[Weddings] When to DIY & When to Buy

Ah, crafts.

They’re so fun right?!

Wrong.

I love a good Pinterest craft as much as the next gal, but when it comes to weddings, sometimes my eyes are bigger than my Martha Stewart abilities.

My wedding has a vintage-chic theme, and that involves simple centerpieces, books, candles in antique teacups and the like. I made the mistake of getting overly excited about some spray painted cans on Pinterest. I recreated the cans and then took it a step further; I started to spray paint empty protein canisters and candles…basically, anything I could get my hands on.

Then I took it a step further and wrapped every single damn one in burlap and lace.

What resulted was not a cute look. My fiance very delicately asked, “I mean, do you think it looks…cheap?”

While I originally said, “no way! When it’s got flowers and everything in them, it’ll look great!”

After a lot of insecurity and pictures sent to my sweet mom, she suggested I go buy a bouquet and stage it to see what it looks like.

Great idea!

I did that…and immediately was in agreement; this looked super cheap.

So I swallowed my pride and accepted all my work was a waste of time. I went to the internet machine and found (inexpensive) beautiful glass vases that still matched my theme. And you know what? This was a blessing in disguise.

The burlap and lace look was great in theory, but along with being super overdone, it’s very rustic. My theme is not rustic.

This almost happened with my table runners, too! Originally I was going to sew these, but in the interest of time, I decided to order them instead.

I had ordered burlap and lace table runners on Etsy. After a week with no “your order has shipped!” notifications, I reached out to the seller. And you know what he said?

“Oops. That must have been a mistake. We don’t carry those right now. You’re welcome to pick out a different style.”

Listen, if you’ve ever planned a wedding (or any big event), you know that you may be a super nice person 365, but when something stupid happens during this kind of planning, you turn into a very angry person.

I was (understandably!!) annoyed and asked something along the lines of, “so was I ever going to be notified, or were you going to just keep my money and never deliver anything?”

Long story short…I got a refund and ordered new table runners. Lace only.

They’re so much prettier and thematically accurate than the burlap would have been.

So when should you buy vs. DIY? My recommendation is to only DIY when you’re certain it’s going to be beautiful and not a Pinterest Fail.

If you could put a picture of your wedding DIY on one of those ‘Expectations vs. Reality’ pages…you may wanna pull out that credit card.

Prolonging Life – Do you believe in yourself?

We all have low points. We all doubt and question and even wonder about our own self worth. But do we believe in ourselves as a general rule?

I always joke with people that if they are struggling with something, it’s their attitude holding them back. If they say something negative, I scold them for putting it out into the universe. But beneath my smiling, joking exterior, I believe what I’m saying.

rncentral.com has a great list of positive thinking exercises that include things you would expect like giving yourself credit, forgiving yourself when things go wrong, practicing affirmations, etc. But what else can we do? The list recommends finding someone to share with…I love this. Sometimes, when things go right and I’m proud of myself, I want to share with someone. This doesn’t mean I want to brag to someone, or rub it in their face, I just want to share how happy I am with someone who can appreciate and share in that happiness. Ideally, they would share right back with me! There’s also, “Be glad your life isn’t boring.” This one cracked me up. I know when things are crazy and stressful and I’m down on myself, I revel in the dream of what it would be like if nothing was changing and everything was comfortable. But why would that be something to be happy about? Contentment is dangerous.

I was only on this topic because I was listening to a friend who has been very successful talk about her experience with self-belief and her impact on her peers. It really opened my eyes, and I was surprised at how calming it was to just listen to some unsolicited advice on how to be a little more positive. I had no idea I was even being negative until I listened to her talk about what negativity looks like.

So what about you?

Your thoughts don’t control you, but you do control them.So are you thinking you’re worthless? Are you thinking you could never do what you’ve seen other people do?

Why? What’s holding you back from turning that around?

You matter. You’re capable. You’re impactful!

So let’s share. Maybe I’m a stranger to you, but let me be your someone to share with. Comment – tell me what holds you back, what excuses you give, do you plan to make a change?

Health and happiness,

Heather

Here’s the link I mentioned earlier:

http://www.rncentral.com/nursing-library/careplans/100_positive_thinking_exercises_to_incorporate_into_your_life/

Prolonging Life, Continued -Life after Cancer…and then some

I haven’t written in a long time. Partially because I’ve been busy. Partially because my creativity has been dulled by some sadness; dad died a year ago. The cancer spread to his brain and he had a stroke. He fell into a deep sleep, and a few weeks later, we left the hospital without him.

Cancer sucks.

And I’ll admit, I went through a brief period of what I will call the “Fuck it Mentality,” because I had spent so much time researching how to outwit cancer, how to eat right, manage your pH levels, avoid sugar, etc. And for what? Melanoma took my father. A Vietnam veteran who was the toughest, bravest, healthiest man I will ever know. But it wasn’t his lack of health…it was the pure and simple fact:

Cancer sucks.

And so I moved on. I moved to Florida, I took in the sunshine (safely…and sometimes in spite of the sun itself) and I started a new life my dad would be proud of. I was more active than ever, happier and all around content. I was eating well and keeping my gym membership justified. But I still felt lousy in my guts.

We’ve touched on it before: colon health is so important! In my post, ‘Let’s talk about our insides,’I alluded to my teenage anorexia resulting in a near-surgery and a condition I struggle with. I have chronic constipation. Let’s just get that awkward diagnosis out of the way. It sounds silly, but the reality is anything but humorous. I’ve tried everything, including being a vegetarian, to try to find relief. While I have found small things to adopt into my daily lifestyle and learned more about what my body needs to avoid, I was still really struggling.

I was getting pains in my kidneys and pelvis. Something seemed off. I went to the doctor, and she sent me to a couple specialists (each did ultrasounds), but nothing could be found aside from a vague, “Maybe one day you may want to have your gallbladder looked at.” Not. Helpful.

While all this was going on, a friend of mine was driving me insane on Facebook with post after post about Plexus.

I’m certain you’ve heard of it because we all have “those” friends who push their Plexus so hard you want to block everyone, delete your Facebook and throw your computer out the window. Oh, is that just me?

Anyway, she actually IS my friend, so when I saw a post about the products’ probiotics I finally reached out. I was going weeks without a BM (again, potty talk sounds childish but is really so serious!!) and surviving on Milk of Magnesia. I vented to her about my long time struggles (it got very personal, as you can imagine) with my guts and she was so passionately confident that these products could help. I gave in and ordered BioCleanse and ProBio5. She was very sweet and supportive, but I made her very aware that I was just desperate and not to expect too much from me in regards to becoming a repeat customer.

I have never been so happy to be wrong! Just TWO, yes TWO days into this system, my body was regular. This was unreal. I sent her poop emojis because I was too excited to keep this development to myself.

I get it. Some of you are gagging right now. You don’t understand. And I am HAPPY FOR YOU. Others are reading this and thinking, ‘Oh my god, I am so happy for her!,’ because you have been in my shoes!

Fast forward thirty days and I’ve actually lost weight from successfully eliminating the waste in my body! I ordered triplex this time (which includes Slim) and feel better than ever. I’ve told family, friends, my fiancé, strangers, the world of Facebook and coworkers about what a life changer this stuff has been for me. I am now such a believer that I sell the stuff, too!

It’s all natural and it actually works. It’s about health, not weight loss (though that is a nice perk) and there are products for everyone, even kids that range from gut health to breast health to body creams to nerve relief to multivitamins and more. I had a friend/customer tell me today that their wife was having some major health issues, and her blood tests were really worrying. She was returning very high ferritin levels (which indicate serious liver issues) and things were only getting worse, no matter how she adjusted her diet and tried to find the proper medications. She got on BioCleanse and Slim and after just one month, her numbers had already dropped over 200! I was jumping up and down when I heard this! There are so  many pyramid schemes out there, and I know as I type this in my LuLaRoe wishing I could afford Rodan and Fields for my creasing forehead that I am just another person on your friends list selling something, but let me tell you, when you find something you love, it doesn’t matter if it comes from a department store or your friend’s guest bedroom; if it works, it works.

So I’m using the one platform I have always had, the internet and my words, to reach out to you. I know some of you. Others are strangers, but I still want to help you. I know my dad hated passing in a hospital. I know I am in control of my health. He taught me to use sunscreen, and I learned that the earth provides some damn good medicine and I should always seek natural products. I refuse to do anything other than take control of my health while I have it and create the longest, happiest life I can. If you have ANY questions about Plexus, the products, how it works, the ingredients…ANYTHING, I would love to talk to you about it.

