meanmom

I have received 3 months of FQ from Mateoh, Susanna10, CindyA, and TeddyBear Lady. They are all so pretty. I had better behave myself and eat right. Hopefully I can stay out of the Easter candy.
Mateoh congratulations on the grandson. Grandkids are so fun. I have 2 grandsons 3 1/2 and 1 year old. I have a granddaughter due May 9th. I can't wait.
Pat

Pam H

Thanks for the reminder, Pat. I need to get mine in the mail!

Pam H

Just came upon this article. Maybe something we should all think about doing.

[h=1]Our Year of No Sugar: One Family’s Grand Adventure[/h]By Everyday Health Guest Contributor
Published Apr 1, 2014
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By Eve O. Schaub, Special to Everyday Health
Once upon a time, I was healthy; at least I thought I was.
Sure, I lacked enough energy to get me through the day, but with all the commercials on TV touting energy drinks for America’s tired masses, I always assumed I wasn’t the only one suffering. And sure, everyone in my family dreaded the coming cold and flu season, but again, I thought come January everyone develops some degree of germophobia.
At least, that’s what I thought until I heard some disturbing new information about the effects of sugar. According to several experts, sugar is the thing that is making so many Americans fat and sick. The more I thought about it the more this made sense to me — a lot of sense. One in seven Americans has metabolic syndrome. One in three Americans is obese. The rate of diabetes is skyrocketing and cardiovascular disease is America’s number one killer.
According to this theory, all of these maladies and more can be traced back to one large toxic presence in our diet… sugar.
[h=2]A Bright Idea[/h]I took all of this newfound knowledge and formulated an idea. I wanted to see how hard it would be to have our family — me, my husband, and our two children (ages 6 and 11) — spend anentire year eating foods that contained no added sugar. We’d cut out anything with an added sweetener, be it table sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, agave or fruit juice. We also excluded anything made with fake sugar or sugar alcohols. Unless the sweetness was attached to its original source (e.g., a piece of fruit), we didn’t eat it.
Once we started looking we found sugar in the most amazing places: tortillas, sausages, chicken broth, salad dressing, cold cuts, crackers, mayonnaise, bacon, bread, and even baby food. Why add all of this sugar? To make these items more palatable, add shelf life, and make packaged food production ever cheaper.
Call me crazy, but avoiding added sugar for a year struck me as a grand adventure. I was curious as to what would happen. I wanted to know how hard it would be, what interesting things could happen, how my cooking and shopping would change. After continuing my research, I was convinced removing sugar would make us all healthier. What I didn’t expect was how not eating sugar would make me feel better in a very real and tangible way.
[h=2]A Sugar-Free Year Later[/h]It was subtle, but noticeable; the longer I went on eating without added sugar, the better and more energetic I felt. If I doubted the connection, something happened next which would prove it to me: my husband’s birthday.
During our year of no sugar, one of the rules was that, as a family, we could have one actual sugar-containing dessert per month; if it was your birthday, you got to choose the dessert. By the time September rolled around we noticed our palates starting to change, and slowly, we began enjoying our monthly “treat” less and less.
But when we ate the decadent multi-layered banana cream pie my husband had requested for his birthday celebration, I knew something new was happening. Not only did I not enjoy my slice of pie, I couldn’t even finish it. It tasted sickly sweet to my now sensitive palate. It actually made my teeth hurt. My head began to pound and my heart began to race; I felt awful.
It took a good hour lying on the couch holding my head before I began to recover. “Geez,” I thought, “has sugar always made me feel bad, but because it was everywhere, I just never noticed it before?”
After our year of no sugar ended, I went back and counted the absences my kids had in school and compared them to those of previous years. The difference was dramatic. My older daughter, Greta, went from missing 15 days the year before to missing only two.
Now that our year of no sugar is over, we’ll occasionally indulge, but the way we eat it is very different. We appreciate sugar in drastically smaller amounts, avoid it in everyday foods (that it shouldn’t be in in the first place), and save dessert for truly special occasions. My body seems to be thanking me for it. I don’t worry about running out of energy. And when flu season comes around I somehow no longer feel the urge to go and hide with my children under the bed. But if we do come down with something, our bodies are better equipped to fight it. We get sick less and get well faster. Much to my surprise, after our no-sugar life, we all feel healthier and stronger. And that is nothing to sneeze at.
Eve O. Schaub is the author of Year of No Sugar: A Memoir. She holds a BA and a BFA from Cornell University, and a MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her personal essays have been featured many times on the Albany, New York, NPR station WAMC. You can join Schaub’s family and take your own Day of No Sugar Challenge on April 9, 2014.

