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!