This is not a solicitation. This is just me, blogging about something that has given me peace and comfort in knowing I no longer have those kidney pains, I don’t worry about my gallbladder, I look great and feel  better…and I have the opportunity to help other people feel great, too. There will be more poetry, more life updates, but I wanted to start my comeback with this. Because how incredible would it be if this could change everything? If for once, we could all keep those health-related new year’s resolutions….

peruse it: http://www.shopmyplexus.com/heatherpoole

and reach out to me.

Health and Happiness,

Heather

An Actual open letter to my abusive ex.

I see a lot of these letters. Shortened, novel-like tales of ex’s, or open letters to this person or that. They’re generally explanations of why the writer is actually super awesome and should be seen as such. Or they’re click-bait. Or they’re pure fiction written by staff writers. Sometimes they’re a little bit of everything. 

This is different. This is true, and it’s not about how great I am. In fact, it’s a pure representation of how very NOT great I’ve become. 

I was with an abusive partner for less than a year. It was the briefest relationship I’ve had and also the most impactful. There are days I feel like I am still in it. 

In fact, I am in a relationship now. A healthy one. A normal one. And yet I sometimes feel it was a horrible choice to enter into such a thing because my lover is much better than me. 

Those are my words. But they are your voice. 

Today I waited for seven, yes, seven hours at a car dealership to have my jeep serviced. It was misery, but it was mine. If I was “normal,” I would’ve been as vocal as I once was. I would’ve told the manager it was unbelievable and I would’ve walked out. But I didn’t. I made friends with some people and we compared wait stories. By the end I was being hugged and jokingly offered lunch. But when I left, I wanted to cry. Granted, part of this was hunger. I definitely turn into a bratty toddler when I’ve not eaten. But that wasn’t all…my partner needed things out of my jeep, and I was ashamed of myself for disrupting someone else’s day. Ashamed to the point of tears and weak voice. So much so, when I delivered all of the items, I was accused of being mean to the person I had brought them to. 

You took away my right to be selfish. You made me so that I don’t know when I’m allowed to say, “wow. What a crummy day! I need a hug and a glass of wine.” You uninstalled all the software in my brain that helps me choose how I feel. You broke me somehow. I no longer feel important enough to voice complaints the way I once did.  

After our breakup, I did a unique art/poetry project about verbal abuse. It had been planned before we ever met, but yes, you were a catalyst in its completion. You called 17 times to cuss me out in front of the photographer. You were selfish with my vision. You made it all about you. 

See, now I can at least recognize that you were a narcissist. That you are a sociopath. Even if it was bad, it had to revolve around you. 

Sometimes, when you laid hands on me, it felt better than when you yelled at me. Called me…names. Words. 

In my relationship now, I can’t bear to hear about my love’s ex’s. People come up. That’s normal. But for me it’s a trigger. When you brought up your relationships, it was to directly compare me to those women. And now that you’re gone, I do the comparisons for you. 

The other day, my partner and I were driving. I was using my map application on my phone to get to where we were going. Siri was being especially frustrating and my partner jokingly said, “I’m about to throw your phone out the window.”

Other people would’ve laughed. I had to catch my breath. I had a flash back to the night I tried to call the cops to get you out of my car because I was terrified you were going to pull a gun on me. You violently snatched my phone out of my hand and held it to the window. I’m going to throw your phone out the window. 

I have been ashamed for you. The first date we went on, the bar cut you off. I remember thinking it was sort of cute. I wrongly assumed I made you nervous and you were seeking liquid courage. I was wrong. Now, if I drink too much in front of the people I love, I cry and apologize. I never want to look like you. 

You made me a list of the things I do wrong. I have it memorized, and I assume everyone I’ve loved after you had received a copy somehow. 

When the aforementioned project was completed, many people wrote to me and told me it was apparent I had been abused. I rolled that word around in my head like a child rolls playdoh between their fingers. It was bad. You treated me like nothing, and I’ve fought every day to convince myself it’s not true. I lied to myself and said your violence wasn’t enough to be called “abuse,” and your words weren’t hateful enough to be “abusive.” But I remember you tried to kill yourself in my bed. I remember my father had to escort you out of the house and I had to drive you three hours back to your house in horrible silence while you reeked of alcohol in the backseat and my father breathed steadily in the passenger seat.   I remember my support team that helped me pick some things up from you so I wouldn’t be alone and vulnerable. 

I know who you are. I know what you are. I have been afraid of you. I have been ashamed of you. I have been embarrassed and worried for you. I have been hurt by you. But I have also been under the impression I loved you. And now, when I love again, I fear that something will shift like it did with you. 

This is an open letter to my abuser, but it is a quiet reminder to myself that this damage is inside of me, but it is not mine. I can love and be loved. All I can do is try. 

Prolonging Life, continued- You deserve a drink

We’ve all heard that a glass of red wine is good for you, but have we every questioned why? I don’t think I have, since I’m not one to turn down a glass of wine! Something about heart health….but what? And is there more? 

You deserve a drink.

  Greatwinenews image 
 

so first things first: if you’re trying to lose weight, you’re going to have to cut out alcohol temporarily….BUT when you are to the point of maintaining your weight, there’s great news; you can have wine four to six nights a week!! It helps you live longer and increase your ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol. But guess what, there’s more! Red wine helps with digestive health.

 

Our digestive systems aren’t just good for yogurt commercials. They are really hard workers! They house all kinds of bacteria that controls our weight, diabetes, bowel diseases and more. And according to a study done by Shape magazine, red wine can help shift the bacteria in your digestive track so there’s more good bacteria than bad. This automatically makes us healthier, but it could even make us leaner!

  Webmd image  

I know, I know…it sounds too good to be true. But there really is science behind it. Here’s a direct quote from the study because I don’t think I should sum it up: “Red wine’s red color comes from antioxidants called polyphenols. Polyphenols can help improve your health in a variety of ways, but one problem with certain polyphenols, especially the ones in red wine, is that your body doesn’t absorb them very well. It has been estimated that almost half of the polyphenols consumed are not absorbed during the normal initial phases of digestion. While this sounds like a bad thing, the unabsorbed polyphenols become food for the good bacteria in your digestive track. This is exactly what Spanish researchers found when they examined the digestive tracks of people who drank red wine every day for 20 days” (Shape).

 

And of course, it does help decrease your chances of cardiovascular disease since that good bacteria can help improve metabolism for a faster fat burning rate.

 

The catch?

 

Put down your red moscato. We aren’t talking about the sweet red wines we all know and love. You want the kind of red wine that’s so dark red it almost looks black. These include Douro Reds, Petite Sirah, Mouvredre, Shiraz, Syrah, Nero D’Avola, Malbec, Priorat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (even though Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are technically medium-colored since they are semi-transparent…)

  

Wine folly image  

So while your friends juice themselves into a frenzy, sit back, relax and enjoy that deep red wine.

 

Cheers!

 

Prolonging life, continued-let’s talk about skin, man.

let’s talk about skin 

For anyone who has been following my Prolonging Life series, you know my father has melanoma, and it’s pretty bad. You also know I’m a bit of a vampire when it comes to my relationship with the sun. So I want to address skin today-more specifically, how my skin brushing is going and how much sun we need.

 

So a few blogs back, I talked about detoxing safely with clay and skin brushing, etc. Well, I’ve been ingesting clay every day (and loving it!) and also skin brushing daily. And you know what? I love it! So the claim is that you’re moving all the lymph in your body around when you skin brush, and that’s great. We all have it. What we don’t want is for it to just settle. By skin brushing and focusing on areas like inner elbows and behind the knees, you are really being proactive in preventing issues that lymph build up can cause…like Lymphoma. (side note: my skin has never been softer!)

 

So what is Lymphoma?

 

First of all, it IS NOT leukemia, so don’t get them confused. Lymphoma starts in infection-fighting lymphocytes, whereas leukemia starts in blood-forming cells inside bone marrow.

 

What is a lymphocyte? Glad you asked. A Lymphocyte is any of three subtypes of white blood cells in a vertebrate’s immune system, and the main cell found in lymph.

 

  Wikipedia image 

What causes it?

 Unfortunately, this is not known. There are some theories though. These include age (60 or older), gender (males are at a higher risk for lymphoma), weakened immune system, STDs, genetics (if it runs in your family, you’re at a higher risk, as you would be with any disease), weight (being overweight can lead to lymphoma).

 

How do I know??

 

There are numerous signs of Lymphoma.

· Swollen glands (lymph nodes)-check for lumps in your neck, armpits and groin

· cough

· shortness of breath

· fever

· night sweats

· stomach pain

· fatigue

· weight loss

· itching

 

(list from webmd.com)

 

Treatment

 

As with any cancer, the idea of treatment is scary. Naturally, the treatment largely depends on what type of lymphoma you have and how far it has spread. For non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma, most patients will undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

 

IF these treatments don’t work, stem cell transplants can be necessary.

 

As with any other issue, prevention is key! Check yourself often, skin brush (cause I just love it!), and don’t ever be afraid to ask your doctor for advice.

 

SUN

 

How much sun do we need?

  

Google image  

According to health.usnews.com, it varies. If you live north of Atlanta, it’s impossible to produce vitamin D in the winter because the sun never gets high enough in the sky for its UV B rays to penetrate the atmosphere. For those with fair skin (me, me, me!!) experts say going outside for 10 minutes in the midday sun-in shorts and a tank top with no sunscreen-will give you enough radiation to produce about 10,000 international units of the vitamin. WHOA. If you’re already tan or Hispanic, you need about 15-20 minutes, whereas black skin may require SIX TIMES the sun exposure to make the same vitamin D levels as someone very pale. Always use good judgment though. for me, if I were to stay outside for ten minutes with no spf at all, there’s a good chance I’m going to burn, so even a low spf would be necessary for me.

 

Vitamin D is super important, too. It absorbs calcium and phosphorus from our diets which lead to healthy bones. And for those of you hugging your Vitamin D capsules right now, yes. You can take supplements and get the vitamin from foods like eggs and salmon, but our bodies create most of it from direct sunlight. But keep in mind, for those of us who take supplements, it’s best not to take more than 25 micrograms of vitamin D a day (nhs.uk).

 

Be safe and thanks for reading! 

Prolonging life continued- illness while dieting

Illnesses while dieting/changing eating habits 

Blood sugar spikes and what they mean (for non-diabetics)

  

Webmd.com image  

So yesterday, I did a bad, bad thing. Sitting at work, I gave in to the boredom munchies and ate some super sugary krispy kreme thingies. Aside from the guilt I later experienced, I woke up around 3am feeling very nauseated and ultimately not right. This morning, I was telling a coworker about it and she asked if I needed sugar. this of course led to us concluding what I had done was shocked my body with my sudden sugar intake and that was why I got sick. Is that it? Well, let’s find out.

  

 Midaswealth.com image

First things first, let’s understand what blood sugar is and what causes a spike in blood sugar: Blood sugar is what you assume it to be; the concentration of glucose in the blood. High-sugar foods like candy, cookies, syrup and soda lack nutritional value, but these low-quality carbs also cause a dramatic spike in blood sugar levels and contribute to weight gain.

 

But if you aren’t diabetic, how bad is it? Does it even happen? Should we be monitoring our blood sugar after each meal?

 

According to everydayhealth.com, a spike in blood sugar after eating is called post-meal hyperglycemia-it’s uncommon and typically not dangerous. For those of us without diabetes, we don’t need to be measuring it per say, but we should be aware of it. The goal is to keep blood sugar steady, not jumping up and down after we eat.

 

When operating normally, the body restores blood sugar levels to a range of 4.4 to 6.1 mmo/L (82 to 110 mg/dL).

  

 Georgetown.spoonuniversity image

I know I’ve seen a lot of health articles saying to really limit your bread and sugar intake to avoid blood sugar spikes, but I never really thought too much about it until I woke up this morning feeling so bad. But what I felt was nausea. Since I’m not diabetic and have never had a blood sugar “episode,” I don’t know what one feels like. So below are a few testimonials (from diabetics) that I found on sixuntilme.com :

 

“It’s a thick feeling in the base of your brain, like someone’s cracked open your head and replaced your gray matter with sticky jam. I find myself zoning out and staring at things, and my eyeballs feel dry and like they’re tethered to my head by frayed ropes instead of optic nerves. Everything is slow and heavy and whipped with heavy cream.” – Oh, High!

 

“There’s something about a high blood sugar that makes my body feel weighted down, like I’m wearing a chain mail suit (not one of those “Forward this or a rabid snail will imbed itself in your ear!” kinds of chain mail – I mean the legit, medieval kind). Or that I’m exercising with weighted boots on. Even when ketones aren’t present (and I always check for them if I’m over 240 and heading to the gym), high blood sugars make slogging through a workout akin to traipsing through waist-high snow drifts. It’s crappy.” – High Flying

 

“A normal day with diabetes doesn’t wring me out, but yesterday did. Concentrating on work was really difficult, because my high-brain was too sluggish and too thick to let synapses fire. Writing was impossible. Sitting at my desk for more than twenty minutes was impossible because I kept having to take breaks to get more water and then to pee. (I went for a run and a mile and a half into it, made the wise decision to turn around. A good idea since, by the time I got back to my car, the need to pee was amazingly all-consuming. Oh hydration!) My whole body felt like it was submerged in Jell-O, and I tried to swim through it for the majority of the morning. Instead of making beds/doing laundry/cleaning dishes/writing/answering emails/phone calls, I wanted to climb into bed and sleep off the blood sugar hangover, but that wasn’t an option. Life doesn’t wait for diabetes.” – Ketchup and Mustard

 

  Sodahead image  

Well clearly I didn’t feel bad because of a sugar issue, but the fact remains that I ate more sugar in one sitting than I have in small doses over the course of about a month. so let’s explore another issue with dieting/changing your eating habits.

 

I feel sick.

 

There’s a good chance it’s happened to you: You started eating better and after a couple weeks your stomach decided to go crazy. What’s up with that? Sometimes, we get really overzealous in our dieting. While our motivation feels like a good thing, if we are trying to eat way less than usual out of the blue, our body gets a little burned out. Eating too few calories can cause side effects like nausea, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue and gallstone formation (healthyeating.sfgate.com).

 

But even if you’re eating well, remember this is a big change for your system. Your brain understands what you’re doing. YOU know that you are eating better/less crappy things because you’ve developed an interest in your health and you want to feel better. Well your insides just know they are having to work differently. If your stomach is used to digesting fast food and ice cream, trying to move roughage and different types of acids found in fruits and veggies is a bit of a shock to your system. Part of the sickness you may experience comes from your body finally evacuating some yucky leftover fast food and ice cream.

  

 Imgbuddy image 

According to Livestrong.com, if your diet increases the amount of fruits, veggies, legumes and whole grains, you may develop an upset stomach from increased gas. Same with more fiber. Suddenly adding healthy levels of this into your diet, you may experience gas, bloating, nausea, cramping and stomach pain. Food additives can do this too-low calorie diet foods have additives and artificial sweeteners. Additives and sweeteners can actually cause allergy-like symptoms which can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramping, hives, asthma, and skin rashes.

 

Though these things may make it seem like being healthy isn’t worth it, stop that! Your body had to adjust to poor food choices, and now it has to adjust to good food choices. Keep it up!

  

 Walls-hq.com image 

Prolonging life continued-what’s with the naysayers?

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What’s with the naysayers? 
 If you are on a similar journey as I am, there’s a good chance you’ve come across some negative Nancy types. This month, I’ve given up meat—not because I suddenly can’t fathom eating food with a face, but because of the body’s struggle to digest them (there’s a blog post up about this if you’re interested!). Anyway, aside from that I’ve just been trying to eat very well and workout regularly.

 

Yes, my dad has cancer. Yes, it’s a big topic in our household. And yes, my “infatuation” with health is largely in response to this. However, it’s also about prevention. Prevention of all sorts of diseases and hopefully cancer. It’s about prolonging. Prolonging this beautiful life I’ve mine that I’m so blessed to have.

 

So why are some people so against it?

  

Chibird.com 

Recently, I was out with a friend and I explained some of the changes I’ve made in my life as far as my eating habits and general health goes. Not only did he not support this, but he said it was “stupid.” I was appalled. His argument was that if you’re going to get cancer, you’re going to get cancer; it doesn’t matter how healthy or unhealthy you are. And of course I asked why I still wouldn’t look out for my body and try to prevent, oh I don’t know…heart attack, diabetes, heart disease, kidney failures, high blood pressure, risk of stroke, etc.

  

Centrak image  

I’ve told a couple people that I personally have a hard time digesting meat and it’s never really hit me that was my problem until I started researching it. And of course, instead of them saying, “hey, good for you! just get plenty of protein and stay happy!” I got, “Well you know you’re SUPPOSED to eat red meat sometimes.”

 Uh…

 Negative. I’m supposed to get the nutrients red meat would provide (if I were an animal tearing into the stomach lining of a carcass…) and I can do that through natural plant proteins, etc.

 But why the negativity?

 One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that some people don’t like to face their own realities. If they know they could be healthier but they aren’t making any moves to accomplish that, they don’t want to be told by other people how healthy they currently are. And please don’t misunderstand me- I’m not telling anyone they need to work on their bodies. But we all should be aware of our HEALTH. Not telling you to weigh less or anything like that ever. No, no, no.

 

Of course some people just don’t want to talk about it. And that’s fair. For me, I can’t be around people who shame their bodies because it’s a trigger for me (hello, post-anorexia), so why shouldn’t others dislike being around health-conscious people? I guess it could easily make someone struggle to enjoy a meal if the person across from them is talking about death by bad food habits :O

 

Regardless, I’m so grateful for people like you; people who read this and like it and reblog! We are all on this journey together to better our insides!

 

P.S. Sorry for my recent absence! Hopefully I’ll be back to daily blogging soon. Things have been crazy making the band’s first studio album, and redesigning our website, not to mention getting chapters to my editor. If you care, you can keep up with me on Instagram @redfablemusic @hplyn and twitter @HPlyn @redfablemusic The new site isn’t nearly done yet, so I’ll post that link later for anyone interested. I’m also redesigning my author site, so I’ll repost that later as well. Thanks so much, y’all!

 

Prolonging life continued – the VS. Edition

Coconut Milk vs. Almond Milk  

  Handsfromtheriver

I’ll be honest, I don’t like milk. If I owned a dairy farm and was milking my own cows, maybe then I wouldn’t be able to get enough of the stuff. But as it stands now, milk freaks me out.

 

I know, I know. I sound ridiculous. But the animal products we consume now-a-days are pumped full or hormones, and I just don’t like ingesting that. What do I love? Almond milk. Coconut Milk. Happy alternatives. But is one better than the other?

 

In the past couple of years, I’ve seen some articles about almond milks claiming we are wasting our money on water with a touch of almond and being told it’s a milk alternative. But is that true? And if so, does it hurt us?

  

Serlewellness.com 

Buying milk at the grocery store can seem a little overwhelming. With options like soy, almond, rice, hemp, coconut and cashew, what the heck are we supposed to pick?

 

With anything we put in our bodies, we need to be conscious of the ingredients. Milk alternatives are no exception. According to USA Today News, all of the many options in the dairy aisle, aside from soy, have less protein than dairy milk. What’s more, coconut milk typically has more saturated fat than even whole dairy milk…AND many of the plant products have added sugars. So the general argument is that milk has only two ingredients, milk and vitamin D, while alternatives have a lot of additives and sugars.

 

Okay, but what if you’re vegan? Plant derived dairy alternatives make a lot more sense than sugary, watery stuff that is meant for calves.

 

So coconut milk is being treated pretty badly: Silk Original Coconut Milk has 5 grams of saturated fat per cup, vs. 4.6 grams for whole milk, 3.1 grams for 2% milk and trace amounts for skim. Meanwhile, almond, cashew and soy milks have no saturated fat. But my immediate question is why we have to freak out about this. Coconut Oil is high in saturated fat, but coconut oil is a good fat necessary to break down the bad fats in our gut. So why is coconut milk shunned?

  Inhabititots.com 

YES, we need to limit saturated fat, but if the only source of it is coming from your dairy alternatives, are you really putting your heart in danger?

 

And as far as sugar is concerned, you can get UNSWEETENED almond milk, UNSWEETENED coconut milk, etc…so in my opinion, currently, the two are tied.

 

Let’s continue.

  

Healthylifetricks.com 

TIME magazine asked Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietitian and manger of wellness nutrition services at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, if almond milk is A-okay, and she said yes. It’s 50% lower in calories than cow’s milk, and it’s not dairy, making it a great choice for vegans and lactose intolerant people. Another dietician, Alicia Romano, says almond milk is no equal for dairy milk, as it’s naturally low in protein. A glass of cow milk or soy milk has 8 grams of protein, while a glass of almond milk has 1. Yes, almonds as a food are super heroes when it comes to protein, but in milk form, you’re mostly getting water. This means the almonds are drained out of the final product. Regardless, if you like the way it tastes and are going for the unsweetened kind, you’re safe.

  

PETA.org 

So what about coconut milk? BBC Good Food.com says coconut milk is great 1-2 times a week, but The British Heart Foundation recommended the use of it for cooking.

