Benefits of drinking enough water

 

Well, if the title isn’t already obvious, we will be talking about water and all that it provides the body and why we should drink more of it.  Again, I won’t be the one to tell you to put down the pop, juice, wine, beer, ect. Those things are fine as long as you make it your mission to also drink water; more water. There is such a thing as “too much” water, but in most cases, the majority of people do not drink enough of it and with that being said I will be the first to admit that before I started making it my mission to buy bottled water; I would never/ very rarely drink water, I would find refuge in other liquids of my choosing and after a while it was weighing on me in different ways.  I was gaining weight, I was feeling dehydrated, constant thirst, my bowel movements had issues and I was basically not excreting the kind of pee that means I have drank enough water. Now all of these things could happen regardless, I realize this and most liquids have some form of water in it in most cases and foods as well, but we have to think outside the box.  We have to think about how water can be beneficial to us when we drink enough of it and I want to share ways that could possibly help those of you who have had the same issues I had once (not drinking water, not liking the taste of water).

First of all, I highly recommend if you are exercising; especially high intensity exercise, that you drink water and maybe a powerade/gaterade every so often; if you are sweating a whole lot to replenish sodium (we will discuss powerade/gaterade in a different post).  How many of you do not like water? how many of you know you do not drink enough water? How many of you drink water constantly? how many of you keep track of how much water you drink? how many of you prefer bottled water? How many of you bring water with you where ever you decide to go? how many of you drink water with each meal? Hopefully after asking yourself these questions, you have either decided to continue reading or have decided you drink enough water and no longer care to hear about it.  This is up to you. Alright so let us begin with discussing the benefits of drinking water and why one should:

Benefits of drinking water:

  • Relieves fatigue
  • Improves mood
  • Sometimes can treat headaches and migraines depending on the severity
  • Helps in digestion and constipation 
  • Aids weight loss- helps control calories
  • Flushes out toxins
  • Helps energize muscles
  • Water keeps the skin looking good
  • Helps your kidneys
Tips on how to drink more water:
  • Bring water with you everywhere (water bottle, bottled water)
  • add a flavored pack to the water so it  has a taste you enjoy (watch sugar content in the pack)
  • Drink water with every meal
  • Drink a glass after every bathroom break
  • Use an app to help keep you accountable of your water consumption
  • Dilute sugary drinks with water
  • If you don’t like the tap water, invest into a filter or buy bottled water
  • Choose sparkling or mineral water over pop
  • Eat foods with more water content
  • Alternate water in after every cocktail or alcoholic beverage you consume
I hope these tips I have shared will come handy for those of you who may not drink enough water.  This is more important than you would think and has wonderful benefits that will help your body now and in the long run. 
Drinking too much water:
Drinking too much can cause the level of sodium to drop too low, in turn a condition of hyponatremia (water intoxication) and this can be fatal. 
  • Normally over 4 liters a day is too much for the majority of the general population. For those of you that are athletes, it might be fine for you, since you tend to sweat a lot more during exercises versus people who are in the general population. Something to keep in mind, out of all honestly the amount of water someone should aim to drink at least 2 liters of water a day.  
Stay hydrated folks, take your water everywhere and enjoy! 
Your fitness blogger, 
Shay-lon xoxo

Damn, You. Father’s day Blues

 

Happy Father’s Day to all those who have a special dad in their life, to those who are father’s and to those that have lost their dear fathers. 

Father’s day, A day to spend with the one man who has seen you grow up and become a beautiful women, or who has seen you grow up into a handsome gentleman.  He was the man some of you went to when you needed advice, someone to hold you and tell you everything was going to be okay, the man who made all your fears disappear; he was the next closest “superhero”.  A lot of times you don’t really realize what you are missing until something happens that brings up memories. 

