Exercising Your Lungs

I know working out is a chore for many of us but it has to be done just like our other chores. So let me tell you a few reasons why I decided to stop procrastinating and start exercising daily. For CF patients, like myself, exercising can be life altering. It can put more oxygen into your lungs, make your lungs stronger, help you cough out the junk, make your heart stronger and make your immune system healthy so you can fight your infections better and stay out of the hospital longer. I know we all know this but we still put it off even though our physicians keep reminding us of the benefits. I found that if I exercise first thing in the morning when I get up and get it out the way, I am more consistent and don't find it difficult. So try a morning routine for a change.
Because I get of breath so easily and get tired, I decided to do cardio every day but for short durations (15 minutes/day). This is easy to do, doesn't take too long and it gets my heart rate up so I am getting the benefits of a good workout. If you can do only 15 minutes a day to begin, you will be well on your way to feeling energetic, rested, have more lung capacity and feel good about yourself. I prefer to do the bike as my cardio but you can try an elliptical, a treadmill, swimming, biking, etc. Basically, any exercise that gets your heart pumping is good for you. Don't forget to stretch before working out to loosen up those tight muscles. In addition to cardio, I feel doing yoga really helps me control and better my breathing for my daily activities. Give yoga a try this fall; they have many free trial classes and see if you like it.
C'mon just try 15 minutes of exercise in the morning before you go to work or class. Trust me, I used to be lazy but I love it now that I started working out and I know you will too. Good Luck and let me about your workout regimen to staying healthy.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
Mung Lentils (any lentils are fine)
Garlic (2 cloves)
1 Finely Sliced Onion
Salt, Ground Cumin & Coriander powder, Turmeric powder, Chili powder, Cumin seeds
1 diced Tomato
1 finely chopped Serano pepper (optional)
Tomato Sauce
Vegetable Oil
Preparations:
Boil or steam cooker the lentils with water until they are cooked through. Take 2 tbsp of oil in a pot on medium high heat. Add 1 tsp of cumin seeds to the oil along with the onions and garlic. Sautee the onions until they are soft and pink. Then add the tomato, 2 tbsp of tomato sauce,serano pepper, 1 tsp of turmeric powder,1 tsp of chili powder, 2 tsp of cumin & coriander powder, salt and sautee for 5 min until the spices have bloomed. At this point, add the cooked lentils along with the water and boil for 10 minutes. Eat this delicious, healthy soup with some garlic bread or a side of white rice and you will be so satified. Below is a picture of MUNG lentils for you to see what they look like so you can purchase them at any Indian grocery store or other specialty grocery shops. Enjoy!!!

CF Focus Group

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything new on the blog, but I am finally getting back on track. Well, I have some great news for CF patients in Chicago. Northwestern has finally decided to hold a focus group for adults with CF. For now, I think only those who attend Northwestern Hospitals can attend but this may open more doors for other institutions to step up. They have invited me to the event and I am super excited about meeting others who have the same struggles that I do. Ofcourse you have to be well and approved by your doctor to go, standard protocols of infection control. I can't wait to talk and discuss my every day problems and even some adventures with others like myself and just hear their stories. I think it is a great idea as well as therapeutic to be able to talk to others about CF because it makes it a lot easier to go through it when you have a support group. I know other foundations such as Epilepsy, AIDS, etc hold support groups but for CF patients it has been hard to get an approval because of infection control and prevention. I totally agree that we should be careful not to cough and breathe on eachother to prevent infections but we should still be able to meet and just talk like normal people in the real world when we are healthy. Hey, we are allowed to work and go to school and we don't spread germs, so why can't we just hang out with other CF patients who are well, too? I am sure we bump into them at school and work without even knowing that they have CF, so I don't see the problem.
As we can see, CF care has come a long way from old thinking and things are changing for the better. Not only do we need better medications and therapies, but we also need to be mentally healthy to fight this illness and live the best life we can to be productive members of our society.
Hope you will talk about CF with someone today. It will make you feel better :)