Veterans Day at School

I called my aunt tonight because I was feeling a little nostalgic. My aunt is great for walking me through that. I told her about our school's veterans day activities and she was amazed. For as long as I can remember my school has annually honored veterans in our classes and/or assemblies. It's just something we do, like saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. It wasn't until I heard the surprise in my aunt's voice that it dawned on me that maybe our activities aren't necessarily the norm.

Veterans Assembly 2014

Our Veterans Day activities first began in the late 1990s. One of our social studies teachers created an assembly for the kids and had them invite their veteran relatives to be honored during our assembly. The next year we continued until it just became part of what we do. Sometimes we have assemblies and sometimes we do something different, but we always take a day to honor veterans.

Veterans Wall 2012

This year all the teachers taught from various lesson plans provided and chose what they wanted to teach. I taught my 7th graders about the history of the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful and we listened to the songs with lyrics. And we compared the two songs. Then the students heard from 3 different veterans about their experiences. And what was really amazing is that we had veterans from World War II.

I know our Veterans Day activities don't just reach the students. Every year I'm reminded about my relatives that have served and gain renewed gratitude for their service and all the men and women who have sacrificed for our country.

Sometimes, I think we need to share the times that touch us. And since every single student in my 4th hour class made a thank you card to the veterans who visited us, I think they also felt the true meaning of Veterans Day.

So what do you do to show honor and respect on Veterans Day?

Love your gut

No one wants to think about their gut. Okay, sometimes you may get a gut feeling. Follow it. Unless we are sick, constipated or have diarrhea it's just not worth our time. But the gut or intestines are the supplier of nutrients and eliminator of wastes for our body. That's an important job!

Our guts can become compromised though by just normal living. If you are regularly vaccinated, have mercury fillings, suffer from asthma, allergies, headaches, cancer or diabetes or what I had see floaters your gut may be invaded.

Then there are other signs that your gut is unhealthy and most of these don't seem directly related to your gut. Food allergies can stem from poor gut health. Anxiety, depression and mood swings could be related to your intestines. Skin problems, autoimmune diseases and even diabetes could start with gut problems. Memory problems, ADD and ADHD could also result from poor gut health.

So let's say you decide your gut is in less than decent shape. How do you go about fixing it? In my research I've found elimination diets. Remove the bad things you are eating that cause inflammation. This is easier said than done, in my opinion. It's suggested to remove gluten, corn, soy and sugar. Toss in caffeine and alcohol and you might be wondering exactly what you can eat.

If you can make it past the elimination, you need to replenish good bacteria in your gut. But how do you know what is a good bacteria? I always thought eating yogurt was good enough. I learned quickly, it helped a little. But it never was enough to bring lasting effects.

So what can help? ProBio5 can! The more I research, the more I find the ingredients in ProBio5 are the perfect combination for restoring gut health. Five strains of the best probiotics combined with chitinase. Chitinase breaks down the outer coating or chitlin of the crap that likes to take over and wreak havoc to your digestive system. After ProBio5 kills the bad stuff in your guts, BioCleanse takes over. It comes in and sweeps away the toxins that are being destroyed and helps you quickly get rid of it.

I could spend time sharing how each strain of ProBio5 provides benefits to your guts, but you'd go back and research it anyway. I know you will, you are sauvy! So what I will do instead is just show you the ingredients.

Just so you know, I'm a Plexus ambassador. I wasn't when I started taking Plexus products, but the results made me want to share. In the interest of full disclosure I'm also a junior high science teacher. So if you found this interesting or maybe just have some questions, comment below and I will get back to you. Wishing you health and happiness.



Sources:http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14510/10-signs-you-have-an-unhealthy-gut-how-to-heal-it.html

Importance of Sleep

Is this you?

Two nights ago I decided I was going to follow feng shui advice and close my bathroom door while I sleep. It's supposed to keep the bad energy of the bathroom out of my sleeping quarters. I follow my normal routine of getting a glass of water, taking my daily probiotics and moisturizing and then I get comfy in my bed. And I sleep. As normal I wake up once during the night and you guessed it, I headed for the bathroom. Only this time, I'm half asleep and my nose collides with the very sturdy wooden door. "Ouch!" I open the door and do my business, but now my nose is throbbing and I'm wondering why I did such a dumb thing like close my bathroom door. I get back into bed and wonder if my nose is bleeding. Needless to say, after an event like that I didn't get the quality of sleep I should have. So what! Right?

It is a big deal, though.  Or is it? The next day I was not up to my normal anything. This situation made me take some time to research the importance of quality sleep.

Quality sleep lasts from 6-10 hours.

Ever have a big decision to make and say, "I'll sleep on it"? If so, it's probably one of the smartest decisions you've ever made. Good sleep promotes good mental health.  It improves memory because during sleep the brain is forming new pathways. It's also the reason you can wake up with a great idea. Sleep can actually improve your creativity. Need help solving a problem? How about getting six to eight hours of sleep. Deficiency of sleep has been linked to depression and even suicide. Yikes!

Quality sleep also plays a big role in physical health. During sleep our body is taking time to repair and eliminate wastes. Which is probably why I get up once a night to use the restroom. During sleep your body is balancing hormones, building up your immune system and repairing your heart and blood vessels.We all know that stress is harmful to our body, but good sleep has been proven to reduce stress. Increased inflammation is also associated with less than six hours of sleep.  If that's not reasons for getting your zzzz's, then you must be Superman!

One of the most amazing things I discovered in my sleep research is that dieters who got more sleep lost more fat. And 56% more fat than their counterparts with less sleep. Basically those dieters lost more muscle.

I haven't always been a good sleeper. In fact I used to go to bed at 9:00 to get a good night's sleep. But not anymore. I go to bed later, but sleep better. Maybe it's because I lost some weight, but more than likely it's the healthy supplements and food I've been putting into my body. Several months ago I started drinking Plexus Slim and didn't need to drink coffee anymore. I started taking ProBio5 and I sleep like I've never slept before; deep and satisfying. What have I learned from all this? I'm going to keep up with my Plexus products and keep my bathroom door open. My health is more important than feng shui any day!