Hey ladies,
I thought we might need a spot for Health and Beauty. I think sometimes we get so caught up in wanting to be beautiful on "our day", we might sacrifice our health a bit.

Okay, so here's my story...
I went to my doctor, ya know for the regular annual stuff and i also asked her about fertility. See the wonderful friend/co-worker that gave me the dress has been experiencing infertility issues and come to find out both of her fallopian tubes a are blocked... I hat to bore you with the details but.. My friend is a dedicated Catholic who saved herself for her husband.. Mind you she is now 31 and got married only nearly 3 years ago.. Well the Dr's had given her much run around saying to keep trying and so on.. Only to find out her tuves are blocked and not from being a promiscuous teen, but from an an emergency appendectomy she had when she was around 12.. which resulted in scar tissue forming etc.. (needless to say she put a bug in my ear and said just check to make sure everything is ok, it will save u tons of time)..

Ok, back to my story I was at the doctor and let her know i was concerned and just wanted to make sure everything seemed to be allright... So she ordered a bunch of lab work..
So I wait and wait and wait anxiously.. as i am already aware of my hypothyroidism...

to make a long story short i head to an endocrinologist.. who ends up shipping me in to have an ultra-sound to rule out polycystic ovarian since my hormones are outta whack.
So she informes me she will more likely than not putting me on a drug metformin since i appear to be insulin resistant (pre-diabetic).. (talk about information over-load)
To make another long story short- My left oveary was perfect.. But they couldn't find the right one.. Right then im like "Oh he** no".
That part of the story is to be continued....

Well my next appt is next Thursday and she'll let me know the next course of action.. So, I've been doing my own homework, and will be going on a low-carb diet here around the first part of September.
She suggested i lose about umm 50 yes ladies 50 lbs .. Duch a drastic weight loss she said is needed since all the women on my mother side are diabetic or have passed on from diabetes..

Ok here is the shocker.. I call my uncle just to check up on him and he tells me my cousin passed away last Monday 8/4/08.(just aday before her 30th birthday).. She was only 29, and passed away from complications of diabetes.. Broke my heart!

So I'm on a mission to not only get and feel beautiful, but to be healthy...

To think I was gonna put off heading to the dr. until next year (im not a fan of the dr)..that could have had terrible consequences...

So i guess what i'm trying to say is think Beauty and Health ..especially since most of us are women of color-we are in the highest risk group for all things can be prevented and/or managed.

Ok, so i'll hush up now

Wow. I'm sorry that you're going through so much MzPrice. However, this is an excellent post and echoes what I was talking about in the post about Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes. We really need to take care of ourselves and monitor our diet and health..and exercise!....How I struggle with the excercising, a whole bunch of excercise DVD's and videos and can never take the time for myself to do them. We also need to encourage our husbands to take care of themselves too. I pray that you get favorable results from your lab tests.

Thank you ViPrincess..
I'll keep you posted.
Yes, you are absolutely right FH is goin' on a diet plan too (he just doesn't know it yet ).

MzPrice2B,
I am sorry about your health issues. I think however that you are doing the right thing about being proactive about your health. For years my DH thought I was a hypochondriac because I always drilled my docs about getting this lab or whatever just to make sure....once before I went on a medical mission outside the country, I decided to get basic labwork done at the suggestion of a professor. She told our class that its good (health and wellness undergrad class) to know the status of your blood (Cholestrol, lipids, glucose, electrolytes, etc, etc) in your twenties because if something goes awry later in life, you will have a baseline to compare it too. So if you have high cholesterol or hyperthyroidism in your 20's, treatment later on in life will be more specific for you, rather than just treating you like someone else...it was funny because the office lady hesitated to give me the lab order because she said I was asking for uneccesary bloodwork since I was not diabetic, etc, etc, and healthy....So be prepared to be asked WHY...if nothing is wrong....But abnormalities will show up in bloodwork years before it shows up in symptoms/physically.

I also think I am going to get my thyroid checked, and have bloodowrk done again. Because of my DH's family history of Heart Disease, hypertension, and diabetes, I am getting all his checked out too. We will be purchasing a glucose monitor soon, but he has lost like 40 pounds since we got married, which decreases his diabetes risk....As for my family, hypertension (stress-related), and stroke is a biggy on my mom's side, and on my dad's side its thyroid, so that newer knowledge is leading towards my need to check the thyroid...Also I do a lot of stress management since we are worriers on my mom's side....

So I said all that to say as a nutritionist, I have been incorperating a lot of tips on being proactive in my practice, and many (but not all) physicians are trying to be overcautious, by just going ahead and ordering bloodwork or an ultrasound to catch early signs of cancer, lumps (later on that for me), thyroidism, etc.

What its up to us to do is to listen to our bodies, because no matter what you think, pain is pain and its not normal. My healthy SIL (DH's sister) waited and after years of not being able to fight off colds, her heart racing (I suspected high blood pressure), overdoing it on cold meds, she finally had her thyroid checked and was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism or Graves disease. Her vision was going bad, her eyes were bulging out slowly-all signs of Graves disease and they were talking surgery, and her docs didn't put 2 and 2 together, but she went to see them so infrequently, mixed with mistrust of doctors in general, and always self-medicating symptoms, she slipped through the cracks....And please don't look at your docs as the final word because they are not created equal and if they are not up on the latest research, or hesitate to give you the answers you want and brush you off, then that means they have no answer AND are not willing to investigate....only now are they treating her even worse symptoms, and radiation treatment to disable her thyroid has worked but its so debilitating she is out of work for days...But her vision problems, and heart problems are likely to be irreversible. She is 36, no kids, works out regularly, and is relatively healthy....

So please please please, stay on top of annual exams, abnormalities, breast self-exams (I found a lump doing this-but my proactive doc had me do an ultrasound, and an innovative cutting edge surgeon put me on vitamin E (I added the vitamin c based on research), I cut caffiene-and my fluid filled-cyst went away 3 months later! But he said not catching it could have led to something worse...so don't live with the pain, ask questions, be aggravating, but BE PROACTIVE! My primary who ordered the ultrasound said another young lady with the same lump, pain let it go, and by the time she realized it was needing to be addressed she had stage 3 breast cancer, it metastisized, and she died at age 26!!!! I will continue to be follow-up on every 6 months....

First of all I'm so sorry you are hearing all of this at one time, that's alot, but like you said it's better that you have the news now while you still have time to work on it. Okay now....I am studying to get certified as a personal trainer at the end of next month (pray for a sista), so when I saw Health in the topic title I couldn't click on fast enough lol. I have some suggestions for you if you don't mind. I don't like the word DIET. I think that word has taken on such negative vibes once people feel like they have to go on a "diet" they dread it. Think of this as a lifestyle change for your overall health for years to come. This is JUST MY OPINION, but I don't believe in any of these fad diets like low-carb, liquid etc etc. Let me say that I'm not saying they don't work for some people because they do, I'm just saying for the majority of people "diets" that are intensly restrictive do not work well at all. What I suggest you start doing is start a food journal everyday. Record the all foods that you eat, the time of day that you eat it and how many calories each food contains. Of course I don't know specifics about you like your age, height, activity level, fat% etc, but usually I start my clients out with eating between 1600-1700 calories a day becuase most people eat MUCH more then that on a daily basis. It's all about portion size and how your prepare your food. I tell my clients they should be eating AT LEAST 5 times a day. NO SKIPPING MEALS...eating smaller meals frequently daily wakes up your metabolism and that's what starts burning your calories. I tell people DO NOT eat what you don't like. Don't buy 200 hundred bags of salad if you don't like salad, instead pick another veggie that you do like and add that to your meals. Use healthier things to prepare your food. For example use ground turkey instead of ground beef. They have turkey sausage patties and kielbasa now instead of pork. Baked, roast and grill your meat instead of frying it. Drink 2% milke instead of full fat. There are so many things you can do to adjust your eating habits that you don't have to deprive yourself but still be able to loose weight. And of course YOU HAVE to exercise. You won't be able to keep the weight off unless you do. These are just a couple things you can do. This post is already long so if you have any more questions or just want suggestions on anything feel free to email me at frankyriley@yahoo.com. Real quick here are a couple websites you can look at to help you figure out how many calories are in the various foods we eat:

