Nutritional Knits

Checking in: Still Swollen.

My damn foot and ankle is still swelling up - even with the compression sock.  The good news is that when I wake up in the morning the swelling is down a bit more than the day before.  Then I walk on it and it swells up again.  It's so frustrating.  My energy levels go up and then back down. I can't figure out the rhythm of it.  Saturday I didn't get out of bed for more than 20 minutes because I was so beat  but then Sunday I 'exercised' went food shopping and cooked my lunches for the week.

I am so eager to be walking with no swelling.  I want so bad to be walking to work in the mornings, going to the gym and running back and forth at work.  Gah!  In addition, now is the time when I really have to pay attention to what I'm eating so I don't start packing on weight.  I didn't gain any while I was down and out and now that my appetite is returning I want to be strict with my diet and lose some weight and nix any bad eating habits that I carried over from post-surgery.

But what I really want is to be MOVING my body with no crutches, no limping, no swelling.

This is the 7th week, by the way.

Return of the Green Smoothie, the diet approved version.

In the beginning stages of my diet there is no fruit or soy/hemp/almond milk allowed.  (I'm in the weight loss stage).  Because of this I had to pare down my usual green smoothie recipe and add in my [favorite] protein powder.  I had this for breakfast this morning on the way in to work:

Diet approved Green Smoothie:

1 small head of baby bok choy, washed & rough chopped
I handful of ice cubes
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
2 heaping scoops of RTN powder (I used peanut butter +chocolate, bananna)

blend well (a high speed blender is worth the $), enjoy

230 calories, 2g fat, 50g protein, 6g carbs

This made a light avocado colored drink.  The more water you add the thinner it is. It had a touch of a green taste to it, which I personally don't mind.  Baby bok choy is very mellow and blends up to a nice color (not to mention it has a fantastic nutritional profile).  RTN powder is whey so it makes the shake creamy.

If you are not watching calories/on a diet then feel free to add some yumminess to the shake:

banana 108 calories
tablespoon of almond butter 98 calories
cup of cherries 90 calories
tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder 15 calories

Play with the ingredients and flavors.  See what combination you like best.  Green smoothies are a great and easy way to get an additional serving of greens.  Another mild green is baby spinach (makes a darker colored smoothie).

TGIF.

This weekend I'm resting my foot, trying to get the swelling to go down.  I'll also be doing lots of pt on my toes (which kills! but needs to be done).  I've been wearing a compression sock which makes my foot balloon up wicked bad but after a night of elevation the foot looks a bit less swollen.  Not sure if that is how this thing is supposed to work that way but I'm trying it out anyway, as per doc's orders.  Other than the swelling the bones look like they are healing really well which I'm thrilled about.  I just need to keep putting weight on the foot to help the bones get stronger.

Lots to blog about.  Too tired to blog.  I have a million pictures to share.  Too tired to edit them.  I have a good green smoothie that fits into my diet that I want to share with you (pictures too).  I've missed my green smoothies.  Did some cooking this week - played around with some quinoa salad ideas. 

I also found a bunch of photos on my Nikon memory card that I forgot to edit and share.  It's been a month since I used my Nikon...boy do I miss photography.  I missed out on all the great fallen leaf photos that I love to take.  It's almost time to register for Winter session classes - what happened to the Fall?!

Lemon Mustard Chicken.

lemon mustard chicken & garlicky green beans

Many years ago I was invited over for dinner by a man I was dating (that man is now my husband, Joe).  He lived in an apartment in Salem and promised to cook me supper for our next date. 

For dinner he made this delicious chicken recipe with a side of asparagus w/ hollandaise sauce (and I'll just mention that the hollandaise sauce was even better the next morning when he made me eggs benedict, hubba hubba).  Yes I said 'the next morning'...but I'm no floozie - I married the guy!  Haha... 

Anyway...back to the chicken.  It was so delicious!!  It was Joe's recipe from a low-cholesterol cookbook that is now out of print.  There are only a few ingredients so I thought I'd alter it to get as close to my diet as possible (the original recipe calls for 1/4C margarine).  I used regular dijon mustard (what we had on hand)  but I'm going to try and find one that doesn't have any sugar in it next time I make it.

Next time I think I might double the sauce (but not the olive oil), which would be easy enough to do.  A touch of honey would bind it very nicely and help it brown at the end of cooking but honey isn't on my plan. 

Here is my version of that sexy man's Lemon Mustard chicken: 

2 whole chicken breasts

3 T dijon mustard
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T olive oil (or melted butter)
1 tsp dried tarragon
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all sauce ingredients in a dish and blend together.  Put chicken in a pyrex dish and pour sauce over it.  Cover with foil and cook for 20 minutes.  Take foil off the dish and turn the oven up to 375.  Cook for an additional 25 minutes, uncovered.

That's it.  My breast were large (heh heh) so you may not need to cook it for the whole 25 minutes - check it after 15 minutes.  Also, if you leave it uncovered the sauce will dry up a bit, which is actually yummy, but covering it for the first half of cooking keeps the chicken moist.  I'm having leftover tomorrow for lunch, over raw baby spinach and brown rice.  YUM!! 

It's lean and it's yummy.  I hope you enjoy it!

Today I exercised. :-)

Not just 'break a sweat' every time I 'walked' somewhere but actual exercise.  I spent 45 minutes foam rolling, one-legged bridges (to work my left glut), push ups (not from my toes!), multiple 15-second planks and various hip opening stretches.  It was soooo tiring!  My endurance is shot! I'm going to try and do this routine every night to build my endurance back up. 

For now I'm very happy with my exercise today.  I'm not thrilled with all the compulsive halloween candy eating I did afterwards.  What is that all about??? I get so motivated, prep my food, exercise, eat a healthy supper and then chow on candy?

Apparently I can get myself motivated but does anyone have any tips on staying motivated?  Try again tomorrow.

More good news...

Now that I can actually stand on both feet I was able to weight myself.  I weigh in at 151.6, which is close to the weight I was before my surgery.  I, thankfully, didn't gain any weight during my post-op recovery.  I actually lost about a pound.  I have a less muscle mass in my left leg - as a matter of fact when I took measurements I found out that my right leg was 1.25 inches larger than my left.  The only muscle that had been used in my left leg for the last five weeks was my quad.  :(

Now is the time I need to pay attention to what I'm eating and not let my saltines, ham sandwiches carry over.  At the market I purchased chicken, lean beef and pork cutlets.  Technically I'm supposed to skip pork (not sure why) but I know Joe likes them so I bought one dinner's worth.  I made a really yummy baked lemon-mustard chicken that Joe used to make me when we first started dating.  I'll post the recipe soon.  It's good and I altered it to fit as close to the plan as possible.

So I'm glad that I maintained my weight and didn't pack on the pounds but now need to break that 150 by sticking to the diet and making sure I'm being active enough to count as  exercise.  Hopefully soon I'll be back at the gym - with real exercise!

Progress!!

Yesterday (Saturday) I made huge progress.  After working on mobility exercises for my ankle and my toes I put on my special shoe and practiced standing on both feet.  Twenty minutes later I was "walking" with the use of only one crutch and an hour after that I could timidly and very slowly walk with no crutches.  I was so happy to be mobile!  I took my new found freedom and ... cleaned my kitchen.  I was just so happy to be able to actually stand in one spot and be able to carry something in my hands because I wasn't using the crutches.  I spent hours on my feet (both feet! yay!) and had a great day. 

The downside to it is that my foot swelled up wicked and I didn't like the color of it when I woke up this morning so I took it easy for the first half of the day.  Then my Dad came up and took me to the market so I could restock on my diet necessities for the week.  Once home I prepped (standing up) my raw veggies for lunch tomorrow, as well as my breakfast.  Then I cooked Lemon-Mustard chicken to have this week.  I'm doing pretty well getting back on the diet and breaking stride to partake in Joe's fajitas tonight.  I'm going to use an ezekial tortilla instead of flour and only a small scoop of guacamole.  This way I can stay close to the plan.  Mmmnnn.... I love Joe's fajitas!

Yesterday was the start of my sixth week of recovery, by the way. 

Happy Halloween!

Joe made this cat jack o'lantern last year - isn't it great?  He didn't do one this year.  We just have a big ol' pumpkin sitting out our porch. 

This blog is seriously lacking without good photos.I miss grabbing my camera and going for random excursions.  It's too hard to pull over and jump out of my car to snap a shot of the ocean when I'm driving by.  And it's really been so beautiful and stormy lately too. I drive by and think, "I wish I had a working foot, a pair of gallashes and a model to work with right now."

As for this dang foot, I'm able to stand on it and when I'm wearing my special shoe I can take baby steps as long as I can still put weight on my crutch.  The pain is minimal to none, but the swelling is holding me up.  My ankle and foot is still swelling up after an hour of activity and that makes it hard to stand/walk.  Part of the walking problem is that my left leg hasn't had weight on it for a month and I need to get the muscles to strengthen up to hold my weight.  I've been doing exercises and walking/standing a lot.  It's hard to find the right balance of rest and getting back into action. 

Not walking for six weeks (this is the start of my SIXTH week!) has made me soooo eager to get moving.  I want to go to the gym! I want to walk to work every morning! I want to go food shopping and I want to be able to stand in my kitchen, cooking and prepping healthy food. OMG I want to clean my house!  Paint the walls, organize all my paperwork, etc. Ugh, so frustrating!!!!!

Enough venting... now that my foot has rested all night the swelling has gone down and I'm going to gear up (put on my ace/shoe) and do some "walking".  :)))

Have a safe and happy Halloween!!!!!!!!

Week Four: Making Strides.

Yesterday was one month to the day of the surgery.  I've been making small strides in my recovery... mostly in my energy levels.  Staying in bed for three weeks really demolishes your endurance levels and just getting up and crutching to the kitchen takes a lot of you.  It's crazy!

On the fourth week I went back to work.  I worked three 5-hour days: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  The hardest part about working was getting there - I tried to drive in on Monday but my foot/pins kept getting jostled so I turned around about 1/2 way there.  It was emotionally trying and painful.  The next day I drove 1/2 way to my sister's house and she drove me the rest of the way and picked me up after work.  This worked out great and I got to visit with my niece and nephew which always picks up my spirits.

On Wednesday the doc pulled the pins and even though it hurt like hell it was a huge step in the recovery process.  It was so nerve wracking to always be worrying about banging those pins or someone walking into them.  Once they were pulled the swelling started to go down and I relaxed and became more active.  Friday was the big test - dinner at my brother's house.  He lives on the THIRD FLOOR! I worked a 5-hour day then headed over and crutched up all those steps - and did great!  I was tired as heck on Saturday but I also had a hearty appetite, which is a good sign!  

The best part of getting my pins pulled was that I could finally get a pair of jeans over my foot and I was able to wear one of my own hand-knit socks over my ace bandaged-foot.  I have two pairs that I knit too large and now I have a use for them.  Yay!

The kiddos kept calling this one a Halloween sock!

Now I feel like I will move forward must faster and be more active.  I've been able to stand up on both feet without falling over (I'm like a weeble!) but I still need my crutches if I'm going to walk. Since I can stand in one place now I'm going to try and make my own meals - give Joe a break and get myself back on Bonnie's plan. I have a freezer full of "bonnie approved" lean meats and need to incorporate them back into my day.  I also need to get back into salad mode - so far the only green thing I've eaten has been broccoli.

Onward and upward!

Walking.

hiking thru Denali (left) and at Sandia Peak (right)

First off... sorry about leaving that picture of my busted foot up there for so long.  This foot process has been a long and painful one but I feel like it's finally winding down and the past few days I've been trying to put weight on it and balance standing up on both feet.  It's my goal within the next two weeks to be completely off my crutches.  That will be six weeks of recovery.  Wow, six weeks out of my life - and my husband's life.  It's horrible to have to have someone wait on you hand and foot for so long.

This surgery was a necessary evil.  Once it heals I'm sure I'll be more than happy about having it done.  This past year my left foot has been causing me grief and keeping me from doing one of the things I love to do: WALK.  I love taking long walks and used to walk to work in the mornings and then back after work.  And I always took the longest, most interesting, walks.  Instead of walking stright from North Station to Chinatown I would walk up Beacon Hill, into the Commons and the Gardens and around the Four Seasons/Park Plaza area and then back track to Chinatown.  My walks home would take me back into the Gardens to Charles street, and up those beautiful brownstone lined hills.  I always looked forward to my walks -especially during the change of seasons.

Over the years I've taken quite a few vacations with my Mum.  Our favorites always included walking tours or hikes.  In Alaska we hiked every day and in New Mexico we walked as much as we could.  You get a whole different experience when you incorporate walking into your vacations.

This past year I knew I wouldn't be able to do any walking/hiking tours with my mum - especially after we did the 3-Day in July.  My feet gave me so many problems, which has never happened.  That is when I decided to see the podiatrist, we took x-rays and discussed possible outcomes of not having the surgery and having it.  Finally I bit the bullet and made the decision to fix my left foot.  

Friday was a month from the surgery and my foot is still pretty swollen.  Now that the pins have been pulled I feel like things will move faster now.  I need to be diligent about doing my pt and trying out the foot but I also need to remember to ice it and rest it when the swelling is bad.  I finally am getting my appetite back and will start back on Bonnie's plan.  I don't think I'm up to eating 5x a day but I will get back to eating lots of veggies and lean meats.

Pinless.

At my one-month check up tonight my doctor decided to pull the pins from my toes.  It was a surprise because they typically stay in for six weeks but she was concerned with the amount of swelling (apparently it increases the chance for infection.)  So she pulled the pins. 

Holy shit.  The first pin was excruciatingly painful and took a long time to get out - the last two were ok.  Right now I'm medicated and still feeling the pain.  I can't even believe how much that first pin hurt.  I'm glad they are out though... now I feel less nervous abut bumping the pins and I feel like I've taken the next step toward recovery.

From here on I'll work on mobility in the large joint and putting weight on my foot.  Hopefully in two weeks at my next appointment I'll be ready to try on a sneaker.  I can't wait to walk again.

Back to the Grind.

she will terrorize me no more, haha

Tomorrow I head back to work. I'll work two short days then go check in with my foot doc.  She'll check out the swelling in my foot to see if I'm doing well or need more time.  I'm feeling apprehensive about going back considering that I'm still on crutches and can't put any weight on my foot but I'm also anxious to get to the next level of recuperation.  I've been off my foot and out of work for THREE WEEKS. 

In the last three weeks I've lost some weight - tends to happen when you can't hardly keep any food down.  I've been able to eat some broccoli here and there but mostly it's almond butter & jam sandwiches, spaghetti, cornbread or oatmeal + protein powder.  Not exactly the high protein - low card diet I was doing well on before the surgery.  I expected this but I didn't think I'd lose weight because I thought I'd be munching on the junk food while laying around.  Yes, there have been whoopie pies (one) and dairy-free chocolates but the truth is that my stomach isn't handling that stuff well and that is keeping me from eating it.  Saltines are my newest problem food - easy on the stomach but all that salt is no good.  Oh, well... I gave up the cornbread so the saltines have to stay just so I have something to settle my stomach.

I'm still waiting for the day that I can get back to my diet and enjoy some salads and turkey burgers and maintain my weight loss.  As of now my stomach is in the yucky stage, having just ate a sandwich so I could take my antibiotics (ugh!) and pain meds.

I can't wait for all this to be over and I can walk - pain free!

Have I Mentioned today How incredible my husband is?

My remarkably awesome husband has taken such incredible care of me while I've been down and out with this surgery.  He's been literally waiting on me hand and foot (har har) for almost a month.  That is a long time!  I never have to ask for anything - he's always one step ahead of me, filling my water bottles to keep me hydrated, making my breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, among a gazillion other things.  I'm so lucky because I am literally useless right now. 

Today he came in with a cardboard box that was just delivered to my house.  It was full of dairy-free chocolates for me!!  There was a card with a nice note on it and a box of coffee dark chocolate truffles and a bag of Halloween candy!

How awesome are those skull lollipops???  We immediately ate a coffee truffle (my husband's favorite) and I tried a few of the halloween candies - it was a little dark chocolate owl.  So awesome!

The chocolates come from Premium Chocolatiers and they are dairy - nut - lactose free.  YUM!  This definitely put a smile on my face and reinforces how incredibly lucky I am to have Joe in my life.  :-)

I can't wait to be able to wear jeans again!

These sweatpants are killing me.  They are ugly ugly ugly.  I'm not much into sweatpants but I knew I had to fit my busted and bandaged foot into pants that stretched so I hit up Target before the surgery and purchased these ugly blue ones.  They were $12 so I guess that would explain why they are so ugly.  And they shed.  And they are too short, haha.  I'm so fashionable.  Lucky for me I also have a couple of pairs of black gym/yoga pants that are stretchy enough for my foot.  I tried to put on jeans the other day but I can't get my foot in them.  :(  That's what I get for not owning wide-leg jeans.

On Monday I head back to work for a few hours.  This may be the step I need to push my recovery into the next phase.  I'm supposed to work for a few days then see the Doc and she'll determine if my foot is ok with me being active again.  I'm still on crutches and my toes turn the color of my sweatshirt in that pic when I stand up but I'm going to give it a shot. 

Three more weeks and then the pins come out.  But for now I'm just dealing with trying to put a bit of weight on my foot.  Then we'll worry about the pins.

Happy weekend!

The Versus (variable resistance strength system)

Aaron, Stacey and Kevin

I recently blogged about certain photography projects that I've been lucky enough to be involved in.  Similar to the other project this one also included Stacey.  I also got to photograph Aaron, Kevin and a really special piece of exercise equipment that I really recommend: The Versus.

Recently my gym has been using a pulley resistance-type piece of equipment (that is how I describe it).  It has become a significant part of my small group training with Kevin each week, as well as been incorporated into my regular class circuits.  This piece of equipment is called The Versus (variable resistance strength system).

It's a system that can be used on it's own as well as with a partner.  In one small group session we use it both ways.  Krista and I usually work together -or I should say, against each other.  By providing resistance to one another the exercise becomes a whole new animal and engages the muscles on a completely new level.  The Versus will strengthen your core - your whole core - not just a concentrated section of your abs. 

I personally love the Versus because I have a very weak lower back and many of the exercises force me to engage those muscles (which strengthens the area) and it also enforces me to engage my abs (which protects my weak lower back).  My other personal favorite about this product is that it helps me open up my very tight upper back/shoulder area. Using it for flutters increases mobility in the area and is a great way to warm up your core but my favorite for the upper back/shoulder area is the Squat and Reach.  It allows you to warm your body up with a squat as well as open up your back with an overhead reach.  That is my favorite one.

In addition to the Versus, the Myoforce website also has Strength Programs and Pain Relief Programs.  I'm firmly stand behind those Pain Relief programs, considering that the man who created them is also the man who helped rehab my back and hip problems last year.  As a matter of fact, after my foot heals from surgery I'll be going back to him for my new (surgery related) hip and knee issues. Every person I have sent his way have come back to me with glowing reviews and a healthier body.

Having photographed Stacey, Kevin and Aaron for the some of the Strength Program (as well as the Pain Relief program) I know that those are some really interesting - and challenging - programs!  Just watch the little video on the Myoforce.net page.  That is a seriously challenging exercise - but it can also me tamed down a bit by leaving out the push-ups.  

You can see a video of the Versus in action - both with a partner as well as on your own here.  That second exercise is the Squat and Reach that I mentioned above.

The Versus (variable resistance strength system) website is now live. I highly recommend you go check it out.