Balanced Diet

Of the millions of diets that have been marketed since the seventies, I'm sure I've tried thousands of them. At the moment, I'm trying to combine the DASH diet with a high-Ph/low acid diet, and it isn't easy. The DASH diet is fairly obvious to anyone who knows about nutrition; however, I'm surprised by the foods I'm supposed to avoid for LPR. Not eating citrus makes sense. I know that's acidy, and it's always been one of the few things that give me indigestion. But pepper? Really? I don't use much salt, but I am a pepper freak -- not just black pepper, but all kinds of flavorful peppers. That bums me out. Also, milk and yogurt are fine, but cheese is out. I hated cheese when I was a kid, but I've developed a fondness for it as an adult. And worst of all, I'm not supposed to eat chocolate! (I need a minute to compose myself.)

You always hear people say that moderation is key, but in some cases even moderation is over-indulgence. My goal is to get the reflux under control (and hopefully lose some weight in the process) so I won't have to take medication for it. Then if I can get my weight down, maybe I won't need the blood pressure medication anymore either. I've had a time finding the right meds for blood pressure, but apparently I'm not alone in that. My doctor said that sometimes one's body becomes attenuated, but I'm not sure he's using that word accurately. To me that would mean that those medicines cease to keep lowering blood pressure. In my case, I have had problems like extremely low heart rate, fluctuations in blood pressure, and uneven heart rate -- all of which have led to changes in medication. It's been a big pain in the ass and it would be fantastic to be able to stop taking anything.

Today (and, in fact, this yesterday too) has been my education period. The implementation starts tomorrow. Tonight I'm cooking a frozen pizza, and you'd better believe I'm putting freshly grated parmesan and crushed red pepper on every piece. Breakfast will be oatmeal, and I'll go from there.