Health and Fitness May, 2012

[Nancy]

Brisk walk some with a friend was yesterday's [Sun.] exercise today [Mon.] needs an umbrella!
Tues. I did a long walk in the morning and another shorter one with dgd she's walking longer with me now but gets distracted by sticks rocks leaves and birds wandering off track! LOL!

[Harriet]

Last evening I did the Arms workout again for 30 minutes. I had no pain in the arm muscles at all and don't feel any now, either.

Concerns me that I have to wait so late to exercise. I see no alternative until we fix up another place to show DVDs that has enough space around it.

This is a recurring theme, though, of not being able to use areas of the house until my ddad leaves them, even for things like vacuuming, etc. There are days I feel whole areas of my life slow down to a crawl because of being cramped into other parts of the house or having to wait for some reason. This has to do with his confusion, not that he is being difficult on purpose, I know.

I feel a lot of stress getting to me lately. Trying very hard to get some stress-eating under control.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet, could you get your dad to vacuum for you? This doesn't solve the exercise issue but it does take one stress out of your life. What about a carpet sweeper (unpowered?)

Final suggestion, a cleaning lady. You take your dad out when she is there.

Seriously, you have a lot to handle.

I had nothing compared to you in terms of elder care but did have a cleaning lady and used my energy to go deep clean at my dad's place. He was fine for dishes, cooking, laundry, running a vacuum over the open areas and mopping the floor, but I did the deep cleaning (scrubbing floors, tub, moving furniture to vacuum behind.)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dh no longer stinks!

The smell was due to congealed blood, a possible by-product of his operations. Once he figured that out, he cleaned that up and the smell went away.

The stinging hasn't gone though (it is much better) and we still have to figure out what happened to cause bleeding but it is a step in the right direction (and reduces my laundry load!) Actually it couldn't have happened at a better time since we had three days of sun and low electricity rates so I could keep running the machines and hang everything out. Even our jeans, hung out at 2 p.m. were dry by 5. The sheets took just an hour.

His doctor's appointment is this morning. I'm on the treadmill now and not eating breakfast so I can go and get my fasting blood test done. I've been bleeding-free for 2 full weeks so should get that done. Also a pap smear, although I don't think I'll get in for that today.

[OKay]

Health first. When i come here first, it reminds me to put health first.

I'm picking myself up and dusting those bad habits off. It seems to be a slew of little things that slowly suck me into a sink hole of failure.

It seems so easy to say "just this ONE time........" But that just makes it easier to do it again the next time...and the next time
It seems so easy to say "I'm busy, i don't have time to take care of myself right now" That is one of my favorite excuses. It gives me permission to abuse myself with food.

For the next hour.....
And the next hour....
And the next hours....
For today.
I am doing things that I know are right and will bring healthy results.

[OKay]

Posting here first....Putting health and fitness first.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of going and doing, but I did keep Health & Fitness in mind throughout the day and made some good food choices. I wasn't perfect but I was thinking about making healthy choices as I selected food to eat. However, the scales showed a 1/2 lb gain this morning.

What am I going to do? Failing in this area is not an option.

The next 12 meals will be eating out. If I keep up yesterdays pattern I will gain another 2 lbs during the next 4 days.

Do I sound panicky?

Obviously making healthy food choices and eating out are not impossible. People do it all the time.

I can do this!
I can do this!
I can do this!
Repeating for each meal I will eat today

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Okay, I dragged myself onto the treadmill this morning because I didn't want another 'just this once.'

The lack of getting my heart rate up is a disincentive. I have to work so hard at that that I can't type and can barely read. I suppose this is a good sign (it used to be too easy before) but it is frustrating to have a great routine that I enjoyed being eroded. Before my workouts were mini Sabbaths, a guilt-free time surfing on the internet. Now they are work.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

What do you all think about the news about Calcium supplements?

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... -much?lite

My rheumatologist order 1500 mg of calcium and 1500 of vitamin D. I added 400 Vit D to my diet (there's some in my multi as well) but simply try to get an extra glass of milk in every day now. Milk is fortified with D here, plus I'm out in the sun a lot. The small increase in D seems to have stopped my SAD but I still fight to find 400 mg tablets since almost all the cost-efficient ones are 1000 and I don't want to overload my body.

For Calcium, I take a multi with 250 mg in the morning and a calcium/magnesium tablet before bed (to help with sleep.) Since I have no sleep issues (and was starting to before I added that tablet) I'm not about to change that routine. But even when the doctor told me to up my calcium, I only added more milk to my diet, not the supplement she suggested.

I'm getting pretty concerned about study after study showing that something that is wonderful in diet (high calcium diet from food protects from heart disease) has the opposite effect when you take it in pill form.

Not that I'm a fan of fortified food either....Omega rich eggs from feeding hens weird stuff are not in my fridge.

Boy, this first-world living is tough!

[Harriet]

OKay, your posts have been inspiring. I thought that yesterday but didn't get a chance to mention.

Thanks for link, Kathryn. I hadn't heard much about this and I don't take a calcium supplement, which may make me unusual for a woman my age. I remember reading that we get calcium more efficiently from green vegetables than from dairy, which is part of what made me eat plenty of fresh spinich, kale, etc. Then I learned that most green veggies with plenty of calcium should be eaten cooked by anyone with thyroid concerns. LOL. There sure can be twists and turns to find what's best for the individual, that's the truth. I've heard it argued that no one ever died from supplementation of vitamins. Calcium as a mineral rather than a vitamin, though, would not be included in that optimistic thinking, and yes there would be a point of toxicity, one would think.

The Serum Level Vs Intake study of Vitamin D (Univ of Calif) which is still going on, but has tested 3,600 people so far, has found no toxicity up to 10,000 IU a day, and up to 200 ng/ml blood levels of the individual. D is made in our own bodies all the time, and is a hormone, not a vitamin at all, really.

My general thoughts are that whole-food supplements are wiser than their competitive ones made artificialy, so one thing I try to do is buy whole-food vitamins when I can.

[Harmony]

It is distressing for me that one after another of whatever the current supplement fad is eventually discounted for some bad result... does anybody remember when Vit C was the big big fad and people were taking huge mega doses? I personally take 600 mg of calcium with 400 iu vit D3 twice a day (so double those numbers)...and we get plenty of sun here, but my beach time is always followed by a shower to wash off sand and salt, so how much do I get from that exposure?

I used to take lots of supplements, and a few years ago I just quit most of them. I haven't noticed any difference in any direction...but who really knows. I take the calcium because my medicine causes calcium to not be absorbed, the same reason I quit taking all the acid reducers, opting for stronger bones instead of esophogus (sp?) health...and I'm uneasy about all that.

Good luck getting back on track, OKay. We must all find our daily normal way of staying healthy. I'm looking for my way......it's around here somewhere.....