Monday was back to the exercise grind again, and I discovered two very noticeable improvements. First was that I was able to vacuum the house without my knee feeling like it was going to snap in half. Second improvement was that I was able to walk up and down two stairs. Pain did not stop me from going further, but rather that I could not figure out how to best step with the cane so that I had something secure to grab on in the event that my knee gave out. It is a very weird thing having to retrain your brain in order to do something you learned as a little child ! That is the tricky thing about recovering from injury- or even dealing with an injury. You have to think about how to step so that you do no harm to the body. In the thinking process you can over-think it and bring yourself to the point of fear of movement, and then you have gone too far. Walking that fine line is the trick.
Besides those great strides I did an hour of Wii cycling and Walk it Out as well as taking a gentle 10 minute stroll. For dinner we had some teriyaki marinated salmon fillets that may become my go to salmon recipe- it was that good ! Forgot to snap a picture, but basically you make a teriyaki marinate with brown sugar, soy sauce, olive oil,rice wine vinegar, ginger, sesame seeds and pepper, pour it over the salmon in a baking pan and let marinate in the fridge for 2 hrs , and then grill or pan fry. I pan fried it because I was afraid of the salmon falling apart on the George Foreman grill.
I am wondering how I am going to challenge myself today !
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Ice cream taste test
Had a really nice time over the weekend. Got to walk in the woods twice, went shopping once and went out to eat two times. Paid a visit to the area that will hopefully become our future home and spent a lot of time just laughing and catching up. Going out to eat is something that we were doing once a week because of the time crunch with shopping. This time it was just to find very easy ways to get me walking more. Has to be a slow build- too much too soon will cause the muscles to spasm and potentially bring on a fall and re-injury. As much as I would love to do a couple of "push it till you puke" kind of build up sessions, it's just too risky. I ne3ver want to be this house bound for so long ever again !
There are two big hurdles with going dairy free and living the life of the average person- that being cheese and ice cream. When you go out to eat at most places, dishes include cheese more often than not. Cheese shreds on salads, topped with cheese sandwiches or omlettes or some kind of cream sauce. If you are avoiding nightshades, good luck finding a fast food sandwich that does not include tomatoes, tomato sauce or that is accompanied with fries, hash browns or other potato thing. They can be found, but you really have to read the menu carefully. Thankfully I can eat baked things that contain milk( bread or buns) and butter, but that is where it ends. One chain in the Midwest( Culver's) happily has side selections that are dairy free and on the menu. You can get a burger and sweet potato fries or seasoned green beans ( salads contain cheese and cole slaw contains milk so those are out). I decided to risk it Saturday and try a small dish of ice cream, just to see if it really is a problem, and sure enough it is. Sad thought, spending the rest of my life without frozen custard !
Which led to a sort of decadent but purposeful Sunday activity - the non dairy ice cream taste test. There are different times when you just want to have ice cream, and if you cannot eat regular ice cream, you kind of scratch your head. Not so very long ago there were no non dairy ice cream options in the regular stores. If you could not do dairy bu wanted a frozen treat, Popsicles were as good as it gets, or frozen bananas . They came Tofutti and soy milk ice creams , but now there are several new options.Problem is which one do you like the best? We had gone out for breakfast , which was large, and figured lunch would be just a nibble, and some how the subject of ice cream came up. I did not want to repeat the ill affects of Saturday, so a discussion led to the idea of buying one of each non dairy ice cream option, doing a taste test side by side and determining which one we liked the best. Here are the contenders , and the results- keep in mind we are people who tended to prefer gelatto over Ben and Jerry's before this.
Soy Dreams- YUCK !!! Soy ice cream and milk has a weird lemony, vanilla-ish overriding after taste that just makes my stomach flip. I have a problem with soy, so not surprising that I did not like it.
Coconut Dreams- nice taste, but a bit of a grainy mouth feel . The fat coats your mouth, but it seems to clear quicker than full fat dairy, leaving your mouth to say "wow ! ice cream !...wait a minute...". I would ea this one again , but I think it would be best in a chocolate flavor.
Rice Dreams - very pleasant , and very close to regular dairy ice cream in taste and mouth feel. This one was Nick's favorite.
Almond Dreams - my choice for the winner ! There was no difference in texture, taste, smell or flavor to dairy ice cream. I prefer almond milk over soy because the fat in the almonds mimics the fat in dairy nicely. Now if they could start making almond milk cheese ....
Diana's Bananas- the frozen chocolate covered banana on a stick- these I have loved since I was a kid , and if I feel an urge for something sweet, a banana will usually do it for me. Frozen , they work like ice cream because of the mouth feel. The guys were not crazy about these- sensitive teeth and frozen bananas do not mix.
So now we know what our go to frozen fun food will be. Wouldn't it be nice to solve all of the problems in the world in such a simple fashion ??
There are two big hurdles with going dairy free and living the life of the average person- that being cheese and ice cream. When you go out to eat at most places, dishes include cheese more often than not. Cheese shreds on salads, topped with cheese sandwiches or omlettes or some kind of cream sauce. If you are avoiding nightshades, good luck finding a fast food sandwich that does not include tomatoes, tomato sauce or that is accompanied with fries, hash browns or other potato thing. They can be found, but you really have to read the menu carefully. Thankfully I can eat baked things that contain milk( bread or buns) and butter, but that is where it ends. One chain in the Midwest( Culver's) happily has side selections that are dairy free and on the menu. You can get a burger and sweet potato fries or seasoned green beans ( salads contain cheese and cole slaw contains milk so those are out). I decided to risk it Saturday and try a small dish of ice cream, just to see if it really is a problem, and sure enough it is. Sad thought, spending the rest of my life without frozen custard !
Which led to a sort of decadent but purposeful Sunday activity - the non dairy ice cream taste test. There are different times when you just want to have ice cream, and if you cannot eat regular ice cream, you kind of scratch your head. Not so very long ago there were no non dairy ice cream options in the regular stores. If you could not do dairy bu wanted a frozen treat, Popsicles were as good as it gets, or frozen bananas . They came Tofutti and soy milk ice creams , but now there are several new options.Problem is which one do you like the best? We had gone out for breakfast , which was large, and figured lunch would be just a nibble, and some how the subject of ice cream came up. I did not want to repeat the ill affects of Saturday, so a discussion led to the idea of buying one of each non dairy ice cream option, doing a taste test side by side and determining which one we liked the best. Here are the contenders , and the results- keep in mind we are people who tended to prefer gelatto over Ben and Jerry's before this.
Soy Dreams- YUCK !!! Soy ice cream and milk has a weird lemony, vanilla-ish overriding after taste that just makes my stomach flip. I have a problem with soy, so not surprising that I did not like it.
Coconut Dreams- nice taste, but a bit of a grainy mouth feel . The fat coats your mouth, but it seems to clear quicker than full fat dairy, leaving your mouth to say "wow ! ice cream !...wait a minute...". I would ea this one again , but I think it would be best in a chocolate flavor.
Rice Dreams - very pleasant , and very close to regular dairy ice cream in taste and mouth feel. This one was Nick's favorite.
Almond Dreams - my choice for the winner ! There was no difference in texture, taste, smell or flavor to dairy ice cream. I prefer almond milk over soy because the fat in the almonds mimics the fat in dairy nicely. Now if they could start making almond milk cheese ....
Diana's Bananas- the frozen chocolate covered banana on a stick- these I have loved since I was a kid , and if I feel an urge for something sweet, a banana will usually do it for me. Frozen , they work like ice cream because of the mouth feel. The guys were not crazy about these- sensitive teeth and frozen bananas do not mix.
So now we know what our go to frozen fun food will be. Wouldn't it be nice to solve all of the problems in the world in such a simple fashion ??
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Weigh in Week 2
I was a little concerned that this week was going to be one of those that made me crazy because I have gotten almost no sleep for 3 nights in a row. Insomnia has become my enemy of late due to some factors with our bedroom furniture. We are going to try to tough this one out until we move, so I am trying to make the best of it for now. Anyway, on to the scale:
Me- - 3.2 lbs
Bob -1.2 lbs
Nick +1.4 lbs
This time we are doing this without counting calories, points, colors, food groups or anything else- just eating real food and making sure there are enough dark greens and almonds to supply the calcium that dairy used to. With Nick , it is going to be a matter of adjusting his snacks. Part of the reason for this is when we began on Weight Watchers, with his level of required daily points he had to snack a couple of times every day in order to make the program work ( he was at 44 points per day PLUS had the daily activity points as a possibility and the weekly bonus points). He lost over 80 pounds on the program, so it did work for weight loss, but brought in other problems. Like turning him into a snack monster and making some of his Autistic behaviors worse. And being an Autistic, changes in his eating are major, major hurdles. If this was a normal 19 yr old , you could simply explain that the scale will go up if you eat more food than your body needs or other such things. This is not a normal 19 yr old so I have to figure out a strategy to steer him into, while figuring out my own strategy of living without dairy and nightshades and thinking about how to make good, portable, grab and go nutritious options for my husband , who's company is in the end stages of a major change in buisness operations. And bottom line for all is it must be real food. It's not an impossibility, but it sure can get tricky figuring this for 3 !
