How Your Lifestyle Affects
Your Feel Great Journey
This last category is kind of a catch-all for everything else. There are a lot of subjects that could be listed as lifestyle. I am going to address only a few that I think will help you on your Feel Great Journey.
Sleep
Good restful sleep is critical to your journey. We sleep so that our minds can assimilate and organize what we learned and what happened in our waking hours. There is a blanket statement that I hear a lot about how everyone needs 7-9 hours of sleep at night. I don't agree with that. I think children and teens need more than that and over 50's may need less. It depends on the day, the activities and a whole host of variables.
I like to sleep. So I try to get 9 hours. However, our hormones are fluctuating and so we don't sleep as well as we used to. But I think that if we eat an early light dinner of raw organic food, we sleep better (I know I do). Dairy makes my hot flashes worse. So I avoid dairy after noon. If I have any at all, I try to have it in the morning, as early as possible. (If you are surprised that I eat dairy after what I said about it on the Fuel page, don't be. I am still on my Feel Great Journey too.)
Recently there has been research linking lack of sleep to obesity. Here is one such article. I think they might be on to something here.
The more I research, the more important I think sleep is to our journey. Along with exercise and fuel, sleep keeps us mentally sharp and feeling younger. Here is a great article called 33 Secrets To A Good Night's Sleep. I don't know how 'secret' these suggestions are but most of them seem logical. One thing I want to warn you about is EFT which they discuss on this page. I'm not sure of the spiritual significance of this technique, so I am not practicing this technique at this time. This is a great example of how you need to filter what you read.
Sun Exposure
Every place you turn you hear about how we need to limit our exposure to the sun by using higher levels of sunscreen and staying indoors. I have even heard of people who never go outdoors without lathering up with sunscreen on all exposed skin. All this information is coming because of the high levels of skin cancer. The media is telling us that skin cancer is caused by the sun. However, I do not believe that is the case. I believe that the sun is the catalyst but not the cause. The cause may be the preservatives in our food and the genetically modified food that permeates most of what we eat. In fact, limiting sun exposure can actually CAUSE many of the problems we are trying to avoid. That's because the sun is the optimal source of natural vitamin D and there is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency right now. (If you think you can get what you need from vitamins, think again. Vitamin supplements do contain the vitamins that you need but they are in a form that cannot be assimilated by your body.) Here is a great article talking about the possibility of reducing cancer, diabetes and other conditions by getting natural vitamin D from the sun. Also, there is research that says that the ingredients in sunscreen may actually be more harmful than helpful.
Hormone Therapy
There is a lot of information out there about different kinds of hormone therapies. My take on it is this. First, I completely avoided the traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) even before the latest research saying how bad it is for us. Did you know that the source is horse urine? Yes, that's right. I've heard that if you take one of those pills and put it in water to dissolve the capsule, the inside even smells like urine! Yuck!
I tried the bioidentical hormones and had a lot of friends that liked it. But it never helped me. If you want to try something, I would recommend finding a 'natural' pharmacist or a nurse practitioner that specializes in bioidentical hormone therapy. Both my mother and I had difficulties with any kind of hormone therapy and neither of us found anything that worked. So, it could just be a genetic anomaly with my family.
I have had hot flashes since I was about 43 and still counting. That was over 9 years ago. Then I have other friends that have few or no hot flashes. I've heard part of it is related to weight. The more weight, the fewer hot flashes. I haven't seen that correlation. I think it has more to do with diet, especially eating dairy. But that's just my take on it.
Let's move next to some other topics that you might not think of when you think about your overall health and how you feel. If you remember from the page on Fuel, I discussed the fact that I am separating my Feel Great Journey and what I eat from the eastern mysticism that seems be rampant in our society. This is very obvious when it comes to the next two topics, acupuncture and meditation.
Acupuncture
I'm not sure why acupuncture is so intertwined with eastern mysticism other than maybe Chinese medicine was originally developed by mystics. I don't know very much about it. I do know that acupuncture works and I have experienced it first hand without getting involved in mysticism. Although it was a real effort. I looked for a long time for an acupuncturist that was far enough away from the mysticism and didn't push it on me. It was a good experience, but I will warn you. It is expensive. I had to stop because of the cost. The cost was worth it. But I just didn't want to afford it. If I can in the future, I would consider going back.
I got some major relief from headaches. I was able to sleep better. And my cognitive abilities were higher. All of those without meds. But it's not just a one trip solution. It's something that you need to keep going back for and I couldn't justify the costs. I highly recommend it if you can afford it and if you can find someone that is not heavily involved in eastern mysticism.
Meditation
With meditation, it's a little different. From what I've read, meditation was started in the Middle East, specifically with the Hebrews (Jewish people). It was then hijacked by eastern religions like Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Resulting in the 'Christian' sect of Judaism abandoning it.
This sequence of events is too bad. Meditation is important. And, when done right, can be quite fulfilling and help your mental focus. I have found that after running in the morning, I can meditate more easily and then focus better for the rest of the day.
As far as how to meditate, I have heard you are not supposed to empty your minds. I'm not sure why this is other than the eastern religions do this. For me, meditation is just focused thinking on one small thing, like a letter of the Hebrew alphabet that I am learning that day or a Torah passage. Sometimes I focus on my breathing. Whatever I focus on, my mind will start to be crowded with other thoughts that I just gently push aside and then refocus.
Meditation is counter-cultural in our society. We are taught that it is more important to do rather than be. However, doing actually flows from being. I believe meditation is an integral part of being and should be included in any Feel Great Journey. There are several books on meditation in the Feel Great After 50 Amazon Bookstore.
Other types of meditation that I avoid include Tai Chi and Yoga. Tai Chi I just don't know enough about. Yoga I know enough about to know that it is based in eastern religions and is dangerous. In fact, at this point, I avoid anything that even remotely looks like meditation or chanting without researching it's origins and focus.
Dentistry
The health of your teeth and gums have a great impact on your overall health. Let's think about it for a moment. What happens when we don't take care of our teeth? Our teeth start to decay. Do you know what is really happening? We have rotting food in our mouth that we are not removing and that leech into our system. Yuck! I'm sorry to be the one that says it in such direct terms. But that's what is going on. Our liver has to try to remove that nastiness from our bloodstream distracting it from keeping us healthy otherwise and compromising our immune system. But that's not all. Two other major areas include amalgam fillings and root canals.
I believe amalgam filings are very dangerous. So dangerous in fact that I paid several hundred dollars to have all of mine removed. I had to switch dentists to do it because my regular dentist wouldn't. And when I asked, he gave me a bunch of pamphlets from the ADA that really didn't say anything. If your dentist gives you information about this, read it carefully. Notice that it never really says that amalgam filings are not a problem. It talks around the topic without ever being definite. Dr. Mercola has a video that really gets to the point. I really recommend that you research this thoroughly.
Also, don't do what I did and just find any dentist to remove them. My dentist got in there with a drill and just drilled them out without any protection to the rest of my mouth, spreading the mercury all over the place. You need to find one that takes all the right precautions and is recommended. The dental industry is filled with bad dentists.
Next, root canals. I did some research on this. I had one root canal that a doctor put in without telling me (I was very young at the time). This ticked me off, of course, but what could I do? Here is a Dr. Mercola article that gives some details. Basically the idea is that root canals trap bacteria in the tooth that seeps out and damages the entire body.
I got a book called Root Canal Cover Up and scanned it. Basically, it confirmed what the Dr. Mercola article said. So, I looked around for a metal-free dentist to remove my root canal. Not finding one locally, I was on the verge of driving 3 hours to a larger city in another state. I was even in contact with another dentist in California, half way across the country. Then I ran across a dentist that my husband knew and thought I would go in and chat with him about it. Boy, was he ever different. He listened to my concerns and told me that I would be fine without the tooth. He not only reassured me, he actually listened to me! Go figure! Well, I made an appointment right away and he pulled the tooth next week. Additionally, he replaced one crown and gave me another one without any metal in them. Can you believe it? Me neither! Did you know crowns regularly have a metal base (with mercury) that could leak mercury into your system? Neither did I!
So, here is something else that is interesting. He asked me before he took out the root canal tooth if I was on any medications or took aspirin. Of course, he was anticipating the inevitable bleeding. I said no and that I was careful not to take any aspirin the previous few days. Well, he took the tooth out (an interesting experience) and immediately asked again if I was on any meds. I asked why he asked again and he said that I had some unusual bleeding. My theory ... I had some swelling (maybe infection?) in that spot. Interesting, eh? The 'swelling' hadn't shown up on x-rays or anything. Boy, was I glad that tooth was gone.
