These last few weeks have been tough ones for some of the countries of this world. The life changing problems in Japan are sad and scary for a country of people who have seen and experienced massive destruction before. The problems in Libya are also of concern to the world. For me it has been a couple of weeks of deep thought and prayer. In that short time I have learned of three men whose work on this earth is done.
One amigo is a man I went to school with in Harvey, Illinois in the early 60's named Roger Johnson. While I know him from our high school days, we were not close friends....I just knew him then and know him now because he helped organize our reunions. His daughter started a blog for him after he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer last June and keeps everyone updated on his condition. It sounds like his fight will be done soon as she has asked for many thoughts and prayers for his struggle in these last days of his life.
Another amigo was my cousin Joy's husband, Jim Davis (his boys called him Batman). He passed away March 17, 2011 after a very short battle with stage 4 lung cancer. I found Joy on face book three weeks ago after losing track of her more than 30 years ago. I am trying to get as much information about our very large family for the ancestry book I am working on and found her via face book, just as I did with cousin Roger. I was saddened to hear of Jim's illness and very surprised at how little time they had to deal with the impending loss of Joy's love and father of their two sons and ensuing families. They, too, had asked for and relied heavily on positive thougths and prayer through a blog set up by one of their daughters-in law.
The last amigo is a man named Lee Johnson (no relation to the Roger Johnson above) who passed away on March 22, 2011. He was the husband of a colleague of mine, Mary Lou, who was my boss as the director of Special Needs in the school district for which I worked before retiring. Mary Lou was a straightforward boss, but also empathetic to the needs of all children. She and I retired around the same time. While I did not personally know her husband Lee, I did learn about him through a blog the family started after he was diagnosed with 2 brain tumors. It is titled "Fronk's Health" (Fronk is a nickname from college days) and mostly written by one of his daughters, but Lee did on occasion post some of his own thoughts. He went through all the treatments for cancer, but the severity of it was evident to him as he wrote piece after piece detailing his feelings and thoughts. It is the deeply moving last entry in Fronk's journal of life that was posted by his daughter after his death that touched me the most. She found it among his written musings and surmised he had written it in December to be posted at a later time. I am inserting that last blog entry here in its entirety as it was written by Fronk. While I did not receive permission to do so, somehow I don't think he or Mary Lou would mind. It is as follows:
Friday, March 25, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Land of the Rising Sun
In the meantime, my heart goes out to the tens of thousands of people who have been affected by this disaster in Japan. They are also facing the threat of a nuclear meltdown in two of the three reactors near the earthquake. We can only wait and pray they contain the radiation so the people living within the range of the reactors and as far as the wind will take the radiation cloud, don't suffer from the poisoned air. I know people in our country will open their pocketbooks and start giving money for the Japanese people to help them overcome this horrific situation. Bob and I donated yesterday to the Salvation Army because the money is going directly to the rescue and relief in that country. They need food and water desperately and this organization is already set up in Japan to work towards that end.
For now I am just sending comforting thoughts and prayers to the island of Japan. I can do nothing else to ease their pain and suffering. The man in the photo above has lost everything important to him, not material things but people whom he will never see again in this world. May he find peace in his heart somewhere through the rest of his life knowing he loved and was loved by his family. That is all we ever really have in our lives......love and family
Monday, January 24, 2011
Am I My Mother
I was looking at old family pictures several months ago and began comparing my body to that of my mothers. My sons keep telling me I look like her, especially since I've aged. We do share the same thin face, height and weight, and my body type from the waist up is similar to hers. While the comparison is accurate, it isn't necessarily a fact that my body will have as long a life as her 94 years. I developed high blood pressure at the age of 61 and my mother was 62 when hers was detected. She had a fondness for a good homemade pie, ice cream and loved all types of candy. Guess I do, too! She did eat and cook very good and balanced meals for us, though, since she came from an era before fast or frozen foods. What we ate was healthy plates of vegetables, beans and on Sunday, a good beef or pork roast. Fried chicken and meat loaf was sometimes on the menu after she made her weekly visit to the butcher shop. The veggies and eggs were farm fresh and usually bought at the local grocery market. In the springtime Mom and Dad planted a vegetable garden giving us tomatoes and green beans fresh off the vine to eat during the summer months. Mom always managed to gather enough vegetables and fruit for canning in late summer. Our old pantry held many full canning jars for winter consumption. The milk we drank was whole (no skim, 1 or 2% in those days) and was delivered to the side door every morning in quart glass containers by the milk man. I loved that whole milk on cereal, but also on sliced fresh peaches or the strawberries we delightfully gathered from wild patches growing in the field near where we lived. I remember lots of oranges being available for snacks, cut up in quarters served on a plate while listening to the radio or later on, the new TV.
