Quote of the Day: “Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.” Walt Whitman
When you start an exercise program, your body takes on a lot of changes. I have to remind myself as my weight goes up and down a pound or two that my body is trying to adjust to this new exercise regiment, that the changing and adjusting balance of fat and muscle is taking place, a set-point adjustment in the right direction. The key for me is to be patient while this is taking place. I have given up my dark chocolate craze because it was getting out of hand, basically I wasn’t sticking to a small amount each day, funny how that happens! But I am trying to make some of the Runner’s World rules a part of my life. One, for example, is the eating of vegetables. I pack a baggie full of carrots, snap peas and broccoli each day and take it with me. Then when I’m driving and hungry, but have nothing else to eat, it’s the veggies that get downed.
Runner’s World Rule # 7: SLOW DOWN “Check the clock when you take your first bit of dinner. Look at it again when you’re finished eating. How much time has elapsed? Five minutes? Ten? The longer, the better. Scientists know it takes at least 15-20 minutes for nerve endings in the gut to send the signal to the brain that says, “Y up, I’m fed! You can stop eating now!” Wolfing down a meal faster than that can lead to overeating- and that can pack on serious pounds. In fact, a study published in 2008 in the British Medical Journal found that people who eat quickly and eat until they feel full are more than three times as likely to be overweight than people who take their time and eat slowly.” My favorite suggestion from the article says to eat like you’re eating at a restaurant- eat the salad first, main course next so that you stretch the eating time out.
This is a doubtful time for me. As I am nearing the 1st anniversary of my diagnosis, all of the past feelings are being revisited bringing with it a flood of emotions and feelings of uncertainty. Dr. Nibley’s words of “If it doesn’t come back in 7 years, it’s never coming back” stretch in front of me like a long scary road. On Sunday, I sat behind a young woman in my ward who also carries the BRCA 1 gene. She received a breast cancer diagnosis in her 30s with 3 small young boys. I enjoyed watching her handsome boys, the oldest only 7, and couldn’t help but reflect how difficult her diagnosis would have been. To have the worry of leaving small children behind heaped upon all the other parts of having cancer would be a huge trial. It has been 2 years since she finished chemo and she feels confident that her cancer is gone. As a sat behind her, I wanted to transfer whatever healing powers she had to me so that I too could feel confident that cancer would never rear its ugly head again in my body. Truly, this is the part of cancer that I never ever considered- the mental anguish of not knowing if it is cured and fear that it could return. I could kind of picture how awful chemo would be- I knew I never wanted to go through it but never understood what it meant to live in limbo while the rest of the world seemed to go happily on their way. Isn’t that true of most things in life- their is nothing like firsthand knowledge to teach life’s lessons!
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