My worn out quilt.
A poem I wrote thinking of friends going through lots of challenges right now.
This is a quilt I bought years ago at a garage sale.
I loved the baskets of flowers and patchwork.
It is stained and torn now, but still provides color and warmth. Like life!
The patchwork of Life
Presents us with challenges
Out of the blue sometime
………………
Ok so I watched the 60 minutes episode on sugar (click here and watch it!). The research is in. Sugar is as toxic as cigarettes and alcohol. In studies using human volunteers fed a regimented diet followed by blood tests, they found that increasing sugar in the diet, elevated the bad LDL cholesterol, the culprit in heart disease and heart attack deaths.
It turns out sugar also feeds cancer cells. They love glucose (sugar) as much as our muscle cells love sugar for exercise.
What was interesting is that in an evolutionary sense, we have learned to eat and enjoy sugar since plants were on the earth. There is not one plant that contains sugar that is poisonous. Therefore eating a plant with sugar was considered safe. Now we have taken it too far. We are eating way too much sugar in blatant treats like candy, cakes and ice cream, but also drinking sugar in soda pop, sports drinks, and even fruit juice.
Sugar is often a hidden ingredient in foods that don’t even taste sweet. Many processed foods are made with high fructose corn syrup, which has little to do with corn. So the bottom-line. If you want to eat the perfect diet, seriously cut down on sugar. The recommendation for men is no more than 150 grams of sugar and for woman no more than 100 grams per day.
Eat your sugar naturally in fruit and real food that does not come out of a box or package. Fruit has natural sugar, satisfying our need for something sweet, but it also adds vitamins and fiber.
Avoid white breads, sweetened yogurts, sweetened cereals and the obvious gooey desserts.
When you are buying breakfast cereals make sure they have less than 5 grams of sugar and lots of fiber and protein.
Avoid Soft drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices with added sugars.
Drink more water and eat more fresh foods.
In the end, you know I am the Middle Way so although I pretty much follow my own recommendations, I will occasionally have my cake and eat it too!
Garlic is a magic food. Garlic is a natural antibiotic. Garlic has been known to be antibacterial, antiviral, and anti fungal. It is full of antioxidants and in a nutshell or in a garlic clove is anti-disease. I love garlic and wanted to share my recipe for Garlic Soup. Click here to learn more about garlic.
I don’t know where I got the original recipe for Garlic Soup, but I have been making it for years every time I feel like I am getting a cold or flu symptoms.
MARY’S GARLIC SOUP
Start with Chicken or Vegetable Broth (You can use any clear soup or make your own with boullion cubes). Bring to a boil.
Add Several cloves of fresh garlic cut up. (I add as many as 10 cloves to about 4 cups of broth) Use as much as you can stand and don’t over cook the garlic.
Simmer the soup with the garlic for a minute or two. (Another variation is to sautee the garlic in the pan before adding the broth. This makes the garlic more tolerable if you don’t like it raw.) I eat garlic raw so I cook as little as possible.
Remove from heat and add:
1 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar (I use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar with the ‘Mother”) for each serving.
Sprinkle with Cayenne pepper. (According to taste-a dash can create quite a tang so add according to what you can tolerate).
Other helpful spices are Turmeric, Cumin and Ginger which all have healing properties.
Another variation is to add a beaten egg to the boiling broth like egg drop soup.
If you want to make a more hearty soup, go ahead and add some cooked chicken, turkey or sauteed vegetables. Onions are always good for healing.
Be sure to chew the garlic pieces when you eat the soup.
Enjoy! And Be Well!
February is the month to celebrate our heart. We celebrate love on Valentine's Day and February is also Heart Health Month, but what about heart burn. They should have a national GERD month since so many people these days suffer from heart burn. GERD is Gastrosophageal Reflux Disease of which the most common condition is heartburn. Web MD has great info on this. It is called heartburn because the pain is usually around the heart, however heartburn is actually a gastrointestinal problem. It is important to make sure you have heartburn rather than a problem with the heart.
I have a friend who recently was hospitalized for three days after going to the ER thinking she was having a heart attack. She had many of the symptoms-chest pain, shooting back pain, trouble breathing, and the anxiety that goes along with it. They released her stating her heart was fine but she many be suffering from "heartburn." The Mayo Clinic site has a discussion on whether it is heart burn or a heart attack.
I have another friend who called me yesterday asking what I do for heartburn?
Within the last several months I have had the telltale symptoms. A burning sensation just below the heart and above the stomach, a funny taste in my mouth and a feeling of transient nausea, a slight cough, and then when it gets bad, the chest and back pain sometimes radiating to the neck. I have seen my doctor, and he did give me some tips besides taking my Pepcid AC.
If you think you have GERD be sure to see your doctor to rule out heart or other issues and to prevent or treat symptoms before the acid in your stomach that backs up in the esophagus causes a more chronic problem like scarring or narrowing of the esophagus. Your doctor may prescribe medication or want to do other tests to determine the extent of the disease.
What causes Heartburn? The symptoms are caused by the back up of acid from the stomach into the esophagus. The cause of Heartburn can be from the foods you eat or beverages. Also just eating too much and eating too late can cause heartburn symptoms especially at night. Alcohol, carbonated beverages and caffeine can be a cause. Other causes are pregnancy, wearing too tight of clothing, bending over after eating, and chronic constipation.
Something to consider is whether you are constipated. If you are not having regular and full bowel movements you could cause a back up of the whole GI tract causing heartburn.
Dehydration contributes to heartburn symptoms. Water is the best beverage.
Another cause is eating too fast or eating when you are under stress. Stress prevents food from digesting in a relaxed manner. Here are my four questions to ask whenever you are not feeling well:
What are you eating?
What are you drinking?
What are you doing?
What are you thinking? Thinking is soooooo important.
So here are some tips.
>Eliminate the foods you know cause problems.
>Avoid eating and drinking right before you go to bed or lay down.
>Elevate the head of your bed. You can put blocks under the legs of your bed. There are special wedge pillow but my doctor says those just make things worse.
>Practice relaxation techniques.
>Drink water throughout the day.
>Eat slowly and mindfully. Chew chew chew your food.
Andrew Wiel has some tips too.
Suffering From Heartburn? – Dr. Weil's Daily Tip.
Remember, don't assume it's heartburn. See your doctor for a full workup and his own tips on what to do.
