Sugar in unhealthy. It causes heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, cancer, allergies, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other illnesses. It is also addicting.

Learn how to kick the habit.

Like with any habit, it’s far easier to build a new habit in place of an old one than just trying to get rid of the old habit, so let’s take action:

1) Create your new identity.  “I am somebody who is in full control of the food that I eat.” “I will use organic raw honey in place of sugar.”  “I don’t eat cookies.”  The more specific and positive that you can make your new identity, the more likely you will be to eventually make that identity your new reality.

2) Be aware of your cravings. When you start to crave sugar, pause.  Take a few minutes and look at the situation: Is it because you are depressed and unhappy? Bored? Hungry?  Sugar creates a good feeling in your brain, and so you could be craving sugar for any number of reasons.

3) Once you identify the reason for your sugar craving, decide if there is another activity you can complete to accomplish the intended desire without sugar.  You could be bored. So, do something else then eat! If you’re sad, the quick rush of sugar will NOT beat out long-term happiness and success.  If you’re hungry, eat food that is healthy.

4) Come up with rules for yourself, and stick with them by reducing the willpower required.  “Today, I will replace one of my sodas with water. “I don’t ________.”  It’s helpful to use “don’t” instead of “can’t”. Studies have shown that using “don’t” results in a much stronger dedication to habit building.

5) Help yourself out!  Don’t buy or bring home food that contain sugar. If you are trying to eat less sugar, increase the number of steps between you and sugar. 

Exercise

Get fresh air

You are in control of your life, your thoughts, and your habits.

You can celebrate Valentines Day and other holidays in NEW CREATIVE WAYS that are not centered around eating sweets.

 Reference- Nerd Fitness

                  By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays  

 

The average American consumes nearly 150 pounds of sugar each year. 

Yet, Sugar has NO nutritional value.

Sugar is high in fructose which can overload and damage your liver.

Overloading Your Liver With Fructose Can Cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Further---It is NOT the fat intake but the SUGAR INTAKE That Raises Your Cholesterol and Causes Heart Disease.

Sugar can also cause cancer, allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more illnesses.
  Reference- Authority Nutrition 

What happens when sugar is in our blood?

When our pancreas detects sugar, it releases a hormone called insulin to handle all of that excess sugar.

Insulin then helps to regulate that level of sugar in our blood. Thus, the more sugar in our blood stream, the more insulin that is released. 

Insulin then helps to store up all of this glucose in the liver and muscles as glycogen and in fat cells (aka adipocytes stored as triglycerides).

TOO much insulin is released which  results in our blood sugar dropping below normal levels. This is called hypoglycemia, essentially a sugar crash.

          How does our body respond? 
Our bodies respond by telling us to eat more sugar! So- we eat more sugar and the cycle begins again.

Sugar is addicting.

 The following can be listed on a label and is sugar:

• Agave nectar
• Brown sugar
• Cane crystals
• Cane sugar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup
• Crystalline fructose
• Dextrose
• Evaporated cane juice
• Organic evaporated cane juice
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Maltose
• Malt syrup
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Sucrose
• Syrup

 Reference- Nerd Fitness


            By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays  

 

It is easy to be discouraged when we get disappointed in life.

If our plans do not go accordingly as we hoped, we often get easily hurt and tend to want to give up. 

However, when this happens, we can change our thought process to being open to what CAN happen next that may even be BETTER for us than our original plans!

Change your thought process to having an open mind and heart to something else when your plans do not work out.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11


                       By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays  

 

A congenital heart defect is an abnormality present at birth.

My Precious Granddaughter (Pictured) was born with multiple heart defects. She had her first open-heart surgery shortly after she was born. She just turned 3 years old and will need medical care for her heart for the remainder of her life. She was just granted a wish from Make A Wish Foundation. 

Please pray for her and other children who were born with heart defects. 

CHD Awareness Week is an annual awareness effort to help educate the public about congenital heart defects, the number-one birth defect that affects approximately one in every 125 babies every year in the United States alone. 


Causes of Heart Defects
Unknown cause: We don't know the exact cause of most heart defects. Although the reason defects occur is presumed to be genetic, only a few genes have been discovered that have been linked to the presence of heart defects. So they're likely due to a combination of multiple genetic and environmental factors. There's usually a 2 to15 percent chance of a heart defect happening again in the family. The odds depend on what type of defect you have and whether anyone else in your family has a heart defect.

Genetic syndrome: Some people with congenital heart defects have a specific genetic condition that can include other health problems. They may or may not know that they have such a condition. The chance for their child to also have this condition can be as high as 50 percent. These conditions can vary widely in their severity, so children may have less serious or more serious health problems than their parents. Learn more about genetic counseling.

Single gene: Rarely, congenital heart defects are caused by changes in a single gene. Often when this is the case more than one person in the family has a heart defect. The chance for another family member to have a heart defect can be as high as 50 percent.

Environmental exposure: Heart defects can also be caused by something your mother was exposed to in her pregnancy with you, such as an infection or a drug. In this case, the chance that your children will have heart defects is no higher than that of the average person.

Taking part in research
As an adult with congenital heart defects, you may be able to help improve our understanding by taking part in research. There's still a lot that we don't know about why heart defects happen. It's possible that future research will discover these causes. Participating in research could help your family and other families better understand their heart defect and the chance it will occur again in the family. Ask your genetic counselor about research studies you could take part in.

Reference American Heart Association

              In Honor Of Brooklyn-Bree
      Follow "Brooklyn-Bree's Special Heart" 

                       on Facebook 

               By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 

Working out and fitness requires us to make up our minds to engage in regular physical activity. 

Fitness will help our mental and physical health. 

Mental and physical health are intertwined.

First, make the decision to GET FIT!

              By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays  

 

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone.

 Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight
• Coarse, dry hair
• Dry, rough pale skin
• Hair loss
• Cold intolerance (you can't tolerate cold temperatures like those around you)
• Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches
• Constipation
• Depression
• Irritability
• Memory loss
• Abnormal menstrual cycles
• Decreased libido
•  Left untreated, the symptoms of hypothyroidism will usually progress. Complications may result in severe life-threatening depression, heart failure, or coma.
• It can be treated with medication and/ or with proper nutrition and natural supplements.
• Reference- endocrineweb
•           By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor
  Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Do you feel like you have made mistakes and that God cannot use you because of them ... or that you cannot succeed because of your past? 

Each of us has made mistakes and it is easy to feel inadequate or unworthy or.... to just not have the mental stamina to think we could ever amount to something spectacular.

The truth is that we can actually do better than we ever could imagine because of our past experiences and mistakes!

Let trials be a teaching tool and then use them to be a better you to strive toward your passions!

Let your mess turn into a message and help others with what you have been through.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead

Philippians 3:13

                              By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

• Learn to have a better understanding of what you CAN control:
• How you react to your feelings 
• Your work ethic.
• How you respond to others
• Your actions
• The words that you choose
• Your attitude
• If and when you smile 
• Making a positive difference
• Thinking positive 
• Choosing JOY  
•                 By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor
  Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

We often carry around things that we do not need to carry anymore.... worrying about how someone may think of us, hurt feelings, emotional baggage and so on. 

Here are some things that we cannot control and can learn to let go of more in life:

The past
How others act
Worrying about... What others think
Natural Disasters 
Dying 
Growing old
Physical / Mental limitations
What someone will think about me
Wondering What others may say about me 
What others feel
How other people react 

 

                       By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor

Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

Hypothyroidism  

  and 

Hyperthyroidism

What is the difference? 

Hypothyroidism is the result of reduced effects of thyroid hormone on tissues. 

Hyperthyroidism / Thyrotoxicosis is the result of excess thyroid hormone on tissues.

Both conditions produce a long list of symptoms. 

 

Many individuals who have problems with their thyroid go back and forth between hyper and hypo. It can be a challenge to get the thyroid level at normal.

 

There are medications for both conditions. However, whether medication is used or not, nutrition can help.

 

In some cases, nutrition along with specific herbs can keep thyroid levels normal without any medication.    

 

The following are some suggestions to help treat thyroid problems with nutrition:

Millet is a great food to eat to treat any thyroid condition.

Iodine- Main sources:

Sea vegetables: Kelp, nori, kombu, dulse, arame, wakame, hijiki

Seafood: Haddock, clams, salmon, shrimp, oysters, sardines, Iodized sea salt 


Eggs, spinach, garlic, asparagus, Swiss chard, mushrooms, summer squash, sesame seeds, lima beans

Selenium
Tuna, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts

Zinc
Walnuts, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, split peas, ginger root

Copper
Nuts, sunflower seeds, beans (white beans, chickpeas, soybeans), shitake mushrooms, pearled barley, tomato paste, dark chocolate

Iron
Organ meats, oysters, clams, spinach, lentils, soybeans, white beans, pumpkin seeds, blackstrap molasses
Vitamin A (beta-carotene)
Broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, kale, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, liver, winter squash/pumpkin, cantaloupe

Vitamin C
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, greens (mustard, collard, kale, turnip), parsley, peppers (chili, Bell, sweet), strawberries, guava, papaya, citrus, kiwifruit

Vitamin E
Peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, beans,  asparagus, leafy green vegetables

Vitamin B2
Egg yolks, wild rice, almonds 

Reference: Woman to Woman

Foods to Avoid:
Sugar, Wheat, Processed Foods, Most Starches -As Well As Most Dairy.

Minimal dairy with no added sugar is okay such as plain Kefir Probiotic drink.

                       By Diane Gammon M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counselor 

                               Now open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays