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This post is part of the Natural Cures Blog Carnival hosted by hartkeisonline.
Up until the last couple months, “exercise” for me was 10 minutes at the slowest possible speed on the treadmill, followed by an hour of icing and elevating both knees and at least two doses of pain meds. It has only been in the last couple months that I have been physically capable of doing more. I am working up to my next short-term goal of one slow mile per day. Once I get there, I want to add hills, then speed, then move up in distance.
As for non-walking exercise, I got Wii Fit last Mother’s Day and have really been getting a kick out of it. I can’t do some of the exercises, like ski jumping, or some of the yoga poses, like Warrior, but I can beat everyone in my family at most of the strength exercises! It cracked me up to get ratings like “Bodybuilder” or “Yoga Master” when I could barely get up and down the stairs.
Now that my knees are improving, I find the exercises easier to do, more effective and challenging. I’ve never been one of those, “It feels so GOOD to sweat!” types. But I do like how I feel after a couple weeks of exercising regularly. And I love the idea that I’m setting a good example for my family. Nothing encourages a teen boy to work out more than being beat at crunches by his mother! What I stress with friends is that children will do what they see you do. I can’t run, or walk long distances (yet) but when they see me trying, putting in a quarter mile on the treadmill or doing Wii Fit, they are inspired and tend to exercise more.
What I stress with my children is forever-ness. Do whatever physical exercise you enjoy, but plan to do it for the rest of your life. Don’t use exercise as a short-term solution, it is a lifelong blessing. Having lived several years without the blessing, I realize how wonderful it is to move freely and without pain. I’m getting back there slowly, enjoying every step.
This is a fascinating article from Reuters News.
I grew up in a generation where the mysteries of the human body were still being discovered, very slowly. Doctors used to say to parents of children with frequent sore throats, “Oh it’s okay, those tonsils (adenoids, appendix, wisdom teeth, etc.) are what we call vestigial organs. The cave men needed that for their raw diet, but we don’t need them today. Eventually, evolution will get rid of this excess baggage. We can go ahead and remove them and no one will ever be the wiser.” Yes, I heard that myself as a child. My mother, bless her, was steadfast.
I personally don’t believe that we have any “excess baggage” in our bodies. It is all there for a purpose, and any removal puts our system out of balance. Sure, you can live on, but you’d better address the cause of the problem first before removing something that your body needs.
All my friends had their tonsils out. I was such an oddity that as a teen, I’d go to the doctor and he’d call in all his nurses and staff to see what an “unimproved throat” (his actual words) looked like. Yes, I eventually grew out of the sore throats and ear infections. To some degree, I think minor undiagnosed allergies might have been to blame, but allergies weren’t something doctors were particularly adept at diagnosing and treating back then.
We know more about the function of these so-called vestigial organs now. We now know many of them are essential parts of the immune system. But what if there’s more we just haven’t discovered yet?
The Dark Side of Fat Loss
