Thursday Thirteen--13 reminders

In the previous entry I reported on supplements C & E not helping much. What to do? Here's my thirteen reminders on healthy living--from years of observation, and several previous blogs.

1. Choose your parents and ancestors wisely.
   
2. Eat all the colors, the darker the better.
   
3. Learn to prepare your own food--it's cheaper and healthier than eating out frequently or buying processed. Lots of wonderful root crops; and frozen will be better than that stuff that sits in the back of the frig for 2 weeks, which may have been old when you bought it. Don't bother with those search and destroy missions; the human race got this far without infomercials and expensive eating programs.
   
4. Avoid high calorie, sugary or salty snacks and desserts. They just make you more hungry; but also, don't deprive yourself completely or you'll binge. Chocolate in moderation is good for you. I hope they don't reverse that research.
   
5. Don't smoke at all; not for any reason, no, no, no, not any weed. Nicotine is never good for you, gives you wrinkles, yellow teeth, bad breath, puts you at risk for all sorts of diseases, and you smell bad. Plus it costs hundreds a year. That third hand smoke danger stuff is an urban legend, however. Based on nothing but personal opinion survey. No studies--zip, nada, zilch. If you get too hyper, you'll just give yourself an ulcer.
   
6. Don't have more than a few alcoholic drinks a week; red wine may even be good for you--even more so with a little chocolate. But grape juice is good, too. I cooked up a bunch of grapes getting a little old along with some fresh pineapple starting to turn and a tired apple. Ran it all through the blender, and my! that was tasty.
   
7. Get regular exercise. I know, I know. I hate it too. But it's good for you. Especially the bones. It will also help your balance. Falls are dangerous. You don't want to go to the hospital or nursing home for any reason--bad germs there. Plus it sets you up for pneumonia.
   
8. Wash your hands often. Keep a little bottle of the alcohol rub around for emergencies.
   
9. Brush your teeth.
   
10. Floss. Protect your gums. You can really get bad stuff from decay around your gums. I hate to floss. And I had gingivitis in my 30s, so I should know better. But I do have all my teeth--even my wisdom teeth. That helps me write 11 blogs.
    
11. Protect your ears. Oh, I hate to see these kids blasting away their hearing hour by hour with ear buds and i-pods. Hearing is so precious. My grandmother was blind, and you know what she said? Hearing loss is worse than sight loss because it interferes with communication. I can't stand it when I see parents taking their helpless infants and toddlers into the loud, clangy bangy church service (called x-alt at our church) with the drums and rock music. It's child abuse in my opinion. If my ears are too tender for that CCM noise, think what theirs must be!
    
12. Choose solid, stable, supportive shoes. Oh you foolish girls, trying to look like you have 5 more inches of leg by wearing stiletto, expensive pumps with pointy toes. I like a little stacked heel just because it's comfortable, but you're asking for sprained ankles and strained backs. You'll have corns, bunions and arch cramps for sure.
    
13. Forgive. Don't carry around grudges. How long ago did she say that nasty thing? 20 years? Bad thoughts pull down your face and cause you to get less sleep, which give you bags under your eyes.

The Old Thursday Thirteen is gone; here's the new site. http://thursday-13.com/