It’s So Wonderful!

The Great Patchogue Lake, Long Island, NY

Hi!  I hope you all had lovely holiday season.  I’m still working on getting my health back on track.  I learned something quite wonderful during this recovery time, after getting mild heart failure.  It was a real  revelation to understand that when we are sick, our brains don’t function at full power.  The mind and body are intimately connected.  So what happens with one of them, affects the other one.

For a while, after getting sick, I wasn’t able to think well and get things done, and wondered why.  But I read about the brain needing iron to function well.  My iron levels were very low for a long time.  I knew that affected my body – which is why I got the heart failure.  But I just learned that iron deficiency affects brain function!  So, I’ve started to really pump up my iron intake.  Here is what works best for me:

1.  Cooked Lentils – brown, green, or red

2.  Brown rice – best cooked or served with the lentils

3.  Cooked organic beets

4.  Sautéed collard greens and Bok Choy – with some olive oil, onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper

5.  A Tablespoon of blackstrap molasses – 2-3 times a day

6.  Ripe avocado

7.  I also ordered a juicer.  When it comes I’ll make lots of yummy green juices to help boost my iron

So, I’m hoping I will be back to he blog next Friday.  Thank you for hanging in there for me.  Take good care.

Regina

Sick Bay

Dear Readers,
Once again I need to apologize for not posting this past Friday. I have been struggling with getting my health back on track, but now my computer has health issues. It is infected with something big and bad and needs swift ‘medical’ attention. So, on Sunday [tomorrow] my hubby will take us to the computer Emergency Room [smile] at Best Buy – the Geek Squad. It’s a good thing we have a support plan with them, because my computer seems to be getting many problems – and it’s not a year old yet!

Anyway, as soon as the computer is all well, we will post again. But please don’t give up on us. Hopefully we’ll be back soon.
Regina

Simple Things

 Getting, protecting, and recovering health should be simple, make sense, and be accessible to all.  Today I just want to share a few of my favorite, tried and true, simple remedies.  A remedy is something that helps healing.

Cool Showers:  Years ago I used to take cool showers, so in the winter I wouldn’t be so cold while riding my bike to work.  It worked.  Here are just some of the benefits of cool showers or baths [especially for those with MS]:

1. They strengthen the body to resist feeling cold
2. They stimulate the nerves
3. Invigorate the mind and thinking
4. Increase muscle tone [strength of muscles]
5. Increase muscle flexibility
6. Increase muscle endurance [can do more for longer periods].  *Drinking water will also help.

After a cool shower I always move better, and feel ready to conquer the world.  For those afraid of cold water, try what I do:  I start with warm water for a few minutes.  Then I gradually turn the water to cool or cold for 2-3 minutes.  Make sure the water hits the entire body.  After the warm water, the cold does not feel too bad.

Lemon Water: It is the juice of ½ or 1 fresh lemon added to a cup of warm water. Warm water gets into the bloodstream faster than cold.  I drink it in the morning before eating any food.  I also add a shake of cayenne pepper [it helps circulation and helps clean mucus from blood], and 1 tablespoon of organic maple syrup [touch of sweetness, vitamins and minerals].

Lemon juice has lots of benefits, but here are just three:

1. It helps the body resist bacterial and viral infections.  And if sick, it helps you heal.  *Germs cannot live in the presence of lemon juice.

2. It strengthens the body’s immune system.

3. And helps remove toxins from the blood.

I drink this to help clean my blood.  But if getting signs of a cold or the flu, I take it to reduce chances for getting sick.  But if sick, I drink it every few hours to speed my recovery.  It works.  I’ve had bronchitis twice, and both times, drinking lemon water every few hours helped me get better quickly.  Drink it during flu season.  Drink it before you get sick.  Give it to your family too.

Apples:  Called “the queen of fruit”, apples also have abundant benefits.  A few of them are:

1. They reduce inflammation.   I’ve noticed that my MS symptoms are worse when inflammation is present.
2. They remove toxins from the intestines by way of the feces.
3. They help constipation.
4. They help keep blood pressure low.

For me, being under the influence of apples is a good thing.  When I eat an apple [Red Delicious or Gala] my vision clears, my thinking becomes sharp, my balance and muscle strength improve, and my complexion looks clear and smooth.  And when I eat an apple before bedtime, I sleep well with few or no muscle spasms.

Activated Charcoal:  Not barbecue charcoal!!!  I recommend that a bottle of activated charcoal be in each home, and each camping first aid kit [along with a Bee Sting/Snake Bite extractor kit].  You can get it at pharmacies, health food stores, and online.  It comes in powder, tablet, and capsule forms. *I use Nature’s Way Activated charcoal capsules.

Charcoal has numerous benefits, but here are a few:

1. It can adsorb [not absorb] many poisons, toxins, gases, chemicals, drugs, and venoms.  Adsorb means that the carbon in charcoal is quick to combine with these poisons and make them harmless.  Don’t neglect to call 911 for serious bites, but while waiting for the ambulance, do something to help.  Giving charcoal after bug and critter bites or stings, or for drug over-doses can be very useful.    **Never give charcoal to an unconscious person.  Call 911!

2. Charcoal can help relieve and stop intestinal gas

3. It can help stop diarrhea

4. It can help treat infections.  I’ve used it successfully to treat infected bites from unknown insects on my foot [they ‘bit and ran’].  How?   By making charcoal poultices [see below].

To use charcoal internally, take the tablets or capsules with a tall glass of water, or stir the powder into a glass of water.  Take hours before or after any medications – since it will adsorb it.

To use charcoal externally, make a poultice with the charcoal alone, or mix it with ground flaxseed.  The charcoal powder is very light and can blow around easily.

*Poultices:  Do a search on the Internet for how to make a poultice.  There are several good sites.  **Drinking some charcoal and applying a poultice are very good for Brown Recluse Spider bites, while waiting for the ambulance.

1. Basically, you will take some charcoal powder [or break open a few capsules] and add enough warm water to make a paste.  Only stir with a spoon.  Charcoal will stain skin, but will fade over time.

2. Then, depending on the size of the bite or infected area, get a clean, damp cloth to cover that size.

3. Put some paste on the damp cloth [must stay damp], and cover with ends of cloth – like making a sandwich.

4. Apply to the skin snugly

5. Cover with plastic wrap and secure with tape.  Keep it on and then change the poultice every few hours or the next day. 

That’s it for my simple remedies.  I hope they will help you too.

See you next time.

Copyright © 2013 Regina Spence

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Sorry!

So sorry y’all.  There won’t be a post again today.  Since coming home from the hospital, last month, I’ve been struggling to adjust to medications and other issues.  They are taking most of my energy and attention.

If you will just give me this next week to try and get a ‘handle’ on things, I’ll be back.  After all, we are getting ready to go over the laws of health and some simple remedies.

So, please hang in there with me, and I’ll see you soon.  reg

A Most Remarkable Person, Part 2

Continued From Part 1 …

Two more ways Mrs. Hamlin shared the ‘good news’ of good health:

2.  She ran the FRESH START* live-in health-conditioning program.  For this participants lived on site and learned about and practiced the laws of health plus simple remedies [like hydrotherapy, poultices, massage, charcoal, and more].   *FRESH START is an acronym using the first letters of each of the 8 basic laws of health, plus the first letters of 2 extra principles of health [Happiness and Restoration], to get 10 laws.

Fresh Air

Rest

Exercise

Simple Diet

Happiness [added on]

Sunshine

The use of water

Abstemiousness [moderation – not too much or too little of things]

Restoration [healing – added on]

Trust in Divine Power 

She said these “ten steps [laws], carefully followed will change – wonderfully change – any situation, no matter how impossible it may seem.”

3.  And the most incredible way she shared the message, that good health is possible at any age, was by taking her bike and riding it around the world.  She rode her 15-speed-Schwinn-Mirada-bike on trips across America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada.  She began at age 68 and finished at age 75!  She crossed all kinds of terrains – like the 6,915 foot high Gotthard Pass in the Swiss Alps; endured various climates; was blessed with miracles – like escaping bandits in India; experienced wonderful hospitality by total strangers; recovered from terrible falls and scrapes [but no breaks], and had the most awesome adventures for a woman of her age.  Then, thankfully, she wrote about all of it in her book, “Ride With the Wind”.

The book not only tells of her travels, but it also describes each of the laws of health.  It’s a real page turner and is available on www.Amazon.com  or by calling: 407-644-4255 to order  [Florida, USA].  Try to get a copy.

I wish I could share more of my memories of this lady.  Like the time she took my roommate and I camping near the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  It was autumn, and she wanted us to see the Canadian geese migrating.  Or describe the delicious vegetarian meals she made.  Or the pineapple upside down cake she made without eggs, milk, or sugar.  It was good!  Or enjoying watching how much joy she got out of life.  But I think there is enough here for you to get a glimpse of who she was.

Mrs. Hamlin is gone now, but I will always remember her as a woman who loved God, her family, and being in nature [EX:  gardening, birds, mountains, and skiing].  And she was absolutely passionate about helping others learn how to make good choices to help them prevent sickness and disease, and recover if they got ill.  This concern continued even when she was in her 90s.            

I miss her, but am forever blest for meeting and knowing her. 

That’s all for now.  See you next time.

Copyright © 2013 Regina Spence

A Most Remarkable Person, Part 1

Mrs. Charlotte Hamlin passed away on March 7, 2013 at age 94

*Her name, information, and pictures are used with her son’s permission.

I’d like to tell you about a very special person: Mrs. Charlotte Hamlin.  She was one of my professors, a mentor, role model, and dear friend.  We knew each other about 30 years.  And it’s quite interesting, that, although I do not remember too many birthdays, I never forgot hers.  And I must have really admired her, because I’ve adopted her distinctive laugh!

It was in Nursing School, in our Community Health class, that I first met her.  She was the professor and a very striking personality.  First of all, she was a senior citizen.  Then, she was happy and full of life; had beautiful, silky, white hair, twinkles in her eyes, and her posture was straight and strong; she was quick and light in her movements; and she filled the classroom with her enthusiasm for the subject we were all there to learn.

She was about 67 years old at that time.  And her words and actions were not what I was used to in older folks.  Some of my classmates even felt that she was a bit nutty.  Because as she shared about her life, we learned that she ran and won medals in Senior Olympics, rode a bike, and swam in the lake in front of her house [the one with the snakes].  Back in 1980 I don’t think any of us students knew seniors who did things like that.   Today many seniors are quite health-minded and active.

Mrs. Hamlin described herself like this:

“I have been a vegetarian for 50 years, take no supplements or medicine, have high bone density [and no osteoporosis], and have never had any major surgery.”  From her book, Ride With the Wind, P. 29

She was definitely different, but no nutty professor.  As I observed and listened to her, I concluded that she was ‘sharp as a tack’ [very intelligent], had more energy than most of us students, and was onto something that I’d better pay attention to!

Why was this lady like this when so many of her age group [and even younger] were full of aches, pains, and medications?  Here is how: she not only taught us students about the laws of health, but she lived them every day!  She was a walking advertisement that using these simple principles really worked.

And she didn’t keep this ‘good news’ to herself.  Three ways she shared it were:

1.  Her “Prevent the 3 Cs” Classes – which were a continuing education series teaching folks how to help avoid Coronary [heart attacks], Cancer, and CVA [strokes].  Community members, and university faculty, staff, and students were all invited to attend.  To start, everyone got blood tests to see what their risks were.  Then there were classes to learn about each of the 3Cs, and how to put into practice the  laws of health.   At the program’s end, blood was tested to check improvements.  Many were helped.  I was also helped.

It was in her 3Cs class that I first learned that women who eat the most animal fats are inclined to have the highest risks for breast cancer.  Before then I’d never heard of any connection between diet and cancer.  Today we are hearing much more about this relationship.     **[Eating much animal protein and sugar also increases risks for breast and other cancers as well].

To Be Continued In Part 2 …       

  Copyright © 2013 Regina Spence     

PS:  The GEEK Squad, at Best Buy, helped me find out why I could not copy and paste on Friday.  It was so simple.  They fixed it and I’m back in business!  Thanks for your patience.

Unable To Copy Post

Sorry, but will keep trying over the weekend.

Sorry – Again!

Sorry, y’all.  There is no post for this week, because I’m still adjusting to post-hospitalization life.  One medication makes weak, tired, and cloudy-minded.  Will have to work that out with the doctor. 

Anyway, I hope you will have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you next week.

Take good care.

Hope

Does anyone need some hope?  It is the fire that inspires and moves us to try and to do, and to keep trying until something specific is accomplished.  Even when that something seems out of reach or impossible.

For those of us living with MS, or other health challenges, we’ve been living with our symptoms and difficulties for some time, and it may seem there is no possibility of ever improving.  Not so.  I want to remind you of some tools that can help us improve our situation.

I call them nature’s doctors, and they also go by ‘the 8 laws of health’, ‘the 8 natural remedies, or ‘nature’s remedies’.  I’ve mentioned them in various blogs from when I began.  But in a few weeks [about 3 weeks] we will begin to go over each law or remedy in detail.  So, I just want to bring them to your attention again.

These 8 laws are as follows:

1.  Proper Nutrition

2. Water – inside and outside

3. Fresh Air

4. Sunshine

5. Exercise

6. Rest

7. Moderation – not too much or too little of things [too much exercise or water can hurt us]

8. Trust in Divine Power

9. Plus some extras.  They are not considered laws, but they make a powerful difference to a person’s life and health.

   1. Attitude
   2. Purpose
   3. Forgiveness

These laws or remedies offer hope.  They sound so simple, but when used together and properly, they are very powerful in improving health.  And using all of them every day is critical.  Why?  Because they are all connected and work together in synergy.  Synergy means that when used together, daily, they accomplish more than when used one by one.  Each law helps and supports the others.  Awesome.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy them when we get to them.  Until then, see you next time.

 

Copyright © 2013 Regina Spence

A Case of Neglect

 

It was just iron.  I’ve had iron-deficiency anemia for most of my life.  I was once turned away from donating blood because they told me, “You are anemic.”   But I knew my iron was low since at least the start of 2013 – mostly around 7.4 [normal = 11.7 – 15.5].

I had made a few irregular attempts to correct my low levels.   Like taking Blackstrap Molasses, eating more beets, and eating more brown rice and lentils.  All of which would perk up my blood levels, but were not done consistently.

My hematologist [blood doctor] would suggest blood transfusions each time I saw her.  I refused, afraid of what might happen.  I’d had 11 successful transfusions between 1977 and 1979.  But this was a different time.  New germs [my thinking]?  But months passed and I let improving the iron slip into the background of my busy days.

It seems crazy to have to share this experience with you all, since I wrote to you about homeostasis, in this Blog, on January 23, 2013.  I should have done better.  Here is part of “Balancing Act”:

Homeostasis means keeping conditions inside the body balanced within certain limits; within a certain range.  No matter what is going on outside the body, things inside must remain stable.  Sure, they can change a bit, but not too much or too little.  If conditions go too high or too low outside their limits, over time, the body is thrown out of balance.

When balance is lost and the cause is not corrected, over time, this makes it easy for a person to get sick; it lays the foundation for every disease.  Some of the things that need to stay in balance include oxygen and breathing; heart-beat and blood pressure; the amount of water in the body; body temperature;   acidity or alkalinity [pH]; blood levels of glucose [sugar], and other needed nutrients [like carbohydrates, essential fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals – like iron]; and the amount of waste products present. 

Every organ-system in the body [like the circulatory system, immune system, nervous system, etc.] helps to keep all these things in balance.  

Don’t neglect any imbalance – things being too high or too low [or too much or too little].  The body tolerates it – for a while.  But bit by bit it’s damaging some part or parts of the body.  Whether your imbalance is blood pressure, dehydration, fats, sugar, iron, not enough rest, or something else, deal with it quickly and consistently.  Or, disease will not be far behind.

Prime example: me.  Last week I landed in hospital with a diagnosis of mild congestive heart failure, and several other associated diagnosis.  I had swelling from my toes into my hips.  Very scary business.  Considering all the things that were now wrong with me, I told my husband, “If  I didn’t know God, and that He can do anything, I would cry.”  Probable cause for my heart failure?  Very low iron-deficiency anemia over time.  Because of the low iron, my poor heart muscles had to pump extra blood to make up for the lesser amounts of oxygen that the blood could carry [the more iron, the more oxygen the blood can carry].  And muscles need iron to work well [so do the brain and immune system].

What was a simple and treatable condition, became one of much damage [to heart muscle], suffering, loss of time and money.  Prevention and correction are way easier to deal with. 

So dear ones out there in cyber world, do not neglect any excesses or deficiencies in your body.  Don’t laugh them off or take time in treating them.  Homeostasis is no joke.  The body can shut us down or take us out of this life if we neglect it.  OK?

So grateful  that God kept me through this crisis.  See you next time.

 

Copyright © 2013 Regina Spence