The Victoria Health Show is an annual two day event that brings together suppliers and distributors who deal in health related products. Each January it is one of my favorite places to visit in my home town and ranks right up there in my books with the Victoria Tea Festival and the Victoria Chocolate Festival and the Organic Islands Show. Last year I added the Coffee Festival to my list of trade shows to browse. The latter had me bouncing off walls after sampling hot and cold coffees, coffee beans, coffee candies, and biscotti. I discovered the smooth decaf just a little too late. What a lot of fun though!
I am neither a supplier nor a distributor. I am a consumer. I love going from booth to booth enjoying the free samples, the demos, the wealth of information, the prize draws and the discounted items to buy. Yesterday was no exception and as I made my way through the crowds at the Health Show, I gleaned more knowledge of what is good for us to eat, what will aid in our longevity and how to keep our brain healthy.
Green drinks that are palatable and don't taste like mowed lawn are high on my list of things you should have in your cupboard. You mix a teaspoon or so in water or juice and down the hatch. If you eat at least 8 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, you may not see the need to have one of these products in your house but I feel that if I have some in the morning, I am covered for the day, just in case I don't get a bit of broccoli and kale into the gullet.
Every pantry should have at least one salt substitute, something like Mrs. Dash or if you're going to use salt, trying using less or adding a pinch of Himalayan salt or something from a source a little closer to home like Canadian Sea Salt from the Vancouver Island Salt Co.
I have become wiser about the cooking oils and salad dressing oils I buy. My cupboard now boasts rice bran oil, ( I received a free bottle at the show yesterday....thank you CarrotLines.com) olive oil, grapeseed oil, and macadamia nut oil. I am now educated about flax seed as well and will give you a source to check out at the end of this blog. Also, met a friend who is excited about the benefits of Aloe. She's lost weight using a product that she absolutely raves about.
You can see where I am headed with all this info, right? Making Dying Fun is a place where I generally write about the elderly and dementia or something related to Boomers, retirement, aging parents, yadda, yadda. This installment is really no different. We have to look after our bodies so they don't break down prematurely. We have to care for our minds as best we can, learn new skills such as drumming. Sounds so random, but did you know that drumming has been proven to really exercise our brain?!
Here's a tip I didn't learn at the show, I have known it for a while. Our spirits need nourishment too. Please don't neglect yours! Random acts of kindness, selfless acts of service, practising forgiveness, looking to a higher power, praying, meditating, will all provide sustenance for your soul.
None of us are getting out of here alive. We can't pack a kit bag for our departure but we can make some preparations in terms of eternal happiness. I explained that to one of the vendors at the Victoria Health Show yesterday. His company is an environmentally friendly company making pens and paper and displays from green energies and materials. We began discussing my book that I eventually want to have published and in the course of our conversation, after I told him the title of my blog, he told me about his visits with his grandfather who had dementia. He said he hadn't minded hearing the same stories over and over or sitting with him even if there was nothing to say. I relayed my insight to him as best I could. Although his grandfather's body was breaking down, that it in no way affected his soul. The soul is free from the maladies of the body and brain. I added that I feel that our spirit or soul is our unique essence and that it is eternal. My new friend showed me the goosebumps up and down his arm. He wasn't cold, he was just absolutely moved by our conversation.
I arrived home giddy with delight hauling three bags full of brochures, samples of vitamins, hemp granola bars, Greek style yogurt,gluten free cereal and my free rice bran oil from the show! The highlight though wasn't the loot I brought back with me although it was awesome, the pinacle was talking to Jeff about his grandfather and having a truly meaningful conversation. We need all three elements of body, mind, and spirit to get the best out of living.
Links from above:
http://www.victoriateafestival.com/
http://www.coffeecollective.ca/
http://www.organicislands.ca/
http://www.canadiangoldenflaxseed.com/
http://www.rhythmconnect.com/
http://www.5min.com/video/exercising-your-brain-97705977
The Victoria Health Show is over for this year but you can find out about it by going to www.healthshows.com
Monday 30 January 2012
Monday 23 January 2012
Life Happens
A lot has happened since I last blogged. In early December, my dear father ended up in the seniors mental health ward of the local hospital. He had headed for home while my mother was at the dentist and got disoriented, ending up at a local gas station, asking the attendant to call an ambulance for him. You see, he had gone out without his wallet and i.d. and had no recollection of his address. If he had that kind of information on him, I suppose the young clerk would have just called a taxi instead to take my father home. As it was though, Dad ended up at emerg and I met him there.
