Sometimes I Surprise Myself!

This evening I decided that I was bored with what I had been eating for lunch.  I was in a rut and I was tired of it.  So, I went trolling on my new favorite websites looking for something new for lunch.   Dlife.com and Diabeticlivingonline.com are my new best friends along, of course with dtour.prevention.com.

I found a tasty looking frittata that sounded like a lovely change of pace.  Hubby said he would pop down to the market and get what I needed.  As he was getting ready to leave I stopped him and asked him to get me some veggies to go along with it.  The words "Veggies are my friends!"  came out of my mouth!

I laughed and made a comment about some of the things I say now that would never have come out of my mouth before.  It entertained me so much,  that made a quick list of things I have said this week that would never have crossed my lips, much less my mind a year ago.

I can't function in the morning without my smoothie!

Veggies are my friends!

 Flax seed - the world's most wonderful food!

 No, I can't eat a McDonald's burger!  Are you out of your mind?

  Gogi Berries, we need more Gogi berries!

 Best smoothie ever!

Oh what a difference a few months can make!  We are coming up on Marching Band Competition season.  Usually that means lots of Saturdays spent at schools, watching many marching bands and eating concession food.  Not this year.  This year, I am figuring out what size cooler I am going to need and what sorts of snacks I need to pack to keep me going all day.

I'm liking this new me.  It's much more refreshing and much more fun than the old, boring, junk food, scarfing me.

First Day of School

Summer is officially over and all the good little children headed off to school this morning, anxious to begin a new year of stuffing their brains full of knowledge.  Not to mention filling their tummies full of that 'wonderfully nutritious' school food at lunch.

Hubby and I have always been very fortunate as parents; The Boy has never been terribly picky about what he eats.  Today, however, was a bit different.

At lunch, my charming son, was faced with the following choices:  Basco sticks, cheeseburger and fries, chicken nuggets, pizza, or a buffalo chicken panini.   What wonderfully nutritious options!

The Boy had a dilemma.  None of it looked anywhere near edible to him.  We won't even mention the fact that the only vegetable option for the regular hot lunch was the french fries that were served with the cheeseburger!

I do believe it was the first time in his life the my darling son did not know what to eat.   He has become so accustomed to eating healthy that the very thought of eating the crappy food that was being offered turned his stomach.

He settled for the the Buffalo Chicken Panini, but was sorely disappointed when it tasted nothing like what he expected it to.  He reported that it tasted sort of rotten to him.  Actually the word he used was crap!

The school does offer a sandwich and salad bar, which is considerably more expensive than the regular hot lunch offering.  So, I guess that we will be paying more money for The Boy's lunches from now on!

Am I the only one that thinks this is seriously wrong?

Empty Promises

This morning, I was vegging out in front the the television watching mindless tv, when an add came on for some weight loss product or site; to be honest I didn't pay that much attention until they started running the "success" stories.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing:

"All you have to do to lose weight is eat food!  How easy is that?"

"Point, click, and lose weight!"

I don't know what diet these people were on but SIGN ME UP!!  Here I thought you had to do things like, watch what you ate, drink plenty of water, and exercise!  No one told me all I had to do was eat food and I'd lose weight!

Come to think of it, eating food is what got me into this mess int the first place.  I ate food and GAINED weight!  Maybe I was going it wrong.   

While checking out at the market today, I saw this little bright green box amongst the candy section at the check-out lane.  It was a product called Hoodia, and it had all sorts of wonderful promises written all over it! 

"People using the Hoodia Gordonii diet pill reduce their calorie intake by up to 1000 calories a day and when you put that into pounds lost it may equate up to 4-6 pounds a week".

Here is the thing that I love about this Hoodia deal (other than the fact that Hoodia is fun to say!); it's purpose is to suppress your appetite so that you feel full and eat less.  Great in theory, but the minute you stop taking the pills, your appetite returns and you go back to eating the way you were before.  Hello 4- 6 pounds in a week!!

Then we have all of these wonderful programs that help you lose weight by offering pre-packaged meals.  Again, great in theory.  But what happens if you want to go out to eat, or eat with your family for that matter?  No can do, I don't think there are is enough food in one of those little packets to feed me and hubby, not to mention The Boy!

What happens when you have lost the weight and are ready to go off their little meals?  I'll tell you want - Hello, tubby!  I know, I've tried them all.  Jenny Craig was my favorite; I lost 30 lbs on the program and then gained 60 after I had 'graduated'.  So much for that plan! 


The old saying does hold; if it sounds too good to be true, it is!  Somewhere along the line, if we want a weight loss plan to work permanently, we have to learn a new way to eat.  Obviously what we were doing before didn't work so well!  Taking pills and having someone send you pre-measured and pre-packaged meals teaches you nothing.  If you learn nothing, other than how to read the reheating directions on the box; when you go off the program you are back to eating the way you ate before you started on the plan.


Also, as much as it pains me to admit, exercise is a key component to losing weight.  A rolling stone gathers no moss, apparently it gathers no weight either!  Whereas couch potatoes continue to grow at an alarming rate!

Losing My Mind??

Happy Sunday!  You know what that means!  Okay ~ business out of the way first:

Me:  -1.5 ~ Yea me!!
Amazing Hubby:  Stayed the same ~ Way to maintain hubby!!
The Boy: -0.5 Yea Boy!!

The scale is moving slowly, but as long as it is moving downward I am a happy camper!

Diabetes sucks!  I mean really!  Everyday since my diagnosis, like all other People with Diabetes, I get up, test my blood sugar and begin a day of waging war against my own body.  Can I keep my blood sugars level today?   Can I avoid a huge swing?  With me a huge swing in my sugar level means a major mood swing as well.

What I eat is a challenge as well.  While food is neither good nor bad; it has become something of a  trial to figure out which foods will not cause a major shift, still taste good, and help me loose weight.  If you ask me, that is a lot to demand from simple food!

I live in fear of losing my eyesight, feeling in my extremities and today, I learned that PWD's are at an increased risk for dementia!  Wonderful - now this damned disease could take my memory and my brain!  What more is left?  This is crazy!!!

I am not the only one who faces this daily battle.  Here are some rather interesting statistics from the American Diabetes Association:

Data from the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet (the most recent year for which data is available)
Total: 23.6 million children and adults in the United States—7.8% of the population—have diabetes.
Diagnosed: 17.9 million people
Undiagnosed: 5.7 million people
Pre-diabetes: 57 million people
New Cases: 1.6 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older each year.

 These numbers are increasing at an alarming rate!  Soon, 2/3rds of the adults in the Untied States will be obese.  Diabetes follows obesity like winter follows fall.  Something has to be done, and done now!

That is why I am on this journey, that is why I am writing this blog and going back to school!  This is a subject that I am so passionate about that I am resolved to spending the rest of my life helping others out of the deep well I found myself in.  No one should have to go through this, especially not children and teens.

That is also what Team Freedom is all about.  It is my first effort to raise awareness and money for the fight against Diabetes!  

We owe it to ourselves and our children to do everything we can to stop this disease!  Come and join Team Freedom!  You don't have to walk, you can donate $5  if that is all you can spare, every cent counts.

Commitment

First of all, let me apologize for not posting last night.  I had every intention of writing an incredibly wonderful post; then I fell asleep.  I am not kidding, I fell asleep with my hands on the keyboard!  Wonderful hubby had to extract the computer from me.  I guess I was really tired!

What tired me out?  I had a very traumatic day!  In order to make the new endeavor a reality, I had to make room for it in a family budget that had little to no wiggle room.  So, since it was my day off, I sat down with the budget, the phone and my trusty laptop and began to cut, cut, cut.

First thing to go?  My precious audible books.  They are my salvation when I drive.  I love to listen to books when I drive.  But, as exercise is more important at the moment, away the books went.  Anyone who knows me well will tell you this is a monumental sacrifice for me!

After the  books were gone, things were a bit easier. Cut, slash, and cancel, that was the mantra of my day.  At the end of it, I had cleared enough funds for the Health Club.

When I told Amazing Hubby what I had done, he was really proud of me.  It was funny, but I don't think even he understood how serious I was about this exercise thing until that moment.  Frankly, I didn't either.

Watch out Health Club, here I come.  I don't think the club or I will be the same after this!!

Speaking of commitment, TEAM FREEDOM is waiting for members to join!  Where is everyone?  Come on folks!  Join the team!  Don't leave us out there to walk on our own!  You can do it!  I'm looking forward to having a party and walking with all of you on that day!!  If you can't walk, donate!  Remember, all the money goes to Diabetes research.

Here is the link again :
STEP OUT: WALK TO FIGHT DIABETES!!!

