Water

One thing that I have not been doing is drinking enough water. You are supposed to drink 8 glass minimum a day. I drink water. Just not enough. While tea counts coffee doesn’t. How fair is that?

Anyone who is diabetic knows we have an unquenchable thurst. We also pee lot. In fact, one of my meds is designed to make me pee out sugar. So if I am not drinking enough water I am drinking something else. Because I am not dehydrated.

We all know what happened to Jack when he and Jill fetched a pale of water.

So the switch to water is a challenge for me. I used to be addicted to diet Pepsi. I could drink one right after the other. Then I discovered that the artificial sweeteners were actually contributing to my diabetic condition. While I was reducing my sugar intake I was also confusing my pancreas. Expecting sugar from the sweet taste in my mouth insulin was produced unnecessarily. This put everything out of wack.

I stopped the diet soda but the replacement was ice tea and juice or shamefully real Coke. I recently have started liking sparkling water. And it counts as part of my water goal.

What I am finding is that I am still not making my goal and in the evening before bed I am downing 3 glasses of water. Not good for the nighttime pee situation. One trick I have learned is to start my day with a glass of water. Even before coffee.

This water drinking in drowneding me, but I will master it.

Swimming cat

Thinning

Now that I am working on my health, I am also looking at my environment and what needs to be done to move to Palm Springs.  We have so much stuff in this condo. More in storage. It is time to start thinning things out (pun intended).

To that end, my husband is contemplating selling some of his Disney collection.  Whatever he can get for it could be used for new carpet, updating the bathroom, etc.  As I look around though, it is very daunting task ahead of us.  But it is better to do something about it now and not have to move it.  It has some sentimental value and we enjoy it, but it will be worthless when we pass.  The kids will probably not want any of it, nor concern themselves with what it might be worth.  It will just be gotten rid of to the junk man.

The Junk King – I may have need of this man.

My husband thinks the family may want some of this stuff and wants to offer it up to them.  That is all well and good, but I hope he doesn’t get too frustrated when he see how little of it will be taken. Ebay is probably the best bet. Then the extra furniture can go to a lovely consignment shop here in town.  They pick it up and sell it for you. If it doesn’t move they discount it more.  Ultimately, if there are no takers the option to bring it home is given or they will donate it.  Of course, we still need to unload the contents of these cabinets. Woe is me.

Family Treasures

Storage is another matter.  We will need to wait till the weather warms up so we can sort through that stuff.  I am of the mind to let it go at one of those auctions you see on TV, Storage Wars.  There are some seasonal things that we will need to retrieve.  But by and large if I haven’t wanted it this long, I don’t need it at all.  This too will be a daunting task.

Storage Wars – Dave Hester

When you start to go through things you forget your purpose.  You lose yourself in memories and have difficultly parting with your possessions.  Half an hour goes by and you have barely sorted one box.  The keep pile is much too large.  I am going to try not to do that this time.

I think the sensible approach is to make a list before hand of things we remember are over there that we want, keep those and no more.   Or at least limit ourselves to things with deep emotional value that we may not recall.  It is still going to be challenging.  We will sort into keep, sell, donate and trash,  just like they do on those hoarder shows.

American Hoarders – It’s not this bad but give time who knows.

I think this will make me feel better about retirement knowing we will be starting fresh with less baggage from the past weighing us down. Thinning the load and the body.

Bad breath

It is too early to see any real progress with Noom.  But I have successfully been completing the course assignments for 3 days.  That is something.  Here are a few tips .

Breathing to Relieve Stress

When things feel out of control, you’re not eating right, you’re not exercising enough, work is overwhelming your personal life, and you need to do something that shows you are in control.  Breathing exercises are that thing.

Breathing for stress relief

While breathing is automatic, unlike other automatic things, we can control it.  Being able to control something brings on relief.  It changes your focus temporarily from what is bothering you and enables you to think more clearly.

The program provide three different breathing exercises.  I have chosen the simplest one.  It’s called “Falling out of breath”.  You take a deep inhale filling your lungs and then you take one more sip of air.  Then you exhale with a big sigh that you can hear. It works.  And the sigh reminds me of my grandmother which is a happy thought bonus.

Okay, so you yoga people already knew this thing called breathing. But I didn’t take it seriously till now.

Food density

We also learn to categorize food by density. We all know the normal diet says limit starches, sugars, and fat.  Eat more fruits and vegetables.  Eat more lean proteins.  Well this is a new approach for me.  You think about the density of what you are eating.  The obvious examples come to mind, a watermelon verses a candy bar.  Which is denser in calories?  But this goes beyond that and asks you to think about water content.  So again that watermelon by name alone tells you it is full of water.  But what about dried fruit verses fresh fruit? Fresh vegetables version those chard on the top of a pizza.  Okay so that isn’t the best example.  Now I want Pizza.  At any rate the program helps you chart foods you eat and puts them into density categories so you can see for yourself how you are doing.  The big thing is water makes you full faster.

One thing I am trying is eating hard-boiled eggs instead of fried ones.  It seemed strange to me that fried eggs were denser.  I was just trying to avoid the butter in the pan and used cooking spray.  But think about it.  When you put the lid over your eggs to get the whites done, where does that steam come from?  The eggs of course.   Two mornings of hard-boiled eggs and I have notices that I do feel fuller after eating them.

Hard-boiled

So these are some takeaways for me for just the first few days.  After the first week coaching and teams are introduced.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  First we learn the basics, then we share with others.  Although I must say the coaching part is what I really need.  I understand that I need some level of self-awareness before we start.  Part of these exercises include some psychological questioning about what triggers my eating habits.  These are designed to put me in a group with like-minded people.  I thought all us fat people were the same but apparently not, we are motivated differently.

Groups

Noomerous

My healthy progress is failing me.  The health coach I had got her master’s degrees and I have not heard from her since.  Back to my own resources.  I am thinking about signing up for a program.  I have tried several different ones in the past.  Weight Watchers was my go to for years.  But with COVID it doesn’t seem like meetings are going to happen.  I know they have on-line chat and other ways of doing things.  But I really don’t think Oprah needs my money.

Donny and Marie – She was the beautiful girl next door, but Donny stole my heart.

On the television you see Marie Osmond pushing Nutrisystem.  She doesn’t even look human anymore.  Her face is so plastic.  The food probably is too.  I don’t think tv dinners are going to work for me.   If it were I could buy Weight Watchers or the dreaded Lean Cuisines.  Been there done that, finish the cardboard box and then scrounging for something to eat.

I like the idea of a health coach.  There are several options out there.  My news feed is filled with Keto diet instructors, V-Shred, MyDiabetes, dream body, and then there are all those baldness cures and deodorant and groom products for body parts I must be neglecting.  The perfect workout shorts and shoes.  While the men in these ads are quite handsome, once you click to see more, you are flooded with more than you can handle of similar products.  The guys are probably more than I can handle as well.

V shred – Do I want to look like him or do I just want to him? 😆🤣😂

There is one that I am considering.  It’s called Noom.  There is a 7 day trial.  We’ll see how that goes.  It sounds promising.  I am a skeptic by nature.

Funny thing,  while I was trying to sign up for Noom my health coach from the drug company reach out to me to setup a new appointment.  She must be psychic or jealous.  Now I am not so sure I want her anymore. Out with the old in with the Noom.

Psychic or psycho?

I have been trying to lose weight for so many years.  The last time I was thin was 25 years ago.  The Noom people say you just have to believe in yourself as the first step.  So here I go again.  I have a goal.  I have an online coaching system and lord knows I want this to work.

Ethical

I am not sure how ethical it will be to share what I learn from this paid program.  But if you want to read it I will post it all here.  Supposedly it is customized for me.  But still I am a very giving person.  And this blog is all part of my journey.

What the heck

Just a brief post today because I can’t believe this poll. 1 in 10 Americans are okay with Neonazi views. Wbat the heck.

I remember they used to say 1 in 10 people are gay. And some comic started counting his audience. We can laugh at homosexuals. But white supremacists are not so funny.

This is cancel culture. 10 percent of you are horrible people. 10 percent of you are “family”. I don’t thing any of you are both. Unless we are talking about my real family. Some of them horrible.

Changing mind and body

Things have definitely changed.  I am not watching the news as much.  The urgency of it has gone.  I am no longer in fear of what the POTUS tweeted today.  Whether you supported him or not, that added drama was a bit taxing.  I am not going to talk politics in this post, only in as much as it has had an effect on my health.  That stress is now somewhat relieved and a vacuum of empty space remains.  I hope to fill that with promise for the future.

Acceptable tweeting.

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  Especially in the afternoon.  I had conference calls from 1 pm until signoff time.  I am already home so it is difficult to say when the day really ends.  I found myself wrapping up loose ends from those phone calls, putting in an extra hour of my time.  I remember doing that same thing in the office and being late home for dinner.  Not a problem now, but I do need to get better separation from work at home.

Work life balance

The problem is that when things come to me I feel the urge to do something about them.  So I go into the computer room/guest room and login to fix things at all hours.  They are getting more out of me than when I was in the office and could socialize with the workers.   I miss that socialization.  It is  also having an effect on my health.

Of course, there are ways to fill that gap as well.  We chat through teams.  Good morning meme’s.  Lunch time meme’s.   Quitting time meme’s.   And the all-important side chats during meeting making fun of what is going on.  But still I miss them.  The in person meetings. The celebratory lunches.  The trips to Starbucks.

