Progress step one

Interesting- for some reason I was not able to get into my Blogger account all morning. Different automatic program updates sometime play havoc with existing programs, and it is always interesting to sort out the aftermath. All is well, mischief managed and onward !

I had a small indicator of progress today. For the first time, I was able to get on the Wii balance board all by myself- okay, with the aid of my cane , but not with a spotter. One thing that I have been severely challenged to do since the fall is to climb any kind of stair, curb or even step over a pencil on the ground. It has to do with the way your foot comes in contact with a surface when you step down. For that matter I still cannot walk in shoes because of the way they place pressure on my knee when I step.( I have a pair of Deerfoam ballet sort of slippers that I wear). These factors have made life really challenging for some things , to say the least. With doing yoga, Qi Gong and other gentle exercise the joint is getting stronger and more flexible, and today it felt strong enough to climb up that gargantuan 3 inch step. Mister Wii rewarded me by saying I was wiggling and made me get on and off 10 times before it could "find" me. That  amount of "climbing" hurt, but I did it and things seem no worse for wear because of it. Picture a middle aged woman , climbing a tiny step , holding white knuckled to a cane all the while . Wonder if this is similar to the scene with the mountaineer explorers in the past ??

I was also able to add a modified variation of another yoga move- the Single Leg Spinal Twist.

The idea with this one is to attempt to turn your body into a Twizzler stick :-) In the beginning, you bring your bent leg as close to the ground as possible without pain, lay the opposite arm as flat as possible in the other direction and breath deeply. It stretches your spine and opens up your lungs , while working on flexibly in your hips. I started this one, thought of those cartoons where the character is wrung out like a dishrag and could not stop laughing ! Yes, I am easily amused sometimes.

Today a 3 inch step...can actual stairs be far behind ???

Bridges, cobras and discovering their worth

Cleaning mission accomplished yesterday. I man sound odd, but a freshly cleaned, organized space is like getting a great big breath of fresh air and a whole new perspective . It feels so settling and renewing ! When a room is freshly cleaned, I feel like I have been handed a new start. When that room is my own bedroom, it feels even better.

We spent the whole afternoon sifting, cleaning and organizing, then enjoyed a brined roast chicken for dinner. Have you ever brined meat ? It is a simple way to turn a good thing into something amazing. You place your meat ( poultry or pork- beef does not work so well) in a solution of kosher salt and sugar for 8 hrs and then cook. The salt helps the protein molecules take on more moisture, and the result is a moist, tasty meat. If it is a whole chicken for a small family, it makes an incredible way to stretch your food dollar. Yummy roast chicken for one meal , leftover meat can make 3 meals( chicken salad for 2 says in our case ) and then the bones , combined with some carrots, onions, celery and water with a small amount of vinegar makes for a large bot of chicken bone broth to be used for soup, cooking grains  or simply to drink on its own.It's a meal worth considering in these tight times.

After dinner we watched some mindless TV and I got inspired to try to do my Qi Gong exercises and attempt to do a very light session of yoga. Certain postures make me very nervous right now due to the stress they could put on my knee ( such as The Warrior), but others like The Bridge, The Cobra and Downward Dog seemed like a good idea. Very gentle but affective stretches. I tried the Bridge first, and was amazed at how tight and stressed my thighs and calves felt !This pose really works your thighs and calves, and I never realized to what degree before.

Instantly I got the beginning of a Charley Horse in the thigh of the injured leg ! I stopped, massaged it, stretches a little and then tried again. I was able to do about 5 of these, holding for the count of ten. I did not want to push it incase I experienced a backlash in the morning. With Yoga , the idea is to work muscles in one direction, then the opposite  and so I did the reverse with something I felt I could safely do - The Cobra

This felt AMAZING on my spine and hips !It opens up your chest and seems to give your kidneys a great big hug while massaging your digestive tract. I wanted to just stay there in that pose for hours, but forced myself to repeat the same duration and repetitions as I did for The Bridge. I realized that this was not completely the reverse motion, do I attempted one of my former favorite poses , Downward Dog

This one was very shaky feeling on my knee, and at about the count of three I felt a not so productive pain in my injured knee, so I stopped. I considered doing this pose to the count of three to be my starting point, and I will try again in a day or two. You can feel this one elongating the backs of your thighs and hamstrings while stretching out the muscle in your lower back.

I feel really good about the overall progress ! I have gone from completely sedentary and stiff to beginning moving, a little less stiff and energized in a week . It's only going to get better from here.

You can tun a piano, but you can't beat tuna fish !

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of housework, veggie prep and cooking. Wound up being all that and an afternoon of Wii with the whole family. It was a lot of fun , and served as a reminder that we need to do this a lot more often . Like I said, when mama turns her attitude right, it becomes viral !

