Staying Motivated for the Long Haul

@hopeful33250 I guess that's what happens when you like to eat. I really cooked a lot when the kids were here too. I cook much less now since it's just the two of us. My kids didn't know how lucky they were until they went off to college and had to eat cafeteria food there.
JK

@contentandwell I'm sure cafeteria food was a rude awakening to the real world of mass food production! Teresa

@contentandwell Wow, I had no idea! I am glad that you decided to not take Belly for any longer than a couple of days - sounds like a stressful dog sitting experience. Teresa

@hopeful33250 No kidding. My son really had a hard time with it, he had an upset stomach very frequently. There was a cafe type of place where they could use their meal cards also, but it was limited in how often they could do that. The food was better there, made to order burgers and all, so he ate there as frequently as allowed.
My husband is of Italian heritage and of course loves Italian food so Spaghetti and meatballs were a frequent dinner here. My son and daughter never knew how good mine was until they had them outside and now they always want me to make them when they come home.
JK

My biggest obstacle to maintaining a healthy weight, is that the medications make me want to eat; so it's just a self-fulfilling prophesy! I'm also tired of trying to eat healthily, when i may? have experienced a stroke at age 40, 6 and one-half months after my Mother passed away! I guess I just don't honestly really care anymore!! If "Professional Providers" DIDN'T CARE ABOUT MY LIFE, THEN WHY SHOULD I CARE NOW? I'M TIRED of being LABELED as "THE BAD PATIENT!!!!!" I have decided against TRUSTING ANY PROVIDERS in MASSACHUSETTS PERIOD!! I'll get my information online from now on and forget about PHYSICIANS, PERMANENTLY!!!!!" It's so ENJOYABLE for MYSELF to finally say "NO" to Healthcare, and to just ask for advice online when needed!
Take care!

@rachelanne, I want to welcome you to this discussion, where you can meet others who are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate health and medical experience. I offer my condolences on the painful loss of your mom. I can honestly say that I, too, lost my own dear mom at a time when I needed her the most. I still miss her.
We are patients, ourselves, and many of us have experienced a wide variety of medical histories that complicate our eating and activity levels, too. So hop on board and let's learn how we can support each other to keep on trying. One of our members used the phrase "We are better together" and I think that that is fitting for this group with our desire to stay motivated for the long haul!

Many medicines can make us feel hungry. And I know that you are not alone with that feeling. Can you tell us more about what you are experiencing? Do you feel hungry all the time? or do you get hunger cravings at varying time throughout the day/night?

Hugs,
Rosemary

@rachelanne @rosemarya @contentandwell @hopeful33250 here is an article that a friend sent me today. There is some nasty language for whatever reason.

The issue is CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE, which can affect your insurability. You may NEED insurance backing later. I worked in cardiac rehab, we had patients who were AGRESSIVELY NON-COMPLIANT. In staffings it was often decided by the cardiologists that aggressively non compliant patients be replaced by those who cared enough to at least try to help themselves. Medicine is both art and science. I would get second opinions. (PS At age about 60, I broke my neck, was in comas for five weeks, in the hospital for eight. It was decided to keep me on life support. It took 600 days for me to regain activities of daily living. Even though you are frustrated don't give up, don't be negative. I am a realist. I have great compassion for you. Don't give up. A better treatment may come along later.

Hi I do have a lot of experience with doctors and chronic conditions. First I think doctors are really limited in getting involved with patients individually. I joined the healthy living program and I have a wellness coach now. I get to talk to her about everything on coach chat. The healthy living program does work with doctors in that doctors can refer. But people can just go themselves. If you have a wellness center and coaches that work with a medical center in your area I highly recommend. Also you can come to Mayo Rochester for a program. There are lots of programs. But the key is to get a wellness coach. They are really good and helping people set goals and support. I just signed up for a 5k race. I got all the approvals I need for training. They looked at my movements, spine, medical records to make sure I could do the training safely. So that's advantage of working with health center that is connected to doctors. Doctors won't coach you to exercise and eat right. But they can approve people for exercise and nutrition programs. Plus they provide medication. But so many chronic conditions are helped with nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and sleep. That is the truth about medicine. Healthy living is big part of health. Food is always medicine.

I follow diaTribe - Making Sense of Diabetes. Especially Adam Brown. As an example he has recently posted a series of 3 articles titled How To Change Any Diabetes Habit parts 1, 2 and 3. The 3rd one in particular applies to me as advice given to me often is you have to do this now to avoid complications in the future. The future is not here yet so all my ready made excuses come into play often such as: Just this one time won't make a difference! Except when I do those exceptions over a period of years they very likely will make a difference and all my other effort will be wasted. I highly recommend this site and Adam Brown in particular as he has diabetes so much of his stuff is based on his own experience. I do have an increasing concern however as he uses a CGM and I don't and they also spend time on the latest developments which are somewhat interesting but I'm not there yet and may never be!