staying well #42

I went to drugs.com and used the pill identifier to look up my regular 2 prescriptions. For one, the site gave many identifying pictures. The information seemed brief,but accurate and more information was available in other segments on the site on the drugs. I had trouble with medline, then realized I wasn't using medline plus. I got 5-7 good results for endocrinologists in Galveston County (within 10 miles). I created a family medical tree by clicking on My Family Health Portrait. I filled out just the medical information for myself, entered listings for my siblings, parents, grandparents, and my parents siblings. After printing I will fill out the information that I know and will find out more on other family members' medical or past medical conditions. Some of my relatives had multiple medical conditions, as we do now, and I'm not altogether certain what they died from, but am curious to see if I can find better definitive answers from relatives. This is important for genealogy, besides encouraging you to write down names of relatives of course, you can trace incidences of common disease and begin to guess at heriditary or lifestyle nature of diseases present.

Wellness, #41b Going Green part 2

I looked at the consumer reports website and found many tips on saving car gas mileage, most I had read before, but will make more of an effort to abide by the tips now. These things I consider a harder to change. Tips include: going 55 instead of 65 or 75, not accelerating or braking as hard, warming the engine first, making sure the tires are properly inflated, and avoiding idling. One thing that was actually easy was going to Internet Consumer Recycling Guide and taking myself off the Valpack mailing list. So, I reduced my waste today by avoiding those envelopes that come in the mail full of coupons every week or so.

Wellness 41a Going Green Activity #1 & #2

I went to the Green Team site to get my estimated carbon footprint. After taking the survey and submitting suggested improvements, the site told me I could whittle my usage down 6% for a savings of $305 a yr. to save 2510 pounds of CO2 per yr (to make my usage 36,672 lbs. a yr). Points were given for recycling, getting a more economical car, using more efficient light bulbs etc.
I've been to a few farmer's markets. The last notable larger one I've been to was Froberg's Farm on the outskirts of Alvin, TX (off Hwy 6). I called ahead for hours and to ask what was in season. Although they had a variety of goodies and a nice building, I was dissappointed that the 2 things they told me were in season and grown on the farm-eggplants and something else, weren't actually in stock when I got there. I would go again though.

wellness module fitness #40

I looked at the fitness calculators on exrx.net. I don't know that I'd use the site much though, personally. My BMI was dissappointing, even though I've lost 10lbs. in the past 2 weeks. I was 5 whole points above average ( mine- 30.2). Also, my caloric intake to maintain seemed pretty high 2972. I feel like I don't take in near that many calories,but I've just recently started eating only one full meal a day, most other days I just snack. Traditionally, I don't eat much food, but the wrong kinds. Too many carbs, fats, sugars as opposed to more fruits and veggies. I was a little surprised by the results and plan to as always walk the dog more and join a local gym.

wellness module/nutrition #39

I went to nutritiondata.com and checked out the back to school section which reminded me to eat breakfast, even if it's just some dry cereal or a piece of fruit, also to pack lunch and plan snacks. Some other items I clicked on included the glycemic load portion and the weight loss segment. Under weight loss I clicked "lose without being hungry and learned that baked potatoes give much more "fullness" than potato chips. Also, oatmeals, apples, and grapefruit among a few other food items are much more filling actually than pizza, ice cream and a snickers bar. I also clicked on the meditteranean diet section to remind myself of the imporantance (especially for the heart) of eating fruits, veggies, fish and olive oil. I was surprised to learn that a donut had actually 12% iron, but was almost 1/2 fat (calories from). Total fat is 18% and saturated fat is 16%.
The recipe I found out information for on sparkpeople.com was black bean salsa.
Here's the recipe and nutritional data:
2 cups black beans rinsed
1 package frozen corn thawed
1 tomato
1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper (+1 poblano pepper if you like)
1 small purple onion
1/8-1/4 cup cilantro chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper
Nutritional data:
4 servings
CALORIES 160.8
TOTAL FAT .9 g
SAT. FAT .2 g
polyunsat. fat .4 g
monounsat. fat .1 g
cholesterol 0.0
sodium 588.0mg
potassium 545.7 mg
total carbs 31.8 g
dietary fiber 9.8 g
sugars .9 g
protein 9.2 g
vit. a 39.2%, vit b-12 0%, vit b-6 11.2%, vit d 0%,vit e 1.9%
calcium 4.1%, copper 13.3%, folate 38.1%,iron 15.3%,magnesium 19.7%
manganese 30%, niacin 5.9%, pantothenic acid 4%, phosphorus 16.1%, riboflavin 6%
selenium 2.2%, thiamin 18.7%, zinc 8.3%