A good day here in MI - beautiful weather, and we finished the evening off with a WONDERFUL jazz concert in the park. This year's series has been outstanding! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful musicians from Chicago, NY, etc. come to our little town
My contract negotiations went very well today. Given the fact that we still need to cut over a mil from the school district budget, I'm just happy to be able to continue in my position. Education is a field where seniority still reigns, so I am glad that I have chosen to stay in the same district for the last 17 years (13 different jobs during that time though).
Lori - I'm hoping that your district is able to bring you back, or that something else opens up for you! Everybody is still holding their breath to see which version of the budget passes. Education is going to take a hit, but no one is sure exactly how much. I think a lot of districts are in a holding pattern until they know for sure.
When I visited my son and family in Italy we went to Corsica. We did quite a bit of walking around on hilly terrain. They have those walking sticks and showed me how to use them. I thought they were really cool. I felt safer climbing up a rocky area with the pole. Corsica is just beautiful. There are lots of places to walk. I guess it is very crowded during the summer season, but spring was great.
I had a physical yesterday, and learned the results of my lab work. Ug. My cholesterol is a bit high, as is my glucose. I was told to eat bread, which includes tortillas, bagels. etc. not more that once per week (for the blood sugar). Does anyone else have this issue? I'm not sure what I am going to do for lunches. Any ideas? I am going to try to get the cholesterol down through diet and exercise. I am trying to limit fat, at the same time as limiting carbs. When I was on Atkins, years ago, it was either/or. You ate fat or carbs. Now I don't know what to eat! Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks!
Welcome Alan to the active folks thread and Wanted to be sure that you got a welcome from another guy - there are indeed a few around.
Your "exuberance" is welcome also; folks are a bit thick skinned around here so just be yourself.
On the trekking pole topic: Last month when we went to T I B E T, our final destination was to the base came of Mount Everest. The last 4 km was hiked over a loose rock path going, duh, upwards. We were happy to be using our trekking poles for the slight extra security they gave on the rocky terrain. At 17,000 feet the oxygen is about 50% as at sea level which seemed to me to reduce my brain's natural ability to balance.
I had a physical yesterday, and learned the results of my lab work. Ug. My cholesterol is a bit high, as is my glucose. I was told to eat bread, which includes tortillas, bagels. etc. not more that once per week (for the blood sugar). Does anyone else have this issue?
I'm in a bit of the same boat. I had my health screening a few days after returning from vacation, and my cholesterol had bounced up again after being under control for a couple of years. It was TOTALLY diet-related, because I exercised like crazy and didn't gain any weight during my trip. But I ate everything that I don't usually eat - breads, ice cream, etc. I thought that maybe just keeping my weight down would keep my cholesterol in check, but nope, I have to watch that dietary fat forever. Dang!
I don't have blood sugar problem, but I don't eat a lot of refined carbs as a general rule. For lunches I tend to go for salads and soups with lean protein added. Basically veggies and lean protein. How about lower-carb, whole grain breads? I would think they wouldn't have as much effect on blood sugar as refined white breads? I like Nature's Own whole grain 40 cal/slice bread. I keep it in the freezer and just take out a slice or two to have occasionally.
'Late to the game' and others--some evidence shows that overeating carbohydrates leads to high LDL and cholesterol, contrary to the typical things you hear. If you google 'carbohydrates cholesterol' you'll find all sorts of information. I learned about this connection years ago from a book by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, an endocrinologist.
Also, stress is a contributor to high cholesterol. All these things are related through certain hormones--insulin, glucagon, cortisol, adrenalin.
I don't really understand the "bread once a week" thing--that doesn't sound like blood sugar management to me. Maybe talk to a dietitian or nutritionist?
My blood glucose went from 109 at my high weight to 87 at my goal weight. I tested it this morning out of curiosity and it was 75. Although I try not to overeat carbohydrates, I just counted calories to lose weight and wasn't particularly paying attention to carbs.
