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Post by bazookagoof on Jun 28, 2019 22:37:11 GMT
This is our hottest day so far, with temps in the 90s, but humidity is way down, so it's tolerable outside. I saw the light show you got the other night, during the Cubs game. Cool! Nothing like that for us, so far. Not having watched the Cubs game, I didn't know what you were talking about.
But I'm going to assume it was lightning.
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 29, 2019 21:45:14 GMT
I don't follow the Cubs, either, but it was on the National news. BIG lightening, even scared one of the players in the dug out, and he took off running. Had to clear the stands until it passed, but it was incredible to watch! Lightening is so cool to watch! In other health matters, we're having hot, humid weather, so I'm doing less cooking than usual. That means finding lots of ways to make interesting and tasty cold meals. I had cooked batches of black rice and barley, so those have gone into salads, along with hard boiled eggs, greens, and lots of other veggies, canned kidney or butter beans, or thawed edamame are also go-to foods for me when it's hot. At least this year hubby is less grumpy about eating cold meals when it's too hot to cook. I really can't bother him to heat up the grill, grill half a chicken breast, then clean the grill, so I have him cook up batches of meats, and use them in cold, or quickly reheated one-pan dinners. We always lose weight in the summer. I just wish I didn't look forward to the cold weather meals so much, but after this summer, if hubby really will go with better foods for him, and smaller servings, maybe we won't gain it back over the winter
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Post by Bean on Jun 30, 2019 7:25:21 GMT
Lightning is very cool, so long as it doesn't hit you of course - I'd have been off that pitch quicker than I've ever moved in my life! It's fascinating to watch though.
I love having different salads, but they're definitely even more welcome during hot weather. I had a good one for lunch yesterday involving leftover brown rice and falafel. The falafel recipe was good, I'll definitely make them again.
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 30, 2019 18:26:33 GMT
I was reading about pastas, and it turns out while whole wheat pasta has a lower glycemic load than white pasta, the glycemic load of both is below the cutoff of 55, to be safe for diabetics. After the dietician told us to not eat any more white foods, I'm learning how wrong she was. Yes, they are high on the glycemic index, but the glycemic load is the amount of carbs minus the amount of fiber, or how quickly the food increases the blood sugar, and by how much. There are also different types of carbs, and pasta is a complex carbohydrate, which, especially with any added fiber such as beans, hits the blood at a much slower rate than the carb amount implies. Hubby is over the moon happy that his beloved pasta is actually safe for him to eat, especially now that we're seriously cutting back on our serving sizes. Almost anything is bad for us in large quantities. He's also ecstatic that cooked tomatoes, including tomato sauce for pasta, is good for him. He's even eating it cold. We're getting there, now that he's finally accepted eating smaller portions, and not always having meat, potatoes/pasta and veggies. It's only take about 10 years to get him to decide to do this, but however long it's taken, I'm really glad he's come around to thinking in a new way. He's even happy to try Portobello mushrooms with homemade salsa and some cheese melted over it all. It's a big step forward
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Post by shades on Jul 1, 2019 3:37:21 GMT
What is GI and GL?Glycemic index (GI)GI is a measure of the effects of a foods carbohydrate component on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion and rapidly release glucose into the bloodstream are characterized as having a high GI value, whereas carbohydrates that are broken down slowly and release glucose into the bloodstream in a more gradual manner are characterized as having a low GI value. - Low GI = <55
- Medium GI = 56-69
- High GI = >70
Glycemic load (GL)Glycemic Load takes into account a foods GI value and a standardized 100g portion size and is calculated as GL = GI x available Carbohydrate in a 100g serving / 100. Therefore the GL takes into account the amount of carbohydrate consumed and is a more accurate measure of the impact of a food on blood sugars. As a general rule foods that have a low GL usually have a low GI and those with a medium to high GL value almost always have a very high GI value. - Low GL = <10
- Medium GL = 11-19
- High GL = >20
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Post by 3piggles on Jul 1, 2019 17:04:19 GMT
Exactly. It's also about the loads of the different types of foods in a meal. Knowing the loads is more important than knowing the index. Combining foods helps make some with higher loads have a lower impact on the blood sugar, when combined with foods with very low loads.
Doctors and dieticians try to dumb down eating for diabetics, into something ridiculously simple. In our case, we were told hubby shouldn't eat any white foods. It took me years to understand the different loads if different foods, acceptable serving sizes, etc., so he could eat a well balanced meal he actually wanted. It's well worth doing all the research possible. It means far fewer cheats that could be dangerous.
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Post by Bean on Jul 4, 2019 7:24:53 GMT
It's kind of annoying that it's so much work to get the right info though. But I do appreciate that keeping it very simple makes it easier for doctors to communicate a basic message that will generally help most people, people who would get completely confused by more complicated systems of eating and just give up.
