Last month I went for my "well woman" yearly physical and got quite the side eye from my doc. Long story short: my weight is creeping up (says she), my blood pressure is too high (true), and my labs came back with bad numbers (high cholesterol and increased blood sugar). The only good thing to come out of it was that my thyroid levels were good on this increased dose, so she's leaving me there. (Thank goodness because on the lower dose I felt exhausted)
Almond butter on whole wheat English muffin with a small banana
where is the plate, Gina.
I knew I had to change things. But I hate calling it a diet (I dispute the weight thing) so I am calling it a healthy eating plan. To that end, I am enlisting my daughter, who is on a similar plan, to help keep me in check. I send her random pics of food I am eating and she encourages me. This new plan is 90% mental, 10% food.
CHEAT MEAL! Chicken fried chicken (I scraped off some of the gravy), okra (only ate 1/2), and unsalted corn. It can't be all healthy foods on the weekends - after all, weekends are supposed to be a break from the week
I actually do feel a little better and I have lost two pounds, though I still need to weigh myself today. I think a lot of it was water weight. And my clothes all still fit about the same. The high BP was making me feel terrible, so cutting salt has been a good thing. I bought a blood pressure cuff that connects via Bluetooth to my phone and I can upload the results to a note to my doc. Its still on the high side, but I FEEL differently, so I think I can improve it.
Corn tortilla, egg, cheese, side of fruit.
No more half and half in my morning coffee. Apparently calcium impairs thyroid med uptake. So, one cup of black coffee it is. If I need one in the afternoons, I can still do that as it has been well over 4 hours since I took the med by then. And I haven't purchased coffee creamer in months.
Buffalo Chicken salad on whole wheat, apple
I'm not tossing all of the food we have already, just gradually replacing it as we go. I started our produce deliveries back up. Sent a bunch of stuff with Gray back to college. Serving myself much smaller portions of those foods that aren't the healthiest - like the Buffalo Chicken Salad pictured above. Baby steps.
Oatmeal - four mornings out of 5 in my workweek
Cutting out eggs, bacon, and fast food on the way to work in the mornings is making me feel better, I think. Though I still spend a lot of time at work feeling hungry, I wonder if I wasn't just using snacks as a stress reliever. According to Chloe, I need to pack more food everyday than I think I will eat.
Anyhoo, that's the story for January. Eat more fruit and veg, lay off the salt, drink less, eat less red meat and more fish. Inhale. Exhale. Live.
