You Are Never Too Old To Learn -- Sort Of

I have been embarking on a new idea to eat better.  It is called intuitive eating.  The general premise is to only eat when you are hungry and stop eating when you are comfortable -- not full.  It sounds easy, right?  Actually, it is once you learn your hunger cues.  In order to do that you have to let yourself get hungry so you know what it actually feels like.  Then, if you need to, eat until you are full -- you know, Thanksgiving-I-can't-believe-I-ate-that-whole-turkey full.  Then you know what "full" is.  You only have to do it once.  Then, you know your goal is pretty much the halfway point between ravenous and #OMGIAMGOINGTOEXPLODE!

There are a couple of visuals out there to help as well.  One is a graph that shows hunger on a scale of 1-10 -- you are aiming for 5.  Once  you realize all these feelings, that isn't hard to do.  The second is visualizing that your stomach is about the size of your clenched fist.  It only takes that same amount of food (a fist sized clump of mashed potatoes) to get you from 0 to 5.

I would also suggest following the old "manners" guideline of putting your fork down between bites and thoroughly chewing your food.  That way you give your brain a chance to tell your body that you are getting full.  If you use your fork like a shovel and approach food with your plate close to your face with your fork/shovel at the ready -- you are going to miss your cue.

OK, I have been working on this for a couple of weeks and it has been really easy.  No dieting, a better relationship with food and I feel normal -- not always trying to figure it out.

Enter -- exercise.  I need to exercise and I really think walking is the best thing for me.  I really do.  As long as nothing is in my way it is the one thing I can do without hurting myself.

I should not do squats.  Over thirty years ago I started on my journey to arthritis by doing squats -- with weights -- badly.  Totally whacked out my knees.  So, why then, do you supposed I would think that doing squats in my dotage would be a good idea?  I think I was feeling so empowered by the eating thing that I was totally undaunted by the idea of the squats.

I was humbled -- actually, brought to my knees -- literally.  I couldn't do them safely and effectively 30 years ago and nothing has improved since then.  I whacked out my knee again.  I have been hobbling around in pretty significant pain for about a week.  Yes, I should have gone to the doctor or maybe a chiropractor but I chose to sit here and cuss and cry because we all know how effective that is.

I really felt like something was "stuck" or out of place so I decided I had a dislocated knee.  I googled it because that works well.  It didn't appear to fit the criteria so I sat with an ice bag on my knee all day, rubbed it with Salonpas which stinks to high heaven and took extra-strength Tylenol -- aspirin and Advil did nothing.  I hadn't slept in days because I couldn't get comfortable.

So, last night I went to bed with my poor knee propped up on a pillow -- that lasted about three seconds -- so uncomfortable -- but I finally got in a decent position and went to sleep.  Sometime in the middle of the night I tried to turn over, something in my knee popped, I screamed -- hubs asked me if I was alright.  Say what?  I am just dandy -- I just always scream out in excrutiating pain in the middle of the night.  Don't mind me.

So, what did I do?  I turned over, went back to sleep and slept the rest of the night.

This morning I am actually able to sit in this chair and move my knee around.  It is plenty sore and I can see an ice bag in my future but it feels different and I think something was shifted out of place.

So, what did I learn?  Squats aren't my friend!  Quit trying to do them.  Go back to walking and be happy to be what you are and quit trying to be something you aren't (19 year old thin to be exact).

However, there is something else and I feel I really must share this.  A year or so ago I bought a pair of Tieks.  In taupe.  They aren't my friend either even though I love them dearly.  I can't walk in them.  Every time I wear them I get cramps in my feet, my ankles get really sharp pains in them and I am pretty sure they have been contributory to the knee problem as I have absolutely no support in them.  Yesterday I put on a pair of SAS loafers and I could feel a difference in my knee -- before the popping.  I guess I have just moved into the realm of orthopedic shoes.   So, sad.  How did I get this old and crippy.

I don't know but I guess I will just continue to be content with my intuitive eating and walking for exercise.  Our weather is supposed to change sometime next week so maybe I can go outside and walk if the knee has gotten better since then.

So, yeah -- that is what is going on here at Casa de Brinkley.