How to Prepare a Healthy Food Shopping List


Preparing a healthy food shopping list is really pretty simple.

Most people would recommend creating a menu first and that may be the best way for you too, but I just don’t work that way. Instead, I like to make sure my kitchen is well stocked with basic ingredients that can be used to create a variety of healthy recipes and then fill out my list with items needed for specific recipes.

For us, a health shopping list includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk or dairy and lean meat which are purchased about twice a week. These ingredients are supplemented by whole grains, dried beans, spices, teas, coffees and natural sweeteners that are purchased less frequently and kept on hand at all times.

Before you start preparing your healthy food shopping list, I would suggest taking inventory of what is currently on hand. Most American kitchens are stocked with an assortment of cans and boxes of less than healthy “food” items.

We do use a few convenience foods, but we always check the ingredients label first and refuse to purchase products that contain high fructose corn syrup, high percentages of any form of sugar, high amounts of sodium, hydrogenated oils and anything else that basically adds calories but doesn’t add nutritional value. We do eat out a bit more than really necessary and since we have little control of ingredients used by restaurants, we try to make the healthiest choices possible when preparing meals at home.

Fruits and Vegetables:

- Carrots – Add to recipes or salads or eat raw.
- Celery – Add to stir fries, soups and casseroles or cooked as a general vegetable.
- Tomatoes – Always on hand, both fresh and home dehydrated.
- Onions – we use onions a lot. You may choose not to.
- Peppers – Assorted yellow, red, orange and green bell peppers. Used as ingredients in recipes, added to salads or roasted as vegetables.

Grains, Cereals and Flours:

- Whole Wheat Flour – Whole grain flour. Purchase as fresh as possible or consider grinding your own. Used as a basic ingredient. Throw out the bleached white flour!
- Wheat Berries – Wheat Berries are simply the whole wheat grain. When cooked, wheat berries are more chewy than rice and have a slightly nutty flavor. They are a wonderful substitute for rice in soups and casseroles, make a great hot cereal and can be cooked, chilled and added to salad.
- Brown Rice – The long cooking brown rice. No instant, quick or white rice here.
- Barley – Whole barley grain. Great added to soups and casseroles.
- 7 Grain Cereal – Or 9 grain. Add to bread recipes or cook and serve as a hot cereal.

Posted by Monroe Parker in Healthy Foods

What is Pompholyx Eczema?


Pompholyx Eczema can be described as intense skin eruption on the sides of fingers and or toes, or on the palms and soles of the feet, consisting of small discrete, round bladderlike cells typically occuring in repeated attacks. These breakouts seem to come in spurts, which will go away after they have run their course and then return at any given time.

This condition is normally found in warm weather and is characterized by intense and severe itching, related to involuntary nervous system activity, with crops of palmoplantar (of the hands and feet) blisters, which may evolve into eczema.

Pompholyx Eczema is a common type of eczema affecting the hands and feet. It is most common in infants and small children, but usually clears before adulthood. The condition is difficult to treat because of the peculiarities of the affected skin.

For the longest time I dealt with this thinking I had athletes feet, when all along I was having an eczema attack and I was treating it with over the counter athletes foot medication. Needless to say I never seemed to get anywhere with that.

Causes of Pompholyx Eczema

The exact cause is unknown. But excessive sweating by an individual, hot weather, stress and in some cases the use of certain soaps and detergents used with washing dishes or washing clothes can contribute to the disease.

With all of these different factors involved it is very difficult to point your finger at one thing that is causing an eczema flare up. That is why it is of great importance that you pay close attention when a flare up hits, so that you may try to narrow down your chances of an eczema attack.

Treatment and Remedies:

- The regular use of moisturizer;
- Applying Shea Butter or another active moisturizer after bathing and when itchy;
- Avoid harsh soaps and detergents;
- Soak you hands and feet in a solution to dry up blisters.

Symptoms of Pompholyx Eczema:

- Cracks and clefts in the skin;
- Excessive sweating;
- Tiny blisters deep in the skin;
- Intense itching on or about the blisters.

Posted by Monroe Parker in Skin Problems

Different Types and Signs of Eczema


Eczema is a form of dermatitis, and it’s used to describe a broad range of persistent skin irritations. Most commonly, the term “eczema” is applied to cases in which a person has recurring skin rashes amongst a number of other symptoms. Eczema has a tendency to show up on the flexor aspects of joints.

There are many types of Eczema, both common and uncommon. Distinguishing between the different types can become confusing, however, because the term “eczema” is used to describe a very broad set of skin irritations and rashes. Occurrences can be both severe and non-severe.

The most common methods for treating Eczema include:

- Medication (corticosteroids);
- Topical Immunomodulators;
- Antibiotics;
- Immunosuppressants;
- Itch-Relief Drugs.

Dry skin can significantly worsen an already-present case of Eczema. Therefore, moisturizing is probably the most important self-care treatment for those who have it.

Different Types of Eczema

Common Types

- Atopic eczema;
- Xerotic eczema;
- Contact Dermatitis;
- Seborrhoeic dermatitis.

Less Common Types

- Dyshidrosis;
- Nummular dermatitis;
- venous eczema;
- Dermatitis herpetiformis;
- Neurodermatitis;
- Autoeczematization;

Signs & Indications

The following is a list of the most common symptoms you may experience with eczema:

- Dryness of skin;
- Recurring rashes;
- Redness;
- Skin edema (swelling of the skin);
- Itchiness and Dryness;
- Flaking of skin;
- Blistering;
- Cracking;
- Oozing;
- Bleeding.

…Eczema is commonly found on the flexor aspect of joints. You may also experience temporary skin discoloration near infected areas.

Facts & Stats

- Eczema is often likely to be found on the flexor aspect of the joints;
- One out of every 9 people suffer from eczema at point in their life;
- The prevalence of eczema has been substantially increasing since 1940;
- Eczema can be either allergic or non-allergic;
- Cases of eczema can either be severe or non-severe;
- Keeping areas of skin infected with eczema moist can promote healing-of-skin and relief the symptoms;
- People suffering from eczema should not use detergents of any kind on their skin unless absolutely necessary;
- There is not one established skin-cleanser that has been determined to be best for eczema patients;
- If diagnosed with eczema, avoid the use of any drying soaps;
- Eczema’s allergic reaction may somehow be associated to dust mites;
- Light therapy using ultraviolet lights can help control eczema;
- Dairy products, coffee, and other dietary elements may trigger a form of eczema to occur;
- An omega-3 rich diet can reduce symptoms;
- Non-traditional medical approaches, such as traditional Chinese medicine and western herbalist have been used to treat eczema;
- Oatmeal and sea water are two remedies that have been reported to work.

Posted by Monroe Parker in Skin Problems

How Does Marijuana Trigger Panic Attacks?


In college,my friends and I had several friends whom we would consider to be “conspiracy theorists”. These friends of ours would constantly be warning us of impending federal government lock down, how Masons controlled the white house, and so on. Some of us had a long-standing joke about these conspiracy theorists, that they all seemed to be heavy smokers. Along the same lines, there were more than once during my living when I was at the party or social gathering, and suddenly somebody freaks out, developing a severe panic attack, after smoking marijuana.

So what exactly is the link between marijuana, anxiety, and paranoia? Surprisingly, there is very little hard evidence associating marijuana use with anxiety or panic attacks. Some researchers think that marijuana can develop paranoia due to the natural ability to affect the perception of the people.This is true for first-time users, as they most likely have never stepped outside of the box of their thought of reality and the experience can be quite jolting.

Others believe that marijuana acts as an antagonist for those that are already predisposed to having panic attacks. Specifically, the intoxicating of the marijuana have shown to be influenced by psychological expectations and social environment. What does this indicate in plain English? It indicates that the person’s own expectations will color the type of intoxication felt by the drug. Two people can have drastically different reactions to smoking the same strain of marijuana, simply due to their expectations of what the drug will do to them.

Going back to predisposition, even though cannabis has not been found to cause paranoia or schizophrenia, it does seem to precipitate psychotic episodes in vulnerable people. If you are predisposed to psychotic episodes or schizophrenia you will definitely want back off from marijuana as it can lead to intense paranoia!

From a neurological standpoint,it is believed, that marijuana relaxes the system that controls brain signal paths. So this means that your brain and thoughts will quite literally stray off of their normal paths, and your train of thought will advance into new territory along a string of associations that would normally never occur. Because marijuana effects the part of your brain which gets auditory and visual comprehension, and since this area is also linked with schizophrenia episodes, the pathway to this schizophrenic area is “strengthened”, to put it simply, even after the consequences of marijuana normally wear off.

However, subscribers to this theory also believe that, through conscious intervention, it is easy to “de-condition” the pathway through meditation and logical reasoning.There are also special resources developed for those with panic disorder which claim to either reverse the physiological changes that cause panic attacks (the function of the Amygdala organ in the brain) or use psychological methods for breaking the cycle of fear.

Posted by Monroe Parker in Anxiety

Do You Experience Panic Attack Symptoms?


When you feel any of the following, you most likely are experiencing a panic attack. On the other hand, if this is initial stage, you are not able to feel these symptoms, and you should seek medical help immediately because there is no way of knowing whether you are having a panic attack, or if the symptoms are related to a more serious problem.

If this is the second, third, or one hundredth time you’ve had these symptoms, then you may have a real panic disorder. In that case, read about “3 Tips to Eliminate Anxiety” to discover how you can remedy this without drugs or expensive treatment.

Panic attack symptoms:

- Fear of impending doom, insanity or death;
- Difficulty breathing;
- Uncontrollable itching;
- Shaking;
- Exhaustion;
- Tunnel vision;
- Chest pains;
- Vertigo;
- Racing heart beat;
- Hyperventilation;
- Uncontrollable crying;
- Racing thoughts;
- Loud internal voices;
- Feeling out of control;
- Cramping;
- Dizziness;
- Nausea;
- Hot flashes;
- Trembling;
- Tingling in extremities;
- Claustrophobia;
- Limpness in the body;
- Sweating;
- Extreme nervousness;
- Terror;
- Chills;
- Apparent slowing down or speeding up of time.

If you experience 4 or more of the above symptoms then chances are you have a real panic disorder. The good new is that there are a wide variety of treatments available to you ranging from prescription drugs to cognitive therapy to natural techniques.

Panic attacks can often be triggered simply by the fear of having another panic attack. A person could be alone, or within a group, and suddenly the cycle of fear and anxiety creates a negative feedback loop, as physical symptoms encourage negative thoughts, which in turn heighten the physical response. Soon, the initial trigger may be completely forgotten, and a person is physically preparing for a worst-case life or death situation, when in fact the environment surrounding them is completely safe.

The underlying cause of panic attack symptoms is the release of adrenaline (epinephrine) into the bloodstream. Adrenaline is a hormone released by the adrenal glands which sit atop the kidneys. It is responsible for our “fight” response and has served a useful purpose in our evolution. However, it now seems to be working against us, as many situations which give rise to the release of adrenaline pose no immediate physical danger. This inappropriate bodily response is most readily apparent in those experiencing panic attacks.

By educating yourself on the mechanism that perpetuates panic attacks, you are already on your way toward leading a panic and anxiety free life. Be sure to check out the resources on this site in order to accelerate this journey.

Posted by Monroe Parker in Anxiety