Suzanne Graham

We got up early this morning and packed a picnic lunch. I had asparagus and salmon. DD fixed gourmet turkey sandwiches for her Dad and brother, filling them with vegetables like they do at Subway.

We spent the morning and the first half of the afternoon at Shiloh battlefield. I had never realized that disease killed more men than bullets in the War Between the States. Open latrines polluted the water. Farm boys had never been exposed to diseases to measles and chicken pox. Fresh food was often in short supply. Often the men went for days eating hard tack (a dry biscuit made from white flour) and coffee.

Late in the afternoon we toured Helen Keller’s childhood home in Tuscombia. What an inspirational woman she was! She lost both her sight and hearing to what was probably scarlet fever or meningitis when she was 19 months old. Yet she lived a full life doing much to inspire and help others who were blind and deaf.

We had dinner at O’Charley’s. This is a chain of restaurants in the Eastern US where I can always find a beneficial meal. Tonight I had steak, broccoli, and sweet potato fries. All were delicious.

Our hotel had an arrangement with a local gym called Riviera Fitness. The kids and I left HH watching TV and went to work out. The equipment was first class. I spent half my time on the best elliptical machine I’ve ever tried. The other half was spent on weight machines.

One thing about a public gym is that the customers sweat a lot. Sometimes the equipment is sticky, and sometimes I wonder if it is sanitary. I noticed other people at the gym squirting a liquid on paper towels and wiping off the equipment before they used it. I realized that there were stations set up all around the gym with antibacterial spray and paper towels. I thought it was a great idea – especially with a bad flu season expected this winter.

DD and I are committed to getting muscle building exercise even while we are on vacation. The fitness room at the motel last night was good, but today we worked our exercise into our sightseeing. That was even better.

If you ever go to Memphis, I would highly recommend Mud Island Park. In the park is a reproduction of the Mississippi River on a 30 inch to one mile scale. The detail is incredible. It shows sand bars, bends oxbow lakes and more. Water flows down the river, and we smiled as several small children floated little boats and plastic fish from Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. Mud Island itself is in the Mississippi River, so as you look at the water flowing through the model, you also see barges floating down the real river.

It was interesting and educational, but the fun started after New Orleans when the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. There were paddle boats for rent. My husband had no interest in paddle boats, but DD and I got in a swan while SS got in a dragon. If you have never been on a paddle boat, you sit side by side pushing pedals like bicycle pedals. The pedals drive a paddle underneath and you steer with a bar that turns a rudder. The model shows the Mississippi River delta and coastline with its bays and inlets. It became a game for us to try to slip past each other and not get trapped.

For half an hour we pedaled and paddled furiously, trying to head each other off without bumping into each other. When our time was up we were drenched with sweat and laughing hysterically.

We had packed a picnic lunch to take to the park. My idea of a picnic is not a sandwich, but a bowl of canned vegetables and canned meat. Today I had peas and carrots mixed with tuna and olive oil. For dinner we stopped at a Subway. HH and SS had sandwiches. DD and I had salads. Sometimes Subway can give you lots of iceberg lettuce, but be stingy with spinach and beneficial vegetables. This Subway east of Memphis was generous with the other vegetables, and I enjoyed a beneficial meal.

I can do a pushup. A real one…from my toes. I want to shout it from the housetops. Now, you have to know my history before you can understand my excitement.

When I was in elementary school, I was the classic bookish girl – the non-athlete who was always chosen last for the kickball team. Actually there was one other girl who was as bad an athlete as I was. She and I were in weekly competition, hoping we would be next-to-last and not last.

I did not like team sports, and in my school that’s all there was. Today’s kids can run track or swim or participate in any number of individual sports, but in elementary school kickball was king. In high school there was volleyball, which I hated even more than kickball.

This was during the Cold War era and the US was focused on the Space Race. There were government incentives to encourage school children to study science and get physically fit. Oh I hated those yearly fitness tests. Because I didn’t like sports, I was always below the acceptable level. I did tolerably well at sit ups, but my 100 yard dash was pathetic, and I could not do a push up. Not even one. Not if the teacher insisted on correct form.

I’ve blogged at other times about how as a newly wed, my husband introduced me to running, which showed me that I not only had athletic ability, but that I relished it. Running is one thing, but upper body strength is something else. I still couldn’t do a push up.

When I first started the BTD, I learned so much from Heidi’s column. She was recommending the Royal Canadian Air Force Fitness plan. I downloaded it and used it for about a year. That plan built up my arms to the point where I could do a knee push up with correct form. But any attempt to do a push up from my toes brought total collapse.

