Random Acts of "Kindness"

Posts tagged ‘DIET’

PESTERED

I am extremely glad that I have a TEAM IN HIGH PLACES that “help” me with my life. I was reminded of the word “team” when this morning I watered my African Violet that “Muscles” gave to me more than 30 years ago. He has passed over and takes care of the plant because I seldom remember to water it.

There is more than one meaning to the word “help.” I have been aware for years that my writing passes an editor. If the thought ramble is acceptable, it is published. If it doesn’t — either changes are made or it is discarded.

Since I have had “help” for years, I am more aware of little things that alert me to the fact that I have had “help.” It might be something simple as finding the right product in the store, finding a GREAT SALE, or having someone appear when I need help. It can be an article in the paper or a magazine that I need to read. It can be a television program that is of interest to me. Recently turning on the television to check on programs coming on, I was surprised to listen to the viewpoint of a gentleman who is running for president. Another night I wandered onto a program of music by young musicians who wrote a song to honor his grandmother who had died of pancreatic cancer.

If I don’t have a thought ramble ready to publish, my life becomes extremely interesting. Not in ways that I choose. Recently I pulled a stack of 10 cookbooks out to look for suggestions of what to cook. I noticed that many of the choices where fish — shrimp, salmon etc. Chicken also played a high place in the choices. Since my husband has passed, I’ve expanded the recipes I’m making to include more vegetables.

My watch reminds me daily that I haven’t logged into My Fitness Pal to note the food I’m eating. A recent article in a magazine reminded me to log back in and track my menu options. Will I lose weight? That is a very good question. The answer is that I have many “friends” in both spheres that have my best interests at heart. I have added tracking my food at My Fitness Pal to the daily have to do list.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

FLOUNDERING

FLOUNDERING

Flounder — To struggle or plunge about awkwardly. Early in the morning the word came to me. First question — is it a word? Second – what does it mean? That accurately describes my feeling at the moment. Now I know that January has always brought depression in my life. Too many cold days, NO SUNSHINE — nothing to look forward to. Do I need to go on? This year is more difficult. I’m missing my mate. Even though it was cold last year — we had a date to meet friends for lunch, I was ordering his medicine, a date with the doctors was cancelled because it was 3 degrees and I didn’t think we should travel.

Thankfully it is not that cold YET. I know it is coming. Since the ice kept me in the house for a week in October, I’m not looking forward to cold, snow and ICE. `I hate to admit it but I HAVE NOT accomplished anything worthwhile in too long to mention. Television, magazines and stores are full of ideas to lose weight. It would not hurt me to lose a couple of pounds, okay maybe more than a couple but I don’t have the motivation. I DO NOT want to try any of the newest, hottest ways to lose weight nor do I want to try the old and proven. I have learned that I my body needs meat, vegan is not for me.

I planned to go the senior center for an art session and I did. I thought that it would be helpful to learn to draw. Sadly my hand was hurting on the day I went and drawing didn’t help it. It put my hand out of commission for a few days. My daughter asked me if I had fun and I honestly replied “no!”

I won’t bore you with the list of things I DID NOT WANT TO DO. Did that feeling pass? To be honest I don’t know. My stubborn spirit raised its head and I committed to activities that would help. I DID NOT GO CRAZY! No plans to “diet” or restrict my eating. No plans to use my time to organize the house. Instead I committed to two steps. First to walk more than 3,000 steps a day. Looking at my log, many days were under 2,000. Second: do Tai Chi every day. Of course, I also wanted to drink more water and get more sleep. I have been taking my blood pressure daily and the numbers were higher than I wanted.

A week has passed and I’m happy to acknowledge that I met both of my goals.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

NEW FRONTIER

QUEST FOOTNOTE: I took a photo of the NEW, GREEN MOTORCYCLE ornament I bought for my husband. I tried to share the find with my family. I sent the photo in TWO messages. Neither of the photos were received. I took a photo of the motor cycle hanging under an angel with a trumpet announcing his ride. That photo was received.

In a recent trip to Costco I discovered The New Frontier cookbook by Ree Drummond. It is my practice to open a new cookbook at random and see if the recipe fits into my style of cooking. To be honest, I have no idea what recipe I opened to. I put the book back down because it didn’t have nutritional information. Before I left the store, the book was not only back in my hand, but in my cart leaving the store. I had noticed that she had MANY photos showing the steps.

