Apr 29, 2011

So fancy

this has been making me laugh today

 Stop judging me, Kate

Apr 27, 2011

More Storm Insanity

M is on call tonight for the county hospital-he has been swamped. He has seen almost as many patients from 8pm-11pm as he sees on an average 16 hr shift. They are getting patients from all over the state from the tornadoes. He says it is some of the worst trauma cases he has ever seen.


The tornado missed the hospital/downtown by a few miles. I can't imagine what would have happened if it had hit the hospital. All those brick buildings at the forefront are hospitals. Our house is about 3 miles due East of downtown.

So scary

I just had to make and hide in a little storm shelter for the first time ever. For a little while, it looked like the Tuscaloosa tornado was going to go right through our neighborhood. Luckily, it seems to have petered out a bit and to have hit further north which is less populated. Tuscaloosa is just devastated in places. There are some more storms coming, but I think they should be ok. Praying for those in Tuscaloosa and the people who continue to be in the path. The tornado was a mile wide.

we are ok, the dogs are ok, and no trees fell on our house.

The end of days

I swear, this weather has been insane. The tornado sirens started going off at about 5:30am. About 20 mins after M's pager went off...even though he wasn't on call last night. So I basically haven't been to sleep yet. Soon! Ours was mostly strong wind and rain and nothing too bad, thank God.


 This is the flooding in my hometown right now.


My parents' house has about 6" now of standing water in the basement. The entirely finished, carpeted, and furnished basement. They have been non-stop wet vacuuming up the water, but it just keeps coming. This is after my dad has built drainage ditches all around the house, built sidewalks to divert water, and put down rocks and various other tricks to keep this from happening. It has never been like this before. 

A town in AR about 20 mins from where I went to college had crazy tornadoes. 





Ugh. I just feel awful for my friends and family in AR and worried about the storms on their way to us. I am a complete non-reactor to storms. Thunderstorms and tornado sirens are just part of spring. I don't take cover or worry. But this is worse than I have ever seen a season in my 20+ years of knowing wth was going on.

 Please pray, or think good thoughts, or send love for all those affected.

Apr 25, 2011

Happy Happy

I hope everyone had a good Easter. We had a very low key one-church at night and then Mexican food outside since it was so nice. Weird part-we sat on the patio and there was this random dude singing. He looked like my dad, if my dad was a high school biology teacher. He was signing so earnestly that it was kind of hilarious. It was so random and awkward. There were several kids who were rocking out though.

Good Stuff
I ran on Saturday!! With minimal pain : ) I haven't even tried to run or even walk a long distance in 3 weeks. I thought I would try a very slow, very short run focusing extremely on form. I ran on the treadmill so that I could pace and regulate my steps a little better. I took longer strides and made sure I was lifting more with my knees than my hips. Let me tell you: IT WAS MUCH HARDER. I kind of feel like for me to run longer distances I need to shuffle and expend as little effort as possible with each step so I can run longer. I was running faster--from the longer steps--and lifting my legs more. I was huffing and puffing especially after 5ish weeks off! How does cardiovascular endurance just disappear so quickly? I know I will have to build up the miles super slowly so I don't hurt myself more. My PT also recommended NOT running daily and to take 1 or 2 days off b/t runs. I can do low impact, but no running. I feel pretty good today though my legs are a bit sore from different muscles being used.

I will be eating amazing Chicago pizza this time next weekend!




Happy puppies in the sunshine! 

Did  you have a good Easter weekend? Do any running off of Cadbury eggs and jelly beans?

Apr 21, 2011

It's always the knees

I went to PT today! I was supposed to go yesterday, but wrote down my appt time for 30 mins later. Oops.

I'm going to go ahead and share my results and exercises in case anyone else has these problems. Plus, the therapist said these are great exercises for anyone who runs.

So like the internet told me, it is my hip flexor and ab-ductor muscles. I did kind of expect b/c I know I use my hip to lift my leg more than my knees (b/c they are weak and painful. My knees were the first part of my body to start failing. In fourth grade. I started regularly dislocating my knee caps at that age. I luckily haven't had this happen in 11 years. It is indescribably painful and more than a little gross.) So imagine me running with my foot turned about 30 degrees out. I'm sure I look totally crazy.

She said she could see the weakness in my knees and that hip flexor pain is often tied to weak knees and hips. She recommended I focus on making sure my knee is pointing forward at all times, and lengthening my stride. Apparently this kind of pain is relatively common in runners. To be honest, I laughed every time she called me a runner. I don't think my like 12-15 miles per week every single day at a super slow pace really qualifies me as a runner.

She had me stand on one foot than the other and just checked my balance. Then she had me squat on one foot. And by "squat" I mean bend my knee about 10 degrees.
Here is what she saw in me (besides my squishy white legs):



The weak side. See how far my knee goes towards median and how my hip kind of has to pop out wide to balance? Apparently that is bad. Also, in taking these pictures it became very obvious how much weaker this side was. I would turn on the auto timer and then wobble and flop trying to hold myself up for the camera. Most of the first tries showed my hands all out to the side trying to balance.









"Good" side. Ok, so it looks like my knee is pointing out.  Bad self photography. But I can get several inches lower and then don't wobble.






Please ignore the towel in my hallway. My dogs had a crazy time in the wet yard today.

Also, I love these shorts b/c they have full tight shorts underneath instead of the built in underoos. They are just the generic bcg from Academy ($13!) and good for PT so the entire gym doesn't have to see my downstairs.

My exercises
1) Standing side leg lifts with a resistance bands
2) Standing back leg lifts with lifted foot rotated out to perpendicular and standing foot straight ahead
3) Clamshell: lie on your side with resistance band around knees. Keep feet together but lift knee, rotating at   the hip.
4. Bridges: lie on your back, knees bent and up, and just lift your butt. I usually do these on a ball. 

Plus hip flexor and ITB stetches. Good times.

Apr 19, 2011

Fix it

I'm hoping for a miraculous and curative session of physical therapy tomorrow. Now, I've never had one go that way. So it would be a fun surprise. This hip thing is not going away and it hurts to walk, every single step. I had a ridiculous dr appointment on Friday which took, no lie, THREE FRICKING HOURS. In crazy tornado weather. The worst part is the appt wasn't even for anything but a PT referral (in AL you have to have a physician referral monthly to go to PT.) I got to wait 3 hrs to tell him he can't fix what is wrong with me, could he please send me to someone who can.

Also, WHY DO THE PAIN DOCTORS ALWAYS MAKE YOU WAIT THE LONGEST IN THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE CHAIRS???? My back was flared up for 2 days after waiting so long in those God awful chairs.

It is full on beautiful Spring here...well, summer almost. Temps in the 80s. I want to go outside and at least walk around, but I can't. Why couldn't I get injured in February? I would've happily not run in February.

So I'm going to the PT tomorrow and they will hopefully teach me how to run like less of a gimp. Fingers crossed!

Apr 13, 2011

Cheater

A millions years ago I asked for questions and am just now getting around to answering them. I am nothing if not consistent in my procrastination.


Rose asked:   How bad are occasional (less than once a week) cheat meals for health?

My short answer is: I don't know. Helpful! I mean, I don't know if there is a way to quantifiably measure that, and I'm sure it varies from person to person. It also depends on what is defined as "health". Is it weight loss, healthy cholesterol/TGs, etc. There is evidence that even one meal high in saturated fat can affect the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL cholesterol and hinder blood vessels expansion-which would create higher blood pressure as quickly as 3 hours later.

Your cholesterol and triglyceride levels fluctuate with each meal-this is why you have to fast before having a lipid profile done. Saturated and trans fats (found primarily in whole-milk dairy products, fatty meats, poultry, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) are the are the main dietary contributers to increasing LDL cholesterol (LDL=Less Healthy) and decreasing HDL. (HDL=Healthy) The American Heart Association recommends no more than 7% of your daily calories come from sat/trans fats. So from a cardiovascular standpoint, yes, cheats can negatively affect your health. If your eating is otherwise good, this can net out a bit. The problem comes from too many cheats and not enough good days. If you want to cheat, try to cheat with foods that are low in saturated fats. When you are good, try to have a diet high in poly- and monounstaturated fats (Poly: safflower, sesame, soy, corn and sunflower-seed oils, nuts and seeds. Mono: olive, canola and peanut oils, avocados) as these foods increase the good cholesterol and help negate some of the damage from the cheat days.

In terms of weight loss: I advocate occasional cheating. Long term, maintainable changes to diet and exercise are what pretty much every health professional recommends. Diets high in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean dairy, etc.  But honestly, I don't want to live a life where I don't have cake at a birthday party. Or a margarita on the beach. Or cheeseburgers. Something I try to do is identify when it is really worth it. If it is a unique food that I love, but don't have it regularly. My aunt's key lime pie on vacation (which is smack your momma good and I could eat every day!) is a "better" cheat to me than say pizza. I can have pizza anytime. I just remind myself-this is not the last time you will ever see pizza. You can have it again. Just not much tonight (guess who is going to a picnic with pizza tonight.) No one can maintain a super strict, all healthy diet every single moment of the day. Except my father in law, but he isn't a lot of fun. A planned or structured cheating plan can help some people better commit to the healthy diet the rest of the time. Just the psychological feeling of "I can have this thing I'm dying for on Friday. I can make it til then!" can be hugely beneficial to your mental health.

For me, when I'm trying to lose weight, I have to have a long run of eating well. Like a month of calorie deficits before my body gets the idea of what's happening and starts dropping weight. Even if I have a 1 lb decrease in calories in a week, having a big meal or big cheat seems to cancel it completely out. Mathematically, I know this should not be the case but I promise this is just how my body works. Weight loss is both an art and a science. Science says expend more calories than you take in and you will lose weight. But, it isn't always that easy. Stupid biochemistry.

Once I kind of get over that block and start losing weight, I can be a little more liberal with cheats. Many people find that a cheat can break them out of a weight loss plateau-it kind of confuses the body . And sometimes when you have been at that plateau for a long time, you just need a mental break and then recommitment.

In my opinion it really comes down to what are you doing 80-90% of the time. Is the majority of your intake healthy, or is every meal a cheat meal? What do you do after the cheat? I can definitely get caught up in the "oh, well today is totally screwed already so I might as well eat everything. For the next 8 days. " Better to brush it off, really really enjoy that cheat and make sure to spend it on something you truly love, and then get back to it even stronger.

I hope that answered your question, Rose, in a very long winded way!

What do you guys think? Cheat days: good or bad? How often do you splurge on food? Is it difficult for you to reign yourself back in? Have any other questions? Come talk to me so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself!

Also, check out Jen in Training's great giveaway. But don't enter it b/c I want to win.  
http://jenintraining.blogspot.com/

Apr 12, 2011

Marriage

Husband is on home call tonight, so he is in the other room occasionally reading CTs.

I'm watching a commercial for Oreos. I yell at him from the living room "You're my Oreo Fudge Cream. But not in a dirty way." We like to call each other whatever random thing we've just heard, especially if it is rude or funny. He called me a coronal reformat earlier today. And then giggled uncontrollably.

Then I hear in response: "Hey Dr. Whoever, this is radiology..."

Oops.

Apr 11, 2011

Few more pics from DC

Got a few pictures from Bhavik. He and M had an epic romance on their month away. He seriously texts more sweet things to B than to me. Joking texts...


  Capital Building


It was fricking cold.  And windy, obviously.


 I hadn't seen him in 3 weeks so I got a little handsy. I didn't know Bhavik was taking this which explains why I'm climbing M.

Another sneaky shot. We had been kind of short with each other that morning, so we were talking and making up . And by making up I clearly mean 'M apologized for being wrong.'

I promise these are the last DC pics. You will get Chicago pictures next month! I swear we have traveled more this year than our entire 6 years together combined. Next month is also M's birthday and our 8 year anniversary. Dang, 8 years sounds like a long time. We are old!

Apr 8, 2011

Just like running, but with slightly more tequila

So my hip seems to be pretty committed to the whole pain every time I move thing. Hopefully I will get a PT referral soon and they can magic up a solution. Doubtful, but maybe.






It is supposed to be warm and sunny this weekend. I was going to go outside and run around. Now I think margaritas on a patio might be more beneficial. I'm pretty sure margaritas in the sunshine heal any and all problems.





Good reahab plan? Yes?

Apr 6, 2011

Why am I so dumb?

I've been hobbling along, trying to get back into running after my wonky hip flexor started bothering me. I did ok on my first run-a little sore, but that is pretty much my baseline. So I went a bit further the next day. Felt tired and like I had no cardiovascular fitness, but my hip wasn't feeling too bad.

Until yesterday. I am such an idiot. I knew I shouldn't run and that I was likely asking too much of my janky body. But, I thought I would at least try to do a super short run. I couldn't really tell if I was trying to use hip pain as an excuse not to run or if I was right and it would legit hurt. Guess what: IT HURT. All the way around the top of my thigh. wtf? It hurt even when I was just landing on it, like the muscles and ligaments were trying too hard to just keep my thigh from, I don't know, exploding. What is that even about?



 I did McGyver this sweet ice pack thing. I wanted it tight and to wrap round my leg, but it wasn't staying put. So I used my super sexy SI belt to cinch it. Just cinch it!

My dog decided this was weird and she should sit on my chest instead of my lap-that is her furry head, not mine. My hair is way sweatier and greasier.









That is a Smart Temp Hot and Cold pad and they are awesome. I use them all the time. They are squishy and stay cold for quite awhile. I usually have 5 on hand at all times, no joke. They do eventually break and the gel stuff squishes out. I think I am single handedly keeping this company in business.


Dear Smart Temp: Call me! Send me your products. I love you!
 
It is so frustrating. Randomly, my leg felt better when I was full on running (versus the slow ass trot I usually do) but I can't maintain full running at all  for very long. I guess I'm back to working on my core and hip strength. I do exercises for my back every day but more for maintenance than to get stronger. Busting out my stability ball!

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and almost 80 degrees which is my heaven. I love warm weather! I will probably just walk outside so I don't continue to hurt myself. I do love being outside though : ) Currently trying to talk M into an anniversary trip next month to the beach. 

Apr 5, 2011

More DC

I have a lot of pictures, mostly of random nature.

Random high school band playing in front of the World War II monument. I totally got choked up. I also cried at the Vietnam Wall. Oh man, that one was sad. Seeing the flowers, notes, and obituaries broke my heart. My dad was in the Army during Vietnam (he didn't go, he was training at the tail end of it) and it made me even more thankful.

We did a lot of fun things. We went to the Museum of Natural History which has all kinds of fun dinosaur bones ( a la Night at the Museum) and various other amazing things. I touched a meteorite that was over a billion years old. A BILLION. It was super fun for a museum.

 The Hope Diamond. Hard to get a good picture of b/c it is under a mile of glass and rotates. M wouldn't buy it for me. Cheapskate.

I also went to the Smithsonian art museum by myself. It was amazing. I mean, yes, there were hundreds of landscapes of the French and English countryside by people I have never heard of. But there was quite a bit of Renaissance art including the only da Vinci painting in the US. I saw so many famous paintings and sculptures. I don't really have pictures b/c I think amateur pictures of art are lame. It isn't going to capture the piece. So I tried to just absorb. Picasso, Renoir, Rembrandt, Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, etc. It was like being in history! I felt that way all week-like I was in history.

We also went to the zoo. Zoos are our thing. We go anytime we go to a new city. It was freeeezing, but we soldiered on. Apparently, it was too fricking cold for a bunch of the animals, too.

There is a huge line of these ropes going across several little islands of land across the zoo. They were out and walking across and playing for quite a long time. Luckily none pooped on me. I stayed out of the splash zone.

 The lions were great. There were about 5-6 cubs running around playing and the dad just looking bored. The cubs were so adorable--all wrasslin' and rolling and rough housing. The moms would come break it up and they would just start right back up.
I'm a fat panda. I like bamboo.

The Cherry Blossom Festival started our last weekend there. When M signed up, I was hoping they would be blooming while we were there. Yes, I'm a nerd. It had been pretty cold so I didn't think they would be very good. Happily, they were out quite a bit. They are mostly around the tidal basin of the Jefferson memorial and were beautiful!

Here are just a few of the like 100 pictures I took of flowers. 














So so many pictures of cherry blossoms. You're welcome.  This concludes all the pictures I took in DC. There are more with my actual face in another camera.

Apr 4, 2011

YAY

I ran and it didn't hurt...much. My leg and hip still feel a little sore. I've only walked for almost 2 weeks and I stretched for like an hour. But I wasn't hobbling! I wasn't moving very fast, but it counts.

Apr 2, 2011

Oh google

I decided to google insane dietitian blog.

Mine is the first result.

Life's goals: ACHIEVED


technically it is b/c of my profile which mentions my insane cat. And now the two posts I've done on being an insane dietitian blog.

Apr 1, 2011

DC

I loved it!

I'm not really a city vacation person. I'm more of a lay on the beach drinking margaritas type person. But, it was really great. The metro system was so convenient. It would blow my mind that I could just hop on and go anywhere, and those places were amazing! Walk off the metro and you are 100 yards from the Capital and Washington Monument. I'm not used to being able to just walk everywhere either.

We went so many places. The first Saturday I was there it was a balmy 62 and super windy but sunny. I wore a long sleeve shirt and fleece. Locals were all in tank tops and shorts. We walked around the National Mall which is the area where all the monuments are. It is this enormous yard almost where the Capital, Washington monument, Lincoln, all the Smithsonian museums, everything.

I have so many pictures, y'all don't even understand. 

Everything was starting to bloom


Bhavik bombed our self portrait. But he took a lot of pictures of us, so I forgive him.

 Lincoln

All I have of us is self portraits. Bhavik and his sweet DSLR took actual pics of us. 

I'm looking at my pictures and realizing I have a lot of pictures of random things. Like art. And the Hope Diamond. And monkeys. 


I can not overstate how much this pleases me

In the last month, the following google searches led to my blog.

"back brace" wearing

"diet soda" "heart disease" pubmed
diet soda cva
photo diet coke dietitian
--maybe my one legit RD post possibly slightly biased by my intense love of diet coke. I hope it was educational!

and my personal favorite

insane dietitian blog

yes. yes I am. I hope that googler returns and loves my blog. Or maybe there is an actual insane dietitian blog-in which case I'm sad I didn't think of that domain name.