Week 20, Day 4

Since Adam has been sleeping on the couch (while he's been sick, it's easier for him to breathe propped up on the couch instead of laying flat in his bed) and my exercise equipment is in the living room, I've been doing what I can upstairs in my room. That leaves pretty much my resistance bands and leg lifts. Which I guess isn't too bad since every bit helps. I'm up to 100 lifts per leg. I remember when 15 was hard to do!

I noticed the difference in my legs this evening when we went to Walmart for a bit. First, I no longer park as close to the door as possible. I have a handicap parking tag because of my asthma, but right now I don't really need it, and it's nice to walk a bit extra. Then inside the store I noticed I had gone all the way around and wasn't tired -- I could have gone quite a bit more, but Adam was very tired and ready to go. He looked really pale and I felt really bad that we had gone out. I thought it might do him some good since he's been inside most of the week battling mono. But I guess it still has him pretty much knocked down right now. Odd for me to be the energetic healthy one! I'm not ready for a marathon yet, but surely even that can't be beyond the realm of possibility even for someone like me?

I've been pretty good about food today and yesterday. A sandwich and salad yesterday, and today I had a bit of ravioli and we went out to dinner at Fuddruckers. (I'm so suggestible -- a friend of my Bridget Murray Law, mentioned Fuddruckers in a Facebook posting today, and somehow I couldn't stop thinking about it after that!) I wouldn't normally advocate going to a place like that, but it's one of Adam's favorites, and he needed some cheering up. I had a half a buffalo burger and brought the other half home. I also ate a few fries, Adam had a few, and we left the rest. I know buffalo is a very lean meat, so I felt pretty good about ordering it, but even so, I'm not used to eating anything with that much fat content. It's weird -- I used to eat burgers and stuff all the time (the food of the gods, I was sure!), but now it's so rare that when I eat like I did tonight, I can actually feel the difference in my gut. It's not bad -- I didn't eat enough for it to cause discomfort. But I definitely am craving some veggies now!

Today's Tip:
Still thinking about drinking soda pop? It's tempting -- I had glass of root beer with my half a buffalo burger tonight. I don't believe I'll be making that mistake again, though. Not after what I found in my email inbox when I got home. This is from "House Calls" newsletter, a service of www.healthiernews.com:

Researchers tested 90 soda and water samples from 30 different fast food restaurants in Virginia's Roanoke Valley. In all, 70 percent tested positive for some form of bacteria--and many of them were resistant to one or more of 11 different antibiotics tested on them, according to the study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology.

The researchers found 48 percent tested positive for coliform, 17 percent tested positive for Chryseobacterium meningosepticum and 11 percent tested positive for E. coli. They also found species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia.

In plain English, that means there are lots of nasty germs living in those soda machines.

The bacteria appear to love the plastic tubes that send soda (and some of the bacteria) into your cup. Since customers don't touch those tubes, the researchers believe restaurant workers with dirty hands are likely contaminating them--ironically, probably when they're cleaning them.

Looks like someone's not reading those "EMPLOYEES MUST WASH THEIR HANDS AFTER USING THE RESTROOM" signs.

The researchers tested bottled soda to use as a control group and found no contamination. But there are plenty of other reasons to avoid those, too.

Soda has been linked to tooth decay and obesity. Even diet soda can help you pack on pounds--studies have found people who drink diet sodas actually gain weight, and may be even more prone to diabetes.

In other words, unless you want poop soup in your soda, stay away from the stuff at restaurants. Not a bad idea to stay away from it altogether.