2021 Life Logs, Day 25: Days Are Just Too Short
Date: Monday, January 25, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 37, Low 24 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This was day one with nothing on my calendar, so I had high hopes that I would get a lot done. And I did. But I wanted to do more. The days are just too short. I stop every weekday at 3 pm to go pick Ollie up after school and on many days we do something together and I end up not getting home until around 5:30 pm. That, plus preparing healthy meals, exercising, and walking and playing Shadow all take a big hunk of every day. But that is okay because every one of those things are important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As I learned yesterday, when I don’t pick Ollie up after school, Shadow might be the only ‘person’ I see or talk to all day long. Dogs are great, but you need communication with humans here and there. Other things that fill my days are reading the New York Times ‘The Morning’ news round-up online every morning and working the NYT’s daily mini-crossword puzzle. And I work on my current jig saw puzzle here and there. And, and, and . . . but that still leaves about three hours to focus on projects. Today I split that time between filing end-of-the-year paperwork and researching information on something called a FODMAP diet for my sister. Isolation during Covid has been very hard on my sister and she has simply lost interest in doing the things necessary to keep her 87 year-old body healthy. I talk with her for an hour every other evening, sometimes every evening. But my tough love approach is not working. She has had gastrointestinal issues her entire life, but right now the problem is chronic. She wants the doctor to tell her what to eat to avoid this, but as you probably know, doctors don’t know a lot about nutrition. My primary care suggests eating a healthy diet, but it is up to me to figure out what that is for me. So, I suggested to my sister that she try a diet Mark’s oncologist suggested for him when he had bowel issues and was losing weight. I forgot to mention that my sister only weighs 80 pounds! It’s called a FODMAP diet. “FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly and some people have digestive distress after eating them.” Basically, you stop eating certain foods, those foods that are high FODMAP foods. After two to six-weeks you slowly reintroduce high Fodmap foods one at a time to try and identify which ones are troublesome for you. Once you know that, you limit those foods permanently. But trying to get my sister to understand this over the phone has not gone well. Today I talked to the woman who comes in three afternoons a week to help my sister. She does the food shopping and talking to her was a real breakthrough. The low FODMAP diet requires eliminating processed foods, gluten, dairy, most beans, and certain vegetables and fruits. The first three of these, processed foods, gluten, and dairy are dietary irritants that anyone with serious health issues needs to contemplate eliminating. I am constantly beating the drum for eating a healthy diet, but most people just don’t want to hear that drum beat. So if you are not interested in upgrading your diet, there are lots of other things you can do to just feel better. I got an email from Well.org that listed the following six tips for a healthy mind, body, and spirit. And they promise that doing any of these things will help fight the Winter Blues that many experience this time of year.
1. Get Enough Sleep
2. Move More and Exercise Regularly
3. Listen to Music
4. Keep Learning
5. Make a Gratitude a Habit
6. Engage with Your Community
This afternoon after school. Ollie came home with me and helped clear more brush and briars out of the wooded area where Shadow and I walk. Little by little, he is making my late night and early morning outings with Shadow so much easier. I am constantly running into a low lying limb or a briar that catches my coat. Today Ollie also helped me finally get my redwood picnic table disassembled and put in the basement. So nice to have a willing worker.
