Health has been on my mind a lot lately, especially since it seems to be so elusive the past month or so. My allergies and asthma have kicked up a notch and I’ve been a sneezing, coughing, runny mess for the better part of March and April. My March episode lasted a good 3 weeks and my current bout hit the 2-week mark today  – although I am definitely on the mend after receiving a prescription for Prednisone (4-day dose) and Advair in addition to the Allegra and Flonase nose spray  already in my arsenal. After two days, I am seeing a marked improvement since before I got on the new meds. I admit, as effective as they are, I really hate being on so many medications. I am looking forward to the day that I can breathe clearly and not worry about triggering a coughing fit by laughing too heartily.

Lately, I have been pondering the connection between diet and health. Having reconnected with my friend Jeri Taira via Facebook and in-person by a chance run-in at Macy’s, I discovered that she has embarked on a total lifestyle change as a vegan and has seen dramatic improvement in her health and well-being. I also attended a class on Macrobiotic cooking taught by the awesome Leslie Ashburn about two years ago (while Baby Champuru was still in utero). She explained how the foods that we eat make a direct impact on our health and how we feel. I am totally convinced that this is true. So why am I not cooking the macrobiotic way or motivated to become a vegetarian/vegan?

In short, it comes down to economics and convenience. And more than likely, those are probably the same reasons why our nation is facing problems with obesity and poor health. The sad truth is that a drive-thru run at McDonald’s is much cheaper and faster than finding a healthy vegetarian or macrobiotic meal on the go.

In my defense, our family does not subsist on Big Macs and Happy Meals. I cook most of our meals at home, but the same rules apply. Locally-grown, organic vegetables and ingredients are not as readily available at your neighborhood grocery store. I can’t always make it to the Farmer’s Market, and even then, most of the vendors are not selling organically-grown produce. Organic ingredients are becoming more accessible at most grocery stores, but they are always sold at a premium price. Shopping at health food stores just kills me because I end up spending so much more than if I had bought the comparable (non-organic) items at the supermarket.

I never realized just how invaluable the vegetable garden in the backyard of my youth was until I recently. My dad with his famed green thumb grew the most beautiful organic vegetables ever: carrots, daikon (turnip), corn, soy beans, radishes, zucchini, and togan squash — but his Manoa lettuce was the stuff of legend.  I have fond memories of helping Dad in the garden, watering the beds of vegetables with the muddy garden hose in the late afternoon and being so excited to see the plants grow from tiny seeds into big, beautiful vegetables! There were also fruit trees: avocado, tangerines, papayas, bananas, and star fruit. We literally had a produce section growing right outside our house. You have no idea how much I miss that now. It makes me wonder how much money my parents saved on groceries by having that garden and how much healthier we were back then. (Well, we were also much younger, too.)

When I was making homemade baby food for Baby Champuru, I always made sure it was organic, no matter the cost — even driving 25 miles to Whole Paycheck Foods to find it. But since she has started eating table food, she has been eating mostly non-organic meals with the rest of the family. This troubles me somewhat. I want to give her the best start on life with good nutrition, but at the same time, sometimes it just doesn’t seem realistic.

I know the argument that buying healthy food is more expensive up front, but saves money on potential medical bills in the future. But I guess it’s similar to the idea behind investing in one’s retirement account: sacrifice now to enjoy later. But when you’re a single-income family living in Hawaii already sacrificing to make ends meet, being frugal at the grocery store is very important if you want to have enough money to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid.

I try to make sure we eat a balanced diet. I buy most of our fruits and some of our vegetables from Costco. I also frequent our neighborhood Times supermarket or Safeway for the rest of the ingredients — and opt for locally-grown produce whenever available. Admittedly, I do cook for convenience since I don’t always have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, which means I use chicken broth in a box (organic free-range chicken broth from Costco!), canned tomato soup for my chili recipe, minced garlic in a jar, and pre-cut broccoli florets.

Isn’t it enough to eat a “balanced” diet? (What about that famous Food Pyramid they keep harping about?) How much of an impact does eating organic really make? And if it is that substantial, why on earth does the FDA allow this harmful practice to go on while it’s endangering the health of our citizens?

Speaking of organic, here’s a link to a helpful MSNBC article entitled, “Organic food: is it worth the money?” It lists the “dirty dozen” must-buy organic fruit and vegetables, which are most likely to harbor pesticide residue than others. I need to have this list permanently tattooed on my forehead so I can steer clear of them when shopping. Or maybe I’ll just copy the list into my iPhone and be less conspicuous.

This entry provides more questions than answers, so I’m seeking your feedback. Are these issues important to you? What are your food purchasing practices? Any tips to share? Weigh in with a comment or send me an e-mail via my Contact Form. Thanks!

I am so sick of being sick.

Baby Champuru developed a fever on February 22, nearly two weeks ago, which turned into croup, and now she just has a persistent mucousy cough and a runny nose.  Not long after, I got sick — then, Hubby.  Now my parents are sick.  Be warned: those baby germies are potent and latch on to anyone who has contact with them!

Being mostly sequestered indoors for two weeks is not good for my mental health.  Yesterday, we hit the mall for a few hours, which was therapeutic for me, but perhaps resulted in us overexerting ourselves.  Today, we’re all lazing around the house recuperating.

I called the pediatrician’s office this morning  and talked to the nurse about Baby Champuru’s progress.  Since she’s still coughing, the nurse prescribed Albuterol and advised to keep her on it for another week.  If the cough doesn’t improve within a week, we will need to bring her in for a follow-up visit.

In this milieu of sickness, it feels like a long, dark tunnel and I still can’t see the light at the end.

Wednesday marked my last doctor’s appointment for a while.  I wrote an entry back in January entitled, Doesn’t this thing come with a warranty? lamenting about the numerous doctor’s appointments and tests I had scheduled for the months of January and February.

I have one more test scheduled for next month, an ultrasound to check on an ovarian cyst that they found on a recent CT scan.  If there’s anything that I learned after enduring two years of fertility treatments is that I am prone to all kinds of weirdness in my girl parts, thanks to endometriosis.  Endometriosis is also what necessitated fertility treatments to begin with.  If you’re interested in reading the whole story about my struggles with infertility, complete with its ups and downs, emotional rollercoasters, and a subsequent happy ending, you can read the conception/pregnancy archive starting here.

The doctor suspects that the “cyst” they saw really is just a benign endometrioma, so they’ll do the ultrasound to be sure. I hate those ultrasounds, since it requires a full bladder. Since childbirth, I don’t do well with a full bladder so I’m not looking forward to a morning of squeezing my legs together while waiting to be called.

What started this flurry of appointments was the previously mentioned CT scan. Most troubling was that the scan detected mild sclerosis in the bilateral sacroiliac joints and could be caused by a number of different issues all of them not good. Differential diagnoses: Ankylosing Spondylitis, Sacroiliitis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, or degenerative joint disease.   Whoa. Scary stuff, eh? I thought so, too.

I was referred to a rheumatologist for follow up.  After reviewing my scan and ordering a battery of blood tests, the doctor did not seem concerned and believes that the radiologist simply “over read” my scan.  In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry and I’m actually glad the radiologist raised the red flag on it — even if it caused some moments of anxiety over pondering the what-if’s.  I would guess that it’s probably standard operating procedure to note even the smallest anomalies, because what if there was indeed something wrong?  In this highly litigious society, it’s better to disclose every little thing than to be sued for malpractice.

I will return to the rheumatologist in six months to do another x-ray to see what’s going on with those sacroiliac joints of mine.  I’m praying that the sclerosis will be gone by that time.  The doctor gave me some back strengthening exercises to do since I also complained of some lower back pain which is not related to the sclerosis they found, but completely due to my poor posture, weak abs, and lack of stretching and activity.

I feel like I’ve been given a new lease on life. After being given the differential diagnoses last month (when I wrote this entry) I was really starting to feel my mortality — and I’m not even out of my 30′s yet.  It did serve as a wake up call to take better care of my health, however.  Not just for my sake, but for the sake of my family.

Day #4 of the Evil Stomach Virus of 2010. The first two days were torturous, but day #3 was starting to look up.  The trips to the restroom were not as frequent and the fever and fatigue had lifted.  Although the symptoms were not completely gone, I was feeling somewhat better. Today, I got a tad bit too ambitious. Or maybe I was just sick and tired of eating soda crackers and chazuke (tea rice).

Okay, I admit. I got cocky. I decided to push the envelope.  I was jonesing for something with FLAVOR!  Something tasty-delicious on my tongue. I asked Hubby to bring me home an M&M McFlurry from McDonald’s on his way home from work. Against his better judgement, he obliged.  After I devoured it, Hubby kept asking me how I felt.  Never better!  I thought I had kicked the tummy bug out on its nasty, virulent ear.

So, for dinner I finished off the last of my chicken soup and ventured to have a teeny-tiny piece of meatloaf. That was when my stomach decided that enough was enough and promptly put me in a headlock and made me cry “uncle!”

That little piece of meatloaf kicked me back to day #2 in terms of symptoms, just minus the fever. My poor stomach is so alarmingly bloated that it looks like I’m about 6 months pregnant.  (For the record, I’m NOT.)  Oh, and the abdominal cramps. The cramps!  It almost puts labor pains to shame. I said, “almost.”

And by the way, this illness has totally put a kink into my NaBloPoMo and Project 365 plans. Yes, it was THAT bad. When order returns to my bowels, we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Apparently, I forgot to take my Mommy Invincibility Vitamins the other day because I succumbed to this awful stomach virus.  This is the worst case of gastroenteritis I’ve suffered and it’s literally flattened me to a useless pulp the past few days.  Thankfully, Hubby was able to take sick leave the past two days to care for Baby Champuru while I’ve been convalescing. Now it seems that Baby Champuru may be coming down with a cold: sneezing, coughing and runny nose. I am praying that she doesn’t catch my tummy bug because it can be very serious (even fatal) for children under 5 years of age. Hubby, too, has developed a stubborn headache that refuses to be banished by Tylenol and we’re hoping that he’s not falling victim to illness as well.

Prayers for health in the Champuru household are appreciated!