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/browse/manu/1.html -for restuarants
http://www.shapefit.com/fastfood.html -for fast foods
http://thecaloriecounter.com/ -for general foods

PS....
As far as weight loss, the standard is to calculate your current body mass index or BMI:

weight in kilograms/ height in meters squared. To do this

Take weight in pounds: say you weigh 200 pounds and are 5'4 or 64 inches. So take 200/2.2 = 90.9 kg.

Take height in inches 64 in x 2.54 (cm/in) = 162.56 cm.
Then take 162.56 cm / 100 = 1.6256 meters, then squared = 2.64

To find your BMI: 90.0 kg/2.64 = 34.4.
So this person's BMI is 34.4 making them categorically obese...

Here is the breakdown:

Underweight: BMI 16.5-18.5
Normal or Healthy Weight: BMI 18.5-24.9
Overweight: BMI 25-29.9
Obese: BMI 30+
Obese class I: BMI 30-35
Obese class II: BMI 35-40
Obese class III: BMI 40+ (also considered morbid obesity)

So to find determine weight loss goals: Determine how much you would weigh if your BMI was between 18.5-24.9, and aim for the middle...
Sometimes our ideal weight (based on the old ways may be too little for our body chemistry) so its better to do it using the BMI...

For this person: If her BMI was between 18.5-24.9 (She would weigh between 107 and 144 pounds....So just to get at the higher end of the goals she'd need to lose about 55 pounds. However, people who fall into the Healthy Weight/Normal category tend to have lower risk of diseases related to being overweight..This includes some hormonal issues, especially in African American women....

So maybe for those interested you can try to set goals this way...They are more realistic, plus when you are halfway there, you can determine if you like the weight at that point, or if you want to loose more...but at least you'd have a goal in mind....!

I agree...if I use the word diet I mean really your eating style, and patterns...in terms of whether fruits and vegetables are part of your diet or not....in that sense....But really we have to address the eating/behavior patterns....So Soon is right....So we have a nutritionist and personal trainer here....No excuses!

For me I have got the diet, now I need to work on toning, and cardio!

I'd love for you to start an exercise post...Cause I need to kick it up a notch!

Good stuff Bumble....My post was already long enough I didn't want to get into all the BMI stuff but glad you covered it. And she right, we get caught up into wanting to "look like somebody"...thin does not necessarily mean healthy. And it goes both ways you might see someone who is not necessarily the smallest person but could be just as healthy as they wanna be. It's all about where you carry your weight, genetics, your metabolism rate etc etc....so do what you need to do for YOUR body and YOUR health and everything will work itself out.

Ok Bumble I did the math ..and my BMI is 27.55. I was shooting for losing 10lbs but it looks like I need to lose 20lbs.

I can't lie ...I went hard (again) for 3 weeks between 30-60 mins of cardio, watching what I ate, and drank 8 or more glasses of water a day ...and that freaking scale AIN'T MOVE!!! I hate that thing!

Turiya wrote:

Ok Bumble I did the math ..and my BMI is 27.55. I was shooting for losing 10lbs but it looks like I need to lose 20lbs.

I can't lie ...I went hard (again) for 3 weeks between 30-60 mins of cardio, watching what I ate, and drank 8 or more glasses of water a day ...and that freaking scale AIN'T MOVE!!! I hate that thing!

When you say you "watched what you ate" what does that mean? Were you skipping meals, or did you drastically change your diet where maybe you weren't getting enough calories to support the amount of exercise you were doing? There could be many reasons you didn't loose the weight, but one thing you can't do is worry about the scale as you are trying to loose weight. That thang will drive you CRAZY!....I have my people weigh only once a month...and that's just to track how we are doing as far as weight loss. Muscle weighs more then fat so some people get frustrated that they weigh the same, but their clothes fit better. That's because you are slowly turning that fat into muscles and losing those inches....

