New Years Resolutions are for the birds

Source Wikipedia

I actually have never been a big fan of New Year resolutions.  However, I do like setting up goals and putting a plan together to see if I can reach that goal.  2015 was the year I attended The Institute for Integrative Nutrition with the goal to become an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.  It was an exciting adventure and one that I took on with great enthusiasm and energy.  It seemed reasonable to me as I was recently retired and I had spent a number of years focusing on getting myself healthy and learning all I could, on my own, about food and its effect on my body and mind and health.  It is an accomplishment that I am quite proud of and it was a very interesting year.

I did not realize until yesterday just how far I had come.  Facebook has this habit of throwing a picture up on your page that was taken two, three or four years back.  I don’t particularly like this but occasionally it is fun to see what our family was doing a few years ago and what we were perhaps celebrating.  Yesterday they showed a picture of me with my daughters taken in 2012 after we had done a Polar Bear Swim on January 2, 2012.  The girls look great, I do not.  My grand daughter looked at the picture and said “you were fat” then she hugged me.  She doesn’t remember me like this and actually I don’t either.  This is humbling in fact.  I have lost about 50 pounds since this picture was taken. It happened slowly and deliberately over many months and by the next January 2, 2013 there was a noticeable difference.  One of my tools that I can’t say I invented but really I used before it became fashionable was “Salad in a Jar”.  It took care of my lunches and I even use it for breakfast.  In fact it is a great way to eat in the car without spilling all over the place.  Layer fruit, plain Greek yogurt and homemade granola and you have something that will keep you going for hours.  Just this morning the “Today Show”  had a feature on the “Salad in a Jar” idea.  This link is to a recipe for a Taco in a Jar and I am going to try it.  Click here for a link to their site and to some of their ideas.  Here is a picture of my very first “Salad in a Jar”.  I tried it for the first time September 26, 2012.  Wonder if I should have tried to Patent the idea????

Goals for 2016 – Time to correct the numbers

John wants me to help him figure out how to eat better so that he might lose some weight.  It is a huge challenge as he really doesn’t like salad or raw vegetables.  I prefer raw vegetables.  Stalemate.  We could live on soup I suppose but that doesn’t do much for me.  Making two different meals is not really practical nor does it make sense.  He is a type “O+” blood type so does really well with protein. Read meat here.  I am an “A+” and do better with vegetables.  I am beginning to see a pattern here.  So this will be just one of the challenges.  The other big challenge is exercise.  I have made a commitment to increase my exercise to 90 minutes a day.  Not doing so well right now as we are in transit and now that we are back in the northeast I actually need my winter walking boots which are in Canada.  I do prefer the cool dry air however so will make an effort to get out there.  As long as the sun shines it is beautiful.  Someone once said “there is no such thing as bad weather only inappropriate clothing” –  true?  Now to get John out there too.  Not much tennis and golf in the Northeast this time of the year.

My big goal for this year is to get my numbers back into the normal range without medication.  Can I do it?  I don’t know.  I am fiercely opposed to cholesterol lowering drugs but am on them at the moment because of my heart attack.  I am researching like crazy ways to lower those numbers with food and natural methods.  My sugar is doing pretty well but the fasting level is climbing because of the cholesterol medication.  That makes me cross.  When I had my heart attack those numbers were great. (What the heck does that mean?)  Now there are new rules.  I just can’t find anything that says the medication makes sense but I am also scared – scared enough to at least give the medication a try for awhile.  Blood pressure is very good.  Daily numbers are actually great.  Things like 113/58.  My doctor has done a complete panel which supposedly will tell me how I metabolize foods etc.  It will take some weeks to get those results but I am curious.  One of the medications that I take makes me bruise.  Big, ugly, unsightly bruises.  I was vacuuming and somehow banged my leg with the darn thing and you would have thought I had fallen down the stairs.  Ugh – the side effects of the drugs that are supposed to help you are really ugly.  Come on big pharma, figure this one out!!!!!

So, we are back in New Hampshire.  We are grandchildren sitting and are settled for a little bit.  The grands are the sun in our shine and we are happy to be here.  We even have all our fur babies with us and that is a real treat.  Everyone is so happy to be out of the car but they all traveled really well.  I love this one where Buckingham has his paw on Miss Q and his head on her flank.  They like to be together.

Stay tuned on the “John Project” who knows I may figure out something terrific that works for him.  The key is for him to be motivated and for me to just play the role of coach – after all that is what I am trained to do.

Give me a shout if you need some help.  I am always here via the internet or the phone.  Happy New Year again to all.  May 2016 surpass all our goals.

Louise