Tag: accountability

Daily Food Diary – Day 78 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

I am 78 DAYS in and still showing up every morning to post my Daily Food Diary.  It is a small, simple act,  but it is becoming an important part of starting my day on the right track.  Every morning, I commit  to being accountable for my health and wellness.

It is not just about my physical well-being.  My mental and emotional health, affect my physical health.  My lung issues are triggered by stress, so I  have been focussing on dialing it down. 

This cracked me up when it popped up on my Facebook feed the other day.  It’s funny because it’s true. 😂

Stress and anxiety have been an ongoing issue for my entire life.   I have dialed it down A LOT in the past few years, especially since I retired.  But it is still an issue.

I work on it before I go to sleep – listening to soothing music, guided meditations, or inspiring videos.  And I work on it in the morning – by setting my health and wellness as a priority – body, mind, and soul.  Because it doesn’t just happen.  We have to make it happen. 😉

Food Diary – Day 78

Breakfast:

(1) c coffee (2) (.3)

(2) Potato Patties (240) (2)

(2) Eggs (160) (14)

(3) Slices back bacon (52) (12)

Snacks:

(1) c Cherry Trifle Tea

(1/2) pkg Popcorn (160) (2)

(1) pc Matrimonial Cake (139) (1)

(24) oz water

Supper:

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) porkchops (177) (26)

(1/2) pkg Ramen Noodles (190) (5)

(1) c broccoli (60) (9)

(1) tsp butter (34)

Total Calories: 1215

Total Protein: 71.3 grams

Protein goal per day: 46 to 58.5 grams

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💓🌞

Daily Food Diary – Day 33 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

I am thirty three days into my food diary and eleven days away from celebrating the third anniversary of my health and fitness journey.  I am pumped up!

I am also struggling to work my way through some strange form of seasonal flu.  I know it is a flu because my symptoms are a lesser form of all of the symptoms my daughter has been dealing with for the past few days.  It still sucks because I want to be going hard to wrap up YEAR THREE on a high note!  💪

All is not lost.  I will manage a less intense aerobic workout, possibly have a nap, and hopefully complete a sewing project that I am working on – making a couple of rice bag door draft stoppers.    Sewing is NOT one of my talents or passions.  Fortunately, daughter Jen lent me her Maddy’s basic sewing machine because she knew I would get overly frustrated dealing with her own  more complicated electronic madel. 

Two You Tube videos and one speaker phone call with Jen and Maddy AND I got the little beast threaded yesterday. 👍

Food Diary – Day 33 of 365

(1) c coffee (2)

(2) egg omelet with ham & onions    (254)

(2) Potato patties (240)

(24) oz water

(1) c tea (1)

(2) bowls Knorr vegetable soup – extra broth and fresh vegetables carrots, onions, cabbage, spinach, and celery.   (140)

(6) soda crackers (60)

(11) Hint of Lime Tostito chips (250)

(1) c tea (1)

Total calories (946)

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

Daily Food Diary – Day 16 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

Day sixteen of 365.  I am still here, although I am running late for the 2nd day in a row. 

Yesterday, I was late to the party because I had had a rough night sleep and just finally fell asleep when I should have been getting up. 

Last night, I slept like a rock for a solid ten hours. 🤦

I’m up already!  Ok, maybe finally? I love the housecoat Dan got me for Christmas.  ❤️

Another day this week to focus on drinking water.  Proper hydration is so important to everyone, but I am noticing more and more how important it is for those of us with chronic health issues.

For myself, with multiple respiratory issues, proper hydration is key to dealing with mucus.  The good news is – water works! I have been gradually upping my water intake this week and my sinuses are so much better! I usually sleep well,  with  occasional wakeups due to coughing fits, most often triggered by post nasal drip.   Last night, no coughing – nothing!

My sister Lorraine commented on my post yesterday (as anonymous).  She noted that one of the rules for organ transplants (hers was kidney) is proper hydration – two litres a day of water, and double that if you have an alcoholic drink.

Speaking of kidneys, I have had previous issues with kidney stones – for which plenty of water is advised.

This morning, my daughter Jen sent me an interesting post on  Instagram, from an account dedicated to those who have EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome – a genetic collagen disorder).   https://www.instagram.com/share/p/BAMZdhiVBc

This post notes that not only is proper hydration important but so is sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support cellular hydration, fluid balance, and nerve transmission.

One thing that I have learned the hard way, is that while medical intervention is available during a chronic health crisis, one has to be proactive in maintaining one’s health and controlling one’s flare ups between the crises.   Adequate hydration is one such proactive measure that is necessary.

Daily Food Diary – Day 16

(1) c coffee

(3) crumpets with butter and jam

(12) oz water

(12) oz water

(1) c tea

(1 1/2) sm bowls chips and sm crackers

(12) oz water

(1) lg taco salad – lettuce, spinach, baked chicken, onions, radishes, cucumber, red pepper, olives, shredded cheddar cheese, dried fried onions, Salsa salad dressing and a few Hint of Lime tortilla chips

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) chocolate

(12) ounces of water

Total water : 60 OUNCES 🎉

That’s it for today! Take care and have a great day! 😊❤️

Daily Food Diary – Day 10 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

Good Saturday morning, because paying attention to what I eat is a seven day a week exercise.   ☺️

As always, today’s food diary entry is  for yesterday – Friday January 10th.  Friday used to be the worst day of the week for my diet.  That was my food reward day for making it to the end of the work week.   Donut breakfast, fast food lunch (KFC was my favourite), happy hour after work and date night supper out  when Dan was off (some unhealthy prepackaged meal when he wasn’t).   I am surprised I survived as long as I did with all of that salt, sugar, and yeast. 

My diet is still far from perfect, but I am becoming more aware of what I eat and  I am making some improvements – specifically snacking less, especially in the evening.  It’s not that I don’t want to snack all evening.  I just get cringy thinking about writing it all down and posting it for everyone to see. 🙄

Hopefully by the end of this  year,  those evening snack cravings will be long gone.

Food Diary – Day 10

(1) c coffee

(1) large Baking Powder biscuit Denver sandwich

(3) 8 oz  glasses of water

(1) small Bowl BBQ potato chips

(2) c leftover spaghetti with meat sauce and shredded cheese

(2) c raw vegetables – broccoli, red pepper, cucumber, and radishes with Dilly Dip

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) c tea

That’s it for today.  Dan is gone to drive his girl Maddy to work and time for me to get my morning aerobics done while he is gone.

Genie, Rory, Grandma/Me, Maddy
Maddy now – those (almost 15) years went by way to fast!

Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Morning sunshine to break through our cloudy skies and another foot of fresh snow.

Mistakes 😵

by annemariedemyen, posted in March 2022

### Warning… Some days I feel the need to vent. This is one of those days. 😉

I live in Saskatchewan. We are one of the largest provinces in Canada by area and we have one of the smallest populations. So far, we are sitting in third place for the number of Covid fatalities per capita in Canada.

Our health facilities have been overwhelmed during every wave of this pandemic. At one point, our ICU’s have been overwhelmed to the point of sending critically ill and dying patients to Ontario, two provinces to our east, for care. For those lucky enough to survive the trauma of being admitted to our hospitals and ICU’s, there is no aftercare to assist in recovery, save what can be found in regular medical clinics, therapists, and the like – which have been overwhelmed by community needs and scaled back to allow for social distancing of clients and staff. There are no special clinics that have been set up to work with those who suffer from long-haul Covid, as has been happening in other jurisdictions in Canada and around the globe. This week, our provincial government released a new budget adding a six per cent provincial tax to gym memberships and services, golf memberships and fees, park fees, sports venues and the like. This, at a time when the cost of eating healthy is rising. This, at a time when adopting and living a healthy lifestyle is more important than ever, if we are to recover and move past this pandemic.

There are people in Saskatchewan who would like to see an official review of what went right and what went wrong during this pandemic, to determine can be done now to best insure that we can deal more efficiently and successfully in the event of future pandemics. Our Premier and his cohorts have vehemently refused to consider any such review.

There was an article in our newspaper this morning, regarding this situation. In it the author noted that there have been mistakes made throughout this pandemic, that should be looked at to insure that they are not repeated.

Why is everything that goes wrong nowadays a mistake or an accident? Whatever happened to decisions and choices? Whatever happened to consequences and accountability? Whatever happened to taking responsibility for the decisions and choices that we make and taking steps to deal with the consequences?

This isn’t just about politics. It is about all of us as parents, professionals, partners, drivers, employers, human beings. The decisions and the choices we all make matter! Even when we decide or choose to do nothing in a situation, it matters. There are consequences that matter. And, none of us are hapless victims. We have the responsibility to make conscious, intelligent, reasonable decisions and choices and we have the power to deal with the consequences when we fail to do so. Life does not get any simpler than that.

Deep breath here. 😌

That is it for today. Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.

Take care and have a great day. 💞