Yesterday on FB, IG, and the bird site, I posted about SISD which I called #SlowlyInflictedSuicideDiet

Well when I awoke this morning I decided to change that to ….

#selfinflictedsuicidediet #SISD

I remember the days after my Triple By Pass ( #triplebypassisnotacure ) when I discovered S.A.D. was the ‘Standard American Diet’.

And yes, it is SAD!

No wonder the country of America is going ‘batsh_t crazy’ since the food intake for generations has been so toxic.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers, that we have willingly turned over our precious HEALTH to Governmental Departments who have sold out to whoever gives them the most money to support anything except the HEALTH of the Taxpayers.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we let the ads from TV, Movies, Hollywood, Radio, Music, Newspapers, Magazines, Digital Media, Talk Shows, Daytime TV, etc…. convince us that eating Science Experiments and Frankenstein Lab Results is good for our Health.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we believe it is ok to destroy our Health and Future Generations by altering our DNA with Anti-Human Health Toxins that ‘taste’ good, and cause weight loss,  but alter our cellular expression.

(This refers to processed ‘foods’.  As in, most everything you see in a Grocery Store)

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we don’t give a damn about the embarrassing and shameful Factory Farms teaching our children it is ‘ok’ to not just shamelessly torture fellow creatures, but also viciously destroy the environment, our water supplies, rivers, lakes and streams as well as the Oceans.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we tolerate National Debates over which Bathroom to use when at the same time we are willingly IGNORANT and APATHETIC to the thought control that is fed the USEFUL IDIOTS to be distracted with … HELLO! Orwells 1984 ‘Newspeak’.

We are SUCH well trained and obedient citizens.

We are a Nation who is ‘OK’ with living the #SISD , the #selfinflictedsuicidediet

This Comfort Zone way of living and believing is regretfully one of the biggest exports to the rest of the world these days.

Cultures that adopt this manner of #selfinflictedsuicidediet  are following the path to Chronic Diseases that pursue levels held by our ‘fastfood’ addicted society.

And by referring to ‘fastfood’ I do not speak of the Drive Through Window, I speak of the manner the processed ‘crap’ enters the bloodstream once consumed and unnaturally assaults the Human Body, and injures Health.

So, there, I’ve said it…. #selfinflictedsuicidediet

#thinkaboutit

#SAD

oldmanskinandbones.com

The title of this blog is the question my friend Wilene asked after I posted some information about my Cardiac Heart Scan….

Yes, I am better than I was three years ago.

Honestly, I feel better than I have been most of my ‘adult’ life.

I no longer avoid, mowing the yard, running 13 or more miles in one morning, I am not afraid of a STRESS TEST, in fact I may see about scheduling one and check THOSE NUMBERS.

Yesterday in heavy traffic, during heavy rain in the early ‘rush hour’ in the Express Lanes of Hwy 121, I never felt the heaviness and pain in my heart like I did prior to my By Pass in 2015.  In those days, stressful traffic would cause chest pains and difficult breathing as the Heart Disease progressed.

I am not afraid to ‘do’ anything now.  I may try to ‘do’ what ever with a bit of wisdom and judicious care, but I would jump out of a airplane with a parachute and I might even try a bungee jump… or for sure ride a big scary Roller Coaster.

The only thing prohibiting a lot of things these days is finances.

You see, 3 years ago before the Heart  Attack and Surgery, just THINKING about those things would cause a pain, heaviness, and uncomfortable presence in my body…. and my mind.

But the more I do since the Surgery, the MORE I realize HOW MUCH BETTER I AM, than before Surgery and LIFESTYLE Change (Whole Food Plant Based No Oil).

I could go on about how much better I am and on several subjects, but Betty has suggested some things are just not proper subject material for Gentlemen and Ladies so I leave that where it is and move on….

Just a few days ago my Annual Blood Test came back wonderful,   even on the results of B-12, Calcium Levels, Vitamin D, and the other indicators that people ‘like me’ should(?) be  suffering with….

My Cholesterol was improved 31 points over last years results.

My Doctor said he wasn’t even sure the use of Statin Drugs could get those results, or would be of any benefit to me, and could possible cause ME more harm than be of use… and that if I wanted to continue my current Nutritional/Exercise Endeavors, he gives his ‘blessings’ and can’t wait to see me NEXT YEAR.

