Being Different

Diabetes runs in my family, along with obesity, but in spite of that, I was in denial about being diabetic for at least a decade before I finally decided I needed to take care of myself. Watching my mother die from kidney failure due to diabetes should have been the turning point, but it wasn’t: it took a caring Physician’s Assistant who got me on a diet plan and showed me that I could stop taking lots of medications just by losing weight to open my eyes. (Note: The plan helped me lose some weight, but was not a sustainable eating program for life.)

Healthy Stuff

Weight loss, weight gain, muscle tone, and overall feelings of good health are important subjects for writers, not only for ourselves as we sit and type all day long, but also as we make our characters more real and relatable. Any American female character should be anywhere from a little concerned about her weight and diet to massively stymied by it.

Staying Healthy against the Odds

My fellow writers, I have something to share with you that is of vital importance. The Earth is in the middle of a pandemic that does not want to stop. As soon as scientists devise a vaccine to help us survive the plague, we are attacked by a variant that is worse than the original illness, and this disease is easier on the young. The elderly, not so much. If you have been suffering from any condition that has compromised your immunity, you should probably get your affairs in order.

Weight Loss and Clothes

You have been a good writer for the past few months. You have sat at your computer/laptop/word processor/paper and pen/inkwell and quill for several hours every day, but also you have taken breaks every hour. You have stretched, relaxed your eyes, and just in general taken good care of your body. You have found healthy snacks, even if those are harder to find at the supermarket, and have been drinking so much water you thought about moving your desk into the bathroom.

Living with Inflammation and Pain

Inflammation is one of the least understood afflictions of the human body. We need inflammation to tell our systems where it hurts and let it work on solving the issue, such as a small cut or a sprain. Redness and swelling usually occurs, but with treatment, like antibiotic creams, bandages, or ice and elevation, the condition goes away. That’s acute inflammation.

Look at the Bones

Modern Medical Science has made a lot of progress in the past few decades. People with diabetes are able to check their blood glucose levels in their own home with a simple stick routine. Blood pressure can be tracked with an at-home cuff. Heart rate, sleep sessions, activity, can all be checked with pretty good accuracy at home. And thanks to the late John R. Cameron, PhD, we can check on our skeletal density in our limbs at home.

New Year, New Anxieties

For me, the end of 2021 was a positive event. I’ve lost weight, my blood sugar is improving, I’m journaling and sketching for enjoyment, and I qualified for a couple of patient assistance programs so that I can afford the medications I need to take. I am only a couple months away, I hope, from getting my third Regency Romance finished and a short time after that I should be able to publish it on Amazon.

Healthy Skin

You’re a writer. Your career involves sitting at a place where you can comfortably type or write by hand and make up all sorts of stories. Or possibly articles or blogs or whatever. You write by the light of an LED lamp, your skin is pale and resembles a slab of marble in color if not texture. When you take a break from writing, you bask in the glow of a television set or a monitor. At least you take Vitamin D to make up for the lack of sun.

Get Naked

This subject can include so many topics! Let’s start with the last time you took off all your clothes and looked at your entire body in the mirror. Not just your face, not looking anywhere else. But giving yourself a smiling once over. Last week? Last night? Never?

Weight Loss versus Exercise

I’ve lost 30 pounds over the last few months, some of it quickly thanks to medications I’m on. Now it has slowed to about .4 of a pound per week, and that’s okay with me. My blood sugar is drifting downward to the levels I am aiming for. And I cheat like crazy now and then. Exercise remains walking the dog to the park and back and whatever housework I feel motivated to do. Also yard work and cleaning bird cages and pens. I really do not sit at my computer all day.

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Med today and me about 6 years ago