this American Sentence was inspired by the outraged reaction of someone (in the 1st of the following paragraphs), after I said that losing 35 lbs. (safely) would be difficult and it would take months
Before Crohn’s disease began controlling my diet, I used to host a yearly nutrition and exercise challenge. I stopped when what I ate (and how I ate it) became too specific to me to work well for another—not without serious tweaking. Then, last week, a friend sent me this: “I’m freaking out. The doctor says I have colitis, food I’ve always eaten makes me sick now, and I can’t fit in my fat pants. Help!”
My
friend, Mr. Drama Queen, has a long history of not sticking to anything involving
him having to give up something he likes. If you’ve been reading me for a
while, you might remember him as the guy who asked me to give up coffee for a
year in order to keep him company while he gave up smoking. I went a whole year
without my magic brew, just to find out that he kept puffing when I wasn’t
looking.
I
was tempted to remind him about his quit smoking fiasco. But just hours after I
got his message, my Boy called me to say, “I am fat.” My sweet Boy sounded so
dejected (and dumbfounded, by the
fact that too much eating and too little exercising was affecting his weight) that I burst into laughter. I know… I am a
terrible woman. Then, the next day, my big Brother messaged me to say that his
blood pressure was too high and his belly too big and he really
needed to lose weight.
Since my Crohn’s is currently stable, and 3 people in my life wish
to improve their eating and exercise habits, and since I could lose a pound or
19, I thought it was time for another food and fitness challenge. I’m
calling it “13 31 Weeks of
Pseudo-Intermittent Fasting; or, Bring on the Bone Broth”. And I’ll tell
you all about it in future posts. 😉
photo by Nick Fewings, on Unsplash
- for Poets and Storytellers United--Weekly Scribblings #85: “Take care of your body”.
With you all the way ... I do intermittent fast (not religiously) and have since a 2016 and a Type 2 diagnosis. Meds did NOT agree with me, so I modified my diet, researched intermittent fasting, upped exercise. And it worked .. that is until COVID reared its ugly head and into forced quarantine. OH! I love the American Sentence and all that followed.
ReplyDeleteYou know? I'm totally sending this comment to my brother. He has been struggling with his sugar and blood pressure for some time. And the meds don't always work. Maybe this will.
DeleteOh yes, I remember you telling us about that coffee/cigarettes challenge! "Diet? Fork that!" hahahahahahaha, love it!
ReplyDeleteI told him that I'd made him slightly notorious, lol!
DeleteAnd I love the sign, too! It would be nice to have it in the kitchen.
DeleteYou are inspiring me to get stricter again about my Mediterranean diet (the one which suits me best) and my exercise program. Really both are easy as well as effective – so long as I actually do them! I LOVE what you say in your opening Sentence – profoundly true.
ReplyDeleteYay, for shared inspiration! The diet I grew up with was very much like the Mediterranean diet (without the yogurt). Now, I have included the yogurt too.
DeleteSo glad you LOVE the American sentence.
Well if nothing else comes of this trial, they'll know you care and you'll know you tried for them XXX
ReplyDeleteIndeed! And if I get really lucky, I will lose some chunkaliciousness.
DeleteO Mag, you can never be "a terrible woman." That "friend", Mr. Drama Queen, I won't say bad things about him if he is still your friend but he does need lots of PRAYERS.
ReplyDeleteIn his favor though, smoking is a hard habit to quit as it is addictive plus habit forming, like smoking with coffee, etc. I smoked cigarettes from age 16 to upper 30's, trying to quite several times, sometimes off for months. A terrible disappointment, in person(s) put me back on several times. I would carry a pack just to keep my will power exercised. Finally I switched to a pipe, and engineer's pipe with "O" Rings and metal parts for the mouthpiece and bowl to screw into. But I developed a sore on my lower lip that would not go away so I switched to dipping snuff and chewing tobacco. That took care of my nicotine habit but finding a place other than the drinking fountains to spit was a problem because by then I had switched jobs to teaching at college, Business Law and Entrepreneurship. So I quit, and gained weight.
