Ravensong Poetry And Writing Blog by Donovan Baldwin

 By Donovan Baldwin

Thinking Out Loud:

I recently went to the VA (U.S. Veterans Affairs) outpatient clinic for a skin check. I'm a wee tad prone to skin cancers and had a few spots, but, that's another story.

They took me out of the waiting room, did the blood pressure, temperature, and 20 questions thing, and then had me sit in a hallway until the Physician's Assistant was ready for me.

Wound up taking about 30 minutes, and, about every minute and a half, a lady in scrubs would walk briskly past, doing various upper body exercises with some handheld weights.

First time she passed, she said a very friendly, "Good morning, Sir," and continued on. She passed several people while I sat there and she made an apparent rectangular loop in the hallway around the exam rooms.

She slowed down for people using walkers (VA's full of us old people), and politely let everyone go ahead of her... but, she never stopped moving for at least 30 minutes. I have no idea how long she had been doing laps before they sat me down in the hallway.

My first thought was, "You go, girl!!!"

My next thought is that so many people say they want to get fit, healthier, lose weight, get rich, become famous, whatever, but, it takes effort. This lady, my guess, wanted to be healthy and found the time and space to "git 'er done".

If you want "it", whatever your "it" is, you usually do.

Monday morning as I write this. A little earlier than when I got there the other day, but, I bet soon, she's at it. Working towards her goal.

You go, girl!!!

Want to lose weight, get fit, be healthy? Read this report 10 Reasons Why Diets Don't Work.

Labels: exercise, fitness, motivation, walking

By Donovan Baldwin

The quality of your healthy aging strategy is part of the quality of your life.

From the day we are born, we begin to age.

In our younger years, we don’t think about the later years that are to come in our life. We all live in a very fast paced world today and it causes a lot of stress in our lives. As time goes on, this stress will increasingly affect us.

Everyone, whether young or old, needs to take care of their body and mind.

Taking care of ourselves day to day helps keep us thinking, moving and preventing major illnesses such as cancer and many other diseases and conditions. We all must work at keeping ourselves healthy and there is no better time than right now...no matter your present age.

However, the younger you start taking care of yourself, the better results you will attain over your lifetime. By starting early you are catching, and preventing, things before they have time to progress.

Right now, you can start of by eating healthy.

Keep an eye on that diet and make sure you are not overeating, but eat enough to get the vitamins and other nutrients you need for health.

Taking a good multivitamin is an excellent way to start adding necessary nutrients you don’t get in your food without eating more food.

Many believe that food today doesn’t always have the amount of vitamins like it used to, and that starts at the farmer’s level. Don’t blame the farmer for this because they are just doing their jobs the same way we all go to ours everyday.

The farmer has to add fertilizer, chemicals and even water to their crops to make them grow bigger, faster and for beauty too. Adding all these chemicals is believed to decrease the natural vitamins that you need which would normally be found in food. Even something as simple as water may have chemicals in it too. This, by the way, is one reason why your water needs to be tested at least once a year especially if you have well water.

Many, by the way, try to protect their health by arranging to provide clean water at home through the use of a water filter.

Once the food is grown and ready to be shipped, it is polished, coated to keep it nice and fresh looking during shipment, which is another step which may take away some of the vitamins as well while adding "unnatural" chemicals and compounds to the food we eat.

Try to eat as much organic or homegrown food as you can and avoid processed foods where possible. Fresh, homegrown food is the best, since you get natural vitamins without all the additives used in commercial farming and food processing systems.

A good multivitamin isn’t going to hurt anyone. It is known that people who take a multivitamin everyday is in better health than someone who doesn’t. Sometimes your doctor may want you to take extra vitamin, as we grow older because our bodies change and sometimes require more of something. In addition, as we grow older our eating habits change and we don’t eat as much or we want to lose weight and don’t eat the right foods. Nevertheless, remember you can lose weight and still eat right.

