Mick's up With Your Day

You've noticed the spiral.



Little by little, time for exercise is squeezed out of your day, until it's non-existent.  Next, your quiet time, set aside for prayer and Scripture, dwindles, too.  You start feeling like there is no time to fully accomplish anything.  Your nutrition suffers, because your meal planning is rushed, and you might even be grabbing drive-through items, just to get by.  Then, you're feeling tired, worn out, and discouraged.

We've all been there.

 Really.  We have.  

If you have enough time to read to this point, take a deep breath, and stop.  Just rest... for a few minutes.

You know what you need to do.

If you truly want to be the most helpful and loving to your family and to yourself, you will do what you know you need to do.

Make a resolution right now.

It might not be January 1st, or the start of any particularly special month or day, but make a resolution.

Decide now that you will figure in a few minutes for prayer and a few minutes for exercise tomorrow.

That might mean setting your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than normal.  That won't kill you.  I promise.

It might also mean switching a couple things around in your morning (or afternoon or evening) routine, but you'll survive that, too.  Trust me.  It didn't hurt me to do it (a time-sensitive person of consistency and schedule), so I'm sure it won't hurt you, even if you're as stubborn as I am.

Here are some ideas for you.

Follow a HIIT, burst, or surge technique, which entails a couple of minutes of intense exercise, several times in a row.  This will only take a very short bit of time out of your day, and will have many added benefits, which you can read about in other Mick's up articles.  Incorporate these sets into your morning routine.

For example, during a 100-Days of Burpees challenge I took on, with a suggestion from a wonderful trainer's Facebook post, I accomplished my goal by breaking down the large number into more do-able spurts, while fixing breakfast for the family each morning.  15 - 25 burpees (depending on the day's number)... then check on breakfast... 15-25 more burpees ... then check breakfast again... 15-25 more burpees... another peek at breakfast... final set of burpees... and breakfast is served!

As the weather gets more pleasant, getting outside is easier.  If you don't think you have time, consider your need to clear your head in the middle of your work day.

If you don't think it's necessary, ask your boss for an opinion.  A good boss, like mine, will tell you to take a break in the middle of your day, in order to keep up your productivity.  It decreases your stress level, and it allows you to take on a new perspective, when you return to your project.  Now, granted, this might mean giving up a few minutes of your lunch hour, but it sure is worth it!  

A recent article by Dr. Ben Lerner talks about balance between work and life.

I am so excited to hear friends around me talk about how they are fitting exercise into their days:  lunch time walks around the block; measuring how many times around the building equals one mile; at home after work, walking off the stress of the day; getting involved in a "biggest loser" contest at the gym; working extra time one day of the week, in order to take off early on another day that offers a special fitness class; and on and on it goes.

Even my high-school age son knows this.  He has been known to take a quick jog around the neighborhood to wake himself up before delving into his homework... or to relieve stress of the week, when he gets home on a Friday.  (That makes a mom proud!)

Just the other day, my son and I had a fun, impromptu "date" that included a sort of exercise:  We were talking about silly dances, and in his curiosity, while I was mentioning line dances, he pulled up the Cha Cha Slide (after we realized how OLD the Electric Slide is... ha ha!  That one is from MY day!).

Think about it.

We can make it work, if we really want to.

"Do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

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A Mick’s up with Aha!

Have you ever read something that you have come away from saying, “Aha!  So THAT’s why!”?  That just happened to me today.  I’m so glad a friend shared on his Facebook a link to the article How to Starve Cancer Out of Your Body - Avoid These Top 4 Cancer-Feeding Foods.

As I read through the article, I had several “Aha!” moments.  Now I can better explain why we do what we do to be a healthier family, as well as why I believe what I believe about doing or not doing certain things for the sake of avoiding cancer and other serious diseases.

As I mentioned in It's a Mick's up With Cancer Information, I don’t like the idea of women getting mammograms.  Focusing on breast cancer, the article I read today gives some good reasoning behind that, as well as some alternatives.  Dr. Horner states, “Everything has its pros and cons… [M]ammography produces radiation, which has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.  It's like, ‘Why are you doing the test to look at a disease when it's actually causing the disease, too?’”

When I read, “Vitamin D cuts your (cancer) risks in half.  Turmeric and anti-inflammatories cut your risk in half,” I thought to myself, “Aha!  I’m so glad my family and I are keeping up with taking our Vitamin D3 and our EFA (Omega)!  I can hope that this means our kidderz won’t have to watch us suffer from cancer, nor experience suffering themselves,” especially when reading, “Healthy fats of particular importance for cancer prevention are omega-3 and omega-9.  According to Dr. Horner, omega-3 in particular serve to effectively slow down tumor growth in estrogen-sensitive cancers such as breast-, prostate- and colon cancers.”  Aha!  Yes, again, aha!  Our major avoidance of bad fats is rationalized!  Woohoo!  We really ARE reading these labels for a good reason.

The next “aha!” was regarding grass-fed meat.  Why am I so picky about my family eating the right kind of meats?  Some days I get doubting this myself, and I start asking that question.  Articles, such as this, put it in perspective again.  We get inflammation issues and cancer risks with the wrong meat.  Meats from confined animal feeding operations (CAFO's) “are given antibiotics, growth hormones and other veterinary drugs that get stored in their tissues.  Additionally, cooking the meat over high heat creates heterocyclic amines, which further add to its carcinogenic effect.” 

Then, if I get thinking about what hormones in foods are doing to children in regard to way-too-early development, I wonder, “So, what is the bad result of this, other than being abnormal and frustrating?”  Articles like this help to answer this and other questions:  Bodies end up getting more “estradiol, which is the strongest, most abundant form of estrogen, and the one that's most associated with breast cancer.”  Plus: “cells become really sensitive to environmental toxins, radiation, and so forth.  They're considered immature.  They haven't differentiated– as a more scientific term for it– so there's a longer period of time that they're exposed to these toxins where they have a greater sensitivity.”  Whether or not it makes sense or can be easily understood, all I know for sure is that I want to give my kidderz the best chance of living with healthy cells and bodies to fight off any risk of cancer.  It’s not fair to do otherwise. Is it? If you have the knowledge, but choose to ignore it and continue to put your loved ones in danger, is that really love?

With that in mind, let’s talk sugar.  Since the start of our “no sugar” kick, I get extremely excited to see or hear someone else with the same opinion about sugar and other inflammatories.  Dr. Horner refers to them as “cancer-promoters” and explains that this includes ALL forms of sugar, including fructose and grains.  “To me, sugar has no redeeming value at all, because they found that the more we consume it, the more we're fuelling every single chronic disease,” Dr. Horner says. 

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?  Cut out the sugars!!

Dr. Horner continues, “In fact, there was a study done about a year ago… and the conclusion was that sugar is a universal mechanism for chronic disease.  It kicks up inflammation.  It kicks up oxygen free radicals.  Those are the two main processes we see that underlie any single chronic disorder, including cancers.  It fuels the growth of breast cancers, because glucose is cancer's favorite food.  The more you consume, the faster it grows.” Enough said?!

So, what is good to eat? 

Do you have a sister, dad, husband, kidderz (or even yourself) who do not like to eat “rabbit food?”  Are you needing some “ammo” to convince them of the importance of eating greens?  Well, here’s an “aha!” for you.  Dr. Horner describes plants by saying, “some of them behave exactly like chemotherapy.  Every plant has some anti-cancer properties to them. There are some that are standouts.  Cruciferous vegetables are something that I really recommend.  They're a family of vegetables that include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts… All of them have several different chemicals in common.  They've got indole-3-carbinol, Calcium D-glucarate, and sulforaphane.  They have big anti-cancer properties to them, and they inhibit the growth of breast, prostate, colon cancer and a variety of other ones.  Of all the families of vegetables to consume, [cruciferous vegetables] are the ones to be aware of, so you can make sure you're including that in your diet frequently.”

I use flax seed at times, but never seem to remember why.  Dr. Horner helps by saying, “The lignans in flax seed inhibit the growth of cancer in about a dozen different ways, including the exact same mechanism as the anti-cancer drug Tamoxifen and Arimidex, which shut down an enzyme in fat cells called aromatase that converts androgens into estrogens.” Aha!  We’ll be adding more flax seed to our recipes, for sure!

My husband tries to get proper sleep, but when he slips up, I try to explain to him how important it is.  Dr. Horner does a much better job at it:  “If we, for instance, go to bed by 10, we have higher levels of our sleep hormone melatonin; there's a spike that occurs between midnight and 1am, which you don't want to miss because the consequences are absolutely spectacular.  Melatonin is not only our sleep hormone, but it also is a very powerful antioxidant.  It decreases the amount of estrogen our body produces.  It also boosts your immune system… And it interacts with the other hormones.  So, if you go to bed after 10… it significantly increases your risk of breast cancer.”  Aha!  (Well, I like to think it doesn’t stop at breast cancer.)  Any cancer in general is a good enough reason, not to mention all the other benefits… but definitely assisting the immune system is something we all need.

Moving on to things other than food, we’ll look at stress.  We cannot stop traumatic events from happening in life, but it is interesting and insightful to read that when you experience stress like that, “your risk of breast cancer is 12 times higher in the ensuing five years.”  That’s more like an “ugh!” than an “aha!”

The final “aha!” is exercise.  It has some good defense, too! “One of the primary ways exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels, which creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells.  Additionally, exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood.  Your immune system is your first line of defense against everything from minor illnesses like a cold right up to devastating, life-threatening diseases like cancer.”

So, just like it’s nice to know why you’re right in telling your kidderz to wear a helmet when they ride their bikes, it’s nice to know why you’re right in creating healthier habits.  Go with your gut!  You know healthier is better. 

I’ll leave you with an even better “aha!” than all the above “ahas!” combined:

Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you.

Jeremiah 32:17

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Do You Have a Mick’s up with Sugar Addiction

When our family began living our new lifestyle of health and wellness one year ago, I knew I’d be the one with the most difficulty.  That surprised my husband, who we always teased as being the big sugar fiend.  However, I knew cutting out sugar all together would not be easy for me.

Why did I think it would be so difficult for me?  Being the person in charge of grocery shopping and kitchen organization, I can easily hide things from the rest of the family.  They don’t have to know when I’m eating something sugary.  I know what’s best, and I love them and want the best for them, so I guide them in doing the right thing… but if my craving gets too bad, I can sneak a treat.

The crazy thing is: it’s not such a treat. 

Have you ever noticed that?  You really, really want that sugar, and so you convince yourself you can have it and it’ll be awesome… but after the fact, you wish you hadn’t done it, and you wonder why you thought you couldn’t live without it.

Through posts from glutenologist Dr. Osborne, I ran across some links today that I hope will be very helpful to those of you who struggle with sugar addiction.  You aren’t sure?  Take a test for Self Diagnosis Quiz - Sugar Addiction?!!

If you have decided it’s time to do something about it, CONGRATULATIONS!  Actually taking a step toward breaking that addiction puts you in a rare category.

“One of the most important things about breaking a sugar addiction is learning how to think differently about sugar and how you resist temptation in your life.  Because if you get off sugar but don’t know how to stay off it, that is something that can be very frustrating.” (Samantha Taylor - Sugar Addiction Specialist)

So, how did we do it?  How did we cut our sugar addictions?  We had to be extreme.

All sugar and grains were eliminated from the house… and no longer purchased.  We no longer consumed sugar of any kind.  I was very strict about this for the first 30 days, because we wanted to set a solid foundation for our new lifestyle.  I personally felt it would be foolish for us to ease into it, because we would be wasting money on some things that go totally against our goal, while we also spent lots of money on other things that took us in the direction of our goal.  I would not allow that contradiction in the house… nor in the budget.  (If you follow Dave Ramsey’s advice to pay for groceries with cash and the guidelines of a budget, you find yourself less likely to spend it on indulgences, thus helping in dropping that sugar habit.)  Another reason I had us go “whole hog” into the new lifestyle of no sugar is that I know if I don’t make myself do it like that, I’ll never do it.  If the temptation is nearby, I don’t have the willpower to say, “No!”

After a while, of course, the family started wondering if they’d ever taste anything sweet again.  That’s when I started getting wise to the healthier sweeteners and what recipes are out there to assist in healthy eating.  Plus, we have learned to plan ahead, so we can splurge on sugar once in a while.  We have to remember to use some constraints, or else we’re tempted to go overboard.

It is a matter of the mind.  Do what it takes to make yourself stop eating sugar, even if it’s checking into Sugar Addiction Solution.  Getting off sugar is worth it in the long run.  I can’t even express to you how much it is worth it!

Don’t let yourself believe you’re too weak to succeed.  You can do it!

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)

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Mick’s in the Sweets

2007: Before a Healthy Lifestyle

What kind of a romantic am I, forgetting Sweetest Day on the 15th?  I even bought a nice card for my hubby early… but did I remember to give it to him?  Nope!  I guess that clarifies that I am not much of a romantic.  It only makes sense, since Jay is the true all-out romantic of the two of us.  Sorry, Hon.  I will be giving you the card now!  Sweetest Day was a little delayed this year.

It is said, Sweetest Day was organized by candy manufacturers to promote the health benefits of eating candy and chocolate every day.  Ummmm…. Well….  Let’s see what we can find, but I’m a bit skeptical, since they include sugar, and I’ve already covered some of the reasons sugar is not a good thing.

I found some great information quickly at “What You Can Do With Nutrition To Prevent Breast Cancer” in which Kimberly Roberto states:  Cacao is a “raw form of chocolate… rich in Flavanols (powerful antioxidants) which are highly absorbable by the body.  Cacao has a phenomenal ORAC score of over 433,000.  CAUTION: Don’t get too excited and load up on chocolate bars.  This is not a free pass at the dessert counter either.  Most chocolate is loaded with other additions like milk products and sugar.  Stick with raw cacao powder – add it to smoothies, yogurt, or mix with avocado and stevia for a mousse-like dessert.”

You can learn about some “healthy” chocolate and then order it through Beyond Organic.

Here might be a good spot to quote a great doctor I know, “The overall quality of your health is determined by the quality of your habits.”

Tell me something.  What can you do to maximize your nutrition this week?  Do you have some bad habits to break, or maybe some good habits to start?  Give it some thought, and then have fun improving!

“You've captured my heart, dear friend.
You looked at me, and I fell in love.
One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!”

Song of Solomon 4:8 (The Message)

 

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