The Post- Holiday Season typically presents challenges to both our physical and emotional health. Whether it’s the rush of it all, overextending ourselves physically, Seasonal Affective Disorder from the short days, dealing with difficult relationships, financial stress, inclement weather, or a host of other issues, it can be a tough time.
I’m not an authority on this subject, but I have observed a number of things that can help keep you physically and emotionally healthy through this winter season.
PHYSICAL HEALTH CHALLENGES
There’s are fewer daylight and your skin is almost totally covered with clothing such that your natural vitamin D production is almost nil. Those short days also lend themselves to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which can not only depress your immune system, but also affect you emotionally. Your home and workplace is shut up against the cold, so you have a lack of fresh air and a greater exposure to disease-causing microorganisms. That closed environment also makes it easier for you to get infections from those around you.
Colder temperatures are also more stressful on your body, requiring greater adaptation to stay healthy. So what can you do:
1. Be sure to take at least 5000 i.u.’s of Vitamin D-3 daily — you may need 10,000, especially if you live in a non-sunny climate. 2. Get some fresh air in your home, even if that’s just opening some windows for a few minutes or leaving a window cracked in your bedroom at night. 3. If you are particularly bothered by the short days, consider getting one of the specially designed full-spectrum lights and expose yourself to it in the early morning and late afternoon. 4. Take other immune system stimulating supplements, such as L-Lysine, echinacea, IP6, etc.
I personally take Peak Performance Packs year round to help keep my siystem at optimal health. What do you take or do for the winter?
I love my shopping club but did you know the number one question I get asked is if my Shopping Club’s products are more expensive or cost more? May answer is always NOPE.
The dish soap is less than $4. The laundry detergent costs far less than Tide, and my other household cleaners that compete with 409, Windex and the like, are less than $1 per bottle and smell like botanical flowers
As fo supplements, not only are the good, they are competitively priced. For example: Vitamin D3 is $7.49 for 120 tablets. I consider that a score!
The company offers each new customer the “new customer cleaning pack”. This box of cleaning supplies costs less than $100 and comes with 30 different products , from windows cleaners to floor cleansers and bathroom cleaners to your laundry detergent. This box alone means 64 loads of laundry can be done at a cost of 18¢ per load. That’s some savings!
I’ve yet to find a single product in m nearly 20 years of being a customer that costs more than what I was paying before I switched stores.
This shopping club has: • Close to 500 products to choose from • Walmart like pricing • Whole Foods quality. • All products are eco-friendly and safe • No price gouging. • No lines. • No leaving the house. • No one has ever been harmed by these products in the company’s 35 years in business • Products are so SAFE that Childproof caps NOT REQUIRED (that’s benefit for those with small children)
The best part? EVERYTHING is delivered to my front door and I get free products every month I shop. Switching stores 20 years ago has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for me and my family.
My R3 journey started around 2017. I wanted to lose weight feel and better about myself. You see, I wasn’t always overweight or obese, I was always fit in spite of my asthma. To keep my lungs healthy, I worked out several days a week lifting weights. I did aerobics two to three times a week. I swam. I biked with the bike club two “short” rides and one long ride every week. I also rode my bike to work 19 miles each way practically every day. I was active and had a great social life.
Then, I gained a little weight, not much at first. After a major asthma attack which landed me in the ICU for several weeks, I gained “prednisone weight” about 20 pounds. I still participated in the Dublin Marathon three weeks after getting out of hospital. I was so full of Prednisone weight, I walked the marathon. (It took five and a half hours.)
Shortoly afterward i participated in an asthma drug study. During that study, I gained 70 pounds.
I had become fat. Not only that friends treated me differently as though I lacked will power or I was lazy. I wasn’t, but…
Around this time my dad went into a nursing home. My mother did not drive, so I became her driver and patient advocate for dad while working 60-hour work weeks and volunteering for local charities. Although I was busy and on my feet all day and water running three days a week, I remained heavy.
At my heaviest, I was 250 pounds and often the heaviest person in the room. I hated it.
At this point, my dad passed, I was now my mothers caregiver. Because of my weight, my doctor suggested human growth hormone injections to see if I could lose weight. His program started out promising, and combined with early morning workouts with a personal trainer, I lost 13 pounds in the first two weeks, but nothing after that. After 3 months we gave up. It wasn’t working for me.
That brings me to that first R3 Challenge around 2017. I took the before picture and submitted it. I didn’t do all that well, but I did lose maybe 10 pounds When comparing the after picture with my before picture you could tell my clothing definitely ldid not look or fit the same. The same clothing is in both photos. If you look closely you’ll see my left arm is in the pants. Most of my work colleagues and friends thought I lost a lot of weight but I hadn’t. I’d lost inches. A Non-Scale Victory (NSV).
I semi-participated in other challenges after that, but never really finished them. My schedule was terrible, I was taking care of everyone and everything but myself. But I finally was j200 pounds thanks to swimming and rowing three times a week. It was progress.
In 2021 my mother passed away and I decided I needed to make life changes. I changed jobs. I put my house on the market. I took a trip to South Carolina to check out the housing market.
2022 arrived. For me, 2022 will forever be “Year of the Shoulder”. The year began with a good purchase offer on my home on January 6. That same day, while at work, I tripped over a case of wine, fell and broke my right shoulder (my dominant hand). My house was closing on January 25. I had 20 days to pack, find a new home and move—all with a freshly broken shoulder. I ended up purchasing a brand new house sight-unseen in Florida with a closing date of January 26 — a day after my New Jersey closing. I was lucky as I was also able to find a good mover to match my timeline. It was a very painful move but i made the 16-hour drive with my mother’s dog.
Once arriving in Florida, it was time to regroup. I found I moved to a new development in a town I had never heard of, but it was now home. Rain was coming down in buckets. I was wondering if I did the right thing. The pain prevented a lot of unpacking (It took nearly a year to find all of my silverware).
Being on Worker’s Comp, I needed to find an orthopedic doctor in Florida who would accept the Worker’s Comp insurance to care for the shoulder. I finally got an appointment for an orthopedist on April 28. I weighed in at his office at 213.
I wasn’t happy. I went on a girls’ trip vacation the following month at nearly 250 and wearing a sling. I was once again the fattest person in the room. I was sick and tired of being overweight, unhappy and in pain. I had to do something.
When I saw the Challenge beginning June 6 – the same day I started Physical therapy — I joined. I figured I couldn’t work and unpacking the garage was still a tedious, painful, one-armed process. I couldn’t even find my scale in the garage, I had to buy a new one! Nor did I have a mirror (It was somewhere in a box in the garage). What could I lose? Weight!
I started the challenge with no expectations at all. Some days were good, some weren’t. My physical therapy lasted the entire length of the challenge. I was in constant pain. When the challenge ended, I was down 25 pounds! I was surprised I lost the weight, since I wasn’t the best at sticking to the plan 100 percent.
The best part, I continued to lose weight (another 15 pounds) after the challenge just by following the Real Life part of R3.
In August, after an 18-month wait, I flew to Washington, DC and Arlington National Cemetery to bury my mother. The flight home was an adventure. After multiple delays and a layover, I arrived at my destination airport, and I woke up two days later in a hospital ICU. Apparently, stress and the pain medication caused a cascade effect resulting in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). I also had never been a diabetic prior to this event, I have no memory of being in an ambulance, in an ER or let alone in an MRI, but I was.
When I was released, to go home —my day trip to DC had turned into a week. I had gained 11 pounds (they said water weight from IVs). It took three weeks to lose the water weight. I followed R3’s Real Life phase. The good news was the endocrinologist approved the R3 plan and liked the idea of my eating five to six times a day to keep my metabolism balanced. By September, my blood numbers were back to normal and I was taken off nearly all of the medications that came home with me from the hospital.
October came and I was down a total of 53 pounds. I decided not to do the Fall R3 challenge. I had a surgical date for a total reverse shoulder replacement on November 16—I didn’t want hospital food ruining my challenge!
Knowing I would be incapacitated for six weeks, I cooked R3-friendly meals—enough for 42 days and froze them tor my recovery meals. By the time of my surgery, I had lost an additional 14 pounds. This time, at the orthopedic office, I weighed in at 146 pounds! I was fully dressed and still in my shoes!
Of course, after surgery, I swelled up and gained 30 pounds! I left the hospital weighing 176 pounds, It took a month to shed those 30 pounds of water weight. Again, I did it by following my R3 Real Life phase.
On December 31, I was 145 pounds.
I’m happy about the weight loss, especially since I wasn’t allowed any workouts other than walking my chihuahua. I admit I feel better about myself now that i’m closer to my ideal weight. My shoulder still needs to finish healing, before I can go back to swimming, water running and rowing, to stay fit, but I’ll get there with R3. I want to lose the last 15-20 pounds for my ideal weight.
R3 is really a lifestyle for me and I know I’ll never go back to being that overweight again.
You may be wondering why I’m posting photos of these boxes? Well,it was 19 years ago that I decided to take a leap of faith for my health and my finances. These brown boxes arrive at my door every month. These boxes remind me that help others and in the process transform my own life. It also reminds me that II made the right decision. Love the products & Love the Company
Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
Feeling tired in the afternoon? Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.
Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!
Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!
Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.
Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.
Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.
Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your taps, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back theshine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!
With my allergies and sensitive skin, there were always issues with laundry detergents and my clothing. Brand new clothing would itch and cause rashes, so it had to be washed before wearing. Of course, depending on the detergent used, washing would often not remove the issue. Some of those detergents caused additional rashes, leaving me no better off than I was before.
Just walking down the detergent and soap aisle and inhaling the varied scented soaps and powders was enough to set off an asthma attack. Naturally, I avoided the aisle as much as possible so I wouldn’t have sneezing and coughing fits, On one trip to restock, I discovered a phosphate-free detergent, which helped some, but there were other ingredients that still caused my skin to react with rashes and welts. It was a constant problem.
Then I found my wellness shopping club and their laundry detergent. Wow! It was a game changer! For the first time ever I had no rashes, no allergic reactions to the smell and my clothes were clean! The best part, it came in liquid form and you only need to use a small amount to get your clothes clean becausebecause it’s powered by a proprietary formula with three stain-busting natural enzymes. In fact, a 32-ounce. bottle could wash 96 loads! So, in the long run, it was also a savings.
How can this product work so well? Well, the proprietary formula’s enzymes powerfully yet gently lift stains and encapsulate them to prevent those stains from redepositing on my clothing. National brands use brute force that destroys fabric in the process!
The small amount needed is actually two tiny teaspoons. Yes, two teaspoons can clean an entire load of laundry. You’d need more than a quarter cup of the most popular National brand to do the same job! For me, that makes it a great value.
This product is the most concentrated liquid laundry detergent on the market. That means it produces significantly less plastic waste and fewer greenhouse gases than competitive products. The natural ingredients and enzymes are great for the environment as well.
I’ll never use another brand of laundry detergent again.
Cinnamon isn’t just for the kitchen. Here are some great uses for cinnamon in your garden.
Deter ants Cinnamon will actually kill ants. The powdery substance will suffocate the bugs when inhaled. The aroma can also make it hard for ants to smell food sources, but it’s nontoxic for kids and pets. Win, win!
Defeat fungus When you sprinkle ground cinnamon on soil, it kills fungi. The cinnamon targets surface-level fungi, so you might need to use other solutions in addition to this one. You can use cinnamon to kill wild mushrooms too
Protect seedlings from disease The antifungal properties in cinnamon make it a great tool for protecting seedlings from rot and disease, also known as damping off. Keeping moisture at bay is key; dusting the seeds with cinnamon and using a doming tactic can protect the seeds until they grow.
Root and graft plants You can make your roses (or other plants) sturdier after cutting and replanting by first dipping them in cinnamon powder, which works like a rooting hormone, a bit. The cinnamon kills off the competition, so to speak, so that your flower can grow better
Heal sick plants Try sprinkling cinnamon on a plant wound (from cutting or other damage) to speed up the healing process and protect it from further damage or disease.
Keep mosquitoes away from the garden Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon around your plants to keep mosquitoes and other bugs away. They don’t like the strong smell of cinnamon, so you can enjoy your garden (even at night) in peace. Alternatively, you can plant a teabag.
As a member of the Wellness Company shopping club, I’m proud of their decades-long stance against the use of toxic ingredients! These products never use:
Chlorine
Bleach
Ammonia
Formaldehyde
Phthalates or
Parabens
The above chemicals can damage your lung capacity and disrupt hormones, and yet they’re still found in many national brand products. Each ingredient in these EcoSense cleaners has been carefully selected to give you the best cleaning performance without putting your family at risk.
As for me, I absolutely love this cleaner. It’s safe for my granite counters, safe to rinse off fruit and veggies, and safe around the dog.
Hayseeds Creative 