Arthritis Wisdom

Inspired tips and information elevating autoimmune living

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How Do You Prepare For the Holiday In 3 Steps With Little Energy?

Prepare for the holiday with little energy by keeping it simple

Prepare for the holiday in three steps with little energy by keeping it simple

How Do You Prepare For the Holiday In 3 Steps With Little Energy?

With rheumatoid arthritis (RA) I’ve learned to keep things simple.  I prepare for the holiday by setting priorities so I can preserve my energy.  Although my symptoms are well controlled, I will never have the energy level I had prior to my diagnosis.  I’ve also learned to keep the stress level low, so I do what I think is important and forget about the rest.  Enjoying my family is the goal!

This year our son will come home for Thanksgiving.  He will be here for about a week.  My strategy involves preparing his room in advance, having healthy food around in addition to the Thanksgiving dinner and maximizing the decorating so a little bit will go a long way.  There you have my 3 steps!

  1. Preparing his room.  When we found out our son was going to be able to travel to spend the holiday with us right after Halloween, I cleaned his bedroom the following week.  I was able to check off my first step.  That gave me a sense of accomplishment.  Managing stress is key to preventing an arthritic flare.
  2. Plan healthy meals and snacks.  The Thanksgiving dinner is traditional around our house and it is a healthy one.  Turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and a variety of fruit and vegetable side dishes.  I make enough to have leftovers through the weekend, so that takes care of half the time we are together.  And what is so great is that my family loves the leftovers!  I will make steel cut oatmeal in advance to have for reheating and store in the refrigerator.  I will have fruit and berries washed and ready in the refrigerator, as well.  Sliced almonds and walnuts from the pantry can top the oatmeal.  I’ve learned eating well with whole foods and limiting sugar is important to prevent a flare.  I have a sense of responsibility to provide my family with tasty nutritional food.  That is a result of my diagnosis.
  3. Maximize my decorating.  I don’t have the energy to decorate the house like I used to, so I put together a centerpiece of autumn leaves, bittersweet and a garland of nuts the beginning of October that will take us through the Thanksgiving holiday.  I also decorated the fireplace mantel and placed a few pumpkins in the foyer.  That’s it!  I lit the centerpiece and mantel with twinkle lights to make it more festive.  They also serve to help light up the space, which is good with my eyesight!

Family time is so necessary for our well-being.  I have to keep it simple when planning and preparing for our time together so I don’t get stressed out.  That is a good motto to live by for all of us, but it is essential when you have RA or any chronic disease.

It really is about creating a healthy lifestyle that doesn’t challenge our bodies in a negative way, but enables us to capitalize on the positives that bring us happiness, contentment and the best opportunity for our bodies to help itself.  I work at it everyday because I have found there is no greater motivation than to simply feel well.  Not perfect, but well!  Prepare for the holiday with joy!

And that is using Arthritis Wisdom!

Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!

XXOO Cathy

photo credit:  James Besser of Unsplash

Why Do You Want to Eat a Beet?

Nutritional Roasted Beets

Roasted beets are nutritionally power-packed and add lots of color for a beautiful presentation! Yum!

Why Do You Want to Eat a Beet?

To eat a beet is to give yourself a sweet and nutritious treat.  In addition to fiber, vitamins and minerals, the beet is a unique source of betalins, a phytonutrient with antioxidant properties.  For someone with systemic inflammation like I have with my rheumatoid arthritis (RA), this is all good news!

What I choose to eat is an important piece to my anti-inflammatory lifestyle.  I’ve experienced the benefits of limiting processed foods, carbohydrates and sugar.  Even before my formal diagnosis, I made these changes to my diet with noticeable improvement in how I felt almost immediately.  Enough so to give me encouragement to keep it up.  My theory is to give my body the best chance to fight the inflammation and prevent further inflammation by limiting foods that can potentially cause inflammation.

“Medications alone aren’t enough.  I manage my RA with my *FRESH* lifestyle.”

I aim for eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, fatty fish, lean meats and poultry, nuts and seeds.  This week I roasted beets to add vibrant color, an earthy taste and interesting texture to my salad.  The main reason I like to eat a beet is for the nutrition it provides.  Here are some of the nutrients in a beet:

  1. folate
  2. manganese
  3. copper
  4. potassium
  5. phosphorus
  6. magnesium
  7. vitamin C
  8. iron
  9. vitamin B-6
  10. phytonutrients contained in the beet.

I try to eat a green salad at least 5 times a week because I have found I simply feel and think better if I do so.  When I see a pattern in how I feel when I eat certain foods, I take notice.  Eating green salads with different toppings and dressings are a great example of eating what makes me feel good.  By changing up what I add to my greens, I don’t tire of the goodness the ingredients offer.  The beets can be diced or sliced for a beautiful presentation.  I love the rings exposed in a sliced beet.  It adds interest to the salad.

Some of my favorite things to put with the beets and greens are candied pecans, goat cheese, orange slices, blue cheese, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and pomegranate seeds.  I dress it with simple vinegar and oil, then grind some salt and pepper to top it.  Yum!

Here is how I roasted the beets, which came out of my husbands organic garden.

  • Wash the beets to remove any dirt on them
  • rub olive oil on the beets
  • place in a dutch oven so they do not touch each other
  • cover
  • roast at 375 degrees turning the beets every 20 minutes until done
  • do not over bake
  • let cool a bit
  • remove peel  ( I do this with my hands, but they do end up purple! )

You want to eat a beet because of the nutrients they contain, in particular the phytonutrients that have antioxidant properties to help the body help itself.  A healthy diet will nourish the cells in our body to be able to do their job.  I believe that helps the body to best fight the inflammation.

And that is using Arthritis Wisdom!

XXOO   Cathy

 

 

 

 

Perception Deception

Perception deception is a good description of trying to accurately recall symptoms as discussed on my RA blog

Perception deception is a good way to describe relying on a faulty memory to recall RA symptoms accurately.

With so much going on in my life these days, I’ve decided I definitely have a case of perception deception.  Let me explain.

Once October arrives, the holiday season with all the additional activities essentially starts.  Add the sale of mom’s house, a mere 300 miles away, and I am being kept sufficiently entertained.  Oh, and October means the pumpkin filled with candy bars is right there on the counter for the taking.  I love my sugar, but I have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) so my body does not like sugar.

Every year I think I have the discipline to resist the lure of the candy bars in the pumpkin.  Since my RA diagnosis, I’ve had control over the urge to eat too much candy a total of one year.  A candy bar here or there is not what I’m talking about.  I can eat one after another so easily.  And then I suffer the effects.  The inability to keep my candy consumption to a minimum was a problem this year.

After a day of eating way too many candy bars I was feeling light headed, my joints were sore, my legs were restless when I tried to go to sleep and my arms and legs felt like jelly.  Now I’ve been obsessing over my symptoms potentially related to my RA lately with the increased stress from travel, grief, and just dealing with what comes up in normal day-to-day living.  So I decided I was experiencing a serious sugar load.

After I realized I had really overdone it with eating too much sugar, I got pretty concerned.  I tried to think back to how I felt when I was having severe arthritic flares.  I wanted to take action to mitigate the sugar overload.  That is when I knew I had a case of perception deception.

As much as I tried, I wasn’t sure I could be confident my memory of my symptoms was accurate.  At that moment I was scared I was going to go into a full blown flare.

Maybe detailed notes or detailed journaling would have helped, but I’m just not a journal-type.

Once again I was kicking myself that I allowed the candy bar consumption to get out of control.  The excess sugar is just too inflammatory and problematic for someone with RA.

I live by my *FRESH* acronym, at least most of the time.  Having a chronic autoimmune disease requires discipline with lifestyle choices.  The food I eat is so important to consider always.  There is nothing like feeling and thinking well as a powerful motivator to adhere to healthy eating, stress reduction, exercise, proper sleep patterns and staying hydrated.  I knew I blew it here.

Because my memory of my RA symptoms is not accurate, a classic case of perception deception, I have a good reason to stay focused on my *FRESH* lifestyle.  I would be horrified if I ended up having an arthritic flare just because I couldn’t control my urge to eat candy bars.  That would be crazy and not very wise.

This situation is making me get my mind set on limiting not only sweets during the upcoming holiday season, but to also mentally preparing for all the less-than-healthy snack foods so readily available during the fun season.  Many of them are prepared with processed food, which is something else that causes my body and joints to revolt!

What are your tips to help you resist the sugar temptation?  Please share them in the comments below.

And that is using Arthritis Wisdom!

XXOO Cathy

photo credit:  Brendan Church at Unsplash