Blog Update
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 23rd, 2010
Almost two months ago on November 25th of last year I wrote that I needed to put my blog second because of some personal things that I needed to get handled in my life first. I thought that a month or so would give me enough time, but as you can see it is now almost two months later.
The parts of my life that have been begging for more time and attention have gotten it. I have been addressing my health and personal matters in my life and they continue to be a priority with some progress but very little change.
And my blog? Well, I am sure many of you didn’t really see a huge difference in my presence here. I tried to put my blog second and I succeeded to a certain degree. I wrote less but as I had mentioned in my last blog update, it is very difficult for me to not put 100% into anything that I do. This was no different.
Yet I discovered my personal integrity was pulling at me in opposing directions. I had decided that in order to give more time to some personal matters, I only allowed myself a certain amount of time to research and write, and if I didn’t complete it in this time frame, honoring my time frame, I was to post it and move on.
However making a commitment to a time frame, and making a commitment to put out the best article in that time frame, was challenging. Most of the time I felt rushed to complete my blogging in that time frame, which left me with writes that were not as well written and lacked the passion and attention that I love giving me writes…that I look forward to. And when I am not totally happy with the results, I have a difficult time letting it go and moving on with my day. It is just how I am.
So that being said…sometimes I stuck within the time frame and just let it go, knowing it was the best that I could do within my alloted time. I was rarely satisfied with my writes. Sometimes I allowed myself more time, and I was able to post my write feeling pretty good about it. The latter happened less frequently.
I have to say, it has been interesting these past two months.
Anyway, I came to the conclusion that life’s personal matters will always be there, and that there is always going to be personal things in one’s life that need to be made a top priority, as well as other things in one’s life that also need to be made top priorities. We are all busy and we all have them. This is no new news to me.
However, since I can not make all of the things that matter most to me a top priority all of the time, I decided that from now on I am going to honor what matters the most on any particular day and make that a top priority. Some days it will be blogging, and some days it will be personal matters. It is all about balancing my priorities, and having personal integrity throughout. I think its doable.
And hopefully the days that I make blogging my top priority, you will not only get a great write, but I will feel good about it too. And some days when blogging is put second to my personal matters, my write might be shorter, and less involved, but hopefully still good for you, and satisfying for me too.
Readers: How does that sound? Comments on the above or anything else is welcomed.
Zen Lill: Hi – thanks for checking in. Happy to hear you are having fun. It has been quiet and I miss seeing the comments from my readers but at least I know they are out there.
So my faithful readers, I am sending out love where ever you are…miss you.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Michelle
I hope this gets in. I read the two posts by Zen Lill yesterday and I tried several times to get in all I kept getting was You have said that already. But it wouldn’t post no matter how many times I re wrote it.
I’ll keep trying.
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:03 am
The Power of Enzymes for Better Digestion
Andrew L. Rubman, ND
Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines
Healthy digestion is at the core of wellness — the nutrients in your food fuel your body and help build strong defenses against illness. But what is the key to healthy digestion? Believe it or not — despite all those TV ads you see about heartburn pills that “fight stomach acid” — it’s stomach acid that you really need for healthy digestion.
What makes having acid in your stomach a good thing? Many of your body’s digestive enzymes won’t work properly unless they’re in an acidic environment — and if your enzymes aren’t working well, your digestion isn’t working well either.
ENZYME BASICS
Enzymes are natural chemicals manufactured by the body and present in many foods to make some kind of chemical reaction happen faster. Digestive enzymes work by breaking down the chemical bonds in your food and releasing the nutrients so you can absorb them. Without the enzymes, proper digestion doesn’t happen. Three major types…
Proteolytic enzymes digest proteins. The major proteolytic enzyme is pepsin, which breaks down the complex bonds in protein like a rock crusher.
Lipolytic enzymes digest fats. Lipase is a major enzyme in this category.
Amylolytic enzymes digest carbohydrates. Amylase, a major enzyme in this category, is primarily found in saliva, where it starts digesting as soon as you start chewing.
In your stomach, pepsin is the primary digestive enzyme ?– the others play a much bigger role later, when the food moves on to your small intestine. You make pepsin in your stomach lining, but it starts out in a preliminary form called pepsinogen.
The acid connection: Only when pepsinogen encounters sufficient stomach acid does it get converted to pepsin so it can do its job. Not enough acid in your stomach can prevent you from digesting protein, or anything else, well.
NOT ENOUGH STOMACH ACID
Another naturally occurring and vital substance in the stomach is hydrochloric acid. By the time most people hit age 40, they no longer make as much hydrochloric acid as they used to. By then, most people aren’t making enough to trigger proper pepsin production, and digestion and nutrient absorption begin to suffer. Low stomach acid can lead to trouble with gas and heartburn from incomplete breakdown of protein and other nutrients in the stomach.
The B connection: Animal protein is most people’s major dietary source of B vitamins. When you don’t digest it well, the B’s aren’t released to be absorbed — so you can start to run low on these vitamins. Serious consequences include anemia, poor healing, low resistance to illness and memory problems that can even resemble dementia.
Stomach acid production continues to drop gradually with stress and as you get older, to the point where many elderly people produce far less than they need for good nutrition.
What can you do to restore a good level of stomach acidity? My recommendations fall into two areas — better eating habits and acid-producing supplements.
EATING AND ENZYMES
How and what you eat has a lot to do with how well you digest it. Some simple changes in the way you eat that can have a big positive effect…
Chew more. Digestion begins in your mouth. Chewing coats your food with saliva, which contains carbohydrate-digesting amylase. Chewing also breaks your food down into smaller pieces that can be digested more thoroughly.
What to do: Chew your food thoroughly. Consciously spend a little time on each mouthful. Bonus: You’ll enjoy your food more and feel more satisfied by it, and you’ll probably eat less. If you need to lose weight, this is a painless way to do it — while improving your digestion at the same time.
Drink less. Cut back on the liquids you drink while consuming a meal. When you chase your bites with sips, you dilute the acid in your stomach, and the enzymes themselves, which keeps them from working as well.
What to do: Limit the amount you drink during a meal. Skip sodas and drinks with caffeine. Sodas cause gassiness, and caffeine slows down your digestion of carbohydrates. Stick to plain water, well after you finish eating (wait at least a half hour).
Combine your foods carefully. Different foods need to spend different amounts of time in your stomach to be fully digested. Refined carbohydrates, from bread, pasta, white rice and sugary foods, are digested quickly. Complex carbohydrates — such as whole grains, beans and nuts — as well as proteins and fats, take longer. When you combine these foods, your stomach can empty too slowly, promoting fermentation (and growth of yeast) from improper carbohydrate digestion.
What to do: Eat less refined carbs and more healthful complex carbs. Example: Have only a small portion of French fries along with a steak and salad. Skip prepared desserts completely. For a sweet treat, have fresh fruit — but fruit is sugary, so wait at least an hour after finishing your meal or eat it a half hour before.
ENZYME SUPPLEMENTS
Even with dietary changes, if you’re older than age 40, you’re probably not making enough stomach acid for good digestion, and are likely to experience such symptoms as increased irregularity and intestinal gas. I often prescribe the following effective supplements to help restore healthy stomach acid levels…
Betaine HCL. This generic supplement (available at health-food stores) works well to turn on the acid switch in your stomach. A 500-milligram dose just before each meal is often prescribed.
DuoZyme. This combination supplement (available only through a health-care practitioner) contains betaine HCL, pepsin and other enzymes that help increase stomach acid, combined with additional enzymes that help later in the digestive process. Made by Karuna (800-826-7225, http://www.karuna.com).
Gastri-Gest. Another combination supplement (also available only through a health-care practitioner), but made with plant-derived enzymes, Gastri-Gest helps increase stomach acid and also helps in the later phase of digestion. Made by Priority One Nutritional Supplements (800-443-2039, http://www.priorityonevitamins.com).
Digestive enzymes can be helpful to nearly anyone older than age 40, particularly those who experience acid stomach, mild nausea, gas, irregularity and other digestive upsets. Often betaine HCL is prescribed for a few weeks. If symptoms still persist, DuoZyme or Gastri-Gest may follow. Both can help, but some people respond better to one or the other. Vegetarians and vegans will prefer Gastri-Gest, which doesn’t contain animal products.
You’ll probably need to take the supplements for a few weeks before you notice improvement. Digestive enzymes are generally very safe. But to avoid possible interactions, don’t take them if you’re taking an antibiotic or medication for an ulcer or other digestive problem, such as Crohn’s disease. As with all medication, inform your doctor or other prescriber and follow his/her directions.
interviewed Andrew L. Rubman, ND, director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut.
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 am
Michelle
I have been trying to get in too. It is frustrating. I wanted to say I read your blog every day. My Ex started me on it. I guess our relationship has outlasted hers. Go figure.
Keith
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:34 am
They are not even pretending not to be racist anymore.
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Would you want to live in such an America? We don’t have to. That’s why we’re leading the fight to stop the Obamacrats from destroying our country…
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“our country” is code for white america. I am not always so proud to be white these days.
Mike
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Hafa adai
The white boy is trying to take over our island as they did the Hawaiian islands. They are about to add 78,000 more votes to the voting pool on Guam. As soon as they have a white majority they will make Guam the 51st state.
Frankly, I am sick of these racist savages gobbling up the indigenous peoples and take their lands for their own use. Guam is for the Chamorros to decide its destiny. Bringing enough whites to out number us at the polls and then voting us out of any decision making process about the destiny of our island is the new savage approach to just killing us as they did the American Indian.
Wake up Guam. The Savages are coming.
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Guam fears influx of US military personnel
Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:13 GMT
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US Marines based in Okinawa
The ethnic majority in US territory of Guam fear the US planned influx of military personnel will swamp the original inhabitants of the island.
Washington is planning to relocate some 19,000 personnel and their families to Guam from southern Japan.
“This proposed military build-up, with our current political status, will result in the cultural and racial genocide of the Chamorro people,” said Frank J. Schacher, the chairman of the Chamorro Tribe Inc, referring to the indigenous people who make a third of the present population of the island.
“It is our island, our ancestral remains, our sacred artifacts, our waters, our culture, and our right to exist as a race that would be destroyed by these intended actions,” he added.
The island, east of the Philippines, was taken over by the United States in 1898 and its people are considered statutory US citizens.
Schacher, a 10-year veteran of the US Air Force, had previously warned that “by 2014, we are going to have an additional 78,000 active duty military, military dependants, civil service…. After 30 days on this island, they will be eligible to vote in any of our elections.”
Some 8,000 of the troops are to be taken out of the Japanese island of Okinawa, where locals have for long protested the presence of US military personnel who are allegedly involved in crime, pollution, noise and accidents in the Japanese territory.
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They will prostitute our women and bring disease, crime and death to people and destruction to our environment. Just look how they give the corporations the carte blanche to pollute the environment in the states. If they could care less about what they do to their on country, Guam hasn’t a chance.
God Help Us, the savages are upon us.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Q: Should you get cell-phone insurance?
A: Cell-phone insurance makes sense only if you are hard on ?phones and tend to lose or break them once or twice a year. In ?addition to the typical $5 monthly charge, you pay a deductible for ?the replacement phone — $25 or $50. The replacements often ?are refurbished phones. If your model is no longer made, ?the insurer will provide a comparable newer model or an upgrade.
Helpful: Take advantage of your carrier’s online backup service.
It ?allows you to store your phone data on the Web so that you can ?recover your information and quickly program a new phone if yours ?breaks or is lost. Some carriers offer this for free… others charge ?about $2 a month
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Oio I’m available for talks, but I will not wait long.
Urte
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Peter you are stressing. See you Wednesday at the festival. I’m making and bring the Finn.
Here is something Guam is doing for Haiti.
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George Lai, President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Guam (CCCG) and its members presented a check totaling $25,900 to the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross to be used to assist the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
“I am humbled by the outpouring of support from our island community to aid the people of Haiti,” said First Lady Camacho. “I especially thank the men and women of the Guam Fire Department, Guam Airport Police, Customs & Quarantine Agency and the Dept. of Homeland Security/Civil Defense for their tireless efforts during the Boot Drive. We successfully raised these funds together.”
This week the Offices of the Governor and First Lady of Guam, and its contributing local government offices collaborated together in a Boot Drive at the intersections of Chief Quipuha Loop in Hagatña, and the ITC intersection in Tamuning and collected $8,888 worth of donations from the public. The remaining contributions were received from the dedicated members of the CCCG.
For more information, please contact Charlene Calip at 475-9303 or 788-0589, or e-mail charlene.calip@guam.gov .
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Hafa Adai
Anna