The Cholesterol Struggle and Gallstones

I was fairly shocked when my early 20’s niece had to have her gall bladder removed. Isn’t that typically an issue for folks in their 40’s, 50’s and on? Turns out more and more young people, especially women and even teenagers, are suffering from gallstones. What’s going on?

I learned that the primary cause of gallstones is overproduction of cholesterol by the liver, so much so that the gall bladder’s supply of bile to break it down runs too low. So the body stores the extra in cholesterol stones. Ouch! (*There are 2 other kinds of stones.)

What do we do to lower cholesterol? The bad-guy foods we’re told to limit are typically red meat, fried food, butter, full fat dairy and the like. What if the sum total of all those foods doesn’t impact cholesterol nearly as much as one simple ingredient? Shouldn’t we focus more on that ingredient? Especially if it’s effecting our kids?

The big, baddy we tend to ignore for cholesterol and gall bladder disease is sugar.

“When you eat too much sugar, your liver makes more LDL [bad cholesterol) while lowering the amount of HDL (good cholesterol) in your body..and also leads to more of something called triglycerides, a type of blood fat…” (Sugar and Cholesterol: What’s the Link?)

A kitchen regularly stocked with sodas and even fruit juices that are consumed without limits played a big part in my niece’s childhood. “American children consume an average of 81 grams of sugar per day, which adds up to more than 65 pounds of added sugar each year! Kids are ingesting more than 30 gallons of added sugars from sweet beverages alone. That’s enough to fill a bathtub!”

(Wait! My bath time is using 30 gallons of water??? Squirrel!)

When we consider the increasing rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and strokes, the causal link between sugar consumption and cancer, inflammation, lowered immunity and more, why do we keep eating so much of this stuff? We are substance abusers. Addicts looking for our next dopamine hit, and it comes from sugar. But that’s a topic for another day.

*The information provided on this site is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice.

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Kristin King is a speaker, author, mother of four, indie publisher and master financial coach. Recently she was given permission to reprint the Prism Weight Loss Program curriculum which is available in print and ebook versions here. Kristin regularly facilitates Financial Peace University and Prism Weight Loss classes both in person and virtually.

 

Laundry Economy and Small Footprint

I wanted to do a little cost+ comparison of three laundry detergents that save the planet. With four guys and 2 gals in our house and everyone doing their own laundry, we use quite a bit of detergent on a weekly basis. On hand, I have TruEarth strips and MelaPower concentrate. Of interest to me is the new-to-me contender, Earth Breeze. There’s a solid review of these three and others by USA Today. https://reviewed.usatoday.com/home-outdoors/best-right-now/best-eco-friendly-laundry-detergents

Their review doesn’t cover cost, so there is the nitty gritty. MelaPower is a liquid so concentrated that a 32 oz. bottle does 96 loads of laundry. That’s space saving, less water weight shipped, and a choice of four fresh scents–and it works. Personally, we like liquids at our house. Is that just comfort? The big draw back is you have to be a member of Melaleuca, AND you have to buy 35 points worth of products every month. It’s complicated, has great products that are way less likely to cause cancer, is earth friendly, and…ends up being fairly pricey each month. Still, the laundry detergent double pack makes each load 18 cents (before shipping).

TruEarth and Earth Breeze are eco-strip laundry detergents. That’s right, there is no water weight at all, and they’re packaged in biodegradable paper or cardboard packaging. When I was working the tornado relief center, laundry detergent was one of the number one products needed that we ran out of on a regular basis. Volunteers carried thousands of those heavy, plastic containers. I ziplocked up a bunch of TruEarth strips to hand out which were almost always just as well received. Light weight, good cleaning, earth friendly. What about cost?

You get your best rate by subscribing for these laundry strips. Earth Breeze does a 60 load package for $12, coming in at 20 cents per load, while TruEarth does a 64 load package ($25.90) for 40 cents a load or the least expensive is 31 cents per load for an annual box of 365 strips at $119 when you subscribe. Both of these offer free shipping.

The laundry strips can be had at some local Walmart, but that will cost you a bit more. The $12 Earth Breeze package lists $14.99 and TruEarth lists at a whopping $39.95. Go figure.

Now my question is: how do I get the kids to use laundry strips?

