Another Chirp or Two from Your Canary

February 16, 2004

    I've now reached 132 pounds (60 kilograms), and will be tapering off into a maintenance diet. My blood pressure has reached numbers like 115/78 when I'm sitting here at the computer computing. There may be some ponderable improvements in both Tommie and myself (for example, in our skin) stemming from our anti-aging supplements, but it's a bit early to make pronouncements that I might have to later retract. In a few more months, we ought to know for sure. 
    In the meantime, I'm hopeful.
    Today, I ran two miles for the first time in 19 years. I had to quit running in 1985 because of a fallen left arch. By now, it's healed. I've hesitated to return to jogging because I've been concerned that hoofing it might be hard on my joints, but at least I can still do it.  In spite of climbing Suicide Hill every day, running two miles today was a challenge. It seems as though it's always that way when I switch from one type of exercise to another. If I can continue to jog for a month or two, jogging will probably become commonplace.
    I'd been developing actinic keratoses on top of my head for the past few years. Since Tommie and I began slurping our various supplements last year, they've stopped forming. That may just mean that my dermatologist froze the last of them off, but they were coming on relentlessly over the past few years. I visited my dermatologist today for a general checkup, and got a clean bill of health.
    I'm experiencing a few problems such as itchy skin and diarrhea. My dermatologist today gave me the name of an over-the-counter skin cream that I'm trying tonight. I don't whether these little problems have anything to do with what I'm eating, but I'm laying off supplements for a few days to see. The diarrhea could be caused by subconscious (and not-so-subconscious) anxiety connected with the medical tests I'm having to take as a part of my annual physical. 
    I've taken my temperature at different times the past few days. The lowest value I've registered was 93.8° Fahrenheit (34.333° C). This was after I'd been up for about an hour. I felt a bit cold and sleepy that morning. The preceding morning, I had measured 94.8° F (34.89° C). I'm often getting numbers like 95.1° (35.06° C.)  and 95.6° F (35.33° C). I've also gotten numbers as high as 97.8° F (35.5° C) so I know the thermometer's working all right. I'm taking my temperature carefully to make sure I don't get too low a number, but according to Roy Walford (Beyond the 120-Year Diet),  these numbers are consistent with caloric-restricted diets.