So Here Goes

Healthy People 2010 has goals to get more people off their keesters and onto the treadmill, bike, walking path or any way to increase activity. I don't think America is even close to the goals set by this fine group of people.
I feel like a hypocrit. I talk the talk, but don't walk the walk......consistantly anyway. Not that I don't exercise. I just don't exercise enough consistantly. Something always manages to take precidence. Maybe that's an excuse. But I need to make it one of the highest priorities in my life.

Being a nurse and a fitness advocate and promoter, I feel the need to stand up and not only speak for the need to increase activity and decrease caloric intake, but to walk the walk.

These maps provided by the CDC really are motivational to me. Not only to increase my own activity but to promote the need for all Americans to find a way to become more fit and less obese.

Obesity changes from years 1985-2006 found on the CDC website:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/index.htm


The percentages found on the pictures of the US are small, I hope you can understand what they mean.


These figures are based on BMI (body mass index) which is based on a calculation factoring in height and weight. A BMI from 18.5-24.9 is considered normal: 25-29.9 is overweight, and 30 and greater is obese. You can go online and find a BMI calculator and figure out where you fit in. I am just a hair into overweight but I feel very much over a hair over.

Does this make you as sick as it does me? Our country's obesity problem is in epidemic proportion! These maps show the changes in obesity from 1985 through 2006. It shows a percentage of the nations "obesity". Mind you, this is not overweight, but OBESITY. These maps caught my eye when I was in school for Exercise Sport Science and they've stayed in the back of my mind the whole time. Look at Colorado! Still a large portion of obesity noted, but is still in the blue in 2006.

SO HERE GOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have no idea how hard this is for me, even though I buy books with before and after pictures of people and I don't get all grossed out. So, please, no rude remarks cuz this is really hard for me!

What a scarey thing to do. Post half naked pictures of yourself online for all to see. Especially at your worst. But it's a way of making me stay true to myself in exercise and diet. I've got to get into shape before July. I want to look good in my "kini".

Here's the goals:

1-Get enough rest:

I went to a Fat Cells and Disease seminar in SLC on March 21 and learned that compared to those who get 7-9 hours of sleep per night, those who regularly sleep <5>

2- Monitor caloric intake/output:

To me this means being aware of everything I eat and having a basic idea of how many calories I'm eating and burning. Otherwise, how do you know where to make changes ie; increase calories burned or decrease calories taken in.

3-Exercise:

Even a low amount of exercise 10-20 minutes on the treadmill/day will help.

4-Decrease stress:

I think this may be harder for me than I care to admit, especially since I don't have total control of how good or bad my day will be at work. But I know exercise helps decrease stress.

I work three days a week, starting at 0700 am and ending at 0800pm. Get home at 0830-0845 in the evening. I seldom feel like jumping on the treadmill after work. But in the conference it was stated that even small amounts of exercise on a regular basis make big changes.

In order for me to lose the weight I want I must exercise 3-5days/wk of 30-60 minutes aerobics. I'm allowed a carbohydrate/protein mix of 1370 kcal/day which allows:

a) 38 gms Fat/day

b) 188 gms Carbs/day
c) 68 gms Protein/day

This will bring a 1.49lb/wk weight loss with the goal achieved by 7/1/08.

My weaknesses are:

1-Chocolate and sweets

2-Not knowing the grams of carbs, fat and protein that are in foods. This will be a learning curve that I hope to achieve before 7/1/08. I have several books to help out in this.

3-Difficulty keeping to my goal of exercise needed to achieve this.

I'm sure there are many many more weaknesses that I haven't mentioned, but this is a start.

So, I'm off to the races. Wish me luck!!!1

The Secret

Have you read the book "The Secret"? I've seen the movie and began reading the book a while back and I truly believe in the message that it promotes about the law of attraction. That when you have something going on in your mind, the universe sends it your way. Whether good or bad, you bring it to yourself. To quote Mike Dooley in the book, "Thoughts become things"! That seems quite true when you think about it. Have you ever in your life achieved a thing prior to you're thinking you can achieve it and then once you see a way for it to happen, you go out and get it?

I really wanted some exercise equipment, but I didn't want to delve into the equity I had saved from the sale of my home. I couldn't see a way of getting what I wanted. I thought and thought about it and couldn't come to any kind of conclusion about how I could get it. I finally prayed that God would open a door for me to be able to get the equipment without using my savings. And the door opened. The store offered a one year free of interest plan. I did it. I payed for my equipment in one year and didn't pay a dime in interest. It would have been over $1000.00 in interest alone. Now I own a Life Fitness treadmill and a Hoist Universal. Two of my most prized possessions.

I now want to get my training in Pilates. Again, I didn't want to delve into my savings. The universe has opened a door with a plan I can use to attain this. But, first I asked the Universe to help me decide what it is I truly wanted. My original plan was to come to Colorado for training. Then I decided that maybe it wasn't what I truly wanted. So I asked the Universe what it wanted me to do with myself. Aubrey came into the picture and brought up an old dream of mine to be a midwife. I struggled with the idea, and when I saw an advertisement for Pilates on the T.V. I had to ask myself a big question. If I were a midwife and saw an ad about Pilates, would I feel remorse or regret, or jealousy about not having gone into it. Yes, I would. That was the deciding factor for me.

I am going into my 50's. Amazing. I've had people tell me I'm too old to start another career. Nah, I don't care what they think. It's what I want. Health and fitness are the most important thing to me. Jeez, Joseph Pilates himself was in amazing shape. He's 57 in this picture.

It's all a matter of what you want. What you want to achieve. I quote Mike Dooley in The Secret, "The hows are the domain of the Universe. It always knows the shortest, quickest, fastest most harmonious way between you and your dream." Dr Joe Vitale says, "If you turn it over to the Universe, you will be surprised and dazzled by what is delivered to you. This is where the magic and miracles happen".

My dream has been to own my own fitness center. The universe knows what is entailed in that dream for me. I want certification in ACSM and Pilates. I want to own at least two cadillacs and six reformers. I would also like 6 pilates chairs. I want mirrors all around the room with a huge window to see out. I would like the walls to be brick and the floors wood. I would like the place to have an upstairs and downstairs. The upstairs would be where the yoga/pilates classes are held. The downstairs would have the equipment. I also want a yoga wall. I would like to travel to Australia, California, New York and other states to keep up on education. This is my dream. I will have the money I need for the Pilates certification by September this year. After receiving the training, I will probably work for other places first gaining more experience. I'm not sure how I will be able to attain all the equipment I want, but the Universe will open the doors for me, I just know it.

Where Were You

Where were you on September 11, 2001? What do you remember of that day and the days to follow? What were you doing? What was your initial response to the attacks?
I was driving to work at Cottonwood Hospital in the Endoscopy Unit in Murray Utah at the time. As I made my exit from the freeway I spotted a fellow worker walking away from her car. I could see something was wrong so I stopped and asked if she needed help. She was having problems with her car. We were only about 5 minutes away from the hospital so I offered her a ride. She thanked me and got into my car. I had been listening to a talk show hosted by Mick and Allen on the radio and there was a sense of something very devastating going on. They never sounded this distraught before. Something really bad has happened in New York. I didn't get the whole jist of what it was all about but as I entered the surgical waiting room of the hospital I soon learned what all the commotion was about. Live footage of the burning building in New York left all in the room wondering what on earth could have caused such a huge fire in a building so big. I didn't want to stop watching and go to work, but found as I entered the endo recovery room someone had already tuned the radio on to the story. We heard that the second tower was now hit and we all wanted to run down to were where the t.v.'s were to see what was going on. A plane had hit the second building and the first one was going down to the ground. A PLANE hit the building? Was the pilot hurt, or drugged or out of his mind. Did he fall asleep at the wheel? A PLANE hit the building! How did the other building catch fire. What on earth....??? We would trek down to where the t.v.'s were every so often. "What's going on?" Who could have done such a thing? Why?
When I got home from work I watched the news until I had to go to bed again. Every news station on t.v. was reporting about the World Trade Center Twin Towers crumbling like buildings made of cards. I had never even heard of the World Trade Center or the Twin Towers before. News reports showed people covered in dust, crying and scared, papers flying out of the buildings, people jumping out of the buildings, terror and confusion in New York City, nothing like this had ever happened in all of world history. New York restaurants and stores fronts were being plastered with posters of missing family members within hours of the disaster each with a hope someone had seen their loved one. The feeling of total chaos and devastation was something I had never witnessed in my life. Why? Why? Why?

In all this time, has that question ever really been answered? It's 2008, seven years after the "bombing" (so to speak). Speculation vs. facts. Has anybody given us a straight answer? My feelings following the attacks were that of............Please don't make any rash decisions, don't put our country at war, don't point a false finger, stay calm, don't make any rash decisions, find out WHY! I don't think they wanted to know the why. They looked for weapons of mass destruction but found none. No solid proof. But we went to war anyway, with a people who have been warring amongst themselves for years. What on earth was our president thinking? Did it ever occur that we'd never get out of war once it had started with a "warring people"? Does it matter that we are losing so many soldiers? And for what purpose? I hear mixed messages about it. Soldiers saying the people are glad we are there to save them from such a monster as Osama. The next report is from someone from Iraq cursing the U.S. for being there, causing such destruction and chaos.

Do we ever really "win" a war? How is this supposed to end? To what end? Their people don't seem to want to get along. They don't appear to want a structured government. If they don't want either of these two things, why are we fighting?

Oil anyone? Not the kind you put on your salad. Who stands to gain so much from this war? I don't feel it matters which person we elect for president, they are puppets. Our American citizens can elect someone but is a new president really going to bring peace to our country after that has happened? Is that even a possibility? We are a divided nation. Many of us who don't want anything to do with being a "killing" nation don't feel we can speak up and be heard. Like if we don't support our president in this war we aren't being true Americans. We lack the American Spirit of wanting freedom. Enslaving and killing another nation of people is not my idea of freedom for anyone. Taking what is on their land (oil) or just taking their land (Indians) is not right and can never have any true justification.

I don't feel safer in our airports. My son had to mail his cologne and toothpaste back to himself so he didn't have to throw them away, but he could take on a lighter! Gas prices are up to over $3.00 a gallon in some places. Before the war gas cost $1.89/gallon. Do you remember that? It wasn't that long ago. My government can now tap into my computer, my phone lines, read my mail any time they want because of the "Patriot Act" under the guise that I could be a "terrorist". We are losing our rights every day and our leaders are "leading the way". They aren't leaders. Eckhart Tolle is a "leader". Promoting peace and self awakening with his book A New Earth. So far he has been the only way that I've seen anyone pose a real change. The change from within. We all have power to do this. He says now is the time for the awakening. We are at crisis levels and must raise out of our beds and become aware of our surroundings, and of how our attitudes, beliefs and feelings affect the entire world. We as a people must speak up and voice how this is not only affecting us, but our fellow man both in America and Iraq.

Do you think that our president or other leaders lay in bed and ask themselves...........What have I done? Or, how are we going to get out of this? I don't think so. The only thing I can see that I have the power to do is to change my self and the person from within.

They have taken approximately 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center and cast it in the bow stem of a ship Christened USS New York LPD 21. The bow stem is the foremost section of the ship's hull on the water line.

The stairs that exited the World Trade Center onto Vessey Street are being moved and will eventually be placed as a memorial from 9/11.

A new building is currently being errected to replace the Twin Towers and it will be called The Freedom Tower

I thought I buried that

I had my three kids at home. 1984, 1986 and 1989. Girl, girl, boy. This is something that I don't bring up much. I have hidden knowledge of this under my pillow for safe keeping. A treasured fact about myself I only let out on safe and special occasions. When I know the person cannot hurt or try to destroy this sacred bit about me. But I have felt prodded today. Not to let this treasure out, but to let home birth and midwifery back into my life again.

And Aubrey was her name
A not so very ordinary girl or name
But who's to blame.................

Aub was born in Logan, Utah. It was a beautiful May morning with the smell of freshly mowed grass and sunshine in the background, and my husband played Bread's "Aubrey" on his guitar right after she was born. What a glorious day. What an awesome experience. My first baby........ I didn't know what sex the baby was. I didn't have an ultrasound to tell me. But late one night when Nate was still at work and I was up late with worry that it might be a boy (all the clothes I had were girl clothes, given with hopes of a female by my loving sisters and mother) I expressed to God my fears........what would I do, we were poor and I couldn't dress my boy in pink. And then I smelled perfume. Not a scent I wore. It couldn't be the old lady's in the apartment next to us or the couple below, it was after 11pm, who sprays cologne that late? It was a sign. A sign that I could stop worrying about dressing my son as a girl because I was carrying a girl. What a relief.

My midwife was over an hour away as she lived in Kaysville. We called and called to no avail. We couldn't reach her. We called Nates sister who called our labor teacher who reached my midwife in Salt Lake City, two hours away now. My midwife, Ronna Hand, hurt her arm and went to see a doc in SLC. When she finally arrived I was dilated to 7 and was in transition. She said she sped all the way to us. I didn't even know I was in "true labor". I pushed for over an hour. My seven pound, two ounce daughter was born. She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and the experience was the most amazing thing I have ever had happen to me.

That goes without saying for the birth experience of all my children.

I write about Aubs birth because she has been cajoling all kinds of memories out of me today. It's kind of felt like a stick in my side, poking and prodding. I haven't enjoyed the whole experience because it has also brought mixed feelings about some of the other things I thought I'd buried. Desires I put back in the far recesses of my bogged down head. Desires to help other women have the kind of birth they want. There was a time I really wanted to be a midwife. I could talk of nothing else during my childbearing years. I bought all kinds of books, read everything I could get my hands on. I was proud of myself for being able to "give birth" rather than have it taken from me.

My life has changed. I'm older and my children have grown. My nursing experiences take me into a world of the "molden years" (Nates form of the "golden years"). You think changing baby diapers is bad, try a 71 year old incontinent man who has a great appetite. It's no wonder I have a melancholy about me. I'm dealing in experiences closer to death and no hope than in looking ahead. I live with it too.

I've been revisiting my old stomping grounds of wanting to be a midwife today. I fled from it. Being a midwife and delivering babies at home seemed "scary" to me. I wasn't really afraid something would go wrong in my births, but it's different when it's you who are on the line to assist a woman to a safe delivery. And I didn't have the most promising experiences on the labor and delivery unit during nursing school. I aided a woman to the bathroom and was screamed at........."Don't you know she could have the baby in the toilet?" I've been called negligent and stupid for having my kids at home. I didn't want my home birth experiences made fun of and I knew that if I worked on a labor and delivery unit I would feel obliged to think and act on birth as I was "trained" to do. I would be obliged to follow doctors orders. Becoming a puppet wasn't in my plans.

Aub has shown me there is a way around all the objections I've had this whole time. But when I think of going back to school, and about carrying such a great responsibility, I must question if it is truly what I would want and enjoy. I'm not convinced.

I am proud of her and her own pursuits. I feel I've played a part in what she now holds dear in her own birth processes and pursuits in her dream of an upcoming career in midwifery. She shows me that all the stuff I've been talking about all these years has been heard. That I don't just talk and no one listens. I feel I've been an influence.

I am a tired woman. I don't think I'm too old, but I am not sure I have the energy to take on such a massive and important thing as midwifery now. I was headed in the exercise direction. And I'm not sure I want to put that down just yet. But it has been fun to see that I could pursue this if I wanted to. And I'm oh so proud that Aub has such a burning desire as I once did. I don't want it to be squelched for her as it has been for me these many years. More importantly, I am glad she has the baton for women in this nation to give birth rather than have it taken from them.

As Jack Nicholson might say............

This nation needs an enema..well, as far as birth goes!!!!!