Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Keeping food light and mood right

It's been a busy week already, but a good one.  Monday morning I got the 2nd round of my injections in the knees with the Euflexxa.  Getting shots into your knees is not as much fun as it sounds...but the improvement I'm already sensing is worth it.  I definitely felt a slight improvement last week which the ortho told me was a good prognosticator for a good result.  I like that

I saw the podiatrist Monday afternoon about my numb left toe and he was essentially unconcerned because I'm walking fine with it and it's not impairing any function.  He noticed I've developed a small bunion I didn't have before and said that's likely the culprit of the numbness.  Sciatica is the 2nd contender, but given the lack of any more substantial symptoms and the fact that it's so intermittent rather than constant, he feels it's prudent to leave it alone unless the symptoms increase or change in any way.  He thinks neuropathy from diabetes is highly unlikely because I've been so well controlled and not required medication or testing.  The chance of diabetic neuropathy with my clinical picture is very small.  I'm fine with all that.

Monday night I went with hubby to an Alanon anniversary meeting where they had a speaker from AA, Alanon and Alateen.  All 3 had excellent messages of recovery and hope.  I was out until 9:40, a time at which I'm usually sound asleep because I'm up so early in the mornings (4-430am), and then stayed up another hour reading.  Really unheard of for me these days.  I can stay awake if I'm out doing stuff, but once home where the possibility of getting horizontal is 100%, I fade fast.  Last night I spoke at a meeting which had me out past my bedtime again.  I'm feeling like a grown up staying up so "late"! 

My sleep patterns definitely changed with menopause.  I stayed up 'til midnight or later for all of my kid-rearing years, then slept without waking until the alarm sounded.  But since mother nature began to send my hormones into underdrive as she does as we hit late 40s and early 50s, the quality of my sleep changed dramatically, and I haven't needed alarm clock since!

Food and exercise has been good this week thus far and I'm hoping for a loss at weigh in Sunday.  I've recently been on a new breakfast kick - I have oatmeal with 2 Tbs of flax meal stirred in after cooking and just a bit of salt.  The flax meal makes the oatmeal thick, dry and a bit grainy and gives it a sort of nutty taste.  The texture is heavenly to me, though my husband said it looks "disgusting".  Thanks dear.  ME LIKE!  Somehow the flax meal gives it a heartiness that keeps me full all morning.  Having a cup of TJoe's FF plain yogurt with unsweetened applesauce on the side has the protein hit (22 gms!) to also keep me satisfied, which is almost more important than being full.  (Any good food addict knows that.)  When at work, I usually don't eat lunch until about 1:30 because this b'fast is so substantial that I really have no desire to eat until then.  Unfortunately, after lunch the absence of desire to eat drains away quickly and once home from work, it's a constant effort to stay out of the fridge and pantry.  But I press on, hoping for the elusive peace with food to finally settle in.  Siiigh.

Tonight I have my meditation meeting from 7-9 that I think I mentioned a week or so ago. It's for people in any kind of recovery (with a 12 step focus) so there are some folks from OA, AA and even some with no official recovery program but wanting to meditate with a group. This is just the 3rd week, and so far it's been really good and helpful for me in my endless effort to establish a consistent meditation practice for myself.

Have a good day folks. 

9 comments:

  1. I need to look into similar meditation meetings/groups. It sounds really, really good.

    Glad your toe wasn't as you feared. YAY! :)

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  2. You are so right about pre and post menopausal sleep: all about quality! Every so often I get one of those fabulous nights of sleeping like the dead and not waking until the alarm goes off. I actually yearn for them most of the time though.

    Ditto Mr. Helen on the oatmeal thing. Every time I make my crockpot steel cut oats, as I'm pouring them into a container he remarks, "Disgusting. That's how they look, disgusting!" All the more for me!

    I'm happy you've had good food and mood lately. Here's to it continuing.

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  3. Such a great post, Leslie. I'm glad things are taking such a positive bend. I need to get back to a group meditation class. I miss it. Like you, I haven't been able to maintain a solo practice.

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  4. Your poor little tootsies. I hope they start to feel better and don't give you too much more drama. :( They do so much for the body...they're super important. I hope they get better 100%.

    ~Chubby McGee
    http://chubzilla.blogspot.com/

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  5. The more I eat during the day, the less hungry I am after 4pm. there is a direct correlation. Try putting planned snack in the morning and maybe another planned snack just before you leave work and see if that has any impact on your food attack after work. I would make these snacks protein based with very little carbs.

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  6. Sorry about your toe, but I'm glad the the cause for the numbness is likely not diabetic related. Sleep patterns do change as we age, and we simply don't sleep as much. I find myself becoming tired about 4 p.m., but getting my "second wind" about 10 p.m. I need to enforce an earlier bedtime for myself. I think that would take care of a lot of food issues, as well.

    Your group meditation group sounds very interesting. I would like to find one here! Have a good day!

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  7. My husband puts flax, along with other healthy stuff, into his oatmeal. Makes sense to me:) I go to bed early. I feel bad when we even go out to dinner with friends and I am yawning on the way home. We are heading two time zones west soon and I am already wondering how I will manage to stay awake!

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  8. Am I weird to suggest eating the same thing for lunch as breakfast? Wonder if that would curb the desire for eating for you and make your evenings go better in that aspect?

    OK, yes. That is weird.

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  9. I like flax too! I eat a lot of things that look strange but hey if they taste good to me and keep me full who cares?

    I am reading a book about meditation and being present. I am a work in progress in this area and it is so exciting when you see or feel results.

    I wrote a post today about being optimistic that you might find interesting if you have the time stop by and have a look!

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