and my dissected cardiovascular system.  Unfortunately Publix employees keep forgetting that as a cyclist who uses the bike rack I must breath in all the second hand cigarette smoke their employees cough out when they take their smoke breaks immediately adjacent the awesome galvanized bike station.

This is just a typical example of 'normal' people not having a clue what the physically or mentally challenged persons have to go through to adapt to the 'normal' world.

I have sought out the store managers and asked repeatedly to have the employee smoke station moved away from the bicycle rack area.  The tall young female manager usually makes this happen for a day or so but then the entire must breath second hand smoke begins all over again.  I ask again and the smoking stops for a day or so yet begins once more soon afterwards.

Compounding the problem, customers who exit the store see the employees smoking and light up right next to the bike rack also.  

As a disabled cyclist I am forced to walk through second hand cigarette smoke to use the Publix Bike Rack

'Normal' people - those driving cars - don't have to walk through the smoke, rather they walk in through the front doors through areas away from the smoker break section.  If the employee smoke break section was adjacent the front door and 'normal' customers had to walk through the smoke, the smoking would immediately cause an uproar from 'normal' persons.

There is a very easy solution to this problem.  Publix should install a 'No Smoking' sign around all store entryways AND the bike rack area.  It should be obvious that if I purchase organic foods, those fruits and vegetables and meats free from pesticide, herbicide, antibiotic  and hormone contamination, then I also want to breath clean air.  I especially do not want to re-breath air hacked out by a smoker.

Second hand cigarette smoke just really does not fit the image of a Publix grocery store either.  So I don't get it.  But I am not a 'normal' person.  I am a person living with 'disability' issues.  I suppose the only way to get things changed is to raise awareness.  If asking does not work, continue to raise awareness by blogging about it.

A 'No Parking' sign may be too obvious also.   So after the second hand smoke from Publix employees, I had to deal with a construction truck driver who decided to park on the way home sidewalk and probably had no idea how important a clear sidewalk was to a person in a wheelchair or on a bike.

It is hard enough to navigate the construction areas around Palm Coast Parkway.  No pedestrian access is provided through or around construction areas during the ongoing widening project of the roadway.  Yes, access was provided for automobiles but none for pedestrians or for those in wheelchairs or on bicycles.  I do not think this was an intentional oversight.  Rather I think 'normal' people just don't have any concept of what it is like to life of a physically or mentally challenged person.

Automobile drivers have little concept of what life without a car is like.  For those with a disability a sidewalk can make life doable.  When the sidewalk is blocked this presents a potential to fall or otherwise injure one's self.

So to most parking a truck on a side walk is no big deal.  But to me, carrying bags of groceries on my bike it is a big deal.  I have to slow, stop, dismount my bike (hard enough under normal conditions) and walk around the truck, hoping my Marfan weakened ankle doesn't give out or my bike turn sideways off the sidewalk edge, spilling the groceries across the grass.  To me it could actually cause physical injury.

One would think a large construction company would recognize the need for disability and pedestrian access around construction projects.

A 'No Parking' sign along the sidewalk would be way too obvious.

Sure, people without disabilities have to deal with these second hand smoke and blocked sidewalk-no pedestrian access issues too.  But they are not forced to do so.  They have the option of their automobile.  If I want to carry any amount of groceries home I need my bike.   The Publix bike rack is right in the middle of the employee smoke break section.  

So I will continue to write about these challenges and maybe someone out there with a child, brother or sister or friend who struggles with life's physical and mental challenges, someone who is also 'in charge' at a grocery store or construction company or other corporation of governmental entity might read this and say 'I can help make a change'.

It doesn't hurt to ask.  It does hurt to continue to have to breath second hand cigarette smoke or twist an ankle or break a leg trying to navigate an automobile-less world.

Speak up if you have a life challenge.  Awareness is the only way we can make the world a easier place for those of us today with disabilities and for subsequent generations.

My Mechanical Aortic Valve has Opened and Closed Over 100,000,000 Times!

Check out the quick video of my St. Jude Medical aortic valve!  Next month I will have had the device for three years (time has flown by).  At 60 beats per minute average the artificial aortic valve has opened and closed 100,000,000 times.  That is totally amazing.  I sure hope it keeps going!

Heart Healthy Drinks - Lemongrass and Hibiscus Tea for Non-Processed Food Challenge Drinks

October has been the non-processed food diet month.  For twelve days now I have been only eating all organic fresh fruits, organic fresh vegetables organic-grass fed dairy, meats and fish.

Freshly harvested lemongrass in the dehydrator, heart healthy  herbs

Water has been my main liquid and I've been drinking lots of it, about three or four liters a day.

So today I decided to make some tea from the garden.  We have lots of lemongrass and Jamaican hibiscus (Roselle)  in the front yard (and in the side yards and in the back yard).

Lemongrass row planting in our front yard, heart healthy herbs

Lemongrass tea besides tasting wonderful provides a variety of health benefits.

Other favorite tea plants of mine include the Jamaican hibiscus, or Roselle and another garden perennial cranberry hibiscus, both offering healthy properties, including lots and lots of important Vitamin C.   Roselle calyces are used to make 'Red Zinger' tea and other island drinks, and since the tea has mildly diuretic properties it is good for blood pressure, kidneys and the heart in many instances.

Cranberry hibiscus, Hibiscus acetosella (L) and Roselle-Jamacian Hibiscus, H. sabdariffa (R) in our front yard

I usually clip a handful of lemongrass stalks, while picking about a cup of the hibiscus leaves and calyces and a handful of leaves.  After rinsing I place in a stainless pan with filtered water, bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour

Jamaican hibiscus & lemongrass tea for heart health - non-processed food challenge

After straining the tea I pour into a glass container and chill in the refrigerator.

For delicious variations try adding fresh ginger, key lime or lemon juice or cinnamon to your lemongrass-Jamacian hibiscus tea, and as always, check with your doctor before using any new herb or medicine.

Cheers!

Footnote:  Most fresh teas are much better for you than sweetened soda or colas, however always check with your doctor first, especially if you are taking medications or are pregnant.  In this case lemongrass (the phytochemical citral) contains compounds that encourage estrogen production while some studies have shown that roselle actually lowers estrogen levels.

Eating Organic and Non-Processed Foods for Heart Health (and Whole Body Health too!)

Updated to October 27, 2014

October 1 began the annual non-processed food challenge.  I've taken the pseudo contingent pledge of eating only organic, non-processed foods for a month.  Week One and Two are complete and the details are below.  Week Three is over and Week Four entering its last day.

Week Three Non-processed food challenge - herbal tea from green - lemongrass & roselle (no sugar  or dye)

WEEK FOUR - Updated to Day 27, October 27th (for Week One, Two & Three details see below)

Today ends week four.  I've followed the non-processed food guidelines for most of the month, with the exception of eating out a couple times in Tampa where I tried to eat non-processed from the menu but found most menu foods are processed to a high degree.

Day Twenty Two, October 22 
20141022 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 126/60 - 44; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg
4. Lunch - small Coho salmon fillet & one medium portabello sautéed in coconut oil
5. Dinner - organic ground beef, chopped peppers, onions and celery sautéed 
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  almonds, dates & home dried organic apples with lime juice & cinnamon
8. Estimated cost of food: $9

Day Twenty Three, October 23 
20141023 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 121/55 - 42; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg, dried apples, handful almonds
4. Lunch - sliced avocado and boiled egg with almonds
5. Dinner - organic chicken breast with broccoli and cauliflower
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  almonds, dates & home dried organic apples with lime juice & cinnamon
8. Estimated cost of food: $8

Day Twenty Four, October 24 
20141024 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 116/62 - 49; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg, apple
4. Lunch - guacamole, nuts, sautéed root veggies & almonds
5. Dinner - walnuts, steamed rutabaga & eggplant 
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  almonds, dates & home dried organic apples with lime juice & cinnamon
8. Estimated cost of food: $9

Day Twenty Five, October 25 
20141025 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 128/61 - 61; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg, dried apples 
4. Lunch - section salmon fillet, sautéed kale, dates and dried apples
5. Dinner - guacamole, almonds, dried apples
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  1 cup almonds and cashews mixed
8. Estimated cost of food: $8.50 

Day Twenty Six, October 26 
20141026 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 131/56 - 49; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg, dried apples 
4. Lunch - one crab cake - homemade, dates and dried apples
5. Dinner - 2 crab cakes - homemade (with coconut flour) guacamole, almonds, dried apples
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  1 cup almonds and cashews mixed, dried apples
8. Estimated cost of food: $11 

Day Twenty Seven, October 27 
20141027 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 117/59 - 54; 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 boiled egg, dried apples 
4. Lunch - 2 crab cakes - homemade (with coconut flour) guacamole, almonds, dried apples
5. Dinner - sautéed chicken with rutabaga and organic baby sweet potatoes
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  almonds and dried apples
8. Estimated cost of food: $8.50 

Day Twenty Eight, October 28 
20141028 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 
2. Weight - AM -  pounds
3. Breakfast - 
4. Lunch - 
5. Dinner - 
6. Water - 
7. Snacks -  
8. Estimated cost of food: 

WEEK THREE 

Today begins week three of the non-processed food challenge.  Although I lost over five pounds in the first week, my weight began to increase towards the end of week two.  My waist line and observable ft was decreasing though while it seemed I was building more muscle.  Blood pressure had its up and downs, mainly downs as my body adjusted to the elimination of processed foods and intake of greater amounts of whole foods.

I am finding my diet includes lots of onions, avocados, fruits of all types, almonds, walnuts and other nuts (excluding peanuts).  I've been avoiding grains, sugar and anything in a box.  Water and herbal tea have been my main source of hydration.

Organic Kale & Portobello Mushrooms, Day 15, Non-processed food challenge

I really like this lifestyle and am already thinking in terms of how to sustain this way of eating for a longer period of time.

Day Fifteen, October 15 
20141015 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  1900

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 135/60 - 42; 18:00 117/55 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, tomato & onion chopped over sliced avocado
4. Lunch - 1/2 cup almonds, 2 cups organic juiced veggies
5. Dinner - Chicken fajita stir fry with organic veggies 
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  dates, grapes
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: 

Non-processed food challenge, Week Two breakfast - boiled egg, fresh avocado & wild caught Coho salmon

I really like this lifestyle and am already thinking in terms of how to sustain this way of eating for a longer period of time.

Day Sixteen, October 16 
20141016 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  1950

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 137/67 - 51; 18:00 112/59 48
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, boiled egg  & cup  of juiced veggies
4. Lunch - 1/2 cup almonds, 1 cup fruit juice, 1 cup organic juiced veggies
5. Dinner - guacamole & nuts
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  6 dates
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: 

Day Seventeen, October 17 
20141017 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 07:00 137/64 - 42; 16:00 121/59 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, handful of nuts, sliced avocado & chopped 1/2 sweet onion 
4. Lunch - 1/2 cup almonds, 1 cup juiced organic veggies
5. Dinner - 2 crab cakes (homemade) & one beef patty, cup veggie juice
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  1 cup organic dark cherry juice, 1 cup juiced organic veggies
8. Estimated cost of food: $10
9. Special Recipes: 

Day Eighteen, October 18 
20141018 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - not taken today -  out of town & forgot BP cuff
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 cup veggie juice
4. Lunch - Lunch at Longhorn with Jincy, Ruairi & Judy in Tampa.  I had grilled salmon (I am sure it was farm raised) over a lettuce and veggie salad.  Onion ring appetizer (yes! definitely processed)
5. Dinner -  Thai dinner with Judy.  White rice (processed) steamed vegetables and squid.
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  handfull almonds
8. Estimated cost of food: $30
9. Special Recipes: 

Day Nineteen, October 19 
20141019 weight  177 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - not taken today -  out of town & forgot BP cuff
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 2 eggs scrambled and small amount of browned diced potatoes (I am sure these are not classified as totally non-processed)
4. Lunch - 6 slices bacon, 3 eggs over medium (hungry) - small helping of white grits & gravy (definitely processed food) - breakfast at Cracker Barrel
5. Dinner - sauté cut green beans, corn and almonds, 1 cup organic fruit juice & 1 cup organic veggie juice.
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  almonds
8. Estimated cost of food: $25

Day Twenty, October 20 
20141020 weight  177 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 0500 120/61 - 43; 18:00 126/61 - 49 
2. Weight - AM - 177 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 cup coconut juice, sausage and scrambled eggs
4. Lunch - 1 boiled egg, 1 apple
5. Dinner - almonds, boiled egg, celery & carrot sticks
6. Water -  3 liters
7. Snacks -  handful almonds, 4 dates, 5 pieces dried pineapple, 1/2 cup dried fruit while on my walk at the beach
8. Estimated cost of food: $ 9

