THE FAMILY: A PLACE OF FORGIVENESS-- Pope Francisco

Please look at the speech that was read at the retreat by the Pope.
Regardless of religion, see how beautifully Pope Francis wrote about the family.

FAMILY, PLACE OF FORGIVENESS ...

There is no perfect family. We do not have perfect parents, we are not perfect, we do not marry a perfect person or have perfect children.
We have complaints from each other. We disappoint each other. So there is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. Without forgiveness the family becomes an arena of conflict and a stronghold of hurt.

Without forgiveness, the family becomes ill. Forgiveness is the a sepsis of the soul, the cleansing of the mind and the liberation of the heart.
Whoever does not forgive does not have peace in the soul nor communion with God. Hurt is poison that intoxicates and kills. Keeping heartache in the heart is a self-destructive gesture. It's autophagy.
Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill.

That is why the family must be a place of life, not of death;
Territory of cure and not of illness;
Stage of forgiveness and not guilt.
Forgiveness brings joy where sorrow has produced sadness;
Healing, where sorrow has caused disease.

MARRIAGE TIPS: FACTS OF LIFE.

Marriage, like love, is always very AWSOME. It is the characters involved that makes the difference by making marriage/Love to appear terrible.
While very reasonable, decent and uncompromising courtship is always very imperative, PLS DO NOT RUSH INTO ANY OF THEM. YOU COULD GET BADLY HURT OR......... EVEN LOSE YOUR LIFE. 

COURTSHIP IS ALWAYS A VERITABLE TOOL BEFORE MARRIAGE AND YOU MUST NEVER DISREGARD IT.

Its very unreasonable to marry someone out of mere sentiments and/or pity.
Also, marriage as a result of pregnancy of the girl or woman may quickly turn sour just like marriage because of money or material gains. That's a very faulty foundation of marriage/love.

Never get married to a person, because of the persons sound parental background. Look at the person you intend to get married to and not the parents or family.Trust and Truth must reign in your marriage, else don't get married. 

Always open up, disclose and discuss ALL issues together, no matter how hard it is to discuss such.

Share all your problems/challenges with your spouse because, you are one flesh in  marriage. 
NOTE: Never try solving your problems alone without your spouse's knowledge. Its betrayal of trust

As a family, you all must attend the same church so as to hear the same messages and share same doctrine and belief pattern. This bonds families together.

Your spouse must be the next priority to you after God Almighty. That's the mistake most couple make in marriages by placing their biological parents above their spouse. This is terribly wrong.

NOTE: YOUR HUSBAND/WIFE MUST BE OF FIRST LINE PRIORITY TO YOU BEFORE  YOUR BIOLOGICAL PARENTS.

Praying together as family, early morning and night (before bed time) is very helpful to marriage and family.
REMEMBER: A family that prays together, stays together.
Let God be in-charge truly. 

Always visit: FAMILY HEALTH MIRROR for incisive family health tips........... 

EXCESSIVE SALT INTAKE

Too much intake of salt (sodium chloride) can raise your blood pressure, which puts you at increased risk of health problems such as heart disease and stroke. But a few simple steps can help you to cut your salt intake. You don't have to add extra salt to your ready-to-be eaten food on your dinning table as it amounts to too much salt in your food that would impact negatively in your body system. 

Studies have shown that about 75% of the salt we add to our food on our dinning tables is already in our natural everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereal and ready meals.

A diet that is high in salt can cause increased blood pressure, which currently affects more than one third of adults.

High blood pressure often has no symptoms, and it is estimated that about one in every three people who have high blood pressure don’t even know it. But if you have it, you are more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. If you're aged 40-74, you have to regularly have a check on your blood pressure in a health facility.

Cutting down on salt lowers blood pressure, which means that your risk of having a stroke or developing heart disease is reduced.

HOW MUCH SALT IS ENOUGH FOR ADULTS?

Some schools of thought opines that  Adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day – that's around one teaspoon. While children should eat even less (see below for recommendations for babies and children).

