Health and Fitness April, 2011

[Nancy]

This has been one of those rare weeks when I did not get my daily walks in a cold snap, and wind advisory, plus rain and fighting a cold, has me inside so been trying to do chores instead.
Did house work two days.

[Dove]

Lynlee, good for you on setting up all your health appointments. I just saw part of a Dr O z program that recommends artichoke extract for IBS. Dh wants to try it. Video clips explain how it works & dosage info.
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/herbal-h ... tract-pt-1

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/herbal-h ... tract-pt-2

Bittersweet, those are great goals.

Nancy, that was such a smart idea to walk laps around the store while you were waiting.

((Harmony)), hold your head up high & enjoy the beach.

Kathryn, way to go on not gaining weight on the cruise, & for being down 15 lbs since Christmas! Glad your tummy is feeling better today.

Lucylee, good job on the exercising! Nancy just gave me an idea -- could you walk the halls at school when (if) you have a free period? Then your exercise would be done before you even got home.

Harriet, I made sure I watched that episode, too, since my ddad has Alzheimer's & there is always that little worry in the back of my mind that I might be affected by it someday. I've heard & read a lot about processed foods being contributors to cancer but the link between them & Alz is scary. I switched to turkey bacon for breakfast years ago & checked the label during a commercial -- yup, it has sodium nitrites in it, too. And I have always loved eating real bacon on BLT's in the summertime ...

Dh & I talked a lot last night, about seeking out organic farms not just for fruits & veggies but for meat as well. We get a lot of our food from Sam's but I've noticed that their fruits & tomatos mostly come from Mexico & I've heard that they use pesticides there that were banned here in the US.

I've got to stop setting myself up to fail at the beginning of every new month. When I tell myself to exercise every day & it doesn't happen I get annoyed with myself. So will aim for every day but be happy even if it only happens several days a week, which is how it has gone for me so far this month.

Trying to talk dh into parking at the far end of the lot when we run errands so we can walk farther but he has a hard time not seeking out the spot closest to the entrance, almost like it's some sort of competition with the other shoppers:-).

I've been experimenting with smoothie recipes recently. Had high hopes for a Banana Chocolate one made with cocoa powder that I saw in a magazine but it was nowhere near as good as a Sonic shake ! Bought some fresh blackberries the other day & made up a delicious smoothie with them. Posted it under beverages in the recipe section of the village.

[Nancy]

Thanks for saying that Dove.
Today I'm back from my windy walk now that granny duty is over the rains have stopped and the sun came out so I'm happy.

[Nancy]

Dgd has been teaching me Zumba you turn this way pause then you turn that way pause
then you kick! So cute she's been to class with her mom or doing it at home darling!
The next time she is over I'm hoping I can remember to show her the baby goats on the walk.
I was able to sneek in a short walk around the block and around the loop today. Was busy with granny duty and cleaning and up and about today hoping it was enough activity.

[Nancy]

Did you happen to see Jamie Oliver on TV last night filling a school bus with sugar on his show.
That was a mind blowing visual of all the sugar in a week the kids in Ca, {LA county I think.}
In the flavored Strawberry and Cholate milk in thier school lunches.

Those flavored milks have as much sugar in it as a fizzy soda Oliver said.

The folks there were not as open to change as he hoped.

I am wondering if they only offered the flavored milk on Friday's how much that would elimanate in that school district?

So much for milk being healthy! LOL!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

With stress eating I'm slipping on the progress I've made so far. Sigh....

Aside from waiting for polyp biopsy reports for dh and I, we are now waiting for the referral to the cardiologist for dh. He's convinced it is nothing but our GP over-reacting. The original point of the visit yesterday was to tell us that dh had Mitral Valve Prolapse. Well, he's been diagnosed with that for about 20 years. Sure, this is the first ECG she's seen with it, but she's had access to his chart and the reason she updated the ECG (last was 10 years ago) was because of the MVP and the fact that his heart is skipping beats or getting palpitations (neither of which showed up during the ECG). So dh thinks she's just covering her butt after forgetting he knew he had MVP.

On the other hand, she says the valve regurgitation in this ECG was markedly worse than the last one and that needs to be checked out. Unfortunately, being Canada and the fact that dh is not feeling his heart at all, I'm thinking it will be 6 months or more before we get an initial consult with a cardiologist. So this will be worrying me for all that time. And if we get an appointment quickly I'll be really freaked out because timely health care only happens when one is critical.

As well, as I wrote in PWYC, she kept asking dh if he had any of a list of symptoms. He doesn't have any of them. I, on the other hand, have them all. If I go up multiple flights of stairs or a steep hill, my heart races, I get short of breath and if I push it, I get dizzy. I actually scared dh in Vancouver as I had to stop multiple times on a way up a hill to catch my breath. Finally I took my pulse (168) compared to his 120.

As I waited for my colonscopy, my pulse was 58 and my bp was 111/66. Yesterday, dh's bp was 140/80 which didn't concern the doc at all but seemed high to me.

Anyway, dh now wants me to go for an ECG and I donwanna add more stuff to my plate right now. We live in a flat place so I can walk for hours just fine and can handle the 26 stairs from basement to bedrooms without getting short of breath (it was only doing the 56 - 90 stairs from our deck to the breakfast buffet or the pool deck that bothered me on the ship or the steep hills in Vancouver.) I have agreed to call for an ECG once I get my biopsy results and know what treatment, if any, will be called for with those.

In the meantime, I'm on the treadmill, it is biking weather, and I'll start counting WW points again to try and get the scale moving in the right direction once more. My new goal is 150 for mid July - still an aggressive goal, but doable if I stick to the program strictly. This is still a disappointing goal since my previous goal had me at 140 by then. And even that is 8 pounds heavier than my 'healthy weight' (the weight where I feel completely healthy and strong.) The 140 is simply the highest weight I can set for a WW goal weight but I still feel slightly heavy at that point.

[Harmony]

Nodding head and agreeing with others in the struggle for health...

I am so stressed these days. Know I could be eating better. Going to try one thing better for a while then try to add another. It's not rocket science. I know where my flaws are.

A couple days ago DH and I went for bike rides. He's been pedaling on a bike/chair at therupy but this is different position in that his legs are straight down instead of ahead. He said it felt like exercise. We did 3/4 of what we normally do, but that was good. I need more exercise and less food.

[Nancy]

Today did a short walk with youngest dgd after lunch and saw the miniture goats;
went again with # 2 dgd before dinner.

[Nancy]

Yesterday I had hubby drop me off at the bottom of the hill I usually walk down and up on the
way home from town and I walked home and then did the loop it felt great to get a good walk in.

Today did my walk on the level today between shower when the sun was out I even had to shed my sweater! I also got the lawn mowed today yea!

[Lynlee]

good going with walking Nancy