So, while the rest of us slept the guys were busy working on a commercial for their “Pirates of Calamity” weekly videocast, seen here on YouTube calamity politics channel. Be sure to let the guys know what you think of their efforts. You can also find the guys on calamitypolitics.com, Facebook, and X.
Out of the File
I’m always cutting out articles or writing down tips I hear about weight loss, with the hope that I will eventually put one or two of the tips to some valuable use. LOL. Anyway, as I was cleaning out a storage box I found a file labeled “Weight Loss Tricks”. I took a few minutes and sorted through the notes, clippings, and articles in the file. After sifting through at least 10 years of information I came away with a dozen super suggestions to help us drop 20 pounds by Christmas. I am writing this tips list on September 10, 2023. That’s 106 days, give or take, approximately 3 and 1/2 months, or 14 weeks. No matter how you look at it, the following suggestions should help you to lose an easy 1.5 pounds a week with just about zero effort. Several of the tips you’ve heard before, but the trick here is to wake up, pay attention to what you are putting in your mouth. I call it “woked” eating. Easy Peasy. Let’s get started.
Sit Down When You Eat
This information has been confirmed in study after study, for at least the last two decades. People eat an incredible 5 times more when they are standing or on the go, such as eating in the car. Your brain does not register food you eat while moving. So, folks take a few minutes to sit down and engage with your food. Sitting down will allow you to be more conscious of flavor and aroma and the slow down will allow you time to experience the sensation of fullness.
Cut Out the Booze
I suggest you stop drinking anything but unsweetened coffee or tea, or water (flavored is fine). Quite seriously, alcohol can add a whole lot of sneaky calories. I call it the 5:00 o’clock sabotage. Stay clear of the sugary girlie cocktails. Here’s where size does matter, stick to the standard serving sizes: 12 oz for beer, 5 oz for wine and 1.5 oz for hard liquor. No more than two drinks two times a week! Otherwise you are going to undermine your other valiant efforts.
Take a Walk, Take a Breath
The last thing you need when you are working on yourself (your weight loss in this case), is a whole lot of stress. Take it easy. Take those long slow breaths, drop that load you are carrying and “just breathe”. One of the things that let’s me drop the stress and take those deep relaxing breaths is to take a walk. Wow. Walking is your best friend, whether trying to lose weight or relieve the stress, take a hike; or at least a stroll around the neighborhood. Smile and greet other walkers. There is a real community out there, get off the couch and join the sneakers crowd. Smiling makes you feel good. The calorie burn is dependent on you; speed and distance the basic determinant. The average person burns somewhere between 200 and 350 calories per hour at a moderate pace. At an easy pace that’s about 3 miles an hour. To lose one pound, you need to cut 3,500 calories. If you want to lose one pound a week divide 3,500 calories by seven to get 500; that means you need to cut 500 calories a day overall. If you walk for an hour, 5 days a week, you will burn 1,000 to 1,800 calories. If you are like me, you knew all that, but had forgotten it.
Well, folks the guys are still working on their studio makeover, but unfortunately they can’t finish up until a couple of items currently on back order arrive. Despite that issue, Bill and Dave have a lot to say. In this video they go on and on for a whole 16 minutes. So, my suggestion is pour a cup of coffee, grab a cannabis cookie, and sit down and listen to the guys as they provide valuable information on mushrooms.
Earlier this month, we talked about how to look good during the dog days of August. Looking good is one thing, but actually beating the heat is another story altogether. It’s easy to overheat, but below are some practical tips to stay cool, comfortable, and safe during this summer heatwave:
Remember in just a few months, when you are dressing in layers, shoveling snow, and snuggling under the covers to get warm, you will long for the Dog Days of summer.
Editor’s Note: Anna Hessel with a little help from hubby, Wes, have been offering up 10 tips a week on How to Stay In Style In This Economy. Thanks Anna, we need all the help we can get. Next week will be the last week of her suggestions. Watch for it next Tuesday, but right now here are their suggestions for this week.
Inflation is being beaten back but basic costs are still high, and service providers are charging more, but there is hope out there. Saving money has always been a challenge but in this current economic climate saving money can be get a bit tricky, but there are certainly ways to shave your budget without losing out on things you need and want, here are today’s suggestions:
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Editor’s Note: Anna Hessel with a little help from hubby, Wes, will be offering up for the next seven weeks, 10 tips a week on How to Stay In Style In This Economy. Watch for it every Tuesday.
By Anna Hessel with Wes Hessel
Inflation is being beaten back but basic costs are still high, and service providers are charging more, but there is hope out there. Saving money has always been a challenge but in this current economic climate saving money can be get a bit tricky, but there are certainly ways to shave your budget without losing out on things you need and want, here are today’s suggestions:
Save Me…
Saving money in this current economic climate can be a bit of a challenge, but there are certainly ways to shave your budget without losing out on things you need and want:
Reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle to maximize savings and stay in style…
Getting rid of things taking up too much space in your home and mind and you will regain calm and improve your health
By D. S. Mitchell
I was flipping through a four-year-old Prevention magazine waiting for my name to be called at the women’s clinic when an article caught my eye. I’m a retired RN and I love finding articles about health and wellness, and tips on how to improve everyday life that I can pass on to my Calamity News readers.
