Birdy Takes Flight

[Birdy]

Hi Anna, your post made me smile. I'd miss you too if you stopped posting on this board! And Sandra, yes, I think our impressions of older people are very important to our expectations about how we'll age, what that will "look like." My great grandmother has been an example to me all my life even though she died when I was 19. And as I grow older, I'm more and more conscious of the example I set and I feel younger women and even my teenage daughters and their friends sizing me up. We women really do look to each other.

Well, four of us are set to go sailing in a borrowed boat today and tomorrow. Naturally the weather is chilly and overcast so we're going to be cold on the boat. But it should be fun anyway. More on that when we return Saturday evening. Have a great weekend!

[Letha.]

Hi Birdy,
The sailing trip sounds awesome. I am very inspired by healthy, independent women over 60 and hope that in the future I can lead a life that will be inspirational to some of those young whippersnappers out there.
Letha

[Birdy]

Yeah, Letha! I like that word "whippersnappers."
I saw a recent photo of myself with my grandson at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, and boy do I look chubby. More motivation for McDougalling. Not much news. Worked all day and I'm tired. Found out yesterday my mom is coming next week for a one week visit. Not great news...but more on that later.

[Letha.]

Hi Birdy,
Just stopped by to say hi. How are your preparations for the mom visit coming along?
Letha

[Birdy]

Hi Letha - thanks for "stopping by." Well, there isn't much to preparing for my mom's visits because more than half the time, she never actually comes. She's mentally ill and is elderly. She makes plans to do various things when she's feeling manic, but then often can't follow through because of depression. I never know right up until the day she's supposed to arrive whether she will be here or not. This has been going on for years, and is sad, but I'm somewhat used to it. If she does visit, the issue is always how she'll hold up while she's here. Her visits can be very trying.

I am so tired of being 30 or 40 pounds overweight. I know this doesn't sound like much to other people who have more to lose, but to me it's a lot and I feel like a failure. I'm still keeping a food journal and, hopefully, that will help me be more consistent.

On a positive note, I went for a bone density scan today on my doctor's recommendation (I've never had one before). The radiology technician said my spine looks good for someone 59. There's a small area in the upper spine that is marginal for osteopenia, but the spine as a whole is good. He didn't say anything about my hips which were also scanned, so we'll see. The results will be in next week. I've lost an inch in height in the past few years, so that's the reason for the scan. I'm also going to reread what Dr. McD has to say about osteoporosis.

[Birdy]

My Saturday has been a busy one. I volunteered from 9 to 11 a.m. for a local food drive. Then I did errands and made lunch at home which was a large fresh green salad with cold leftover small new potatoes. Then I bought fertilizer and planted two beautiful red dahlias with yellow centers. Then I potted a house plant that has been surviving mostly on old soil and water for too long. Somehow, my whole day has zoomed by and I'm tired. In another hour, I'll make dinner: pasta with homemade tomato sauce & fresh basil with more of the fresh greens in a salad. The abundance of fresh food at this time of year is such a pleasure. I've been walking more and more, and have been keeping a food journal in a notebook. Keeping the journal is good feedback.

So I learned two interesting things this week. I have osteoarthritis and high blood pressure, both of which I'm hoping to improve with the McDougall diet. First, I learned that for every 10 pounds of extra weight a person gains, his or her joints take 3 to 5 times more impact. So, since I've gained 30 pounds in the last 15 years or so, my joints are now pounded by 300 to 500 pounds more impact! That got my attention. Losing weight really helps relieve osteoarthritis and prevent it from getting worse. The second thing I've learned is that the single best way to lower blood pressure is for a person to lose weight and thereby reduce the blood volume that raises blood pressure. Who knew? So I really do have two very good motivators. I don't know why I didn't understand this before. It's felt like an "aha" moment twice this week.

On another topic, my mother is coming for a visit starting Monday and leaving the following Monday. She has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals numerous times in the past 25 years and can be very difficult to be around. But I'm trying to be positive about her visit. It's an opportunity for her to see and spend time in our home again after not being here for 2 or 3 years. And she's 84, so it's pretty amazing that she's still able to travel. I can show off my flowers and vegetable garden to her. I think she instilled a love of plants and gardening in me as she had a green thumb when I was growing up.


I'm still trying to avoid salt, but so far there's been no change in my blood pressure which is holding around the 140/90 mark. Does anyone have experience with how long it takes to bring blood pressure down with this diet? I'll also search the Health forum and Jeff's thread to find out if others have posted about this. Lately, I wish I could go to one of the McDougall's 12 day retreats so I could spend that whole time eating better and truly relaxing. The comments from the July 2009 Costa Rica adventure were inspiring. Wish I could do that!

That's all for now!

