Gettin' Old Ain't for Sissies

[2Cats4everLoved]

How have I not stumbled upon this Brilliant thread earlier.  

I never gave much thought for getting old except that... I wasn't going to get old.

Then in my late 40's I went for shoulder surgery, torn biceps, cuff repair etc. after the operation, the doctor told me I had arthritis in my cuff and I had the shoulder of an 88 year old man.  I said, man?  he said, yes, your shoulder has injuries of that found in a man who's done hard labor (work wise, not jail time).   I never went back to normal.

When I hit 50, life came to a screeching halt.  Hot flashes & chills took over, my a$$ expanded - putting all the Kardashians to shame, my knee sound like the percussion section at the NY Philharmonic, and my nice supple C's have turned into droopy D's with nipples the size of an A cup, What the HECK!!!!!!   I can't remember the last time I stepped out of bed and didn't step on my nipples, upside, in winter, it's warmer than stepping on the cold floor, lol.  There was that moment of reality when I was getting dressed and ran from the bathroom to the bedroom covering my boobs with my hands, and my husband said, "you know you're nipples aren't up there anymore", LOL I said, "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat"  I looked in the mirror and realized my hands were no where to covering up my sagging breasticles. 

One thing holds true, Humor can get you through everything.  Without it, these past 2 years would have been devastating.  I thank God, he hasn't taken that from me... yet.

I have made several lifestyle changes, especially with my diet, so I'm on my way to getting back to normal, but man, what a journey.  The only good thing about all this is, I can't see anymore either, so I can't see how old I've gotten. LOL  

All kidding aside, I have developed a condition Xanthelasma, cholesterol deposits above and below the eyes, it's annoying and does get in the way of vision, but doesn't hurt.  Not sure why it happened, all my levels are pretty good.  I'm in the process of removing them now with juiced garlic.  It's a painful process but I've had good results in the past, and I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing now.  However, I did make the mistake of applying the garlic juice to my eyes, then watched this weeks episode of This is Us, the one episode to make me cry... I paid for it for a couple of days.

Sorry for the rant.  It feels good to get this off my "chest". LOL

@Mamanyt1953  - I watched Rowan and Martin's Laugh In as a small kid, loved it, me and my sister used to act out all the sketches, great memories. "one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy". LOL

Have a great night everyone...  xoxoxoHope

 

[arouetta]

Ugh, the boob thing.

I can take being very overweight, I still love my body.  But I think I will be finding some way to have work done on my boobs.  A breast lift sounds great (they remove the excess skin) and I might even see if they can take some of the breast tissue out too.

 

[kittyluv387]

OH GOD IT HAPPENED!  Know that old joke about standing in front of the refrigerator and not remembering if you were putting something in or taking something out?  I AM THAT JOKE!  ~whimper~

You're doing pretty well. I have bee doing that sort of thing for a while now and im 29.

 

[kittyluv387]

I was only 3 years old when JFK was murdered, so I am blissfully ignorant of that horrible day.  But I'm still old enough to qualify for "old".  I'll be 58 at the end of this year.  

I do have some aches and pains here and there.  Right now it's my right middle and 4th finger.  They both feel like their being stuck with a hot poker when I wake up in the morning and try to move them.  Lord it hurts!  I have to work it out and keep moving it all day long.  

I suspect that this fairly new pain is due to the massive sugar benge I've been on for the last few months.  Caution thrown to the wind, even though I KNOW that sugar is highly inflammatory.  Just this past weekend I restarted the paleo diet (a less restrictive version) once again.  When I was on it before, I lost MANY aches and pains, especially in my joints.  My right leg wouldn't bend without pain,  After a few months of no grain and very minimal "approved" sugars (which was way less than I was getting before) those pains simply went away. I also lost my gut.  It flattened out faster than I was losing weight.  The reason for that was grain is also inflammatory, causes gas, leaky gut, intense food cravings. (That's why they give it to cows and chickens...to make them gain weight.)

I lost 22 pounds in about 8 weeks time and was never hungry.  Paleo is high fat/med protein/low carb, so it's a very satiable diet.  Intense cravings for food will completely go away.  

So please consider your diet as part of the culprit for various aches and pains and memory losses, and not just put it down to aging.  I'm hoping my fingers improve greatly over the next few weeks after going sugar-free and increasing my general nutrition, especially leafy greens.  I can already tell I have so much more energy than before and it's only been 6 days.   

Oh and one more thing.  I no longer wake up in the night choking on stomach acid, nor do I have any heartburn.  Bathroom habits are improving greatly too.  

Gosh, i should really cut out some sugar. Your results sound fantastic. But ugh, so good!

 

[ganesha0]

Gosh, i should really cut out some sugar. Your results sound fantastic. But ugh, so good!

I was diagnosed with slight hyperglycemia last April, so I was given a low calorie, low sugar diet. This was a temporary treatment since my condition is not grave. I lost 70 pounds in 9 months (I've gained a few since arriving to GA ) I could give you the diet if you want.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL...when someone laughingly referred to my "junk in the trunk," I replied "that isn't junk, it's an entire flea market!"  

I'm slowly losing some of my excess weight.  When I was diagnosed with borderline diabetes, I did the only rational thing for ME..I quit putting sugar in my tea, and I switched to whole wheat/whole grain breads, and cut my beloved potatoes almost entirely out of my diet...I mean, guys, I would fry potatoes and onions 4 times a week!  I miss them SO much!  I only do potatoes two or three times a month now.  Over the past year Ive dropped a touch over 40 pounds without any other dieting, AND my blood sugar is dead on normal!  I do have to get my HDL up, though.  It is lower than I'd like.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

Bravo !

.

 

[Margret]

I suppose I reflect the attitudes of most ordinary people in Washington at the time who viewed Jackie with some skepticism. She was gone a lot, spent a lot of money on clothes, and when she was there, did things like appropriating national monuments for parties that shocked a lot of people. So much of what she did seemed like show for an audience.

Jackie came from money, and it showed.  So did Jack, for that matter.  And being first lady largely was putting on a show for an audience.  It has changed a bit by now, but only a bit.  I keep coming back to that moment in the limousine, where she climbed up so she could reach for part of her husband's brain on the trunk.  That wasn't a show for an audience, that was genuine.  And I believe that it's the only glimpse we have into her genuine self.

I also want to say that Jack's affairs weren't well known at the time. There wasn't a whisper in the newspapers or gossip columns, but then, no one knew Jackie smoked, either. I once asked Carl Bernstein at a book signing if he knew anything about it, and he said he had asked Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post and a rather close friend of the Kennedys, and Ben said he had never been aware of anything going on between Jack and other women.

Jack and Bobbie were both having affairs with Marilyn Monroe, which probably figured into her choice to kill herself, more than a year before Jack's assassination.  Combine that with Marilyn's rendition of "Happy Birthday" for the president, in a very public venue, and I have to believe that by then, Jackie knew, or at least suspected.  Unless she didn't really care and therefore wasn't paying attention, which could well be true.

It's always hard to tell, from outside, what goes on inside a marriage.  More so when the marriage is surrounded by Secret Service agents and publicity gurus and spin doctors.  All of which is to say, "I don't know."  What I do know is that, with her husband dead and her world crumbling around her, she behaved with grace.  And five years later she went out and married a Greek-Argentine shipping magnate.  I don't think that was for money.  Any genuine friends she may have had were from her own class, and he was apparently one of them.

Personally, I never idolized any of the Kennedys.  I wished the kids well, and was sorry to hear about John Jr.'s death, but that's about as far as it went.  I, also, was turned off by Jackie's public persona, but I've never been fond of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Nevertheless, I admire the way she behaved in Dallas, and in the immediate aftermath.

Margret

 

[DreamerRose]

It's true, she did behave well in Dallas. She also put on a good face on the first lady role. I imagine she did know about Jack's infidelities. Her father was also a womanizer, and in the society they lived in, that was to be tolerated, much like royalty.

She met Onassis after her loss of the third baby. He invited her to a cruise on the Mediterenean. She was gone for so long that Jack called her back, and when her plane landed, Jack met her at the airport and yanked her off the tarmac.

 

[ginny]

Gosh, i should really cut out some sugar. Your results sound fantastic. But ugh, so good!

I know it's so difficult, I've already cheated twice now.  

.  My problem is I don't really like meat or protein.  It's a daily struggle to even get the minimum requirement.  But when I do, resisting sugar isn't nearly as hard.  Fruit is my new sugar.  

 

[ginny]

I'm having a scary symptom all of a sudden.  Actually it's been going on for quite some time, it's just gotten worse here lately. 

My thigh goes numb when I stand up. Right at my knee and a little above it . Actually it's a little numb right now sitting down, but I've noticed some pain in my right groin where I get numb. As long as I'm walking there's no pain. But when I stand, my groin hurts, and my thigh gets cold and numb.  I've made a call to a chiropractor (one whom the orthopedic surgeons respect and refer to.)  I'm hoping it's something easy and fixable. 

 

[arouetta]

 
I know it's so difficult, I've already cheated twice now.  

.  My problem is I don't really like meat or protein.  It's a daily struggle to even get the minimum requirement.  But when I do, resisting sugar isn't nearly as hard.  Fruit is my new sugar.  

Be careful, to the body sugar is sugar is sugar.  Fruit is literally just as bad as eating table sugar straight out of the canister with a spoon.  Fruit has a lot of water, a lot of fructose, some vitamin C and......nothing.  If it ends in -ose, not counting sugar alcohols like sucralose, the body turns it into glucose almost instantly.  If your pancreas is normal and you don't have insulin resistance, your insulin will act in perfect time with the conversion.  If your body is not so perfect, it's going to shoot straight up and then right back down, no matter what the original sugar source was.  I compared an apple and a Hershey's bar at one point, you're better off eating the Hershey's bar if you are concerned about sugar.  Honey is just as bad as table sugar too, that's not a safe substitute.  If you need sweet, go with something milk based.  Lactose is just as bad as the other sugars, but at least you'll have the protein offset.

(I hope the links post right).

https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+nutrition+facts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sni...-8&oe=utf-8#q=hershey's+bar+nutrition+facts&*

Is there any protein source that you do like?  Fish?  Eggs?  Cheese?  Dark green leafy vegetables?  Tofu?  Nuts?  Beans?  I know that beans have a fair amount of starch but they are a great protein source.  Maybe you could look at reputable sites that give good nutritional advice for vegetarians.  Just remember that there are several nutrients found only in meat that the body needs, so find a way of getting those too.

 

[arouetta]

 
I'm having a scary symptom all of a sudden.  Actually it's been going on for quite some time, it's just gotten worse here lately. 

My thigh goes numb when I stand up. Right at my knee and a little above it . Actually it's a little numb right now sitting down, but I've noticed some pain in my right groin where I get numb. As long as I'm walking there's no pain. But when I stand, my groin hurts, and my thigh gets cold and numb.  I've made a call to a chiropractor (one whom the orthopedic surgeons respect and refer to.)  I'm hoping it's something easy and fixable. 

See your doctor too.  He can send you to a physical therapist.  The numbness could be nerve related, a PT can work with that.  What does the pain feel like?  Different feelings of how it hurts can help differentiate between different causes.

 

[ginny]

 
See your doctor too.  He can send you to a physical therapist.  The numbness could be nerve related, a PT can work with that.  What does the pain feel like?  Different feelings of how it hurts can help differentiate between different causes.

I'm still searching for a doctor atm.  I may just have to make an appt with one of them anyway.  I want to see what this chiropractor says first, hopefully tomorrow.  

The pain is kind of a crampy/achy feeling which goes away as soon as I start walking or sit down.  

 

[ginny]

 
Be careful, to the body sugar is sugar is sugar.  Fruit is literally just as bad as eating table sugar straight out of the canister with a spoon.  Fruit has a lot of water, a lot of fructose, some vitamin C and......nothing.  If it ends in -ose, not counting sugar alcohols like sucralose, the body turns it into glucose almost instantly.  If your pancreas is normal and you don't have insulin resistance, your insulin will act in perfect time with the conversion.  If your body is not so perfect, it's going to shoot straight up and then right back down, no matter what the original sugar source was.  I compared an apple and a Hershey's bar at one point, you're better off eating the Hershey's bar if you are concerned about sugar.  Honey is just as bad as table sugar too, that's not a safe substitute.  If you need sweet, go with something milk based.  Lactose is just as bad as the other sugars, but at least you'll have the protein offset.

(I hope the links post right).

https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+nutrition+facts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sni...-8&oe=utf-8#q=hershey's+bar+nutrition+facts&*

Is there any protein source that you do like?  Fish?  Eggs?  Cheese?  Dark green leafy vegetables?  Tofu?  Nuts?  Beans?  I know that beans have a fair amount of starch but they are a great protein source.  Maybe you could look at reputable sites that give good nutritional advice for vegetarians.  Just remember that there are several nutrients found only in meat that the body needs, so find a way of getting those too.

I'm only one week off my overly long sugar benge so tapering down to fruit is a massive reduction in the overall amount of sugar I'm eating.  I don't eat a lot of it and I pair it with a high fat (like hard cheese) when I do.  I"m not supposed to be eating dairy at all, but I consider myself in the readjustment phase of this diet.  I'm easing back into it.  It's quite restrictive considering I used to eat out all the time.  

I drink a gelatin drink at bedtime with a teaspoon honey (raw/organic).  It helps me sleep, helps a sore throat go away, reduces coughing.  There are benefits to raw honey, but again it's sugar and the body sees it as not much difference than the plain white stuff.  

I'm between a rock and hard place.  I think the answer for me is to go ketogenic, but II have low thyroid and take T4 daily.  So I HAVE to have some carbs because insulin is needed to convert it to T3.  How much?  I don't know.  That's why I'm searching for a good doctor who hopefully has a good nutritionist and some answers for me.  

I like eggs probably the best of all the proteins and could eat that every day, that and bacon. I've never liked beans.  Fish is ok every once in a while.  I do love cheese, a little too much, maybe lol.  These days I only eat about 1/4 oz hard cheese per day (parm/regg), otherwise no dairy.   I aim to eat dark leafy greens every day.  

 

[arouetta]

 
I'm only one week off my overly long sugar benge so tapering down to fruit is a massive reduction in the overall amount of sugar I'm eating.  I don't eat a lot of it and I pair it with a high fat (like hard cheese) when I do.  I"m not supposed to be eating dairy at all, but I consider myself in the readjustment phase of this diet.  I'm easing back into it.  It's quite restrictive considering I used to eat out all the time.  

I drink a gelatin drink at bedtime with a teaspoon honey (raw/organic).  It helps me sleep, helps a sore throat go away, reduces coughing.  There are benefits to raw honey, but again it's sugar and the body sees it as not much difference than the plain white stuff.  

I'm between a rock and hard place.  I think the answer for me is to go ketogenic, but II have low thyroid and take T4 daily.  So I HAVE to have some carbs because insulin is needed to convert it to T3.  How much?  I don't know.  That's why I'm searching for a good doctor who hopefully has a good nutritionist and some answers for me.  

I like eggs probably the best of all the proteins and could eat that every day, that and bacon. I've never liked beans.  Fish is ok every once in a while.  I do love cheese, a little too much, maybe lol.  These days I only eat about 1/4 oz hard cheese per day (parm/regg), otherwise no dairy.   I aim to eat dark leafy greens every day.  

Remember that hard cheeses have virtually no lactose, so they are great for blood sugar.  A nutritionist told my husband that he could eat all the mozzarella he wanted, it was low fat and almost no lactose.  I was really surprised that collard greens are really high in protein compared to other dark green leafy veggies, so cook those up with some bacon or a slice of ham.

While the nutritionist didn't give my husband an ideal carb count, I've met two other diabetic people with two different nutritionists were given the target number of 60 grams of carbs a day.  Maybe that number will help you out?

 

[ginny]

 
Remember that hard cheeses have virtually no lactose, so they are great for blood sugar.  A nutritionist told my husband that he could eat all the mozzarella he wanted, it was low fat and almost no lactose.  I was really surprised that collard greens are really high in protein compared to other dark green leafy veggies, so cook those up with some bacon or a slice of ham.

While the nutritionist didn't give my husband an ideal carb count, I've met two other diabetic people with two different nutritionists were given the target number of 60 grams of carbs a day.  Maybe that number will help you out?

Maybe this is why Dr. Jaminet's version of paleo allows a little bit of hard cheese then.  Good news because I've learned to like it better than that flimsy American cheese which is mostly salt, oil, and orange food coloring.  As for the carb count, paleo shoots for around 15 grams, which might be too low for me with hypothyroid.  That's why I need some guidance.  So far this morning, I've had buckwheat hot cereal, 2 fried eggs and 4 strips bacon.  That's a huge amount of protein for me!  I feel nicely full and have no cravings.  

I know that when I drink a morning green smoothie with only dark green leafy veggies as my carbs, I don't have ANY energy at all and feel terrible.  But if I add 1/2 banana or some OJ to that same smoothie, makes a world of difference and I feel so much better.  As an aside, the best green smoothie I ever made was a rainbow chard smoothie.  I don't remember the exact proportions but it was delicious!  

I have a big container of collagen so I will start including that with every smoothie too.  That'll help me increase my protein too.  There's one recipe I got from Dr. Kelly Brogan that has cherries and cocoa - no sugar - only fermented coconut water.  It's DELICIOUS!  It makes you think you're cheating when you're not.  That recipe calls for 3 T. collagen and 3 raw egg yolks.  

 

[foxxycat]

the cramping sounds like dehydration. up your fluids. potassium helps these-bananas. sweet potatoes..see if it helps.

 

[artiemom]

potassium and magnesium help with cramping.. found out about the magnesium the other day, from a retired physician, whom I ran into..

 

[arouetta]

 
Maybe this is why Dr. Jaminet's version of paleo allows a little bit of hard cheese then.  Good news because I've learned to like it better than that flimsy American cheese which is mostly salt, oil, and orange food coloring.  As for the carb count, paleo shoots for around 15 grams, which might be too low for me with hypothyroid.  That's why I need some guidance.  So far this morning, I've had buckwheat hot cereal, 2 fried eggs and 4 strips bacon.  That's a huge amount of protein for me!  I feel nicely full and have no cravings.  

I know that when I drink a morning green smoothie with only dark green leafy veggies as my carbs, I don't have ANY energy at all and feel terrible.  But if I add 1/2 banana or some OJ to that same smoothie, makes a world of difference and I feel so much better.  As an aside, the best green smoothie I ever made was a rainbow chard smoothie.  I don't remember the exact proportions but it was delicious!  

I have a big container of collagen so I will start including that with every smoothie too.  That'll help me increase my protein too.  There's one recipe I got from Dr. Kelly Brogan that has cherries and cocoa - no sugar - only fermented coconut water.  It's DELICIOUS!  It makes you think you're cheating when you're not.  That recipe calls for 3 T. collagen and 3 raw egg yolks.  

The flimsy American cheese as you call it is actually American cheese food.  It's in pretty small print, but it will say that on the front.  Actual American cheese tastes really good.  It's more expensive and while it does come pre-sliced, it's not individually wrapped.  I keep mine in a ziplok sandwich bag.

Kraft Deli Deluxe is real American cheese, so is deli cheese.  Every store I've shopped at also has generic real American cheese in addition to generic American cheese.  Just read the front carefully.  Be aware that real American cheese is more expensive than cheese food.  If you get the generic real American cheese, it's probably going to cost about a dollar more than Kraft brand American cheese food.  Personally, I think the extra cost is more than justified by the really good taste, and that extra cost is an easy way to weed out the nasty stuff.

Even though my Google-fu is failing me, I remember as a young child that there was some type of government thing that gave some food to the poor and my dad would occasionally bring home a box or two of cheese in brown cardboard.  The cheese was really, really good tasting, similar but far better tasting than sandwich cheese.  Looking back, I'm betting that was real American cheese as a food supplement program would probably focus on nutrition.  I do know that when I was receiving WIC buying American cheese was allowed but American cheese food wasn't allowed.