The 300 Pound Gorilla in the Room

[cyrano]

Phillip's choice of "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" seems a bit apropos.

I got the results back from my blood test over abnormally high triglycerides, and the good news is that I won't have to add any new medications to my daily regimen--in fact, I'll be getting rid of one.
The bad news is, I have a rare genetic disorder called Chylomicronemia, which means my GI tract processes fat indirectly and (as far as I can tell) just injects them directly into the bloodstream. I'm seeing a nutritionist in three weeks, and until then I'm not planning to make any sweeping changes, but it looks like I'm going on a very low fat (20g/day) low carb diet, which I believe will allow me to eat celery and protein paste. The coolest part of this is that if you put my blood sample into a centrifuge, a frothy creamy topping will separate.
HOWEVER. The doctor predicts that this dietary change should entirely resolve this aspect of my health issues, and may clear that stumbling block in my weight loss attempts. (I've gained back all the weight I lost while sick, but at least I still haven't gained any--there's this wall at 275 where my body seems to hold fast.)

Right now I'm resentful and a little bitter and not looking forward to the extra work, but I figure that in a few months I'll be doing all the research and preparing my meals like it's second nature.

Comments

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I am sorry to hear that you've got a diagnosis that requires such significant and ongoing changes, but I'm glad to hear that you have a diagnosis and a plan. I hope that you're able to implement them with ease and feel better.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And I hope that both our situations resolve into equally fruitful and happiness-invoking solutions. (:
*hug*

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I'm so sorry, hun. *hug*

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

It'll be a pain in the ass, but I think once I get past the feeling of "My body has stabbed me in the back *yet again*" things will be more copable. What makes me long-term sad is that I suspect this is the last giant step of a journey from "eating is a wonderful thing that I enjoy doing" to "eating must be suffered through because otherwise I pass out".

[tersa.livejournal.com]

And passing out is a bad thing.

Also: no dying.

But I was talking to Mae, and she said she's been doing an ultra low fat diet for several months now, as her housemate is on one (post-cancer treatment)...and she says it's not terrible. You just won't be able to eat out much. :(

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And at least intellectually I've come to grips with that already.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Brian and I were at the fancy (and super-excellent!) place here in town tonight, and I asked the waiter what their policy is on special orders. He said their chef is excellent and can come up with just about anything given advance notice, which jibes with what I've seen on Yelp. So I don't have to scrap our plans to take you there. :) Also, there's a vegetarian/vegan place that I'm sure will be able to do up something for you, and a fairly decent sushi place in Sierra Vista. We'll manage. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yayz!
And also? *hugs* for you both. It means a lot to me.

[mszappata.livejournal.com]

Never give up.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

It's better than the alternative. (:

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Ouch. No fat and few carbs...so where does your body get energy from? Also, I believe there are some vitamins that are only absorbed through fat, can you get them elsewhere? I guess those are questions for the nutritionist. Maybe this will be helpful?

*hug* At least now I know not to make you our Pepsi pork roast recipe. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You could make it, and then just let me smell it. At 20g/day.... I could probably even lick it.

Yeah, I should start writing down 'questions for the nutritionist' because there are going to be a handfull of them.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Looks like beans are going to be a good protein source for you. Which should be a plus to your pocketbook as well, as they're cheap. And tasty, so long as you know how to use the spice rack.

Google tells me that a "fat restricted diet", recommended for gallbladder patients and such, is 25-40g/day. Just in case you needed the relative "how fucked am I" info. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

This is useful--before I was going with the 'Subway scale'--The streamlined low fat Subway sandwiches have about 5g of fat for a 6" sandwich, so if I ate nothing else then I could have four of the short sandwiches a day as long as I didn't get the southwest sauce.

(And yeah, we were sitting around my cube thinking "No fat, no carb. That leaves protein. What gives you protein without fat? Not meat. Not nuts. ....Beans!")

[tersa.livejournal.com]

And beans have some carbs.

Fish! As long as you don't get the trout a la creme. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, aside from the 'protein powder' route, I figured I wouldn't find anything pure, but I could try to make things as easy for me as possible.

(Fish... time to start looking for sushi-grade brown rice!)

[silkiemom.livejournal.com]

The nutritionist I saw said that it was net carbs that counted, with is total carbs minus fiber. So that makes things like beans a little less doomful. I don't know if the net carbs versus total carbs makes a difference in this case, but that would be something else to find out.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I am alternately torn between being dismayed that it will be three weeks before I talk to her because until then I won't know a lot of stuff and being relieved that it will be three weeks because that means there's less I have to do *right now*. (:

[silkiemom.livejournal.com]

The stuff you have to do *right now* is figure out what you have to ask in three weeks. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yeah, I've got a notebook.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. *hugs*

Radical dietary changes are much with the suck. At least you know what's going on now, and can formulate a plan of attack to deal with it. *more hugs*

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And a plan that gets me off some drugs while making me more healthy isn't all bad. (:

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

No, indeed. Fewer drugs is a good thing!

[denyse.livejournal.com]

How frustrating! Big dietary changes like that are tough, but I hope it works out for you and keeps you healthy. (I almost typo'd 'hungry' there for a moment, I wonder what part of my subconscious did that).

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

In fact, that's another thing that kind of worries me--ever since my last medication change, I've gone from a pretty indifferent appetite to ABSOLUTELY RAVENOUS RAAAAAR and also getting back my hypoglycaemia. That will be exciting to factor in! (:

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

:( Suck.

But I will point out that sashimi is low-fat AND low-carb. If you like raw fish.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I got the impression it was a little spendy, as well. Would it be a 'sometime food'?

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

It is very spendy. But it could be a Special Treat?

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm not usually a fish person, but sushi fishes are often tasty.
And I think I'm going to end up with a lot of baked fish, so it'll be nice to have a fish that I actually enjoy once in a while.

[reluctantgenius.livejournal.com]

Having a rare genetic disorder is so sexy, rawwr!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh Rexy, your diet will be changing dramatically in the near future!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Here is something I posted at thistle_chaser a short time ago which may be interesting to you also. At some point I will write a real post about how my own diet is going, but if you are interested, go read and then come back here... I'll wait.

http://thistle-chaser.livejournal.com/1168504.html?thread=9229688#t9229688

OK, other interesting stuff to add... I find I am eating less food, but doing it much more frequently, and I love it. I'm actually not hungry at all.

I am also making food for myself a lot more, and getting take-out a lot less. Which is awesome.

I didn't realize it before but I was stressing out about my food choices a lot of the time, and now I don't... I pretty much know what I'm going to be eating, and it's already made and in the fridge, so I don't have to agonize over the decision. Another plus. Actually I don't need to plan out meal-by-meal ahead of time... I just stock three or four choices from the Carb list and three or four choices from the Protein list and then choose one of each when it is time to eat.

Now, the bad news. Since I have gout, I tend to get flare-ups in my feet, ankles and even knees, if I have too much meat. So, my strategy for the first two months of this diet was to buy cheap lunchmeat (turkey or ham, Safeway brand) and just grab two slices to go with my carb choice. Well, once I figured out why my knees were suddenly betraying me a lot more often and due to this, I can't just eat lunchmeat 3-4 times per day. I need to now find alternate proteins. But, I'm not doing the workout portion of the plan, so my guess is that I'll get more than enough protein in the brown rice and potato anyway, without having to add a protein. Protein is probably less important for me than if I were heavily exercising/body building, so for right now, I'm gonna not worry much about it. I just have to make sure I'm not increasing the carbs by much, if I'm skippingpsome proteins.

I'm also starting to enjoy reguar, somewhat plain foods, like spaghetti or potato, with nothing at all on them, or maybe with salt/garlic salt/pepper.

So, if you change nothing else, you might decide to just eat the things you have been eating, but spread them out over more smaller meals (like Elevenses :)

i'll keep you posted, and I'll be wishing you good luck.

ok ttys!

PS. Miche likes this icon and would love a copy: Emperor or Trouble (from aris-tgd@lj) Do you think it's ok to copy and use it elsewhere?

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh! I forgot! As long as she credits the creator (and, if she likes, JMS) then Miche should feel free to use this icon.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

On the plus side while getting used to a new diet is tough, it's likely to have way fewer side effects than a new medication. And the change will also likely help with the weight loss as well, so kind of win win in a way. Yes, I'm miss silver lining right now :)