The Power Within… Just Change Your Mind

Home-Spun Research

This week Ive decided to write about some Home Spun Research. There are a few topics that have introduced themselves to my world that I found myself wondering about, thinking hmmm, I want to test this theory. So here we go with a little Home-spun health and fitness research.

Home Spun #1: This began with a water melon and a cantaloupe which just happen to be left on the counter for a number of days for everyone in the family to enjoy. For some reason I hadnt found the time to cut them up and my kids hadnt bugged me to the point of doing so on their request. So after around five or six days of moving those melons around on my counter, I finally cut them up and had them in a bowl in the refrigerator for all to enjoy! Lets see, Im thinking the bowl was consumed in approximately 30 minutes! So that means, five days in the unprepared state of consumption versus 30 minutes in the ready to eat state! This little home-spun research project just goes to show you that having the healthier choices available and prepared to eat, will give those raiding the refrigerator a healthier snacking choice.

Home Spun #2: My husband and I have had individual opportunities to enjoy a long and challenging hike this past week. My husbands was on Friday, which brought him home complaining how his knees and ankles were extremely sore. He also mentioned that his muscles werent extremely sore, just fatigued and that he has developed a theory with regards to his sore and achy joints. His home-spun theory is that the aches and pains he was experiencing in his knee and ankle joints had to be directly related to the fatigue he was feeling in his muscles due to the stressful hike. After all, isnt it the responsibility of the muscles surrounding the joints to keep those joints strong, keep the joints in alignment and keep the joints functioning properly? Therefore, if his muscles were exhausted because of a strenuous hike theyd just completed, they were not able to do their job for the knee and ankle joints effectively. Tired, worn-out and/or weak muscles surrounding the joints result in aches and pains in those joints!

This little home-spun theory goes deeper than preparing and recovering from a summer hike. It goes to show that if you do not keep your muscles strong, around each and every joint in your body, youll suffer from aches and pains on a daily basis. Strength training is essential for life and all its activities and not only for hiking. If you want your aches and pains to stop? Then think about strength training on a regular basis to keep those joints healthy, strong and able to recover from those strenuous activities in a reasonable time frame.

Home Spun #3: I am an individual who has a different reaction to allergens every year. This past week, I found myself outside every day doing a number of outdoor activities and the allergens caught me and theyve held on.. After an extremely uncomfortable day which just about laid me flat that evening from an allergy attack, I remembered something that I wrote a number of years ago tips to survive the allergy season. It said to make sure to get out of your outdoor clothes and shower as soon as possible following all outdoor activities, doing this will reduce your suffering tremendously. I home-spun it and yes! Its true! The very next day and every day since, I have worked my day so that I change out of the clothing I wear outside as soon as possible then either shower or simply wash my exposed skin with water to remove the pollens that have followed me inside. Im still a little itchy in the eyes and have the sniffles, but at least Im not completely dysfunctional by dinner time!

Its kind of fun to Home-Spin some things! It makes you take a closer look at habits and changes you might seriously want to make! Try it in your life and see what things you can figure out!

Deborah Holmes

July 14, 2009