Bits and Pieces, None of them Related to the Other

It’s a late Sunday afternoon,a  gorgeous October day that makes my heart squeeze.  The light here in October is just perfect.  The blue of the sky intensifies, and the colors are amazing.  It’s a paean of praise to the Creator, and a reward to us for enduring the dog days of August.  I truly love fall here in my corner of PA. 

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I just wiped up the kitchen, after loading up the dishwasher.  I have a new kitchen, which any of you who have been with me for a while know all about–probably in too much detail.  I really love my countertops. Granite, in a pretty pattern called Kashmir White–or maybe White Kashmir, I don’t remember. (This is not my sink–just a stock picture I pulled of Google images, but the cabinets below are pretty much the same color as mine.) They clean up so quickly and easily, and they’re very forgiving.  Right now, I’m enjoying a cup of orange tea sweetened with a teaspoon of honey (gotta watch those carbs!) as I listen to the dishwasher  do its dreary chore for me.  This is the first time I’ve ever had a dishwasher that really works, and I love it.  I think even Terry is becoming convinced it was a good idea.  The kitchen’s not quite finished because there is lots of outdoor work Terry took care of in the good weather, but he’ll get back to it when he can’t be outside any more.

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I’m also thinking about my church this afternoon.  Our pastor and one of our deacons are visiting missionaries we support in Mozambique, so the assistant pastor and a couple of other men are filling the pulpit. We have an unusual number of biblically sound, gifted-to-teach men in our church, and I love it.  We are blessed, for a relatively small church, with so many godly men who lead their families well.  My son-in-law is one of them.

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And speaking of kids (that was a pretty good segue, don’t you think?)  I really love going into the church on Sunday and seeing three bright and shiny faces smiling at me. “Hi, Grandma!  Is Grandpa here?”   All my grandchildren hold their own special places in my heart, and they will only understand that when they are grandparents themselves, if the Lord tarries. 

We got news yesterday that our South Dakota family will be here for Christmas!  Can’t wait!  Can’t even think about it too much or I  just get too wound up.

My grands are growing up so fast!  The oldest is 18, and the youngest is almost six. There are nine of them, with a batch in the middle who are all within a year of each other in age.  I can’t wait to get my hands on them 🙂

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I’m sitting in a new chair in my office here at home.  For several months, we’ve been trying to find a chair that adjusts and supports my wonky back, since I spend a good bit of time in it.  I think we may finally have found one.  It has good lumbar support,

and adjusts to fit my stumpy little legs. So thank you, Lord, for helping us find the right one and making it within our price range. The test of how good it is?  After I’ve been sitting for a while and then I need to stand up.  So far, I’m making that manuever without sounding and feeling like a ratchet wrench.

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Along with many of my contemporaries, I’m fighting the Type 2 Diabetes scourge.   I’ve started swimming a couple of times each week, which should help my back, as well.  I’m counting carbs, and doing pretty well at losing some weight and realizing how much I was overdoing it on the carbs before.  We drove past a Dunkin’ Donuts on our way home from church, and there was a line of cars circling it like an army of ants.

“Go ahead!” I hollered, to Terry’s utter amazement. “Stuff your faces with all those empty carbs, give yourselves diabetes and a belly ache!  I’m driving right on by!”   Truth?  I’m green with envy.  I love donuts.  I want donuts. I’m not getting any donuts.  If I think about it, I get really cranky.  So in a little while I’ll go have a small apple with some cheddar cheese or a little peanut butter, and I’ll convince myself it’s just as tasty as a donut.  Yeah.

But don’t I feel better now that I’m getting some exercise and staying away from all that sugar?   I don’t know.  Maybe.  Ask me again in January after I get my next A1C number.

For those of you who are not diabetic, be thankful you don’t know what  A1C means. And lay off the donuts.

I think I’m done.  See you tomorrow 🙂

Aging: Type II Diabetes

This one is personal. This one I live with. This one I fight every day, because like way too many Americans who grew up on a surfeit of sugar, my body has finally said, “Enough, you fool. Quit with the sparkly white stuff, the high-fructose corn syrup, the overload of white flour, high carb-low value garbage. If you’re going to live without carting around oxygen, sitting in a wheel chair, being blind, having heart disease, getting things amputated and being a general pain for the poor folks who have to take care of you, you need to KNOCK IT OFF!”

And I’m listening. Really making some important changes. Is it easy? No, of course not. The biggest thing I need to do that I haven’t done well at all is to get the body up and moving. Losing weight is important. Especially after menopause, women hang on to their weight as if it were solid gold. It’s solid, all right. Did you know that the prime supply of estrogen after menopause is from belly fat?

Sometimes there’s just no justice.

All right, here’s the simple explanation.  When you pour sugar into your body, the pancreas is supposed to make enough insulin to adequately deal with that sugar, whatever form it comes in. At some point, the pancreas says, “Nope, no more, you’ve worn me out.”  This is called insulin resistance. So now you have to take oral medication, or injections. OR, you can get a grip and learn to eat more carefully. You can stir your stumps, take a walk, get on a bike or a treadmill, sweat a little. If you work at it, you can get it under control and ditch the meds. I know. I’m doing it.  The more the weight comes off, the more efficiently all your body parts work.

You know what I find incredibly sad?  More and more children under 12 are developing Type II. A sedentery lifestyle fueled with fast food, chips, Hostess Twinkies, soda pop, and electronics has turned our kids into medical disasters.

We don’t need Michelle O to fix this for us. We need to do what most of us already know to do.  Locking up the electronics would be a good starting point.

You can read a much more complete description of Type II here. There is a test called the A1C, nasty little test that can tell how much sugar is sticking to your blood cells for the last three months.  Your number should be under 6.  At my highest, after a winter of vegetating and improper eating, mine went up to 8.9. Very bad. Doc put me on Metformin.  I put myself on a product from Plexus Slim that a friend told me about. After three months, A1C went down to 7.5. Doc is ecstatic. Three more months, down to 7.2.  Doc still ecstatic.  I’m still working on it.  Getting OFF the pharmaceuticals.

I don’t intend this post to be a pitch for any product, but I had to be honest and tell you what has been working for me. Please, if you’re battling the sugar wars, DO something about it. There is a LOT you can do. If you don’t, you will be old way before you need to be.  Diabetes is not a fun way to die.