Life Cycle

School started and once again I find myself lagging behind in other aspects of my life. This semester started out pretty smoothly despite the fact that I lost most of my strength and endurance due to prolonged inactivity and finding myself struggling to walk up five flights of stairs every morning. I tell myself every week that I will start exercising but with the hectic schedule I find my exercise regimen no where in sight. So instead of making time specifically for exercising I will incorporate exercise into my daily activities. I will let you know how that goes.

One class this semester particularly catches my attention - Nutrition Through the Life Cycle. The class teaches me that every decision we make will ALWAYS somehow end up affecting one or more aspects of our lives later on.

From our discussions so far, I learned that basic things that we do such as drinking alcohol or even engaging in excessive exercise may increase the risk of infertility. Also, the nutritional status and/or disease state of the mother directly affects the nutritional status and/or disease state of the newborn. For example, mothers with folate (a vitamin) deficiencies will give birth to babies with neural tube defects giving rise to an undeveloped or malformed brain. Once born, the mother's decision on whether or not to breastfeed the baby affects the chances of the baby becoming obese as an adolescent. In addition, the food choices that the family makes will influence the child's perceptions and food choices later in life as we continue to eat things that we grew up eating. Poor nutritional status as a young age may lead to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

I find that interesting because as a female, I would like to become a mother one day. The class made me realize that the choices I am making in my daily life as of this moment can affect the future of my children before they are even born.

This not only applies to nutrition and diet but also to other things in life. Before we take any step or make any decision we need to examine its costs and benefits. Things that bring temporary satisfaction often bring permanent harm. Though the consequences are not always apparent, they will slowly sneak up behind us because many things cannot be undone. Life is a cycle, and what goes around will come around.

Almond Milk

You might have heard that a diet rich in nuts and seeds is beneficial to the body. Nuts and seeds can be a great addition to your diet as they are full of vitamins and minerals. They have really good amounts of natural oils and protein as well. More and more nutritional benefits of nuts are being found all the time. In the 1990s, many studies confirmed that eating nuts, such as almonds, can decrease the risk of stroke, of developing type 2 diabetes, and dementia.

If you aren't already consuming nuts as a part of your diet, there is a new way to reap the benefits - Almond Milk. Almond milk is a great alternative to cow's milk if you are lactose intolerant and it is completely vegan. As you probably already know, almonds are a very good source of Vitamin E, thus making almond milk also a good source of Vitamin E. Almond milk is naturally a good source of calcium, as well as Vitamins D. It is rich in protein and omega fatty acids that everyone is talking about. It is also lactose and cholesterol free.

Another benefit of almond milk is that you can even make your own! The recipe is rather simple - one cup of ground almonds to two cups of distilled or boiled water. You can also flavor the almond milk by adding honey, vanilla and/or cocoa. Add the ingredients in a blender and give it a spin for fresh homemade almond milk! It was used quite a bit in medieval times because it does not require refrigeration and thus could be stored easily.

For those who aren't a fan of soy or cow milk, almond milk might take a little while to adjust to but it's definitely worth it!

Trust

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." - George MacDonald 

I got to thinking about relationships and trust lately. Trust allows us to share our thoughts, ideas, and emotions. It's obvious that we will choose not to engage in any relationship with someone we can hardly share information with (in this day and age, the information I refer to exists outside of facebook, myspace, etc.), but what about the ones we do? What allows us to trust them and not others?

Every relationship has a certain amount of trust. The level of trust determines the type of relationship and differentiates between an acquaintance and a best friend. Trust can take years to build but only a second to destroy. Can a relationship survive without trust? Will a relationship continue to blossom once the trust is broken?

Someone once said, "trust is like a mirror, once it's broken, you will never look at it the same anymore." It is rather pessimistic to think of it this way but can we really pretend that the cracks aren't there staring at us every time we look in the mirror?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment!