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I'm a wife, mother and grandmother. I'm opinionated. I contradict myself frequently. Most of all, I love my kids. I believe in them. I fight for them. They're weird and wonderful. If you want to know more, here's a bunch of other stuff from my old site.

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Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

On Health, Weather, Dogs and Teens

Just when I start to feel really great physically and ready to get back into walking every day, something goes wrong. In this case, two things went wrong. First, the weather got nasty again. We went from mid-70s one day to mid-40s the next. Combined with the rain, it’s just not good weather to walk down by the river.

The second thing is even worse. We’d just come into the house on Friday. Nick was heading back to the car to get the groceries and Levi was letting Belle in the house. As I stepped toward the hallway to the bathroom, Belle came charging in and smashed into my leg. I went straight to the ground.

Levi sat down on the floor next to me, asking if I was okay. Maggie fought back her giggles just enough to run outside to Nick to tell him how funny it was that Belle knocked me to the ground! Seriously, she could barely hold back her laughs as she told him what happened. Poor, sweet Levi had to help me up off the floor all by himself.

I was still limping yesterday but I think it’s better today. The swelling has gone down and the throbbing is gone, for the most part. It’s a little sore but should be fine in a day or two. Maggie, however, will not be fine. I’m plotting my revenge on her. (Not really. Being a teenage girl is bad enough. I don’t have to do anything to make it worse. Other than wishing a teenage daughter on her someday.)

Anyway, I do want to keep making progress but I have to hold back on exercise right now. I’m too old to risk additional damage to my bones and muscles. I was thinking about doing a cleansing fast and I’ve looked into orovo detox too. I’ve eliminated most processed foods from my diet but I would like to give my system a good cleansing.

It just occurred to me that if I’d taken this kind of care of myself from the beginning of my adult life, I wouldn’t be playing catch-up now. Why didn’t I listen to my mom all those years ago?

Incentive To Lose

I’m a little frustrated with popular culture right now. I’m old enough to know that the normal human body cannot lose 100 pounds in a few months. I’ve been pregnant enough times to know that you do not leave the hospital after giving birth, wearing the same clothes you wore on the day that you got pregnant. Teenagers do not know these things. My teenager thinks she can get totally fit by June 1. She cannot.

My daughter has asked me to buy her weight loss pills and once again, I’ve had to tell her No. Don’t get me wrong, if my daughter was over the age of 18 and eating a healthy diet as well as exercising regularly, I’d help her do the research to find the right supplements. But I am not going to allow a 15 year old girl to try to use pills to counteract her problematic eating habits.

As a mother of a teen, I know that there’s only so much I can do. Teens aren’t home, under our supervision, like small children are. So I came up with another idea. I’ve told my daughter that she can get her driver’s permit when she gets down to a healthier weight. Together, we figured out her ideal weight and then added about 15 pounds to that because I think most weight charts are too strict. We’ll see how this goes. If nothing else, I won’t have to hear her begging for her driving permit for a while.

Bio Quench Bonus

Time for a “health” update. I’m 7 months away from my 50th birthday and I’m making excellent progress.

Since I began my weight loss program in August, I’ve fallen into a pattern of losing for a few days, then stalling for several weeks; lose for a few days, stall for several weeks. The stalls are frustrating but I’m riding it out and not giving up.

Along with the weight loss, I’ve also been trying various nutritional supplements. Two favorites over the years are SAM-e and Chlorella. They don’t do much for weight loss but I do feel better when I take them. Now I’ve found another supplement and I think it may be helping to accelerate my weight loss!

I’ve been taking one Bio Quench Super Antioxidant from Biotivia each day for the past three weeks. At the time that I began taking Bio Quench, I’d just lost a few pounds and noticed my body slowing down. I was expecting a typical stall. Within a week, though, my weight loss picked right back up! I couldn’t believe it.

I was going to blog about it but I wanted to give it a few more weeks. Now, after three weeks, I’ve continued to lose 2-3 pounds each week with no stalls. I’m amazed. And thrilled!

Now I know this is anecdotal. I’m not scientist or researcher. I don’t know if anyone else will see the same results. All I do know is that the only thing I’ve changed in my routine is one Bio Quench capsule each day. And no weight loss stalls.

Bio Quench contains some wonderful ingredients and powerful antioxidants like Apple extract, mangosteen, goji berry extract, Pomegranate and Alpha Lipoic Acid. I’ve actually taken Alpha Lipoic Acid and Goji Berry extract in the past. I love the idea of taking a half dozen or so supplements in one capsule, rather than individual tablets.

The power punch ingredient of Bio Quench is Trans-resveratrol, a super antioxidant that is found in red wine and is believed to be have anti-cancer, antiviral, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory properties. I was hoping that Bio Quench would help slow down aging; the accelerated weight loss was a wonderful surprise.

Biotivia has other supplements, including Bioflu Vital which I have but have not yet tried. I really wanted to try these one at a time so I could note what each did to my body. I’d also like to try the Bio Span Longevity Formula after I get through this bottle.

Has anyone else seen similar results from this product? If you have or if you decide to try it, please let me know your results. I’d love t know if this is typical or if my body is simply reacting differently.

Clear It Up

I was always amazed that my sons had very little acne at teens. Both my husband and I dealt with breakouts so I always thought that all my kids would as well. The boys, so far, have been very fortunate, with only an occasional pimple here and there.

Not so for my daughter, though. She’s been battling acne very much like I did at her age. I know how frustrating it is and I’d love to help her with it. I’ve provided simple mineral makeup for her to us, hoping that she’ll use it rather than the gooey stuff she gets at the drug store. (Teens are so difficult sometimes.) I’ve also looked around for various products that may help, at sites like the Orovo online store. I’m still evaluating the ingredients and cost of several lines.

If I can’t help my daughter to clear her face by this summer, it may be time to seek medical advice. I hope we don’t have to go that route but I’m prepared to do so if I must. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

What Do I See?

Usually, I wear daily disposable contact lenses and occasionally I wear colored contacts. I don’t wear them everyday, though. In fact, if I’m not leaving the house I don’t wear them at all. You see, my eyesight is just fine for close-up stuff like computer work, reading, cooking or talking to and playing with a child. Not only that, but when my contacts are in my eyes, I have to wear “cheater” glasses in order to see up. It’s always been that way, in fact.

And that’s what caused me such grief on Monday.

I was getting ready for an appointment and thought I’d wear my colored contacts. I’d picked out the green ones and had one in when I dropped the other on my green marble bathroom vanity. Not good.

Even with one contact in and one eye seeing clearly, I couldn’t find the contact. I spent over 15 minutes looking for it, being careful not to whisk it away to the floor and finally grabbed a magnifying glass to bring everything into focus. That’s when I saw it! It hadn’t fallen directly onto the counter but rather landed on the base of my vanity mirror. Still, I should have been able to see that.

This brings me to my quandary. I want lasik surgery so I won’t need contacts but I can’t help wondering if I’ll need reading glasses all the time after that. I’m not sure I’d like that idea. I spend most of my time at the computer so maybe being nearsighted is better for right now. Anyone have an opinion on that?

Time To Blog My Self Improvement?

Right now, I’m considering a new blog to deal specifically with my weight loss journey. I’m very happy with my progress so far but I realize that I’m not blogging about it regularly. Perhaps a niche blog would encourage me to report on my progress more regularly.

Until then, I’ll just mention that for a variety of reasons, the program I’m following will no doubt seem extreme to many. I created my own diet with a protein powder shake and some other key ingredients. Other than the additives I put in my shake (banana for potassium, peanut butter for extra protein) I’m not eating any food. Believe it or not, I’m consuming more calories now than when I tried low-fat or low-carb. And since August, I’ve lost 33 pounds.

I am taking supplements, although I’m not taking any diet pills. I take SAM-e, Fish Oil, Garlic, Chromium Picolonate and a multi-vitamin specifically for women. I feel great physically.

Next up on my agenda is a regular exercise program. What’s keeping me from it? The weather. I’ve found that I don’t exercise when my husband is home (it always feels like I have an audience) and with the weather so frigid, he’s home a lot. That’s okay. I’ve been making a habit of walking up and down the stairs several times each day. At least it’s something, for now.

Need More Room!

Nick and I were downstairs earlier, looking through my vast selection of essential oils. Seriously, I have over 40 right now. I really want to get back into soap making and my basement would be perfect for it. In fact, I started to set it up down there about a year ago but then the kids decided it would make a great place for a weight bench and other exercise equipment.

Looking around down there today, though, got me thinking again. I really want to use that space better. I have a really nice table down there and work bench so I don’t need much furniture. A small fridge, an apartment size stove and maybe a little microwave and I’d be set. I’m just not sure where in the world I’ll put the weight bench and Body-by-Jake contraption that’s down there. Living room? Dining room? Back yard?

A Merry and Sniffly Christmas

As hectic as our pre-Christmas and Christmas Eve are, our Christmas day is usually lazy and quiet. The kids play with their stuff or just hang out and we sit around relaxing. We quit visiting on Christmas day when Chris and Jesse were young and realized how much more pleasant the day is when there’s no rush to be somewhere.

This Christmas day would have been perfect had it not been for the cold that Kendyll shared with me. She was sniffling on Thursday and by Friday evening Nick was feeling pretty bad, too. As he and Kendyll began feeling better, Levi and I got worse. Not good. So when I stopped by the health food store on Saturday to buy hoodia capsules and my protein powder, I picked up some Echinacea, too. It was too late, though. I guess I needed it a few days earlier, before I picked up the bug.

So today I slept. Kendyll is with Brit’s family today, Boomer and Levi are playing video games and Maggie is in her room with her new makeup and colored contacts. The husband is sleeping now and I’m going back to bed. The only good thing about being sick on Christmas Day is that it’s better that I’m sick than if it was Kendyll. She was feeling great when she left this morning and that makes it all worth it.

Hope all had a Merry Christmas. I’m off to track down some Nyquil.

Healthy Traveling

We’re still waiting to find out if Brian will be heading back to Hawaii this winter to work. Jesse is looking into another stone job so that’s a possibility. This one could last a while and if it does, Brian is considering a vacation to Australia for a week or so. That’s always been his dream.

Traveling out of the country, though, presents some different challenges. For one thing, health insurance that works perfectly in the US may not cover you in other countries. Did you know that? Apparently, some insurance plans will pay up to 50% but others will pay nothing. That’s a scary thought when you’re in a different country, so far from home.

I’ve been comparing prices on Travel insurance and found that for just a dollar or so a day, I can purchase travel medical insurance. Brian doesn’t usually get sick and even when he does, he seldom sees a doctor. However, you just never know when sickness or an accident will happen. It’s really best to be prepared. From what I’ve read at MultiNational Underwriters, there are several different plans available. That should make it easy to find the one that works best for our family.

If you’re traveling outside the US, you might want to look into a similar plan. Just Click Here for a FREE Quote to see how reasonable these rates are. In fact, if we decide to travel to Canada next summer (we’ve been planning it for two years!) I’m going to look into rates for families, too. I’m more concerned about the kids than I am about myself. Must be the mother in me.

I’m So Sensitive

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have sensitive teeth and gums that bled easily. My mom says I get that from her. (Thanks, Mom.) My mother would always instruct me to use the same toothpaste that she used, which was made specifically for sensitive teeth. I tried it once and thought I was going to die! That stuff was awful.

That was years ago, when I was a teenager. Since there was no way I was going to subject my mouth to that nasty taste every single day, I decided it was better just to bear the pain and bleeding of brushing. for the past 3+ decades, that’s exactly what I have done. Every morning after brushing I give my mouth a few minutes to stop bleeding. Every evening, same thing. After that much time, you learn to adapt.

When I received a sample of Biotene Sensitive toothpaste, I was leery. I almost dreaded trying it. My only memory of sensitive toothpaste was not good and I really didn’t expect this to be any different. Boy, was I wrong! I guess research into sensitive gums and teeth has come quite a ways in the past 30 years.

Biotene SENSITIVENot only did Biotene sensitive toothpaste taste good, it actually worked to reduce the pain of brushing. In all fairness, I don’t know if that stuff I tried all those years ago would work or not, since I could never bring myself to use it again. I’m just glad that the Biotene did what it said it was going to do.

I noticed on the box that Biotene also helps with dry mouth problems. I’m really not familiar with that term but I wonder if whatever ingredients help with that are responsible for my gums not bleeding much. It didn’t happen all at once but after a week or so I noticed quite a difference. Could my bleeding gums be related to Dry Mouth? I think I need to read up on this a little more. And I wonder why my dentist never considered this. Oh, yeah. It’s because I’m afraid of Dentists and I’m usually sedated when I go. Seriously.

One of my sons has had some issues with sensitive teeth also. I think I’ll pick up a full size of Biotene so that he can use it, too. In fact, since Biotene Sensitive toothpaste also has cavity protection, there’s no reason my other kids shouldn’t use it. This may just become our regular family toothpaste!

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