 

Take Courage! Mom of Sons

After days of delay, I began the search for scriptures to pray over my sons. There are several good blogs out there with lists from 5 to 14; some list the scripture while others write out the scripture and the wording of the prayer. Let’s focus on the first one that struck home at our house.

From 1 Kings 2:2 “Take courage and be a man” (NLT). “Take courage” immediately made me think of the Lindy Conant & the Circuit Riders song that says “Take courage, the Harvest is ripe. ” There’s another line in this song God is using big in my life over this year, but that’s a story for another day.

Other Bible translations use the phrase “Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man” “Be strong and prove yourself a man” “act like a man.” Is anyone else humming “Be a Man” from Mulan? There’s irony in that song since Mulan is a young woman in the midst of an army of men. I tend to think “how nice, they are encouraging each other,” but it’s more than that–it’s stronger. It’s an admonition, a command, a charge for how to go forward into life and into battle. May I never coddle my sons in such a way as to rob their lives of the men they are inside.

As my sons ages spread from 15 to 21, you might think it’s a little late to say that. But just as the woman I’ve become was always in me as a child, the men my sons are becoming has always been there. Just as I am still becoming the woman God wants me to be, my grown sons are still becoming all the Lord designed in them. It is never too late to pray over them, to alter the way I interact with them to include more respect, to rejoice over every one of their victories.

In 1 Kings 2, David is nearing the end of his life and charging his son Soloman with how to go forward as a man and as the next king.  “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, ³ and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn” (1 Kings 2:2-3 NRSV).

So I look to God’s word and pray strength for my sons. I pray for their courage. Lord, help them to follow your word, trust in you, obey your word, and succeed/prosper in the Name of Jesus according to Your will.

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Bear Market Hitting Hard? Remember…

A wise investor once said, “If you aren’t losing money somewhere in your portfolio, you aren’t truly diversified.” It’s a helpful reminder that real diversification involves owning assets that are sufficiently different from each other that some zig while others zag.

–Sound Mind Investing Update

Image Credit: IndianaDigitalNews

 

Gaylord or what I learned working disaster relief

One of our fabulous logistics volunteers was happily spreading the news about a Gaylord shipment, a truck full arriving soon. Wow, I was thinking, I wonder what Gaylord Entertainment is donating? The closest Gaylord location to us is the Opryland Hotel & Resort in Nashville where I saw one of the Titanic Exhibits several years back. Well, they might have sent some relief supplies to Kentucky, but the gaylord you want for disaster relief is something altogether different.

Gaylords are large, strong boxes that fit on a pallet and allow you to organize volumes of product and move them about with a forklift or pallet jack. You’ve probably seen them at your local grocery filled with watermelons or pumpkins. Sometimes they are called gaylord bins or pallet boxes.

For a while, we were sorting donations from the soccer building into wheelbarrows. Each wheelbarrow took hands to load it, move it, sort it out onto tables in the expo building. Now one person with a pallet jack can bring 5 times as much in one trip, and volunteers sort from the gaylord straight onto tables. It’s difficult to describe how helpful these gaylords have been to our supply operation for tornado survivors, especially as the number of volunteers we have fluctuates and wanes. Right now when I picture some of the supplies, I see 14 small bicycles in one gaylord and dozens of rubber workboots that volunteers don to clean debris up out of local farm fields in another. Fabulous.

So what I learned from working disaster relief is that a gaylord is the best kind of box for working supply distribution. I’ve gone from not knowing what people were talking about to actually having my favorite kind of gaylord. As always, we are so grateful for every supply and box donated big or small. The road to recovery and rebuild is slow and long here in west Kentucky.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

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Kristin King has been working at the Tornado Relief Supply Center in Mayfield Kentucky for three months. Her location, the Mayfield Graves County Fairgrounds, is one of the few still taking donations. Most needed items are construction supplies, small kitchen appliances, and all the sundries tornado survivors need as they move from shelters into residences. Coffee pots and electric skillets are a couple of the most requested items folks want to replace. Volunteers are also needed five days a week.

 

You might be working disaster relief if…

You might be working disaster relief if you hear yourself saying to a fellow volunteer, “You can come in at 8am if you want, but tomorrow’s my day off. I won’t be here till nine.”

–Kristin King is going on month three of working at the Tornado Relief Supply Center in Mayfield Kentucky. Her location, the Mayfield Graves County Fairgrounds, is one of the few still taking donations. Most needed items are construction supplies, small kitchen appliances and all the sundries tornado survivors need to move from shelters into residences.

