Lessons Learned

 In the four weeks or so that I've been on a journey to health --and actually being serious about enough to try and change this time around -- I've learned a few things about myself.

• Water isn't all that bad. Granted, I rarely drink it "straight" unless its from a bottle.  I tend to doctor it up with lemons or lemon juice. I've also used other fruits at times.
•  I'm competitive and impatient, not always good things. This has also led me to realize that each person's journey to health is different. This is one instance where it's okay to take different roads and still end up (hopefully) at the same destination. I may not agree with some of the paths I've seen people on, but all I can do is express concern and move on. I suppose this can also be said of our spiritual path as well. Hear me out on this part, because I know what you're thinking and you're right. The bible tells us that there is one path to God, and it's a straight and narrow one. But, I'm realizing there are side roads that get to that point. You have to start somewhere. And we all know there are detours that sidetrack us but prayerfully we find our way back to the right path. But that's a blog post for another time.  As far as the competition goes, a journey to health is not a race. It's a lifetime of changes and tweaks. Same for the impatience. The weight didn't get piled on overnight, and it won't (shouldn't) come off overnight. What works for one may not  work for another.
• I eat semi clean and I'm okay with that. For now. I try to eat a whole foods diet, which horrifies some. I drink whole milk and I wish I could get it raw. I try to stay away from processed foods when I cook at home. But I'm at a point where fast food is going to be part of my life at the very least a few times a month due to scheduling, lack of planning, and the occasional craving.  I'm not quite ready to make my own bread or my own cheese. Will i ever be? Don't know, but I'm leaving the possibility open for now. The main point is, no matter what or where or when I eat, I need to be responsible enough to make good choices. Whether that be choosing more locally grown food, organic over conventional, or a simple cheeseburger versus a deep fried fish sandwich, it's up to me. It should always be that way. 
• The most surprising lesson learned? I like to exercise. Right now I walk twice a day most days. In the morning is my alone time. It gets me in a better mood and I can think better. Night time is family time. I enjoy the slower pace with my two men. It's a way to connect. I want to add more exercises but an injury prevents that at this time. It will happen though. I'm in this for the long haul.

The Family That Walks/Runs together

   At twilight, just before it gets too dark to see, a crazy giggle pierces the quiet. That would be my son. Hubby, Son and I are on our nightly walk and J is excited to be out of the house, having fun. For those who do not know J, he's twenty years old and has moderate to severe autism.
  We've been walking nightly together for several days now. I walk in the mornings alone; a brisk walk that I'm slowly trying to build up in time and distance. At night, the pace is varied but the route has been pretty much the same.
  J isn't a huge fan of exercise so when we first started walking each night, he was angry at the end. Jr, our tom cat, chose to become an outdoor cat that night. But J fairly quickly got used to the routine. He no longer looks longingly at the car when we step out onto the porch each evening. He's ready to get moving.
 J starts out a few steps behind us, because he likes the feeling of independence. Because we live in a fairly safe neighborhood, either Hubby or I walk backwards for a time (the other still faces forward since we're walking on the street) and encourage J to catch up, guiding him back to the grass when needed. All of this causes J to giggle, and he begins to run in his own awkward gait. Just for short bursts that catch him up to us. Lately, though, like last night, the goal of the run is to pass me and catch up with Dad. They are a team, running together and giggling. Sometimes I jog to catch up, too.
It must be a crazy sight sometimes. A man, who has been roped into the walk by his wife and tends to walk faster, yet turns and wagon wheels around his little family or marches backwards to us. A young man with the innocence of a child, hanging back, kicking sand and ant hills then running to catch up. And me. I go at a slightly slower pace at first, do backwards walking for a bit, do a few side steps, and jog for short bursts. The goal of the night time walk isn't to see how far I can go, it's just a time of family togetherness that gets us off of the laptops, burns a little excess energy, and gets us all into the fresh air.
I'm so thankful to God for this spring which has actually been springlike in temperature rather than extended summer so far. I'm also thankful for the bursitis that has sidelined me from other exercise right now. It seems a little strange to say that but since beginning this journey to health, I've been more active. It was the restlessness of not being able to do much else that spurred me to get the guys walking with me at night. Safe neighborhood or not, my eyesight isn't the greatest in the daytime and it can be worse at night, plus I feel safer. Most importantly, we all enjoy this time together.  I hope it continues.

The Joys of Walking

 This was supposed to be my Gratituesday post for yesterday. I wrote it then, but for whatever reason it wouldn't publish. It seems to be working now though.
 
  Being a stay at home mom with one car in the family means that I pretty much am a stay at home mom. I don't mind it so much but when the child at home is basically a two year old trapped in the body of a nineteen year old, there really isn't much quiet time unless he's asleep. Even now he's in his Archie Bunker chair across from me, bouncing, making noise. Not too loud, but he's making his presence known over there.
  Although I've gotten to the point of walking each day -and then stopping--a few more times than I'd like to count, I'm back at it. Why don't I just give up? Many reasons, actually. It gets me outside in the sunshine. I use the time to pray or just let my mind ramble and untangle the knots. It's a few minutes of precious alone time.
  As a mom, especially a mom of a child with special needs, my first instinct is to constantly hover, to always be there with my son. But it's taken me a few years to realize that mama's need a little downtime in order to better take care of her family.  

Wake Up Call

When it comes to changing my life it seems I'm a slow learner. I know I should be in better health than I am for my age, but I let excuses get in the way. No time. Surely it's not that bad. I'll start tomorrow. I eat fairly healthy. Well, yesterday I received a wake up call. 
  I saw my doctor to monitor my thyroid and hemoglobin. Hemoglobin was up this time from where it had been hovering so yea me! Thyroid I'll hear later about. I glanced at the number on the scale. Umm, not so good. Up ...twelve pounds from last time I saw my doctor. Not so good. And one of the first things he said when he saw me... You have high blood pressure. I want to put you on a low dose of medicine. This is the part where you hear the screeching brakes.
  Let's face it, folks. I wasn't even fazed by the announcement that it's time to schedule a colonoscopy. My dad had colon cancer in his late 40's and died from it by the time he was 50. So yeah, I knew that was gonna happen sooner rather than later. High blood pressure though, I wasn't prepared for that little bomb. 
  Honestly though, it shouldn't be a shocker. Hypertension runs in my family. But my readings at the doc's office have been to the point of monitoring only once or twice, and most of the time low enough to skirt by so I began not paying as much attention to those numbers. My doctor has, though.  And this doctor does not play with my health. He tells me like it is. It's up to me to follow his advice though.
  I don't want to be on medication the rest of my life. I plan on learning more about high blood pressure and natural ways I can bring those numbers down. I'll take the medication every day like I'm supposed to but I'm not going to stop there. It's time to stop falling off the exercise wagon and get more active. I'm fairly careful at the grocery store in that I rarely buy boxed convenience foods, but high amounts of sodium lurk in places you wouldn't normally think of, like ketchup. And here's a tip for you: almost anytime a food manufacturer slaps a label on their product that says "lower salt", "low fat" or any of those type things, guess what: read the ingredients list. Whenever one ingredient such as salt or fat gets lowered or axed completely, something else (usually sugar) is added to make up for it, so it will still taste good. One particular brand of ketchup I noticed has several different bottles of the red stuff, whatever suits your fancy, including low salt. Yeah, that one won't be gracing my grocery cart, much less my dining table because when you look at the ingredients list there is not only high fructose corn syrup, but regular corn syrup, both fairly high on the ingredient list. Sorry for the run on sentence there. I may even look into making my own ketchup. We'll see.
   I will be taking more care in what I eat and being more vigilant about ingredient lists. I don't need to cut out all salt, just cut down on it. I also need to be sure to exercise more. I'm going to begin with walking every day. I want to add in low impact exercises I can do at home (my knees and back scream at me with certain things, another reason for needing to lose weight), and look into calming exercises. 
  I mentioned before that I was going to do some posts concerning health, and now I have more than enough reasons to continue it. What about you? What do you do to take care of your health, particularly if you have high blood pressure?  Maybe we can encourage one another.