Smoothies: For Breakfast or Snack

Who doesn’t love smoothies? Sorry if that’s you. I love a good smoothie and the variety possible is endless.

They are a quick, easy snack or breakfast. My go to is a simple fruit smoothie. Toss the ingredients into a blender and whip it up to your desired consistency. And enjoy!

Simple ingredients:

1 small banana, 6 to 7 inches -- remove the peel and place into your blender
½ cup of yogurt -- my preference is plain Greek yogurt
½ cup of frozen fruit -- strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries
¼ to ½ cup of milk or juice -- any kind will work

Blend away. My blender is great. It has a smoothies button.

I use some frozen fruit and some fresh, more or less. The frozen fruit helps to thicken it up and make a cool concoction out of it. The liquid is only required to help smooth it out and make it easier to blend. No liquid, or very little, will make it thick.

A small plastic cake spatula, or scraper, helps to get the mixture into a glass. And helps break the mixture up if it is not mixing well. Hopefully you are careful in and qualified to operate a blender.

Options:

Any kind of fresh or frozen fruit works. Even frozen chopped spinach for a veggie touch.

Oatmeal for a Healthy Breakfast?

Quick, simple healthy breakfast. Heart healthy oats, milk, fruit, cinnamon and honey.

Recipe:
½ cup of quick oats
½ cup of milk, dairy or nut
½ cup of fruit, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ tablespoon of honey

Mix milk and oats in microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high until the milk is absorbed. Be careful to overdo it. Then mix in the fruit, cinnamon, honey and additional milk to desired consistency.

Additional ingredients can be added if desired. Ground ginger, nuts, raisins, etc.

Personally I double  the amount of each for a more filling breakfast. And used 2% milk.

Nutrient summary:

Protein 26 g
Fiber 13.3 g
Potassium 767 mg
Vitamin A 162 ug
Vitamin C 2.7 mg
Calcium 590 mg
Iron 2 mg
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 202.5 mg

Tip:  Using strawberries will increase the vitamin C.

Walking for Health

Ask anyone what is the best way to start getting fit and you will predominantly receive “walking” as the answer.  That is the first thing the doctor said I needed after heart surgery. Only do as much as you can stand but don’t over do it. Sounded like good advice.

Ideally if you’ve just had surgery or been living a mostly sedentary life, you walk a short distance. As far as you can go in a few minutes without stressing yourself. Then slowly increase from there.

What worked for me was a two minute walk that I stretched out to three minutes after three days. Then increased it to five minutes for a week. After the week I felt much better and noted that my walking pace was increasing. I wasn’t back up to my pre-hospitalization speed but was feeling stronger.

I utilized the health app on my cell phone to keep track of my walking time and number of steps I was taking. So for the first week I worked up to five minute walks. Then spent the next week doing daily five minute walks.

The third week I doubled up to 10 minutes, that would be equal to a good half mile walk. Not too bad for having been in the hospital a few weeks before. Still on a 10 minute walk a day, I get hit with another setback.

The day started out fine but I was feeling tired and shortened my walk by half. Then I get a call from the cardiologist office. It’s been 4 weeks since my surgery and I’m still wearing a heart monitor. It has recorded an anomaly and transmitted the data to the monitoring station who notifies the doctor’s office.

I am informed that my heart rate has slowed to forty beats a minute. And I am asked to report to the Emergency Room. Oh joy. More fun.

At the ER I get checked out and my heart is at 36 BPM. By the time they get me situated and into a room upstairs I’m down to 30 BPM. Doctor comes in and informs me I need a pacemaker. Apparently the valve replacement surgery has healed up and caused some scar tissue which is apparently blocking the signal route to the lower chambers of the heart.

Long story short, I get a pacemaker that evening. I am informed later that prior to surgery my heart rate has dropped to 20 BPM. Two nights in the hospital I go home on a limited activity restriction. No walking for 10 days.

Then I get to start over. A bit tired from everything, I start with 5 minute walks. Up it to 10 after a week or so and eventually make it up to 20 minute walks in 5 minute increments. It takes a little over a month. That’s a whole mile.

In another month I am at 40 minutes, completing two miles. I had one step between one and two miles at a mile and a half. The best part is being able to complete the walks without being out of breath. No huffing and puffing.

I am also able to push my heart by pushing my speed. Not really fast but I go from an average of 2.0 MPH for a short walk up to 3.0 MPH. Now that I am doing two mile walks I want to push it a bit more. Build strength and speed.

My speed goes up to an average of 3.1 MPH and then 3.2 MPH. Not speedy but faster than some. I wonder if I can get it up to 4.0. We’ll see.

The moral here is that no matter where you are at when you start, you can improve your health by walking. Get your physician’s approval before starting. Don’t push yourself too hard. Increase your time and speed as you are able and enjoy it.

That’s my story on getting back to walking. I have always enjoyed walking. I check out what nature and beauty there is. I love checking out gardens and seeing what flowers I can identify. And identifying birds, visually and by their song.

Until next time.

Starting Over

I have languished for too long, time to get busy. I am in a different place now. No longer working a full time job. Ready to get some of my own personal projects off the back burners and move forward.

Looking forward to mixing it up with some Social Media Marketing. Put the degree to use but it’s mostly going to be taking my technical and business background and mixing it up with some reading and videos to Crush It! Thanks Gary Vee.

I have had a number of ideas on marketing and a few projects rattling around in the old noggin. Now I have the opportunity and time to organize some things and get some of these projects into motion. Part of it is getting myself into better physical shape.

And that is what this blog is about. Getting fit and documenting the journey. Along with including anything health or fitness related that comes across my plate. Hoping to make it a little fun as we go along.

So do not be surprised at what will pop up along the way. I have ideas to cover some technology, healthy menu items and the recipes for them, supplements, exercise and equipment, health issues, and more. I am expecting to surprise myself on occasion with something timely and unexpected. It is going to be fun.

For each post I will include links to related articles, especially items used to research each topic. And links to any items reviewed or related to the post. I will link to items that I personally use and hope I can answer your questions.

I am not anticipating getting rich from this blog but I have to try my hand at monetizing it. I thank you all for any purchases made. So there is my fair warning that this site will attempt to make a buck or two.

So let’s get started!

Glaucoma, Cataracts, and My Eye Health

I had my eye checkup this morning with my good friend Dr. Ronald Sevigny. Checkup was good. Eye pressure in both eyes was at 12. Doctor said that was very good. So the glaucoma is under control.

Can't See the Cataracts

Now the cataracts are another story. Still progressing in my right eye. Luckily its going slow. Not like the first time for the left eye. Had that surgery two and a half years ago. And it enabled me to pass my drivers test without corrective lenses for the first time in my life.

Now its time to get the right eye operated on. I will be happy to have that one done. Be nice to have a matching set of eyes again. Get my depth perception back and won't need glasses except for close up work. Reading glasses maybe.

I wish I would have known how important it was to take care of my eyes at an earlier age. I have been eating more vegetables of late. And working at getting as many colors into the diet as possible.

I have always loved veggies, especially carrots. I suppose I did not eat enough of them at an early age. Was more into meat and carbohydrates. Good thing I have changed those habits.

Still eat more meat than necessary at times. But I am keeping away from carbs for the most part. I miss the donuts but being 27 pounds lighter feels good. I am hoping that the improved diet will improve my health, including the eyes. We will see.

Let me know if you are interested in further details relating to eye health. I will keep posting on my health and see how it goes. Have a great day all.

Gotta Love MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal showing my Summary for today.

MyFitnessPal is so cool. I started using it to count my calories but it also helps you track your workouts. And the best part for a foodie like me is that it adds the calories burned during your workout to your available calories for the day.

Now I don't have to eat all of my available calories for the day. But the option is there. And by not consuming all of your calories for the day, you can see a larger projected weight loss when you close out your day.

That's right. MyFitnessPal provides a calculated projection of where your weight should be in 5 weeks based on how you did that day. I hate to see the projection on days I go over.
But it isn't so bad if you don't go over by much. It should still show some weight loss. That of course would depend on where your weight is now and the goals you have set.

So again, gotta love MyFitnessPal. It is one great calorie counter. I use the mobile version on my Android phone. It is also available on other platforms including the desktop.

Counting calories really does help in weight loss. So have fun and I'll catch ya later.

Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal

Procrastination Has Got to Go!

Procrastination? Or writer's block? Not sure what to blame but I have to get up off my keester and get busy. I need to write more and workout more. What good is a blog if there is no fresh content? And what am I going to post about if I'm not doing something to get fit? After all, that is what this blog is about.

So, here's an update. I am down another pound. As I have stated before, I am not into this primarily for weight loss but for fitness. But my doctor has stated that most of my ailments will probably correct themselves with a good amount of weight loss. So that is a concern. And a goal. Lose weight.

I have been able to go from an all time high of 267 pounds at the start of this year down to 241 pounds at yesterday's weigh in. Not too bad. So that is about 26 pounds in roughly 15 weeks. I can live with that.

Now got to get busy with a daily workout. I need it. I can do it. I have done it before.

Just have to stop spending so much time "educating myself" on the computer. But there is so much out there on the Internet to discover. And I need to learn "everything" about blogging too. Right?

Okay, enough of that. Gotta go and get sweaty. You all have a great day. I certainly am - or at least try like heck to. Later.