One day my Aunt Gertrude was surprised when she read a post that her friend's daughter, Petunia wrote. She had admired how kind and upbeat the girl acted whenever she saw her. But the Facebook post caused her to pause. It said: "Just chilling. Was supposed to go to work but called in sick because I really want to see this movie. *^#* them!! I don't care."
I wonder if Petunia who appears on Aunt Gertrude's friend list really wants Aunt Gertrude to read her posts. Aunt Gertrude may realize that her friend's daughter, Petunia, is not as sweet as she once thought.
Does facebook sometimes leave you with a vague sense of discomfort? Are opinions sometimes shared, that you don't agree with and maybe would have been just as well off never knowing?
What is friendship?
Who is a friend?
At work yesterday, at lunch, a coworker said that in a recent post on facebook someone wrote that they were about to go to a clogging class. She told me, "They are neighbors. I know them. But they never asked me to go, so everytime I read about it on Facebook I feel left out!"
Someone once said that people who are used to lots of emotional support enjoy face book more than those who are "more on their own". I thought that was interesting but I reserve judgement. Facebook keeps extended families updated when they are separated by distance. We can find out what other people are doing and this may stave off isolated feelings. If your interactions on Facebook are positive it is a gift no doubt, but I still have some reservations.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Enzymes
Good morning!!!
A lovely weekend of traveling north to Little Sand Bay and camping, in the comfort of our motor home, has rejuvenated me!
Just a question: Is it beneficial to take enzymes in capsule form? There is a company, Enzymedica, that claims that many benefits can come from supplementing with their enzyme formulas. Oh. How nice that would be! However, there is a place for health skepticism. Their web site is: http://www.enzymedica.com/. It is a very informative site and their 888 number is, in my view, even better. You can call it and ask for the training part, and then listen to their approximately 15 minute long recorded 'educational' messages about digestive enzymes and theraputic enzymes.
As time goes by, people's bodies produce fewer and fewer enzymes. This is one reason our bodies do not work as well as we age.
The difference, I think, between digestive enzymes and theraputic enzymes is when you take them. If you take them with a meal, then they are digestive ezymes and will help with digestion. But if you take the enzymes 2 hours after a meal or 30 minutes before a meal they will pass into the bloodstream and do their busy work to cure what ails you. Enzymes, I am told, are the workers in your body in comparison to nutrients which are the building blocks. So I will follow up on this blog and say how it goes as I have purchased enzymes that are supposed to help my husband's allergies and my inflamation in my heal and foot!! We are going to give it a try with the careful use of one bottle each. I don't know if we have wasted the money or not. Each bottle is about $30 dollars. So it is not cheap.
A lovely weekend of traveling north to Little Sand Bay and camping, in the comfort of our motor home, has rejuvenated me!
Just a question: Is it beneficial to take enzymes in capsule form? There is a company, Enzymedica, that claims that many benefits can come from supplementing with their enzyme formulas. Oh. How nice that would be! However, there is a place for health skepticism. Their web site is: http://www.enzymedica.com/. It is a very informative site and their 888 number is, in my view, even better. You can call it and ask for the training part, and then listen to their approximately 15 minute long recorded 'educational' messages about digestive enzymes and theraputic enzymes.
As time goes by, people's bodies produce fewer and fewer enzymes. This is one reason our bodies do not work as well as we age.
The difference, I think, between digestive enzymes and theraputic enzymes is when you take them. If you take them with a meal, then they are digestive ezymes and will help with digestion. But if you take the enzymes 2 hours after a meal or 30 minutes before a meal they will pass into the bloodstream and do their busy work to cure what ails you. Enzymes, I am told, are the workers in your body in comparison to nutrients which are the building blocks. So I will follow up on this blog and say how it goes as I have purchased enzymes that are supposed to help my husband's allergies and my inflamation in my heal and foot!! We are going to give it a try with the careful use of one bottle each. I don't know if we have wasted the money or not. Each bottle is about $30 dollars. So it is not cheap.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Going to bed early
The old adage: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," by Ben Franklin, is so true.
Detailed studies tell us that it is healthful to go to bed early. The hours that you sleep before 12 o'clock, midnight are twice as important as the hours you sleep after midnight. So it is important to go to sleep by nine and maybe even eight o'clock. If you do not, you risk getting diabetes and many other diseases. This is not easy but the benefits are astounding according to many experts.
Melatonin is the hormone that helps people sleep. It is affected by the time of day that you experience bright light. If you get plenty of sunlight in the morning then your body will produce melatonin at night and you will be able to sleep. Also, when it is time to sleep it is important to make sure you have no light in your bedroom. There should not be night lights or clock radio faces that glow. If there is light, then your body will not make melatonin and you will not be able to sleep. Also, when people have less melatonin in their bodies cancer is increased so we need to get that sleep early in the evening before midnight so that the wonderful chemical processes can occur to produce melatonin and all the other chemicals and processes that are essential for good health. There is another hormone called cortisol. It is known as the stress hormone and we do not want lots of cortisol in our bloodstream on a regular basis. Cortisol is present the next day when we miss that essential pre-midnight sleep. Cortisol negatively changes the way we see the world. It is important to avoid having Cortisol in your blood. Now, obviously, I am not a scientist or a doctor. I am just trying to figure out how to live healthfully. I am repeating what I have read. But the idea of sleeping soundly without a pill is attractive to me. Why not let my own body make what I need to get to sleep at night?
The reason I am writing about this is because it is so hard for me to make myself go to bed at night. My mind seems to just start clicking at eight o'clock. But according to studies about circadian rhythms and things, even if you consider yourself a night owl, like me, your body benefits from the early to bed routine. So, for me, it boils down to discipline. And that is not always in great demand in my little world. So I shall continue the battle. I had a victory last night. I went to bed very early and stayed in bed even when I heard that my husband had turned on the TV. And as I lay in my bed, sleeplessly, I realized that going to bed early is NOT going to be easy because STAYING in bed was very hard!! I must adjust two things before tonight. I must ask my husband to keep the TV turned down and also close the blind in our room because the porch light stays on and it made the room too light.
I am now going to go weed a flower garden. It rained this morning and should make the weeding easy.
May you have early and restful sleep tonight.
Detailed studies tell us that it is healthful to go to bed early. The hours that you sleep before 12 o'clock, midnight are twice as important as the hours you sleep after midnight. So it is important to go to sleep by nine and maybe even eight o'clock. If you do not, you risk getting diabetes and many other diseases. This is not easy but the benefits are astounding according to many experts.
Melatonin is the hormone that helps people sleep. It is affected by the time of day that you experience bright light. If you get plenty of sunlight in the morning then your body will produce melatonin at night and you will be able to sleep. Also, when it is time to sleep it is important to make sure you have no light in your bedroom. There should not be night lights or clock radio faces that glow. If there is light, then your body will not make melatonin and you will not be able to sleep. Also, when people have less melatonin in their bodies cancer is increased so we need to get that sleep early in the evening before midnight so that the wonderful chemical processes can occur to produce melatonin and all the other chemicals and processes that are essential for good health. There is another hormone called cortisol. It is known as the stress hormone and we do not want lots of cortisol in our bloodstream on a regular basis. Cortisol is present the next day when we miss that essential pre-midnight sleep. Cortisol negatively changes the way we see the world. It is important to avoid having Cortisol in your blood. Now, obviously, I am not a scientist or a doctor. I am just trying to figure out how to live healthfully. I am repeating what I have read. But the idea of sleeping soundly without a pill is attractive to me. Why not let my own body make what I need to get to sleep at night?
The reason I am writing about this is because it is so hard for me to make myself go to bed at night. My mind seems to just start clicking at eight o'clock. But according to studies about circadian rhythms and things, even if you consider yourself a night owl, like me, your body benefits from the early to bed routine. So, for me, it boils down to discipline. And that is not always in great demand in my little world. So I shall continue the battle. I had a victory last night. I went to bed very early and stayed in bed even when I heard that my husband had turned on the TV. And as I lay in my bed, sleeplessly, I realized that going to bed early is NOT going to be easy because STAYING in bed was very hard!! I must adjust two things before tonight. I must ask my husband to keep the TV turned down and also close the blind in our room because the porch light stays on and it made the room too light.
I am now going to go weed a flower garden. It rained this morning and should make the weeding easy.
May you have early and restful sleep tonight.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Healthful Eating July 8, 2011
How fast summer goes!! Here it is July 8 already! I love the sun, the warm breezes and the quiet here at my rural home. I live here with my husband and sweet, sweet dog, Mishka. I have time, this summer, to get in tune with what I want to do for the rest of my life!
What is your journey like in trying to eat healthfully? I have been trying all my life to eat right, but much of the time my diet was far from healthful. I will talk about where I have come from and where I am going in this lifelong adventure called healthful eating.
My family of origin was not tuned into whole wheat bread, vegetarianism, sugar reduction. So as a child I loved Wonder Bread, Ho-Ho's, lots of candy, Slim Jim sausages, pot roast, pot pies, packaged cakes and pies of every description. Carrot sticks and Celery sticks were something we made for parties, just like deviled eggs.
Later, in my 20's, I snuck out to fill the car with gas while my husband watched the kids. I purchased Suzy Q snack cakes or the like, and consumed them blissfully-but guiltily on the way home. I reasoned that there was a little nutrition in the sweet treats.
Later, in my 30's, a friend and I decided to leave off all sugar and fat for a few months. We often made some wonderful potato soup with cashew cream. We had a cook book we referred to as "our cookbook" because it was vegetarian and was written to be therapeutically ascetic about sugar and fat. We tried recipes from it, fed them to our growing kids and reported the results to each other.
I wanted to feed my family healthfully. I talked about it and took interest in it. I always served cooked vegetables at every meal. However, although I talked about healthful salads and fresh stuff, I did not serve them much or eat them much. I hated to work with salad materials, it seemed so putzy and it took so long to clean it! And the water was COLD! So, I ate and served cooked food. My family and I were missing out on the real nutrition of fresh greens.
Today I am eating greens and fresh things more. Some days I do better than others. I live in a rural area and the grocery stores sometimes lack a good supply of attractive fresh foods. But I bought a juicer and juice whenever I have the green veggies and the time. My children who are grown are also doing this because we have all talked about the importance of fresh green food.
Just this morning I started my own sprouts. I am excited about trying this out!
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I have been reading a book by Kris Carr. I also just got her movie/documentary from the library. She is into vegan foods and makes the subject interesting with her down-to-earth and often humorous voice. My family and I have been inspired by her light-hearted, informative writing.
On her DVD she takes her aunt to the store to talk about what to eat for optimum health. Her aunt says she will have a time when she craves something that is bad for her. Kris asked her what she will do if she could not eat the Snickers Bar, or whatever. She said she would cry.
Kris said, "So cry, and eat the *^##** watermelon." She said this with a calm, matter-of-fact, and gentle way.
That has become a little saying between my husband and myself because it illustrates the strength needed for eating healthfully in a world where foods are created to stimulate the senses and not nurish the body.
What is your journey like in trying to eat healthfully? I have been trying all my life to eat right, but much of the time my diet was far from healthful. I will talk about where I have come from and where I am going in this lifelong adventure called healthful eating.
My family of origin was not tuned into whole wheat bread, vegetarianism, sugar reduction. So as a child I loved Wonder Bread, Ho-Ho's, lots of candy, Slim Jim sausages, pot roast, pot pies, packaged cakes and pies of every description. Carrot sticks and Celery sticks were something we made for parties, just like deviled eggs.
Later, in my 20's, I snuck out to fill the car with gas while my husband watched the kids. I purchased Suzy Q snack cakes or the like, and consumed them blissfully-but guiltily on the way home. I reasoned that there was a little nutrition in the sweet treats.
Later, in my 30's, a friend and I decided to leave off all sugar and fat for a few months. We often made some wonderful potato soup with cashew cream. We had a cook book we referred to as "our cookbook" because it was vegetarian and was written to be therapeutically ascetic about sugar and fat. We tried recipes from it, fed them to our growing kids and reported the results to each other.
I wanted to feed my family healthfully. I talked about it and took interest in it. I always served cooked vegetables at every meal. However, although I talked about healthful salads and fresh stuff, I did not serve them much or eat them much. I hated to work with salad materials, it seemed so putzy and it took so long to clean it! And the water was COLD! So, I ate and served cooked food. My family and I were missing out on the real nutrition of fresh greens.
Today I am eating greens and fresh things more. Some days I do better than others. I live in a rural area and the grocery stores sometimes lack a good supply of attractive fresh foods. But I bought a juicer and juice whenever I have the green veggies and the time. My children who are grown are also doing this because we have all talked about the importance of fresh green food.
Just this morning I started my own sprouts. I am excited about trying this out!
On her DVD she takes her aunt to the store to talk about what to eat for optimum health. Her aunt says she will have a time when she craves something that is bad for her. Kris asked her what she will do if she could not eat the Snickers Bar, or whatever. She said she would cry.
Kris said, "So cry, and eat the *^##** watermelon." She said this with a calm, matter-of-fact, and gentle way.
That has become a little saying between my husband and myself because it illustrates the strength needed for eating healthfully in a world where foods are created to stimulate the senses and not nurish the body.
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