A Bend in the Road

Bend in the Road

Sometimes, the road of life isn’t as straight and even as you’d like it to be. My road has a bend in it that I have been ignoring for a little while. It is time to make the turn, for my health’s sake.

When I was expecting daughters two and three, I had gestational diabetes. Both times it went away as soon as the girls were delivered. Since then, my doctors have gently reminded me that if I don’t take care of myself, the diabetes could return. Here it is, 23 years later, and the warning is a little more urgent.

I try to get in for my yearly physicals in the fall, after harvest is complete. This past fall, we were fostering a little guy, which meant I put off going in. That may have turned out to be a blessing. A few weeks before my appointment, I was noticing some things were different, and not in a good way. Turns out, I have two out of three issues that accompany metabolic syndrome. Combine that with the history of gestational diabetes, and I am considered pre-diabetic. It is time to admit that I am not invincible –  as painful as that may be to my ego.

The treatment for this little bend in my road is easy and difficult at the same time. My prescription is to move myself up on my priority list, and exercise a minimum of 30 minutes every day. I now watch my food portions as well, and have cut certain extras out of my diet for the most part. The goal is to lose weight through portion control and exercise, and drop my glucose and triglyceride numbers back down to where they should be. Sounds easy enough, but the week I was diagnosed, we had 8 graduation receptions to attend. Nothing like having your resolve tested right away!

I have been on this journey for just over a month now, and I feel great. I am getting to where fitting in exercise has become a priority over watching TV or catching up on social media, and I’m not constantly worried about what I can and cannot eat when I go out to a restaurant. I’ve lost some weight, and am confident I will hit the goals I can control by my 3 month checkup. The only unknown is how my blood test will be.

So, you may see more postings about exercise, eating frustrations (looking at all the fried foods out there that are calorie bombs, but oh, so tasty!), and other things I encounter on this little bend in my road. And, hopefully, you will be seeing a smaller, healthier version of me this fall.

30 Things I Love: Dairy

Dairy

When I say I love Dairy…I’m totally serious. Take a look at the tray above. Those are the dairy items I have purchased in the last 10 days.

As you can see, we eat a wide variety of dairy foods at my house. Sometimes brands change, depending on what my grocery store has in stock, but this is pretty typical. You may also notice that I have a Lactaid milk in the group. That would be mine. I became lactose intolerant in 2008. I figured that out when my niece had a soft serve ice cream machine at her graduation party. Let’s just say, I had a lot of alone time at my sister’s house that weekend.

In the last six years, I have come to know what I can and cannot handle dairy-wise. Unfortunately, I have had to give up ice cream. That was difficult. The good news is, I have found that most types of cheese (aged is better), milk, yogurt, and butter are all okay if I take a Lactaid supplement. I love the lactose free milk, because it is so convenient to be able to pour that over my cereal or in my coffee instead of needing to take a pill.

For me, giving up dairy was not an option. I love cheese, milk, and butter too much! I also need the calcium and vitamin D…more than what I can get from non-dairy sources. I’m pretty convinced that the reason I haven’t broken any bones, even with a couple of really great bone bruises, is due to my dairy consumption, and the running I’ve attempted to do when not healing from the bone bruises. Being Lactose Intolerant can stink (really), but we are fortunate that we live in a time where medicine has figured out how to keep dairy in our diets.

The National Dairy Council has some awesome resources on dairy and bone health, as well as the general health benefits of consuming dairy.  Both resources are very helpful in understanding the importance of dairy in our diet…especially for women, who may be prone to osteoporosis.

Since I am not a dairy farmer, I need good farmer resources when I have a question. One of those resources is Carrie Mess. She is also known as Dairy Carrie. She blogs at The Adventures of Dairy Carrie, and can be found on Facebook at Dairy Carrie, or Twitter @DairyCarrie.

I also turn to Tim and Emily Zweber when I have questions about organic dairy farming. They can be found on Facebook at Zweber Farms LLC, on Twitter @ZweberFarms and @EZweber, or you can go to their farm’s website at Zweber Farms.

There are many dairy farmers on social media who would love to answer your questions about dairy farming. Who are your top two trusted resources for agriculture questions?

 

Day 1: Pizza

Day 2: Shoes

Day 3: Shout Stain Remover

Day 4: The Ability to Vote

Day 5: My Heritage

Day 6: NASCAR

Day 7: Black Velvet for Photography

Day 8: Strong Coffee and Strong Hairspray

Day 9: Peacefulness

Day 10: Winter’s First Snow

Day 11: Freedom

Day 12: Dairy

Click here to go to Holly Spangler’s blog, and see the link for other 30 Day Challenge Bloggers