Good Luck and New Birth

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, I've been - even more than usual - very busy with life, research, family, and endeavors. Between the madness, since Wednesday, I've noticed a new neighbor...

Of course, because I'm the weird nature lover who likes to over analyze animal/insect messages, I had to Google the meaning of the caterpillar. The little guy is still hovering around our front door days later, no longer on the doormat (dangerous!), instead he has migrated to the door trim. I think I'm going to miss him when he moves out, I've really become accustomed to seeing the little guy.

Borrowed from the internet...

Caterpillars are associated with good luck and new birth. In the second stage of metamorphosis the caterpillar feeds to gain strength and build a foundation before the cocooning stage begins. This stage is when we give birth to new ideas and new creativity which hones the foundation to allow a new expression of life. The caterpillar represents new birth and new foundation and is a symbol of good luck in the early phase of new actions.

Caterpillars usually signify a need for gentle and quiet approaches to our activities and endeavors. They can also signal a surprise or gift about to be offered to us, or that can be beneficial to our future if we take advantage of it. Caterpillars herald a time of good news, new birth, and creative inspiration, signaling a time to get ready to start a new project or initiate a new endeavors.

The appearance of the caterpillar reminds us to be cautious in starting our new endeavors. We should protect and disguise them as much as possible as we pursue them. If we do so, we will see rapid growth and we will experience the birth of a new foundation.

Caterpillars can also indicate obstacles within our path. They may even indicate that a person or persons are blocking our growth or serve as a reminder that we must look at things and people around us realistically at this time. Failure to do so will slow down our progress.

And caterpillar also reminds us that new growth cannot occur unless the old is shed as the caterpillar grows quickly and must replace its skills with some caterpillars shedding their skins every few days to make room for a bigger body. A caterpillar showing up may indicate that we are refusing to shed the old that we have outgrown. (Andrews, 1999)

Ketogenic Basics & Recipe

Best breakfast ever, if you're on the restricted ketogenic diet...

Ingredients

1 egg

1/4 c kale

1 Tbsp butter 

0.2 oz goat Brie cheese

1 small clove of garlic 

Pinch turmeric

Pinch cayanne 

Fresh ground pepper

Turn on the oven to 325. Take a ramekin and add the butter. Put it in the oven to melt. While the butter is melting, shred the kale and measure. Slice the garlic and set aside (as a topping). Pull out the ramekin. Add the shredded kale and crack the egg on top. Spice with turmeric & cayanne & cracked pepper. Add the goat cheese and place the ramekin back into the oven for about 10 minutes (less if you want it runny, more if you like it hard). Once out of the oven sprinkle with slices garlic.

Nutrition Info (200 calories)

18g Fat

8g Protein

3g Carbohydrate 

Ratio: 6 : 2.6 : 1

As you'll note, I'm not eating a perfect keto ratio (4 : 1 : 1) at every meal. I don't really care though, it's still keeping my glucose and ketone levels in the Seyfried zones so I feel good about it. Life is too short, and too stressful to be all measure-y and what not. It was delicious, and easy. I mean, whatever it takes to stay in ketosis, right?

I started reading up on why not to eat a restricted ketogenic diet last night and I couldn't find jack, or jimmy for that matter. I did it because I started to doubt the theory. Instead of finding anything negative, it reestablished my drive to continue. There definitely needs to be a caloric restriction though. If you don't limit your protein the tumor will still grow. Excess protein converts into glucose. It's important to only eat about 1g protein to each kilo of your body weight (for the RKD). To find out your body weight in kilos take your body weight (135 lbs), and divide it by 2.2 (135/2.2=61.36). So, I should only eat about 61 grams of protein a day. Nice and simple. As for carbs, I should stay below 20 grams (20g is a general rule for all). I am able to eat the rest of my calories from fat. I track everything that I eat with MyFitnessPal (an app for the phone and better yet on the desktop - on the desktop you can change the perameters of your fat/protein/carbs). My restricted calorie amount is 1290 (a 75% decrease from my daily metabolic rate).

Anyway, not that anyone really cares, but I just wanted to talk that out in case other brain tumor fighters were curious. 

Hope you're all having a fabulous day. I'm off to plant my cucumbers.