A Reprieve

I thought y'all needed one

After 3 months of frequent #IMWChallenge posts/articles/columns/blogs/literary masterpieces, I thought it was time to give everyone a break or otherwise known as a reprieve. The reprieve also comes at a time when my office, the Institute for Medical Wellness (IMW), is switching medical record systems. This is not an easy task so more of my spare time has been spent learning the new system. More time working = less time writing.

So while I have been otherwise occupied, and have not yet officially started the next #IMWChallenge , I have continued the previous three.

So let’s recap.

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1- Lower Carbohydrate Challenge

Here are my two meals today.

3 egg, onion and broccoli cheese omelet at 1PM

Homemade shrimp scampi with onions, garlic and broccoli. Wow this one came out really good. This meal ended around 7PM-ish.

So the above two meals definitely qualify as Lower Carbohydrate.

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2 - Intermittent Fasting

First meal at 1PM and ended final meal at 7PM-ish.

So my Intermittent Fasting eating window is probably a little over 6 hours or rounded off to an 18:6 Intermittent Fast. This fast was preceded by my Tuesday 24 hour fasting day. It may sound strange but I actually feel my best on Tuesdays when I fast til dinner.

Problem is that like most of us, I enjoy eating, especially sitting with my family at the kitchen table just chilling. So to get around this I make my Tuesday work schedule at the office through lunchtime, 10AM-2PM, so that I am distracted by work. I then go home for Virtual appointments until dinnertime. I find having planned distractions work very well on fasting days.

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3 - Activity/Exercise

I have bumped up my exercise and activity over the past few months. I usually do resistance training at home using resistance bands. My workouts are usually 20-30 minutes 4x a week. I am also staying active going on many walks with my wife and daughter, usually after lunch if I am working from home or after dinner if the weather cooperates. Weekends weather permitting we have been going somewhere that we can spend time outdoors which usually entails more walking as well.

That reminds me. A few years back I told my wife that I was going to start walking 5 miles every day. A week later I called my wife and said I am really enjoying all the walking but there was still a problem. She asked what it was. I said I was now 35 miles from home and asked her if she could come pick me up.

Soooo, while I have not yet begun the next #IMWChallenge, I hope everyone following along will continue to build upon what you have learned and accomplished so far. There will be more coming in the near future.

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Today was my work from home day and catch up on home errands. So while out today I went to Whole Paycheck Foods to pick up some items for the week. As I got to the entrance I remembered my wife telling me for the third time because I always forget reminding me that today is the first day that grocery stores are not allowed to use plastic bags to pack your food. Lucky for me I always have some bags in my trunk and I ran casually walked back to my car to get one. I estimated the grocery list well and everything fit into the bag. Wow! One bag of groceries costs a whole lot more today than in the recent past. I sometimes think grocery stores will soon be asking your credit rating before you enter the store. Of interest I purchased only real food as everything I bought needed refrigeration. I may be odd but that made me smile.

IMW Pearl: Real Food spoils if not refrigerated/frozen. If it stores in a box for longer than a week, it is not real food.

Not everyone is as lucky as me to have a spouse remind them about bringing their own grocery bags. This guy below is obviously still single.

Or perhaps his mind is not working well because looking at his groceries I do not see any fat or protein. I guess he did not get the IMW memo that natural proteins and fat are very healthy for us and help the brain utilize ketones produced by the liver for energy everywhere in the body. Brain use of ketones are very powerful as well as anti-inflammatory in the brain. That’s a good thing!

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Sooooooooooo, perhaps let me know your answers to any of the following:

1- Have you lowered your dietary carbohydrates?

2- Have you begun intermittent fasting? If so what has been your longest fast? What do you do during a fast to avoid eating??

3- What is your favorite NEW form of exercise/activity?

4- What is your favorite lower carbohydrate meal?

As always comments and questions welcome and encouraged.