For dinner we had a tossed salad with tuna ( romaine, jicama,cucumbers, mushrooms, avocado, sliced almonds and tuna), and I remembered just how much I love a tossed salad with tuna ! For almost 2 years, with my weight loss/reverse infertility diet I had this for lunch daily. It seemed to be exactly what my body was craving  back then. Last night it just simply sounded wonderful, and became an occasion to break my ban on commercial salad dressings. For the last couple of months I have made our own salad dressings because it was the smarter move health wise. All of these involved either some form of dairy or a tomato product. This was done because flavored vinegars( a great dressing option ) became way too harsh on both mine and my husband's stomachs. Now with the elimination of dairy and nightshades, such a move is no longer possible. Sometimes you have to compromise to get to your goal ! Incidentally , we do not eat soy in any form but soy sauce because of the extremely harmful effects on the body. I have not experimented making dressings with Almond or Rice milk yet, so the commercial brands win for now.

Today's plan is to deep clean some areas of our bedroom . Who knows what treasures we will find ?? A fabulous brined roasted chicken is on the menu for dinner, and I have a feeling some more exer-play will find us again the afternoon.

Calcium of many colors

Another good day  yesterday. 60 minutes of exercise (walking, Qi Gong, cycling, strength training) followed by another 60 minutes of play ( Wii cycling, table tennis, seated dancing to the Michael Jackson experience). No pain afterwords and just an overall good feeling  left behind. I am beginning to question the accuracy of my Wii as to weight though. We use it on a carpeted floor with the special feet, but yesterday it had trouble reading both my son and self . According to it, I gained 1.82 lbs overnight. It is a very good thing that I am not doing this for weight loss ! Weight loss is simply a side benefit- physical stamina , flexibility and movement is the goal to overcome arthritis . Sadly, with the Wii fit it wants you to take a body test with weight before each session, so you kind of find out that number just by playing.

I had to spend some time "tweaking" our menu for next week.No dairy, no nightshades, high in fish, nuts, fruits, veggies and whole grains. I had a momentary concern about calcium , but realized calcium comes from a lot more than dairy. As a woman over 50 , osteoporosis is a concern . Raising a teen-aged boy also makes calcium a cause for pause. To reassure myself I did a little research into foods that are non dairy but high in calcium. Here is a list that I made based on that research :

Broccoli, watercress, kale and other dark leafy greens, okra,chick peas, almonds, sesame seeds, walnuts, tahini, salmon with bones,sardines with bones, figs, black strap molassess, sea vegetable like nori, tapioca

To reassure myself I made certain that our menu included these items. Oatmeal with almonds and black strap molasses, broccoli and kale for sides, seasoning blend made from nori, sesame seeds and other spices, fish at least 3 times a week and limit the red meat to 2 meals per week.

As long as the Rapture does not happen today, it should be a good week !

Hanging up my Dairy Queen crown

I had a FANTASTIC day yesterday ! After discovering that both dairy and nightshades are a problem, I have been thinking of ways to  live without them , and on Wednesday I was able to cut them completely from my diet. Thursday was a day that was pain free, and movement could happen easy. And so move I did . Through a combination of Qi Gong, walking and Wii games, I got in 52 minutes of exercise ! No dairy or nightshades means no pain, no need for pain medications and movement can happen. Even more interesting was that the Wii said I had lost 1.32 pounds overnight, before I did a single moment of exercise for the day. Could it be that perhaps one of my weight issues has been caused by dairy ???? As a child I would drink almost a gallon of milk a day , and throughout my whole life I have been a big dairy fan with the consumption of milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream. Is it possible that this 'healthy" habit has been a root cause of other issues in my life ? It boggles my mind to consider, but it is indeed possible.

The movement felt really, really good and I was pain free until I did a funny side step while preparing dinner, and then I had to take an Advil to make the throbbing stop. This morning I have no soreness, no stiffness from perhaps pushing too hard, so I am good to go once again.

Living without dairy and nightshades is going to prove to be a bit of a challenge for some of our family favorites. Spaghetti is out ( nightshades), most casseroles are out ( dairy or nightshades or both) and pizza is death. ( Not really, but you get the idea). The planned meal for yesterday was spaghetti, so a substitution needed to be made. Enter in polenta !

( not mine, but from the web)
Polenta , in my mind, is this great canvas that you can pile things on. I took the sausage and cooked it with mushrooms and onions, and then topped it on polenta that I made with chicken bone broth , garlic and salt . To make polenta , take 6 to 8 cups of liquid, bring it to  rolling boil and then using a wire whisk and keeping the liquid moving, slowly pour in a stream of cornmeal ( about a cup)  while constantly stirring. Cook while constantly stirring for about 10 minutes and pour into bowls ( or pour into a pan, cool and cut into shapes to bake or whatever). Polenta can be topped with so many things , and it makes for a different from the norm kind of side.  Add a tossed salad and you have a very filling meal .

I feel like I am on a roll now- let the momentum continue !

Wearing the Cone of Shame

It seems to be really difficult to fall back into the pattern of blogging every day ! It's like part of your brain misses that regular message to do such and such , and it takes an extraordinary event to kick things back into gear. I got mine yesterday, and it is forcing me to not only blog , but wear the cone of shame , like the dog in the movie Up that did not do as he should

Yes, it is unpleasant to wear, but you have to suck it up and pull on the big girl panties.

What made me don the Cone of Shame ? It came in the form of a friend. For the last week I have been getting back into a very , very modified exercise program because the injury saw me spending lots and lots of days doing absolutely nothing. It was necessary to let it heal, but lack of movement and the injury made my arthritis flair terribly, and even standing up brought pain. When I reached the six month mark I realized that things were as healed as they are going to get and now I better start working on rebuilding muscle and getting flexibility back, so I started doing some Qi Gong exercises. Qi Gong is like Tai Chi- designed to increase flexibility, mobility and vitality. 

Like the gentleman in the above picture, minus the white suit and flowering trees in the background.Every day brings a little more mobility , and finally I felt confident enough to go for a very short walk outside. Something like 10 minutes, and my legs started feeling shaky enough that I was afraid of falling and re-injuring myself , so I stopped. 10 minutes is a start though, and I mentioned the walk on Facebook- where everybody is talking at everyone else about nothing at all  . One of my long time friends commented that she is also trying to get back into the swing after a nasty bout of a respiratory illness, and it unfolded that we would be exercise buddies to encourage each other. She is recovering, a homeschool mom of 10 children , athletic abilities are the same as mine , so it is a good match. We both have the Wii Fit, and we are including it in part of our daily plans. She would focus more on the aerobic and yoga, me on the balance and yoga at the moment.

So, yesterday for the first time in 197 days, I got on the Wii Fit balance board. For any of you who have the game, you know what that means- the body test. Balance abilities and.....your weight. Here is where the cone of shame comes in- I learned that all this inactivity and focusing on balancing my hormones AND helping my son overcome more of his challenges of Autism through diet  has seen me gain 27 1/2 pounds.

Good news is, I know how I gained it . Bad news is , I am not completely sure what dietary approach is going to help to make these pounds and friends go away. Some things are certain- daily exercise is a must. Another thing that is certain- dairy foods and any food from the nightshade family ( tomatoes, eggplant, peppers amongst them ) , foods high in oxalic acid ( spinach, cranberries and such) and foods high in purines ( organ meats and red meat) bring on horribly nasty arthritis flairs, so they are banished from the house. Foods that are beneficial are oily fish, nuts, any fruits and veggies that are not from the above categories and a moderate level of whole grains. These foods help me to feel good, have more movement and should help to remove the weight. Losing weight puts less pressure on the joints , and less pressure means more mobility and a more active life.
The guys have not stepped on the scale , but they are in agreement to support me in this. It seems that however mom operates, the rest of the family will follow. If mom sits like a slug from pain, the others will join her in sympathy. If mom stats moving , the others will happily join in because it looks like a good idea. Mom seems to be the keystone, and this keystone is back in the modified for mobility issues saddle !

Movin and groovin !

Have you ever tried to release a screw that has become rusted shut to a surface ? Hard to do , but not impossible when you spray a little WD40 on it. That is how I feel after being so sedimentary for so long ! I believe I actually heard my knees creaking while I started moving again.

I am officially at a level of speed, fitness and endurance that a 10 minute old baby is at. Like a 10 minute old baby, I will stretch , move and improve. I decided to use a Qi Healing workout, the stationary pedal bike and just simple walking to start. The Qi is a very gentle movement routine recommended for arthritis sufferers, Seniors and people who wish to improve flexibility. I pulled out my DVD routine this morning with the intention of doing the full half hour routine, but found that after 10 minutes I had to stop. My spine has become so tight from the inactivity that the twist were starting to make me feel very dizzy and off balance. No problem- 10 minutes is a good starting point ! I then moved to the bike and was able to get in 5 minutes of pedaling before my knee was feeling discomfort. Again, not perfect , but a great start. A few minutes later I began hall walking. Still using my cane  because every now and then for no reason my knee totally gives out. I am able to do 5 minute sessions of this right now, several times throughout the day. Again, not a perfect thing, but after almost 6 months of recovery time, a fantastic start. The idea is to rebuild muscle, increase strength and NOT re-injure the knee.

Day one down...onward and upward !