Archive for the ‘Healthy Self’ Category
Imagine it: Twenty-four hours without brushing your teeth, taking a shower, or washing your face. Then forty-eight hours. Then five days. Then ten. By that time, your teeth are probably coated in a gritty film, your armpits itchy, your face slick with oil, and your hair is (depending on the texture and presence of natural oils, of course) may be greasy and flat. You’re covered in dirt and soot from the time you spend outside every day. You probably don’t smell too great, either, from the bacteria swimming in the caked-up oils on your skin.
You’re probably grumpy, too, because you feel gross and smelly and anti-social.
Imagine, then, going forty days without grooming.
Sound impossible? Or at least very icky? Well, there’s no need to try it (like you were leaping out of your chair to do so anyway), because a British woman has already performed this grand experiment.
In my column in Thursday’s paper, I want to know why people get so riled up when you suggest that… (dramatic pause here) America provide health care for all its citizens. Michael Moore’s “Sicko” is the impetus for this column, but I fear that some of the resistance is because some (many?) people just don’t care if other people suffer. Survival of the fittest, they might argue.
<>What do you think? Do you think we have a right to be healthy? If so, why? And if not, please explain this to me.
You would think that after the Great Olestra Leakage Debacle of the late ’90s, Americans would shy away from buying supposedly weight-conscious items that threatened to make their digestive and excretory functions unpredictable.
But you’d be wrong!
A hip new weight-loss drug called alli (the ‘i’ is long and the lowercase ‘a’ is, sadly, intentional) is being marketed to women as the first and only FDA-approved over-the-counter weight-loss drug. Alli is actually a lower-strength version of Xenical, a prescription drug that blocks the absorption of fat.
Alli, according to the L.A. Times:
… works in the digestive system by blocking the absorption of about 25 percent of fat that is consumed. In a theoretical 3,000-calorie-a-day diet with about 100 grams of fat, the drug would eliminate about 225 calories.
The initial news reports claim that the drug is flying off the shelves (okay, at least in L.A.), despite its steep cost of $60 for a one-month supply — despite the horrifying side effects “treatment effects,” as GlaxoSmithKline so euphemistically calls them.
Just what horrifying side effects might those be?
Oh, just unpredictable diarrhea and oily gas. And the near certain possibility that you’re going to poop your pants.
Mrs. Philpot, my high school team tennis coach in the ‘80s, used to threaten to make me run laps around the court if I didn’t move faster. She also liked to say that I was going to trip over my hoop earrings, which were as big as my head. When I was a child, one of our coaches at the Memphis Center of Gymnastics and Ballet used to chase me down the runway toward the vault and tell me to pretend that she was a rabid dog, to get me to move faster. Historian Will Durant said, “No man who is in a hurry is quite civilized”; this is my motto.
This is not to say that I don’t believe in the mental and physical benefits of exercise. But I walk, instead of run, and I don’t participate in exercise that I don’t enjoy.
I’ve been going to the Push Pilates studio at 1882 Union — near the palm reading place and across from the West Precinct — for the last six months. Joseph Pilates, an athlete who was born in Germany in 1880, created a series of exercises that focuses on strengthening core muscles, stretching and breathing. (To see pictures of Joseph Pilates, the equipment he used and for a more in depth explanation of Pilates, go here: pilatesmethodalliance.org.
When I can’t make it to class, I pull out my mat, magic circle, roller and exercise ball and do Pilates in my kitchen, although I suggest first taking classes from trained Pilates instructors, in order to learn the techniques correctly. When you finish, you stand up straighter and feel relaxed and full of energy. It’s addictive.
And it’s therapeutic. Push Pilates is offering a “Divorcees Bootcamp: Pilates Therapy”. They claim on their Website that the price is equivalent to 3 hours lawyer’s fees.
My mom, the tennis coach, always says that spending time on the court is better than Lakeside and cheaper. What do you think?
“So have I been a good patient?” I asked of my husband Dave.
“Yeah, this time,” he replied.
“This time? What does that mean?”
“Well, you were knocked out during and then you slept most of the time afterward.”
Gee. Thanks. Here I was thinking Divas make pretty good patients. After all, when we finally do take care of ourselves, we still have to take care of everyone else first.
To get ready for my tooth extraction, I cleaned the house. Made sure the refrigerator was stocked. Got my prescriptions filled. Went over the post-op instructions with Dave and then left them by my chair in plain view. All the things I’d do if I were caring for someone else.
So, thankyouverymuch, I think I was a pretty good patient.
What about you, fellow Diva? When was the last time you were a patient? Did you take care of everyone else first?
