Tag: health

Why We Shouldn’t Judge Others Based on Perceived Health

- Alexis 2 Comments

Drawing of a reclining woman, Brown conte crayon on brown paper

A few days ago, I came across a word I hadn’t heard before: healthism.  I was curious, so I looked it up.  The word describes a kind of philosophy I’ve noticed in recent years.  It’s ubiquitous on social media, and it most often rears its head in the form of fat shaming.  Healthism refers to several related ideas:

  1. Health is a virtue in and of itself, something that should be an ultimate goal, rather than a means to other ends;
  2. To be unhealthy, or to practice unhealthy behaviors or habits, is a character flaw; and
  3. The state of a person’s health can be determined from their appearance.

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Benefit Your Health, the Local Economy, and the Environment with a CSA Share

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Close-up photo of strawberries

I’ve been making intermittent efforts to eat locally produced food since I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle some years ago, although I’ve never had the dedication of Kingsolver’s family to eat exclusively local.  I try to grow some veggies at home, but my success with gardening varies.  Foreseeing that weekly Saturday morning visits to the farmer’s market would likely be a challenge this year, I recently signed up for a CSA share.

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The Satisfaction of Spring Gardening

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Painting of a backyard at twilight

Though the temperatures have dipped again, we had a few warm spring days this week.  After many months of neglecting my yard, I took advantage of the nice weather and child care assistance (thanks, Yia-Yia!) and set out to do some weeding and garden clean-up.

I tend to treat gardening much like house cleaning:  I aim for good enough rather than perfect.  My goal in terms of my yard is generally to keep it from getting so overgrown that my neighbors look at it with disdain.  When we bought our house, I knew the lawn maintenance would cause me stress.  The previous owner was an avid gardener who had done all kinds of lovely landscaping.  I’ve tried to maintain it, but in fewer than three years, it looks much less attractive than it did when he left.  The funny thing, though, is that while I look at my overgrown garden and feel burdened by it, I actually enjoy gardening when I’m in the process of doing it.  As with many things, the procrastination and anticipation are worse than the deed itself.

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7 Ways to Combat the Winter Blues

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Cherub garden statue looking forlorned, sitting in a snowy woods

Winter has always been my least favorite season.  I do not enjoy being cold, and the short days and darkness really get to me.  I tend to want to hibernate in the winter — I stay inside, sleep more, exercise less, feel less motivated, and don’t make as much of an effort to socialize.  While a seasonal change of pace isn’t inherently bad, all of these things can lead to a general feeling of blah-ness.  Over the past few weeks, the cold, gray weather has set in here, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the ways in which I try to make winter a little more bearable.   Read more

November is COPD Awareness Month

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A photo of the author’s father
My dad, Dennis, who lost his life to COPD.

COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  COPD is an umbrella term that encompasses both emphysema and chronic bronchitis.  It’s the disease that led to my father’s death this summer and that made him struggle to breathe for years.  According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 135,000 Americans each year.  More than 15 million Americans have been diagnosed with COPD, and many more are likely unaware that they have the disease.

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