The title of this post is cribbed from Weird Al's parody of Mick Jagger's "Ruthless People." It's minor Al -- perhaps his most obscure spoof. The original song was never close to being a hit. (It doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.) It's from the soundtrack of a movie of the same name that I think was pretty successful when it came out, but has been mostly forgotten today. Apparently it was Bill Pullman's film debut. Honestly, browsing that link, I'm surprised to see Bill Pullman is still alive. I thought I remembered him dying a few years ago. Am I committing the classic Bill Pullman/Bill Paxton blunder? Ah, yes indeed. Bill Paxton died in 2017 of a stroke caused by a heart condition. RIP Chet.
Anyway, I'm not toothless now, but I do have one less tooth than I did in my last entry. I had #5 yanked out my mouth -- and I do mean yanked. The periodontist literally took a pair of pliers and pulled it right out. I don't know what I was expecting -- laser surgery? -- but not something that primitive. Whatever. It got the job done, and I didn't feel a thing. I do now, though. It kinda hurts. I suppose that's to be expected, but it makes me nervous. The entire purpose of doing this was to make things feel better. If that area is still going to bother me, I might as well have left it in and saved myself the hassle and the expense. But we will see. The hope is without that tooth in there constantly irritating everything it will heal, I just need to give it some time.
The hole in my head isn't super noticeable, thankfully because the lab totally botched my "flipper" (a retainer with a prosthetic tooth on it). It didn't fit at all, so I had to go back to the dentist and get another molding taken, and that's now with the lab (a "rush job," I've been assured), and we will see if they get it right this time. In the meantime, I'm rockin' the gap. It's not really a big deal, though. Like I said, it's not totally obvious, and mask mandates are still in effect almost everywhere indoors, so it's mostly covered up in public, anyway.
In other health news, my arthritic shoulder has been feeling noticeably better of late. It's causing me less discomfort, and my range of motion is greater than it used to be. It's still not right, not even close, but, hey, better is better -- that's what I've always said.
Speaking of better, I've started eating better. As I've mentioned before, the belly is really getting too big. I couldn't fit comfortably into a pair of shorts I bought last summer. That's the line crossed. I don't want to have to buy a new wardrobe. Not going shopping -- that's my motivation to narrow the midsection. It's almost all about the diet. I hope to be able to take more exercise classes now that my gym has opened back up to near full capacity,* but it will all be for naught if I continue to eat a sleeve of Ritz between meals everyday.
*I felt like I was pretty good during quarantine, exercising mainly on my own, but then I took the strength and conditioning class at my gym on Monday, and it was like, Oh, right, this is what it's supposed to feel like. For whatever, reason in-person classes with other people are so much better than anything I do by myself.
Here's my new diet. I'm going to break it down for your benefit. In the morning, I eat a 1/4 cup of oatmeal with blueberries and a tiny bit of sugar or honey. I also eat a hard-boiled egg or drink a protein shake (milk, protein powder, peanut butter, half a banana). For lunch, I eat protein and vegetables -- turkey slices and carrots with hummus, or eggs with peppers and onions (if I didn't eat an egg in the morning). For dinner, I also eat protein and vegetables -- maybe a turkey burger (no bun) with avocado and tomato or chicken with asparagus. Then at night I eat a small bowl of fruit with cottage cheese and a small bowl of granola and yogurt. That's it. No junk food, no snack food, no desserts. If I get really hungry between meals, I'll have a few cashews.
So far, it's going pretty well (all four days of it). It's spartan enough for me to shed some flab (hopefully), but not so spartan that I'll give up after a few weeks (hopefully). Don't worry, I'll keep you all posted on my results.
Well, I didn't expect this post to turn into DG Health Watch: Spring 2021, but so it goes.
Until next time...
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