Clomipramine (Anafranil) | Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) | Label for NDA 019906
Fluvoxamine | OCD | Label not available
Sertraline (Zoloft) | OCD | Label for NDA 019839
Fluoxetine (Prozac) | Major depressive disorder / OCD | Label for NDA 018936
Duloxetine (Cymbalta, Drizalma Sprinkle) | Generalized anxiety disorder | Label for NDA 021427 , Label for NDA 212516
Escitalopram (Lexapro) | Major depressive disorder | Label for NDA 021323
Lurasidone (Latuda) | Bipolar depression | Label for NDA 200603
Olanzapine and fluoxetine, combination drug (Symbyax) | Bipolar depression | Label for NDA 021520
Filtering by Tag: health
Olympic Athlete Meals and Snacks
Condensed from this blog post.
Breakfast:
Eggs with hash browns, cup of fruit and coffee
Two pieces of toast with Nutella, apple with peanut butter, glass of milk, juice and a cup of tea
Oatmeal, yogurt, banana and nuts
Smoothie, egg wrap, yogurt and corn flakes
Greek yogurt with granola and fruit or a smoothie, plus water and milk or orange juice
Cereal with milk
Yogurt with granola, bread roll with jam, soft-boiled egg and fresh fruit, plus coffee and juice
Two pieces of toast with seeds and grains (like Dave's Killer Bread) with organic butter, two eggs over easy, half an avocado and coffee
Oatmeal with fruit
Breakfast sandwich with eggs and avocado and a bowl of plain yogurt with honey, chia seeds and hemp seeds
Ezekiel bread with almond butter and jelly and a shake with spinach, blueberries, mango, coconut milk, orange juice and chia seeds
Flaxseed oatmeal with chia seeds and raisins
Oatmeal and orange juice
Lunch:
Club sandwich and soup
Large salad, a heaping plate of rice, chicken and roasted veggies
Pasta with meat and a vegetable
Meat-based sandwich, yogurt, fruit
Salads with baby spinach, chicken, veggies like peppers, broccoli, carrots and cucumber, and balsamic vinaigrette
Pasta dish with vegetables
Salad with a carb, like pasta or potatoes, with meat and bread
Sweet or savory oatmeal
Salmon and veggies
Sandwich with a side salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Leftovers from the night before, such as three-bean chili with pita chips
Avocado toast with an egg
Supper:
Steak or pasta with a vegetable
Salmon, pasta and sautéed asparagus, sometimes with a glass of wine
Carbs and meat and vegetables
Carbs like rice, pasta or bread with a protein such as fish, red meat or chicken, plus a vegetable and, occasionally, some soup
Stir fry with quinoa or another grain instead of rice, with protein like chicken or shrimp and sauce
Chicken with rice
Salad with sides of pasta and meat, soup and bread, then dessert
Salad, heavy on vegetables with a 4- to 6-oz. portion of meat, such as steak, fish or chicken
Salad
Some type of protein, starch and vegetable
Tacos
Snacks:
Granola bar and protein shake
Cereal with milk before bed
Smoothie with almond milk, yogurt, banana, cocoa, cinnamon and coconut
Power Bar and sports drink while working out, then chocolate milk after
Protein shake
Chocolate
Yogurt, fruit, Special K bars
Nuts or fruit in between meals, with water, sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade, and coffee
Yogurt and cereal, chocolate, cookies, or cheese and crackers
Greek yogurt, homemade banana muffins
Almonds, dried fruit or applesauce
Smoothie with spinach, pineapple, protein powder, orange-mango juice, rolled oats and chia seeds
The Cost of a Cardiac MRI
Earlier this year I had a cardiac MRI. You slide down the MRI tube and they inject gadolinium through a vein in your left hand. There's a cold sensation that runs the length of the left side of your body, which is fine until it reaches your head (brain). You sort of want to cry out, but you also don't want to be a wimp about it, and it passes.
Here's the bill: $7,056. I always think about medical bills in terms of Mercedes payments. You can see that my cardiologist pays about $2,846 a month for his S600, so the cost of the cardiac MRI will make almost exactly two and a half car payments for him. Guess who doesn't want a Single Payer healthcare system in America?
Weight Watchers Progress -- Month Two
(Please first read my Weight Watchers Progress -- Month One post for background, how I did not actually *join* Weight Watchers, and my original tips for success.)
First Things First
I weighed in at the end of December 2016 at 206.5 pounds and weighed in at the end of January 2017 at 198 pounds for a loss of 8.5 pounds on the month. Oddly I was disappointed by this excellent result. I did have quite a few days in the month where I "blew out" the point range, consuming two or even three times the recommended amount, but I quickly got back on the bandwagon after those special occasions.
It makes sense that the rate of weight loss would begin to decline, but I was "anchored" on the ten pounds a month idea, which is a little crazy. To have lost ~20 pounds in two months is great and I'm feeling good.
New Daily Point Range
As I explained in my month one post, I could only consume 26.5 points of food a day while in the 200 to 224 pound range. Once you go under 200 pounds and enter the 175 to 199 pound range, you have to reduce your food allowance to 24.5 points. I am unwilling to do this. Also, I would like to reintroduce beer into my diet (one bottle is 3 points and I limit it to one bottle a day). So, I'm not expecting to lose any weight in month three, or maybe a little bit... stablizing around the 195 pound mark would be nice.
Exercise
I still row religiously (Concept2), 30 minutes a day as I've done for 20 years, through fit and fat, and it doesn't make a huge difference when it comes to weight loss, I don't think. Of course it's better to do it than not do it, but you could take a 30 minute walk or do some similarly modest exercise and get the same benefit no doubt.
Cheating Your Sweet Tooth
One of my key tips for success from month one was sucking on Ricola Honey Herb drops whenever you have a hankering for sweets, which for me is about once an hour. Nobody has a sweeter sweet tooth than me, but these little drops sate me when I'm jonesing for sugar.
Honig-Krauter, baby.
Cheating Your Salty/Savory Tooth
My new key tip for success from month two is Seaweed Snacks. Just as I have a hankering for sugar every hour, I also have a hankering for salt every hour, and the way to deal with it is to eat a package of roasted, salted seaweed. My kids grew up in China, so they naturally like this snack, but it's a foreign taste for a redneck like me who grew up in Appalachia, an acquired taste. I've learned to like it though.
Two problems with these snacks: the packaging is very wasteful (bad for Mother (Earth)), and they're expensive ... maybe 40 to 90 cents a package, I don't know the exact number. But it's worth it if it's keeping you from snacking on other stuff and getting fat. Wegmans has a family pack for $6, but I can find less expensive, better quality ones in my local Chinese grocery. (I'll post a picture of that brand once I buy another bag.)
12 pack is $6
Going Forward
I will write a post at the end of month three, but don't expect any additional progress, just stabilization. I can say unequivocally that the Weight Watchers program is a good one ... a smart, safe, sensible and effective method for weight loss. Go to eBay and buy a PointsFinder card and you'll be on your way!
Weight Watchers Progress -- Month One
Background
After moving back to America from China in July 2015, I quickly gained around 30 pounds, going from ~190 pounds to ~220 pounds. I'm a little over six feet tall and broad shouldered, so I can carry a lot of weight without looking especially fat, but I began to feel uncomfortable (even my "fat" pants didn't fit) and decided to lose all the extra weight.
I didn't join Weight Watchers, I simply got their Getting Started guide, Complete Food Companion, and Points Finder card. You can find these cheaply on eBay, mine is the 2001 edition. I don't need the support group or peer pressure aspect of the program since I'm self motivated.
Method
Because I started at ~220 pounds, the program gives me a daily "point range" of 24 to 29, and they suggest targeting the middle of the range, i.e., consuming 26.5 points of food a day. Obviously the reason anyone gets fat is because he is overeating. The great insight of Weight Watchers is that you should not undereat, that is, you must consume at least 24 points of food every day. Vegetables are zero points so you can consume an unlimited amount of them.
I had tried eating only 500 calories two days a week (Monday and Thursday) earlier in the year, but it was a disaster. I would eat twice as much on the days preceding or following the fast day. It was an idiotic idea. It figures that I learned about it, while browsing People magazine in the supermarket checkout line, from a late-night talk show host. Fasting occasionally might make sense if you are very fit, but it's a terrible idea if you are fat.
You must keep a detailed food diary recording your points consumed. You need to be honest with yourself and strictly record everything. If you cheat, you will fail.
Exercise
You can gain points by doing exercise, but not a lot. I row every day (Concept2), always have, through fit and fat. A gentle 30 minute row will give you two extra points, but I still shoot for my 26.5 point goal despite gaining these points. I suppose some people might want to consume those extra two points since they "earned" them, but I simply "bank" them.
Meals
Here are examples of what I eat every day:
Breakfast (6.5 points total)
- Egg fried in 1/2 teaspoon of butter: 2.5 points
- Slice of rosemary olive oil bread, toasted (no butter): 3 points
- One boiled egg white: 0 points
- One orange: 1 point
Lunch (8 points)
- Beef tenderloin (or chicken breast) fried in 1/2 teaspoon of butter: 3.5 points (three ounces cooked weight)
- Salad (only the avocado, olives, pesto, and dressing have points): 4.5 points
Supper (10 points)
- My wife cooks supper so there's a lot of variety here, but I'm always careful about counting the points accurately and sizing portions appropriately.
Snacks (2 points, some examples below):
- Apple: 1 point
- Orange: 1 point
- Cup of grapes: 1 point
- 1/2 banana: 1 point
- 3 cups popcorn (oil popped): 2 points
- 1/8 cup Craisins: 1 point
- 1 tablespoon hummus: 1 point
Tips for Success
Bubble tea straws, carrot sticks, and Ricola Honey-Herb cough drops. When I started out, I was eating a TON of carrot sticks every day (zero points) just to have something in my mouth -- some kind of oral fixation thing, I guess. The other tip is sucking on Ricola cough drops (I only like the Honey-Herb flavor). Again, they are sweet and satisfy some oral craving, and you can suck on them a long time (I think five of them equal one point, but you only have one from time to time).
Drink water with every meal. A bubble tea straw will help you consume a lot of water very quickly.
Results
I started on the Weight Watchers program on December 1st, 2016 at 217 pounds and weighed in on the 31st at 206.5 pounds, so I lost around ten pounds in one month, which is a lot! The interesting thing will be seeing how things go in the second month now that the "easy" weight has been lost. I will continue to report my progress (he says hopefully) at the end of January 2017.
Chairman's Grocery Cart
Another unwanted glimpse into the Chairman's life. Typical grocery shopping for me:
Forgot to label the hummus, it's $4 a tub.
- Olives: Castelvetrano (unpitted) and Nicoise-Coquillo (pitted), $8.50 a pound
- Cucumbers: organic, seedless, $3 a piece
- Avocados: $2 a piece
- Green Pepper: organic, $2 a piece
- Radishes: $1.50 a bunch
- Broccoli, not organic, forget how much, will check
- Asparagus, pre-cut means $6.49 a pound for the lazy
- Cauliflower, ditto
- Kale, Chard, Spinach greens: $5 a box (11 oz) (triple washed for the lazy)
- Kale: baby greens, $4.70 a box (11 oz) (triple washed for the lazy)
- Almond milk: original, unsweetened, $3
- Olive oil: extra virgin, Lucini brand, $18 (lasts awhile)
- Vinegar: also Lucini brand, on sale for $8 (also lasts awhile)
- Eggs: organic, jumbo, $5
- Fish: varies, but I get cod, swordfish, flounder, salmon, etc.
- More fish
- Chicken: organic, breasts, $8.50 a pound
- Shrimp: farm-raised in Belize, $11 a pound
This will last me three or four days and then I have to go shopping again.
Every Ingredient, Its Purpose and Source
This is kind of neat, Tom's of Maine (which is of course a Colgate-Palmolive property now), provides these tables for the ingredients of their products.
Annual Rowing Goal Met
Every day I try to row 4,000 meters (slowly), it's a sort of meditative thing. I have a rowing machine in my study which is over 15 years old now, I think... still rock-solid, the Concept II.
In January I had the flu (despite having a flu shot) and missed over eight days which I had to make up in subsequent months. In May we traveled somewhere and I didn't plan ahead.
Anyway, 1,460,000 meters rowed in the last year, right on schedule.
Sep. 2013: 120,000
Oct. 2013: 124,000
Nov. 2013: 120,000
Dec. 2013: 124,000
Jan. 2014: 90,000
Feb. 2014: 130,000
Mar. 2014: 140,000
Apr. 2014: 120,000
May 2014: 109,690
Jun. 2014: 134,310
Jul. 2014: 124,000
Aug. 2014: 124,000
Everything I Ate in July 2014
Food diary, updated daily:
July 16, 2014 -- Too bored to update this, plus I fell off the wagon with several binge drinking sessions as well as the odd bag or two of Cheetos in there. Maybe will try again in August.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
87.8 kg 22.5 bf
08:00 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
09:30 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
13:50 apple
14:05 gym scale 189.5
14:21 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:47 apple
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
87.4 kg 22.5 bf
07:44 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
09:18 small coffee
11:07 apple
12:41 apple
13:10 gym scale 188.75
13:13 apple
13:30 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
14:00 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
16:06 one glass Caol Ila (12 yo), bowl of unsalted peanuts
16:54 first handful of Tostitos hint o' lime which eventually led me to finish the bag (~250 grams or around 1500 cals) by end of night -- bad.
17:44 cheese sticks from South German Bakery and bread pretzel
18:00 many slices of sweet pork, cucumber, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Monday, July 7, 2014
87.6 kg 23.0 bf
07:15 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
08:15 small cup of coffee
09:05 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
14:37 gym scale 187.5
14:39 apple
14:48 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
18:28 235 grams (uncooked) or 176 grams tenderloin (cooked), potatoes carrots beans, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
19:03 One serving Tostitos hint o' lime chips is a whopping six chips (one bag is the normal serving size, no?)
Sunday, July 6, 2014
08:20 one pear, one apple
09:34 60 grams Cream of Wheat, two cups milk, dash of salt. maple syrup (several spoonsful, spoonfuls?)
12:03 several lychee
12:28 240 grams (uncooked) ternderloin is 187 grams (cooked)
14:06 20 macadamia nuts, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:18 5 slices of Wasa bread
17:55 sweet pork ribs, bowl of stew, large handful edamame
Saturday, July 5, 2014
08:13 banana
09:38 One and a half croissants (Comptoirs)
11:20 bowl of mixed fruit, one yoghurt, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
11:34 two slices Wasa original
11:42 handful Goldfish original crackers
14:13 Nongfu sugary green tea
16:31 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
16:45 pretty sure I had 200 grams (uncooked) tenderloin here?
16:55 couple forkfuls forksful? of bean sprouts
17:16 handful of McD fries, several sips of Sprite
17:54 three bottles Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar) during foot massage
20:58 20 Fard dates
Friday, July 4, 2014
87.4 kg 23.5 bf
07:14 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:09 small cup of coffee
09:04 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:15 apple
13:28 apple
13:54 gym scale 188
14:10 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
18:30 cold tofu rice noodle dish (DTF), shuijiao (pork and veggie?) (DTF), massive mound almond ice jelly (DTF)
21:26 17 Fard dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Thursday, July 3, 2014
88.4 kg 23.5 bf
07:11 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:04 small cup of coffee
08:30 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:15 apple
13:22 gym scale 188
13:37 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
15:12 apple
17:28 apple
[shit, not sure how update got lost, seem to recall 173 grams of cooked tenderloin, and then various handfuls of dates throughout the evening]
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
88.4 kg 23.0 bf
07:18 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:20 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:50 apple
13:30 apple
14:14 gym scale 188.5
14:18 apple
14:30 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
15:43 apple
16:01 20 lychees
18:12 220 grams beef (uncooked) is 180 grams beef tenderloin (cooked), massive handful edamame, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
19:40 12 Fard dates
20:37 10 Fard dates
21:09 8 dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
88.6 kg 22.5 bf
07:11 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:32 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:08 apple
12:40 apple
13:24 gym scale 189.5
13:38 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
16:41 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar), 12 Fard dates
17:55 Couple of bites of cantaloupe, supermarket trial tray
18:31 ~190 grams beef tenderloin (cooked), swallow of skim milk (polish off dated carton), small bowl stew/soup, pre-packaged 28 kuai lazy man's salad, Caesar dressing not enough supplemented with Newman's light Italian, HP sauce, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
20:54 12 Fard dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
21:24 6 Fard dates
21:41 5 Fard dates (bag is finished)
Monday, June 30, 2014
89.8 kg 24.0 bf
07:17 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:19 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
13:38 apple
14:15 gym scale 192
14:31 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and sweet peas (in pods), two boiled eggs
14:56 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:45 apple
17:56 144 grams beef tenderloin cooked (195 grams uncooked), HP sauce, edamame, cucumbers and hummus
18:09 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)