Here is Jeanne's story in her own words
about her experience at the Rice Diet Program
and
her life in the past eight months. We are
proud of her
commitment and determination to stay on the
path of
health.
Jeanne's Visit to the Rice
Diet:
A health crisis based on pneumonia and a double
pulmonary embolism (all within a five month
period)
brought me to the Rice Diet Program for the
fourth
time. I came back because my internist in
Dayton was
pressuring me to have a gastric bypass done,
and I
did not feel safe with his recommendation. I
felt that
the surgery did not deal with the fact that I
had to
decide to be responsible for my own health and
choices.
In the months before coming back to Rice Diet
Program, I was taking a host of medications for
various medical problems. I felt overmedicated,
fatigued, had severe, dependent edema that
sent me
to the ER three times directly from my
doctor's office. I
felt that I had only months to live and that
the quality of
my life was very poor.
Jeanne's Thoughts on Physical
Activity: I began Duke's Pulmonary
Rehab
program within a week of arriving at the Rice
House. I
had made arrangements for this before my
arrival in
Durham. I could barely manage to walk the 900
feet in
6 minutes required to start the Pulmonary Rehab
program. Thirty days later I was walking a
half mile
with great difficulty due to back and hip
pain, but I was
walking.
In the past thirty days, I have been able
to walk
three miles without stopping -- that is 40
laps of the
track! And I could barely walk two laps when
I got here.
My next goal is to walk three miles each day.
I am
determined to do three miles six days a week
before I
leave Durham. That is my minimum daily effort
needed to sustain weight loss, keep my leg
swelling
under control and keep some cardio fitness,
and it is
the basic building block for sustaining my
lifestyle
changes. Even if I do not lift weights or
stretch that day,
I have to walk (except for Sundays, my day of
physical
rest).
My blood sugars were in the 120s when I
arrived
and dropped a little after being on the
program, but
refused to go below the normalized 100,
except on a
very, very occasional basis. When I finally
started
walking more than 2.5 miles consistently, my
blood
sugars started showing readings in the 90s. That
means that in order to keep them below 100
(and get
Dr. Neelon to stop checking them every day),
I am
going to have to keep walking. That still
beats going
on insulin. All the more reason to get to
three miles
consistently before I leave.
I lift weights five days a week for an
hour each
time. I will change that to three days a week
when I
have reached a better level of fitness. But
for right now,
while I am still trying to become physically
fit, I need
the daily effort. I am hoping to realize what
I am told,
that I can sustain fitness with three hours
of weight
lifting each week.
The weight lifting has helped decrease
both the
level and frequency of my back pain. I still
have days
where pain is restrictive, but they are fewer
in number
and intensity. I am more stable, have better
balance,
can now do four flights of stairs without
stopping. I
keep eyeing the stadium steps at Duke but am
reluctant to try them and cause a flare up in
back
problems. For now, I am sticking to what is
working for
me and trying to stay away from things that
would
break the momentum of my progress.
Jeanne's Thoughts on Food
Choices: At some point I will have
to leave
the land of the Rice House and re-enter the
real world.
I will have to regularly be in grocery
stores, restaurants
and food situations. Ryan's nutrition classes
are
excellent for my needs. During the menu planning
class, I wrote out not only a typical day's
intake, but
some other choices as well. I decided that
four times
a year I would feast. Thanksgiving, because I
am not
going to spend the whole day fighting for
high level
discipline, Christmas for the same reason, my
birthday as a third choice, and St. Patrick's
Day
because it is a big family holiday.
I learned that the saturation school of
holiday
feasting is not going to be worth the effort
to get myself
back on track. I learned that I can plan a
holiday feast
that will be satisfying and include the items
most
important to me, but still stay within the
sodium, fat
and calorie guidelines that will not have me
feeling ill,
out of control or sodium saturated for days.
I value the lesson that just 100 extra
calories per
day will put ten pounds on me in a year. I hate
knowing that just 100 excess calories per day
will put
ten pounds on me in a year. And I always
smile when I
think of my friends, Cliff's brutal honesty
in saying that
just 100 excess calories a day for five years
will put
back every pound he has lost. Because that is
how I
put my weight on, one forkful at a time, with
a mindset
that a few hundred extra calories were not
going to
make a difference. But they did when my
actions were
persistent over time.
Ryan's recommended site of
www.calorieking.com lets me keep a daily log
of what
my intake is. I made a personal version of
her daily
intake form and use it to help keep myself
honest, on
track and face my daily choices for both
exercise and
food.
Jeanne's Thoughts on Blood
Pressure: For months my blood pressure
has been 100/60, I could almost stamp it on
my card
every morning. One day when it was 106/60 one
of the
nurses kidded me by asking why I was having a
blood
pressure spike that morning. Only two things
seem to
change that blood pressure for me. Eating
sodium,
which sends my BP up into the 140/110 range
overnight (and I feel lousy), or, the local
freeway traffic
on a morning when I am time pressured.
Jeanne's Thoughts on
Accountability: I liked the
dietician Ryan's
class where she helps us work with BMI (Body
Mass
Index is a calculation of height and weight to
determine amount of body fat). Pairing that
with Dr.
Neelon's talks about BMI and risk, I learned
that when
I arrived at the Program, I was eight times
more likely
to die because of a weight related health
risk. Now the
risk is only three times more than the
average bear.
My goal is to get to being something less
than an
average risk based on weight. Because the
scale is a
more jealous mistress than golf, I choose to
find and
use other indicators of progress and health.
These
include:
Weight - Body composition, I had a Bod Pod
assessment after losing 100 lbs to benchmark,
will
have another one done before leaving the Rice
House
so that I will know what I need to sustain)
Physical functioning - Strength, as
indicated by
weights I can lift
Stamina, as indicated by distance I can walk
without stopping
Breathing capacity, as indicated by the
decrease
in medications
Skin condition and leg swelling
Fasting blood sugars
Lab test results
Jeanne's Thoughts on Psychological
Support: Anger, anxiety, irritation and
frustration awareness is a HUGE effort. When
these
feelings pop up and I ignore or avoid dealing
with
them, my risk of focus and control is
fragile. Learning
as an adult to deal with feelings in real
time, as they
occur, and dealing with why, how and who...
Aaaagh.
And then I gently take myself by my hand and
ask...
And tomorrow what will you wish you had done?
And I
remind myself of Dr. Neelon saying,
eventually you will
run out of time. And I did on June 4, 2008.
Every day
since then is a gift, a second chance. And I
am trying
to make the most of it.
Jeanne's Thoughts on
Responsibility: While I am at The
Rice Diet
Program, this is my community. I try to
contribute in
small ways. Helping with flowers and
decorations for
Saturday night tables to make things more
visually
appealing. Listening thoughtfully to my
fellow Ricers.
Helping others who seem to be alone, lonely
or sad. It
reminds me to be grateful for what I have,
for this
opportunity, this chance.
I try to attend all of Dr. Neelon's
sessions. I learn a
lot about the reality of how my body works. I
lose a lot
of illusions about the impact my food and
exercise
choices have. I have to face that my diabetes
is more
about my calorie intake than it is about
family and
genetics.
I listen to a thoughtful reminder that the
only life I
can mend and save is my own. And focus on the
personal responsibility that implies for
sustaining the
changes I need to sustain.
And I learn at Dr. Rosati's Fireside chats
and
group sessions that "slow and steady" will
let me
continue to exercise, contribute to my weight
loss, and
lessen my risk of injury without "going for
the burn"
that derails many of us temporarily. And it
helps to
hear his statements, that in the end, it does
not matter
what sets me off on a binge (and the scale
jump that
goes with it), that the reality is that I am
the one who
chose to continue down that path, and I am
the only
one who can step off that path. I am grateful
for the
doctor's observation that food rises and
falls in
importance in one's life, and that is to be
expected. It
is natural, and that with effort and
persistence,
dieta/lifestyle can be maintained. Until I
heard Dr.
Rosati's reflection on this, I had not
realized that I was
using all or nothing. I was either on or off
my dieta.
My new mantra is do the next right thing,
and get
back on track at the next meal. It has been a
very
helpful tool to add to my kit.
Jeanne's Thoughts on Stimulus
Control: I avoid "food porn"
discussions
among other participants. I find that even
just listening
puts images into my thoughts, and brings up
neural
links that I am trying to break. I do not
watch violent or
disturbing human interactions intentionally.
And I have
learned that food porn discussions are just as
disturbing and destructive to my mental well
being. I
do not watch food commercials on
television... and if
they are on, I turn off the sound to lower
the impact on
me. Since I feel I do not have strong filters
for visual,
aural and conversational food triggers, I am
learning
ways to lower their impact in my daily
routine and life.
I have been using The Solution Program
suggested by lecturer and psychologist Ronnie
Kolotkin to learn ways of asking myself what
it is that I
need in that moment to keep myself in
control, in
focus. It is more difficult to use
consistently, but it does
work. My goal is to use it consistently.
I know I keep using the word consistent,
but lack
of consistency is what gets me into
difficulty with my
health. Good intentions just are not enough.
Sporadic,
intense efforts are not enough. I have to
establish and
sustain that daily focus and effort, that way
of life. And
since I often have the attention span of a
drosophila
fruit fly, it is hard to change my half
century and more
of inconsistent behavior. But I am, and I
will, and it just
takes daily focus.
