Neener Neener! Doctor visit

Doctor visit today!  I had my yearly check up with my Endocrinologist.  

Last year I was on Pravastatin, per my cardiologist and seconded by my Endo Dr, to lower my already normal cholesterol levels.  Cause since I had a heart attack they want it lower than normal (what?).  I didn't want to be on it, but hubby wanted me to be on it just until I had labs drawn to see if it would work.  Well those labs came back and my cholesterol went up!  So off that med I went.  

This past year I haven't been on any cholesterol lowering med.  Don't get me started on weather or not cholesterol is the culprit.  That's another story.  I do know a cholesterol med isn't anything I need or want.  I was on half the lowest dose and was still experiencing some pretty worrying side effects.  Chest pain being one.  Yea, not a good side effect for someone who's just had a heart attack.  

So no Pravastatin for me at all this past year.  In all honesty, I haven't been "On program" eating until very recently.  I was still eating healthy, but just too much of a good thing.  

So even with all that, I have to report that my cholesterol came down!!!!!  No med, no real weight loss, but my cholesterol came down.  The doctor even said I did better without the med.  She's totally on board with what I want to do.  I've made a believer out of her,  Yay!  

Oh, and just to share it all, A1C was 5.2; totally normal, no sign of diabetes or pre-diabetes.  All tests were in good range.  AND  according to their records, I'm down 2 pounds from when I saw her last.  That's really saying something since I went up and then down.  So yay!!!!

A Successful week all round!

Good morning world!  How's everyone!  I'm fit to be tied today.  I've successfully completed a full week of healthy eating and activity.  The scale has awarded my efforts with a 5.6 lb weight loss.  Now some of that may be water weight, but it's no longer there is my point.  I use a website to keep track of calories called www.sparkpeople.com.  Each week I record my weight (well I'm supposed too, but some weeks I haven't recently).  I looked back over the last 6 months of recordings, and have not weighed this weight in 4 months,  

I've worked out or been otherwise active every day this week, but it's my eating that sealed the deal.  That's been my main issue.  I'm an active person in general, and while I did avoid the treadmill like the plague (or I guess in our day and age "The Rona!"), I've been outside most days doing rather physical work.  My eating was the problem.  I couldn't seem to get that under control.  It was like I had an angel on one shoulder saying "You don't need to eat that", and a devil on the other saying "one time won't hurt".  One time won't hurt, but a string of ones times will.  

If anyone is wondering what plan I'm using, I've gone back to what I know and what worked for me, and is working for me now.  

1.  Real food, nothing diet, nothing artificially low or nonfat, no processed food.  While I can and do have an occasional form of bread, the vast majority of my carb intake comes from fruits, veggies.and dairy.  When I am having some type of bread item, it's limited, whole grain, and unprocessed.  

2. Portion control.  People turn off at this one usually.  I've found the vast majority of folk want something where they can eat as much as they want with no calories to worry about.  Well I do too!  I want a Million dollars as well!  Our bodies work very specifically.  It is calories in, calories out.  Doesn't matter what diet plan you're on, trust me, it's still calories in calories out.  It's even more important for me because I have an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto Thyroiditis.  Basically my immune system attacked my thyroid, so mine doesn't work anymore.  I've been on meds for this for 30 years.  Due to this, my metabolism is slower, and I need to keep my protein high normal and my carb level low normal.  Spark people helps me do this because they break everything down so I can see what I ate in each category.  So to be accurate, I have to weigh or otherwise measure what I eat.  I guess it can be a bother, but I'm just used to it now.  

3.  Counting calories.  Naturally this goes with portion control.  This is my boundary line.  I can choose to eat whatever I want, but I can't go past my boundary line.  By the same token, I need to make sure I'm eating the minimum calories for my body to function.  Too few calories and my body will hold onto weight to protect me from the famine we are obviously in.  Nice body to protect me so.

4.  Quality-  I get more food, and am more satisfied when I choose quality foods; whole foods, fruits veggies, good fats ( and yes butter is a good fat), and unprocessed foods.  1200 calories of highly processed foods is void of the nutrients the body needs.  It doesn't stay with you very long.  It has a lot of filler, chemicals, etc that the body doesn't recognize.  1200 calories of quality foods has all your body needs,  When the body has what it needs, it won't trigger you to eat.  Yes, your body can do that.  Weird cool!  As a result, you're more satisfied.  Whole fat dairy is way better than low or nonfat dairy.  Great thing with whole fat dairy is I can eat less of it and fill in with a fruit or veggie.  

5.  Move.  Gotta be active.  I did get back on the treadmill.  I will be on it this week too, but I will also be outside taking care of animals, the garden, digging, etc.  I will be active, and I will do something structured.  I will say, pick something you can live with.  

Other tips I would give is to get a decent nights sleep, make sure your drinking water, and relish ( no pun intended) the victories no matter how small.  Keep your eye on the prize.  There are times when I won't lose, or will have a bad day.  I will get up dust myself off and keep moving forward.  Over a two year time span I put on 15 pounds.  My old self would have added all 63 pounds back plus some, but this time I never totally gave up.  I kept trying at least.  I would much rather lose 15 pounds instead of 63.  

So last week is a victory.  Yay!  Now to start on this week.and we'll see what happens!  I would love to hear other success stories!  Won't you share yours!?

My New Mantra

I've written about how much of a struggle the past two years have been regarding my health and weight.  As a result of that struggle, I've slipped into old habits of beating myself up when I gain, or have a bad day.  When I fall short of what I want to do.  

Those comments I make to myself, can pile up.  If you were under verbal abuse from someone every day for 2 years, it would take it's toll.  Subsequently, I've been my own worst enemy in that I set myself up to fail, then berate myself over the failure.  

Yea, that's not happening anymore.  My new statement is "I'm worth my taking care of myself, and my husband is worth my taking care of myself".  This goes both ways.  My hubby is so good to work out diligently each day, taking one day off in a week.  Whenever I comment on how good he looks, his response is always "I'm doing it for you babe".  He doesn't just mean to look good.  What he's saying is "I love you so much I want to spend as much time as possible with you".  He does it to stay healthy so we have more time together in this life.  He deserves I feel the same way, and act on it.  

Saying I want to spend the rest of my life with him, yet not doing what I can to insure it's a good long time, is disingenuous. 

That's my earthly motivator.  

God see me as special too.  Should I ever falter on that one, I can remember this:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God?  You are not your own.  You were bought with a price.  Therefore Honor God with your bodies."

Psalm 139:13-14 "For you created my inmost being.  You knit me together in my mothers womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful.  I know that full well".

1 Peter 2:9 " For you are a chosen people (person), a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's special possession that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light"

What are your motivators?  Whatever they are, have them first affirm how wonderful and special you are!  Never lose sight of that.  You are not defined by a scale, your clothes, or how your day's going.

Remembering THAT Girl

Look at that girl!

This picture was taken not even 2 years ago.  It'll be two years this summer.  I have no make up on.  We were camping as well so, hair not styled and got my play clothes on.  We were in the middle of a hike; a hike of a moderately steep trail, and hubby decided to take a picture.

I love this picture.  You'd think I would've been embarrassed with the lack of grooming, but I wasn't.  I love this picture because of what it represents.  I was 63 pounds down from my starting weight, not my highest weight, but my starting weight.  You can see me at my highest weight below.

  At 51 years old I had finally figured out how to be healthy.  I was feeling good.  I'd go shopping for clothes (cause it was fun now), find something I'd think I couldn't wear yet, try it on anyway, and find it fit!  I moved easier, had more energy, wore comfortable clothes because they fit!  I was chomping at the bit to be active.  I wanted to move. The girl in the first picture had it all together.

Then the heart attack happened barely 2 months later.  A heart attack with no visible reason why.  For 2 weeks I was told to not do anything.  I couldn't even lift a gallon of milk, they said.  Then I couldn't workout unless cleared with a stress test and I needed to go thru rehab.  That wasn't for another 2 months.  Rehab told me I was to never get my heart rate above 124, so while my muscles were like "Hey we got this", the rehab folks (party poopers) would slow me down, and I wouldn't even be breathing hard!  In the midst of all that I was on two meds that had a side effect of chest pain.
 What?

 I spent a lot of time talking myself down off the ledge.  Rehab was the only place I felt comfortable exerting myself because I was on a monitor, but the exercise I was getting there was no where near what I had been doing.

Another side effect of one med was a panicked feeling.  That med went the way of the dodo after Christmas, but while on it, the least little twinge and I was panicking.  Since the other side effects of both meds were chest pain, well yea, not a fun combo.  Hubby wanted me to stay on the second med( the non panicky one) until my labs were done that following Sept ( as in this past Sept).  This med was supposed to lower cholesterol (but I never had a blockage?)and reinforce me artery walls.  So, okay.  I'll stay on it.  My OBGYN told me later that Magnesium would reinforce my arteries as well.

 Really? Hmmm.

So, I got my labs back that September and my cholesterol was up.  Still normal, but up from what it was.  So was my weight; not much, about 5 lbs.  In came the Magnesium, out went the cholesterol med.

During all this, Pre-Menopause showed up.  With that came sleepless nights, crazy carb cravings, and three day long head splitting headaches that no med could touch.  I would get back on track eating wise only to have one of these hit and disable me for 2 or 3 days.  Now we have the pandemic, quarantine, and items out of stock at the store.  Wild ride.

Are these excuses?  Some, maybe.  But in all honesty it's the only way I can explain the toil the past almost two years have taken.  I've had good times too, some milestones I wanted to hit I did, But the woman I am now is not the woman in that picture.  At least not yet.

I saw the above picture the other day and I thought about that girl.  Who she was, how she felt, and decided I want her back.  At this point I'm up about 15 lbs.  I look at my clothes and some I know I can't wear, and others I hope I can still wear.

Still in the Pandemic, pre-menopause is still a factor.  In fact, just had one of those headaches 2 days ago.  I've got to work my way thru this.  I want her back.  I know she's there inside probably rolling her eyes and tapping her foot waiting on me to get my act together.

I had a glimpse of her today.  I got a good nights sleep last night.  I awoke refreshed and raring to go.  My hubby thinks it was too much caffeine, but it wasn't.  Maybe a combination of morning coffee and sleep gave me energy I haven't had in a long time.  On the heels of that thought came the realization that I've been existing for a while on 4-5 hours sleep, carbs, caffeine and nerves.  Not a good combo.

That's about to change.

The number one thing to cure a black thumb

I love to garden!  While raised by parents who gardened extensively, as a kid I hated to get in the garden.  I would've rather cleaned house than have to work in the garden.  As an adult that changed.  My mom once told me of all of her children I was the last one she thought would garden, and at the time I was the only one who did.  It all started with two tomato plants, and now?

I'm telling ya, once the garden bug bites, there's no going back!  There's always one more thing to try, one more experiment.  Volunteer garden plants love my garden so much they come every year.  My garden is The Place To Be.  I'm just sayin.

 In the past, I've had people tell me they have a black thumb, not a green one.  "I can't grow anything" they tell me.  Well I'm here to tell you the secret to curing your black thumb.

Are you ready?

Are you sitting down?


Time.

That's it! Time.

I know right!?  It really is that easy.  Plants already know what they need to grow up and produce, but it takes your time with them to make sure they have everything they need.

We don't have children, just ignore them, and say "I can't raise kids".  Now I'm not saying my plants are as important as my children.  But the premise of raising both holds true.

Plants take time.

Time to walk among them and see how they're doing.  Do they need water?  Are they thriving?  Are there weeds taking nutrients that are meant for them?  Do they need harvesting?  You know there are a lot of books and websites that can help you trouble shoot any problems that might arise.  That's all I do.  If I see a problem I don't have an answer for, I look in a book or surf the web.  The answers are readily available.

Time to pull weeds, give them water, give them nutrients as needed, loosen soil so they can breathe, and address any other situations that arise.

I understand people have busy lives, and can't have a big garden.  There's no rule that says you have to have a certain size garden.  It can be one plant or hundreds.  It's up to you.  Just don't have more garden than you can handle.  Start small.  There's no greater feeling than to see that first plant breaking thru the ground, or that first bloom, or even that first tiny veggie.  Nothing tastes better than something you picked that day to eat.

So start small, but start!  Don't let this be something that intimidates you.  You won't regret it.  You just might find out you enjoy it.  Fresh Air, sunshine, good workout, the sound of bees buzzing and birds singing.  It's a wonderful combination.  Well worth your time.  And when the time comes(cause, fair warning, it will) that your garden is producing enough to put away for a rainy day, you'll look with satisfaction at those jars lined up on the shelf, or in freezer bags in the freezer.  You'll have a little smile on your face as you casually stroll past the canned vegetable aisle, or frozen vegetable/fruit aisle.

Umm speaking of getting bitten by the gardening bug.

Herb-a-palooza!

I've had herbs as part of my garden for years now; Mint, Oregano, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, Parsley, Basil and Cilantro.  Plus, now thanks to a very nice neighbor /distant cousin ( Dad's side of the family) I just met, I have Rosemary.  I've pretty much spent my time moving the herbs around and keeping them under control; all but the Parsley, Cilantro and Thyme.  FYI, Mint and Lemon Balm spread!  I just couldn't think of what to do with all of it!

Well that is changing.  I'm making the most of everything in my garden.  Nothing is being taken for granted.  These are the things I've learned about all of my herbs.

Mint- Can help with upset stomach.  Although it can exacerbate GERD symptoms so don't use if you have GERD or really bad acid reflux.  Mint helps with getting a good nights sleep.  It can also help relieve stress and anxiety.  It can help reduce inflammation as well.   Members of the mint family include:  Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Oregano and Thyme.  I didn't realize they were related when I planted them, but, there ya go.  While each one of these are related, many of them have their own uses aside from the obvious culinary uses.

Lemon Balm- Is the closest in appearance to Mint.  In fact, in order to tell which is which I need to pick a leaf and smell.  Not a bad job.  Smells good!  Lemon Balm has antiseptic and antibacterial properties.  It also can help increase appetite, and sleep.  It's known primarily as a relaxation herb.

Oregano- Can help for coughs, asthma, and other respiratory ailments, UTI, Menstrual cramps, and even rheumatoid arthritis.

Thyme-  Any type of Thyme can be used, but what I grow is Lemon Thyme for my cough medicine.  It can also help with sore throats.  It has Antibacterial properties.  There are some that say it can help with hypertension and even yeast infections.

Parsley, Cilantro , and Basil; I'm growing primarily for culinary reasons. The Cilantro and Parsley I can dry, but I have yet to find a good way to store Basil.  For that reason I have a plant in my kitchen that I'll use fresh, hopefully all year round.  I have 9 other Basil plants I need to do something with.  Probably give them as gifts.

Most of these herbs are being used by me primarily for culinary reasons, but I also plan using them for medicinal uses if need be.  It's nice to have the option. For that reason I've been drying herbs as they're ready.  I'm getting a little behind on Mint.  It's growing faster than I can dry it, so I need to be doing larger batches of Mint.

FYI:  Mint tea with milk and sugar is REALLY GOOD!.  I've also made a small batch of Mint extract.  Last time I made Mint Extract I made a huge batch!  You can see how I did it on my "how to's" page.  That was too big a batch, so I'm tempering it down a bit.  I also really packed those mint leaves in the jar.  I used a jelly Jar this time.  Perfect amount.  So far I've also made one batch of mint jelly.  Looks pretty in the jar.

You don't need a dehydrator to dry herbs.  All you need is an oven with a working oven light.  You lay out your herbs in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Place the cookie sheet in the oven with only the oven light on.  Some herbs will be done over night, some take a little longer.  You'll learn which ones are which.  Just check them after about 12 hours.  If they need more time, put them back.

Once the herbs feel crispy and crumble easily, remove them from the main branch, and crush them til they look like what you would think dried herbs would look like.  I'll remove all of mine to the cookie sheet I placed them on originally, then crush them and place them in a jar in my cupboard.

I FEEL THE POWER!....Of Vitamin D

We have had a long, wet winter.  We've had some cold days, but mostly just this damp, seep into your bones, chill.  Think " the Moors"in a Jane Austin Novel.  It has rained, and rained, and rained.  We had over 10 inches of rain in February alone!  That kind of cloudy damp condition all the time can make even the most stout hearted lover of winter, rethink things,  That's me.  I usually love winter, but this year I've just been waiting on the rain to end.  We would have a couple of rain less days; not necessarily sunny, but no rain, and then the rain would come in full force.  FINALLY yesterday started a, hopefully, 5 day dry spell.  We have more rain on Tuesday scheduled, but it's less than an inch which is awesome!  Maybe my back yard can be less of a sponge.

You don't really realize how much you need the sun until it finally arrives!  That's under normal circumstances.  Under a "quarantine"( no I'm not sick, just following the stay at home request), being able to go outside and work in the garden is PRICELESS!

We need sunlight!  It's what gets us Vitamin D the all natural way.  I think I was a quart low.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/vitamin-d-and-your-health-breaking-old-rules-raising-new-hopes


So for the past few days I've been outside"playing".  Getting the garden ready to plant.  I have Broccoli, Red cabbage, spinach, lettuce, cilantro, carrots, yellow squash, garlic, Parsley, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, Mint and Oregano already in the garden.  We've been picking from the lettuce, spinach, cilantro, and other herbs.  I use the Thyme for cough medicine.

All of the herbs are being harvested and dried in our oven.  It's easy to do.

Simply wash them, drain them well, then spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Put the cookie sheet in the oven with only the oven light on.  This usually take about 12 hours.  Sometimes a little longer, you want them crispy and easy to crumble.  When they're ready, let them cool a little them crush them and store in a jar.

I've been drying some thing or another pretty consistently.  Tonight is a little Cilantro.

While all of these items are in the garden already, it's only because I've been slowly but surely putting them there come rain or shine.  I've also been reclaiming the garden.  With all the rain we ended up with these shallow root weeds that spread.  You can see what I'm talking about in the bed center right.  That whole bed is covered.  I haven't gotten to it yet.  I've been removing weeds to get the beds ready to plant.  It was while doing that I found 4 cilantro volunteers!  I have found the easiest way to grow cilantro is to buy a plant and plant it.  Get frustrated when there is a hot spell and it goes to seed before you can use it.  In frustration, just scatter the seeds.  Ignore it til the following year.  Then enjoy the pants that wanted to be there.  Lol.  The two beds in the center of this picture are actually growing garlic and mint.  Strawberries are in the cinder block holes.

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I needed this sunshine.  I needed to be out doing something in the midst of all this craziness in the world right now.  Something that didn't require baking thank you very much!  I have to confess in my effort to not let anything go to waste, I've let everything go to my waist!  (see what I did there?)  The guys are happy (smile).  Mom's baking!

So what are you up to in order o pass the time?