According to today’s Globe and Mail, the debate over what’s better for you, margarine or butter, continues.

In short, margarine has improved so it doesn’t look like radioactive sludge that glows in the dark. And it’s full of Omega-3s, but not the ones from fish.

Butter is full of saturated fat, but maybe saturated fat is not as bad as we once thought it was. The article doesn’t really come up with a verdict, but I think if I have a choice between something that is made naturally and something is made from a process, I’m going with the natural option.

A little bit of butter is not going to kill you.

The fellow who fitted me with my CPAP machine was himself a sleep apnea sufferer. He said once he had started treating his sleep apnea, he only needed five hours sleep a night.

Last night I didn’t get to bed until midnight and yet this morning I woke up at 5:30 am; I was fully awake and very clear-headed. I thought about getting up but decided it was too early and went back to bed with the goal of sleeping until 7 am as planned.

Instead, I ended up hitting snooze a lot and not getting up until after 9 am. I was groggy and late for work.

There is a consistent stream of articles in mainstream media about the need for sleep and how many hours minimum the average person needs. Before I began treating my apnea, I did nothing but sleep without getting actual rest. Lately I’ve tried to consistently aim for 7-8 hours sleep a night but perhaps I am one of those people who doesn’t need that much. Maybe I need less than six hours a night.

I’m going to try it again tonight; it might help me get my gym schedule back to mornings, something I haven’t done so far this year – I’ve been going after work and fighting the crowds.

The first episode of Star Trek to air 1966 was about a salt vampire that preyed on humans by leaching the salt from their bodies.

If the salt vampire was around on Earth, it wouldn’t have to feed off humans. It would just have to head over to Manchu Wok for a three item plate!

Until recently I never worried about sodium intake – I have enough issues to grapple with and my blood pressure is fine. But a couple of weeks ago after having Tim Horton’s chili for lunch on a Friday, I gained 7lbs in water weight!

Fridays, especially when it’s a pay day Friday, are my lunch time nemeses because I usually opt to go out for lunch. Today I indulged in Manchu Wok, which had the shortest line at the food court and probably says something about my food choice.

My lunch alone included nearly 3,000mg of sodium. I’m afraid to add up breakfast AND lunch!

Too much sodium causes other problems as well. One that I think has been plaguing me is morning headaches. By not watching my sodium intake and not drinking enough water I’ve woken up with a headache several times this week. One reason I felt good yesterday morning I think was that my sodium intake the day before was reasonable and I drank plenty of water.

I already pledged to have a small dinner tonight to counter the large lunch. If anyone needs me, I’ll be by the water cooler.

I woke up feeling fairly decent today. Not early enough to go to the gym, but early enough to make breakfast, brew coffee and make a lunch.

I have no idea why. I felt lousy the night before. I had a headache and didn’t go to bed until after midnight. I ate more than I should and I didn’t go to the gym (Wednesdays is not a gym day, although I did walk halfway home).

I still feel pretty good as I write this. I’m sure part of the reason is that I’m getting lots of sunshine through my office window (which I’ll miss when my company relocates next month). It makes wonder if I should invest in an SAD lamp.

It’s also possible that after a week of making sure I’m getting enough protein, I’m starting to feel that benefits. I’ve also upped my vitamin D intake.

Regardless, it’s important for me to find out why I feel good just as much as I feel bad. Today is a gym day, so I’ll be going after work. I wonder how I’ll feel tomorrow.

Andrea the Gastronaut has a great round up of food related news items. The second is particularly interesting: “Why Michelle Obama’s Initiative to Reduce Childhood Obesity Will Fail” [Fooducate] The reason? “It is far more profitable for America to ‘fix’ obesity related ailments than to prevent them.”

via Morning reading: In food news.

Earlier this week I got the results of my second sleep test. I already knew my pressure needed to go up from 7 to 9 – the technician told me as much the morning after the test. And rather than wait close to two weeks for the specialist to confirm and then wait for an appointment with the healthcare provider to get my machine adjusted, I “hacked” my CPAP.

Essentially, after some quick Googling, I found out how to get into the setup menu of my Respironics CPAP and adjusted it myself. I expected to feel even much better, especially since I had felt pretty good waking up from the second sleep test. But this week’s appointment did provide me some additional useful information.

While a setting of 9 did eliminate my apnea, the test was unable to gather data while I slept on my back when sleep apnea is the worst (I can’t sleep on my back). It also didn’t gather any data while I was in REM sleep for some reason. I mentioned to my specialist that while I had initially felt good on 7, it only lasted a few days and even adjusting to 9 (I admitted my hacking) wasn’t making a whole lot of difference. He recommended sticking with 9 for a month to see if there’s any improvement and if not, try 11.

I decided not to wait. The more I spoke to the specialist, the more I felt I had read more on sleep apnea than he had. Folks at www.cpaptalk.com often talk about adjusting their own settings based on data they get from more advanced CPAP machines.  So for the past two nights I have been sleeping with a setting of 11 and can feel the difference. I was up at 6:15 this morning for my appointment with my trainer. I went for a full hour and didn’t feel the need to crawl back into bed after my workout.

Ultimately this journey has taught that I need to take my health into my own hands and that in the information age, you may know more than your doctor. Most importantly, who cares if they are annoyed by your level of knowledge and awarness. It’s your body and your well-being at stake, not theirs!