Last summer DD and I used the weights in our neighborhood fitness room a lot. She left for college, and I left off going to the fitness room. I forgot one of the key concepts for women over 50 who want to remain healthy. Because your hormone levels are dropping, you will lose muscle mass unless you make a daily commitment to build it. If you want to get a shock – Google “menopause ‘pound of muscle.’” Here is just one quote,

“You lose about half a pound of muscle every year after the age of 35. Because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, it requires eight times more calories to maintain, even at rest. Therefore, as you lose more muscle you burn fewer calories. If all other factors remain constant, this translates into about four pounds of muscle lost and 15 lbs of fat gained every decade!”

I believe this is the root of my knee pain. I was focused on cardio exercise because that’s what like the best. I wasn't gaining weight, but I let the muscles in my legs lose their tone and strength.

DD came home for the summer after spending a year lifting weights with the football and basketball boys. She is so petite, that it amused them to see her lifting weights. They taught her a lot of new exercises and muscle building techniques. I was convinced that I had to increase the muscles in my legs unless I wanted to live the rest of my life with knee pain. So she and I have spent the summer focused on building muscle.

Several weeks ago, we were doing an exercise tape that included knee pushups. I was doing 10 – 12 with out much effort. I decided to try a real pushup. I couldn’t do it, but I didn’t completely collapse. I felt the same way I had felt when I first started knee pushups on the Royal Canadian Plan. So several times a week, I’ve done five knee pushups to warm up, then worked at pushing up from my toes. Every day was a little better. Last night I did it. Two pushups from my toes with correct form.

If anyone from my elementary school is reading this blog, they have now fainted. I have proved to myself that I can – even at 55 years old – defy my hormones and build muscles. If you are a woman over 40, I urge you to get some kind of a weight or muscle building program. The only alternative is pain.

Now I have a new goal. I want to do a pull up.

I like having DD home for the summer for many reasons. One of them is having an exercise partner. She is a planner. I am spontaneous. She plans our exercise for the week. I come up with alternates when something happens to throw the plan off.

One of our new exercise routines this summer is what we call 20-20. There is a walking path near the swimming pool in our neighborhood. It is a ¾ mile loop that goes down a hill, by a fish pond, and back up to the top of the hill. DD and I run the loop for 20 minutes, then jump in the pool and swim for 20 minutes. We have to start early. The neighborhood kids start arriving at the pool about 10:30, and it’s hard to swim laps when they are splashing.

The board of our neighborhood association decided to upgrade the equipment in the fitness room. They bought a new elliptical trainer and a new treadmill. They also got two different types of stationary bicycles that target different muscles, plus they bought a really nice weight machine. When DD and I go to the fitness room, one of us uses the weight machine for 20-30 minutes, while the other does cardio on one of the other machines. Then we switch. I’m seeing some nice results in the muscle tone on my arms.

Not too many people used the old equipment, but more and more neighbors are taking advantage of the fitness room now that we have good machines. Yesterday I was on the elliptical and DD was lifting weights. Another lady came in and chose the treadmill. A few minutes later a fourth lady arrived. She evidently saw that one of us was using the equipment she wanted because she left, saying she’d come back later.

We ride our bikes at least one day a week after dinner. It’s starting to cool off by then, and we have the added bonus of watching a sunset change colors as we ride home.

God, in the Bible, often uses physical principles to make a spiritual point. For instance there are many verses about endurance and stamina. Those verses encourage me when I exercise. They keep me pressing on when I’m tired and would rather take it easy. But while God commends my efforts to strengthen my body, the higher meaning of those verses is to strengthen my character and my faith.

Today I read a verse in proverbs about food choices. “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil. But a foolish man devours all he has.” That is Proverbs 21:20. I first thought of the BTD when I read it. Doesn’t it perfectly describe modern society? When I shop if I buy only choice, healthy foods, my family and I will eat wisely. But if I bring junk foods and avoids into my home, stress may overcome me and I may devour everything in sight.

The spiritual principle is also there. Just as I don’t want to make leave myself vulnerable to making poor food decisions in the kitchen when I am hungry or needing comfort, I don’t want to ignore God until a crisis strikes, and then cry out for help.

Just as I want to make wise and beneficial food decisions ahead of time at the grocery store, I want to develop a relationship with God and absorb His teachings ahead of time so that in a crisis I understand His will.

Patella femoral pain syndrome. I now have a name for my knee pain. SS took a course in joint dysfunction in the spring. He asked me lots of questions during the semester about what hurt and what didn’t because he was wavering between two knee problems that have similar symptoms.

The good news about Patella femoral is that it rarely, if ever, requires surgery, and it is the least debilitating of all the knee problems. The bad news is that it is the slowest and most difficult recovery.

If I have been sitting for a long time my knee hurts when I get up. However once I’m moving around, I feel little or no pain. My knees hurt going up and down stairs, particularly if I don’t keep my toes pointed straight ahead. (I am SO glad we built a one-story house.) It doesn’t hurt to run, swim, or ride my bike, but exercises that involve lunges are very painful. Not surprising to me at all is that it is aggravated by poor arch support and the tendency to pronate.

In May SS gave me six exercises to do. He said that with some physical therapy, you have to push through the pain. Patella femoral is not one of those conditions. He said that if any of the exercises made my knees hurt or pop to stop immediately. Two of them caused pain, so I just did the other four until he came home last week.

He watched me do the exercises and said my form was good on all but one of them. Someone will have to spot me on that one until the muscle he is trying to isolate gets stronger. The two exercises that hurt were for my quads. SS said that strengthening my quads is the single most important thing to do. He modified those two exercises in such a way that I’m working my quads, but not hurting my knee. Other muscles that impact Patella Femoral are abductors, hip external rotators, hip extensors.

It was gratifying to me as a Mom to watch him work, and to see how his manner was both firm and gentle. He found it helpful to spend an unlimited amount of time watching me move and modifying the exercises. He says he never gets to spend that much time with a patient in a clinic situation. I’m probably biased, but I think he will make a wonderful physical therapist.

He tells me that inflammation is not a factor in Patella Femoral Syndrome. I would concur that there has been no swelling or stiffness in the joint. However, since inflammation is such a big issue for Hunters, I can’t help wonder if there isn’t some low level of inflammation that contributes to the pain. Or perhaps physical therapists and naturopaths use different definitions for inflammation. I’m going to look into inflammation protocols.

What I am most curious about is which came first – the chicken or the egg? Or in my case - did arch problems cause my quad to deteriorate to the point that it couldn’t support my knee cap, or did weak quads and hip muscles cause me to walk awkwardly and affect my feet?

I suspect there may be a genetic component to this problem. My father told of his army days when he was marching across Italy and his feet and legs hurt so bad that he thought he couldn’t take another step. He stopped by the side of the road, stuffed dry grass under his arches, and felt immediate relief. My Mom’s knees hurt if she sits for too long. The pain has caused her to stop attending both Sunday School and church. It’s just too much sitting.

I’m hoping that if correct the underlying muscle weakness, I may find a permanent solution to both my knee and foot problems.

You probably know more about my knees that you ever wanted to know. I got off on this tangent because of a thread on the Forum. DD and I have tried some new recipes, and I’ll get back to blogging about beneficials and avoids next time.

We have had our nephew and his family visiting for several days. We’ve been doing a lot of swimming and walking. I get in a rut at times – routine house hold duties, job hunting, computer chores. Sometimes I forget that we moved to the Hill Country in part because of the many opportunities for outdoor exercise. We have had a lot of fun with our company, and every day has been filled with physical activity. But it did distract me from blogging and delay the second part of my experience with foot, knee, and hip pain.

After Fred died, I tore apart one of my shoes and tried to copy what he had done. I could never get it exactly right. Some days my knees would feel good; some days they would hurt. I tried department store variety arches, but they did not help. I talked with several people about getting custom orthotics made by a podiatrist, but they were made of hard plastic, rather than the comfortable soft material Fred had used. I called dozens of shoe stores, but no one could give the kind of personal service that Fred had always given. They didn’t have his compassion, his work ethic, or his knowledge.

Eventually I found a shoe store – a national chain called Foot Solutions – that sold several brands of soft arches that were a much higher quality than the department store brands. They measured my feet and recommended Lynco arches.

There were advantages and disadvantages to Lynco arches. They worked really well in athletic shoes, but not in dress shoes. They gradually compressed so that they didn’t provide the support, and had to be replaced. That would have been fine, except the changes were very subtle, and I didn’t recognize them until my knee began to bother me again. Then I would look at the bottom of my shoes, see that the heels were worn down. Then I would remember to buy new shoes and new arches. It would take several weeks to feel right again.

While the Lyncos kept me pain free most of the time, they weren’t perfect. Sometimes stairs would bother me. I learned to use the T-Tapp technique of “No Duck Feet”. If DD and I did an exercise video with lunges, my knee would begin to hurt and continue hurting for several days. But I could hike, run, ride my bike, and do all normal activity quite comfortably, so I didn’t worry.

I began having a little more knee pain last December. I should have recognized that I needed new shoes and arches, but I missed the signals. Instead since SS was home from Physical Therapy School, I asked him why my knees hurt when I did lunges. He did some measurements, and had a theory about my knee pain. He gave me some exercises to do. The pain got slowly worse until February or March when I looked at the bottom of my shoes, saw how badly worn they were, and exclaimed, “Oh that’s what’s wrong.” I got new shoes and Lynco arches. Yet for some reason, the pain did not go away as quickly as it had for the previous 10 years.

I was better. I was not uncomfortable for most of the day. But something was still not quite right.

I had heard radio advertisements for a store called Ideal Feet. They claimed that their arches would make your feet feel better in 10 minutes. I went in and got measured. Their arches are more expensive, but they do not have to be replaced. If they stop working, the company will replace them. They have arches for athletic shoes and dress shoes. I believe they are helping, though I still can’t do lunges.

In the meantime SS took a class in joint dysfunction this spring. He called several time to ask questions about symptoms. He has put a name to my condition. I’ll write the last part of this blog about knees next week.

I am by no means an expert on knee pain, though I am hopeful that I am now on a strategy that will end my knee pain permanently. I jumped into a Forum discussion last week on knee pain, and promised to write more detail about my personal experience. It would make me happy if my failures could prevent someone else from wasting their time, or if my successes could bring someone else relief more quickly.

When my Strong Son was almost two years old, I developed pain in my right knee and hip. The only thing I knew that caused joint pain was arthritis, and I was very distressed to think that at 33 years old I was developing symptoms of a debilitating disease. Being into Health Food at that time of my life, I first tried a ton of vitamins and supplements, none of which helped. I went to a chiropractor who did not help my hip or knee at all, but did give me neck and shoulder pain.

Eventually on the recommendation of a friend, I went to see Fred – an elderly shoe salesman at a local store. Fred had sold shoes his whole life. He had gone to shoe factories to see how shoes were made. In his desire not only to sell shoes, but to help people feel better, he learned to make custom arches for his customers. He had me walk up and down the store, and told me that carrying a big active baby on my left hip for two years, was causing the pains in my right hip and knee.

He built arches for a new pair of athletic shoes. There was immediate relief, and over a period of 4-6 months all of my symptoms disappeared. Needless to say I went back to Fred for all of my shoe purchases. Because he used soft material, his arches had to be replaced a couple of times a year. He didn’t charge for the arches if you bought shoes from him. After he retired, I continued to drive to his house to get my shoes fixed. He would go to other shoe stores and pick out shoes for me that he knew would work with my feet.

Oh how I wish I had asked him to show me what he did and how he did it. I guess I was reluctant to ask him to reveal the secrets of his trade. Or I assumed that he would always help me with my shoes. One day in about 10 years ago, my right knee was starting to get a little sensitive, and I called for an appointment. Fred’s wife told me he had died suddenly. As far as she knew there was no one else who provided his kind of service.

Now what was I going to do??

Perhaps you’ve noticed that I haven’t written nearly as much about bicycling for exercise since I moved to the country. My parents gave me a bicycle when I was about 12 years old. I took care of it, and it lasted for many years. The fact that it didn’t have gears was not an issue because I had always lived in cities with flat terrain. But when we moved to the Hill Country, things changed. The first time I tried to ride, I couldn’t even get to the top of our driveway. A few weeks later I came across a notice in “Want to Buy” on craigslist from a girl who wanted an old fashioned bicycle with wide tires. I sold it to her.

DD and SS both had mountain bikes that we had bought at department stores. DD and I rode together last year, but even with the gears, SS’s bike was hard to ride. There just are no flat streets or paths in the Hill Country. Everything is either up or down. Add to that, I’ve never liked riding a man’s bike. Then the last straw - his bike developed squeaky breaks and a wobbly back tire. The bike shop told me it would cost more to repair it than I had paid for it. We donated it to a charity that repairs broken bikes and gives them to children at Christmas.

Though I rode DD’s bike occasionally last fall, I knew I would need to buy another bike before she got home for the summer. I sought the advice of two friends who are serious cyclists. Both of them told me not to spend money on another department store bike. They said that for hills, I would be happier if I invested in a serious bike. I wasn’t sure I would be happy paying 2-3 times the price.

I began to watch craigslist for a used ladies Trek. Sometimes I called to late – the bike had already been sold. Sometimes the asking price was too high for a used bike. Other times the price was right, but the bikes were rusty or in need of repair. I began to wonder if I was being too picky or too cheap.

Yesterday I saw a newly posted ad for a Trek for $250. I had hoped to spend less than $200, but the seller still had the original paperwork and he was willing to deliver the bike. There wasn’t a scratch or a flake of rust on it. This morning I went for my first ride. My friends were right – the Trek is noticeably superior to the department store bikes. On DDs bike I sometimes had to traverse to get to the top of a hill. The Trek went straight up every hill, and I never even used the lowest gear.

Biking is the kind of vigorous exercise that is good for Type Os. DD and I will ride together all summer. Now that I have a bike that is fun to ride, I expect I’ll be peddling up and down the hills several times a week.

I have always tried to find good watermelons by patting them and listening for an echo. Sometimes I would pick a good one, but sometimes I got a dud. Usually I wait until June to buy them, because early watermelons can be flavorless.

Watermelon is super beneficial for Hunters and Gatherers, and I’ve been longing for one. Somewhere I read that the best watermelons have a large yellow spot where they rested on the ground. So I decided to buy a May watermelon. I didn’t thump or pat. I picked the one with the biggest and brightest yellow spot.

It was fabulous: sweet, crisp, and full of flavor. I will have to see if the yellow spot hint works every time.

I read an interesting statement today by CS Lewis, “Niceness is an excellent thing. We must try by every medical, educational, economic, and political means in our power to produce a world where as many people as possible grow up nice; just as we must try to produce a world where all have plenty to eat. But we must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world. For mere improvement is not redemption.”

If everyone recognized the wisdom of the BTD, and began to eat right, it would make them feel better. But eating right will not change a person’s heart. While pointing people I meet to a better way to eat in a good thing, it is far better when I can point people to the loving God who created them and who longs for them to repent and turn to Him.

My Strong Son is starting his second physical therapy internship in the same city where my Darling Daughter goes to college. The first week of his internship was the last week of her freshman year. They had a lot of fun hanging out at night. He watched basketball while she studied for finals, then they went to the gym together. On Friday my husband and I joined them for much more than Mother’s Day. It was Mother’s Weekend.

Friday night they took me to a local steak house for dinner. My steak came with grilled onions and peppers, green beans, and a huge sweet potato. While we were waiting for our meal, they gave me my first gift. It is a balance disc. DD has used them at the college gym this year. SS has used them with patients at PT school. They tell me that as I use it with my regular weight exercises, it will force me to use my abs and strengthen my core. I can hardly wait to get it home and try it.

After dinner we went to a two mile hike and bike trail. The landscaping was very well done, and lots of people were out getting their evening exercise.

Saturday morning we went to the zoo. The weather was cool, and the animals were really active. We saw flamingos fighting over nesting sites, jaguars climbing trees, and lions strolling majestically. We got to the monkey cages at feeding time. The colobus monkeys were munching on kale and collards. They don’t like the tough inner stems any more than people do. But their obvious enjoyment of the raw leaves, made DD and me decide to try one of the raw kale salad recipes this summer.

SS’s girlfriend and her mom came to see us Saturday afternoon. They were bringing DD some rugs, accessories, and knick knacks for her apartment next year. We all went out for barbeque for dinner. The turkey was delicious, and I got to choose my own vegetables from a buffet line. After dinner we went to a paleteria. This was my first visit to a Mexican ice cream shop. I tasted several flavors, but finally chose a mango paleta. It looked like a Popsicle or ice cream bar, but it was made with fresh fruit. I had expected it to be very sweet, like a Baskin Robbins ice, but it wasn’t. I’m sure some sugar was added, but it certainly wasn’t an excessive amount.

Sunday morning the kids came to the hotel to pick us up for church. They brought me a lovely bouquet of yellow flowers – daises, roses, and some little flowers I’m not familiar with. After church we had Chinese food at a local restaurant DD likes because they will custom steam her food the way she likes it. It was delicious – just fresh food – no chemicals added.

It’s been a wonderful Mother’s Weekend – great food, exercise every day, and being with my favorite people in the whole world.

When I was shopping in anticipation of Spring Break, the magazine rack at the check out stand was filled with pictures of the First Lady in an attractive red dress with her arm draped over the back of a White House sofa. I could not help but observe that she had nice muscle tone.

On the way home, I heard a news commentary on the radio gushing about the fashion statement the First Lady had made at the State of the Union address by daring to wear a sleeveless dress in February into the hallowed halls of Congress. The commentator spoke of an uproar in the fashion industry, and how companies were reworking their upcoming lines to show more bare arms.

While I was in that frame of mind, DD came in from college. Her first night home, she, her Dad and I took a power walk up and down the hills of our neighborhood. She and I walked with weights. She was showing me new triceps exercises that she has learned from the football players who work out in the gym at her school. It is certainly paying off for her. Her overall muscle tone is ideal – firm yet feminine. Even the fawning commentator, would have to admit that DD’s arms rank right up there with Mrs. Obama’s

Twice during her Spring Break we went to the little gym in our neighborhood and worked on our arm muscles. Then my strong son came home. He talked with me about strengthening my core, and how that would prevent osteoporosis. He showed me exercises to strengthen my lats and my rhomboids. SS reminded me that while a person may feel stronger and increase the amount of weight he or she can lift when they start a new exercise regimen, they do not actually start building new muscle tissue for six weeks. He emphasized that to strengthen my knee, my core, and my arms, I have to be committed to the exercises for the long haul.

The Hunter in me would much rather get out and run or ride my bicycle, than do repetitive weight work. DD and SS, each in their own ways, have forced me to recognize that I must commit myself to push through (what I consider to be) boring exercises if I want to see results. Ok, Ok I get the picture. It will take perseverance to get a strong spine, sturdy knees, and Obama Arms.

I have mentioned in past blogs that my right knee is weaker than my left one. It doesn't hurt all the time, but if I move it in the wrong way it is sore for several days. I particularly notice the soreness when DD and I do exercises that involve lunges. My right knee does not like lunges or pliés.

SS has started his first physical therapy internship. When he was home for Christmas, I asked why my knee was that way. He got a mad scientist gleam in his eye and had me stretch out on the floor. He twisted and turned my leg. He did strength tests. He told me that my right knee cap slips out of the groove when I put it in certain positions. He promised to look up the exercises I needed to do to strengthen the muscles that hold my kneecap in place.

He mailed me nine exercises. The muscle and ligament that support the knee cap also attach to the hip joint, so I am doing quadriceps strengthening and stretching plus iliotibial band and hip adductor strengthening.

In the past when injuries or disease got so painful that surgery was required, physical therapy was prescribed to aid recovery. Then orthopedists began prescribing PT before surgery. Some patients improved so much that surgery became unnecessary. The momentum for the future is that physical therapists would become primary care physicians for muscular skeletal problems. People like me who have a minor problem will use PT to solve it early rather than waiting until pain is acute.

Think of the way dental treatment has changed in the last 60 years. In my grandparents' day tooth decay and gum disease were normal. If someone lived long enough, a dentist pulled all their teeth and built dentures for them. Now children and adults go in for preventive dentistry once or twice a year. Decay and gum disease are stopped before they do damage. Hardly anyone needs dentures any more. PTs can imagine a day when joint pain is dealt with early and routinely, and surgeries are limited to repairing broken bones and other accident related injuries. I guess I'm a guinea pig for the new ideal.

SS says the hospital where he is working has a lunch special for employees: meat and vegetables for $2.50. He said, "I can't buy groceries and cook for myself for that price. The food is really good too." He is eating like an O and thinking preventive health care. I couldn't be more pleased. Now, I'm going to go do my exercises before I go to bed.

A short, violent spring thunderstorm dumped 5 inches of rain on our hillside and washed out part of the path around our back yard. We postponed repairing it all summer because we couldn’t decide what would be the most attractive and most durable material.

For several days we thought Hurricane Ike was going to come straight at us, and we quickly got serious about flood and erosion control. We decided that a lot of the damage that occurred last spring could have been prevented if we had a berm in one particular area. I started hauling rocks for the 10 foot long mound. I gathered some rocks from our property. I hauled others from the discard piles at a nearby construction site.

When I do this kind of physical labor, I’m not concerned about exercising! Setting aside a time to exercise on exercise equipment wearing designer exercise apparel, is definitely an urban phenomena. My farming and ranching grandparents didn’t worry about getting enough exercise, they worried about getting enough rest.

Lifting rocks is at least as hard as lifting weights. Climbing up a hill with a bucket of dirt gets my heart rate up at least as fast as a treadmill. My back has been a little stiff when I waked in the morning, but it quickly limbers up. I believe I’m getting stronger. It’s a good, healthy feeling.

When I’ve not been hauling rocks, I’ve been sending out my resume. I told our principal a year ago that when DD graduated, that I would resign from my job teaching journalism. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping the kids publish the yearbook and school newspaper. But I’m eager to return to doing the work of a writer, photographer and graphic designer myself.

It’s been a while since I searched for a job. Some of the rules have changed. The internet has made it both harder and easier to get noticed. I’m excited about the possibilities.

I have had one of the most breathtakingly wonderful experiences of my life. It started with an ordinary event – exercise.

While I was at my parent’s house it was hard to exercise. The days were busy ones, with much to do to take care of my Dad. The days were also hot and humid. Nights were plesant, but it made my mother very nervous for me to be out walking by myself at dusk. Two days I went anyway, against her wishes. Some days I did T-Tapp in the living room after everyone was asleep. Some days I missed out on exercise.

The first day I was at home, DD and I went for a power walk with weights. It was wonderful to charge up and down the hills in the fresh air. Over the weekend we went for a bicycle ride. We pushed ourselves hard, riding for about an hour.

As we came back home, we startled four deer in our neighbor’s front yard. Two of them took off down our driveway, heading into the trees behind our house. The other two began to run down our street. They were running right beside me, neck and neck with my bicycle, perhaps four or five feet from me.

I could see their beautiful eyes and watch their graceful strides. We were side by side for several hundred feet, then they sped up, crossing the road in front of me. They leaped effortlessly across the bar ditch and disappeared into the trees.

It was a magical moment.

One quick followup to my blog about edamame. A stomach virus swept through the store where DD works. She had fever and cramping, and she felt pretty miserable. It was not caused by the edamame pods. A virus is a virus and it has to run its course. But I don’t think that the extra amount of fiber helped her recovery any. Even though she is able to swallow the whole edamame, she agrees that from now on, whe will just eat the beans, not the pods.

We stopped for lunch in Elizabethtown at a restaurant called Texas Outlaw BBQ. When we walked in we said, "We're from Texas, will we feel like home?" The hostess laughed.

I ordered brisket, DD and HH ordered turkey. In Texas, most barbeque restaurants serve pinto beans, potato salad, cole slaw, and fries. This restaurant had lots of vegetables including green beans and broccoli, which I ordered. They even had sweet potato for an extra charge. My meal was delicious. My husband ordered beans with his turkey. They weren't pinto beans. They were some kind of small bean in a sweet sauce. This Kentucky restaurant would have Texas barbeque beat - - except for the northern beans!

After a day of driving and museums, DD and I were ready for a hike. We stopped at a visitor center and inquired about local trails. The lady suggested a 5-mile path around Freeman Lake. It was perfect. The lake was lovely. We saw flocks of Canadian geese and we even came around a curve and surprised a deer. Part of the trail was through lush trees; part was through lakeside meadows filled with wildflowers.

My husband didn't make the hike. His leg is bothering him. Ever since back surgery 23 years ago, he has a sensitive spot on one of his nerves. We have been so careful not to let him load suitcases in the car. I hope it is just the result of a lot of driving today.

The first white man to find Cumberland Falls was Zechariah Green. He and his men were floating down the Cumberland River when they heard ominous noises ahead. They quickly abandoned their boat and swam for shore. From there they watched the boat go over the falls.

We were not nearly so much danger as we walked beside the river, climbing up and down so that we got to see the falls from both the top and the bottom.

Tonight we enjoyed Chinese food at a restaurant where our Strong Son enjoys getting take-out food. The menu gave us the choice of a dinner, which included entrée, rice, egg roll and soup, or “a la carte” which was just the entrée and rice. My husband, DD, and I all ordered a la carte, and had more than enough food. SS ordered the dinner and loved every bite.

I ordered Imperial Beef. It included, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, and water chestnuts. The vegetables were fresh and cooked perfectly. DD had Green Bean Chicken. I tasted one of her green beans and they were so good they inspire me to try cooking fresh green beans when we get home.

SS devoted most of the evening to studying. I asked him to explain something that he was learning that he had never known before. He said that he hadn’t known there are three systems to get energy to cells: Creative Phosphate, Glycolytic, and Aeorbic. CP provides a quick boost of energy and is rapidly depleted. Glycolytic can last longer than the CP, but glycogen breakdown is incomplete, so lactic acid is formed as a by product. Both of those systems are anaerobic.

The aerobic system uses oxygen and burns glucose. It can take up to 5 minutes to get this system functioning, but once it’s going it can continue as long as there are stored fats and carbohydrates available.

I’ve heard about aerobic exercise for years, and for the first time I understand why it is important. The first systems are only good for a sprint or for picking up a heavy object. They do not burn stored body fat. For weight loss, you don’t want a quick short burst of activity. Aerobic exercise is what allows you to sustain your activity and actually start to use up stored fat. This is why Dr. D recommends 30 – 35 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week for Type As. For Type Os he recommends 45 – 60 minutes at least 3 times a week.

I find myself thinking of Green and his party again. As they paddled downstream, they were getting sustained aerobic exercise. But when they jumped overboard and swam for shore, they had to have switched to their Creative Phosphate and Glycolytic systems.

Today’s activities highlighted how seriously some people take animal nutrition and how little thought they put into their own diets. I doubt that Kentucky is all that different from any other part of the country; it’s just that the contrast was so obvious at the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Kentucky Horse Park is like a theme park – except there aren’t rides. It’s like a museum – except there are shows and activities. It is a wonderful place to learn all about horses and see close up some of the things that horses can do.

We wanted to have lunch in between two of the shows. The restaurant serves cafeteria style, and at first, there didn’t seem to be anything but sandwiches and wraps. Then we came to the salads, but they were pre-made with bacon and fried chicken. At last, at the end of the line, DD and I found what we wanted – plate lunches with a meat and two sides. One of the meat choices was a half of a baked chicken. DD and I decided that we would get one plate lunch with mixed vegetables and green beans. We would add a side order of green beans, and share. It was a good plan and it worked.

When we paid for our meal at the end of the line they charged us $2.50 for the extra green beans. Behind us was a boy who wanted an extra order of French fries. They charged him $3.00. DD and I found this to be amusing. People are willing to pay more for fries than they are for vegetables.

All through the park there is an emphasis on proper nutrition for the animals. The owners and trainers want the horses to be sleek, fast, and in good health. But the snack stands and much of the food in the restaurant play to the lowest desires of the human visitors.

SS asked if his grandfather had made progress learning to walk again, and I gave him an update. He took my observations and explained what is happening physiologically. Both neurological components and immobility components are at work, he said. At first, right after the accident, it was all neurological. The head injury was real, and it interfered with the nerves to his leg. However being in a wheel chair for 18 months has affected his ability to use his muscles and joints properly.

There is no way to know how much of the problem now is neurological and how much is immobility. It’s possible that permanent nerve damage was done. It is also possible that his current problems are not the result of the head injury at all. SS said that immobility perpetuates itself. Muscles shrink when they are not used. The lubricating fluids that allow joints to move properly are not made until the joint moves.

Keep yourself moving with the right exercise for your type. Don’t let immobility rob you of your ability to have an active lifestyle now and in the future.

When we travel, we picnic two meals a day and eat out one. This saves money and time, plus it makes it easier to stay within BTD boundaries.

Every motel we are staying in on this trip has a continental breakfast. Most of the time that means wheat and orange juice. DD and I don’t even go to look at the breakfast any more. We bring nuts and dried fruit with us. I pick up fresh fruit at local grocery stores. My husband and son check out the breakfast buffet. If it’s donuts and bagels, they come back to the room for trail mix. If it’s muffins and cereal, they stay. This morning they stayed, and when they got back they told me that there were hard-boiled eggs. I went down and picked up two for a snack later in the day.

At the meal we eat out, we order things that aren’t practical to carry in our ice chest. I usually look for beef and fresh vegetables. For lunch today, our son took us to Qdoba. It is a lot like Chipotle, but better. I had a naked burrito – in other words a burrito without the tortilla. It had black beans, shredded beef, rice with cilantro and Romaine lettuce.

Dinner was a picnic in our hotel room. I brought a loaf of Ezekiel in my suitcase. I don’t know how hard it will be to find healthy bread here. DD had a peanut butter and blueberry Simply Fruit sandwich. HH and SS had turkey and soy cheese sandwiches. I had a can of salmon and a can of asparagus mixed together with a little olive oil in a bowl.

There is a nice fitness room at our motel. All of us except HH worked out on the machines. SS told us more about what he is learning about muscles. He said it is important to spend equal time working out chest and back muscles. Because body builders over emphasize pectorals, many of them spend incredible amounts of time doing bench presses, and never work out their backs. Often they wind up hunched over and in pain.

This blog sounds like all we did is eat and exercise. Of course that is not true. We spent the day exploring the incredibly beautiful horse farm country. We got to meet some famous racehorses, and watch some little colts scamper after their mothers in the pastures.

Finding beneficial food when traveling is always an adventure. Today we left on a 10-day trip to visit our Strong Son and do some sightseeing in Kentucky. The first challenge was making sure we would have food to eat on the airplane.

Last summer we didn’t take a vacation because we were moving. The three previous summers we had driven to our destination. So I hadn’t been on an airplane since 2003. I went on the internet to see what kind of food I could and couldn’t take on the plane. The big prohibitions were liquids, gels, and oils. There was little about food per se.

I fixed turkey and soy cheese on Ezekiel bread for my husband. That seemed totally safe. For DD I fixed peanut butter and pineapple on Ezekiel bread. I worried a little about whether security would question the peanut butter. However, it was my bowl of leftover chicken and vegetables that concerned me the most. There was nothing on the TSA website prohibiting meat, greens, or beans. But I knew that if they opened the container and poked around in it with gloved fingers, that I’d throw it away. I packed the homemade power bars in luggage I checked. They are chewy, and I had to admit they looked suspicious. For the flight we would eat packaged protein bars and apple slices

All of our carry on luggage sailed through the x-ray machines with ease. We ate a beneficial lunch in the gate waiting area.

SS e-mailed directions to a restaurant called Ramseys. All he told us was that it was typical Kentucky cooking. The entrees came with three vegetables, and there were lots of good choices. I had pot roast, which was tender and delicious. With it I had kale (I’ve never seen kale in a restaurant before), honey-mustard carrots, and yellow squash with onions. Of the three, the kale was my favorite.

Our son is learning things in PT school that are useful to the Blood Type lifestyle. Tonight we talked about exercises my Dad could do to strengthen the muscles in his legs. SS said that when you first start exercising, your body adjusts to the increased activity by compensating with existing strengths. It takes about six weeks before muscle fibers start breaking down, and new muscle starts building.

How many people have I known who exercised faithfully for a month, then quit because they couldn’t see any results? I’ve known a few who became discouraged after a week! According to SS, they haven’t even started building muscle yet. Exercise isn’t a short term quick fix; it is a lifetime commitment.

My legs are sore! DD and I are always looking for creativity and variety in our exercise. We have found a new leg exercise. There is a hill near our home that is too steep for either of us to ride up on our bicycles. We have to get off and push. Today we rode to the bottom of the hill. That in itself is good exercise. There are several challenging hills between our house and the big one.

We walked up the hill backwards. I could feel burning in my leg muscles. Obviously I was using muscles that I missed in my regular exercise routines. We walked down the hill backwards. More muscles burned. Then we walked up the hill backwards on tiptoes - twice. We rode our bikes home and enjoyed a big glass of water!

If this does not sound like a strenuous workout to you, find a hill and try it. If you don't find yourself walking a little more slowly and carefully the next day, you are in much better shape than DD and me!