Being Sick, Exercise as Medicine, Fatigue, Goals for 2014/Bringing in the New Year

I am so very sorry I have not kept up with this month. So much as gone on,everything from my birthday to holidays to being ill. Even this Christmas I came down horribly with the flu and it's still not entirely gone. The one thing I have noticed is that everyone seems to have gotten it at work, yet again another sign I need a new job. The job I have again you ask? At a call center with circulated recycled air and sharing computers, headsets etc. means sharing plenty of germs that don't get out of the building. Most people have kids and are interacting with outside sources and bringing new bugs into the building as well which feeds more germs. It's just not a healthy environment. And then sitting there all day too does not help.

Now admittedly work is trying to do something about that and they are starting a walking club, of which I've signed up for. We'll see how that goes for the new year. I also had my ergo assessment almost two weeks ago, and thus far better for my back for sure. I don't have as many issues with my shoulder and the massage therapy is definitely helping. Especially when the therapist gets right into the sciatic nerve. More info on sciatica can be found here. But massage therapy can only help one's health so much and there is so much more I can do and have been advised to do such as continue walking. However for the past week I have stopped walking to work only because I was very ill and this flu went right into my lungs. It could have been pneumonia almost, in fact it's still there but not nearly as bad as it was. I woke up Monday with a fever that though it broke sometime around noon, it was high enough I was seeing things and found myself dehydrated and overheated and on the floor of my bathroom when I came to at one point. Remember, always drink lots of water and fluids when ill. Chicken soup does wonders especially because of the salt and water content, you need this for electrolytes. Electrolyte drinks are best and sports drinks though are good potentially for hydration when doing workouts are not best when ill. They don't give you enough and are quite often filled with sugar. When my sister was ill with the flu I went looking for some ideas if you didn't have some stuff on hand or couldn't get to the drug store by chance to get an electrolyte drink mix. This site was just one of many that I found about mixing your own with certain recipes and most kept to something very similar.

Moving on I have been gathering up a multitude of articles on different health subjects. One of which I thought was interesting was the use of exercise as a form of medication. The article on this was quite interesting and I tend to agree. It can certainly have a multitude of benefits but I wouldn't go off any medications that are absolutely required. I do believe exercise is a great way to reduce certain medical issues that could come about, as a prevention measure. I also further found an article on fatigue,"7 Weird Reasons You're Tired All The Time" and in fact most of them are admittedly true for most people, including myself. Certainly something to consider or ask your doctor about if you are having trouble sleeping. I might also add that I had a semi discussion with my massage therapist about this and charlie horses, for charlie horses it's your muscles contracting and telling you to rest and you should have lots of water and perhaps more potassium in your diet. However it goes without question that when your body is ill or you have muscle spasms or even soreness overall, it's your body's way of telling you that you need rest. You are tired, your body is fatigued and or the muscles overused. You can go and go and go like the energizer bunny but even the energizer bunny's batteries have to be replaced at some point and unlike him we can't "replace" our batteries. We have to take care of ours so they don't erode to nothingness. So please when your body says slow down, try at least to listen. I've learned the hard way and am trying to slow down.

Now lastly for this week/month and year of 2013, I'm going to go on to motivation and goals. I found this article today "22 ways to stay motivated to lose weight". A good read and certainly some ideas to keep in mind for any goal to keep healthy. I agree with all points. This leads me to believe that, you know what, I can do this. I am horrible at motivation and I just need to find the right way to motivate myself. I have been trying and little goals like less pop with more water,  have been successful. I have kept to less pop, more water, more veggies, less eating out, and trying to walk more. I have tried to do other exercise and if I hadn't gotten this cold/flu I probably would have kept to that goal this month. I did keep to my goal in November of near perfect attendance at work and successfully walked for the most part to and from.

This year for 2014, I want to keep to the goal of less pop, more walking and exercise and eating better. I don't want to set a goal for how much weight to lose, I know already I must have lost a little bit in some areas because admittedly I'm getting stretch marks around my waist. So it's going off somewhere. I must be patient. I am still in a healing process for my shoulder and back and eventually I will get to where I want to be. If it's not by the end of 2014, that's ok. I'm making progress and that's all that matters. I'll probably make more resolutions but not all are regarding health. Making too many goals though, is a challenge and not healthy and one should take things one at a time. Let life lead the way and don't let it get you down! Everything happens for a reason and we might not all reach our goals or get what we want done but we might get what life wants and what we need to have done. There is a true difference between what we want and what we need.

Anyway this is the last post of 2013, so I hope everyone had a good year and I look forward to more posts in the new year! Hope everyone has a happy, safe and healthy holiday! :)

Update On My Own Health

So sorry everyone for writing so very very late! It's been weeks I know and a lot has been keeping me busy. Lots to write about and I promise to write another quick entry this week again. Maybe even a few, but for now an update on my own health. 

Last week was a week of five days off, one of which was my birthday, and I spent it mostly resting and doing nothing. I had my massage appointment on the Thursday, went well and learned more about charlie horses. In fact drinking more water and eating more potassium is a good thing as apparently these spasms can either be caused by lack of potassium absorption in the muscles or just an indicator that overall I've been overusing the muscles and so ti's my body's way of telling me that it needs rest. I was also told by the massage therapist that I should definitely continue to walk and do Zumba and other forms of exercise when and where I can and keep active. Even if it's light activity. I shouldn't over do it though like I did even with laundry as that made things worse in my lower back lifting the baskets, so it was suggested that I get a roller basket for my clothes instead. Overall the therapy seems to be working and that's a good thing because I can walk faster and I can sit straighter and it's not hurting as much. There is still going to be pain and some days like on Friday this week where a migraine will come on due to the overuse of those muscles. She did warn me I'll notice which muscles I'll use more and that there could still be pain but it is in the works. :) 

I also have been drinking a ton of water! I can't seem to get enough of the stuff lately. I bought myself a brita filter for my Brita jug and put that in the fridge. I've been drinking much more lately and can't even really stand pop so much now. I also have been craving and wanting fruit and veggies like grapes, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, oranges, grapefruit, bananas. My body seems to want to do an automatic cleansing, I don't want junk food and I don't even really want processed food so much. But sandwiches, soups and even crackers with a bit of cheese seems to be preferences now. This is a good sign and I feel much better for it. I also find that I'm sleeping differently. Been wanting to go to bed a bit earlier and getting up earlier as well. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but seems to be that I am getting about 6-8 hours sleep and any more than that makes me sick.

Speaking of being ill I find that heat or being overheated or sleeping too much makes my stomach turn. I also find that going to the mall or essentially being surrounded by people for more than a couple hours at a time with busy hustle and bustle  is highly stressful and also makes me sick and stressed. I actually found that though I'm feeling lonely when I'm by myself I feel more energized. I don't feel the energy draining out of me. 

So all in all feeling better and finding what makes me tick. It's good to listen to your body and find out because otherwise you just get worse. That's really all for now, I have a series of things that I have listed for the next health topics that I'll make sure I'll touch on in the next couple entries. I don't want to run out of ideas though! :) Until next entry everyone have a good week and stay healthy!

Massage update

This is just a quick entry update. Thus far I've done about four sessions of massage therapy. So far so good. However, they did warn me when I signed the paper that it could cause pain afterward depending on what muscles are stimulated. Needless to say, they were right. The therapist has done some work on my lower back this time as well as shoulders and though I can walk better it seems, it hurts as if my buttocks were bruised. She said there were a lot of tense muscles, so much so that it's extending into my upper back as well. And though it's mostly on my left, it's in my right as well. She told me to apply heat on it almost every day especially after work and sitting all day for about 15-20 min. She also said to do my shoulder as well. It certainly helps.

I'm also going to be having an ergo assessment for my workstation which will be good too because then I'll perhaps be more comfortable and be able to do my job better. Let's hope this truly does help because, well I don't like my job and I truly believe that it's part of what's making me so ill. Luckily though in the first week of December when I have my birthday I have the week off practically so that will be good rest.

Moving on to other things, just a reminder to all of you folk out there that you should not wait to go to the hospital if you're having chest pains or any major pain of any kind! That's right! DON'T WAIT. It could be a heart attack and certainly your body's way of saying, wait there is something seriously wrong! Also don't drive yourself to the hospital in said condition, please keep safe and have someone else take you whether it be friend, family, a cab or ambulance, please!

You may ask why I bring this to your attention, well first of all lots of reports have been popping up about heart attack and stroke and how especially women don't even know it's happening and women a lot of the time we shrug it off and say it's nothing and postpone a lot of things and ignore. We're stubborn and have to get things done right? Well guys can do the same thing. Secondly, recent events and the person shall remain anonymous, has made me come to realize that stubbornness is not the way to good health. I can be stubborn, done it before and wouldn't go until someone made me go. Not the best thing to do, to wait it out, but it was best to go to the hospital and if it comes to mind that you should then do it!

So that's my words of advice this week. More updates to come. Hope everyone has a safe, warm/cozy week!

Winnipeg Man Ignored, Flu Shot, and Eternal Youth

Hello dear readers, I write this as I sip on some Neocitrine (hot lemon drink), getting ready for bed. If I didn't write I feel as if not only I failed you but also myself for not keeping up with this. That being said my health isn't the greatest still. I'm going for massage therapy as mentioned last time and my second appointment last Friday went well. I am starting to notice all the muscles and more so where they tense up as I sit at work. It's hard now to sit comfortably at work at all without my back and shoulders tensing up and feeling like I'm crouching down or slumping into my chair even though my back is straight against the back of the chair I still feel myself pushing forward with my shoulders as I type and use the mouse. I was told to apply heat when applicable.

