Umair Yasin

This simple advice from Tufts is a good start for the New Year. The article has some more detail, but here is a summary: https://www.nutritionletter.tufts.edu/special-reports/top-10-swaps-for-good-health/ from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/npXEqDv via IFTTT

I too wish physicians would more often prescribe simple effective interventions like this either instead of or in addition to drugs. FOOD, FACTS and FADS Diet and Exercise There have been several studies in the past that promote lifestyle factors and compare them to drug treatments like metformin. For diabetes type 2 including pre-diabetes – here is another one – too bad more physicians are not “prescribing” this intervention instead of putting their patients on one drug after another to control diabetes type 2. “Researchers randomly assigned 100 sedentary adults aged 65 to 85 with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity to either an intensive lifestyle intervention or a control group that only had monthly sessions about a healthy diet. A dietitian helped the intensive group consume a diet with sufficient protein, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains and 500 to 750 fewer calories a day. The group also did 90 minutes of aerobic and resistance training three times a wee...

We got a one-day break in between storms yesterday so I snuck in a ride. There is a lot more rain on the way well into next week, so I’ll be doing a combination of making good use of my rain gear and my trainer. There was some fog in the valley when I started out from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/9HqVbOC via IFTTT

http://www.Amazon.com/books This is the title of a book by Dr. Jacqueline Simon Gunn, who is both an avid lifetime long-distance runner and a clinical psychologist. She shares reflections on what running means to her, both physically and mentally. One interesting insight I picked up was the psychological concept of “existential homelessness”, which means we feel we are not quite at home in our lives, or something important is missing. Jacqueline says she sometimes feels this way, but always feels completely “at home” when running. I also used to feel that way, and endurance exercise filled in the hole for me. Now meditation also contributes to making me feel at home pretty much all the time. Dr. Gunn also emphasizes that running may not be for everyone and that we can get the same benefits she describes from other activities like walking, cycling, and swimming. That has been very important for me. I was a running enthusiast for more than 20 years before arthritis took it away fr...

https://www.amazon.com/Dickens-Christmas-FezziwigS-Etching-Charles/dp/B07C4GBFLN I have always thought of Christmas-time..as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely… Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew Fred, from A Christmas Carol . May we all try to “open our shut-up hearts” and see each other as fellow passengers on this beautiful and fragile planet. from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/k1ojWsx via IFTTT

I went for a relaxing 75 minutes on my recumbent yesterday, out into the countryside north of Morgan Hill then through some local neighborhoods. I’m still limited by sciatica. It feels fine riding but can flare up later if I overdo it. I was fortunate enough to get an appointment squeezed in with my doctor on December 29th about this. Hopefully, she can get the ball rolling on diagnostics and getting referred to PT. In the meantime, I’m alternating hot and cold compresses and doing all the stretches I know. And I’m trying to loosen my piriformis muscle through reciprocal inhibition : the piriformis muscle abducts and externally rotates the hip, so contracting the muscles that adduct and internally rotate it should relax it. I found a lot of useful information and exercises in the book Piriformis Syndrome: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Yoga: Pain in the Butt by Dr. Loren Fishman, a specialist in this syndrome. Reciprocal inhibition exercises for the piriformis muscle using resistance ba...

www.Amazon.com/books A Heart for Running: How Running Saved My Life , is the story of how a talented amateur runner, John McDonnell, overcame a severe heart condition in his late 40s, recovered, and came back even stronger. John is of Irish descent and grew up in Massachusetts. He married an Irish woman, Roisin, and after a few years, they decided to move to Ireland. In an all-too-common story, as he worked hard at getting a career going, John became out of shape and overweight. He turned this around by taking up running, which also inspired him to eat more healthy foods. He became an increasingly better runner as the years went by, until out of nowhere he had a stroke in his late 40s. The cause turned out to be a hole in his heart, a congenital condition called an atrial septal defect . His Journey to get this surgically repaired, then recover and rehab from both the stroke and surgery, is very inspiring. from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/W1nhptQ via IFTTT

My sciatica flare-up is still bothering me when I stand or walk too much, but it is ok when I sit or ride a bike. So Yesterday I tried a longer (2 hour) ride and it went fine. This is good for me for relaxation and enjoyment. The sciatica symptoms (pain down my right leg all the way to the foot) remained afterward but didn’t get any worse. I’m doing all the PT exercises I remember from the last time I had sciatica due to piriformis syndrome. On the chance that this could be back-related sciatica instead of piriformis syndrome, I’ve also added exercises for that. So far there is no improvement but it took over two weeks to get better last time; I guess some patience is in order. But I’m glad I can at least ride my bike a decent amount in the interim. Fun sighting in rural San Martin on my ride. These people made their propane storage tank look like a locomotive Some Critters on a mini-ranch, also in San Martin. This alpaca was adorable. He or she was very inquisitive and excited to...

It was clear and cold today, a nice day for riding after all our recent rain. which totals about 9 inches for the year so far. I went for an hour of easy spinning, I still have to take it easy because I’m getting sciatica symptoms from the piriformis muscle of my right leg. It’s a little frustrating because I’m not sure what I did to aggravate it this time. Back to stretching and PT exercises… The wild grass is loving the rain we’ve been getting Loma Prieta and The Santa Cruz Mountains in the background from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/Iz9gSA7 via IFTTT

Our latest series of rainstorms continued yesterday. We’ve had about four inches total over the past several days. This is a great start to the season, I hope it keeps up. We even got some hail yesterday morning. That’s unusual for this time of the year, hail usually accompanies summer thunderstorms when we get it. This was pretty small hail, not like the golf-ball-sized hail we used to get when we lived in Colorado. Later in the morning, it cleared up a bit and we got sunshowers, Then the rain continued heavier throughout the day. I decided to take it easy and just do some spinning on my indoor recumbent. This was just as well as I did something on Saturday that aggravated my piriformis injury, causing a flare-up of sciatica. I need to take it easy until that clears up. Easy spinning, stretching, ice, and anti-inflammatories are in order for the next couple of days or so. The hail looks like rock salt on the ground and the chairs A Brief Sunshower from BionicOldGuy https://...

I have a pretty good home gym setup for both cardio and strength so don’t normally need a gym. But gyms have special machines that are sometimes nice to use as well as classes. This wasn’t enough incentive for me to pay for a gym membership, but if it’s free that’s a different matter. Some medicare supplemental insurance providers will cover a gym membership at participating gyms. The first program I heard of for this is “silver sneakers “. My provider offered this at my local gym “24-hour fitness”. Then they decided to drop it, and anyway 24-hour fitness went out of business during Covid. Then recently I got a message from my provider about an equivalent new program they offer called “ renew active “. A different gym, “ Fitness 19 “, opened up where 24 hour used to be, and they accept renew active, so I joined back up. I’ve been going about once a week. I like using several of the strength stations. They are the same exercises I do at home, but at the gym, I can check my strength mor...

We got about another inch and a half of rain here in Morgan Hill over the weekend, with more on the way today. This is a total of 4 and 1/2 inches this season so far, I really good start. I hope it keeps up! Yesterday we had a brief interlude between storms, so after my strength workout in my garage, I went for a walk and a bike ride in the local neighborhood. It looked threatening to the west from my local walking path Clouds Obscuring the top of El Toro The Sun was shining on the hills to the east from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/tUNLeOw via IFTTT

Two days ago we had a solid rainstorm of over an inch in Morgan Hill, and today it’s raining again. This is great for our drought conditions, and we are happy to be expecting a lot more rain last week. Yesterday we had a beautiful clear day between storms so I was able to sneak an enjoyable ride in. The hills are well on their way to turning green. This was a brisk cruise of about two and a half hours to the southeast towards Gilroy. Nice and Clear to the West of Morgan Hill, with just a few clouds left over The wild grass is already green in flatter areas, the hills take a little longer but they are coming around from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/yTRBU1d via IFTTT