Tag Archives: health

2 Smoothie Recipes from The Swirlies

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What an extremely hectic April and May we had!!! Too much to write about so I’ll just cut to the chase.

We ended our indoor powwow season last weekend with Haskell’s Commencement Powwow. Two weekends in a row of working powwows (for me), and 2 weekends in a row of my kids dancing. I got a rude awakening once again at how difficult it is to maintain healthy eating habits during powwow season. Fry bread everywhere you turn, fatty/starchy soups, candy, Gatorade and soda/pop…..*sigh*  And I didn’t have time to prepare and bring healthy snacks like my own fruit, veggies, cheese sticks, turkey, boiled eggs, etc. Making time to prepare before every powwow will be my priority this year.

So, in an effort to get back on track, the Swirlies (my 2 daughters) decided to have smoothies for breakfast this week. They both have their own recipes, and both are delicious! And very simple to make.

I keep forgetting how small their tummies are, so I made too much the first day. By this morning I had the ingredients down to where they fit into a regular size coffee cup (8 oz, or 1 measuring cup), which is the perfect amount for them. Myself, I can always knock out at least 12-16 ounces of one of my smoothies.

Shelby’s Smoothie – Strawberry Pineapple

  • 1 C-heaping, sliced fresh strawberries and pineapple combined
  • 1/3 C fat-free vanilla yogurt (I buy the Dannon Lite & Fit vanilla because it has much less added sugar than other non-fat vanilla brands)
  • 2 Tbs (1/8 C) water
  • Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Fits in the coffee cup.

Sara’s Smoothie – Pineapple Apple

  • 1 C-heaping, sliced fresh pineapple and apple combined (I leave the skin on)
  • 1/3 C fat-free vanilla yogurt
  • 2 Tbs (1/8 C) water
  • Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth

I was amazed at how sweet the Pineapple Apple smoothie was. Almost tasted like a treat!

I am going to try to talk the girls into having a “Smoothie Party” for their combined birthday parties. Let them and their friends have fun creating and get many different fruits (and veggies) in their systems!

No picture this blog entry, but will try to summon up my amateur photography skills on the next one. 🙂

Turmeric Tea to Manage Inflammation

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Turmeric Tea

Over the course of the last 2.5 years, I’ve been looking for natural remedies to manage my hip osteo-arthritis. Changing my diet was a big part of that. Although I have no cartilage in either hip and am looking to schedule hip replacement surgery in the fall, I don’t need pain medications such as ibuprofen to get me through the day. I only take my ibuprofen in the evenings before I go to sleep. I have stronger pain meds that I can take only when the ibuprofen doesn’t work, which is rare.

A friend in Michigan sent me a link for this tea and I love it. I drink it to help fight inflammation and it’s also a nice, warm, sweet relaxing drink in the evenings before bedtime.

http://www.doctoroz.com/recipe/dr-sanjay-guptas-calming-creamy-turmeric-tea

I’ve tweaked this recipe slightly. I use almost 1.5 C of almond milk because that’s how big my coffee mug is. I will sometimes substitute stevia for the honey to cut down on sugar which can cause inflammation. You could use any type of non-dairy milk for this, I would just make sure it doesn’t contain carrageenan, which is a red seaweed extract used for thickening and adding richer texture to foods. It can cause inflammation, and as you well know, reducing inflammation is important in managing any type of arthritis.

Turmeric Tea:

1 to 1.5 Cups Almond Milk (I use unsweetened vanilla flavor)

1/2 tsp turmeric (I have been using dried, ground turmeric, haven’t tried fresh yet)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp honey (I will sometimes use Stevia instead)

1/4 tsp ginger (again, I use the ground ginger)

I whisk all the ingredients together and heat in a small saucepan on the stove. If you use fresh turmeric or ginger, you might want to strain it before you pour it in a mug.

I also take turmeric capsules on occasion to give myself a break from the ibuprofen. This was my favorite night-time cold weather drink, but I’m feeling in the mood for it this week for some reason.

Breakfast Smoothie Made with Kefir

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Kefir, fruit and spinach smoothie

I think my best smoothie concoctions are created when I just use whatever I have on-hand.

I came down with strep throat in March and was prescribed a 10-day antibiotic. I haven’t taken a 10-day round of antibiotics in decades. The only times I have needed an antibiotic were for sinus infections and I usually get a Z-pack. Right after I finished my prescription I experienced terrible stomach upset to the point where I had no appetite. I didn’t feel like eating and when I did I couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites at time. This went on for 4 days before I started looking up information on the side effects of antibiotics and gut health.

I guessed that the 10 days of amoxicillin might have caused an imbalance of the good bacteria in my gut. So off to the store I went and found a probiotic supplement. Later when I was grocery shopping I saw a bottles of kefir. Kefir is like drinkable yogurt and contains the active yogurt cultures that help maintain gut health. I have avoided buying it in the past because most of the kefir I’ve come across contains a high amount of sugar (except for the plain variety). This brand was low-fat, fruit flavored and sweetened with Stevia. I bought a bottle and tried it out immediately. I really liked the taste and texture. It must be good because my little 8-year foodie daughter loves it.

I drank a cup of the kefir every morning for a week. It helped settle my stomach and gave me a little energy (I was feeling run-down from not eating enough). Within that week my stomach finally returned to normal but I still wanted to keep kefir on hand.

Before my trip to the grocery store last week, I was rummaging around my refrigerator and freezer looking to use up food remnants for breakfast. The remains I found were some of this kefir, 1 cup of frozen cherries, half a carton of blueberries, and one big handful of spinach. I blended them all together, added a little water to make it less thick, and put a few drops of liquid stevia in so that Joe B would drink it.

This is one of the best smoothies I’ve ever come up with. I’ve made it 3 times for our breakfast since then. The exact ingredients and the amounts I used are below.

Lifeway Kefir

Kefir, Fruit and Spinach Smoothie:

Makes 2 servings

1 Cup Kefir – low-fat, fruit flavored (sweetened with Stevia)
1 heaping Cup frozen sweet cherries
1/2 Cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1-2 Cups Spinach (I just use a big handful)
1/2 C water
Drops of liquid Stevia to taste

The combination of the kefir and frozen fruit gives it a really nice cold texture, similar to a milkshake but it’s tart, not overly sweet. And the best thing is that you get a serving of dairy and fruit, and half a serving of veggies, not to mention some gut healthy probiotics, all in one shot. Let me know if you try it and if you liked it. 🙂

Family Recipe for Tacos

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I’ve mentioned before that my mom used to cook for us all the time. Eating out at a fast-food place back then was a treat reserved for payday, and it might have happened every other week at the most. My mom cooked all the time for us. We never ate Hamburger Helper and she made her own taco meat and seasoning. I’m lucky to still have several of her recipes that I cook for my family today.

Her taco recipe is one of my go-to meals. I’ve cooked it for company and it is always well-received. I usually make a double batch because they make great leftovers and can be used for taco salads or taco bowls. My daughter likes to take this in a thermos for her lunch at school and I love to pack it for my lunch at work as well. It’s also a great vehicle to sneak some extra veggies in. My addition to my mom’s recipe is the shredded zucchini. It cooks down and blends in with the tomato sauce and beef until you can barely see it.

What I love about this recipe is that you have several options for your protein. I’ve cooked this using 95% lean ground beef, I’ve used ground bison meat, I’ve tried it with half lean ground turkey and half lean ground beef. I love ground bison meat but it is expensive. I also love using grass-fed beef, but it costs about the same per pound as ground bison. What I often do is mix ground bison or grass-fed beef with lean ground beef. If I can’t swing the expense of using all bison or grass-fed beef, I will up the nutrition value of the beef by mixing it with a less expensive, but lean protein.

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean ground beef (optional: mix 50/50 with ground bison or grass-fed beef, or lean ground turkey)
1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 small onion – diced
1 small zucchini – shredded
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Brown diced onion in a heated skillet. Add ground beef and brown until cooked through. Remove cooked beef and onions with a slotted spoon to drain excess fat, place in a medium sauce pan. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin and shredded zucchini. Simmer for about 20 minutes until zucchini has softened and some of the liquid has cooked down. The meat mixture will have a little extra liquid the first night, but it thickens up when re-heating the leftovers.

There are a variety of ways to serve this. My girls like using regular corn tortilla taco shells. I like to make a soft taco using a whole grain flour tortilla. Top the hard shell or soft tacos with shredded cheese, shredded lettuce or spinach, chopped tomato and salsa or hot sauce. Joe B likes to make deluxe nachos.

I also love to make a taco salad out of this. I’ll take one serving of tortilla chips (about 8 chips) and break them up in the bottom of a bowl. Then I’ll layer on about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of some type of leafy green (I like to use spinach but will serve romaine lettuce to company), approximately half a cup of the taco meat mixture, then top with shredded cheese, salsa or picante sauce, and chopped tomato.

I’ve experimented cooking different vegetables with the taco meat such as red bell pepper, and one time I mixed a can of rinsed and drained black beans into the meat mixture while it was still in the skillet. That particular experiment didn’t go over so well because my girls could see and taste the beans. I’ll try that one again a later date. 🙂

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By the way, this is my first attempt at photographing a meal I cooked for the blog. I’ll continue to be brave and experiment some more with this.

Springtime Heralds a New Beginning

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This week spring has arrived in our region! We have an additional hour of daylight as well, so there is more time after work to enjoy the outdoors. Spring always feels like a new beginning….trees and plants are starting to bud, people are talking about turning over the soil in their garden beds, and you see people outside enjoying walks and riding bikes. The smell of charcoal and cooking outdoors is also a welcome part of spring.

Spring also feels like a new chance to do things differently, or to try things again. A new growing season, another chance to eat locally as much as possible (our CSA application for the summer is due at the end of this month), and another try at the home garden. We built our raised beds last year but didn’t have the time or money to do the rest of the steps to start our garden. We have time and money budgeted this year, so I am excited to give it whirl.

Spring feels like hope. It feels positive. Spring always has the “goodest vibes” (as my friend Mike likes to say). It feels better than the calendar New Year’s Day. And yesterday just made me realize how much I’ve looked forward to spring and the new beginning it heralds.

My 76-yr mom is recovering from knee replacement surgery. She came home last week after her hospital stay, and then 2 weeks in a rapid recovery rehabilitation facility. She is scheduled for outpatient physical therapy 4 times per week as she continues to work on getting her knee to bend and walking without a walker. She chose outpatient PT over in-home PT because she and my dad and her doctor felt it would be best because it would make her get up and out of the house and be more mobile. We had a cookout yesterday to celebrate her being home.

I’ve always felt that my family eats pretty healthy due to my mom. She always cooked for us growing up and she always made her own potato salad and/or macaroni salad for cookouts. We rarely bought sides from the store. I had my nutrition class watch a segment of the HBO documentary “The Weight of the Nation” and a visual that has stayed with me was one of a cookout or dinner at the beginning the episode….there was fried chicken, white bread, several salads heavy with mayonnaise, greens drowned in butter, anything that had fruit was covered with a cool whip & cream cheese mixture. I always have mixed feelings when I see things like that. I feel empathy because I know people are socialized to eat those foods for celebration or for comfort (I see foods like that after a funeral). I feel a little sad because people want to be healthy and it makes it hard when families/communities default to food like that in times of celebration or sorrow. And I feel fortunate because my family has the motivation and means to do things differently.

The menu for our cookout was burgers and hotdogs (of course), but the burgers were 95% lean ground beef and the hotdogs were all-beef franks. We had whole wheat hamburger and the closest thing to whole wheat hotdog buns that I could find at the store (enriched wheat flour does not a whole grain make). I looked at the table before we started eating and it made me feel good. In addition to the meat my husband cooked on the grill, I saw a bowl of homemade potato salad that my sister made, baked beans, fresh watermelon and strawberries, and plates of cucumber slices, baby carrots and lettuce. There was some debate about whether to get a pie or potato chips, but my sister gave up potato chips for Lent and we decided we had enough without a pie. We gave in slightly and got a bag of organic tortilla chips. It was the nicest feeling to be sitting at my parents table, with the windows and door open, in warm weather with a table of fresh food. We all got full off of some good and healthy food. And the fact that we were celebrating my mom being home made it that much better.

Hopefully spring signals a new beginning for this blog as well. Lol. I am going to make an effort to blog once per week at a minimum, instead of my sporadic monthly installments. I hope the weather is warm where you are and that you enjoy the beginning of the new season.

Encourage, don’t discourage

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I am always happy to see others succeed in their quest for health, especially those who have been unhealthy for most of their adult lives. It’s gratifying and encouraging when our Native people (or any group of people who suffer from similar health disparities as American Indians) find the motivation to learn about nutrition, physical activity, and how to incorporate both into their daily lives. However, I take issue with those new to the health scene calling others down for their lack of knowledge or motivation. I am thinking of specific examples where I’ve read about people on social media sites bragging themselves up and simultaneously putting others down for not being “on their level”….whatever that means. And the same people bragging themselves up and putting others down have just recently discovered their own good health.

Those people who engage in that type of behavior don’t realize that we remember how unhealthy they were 5 minutes ago. They are not in a position to judge others and their efforts, or lack of efforts. I also take issue with those who make condescending remarks or belittle those who are trying to be health and/or active. People don’t realize how fortunate they are to have grown up with sports or active families…..or to have grown up with parents/caregivers who cooked all the time and had basic healthy eating knowledge, and access to healthy/whole foods. I see kids in my own community whose parents don’t feel that sports are important, or they don’t get out and engage in activity with their kids. Also people don’t realize how fortunate they are to have healthy, fully functioning bodies….bodies without arthritis, without chronic injuries or illness, bodies that don’t prevent them from doing anything they want to do.

I will admit to being a running snob towards one or two people that I didn’t care for back in the day….I remember thinking and making a couple of comments about someone I had seen running for a few years, that with all their running you would think they might be a little faster or look a little lighter….the epitome of a running snob. But since then I’ve seen that there is no excuse for that type of behavior and snobbishness. We don’t know by looking at someone what their story is, or what their challenges are. Maybe that person whom I saw running at a snails pace for years has managed to keep from gaining 50 pounds and prevented diabetes with that activity. Maybe that person has some health issues that keep their running from looking like what we believe to be a runner’s pace/gait/form/body. Maybe the person NOT running and just walking is a former runner who physically can’t run anymore. Maybe the person who expresses their pride in running 3 miles has just done something they never thought they were capable of.

We don’t need to put others down in order to elevate ourselves. And we are in no position to judge another’s journey towards health.

We, as Native people, need to encourage others in our quest for health. We need to model the behavior that we want others to emulate. We need to do this so the generations that follow will be healthy and ensure our continued presence on this planet. And the people most secure and sincere in their own quest for health are the ones who are most encouraging to others. Be that kind of person. We can’t have too many of those in our communities.

New Breakfast Recipe

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Being considered the “Food Police” has its benefits. It gets people talking with me about healthy food which I think is always a good thing. I usually get asked for ideas on healthy meals, but once in awhile I get a message from someone asking if I’ve ever tried a certain recipe.

My friend Justin (fancy dancer from Canada) asked me a year ago if I’ve ever made oatmeal banana loaf. I hadn’t because I’d never heard of oatmeal banana loaf. There were some confused messages from me until I got an idea of what he was talking about. He sent me a link with the recipe and for some reason I just sat on it and never tired it. Until this morning.

And I have to say I now have a favorite weekend breakfast. The recipe is called Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal and the recipe is found on the Budget Bytes website. http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/08/blueberry-banana-baked-oatmeal/

This oatmeal bake is warm, sweet with all natural sugars, and loaded with whole grains, fruit, and milk. I wish I had a picture but we ate most of it before I thought that maybe I should’ve Instagrammed it. 🙂

Depending on your nutrition goals, this can be made in several different ways. You can use different types of milk such as skim, almond, low-fat or whole milk. You can substitute different types of sweeteners, such as maple syrup, evaporated cane sugar, or stevia for the 1/4 C of white sugar that the recipe calls for. It can be “clean” and all natural or it can be fat-free and table sugar-free.

Since I am back on Weight Watcher and following the “Simply Filling” plan, I used fat-free milk and Splenda for baking in this recipe to keep the ingredients all Power Foods or 0 point ingredients. I will plan to use Stevia next time, but I was in a hurry and didn’t want to sit and do the calculations with Stevia when I could just use 1/4 C of baking Splenda.

This was absolutely delicious and easy to make. I broke mine up in the bowl and topped it with a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk. My husband topped his with chopped pecans and almond milk. I have no idea why it took me whole year to try it, but we both agreed this will be entered into the weekend breakfast lineup. Enjoy!

 Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
45 mins
Total time
1 hour
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups (3 med) mashed bananas
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¼ cup white sugar (I used Stevia
  • ¾ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2½ cups old fashioned oats
  • 8 ounces frozen blueberries
 Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mash the bananas in a measuring cup, starting with two or three and adding more until you have 1.5 cups of banana mash.
  2. Combine the banana mash in the large bowl with the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Add the milk and whisk again until smooth.
  3. Stir in the dry old-fashioned oats. Lastly, stir in the frozen blueberries (keeping them frozen and stirring them in last helps prevent the entire mix from turning purple). Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with non-stick spray and then pour in the oat mixture.
  4. Bake in the preheated 375 degree oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is no longer wet to the touch.
Notes
Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to eat. These oats can be quickly reheated in the microwave each morning for a quick, filling breakfast.

Why Culture is Important to Health

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This is the original, unedited, version of a newsletter article I wrote that was just released today. I wanted to share this on my blog after it came out in print.

One dictionary definition of “culture” is “the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.” Indigenous people are rich with culture. Not only because each sovereign nation has its own definitive and unique sum total of ways of living, but because cultural knowledge is seen as valuable…priceless. And cultural knowledge is deemed necessary to our way of life as Indigenous people.

Dakota/Lakota/Nakoda people have a term for “healthy lifestyle” or a “good way of life”. Wicozani is not simply a state of physical health, but a world-view, a philosophy practically applied, that attends to a person’s physical, mental, social and spiritual wellness. Wicozani encompasses all that contributes to our wellness, our good way of life, which for Indigenous people begins with culture.

Indigenous ways of life prior to Western contact included our own food systems, healing traditions that included knowledge of medicinal plants and spiritual practices, plenty of physical activity, and strong social support amongst our tiwahe (immediate family) and our tiospaye (extended family). Our gender roles were strong and equitable and contributed to the well-being of families and society. Our adults taught children what was expected of them to become strong, healthy, productive individuals by example. All generations were considered valuable to society and were cared for accordingly. Tribal and family history was taught with stories. Our Indigenous languages offered explanations for environmental and universal phenomena that cannot be wholly translated into English, but recently have been found to be in –line with prominent scientists and theorists. We continue to transmit this knowledge to younger generations today.

We were once some of the healthiest people on the planet. We lived and practiced Wicozani. It was normal to us to pay attention to and take care of all aspects of ourselves.

Life is not easy today. Stressors abound with personal and family finances, job insecurity, limited access to affordable, healthy food and exercise outlets. There is social stress from living as an Indigenous person in a Western world. Contemporary society pressures us to believe that one aspect of our wellness is more important than others, whether it be education, job success/material success, or physical health. When life’s stressors start to pile up and make us feel overwhelmed, or when we start to notice our own mental, emotional and physical health failing, or that of our loved ones, our biggest asset in the search for Wicozani, is being able to tap the innate cultural knowledge that exists in all Indigenous people. Remember how strong your people were at one point. Know that you already possess the knowledge passed down from our ancestors. And know that you have everything you need to be strong and healthy once again.

Hip Dysplasia…..who knew?

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It’s official. All the cartilage is gone from both hips. And it’s time to look for surgeon and decide what surgery I want to have. Less than two years after my diagnosis of hip osteoarthritis, and two years of trying to figure out WHY my case of OA was so severe in someone as young as I am, I finally have a few answers.

I saw an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in joint replacement last week. My biggest question to date was wondering what caused my hip osteoarthritis. He took one look at my x-rays when I asked him if my OA was simply from wear and tear, and he said, “I can tell you why you have OA….you have hip dysplasia.” Hip dysplasia is a condition where the hip joint is malformed. Typically the socket of the joint isn’t large enough, one side is shorter than it is supposed to be. Or the shape of the head of the femur is a little off. Either way, it’s a condition people are born with. And the wear and tear on the hip joints and cartilage is similar to how a tire tread wears out. If the alignment of the two front tires is off, if the tires are curved in slightly at the top, the tire treads will wear out faster. The hip dysplasia causes irregular movement of the joint, which causes the cartilage to wear out. It also causes the joint to try to grow new bone in an effort to correct the movement, which is why I have the bone spurs at the top and bottom of the hip socket that are causing the impingement and have limited my range of motion. And similar to a tire trying to run out of alignment for years, the tires will blow out eventually. So that’s me….the hip dysplasia has blown out my hip cartilage. Osteoarthritis is an inevitable outcome of hip dysplasia.

I had been doing some research on hip replacement and hip resurfacing, and my next question for the doctors was, “Am I a candidate for hip resurfacing?” Instead of removing the top of the femur and replacing with a metal rod and ball joint (either ceramic or metal), the resurfacing smooths down the head and neck of the femur and caps it with a metal alloy, and also lines the interior of the hip socket with metal. This smooths out all the bone spurs, preserves the bone for future hip replacement surgery, and is typically a better alternative to younger patients who are active. I found an NHL hockey player who returned to pro hockey after having hip resurfacing, so I was hoping I was a candidate. I am not. Hip resurfacing is for people with larger, thicker bones. I am not big enough. Shaving and smoothing the head and neck of my femur (making it thinner than it is now) would put me at-risk for future fractures.

So total hip replacement it is. Then I wondered about the typical recovery time from hip replacement surgery. I was advised by my orthopedist here in town to look for a surgeon that used a direct or modified anterior approach. That approach doesn’t cut through any muscle tissue, it moves the muscles apart to get at the bone and joint, so the joint remains stable and the recovery time is quicker (less time for muscle and nerve tissue to repair itself). The joint replacement specialist said 1 day in the hospital for the surgery, 2-3 day stay post-surgery, then a total of 6 weeks off work. THREE MONTHS TOTAL RECOVERY TIME!!! He said 3 months until I am back to my old self. I had thought it would be closer to 6 months total recovery time. I am also looking for a ceramic ball joint, preferably one that is a larger size so I can still be active. The doctor advised against running and jumping sports in order to preserve the life of the artificial joint, so I didn’t bother to ask him about shawl dancing. But I fully intend to return to shawl dancing. Running I’ve found I can live without, especially if the choice is between running and shawl dancing. Shawl dancing will win every time. I can run in water and I can do the elliptical. I will maintain my Olympic style weight training regimen. I’ve found other effective ways of training.

And speaking of training, after a few months of my emotions and my motivation moving in steep waves as I’ve had to wait on my consults, it’s time to put a stronger emphasis on my training and eating. I want to plan for this surgery and the recovery time. I want to be in very good condition whenever I schedule to help facilitate a good surgery and as easy a recovery time as I can. And it will help me deal with the wait time for my 2nd consult with a highly recommended surgeon that I can’t get in to see until March 31.

My goal before my recent consults was to preserve what hip cartilage I had left and to manage the pain. Now my goal is to get my weight down and get as strong as I can to help with the surgery and recovery. It helps in ways I can’t describe to finally know what caused my OA and why it was so bad in someone my age. Now that I know I can keep an eye on my daughters and get them checked for hip dysplasia when they are in their teens. Hopefully by then, if they do have it, technology will come up with a good treatment to correct it so that my girls won’t have to go through what I am going through. It feels good to have hope again, and to have very clear goals. My life won’t be the same, but that is just the nature of life. It changes. It helps us grow usually by putting us through things we wouldn’t wish on others. My life won’t be the same but it will be better in so many different ways….no pain, range of motion back, and more experiences to share that may help others. I truly feel that I have been blessed far more than I deserve. 🙂

Something is Working…..

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So far this end of summer/fall season has been extremely busy. I was asked to up my hours at work and I received a contract to be an adjunct instructor at the tribal college where I have taught a diabetes class for years. I’m also taking a nutrition course online at through K-State Distance Learning. But with the hectic schedule, I’ve been making time to do something everyday, even if it’s just a walk.

Over the summer I noticed that I was developing a forward lean in my gait. The lean was due to hip joint pain and stiffness. I would get very stiff sitting at my computer at work, and even getting up and walking around didn’t relieve the stiffness. It was painful to stand straight up and walk, so I compensated with the lean. After gaining 5 pounds during our summer travels at the end of July, I came home with determination to change things. Attending an obesity conference at the beginning of August for my work did wonders for my motivation. So, August 1, I focused on consistently taking my Omega-3 supplement and a glucosamine/condroitin supplement. I also started taking turmeric regularly again. I had always heard that the glucosamine helped arthritic joints feel better and needed to be taken for about 2 weeks before you could feel a difference, but I had never taken them long enough to notice anything.

We went to a powwow in Oklahoma the first weekend in August and then traveled there again for another powwow 2 weeks later. By the third weekend that month, I noticed that I was standing up straighter. My joints weren’t as stiff and I could walk fully upright with no joint pain. I also noticed that when my joints would get stiff sitting at my desk, that they loosened up with a short walk around my department. I danced pain-free for the first time since the beginning of June. 🙂

I have worked out with my trainer Travis for 8 sessions now. I’ve more than doubled the number of regular pushups I can do (went from 3 to 10) and yesterday I pushed a prowler (sled) with 110 pounds on it, 6 times, each time in under 2 minutes (the prowler weighs 75 lbs by itself, for a total weight pushed of 185 lbs). I find myself sitting up more straight at work, and standing taller. I am beginning to see definition in my arms and more definition in my legs. Walking around campus at my job is much easier than a couple of months ago. And my heavy white beadwork feels slightly lighter now….not as light as I would like just yet, but I am being patient and know it will continue to feel lighter as long as I continue to put in the work.

I ask my diabetes course students to keep a food journal near the middle of the semester and I am required to keep one for my nutrition course at K-State. So I began last week to journal in earnest, and I have been consistent. It helps remind me to get my veggies and fruits in and to keep an eye on my carb count. The week before school started, I began to double the amount of dinners I cooked and freezing one batch. That has helped immensely on the nights where I am too tired to cook or don’t have time to grocery shop. We just have to thaw and heat and we can eat a homemade meal.

So something is working….lol. I feel better, I am walking upright without pain and I am getting stronger. I set a beginning goal of losing 18 pounds and I have lost 6 of those. My clothes are fitting better. I feel better. I just need to stay consistent.