Because I'm Happy....

I promised that I’d come back to let you know how my little experiment went, so here I am!

If you remember, three months ago I got some test results that were far from exciting—in fact they indicated that I needed to take medication for gout, pre-diabetes and cholesterol.  Well that didn’t sit well with me because I don’t like to take medication especially when I might be able to control the issue with modifying what goes into my mouth, or how much I exercise.

So instead of just taking the medications my doctor prescribed, I asked her if she’d work with me for 3 months while I modified my diet and lifestyle.  She said she would.  And so I did.

For the next 3 months I applied the 80/20 rule.  Most of the time I ate a vegan diet, no meat (red or otherwise), no fried foods, no cheese, lots more water and increase my exercise to 1 hour a day versus 45 minutes. Lots of homemade green juice.  I did allow myself the occasional treat (that’s where the 20% came in).   My daily 2 cups of coffee with half and half was part of the “treat” I allowed myself.  Over the 90 days I ate red meat or chicken 7 times, ate cheese twice.  How do I know these details?  Because I kept a food journal detailing the times I allowed myself the occasional treat.

To say the least, my doctor was pleased at my check-in. She was actually over the moon.  I’d lost 5 pounds and my blood pressure was 110/70.  I told her that I had much more energy and just felt so much better.  She was even more pleased when my tests came back.  Everything was normal—my LDL went from 110 to 90.  My A1C (pre-diabetes indicator) number was well within the healthy range, and my uric acid level (gout indicator) had fallen back into the normal range—“No medication indicated—keep up the good work”.  I was so stoked, I just levitated out of her office.

I’d read that there was a great deal that could be done by modifying diet and I’d always  believed it, but here was the proof—my own successful experiment!

I’d already told myself that if the numbers didn’t come out the way I expected, I’d still maintain the same kind of diet knowing that heredity sometimes plays a part in these things and that I might just have to work more diligently to reduce my numbers.  I’d also asked my doctor that if the numbers didn’t come out stellar but were going in the right direction, whether she’d work with me for another 3 months.  She said she would.  So what I’d promised myself was this.  If my numbers came out really good, I would continue my new lifestyle, moving further towards veganism and my next challenge would be sugar—I am a real sugarholic.

For the rest of this year, I will continue to eat a plant-based diet (perhaps with a few treats here and there) and get myself ready for removing sugar from my diet at the first of the year.  Why the first of the year?  Why not now? Come on, the holidays are coming—I’m not even going to try “no sugar” until after they’re over.  I want to set myself up for success.

Back in 2013, Ted and I found our way to Shabaka Amen, Charlotte's First (and I believe only) Vegan Personal Trainer.  That was my first exposure to what a plant based diet could do for your body and mind.  Thanks so much, Shabaka for your guidance.  I would not be here without your guidance.  If you're interested, you can find more information about Shabaka by visiting his Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/shabaka.amen?fref=ts

Do you have any success stories you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear them. I leave you with this.

Thanks For The Memories

Today a friend reached out and told me that her husband of 46 years had died a couple of months ago.  I didn’t know how I’d missed it on Facebook, but I did.  She told me some of the things she was doing to ease the pain and as I looked through her Facebook feed I was amazed at the joy I got from watching the videos and reading the posts commemorating her husband’s life—well lived.  His life touched many others.  Whether we know it or not, that’s our purpose.

Last weekend I went away to camp to scrapbook to my heart’s content.  A group of women get together twice a year to go 35 minutes away on Lake Norman and spend time exactly the way they want to—scrapbooking their memories, reading, rocking in the comfy rocking chairs on the porch overlooking the lake, fellowshipping.

As I looked through my friend’s memories, I thought about how difficult it was for me the first time I tried to attend one of those scrapbooking weekends.  I paid for the whole weekend but could only stay one day—the pain was too raw—I had to leave.  The second time I stayed two days and felt a little better but got barely anything done—I spent most of my time reading.  This past weekend I was able to stay three days and I completed an entire scrapbook (59 pages) depicting the next to last trip that Ted and I took to London, Paris and South Africa. 

As I worked on the pictures, touched the memorabilia, remembered how we’d gone barreling through the South African savanna in our open Land Cruiser piloted by our safari guide playing the South African national anthem at the top of my Ipad’s lungs—I remembered saying “I’m so happy”.  And I was!

Happiness is measured in moments strung together.  Some of us get more moments strung together than others, but that we get any, is a true blessing.

To those of you who have loved and lost, I feel your pain.  Hold those memories close.  They will get you through the difficult times.

Putting Myself in Check

On July 26, 2016, after a routine physical, I received some test results that I did not like.  At. All.  Nothing life threatening, but a wake up call for sure.  I was shocked.  I hadn’t been paying really close attention to what I’ve been eating lately and so when I got numbers from my A1C, uric acid and LDL tests that were outside of acceptable, I was like WHAT???? 

I go to the gym most every day, meditate, and eat very little meat—at least that’s what I do most often, in retrospect, lately I’ve been getting really sloppy.  These test results brought it home loud and clear.  Healthy habits won’t help if you don’t use them and you really can't eat vegan once or twice a month and whatever you want the rest of the month.  Go figure!!!

