If you are adverse to collecting your own data: weight, using data for critical thinking, etc- you may want to skip this blog post.
**My Disclaimer... work together with a trusted medical provider(s) and/or family members who support you when making decisions, knows your full health history. See my own disclaimer on the side bar on my blog's full web page if you are viewing this post on a mobile device**
Wow! This TedxTalk about "Owing Your Own Data" really hits home for me.
My take away points from this talk:
1. The speaker recorded data that was easily recorded, daily, free except for a tiny amount of time.
2. The speaker understands statistics and how to apply them to her own personal risk.
3. The speaker used what data and knowledge she had to own and make her own medical decisions
4. The speaker worked together with her doctor and accepted the risk she was taking
5. The speaker is her own expert on herself.
5. The speaker took the initiative to tell her doctor her wishes, her thoughts and they could make the decision together.
6. The speakers husband used his own health data to make a major weight transformation and improve his overall health.
The author's take away : take ownership of your own data, become your own authority, you don't have to be an expert. Two experts together = Better decisions
I'll be blogging in the next week or so about some recent decisions I made on short and long term health goals and how I used both weight and other data (hs-CRP, HDL, triglycerides) to make food decisions, talk to my doctor, etc. It feels so good to take ownership in my own health care. I would not go back to the old ways.
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| 1 month weight data |
What's working right now
1. Using my data driven scientific mind to take data and use it in the short term to keep and stay well from a place of strength.
2. Using my data driven scientific mind to take data and use it in the long term from a place of strength and knowledge.
3. Being comfortable to talk to my doctor about how I'm feeling and what my concerns are and telling her how I'm feeling, what is working. Asking questions from a place of stating how I feel. "I feel better now, I'd like to try... "
4. Keeping an open mind about new research, ways of thinking and digging a little deeper into who is funding research, food politics, etc. Testing it on myself and keeping only what works for me. N = 1. Oh, no grains = very few binge urges, hot flashes.. okay, I get that! I put myself in charge of my health care and decisions.
What didn't work in the past:
1. Stopped looking at short term weight data because I wanted to hide my head in the sand and not face the fact that I was indeed overweight, gaining weight. It was what it was. I felt I weak and powerless because I could not lose the weight and that irrational thinking drove my behavior.2. Stopped looking at long term data because I felt ashamed and defeated rather than "what does this say about moderating sweets, sticking with this weight loss plan?" I felt I couldn't do something different. I felt I was weak and powerless and irrational thinking drove my behavior.
3. I was too embarrassed and thought I was "weak" about asking about plans other than Weight Watchers for weight loss. I didn't speak up about my hs-CRP and said, Hey! Wait... does this mean something with my heart? Could I change something about my diet? How do your long term thyroid patients do on grains? I felt like nobody else had these concerns and that irrational belief drove my actions.
4. I used to faithfully think : "Well if it's at the Mayo Clinic, American Heart Association, Weight Watchers it must be based on sound science, so I should do it and get results. NO, this didn't work for me. I got pretty sick following the "healthy whole grain" advise. I put someone else in charge of my decisions and discarded what I knew about myself to be true.
How about you, have you used any easy to collect data to make changes and examine what is and isn't working?
HI Karen, I too believe in experimenting for months until I knew what actually worked for me. I took down data, analyzed my data, and made adjustments according to patterns I saw in my food journaling and weight until I understood what to do. So yes, I definitely own my data and these results. :-)
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