Health and Fitness, February 2013

[Harmony]

OKay, I admire your ability to keep on trying.

My fluid problems started over 25 years ago. A therapist doing work on someone else noticed it on my feet... a few years after that I went to gyno because of it and during an exam pointed it out. He asked how many babies I had; 2 was enough to cause sluggish valves in my legs which carry the fluid back up to the body. I was told to wear support hose, which I did for a while. Does anybody know just how hot those are in Florida?

But I do notice it getting worse. ...sigh just another problem on the list I need to address. Find time to do that on a day like today, yeah.

[OKay]

I very strongly dislike starting again. The first few days are hard. Yesterday i stayed busy but through most of it I was so hungry that I considered eating the paint off the wall

I did 9042 steps yesterday. Almost made it to that elusive 10,000. If I had looked and realized I was that close i would have taken a walk to achieve it before calling it a day. Today i will try and look before the end of the day.

Weight was down .2 this morning. I'll take it. Anything that heads the right way is a good sign!

Keeping on.

[Lynlee]

http://ginews.blogspot.com.au/#kitchen
the email touting contents :-
Friday February 1, 2013

In this issue of GI News:

Jamie Oliver’s low GI 15-minute Pesto Spaghetti with Lemon Steamed Fish
We feature another of Jamie’s recipes in the GI News Kitchen along with Johanna Burani’s Roasted Peppers and Sweet Potato Fish Cakes with Dill Sauce as our low GI Money Saving Meal ...Read More »

How cooking food ups calorie counts
With another series of MasterChef hitting the screens, we took a look at cooking. ‘We are biologically adapted to cook food. It’s part of who we are and affects us in every way you can imagine: biologically, anatomically, socially,’ writes Harvard’s Prof Richard Wrangham. It also makes food more digestible. In Food for Thought he writes: ‘Whether we are talking about plants or meat, eating cooked food provides more calories than eating the same food raw. And that means that the calorie counts we’ve grown so used to consulting are routinely wrong’ ... Read More »

Getting kids cooking and eating healthily
The Back to Basics Healthy Lifestyle Program is an evidence-based, family focused, healthy lifestyle program with an after-school cooking club for children developed by Professor Clare Collins and colleagues from the School of Health Sciences at University of Newcastle ... Read More »

Redefining wholegrains
‘Consume more wholegrains is enshrined in dietary guidelines around the globe and has become something of a mantra by doctors, dietitians and nutritionists’ says Prof Jennie Brand-Miller. ‘But does the science stack up to scrutiny?’ ... Read More »

Not all refined-carbs are high GI
The United Nations has declared that 2013 is International Year of Quinoa. This versatile grain is an excellent source of low GI carbs and protein and is rich in B vitamins and minerals including iron, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc. It is also gluten free and a great alternative to other grains on our supermarket shelves ... Read More »

Upping your iodine intake
Prof Jennie Brand-Miller explains why you may need to and how you can do it ... Read More »

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Still struggling here. Knees are healing, I can now go up stairs as well as down, almost pain free, alternating steps (on Saturday I could do up but one step at a time.) The key is foot placement; I tend to land on the outside edge of my foot but if I concentrate on landing on the inside edge, there is much less or even no pain. Down stairs has been fine since Saturday.

Nancy I know the bike is better for my knees than walking but in the past it has been too hard on my back to use.

Took two days off the treadmill, both due to time, I was running short of time on Sunday morning and was up until 1 a.m. Sunday night so by the time I got up on Monday, I was really hungry so skipped exercising. Meant to get to it in the afternoon but that didn't happen.

Bought rice pasta (therefore gluten free) on Sunday to try since I had bought tomato sauce that I like. I'll try it, possibly tonight since I have leftover chicken to add to the mix.

I've been eating the wrong foods so have not got onto the scale. No point getting even more upset with myself.

Today I have a written plan for the day with all the things I have to do and food I have to eat. I've scheduled lots of snack breaks but defined the snacks. Hopefully it will work well.

[Harriet]

It does seem to be the series of "starting over" that we must master, doesn't it? I think if we could end that, we wouldn't be human, but we can certainly tame it, or tame our reactions to it. When it's time to start over, that's all it is - not time to criticize ourselves or time to despair. Just time to start over.

In a way, I started over yesterday as well. The weekend with little boys hoping for macaroni and cheese, pizza and pancakes was one thing. The overlying weekend of their parents' soda habits was another, because it pulls me in to the habit again. I certainly commend dd33 and dsonil for scrupulously keeping sodas from crossing their children's lips. But they themselves just live on them. LOL! We even had a rousing discussion of whether Taylor Swift has the right to become a spokesperson for the CocaCola Company without criticism. I know dsonil feels the greater enemy for him must always be considered sugar, so his habit of diet cola doesn't seem so bad to him. Still, I worry. I had Zevia on hand, but it made a bad first impression! I told him that I bet when he first started having to switch to diet drinks they didn't taste very good either! (I happen to know he hated it!) At least I exposed him to the stevia-sweetened drinks, and the concept of alternatives to aspertame, etc.

