I'm not going to give up

Well, in my last post I said I was going to eliminate grains and dairy again. And... I did. But I only lasted 4 days. How lame!

I think the big problem was that I tried to do it without much resolve and at the wrong time of the month. It's now a better time of the month again and I want to give it another go. I have some grains and dairy planned into this week's meals, so I plan to start this weekend.

I also started working out again today. Tonights workout was as many rounds as possible (amrap) in 15 minutes of: 10 squats, 5 push press (35#). I got eleven rounds, and I can tell I'm going to be sore tomorrow. But I'm welcoming it, or at least that's what I want to do. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Aaron and I have a trip planned in August to hike the South Sister in Oregon, so it's necessary that I start working out again. I've got 4 months to get in reasonable shape so that I can make what appears to be a demanding hike.

I also had another wake up call last week. I went to the dentist for a consultation for some procedures that I want to have done under sedation. Part of that is that they hook you up to this machine that monitors your vital signs... they look for specific markers to see if you are a healthy enough candidate for sedation.

Well, my blood pressure was high, and I couldn't get it to go down no matter how much I tried to relax. It's been high at the doctor's office too, for about the last year. If I want to do the sedation I have to get clearance from my doctor and/or get on medication to lower my bp.

I hate this. I am pretty anti-medication, especially for things that can be taken care of with lifestyle changes. And I am so mad at myself for letting my health decline this far. I guess mad isn't the right word... it's hard to explain. If I was mad, I would have the motivation to make the change, but I still feel a little apathetic about it. I'm more embarassed about the high blood pressure thing, and still don't feel that the whole situation is motivating enough to get me to act.

All I could think when I left the appointment was, "well, what is it going to take for you to wake up and realize that your health is in decline and you could suffer some serious consequences if you don't actually act and make a permanent change?"

The truth is that I am overweight, technically obese, I have insulin and blood sugar control problems, high blood pressure, and am largely sedentary and haven't been eating healthy lately. So, if that's not enough of a wake up call... what?

Anyway, so the changes I've made immediately (yes, tonight) are that I'm exercising (in training for this hike), and I'm reducing my carbohydrate servings and increasing my veggie intake. That's what I'm concentrating on for now.


I found some interesting articles today... I'm glad this stuff is finally coming out in mainstream news, but it's definitely not new information!

Added sugar increases heart risks (the last paragraph is priceless!)

Dual studies vilify sugar and salt in US diet (salt is debatable, and I could write another post on that issue!)

Subbing 'bad carbs' for 'bad fats' ups heart risk (again, some debatable content, but interesting)