THE LAST FOUR OR FIVE POUNDS vs Sherlock

Today I have to throw away four small slices of cheese. For a cheese addict, this is like throwing away a car.

It seems I need to watch the salt intake (due to retaining water.)  Along with drinking enough water.

So, I have to check labels for more  than just sugar - the sodium content can be staggering, as can the fat content.  Less fat = more salt too often. Gotcha!

Day before yesterday I ignored reality and bought a package of a cheese I really, really like.  Now, the label  keeps jumping out at me, shouting FAT and SALT!   And those ankles are a bit...puffy.  No, I won't say "stay tuned for the big cheese sacrifice."

What I will say is: if you suspect that salt and fat may play a part in your weight (or whatever part of your health) you might try reading labels on your next trip to the store for fun and excitement.

If your spouse buys all the food, do your label recon at home, say "No, thank you" to danger, and go feed the cat to avoid a discussion.

THE LAST 4 OR 5 POUNDS - True confessions..

I was serious on the 5th about that fact:

The more you bring home of something to eat, the more you eat!

A week or so ago, my daughter was going to the store, asked for my list.  I included "2 or 3 Lara bars."

When she brought my food, she said:  "There are so many bars in here because they had the sale to end all sales."  Yikes.

NO, I don't throw them away, they are healthy food.
Carry one to stay away from Biggie Burger after hours in the doctor's office....
They don't freeze hard enough to make me stop and think.
It's not Halloween, so I don't feel required to give them away.

 Before the end of the day, I had eaten 1 1/4 already.  And the rest of the week, and now... trying to watch myself about them.  Eating more bread and butter is not the solution.

One fact that keeps me from  overdoing is:

When we think we're hungry, we may really be thirsty.  So I check on whether I'm drinking enough water.  Or decaf.  (Or, we may just want another bar.)


I wish you health.

THE LAST 4 or 5 POUNDS - Great Expectations

Yesterday the scales hit a new number that I haven't seen for far too long.  It was only a difference of ounces, but felt like a victory.

This morning I woke feeling no better than I did pounds ago. I had expected to feel healthy,  wealthy,and wise.  And all that other stuff.  Instead, stiff and sore. I need to face what doctors I respect say on line almost every day: 

A sedentary lifestyle is a problem at any weight.   

I'm older, as well as a few pounds lighter. I've been in the chair too often with a mystery or a modem in hand.  This lighter body needs exercise as much as ever, and no Hollywood hills here to climb, no beach for easy jogging. 

So, I was delighted to see my Physical Therapist today for some hard work on leg muscles.  

I wish you health.

  

THE LAST POUNDS...P.S.

The doctor isn't impressed with the amount I've lost, but I like my slowly earned numbers!

One FACT that can help:

The more of something you bring home, the more you eat!

(So my freezer has six packs of plain veggies- one serving to start a meal.)

I avoid the full container of chopped peanuts, and
Avoid the delicious variety of cheese sticks, and stick to one pack.
And only one container of Tzatziki- which I love
I buy several Lara Bars but rush them into the freezer!

The other thing I stock up on a bit is apples.  (Peeling them slows me down, so I don't eat too many.)

Bottom line: Put away your crisis food,
Then don't stock up unless the market is more than a long day's journey away.

(Or you have a tough trainer to rush things into the freezer.)

I wish you health.

THE LAST Four or Five POUNDS

I NEEDED HELP

 I wanted to feel healthier - acid reflux was bothering me, and I'd had a goal weight posted on the refrigerator door for a year...unsuccessfully. 
 Every article about reflux mentioned losing weight if you need to.   


Then suddenly I read:

"Stress is the main cause of weight gain around our middles..." 

 Hmm.


The writer is a dietitian and author.  www.marilyn glenville.com/womens-health-issues/fat-around-the-middle

 For once, I decided to trust a dietitian. I read more and decided I could handle enough of the suggestions to make myself a plan. 

 And the idea probably grabbed me because it lets me make the daily decisions.  Now on the fridge is a full page, closely spaced list of ideas, many hers - including my new eating plan. 

 WHAT I DO NOW

  Trying to eat every three hours 

BREAKFAST   

 1-minute cooked oatmeal and half a cup frozen blueberries

  2/3 of a TEASPOON of  unprocessed sugar. 

 a little cheese chaser, for the  acid in  blueberries. 

MID MORNING
Fruit and bit of bread w yogurt,  bite of cheese for me

LUNCH

frozen veggies, Half sandwich, 10-grain sandwich bread
or tuna pouch from grocery, and maybe part of a Lara peanut/date bar

AFTERNOON SNACK
tiny sandwich, veggies, maybe apple

 SUPPER 

 (ENDS THREE HOURS BEFORE BED)

Frozen veg microwaved

Precooked chicken from local grocery, deli, or fish

Salad with dressing  Bite of Lara Bar

ALTERNATE SUPPER
Same veggies
little salad

Scrambled eggs, bits of uncured smoked ham

One bite of Lara bar

Dr. Glenville's secrets include eating every three hours.  Makes my schedule tricky at times.
If I'm in a place like doctor's wait room and 3 hours are up, I need to graze on something healthy.  If it weren't 98+ degrees here, I could just eat a cheese stick in the car.


Other suggestions from her and others

  "Try to put protein in every meal." .
  Eat every veg you can find,  (in morning snack I may use an apple instead of the veg)
 Small meals. No big meal  Your usual schedule may take a few hits
 Try not to eat carbs after 6 pm.
 Sit quietly at the table,   (stress makes us grab something, then  rush to make that call or...)
      ( I'm learning that I sit quietly but still chew as if I were late to put out a fire.)

THE RESULTS

Although my weight tends to jump around, it's now at least 4 or 5pounds below where I had been for years.  (I still eat too much cheese.)

I loved seeing a new number on the doctor's scales last week!

You can Google Dr. Glenville.



My plan, as you see, is  extracted from the work above, altho  my notes also mention EXPRESS online.

HEARTBURN versus the bra Women Only A RANT

All my post-grade-school life I have just put on a bra, fastened up tight, and marched off to meet the day.

Now my acid reflux seems to be back with a vengeance, but my youthful bust is not.

I need a really humane, really understanding, SAVVY, probably female Gastro doctor who is not procedure-happy, who can help me FIND A (healthy) BRA. 

A bra that does not squeeze  my hiatal hernia, nor my stomach opening
A bra that stays in place if I have to reach the top shelf in the market
A bra that does not make me buy my tops from BIG & Tall Man, to hide bra problems.
A bra that lets my shoulders, not my stomach, do the heavy lifting.

If you know such a person, throw her into the car at once, and call me. 

This is an emergency.

MEDICINE BOTTLES - Danger in Plastic for Seniors and You... A Rant

I just saw an article in the AARP magazine by Christina Ianzito that really upset me.  I'm guessing the interviewed person did not speak to a senior drugstore user, or senior RX patient on the new RX bottles. But I don't know.  Wisconsin Health Literacy is a non-profit, not apparently connected with a university. The article says they have "worked with patients to design new labels, which are being "rolled out" in many pharmacies..."

I've been taught that what looks cool in the interview room 

can bring us grief in the middle of the night, in pain, grabbing for our meds.

Also, the article says CVS is "in the process of introducing its new ScriptPath prescription labels..."

Who uses medicine bottles?  I'm guessing the typical patient or prescription user at my age or younger is:

A person:
 who needs glasses to read -may have two  post cataract implants for distance
 who sometimes takes medicine at night
 with arthritic fingers
 who is (and may have been for years) taking four or five medicines or more

For me, the best thing about the article was the easy-off cap on the new bottle.  Lately I've had to double check for that easy tab container.  Yet CVS is supposedly on board with the article.

At night, in a dark room, in pain, in a hurry... We may reach for our old familiar fat orange gabapentin bottle and shake out a capsule.  And then our old familiar fat bottle of acetaminophen and grab a couple capsules.  If gaba no longer comes in the bottle we're used to, life gets way too complicated for 2 am.  Did I already take it?  More important - what's this big bottle?  That must be the gaba - it's always in the big bottle.  (But is it this time?)

Now the gaba comes in a much smaller orange plastic than I"m used to, and it's THE SAME SIZE ORANGE PLASTIC AS THE THYROID. 

This gets worse if the drug store (as mine once did)  has put the wrong labels on the wrong bottles.  If there's no regular bottle size for reassurance, things can get confusing.  Luckily I've taken thyroid since I was 15.  I went back to the store,showed them the two bottles and asked them if they saw anything wrong.

Now for the A word  or is it the O word.  Someone my age or older, tired and in pain, with a new RX, and with the pills labeled wrong could make a mistake.  So could you. Maybe a fatal mistake.

I realize the drug stores do have bottle supply needs, but this is our life.

New, assorted color does not help.  If we have four or five meds, we have way too much on our minds to do color association exercises.  And NOT at night.  We need clues we have learned to expect.  Like container sizes and shapes.  And more.

Now about reading the label:
 No matter what a label designer has seen on the web and in school, SansSerif print  (see the photo in the AARP article) is NOT easy to read.  A famous ad man said he round-filed any submissions in sans serif  type.  Famous mysteries by Michael Connolly and James Patterson are in serif type for a reason.  Why?  It is easy to read!  Alas, when I view this on line IT WILL BE Sans Serif.  If you know what I can do about it, please contact me.

By the way, some drugs now come in dose packs, and not bottled in store.  Never mind my attitude on that...but give us a way to keep track of the funny little boxes, since we paid you for them.

And there are pretty standard places we look for in what goes where on the label, so don't mess with that.  We are sick, remember.   We don't need to read it over and over at 3 am.

And do not, do not ask me to memorize and remember what tiny  color  symbol is for lunch time, and what symbol is for mid afternoon  Just Don't.  Write down 3 pm NICE and BIG.

(The article does mention important laws and also some interesting things Walgreens does for vision concerned customers.)

What do you think?  Let me know.