Health

The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs

The majority of Americans rely on convenient processed food off the shelf and/or constantly eat at food chains where everything is mass produced.  Those food habits alone act as a drug and do not allow the brain or stomach to comprehend how bad the processed and mass produced food products really are until the individual finds they have an ailment.

The society norm today for sickness is to instantly run to a medical facility and take a drug that has been chemically compounded.  In some cases, using a drug or going for more advanced medical help is the answer (such as a broken limb, etc, etc) but in most cases it is not the correct solution.  Humans today have really lost touch with themselves and their connection to mother nature.  It is a serious problem when you turn on the radio, tv, or flip a magazine page to hear the continuous commercials for depressional drugs. So many humans today suffer from depression and many cannot get down to the deep root of the problem or they don't have the support try natural remedies before permanently getting onto a chemical substance.

I personally had always been intimidated by going to natural drugs because it was all just so overwhelming.  Some of the herbal names alone scared me away as I thought that they were something only to be used in a witch's cauldron.  Hah! But the truth is I bet most of you have had similar thoughts.  Long story short, I pretty much just stayed away unless I had a specific ailment which required immediate treatment.  Not the way to do it.  Really, you need to get an idea what is going on in your body and take your daily doses of preventative measures to nip it in the butt.  Not wait until you are in dire need of care.  It's the whole "Yogurt Effect" that I have coined.  You know all the ridiculous commercials about probiotic yogurts such as Activia???  Well, that is a great marketing scheme.  If you were to just eat a qualified yogurt every day then you would already be giving yourself a healthy daily dose of probiotics.  The activia types of yogurt are marketed for the cluster of individuals who wait until there is a problem to start taking care of their body.  Now this is not to be negative to the Activia yogurt as there are some great benefits to it versus competing yogurts,  it is simply just to give you a broad idea of the let's-wait-to-help-ourselves-until-we-are-sick-syndrome.

The time came where I needed to make my annual trip to the library to renew my library card.  I'd been happily spoiled by audiobooks delivered to my iPhone so never needed to look at physical books on the shelves but decided to make the most of my trip by browsing through numerous aisles.  One book that caught my eye was

The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs

because of the great bold and simple title!  No fuss, it stood out.  So I grabbed it along with five other books and took it home for three weeks.  Once I began to flip through it I couldn't stop.  I realized this book was exactly the introduction into the natural world I'd been seeking.  The book, highly informative is broken into two sections, the first by ailment and the second by the nutritional supplement.  I could chose to look up Magnesium and see the benefits, what it should or should not be taken with, how it should be taken, etc.  Or I could look up eczema and see the suggestions for caring for and reducing a flare up.  Oh it was great.  I just knew I had to buy this book for myself.  Since that day I still refer back to the book regularly and loan it out to my friends.  I'll admit that some evenings I lose myself in the book because it is so interesting.  Use the link below to order this book from Amazon and proceeds will go to this blog.

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Skeptic that natural remedies work?  From my own research I learned and diagnosed myself with a magnesium deficiency.  I added a magnesium softgel in my daily routine (and attempted to increase my magnesium-rich foods) and have found that many of the symptoms that I had suffered during that low period have been resolved.

Treat Yourself and Check Your Health, 

With Angela O'

Topics of Disgust: Neosporin Usage

Photo Credit courtesy of Neosporin.com


On several occasions I have come face to face with someone who thinks that it is okay to treat a wound by directly squeezing ointment from the tube onto the bloody, puss-ey, or whatever germy area that has been affected.  DISGUST.  I shutter and completely freak out whenever I see this.  I honestly cannot understand why this happens or why someone thinks it's okay for it to happen.  An excuse that has surfaced several times (pardon the pun) is that the tube doesn't actually touch the wound surface so it should be okay.  Hmmmm, well the ointment that is connected to the tube (and the remaining unused ointment) is being touched and not all of the ointment comes off on your nasty surface.  Hence, it either goes back in the tube or slimes up the cap.  

Please for the love of all humans, next time apply the Neosporin to the bandage first and then put the bandage on your wound.  Or if that freaks you out...use a freshly-cleaned finger or a glove.  Do not contaminate the Neosporin tube!

I cannot express to you how angry this makes me feel whenever I see it happen.  It will make me throw away your $5.00 tube of Neosporin each time I see you do it.  I'm already cursing in my mind just thinking about someone doing it.  WTF!

With Angela O'

Obamacare Fees Now Served at Your Restaurant!

All that I could say on my facebook page when I saw this surface for the first time was "Holy Crap"...

Check out this article from CNN.  Some restaurants are now charging fees on YOUR tab for ObamaCare.  I am sure it honestly has to be because they can't afford handling this charge as a small business.  I mean, Right? I hope they are being honest...hmmm because then I could be a sucker.  Look at the companies that dropped health insurance benefits last year, most were unannounced because they were small businesses.  In August it was announced that UPS planned to stop certain spouses from getting health benefits and in September Trader Joe's announced that it would be cutting health benefits for part-timers.

But the truth is, I don't want to go eat at a restaurant that has an Obamacare charge on it either.


This is what was shared on facebook February 27th among several people:

Now on your restaurant bill: Obamacare fee

photo credit: money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Several restaurants in a Florida chain are asking customers to help foot the bill for Obamacare.
Diners at eight Gator's Dockside casual eateries are finding a 1% Affordable Care Act surcharge on their tabs, which comes to 15 cents on a typical $15 lunch tab. Signs on the door and at tables alert diners to the fee, which is also listed separately on the bill.
The Gator Group's full-time hourly employees won't actually receive health insurance until December. But the company said it implemented the surcharge now because of the compliance costs it's facing ahead of the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate kicking in in 2015.
"The costs associated with ACA compliance could ultimately close our doors," the sign reads. "Instead of raising prices on our products to generate the additional revenue needed to cover the costs of ACA compliance, certain Gator's Dockside locations have implemented a 1% surcharge on all food and beverage purchases only."
Related: Employers play Obamacare blame game
The company employs a total of 500 people, with about half working full-time. Currently only management receives health benefits, but the restaurant will have to offer coverage to all full-timers once the mandate takes effect. The fee will allow the company to continue offering full-time hours to many workers, according to Sandra Clark, the group's director of operations.
"I'm just trying to keep the employees I have that I've worked hard to train," Clark said.
In addition to the costs of providing health care, the company hired one additional staffer and a consulting firm to make sure it is complying with the law and to assist in the additional tracking of workers' hours and wages required by Obamacare, said Clark.
Clark is not sure how much the company is spending on compliance, but estimates that it will cost $500,000 a year to extend insurance to its full-time hourly restaurant workers. The surcharge may bring in about $160,000 a year, she hopes.
Thirteen other Gator's Dockside restaurants, which are run by a different firm and its franchisees, are not implementing the fee.
Share your story: Have you begun using your Obamacare benefits?
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, an upscale restaurant is also asking guests to pony up for its employee health care costs.
Since it opened in November, Republique's tab comes with an optional 3% surcharge that allows it to employ all of its 80 workers full-time and provide them with health insurance. The fee is explained in a sign and on the menu, and servers explain it to diners without prompting.
The surcharge is not related to Obamacare, a restaurant spokeswoman said. The eatery is not subject to the employer mandate until 2016 because it has fewer than 100 workers, but it already offers coverage to its staff.
How are customers reacting to the fee? So far, most people are paying it, she said.  To top of page

First Published: February 27, 2014: 7:09 AM ET

Multi G-H Nut Cheerios??

So last May I completely swore of cereal.  I have loved cereal since I was a newborn, okay if you want to get picky then a toddler.  I loved it all and my love set in hardcore on those days I would stay at Gramma's house.  She would give me my very favorite of all Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch.  Her favorite was Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.  Over the years it became nothing but comfort food.  In high school and college who didn't want to sit and eat cereal all day.  Especially when it was served in those all-for-the-world-to-see-and-your-mouth-to-drool clear pour mass bins.  Forget the other food. 

In my twenties, I had moved on to Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats.  Somehow, I determined it was healthier than the full-on sugary stuff.  Over the course of nine years, I became a mini-wheat connoisseur determining who made the best frosted mini wheats.  Eventually, I believed that the generic and competing national brands were better at it than Kellogg's themselves!

During my last few months before my 30th birthday I was chatting with a personal trainer friend and we got into conversation as to how cereal is one of the worst things that you could consume.  All junk, just eating candy.  I secretly knew this all along but did not want to admit it.  So to ween myself off, I started eating organic cereal.  Puffins was pretty good.  Then by June I had gone cold turkey.  After a few weeks I didn't miss it.  Then on my 30th birthday I visited my two best friends in Florida.  One of which had a cereal junky family like me.  Oh dear.  I was in trouble.  

So by the end of August I was back on the wagon.  But this time it was a better choice.  My friends had taught me something new...mix cereals.  Well, I used to love Honey Nut Cheerios but they were just so syrupy sweet for me now.  Yuck.  So I thought, why don't I mix them with Multi-Grain Cheerios.  Lots of multi grain, little honey nut.  There you go, that is how I made the perfect cereal.  

Today I am finishing up the last of my double-box pack of Multi-Grain and double-box pack of Honey Nut Cheerios.  It has lasted me since the end of August when I determined I had to load up on my new find at Costco.  It is January of the new year and that is the present me.  If it had been the twenties me four boxes wouldn't have lasted one month.  As I am finishing up this last box I am done.  Not completely done, but just done.  Now that Cheerios has sided with us health-conscious Americans and deemed that their original Cheerios will no longer be made with genetically modified organisms I am going to keep one (only one) box of original Cheerios in the cabinet.  Those will be for those occasions of a quick breakfast or a pre-dinner snack since my husband gets home from work a few hours later than I.  But no longer do I gorge myself on cereal.

~with Angela O'

Photo Credit: www.honeynutcheerios.com

Photo Credit: www.honeynutcheerios.com