Salt and sodium in your food

Salt is also called sodium chloride. Sometimes, food labels only give the figure for sodium. But there is a simple way to work out how much salt you are eating from the sodium figure:

Salt = sodium x 2.5

Adults should eat no more than 2.4g of sodium per day, as this is equal to 6g of salt.

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN USE NUTRITION LABELS TO CHECK SALT LEVELS?

Cutting down on added salt is only a small part of the solution. To really cut down, you need to become aware of the salt that is already in the everyday foods you buy so that you would choose lower-salt options using label information.

Fortunately, nutrition labels on food packaging now make this a lot easier. Most pre-packed foods have a nutrition label on the back or side of the packaging.

Many foods also display information about the salt content on the front of the packaging. This may show the salt content as a percentage of your refrence intake (RI) or have colour-coded nutrition information to show whether the food is low, medium or high in salt. Where colour-coding is used, red means high. Try to eat high-salt foods only occasionally, or in small amounts, and aim to eat mainly foods that are green (low) or amber (medium).

Look at the figure for salt per 100g:

High is more than 1.5g salt (0.6g sodium) per 100g. These foods may be colour-coded red.
Low is 0.3g salt (0.1g sodium) or less per 100g. These foods may be colour-coded green.

If the amount of salt per 100g is between 0.3g and 1.5g, that is a medium level of salt, and the packaging may be colour-coded ambdown
International salt content color code:

1) RED COLOR CODE        -  HIGH SALT 
2) AMBER COLOR CODE - MEDIUM SALT
3) GREEN COLOR CODE  - LOW SALT

As a rule, aim for foods that have a low or medium salt content. Try to have high-salt foods only occasionally, or in small amounts.

Of course, one easy way to eat less salt is to stop adding salt to your food during cooking and at the dinner table especially. However, if you regularly add salt to food when cooking, try cutting it down or adding less. 
Also when you sit down to eat, taste your food first to see if it needs salt before adding any. It doesn't take long for our taste buds to get used to less salt and you might find you start to appreciate other flavours even more.

HOW MUCH SALT IS ENOUGH FOR BABIES AND CHILDREN?       

Babies and children under 11 should have less salt than adults.

Babies under a year old should have less than 1g of salt a day. If a baby is breastfed, they will get the right amount of minerals, including sodium and chloride, from breast milk. Formula milk contains a similar amount to breast milk.

Don't add salt to your baby’s milk or food and don't use stock cubes or gravy as they're often high in salt and their kidneys can’t cope with it.

 
Remember this when you’re cooking for the family if you plan to give the same food to your baby.

Avoid giving your baby processed foods such as ready meals as these are often high in salt. However, food manufactured specifically for babies should meet the recommended levels. If in doubt, always check the label.

The daily recommended maximum amount of salt children should eat depends on age:
1 to 3 yrs   –  2g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
4 to 6 yrs   – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
7 to 10 yrs – 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
11 yrs plus– 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)

Making sure your child doesn’t eat too much salt means you’re also helping to ensure that they don’t develop a taste for salty food, which makes them less likely to eat too much salt in adulthood.

Foods that contain salt

Some foods are almost always high in salt because of the way they are made.

Other foods, such as bread and breakfast cereals, can contribute a lot of salt to our diet. But that’s not because these foods are always high in salt – it’s because we eat a lot of them.

DO YOU KNOW THAT SOME SOLUBLE VITAMIN SUPPLEMENT OR PAINKILLERS ALSO HAVE SALT CONTENTS?

NOTE: If you routinely take effervescent (dissolvable) vitamin supplement, or take effervescent painkillers when necessary, it's worth remembering that these can contain up to 1g salt per tablet. Therefore, you may wish to consider changing to a non-effervescent tablet, particularly if you have been advised to watch or reduce your salt intake.

- Special thanks to NHS-UK

-EHSadvisor's Blog

HICCUPS AND CAUSES

In healthy people, hiccups usually go away by themselves with no serious effects after that. Whenever hiccups continue, however, they may cause social embarrassment and distress, and if prolonged may result in speech, eating, and sleeping disorders.

Hiccups can be described as brief, irritable spasms of the diaphragm that can occur for a few seconds or minutes. They infrequently last longer in normal individuals without any underlying medical problem.

