Domestic Geek

Laura suggested that I make mention of joint supplements during the 'thon. I wrote on this blog before about how my old dog, Ursa, was doing much better with her arthritic hips after we switched her to a senior dog food that contained glucosamine and chondroitin. In doing some research, I'm not finding side effects from using them. The only thing is they are freaking expensive.

Once I lose this extra weight , if I still have joint pain I may just make the investment. Like I said, it did wonders for the old dogs.

I also recall hearing that shark cartilage is good for rebuilding damage joint cartilage, but of course I can't find that information right at the moment. All I'm finding is supposedly fraudulent claims that it cures cancer or some other such crock. I'll edit this if I find it.

I'm all about trying to find natural remedies for the little problems that arise. I'm prone to UTIs (urinary tract infections). Most women are it turns out. Men can still get them, but they're not as common since the plumbing is routed differently. LOL

When I feel one coming on (you can't miss the symptoms — constant urge to pee with no urine, pain, etc), I let the fever crank up and I start popping Vitamin C and Cranberry extract. I only resort to a doctor's visit and the ultimate antibiotic if this doesn't do the trick.

I know I don't get the proper nutrition on any given day. Even when I do eat a balanced diet, a lot of our foods are not as nutrient rich (due to over-farming, etc) as they were in the past.

It's important to supplement your diet with a multi-vitamin. I know I can tell a major difference in my moods and in my physical well-being between when I take one and when I forget. It's harder to concentrate or sometimes even function when I don't get enough essential vitamins and minerals. I believe that most children that are diagnosed as ADHD are simply suffering from poor nutrition.

I read somewhere that vitamins in gelatin capsules are better for you than hard pills, but now I can't find that reference. It mentioned something about your body not breaking down the whole pill before you expel it. Not sure about that one!

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have when trying to lose weight is that if they could only get by on less food, the pounds will drop off. Unfortunately, that sets them up to fail. The body is designed to survive in times of famine, so when it senses a reduction in caloric intake, it slows down its metabolism and hangs on as hard as possible to its fat stores.

Anais gave me a link to a page about it a while back.

I remember a teacher I used to work with went to one of those weight loss places and she used to complain about all the food they wanted her to eat. Since she refused to eat it all, she never lost weight.

As Colleen reminded me, one of the biggest problems we Americans have with our food is portion control. Eating good, healthy, fresh foods is a step in the right direction, but not if you eat three times more than your body needs.

It didn't help that I grew up in a household where we would have competitions to see who could keep up with eating with dad. We also medicated hurt feelings with ice cream..big four scoop with chocolate syrup on top bowls of ice cream.

I remember watching The Biggest Loser during the first season it was on when they were talking about portion sizes to the contestants. I was thinking then that my perception of how much to eat at any one time was really out of whack, yet I couldn't be bothered to research how big portions should be.

I have been better about not gorging myself and Marcus and I don't make a habit of going to all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants like we did when we were poor. I can tell my stomach has shrunk as I can't eat as much in one sitting as I used to. It's definitely something I need to educate myself about.