I'm so sick of this!

As soon as we get a few warmer days and a bit of welcome sunshine, we start to hope, from signs of birds returning and little buds beginning on the branches, BANG! winter is back in full force again! We just got through another polar air dip, and I was moaning inside.."winter...just go away! A warm spell has just begun again, so finally I feel like writing my blog again. Everytime I would sit down and tell myself to come back here and add another blog, I would just feel so dismal, that I'd turn away from it. I tried getting some rays in a tanning booth at the gym, and of course, I burned within the 10 minutes I'd allowed myself! I can't do my aquacize class, because I broke my toe and part of my foot, so all I could do is soak in their hot tub, so now I can't even do that, unless I want to risk having this burn convert to 2nd degrees all over my backside. I just want to leave this winter place and lounge on a nice warm beach somewhere, anywhere! In a week or so the burn and the toe will be healed, so my daughter and I are heading for Vegas! appropriately, the airline flight is named: "wanna get away!":-).
Whenever I wistfully think about my gardening plans, and look out over my backyard, I see that the pond is still surronded by frozen overflow, and the biggest raised garden plot has a moat arround it. You could ice skate out there! My skin hungers for the sun and my soul hungers for fresh home grown veggies. I am still on Medifast diet and now not losing any weight due to lack of exercise. At the grocery store when I go to buy fresh vegetables I have to look wistfully at the fresh fruit, and I ache for the taste and feel of the first bite and the juice running down my chin. I am getting tired of this diet too. But I have a great support coach on their support site who is helping me now. Ill be careful of the buffets in Vegas, and do a lot of walking there, besides swimming in the great pool at the Golden Nugget. Yesterday, even a ray of sun coming through the window didn't cheer me...I WANT spring! Planning for this escape makes me feel better.

I went to a lecture on vitamin D3 a few weeks ago. Did you know, that in winter we don't even get ANY ultraviolet B rays here? Its the part of sunshine that the skin makes the D3 from. The UV A rays just burn it. And wouldn't you know, the tanning beds use mostly that kind of light. But, its something, as long as one doesn't over do it. Those things can be set for 20 minutes, would you believe? I'd have been toast If I had tried that! Anyway, It is now said that 1,000 IU daily is the minimum amount of D3 that people need. Between April and August, we can get it from the sun if we spend the time outdoors to gather it, but the liver stores it up for only a few months, so when the flu season hits, it is depleted already. Its been discovered that it is actually a hormone and has far wider health benefits than suspected before. (not just for preventing rickets). Cod liver oil has some vitamin D, but to get enough you have to overdose on the vitamin A thats in it, but there isn't enough of it even in fortified foods. It gives us immunity from the viruses in the winter, and it releases neurotransmitters such as serotonin (that lifts mood), it helps us to metabolize calcium and a whole host of benefits are now ascribed to it from the scientific research that has recently been done and revealed. The Ultraviolet B rays break open a ring in a steroid alcohol present in the skin, to form cholecalciferol The liver changes this to the vitamin D circulating in the blood where it goes to the cells and changes to the active form that attaches directly to receptors on the DNA in the cell nucleus. There it controls expression of more than 200 genes and proteins the cells produce. Vitamin D controls cell growth and cell death, and has implications in the growth and death of cancer, and is also the reason that our kids grow in the summertime more than in the winter, especially above a certain latitute, where we in Indiana live. Lack of vitamin D even has implications in cardiovascular disease. 1 gene it influences controls the renin-angiotensin system, which when overactive causes hypertension. Others stifle the immune system mediated infalmmatory response that propagates atherosclerosis and congestive heart failure. I could go on, but I'll just refer you to the web site where the article by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD can be found: LewRockwell.com I got the information, (most of it) from this article. It says that sensible sun exposure should be encouraged, but not maligned. If one avoids sunburn, its benefits far outweigh its detrimental effects. A large body of evidence indicates that sunlight does not cause malignant melanoma. Most melanomas appear on parts of the body seldom exposed to sun. Sun exposure is associated with increased survival from melanoma. The rise in skin cancers parallels the rise in use of sunscreen lotions, which block vitamin D producing rays but not cancer causing Ultraviolet A radiation. Optimal doses of sunlight might, in fact prevent non-melanoma skin cancer. Amazing news, huh? Well, my body always knew it liked sunshine, and now I know the reason why. I sure miss it since I moved away from southern California. It once was thought that too much vitamin D would be toxic, since it is only fat soluable and excess isn't flushed out like vitamin C, but research has shown that doses up to 10.000IU a day for month after month can be taken without adverse effect. I strongly recommend the article to anyone who is still skeptical, and to enjoy the sun, I know I will. TaTaFor Now. I have another blog I wrote on paper earlier but never got here to blog, so I will add it belatedly soon. Its about the weather channel predictions, and snowing and the bitter cold last month. Myrna-still feeling its great to be retired, signing off.