Jeanne's Closing Thoughts: I
deeply appreciate the structure that Rice
Diet Program
offers me while I noodle out the structure I
am going to
use to replace it when I leave here. Until
then, I am
very grateful to use the Program's "training
wheels"
while I assemble and practice my new way of
life. The
opportunity to build a critical mass of
actual practice
choices, to make a large number of persistent
positive
choices in food selection, exercise actions and
interpersonal efforts gives me hope and
practice as I
try new behaviors and ideas in my life.
I thank each member of the staff for their
contributions, especially Ryan. The
intelligence,
kindness, listening skills and emotional
stamina she
brings to a difficult assignment are a gift.
I am
frequently amazed at the ability of the
different staff
members to sustain a level of caring concern
despite
the frequent setbacks and difficulties the
patients
offer. Faith and a belief in what you are
doing is the
only explanation for your ability to endure
with care and
gentleness in helping us change a difficult and
complex set of behavioral choices.
I began by needing to lose ten pounds 22.8
times.
I now need to lose ten pounds 8.2 times. It
will take
another year or so. I hear a medical
professional's
unvarnished opinion of using gastric bypass
as a way
of shifting responsibility (temporarily) to
technology
and surgery. And the factual reality that
after a
temporary period, I will still have to take
personal
responsibility for mending and saving my own
life.
Change is not coins in my pocket. It is a
series of
small, incremental adaptions that ease and
support
the path into a new way of life. And I am
working on
becoming the most important person in my own
life.
To read more Rice Diet success stories, click here.
Recipe: Nancy's Carrot Cake Muffins
While Chef Nancy is well known for her
Banana Muffins at the Rice House, these new
Carrot
Cake muffins have been quite a hit in the
past few
weeks. They are great for an easy breakfast
on the go.
Refrigerate them for two to three days, or
you can even
freeze them for up to three months!
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 cup dry oats
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup craisins (or dried cranberries)
- 1/4 cup shredded carrots
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp powdered cloves
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Gently mash
bananas in medium bowl until smooth. Add vanilla
and cinnamon. Add oatmeal and water, mix
gently with
fingers. Add chopped fruit and mix gently.
Texture
should be loose but not liquid, holding
together but
not stiff (if too stiff, add more water, if
too lose, add
more oats). Spoon into muffin tins and bake
for 15
minutes or until lightly browned on top. Turn
off heat
and let sit in oven for 10 minutes. These yummy
muffins can be refrigerated for 2-3 days or
frozen for 2-
3 months.
Nutrition Information
This recipe yields six servings.
Each serving contains approximately:
Calories:
150, Total Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 0g,
Cholesterol:
0mg, Protein: 3g, Carbohydrates: 30g, Fiber: 4g,
Sodium: 15mg
Check out more Rice Diet Recipes.
The End of Overeating
Dr. David Kessler, former commissioner of
the US Food and Drug Administration under
presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill
Clinton, recently published a wonderful new book
titled The End of Overeating.
During his seven-year investigation,
(which all
started after he watched an episode of Oprah) Dr.
Kessler met with scientists, physicians, and
food industry insiders to learn why humans
cannot resist food.
He says the ingredients by themselves
may not be harmful, but when combined with
other ingredients and marketing campaigns,
they stimulate millions of Americans. He
adds, "So what are we eating?
Fat on fat on fat on sugar on fat and
salt."
Kessler, like Rice House lecturer Jeff
Georgi says that food is excessively
activating the brains of millions of
Americans to get them to come back to eat
more. But that doesn't mean
people bear no responsibility for their
actions.
"Once you understand you are being
stimulated, then you can begin to fight back
to prevent being manipulated," he says.
If you get an opportunity to read this book,
you won't be disappointed, and there is a
good chance that you might change your entire
perspective on how and what you eat. So
get a copy of this easy-to-read and extremely
informative book and prepare to see food a
whole new way.
Visit Dr. Kessler's website for book
excerpts, videos and more.
http://
www.theendofovereatingbook.com/
The Rice Diet Store
The Rice Diet Store, along with fresh
fruits and
vegetables, provides 1-stop shopping with the
largest
variety and tastiest selection of very low
sodium and
saturated fat food products that we've
discovered in
decades of exploring.
All the foods we carry have been carefully
selected by Dr. Rosati and Kitty Rosati to
meet our
standards for great tasting, low sodium
foods.
Visit www.ricedietstore.com
and try the 14 day kit which includes
enough
food for 14 breakfasts and 28 other meals.
Simply supplement every meal with fresh
fruits and/or vegetables. The kit uses meals
you enjoyed in Durham. Happy Ricing !