I did add the treat of probiotic-fortified yogurt in for the boys and they loved it. Dd33 gave me back the health books I've loaned them - two about pre-diabetes and the New Atkins book.

I decided that my first day "back" should ignore weight loss and address the constipation I was feeling, so I made out a healthy habits card and was able to check it off completely yesterday. Plenty of water, fruits and veggies, and also I did T-Tapp.

Harmony, daily foot and ankle exercises like lying with feet in the air and circling the ankles one way then another, then pointing/flexing, pointing/flexing might be helpful? They say it is the calf muscle that is the "heart pump" of the lymph system. Do you feel your swelling is aggravated by being on your feet so much?

Gee, both Lynlee and Kathryn posted since I started this (my life is interruptions!). I'll have to cuop later!

[Nancy]

K in C how are the reclining style stationary bikes for your back?

I got 5 mi. done on the ex. bike yesterday could have walked weather was nice enough but did house hold chores de-cluttering and inside work and had granny duty dgd slept a long time in the afternoon.

Did the five mi. on the ex. bike this morning.

[Harriet]

This funny was in an email today from the trainer who held the class NCShe and I attended.

Workout DVDs get bored if they don't play.
You don't want bored DVDs on your conscience, do you?
Go play with them.

I have some quinoa in my cabinet, Lynlee. Perhaps I'll make that soon. I appreciate those who will challenge the "conventional wisdom", btw. I am often surprised that otherwise intelligent people still parrot the same things heard over and over about food, without questioning, and are almost insulted by any idea that doesn't bear out "conventional wisdom". My dsonil is intelligent and well-read, a wellspring of trivial information without having to look much up. Yet, I can't reach him on my concerns about some aspects of his diet/food opinions. Anyway, interesting g. i. news piece, thanks.

Good job on having a written plan for the day, Kathryn.

[Harmony]

Harriet, standing in one spot is murder on my leg/fluid problem. Sitting in one spot also bad. (hence the quilt rack problem which was so bad I was actually very worried). I think just being on my feet makes it pool in my ankles, but interestingly, the up and down on the ladder seemed to be helpful. I think the exercises you mention are good but it is the feet up in the air that does the trick! I hardly ever sit in the family room with my feet down. I usually put my feet up on something or extend the foot rest. Overnight the fluid most always goes away. And I start all over.

I need to monitor:
calories
SODIUM
fiber
exercise
fat
ph of foods
sugars
water
caffeine
and sleep!

Going to be mindful of how much the elliptical and the bicycle helps or doesn't help this. I'm thinking those are the motions that work for this.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Nancy: sitting is bad for my back. Both kinds of bikes used to do me in. Two - three years after I was mobile again, I got on my regular bike to try riding it. Got to the end of the driveway (200') and turned back because I hurt already. In the years since, I have managed to bike 3 miles but have limping issues two days later.

As for the exercise bike (and most of the machines at Curves), I tried it 1 - 2 years after 'recovery' and the sitting did me in.

At Curves I was back to using a cane after my first two workouts so gave it up. At home, I just switched right back to the treadmill. It might be fine now (the Nordic Trak used to hurt my back too and I saw no signs of that after my workout last week) but I'm scared to use it. Any time I'm back to cane, I get really scared, can't carry a baby and use a cane at the same time. At least not to dd's safety standards. My whole motivation through recovery was to be able to hold grandchildren and care for them. Now, being able to cruise and experience the places I'm visiting is also part of the motivation but basically, it is grandkids.

(This is why car trips take us much, much, longer than normal people - I have to stop the car every 2 hours and walk around for about 10 - 15 minutes. Even so, I'll limp for ages after a long-distance car trip.)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Yesterday the main food was okay but the last cookie and jelly beans did me in from a calorie point of view.

I'm also exhausted today and have another full day's schedule. I got to bed 1 hour later than planned but was still in bed with lights out for 7.5 hours. It wasn't enough sleep. Dh (Mr. We Need to Get to Bed Early) was a good 30 minutes behind me so I didn't fall asleep at lights out and he was sure to wake me when the light came back on (I don't notice it because of my eye mask.) I know I need 7.5 hours sleep a night, assuming I have no deficit to recover but I CANNOT GET HIM TO RESPECT THAT!

I also know he needs more sleep since his confusion has been much better since I reprogrammed the light to an hour later. Of course, he just programmed it back a week ago so I'm back to be shortchanged in the morning. If I wake up earlier than natural, and stay in bed, I do go back to sleep but do so for 90 minutes or more which then means I lose almost the whole morning. Out of bed at 8, finish exercises at 9:15, s2s at 10, light therapy until 10:30 and finished breakfast at 11, just doesn't work for me. It is better than when I had to nap in the afternoon but it is still a waste of 3 - 4 hours of the days when the rest of the world is awake and doing business.

Getting out of bed at 6:35 is hard for me. Between 6 and 6:30 I can't even open my eyes comfortably, I'm so, so, tired. They just ache so I lay there with them closed and try to wake my body up. It should not be that way, I should be able to get out of bed within minutes of awakening.