Lauri Ann's New Life

I don't usually do much 'internet business' stuff on my blog, but you may have noticed this poor baby has gotten a little neglected while I pay closer attention to other pages on my website
http://www.productsandservices.com . A very good teacher that I have taken some classes from as I start my new life transition from brick and morter to cyberspace has developed a new course on blogging. (Hopefully help make mine more informative and better reading. LOL.)

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

I think by the time you get to be my age, you have probably lost at least one friend or a relative sometime around the holidays. Personally, I always thought suicide rates were definitely up this time of year due to people getting so depressed and stressed. Not enough money for gifts, too many bills, loneliness, etc. The holidays have a way of accentuating all of these.

Some think it's due to the colder climate. Shoveling snow is definitely not a year round exercise!

Then there's always the alcohol related auto accidents resulting in highway deaths. All the holiday parties, people drinking more due to depression, etc. Although this time of year is know for excess food and alcohol, the following may surprise you. It did me.

1. National statistics show that suicides are actually lower during the holiday season, while deaths due to heart disease go up.

2. Climate has little if anything to due with death during this time of year. Dr. Robert A. Kloner, a cardiologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, and his research team examined L.A. County death records of 220,000 people who died of heart disease over a 12-year period. In a paper published in the journal Circulation, they reported that heart disease deaths were 33% higher in December and January than they were from June through September -- even in Southern California's consistently mild climate.

3. Despite the winter holidays' reputation for revelry, more people die on our nation's roads due to drinking and driving during summer holidays than during those during the colder months, according Dr. Michael Garr, associate professor of sociology at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Ironically, the holiday most noted for drinking -- New Year's -- has the smallest number of alcohol-related deaths at 61 in 2001. Thanksgiving and Christmas had significantly fewer deaths, too, only 77 and 81, respectively.

I find the information above so totally shocking compared to what we normally believe. Come to find out the biggest culprits in the Holiday Death Toll, may be ourselves and the very medical facilities we count on to save our lives. It turns out that during the holidays, besides the fact that we eat and drink too much and exercise less, we tend to put off going to the doctor for what ails us. We tend to get so busy and just figure we will visit our friendly M.D. after the holidays are over and things start slowing down. For many, that's too late.

We also have a tendency to have so many things on our minds, that many forget to take their medication. This can have dire consequences in some cases because many medications have to be discontinued a little at a time. Quitting medications all of a sudden can actually bring on the very thing they are meant to protect us from.

Due to the above and the consistent spike in deaths, doctors have labeled Christmas, the 26th and New Year's Day the "Holiday Effect" or "Merry Christmas Coronary" and "Happy New Year Heart Attack."

The second culprit according to studies, is the quality of care we get if we have to go to a hospital over the holidays. According to Duke University Medical Center researchers, heart attack patients admitted to U.S. hospitals during the winter holidays have higher mortality rates than those admitted during the rest of the year. The researchers found that during these holiday hospitalizations, patients were less likely to receive the same care they would normally receive if they were admitted any other time of the year. Patients were less likely to be prescribed aspirin as well as beta blockers at admission and/or at discharge. They also were less likely to receive major procedures necessary to open blockages, etc.

To make sure you're around long after singing "Auld Lang Syne" I offer up the following tips.

1). While holiday eating and drinking are especially pleasant this time of year, use some control and common sense, especially if you normally follow some special diet (low fat, low cholesterol, etc.). Don't use the holidays as an excuse to blow off your exercise program. With all the stress and busy-ness during this time of year, use it as "Me Time", giving yourself a chance to regroup.

2). If you are feeling bad or something is "out of whack" see your doctor. There is nothing so important to do this holiday season if you're not around to see another one.

3). Make sure to keep up with all medications. Enough said. I don't think the prescription said "take a break from these for as a Christmas Present". LOL.

4.) If you're going to be traveling, make sure you know where to get medical care if necessary at your destination. Studies show the exceptions to the "holiday effect" seems to be during the years of 1973 and 1981. Holiday travel was down during these years due to an embargo in 1973 and a recession in 1981. Once again, don't put off seeing your doctor before you go. He's familiar with your history and may be able to help you have a safer and much more pleasant trip.

I think we all agree Christmas gets more commercialized every year. They’re putting Christmas items in the stores before we’re even thru with Halloween. They’re playing Christmas Music before Thanksgiving, and the stores are so worried about the bottom line, they’re opening at midnite and 4 am the day after Thanksgiving. This year the “Christmas Sales” were starting in October. More and more of us hate Christmas every year due to the stress of making everything perfect for every one around us.

Christmas giving should be a time of joy and happiness. Instead it’s so easy to fall into “the trap”.
We’re running all over trying to find the perfect gift for those we love, spending more and more that we can’t afford. The credit card companies love us! Then there’s the feeling of embarrassment when someone gives us an expensive gift and we cannot reciprocate in kind. The mothers and fathers are both working, and the children only know what they see on TV. As parents work longer hours to pay for just the necessities, our children don’t learn what it’s like to bake with there mothers and give to the neighbors. Heck, a lot of us don’t even know our neighbors unless our children go to school together.

I would say we all need to get back to the ‘true meaning of Christmas’, but we all know what would happen if there were absolutely no gifts involved. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure the Whos in Whoville are the only ones in the world that can have all their Christmas trees and Christmas gifts stolen by the Grinch and still sing. LOL.

This year let’s see what we can do to bring back the love of Christmas, the quality time we spend with loved ones, and remember how much fun it is to give with thought more than money.

If you’re considering popping microwave popcorn this holiday season for stringing on your Christmas Tree, you might want to think about what you’re doing. There’s been quite a lot of buzz in the news, etc. lately about how such a simple snack can be so dangerous to your health.

First up seems to be the bag you pop it in, the one it comes in. The popcorn bags are made out of paper that has to be coated with a substance to repel grease and moisture so the bag doesn't become soggy and rip while you‘re heating it up. The chemicals used to coat the paper break down when heated in to a substance called perfluorooctanoic (PFOA). The Environmental Protection Agency has identified PFOA as a "likely carcinogen." While they don’t know how much actually seeps into the popcorn, they think it is a “small amount”. So my questions would be “how small an amount” and “how small is still too much”?

Next up comes that great buttery taste we all know and love.

Consumers may be in danger of contracting "popcorn lung disease" from diacetyl fumes created while microwaving popcorn. Diacetyl is a component of the artificial butter flavor. It is used for aroma and taste in butter, some cheeses and snack and bakery products. In tests at NIOSH, laboratory rats that breathed high concentrations of vapors from butter flavoring, including diacetyl, developed significant airway damage.

In a July warning letter to federal regulators made public on September 4, 2007, Dr. Cecil Rose of Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center says doctors believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease as a result of repeated daily exposure to fumes from microwaving popcorn. According to an ABC News story dated May of this year, “Connecticut state Rep. Rosa Delauro is asking the FDA to ban the chemical until it can be proven safe to consumers.

"We need to revoke its designation, test it further and protect the public health," Delauro said.
Flavoring manufacturers have paid more than $100 million as a result of suits brought by workers affected by popcorn lung. In California, a bill is being considered to ban its use in the state.

OSHA has been looking at this since 1999 and done little.There is no published research on the exposure of consumers to the heated vapors of diacetyl and other chemicals released when microwave popcorn is popped. In the middle of 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that a study on the chemicals released in the popping and opening of packages of microwave popcorn was underway and was expected to be completed by the end of that year. The EPA has yet to disclose the results of that study.

As for me and the little ones, I think I’ll pop corn the ‘old fashion way’.
http://www.productsandservicesultd.com

I read somewhere quite awhile ago that cancer was caused by deeply held resentments and hates. People who carried grudges for years, hated someone for years, etc. As I think about different people I know who have or have died from cancer, the ones I know well enough, each of them has something in their past they have never been able to let go of. This morning in my inbox was a health news letter that again brought this issue to light for me.

German New Medicine (GNM), developed by Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, M.D., operates under the premise that every disease, including cancer, originates from an unexpected shock experience.The discovery came after Dr. Hamer, the former head internist in the oncology clinic at the University of Munich, Germany, lost his son in an unexpected tragedy, then developed testicular cancer. The diagnosis led him to study the connection between stressful events and disease by investigating the histories of his cancer patients.He found that, like himself, every one of his patients had gone through a very stressful episode prior to developing cancer, and, upon investigating other diseases found that every disease is controlled from its own specific area in the brain and linked to a very particular, identifiable, “conflict shock.”GNM is based of five biological laws that apply scientifically to each and every case of disease. They include:
#1: Every disease is caused by a conflict shock that catches an individual completely off guard.
#2: Provided there is a resolution of the conflict, every disease proceeds in two phases, a conflict-active phase and a healing phase.
#3: Ties the findings of the first two laws into the context of embryology and the evolution of man. It illustrates the biological correlation between the psyche, the brain, and the organ from an evolutionary point of view.
#4: Addresses the role of microbes in the context of evolution and in relation to the three germ layers from which our organs originate. Microbes are indispensable to your survival.
#5: Every so-called disease has to be understood as a “meaningful special biological program of nature” created to solve an unexpected biological conflict.
Further, Dr. Hamer believes that a person cannot die of cancer in and of itself. If someone dies during the conflict-active phase of disease, he says, it’s because of energy loss, weight loss, sleep deprivation, and emotional and mental exhaustion. The stress of receiving a cancer diagnosis, or being given a negative prognosis, is often enough to deprive a person of their life-force. Conventional cancer treatments only accelerate the downward spiral.If a patient has not undergone any conventional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, GNM has a success rate of 95 percent to 98 percent.While trying to publicize his findings, Dr. Hamer has been persecuted and harassed by German and French authorities. He is now living in exile in Spain where he is continuing his fight for official recognition of GNM.
German New Medicine (pdf)
German New Medicine Home Page

To get more on this subject and to learn how to combat the emotional things that may be causing your body conflict, visit Dr. Mercola at http://www.mercola.com I don't neccessarily agree with all of his stuff, but I found this especially interesting.

For quality Vitamins and Supplements for your lifestyle, physical and emotional, visit me at
http://www.lbeamish.qhealthbeauty.com


Thanks to Dr. Joseph Mercola for the above article.
© Copyright 2005 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.
Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

Boy, the older I get the faster the time goes. I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have updated this blog! I promise to add fresher content more often in the future, (I promise myself).

I have noticed over the last few years as I care for my aging mother, that she has started to slump. She walks a little bent over all of the time. What bothers me about this is that my whole life she was always telling me to "Stand up straight. Don't slouch", which of course I did slouch because I was so much bigger than the other kids. When you're first going thru puberty, the last thing you want to do is stick your boobs out there so everybody can make fun of the changes that you're already feeling self concious about. She always had very good posture, yet now I am seeing her hunched over and have to bite my tongue to keep from telling her to "Stand up straight".

When I saw this in my inbox this morning from Bottom Line I found it very interesting. First, I don't want to walk hunched over and second, that's what they said my mother's problem was was osteoperosis. According to this it very well could be because she just sits on her a** all day watching TV. (Now I try to stand up as straight as possible because I want to stick my boobs out. It beats them dragging on the floor!) LOL.

Answers to Your Questions from Bottom Line Experts
Q: How can I prevent getting a humped back?

A: This condition usually can be reversed or prevented by stretching the groin ligaments, which "pull" the pelvis forward, realigning the pelvis and the spine toward normal curvature.
Stretch the backs of your legs by sitting "Indian-style" for at least 30 minutes a day -- ordinary stretching exercises are not adequate.
Walking also stretches these ligaments -- walk for 12 minutes every other day, then work up to an hour a day or more.
To stretch more, get up from a sitting position. Then stand with your hip jutting to the left, lean to the right with your left arm extended over your head, then reverse. Do this several times a day.
Surprisingly, most humped backs are not caused by osteoporosis. The main culprit often is sedentary behavior. Over many years, sitting causes ligaments in the groin to shorten and atrophy. As this happens, the normal forward lumbar curve increases, compressing the lumbar disks and resulting in a humped back.

Our inside source: Jerome F. McAndrews, DC, spokesman for American Chiropractic Association, Arlington, Virginia.

Disclaimer: Bottom Line Secrets publishes the opinions of expert authorities in many fields. But the use of these opinions is no substitute for legal, accounting, investment, medical and other professional services to suit your specific personal needs. Always consult a competent professional for answers to your specific questions.
Bottom Line Secrets is a registered trademark of Boardroom Inc.
Subscribe Unsubscribe Update My E-mail Preferences Change My E-mail Address Contact Us Privacy Policy Copyright (c) 2007 by Boardroom Inc.

If you're looking for the best in natural vitamins and supplements made from organic fields to keep your body working at optimum performance and help you fight the negative effects of aging, visit me at http://www.lbeamish.qhealthbeauty.com