My vet said that if I kept Adi, my Beagle companion, to weighing less than 25 pounds she would live two more years than average. She lived a long time and that was good, I was retired and Adi and I were now a registered Pet Therapy Team. I have lost eight pounds since COVID-19 but it did not come from the middle parts. That is one part I would like to trade in.
You did well for us who didn't know of the Chron's by mentioning it in you prompt write-up, we all needed to write a tribute or something to our bodies who have stuck with us for as long as we have lived. Parts at least, a few may have like a pacemaker or something to assist or have swapped out. And now a full 'story' about parts of dealing with it. The latest surgery for you, that situation I have read at your WikiP is one of the spin-off's of the Chron's.
Magaly, I am sooo very proud of you.
..
Thank you, Jim. And yes, addiction is a terrible thing, indeed. Still, I would've preferred if he hadn't lied about it. But that was a long time ago. I'm hoping this sticks.
DeleteI know that tough tasks can feel like fun if you've got good company. I hope you will all be good company to each other and meet your respective goals.
ReplyDeleteI think the company is going to be really good.
DeleteOh dear. I have already changed changed my eating habits to fit with dear husband who had to, HAD TO, to stay alive. It has been a year since I have been on a very low sodium diet, well, no salt at all diet, and no meat except fish. The meat didnt bother me, but what I could not give up is bread. And it has salt. So I eat it. And eat it. Its my mac and cheese. Its my snickers. But even with all that, the weight? Well, its the thyroid, and the steroid inhaler. I guess. I blame. 13 weeks? Hmmmmm. Bone broth sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteMy meds haven't been great for my waistline, especially the asthma and the cancer medications. This is the first time I can try to lose weight safely, so I'm hoping that it works.
DeleteAfter I shared this post, a few friends decided to join in. Some of them need to lose over 30 pounds, so I changed the 13 for 31.
I admire your dedication and decisiveness... You've inspired me to give my vices the backhand.
ReplyDeleteNot every single vice, I hope. Goodness knows that I refuse to give up my coffee!
DeleteI love your words! I agree, we have to LOVE our FLESH!!! I will be honest with you, I have got back to eating properly. I felt like I was killing myself, with my patterns. Taking everything one day at a time! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are being kinder to your tummy. I bet it will be kind to you, too.
DeleteHugs and Kisses!
If we knew then what we know now ..... famous words of senior citizens!!
ReplyDeleteFamous words of seniors and people with chronic illnesses, lol!
DeleteStay well,take care,keep giving of your best,and cherish any snippet joy you find. Blessings !!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Cressida. And I will!
DeleteI literally just heard this morning that people who have tried intermittent fasting swear by it. All the best to you and your loved ones. Doing it with others is always (or should be) fun. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing the same thing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
DeleteMagaly! I enjoyed this so much...and such a fantastic idea to have the challenge..and yes it is wonderful too for the people in your life needing that support and boost with what they are going through..this is inspiring. It will be exciting to see what changes occur after the challenge..it will be rewarding! shine on.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite excited about what might come, too!
DeleteMagaly, I hope you and your loved ones are ok?? I was seeing all the flooding in New York on the news! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteWe are well, my sweetest Stacy. The car kicked the bucket. But we are okay.
DeleteI enjoyed this so very much. I too would like to know that you and y our family are OK.
ReplyDeleteWe are all okay, thank goodness.
DeleteOk... count me in. The pandemic has been long and my habits are bad. I promised after getting the kids off to school I would make myself a priority again. I'm getting butt out of this groove! (Both literally and figuratively!)
ReplyDeleteYay! It will be nice to have a few blogger friends do it with me. I shall have all the details this coming Saturday.
DeleteExcellent American sentence! Everything I eat affects my stomach. Every time I go for a test, they say, oh, it's
ReplyDeletejust gastritis. Not "just". It makes my pretty sick,
and stress enhances it. Want to know more about bone broth.
If food is making you sick, bone broth might be a really good to deal with the symptoms. It works for me when I'm nauseated or when everything else sends me to the toilet.
DeleteI hope they can figure out what's ailing your tummy soon. I know how frustrating not knowing can be.