just another little slice in the life of the kiwitravelwriter

I waited for my Discover Chch at the tram stop in the square - the tram is all dressed up for Christmas

Well it's about a week since my diagnosis of diabetes and subsequent decision to get healthy and loose weight in public, mostly I think I have been on track (the test wiil come when I step on the scales tommorrow)

I have become more aware of what goes in my mouth .. well not so much 'what' but how much: and of course I've upped my walking. Did my regular track this am and although it was the same amount my dodgy pedometer says it was .3 of a kilometre longer. I WAS ALSO ONE MINUTE FASTER!

Excuse the caps - I didn't mean to shout, but when I look at them it seems appropriate to leave them there for that sentence.

Well nothing really to report today .. just want to be in the habit of thinking about my day and health each evening and this focuses my mind, so ciao until tomorrow.

"wait for me' calls one of the tourists on the Hassle-free tour

and so the days go on

Well another day over and another day of ups and downs ... my nutrition intake was good but no excersise! I also had a great facebook message from a woman who lost a lot of weight and had her diabetes symptons disappear.

Maybe I can do double excersise tomorrow?

Anyone would think I was made of sugar and spice and all things nice and would have melted if I'd gone out in the rain. I know that's not true  -  more rain predicted for tomorrow.

Today has been spent on the couch, laptop on my lap and sorting out the story and photos about Kaikoura Wilderness Walks and talking to an editor about it.  I think I have sold it overseas but will wait for absolute comfirmation before I tell you where. As my dad told me "there's many a slip betweeet the cup and the lip"

Tommorrow I'm off out with a  local award winning Christchurch company  HassleFree Tours .. I have done their LotR tour ( see my blog on it here) and tommorrow I'm taking the Discover Christchurch tour.. so more to follow.

Diabetes day three and Doctors are throwing water balloons!

(Scroll down to see previous posts re this topic)

Well its a wild and windy day here in Christchurch - one of our east coast's nor'wester - when the wind rushes over the Southern Alps, drops it's rain on the West Coast to allow the rain forrest to grow, then sweeps  dryly and warmly over the Canterbury Plains and drives many people mad. As someone who is often mad anyway, I actually  love this signature wind for us Cantabrians.

Whats this got to do with me and my health issues? well nothing really, except as part of a battery of tests I have been having over the past few months, I had to go to the hospital for an abominal scan - not easy with a full bladder - and I can confirm I am not pregnant. Whew. That's a relief.

But back to the Drs and their water balloons. As I left, a bevy of Drs and Nurses in various outfits, tinsel, cowboy hats, white over-alls, brightly coloured tights also left, heading over the bridge and heading towards 'the boatsheds' obviously something was about to happen, so I waited on the bridge. Also waiting there - and along the bank - were some child patients.

Soon,  along came the flotilla of colourful canoes, and those waiting on the bridge threw water balloons ... the paddlers were throwing them at their collegues too. It seems this was a charity event to raise funds for the childrens wards.

Before I continue, may I have a curmudgeonly moment. As someone who always picks up plastic on the beach, it concerns me that these broken balloons are now heading seaward and one at least will not doubt contribute to a mammals death.

So, diabetes day 3 has gone well. My pedometer has arrived so I can now tell how far I walk (despite being a writer, I do have a high incidental level of movement) and will set it up tonight ready to be attached to this obese body in the morning - well not to my body per se, but to the waist band of whatever I wear tommorrow.

Food wise I've done well, not hungry, and have eaten well - i'm looking forward to the chicken and kumera ( sweet pototo) and salad meal I plan on havong soon.

Thanks to the people who have supported and encouraged me via Twitter, Facebook, and this blog ... knowing you are on the sidelines cheering me on is really great. You are stars :)

A distinctly kiwi sign - at the Wellngton Zoo

Day two on the 'get healthy - loose weight' track

Ok, its day two  (Scroll down to see previous post) and lots of progress - amazing what a  metaphorical gun to the head in the form of a health scare does.

Well progress is not REALLY what it is my mind: I am the I-want-it-NOW type of person and the progress I secretly expected hasn't happened.

I'm told  normal,sane thinkers do not expect to have lost 10 kg in 24hrs - and I havent -  but, I have moved along the continuim towards that healthy, insulin producing body I need if I am to enjoy the more mature ( age-wise) years of my life.

• I have 'sort of ' eaten well today (actually I'm hungry as I havent eaten well so far today, just eaten less.)
• I have signed up for four months of weight-watchers (a miracle MUST happen in that length of time .. surely?)
• I have bought new Adidas (20% off) cross trainers
• I have had a 30-min walk
• I've now confessed to you ( I've been told I'm sick as my secrets, so this blog will be my 'dear diary' that keeps my sick-as secrets public) 
• And now, I''m off to the supermarket to stock up on tinned fish for lunchtime protien.

Being a writer is a problem - I sit and write too much and will have to get out and do more rather than write about what I do.  Actually, all  I  really have to do is eat a healthy diet, drink more water and walk more, and just for today I can do that!

Ciao, see you back here tommorrow,

kiwitravelwriter, diabetes, and a walk in the park

Well it's confession time . . . but first, my morning, this morning.

I have checked - and responded to some emails, Twitter conversations, (I havent checked my Facebook fan pages yet) and checked which of my wordpress blog posts people liked yesterday, then started an article about the Kaikoura Wilderness Walks which I did last week.

Then  I took a phone call from my Drs practice nurse.

After some weeks of various tests, it seems one thing has become clear - my 'pancreas is not working as well as it should' says nurse Shirley.

Oh dear - years of being a carbo-queen have come home to roost, and now, overweight, I have sucumbed to a disease that my family is riddled with - that's why this is shameful to confess: I have known the consequences of over-eating and under-excerising and, ignoring that knowledge has caught up with me.

So this will be my public humilitation page, where I will record my attempts to recover that old svelte body and hopefully a fully- functioning pancreas.

How have I started?

• 2 hours ago I bought a pedometer on trade-me
• I have been for a 30 min walk in the fabulous Hagley Park (the biggest city park in NZ) while listening to Radio NZ - I can tell my MP3 player/radio will be used even more now 
• I have picked an organic lettuce (& mint, parsley) from my garden
• Filled a jug of water and dropped a frozen lemon quarter in it in the hope it will make me drink more
• Examined my Adidas walking shoes and realise I need a new pair and maybe even a sports bra (an item I have never owned!)

So, now home again, it's time to make a salad for lunch and think about the things I saw in 'my' park ... people getting ready for the annual 'Christmas in the park' event this weekend; a mum and dad paradise shelduck with their long legged, still fuzzy-crewcut-haired ducklings, and the people who said 'Hi' to me and the many other walkers  - what an asset Hagley Park is to my city.

(see more here on Christchurchs' official website - I am just an enthusiastic promoter of my city - and check out my 'other blog' http://kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com/ for lots of blogs and photos about this, the biggest city in the South Island of New Zealand and stories from all over the world.)

This is what paradise ducklings look like when they are only days old .. here with mum!

I  hope my public record will motivate me, and  that some of you will help keep me on the straight and narrow as I attempt to become healthier.