Sandra Yeaman

How Am I Doing?

Hooray! I have much progress to report on this week.

As a reminder, here are my goals for the eight-week challenge:

• eat more nutritious food with fewer empty calories,
• spend one day a week reading the backlog of magazines sitting on the end table (changed to read an average of five magazines each week from the backlog), and
• write at least 500 words per day for at least five days each week.

Healthy Eating

Two important events passed this week in addition to my meeting my goals for body mass index and improving my record for walking. First, I met with both a nutritionist and an endocrinologist regarding my current eating pattern and its impact on my health. The nutritionist confirmed that I’m making all the right choices in what to eat, but she recommended some tweaks to ensure that each meal is balanced. Second, my A1C and fasting blood sugar levels as tested this week were back within the desired target range.

Now I know my endocrinologist and I don’t agree entirely on what should follow that meeting. She was pleased with the results of my blood tests, but her recommendation is that I continue taking two medications that I believe are no longer needed because of the changes I have made in both diet and exercise. She says once a person is diagnosed as diabetic, that person is forever and after diabetic. I favor the opinion that diabetes offers and on-off switch, that changes in diet and exercise can switch the condition back off again.

Because I prefer following my vision, I will return to see her again in three months, during which time I plan not to take the two medications to see how the numbers look then.

Clearing Up the Backlog

Though it doesn’t show on the chart for week five’s progress, I have killed off the magazine backlog. Today I read the last of the 34 magazines in that pile. A couple of new issues have arrived this week and I am determined not to allow a backlog to reappear. I’ve also decided to send a few issues off to friends I believe will appreciate them as much as I did.

Writing

Though I missed one day, I met my goal of writing at least 500 words at least five days in the week. And that means it is time to increase my goal for the rest of the challenge. My new goal will be to write at least 750 words for at least five days in the week.

Three weeks left. Once again, thanks to Danielle for setting out this challenge.