Health and Fitness, June 2013

[Norma]

This is very interesting, Cowinkie! When Mr. Guy and I came home from AZ in April we immediately cut out all desserts. When we went for our exams with our primary he had read our lab reports and immediately put us both on Metformin. Mr. Guy's blood sugar was way up there and mine was almost as bad. We went to see him again the other day and MUCH IMPROVEMENT! Mr. Guy has lost 30 lbs. since we got home and I have lost 18 lbs. We have a ways to go, but we are improving our whole eating plan.

This morning we went to the Casino for breakfast and the manager whom we have known for a long time now, said to us "You have lost weight". What a good feeling that was. I love to hear that.

Last summer I had to go to my podiatrist and she started "educating" me because right off I saw that she had lost a lot of weight. 34 lbs. to be exact. She is a tiny short person. She told me about Jorge Cruise and what he had done for her with his program she faithfully follows. I started reading up on him and he made sense. It just took me a long time to put it all into practice. I need to re-join his website and get the articles he sends out and the meal plans. I printed off quite a few of them. To me what he says more sense than anything I have read. We are keeping on keeping on. I want at least 30 more lbs. off. His meal plans are so simple and very nutritious.

[Cowinkie]

Norma.... I just read your post to Sweetie and when he heard your news he exclaimed in a very loud voice "WOW". And we all know how much mr guy loves chocolate cookies

[Nancy]

Today I'm moving old sod for my exercise first round done a couple more to go. Taking a rest / water break.

[Harriet]

Thanks for all the info, Cowinkie and Norma.

Norma, congratulations on your 18 pounds loss and Mr. Guy's 30 pounds. That's not much more than 2 months - wow, good job cutting out sweets.

Cowinkie, I have 2 by Jorge Cruise and have not been able to read all of them. Frankly, I had gone to the bookstore with intention of buying Bob Harper's book and they had sold out overnight, but Cruise's books were there and looked good. LOL. I am seldom that free with money, but was really in the mood to do some reading. I tried Cruise's early-morning exercise ideas but they didn't work well for me because of my own household's schedule and what Emptynester and I have chatted about in the past - morning stiffness. I use the Jay Robb protein powder he likes when I make a smoothie - better for you than most. And of course he and I are on the same page about stevia-sweetened soft drinks. I think it's smart that he usually chooses spiral binding for his books - convenient, and few excuses for not reading the page! Yes, several of his recipes have wisdom. I think around here at that time we got swept up in HRH's hopes of eating a lot of vegetarian meals (which has been good) and concentrated on that more. I need to go back to Cruise's recipes and check out which ones might work into our days.

Nancy, I think you and OKay are both getting your exercise through yardwork these days. Good job.

OKay linked to a video of a comic routine about workouts yesterday evening in PWYC.

I did a 30-minute workout last evening. Yesterday's eating was good.

Finished off the walnuts. May buy some more at the store but I think HRH was wanting brazil nuts instead this time, so I'll ask.

[Nancy]

Thanks Harriet! Got the old sod moved, the chickens enjoyed getting the bugs under those piles of it the trailer is nearly full now. That definately WAS my exercise!

[Ivy]

I wanted to report how I've lost 2 Lbs. in 1 week. My asthma inhaler can make some people lose weight and my statin can curb the appetite. So, really, there is no reason to binge and gain weight. I'm very happy about my loss. I'm keeping a weekly weigh-in for Mondays, in the back of my emerald green Irish poetry and quotes journal.

Also, it's the journal where I want to start "self-talk" on the pages, related to diet, exercise, and "talk" to myself in a more motivational way, rather than think or say negative things, like I look like a pig, etc... People should treat themselves, like they'd treat their best friend, because we ALL deserve to love ourselves and think nice thoughts about us, too. When I'm negative, I eat. Sweets, too much of everything.

I worked for about 40 minutes, on my feet, decluttering in the main office today, so I'll count that as my activity today because I'm doing laundry now. My asthma inhaler can cause swollen ankles, lower legs, so I don't want to be on my feet too much at one time. And yes, I'm drinking more fluids, too, since retention can be a side effect. I want to be as healthy as I can be. Now it's time for some water and to elevate my feet.

Have an awesome day, Everybody!

[Nancy]

WTG Ivy!

I've done 10 miles on the ex. bike today for my exercise.
Tues. did ten mi. on ex. bike took apx. 30 min.

[Harriet]

I was going to mention to Ivy that I am a firm believer in researching, too. Glad you have felt no ill effects from that med. To me, getting some sunshine would be wise, unless dr believes part of your problem is outdoor allergies. Anyway, really hope you are feeling better.

Cowinkie and Norma, you got me to get out again the diet/foods one of my Jorge Cruise books, The Belly Fat Cure. I'm enjoying it, while also noticing some of the things that kept me sorta on the fence about the book back then. For instance, the first chapter is titled, "Lose Your Belly in One Week". Um.... yeah. That kind of thing makes me smile and stop taking a book seriously, lol. But he is an extremely interesting writer, with research to back up his concepts, which I like very much. Norma, I'm assuming you did his "carb swap" plan in which you aim for 15 grams of sugar and 6 servings of carbs per day?

Both of you are probably much better cooks than I. 3/4 of the book is about preparing new recipes, which do sound delish, but almost none of which HRH could eat with me, plus he's really the good cook in the family. Although there is help for stocking the pantry better, I can only find restaurants addressed on one page. Still, I can see how this works - go ahead and eat, just limit sugars, basically. For an old calorie-counter like me, I feel like I'm missing something, lol!

Definitely want to find The 100, Cowinkie. That sounds right up my reading alley. Oops... forget the library - 55 holds and counting. I put it on my wish list at Ama zon.

20-minute workout last evening.

[Cowinkie]

Yeah...finally found out whats going on with my body. Lab results are back and I have very low testosterone. My guess is my estrogen would have read low as well if I wasn't already using an estrogen cream. Some of the symptoms for low testosterone are: hair lose, muscle weakness, fatique, vaginal dryness, sleep troubles, dry itchy skin, unexplained weight gain,
inability to loss weight and incontinence upon sneezing. Sound like anyone y'all know

I have an appointment with my dr. on July 9th. However if there is a cancellation they will try to get me in sooner.

Harriet....
Sweetie doesn't always eat the same with me...so I usually cook veggies and make salads which we both like...then I cook my protein for me and something different for Sweetie. Many times we eat the same meals. One of his favorites is chicken, rice and brocolii. Thats easy...I just don't eat the rice. I bought ground chicken and chicken tenders and then packaged them in individual servings. Takes me 5 minutes or so to pan fry them in a non-stick pan. Sometimes I cook up 4-6 chicken breasts so I have them on hand. Very easy to microwave for my part of dinner and I can use the chicken in my lunch. I usually am cooking veggies either as a side dish or for something than goes into Sweetie's meal so that's easy for me as well. I try to chop up veggies as part of my morning routine on Mondays. Doesn't take long and then I have my veggies ready to cook. I steam most of mine in my microwave.

Forgot to add I did 45 mins on my Gazelle while watching Perry Mason.

[Harriet]

So glad you found out more info through hormone testing, Cowinkie. With an answer, you can start moving forward.

Bought The 100, which I now see is a completely different format from most of Cruise's other books - no photos at all and no spiral binding. Enjoying the book. Have noticed that a lot of the established online low-carb communities dismiss Cruise as not too different from other low-carb plans/authors that have been around a while. I think his concentration on the "whys" and also on (literally) BIG picture explanations distinguish him.

Found out at the bookstore that one of the 7 ( ) Belly Fat Cure books by Cruise is called The Belly Fat Cure Quick Meals, which I don't believe existed when I had first purchased. A lot of it does deal with restaurants/fast food or meals for just one person, so that answered some of my questions. Since that book only has 3 holds at the library, I sent for it there. Btw, a lot of it can be seen at Ama zon by looking through the book pages.

Of course in our house we are now on a mission to see what vegetarian, and sometimes vegan, eating can do for HRH's health markers. The results almost 3 months ago were very good and he goes back Friday, gets more results probably Mon. He's very interested in the history I read him last night from the Cruise book, but he would have to be so careful on a low-carb diet, and when low-carb goes wrong for him the potential gout pain's just not worth it. As far as cutting back on sugar, of course, he's right on the same page with Cruise, since part of his reasoning for going vegetarian was keeping his blood sugar level in healthy range. He loves vegetarianism because of all the good health and longevity concepts, the brain health. It certainly hasn't made him skinny, yet, but he keeps losing a little at a time. Sometimes I think he is leaning toward ovo-vegetarianism since eggs do show up in his diet more than any other animal product.

Another thing I found online on the way to learning more was the video of Cruise and Oz and the tape measure - for waist circumference. I was glad to see the clear explanation from Oz that when measuring the waist you do try to "suck it in". If not, there would be no accuracy, and so many times you see advice to measure without explaining that. I wished they had spent a little more time on the right placement of the tape. I've been measuring for 12 years and fighting the good fight. I already knew I am barely within Oz's (or anyone's) guidelines for waist circumference.

Joked yesterday about eating ice cream while starting to read the book. Absolutely true. I build treats into my plans, always. Wheat-based treats are worse for sodium retention AND worse for insulin response than milk-based treats, so I like to go the milk route. With HRH not eating desserts, it's kinder for me to drop in somewhere else for one!