Health and Fitness May, 2012

[OKay]

Our family doctor has put me on the "purple pill" twice. Both times I got relief but didn't like taking them long term so I took myself off them. For me, it seems stress is a biggie in causing extreme indigestion/heartburn/GERD.....or whatever it is - I just know it hurts to the point that I think I am dying. really! A few years ago I went to ER with it and they admitted me because they thought I was having heart problems. In the past 6 months, I've had a couple bad spells with it, but most of the time I don't have any problems with it.

GOOD NEWS!!! Today the scales showed a 3.2 lb loss!!

You wise and brilliant people had it pegged right. It had to be the excess sodium in the restaurant/fast/processed food!! Yesterday was the first day in over a week that I only ate home cooking. Reminding myself how much I looooooove eating my cooking.

Just for the record - here are my #'s from yesterday.
Category (goal) actual
Calories (1500) 1372.0
Fat (55g) 77.8
Sodium (2000mg) 2240.0
Carbs (125g) 130.9
Fiber (25) 11.7
Sugars (60) 31.1
Protein (55) 59.0
Free Foods (3) 0.2
Meat (6) 5.2
Fat (4) 7.4
Veg (4) 3.0
Milk (3) 0.0
Fruit (3) 1.6
Starches (6) 6.0

[Nancy]

Yesterday for my exercise I moved those limbs yesterday and restacked wood pile so I could clean up leaves behind it and moved the cut flat wood to a diff. spot. Dug up yellow irises and replanted about half of 'em, moved two rose bushes, dug some tulip bulbs also. Great weather for it and h. was outside chatting with me for some of it.

Then it was off to the fishing hole with worms I found for h. to use fishing.

We grilled dinner on the fire pit last night.

[Indiana]

You make a great detective OKay. I just couldn't get past sodium. You had all the symptoms.

[Harmony]

OKay, that is a very detailed list. Great to be able to do that. I didn't know you had gerd symptoms also. I know the pain you described. I've often sat and thought, is this my heart or what? I know I might just keel over someday because I just sit and go with the pain to see if it will go away, if a tums will help, if sitting up will help...and it always has because it's never been my heart...but if someday I have a heart problem, I'm basically going to have to do something else about all this because I'll never know.

I have a partial bottle of that healthier liccorice extract somewhere around here. Dear friend had been using it till her DH died and she gave it to me...but I can't seem to find it to try. Harriet, are you still taking that? If so, how often?

I'd forgotten about the papaya.

I've noticed when I stretch my neck out the way a bird does (I catch myself doing that at the computer trying to see the screen better) I will get some pain in the throat area and I wonder if it's from some damage in there. Sheesh, I hate all this worry about this stuff. I know my stress is up about everything in general, I wonder how that's affecting my symptoms too.

Well, I guess it's not the worst problem in life to have, but it sure does impact one's daily living.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

OKay Weight gain is not a simple matter of math!

My first example of this was an obese Newfoundland woman put in the hospital (decades ago when they could do that sort of thing because there were still beds available.) Her doctor would not believe that she was eating only what he said and not losing so he put her under his care so he could control everything.

She continued to gain. She started cleaning the hospital and making beds (in order to be active since she wasn't sick.) She still gained. She was then accused of smuggling in food or stealing it from other people's trays.

My second example: I gained 9 pounds on my cruise. I know I didn't eat that badly on the cruise since I seldom gain on cruises, walk way more than at home (5 flights of stairs to the gym, then another 4 to breakfast for example) and didn't eat much worse than I usually eat on a cruise. I usually gain 2 - 3 after an air flight and those pounds did go away. But the remaining 6 were there until I started bleeding. Then I lost 6 pounds in two weeks. That wasn't diet (I've never lost weight that fast in my life.)

Hormones play a HUGE role in all this.

On the other hand, at this point, I'd throw out (or throw into the freezer) all bacon and bacon bits. It really isn't healthy anyway. Find a lower sodium alternative. WW recommends Canadian bacon (on their low-carb version it is 'free'.) It still has sodium but a much lower fat level (and it costs a ton of money so I eat less because it is expensive!)

My body, for now since the hormones are behaving, is doing what it should. I'm losing slowly once more, 1 - 2 pounds per month.

[OKay]

I love you gals!! IMHO, such kindness, wisdom and knowledge is rare in a group. I feel honored to listen and learn from you.

I am thrilled to see the scales stay the same this morning. I had a heavy sodium 400+ calorie "snack" while sitting and talking with DGS17 & DGS15 yesterday afternoon. At first I congratulated myself for only eating protein (chicken strips), but later I realized how heavy laden with sodium it was and I thought a weight gain would be sure to happen.

