Anyway I was thinking that mental health is just as important as healthy eating. I was also thinking about this school year just starting and some of the problems that kids and teens will be facing. I thought it might be both interesting and helpful to discuss school and teen related issues so I came up with Teen Tuesday. So as a test every Tuesday we will discuss teen and younger peoples problems and questions.

If it doesn’t work we’ll scrap it, if it does we will keep it.

It would be helpful for all of us readers and writers alike to have teens comment here to ask questions or bring out issues they’d like advice on. I can’t do this alone people so don’t be shy. No one needs your name or any personal information so feel free to write in and make this site somewhere for others to go for advice. Thank you!

Researchers are still hiding behind ” we still don’t know about pot’s long term effects” so don’t expect everyone to take this finding seriously. Most doctors who participate in these pot studies do think that there is merit in pursuing these studies and that pot will one day have a useful roll in providing pain relief.

I do believe that those who are truly suffering from pain and are terminal should be able to use whatever pain relief works for them. There is no reason people should have to suffer because others frown on the choice of pain relievers.

In other words if you’ve had a previous heart attack and have changed your diet to include a margarine that has had omega 3 added to it for protection against another heart attack, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

I don’t know why this should be but it seems that you’re much better just eating the foods that contain it naturally rather than relying on foods that have things added by man. It’s just not the same and although our taste buds may be fooled the internal workings of our bodies aren’t.

There’s a reason for the term ” only God can make a tree “, this might be one of them. Mother nature knows what she’s doing, trust her and eat the salmon.

Of course I’m looking for the angle here. Everyone knows it’s  better for baby and mom to breast feed for the first year. Some women are just not able, comfortable, or stable enough to do some. Throwing in their faces that now in addition to being bad mothers they will be punished further by getting diabetes because they didn’t breastfeed their babies.

What does breastfeeding have to do with diabetes? I has to do with burning excess fat from your body. If I’m righ about that then how about singling out those people who don’t exercise. or those who don’t run, walk, or jog?

Maybe we could group a lot of different people together like those who golf and aren’t burning enough calories?

You know as well as I do that mothers are easy to attack and are sponges for guilt trips.

Your life style is what counts, what you are doing now in terms of diet and movement, leave the breasts out of it and do what’s best for you and your child.

You can understand how difficult it is for some kids to not stray from that line with all the distractions. It’s like a highway with billboards on both sides trying to lure you in. Some of the signs invite them to drink, some to do drugs. Others are offers of friendshi[s from peers who break the law and hurt others or even run away. You can’t go with them on this journey, but you can watch them and offer advice.

With the start of school, as a parent I think you need to face a few truths and be aware of some of the obvious pitfalls.

1. Don’t assume that because you know your child you also know how they behave in front of other kids. They may be a little or totally different.  Don’t be the parent who denys without knowing, always saying, Not my kid, my kid would never do something like that. Try to observe them when they are with their friend and don’t know they’re being watched.
2. Do not be blind to your child’s own social standing, Let’s be honest, you know if your kid is popular or a nerd, a bully or a victim.
3. Take a close look at your child’s friends. They will become the kind of people they hang around with. Kids seek acceptance more from their  peers than you.
4. If your kid starts having trouble with others, document everything. The date, time, location, and description of the occurrence along with any witnesses to the event.
5. Know where they are and what they’re doing at all times. They don’t like it than don’t leave the house.
6. Be responsible for what’s going on in  your homes. Let’s not give into ” it’s my private room, you have no right to look into it ” , because guess what? The room is legally yours not theirs and your are held responsible for what’s in it. Don’t cry later that you didn’t know there were guns or bombs hidden their. It may sound far fetched but you don’t want to be that one family it happens to.

Don’t let things drag on till they get  real bad. Help your child to solve problems as they occur. School should be fun not a war zone.

     I was afraid to look fearing a bad injury, however he was laughing for having done something so stupid. His eyelid was swollen and became very black and blue. I guess the cork was really in there tight and he repositioned the bottle in his lap so he could open it and before he could move it again, POP!

     While I agree it was careless on his part, the point of this post is that it can and does happen and he was lucky he didn’t injure his eyeball itself. So next time you’re opening some bubbly, keep this in mind.

     It says that the problem is that we are not expending the energy that we need to by sitting. This study makes it sound like the only solution is to move while you’re sitting. There are ways to do this but I don’t think this is something that we want to be doing when we are trying to concentrate on our work.

     It reminds me of when I was in grade school as a kid. I used to always swing my legs and the teachers did not like this at all. One of them even tried to humiliate me in front of the whole class by saying I was only doing on purpose for attention. Well honey, whatever the reason I couldn’t sit still, it seems to have been beneficial to my health.

     This poor man lost his jaw, lips, nose, and most everything else from where he used to have his own face. Obviously he couldn’t be expected to live the rest of his life like that and the article that went with the story did say that he had many unsuccessful surgeries to try and give him a face. I’m also pretty sure that this was a last resort and that he was not crazy about the idea either.

     The face was just put on and I’m sure over time it will look better as he regains more use of it with therapy. However now it looks like a face that has been stretched out and masklike, very unnatural looking. He will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life but I’m sure he is thankful to regain a face.

     If I were in his shoes I would most likely take the face of a dead person too and be grateful for it, but from where I’m sitting now I just wish there was another alternative.

     I fully agree and admit that food without salt is dull and by putting salt on the food you are bringing out the best flavor possible, but it’s not good for most of us and we can’t continue to put it on everything so we can enjoy our food better.

     I understand that the chef who uses it a lot will have better tasting dishes and win these competitions, however wouldn’t it be great if they found a saltless way to enhance the food. The bad thing is that the chefs with the better tasting dishes will go on to be very popular and sought after and many people will flock to buy a meal that they’ve cooked without knowing just how much salt is in their food.

     I learned something new from this information and that is that cholesterol cannot harden in your arteries without calcium. The hardened plaque that builds up in your veins is estimated to contain about 3% of cholesterol and a whopping 50% of calcium.

     The problem is that many of us need calcium for our aging bone health. So what’s an eater to do? The advice in general seems to be stop taking supplements. Calcium comes in animal based foods such as milk, cottage cheese, cheese, etc. It also comes from some plant based foods like spinach, broccoli, and some beans. The advatage of eating plant based foods with high calcium is that they are harder for us to breakdown and digest so much of it will prevent the calcium from sticking. So if you’re eating a lot of dairy it’s a good idea to also eat a lot of leafy greens.

     It’s always something, isn’t it?