by Eric Ulchakere | May 20, 2020 | Natural
There are certain words that I don’t know what they mean, but I’ve heard them so much that I feel like I know what they mean and I absolutely don’t! That’s the case with homeopathy, the topic of this “What Is” blog. I thought that homeopathy just meant the use of natural ingredients in the practice of medicine. For example, I thought that chewing on a piece of ginger when you get nauseous is a form of homeopathy. I was wrong! Here’s why.
Homeopathy is more than just using what we think of as ‘natural’ ingredients—it’s the use of using what could make you sick to make you feel better, by supposedly triggering your body’s natural defenses against what was making you feel ill in the first place. Homeopathy has two main principles, according to the experts on homeopathy. The first is that “likes cure likes.” This principle is first found in the writings of Hippocrates, an ancient Greek man who is considered to be the father of medicine. But the person who made this principle into a system of medical treatment would be the German doctor C.F. Samuel Hahnemann. Hahnemann created the official practice of homeopathy nearly two millennia later.
What does “likes cures likes” mean? It means that in very small, diluted portions, the things that could kill you—and, theoretically, might be killing you right now—can actually save your life, by prompting your body to take action against what is causing you harm. It must be noted that in the practice of homeopathy, the ‘cures’ are often diluted past molecular traceability.
The second principle is that less is more: it is believed that a minimum dose has a greater impact, and is less likely to cause harm, than an excessive dosage.
The third principle is ‘the single remedy.’ This is referring to the fact that most homeopathics will only prescribe one cure at a time per patient, with the idea that simplicity is better in allowing a patient to heal.
While the idea of homeopathy might seem appealing (who doesn’t want more simplicity in their lives?) there is unfortunately little evidence that homeopathy works. There’s also the danger of products labeled as homeopathic containing active ingredients that could cause serious harm. It’s also important to know that homeopathy is not an effective alternative for vaccines.
Dr. Hahnemann, at the time he started practicing homeopathy, was concerned with practices that had been carried over from the Middle Ages, such as bloodletting (the practice of making a patient bleed because it was thought they had too much blood). It makes sense that he wanted to find a way of curing his patients without doing harmful practices that made the patient infinitely more ill than they would have been otherwise. That said, homeopathy should be approached with great care, and should not be considered a replacement for modern medicine.
by Eric Ulchakere | May 20, 2020 | Health
Chocolate Chip Mug Cake
(For when you just need one cookie.)
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 1 minute
Servings: 1
Ingredients
4 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ tsp baking powder
3 tbsp low fat milk
⅛ tsp vanilla
½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a microwave safe mug. This is a small cake so you can use an 8oz mug and it should just reach the top when finished cooking. You can also use an oversized mug, but the cake will be lower in the mug. Mix with a small, sturdy which until a smooth batter forms and no lumps remain.
- Stir in half of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle remaining half over surface. Cook in microwave for about 1 minute. Let cool a few minutes before eating.
Found on kirbiescravings.com.
by Eric Ulchakere | May 20, 2020 | Health
As I write this, I am stressed out! I’m a college student, but I’m also an intern, an employee, a fellow, etc. I have so much stuff to do that I feel like if I wrote it all down the list would go all the way from the desk where I’m typing, out the door, and down the street to the next block.
I don’t know what it is about this time of year that makes people feel so overwhelmed–maybe it’s because there’s this feeling that summer is just around the corner, and we’re still working on things we thought we’d have done in the winter. Whatever the reason, people keep telling me they’re stressed out this week, so there’s a good chance that you are, too.
I think there’s two situations in which you “manage” stress: the first is that you do an amazing job managing your stress on a daily basis, so that you don’t experience mountains of stress out of nowhere. If you manage your stress this well, congratulations! May we all someday become people like you. However, if you’re not that person, the second situation might apply to you (it applies to me, too!).
Here’s what I do, and here’s why I find myself wanting to write about how to manage stress today: instead of dealing with stress on a daily level, I let it grow and grow and grow until I have so much stress that I have to find a way to not be stressed out before I get any work done. You may have experienced something like that, when you’re so stressed out that you can’t even do the things you’re stressed about (see: list of to-do items that goes out the door). I know there are ways that I can do a better job of managing my stress from day to day, and preventing it from building up to a point that I get really overwhelmed. But that’s not where we are today, so let’s get to managing stress when it’s a whole lot of stress all at once.
Like a lot of things, I think it’s important to first admit that you’re really stressed out. Sometimes being stressed can feel like a failure, like you’re admitting that your responsibilities and commitments have gotten the better of you. While that feeling sucks (a lot), I still think it’s important to just stop with what you’re doing, slow down, and admit that you need to change your approach.
Once you recognize how badly stressed out you are, you might feel hopeless, like you can’t imagine actually succeeding in everything you need to do. This might not seem intuitive, but I think it’s important to not jump immediately from saying you’re stressed out to trying to tackle everything on your to-do list. Instead, I think it’s important to take a few (or several) moments to yourself to really feel how stressed out you are.
I know we don’t want to be stressed out for longer than we have to be, but I think that taking some time to yourself to think about why you’re stressed out, and to really process your feelings, is a good way to send a signal that you are going to be okay, and you have enough time to make sure that you feel good. The success of everything on your to-do list isn’t going to matter if you’re not in the right emotional state to enjoy it!
After checking in with yourself, you should do something that legitimately de-stresses you. For me, I go on short runs. It’s a way for me to get my heart racing in a way that’s actually good for my body–and when the run is over, and I’m all sore and sweaty and have those endorphins running through me–I feel like I not only accomplished something, but I did something good for myself. And that’s a great feeling.
The next step is to play triage with your to-do list. I was an RA for two years, and I had a lot of experience with counseling first years on how to survive exam week. One student came to my room late at night, close to tears, because he had this long list of things he needed to study for and do during finals week. I sat down with him and asked him how much time he needed to do each task, and which tasks were really the most important. I had him schedule out his week according to the ranking we came up with, and I made him give himself room for meals and sleep. What had been, only minutes before, an insurmountable, unthinkably difficult week became something that he could reasonably do.
My advice is to schedule out your time in a way that is both realistic and honest with yourself. You are not going to be able to finish that project you’ve been putting off for three months in four hours, no matter how much coffee you’re planning on drinking. Write the tasks you have to do down, and write how much time they’re going to take you. Be generous with yourself–you don’t benefit from giving yourself a task list that only a superhero could hope to accomplish.
There are two important things you should remember when you’re getting ready to tackle all of the things that are stressing you out: the first is that you need to make sure you give yourself time to be a person. You need time to eat, sleep, and talk to other people (or watch a show, or listen to a podcast). You’re not going to do your best work if you feel emotionally and physically fried.
Secondly, it’s important to remember that the importance of most things is fleeting. That is to say, you’re going to be fine, and whatever you’re worried about right now is most likely not going to matter in a month from now, let alone a year. Of course, do your best work. But also understand that if you’re a person who is continually trying their best, one week or two of being a little frazzled isn’t going to undermine the lifetime of dedicated effort you’ve put it to your relationships, job, etc.
Well, I’m off to tackle that to-do list. Good luck!
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