Episode 16 of the Will Young show on the Unobjective Intelligence podcast is now live.

This week:

• I’m talking about what I feel the government’s roll really is or should be in our lives.
• I’m also touching on the whole glass half empty/glass half full philosophy.
• Finally, I’m talking food. More specifically foods ultimate role in your DEATH.

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Links I mentioned during the show:
HR 1424 - The “bailout”

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If there is something you’d like to hear on an upcoming episode of the Will Young show please shoot me an e-mail.

You can download the UI podcast by using iTunes with the link on the right, or for those who don’t use itunes, simply click the button that says ‘RSS Podcast’ and download the latest episode to your computer to play in whatever MP3 player it is you use. You can also listen to it using the player located directly above this paragraph.

Enjoy!

Last day of the 3 day weekend, tried to get things back to a somewhat normal state of being.

Woke up around 10am, went and took my morning reading:

Things looked good, so I figured I’d try to get a plasma donation in over at Biolife. Well by the time I got there I guess I worked myself into an anxious frenzy because my BP was 169/96 and my pulse was 111.

Yeah I know.

The upside of my visit was that I weighed in at 218 pounds! Dropped another 2 pounds since yesterday. SUH-WEET! It’d be awesome if I could see 200 by the time this is all said and done. (I know I’m a big dreamer :-P)

I figured well, I’m half-way there, so I decided to head out to IKEA and spend my labor day looking at all the stuff I want, but don’t need.

For lunch at IKEA I had some steamed vegetables, an orange juice, an apple juice and a bottle of water. Though the swedish meatballs were tempting, I did not give in.

When I got home I had a smoothie with Raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, apples, pomegranate, orange, banana and some red grapes. It also had 8g of flax seed, 4384mg of Omega-3, 2mg of VitaminB6 and 6mcg of Vitamin B12 supplement in it.

For dinner I caved in and grilled up one 3 ounce boneless/skinless chicken breast on the George Foreman Grill. Basically it was the driest piece of chicken I’ve ever eaten. I put it on top of some baby field greens, with a diced tomato, 2 chopped gloves of garlic grilled on the Foreman lightly, 5 black olives-sliced, some red onions lightly grilled on the Foreman grill and drizzled the entire concoction with a little red wine vinegar and the juice from the onion and garlic. It was alright.

After dinner I watched a movie then did a 4.5 mile walk and a .5 mile jog.

It’s too late for me to go get a reading, as I have to get up for work in the morning. Now that the weekend has ended I’ll probably be doing one reading a day, more than likely in the evening.

Ah, I love the weekends, the joys of sleeping in are overwhelming.

I slept until 11 so I didn’t have “breakfast” but I did have a smoothie, I guess I’ll call it my mid morning snack.

My first BP/Pulse reading for the day looked like this:

GETTING LOWER EVERYDAY! I am nearly at what the machines defines as “normal” and getting much closer to the maximum (132/83) for my age range.

I weighed in at 220 pounds. I’ve lost 7 pounds since Thursday! (Though my 227 weigh-in Thursday could probably be attributed to shoes, so I’ve probably actually lost closer to 5 pounds)

Mid-morning snack:
Smoothie with blueberries, blackberries, apples and a banana in it.
Also took my normal regime of supplements.

Afternoon Snack:
A bushel of green grapes.

Dinner:
A Mixed baby field greens salad with a whole tomato chopped and 5 black olives sliced, sprinkled with a little bit of red wine vinegar.

Still drinking about 10 or more 12 ounce glasses of distilled water throughout the day.

In the evening I walked for 3.5 miles and jogged for 1.5. After I came in from my walk/jog I had an 8 ounce glass of cranberry juice, which taste not so good in it’s organic raw state.

My evening read-out looked like this:

WOO HOO! Blood pressure at 125/79 excites the crap out of me. I’m fairly confident that high pulse reading is from the fact that I took the reading within an hour and a half of finishing up 5 miles of walk/jogging. Though I’d like to have a good BP and pulse, having my BP down to 125/79 makes me feel really good as it is VERY close to my age ranges average of 120/79.

The true test is does it stay that way. I guess we’ll see in the morning.