I also now am getting yet again another cold or flu. My chest hurts when I breathe unless I have a warm drink or soup and my abdomen and round to my middle to lower back hurt even when I walk. Today I felt like I could keel over. So after I write this I'm heading directly to bed for a good sleep. I don't have to leave for work tomorrow til 8:30. Hopefully I don't feel as dizzy and out of it as I did today. I would have played my new Zumba game too had it not been for this cold and my breathing. Yes, I caved and bought the new Zumba: World Party game. I played it yesterday when I got home for a bit, did 3 songs before I was out of breath because of this illness. But it was good! It's so much fun and I really have to get back to it because I have to lose this belly. It's part of what's making me sluggish and feel horrible about myself when I look in the mirror. I don't like myself, and it's making me sick. By that I don't mean sick when I look at myself, I mean sick as in I'm near diabetic and weight is an issue and part of that. I can't allow myself to fall ill like that. This game allows for goals and goal tracking as well as the more you do the more you unlock. So it allows for progression in the game to keep you motivated as well as doing the workout. :)

And now onto the controversial topics of this week. I've just picked a few, there are so many more I want to discuss but not enough time tonight to write them all. I'll start with a topic I mentioned a few articles back where a gentleman here in Canada was left to essentially die. It sickens me that 17 nurses walked by this man before anyone noticed and by the time they did he was already dead. No one, no one bothered. This just says something about humanity. Here is the article with new info. It breaks my heart knowing that this poor man was assumed drunk and that he didn't receive any treatment and that people ignored him. Yes, that's right, people ignored him and then when already dead they tried to help and resuscitate? What is wrong with people!!!? It makes me angry. This was IN the HOSPITAL itself! *shakes head in disgust*.

Next topic, why not to get the flu vaccine. Ok well some of you might say well it's a good idea, it helps your immune system etc. but did you know that there is so much more to any vaccine or any medicinal item? I'm not screaming conspiracy here, I'm just saying that not everything is as great as it seems and from personal experience I refuse to get it myself and would rather have nature take it's course and have my own body fight it as the more we take a vaccine in this case we are fighting a continual mutating item. Mother nature is trying to kill us off in many ways. Here is an article I found about the flu vaccine. My question is why don't we allow our systems to do it naturally? What is it about taking a shot that seems so comforting? I for one got so very very ill the last time I ever got a shot, for a week, that I never again will take one. I have been better and stronger for it and get better faster from whatever flu or cold virus I have had than I ever did with the shot. Sure it's a pain to get the flu but it doesn't prevent you from getting it, it prevents you from getting that strain but doesn't stop it from mutating to something else. We are essentially encouraging it. We are live test subjects.

Last topic of the night is, what is our fascination with youth all about? I would not want to be stuck as a child, I would not want to forever look young or forever be trapped and never die. And even the undead/immortal, can essentially die or have their weaknesses. Even the Gods, should you not believe, they die. They then have no purpose. Why do we fear death so?  Well this little girl, or shall I say 20 year old that never grew up, I wonder if she actually could perceive the concept. Here is the news report. I can understand about Alzheimer's and other age related diseases, where it is damaging to the brain etc. and research using her dna could be beneficial but I still feel that we shouldn't be searching for the fountain of youth and there will always be someone searching for it. One thing I've learned from reading a great many articles and items is that eternal youth, beauty or living forever really, has it's downside and consequences. Just like they say on Once Upon a Time "Magic always comes with a price" , and indeed it does just like anything else eternal.

And that is all for tonight. It is now time for this gal to get herself to bed for lots of sleep. :) Night everyone and enjoy your week/weekend!

Massage therapy, Workplace health part 2.

So last week I spoke about workplace health, well here it is a bit again. After that post, just this Thursday, I called in ill to work. Why you may ask? Quite simply I had a migraine, a very extensive painful, please shut off all the lights and if the sun had a switch I'd shut it off, kind of migraine. I thought maybe it was the heat in my apartment and that cool air or a shower might help, but no. I was in nauseating pain and even breakfast was hard to stomach. So I went to the doctor and got looked at and got a note. The doctor stated I must stay off work for 3 days, take a muscle relaxant past 6 pm and naproxin during the day, and get massage therapy because it wasn't just a migraine. No this stemmed from something else. Tension.

I was asked a series of questions and upon looking at my chart, and hearing my symptoms, he did a simple test of squeezing down on my shoulders and neck muscles and simply stated that 1. it's from work and 2. I definitely would benefit from massage therapy. Next thing I know I have a referral, an appointment and am out the door to get the note to work. Thank goodness I am not fired because I brought the note in right away. I may not have looked ill per se, but I was in enough pain that even keeping sunglasses on didn't help the light.

The good news from all this is that after speaking to HR they are going to look into an ergo assessment for my chair and back once I bring in a note. Which I will be doing by next week after I have my second session. So that means I can get some proper seating which after seeing the therapist, she totally agreed.

Now to the session. I was told to monitor how I feel throughout the week after the session, which by the way I learned some things and it felt amazing! I highly recommend it even as a gift to someone! What did I learn? Well I learned that after near 4 years at a strictly desk job this is bound to happen and is quite common and no one bothers to get help for it. I learned that the question mark shape migraine, that stems from my shoulders around into the back and base of my neck and skull and around my ear, behind my eye and into my sinuses is all because of the tension in one group of shoulder muscles. Those muscles get stuck in a certain way, even as I'm typing here, it is in that sitting, typing and mouse holding position that in fact causes it. Even right now I admit that I haven't taken the relaxant yet and am feeling a bit of discomfort in my right side where all of this is stemming. I feel the tension. I feel the muscles straining like they're tired.

She told me that when it's that much pain it's our body's reaction to it being tired and that if the body thinks that it can increase the pain, then perhaps we'll do something about it. So the earache and headache and all that suffering randomly over the past 2 years at least is a sign that I need out of a desk job! Or at least a lessening of some hours perhaps. I'm thinking that I may actually ask for a week off in December. Or a few days at least perhaps near my birthday. I just need to rest my body. It needs to do nothing but rest and not be at the computer.

The therapist also asked me a series of questions that included where I worked, how long I worked there, what I did, right down to how I wore my headset. She told me most people sit with a slouched forward position as well which is so very true, everything she described is true about me and I looked at the diagram and thought wow that is right where all the pain is!

Sitting is the next disease. It truly is. We are becoming obese, diabetic, and stressed. We have more heart attacks and heart disease etc. and women especially are at risk apparently. This is sad. We need to stop this trend. We need to have more active roles and lives like we used to. Like I used to. I used to walk everywhere, be able to lift up boxes and do laundry even without pain, without having to sit down for breath. Now I can't even do that. I try to stay active but the more I try the more it seems that work work work is holding me down.

This has made me come to the conclusion that we need to change our work habits in North America, and if not North America than Canada at the least where we do not work more than 8 hours a day and if we do  and if we have sitting jobs we must have a plan or some kind of hour or two a day of mandatory working out or activity of some kind. You know, team sports or some kind of work out room installed or even some kind of just fun activity where everyone stops working and does stretches or something. The schools uses to have that and even now they don't. They've removed a lot of the essential skills and activity based education in our school systems. We don't have recess as adults, we need to. We need to have fun, destress and be active. It's not just diet. It starts there yes. But we need activity.

Now it's just a matter of how would one implement this? Who would be with me for this? I know we have busy lifestyles with going out, drinking with friends or being out and about with family and maybe you feel that no we shouldn't have an hour out of our busy work day to have this kind of activity. And maybe for some jobs there is no need  you think right? But what about those people who are on their feet every day? Well those ones perhaps could be exempt if they are only working say a 4-6 hour shift and only part time throughout the week. Perhaps it would be only the 8-12 hour shifts 5-6 days a week people. Even those that work labour jobs should be subject to this, oh but it'll stop production you say? Well why not then do a half hour stretching period? Because even those at labour intense jobs require their bodies to stay active and flexible and healthy.

It's a thought. It's something that I think should be mandatory. Like the siestas in other countries. They get a nap time or they don't even work before or past a certain time because of the weather conditions and heat. I think that being healthy should be a world wide thing and in North America it's become an important and controversial topic. I'm not waging a war on "fat" people, no I am one of those people now and even if I wasn't I think back to even when I was thin and thinking that perhaps I wasn't entirely healthy then either. I was constantly sick with colds and flus etc. so therefore my immune system was waging war on me. Why, I think it's because of the environment. We can't take care of the earth so the earth won't take care of us.

No wonder we're obsessed with zombie apocalypses and viruses and such. We are one and are creating them. Soon enough with all these things we'll have wiped ourselves out.

Moving onto one more thing that comes to mind, I came across this article a few weeks back or so, Fat Letters. Yes they are making it mandatory in schools in some parts of the US that they be weighed and that there be a bmi and "fat letter" as they're being called sent home. Why? This isn't going to stop being obese and it isn't even accurate. Not to mention they are children. It is up to the household, the medical practitioner, not the school to judge who is and who isn't obese and what to perhaps do about it. How is this right? This is a war, it's discriminatory and demeaning. It hurts more of a child's self esteem and causes more bullying etc. How is this helping the problem? It isn't! Again we need more activity in our educational system and more encouragement for young children both boys and girls to be active in sports etc. If given more of an opportunity admittedly I would have perhaps joined sports teams but because of funds and because of the constant bullying for being small as well as the competition was so great, I didn't. I was discouraged in that way but I kept myself active by playing with my siblings and walking and lifting and doing other things like dancing. Yes, yes, I'm sure some of you who know me probably can't imagine me at 19, way back when, dancing in my bedroom with my sister making up choreography and loving to dance to Spanish or Celtic tunes and the love of watching River Dance etc. But I did. I did so almost every day, even when I was little we would dance while cleaning our rooms or doing dishes. One day I got so ambitious I was cleaning everything and listening to the good old tape deck and dancing and singing away (horrible voice but still!). It's things like that that can make cleaning or doing basic stuff fun.

