Simplest ever fruit cocktail.
In each pint jar:
1/3 c peaches
1/3 c pears
1/3 c pineapple
1/3 c grapes
Add extra fruit to the 1/2 inch head space if necessary.
syrup to fill, make sure all air bubbles are out.
Water bath 25 minutes.
________________________________________
Sleep. Most people take it forgranted. We sleep (or don't) on a regular schedule without thinking much more about it.
In the last few months a lot of the things I've always done have disappeared from my view. I never thought that working nights would play such havoc with my life.
You're awake when everyone else is asleep
You're asleep when everyone else is awake
Your social life is limited to an hour or two a day, depending on your schedule
You can't do anything noisy, smelly, or social during the night hours
You can't do anything outside that requires light
Your circadian rhythm gets all messed up
It throws off your eating schedule
What you used to eat just feels wrong because your brain knows it's not breakfast/lunch/dinner time
You need blackout curtains
If you need to do anything during your "normal" sleep time, you have to adjust again
People who are awake during the day call you without thinking
The doorbell should be outlawed
People come to visit and you never know
The "tech team" isn't available during your work hours
You can't rely on the sun to wake up
You lose access to vitamin D
Everything you used to do in 18 hours now has to be done in 5
I've been doing a lot of canning, because that's something that can be done at night. My garden suffers, I never see my friends, many of my hobbies are out of bounds because they're things that need to be done during the day. I can't use a hammer or do laundry when everyone else is asleep, movies are OK if I watch them in my room (and I inevitably fall asleep). I can still read, and write, so that's comforting.
Oh, and I just got my proof copies for Spirit and Dark Spirit! So I finished the first (and possibly only) batch of fruit cocktail. Tonight I can cheese, sour cream, butter and cream cheese, and tomorrow I read. :)
Showing posts with label vitamin D. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vitamin D. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Nip it in the Bud
In the last few weeks I've been hearing a lot of people talk about illnesses, mostly colds. Everyone wants the magic bullet that will kill the thing before it becomes debilitating.
There's an old phrase that some might have heard but few would know the meaning of.
"Nip it in the bud" literally means to nip (or cut off) the bud before the fruit appears. If you don't want the fruit, kill the blossom. If you don't want the cold, you need to catch it when it first shows its head rather than waiting until it's gnawing at your ankle.
There is no magic bullet that will kill a cold, but there are a lot of things you can do to keep it from becoming a monster. The same things that kill any other disease.
First, a healthy immune system. Vitamin C and D support immune system function, as do zinc and selenium. Vitamin B is another important vitamin for immune system function. Ironically, most of these items are found in fresh fruits and vegetables, something that was once much more difficult to acquire during cold season. Coincidence?
Lots of sunshine will take care of the D problem (although during the winter we all mew ourselves up like we're hibernating). Antioxidants also help build a strong immune system, but they are easily destroyed by excess heat--i.e., eat fruits and vegetables raw or steamed rather than boiled. Processed vegetables out of a can are better than nothing, but most of the nutrients are gone.
Another irony--the vitamins taken out of our food are re-processed and sold as vitamins on the shelf. But that's a rant for another time. Where were we?
Oh. If your immune system is in peak shape (which very few are) it will throw off the effects of most bacterial or viral diseases easily.
So when a cold rears its head, you need to take action.
1) A tablespoon of honey, morning and night. Taken on bread, in an herbal tea or simply from a spoon, honey has a multitude of beneficial vitamins and minerals that make it a miracle food. Too bad the bees are dying, huh?
2) A clove of crushed garlic every night (and every morning if your stomach will handle it). Eat it WITH the skin. Don't peel it. Whether in a capsule, a bowl of spaghetti or raw, garlic is an anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-biotic all rolled into one tasty little package.
3) Vitamin C, as much as your system can handle. If you have the chewable vitamin C, use them as lozenges rather than the chemical drops you buy from the store. Save those for the sore throat stage. Orange juice, pineapple juice
4) Drink. Lots. Drink water until you leak, but leave the sugar drinks and caffeine drinks strictly alone. That's a general rule for all the time, because they make you lose more water than you get from them. It's the definition of a diuretic.
5) Sleep deprivation is one of the most common maladies in the modern world. If you can go to sleep an hour earlier or get up an hour later, it will help.
6) Destress. A no brainer, but sometimes the most difficult to do. Meditation, breathing exercises, reading a good book--whatever it takes.
There's an old phrase that some might have heard but few would know the meaning of.
"Nip it in the bud" literally means to nip (or cut off) the bud before the fruit appears. If you don't want the fruit, kill the blossom. If you don't want the cold, you need to catch it when it first shows its head rather than waiting until it's gnawing at your ankle.
There is no magic bullet that will kill a cold, but there are a lot of things you can do to keep it from becoming a monster. The same things that kill any other disease.
First, a healthy immune system. Vitamin C and D support immune system function, as do zinc and selenium. Vitamin B is another important vitamin for immune system function. Ironically, most of these items are found in fresh fruits and vegetables, something that was once much more difficult to acquire during cold season. Coincidence?
Lots of sunshine will take care of the D problem (although during the winter we all mew ourselves up like we're hibernating). Antioxidants also help build a strong immune system, but they are easily destroyed by excess heat--i.e., eat fruits and vegetables raw or steamed rather than boiled. Processed vegetables out of a can are better than nothing, but most of the nutrients are gone.
Another irony--the vitamins taken out of our food are re-processed and sold as vitamins on the shelf. But that's a rant for another time. Where were we?
Oh. If your immune system is in peak shape (which very few are) it will throw off the effects of most bacterial or viral diseases easily.
So when a cold rears its head, you need to take action.
1) A tablespoon of honey, morning and night. Taken on bread, in an herbal tea or simply from a spoon, honey has a multitude of beneficial vitamins and minerals that make it a miracle food. Too bad the bees are dying, huh?
2) A clove of crushed garlic every night (and every morning if your stomach will handle it). Eat it WITH the skin. Don't peel it. Whether in a capsule, a bowl of spaghetti or raw, garlic is an anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-biotic all rolled into one tasty little package.
3) Vitamin C, as much as your system can handle. If you have the chewable vitamin C, use them as lozenges rather than the chemical drops you buy from the store. Save those for the sore throat stage. Orange juice, pineapple juice
4) Drink. Lots. Drink water until you leak, but leave the sugar drinks and caffeine drinks strictly alone. That's a general rule for all the time, because they make you lose more water than you get from them. It's the definition of a diuretic.
5) Sleep deprivation is one of the most common maladies in the modern world. If you can go to sleep an hour earlier or get up an hour later, it will help.
6) Destress. A no brainer, but sometimes the most difficult to do. Meditation, breathing exercises, reading a good book--whatever it takes.
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