Health and Fitness April, 2012

[Harriet]

Twins' Mom, I hope the WW foray is all positive for you!

Congratulations, Kathryn! I don't know advice on the long periods. I kinda went the other way when I was changing. But I'm glad you no longer have the discomfort and know that's not a problem.

Today was trivia in PWYC and I also had one for here:

Trivia learned at my house this past weekend was the difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Beet sugar and cane sugar, though from very different plants, are composed of the same molecule. 80 percent is transformed into blood glucose (energy now) within 25 minutes of eating/drinking. About 20 percent goes to the liver, which stores it as glycogen (short-term energy for later). It suppresses ghrelin, the hunger hormone, like other foods.

High fructose corn syrup, invented in 1966, is a different molecule, not found in US diets until after 1975. It does not suppress ghrelin. I00 percent goes to the liver to be processed into triglicerides and adipose tissue, within 60 minutes of eating/drinking.

This came about because of discussions with dsonil, who has to learn a lot about sweeteners because his family has a high rate of type-2 diabetes. Also because the waste product of the liver's processing of high fructose corn syrup is uric acid, which causes gout, so obviously HRH was interested, too. That could be why he will have a gout attack even when he can't find a food in his diet to blame. I was also interested, because often I'll have a bad bloodwork number ("interior" problem, lol) of triglicerides when other things are okay. And my "exterior" problem is definitely adipose tissue!!!

Of course, when I was young and decided I LOVED colas, I was drinking cane sugar. But they've been mostly high fructose corn syrup since I was in my early 20s. It's the largest source of calories in the average US diet now. I avoid soda most days now, but for instance at the Highland Games, it was one of few choices and the most convenient there by far.

[Indiana]

That is interesting Harriet. It makes sense too. Natural foods are the best for us.

[Harmony]

wow, that is very interesting, Harriet.

Today we had chilli. I have been doubling the beans and putting in half the amount of meat. It stretches the food dollars and I think it's healthier. Also, lots and lots of fiber points. The fiber does appear to be helping, but I'm not quite there yet.

Kathryn, I'm sure glad that discomfort went away. Think it was just fluid?

[Nancy]

I did a walk this morning; cleaned here to get ready for a showing; then went to dd's and cleaned over there too. So I got my exercise in today.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

For WW tracking, I'm doing it at home but also posting over at Bootcamp Buddies in the over 50 forum for accountability. Don't know if it is helpful or not - it is a whole new 'village' of people to get to know and that is extremely time consuming. I cuop with them while on the treadmill but keeping up with their posts takes more than the 40 minutes I'm on the treadmill. On the plus side, I keep extending my treadmill time!

As for the breast pain - last period (earlier this month, not even last month, sigh...) the pain went away but came back in between periods, which in that case was 8 days. Since this second, completely weird, period hasn't ended yet, I don't know if pain is gone completely or not. But the link between the two is now more firmly established. Given the weight loss this period (and last one as well, but that was only 1-2 pounds) it points to fluid retention.

My jeans are my biggest question mark right now - they fit fine before I left and I bought them when I was about 2 - 3 pounds heavier than I was yesterday. On the way to Africa, over 24 hours of travel, I wore them because they were so comfortable. But since the weird period stuff, they simply don't fit comfortably in the waist/tummy. Last night I had to undo them while sitting. I always wondered how I gained 9 pounds on the cruise (I've never gained more than 4 pounds on any month-long trip and most cruises I maintain or lose - I double checked my records when I got home.) So that points to fluid issues too.

I've restarted having grapefruit, just a half one a day. I find it helps with weight loss. But it will have to stop when my allergies kick in because I can't combine grapefruit and allergy meds because of my heart valve issues.

[Harmony]

Kathryn, well on the positive side of all that you're experiencing, there should be an end to all this at some point. We tend to level out once our bodies learn how to deal with hormone fluctuations. I know at least my moods stabilized once I got over the weird times.

[Twins' Mom]

Just reporting that I logged my points yesterday - ended up with a not-so-good lunch choice because I didn't check points before going out, but OTOH I didn't go to my standby lunch which is a big hamburger with french fries at the deli near our office. So I do consider that something of a victory to have eaten something else instead.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

On the plus side for me, my mood is far less emotional that it could be. I had hysterical laughter at a website yesterday and the occasional tear missing my dad or mom but in general far less than I get during my normal pms.

Dh is either doing a great job staying out of my way, or he isn't too irritating. Anything I'm upset about with him is a 'normal' reaction to his aging changes; I don't like his attitude driving, he is still forgetting to put out all the garbage and he has lost all sense of time, which is bad because he ignores the clocks in the house and never wore a watch. I'm finally to the point where I'm on-time or early for things and now he's late all the time and makes me late since we only have one car so I can't head out on my own and him come later.

From the end of Jan (my first missed period and the start of the breast pain) I gained 11 pounds. Changing diet got 2 pounds of that off, then my periods came again and I've lost 6 pounds in 11 days (and breast pain is gone) so obviously, this is all hormonal and not really part of restarting WW.

I still have 30 pounds to go to my goal weight and I know that it isn't all hormone gain so I'm using these first couple of weeks on WW to get back into those routines since I'll be on the program again for a long time.

[Nancy]

I'm trying to get enough water this week with the warmer weather at least I'm thristy!
Got the mowing done in the back; then h. pointed out the places that needed trimmed where the mower would not reach ~sigh~ but not this morning it's raining.

[Harriet]

Happy to be back to a short routine of floor exercises. Just 5-10 minutes of that, but I think it's good for me. My back has not complained. I'm just doing the one on the video that comes with the T-Tapp book, so several in our village probably know it. Not graceful but helpful.

This morning I was "even" with the last reading on the scale. Still a few days in April to try to get my ~~~ lightning-quick ~~~ average up above a pound a month!

Raining here, too, Nancy - pouring! No outdoor progress.

Good job getting used to a new logging routine, Twins' Mom, and making smart choices.

Kathryn, if you think dh is having memory glitches, good in general for our memory ability is B-12, so maybe dh would do well to get a baseline pg/ml blood level and see how his is doing. HRH's dr says it would be a rare person over 50 who can assimilate B-12 as well as they did when younger, though, simply because of their own digestive ability, not their diet, and blood level can be deceptive. So the blood level is looked at along with symptoms. As you probably remember, B-12 is something HRH has had to supplement for years because his maternal family has an inherited tendency for low levels. He took shots previously (expensive, inconvenient hassle), but I researched and learned that the sublinguals are just as efficient. The point is to bypass the digestive system, and both do that. He has maintained his B-12 at normal (United States) blood levels now for more than a year on nothing more than one little daily tablet melted under his tongue (he likes that better than the spray kind and it is less expensive).

But it's worth knowing that Japan and several European countries consider U.S. "normal" to be a clear deficiency and treat it, so we may increase his dose. The thing to look for on a label is methylcobalin B-12, the kind we get from food, and that way it is assimilated well.

Of course, it could be that your dh is so bright he can't hold all the knowledge in his head at the same time and has to decide not to remember some things! That was the opinion of our area's famous heart surgeon who was often quoted as saying he refused to remember trivial things like a number, because it got in the way of important thought!