So again I say, we need this as children, we need this as adults. And again I say that massage was very well worth it and I am excited and look forward to this Friday's session. I still hurt after, it didn't get rid of the headache entirely, yet. But it did do wonders and I can move more of my shoulders and arm than I could before. She is even going to do my lower back, which this first time around the heating pad helped significantly and I could walk much better. We shall see what happens next and of course updates will follow.

Until then everyone have a good week! Stay healthy and stay active!

Workplace Health

So I had a bunch of things to write this time but I'm going to save them for later right now. I would like to talk about something that's been in the works for a while. Obviously it's not going to be the last chapter on this subject either. Health in the work place. Health in a call center. Quite frankly there is so much to this topic that I can't cover it in one post. Ultimately I'm going to start with myself and my experience since starting in the workforce altogether.

Now I've worked in a frozen food factory before, that was my first official job. That job I worked for 3 years, 3 seasons I should say and each time I found myself sick with a cold or flu or something of the sort simply because it's COLD. Freezing actually, however I always seemed to bounce back and work hard and during the summer I found myself less ill than during the colder seasons. And the more I worked the less sick I seemed to be though exhausted. Then I worked in customer service and was sicker than anything before, one summer and that's all it took and then I was back in college. My immune system however seemed to bounce back and that year though exhausted all the time I wasn't as ill, not with colds and flus anyway. That being said I strongly believe it's the environment, your surroundings, the people you're with  and right down to who you're living with. It's not just diet or rest etc. it's the air, the pollution, the smoking (my mother smoked and that's  who I lived with at that time) , pollen content, closed quarters etc that make a difference. And working in customer service, after working at Winners, I found myself actually not as ill after I moved out on my own, had my own place where I had control and though I worked with the public I still had more of an open environment where I could walk to and from work and eat better and breathe better.

However, since working at a call center, now going on four years, I have found myself in an enclosed environment with no windows, filled with germs where everyone touches everything from the computer to the headsets we end up sharing where they are growing with germs and bacteria. Not only do we breathe the same filtered and recycled air but we're breathing on and coughing, sneezing on the headset piece which usually have no covers, and we have a headset to our ears where not only volume affects our hearing but the fact that bacteria and wax build up causes plugged ears and ear infections. The headsets are not covered with new ear covers either so when sharing, well that's like sharing make up and toiletries almost. We also have florescent lighting while looking at screens all day which is horrible for eye sight. In fact when I had my eyes tested this summer I asked why my eyes were so dry and itchy all the time. As it turns out it is not because of my needing glasses but because I'm looking at a screen all day with said lighting and I'm not blinking as much as I should be to keep my eyes moist as they should. That's the downfall of electronics you see. And we've become so reliant on them that we don't notice or think about it.

The next horrible thing, that I've mentioned in past posts I'm sure, is weight gain and the "sitting disease". They wonder why people are obese? Why, I'll tell you, it's because we're immobile. We can try to be active, like myself where I walk every day to and from work, try to workout when I can and am not exhausted from listening to people (which will be my next subject on this matter) but none of it makes a difference. We are thrust into an environment full of temptations as well from the cafeteria, such as junk food, pop and even smoking. They say now that sitting is the new smoking. It's so bad that it causes more diseases especially for women than many other things. I can attest to this. Not only have I gained about 10 or 12 lbs since March til September when I last weighed myself but over the course of working at the call center and sitting I've gained a total of 83 or more pounds. I used to weight 98lbs. I want to weight 130 max. This has caused back problems, pinched nerves, leg strain, depression, self hate, being near diabetic  etc. All this from sitting. Yet I walk 80 min or more per day you say? That's right I do and my doctor was shocked when I said this and said I need to do MORE. How can I when my schedules are also random? Such is the life of the call center right? And one would like to just accept it and say well this can't be the issue but it is. Although I found out also that we apparently get a percentage off gym membership at Good Life Fitness gyms, I am not inclined to go because it's still costing me money and expenses and time that I don't have to get to and from. We need another action plan. I need another action plan.

This moves me to mental health. I'm one to definitely speak out about mental health because it's an increasing issue. We have teens and children committing suicide due to bullying and depression among other reasons and no one is listening or helping until it's too late. And this goes for call center or workplace as well. One of the good things I like about where I work is an employee assistance program with online councilors among other things. Certainly something I've used when it came to my mother and how I felt to help get me through just last year. However with the weight and also listening to cranky people all day, it can be very frustrating especially when you feel that all you do is fix people's issues that ultimately half the time, I'll admit we're all human and make mistakes but this many? I won't go into details of course because I could be fired for it, but I'm sure it happens in any inbound call center regarding billing services or adding and selling services to existing accounts. It can be very trying and angering. There are many days where admittedly I'm not happy. I pretend to be chipper and cheerful on the phone and to my colleague and I even had one colleague come over to me the other day and ask me if I was ok. I was so to speak, I was in my own world though just thinking and dreaming and talking to my sister. I have to. I have to shut the world out on some days especially at work on breaks and lunch. I don't want to think about it and I put too much effort into my job to be a good agent and try to meet my stressful never ending set of metrics. I meet everything but handle time, I could go on and on complaining but point being this handle time is affected again by trying to do my job right and be thorough and listening to these angry and frustrated , sometimes irate customers who in turn make you feel the same way because someone else didn't do their job right in the first place. It's a never ending cycle.

Mentally speaking and physically speaking, the call center job is not a great one. It can be. It has it's good times but not many at this particular one. I'm not happy. It's making me sick. My father continues to say "you need to find a new job", problem is in this market and times it's hard to come by a full time job of 40 hrs with benefits. Benefits right now is the only thing keeping me here as well as an ensured steady rate of pay. It's not the benefits, not the people , not the clients, not the job. I don't love it. I want to do something I love. I guess my ultimate point to close this post off is, don't do something you don't love if you can avoid it. If it makes you sick, try to find something else and if it's a desk job and you do love it make sure you get the right activity including setting up a standing computer work station, take your eyes of electronics periodically and try to have natural light where allowed. Currently I'll admit I'm looking for another job opportunity.

So that's my talk about that, for now. As I said I could expand on a great many things with this and I'm sure I will in the near future. Hope everyone has a good week! :)

Mental Health of Youth, Miley, Too Much Water? and Are We From Here?

So this week's blog has a few controversial issues. As usual of course I bring these issues to you relating to health of some kind trying to keep with the name of the blog. Though to my readers, I am looking perhaps for a new blog name and if any of you have suggestions please post comments below.

Let's start with again, body shaming and self image/mental health of young children. First of all there have been many reports over the summer of schools banning certain hairstyles such as braids and small mohawks or even a shaved head because of what? It's a distraction they say. Well no it's not it's part of culture it's part of what makes a person unique so why are children now being banned from being their own person and now must conform having to wear uniforms and have all the same generic style making them robots. They learn things too fast and with technology, and many a discussion with many parents through the call center I work for, and even those that are not parents, I have found that there are a great many that though they have the tech, wish it weren't there and wish their children could get away from it so they didn't have to be "cool". Or that it takes away from our daily enjoyment of ,quite simply put, life! We are training our children that being of a certain race or gender is not cool, not good and that we all have to be the same in some way or another. Not only this but I also have seen a report that France is banning beauty pageants for those that are under the age of 16, and that Quebec, is not following suit. In fact they are encouraging it. You can read one report I found here. I do not agree with pageants, in fact I think any "beauty" competition is outrageous and unfair and not appropriate. It's got to stop.

Moving forward on this is the new controversy of Miley Cyrus. Oh yes! I have something to say about this. You may argue, leave this poor girl alone she's doing what she wants and why are we critizing her when there are so many artists that have done it and gone naked and or have had naked dancing women in their videos etc. Ok that's fair I suppose but I guess my issue is that she made something like "twerking" that is as I pointed out with another video in another entry a very cultural thing not to mention it's a sensual thing not a sexual thing, disgusting on stage. She "prostituted" herself as put in the words of Sinead O'Connor who posted an open letter of which I totally agree with. She is 20-21 and has been a child star all her life, spoiled and unknowing just like a great many others such as Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan, just to name a few. All of those stars seemed to have a breakdown and either picked themselves back up and learned to control themselves or they are still unfortunately struggling with many issues and have or are seeking out help. Miley is a child that needs to grow up and she will grow up fast. Point being that she also is a role model for other young ladies as Sinead points out and this is a concern and should be for parents out there that have seen her go from young child Hannah Montana to this young woman who is showing their daughters and sons that it's ok to flaunt yourself, sexualize yourself and sell yourself to the public or to anyone that will have your body for the sake of money and fame and being "free". That isn't right and you have to show yourself more respect! I totally agree with Sinead that respect comes first for yourself and she does not have that. There are many artists like Lady Gaga, J-Lo etc. that yes have shown a sexy or naked side, for photos, promotion, videos, but they chose as adult women, not under advisement that this is what they must do and they all did it at an age that they could make an informed decision. Yes, sex sells, but there is a way to do it, and there is a way not to. Porn, sexual acts parading around on stage nearly naked with an older man, that's not the way to do it. Especially when you know your audience is that of younger women and children not that of 30-40 year olds.  

Next item on my list is mental health in schools and the topic of suicide. Should this be spoken about? Should this be a topic that is brought up in health class or better yet, English class as it has in this article. Well, when it comes to certain topics in books certainly this is one that was never really totally brought up and we never had to do an assignment in such a way  that we had to write such a letter. However I do feel that it is a topic that should be discussed and there should be an assignment of discussion with family, as to how perhaps it affects the mental health of someone, how they feel and perhaps bringing to light an understanding or an attempt thereof  of how the person who committed the suicide felt and what brought them to that decision and was it really the only and best way out?  Suicide I feel is a scapegoat and one that should be not an option however there are now a days so many children, yes I said it, children that are feeling this way and committing the act. Why? It's an epidemic! Is it drugs, bullying, mental illness, the feeling of loss and despair, the feeling of no way out? All of those things play a crucial role. How I know? Because I've considered the act many times myself but, I then think, well what about my cats, what about my family, how would those who do care feel? What would happen to the world or just those that care without me? Do I make an influence? Well, in light of things, and speaking to a counselor a year ago, yes I do make a difference and this is what inspired me further to continue writing this blog. That being said, everyone has an influence on everyone and can make a difference even if it is simply a smile on someone's face, holding a door for someone, helping with groceries etc. Little things that may not seem like they make any difference at all but mean so very much to that person when done. These simple acts affect mental health, it can affect the decisions people make. As children, we have to do more for them because they are our future. We can't just let them kill themselves off because they think we don't care. As a society though, we allow sexual images and bullying of all kinds bombard ourselves and our youth.

Ok enough about that, let's move on to something that really affects our health. What is that you may ask? Water! Water is all around us and we're made up of mostly water as human beings, we drink lots of it per day or we're supposed to. However, apparently, we can overdose on it! We can in fact actually make ourselves sick and die, not by drowning but drinking too much and by lessening salt intake on top of it we then further the problem. Example is this article of this young lady. Hard to believe I know but there should be balance on everything. As I have said before, it doesn't matter what we have, everything that claims to be good or bad, can be in fact bad for us. Not to mention we should do things in moderation.

Speaking of balance and overdosing on a natural resource, food for thought, are we actually from this planet? Is water and other things here poisoning us? Well I've said it before that we are earth's virus. And after reading this report here, well I think it furthers my thoughts on this in agreement that we don't belong here and that mother nature is going to get rid of us sooner or later.

And that's all for now folks. Hope you all enjoy your next weeks to come. I'll try to post sooner but my shift has also changed so it makes it a bit difficult and I might move all writing days to Sunday when I officially have off. :) Stay healthy friends!

Update, Diet, Slim vs Curvy, Zumba!

Good day everyone! Or shall I say good week! Sorry again for not posting last week, I had intended to and still intend on doing a piece about working in the call center but right now I'm going to leave that for next week or so. 

There simply are other things to address or that I want to write about right at the moment. First of all an update on my own health, this week, since last Thursday actually I've been ill with a horrible cold/flu. Forcing myself to work and not rest made it worse and thank goodness I'm over the worst of it now. I still need rest and still feel tired and a bit achy but better than hacking up a lung or not being able to see with sore watery eyes and runny or stuffy nose and not being able to talk to do my job even. Yes, to do my job there is a lot of talking involved. Rest and medicine and well, the love of two very affectionate kitties is the way to wellness for me. I also have been steadily and faithfully taking my iron pills and b12. Thus far less migraines and urges to move!!! I don't feel as exhausted other than with this pesky cold. I think I might start taking walks on days off around the park track nearby. :)

Moving on, I'd like to mention diet. I've seen way too many diet reports on yahoo in particular lately. Actually it's all over the place. There are magazines and reports all over raving about the next diet and craze and how you should eat this or that and how much sodium and fat is in everything. It's making me sick. Sick to read it and sick to think about. I eat what I want. Yes, maybe it's not the best for me and no maybe I'm not losing weight that fast. But really is losing 10 lbs in a week healthy? I don't think so. I read this report too on this one lady who did running and initially I thought great! she's exercising and eating right, but then upon reading further I read that she's counting calories, and reading labels and obsessing over carbs and how much intake there is over just about every ingredient right down to before she even goes out to a restaurant! How is this healthy? That's an eating disorder waiting to happen if it isn't one in of itself! That is a mental obsession! It's one thing to work out and balance diet with exercise. But everything in moderation, portion it out into perhaps smaller helpings and don't eat blindly , by this I mean don't eat and eat for the sake of boredom or the sake of eating. I don't mean read every single label there is and obsess over the contents! Eat until your belly says you're full, don't eat at the computer and/or tv and look at what you're eating. 

You can make food exciting if it's bland by adding certain spices and flavors and even the way you cook it helps. Steam cooked veggies for example holds more vitamins than boiled and if you're going to boil them then why not use the water for a broth or something else you're making with it like your gravy? By the way, protein, and I don't mean your legumes like peanuts, I mean meat! Real meat! is not bad for you! If we weren't meant to eat it then it wouldn't be here and we wouldn't have evolved to have the teeth we have and our bodies would not be made to consume it. 

Yes you can disagree with me all you like, the vegetarians and vegans, however I'd argue that plants are living things in their own right as well. Not to mention that we kill them every day using pesticides. Not to say that I agree with the way we treat the earth, no in fact I'd say that pesticide use and chemicals and forcing animals to breed etc. in an unnatural way is disgraceful. I'd pose the question, if aliens were to come to earth, well what would they think of us and would they herd us like cattle in the open wild, hunting us for sport and for food or would they do what they were doing on V or even on the Matrix and herd us and breed us like we do now to our animals to use for food or energy source? Or would they think we're disgraceful and not even bother with us as we haven't evolved at all really?

I read further about the difference between slim and "curvy" models. This is an ongoing battle.  Why can't we just all agree that all are beautiful? Why is there competition? Makes me look at art more closely of the past versus now. I think of famous nude paintings of heavier women, women who had curves and were considered most beautiful and were sought after. Even the great statues of Venus as I mentioned before were images of fertility and ultimate beauty. Why and when did this change? According to one book I have referred to before, "No Fat Chicks" by Terry Poulton, she indicates this started in the 60's or 70's when Twiggy came about as a famous model. Before that it was ladies like Marilyn Monroe who I wish I had hips like that. Actually I'd say I'm proud of my hips. I just wish I could lift up my breasts a bit and lose a bit of the belly weight. But then some of this does come with age, I am 30 near 31 years old and these things are bound to happen and things aren't as "perky" as they once were. Some of this comes from wearing or not wearing the appropriate clothes such as a bra. I'd have to say there are benefits to wearing them but there are also benefits for not wearing them and finding just the right one, is very difficult. Point being why do women or even men, objectify? Why do we have competition with looks like this and why is it ok to do encourage these, eating and mental disorders? I'd have to say that the entire human race is well, ill. We're all ill and have an eating disorder or mental disorder of some sort, if we accept it or not. Especially in the Western world, though I can't say all of us aren't subject to it, but I find that we obsess over diet and eating and looks. It's everywhere and women are so objectified, treated poorly by some standard, though perhaps in some cases not as horrifically as the East with stoning etc. but we do have our share of crimes such as rape and domestic violence. It's the same wherever you go, it's just in a different manner or perspective. 

I'll admit that I'm again, perhaps considered a feminist. I'll speak openly about these things because I don't think it's right. For now that's all I'll say. 

That's all I've got for tonight. Other than Zumba!!! Yes! the new game is coming out in either October or November and I'm excited!!! I can't wait for it! There is also one coming out soon for kids too which I would highly recommend the kids getting into that because it encourages dance and music and movement and just a lot of great fun. :)

And that's all folks! Have a happy week and hope all are keeping well and rested and away from being sick with colds and flus as much as possible. 

Body Shaming/Discrimination, Parenting of Sexual topics and Health Care

Hello everyone! 

I do apologize again, I've been trying hard to try to keep up with writing,but as you know sometimes life just gets in the way at times including again my own health. I am and have been quite frequently ill as I've mentioned in the past. Last time I wrote I kept you up to date on what the doctor had told me etc. and today is yet another update among other topics. I also would like to ask my readers about the title of my blog and do you think it needs a name change as most of my topics, though pertaining to health, are also associated with other controversial issues. Comments welcome. 

Thus far I seem to be doing better, less tired and run down which is good until of course the end of the day where I feel exhausted after work and sitting all day. I've been trying to eat a bit better and of course I find that exercise and stretching seem to do wonders on my back. However as of late I have had a few anxiety attacks probably due to lack of sleep. Last week I didn't go to bed until much much later, 2 am and I probably should have gone to bed around my normal time to keep things consistent. I also have been worrying about things. This moves on to my next topics, first though I'd like to mention a colleague of mine. His name is Rob, he's 51, and was a manager as well as fellow colleague on the phone and sadly he has bone cancer. I knew that he did have something, I could tell that he was very ill and not doing well. In fact he looked like he had undergone treatment of some sort and looked similar in the face to my niece when she was under going chemo.I asked him the one day and he said he had contracted pneumonia of which he was trying to recover but was very exhausted. He never otherwise indicated anything more than that and then a week later he was in hospital. I felt for him because he seemed like he was in so much pain but he still continued to come to work every day. Apparently they just found out he had it? I think someone somewhere knew long before. But unfortunately they say that he has 1-2 months remaining. It's sad when you see people contract such horrible diseases and suffer and push through like that. Anyway I'm not one for religion but I do believe he's at peace with his life and where he may end up who knows, but if anyone would like to send prayers feel free, I'm sure it would be appreciated. 

Moving along to pet health, never use flea shampoo. Quite simply, it's chemicals, I should have known better, and I didn't rinse well enough with a cat that tends to grab my arm with his little paws wrapped around begging me to let him out of the tub. That being said it burned his little under body and now he has patches of fur missing! So from now on, use a flea comb and apparently water and dishsoap. You comb the cat with the soapy water and rinse the comb in a container of it. Apparently that kills fleas. I've also found that lemon is a deterrent and if you boil water with lemons, leave overnight and then put in spray bottles it helps on the cat as well as around the house or apartment. As does baking soda and salt in carpets and a good vacuum. 

Next up, body shaming and discrimination. Yes,yes I've been on this topic before but this also concerns parenting! I'm no parent, I have cats, there is a reason for this. It's not that I can't stand kids, I can. I just don't want any of my own because of my lifestyle etc. Now, one thing that I have here against some parents, or just quite simply again against media, is how we present and talk about sex. Sex and our sexual body parts are private. It should be a private act. It's one thing to show affection, a kiss, hug, cuddle, holding hands. It's another to be strutting it on stage with an older man that could be your father and thinking it's ok to dance around like a stripper in front of a generally wide aged audience of young and old and indicating very explicitly sexual acts. Apparently Miley Cyrus needs to grow up and is in the body of a woman with the mind of a corrupted child who's mother thinks it's ok to applaud such behavior while leaving everyone in shock. This also goes into that I have found several articles pertaining to this subject, and the word "twerk", which is now apparently added to the dictionary. There have been several comments and indication that also her acts were racially discriminatory using black women as props and again indicating sexual acts as if they were nothing but sexual objects. A video I found about the History of Twerking was quite interesting and I found that they stated it well. 

It's not just young women that need to be taught about sex, but young men as well. There is a lot that young boys are taught with this, not just about racial discrimination here but that women in general are sex objects. Why are we to be treated as things? This has been this way since, well for a long time, in many cultures. Why are women considered lesser? Why are we not trying to talk to our youth about what is appropriate and what is not and about safer sex. Is it ok really for such young people, starting at perhaps as young as 8, about it? We don't even really talk to our children about what is appropriate or not in schools any more because they're scared to touch the topic and people got rattled about it conflicting with religious beliefs! 

Also where is it ok by the way to have a young boy versus a young girl pee in a garbage can at a mall? This may be ok out in the bush or some other country but by law that is indecent exposure and exposure of a child in CANADA and there are public restrooms available. There is a thing called diapers and potty training and if a 1 year old can't hold it then he or she should be using a diaper at that age. Sorry but even my nephew knows to hold it at 4 years old and is a big boy. My niece even wanted, I repeat wanted, to be a big girl and use the potty. We are setting standards for adults versus children but we are also setting different expectations for what's acceptable for a man versus a woman. We get celebrities in trouble like Justin Bieber for peeing in a mop bucket but we think it's a fast acting mother allowing her son to pee in a public place in front of people in a garbage can? I promise you had it been a girl the public would have been quickly infuriated of a "how dare you show your little girl's privates in public" and "don't you know there are creeps and pedophiles out there?" attitude. Our sexual body parts, from what I was always taught are something special, something to be cared for and protected and are our own. Yes ok you can argue the women topless etc. angle. And ok maybe that's acceptable in some areas and in some context but I personally don't feel that my breasts are something I want hanging out everywhere all the time. I would at least wear a top. One reason why, because perhaps I still feel that it is a sexual body part and that men and other women, still find it something to be sexually objectified and I don't want to be a sexual object. I don't want people looking at me like that. Besides, here in Canada it's a tad chilly in most areas to be not wearing something. 

Furthermore why is there an obsession about being a mother? Or losing the baby weight gain after birth? This was a very good article I came across discussing this. I think that we should be normal, you know allow our bodies to do what it's naturally going to do. We shouldn't be so obsessed with it as hollywood is exactly that, it's hollywood and fantasy. It's not reality. It's not normal and not meant to be.

Next, I'd like to talk about our north american health care system. There have been too many reports as of late in the US and Canada over the years that I find disturbing. These are the ones I recall or have encountered recently, 1. a woman woke up in the hospital to find them about to harvest her organs and though the nurses said she was not dead the doctor pronounced her as such, and they carted her off. 2. Recently, a brother and sister in the US went for kidney surgery, him giving his kidney to his sister and what does the nurse do? Mistake it for toxic waste? How is this possible??!!! She clearly got fired for that and there is and I wouldn't expect less, a lawsuit. And then 3. Here in Canada, yes we haven't escaped this either, but here's the article  of a poor gentleman who was ignored, yes ignored for 36 hours before finding him dead. He had vomited on himself 3 times, no one bothered with him but a cleaning staff to get him a bucket or mention to nurses anything and he died of a bladder infection that could have been cured! I realize new steps have been put in place now but it takes that kind of thing, a death, for people to do their job and we still don't have people doing their job!? What has humanity come to?

Anyway, I'd appreciate your comments and any further topics you'd like me to post about or research. Soon I'll do another article about working in a call center with anxiety. That may be next week or the end of this one. Have a great week everyone as that's all for now!

Health update

Keeping everyone up to date this week because I finally got the blood work results back from the doctor that I had done about a month ago or so. Found out that in fact I am near anemic and near diabetic. This just means that apparently the levels of iron and I guess it was insulin if my memory serves me correctly are not where they should be. Actually they have be on iron and B12 supplements to assist in creating more red blood cells etc.

This being said it doesn't surprise me. My mother has both for starters and finding this out just rules out other things I thought and worried could be wrong with me and is the primary cause of my black outs and being so super exhausted all the time. Not to mention that it is also linked in with my anxiety and my restless leg syndrome. No one really knows the cause of restless leg but iron deficiency is believed to be one of the causes. Anxiety as well is being triggered by these things which did surprise me a bit, though I do know why I've been depressed and more irritable. And perhaps this is something that some people don't realize is that there is an underlying cause of some of these odd behaviors such as having to eat at certain times and feeling crappy and snippy and sometimes dizzy and very sick. It was because of my sugar and iron levels were not where they were supposed to be. Some people actually thought I was acting all this time or being childish or over-dramatic or even saying that I was a hypochondriac!

The doctor basically told me that I should change a bit of my diet, also workout a bit more or even just walk and I told her that I already walk 40 min to work, a total of 80 min both ways on four days of the week. She was shocked and told me that I should do some more light work outs especially to lose my belly as all my weight is in my middle and dangerous for diabetes. However I also have a pinched nerve somewhere in my lower back she determined as being the root cause of my lower back pain and my left leg being so difficult to move. I can't even bend or do much to put shoes and socks on, sometimes even pants get hard to get on and off. My belly being in the way yes but she told me that the pinched nerve is the cause of the pain and stiffness. So she told me to do further stretching and to put a heating pad or cold pack, whichever I prefer, on my back and that should help loosen up the nerve and assist with the pain.

I think in all honesty now that I've seen the doctor about it and know the cause I have a better understanding of what's wrong and what to do about it. Now to get up off my lazy bum and do stuff. I've been feeling so down and tired and crappy and sick that I just haven't done anything. People don't understand either. I think too that even those who have pain or other illnesses sometimes don't understand or don't want to because they're so involved in their own or they don't feel that anyone else could understand their pain that they just don't want to hear about it. As if talking about it is a negative thing when in fact it can be healing to know someone does understand. In some cases some people think that their pain is a competition or greater than someone else's when really it could be and most likely is just as equal if not just as important. Especially when it's a loved one.

Ok so perhaps I speak about it, I feel it should be spoken about. And maybe before I complained a bit much to certain people, people I thought would listen and understand or thought they would suggest things to help because they care. But I suppose even then, people don't want to hear about other people's suffering.

Someone like my niece, 4 years old and she was always with a smile even when she was in pain and she always asked us, "are you ok?" and we would always respond so she didn't worry "yes I'm ok, are you ok?" when really emotionally and sometimes physically we were suffering too. But she, at 4, cared and understood. She understood that face, the one of a stiff upper lip and don't cry be happy and move on that so many of us put on a daily basis, even at work I always say "I'm living", "I'm here". She was a wise and very intuitive little girl. I miss her and I think that the one thing that makes me want to move on and keep going and fighting and putting that smile on every day no matter what illnesses I get or how much pain I'm in or how old I get, is her. I can imagine her up in heaven dancing to Adam Lambert (her fave singer) or cheering her aunties on while dancing to Zumba and Just dance (one of her fave songs "Lollipop" is on game 3) free of pain and saying "you can do it!" And when I get up there, when I'm old and grey, yep I am gonna say "I did it!" and I'll be dancing up there with her. She lived life even if it was a short one.

I don't say my pain is greater than hers, in fact what greater pain can you be in as a child with leukemia? I'm not saying that my pain is greater than family who have emotional and physical issues that cause their suffering and some days they feel like they can't get out of bed either.  But what I am saying is that I feel like my pain is just as important and that I feel the need to share my emotions and about my physical health, in order for me to get better. To feel better and to live. I can't keep laying on the couch, or overindulging in junk food here and there. I miss my family, I feel I have no one most days. The only support some days I feel I have is... me. But again I can't keep putting myself down, I can't keep saying no or I can't or it hurts so I give up. It's all in baby steps.

So this week coming up, baby steps. I'm going to start with the eating and supplements and then doing a bit of a workout before bed, even if it's pilates or basic yoga on the Wii fit. The doctor told me to check my weight in 6 months time and more blood work in 3 months time. So we'll see what happens and we'll keep a record of it. :)

Now it's off for well needed sleep because it's going to be a long four days of 10-12 hour shifts of sitting. I can do it!

Child and Pet in Extreme Temps debate, Further Body Shaming, Food Health

I apologize yet again to my dear readers, as some of you have come to notice there will be times that I can't keep up and will not be able to write. I will however try to do so as much as possible. 

My health itself has not been the greatest. Never has been and the heat here has taken it's toll on me one too many times. I don't think I could ever go live or visit a very humid or hot country. I wouldn't survive it with my asthma, arthritis etc. The past couple weeks here in Ontario are not so bad but just prior to that we had a heat wave of which was counted as one of the hottest on record and warnings of the humid x were quite high. I had heat exhaustion just from bringing groceries up to my apartment on my own. I only have 2 osculating fans in my apartment and can't afford air conditioning like some. 