After picking my jaw up from the floor, I immediately went to the library and got books on gout, the Mediterranean diet and a new take on the Mediterranean diet the Vegiterranean diet (vegan Mediterranean) and made a commitment to eliminate red meat, ice cream, fried foods and cheese from my diet for the next 90 days.  My doctor agreed that she’d let me try diet and exercise before pushing medication.  I really didn’t want to go on any more medication than I take now.  Hypertension runs in my family--After trying to control it myself with diet and exercise, I succumbed to my DNA and took the hypertension meds—but I was adamant that I didn’t want to take any more medication.  I do believe that what’s going on with me are things that I can fix with diet and exercise—what they call “lifestyle” issues.  I’m averse to taking medications that can cause wide-ranging side effects and bad interactions with other drugs.  Not having it!!!

In thinking back, I realized that when Ted was alive, I was much more cognizant of what we ate.  I was really focused on keeping him healthy so, though we loved ice cream, we only had it once a week as a treat.  We watched the hamburgers and fried food and we were very active.  Not only did we go to the gym most days, we were always on the go to museums, parks and festivals.  Since he died, I have been cultivating the things I like to do—read, scrapbook, write—none of which really get me out and moving.  Add to that that I’ve been succumbing to the barbecue rage all around me and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

You all know that I love a challenge so this is a challgenge to me and, as always, I will meet it head on.

*Starting August 1^st, I will:

• Eliminate red meat from my diet
• Be active each and every day – Incorporate movement into my day – Get my 10,000 Fitbit steps each day.
• Eliminate cheese, pizza, ice cream and fried foods
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
• Get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per day (I hate to tell you what little sleep this night owl gets)
• Step away from the computer every hour for at least 20 minutes – do some stretches, walk, do something active
• Do some of my computer work standing up – It is possible to do that!
• Continue my daily meditation practice and add yoga at least 5X week

Instead of keeping a food consumed diary, I’m going to keep an exception diary.  I expect that I’m going to be eating right at least 90% of the time so I will only log the times I stray, which should be very, very few. 

Eating this way and moving much more should help me take off those stubborn extra pounds I've been playing with for the last year.  The way I look at this, it's a win-win.  I develop some new habits--yes habits, that will become my new lifestyle, lose weight and get healthier as a result.  Who could ask for anything more, right?  Now, it may turn out that because of genetics, no matter what I do I still won't be able to change my numbers appreciably but I won't know if I don't try.  I like to stay on the optimistic side of things and like the little choo choo train said "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can."

I’m making myself accountable and there’s nothing that builds accountability more than shouting from the rafters, what you’re going to do, so here we go.

I’ll report in monthly and let you know how I’m doing and after my 90-day appointment, I’ll let you know the results.

Onward….

*Footnote - I know, it's already August 8th - I started on August 1st.

Where To From Here?

Once you write a book about your journey, or a portion of your journey, what’s next?  From Lemons to Lemonade is complete, poked, prodded, reworded and finally delivered into the world. So what now? 

Well, I could roll back the clock and look into other areas of my life:  I could write the story of my moving from addiction to a path of healing. I could share the tears, sadness and even funny moments of my mom’s journey through Alzheimer’s. I could talk about the absolutely hilarious year that I spent in New York City—just the stories of living in the middle of a frat house will make you spit your coffee out. I could document what’s going on in my life right now--what’s happened in the two years since Ted and Lateef died.   Or I could get out my crystal ball and peer into the future, looking for what might be coming in the future.

My gut says there’s more to be said but what and why?  Will anyone really care?  Will anyone be helped?  Why am I writing anyhow?  What is my intention? My burning desire is to help and if that translates to helping even one person, my goal will be accomplished.  I remember when I was in corporate America.  I pretty much was all about getting the job done.  I hated the intrusions of meetings, trainings and impromptu visits from my boss.  What I learned about trainings, though, was that if I learned one thing—just one thing, from a training session, I could consider the time well spent.

As I’m writing this today, I am just realizing that I use the words “I remember” quite often in my writing.  Remembering is very important to me.  I remember telling Ted how I felt about my scrapbooking hobby.  “Ted, when we’re old and gray and can’t remember anything, we’ll walk through the pages of these scrapbooks and see our life’s journey.”  I remember the feeling of loneliness as my mom was descending into the depths of Alzheimer’s—my trying to remember all of the stories of her life that she’d told me throughout my life.  Kicking myself for not thinking that those stories were important during the telling—being an impatient teenager—then young woman, wanting to get on with my life—wishing I had those moments back.

Except for a short period of time when it was all about me, I’ve always loved stories. My mom listened to story-telling radio throughout the night and Ted and I did also—My favorite podcasts today are This American Life, Snap Judgment, The Moth and Story Corps.  Everyone has a story to tell.  A life remembered is a gift. With all of it’s tears and joys—it is a gift—a chance to grow, a chance to help others.  A life remembered is a blessing.  It is a way to shed the skin of any pain experienced and morph into the beautiful butterflies we all have at our core—a way to examine our past and try to do better.   Once we’ve made peace with the past, it’s safe to remember.  A life remembered is a lesson in mindfulness because we’ve taken the time to live and relive the moments of our life—the corridors we’ve walked down.  What we do with those memories and experiences is completely up to us.  Live the same life or let our experiences change us for the better?

Have you ever visited a place and wondered about the people who lived there before?  Wondered what their stories were? I have.  Always inquisitive, I’ve been steadily upending the boulders and small rocks of my life, examining, making sense of, and reading the stories of others who have done the same.  Why?  Because there are opportunities to grow, live compassionately and give to others each and every day for the rest of the days that we are blessed to remain on this planet. 

Do you have a story to tell?  It doesn't matter if you tell it to the world or if you tell it to your journal as long as you tell it.  

So, where to next for me?  We’ll see.