Once Upon a Thigh: May 2009

Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor

I received a wonderful email from my friend and patient, Kristina Rowley. I told her I would include her offer in the newsletter this month. So here goes:

"I'm not sure if you remember me, but my name is Kristina Rowley. You saw me over a year ago and diagnosed me with IR. I began to follow your advice and lost my 10%. You came to my home to do a wardrobe & makeup consultation. Well I have been MIA because I went off the medication to get pregnant. I just had another little baby girl in January, and have once again lost my 10%. I really have valued the information you gave to me pertaining to weight loss with IR and got my sister-in-law on the program as well. She is doing great as well! We are pushing forward to loose even more and get to where we want to be.

I really want to help others to loose weight and feel good about their accomplishments. I think that it is really important to have a support group, and having my sister-in-law be mine has made this time much easier to stay motivated. I want to start a free support group for people to join to keep motivated and on track. I also want to share ideas and recipes they may find along the way. I want to have a monthly meeting to share success, struggles, new ideas, exercise info, and then include a sampling of healthy recipes from everyone to share. Then on a daily basis have a blog for people to log in their daily intake of food & exercise. Then have a Monday morning weigh in. I know not everyone wants to share their actual weight, so I thought that we would post the amount we wanted to loose and subtract our weight loss from that number every week. "

Her email is www.chrisarowley@hotmail.com If there is anyone who could help her set up the blog and help with anything else, she would love it. Please contact her. This is a GREAT IDEA Weight loss is successful when you have someone helping and supporting along the way, and weekly is the best. Way to go, Christina.

Elaine's Corner

I'll be brief this month, because I'm feeling the proverbial "tail between the legs" syndrome. I confess that I've been avoiding the scale for the past six weeks. Excuses are many; self esteem is waning. Because of you, I got on the scale this morning fully expecting to have regained my entire 48 lbs. Good news is I've lost 35 lbs; bad news is I've gained 13 lbs. The hard part is allowing myself to move forward and to focus on the 35 lbs. lost and not the 13 lbs. gained. That's tough for me. I have been able to maintain my three times a week commitment to exercise. I'm making needed corrections, and will check in with you next month. Hopefully my confession will encourage both you and me. Here's to a healthier month!!

-- Elaine

Great Book

Another great book I read was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. You can go online and hear his last lecture. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as a 47 year old man with a young family. Here are some of my favorite quotes: "We cannot change the cards we are dealt just how we play the hand. Engineering-doing the best you can with limited resources.

What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

How will people remember me-I want to do whatever good I can on the way out.

All of the things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them.

Kids need to know their parents love them.

Tenacity is a virtue.

The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you thought."

I found his Last Lecture inspiring when I viewed it on you tube. The book was his legacy to his children whom he would not see grow up. It helps you keep important things important and dumb things dumb.

Travel Healthy
  • Carry hand wipes and clean the arm rests, and tray table if flying.
  • Try and eat the same types of food as you do at home.
  • Try and keep the same sleep schedule. Jet lag is every traveler's nightmare. Besides exhaustion and insomnia, symptoms of jet lag include nausea, aching joints, swollen limbs, ear/nose/eye irritations, bowel irregularity, irritability, decreased concentration, headaches and even depression. It takes one full day to recover from jet lag for every time zone you cross.
  • Take good care of yourself before you leave, eating and sleeping well and exercising.
  • The day of the flight avoid pastries, snacks, candy, non-prescription drugs, carbonated drinks.
  • Drink lots of fluids, water and fruit juices.
  • Don't take sleeping pills, they can make jet lag worse.
  • Take 500mg of Vitamin C the morning and night before you leave on your flight and continue for one day after you arrive.
  • If you are flying from the West Coast to the East Coast, adjust your sleep time before you leave on your trip. For example, if yur normal bedtime is midnight, then 3 nights before you travel, go to sleep at 11 pm. Two days before you travel, retire at 10PM and the night before your trip, go to sleep at 9pm, which is midnight on the East coast. That is a beginning at least.
  • Set your watch to the new time zone. It encourages you to make decisions about eating and sleeping that are in line with the new time zone before you even arrive.
  • Avoid stress don't pack on the night before you go and stay up all night. Start preparing now to compile a list of items you will need for the trip and simply put them in a box to be transferred on the day before to your suitcase.
  • Sleeping aids to be purchased before the trip: Loose clothing to aid in circulation and comfort during the long flight, chewing gum, ear plugs, inflatable neck rest, comfortable shoes. Take all the meds you will need with you. Those that you use daily should be packed in your carry on.
  • Drink 8oz of water for every hour you spend on a plane, take a nice long bath or shower when you arrive.
  • Walk around the cabin periodically, exercise in your seat, stretch your arms overhead, gently stretch your neck, exercise your hands, raise and lower your legs and bend over and touch your ankles.
Thought for the Day

"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place."

-- Nora Roberts

Brain Defoggers - AARP Magazine
  • Get Your Bs: Vitamin B12 is essential. Make sure you are getting at least 400mcg of folic acid which improves mental speed.
  • Sleep: The brain moves memories into long term storage during deep sleep. Stick to one bedtime and keep your bedroom quiet, dark and cool. Limit caffeine, night lights, naps and nightcaps all of which can zap sleep.
  • Move: Increasing your activity level can increase brain volume. If you walk 150 minutes a week for 6 months studies show people with mild memory problems did better. IT increases the flow of blood to the brain and controls insulin and other chemicals that are linked to thinking problems.
  • Medication: Some medications cause problems with clear thinking. Check yours out.
The Write Diet

When you write down everything you eat you can double your success. When dieters wrote down what they ate, they lost an average of 18 pounds in 20 weeks. Those who didn't keep diaries lost only 9 pounds on average.

Eyes Have It - How to Look Your Best
  • get enough sleep (7-9 hours)
  • sleep with your head slightly elevated to keep fluid retention out of your eyes
  • monitor your salt intake
  • ask about allergy medication-dark circles come when allergies aren't treated
Have a great summer!

-- Carol

Don't forget to tell a friend about Once Upon a Thigh!