I know you can lower your cholesterol with exercise and diet. I exercised the heck out of myself for over 30 years by running about every other day. There were lots of marathons (26.2 milers), half marathons (13.1 .. go figure) and 10-20 mile runs to keep in shape. Apparently that worked for me really well because when I stopped, I began to fall apart.
Running takes up LOTS of time ... at the least, about two hours a day. At the most, up to SIX hours. I wasn't the speediest in the group. After all those years, it was really nice to just sit on the couch. Unfortunately, that precipitated twenty pounds and a jump in my cholesterol, partly due to the fact I made homemade ice cream every week.
For awhile there, it was nice to have the "live life to the fullest" attitude ... if you want that ice cream, EAT IT!!! Now however, without the exercise and WITH the desire to live longer, I have to watch the food I eat a LOT more.
I don't eat much beef normally, but with the Instant Pot, it's been on the menu. From now on I'll stick to chicken, turkey and fish. I quit the ice cream cold turkey mid January ... kind of. Okay, April Fools, I quit in January except for those two Freddy's custards I downed in Tucson.
Now that my numbers are down, in spite of the Doctor telling me to keep taking the pills for the next five months, I'm going to cut them in half. If in 75 days the numbers have gone from 294 to 220, with under 200 being the goal, seems to me I can slow the pace a little and still make the goal line.
In the meantime, I again prepared dinner for the overseer of my house and alarm, the Retired Police Officer. Too bad I didn't take pictures, as it was one of the better meals I have fixed. I defrosted a couple of those Ugly Steaks from Dickman's Meat and Deli in Tucson and forced him to barbecue them, just to be sure they were edible. That was almost a disaster, as I had earlier taken the cover off the barbecue, which turned the knob just enough to let all the gas out of the canister.
I smelled it immediately upon opening the door to the patio. YIKES!! GAS!!! It's a good thing I had another canister, because that one was empty!! Lucky too that the wind was blowing like crazy and cleared it all out. Here's the leftovers!!
I made instant pot green beans ... WOW!!! I've never been able to cook green beans right. They came out PERFECT!!! I put them in a wire basket and set the steam function to two minutes. I cooked the bacon and onions separately, then stirred them together. What cholesterol?? That's a VEGETABLE!!!
Next up, I cooked a little caramel for the bottom of six small dishes and used 2% milk to make FLAN ... that wonderful Mexican dessert I LOVE!! In the interest of honesty, I did stir in a cup of cream, but that came out to a tad more than one ounce per cup. It was one of the best I've ever had. This Instant Pot is a keeper!!
I also whipped up some garlic bread in the tradition taught to me by the wonderful Chef Miss Terry. Cook the garlic in melted butter, then spread on the bread and broil till brown. I almost broiled it a tad too much, but saved it in the knick of time!! Nothing has gone into the cemetery in quite some time, which worries me. I'm due for that disaster any time now!!
By the way .... APRIL FOOLS ... there will be no second day for the Magic Kingdom. If there was, I think I would have to sail away on the first ship back to England!!
You had me on that one.
ReplyDeleteI for one am glad that was an April Fools joke Jan!!
DeleteYou got me with that one, funny! I bought an Instant Pot a while back and have only used it a few times, I can't seem to get the timing right - and like you I find it hard to follow a recipe "exactly", I'm always substituting and adding ingredients. Happy AFD!
ReplyDeleteJune, you and I have the same problem ... following directions isn't my ace in the hole and is usually the reason for the failures.
DeleteMany Years ago I was involved in working Charitable Bingos. They went from once a month to once a week then they tried to push twice a week. When you work 7-12s and are raising a family they soon became an afterthought. The group ended up folding so nobody was a winner.
ReplyDeleteMaking a habit of exercising an hour a day will help the metabolism start back up. I've got to get back there myself.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
You are definitely right about getting OUT of the house because once you start, it's much easier to keep it up!!
DeleteRegarding Doctors appointments. I have an ex-wife who once worked in a Doctor's office. They started the appointment schedule at 8:30. The doctor never showed up before 9:30. The first patients already had wasted an hour before he got behind. I guess the doctor had a very high opinion of himself and did not care about the value of his patients' time. Luckily I never had to see that doctor.
ReplyDeleteAnother time I was referred to an Ortho guy. When you showed up for your 3:00 appointment you were told there would be at least a 3 hour wait and they had no more chairs for me to sit on. They were all full. They wanted me to do the same thing the next week. I asked if I could call to check in for the appointment and was told, no, I had to come to the office to check in, I could then go back to work for three hours and come back three hours later. The guy never fixed anything and I just gave up on him. On the other side of the coin, I once had an eye doctor's appoint with a new doctor. I was hopping made at the last doctor's wait I had gone through. I determined that if I had to wait more than 15 minutes I was going to tell off the doctor and slam the door on the way out. I arrived 10 minutes early and left the office before the appointment was supposed to begin. And it was a very successful meeting. He was the most organized doctor I ever met. I guess there are all kinds out there. However in the days of Yelp and the like, they may have to change their ways. I'm not a social media person but maybe you have to develop a process where you start doing 5 minute updates to Yelp or Instagram or Facebook and copy the doctor's office email, or Face Book page with all of the updates. The message would last a lot longer and go a lot further than the red faced, arms crossed, pissed off patient that he saw the other day. And if doing it yourself isn't strong enough you could always pass out flyers to the other patients in the waiting room to increase the social media footprint. I can be evil at times. Jim M
LOL ... a little evil, but right on all counts. I don't know if they even bother with social media, but I'll give it a shot. It just seems to disrespectful to me to leave patients waiting hours to see them ... I seriously doubt he even cared.
DeleteYou got me too. Much better that the 2nd night of Bingo was the joke rather than all that wonderful food. :)
ReplyDeleteWell shoot Linda .. I never thought of the food ... that would have been even better!!! LOL
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