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Dec 29: Monthly Update - Health Stuff
9 years ago
|██████████|SANITY
|██████████|ENERGY
Status: Dot Dot Dot
█ Time for another journal. Early this month after a bit of prodding went to the doctor for the first time in about a decade, and went in regards to my depression. I wasn't particularly interested in medications as a solution so I was pointed in a direction of a book "Mind Over Mood". Reading through the relevant parts has helped a little, but mostly it's stuff I've known and been aware of; but it's setup to help analyze and pinpoint things that can help shift one's state of mind. Self-awareness is actually something that's pretty difficult when you try to get down to the nitty gritty details. The main take away for me currently is to force myself to do something I enjoy (drawing) even if I don't really feel like it or get any enjoyment out of it at the time at least once a day for at least a little while.
Granted this isn't where my particular health story ends. My doctor had me get some bloodwork done to make sure my depression wasn't being caused by a different source such as diabetes or some other physical problem. That and well having more up to date information on my health was something that was needed anyways. The first set of results weren't exactly great as it turns out I'm diabetic. Though to put that in perspective people who have blood sugar of 6.5% or above are considered as such, I'm sitting at 6.6%. Out of curiosity I did inquire about medications, which did end up with a semi-amusing bit of information of that for people with severe cases of diabetes who need medication, they shoot for a blood sugar level of 7% or lower; which puts me in a grey area. Either way it's something I'm working towards taking care of as the impact on my body later in life of course wouldn't be good. The results also showed some potential issues with my kidneys and liver as well and I had some additional bloodwork to get more information in regards to that. I won't know more till the results come in an my doctor talks to me about that.
At any rate I've started to look a lot closer at my calorie intake to get rid of the extra 25ish pounds I'm carrying, which hopefully at the same time gets my blood sugar levels down to something more normal. I've been eating slightly less for about a week and been actually counting the calories I'm taking in in the past few days and I seem to be down about 5 pounds.
In the end I feel fine physically, so it's good that these things got noticed earlier before I did start to feel physical effects.
█ While I'm chipping away at improving my mental and physical health, there is one issue I'm still trying to deal with and that's anxiety over money. Not in having it or not having it, just with it in general. I've never been comfortable with it, and I avoid thinking about it when I can; which of course makes certain things difficult with living in a money-centric world. I suppose it would be even worse if I was a highly materialistic person who wanted stuff all the time. Course maybe I wouldn't have that kind of anxiety if I did want stuff because I would have to overcome that anxiety pretty quickly. I still have problems with my thoughts in regards to money and the like, due to the endless possibilities of threats and dangers that comes with it. Certainly enough stories of how people's lives get a lot of undo stress or are outright ruined by it in one fashion or another to make me uncomfortable with it on a whole. I'm not entirely sure of how I can get rid of the anxiety I have around this particular issue, all I've been able to do is be able to manage it. Not like I have a choice in that regards, still need money for food and the like.
█ Speaking of, I'll probably be writing up a commission journal later today or tomorrow. Somewhat depends if I decide to spend a bit of today actually putting things into folders to postpone assembling that journal together.
Hope you all have had a good 2015!
|██████████|ENERGY
Status: Dot Dot Dot
█ Time for another journal. Early this month after a bit of prodding went to the doctor for the first time in about a decade, and went in regards to my depression. I wasn't particularly interested in medications as a solution so I was pointed in a direction of a book "Mind Over Mood". Reading through the relevant parts has helped a little, but mostly it's stuff I've known and been aware of; but it's setup to help analyze and pinpoint things that can help shift one's state of mind. Self-awareness is actually something that's pretty difficult when you try to get down to the nitty gritty details. The main take away for me currently is to force myself to do something I enjoy (drawing) even if I don't really feel like it or get any enjoyment out of it at the time at least once a day for at least a little while.
Granted this isn't where my particular health story ends. My doctor had me get some bloodwork done to make sure my depression wasn't being caused by a different source such as diabetes or some other physical problem. That and well having more up to date information on my health was something that was needed anyways. The first set of results weren't exactly great as it turns out I'm diabetic. Though to put that in perspective people who have blood sugar of 6.5% or above are considered as such, I'm sitting at 6.6%. Out of curiosity I did inquire about medications, which did end up with a semi-amusing bit of information of that for people with severe cases of diabetes who need medication, they shoot for a blood sugar level of 7% or lower; which puts me in a grey area. Either way it's something I'm working towards taking care of as the impact on my body later in life of course wouldn't be good. The results also showed some potential issues with my kidneys and liver as well and I had some additional bloodwork to get more information in regards to that. I won't know more till the results come in an my doctor talks to me about that.
At any rate I've started to look a lot closer at my calorie intake to get rid of the extra 25ish pounds I'm carrying, which hopefully at the same time gets my blood sugar levels down to something more normal. I've been eating slightly less for about a week and been actually counting the calories I'm taking in in the past few days and I seem to be down about 5 pounds.
In the end I feel fine physically, so it's good that these things got noticed earlier before I did start to feel physical effects.
█ While I'm chipping away at improving my mental and physical health, there is one issue I'm still trying to deal with and that's anxiety over money. Not in having it or not having it, just with it in general. I've never been comfortable with it, and I avoid thinking about it when I can; which of course makes certain things difficult with living in a money-centric world. I suppose it would be even worse if I was a highly materialistic person who wanted stuff all the time. Course maybe I wouldn't have that kind of anxiety if I did want stuff because I would have to overcome that anxiety pretty quickly. I still have problems with my thoughts in regards to money and the like, due to the endless possibilities of threats and dangers that comes with it. Certainly enough stories of how people's lives get a lot of undo stress or are outright ruined by it in one fashion or another to make me uncomfortable with it on a whole. I'm not entirely sure of how I can get rid of the anxiety I have around this particular issue, all I've been able to do is be able to manage it. Not like I have a choice in that regards, still need money for food and the like.
█ Speaking of, I'll probably be writing up a commission journal later today or tomorrow. Somewhat depends if I decide to spend a bit of today actually putting things into folders to postpone assembling that journal together.
Hope you all have had a good 2015!
hang in there
Best of wishes and keep it going ^.=.0
Keep moving forward. Even if it's only an inch in comparison. When you stay stagnant, then things don't improve, and you end up buried. And it's easier to try and keep a step ahead of it, than having to dig out of it.
Sides, even rock bottom has oil beneath it.
some care and careful dieting. Add a bit of exercise and you will be flying along. That alone
might make a major change in much of your moods. Hugs you tightly.
Rather than ingesting processed surgars ingest fruits or vegetables that are naturally high in sugar.
If you are augmenting your body's production of natural insulin, continue to do so while slowly decreasing your body's dependence on this supplementing.
This process will, in time, readjust your body to properly process sugars and a proper amount of insulin.
1 make a list of your needs and how much you make (low side) then make a list of bills if you manage paying ever thing then your at least doing well if over here comes the big part
2 always have a little cash on hand for me I take 40bucks but I drive so I need money when I need to stop and refresh I can with little or no worries it's not a lot but it does take off my money edge well
All the best for the upcoming year! Whatever happens, don'T get discouraged :)
Although I do not have Diabetes, I have Auto-Brewery syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-.....ewery_syndrome
So to be brief, I get buzzed off of eating sugary stuff at night. During the day, I get serious migraines. The doctors first thought I was diabetic, until they ran some tests.
Fun stuff.
I don't know how this has affected buying groceries at home, especially since saving money is a concern, but since I know you guys like to buy soda there are 0 calorie alternatives like Coke Zero, and it's not terrible!! Heck even diet coke is okay-- that sort of food science has come a long away and Coke Zero tastes amazing for what it is. (It's just unfortunate that Canada doesn't get the vanilla kind, haha.)
Otherwise, yeah!! Just be on the look out for low-cal options. If I come grocery shopping with you guys I can help with that too. :V also cut out on buying chips because having those laying around makes life so much harder. Bread/toast is also super unfair when it comes to calories, same with cheese (but there are lite options). Obviously you know that I drink almond milk to replace regular milk. Those are sorta the big things that you should cut out on. Dieting is also the reason why I started buying things like low-cal granola bars that I can snack on throughout the day, and you don't necessarily have to cut out on tasty snacks either, just gotta eat less of it and in moderation.
Hope this wall of text isn't unwarranted! I don't know what you do and don't already know. I'm just really glad that you being diabetic hasn't reached a terrible level yet-- I cringe at the thought of you having to do insulin injections! (or however that works, eugh). Just wanna help with what knowledge I've learned from my own experience.
Take care big bro!!
The hard part really is figuring out how many calories something is that's not pre-packaged, so I have to give a rough guess instead. Groceries haven't changed too much, it's just that I deliberately eat less (so leftovers have ended up building up in the fridge a bit). The only big thing that changed is not buying butter anymore, and I've refrigerated olive oil instead as a substitute. I suppose the other thing is that mom has started mixing in some brown rice in with the regular rice.
I think my intake would have been in the 2000-2400 range before I started counting (but I wasn't counting so I could be way off), now I'm shooting for between 1400-1800; which I've been able to meet most days.
I'm still a bit wary of the sugar substitute stuff. Not completely convinced due to the studies that shows it causes cancers in lab animals (in large amounts granted), can lead to weight gain, and it seems that some people may actually be allergic or have bad physical reactions to it (headaches, nausea, joint-pain?). Not into the whole conspiracy stuff myself, but it seems all a bit dodgy to me.
As of this post I'm down about 6-10 pounds (hard to tell since my weight fluctuates about 4ish, but I guess it would be about 8 average. In the end it's not like I have much of a choice XD
I was gonna suggest http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ as a helpful app thing but I don't like their website as much as their phone app. It's what I used (and still use) to keep track of things. Might be worth looking in to if you're interested.
As for things that aren't pre-packaged, yeah, I often just sorta guess what things are and accommodate with what my daily amount is. It might be worth investing in a food scale? The bf has one at home and it's super useful for weighing out things like cereal or fluid amounts. I was thinking about getting one earlier but our house is so... sporadic... haha.
But yeah, that's good!! 1800 isn't too hard to reach at all. I'm super tiny so my daily intake has to be 1200-1300 to lose weight... lmao.....
And yeah, I understand being wary of sugar substitutes. I used to be as well, especially around aspartame in candies but I'm sure it's okay every once in awhile. When you have 0 calories left in your day it feels good to just... drink something that's not water? I guess? idk LOL. At least the alternative is there. Things that are 0/low calories (and still taste good) are amazing to me these days.
Water weight definitely influences your daily weigh in! Try to weigh yourself at similar times of the day-- although you don't seem to be freaking out about the fluctuations so it's not really a big deal.
Now we gotta just slowly convince mom to join the calorie-counting diet train... still tho, super proud of you, you're doing such a good job already!! >o<//
Exercise-wise only thing I manage and still manage is the weight lifting, everything else after all ends up in the itchy rashes and hives XP
I like water though, and it's probably the main reason why I didn't end up waaaaay fatter >>;
Water is great (y).
WE ALL MAKIN' STEPS TO BECOME BETTER YASSSS