 

“Coconuts contain significant amounts of fat, but unlike other nuts, they provide fat that is mostly in the form of medium chain saturated fatty acids—lauric acid. Lauric acid is converted in the body into a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin, an antiviral and antibacterial that destroys a wide variety of disease-causing organisms” (BBCgoodfood.com). I don’t know about y’all, but to me that sounds pretty amazing…

 

However, because of coconut milk’s high content of saturated fatty acids, it should still be consumed in moderation.

 

Livestrong.com adds that it’s one of the rare liquids packing a punch when it comes to fiber, but agreed it should be enjoyed in moderation.

 

So ultimately, stick with soy! I didn’t even realize it would be such a top contender…but almond milk is fine. Though mostly water, it’s still not going to destroy your hard work in the gym. Enjoy coconut milk too, but unsweetened and only up to two times a week.

 

  Google image  

 

Herbalife vs. Ideal Shape shakes

 

I like doing shakes. Not because I’m all about meal replacements, but because it’s easy for me to add my Aloha greens, additional spinach and kale, honey, milk, etc. etc. etc. but still have something in there helping it not taste like a mouth full of vegetables. I usually do Herbalife because it seems to be the one I am most inundated with when it comes to what the people in my life are selling. Recently though, I’ve had a chance to do some research, and the results were a little surprising.

  

Healthylivingsummit 

Comparemealreplacementshakes.com is great because they break down their reviews by grades. Ideal Shape received a B+. Here’s why:

 

Price: A canister is $50, but that equals out to about $1.50 a shake. It contains Slendesta (a supposed hunger blocker extracted from white potatoes) and a decent nutritional label including 2 grams of sugar and 120 calories, 21 vitamins.

 

Herbalife shakes came in with a B from the same reviewer for the following reasons:

Price wise, it isn’t terrible at all. It’s about $30 for 30 servings and you can’t beat that. As far as blocking hunger goes, it isn’t impressive at all (and I will agree with that, personally) mostly because it only has 3 grams of fiber.

 

So with neither of those typically well reviewed shakes (via word of mouth) showing up as very impressive, I decided to see what he gave an A to. I was surprised to see GNC Lean Shake came in with the best review.

  

 Myaccesshealth.com

Cost wise, they are completely affordable. $33 for 16 servings averaging about $2 a shake. Not the best value, but not bad either. It comes in a ton of flavors that don’t taste like vitamins, and it has 13 grams of fiber. THIRTEEN! As far as nutrition goes, it has 180 calories, 9 grams of protein and only 4 grams of sugar.

 

Okay, so that sounds good to me.

 

However, to keep on track with vegan options, check out Phood products!

  

   
 Phood shakes are plant based. There are 20 servings per container and on Amazon the going price is $40. So at $2 a serving, it’s similar to the GNC shakes. In the chocolate caramel flavor, there are 200 calories, 6 grams of fiber, less than a gram of sugar and 18 grams of protein.

 

Comparing Phood and GNC, you could add protein powder to the GNC brand and come out the same as far as that goes, but you’d be over the 200 calorie mark Phood offers. If you’re like me and add flax seed and veggies to your shakes, Phood is also going to save you money there since it already includes peas, artichoke, amaranth, quinoa, flax, kale, cauliflower, etc.

 

In conclusion, I thought I would spend this blog comparing coconut milk to almond milk and only two kinds of shakes and ultimately have decided to try different milk alternatives AND shakes!

 

prolonging life continued – The Miami Heart Institite 3 day diet

The Miami Heart Institute Diet….AKA a big, stinking FRAUD. 

Have you seen this? Chances are high that you or someone you know may have attempted this. It’s a photocopied, sometimes hand written and haphazardly lined “diet” that consists of hotdogs, vanilla ice cream, beets and some cheddar cheese. What?

  

 Day one would provide you with about 870 calories, and the next two wouldn’t be any better.

 

The claim is that you will lose 10 pounds in three days. After that, you eat well for four and then go back to the three day diet and lose 40lbs in the course of a month. I’m not great at math, but that doesn’t seem to make much sense to me?

 

This “diet” popped up out of nowhere a while back and led to an inpouring of calls to the Miami Heart Institute. They were baffled as to what callers were talking about, as they had not put out a $2 by mail diet.

 

The story gets stranger when the same messy page began circulating with the Cleveland Clinic’s header instead of Miami. Both outfits said they did not produce nor did they condone the “diet.”

 

Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. And starving yourself is NEVER the answer! Do your research and feed you body well.