All of this week I have been/am going to be in all-day meetings, starting at 8 a.m. and going until 4ish in the afternoon. This means that all of the other work sitting on my desk waiting to get done will continue waiting. However, because I hate the idea of missing deadlines, I decided to get into work by 7, so that I have an hour before my meeting and an hour or so after to work on my other tasks. In order to get to wake up, work out (1-1.5 hours), shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get to work, I have to start my workout at 4:30. I've found that it generally takes me an hour from the time that I start to get ready for work until the time that I get to my desk.
So... yesterday morning I intended to wake up at 4:30 a.m. I turned off my first alarm when it started ringing and decided to wait for the 5 a.m. alarm. But I ended up getting out of bed at 4:50 to do P90X Shoulders and Arms. I strongly dislike waking up that early. But I'm going to try to do 4:30 a.m. for this week. Fingers crossed that I manage it for yoga. That's a full 1.5 hours, so I NEED to be up by 4:30 to get to work on time.
Last weekend I made Paleo Spinach-Artichoke Dip based on this recipe from PaleOMG. It turned out really well. The cashews definitely did the trick. The only variations: instead of using onion powder and garlic powder, I used a few shakes of garlic salt; my cashews were raw (unroasted and unsalted). I think it turned out just fine. And it made a lot. More than my friends and I could eat at Girls Night In.
In scary news, there are zombie amoeba in your tap water! Just kidding. But seriously. Though the result of the study just got published on August 22, 2012, the study covers "brain-eating amoeba" found in tap water that led to the deaths of two people in Louisiana. The actual term for the disease is primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It's caused when Naegleria fowleri–containing water enters the nose, such as while swimming. The N. fowleri migrates to the brain via the olfactory nerve, which, you guessed it, is critical to your sense of smell. N. fowleri is a "climate-sensitive, thermophilic ameba found in the environment, including warm, freshwater lakes and rivers." The warm climates of southern USA makes nice breeding grounds. Boo!
The way in which these two people were exposed were via sinus rinses. For those of you who don't suffer from chronic allergies or frequent sinus infections, you may not have heard of a sinus rinse. Doctors recommend a rinse to their patients basically as a way of cleaning out the sinuses. Previously the only option was a neti pot, for which you had to turn your head on it's side and pour the water mixture through your nose. Yes, into one nostril and out of the other. There's now a "sinus rinse" option which is a squeeze bottle. And as I'm sure you can guess... you squeeze the bottle to send the water + special formula up one nostril and out of the other. Then repeat on the other side.
You may think this is gross, and it kind of is, but it is helpful. I start using the sinus rinse every time I feel a cold/sinus infection coming on and I do believe it helps to get rid of the cold sooner. The key thing to take from this story is that you NEED to use distilled, boiled, or filtered water.
For reference:
Yoder, Jonathan S., et al. "Clinical Infectious Diseases." Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis Deaths Associated With Sinus Irrigation Using Contaminated Tap Water. Oxford Journals, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/22/cid.cis626.abstract>
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