Tag: health

It Could Easily Be You

When I was ten years old, my family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just months after learning to walk again after the car accident. It was the only time we did not live in Chicago during my childhood.

Shortly after moving into a big, beautiful home, we were evicted. With only a few family members in the state who decided we could not live with them, my mother and her three daughters went to a woman’s shelter. My brother was welcomed to stay with an older cousin, but she didn’t have room for the girls.

I’ve gone days without food, months without a roof, and years without the kind of nourishment most people take for granted. So watching people mock families who are about to lose their SNAP benefits isn’t just sad — it’s cruel, and it reminds me how easily empathy gets lost in comfort.

In a matter of days, many American families face the risk of losing their food stamp benefits as the Trump Administration intends to cut payments, affecting about 42 million individuals across the nation. What people are feeling and witnessing is not about lazy parents who are not working to put food on the table. This is about a trash economy that has forced even the hardest-working families to rely on assistance. You might not need it today, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need it tomorrow.

Before the stock market crash of October 1929, there was a time of optimism. Many families prospered as cars and new technology grew. People did not expect to go to their banks and be locked out without warning. Families didn’t expect that they would have to stand in bread lines. It happened suddenly, and it could happen to you, too.

“The loss of SNAP benefits leads to food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which are associated with numerous negative health outcomes in children, such as poor concentration, decreased cognitive function, fatigue, depression, and behavioral problems.”

– Melissa Quinn, CBS News

My cousin put it perfectly on Facebook:

“Food stamps fed all of us. Medicaid paid them hospital bills. WIC kept formula in our baby’s bottles. Free lunch stopped our stomachs from growlin in class. The projects gave most of us a roof when we ain’t have one. Financial Aid got a lot of ya’ll them degrees you flexin now. We’ve all had help at some point, so quit looking down on folks still getting it. You just forgot what struggle felt like. Don’t get too high up…the ground still waiting if you fall.”

– Tiff McCormick, Facebook Post

Considering the Women in Your Life

This scene is hilarious. This man cried cause she ain’t want to give him none. Pure comedy!!

I was watching Love Is Blind. The show is pure comedy for me. I really do feel sorry for anyone who takes it seriously. It seems they intentionally cast such young people whose common sense ain’t kicked in all the way yet.

Cause love is not blind. Not even a little bit.

One of the men, Edmond, who is 29, mentioned how distant one of the women was from her man. He told his fiancé, KB (also 29), he didn’t think the woman was as close to her man, being she was distant at the pool party.

“It couldn’t have been she was on her period?” KB asked.

“Oh,” said Edmond as if someone had pulled on the chain to a lamp and the light just came on, “She was on her period?”

“Yes,” said KB. “Just started today.”

He looked surprised, as if KB had just given him the secrets to the universe. I chuckled a bit. Yea. Women get those sometimes.

Then, I had a thought.

Women go through so much that men never have to think about.

When I am planning a vacation, for example, I make sure it’s not the week of my cycle. And when I am on my menstrual cycle, I try to do as little work as possible.

Fortunately for me, I don’t work a 9-5. I work from home and create my own schedule. I am blessed to lie in bed all day if I am cramping, but not all women have this freedom.

Comedian KevOnStage joked about this recently, saying, “Women really be going through everyday life sometimes bleeding profusely. Can you imagine everyday tasks, but blood in addition to everyday life? Like, I’m stuck in traffic, and she’s stuck in traffic, but she’s bleeding profusely. Can you imagine having to come to a parent-teacher conference bleeding profusely?”

He overused the word “profusely,” but the core of the message is true. A woman can literally be working her job, picking up her children from school, grocery shopping, or stopping by the bank while bleeding profusely, and no one would ever know.

This post ain’t about periods, though.

This is about all the things women go through that rarely get considered, whether that’s menstrual cycles, pregnancy, labor, and birth, mothering, wifeing, battling oppressive systems, and any other struggle women endure that men do not always have to.

October is PAIL Month

Speaking of which, October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and it recognizes women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, ectopic pregnancy, abortion or termination for medical reasons, and the death of a newborn.

This month, you can do your part by educating yourself on PAIL, sharing on social media, supporting the women in your life who have experienced pregnancy loss, joining local remembrance events like walks or vigils (remembrance day is 10/15), donating to relevant organizations, or simply wearing pink and blue to show solidarity.

And the next time a woman is being distant or mean or feeling some kind of way, consider what she might be battling just to get through the day, and give her a little grace.

Over on Substack, we are highlighting Mary Francis Hill Coley, the Black midwife who delivered over 3,000 babies. You can read it here.

Takeover Tuesday: The Invisible Woman: Black Women and Infertility by Yecheilyah Ysrayl

The number of women coming forward about how they can relate to this is truly humbling. Check out my guest post on Navigating the Change blog and if you can relate, be sure to drop a comment on the post (if you feel obliged), so other women can see they are not alone. 

Click the link below to read the article.

Stigmas die when we speak up about the things that matter.

The Invisible Woman: Black Women and Infertility

The Mistake

This poem was inspired by Maya Angelou’s “We Wear the Mask,” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Mask.”

Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash

We define grief as tears, not smiles
heartbreaking groans, and complaints
an emotion-gripped body that bends and aches
a display of physical pain is how we mistake
what it means to grieve.

We lookout for people who are visibly sad

a distraught tone of voice, a mind gone mad

a person who neglects to eat, but drinks

or maybe have a hard time falling asleep.

The physical signs of a distressed soul are what we see for ourself

and to this, we say, “careful now, of your mental health.”

 

But what of the people who are not so physically troubled?

 

They wake up each morning

their heads held high.

They could wallow in self-pity but prefer to fly.

They spread their cheeks, so we see their teeth,

and somehow, deep underneath the grief, they smile.

Their shoulders do not droop or bow or lean,

and from their eyes, no tears be seen.

We run to them for advice, and in their ears, we spill our guts

“They are pillars of strength, no matter what,”

we say

and this is the mistake.

 

Right there in those smiling faces, see the invisible rock.

The chains of depression’s coffles

it’s whips and lash and knock

its uninvited entry when our smiling support goes home

and lay their pillars on their pillows 

before crying themselves to sleep.

 

In a world as destructive as this one, 

they need not make it known 

that even the happiest person 

still cries and loathes and moans.

Even the most joyous of us, with praise smeared on our lips

have some load to carry, 

we wish to be helped with.

But if physical anguish is the only measurement

by which we weigh grief

then these people don’t have a chance

of attaining such release.

 

And yet, where would we be without these rays of light

who helps us, if for a moment, to believe all is right?

Where would we be without people with such faith?

Those who pull us from the grave, 

even as they stand on the edge of death and wait?

Too solid to bend and too proud to break.

They go on permitting us to believe 

pain is but a physical thing.

 

This is the mistake.

Coconut Oil Based Toothpaste

 

Note: I am not a healthcare professional and this should not be substituted for professional advice. I am simply sharing my experience as usual. Please consult a professional if you feel you need to before trying anything new.

***

Oral health has a lot to do with your overall health. In fact, bad teeth and gums can lead to heart disease when the bacteria from gum inflammation, lead to gingivitis and, if left untreated, this Bacteria enters the bloodstream and travel to the heart’s arteries, causing them to harden. Plaque starts to grow on the arteries’ inner walls, which can restrict blood flow throughout the body.

I wish someone would have taught me this a long time ago because my teeth need lots of work. There is one thing I am proud of about them though. Despite everything that’s wrong with them, there’s a silver lining in that I am thirty years old and have never had a cavity.

I don’t like to use traditional toothpaste much. It’s too sweet and makes me feel like I am brushing my teeth with candy. It’s to the point now that I don’t even think it makes your breath smell good at least. So, sometimes I substitute with Coconut Oil Based Toothpaste I make myself with common items I can always find around the house.

Ingredients

  • Coconut Oil
  • Baking Soda
  • Peroxide
  • Mint or essential oil of choice
  • Stevia Powder

How it Works:

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

2-3 Tablespoon Baking Soda

2 small packets Stevie powder

One capful peroxide (opt)

10-15 drops essential oil

Melt coconut oil (or slightly soften…I recommend slightly softening. Completely melted doesn’t work well for me).