 

Stories of Hope – After the Tornado

A woman was waiting in line to enter our supply distribution center at the Mayfield Graves County Fairgrounds. At this point we used a digital sign-in system. Glancing up at her as I filled in the blanks, I asked about other needs she had.

“I could really use some fresh meat, you know,” she looked past me to the tables stacked with nonperishables. “It’s really great all these canned goods and crackers….”

What I said back I really don’t remember. Her downcast face, the droop in her shoulders as she expressed her thanks and moved on, making way for the next person in line.

Within five minutes a man walked in the door with a box full of ground beef. I couldn’t wait to find her. The smiles on so many faces as we handed out that fresh food. “I’m gonna put this in the spaghetti sauce for my kids,” one lady said.

All I could think was how amazing God is. He hears every spoken word, a wish that becomes a prayer. So much can change, can lift our hopes as it lifts our shoulders. “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, And the lifter of my head.” Psalms 3:3

How wonderful.

 

Huh. (or What I Learned after the Kentucky Tornado)

There are lots of chemicals that shouldn’t even be stored near each other, especially in a disaster relief center where lots of people come through every day. Some are more dangerous than others and are dangerous in your home as well.

NOTE: Don’t store the pallets of bleach next to the pallets of hand sanitizer. An accidental mixture, maybe by forklift puncture, can make chloroform or hydrochloric acid.

Breathing too much [chloroform] can kill you. Hydrochloric acid can give you a chemical burn. The chemicals can cause organ damage and lead to cancer and other diseases later in life.

ThoughtCo.com

There are actually several dangerous combinations with bleach and even the go-to “natural” vinegar with which so many clean. Check out a quick list at the ThoughtCo

If you would like to help us recover from tornado devastation, please visit MayfieldStrong.com.

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Kristin King is an author, mother of four adopted sons, real Army wife (retired), and is currently not writing much as she would like while she works many hours at the Mayfield Tornado Relief Center in her Kentucky hometown. Kristin’s service work regularly includes Future Hope Africa and CASA of Graves Co. and Southwest KY. Love God. Love people.

 

Tidal Waves of Compassion #Tornado 121021

The holidays are a blur as 90+ hour work weeks take over my life. Yes, I had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. Yes, I’ll get New Year’s Day off. The end isn’t in sight though. And, oh, did I mention I’m a volunteer?

Forget exam week. Forget waiting tables. Never in my life have I kept up such a pace for so many days on end. Straight up? I didn’t think I was capable of it. There is something incredibly powerful about discovering you can do something hard, and huge that has a profound impact on people around you. Almost as profound as the impact they have on you.

This is the life, the holidays, for many in our tornado-ravaged community in West Kentucky. First responders, law enforcement officers, paramedics, civic leaders, teachers, students, retirees, and many others continue to log grueling hours day after day.

Everyone exceeds expectations.

Photo Credit Joseph Petty

On the final stretch of the third week since our hometown of Mayfield Kentucky became a rubble-strewn wasteland in the path of what might be the longest constant-ground-contact tornado in recorded history, we get to see the beauty of humankind as we’ve never experienced it. There are still folks driving in with personally collected donations from communities over 16 hours away. This week I met and volunteered with people from Wisconsin, Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Montana, Louisiana, the Carolinas, the Philippines, and both Dakotas.

“This donation is from Jordan,” one conversation went.

“Jordan? Jordan what? Ohio?”

“Jordan,” the response came, “in the Middle East.”

As a child, I read about the Wonders of the World and wanted to travel. As an Army spouse, I’ve traversed many countries, seen fabulous sights, experienced different cultures and met interesting people. Right now, though, the hometown so many were anxious to escape after high school has become a living wonder that I am blessed to experience every day. I wish I could meet every person who made this happen and give you a hug.

Tidal waves of compassion keep rolling over our small corner of the world. The undertow drags away hopelessness.

So I just want to say, thank you.

I am grateful to God for each one of you and pray to meet you in the sweet by and by.

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–Kristin King is the Treasurer of the Mayfield Graves County Parks Board which oversees the local fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds Tornado Relief Center is the biggest point of distribution of supplies in the area and the only location still taking in-kind donations on a large scale. Learn more on Facebook by making a virtual visit to the Mayfield Graves County Fairgrounds. #MayfieldStrong

 

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