***GASP*** give up bacon?? OH the mere thought of it puts me into panic. I'm going to have to think upon this before it will become possible. I grew up with my DDad eating bacon or sausage every day of my life. It is just something that is normal to me. I need these thoughts put into my head - even though they are too foreign for me to act upon then right now - they are now "simmering". THANK YOU!

Bacon, sausage, hot links are rotated through our breakfast meats. I could add Canadian Bacon into the rotation....I hadn't considered it before.....but it isn't one of DH preferred meats.....so it might back fire on me. A few months ago, when I started serving portion controlled servings, it was a HUGE change for us. Only having 1 slice of bacon still feels a bit like a sacrifice so I want to wait until the memory fades of when we ate 3-6 slices. Baby steppping it.

category (goal) actual
Calories (1500) 1532.5
Fat (55g) 82.0
Sodium (2000mg) 3035.5
Carbs (125g) 117.2
Fiber (25) 42.6
Sugars (60) 29.9
Protein (55) 70.4
Free Foods (3) 0.2
Meat (6) 7.6
Fat (4) 9.4
Veg (4) 2.0
Milk (3) 0.0
Fruit (3) 0.6
Starches (6) 6.4

[Nancy]

Yesterday I got in my walk after dgd left weather was great for that.
Did some weeding in the day and a bit a gardening as well.

We like turkey sausage but it has just as much salt as pork sausage in it.

Got a walk in today pushing dgd in the stroller.

[Indiana]

No OKay I don't think you need to give up bacon or sausage or hot links. You have cut back so much on the serving size that if you take that into account for the day and adjust you meal plan you will be fine. One slice of bacon is more than reasonable. I am very careful with sodium and still have those foods in moderation and take them into account for the rest of the day.

I don't have BLT's very often though. That has to be planned in advance for the days before and after.

I believe you can't give up on something that you like very much and are tied to memories. Moderation is so much better.

[OKay]

The breakfast meats are mentally in my "treat/comfort type food" category now. I will continue to eat/serve them, but they will be portion controlled. I am telling myself if I can't continue to control the portion then they have to be eliminated. Hopefully that will keep me in line.

When I tallied up my food from yesterday, I am amazed that I lost .4 lbs! I had 2 out of the 3 meals eaten away from home and/or processed food. I ate double my normal calories at lunch and had to put together a quick supper (heavy carb/low vegetables). NOT GOOD! I don't want to let this give me confidence that I can do this every day and just be thankful that I apparently got away with it" this time.

Calories (1500) 1822.0
Fat (55g) 73.9
Sodium (2000mg) 2193.0
Carbs (125g) 206.5
Fiber (25) 18.7
Sugars (60) 69.6
Protein (55) 84.0
Free Foods (3) 0.2
Meat (6) 9.0
Fat (4) 4.8
Veg (4) 1.0
Milk (3) 0.5
Fruit (3) 2.5
Starches (6) 10.9

[Harriet]

Harmony, of the 3 pill supplements I was taking for this, I guess the probiotic and papaya chewables seemed to be the most helpful, and since I can't take everything (or buy everything) I have stopped taking the licorice personally. That doesn't mean it didn't help me - I'm sure it did. It is a soothing herb and I think most people's concept of what it is doing is giving the irritated linings a chance to heal. The magic word to look for on any bottle of licorice supplement is "de-glycyrrhizinized", so that you know the one harmful part of the licorice plant has been removed. It will usually have the letters "DGL" prominent on the bottle. (Just eating licorice root in the wild, without removing the glycyrrhiza, can cause blood pressure problems, and problems for people using blood thinners. Even DGL bottles will usually say talk to your doctor if you take blood thinners, are pregnant or nursing.) Frankly, if I saw a sale on DGL licorice at my local vitamin store, I'd probably pick up a bottle. They are usually chewables so that the licorice will mix with saliva before it's swallowed to do the most good.

Kathryn, your story of the woman who was disbelieved and hospitalized for scrutiny reminds me of Rachael Heller's story. As a young woman she was humiliated by a doctor who unceremoniously told her her obesity was all her fault and compared her to a PIG, once literally threw a prescription at her in disgust. Later in life she would become Dr. Rachael Heller, M.A., M.Ph, Ph.D, author of several studies that researched hormonal imbalances, proving hormonal relationships to obesity. She cured herself of her hormone-related obesity, diagnosed it multi-generationally in her family, and has co-authored at least 4 of the Carbohydrate Addict series of books, among others.