Thursday, July 27, 2006

New Look!

As I'm sure you noticed right away, I decided to try a new template for my blog. I wanted to have a place for my menus, supplements, etc. I'll do my best to update these new sections everyday.

My menu section will state what I PLAN on having that today. That is of course subject to change as the day goes on. Sometimes circumstances and schedules have a way of altering our menu plans.

My supplements are taken every day. Here's the breakdown:

The multi-vitamin is just plain common sense, as is the calcium. Everyone should be taking these, no matter how you eat.

The chromium I take for two reasons: #1 It promotes the metabolism of protein, fat and sugar, therefore helping keep your blood sugars stable. (NOTE: Diabetics should check with their doctors before taking Chromium. If you are taking insulin and chromium you may need to adjust your insulin dosage, per your doctors instructions.) Reason #2 is explained further down. A great little book to help you understand the health benefits of this supplement is called Chromium Picolinate - Breakthrough in sports Nutrition by Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D. I found my copy at a GNC store a few years back for only $4.00.

The fish oil is a great source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, DHA, and EPA, which helps maintain a healthy heart and vascular system. Be sure you buy they Enteric Coated kind, otherwise you'll get those nasty "fishy tasting" burbs all through the day.

The chromium and fish oil also serve another purpose, for me anyway. Combined they help treat A-Typical depression, which I suffer from. I take these in the morning and evening and they have made a huge difference. I do not take anti-depressants and do not plan to. I tried that a few different times and had horrible side effects. So for me this is my only option, and thankfully it works well. If you'd like to learn more about this method of treatment you can read this great article from Jonny Bowden, which was featured in Low Carb Luxury's e-zine sometime back. Or you can go straight to the source and buy the book Lifting Depression - The Chromium Connection by Malcolm Noell McLeod, MD.

Water intake - well, that's pretty much self-explanatory.


As far as exercise goes, I have a several different options. So I'll be posting my exercise plan for that day as well. I'll be changing it often so I don't get bored. Boredom with exercise is one of my biggest enemies!

Then there are always the stats, which to be quite honest, took a lot of guts for me to post. Those numbers were painful to type.

Ok.. so now that you know why I changed the template on my blog, I'd like to know what you think. Do you like it? Do think it's too crowded? Do you like the old one better? Please share your thoughts with me - Thanks!

3 comments:

Former Donut Junkie said...

Nice blog! The chromium and fish oil connection with depression is one I'd never considered. I've been taking 4,000mg of fish oil daily and 200mcg of chromium daily for a couple of months. My 'brain fog' has gotten much better and the depression is better as well, but I was attributing it to kicking sugar July 1.

I'm PP4Life on LowCarbDiscussion.com and enjoy your posts.

I also have a low-carb blog at http://lifewithoutdonuts.blogspot.com/

Perhaps you could elaborate on the chromium and fish oil / depression connection on the forum. I'm interested in hearing more. Thanks.

Amy Dungan said...

Hi PP4life! I enjoy your posts as well and I appreciate you taking the time to comment here! I'll have to hop over to your blog soon and take a look. Thanks for sharing the link!

I'll dig up some information regarding the depression topic and do as you suggested. Many people suffer from depression and are at a loss as how to deal with it. While kicking the sugar habit certainly helps because it regulates blood sugar, thereby stopping the wild moods swings, there are still other factors that cause it. You hit your depression with a double whammy! No sugar and helpful suppliments! Good for you!

Anonymous said...

Hey guy's!! Yesterday my brother bought a GNC Chromium Picolinate 500 at just $11.99 from GNC store on Couponalbum.com...!!!