Shifting Gears
I believe in synchronicity and in the universe sending messages through it. When I am thinking of something and then it synchronizes with something else I take it as a sign and try to make sense of what it is trying to guide me to. I have this little habit that whenever something in my environment makes me think of something in a song I have to sing it. It almost feels bad if I don't, it's one of my little quirks since as early back as I can remember. This morning something I was doing made me start singing the Jonas Brothers "Only Human" song, it is one of my favorites right now but the radio stations around me don't play it very often, opting to play some of their older songs which are just OK. On my drive to work, though, as I was flipping through the stations that song came on, in the same exact place as I happened to sing it when it first came to me this morning. Hmmm, synchronicity. The song talks about dancing, something I love to do, and I took that as a sign that I should take a break from the yoga and do some dancing for a bit. I was looking for an answer to what I should do after tomorrow's yoga series is done so that must be my answer for now.
Which makes sense to me. On Sunday my husband and I watched The Silence of the Lambs and I was really motivated by the opening scene where Jodi Foster is running through the obstacle course and she is drenched in sweat. I don't know if I've ever worked that hard. Maybe when I ran one of my last 5K's in stiffling heat and humidity. That was probably in 2011 and running has to be a thing of the past for me since my knee surgery. My body is obviously showing me my limits as of late anyway. Dancing is something I have a hard time stopping once I start. The music makes me feel good and lights up my mood for the day and I do get a lower body workout from moving around. And it does make me sweat a little. I think it will be my interim plan until I get something else pinned down. Thanks universe!
I am thinking of a little mix of things for the future. Yoga is a nice way to wake up, get some stretching in and get the blood flowing but sometimes I don't think it's challenging enough, and I do know I need cardio in my life. I have considered adding a 30-minute cardio session to my evening but I'm not sure how motivated I will feel on any given night. It's a thought I will focus on in the coming days to see if I want to make it a priority/reality.
Over the weekend we got a message that my husband's step sister (who is in her 30's) was in the hospital with a brain bleed. She underwent a weight loss surgery about a year ago because she had such horrible heart/blood issues, but she dropped a ton of weight and it's easy to assume that alone will mean someone is much healthier, but in her case that's not true. They ruled it a stroke and she has to stay in the hospital for a few more weeks so they can monitor her. Then yesterday, someone who works in my clinic (only 25 years old) was coming to have a special treatment applied to her glasses due to double vision, it turns out she had a stroke that was so bad that she is wheelchair bound and it made one eye turn way out to the side. Wild stuff! What are all these young girls having strokes for? That is so creepy! I also have a cousin who is in her 30's and she has diabetes (type 2) so bad that she just started dialysis. She beats herself up over not taking care of her health before it got this bad, she has been overweight her whole life, and I feel bad for her because I know she is probably doing a number on her own self at a time when she needs self-love more than ever! I do feel like the universe is reminding me what all of this is about. Who cares what I look like, as long as I am healthy and can live the life I want to live! I'm really grateful that I have not had any major health issues so far.
So I think I am going to methodically peel away at some things, put the research time in to see what I am wanting to do longterm to help myself out. Today I researched caffeine's benefits vs the risks. I was all set to see a bunch of things telling me to stop drinking caffeine, but most of the things I read said 200-400mg of caffeine per day has some pretty amazing health benefits, especially preventing stroke, dementia, and diabetes. It can make blood pressure spike but that effect is typically very short-lived. I will do more research on it to be certain I am making the right decision, but for now it looks like my morning cup(s) are still within reason. Yay!
It's so hard to know who or what to listen to where nutrition is concerned. I've spoken about this over and over. I do know the Southbeach Diet is designed by a cardiologist and when I was following that religiously my trigycerides dropped from over 600 to 89 in just over 2 months! So maybe it's time to go back to the basics, maybe I start tracking, see how the perimenopause factors in and the blood pressure...I have been very lazy about not paying attention to my salt intake and I know I need to be more careful with that if I want to keep my heart healthy.
Lucky for me, this is the time of the year where I actually like to be in the kitchen, trying new recipes to bake/cook and my family loves it when I cook too so I think it's time to put some things together so all these pieces line up together. Just thinking about it re-inspires me to look after my health. I'm glad I'm taking the time to prioritize and organize all of this. This change of seasons can sometimes leave me feeling gloomy, but it can also give me the dig in, hunker down vibe too. I have 6 months until my annual physical, I really want the bloodwork to be good this time. I want to impress my doctor with my numbers. Yes, I'd like the scale to budge for me, but I am realizing how much harder it is to lose weight at this age than it was even 5 years ago. I have been reading that menopausal women need less calories than they once did. Maybe I am just consuming too many calories. I hate tracking but I may start again. Since I work for a health clinic, we also have access to nutrition counseling at no cost to us. I have worked here almost 9 years and never took advantage of it despite feeling so confused about nutrition. I may just do it to see what she tells me given my unique set of needs.
It feels really good to have this little spark of hope and motivation again. The Halloween candy has stopped calling me and I have been on plan all week so far. I am looking forward to all the little treasures that come next.
Which makes sense to me. On Sunday my husband and I watched The Silence of the Lambs and I was really motivated by the opening scene where Jodi Foster is running through the obstacle course and she is drenched in sweat. I don't know if I've ever worked that hard. Maybe when I ran one of my last 5K's in stiffling heat and humidity. That was probably in 2011 and running has to be a thing of the past for me since my knee surgery. My body is obviously showing me my limits as of late anyway. Dancing is something I have a hard time stopping once I start. The music makes me feel good and lights up my mood for the day and I do get a lower body workout from moving around. And it does make me sweat a little. I think it will be my interim plan until I get something else pinned down. Thanks universe!
I am thinking of a little mix of things for the future. Yoga is a nice way to wake up, get some stretching in and get the blood flowing but sometimes I don't think it's challenging enough, and I do know I need cardio in my life. I have considered adding a 30-minute cardio session to my evening but I'm not sure how motivated I will feel on any given night. It's a thought I will focus on in the coming days to see if I want to make it a priority/reality.
Over the weekend we got a message that my husband's step sister (who is in her 30's) was in the hospital with a brain bleed. She underwent a weight loss surgery about a year ago because she had such horrible heart/blood issues, but she dropped a ton of weight and it's easy to assume that alone will mean someone is much healthier, but in her case that's not true. They ruled it a stroke and she has to stay in the hospital for a few more weeks so they can monitor her. Then yesterday, someone who works in my clinic (only 25 years old) was coming to have a special treatment applied to her glasses due to double vision, it turns out she had a stroke that was so bad that she is wheelchair bound and it made one eye turn way out to the side. Wild stuff! What are all these young girls having strokes for? That is so creepy! I also have a cousin who is in her 30's and she has diabetes (type 2) so bad that she just started dialysis. She beats herself up over not taking care of her health before it got this bad, she has been overweight her whole life, and I feel bad for her because I know she is probably doing a number on her own self at a time when she needs self-love more than ever! I do feel like the universe is reminding me what all of this is about. Who cares what I look like, as long as I am healthy and can live the life I want to live! I'm really grateful that I have not had any major health issues so far.
So I think I am going to methodically peel away at some things, put the research time in to see what I am wanting to do longterm to help myself out. Today I researched caffeine's benefits vs the risks. I was all set to see a bunch of things telling me to stop drinking caffeine, but most of the things I read said 200-400mg of caffeine per day has some pretty amazing health benefits, especially preventing stroke, dementia, and diabetes. It can make blood pressure spike but that effect is typically very short-lived. I will do more research on it to be certain I am making the right decision, but for now it looks like my morning cup(s) are still within reason. Yay!
It's so hard to know who or what to listen to where nutrition is concerned. I've spoken about this over and over. I do know the Southbeach Diet is designed by a cardiologist and when I was following that religiously my trigycerides dropped from over 600 to 89 in just over 2 months! So maybe it's time to go back to the basics, maybe I start tracking, see how the perimenopause factors in and the blood pressure...I have been very lazy about not paying attention to my salt intake and I know I need to be more careful with that if I want to keep my heart healthy.
Lucky for me, this is the time of the year where I actually like to be in the kitchen, trying new recipes to bake/cook and my family loves it when I cook too so I think it's time to put some things together so all these pieces line up together. Just thinking about it re-inspires me to look after my health. I'm glad I'm taking the time to prioritize and organize all of this. This change of seasons can sometimes leave me feeling gloomy, but it can also give me the dig in, hunker down vibe too. I have 6 months until my annual physical, I really want the bloodwork to be good this time. I want to impress my doctor with my numbers. Yes, I'd like the scale to budge for me, but I am realizing how much harder it is to lose weight at this age than it was even 5 years ago. I have been reading that menopausal women need less calories than they once did. Maybe I am just consuming too many calories. I hate tracking but I may start again. Since I work for a health clinic, we also have access to nutrition counseling at no cost to us. I have worked here almost 9 years and never took advantage of it despite feeling so confused about nutrition. I may just do it to see what she tells me given my unique set of needs.
It feels really good to have this little spark of hope and motivation again. The Halloween candy has stopped calling me and I have been on plan all week so far. I am looking forward to all the little treasures that come next.
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