Should You Exercise or Run While Sick?

The real answer is: It depends.

Most runners think along the line of, as long as it's an illness that is just affecting your head, then it's ok to run. If the illness travels any lower, like say your lungs or a stomach bug, then definitely take the time to rest and don't do anything strenuous.

We've all been recovering from a summer cold in our household. My husband kept up with his every other day run, and still managed to have at least one long run during the week while he was ill for three weeks. When it got into his lungs, he went to the doctor and quit running. Now, he's over his cold and back at his usual workout schedule.

It's in my lungs at this point, so I haven't run this week. But I did find a fun little low impact aerobics video, that's pretty much 45 minutes of standing ab exercises. So addictive, feel the burn in those arms and abs.

Increasing Protein Intake When You're Sore from Working Out

My husband was getting incredibly sore after workouts or after long strenuous days at work. Days were spent icing his muscles after work, rolling out, and stretching. But the soreness never really went away, although it would die back down for awhile.

I did some reading and decided he wasn't getting enough protein in his diet. I exercise as much as he does and I wasn't excessively sore like him, although admittedly his work is more strenuous than mine. But I eat homemade yogurt in the mornings, and I eat more things that have higher amounts of protein like hummus with vegetables, and soft tofu with crackers and cheese.

So, I started adding higher protein foods to our meals, like brown rice, corn, and beans. Then I purchased hemp seed hearts which have the added bonus of omega 3's and a giant 5 pound container of whey protein powder, both are added to our fruit smoothies. (In all honesty, I did not realize how gigantic a 5 pound container of whey protein really was. It nearly touches the bottom of the cabinets when it sits on the counter.) I also, put hemp seed hearts in my yogurt with fruit, and they are delicious. Much better than roasted hemp seeds, which always made me fear for my dental work.

He has so much energy now and the deep muscle soreness is gone. No more icing, no more begging for hour long messages on a daily basis. Come on. Who has time for that? Plus, my hands were getting tired.

I do think hydration is important when a person greatly increases their protein intake. My husband is always careful about drinking lots of water.

Weird Deals You Make with Your Spouse

I've been meal prepping the last couple weeks. It's torture, makes for an exhausting day, and I have no idea how people do it on a consistent basis. They must have a will of iron, and a high stamina for vegetable chopping. The main reason for doing this was to eat healthier during the workweek and to give me extra time, so I can get back into writing.

My disappearance from the blogging world, and writing in general, can be directly attributed to trying to eat healthier and working out. It's a one or the other kind of thing for me because there's no way, I can give up taking care of my kid or going to work.

I was going over the week's menu with my husband, and expressing the idea of eating healthier and eating out less.

"Why don't we make a deal and stop going out to eat altogether?"
I was struck into silence for long moments, but finally returned to my body. "Okay."
"How long?"
"Till November."
Then we shook on it.

So no restaurant or cafeteria food for two and a half months for the two adults. The kiddo will still get to eat school lunches.

If you're curious about last week's menu, it was southwest chicken or herb chicken on a bed of brown rice with 6 mix and match vegetables. The vegetables were air fryer roasted sweet potatoes, air fryer roasted beets, air fryer roasted broccoli, sautéed corn, sautéed sweet peppers, and sautéed zucchini. Each meat got 3 vegetables along with added beans or chickpeas for extra protein.

This week's meal prep was vegetarian. I made a sweet spicy chili tofu on a bed of kamut, ginger sesame tofu with kamut, tomato mushroom cheese omelet with kamut, burritos with tofu crumbles, and vegetarian refried bean burritos with homemade salsa.

A Frank Conversation About My Health and Weight

Sorry it has been such a long time since I last posted. After my husband was seriously ill last year and hospitalized twice that culminated with an emergency surgery, our family has been looking seriously at our health. As a couple who had a child late in life, I felt longevity was something we needed to focus our energy on.

As a Vietnamese American, waist circumference, BMI, and weight takes on a more heightened meaning. Asians overall have higher rates of diabetes, renal failure due to diabetes, and strokes of any other race in America. Which is due to the manner in which we store fat on our bodies. Asian’s tend to store fat inside their abdominal cavity right around their organs, also known as visceral fat.

Fat acts as an organ by producing an array of hormones. Hormones that are involved with blood clotting, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and cell signaling. In this manner, when there is too much fat stored, these hormones can affect other organs negatively.

This means as an Asian American, I need to be at a smaller weight and have a smaller waist circumference than the rest of the population. Non-Asian women with a waist circumference over 35 inches are at high risk for developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, whereas Asian women with a waist circumference over 31 inches are at high risk for those same things. That is a 4-inch difference in waist size. Asians also have to stay at much lower BMI to lower their risks for these diseases.

What is considered a healthy weight for the average American would put an Asian American at high risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Japan has taken steps to adjust their BMI charts to take into account the higher risk at lower BMI’s for their population, they now consider a BMI of over 25 to be obese. In comparison, a BMI of 24 is healthy for non-Asian populations, they are not even considered overweight.

Every 11-pound increase in weight in adulthood for Asians correlates with an 84% increase in their chances of getting diabetes.

What this means for my own health… I have lost 20 pounds this year and now currently weigh 143 pounds, which equaled a loss of 2 inches in waist circumference. For me to lose another 3 inches around my waist to reach a waistline of 31 inches, I would likely need to lose another 30 pounds.

The weight loss has been very slow. Over the course of almost 2 years, I have lost 35 pounds. My spouse actually lost 50 pounds in a month or two during his health crisis, which left him weak and wasted.

Last November, 10 months ago, we joined a gym. To gain strength and at the same time lessen the impact on our joints, we just did an hour on the elliptical every day for two months. After that, we started adding stair stepper and jogging to our exercise routine. At this point, we regularly run on the treadmill 3-4 days a week.

I did experience a couple of setbacks this year with straining a tibialis anterior muscle, which kept me from exercising for 4 weeks. Then I had minor surgery on my foot which laid me up for another 4 weeks.

My husband has made tremendous gains in his strength and endurance. He was running eighteen to twenty miles a week, but has backed off from that pace when his work became more physically strenuous.

Sources:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ee8f/dbb68f1e1470b0333ddef027a5b75344a0da.pdf
https://www.yourhormones.info/glands/adipose-tissue/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/ethnic-differences-in-bmi-and-disease-risk/