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Introduction Text Like so many folks here on sparkpeople, I have been letting my sedentary life style take over and I knew I needed to change. I might not get back to what I was in my youth and younger adult years, but I know that it can only do me good for my physical and emotional health, to work at healthy eating, healthy water consumption, healthy levels of exercise and losing the weight because I am having many of the middle aged health problems. It is not just about appearance. I want to be ambulatory til a ripe old age in fact. I look around me and especially at some of my peers and they are as bad or worse. But I can only help myself, it is up to them and can only try and do the right thing regarding this. The results may encourage them all later to make an effort too. I was very ill also in the last year and a half, at first not understanding that I was and it took until the Fall of 2011 to determine properly what it was due to negligence on the original medical teams ( VA ). I came up against my own mortality during this time due to an infection that went whole body in its affect and went to the town doc here. Very nice lady and team there and they were able to tell me what was up. I can tell you that Type 2 diabetes is nothing to scoff at, especially when its mixed with Type 1 symptoms even as a fairly low A1C level. Really nutrient rich foods during each day are important to counter the serious brain fog and stress factors too, I have discovered, partly due to SP. Implementing just that really helps clear up the brain processing and simple thinking has become alot easier so I am back. Lack of sleep or a chaotic sleep schedule are not friends to blood sugar levels and these are some of my largest challenges besides losing weight itself and getting into an active routine again in my life. I got so switched around on things the last several years and I am going to try and readjust that this summer. I hope I can. It is also an incredibly lovely place I live in, The Adirondack State Park in Upstate NY and I want to be able to get out and enjoy it more. I have fibro, lupus and other arthritis type disorders, and I deal with mental health stuff too. I have been working at managing all that a lot better now. I believe in education and advocacy for MH issues. I do not know why I got stuck with over a dozen disorders, but I did and I am always working towards better management and leaning a lot more towards more holistic and natural ways to manage them because so many of the medications have been terrible for my health, bones and teeth. I had to restart things after a very rugged year and the year before just not getting any momentum and worse health issues, so many of which will respond to losing weight and a lot more activity. Good nutrition practices , especially since it was determined a lot of the problem is now Type 2 Diabetes. I have been on a journey of dealing with the massive big Pharma situation we all find ourselves in. Having an interest in herbal knowledge I started reviewing and gleaning some things that have come out more recently. I am not talking about hyped up diet or energy supplements at all that drain your bank account every month. I am talking about specific herbs and helpful combining and nothing dangerous. I don't know much about chinese herbs and since so many of them are stimulants, I set boundaries on using those in the first place. I do study North American and European herb usage. I also am familiarizing myself with certain mushrooms that are edible, some of them you can already buy at the grocery store or organic natural food stores now and the findings in fighting cancer, some generally, some specific to prostate and breast cancer. Most of us know someone or know someone who knows someone else with these or has dealt with it, and many of us know someone who had dealt with the big C, anyhow. If you don't you are lucky! I do not have a readily available large grocery store or natural foods store and I don't have a big budget, being on disability. I don't even have a garden and I would love to have one. But I refuse to let it stop me and maybe somehow I can help get a community garden space started here in my little town. If so, I plan to grow only heirloom seed produce. I admit it, I envy those who have this, a small orchard, berry bushes and small livestock like chickens, a pig or two , rabbits and can buy grass fed beef, and have goats for organically raised milk and dairy products and maybe a fish pond! Knowing how to can food, dehydrate and store food properly means you have an ample supply for variety, the best of nutrients, better flavor and no chemicals. It is there if things are tough economically or you are so unwell you don't feel like going to the store. Learn to make your own tortillas, bread, muffins, granola and crackers and such and you are also saving yourself time and gas money and stress. It also is a green technique, reduces your garbage to the landfill, because you can reuse the canning jars. One can can up meat, beans, too. Very handy and it tenderizes them while retaining the nutrients. Easy to open, and cook with later. In the long run as utilities continue to go up, you save power by reducing your cooking time for each meal by using canned meats and beans you canned yourself. ( Yes you can soak dry beans and then can them properly). I think many people have gotten into the fast food mentality in the last 40 years and thinking of doing all those tasks required makes you groan I bet. Yep, well , once you get used to it you will become canning kings and queens , masters of your kitchen and pantry. Later on, it makes making meals so much faster. One can be very simplistic and basic or get fancy with all these ingredients. One only needs to rehydrate or choose different dishes when it comes to the dehydrated food usage. There are a lot of advantages to food preservation being a regular part of any household, no matter where you live. Making cheese is similar. Yogurt, sour cream and cream cheese are very easy to do for quick dairy products, butter too if you have an agitating jar and fresh milk. It helps reduce the sugar content, and chemicals all these manufacturers use today and it tastes wonderful! One can order things on amazon like I do since I have no access to a good variety of stores or other sites online if they have similar interests and needs. Most commercially produced yogurt has no Vitamin D, for instance. I can make it myself with organic milk from my store and some Chobani greek yogurt for a starter. It turns out wonderfully and I add dried or fresh fruit, etc. It then contains Vitamin D. These are examples of what we can do for ourselves to help give ourselves better nutrition and variety, I believe. I know that I have seen the affects of GMO type exposure through food and actually malnutrition long term in my own body , partly as a result of this very thing. I cannot do as much as I would like at this time but if I ever get a few acres and a home of my own, that is what I plan to do for myself. I will continue to find these very basic resources however wherever I can get to around me! In the mean time I try to educate myself more about it every week. It takes effort but its pleasant to do most of the time. If you are already blessed with land enough and zoning allowed in your place, that is awesome and I encourage doing things as naturally as possible. I believe it makes our bodies much healthier quicker and for long term sustenance. I eat a lot of nuts and seeds too, I really don't eat much red meat at all but if it was grass fed I know I would enjoy it much more. [ I also like fresh game and believe in balanced hunting during hunting season, and live in an area that has maintained that balance because of reasonable choices made on the matter. ] NUTS have a lot of nutrients, good oils and fats in them, protein and fiber. You just need a good set of teeth and a way to crack them if they are not unshelled yet. A small handful is a serving usually. I also eat soy but am discouraged because so much of it is laden with GMO seed usage and pesticide residues and usage too. I hope as more people become more aware of the damage this is doing, especially in the US, that we can curb it soon. They have already outlawed so much of this in Europe, we are behind and we are paying a massive price in our general health due to this continuing practice and monopolizing going on. I eat fish and live in an area where I can walk to fish, which is awesome. It tastes so much better and is healthier overall compared to farm raised GMO fish you get in the markets. I do think a good variety of foods is important to our good health as the nutrients are more readily absorbed by the body than just to take vitamin supplements continually and subsist on a restricted type diet. Vitamins should only be a back up I think. The other thing I am massively guilty about is being sedentary and I am working to change that. It truly has come down to , if you don't use it, you lose it for me. Some of you are old enough to know what I mean, and those of you still younger and more easily athletic still......... keep moving, darlings, it is very difficult later on if you don't! I had to start very very conservatively to rehab my shoulder on the left and the upper arm but after several weeks now I can do much more again, its never going to be 100% unless it gets replaced but that won't be for some time, considering my individual situation so I have to do things around the home and while I exercise differently. ( Brainstorming that very thing helps alot, because I like to resolve stuff.) Quite frankly I just don't want to stop my life because of fibro and such things I deal with. It was excruciating this winter too but I am happy it is reducing in pain level and getting more limber. I will keep moving now. I would like to live at least 75 years although people in my family often live well into their 80's and 90's. But if I do not improve my weight and my mobility and strength I won't so that is why I am here at Spark People. I used to be very athletic and while I can scale that back now, I have some good goals set for myself in the long run, even though now it is week to week, month to month improvements for now, that I seek. I admire so many of you who have persisted and are succeeding. It can certainly be done and alot of it is mindfulness at first and getting the body moving again. We naturally were made for movement , unlike what our society has become. Alot of us gave into that mentality and I am so glad Spark People is here to encourage us to move our bodies! It also feels good to wake up and not hurt from that movement and today I can say that, if only for today, and will see how it goes over more time. God Bless everyone and please support our troops and their families.

Losing a minimum of 40 pounds. Improving my sleep schedule and reducing stress. Getting back to a much more active level of living physically. Getting a decent used car eventually. Another goal is get some books written and ebook (for Kindle) published and hope it can lead to my own financial independence. Sometimes it's what one person can do that not only turns their own life around but it ripples out into family, friends, society and that matters a lot to me. I love reading, photography, fiber arts, various art mediums, current events concern me, history, world history, many of the earth sciences, archaeology, anthropology, fiber arts and bushcraft, woodcarving, cast iron cooking, learning to knit socks and things. I enjoy learning more details about sewing , and would love to design clothing for 'normal' women. I prefer food preservation at home rather than what we get on the store shelf these days. The more natural the

It looks like I might be able to meet 2 lbs a week if I can maintain the aerobic workouts despite fatigue issues or pain levels due to fibro and arthritis, which are better due to warm weather. For the summer I will try and lose at least 15 pounds. If I do better in a truly healthy way you won't find me complaining. For now I am just trying to move more actively and get some stamina and lose 'some' weight after years of sedentary living. Quitting smoking...... tapering down now. ( May 2012). It affects BP, and cholesterol! With your support, I can quit! ( Thankyou! )

Please ask for my email if you like. Quality friends welcome!

Books: Diana Gabaldon, Jean Auel, political and economic books today, American History `` Jefferson, Paine, etc. Linda Lay Schuler, J A Vance, Tony Hillerman, James Micheners earlier books, so many other subjects and authors. TV: mostly truthful reporting. The Closer, Discovery channel, Man vs Wild, Animal Planet, History Channel, Lifetime, HGTV, Food Channel , Action movies, Westerns are my favorite..... Sports, yep, I like football and MMA and the Olympics. Some futuristic stuff, but not a trekkie at all. World Histories, cultural things from many places, archaeology, anthropology even if I am Christian, Science that is accurate only shows me how refined and detailed God really is, is how I look at it. Love the outdoors.

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