🥣 National Tie One On Day

🍞National Tie One On Day is celebrated by wrapping a loaf of bread in an apron, tucking a special note in the pocket and delivering the gift the day before Thanksgiving to someone in need.

Would you like to put the "thanks" back into Thanksgiving?

All you have to do is tie one (apron) on.

National Tie One On Day is a special holiday that's celebrated the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This annual event, recognized by Chase's Calendar, began in 2006 as a simple way to help harried cooks slow down during Thanksgiving preparations and think about others.

Thousands of apron-wearers across the country take time on Thanksgiving eve to wrap a loaf of bread in an apron, write a short note to slip into the apron pocket and deliver the bundle to someone who needs a little extra TLC.

Perhaps you know a fellow gardener who is struggling with an illness, a neighbor who's out of work, a friend taking care of an elderly parent or someone spending the holiday alone. Maybe you'd like to thank the person who made a difference in your life this year.

"Women clad in aprons have traditionally prepared the Thanksgiving meal, and it is within our historical linkage to share our bounty," is one maxim for the holiday. 

You can join the celebration by baking a loaf of bread or plate of muffins, wrapping the goodies in an apron (kitchen towel or linen napkin), and delivering the gift the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

To help you get started, VegetableGardener.com offers four delicious harvest bread recipes that are perfect for baking and taking. These include Potato and Onion Focaccia with herbs, Harvest Muffins, Golden Squash Cornbread and Sweet Potato Sugar Bread. 

Even if there's no time to bake a loaf of bread, you can buy a baked item from the grocery store. National Tie One On Day is simply about taking a moment from the traditional Thanksgiving preparations to show special appreciation to someone who needs it.

🍞NATIONAL TIE ONE ON DAY

National Tie One on Day might confuse people with its name. However, it is not at all about going out, getting crazy and drinking too much while others are at home, working hard preparing for tomorrow’s big Thanksgiving Day meal.

National Tie One on Day celebrates the apron as well as the past generations of women who wore them and it was also created as a day to bring joy to the life of someone in need and celebrate the spirit of giving.

“Women clad in aprons have traditionally prepared the Thanksgiving meal, and it is within our historical linkage to share our bounty.” EllynAnne Geisel

HOW TO OBSERVE

As part of National Tie One on Day, buy an apron, bake something, tuck a note of encouragement in the pocket of the apron (or pin it on it), wrap the baked good in the apron and give it to someone in need on Thanksgiving Eve. Use #NationalTieOneOnDay to post on social media.

HISTORY

National Tie One on Day was created by best-selling author Ellyn Anne Geisel, who is also the author of the book titled, The Apron Book.

Blogger: Egypt Assanti

Eta Sigma Delta SL Sorority

{aka} Big Sister Southern Heat 🍞

⚕️Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Awareness Month

👉Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (abbreviated as COPD) is the general name of various lung diseases, which include emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and chronic obstructive airway disease. The condition is mainly manifested by increased breathlessness, persistent cough containing sputum, chest infections and wheezing.

COPD is mainly caused by smoking. Individuals who smoke are at a higher risk of contracting the disease. Cigarettes contains irritants, which cause lung inflammation that results in scarring. With time, the inflammation causes irreparable damage to the lungs. The wall of air passages may thicken while mucus production increases. This causes severe damage to the air sacs. The lungs also lose their elasticity. This is what causes breathlessness, phlegm and frequent coughing.

Rarer forms of COPD are caused by air pollution, dust, fumes, and genetic disorders.

👉Proper Management of COPD

In as much as the damage caused by the disease is irreparable, you can still live a healthy life after diagnosis. This is done by slowing down COPD’s progression. More often than less, treatment involves relieving common symptoms through the use of prescription drugs for COPD.

The disease will obviously slow your life down. However, you must understand that there are a number of interventions that can be used to reduce its effect. This will obviously force you to make adjustments to your lifestyle.

Generally, the goal of managing COPD is to enhance a patient’s quality of life and functional status. This can only be achieved through the preservation of normal lung function, the improvement of symptoms, and the prevention of any recurrences. At the moment, lung transplants are the only known treatment for COPD.

👉Foods That Are Good for COPD

You need to feed on a proper COPD diet to stem the deterioration of your health. In this regard, you must eat foods that are good for COPD. This can only be done through the creation of a personal diet regimen, which should be followed to the letter.

COPD patients are generally advised to eat low-fat proteins, which include poultry, fish and lean meat. You also need to improve your digestion by incorporating complex carbohydrates in your diet. These include bran, whole grain bread, lentils, beans and brown rice. These foods have a high fiber content.

Vegetables and fruits are similarly important to those suffering from COPD. Fresh fruits and veggies in particular, contain essential minerals, vitamins and a high fiber content. These elements not only improve the body’s health, but also help it fight common COPD symptoms. Potassium-rich foods such as bananas, avocado, oranges, tomatoes, beets and potatoes are important, more so if you are on diuretic medication.

Sticking to the recommended COPD diet can go a long way in improving your body’s immunity. It also gives it the ability to fight off common infections that may result from COPD.

👉Foods That Are Bad for COPD

Certain types of food ought to be avoided in order for COPD treatment to be effective. Foods that have little nutritional value and those that contain high fat levels should be avoided totally. Those that cause common digestive disorders such as bloating should also be shunned.

Salty foods enhance water retention in the body. This is dangerous for those who have COPD since their bodies need to lose as much water as possible. High fluid levels in the body exerts a lot of weight on the lungs. This causes breathing difficulties.

Dairy products are categorized among food that are bad for COPD. All dairy products contain casomophin, which increases mucus production in the body. You should therefore limit or avoid the consumption of dairy products such as yogurt, cheese, butter, buttermilk and ice cream.

Fried foods are also not good for COPD. Besides bloating and gas, they are not good for your heart and can thus cause you further problems. They should therefore be avoided.

Carbonated drinks also increase gas levels in the stomach, which is unhealthy for COPD patients. Such beverages contribute to body dehydration. In line with this, you should avoid beer, sparkling water, wines and cedar, and carbonated soft drinks such as soda.

Food products that contain sulfites should also be shunned. Sulfite is a component added to processed foods and drinks to enhance their shelf life. It causes bronchial tubes to narrow, thus compounding your respiratory problems.

👉Latest Prescription Treatment Options

In as much as the available prescription drugs for COPD do not treat the condition completely, they greatly alleviate the symptoms. This enhances your quality of life. The medications are not offered to provide cure. They are mainly administered to open up closed airways, reduce airway inflammation, and fight any bacterial infections.

The following are some of the latest prescription treatment options for COPD:

Bronchodilators

These are medications provided by physicians to widen the airways. This makes it easier to breathe. In most cases, an inhaled bronchodilator is recommended due to its effectiveness. The medication is taken using devices such as nebulizers, metered dose inhalers and dry powder inhalers.

Common bronchodilators used in the treatment of COPD include anticholinergic bronchodilators, short-acting beta-agonists and methylxanthines.

Corticosteroids

These are among the most popular medications for COPD. They are used to reduce airway inflammation. In most cases, inhaled corticosteroids are prescribed to patients whose symptoms cannot be controlled through the use of bronchodilators only.

Daliresp

This is one of the latest prescription treatment options available for COPD. This is basically a pill, which inhibits an enzyme known as phosphodiesterase type 4. Daliresp is particularly effective on COPD patients who have chronic bronchitis.

👉COPD and Smoking

Smoking is what causes the disease in the first place. Holding onto the habit only aggravates the condition. Quitting this habit altogether is therefore the most effective way of managing COPD. Maintaining a smoking habit only hastens the progression of the disease, which puts you in a more perilous state.

Quitting smoking greatly prevents the deterioration of your lung function. It also reduces common COPD symptoms such as persistent cough. In addition, it improves your quality of life.

Many COPD patients find it had to quit smoking. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you should ask your physician to provide you with nicotine replacement products, which do not aggravate the condition.

👉Managing Stable COPD

The general approach in the management of stable COPD is often characterized by an increase in treatment efforts. This however depend on how severe the disease is. If you are suffering from COPD, you need health education. This will help you cope with the disease in a better way. Health education similarly helps you accomplish certain goals, such as smoking cessation. The role of prescription drugs for COPD is to alleviate pain and complications while increasing lung function.

The available medications may either be offered in an as-needed manner, or on a regular basis to manage COPD symptoms. To improve their resistance to symptoms of the disease, patients should incorporate exercise training programs in their lifestyles. Oxygen needs to be administered to patients who have chronic respiratory disorders because it increases their chances of survival. It is also important to avoid exposure to risk factors such as smoke and dust, which may worsen the situation. Practical and social

counselling is also advisable because it provides a patient with necessary support during the course of treatment.

👉For More Information About COPD, Follow Link:

 https://keepasking.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-managing-copd/?utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=COPD&adgroup=Info-DT&utm_term=copd%20awareness%20month&utm_medium=search&imp=46941&msclkid=37f48813808a1a6d88ecd3fb27d98a96

Blogger: Egypt A. Assanti

Eta Sigma Delta Baroness

{aka} Big Sister Southern Heat 

◦•●◉✿ 𝓝𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓼 𝓛𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓒𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓻 𝓐𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓱 ✿◉●•◦

As with other Cancers, lung cancer is heartbreaking, deadly and attacks like a army. Before telling useful information and facts about lung cancer, I would like to share my story...

My mother smoked cigarettes for many, many years and all attempts to stop smoking just wasn't successful. In 1997 I remember it so very clearly, I was at work and my mother was at the doctor getting results from test that I had no idea she had taken. While it wasn't the best idea for my middle sister to contact me at work, she did and the words that escaped her mouth, I would never forget the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach.... Through tears she said... "Mommy has cancer." The phone dropped without me even realizing it and my heart sank and all I heard her say wasn't those words, but to me it conveyed into, "Mommy is dying." I started crying so hard that my supervisor had to take me to her office and let me get it out there. That day began the journey of my mother's cancer fight and has scared as I was, I was determined to help her get through this fight.

We watched as she endured lung surgery to remove half of her lung, chemotherapy that made her extremely sick and took all of her hair, radiation which made it hard for her to breathe and made her chest area hard and discolored. This was not easy to watch but my mother.... My mother is my hero because through it all, she prayed, she smiled, she kept a constant smiled and glow to her. You would never believe this woman was enduring so much.

4 years later, they said the cancer had gone however, due to all of this trauma, she had heart trouble, diabetes, thyroid surgery, asthma but the cancer itself had become what I say dormant but what the doctors said... gone....

A year later, I would never forget, two days after our birthday (we share the same birthday), in November it was 70 degrees out, we had celebrated our birthday by going to times square and having a ball. Two days later she ended up in the hospital, blood sugar spiked, they admitted her and two days after that she was in ICU with the doctors telling us she would not make it, her lungs had filled with blood and the cancer they said was gone had woken up with a vengeance! But my mother wasn't done. God knew the family wasn't ready to lose her. After two days of not waking up, she awaken, bright eyed, smiles and said it was time to come back.

We had my mother for two months after that and as I write this it's ironic everything was happening in twos. On January 31, 2002, my mother lost that fight to Lung Cancer, and while God gained a angel the world lost a amazing soul....

I told my story to wake people up especially smokers.

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer.

Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, and the leading cause in people who have never smoked. For more information about radon and testing your home, please visit EPA.gov/radon.

Other risk factors include:
  - lung scarring from tuberculosis
  - occupational or environmental exposure to:
     • secondhand smoke
     • radiation
     • asbestos
     • air pollution
     • arsenic
     • some organic chemicals

Genetic predisposition may also play a role in lung cancer development.

People who have never smoked account for between 20,000 and 30,000 lung cancer diagnoses every year.

As more people quit smoking, the percentage of cancers diagnosed in people who used to smoke will continue to increase.

For certain people at high risk, screening for lung cancer using low-dose CT scans is proven to save lives. New guidelines will help you understand if CT screening is appropriate for you.

Get screened if you are 55 to 80, you are currently smoking or quit within the past 15 years, you have a smoking history of at least 30 packs. 

1 pack/day X 30 years = 30 pack years

1.5 packs a day X 20 years = 30 pack years

Get screened, get tested, STOP SMOKING!

Signing off

Destiny Santiago  aka

     Big Sister On Point

⚕️ American Diabetes Month

💉Diabetes is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. It can cause blindness, nerve damage, kidney disease, and other health problems if it’s not controlled.

One in 10 Americans have diabetes — that’s more than 30 million people. And another 84 million adults in the United States are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The good news? People who are at high risk for type 2 diabetes can lower their risk by more than half if they make healthy changes. These changes include: eating healthy, getting more physical activity, and losing weight.

💉How can American Diabetes Month make a difference?

We can use this month to raise awareness about diabetes risk factors and encourage people to make healthy changes.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Encourage people to make small changes, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Talk to people in your community about getting regular checkups. They can get their blood pressure and cholesterol checked, and ask the doctor about their diabetes risk.
• Ask doctors and nurses to be leaders in their communities by speaking about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. 
• Over 23 million people in the United States have diabetes, which is also known as diabetes mellitus. 
• This leaves many people seeking diabetes information to help them manage this disease. Many have been officially diagnosed, but many others live with diabetes and do not even know it. 
• They may have many diabetes symptoms, but do not realize what is causing these symptoms. There are two types of diabetes- type 1 and type 2. Of the 23 million Americans that have diabetes, over 90% have type 2. Type 2 diabetes is the type that people are not born with. They develop this type of diabetes because of their diet and other environmental factors. 
• Diabetes information is extremely important to help people get a proper diagnosis of this condition and start a diabetes treatment plan. Diabetes is a chronic disease which causes a body to have an inability to process blood sugar effectively. This causes consistently high blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes begins to develop when the body starts having a hard time responding to insulin; this is often called insulin resistance. Diabetes information can help save many lives.
• What are Diabetes Causes?
• One of type 2 diabetes causes is being overweight. Diabetes is especially prevalent in those who are obese. A person not getting enough exercise and physical activity is also a contributing diabetes cause. People who are not overweight can also develop type 2 diabetes, although it is more rare. A family history of diabetes is also one of the common diabetes causes. 
• Are There Diabetes Cures? 
• Unfortunately, diabetes is a condition that currently has no cure, and therefore treating symptoms is still the most productive way of addressing the disease. However, new stem cell research may one day provide a cure, at least for Type 1 diabetes. This form of the disease occurs when a person’s immune system begins to attack the cells responsible for regulating blood sugar, but according to one study, these cells can be easily replaced with those grown in a laboratory. While this process has only been tested on mice so far, if testing begins on humans, it may put science one step closer to a diabetes cure.
• What are Diabetes Symptoms?
• Diabetes symptoms are often overlooked by many. Diabetes symptoms often start coming on slowly, leading to a person getting used to the symptom and not realizing that it could be the result of developing diabetes. The first diabetes symptoms often experienced are weight loss, frequent thirst followed by frequent urination, increased hunger and headaches. Dry mouth is also a common first sign of diabetes. Once the diabetes progresses a bit, more advance diabetes symptoms include weight gain, cuts and sores that do not seem to heal, numbness of the feet and hands, impotency and frequent yeast infections among women. These diabetes symptoms should not be ignored, and an doctor should be seen as soon as possible to test for possible diabetes.
• What are Diabetes Treatment Options?
• The sooner diabetes treatment is obtained, the better the outcome for the patient often is. Thankfully, there are now many diabetes treatment options. There are many oral medications on the market today for diabetes treatment. These oral medications help to control the diabetic's blood sugar levels. These medications include Biguanides, Sulfonylureas, Thiazolidinediones, Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors and Meglitinides. More than one diabetes treatment medication is often prescribed to a patient. Many of these medications compliment each other and work best when paired with other medications.
• Another common diabetes treatment is inject-able insulin. There are long-acting and short-acting forms of insulin. Which one is prescribed to a patient depends on the patient's specific needs. Long-acting insulin is typically administered once a day, while short-acting insulin is commonly administered before or after each meal.
• Diabetes treatment often also consists of the diabeti altering their way of eating. The diabetic is taught by their physician which foods to eat and not to eat. A low carbohydrate or a controlled-carbohydrate diet is often regarded as the best diabetes treatment diet. These types of diets help to naturally control blood sugar levels. Exercise is often recommended as another natural diabetes treatment option. Since diabetes is often caused by being overweight, a loss in weight can help to improve or even eradicate diabetes symptoms.

Blogger: Egypt A. AssantiESD Baroness{aka} Big Sister Southern Heat