Come on!  It's one morning!  We can do it together!!!

Roadblocks

I seem to have this new eating plan well in hand now (at least at the moment).  So it is well past time to tackle the very big, horrible obstacle that is standing in my way.  Yes, the thing I have been whining about . . EXERCISE!!!

We seem to have a pill or a speedy short cut for everything else these days, why not exercise?  Isn't there some magic pill I could swallow and in three days I'd be Miss Betty Buff?  Now there is a money making idea for someone!!

I know, I know.  If something seems too easy, it isn't worth doing.  So today, I took a look at our family budget to see if there was room in it for the Health Club, there wasn't.
The old Katie would have gotten frustrated and given up (while secretly happy).  If there was no money, there was no money, it wouldn't work, I couldn't do it!  

That Katie is gone.  This Katie is all about removing roadblocks; the mental as well as the financial! So, taking a deep breath, I ruthlessly started cutting things that I thought we could do without.  By the time I was done, there was not much left in the budget, but the money was found for the Health Club.

I am going to conquer this exercise thing!  I have to do it.  If I can give up chocolate, and my precious coffee, exercising should be easy, right?

I have a new goal as well!  As soon as I make it under the magic 200 lb mark, my boys are taking me to the climbing gym.  They love going to the climbing wall.  I've always stood and watched them as they scaled the walls and had all sorts of fun.  I never thought I could do it.  I'm going to do it!  As soon as I hit that magic little mark!

I can't do it on my Own

When I started this journey, I was convinced that I could conquer my mountain on my own with no 'professional' assistance.  Tonight, I am having to throw in the towel and admit that I can no longer do this all on my own.  I need some professional help.  (No!  Not that kind!)

It is no secret that I have been having motivational issues when it comes to exercising.  After my annual Doctor's appointment, and reading my latest issue of Diabetes Forecast, I have decided that it may be time to join a health club and see if a personal trainer can help get me going.  

What is driving this latest move?  There is new research discussing the different types of exercise that is necessary for a Person with Diabetes; simple walking and cardio is no longer enough; stretching and strength training are also necessary.  Why?  Let me show you what I learned from the Mayo Clinic Web Site:

  If you have diabetes, you're at increased risk of various bone and joint disorders. Factors such as nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy), arterial disease and obesity may contribute to these problems — but often the cause isn't clear.

Charcot joint
What is it?
Charcot (shahr-KO) joint, also called neuropathic arthropathy, occurs when a joint deteriorates because of nerve damage — a common complication of diabetes. Charcot joint primarily affects the feet.

Diabetic hand syndrome
What is it?
Diabetic hand syndrome, also called cheiroarthropathy, is a disorder in which the skin on the hands becomes waxy and thickened. Eventually finger movement is limited. What causes diabetic hand syndrome isn't known. It's most common in people who have a long history of diabetes.

DISH
What is it?
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), also called Forestier disease, is a hardening of tendons and ligaments that commonly affects the spine. DISH may be associated with type 2 diabetes, perhaps due to insulin or insulin-like growth factors that promote new bone growth.

Dupuytren contracture
What is it?
Dupuytren contracture is a deformity in which one or more fingers are bent toward the palm. It's caused by thickening and scarring of connective tissue in the palm of the hand and in the fingers. Dupuytren contracture is common in people who have a long history of diabetes, perhaps due to the metabolic changes related to diabetes.

 Frozen shoulder

What is it?
Frozen shoulder is a condition characterized by shoulder pain and limited range of motion. It typically affects only one shoulder. Although the cause is often unknown, diabetes is a common risk factor.

 
Scary, right?  I thought so.   Here I've been worrying about my eyes this whole time and I never gave a thought to what the extra glucose could do to the rest of my body.  How brain dead was I?

So, after I scared myself to death, I went over to the American Diabetes Association Website.  The answer would be there, right?  Yep, they had this whole cool little slide show thing going on.  One slide in particular smacked me between the eyes: 

I'm a reasonable person.  Once faced with overwhelming evidence, I can be motivated.  Somehow, the prospect of losing mobility will do that to you!

So, today, Hubby and I went to check out a Health Club today.  We were impressed and I think it may work.  


I'm serious about succeeding, I need to do whatever is necessary to get where I want to be.  If that means finding some trainer to be mean to me to make me work, then that is what I'll do.


I can do this!  I know I can!