Category: Diet and Health

Daily Prompts- Alzheimers Disease

The loud and stentorian voice boomed through his thoughts

Disturbing his daydreams and pulling him back to reality

“Sir, please cross the road or let others do so”

He came back to the present and saw people next to him waiting

To cross the road as the signal had turned white

Quickly he walked across, his pride smarting from the jibe

He who thought himself always alert and ready

Was now feeling the pain of failing memory

It was with great effort that he kept his ship afloat now

Keeping his dementia a secret from his family even

He didn’t want to share this bit of bad news with them

He hoped he would manage as long as he had a roof over his head

It wasn’t a bad thing to save them the worry they would feel

Knowing that he is suffering from the same ailment that

Marked the last years of his father’s life

~*~

(Alzheimer’s disease marks an early onset of senile dementia and gradually destroys the mental cognitive faculties of a person. Researchers now tell us that exercising the mind and keeping it active can ward off the disease!)

In response to the following prompts;

YDWP;

Afloat

3TC;

Pain, Share, Roof

FOWC;

Daydream

RDP;

Stentorian

Word of the day Challenge;

Pride

#Keepitalive

#YDWP

#3TC

#FOWC

#RDP

#DailyPrompts

MLMM- Sunday Writing Prompt “Life Changing”

Life Change

~*~

Liked most people, there have been many events that I can call life-changing, but this one thing that recently happened in my life that has changed the quality of my life for the better.

Can you guess?

I have written about it often enough. And the reason I keep on bringing it in my conversation is that many people who are in need of it, are often reluctant to take the final step!

Yes!

I am talking about knee replacement surgery.

Before I got this procedure done, my life was literally going down the drain. I wasn’t able to walk or stand for long. Stairs and carrying weight were a strict no-no, and the worst part was the pain meds. I was on ibuprofen and paracetamol. While I could manage my pain with them to a certain degree, their excessive use lead to getting kidney problems, duodenal ulcer and a multitude of other health issues. Anxiety was uppermost in that.

With the decision to get my right knee replaced, came more anxiety about the procedure itself, it’s success and the care that it would involve. But my family stood in support with me and soon after my 50th birthday, I went into the hospital for my surgery. It was my gift to myself, making that decision.

To cut a long story short, after my rehab, the first thing I noticed that there was……… no pain. Not IN my knee! Gradually I recovered the full use of my knee and started walking.

I still am walking, up to 5-6 miles a day and have gotten my other knee replaced too.

My advice to anyone facing this issue is to go for it. It will change the quality of your life in an unimaginable way.

The challenge;

So for this prompt I want you to think of something or someone that has changed your life and discuss in what ways your life changed. It could be a medication, a piece of technology, a near death experience, an epiphany you had while in the shower, a television show, a sibling. The possibilities are endless!

In response to;

MLMM- Sunday Writing Prompt- Life Changing

#Keepitalive

#SundayWritingPrompt

Another milestone in walking

Got this notification from Fitbit today
I got another badge from Fitbit.com.

It always is good to be rewarded and these always come along a surprise!

You all know that I love to walk! And also like cv to brag about my walking achievements!

Why? You ask!

It is an indirect way to encourage people to walk more. For walking holds the secret key to good health.

Not everyone can walk that much, I do know. And not everyone wants to walk, I know that too. But taking a few steps every day and gradually increasing them, can make a person who is not used to walking or fond of walking, towards building a habit of walking every day.

Walking can help control many health problems like hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes, obesity and the related issues of these diseases.

So are you going to join me in a stroll?

~*~

#Keepitalive

#WalkingForhealth

 

The Whole aging process…. ?

Rory has asked an interesting question;

adult-2028245_960_720

Where am I in this graphic?

So … how about you – how’s the whole aging process, the “l am thrilled to be getting older” coming along for you? Let me know below…

~*~

Rory has asked how well we are aging.

Age is just a number, you must have heard this truism many times. Age is a number. It’s the number of years we have spent on this earth. It is directly proportional to our physical state. But there are a lot of factors that affect our aging process.

When asked how I am handling aging, I would say that I am doing pretty well. I think that after getting knee replacement surgery done on both my knees and looking after my health, I have improved my physical health a lot. I am walking at least 4 miles a day. I am eating right, mostly and since I am not suffering from constant pain in my knees, the intake of pain meds has also reduced markedly.

The absence of pain and its accompanying stress have also improved my mental health. I feel upbeat, cheerful and happy. The fact that I have started my blog had also improved my mental health on many levels. The positive interaction with bloggers here has had a very positive effect on me. I have also gained a lot of useful knowledge from reading many posts on mental health.

The process of writing, reading and thinking about writing has made my brain sharper. It has increased the flow of ideas and I am better with my writing now.

All in all, I would say that though I am older then I was 8 years ago when I had my first knee surgery, I feel far better. It goes to show that we can improve our health with effort and it does pay to invest care and effort in ourselves too!

 

 

 

 

 

~*~

 

#Keepitalive

#AgingGracefully

Fandango Friday Flashback- My fitness Tracker II

As part of Fandango Friday Flashback, I am sharing this post from 24th January, 2019.

I started my walking journey three years ago. It all started when I brought my fitness tracker, Fitbit. I have to admit that I have not been able to achieve all my fitness goals. I thought that I would but I am still quite a way to my targets. These basically are my weight targets. The target that I have achieved are my walking goals. 

My tracker, makes me get up and walk for 250 steps, during at least five hours a day. It reminds me that I haven’t achieved my daily steps goal. If I am a bit short on getting to my goal for the day, there is an encouraging message on my app. And similarly, if I go 25% beyond my goal, I get a well done message. These all motivational messages and prompts keep me on my toes, literally. So when I got my summary for the year 2018, I thought I would share it with you all, as a way of acknowledging the help I get from my Fitbit to achieve my walking goals and also to let people know that if I can walk that much, you can too. We just need the proper motivation.

There are numerous benefits of walkingfor you. Health, both physical and mental is greatly improved by taking a walk, at least five days a week. There is a boost in the mood levels and confidence of people walking daily. Walking stimulates the blood flow though the brain and you can get many new ideas and maybe solve problems irking your mind. 

So put on those walk shoes, which are sitting in your closet and head out. Or if it’s too cold or hot, rainy or foggy, stay indoors and walk in the house. I walk indoor if it’s not a good time to walk outside. The aim is to walk, so do that. Whatever the weather or time. 

I wrote this post a while ago, about my fitness tracker and how it helps me with keeping track of my steps, sleep and intake.

My fitness tracker 

You can check out this post about walking too!

Walk your way to a better physical and mental health 

#Keepitalive

#Walkingforhealth

#Healthyliving

#Goodhealth

#FFF

Daily Prompts – Caprice

Standing in front of the mirror she cursed her love of food. How hard she has worked for her weight loss, only to go off at a tangent through her caprice and regain all that weight and then some more. What a daffy I am! She thought berating her yo-yo dieting and inability to stick to healthy eating. Though no fan of complete lifestyle change, she was coming to the conclusion that the answer to her troubles lay there.

~*~

Though this is written on response to multiple prompts, this is very much the story of my weight struggle.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that a complete lifestyle change is the answer to my weight problems.

In response to the following prompts;

Your daily word Prompt;

Caprice

3TC;

Fan, Loss, Food

FOWC;

Tangent

RDP;

Daffy

Word of the day Challenge;

Complete

Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge;

“standing in the mirror, she….”

#Keepitalive

#JusJoJan

#FOWC

#RDP

#3TC

#TuesdayWritingPrompt

#DailyPrompts

Walking is rewarded!

I got this life-time badge a few nights ago night when I was doing my post-dinner walk.

5500 miles!

That’s a lot of walking and the distance covered is the same as the Great Wall of China! It has taken me almost four years to walk this distance. There were days when I could barely walk a mile. And now I can walk up to five to six miles a day. All these distances are calculated by my Fitbit! I trust that these calculations are correct.

If I calculate the distance walked per year, it 1375 miles a year and a daily average of 3.8 miles. Not bad for a person like me who was not fond of walking at all!

My walking journey started in Jan’16 when I bought my first Fitbit. The standard target, that was pre-set, was 10,000 steps a day but initially, I could manage 2500 steps only. But I was determined to do it. So slowly I increased my walking time and hit the 10,000 steps target after 3-4 months. Then in 2018- 2019 I hit a slow period in my walking. So my average dropped to around 8000 steps a day. You might remember that I broke a couple of bones in my foot in February this year.

But now that I have come to realize the importance of walking to control my blood sugar levels, I am walking 12000- 13000 steps a day. I break up the walking into three stretches. One after each meal. The morning stretch is around 60-70 minutes and the evening and post-dinner stretch are around 30 minutes each. This makes the routine more easy to stick to. I have managed by following this routine, to get my blog glucose levels into the normal range. This is such a moment of pride for me!

I know that I have written about it before but if you can, do walk a little bit every day. Start small and gradually build it up to 30 minutes. It is a great boost to both physical and mental health.

#Keepitalive

#Walkingforbetterhealth

Daily Prompts- Up with the lark!

What are the benefits of getting up early?

We all know them. Have been drummed into our minds since we were kids. The schools start early, work starts early and the garbage trucks arrive early!

But as we grow old(er) we sometimes fall out of the habit of getting up early. A little nudge is needed now and then to remind us. Getting up early has the double advantage of getting more things done during a day but also one can go for an early morning walk. This is the best time of the day for walking. One can commune with nature, see the timid creatures scavenging for food and gain all the benefits of fresh air. The breeze playing through the leaves of the trees sounds like nature’s band playing the symphony of universal music! It’s a good time to gauge your fitness level too. A short run or a brisk walk tells us how fit or unfit we are.

We each have priorities in life but good physical and mental health should be everyone’s priority. Walking keeps us physically and mentally in good health.

So are you getting up with the lark tomorrow?

In response to the following prompts;

3TC;

Nudge, Timid, Double

FOWC;

Go

RDP;

Band

Word of the day Challenge;

Gauge

#Keepitalive

#FOWC

#RDP

#3TC

#DailyPrompts

How physical activity helps us in living our best lives

Wendi of simplyWendi has started a new series of questions;

How to live our best lives

kettle bell beside adidas pair of shoes

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 Wendi says;

Welcome friends and thank you very much for stopping by today.  This week my question has to do with physical activity.  This is a tough area for many people with chronic illness since there are some that respond poorly to exercise.  No matter what illness label you hold, fatigue is always a side effect making exercise something that takes a lot will power to overcome the desire to climb back into bed.

We read, watch, and are told that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle which can lead to guilt and disappointment when we cannot participate in the physical activities that we were once able to enjoy.

So, this week’s question is;

What physical movement do you participate in? 

I have written about this before but since I feel very strongly about this topic, I will share my views again.

I have an autoimmune disease that affects my joints. It’s a type of rheumatoid disease known as “ Sero-Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis” It has affected my knees to the extent that I had to get knee replacement surgery on both of my knees in my early fifties. Lucky for me that I was diagnosed and the prescribed treatment has agreed with my system and there is a regression of the disease. So now I am taking my meds regularly and am following a regimen to keep my joints healthy.

After my surgery, my doctor had given me strict instructions to walk. No running, no treadmill, just walking. His advice was to walk at least half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. Or a mile at both ends of the day. He also advised me to keep my weight in the average range for my height. That would, he told me, would make the artificial joints last longer.

As most of you know, my weight has not cooperated with me, yo-yoing back and forth. But I keep on trying. But one thing that I have held on to is my daily walk. I walk every day, winter or summer, rain or shine. I have made things simple for myself. No special time, place or grear for my walk required. I walk whenever I have had my breakfast, and I walk inside my house. Littraly inside. There is a longish passage where I walk making numerous round trips. My Fitbit tracks the time, distance and steps I have taken. It also helpfully tells me the calories I have burned. I repeat this walk three times a day. The total time is from 100 to 120 minutes. I walk around 4-5 miles with 12000- 13000 steps a day. Since I break it into three segments, I sit down if I am tiring too much and resume the walk after a short rest.

The advantages of this system are;

I can walk even if it is raining outside or too hot.

I can be as early ( a midnight walk like last night) or as late as I want ( noon time walk in Summers)

There is no fixed time, so I can accommodate my other chores or activities around my walk.

There is no hassle to putting on walking/ running shoes, special gear or driving out to a walking track etc.

This system works for me. I fell better after walking, much more energetic and happy. We all have our limitations and should find the activity that suits our physical health. Taking care of our physical health ensures that the coming years are kind to us.

My advice is to find what works for you. Push yourself to the extent where you can tolerate the activity without pain. Pain is a red light. Stop at pain.

#Keepitalive

Writing Prompt #45- Pie yummm….

Sarah is the host of Writing Prompt.

My favorite pie…

My favorite pie is homemade apple pie. The one which comes hot and fresh out of the oven. You slice it into thick wedges and serve with cold cream or ice cream.

Did that make your mouth water?

This was the situation when I could have Apple pie! I would make it with a favorite recipe from my mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook. Using cold butter and flour that I had put in the fridge to chill. It was a bit tricky to get it rolled out nice and tidy but with practice, I became very good at it. The top was latticed and sprinkled with sugar and brushed midway through baking with egg wash.

I was always making it for family and friends. I even taught a couple of my best friends how to do it by making it in front of them.

But, alas no more.

Now no flour, no sugar and no cooked fruit for me. So I dream about it. I suggest to my husband that get a slice of apple pie and then I can have one spoon full of it.

#Keepitalive

#WritingPrompt

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