Did I NEED to see the steps in making the recipes? I didn’t think so but I was intrigued. And I am so glad that I did. Two of her daughters are no longer at the evening meal each night. Her household has shifted to mostly male, growing teenage boys. My household has also changed. For many years I cooked the meals that my husband liked — meat and potatoes, no salad and very few vegetables. Now the world is my oyster.

Since my husbands passing, I have made three oriental recipes. More are on the pipeline but the traditional menu for Thanksgiving put a hold on my experimenting. Thankfully my son is more willing to try new foods. He even suggested that I didn’t need to peel the potatoes when frying them. I’ve discovered that red potatoes work better than rustics. Onions don’t need to be diced as small. I can even add peppers.

Have I mentioned that I like to read cookbooks. This one fits right in. Ree introduces each recipe with a short thought ramble. It has already reminded me of many cooking adventures in my life.

I decided that I would only read two recipes a morning in the new book. It was a good choice. I have started my day with laughter many times. I’m almost finished with breakfast. I have to admit that many of the recipes will be a challenge. They are designed for from 6 to 8 servings. I’ll either have to cut the ingredients or freeze the leftovers.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

THANK YOU ARLENE

I have to admit that I was undecided. I watch my sodium but when we eat out, I have NO control over the salt that is added for seasoning. I try the best I can to make smart decisions. Eating out caused my weight to go up 3 lbs. The temperature increased and the weight hung on. And MY KNEES HURT!

I’ve read that one pound of weight puts 4 pounds of pressure on the knees. In my lifetime I have tried so many diets that promised a lot and did not deliver. If I’m honest, I have to admit that when I’m stressed, I nibble. I try to stay with food that is healthy, but that doesn’t always happen.

I was trying to figure out what to do about my weight. Of course more exercise would help but my body parts are not helping right now. I decided that watching my food intake would be a good decision. But what should I do? Everything I thought of didn’t seem right. I DIDN’T WANT to start a diet.

In the midst of this turmoil, my husband’s sister phoned. She is older. She SUCCESSFULLY LOST more than 30 lbs in less than a year. Thankfully health problems didn’t cause the loss. She ate more vegetables and fruit. She walked more and stopped eating after 6.00 PM. She restricted her beverage after 6 to ice water.

Sounded good to me. Except I can’t stop eating after 6. But I decided to WATCH sodium, try to get more protein and walk more. Several health articles have emphasized additional protein for senior citizens. The amount of protein suggested is 100gm.

Restricting sodium is not EASY. If I have shredded wheat for breakfast, no sodium is in the cereal. Cheese is high in protein but it is also high in sodium. Thankfully Swiss cheese is lower but is still high in protein. Bread is very high in sodium, but some crackers are low and the new sandwich thins are also lower than bread.

Drinking more water helped. I LOST the three pounds of water weight. Just in time because the temperature heated up. We had a week of temperatures that were in the high 90’s.

Sadly once the water weight was gone, weight loss stopped.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

PUSHED

I have always LOVED to walk. As a teenager, it was nothing to walk over 5 miles in a day. I’ll attribute it to my maternal grandmother. She didn’t know how to drive, nor did she have a car. In Wisconsin, we walked everywhere unless we hitchhiked. I continued to walk a lot after we had children. I regularly walked three miles at the camper in the morning. That is until about three years ago when my knees became a problem. Since then I’m lucky if I get 5,000 steps a day. If I’m honest I’ll admit that mostly it is 3,000 or less.

Then I found a note book from 2017 in which I wrote details from our trip to Hawaii. We enjoyed walking from Waikiki beach down the ocean front, looking for turtles, back to our time share. It wasn’t unusual to log over 14,000 steps a day. We are going again this year. My son has reminded me that I won’t be happy if I have to sit on a chair and watch the world go by.

I have increased the number of steps from 3,000 — 4,000 January, February to 6,000 — 7,000 March. That is a LONG WAY from 14,000. Thankfully my knees aren’t the problem that they were. I wish I could say that my weight was down. That would be LOVELY. Because of the ice, I’ve been walking more in the house. I’ve have been trying to get at least 3,000 before going upstairs. Now that I’ve increased the total, 7,000 this week, I have had to increase the amount– trying for 4,000 before going upstairs. I was amazed when I easily reached 7,000 every night.

