Help a brother out...

[Hornet3d]

Exercise is far, far easier to keep up with if you are doing something you enjoy that happens to involve being active. Willpower is finite, trying to keep it up by willpower alone is setting yourself up to fail. Try stuff that might be fun or that interests you. Dance class, or fencing, or playing frisbee with somebody's dog, or medieval swordfighting, or rock climbing, or even photography if that gets you exploring the outdoors on foot. It doesn't have to be labelled an exercise class to count as beneficial physical activity.

Exercise is also easier to maintain if you can find a way to make it part of everyday life rather than something unenjoyable that you also have to make a special effort to do. I got a deskcycle, which is an exercise bike small enough to fit under my desk, so I can pedal whenever I'm working at the computer, that works for me.

Cooking your own food can be quite quick, cheaper than buying ready meals, and cooking can be fun and relaxing (Or in the case of kneading bread, stress relieving and surprisingly good exercise- there you go, exercise and low salt food in one). If you have the opportunity, growing your own food provides tasty, healthy eating and exercise as well.

I hope you can find a combination of solutions that works for you.

That is a good point and something I am trying to convince my doctor of. So far she has urged me to join a slimming club and gym and also a football training club. Now I have never been keen on slimming clubs or gyms and I am in the minority of men in the UK in that football bores me to tears as does anything connected to it including footballers and, in many cases, their wives as well.

The point is that the diabetes is probably going to shorten my life, I say probably as no one has ever told me when I am going to die so when the time comes, it is going to be difficult to decide if I went early. That being the case I want to enjoy what life I have left. I am not against the exercise, hence the walking clubs where I get to meet other people and can go along with my wife. The slimming clubs are free but only for me so if I were to join I would either have to do it alone or pay for my wife to join and I have this strange aversion of not wanting to pay for something I am not going to enjoy.

Diet wise I have never been a junk food eater but I did have a very varied eating schedule as I traveled across time zones a lot and, while I enjoyed the work, it was fairly intense and often stressful. This and a history of diabetes on my mother's side of the family is probably what did it for me but sadly I only found out about the medical history of my family after I was diagnosed with diabetes. Had I have known before I might have changed my lifestyle but then you cannot change where you have been, only where you are going.

 

[HaiGan]

So many people with health conditions! *Hugs the whole forums!*

There's plenty of evidence that forcing yourself to do something you don't like is not a long term route to success. If you're not allergic but can be motivated by a sense of responsibility, I can recommend a dog as a way to add motivation to walk every day (I used to borrow somebody else's when I didn't have my own). In the UK there's a charity that matches up people who are too ill or frail to walk their pet with people who would like to have a dog to walk.

On the plus side, there's evidence that you don't have to invest a lot of time into improving your physical fitness, although obviously pre-existing conditions might affect what activities you can do. Short bursts of an activity that raises your heart rate and tires your muscles quickly a few times a week can be more effective than walking at a slower pace for miles every day. Yay!

Another thought I had is that low-sugar snack food tends to be really high in sodium. Try keeping the fridge stocked with ready-sliced raw veg like carrots, cucumber and cauliflower to munch on instead. Plus remember to drink enough, I struggle with that one, I started keeping a bottle of water by the computer and remind myself that I have to finish the bottle by the end of the day.

 

[Hornet3d]

So many people with health conditions! *Hugs the whole forums!*

There's plenty of evidence that forcing yourself to do something you don't like is not a long term route to success. If you're not allergic but can be motivated by a sense of responsibility, I can recommend a dog as a way to add motivation to walk every day (I used to borrow somebody else's when I didn't have my own). In the UK there's a charity that matches up people who are too ill or frail to walk their pet with people who would like to have a dog to walk.

On the plus side, there's evidence that you don't have to invest a lot of time into improving your physical fitness, although obviously pre-existing conditions might affect what activities you can do. Short bursts of an activity that raises your heart rate and tires your muscles quickly a few times a week can be more effective than walking at a slower pace for miles every day. Yay!

Another thought I had is that low-sugar snack food tends to be really high in sodium. Try keeping the fridge stocked with ready-sliced raw veg like carrots, cucumber and cauliflower to munch on instead. Plus remember to drink enough, I struggle with that one, I started keeping a bottle of water by the computer and remind myself that I have to finish the bottle by the end of the day.

I have had a dog for about six years now, ever since I first retired, other than the pleasure of having a dog the other reasons for having one was the companionship, as my wife was still working at the time, and the fact it kept me active. My wife is now retired with me and we tend to do two walks a day both of about 45 to 50 minutes. The reason for joining the walking club in addition was, as you suggest, it raises the heart rate a lot more than dog walking. Just finished our second dag walk of the day and so far I have done just over 12,ooo steps and nine flights of stairs.

 

[eclark1894]

I had the weirdest damn feeling about an hour or so ago. I had a tough morning. My car had a thick layer of frost all over it and I had lost my scraper. Fortunately, I had some de-icer so I used that instead. Still, car started to frost over again and I couldn't see to drive home, so I pulled into a supermarket parking lot and let the sun do it's thing. When I came back out the ice had melted, the windshield was clear and I drove home. I ate some breakfast and went to bed. Woke up a little over an hour ago feeling weird. Decided to get out of the house and get some fresh air, but took a couple of aspirin. Felt a little better, but I was feeling shaky and weak. I was actually afraid to drive anywhere. I reached inside my car and pulled out a bottle of water, I keep in there now, and took a sip. Immediately I felt better. So I drank some more. Dizziness and weakness went away, and I think I realized that I was dehydrated. I hadn't actually had anything to drink in almost eight to ten hours.

Watch your fluid levels folks. You can be so busy trying to keep warm that you can dry yourself out.

 

[Miss B]

Good advice Earl. I'm also drinking water throughout the day.

 

[Pendraia]

Hey Earl, I've been in a similar situation this year as I've been having lots of problems with my blood pressure. Medications still aren't totally sorted but I did manage to lose some weight going from over 83kg to 76...unfortunately managed to go back up to 77 over the holidays. Exercise and healthy diet is so important but it's hard sometimes to stick to it.

 

[Bonnie2001]

It's never too late to change diet Earl, and the benefits become obvious quickly. Hopefully you will be much improved very soon.

 

[mininessie]

thanks for the advice!

 

[dbwalton]

Ask your doctor if potassium chloride is safe for you. It tastes like salt, helps lower your blood pressure and reduces muscle spasms. (It's not safe for people with kidney problems, so check with your doctor.)

It can be purchased next to the salt in the grocery store. It a salt substitute. Check the ingredients for potassium chloride.

For baked goods, replace baking soda with food grade potassium bicarbonate. Again, check with your doctor. It's available on Amazon.

As some of you may remember, a year or so around this time, I had congested heart failure. I was tired, gaining weight, and probably eating way too much of the wrong kinds of food. Unfortunately, I can see the symptoms returning, and if I don't do something, I made be a fond memory for some... soon.

I'm trying to turn my life around, starting with my diet and exercise. I'm going to force myself to start walking more and to drop a few pounds. Foodwise, I need to reduce the amounts of sodium I consume, and I'm hoping some of you may have suggestions of low sodium foods I can try.

There are other dietary restrictions since I'm also dietbetic, but I won't impose those on you. Thanks for any suggestions, and happy new year everyone.