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jenettI've been doing a lot of thinking about what it would take to provide actual meaningful support for real health needs and issues, rather than just theoretical 'if you did this, you'd be healthier!' that tends to crop up in the news over and over again.
Discussion below is obviously more focused on my own health issues because I know those best (though there's some thinking about other issues and ways that things might be supported), but I'm also interested in general discussion from other perspectives. In particular, feel free to link this (in either its LJ or DW versions) elsewhere if that would be appropriate for the elsewhere: both entries are public for once to make that easier.
Background
I've got chronic medical conditions. I've known for a long time that there are ways I could be healthier - but where resources really don't exist to support that in a way that actual resolves my concerns or issues. That's true even though a few of them are relatively trival to solve, especially for the amount of benefit that would come out of them.
My own issues:
- Migraines (which mostly don't affect other health factors, but that do benefit from sufficient rest and stress management techniques.)
- Asthma, which affects a lot of what I can do for exercise, the conditions I can do it in, and how I handle things after a flare, cold, or something else that affects lung function.
- Lung scarring from pneumonia in my early teens, which complicates the asthma. (At my best, even though I'm a longtime singer and wind player, I've gotten to about 90% of normal lung function for my age: I start seeing significant cognitive issues when I drop to about 75-80%.)
- Allergies - mostly not major by themselves, but they play into the asthma, and can affect sleep, lung function, or the spaces I can comfortably be in.
- The current exhaustion bits, which have done a number on my ability to do much of anything physical for very long or more than very slowly. I'm seeing small but steady improvement, but I'm not going to be able to rely on it for a while. (For those not reading much recently: vitamin D deficiency and subclinical hypothyroid are the current theory, and I've been on meds for both for about 10 days.)
- I am also substantially over medical-preferred weight: I'm currently around 245ish. I've been reading and thinking about the size acceptance movement since the mid-90s, and I'm also well aware of the Health At Every Size material. (For those not, or wondering about the issues of weight and health, this article does a good job of laying out the common arguments.
I don't care about the number: for me, health is very close to Moshe Feldenkrais's definition of having effective ways and means of realising our deepest dreams. There's stuff I can't do right now that I'd like to, and that might possibly change in the future. There are also a few things unlikely to change (the lung scarring means no scuba diving for me, ever, for example.)
So, all of these things get me thinking about the ways that our culture says "Be healthy!" and then either sabotages it, or at the very least, utterly fails to support things that could make a significant difference.
Things that have actually worked for me:
Living somewhere with a wide range of choices for finding healthy food. Living in an area where I have farmer's markets, locally grown produce, co-ops, and resources for other foods that avoid unnecessary chemicals, processing, etc. etc. (I do most of my shopping either at the local co-op or at Trader Joe's, with farmer's markets in the seasons where they happen.) This is partly choice, and partly luck, and partly benefits of having an education, job, etc. which make that choice possible. It is easier not to buy the highly processed stuff, or the stuff with high fructose corn syrup, if I do not shop in places that carry much of it.
My food habits still aren't where I'd like them to be (see below for some of why), but they're a lot better than they used to be. (I am still bemused by Elise commenting at the doctor's appt. she came to that my food habits are a lot better than most people she knows, because I still don't think they're that good.)
The discount my health insurance offers for gym membership if I go 8 times a month. It works for me because they don't track (or care) *what* I do once I check in: if I had to commit to a particular length or level of exertion, I'd be immensely turned off by it. (Because there are days I just can't do that.) The fact I just have to check in means that on good days, I do more, and on bad days, I do less, and it's all still better than not doing anything at all.
The online education offered by my health insurance- I can get gift cards for up to $125 a year for going through online seminars, doing challenges, or other things of that kind. Book money is pretty much always an incentive, thanks. I usually know the information they're offering, but sometimes there's a new application of something I hadn't considered, and anyway, I can do it at home when I'm lazing around.
