Showing posts with label Physical Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Physical Health. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2010

3000 Lightning Strikes and Really Sore Biceps






Drove through a cast iron beyotch of a storm on the way home from work tonight. Tops of the storm towers were up to 49,000 feet. (According to WSB meterologist extraordiaire Kirk Melish.) That's pretty dang high. Lightning was striking all around me... the rain was falling in horizontal sheets and the wind was amazing. I said out loud inside my car "Dang." (That's what we southern girls say out loud when something is Most Impressive.)

But I made it home. (Call CNN.)

I considered, briefly, heading to the gym during the enduring monsoon but thought better of it... not only due to the fact that I'd be putting myself in immediate peril, but due to the fact that my body is SHOUTING LOUDLY that it hurts. Yes, I joined a gym last week... YES, I'm working out now and YES I really enjoy it. But my muscles that normally aren't used during my daily Insurance Nerd-SuperGirl duties are muttering and COMPLAINING LOUDLY..

My biceps are bitching.
My quads are quibbling.
My glutes are..... grumbling....

BUT (damnit) I'm going to lose 10 lbs and be less jiggly if it KILLS me (and it just might).
But the lightning won't be killing me. (At least not tonight.)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Houston..... I think I've SOLVED the Problem

So, yesterday, because it was 82 degrees here, I decided to clean out my closet and pull out all my really cute Summer clothes, and try everything on.

I was excited..... until I tried everything on.
I discovered a Very Big Problem: my clothes have mysteriously shrunk in my closet over the Winter and now my once curvy (but now ample) derriere won't fit in any of my cute capris and shorts.

How could this have happened?, I demanded of myself in the mirror.

So, being the dorky sleuth that I am, I armed myself with pen and paper and decided to track what I ate yesterday. (After all, I don't consider myself to be hugely gluttonous..... but there has to be SOME reason why nothing fits anymore....)

Here are the results:

Breakfast:
Icy Cold 20 Oz Mountain Dew (ah.... love my Mountain Dew.)
4 Nutter Butter Cookies (Breakfast of champions.)

Mid Morning Snack:
Leftover home-made mac & cheese (none of that Kraft crap for me, thank you...)
1 more Nutter Butter cookie

Late Lunch:
Met my friend Dawn at Chipotle and had a big burrito - ate the whole thing because it was just so darn good. Their guacamole is da bomb.

Dinner:
Hubster made grilled chicken, rice, and corn.
After dinner, the kids and I had some Dulce de Leche ice cream.

Yes, I think my razor-sharp deductive reasoning has solved this mystery. Tremendous intake of fat and sugar, combined with almost NO intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, combined with complete aversion of anything resembling exercise.

No wonder I can't fit in my capris. Honestly, I'm surprised it's not worse. I keep THIS up, I'll be the female Walter Hudson.

So, starting today, I'm cutting WAY back on sugar and starches, and I'll be making at LEAST a cameo appearance at the gym a minimum of 3 times per week. These are reasonable changes that I can maintain. I'm old enough to realize that Reasonable Changes are the name of the game...

I weighed myself this morning (and NO, I will NOT be posting that number here...) but I will be posting my progress.

And off we go. :-)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Natural Cancer Fighters

The below was emailed to me from a friend. The email was entitled "Johns Hopkins Cancer Letter". Being a huge skeptic, I immediately looked it up on Snopes, and, sure enough, there was no affiliation at all between this information and Johns Hopkins.

However, this is a good case for not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The tips below contain some pretty good advice. Some is "common-sensical" and some are things I've never even thought about.

So, read and learn; discard what you don't need. :-)

  • Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
  • Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime
  • When a person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
  • When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and/or lifestyle factors.
  • To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
  • Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells, but also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract, and can cause organ damage to the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
  • Radiation, while destroying cancer cells, also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
  • Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation does not result in more tumor destruction.
  • When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
  • Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
  • An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
  • CANCER CELLS FEED ON: a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be honey or molasses in very small amounts . Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. A better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt. b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells are starved. c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic, therefore it is best to eat fish, and chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer. d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and fruits helps put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C). e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water- the best water to drink is purified water, or filtered water, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
  • Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.
  • Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
  • Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Floressence,Essiac, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
  • Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
  • Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.