Hiccups is rarely a medical emergency. If hiccups last for more than 3 hours, occur with severe abdominal pain, fever, shortness of breath, vomiting, spitting up blood, or feeling as if the throat is going to close up, the person should seek medical attention.

A person should see a doctor if the hiccups become chronic and persistent (if they last more than 3 hours), or if they affect sleeping patterns, interfere with eating, or cause reflux of food or vomiting.
 
Many conditions are associated with hiccups, but none has been shown to be the cause of hiccups.

The following are some conditions that may cause hiccup in humans:

a)  If a person eats too fast, he or she can swallow air along with food.

b)  Smoking cigarettes or chewing gum also can cause a person to swallow air and get hiccups.

c)  Any other practices that might irritate the diaphragm such as eating too much (especially fatty foods) or drinking too much (alcohol or carbonated drinks) can make a person prone to having hiccups.

In these instances, mentioned above, the stomach, which sits underneath and adjacent to the diaphragm, is distended or stretched. As they occur in relation to eating and drinking.

Hiccup's are sometimes thought to be a reflex action to protect a person from choking.

d)  Strokes or brain tumors involving the brain stem, and some chronic medical disorders (such as renal failure) are reported to cause hiccups too; trauma to the brain, meningitis, and encephalitis also may cause hiccups.

e)  Damage to the vagus or phrenic nerve may cause hiccups to last a long time.

f)  Problems with the liver, including swelling, infection, or masses can cause irritation of the diaphragm, which can cause hiccups.

g)  Some medications that can cause acid reflux may also have hiccups as a side effect. Most benzodiazepines, including diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax) and lorezepam (Ativan) can cause hiccups. In addition, medications such levodopa (Larodopa), nicotine, and ondansetron (Zofran) can cause hiccups. Other medications that can cause hiccups include levodopa, methyldopa (Aldomet), nicotine, ondansetron (Zofran), barbiturates, opioid pain relievers, corticosteroids, anesthesia, or other chemotherapy medications.

h)  Noxious fumes can also trigger hiccup symptoms.

i) A baby may hiccup after crying or coughing. This is common in babies in the first year. In some instances, babies with gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) could be more prone to hiccups.

j)  Anxiety and stress can induce both short and long-term hiccups

However,  diagnosis of hiccups is based on physical evaluation. Laboratory testing is rarely necessary unless the hiccups are suspected to be a symptom of an associated medical condition. The tests to diagnose the associated medical condition will be done and tests will vary according to the associated condition.

HOW TO QUICKLY GET RID OF HICCUPS?

There are a variety of home remedies to resolve hiccups, which include holding your breath,... to drinking a glass of water quickly etc. 
The common effect to most of these remedies is that carbon dioxide builds up in the blood or stimulating the vagus nerve will stop hiccups. Medical care is rarely needed to cure hiccups. If a person has hiccups for more than two days, they should seek medical care.

WHY HICCUPS?

The reason these remedies are thought to work is that carbon dioxide build-up in the blood usually stop hiccups, which is what happens when a person holds breath for example. 
Stimulation of the vagus nerve (the nerve that runs from the brain to the stomach): Also, when the Vagus nerve is stimulated, hiccups can be alleviated (this is what is happening when a person drinks water or pulls on their tongue).

TRY THESE METHODS AT HOME TO GET RID OF THE HICCUPS:

Hold your breath.

Drink a glass of water quickly.

Have someone frighten you (or better, surprise) you

Use smelling salts.

Pull hard on your tongue.

Place one-half teaspoon of dry sugar on the back of the tongue. (Repeat this process 3 times at 2-minute intervals, if necessary use corn syrup, not sugar , in young children.)

"stick a finger in the ear;"

tickling the palate with a swab;

Swallowing a tablespoon full of honey (this distracts the person with the hiccups and may help the diaphragm relax).

However, a person should only try those methods they are comfortable with, and be aware that some methods are not suitable for infants (honey, sugar methods), elderly with swallowing problems, and others with health problems.

You may contact your doctor if they fail to stop the hiccups or it gets worse.