Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Over the past few weeks, I've been on a break from blogging. In anticipation of a visit by my best friend (from out of state), I whipped the yard into shape. I weeded, planted, trimmed, and hauled about 10 lawn and leaf bags' worth of trimmings to the alley. It still looks a bit like a "before" picture, but an unusually cold spring has put everything behind, and the yard is designed to explode into blooms in summer. I've also been painting. The last time I painted the living and dining rooms was almost 15 years ago and it was time for a fresh coat. I didn't finish, but I'm off to a good start. Since my friend arrived, we've been cycling around Denver, shopping, dancing, clubbing, drinking, and eating gourmet food (her generous description of my cooking, and honest assessment of most of the meals we've eaten at restaurants--from a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on Federal to a high-end Italian wine bar on Wynkoop). We've even had time to do some

Tonight at my party place I was standing at the dessert bar when an old guy came up and started loudly asking for service. He spoke to me and I told him I indulged in a gluten-free cookie once in a while (it would have been the first time since I started the cavity healing diet). I didn't mention the cavity healing diet because I just wanted to get a snack and go back to the dance. Nevertheless, Mr. vegan preacher made his spiel. Stuff this dude said: "I came all the way up from Cherry Creek [one of Denver's high rent districts] to get a half price dessert." (He said this twice.) "We've been eating wheat for tens of thousands of years without a problem." "Japanese eat plenty of soy and they don't have a problem." "Fruit isn't acid." "What's acid reflux?" "What do you eat for protein?" (Answer: meat. Unspoken answer: we've been eating meat for millions of years.) "I wish I could help you."

"Let's keep a record of the fool things we have done and criticize ourselves." -Dale Carnegie All winter, I've kept reading about how sun exposure isn't as dangerous as we've been led to believe. I also tested as mildly deficient in vitamin D . So today, I went to the park for a long walk for a couple of hours. My dog splashed in the water. When you've been sunburned in Florida in early February, when you've sunburned in 15 minutes in the summer in Colorado Springs, when you have visible blue veins, you should probably ignore expert advice and use sunscreen. D'oh.

To make it easy to stay on track with Molly's diet, I've created a meal planning spreadsheet. I've listed the foods and amounts she commonly eats along with calories, carbs, fat, and protein. I just enter how many servings of various foods I'm thinking about feeding her on a given day, and the total nutrients show up. You can download the spreadsheet here: http://www.slideshare.net/lorimiller/nutrient-counter Of course, you can insert rows for other foods if you want to do a little bit of research on nutrient content (like, Nutritiondata.com or copying data from a food package), copy and paste the formulas from the orange (or gray) part of the spreadsheet, and re-do the Total row if needed. Needless to say, you can use this for your own diet if you wish.

It just goes to show that we all react differently to the same diet. My dog, Molly, and I eat pretty much the same thing: a lacto-paleo, nutrient rich diet that I hope will heal our minor cavities. I've lost one to two pounds, but Molly has gained weight: she's 73 pounds and I had to loosen her collar. Of course, it may be that her owner is simply feeding her too much; even on a low-carb diet, some people and dogs gain weight with too much food. It could also be a thyroid problem, which the vet is checking. Looking around the web, it seems a 60-pound dog (which I'd like Molly to be) should eat around 1100 to 1200 calories per day. Molly may be eating a little more than that, but she probably needs fewer calories on the diet we follow. Another site recommended about 1.25 pounds of meat per day for a 60-pound dog. (The vet recommended diet dog food to get the calories just right. I didn't ask him if he weighed out his own food and counted calories to avoid going over.) In

Just over a month ago, I (along with my dog) set out on a cavity healing diet : low in carb, grain-free, high in vitamins A and D, and high in calcium and phosphorus. I've made some changes along the way and listed what Molly and I are now eating at the end of this post. Potassium Power The potassium pills seem to have put the pep back in my step. This weekend, I worked both days helping the tax secretary, whipped my house back into shape, and I'm ready to go out and tear up the dance floor tonight. The Dry Skin Epidemic Since starting this diet, after I stopped eating raw eggs (since I seemed to be allergic to them), my skin has looked better than it ever has. My skin improved last year after I started a low-carb, high-fat diet (more resilient, less callousing, and lot less dry), but now I'm cautiously optimistic that my niggling adult acne is completely gone. A diet's effect on skin was brought home to me while I read an article in People magazine (no jokes, please) t

A couple of unexpected consequences have occurred with my new, (mostly) lacto-paleo, high-nutrient diet. My TMJ has almost disappeared. Let me tell you how my case of TMJ came about. It was a Sunday night in November 2006. I was on my way to a dance when an SUV came flying out of the Walgreens parking lot and broadsided my car on the driver's side. Once I stopped my car (which was totaled), the teeth on the right side of my mouth felt like they'd shifted from being clenched so hard. A few months later, the pain in my jaw was so bad that it kept me up nights. I couldn't fall asleep on my right side. Splint therapy helped, but as recently as last October after a dance workshop weekend , my jaw was painful for weeks afterward. So, why didn't I just stop clenching my jaw? When I realized I was doing it, I did, as far as I was able. But it's kind of like telling someone to stop having a tension headache. Things like relaxation, pain relievers, massage and a