Retrospective and Getting Back on the Weightloss Bandwagon

 When you start something and you really mean it, you'll follow it through to the end. New habits, important habits, will replace bad trends and become a healthy way of life.  I started weight watchers last year, and so far I have lost over 60 pounds. Things lately, have plateaued. Now this can be attributed to stress.  My father went through a long bout of illness and he was hospitalized and is now in a nursing home, which brought a lot of stress on my sister, my husband, and I. The stress caused me to make poor choices when it came to eating. With this in mind, and a good hard look at the scale, I decided it was time to get back on the wagon.  So far I have lost another 5 pounds, which is good. It makes me nervous that I can easily fall back into old patterns so quickly.  It seems that it's easier to gain weight then it is to lose it and keep it off. It's like fighting a never ending battle that you think will never end.  But you have to persevere, and keep your head above water. Giving up is not an option! I know I may never look perfect, but at least I'll be as healthy as I possibly can.  I realize that on my only doing this so that I can be here and enjoy life with my husband and family. I'm really tired of being sick and tired. It was affecting and exacerbating my epilepsy to be overweight. I realize now that I have more stamina and I can do things like go to the park and hike or go to the mall and shop without feeling winded and tired within five minutes. It's a beautiful feeling that is completely freeing.  I don't want to go back to the person I was before. I want to be able to keep on a healthy path! When I think of what my mom went through, and the things that happened to her, A fear wells in me. I don't want to die from obesity.  Her life was a cautionary tale! It saddens me to even say that. Unfortunately, though, it's true. It was definitely something that became the impetus for my  weight-loss journey. So, I have to thank you mom. I miss you, but I know you'd be proud of me.

Sun Moderation

by, Denise Frame-Leitch

Summer will be here in a matter of months and, for some, it's already arrived.  Sometimes it's great to just take a long walk along the beach. I have to admit that I coat myself in bug repellent and Neutrogena Spray Sunblock first. I don't know whether a combination of the two is a good idea. I think that they should come out with a spray that encompasses both purposes. I will say this though, spray on sunblock is the best invention made for the beach and for the Summer in general. I have extremely fair skin and I have no room to tan. I'm really afraid to in the first place, because of the skin cancer factor that runs in my family. My grandmother had the issue which took of sections of her nose, and my little sister had skin cancer as well. Both of them were not even as fair I was, and I burn very quickly.

The whole tanning thing has always been taboo for me in a sense, because I never understood the whole allure of it. I can understand wanting a little color, but sometimes I think that there are people who take that to a whole new extreme. I mean there are these people who go to these tanning places and use these high powered uv tanning beds just so they can look almost orange in scale. Then when the doctor tells them that tanning raises the risk for skin cancer exponentially, they begin to fake-bake.  This makes people look like an atrocious cheese doodle. I realize that the sun releases vitamin D, which I can use, according to my doctor, but there should be some sort of limit. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of melanoma increases by 75% with the use of tanning beds.  This statistic increases for tanners in their teens and early twenties! The Food and Drug Administration wants to crack down and put more warnings on these tanning salons. Truthfully, I think that they should be shut down. They say that there is no way to have a safe tan. My sister, who wasn't even trying to tan, got skin cancer just by not using sunscreen while gardening. Sun exposure is really dangerous all the way around. According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, prolonged sun exposure can even lead to eye damage.

They say fair skinned people, such as myself, are the highest risk group for skin cancer, but the risk is strong for all skintones.  Truthfully, my reasons are also for vanity's sake as well.  The sun causes wrinkles and uneven skintone, so I've always used sunscreen. I've used it in my makeup as well. They say that skin cancer strikes men and women when they reach middle age.  It's extremely important to take the proper precautions. My older sister, who is an avid tanner, already has an age spot on her forehead from repeated sun and tanning bed exposure. I told her to ask her dermatologist about it, because of the skin cancer risk. Luckily, it wasn't melanoma or anything related to that type of cancer. She still tans though, and they say that it actually is a real addiction. The endorphins released from tanning contain properties that can cause addiction issues to the tanner. This might seem like a ridiculous disorder, but it is indeed real. They actually have twelve step programs that deal with this very problem. According to Derma-Doctor.com, Texas cancer specialist Richard Wagner M.D. says, "53% of all beach goers are tanning dependent..." That's more than half of everyone on the shore. Makes you wish they handed out free sunblock as a public service. People should realize that tanning can make you look healthier, but the looks will cost you health-wise. The government should put restrictions on the use of tanning beds, and force people to realize that there are extreme and possibly lethal health risks involved in those practices.

Here are a list of choices for broad spectrum sunscreens that will help protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays:

• Hawaiian Tropic Baby Stick Sunscreen SPF 50

• Baby Blanket SunBlankie Towelette SPF 45+

• Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection SPF 55

• Coppertone Water Babies Sunscreen Lotion SPF 70+

• Banana Boat Sport Performance Active Max Protect, SPF 110

• Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Sun Defense for Face, SPF 50

• Rite Aid Kids Sunscreen Spray Lotion SPF 45

• Anthony Logistics for Men Sun Stick SPF 15

• iS SPF 20 Powder Sunscreen

• Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral SPF 30

• Colorescience Suncanny Face Colore SPF 20

• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist SPF 45 (pictured above)

A Fresh New Start

For many individuals, the start of the New Year heralds a blank slate.  This is an opportunity to start fresh and make a new start.  This is the chance for everyone to take the high road and shed the situations and behaviors that were holding you back.  It's the time that I feel empowered to transform into a better, more viable human being.  I relinquish all the past toxic patterns that have been useless to me.  Now I don't believe that we should only have one time a year where we realize that we need change, but it does make me feel hopeful that things can only get better.  We are all capable, as human beings, to remodel our lives, but sometimes that promise doesn't stick.  Maybe it's the promise that a new year will come or we procrastinate and say, "I'll do it eventually."  The standard resolutions such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or saving money for a house, vacation, car etc., seem to be empty promises for most people.  If you plan to take them seriously, why not start in October instead of January?

The changes from year to year seem to be halted or weighed down by hope, rather than action.  Taking advantage of the New Year occasion to pursue emotional change, intellectual advancement, and physical improvement, should be something that we can enable at any time in our lives.  Why should we feel the burden of feeling that we have to fulfill this solemn vow to change?  If we realize that our life is in our own hands and we are the authors of our own reality, we can create a new road to improving life and giving ourselves that little push that makes created goals less insurmountable and more in the realm of definite possibility.  I prefer to immerse myself in new experiences and give myself a chance by starting something completely different.  That maybe frightening for some, but I think that it gives you the push to either sink or swim.  Fill your newly patterned goals with the chance to make a difference, rather than sitting under the rock of doubt.

Just remember that you are the only one, in this world, that can banish your own chaotic situation and create a life where you can fulfill your desire to have peace and comfort.  For myself, I shall strengthen my resolve to allow the ability to maintain a better focus.  I want to be healthier physically, I want to quit smoking, and I want to have a better sense of self.  I want that for me so that I can be a better wife, sister, daughter, friend, pet mommy, etc.  If there is any lesson that I have learned from 2014; I can honestly say that life is fickle and we should never take anything that we have for granted.  We live in a life of impermanence and we should all relish in the now.  Sure things will be tough and sometimes you'll feel hopeless, but remember to find gratitude in the simplest of things.  For now I will leave you with best wishes for the coming year and the hopes that your dreams become a reality.  Happy 2015!

Morality IS a Choice

Many people associate atheism, secularism, or agnosticism with a form of nihilsm.  It as if people believe that the lack of religious beliefs removes you from morality.  By the removal of religious belief, an atheist is often categorized as “evil” or apathetic when it comes to making decisions of what is right and wrong.  Dostoevsky believed that “…if God is dead, then everything is permitted.”  Being without religious belief doesn’t leave you without the accountability for your actions.  People are subject to being “good” or “bad” without the tenents of religion for a morality lesson.  Atheism doesn’t guarantee you a pass that says you can do whatever you want.  I’m pretty sure that there are some secularists, agnostics, and atheists that do practice Nihilism, but there is always a bad apple that spoils the bunch.  These people are usually the ones that are singled out for ridicule and, therefore, put a label for all atheists, agnostics, and secularists as being without a moral code.  Morality isn’t a nursery rhyme or a parable from the bible stating how you should live.  It’s a human choice.  You have an innate ability to judge how you would like to live your life idealistically and morally.  Whether you are religious or not, you can still be selfish, violent, bigoted, and hateful.  It hasn’t stopped anyone from showing their own human flaws.  Religion doesn’t absolve you from those things.  There is no requirement that says that you need something larger, spiritually speaking, than yourself to keep humanity from wrong doing.  You have to wonder if people use religion like a lottery ticket.  You can’t win if you don’t play?  Please!  I don’t play the lottery and I don’t need to take a gamble with doctrine just so I can earn my way into “heaven”.  I do not need a divine guarantee.  I find moral quality in my vulnerability as a human living in the world.  I find solace in rational, critical decision making and the ability to relate to my fellow humans.  That is what makes us individuals, good or bad.  This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t believe in God or whatever diety you are worshipping.  It just means that morality doesn’t need religion in order to instill a sense of accountability, charity, or good nature.

Holiday Blues

The holidays can be an especially tough time for so many people.  We all correllate the Yuletide season with decorations, feasting, and the giving of gifts.  Sometimes this season can also harken back to happy childhood memories and feel that life in the present isn't measuring up to that time in your life.  The holidays may trigger bad memories in your childhood or the feelings of grief for those you have lost.  Either way, our lives keep moving and changing in the present.  Every year, though we may think otherwise, it's a whole new ball of wax.  My new outlook is remembering to find joy in as much of the rhetoric as humanly possible.  I have been trying to let each Winter holiday be a new and enlightening experience.

My way of trying to bring the sparkle back into my holiday is to try letting go of feeling that horrible noose called obligation.  Whether it's a certain holiday get together or a holiday tradition that brings you unease, you can often get stuck and lose track of what makes you happy.  What makes you happy in the present often gets shoved back and forgotten during this time of year.  If you take the time to figure out what makes you feel joyful and exercise that, you will have a much better time of it.

When I get toward this time of year, I try to sort out all of the things that give me such a hard time.  If it's memories that you associate with departed loved ones or just the feeling of panic when I have to be around a large crowd of people.  I look for the triggers, so that I can avoid them.  I often think it would be a good time to go on a relaxing vacation during this time of year.  It's as if that is the magic golden ticket that I never really cash in.  Maybe that seems like avoidance, but it seems more like paradise to me.  Paradise would be a nice meal rather than spending a kings ransom on gifts every holiday.

This year I have decided to inject new memories with my husband, my pets, my sisters, and my family, but remember that I am a person with needs as well.  Making sure that stress won't occur may feel insurmountable, but working in some good times can definitely take some of the pressure off and give you some much needed confidence.  It can also lessen up on the frown and worry lines.  I'm going to remember that it's not about stress or gift giving; it's about experiencing the peace and joy of the season.

New Year New Blog, For a While

Since my academic pursuits are on hold for a semester, I thought that I would put my writings on Tumblr.  I have had this account for sometime, but have neglected to use it.  Finally I feel it's the right time to dust off the moth balls and use that venue for a while.  This blog is called Confessions of a Housewife and you can read it by clicking here.  I hope that everyone is a having a great start to 2012 and I hope that you will all join me in reading my essays and musings on Tumblr.

Sometimes It's Difficult

Did you ever get the feeling that no matter how far you claw yourself out of the abyss, someone is there ready and willing to push you back in?  Lately one particular person seems to make everything very difficult, even if he isn't doing it deliberately.  It just depresses me, because there is nothing I can do to make things improve.  I'm afraid to see how things will be when he'll have more responsibilities over his living situation.  All I know is that I'm tired mentally and physically.  I shouldn't be this tense and sad near the holidays.  That's all I have for today.