Another Strategy to Save Myself

Yesterday a friend on a phone call recommended a book to me and today, by coincidence, I read about it in my daily e-mail news feed: Dr. Dean Ornish's book UnDo It! - Lifestyle choices to reverse chronic disease. In particular, this book, acccording to my friend, strives to focus on brain health and early intervention against cognitive decline. Mp/> This blog post is only to introduce the idea. I have borrowed the book via Audible and I will be listening to it at bedtime which is my habit. I have lost so much vision due to Fuch's Dystrophy - a degeneration of the cornea due to the break-down of the Fuch's pumps responsible for cleaning and protecting the cornea, that I can't really read anymore - it is such a struggle and I need a magnifying glass. So, I listen to audio books. I doubt there is much new in this book to me, as I read Dr. Ornish's heart book in the beginning of my heart disease fifteen years or so ago, but I think of it as a REVIEW and Inspiration to get back to the good lifestyle.

In truth, I do a good many of the recommended things as do many of my friends including - I am a vegetarian. The friend who recommended the book is a vegan (Marilyn Quinn) as is my other best friend, Barb Solem. I haven't been willing to go that far but I am close. I still have dairy products in my diet, cheese, ice cream!, and a milk based protein drink, and, to be honest, I DO NOT eat enough vegetables and fruits each day. I am a carboholic.

My main failure, however, is in the area of exercise. For the month of July I have done no exercise. The previous couple of months I was doing well - going to the gym 3 times a week for a light workout: 15 minutes on the bike, two arms machines, two abs machines, a couple other weight machines here and there, a total of 30 minutes. And I was walking EVERY day at Martin's Lake, a half mile walk on a good sidewalk around a charming pond. Then, the dog got sick with a serious illness, pancreatitis, and my days were taken up with getting my sister in Clarksboro each day to help me carry the dog out, fix her special foods (boiled chicken and rice) and get her to the vet. That took two weeks, and then I got sick with a recurring stomach bug - diarrhea and nausea that lasted a day or two. The same illness hit me last summer.

That little health crash got me off my exercise track and I never got back on. The excessive heat of this month didn't help. Following that, I became apathetic, sad, lazy and struggling. My sister's bi-weekly cleaning visits really helped me keep my head above water, but I wasn't doing the minimal exercise component.

Fortunately, I was able to keep one thing going - my writing (my daily journal and my blog) and working in my Art Journal - creative exercises. Also, I work pretty diligently at keeping up with friends in whatever way possible, texting, phone calls, lunches.

So, with this blogpost begins my journey with the new Dr. Dean Ornish Book and whatever program or ideas for saving myself that it inspires which I will share with you. I have recommended the book to two other friends and we are tossing around the idea of a casual book club based on it. I will let you know how that progresses! Happy Trails - wrightj45@yahoo.com