Thank you, by the way, for going on this experiment with me. Hopefully it teaches you something.

I slept in late today. I woke up at about 11. They say lack of sleep can cause high blood pressure, so I am going to take this three day weekend and sleep as much as I can.

As a result of sleeping in I did not have any breakfast, nor did I do a morning stat reading.

It started raining after I got up, so I decided to do laundry while I waited for it to stop, then take back the Blood Pressure Monitor that I bought from the pharmacy last night back. While I was there I took my readings and this is what I came up with: (at 2:30pm)

While I was at the pharmacy I walked over to the grocery store in the same complex and weighed myself. I weighed in at 222 pounds.

For lunch I had:
Some diced pineapple and mango, with some white grapes

After lunch I wrote a fairly lengthy blog entry about my fantasy football picks and while I did that I snacked on some grape tomatoes. (I Love tomatoes!)

Mid-afternoon snack:
1 Banana

Dinner:
Broccoli and Cauliflower with some diced red onions and 2 cloves of chopped garlic
A Whole Sweet potato with skin.
A Smoothie that included: 3 apples, 1/2 a banana, 1/3 of a kiwi, 1/3 of a mango and 1/4 pineapple as well as 1300mg of Spirulina, 400mg Chlorella, 100mg Broccoli, 100mg Spinach, 50mg Blue/Green algae, 50mg Garlic, 75mg Barley Grass, 75mg Wheat Grass, 50mg Ginger and 50mg of Parsley.

My evening blood pressure/pulse rate results looked like this:

In my continual internet research of high blood pressure and how to lower it naturally, I ran across the American Heart Association’s High Blood Pressure Health Risk Calculator. To say I was thrown back by the results would be a lie. I know my situation is pretty bad, yet after researching it’s not bad as some people who wont or don’t take the time to fix their situations.

According to the risk calculator I am obese, I am 5.4 times more likely than the normal person my age to die of a heart attack in as little as 10 years, 13.5 times more likely than the normal person my age to die of a severe stroke in as little as 10 years, 2.5 times likely to have some sort of heart failure in as little as 10 years, and 6 times more likely to have kidney failure within the next 16 years.

Take a look at the report:

Now unlike a lot of crap on the internet the American Heart Association lets you see what the benefits of making lifestyle adjustments would be. If I loose 20 pounds, increase my regular physical activity, eat a “healthy” diet, lower my salt intake, and limit my alcohol use I could easily lower my blood pressure to normal levels.

Also, while doing some research I came across a chart on some doctors site listing the minimum, average and maximum blood pressures that doctors like to see for different age groups.
For my age group the minimum is 108/75 the average is 120/79 and the maximum is 132/83. So as of my 2:30pm reading today I am 28/21 points from average and 16/17 points from the maximum. Don’t get me wrong, those seem like small numbers but when you consider that the red cross said I’d loose 11 points or so if I lost 20 pounds it helps you put things into consideration. Loosing points is a lot harder than gaining them. :-/

High blood pressure is a risky business. I would suggest you have your blood pressure checked regularly. If you don’t like doctors, buy your own monitor available at most pharmacies, or use the machines that most pharmacies have to take your results. I am lucky, I was able to see a problem because I donate plasma regularly and have noticed a gradual build up of my blood pressure over the last two months. I should have been smart and started something earlier, but I didn’t. Luckily I am starting something before it’s too late. If you need to you should too.

Today was the first day of my 10 day detox. Though I’m starting to think perhaps I’ll shoot for 7, as that seems to be the norm. I’ll figure it out as the time draws closer.

It should come as no surprise that trying to eat nothing but raw fruits and vegetables and drink distilled water is insanely difficult. Today I was tempted by juicy burgers, pizza, french fries, and more.

At 7am this morning this was my BP & Pulse Reading:

Pretty HIGH. That would be why I am doing this detox.

