I Do Like Pipes

s o u r c e  :  brother stories

This year, I seem to have made the subconscious resolution to be healthier.  

It's taken me entirely by surprise.

The contents of my medicine cabinet have gone from last year's piddly box of half-used bandaids to an expansive New Year vitamin collection.  I have the multi-purpose-multi-vitamin, the extra C and D (for head-colds and sunless seasons), the omega 3 and lysine (for happy healthy skin), the biotin and iron (for happy healthy hair), Danish probiotics (because they taste like candy), and - you guessed it - pink and purple Flintstone vitamins. These were intended for Isaac, but they also taste like candy. So I eat them too.

I never used to take vitamins.

I also never drank this much water or green tea either.  I read an article, somewhere, about the benefits of green tea and immediately decided I like it.  At the very least, it keeps me from consuming too much coffee, and it gives me an excuse to have an evening tea-time, which is especially endearing if you've always had a thing for British habits (or, let's face it, maybe you just love British lit).  Not to mention it works beautifully as a topical treatment - a three-in-one, inexpensive, all-natural exfoliant, conditioning rinse, and skin-soother.  Combine that with the bottle of vitamin E oil I purchased at the local health shop, and you've got a beauty regime that is far and away more advanced than anything I'd ever done before (remove make-up, rinse face, sleep).

I have even tweaked my diet.  Don't get me wrong, I've always been relatively healthy - raised on spring water, homemade bread, and fresh veggies, and we avoided fast-food like the plague - but suddenly, for some reason, I'm all the more aware of the benefits of certain foods to the body.  So this little family has begun consuming quite a lot of berries and nuts, wild salmon, leafy greens, and even cantaloupe (and I hate cantaloupe).  Plus, I've limited my wine intake to Friday nights only, and I'm actually eating breakfast now.  And I like it.

To top things off, I got a voluntary blood test last month (which is astonishing, considering I avoid the doctor like the plague), and lucky me, they gave me a perfect bill of health as far as that's concerned. (You can stop worrying about me now, mother.)

I'd love to be able to say, sevenish weeks into the new year, that I feel noticeably and wondrously better than I've ever felt before, but there is the small matter of us being sick the last two weeks (ironic, yes?). So. I'll keep you posted.  If I don't notice anything major by summer I'm scrapping the pill-popping and salmon and taking up smoking instead.

... Not really.  Although I do like pipes.