I always looked up to the one’s closest to me when Father’s day came around, because they had everything I had always yearned for and yet I knew I had to be strong, to be fearless and to pretend it didn’t bother me for my sake just to get by.  When you are young, you don’t think nothing of these days, because you don’t really understand them and at some point, you hope that your parents can spend forever together.  I didn’t. I didn’t hope for mine to be together because I didn’t understand who this figure was; I didn’t know why he was never with us, why I had never seen him and why I was always left year after year trying to make believe he existed.  My childhood was spent arguing with my mom, trying to fit in and feeling sorry for myself.  Don’t get me wrong, I had good days like any other kid and I had “friends”, some days were more exciting than others, yet my heart was broken and I didn’t know why.  I can remember the many letters I received from this unknown man whom my mom told me was my Father. I was only around 6 or 7 at the time, it always seemed like Christmas when I would receive a letter from him because the words he used made me feel loved, made me feel wanted and made me happy.  As time progressed, the letters lessened and my happy thoughts withered, my mom and brother didn’t ask questions, I just decided to forget, forget about this man whom I called Father.  Some days I would ask my mom questions about him, about who he was, why he never visited, where he was, and why I could never see him, but she refused to answer; refused to hurt me with the truth at such a young age.  I didn’t understand then, as I do now.  I didn’t understand how she never cried, how she never hurt and how she never wondered why my Father had never shown year after year.  How come I was left to pretend my life was fine, left to think he never loved me, how come my heart ached when people would ask me who my father was, how could she see me and now know I was dying away at the core, and wanted more.

Every man who came into my mom’s life was like another demon, another reason to be mad, to cry, to hate & to envy. None of them treated me and my brother like a father should, they failed to give me love, failed to talk to me, failed to understand my anger and multiple of them hurt my mom; multiple of them made me act out in rage & all of them failed to fill my void.  My mom hated how I acted out, got mad at me for being mad and not being able to control it because I couldn’t understand how she could move on and pretend shit was okay. Hell, I couldn’t stand living much longer when everything I did made my relationship with my mom worse.  My brother was my go-to, my playmate, my sidekick and he protected me from getting my spankings many, many times.  My ninth grade year, my mom decided to announce we would move to Texas, I was suppose I was pissed off but I figured it was because my mom wanted to be closer to her father and grandpa meant a lot to me, and my uncle lived in Texas too, and I loved him a bunch too.  Moving after ninth grade year was bittersweet, come to find out, my mom moved us because she met another man; another poser, another fraud, another reason to ruin my life.  He gave us money to make us smile, he didn’t talk to us, he didn’t hug us, he didn’t even love us.  He was my mom’s failed experiment.  The difference between him and others was the fact they ended up married, but I believe the only reason why.. was for a bad reason. He was in the army. we lived in Texas for 2 years before having to move again to Colorado, and having to spend my senior year making new friends, meeting new people, and pretending life was perfect.  It is too bad I couldn’t pretend hard enough to push the nightmares out.  Sure, we lived a very nice lifestyle, had a nice house, and nice neighborhood and went to a good school.  School was my escape many times away from home, because home grew old, grew sad and had more madness than what it was worth. I started to hang out with more people, to explore myself a bit more and started to use social media. At 18, my mom decided to express something about my father while we were in a grocery store.  She told me his name, where he was and why he was where he was.  For some reason, I didn’t understand, I didn’t know what to say, I wanted to break down but she told me I was old enough to understand, that it didn’t effect me, BUT guess what mom? It did. 

Now I was more damaged than I already was, and now the big secret was revealed to me and I hated him. I hated him because of who he was, I hated both my parents; one for not being there and the other for bringing different men in my life and not making any of them worthy of my love or care.  Once again, my mom failed to understand my anger and failed to care.  What my mom didn’t know was while she was dating and being a puppet to each and every man in our lives, I was slowly transitioning myself into a whore and seeking attention from men. Luckily for my mom I stayed a virgin but only because I knew I didn’t want to go down that road, I wanted more for myself.  I just wanted attention, wanted to be held and told I was beautiful, I would hang out with people who knew what it was like to get the kind of love that I craved. “A sinner never shares her deepest secrets”, I can tell you one thing, I was no saint and I didn’t want to be the “Golden child” anymore.  Somewhere along the way I lost taste in men and found hope in women ( a story for another day).  Years later, their marriage failed and I moved back to Ohio and got another brother out of the deal.  I was starting over again, starting over on my own.  

Dad, 

just in case you thought your daughter was going to fail in life without you, just in case you thought I was going to be a product of the system and just in case you thought I cried for you this year, father I didn’t.  I didn’t become a product of the system, I didn’t fail in life, I didn’t cry for you this year and years previous.  I graduated high school, in the top percent, I graduated college with honors and on the Deans list and I am a law abiding working citizen. I started to think about you again today, but realized, what for? just to remind myself of all the things you should have been there to see, to remind you of all the shit I had to go through on my own, to remind you of how I hated myself for many years, for you to feel like you won when I decided to date women.  Dad, I turned out to be this amazing person with a big heart, mom and I have our issues every now and then but I love her dad because when you weren’t around she made sure I had food, a place to sleep and loved me unconditionally, and to top it off I had everything I ever wanted, I had new clothes and shoes, I had a bike, I had mom who took time to spend her waking days outside with me and my brother, I have a mom who works hard, who kept us from harm and who accepted me for all my flaws and all. She might never have understood my anger or sadness but dad she tried. She tried to be mom and dad so that I didn’t have to know what it was like to be without.  I am so sorry you didn’t get to see your daughter become this person, I am sorry you missed out on something special, I am sorry you missed out on me dong great things.  Dad, I have expectations for you to meet any longer, I don’t care if you ever get to see me, or if you ever decide to reach out again because I have chosen to love you unconditionally from a far and accept the fact I may never get to meet you.  You left me to wonder if you existed, and I am leaving you to wonder who your daughter grew up to be.  

Love always, 

Your daughter Shay-lon xoxo

Thank you for reading, this was my way of expressing my father’s day holiday and allowing myself to forgive this man, my mom and all her mistakes and allowing myself to remember who I am and where I came from.  This was a reflection on my past to more recent.  My two brothers mean the world to me and even if my mom is steady looking for another knight in shiny armor; I have to allow her to learn on her own how to find someone worthy of her love.  I know my worth and I am happy with who I have become, I have a lot more to work on and learn but I haven’t given up on myself.  My dad may never show his face but I accepted that a long time ago.  I hope many of you may be able to connect with this post in your own way. 

How to boost your immune system

 

Hey guys, 

Today I am going to talk about building our immune system, because it is important to have a strong immune system.  There are an endless list of things that can compromise your immune system (i.e illness, diseases) but it is very important to do our best at making sure we keep it “fighting” and strong.  The purpose of the immune system is to keep infectious microorganisms out of the body and destroy any infectious microorganisms that invade the body.  Many people do not realize how with age our immune system is more susceptible to become weaker; which in turn means we have to learn to take care of it while we are young and able so that we have a better chance as we hit an older age to have a stronger immune system.  Now, many people take herbals and supplements and medicines that may help their immune system, but you need to be careful when you take them because a lot of times they may have weaken other things or might not do what it is intended to do and have adverse reactions. One of the best things we can do to build our immune systems in my opinion is to watch what we eat and to stay healthy, down below I am going to list everything that is known to help boost the immune system.

  • You need and should get enough sleep.  When you do not get enough sleep at night, it can lead to higher stress hormones and inflammation of the body.
  • Regular, moderate exercise.  Exercise helps with many, many things and one of those things is it helps to fight infection in your body.
  • Eating the right type of foods and eating other foods in moderation.  Eating or drinking too much sugar can “curb immune system cells” that help kill bacteria.  Instead you should eat more fruits and veggies that are high in nutrients and Vitamin C and Vitamin E. (berries, citrus fruits, kiwi, apples, red grapes, kale, onions, spinach, sweet potatoes, carrots, some types of mushrooms, garlic and chicken noodle soup are some to name a few.
  • Balance your stress, when you are constantly stressed out it can cause your immune system to weaken.  If you are someone who is constantly stressed or put into stressful situations then you should find ways to counter it (i.e mediation, slow down, talk with others, and exercise) 
  • Being too isolated and away from people can cause a weak immune system, you should want to have close relationships with people and have somewhat of a social life if possible.
  • Laughing is said to help with the immune system, since it helps with your stress hormones. 
Now that seems like a small list of things, but I wanted to go a bit further into the “diet” part of it, because a lot of times that can make a difference between having a cold or having it pass you by.  
  • Vitamin C veggies and fruits are important to have and you should make them a regular thing that is part of your meal planning and/or eating schedule. Leafy veggies and citrus fruits.
  • Vitamin E is another great nutrient to help boost your immune system, Almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, spinach and broccoli are all full of it.
  • Vitamin B6, such as bananas, lean chicken breast, cold water fish, baked potatoes, chickpeas
  • Vitamin A, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash are just some to name a few
  • Vitamin D, Fatty fish, milk, orange juice and some cereals
  • Folic Acid, beans and peas have tons of folic acid, some grains may have it too (read the labels)
  • Iron, lean poultry, seafood, beans, broccoli and kale.
  • Selenium, Garlic, broccoli, sardines, tuna, brazil nuts and barley all have Selenium.  
  • Zinc, oysters, crab, lean meats and poultry, baked beans, chickpeas and yogurts.
Hope all of this information will help you to begin boosting your immune system and remember to DRINK WATER! Water is a great liquid and does wonders for the body too! Thanks for reading!
Your Fitness Blogger,
Shay-lon xoxo

