Ambien Walking Nightmare.

Written by on

A new person came into my life recently who is into the health and fitness lifestyle, so we’ve been hitting it off well over the past couple weeks.

What I soon discovered is that even though this person is slim and fit, they are largely unaware of the more in-depth aspects of holistic well-being.  They actively watch their diet and exercise like crazy…but still take a daily dose of Lexapro and nightly dose of Ambien to fight depression and insomnia respectively.

The Lexapro started because of a divorce that started about six months ago.  The drug was used to help this person navigate the emotional trauma, but since then most of it has been managed, and there is no need to use the drug any longer.  It was a “situational” depression, one caused by a circumstance, as compared to someone dealing with an unknown origin depression that just will not go away.

Having been a victim of the latter, I changed my lifestyle drastically at one point and made a lot of shifts in the way I lived that effectively resolved the condition for me, which I’d suffered from for a lifetime at that point, about 35 years.

I have trouble understanding why a person would opt for a prescription under the former condition; it seems people will turn to a prescription simply because it has become a way of life in western culture.

I used Lexapro when I was in a lot of physical pain, which carried over into a mental hell and no one else knew what to do with me.  This was long before I figured things out for myself.

While on Lexapro, I nearly took my life within the first week.  The drug caused extreme anguish, so much so, that I will never judge a person who commits suicide ever again…I was right there…and, if I ever meet the inventor of the drug, I’d love to spend five minutes alone with him; just five minutes. 

That’s a story for another time.

My friend mixed up the Ambien and Lexapro two days ago, and for the first part of their day saw people with four legs walking around, among other semi-psychosis symptoms that after finally passing out flat on their back, was taken to emergency care.

And they remember none of this today.  All based on third party two-legged witnesses, the four legs being the only part of it they have conscious memory of.

A warm magnesium oil bath works just about as well as Ambien for encouraging sleep.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Obesity as the “New Normal.”

Written by on

“On my world,” everyone cares about the health and condition of their bodies as a spiritual practice, believing all is one, everything is tied in together, body/mind/spirit and each other.  With this health-giving mindset, food education takes precedence and because there is no corporate greed, only healthy foods are available for everyone to consume.  People can choose from proteins, fats or carbs depending on their current needs.

On this world, there was yet another news report on skyrocketing obesity today.

Without going into all the stats presented, let’s just make a long story short and sum up the article this way:

Obesity is continuing to rise.

It is causing astronomical health costs for all insurances, public and private.

Obesity was at 12% in 1989 (I remember this…when I was young, most of us were slim).

In 2010, we’re at 35.7%.

2018 projection: 47.5.

In other words, in just a few short years, half the people you look at in public will be obese…defined as having a BMI of 30.0 and above.

I used to take my grandmother, before she passed on, out for lunch on the weekends.

She was hard of hearing, and would always remark loudly “People are so FAT!”

We would scold her for it, telling her to keep her voice down.

But she would know.  She had the perspective, due to being able to get out only so frequently due to health issues over the previous 20 years, and having lived life long enough to witness the dramatic change that took place before her eyes.  People watching was her specialty.

My opinion:

People have become completely accustomed to two problems.  So much so, they may be unwilling to change:

Borderline horrible quality of foods, and eating these foods in high quantities.

It has become a cultural standard.  

When we socialize, we eat crap.  When we see family we eat crap.  When we watch TV we eat crap.  When we hit the vending machine we eat crap.  Most restaurants: crap.  95% of food establishments: borderline crap.  

And portion sizes are often huge.  This gives the perception of added value.

And this is the “norm” now.

If you do not buy in and adhere to it, you’re weird.  Outside the “norm.”

So obesity is becoming the new “norm.”

Once we get past the 50% threshold, the majority of Americans will be the new norm:

Obese.

Just because it will be “normal” to be obese.

Are we all ready for the new way of things?

P.S. I just watched an overweight mom…by about 40 lbs…buy her screaming boys “Naturally and Artificially Flavored” fruit chews out of a vending machine.  The boys stopped screaming once they had their chews.

Olay All-Day UV Chemical Shield:

Written by on

Below is the ingredient list of a product I saw advertised this afternoon, designed for women, to put on their skin to protect them from sun exposure:

Active Ingredients: Octisalate (5.0%), Avobenzone (3.0%), Homosalate, Octocrylene (2.6%)

Inactive Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Polyethylene, Dimethicone, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Isohexadecane, Polysorbate 60, Dimethiconol, PEG 4 Laurate, PEG 4 Dilaurate, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, PEG 4, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Glucoside, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate (Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolyme), Cetearyl Alcohol, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Benzyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, PEG 100 Stearate, Fragrance (Parfum)

There is no question that excessive sun exposure, depending on the person’s skin tone, can be problematic.

Kinda like anything we over-expose ourselves to.

But look at the chemicals in the product above, and tell me you know what each one of them is, and how applying it to your skin will be beneficial, and absorption of the chemicals into the body will be non-toxic.

Some of the group are recognizable, B vitamins, C and E.  Others are complete unknowns to me, and others are on the “questionable” list in my book of food safety (which includes a cosmetics section).

The sun produces vitamin D.

Moderate exposure is hugely helpful, and this is a fact that cannot be disputed.

Unless someone wants to dispute the eons worth of life-giving magic that the sun provides.

If one is outside constantly, of course precautions need to be taken.

But to block the UV spectrum, and any/all of the other of the sun’s wide spectrum, considering that without it we’d all be dead…

Just seems a little “off” to me.

Especially using all those chemicals to attempt to accomplish this goal.

We KNOW the sun, respecting the sun and our exposure to it, is healthful.  The sunblock companies may desperately like you to believe otherwise, but gosh darn it, the sun provides life, and I would love to debate these issues with the company heads at any time…kinda an easy win.

Or at least ask them if the chemicals they use in their products are life-enhancing…or life-degrading.

Wanna bet the answer is the latter?

So I’d prefer covering up with loose light-colored clothing, after obtaining my 20 to 30 minutes of nakedness in the sun.

Just another in a long list of what to me is “common sense.”