Tag: Health Puzzle

10,000 or Bust

Usually I choose health through my diet and good food choices. But we can’t focus solely on one piece of the health puzzle while ignoring the rest. I do so much outdoor work in spring, summer and fall, I don’t worry much about getting exercise or making sure I move a lot. But this time of year I can turn into a serious couch potato if I am not careful. I am going to share with you what I have been doing to make sure I address this peice of my health puzzle but you have to promise not to laugh.

Please this is serious and I need your attention and your pinky swear to secrecy. Promise?

Image by Yvette W from Pixabay
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My Wake Up Call

I turned 54 in May of this year and that makes me more than half a century old. When I hit 40, my vision started to change and I traded my driving glasses in for readers. Shortly after that, menopause took place and I no longer had to be prepared for life’s little emergencies. Then again, hot flashes started and I thought I was dying at least twice a month! I have a funny heart beat that my doctor wants me to check out again as it hasn’t been checked in over a decade. I have a tricky knee that needs to be babied and occasionally aches and hurts. Overall, I have learned to embrace the grey of middle age!

Other than this, I am in pretty good health. I have no serious health complaints, and no medical diagnosis to worry about. I take no prescription medication and rarely take anything over the counter. I do take a few supplements to aid in digestion and am considering others to support overall health.

Feeling pretty good about my life… then I got a wake up call! Image by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay
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Don’t Suffer the Consequences

The small things you do daily matter. They either push you towards health, wealth and happiness or they push you away. If you believe this (as I do), than you understand that creating daily habits that push you in the right direction is critical to staying on the path. The small things either create a more resilient you or they don’t.

People who are resilient weather the bad days more easily than people who are not. They get back up when life circumstances or the playground bully knocks them down. They goof up on day three of a 10 day challenge and start over. They wake up in the morning and are ready to face the day. They don’t throw in the towel until the game is over.

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My Racing Mind

If there was an Indy 500 for minds, I bet I would be a contender. My mind likes to race, to get a thought and run with it. It doesn’t have to be a good thought, just a thought. In the past, I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and my racing mind contributed to the problem, hell, it might have caused the problem. I haven’t had a panic attack in about 5 years, but they aren’t really gone. I have learned to identify what triggers them, what mitigates them, how to deal with and how to avoid them.

Does your mind race? Image by skeeze from Pixabay
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The Rubik’s Cube Effect

I was talking to a co-worker recently and the topic turned to childhood games. We spent several minutes reminiscing about Pong, Space Invader’s and the Rubik’s Cube. He said the best he ever did in terms of solving the cube was to get one side all of the same color. He would haphazardly turn the sections attempting to do better but could never get more than one side done. In desperation, he peeled off all of the stickers and put them back on where he wanted them. I have actually solved it multiple times (without cheating) but never fully understood what I did to make that happen.

So hard! Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
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Driver or Passenger?

I read a lot of non-fiction books and blogs related to medicine, to health, to disease and mostly to nutrition. This helps me to learn about this important topic and to stay on top of my health. The more I read and learn, the more convinced I am that all chronic disease including auto-immune disease are directly linked to diet and lifestyle. I am not saying that diet alone is responsible for causing disease but it is a driver and one that is easily modified to better mange health.

You drive! Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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Hope For Our Future

In my hometown there is a medical practice next door to a dialysis center next door to a wound clinic. It is like one stop shopping for people who suffer from diabetes. In the early stages of this chronic disease, people take medicine and check their blood sugar. As it progresses, it gets much more complicated and can result in wounds that won’t heal, amputation of body parts, loss of sight. It increases the risk for stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and nerve damage. People with advanced diabetes get a lot of expensive treatments that address their symptoms but none that address a cure.

One stop shopping… Image by Pintera Studio from Pixabay
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Revolutionizing the Health Puzzle with Detective Work!

I work as an Occupational Therapist and have been in the field for 20 years. I have worked in a hospital, in an outpatient clinic and in several nursing homes. I have met a ton of interesting people who have faced some difficult health challenges. When I was a kid, Mother Fran thought I should be a nurse. I always laughed at the notion and reminded her that I fainted at the sight of a lot of blood. Maybe I should have listened to her! When I look at job opportunities, the positions that are of interest to me often require an RN degree. I have no desire to go back to school but if I did, nursing school would be on interest. Like Occupational Therapists, they work in a wide variety of settings and with many different populations of people.

Nurses are like superheroes in my book Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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The Power of Changing Your Beliefs

When I was a kid, we didn’t eat dinner. Nope! We ate supper which typically consisted of meat, potato in some form and vegetables or a salad. We ate whole wheat bread frequently, pasta once per week and rice occasionally. Mother Fran was a bit of a health nut so milk was served as the beverage, fruit as the dessert. She cooked with lard, butter and oil. Most vegetables were straight from the garden and sometimes the freezer.

We rarely had chips, soda or other types of junk food. I’m pretty sure she had never heard of a Ring Ding, Twinkie or Fluff. We did enjoy the occasional brownie, ice cream and homemade cake. Mother Fran was ahead of her time when it came to cooking healthy meals for her family. Our diet had plenty of protein, healthy fats and some carbohydrates.

Add a baked potato and Mother Fran would have approved! Image by RitaE from Pixabay
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Are You in Trouble?

Do you ever find yourself happily going about your life, tending to what needs to get done, checking things off of your to do list and than BAM? BAM, something happens that rocks your world. Something pulls your kayak way off course and you find yourself drifting aimlessly or furiously fighting the waves but not getting anywhere.

A few weeks ago, my brother (Number 9) called me to process the fact that a good friend of his had a massive heart attack and was in the hospital. His friend is in his mid 50’s and I’m sure he was not expecting something so big to rock his world. Today I learned about a friend in his early 60’s who just underwent a partial amputation of his foot due to diabetic complications. Undergoing surgery like that will totally knock anyone off course.

These folks are in trouble! Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay
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