Archive for the ‘health’ Category

18 Dec

A Dabble in Essential Oils

Posted by Heather in health, homemades.

The Big Man caught a bit of whatever is going around. The Kid has a touch of it, too. I was determined that I wasn’t going to get it … but that was just crazy talk.

So we all had a bit of congestion/stuffy nose, and some coughing. Nothing too serious, but not healthy, either.

The biggest problem was that we’d wake each other (or ourselves) coughing.

Segue to—

I have heard and read a fair amount on the amazing properties of essential oils and have just never given them a try.

But with this coughing problem, I remembered a tip I’d seen for shutting down nighttime coughing with essential oil. What better time to try it out?

We used eucalyptus oil. It is not advised to use it straight, as it can cause skin irritation (and probably other issues, but I don’t know a lot about it). The only oil on the list of those recommended that we had on hand was olive, so that’s what I used.

I put two tablespoons of olive oil in a little container with a lid (for storage) and added 15 drops of eucalyptus oil. At bedtime, I took a cloth wipe from the stash, rubbed some of the oil mixture onto The Kid’s feet, and put socks on him. I did the same to myself.

We both slept really well!

But his socks chafed (they had an elastic band in them), so I didn’t put them (or the oil) on again the following night. He didn’t sleep well.

Next night, new socks, used the oil: good sleep.

There it is, friends! That is all the evidence I need.

I posted about it on Facebook, and a friend said that she uses a diffuser instead of a topical application. Haven’t tried it, so I can’t say. You would need to be more amenable to the smell for that, but many of these oils smell really nice.

Give it a try!

12 Nov

I’m Making A Quilt for Christmas

Posted by Heather in habit, health, mindset.

I’ve decided to make a quilt for myself for Christmas. I have the following patches that I am carefully piecing together:

  • old (pre-cancer, post-college) eating habits
  • new (post-baby) eating habits
  • new (post-baby) schedule/time available
  • old recipes
  • new recipes
  • old exercise habits (spin! lifting, swim-bike-run)
  • new exercise habits (more at home, more time-efficient)

Some of those pieces are tattered and need to be patched before I can set them in place. Some of them are completely theoretical and need to be measured and cut still. Some of them are already stitched together.

But I know what the quilt looks like when it’s done. It’s a healthy, balanced life where I and the others in my house are well-nourished.

This is not something that will be easy to put together, but I know it’s possible! Change IS possible! I know, for the most part, what I need to do to make this happen.

It is my Christmas gift to myself.

So, on Christmas, my pre-pregnancy clothes all will fit (I’m into about half of my pants right now). My energy will be higher. I will be on my way to my pre-pregnancy strength (and from there, onto pre-chemo strength). I will be looking for a new 5K personal record in 2013. I will be back on the path that chemo both interrupted and fueled.

What are you giving yourself for Christmas?

2 Nov

Curbing Holiday Weight Gain

Posted by Heather in events, health, mindset, tips.

Depending on which study you look at, Americans gain an average of one to 15 pounds over the holidays. Obviously, gaining 10 to 15 pounds is not good, especially in the span of two months. But just one pound? What harm is that?

The problem with gaining one pound (or more) is that most people don’t take it back off. So let’s say you start gaining a pound per season when you’re 20 but the rest of the year, you maintain. By the time you’re 40, you’ve gained 20 pounds, have a spare tire, and have increased your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

There are some things you can do to enjoy the holidays and the treats that come inherent with the season and still not gain weight.

The most important is a shift in mindset. If you believe that you’re going to gain weight, that’s just how it is, there’s nothing you can do about it, well … I can’t help you. (“I want to do it but I can’t” falls into that same category.)

If you are already past Step 1 (above) and would like to learn more tips and tricks to avoid holiday weight gain, join a community of like-minded people who encourage and congratulate each other, then I have a program that you would be interested in…

It’s called ”I’m Gaining Nuttin’ for Christmas” and is all about maintenance. There are in-person groups in the Phoenix area as well as several online groups. But here’s the best part: if you have a group of people who want to do it together (you and a few friends, you and your family, you and some coworkers, you and some people from church, you and some people …. you get the idea), contact me, and we can set up a time and place for your group to do it together! This means, of course, that your group doesn’t need to all live together – we can set up an online group. And, as the organizer of the group, you get your fees waived.

Click through to go to the website for complete details and to register. The sooner you do it, the more time you have to work on it!

14 Oct

Breast Cancer Awareness: Happy Birthday To Me!

Posted by Heather in cancer, habit, health, mindset.

Today, I turn 37. As my birthday gift to myself, I am allowing myself to ramble :)

When I was in my late 20s and starting to get fit, people who were roughly my age now told me to wait until I was their age — then I would understand.

Now, creeping into my late 30s, people ten years older still tell me to wait until I’m their age — then I’ll understand.

This is what I understand: those people have given up. They are blaming on age what is mainly a lifestyle problem.

I grew up eating crap. Even most home-cooked meals were skewed towards meat and heavily skewed towards highly processed crappy (delicious) carbs. We ate a lot of fast food. We watched a lot of TV. I was always chubby. You can’t say that I’ve just always eaten like this or grew up active.

In college, with the freedom to eat as I so chose — and a local dairy with $1 homemade ice cream pints — it only got worse. My slightly “big-boned” body got really fat. I loved all types of sweets. I believe I’ve been quoted as saying that “I don’t eat all that healthy shit.” You can’t say I don’t understand having a sweet tooth or a love of everything fried.

I changed slowly. What I fueled myself with started to look different. I joined a gym and read books on stationary bikes when I had free time. Then I started to spin. And take other classes. I started to feel better and look better, and I was hooked.

After finally hitting a healthy weight, having a body that didn’t jiggle, being strong, I was diagnosed with cancer.

I had five invasive procedures (three with anaesthetics), six months of chemotherapy, along with a six-month cocktail of other drugs, nearly a month of radiation. The cancer was decimated, and so was the rest of my body.

I started to eat well and exercise again. I started to reshape myself. You can’t say I’ve never started over.

Most breast cancers — indeed, most any cancers — can be prevented by taking care of yourself. Eat well, exercise often, maintain a healthy weight, don’t smoke.

(As an aside: I mean a real healthy weight, not an American healthy weight, which, according to most of us, is at least 15-20 pounds over. Most people are in denial about their body and about their diet. I have had people telling me I am “skinny” since I was about three weeks postpartum. Nowhere close to skinny. While I’m not a huge fan of BMI, it is a decent indicator of some health measures for the average Joe. My BMI is too high. People look at me and scoff, saying that BMI must be wrong if mine is too high. No — you’re just used to looking at really fat people. I’m less fat, so I look thin. You also know that I eat a fairly healthy diet and exercise regularly, which skews your vision. And, in some cases, just because I’m less fat than you are doesn’t make me a healthy weight.)

Post-cancer, I completed three sprint triathlons. The first one was amazing. My pride in training and completing it has been rivaled only once in my lifetime (see: senior recital). My body was getting stronger, and then…

I got pregnant. Most of the time, I didn’t go crazy on junk food. (Ladies, this is the time in your life when, more than ever, you need to eat well!) But there were weeks at a time when it seemed I couldn’t possibly feel full. I ate half of a large pizza one night and wasn’t stuffed. That is crazy. I know growing a fetus requires more fuel, but not that much!

Also, while pregnant, my body was tired. A three-mile bike ride took about half an hour and was exhausting. No exercise for six weeks postpartum, and then I climbed back on the wagon. Again.

I’m getting closer to my pre-pregnancy body … and then I’ll be continuing to work towards my pre-chemo body. It takes time, it takes diligence, it takes patience, it takes support.

There is nothing special about me that makes it possible for me to work to be healthy. It’s something that is important to me, so I do it. It is simple. It is not easy.

Assuming it is easy for other people is just your internal attempt to let yourself off the hook.

Make yourself accountable. Today. Now. Do it. You’ll be glad you did.

While I am in spin class, pushing myself as hard as I can on a bike that’s not getting me anywhere, this is my mantra:

You can use it if you want. Or make your own. Just make it positive :)

When I turned 27, I was not inspiring.

Today, I have had many people tell me I have inspired them to change their lives. I have been witness to them do it. I have heard celebrations of how many pushups I can do, how long I can hold a plank, how I wasn’t tempted by some crap food that used to appeal, how my old pants fit again, how I haven’t been this size in 2/8/20 years. And now they inspire others.

You owe it to yourself and to the people around you to take care of yourself and be a beacon of hope and inspiration in your community.

Who are you going to inspire?

1 Oct

Your Tastes Change…

Posted by Heather in food, habit, health, mindset, weight loss.

I went to a party over the weekend. It was a potluck with an “American food” theme.

Needless to say, most of the food there was junk food, though conspicuously, there was no apple pie!

Anyway, someone brought Twinkies. I haven’t had a Twinkie in years. I decided, just out of curiosity, to try a bite of one and see what they taste like.

They taste like chemicals. It was disgusting. I spit it out.

This is the thing: I used to like Twinkies. A lot. They weren’t a go-to food for me, but they were pretty delicious.

Taste buds changed, not as a result of time passing, but as a result of time passing without me eating crap like Twinkies.

As you remove garbage food from your diet and replace it with whole, real food, you develop a liking — a craving, even — for good, whole, real food. The more of it you eat (assuming you’re eating food you like), the more of it you want.

Did you see the fine print there? It needs to be food you like. If you decide to “go on a diet” (which is not a good plan in the first place) and eat lots of “salads” made of iceberg lettuce and carrot shreds and hate every minute of it, well, you’re not going to crave more of it.

Find produce that you like. Reduce the amount of cheese/dressing/sauce/dip you eat it with. Eat more of it. At the same time, eat less junk food, less processed food, less sugar and sugar substitutes.

As time goes on, keep eating more good food and less crap food, and before you know it, you’ve completely changed how you eat. I am a living testament to this process. People think I’ve always been healthy or that it’s always been easy — but that’s just rationalizing why you “can’t.” It was no easier for me than it is for you.

Drop the excuses and get it done. Because you can. And it’s worth it. YOU are worth it.

18 Sep

The Winner In All New Fad Diets Is….

Posted by Heather in food, health, links.

A friend tipped me off to this article last night. It is well-written enough that instead of trying to paraphrase it or do my own write-up, I’m just going to link you to it.

It is about the cycles of food mania in this country (low-fat, low-carb, organic, local, etc.) and how they have good and healthy intentions but we follow them mindlessly into the pockets of the rich-and-getting-richer processed food industry instead of to better health.

Read it here. Come back and let me know what you think.

5 Sep

Miss Me?

Posted by nicholh in events, exercise, food, habit, health, Nichol, time management.

Hey! Look who finally remembered that she is supposed to post on Wednesday mornings! It’s Nichol!

Dear friends,

I suck! I totally missed last Wednesday. The worst part is, I didn’t even notice until Thursday morning, sitting in the Starbucks drive-thru.

A new semester has started and with that, I have started internship. With that, I have a whole new food issue. I need to figure out my food situation. Particularly Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

School days, I leave the house at 6:30am and I don’t get home until well after 9pm. Saturday I will leave the house at 5am and not get home until after 6pm.

How do you handle that? Does anyone have a portable refrigerator/stove/oven combination? Because that would be great.

In other news, I’m about 20 days from finishing P90. And I’m very excited about the 5Ks coming up (Color Run, Neon SplashDash).

I hope to have a better update for you next week, but right now I’m typing on my phone in the middle of SWG510, while my professor lectures.

4 Sep

Conflicting Advice

Posted by Heather in health, mental clutter, tips, weight loss.

 

I have heard many complaints that there’s so much conflicting advice, people don’t know what to believe.

Some of this is because of “common knowledge” that hasn’t caught up to more recent research. (Some of the “more recent” research isn’t all that new — it’s just not managed to eradicate the old knowledge. Change is possible, but it sure is slow sometimes!)

Some of it is conflicting research.

But some of it is just conflicting goals.

Advice that is given for weight loss is not necessarily healthy.

Examples:

Weight loss advice: Use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar to reduce calories.

Health advice: Artificial sweeteners are not good for you, mess up your taste for sweetness, and should be avoided.

Weight loss advice: Use low-fat products instead of their full-fat counterparts.

Heath advice: When fat is taken out of processed foods, flavor tends to go with it. Manufacturers replace the fat with other things, generally chemicals, that aren’t good for you. Full-fat in moderation is better than low-fat. (For an explanation of why this is also true with dairy, please see here.)

The advice dished out about fat and carbs is enough to make your head spin.

Don’t get me started on meal replacement (protein) bars. Or potatoes.

Here’s my take: if it is healthy, it is a good choice. If you focus on being healthy (eating healthy foods, keeping your body moving, getting enough sleep, reducing stress, etc.), the fat loss will follow.

If you focus on fat loss, there are too many negatives associated with it. Too many opportunities to feel deprived. For many, too many, “I can’t — I’m on a diet”s. These mindsets are not sustainable.

Eat to be healthy. Look for the information that guides you to health. The fat will follow.

16 Jul

Health Care

Posted by Heather in health, mindset.

Heath care has been all over the news and a hot topic of debate since the Supreme Court’s ruling. Regardless of that, here is the problem with health care in the US:

It’s reactive.

When you have a problem, you go to doctors and see if they can fix it, or kind of fix it, or maybe just fix it enough that you can live with it.

We sit at desks all day and on couches all evening, we eat too much refined food, too much sugar, too much salt, too much meat, not enough fruits and vegetables, we don’t get enough sleep, we create stressful lives for ourselves, and then complain that we get sick.

I often bring these things back to cancer because that’s where I have the most experience.

People walk and run and bike and write checks “for a cure.” Tons and tons of money is poured into research.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. But most people blow off what the research finds, and that drives me bonky.

There are clear connections between breast cancer and plastics. Doesn’t stop most people from drinking bottled water, steaming their veggies in the bag, eating canned food, or reheating food in plasticware.

There are clear connections between being overweight and some cancers. Not only do people deny the connection, they deny they’re overweight. There seems to be a mentality of “skinny isn’t healthy either!” And while it’s true that skinny, unless that’s your body type, isn’t healthy, that doesn’t justify being 15 pounds — or more — overweight. We’re so used to seeing people who are overweight that when we see people who are a healthy weight, we think they’re skinny.

Smoking. Yeah.

Why fund research if we’re just going to ignore it anyway?

My impression is that many (most?) people don’t want to know how to prevent diseases — at least not through lifestyle changes. They want science to develop a quick easy way to fix it once they’ve contracted something, or maybe a shot to ward it off in the first place.

(source)

Can you imagine most people’s reactions if that’s what their doctor prescribed?

People seem to take better care of their cars than their bodies … but you can buy another car (or get around without one ;) ). You only get one body…

Where are you on preventative maintenance? Do you practice it? Are you for it in theory but haven’t gotten around to doing it? Think it’s bunk? What’s your biggest obstacle?

10 Jul

Plastics Make You … Fat?

Posted by Heather in chemicals, health.

If I’d seen this article two days ago, I would have included it in yesterday’s post. Really interesting piece on how plastics are making us fat.

Check it out.

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