Happy Easter for those who celebrate!

I will be working today-- it is gloomy today and I need to catch up on some things. Also, my family is gathering next weekend for a generic spring gathering. I don't love working on the weekend but I am eager to get some important tasks done without distractions.

I did not weigh this morning-- I have been feeling bloated the last few days and I decided to just skip it. I know my weight fluctuates I don't need to see the proof :)

My real progress was at the end of the week - I have mentioned that I have a lot of stress and a lot of things to work through. Honestly, I was mopey (at best) and not doing all that well for about a week. That just isnt like me so I decided to turn it around on Friday-- I couldnt remove the stressors but I decided I could and would change my attitude. I got dressed .. i mean real clothes "dressed".. put on makeup .. and forced a smile. I met with BFF for coffee and then dealt with a few of my challenges head on that I had been avoiding or holding on ice. I am not going to lie, some things are are still stressful but I am not allowing them to overwhelm me. This is my win for the week .. and I am going to continue it into next week and beyond.

While talking with BFF, she stopped me ... and said, "I am going to have to ask you to stop talking about my friend that way." I had been relaying the results of some self reflection and yeah, I was being pretty critical of myself. The reflection was needed ... but her words really turned me around. I am not going to fix things by beating myself up. It is wasted energy ... and I am thankful for the gentle course correction and I want to share it with any of you who need a reminder to be better to yourself.

"Please stop talking to my friend that way." Be kind to yourself. Use healthy language with yourself. ❤️

Hope you all have a great week -- and a great Sunday!

Happy Easter.

It is an important fact Funky - we are much harder on ourselves than we are on others. Always good to remember to be kind to ourselves. I'll have to remember your friend's line too to use with a couple friends.

I am back from my trip and had a great experience traveling. I liked a lot about my week of solo travel, and I'm glad I stayed after my niece had to leave, but I don't know that I would plan it. I found it kind of lonely I guess which surprised me. I don't mind being alone, but in a strange setting, it was different. I wouldn't not do it if the opportunity came up, but I don't know that I would specifically choose it. I saw so many amazing places though, so definitely no regret.

Anyway, I didn't get the Europe weight loss boost :) Thought maybe I would with all the walking. And I got tired of looking for places to eat, so I skipped dinner out most nights - but I guess if you sub chocolate, there's no real calorie deficit. There was some really good chocolate.

I put off my annual check up and blood work before I left, so I need to get that rescheduled and get back to some more consistent exercise. I'm hoping warmer weather will help get me motivated. I would like to walk outside every day and find something good to listen to while I'm doing it. My brain is kind of bored lately, so any suggestions are welcome.

We are ”doing Easter” next weekend, too!

This week will be, um, interesting. I have my annual physical tomorrow; actually it’s been more like 1-1/2 years. I did the pre-appt blood tests the other day and my cholesterol is through the roof, and potassium is high. Both dramatically higher than ever, which seems odd, so I’m curious to see what she says.

On Thurs I have MOHS #2 on the other side of my nose. And since the graft from #1 is still a bit lumpy, she’s going to sand that down a bit more too. Not looking forward to it, but I’m planning to get a valium (or whatever) Rx from my PCP tomorrow.

Be kind. Great advice!

Glad you had a great trip, Legomom! Hope you find something inspiring to listen to when you exercise. I did't listen to anything when I did exercise more consistently so I am no help.

Sue, it will be great to have all this mohs surgery behind you!

And I feel you, it is so frustrating to have new health issues come up when you are doing everything right-- eating healthy, exercising! Same happened to me. My BP and blood sugar both went up after I lost 70-80lb. Really? lol

I had oats today and salmon yesterday. Is my cholesterol lower yet?

I do sometimes listen to podcasts when I walk. I like Armchair Expert, Wiser Than Me, Fresh Air, sometimes Mel Robbins, Crime Junkie, etc. Nothing terribly intellectual.

I drove DS back to his apartment in the city today, so he didn't have to lug some "stuff" on the L, and on my way home finished listening to a Rich Roll podcast. I really like his guests and interview style. This was a good one, about the new dietary guidelines:

https://richroll.com/podcast/simon-hill-976/

There's a lot of good information in it.

Yesterday, eating with family and friends, I didn't track anything. And ate everything! I didn't dare weigh myself this morning. I didn't need to--my face was puffy and I felt yucky. I also didn't sleep well last night. This, after a day of unrestricted eating. Was it worth it? The time with family and friends, yes. The Swedish pancakes, bacon, hashbrown casserole and jelly beans, no. It was good to get back to tracking today.

I did have a good moment this morning with DS, though. We talked about various things going on in his life (the city dating scene--interesting perspective he has!), and at one point he shared the struggles of one of his roommates who is taking care of parents in ill health, both parents in their late 50s. My son then told me how much he appreciates that I take care of my health. He must have overlooked how much bacon I consumed yesterday. But I did appreciate what he said, and it reminded me of why I do what do.

Have a good week, everyone!

Quick nugget to share. I had my annual physical yesterday and had the blood tests done last week. According to last week’s test, my potassium level had gone wayyy up. Weird. When I had my appt yesterday, my dr was like, this can’t be right. We’ll check again. Re-tested, and it was perfectly normal. Apparently, if the tourniquet is too tight and/or you’re making a fist (which they tell you to do), it can cause a false high reading. Who knew!

My cholesterol was also very high which she thinks might be from all the restaurant meals in FL (hm, another lesson to be learned) so she wants me to have it re-checked, fasting, in a few weeks.

I was wondering what could cause very high potassium and what the significance was. I usually here we need more of it. Glad it was resolved. Hope the cholesterol thing proves similarly transitory!

Sharing a yummy dish I made yesterday…and ate again today. I added chicken.

(PS someone here may have shared this before; I can’t recall where I got the recipe.)

That looks sooo good, Sue! I can't eat yogurt but it looks like I could use another dressing and it would still be good.

I have these two recipes open as options for a virtual potluck on Friday. I am clearly in a chickpea and/or cucumber mood!

• Jennifer Aniston Salad — Her Wholesome Kitchen
• Smashed Cucumber and Chicken Salad Recipe

Funky, great minds, etc…I also made the Jen Aniston salad last week. DH loved it, and he never gets excited about any salad. I will be making it on repeat all spring and summer, I think.

I can’t see your other recipe bc I don’t have the NYT app. Not sure how I’d feel about ”smashed” cucumbers.

Sorry about that!

Here's a gifted link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024376-smashed-cucumber-and-chicken-salad?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.I2_N.1gcla6pIRdDV&smid=share-url 

Ooooh... these salads looks delicious. Thanks for sharing them. I'm about to make a batch of chicken breasts and need ideas for leftovers.

@sueb20, the chickpea salad is trending on NYT. If I plan to eat it tomorrow, would you make it in advance or make it fresh? Thx

Mtn, that’s tricky. IMO the taste was better on day two, but it looked better on day one. The yogurt really thickened overnight and just seemed weird, texture-wise, on day two but the flavors of the dill etc were better.

I am going to try this one also ... though I am very tentative on the raisins. I put raisins in my chicken salad and sometimes in my tuna. I am just not sure how far I want to go with that craziness.

Roasted Zucchini Pasta Salad Recipe (this time I remembered to share a "gifted" link)

It would be perfect for my virtual potluck .... but all heck has broken out this week and I don't think I'll be making anything. I am considering ordering a salad to be delivered and dumping it into my own bowl (chicken, dried cherries, walnuts, parm and lettuce). FWIW I would fess up.

Oh that zucchini one looks yummy @Funkyart. I don't think I could do fruit with fish (raisins in tuna salad). Though I was once served fish with banana.

Thanks, @Sueb20, that is a very helpful reply.

I dont get fancy tuna — just bumble bee albacore. it is very dry and very mild. Kind of ”fish adjacent” lol. I grew up eating chopped apple in my tuna salad so it isnt a big leap.

banana is a hard pass on texture alone!

I agree, I get Bumble Bee albacore (and the Prime Gold esp) and it is soooo mild and good.

Yeah, and it was not like, cooked in a banana leaf. It was banana and sole in a cream sauce!?

Okay, so I just made it. But uhh, the can of chickpeas I remembered in my cupboard... turned into a can of cannellini beans. Ooops. So I forged ahead anyway.

My main take away is that the dressing recipe is very good. The balance of mayo and yogurt (i used a very good local yogurt, too) and herbs etc is really nice. And of course the scallions and celery are nice too. I would use the recipe with all sorts of main ingredients, and I think most people would like it.

Wait, are you talking about the NYT recipe? There is no mayo or celery…? At least not in the version I posted.

This was last night’s dinner, with a tiny baguette from Trader Joe. I had made it before a long time ago. Healthy and tasty. I doubled the recipe so this will be my lunch for a few days.

https://belleofthekitchen.com/black-bean-stuffed-peppers/

I love stuffed peppers-- all varieties! I will give them a try!

Aside: I gave one of my sisters a gift card to Hudson Valley Seed Co for her birthday. One of the seed packs she selected is for turtle black beans. They sound interesting to grow!

I will be honest, while I am sharing recipes, it is all aspirational. I have worked until 10pm every night this week and it is going to continue for awhile. I do think the chickpea salads will work out well for me but otherwise I am not getting much fancier than tuna. 😂

I love stuffed peppers too. And black beans so I will definitely try that one. I love chickpeas and cucumbers too - but not yogurt - so that one's a maybe.

I thought my weight might settle after my trip, but I was up even more - so time to get serious. I tracked my calories yesterday to see where I was and I walked a lot. Pickleball today. Will try to do something every day, but mostly I need to get my calories under control. Too much snacking. I'm not big into the protein push, but I do think it helps with satiety for me. And I don't naturally eat it. Plus I am a volume eater. So I need more veggies and protein - I rely a lot on nuts and beans, but those add up pretty fast when you're not paying attention. Plus if I'm not satisfied then I snack - and mostly not on anything healthy. Tortilla chips - I'm looking at you:) I ordered an air popcorn popper. Maybe that will help. It at least takes longer to eat.

Funky, nothing wrong with relying on canned tuna! It's versatile, healthy, and there are many ways to jazz it up. I hope your schedule eases soon.

Lego, I've violated the "handful of nuts" rule so many times that I only allow them sprinkled in salads anymore. During a previous road trip, I chose them at convenience store to tide me over until dinner, and ended up eating 200+% of my fat intake for the day. Lesson learned. I think you'll get a lot of bang for your buck with the air popper.

I made a big salad yesterday with red kale, cabbage, red peppers, chopped broccoli and chickpeas. I also made a batch of chicken breasts in the slow cooker to shred. So, it's chicken and salad for the next few days, which is fine. Keep in mind I'm still tracking, so I'll make a homemade dressing for the salad separately to add, depending upon what I've already consumed on that day, and may add feta cheese. Last night, I just drizzled balsamic vinegar over it because I had had a 2-egg scramble earlier in the day that had upped my fat intake.

Tracking has been helpful, yet rigid. It's a good reset that I need, but this definitely is not a "lifestyle" change for me.

Thanks, Feathers! I don't *really* mind my work schedule right now -- there are a lot of sad/unpleasant things going on in my little world and I don't have control over most of them.

I am working lots and the pace is a little frenetic but for now it is valuable work that I am especially good at (vs admin work or the same old routine). It feels good. For now. 😊

Ahhh... good, Funky! I just linked a podcast in the old NYT mind health thread, and it emphasized brain stimulation. Sounds like you're getting plenty of it!

I am trying to do things strategically over time and if I can't work on one health thing much because of my work schedule + form of agoraphobia, I work on another. Right now I am too busy to go to the gym more than a couple times a week at the times that I like to go. There are two other days during the week where I could but I have trouble leaving the house once I am home and dealing with extra people at that time I guess. (I deal with people all day long, but that is in a particular capacity, so I have no problem with that, and I know it's not rational.)

I have been working on my skin, because I can do that at home. I actually have pretty good skin because for longish periods of my adult life, covering myself up most of the time was what I did so not a lot of sun exposure except parts of my face because I am allergic to many sunscreens. ( I actually liked one aspect of Covid in that I worked even more covered up and I could wear a face mask and be even more anonymous outside).

After that long intro, what I have started doing is the Korean Glass Skin regimen using drug store available products, and it's basically several steps:

Double Cleansing with an oil-based cleanser first, followed by a water-based cleanser. Oil-based is particularly important for people who wear make-up which I do not, but it's also needed to remove sunscreen which is part of the regimen.

After the cleansing, application of hyaluronic acid serum

After this a glycolic acid toning solution a few time a week up to every day, at night

Then niacinamide + zinc serum

Then moisturizer, and with the morning routine you follow it with sunscreen. And then I need some more moisturizer to help with the sunscreen:

The cleansing, serums and moisturizer are twice a day. I can only use mineral sunscreen (zinc) so I have to be careful with that or I end up looking like Carol (Grace Marcus Saroyan Saroyan ) Matthau, in her later years. Google her with Walter Matthau and you will see.

Anyway, it seems to be working even after a couple weeks although it takes several months I guess to get the full benefits. But the bags under my eyes started to reduce right away.

I think I am going to get an Omnilux Men LED mask for those benefits, I would be interested in hearing from anyone who is doing LED red/near infrared therapy. The issue with some people saying these two regimens haven't helped seem to be issues with compliance and not being patient enough.

Interesting, @palimpsest where did you come across this particular routine? I'm embarrassed to say I wash my face with Noxzema because I have never found anything I like as much. Then I use Neutrogena Hydroboost. But if you think it has merit, given your expertise, then I'm all ears.

I need to up my skincare game -- but I don't even know where to start. I use a pevonia face cleanser but I suspect it may be too drying. My skin is aging faster than I am acknowledging it. 😳

I will post some pictures.

@mtnrdredux_gw, I started seeing stuff about glass skin and Korean glass skin on Facebook and once it's in your algorithm, more things show up. For women, it's basically also a pre-foundation regimen although it is stand alone as well , and there are versions for men.

Of course a lot of the stuff on FB is so heavily filtered but I found non filtered pictures of how it works

The two step cleansing is mostly because of wearing makeup, but I do it when I wear sunscreen.

My one niece is doing it, although she also had non ablative laser treatments, and her skin looks really good despite living in Florida until she was in her 30s.

Korean skin care is no joke. When we were in Seoul, the skincare stores were huge and amazing. I didn’t buy anything there because it was a little confusing and overwhelming, and it was before people here really started talking about Korean products. Now I wish I had filled my suitcase.

I recently ordered based on, what else, a reel from a dermatologist on Instagram, where we all get the most reliable helathcare info. But I did my own research too and seems like it’s worth trying for my spotty face.

Other things he recommended: Vaseline (I prefer Aquaphor) as an eye treatment at night, either as is or on top of a regular eye cream. Peptide serums esp ones that include Matryxil (The Ordinary has one). And La Roche Posay Mela B3 serum, again for dark spots.

I have tried Retin A rx from my dermatologist but it was so drying. Recently I read that it helps to put moisturizer on first, then the Retin A, then moisturizer again.

Pal, I also use a mineral sunscreen (SPF50) as recommended by my dermatologist. I mix it with my moisturizer and you won’t get that white face.

@Sueb20 .Oh yeah, the pic looked so similar. This is the recipe I made:

Here are the results of about one week of the glass skin regimen:

Out of bed, my skin does not look crushed and I do not have huge bags under my eyes. I sleep face down. This is from the before bed application.

After application. In normal light you can see that I have pretty large pores on my nose and some spots and wrinkles. These are all supposed to be reduced over time.

In harsher light you can see how shiny this looks, some men apparently put some kind of light makeup over it to cut the shine. You can see uneven texture and milia and so forth, which is not too bad, and should be improved over time. And, I am thinking about getting an LED mask

Is all of this $$$$? I have such sensitive skin and all sort of stuff that is supposed to be good for me just makes me red and I throw it out.

I swear I must be living under a rock! I only use Cerave products on my face. I need to up my game!

Is all of this $$$$? Who, me? Who has cut his own hair for 29 of the last 30 years? Who went for more than two years without buying a single item of clothing except a pair of sneakers because the ones I had were holey?

It's all drug store level stuff.

Water based cleanser is CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser (16)

Oil based cleanser is ELF Holy Hydration Makeup Cleansing Balm (12)

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid + B5 ( ~12)

The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner ( ~10)

The Ordinary Niacinamide Zinc (~8)

Lubriderm Fragrance Free (~12)

Neutrogena Mineral Zinc SPF 50 (~17)

You could find $100 versions of any individual product , but I don't think that's necessary.

And I have to use the Lubriderm Fragrance Free and the Zinc anyway.

I am also really sensitive on my face to lots of things. I have gotten burns like a sunburn from a bad reaction to sunscreen. Even scented Lubriderm or generic Lubriderm give my face problems. So far I have not had a problem with anything, even the glycolic acid.

I only find out about this stuff from Facebook.

Actualy some of these products are cheaper than the CeraVe products. The Ordinary and ELF seem relatively inexpensive

I was stress-eating for several weeks, but am back on track now. It’s a good thing my Tulipmania gala pants are a size larger than my normal size! One thing that got me back on track was a book called Plant-Powered Plus by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz. He is a gastroenterologist, and the focus of the book is gut health. A huge part of the immune system and serotonin production originate in our guts.

Re skin care-I have been doing the double cleanse for many years. The only way that I can use Retin A is by layering it between moisturizer. My skin has always been sensitive, but it seems to be getting worse as I age. I spend a small fortune on my skin care regimen, but it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference. Maybe I’ll try yours, Pal. Be careful with the red light device-a friend with sensitive skin reacted badly to hers (Omnilux).

Thanks for sharing your routine and products, Pal. Your skin looks healthy! I'm going to research double cleansing, although I rarely wear foundation, and I do not wear sunscreen. But perhaps it's useful to just remove residue from the day.

I love The Ordinary. I've simplified my skincare routine and currently use 2 of The Ordinary products--cold-pressed rosehip oil for daily moisturizer (after I apply Heritage Store's glycerin and rosewater facial mist in lieu of hyaluronic acid), and at night I use The Ordinary's granactive retinol emulsion, followed by organic, unrefined coconut oil as a moisturizer.

My DS's girlfriend gifted me The Ordinary's glyconic acid, but, because it came from her, I assumed it was for younger skin. I will take another look at that one, too.

Texanjana, thanks for the book recommendation! Sounds like a great motivator.

@texanjana, sorry to hear is has been a stressful time.

The more I read about nutrition the more important I think it is. Will take a look at the book, too