Dreams… Dreams and Chronic Illness

(Dreams by asage on deviantART

click on the image to be taken to the artist’s page)

A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul.

Erich Fromm

Dreams digest the meals that are our days.

Astrid Alauda, Dyspeptic Enlightenment

I have my sleep back on track after a number of weeks with having a cold and being up most of the night and sleeping during the day.  My bedtime now is around 9  or 10 p.m. and I usually manage a good six straight hours of sleep per night now.  Sometimes, I even go back to sleep for an hour or two.  Even falling asleep so early in the night (for me anyways), it’s still better than what I was going through before.  I have never had to deal with that before and I can count on one hand the number of nights I couldn’t sleep.

But, this has really dragged me out and the dark circles under my eyes, which I always had due to genetics and allergies, are a lot worse.  And the dreams.  I usually forget most of my dreams a little after waking up but, this time…

I think it’s a combination of getting older and not getting better, not having my health, February being Heart Month and knowing someone who thinks she may have those pre-heart attack symptoms that people get.  The other night all I could dream about was me having heart problems.  When I woke up I was sore, achy and stiff.  I got up and my knees were bothering me.  I had done a bit of stretching while I was still in bed but it didn’t work.

Of course, my body really, really wants me to have a period on top of all of this.  You know.  Just because.   So I also have a  sore lower back and am feeling wiped out.

Then I looked at myself in the mirror today.  I need to lose 50 pounds and looking in the mirror, it really showed.  I would be called an apple shape but what my body really looks like is a stuffed pumpkin toy.  Teddy bears are fitter than me.

The worst part with me is, I know I have to lose weight but I’ve got this slimmer image of me stuck in my head.  And I started wearing skirts again last year and in my mind I’m seeing the models’ bodies but my head is on their bodies.  But, let me explain about the skirts.

Since I got sick years ago, I’ve had a low tolerance for heat and have been living almost always in shorts and tank tops.  Last year I bought a few pencil skirts and in my mind I’m rocking that sexy chick image, which is good.  The bad part of that is that I rarely look in a mirror and don’t give myself a reality check.  Which is bad.

One of my parents had heart disease and bypass surgery and the other had a series of strokes.  It runs in the family.  And I’m getting older, I’m less mobile and it has me worried.  These last 10 years of being sick have been very sedentary, though not by choice.  But, I’ve also had office jobs for most of my working life and though I would do things like walk before or after work, I didn’t really do exercises.  Another black mark.

I have to get my act together.

I have to stop giving excuses.

I have to eat better.

I have to get my cardio up.

I have to get my strength up.

I have to buy new ankle weights.  I want to get adjustable ankle weights where I can change the weight as I progress.  The ankle weights that I have now are only 2.5 pounds each, certainly not enough to help build muscle strength.  I also don’t have the room right now to have various weights lying around.  I do, however, have resistance bands that I sometimes use so that my body doesn’t get used to my little ankle weights.

It’s Heart Month and I have already bookmarked the site for heart and stroke so I can read and learn some more.

I have to stop sticking my head in the sand on this issue.  It’s not going away.  And it is being made worse because the reality is, I have a chronic illness that prevents me from doing what I want.

But, I have to stop using that as an excuse.

The Excuse.

OK.  Pity party is now officially over!  I’m off to find new ankle weights.

Food Porn Friday and Heart Month

February is Heart Month and in honour of our always beating heart, the Los Angeles Times has a variety of heart-related articles, photos, videos and links.

One of the links, the American Heart Association, as you can imagine,  has a wealth of information on the subject. We already know the basics:

1. don’t smoke;
2. maintain a healthy weight;
3. engage in regular physical activity;
4. eat a healthy diet;
5. manage blood pressure;
6. take charge of cholesterol; and
7. keep blood sugar, or glucose, at healthy levels.

There are also a few recipes to inspire you to get heart healthy.  Of course, most of their recipes are in cookbooks that they sell, but I did pick one from each of the categories that they have (main course, soup/salad/side dishes, desserts and sweets, snacks and appetizers).

Click on the recipe title for the instructions and nutritional information and enjoy doing something good for your heart and your heart’s desire.

Sweet & Nutty Stir-Fry

Ingredients

Pasta
4 ounces dried multigrain vermicelli or spaghetti, broken in half
2 teaspoons curry powder

Sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce (lowest sodium available)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Stir-Fry
1 teaspoon canola or corn oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cups bite-size broccoli florets (about 5 ounces)
1 cup thinly sliced (not shredded) red cabbage
1 cup matchstick-size carrot pieces
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, dry-roasted

Spring Greens with Salmon and Apricot-Ginger Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Apricot-Ginger Vinaigrette
1/4 cup all-fruit apricot spread
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons grated peeled gingerroot
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt

Salad
4 cups mixed salad greens (spring mix preferred), torn into bite-size pieces
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 cup fresh or frozen snow peas, thawed if frozen, trimmed and halved diagonally
1 7.1-ounce vacuum-sealed pouch pink salmon

Pear and Cherry Crumble

Ingredients

Ingredients for the fruit
Cooking spray
Juice of one lemon
5-6 fresh pears, the riper the better
1 cup dried cherries
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup pear juice (may substitute apple juice)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon flour

Ingredients for the topping
1 cup vanilla granola
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 cup trans fat free margarine spread

Red and Green Bell Pepper Bites

Ingredients

1 medium green bell pepper
1 medium red bell pepper
1/4 cup sliced almonds
4 ounces fat-free or reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon no-salt lemon pepper seasoning blend
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice