Self care is where it's at no matter what age, sex, race, or religion. We canNOT take care of other people or responsibilities to our highest potential without SELF CARE. Having troubling loving yourself? This will be your guide on how to get back in your own good graces. As always....stay tuned.

Hearty Winter Meals

There will be recipes added to this until they can't be added...stay tuned!

How to Survive a Mid-West Winter!

Winters are hard and they can devastate our minds and bodies. I want to share some of the tips and tricks I have found on my journey to wellness. I am from the Mid-West and have an arsenal of activities and recipes that will heal what ails you. This includes a list of must have products as well as indoor activities and exercises, to help keep the winter blues and flus away! So check in and jot down a recipe or use a recommendation and make the winter easier this year!

Does your mental health need first aid?

Mine did! I was certainly unaware of the role that my mental health played on my physical well being. Yes of course, I knew the basics. Essentially, if you get depressed then your sleep patterns can change as well as eating habits. There is so much more to it than that. I hit a bout of depression some years back. I was completely unknowing that I was depressed. My depression came on differently then it had in the past. I gradually started to get less and less sleep and that snowballed into my appetite disappearing. Those things eventually led to the destructive behavior of just living off coffee for about 6 months. Besides basically becoming an undiagnosed anorexic, I had a slew of issues that kept multiplying until I finally got the mental health I so desperately needed. My nails and hair were brittle and falling apart, my skin was painfully dry and in the thick of it all I had a terrible bout of colitis that made me think I was dying for a moment. Of course, my mental state was only getting worse but at a much more rapid pace during this time. I became paranoid and angry and there was no way you could convince me that I was doing this to myself. I'm not sure how other folks do it but I truly believe that you have to have a proper support group in order for true healing to begin.......I want to hear what you do in order to keep your mental health in tip top condition!

There is something to doing it right the first time...

Hindsight is 20/20 and since we can't live under the shoulda, coulda, woulda rule it really is beneficial to do things "right" the first time. I definitely have moments, like when I am getting prepped for an endoscopy, where I realize the wisdom of being disciplined in ALL aspects of life. That's the trick though, isn't it? Doing things right in the first place usually requires more time and effort. As you may know, those ingredients are usually lacking at the beginning of our adult life.

Now I have to pay the price for my lack of will power to adhere to a healthy lifestyle regimen. You might say to yourself....now that you are armed with knowledge...CHANGE. Unfortunately, that really is easier said then done. Yes, I am changing habits everyday but I am also fighting myself everyday as well. 20 years of bad habitual behavior has (at least for me) turned them all into addictions. Sugar, caffeine, and self berating are just some of the ties that I am trying to cut away. I came to the realization that I use so many of these as coping mechanisms.....which, DING, DING, DING,....you guessed it....is super UNHEALTHY!!!

I recently quit smoking and I learned some hard lessons about myself. First being, I have no ways to deal with anxiety that wouldn't be considered a vice! So now I took the road less traveled and I get why it doesn't see as much traffic. It was a lot to quit an addiction while simultaneously trying to find ways to quell stress. I suppose my point is, that I could of avoided all of this damage and addiction if I had just created the proper habits in the first place. Now I making efforts to clean up a mess that was more then escapable!

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Don't get too jazzed up by the title because this post has nothing to do with religion. It is, however, the most perfect saying for how I went about taking care of my health over the last few decades. For example, if I had a headache then I would take ibuprofen and eventually this would alleviate my pain. The issue with that is I would need to take anywhere from a 800 to 1600 milligram dosage and then that would cause residual headaches, which would...you guessed it... cause me to take more ibuprofen.

Years of this regimen has reeked total havoc on my liver, stomach, and who knows what else. Same with how I handled my reflux and any other medical malady that came my way... the fastest way to rid myself of these inconveniences but never actually deal with what was causing them. This would probably be a fine way to deal with things if it didn't cause more problems then it helps.

It's always been that way in my world...said remedy makes me feel better...therefore, I have zero time to actually find the cause of the issue in the first place. I feel that this is how a lot of people handle their health. We say things...I can live like this, no biggie....or...I'll make time later. The problem with a mindset like this is that later never gets here. Sure you might be able to live like this now but what other destruction is happening...and will it be worse then what you are going through now?!

In the beginning there was...HEARTBURN!

Growing up, I would eat whatever I pleased and I vividly remember my dad saying "enjoy it while it lasts!" These kind of comments would usually get an exaggerated eye roll from me and an "I'm invincible" attitude. I really did think that I would have my stomach of steel forever....how naive! I said goodbye to my ironclad abdomen when I said hello to creating life.

The heartburn started immediately but this wasn't your average run of the mill acid. Nay! Nay! This was the room is spinning with liquid hellfire up the esophagus type of chaos. The only thing that would make the world stop spinning was a violent exodus from within and that damages the throat pretty quickly. Initially, I chalked this up to pregnancy and considered it normal. Of course, after my son was born my symptoms did NOT cease (duh).

So all this hubbub lead me to actually pay attention to what was triggering these violent responses. I discovered that combining grease and then laying down was a sure fire way to have a second look at what I ate that night. This taught me that I had a window where I needed to stay upright and then I could still indulge in all my deep fried delights. As I got older though, the length of time needed to stay upright doubled and the number of food triggers seemed to triple itself at an alarming rate.

Needless to say I ended up having to find a medication that would alleviate those throat bleeding moments. Unfortunately, that lead me down the bittersweet path of ranitidine. I finally found a medication that sincerely saved my insides from a crazy amount of damage just to have it yanked off the shelves due to carcinogens. SIDE RANT: They pulled this product immediately due to the cancer causing ingredients...that is AWESOME!...Can someone explain the logic behind the continued sales of cigarettes?

That is where I will end for this session...right back at square one.

Roadmap to Wellness

I have recently learned that becoming "well" is so much more than eating right and exercising. Honestly, it is different for everyone. I also have definitely thought to myself...."you are the only one who has let yourself get to this point!" In reality though, I'm not. So with all that being said, my thought process is to share my journey that includes EVERYTHING. What I tried that works and doesn't work for me, along with all of my thoughts and feelings on the process....negative or positive. Not every tactic works for everyone, which is why I think it is so important to share our experiences. Come along with me as I shed bad habits and vent about it along the way!