Tis the Season

I can hardly believe another December has arrived. I have a few gifts wrapped for Greg and Scott. I will pick up some little gifts for the children under 18 and that will be all for the extended family as the family has just gotten so big we can't get gifts for everyone.  Time spent together is more important than gifts anyway... at least I think so.

I forgot to check my Blood sugar before breakfast this morning but my 7 day average on my meter says 128 (A1C would be 5.7 to 5.8). My current 90 day average according to my mete is 133 (A1C of 5.9).

It is so hard to eat right at this time of year! Yesterday Scott and I cleared away the rotten wood pile in the side yard here at the cottage. We pushed it down into the woods and created a compost pile that I will add kitchen scraps and leaves to and Adele will have a nice rich compost pile to pull from after we move out of here. After all that hard work we were exhausted and hungry so we went to Arby's and got a couple loaded Italian subs, some stuffed jalapenos and 2 Jamocha milk shakes. ALL THE WRONG THINGS!! And then I was ill all night because of the dairy! My stomach churned ALL NIGHT LONG! Lesson learned... no more dairy. We have switched to almond milk for making our oatmeal and that's about the only thing we use milk in anymore here at home. So from now on if we don't eat it at home we won't be eating it out... at least I won't. Scott will decide for himself.

Well that's all for today!

Vegetarian... NOT going well

Going Vegetarian is not as easy as I felt it would be. I have been eating meat and dairy again. So I would say this experiment has failed entirely. It is hard to make dietary changes when you have to include other people in the meals. Scott said he would eat whatever I fixed but I could tell he was not thrilled about it... especially the no bacon/sausage and eggs in the mornings. Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day. I can go with the loaded oatmeal... oatmeal, fruit, nuts and seeds; but he needs some protein.

Another thing I discovered is aside from hot sour soup with tofu in it... I hate tofu done any other way. So I cut that out of the plan too.

I need to focus on just MORE vegetables in each meal to fill out dietary needs and reduce the portion size of the meats. Meat is just too expensive these days. Perhaps we will eventually end up Vegetarians but I think a slower transition will be better. Perhaps start with one day a week and then two and then three would be better than trying to go all in at once.

My 7 day average for my blood glucose is 127 (an A1C of about 5.6). I have not weighed myself this week... will do that next week. Today I have an appointment with the Orthopedic Dr about my left knee. I am in no pain at all now and quit taking the Naproxin last Friday. So I am going to talk with him about forgoing the surgery for now and see if the tear in the meniscus will heal on it's own. I will ask about exercises to help with that.

Until next week.

Updates on Health

Hello everyone! ME AGAIN!  I hope everyone is staying warm during this cold blast we are getting. I am so glad we have a home with heat to stay warm and my heart goes out to those that do not.

 I guess I will start with the results of the MRI I got  last week... I have a pretty severe Meniscus tear on the inside of my left knee. The Ortho gave me a cortisone shot and a prescription for 30 days of Naproxen. I go back to see him week after next and we will discuss whether to do surgery or not . It would be an Outpatient procedure and they would go in and shave the damage away to my meniscus. There would be a recovery period afterwards to regain full use of the knee. I was feeling so much better yesterday I tried to run with the dog (Bernadette)... HUGE MISTAKE. Hurt like crazy and I saw stars  and now the pain is back; not as severe but above a dull ache so it is annoying. UGH! Lesson learned and I am now only walking slowly and taking it easy. This is all so frustrating for me as I am used to going and going as I please. I will give an update on this in a couple weeks.

I went to the Dentist on Tuesday and got a GREAT report. NO CAVITIES!!! And now I have smile that sparkles... at least until I've started drinking coffee again. I was thrilled to have no cavities! Next visit with her will be in May.

OK lets get to the health update. For anyone that doesn't know Cortisone will mess your sugar up for SEVERAL days afterwards. I am saying this as my weekly average shows this immensely as I had a reading of 189 for my fasting the day after I received the shot which affected my weekly average. This morning my fasting reading was 119... YEAH!!!! So now to the averages for the current 7 day period .... My readings are 75% in range and the average is 141 (A1C - about a 6.1). I really am aiming for my average to be under 130 by January. Currently my meter shows my 90 day average is 132 (A1C about 5.9) which is AWESOME! I am so hoping to be under 6.0 by my next check in January with the Dr.

Now my weight... I weighed in this morning but only looked at weight in pounds not the BMI, percentage of fat and the rest... I will do that next week. So this morning I weighed 194.6 a loss of 2.2 pounds. YEAH!

I have struggled with staying 100% Vegan but I am pushing forward to reaching that goal as well. It's learning and unlearning so much of what I learned growing up. I keep exploring different ways to get all the Nutrients we need from a plant based diet without using tofu. Scott is being a good sport and just eating what I prepare with no complaints... quite a breath of fresh air from how he was when we were younger. (LOVE YA SWEETY).

See ya all next week!

Weekly Check-In

I am skipping weighing in this week as I am having trouble with my left leg. I am having an MRI tomorrow and will find out the results on Friday. I will weigh-in next Monday.

 I will report that my current glucose average for the past 7 days is 130 which puts me at an A1C of about 5.8. My 90 day average is 132 (A1C - 6.2). There are all sorts of conversion charts available online if you want to print one off to easily see where your glucose level falls on the A1C range.

This is but one site with a chart - https://tudiabetes.org/understanding-the-a1c/ They also have a lot of GREAT information to help you get your glucose (A1C) where it should be for a healthy life.

See you next week!

A Journey/ Experiment Begins

SO... this past week I started us on a journey to see if going mostly Vegetarian would improve our blood work results. I go again in January to have my blood work done and I would love to KNOCK HER SOCKS OFF with some amazing blood work.

So I guess the first thing I should start with is where my last blood work had me and my current weight, body fat % and BMI. So Current weight (as of today) 196.8 lbs, 42.3% body fat and my BMI is at 30.8; this was what my scales told me this evening. My blood work was done earlier this month and I am focused mainly on my A1C as I would love to get it under control the most so lets start there... 10/9/2019 my A1C was 6.3% with a value of 134 mg/dL.Standard ranges for these two readings are 4.3 - 5.6% and 77-114 mg/dL so my aim is to get to the 5.6 and the 114.  I am also planning to increase my activity level.. walking, hiking and following along with You Tube exercise videos.

I'm also going to take my measurements but am keeping them in a paper journal just for me. Sharing my weight is enough on here. Today's Fasting BG was 123 at 9:55 Am... we sleep later than most as Scott (husband) works the second shift. And my after dinner BG is 132.  My 7 day average is 135 (A1C - 6.0)

A couple photos of me at the Fiber event we  attended this past Saturday.

My plan is to post weekly on Mondays with "updates".

Loaded Oatmeal

A Single Week in January

Last Sunday I finished painting the inside of the linen closet down in our house in Cayce. We just need to get the doors painted and rehung and the trim work needs to be painted with the crisp white. Week after this I will be down for an entire week to paint in other rooms and to clean up in the yard some. We are slowly getting the house ready to sell... I am so hoping by Summer we will be ready to list it.

 I created this fun postcard for a friend that had reached 1000 subscribers on her You Tube Channel. I love my quirky little bees.

 Scott has made some progress on the little bonus room here at the cottage so it won't be long til we can paint in there and put the room back together. I'm kinda living in a "pile" until it is done as everything that was in there is now out in this main room. Makes it difficult to work on any larger projects.The termites had come in and ate all the sheetrock tape, old wall paper and some of the paper from the sides of the sheetrock.  It will be a nice cozy little room shortly.

 Yesterday we explored an Antique shop since it was such a dreary day. I found this lovely Kerr jar filled with buttons and a crystal that I will be creating a beaded suncatcher. It was so much fun looking through all the old stuff! Afterwards we went to Tito's for some delicious authentic New York Italian Calzones. YUM! All in all we had a GREAT day together... but then we always do together.