Making it easier for me to drink water My thanks to whoever I got the tip from some years ago that if you have trouble drinking straight water, add a bit of something acidic to it. I do a splash of lemon or lime juice usually, but I've also done fruit vinegars and cider vinegar. (About a teaspoon per cup of the lemon or lime juice, and half that, maybe, for the vinegars. Rasberry is particularly nice) I am pretty much off of soda entirely except when I really want the caffeine. (for people who like the carbonation, I had a transition period of a couple of years where I drank fizzy water instead of soda. These days, I sometimes do half-fizzy, half-juice, but only every other day or so)
The tools no one seems to be offering:
But yet, there are health-related things that no one seems to be addressing adequately. I'm not just talking about some of the better known ones (groceries selling fresh and affordable produce in all areas, not just well-off ones, allowing apartment fixtures that allow for more substantial cooking than a microwave or hotplate, etc.) but also a myriad of little things that would actually help a lot of people (at not a lot of expense) if they were more accessible.
Specific and detailed information from qualified experts to support health-related goals that aren't purely medical My example: every time I have an asthma flare, my exercise drops to zero, and so does my stamina. Instead of seeing increasing improvement over years, I get it in a couple of month segments - the same hill over and over again, rather than new territory. This is immensely frustrating.
There are also things where I'd like to try them, but I'm not sure how to in a way that's reasonably safe and effective for me. For example, I have a rough idea of when (given weather and air quality) it's probably okay for me to try a longer walk outside, but I'd like help on refining that. I would sort of like to try biking, but between the asthma and the lung scarring (which makes deep breaths not work well when my torso is inclined), I am not sure how to go about it in a way that won't frustrate me. I don't always know when pushing through discomfort is sensible, or dangerous.
I sometimes - because I believe in poking my health care providers about this - ask about specific support for combining exercise and chronic medical issues. They look sorrowful, and go "You know, that *would* be helpful" - but there's no mechanism to provide it, or even referrals, beyond "Do what you can, when you can" which doesn't actually solve my problems.
And it's sort of silly, because my issues, at least, would probably be solved in a couple of sessions, with maybe a yearly follow-up. But I'd want them to come from someone who I could be pretty sure wasn't just going to suggest pushing through it, or taking my inhaler half an hour before I exercised, or the other really basic things I can figure out myself (or that I know don't help that specific issue.)
Resources for specific kinds of cooking needs My own personal desire is as follows: resources that a) involve minimally processed foods that b) can be cooked easily after work and c) make portions suitable for a single person who wants variety in their diet on d) a reasonable budget. I know the foods are out there, because I've worked some out - but it's lengthy and tiring to do all your own R&D on this kind of issue while also working. (I think there should be other variants, too, but this combo is my particular want.)
I can find healthy food recipes that feed 4-6. I can find recipes that feed 1 or 2 (but use processed stuff). I can find local food items, but that take a lot of cooking time, or make large quanities. I do some freezing, etc. but because work feeds me lunch (therefore leftovers don't get used for lunch), and because I'm not always home for dinner, I've found that making single servings of things often works better for me. (Also, because I never know what lunch at work is going to involve, single servings allow me to avoid having pasta in tomato sauce for dinner one night, lunch the next day, and dinner the next night, which is sort of tedious, as much as I am fond of pasta in tomato sauce)
Food tracking that focuses on types of food eaten, rather than calories or even nutrients. I'd love tracking systems that would let me input what I ate, and tell me "Ok, you had 3 servings of vegetables, but no servings of fruit yesterday - and you should really eat more green veggies today" (I don't have huge objections to calorie and other tracking data being there, but I only want to see it when I'm in the mood to deal.) My dream version of this would let people adjust independently to handle preferences - i.e. I do better on a higher protein diet, within reason, and I'm currently trying to take in more calcium to go with the vitamin D.
All three of these are things that would have a significant proven health impact for a lot of people, and they don't require new technologies or medical advances - but they're surprisingly unavailable.
Oh, yeah. A culture that actually supports good health choices, rather than just the easy ones, and adapting to different needs/conditions/limitations This requires a change in a lot of ways we deal with timing of work, stress, expectations on how much we accomplish in a day, etc. and I don't see it changing any time soon. But while I'm on the wish list, that's pretty high on it.
Discussion below is obviously more focused on my own health issues because I know those best (though there's some thinking about other issues and ways that things might be supported), but I'm also interested in general discussion from other perspectives. In particular, feel free to link this (in either its LJ or DW versions) elsewhere if that would be appropriate for the elsewhere: both entries are public for once to make that easier.
