Good Health is a Weighty Issue

Since my "mostly retirement" I've been working my way through my backlog of professional journals and related publications.  Today I read an article on "Chronic Non-communicable Diseases".  That's a sort of silly designation for things like Type II Diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic lung disease and the like.  Apparently they share a chronic inflammatory state that encourages these diseases to destroy our health.  The popular press reported this in the recent past with the emphasis on c-reactive protein levels as the indicator of these unhealthy conditions that I was surprise to learn cause 60% of the deaths worldwide.

And what can we do to counteract these conditions?  Avoid obesity, maintain weight and exercise. 

I actually like the constant reminders of why I want to lose weight and improve my diet.  It helps me to remember the big picture.  Lately I've come to realize that some of my food choices are not as healthy as I thought.  I read the ingredients on some oatmeal breakfast bars that I love only to find out that they are sweetened with corn syrup and have a host of ingredients I don't recognize.  I don't think I'll buy those again. I wish I could eat more fresh produce, but in the winter I seem to look for foods that are room temperature or warmer and having a cold orange or apple just doesn't appeal to me.  I have no desire to eat salads in the winter.  I hope to buy more carrots on my next shopping trip. And I enjoy cooked spinach (is that weird).  I even noticed that some of the frozen vegetables I bought on my last grocery trip (I'll soon post about my poor relationship with the grocery store!) are smothered in high fat sauces so they're off my list too.

And I think I need to add in some light strength training to my schedule.  I used to swim weekly but since my almost retirement I just like being home.  I know that will change, but for now I'm enjoying just hanging at my house.  I actually go days without going anywhere in the car.  I'm sure that will pass, but right now I'm just enjoying the tranquility and slower pace of life.

Spring Is In the Air

We had one wonderful week of 60 degree temperatures and sun.  There was one day with fierce winds that caused some killer wildfires that are still smoldering and now we are back to a more seasonal cloudy 45 degrees.  45 degrees didn't seem so bad two weeks ago, but after that taste of spring it feels bitter cold.  The good news is, though that with February almost over, spring can't be far behind.  I have to admit, though that I've always considered March the longest month of the year.  It has nothing to do with it's 31 days, but rather with it's place on the calendar.  March promises spring but seldom delivers.  We've had some pretty big snowstorms in March.  It has none of the fun holiday's of February to break up the weeks.  But this year we get to change our clocks in March - on the 13th to be exact.

I think the scale is slowly showing some loss.  I'm sort of waiting for my doctor's appointment to declare any real success or failure. I will say that I'm definitely eating less and making healthier choices.  And as far as my three changes:  the extra fruit is happening about 60% of the time; I'm getting my walks in about 85% of the time and the no munchies after dinner, maybe 90% of the time.  That has to count for something, right?

How Does This Search Thing Work??

One more comment for today.  I'm still a little focused on the total lack of traffic here and I've stated before that having readers for my posts was not the original intent of my decision to blog.  And yet.....I have to wonder when I "google" this blog by name or by key words, I come up empty.  In fact, the blog title in quotes is a googlenope.  Is this a function of time. Are the bots overworked and will find this spot eventually?  Is search now advertisement driven leaving personal ramblings out in the cold?  Is the internet now just so crammed full of "stuff" that you need something special to perk to the top of the search?  My son told me that maybe if I link to some other blogs that makes the search engines happier.  I'm not so sure if it makes them happier or if it just sort of connects you into the whole blog network.  None the less, that's next on list - sharing the names of blogs that I follow.

Breakfast Ponderings

I've always been a breakfast eater - not a big breakfast eater, but I always have eaten something in the morning.  I think this was my mother's urgings during my growing up years.  Now, the funny thing to me is that when I eat a "good" breakfast (usually oatmeal with fruit or baked oats) I consume more calories than a less good breakfast (usually toast with Laughing Cow cheese or an english muffin) and the good breakfast doesn't seem to have any additional benefit throughout the morning.  I'm no less hungry by 11am, no perkier, no nothing.  I've just used up more of my calorie allotment and maybe feel a bet better about my nutrition.  Supposedly the oats are lowering my cholesterol, but I think I've maxed out on that benefit.

Maybe we just file that under "mysteries of dieting" and move on with life.

Diet Check In

Well, I thought it was only fair that I mention how the old diet is going since that was my primary purpose in starting this blog.  In general I feel that I'm eating healthier and I have lost a few pounds, but nothing dramatic.  My brain knows that the dramatic weight is not really what I'm looking for since those loses seldom stick, but it sure would encouraging to see more loss, to button my pants a bit easier and to have a little less of a "muffin top" when I wear my jeans.  Truth be told, the slower, the better if I can keep up the eating habits.  I'm doing fair with all three of my added changes (extra fruit, walking and no snacking at night) and in general I'm making better eating choices throughout the day.  I think I just need to keep at it and wait for the rewards.

I'm not walking today.  The winds here are incredible and there are several brush fires that have made the air very unpleasant.  You can even smell the smoke inside the house with all the windows and doors closed.

This Blogging Thing

So, I've been blogging for almost a week now and I find that it is sort of an extension of my habit of talking to myself during the day.  I know that developing a following for my blog was not an original goal and the choices I made when I set this up has sort of put me "under the radar".  I haven't told anyone I know "in person" about my blog, except for my husband and he only knows that I now have one, but not the name or how to find it.  So, why am I a bit disappointed that I have no readers? I enjoy putting my thoughts down but perhaps I unknowingly hoped that someone would enjoy reading them also.  And I naively thought that my blog would just be stumbled upon by people clicking around the Internet. Or perhaps I've gotten wrapped up in this expectation from the capabilities built into this blog site.  I was amazed that they are able to tell me how many page views I have each day and what site they arrived here from. Of course right now all the views are my own.

My Super Power

I've noticed that once women get to a certain age, most of them develop the super power of being invisible.  In most social settings young women are noticed at least to some extent, but once you pass some boundry suddenly you are invisible.  Comments in a small group are not directed your way and you're not exactly ignored, but neither are you noticed.  Getting sales help in a store becomes more difficult and these things don't depend on the age of the other people.  You're invisible to both genders, too.  In fact, the only people you aren't invisible to are those women in your own age group or anyone 20+ years older than you....and then only if there are no women under the age of invisible.  I miss being visible, but occasionally it can be peaceful in the midst of a crowd.  So, I wonder - do men ever feel that they become invisible at some age?   Comments welcomed.