[sksamboots]

Hey B,

It took me about 5 weeks before I noticed a drop in my blood pressure by 20 points. I'm not sure if that's normal or not. Looks like you had a great day and some good motivators

[Ege Bamyasi]

I was running around the normal range most of the time, sometimes higher, before starting this plan but I was taking the maximum daily dose of a blood pressure medication (either lisinopril or diovan) as well as two daily doses of lasix to maintain that. Without that medication I would have been above Dr. McDougall's maximum safe limit of 160/100 for no more than 30 days before medication would be advised.

Now that I've been at this for two months, I'm taking nothing for blood pressure and it almost never goes above 140/90 and is usually around 130/75 or so. That, and I'm still carrying over 200 extra pounds. My blood sugar is also normalizing with the medications I'm on, whereas before I was a candidate for small doses of insulin (but only recieved it during hospital stays for cellulitis infections of the leg and/or foot).

So, already I can attest to great changes in both blood pressure and blood sugar, just by following this lifestyle faithfully. Stick with this and eventually you will have the same results or something fairly similar.

[Anna Green]

Birdy, You sound good. Be extra nice to yourself before, during, and after your Mother's visit. I like massages for being nice to me and because they are so expensive I go to the massage school or even do the chair massage at Whole Foods for 10 minutes. I always walk away feeling pampered. I don't know what floats your boat but do it.

[Letha.]

Then I bought fertilizer and planted two beautiful red dahlias with yellow centers.

I love dahlias.

[Birdy]

OH MY GOODNESS LETHA what a beautiful photograph. I also LOVE dahlias. As one friend of mine who cultivates and sells the tubers says, "Dahlias love life!" Unfortunately, when I watered the vegie garden late this afternoon, I discovered that the deer have eaten the branches of all our tomato plants which are just starting to get ripe tomatoes.

Anna thanks for your suggestions on how to be good to myself this coming week and thanks Ege and sksamboots for feedback about blood pressure. I messed up a little this evening with what I ate for dinner because of not planning (there it is again), so my task this evening is to plan out all the meals and snacks for the coming week. For breakfast, I've noticed that having oatmeal cooked in water with about 2 tablespoons of raisins is a good start and keeps my appetite in line all day. Never really liked it that much before McDougalling, but it's grown on me.

At the moment, my mom is sleeping off her travels. Except for talking at the top of her voice nonstop (I am not exaggerating), the afternoon went okay. Now I'm going for an evening walk with my DH before it gets too dark and THEN I'll plan menus for the week.

[Birdy]

Making slow progress....
I've lost another pound hooray (since the end of May - we're talking really slow progress here). My blood pressure was 146/87 last night, so it hasn't come down at all yet. I'm starting to think I need to quit drinking anything with caffeine in it to bring the BP down. But I've lost 2" on my waist! I've been walking 30 minutes most days and have been more active in general. A few days ago I started rereading T. Colin Campbell's THE CHINA STUDY. That book is more great inspiration for being a plant eater. I made oatmeal for breakfast, but burned it, so had toast instead with fresh avocado and tomato. Sounds weird for breakfast, but it tasted great.

My mother's visit is halfway over. If you've never had a relationship with someone who is genuinely off mentally, there are no words to describe it adequately. The hardest thing is to not take personally the mean and inappropriate comments. Anyhow, I'm doing the best I can, but it's hard. I'm trying to keep busy.

This morning I watered some of our flowers since it's supposed to be another hot day here. I'm looking forward to losing a lot of weight so the heat will bother me less in future summers.

My DH and our two daughters are flying to California next week to visit family there. We'll be spending a night and day in San Francisco and I'm so excited. Haven't been there in many years. It'll be fun to show our daughters the city, visit Fisherman's Wharf and the Museum of Modern Art. From there we go to my brother-in-law's house in Santa Cruz which is also a very fun town. And we'll go to the OCEAN - yay! Puget Sound is nice, but the ocean is wonderful. With all the company we've had this summer and now traveling, I'm going to aim for eating vegan and keeping it as low fat as possible without stressing out about it.

I hope you're all having a happy day. Very Happy

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Birdy, my mother is here with me right now too. I certainly can sympathize!!! Napping at the moment so I can type! Need to log out and clear history though. Oh, and fix supper! <hugs> bye!

[Birdy]

Hugs to you too Mrs. Doodlepunk! We took my mother to a Chinese restaurant for dinner last night and, from the moment we walked in, all heads were turned upon us with puzzled frowns at the sound and content of my mother's monologue. Whew. Things quieted down while we ate and the food was good. I'm planning to take her and my youngest daughter to Seattle tomorrow to meet my older daughter and her boyfriend for lunch and a quick shopping jaunt. I hope it doesn't get too embarrassing and I know my mom will like going.

Today's menu plan:

Oatmeal with raisins for breakfast

Fresh vegetable salad with beans for lunch

A big pasta primavera with vegan marinara for dinner

It's raining here today, hallelujah!

[Letha.]

I'm looking forward to losing a lot of weight so the heat will bother me less in future summers.

I am also hoping I’ll be less bothered by heat when I reach my goal weight. Hope you’re having a good weekend Birdy.
Letha