Fortunately for me, the tooth is in the far back of my mouth. So I have not had it replaced with anything yet. I haven't found anything that I am okay with. From what I've read, I have two options. First, implants that use other kinds of metal to permanently clamp a fake tooth to my jawbone. Metal again? No way! The second option is a bridge. This involves grinding down the two teeth on either side and 'bridging' a fake tooth between them. Since the other two teeth are in good shape, I don't want to do that either. So for now I am getting by and I have actually gotten used to it. So I have no plans to do anything.
If your root canal is further up front, then you probably will want to do something to replace it. If I had to do it, I would look closer at the permanent implant and see if there are non-metal options. I haven't looked far enough to know about that. As you research, watch carefully where your information is coming from. The ADA (American Dental Association) is not a research group that I would trust. Additionally, just because someone bashes the ADA doesn't mean they are correct either. Try to look past the information to the motivation. So much for my root canal experience.
Personal Products
One thing that many of us don't think about is the personal products that we put on our skin and hair. This category includes toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, laundry detergent, fabric softener, lotions, makeup and anything else that you might ingest or that touches your skin. This might be something you would not think about but everything that touches your skin or goes in your mouth, even if you don't swallow it, ends up in your blood. And, if you watched the video on the fuel page, it mentioned that those products are largely unregulated. Think about it.
If it has any ingredients that you wouldn't eat or that you can't pronounce and don't know what it is,
don't put it on your skin.
Deodorants
As a deodorant, I use only baking soda in a little bit of water or none at all. I have found that when I don't eat dairy and cooked food I don't have as much body odor that needs to be covered up. The main ingredient that you need to watch out for in deodorants is aluminum. Here is a great article explaining it in more detail. Notice in that article he mentions not using antiperspirant. It's the products that you use on your underarms that cause the stains on your shirts, not the sweat!
Shampoo And Soap
I shampoo with a natural shampoo, like tea tree oil, or I shampoo infrequently. Since I don't have a job that involves a lot of dirt, I don't need to wash my hair every day. The product in shampoo that I mainly avoid is sodium laurel sulfates (or any kind of sulfates). These are very toxic chemicals used in industrial cleaning products.
You know car washes, right? Well, the walls and floors of car washes get covered with oil and grease (not dissimilar to the oil and grease in your hair). When cleaning them, the people wear special clothing and masks to protect themselves from the cleaning agent. This cleaning agent contains sodium laurel sulfates which is why they have to use protective clothing. This is the same stuff they are putting in your shampoo.
By the way, I noticed recently that Advil has sodium laurel sulfates listed as an ingredient. Would you want even a little bit of something so toxic on your skin or ingested? Here is a great article explaining other toxic materials found in shampoo. I was shocked to discover that MSG is added and I avoid MSG in my food because it gives me near migraine headaches. If it is on my skin, it will find it's way into my bloodstream.
As far as soap goes, I use a very mild body soap, ivory, that contains no perfumes or harsh chemicals. As a moisturizer, I use only straight organic coconut oil on my skin and face. It took me a few days to get used to the idea of putting something that I considered food on my skin. But once I started using it, I loved it.
Make Up
A few years ago I was counting the number of products I was using on my head and face at that time. I counted almost 20 different products! Amazing! And I have never used makeup on a regular basis. So if you want to know about makeup, I would suggest starting with Dr. Mercola. I have recently looked at Arbonne and find that most of the ingredients in their products are MUCH better than in traditional makeup products. To get more information, e-mail Karen.
Clothing
As for washing my clothing, I don't use fabric softener. I use a dryer ball instead. I also use very little laundry detergent, if at all. I occasionally use an ion laundry ball. Additionally, most of my clothes are as close to 100% cotton, wool or silk as I can get. I figure if I'm not sure where the material comes from, I want to be careful. After all, it sits on my skin most of the day and night.
Finally
There is so much out there that I have started to question almost everything in the media and things I take for granted. If you feel overwhelmed right now, you are perfectly normal. Just focus on one thing at a time and make a list of other things you may want to research later. And remember what you are saying to yourself,