As we grow older our bodies and mind change. All the stress we had growing up and continue through out our lives. Relieve that stress as much as possible because it can do a lot of harm to us. Stress is known to be a major factor for poor heart conditions, strokes, and it will lower our immune system, as we grow older.

A regular exercise program is good for all ages and helps relieve stress at the early ages as well. If only families took time out maybe as a family with their children and made it a part of their lives that would help relieve it during the younger years.

A person who learns and enjoys exercising on a daily basis will keep during it, as they grow older as well.

Exercising will help the older person to keep those bones more flexible so they don’t get stiff and weak. The heart gets benefit from exercising too. Exercise will cause the heart to produce naturally, by working it harder to keep it highly flavored. Exercising helps to keep our bodies toned up and helps us to lose weight, or at most keeping the weight maintained.

Remember starting early can help later in years to make your life healthier and more contented.

Labels: aging, exercise, healthy aging, healthy eating, quality of life

By: Donovan Baldwin

I have always been interested in health, exercise, and fitness.

In fact, over the years I have written and published several articles on those subjects.

Even so, I try NOT to be a "health nut".

Not to say that's a bad thing, it's just my personal desire and interest to balance who I am, and what I do, with the realities of the world, and my own beliefs and desires.

I believe in "natural food", keeping in mind that "natural" is not a magic word.

Rattlesnake venom is natural, as is gravity acting on an avalanche above a busy ski slope.

However, within the constraints of my reality, caregiver for two people, I try to avoid unnecessary, and "unnatural" ingredients in my food. I usually cook my own meat, fix raw or steamed vegetables, eat things such as bell peppers, thanks to a certain someone who cares about my health, and other raw vegetables and fruits.

I'm not perfect, but, I try.

Because of my personal obligations, and their affect on time and energy, prepared foods still appear in my diet sometimes.

Still, I look for solutions.

The other day, with this in mind, I checked a "Paleo" meal in the frozen food section of my local Walmart. Lots of pretty veggies and meat visible through the wrapping.

Then, I read the ingredients...after the meat and veggies, it read like a chemist's shopping list.

Often, we try to do the "right thing", but, there are hidden pitfalls we don't always recognize.

Don't believe me?

Try to give up sugar.

Read labels. You'll see what I mean.

Copyright by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, eating natural, exercise, healthy eating, natural, natural foods, paleo, preparing meals

By: Donovan Baldwin

I'm not as strong as I used to be.

Physically, I mean. Of course, part of this is simply the result of aging. We lose muscle mass and strength as we age.

However, in my particular case, I also have arthritis, osteoarthritis, to be exact, degenerative joint disease, in almost every area of my body. In fact, the Veterans Administration just diagnosed osteoarthritis in my shoulder joints. Didn't need to tell me. All I have to do is try to throw a ball for the dog in the backyard.

Osteoarthritis limits the pressure, or strength, I can apply when lifting, throwing, running, jumping, whatever. It's a physical thing, but, it's a mechanical thing too.

Some types of exercise can offset muscle mass loss, increase muscular strength, and, exercise can even help overcome the mechanical and physical difficulties of arthritis.

That's not to imply that even under the best conditions of nutrition and exercise, joint health and strength will be restored to what it would have been without the effects of aging and arthritis.

Still, even though the results cannot be perfect, it just doesn't make sense to me NOT to do what I can.

I was speaking with someone today, someone who is now facing new physical limitations.

Their attitude was, "Well, I can't do that any more."

Being who I am, I just don't get that attitude.

There are things people faced with loss of mobility can do to reclaim some of their mobility and activity. There are new paths they can follow...not the same as what they are used to, but, new paths of pleasure and excitement.

Yet, some, like this person, are saying, "I can't do ANYTHING" because what they are accustomed to has changed.

I used to be like that.

The U.S. Army took care of that during Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1966.

They taught me then and there, that limitations exist, but I can overcome at least some of them, and, often, most of them.

Labels: arthritis, donovan baldwin, exercise, mobility, osteoarthritis, strength, Veterans Administration