Walking for the Soul

My new found energy and increased ability to move without pain has spurred me on to even greater heights - literally.  With this resolve to spend more time in the summer sun Raouf and I launched into an urban adventure in Inglewood Park at the fish hachery in Calgary.  This was our first walk this summer into the urban woods of this beautiful city.  Since it was a Friday, there were very few people wandering around.  We easily claimed a picnic table, ate our simple lunch and headed out.  The park has added a new trout fishing pond for the children to enjoy.  A great picnic spot if you are in Calgary and, if your kids have fishing rods, a great place for them to practice and learn! 

We headed to the path along the Bow River - portions had been washed out by the high waters this June - the water was so fast I was amazed at the cyclists who decided to brave the current and splash through on the submerged pathway.  Just about as foolish as the lone kayaker who took his life in his hands trying to navigate the Harvie Passage - a white water challenge that, in these days, is more like a brown water danger!  Although no accidents happened on that day, one young man did lose his life this weekend in that very spot.  So sad.

We spent some time birdwatching along the edge of the marsh - sans camera, if you can believe it!  I will return, camera in hand.  Probably clocked about 3 kilometres with my trusty poles by my side.

On the Saturday, we took advantage of the continuing sunshine and headed out west to Bow Valley Provincial Park.  We completed two hikes for a total of 5 kilometres: The Montane Trail and the Flowing Waters Trail.  Both were beautiful and soothed my soul which was a good thing as my muscles were aching after the few hills along these Rocky Mountain slopes.  We were so fortunate to hit the alpine flower season and spotted many varieties.  The most exciting one was the Lady Slipper - a protected species and one that brought back many happy memories.  I did these hikes and hills without my poles - couldn't figure out how I was going to balance my camera and lenses with my hands full of poles!  I was very pleased with my increased strength and ongoing healing of my knee. 

On July 1, we celebrated downtown with many other Calgarians.  We were back to the urban landscape and walked from city hall to Prince`s Island Park and back - it seemed like the longest walk of the weekend!  I was tired and we skipped the late-night fireworks.  My body was saying whoa!

So, what is next? 

1. I plan on continuing my outdoor walking - it boosts my mood plus my calories burned. 
2. I am researching a lower carbohydrate diet once again.  I was reading a publication that came with my Melaleuca order this month explaining metabolic syndrome.  I seem to fit the description which is really a pre-diabetic condition.  Lowering my carbs will help control the brain fog, low energy and blood sugar highs/lows. 
3. I am starting to use Melaleuca's special Attain GC Control shakes designed for this purpose to give me a start toward this important step.  It is the key to successful weight loss. 
4. In addition, we (Raouf is the household chef) will be experimenting more with reducing the carbs and increasing the protein in a healthy way - introducing more quinoa for instance to replace some of the grains in my diet.  See www.cookingquinoa.net - we bought her cookbook.
5. I will also be checking out weight watchers this month - I need more help to learn portion control. 
6. I will be continuing with Replenex by Melaleuca for my knee joint - so far I think I have had a miraculous recovery of my torn meniscous.  I have to give some credit to this supplement. 
7. I am continuing to avoid the Access Bars - not because they don't work as my friend, Sylvia, has had great success, but because they have that YUM factor and I can't resist them!

Weigh in is next Sunday.  Here's hoping I will see the numbers going down.

Memory Lane

I am so blessed to have three amazing sisters who provide inspiration, encouragement and clarity to my current journey to health.  Over the past four months I have been able to visit all three in their own corners of the world and re-connect over stories of our youth - the good, the bad and the ugly!  But even more important I have come to know them as people - wonderful, caring people who, willingly or not, share a history with me that influences so many of my choices and perception of life.

Facebook has become the corner coffee shop where I can drop in from time to time and catch up on their families and whereabouts, their accomplishments and activities and generally, get a glimpse of their life.  My PEI sister is amazing, logging 50 kilometre bike rides, posting professional-quality photographs and applying her wisdom to learning to live without her beloved Jacques.  My Manitoba sisters are both pursuing healthier life styles with weight loss and increased activity that have spurred me on to continue this journey myself. 

Earlier in March in PEI and again this past few weeks I have been able to laugh with my sisters like I never did when we were kids growing up in our little village in the back of the bake shop we called home.  Our age differences in those early years separated us in interests and life situations.  But, the common ground of our community and parents has connected us on a subconscious level that has only recently risen to my consciousness.  We talk alike using many phrases and words that identify us as Glenboro girls - words like "dainties" do not exist in sunny Alberta - at least not with the same meaning as those delicious squares and sweet treats we enjoyed at many a CGIT tea or church bridal shower. 

Then there are those family traits - dunking donuts, toast, cookies - into our coffee - now, that should be a mennonite tradition but my very British father was the most prolific dunker of all!  My mom has unknowingly passed on many habits that were absorbed into our child brains with no effort.  The morning I found myself taping a bag to the edge of my sewing machine to catch the many threads and material bits from my latest sewing project I had an epiphany of understanding of how much a mother can influence her children long into the future and ever after her death!

With a two week vacation immersed in the past, talking to high school friends for the first time in nearly 40 years in one case plus visiting villages and buildings that at one time were my whole world has provided some insight into why I am who I am.  I experienced flash backs to my own attitudes that served me no purpose but to hold me down and memories of many moments that caused others to laugh or cry.  This was good because through it all I have strengthened my resolve to be authentic in all  do.  It is the only way to live like there is no tomorrow - to suck up all the amzing life that is around me today and to leave the past in the past while carrying forward the lessons learned along the way.

This week, I was able to meander along the Assiniboine River in Minnedosa, Manitoba, pound the pavement in Winnipeg seeing the beauty in the architecture, the waterways and the jazz music on the street and then, in a few days, find myself hiking to the Spirit Sands - the most northern desert in North America - huge strides forward to my couch potato winter nursing my painful knee.  I am elated that I can walk up and down stairs, hike 3 miles in sand and dirt and wander at will in an urban setting of concrete and pavement - all with little pain.  My walking poles saved my joints from injury in the sandhills and continue to impress me with their versatility and usefulness.

So, I head home on our last leg from Medicine Hat with great excitement to see my Calgary grandkids, celebrate my sweet Lisa's BIG 40 birthday and check out how much these rains must have made our little garden grow.  Home always looks good on the journey.

Next, an increased effort to include exercise into my day AND a good look at my diet. 

The weight loss has been slow and will become more of my focus as my body continues to heal my joints.  Eating right and getting some exercise in the great out doors over the next few months will spur me on closer to the goal to annihilate my obesity once and for all!

Special additions to my life:  Melaleuca Omega supplement, joint supplement and vitamins.

A Walk in the Park!

The weather took a shift this past long weekend - from winter/spring to spring/summer (Alberta seasons!).  With it came relatives and new energy - thankfully both were welcome!  My oldest sister and her husband arrived for a visit with stabilizer poles in hand (see my previous blog).  Misery may love company but I found that company injects energy - especially when good health "no matter what your age" happens to be the goal.

The four of us - all over 60 years of age - headed off to an urban park in downtown Calgary to test out my new poles with a little coaching from the expert - my sister.  We headed off along the river, left pole/right foot, right pole/left foot - off I strode trying to find my rythmn.  With a few laughs and jerky moves I figured out it worked much better when I stopped thinking about it.  We strolled along, deep in conversation, enjoying the Canada Geese and their 30+ gozzlings floating along beside us.  We stopped at the fork, waiting for the guys to re-surface from their many forays through the brush for closer looks at the wild life.  I was talking about how we should have planned for some more time and we might be able to walk all of the way to the new Peace Bridge connecting the island park to Memorial Drive when  I looked up and to my amazement we had covered a lot more ground than expected and the bridge was right there - red, candy-striped conversation-starter for many disgruntled Calgaryians!  I was shocked that I had walked this far with no knee pain.  In fact, the only small discomfort was a bit of sorness in my arm muscles from moving the poles back and forth. 

If you have been following my blog, you will know this is a huge milestone for me along my journey to good health.   I discovered I could walk for two hours without pain as long as I planted one pole solidly in front of me with each step.  I even worked up a bit of a sweat - surely that was the evidence of fat burning somewhere inside my belly! 

On this evidence alone, I will give my full recommendation to any and all, who, for various physcial limitations in their lower extremities, can no longer walk where they want to walk for the length of time they wish.  Although I could enjoy watching the trees and flowers and ducks and geese and even the people busily biking, skating or running along these pathways from the basic comfort of a park bench, I cannot tell you the glow of excitement I experienced when I discovered that I don't have to accept this stationary outlook on the world moving by.  It is a small thing when you have never had it taken away from you but looms much larger when you have had even a short-lived moment in time when you weren't sure you would ever be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of a walk in the park.

So, as the rain, and even the threat of snow, reminded me that spring/summer in Alberta has many faces, I am now planning my next foray - perhaps further afield in our beautiful Rocky Mountains.  Of course, it will have to be on flat terrain without too many streams to ford!