Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I commented on Facebook that I should blog about this and so I shall. LOL! I really liked the show, but it is sad. Sad in the fact that it shows how little today's kids know about food and where it comes from, sad that the schools feed such crap--I thought it was bad when I was in school! And sad that parents have no clue what kids are eating. First graders did not know what tomatoes were, or that fries came from potatoes! You can look the show up on YouTube. When I was a kid I had to weed and pick vegetables so I knew what a tomato looked like! And these were NOT city kids! They lived in Huntington WVa! You'd think that parents and grandparents would have gardens there!

As for my personal journey. I have been neglecting my workouts and even good food choices lately. I have been making chocolate bunnies for David to sell and even though I have not eaten much chocolate myself....I have also not been cooking good meals! We also spent every night at the church at the drama they were putting on. It was excellent! And if "Eternity" comes to a place in your town you MUST see it!

Bt today I DID swim for an hour. Wore me out! And tomorrow we are headed to my Dad's for Easter. This will be a challenge too. I am waiting for his remarks on my weight..which is sad. I should not let his perspective of my weight and health rule my emotions. My nephew Brandon and his wife Shannon are moving into their first home too so I can get a workout that way. :-)

Everyone have a Joyous Easter!

More ERRRGGHH! LOL!

Ok, another week and it started off great! I did have problems sleeping last night but finally got rest ..I think. LOL! So did some cleaning and sorting and then went swimming for an hour. It was pretty nice to get in the water and glide my body along and stretch my limbs! Came back home and had a turkey sandwich on whole wheat pita and some lettuce (Spring mix no Iceburg!) Anyways, called about the Flaxseed Oil liquid I bought yesterday from Sundown Naturals. I had opened it and it had a fishy smell...not good! From everything I had read online--Flaxseed Oil+ Fishy smell= rancid flaxseed. So I called the company instead of Meijers where I bought it. The girl insisted I leave the cap off the bottle to 'air it out" and that the fishy smell was quite normal. When I tried to tell her "No, it is not" she kept talking over me, until finally I said 'WILL YOU JUST LET ME FINISH WHAT I AM SAYING????!!" And she said well of course Ma'am. And when I started to say something again--she cut me off so I asked to speak to someone else and she said hold on...I waited and waited and then it cut me off. So now I am really steamed! LOL! I e-mailed corporate to complain. So then I decided I would call Meijers. Quite a different response! In fact the manager I spoke to said she takes Flaxseed Oil and NO--it is not supposed to smell like that! Bring in the bottle and receipt and we will refund your money. Shoulda called them in the first place! :-) A half hour later my doctor's office calls again (see Friday's post!) Same girl..this time she has details. OK--so here are my numbers:
Total cholesterol : 181
LDL:99
HDL: 51
Triglycerides: 153
A1C 6.2
Now the conversation continues: Doc has a note here that she wants to take you off the Pravastatin and put you on Lipitor. Me: That is not acceptable! In fact I insist on not going on Lipitor! I will make an appointment to come in and talk this over with her. So that is what I did. I started to tell the nurse how I have been taking fish oil capsules and that I read recently where it can "appear" to raise your LDL. But decided I would just talk it over with the doc instead. :-) Here is a link on what I found:
http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/7986/16181/fish-oil-raise/
I also took Deb's advice and "Asked Dr. Oz" so I hope he answers me! I try so hard to get healthy and it seems I get kicked back down somedays! But if you look...these were my numbers from last August:
Total: 171
LDL 85
HDL: 47
Trig: 194
A1C: 5.8
So, looking at this and comparing last week's...total is up yes, LDL is up, yes, HDL is up YAY! You WANT that! (fish oil does do that) and Triglycerides are DOWN YAYYYY!! again! So she didn't comment on that! what's up with that??? A1C is up too but I have been through the Holidays and Winter too so I kinda expected that to happen. I will discuss all this with her when I see her in April. I gave myself time to research more and print off things for her to read! There is also the weight loss to mention! She is generally good about listening to what I have to say so I am confident it will go well. But any and all prayers will be appreciated!
VB

ERRRRGGGHHH!!!

OK! Most of you know I have had pain in my feet--mostly at the base of the toes, for quite awhile now--years! So finally I had the doc look into it further then just telling me to get different shoes! Had them x-rayed today and the doc assistant called later in the day to say they were "normal". OK--so what IS the pain from then? My guess..and doc did mention it..is some kind of bundled nerves. OK--so now I will probably see a specialist. The ERRRGGHHH is really about this though: She says to me, "Your cholesterol is high" I said, what is it? "Ummm, she didn't say, let me check...oh---it's 181. She wants you below 180" (I actually WAS the last time it was checked!) Me: what was my HDL, LDL and Triglycerides? Nurse: She didn't say, I don't know. Me: Well, I'll call on Monday or stop by and get a print out of all my bloodwork and tests. Nurse: Your glucose is holding ok. Me: what was my A1C?? Nurse: Ummmmm, hang on.......OH! A1C was 6.2. :-/ Got the picture now? LOL! I LIKE to know my numbers thank you! Oh--the kicker: "Dr. Frazer wants to know if you have been taking your Statins every day!" HUH? YES!!!!! OK--My eating has not been the greatest. I have not been eating oatmeal everyday like I did the last time, and I have had eggs..although sticking mostly to whites only. Taking fish oil...and here lays my thought---one other time when I took fish oil my numbers were higher. I stopped taking them for like 3 months cause we ran out and next test was lower. I start taking them again and numbers go up again! Maybe I will do what my MIL does...when she knows she is due for a Lipids test she cuts out the eggs and butters (yeah right LOL, but that's another rant) for 2-3 weeks. To me this is cheating LOL! Well, maybe not. BUT--it is nuts if you ask me! So for the next 4 months before the next bloodwork is due I will have to trim the menu a bit more....and maybe cut out the fish oil capsules! Hope everyone is having a better Friday!

