I had fun yesterday, and while I'm waiting for the washer to be done so I can go to bed I thought I'd do another one!
I don't know that I really have one. At least not a secret one. I guess for me the secret would be to be happy. When I'm happy - I eat better, I sleep better, I do more activities. And all of those things help you to be healthy. And for me being happy has a lot to do with my meds as I have been learning over the last few years, but even more so this year. It helps to see the change in me as my meds really starting working the last few weeks. It just gives me hope that I can be a happy, normal person. I wake up planning my day in the morning, instead of just hoping I make it through the day. I know that it's not only the meds too, I have to choose to be happy. Even on Prozac I could still be unhappy about my life. But the meds help me to be able to have a choice! This last week has been great for me. I've gotten so much done and I feel so much better. It's amazing how a clean house can put you in a good mood!
Most of the other things I can think of are very generic.
Exercise - I'm looking forward to Christmas (we're having a Wii Christmas this year! YAY Fit!) and I'm hoping that the rec center has the pool done soon so that we can renew our family membership next year. That was probably the best exercising I'd done in quite a while. We'd go as a whole family and Dean would work out while I was swimming with the girls and then I'd go work out and he'd swim with the girls. And then I got pregnant and the pass expired, then the pool was shut down for remodeling.... But I'm looking forward to starting up again.
Eating healthy - mostly it's just staying away from the fast food for me. So as long as I cook at home we're pretty healthy, although the girls could do with eating more veggies. 2 years ago I started substituting ground turkey for ground beef. And I must say I like it better. Except for meatloaf - I still have to use beef for meatloaf. Not only is the turkey less fatty - it's cheaper!!! By almost $1 a pound at my Wal-Mart.
Keeping up with Doctor visits - especially if you have health issues in your family. The easiest way to prevent a problem is to be proactive. Although I have to say with Mom's health history - I'm not looking forward to the battery of tests I should probably have done....okay really it's just one test (colonoscopy)....and I'm probably not going to follow my advice and put it off for as long as possible!!! But I am proud to say that I went in this year and had some moles tested for cancer - and they were benign!
I feel we're a pretty healthy family. Yes we get the occasional cold, but I very rarely (knock on wood) have to take the girls in to the doctor for sick visits. In fact I don't know that Alexandra has ever had to go in because she was sick. And I think the last time Riley was at the doctors it was 1st grade - and it was to have them test her eyesight because she kept getting headaches. Mostly it's just been well-check visits and one broken arm. I'm also not all over the sanitizer craze. Yes, it's nice every once in a while, but seriously using that stuff like 10 times a day is overkill. And when you kill off viruses and germs they just mutate and come back stronger. Plus I've always felt you need to let your immune system work at least a little bit, so it doesn't forget what it's supposed to be doing.
A Year of Horrible
-
I have debated writing/telling people about this because it's not
completely my story, but then again, it is, because I'm living through it
as the mom. So...
8 years ago
As a nurse I have been exposed to everything over the years from AIDS to herpes zoster. My best advice, and my kids will vouch for this, is simply wash your hands. I hate the hand sanitizer, it seems to me like a poor substitute for washing. I have always been a compulsive hand washer but it works!! That being said my hands do pay the price, but the best lotion in the world is made by L'Occitane in France, it's their shea butter hand cream, works miracles!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the hand sanitizer thing, and I'll even go so far as to include hand washing in that. Sure, it's good to have clean hands, but really? All the stinkin' day long? You have to have germs to fight of germs, right? That's my theory, anyway. Anyway, thanks for the idea on the ground turkey! I'm going to try it and not tell my family (husband, especially, due to his subconscious desire to have a heart attack at the age of 34) and see what we all think or if they even notice. I already do turkey bacon and love it!
ReplyDeleteCort's right about the turkey hamburger. And it actually tastes better in things like spaghetti. And I've been able to digest it better than hamburger; partly the fat content, plus there is something they add to hamburger as a preservative that I don't tolerate well.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea about choosing to be happy is probably the biggest secret to being well.
And I promise not to tell you horror stories about colonoscopies!