Tag: health

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Day to Day Feb 24

Gonna go back through a lot of my writings and maybe delete some things, which kinda goes against all I stand for, but I’m entering a new and different place or phase, and I don’t want some of the more negative stuff following me around like an online ghost. Knowing full well of course, that what is out out there, is always out there, to some degree, but I want my pages and blogs to reflect more of what I am and less of what I was.

Such a strange time to be alive on planet Earth. (I’ve said this a lot before and I’m sure I will again.)

Pretty well adjusted to The New Normal by this time. Don’t go out a lot, usually only to pick something up from Target or Publix, always with my mask on, being good, thinking of others. Wearing a mask is about others, for me. I’m fortunate enough NOT to have to wear one all day in a work situation and I feel for those who do.

Most days I’m in a really good place, emotionally. Isolation can still be hard but way easier for me than for some. I tend to be a solitary person for the most part, even under the best of circumstances. There are few people I care to hang out with or be around on the regular. But there are a couple people I miss.

Hubs and I are joined at the hip. We kinda always have been but then we moved to Florida and he began to work from home and that took things to a new level, then the pandemic, and even another level. I have to say that being THIS CLOSE to someone is a new thing in my life. He is my person. If he were not, I think it would’ve ended us. (I say this only because I feel like it would undo any relationship that wasn’t rock solid. Glad ours is.) He has been my closest confidante and friend, my world and my everything and I’m so thankful for him. I can’t help but think about single people who are uber-isolated and alone and I feel for them. My gratitude helps keep me sane. (That’s been a thing with me, gratitude grounds me.)

For me, closeness has always come hand in hand with fear of losing someone so the closer I get to hubs over the years, the more that underlying fear increases, I guess it comes with the package of truly loving someone.

The pandemic has really brought me face to face with death. It’s a thing. A path we all will take one day. We’ve lost so many perfectly wonderful humans to this virus, and to other things. I lost my dad in December. I can’t wait for a brighter, more hopeful day. When the reaper ends its deeper sweep into humanity and the virus fades. If only death could be put back in its place.

I don’t recognize the face in the mirror anymore, I’ve aged so much in the last two years. I’m trying to get to know this new older person staring back at me. But I’ve really gotten to know the person on the inside. I know me, I love me, I’m cool with me. That, at least, feels good.

I put on a few pounds during the holidays, I purposefully loosened the reigns on my “diet” (meaning the way I normally eat), so that I might enjoy a cookie or a slice of my DIL’s homemade goodies, that sort of thing. I couldn’t help but think, “What if I died tomorrow and never had another scone or muffin or bite of cake??” And now I’m paying for it. My body does not tolerate sugar well, it swells immediately when I eat sweets, normal serving sizes, not a pig out, but if I have sweets 3 times in one week, I will pay a dear price. My joints will hurt, my body swells, my clothes don’t fit.

This is how my bod functions. Not sure if others can get away with it, it seems so to me, but I cannot. So now I am trying to tighten back up, eat less sugar, drink more water, do more of what I know to do. But/and/also if I can stay in my same size of clothes, just do THAT well, I’ll be okay cuz I don’t have that driving need to be thinner, thinner, always thinner, that I had when younger. I just want health, that is all. Just a healthy, strong body that will carry me through all of the ups n downs until I take that final journey.

In a sense, growing older is such a loss of innocence, like on a whole new level. I don’t have the luxury of never thinking about my own death anymore. But it’s like anything else, you get to know about it, put away the fear, decide its simply another part of life, as natural as rain. And press on pushing that boulder up that mountain.

I hope my friends are all well and strong and dealing with life. I keep holding on to this old adage, “This, too, shall pass.”

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Health Tips and Taking Control

My take on a lot of health issues we struggle with: We have more control over our health than we’ve been led to believe.

In 2009 (while I thought I was fit and healthy, before the pain and symptoms started) I was told I’d have severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and it would just get worse and worse and I’d never go into remission. (I’ve been in remission 3 or 4 times and I’m currently in a remission that has lasted, so far, close to 2 years.) I’ve done far better than 98% of others who have this condition. I can tell you why and how, but most people don’t really want to know. Because it’s hard work.

