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For anyone that has gone through a traumatic experience you just hope to forget the memory as quickly as possible! I do feel for anyone that has had to do this or still working through it - for me I was fortunate to have a case of amnesia (a partial or total loss of memory) just like Jason Bourne experienced except I wasn't shot a couple times in the back! Its amazing what the body does to help you through some situations. I had a memory loss of about four hours which enabled me to thankfully not remember my car accident and the initial trauma and pain but what I did also miss out on was my one and only ever helicopter ride, a flight to Waikato Hospital. I always joke about missing it till this day.
But I do believe heavily in what you may miss out because of an accident or misfortune will be repaid back in spades at a later date in some way or another if you believe in it and put it out there. I got mine back with not remembering my first and only helicopter ride 13 years later. I was fortunate enough to be a guest for MetlifeCare at the Mid-North Hospice charity golf tournament and a sponsor (Salt Air, Paihia) had donated a 20 minute flight to the Hole in the Rock, for a donation you could enter the competition of hitting a giant marshmallow as far as you could with a 9 iron - so one magical hit later and one squashed giant white marshmallow I had won my helicopter flight - hoorahhhh! Now to book it on a fine day.
Picking up from where we finished in my first blog - nutrition. I am studying level 6 nutrition through the South Pacific College of Natural Medicine currently and it has re-opened my eyes to how we can totally disregard what our body needs to be at its optimal health - we tend to as I did was to put work and other people first and not think of my own health. I had put together very specific nutritional plans for the golf turf surfaces I was managing but then never transferred this knowledge to my own eating or drinking!
This week I filled out a food diary and uploaded this information into some software to calculate my nutritional intake and calculate my levels of carbohydrates, fats, sugars, vitamins and minerals etc versus common RDI's. Honestly I wasn't shocked with how imbalanced my nutrition was, but to see how high my sugar and sodium (salt) was and how low in carbohydrates, minerals, D and B vitamins got me thinking.
So what do some of these deficiencies potentially mean with regards to my nutrition and upcoming surgery? After talking to local doctors and practitioners they all mention eating a healthy range of whole foods is vital to support the body and mind through any body stress but no actual specifics - I am a nerd with numbers so I had to look further to see what most whole foods contain and how do they help?
# Calcium and vitamin D are used extensively together in bone health especially with bone mineral density and osteoporosis
# Vitamin K is used for bone health, blood clotting and is vital for wound healing after surgery
# Vitamin A will help your body to build up new bone, tissue, mucus membrane or skin. This is especially important if you have had surgery on your bones
# Vitamin E for wound healing
# Antioxidants help to protect the body and heal itself
# Carbohydrates provide energy for your brain, muscles and nerves
# Fibre is required to combat constipation which is a common occurrence after surgery
# Iron is vital for the creation of new red blood cells
# Magnesium can relieve sore muscles and help with sleep
# Potassium keeps your heart healthy
# The amino acids in protein help to rebuild damaged tissue
# Vitamin C provides the collagen protein that is responsible for repairing tendons, ligaments and healing both your incision and the repairs inside your body.
The list does go on for awhile. Understanding what each nutrient does in the body we can start to create meal plans to enable not only meeting the RDI levels but provide nutrients for optimal health. My next blog will be about the changes I have made to my meals and what foods I have added to balance or boost my current nutrient deficiencies. It does take time to sort through all the numbers but that's what makes it fun for me.
If you have never completed a food diary for yourself then have a go and upload it into some nutritional software and see for yourself. I used a 7 day free trial to do so - easy! Until then take care everyone.
Cheers Marty
