Happy Dad's Day ....Battle of the Bulge Update

 I miss my dad, but at the same time I am happy he isn't alive to see the world today. He would have been so disappointed in it. From the soaring amount of ignorance in society to the mere fact that his job was basically eliminated back in 2018. 

One thing about my dad, he would have not blinked an eye at me for wanting a little nepotism but, strangely we were just not wired that way. I had to go make my own pile of money, I had to make my way in the world. 

But its Dad's Day and I remember him enjoying BBQ and playing with dogs and just finding some contentment. That is all he wanted just to be content and happy and I would like to think that when he died he was close to that..plus he had gotten another chair to BBQ in. 

That all said, I inherited my dad's gastronomy. I can gain weight looking at a dessert menu at a closed restaurant. He did a good thing, for my sibling's wedding. He went on Medifast and shed more than 100 pounds in about a year. I felt so bad for him to miss out on the stuff mom and I would have. Yet, less than five years later he would gain it back, it was heartbreaking for him. The Medifast diet was very expensive and still somewhat is. At just over $600 a month you get the food, the dietician and medical stuff is another $500. You can get a loan for the time of thing but, at current interest rate you are better off dying because it be just as expensive. 

Sad but true. 

So, I have looked into the CGM nutrisense and medifast and all the other stuff. Here is the thing, you can get a constant glucose monitor for $99 but its the software platform that makes up the remaining $300 and worse you gotta do some things. 

First, you have to commit to monitoring on so-so platform and by the way the data while yours will be manipulated and shared like meeting Mark Zuckerberg selling a platform called Facebook. 

Oh, and you have to use different apps to connect the information

that you are having to document with the different apps to get the Constant Glucose Monitor to record everything. 

So, I utilized those apps sans the CGM for now. One, it gets me in the habit of recording my meals, two it is already showing me how ineffective the data is. Like on one "free" app where I share my meals it deducting the amount of my exercise from my calories and I am always in a deficit except I am not losing weight and like one meal I had was so high in saturated fats I got shamed by the app. 

Now, I am going to see a doctor and let them know where I am at with my battle of the bulge but here is the thing even on the fanciest diabetic drug there is a likelihood I would gain the weight back after losing the weight and there is NO STUDIES ON THE LONG TERM EFFECT OF THESE DIABETIC MEDICATION. I am pretty sure Liver and pancreas are going to suffer but there is a definite issue with colon cancer. 

As it is, if you are over the age of 50 you are more than 65% likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and that brings up Kidney health. If you haven't noticed there is only two in each human and that is an essential system to keep in line. After, your pancreas, liver, and colon kind of futz up what about your Kidneys? 

Right now 1 in 5 organ recipients are only extending their lives by 10 to 15 years...when we talk about the cost of losing weight what about

the cost of a new kidney ? and will you be able to afford it? Guess who is asking that question...health insurance companies and they are deciding who is eligible so imagine you are 55 years old. You get diagnosed with Kidney disease but because you are not a high wage earner or worse you won't be able to work past say 68 years you may not be allowed to get a transplant and even then you would have to enroll in so many other programs for your kidney health that you would still need a health care loan of $30K and at a current rate of 6% with a 7 year payment plan ...you would be just five years shy of your retirement. What kind of life would you be living? 

I admit I am rambling but, that is why you should take today to say Hi to your dad and tell him you love him...I know I miss mine. 

(editor's note did not use Chatgpt this rambling is all my own and images are taken by the author)