Category: Vote with Your Dollars

My take not the Opioid Crisis as a chronic pain sufferer

 

The current hysteria over the so called Opioid Crisis is not meant to help anyone except politicians, rehab centers and pharmaceutical companies.

I’ve been suffering from chronic pain for over thirty years now. In the last three decades the only way for me to function was and still is by taking pain killers. My main relationship since I have been 11 has been with pain. Believe me that’s not a great way to live.

Government is always looking to grow. Politicians are always looking for ways to use the righteous idigination and ignorance of the masses to further their career while at the same time gaining brownie points with big business. This is exactly what is going on with the Opioid Crisis.

The 55,000 number of deaths linked to opioids is extremely misleading. The majority of those deaths have been the result of a combination of substances ingested which include alcohol and barbiturates along with the demonized opioids. Other deaths are linked to adulterated black market drugs, many pain patients are driven to this horrible alternative because they have been denied treatment. The opioid crisis is not caused by doctors prescribing pain pills to people who are in chronic pain.

This type of misinformation is always used to take away our rights and to enrich the few at our expense. A new wave of opioids that targets the Kappa opioid receptors will hit the market soon. I think that is another reason why the media attention on this is being ginned up as well.

There is no one speaking for the people who are in chronic pain. I’ve lost days, weeks months and years to pain. I’ve missed out on most of life because of pain. The more my access to pain killers is reduced the more pain I suffer and the less life I live. I believe that every individual has a god given, natural or innate right if you will to ingest whatever substance they see fit to consume.

That is why I advocate for government to get out of my healthcare all together. I don’t need a politician or my neighbor determining what I should or shouldn’t ingest. I propose what I hope will become the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution that would simply read:

Every individual has the innate and natural right to ingest, grow, consume, trade, sale or gift whatever substance they see fit. 

Just because someone consumes a substance doesn’t mean they are not responsible for their actions. It doesn’t matter if I kill someone whether I’ve just smoked a joint, taken a shot of Jack Daniels or drank a strong cup of coffee, I’m still responsible for what I’ve done.

When all substances can be bought “over the counter” Pfizer and Merk and other drug companies will be just like Apple or Microsoft. I can envision them opening their own stores and even having doctors on staff that will provide medical consultations and blood work for free. That way they will attempt to keep you in their ecosystem just like Apple and Google do.

Other businesses will open up and will be the Best Buy or the Walmart of medicines. Amazon could be, if they are forward looking enough, to become the number one seller of medicine in the world. Health care costs will plummet and the first time in a long time individuals will not only be able to buy what they want to treat their specific health issues but will also be able to grow their own pharmacies in their back yard. That is real freedom.

Think about growing just about all the medicine you need in your backyard for pennies per dose? A medicinal garden could include poppies, cannabis, and medicinal mushroom. It is a miracle that our bodies have the architecture to be positively and powerfully influenced by compounds made by plants and fungi. By combining the best of synthetic and natural medicines we can all live a happier, healthier and longer life.

The behavior of Pharmaceutical companies  will have to adapt to this new era of medical freedom by providing a better product at a much lower price. Without the FDA and government sanction the drug companies will have to start dealing directly with consumers. They will be on the hunt for lower side effect drugs and price them competitively due to the huge explosion of natural medicines that would be available. Research money would more and more go into natural solutions because of their safety profile and lack of side effects. Overall medicine will become cheaper, more effective and cause less deaths and injuries.

Having ready access to pain medicine would change my life for the better. I’m tired of going to the doctor with hat in hand hoping that I’ll get a prescription, which is merely a government sanctioned permission slip. I’m tired of going to the pharmacy and getting hassled because they aren’t able to read a calendar correctly. I’m tired of having to go to multiple pharmacies to get a prescription filled because their out of the pain medicine and their pharmacist is the only one who can order narcotics and he’s on vacation for the week. When you are sick and in pain these type of hassles add to your already mounting misery.

Those harping on the Opioid Crisis may care about those that are dying. But if they really wanted to use their time to the best effect they should be talking about Cigarettes which kill around 400,000 people a year, or alcohol which causes the death of  around 90,000 people  or so per year, or sugar and grain which can cause cardio vascular disease which kills millions per year. It’s clearly not about the numbers of dead that the opioid crisis do gooders are concerned about or they would be going after the big killers in this country.

Sick people are easy targets. Doctors are easy to manipulate because of the state licensing they are subject to. With the new era of Medical Freedom I’m proposing doctors could become health consultants and no longer be beholden to the current state monopoly on certifying health professionals. If doctors want to continue with the current model they could. They could be paid directly by the pharmaceutical companies and become doctors at the Pfizer store. Once doctors and patients are no longer tethered to the prescription pad or state licensing boards, politicians will lose the power to interfere with our health choices and people in pain will not have to suffer needlessly.

Its time we get government out of health care. Its time for adults to take control over their health, to exercise our innate right of self-ownership and buy whatever medicine or substance we choose to. Individuals suffer. And individuals pay the consequence of their actions. We all have the right to ingest what we choose. If the First Amendment of the Constitution protects our right to eject words out of our mouths, shouldn’t  the Constitution protect our right to put into our mouth whatever we choose?

Suffering is part of the human condition. We all suffer emotionally and physically. On this space ship Earth we have synthetic and natural compounds that can help ease the suffering. Psilocybin has proven to help with anxiety and can help end addiction, MDMA can help with PTSD, LSD can help end alcoholism, Ketamine can in less than twenty minutes end suicidal thoughts, Cannabis that miracle plant, is full of beneficial compounds that work together to help lower inflammation, reduce anxiety, increase well being, end seizures, reduce tumor size and help with sleep, and new and old opioids can help end the physical suffering of millions. Why can’t I go buy these chemicals off the shelf or order them off of Amazon? It’s not because they are expensive. Why can’t I grow medicinal mushrooms, poppy plants and Cannabis in my backyard? It’s not because they are difficult to grow.

The real reason we don’t have Medical Freedom is because we’ve forgotten that every individual owns themselves and that we have a natural right to treat our pain or our diseases as we see fit and so we must demand our innate right to ingest what we choose and bear the consequences of those choices.

 

Brad Miller

Fellow Human

 

Burning Skin Pain, Bactine, and Stoma Collars

 

I suffered from burning pain around my stoma since receiving my first ileostomy. My stoma is constantly changing size and shape and I’ve never been unable to get a good seal around it. After trying just about every paste, powder and barrier wipe on the market I had pretty much accepted the pain would always be a part of my life. I would be trapped changing my bag every day or if I was lucky every other day and I was trapped with suffering from this excruciating burning pain that I would never be able to escape. But after one disastrous date with a girl I really liked created the motivation I needed to fin a solution. It took years of research, trial and error and looking beyond the traditional medical establishment to find it. I found that using a numbing spray with Lidocaine plus a Stoma Collar proved to be a winning combination and to this day I am no longer a victim of this horrific mind twisting, social life destroying, self-esteem crushing pain.

The burning pain is like battery acid. It is an insistent pain that I could never escape from once it starting. No mental trick, no staying busy or engaging in other activities ever helped to remove the pain signal from the front of my mind. It interfered with every aspect of my life. I’ve had holidays, weekends, dinners and a hundreds of normal days ruined because of this pain. I tried different powders, pastes, seals wafers, and other products and nothing helped. Then I thought if I can’t protect the skin around my stoma then maybe I can numb the pain. That was an epiphany. All the times I told my doctor, my surgeon and my ostomy nurse about the pain not one suggested this. While I was researching late at night accompanied by the burning pain, I ran across an article about how women after delivery would be advised to use Dermablast to numb their nether regions. I’m not a woman nor have I just had a baby but I did have a painful skin problem so I figured why the hell not give it a try. When I tried Dermablast for the first time I couldn’t believe the result. For the first time after decades of sufferingI had a weapon, besides changing my bag, that would relive the burning pain.

From then on whenever the pain hit I would simply uncouple my bag (I’ve always used a two piece system) clean around my stoma and spray. The pain would vanish in less than thirty seconds. Two problems became apparent early on. The granulated  bleeding seeping skin that had developed around my stoma was still present and the Dermablast cans were too big to fit into my pocket. I was forced to carry a messenger bag or a backpack with me at all times to contain the can. It would take another year and a half before I solved the later problem but I quickly found a better delivery system for the Lidocaine than the Dermablast.

Bactine has been a staple of my ostomy kit every since I first used it. The pump dispenser is far superior and more gentle than the Dermablast and I’m able to fill up a small pump bottle with it that fits discreetly in my pocket. I found a package of small empty pump spray bottles ranging from 10-30ml on Amazon. My regular routine is to carry two of them. One filled with a biologic odor eliminator and one filled with Bactine. They are so small no one knows I have them in my pockets.  I no longer have to carry a messenger bag or a backpack. Traveling light is a great feeling. I can go to dinner with no encumbrances, I can got to a movie and not worry about suffering through it with the burning pain, and I can be assured if I am on a date I can quickly go to the bathroom spray the skin around my stoma and be back at the table, pain free in less than five minutes. This opened up life for me in a way I can’t put into words.

Even though I had found a great solution to my burring pain it didn’t address what was causing it. My granulated tissue still persisted. I was still changing my bag about every other day. I read with envy the stories from people who changed their bags after 3 or 4 days and I thought the people who said they wore theirs for 5-7 days were bold faced liars. On top of that the effectiveness of the Lidocane only went so far. The spray took the pain away but if the pain was particularly bad , the relief would only last for minutes instead of hours. This was something I had to fix. Again I reached out to all the professional medical people I’m supposed to see, ran up more co-pays spent days wasted going to their offices only to be told there really isn’t more they could do for me. One surgeon did use silver nitrate to try and cauterize the granulated skin in an attempt to eliminate it. The procedure was extremely painful and and didn’t help. (He didn’t offer a refund either) Even after this failure I wasn’t going to give up. If I found a solution to controlling the pain I knew I could find one for healing the granulated tissue.

 

After exhausting tons of different wafer designs and another round of trying pastes and different seals I found my solution.  During one of my late night research sessions  I came across a video for the product that changed my life and helped me to heal my skin. It was a video for Salts Stoma Collar. An amazing invention that is a hydrocolloid collar that snuggly encircles the stoma and has a flat bottom that adheres to the skin. It moves with the stoma and prevents stool from getting on the skin. I ordered samples that night. After about two weeks I received a huge bag full of samples including the stoma collar. The one supplied was too big but I could see its potential right away when I put it on.

Salts didn’t and still doesn’t have U.S. distribution. I found a Canadian company to buy from. Unfortunatley insurance doesn’t pay for these. But the cash lay out of about $200 was well worth the investment. I ordered two sizes and one of them fit great. Once I found the right size and started wearing the stoma collar on a regular basis  the pain was almost nearly gone, my granulated skin disappeared after four or five months, and I now could wear my bag for four or five days. While I was in the hospital I could even wear it for seven days, which I thought was an impossibility not more than a year before. The Stoma Collars greatly improved my life. For over a year I used the collars and only stopped using them recently. I’ve had a lot of bowel obstruction problems lately and decided to go back to my Eakins for now. My stoma needs free reign and I’m not eating much so I don’t have as much output and thus not much burning pain. And if the burning pain does show up, which it does a few times a week,  I can trust my ever present Bactine to put a quick stop to it.

If you are struggling with ostomy issues don’t give up. Don’t give up if your doctors and ostomy nurses have no more solutions. Don’t give up if you’ve tried every product available. New products are being developed all the time. Don’t give up on living because of pain. Don’t give up. Pain is horrible. Chronic pain that you can’t do anything about can ruin your life. It can create a sense of helplessness, it can separate you from those you love, or those you want to get to know, it can make your withdrawn, it can warp your personality, and keep you from enjoying life more fully. My life changed only when I refused to lose any more time to the burring pain, The pain only yielded to determination, persistence, and my unshakable belief that I would find a solution. Only then did I find the products and procedures that put an end to the reign of the horrific, mind consuming, burning pain.

The end of pain is the beginning of pleasure.

Brad Miller

Link to Where to purchase Salts Stoma Collars – This website I’ve ordered many times from. It’s a Canadian company and orders usually arrives in ten days or less. Shipping I think is $24.

http://myostomy.ca/search?q=stoma+collar

 

Link to Salts – Stoma Collar information

http://www.salts.co.uk/Our-Products/Stoma-Solutions/Product.aspx?ProductID=PROD20

(copy and past to follow above links)

 

Small Pump Spray Bottles at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CL6QE92/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

 

 

Saving money on TV

Being chronically ill or suffering from chronic pain or both doesn’t relieve me of my responsibility to handle my finances. I wish it did. Normally that is the last thing I want to think about when I’m sick along with the mounting medical bills. And that’s why I’m glad I’ve recently found a way to save around $800 per year by simply switching over to SlingTv. Combining this 25 channel service with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video along with Audible an audio book streaming service,  I have all the entertainment I could ever want for a lot less than we were paying for DishNetwork Satellite Cable service.

SlingTV is a streaming service from DishNetwork that has limited channel options with a substantially lower monthly cost. Right now I am paying $20 a month for the this service and getting twenty five channels. I’m getting all the channels that I was watching before when the household satellite bill was $83 per month and climbing year after year. This net savings of $63 a month or $756 a year is an easy way for me to improve my financial situation.

You can try SlingTv for seven days for free. I highly recommend checking it out. I learned about it from the Danny Trejo commercials.

https://www.sling.com

I only watch the History Channel, Food Network, Travel Channel, Comedy Central, TBS, and some HGTV. I couldn’t see the benefit of having all the other channels I never watched. I’ve been looking for a way to cut the cord for a while. Millions of people are doing so as well. In fact close to twenty percent of households have done so. SlingTV helped me to cut the cord and I’m thrilled to do it. There is some satisfaction in paying for only stuff I watch.  If you are not happy with only twenty five channels they also offer add on channel packages for sports, kids and movies.

So far I am very happy with the service. I can watch it on my phone, tablet,lap top or television. The picture quality is great, I like the guide better than standard Dish Network and its extremely easy to navigate. Yesterday I watched the first episode of friends and three episodes of Luke Cage on Netflix and a house hunting show on HGTV through SlingTV. The Roku built in to our new television makes it  extremely easy to navigate back and forth between the different services.

I’m laid up a lot right now due to severe pain from chronic idiopathic pancreatitis. Many nights I don’t sleep and the nights that I do, I get a bout two to four hours. I am grateful that Netflix and these other services are available and the pricing is amazing for the content that they provide. I was already paying for Netflix about $14.99 a month (I need to cancel the DVD option and it will go back down to $8.99  per month)before switching over to SlingTV. The monthly on SlingTV and Netflix is less than thirty bucks a month and me provides me with a ton of entertainment. On top of that I already pay for Amazon Prime for shipping and get all of their video library as well.

The hardware costs involved in order to switch to streaming services is reasonable as well. You need either a smart tv that has a streaming box installed in it or a stand alone unit to hook up to your existing television. There are a ton of options out there. Roku, Amazon, Google, and Apple all offer solutions for this.  I bought an Apple TV  unit about six months ago for $90. And there’s no monthly charge after that. Recently we bought the 39′ Insignia Smart TV from Best Buy . It only cost $239 and it comes with a built in Roku machine. Normally a Roku machine will run anywhere from $35-$75. And I bought an HD antenna which I haven’t got to work yet, for $20. Overall not a whole lot of outlay for switching over to streaming full time. Most folks only would need to buy a streaming box to connect their existing flat screen T.V. in order to get SlingTv and the other online video services. Right now I think I like the Roku navigation and setup better than my Apple TV.

A couple of downsides to SlingTV is that they don’t offer local channels and you still have commercials to watch. For me that’s okay. I don’t watch network tv except when a new Big Bang Theory comes on. The most last season plus this year’s episodes have been awful so I don’t feel like this is a big loss. I’ll be able to catch it in reruns eventually anyway. I did buy an HD antenna for local channels. I’m still trying to get that to work. I might have to buy an external one. But the antenna I did buy was only $20 and I think I’ll eventually get it to work. That way I can all my local channels plus other free over the air HD channels.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-39-class-38-5-diag–led-1080p-smart-hdtv-roku-tv-black/4863802.p?skuId=4863802

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-fine-tuning-indoor-hdtv-antenna-black/8234002.p?skuId=8234002

 

I’ve tried other streaming services like HULU but I only watched Seinfeld on it. I couldn’t see paying $12 bucks a month for that.I’ve seen every episode of Seinfeld at least ten times and it’s on TBS all the time as well. Instead of paying the $12 for Hulu I’m thinking about buying Seinfeld on Blueray or from iTunes. I also have UFC Fight Pass but I’m considering canceling that. I just don’t watch it that much any more. And in the past I’ve had Pandora as well. That was a service I just didn’t use much. I’d rather buy a few songs per month and actually own them then use their service.

Being able to laugh and get lost in powerful storytelling is extremely comforting for me when I’m hurting. Whether the story is on Netflix, on the page or in the form of an Audio book.  I’ve recently gotten into listening to old school science fiction on Audible. While I cook, get some sun or drive to the store or even while laying on the couch I can listen to a great story and for a moment or even tens of minutes I can get lost in the struggles of people on far off lands or in galaxies far far away.  I just finished listening to “Farnham’s Freehold” by Robert Heinlein. Very well done story about survival, love and time travel after WWIII. I’m not a fan of how the Audible site works but I love the audio books. For $14.95 per month you get one Audio book per month. That is very reasonable seeing that Audio Books on CD used to be ridiculously expensive.

For me being sick doesn’t give me a lot to look forward to. Having a great story or a new TV show I’m into helps me to have something to put on my “calendar” and get excited about. It’s something small but it helps. “Stranger Things” is a Netflix show that helped me get through a tough week of pain and it was nice to have the next episode to look forward to and I’m really excited about the next season which should come out around July 2017. The show is a mix between The X-Files and the Goonies. It’s set in the 1980’s and the shows producers have done and amazing job recreating the look of that time period. This show along with many others like Luke Cage, Dare Devil and Narcos all give me something to look forward to even when my life is at a stand still and I don’t have anything else going on.

Those who are in the entertainment business have no idea how much they’ve helped me endure. Over the last thirty years I’ve been laid up more than I’ve been upright and I’ve had a chance to watch tons of TV, movies and read hundreds of books. I actually wrote a screenplay almost twenty years ago as a way to get involved in the industry. I even went to LA an shopped it around a little. Right now I’m think about writing another one. There is always a need for content and great storytelling. And as more and more people adopt the streaming services more and more writers will be needed to create new material. I’m no Spielberg or James Cameron but I enjoy trying. Writing is another way that I can get lost in time and forget about the pain.

Laughter has been hailed as a medicine for millennia. I’ve spent countless hours watching Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, Archer, South Park and many other comedies. This is what I gravitate towards. For me I always enjoy funny movies or television shows more when I watch them with someone else who has a similar sense of humor. But even when watching shows that I think are hilarious by myself I still get a benefit. Smiling and laughing helps soothe the body and the mind.  Evidence of humans being aware of the power of laughter dates back thousands of years.

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones” Proverbs 17:22

Having these streaming services grants me access to thousands of hours of laughter. The cost per laugh has to be in the fractions of a penny and I am grateful for that. Researchers are starting to come around and discover why Laughter is an effective medicine but there is a lot of work to be done to find the mechanisms for this. But I doubt they’ll ever discover that it’s the “best medicine”. Some doctors envision a future in which the medical community will recommend everyone get 15-20 minutes of laughter a day just as they recommend 30 minutes of exercise per day. I believe it’s just as important for those who are chronically sick and for those who aren’t. The world needs more laughter.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762283/

Streaming services offer an incredible value for the low monthly costs. SlingTV is the newest service I’ve tried and I highly recommend it. Being chronically ill is a mental emotional and financial struggle. Any time I can  lower the cost of a service I enjoy plus get it delivered to me in a much better way I call that a win-win. Sometimes I get stuck in a suffering mindset and I don’t seek out new solutions for problems I’ve been dealing with for months or even years. Taking a small step like cutting the cord and canceling DishNetwork’s satellite service feels good. It was a positive step that saves me money and with SlingTV I still have  the entertainment and distraction I need when the pain gets overwhelming.

What streaming services are you currently using to help you weather the storms of being Chronically Ill? Please leave a comment and let me know if you’ve tried SlingTv as well.

Hoping that you can find the time to laugh and get lost in a great story today.

Brad Miller

 

 

Ten things to do instead of watching the debate

Human health includes both inputs and outputs. What we think, what we watch, and how we feel directly influence everything from the architecture of our brain to how well our immune system is functioning. I’ve listed ten things we all can do that will be better our health on Monday instead of watching the Presidential debate which can induce high blood pressure, depression, hopelessness, apathy, and even thoughts of self-harm. So if you want to avoid all of those possible side effects of watching the debate take a crack at doing one of these fun and healthy alternatives.

  1. Make Love to your significant other. If you think 90 minutes is being a bit overly optimistic than start with head to toe massage and then get to the good stuff. Then repeat until the 90 minutes are up.

    Sexual intercourse helps to boost your immune system and also helps to lower blood pressure. Watching the presidential debate will definitely raise viewers blood pressure.

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/guide/sex-and-health

2. Cook and eat a Primal Meal. I would suggest making grass fed beef tacos. Mix up your own taco seasonings, lettuce tomato and if you are cool with dairy, organic cheddar cheese and organic sour cream. If you are feeling really adventurous you can make your own cassava flour tortillas. This is the link to my recipe for the tortillas.  They are delicious.

https://healthier2day.com/2016/08/10/cassava-flour-tortillas/

Eating paleo or primally has a host of health benefits. It can help you lose weight,  lower your cholesterol and help ease the symptoms of many  chronic illnesses. The Paleo approach to eating also helps you to avoid wheat, vegetable oils, and sugar that have a host of negative effects on the human body and all of which can contribute to diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

3.  Get your garden ready for Fall planting. Now is the perfect time to revisit your      summer  garden and write down what worked and what didn’t. After that you can sit down and plan out what you are going to plant this fall. This is something the whole family can be involved with. Growing your own organic vegetables feeds your body and your soul.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/what-to-plant-now-zl0z0903zalt

4. Start learning a new language. If you learn another language it can help increase your memory and help with avoiding common cognitive traps like spelling errors or common grammar errors. Also it helps to broaden your horizon and get a different perspective which is always a good thing. This can help you see through the “tribalism” that the media and the ruling elite attempt to box us all in with and it helps you avoid falling for their plans at creating tension amongst the various “tribes”.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-languages-better-brain/381193/

5. Play a board game with your family. I personally would avoid playing risk with my family because the shouting and hurt feelings defeats the purpose. But for most people playing board games is an activity full of smiles and laughter. We’ve heard over and over again laughter is the best medicine, I don’t know about that but laughter has been shown to increase endorphins and decrease stress hormones. Another great benefit of playing board games is that you sit across from each other and you make a lot of eye contact with each person. Anyone knows that one of the best things in the world is to be the recipient of a loved one’s full attention. This is especially important for kids.

Instead of staring into a glowing box projecting images and sounds of two people you don’t know and will never know, use your attention, intelligence, energy and time to engage with those that you love while playing a game. You’ll be having more fun than anyone who is watching the debate, I guarantee it.

http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-10-health-benefits-board-games/

6. Write three letters to the three people in your life. You don’t even have to send them. The site of handwriting from someone you love has a powerful affect on a person. It is almost like seeing a picture of them writing the letter while at the same time peering inside their minds. It’s a very intimate way to communicate. That’s why it’s very unfortunate kids are not being taught cursive any longer. It is an art form and it conveys individuality that you can feel. If you’ve ever come across an old letter from a long ago love or a birthday card signed by your grandma who passed away years ago, you know what I mean.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23540/the-surprising-health-benefits-of-writing-love-letters-according-to-science.html

Writing letters involves both sides of the brain. There is a structure to it the writing, there is the emotional component and what content you want to cover. It can be as simple as sharing your latest vacation trip with an uncle you’ve not spoken to for a while or a heartfelt thank you to a caregiver, a teacher, or someone else who has helped you in a powerful way you’ve never thanked properly. That is a thousand times more powerful than anything that’s going to be said on the glowing box by those two people you don’t know and will never meet.

7. Take a hike. That’s really what I want to tell all politicians. I know we’d better off without them but in the mean time go outside and walk. Go for as long as you can. It’s not a race. Take someone with you. Enjoy the birds, the breeze and the cool night air. The walk is all about the experience of being in nature even if it’s just walking in your neighborhood. Walking helps improve your circulation, strengthens your bones and improves your mood. Maybe the debate should have the candidates walking and talking?

http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/exercise/workouts/walking/wow-of-walking.php

8. Go to a yoga class. This is a great time to try out yoga. I have a feeling no matter who is elected in the next fours years, their will be a lot of tumult, stress and strain in the U.S. The deep state doesn’t change when the tenets of the White House move out. Yoga is not just for unwashed hippies or girls in their twenties. It is extremely beneficial for mind and body. I actually followed a thirty day yoga youtube series “Yoga with Adrienne” last year. I’ve had a ton of abdominal surgeries and it helped to stretch out my scars and adhesions.

Yoga helps you get stronger, be more flexible and more resilient, both physically and emotionally. Watching the debates makes you feel powerless. Doing Yoga is empowering.

 

http://www.yogajournal.com/article/health/count-yoga-38-ways-yoga-keeps-fit/

9. Read a great book or listen to one – I am knee deep into a Robert Heinlein science fiction book on Audible. The narration is awesome and it deals with deep issues like slavery versus freedom, the book is “Farnham’s Freehold”.  Start a new book on Monday instead of watching the debates. You’ll have engaged your imagination, learned something knew, and have something to share with others. And you’ll be ahead of 42% of college students who never read another novel after graduation. That’s scary and it also explains the state of the world we live in.

Reading fiction helps to heighten connectivity in the brain. That according to experts is a good thing. Plus its enjoyable. Not being able to put down a great book is one of the great pleasures in life. Start on Monday or finish the book you’ve been neglecting.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201401/reading-fiction-improves-brain-connectivity-and-function

If you are not into fiction start reading up on a hobby you wanted to start or about farming, carpentry or some other practical skill. Or better yet about philosophy. If you are interested in Libertarian or The Freedom Philosophy I recommend checking out this free book by Leonard Read: “Anything Peaceful” which is the total opposite of what the two candidates will be spewing on Monday. This book covers why peace and individual liberty go hand in hand.

https://admin.fee.org/files/doclib/anything_thats_peaceful.pdf

The key is to use the time to grow, improve and be an active participant in life and not just a passive consumer. What I love most about books is that there are no commercials in them. I can’t believe no publisher hasn’t thought about putting ads in books yet. I’m glad they haven’t. Below is a bunch of other reasons why reading is awesome.

http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2007/12/the-26-major-advantages-to-reading-more-books-and-why-3-in-4-people-are-being-shut-out-of-success/

10. Remove toxins from your house. Not having the debates on in your home is the first step in removing harmful cognitive toxins from your residence. The debates, the media, the talking heads all spew out harmful cognitive poison. I watched  “The Human Experiment” last night. It was eye opening. It’s not about cognitive poison but its about all the horribly toxic ingredients that are in everything from household cleaners to makeup to shaving cream to soap which wreak havoc on the human body. Spend time on Monday going through your home and reading labels. Then go online and research what natural and organic products you can buy to replace the toxic sludge we are soaking ourselves in daily.

Two brands I like are:

https://www.drbronner.com (great soap)

http://www.seventhgeneration.com (paper towels and household cleaners)

These are just ten things you can do that are good for your health instead of watching the debates which is not. Your vote won’t matter. Your individual actions and choices you make on a daily basis impact your life a billion times more than any politician’s actions ever will. Spend the time with the TV off as a silent protest to the powers that be and concentrate on living a healthier and happier life today. Your health is the bedrock of your life. It is the foundation for all your relationships. Spending time getting stronger, growing closer to your loved ones, improving you brain and exercising your body is a great way to become healthier today.

Your life is Epic – act accordingly.

Brad

Why I shop at Kroger

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Kroger has Simple Truth Organic products on sale a lot. These were 2 for $5.

I used to be a huge fan of shopping at Publix. I felt that they were the best grocery store in town. After I moved two years ago I began shopping at my local Kroger and my opinion changed. This move also coincided with my renewed commitment to use food as a way to help me feel better and improve my health.  As I began to investigate more of the role nutrition has on my health I began buying more and more organic products. Kroger has an Organic Section that is growing and their own Natural/Organic Brand “Simple Truth” is outstanding and is revolutionizing the availability of organic food and organic personal care products.

http://www.simpletruth.com

The Simple Truth brand is both a natural product line and organic product line. There was some controversy last year about some Simple Truth products containing GMO ingredients. That was concerning their Simple Truth Natural line I believe. That is why I buy mostly The Simple Truth Organic stuff and I always read labels. For instance The Simple Truth Traditional Spaghetti Sauce had soy bean oil in it. I didn’t buy it. Instead I read labels until I found one that didn’t include GMO ingredients or vegetable oil. The consumer is still responsible for reading labels. The Simple Truth Brand Organic products are a great way for me to save money and is a better choice than driving hours to go to my nearest Whole Foods.

http://www.businessinsider.com/krogers-affordable-organic-food-2015-9

Kroger is not perfect and there are many Simple Truth stuff I don’t buy. But the products I do buy I think are superior in quality and taste to non-organic brands.  Take for instance their  Simple Truth Organic Cream Cheese and their Sour Cream. Before my pancreatitis was kicking my ass  I could eat the sour cream by the spoonful. It is extremely think and tasty and different from any other Sour Cream I’ve ever tried. Other Simple Truth products I like are the Organic Chicken Breasts, Organic Frozen Blueberries and Simple Truth Artesian water that has a ph of 7.6. For the last two months I’ve been drinking almost exclusively Icelandic Glacial Water and the Simple Truth Artesian Water.

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Simple Truth Artesian Water with a ph of 7.6

I believe that this has been one of the reasons my psoriasis has greatly improved and why I’m feeling better than I have for months. Also I buy Simple Truth Organic potatoes. They are smaller than traditionally grown potatoes and they go bad faster. But I believe buying organic is worth the extra price and is still a better value for my health even though the product could spoil faster. The Simple Truth grassed beef is something I’ve bought a lot of in the past as well. I used to buy that along with White Pasture’s Grass-Fed ground beef. The combination was delicious. I find more of the products I want to use at Kroger than any other grocery store in my area.

(White Oaks Patures is a local family run farm in Georgia who believes in treating animals well and feeding them what they are designed to eat. I’m a big fan.)

http://www.whiteoakpastures.com

This is a great video that explained what happened when a family ate only organic.

 

I also choose to shop at my local Kroger not only for their lower priced organic selection but also because of the people and their operating hours. The women behind the Deli counter are just outstanding and those who help with checkout are as well. I normally use self-checkout but they always have someone there to help with a smiling face.  My schedule is not normal. Depending on how I’m feeling I might be up at 7:00am because I didn’t sleep the night before and need to go to get Organic Grapefruit juice because of a pancreatitis flare up. Or if I’m up late I can go to my local Kroger up until 1:00am to buy more high ph water. This is huge for people who have medical issues who need certain food products that help them feel better and do not keep normal hours. No matte what time I go the folks are always helpful, kind and smiling.

I’ve been extremely sick for the past few months and now I’m feeling much better. But during those times I felt awful I still tried to get out of the house each day and the one place I would go is my local Kroger. For someone who is chronically ill or suffering from chronic pain having a friendly safe place to go to is so important. Some days my shopping at Kroger would be my only contact with other people. I went in there the other day and the Store Manager let me know I dropped a dollar on the floor while I was at the deli counter. Before that I saw him interact with the women working in the deli and he was kind and respectful. You could tell they respected him as well. Those small interactions matter and create an atmosphere that is enjoyable to be in. When I’m sick I need all the help I can get and I need to be around positive energy. On top of treating each other well and friendly with customers, they are also extremely responsive. Before I started buying the Icelandic Glacial Water or knew about the Simple Truth Artesian water I bout Essentia water. When I told the lady who takes care of the Organic Section that I was buying a lot of it she started ordering more and I was always able to get it.

One of the reasons I don’t shop at Publix any more is that one of the owners of Publix gave $800,000 to an anti-cannabis campaign in Florida.  The daughter of the founder of Publix gave to a group that stopped Medical Cannabis Law being passed in 2012 and they are still trying to keep Cannabis illegal in Florida. She currently owns 5% of Publix and is worth a reported $1.8 billion.  I’ve not totally researched Kroger’s donations and in the future I might find that they are a company I don’t want to support. For the mean time I will continue to shop at Kroger and improve my health by buying Simple Truth Organic products and other organic products they offer.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/publix-heiress-donates-800-000-to-fight-medical-marijuana-legalization-in-florida-8631552

I don’t go out of my way to boycott a company because I’m sure every big company does something I don’t believe in but legalizing cannabis is something I strongly believe in. I’ve struggled with chronic pain and autoimmune disease since I was twelve. And I’ve found Cannabis helpful in dealing with my symptoms but I’ve had to travel to Denver twice to find that out. And its because people support politicians and groups that are working to keep Cannabis illegal I’ve spend over $6000 on travel and other expenses. To give money to an anti-cannabis group is an attack on people who are chronically ill and are suffering. It makes their lives harder. Cannabis Prohibition and those who support it are also attacking every individual regardless of why they want to consume Cannabis because its every adults inherent right to choose whether to ingest Cannabis or not.We all have a right to choose what we put in our bodies. No government and no billionaire has the right to tells us what we can and can’t put into our bodies.

I explore this topic further in my blog post on LegalizeCannabisInGeorgia.com

https://legalizecannabisingeorgia.com/2016/09/15/cbd-oil-is-not-enough/

My local Kroger is also carrying more and more local produce as well. Where I live doesn’t have an established Farmer’s Market. That would my preferred option of getting my produce but until that time I’ll buy organic products and veggies from Kroger. If you believe something strongly and a company is going against it you have a right to vote with your dollars to support those who support what’s important to you. Kroger has made a commitment to make organic products and organic food more available at a lower price. Publix has missed the boat on this and on top of that one of the owners is actively attempting to keep Cannabis illegal in Florida. I don’t want to support that.

All of these reasons are why I shop at my local Kroger. We all vote with our dollars every time we spend them. A lot of people have voted with their dollars in support of Kroger to continue increasing their organic selection because they now sell over 12 Billion dollars worth of natural and organic products. The more I buy those products the more of them that will be produced and if enough people do that the prices will continue to come down. Eating organic, drinking alkaline water and supporting companies that are more inline with my personal philosophy are all ways I can live a little bit healthier today and ensure a better tomorrow.

Brad Miller