Friday, January 1, 2010

2010...What Lies Ahead

2009...Good-bye and good riddance. You were sucky and crappy and no friend of ours. Thank heavens you're gone. 2010...We are welcoming you with open arms. Please be kind to us.

I have to say that out of all the years of my life, I definitely would not ever want to repeat 2008 or 2009. Initially, my older son was diagnosed with oral cancer, and just as he completed treatment, my hubby was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Whew! Talk about your stressed filled couple of years. But fortune smiled on us. My son is in remission and doing out standing. You can actually read about his experience here. And hubby is still alive and kicking...maybe not as hard as he used to, but, hey, at least now I can keep up with him.

Now, all of this care-giving I did during this time took somewhat of a toll on me. It's like this. Cancer patients have a tendency to lose a bit of weight, which is not a good thing. So, my mission became feeding them, and feeding them well. It was particularly important for my son who had lost part of his tongue. Eating was an all day process for him. Making rich creamy, fattening soups became my purpose in life. And I became very good at it. Then as my hubby became sick, I added more home cooking to the mix. I wanted to eliminate as much processed food as possible. Cooking became an enormous part of my life.

But...and herein lies the problem...I am diabetic. With all this cooking for the guys, I wasn't taking care of me. So, 2010 is going to be for me. I going to get back on that horse and get healthy. It is going to be a journey, and I am going to drag you along with me. Hopefully you won't be kicking and screaming along the way. I kinda figured that if I committed to healthy living here in front of God and everyone, I would stick to it. I need this to keep me honest.

Here's the plan.

1)I will eat healthy. Some diabetics follow the AmericanDiabetes Association diet. Some eliminate all carbs. I am going to basically marry the two. The ADA diet really has too many carbs to be able to control blood sugar without a heck of a lot of insulin. And "low/no carb" really leaves out some essential nutrients. So I will be eating carbs, not many, but some healthy ones.

2) I will monitor my blood sugar, record the numbers and keep a food diary.












3) I will exercise...a big yuck! I hate exercising. Thus probably the diabetes. Anyway, my sis and I are going to do this together. She has a Wii Fit, which might make this palatable.



So this blog is going to basically evolve into a journal of my new healthy journey, the steps forward, the steps backwards, the highs, the lows, the ups, the downs. And along the way, I will still be cooking and posting recipes. I hope you will join this little trip of mine!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic Karen. I know you can maintain this healthier lifestyle. Having fun with it is part of what will make you successful!

Carl and Pat said...

Keep going. Carl and I are going to be doing the same. He is borderlne diabetic, so hopefully it will keep it at bay. Love your blog--I can see where brent gets his writing talent!

Karen said...

Hey, the secret to keep the blood sugar where it should be is lowering the carbs and increasing the exercise. I will be putting lots of low carb ideas on here. I find it much easier to live with than low fat!