So today my diet consisted of the following:

Breakfast:
1 pound of a cantaloupe, honeydew, red grape and pineapple fruit medley
1 Banana
Water
1000mg Vitamin C Supplement
1000mg Omega 3 Fish Oil Supplement
1000mg Garlic Supplement

10am Snack:
Apple

Lunch:
A bowl of Baby Greens mixed with chopped red onion, vine ripened tomato, mango chunks and pineapple chunks
1 Banana

4pm Snack:
1 Banana

Dinner:
A 24oz Blueberry/Strawberry/Banana (No additives, no sweeteners, just the fruit and ice)
A 12 ounce salad with romaine lettuce, carrots and tomatoes

At 10:30 pm tonight this was my bp/pulse reading:

Some slight improvement? Maybe? Truthfully, I am insanely hungry! I am used to being able to eat whenever and whatever I want so having to discipline myself to not is difficult. Tonight at our fantasy football draft someone brought in some little caesers pizza…I LOVE LITTLE CAESARS! It was all I could do to not grab a slice. I am wicked tired and am about to post this and hit the sack. I bought a BP monitor tonight, but I think I’m going to take it back it doesn’t seem to be working correctly.

We’ll see how day 2 goes.

I went to the plasma place last night for one of my two weekly donations. For the third time in a row, my blood pressure and pulse were ridiculously high, to the tune of 177 over 105 and 113bpm. <-- Yeah I know, I am a ticking time bomb knocking on deaths door. The reality is that some of that is due to the fact that I have a crush on one of the employees and being in her presence sort of makes me anxious.

HOWEVER...that plays a VERY SMALL role in the big picture. The REALITY is I’ve always had high blood pressure and I’ve never really done anything conducive of fixing it.

That changes today.

I had a 45 minute conversation with my grandmother (my moms mom) last night who I’ve know for a while struggles with blood pressure issues, but in a way that only a grandmother can she scared the piss out of me. (I didn’t tell her that though) That scare tactic, combined with the fact that my own father suffered a pretty serious heart attack just over a year or so ago has made me realize that 23, 24 or hell even 25 is WAY TO YOUNG TO DIE.

It’s no secret that cardiovascular issues are one of the number one killers in our country and a lot of that has to do with our diets. We take in a significant portion of toxins and poisons and do not really do a lot to get rid of them. Last night and in to this morning I’ve been researching ways to do just that. What I’ve found, isn’t surprising: a diet rich in raw fruits and vegetables combined with significant exercise and water in take is a great natural detoxification regimen.

So starting today (actually as soon as I finish this entry I am headed to the grocery store to pick stuff up for lunch and dinner) I will begin a 10 day detoxification program. I will be drinking nothing but distilled water and eating nothing more than raw fruits and vegetables. I may also decide to have one boneless/skinless chicken breast every evening but, I haven’t decided yet. I will combine this with my current daily vitamin regimen of 500mg Vitamin C, 1000mg Echinacea, 1500mg Garlic supplement, and 3000mg Omega 3 fish oil supplement.

This goes along the lines of most of the “fruit and vegie detox” programs I’ve found on the internet, and seems to be in line with a similar program that several of my friends did recently and seemed to have good results.

It should look something like this (or some type of derivative of this):

Breakfast:
Supplement regimin
16 oz Distilled Water
1 Banana
1/4 Cantelope

Lunch:
Leafy Green Salad with cherry tomatoes, red onions, cucumber and carrot slices

Dinner:
Whole fruit smoothie (NO YOUGURT, simply fruit and ice, and maybe some sort of healthy supplement)
POSSIBLY a whole boneless/skinless chicken breast

This is a HUGE deal for me as for 23 years I’ve been doing nothing but putting toxins and poisons in my body and doing nothing to get rid of them. I anticipate the next 10 days to be pretty much like hell. :-/ I’m used to eating what I want, when I want it and this plan is going to require a significant amount of discipline. I have confidence in my abilities to carry it out though, and I am already anxious to see what the end result may be.

I will be monitoring my health daily and keeping tabs on here so that you can stay updated as well. Who knows maybe I’ll do some video blogging too?

Wish me luck folks, I am about to embark on what will probably be the most difficult 10 days of my life up to this point. (And I’ve been through Army basic training!)

I love playing around with my new webcam. I decided to do a how-to video, I’ll probably do more over time, but this one is on how to make sweet tea. (Pay attention northerners)

I’m sorry for the clicking, I’ve got to learn how to fix the audio levels on the camera.