This leads me into the first topic of this entry, the heat. First off  you should always drink lots of water and as I learned I did the quick and best thing I could have done without knowing really when having heat exhaustion. I used frozen cloths and put them on major places such as head, stomach and feet to cool myself and bring my temperature where it needed to be. I drank a ton of water, but you should also drink anything with electrolytes in it such as sports drinks or even fruit juice because your body goes on a mass dehydration. I got this from the Mayo Clinic site. Feel free to check it out as it's a link to the side here on this blog about heat cramps, exhaustion and heat stroke. This being said many don't know the signs and symptoms nor do they believe that pets also can get sick from the heat as well as children and elderly are more prone to heat stroke. So please take caution. 

Now that being said, my question to the public is why are we now needing any warning or seeing more and more frequency of children and pets being left in parked cars in parking lots of places such as Walmart or other shopping centers?Why are parents thinking that only 15 min is sufficient to leave their child out in the car unsupervised in the heat or leaving them at all!? Why do we need reminders that you in fact have your child with you? We shouldn't, right? As animals it should be our nature to protect our children and watch them and keep them healthy and safe right? But it seems that it's become more and more common these days to do so and multiple deaths have occurred across the nation. This has sparked some debate even among my friends on facebook of which I have to agree with one commenter who believes it to be something that should be charged by law, as it would be if it were murder. These comments were made by people who are parents, and even my own parents and a perfect stranger in a Tim Horton's can't comprehend as parents, grandparents and caregivers why one would possibly "forget" your child which was what one poster stated. That these situations are those that are parents out of routine and that they are accidents. There is no accident when you consciously leave your child, it's one thing for 10 seconds to get out and say "omg yes! I have little Sally or Johnny with me! I should put them in the cart and get them out of the car seat!" But it's another to consciously get out of your vehicle, know you have them with you, lock up and say "I'll be right back, it'll only be a few min while I grab some water and bread or hot dogs" and then leave them there! Not only are you setting the kid up to be possibly kidnapped but you're setting them up to die in the heat or extreme cold. Toddlers and little babies and pets, they don't know when to drink or untie themselves and roll down a window, they don't know where you're going or understand what "right back" means. They just know you're leaving them in the heat, in the cold, alone.  To me if you do this you must not be in a sound state of mind and should not have kids or should not have them with you, they should be with someone who is going to take care of them. 

Further let's talk about how industry affects children when it comes to toys. Now a while back I had mentioned the McDonald's toy debate, and in fact there are some kids who now actually believe that this is a gimmick for them to encourage buying of fast food and becoming obese. But again I say that it's not the gimmick it's the parents who have to decide and who are on the go and make that decision in the end to give their children this food because it's fast, easy, sometimes cheap and the lazy option rather than spending time to cook or make a solid lunch or breakfast. Now I admit that I'm not new to this and I myself will sometimes on my way home with a friend stop on a Friday night but I do say to myself, I'm being lazy, I don't want to cook tonight. Should I be cooking, probably but when it's 9pm and you're exhausted and hot why would you want to and why not have someone cook for you? I too also recall as a child wanting to collect the toys and play with them but it was a treat, it was a rare occasion that we were able to. Some parents do this, every single day! That being said we've also become lazy in that we don't go outside and play, we use TV as the babysitter or ipods and cellphones or tablets. We aren't spending time with our children encouraging reading, crafts, outdoors. And even schools have cut back on playtime and we're making little robots of information with the expectation that even in Kindergarten they're going to sit still and do work. When I was a kid, I played with dump trucks, dolls and sand and got dirty. I played in the mud. Now it's a "let's keep our kids locked in a bubble" and girls must play with girl toys and boys must play with boy toys? Wait a minute, no that can't be right, can it? Now I'm not going to get into an entire debate on the whole sexual orientation concept right now, that'll be another blog. However kids should play with toys that are educational and encourage them to be who they are or whatever they want to be. I remember playing with my nephew, who is 3 years old,  months back, and he stated he wanted to be a builder while playing with large Lego blocks; then out of the blue he said, "I don't want to be a builder", he wanted to be something else. I and my parents both told him he could be whatever he wanted. But kids are discouraged these days and girls playing with Barbies is no different. 

Barbie has always been an icon and though she's seen some decline in market due to other dolls etc. she is still popular and has made some changes in how she looks. She definitely looks more normal now with the changes.  This now leads me to my body shaming topic of this week. There are a few posts and videos I'd like to share. Let's start with the criticizing of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, shall we. Link 1, and Link 2. I really feel like women shouldn't be ashamed of themselves for having kids, and in today's society we are so consumed with this need to be super thin that we aren't thinking about our actual health. And in fact we are also being fooled by photo manipulation by  health companies. Doesn't surprise me in the least. 

This post here I was proud to read and know that love knows no boundaries when it comes to size. That's how it should be! In fact, hundreds of years ago, if you didn't have weight you weren't capable of being married. Why? 1. No dowry, 2. you had no money cause you weren't eating well in their eyes, 3. you couldn't bear children because you didn't have the hips and body for it. Says something about the "evolving" of the human race doesn't it?  In fact one of the most common sculptures in art history is one of the Venus figurines from the Neolithic period. Big breasts, full hips. This leads me to that there was a large debate on facebook about this deviant art post. I love the piece personally and think all the body types are beautiful. There were many posters arguing as to which type was or not and there were quite a few, though they did not outweigh the many who agreed that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that were discriminatory and rude, if not downright cruel stating that the heavier ladies are disgusting. Well I have to admit that this goes the same way around and that men can be just as heavy. Admittedly too that when I look at a guy, a guy with plenty of extra on him is not my type however, I don't mind a bit of weight nor do I mind muscle but not excessively so. Healthy is key but don't overdo it. Personality, takes precedence. Here is yet another look at some cases of discrimination as well that I find disturbing, what's wrong with the human race!!?

Going forward let's talk about food health. Apparently one woman found what seemed like mold, or an icky wormy slime up through the straw of a juice box. Now there is an icky thought for you! Apparently in some enclosed juice boxes, in this case Capris juice, there is the potential that it could be opened and exposed to air and cause mold. I've encountered it if it's gone bad and there is on occasion risk even with a see through bottle that there could be a mold to it but at least you can see before purchase. Here is the link to the video interview. Further more apparently packaging meat companies and store employees don't pay attention to what they are packing and putting on shelves. Chicken feet were found in a pack of chicken breast at one store in the US. Though it is in fact part of the chicken and though some people mocked the woman,making fun of her saying that it is in fact a chicken part and therefore what do you expect? I know I would prefer that the other parts of the chicken were not in my chicken breast thanks. This means that the meat could be and probably was contaminated by the way and who knows where the other parts of the chicken were. I question if one just.. fell into the processing machine?

And this wraps up this week's blog. I hope everyone keeps their kids and yourself safe out of the extreme temperatures no matter where you live, encourage your children to play and enjoy life away from tech, be with them! Stop shaming ourselves, even if you, like me, do it and put yourselves down, we have to stop it! And always check packaging for random slimy things (drink out of clear bottles) or parts that don't belong!  Take care everyone and until next... week I hope! :)

Feeling better, Barbie, Modesty Experiment and Pets

Sorry yet again that I haven't posted. I've been keeping very busy with many things including family and of course my health is a never ending battle at times. I'm often exhausted and frequently need to take it easy especially in this heat.

Of which the good news is that I have been able to keep to eating more veggies and am aiming to drink more water. I am beginning to feel better so that's also a good sign and I am finding that I am losing weight in some areas and some things are beginning to be looser in some areas. So all in all feeling a bit better just really tired because of my job and this dreaded humidity and heat.  This has of course caused me to sit a lot and lay down and sleep a lot. I haven't done a lot of what I wanted to like zumba etc.

Though I admit that my feelings are part of why I eat or don't eat. When people treat me bad or I feel like crap because of thinking back to the past I start eating and sometimes make myself sick. But I was good this week and decided after briefly speaking to my ex, who treated me poorly and made it clear how he really feels (doesn't even want to be friends like he originally led me to believe), I went grocery shopping and decided to get fruit, more veggies and salmon!! Salmon is good for you. I am also going to drink more water is the goal because I need to flush my system. I can't be drinking so much pop. I also instead of getting chips, I got popped cracker chips and other alternatives such as portioned thinsations. I figure even though they may have sugar, it's portioned and perhaps I won't eat as many or as much and as often. I can limit myself to 1 tiny package every other day or something. That and fruit is good, like peaches. I even got cereal, weetabix which is good fiber etc. which apparently I need.

I know this sounds perhaps gross or something most people won't speak about, and that's our digestive system. As a child I struggled with constipation and had to have senna tea, which I hated with a passion and it always caused me to have to go right when I got off the bus and I'd have cramps and be in sooo much pain I'd want to cry. Well as I got older I didn't have that issue but now, depending on what I eat, or how stressed I am I can have either or. As of late it's been constipation which actually makes one sick, not only does it push up food to cause acid reflux which is gross in itself, but also causes pain in my back and stomach. Like it's sitting there getting piled up and all this toxic waste feels like it's seeping into your body somewhere else. For three days I woke up sick and woke up nauseous and I just couldn't go. Here today, well again because of what I've been eating to flush my system and such I was finally able to. Problem is pain and such can come at an awkward and embarrassing time, and while shopping is not preferred. But the good news again is, at least the toxic waste is now gone. So I can honestly say that eating better, it does wonders.

In other news I came upon a couple of articles that I would like to share. First, Barbie is getting a make over. I think this is a good thing and she definitely looks more in proportion. I played with barbies as a child and definitely it did affect me, still has because I want and wish to dress like she did. She had such awesome clothes! But it also encouraged me to try to make clothes and sew, only thing is that we are making it for a disproportionate figure which is why I think the fashion industry has such an issue with eating disorders and sizing because the designers were probably like me, using dolls initially as children for their soon to be adult passion.

Nextly, here is something that I've considered giving a try or if anyone has the guts to and would like to share their story, please do! A modesty experiment! Quite an interesting concept really and I wonder if it would make a real difference on how I feel about things but I don't have the guts to not use a mirror. I am conscious though of what I wear and how my hair looks etc. I don't wear make up, I have a bunch but I don't have time to bother and certainly during the summer it's hard to because it just feels caked or smears and I walk so often outside that I sweat, a lot!

Speaking of sweat I found a video on Facebook, no link sorry, but it was a veterinarian in the US who did an experiment showing the results of what would or could happen to pets if left in a vehicle in this heat. You see cats and dogs don't perspire. He sat in a parked vehicle with windows cracked with the starting temperature being about 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. After 30 minutes it reached 116 degrees and he was drenched. Now imagine a little puppy with no water, can't sweat and doesn't know when you're going to be back and worried with it's little heart rate up, it can die! How horrible! So my point of this is of course if you're going to take your pet with you, you may want to rethink this and or have the ability to tie it up outside where there is more airflow and shade and lots of water! Preferably I'd keep my pets home, and though I own cats, I wouldn't even ever take a dog out in this unless I had to for it's regular walk. Remember pets can get sick just like we do and we often forget that they can be more sensitive than we are and work differently. They are our furry friends and family and should be taken care of just as we would our human friends and family. :)

And that is admittedly all I have for this week right now. I'll try to do another later in the week if I can. Everyone stay cool! Remember drink lots of water and don't forget about your pets! Have a good week!

Feeling like a Balloon, Small waists!

Another couple weeks have  yet gone by and again I do apologize, life has yet gotten in the way of writing. This time unfortunately it's been the flu and then just admittedly being exhausted for the past couple weeks. I've been trying to eat and rest as much as possible.

I have been thinking though of a bunch of things as of late towards health. Of course eating better is one thing that I have to do, because eating at fast food establishments, as yummy as it is, is not good for me of course. But also working out is difficult. Eating and exercise go hand in hand and you can do one but you have to do the other to keep balance and though I walk every day 40 to 80 min a day it's just not good enough.

So I believe that I should and I've been meaning to, get up at 6 am or 6:30 at the latest and do stretches, Pilates/yoga (on the Wii of course! ;) ) or I have a bunch of belly dance videos I just pulled back out of their hiding places. I used to do it and started really getting into it and now even the outfit I had doesn't quite fit. But I would like to not only fit into that and my other clothes and be at least a size or two smaller than a 16 but I would also like to feel a little bit sexier than I do now. I certainly don't feel like a 30 year old woman who should be out having a good time or dating for that matter. My self esteem really feels shot when I look in the mirror and realize that though I have curves, yes I'm happy with my hips and my butt however, everything else looks bloated double the size they were and like I'm a water balloon. I once, just 5 years ago, had a flat belly and thin arms and shoulders that didn't have budges and could fit into at least a medium instead of now a large or extra large or even sometimes, dependent on brand, extra extra large! Some days I don't even want to look at myself, not even my face where even when I smile I look bloated in my cheeks with now a double chin.

I know I shouldn't feel this way and this comes back to the concept of body shaming. There are things I'm happy with, there are things I can accept however I have to do something about this weight because ultimately it is affecting not just my mental health and view of myself, but also my innards, my knees and ankles, back and shoulders. I have more weight and more pain where my joints are and when eating or even sitting I feel like my stomach is being pushed up into my lungs and sometimes I have acid re-flux when I really shouldn't at all after a small meal or snack.

Now I'm not going to go so far as this one young lady in Germany where she wears corsets to make her waist thinner and thinner. In fact I believe that goes way too far for the hour glass figure and not to mention it's destroying her stomach and back where the doctors say she may not be able to walk let alone stand or do anything without the corset. It may even come to a point where all she'll be able to do is lay there. And despite being told this she continues to go on with this obsession!  I'd like my hour glass figure, I already have one and intend on keeping it but I will not go this far it's unnatural!

All I would like is to just flatten my belly a little bit, you know tone it up. Not major abs either, I think that's not entirely natural either but just so that I don't have this bulging belly that hangs out like a muffin top over my jeans or like I'm pregnant and goes as far up as my breasts hitting it. I actually get a crease from my bra! Yes that's right I'm admitting this over the web! I'm sure I'm not the only woman who is going through this out there too, where we look in the mirror and feel this way or even just by the time we get home from work all we want to do is peel off the clothes that try to confine our bodies and what we feel to be flub and ugliness and let it be released because it actually hurts to hold some of it in!

Why do we do this? Because we want to be modest and presentable in the workforce and to the opposite sex and even more so for the same sex where we are constantly being critiqued. Ladies we can't say we haven't all done it, even the nicest person in their heads has critiqued another woman's way of dress in some way. I personally believe that this has gone on from the beginning of time and is human nature but over time we've now made it more so a competition and have set more rules etc. for being "beautiful" and "sexy" due to media components that weren't there 100's of years ago. Though I must admit too that when you think about it , the aristocrats set the beauty standard way back when too in some way that is I guess a form of media without knowing it.

Anyway, by doing belly dance I just might be able to tone it, feel a little bit sexy in my own way because this style of dance is ancient and was used even just among women to celebrate. I'm going to mix this with some stretches etc. and perhaps swap it out on some days for Zumba and other activities. In the end I'll try  to record the results every few weeks just to see. I'm hoping I can keep it up as motivation is something that I lack at times.

And that's this week's entry, though I may do another to make up for a lost one. Otherwise have a good week coming up everyone!

More me time? Complaining? BE YOU!

I do apologize for the delayed writing. My intention was and is to post once every week however, I do suffer from my own illnesses and health issues as well as deal with family members also in which case though I was on vacation 2 weeks ago, there will be otherwise the occasional delays or missed post.

Going forward, my vacation admittedly wasn't as planned though good memories did come about. I had a good time despite my migraines and pressure headaches and achy bones from the poor weather. I admit perhaps though I complained subconsciously too much as some pointed out while I was there. Which leads me to believe that perhaps I need to take a look at that. I didn't think I complained that much but for those that are in pain and or chronic pain or for some who don't know that they really are, they can't help it. I'm a single woman, on my own and with no one to listen to my complaining and I do the majority if not all myself to take care of myself. Unlike some that I know who have someone else there to help them on a regular basis.

I'll even admit that sometimes, because of this, I don't take care of myself the way I should. In fact I don't get enough sleep, my diet is probably poor though I try not to make it so, and I admit I take pain killers almost every day for the pain that I'm in. Is this an issue, yes. In fact so much so that I actually blacked out in the middle of speaking someone while at work on a phone call. I have postponed seeing the doctor clearly too long and so last week I finally did. I stayed home on Monday to not risk another blackout like on Sunday May 26th. I then went to the doctor on Tuesday who sent me for blood work, which I have yet to get the results, on Thursday. This is something that has happened before, I've slurred on calls, caught myself nearly passing out. I lose motor control but nothing else. Going forward then this past Saturday I was also ill with what seemed like a stomach flu or food poisoning. I feel a bit better now but still have the headaches.

After this trip vacation and some, words, being said to me I've also come to realize too that I have a poor self image of myself. I let people walk all over me, I look at myself in the mirror and think poorly of myself. I don't do enough for me. It's not so much how I treat people, it's how I treat myself. I have suffered from self image issues all my life and though some would not like to believe that because in school I was the skinny one, the one that though was short could run and do things others couldn't and could eat a whole several pieces of cheesecake after what I'd consider a very light and tasteless salad while everyone else downed the salad and said they were on a diet, they too were "skinny".  I looked in the mirror back then and thought, I'm awkward, too skinny, I didn't want to flaunt that I was a girl because I brought attention to myself with my breasts and with my legs. I wore glasses and looked like a nerdy geek and even right down to what I wore, hand me downs, and what I liked, Star Trek and "guy" things was something of a concern for me. But I didn't try to show it then. I accepted the fact I'd always be picked on and bullied.

No longer that, in fact I wear glasses, accept my geekiness and wear more feminine clothes over the years but I still look at myself as now, too fat. I think I'm ugly, still have acne and can't seem to get passed the fact that now I also have a double chin and at 30 grey hair! But I am still being bullied and still being told that I'm an ugly person in some way or another, though not perhaps intended to hurt some may say but to help, the words, body shaming or even just verbally telling someone you treat people like crap and are selfish and you act like a child or whine or complain too much for their tastes is hurtful when all you've done is help others and give and yes speak my mind that I'm hurting, hungry or feel weak or perhaps that is my inner subconscious voice telling everyone and myself..."Hey I want support! Help!"

Cries for help come in various forms. For animals it might be a whine or meow or even aggressiveness, perhaps for children it is crying, throwing temper tantrums etc. For those with mental illness it's their attempt at suicide, their feeling of helplessness and or distancing themselves from others. There are so many forms. Mine perhaps is that I speak about it, and perhaps too much so for others where others believe one should not complain at all, suck it up buttercup and move along.  That's how I was raised, my mother always said to pick myself up, suck it up and that nothing was ever that bad so don't speak about it, even if you were bleeding and cramping and crying in suffering excruciating pain from a menstrual cycle, and some of you probably know exactly what I'm talking about there.

Other people have illnesses too and I accept that, my dad has fibromyalgia as does my Aunt and one of my good friends which causes a lot of chronic pain. Perhaps they don't say they are in pain, but I see their suffering or they do speak about what they have and how they might feel that day. Sometimes I see multiple facebook posts that one friend can't get out of bed to spend time with their child due to it or migraines etc. and that hurts, that is something that is sad and unfortunate but they push through their pain and they make up for it some other way when they are feeling better. I'm not saying that these people complain too much, in fact they complain but to my preferences and how I see it, they have every right to.

