As I barrel to the official retirement age of 60, I find myself still not having a handle on maintaining weight loss. I have had a few good weight loss years – 1983, 1992, 2010, 2016 and 2021 are ones which come to mind. But they are always followed by me slacking off….taking my foot off the gas, and then of course, the weights creeps back on.
Since about November last year, I have been unable to fit into my company-issued uniforms. Truth be told, it was a few months before that…..I was squeezing myself into the ones I had made the seamstress take in. At the time the uniforms were delivered in late 2021, I had been on a really good eating pattern which had led to steady weight loss. I had reached to 199 lbs. So I had asked her to take in 2 of the 3 sets of uniform that were noticeably baggy. “Leave 1 set….just in case.” I guess I know myself.
If you have ever found your car keys in the fridge, or driven back home because you swore you left your coffee mug on the counter but later found it on your desk, could you be presenting with symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s is just one form of Dementia. Listen to this Seon 180 podcast featuring Grenadian Dr Kester Nedd. The topic is personal for host Leslie-Ann Seon, as her mother had Vascular Dementia. It’s also relevant to me because my maternal grandmother had Alzheimer’s.
I dream often. Well I used to dream more often. When I read them back, some sound like a movie 🙂. Here is one from December 7, 2019.
In this morning’s dream during my second sleep, I went by boat with some other people (who I don’t know) to a dinner party in a stately home in St Vincent.
The hostess was an older lady and when I told her my name, she went for a small magazine which had an article I had written about the Maurice Bishop killing based on a forum I had attended. She had pages marked with stuff she wanted to ask me about. I recall seeing food platters all over the house. There was roast beef for sure.
Hmmmm……wonder if that means I have a future as a writer?
Today is a holiday here in Grenada. As I was driving home from the office this evening, I saw my neighbour dressed up and about to leave home. She had some dishes in her hand. I imagined she and her spouse were going to a friend’s home, to be joined by other friends. I silently asked myself why had I been at work, when I no longer work in a hotel, but in the financial sector, which operates Monday to Friday from 8 to 4? It reminded me of a recent conversation which had got me seriously thinking.
A few Sundays ago, I was out to lunch with a friend from overseas and her friend who lives here. As it was a few years since I had seen her, we were catching up on what each other had been doing in the intervening years. Naturally, that included whether there were any developments in the romantic arena. “Nope….no boyfriend,” I reported. Why? Well, mostly because I have always been in work situations where I work many hours, even on weekend and holidays.
**Yamfoot’s note** Ioriginally wrote this article in 2015 for a website, which then had some technical issues so it is no longer available there. I thought I should re-produce it on my blog.
At the end of the article, I will add some updated notes.
“How could you leave big big Jamaica and go and live in one of those small islands?” Grenada, the small island I chose, measures just 12 miles west to east and 21 miles north to south. In 1997, this Jamaican added to Grenada’s population of approximately one hundred or so thousand people at the time. Originally intending to spend two years then move on, 18 years later, Grenada is still captivating and feels like home.
Here are five reasons why living in Grenada is great.
As you get older, do your thoughts change about aging? Do you see visible signs that lets you know you are getting older? I used to have neutral thoughts about aging. Maybe it was because my parents and all their relatives seemed to look the same from year to year. Then when I turned 40, a wave of panic set in. I started to draw a mind map of my thoughts about aging, while on a plane somewhere over the Caribbean Sea.
The signs of aging were evident before that milestone. In my 30’s, on March 29, 2003 to be exact, my eye spotted a grey hair peeking out from my curly afro. I froze. Next came a battle between me and it. I finally succeeded with the help of my tweezers. The hair now rests on a page in one of my journals with the caption “My 1st grey hair!”
I was listening to a Lewis Howes You Tube video where he was interviewing someone about sleep and dreams came up. The expert said very few people dream. I am one of them, and apparently dreams are helpful to the brain. Here is one from 2008, which came up in my Facebook memories today.
I could do nothing as the steering wheel seemed to develop a mind of its own. We were careening down a winding road, with a precipice on the left side. As the road veered to the right, the steering wheel stayed to the left. Soon, the car inevitably jumped over the safety rail and plunged…..how deep we did not know.
I was the driver, and at first, when the car left the road I was terrified, but as the car began to seemingly float to safety below, a calm came over me. None of my passengers screamed. There was my father, aunt, sister and my niece plus me. It was the Volvo 840 – a very sturdy car. Maybe that is what made me feel relatively safe.
The car landed without much impact on a road several thousand feet below. I drove it to a halt, we got out, surveyed the damage and were relieved that no one or nothing was damaged. I made an attempt to start the car and lead it from its resting place through the dark night, to resume our planned journey. “Oh no”, my father said, and took the wheel. Soon, we were on our way merrily, as if nothing had happened.
In this Jamaica Observer article, Jamaica’s Minister for Health & Wellness Hon. Dr Christopher Tufton advocates for more focus to be placed on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Dr Tufton cited the most recent Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey (JHLS III) revealed that one in three Jamaicans has hypertension, one in two is overweight or obese, and one in eight has diabetes.”
This statistic is likely the same for some, and perhaps all, other Caribbean countries.
The article goes on to state that “”The minister contended that this points to an NCD crisis and asserted that “as a matter of urgency, we must drive the NCD agenda forward… we must challenge systems and approaches that do not yield results and be willing to think outside the box”.”
The economic problem is real. The burden placed on healthcare, as well as expenses patients face to treat these preventable (in most cases) diseases is real, and utilizes scarce resources.
What if more of the Ministry’s resources, plus some from the Education Ministry, were used to develop and institute a better education programme to tackle all areas of health and wellness? Education should also include food manufacturers. I heard one CEO of a baking company refer to one of their new products as “healthy.” The nutrition data would prove that to be incorrect, given the amount of sugar it contains.
I harp on education because of my own experience. About 2 decades ago, I was very obese and decided to do something about it. A rigorous exercise programme and modification to my diet, led to a 38 pound weight loss in 8 months. At the time, I was very pleased with that result, but having better educated myself since 2016 about food and its effect on hormones and physiology, I realize I could have lost twice the amount of weight. The mistake was thinking that the big bowl of fruit and low fat yogurt, or oats I was eating for breakfast back then, was healthy. I repeat what I said in the previous paragraph: the nutrition data would prove that to be incorrect, given the amount of sugar it contains.
Steel cut oats with ripe banana and walnuts
So Minister Tufton, let’s have a rethink about an education programme, with a strong nutrition component, to tackle NCDs and get Jamaicans off their medications. And be sure to include educating our doctors and nurses. When I hear stories if some doctors giving their diabetic patients more insulin, rather than directing them to remove from their diet, what causes their glucose levels to rise, then I know that they need education too.
Implementing a sugar tax on companies who manufacture and/or sell unhealthy foods, is for another post.
I just threw away 2 batches of cooked Steel Cut Oats which I had had in the freezer for about 2 years. A few years ago, I used to eat Oats often, especially in 2016 when I was working out like a beast with Caribbean champion body builder, Grenada’s Damion Daniel. See evidence below!
For many people, the events of the past 10 months have understandably brought certain financial questions to the fore, chief among them being: Is my emergency saving fund in good shape? Am I carrying too much bad debt? Does my budget realistically reflect my current reality? Is my financial portfolio adequately diversified? Do I have enough of a safety net by way of insurance?
— Read on www.jamaicaobserver.com/style/are-you-ready_212630