Makes sense now AFTER I threw that thing across the room.

I cut the candy and junk.

I had breakfast (7ish) ...Special K (yuck), Smart Start, but my love is Frosted Flakes ..sometimes I'll have them and an apple or banana OR oatmeal ...which ever I didn't eat ...I had around 10ish ...lunch was Turkey and chesse sandwich with some carrots or celery OR a chef salad (my fav) around 1ish ...then another snack (3 or 4ish) like carrots or cucumber something that made me think I was eating ... and a lite dinner around 7pmish ...I also drink plenty water ...a little more than 8 cups daily ...

I want to get back into the cardio in the mornings ..can't lie afterwards I felt GREAT but before ..it was like dragging the dead!

I am fighting the good fight to keep my weight down and I encoureage others to eat well also. I dont like that I have asked nurses or doctors if I were overweight and they laughed it off because I have a big bottom and hips. I find that sometimes in our community we don't take weight and fitness as serious as we should. True not everyone is going to be model thin but I hear too many excuses for not eating well and being active. Many of the leading causes of illness and death ie diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease can be prevented/delayed by healthy living.

Hey Ladies, Am trying to lose 20 pounds before my wedding in November 2008. Am eating healthy, exercising, and getting proper sleep .Any Suggestions ?


Help !
Thanks

create a food diary. I am on Weight Watchers and lost in the first week without exercising with my food diary and calorie counting. In the first two weeks I lost 6 pounds and the second 2 weeks I lost another 5. get a lot of water (plain or flavored) intake, 6-8 servings a day

Turiya wrote:

Makes sense now AFTER I threw that thing across the room.

I cut the candy and junk.

I had breakfast (7ish) ...Special K (yuck), Smart Start, but my love is Frosted Flakes ..sometimes I'll have them and an apple or banana OR oatmeal ...which ever I didn't eat ...I had around 10ish ...lunch was Turkey and chesse sandwich with some carrots or celery OR a chef salad (my fav) around 1ish ...then another snack (3 or 4ish) like carrots or cucumber something that made me think I was eating ... and a lite dinner around 7pmish ...I also drink plenty water ...a little more than 8 cups daily ...

I want to get back into the cardio in the mornings ..can't lie afterwards I felt GREAT but before ..it was like dragging the dead!

That sounds like a good eating plan...keep at it. If you don't like Special K....eat a cereal you do like. Change up your breakfast. For example I get the Maple Syrup Weight Control packs of oatmeal, I boil 2 eggs and have 2 slices of %40 less fat bacon one morning for breakfast...that filling meal is only 360 calories. Or I would do 2 whole wheat english muffins and some turkey sausage patties. I switch it up from time to time...but it's always things that I like. YOU HAVE TO WORK OUT....that is essential to losing the weight and keeping it off along with your eating plan....keep trying....AND LEAVE THE SCALE ALONE...if you keep doing what your doing and exercising you will definitely notice a difference....

landa wrote:

Hey Ladies, Am trying to lose 20 pounds before my wedding in November 2008. Am eating healthy, exercising, and getting proper sleep .Any Suggestions ?


Help !
Thanks

try weight watchers. it shows you how to eat right and keep the weight off.

Shy41208 wrote:

create a food diary. I am on Weight Watchers and lost in the first week without exercising with my food diary and calorie counting. In the first two weeks I lost 6 pounds and the second 2 weeks I lost another 5. get a lot of water (plain or flavored) intake, 6-8 servings a day

YES.....keep a food journal....this will DEFINITELY help you keep track of your calories and how much food you are eating. It's also like you're being held accountable to yourself also. If you have to write down you at a big fat greasy hamburger fries and a fried apple pie and see it on paper....it might discourage you from actually doing it. THEN if you find out how many calories are in one of those meals and see that sometimes the calorie count in one of those is more then the total number a calories you should be eating in a day......that might be the boost you need to stop eating them. Alot of people do not realize how many calories they are eating on a daily basis. You think it's not that bad until you start researching these restaurants and sometimes simply how we prepare the food and the little things we add to the food to give it "flavor" can pack on the calories.

MzPrice2B wrote:

This is JUST MY OPINION, but I don't believe in any of these fad diets like low-carb, liquid etc etc. Let me say that I'm not saying they don't work for some people because they do, I'm just saying for the majority of people "diets" that are intensly restrictive do not work well at all.

The Dr. only thinks the low card would be best to help to control insulin levels.. and I pray it won't be permanent I love m,y carbs.. But, I can live with them in moderation... sniff, sniff

Okay defintely in your case you should lower your carb intake because of the glucose. I was more speaking of the people that go on these low carb or no carb diets just to try and lose the weight fast. Again I'm not saying it does not work on some people....but for someone that does not have health issues like diabetes or anything else but just want to lose weight. I would not recommend it...

MzPrice2B! This is an awesome post! Thank you for thinking about your Vibride sisters. Good health is definitely something we can all benefit from.

I pray that your health challenges will be resolved. May God continue to grant you good health.

Again thanks for sharing your story, it definitely compells you to take action as far as your health is concerned. All the best my sister!

What's crazy for me is that for the last six years I've worked part time at a gym (front desk clerk) and I've gained so much weight working there. Before taking the job there I was working out pretty regularly and was maintaining a healthy weight but once I started working there I started to slack off big time. I had this mental thing going that made me feel like going to the gym to work out felt to much like going into work. I've told myself many times to just find a different gym to work out at but then I start thinking about paying a membership somewhere when I can work out for free where I work and then I talk myself right out of it, AGAIN. Seeing both my parents struggle with complications from diabetes, I know I really need to get it together. What worked for me back when I worked out faithfully is I actually "tricked" myself into believing all junk food was poison and just the sight of it turned my stomach. I've been trying to fool myself like that again, but so far no luck.

Okay one of my issues also is I LOVE carbs and I love using salt. I have tried cutting back salt and carbs before but never have much luck. Does anyone who has had success with this have a sample meal plan? I've already switched to turkey alternatives and I only use 2% milk but I really don't like the taste of most stuff marketed as healthy.

i also had the salt issue. I used to use more than enough salt in my veggies, what i do now is i still use plain salt occasionally but if i use butter, i dont use salt, instead i put more of the garlic powder, onion powder and pepper.
For carbs, for the most part i cut down my portions, instead of cutting them out of my life because then i would want them even more.

As far as sodium, think of this...Most of the food in the US if its not fresh, even frozen foods (except frozen veggies that DON't have added sauces and creams), have sodium....

Average diet has about 6000-10,000 mg sodium/day. The recommendation of 2300mg is to keep the body cells correct. So we already get more than 3x the recommendation. Some ways to cut the salt is to first TASTE the food before you add salt, and avoid seasonings with hidden salt like: Garlic Salt or Onion Salt....Use the Powders instead. Also, buy herbs, and other seasonins....Even avoid "Seasoning Salt". I personally think salt takes away from the real flavoring of foods, and over time it blunts the tastebuds....And finally: Take the salt shaker from the table....I have the Morton's Salt container, and its about 5 years old...Scratch that, I bought while I was an undergrad....and I graduated with my BS in 03. Even my DH avoids the salt. I may sprinkle a little on fries here and there b/c I don't eat ketchup....But I can always go without....

Also choose soups low in sodium...avoid frozen meals or microwave meals as they are loaded with sodium...You can get 50% of your daily requirement of sodium in 1 can of chicken noodle soup..>Same with broth.....Once you get used to the low salt regimen, food tastes better, more interesting, and too much salt will disgust you!

pamcrow wrote:

Okay one of my issues also is I LOVE carbs and I love using salt. I have tried cutting back salt and carbs before but never have much luck. Does anyone who has had success with this have a sample meal plan? I've already switched to turkey alternatives and I only use 2% milk but I really don't like the taste of most stuff marketed as healthy.

Pamcrow,
Some ladies at work have been using NuSalt it's some sort of salt substitute.. It in essence swaps the sodium content for higher potassium...Now, I haven't tried it myself but it might be worth a try..

MzPrice2B wrote:

Some ladies at work have been using NuSalt it's some sort of salt substitute.. It in essence swaps the sodium content for higher potassium...Now, I haven't tried it myself but it might be worth a try..

I'll have to give NuSalt a try. In the past I've tried using Mrs. Dash seasonings (YUCK !!) and I've tried Morton's Lite Salt as an alternative but it had no flavor.

Shy I've tried using onion powder, garlic powder instead but without the salt, it always tastes bland to me. When you are used to eating very spicy foods, it's hard to leave the salt out. I guess I'll have to force myself to stick to it for a couple of weeks so my tastebuds can re-adjust to it.

i understand.
There is also sea salt, it is better for you that regular salt

Shy41208 wrote:

For carbs, for the most part i cut down my portions, instead of cutting them out of my life because then i would want them even more.

That's it, don't cut carbs totally out of your life....slim down the portions. You need some carbs in your diet especially if you are working out regularly. Of course you can get carbs in some veggies also like broccoli and corn for example, but if you don't want to cut them out totally (which I don't recommend unless of course your dr. recommends because of health reasons) try changing to %100 total wheat products. They have wheat breads, bagels, english muffins, pasta. Make SURE it says %100 whole grain in the ingredients. Bumble already addressed the sodium issue wonderfully. People always think they are doing good when they are eating a lean cuisine meal for example what they don't realize is how much sodium they are putting in their bodies. It is so important that we start looking more closely into reading the nutritional facts on the foods we buy.

soontobebride wrote:

You need some carbs in your diet especially if you are working out regularly. Of course you can get carbs in some veggies also like broccoli and corn for example,...

Wait a minute, broccoli is a carb ??? That's my favorite veggie. Awwgggh man, this is sad.

Has anyone ever used Flaxseed? The oil, the seeds or the grinded form of it...
I have just recently started using it in my food. It doesnt taste bad at all and it helps assist in weight loss. it's all natural and it has all the omegas in it. i hear it being recommended alot to keep you healthy, my mom calls it the natural colon cleanser. lol (sorry i know that was TMI)
.Flaxseed

Another thing that helps boost weight loss and get impurities out of your body is the seaweed wrap that i have mentioned once before.

pamcrow wrote:

What worked for me back when I worked out faithfully is I actually "tricked" myself into believing all junk food was poison and just the sight of it turned my stomach. I've been trying to fool myself like that again, but so far no luck.

LOL!!! Boy what we HAVE to do to get it together is too funny! Poison!! That's cute! I love it AND I get it WORKED TOO!

I successfully stopped eating all read meat when I was in college. When I came home to visit, just the smell of it made me want to puke. But slowly I started to eat it again. I think I need to go back to stop eating it though. The problem is that I frequently find that there aren't too many food choices already. I'm alway like, O.K., what am I going to cook today?

Shy41208 wrote:

Has anyone ever used Flaxseed? The oil, the seeds or the grinded form of it...
I have just recently started using it in my food. It doesnt taste bad at all and it helps assist in weight loss. it's all natural and it has all the omegas in it. i hear it being recommended alot to keep you healthy, my mom calls it the natural colon cleanser. lol (sorry i know that was TMI)
.Flaxseed

Another thing that helps boost weight loss and get impurities out of your body is the seaweed wrap that i have mentioned once before.

I love flaxseeds and flaxseed oil. I add it to my applesauce. I hear their is something called the flaxseed flush that cleans out the body and helps with weight loss. They are supposed to be really god for you.

really? I have to check around for that and the info on it...

I used to take a liquid detox...let me tell you when i was on that and going to the gym (faithfully) i would sweat like crazy, i couldnt believe it. I was disgusted by that but it really worked for me. i have to find the website again. I will post it for general info