Angela Lansbury is My Guru

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 19:30:31 GMT

I don't do a lot of podcasts for various reasons, but one that I've been listening to a lot lately is called "Maintenance Phase." On "Maintenance Phase" they do a lot of debunking of fad diets and deep dives into the history of things like the BMI. Food and food politics is one of those things that I find myself strangely drawn to, so this is very much adjacent to my interests.

Anyway, last night, I happened to listen to the episode about Angela Lansbury's exercise video from the 80s and I just had to go find this gem, myself.

It's actually pretty amazing. Shawn and I have decided that this is the exercise program for us. I love how gentle she is and how she wants to start out every morning finding something we love about our body. I was like, !! Yes, please.

The folks at Maintenance Phase called her "The Bob Ross of Exercise" and they are correct.

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Hula-hooping My Way to Health...

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:21:38 GMT

Yeah, so, my doctor really wants me to go on high cholesterol medicine. I don't think she's wrong, per se, and we had a very nice discussion in her office yesterday morning about it all. It is possible that I'm just stuck with high cholesterol due to genetics and age. However, if my high cholesterol is a sign that maybe I should try to make a lifestyle change, then shouldn't I at least TRY to change my lifestyle first before going on medicine?

She's given me three months.

There's no real way I'm going to go from zero to sixty in three months, but she agreed that if I've made any kind of positive change in three months I can, at that point, get another reprieve to keep working at it.

I know, for instance, that if I had money, the first thing I would do would be to sign back up for Kuk Sool Wan. Going to that three times a week did wonders for my metabolism. But, I don't have the money for a gym or a martial arts program. I do still have a community rec. membership that does give me access to any number of community rec centers, some of which have limited gym (weight-training, mostly,) equipment. I found it hard to go to those places, though, because the things I really wanted to do there (like swim) cost extra. It's also, honestly, boring af.

My current plan is kind of a silly one, but it feels like a start. A couple of years ago, I took a hula-hooping class. (I just looked through my archives, it was 2012. More than "a couple" of years ago.) I seriously SUCKED at hula-hooping, but I found it tremendous fun. The hula-hoop instructor built me a custom-made hula-hoop (I think I paid her twenty bucks for it.) My living room is JUST big enough for me to hula-hoop if I get a good rhythm going (which was the part I sucked at.) However, I figure I can get up from writing or surfing the internet every so often and hula-hoop to a couple of songs on the radio. If it's something I can stick to, that'd be the thing.

My hope is that the weather will eventually turn nice (a forlorn hope?) and I can start walking. I've always wanted to bring my camera and take pictures of daily life in Saint Paul, Minnesota for my pen pals.

At any rate, I'm hoping that between hula-hooping and walking I can at least start back down the road to lower cholesterol. The good news is that even if I CAN'T budge my numbers, exercise is good for me.

Wish me luck!

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Day in the Life of an Idiot

Angela Lansbury is My Guru

Hula-hooping My Way to Health...