Status

Stones

Quick fun fact – the Apple Health app lets you choose the unit of measure for weight. You can choose pounds or kilograms. And you can also specify stones.

Well played Apple. Well played.

Streaks

I found an app for my iPhone to help me keep track of a few key things i want to do on a regular basis. It’s called Streaks. Very easy to setup and track the important habits you want to get done. As you complete a task you bui

The app limits you to 12 habits to track. This is intentional as the author really wants you to zero in on the most important habits to track. It sounds like they get a lot of feedback to allow more habits, but they are sticking to their guns.

Right now, I’ve got four setup. The first is for tennis. I have it setup four days a week. This is a good start and will try to increase it over time (or add another exercise like walking). The second one I have is daily for practicing and learning Spanish. The third is to weigh myself weekly. The last is a writing habit. I want to get something on this blog daily.

Granted, not all of these are earth-shattering. My thought is to use it as a subtle reminder to drive consistency. In a fun way.

Diagnostics

Today I picked up an “Accu-Chek Guide Me” to start tracking my glucose levels. A I mentioned earlier, my current focus areas are trigs and blood sugar. This device allow me to track progress and make any adjustments to eating habits.

I’ve made adjustments to my diet in terms of food type as well as quantity. Working to get out on the tennis courts several times per week. These will form the foundation for getting these areas back under control.

I setup the device and connected it to the MySugr app. I completed a test after adjust the depth of the puncture and got it to successfully read. I’ll be doing this before breakfast and before dinner for the immediate futurte.

Up Next: Determining what good looks like and taking corrective action.

Quote

Mindset

As I get back into my journey, I decided to update my tag line today. I like the original but want to keep a few things in mind every time I look at the site. I really love the book Food Rules by Michael Pollan where he distills the essence of how we need to think about food and eating. That makes up the first three phrases. I added the next two because I believe they are equally important to a well-rounded plan.

You must “move” as well as eat right. Activity is a core part of keeping the calories burned to intake ratio the right way.

This may just be for me, but to really keep this in the forefront of my mind and to keep me honest, I’ve found that writing about this journey is essential. You can look at the beginning of this blog and see a lot and then it fades. Along with the lack of writing is the sliding back into bad behaviors.

From: My Awakening … a long time coming (again)

To: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Move. Journal.

Modern Office Visit

Modern mobile phones have changed a lot about daily life. As the medical software field gets privacy and security inline with regulatory requirements and establishes consumer trust the benefits and uses on your mobile can be truly amazing.

When I visit the doctor these days, I get a summary of the visit shortly after it concludes. It includes a written summary of the visit, items discussed and my vitals. This pops up on my phone. Not a sheet of paper that somehow gets lost between the office and the car. I now have the ability to go back in time to see test results, office visit summaries and medications prescribed.

The biggest advancement is access to your doctor, I can chat/message directly with her. No more calling into the office, waiting on availability and a call later. Now I can ask a question or get clarification on my visit or my progress and get a quick answer directly from the doctor. This level of access is game changing.

What’s exciting is that this is just the beginning. We have just scratched the surface and I can’t wait to see how this evolves.

Pretty Straight Forward

One of my research items: What’s the best way to lower triglycerides?

Thanks https://www.mayoclinic.org/

  • Exercise regularly. Aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most or all days of the week. Regular exercise can lower triglycerides and boost “good” cholesterol. Try to incorporate more physical activity into your daily tasks — for example, climb the stairs at work or take a walk during breaks.
  • Avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates, such as sugar and foods made with white flour or fructose, can increase triglycerides.
  • Lose weight. If you have mild to moderate hypertriglyceridemia, focus on cutting calories. Extra calories are converted to triglycerides and stored as fat. Reducing your calories will reduce triglycerides.
  • Choose healthier fats. Trade saturated fat found in meats for healthier fat found in plants, such as olive and canola oils. Instead of red meat, try fish high in omega-3 fatty acids — such as mackerel or salmon. Avoid trans fats or foods with hydrogenated oils or fats.
  • Limit how much alcohol you drink. Alcohol is high in calories and sugar and has a particularly potent effect on triglycerides. If you have severe hypertriglyceridemia, avoid drinking any alcohol.

Subconscious Trouble

I had a dream last night. Have you ever had your partner wake up mad at you? For having cheated in their dream? Yep, been there. Well, this was a little like that.

I tend to have action oriented dreams, but this popped up in the middle and made me chuckle. I was at a dinner party and there was a bunch of food available. Some of it was intended for specific people and all of the sudden, this small but tall cake was put in front of me. I proceeded to cut a sliver from it when it dawned on me that perhaps I should skip the cake. Because of the journey I was currently undertaking. As I considered my options, I ate that dang slice of cake. I basically cheated on myself and my efforts to get healthy.

Two things stand out for me. The first is that with the health focus I’ve had, it is becoming part of my subconscious. This is good as I tend to let ideas and problems percolate when sleeping. The second may be me reading more into this than was really there, but it is about the notion of the unconscious eating. For me, an example of this is when watching TV and eating directly from a bag of chips. The show is progressing and suddenly you realize that many, many chips have been consumed. Like a lot. In the dream I recall considering if I should eat the cake while eating the cake. Deep, right?

Habit: Work on not touching my face. Prevent illness.

Remembering Full

I went out to eat tonight at my favorite place. Typically, I would eat the entre along with the two sides and perhaps an app. This has not really felt like a lot in the past, but I really paid attention to what felt like “full”. I was surprised when about half-way through, I realized that I was good. That I would need a to-go box that had about half of all the elements.

It seems pretty straight forward now, but we’ll see how it goes a bit later this evening. I’m drinking some water and will have some fruit as needed.

Action: Need to find some good resources on A1C and trigs.