Page 7 | Michael T. Miyoshi

The Results Are In · 15 August 2013

I am excited about the results of my annual physical examination.

Like I mentioned before, this is the first time I have been excited to go in for my annual physical. I have been worried for years that my doctor would put me on some strict eating regime or try to convince me I should take some medication to lower my cholesterol. And I always wondered whether I was getting close to being diabetic or not.

This year, I was confident that I would not have anything to worry about. It is true that my friend put a seed of doubt in my mind, but the notion that I might need to start at square one again was alleviated by the doctor even before I went to get blood drawn. When I asked him what he expected, he said that he everything ought to be A-Okay.

Thankfully, it turns out that he was right and that little doubt (introduced by my friend) was wrong. The exciting thing is that this is the first time in ten years that I have had normal readings of cholesterol.

My HDL (good cholesterol) is the highest it has been since I have been keeping track (49.0 mg/dl). The doctor said it tends to go up with exercise. My LDL (bad cholesterol) is still normal (88.0 mg/dl) although it has fluctuated up and down for many years. But I am happiest about my triglycerides being normal (138 mg/dl) again. (As I looked at the data, I was shocked to see that at my worst, I had over double the suggested high end of triglyceride level. Especially since according to the Mayo Clinic, having high triglycerides is bad for your heart.)

I know that I have abused my body with lots of different ways of eating and had periods without much exercise. In fact, I know that my own choices are what govern my health. All I need to do is look at the last year to see the effects of choice. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I eat and what I do have the greatest impact on how healthy I am. And that is the reason I am so excited about the results of my annual physical examination.

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Two Weeks Left · 14 August 2013

In two weeks, I will end a year of writing and posting something six days a week. I am excited and anxious at the same time.

With two weeks to go on my yearlong health blogging, I realize that I have covered quite a bit of ground in terms of writing about my health. I have written time and again about eating and running even to the point where I sometimes feel I have repeated myself. I realize that the whole point of this crazy exercise was to get healthy, but I never really thought too much about the writing part. Except to think God was crazy for making me write and post something every day.

With two weeks left, I realize I am the crazy one.

With two weeks left, I wonder what I am going to do with my writing. I wonder what new project I will take on. I even wonder if I ought to keep publishing each day.

(Actually, I doubt I will publish every day, but maybe more than just once a week.)

I have no doubt that I need to keep writing each day. In fact, I have more ideas now than I have had in a long time. I have screenplays and essays and books that need to be started. More importantly, I have projects that need to be finished.

With two weeks to go, I am also realizing that projects really do have endings. Even though my journey toward health will never end, the writing project will. There will be an end to the madness of publishing a piece about health five or six days a week. So regardless of what does or does not show up on my websites, the writing will not stop.

There are too many words that need to be written. Too many things that need to be said. Too many stories that need to be told.

In two weeks, I will have completed a short segment on my lifelong journey toward health. I will have completed a year of blogging about that journey. I will have solidified the discipline of writing every day.

I am excited and anxious about the end. Because it is also a beginning.

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Whole Grains · 13 August 2013

Ingredients:

Any (whole) grain:
(Quinoa,
Brown rice,
Steel-cut oats,
Etc.)

Directions:

Boil two cups of water for every cup of grain. Add the grain, cover, and let the water come to a boil again. When the water comes to a boil, simmer (with the cover on) for twenty to forty minutes. Let steam with no heat for ten minutes.

It might seem intimidating to cook whole grains (at least it was for me), but they are pretty easy. Maybe I am wrong, but all the grains that we have cooked so far have been prepared the same way. Boil water, add grain, boil the mixture, simmer, steam. Even the ratio of water to grain has been the same – two to one. The only thing that has really been different is the time. Somewhere between twenty and forty minutes with ten minutes steaming with no heat seems to do the trick. The steel-cut oats are perfect when cooked twenty minutes while the brown rice is best between thirty and forty.

Now that I am proficient at cooking grains, I suppose I can help making dinner more. I should anyway. After all, it is my fault that we need to cook differently. Gone are the days of making white rice, throwing a slab of meat on the grill, and maybe throwing together a salad. Here to stay are the days of cutting up veggies, making salads, and cooking grains. It is more work and I need to pick up the extra load. At least I can now make one more contribution by cooking those delicious whole grains.