Tag Archives: arthritis

Ketogenic Diet Witness

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keto diet blog pic

Here is the blog post I’ve wanted to write for months. I wrote about Intermittent Fasting (IF), giving up artificial sweeteners, gut health, and how effective those things were for me. What I hadn’t written about to-date, is my first experience with the Ketogenic Diet, and now my return to it.

Back in May 2018, after I competed in a shawl dance competition for the first time for an entire powwow, I decided to give the keto diet a whirl. I was getting ready to begin another wellness challenge, and I noticed the benefits of IF and giving up the Splenda on my joints and eliminating my sugar cravings. I follow Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Eric Berg on social media, and I read Dr. Fung’s book, as well as the book pictured above. What intrigued me the most was not the weight loss, but the anti-inflammatory benefits of the diet, and being pre-diabetic still, the positive impact it would have on my labs/bloodwork. I got my labs done and found my A1c had come down another point from a high of 6.1 to 5.9. I have yet to check it again, but I have plans to in May 2019.

When I started keto in May 2018, I experienced what people call the “keto flu”, which is actually withdrawal symptoms from carbohydrates. I made a homemade electrolyte drink that my sister-friend Makyla sent to me and that helped alleviate the flu-like symptoms. Once I got through that, prepping my  lunches was fairly easy because I was lowering my carb intake for a few months prior. I did not do the high fat thing very well….I didn’t use it as an excuse to eat fatty meat and bacon, etc. But I did lost about 5 lbs in my first week. I checked my ketones regularly and knew I was in ketosis. Overall, the keto diet contributed to me losing 22 lbs from my highest weight at the beginning of 2018. The biggest benefits for me were that it gave me good energy all day long, and I didn’t have many food cravings. It also reduced the inflammation in my bad hip enough to where I ran my first 5K in years one month in. I danced jingle dress all summer and even got to the point where I was able to compete in fancy shawl and a few more powwows. I was feeling like my old self. It was very difficult to maintain at powwows, but it is difficult to maintain any healthy way of eating when you are on the road and away from your own kitchen, so that’s not really an excuse.

But I fell off over the summer, and I fell off further in the fall and early winter of 2018. I gained all my weight back because I wasn’t managing my work stress. I was very sporadic with my workouts with Travis and I felt tired all the time. The plus side is I got my crafting mojo back and that felt great!!! I made some beautiful things for my husband and kids and other close friends. I volunteered in my community and continued to attend my Al-Anon meetings and do my step-work with my sponsor. So it definitely wasn’t all bad. I look at it now as a time where I deepened my learning and deepened my work on my personal healing, and how that will help me balance and manage the stress from the challenges that will always be a part of life.

I wrote about joining the wellness challenge the beginning of January. And I started back on keto January 6. I was able to get back into ketosis within 3 days with no sleep issues and no keto flu. And I lost 5.8 lbs my first week back. I haven’t missed a day of training with Travis and I’m working my 5K training plan. We have had some really yucky weather here in KS for the past few weeks, but being in ketosis and reducing the inflammation has made it to where my joints don’t ache at all when the barometric pressure drops. I have so much energy, which is amazing because I’ve had alot of demands on my schedule and personal resources. I’ve been able to meet the demands on my time and energy and feel good about it.

The biggest difference for me is my approach and mindset. I truly believe that keto is working for me because I’ve embraced this Way of Eating (WOE). I’m committed to eating non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and good sources of protein. I’ve read over Whole 30 blogs and articles and one thing that struck me was how the Whole 30 diet does not have any recipes for “whole 30 brownies” or any other substitutes for the sweet and crunchy foods we have a type of dependence on. They said that trying to find substitutes for sweets and starchy goodness while on Whole 30 was like “sex with your pants on”. Lol. That’s where I was on the wrong track before. I wanted the benefits of keto without giving up the foods that were making me sick in the first place. My sister tried to explain this very thing to me a few years ago, but it didn’t click with me then. It has clicked with me now with resonance. I no longer look for recipes for fake sweets like muffins or cakes that use almond flour and a lot of artificial sweetener. Same with coffee drinks and other sources of sugar that I craved before. This time around, the ketogenic WOE is a complete mind-shift. I’m not focused on weight-loss, I’m focused on pain-management and energy. I don’t weigh myself with any regularity because I’m focused on managing the day to day things I want to do to treat my body with respect and reverence. I feel stronger, I can see the definition in my legs returning. And I did a fancy shawl dance practice yesterday and my legs felt great!!!!!

So there’s my keto testament. It’s not for everybody, so I won’t be a member of the “keto-police”, but I am happy to share what it’s done for me.

 

 

 

Intermittent Fasting

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It’s been awhile, I know….and I’ve had sooooo many topics I’ve wanted to write about. But the end of the year chaos as a middle school therapist is real….my energy was pulled in several different directions and I did not find the time to write. So there will most likely be several blog entries today. 🙂

As you all know from a previous blog post, I gave up artificial sweeteners in February. That is still very much in effect!!! There have been 2 times where a Diet Pepsi has sounded really good, but I just remembered how good my hip joints felt after giving up diet soda, so it has been fairly easy to avoid. It does feel a little strange when we travel to powwows now and we get snacks or drinks at a gas station. Since not all gas stations sell a LaCroix type of carbonated water, I find myself wandering the aisles before getting a bottle of plain water. It’s not bad though. The reduced inflammation in my hip and successful pain management is worth it.

Since giving up artificial sweeteners worked out so well, I decided on March 1 to give Intermittent Fasting (IF) a whirl. I became interested in it when I read a blog post on the KU Medical Center website about the benefits of IF. Intermittent Fasting is giving your body a temporary break from eating. Your body gets a break from the insulin response that occurs every time you eat something with calories, specifically carbohydrates. When I taught Diabetes and the Native Americans at Haskell, we went through what “insulin response” is, and which nutrients triggered a strong or mild response. Carbohydrates trigger a strong insulin response, protein a mild response depending on the amount you eat, and fat almost no response.

“When insulin blood sugar (from eating frequent meals or snacks, eg. every 90 minutes) dominates other hormones, proper gene expressions for longevity, healing and recovery won’t occur very much or very well. A temporary break from eating can give those healing hormones time to do their job. It’s actually very anti-inflammatory and can be corrective to hormone and metabolic issues, just to stop the food. It’s counter to everything we have been taught” (Randy Evans quote, KUMC Integrative Medicine Blog).

Hearing “anti-inflammatory” and “gut healing” was what really caught my attention. And IF as defined in the article I read wasn’t about extended fasts, it was about spacing out your meals and eating on a schedule. And the blog article talked about how traditionally, we used to have to fast at least overnight because we did not have access to food 24/7 like we do now. Grocery stores were not open 24 hours, nor were restaurants or fast food places, and convenience stores didn’t sell cooked food as they do now. When you stop eating at 6pm and don’t eat again until breakfast the next day, that is a 12-hour fast. Intermittent Fasting is not a new thing….it’s an old thing that the medical field is now realizing as beneficial.

I decided to try a 16:8 fast, where I stop eating around 8pm, then I don’t eat again until noon the next day. That gives me a 16 hour break from food, and then I have an 8-hour window to get my calories in for the day. What it meant for me was skipping breakfast, drinking my black coffee or green tea, and water until noon. It was not hard for me to do this. I read several articles and ordered books from Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Eric Berg. It is suggested to put coconut oil in your coffee if you struggle with hunger pangs until lunch. The fat in the coconut oil will give a sense of satiety without generating an insulin response. I do this sometimes, I find that after a couple cups of coffee I don’t feel hungry anyway.

I also discovered that how I start my fast and how I break my fast are very important to how I feel doing IF. I break my fast with a low-carb lunch. I have been posting pictures of my lunches on my Wozani Waste’ Instagram blog page. That keeps my energy consistent after my  lunch and doesn’t create a strong insulin response. I continued to drink my kombucha for the gut healing properties. Sometimes I break my fast with a cup of homemade bone broth, sometimes I break my fast with 2 scoops of collagen protein powder mixed with unsweetened almond milk. The couple of times I broke my fast with a higher carb meal, my energy tanked and I didn’t feel as good I normally do coming off a 16 hour fast.

The results from Intermittent Fasting:

  1. I lost 10 pounds
  2. My hip feels GREAT!!
  3. My energy is better, no more mid-afternoon slumps
  4. I have a spring in my step
  5. It is very easy to maintain

Here are some links to the blog article and another blogger who had success with IF. I don’t think it’s an active blog, but it gives really good information and real-world experiences.

https://www.kansashealthsystem.com/InternalMedicine/integrative-medicine/blog-posts/intermittent-fasting

http://foodcanwait.com/home/my-weight-loss-journey-intermittent-fasting/

I told my friends what I was doing and they were very interested. I needed to write this a few months ago, but to be honest, I wanted to make sure it worked and that it was something I could maintain before I posted it in my blog. It works for me. Joe B started doing it too, he does a 12:12 fast. The nice thing about Intermittent Fasting is that YOU configure it to how it will work best for YOU. 16:8 works for me….I tried a 18:6 but I struggled a bit. I am so very thankful I found this information and tried it. The pain management, reducing the inflammation, has been the biggest benefit of this process.

 

Trying My Hand At Homemade Bone Broth

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Trying my hand at making homemade bone broth. I bought 3 lbs of local beef bones yesterday at Steve’s Meat Market in DeSoto, KS. So there’s the 3 lbs of bones, onion, carrots, celery, red and green bell pepper, pink Himalayan salt and black peppercorns, sitting in a large stock pot. I let the bones soak for 30 minutes in water and 2 Tbs of organic apple cider vinegar (the kind that includes the “mother”) first. Now it’s heating up and it has to simmer for at least 24 hours. I’ve been reading about the benefits of bone broth: gut healing properties, help with inflammation, relief for the symptoms of arthritis, joint and muscle repair. It’s an excellent source of calcium and magnesium for people who don’t have access to dairy products. So THAT’S how we got our calcium back in the day!! Back when we as Native people were the healthiest people on the planet. 😊

I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Gut Health and Healing From A Cellular Level

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Some of the lifestyle changes I’m in the process making are about my health, and not necessarily about losing weight. I want my body to heal and to become strong from the inside out. I want to heal at a cellular level, if that helps explain my mindset. My desire to make positive change feels that deep. I’m making changes for healing my body, my mind and my spirit.

I’m not about making huge sweeping changes and being obsessive about cutting out types of foods. Except for artificial sweetener. That’s gone for good. I am absolutely loving being without artificial sweeteners. It’s 3 weeks now since I gave it up. I continue to not have sugar cravings. When I do eat something sweet, it’s a deliberate decision. Not one based on stress or other emotions. I am finding though that I am indulging in sweets very little. It’s really nice not to feel like I’m fighting cravings all the time. That was getting so frustrating. It was like a weight hanging around my neck that I couldn’t shake. That weight is gone and so is any guilt about indulging occasionally. The cravings being gone gives me some space in my head to think about whether I really want something, and also has helped my creativity in coming up with sweet treats made from real food when I want to indulge.

I’ve also been asking questions via FB messenger of a former coworker, a dietician, about artificial sweeteners. She told me how some artificial sweeteners can change the Ph in your gut, and may kill gut bacteria. Losing gut bacteria may lead to some gut permeability and then inflammation. In my case, inflammation leads to increased hip pain, but I also learned that it’s a big risk factor for heart disease and chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, and possibly lupus and RA.

So then I had to look up “gut permeability” and found out it’s called “leaky gut syndrome”. I’d heard of it before but had no clue what it was. What I read wasn’t fun. But it made sense to me. That’s a whole ‘nother blog post because it’s very science-y. But it made me realize how quitting artificial sweeteners is the beginning of the healing process for my gut.

I remain surprised and grateful for the huge difference I’ve felt in my hip pain since giving up artificial sweetener. And if it’s related to healing my gut, then I want more of that. I’ve began drinking kombucha since last fall, and this weekend I’m going to give bone broth a whirl. Plain Greek yogurt is always in my fridge, as well as fruits, veggies, and healthy fats like avocados and nuts.

Friends and family, you have no idea how thankful I feel to finally start feeling better. I have a spring in my step for the first time in a long time. My mood has improved. And I appreciate the taste of food so much more than before. The changes feel good. And there are more changes we’ve been making that I will write about soon. Drop a comment below if you have had similar experiences. I would love to hear your stories.

No More Excuses

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I’ll be honest. I am an awesome, one of the best really, “excuse-makers”.

I can find a reason (read: excuse) for anything. I believe I honed this skill in my early college years where I earned a plethora of “W” (withdraw) and “I” (Incomplete) grades that still show on all my transcripts. I’ve used this skill to account for slacking on schoolwork, graduate papers, studying, housework, balancing my checkbook, sewing, beading, doctor’s visits (such as my annual mammogram), eating healthy, and working out. I’ve gotten by because I can usually pull something together at the last minute. I know my life is much simpler when I force myself out of my excuse-making tendencies, but that doesn’t keep me from making excuses consistently in order to enable my mindset. 🙂

This is a wellness blog. Yet my blogging is sporadic because I’ve come up with some of the best excuses for either not blogging consistently, or not practicing wellness habits consistently. Some of them were very valid at the time….I’ve had good honest reasons why I’ve fallen off the wellness wagon time and time again. But once those reasons or issues have been addressed and I still am not back on the wagon again…then they become an excuse.

So…in an effort to be brutally honest with myself….here are my best “reasons” for the past few years for not feeling like I was capable of practicing healthy habits. 2012 I remember as my last best year for wellness….I was running 5K races consistently and I felt great about myself. So let’s start there.

  1. Hip Osteoarthritis – this was a biggie. The OA diagnosis and the inevitable total hip replacement was huge. Mentally and emotionally it was tough…having to face the prospect on never shawl dancing again or running again. Then the actual hip pain made it hard to workout, and even harder to want to work out.
  2. Depression – this stemmed from the OA diagnosis, the unknown of total hip replacement surgery, not finding a good coping mechanism besides running, surgery recovery, marital issues, a pre-diabetes diagnosis, and job dissatisfaction. I often felt alone and lonely in my depression, which made motivation scarce and just about non-existent.
  3. Career Change – I wanted to get out of community health administration, and out of the 100 mile round-trip daily commute, and go back into clinical social work at a local agency. I needed to job search, study for my licensure exam, and get out of my comfort zone to follow my passion. That was all extremely stressful and daunting and I didn’t know if I could do it.

Those are the major ones. Every single one of them I allowed to take precious time away from me and what I wanted to do take care of me and my family. I was able to find a million excuses for not treating my body and my spirit well out of all of those 3 big categories. All 3 categories all fed off each other as well and just made things seem bigger and bigger and bigger, until I was overwhelmed on the regular.

So here is where I’m at now and where the excuses end.

  1. Hip OA – I’ve had one hip replaced and know exactly what to expect with my 2nd surgery. My recover was, upon reflection, fairly easy due to my age and my physical strength prior to surgery. My right hip has no more pain and normal range of motion. I got clearance to begin training to shawl dance last June, and I actually danced in a fancy shawl special at KU powwow last month. My left hip is still bad but I know with weight loss and supplements, and possibly a cortisone shot, I can put off surgery for another year or so. My arches hurt from the excess weight, but I have good shoes with arch supports for work and working out.
  2. Depression – I’ve been managing the symptoms with anti-depressant meds. I feel much more positive and self-sufficient than last year at this time. I am getting ready to start tapering off my meds now that things that overwhelmed me have settled down. We got a dog and he is the best thing for mental health. He is awesome and brings so much joy to us. My marriage is much better due to praying together daily. I am finding walking very enjoyable, especially with my big puppy. My sleep has improved and I don’t feel the food cravings often associated with a depressed mood. I went on a social media fast and that was an eye-opener…how the negativity on social media can permeate your brain and your mood. My now-elevated mood helps me feel motivated. I downloaded “The Secret Daily Teachings” app on my phone and it always has good positive words that I read every morning.
  3. Career Change – I successfully passed my master social worker licensure exam. I found an awesome job as a therapist at a local community mental health center. I work in a middle school so I work school hours. My job is 3.5 miles from my home. I love this work…the kids are awesome and so are the staff here. I worked through any internal difficulties I was having at my old job and I was able to leave on good terms….which felt amazing.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my husband and kids gave me gifts all designed to get me healthy and strong again….new runners, new running tops, phone armband. I can’t use time as an excuse because I am home shortly after my kids get home. So I have time to cook earlier, time to get housework done, and time to walk or do something with my kids. I truly have no more excuses. I’m sure I can find some, since I’ve gotten so good at it over the years. I need to use my powers for good and not idleness. Lol. I should turn it around and make excuses TO BE HEALTHY for once.


So TODAY is the day of “No More Excuses”. It’s Day 1. I got my baseline info for Day 1 in the form of weighing myself and taking a picture. 🙂 I overslept this morning and ALMOST caved and said “Day 1 can start tomorrow.” Hahahaha. But I didn’t. That’s a good sign. See, I could have easily used that as an excuse to delay Day 1 but I did not.

I made myself take a few minutes for breakfast instead of running out the door since I was running late. My vanilla strawberry smoothie with cashew milk, vanilla Weight Watchers smoothie mix and 1 cup of fresh strawberries was only 1 carbohydrate serving.  My plan today is either to walk Mickey or ride the new bike my dad got me for my birthday (lack of a bike was a prior excuse to not exercise when my joints were hurting). I have a place to workout at the Sports Pavilion if the weather is bad. They have a nice indoor track and good cardio equipment.

I need to make myself accountable, so I will do my best to jot something here each day. I want to document this new journey. This is more for me than for you, but if you get something positive out of it as well, then that’s a bonus.

Here we go. Day 1. I’ll write later how it goes. #Letsdoodis

 

8-Week Wellness Challenge

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First of all, I want to say right off the bat that I have succeeded at losing 17 lbs since my highest weight post-total hip replacement surgery!! That means I lost the 15 lbs I gained post-surgery, plus an additional 2 lbs. I have 5 more lbs to go to hit my 1st major goal. My youngest told me today, “Mom, you’re getting skinny.” Lol. Even though “skinny” isn’t my goal, regaining my health is, it was still nice to hear that someone noticed some progress.

My eating and workouts kind of went up and down over the summer, as those who powwow understand the disruption of routines, driving for hours, dancing all weekend, not always having access to the healthiest of foods, packing a cooler, etc. The healthy habits could have been better, they could have been much worse. I concentrated this summer on not beating myself up over slip-ups and just trying to get back on as soon as I can.

My sister got me in the habit of walking for 45 minutes every morning at work. When she isn’t at work, she texts me to ask me if I went out for my walk yet. Lol. That got me going on the consistent activity. But today I want to write about a wellness challenge that has really motivated me.

Tracy is a woman I went to graduate school with and we both earned our MSWs at the same time. Our kids go to the same school, have played on the same teams, and she is friends with one of my nieces. She encouraged me after learning about my hip osteoarthritis back in 2012 to take her cycling class (which, by the way, was a killer workout) to give my joints a break from running, and she has conquered her own health challenges and surgeries. She is inspiring.

My sister-in-law invited me to participate in an 8-week wellness challenge that Tracy was organizing. She had participated the 1st time Tracy did the challenge and encouraged me and my sister to join. The details of the challenge and the structure really intrigued me, which are explained below.

For 8-weeks, each person can earn a point per day in the following areas: 1) Journaling/tracking food intake and following a safe, healthy and nutritious eating plan of our choice, 2) drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, 3) exercising (and she leaves it to us to determine what we think is a workout, there is no minimum number of minutes required to earn this point) – and with exercise one can only earn a maximum of 5 points per week to encourage rest days, 4) getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night. We all took a picture of our scale with our starting weight and sent it to Tracy, and at the end of the 8 weeks we will take a picture of our scale with our ending weight. We can earn 1 point for each percentage of total body weight we lose. For example, if someone starts out weighing 200 lbs, they would earn 1 point for every 2 lbs they lost by the end of the challenge. We have sheets were we can record our points daily. One can earn a maximum of 26 points each week, and then additional points at the end with our final weigh-in. The people who did this challenge the first time don’t mess around. The previous winner didn’t miss ANY of their weekly points and lost weight. There is a $25 buy-in which is given to the winners at the end of 8 weeks. And she set up a FaceBook page for the members of the challenge so we always get little reminders, or encouragement, or ideas for meals and snacks.

I am used to keeping a food journal, and when properly motivated I can exercise 5 days per week. I was really intrigued with the sleep requirement. My sleep routine has been non-existent for almost a year and I’ve never given it much deliberate thought. I go to bed early when I am exhausted or I push myself and don’t get rest. There is no consistency.

We just finished up Week 2 of the challenge. I think I’ve missed only 1 sleep point each week so far when my schedule was a little off on that day. I have been tracking my food faithfully and paying attention to my calorie goals. I even track my “free days” or free meals. There is nothing like seeing that you ate a DQ Blizzard, or 4 slices of pizza from Rudy’s to make you more conscious of your food choices. I make my water intake daily. I’ve earned 5 exercise points per week. I started using MapMyWalk and synched it to my MyFitnessPal so it automatically posts my workouts and calorie expenditure to my food log. Although I began the challenge intending to do the Metabolism Miracle, my actual eating has turned into more of a carb counting routine. I keep my breakfasts and lunches to anywhere between 5-15 grams of carbs or less, I eat many vegetables, take my vitamins, and if I feel like eating some popcorn or a small handful of chips, or 2 soft tortillas in the evenings, I do it. I usually keep dinners to 2 carb servings or less. And guess what…..my weight seems to be just dropping off!! I believe it’s because the structure of this challenge encourages several healthy habits, not just food and exercise. I think it’s the sleep requirement that’s made the difference with me as well as being mindful of my carb intake and not restricting myself as much as before. My energy is evening out more each day…I don’t have as many dips and my energy lasts longer. And I feel smaller already.

So if you haven’t guessed it at this point, Tracy is amazing!!! This was so needed at this point and time and I’m having fun AND improving my health. Thank you again for organizing this!!

16-Week Follow-Up Post-THR + Recovery Frustration

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Tuesday marked 16 weeks since I had total hip replacement on my right hip. This time I went to the appointment in workout pants that didn’t have any zippers so I wouldn’t have to change into the beautiful mesh shorts the doctor’s office provides to get the x-rays on my hip. The x-rays showed that my hip is healing nicely. There is no loosening of the device from the bone….he noted that my left hip looks bad (as it has since 2012) but he would leave it up to me as to when I wanted to get that hip replaced.

I was looking forward to having my non-impact exercise restrictions lifted and possibly be given the green light to get back to shawl dancing. He did reduce several of my restrictions. I can now squat or leg press up to 100% of my body weight (I was at 50% at my 6-week follow-up), I can pick up or deadlift up to 90 lbs (up from 40 lbs), and I can now do low-impact activity, such as Zumba or the modified T25 workouts, and continue with the walking, elliptical, stationary bike, swimming. I can also get back to pushing a prowler with weights, using my judgement on how my hip and muscles feel. But no attempts at returning to shawl dancing until I am 6-months post-surgery, which puts me at mid-June.

I’ll admit I was a little disappointed to hear that. But I’m realistic enough with myself to know that even in mid-June, had he given me the green light to return now, I wouldn’t be ready. I gained approximately 15 lbs since having my surgery. I feel like my muscle tone is zero. I’ve dealt with weight issues during my adult life, twice gaining and losing 30-36 lbs (NOT including pregnancy weight gain for my 2 daughters), and what feels different this time is that I always felt like I had a base to work from…even if I was overweight and out of shape, I still had a base of conditioning to build on. I don’t feel like I have that base in this instance.

I’ve said this to a few people…coming back after this surgery is harder than coming back after having 2 babies. After having both C-sections, I remember returning to the track to walk….and I couldn’t get my heart rate up enough for walking to feel like a workout, so I started walking the stairs. Not this time…even walking for distance is challenging. My muscles hurt. My arches hurt. None of the work clothes I bought last summer and fall fit me. I had to move my dance belt out when I danced traditional at KU powwow last weekend. And when I weighed and measured myself on Monday, I realized that I am the heaviest I have been in my adult life, not counting how much I weighed post-pregnancy.

This week was tough. I was beyond frustrated. I know now what people mean when they say they “raged inside”. Lol. That’s how I felt. I struggle with having patience, I want stuff to happen RIGHT NOW. So I started using my weight watchers app again on Monday, tracking my points, and my husband got all of us out for a walk after work. Wednesday I felt like I was coming unglued…my frustration with myself was hitting its peak, work stress piled up….I texted my adopted sister, letting her know how unglued I was becoming….lol. Then I grabbed my workout bag and headed for the rec center at my work. When I walked in I saw the recumbent step machine, just like the one they had at my physical therapy place. I used the 15-Minute Rule on myself, saying I would only get on that thing for 15 minutes then I was out of here. I listened to some Queen & David Bowie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Steve Winwood while I pushed the pedals. Felt my nerves start to soothe. I did 20 minutes on the stepper and then set the machine for another 20. I felt so much better after. I felt like I got a good workout. I broke a sweat and I could tell my muscles did good work without anything else hurting. I felt calm. I felt optimistic. I was able to return to my work station and get a bunch of work done.

Yesterday I woke up not feeling much better than Wednesday. Some good talk about nutrition with MPH students and interns while working a career fair brightened my day. And then I got my family out for a walk while our dinner cooked. And once again, I returned feeling calm. Feeling optimistic. And I slept really good both nights.

Some people operate well by telling themselves “I HAVE to do this. I have no other choice.” I don’t do well with that type of self-talk. Telling myself that only increases frustration. I do believe I can do this now. I believe things are going to be ok. I’m getting back into the habit of tracking my food and generating ideas for healthy meals for my family. I feel like I’m finally ready to return to weight training, which always gave me good results. I am back to believing that walking will do me a world of good until I am ready to do more. I am looking forward to using that recumbent stepper more frequently until I feel like doing the elliptical. I have had several people tell me, “If anyone can come back from this strong, it’s you.”

I just need to keep telling myself that. Each and every day.

7 Weeks Post-THR

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Originally posted to my Facebook page on February 5, 2016

I am just a little over 7 weeks out of my hip replacement surgery and I’ve hit a wall. I’m still progressing, I just feel physically like I got run into a wall. Physical therapy is hard. The past 3 sessions have left me exhausted and sore. I feel fine while I’m doing it, I don’t feel like I’m overdoing it….I’m very careful about that. But when I leave, within an hour of my session ending, I feel like like crud. Yesterday was the worst. I almost didn’t go because I had muscle soreness from Tuesday’s session, but I thought I would feel better after I went. I did feel better for about 45 minutes. Lol. The joint feels fine, there isn’t any pain in the joint itself. It’s all muscle soreness. But it feels different than before my surgery…it feels achy….almost like when you are getting sick.

My kids have had a couple of viruses the past 2 weeks. Maybe I’m just fighting those off. Also I feel like I’ve been super busy at work ever since going back full-time last Wednesday. Maybe I’ve just run myself down. Either way, I’m home today and resting and recuperating and trying to get better.

After my friends saw my Facebook post, they answered with much encouragement, and a suggestion that I may not be eating enough protein to fuel the tissue growth that is occurring in the recovery from my surgery. I was already starting to look at my protein intake as one of the reasons for the muscle soreness and fatigue. So I started a protein shake…and if anyone knows me, they know how I hate having to default to a shake, I would much rather get it from real foods. But I needed to do something quick, and the shakes actually helped!

6 Weeks Post THR Follow-Up

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Originally posted to my Facebook page on January 26, 2016

I’m free!!!! No more compression tights!! I can drive, I can make my commute to work, I can start taking my Advil again, I can flex my hip beyond 90 degrees as long as my knee abducts out, and I can start walking, stationary biking, swimming and doing the elliptical for exercise!! (As my energy and muscle strength allows, of course.) He plucked that little string that was stuck in my incision scar right out with no problem. I guess it was some of the incision material they used to stitch me up that didn’t dissolve and made its way out of the scar tissue.

I was hoping to get clearance to start practicing to dance again. However, he said no impact exercising until after my next follow-up in 10 weeks. So I will be dancing traditional for my head dance gig at KU on April 2nd. I’ll be ready. And I can start getting my flexibility back so I can tie my own shoe!!

Overall he was very pleased with my progress. I can go back to iron supplement and my Omega-3 supplement. I got to see my first x-ray with my new hardware. Not quite ready to post any pictures like that however. It was cool though.

Short Blog Entry on Cooking

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Originally posted to my Facebook page on January 23, 2016

Since I can’t workout like I did pre-THR surgery, maintaining my health depends mostly on how I eat. I am not cleared to take my iron supplement yet, and I can’t take a multi-vitamin or any other type of supplements such as Omega-3 (doctor’s orders until my follow-up). I really have to try to get my nutrients from the food I eat.

Tonight I cooked hamburgers (lean grass fed beef from a local butcher) on whole wheat buns, baked sweet potato fries, and a green salad with diced apples, red onion, cucumber, celery, and I made my own apple vinaigrette dressing with local honey.

I’m finally getting the hang of making my own salad dressing. Sometimes I add Dijon mustard, or I change up the type of vinegar I use. It’s much easier than I ever imagined, and it’s fresh.

I didn’t really plan on making everything from scratch because this was just supposed to be a quickly prepared meal. I thought about grabbing a bag of frozen sweet potato fries, or a bag of pre-washed salad mix. But Sara wanted to try slicing and baking a sweet potato, and the head of lettuce was on sale. it worked out nicely because Joe B is a good sous chef. Everything tasted so good.

And I’m just thankful I have energy to cook more regularly now. That was really a killer, not feeling up to cooking. My family has missed my cooking and I’ve missed it as well. I enjoy it. It makes me even more thankful for all the meals that were delivered to us from friends because it kept us from living on fast-food or takeout in the weeks immediately following my surgery.