Mix in the other ingredients per their measurements and stir well.

Let cool completely.

As the coconut oil hits your teeth and gums, microbes are picked up as if being drawn to a powerful magnet. The bacteria hiding under the crevices in the gums and pores within the teeth are sucked out and held firmly in the solution. Brushing with Baking Soda removes stains aroused by tea, coffee, sodas, and smoking. Mixing Baking Soda with water releases free radicals from the mixture. These free radicals break down stain molecules on the enamel that can be scraped off with a toothbrush.

“Hydrogen peroxide is used safely and effectively in dentistry today. While its most common application involves tooth whitening, significant health benefits are documented using hydrogen peroxide to treat gingivitis and periodontitis.” (Jeanne Bosecker, BSN, RDH) However, using peroxide is optional (Learn More Here). You can successfully mimic this mixture without it. If you choose to use peroxide (as I do, it mixes so well with the baking soda), be sure to get the 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to be sure its safe for oral use.

The Stevia Powder and essential oils provide a fresh taste and good smell (though I tend to leave the Stevia Power out.) Baking Soda and Peroxide may be good cleaners but the combination doesn’t have a fresh minty smell. Baking Soda is also nasty so the oils help with that taste. I have also found it useful to use mouthwash afterward.

Storage

You can put it in any container in a cool dry place or even put it in a Ziploc bag. You can really get creative with the Ziploc by cutting it at the corner and taking an old toothpaste tube, cut the top part off and then insert and adjust the Ziploc bag.

While I do still use toothpaste because of the abrasiveness of the baking soda on the enamel, I like to use my coconut mixture more and have found it does a better job than traditional toothpaste. It’s not real sweet and makes my mouth feel fresh.

Yecheilyah (e-see-lee-yah) is an Author, Blogger, and Poet of nine published works including her soon-to-be released short inspirational guide “Keep Yourself Full.” Learn more by exploring Yecheilyah’s writing on this blog and her website at yecheilyahysrayl.com. Renaissance: The Nora White Story (Book One) is her latest novel and is available now on Amazon.com.

Herbs and Vitamins for Healthy Teeth

Important health information from Henrietta. My sister-in-law and me were just talking about how most people ignore the fact that unhealthy teeth is directly related to heart conditions.

Henrietta Watson's avatarAll About Writing and more

Our modern diet has caused many of us to become deficient in certain minerals and our teeth can become adversely affected. Cavities in children and people of all ages are being linked to nutritional deficiencies. Most of us take for granted that we are getting enough of the needed minerals in our diet. That assumes that everyone knows the importance of minerals for our health and wellbeing.
Much of our farmed soil has become depleted and the majority of people cannot afford a completely organic diet. Combined with dietary choices based on taste rather than health, it is easy to see how these nutritional deficiencies can occur.
Phytic Acid Locks Up Essential Minerals
Phytic acid is a substance commonly found in most grains, nuts and beans. It has the ability to bind to minerals in your body, just like a magnet. This process removes the minerals before they get a…

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday Challenge – Comedy

Now yall know I love to laugh right? I’m sitting here wondering why I keep thinking about one more thing I needed to post today and then it hit me. Duh! It’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday!

So…welcome back to Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading and Ronovan from Ronovan Writes. Today’s theme is Comedy.

There were so many quotes to choose from, including the one about how behind every just kidding is the truth. But, I’m sure we’ve all heard that one before. The quote that really stuck out to me above the others is this one:

So let me get this straight, if I laugh a lot, then my wrinkles will be on my cheeks? LOL

Comedy is a very powerful thing because it has the ability to heal as well as conceal. Laughter can uplift but it can also deceive and that’s the complex thing about comedy. Comedians tell the truth all the time, but because its a joke its not something many people take very seriously. This makes a comedian probably more powerful than a lot of professionals as they have lots of creative room which gives them space for the social messages many of them incorporate into their jokes. However, in the end a good laugh does wonders for the soul. According to an article in Laughter is the Best Medicine, “A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.” That’s amazing.

“Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.”

~ Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.