health

Unconventional Tips for Living a Healthy Lifestyle

September 28, 2011 By Jillian

You are probably expecting this post to say something like “eat your veggies” or “exercise daily.” Those are undoubtedly good tips to live healthier, but will eating your veggies make you happier? We all focus on becoming physically healthy, but being emotionally happy plays a big roll.

I hate list posts because I feel like they usually point out the obvious. So here are five things you can do today, that might not be obvious, that will force you to live healthier. And no, I’m not going to tell you to take the stairs.

Look someone in the eye when you say hello. Greet them with a genuine smile and give them more than just a cursory “hi”. Pay attention to someone; acknowledge that the barrista/ cashier/security guard exists.
Go outside for lunch. Just go outside for two minutes, stretch your legs, take a deep breath and enjoy the sun on your face. Soak in the vitamin D.
Laugh out loud. Let yourself enjoy a joke, a funny comment or even the comics. Don’t be afraid to give a good chuckle or belly laugh. Show your enjoyment.
4. Be humbled. Life can be challenging and difficult at times. Remember that honestly, as bad as your day may be or as difficult as a challenge may be there is someone, likely not too far away that is also struggling.
5. Be the change you want to see in the world. If you want something done, DO IT. Focus on changing your own behaviors before you expect to change others. Lead by example.

What are your thoughts? What are your tips for living a healthier lifestyle?

Staying Healthy: What we’ve learned

August 25, 2010 By Jillian

Danny’s experience in Ethiopia underscores the need to stay healthy on the road. In case you missed it, take a second to read it before you continue. Although we’re pretty well prepared to handle basic first aid and stomach illnesses on our own, we were caught out in Harar and frankly that was our own stupid fault. We carry everything with us that we needed, we just didn’t bring it with us for the short weekend. Mistake #1.

Here are some travel health tips to avoid “the worst day ever”:

Basic First Aid. Both of us are certified in basic and wilderness first aid. We chose to take a wilderness first aid course because of its emphasis on improvised triage and long-term first aid management in difficult situations. I can’t say that we’ve used that knowledge while traveling, but we felt it was good to have just in case.

Prepare, but don’t forget. We were prepared to handle Danny’s stomach problems in Ethiopia, but we “forgot” the first aid and medicine kit in Addis Ababa. What’s the point in carrying it around the world if you don’t have it when you need it? Our “go to” kit includes ibuprofen, oral rehydration salts and ciproflaxin. If you carry medications and first aid equipment, keep it with you. You may not be able to find it in a pharmacy when you need it.

Don’t wait, get help. Fortunately Danny’s fever broke quickly, but that was luck. A few weeks ago we recounted this tale to his Aunt, a registered nurse, over breakfast. Her face and tone said it all, his fever had been dangerously high, and her response reminded us how bad the situation could have been. In hindsight we should have sought help immediately when he began shaking – we aren’t trained medical professionals and violent shivers are a sign that something is very, very wrong. We were lucky this time, but waiting it out isn’t a good idea on the road. Listen to your body, if it doesn’t seem right, get help.

Health is Wealth. Like Mom said, eat your fruits and veggies and get a good night sleep. It’s better to take it easy for a few nights and treat yourself right then end up with a week down and out on the road. If you can’t maintain a balanced diet on the road, consider taking a multi-vitamin. Look for fresh fruit juices at roadside stalls.

Know thy self. Only you know if those aches and pains are normal. Only you know your allergies and tolerances. Ask, ask and ask again. If you’re allergic play charades, draw, or translate your allergy or illness into the local language. Better safe than sorry. In Guatemala a pharmacist tried to sell me a drug to take care of parasites. My Spanish wasn’t great, but I could read enough of the lab report to tell that the bacteria column had a + and the parasite column had a -. I refused the parasite drug and went to another pharmacy. I later learned that the anti-parasite cost 5 times more than the antibiotic which the second pharmacy recommended.

Review: Steri Pen Classic

April 3, 2010 By Danny

There is no doubt in my mind that this device has already paid for itself simply because we don´t have to constantly buy bottled water when the tap water isn´t clean enough to drink. The fact that it may one day save our lives is an even bigger benefit. There are other, fancier Steri-pen models on the market but we chose this one because it uses AA batteries, which we can recharge easily on the road. The safety features included in this device can make it difficult to use at times, but they’re safety features, so can we really complain?

When the SteriPEN doesn’t adequately clean the water it tells you this with a series of red lights. You know something is wrong and that you shouldn’t drink the water but you don’t know if the problem is a dirty bulb or a lack of battery power or plain old human error. The series of lights usually tell you which it is but it can be difficult to understand; the new models on the market have addressed all this.

Having pointed out the difficulties of using this device I must say that when it does work it works brilliantly. It is surprisingly simple to operate and we´ve yet to get sick, in more than a year of travel, which means we must be doing something right. We use this pen almost daily to clean tap water in cities and stream water in rural areas. The fact that when using this we can drink the water right away and don´t have to wait (like with tablets) to drink has been a lifesaver as well. The only place this won’t work is in dark water as the UV light won’t be able to pass through the water.

Highly Recommended.

Unconventional Tips for Living a Healthy Lifestyle

Staying Healthy: What we’ve learned

Review: Steri Pen Classic

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