Juicing up

Time for an update on my recent blood pressure diagnosis. 

I've been doing pretty well on keeping track of my blood pressure. The highest I recorded at home was 158/93 on March 3. I kind of forgot to take any readings last week, so I was really happy this morning when I took a reading and it was 120/78! I've also lost about 4 pounds.

One of the things I decided to do to get this under control was to get back on juicing. So I splurged a little and got a NutriBullet — yes, one of those TV gadgets. I'd been looking into it for almost a year, though, reading reviews and user comments on sites where you can purchase it, like Amazon, Target, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I ended up going with Amazon, and it arrived about a week after I saw the doctor.

I've done pretty well using it, missing only a couple days in the last two weeks. I've followed recipes on this site. I like that you can look up recipes according to what health condition you want to benefit, or by what ingredients you have on hand.

Here's one juice I had recently. I guess you could call it a berry blast: spinach, frozen strawberries and blueberries, and some fresh raspberries. The NutriBullet comes with a book of information and recipes (seen in the photo), but I haven't really used it, partly because the poorly edited stock art makes me laugh too hard to read it. Seriously, you can tell they photoshopped the NutriBullet cups over a coffee mug or something.

This is one I made Saturday — spinach, cantaloupe, carrot and cucumber.

There's two things I like about the NutriBullet. No. 1 is it's so easy to clean. You might remember, a friend sent me her unused juicer a couple years ago. I used it til it just quit sometime last year. I loved it, but it took a lot of effort to clean it. I easily spent a couple hours or more cutting up the fruit, juicing, then cleaning the machine. I learned pretty quickly to make a whole lot of juice and freezing it so I wasn't spending time every week with a long task.

With the NutriBullet, I chop up just what I need (what I don't use, I keep in a vacuum-sealed bag for the next day) and when I'm done, just rinse the blade piece and the cup and it's ready for the next day.

Also, there's very little waste with the NutriBullet. With a juicer, there's the pulp left over. I usually put mine in the compost bin in the back yard, but it seemed like such a waste. And actually, that pulp is all the fiber in the fruit and vegetables that is really good for you. Without it, you might be spiking your blood sugar, and that can be dangerous.

I don't do a "cleanse," and never have, so I'm not worried about that. Instead, I just make juicing part of my diet. I usually make about 8-12 ounces in the morning for breakfast. I do need to work out an easy way to get a solid breakfast later, though — something I can put together quick and heat up to eat on my drive to work or after I get there. Maybe the breakfast sandwiches I made in this entry. They were pretty tasty.

So that's the health update for now. I'll find out officially how I'm doing after the upcoming follow-up visit.

Scaling new heights

Last week, I was surprised to see the black & white kitten, who I've started calling Rascal since he's usually the first to get into things or places, had gotten himself up on the top shelf of the walk in closet. Mustache kitten followed within a day or so.

It wasn't until today, though, that I saw how they got up there.

All but the yellow kitten have napped on top of the wardrobe thing hanging on the rod to the right of the first picture. They would merely climb to the top and make themselves comfortable.

Rascal, bold one that he is, took that a step further. He climbs to the top of the hanging wardrobe, then, like a rock climber below a ledge jutting out of the mountain, grabs onto the cushion stored above, swings out and pulls himself up. It was kind of remarkable, really.

To get down, Rascal just jumps from the top shelf to the top of the kennel with a big THUD — not nice in the middle of the night. I might just have to start closing the closet door when I go to bed.

Mustache kitten, on the other hand, gets down by doing the reverse of getting up — getting a hold on the cushion, swinging her legs til she gets footing on the wardrobe and then climbing down. More like sliding down the time I saw her do it, though.

I let them outside this morning — or rather, they let themselves outside this morning. I guess I didn't close the bedroom door securely after I fed them, because when I got back from a walk up the street with Buster, all the kittens and Keaton were cavorting around the tree in the back yard.

It was a nice morning, so I thought what the heck and let them stay out for probably a couple of hours. Keaton kept an eye on them, and Buster "helped." He kind of got tired of herding kittens after awhile though, and would just go lie down in the yard close enough to watch but not be part of the playtime.

The surprising thing about the morning is how unmellow the yellow kitten was. He loved being outside, and when I decided to put them back in the bedroom so I could take a nap, he slipped out of the room four times and got back outside two or three of those times. He kind of yowled the first time I put him inside, too. 

As for me, I'm doing a little better. Our walk this morning was two and a half blocks out and back, and this afternoon I got tired of lying around, so I made some lemonade concentrate and simple syrup for my tea. It kind of wore me out, but that's something, I guess. I keep having to remind myself it will take time to get back to feeling like my old self again.

Back on the juice

Ooh, look, two blog posts in one day!

I haven't juiced for awhile, and after and long and tiring walk with Buster, decided it was a good time to get back into it.

So here's today's offering.

There's one each of a granny smith apple, cucumber, celery stalk and a carrot from a friend's garden; a quarter of a small watermelon also from a friend's garden (seeds removed and saved); a small piece of ginger; and the leaves from a couple stalks of kale.

All that turned into this:


This is what's left:

I've read tips that you can put the pulp through the juicer and get a little more juice out of it, but what I get is just fine. I put this out in my compost bin.

This batch, I can really taste the watermelon, and there really wasn't that much of it, but it was awful juicy, obviously, compared to the other ingredients. Could've used a little more ginger, but it was good.

Good stuff

This sounded so good, I dug in before I remembered to take a picture.

It was kind of inspired by this post from a local food blogger. It sounds awesome, but it was getting late and I don't have a lot of ingredients on hand right now. But I did have the the jar of homemade pear-ginger preserves my friend Sally gave me, so I cracked it open finally, warmed it up and smeared it on some simple Bisquick pancakes.

Man, that was good. And I made enough pancakes I can probably have breakfast tomorrow. Or maybe this weekend. There's just enough preserves left for one more dish.

*Edited: Oops. Wasn't peach. 'Twas pear. Shoulda read the label, huh?

Sharing my food

My friend Lace shared a weight-loss tip she read recently that is basically to keep a food diary by using your smart phone to take a picture of your meals. The idea is it will keep you more accountable to sticking to healthy eating. Lace is taking it a step further by sharing her pix on her Google+ account (with those who opt in to that circle.) I thought I'd try something similar, but since my phone isn't quite smart enough to post to Google or Facebook, I'll try it here.

So that's tonight's dinner above, leftover rotisserie chicken breast (from last night. I was too tired to make anything), some frozen mixed vegetables and brown rice (which I'll make the leftovers into fried rice another night). Milk to drink. Pretty quick and easy, and not all a bunch of processed junk.

By the way, I probably won't do this every day, and certainly not every meal. Just so you won't worry I'm going to bore you or something.

Some juicy reading

My latest healthy thing:


Green juice. It's better than you might think.

I got turned on to this after reading Kris Carr's "Crazy Sexy Diet." Her "Crazy Sexy Cancer" documentary is pretty inspiring, and the diet book (I would have called "lifestyle" rather than diet, myself) is pretty convincing that all that processed food is a big part in why Americans are so unhealthy today.

So I've been trying to eat better. I wasn't 100% successful at first, because I found out at my cancer checkup in July that I have iron-deficiency anemia.So I upped my intake of foods that are high in iron — leafy greens are great for that. That seems to have worked, because a month later, at a follow-up appointment, my iron levels were up!

I think part of it was the juicing. After a friend sent me her unused juicer, I've been trying to use it at least once a week. I'd like to do it more often, but it's kind of time consuming. Not the juicing itself, mind you, but the prep and cleanup! And still having two jobs, plus trying to make my own foods rather than eating out or just getting processed foods can make time kinda tight. But I'd rather do what I can to not have cancer again, so that's what I do.

Anyway, the above green juice today was made with romaine, kale, strawberries, half an organic cucumber, a banana, a sliver of ginger and a carrot and some chard, both of those right out of my friend Max's garden today. It was pretty good, too. Personally, I think the ginger and cucumber is what makes it really good.

And doing this is convincing me I need to get off my butt and actually have a vegetable garden next year.

Giving it up

I didn't really plan on making any new year's resolutions, since I never end up keeping them, but I guess in a way I have made one. That's to quit eating so much crap.

First step: giving up pop. Well, not entirely. But I'd like to quit being so dependent on the Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc. So I'm going to try and go through January without any. My main concern with those soft drinks, really is the high fructose corn syrup. Don't let the HFCS people fool you. There are plenty of reasons to avoid that stuff.

So far, I've done pretty well. I've had one 8-ounce can of Dr. Pepper (the last one I had in the fridge; hate to waste stuff, after all) and maybe about 5 ounces from a 20-ounce Pepsi bottle I bought earlier this week when I got lunch at the grocery store salad bar. And that's it.

As far as substitutes, I've been drinking more juice — orange juice and V8 Splash, specifically — and a friend convinced me to try Sierra Mist Natural. It's not too bad, and actually tastes better than the original. On a trip to the grocery store this week, I also realized that the sodas from Mexico (like Jarritos and Sangria Señorial don't have HFCS (and a lot fewer ingredients anyway).

I really haven't had any caffeine withdrawal effects, either. I had a slight headache when I woke up one morning this week, but that's about it. I won't cut Pepsi and such out completely, but I figure if I can go a month without it, that should break the mental part of it, and I can treat myself once in awhile — dinner out or something like that. But getting away from the "gotta have a little every day" mentality will be a big step to getting even healthier.

Keep working it

Whoo-hoo! I finally got around to putting new batteries in the scale, and after two months of not being able to weigh myself, found I am just 1 pound above the weight goal I'd set last fall and had hoped to reach by my birthday at the end of the year! That means I also just squeak by into the healthy BMI range for my weight. That's been the real goal.

But it makes me feel pretty good, and I've even set a new weight-loss goal to put me more firmly in the healthy BMI range. I know I can do it, too.

Really, all I have been doing is making sure I get yoga in at least three times a week (following the Yogamazing podcasts, walking and playing with Buster whenever I can, and maybe getting in some walking at the mall when I'm there working and it's slow. I've also cut down on the junk/fast food and watch my portions. I really think it's the yoga, though, that's made the difference. With the podcasts, I can mix up the routines enough that it's not boring, and I can focus on one body area or get in an all-around workout. It does wonders for the attitude, too.

I would like to get in a bit more cardio, though, so I'm going to make an effort to get on the exercise bike a couple times a week, too.

So, yay, me. 2010's off to a great start.

Resolution update

I did only so-so last week on my resolution not to eat fast food. I got a bit down in the dumps about mid-week and didn't feel like making meals to take with me. Which was bad, because Wednesday and Thursday were also the days I worked the second job and so had to worry about two meals away from home. So I ended up eating out Wednesday through Friday's lunch.

I didn't do that bad, really. Wednesday's lunch was salad, soup and some fruit off the grocery store salad bar, and Thursday's was a turkey flatbread Sammie with soup from Quizno's. Dinner was another matter, though. Wedneseday, I had Chinese again from the place in the mall, and Thursday was KFC. And Friday, I really did bad with a chicken sandwich and fries from Wendy's.

But I did take dinner to work at the mall last night -- a baked potato with cheese sauce and shredded chicken for toppings, and I added a salad from the grocery store salad bar. So that's some redemption, right?

Doing good

Forgot about updating, for those of you not following the tweets. Both checkups went well. Some of the numbers on my bloodwork were a bit lower than normal; the doc said those numbers usually indicate an allergy and viruses. She's going to have me go back in about a month for another blood test just to make sure. I have felt like I've been fighting something lately, waking up with a dry, scratchy throat, so maybe that's it.

Otherwise things are a-OK. And both the surgeon and oncologist said I don't need to go get another MRI. That was good news, because I don't want to go through that mess again.

So far, so good

Six days into the new year, and I've eaten out only once! And it was sorta healthy. Chinese food. I mean, there were lots of vegetables. OK, I didn't eat all the vegetables. But it wasn't a greasy burger or corndog, after all.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my three-and-half year checkups with the surgeon and oncologist. Feeling good, so everything should go well. Send some positive vibes, though. Every bit helps.

Healthier 2009

So it's the new year, and I've been thinking about resolutions, as everyone does. How can you help it with all the diet/exercise product infomercials and organization stuff in the stores?

One thing I want to do, as I've said every year, is to get healthier. It means a lot more now than it did, say, five years ago, though. And I have done better, at least somewhat. I eat a little better and exercise more. But I never seemed to be able to lose much weight. Until this year. Once it warmed up this spring to where Buster and I could walk everyday, I lost about 15 pounds without even realizing it! That's the difference, I guess, of walking with an elderly dog vs. walking with a 1-year-old dog.

Really, I'm not that bad off. According to this site, I have a BMI of 26, which is just over the limit of being "overweight." According to that site, I could get down to 100 pounds and be considered normal weight. Yikes. I look of pictures of myself from right after college, when I was about 110, and that just looks too skinny (although it probably didn't help I always wore baggy clothes). I'd be happy with about 130-135, so I don't have far to go.

Anyway, back to resolutions. I've tried lots of different methods of keeping them, and it never really seems to work. So instead of saying "Lose weight" or even more specifically, "Lose 10 pounds," I'm going to go with small steps. So first step for January: Cutting fast food from the diet. This one should be easy, because I've already done a lot of that. I quit eating at McDonald's about a year or so ago after they ripped me off on my change in the drive-through and the manager was a jerk about it, and I lost about five pounds in the two months after that.

I go to Sonic once in a while (OK, more often than I should) for a corndog and tater tots (they probably start fixing them when they see me drive up now). Chicken (popcorn chicken, nuggets, KFC) is my downfall. But I hardly ever eat fast-food hamburgers anymore. And there are healthy options at fast food places. Wendy's (which is one of the best places for lunch here, service-wise) has chili, baked potatoes, salads, etc. There's a Quizno's near where I work, and I'm taking my lunch/dinner to work a lot more often now. So if I can just control the corndog/chicken nugget cravings, this one should be a smooth way to start.

I'll be working on some exercise goals this month, too, but I'm really going to focus on success on one goal each month.

All clear

The scoping went well. There's a just some diverticulitis, but no polyps, no tumors, no nothing. He didn't even take any samples. So whoo-hoo!

And it wasn't all that bad. I was out within a few minutes of the IV starting and don't remember a thing until I woke up in the recovery area. I did get to see the few pictures he took. The nurse in the recovery room was pretty funny, too. During the colonoscopy, the doc fills you up with air, so you have to pass that before they let you go. So as I let one rip, the nurse said "Good! That's what we like to hear .... nurses are kind of gross."

After Mom and I left the surgical center, we got a big lunch and got home around 1 p.m. I slept until nearly 5 p.m. I'm still kind of groggy and just hanging out on the couch with the laptop, much to Buster's disappointment. Poor guy didn't get his walk this morning, and all I've done while here has been to sleep. Maybe later this evening I'll feel up to playing with him and take him for a walk if it's not too warm. Until then, I'm not going far from the couch.

So hungry

So tomorrow is the colonoscopy. That means tonight, no food, other than Jell-O. And nothing red or purple, because that can apparantly cause some discoleration in your innerds. I was allowed to eat a light breakfast, but nothing but liquids and Jell-O after that. I did OK, really, until this afternoon, when I had to put together the food page for the paper. And then a co-worker came in and starting munching on the Chees-its she keeps in her desk and another came in with Chinese take-out.

Now I'm just sitting here on the couch waiting for the colon cleanser to start working. It's not going to be a fun evening. Maybe by the time the doc lets me go tomorrow, I'll feel good enough for a big BIG lunch somewhere.

Oops. I think the stuff is starting to work. It's about time for the first of many trips to the bathroom.

Sick sick sick

I'm tired of it. Being sick, that is. A week ago, I came down with a cold that had some kind of vendetta. Sore throat, stuffy and painful sinuses, runny nose, bad cough ... blech. I slept most of that day until I had to go to work at the hotline. Didn't go to either job Monday, and suffered through Wednesday, when I worked both jobs. I was supposed to work Thursday and Friday nights, too, but fortunately we have a new hotline assistant, and she wanted to start ASAP, so the boss asked if I wouldn't mind letting her have those nights. I was too glad to have that opportunity! I don't think I'd be in near as good as a shape if I had worked those three nights in a row -- and I'm still not in too great a shape!

I am feeling much better though, and have managed to catch up on the housework I hadn't been able to get to. You can actually see the countertops in the kitchen now, and I have clean clothes! I still have to catch up on about three rooms' worth of cleaning, but I don't work too many weeknights this week, so I think I'll be able to manage.

I did get some bad news about one of my support group members last week. She went into the hospital after some vomiting and bad headaches. They found two small tumors in her brain, for which she's geting radiation now. Someone who went to visit her said she is in great spirits, though, and looking forward to getting on with life, so that's good news. The hospital here lets you send e-mails to patients through their Web site (volunteers print them out, paste them into a card and deliver them to the person), so I sent her message since I probably shouldn't go in to a place with sick people when I have a bad cold. I'm hoping she does well, because she was another who was diagnosed around the same time I was. This will be her third time around with treatment. Go, Gina! You can beat it again!

Exhausted

That's how I feel after the last couple of days. Yesterday, I went in for a checkup on the kidney stone I had in December 2005. I had an X-ray first, and then about an hour later met with the urologist. He said there was no sign of any more stones, but I did have some blood in my urine (not enough to see), and since I'd never had any in previous samples, he did have some concern. So what I hoped would be just a "everything's fine, hope we don't have to see you again" type visit ends up with me disrobing and getting my kidneys viewed (don't aks for details).

He said there was an area that looked a bit inflamed, and I might just have a minor infeciton. But he wanted a couple more exams done just to make sure it's not something more serious. So he ordered a sonogram of my kidneys and an IVP (intravenous pyelogram, if you're into medical terms). That meant I had to "clean out" my intestines so they could get a good view. And by "cleaning out" the intestines, I mean "CLEANING OUT" the intestines. My water bill will probably be a good $15 higher just from Wednesday night. I also couldn't eat anything but clear liquids. So the only solid food I had all day was the banana I had at breakfast.

They did want me to have a full bladder for the IVP, so on the way to the hospital, I drank about a quart of water. In hindsight, that was probably too much. That was the second exam I had, and it took about an hour. By the time they were done, I felt like I was ready to burst. When the X-ray tech came back from showing the pics to a radiologist, she said "I bet you really have to go to the bathroom. You're bladder was really big!" Basicallly, the IVP is a series of X-rays tracking the progress of a dye through your renal system.

I had origianlly planned that after the exams, I'd head home and get ready for work. But by the time we got home, I had such a headache from not eating, not having my caffeine fix Wednesday, probably being a bit dehydrated, that I thought I'd take a short nap and try to get rid of it. I woke up about three hours later. Oops. I e-mailed my co-worker (who's sort of my supervisor) and explained why I wasn't there and said I'd be in for the afternoon. When he got back from lunch, I went up to him to apologize, and he told me "next time just give us a call when you get home and let us know." Uh, OK, so next time I ACCIDENTALLY oversleep I'm supposed to call beforehand and let you know? Genius.

Anyway, I'm feeling better tonight. I'm a little anxious about the results, but it's probably going to be nothing. Check back in a couple days and I'll probably know something.