Over many years I have studied and changed my diet steadily and constantly. Many diseases of the body are caused by inflammation and this runs rampant in our bodies these days. So many things cause it, and what causes it in me may not be the same thing that causes it in you.

I started out by eating what most folks would consider a healthy diet (fruits and veggies, no sugar, etc) and went vegan for about 16 months, then ate vegetarian for a couple years.

My next progression was to also eat what is widely considered to be a “low-inflammation diet” and I began to factor all of those things in. I was still having inflammation problems. It really took a lot of trial and error, trying things out on my own body to see how it reacted and I’ve had environmental allergy testing (take shots now) and food allergy testing done which revealed many things I might be sensitive to and/or allergic to. This required more experimenting for me to really figure out what my body particularly doesn’t respond well to.

By this time, I’ve gotten my inflammation levels down SUPER low. There are 2 tests for inflammation with RA, one is the RA factor and I don’t remember what the other is called, but my last test said my RA factor was negative and the other was at a low 2 or so. (My numbers were so high as to be off the charts when I had my “event” that started my RA, so much so, that it took a few doctors and lots of time and pain before they actually diagnosed me.) Something had happened that had my body’s inflammation levels reach critical mass.

It’s now 2020 and I finally feel like I have control over the inflammation and have for a year or so, pretty steadily. (I no longer eat strictly vegetarian but I’m actually considering going back to it as I’ve recently begun to get a lot of heartburn when I eat meat.)

I’ve learned all about my body and I’ve learned to listen to it when it’s trying to tell me something.

So, all of that to say, I can tell you how to cut inflammation out of your body, but it is not easy and requires study, will-power, and lots of lifestyle and dietary changes. 

I now take ZERO meds for RA and haven’t for some time.

There’s a life lesson here. WE have way more control over what happens in our bodies than what we know or are willing to face. Just how bad do you want to be healthy? That is the only real question. I also exercise and move regularly which is almost as important as my diet.

I have proven doctors wrong a few times in my life, and I’ve done it by taking charge of my health and being responsible about it and listening to MY body. (Doctors are by and large trained to lump everyone together and treat them all much the same.) You CAN be healthier than you may be right now, today. Do you want to be? That is the only real question.

I’m a stubborn person, if you know me at all, you know that. I always search things out for myself and have learned the hard way not to just take, well, anything anyone tells me as fact. I do the work, then make changes for what works for ME. 

Yes, I do have a vice or two. For example, I was told to give up coffee (which is my THING.) So I gave it up for about 9 weeks while I studied coffee and why it can be so toxic. Much of its harshness can be traced to it being a highly polluted food item. Many chemicals make their way to most coffee plants. I researched and found an organic shade-grown low acid blend, and I have now found that I can tolerate a little coffee (if it’s the good stuff primarily) and I cannot do 3 or 4 cups a day like I used to. But I found a way to have it more safely for me. Cuz I’m stubborn like that.

I found 2 “sweets” I will eat occasionally. One is a frozen and sliced banana dipped in dark chocolate and the other is Dove or Ghiardelli or any GOOD brand of dark chocolate (and I will buy organic and non-GMO when I can). I will have a bite-sized piece of dark chocolate if I really need a sweet. Or a frozen banana. I always find a way. But once you’re off of sugar addiction, you will find you don’t crave it, and eventually, can barely tolerate it.

I’ve experimented with alcoholic beverages and did some research and talking with  our local expert and found that wines from Italy and France have a different less-toxic process (non-gmo and more natural fermentation, etc) and I can have a glass of white wine occasionally without it bothering me too much. I cannot have it much or often, but I can. There are certain liquors I could more easily get away with as well, due to them being NOT from America and therefore not being nearly as toxic. (Other countries have much stricter guidelines than we do on what toxins they give their people.) That’s another rant for another time. MOST of my problems with certain foods can be traced back to pesticides and GMOs.

So I have figured out what I will and will not allow into my body, how often I can get away with certain things, etc.

Has it been worth it? Abso-friggin-lutely. I finally had it all coming together.

And then Covid-19. Ah hells bells. Yet one more battle for me to fight.

All of this to say, YOU CAN take control of your health, question doctors, do your own research, and not necessarily take a diagnosis (or prognosis) at face value. Nobody, I mean NOBODY is gonna fight for you and your health like you can. Only you know YOU as well as you. Be pro-active. Take control. Be well.

And PEACE OUT!

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Be Healthy, Behave

I saw an article yesterday (when I was looking outside of Facebook for news reports) about people out there who have made a living out of creating a website, getting advertisers to be on their site (this is how they get paid) and then they spend their full-time work days creating misinformation and putting it out there as real. Knowingly. It’s hard to believe we live in such a time, in such a world, where people benefit and live off of destroying other people. I won’t mention their names here, goodness knows I don’t want to promote one more person looking at this guy’s mess, but this dude took this woman and her family and totally decimated their lives by accusing them online of having started the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Even though the authorities and police have confirmed her innocence, it does not seem to matter and the police can do nothing. There are no laws for this.

He had hundreds of thousands of followers attacking these poor people. Their reputations are ruined. They don’t feel safe, can’t leave their homes (even after they CAN from isolating) for fear of being attacked.

I saw a story about a NC woman who is knowingly infected and she and her followers are taking to the streets to tell people they need their “freedom” and to get out there and protest for the opening of commerce now, and she is very militant about it. It’s real, people. This is the world we are living in.

Sigh. Good morning, friends. It is a stressful time to be alive. It’s enough to make me (I don’t know about you) crawl under the covers and hide.

I’m the kind of person who likes to take any action I can (even if it’s only taking to my keyboard) to try to bring about positive change in the world. But this…. This mess. People are so entrenched in their ways of thinking and refuse to be challenged. It’s unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. It feels like Mass Brainwashing and it scares me, I’m not gonna lie.

As for the aforementioned perpetrators, the ones making a living from defaming people, I’d be all for implementing laws about defamation, etc., that would cause these people, once they are identified, to be placed in shackles in the public square and let people walk by and throw tomatoes at them. Let’s bring that back. I bet it’d work.

My heart aches for this world. More than I ever thought I would live to see, people are forgetting about what’s important, latching on to some little thing and turning it into a full-blown cult-like agenda. I don’t understand. I never will. And don’t tell me people just need faith in God because a lot of the folks participating in some of the crazy behavior are self-proclaimed people of faith. I cannot express how sad this makes me.

People need love. They need real connection with real people. They need mental/emotional healthcare. This much is abundantly clear.

I’ve found that sitting with someone and having a coffee together and talking our thoughts through, even if we disagree, in an attitude of respect and humility, can work wonders. Before social media it’s what everyone did. That’s why people who disagreed with one another weren’t losing friendships over it back in the day, but now it’s just the thing to do, to blast people you disagree with and fight and yell and get ugly, and decide we can’t be friends.

I go a long way towards trying to discuss things calmly but when people start getting angry with me, calling me names, trying to publicly humiliate me, look out. Boundary walls are up and people are being shoved outside of them. I don’t put up with that. My peace and the energy I surround myself with, is very important to me. I will protect it and myself.

So, I am over here in my tiny little corner of my little world, plugging away at life and at trying to make sense of it all. Ultimately there is little I can do but try to encourage people to be kinder, to really look at broader views instead of a tiny narrow one. To base all they do out of love and compassion and empathy rather than furthering their political ideals and agendas.

The combination of social media (hiding oftentimes under Freedom of Speech) and politics is destroying it all, our peace, our friendships, our relationships, our sanity. I’m not playing anymore, people. I will not engage.

No-one, no matter how long I’ve known or loved them (family included) is going to be allowed to get me all riled up and upset and ruin my quality of life which is ever-so-precarious right now anyway. Boundary walls up and fully engaged, like a high-dollar alarm system.

If you feel the same or just like to follow me for whatever reason, (writing, art, poetry, friendship, whatever) then I hope you stick around. I hope you come back here and hang out and read my stuff. For those local, I hope one day we can meet and have coffee and discuss things with mutual respect and kindness.

Whatever you do, please take care of yourself and hold onto your sanity and your peace. Be healthy. Be kind. BEHAVE.

Peace Out.