Healthier Living Support Thread: PART TWO!

Shel, that sounds good - I might have to try that tea. I've done really good all week, but then we had pizza last night - oops - too much pizza. Oh well, at least I stuck with it most of the week, so that was good. :) My biggest probelm is eating at night - I want to eat everything before bedtime. Gotta quit that. Hmm. I think I stress-eat at night because that's when I usually do all my homework, take online quizzes, etc.

Have a great weekend/week/weekend everybody!! I am going to be gone all of next week for a conference, so I will be absent from the forum. I'll be back in May though - so have fun! Cyber-see y'all soon!

Shel, you gave up caffeine while work fulltime and going to school full time??

I've found I'm on a caffeine upswing, meaning I'm drinking more that usual. I do that sometimes, and I have to back off.

I have used fitday.com in the past and it's a nice free site with good information.

I did good and went to the gym yesterday. But ate a big plate full of Thai noodles and rice, followed by a little bit of icecream. Very unbalanced.

Today I'm going to yoga.

Finished up the ice cream - it was Organic Ben & Jerry's. Very good.

I hope to eat better. Yesterday was yoga and today is gym - weights and 40 minutes of aerobics.

I've noticed that folks have mentioned omega3 before so thought this would be a good place to ask about healthy fats and oils...I've started to do some research to make sure that I'm differentiating and getting enough of the fats/oils that are good for me and would love any help that folks can provide regarding info on what I should be looking out for! Thanks for any help you can provide :)

Wonka, I don't know much about the omega3's, except that they are important. :) Hopefully Tweety will be along soon, he seems to be our nutritional guru and has a lot of great info. on that type of stuff.

I am back from my conference and actually moderately behaved while I was there, which I didn't expect, so that was good. :) I made my group go on evening walks with me, which was great for getting the heart rate up at that altitude (10,000 ft.), especially for us flat-landers down here.

My semester is getting ready to end May 7th and, though I am loving these classes, I am ready for a break and think it will give me more time to exercise . . . I hope.

this is my 1st. post (here at all.nurses) in over a year, and

i am still wondering *if*, or how, i'll ever fit in.

for example,

at 55: i am continuing my youthful-health, and

can maintain my weight of 110 lbs. just fine, partly because as a passionate figure-skating student, we *share great :1luvu: dreams* of becoming *masterful :wink2: pair-skaters* - where every ounce/weight does affect your balance on the ice. so, i be good, l:dl

also, i'm a'wonderin - are other nurses here at (all.nurses) who enjoy sharing *100+ positive ideas* with each other, for encouraging each other in them - as simply i really enjoy being around more such folks...

thank you! :balloons:

sddlnscp, thanks for your response! I'd definitely appreciate any advice/info that folks have to offer. I've been reading anything I can find and I've learned that among the unsaturated fats, there are different ranges of things you need, including mono and polyunsaturated fats. And even within those, there seem to be a range of ways to get them into your diet, like olive, sunflower, canola oil, etc. Hopefully I'll keep learning more and can share what I find! :) Also, I'm very impressed that you motivated your group to help you stay motivated by walking with you!

Welcome, Cheerfulsong! I'd love to hear more about your skating!

sddlnscp, thanks for your response! I'd definitely appreciate any advice/info that folks have to offer. I've been reading anything I can find and I've learned that among the unsaturated fats, there are different ranges of things you need, including mono and polyunsaturated fats. And even within those, there seem to be a range of ways to get them into your diet, like olive, sunflower, canola oil, etc. Hopefully I'll keep learning more and can share what I find! :) Also, I'm very impressed that you motivated your group to help you stay motivated by walking with you!

Welcome, Cheerfulsong! I'd love to hear more about your skating!

No problem Wonka - thanks for the info! I love olive oil, so maybe I can use that instead of other stuff like veggie oil in some of my cooking. Summer itself is great motivation for me - I get the winter 'blahs', but summer definitely gets me energized!

Hi guys. I've been busy, eating poorly and then got sick....hmmmmmmmmmmm..........The spouse got sick too, we think it was some Vietmanese food we ate.

Anyway, I'm back on track about to go to yoga.

About fats. Wonka, I'm not really sure how much to get. I've read 30% of calories from fat is a good goal. Fat is not a bad thing, fat is very important. Omega 3's, which are primarily found in fish like salmon, but also in flax oil, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc are extremely important for many functions in the body, including mood interestingly enough. You can't go wrong with momosaturated fats like olive and canola or avacodoes (one of the few fatty vegetables there is). One fat to include that I love is nuts, especially walnuts, but also peanuts and a wide variety because they are heart healthy. But you gotta watch the calories and not go overboard.

The bad fats are found primarily in animal products - meats, full fat cheese, etc. So eat those sparingly.

The other thing to watch out for is "transfats", which are manufacturing in processed foods and apparently are killers. Food manufacturers are now required to put on their labels the amount of transfats. They are found in margarines, cookies, crackers and processed foods and such. But basically I try to avoid them altogether. Food companies rather than put them on their labels are finding ways to remove them from the process and that's a good thing.

That's what I know about fats.

Cheerfulsong, nice to meet you. It's great to have something your passionate about that also keeps you youthful. Tell me more about this "positive 100 thoughts" thing.

Hi Tweety - good to see you again! I'm sorry about you both getting sick, that is awful - how miserable. Hope you both feel better soon!

I love avocados - I will have to remember that they are on that list - yummy!!! Thanks for the info!

Hi Tweety - good to see you again! I'm sorry about you both getting sick, that is awful - how miserable. Hope you both feel better soon!

I love avocados - I will have to remember that they are on that list - yummy!!! Thanks for the info!

Thanks. I'm 100% better and was only sick for two days, thank goodness. I used to go years without getting sick. Now it seems like every year or two. Actually it was about a year and a half the last time I was this sick. Oh well, I can't complain as I'm better now.

Atkins was big on avacodoes too. They are low carb and good for the heart (which can counter act the high saturated fat intake of his diet).