Stress

 

I have intended to write an article on the topic of stress for quite some time now.  The purpose of this blog is to address ALL things health—

this includes spiritual health, mental health, and physical health.  Stress falls into the category of mental health, but it affects our physical health.  

 

This brings me to a key foundational point of my philosophy.  I believe that in order for us to walk in physical health, we have to have our spiritual and mental health in order.  And I believe this also means that we need to have our priorities in order concerning the three.  If we exalt physical health above the other two, they will suffer.  If we exalt our mental health above spiritual or physical health, they, too, will suffer.  I believe that the proper order of importance is spiritual first, mental second, and physical last.  Just because physical health comes in last place doesn’t mean we neglect it.  On the contrary, there must be a balance between the three.  I really want to emphasize this, because I know on this blog, most of the attention is on physical health.  I think this is an area that people have neglected for too long, so I feel the need to spread truth about it.  In the process I don’t want you to forget about your mental and spiritual health.

 

So back to the subject of stress…

 

Many things can create stress in our lives—relationship issues, finances, raising kids, work pressures, and the day-to-day duties we all have, like keeping on top of the bills, driving our kids around town for activities, etc.  I remember reading somewhere that there are different types of stress—on type is from major things in our lives, the death of a loved one, for example, but the other type is from our busy, multi-tasking lives.  In the article I read, the latter type was worse than the former, simply because it is there day in and day out and there isn’t a release.  We need to be aware that children and teens can feel stress, as well.  It is my hope, in the future, to address some of these issues in an effort to help you relieve some stress.  We’ll see how that goes—

as much as I think about it, it seems I do get pulled in the direction of writing about physical health more often.  J

 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and Christmas next month, I felt it was a good time to at least touch on this topic.  The holidays seem to bring so much stress for so many.  If you are feeling stress over the holidays, it really is best for your overall health that you pull back and take it easy.  Do some shopping online; avoid the crowds.  Share the burden of preparing the holiday meals with others—

many hands make light work.  I had good intentions of sending out Christmas cards this year and even thought of making goody plates for people, but I won’t be doing either of these.  Right now, I am learning to say no more (read on).  I’m not even making a turkey this year!  I bought turkey legs instead and will make a very small version of the holiday meal.  Thanksgiving is going to be a nice relaxing time with my family.  To see what my menu was last year, click here.  It will be pretty close to the same this year.

 

Stress is a sneaky, subtle thing.  I think most of us feel stress and we don’t give it a second thought.  We just think that’s life, we’re busy and we just trudge on.  Many think that to ask for help is a sign of weakness.  We don’t realize that this stress is having an effect on our physical bodies.

 

I have been dealing with a skin issue since June and I have just learned that it was caused by stress!  I had this same issue pop up about 16 years ago when I was under a lot of stress.  I just recently connected the dots and could see how that incident was stress related, as well.  I always thought I was one that handled stress really well, though.  I remember interviewing for a job and telling my future boss that things don’t bother me, things just roll off my back.  I have always prided myself on being in control of my emotions.  If I’m upset about something one day, I can just sleep it off, and I’

m fine the next day.  I can wake up in the morning feeling resolved, without ever really resolving anything.  I think the word for that is repression!  J  I have never been a very outward person; I don’t display a lot of emotion.  But I am learning that it has to come out somehow.  It was a big shock to find that I was manifesting a display of stress.  I wasn’t even feeling stressed!  But I do look back now and realize that when this skin issue started I was under a great deal of stress.  The stress only lasted for a few weeks, but my skin set into a bad cycle that brought about its own stress.  I am happy to say now that I am on the road to recovery, having finally got to the root.

 

Dr. Mercola has his EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and Dr. Cowan has his patients practice meditation.  While neither of these is for me, I can see the effectiveness behind them.  Take time to find out what relieves your stress.  You may be surprised to find that recreation isn’

t necessarily the answer.  I’ve started paying attention to myself, relaxing my shoulders throughout the day and stopping to take a good deep breath and, more importantly, turning down activities and obligations that I know will stress me out.

 

So take some time this holiday season to relieve your stress.  If you are feeling stress in other areas, please address these issues.  Get counseling, read books, do what you have to do to get your mental health in order, because your physical health will follow suit.

 

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.

 

P.S.  I have found a handy organizational tool.  It is www.IwantSandy.com.  It works through your email.  (I am in my email all day long anyway, might as well make it work for me.)  This tool will keep track of phone numbers, appointments, birthdays—all sorts of things.  I am loving it!  It emails me first thing every morning with my list of to-dos.  If I think of something during the day that I need to do that evening or the next day, I just send a quick email to Sandy and the program will send me a reminder (when I designated) to do that item.  If you have a calendar, but forget to check it, this program is for you.  And, best of all, it’s free!

Update 11/26/08:  I found out that this handy new organizer I Want Sandy is going offline on December 8th.  You can read about it here.   They recommend four other calendar programs, I’ll have to check them out.  I am bummed about this.  :(

Coconut Oil

The more I use coconut oil, the more I learn of its wonderful benefits.  You can read about my results with the flu and coconut oil here.  I used to take it only if we felt a cold or the flu coming on, but I have discovered other uses. 

 

My daughter broke out with a patch of eczema and I had just read Gut & Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (GAPS), so I gave her coconut oil for it.  Dr. Campbell-McBride explains in her book how many, many issues are a result of an imbalance of bacteria in our gut.  Coconut oil will kill harmful yeast, bacteria, and viruses in our gut.  And most recently I learned that it helps ward off certain parasites, too.  I gave my daughter the coconut oil daily for a couple of weeks and the patch disappeared.  (It was the size of my palm.) 

 

This summer, just a few days before my son was to leave for camp he had an outbreak of eczema all over both legs.  It was the worst outbreak he had had in years, it itched so bad he was scratching through the night without even realizing it.  My thought was that I couldn’t send him to camp like that!  I gave him a half-teaspoon dose, three times a day, for three days.  By the second day the itching had stopped and by the third day it was almost completely healed.  I stopped the doses at three days since he really doesn’t care for coconut oil and the eczema kept healing, it didn’t come back. 

 

In GAPS, Dr. Campbell-McBride also linked seasonal allergies with gut imbalance so I started taking a daily dose of coconut oil and drinking a lot more raw milk (great source of probiotics).  My seasonal allergies were relieved by about 90% this year.  That was awesome!

 

A Spoonful of Coconut Oil

 

How To Take It

 

Some people put coconut oil in hot liquid, like tea, to drink it down.  I am not sure what temperature would negate its health benefits.  Hot liquid to drink is probably fine, but I’m not so sure the anti-viral, bacteria, and fungal properties are kept when we cook with the oil.  It is a healthy oil to cook with, but I try to get some raw oil in my family, as well.

 

When I gave it to my daughter for her eczema I would put a dollop (semi-solid) on her first bite of banana at breakfast.  I have mixed it with honey for my son, but he didn’t like that.  Now I barely warm it to liquefy it and put it in a medicine dropper for him.  I take a spoonful of it in its semi-solid state (see above pic) with a drop of honey on top.  For some reason the honey makes it go down, without that it’s not so easy.  J

 

I cook my popcorn in coconut oil and also use it to sauté onions for my marinara.  I don’t cook with it as much as some people.  I am frugal and butter is cheaper and still very healthy.  But for some dishes, butter will burn; so then I will use coconut oil.  I also put some in my yogurt smoothies.  I have started putting it on my kid’s peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.  I just spread a thin layer on one slice of bread, spread on the jelly and the peanut butter and voila!—they don’t even know it’s there!  This way they are getting a little bit every day.

 

I like to buy my coconut oil from www.greenpasture.org.  It is quality oil at a great price!  (I’m not paid to say that.  J)

 

Here is an article I found that lists in detail all the wonderful benefits of coconut oil.

 

Here is another article by the same blogger about all the ways you can use coconut oil.

Thank You

Thank you to The Natural Mama’s group for letting me come and share with them last Tuesday!  Read about it here.

Exercise Your Rights II

In my last blog I laid out the choice that was being presented in this election.  We have made our choice, now what?  This is America, right?  Our government can’t change from democracy to socialism, can it?  This is still the best country in the whole world!  But, anything CAN happen; we as a country are not immune.  It is all up to you!  I think it is time for everyone to wake up and take an ACTIVE role in our government.  Let your voice be heard!  Elections are not the only time to do that.  Our government is, after all, of the people, by the people and for the people.  But this only remains true IF you remain active—it is when we are passive that this right is taken away.

 

What not to do:

• Disrespect – We are to respect the office of our president, vice president, senators, congressmen/women, governors, mayors, etc.  These are offices of authority.  What example is it to our children when we disrespect authority?  How can we expect them to obey us?
• Complain, grumble, slander or in any way bad-mouth the people in office.  This does not produce good fruit; it does not bring change.
• Feed off the ranting of others—this includes conservative media (radio shows, etc.).  You can keep yourself informed without filling your mind and heart with negativity.  Sort through actual news and ranting and tearing down of government officials.  Again, it is not fruitful; it makes you mad, but doesn’t bring about change.  Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

What we need to do:

• Pray
• Be informed.  For example, do you know what the Fairness Doctrine is?  Or the energy bill that is phasing out the sale of filament light bulbs?  Both of these issues affect your life.  Get your news from an unbiased source; this won’t be channels 2, 6, or 8.  You need to find out the issues.  Check out www.khouse.org, onenewsnow.com, AFA.net, worldnetdaily.com, worldmag.com, to name a few.
• Get in contact with your legislators (local, state, and in DC) and STAY in contact with them.  You can write them letters, send emails, and make phone calls.  I heard somewhere once that every contact they get, they treat as the view of 1000 of their constituents.  They are bound to uphold the views of those constituents.  But how can they know how we feel when we just sit on our couches and stew?  You can sign up for the AFA.net email newsletter–they will send you alerts on legislation and they make it very easy to send a quick email to the appropriate legislators.
• Place your trust in the Lord.  Proverbs 21:1  He is in control.  He is not surprised by this election, He know the end from the beginning.  Isaiah 46:10
• Above ALL, we must obey the Word of God!  Paul tells us in Romans 13:1-7 to respect the authority of government for they are appointed by God to restrain evil on the earth.  When we are disrespecting the government, we are disrespecting God!  Ouch!  Peter tells us in I Peter 2:13-17 that it is the will of God that we submit to the laws of government.  I believe this applies when those laws do not directly contradict the Word of God.  When Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were told to bow down and worship the idol that King Neduchadnezzar had built, they refused because it contradicted God’s law.  (See Daniel 3)  Paul tells us in I Timothy 2:1-4 that we should pray for our government leaders so that we will lead peaceable lives and that they may come to the knowledge of the truth.

Think about the world that Peter or Paul or Daniel lived in.  I highly recommend reading through the book of Daniel to see an excellent example of how we ought to conduct ourselves in this world.  Peter and Paul lived in the Roman empire—Peter in the province of Judea and later in Rome, while Paul traveled extensively throughout Asia Minor, spending time in Rome also.  At that time in history the world was extremely pagan.  The rulers were the Caesars who wanted to be worshipped as gods, hardly what you consider a godly leader.  Yet, see above for what Peter and Paul had to say about their government.  Christians were severely persecuted in that time, too.  Nero killed both Paul and Peter.  Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were captured from Judah and taken to Babylon where Nebuchadnezzar was ruler.  Babylon is the birthplace of all false religion.  It was a normal part of the culture to worship idols, eat unclean foods, and practice all sorts of perversion in the name of their worship.  These things contradicted the Jewish laws that Daniel and his friends observed.  Nebuchadnezzar was an absolute ruler that could execute any one of these Jews at any time for disobedience if he wished.  What did Daniel and his friends do?  Did they disrespect their captors?  Did they complain?  We see through the book that they obeyed God’s law above the law of the king, but were at all times respectful and as a result were promoted to high government offices.  In the times when they were persecuted by the government for refusing to obey the king, God protected them.  Let this be a lesson to us.  Our world, even though it seems to be getting worse, is not as bad as the pagan cultures of ancient times.  Let our conduct be like Daniel, whose coworkers could find no fault with.  (Daniel 6:4)  Also note how the emphasis throughout the book is that God is the one who gives the kings their kingdoms.  He’s in control and there is no cause to live in fear and worry!