mateoh

This article is inspiring! I wish I could be that dedicated. I have been able to refrain from the Easter Candy and only ate what I brought to work today. Yay! I hope I can do as well when my doctor lets me return to the full 12 hour shifts and the stress settles back in.

mateoh

Irishrose, I hope your daughter is doing well. Knee replacements are very painful. I just had arthroscopic surgery with a partial removal of my meniscus and I have a whole new appreciation for my orthopedic patients. I worked on an orthopedic unit for 8 years prior to changing hospitals. I love working closer to home but miss my Ortho patients.
Remind your daughter to stay on top of the pain so that she will have more success with her physical therapy. I am hoping she has an uneventful recovery.

irishrose

She's doing great today. No pain with only oral meds and up walking a little, plus a short session of PT. I know she has a few more days of pain, but she will be a very good patient so she can hurry and get her other one done and get her real life back. I saw my ortho today. Surgery date is June 13 - my choice - he preferred May 6. I left with some questions. I will have to call his ass't tomorrow. Why snip the Achilles tendon if I have no pain there? Achilles tendon pain is generally not referred so how will that help my forefoot? He wanted two days in the hospital - I want outpatient.

I had a lovely day. My friend went with me - actually, he drove me. We went to lunch at Outback and then shopping for a while. I dropped him off and did the evening shift with my daughter. Her daughters had done the day. I felt very maternal dressing her for bed and tucking her in even though she's an adult. I'm too tired to work on the Swoon block so I may as well go to bed. I'm on early shift tomorrow as K's daughters are both going to work. I know she has two PT sessions, but they shouldn't be too long. She's not looking forward to the group exercises.

I ate well during the day - not so good this evening - another reason to go to bed - there's nothing to snack on there.

meanmom

THe year with no sugar sounds difficult and interesting. Not sure I could do it. Sugar and salt are hidden in so much that we eat. A friend is doing a 30 day sugar free thing. I will try to get more info from her. SHe is on a major health kick. She runs many miles etc. Her goal is to do a marathon. SHe has done several half marathons. She is a lot younger than I am. I think she will be 30 this year.
Irish I hope your daughters recovery continues to be uneventful. I have a torn meniscus plus need a replacement, so one issue in my knee aggrivates the other. It has been doing better lately since i have been on the elliptical some. This morning during running club (I walk) I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish the mile it was bothering me so much. I guess I will give it a few weeks and decide what to do.
My DS has moved here from JApan, he just got out of the Navy. He is looking for a job, house etc. He is getting a lot of calls for interviews. Hopefully it will all work out.

mateoh

Irishrose, I am glad your daughter has had such a good day. I know that many patients don't look forward to the group exercising but many of them end up enjoying it. I hope that all continues to do well. It sounds like you had a very nice day.

irishrose

The big meds wore off today so K was in more pain, but the oral meds were doing a pretty good job taking care of it. The joint camp went well. One of her daughters went with her so she'd know what to help her mother with at home. I was with her a this morning then came home to figure out the swoon block and went back this evening for a while and got her tucked in for the night. One employee said she heard K is going home tomorrow, but I told her to refuse. She needs another day.

Quilt group in the morning so I need this block together. I made K some rice pudding - I know she wouldn't be a fan of fan of the hospital food. I dropped one casserole dish full off to my friend. We were laughing about liking the food our mothers made for us - considering our advanced age(s) makes it funny.

Not good eating day for me. This may just be a maintaining week.

Jim's Gem

I didn't get signed up this month. I will wait until May. I have not been doing so well in losing weight lately.