Category Archives: Positive Thinking
Looking Back/Looking Forward (postprandial post-mortem)
Thanksgiving Day has passed in the US, although some of you might be on the hook for another feast this afternoon. I think I did alright… I loaded up my plate, but mostly with salad and veggies (and of course, a piece of challah bread I made). I had a couple strips of turkey, a bit of dressing, and some gravy, but I didn’t go overboard with the cholesterol stuff — as much as I like deviled eggs, I didn’t have any. The chocolate cake tasted a bit strange to me, so I didn’t have more than one piece of that and concentrated on the fruit salad.
More important than a single large meal, I managed to ride the exerbike every evening, Monday through Saturday! The display said I burned roughly 100 calories with each ride, but there were side benefits that I consider more significant:
- I felt warmer the rest of the evening. Where I might have been chilly without a sweater before the ride, after I was comfortable just wearing the t-shirt and pants (a couple nights, the shorts I wore on the bike were fine).
- Sleep came quicker. I tend to have a hard time getting to sleep, always have. This worked as well as several drinks, without the hazardous side effects.
- It had a noticeable effect on my blood pressure.
It wasn’t a difficult thing to accomplish, once I figured out how to work it: I streamed the AOL Trance station on my iPhone and read a magazine while pedaling away. How often can you get two things done at once that you want to do?
All in all, it’s been a positive week for me. I didn’t blow up my calorie intake too much, and I’ve been getting a decent amount of exercise while figuring out how to turn it into a healthy habit. I tweaked a tendon in my left ankle a couple weeks ago, not sure how, and if walking was the only thing I could have done to exercise, I’d be in trouble. Fortunately, the exerbike doesn’t work that joint and I can pedal comfortably. So I’m in pretty good shape to get through the next five weeks of Eating Season, as long as I keep up my end of things.
How did your week go? “I decided not to worry about it” is an acceptable answer; after all, letting go for one day is fine — as long as it’s only one day! How can you apply what you did this week to the week ahead?
Cancer and Survival
What a week. First Elizabeth Edwards and now Tony Snow announce recurrances of cancer that they hoped they had beaten. And as the daughter of a cancer survivor, I know exactly what they’re families are likely to be going through.
My mom was diagnosed with colon cancer when she was about my age (I keep thinking it was about 20 years ago — but it was actually just about exactly 30 years ago.) I can’t remember the exact ‘stage’, but it was pretty advanced.
Back then, most people in the Kansas City area stayed in town for cancer treatment. But my dad went down to the KU Medical Center Library to research the current treatment for colon cancer. He discovered that the most up-to-date stuff was going on at MD Anderson, in Houston Texas. And he just assumed mom’s doctor would send her there if they asked. (Read more) Continue reading