I do have a trip planned on the books for Ricky’s birthday and our anniversary.  We are going to Palm Springs in May.   We hope to be able to do some more research on buying a place to live there in about a year from now.  Maybe things will open up a little more and we can actually tour some condos.  We are not looking for a house, because I hate yard work and we want to travel.  The security of a gate condo community on a golf course surrounded by greenery and bougainvillea has a great appeal.  Especially since I won’t be mowing the grass.

Around the world travel

The sunshine will be nice.  If you believe the real estate ads there are 360 days of sun in Palm Springs.  But I am still a little leery of all those flood control channels.  I suspect that when it rains it pours.  We will need flood insurance.  As for those hot August nights.  That’s when we will travel!

So this post in not so much physical health, but more about getting my mind in order and ready for the future.  Hey if Prince Philip can live to be 99 and he lives in cold dank England, I think I have a few more decades to enjoy.

Physical and mental strength

Valentine’s in the 16th century

There has been much fuss made about “Bridgerton” on Netflix. It is and unorthodox soap opera set in the Regency era. It is quite good if not so much true to history. The cast is attractive and engaging. But before this was a series that originally aired on television called “Reign”. It’s four seasons Rs now on Netflix commercial free.

Reign loosely follows the life of Mary Queen of Scots. I say loosely because the characters are children but in this telling they are young adults. Remember this was made for television. But most of all it is a love story.

We follow Mary and her many suitors. There are lots of plot twist and friends become enemies and then friends again or betrayers all in the name of love and power.

Some of the key players. Lola, one of Mary’s lady’s; Bash, the king’s bastard son; Stephen, an evil lord; Queen Elizabeth of England; Mary and her husband Frances; Mary and Catherine de Medici.

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Cauliflower soup

I wanted this to be a good day, but watching this trial is making me want to snack.  Cookies are calling my name.   I was good at lunch I had cauliflower soup and a tuna sandwich.  And three cookies, sadly.

Here is the recipe for the soup.  Note I didn’t make it.  Ricky made it for me.  I am not a very good cook unless it can go in the microwave.

Cauliflower Soup

Ricky substituted pecans for almond and he didn’t use fresh garlic or shallots.  But it was still very good.

Weighing in

I feel the need to provide some sort of update. I have been doing everything right for the past few days. But for a few transgressions (cookies, sopapillas) I am eating better. Tomorrow is coach day and I am ready for some new encouragement and help with strategy.

I also will be doing my third workout this week. Then we will get on the scales on Saturday……fingers crossed there will be something positive to report.

Back to the workout

This work from home gig has revealed something to me.   All the advertisements on television are for drugs, reverse mortgages, insurance, lawyers and food.   Apparently, the only people home during the day are old hungry sick people who have committed a crime and need an attorney.  Now this week we have an impeachment trial for just that person.  Okay, maybe he isn’t hungry.

So here I am trying to work.  Eating minimal food to stay on track with my healthy diet. Wishing I were on vacation.  Thinking I have every disease and side effect known to man.  Wondering if a reverse mortgage is right for me.  After all it works for Magnum P.I., Tom Selleck.  And I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look better with age.  Too bad he didn’t keep some of that money he earned.

Push-ups

Today is exercise day.   Every other day I do the d-fit for beginners’ video.  Okay, so I skipped last week entirely and started again Monday.  This morning I am disappointed that the 30 minute workout didn’t make a difference on the scales.  But I know why.  Maybe by Friday I might see some results again.

Food diary

I am religiously recording what I eat.  The new app has pictures of the food.  It makes it more fun seeing broccoli, pork chops, rice, milk, cheerios, oranges, etc. next to my entries.  The chocolate cake, cookies, and gelato not so much.  So at a glance I can see my weaknesses.   Rick went to the store yesterday and asked me what snacks I wanted him to pick up.  What I want I can’t have, so apples and oranges it is.

To be fair you can have other things, but my problem at the moment is not eating those things to excess.  Better they are not readily available till I get past the cravings stage of this new way of eating.  I give myself a pat on the back for eating an apple yesterday instead of a piece of apple pie.  You can get some of the taste without all the calories.

We are experimenting with a cauliflower recipe to replace potatoes.   Getting the seasonings right is going to be the trick, because cauliflower has no taste of its own. My choice is butter but that is going the wrong direction. 

I have been making better side choices when we go out.   Corn instead of potato salad.  Cottage cheese instead of hash browns.  Fruit instead of French fries.  One side effect is that the additional fiber has messed with my digestion.  Ultimately this will be a good thing.

Tom Selleck

So Tom, What are you doing with that money from your reverse mortgage? Any trips to Hawaii planned? We want to go to Maui.  Maybe I’ll see you there.