Big, fat, chewy, chocolatey, squishy, melty, frosty brownie.

I just ate a big, chewy brownie that wasn't part of my diet. It was amazing. I loved it. I had an extra large one and justified it because I had a bad dream last night and I don't feel like I have any energy today. Poor me. Then I opened my E-mail to this from the Jillian Michael's newsletter. I guess it's back to work for me...

How to Beat Binge Eating
If you're inclined to binge, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to examine the emotional reasons for it. I know that processing such emotions is hard and takes time, but there are some good techniques that can help you modify your behavior and combat binge eating while you work on the underlying issues.
Here are a few:
Banish binge foods from your environment. Don't buy or let into your house whatever you're prone to bingeing on — whether it's cookies, chips, or ice cream. After all, you can't eat what's not there.
Decorate your fridge with images that motivate you. I have two pictures on mine: One is a photo of my cellulite, and the other is of Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. Let me tell ya, there is nothing that will turn you off to eating too much like pictures of cottage cheese on your butt.
Call a friend. The next time you want to stuff your face, reach out for support and try talking through your feelings instead of anesthetizing them by bingeing.
Try taking up a hobby. Keep yourself occupied so that rather than medicating yourself with food, you'll distract yourself with something productive.
Do something to screw up your binge. In other words, pamper yourself with something that's positive rather than self-destructive. Get a mani-pedi. Take a relaxing bath. Go to the gym. There are many places to go and activities to take part in that'll also lead you away from the temptation of food.
It takes time to break a bad habit, so it's good to have some techniques to fall back on when life gets the better of you! Remember to take it one day at a time. If you do end up bingeing, work out a little harder the next day. Every day is a new one — got it?

Vitamins. Any thoughts?

Here's what I'm currently taking because Dr. Oz on the Oprah show recommended these vitamins, although the brands he didn't specifically recommend:
Nature Made Multi for Her with Iron & Calcium
In addition...

250 mg Magnesium
100 mg B-6
500 mg Calcium

Here are my medications:
Kirkland Aller-tec for allergies 10 mg
Sertraline generic for Zoloft for depression 50 mg

Of course, I am adding lots of vegetables including tomatoes, spinach and now kale into my diet to get the nutrients from natural sources. But I really want the benefits of taking these vitamins but they make me so nauseous. I have tried full glass of water, eating them with a meal, eating them at night right before bed, etc. etc. I want some real answers. Why do vitamins upset my stomach? What is in them that causes the nausea? Are our bodies just not able to handle all those vitamins and minerals at once? Any thoughts?

MMR Vaccine Controversy

My younger brother Josh is a sweet, wonderful boy and I love him very much. I have heard it said about him that after he received his booster shots, that there was a change for the worse regarding his health. This has given me an interest in the MMR vaccine controversy. Before you read further, I only mention him to show why I would have an interest in learning more about this debate. I'm speaking as a former school teacher and a mother: I'm not claiming to understand this medical debate, nor claiming that Josh's condition was caused by the MMR vaccine. I do not agree with parents who choose to "decline" vaccinating their children. I think that is dangerous to their kids and my kids who attend school with their kids.

A piece of history has helped me come to my opinion on the importance of vaccines. In 1721, Cotton Mather introduced a process called inoculation to America when he learned that a Turkish physician had success when he took a small particle from a patient infected with smallpox and put it onto an uninfected patient. Then, the previously uninfected patient would develop a smaller case of smallpox, but he had the potential to survive and build an immunity to it. Mather didn't understand how this worked, but only that it did work in many cases. Many Americans chose not to be inoculated and rejected Mather because he was practicing a technique learned from a Muslim doctor. Mather's house was bombed because of the strong opposition; however, he succeeded in saving 294 people out of 300 that he had inoculated. Approximately 6,000 other people had contracted the disease but had not been inoculated and of those 850 had died. Benjamin Franklin was one of the parents who chose not to inoculate his son. His son died of smallpox and Franklin lamented that he wished he hadn't dismissed the idea and protected his son. It should be noted that Cotton Mather was also a minister in the Puritan faith, which usually pointed to sin as the cause of disease. This is significant historically because it demonstrated in North America that you can combine faith with science.

Soon after I gave birth to my first baby, I asked my dad what his viewpoint was on the MMR vaccine and what I should do to protect her. He said essentially, of course we need to vaccinate our children, but it is worthwhile to communicate to your doctor your concern and ask if a personalized vaccintaion plan would be appropriate. The MMR is a vaccination that combines vaccines for measles, mumps & rubella. You do not have to get the MMR and you can still vaccinate for these diseases, you would just vaccinate for them individually instead of all 3 combined at once.

As far as I know, most parents are encouraged to discuss a vaccination plan with their doctors. I was given a handout that charted all the vaccinations my daughter would need; it provided a "box" next to each vaccine so I chould "check" them off when each were recieved. However, because vaccinations are taken for granted and assumed to be par for the course, most parents give very little attention or thought to handouts like these that encourage them to think about the vaccination plan and just do what the doctor says is the course, which I believe in most cases is just fine to do.

My doctor told me that with the combined vaccine, or the MMR, the child only has to go through one vaccination for measles, mumps & rubella when she is still so young and almost unaware of what is going on. With the same vaccines spread out over time, the child has to go through the experience of getting vaccinated a few more times and it has the potential to get harder her and her mother because no one likes to get shots. So she left it up to me whether I wanted to put my baby through more shots, or give her the combined.

This is such a personal thing and so only read further if you are interested in what I did, but please do not think I am suggesting that this would be right for anyone else. It is just what felt right for me. The way I decided was I asked my doctor to again review all of my baby's stats or how she measured up on all her newborn tests. Gloria measured up to be essentially perfect as far as what is expected for newborns to be considered healthy. So I took that information home, discussed it over with Brandon and in prayer. And we came to the decision to vaccinate Gloria with the MMR or combined vaccination for measles, mumps & rubella.

However, I plan to discuss the vaccination plan for each child individually that I have. I will take into consideration how I feel after talking with my doctor about the child's overall health, talking to my husband about it, and talking to the Lord in prayer. If I feel that a vaccination plan that included separate vaccinations for measles, mumps & rubella instead of the combined would be better, then I'll get them separate. But to not vaccinate out of fear, I think has the potential to be devastating.

Brief intro. to the debate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy

This Sunday, DVR: http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/25/2044554.aspx

Strategies to manage anxiety

Breathing slowly and deeply. Anxiety can cause you to breathe very quickly, which makes both the mental and physical symptoms of a panic attack even worse. When you start to feel panicky, be sure to take slow, deep breaths to soothe your mind and body.

Stop and think. When your thoughts start spinning out of control, simply tell yourself to stop. Organize your thoughts and decide what you need to do to get yourself calm again.

Think positively. Push negative thoughts out of your mind, and remind yourself that you are in control. Think about times when you've been able to manage situations successfully and reduce anxiety.

Stand up for yourself. If you need to leave a situation, do so or tell someone you need to leave. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Allowing yourself to become more upset will not help if what you really need is to take a walk and blow off some steam.

Relax your muscles. Anxiety causes your entire body to tense up, so make a conscious effort to relax each muscle from your toes all the way up to your neck and face.

The above was taken from this article from Everyday Health, "How to Handle Panic Attacks."