We did get snow this morning. 11 degrees and -2 with the windchill. But we really cannot complain because December was a beautiful month and the cold came in on January first. Jim and I are both sick now. I have had two COVID tests and both were negative but have had so many symptoms that the doctor thinks I have a false negative and she did a PCR test that quarantines me for 3-4 days. It is not that I need to know if I have COVID, but I need to know if I could give someone else COVID. Someone who could die because of it, meaning my home health patients. By quarantining I am giving my body time to heal before going out again. But now Jim has it. So sad about that. I think my sister said it best, “Even if you don’t have COVID, you feel lousy and that is never good”. And whatever I have is contagious because Jim now has it. Sadly, no church today.
The sun is shining as we go into this afternoon. We did not separate the cow and her calf last night because we wanted them to be together in the barn loafing shed to stay warm and who wants to milk in single digits. Funny story…We always have a carton with boiled eggs in it. I went to crack an egg in the carton labeled BOILED EGGS and it oozed all over the counter. No problem I will just get them out of the other carton. Another mess. Well, it seems that we sold the boiled eggs carton to our neighbor so we had to do come exchanging today. Now we have them back in their rightful carton in our refrigerator ready for use.
Nutritional Information
If you can’t get out or don’t know where to start to eat healthier, start by eliminating one of your vices. Soda, pastries, candy, sugar. Don’t pick them all…just one. Are you one of the Dr. Pepper lovers or are you a Mountain Dew lover? I can’t believe how many people MUST have one of those two drinks every day and generally several times a day. Is that you? First cut back on how many and then cut back on all of them. Slowly, no instant moves. One way to reduce soda is to dilute it just a little at first and then a little more and a little more until you are ¾ water and ¼ soda. Don’t say you can’t because we are capable of doing so much more than we want to do. Soda leads to diabetes, weight gain and cardiovascular disease. Soda is causing fatty liver disease in people’s livers like alcohol does in those who drink too much. Soda causes belly fat. Soda contains no nutrients. Soda is addictive.
Giving Up Soda
However, do not think that if you are drinking sugar free that it is better for you. It is not. Changing from sugar to diet-free will only fool the body for a short period of time and then the weight will come again. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose still cause weight gain. In a recent study it was found that people who used sucralose had insulin and blood glucose levels still increased. Artificial sweeteners change the way the brain sees sugar and make the cravings for sugar greater. One of the clients I cared for decided to change from diet to sugar so she was drinking the real thing and she went into diabetic crisis because she went from 4 diet soda a day to 4 sugar sodas. Giving up soda completely is a good place to start with a goal for the new year. Understand that I know you may have an addiction to it. Make 2022 a year to own what goes into your body, not the other way around.