What to wear when working out at the gym-video blog

What to wear when working out at the gym?

This video blog is discussing a fun topic; what to wear when working out at the gym, it wasn’t meant to put anyone down or to knock people, but to make people aware of how they may present themselves and what others may be thinking.  I think sometimes people get caught up on brand names when honestly, in my opinion that doesn’t matter.  What matters is how you carry yourself when you come to workout and how you want others to perceive you.  Clearly everyone will have their own opinions and that is what I want, for everyone to share their thoughts, ideas, opinions and recommendations freely without persecuting someone.  I think this is a fun topic of discussion and will get people engaging and debating.  Hell, I may learn that what I wear to the gym is a no, no.  lol.  Please feel free to share any and all opinions, again this isn’t to hurt anyone’s feelings or get people down on themselves but to instead hear different perspectives.  I shared a few of mine; you may agree or disagree and that is okay! Thanks for watching. Please feel free to subscribe to my Youtube channel, follow me on social media and leave comments on my blogs.  You have my permission to share my videos as well. 

Video blog on fitness apparel

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxo

Love wins -Video blog

Video Blog on everything that has transpired since today

My video blog

Hey everyone, today I am going to do two video blogs, possibly three.  This first video simply talks about the whole Orlando shooting and my fears of attending gay pride this weekend and having to decide what to do based on how I am feeling and my guy instincts at the time.  I realize that we need to be strong as a community but at the same time, it still scares me because it shook me up, it opened my mind and eyes to what is really going on in the world and has me still feeling very sadden and angry about this whole thing.  This year would be my third year going to the Columbus, OH gay pride event in support of our community and having fun celebrating and being around like minded people.  I normally have my hotel ready and plans ahead of time, but this year I lagged and got behind and had other priorities, nonetheless, I had still originally planned on attending up until this mass shooting and then I became very paranoid and worried. With this all being said, I am not attending today, but tomorrow I am thinking about attending and at the very least getting there early enough to watch the parade and be able to take some pictures possibly.  I don’t want to regret either decision so today & tonight I will be thinking about it and rethinking about it and making sure I am comfortable with it.  Of course, I have discussed this with my family members and they don’t think I should go for the sole purpose they are scared for me and just want me to be safe, but at the same time I feel like I have an obligation to go and stand by people such like myself and be there to say “this is us and we aren’t going to change who we are to please anyone”.  I guess, we all have our fears and we all have had situations where it made us question our bravery and/or courage at some point.  I know the difference between making a dumb decision and making a decision based on what you believe, hopefully by tomorrow morning I will have made my decision as to whether I am attending the event.   I don’t know if anyone else is having the same issues as I am about attending this event or other gay pride events, but I would love to hear from you if so, because I think talking about it helps and helps us to see all points.  I hope all of you will appreciate this video; thank you for watching.

Your fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxo

P.S feel free to watch my other Youtube videos I have posted and subscribe to my channel, I just started this channel, so it doesn’t have a whole lot but I am working to make it better.  Any feedback is wonderful 🙂 Also, you are all more than welcome to follow me on social media & share anything that I publish that is of interest to you.  I have a facebook page that I created just for fitness/blogging and my videos and will also at some point have videos of me working out and other things, it is new; so it is under construction; bare with me as I have a lot going on, so everything is pretty new and probably won’t be 100 percent done for a while.