I think exercise was the main part of the blood glucose drop. I stopped being sedentary.
Gotta go--BillBlueEyes, you gotta tell us more about TIBET!!!!
Late to the game - I don't restrict carbs, but there are lots of alternatives to sandwiches for lunch. I take dinner leftovers, soup, raw vegetables, MSF, Boca, Gardenburgers (no bun - just a great sauce to dip them in), salads, etc.
Joseph's makes a "heart healthy" pita (Walmart carries them) that is low carb, high protein and high fiber. Flatout has a similar bread.
Jay - good advice as usual! And, I'm with you - the once a week thing sounds "old school".
Bill, I'm with Jay - more Tibet info! Sounds awesome!
A good Friday here - glad the week is over! No big plans this weekend, I really need to get caught up. All the extra events with Mom kept me from getting a lot of summer chores done!
Hi to all, I like all this hiking chat. i cross country ski and use poles for that, but I'm very curious about trying hiking poles. I haven't done a lot of hiking of late and maybe that will help me get back in the swing of things. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Laurie- I work for a private school not a district, so I don't have the benefits that a district has.
MBN Yes, I found a low carb tortilla. I don't eat a lot of bread, but I recently created a wonderful wrap, Tortilla, hummus, tomato, spinach, a little fat free pepper jack, a slice of turkey, YUM!
JAYELL I don't eat a lot of carbs, and my doctor told me about the stress link. Unfortunately, I am VERY stressed. I need to work on that.
COUNTING ~ I too usually take leftovers for lunch. I don't eat a lot of sandwiches. Thanks for the info on the pitas!
Late to the game - stress was my middle name before I started this journey. Keep up the exercise, it really does help! Meditation, yoga, cardio, balance ball, pilates - all really helped me with my stress levels. Which helped me with my eating. Which helped ...
Lori - on your job or at least A JOB being available in the fall!
Last edited by CountingDown; 07-24-2009 at 10:17 PM.
OK, so what did y'all do for the weekend? Anything fun?
We went to dinner with a new friend Saturday. We went to Carrabba's Italian Grill, and I made a very good choice. Salmon, yummmm! I saved half of the entree for lunch Sunday.
Today the most exciting thing was when I went to the grocery store at the wrong time and got totally soaked by an afternoon thunderstorm. I was going to wait it out, but I had frozen foods... so when it looked like maybe it was letting up a little, I made a dash. Wrong move. Got totally soaked. Whee! Oh well, it's only water...
Oh, I also watched the last two days of the Tour de France. Really pretty good this year!
So did not make it to the gym today. It is way too hot here. Funny I know it is a lot cooler than a lot of your places but it is hot to us. Supposed to be 90 degrees till who knows when.
I think I will try and get up early tomorrow and get there while it is still cool.
This weekend went to the beach Jay. A place on the ocean that is a bay and the water is lovely. Found lots of sand dollars. It was a great day but got burnt. Will have to move from 30 to 45 suntan lotion.
I am sitting in airconditioning and it is cool but not sure what it will feel like when I get out there.
Went out to dinner at a friends last night and food was good till they got to the ice cream cake.
Today they are serving ice cream sundaes in the lunchroom. Can you believe that. I have not had one. So that is good.
Well, I think of "active" as meaning getting out and doing things, like travel, hobbies, art/music activities (shows, concerts), getting into nature, and so forth. For those who may not be able to get out a lot, it might mean hobbies like painting, woodworking, sewing, other needle arts, or book clubs, playing a musical instrument... things like that. And, many of us over-50s are still working, so we talk about job challenges and such, or volunteer positions.
Basically, keeping moving to the extent one can!
Most of us here also engage in some sort of regular exercise or sports--again, to the extent we can. And we like to post about these activities as well as about our weight loss strategies.
Jay is right, we love new active folk here.
Welcome Alan
Wanted to be sure that you got a welcome from another guy - there are indeed a few around.
on your job or at least A JOB being available in the fall!