It was not a very nice week and that week stretched into a month and here we are at the seven week mark. It has been an anxious time for him and a stressful time for my mother, and myself, and for my brothers who live far away. It's been hard for the grandchildren to see him in angst.
There have been consultations with a geriatric team. The occupational therapist who makes assessments about my father's ability to cope was at one of the meetings. So was the geriatric psychiatrist, the social worker, the liaison nurse, and of course my mother and myself.
It was heartbreaking to make the decision that he could no longer be at home. With the level of dementia he has which affects his frontal lobe, the place where reason, logic, and emotion are housed, it is not a good idea to have him live in the same residence as my Mom. The guilt gushed forth. How could she after standing by this man for decades of marriage, do this to him?
December 28th was their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a small lunch time gathering for them in a lounge at the hospital. It was as nice as it could be, considering the circumstances. We had pizza and there were balloons and flowers. I tried to create a Hawaiian themed party reminiscent of the honeymoon they had taken to those tropical isles so many years ago.
It was actually my 26th wedding anniversary that same day. However, my husband was out of town at the hospital bedside of his mother who had suffered a stroke over Christmas! I woke up that morning thinking of that saying "when it rains, it pours"! It certainly had been stormy over this period!
It's a new year now and we wait for his placement at a care facility. We keep our fingers crossed that we can get him into someplace close to their home so that Mom can easily visit him.
As I have learned victory always follows crisis. Happiness shows up after despair. Things have not all been bleak. December 31st was the due date for my first grandchild. He or she was to be my parents third great-grandchild. We played a waiting game, through New Year's and then finally the little one arrived! On Friday the thirteenth of January, we welcomed a 7lb 9oz boy into the world!
The angelic face of this new addition to our family graces the wall of my father's hospital room. He is hope for the future. His photograph is surrounded by other pictures of the two great grandaughters and other smiling family members. Dad is surrounded by love. He may feel alone sometimes but I remind him every night when I phone him to say goodnight that he is never alone. We are with him in thought. He has caring nurses and every day is a new one for him with a steady stream of visitors.
We have so much to be thankful for. Life happens!
It was not a very nice week and that week stretched into a month and here we are at the seven week mark. It has been an anxious time for him and a stressful time for my mother, and myself, and for my brothers who live far away. It's been hard for the grandchildren to see him in angst.
There have been consultations with a geriatric team. The occupational therapist who makes assessments about my father's ability to cope was at one of the meetings. So was the geriatric psychiatrist, the social worker, the liaison nurse, and of course my mother and myself.
It was heartbreaking to make the decision that he could no longer be at home. With the level of dementia he has which affects his frontal lobe, the place where reason, logic, and emotion are housed, it is not a good idea to have him live in the same residence as my Mom. The guilt gushed forth. How could she after standing by this man for decades of marriage, do this to him?
December 28th was their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a small lunch time gathering for them in a lounge at the hospital. It was as nice as it could be, considering the circumstances. We had pizza and there were balloons and flowers. I tried to create a Hawaiian themed party reminiscent of the honeymoon they had taken to those tropical isles so many years ago.
It was actually my 26th wedding anniversary that same day. However, my husband was out of town at the hospital bedside of his mother who had suffered a stroke over Christmas! I woke up that morning thinking of that saying "when it rains, it pours"! It certainly had been stormy over this period!
It's a new year now and we wait for his placement at a care facility. We keep our fingers crossed that we can get him into someplace close to their home so that Mom can easily visit him.
As I have learned victory always follows crisis. Happiness shows up after despair. Things have not all been bleak. December 31st was the due date for my first grandchild. He or she was to be my parents third great-grandchild. We played a waiting game, through New Year's and then finally the little one arrived! On Friday the thirteenth of January, we welcomed a 7lb 9oz boy into the world!
The angelic face of this new addition to our family graces the wall of my father's hospital room. He is hope for the future. His photograph is surrounded by other pictures of the two great grandaughters and other smiling family members. Dad is surrounded by love. He may feel alone sometimes but I remind him every night when I phone him to say goodnight that he is never alone. We are with him in thought. He has caring nurses and every day is a new one for him with a steady stream of visitors.
We have so much to be thankful for. Life happens!
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