A Little Laugh Goes A Long Way

Ever wonder what would happen if someone really did find the fountain of youth? Well, what if I told you it had already been found? What would you do about it? I'm going to tell you and you will probably think its cool and never really take it to heart, just like every other good thing for your body. You have no motivation. what. so. ever.

Laughing.

Laughing is the fountain of youth. It gives you a mental boost, facilitates physiological changes in our bodies, helps keep your heart healthy, keeps you under less stress, makes you feel good, gives you power, lets you cope, gives you better communication and connectedness, relieves tension and aggression, helps you learn better and retain that knowledge, and adds years to your life (Organic Soul Blog - Laughter).

Honestly how this article talks about how stress gives you a heart attack I should be getting one any day now. I am a stress-a-holic. Anything and everything I stress about. I really just need to back off and relax. Look at all these health benefits of LAUGHTER! For heavens sake, laughter is SO easy to procure. So whether its clicking on some youtube videos, staying up late to make everything funny, or just laughing at yourself when you do something stupid take time to laugh everyday and YOU will be feeling better in no time, not to mention adding years to your life, and hey, if you're laughing those years will be good.

Tiny Tip

Relive your best memories. Ones were you were truly deeply happy. It releases dopamine (pleasure), makes you feel happier, and helps relieve bad memories.

UVU Health Quest

Stress Relief in Four Weeks - Week 3: Assertiveness Assessment

First order of business to understand what style you use in interpersonal communication. Which one do you use most of the time? I use the passive style. I indirectly express my opinions and wants if at all. Others styles are aggressive style which you give your opinions and wants at the expense of others and assertive style where you give your opinions without violating anyone else.

Second order is to identify where you want to be more assertive (assuming that is where you want to be...since its the 'ideal'). Are you assertive when you ask for help? state a differing opinion? receive or express positive or negative feelings? say no? Who are you assertive with? Parents? Co-workers? Classmates? Strangers? Spouse? Employer? Children? I am pretty much non-assertive, aka I am not assertive with anyone and with any situation. Except when I am speaking about my positive or negative feelings with my husband. I think he's the only one I feel comfortable enough with.

Body language is third. What type of assertive body language do you use most of the time? I don't use any of them. Although I would like to.
a) Maintain eye contact
b) Maintain posture
c) Speak clearly, audibly, and firmly

Fourth is effective communication and listening skills. What do you do most of the time? Are you preparing for what you're going to say? Do you ask for clarification? Do you acknowledge to other other person your respect? Do you compromise? I don't think I do any of this most of the time, although I try to clarify and focus on listening to responding. I think it would be a good idea to let people know that I respect their opinions.

Five: avoid manipulation. What do you do most of the time? Use a broken record? Defuse a sticky situation? Delay yourself until you are calm? Acknowledge criticism you agree with? I don't think I use a broken record and I believe I do a really good job of not responding when I'm heated. I am not sure how well I do at defusing others anger or acknowledging criticism.

I have the hardest time with this sixth one. Learning how to say no. I hardly ever....ok never, say no. I always agree and try to be the most helpful person ever. Sometimes this gets me in big trouble - aka: stress to the max. I already stress easy but to avoid confrontation (even if none were going to come) I agree to everything. I just can't seem to say no. Do you tell people exactly why you're saying no? or do you let them down gently?

Coming in as last is putting assertiveness into action. Take your number one problem and answer the questions.
Who is involved?
When does it take place?
What bothers you?
How do you deal with it?

Resources: Center For Disease Control, Mayo Clinic, Center for Mindfulness.

A Nutritionist

You think you need to see a doctor? Well, maybe you really need is to see a nutritionist instead. What do nutritionists do exactly? They help you improve your knowledge about your diet and to use that diet to feel and be healthier. The main reasons for going to a nutritionist are because of a) weight loss b) disease treatment c) disease prevention d) athletic training (I'd also say celebrities). Nutritionists help you do all these things without medication. So unless you really need a medication for something (bc, antibiotics) or are in serious trouble (dying, need stitches, surgery) what you really need is a nutritionist.

Here is a site that tells you about what you would pay for a nutritionist. Find out if your insurance will pay for it and if you need to go, GO! Find a better way to live. Eat better. Feel better.

Forks over Knives

Forks Over Knives

This documentary shocked my knowledge about two things. 1) Milk. 2) Meat. 

I think we all can agree that we do not want to get cancer. Am I right? I mean, who wants to die a long, horrible, painful, decapitating death? I sure do not. And I am sure everyone on the planet does not either.

Well, this documentary shows plenty of good supported evidence that the intake of MILK and MEAT in the AMERICAN diet are KEY FACTORS (as in, you eat them you get it) in CANCER. There. I said it.

I grew up thinking milk was one of the best things I could drink because I needed calcium and I especially needed it as I grew up because I'm a woman and as such am prone to getting osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. This is BUNK. Although milk DOES contain a high amount of calcium (which you need for your bones and to prevent osteoporosis) it also contains a lot of protein (less fat = more protein) which, as a animal protein, acts as a toxin, if you will, taking over your body and the fastest and easiest way for your body to deal with this problem is to take the calcium from your bones and get rid of that animal protein caused toxin. What this means is that drinking animal MILK is for animals (you know, those cute little calves), not for humans. It also means that the way we are trying to prevent (drinking milk) problems (osteoporosis) is actually the way by which we are CREATING the problem. 

This well documented film does not say that we should not eat any dairy and meat. But it does say that 5% or less of your diet should be dairy and meat. It also proves that having a diet 20% or higher in dairy and meat (common in American diets) shows a direct spike in cancerous cells. The thing is - it's only 15%! That is completely easy to fix. So why don't we fix it?

Well, there is this thing called ... government. The government controls what is taught in schools about food/nutrition and what is eaten in schools. This is how the general population gets their information (ingrained in to their heads) on nutrition. The problem with this is that this government control that regulates the nutrition facts are owned (you know, through contracts and such) by the meat and dairy industry. They are funded by meat and dairy and therefore they're going to give their "opinion" and "fact" towards whoever is funding them. This is ridiculous. The people who set facts of nutrition for our nation should be scientists/nutritionists/doctors. Not people who will be run by more wealthy people. 

Meat is also a key factor (same factor) in cancer as dairy (milk). It has the same animal proteins that do the same thing to your body - create cancerous cells/provide a place for cancer to grow. 

There are some doctors out there who have learned these things from studies they have studied and have done themselves in places like China, the Philippines, and the U.S. They have proven that the cancer/cardiovascular disease are direct responses to DIET.

They advocate a entirely whole foods plant based diet. It will heal your body. I really want one of these doctors. They keep a list of your previous symptoms, etc. and then they map out a whole foods plant based diet. BUT not only that - they go to the store with you and help you read labels and pick the right foods AND they help you cook them. Who wants a personal chef who helps you buy healthy food and cook healthy food that you will eat and makes you free from ailments such as cancer, diabetes, feeling sleepy during the day, cardiovascular disease, not getting enough sleep, sleeping poorly, weight gain/overweight, and bad moods. I DO!! Send 'em over to my house! 

My kids will definitely be eating food I prepare for them and not the food prepared by the cafeteria at school. I am definitely going to cut back on DAIRY and MEAT. Find some alternatives that are healthier and make them taste great. I know the holidays are coming up, but I want to find something that is whole foods plant based to bring into the festivities that tastes great and makes me feel good. I'm going to cut down on meat, less of it, and maybe add fish. I'm going to go for soy milk instead of cows milk and cut down on cheese consumption. What about yogurt? I'm not sure. I don't eat a whole lot of it. I wish there was a magical way I could wave my wand and see what 5% of dairy and meat in my diet looked like. And I wish I could wave a wand and all my shopping and meals would be done for me. But I guess that's what I have right? Processed foods that give me cancer. I better stop wishing and start doing.

Looking for a different way to heal?

Then you've come to the right place.

In THIS article gives a lot of examples about different ways to heal yourself or to get healed. Check it out!

I clicked on a few from each category just to get myself acquainted with some new ways of keeping myself healthy. First of all is acupressure (includes acupuncture and shiatsu massage). I have actually been thinking about doing acupuncture and honestly - I'm scared to death to try it. People sticking needles in me? Sounds a little like walking on a bed of needles or fire....completely idiotic. However, people have lived through it and it worked. All three of these are based on chi or your body's energy. This energy flows down meridians in your body and acupressure uses those meridians to help balance out your chi, which helps cure you because sickness comes from imbalance of your chi. (I'll have to think about this one for a longer period of time before I try it.....)

Now MEDITATION is something I've wanted to try for sometime, however I usually cannot focus, fall asleep, or just cannot bring myself to do it. But you know what? I need meditation. I'm going to start meditating. Every night before I go to bed I need to meditate and clear everything from my mind and body. I think it will help me get to sleep as well as sleep better. Check the link to learn how to do it.

When I read "humor therapy" I thought - yeah! I would love to do that. But then while I was reading it I realized that I already have humor therapy. My husband. He always seems to make something funny or make me laugh even when I do not want to laugh. He has seriously mad skills in this area. Laughter helps the  immune system, makes you feel more in control, makes life more manageable, and releases stress, fear, and anger. I really need to laugh at myself more and to not take life so seriously. So....laugh on.

Homeopathy. Or in lay terms - your body can heal itself. This post I do not agree with. I believe that the body has the ability to heal itself if you give it the right tools (nutrition, rest, exercise, sunlight, herbs) however I have never tried homeopathy and giving a very small dose of an herb seems like it would do little to nothing if you do not understand the underlying reason for the disease/illness.

The healing touch is used widely by nurses. I suppose it would be helpful, however - actually touching someone seems like it would help a whole lot more. While I believe that people are naturally healthy and just need to remove the things in their life that are causing them to be ill - not touching someone while healing touching them seems.....weird. Kind of like someone watching you. Stalkerish-like.

While I like this article because it gives a lot of examples of different ways of healing. I dislike that they only have short summaries of what the therapy is - not how to do it or where to find it.