So I go yesterday get a Cardiac Calcium CT Scan Score Exam.  I paid out of pocket $49 through a Groupon offer.

Oh I had to drive 98 miles one way to get it done, but i am glad I did.  I plan to have another one in a year.  Even with out a Groupon deal. ( Currently, the test can cost between $100- $250)

But the numbers startled me !  It showed a level of Calcium blocking the arteries around my Heart at a level GREATER than 98% the average person in my ‘group’ (age and gender).

Like the Doctor told me when I was handed the test results, “… what did you expect?  You already KNEW you had Heart Disease!”

So, nothing new.

It was shocking though to see the amount of blockage.

I am pretty sure these are the arteries that came on the Heart, and this level of blockage is not an indication of the condition of the 3 by passes grafted onto the clogged arteries during the surgery.

I need to know more.

One result for certain, I have a ‘new’ perspective on life since yesterday.

My limited time on this earth has been brought back before my eyes for sure.

Crap y’all, that is some MAJOR BLOCKAGE around that Heart!  How close did I come to just dropping dead when ‘ the attack’ began October 1, 2015?

Wow!

I assure you, dear reader, that I feel like Superman since the Surgery.  I enjoy eating the Whole Food Plant Based NO OIL Delights I have been eating since coming home from the hospital.  It is a pleasure to average 20-25 miles a week running in the beauty of a morning. (Something I HAVE NEVER DONE till my 63rd year of life).

It is a joy to mow the yard (almost a 2 mile walk when completed pushing a NON SELF PROPELLED MOWER ) and never having to stop because of chest pains and shortness of breath.

It is a joy to take the deepest breath, hold it, and slowly release it and never go into spasms of coughing like I did when I was a DUMBASS SMOKER of almost two packs a day, taking away 7 minutes of my life with each Cancer Stick I smoked.

What a fool I was.

Your a FOOL, if you are doing it now…. but, you already know that don’t you?

I now know, that NOTHING FEELS AS GOOD, as HEALTHY FEELS.

Damn Y’all …. this scan shows a massive amount of damage and injury I did to my self for 60 years.

This Scan has performed it’s intended purpose.  I have concrete evidence to use from here out, to compare a baseline to future “… progression or REGRESSION of disease, and effectiveness of treatment administered “.

Sure, I had hoped the results would have shown no damage, but it is what it is.

I intend to learn everything I can about all this, and share it with anyone who cares to follow this journey in my life.

I hope someone will be encouraged to stop injuring their self, and chose to follow a wiser lifestyle.

Every bite you take will give health to your body, or it will cause injury.  There is just no in between.

Am I ‘in trouble’ because of what I see in this report?

Well, YEAH!

But, no more than I have been for these days since the Surgery.

I am more acutely aware of that danger than I was though.

Here is the ‘PLAN’ ….

Live life, like I was dying.   But hey, we all are dying, right?  Live in the moment.

Take responsibility for my Health.  I do not need to delegate that to a pill or anyone else.

Learn more about my situation/condition, and the realistic expectations of all involving the By Pass, and possibilities of life after this Surgery.  Then redefine possibilities.

Be grateful.

Tame my impulse to ‘react’ to the situations I encounter everyday, and instead, respond with consideration of the facts at hand.

I could go on… …

One of the most profitable events in my life is a relationship I have had about 21 years with Betty.

She is totally opposite from me in many areas.  It is a miracle we have not killed each other these last 21 years.

A couple of weeks ago she said something to me that has changed me and my way of dealing with things in life ….. like a awful calcium deposit scan report.

After I had been reacting to a situation I didn’t ‘like’ … ranting, raging, pontificating … she waited for a break in the DRAMA I was performing …. and said…..

” Ray, we are doing the best we can.  At this time, that is all we can do, and we can be happy with that…”.

Later that morning while on a run, I considered what she had said, and the validity of what she said finally hit me like a brick.

These last three years since my Surgery, I have been doing the best I can, and can be happy with that.

When ‘the facts’ change, and I ‘hear’ them, then I will do different.

After reading the report from start to finish, and hearing from someone who stated there is the possibility these numbers are the current status of the arteries that were BY PASSED, then don’t get all crazy with the awful numbers.

Yea, I still need to talk to a trained professional to explain what this report means to me.

But as much as I am dying today, I have so much more ability to enjoy life than I have ever had before.