Dr. Oz's Health Pledge

Today I watch the Oz and he had a health pledge you can print off his webpage and sign...I challenge all of you to make this pledge as well! Here is mine:

My Health is important to me and my family. That's why I, Valerie Brenneman, am making a commitment to take control of my health.
Because I'm responsible for my own health, I pledge to:

Make healthy food choices

Walk 10,000 steps every day.

signed: Valerie Brenneman date: March 16, 2010

I have a printed version but this is my online one. :-)
Today I weighed in at 237--yay! This is helping my mood alot. I went to visit a friend today also who is recovering from foot surgery. She is doing better and hopefully soon we can do some walking together. I'm sure it won't be very fast!
A reminder--go to Komen Columbus website and sign up under 'First SW Walkers & Friends" for the May 15th Race for the Cure!

I also heard great news that someone will be starting Praise Moves class at our church! Some of you already know I went to a class at another church for awhile and loved it! Finances made me stop.

Spring Fever

It has been really nice out this week! Warmer weather and sunshine (between raindrops!) Today I finished up the loose ends on getting ready for tomorrow night's dinner. I have my tablecloth, favors, place settings...all ready to go! I'll take pictures so you can all see what it was like! Last night was the Wednesday night meal at church. I helped man the dessert tables! :-) And yes I had a couple cookies but not what you would think. I was surprised that I didn't really feel like having many sweets. They ran out of green beans. mashed potatoes and salad before we could eat though. It wasn't a total loss...still had chicken and rolls and I made my own salad with the grape tomatoes, olives, onions and Italian dressing! I think I liked that better then I would have the other anyways! And I had a small cheesecake in a cupcake paper--you know the ones! The cookies I had was a Snickerdoodle and a white chocolate chip. But I was tired when we got home! We may eat there sometime when we are not serving. LOL! It is only $4 a person to eat and the food is really good! It will depend on what they are serving that week!
That is it for tonight. I hadn't done a workout, just alot of running around!

Looking back

Somedays you just have to look back at where you have been to know how much you have moved forward! This pic was taken ....umm...probably in 2005(?) Have to ask Jess when Aubrey was at Urbana. Anyways--this is one of those "Do I really look that bad???!!!" pics! LOL! A few months from now I will be saying that about how I look today :-) You've come a long way baby!

Here is March 2010 Biggest Loser type pic too! Improved me! I am at 237.5 pounds now so it is still coming off! I need to measure waist again too. Dr. Oz believes that is the better measurement. My new goal however is to be at 200 by Lisa's wedding in October.

Monday and Tuesday

Another whirlwind week ahead people! Monday I walked around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes for about 5869 steps. Then I decided after lunch (meatloaf, baked potato and Brussels Sprouts) that I needed to go look for tea cups for the Amazing Love Dinner this Friday. NOT an easy task! I checked the following places: Garden Ridge, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Michael's (I had to get other things there anyways), Marshall's, then FINALLY The Am Vets Thrift store...which is where I found some decent ones at 30 cents each! YAY! The Amazing Love Dinner is a dinner at church where ladies will sign up to host a table and then decorate that table. You also get people to sign up for the dinner to eat at your table. I had to provide the place settings, tablecloth (which I need yet) favors, and centerpiece. This is the first I have even been to the dinner, let alone be hostess. Anyways--tickets were $8 and the guys act as servers and the meal is catered. Then tomorrow (Weds) it is our class' turn to provide desserts and to serve the Weds night dinner at church. So today I have been baking cookies to take for that. But back to Monday: my total steps for the day was 9559 which is 4.8 miles according to my pedometer. Dr. Oz recommends 10,000 a day! WHEW! I know on Friday it said I had 12245 or 5.6 miles! I have blisters on my feet LOL! But this is something I need to keep up DAILY!
So today I have scheduled strength training and walking. It is to get up to around 58 degrees today and sunny! I am thinking after lunch today is when I will go.
I seen a recipe on Betty Crocker website 9I get a newsletter from them) that I am trying tonight for Beef, Veggie and Brown Rice Skillet Dinner. Here is the link:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/skillet-beef-veggies-and-brown-rice/62edcbb2-7fe8-453d-b75c-54679ce0f4ed?wt.dcsvid=mje3mjkxnzywoas2&rvrin=7f844943-52e7-4b44-82bc-242e15279eef&wt.mc_id=newsletter_dme_03_07_2010

A little higher on the carbs but will probably cut back on the brown rice and up the veggies. Still, not a bad choice!
I still do not have my beginning of March pic yet. I will work on that later when David gets home. For now--I need to be Domestic Diva! LOL!
HUGS! More to come!