The Cure for Cancer

I think I’ve figured out why many adults are addicted to caffeine. Some of you probably don’t want to hear this, but the answer is this: “It’s easier than working out, eating healthy and taking vitamins every day”.

Ouch.

So, how does this happen? Well, in some cases, we start drinking soda pop as kids and just keep drinking it. I started drinking coffee at the age of 5. Sounds strange, but my grandma always fixed me a cup of milk, sugar and a little bit of coffee. As a dancer, the soda machine was right outside the room where I took class. After an hour or more of sweating, a nice cold can of Cactus Cooler sounded, and tasted, pretty good!

As we grew up, caffeine became just a natural part of our daily diet. When we’re feeling tired, we tip back a Red Bull or a slurp up a latte from Starbucks. It’s instant gratification we are looking for. Who has time to take a brisk walk or jog around the block?

Most of the young adults I talk to today don’t take any dietary supplements and they eat fast food nearly every day… and they wonder why they are always so tired and suffering from headaches all the time. I know I don’t consume all of the nutrition that my body needs each day. Do you eat four servings of broccoli every 24 hours? Who does such a thing?

People are dropping like flies in their 40’s and 50’s from heart attacks and cancer. People are developing diabetes earlier in life. Children are fighting obesity like never before. Would you believe me if I told you there was a cure for all this dis-ease? There is a cure. It’s just that no one wants to do anything about it because we’ve become too dependent on fast food and caffeine.

If you find yourself sitting in a drive through at Del Taco, Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, Carl’s Jr., etc. more than once a week, you are contributing to the cause. We’ve done this to ourselves. It’s our desire for convenience that has driven our country to be #1 in critical care. It’s a reaction to the symptom that is caused by malnutrition and lack of physical activity.

In closing, I would just like to say that I have kicked caffeine to the curb and no longer frequent fast food facilities. I also drink water instead of soda and take customized supplements every day. In this way, I am helping to live a longer and healthier life for myself, my best friend and my daughter. Who wants to tell their child that they suddenly lost a parent because they ate one too many combination burritos?

In the "NOW"

I attended a "Healthy Happy Hour" titled "I Am Grateful" last night at Balance In Motion. Sounds... interesting, right? Well, there was a wonderful spread of organic wine, fruit and cheeses and the office lobby was packed with people. Dr. Chrissy Stamm brought in a writer who lead everyone in a wonderful exercise that gave us a wonderful opportunity to stop and really think about what we are grateful for. I thought it was pretty timely considering the holidays are upon us. This was the third annual poetry writing event that Dr. Stamm had hosted.

As we all sat around and wrote down our thoughts on what we were truly thankful for, starting with ourselves and working our way outward, you could sense the creative energy flowing. The instructor asked us to write down our two favorite passages from what we had written and share them with our neighbors. We were then instructed to write a poem using words we had written and had received from our neighbors as well.

When we were finished, all of us had a chance to share what we had written. I must say, it was all very profound. We all learned that everyone is a poet. The key is to write down our thoughts, prayers, wishes and things we are grateful for and then arrange the wording, just so, to make it flow.

We all had such a wonderful time, we urged Dr. Stamm to hold these "I Am Grateful" events once a quarter instead of annually. I am definitely returning for the next one. Let me know if you would like to join me!