Day Twenty, October 21 
20141020 weight  176 pounds - estimate calories -  2000

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 0600 120/60 - 49; 10:00 151/68 - 52 (at Kidney Doctor's office) 
2. Weight - AM - 176 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 1 cup coconut juice, 1 boiled egg
4. Lunch - cup of coffee and handful of almonds
5. Dinner - sautéed corn, carrots and organic chicken sausage
6. Water -  3 liters
7. Snacks -  handful almonds, small package dried pumpkin seeds, 3 dates, 5 pieces dried pineapple
8. Estimated cost of food: $ 8

I'd heard and suspected that traveling can really cause issues with any effort to eat non-processed foods.  Finding out first hand just how true this is was an enlightening experience this weekend as we visited our daughter at her out of town university campus.

Although I really tried to order and eat mostly non-processed foods, I allowed a little 'processed food' slip in here and there.

First of all there are not many if any non-processed food choices available on most restaurant menus.  Second, the food is usually not considered 'organic' and is probably heavily sprayed as a commercial commodity.

Thirdly, eating processed foods is expensive, especially when eating out.  At home I am eating much healthier foods for a third or less the cost.

There are quite a few interesting and informative websites describing how to successfully stay on a  non-processed foods diet while traveling.

I did add a couple pounds of weight over the weekend so I will be walking a little extra and watching my food intake this week to make sure I am feeding my body quality foods in amounts I need to live a healthy life and feel full.  I will also be drinking extra water to help flush out any excess sodium ingested with the restaurant foods.

WEEK TWO - (for Week One details see below)

Today begins week two of the non-processed food challenge.  Proudly I can say the first week went smoothly, with no processed food in my diet.  Yes, there are some real benefits I've found in a non-processed food diet.  Though I was not really trying to loose weight, the scales say I've gone from 178 lbs. on October 1 to 173 lbs. this morning.  My body type is typical marfanoid and my BMI is self adjusting to what my frame and muscles can truly support.

I have more energy and feel like my body is benefiting from the complete removal of processed foods.  Blood pressure has remained the same and my chronic connective tissue disorder challenges (like muscle pain and bleeding) remain the same though.

But I have really noticed improvements in my sleep!

Prior to embarking on the non-processed challenge I would wake two or three times a night, either to go to the bathroom or look at the clock.  Amazingly now I do not wake up at all.  In fact yesterday I slept through two alarms, something I have never done in all my life.  I think this deep, uninterrupted sleep is allowing my body to refresh itself to a level I have not seen since I was a youth.

Previously I would just tell myself before I went to sleep what time I wanted to wake up.  Presto, almost to the minute I would sit straight up in bed, wide eyed and heart pounding.  Additionally, the slightest sound in the house and I would be repeating the same wake up routine.

The last four or so night's sleep has been totally different.  I feel like I am sinking into a firm but cushioned bed of comfortable feather mattresses, and my breathing reaches deep, deep slow intentional levels.  I have found Zen sleep with this new way of eating.

There are plenty of articles across the web pointing to the presumption that sleep quality is a direct function of diet.  Junk processed food apparently ranks high on the list of causes for insomnia.

So with excitement and enthusiasm I am ready for Week Two!

Day Eight, October 8, feeling refreshed despite the everyday chronic dissection, AFib and Marfan issues

20141008 weight 173.0 pounds - estimate calories -  1700

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  113/61 - 49;  15:45 87/48 - 52; 21:00 90/52 - 56
2. Weight - AM - 173.0 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, sliced avocado and slice of Coho Salmon fillet
4. Lunch - slice Coho fillet, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 boiled egg, 3 dates
5. Dinner - yo como un burrito sin tortilla - carne organica, cebolla y pimiento y salsa verde, uvas verdes tambien (Burritos without the tortilla wrap & grapes)
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks -  small piece of organic dark chocolate, organic coconut milk
8. Estimated cost of food: $10
9. Special Recipes: 

Food for the next couple days:

Non-processed food challenge, ingredients for fresh sliced bacon BLT without bread 

Non-processed food challenge - protein for at least three or four days, fresh cut shark

Non-processed food challenge - sweet carbs!