I plan to do just that!

I am not going to change the crazy idea of hosting The 110 and Beyond Marathon 2065 for my 110th Birthday Celebration.

Don’t just DO something ‘impossible’ y’all, redefine impossible.

(more later)

oldmanskinandbones.com

[ this blog is going to be published now, and I am not sending it to my Proofer , www.TheCraftyProofer   Consider using her services if you need a work ‘proofed’.  She does great work, and can save you from appearing as a abuser of the English language.]

 

 

 

Friday (10-12-2018) I went for an eye examination because I am breaking up with the “readers” I have worn for 15 years.

Looked like a goofball wearing those $6 throwaways from the Dollar Store.

Why did I tolerate that for so long?

Sometime around 2003, I had Lasik surgery, and about a week later I started carrying readers.

A few months later I started using the strap around my neck to hold the readers so I wouldn’t have to fumble for them in my pocket or wonder where I left them.

I have been looking goofy with those around my neck ever since.

Just the other day, my youngest son was giving me some pointers on grooming a beard, and he commented mine may be getting roughed up on the sides because of the strap holding the readers.

I can recall the interview I did with Fatmanrants.com CLICK HERE to see my interview on EXCUSE SMASHERS with Fatmanrants.com

Those readers were more obnoxious than me slapping the table throughout the interview.

Ray! Ray! Ray!  Toss the READERS! OMG!!

At least I wasn’t “wind sucking.”

Point is… while getting the exam, the doctor showed me how I probably should have had a prescription 14 years ago.

But you know what?

I was content in thinking I would never need prescription glasses again, so I “blindly” wore those ugly things and always had a spare pair of $6 readers in the glove box or locker at work.

In fact, the last straps I bought were a bulk supply of 36.

Why did I accept this insanity for so long?

Well, yesterday I decided as soon as I completed my run of 13.13 miles, (new PR!)

 (yeah, I’m bragging)

that I would drive to Fort Worth and get prescription glasses.

I giggled like a little child seeing correctly for the first time after all these years.

I wonder what are the other areas where I continue to enslave myself with misinformed thoughts, or “half-truths”?

I am so careful to not consume newspapers, network news shows (Newspeak!), or popular culture.  I have not watched the local “news” for years… it is all CRAP!

Yet I still find myself a slave to thoughts and beliefs that are not true nor healthy on many levels.

I mean, it has not been that long since I believed eating a Snickers candy bar and having a Diet Coke was a way to “get protein” and be healthy at the same time…

Really.

(Insert facepalm here.)

My desire is to seek truth, and bask in the confidence that I am not dwelling in lies, deceptions, and half-truths.

I want to SEE TRUTH correctly.

Looks like when I pick up the new glasses this afternoon, at least I can see this physical world much better than it has been seen for the last 15 years.

Now, if I can just keep a “corrected” view of everything else, that will be a good thing!

oldmanskinandbones.com

[This blog has been proofread by www.thecraftyproofer.com  Check out her work!  She can save lots of embarrassing errors in your writings… !!]

I have never had Military Training, but I have read the Book ” ON COMBAT: The Psychology on Deadly Conflict in War and In Peace” by Dave Grossman.

In the book, he describes two types of people….

#1. SHEEP

#2. Sheep Dog

I am a Sheep Dog.

Really, not bragging, nor grandstanding.

I have run ‘into the fire’ to save some dogs chained to a building on fire.

Really, it is no big deal…. it is just the way I am made.

I will without thinking run towards the gun fire, into the building on fire, or the scene of a crash.

Someone needs help.

I can help.

If there are cuts or blood, I will pass out, or throw up after the event is over, but I will be there in the ‘heat of the battle’.

October 6, 2018 at 6 am, I and my son Joshua began participating in a 100 Mile 6 Man Relay in the Children of the Cane Ultra Event in Port Allen Louisiana.

This event completed almost 24 hours later for our 6 Man Team.

The youngest Team Member was 24 years old.

A couple of the fellows were maybe 35-39 ish…. ( I think that may be a little young for them, but I want to be ‘kind’ here…)

The others were 25-29 ish.

I am 63.

My first ‘leg’ to run was 10 Miles in the heat of the day, and had a Thunderstorm about half way through that stung with sideways rain that blew under the Metal Gazebo while accompanied with Lightening strikes all around. ( this ‘map’ is the entire course…)

After that Storm passed, I shared the narrow mud packed road with Sugar Cane Harvesting Monster Equipment ‘fishtailing’ and throwing mud as they continued with the gathering of the Sugar Cane.

