Trying to be healthier in 2020

Had my first bowl of oatmeal this morning since my stroke hospital stay 6.5 years ago.  It was a savory oatmeal, made with leftover miso soup (with onion and baby bok choy), egg, sesame seeds, and green onions, and a sprinkling of ground flax seeds.   It was good.   Going to try to to eat healthier and hopefully my BP will normalize.  Last two nights I meditated, first night was an hour, second was about 25 minutes.   Ate an apple after coming home from cleaning this morning, walked Roscoe (with my new crampons.  It snowed yesterday.  Btw, they work GREAT), and had my oatmeal.  Was still feeling a little hungry so munched on sweet potato & beetroot chips from Walmart which were surprising pretty good.  I wonder if there's any nutritional value to them.  No added ingredients except for sunflower oil, which probably means they're fried.   But at least I'm eating beets, right?   Been eating fruit and salad for work lunches, and trying to get in some nuts when I remember.  Same with the ground flaxseed.   The flavor isn't too strong but it gives things a gritty/sandy texture which I don't really care for.  Maybe I just need to grind them longer.  Having the Daily Dozen checklist really helps.   Just getting tired of having high BP and taking meds that aren't really working.   I just read the one of the side effects of Metroprolol is swollen hands.  I wonder if that's when my right hand started to swell.   Be interesting to see if that goes away if and when I go off metroprolol.

New (and first) crown

Got a new tooth, the small tooth in the front that had died and I got a root canal is now covered with a crown.  Hoping the pain will go away although dentist thinks its the tooth next to it but couldn't find anything wrong with it.  Two more sessions of fillings, lower right molars and front two teeth and everything should be done. 

Eyes and mouth not communiating

Was reading off patron's library card numbers, saw "6" but kept saying "9" as she had me repeat the numbers cuz she couldn't log in.  Only when I saw what she wrote down that I realized I had been saying the wrong number. 

BP Update & latest changes (brazil nuts, Daily Dozen)

BP has been pretty high for a while, usually around 170/115.  Heart rate has been somewhat low, in the 70s so I know the Metroprolol is doing something.    Started to think that maybe my high cholesterol is keeping my BP up.   Read a book called "How not to Die" and it is it said how just eating four brazil nuts a month can lower cholesterol.  So I had four nuts on 1-1-20 and an occasional one here and there.  Been trying to eat nuts when I remember, and also trying to incorporate ground flax seeds when i can.   That same book talks about the Daily Dozen so I got the app and trying to eat more on that list.  Basically try to eat daily:  beans, fruit, berries, cruciferous veggies, leafy greens, veggies, flaxseed, herbs/spices, whole grains, nuts/seeds, beverages, exercise, B-12 foods.  Could take a month or two to see results.  Keeping fingers crossed.   Hope this works.  Been feeling old and getting worried about what could happen.

Another scary driving moment

Was driving towards Palm Springs airport to take Abby, was at a stop light waiting to turn left.  Light turns green and I drive left but into the oncoming lane on the left instead of over to the right.  Abby screams and I realize what just happened.  Luckily there were only two stopped cars and no oncoming cars so I just did a u-turn and corrected the situation.  I laughed it off, kinda like a OOPS but Abby's all  It's not funny!  And I said, my night vision is not that good.  But looking back, I shoulda seen the middle divider or at least known it was there and driven correctly.  I wonder if this was a brain fart or an innocent vision thing.   I hope I don't have a car accident.

A new brain fart

New Year's Day... prepping for dinner I kept dropping stuff.  But more disturbing is that I cooked for five people not four (Sage and Abby were home).    I know Emi's not here, but somewhere in my head i thought there were five of us here and was pretty sure about it as I pulled out and cut the tofu (for agedashi tofu) into ten pieces.  I even pulled out five bowls, thought during frying I noticed I had pulled out five and put one away but it didn't occur to me that I was still cooking for five.  I've never done something like this before.  This concerns me.  I hope I don't have another stroke coming.  My BP's been pretty high too, and I've been pretty good about taking my meds almost daily. 

Had read that brazil nuts lower cholesterol.  I'm hoping that by lowering my cholesterol, my BP will go down since nothing seems to be working, and often times they go hand in hand.  So I ate four brazil nuts today.  Will try to eat one maybe every other day and see how things go.