Day Nine, October 9 
20141009 weight  174 pounds - estimate calories -  1800

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00 110/59 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 174 pounds
3. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, boiled egg, grapes, apple & slice of salmon fillet
4. Lunch - avocado, chopped onion-ginger-garlic with tomato, almonds
5. Dinner - guacamole, walnuts, boiled egg
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks -  13 dates, orange
8. Estimated cost of food: $8
9. Special Recipes: 

Day Ten, October 10, feeling light-headed today, almost passed out several times - think the supplement CoQ10 is lowering my blood pressure too much - it dropped into the mid eighties systolic and forties diastolic yesterday - laying off CoQ10 today to see if it makes a difference.  Lots of literature across the web suggest CoQ10 can lower blood pressure and caution against taking the supplement with  other medications.

Day Ten, October 10
20141010 weight 174.0 pounds - estimate calories - 1900

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  105/55 - 49;  11:45 91/49 - 60;
2. Weight - AM - 174.0 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, sliced avocado and onions
4. Lunch - chopped organic onion, tomato & avocado with organic lime juice
5. Dinner - blackened fresh shark sautéed with ginger slices, green and chili peppers, fresh thyme, roselle calyces & cranberry sorrel leaves
6. Water -  3 liters
7. Snacks -  10 dates
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: 

Day 10 Non-Processed Food Commitment, chopped organic onion, avocado & tomato

Non-Processed Food Day 10, herbs and spices from the garden for the shark steak

Non-Processed Food Commitment, Day 10 - fresh shark steak sautéed with sliced ginger, chilies, thyme, roselle calyces & cranberry hibiscus leaves 

Non-processed food challenge - Day 11 - fresh cut lemongrass drying for tea

Day Eleven, October 11, still feeling light-headed.  Am wondering if the total elimination of processed food for eleven days has had a profound effect on my blood pressure.  Normally my BP runs 110/55 with a pulse of between 48 and 54.  The last couple days systolic readings have been in the upper 80s and diastolic in the upper 40s.

I thought it might be the CoQ10 so I discontinued that supplement for the past two days.

It makes sense that a non-processed food diet could lower BP to normal levels.  The medication I've been taking could be responsible for dropping it to the 80/50 levels from the now otherwise normal pressures achieved with the non-processed foods.  I'll be keeping a watch on the readings and coordinating with all my doctors.

Weight has leveled off at 174.0 lbs.

Day Eleven, October 11

20141011 weight 174.0 pounds - estimate calories -  1900

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  90/52 - 56; 13:00 95/57 - 52
2. Weight - AM - 174.0 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, sliced avocado, tomato and onions
4. Lunch - chopped organic onion, tomato & avocado with organic lime juice, slice of shark fillet
5. Dinner - small slice shark fillet, fresh fruits & veggies (carrots & celery)
6. Water -   3 liters
7. Snacks -  couple handfuls of pistachios and almonds, 7 dates
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: lots of fruits & veggies

Blood pressure almost back up to normal - drinking lots of water, added a little salt to my food.

Day Twelve, October 12

20141012 weight 174.0 pounds - estimate calories -  2300

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  105/56 - 44; 11:30 105/63 - 42 
2. Weight - AM - 174.0 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, sliced carrots & celery
4. Lunch - chicken & beef fajitas with onion, peppers, tomatoes
5. Dinner - leftover from lunch - fajitas and veggies
6. Water -  3  liters
7. Snacks -  homemade almond flour & dried fruit bars, 4 dates
8. Estimated cost of food: $10
9. Special Recipes: healthy-Tex-Mex with family over to visit

Day Thirteen, October 13

20141013 weight 175.5 pounds - estimate calories -  1800

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  106/51 - 49; noon- 98/61 - 42 
2. Weight - AM - 175.5 lbs
3. Breakfast - boiled egg, sliced avocado & minced garlic, 1 cup organic carrot juice
4. Lunch - sliced bell pepper, boiled egg, 
5. Dinner - Publix Greenwise no hormone chicken, stir fry with veggies
6. Water -  3  liters
7. Snacks -  6 dates, handfull almonds, 2 glasses lemongrass tea
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: 

Rode bike and did PT stretching - shoulder muscle/hematoma area still very sore and tender.  Blood pressure average; been drinking more water.

End of Week Two

Day Fourteen , October 14

20141014 weight 175.5 pounds - estimate calories - 1700

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  131/69 - 73; 13:00- 113/55 - 47 
2. Weight - AM - 175.0 lbs
3. Breakfast - boiled egg, sliced avocado & minced garlic, 1 cup organic coconut milk
4. Lunch - sliced bell pepper, boiled egg, can of sardines in olive oil (slight cheat)
5. Dinner - slice shark fillet, apple, orange, handful of almonds 
6. Water -  3  liters
7. Snacks -  handfull dates
8. Estimated cost of food: $8
9. Special Recipes: 

WEEK ONE - Updated through Day 7

Eating non-processed & organic for a month for health

I will update this post daily as to diet, blood pressure, pulse, weight and physical therapy.

Steve G got me started doing this back a while with Paleo and Primal eating approaches anyhow, so it shouldn't be too hard to do.  Maybe.  Unfortunately when I wake up with a pulse of 49 (zombie status) I feel the need to find cards in the refrigerator, looking for an energy 'boost'.

But processed carbs, even oatmeal, vegetable or fruit juice send my insulin soaring and though I am 'OK' for thirty minutes the crash follows quickly.  My pulse either bottoms out in the upper thirties or roars sky high into the 130s or 140s.   Hopefully there will be some useful information coming out of this effort.

zombie - like pulse rate is typical for me

Let's begin and happy non-processed eating!  Oh, BTW, I told my teen son Ruairi last night we'd be on the non-processed food diet for a month and he just rolled his eyes and smiled.

20141001 weight 178.0 pounds - estimate calories - 1500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 07:00  111/58 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 178 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, carrot
4. Lunch - Mako Shark fresh fillet
5. Dinner - homemade guacamole & handful of almonds, boiled egg
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks - 1 cup raw coconut, three organic carrots
8. Estimated cost of food: $10
9. Special Recipes:

Non-processed food challenge - Fresh Mako with Ginger, Garlic & Cilantro, Day One

The first day went pretty well.  I really enjoyed the Mako fillet, blackened on a very hot cast iron skillet with fresh cilantro, garlic and ginger, and tasting like swordfish.  I felt like a powerful shark swimming in the endless ocean as I ate the great fish.  The carrots and coconut are always refreshing and full of energy!

Fresh Mako for Non-Processed Food Challenge

Day Two, October 2, feeling refreshed despite the everyday chronic dissection, AFib and Marfan issues

20141002 weight 177.0 pounds - estimate calories -  1500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 07:00  121/67 - 45;  09:00 - 147/77 - 42;  9:15 am 109/55 - 48; 9:30 pm 98/49 - 46
2. Weight - AM - 177 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, star fruit
4. Lunch - sorrel leaf & calyx salad with almonds, fresh guacamole and star fruit with ginger & garlic
5. Dinner - guacamole & almonds again, another boiled egg
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks - blueberries
8. Estimated cost of food: $6-$7
9. Special Recipes: homemade salad from the garden - it was actually quite delicious

Day two has passed and we are into day three of the non-processed food month!  Yesterday I had a marvelous salad from scratch including; fresh sorrel leaves and calyx (Jamaican and cranberry) from the garden (thank you Judy).  

Day two non-processed food lunch, sorrel, almond, guac salad with star fruit

I've already lost one and a half pounds and it is only day three.  Blood pressure and pulse are holding steady.

Day Three, October 3.  Still feeling refreshed besides the chronic fatigue I am normally accustomed to. Today  I have Coho salmon in the skillet and eggs boiling.  Fresh fruits and veggies await also. I always hope the omega-3s from the fish will help heal my remaining aortic dissection.  I know for sure though the fish tastes wonderful!

20141003 weight 176.0 pounds - estimated calories - 1500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 06:00 am 117/53 - 47; 18:00 
2. Weight - AM - 176 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, blueberries
4. Lunch - Coho salmon fillet, handfull spinach greens
5. Dinner - boiled egg, more Coho, broccoli 
6. Water - 2 liters +
7. Snacks - blueberries
8. Estimated cost of food: $8
9. Special Recipes: 

Coho salmon with garlic & ginger, day Three non-processed food challenge

Day Four, October 4.  I start craving sweets yesterday!  Perhaps because I'd just about eliminated most sugars over the past couple days.  My body was in fat burning mode.  But I was really in the mood for something sweet.  Ruairi suggested Oreos but those cookies would have bloom my non-processed food attempt way too soon.