I deferred to their passing back and forth at ‘high speeds’ because in spite of being a pedestrian, I was also an unwelcome distraction to their employment.

 ( the wheels were almost as tall as I was…)

I was probably a issue with their companies Insurance Policy.  I am not sure.

I did not want to become a ‘part of the harvest’.

 (this is a ‘clump’ of mud thrown off the wheels of the Harvesting Vehicles as they passed to and fro after the Storm.  It reached almost my knee ‘in height’, but remember, I am only 5’8”…)

I did return to the starting point, and ‘hand the baton’ as it were, to Joshua my youngest son.

Later that night, no, early the next morning at about 2 am, Joshua and I met on a Levee on the Mississippi River, after he completed 8.5 miles with the River on one side of the route going out, and coming back, where he ‘handed the baton’ to me, and I completed my last 6 mile ‘leg’ of the Relay, and then ‘pass the baton’ to Brandon to complete the 13th and final ‘leg’ of the 100 Mile Relay.

 ( look close… that is me on the left in an orange shirt, and Josh is on the right in a white shirt.  This picture was taken at waters edge on the RIVER SIDE of the Levee.  The ‘black bottom’ of the picture is the actual Levee, the gray ‘top’ of the picture is the night sky….)

I made my last ‘leg’ ok…

Even though I was met on top of the levee ‘one way’ path by a vehicle coming at me,

… got lost as soon as I was down the side of the levee,

recovered to get ON the Rail Road Tracks for a number of miles and not find a Train coming at, nor behind me,

run through totally dark Sugar Cane Fields …

… on dirt/mud path ways while trying to find direction flags the size of a book of Matches, that were not driven over during the day by the Monster Harvesting Machines during the day,

I was glad the reminders that I was in a Sugar Cane Field, or else, I might have forgotten….

go onto another set of ‘LIVE’ Train Tracks that included this stretch two bridges with a stream running under the tracks…

  (see my foot on the bottom of the pic?)

… then see my direction flags tell me to enter a pathway that looked like a entrance to a HORROR MOVIE set so short, I had to bend over to go through.

That was to spookiest yardage of the entire event.

The entire time, i was ‘hearing’  Jim Stafford’s song ‘I DON’T LIKE SPIDERS and SNAKES’ in my mind….

Some have shook their head and said I am too old to have done this, and that am crazy for putting myself into these ‘several’ CRAZY situations.

They may have reason to be justified on the issue of CRAZY, but I take Issue with the ‘too old’ thing.

Old is something in the thoughts that ‘run’ through the mind.

I dispel those thoughts.

Since my ‘wake up call’ in September/October 2015 with the Heart Attack I have studied these and other issues like ‘NUTRITION’ and a lot of Science surrounding this expanding field of Human Knowledge.

It has been, and continues to be a game changer.

I will not do anything to myself to contribute to ‘getting old’.

I may be CRAZY, but I am not STUPID.

I do not want to be ignorant either.

When the day comes, that I do die, I DO NOT want to look back, and discover that…WOW!!  I COULD HAVE DONE ALL THOSE THINGS!!??

I want to look back and grin, and say WOW!! Look at all that neat stuff I DID in these last years of my physical life on this earth!!  MAN was it FUN!!

Was COTC 2018 dangerous, was it crazy, was it off the charts??!!

Yep, it was. I hope it will be next year.

 (waiting for Josh to come back, and hand me the race)

I will be back to Children of the Cane Ultra in 2019.

At this time I am looking at the FIFTY K Run… and I hear some voice saying, ”Ray, what about that other event…”.

Did I hear …. ‘that’?

Hang on folks, cause we gonna find out!

Peace out Brothers!

Run Bold, and You Don’t EVER have tocount calories, nor ever have to measure protein, and DAMNED SURE NEVER FEAR a CARB!

I burn CArbs … i DON’T fear them.

Carbs are MY BITCHES.

oldmanskinandbones.com

(This Blog was not proofed by www.thecraftyproofer …. I am publishing without her gracious ‘proofing’ of my errors….

…. but if you need PROOFING work done for your things, CHECK OUT HER SERVICES !  She is the best!)