We also had two green apple trees growing in our yard on Honore Avenue. If you waited for any of those little green sours to drop, they would not only be bruised but have a worm in them. Sometimes we tried climbing the tree, stepping onto long branches to retrieve the biggest and most tart. Most times we scooted back down empty handed since the apples were higher than we could climb. More times than not we got yelled at for climbing in the trees. We would then grab the clothes pole, a 6 foot tall 2x4 board with a long nail hammered into one end, off of the clothes line in the back yard and knock down all the apples we could reach. Invariably, mom would see us eating those green apples and yell at us saying we were going to get a belly ache.....we never did! I don't remember if she used the apples from our trees or bought different apples from the farm stands, but she made one very luscious apple pie. She usually made more than one since there were so many family members. And we never got a sliver of those pies until we cleaned our plates of whatever she had prepared that night for supper. We served ourselves as we sat down to the family meal and were encouraged to take a spoonful of the vegetables we so hated. If we put it on our plate, we had to eat it. We always made room for the dessert Mom made, usually a couple of times a week, after those evening meals. It seems, though, there was always an apple pie after our big Sunday dinner in those days.
As you can see, we ate good healthy meals most of the time. Ours was a blue collar family whose father was employed in a factory where the worker's unions periodically went on strike for better conditions and wages (mostly wages). I don't recall the strikes lasting very long, but with the loss in pay during that time, every penny was stretched as far as possible. It meant buying foods that filled us up while spending as little money as possible. At those times my mother would make huge pots of white beans and fresh batches of delicious cornbread. That sustained us for many, many weeks. I don't think we ever got tired of those beans and cornbread. It was a good, filling meal to keep hungry bellies happy. Don't get me wrong, we were never the poor starving kids you see in many of today's third world countries, but money was tight most of the time. To this day my sister makes that very same meal at our family reunions with big pots of beans and many pans of sweet buttered cornbread disappearing throughout the day. We, as other families in those days, had hard times due to many situations. Mom made sure we had three meals a day, especially a good filling breakfast before heading off to school. I was never much of a breakfast person, but I do remember eating small bites of scrambled eggs and toast, oatmeal or cold cereal (Wheaties, I think), and always a big glass of cold milk. That was the routine we were exposed to growing up in the 1950's. As I grew older into the teen years I slept to the last minute before rushing to ready myself in our one shared bathroom (mom made up a schedule with bathroom times for everyone in 15 minutes intervals) for the school day. Sadly, I chose to skip breakfast during my morning routine in those years.
Now, some 50 years later, I have put the breakfast routine back in my day as I continue on my quest to lose weight. I am finally realizing what my mother and many other mothers of long ago knew about food and eating. Breakfast is a must for the body to start the day. Fueling in the morning gives your body a good, strong start and lessens the change of overeating at night. We form habits throughout our lifetimes, some good, some bad, but the one good habit you want tostart and maintain is eating 3 healthy meals a day starting with a healthy breakfast. Living to a ripe old age depends on many variables, but you can certainly have a longer life by monitoring the food and drink you choose to put into your body. If you become overweight as you age (and most of us do), it might be time to reassess what and how much is being put into the body. If you get your thoughts clear on what and when you're eating, how much you're eating and how it is affecting your health, then you can lose that weight. It takes time and a realistic study of what works best for your body, knowing what is best for you and forming a plan of your own choosing. My mother was blessed with a long life because she had some very good genes and understood the importance of good food. She loved food, but had the courage to corral those overeating desires most of the time. She gave in sometimes to those delicious cakes or pies, but for the most part she knew what to eat to maintain her health. I, too, love food and have managed to find the balance needed to control the food intake and take care of my body. Who knows, maybe I will live as long as my mother. Even if I don't, I know the body that is laid out in that casket when my time comes will be a lot lighter for the bearers to haul out of the church. But that is way down the road....at least I hope so.
For now, I continue to march through this life knowing I may have the same body type as my mother, but am not her. She did not define herself by how she looked or what she ate, nor do I. I would rather be defined and remembered for my thoughts and deeds and not how I looked. What impact I have on the lives of those around me, who know me, is very important. This body will be long gone and mostly forgotten, but hopefully the words I speak and write will have much meaning for those lives and reside within them for a long time....maybe even pass it on.
We also had two green apple trees growing in our yard on Honore Avenue. If you waited for any of those little green sours to drop, they would not only be bruised but have a worm in them. Sometimes we tried climbing the tree, stepping onto long branches to retrieve the biggest and most tart. Most times we scooted back down empty handed since the apples were higher than we could climb. More times than not we got yelled at for climbing in the trees. We would then grab the clothes pole, a 6 foot tall 2x4 board with a long nail hammered into one end, off of the clothes line in the back yard and knock down all the apples we could reach. Invariably, mom would see us eating those green apples and yell at us saying we were going to get a belly ache.....we never did! I don't remember if she used the apples from our trees or bought different apples from the farm stands, but she made one very luscious apple pie. She usually made more than one since there were so many family members. And we never got a sliver of those pies until we cleaned our plates of whatever she had prepared that night for supper. We served ourselves as we sat down to the family meal and were encouraged to take a spoonful of the vegetables we so hated. If we put it on our plate, we had to eat it. We always made room for the dessert Mom made, usually a couple of times a week, after those evening meals. It seems, though, there was always an apple pie after our big Sunday dinner in those days.
As you can see, we ate good healthy meals most of the time. Ours was a blue collar family whose father was employed in a factory where the worker's unions periodically went on strike for better conditions and wages (mostly wages). I don't recall the strikes lasting very long, but with the loss in pay during that time, every penny was stretched as far as possible. It meant buying foods that filled us up while spending as little money as possible. At those times my mother would make huge pots of white beans and fresh batches of delicious cornbread. That sustained us for many, many weeks. I don't think we ever got tired of those beans and cornbread. It was a good, filling meal to keep hungry bellies happy. Don't get me wrong, we were never the poor starving kids you see in many of today's third world countries, but money was tight most of the time. To this day my sister makes that very same meal at our family reunions with big pots of beans and many pans of sweet buttered cornbread disappearing throughout the day. We, as other families in those days, had hard times due to many situations. Mom made sure we had three meals a day, especially a good filling breakfast before heading off to school. I was never much of a breakfast person, but I do remember eating small bites of scrambled eggs and toast, oatmeal or cold cereal (Wheaties, I think), and always a big glass of cold milk. That was the routine we were exposed to growing up in the 1950's. As I grew older into the teen years I slept to the last minute before rushing to ready myself in our one shared bathroom (mom made up a schedule with bathroom times for everyone in 15 minutes intervals) for the school day. Sadly, I chose to skip breakfast during my morning routine in those years.
Now, some 50 years later, I have put the breakfast routine back in my day as I continue on my quest to lose weight. I am finally realizing what my mother and many other mothers of long ago knew about food and eating. Breakfast is a must for the body to start the day. Fueling in the morning gives your body a good, strong start and lessens the change of overeating at night. We form habits throughout our lifetimes, some good, some bad, but the one good habit you want tostart and maintain is eating 3 healthy meals a day starting with a healthy breakfast. Living to a ripe old age depends on many variables, but you can certainly have a longer life by monitoring the food and drink you choose to put into your body. If you become overweight as you age (and most of us do), it might be time to reassess what and how much is being put into the body. If you get your thoughts clear on what and when you're eating, how much you're eating and how it is affecting your health, then you can lose that weight. It takes time and a realistic study of what works best for your body, knowing what is best for you and forming a plan of your own choosing. My mother was blessed with a long life because she had some very good genes and understood the importance of good food. She loved food, but had the courage to corral those overeating desires most of the time. She gave in sometimes to those delicious cakes or pies, but for the most part she knew what to eat to maintain her health. I, too, love food and have managed to find the balance needed to control the food intake and take care of my body. Who knows, maybe I will live as long as my mother. Even if I don't, I know the body that is laid out in that casket when my time comes will be a lot lighter for the bearers to haul out of the church. But that is way down the road....at least I hope so.
For now, I continue to march through this life knowing I may have the same body type as my mother, but am not her. She did not define herself by how she looked or what she ate, nor do I. I would rather be defined and remembered for my thoughts and deeds and not how I looked. What impact I have on the lives of those around me, who know me, is very important. This body will be long gone and mostly forgotten, but hopefully the words I speak and write will have much meaning for those lives and reside within them for a long time....maybe even pass it on.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Finding Harry's Son
I have been working on an ancestry tree of my family for several years now. I am one of seven children my parents produced over the 46 years of their marriage. My father suddenly passed away when I was about 25 years old and while I thought often of the family's heritage, I continued on with my life having two small babies of my own at that time. It is only in my later life that I became extremely interested with the histories of both my parents families. My father was one of nine children in his family and my mother was one of seven, having one full sister and five half brothers and sisters. So I was looking at researching many days and months for the particulars of each child in each family. I did this mostly through Ancestry.com and obtained much of the information from their databases. I also did much searching of my childhood memories to remember to whom each one married, children born to them and when they passed away.
Since my mother and father have both passed on, I was left seeking help from my older brothers and sisters. At our family reunion in 2008, I had an opportunity to talk to my oldest brother Dick, who finally gave me some information about my dad's younger brother Harry. Harry died suddenly from a massive heart attack at the age of forty six. I remember this time, but am unsure of the year or the circumstances surrounding his death. I do remember Dad taking off work and driving somewhere with Harry's wife Sylvia. Dad was so upset with the loss of his dearly loved younger brother. I remember it weighing heavily on him during that year, seeing a sadness in him as never before. Dick told me that Harry went to visit another of my father's brothers, Rex, who was an Air Force major stationed at an air base in North Dakota. Harry had the heart attack and died while at the air base. His wife Sylvia came down to Illinois from Michigan, where they lived, and with my dad drove to North Dakota to retrieve the body. I don't remember the funeral in Michigan since it was a long car trip with the cost alone preventing all of us from attending.
Harry was ten years younger than my dad and much too young to die. I remember feeling so bad for Roger, Harry's only child, since he was but 17 when this happened. He had to be supportive of his mother while suffering the loss of his beloved father. Sylvia and Roger stayed in Michigan and as usual within larger families, we lost contact with them. I have often wondered what happened to him and his mother, but could never find any information about them from family or on the Internet. I didn't know if Sylvia remarried, died or still lived in Michigan. I didn't have any information or facts on Roger...no birth date or even where he was born. I didn't know Sylvia's maiden name or how she and Harry met or when they married. I don't even know if Harry's name was just "Harry" or something more as in "Harold". It is difficult to know in my dad's family because my grandparents used nicknames all the time, but that's another story!
This past Wednesday, I was doing some work on the family tree when I had an idea to search Facebook for a Roger Barnhill. I thought it was a long shot, but maybe he or one of his children (I was assuming he was still alive and had children) would have a profile or page. Several Roger Barnhill pages came up and the first one I looked at had a picture of a man and woman. I could not tell if it was our Roger since one changes over 50 years and he had always looked like his mother, which I vaguely remember. He listed his high school as one near Dearborn, Michigan, where I knew they had lived. I looked at several other Roger Barnhill pages and by sheer age alone eliminated them. I decided to send the first Roger this message:
I am happy to say that he sent me this message:
Hello Bonnie. I am the long lost son of Harry. I am living in Memphis TN now and have for the last 28 years. I will give you my email address. Good to hear from you.
I feel like I've hit a jackpot of sorts since I have been looking for him for so long. I sent him a long email detailing the facts in my life and that of my family. I am asking him all those questions about his mom, dad and about his life from then till now that have gone unanswered for so many years. It was good to hear from him and he is now a friend on Facebook. He is in the process of compiling that information for me so I can insert it into this very old family tree.
The twigs of this ever growing tree have formed many branches throughout many centuries. We are all, in essence, a part of a gigantic family tree growing in time with many connecting branches filtering up from the strong trunk through history. I firmly believe we need to look back in our history to achieve a better future. The persons resting on each leaf atop the twigs and branches within those family trees have been a part of your life, either creating it or having an affect in some way on the life you live and lead today. It is important to pass this information on to our younger generations so they, too, may better understand themselves. These are their connections from the yesterdays that give them hope for all the tomorrows to come.
Some ancestors may have been famous in either a good or bad way, but I feel most of our ancestors were common everyday people looking for a better life for their generation and the generations to come. Although they are gone, some more recently than others, our fathers and forefathers left us histories conceived from a single strand of golden thread and woven into our inner fabric. We are now weaving with that same golden strand into the fabric of our children and grandchildren and into their future children. What a joy it was this week to find another piece of woven fabric that will sit atop the one leaf that completes Harry's branch on our ever expanding family tree. Another day, another branch complete and still another one to grow.
Since my mother and father have both passed on, I was left seeking help from my older brothers and sisters. At our family reunion in 2008, I had an opportunity to talk to my oldest brother Dick, who finally gave me some information about my dad's younger brother Harry. Harry died suddenly from a massive heart attack at the age of forty six. I remember this time, but am unsure of the year or the circumstances surrounding his death. I do remember Dad taking off work and driving somewhere with Harry's wife Sylvia. Dad was so upset with the loss of his dearly loved younger brother. I remember it weighing heavily on him during that year, seeing a sadness in him as never before. Dick told me that Harry went to visit another of my father's brothers, Rex, who was an Air Force major stationed at an air base in North Dakota. Harry had the heart attack and died while at the air base. His wife Sylvia came down to Illinois from Michigan, where they lived, and with my dad drove to North Dakota to retrieve the body. I don't remember the funeral in Michigan since it was a long car trip with the cost alone preventing all of us from attending.
Harry was ten years younger than my dad and much too young to die. I remember feeling so bad for Roger, Harry's only child, since he was but 17 when this happened. He had to be supportive of his mother while suffering the loss of his beloved father. Sylvia and Roger stayed in Michigan and as usual within larger families, we lost contact with them. I have often wondered what happened to him and his mother, but could never find any information about them from family or on the Internet. I didn't know if Sylvia remarried, died or still lived in Michigan. I didn't have any information or facts on Roger...no birth date or even where he was born. I didn't know Sylvia's maiden name or how she and Harry met or when they married. I don't even know if Harry's name was just "Harry" or something more as in "Harold". It is difficult to know in my dad's family because my grandparents used nicknames all the time, but that's another story!
This past Wednesday, I was doing some work on the family tree when I had an idea to search Facebook for a Roger Barnhill. I thought it was a long shot, but maybe he or one of his children (I was assuming he was still alive and had children) would have a profile or page. Several Roger Barnhill pages came up and the first one I looked at had a picture of a man and woman. I could not tell if it was our Roger since one changes over 50 years and he had always looked like his mother, which I vaguely remember. He listed his high school as one near Dearborn, Michigan, where I knew they had lived. I looked at several other Roger Barnhill pages and by sheer age alone eliminated them. I decided to send the first Roger this message:
Hi Roger, my name is Bonnie Barnhill Victoria. I am looking for my uncle's (Harry Barnhill) son named Roger. Harry was my father Lloyd's younger brother who passed away at the age of 46. Harry and his wife Sylvia lived in Michigan when he died. My family lived in and was raised in Illinois. If this sounds familiar to you, please send a message back to me. I am compiling a Barnhill family tree and have much information, but we don't know what happened to Roger. Thank you, Bonnie
I am happy to say that he sent me this message:
Hello Bonnie. I am the long lost son of Harry. I am living in Memphis TN now and have for the last 28 years. I will give you my email address. Good to hear from you.
I feel like I've hit a jackpot of sorts since I have been looking for him for so long. I sent him a long email detailing the facts in my life and that of my family. I am asking him all those questions about his mom, dad and about his life from then till now that have gone unanswered for so many years. It was good to hear from him and he is now a friend on Facebook. He is in the process of compiling that information for me so I can insert it into this very old family tree.
The twigs of this ever growing tree have formed many branches throughout many centuries. We are all, in essence, a part of a gigantic family tree growing in time with many connecting branches filtering up from the strong trunk through history. I firmly believe we need to look back in our history to achieve a better future. The persons resting on each leaf atop the twigs and branches within those family trees have been a part of your life, either creating it or having an affect in some way on the life you live and lead today. It is important to pass this information on to our younger generations so they, too, may better understand themselves. These are their connections from the yesterdays that give them hope for all the tomorrows to come.
Some ancestors may have been famous in either a good or bad way, but I feel most of our ancestors were common everyday people looking for a better life for their generation and the generations to come. Although they are gone, some more recently than others, our fathers and forefathers left us histories conceived from a single strand of golden thread and woven into our inner fabric. We are now weaving with that same golden strand into the fabric of our children and grandchildren and into their future children. What a joy it was this week to find another piece of woven fabric that will sit atop the one leaf that completes Harry's branch on our ever expanding family tree. Another day, another branch complete and still another one to grow.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Weighing In
I went to the medical center yesterday to have lab work done to check my cholesterol levels. My doctor required this latest test since I had a pretty high cholesterol reading on my annual visit four months ago. This blood test was being done to see if medication is needed to bring the cholesterol down to a reasonable level. What my doctor does not know is that I have been dieting and exercising since my last visit for several reasons, besides the obvious cholesterol problem. I grew tired of seeing pictures of myself with all the excess weight knowing it could increase my chances of heart attack, stroke and diabetes. I felt tired and listless most of the time and did not want to do anything, particularly exercise. I was beginning to feel a heaviness in my chest at certain times and sometimes waking in the night with discomfort. So, I embarked on a diet plan of my own design and choosing to see if I could reduce my weight by reducing how much I put into this 5' 3" frame. Many physical charts I consulted regarded a person of my height and weight as obese. After much thought and realizing my weight was more of a health problem than an image problem, I started with a plan to lose 2 pounds a week. I knew it would be tough since the number of pounds I felt I needed to drop was high....very high....well over fifty pounds.
I began this weight loss journey by eliminating all soda pop. I rarely drink diet soda, mainly because I don't like the artificial sweeteners put into them, but give me the real stuff and I am in heaven. Boy, you don't know how much I love Vanilla Cream soda and Root Beer. At the same time I quit soda, I started making smarter meals using fish and chicken three or four times a week. Lots of fresh asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts and frozen steam-fresh corn or peas at every meal. Sometimes, we would have only vegetables for the meal. I tried to stay away from my favorite, potatoes, but did include them sparingly a couple of times a week. I started making soups; chicken and vegetable using all fresh vegetables in seasoned stock. My soups have less salt in them than canned soups purchased in stores. The biggest food eating challenge I had to control these last 4 months was my homemade pizza. Bob and I have been making our own pizza for over 30 years. I make the dough for the pizza and when it is rolled out and ready, proceed to top it with tomatoes, Italian sausage, peppers, olives, sometimes fresh mushrooms and, of course, tons of mozzarella cheese. We usually make pizza over the weekend and have the leftovers for lunch the next day since I always managed to get two large pizzas out of the dough mix. So instead of making two pizzas, I reduced the amount of dough mixture to make only one large pizza. One or two slices is all I eat so I don't feel as though I am losing out on a good pizza. We also decided to cut back on going out for dinners. We love to go to the Chinese and Italian restaurants in town as well as out in the morning for a usually heavy breakfast. Again, we slowly got away from that routine since, in my opinion, the portions served in restaurants are two to three times larger than needed.
Another challenge was our Italian Christmas dinner. We've been having all Italian food for Christmas dinner for many, many years. I make lasagna, all the sauce and spaghetti noodles. Tony makes the ravioli, braciole and sometimes a jello dessert his father loves. Nick makes all the manicotti and also brings some sauce along with buttered Italian bread. This year I even managed to make the ricotta cheese that is layered into the lasagna. I knew I had to control my intake at this huge yummy meal. I ate everything at that dinner that I normally eat, only smaller portions. I tried to stick with the designated calorie intake for the day (that was hard!) but this may have been one of the days that I went over. I managed to stay on track, though, and got through the holidays still managing to lose weight.
By cutting the portions eaten during meals, I am controlling the caloric intake needed to lose weight. I gave myself a 1,000 calorie a day intake and stuck with it, only going over the limited calories five days in the last four months. I didn't follow any special exercising plan when I first started the diet. I was not losing weight at the rate I had planned until it finally dawned on me that I needed to do something to burn those calories, so I started walking. I started out with a ten minute walk in the morning, then increased it to 15/20. I then started a 10 minute walk after lunch on most days and a 10/15 minute right after dinner. Slowly, the pounds started coming off and I felt as though this really might work. At the same time I didn't feel I was denying myself of any foods I so love, except the soda. The walking has been good for the joints in my ankles, knees, hips and for blood circulation. To date I have lost 25 pounds and have embraced this goal setting loss by starting on the second phase of the diet. My new goal is for another 20 to 25 pound loss, which I hope to reach sometime this Spring.
I received this email this morning:
Mrs. Victoria,
Your lipids have improved; Total cholesterol is 199
Please continue your efforts and we will do a screen at your next annual visit.
So, my efforts have paid off as I have decreased my cholesterol by 26 points over the last four months. This does not mean I will run out and get a Carver burger (only the best burgers this side of the Mississippi) with a big basket of french fries or eat half the pizza I will make tomorrow. It means I will continue on this path until I have reached a still lower cholesterol level and weight. Several people have said I look pretty good, but this has not been so much about how I look as how I feel. I have more energy, stamina and just plain feel better. It's important to me to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as possible as I continue through the winter years of my life. Who knows, maybe if I'm lucky I will have as long a lifespan as my mother, which was 94 years. If I continue to take a proactive approach to my own health care, maybe even longer.
I began this weight loss journey by eliminating all soda pop. I rarely drink diet soda, mainly because I don't like the artificial sweeteners put into them, but give me the real stuff and I am in heaven. Boy, you don't know how much I love Vanilla Cream soda and Root Beer. At the same time I quit soda, I started making smarter meals using fish and chicken three or four times a week. Lots of fresh asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts and frozen steam-fresh corn or peas at every meal. Sometimes, we would have only vegetables for the meal. I tried to stay away from my favorite, potatoes, but did include them sparingly a couple of times a week. I started making soups; chicken and vegetable using all fresh vegetables in seasoned stock. My soups have less salt in them than canned soups purchased in stores. The biggest food eating challenge I had to control these last 4 months was my homemade pizza. Bob and I have been making our own pizza for over 30 years. I make the dough for the pizza and when it is rolled out and ready, proceed to top it with tomatoes, Italian sausage, peppers, olives, sometimes fresh mushrooms and, of course, tons of mozzarella cheese. We usually make pizza over the weekend and have the leftovers for lunch the next day since I always managed to get two large pizzas out of the dough mix. So instead of making two pizzas, I reduced the amount of dough mixture to make only one large pizza. One or two slices is all I eat so I don't feel as though I am losing out on a good pizza. We also decided to cut back on going out for dinners. We love to go to the Chinese and Italian restaurants in town as well as out in the morning for a usually heavy breakfast. Again, we slowly got away from that routine since, in my opinion, the portions served in restaurants are two to three times larger than needed.
Another challenge was our Italian Christmas dinner. We've been having all Italian food for Christmas dinner for many, many years. I make lasagna, all the sauce and spaghetti noodles. Tony makes the ravioli, braciole and sometimes a jello dessert his father loves. Nick makes all the manicotti and also brings some sauce along with buttered Italian bread. This year I even managed to make the ricotta cheese that is layered into the lasagna. I knew I had to control my intake at this huge yummy meal. I ate everything at that dinner that I normally eat, only smaller portions. I tried to stick with the designated calorie intake for the day (that was hard!) but this may have been one of the days that I went over. I managed to stay on track, though, and got through the holidays still managing to lose weight.
By cutting the portions eaten during meals, I am controlling the caloric intake needed to lose weight. I gave myself a 1,000 calorie a day intake and stuck with it, only going over the limited calories five days in the last four months. I didn't follow any special exercising plan when I first started the diet. I was not losing weight at the rate I had planned until it finally dawned on me that I needed to do something to burn those calories, so I started walking. I started out with a ten minute walk in the morning, then increased it to 15/20. I then started a 10 minute walk after lunch on most days and a 10/15 minute right after dinner. Slowly, the pounds started coming off and I felt as though this really might work. At the same time I didn't feel I was denying myself of any foods I so love, except the soda. The walking has been good for the joints in my ankles, knees, hips and for blood circulation. To date I have lost 25 pounds and have embraced this goal setting loss by starting on the second phase of the diet. My new goal is for another 20 to 25 pound loss, which I hope to reach sometime this Spring.
I received this email this morning:
Mrs. Victoria,
Your lipids have improved; Total cholesterol is 199
Please continue your efforts and we will do a screen at your next annual visit.
So, my efforts have paid off as I have decreased my cholesterol by 26 points over the last four months. This does not mean I will run out and get a Carver burger (only the best burgers this side of the Mississippi) with a big basket of french fries or eat half the pizza I will make tomorrow. It means I will continue on this path until I have reached a still lower cholesterol level and weight. Several people have said I look pretty good, but this has not been so much about how I look as how I feel. I have more energy, stamina and just plain feel better. It's important to me to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as possible as I continue through the winter years of my life. Who knows, maybe if I'm lucky I will have as long a lifespan as my mother, which was 94 years. If I continue to take a proactive approach to my own health care, maybe even longer.
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