So I made my own non-processed dried fruit Num Nums.

No recipe was followed, I just mixed together what sounded good, including; one cup of almond flour, one cup coconut flour, a half cup raisins, a half cup chopped cherries, ten chopped dates, two eggs, spoon of ground cinnamon, handful of chopped ginger, spoon dried turmeric and about half cup of grape seed  oil.  Mix.

Bake cookies on baking sheet at 375 for twenty minutes.  They are't really overly sweet, more like a healthy, dried fruit sweetened energy bar.  But they are hard to put down.

Kevin's dried fruit, almond & coconut flour Num Nums - non-processed food challenge & Paleo snack

I'll be eating fresh veggies and the last of the salmon today.  All of a sudden my body feels less polluted from bagged and boxed up, factory processed with who knows what kind of chemicals, food.

20141004 weight 175.5 pounds - estimated calories - 1500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 05:00 am 111/55 - 48; 21:00 (pm) 108/52 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 175.5 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, three dried fruit and almond/coconut flour Num Nums, boiled egg
4. Lunch - Finished salmon fillets, made fresh guacamole, almonds, num nums, apple
5. Dinner - tired - just walked a bit, not really hungry - ate small bowl guacamole & onions
6. Water - 3 liters
7. Snacks - num nums, coconut milk (small glass), apple
8. Estimated cost of food: $8
9. Special Recipes: mostly leftovers today :)

Day Five  of the non-processed food challenge!  Finished up most of my leftovers yesterday.  We will see what today brings.  My appetite has actually decreased a little.  The num nuns are such an excellent snack.  All it takes is eating one to be filled up as the almond flour is very filling (VERY FILLING).  Seems like I am dropping about a half pound a day.  This is strange because my diet before did not have much processed foods in it though lately I had been eating little sweetened yogurts and even a slice of pizza or two with my son.  Hope your Day Five is great!

20141005 weight 174.5 pounds - estimated calories - 1400

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 07:00 am 116/58 - 52; 19:00 pm 109/61 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 174.5 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, two dried fruit and almond/coconut flour Num Nums, boiled egg
4. Lunch -  cabbage-carrot-spinach stir fry with sesame oil (yummy)
5. Dinner -  guacamole and almonds
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks - num nums, afternoon iced coffee, small spoon ikura
8. Estimated cost of food: $7
9. Special Recipes: 

Non-processed food challenge, Day Five lunch, cabbage-carrot-spinach stir fry

Day Six - Going on a week now and still doing fine on the non-processed food diet.  I've successfully passed up a Firehouse sub (hard for me!), Taco Bell junk food my son was craving and packaged food from the grocery store.  Today I've fixed fresh avocado and wild caught shrimp with cilantro as my main meal.  Boiled eggs, fruit and nuts will round out my daily spread.

20141006 weight 173.8 pounds - estimated calories - 1500

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 07:00 am 119/58 - 49; 
2. Weight - AM - 173.8 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, almonds & boiled egg
4. Lunch -  wild caught shrimp and fresh avocado
5. Dinner - handful of nuts, star fruit ( I was not too hungry)
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks - apple, avocado
8. Estimated cost of food: $9
9. Special Recipes: 

Non-processed food challenge - Day Six lunch, shrimp, avocado and cilantro

Day Seven, October 7, end of a successful Week One going non-processed diet! I have lost five pounds, though I am not going hungry or trying to loose weight.  I prefer to think my body is adjusting my BMI Index to where I should be on a natural foods diet.  I had been sleeping much harder and feel more rested in the morning.  In fact, this morning I slept through two alarms - something I have never done in my entire life.  I think maybe the processed foods may have been interfering with my sleep? IDK, but will keep track of the non-processed diet and sleeping patterns.

20141007 weight 173.5 pounds - estimate calories -  1600

1. Blood Pressure & Pulse - 08:00  116/69 - 52;  11:00 - 97/55 - 47;  21:00 98/57 - 49
2. Weight - AM - 173.5 lbs
3. Breakfast - 2 cups coffee, a boiled egg, star fruit
4. Lunch -  avocado, 1 cup almonds, star fruit
5. Dinner - avocado, 1 cup almonds, boiled egg
6. Water - 2 liters
7. Snacks - 1 cup blueberries
8. Estimated cost of food: $6
9. Special Recipes: