winter wellness

Now that winter is in full swing, I know many people who are sick: Colds, flu, a lingering virus that produces a chronic cough. My husband and I haven't been sick in years. I attribute a lot of that to our healthy lifestyle and wellness tips, so I thought I'd share some of them with you:

Wash your hands every single time you walk in your house from being out in public. Washing your hands with warm water and soap (skip the antibacterial stuff) is the most important thing you can do to keep germs from spreading. Store cart handles, public bathroom faucets and handrails, keyboards and desks are the worst for germ-laden surfaces. 

Keep your hands away from your face. Try not to touch your eyes, nose or mouth ~ or else use a disposable tissue.

I can't stress this enough: eat a healthy diet. By that, I mean real food. Stay away from fast food, prepared foods, sugar, and frozen grocery store dinners.  As Robert Lustig, MD, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco says, "If I could suggest one change to someone's eating habits for health, it would be to eat real food."

(Organic chicken cooked in the Crockpot with tomatoes, coconut milk, onion, garlic & ginger - topped with cilantro; basmati rice with sauteed barberries, onion and saffron; broccoli sauteed in coconut oil)

 Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits (click here for which produce you should be buying organic), some whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and limited dairy. If you choose to eat meat, try to buy grass-fed, local meat or choose organic at the grocery store. If you eat fish, make sure it's wild-caught, not farmed.

Certain supplements can help boost your immune system, especially in the winter. Most of us in the more northern climates are lacking in vitamin D, due to the lack of sunshine. Elderberry is powerful in preventing colds and flu or lessening symptoms. You can find it in syrup or capsule form. Make sure you're getting enough vitamin C by eating citrus fruits (and they're at their peak in winter!) and if not, take a supplement. You can also look into zinc, echinacea and other immune boosters such as organic mushroom blends. Make sure when you're buying vitamins and supplements, that you get a good brand. Google the company and see where their products are sourced from and manufactured. You want to buy from a reliable company and one that doesn't use unecessary fillers and binders in their products.

Get moving. Bundle up and go outside for a walk ~ it feels good! You not only get the physical benefits from walking outside, but the mental perk, as well. Park far away from stores when you're running errands. If it's simply too cold to walk outside, go to a huge store and walk up and down every aisle and circle the perimeter of the store a few times. If you live near a mall, go indoor mall walking. Use stairs, not the elevator. Practice yoga to improve flexibility, balance, strength and respiration. When you're in your house, maybe even doing some housework, turn on some music that makes you move. 

Practice meditation. It lowers your blood pressure, improves heart rate and breathing, relieves tension and tightness from muscles, reduces stress, improves sleep, and boosts the immune system.

Diffuse essential oils. For winter wellness, try a couple of drops each of cinnamon, clove, orange, eucalyptus and rosemary. For respiratory illness, try a mixture of peppermint, tea tree, lemon and eucalyptus. If you have pets in the house, please check with your veterinarian first about diffusing oils. Some vets say it can be dangerous for them to inhale.

Keep hydrated. Drink a lot of filtered water (I keep sliced lemons in mine for a little bit of flavor) and herbal and green teas (unsweetened, of course). Stay away from sodas, even diet ones which are filled with artificial sweeteners and are linked to numerous health conditions.

To your health! 💓

*Disclaimer: the information in this post and on this blog is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding any medical condition or treatment.

our well saga ~ and small changes in the kitchen

 We have lived in our house for almost 25 years. There are still so many things we want

and need to do both inside and out, but that's another story for another day. We like the

area we live in...a small town about 45 miles northwest of a major city. But the one 

drawback has been having a private well instead of city water. Sure, we don't have a

water bill - that's a positive. But with all the maintenance, upkeep and repairs that a well

requires, we don't feel it's worth it. Not to mention getting used to the taste and odor of the

water when we both grew up with city water. The taste of the water is fine when the water

system is working right. We keep our drinking water in a Brita pitcher in the refrigerator.

 

Lately, our water has smelled funky and I could even tell it had a different "feel"

to it. Thinking it was our water softener, we had the guys from the water softener

company come out a couple of times to check things out. They said the water softener

was fine and suggested perhaps it was the water heater. Nope, that's new. We put

more salt in the tank for the water softener and set it for an extra cycle. Didn't make a

difference in the water. So we finally called a well company. Long story short, it turned

out to be a pressure leak in the tank bladder. And the tank had standing, stagnant water

 in it (which our house water was going through...no wonder our water was awful!). There's

not supposed to be any water in the  tank. The shut-off valve was leaking, too. So, we 

ended up having to get a new tank, valve, pressure switch and gauge, and have the

well shocked/chlorinated.

Not only did this set us back a pretty penny (we won't be getting our fireplace surround

and mantle after all), but we didn't have any water for over 24 hours. Once your well is

chlorinated, you can't run any water for 18-24 hours. And then the real fun begins.

First thing this morning, Brian had to hook up hoses to all four outside spigots and 

let the water run for a couple of hours into the street. Not fun hooking up hoses when

it's 17 degrees and there's snow on the ground. Once that was done, we then had to

start indoors. The tub had to run until the chlorine smell was gone. Then the shower.

Then the bathroom sink. Then flushing the toilet several times. Then on to the next

 bathroom. The kitchen. The downstairs laundry tub. The washing machine had to be

run without any clothes in it. Then the dishwasher had to be run without any dishes in it.

Of course, it wasn't that simple. From well water sitting for 24 hours and then being run

"fresh" again, sediment then comes through all the faucets. Which means all the little

screens on all the faucets and shower heads had to come off. Sinks and tubs had to
 be cleaned out and scrubbed. Same with the toilets. For whatever reason, the water going
 into the washing machine still looks dirty after five go-arounds. Poor Brian had taken the
 hoses and screens off and cleaned the out each and every time. We have finally given up
 for the night. After all, Brian does have to get some sleep. He gets up at 3:45 a.m. for work!

 He is going to call the well company in the morning to ask them about the washing
 machine. Another concern is that if there's still chlorine in the water and I take my
 shower tomorrow morning and wash my hair, because my hair is color-treated, will my hair
 turn orange?! I'm now so paranoid of that happening that I think I will just take a bath
 tomorrow morning instead and leave my hair alone. If I have greasy hair for a day, so be it. 

 I don't want this post to be all Debbie Downer-like, so on to more cheerful stuff.

I bought a new rug from Target for the kitchen, but it didn't look good in here, so

it's now in the living room where it looks better. I'll show that to you at another time.

I'm just leaving the area around the table bare for now. I'm actually kind of liking the

no-rug look. I took the too-modern teak chairs from around the kitchen table, put

them in the storage space in the basement, and brought up two of the more country

style chairs. I painted one of them white last year but only did one coat. And it needs

another. So yes, it's only half-painted. That seems to be the story of my life with stuff 

around the house...half done. ;-) But I can see by having the white(ish) chair at the table,

 that it looks so much better than the brown. Especially in a kitchen that already has a

lot of brown. And yes, I know my tablecloth needs ironing. With all the other

stuff going on right now, don't care! Not on my "important things to do" list right now.

 More little changes...I took down that formal painting with the red frame that my aunt gave

me and good thing I did. When I took it down, I discovered the nail it was hanging on
 was almost ripped out of the wall. That painting would've fallen at any time. And  it was
 heavy. With glass on the front. That would've broken the lamp on the table beneath 
the painting, plus the glass in the painting itself. I also took the white stool with the plant on 
it out of the kitchen and moved a chair into that place.

"Before" pic with the painting and the white stool (not that there's anything wrong with

this "before" pic...I actually like it better than the after! But sometimes things have to

be moved around):

 "After" pick with a piece of canvas art that had been in that place for years and

a blue chair from the living room. Why the blue chair? Well, that new rug that I

 bought for the kitchen is also a bright blue. But a little bit of a different shade of

blue than the chair. So the chair and the rug totally clashed. The chair can be used

as extra seating at the table. Oh - and that bright neon-yellow doorway you see in

the background? That is the doorway that goes downstairs. The walls are not that

vivid yellow! I don't know if it's my camera or what, but in person the walls are much

lighter.

As frustrating as today has been, I know that this too shall pass and that next time

I "talk" to you all, our water problems will be over. I hope. Positive thinking!