Saturday, January 28, 2012

Destressing Easily

Greetings,

I hope today finds you in well health. I'm currently taking a class at the local college called Creative Writing. One of the things we are supposed to do for this class is keep a journal. I really haven't done any journal writing since junior high & all of my journals, stories & poems were all thrown out when my grandmothers house was cleaned out.

Things have been a bit stressful the last couple of weeks around here. So, one night when I was too stressed out to sleep, I found a notebook & a pen & just started to write. I wrote 6 pages before I was finally tired enough to get some sleep.

So another way that is easy & cheap, just write out your feelings on paper. You don't have to show it anyone else, it can be just for your eyes only.

Have a good week,

Lori

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Dangers of Pork

Greetings,

I was surfing the net tonight & came across this article tonight. I thought it fit in perfectly with my To Eat or Not to Eat article I wrote last year.

A couple of highlights from the article are as follows -

PIGS are SCAVENGERS and will eat ANY kind of food, INCLUDING dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta including their own, garbage, and other pigs.

There are many diseases carried from swine to man, particularly parasite infestations.

Influenza (flu) is one of the most famous illnesses which pigs share with humans. This illness is harbored in the lungs of pigs during the summer months and tends to affect pigs and humans in the cooler months. Sausage contains bits of pigs' lungs, so those who eat pork sausage tend to suffer more during epidemics of influenza.


The human swine flu outbreak continues to grow...
The outbreak of disease in people caused by a new influenza virus of swine origin continues to grow in the United States and internationally. Today, CDC reports additional confirmed human infections, hospitalizations and the nation's first fatality from this outbreak. The more recent illnesses and the reported death suggest that a pattern of more severe illness associated with this virus may be emerging in the U.S. Most people will not have immunity to this new virus and, as it continues to spread, more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths are expected in the coming days and weeks.


Have a good week,

Lori

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Vertigo free & LOVING it!!!

Greetings,

As I type this I'm celebrating! I haven't had a vertigo attack - major or minor in almost 3 months!

As many of faithful followers know I fought with vertigo for over 2 1/2 years. I was going to physical therapy every 4-6 weeks to keep it in check so that I didn't get an attack when I was at school or I was out in the field working.

I'm sure many of you are asking what have I done differently that I no longer have this problem. Well, I'm going to contribute it to a few different factors.

1. Destress - I've cut back on my stress. I don't let things get to me as easily as I used to & if I do get upset, I try to keep it short lived. Let it out & then get back on track. My daughter & her boyfriend aren't quite sure what to think about this.

2. Change in my diet - Cutting back on sugars & other toxins in my life. As I said in an earlier post, mercury is in many food & may contribute to vertigo. I'm still doing research into this & hope to post more on this at a future date.

3. Exercise - This isn't what you think it is. I've looked back at when I first got vertigo & what I've changed over the last few months, there is one change that I've done that I think has a made a HUGE change in my life. I was an avid roller skater prior to my foot surgery in April of 2008. I didn't start skating again until the end of October. Just think the gentle loops that you are doing as you are going around the rink with an occasional quick loop if you are goofing off, or smaller loops if you are doing the "Hokey Pokey" around the middle loop of the rink. If you aren't that good at dodgeball or some of your kids' friends have it in for them, I would advise you to avoid this activity. It may sound harmless enough but if you are skating 15-20 mph to avoid getting hit you may get hit hard with a nerf ball (simple physics here) or you may wipe out & do more harm than good.

4. More sleep - I've been working at getting more sleep. I used to survive on catnaps if I had a bunch of work to do in a one week period or a lot school work to do in the same week. So I try to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep per night.

5. More me time - I used to think that I was selfish if I took time for myself. But now I give myself permission to take time for myself. Whether its to read, watch some TV, take a drive thru a local state park or do some needlework.

I head back to school on the 9th. In a way I'm looking forward to going back & in another way I wish I had another week of break to get more things done around the house.

Until next time, have a good week.

Lori