Plans for today include a short walk , and the first time I have walked into a restaurant since last November. Seems sort of like as exciting as going on a cruise :-)
Me- - 3.2 lbs
Bob -1.2 lbs
Nick +1.4 lbs
This time we are doing this without counting calories, points, colors, food groups or anything else- just eating real food and making sure there are enough dark greens and almonds to supply the calcium that dairy used to. With Nick , it is going to be a matter of adjusting his snacks. Part of the reason for this is when we began on Weight Watchers, with his level of required daily points he had to snack a couple of times every day in order to make the program work ( he was at 44 points per day PLUS had the daily activity points as a possibility and the weekly bonus points). He lost over 80 pounds on the program, so it did work for weight loss, but brought in other problems. Like turning him into a snack monster and making some of his Autistic behaviors worse. And being an Autistic, changes in his eating are major, major hurdles. If this was a normal 19 yr old , you could simply explain that the scale will go up if you eat more food than your body needs or other such things. This is not a normal 19 yr old so I have to figure out a strategy to steer him into, while figuring out my own strategy of living without dairy and nightshades and thinking about how to make good, portable, grab and go nutritious options for my husband , who's company is in the end stages of a major change in buisness operations. And bottom line for all is it must be real food. It's not an impossibility, but it sure can get tricky figuring this for 3 !
Plans for today include a short walk , and the first time I have walked into a restaurant since last November. Seems sort of like as exciting as going on a cruise :-)
Friday, June 3, 2011
Change in season: Why salt doesn’t deserve its bad rap | Grist
Think you need to get rid of salt in your diet ? Think again. Salt, like fat, is a necessary component in the human diet for heath. The problem comes in when the food industry starts using chemical mixtures that imitate salt and give consistent( and cheap) results
Change in season: Why salt doesn’t deserve its bad rap | Grist
Change in season: Why salt doesn’t deserve its bad rap | Grist
More moving
It was a more productive day yesterday exercise wise. Getting excited because I was able to increase the time of actual walking , and do other things
Walking 10 min- YAY- up from 5!
stationary bike 10 min ( and remebered that while pedaling I can read notes or books)
Wii canoeing 25 min - always fun to do this with my son because he thinks it is hysterical to oversteer
And progress was made on another front- we believe we have found the right apartment complex for us and we put in a deposit. First available first floor or disability unit available will be ours ( we have a tentative moving date of Sept 1). First floor access is hard to come by , but something that is becoming more necessary. While I am optimistically working to remove my mobility issues, realistically I must consider that they may be permanent. If we are dependent on an elevator to get in or out of the building, when that elevator goes out I will be trapped in our home.If we are on the first floor and I do fully recover, then it is just a lot easier getting groceries and such in the house. Kind of a hope for the best, plan for the worst thing. The complex has a pool, modest health club( indoor basketball court and a few machines) walking trails and even a little patio do do some container gardening. It's also bigger , and depending on the unit available will have either a second bathroom or a very large closet space ( my hope is for the closet one !) I am crossing my fingers that something may become available a little sooner than September.
Plan for today is to get some exercise in with doing grocery shopping , assigning grades and doing the year end transcript for homeschool. Last day of school today, so it's a lot of loose ends paperwork wise. Hope you have a good one !
Walking 10 min- YAY- up from 5!
stationary bike 10 min ( and remebered that while pedaling I can read notes or books)
Wii canoeing 25 min - always fun to do this with my son because he thinks it is hysterical to oversteer
And progress was made on another front- we believe we have found the right apartment complex for us and we put in a deposit. First available first floor or disability unit available will be ours ( we have a tentative moving date of Sept 1). First floor access is hard to come by , but something that is becoming more necessary. While I am optimistically working to remove my mobility issues, realistically I must consider that they may be permanent. If we are dependent on an elevator to get in or out of the building, when that elevator goes out I will be trapped in our home.If we are on the first floor and I do fully recover, then it is just a lot easier getting groceries and such in the house. Kind of a hope for the best, plan for the worst thing. The complex has a pool, modest health club( indoor basketball court and a few machines) walking trails and even a little patio do do some container gardening. It's also bigger , and depending on the unit available will have either a second bathroom or a very large closet space ( my hope is for the closet one !) I am crossing my fingers that something may become available a little sooner than September.
Plan for today is to get some exercise in with doing grocery shopping , assigning grades and doing the year end transcript for homeschool. Last day of school today, so it's a lot of loose ends paperwork wise. Hope you have a good one !
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Look ! Books !!!!
Kind of a sidetracked sort of day yesterday. Spent much of it planning and getting sidetracked by the rediscovery of my own study materials for Energy Medicine. Our homeschool year ends on Friday, and that means mommy can devote lots of time to her own studies for 9 glorious weeks. Moving the materials back to the front shelves in our dining room/school room meant stopping and glancing at the old bookmarks , remembering some of the more difficult points and ways that I was finally able to understand them and more. Good times, but not so good for movement !
Walking 4 min
Wii boxing 5 min ( stopped because Nick hurt his shoulder throwing punches)
Wii cycling 30 min
It was my birthday, and a treat was involved. The good thing about avoiding dairy ( except for in baked goods) is that it kind of shrinks your options. We had some angel food cake topped with sliced strawberries and coconut milk ice cream. It's nice to have some non dairy choices available, but it can be hard finding the best one for you. Coconut milk ice cream has a bit of a grainy texture that makes your mouth say "Ooh ! Ice cream !...WAIT A MINUTE, NO IT'S NOT !". I am going to have to investigate some of the other possibilities.
Very cool day today- should make for a good one !
Walking 4 min
Wii boxing 5 min ( stopped because Nick hurt his shoulder throwing punches)
Wii cycling 30 min
It was my birthday, and a treat was involved. The good thing about avoiding dairy ( except for in baked goods) is that it kind of shrinks your options. We had some angel food cake topped with sliced strawberries and coconut milk ice cream. It's nice to have some non dairy choices available, but it can be hard finding the best one for you. Coconut milk ice cream has a bit of a grainy texture that makes your mouth say "Ooh ! Ice cream !...WAIT A MINUTE, NO IT'S NOT !". I am going to have to investigate some of the other possibilities.
Very cool day today- should make for a good one !
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Beginings, start of a program and other numbers
Starting a program can be an intimidating thing ! You know where you want to be in the end, but discovering exactly where you are at the start reveals not only how far away from your goal you are, but how much work needs to be done. This is the case with my walking program. I want to get back to the point where I can walk for a solid hour, plus be able to walk in my daily activities without pain. It's a modest goal, but from where I am standing right now it feels like I have Mt Everest to climb !
The approach is to listen to my body , as to avoid re -injury or further damage and slowly build. Yesterday was the start, and I was able to get in a whopping 4 minutes of walking. Definitely have a lot of work to do here ! It was not the only exercise that I got in for the day, for these other things help to build up the muscles necessary to accomplishing the walking goal. It looked like this:
Walking 4 minutes
Wii cycling 30 min ( upper body work- I don't understand why but strengthening my upper body makes the lower hurt less)
Wii Table Tennis 5 min
Yoga 10 min - no new poses added, but greater stability with the poses mastered
Wii Sports basketball 13 min
Today is my birthday. Somehow , when I was not looking I have managed to make 53 trips around the sun. It seems like it was yesterday when I was thinking that 23 was the right age for me to marry, and then kind of getting weird about turning 40 . When did 53 sneak up on me ? I saw Cher on TV not long ago with the announcement that she is 60 now, and I wondered when did that happen as well. Age is a funny thing. As a child you count the days in anticipation of finally being such and such age. Those pass and suddenly you find yourself facing numbers that sound scary an you do a little pause. And then suddenly you start coming up on numbers that sound "substantial". They are like your annual salary or mortgage figures. They are indeed just numbers, but they always seem more influential than numbers involved in simply counting to 10. They are in there, but duplicated and arranged in a way that makes you look twice at them.
The approach is to listen to my body , as to avoid re -injury or further damage and slowly build. Yesterday was the start, and I was able to get in a whopping 4 minutes of walking. Definitely have a lot of work to do here ! It was not the only exercise that I got in for the day, for these other things help to build up the muscles necessary to accomplishing the walking goal. It looked like this:
Walking 4 minutes
Wii cycling 30 min ( upper body work- I don't understand why but strengthening my upper body makes the lower hurt less)
Wii Table Tennis 5 min
Yoga 10 min - no new poses added, but greater stability with the poses mastered
Wii Sports basketball 13 min
Today is my birthday. Somehow , when I was not looking I have managed to make 53 trips around the sun. It seems like it was yesterday when I was thinking that 23 was the right age for me to marry, and then kind of getting weird about turning 40 . When did 53 sneak up on me ? I saw Cher on TV not long ago with the announcement that she is 60 now, and I wondered when did that happen as well. Age is a funny thing. As a child you count the days in anticipation of finally being such and such age. Those pass and suddenly you find yourself facing numbers that sound scary an you do a little pause. And then suddenly you start coming up on numbers that sound "substantial". They are like your annual salary or mortgage figures. They are indeed just numbers, but they always seem more influential than numbers involved in simply counting to 10. They are in there, but duplicated and arranged in a way that makes you look twice at them.
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