ב"ה
Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor or even a licensed nutritionist or any other medical or para-medical person. I only know what I read and what I hear from my alternative medical practitioners. This is not supposed to be a substitute for medical advice from either allopathic or alternative medical practitioners.
I'm a long time vegetarian and vegan (34 and 22 years respectively). Though I didn't make either decision (giving up meat/poultry/fish/leather/fur first and then adding dairy/eggs/lanolin etc. to the list) for health reasons. But somewhere along the line I did begin to be interested in health and nutrition and, of late (within the past 5-10 years I suppose) I've been downright obsessed with it. Health and nutrition books populate my bookcases and I subscribe to several health and nutrition magazines and newsletters.
About the same time I "went vegan", I also stopped taking medications. I don't even take aspirin. Most people find this very surprising (many even find it hard to believe). There are situations where I might take medication (particularly if it would be to treat an acute infection or injury) but I would then have to deal with the "fallout" (for example, taking antibiotics causes an imbalance in the body of bacteria vs. yeast -- for the most part, they keep each other in check, but antibiotics kill all bacteria without regard for whether or not it is helpful to the body's function -- if I were to need to take antibiotics then after I would have to pump up my body on probiotics and prebiotics).
One of the reasons I read a lot about health and nutrition is that I need to read about supplements and herbs to know which ones help the body regain equilibrium (as in how to treat different health issues to assist your body in healing itself).
Toward that end, I read a lot about this subject. My Mom has even "jumped on the bandwagon" (not that she doesn't take any medication, but she also takes supplements, etc.) -- this began when she went to a doctor for some muscular pain she was having. The doctor asked her what she wanted him to do. All he could recommend is semiannual cortisone (or something similar????) shots, something that, thank goodness, she cringed over the very idea of.
I had just been reading in one of my health newsletters about vitamin D and how prevalent vitamin D deficiency is, particularly in seniors, particularly in people who avoid the sun and particularly in the Northeast (all three conditions apply to my Mom). And, as it turned out, one of the symptoms was muscle aches. So she tried increasing her vitamin D and within days, the aches went away.
A few days ago, she had a bit of food poisoning (she thinks, anyway) and I gave her ginger tea (hot water with a few slices of ginger root in it) and, voila! Within a short time, she was feeling better.
I myself take many supplements, including vitamin D, vitamin B complex, niacin and niacinimide, and iodine. Some I take on my own (though I run them by my alternative medical practitioner) and the others I take on the advice of my alternative medical practitioner. With the help of these supplements, I have lowered my blood pressure, my cholesterol (though I think my vegan diet made the biggest dent in the cholesterol since I eat precious little saturated fat and no cholesterol).
So I was pretty intrigued by an article about The 12 Most Dangerous Supplements. I was curious as to how many of them I had heard of (7) and how many I had ever taken (none). The ones I might have considered taking (and with herbal preparations one should always either do research or discuss with their medical practitioner (allopathic -- that's MDs -- or alternative -- naturopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors, etc.) or both (with me, I try to do both).
It's ironic, from my perspective, that they spend so much time and effort trying to make it seem as though thousands upon thousands of people are dying from taking bad supplements. But they ignore the myriad side effects of medications.
Just about every day I see commercials from some law firm trying to find victims of this or that medication (Avandia is the big one right now, but there are so many drugs with potentially fatal side effects that once Avandia isn't there another one will pop up). So why is there such a fuss made of supplements and herbal preparations?
Too many people just follow what their doctors say. But most of the doctors just take symptoms and make a diagnosis and from the diagnosis they pick a medication from the a list and write a prescription for it. Doctors get most of their information about drugs from the pharmaceutical company representatives, who convince the docs that these are the only solutions to these specific issues. So most people are putting their faith in the drug companies. And I think most of them are doing this without understanding the consequences.
Most drugs work by suppressing a symptom, whereas most nutrient supplements and herbal preparations work by helping the body heal itself. What happens with drugs is that they suppress a symptom (say high blood sugar) but they haven't been proven (and in many cases, as a matter of fact, they have been proven to NOT) to save lives. Oftentimes, they cause more deaths than they save. (An example is diabetes drugs -- there was a study to see what would be the ideal dosage of diabetes medications that would prevent heart attacks in diabetics. What they found -- they had to stop the study early -- was that the drugs themselves caused more heart attacks! Everyone was surprised even though this also happened in the late 1960s when they tried this with diabetes drugs from that era!
I think people need to remember that the doctors won't have to live with the consequences of their prescribing. Only the patient has to live (or die?) with the fallout. So it behooves everyone to take control of his/her own health. Do more research, read magazines and books. Be an advocate for yourself and your family members.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Hasn't Charlie's Sheen been tarnished yet?
ב"ה
There are always people one hears about even when one doesn't want to. Over the past months, I would include Muʿammar al-Qaḏḏāfī (Moammar Gadaffi or however his name might be spelled in the English transliteration) and Lindsay Lohan are right up there on the list.
But I have to tell you, the person who I think it stretching his [way more than he deserves] "15 minutes of fame" to breaking point is Charlie Sheen. He's insulted people, offended people, ruined his career (not to mention screwed up the careers, at least temporarily, of his co-stars on "Two and a Half Men") and been booed off the stage in his "One Man Show[off]". So why are GSN and Drew Carey giving him yet another opportunity to prove to the world what a self-centered, ego-maniacal, immature, self-entitled individual he is?
There are so many people in this world (and even just in this country) who are nice people, who are talented and intelligent, who can't seem to make a decent living and people are wasting their money showering this low-life with adulation (or, in some cases, just money -- after hearing of how he was booed off the stage in more than one locale, I was reminded of a verse my Mom taught us when we were kids -- "Cy and I went to the circus/Cy got hit with a rolling pin/We got even with the darned old circus/We bought two tickets and we didn't go in")
Ok, so I have some advice for you all out there in big-city land -- DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CHARLIE SHEEN!!!! If you really want to get something for your money, how about supporting the arts by buying products created by artists -- check out Cafe Press, Zazzle, Printfection, and PrintPop . Buying from these sites is, IMHO, a much better use of your entertainment/arts dollar. Of course, the fact that I have shops on all these sites doesn't hurt. (If you are so moved, the links to my shops are on the side of this blog under the heading Compugraph Designs' Stores)
There are always people one hears about even when one doesn't want to. Over the past months, I would include Muʿammar al-Qaḏḏāfī (Moammar Gadaffi or however his name might be spelled in the English transliteration) and Lindsay Lohan are right up there on the list.
But I have to tell you, the person who I think it stretching his [way more than he deserves] "15 minutes of fame" to breaking point is Charlie Sheen. He's insulted people, offended people, ruined his career (not to mention screwed up the careers, at least temporarily, of his co-stars on "Two and a Half Men") and been booed off the stage in his "One Man Show[off]". So why are GSN and Drew Carey giving him yet another opportunity to prove to the world what a self-centered, ego-maniacal, immature, self-entitled individual he is?
There are so many people in this world (and even just in this country) who are nice people, who are talented and intelligent, who can't seem to make a decent living and people are wasting their money showering this low-life with adulation (or, in some cases, just money -- after hearing of how he was booed off the stage in more than one locale, I was reminded of a verse my Mom taught us when we were kids -- "Cy and I went to the circus/Cy got hit with a rolling pin/We got even with the darned old circus/We bought two tickets and we didn't go in")
Ok, so I have some advice for you all out there in big-city land -- DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CHARLIE SHEEN!!!! If you really want to get something for your money, how about supporting the arts by buying products created by artists -- check out Cafe Press, Zazzle, Printfection, and PrintPop . Buying from these sites is, IMHO, a much better use of your entertainment/arts dollar. Of course, the fact that I have shops on all these sites doesn't hurt. (If you are so moved, the links to my shops are on the side of this blog under the heading Compugraph Designs' Stores)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Project: Runway and Michael Costello and me
ב"ה
Ok, so I didn't meet Michael Costello, but I would love it if I could talk to him. He struck me as being a very sweet person, but something about his experience reminded me of my life.
