One of my guilty pleasures a few times per week is to watch Oprah while I’m at the gym. Yesterday I got part of a show which I’ll assume was about prevention and reversal of diabetes. For those of you who are new here, part of my mission is to reverse the trend and rates of heart disease and diabetes in midlife women so I paid attention to what the guests–Dr. Oz, Bob Greene, (Oprah’s trainer), and Dr. Ian Smith–had to say. (Art, Oprah’s former chef made a guest appearance as proof that you can reverse diabetes. He’s lost something like 90 pounds and transformed his cooking in the process)
Bob Greene has a new book out, The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes. He is co-author along with Dr.Jack Melendrino and Janis Jilbrin MS, RD. I’ve yet to buy the book–I disagree with Bob on many aspects of his programs–but will pick it up. Whether Bob and I see eye to eye over butter vs margarine–he touts it and I say it’s plastic and dangerous–is unimportant if his program and celebrity gets the word out that people can reverse diabetes and/or prevent it. There is one thing he told a group of women, who all looked more than well fed and heading for or suffering from diabetes, and it was this:
Exercise is non negotiable!
Amen to that! Most of you reading this are already believers in the power of movement. If there are any of you who doubt that exercise is a life saving, life extending, cure-what-ails-you kind of thing, I invite you to change your thinking. Even daily walking can change your physiology and contribute to better health.
With diabetes and pre-diabetes it is even more important that you move your muscles, get your heart pumping, and blood flowing. Exercise moves blood sugar where it needs to be which gets it out of your bloodstream. While you are exercising insulin cannot be produced so you give your body a rest from the insulin storm produced by too much blood sugar. Your blood sugar levels go down naturally. If you need to, you will most likely lose weight.
This is not a plug for Bob’s book, as I said, I don’t own it yet. From the reviews I’ve read I know I’ll have other issues outside of some of the foods given the Best Life Seal. Rather, it is a plug, no, a plea, for all of the women reading this to move your parts! I don’t want to have to drag you all kicking and screaming into a long, happy life . And since that’s impractical how about I just beat this subject to a mind numbing pulp by repeating it–you’ve got to move it move it!
I also don’t want to see you too sick to kick and scream. Diabetes is not simply a sugar issue. It is a disease with debilitating and often horrible consequences. By the time a person is diagnosed with diabetes they have had the condition for years. High blood sugar and insulin resistance have been battering your heart, kidney’s, nerves in the eyes and feet. Shall I go on? Drugs come with their own set of complications and who wants to test their sugar 2 – 6 times per day?
Exercise is not the only lifestyle change that must become a regular part of your life to prevent or turn back the diagnosis of diabetes but it is an important one.
As Bob told the church ladies–many of whom were midlife–Exercise is Non-negotiable. Love you Bob, margarine and all, thanks for getting the word out.
If you aren’t sure you really know who she is, Lady Gaga that is, here are some of the astounding work stats that will help explain this singer and her recent rise to fame:
- In 18 months she sold 8 millions disks
- She is the only music star to have 4 number one hits come from a single CD or album
- Her debut album, The Fame, earned her 6 Grammy Awards
Oh, and by the way, she is not yet 24.
On the growing up side of life she began playing piano by ear at age 4 and is classically trained in music and the liberal arts. She loves her parents and works hard at “keeping my dream alive and making sure I live my dream through my work” she told Oprah the other day.
So what can we learn from this youngster who wears outrageous costumes both on stage and off? Let me quote another bit of her philosophy as told to Oprah on the Oprah show on Friday. Oprah asked her what her philosophy was, what she wanted people to understand about her, and this is how she answered.
“I want them to free themselves, and I want them to be proud of who they are and celebrate all the things they don’t like about themselves.”
You may think that this is pretty typical stuff from a 20-something who is making a living in ridiculous outfits with not a care in the world for the future. I heard something much different.
In fact she said what I haven’t yet said to the women I speak to, and write to. Classes in weight loss, healthy eating, how to live a vibrant life into old age–those are the surface messages and very important don’t get me wrong. But when I’m stumped to say what I really do, it’s because what I really want to do is free women from the bondage of how they see themselves. I mean see literally and figuratively. We look with critical eyes and find we are not smart enough, young enough, rich enough, brave enough–what else? The list could go on and on.
What I want to say right here and now,in keeping with my new Year’s goal to be authentic and get out of my comfort zone is, thank you Gaga for reminding me of the important message that so many women around the world need–love all of you, get over what’s not, in your eyes, perfect or worse, that you think of as unacceptable. Be proud of who you are regardless of age, shape, gender, persuasion, career, work, kids/no kids, spouse/no spouse. Did I mention age?
Her commitment to live her dream, to ensure that she gets to live it via her shows, her costumes and friends should also be noted. 18 months of following her dream, having the support of people who believed in her and shutting her ears to those who said she was nuts, allows her to live and refine her dream day to day.
What would that feel like–even on a small scale? You may not want to trot around on stage half naked (one reporter commented that she has a hard time remembering to wear a top and a bottom at the same time) with crazy wigs and lots of makeup. You may simply want to take electric guitar lessons, or carve out time to swim, or write. Or, you may have those stage dreams. If any of your yet unattempted dreams are important to you I’ve got a hunch you’ve got to go Gaga in the “free yourself and love yourself” categories before you’ll make those things a priority.
Oprah paraphrased, “The message of Gaga is to be who you are.” Is there a better time than midlife to start?
Well if Oprah’s talking about it then pretty much the world and his wife will be too and in short order. Hormones are the new “it” prescription for peri-m and menopausal symptoms. And in my opinion, it’s about time we took a look at the possibility that midlife women need not feel like crap on all fronts just because of a decline in the mysterious female hormones.
I’ve been a “user” for about 3 years now. I went into my search for relief from a bazillion hot flashes and more interrupting than sleeping knowing that in no way would I use Premarin. Not only because I didn’t trust it but because it’s a cruel process to get mare’s urine–eeeew–into the manufacturing plant and I couldn’t be a part of that.
I also knew that anything called bio-identical sounded more appealing than a Big Pharma, one-size-fits-all prescription made from waste products of animals among other things.
One of the great resources I used to get information is a site called Women’s International. It’s trustworthy and comprehensive. I have read many books both pro and con and decided that my risk factors for using any hormone therapy was almost non-existent and took the plunge. Although the initial dose was about 3X as strong as I needed it, I felt better in 2 days. Then I worked with my nurse practitioner to get it right.
Since then I’ve gotten the right dose, changed formulations a few times based on what I’ve read and discussions with my doc, and moved to a cream rather than a pill.
You don’t need to live with a foggy brain, poor sleep, a metabolism that’s half dead, or hot flashes.
I encourage anyone suffering with these or other symptoms of low or no estrogen to do yourself a favor and at least get some information.
PS I was never able to tolerate the pill growing up but have no issues at all except how long can I keep taking this stuff cause no way I want to live without them.
Taking hormones now? I’d love to hear your story or a comment about how you feel when you consider it as an option.
We interrupt this series of avoiding weight gain to bring you 2 confessions.
Confession #1–I sometimes find myself watching E! or ET while waiting for House to come on. I try to turn away from Donnie and Marie–are they sleeping together?–Britney, Christie, Kelly, and the other celebs and their same old stories, skimpy outfits, and scandals. I fail, with a vengeance. I practice observing without judging. Judging is easy and fun and it may even burn calories so this is not so off topic afterall.
Last night’s 10 minutes brings me to the second confession and it has to do with Oprah. I teared up watching Oprah talk about her weight gain. Once again she has piled on 40 pounds. I wasn’t fighting back a full on sob because of that. Having her stand up and say “I can’t or don’t want to hide this anymore. I have not been taking care of myself” said O. That’s where my heart got pulled in.
She did not
This is where the sadness came up. I ache for those of us who can’t figure out how to love and care for ourselves especially when the physical manifestation is extra weight. It’s not about the number on the scale though we focus on that. It’s about the number you see yourself as. Say what you want about how it–the weight–doesn’t really matter. I think it really does. I’ve been there. It sucked.
A survey reported in USA Today a number of months ago reported that out of a few thousand average Americans who participated, 80% said the one thing they will regret not doing before they die is losing the weight they want to.
People, even a loss of a few percent of your total weight improves your life expectancy and healthy aging potential. Not to mention one less thing to regret.
It does not have to be that difficult. Oprah is starting an online program to take off the weight with her. I offer one as well, Spark People has lots of ways to get online and community support. Doesn’t matter who you choose but I encourage you to choose some form of help and then love yourself enough to stay with it.
