Cronometer – Recording what goes in my mouth.
Earlier this month my daughter recommended that I get an app called “Cronometer”.
I have been recently been diagnosed with Cancer and have made the decision to be as responsible for my own condition that is humanly possible. This means a stringently controlled diet and exact macro/nutritional targets each day … without fail. Not easy at the best of times but crucial if I want to stay alive for many years to come.
The purpose of the app is to record everything that you eat for the day plus to list your biometrics like weight, BP, BS, Ketones, Heart Rate etc.
It took a few days to wrap my head around it but now a little less than 2 weeks down the track I am getting huge support in my quest to stay healthy from the use of this wonderful app.
Here’s what I do.
When I get up I wait for about 30 minutes and then I do my blood glucose, ketones, weight, blood pressure and heart rate. This gives me an idea on how the prior days eating has influenced my biometrics. And let me tell you now, if you are serious about what you are doing this is a huge help. For example, my BG (Blood Glucose) was going up a little bit and my ketones were going down which isn’t what I wanted. Knowing this has allowed me to be more disciplined with my macros and calories and now 2 days later I am having a reversal and I’m back into the GKI (Glucose Ketone Index) range that I need to be in.
You put the foods you eat for each meal and the quantities into the app. This probably sounds excruciating! Well , it did seem that way when I started but now that I’m getting it more under control it’s really not such a big deal. The app breaks each food down into it’s macros – fat, protein and carbs as well as caloric value plus it gets even more precise but I won’t go into that right now.
If you can be precise with what you are entering you will probably find the item in the app already. For example, I am taking “Bio-Grape” Curcumin powder and had not been entering it so yesterday I decided to have a look and it was there in the app’s database. It turns out that it has it’s own macros and adds to the carbs, which for me is crucial information. Even Red Seal Licorice tea is there as well as all the different categories of Melrose MCT oil.
This level of precision makes a huge difference in the daily accumulation of measurements and what I put into my body.
If the item isn’t in the app’s data bank you can take a pic of the nutritional values on the pack and the front of the product and send it to the database and they will enter it for you. Plus you can put in your own recipes.
It is all about control.
You cannot control what you are doing without information.
I was running on gut feeling but getting it wrong, time and time again.
The app works as a guide to what I do with my diet and how I put my meals together to meet my daily macro and caloric targets.
I am so grateful to my daughter for putting me on to this app.
I have no intention of lumping responsibility onto others … doctors, nutritionalists, family etc. This condition is mine. I somehow created it. It is my karma, the income tax that life is asking from me.
The “Cronometer” app is helping me guide my own pathway towards getting the proliferation of the cancer cells in my body under control.
It is only one of the tools/therapy that I am using but it’s becoming more and more important as the days go on.