I try to walk at every commercial. Since most of the time I’m not watching a public channel, there are a lot of commercials. I also try to do stretches before going to bed. Once I reach 7,000, the rest of the night is mine and I don’t push. Will I get the number of steps up to 10,000 EVERY DAY? Good question — no answer. I’ll admit that 7,000 is easier than 5,000 was.

Losing weight? I wish! I write down the food I eat every day. Except for minor treats — wine, popcorn — I don’t eat junk. I don’t know if I get the recommended number of fruit and vegetables into my diet every day but I don’t fill the space with bread, or candy or pop. I read, with interest, the new recommended diet that will help you lose 40lbs in 30 days. I look at the food they recommend. For the most part, those foods are in my diet. I don’t have a lot of (junk food) to give up. Increasing my exercising hasn’t helped either.

On a different note: I am ALWAYS so HAPPY when I realize I have “friends from high places” helping me shop. Recently I was at Costco, searching for Mountain Dew. UNSUCCESSFULLY! I asked a uniform person working in the freezer but he wasn’t part of Costco’s staff. A shopper (Costco employee in disguise) heard my question and came to my aid. There was ONLY ONE CASE of Mountain Dew left, he knew where it was and retrieved it for me. THANK YOU!

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

REWIND

I can’t count the number of times that I have started over . Weight up — new diet. Some with success for a short time but the weight came back — again and again. The problem is that for the most part I eat a healthy diet. Because of sodium restrictions I don’t eat a lot of processed foods. I don’t drink pop — regular or diet. I don’t eat a lot of bread or cookies or candy. In other words I don’t have a lot of food to give up in order to quickly lose weight. I learned that limiting meat doesn’t work for my body so vegetarian isn’t an option. I’ve been reading that some people have been successful by increasing their vegetable intake and decreasing the amount of protein. Still open to new ideas but treading cautiously. I prefer chicken thighs to chicken breasts. A recent article mentioned that chicken drumsticks and thighs were packed with vitamin K-2, a tough to find nutrient that blocks plaque buildup inside arteries.

I acquired an Instant Pot in the Fall. My plans to use it more often hasn’t worked out as I had planned. I have enough cookbooks. I just haven’t taken the time to develop enough recipes. I also have an older pressure cooker. I have used it for years when I’m cooking dried beans. Recently I used it to make turkey bone broth. A recipe in a new instant pot cookbook suggested it cook for an hour and a half. One and one made two. I realized I could use my older pressure cooker for the purpose. I was comfortable using it, and an hour and a half on the stove — adding heat to the house, seemed worthwhile. The result was fantastic. I’ve also learned that chicken feet are available for purchase at Wal-Mart, an ingredient mentioned for bone broth.

Because of the weather — January, February — I have limited my walking outside. We have a treadmill but I don’t like to use it. When we had our daughter’s dogs as guests, I stopped exercising. All three wanted to help me and I must admit, their help wasn’t needed. When the dogs left, I continued to be lazy. Any benefit I had gotten from exercise was soon lost. My neck became more stiff, hurt to turn when driving. Although I had continued with bone broth, my knees were rebelling. Lack of exercise, weight or weather — it is hard to tell.

I decided that I was going to increase the number of steps I walked each day. I wasn’t going to settle with 2,000. I aimed for 5,000. It is easy to get that number of steps when I’m shopping or walking outside. It is harder to get them when I’m restricted inside. Still stretching– I’m trying to increase the number of steps to 6,000.

Weight is down slightly, not enough to jump up and down and rave about, but my wrist is smaller. I’ve had to tighten the band on my watch. I’m hoping that reduced weight and increased steps will improve not only my weight but my walking ability. `

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

HEADACHE

Our grandchildren were in the backseat of our car as we headed to church on Sunday. They must have had too much sugar because they were full of spirit. So much so that I got a headache. At church service — the sung songs were accompanied by drums and guitar, than a big bongo set of drums. My head DID NOT LIKE the drumbeat. I exited the area and went out into the great space. I noticed the trays for communion were being assembled and re-entered the main church area. After communion, the next song was announced. I LOVE to sing it, but it is high energy and my head was providing its own drum beat. Once again I exited.