Over here, every time lifestyle factors are implicated strongly in any disease, there's a backlash of 'Oh you're fat shaming' or 'Those foods are the cheapest so you're discriminating against poorer people!' so there's way too much tiptoeing around when it comes to what we can do to improve our own health.
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Post by 3piggles on Jul 4, 2019 19:47:48 GMT
It's true, though. Most of the healthiest foods are far more expensive than the unhealthy foods. If doctors, and medical researchers want to stop obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a whole lot more, they need to lobby for taxes on unhealthy foods, that put those foods out of reach for a lot more people. They also need to push for subsidies for healthy foods, so those foods are less expensive than the bad foods, and far more available. We visited the Fortress at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, which is a working fortress from before the English drove the French out of Nova Scotia. The soldiers and servants got a 9-grain bread with little refinement. The wealthy got an all white bread, totally refined, with no food value at all. It was supposed to be the upper crust showing the lower classes how it's done, but health-wise, it was just the opposite Yet it took us hundreds of years to realize that, and start eating multigrain, whole grain breads instead of processed, white junk bread. The processed white junk bread even contained saw dust as a filler, it was so bad Yet we grew up on that white junk bread, and it wasn't until my mother joined Weight Watchers that she, a dietician, became aware of whole grain breads being better for us than empty calorie junk bread In another 20 years, there will be a whole new list of good and bad foods. I'm going to stick with what works for diabetics, and people with high blood pressure and cholesterol, and figure that's a basically solid diet.
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Post by Bean on Jul 5, 2019 6:47:59 GMT
It's great that people are asking questions about diet and health, and finding out why things happen can be fascinating and helpful in saving lives. But all the research can make things seem overly complicated and encourage scare mongering.
When the healthiest groups of people tend to be those living much simpler lives, we should realise we don't really need that much science to tell us what to do, and shouldn't be relying on it to mop up the effects of harmful lifestyles either.
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Post by 3piggles on Jul 5, 2019 20:29:57 GMT
I also think there's a lot of conflicting information, which makes it even harder for some people to sort through it and make informed decisions. Free speech is great, but not when it's voicing unsubstantiated opinions as if it's expert advice. Think anti-vaxxers giving us medical advice.
Although the simple life, and even simple foods, seem to create the greatest longevity, few western societies could manage to live that way, now. Those days are gone for us, so if anything, we need to find ways to simplify our lives and our foods on our own. Maybe we get a generation not raised on fast food and microwave specials, and they will move their children away from it, etc.
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Post by shades on Jul 8, 2019 7:16:47 GMT
Did I tell you I can now run for sixty minutes non-stop? I've done it twice now. I get as far as 7K in that time. My target is 10K, so I'll have to speed up a bit else it'll get dark before I finish. I feel really fit (compared to many last years) and it's a great feeling to know that my heart, my lungs, and my legs will carry me to the finish line. I don't want to injure myself but I seem to be running well inside my capabilities because the speed work I did this morning didn't leave me breathless. Some people might call that laziness - I need to up the effort
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Post by Bean on Jul 8, 2019 7:40:30 GMT
That's really impressive - I could swim for an hour, but not run! It's always good to feel better from exercise as when you start something new, it can take a while for your body to realise it's a good thing.
My husband runs, but on the days he wants to exercise but doesn't have time for a run, he's started doing some nutty 5 minute high intensity interval training. He goes all out doing stuff like starjumps and squats for a minute each. He thinks it's very effective although it's early days so we'll see if he can keep it up and it makes him feel fitter.
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Post by shades on Jul 8, 2019 7:55:21 GMT
I don't think I can swim for an hour. It's too difficult. How far do you swim in that time? I do that too. I get warmed up then sprint for 1 min, rest for 2, do that five times, then cool down. Later I'll reduce the rest time. That's me trying to get my legs used to moving faster I also do that with my strength exercises. I don't do 100s of reps but go flat out for 20/30 secs with a short rest between. It's a killer!
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Post by Bean on Jul 8, 2019 9:08:02 GMT
He's trying to get me and the kids to join in with him, so maybe I'll give it a go one time! But it doesn't look tempting... Feeling fitter is always great though.
Swimming, I do 50 lengths (1250m) in about half an hour, and I go twice a week. That's not me swimming as fast as I can, but it's a pace I can keep up quite comfortably and don't need to recover from afterwards. My other ways of exercising tend to mainly be yoga and walking - all nice and gentle, and I quite enjoy that. But we started playing badminton last year (only once a week) as I thought it'd be good to introduce something with a bit more impact -look after my bone density before I hit the menopause!
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Post by shades on Jul 8, 2019 9:44:02 GMT
Think of it positively. No matter how much you hate it, it'll be over in a flash 50 lengths. That's impressive. I'm sure you get into a rhythm pretty quickly and before you know it, you're done. Do you start again if you lose count?
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Post by 3piggles on Jul 8, 2019 19:21:11 GMT
If the boat sinks, Bean can swim to shore, and Shades can run for help You're both doing great! That's quite an achievement, Shades. I never got my breathing close to anything that would allow me to run for more than 5 minutes, as I got older. As a child, no problem! Tried jogging in college. That's how I know the 5 minutes. When I used to swim regularly, I'd do a quarter of a mile at a time. It was part of JFK's 100 Mile Swim program, yes, I'm that old, and the miles were checked off in 1/4 mile increments. My mother started that program, and never stopped. She swam 1/4 per day for 50 years. The heat/humidity broke for a while. We got in two bike rides yesterday, and I rode this morning. The ride-on mower died while hubby was using it, so I went out riding while he was pushing the mower home. If it cools down enough tonight, we'll go out again. Heat and humidity coming back in Wednesday. That's the New England summer norm, so these breaks are really nice Nothing like you two are doing, but I'm way past being able to do that. I have been getting at least 3K steps in per day, and sometimes almost 5K, so I have that, too. I just don't have any exercise that strengthens or loosens my shoulders/neck, etc. I need to find something for that area.
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Post by Bean on Jul 9, 2019 7:46:34 GMT
I think your cycling sounds great, 3piggles. And considering the physical restraints you have, it's great that you keep at it. I think aiming for an arbitrary number of steps can be a misleading target (on what basis did the person who thought of the 10,000 target even make the decision?!), but it's good for personal comparison - you know what a day when you've moved around regularly feels like and looks like on your pedometer, and can keep that in mind as you go about your days. Just an extra way to nudge yourself into keeping as active as you can. Do you start again if you lose count? Ha, sure! Was I on 48 or 50? I'm not sure... oh well, I'll start again! I wore my fitness watch for a couple of months (I don't want data on what I'm doing all the time so will use it intermittently) and it monitors swimming including how many lengths you've done. Although I always thought I lost count a lot as I'm always pondering other things (but if in doubt, I always go with the lower number) I'm pretty much always bang on. My usual back up is the timing of it - I know roughly how long I need to swim for to have done 50. Twenty odd years ago I used to do 80 lengths in 40 minutes 3x a week, so when I started swimming again about 3 years ago, I was kind of aiming to get back up to that level. But times have changed and although I had a while of doing 64 (which is a mile) and trying to increase it, I've decided 50 is just right for me at the moment.
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Post by shades on Jul 9, 2019 12:37:38 GMT
I think aiming for an arbitrary number of steps can be a misleading target (on what basis did the person who thought of the 10,000 target even make the decision?!), I'm sure I read somewhere it actually originates from Japan away back in the sixties. When the Olympics were held in Japan, there was a health drive. And people were using simple pedometers which were called something like "10000 steps" (in Japanese of course). So, not a scientific measurement
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Post by shades on Jul 9, 2019 13:02:23 GMT
3pigglesI didn't wake up one morning and suddenly was able to run for an hour. I've never been a runner; played sport, but never ran far. Last year I started with running for one minute. Thought I was going to die but the program was well designed and got me thru to the end. Don't think you couldn't ever do it. It's amazing what we can do with a little training and motivation. You're already cycling, so you're probably not as unfit as you think you are. You're probably more active than a lot of people you know. Re steps, it's good you have regular high step counts. Some days, like last Saturday, I must be very lazy - 699 steps. But other days, like running days, I make up for it - 14000 steps
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Post by 3piggles on Jul 9, 2019 19:02:22 GMT
I think it's a bit too late for me to try running again. I have trouble walking. I do think the idea is the same for any exercise. When I first bought the bicycle, I could barely make it to the end of the street. I kept at it, and finally got to doing two laps around the neighborhood. I can only do one lap, now, as once again the arthritis is winning, but I will do that lap for as long as I possibly can. Our neighborhood was built in what used to be a gravel pit. There are still places called "the pit" where aggregates and soils are kept. There's a road through the pit, around a parking area for RVs, a dog park, and other things. If we ride through the pit, it's almost 1.5 miles around the hood once. The paved road one street over from us, goes down a hill to their entrance to the pit. I can get up to 17 mph if I really peddle down the hill, then coast into the pit. I've been doing that since I got the bike. My one concession to childhood Today hubby challenged me, and went even faster. It was great, and about time I wasn't the only fool flying into the pit on an adult tricycle, lol We turn around and head back out onto our street, to end our ride. It was great fun
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