And add some fenugreek seeds ... Photo by Gábor Szűts on Unsplash Is coffee good for you? It could be, in moderation.
Coffee has had a hot-and-cold reputation when it comes to health benefits. Not long ago, I was learning about the dangers of coffee: how it could raise your blood pressure, make your heart race, impair sleep, and maybe even cause bladder and pancreatic cancer. Now, it seems that drinking two to five daily cups of coffee may protect against heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. But too much can cause problems like anxiety, nervousness, and insomnia. If cutting them out is impractical, try this alternative Photo by Anton Eprev on Unsplash The association between Ultra Processed Foods (UPF) and poor health outcomes is well established, even if the mechanisms are not. A recent global study identified the principal components of UPFs that are most negatively associated with those health consequences.
If we know what those components are, then we can take steps at an individual level to improve the quality of our diet. There were two clear answers which we can use to inform our choices. Acknowledge your energy battle, and let your partner know Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash The stress of coping with Covid has caused a surge of calls to mental health support lines and strained many relationships to breaking point. That's not dissimilar to what happens case by case when one of a couple has cancer.
Fear and anxiety burn people out, and how they respond to their burn-out can be misinterpreted by those who would like to help them. The fact is that not everyone wants help, at least not the kind of help that well-meaning others may want to give. The difference in needs creates tension which adds to the stress and ultimately makes things worse.  Photo by Pauline Bernfeld on Unsplash I'll never qualify for life insuranceWhen doctors give you a referral to a specialist, I sometimes wonder what they write. I found out recently and was shocked.
It's not as though we don't know our own medical history, but we never see it catalogued as a lifetime of ailments.  Photo by Jenelle Hayes on Unsplash How I get five "doses" dailyI recently learned of the specific health benefits of drinking black tea and decided to add it to my regular diet. However, I don't enjoy drinking it.
Here’s how I get the benefit of five “cups” of black tea daily. It’s a matter of process over preference. But why bother? The micronutrients in both black tea and green tea are associated with a range of health benefits, particularly related to cardiovascular health. Studies have shown that drinking black tea on a regular basis helps to reduce the chances of onset of cardiovascular disorders. Both teas have anti-cancer properties and are good for diabetic patients (since polyphenols present in tea inhibit obesity by suppressing the digestion and absorption of fat and complex carbohydrates). They also both reduce the risk of dementia. The research supporting tea’s dementia-fighting benefits isn’t as extensive as research on coffee. But so far, it seems that tea may offer similar benefits to coffee.  Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Here is what helped me get through fear, anxiety and griefOur personal recovery from the aftermath of Covid has been framed as the process of coming to grips with "the new normal". But the new normal will be anything but normal. Grieving for what we lost from the pandemic will be everywhere. Our families, communities and societies will need to be able to restructure within the context of the grieving. That will take courage, the courage to take action. Based on my experience of fear, anxiety and grief here is what helped me understand how to become more resilient. My wife and I lost a child mid-term. That's immobilising. She subsequently developed a depression so severe that I had to carry her to the toilet from the bed where she lay motionless each day, until I realised that we both needed help. We were lucky enough to later have an IVF baby, although my wife flatlined during the birth. Four and a half hours in the 2 doctors and 3 midwives decided that she needed to be moved to a critical care hospital. But the ambulance declined to take her because they feared that she wouldn't make it. An hour later the flatline turned upwards. Five hours later I took her in a wheelchair to the neonatal intensive care unit where she was able to touch, but hold our baby. Then I drove home to an cold empty house and bed. I was shattered. It haunts me to think about it, but it no longer immobilises me. It helped me understand loss, and joy, and life on the other side - and a few lessons on how to get there.  Photo by Erik-Jan Leusink on Unsplash Here’s why, and how to fix itVitamin D is free - from sunshine, yet amazingly vitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide (2019).
This deficiency is terrible for our health, and neglectful, considering how easy it is to get the optimum dose.  Photo by Bradley Howington on Unsplash 50-percent of the health benefits are from the skinIn the Western world, citrus peels are mostly just byproducts of juicing and treated as waste. That's a pity, as they contain many phenolic compounds which are proven to be beneficial to our Western lifestyle and diet-induced diseases.
By consuming the whole citrus fruit, we gain far more health benefits than by just eating the flesh. There are more health benefits from compounds in the skin and membranes than from just those in the flesh. The compounds in the non-flesh parts of oranges are so powerful that in some parts of the world they are used as traditional medicine to cure fungal and bacterial infections, human colon and breast cancer by alternative therapists.  Me, Marietta a neighbour, and Harry 2 weeks before he died. Image credit: The Author You may be dead in 12 days - aloneAre you still blaming your parents for making your life miserable? I know how you feel, I also did.
Now's your chance to live your own life. You may die, so better to go on your own terms. We all have heavy crosses to bear. That's life. We can choose to live our life as defined by others, as many do, or to move on and live life on our own terms. My brother went to his grave still clenching a hatred of our father - unforgiving. Another brother feels the same. When you're stuck on "why me" physics gives you an immediate way to think again about your life17/11/2019  Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash It's not "why me" that matters when you have cancer - although I've heard this often.
I've had two different aggressive cancers. How you react is very individual but "why me" won’t help you or the people around you. Recently on "24 Hours In Emergency" (UK Channel 4) a middle-aged woman was admitted with abnormally low blood pressure. The doctors fixed that quickly with drugs and then sent her for a scan. The scan picked up a cancer. Unfortunately, it was malignant. In the outro interview, she lamented "why me". There was a pregnant silence as the outro faded on her numb expression. |
ChoicesSince I was diagnosed at 50 with Type 2 diabetes I've been learning how to do bone-building fitness training which lowers my age. You can too. It's your choice. Walter Categories
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