Good morning, everyone. Had lots of positive feedback on my post from yesterday. I did not see any comments left on here though.
This morning, I decided to talk about one of my BIG issues; weight. Weight problems have followed me around my whole life. I had a brief period of one day in the 8th grade, where I had a perfectly proportioned body and weight. As I said, that lasted about a day. Since then, it has been a constant struggle, with one diet after another, success for a while, then weight would always come back plus a little more. My problem has never been losing the weight, it has been KEEPING it off. As a matter of fact, the picture I have posted to this blog was taken around a year ago. I have gained 20 pounds since then.
My plan now is to never go on a diet again. I am not trying to lose weight for looks any more. I like how I look, regardless of whether I am 150 pounds, or 200 pounds. I believe that if you want to, you can look good at any size. My goal here is to lose a few pounds for my health. I want to ward off diabetes for sure, that disease scares me to death. I also want to bring my blood pressure, triglycerides, cholestoral, LDL, and HDL to healthy levels. I take meds for my BP and for cholesterol. They don't work as well if you don't eat the right things though.
For the last month or so, I have been trying to slowly ease off the junk food and carbs. I am a carb addict. I love all things CARB. My body does not respond to carbs well at all though and the more I eat, the more I crave. I am NOT giving them up totally, just cutting back. I still want to enjoy a piece of birthday cake, a sandwich on a delicious tasting bread, some ice cream, or a piece of candy. My plan is to just not do this every day. I am going to try not to eat carbs today or tomorrow. I am hoping that this will help a few pounds to disappear. By carbs, I am talking about the really good tasting, bad for you kind, full of white flour and sugar. I am going to have some fruit today. As a matter of fact, I have found a really tasty way to enjoy fruit which satisfies my craving for ice cream. I will post it at the end of this installment.
Now, here is what I plan to do today to take good care of myself. 1.) Take all meds and vitamin supplements. (I always take my dr prescribed meds, I'm not too good at the supplements)
2.) Walk for one half hour. 3.) Eat protein for breakfast and dinner. I will have my fruit treat for lunch. 4.) Do something I enjoy, such as reading, watching television, shopping ect, whatever I feel like doing. I will enjoy whatever activity I choose and not feel guilty about it. 5.) Go to bed at a time that insures that I get at least 8 hrs of sleep. 6.) Talk to someone who brings joy and laughter into my life. By talk, I mean through FB or the phone, or in person. Laughing ALWAYS makes me feel better.
I would love to hear what my readers do to take care of themselves. Maybe it is something that I would like to try. If you have an idea, leave me a comment. I hope that if you took the time to read this, that it helped you in some small way. I know it helped me to write it. More later......


As promised, here is my delicious fruit ice cream recipe. It is easy to make but sooooo satisfying and delicious!
Take 2 cups of frozen fruit, whatever kind you like. (I do peaches and strawberries.) You can use fresh fruit but according to the experts, often times the fresh is not as nutritious as the frozen because of the days it sits in the store and loses nutrients. You can add a little more or less fruit. 1 cup of fat-free milk, a spoonful of greek yogurt for protein, and Splenda to taste. Put all this into the blender, and it will make a delicious, thick, nutritious milkshake. (I don't usually measure, so if your mixture is too thin, add fruit until it is the consistency you like.)

The Journey Begins

Having just had a milestone birthday last month, I started thinking about life and my own mortality a little bit. Common sense and a little bit of family history convinced me that at this point, if I took better care of myself, I could reasonably expect to live to at least 80, and if I got really serious, maybe a little more. The scary thing about this is....I don't have THAT many years to go before I AM eighty! So, considering that I have about twenty more years, barring anything catastrophic or an accident, I decided to start working on my health and well-being now. (Better late than never, right?)
I am a very healthy person other than high blood pressure, but along with high blood pressure comes the chance of heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure, so that is a biggie. In order to get your blood pressure down, it is pretty much agreed that you have to lose weight, and give up salt. WHAT?! Eating and salt are two of my favorite things! Unfortunately, I found out the other day that my body can't handle salt the way it used to. I ate several salty things this past Sunday and my feet and legs swelled up to the size of fence posts, and that happened even though I have a diuretic in one of my BP meds. It took me a day and a half to get back to normal. Sadly, I have to cut way back on my salt.
I have a loosely formed plan in my head for the things I want to do to achieve my goals of being healthy and happy. They include losing a few pounds, exercising and striving for ways to be happy. In other words, taking good care of myself. I think that is something that we as people and especially as women and mothers forget to do; take good care of ourselves. Our society kind of sees that as a selfish thing, although they (society) will deny it if you ask. But it is less selfish to take care of yourself than to burden others with the results that could happen if you don't, right?
So any way, this is why I started this blog. I want to share what I do every day to take care of myself and be happy and maybe hear from some of you about what you do to take care of yourselves. I could also use your support and friendship. This is not going to be only about eating right and exercising. It will also be about happiness, laughter, and good things. I am all about being happy now. It's all about the fun with me. I hope I get some readers and that they will enjoy what I have to say. I want to hear your opinions and stories too, so please take the time to share with me. More later.....