Background
I've got chronic medical conditions. I've known for a long time that there are ways I could be healthier - but where resources really don't exist to support that in a way that actual resolves my concerns or issues. That's true even though a few of them are relatively trival to solve, especially for the amount of benefit that would come out of them.
My own issues:
- Migraines (which mostly don't affect other health factors, but that do benefit from sufficient rest and stress management techniques.)
- Asthma, which affects a lot of what I can do for exercise, the conditions I can do it in, and how I handle things after a flare, cold, or something else that affects lung function.
- Lung scarring from pneumonia in my early teens, which complicates the asthma. (At my best, even though I'm a longtime singer and wind player, I've gotten to about 90% of normal lung function for my age: I start seeing significant cognitive issues when I drop to about 75-80%.)
- Allergies - mostly not major by themselves, but they play into the asthma, and can affect sleep, lung function, or the spaces I can comfortably be in.
- The current exhaustion bits, which have done a number on my ability to do much of anything physical for very long or more than very slowly. I'm seeing small but steady improvement, but I'm not going to be able to rely on it for a while. (For those not reading much recently: vitamin D deficiency and subclinical hypothyroid are the current theory, and I've been on meds for both for about 10 days.)
- I am also substantially over medical-preferred weight: I'm currently around 245ish. I've been reading and thinking about the size acceptance movement since the mid-90s, and I'm also well aware of the Health At Every Size material. (For those not, or wondering about the issues of weight and health, this article does a good job of laying out the common arguments.
I don't care about the number: for me, health is very close to Moshe Feldenkrais's definition of having effective ways and means of realising our deepest dreams. There's stuff I can't do right now that I'd like to, and that might possibly change in the future. There are also a few things unlikely to change (the lung scarring means no scuba diving for me, ever, for example.)
So, all of these things get me thinking about the ways that our culture says "Be healthy!" and then either sabotages it, or at the very least, utterly fails to support things that could make a significant difference.
Things that have actually worked for me:
Living somewhere with a wide range of choices for finding healthy food. Living in an area where I have farmer's markets, locally grown produce, co-ops, and resources for other foods that avoid unnecessary chemicals, processing, etc. etc. (I do most of my shopping either at the local co-op or at Trader Joe's, with farmer's markets in the seasons where they happen.) This is partly choice, and partly luck, and partly benefits of having an education, job, etc. which make that choice possible. It is easier not to buy the highly processed stuff, or the stuff with high fructose corn syrup, if I do not shop in places that carry much of it.
My food habits still aren't where I'd like them to be (see below for some of why), but they're a lot better than they used to be. (I am still bemused by Elise commenting at the doctor's appt. she came to that my food habits are a lot better than most people she knows, because I still don't think they're that good.)
The discount my health insurance offers for gym membership if I go 8 times a month. It works for me because they don't track (or care) *what* I do once I check in: if I had to commit to a particular length or level of exertion, I'd be immensely turned off by it. (Because there are days I just can't do that.) The fact I just have to check in means that on good days, I do more, and on bad days, I do less, and it's all still better than not doing anything at all.
The online education offered by my health insurance- I can get gift cards for up to $125 a year for going through online seminars, doing challenges, or other things of that kind. Book money is pretty much always an incentive, thanks. I usually know the information they're offering, but sometimes there's a new application of something I hadn't considered, and anyway, I can do it at home when I'm lazing around.
Making it easier for me to drink water My thanks to whoever I got the tip from some years ago that if you have trouble drinking straight water, add a bit of something acidic to it. I do a splash of lemon or lime juice usually, but I've also done fruit vinegars and cider vinegar. (About a teaspoon per cup of the lemon or lime juice, and half that, maybe, for the vinegars. Rasberry is particularly nice) I am pretty much off of soda entirely except when I really want the caffeine. (for people who like the carbonation, I had a transition period of a couple of years where I drank fizzy water instead of soda. These days, I sometimes do half-fizzy, half-juice, but only every other day or so)
The tools no one seems to be offering:
But yet, there are health-related things that no one seems to be addressing adequately. I'm not just talking about some of the better known ones (groceries selling fresh and affordable produce in all areas, not just well-off ones, allowing apartment fixtures that allow for more substantial cooking than a microwave or hotplate, etc.) but also a myriad of little things that would actually help a lot of people (at not a lot of expense) if they were more accessible.
Specific and detailed information from qualified experts to support health-related goals that aren't purely medical My example: every time I have an asthma flare, my exercise drops to zero, and so does my stamina. Instead of seeing increasing improvement over years, I get it in a couple of month segments - the same hill over and over again, rather than new territory. This is immensely frustrating.
There are also things where I'd like to try them, but I'm not sure how to in a way that's reasonably safe and effective for me. For example, I have a rough idea of when (given weather and air quality) it's probably okay for me to try a longer walk outside, but I'd like help on refining that. I would sort of like to try biking, but between the asthma and the lung scarring (which makes deep breaths not work well when my torso is inclined), I am not sure how to go about it in a way that won't frustrate me. I don't always know when pushing through discomfort is sensible, or dangerous.
I sometimes - because I believe in poking my health care providers about this - ask about specific support for combining exercise and chronic medical issues. They look sorrowful, and go "You know, that *would* be helpful" - but there's no mechanism to provide it, or even referrals, beyond "Do what you can, when you can" which doesn't actually solve my problems.
And it's sort of silly, because my issues, at least, would probably be solved in a couple of sessions, with maybe a yearly follow-up. But I'd want them to come from someone who I could be pretty sure wasn't just going to suggest pushing through it, or taking my inhaler half an hour before I exercised, or the other really basic things I can figure out myself (or that I know don't help that specific issue.)
Resources for specific kinds of cooking needs My own personal desire is as follows: resources that a) involve minimally processed foods that b) can be cooked easily after work and c) make portions suitable for a single person who wants variety in their diet on d) a reasonable budget. I know the foods are out there, because I've worked some out - but it's lengthy and tiring to do all your own R&D on this kind of issue while also working. (I think there should be other variants, too, but this combo is my particular want.)
I can find healthy food recipes that feed 4-6. I can find recipes that feed 1 or 2 (but use processed stuff). I can find local food items, but that take a lot of cooking time, or make large quanities. I do some freezing, etc. but because work feeds me lunch (therefore leftovers don't get used for lunch), and because I'm not always home for dinner, I've found that making single servings of things often works better for me. (Also, because I never know what lunch at work is going to involve, single servings allow me to avoid having pasta in tomato sauce for dinner one night, lunch the next day, and dinner the next night, which is sort of tedious, as much as I am fond of pasta in tomato sauce)
Food tracking that focuses on types of food eaten, rather than calories or even nutrients. I'd love tracking systems that would let me input what I ate, and tell me "Ok, you had 3 servings of vegetables, but no servings of fruit yesterday - and you should really eat more green veggies today" (I don't have huge objections to calorie and other tracking data being there, but I only want to see it when I'm in the mood to deal.) My dream version of this would let people adjust independently to handle preferences - i.e. I do better on a higher protein diet, within reason, and I'm currently trying to take in more calcium to go with the vitamin D.
All three of these are things that would have a significant proven health impact for a lot of people, and they don't require new technologies or medical advances - but they're surprisingly unavailable.
Oh, yeah. A culture that actually supports good health choices, rather than just the easy ones, and adapting to different needs/conditions/limitations This requires a change in a lot of ways we deal with timing of work, stress, expectations on how much we accomplish in a day, etc. and I don't see it changing any time soon. But while I'm on the wish list, that's pretty high on it.
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Food Tracking
Date: 2010-02-02 04:10 am (UTC)http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/eating-well/pregnancy-diet.aspx
What To Expect When You're Expecting breaks down food into 11 or 12 different groups. The book discusses what amounts are appropriate for primarily pregnant women, but also references pre- and post-pregnancy. If you ignore the "calorie" category, it supplies a full set of nutritional groupings that might be helpful.
Re: Food Tracking
Date: 2010-02-02 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 06:12 am (UTC)I can really, really relate to the issues about exercise. I need an expert in between "physical therapist" and "personal trainer," who can tell me how to exercise without injuring myself and how to modify exercises so they work with my body shape. But it seems to me that most physical therapists only tell you how to heal injuries, and most personal trainers don't know that much about individual body variations and are more in the line of providing motivation.
There's a community on LJ called fathletes that might provide some of what you're looking for.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 01:04 pm (UTC)And yeah. All the "Get more exercise" prodding in the world works better if there are ways to actually solve some of the glitches with it. That this does not occur to most of the universe continues to puzzle me.
physical therapists/personal trainer
Date: 2010-02-04 02:20 am (UTC)- innerdoggie
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:03 am (UTC)You know, a cheap easy healthy unprocessed food comm aimed at those with serious health problems (rather than overall healthy people just trying to lose weight) might be a good idea. I have lots I could post :) *ponders for when I am less spoon deficient*
But overall yes to a lot of this.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 01:05 pm (UTC)As I said in the post, I've done a bunch of my own R&D, but it's tiring, and I love to see what works for other people for ideas.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 06:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 11:23 am (UTC)i have fibromyalgia, which, for me, is mostly migraine, back pain, fatigue, brain fog, anxiety and unexpected flare ups of 'minor' conditions that come in for a side swipe. i have not worked for over seven years, and am on benefits in the uk.
i did a pain management course in hospital which no longer exists, but there is a book that came out of it called 'manage your pain' (practical and positive ways of adapting to chronic pain) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manage-Michael-Nicholas-Molloy-Beetson/dp/0285636790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265195450&sr=8-1
the specific thing i got from this course was detailed instruction on setting base lines and pacing both activity and rest.
this course patched me up, got me off pain killers, but there was something missing. something which meant that i actually just ended up losing my relationship, picking up more work, then crashing much harder. the thing that was missing is addressed in the course this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Well-Pain-Illness-Suffering/dp/0749928603/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b is based on. i have met vidyamala, indeed, been taught by her. she is in a wheel chair and uses a watch with programmable alarms to prompt her to stand up for five minutes every hour. i had always used cooker timer type alarms, but this is better because you can set it for two different periods of time, and it is on your wrist, so harder to ignore. the cds are really essential if you are not an experienced meditator, and even if you are, these are orientated specifically for people with chronic pain.
pacing is very counter intuitive, but it does 'work' in that it keeps you moving enough, resting enough. for me, living alone, and having the fatigue thing as well, i find it very easy to ignore an alarm. what i don't find easy to ignore is a dog. so that's what i have finally got! nurse ratchet!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 01:10 pm (UTC)The pieces that are new for me are persistent and overwhelming exhaustion - probably triggered from stress related to a shiny new job (parts of which I adore, parts of which are very stressful, and involving fairly long hours: school librarian) I spent all of the fall exhausted. Realised over Thanksgiving break that it wasn't just being tired, and have spent the next two months figuring out what it is.
My endocrinologist (seen on the 20th) diagnosed vitamin D deficiency and possibly hypothyroid - he's less sure about the latter, but was willing to treat it. (My tests are borderlineish). I've been on meds for both since the 22nd, and I'm seeing slow improvement, but it's still rough going, and I'm being very careful what I can and can't do.
(Today, argh, not a good example: I got up at 5:15, half an hour early so I could take my paperwork to a coffee shop and get it done, am about to go to work, and then will be there until 5 with an after-school meeting. But I got home early last night, and got a fair bit of sleep, and I can do the same on Thursday.
All of which is to say, while pain isn't my main symptom, I continue to be really interested in ways to be more healthy and more able to do the stuff I want while taking care of myself. So, thanks for the links!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 01:30 pm (UTC)using meditation techniques to encounter your new reality and be able to inhabit the 'A' of your condition to get to the 'B' of managing it while attending to the reality of your life is covered in the second book.
really, in the first book the very basic idea of for every hour you are active you should rest properly for ten minutes, and if you can't then you should take 20 after two should see off your fatigue and you should get more done and stay fresher. pushing and crashing over a cycle of a couple of days can run you into the ground if you're not careful, hence the hourly rest. in the second book, having covered body scanning and breathing meditation, you have skills for using a 'three minute breather' with which you can maximise those 'resting' minutes.
i am at a really basic level, where i can seriously only manage my own basic needs and now my dog's - but the fact of 'having' to deal with the dog's needs has helped me rein in activities that were making me push and crash, despite many years of knowing about and practicing these skills. nobody likes being unable to do stuff, but if you find pacing beneficial, which for fatigue problems i would put money on, then you prioritise things. you have rights in the workplace, and nobody is going to resent you taking your breaks differently than them if that is what you need and you express that need appropriately.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 03:10 pm (UTC)I thought very seriously about taking a medical leave, but it's really hard to get substitute librarians, and my minion is new to the job. (If she'd been here through a whole year's cycle, I'd have been a lot more willing.) So I've been combining being here but working/resting in the back room when I need to with doing the stuff I can when I can, and so on. I'm still not sure if it was the right choice, but it doesn't seem to be making things horribly worse.
And then there's other stuff - my laundry was already pretty simplified (given that it has to go to the laundromat, but everything goes in a single load, and I don't own much that isn't washable together), food could be better, but I know a lot of tricks for reasonably healthy meals that don't take much prep time, and I've just started having a cleaner come in for all the cleaning I'm just not up for (and will continue to do so for a while - he and I have talked about every 2 weeks for a few months, and then dropping back to monthly eventually.) which means all I have to do is the dishes, light cleaning as stuff gets messed up, and the cat chores and basic trash.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 03:47 pm (UTC)i can warmly recommend getting a dishwasher - washing dishes was a massive drain for me. they are quite cheap, the main expense is if you have to pay a plumber, but you may have a handy friend who could do it for you.
do friend me here or on lj if you like!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 04:07 pm (UTC)Fortunately, dishes is not one of the things that completely wipes me out as long as I remember to do it regularly, and it is also not one of the things I hate doing and put off forever as a result. (Scrubbing the tub, yes. Mopping the floors, yes. Dusting, yes.) Sweeping is often just fine, and general tidying if I'm not totally wiped out.
(And I'll add you in the relevant places.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 10:58 pm (UTC)Little tiny house has benefits, but convenient space is not one of them.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 04:24 pm (UTC)I've found nutrimirror.com very helpful for making sure I'm eating right nutritionally. I now make sure I get enough fruits and veggies every day, and way more iron than I used to.
My SO got me a home carbonation kit, so I can make fizzy water any time I like. It's easy to use, and once the initial kit is set up, much cheaper than store soda. He's experimenting with making OpenCola from essential oils.
http://www.quantifiedself.com/ is about gathering data to help one make better decisions about oneself.
I came across a website from there, which is for tracking chronic health conditiona and symptoms, and seeing what works for other people. I apologize for not recalling the name.
No one else is going to be as interested in your health as you. But health care providers, I beleive, find objective data convincing, and may be better able to help you, if they can see the broader patterns.
Sante.. tedesson
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 09:08 pm (UTC)The reminder about Quantified Self is great - I'd been by there at some point, but never bookmarked it.
Friends have a home carbonation system: I'm intrigued by it, but until recently wasn't drinking fizzy water much (there's something about the current medical combo that is making the carbonation more desireable again for some reason, though, so I've been drinking a bit more recently.) I may have to look into a home system.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 06:14 pm (UTC)http://www.curetogether.com/index-2.php
Sometimes I have to stub my toe on the memory trace.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:22 am (UTC)I have Kaiser Permanente's Medicare Advantage plan, but I understand that they have pretty much the same things in a non-Medicare plan:
Specific and detailed information from qualified experts to support health-related goals that aren't purely medical - Kaiser has nurse practitioners who do this, but if you don't read the paperwork, you may not know.
Resources for specific kinds of cooking needs - I manage this myself (I can't stand up very long, so mine are more limited), but the Mayo Clinic has a good outline for it: Healthy Meals (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-cooking/hq00474).
Food tracking that focuses on types of food eaten - These (http://www.nutritiondata.com/mynd/mytracking/welcome?returnto=/mynd/mytracking) folks are annoying about weight loss, but they have a tracking widget. I use them for the Nutrition part because I can only have 50gr protein a day. I can handle that okay at home, but who knows what restaurants do?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:46 am (UTC)(I normally see a NP there, incidentally, and love her to bits. She's just no use on the specific combination of exercise around existing issues.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:27 am (UTC)This post is interesting, so are the comments, and I'm going to reread later.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 01:55 am (UTC)On the post and comments - yep! That's part of why I threw it open wider than usual. I know neat people who've been poking at this kind of thing for a while, I've been poking at it in bits for a while, and they all know people who know other bits.
Part of why I'm trying to talk about the process and what's going on inside my head and on a practical level is .. well, partly if I don't talk about it here, there aren't that many places to talk about it reliably: friends are busy and take planning to see, etc. etc. etc. But also because I think we as a society don't talk about the practical stuff nearly enough, and doing so more makes it easier to make better choices for more people about access and practical stuff, and so on.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 10:09 pm (UTC)I really like Eating Well for this. Eating Well Cooking for Two
I have their cookbook -- Eating Well Serves Two, and it's really good, but I do not use it all that often, because generally I like to make a meal for four. (That way we can have a meal for dinner and then lunch the following day.) It sounds like it'd be very useful for you; would you like my copy?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 11:59 pm (UTC)(I first got frustrated with this particular problem when my food budget was a tiny portion of what it is now: their recipes wouldn't have worked well for me then, but I think they would now.)
On the portions - yeah. If I brought lunch to work, it'd be easier, but I don't. (And the times I feed myself, it's either summer, and I'm doing a lot of cold foods - nice, but either it's single serving anyway, or I do a huge batch, like with hummus and it it on and off for a few days - or it's over winter break when I'm doing longer cooking stuff anyway.)
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Date: 2010-02-02 12:07 am (UTC)Eating Well started as and is still doing a monthly cooking magazine. I have a subscription because I was so impressed with their recipes that I bought their magazines at the checkstand for over a year straight. (: All of their recipes include basic nutritional information (protein, carbs, fiber, fat, and if the food is particularly high in a nutrient), and they've started adding monetary cost per serving. They've also started indicating in some of their recipes how to cut it down to serve two. So you might want to take a peek at an issue and see if you like it.
It's awesome that you have a really good cafeteria at work -- both for you and your students. (: Mark has a cafeteria at his work, but it's easier for him if I make his lunch, since the diabetes makes eating a little trickier. (Also, I make better food. (; )
Mmmm, hummus. Now I'm hungry! (:
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Date: 2010-02-02 12:12 am (UTC)The only downside is that they don't publish what they're doing in advance, so you can end up with a couple of days of similar food at home and at work - or a couple of days where none of what they're doing with veggies makes me interested, which can get a little odd.
(As you know, I don't have a lot of strong food aversions, but these days, I'm mostly avoiding peppers as they do not reliably agree with me, and unless I really want the food, it's easier not to fuss with it.) And there's some stuff I like, but not the ways they usually serve it, and so on. So I can generally get a quite reasonable meal, but sometimes it looks a little odd.
Today's, for example, was pork soft tacos, cottage cheese, and some extra salad veggies around the edges, because nothing really looked good.
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Date: 2010-02-02 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-02 01:34 pm (UTC)I really like mint and/or cinnamon sticks in my water, instead of lemon/lime. I like lemon/lime flavoring, but not in my water for some reason. Not unless it's lemonade. :)
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Date: 2010-02-02 03:34 pm (UTC)I'm not sure if you're asking for advice on this or not, but if you are, there are non-bend-over bike options. I live in Portland, which is pretty bike-friendly. There are some bikes here whose riders basically have the posture of a piano player: vertical back, arms out, feet down. The upright bikes tend to also be geared lower, so it's more practical to go at a lower speed. "Step-through" is often a good keyword, or look for some of the Dutch/Dutch-inspired bikes that are aimed at parents. One of my friends knew that the bike shop she was in was the right one when she went bike-shopping wearing a long skirt and carrying a toddler and not only did they not blink, they suggested specific bikes that would work well for a skirt-wearing toddler-hauler. She doesn't have to bend over at all on that bike, not even to get on and off.
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Date: 2010-02-02 03:54 pm (UTC)Part of it has to do with exertion, etc. - some stuff triggers asthma in ways that other stuff doesn't. I think I may try out the exercise bikes at the Y and see how I feel about it. (Biking is probably not my preferred form of exercise, and biking to work is theoretically possible but unlikely due to the 'not sure I'd reliably be able to make it home' thing and weather complications, but it's about 5 miles, about half on the greenway path), but might be nice for errands and/or biking down the Mississippi.