Blog Archives
“As the Boots Turn” #2, Sleep, Stress, and Number Two
[cue the intro music, roll the opening credits, cue the voice over]
At the end of yesterday’s episode, the hero of our tale had just paid a visit to the local watering hole. Feeling refreshed and generously buying a beer for the fella at the end of the bar, he left and headed off to deal with Number Two.
[cut the dramatic music with a screeching crashing sound effect; zoom in close on the face of our hero as he rides his trusty steed… …Uhmmm… drives his Toyota Tacoma about the streets of Dallas Texas]
“It is “Number two on the LIST! you idiot! Cut! Can someone get the voice over guy a script!?!? Maybe he can learn his lines before the next take?!?! Sheesh. Ok, everybody back to their start positions! Quickly, quickly, we’re losing the light and we’re over budget!”
Doth quoth our hero and director and screen writer! 🙂
Those who missed yesterday’s episode of “As the Boots Turn” and who want to catch up on the action so far, can find it here: A Disaster or an Opportunity? Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
Resting, Sleeping, and Repairing the damage…
When my life changed so dramatically and I was no longer going into work five days a week, the thing that hit me like a smack in the face, was just how tired I was. We’re not talking “oh, I’m feeling a little peaked.” We’re talking a… Read the rest of this entry
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Revel and Rejoice in the Little Things…at 4am Ssssnnnzzzz
Ok, confession time, I feel awful right now. As in this second.
Right this very minute!
Why do I suddenly feel like I’m on the set of Mame and everybody is about to break into a round of “We need a little Christmas?” Hmmm….
But I digress…
I didn’t sleep very well last night at all. I went to bed on time, 11:30pm and my alarm was set for 6:30am. (Allow me to insert a momentary aside…after much thought and evaluation of my daily routine and weekly work schedule, I decided that if I wanted to be consistent in when I go to bed and get up, that (1) 7 hours of sleep is the most that I can count on as a consistent routine thing; and (2) I forget what two was. I need more coffee.)
But I digress…
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Rejoice in the Little Things for “I’ve been a GOOD boy!”
Here’s a quick recap (my friends can stop laughing now). For those just joining the us, the “joke” is that I have a reputation for *NEVER* telling a story in 10 words when 10 paragraphs will do.
Siiiiiiiiigggggghhhh
Today’s post is all about patting myself on the back. Bravo! Cue the Applause! Yay! Woo Hoo! Yippie! Good Job! I rock! I am FAB-u-LUS!
I’ve actually done quite a bit this week towards my goal of “being healthy” and “living healthy”. Each of the things, in and of itself may seem tiny but each tiny step is still a step.
So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I’ve done this week which move me closer to my goal:
- Coffee: Finally bought a bottle of plain white vinegar to use in my coffee maker to clean accumulated oils and coffee gunk from the guts of the machine. (How to Clean a Coffee Maker With Vinegar)
.. - Morning drugs: For two weeks now I’ve been taking my morning “pills” which consists of (1) a daily mufti-vitamin and (2) my high blood pressure medication. I’m not counting this as a “done” thing yet because you really need to do something regularly for three weeks before it really becomes a habit. On my shopping list for this week is “Calcium with Vitamin D”. There is a history of bone problems on both sides of my family in the guys and the gals so I figure it is time for me to start doing the supplement. (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Calcium) (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Multivitamin/mineral Supplements) (18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick)
.. Read the rest of this entry
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Healthy at every size!
Ragen Chastain, dancer and author of ‘Dances With Fat’ — Photograph by Richard Sabel (used with permission of the photographer)
I have a good friend, Ragen Chastain, who blogs over at “Dances With Fat“.
Her blog is awesome! She’s a very talented writer. And dancer. And Choreographer. And a beautiful person, both inside and out! It is simply not fair that so much talent and niceness be packed into one person! 🙂
Be sure to check out her blog and subscribe, especially if you’re on a quest to get healthy. Why? Because she makes an extremely valid point which, unfortunately, is not widely accepted:
You can be healthy at any size!
What she says, in my own words, is that just because you are fat, that does equal being unhealthy. And just because you’re thin, that does not equal “good health“. There are large people who are perfectly healthy. There are skinny people who are unhealthy.
A medical study that Ragen mentions in a recent post to her blog supports this. Be sure to read the post and the study. I read the study. Ok, ok, I only read the abstract. The details of the study soon put me to sleep, plus they were using them thar big ole words tha’ cowboys like me from ta piney woods of East Texas jus’ get all befuddled ’bout. 😉
The conclusion of the study says, and I quote: Read the rest of this entry
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Getting Healthy is complicated… …and it takes sleep, if you can get it.
Continuing with the theme that “loosing weight is complicated because life is complicated” let’s look at another of those wildly interconnected facets of life that affects everything, including efforts to get fit and healthy: SLEEP
Sleep… OMG! I would *love* to get a good night’s sleep. It has been years since I slept well on a regular basis; I routinely wake up tired, exhausted, and feeling as if someone has worked me over with a 2×4. I can not seem to get a good night’s sleep.
Yet, everything I read, drives home the importance of getting consistent, restful sleep, especially when you’re trying to improve your health and fitness. Yeh, right. No pun intended, but dream on! Fair warning, this post is about to take you through the backroads of my brain and my life so you’d better brace yourself… …it is likely to be a long, strange and bumpy ride.
After reading a lot about getting a good night’s sleep, being me. I made a list and got to work figuring out what I could do:
- First thing I learned is that being overweight is a contributing cause of poor sleep!
So, let me get this straight… To sleep well I need to loose weight. To loose weight I need to sleep well. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!! Can we say “downward spiral”? Can we say “Catch-22?” Hmmm??? Makes ya want to snuggle up to a big bowl of oreo cookes, a gallon of milk and say “to hell with it all”. Ok, ok, moving on….
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5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 