 |
| A Valentine's Day wreath I made a few years ago. I thought it was appropriate for todays' post. 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞 |
Go Red for Women®. Today is National Wear Red Day® to call attention to the number one health threat for women: Cardiovascular Disease. One in three women are dying from heart disease and stroke. This is a serious subject and in the times we are living, it isn't always pleasant to read about serious stuff. It is forced on us daily from every direction. And, in keeping with my theme, it ends up making us tense, elevating our heart rate and our blood pressure. So, where am I going with this? Please read on. It gets better. 💗
Here is a link to the American Heart Association where you can read about the steps you can take to help prevent heart disease and hopefully reverse this trend. Click here: goredforwomen.org Both of my parents had symptoms of cardiovascular disease and lived into their 80's, but not without medicines to keep them going. If they both had earlier intervention, they might have had less severe symptoms and less tragic deaths. Watching someone you love decline due to their health is painful. Hopefully, with knowlege and action on our part, this will be turned around in our nation and in the world.
We are encouraged to move more, practice deep breathing exercises, watch our diets and stress. It really isn't difficult. Well . . . maybe the stress part is harder because it often comes from without, not from within; and, of course, heredity plays a part in our health. We can't change that. But, in this time of shopping for groceries online, it is easier than ever to avoid the food danger zones at the supermarket. You know which ones I mean. Typically, they are in the last aisle we travel on our way to the checkout: doughnuts, oversized muffins, chips, dips, and ice cream to name a few. If these are on your shopping list, that's okay; but if they are purchased on impulse and not part of your food plan, I think you will agree that's not okay! By shopping for our groceries online, I have found that we have been able to avoid bringing home many of the "bad" choices and adding more fresh veggies and lower fat items to our grocery cart. Yes, it requires planning and even research to find recipes online. But if there can be one positive outcome of staying home day in and day out, it is learning to cook healthier food in healthier ways. Have cakes, pies, cookies and a few other goodies found their way into our menus these last 11 months? Of course. Those foods are special treats and I give myself a pass every once in a while! Every week when the grocery store flier is published online, we scour it for the BOGO's and sale items. We shop together online at two stores. We each work on our own list and then take a coffee break and decide together which things we need and where they are the best price. It takes some time, but it is a whole lot easier, in my opinion, than bundling up, going into the store, looking up and down the long aisles, packing the groceries into the cart, wheeling them over the bumpy snow-packed parking lot, unloading them into the trunk, getting home and unloading them, and so forth. I can shop in my jammies, have someone walk the aisles for me, communicate with me in real time chat about substitutions and all while I am safe in my home. I don't want to go to stores where there are other people who may not be following the CDC guildlines for Covid-19. Until this whole thing is over, and probably for the rest of my life, I will shop online and pick my groceries up curbside. It has been another of the positive outcomes of the pandemic. Since it is still unknown what lasting effects Covid-19 will have on people who have had it, I'd like to avoid it altogether, and that includes protecting my heart from possible damage. If you aren't already shopping for groceries online, I hope you will give it a try. Once in a while there are mistakes, but the stores are eager to make it right and will refund or credit your account. Driving up to a designated parking spot for curbside shopping is a blessing for which I am grateful. And protecting ourselves from Covid-19 exposure, from the possibility of falling on ice or snow and the general inconvenience of grocery shopping, makes it a win for us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. It is my sincere wish that you and those you love are happy and healthy. As always, your comments are welcome and can be left here on my blog or on facebook. I will read them and respond. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.
💗
Emmy
No comments:
Post a Comment