So why do I not have a right to complain, someone also who has pain and suffering in a different way? I try to be positive and not so negative as one person told me I was. I did become negative a long time ago after a horrible break up. But again this all goes back to how one treats thyself. I keep telling myself it's time to do more for me, but as a woman, I care too much about others. It's my motherly type instinct and I feel I should care. I want to help. But how can one do so if you can't help yourself right? And I'm not helping myself by saying negative things and doing what those negative people want me to do, shame myself. I shouldn't be shameful of how I look, dress, speak, what I eat, what I like, for being a nerd, for being simply... me.

I'd like take a moment to post this link to a poem that I think people should take the time to at least read if not listen to and I think you should check out the artist's site as well also posted in the link. Also for those losing weight or just trying to encourage others, 10 things not to say to someone losing weight is a very good article to also read. And for good measure and a bit of fun, and because I do support the LBGT movement because I feel all should be considered and treated equal as per similar words stated even by the great Martin Luther King, you should check out this video. (You don't have to dress like what you love ;) ) Love this statement!

Now, I'm going to go off and take some more me time and delve into some nerdiness of Dr. Who and Fringe and some video games. :)

This Marks the 40th post! - Extra long!

Hey everyone! So sorry yet again I was not able to write a blog entry sooner in the week but that just means that this week will be a tad extra long. I might also add that this week marks the 40th entry since starting this blog. :) On this week's entry I am going to say this, it's going to have a lot of opinion, perhaps a bit of ranting and yeah I want discussion! I want people to speak out or pass these things along! I want debate! I want people to think! So if you don't like my opinion or what I have to say then please withhold any negative or degrading comments however I am open for a good discussion and welcome anyone who wishes to comment. Let's get this week's topics started shall we?

First off I'd like to say that my own health hasn't been the greatest as we all know and I do try. I have as of late been trying new things and am thinking a different approach needs to be had for my own view of self and weight loss. Yes I workout because I want to tone up my tummy, because I want to fit in those size 8 pants rather than a size 14-16  or extra large tops. I'm 4'11" and feel I shouldn't be this weight and it has taken it's toll on all my joints and my breathing and even my eating. Sometimes I can't eat without heartburn or more like acid re-flux because my stomach is pushing on my ribs. My belly fat is pressing upwards and my breasts have tripled in size too causing me back pain. This is why I want to lose weight. It's not just that I feel ugly when I look in the mirror but because of these health issues. But also why do I work out when I do? Because I find it also fun. I need to find something consistent or more like consistent times that I can do the things I love at. This includes perhaps during the summer getting up every morning at a regular time rather than being lazy and staying in bed til 11 am. I have to start getting up regular and early and eating better, less oil and fatty foods in my diet. I have attempted to also make a change in using the Wii here and there to assist with this and have found a new game called "Gold's Gym Cardio Workout" which includes shape boxing and other exercises such as squats, of which I was successful in doing 32 or more in about 3 minutes though I don't recommend this for those who need to walk the next day if you haven't done them in a long time as it sincerely hurts afterward. It's also been suggested that cross training, or in other words mixing things up with different types of cardio and strength training, might be a good idea.

This leads me next to various articles I have found over the past few weeks also in regards to body shaming and the fact that this concept of "fat talk" is actually a mental health issue or should be looked at as one. It causes a multitude of men and women to look at themselves negatively and eating disorders. We are compelled by media, social media and advertising by popular name brands and franchises to be "thin and popular". We are bombarded with things that say "low fat, low sodium" , healthy choice, less this  or less that... etc. Even on TV we're bombarded with fashion models, branding and things such as Herbal Magic and Weight Watchers, Activia  and other companies and infomercials. It's literally everywhere!

Over the course of the past two weeks I've been accumulating various articles with this in mind and this discussion. I'll start that to be popular ladies you should probably not do "fat talk" according to this article as it says right there that it makes you less likable and popular if you do. Speaking of being popular let's take a look at another few articles I have found regarding popular culture.

Let's start with models from H&M, yes this is a brand that is trying to aim for most sizes or what would be considered a normal average person or weight. Now I don't know for sure what you'd consider plus size but the model in this story here I find not to be plus size and as it describes she is not average height coming in at 6ft tall. However it is a start in the right direction. And then there is the back lash at a cheer leader among other women in this story, including the famous Kim Kardasian for being "fat" , "chubby" or "chunky". Why do we have such backlash? Why is it that we have to be so very critical of our bodies and others. Clearly we say nasty things in an attempt to show that the individual saying them does not feel comfortable themselves.

I might add that it is not just partial to women and that men also have eating disorders and I share this touching article that I found via a group on facebook of a young woman's commitment not to diet because of what she saw her own father go through. This leads me to men, yes that's right men feel uncomfortable too with weight and expectations of being buff etc. and it's bombarding them too. In fact we also have men who are lead people of franchises like Abercrombie and Fitch that have a thing against "fat and ugly" people. I feel that Mike Jeffries, who is 68 years old, is not all that appealing himself and might as well be saying that he himself has image issues by stating what he has. This has been all over the news in fact so much so it's sparked a petition and people doing things such as handing out the branded clothes to homeless people. It's not just "fat chicks" he's up against but "fat guys" too because not all are going to fit into his "brand". The first story I read about this is here. Quite honestly I don't wear many if any branded stuff because I don't feel the need to be popular that way. I grew up with a respect of having hand me downs and there is nothing wrong with that, why? Because it made me my own person and gave me the right to mix and match and choose my own style instead of being a brand.

This leads me to how this affects young people today. It disgusts me too that as per another article from the states that I read that we should allow our youth to be having contests that determine who is hot and who is not in a popularity contest that again brings down self esteem and boys treating girls as nothing more than objects in an age that we should be past this. Women are not slaves or objects. We are people just like any other race or sex. We should all have equality. So why is it acceptable in some areas to have this going on and why are parents not having more discussion about it?

Finishing off about youth I found this very inspirational post by a photographer mom who definitely shows that we should inspire our little ones to be what they want to be and not look at the artificial. I found this article about Jamie Moore just the other day about it and encourage people to go to her website to see the other photos.

We shame ourselves, we should be giving positive feedback to ourselves and as per another blogger she says it best when she says she too, like I, am not above being subject to all of this. I go through days where I literally tell myself I am ugly and fat and disgusting and no one will want me. Here are a couple of blog posts that I thought were inspirational against body shaming and to love our bodies as curvy women that I think we should all read. I also point out that like above there is a movement of artists that are speaking out as well. One artist Haley Morris-Cafiero who is also a teacher did just that. I applaud her.

Now leading into the last points of this week's blog. There is a difference between being heavy and still beautiful and wearing it well and being unhealthy. Some might argue that these photos (warning they contain nudity and to some may offend), though some beautiful and not saying that these ladies are not good people or anything by any means, but I question how healthy they are with this kind of weight. I also argue are we mocking these women in these photos in any way by doing such photography or "art". These women might even be considered "morbidly" obese. I have seen men and women this heavy and they are not in the best of health at all in fact friends and or family have tried to seek out help because they risk diabetes, asthma, heart attack among other things. This is where I say and ask, is this "healthy"?

And not only this but we also have obsessions with how we look. There are obsessions with becoming barbie and altering ourselves so much that when it becomes a sickness and the doctors say stop and refuse to give any more, some have resorted , like this woman, to injecting themselves with cooking oil! To the point of becoming so disfigured that she is unrecognizable from the person she was. This is in the end a mental illness and it is in fact becoming more and more popular.  It has to stop!  I leave this segment of beauty and the concepts of body shaming etc. with this wonderful inspiring video which all girls and guys even should watch! Will I Be Pretty?  Amazing speech and so true and it should be something we should teach our children when they do ask that question.

The last thing I'd like to touch on, as I've touched on it briefly in the past. Nothing is safe to eat now a days. I have nothing against vegans or vegetarians, to each their own. But my opinion is that I like and will eat meat. I think that our ancestors ate meat when crops etc. were scarce and for survival and therefore it is acceptable to eat animals. The reason why people think that eating meat is bad and with new "studies" as per a report here, is honestly not because of the research but because of animal rights activists who feel that animals shouldn't be eaten and are subject to cruelty. I admit that there is some cruelty to killing of any kind of an animal and no I am not saying that I agree with putting hormones and chemicals into the animal and subjecting them to enclosures and breeding beyond what they should be capable of, in fact I'm sure that aliens might do the same to us if you consider that concept. I mean just look at V perhaps?

But I do think that we should be eating meat and I think that it's also silly not to consider plants living things and not to consider the cruelty they go through to get to our plates too! We sing to flowers because studies have found that they respond better to that and sunlight when taken care of, some people take care of plants as if they were pets! And here we are pouring pesticides and claiming "organic" foods? I might also add that we have an increase in allergies to various fruits and vegetables over the years, including peanuts which are not actually nuts but a legume like potatoes that grow in the ground, that's right people... in .. the .. ground! Covered with fertilizer and other chemicals just like our apples and oranges are sprayed with stuff to keep bugs away. Oh yeah bugs.. yeah bugs are a delicacy in some places and we kill them off too!

We as humans kill off everything in our path and make excuses why we can't be healthy and eat this or that and why we are fighting for survival. Well maybe if we took better care of the earth over all we wouldn't have this problem. And if we took care of ourselves and noticed and helped our neighbours rather than just the outpouring of grief over someone we don't know and the sick things our own kind will do to each other, maybe we'd have a better place to live. Maybe if there was more funding in some countries towards the mentally unstable or mentally ill, and supporting research and a cure, we would again, be in a safer, healthier place.

However again... there is no utopia and no one will be happy and there is no way to stop our nature. At least, we haven't found one yet.

This concludes this week's blog. Next week there may not be one because I'm on vacation! :) So happy reading and stay as healthy as you possibly can and again up for discussion on all the above topics!