Day 8, ain' that great.

I felt like I was moving slower today.  As it happens,  I think I may regret going on my little walk in the woods yesterday as beautiful as it was, I think there is a little internal mutiny going on inside.  I don't feel miserable, just sore, which I think is manifesting itself in my sluggishness out of the gate today. Yet another little lesson learned in that the body actually needs rest in order to recover.  Go figure.  In passing, I mentioned this to my Georgia friends and I explained that I was an idiot for pushing myself.  She came back that I was not an idiot, but in fact, I was a Toidi (Toe-wee-dee).  She didn't like me calling myself such a word, but was fine with pronouncing it in reverse.  Many of these little nuggets of information, such as the body needs rest,  have zipped right by me in life, or at least they didn't stick as I didn't have a place to file them inside the old noodle of relevance. 

I have a friend who has always claimed that  "the human body is amazing".  She has used it in passing in wonderment, she has used it specifically as the body healed itself from some infestation, it's just been one of those things she carries with her in such genuine form that it is so true to her.  I can't get her phrase out of my head.  I've always known it does some incredible things, but I can say that I have taken it for granted without question, and I am bearing witness to the amazing things my own body is demonstrating to me now.   I know my body is having it's own panic filled moments as I put it to task doing things that have been waaaayyyyy outside my normal scope and range of motion.  I have never, ever, ever been so in touch with my own blood pressure.  I had really no idea, other than that I was a big boy, of what was working against me.  In a week of diet and exercise, reducing sodium intake and hydrating, I have cut my BP med dose in half.  They predict that I will be off of BP meds altogether in short order.  I was encouraged to say the least....and ....I will agree... as I'm still a load and there is a long road ahead to revert myself, yes the human body is a-mazing.

Today was a head shrinking type of day.  As I said earlier, I don't respond well to people trying to poke around inside my melon.  I really was not looking forward to a couple of sessions and in one case this proved true, but I began my day in a group counseling session.  (Cringe).  I was prepared to be disgruntled and put up my usual full defense regimens in place.  After working myself up into a little less than 'lather' status, it turned out the question du jour was how we were feeling about how to transition to the jungle again after learning so much while here.  Oh the relief...feel like a dodged a wrench.  I shared the class with a bunch of returning folks who have been through this before.  I truly became a sponge.  I lowered my guard and really listened to some of the issues that folks, who have gone before me, have experienced and what I learned surprised me many times over.  First, there is no right way.  There are a ton of ways that things can be derailed against our best intentions.  It becomes a bit about forming new habits, applying new info, being a bit more knowledgeable, making better choices, and knowing when you have derailed so that you can correct.  There will be times when you need to be bad.  In my case,this may be a dinner of chicken wings and booze at one of my favorite gin joints, or, as what has happened to me prior, Pizza speaks to me.  So, my trick is to figure out how these can be worked into my week, occassionally, and not doing it all the weeklong.  Life doesn't need to stop, but you need to find a way to mitigate the bad and chart your own course for success.  I'll let you know when I find mine.  Good info though.

I worked out, my blood pressure stayed in place, and I felt really good coming out of it, knowing how languished I was at the beginning.  I was happy I pushed past my desire not be be doing it.  I felt like I could take anything on...kind of a cool feeling.  Who knew?  Exercise...again, go figure.

One of my other fun classes was a virtual trip to a grocery store.  Really, this was a nuts and bolts, here's what you need to know about label reading vs. marketing.  For example.  The FDA does not require food manufacturers to mention small amounts of things we may be concerned about. ( I think it is less than 1% but don't trust me, I don't have my notes.)  In any case something that may claim to have no Transfats for example and lists that as such in the nutrition label, may still have that ingredient.  You have to roll over to the ingredients and look for that all important "partially hydrogenated anything".  Boom.  Transfats.  Flags were raised for me.  I now distrust all marketers, and advertisers.  Even things that we perceive as healthy, like a vege burger, may have a ton of salt in it.  It is a little unnerving that we don't always know exactly what we are eating... Some of the classics, like butter, may actually be better than some of the alternatives...of course, used in moderation. My grocery store visits are going to be a little bit different than a game of tetris to see what can go where in my cart.  Beware....food is evil....so much to know, so little do I.

Kind of a revelation day.  Not too many stories of wit and wonderment today, but a good day overall.