Stating the obvious passes for folk wisdom in remote tribal areas such as the Southside of Chicago and since we now live in the Chicago-on- the-Potomac perhaps we should start to take some of this obvious wisdom into account. Take statistics, here is a science that’s used to make judgments and to justify actions. And what’s statistics just numbers and what’s in a number? And as the Chicagoism goes, “Figures don’t lie but liars figure.” How does this help us understand our new Omerica?
Contrary to popular belief as nurtured by the Mainstream Media, President Obama is not the most popular president in history. His poll numbers are now lower than President Bush’s were at the same place in his first term. He’s even tracking lower than the almost universally repudiated President Carter was at the same point in his first term. And while the media’s initial announcement that “Voter turnout in 2008 shattered all records,” and “2008 Could Mark Highest Voter Turnout Rate Since 1968”was trumpeted on the all-liberal-all-the-time news networks making Obama’s victory appear a sweeping mandate for change. However, the follow-up reporting which found “That huge voter turnout? Didn’t happen” and “Voter Turnout in 2008 Lowest in 12 Years” didn’t receive the same 24/7 wall-to-wall coverage. Continue reading →
August, 2009
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Aug 09
What’s in a Number?
27
Aug 09
No More TMJ!
The first time my husband had a TMJ attack was when we were first dating. He was a teacher in Tennessee and up in New Jersey visiting family for the summer. His school district was going through some big shake-ups and he wasn’t sure he’d have a position in the fall. Needless to say, that stress brought on an attack of TMJ, something I’d never heard of before. TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint syndrome. This joint connects the temporal bone, which forms the side of the skull, with the mandible or jawbone. When this joint is irritated and not functioning properly it causes extreme pain in the muscles and joints of the jaw. That pain can spread to the face, neck and shoulder as well. It is difficult to open the mouth. The most common underlying causes of this painful condition are stress, grinding the teeth (especially during the night) and a poor bite. Believe me I got an education in this condition and quickly!
That first time I witnessed the attack it wasn’t one of his worst and it only lasted a few days. Thankfully, he was told his job was secure and was able to relax and release the stress. Once we were married I realized he was grinding his teeth almost every night. I’d nudge him and interrupt whenever I was awake and heard him. It wasn’t long before he had another attack, which lasted about a week this time. He didn’t get these attacks all the time, but when he did he was in so much pain he was totally bedridden and out of commission for days at a time. Continue reading →
27
Aug 09
Fenugreek Seed Tea
When I first got married my husband informed me that he had a serious bout of pneumonia as a teenager and ever since then, he gets bronchitis every fall. Well, that did not sit right with me! I love a challenge, so I decided I would figure out how to prevent that yearly occurrence.
As you might imagine, that first year, he was true to his word and got bronchitis as soon as the weather began to change from summer to fall. Chicken soup made him feel better (so did ice cream, but that’s only because he considers it his own personal “medicine”) However, neither did anything to protect him. We tried different things I was learning about – echinacea, larger than normal doses of vitamin C, bee propolis. They were all helpful to a degree and I believe his colds were less severe, but he still got bronchitis the first few years of our marriage.
I came across some interesting information about a natural substance I’d never heard of at the time – Fenugreek Seed. What I read said it would help keep the lungs clear and was used for bronchitis and other respiratory problems. It was certainly worth a try. I found Fenugreek Seed tea bags at my local health food store and bought a box. Continue reading →
27
Aug 09
Always Trust Your Intuition
Mothers know their kids better than anyone. I remember when my son, Matt, was small he had one ear infection after another for a time. We were visiting my inlaws at the Jersey shore and he was actually on an antibiotic, yet I was still up with him all night. I called the doctor and said he must have developed a tolerance to that antibiotic. He told me that couldn’t be. When we got home and I took him in, sure enough he had a raging ear infection and the antibiotic was not touching it. Score: mom one, doctor zero.
Several years later, Matt was about 9 years old and we were living here in the Hudson Valley in our new home. We have well water here which we’d never had before. Matt began to develop a horrendous cough. You know the type – people would turn around a look at him as if he had typhoid fever and pull their kids away from him. I couldn’t blame them – he sounded awful. I took him to our pediatrician who prescribed, what else, an antibiotic and a cough medicine. His cough seemed to improve slightly while he was on the meds and then went right back once we stopped. Took him in again – same story – and same result. She never tried to figure out what might be causing the cough, just sent us out every time with something to suppress the annoying (and embarrassing) symptom and never giving me an answer as to what may be causing it. Continue reading →
21
Aug 09
Good Medicine
Proverbs 17:22 NLT: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Much has been said about the power of laughter to heal. I want to share some research that links breast cancer and attitude. Recent research at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel provides this interesting finding: happiness and optimistic attitudes may reduce one’s risk of contracting the disease. In this study 622 women between the ages of 25 and 45 shared information about their life experiences.
The researchers assessed their optimism, happiness, anxiety and depression levels before diagnosis. They used this information to find the connection between life events, psychological distress and the occurrence of breast cancer. Of these 622 participants, 255 were breast cancer patients, while the other 367 had never had cancer.
Their findings revealed a clear link between outlook and risk of breast cancer. Optimistic women were 25 % less likely to have developed this disease. There have been other studies linking positive mental and emotional states and better health. Some studies have shown that positive emotions cause the body to produce more immune cells, while negative ones tend to suppress one’s immune system. The specifics of how attitudes contribute to health, are still not fully understood. What is known is that the body’s immune system is influenced by brain chemistry, which is in turn affected by emotional experiences. Continue reading →
21
Aug 09
What Seeds Are You Growing?
John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
While this scripture is referring to the spiritual aspect of sowing seed, I find it relates very clearly to our physical health as well. Seeds are dormant until they are planted and given the proper environment in which to grow and flourish. You can keep an envelope of seeds for years and they’ll never become anything else.
Once you take those seeds and plant them into nutrient rich soil, water them regularly and let them get daily sunlight, the potential that was always resident within that seed is released and enabled to grow and flourish.
It works in much the same way in our bodies. Everyone has cancer cells in their bodies. They are dormant. As long as you provide a health-producing environment by feeding your body with nutrient-dense, whole foods, drinking clean water, getting fresh air, sleep and exercise, then those cells remain dormant. Continue reading →
21
Aug 09
Don’t Be Afraid to Question the Source
I did an email to subscribers of my website about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, specifically aspartame and sucralose (Nutrasweet and Splenda). One reader raised a question. I mentioned that aspartame breaks down in the body into methanol (wood alcohol), formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and Phenylalanine. This reader noticed that this same substance (phenylalanine) is also listed as an ingredient in his whey protein and was concerned that this could create problems. I appreciate questions like this! In fact God tells us in the bible to “Test all things; hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thess. 5:21)
Phenylalanine is an amino acid – a building block of protein. That is why it is an ingredient in whey protein, as well as chicken, eggs or other sources of protein. However, in these real foods it is found in combination and proper ratio with the other amino acids. In diet soda, this synthetic chemical breaks down and there is a large amount of just this amino acid. The warning on the label is for people who lack the necessary enzyme to process and digest it. Since people drink large amounts of diet soda, this can pose a health risk (aside from just consuming diet soda itself!) Most people do not consume liters of whey protein daily. And if you lack this enzyme, you would have to monitor all your protein consumption as well – not just what is found in diet soda. Continue reading →
20
Aug 09
K-I-S-S
“Keep it simple, sweetheart!” That’s a catchy phrase and acronym. There’s a lot of truth contained there. We love to be complicated – it makes us feel we are somehow more sophisticated, smarter. We want to impress with our knowledge. Most of us can take the most straight-forward, simple thing and complicate it beyond understanding. And think we’ve done a good thing!
The very best and most important things in life are actually very simple. But when something sounds too “easy” we have a hard time believing it. For instance, take God’s plan of salvation. It is straight-forward and simple. Nothing complicated about it. God’s ways are simple and clear-cut. Most times our ways are convoluted and confusing.
Rather than making everything in life more complicated than it needs to be, I believe we should embrace becoming simple people. That description tends to have a negative connotation – people don’t want to be considered “simple-minded” but being simple is something entirely different. If you don’t like that term, how about being uncomplicated? Continue reading →
20
Aug 09
Eternal Words
Once you speak a word, it exists forever. The laws of physics tell us that energy in the universe is never lost. It is transformed from one state to another. Sound waves never disappear. Sound is an energetic disturbance that causes a movement of particles. Because space is a vacuum with no matter, sound is unable to “travel.”
Think about the implications – if we had the right equipment voices from the beginning of time could be retrieved. We could actually hear the voices of Adam and Eve themselves speaking to God or Abraham Lincoln’s voice as he spoke the Gettysburg address or Jesus’ own voice speaking the Beatitudes! What an awesome thought!
Words may be spoken to a specific person at a specific time, but they exist in the atmosphere forever. Scripture tells us God’s Word stands forever; and the prayers of the saints are ever before Him. Your prayers exist forever and are before the Father continuously. Continue reading →