Me: Salad week is on! My Coumadin levels are okay and I get tested again in four weeks!
Chandra: Yay! So...what is salad week?
Me: Oh I didn't tell you? I decided to eat salad for dinner the week after my blood test.
Chandra: Oh! I thought it was a national movement. I totally Googled it.
So let me explain. Salad week is not a national movement, though it should be! No, it's my own personal quest to eat more veggies. In order to explain salad week fully to you, I need to give you a bit of background on my medical condition. Because of my heart condition, I have to take a blood thinner called Coumadin, which is not at all an inconvenience - I'm on seven different medications - except it requires me to take a blood test every four weeks. That can get inconvenient. But I digress.
Being on Coumadin doesn't really affect my life except for two things: I don't clot easily so I have to be very careful not to cut myself, and I can't eat leafy greens. For some reason, vitamin K, which is found in dark, leafy greens, counteracts Coumadin. I can eat the occasional leaf now and then, however, I can't binge on spinach like Popeye does. (Which is too bad because I love spinach!) Usually my Coumadin levels are fine. But every once in a while they are lower or higher than what they're supposed to be, and my dosage has to be adjusted. When that happens, I usually have to go back to the lab and get blood drawn again one week later. If you've ever seen my bare arms and all its bruises, I promise you I am not a heroin addict. It's from my blood tests!
So you might be asking yourself, "If you're not supposed to eat greens, why are you having salad week?" Well, the best I can explain to you is this: It's like passing a drug test. You don't want to start smoking crack again until you know you're in the clear, and you've passed the test! If I eat salad right after my blood test, and assuming my Coumadin levels are where they should be, then if I only eat salad for one week for one meal, and don't eat any for the following three weeks, I should be fine! It totally gives my body enough time to clear out the vitamin K before going back to the lab!
In preparation of salad week, I have done the following:
1. Purchased a salad spinner
2. Purchased a container for homemade salad dressing
3. Flipped through dozens of cooking magazines for salad recipes and chose two for my first week
4. Composed a shopping list for groceries I'll need
Actually, one of the recipes I chose doesn't even call for lettuce. It's a fennel bulb recipe which I'm excited about, because I've never had fennel bulb before. If this turns out to be a success, I hope to keep it up for several months. So if anyone knows any good salad recipes, please send them my way!
I will keep you updated! I took my test today, and I'm in the clear! Salad week starts on Monday! I'm pretty excited!
Chandra: Yay! So...what is salad week?
Me: Oh I didn't tell you? I decided to eat salad for dinner the week after my blood test.
Chandra: Oh! I thought it was a national movement. I totally Googled it.
So let me explain. Salad week is not a national movement, though it should be! No, it's my own personal quest to eat more veggies. In order to explain salad week fully to you, I need to give you a bit of background on my medical condition. Because of my heart condition, I have to take a blood thinner called Coumadin, which is not at all an inconvenience - I'm on seven different medications - except it requires me to take a blood test every four weeks. That can get inconvenient. But I digress.
Being on Coumadin doesn't really affect my life except for two things: I don't clot easily so I have to be very careful not to cut myself, and I can't eat leafy greens. For some reason, vitamin K, which is found in dark, leafy greens, counteracts Coumadin. I can eat the occasional leaf now and then, however, I can't binge on spinach like Popeye does. (Which is too bad because I love spinach!) Usually my Coumadin levels are fine. But every once in a while they are lower or higher than what they're supposed to be, and my dosage has to be adjusted. When that happens, I usually have to go back to the lab and get blood drawn again one week later. If you've ever seen my bare arms and all its bruises, I promise you I am not a heroin addict. It's from my blood tests!
So you might be asking yourself, "If you're not supposed to eat greens, why are you having salad week?" Well, the best I can explain to you is this: It's like passing a drug test. You don't want to start smoking crack again until you know you're in the clear, and you've passed the test! If I eat salad right after my blood test, and assuming my Coumadin levels are where they should be, then if I only eat salad for one week for one meal, and don't eat any for the following three weeks, I should be fine! It totally gives my body enough time to clear out the vitamin K before going back to the lab!
In preparation of salad week, I have done the following:
1. Purchased a salad spinner
2. Purchased a container for homemade salad dressing
3. Flipped through dozens of cooking magazines for salad recipes and chose two for my first week
4. Composed a shopping list for groceries I'll need
Actually, one of the recipes I chose doesn't even call for lettuce. It's a fennel bulb recipe which I'm excited about, because I've never had fennel bulb before. If this turns out to be a success, I hope to keep it up for several months. So if anyone knows any good salad recipes, please send them my way!
I will keep you updated! I took my test today, and I'm in the clear! Salad week starts on Monday! I'm pretty excited!
So is it a salad every night for a week, or just more salads than usual?
ReplyDeleteOne every night for a week. Not including the weekends.
ReplyDelete