Being Sick is Death

I had six amazing, beautiful ideas lined up to write about today, but when I woke up this morning, I felt like I was swallowing glass. In other, less disgusting words, I had a sore throat. So, then I had this ingenious idea to write about ways to stop being sick, and also ways to prevent being sick. For those of you who don't know, your immune system is responsible for making you sick, or not sick. If you barely ever get sick, and are only sick if someone in your household got you sick (thanks Dar), then you probably have a good immune system. If you are always sick and are convinced that you have a chronic illness that no doctor can figure out, then you most likely have a bad immune system, and you should fix that right away. But, today I'm bringing you some tips for when you are sick- good immune system or not.

This giraffe is also sick. Courtesy of Cliparts101

Tip #1- Since I am sick with only a sore throat, this tip is about how to fix a sore throat. I know if you go on the internet and look up "how to not be sick," there will be 10 billion super weird home remedies, and all of them probably contain eye of newt, or vinegar. But this one actually works. Take really, really hot water, like the hottest that you can possibly put into your mouth without dying, then add enough salt to make it taste really, really salty, then drink it and watch as your cells implode from osmosis. Just kidding, don't actually do that, it would be very bad. Instead of drinking the salt water and dying, just gargle with it instead. Do that a few times, then your throat will pretty much immediately feel better. It's honestly a miracle worker. Disclosure- this doesn't fix your sickness and make you healthy forever, it just makes you feel better for a few hours.

Tip #2- My next tip is possibly even weirder that the first, but it's even better and actually makes you not sick anymore. This trick can be done while sick to stop being sick, or the rest of your life to prevent yourself from getting sick (ahem, people with bad immune systems, this one is for you). Take a mug of orange juice. Then, put a spoonful of coconut oil in the orange juice (you can get coconut oil at Costco, and the regular store, and kind of anywhere, it's really not that uncommon). After that, microwave the orange juice and coconut oil until the coconut oil is melted in the orange juice. Stir. Drink. Trust me, it is as bad at it sounds. But, I also hate orange juice and coconuts, so maybe it'll be better for you. This also is a miracle worker, and I'm only ever sick for a day because whenever I think I'm getting sick, I just drink this, then I'm all better.

Tip #3- This tip is much less weird than the last two, and much more well known. Drink tea. That will help you with a sore throat. You could drink other warm beverages, but stuff that has sugar in it like hot chocolate isn't good, because you should try to stay away from sugar if you're sick. Correction, you should always stay away from sugar. My favorite tea to drink when I'm sick is mint tea, with cream. It's super delicious and your breath smells good after drinking it. \

Does anybody actually drink tea out of glass coffee cups?
Courtesy of Pintrest

Tip #4- I'm running out of words, so my last tip is to take vitamin C. This doesn't help you not be sick, but it helps you not get sick. In less confusing words, it's good for your immune system.

I apologize if this post is weird, but I'm sick so. . .

~Mia

What is Clean Eating?

As I've been roaming the internet in the past couple of days, I've seen the term "clean eating" more times than I can count. I honestly had no idea what this meant. Do you have to put your food in the dishwasher before eating it? Or take a shower before eating your food? It was kind of driving me crazy, so I looked it up. Clean eating is just another one of those many diets, like vegans and paleo eaters. I have never payed attention to these diets because they are always so extreme, and I believe in moderation. Clean eating, however, is much more reasonable.

Courtesy of Feminspire.com

Essentially, the idea of clean eating is to eat foods as close to their true form as possible. So, no ultra-processed foods, or refined grains, or sugar. Wait, what is ultra-processed? This word is good to know if you want to be food-savvy. I'm sure you all hear about "processed foods," and how they are all bad for you, and thats true in a general sense. But, If you want to get really knit picky, processed food is anything not in its 100% completely natural state. For example, steaming your broccoli and mashing your potatoes makes them technically "processed" foods. It's nearly impossible to avoid all processed foods, because almost everything we eat is processed- we cook it, we mash it, we juice it, and we grill it. So, ultra-processed foods are what we usually called processed foods- the Marie Callender's Frozen Pot Pie, the jelly Donut that you had for desert, and the Big Mac you had on your way home from work. So, no, clean eating isn't cutting out everything that is cooked, or altered from its original state. It's cutting out ultra-processed foods as much as possible.

Another thing to know is how to tell if something you're eating is ultra-processed. The key is to look at the ingredients list. If there is anything that you can't pronounce, or don't know what it is, or sounds like some sort of awful chemical (like thiamin mononitrate), it's most likely ultra-processed. So don't eat it. Another useful tip is when you go grocery shopping, stay on the edges of the grocery store- where the meat, the fruit, the dairy, and the vegetables are. Unless you have a really weird grocery store, it'll probably be laid out like that.

A few other points of clean eating are to eat five to six times a day, and drink a lot of water. If you look at my post on water, you will know exactly how to do that. Now for the eating five or six times a day, this is just the best way to have energy all day long. If you eat six small meals a day, you will burn calories all day, and your body wont ever think that you are starving- because then it stores more fat. So, just eating six small meals a day can help you lose weight. Another part of clean eating is to try to eat local foods, and organic foods. This is just generally better for your body and better for the environment.

Now you have the whole lowdown on clean eating, and you can show off to your friends. Have fun.

~Mia