Healthy living with Heather

I went to Georgia to visit the parentals last weekend and learned a lot.  First of all, I am now thankful that I had an active childhood and adolescence.  If it weren’t for the fact that I played sports as a child and participated in cheerleading and soccer in high school, there is no telling what my weight would be like at the moment.  I love my family, but they don’t always eat the way they should.  Fruits and veggies are involved, but so are heavily processed foods, lots of sugar and fried things.  The main reason is that these items are easy and quick to cook after a long day at work (my mom does all the cooking for the most part) and it’s just plain cheaper.  Which I have discovered as I have made the change to natural and organic foods, lots of fresh and frozen fruits and veggies and a virtual elimination of heavily processed foods.  More needs to be done to make healthy foods cheaper for families on a budget.

The other lesson I learned last weekend was that it is a necessity to have a good pair of running shoes when you are a walker/runner.  I thought that it would all be okay because I had a good pair of cross trainers.  Not so much.  My feet tended to be a bit achy every time I ran.  Well last weekend I hit the Nike outlet while I was home and found a great pair of running shoes.  They are even Nike+ enabled so I can get the Apple Nike+ stuff to track my runs & walks.  After my first walk/run, I realized why a person needs a few different types of athletic shoes in their closet.

I have come to realize that there is more to good health than just exercising, eating right and controlling your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol.  You also must take care of your teeth.  Now I try my best to take care of my teeth.  I’ve had sealants and fillings and regular cleanings all my life until after college.  I guess I got a little lazy and the fact that I’m not a fan of dentists doesn’t help much either.  I kept telling myself that I need to start going back for cleanings and check-ups but I kept putting it off.  Until last week. 

All of a sudden Tuesday of the week before last, my number 1 molar on my bottom left side started hurting.  Not just a pain when it comes to hot and cold, but intense, debilitating throbbing.  I’m thinking to myself, this is not good.  So luckily I have a friend who is a dentist and made an appointment.  He took some x-rays and found some decay.  That’s right, I needed a root canal.  Ugh.  Thank goodness he felt a bit sorry for me and not only hooked me up with antibiotics to clear any icky stuff that had gotten in, but he also gave me some prescription pain meds.  And I was put on a waiting list for the endontist to get this tooth fixed.

So I waited.  And waited.  And was not called in for the endontist.  Finally, after an additional call to the dentist in which they called the endontist again, I was giving an appointment this past Thursday.  I realized something once I got there.  Endontists don’t work on children usually.  Therefore, there are no tvs or headsets to listen to in an attempt to drown out the drilling.  Which I have a bit of an unhealthy fear of in the first place.  So while I’m thankful for lots of novocain and not feeling a thing during the procedure, I was cringing and my blood pressure was probably soaring due to the fact that I could hear the drill.  For my follow up, I’m bringing my Iphone and earphones.

The good news about root canals is that you don’t feel anything.  It only takes about an hour and any discomfort afterwards can be taken care of with a couple of advil.  I’m a bit paranoid about cracking it again so I am careful with what I chew on that particular side.  I still have 1 appointment to complete the root canal/tooth restoration.  Then I’ll have 2 appointments with my dentist to get a crown for the tooth.  I am thankful that it began hurting when it did so that it forced me to go to the dentist and the endontist was able to save the tooth.  But take some advice from me.  Do not avoid teeth cleanings and check-ups with the dentist.  It is best to prevent the problem from happening than waiting for the pain then having to have it fixed.

Mark this day down.  I am going to become a runner.  That’s right.  Me.  The person who could only run in high school when there was a soccer ball nearby to focus on instead of the actual running involved in the game.  The one who probably can’t run more than a couple of blocks before getting winded.  The person who chose to do pilates/yoga/ballet fusion workouts so she can avoid the run.  Yep.  I want to learn to run. 

Knowing how out of shape I am, I have begun by walking around the neighborhood with my husband.  And by walking, I mean he walks at a normal to slightly moderate pace and I am majorly power walking to almost jogging to keep up with him.  This works because it gets me closer to the running I want to learn to do and enjoy and still gives me a workout in the process.  Our route is just under 2 miles at the moment.  I’m hoping to start converting my walking to running next weekend.  I noticed today that the route was starting to be a bit easier for me to walk than it was last week when we first began this.  I plan on walking again tomorrow after the Olympic Hockey finals.

So I am working my way up to a run.  I will be a runner.  Who knows? I may actually realize I like it (the walking isn’t as bad as I thought it would be).  Maybe there is a 5K race in my future….Now that would be amusing.

I will be the first to say that Valentine’s Day is not good for a diet.  My husband and I went away for the weekend and, while I didn’t do horrible, I wasn’t so good either.  We did a little hiking (which was good), but also some wine tasting, a three course breakfast and a killer bbq sandwich on texas toast that I don’t even want to know the calorie and fat count on.  And let’s not forget the fudge (though to be honest, I did at least get the dark chocolate fudge).  Needless to say, I am due for a diet and exercise re-start and I am using the Lent season as my motivation.

I have decided to give up all fast food for Lent.  Now if you know me, you know how much of a sacrifice this will be.  While I am better at picking out healthier foods on the menu and have cut back significantly on how much fast food I eat since beginning my journey, I still manage to go about 1-2 times a week.  So no fast food until Easter is going to be hard.  But I am hoping for some major results at the end.  Lost weight, lower blood pressure, less laziness, more exercise and more time spent in my kitchen.

I have my pedometer on, an exercise plan all set, and a grocery list of fruits and veggies, lean meats, low-fat or fat free dairy and very few processed foods.  It’s day 1 of Lent. Thirty-nine days plus Sundays to go.  Wish me luck.

Today is Go Red for Women day.  Everyone is supposed to wear red today to promote awareness about the number 1 killer of women – heart disease.  This is a great cause and I wear red to support it, but I haven’t really paid much attention to the statistics and how to prevent heart disease.  

My family has a history of heart disease and factors that can lead to heart disease.  My grandmother on my dad’s side had multiple heart surgeries later in life and then congenital heart failure towards the end.  Most of the women on my mom’s side of the family has had or currently has some of the warning signs that lead to heart disease – high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.  And one of my sisters had pre-eclampsia with her pregnancy in which she developed extremely high blood pressure that lasted for several months after my nephew was born.  So this is an issue I should be paying attention to.  But I wasn’t – until this year.

I turned 30 a few weeks ago and with that milestone, I began to realize that I really need to be taking care of myself better.  More exercise, a better diet, losing at least 20 pounds, though 30-35 would be ideal.  So I decided to get check-ups with the doctor to make sure all is well.  First up was my OB/GYN in which she agreed I needed to lose weight and gave me some great material to help.  It was here I also found out my blood pressure was high.  Now I had never had high blood pressure a day in my life so this was a bit of a surprise.  Then I went to my primary care physician for lab work and a checkup and I found out that not only was my blood pressure high, but my cholesterol was a little elevated as well.  Another surprise and another doctor encouraging me to lose weight, exercise and watch my diet.

I have been doing well with this healthier living so far.  Since the second week of January when I started, I’m down about 6 pounds or so and I have been eating healthy and exercising at least 4 days a week (aiming for 5-6).  I’ve done 4 days of exercise already this week and I still have 2 days left.  But I encourage everyone to begin to think about your health.  I had no idea that my blood pressure and cholesterol was high.  There are no symptoms – at least not until you’re in the danger zone.  It’s important to know your blood pressure and your cholesterol readings and to make changes in your life to fix any problems before it’s too late.  I know I am.

Hi everyone and welcome to my new blog, Healthy Living with Heather.  After 2 doctor’s appointments which were less than perfect, I have realized that it is time to make some changes in my life.  My blood pressure has been high for the first time in my life and I have a family history of hypertension and heart problems.  Now is the time to start to take care of myself better, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This includes finally losing all the weight I put on in college and since as well and improving my diet in general.  And let’s not forget the exercise that I haven’t been doing.

I will be posting at least once a week and documenting my weight loss, diet, and exercise.  I will also post articles I have read that are of interest as well as new healthy recipes I have tried and the types of exercise I have worked on, including reviews of some of my favorite exercise videos.  I am hoping that there will be things that you can take away from my life that you can incorporate into yours in order to live healthy.  So welcome to my journey.