According to this 2019 article by Kate Rockwood, more than half of the country’s population felt “lonely” and “40%” were more anxious than the previous year. Wow, I thought to myself, this is all pre-COVID-19 information. I can only imagine what the loneliness statistics are today, off the charts, I’m sure.
Ms. Rockwood tells the reader that mental states such as anxiety and loneliness can affect us physically as well. Anxiety and loneliness can increase cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol levels have been linked to an increased risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Outside of seeing a therapist, she suggests the following.
Get Busy. Smart Phones, Zoom, PC’s and other technologies are great, but such technologies cannot replace in person interaction. Join a garden club, a book club, or volunteer. Volunteering 2 hours a week results in decreased loneliness and social isolation. Check out volunteermatch.org for local opportunities that fit your interests and skill set. Set a regular lunch date with an old friend. Touch, hug.
Organize Anxiety. To keep “worries” under control start by jotting down specific worries that are stuck on repeat. Then set a specific time to focus on that list of “worries”. This little trick can help keep those “worries” from hijacking your brain at unwanted times. When the scheduled time to focus on the “worry” list comes around it is possible that the worries are no longer an issue.
Sweat Shop. We all know that physical exercise is important for good physical health, more and more evidence support the notion that physical exercise is good for mental health as well. Thirty minutes of walking can equal the effect of medication or psychotherapy at lifting mild to moderate symptoms of depression.
Clearing the Environment. Environmental disorder can seriously increase our stress level. Studies have linked cluttered environments to decreased self-control and increased anxiety. Pros suggest that you do not try to tackle the whole house at once. Start with one messy area of your home. Snap a before picture. Set the timer for 20-30 minutes. Begin straightening and cleaning. I find it best to start in one corner and just work my way around the room. When the timer dings force yourself to stop for at least 10 minutes, or the whole day if you feel like it. It is imperative to swap open ended cleaning sessions for a specific time window. It is far less overwhelming. Comparing the before photo to the post cleaning picture is solid proof that a little effort can make big dents in seemingly overwhelming projects.
Move Things Around. Want to lose a few pounds, take on a kitchen redo. Hide the cookie jar and bring out a bowl of fruit for your table’s center piece. In your panty move healthy staples like nuts, quinoa, to the front of eye level shelves and put unhealthier snacks and sweets on the top shelf where they are harder to see or reach.
Return to a Former Passion. Re-engaging with an activity you once loved-a sport, an instrument, a hobby-can bring you fun and and new people into your life.
Change it Up. Consider pursuing that sport or hobby in a more social way. An example could be, you as a life long gardener, take a neighbor under your wing and teach her the joys of working in the garden.
Reconnect. Do you find yourself reminiscing about old friends? If you do, it may be time to reach out to them (social media is a great resource) and attempt to reconnect. Sometimes it will be like you never had a disconnect, in other instances there will be no re-blossoming of the relationship, but you made the effort and that’s the important part.
I hope you found a couple of tips to help undo the side effects of stress in your life.
Well, Bill and Dave are busy today working on setting up the new Calamity News and Politics studio; more space, better lights, better equipment. All around a much better situation. There’s a lot of stuff that’s gotta go before they can bring in the new, however. Unfortunately, Bill is the one that’s doing all the physical work, while Dave gets to talk about all the work that’s going on, due to a recent injury. The guys thought it might be fun for folks to watch them set up their new space. The plan is for the studio to be ready no later than September one. Thanks for watching and come back soon.
Research shows that working during retirement is good for the mind, the body, and the pocketbook
Measurable Benefits
Working after retirement, seems like an oxymoron, but that isn’t necessarily true. Just because you are no longer practicing your primary career doesn’t mean you should walk away from all money making endeavors. Part-time, free lance or consulting work, volunteering- doing that something you always wanted to do. A friend of mine, who worked for UPS for years, does wedding and anniversary photos as his new side hustle. Another friend works for a home health care company and does light housekeeping chores for several elder clients. I write freelance articles. I always wanted to be a writer; well now I am. Working can add to your retirement satisfaction and give your life structure. And there are of course, the financial benefits of a paycheck. After a bit of thought and research I’ve come up with eight specific reasons a retired person may want to consider re-entering the job market.
Dave and Bill are here at the Calamity Politics studios and they are talking today about making cannabis edibles. I’m a big fan of cannabis edibles and I use RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) to make all my delicious edibles. Bill is the weed man and knows his shit. The great thing about RSO is that there is none of that weird weedy aftertaste, plus you don’t need to make any special changes to your standard recipe. So sit down and take a couple minutes to learn about making cookies, brownies, and gummies.
"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
Self-isolating has forced us to turn even more to telecommunication and social media.
The Major Cause Of Sex Trafficking Is Poverty
Many great charities, here are a couple that I support: Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood.