Small Steps

Scott decided to do some repairs here at the little cottage we are staying in... it all started as he wanted to remove some wall board in the bathroom that had been destroyed by termites. Once he got started he decided to remove the little door that led into the bathroom from this little sitting/ bedroom... which led to us ripping the ancient carpet out and so on. The carpet removal turned out to be pretty difficult as they had used a rubber matting under the carpet and over the many years it had adhered itself to the wooden floors.  I had to use my heat gun and a putty knife to get it all up. You can see in this picture the carpet and some of the stuck on rubber mat to the left. It took two days but we got it all up and out. We took the old carpet to the dump station on Tuesday and the bagged rubber matting when in the trash truck today. There are a few places on the ceiling that have loose popcorn ceiling stuff and Scott wants to repair that while we have the room torn apart. Tomorrow I will get him up at 9:30 so we can work on it some before he has to leave for work. Today he slept in to 11:30... I guess he needed the extra Z's. I will post more about this as we go along. We are supposed to go down and work on our house this weekend so there will be updates on that as well coming. I am so hoping this Summer will be when we can get that house sold so we don't have to keep driving down there every few weeks. Knock on wood!

Since talking with the Nurse on the 2nd I have been paying closer attention to the charts on my meter as well as recording my BG readings on this monthly chart I found online - FREE to print off. I like the fact that it is a monthly chart that I can carry to the DR as they seem averse to using the ability to just plug my meter into a computer or letting me send my readings in via email.  Now I just need to make time for some exercise... ugh! I will get there.

Well I am off to see what I can get into this afternoon. Scott will leave for work shortly and I will need to occupy myself until he returns home.

Finding my Health

I attended some Diabetic Education on January 2nd and came home with more tools to know how to put what I already knew into better practice as well as some additional information that I was lacking. I flat out eat too much and don't always make the best choices... but that is changing. AND I have got to get moving again. My life has become quite sedentary since I do not work outside the home any longer. Finding ways to get moving that I feel safe doing is a struggle for me here in Greenville. I dislike gyms immensely and I do not want to spend any money to join a group activity. After all "the best things in life are free" ... right? So I will walk with Scott on the weekends at the larger trails and will walk a couple times a week at the park trail in Travelers Rest. I will also utilize You Tube and follow some workouts there with Lucy Wyndham-Read. I learned about her from a Vlogger I watch and love her personality and the detailed instructions she gives. So thats my plan... and I've got to stick with it. Would love to surprise the new Dr in March with better blood work and hopefully a few pounds gone off my body as well.

On to my creative side; yesterday in the mail my Quilting Round Robin returned home and I love it! The ladies that worked on it did an amazing job. My plan is to add a few more borders to make it bed sized and then get it made into a quilt. It will be a wonderful quilt to use during the Christmas season.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend... may it be sunny today PLEASE!!! So tired of rain.

Welcome 2019

Here it is day 3 of 2019! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sometimes it feels like I am at the end of a very fast moving train and life is flashing by the windows. I need to take more time to appreciate all the little things along the way.

Yesterday I met with an RN at The Life Center and got more information on following a Diabetic diet and how to count carbs and how many carbs to allot per meal and snacks. LOTS of wonderful information and I am trying to put the information to good use. I started a food diary today and I am going to record on paper my blood sugar readings so I can watch better for patterns. She told me even a weight loss of 5 to 7 % of my current body weight would improve my health so I am going to aim for that the first 6 months of this year. Another thing I MUST DO is get more activity each day so I am looking into videos I can workout with here at home on You Tube as well as walking more often... if it would just stop raining.

I've been having a horrible time with Seasonal Depression this year and I am thinking I need to buy a "Happy Light" to help cope with the blah days. I'm sure exercise would help with that as well but to get started is tough when you don't feel like doing anything at all. I have so much I want to do but getting motivated to do any of it is so hard.

I hope everyone is starting their New Year off in a good place with plans for improving their health and well being.  See you in the next post.