I Am Not a Doctor

Really, I'm not

Since many have asked, here’s how I’m improving and maintaining my physical health. 

Let’s get one thing out of the way: the following is mostly my opinion. I only know what I read, what I hear, and what I experience –- just like the rest of you – and I form those opinions therefrom. 

Let’s get another thing out of the way: I’m not a doctor. You bet; I’m repeating this. If you have a doctor, check with him/her before you take any of my advice, especially if you are already taking some prescribed pharmaceutical. Now here we go. 

I've long believed that God has provided healing and therapeutic items or cures in nature. Vegetables, fruit and properly raised beef, chicken and fish. 

For a while, I was putting a ton of fruit through my juicer about twice a week which allowed me to drink a big glass every day: oranges, lemons, grapefruit, kiwifruit, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries raspberries, and bananas (sometimes; I don't like the texture of whole bananas, but that’s well camouflaged in the juice). To break up the sweet taste, I also added fresh ginger. 

This worked pretty well at keeping me regular, but it was also doing this one thing: keeping me fat. During most of my 50s, I stayed anywhere from 180 to 200 pounds. I'm 5’7”.  

In 2020, about three or four months after the plandemic began, I injured my thumb, so I went to the VA Medical Center to make sure it wasn’t broken and, thereby, discovered that I weighed 192 pounds and that my blood pressure was on the borderline between normal and high. When I got home, I prayed to the Lord that I would find a way to lose 40 pounds. And in His way of communicating with me, I got the feeling that I should ask for 50, so I did.  

As of today, I weigh 149 pounds – that's seven pounds from the goal for all you Gen Zers.

I’ve lost five pounds and the Afro since this photo was taken.

It was not easy, and I had many plateaus. But I did it simply by changing what I ate. I stopped eating all fruit (temporarily), pasta, rice, potatoes, and bread. I even stopped eating beans, which was tough, since I love beans and they are very cheap and filling for a mostly broke person. 

Now, I eat cruciferous vegetables and lean, pasture-raised meats. At the beginning of my journey, I still ate beef and pork, but when I stopped eating those, my weight loss picked up speed. 

The biggest thing: remove as much sugar as possible. This involves some label reading, so to avoid that, I skip most processed food. 

The second biggest thing: I started drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day. Just so you know, I didn't get started at that amount. One has to build up to it and I began at around 40. Now, sometimes, I'll drink up to 100 ounces, but that's a really motivated day! 

What do I drink? Coffee, tea, and water. To sweeten my coffee or tea, I use stevia. That takes some getting used to, but it’s okay now. 

This next part is the main reason for this post. It’s all about the supplements. 

I have some which I consider mandatory for me: Calcium-magnesium-zinc, prebiotic/probiotic, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Vitamin D is my lone prescription; my doctor began prescribing it roughly 15 years ago and she told me that almost all brown-skinned patients that she had treated were deficient in vitamin D. 

(Interesting: before the plandemic, I had been taking a cal-mag-zinc supplement for a few years because there’s a bit of osteoporosis on one side of my family. I remember when it was rumored that zinc and vitamin D helped mitigate the severity of “COVID.” If true, it turns out that I had been protecting myself all along!) 

Here are the optionals: 

1. Food grade diatomaceous earth + eight ounces of water (poop; parasites; some pain relief) 

2. Psyllium husk + eight ounces of water (poop) 

3. Vitamin B12 

4. Vitamin B1 

5. Mushroom powders (link is to the brand I use): chaga, ashwagandha, turkey tail, reishi

6. Saint John’s Wort Tea (anxiety) 

7. Valerian Root Tea (sleep) 

8. For pain relief: I use apple cider vinegar and lemon juice mixed with 8 ounces of water. Use a straw when drinking this concoction to keep the acid off your teeth.  

9. And I have reintegrated some fruit into the rotation: strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. 

I feel great.  

A little advice … 

It’s said that “black don’t crack,” but, take my word for it; it cracks a little. 

When you lose a considerable amount of weight at a certain age, remember to do this one thing: moisturize. As we know, black people have a deeply symbiotic relationship with lotion, but it takes a little more than that to minimize the wrinkles that appear after weight loss. I’ve been using essential oils and cocoa butter – the kind you have to melt before applying. 

A little more advice … 

I didn’t exercise that much but I’ve had that still, small voice whispering the same thing into my spiritual ears: movement is healing. 

Yet more advice … 

Don’t be surprised if some of your friends and/or family are not happy for you when you make good changes. I’ll just leave it at that. 

Rant one … 

There are tons of weight loss regimens out there similar to the one I used and I’m betting they all work for anyone of any age.  

My 61st birthday is next month. When I hear or read someone say that when a woman is over 50, she must resign herself to being overweight, I get angry because I used to believe that bullshit, too. In fact, the friend who got me started on my loss and who coached me through it is two years older than I am and lost a good deal more weight than I did! It’s like some people want older women to lose hope and die stuffing themselves with twinkies and whatnot. 

Rant two … 

 Don’t not believe the shame-mongers who say that black women are obese because of racism. Many of us are obese because we won’t put down the sodas. (FTR, I never really liked sodas.) 

This post isn’t as frivolous as it may seem. I think it’s very important to be in optimal physical shape for what’s coming. I’ll talk about that in the next post.