Tag: healthy aging

Daily Food Diary –  Day 100 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

It is 100 DAYS since I began my 365 Day Daily Food Diary.  💖

100 days and by yesterday’s numbers,  I am not terribly impressed.  Not only did I consume   MORE than double my processed sugar goal, but today my lungs are noticeably paying for it.   A few years ago, this would have been one of those days to consider throwing in the towel and giving up this obviously futile effort.

But, this isn’t three years ago.  This is NOW. This is not an “All or Nothing” exercise.   Even on my worst days, this is an “ALL OR SOMETHING” exercise.

Despite a couple of bad decisions yesterday, I am celebrating the good decisions that I make everyday.  The few of these, and handful of those,  that I pass on throughout the day.  The carbonated drinks that I pass on every day.  The healthy salads that I make,  when I would prefer something less nutritious.  All of the SOMETHINGS that I do every day to prove that I am being more mindful of what I consume, than I was before I started this exercise.

The bottom line is, I am not throwing in the towel.  This exercise is working – even on the bad days when a few maraschino cherries and a little wee Sesame Snap don’t seem like a bad idea. 🙄 

Daily Food Diary – Day 100

Breakfast:

(1) c coffee (2) (4.7 mg)

(1/2) grapefruit (41)

(1) tsp sugar (16) (4.2 g)

Lunch:

(1) hotdog (160) (55 mg)

(20) Salt & Vinegar chips (185) (267 mg) (.7 g)

Snacks:

(48) oz water

(1) c Lemon Ginger tea

(1) Sesame Snap (150) (3 mg ) (9 g)

Supper:

Chef Salad:

Lettuce, tomato, radishes, cucumber, black olives, green onions, (2) oz ham, (2) boiled eggs, (1/4) c shredded cheese, (1) tbsp sunflower seeds, (1) tbsp salad dressing, (2) tbsp fried fried onions.  (665) (1024.5 mg) (3.3 g)

(2) scoops French Vanilla ice cream (160) (30 mg (3 gr)

(1) tbsp Choc syrup (33) (22 mg) (5.9 g)

(6) maraschino cherries (60) (12 g)

Total Net Calories: 1441

Calorie goal: 1269 – 1441 = 172 over 🙄

Total Sodium: 1976 mg

Sodium goal: 1500 – 2300 mg

Total Processed Sugar: 58.1 grams

Processed sugar goal: < 25 grams ☠️☠️☠️

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 94 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

It is 94 days since I started keeping my Daily Food Diary and making a serious effort to become a mindful eater.

This month, I am working on tracking and reducing my salt and processed sugar consumption – while still tracking my overall calories.   Yesterday, I hit the trifecta reaching all three goals that I was aiming for.  Yay me! 

Our weather is improving which is definitely going to help me reach some non food goals – especially the fresh air and exercise.  Yesterday, Dan, Molly, and  I took our longest walk  this year. We stayed in our neighborhood.  It isn’t the nice smooth paths that we have in our park walks, and the scenery is lacking.  There is traffic, streets to cross, and more people – so it is good for getting Molly acclimatized to more and different distractions.

Molly is getting better on our walks.  I have been taking her leash more and more often – and for longer periods.  Yesterday she did great.  We had one busy street to cross, so I made her sit for a break in the traffic.  She sat like a champ for a good two to three minutes! (We were at a crosswalk but back from the street as we didn’t want to disrupt the flow of traffic). 

Molly did have one moment yesterday.  I was distracted by the uneven sidewalk (ie trying not to trip and faceplant). Molly saw two teenagers sitting at a bus stop with their backs towards us.  Molly, stopped suddenly stuck her head in the bus shelter  and booped one of the young guys with her nose.  No harm done, but the poor guy jumped about a foot off the bench.

“She’s just friendly!” 🤦

Food Diary:

Breakfast:

(1) c coffee (2) (4.7 mg)

(2) Potato patties (240) (420 mg)

(3) sl bacon (300) (645 mg)

Snacks:

(1) c Tumeric Tea

(6) mini Easter eggs (85) (10 mg) (14 g)

(36) oz water

Supper:

(3) oz minced turkey (111) (85 mg)

(1) tbsp taco seasoning (40) (280 mg)

(25) Low salt tortilla chips (260) (80 mg) (1g)

(1/2) c Habanero cheese (165) (315 mg)

(1/2) c red onions (32) (3.2 mg)

(5) black olives (18) (140 mg)

(1/2) c red pepper (23) (3 mg)

(1) jalapeno (4) (.1 mg)

(2) tbsp salsa (19) (273 mg)

Total Net Calories: 1109

Calories goal: 160 under 👍

Total Sodium: 2260 mg

Sodium goal: 1500 to 2300 mg 👍

Total Processed Sugar: 15 grams

Processed Sugar: 25 grams 👍

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 86 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

It’s been 86 days since I started posting my Daily Food Diary – FOUR DAYS in a row that I have met my calorie goal.  I am committed to meeting my goal SEVEN DAYS in a row.

I am concerned about how well I will stick to the plan on Saturday.  We are hosting a birthday supper for granddaughters Prim and Maddy who had birthdays this week and for Dan whose birthday is in early April. 

Yesterday, Dan and I went shopping for gifts for the girls and for the birthday supper, plus a number of odds and ends that we happened to  need.   We  got  the girls’ gifts, cards AND wrapping paper.  We got the pork for the pulled pork plus a few of the extras we needed.   Dan is going back today for everything I forgot – including the three stores that I totally missed.

I am not, and have never been, a great shopper.   I’ve always wondered why ‘shopping’ is supposedly a predominantly female pursuit?  The tide seems to be turning, at least 9 to 5 midweek.  Dan blends right in with all the other retired men cruising the aisles with their  shopping carts.  They all seem to know what they are doing – unlike the handful of women (like me) who are wandering around trying to find their husbands. 

Food Diary – Day 86

Breakfast:

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

(2) eggs (160) (14)

(2) oz ham (73) (13)

(1/4) c green onions (10) (1)

(1) tsp olive oil (40)

(2) potato patties (240) (2)

Snacks:

(1) c Hibiscus Tea

(40) oz water

Supper:

Beef Stir Fry:

(6) oz eye of round steak (264) (50.8)

(1/2) pkg ramen noodles (190) (5)

(1) tsp olive oil (40)

(1) tsp butter (34)

(1/2) red onion (23) (.9)

(1/2) c mushrooms (22) (1.7)

(1/2) c red pepper (23) (.7)

(1/2) c cabbage (17) (1)

(3) cloves garlic (13) (.6)

(3) tbsp stir fry sauce (60) (.3)

(1/2) c celery (8) (.2)

(1) carrot (25) (.6)

Total calories: 1253

Less 161 (walking 41 & aerobics 106)

Net Calories: 1092

Daily calorie goal: 1269 – 1092 = 177 under

Protein: 94.9 grams

Daily Protein Goal: 46 to 58.5 grams

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💖☺️

RIP Kat – It’s been 3 years since we had to let you go. We will never forget you, our sweet little girl. 💞

Daily Food Diary – Day 83 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

It has been 83 days since I began keeping and posting my Daily Food Diary.   It has been 3 years and 10 days since I began my health and fitness lifestyle.

Nowadays,   I keep plugging along with my efforts, always with a quiet appreciation for how far I have come and how many benefits I have received from living a healthier more active life.

Then there are days like yesterday! While I have washed our Jeep on occasion, it is generally one of those chores that Dan handles.  Yesterday, I decided it was my turn. 

I headed down to a self-serve carwash ready to do battle.   Half an hour later, I was heading home with a sparkly clean Jeep.  Not only did I do a great job, best job ever – but there was no battle.  I sprayed the pre-soak, used the foamy brush to scrub down the Jeep top to bottom, sprayed it all down with more soapy spray, and gave it a thorough rinse.  

I came home, did my aerobic workout, had a granola bar AND headed down to Wascana Lake for a walk with Dan and Molly.

There was a time (3 years ago) when I thought that being a flabby, clumsy old  wimp, that having asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis, that being sick and weak and miserable, that struggling every day was who I was.  

It was.   But three years later,  I am stronger and happier and healthier than I ever could have imagined.  And some days that is just so beyond  exciting!   😁

Daily Food Diary – Day 83

Breakfast:

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

(1) c Raisin Bran Crunch (190) (3)

(1/4) c milk (31) (2)

Lunch:

(24) oz water

(1) Granola Bar (160) (3)

Snacks:

(1) c green tea

(25) Lay’s Classic Potato Chips(160) (2)

Supper:

(1) c white rice (242) (4.4)

(2) tbsp soya sauce (30) (2)

(3) sm. Chicken drumsticks(300) (30.5)

(1) tsp olive oil (40)

(10) asparagus spears (33) (3.6)

(1) tsp butter (34)

(5) pcs cucumber (4) (.2)

(1/2) med. Tomato (11) (.5)

Total Calories: 1237

Less 126 Calories for 30 min. aerobics

Less 85 Calories for 37 min walking

Net Calories: 1026

Daily net calorie goal 1269 calories

1269 – 1026 =  243 calories under for the day

Total Protein: 51.2 Grams

Protein goal for per day: 46 to 58.5 grams per day

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💕☺️

Happy Birthday to our newest teenager PrimRose! We love you and wish the best for you – ALWAYS! 💞🎂

Daily Food Diary – Day 82 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

It is 82 days since I started my Daily Food Diary.   With the arrival of spring, we have been getting out and about a lot more.

I love the fresh air and the opportunity to get out walking the trails around Regina.  My only issue is that the more time I spend outside, the more calories I and protein I am consuming. 

Reaching my ultimate weight goal, isn’t my biggest concern.  However,  I have to start working on scaling back or I will be heading in the wrong direction.  That will be my focus for this week…. scaling back. ☺️

On yesterday’s walk, I stopped to take a couple of pics of the flowing creek. 
I told Dan & Molly to go ahead and I would catch up. 
* Nobody tells Dan or Molly what to do.  ☺️

Daily Food Diary – Day 82

Breakfast:

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

(3) PC back bacon (52) (12)

(2) Scramble Eggs (212) (14.8)

(2) Potato Patties (240) (2)

Snacks:

(1) c tea

(25) BBQ potato chips (230) (.2)

(36) oz water

Supper:

(12) oz carbonated water

(6) Pierogies (330) (9)

(1) tbsp onion chip dip (45)

(2) oz Drake Sausage (190) (16)

(1) sm side salad (230) (7.8)

(2/3) c Butter Pecan Ice cream with caramel & chocolate syrup and pecans (381) (3.6)

Total Calories: 1913

Total Protein: 67.5 grams

Daily protein goal: 46 to 58.5 grams

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 68 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

I am 68 days into tracking everything I consume in a day and recording it in my Daily Food Diary. 

This daily practice is part of my personal health and fitness journey that I began three years and one month ago. 

My ‘why’ at the time was just being sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Over the past thirty seven months my ‘why’ has changed and evolved.  Overall,  I feel healthy and strong and I want to stay that way – and continue to get healthier and stronger.    I love fitting into clothes that I hadn’t worn for years.  I love knowing that I am doing my best to avoid being a burden to our already overburdened health system. I love being able to easily do things that I struggled with for years. 

For years, I struggled to do my own hair. Reaching my arms up to hold a curling iron or a blow drier was exhausting and beyond painful.   A few months ago, I was told that this is normal for people with lung disease.  People with lung diseases – asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, or bronchiolitis (I have been diagnosed with all four) find it difficult to lift their arms due to physiological changes caused by lung disease. 

For the past thirty seven months, I have been doing aerobics six mornings a week.  (I did miss a very few weeks due to illness, a broken arm, etc).

I still have chronic respiratory issues and I always will,  to some degree.  But!   I do not struggle to do my own hair.  I can wave my arms in the air, LIKE I JUST DON’T CARE, anytime anywhere – for any reason!

The freedom to move as I want, when I want, is ‘WHY’ enough to keep moving forward on my health and fitness journey,  but I do it for this and for so much more!

Food Diary – Day 68

Breakfast:

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

(2) scrambled eggs (196) (12)

(3) thin sliced bacon (130) (8.9)

(26) oz water

Snacks:

(1) c Licorice tea

(6) Hint of Lime Tortilla chips (150) (2)

(1/4) c sunflower seeds (180) (6)

Supper:

(14) oz water

(2) c homemade wonton soup (250) (19)

(2/3) c Butter Pecan Ice Cream with extra pecans and  butterscotch & chocolate topping(415) (5)

Total Calories: 1322

Total Protein: 53.2 grams

Protein Goal for the Day:  46 to 58.5 grams

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 64 of 365

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

I have been tracking, recording, and blogging everything that I have consumed for the past 64 days.  I haven’t been obsessing over everything I eat, but I have noticed one change in my eating habits.

Through January and into February, I had a lot of cravings or urges to eat or drink empty calories – a root beer here, a cookie there.  I had to make a deliberate effort NOT to nibble and snack from the time I got up to the time I went to bed.  Lately, that is no longer an issue.   Unless, I am sitting down to have a meal, or our afternoon tea and snack, I just go about my day – sipping on my water bottle and oblivious to the tempting  snack type foods on the table or in the pantry.

Due to this one change in habit more than anything, I am excited to report that as of this morning, my weight is down to 128 Pounds. On January 1st, I recorded my weight at 133.5 pounds, so I am happy with the progress I have made so far. 🤗

Food Diary – Day 64

Breakfast

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

(1) c Shreddies (200) (6))

(1/4) c milk (31) (2)

Lunch

(1/2) c dark chicken (267) (4.9)

(1/2) c coleslaw (74) (1.2)

(25) Lay’s salt & vinegar chips (230) (2)

Snacks

(1/3) c mixed salted nuts with peanuts (85) (8)

(1) c green  tea  (2) (-)

Supper

(3) c chicken Caesar salad (350) (8)

(2) slices thin sliced bacon (87) (5.9)

(1) PC Chocolate Fudge Cake (300) (40.3)

Total Calories: 1759

Total Protein: 40.3 grams

Daily protein goal: 46 to 58.5 grand

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

Dan’s Bleeding Heart  – Daughter Jen and Granddaughter Genie keep replacing them  when our winters prove too much for them. 💞

Daily Food Diary – Day 62 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

I am sixty two days into my Daily Food Diary and I am still tracking what I consume, and learning from this exercise every day.

This month, I am specifically tracking the  protein in my diet.  I am only three days in, but so far I am surprised by how high my  protein intake is. I don’t know if it is a fluke.  I haven’t been planning my diet around it.  Having Dan buy a small Chocolate Fudge Cake on the weekend, certainly hasn’t helped the cause. 🙄

Meanwhile, our weather continues to stay relatively mild.  Our February temperatures were not conducive to getting much fresh air so I have really appreciated finally getting outside.

Our neighbourhood is still not great for walking, but fortunately we have a large yard.   We don’t get to a park for a walk every day.   But…  I am getting outside,  throwing a ball for Molly, and getting some exercise  fetching it for her.

Molly sitting in her favourite corner. 🤦

Food Diary – Day 62

Breakfast:

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

(1) c Cheerios (147) (2.7)

(1/4) c 2% milk (31) (2)

Lunch:

(24) oz water

(2) oz Piller shaved ham (57) (8.5)

(1/2) c Mini Ritz (140) (.2)

(1) oz medium cheddar (45) (2.5)

(1) c tea

Supper:

(1) Roasted chicken thigh & drumstick

      (387) (45)

(1) c mashed potatoes (113) (1.9)

(1/4) c Swiss Chalet gravy (20) (1)

(1) side salad (90) (5)

(1) pc chocolate fudge cake (300) (2)

(12) oz carbonated water

Total calories: 1379

Total Protein: 56.4 grams

Protein goal:  46 to 58.5 grams

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 51 of 365

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

It is the 51st day of  recording my Food Diary and posting it here on WordPress.

Better yet, this is the day that our brutal cold snap finally breaks and our temperatures soar up to the freezing point.  It has been the longest coldest February that I can ever remember, but the worst of it is finally behind us.

We do not have any huge plans for today, but I am looking forward to a walk – outside in the fresh air 😊 – with Dan and Molly.  I’m also excited to be going to Home Depot to pick up some garden seeds.  It is finally time to start some seedlings for our garden so we have them to plant once this snow and ice is behind us.   That is weeks away, but I am still excited to take that first step.

Food Diary – Day 51

(1) c coffee (2)

(1) Peach (51)

(1/2) c pineapple

(1) Granola bar (160)

(1) Egg (80)

(3) Slices back bacon (52)

(1) Potato patty (85)

(24) oz water

(1) c Lemon Ginger tea

(1) Homemade oatmeal blueberry muffin            (199)

(5) Licorice allsorts (110)

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) Lean hamburger patty (307)

(1/2) Sliced tomato (6)

(1/4) Red Onion (3)

(1/2) c lettuce (3)

(25) Lay’s Classic Potato Chips(160)

Total Calories: (1262)

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

Daily Food Diary – Day 49 of 365

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

Good Morning! I am a few days late, but this morning I weighed in at 129.7 pounds.  Yay!

Yesterday, I turned a corner with the app Lose It! that I have been working with the past few days.  Two things that I really like –

(1)  The app breaks down my daily calories into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  Regardless of what I am doing, I always do better if I break it down into smaller parts.  This will help me to not only stick to an overall calorie budget for each day, but will also  help me to make healthier choices throughout the day. 👍

(2) This app helps me to track my activity for the day and see how it affects my available calories.  🤸

I have used a Fitbit activity tracker before, but this is the first time I have used an app that budgets calories for the day, tracks calories consumed and calories used.   I can see this becoming a really useful tool for me.

Note: I haven’t checked it out yet, but Lose It! also tracks the nutritional make up and values of the foods I eat.   That will be very helpful as I continue to work on improving  my diet this year.   Also, while I am starting out with the basic free app, there are benefits to be had with a paid subscription that I will check out down the road.

Food Diary – Day 49 of 365

(1) c coffee (2)

(1) lg pear (133)

(1) Granola bar (160)

(24) oz water

(3) oz DK skinless turkey (160)

(6) Original Triscuits (120)

(1) c tea

(2) sq. dark chocolate (120)

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) lg garden salad with pan fried (in olive oil) white chicken (473)

Total Calories: 1169

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