A young, tall male came out into the space. He did not look well. It was very apparent that something was wrong. He stayed by himself in one of the corners for awhile. When he was ready to rejoin the assembly in church, he passed by where I was sitting. I remarked that I could tell he was upset. He confided that it was the anniversary of a friend who had passed. I shared the story of chia tea. I was making a new batch on the anniversary of my father’s passing, when I noticed a magazine article detailing the benefits of the spices used in the brew. I mentioned that his friend was in a better place but could still interact with him if he was observant. I had just made another batch of chia tea on my son’s birthday. Often I’m rather slow to notice things. Later in the day I realized that even though my father passed over in 1995, he was still taking care of his family.

Monday, I was watching a channel on PBS. I wanted to watch another station and asked my daughter’s remote to change the channel. It is a marvelous piece of equipment — when it works. THIS TIME IT DIDN’T! I tried four times before giving up. PBS was having a membership drive. Over the past few days, I had watched two different programs on health — the benefits of vegetarian cuisine. Monday’s program was by Dr. Mark Hyman. His plan was not as limited, combining both meat and vegetarian food. Since my body seems to NEED meat, I was interested. The program was followed by “The Coast Of Ireland” — seals, whales and puffins.

It probably will come as no surprise when I mention that Costco had Dr. Mark Hyman’s book “Food, What the Heck should I eat?” when I visited the store. It is also no surprise when I say that I bought a copy.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

NUMBERS

Until my body parts started acting up, I never paid attention to my age. Sadly problems with my knees, and getting up out of a chair or out of the car brought my age into my attention. Then I fell — twice within a very short time. Going up or coming down the stairs. Thankfully I didn’t do major damage to any of my body parts. Now I go up or down rather carefully — paying attention to what I am carrying. I also hold on to the railings more often. I think the first fall was caused by carrying to much weight in both hands. I’ve determined the second fall was caused by the surface of my slippers being worn. I’m not sure they were the real reason. I haven’t regained my confidence or my speed navigating the stairs. Most days my knees are working better depending on the weather.

Then I got sick and lost more of my balance and energy. I’m still surprised that walking up to our church was too far of a walk for me. I determined that I was going to take Robin for at least one walk every day. Then the weather shifted, the snow came and the ice. Safety became a factor. Each day brings us closer to Spring. I’m hopeful that while I won’t be able to run up and down the stairs like in previous years — they won’t become a major handicap. In order to remain in our house, I have to be able to do the stairs.

Age isn’t the only number I haven’t been paying attention too. I don’t remember the ages of my children or grandchildren but I have solved that problem. I have their age and birth date on strips in my daily calendar.
I have strips for the birthdays of some of my friends so I remember to send a card.

The last anniversary of my blog came and I underestimated the number of years I had been writing. Because of my daily calendar, I usually know what the date and day of the week is. When we are in the country it is easy to lose track. Especially when we don’t have any specific plans.

So by now you must be wondering why I’m going on and on about numbers. Recently I was at the store, getting ready to check out. The elderly woman behind me had a cart piled with one brand, one flavor of frozen dinners. I stared at the cart — I was amazed to see so many of the same kind in a cart. I didn’t count the exact number she had. When I asked if that dinner was really good — she replied that she didn’t cook any more. I answered that I still did. Even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to eat the same thing night after night. I can’t even eat the same foods week after week. I have a good friend, who is now on the other side — Thursday was pork chops and Friday was take out pizza. If I knew what the rest of the week was I don’t remember.

I mentioned that experience to my husband. He calculated that I have cooked over 20,000 meals in my lifetime. And I’m still cooking!

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

AVALANCHE

I hope my title didn’t give you cause for concern. The descending of stuff wasn’t outside — snow or rocks or mud. The slides occurred in our freezers. ALL OF THEM — the upstairs refrigerator, the downstairs refrigerator and the upright freezer. Normally I feel the freedom to get rid of stuff when our cash flow is on the positive side. Sadly, at the moment, I’m watching our pennies. BUT being in danger every time I opened a freezer door had the desired effect. I searched through each shelf and discarded items that were really old.