Now, don't get me wrong -- I love my parents. But they grew up in a different world, they grew up in the world of "college education is the ticket to permanent vocational security" and "work for the same company/organization for 20-30 years and then you retire on a nice pension". And, while my Mother's family has artists (like writers and musicians), she seems to have internalized my father's family's depression mentality (my father's sister, though she's artistic, was a school teacher -- the safe profession for women of her are -- her daughter and granddaughter have a cake decorating business and the cakes are gorgeous -- though if you've ever read my Bayit and Garden blog you know I wouldn't eat a bit if them)
I have been designing since my teens. I used to knit and crochet Barbie doll clothes and I would sell them at a local concession store. I've never actually learned how to sew and make patterns well, so most of my clothing designs (with the exception of a couple of sweaters I knitted and a couple of dresses someone made for me for my sister and brother's weddings) are on paper only (mind you, I never learned how to sketch well either, so I trace figures and draw the clothing on them). I did go to Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in "the city" (aka Manhattan) part time at nights for 3 years, but I learned more about jewelry designing (I can make some of my jewelry and I have made quite a few and even sold some, but most of my jewelry designs, which I DID learn how to render well -- I even developed my own method of designing on the computer -- like my fashion design, are only on paper -- or pixels). I did try learning "flat pattern design" (I tried twice) and draping, but I was so far behind after only a few weeks that I dropped the courses each time (I was more concerned about credits back then than learning).
But after 3 years and only 19 credits (6 of which were in science and astronomy), I left FIT and went to college full time, majoring in TV/Radio and nothing with art or drawing in it. And that was the end of my design career.
Part of this was because my parents never encouraged me (actually,for the most part, they discouraged me -- my Mom still says XX years later, that I should have worked for the government like she did -- despite my telling her that I actually tried getting a job with the government on numerous occasions). The first people in my life who have encouraged me are a friend (who sometimes works with me to get my business going) and my niece, who just started design school in Israel. For the past 20 or so years I have been working off and on as a freelance graphic designer and for the past 4 or so years I have been working on my Cafe Press, Zazzle and Printfection stores.
So my message to Michael: I love you. I love your work. I think you're very talented. Keep in mind, not every idea a designer has is great. We all have horrible designs in there somewhere. But if you listen to your voice (and, in your head now, I have a feeling you'll hear Tim Gunn's voice whenever you step back and look at your newest creation). I know I would love to see you in the future. If you have faith in yourself you WILL succeed. And, one favor if you ever do see this blog entry, leave me a comment.
(If you want to see some of my clothing sketches, you can see them here.)
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Ok, so I didn't meet Michael Costello, but I would love it if I could talk to him. He struck me as being a very sweet person, but something about his experience reminded me of my life.
Now, don't get me wrong -- I love my parents. But they grew up in a different world, they grew up in the world of "college education is the ticket to permanent vocational security" and "work for the same company/organization for 20-30 years and then you retire on a nice pension". And, while my Mother's family has artists (like writers and musicians), she seems to have internalized my father's family's depression mentality (my father's sister, though she's artistic, was a school teacher -- the safe profession for women of her are -- her daughter and granddaughter have a cake decorating business and the cakes are gorgeous -- though if you've ever read my Bayit and Garden blog you know I wouldn't eat a bit if them)
I have been designing since my teens. I used to knit and crochet Barbie doll clothes and I would sell them at a local concession store. I've never actually learned how to sew and make patterns well, so most of my clothing designs (with the exception of a couple of sweaters I knitted and a couple of dresses someone made for me for my sister and brother's weddings) are on paper only (mind you, I never learned how to sketch well either, so I trace figures and draw the clothing on them). I did go to Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in "the city" (aka Manhattan) part time at nights for 3 years, but I learned more about jewelry designing (I can make some of my jewelry and I have made quite a few and even sold some, but most of my jewelry designs, which I DID learn how to render well -- I even developed my own method of designing on the computer -- like my fashion design, are only on paper -- or pixels). I did try learning "flat pattern design" (I tried twice) and draping, but I was so far behind after only a few weeks that I dropped the courses each time (I was more concerned about credits back then than learning).
But after 3 years and only 19 credits (6 of which were in science and astronomy), I left FIT and went to college full time, majoring in TV/Radio and nothing with art or drawing in it. And that was the end of my design career.
Part of this was because my parents never encouraged me (actually,for the most part, they discouraged me -- my Mom still says XX years later, that I should have worked for the government like she did -- despite my telling her that I actually tried getting a job with the government on numerous occasions). The first people in my life who have encouraged me are a friend (who sometimes works with me to get my business going) and my niece, who just started design school in Israel. For the past 20 or so years I have been working off and on as a freelance graphic designer and for the past 4 or so years I have been working on my Cafe Press, Zazzle and Printfection stores.
So my message to Michael: I love you. I love your work. I think you're very talented. Keep in mind, not every idea a designer has is great. We all have horrible designs in there somewhere. But if you listen to your voice (and, in your head now, I have a feeling you'll hear Tim Gunn's voice whenever you step back and look at your newest creation). I know I would love to see you in the future. If you have faith in yourself you WILL succeed. And, one favor if you ever do see this blog entry, leave me a comment.
(If you want to see some of my clothing sketches, you can see them here.)
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
The End of an Era? I Hope it's the End of a Losing Era
ב"ה
So yet another promising baseball season ends without the Mets making it to the post-season. In my opinion, it's not that the Mets don't have good players. Reyes, Wright, Beltran, add to them Ike Davis, Angel Pagan and lately Ruben Tejada (I think if we could either get back Frenchie or if Bay would come back, we would have a solid starting line-up).
Lately, Lucas Duda and Nick Evans have been making some noise (I like Nick Evans -- I think he's a good young player and I've been watching him for a while).
I wonder what Gil Hodges (am I showing my age????) would have done with the current team. I like the new (and some of the old???) pitchers. K-Rod is a huge question mark (holy Plaxico Burris, Batman! Talk about "shooting yourself in the foot"!) -- wish he weren't such an idiot from a human perspective. Dickey has been the best surprise, but Gee and Niese.
So I hope this bodes well for next year, particularly with a new GM and manager. Here's to 2011! May it be our best year yet!!!!
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
So yet another promising baseball season ends without the Mets making it to the post-season. In my opinion, it's not that the Mets don't have good players. Reyes, Wright, Beltran, add to them Ike Davis, Angel Pagan and lately Ruben Tejada (I think if we could either get back Frenchie or if Bay would come back, we would have a solid starting line-up).
Lately, Lucas Duda and Nick Evans have been making some noise (I like Nick Evans -- I think he's a good young player and I've been watching him for a while).
I wonder what Gil Hodges (am I showing my age????) would have done with the current team. I like the new (and some of the old???) pitchers. K-Rod is a huge question mark (holy Plaxico Burris, Batman! Talk about "shooting yourself in the foot"!) -- wish he weren't such an idiot from a human perspective. Dickey has been the best surprise, but Gee and Niese.
So I hope this bodes well for next year, particularly with a new GM and manager. Here's to 2011! May it be our best year yet!!!!
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Frenchie's Toast
ב"ה
The sports news lately has been very depressing. The Mets have been raising losing to a new art.
But last night's sports news added to this -- not only did the Mets lose, but they traded away a player who I have considered a bright spot in the dim haze of the Mets' 2nd half of this season. I know he hasn't been hitting well (who on the Mets has???) but his arm is worth a few home runs a week, in my opinion.
I'm a real Mets chauvinist, so if I like any players from another team, particularly the Braves or the Phillies, it's generally because I see something in that player that I think would work with the Mets and help the Mets. Jeff Francoeur was just such a player.
In a previous blog entry, I spoke of how much Jeff Francoeur gives to the team. I think his infectious smile also makes him a favorite with fans. This is good for the morale of the fans and the players, in my opinion.
I don't know about other fans, but I'll miss Jeff Francoeur. I think there are different dimensions each player can give to a team and when you are trying to build a winning team. The Mets have (and have had) the talent; they just need to work together in a cohesive manner to truly be a winning team. This is something the Mets don't have right now, and trading away Jeff Francoeur takes away just one more element from the equation.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
The sports news lately has been very depressing. The Mets have been raising losing to a new art.
But last night's sports news added to this -- not only did the Mets lose, but they traded away a player who I have considered a bright spot in the dim haze of the Mets' 2nd half of this season. I know he hasn't been hitting well (who on the Mets has???) but his arm is worth a few home runs a week, in my opinion.
I'm a real Mets chauvinist, so if I like any players from another team, particularly the Braves or the Phillies, it's generally because I see something in that player that I think would work with the Mets and help the Mets. Jeff Francoeur was just such a player.
In a previous blog entry, I spoke of how much Jeff Francoeur gives to the team. I think his infectious smile also makes him a favorite with fans. This is good for the morale of the fans and the players, in my opinion.
I don't know about other fans, but I'll miss Jeff Francoeur. I think there are different dimensions each player can give to a team and when you are trying to build a winning team. The Mets have (and have had) the talent; they just need to work together in a cohesive manner to truly be a winning team. This is something the Mets don't have right now, and trading away Jeff Francoeur takes away just one more element from the equation.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Friday, August 13, 2010
Folk Hero or Obnoxious Man?
B"H
It's amazing how quickly Steve Slater, a flight attendant who claimed that he was fed up with rude passengers, cursed over the loudspeaker, grabbed a beer and slid down the safety slide has become a "folk hero" of sorts (sort of in the category of Bernhard Goetz, I would think). It seems that service workers seemed to identify with Mr. Slater.
I was reminded of a few things in my life when this happened. My mom didn't believe for one moment that Mr. Slater was justified because recently I (who usually get along quite well with the flight attendants, often talking to them on long flights) had an incident with a flight attendant. A few months ago, I was on a flight (a puddle jumper with only one flight attendant) and had some difficulties with a nasty flight attendant. It started when he refused to let me go to the bathroom before the flight left the gate. It continued (I don't recall what the second "thing" was) and came to a head when he wouldn't give me more water (I'm diabetic and need a lot to drink or I get dizzy). So on one of my myriad trips to the bathroom, I saw an open water bottle and took it from the galley and brought it back to my seat. When "Mr. Personality" saw me with the bottle, he tried to take it from me, wrestling with me over the bottle. When he realized he would not be able to take the bottle from me, he crushed it rather than allow me to drink from it. He had the Captain call ahead and I was met by a woman who I assumed was supposed to escort me out of the airport, but when I told her what happened, she laughed and realized that I wasn't some crazed terrorist or criminal, intent on disruption their flight. I laughed the whole thing off (after sending a narrative of the event in an e-mail to the airlines and promptly put the incident in the cobweb covered filing cabinet in the nether regions of my brain and didn't think about it again until Mr. Slater's incident -- and it took my Mom reminding me for me to extract this from it's place in my brain).
This past week, on Undercover Boss, there was a repeat of an episode about a CEO of a mail order business (I forget the name) was working undercover with a customer service phone employee who was rude to a customer and he was livid. He later told the employee that this was totally unacceptable.
This also reminded me of when I was working many years ago as a teller at Chase Manhattan. I often worked the "deposits only" line and I was also the teller that one of the "not exactly by the book, but let's help the customer" officers (whose name was John and he later was the president of a smaller branch) used to bring the upset customers to (because he knew that I would do whatever he asked me to do even if it wasn't "by the book").
One day, John brought over someone who was really upset. The customer continued to complain while I was taking care of him. I finished the transaction, handing him his receipt, smiled and said, "have a nice day" and he left. The next customer was a regular of mine and so I started chatting with him. He started staring and I asked him what the problem was and he said that he was shocked that I could take that abuse and still be my normal cheerful self. I shrugged and told him that I knew the customer wasn't angry with me, just the bank. I'd been on the other side myself many times.
On that episode of "Undercover Boss", there was also an employee who was able to diffuse just about any customer with his charm and "let's make this right" attitude. He personified the cool customer service representative and he managed to resolve issues, feeling that it was his job to have the customer feel good after the call. I have experienced people like that too, in between the obnoxious "I'm right, you're not!" people.
So what's the real story with Mr. Slater? I don't know. But he's no folk hero to me.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
It's amazing how quickly Steve Slater, a flight attendant who claimed that he was fed up with rude passengers, cursed over the loudspeaker, grabbed a beer and slid down the safety slide has become a "folk hero" of sorts (sort of in the category of Bernhard Goetz, I would think). It seems that service workers seemed to identify with Mr. Slater.
I was reminded of a few things in my life when this happened. My mom didn't believe for one moment that Mr. Slater was justified because recently I (who usually get along quite well with the flight attendants, often talking to them on long flights) had an incident with a flight attendant. A few months ago, I was on a flight (a puddle jumper with only one flight attendant) and had some difficulties with a nasty flight attendant. It started when he refused to let me go to the bathroom before the flight left the gate. It continued (I don't recall what the second "thing" was) and came to a head when he wouldn't give me more water (I'm diabetic and need a lot to drink or I get dizzy). So on one of my myriad trips to the bathroom, I saw an open water bottle and took it from the galley and brought it back to my seat. When "Mr. Personality" saw me with the bottle, he tried to take it from me, wrestling with me over the bottle. When he realized he would not be able to take the bottle from me, he crushed it rather than allow me to drink from it. He had the Captain call ahead and I was met by a woman who I assumed was supposed to escort me out of the airport, but when I told her what happened, she laughed and realized that I wasn't some crazed terrorist or criminal, intent on disruption their flight. I laughed the whole thing off (after sending a narrative of the event in an e-mail to the airlines and promptly put the incident in the cobweb covered filing cabinet in the nether regions of my brain and didn't think about it again until Mr. Slater's incident -- and it took my Mom reminding me for me to extract this from it's place in my brain).
This past week, on Undercover Boss, there was a repeat of an episode about a CEO of a mail order business (I forget the name) was working undercover with a customer service phone employee who was rude to a customer and he was livid. He later told the employee that this was totally unacceptable.
This also reminded me of when I was working many years ago as a teller at Chase Manhattan. I often worked the "deposits only" line and I was also the teller that one of the "not exactly by the book, but let's help the customer" officers (whose name was John and he later was the president of a smaller branch) used to bring the upset customers to (because he knew that I would do whatever he asked me to do even if it wasn't "by the book").
One day, John brought over someone who was really upset. The customer continued to complain while I was taking care of him. I finished the transaction, handing him his receipt, smiled and said, "have a nice day" and he left. The next customer was a regular of mine and so I started chatting with him. He started staring and I asked him what the problem was and he said that he was shocked that I could take that abuse and still be my normal cheerful self. I shrugged and told him that I knew the customer wasn't angry with me, just the bank. I'd been on the other side myself many times.
On that episode of "Undercover Boss", there was also an employee who was able to diffuse just about any customer with his charm and "let's make this right" attitude. He personified the cool customer service representative and he managed to resolve issues, feeling that it was his job to have the customer feel good after the call. I have experienced people like that too, in between the obnoxious "I'm right, you're not!" people.
So what's the real story with Mr. Slater? I don't know. But he's no folk hero to me.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
B"H
I'm a long time vegetarian and vegan (33 and 21 years respectively). Though I didn't make either decision (giving up meat/poultry/fish/leather/fur first and then adding dairy/eggs/lanolin etc. to the list) for health reasons. But somewhere along the line I did begin to be interested in health and nutrition and, of late (within the past 5-10 years I suppose) I've been downright obsessed with it. Health and nutrition books populate my bookcases and I subscribe to several health and nutrition magazines and newsletters.
About the same time I "went vegan", I also stopped taking medications. I don't even take aspirin. Most people find this very surprising (many even find it hard to believe). There are situations where I might take medication (particularly if it would be to treat an acute infection or injury) but I would then have to deal with the "fallout" (for example, taking antibiotics causes an imbalance in the body of bacteria vs. yeast -- for the most part, they keep each other in check, but antibiotics kill all bacteria without regard for whether or not it is helpful to the body's function -- if I were to need to take antibiotics then after I would have to pump up my body on probiotics and prebiotics).
One of the reasons I read a lot about health and nutrition is that I need to read about supplements and herbs to know which ones help the body regain equilibrium (as in how to treat different health issues to assist your body in healing itself).
Toward that end, I read a lot about this subject. My Mom has even "jumped on the bandwagon" (not that she doesn't take any medication, but she also takes supplements, etc.) -- this began when she went to a doctor for some muscular pain she was having. The doctor asked her what she wanted him to do. All he could recommend is semiannual cortisone (or something similar????) shots, something that, thank goodness, she cringed over the very idea of.
I had just been reading in one of my health newsletters about vitamin D and how prevalent vitamin D deficiency is, particularly in seniors, particularly in people who avoid the sun and particularly in the Northeast (all three conditions apply to my Mom). And, as it turned out, one of the symptoms was muscle aches. So she tried increasing her vitamin D and within days, the aches went away.
A few days ago, she had a bit of food poisoning (she thinks, anyway) and I gave her ginger tea (hot water with a few slices of ginger root in it) and, voila! Within a short time, she was feeling better.
I myself take many supplements, including vitamin D, vitamin B complex, niacin and niacinimide, and iodine. Some I take on my own (though I run them by my alternative medical practitioner) and the others I take on the advice of my alternative medical practitioner. With the help of these supplements, I have lowered my blood pressure, my cholesterol (though I think my vegan diet made the biggest dent in the cholesterol since I eat precious little saturated fat and no cholesterol).
So I was pretty intrigued by an article about The 12 Most Dangerous Supplements. I was curious as to how many of them I had heard of (7) and how many I had ever taken (none). The ones I might have considered taking (and with herbal preparations one should always either do research or discuss with their medical practitioner (allopathic -- that's MDs -- or alternative -- naturopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors, etc.) or both (with me, I try to do both)) I checked out more carefully only to discover that they have negative side effects that I wasn't too keen on (so I never tried them).
It's ironic, from my perspective, that they spend so much time and effort trying to make it seem as though thousands upon thousands of people are dying from taking bad supplements. But they ignore the myriad side effects of medications.
Just about every day I see commercials from some law firm trying to find victims of this or that medication (Avandia is the big one right now, but there are so many drugs with potentially fatal side effects that once Avandia isn't there another one will pop up). So why is there such a fuss made of supplements and herbal preparations?
Too many people just follow what their doctors say. But most of the doctors just take symptoms and make a diagnosis and from the diagnosis they pick a medication from the a list and write a prescription for it. Doctors get most of their information about drugs from the pharmaceutical company representatives, who convince the docs that these are the only solutions to these specific issues. So most people are putting their faith in the drug companies. And I think most of them are doing this without understanding the consequences.
Most drugs work by suppressing a symptom, whereas most nutrient supplements and herbal preparations work by helping the body heal itself. What happens with drugs is that they suppress a symptom (say high blood sugar) but they haven't been proven (and in many cases, as a matter of fact, they have been proven to NOT) to save lives. Oftentimes, they cause more deaths than they save. (An example is diabetes drugs -- there was a study to see what would be the ideal dosage of diabetes medications that would prevent heart attacks in diabetics. What they found -- they had to stop the study early -- was that the drugs themselves caused more heart attacks! Everyone was surprised even though this also happened in the late 1960s when they tried this with diabetes drugs from that era!
I think people need to remember that the doctors won't have to live with the consequences of their prescribing. Only the patient has to live (or die?) with the fallout. So it behooves everyone to take control of his/her own health. Do more research, read magazines and books. Be an advocate for yourself and your family members.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
I'm a long time vegetarian and vegan (33 and 21 years respectively). Though I didn't make either decision (giving up meat/poultry/fish/leather/fur first and then adding dairy/eggs/lanolin etc. to the list) for health reasons. But somewhere along the line I did begin to be interested in health and nutrition and, of late (within the past 5-10 years I suppose) I've been downright obsessed with it. Health and nutrition books populate my bookcases and I subscribe to several health and nutrition magazines and newsletters.
About the same time I "went vegan", I also stopped taking medications. I don't even take aspirin. Most people find this very surprising (many even find it hard to believe). There are situations where I might take medication (particularly if it would be to treat an acute infection or injury) but I would then have to deal with the "fallout" (for example, taking antibiotics causes an imbalance in the body of bacteria vs. yeast -- for the most part, they keep each other in check, but antibiotics kill all bacteria without regard for whether or not it is helpful to the body's function -- if I were to need to take antibiotics then after I would have to pump up my body on probiotics and prebiotics).
One of the reasons I read a lot about health and nutrition is that I need to read about supplements and herbs to know which ones help the body regain equilibrium (as in how to treat different health issues to assist your body in healing itself).
Toward that end, I read a lot about this subject. My Mom has even "jumped on the bandwagon" (not that she doesn't take any medication, but she also takes supplements, etc.) -- this began when she went to a doctor for some muscular pain she was having. The doctor asked her what she wanted him to do. All he could recommend is semiannual cortisone (or something similar????) shots, something that, thank goodness, she cringed over the very idea of.
I had just been reading in one of my health newsletters about vitamin D and how prevalent vitamin D deficiency is, particularly in seniors, particularly in people who avoid the sun and particularly in the Northeast (all three conditions apply to my Mom). And, as it turned out, one of the symptoms was muscle aches. So she tried increasing her vitamin D and within days, the aches went away.
A few days ago, she had a bit of food poisoning (she thinks, anyway) and I gave her ginger tea (hot water with a few slices of ginger root in it) and, voila! Within a short time, she was feeling better.
I myself take many supplements, including vitamin D, vitamin B complex, niacin and niacinimide, and iodine. Some I take on my own (though I run them by my alternative medical practitioner) and the others I take on the advice of my alternative medical practitioner. With the help of these supplements, I have lowered my blood pressure, my cholesterol (though I think my vegan diet made the biggest dent in the cholesterol since I eat precious little saturated fat and no cholesterol).
So I was pretty intrigued by an article about The 12 Most Dangerous Supplements. I was curious as to how many of them I had heard of (7) and how many I had ever taken (none). The ones I might have considered taking (and with herbal preparations one should always either do research or discuss with their medical practitioner (allopathic -- that's MDs -- or alternative -- naturopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors, etc.) or both (with me, I try to do both)) I checked out more carefully only to discover that they have negative side effects that I wasn't too keen on (so I never tried them).
It's ironic, from my perspective, that they spend so much time and effort trying to make it seem as though thousands upon thousands of people are dying from taking bad supplements. But they ignore the myriad side effects of medications.
Just about every day I see commercials from some law firm trying to find victims of this or that medication (Avandia is the big one right now, but there are so many drugs with potentially fatal side effects that once Avandia isn't there another one will pop up). So why is there such a fuss made of supplements and herbal preparations?
Too many people just follow what their doctors say. But most of the doctors just take symptoms and make a diagnosis and from the diagnosis they pick a medication from the a list and write a prescription for it. Doctors get most of their information about drugs from the pharmaceutical company representatives, who convince the docs that these are the only solutions to these specific issues. So most people are putting their faith in the drug companies. And I think most of them are doing this without understanding the consequences.
Most drugs work by suppressing a symptom, whereas most nutrient supplements and herbal preparations work by helping the body heal itself. What happens with drugs is that they suppress a symptom (say high blood sugar) but they haven't been proven (and in many cases, as a matter of fact, they have been proven to NOT) to save lives. Oftentimes, they cause more deaths than they save. (An example is diabetes drugs -- there was a study to see what would be the ideal dosage of diabetes medications that would prevent heart attacks in diabetics. What they found -- they had to stop the study early -- was that the drugs themselves caused more heart attacks! Everyone was surprised even though this also happened in the late 1960s when they tried this with diabetes drugs from that era!
I think people need to remember that the doctors won't have to live with the consequences of their prescribing. Only the patient has to live (or die?) with the fallout. So it behooves everyone to take control of his/her own health. Do more research, read magazines and books. Be an advocate for yourself and your family members.
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
