Please check out my YouTube review of the new EatSmart Digital Kitchen Scale! Its sleek and slim design is also lightweight and portable, and the large digital readout is very easy to see.
Category Preventative Health
The Fifty-Something Zone
Today I transition from being a 50 year old to being a 50-something. It’s such a strange reality for me to move past the half-century mark, despite the fact that my joints ache more, my skin is losing its firmness, and rogue gray hairs threaten to disrupt the mass of dark brown hair on my head. My mind and spirit are stuck in an early 30’s zone, so I am constantly in a strange disconnect between how I feel mentally and where my body is chronologically.
Since my 50th birthday last July, I have received promotional mail from AARP and Forest Lawn Mortuary, which is extremely disconcerting. In valiant protest, I have increased my involvement in aerial arts, dabbled in other pursuits like fencing, and have maintained a 5 to 6 day weightlifting schedule each week.
To be honest, turning 50 caused me to fret a bit about my overall health, so I decided to obtain a full medical workup, including bloodwork, MRI’s of my injured left shoulder and neck, a mammogram and colonoscopy.
These were the results:
- Bloodwork results were completely normal, and as always, my HDL was over 70 and my LDL was under 100.
- MRI of my left shoulder revealed moderate bursitis, widespread inflammation, severe biceps tendinitis, and widespread tendinopathy. The good news is that my shoulder issues don’t warrant surgical intervention.
- MRI of my cervical spine revealed dessication of multiple intervertebral discs and osteophytes at multiple levels. Basically, my neck reveals that I am a dried up old bitch.
- Screening mammogram revealed a suspicious 5mm mass on my right breast, which was further evaluated with more views. It turned out to be a small cyst.
- The colonoscopy prep was definitely not enjoyable, but my days of water loading for contests made drinking the vile electolyte prep solution (bastards gave me the unflavored version…blech) a bit more tolerable. Aside from a small polyp, my colonoscopy was unremarkable.
Evidently, my body is doing a pretty good job of fending off aging. With a clean bill of health, I will continue to engage in my physical pursuits, eat clean food, meditate daily, and be thankful.
Family Size Hot Logic Video Review
Disclosure: I am a brand ambassador for Hot Logic, but I am not paid to put video reviews together. This is my unbiased review of the new Family Size Hot Logic. I truly do use the Hot Logic products and honestly think they are amazing.
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When “Nice” Just Covers Up True Meanness
Have you ever known someone who could throw on the charm when the need arose, while the rest of the time, the person had a strong tendency to behave as though he or she hated the entire world? Did this person’s behavior weave between the two extremes of sweet and mean? Were you at the receiving end of this bizarre pattern?
Psychopaths manufacture a bizarre cycle of alternating meanness and sweetness as a safeguard against you seeing their true colors and leaving them. The meanness can surface through an insult, a threat or a verbal attack. The next day, the psychopath will act as if the verbal assault never occurred, and a pattern of attack and sweep-under-the-rug ensues. All the partner wants is for the psychopath to be NICE, but this is impossible for the psychopath to maintain, because his inner self is mean and nasty.
When you are at the receiving end of a “mean attack” as I like to call it, you’ll think to yourself, “Wow, this person acts like he/she hates me.” That’s because, deep down, the psychopath DOES hate you. The sweetness is just an act to keep you engaged enough so you don’t see the person’s true colors and are kept guessing.
It’s FUN for them to upset you, to get a rise out of you. They won’t think twice about saying hurtful things to you, because they lack what you have: a conscience.
One unfortunate thing about psychopaths is that they are forever locked into their sweet to mean patterns because their personality traits are indelible parts of their personalities. What’s worse, they fail to recognize how broken they truly are. Their tempers are wicked, but they will never acknowledge their outbursts. Instead, they will push you into crazytown by egging you on until you finally explode. Why? So they can blame you for the shit they started in the first place.
If you find yourself entangled in the cycle of sweet and mean with someone, do yourself a favor and end the relationship. It will save your self-esteem.
Gallon Gear Review On YouTube
Please check out my video review of Gallon Gear fitness hydration covers. Stay hydrated, my friends!
What’s The Difference Between Cocoa and Cacao?
Copyright: andriigorulko / 123RF Stock Photo
Some of you might believe that cocoa and cacao are the same thing, but that’s definitely not the case. Here’s the deal: if your chocolate bar is made with cacao, you’re about to dive into a true antioxidant-rich superfood. However, if it’s made with cocoa, you’re not getting nearly the amount of health benefits you would with the cacao-derived treat.
The big difference lies in the processing of the cacao bean. If the bean is high-heat roasted, then you have cocoa, NOT cacao. Cacao is never roasted, but kept in its raw state, then cold-pressed to extract its healthy goodness and preserve its nutrients. In addition, the intense dark brown color of cacao is quite distinctive from its much lighter cousin, cocoa.
Another reason why cocoa-based products get a poor nutritional score is because the big chocolate manufacturers throw in substances like soy lecithin, high fructose corn syrup, and vegetable oil. Candy bars are notorious for this, and as a result they should be avoided like the plague. Your best bet is dark chocolate, because it has a high cacao content. The higher the cacao percentage, the healthier it is. Make sure you look for CACAO and not cocoa on the wrapper!
Flossing
Copyright: luckybusiness / 123RF Stock Photo
No, I’m not talking about the urban meaning, i.e., showing off. I’m talking about flossing your pearly whites.
I’m willing to bet that many of you neglect to perform this important task on a regular basis. I am not lying when I tell you that I floss NIGHTLY, and have been doing so for the last two years. Yes, that’s right, not for the last several decades like you might have thought. I got lazy, as many people do, and my gum health suffered as a result. So when my dentist implored me to floss regularly during one visit in June of 2015, I actually heeded his advice and forced myself to re-learn the habit which my mother had gotten me into when I was a child, one which I would follow somewhat erratically as an adult.
Now, before you go thinking that I never flossed, let me just set the record straight by saying that though I wasn’t good about doing it every single day, I still flossed. I would typically be diligent about flossing daily about a week before each dental visit, and for about a month after those visits, but then I’d slack off, perhaps flossing once or twice a week when I remembered to do so. So it wasn’t a surprise that my gums would bleed every time I had my teeth professionally cleaned, and that my dentist would berate me.
Now I will not allow myself to go to sleep before flossing. I won’t even allow myself to brush my teeth at night before grabbing a pre-threaded flosser and going to town on those dental crevices. According to the American Dental Association, we all should clean between our teeth once a day. Why? Because interdental cleaning removes plaque, which is the main causative agent for formation of cavities and development of gum disease.
I personally can’t stand the idea of winding floss around my fingers. The thought of food-laden floss wrapped around my digits makes me squirm. In addition, I contend with forearm tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis in my dominant (left) hand, and as a result find it very challenging to wield a rope of dental floss. My solution is to purchase the pre-threaded flossers which are available. They’re easy to use and just as effective, provided you use them correctly. When flossing between teeth, gently arc around the column of the tooth to remove any plaque which has built up there.
Happy flossing! Your teeth and gums will thank you for it.
EatSmart Digital Kitchen Scale Review
Check out my review of the EatSmart Precision Digital Kitchen Scale! You can purchase this new item directly from https://eatsmartproducts.com/
A Couple Of Excellent Videos About Narcissistic Abuse By Angie Atkinson
The following two videos are incredibly informative, and detail the tactics which narcissists employ to manipulate and control their victims. If you are in a relationship with a narcissist (romantic, family, work), please subscribe to Angie Atkinson’s YouTube channel, watch her videos, and start the healing process.
Narcissistic Deflection: A Hidden Torture Tactic Narcissists Use to Abuse You
10 Steps to Become Immune to Narcissistic Hoovering
Living With a Narcissist on the Weekend: Your Private Codependent Hell
I am sharing this video from Angie Atkinson to reveal to you all that this was how my weekends were for years, all because I was under the spell of a narcissist. I’ve actually been in TWO relationships with narcissists who made sure that every weekend was torture, filled with emotional land mines. I would relish the advent of a new week so that I could immerse myself in my own life, and have limited exposure to the narcissist. Even at the tail end of my most recent relationship with a narcissist, my heart would sink when he would unexpectedly show up during the week, because that meant that I could not relax, I couldn’t be myself, and I had to walk on eggshells, never knowing when he would cause me to trip and fall into his web of craziness.
For those of you who are in a relationship with a narcissist, and who can relate to this video from Angie Atkinson, pay attention! You can also subscribe to her fantastic channel, which has helped me tremendously in my own healing and recovery. She’s @Angie Atkinson on YouTube.
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