I hate to admit it, but I found one item from 2010. Thankfully it was only one item — most were of more recent dates. I didn’t list everything I tossed, nor did I list everything that I saved. I promised myself that I wouldn’t stock pile as much stuff again. I found many of my favorite proteins that thankfully were still new enough to eat. I found bag after bag of individual bags of soup. TWENTY FOUR servings in all — most were beef lentil or minestrone all from 2017. I vowed that I wouldn’t make any more soup until my stock was down. EXCEPT I don’t have any chicken soup. Evidently, that is my go to when I’m feeling a cold coming on. I found fish — salmon, tilipia, shrimp and cat fish. We are eating more fish, so everything I found was current. Two bags were hidden behind other stuff. I’m glad that they surfaced. I also found fish burgers that I had forgotten about. They were on sale, buy one, get one free. I had good intentions, not great follow through.

I didn’t find any pot roast, nor a stock pile of ground beef. Evidently I use the beef quickly. I found a lot of chicken — whole bird, chicken breasts and thighs except for the whole bird, the rest were boneless and skinless and current. Evidently I also use a lot of chicken.

Now I have room to freeze leftovers from the holidays. I have room to freeze cookies. I have room to add more to my stockpile. I won’t have a landslide each time I open a freezer drawer. Hopefully I will REMEMBER to only buy the supplies I’ve run out of — until Spring comes again and we head out to the camper. Then, unless I have a list — I’ll forget AGAIN!

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

THE BOOK

Years ago, I used to watch Dr. Oz on Oprah’s morning show. Then he got a show of his own, and I turned it on regularly. Time passed — I realized the although Dr. Oz had a lot of good information, I couldn’t use most of it and at times, the various health issues had me concerned. I found it was better for me to only watch it every once in a while. But I bought some of his books. Four to be exact. Looking at the titles that are in my library, and the titles that are in his newest book, seven didn’t catch my attention. Some of them are meant for younger parents — raising children, teenagers. Some might have been of interest to me but I didn’t know about them.

Since I don’t have an intuition that speaks to me, things I need to know or be aware of are brought to my attention by other means. Reading one of the weekly woman’s magazines I learned Dr. Oz had a new book coming out — Food Can Fix It. Since I’m having issues with various body parts, my interest was peaked.

I was at Costco for a food run or prescriptions or something important. Entering the store, I noticed a large pork roast in a woman’s cart. I have often bought that particular item, especially when it is on sale and cut it into chops or roasts. Since it caught my attention, I looked for it. It was on sale — $2.00 off to be exact. Now I know that isn’t a lot of money but pennies and dimes add up when you are on a limited income. It would have been very smart on my part to look for a smaller pork loin. But sometimes I don’t necessarily do the smartest thing. I don’t know if I found the largest, but it wasn’t the smallest — 20 lbs. to be exact. I cut it into 2 roasts and 4 packages of boneless pork chops.

While in the store, I looked at the book shelf. I found Dr. Oz’s new book — it was quickly in my cart. We were going out to the camper for our last trip of the year. Pool is closed — I would have plenty of time to read. But I couldn’t buy it? It was not supposed to be on sale for three more days. It would have been illegal! I wasn’t HAPPY!

Since it was an honest mistake, the manager told me that I could have it for FREE when it was available for sale. Thankfully we would still be in town. Our insurance company wouldn’t okay our prescriptions until then.

I returned to Costco on Monday. I picked up our prescriptions and went to the desk to get my book. Someone had put it AWAY! Thankfully I found the gentleman I had spoken to and he went on a treasure hunt for me. He found the books, still in their boxes on the floor. I HAVE the new book. Will reading it help my body? Good question. It includes a 21 day weight loss plan. I don’t have any expectations that the plan will work for me.

JUST A NOTE: Since we were in town, I took the opportunity to switch my summer clothes for winter — to be prepared for the cooler weather that was expected at the camper. While I was packing up my clothes, the forecast predicted a couple days in the 90’s. I SHOULD HAVE PAID ATTENTION. I DID NOT! I packed ALL of my long dresses, shorts and tank tops along with lighter weight clam diggers and slacks. The 90s continued for more than a couple of days. SIX to be exact. I wondered what I was going to wear to church. Thankfully I hadn’t packed my exercise clothes but I wasn’t wearing them to church. I retrieved clothes that I put in a donation bag. And THANKFULLY the colder weather that had been predicted for the camper was exaggerated. It will be in the high 70’s.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud