A Tiny Bit Better Than Yesterday

The other day I was listening to the radio and heard this interview with Chantel Hobbs --- you can listen to the interview here and see her website here.   She is a fitness expert and motivational speaker with a Christian perspective.  While I found some of her comments about diet and exercise very intriguing (I’ll get to that in a minute) – I found one comment she made to start a huge brain spark in me.  “We need to get to the place where we decide that every single day we can live a little bit better than we did yesterday”.  WOW!!   That applies to just about everything in life around here. 

In terms of fitness and healthy eating --- I’ll just borrow from Chantel.  Its all about balance --- fast one meal a week --- splurge one meal a week.  Balance --- but overall, make a daily decision that today will be a tiny bit better than yesterday.  Eat a tiny bit more vegetables today.  Eat a tiny bit less junk food today than yesterday.  Walk or run a tiny bit further today.  Move a tiny bit more.  That’s all, just be a tiny bit better today than yesterday. 

Yesterday is already on the books.  There is nothing you or I can do that will change yesterday.  And tomorrow is too overwhelming.  Nevermind forever – that’s way too overwhelming.  Just manage today – let today be one tiny bit better than yesterday was. 

Can you imagine how much life will be in one year if every day gets a tiny bit better than the day before it???  Can you imagine how much fitter our bodies could be? How much smaller our clothing might be?? How much better our doctor’s checkup will be??

So as we move through this spring together, I want to look at Chantel Hobbs’ idea and apply it to some different areas of life.  Want to come with me??

The Flu

So – as long as I’m fighting off colds this season, I thought I’d get a jump on sinus infections as well.  I hate getting sinus infections – and I seem to get one every year.  They’re painful, debilitating and annoying.  Anything I can do to help prevent them  --- I’ll try it.   Here’s what I’ve learned lately that I think might help:

·       Using massage – But surprise!!  You need to massage your hands and feet for this trick to work.  This sounds iffy to me – but like I said – I’ll try anything to avoid another sinus infection --- Apparently there is some kind of connection between the hands and feet and the nerve pathways to the sinuses.  Supposedly massaging your hands and feet for 5 minutes a day will alter the blood flow and nerve pathways to your sinuses – leading to less congestion and less pain.  We’ll see.

·       Scrubbing windowsills and under the kitchen sink with bleach.  This is where most of our homes have hidden mold growning.  We breathe in the mold spores and they get all stuck in the mucus in our sinuses and breed until an infection develops.  Kill the mold and reduce the opportunity for something to irritate your sinuses and launch an infection.

·       Walking!!    People who walk every day have less congestion and swelling in their sinuses. 

·       Eating horseradish or wasabi or other spicy foods.  You know the sensation of tingling in your nose when you get a good dab of wasabi??? That’s the feeling you want if you’re seriously fighting sinus infections.  It makes your nose run – which drains out all of the irritants that can launch the next infection. 

·       Take a morning shower.  Remember how your grandmother used to set up the steam kettle when someone had a cough or cold??  She was smart.  It worked. Steam opens up your sinuses and makes them drain.  Standing in the steamy shower for 10 minutes can open and drain your sinuses.  After 8 hours (you are getting enough sleep aren’t you??) of lying on your back – your sinuses are grateful for the steamy cleansing.  

Cold Season

I hate cold season (know anyone who likes it?? I’d like to meet them).  So I’m always on the look out for ideas for keeping healthy in the wintertime.  I ran these past my doctor and got the okay --- Here’s the plan

1.    Gargle with plain old water every day.  Yep --- he said it works.  Apparently it flushes out viruses before they attach themselves to the lining of your throat and work their way down into your respiratory system.   He suggested getting in the habit of doing a quick gargle a couple of times a day --- before lunch – mid afternoon etc. The only trick is:  don’t swallow the water when you’re done with your gargle.  You want to get rid of whatever the gargle flushes out!!

2.    Spray your nose with saline spray.  This keeps the membranes in your nose moist and less susceptible to invading bacteria and viruses. They also have been shown to reduce congestion --- which can go a long way toward preventing my other winter-time nemesis:  sinus infections.  I’m a huge fan of SaltAire --- because I love the little pump on the side of the bottle.  But I’ll confess, I make my own refill – and re-use the bottle for a little while (not too long, I don’t want to grow bacteria in there and undo all my hard work)

3.    Have fruit for breakfast.  I’ll admit, I’d never even thought of this one.  But it makes some sense to me:  In the summer (when I almost NEVER have colds or respiratory problems) I eat a ton of fruit.  When fall and winter arrive, I naturally eat less fruit.  I just never made the connection.  Apparently fruit helps your body produce its own natural anti-viral compound. 

4.    Drink tea and wine --- yep, the doctor really okayed this one too.  Tea has been shown in all kinds of studies to increase the body’s production of proteins that are used in fighting attacks on lung cells and mucus membranes.  And wine (the red kind) has flavonoids that fight the virus responsible for most colds --- the rhinovirus.  Now we’re not talking about finishing off the bottle yourself – but a cup of tea in the afternoon and a glass of wine with dinner sounds like a very civilized way to battle cold season to me.