Know Your Drugs, Know Your Doses Part II

Food:

It is probably pretty clear by now that I love to throw things together. I really like "clean out the pantry" meals. I had some red wine in the refrigerator and didn't feel like making risotto so I sautéed a red onion that was on sale and needed to be used immediately or composted, minced garlic, cubed a few leftover sad potatoes, and boiled them in the wine until the alcohol cooked off and the potatoes were soft. I added turmeric, black pepper, green curry paste, a bunch of kale, cubed tofu, some vegetable broth, ramen noodles, and some coconut milk. I added a bit of siracha and za'atar to mine. It was a yummy hearty meal and food didn't go to waste.

Health:

I posted five years ago about my doctor's visit and I went to the doctor for a check-up recently and decided to compare how my numbers look in my mid-40's to just turning 40. I also wanted to talk about vitamin D.

My Numbers (2 days before turning 40):

• Blood Pressure - 102/68
• Pulse - 72
• Total Cholesterol - 167
• HDL - 48
• TC/HDL Ratio - 3.5:1 
• LDL -110
• Triglycerides - 43
• Glucose -82
• B12 -852 

My numbers now (45):

• Blood Pressure - 108/68
• Pulse - 67
• Total Cholesterol - 163
• HDL - 54
• LDL - 90
• Triglycerides - 93
• Glucose - 85
• B12 - 1183
• D - 8.8!!!!*

*Way lower than it should be and I don't know how long it has been low because past doctors haven't wanted to check since I wasn't showing symptoms, even when I asked for it. Ugh!





I started taking vitamin D (low dose, I think it was around 600 in spray form) in winter months a couple years ago, but I never really took it religiously. I was super relaxed about it. Never again! Vitamin D is now a daily part of our routine.

Activist Snippet:

The kids, especially my 12 year old, Dema, have To Kill a Mockingbird on CD and they are listening to it over and over these days. It is on in the background as they work on math equations, it is on as they draw, it is on while they play with Legos. I realize there are some issues with this classic and it deals with racism with the white man being the "hero" of the story, but it has sparked a lot of great discussion.