This past Saturday we participated in a 5K! The Cherished Kids 5K is special to my heart as it is an organization at our church that raises funds to help the foster children in our area and also to help with adoption of children.
I had decided to participate in this since I like doing 5K's. Well then a group of us decided to participate together. That group was an awesome group to participate with. They are all members of our life group from church and have become our family away from family! We had a wonderful time and I am so proud of each of us that participated in this event! We had 3 of our teenagers to participate and they did an awesome job and we had several of us adults that participated!!!
I encourage you to find an activity that you like. Of course you could be like me when I first started and didn't really enjoy much of anything!! LOL!! I enjoyed being the youngest person in a water aerobics class! But then 5 years ago I did my first Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning! That first one was rough because I was severely overweight and it through my body into a sick mess when I was done! But after that, my body does quite well with 5K's. I even jog some now on the Turkey Trot. I have even signed up with a friend of mine to do my first 1/2 marathon this November. We will be walking most of it, but we ARE going to do it!!!
You don't need a gym membership to get healthy! Find walking trails near your home or find a park that may have a walking path and just start walking! Find a fun DVD and do that at home. Find a Zumba class in your neighborhood and try that! Step in place during commercials! That alone would take care of 15 minutes a day!! Park in the farthest parking spot at the store! It would save time because you are not riding all through the parking lot looking for a close parking space. It would also save gas because you are not riding through the parking lot! It will get you some extra steps in! And it's easy to find your car because hardly anyone parks out that far!
Find a way to get in some activity!! Take care of you and...
Keep on keeping on!!!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Exciting Adventures on the Road of Life!
This school year is proving to be an exciting one! We have decided to home school the last 2 remaining children that we have! Which means a ninth grader and a third grader! One of my concerns was...oh my..if everyone is home, then we are going to be baking more, eating more etc. because we will be in the house. Well we decided to nip that in the bud really quick. We have been making a weekly menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner so that we aren't so tired that we make bad choices with our food or we just can't think of what to eat for a meal so we just do the easy thing and go to a drive through. Now don't get me wrong, I still love a good french fry every now and then but I am learning more and more I don't like fast food fries. I would just rather make my own fries...by baking them in my oven.
So here we are on week 3 of school and so far the menu planning is working out great! Although we did settle for fast food on Saturday night because 3 out of the 4 of us had participated in a 5K earlier in the day and we were all very tired!
We have only made one batch of chocolate chip cookies since school has been in session and that was while the college student was home, so he ate most of those and we didn't have to worry about them.
So I am once again learning that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail! I don't want to fail on this journey. I want to succeed and continue to become more healthy!
It truly is making a difference in my life! Just went to the doctor last week for a yearly blood work check up. I try to keep close tabs on that due to my family history of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol etc. Several years ago before I started on this journey, my numbers weren't horrible, but they were slowly creeping up to what I feel were dangerous levels! But when I got the results from this last battery of tests, I was thrilled beyond belief as to what is happening to my system as I improve my health!!!
My fasting blood sugar was 95 the last time I had it checked. This year it has dropped to 88!!! They want it to be between 70-100!
My cholesterol has dropped from 155 to 145!
My HDL needed to be above 40 and came in at 51!
My LDL needed to be below 130 and they came in at 76!
My triglycerides needed to be below 150 and that came in at 91.
My blood pressure was 108/over 60!
I can't tell you how much better I feel now that I have realized that taking care of me is just as important or more so than taking care of the other people in my life that I take care of. The one thing I am remembering is that If I don't take care of me, who will take care of those that I take care of?
If you want to do something special for yourself, please take care of you!
Keep on keeping on!!!
So here we are on week 3 of school and so far the menu planning is working out great! Although we did settle for fast food on Saturday night because 3 out of the 4 of us had participated in a 5K earlier in the day and we were all very tired!
We have only made one batch of chocolate chip cookies since school has been in session and that was while the college student was home, so he ate most of those and we didn't have to worry about them.
So I am once again learning that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail! I don't want to fail on this journey. I want to succeed and continue to become more healthy!
It truly is making a difference in my life! Just went to the doctor last week for a yearly blood work check up. I try to keep close tabs on that due to my family history of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol etc. Several years ago before I started on this journey, my numbers weren't horrible, but they were slowly creeping up to what I feel were dangerous levels! But when I got the results from this last battery of tests, I was thrilled beyond belief as to what is happening to my system as I improve my health!!!
My fasting blood sugar was 95 the last time I had it checked. This year it has dropped to 88!!! They want it to be between 70-100!
My cholesterol has dropped from 155 to 145!
My HDL needed to be above 40 and came in at 51!
My LDL needed to be below 130 and they came in at 76!
My triglycerides needed to be below 150 and that came in at 91.
My blood pressure was 108/over 60!
I can't tell you how much better I feel now that I have realized that taking care of me is just as important or more so than taking care of the other people in my life that I take care of. The one thing I am remembering is that If I don't take care of me, who will take care of those that I take care of?
If you want to do something special for yourself, please take care of you!
Keep on keeping on!!!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Summer Time Coming To An End....
Well here we are as we see all of the back to school sales, school supply lists that summer is coming to an end and students are getting ready to go back to school. School starts here next week!
That usually means getting back into a "normal" routine, what ever normal is! It means earlier bed times and earlier wake up times.
As your students prepare to go back to school, lets try not to do a breakfast of convenience! It is really easy to get into the pop tart, toaster strudel, cold cereal and milk kind of thing. But try starting the day with less sugar and more protein! Try making breakfast burritos made with eggs and turkey sausage and shredded cheese on a whole wheat tortilla. It really doesn't take that long to make. Get the kids involved too! Try oatmeal with fruit in it. Children need that extra in the morning to keep their brains working solid until lunch time.
Lunch time is another thing. After working in the school district for a few years, I observed a few things. Usually your children don't eat what they buy for a school lunch. Most students throw away over half their lunch. I always made a point to make lunches for my children. We always made it the night before to save time in the morning. Lunches usually consisted of a sandwich on sandwich thins, carrot sticks and ranch, and a fruit cup in its on juice (less sugar that way.) Every now and then we would do baked chips and maybe if we made homemade cookies etc at home, we would put a couple of those in there. We have done salads in the lunch box, etc. Plan those healthy lunches and that will help them until they get home in the afternoon. Also make sure to put an ICE PACK of some sort in their lunch box. I saw several students with gogurts (which is another yummy option) or sandwiches with mayo on them, cheese etc with no refrigeration at all!!! That will cause food to spoil and in turn cause tummy problems.
I remember getting home in the afternoon from school wanting a snack. Make sure you have healthy options for after school snacks. Apple slices with peanut butter is a yummy option especially with a nice cold glass of milk! String cheese and grapes is another yummy option.
Make an effort to help your students this school year to do the best that they can do at school. Healthy foods will help make a huge difference in their day!!
Make sure that your students get to sleep at a good time. Make sure that backpacks are ready the night before and that will help save time in the morning and homework put in after it is completed that way there is no risk of leaving it at home.
Have a wonderful school year!!
Keep on Keeping on!!
That usually means getting back into a "normal" routine, what ever normal is! It means earlier bed times and earlier wake up times.
As your students prepare to go back to school, lets try not to do a breakfast of convenience! It is really easy to get into the pop tart, toaster strudel, cold cereal and milk kind of thing. But try starting the day with less sugar and more protein! Try making breakfast burritos made with eggs and turkey sausage and shredded cheese on a whole wheat tortilla. It really doesn't take that long to make. Get the kids involved too! Try oatmeal with fruit in it. Children need that extra in the morning to keep their brains working solid until lunch time.
Lunch time is another thing. After working in the school district for a few years, I observed a few things. Usually your children don't eat what they buy for a school lunch. Most students throw away over half their lunch. I always made a point to make lunches for my children. We always made it the night before to save time in the morning. Lunches usually consisted of a sandwich on sandwich thins, carrot sticks and ranch, and a fruit cup in its on juice (less sugar that way.) Every now and then we would do baked chips and maybe if we made homemade cookies etc at home, we would put a couple of those in there. We have done salads in the lunch box, etc. Plan those healthy lunches and that will help them until they get home in the afternoon. Also make sure to put an ICE PACK of some sort in their lunch box. I saw several students with gogurts (which is another yummy option) or sandwiches with mayo on them, cheese etc with no refrigeration at all!!! That will cause food to spoil and in turn cause tummy problems.
I remember getting home in the afternoon from school wanting a snack. Make sure you have healthy options for after school snacks. Apple slices with peanut butter is a yummy option especially with a nice cold glass of milk! String cheese and grapes is another yummy option.
Make an effort to help your students this school year to do the best that they can do at school. Healthy foods will help make a huge difference in their day!!
Make sure that your students get to sleep at a good time. Make sure that backpacks are ready the night before and that will help save time in the morning and homework put in after it is completed that way there is no risk of leaving it at home.
Have a wonderful school year!!
Keep on Keeping on!!
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