What Quality do you prefer?

Clothes, I prefer good quality.  They don’t have to be name brand, but I tend to think they last longer if they’re better quality.  As an example, I ordered two pair of jeans last month that sounded perfect, and were half what I normally pay.  When I received them, they were very thin material, and would not fit.

I don’t need the name brands, but if you want name brands, you can get excellent quality items at thrift stores, for very little.

How about your skin care? Our skin deserves the best quality treatment, right? Absolutely.  I have tried dozens of brands over the years mainly because someone convinced me at the time that the product was “the best”.  I now use coconut oil (the white kind in the jar—like you cook with) to cleanse my face. 

I use jojoba oil, or some other quality oil after I cleanse it.  I consider this the best quality available for me.  No more high-priced brands full of poisons.

(My skin doesn’t get too oily.  It’s normal.  And soft.)

I use a healthy brand of makeup, RMS.  And I use Walmart Eucerin for hand cream.  No expensive name brands, but my skin looks and feels better than it has in years, so that’s my preference.

I do want a quality house and car.  I want these two items to take good care of me, be dependable and keep me warm and safe.  We chose Toyota for my car.  And we made sure our house was well built.

Cleaning products:  I gave up on most of the name brands.  I use lots of essential oils, and I clean with Norwex cloths and water, mixing in some essential oils if I want a disinfectant or some other addition to the cleaning. 

Essential oils can be expensive, but it only takes a couple of drops, and it lasts a long, long time.  I use Norwex laundry soap, and other soaps and cleaners too (no fillers or chemicals, and it cleans).

Furniture/Yard items/Appliances, etc.  I’m all for quality here.  It pays you back in the long run (or it has for me) if you get quality items. 

Water: Drinking water out of the household tap has many toxins.  I drink filtered water.  And not all filters are the same.  I use Berkey.  I did a lot of research, and decided based on information I found.

Do you prefer quality in your restaurant when you dine out?  I do for a few reasons.  I believe that most “better quality” restaurants use better quality ingredients. 

That’s not always the case, but I try to find out things like that from the wait staff, plus my own taster; plus paying attention to how I feel after eating the food.

Once I find a spot that I feel uses the best quality ingredients, I am a pretty loyal customer.

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If you buy inferior fuel for your car, it won’t keep running right.

Even if your house is quality-built, it needs to be kept up, and cared for to stay in good condition. 

So if you go for Quality in these areas, (and you have good reasons for doing that), what about our actual bodies?

What kind of food do you fuel your body with?

How about the food you buy?  Do you get the best quality? 

Some people say no to buying organic.  Too expensive; It’s no different.

Some people say they can’t afford the more expensive food.

Some people say their families won’t eat the healthy food.

What do you say?

I say, “Quality Matters.”

If you want your life to be Quality, it will pay you many times over to give your body Quality Food.  Quality, Life-Giving Food.

What is Quality Food?

Real Food.  Not the packaged food.  Fresh vegetables and fruit.

Grass fed meat when you can.

Good quality oils: avocado, coconut, olive oil. (Not vegetable oil; Not canola oil)

Leave off the sugar.  It’s poison to our bodies.  It may not show up right now, but it’s doing its damage.

If you are concerned about the cost of the Quality Food, consider this: Eating so much processed food, you are getting calories that don’t have nutrition, to give you strength and energy.  That food will weaken your body and your immune system.  You will be vulnerable to illness.

With REAL food, it will actually satisfy your body, so you probably won’t even want to eat as much, and it will actually fuel and strengthen your body and mind.

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So. We only have one body.  It’s a Quality Human Body, to house us, protect us, think for us, to be strong and to “keep going” and not let us down.  It keeps us warm; cools us off when we’re hot; it fights off illnesses.

SO, ARE YOU HELPING YOUR BODY DO ALL THIS?

A human body that is not properly cared for… not given Quality Care …. What happens to that human body?

It feels bad; it loses energy; it loses creativity; it catches “all the bugs” that “go around”.

It wastes us away into what is commonly called “old age”.

Did you know “old age” does not have to mean that we get sick and weak, and not able to think and reason as well as we once did?

Did you know if we take care of our bodies and give them the best fuel we can, we can stay young years and years longer, thinking and reasoning well, active and sharp.  It’s true.  It’s absolutely true.

How can we care for our bodies?

There are so many ways to take good care of our bodies, and we could get really detailed here.  I disagree with the term “self care” because its meaning is confusing.  But I’ll just give some points that are most important.  And they truly are important, if we want to keep that Quality Life as we get older.

1.     Eat those good, clean foods; good fats; no sugars; no processed (packaged) foods.  Do you have to be perfect at this? No.  Well, be as perfect as you can at first.  So you can see the difference it makes in everything about yourself. Then you’ll want to continue!

2.     Our bodies were made to move.  We must have exercise.  Natural movement is best, but if you’re behind a desk all day, you need to actually have an exercise plan.  Your life depends on it.

3.     Give yourself Quiet Time.  Rest.  Have time to reflect.  Our brains depend on it.  Have some daydream time!

4.     Toxins.  The damage is done when we have a large “toxic load” of chemicals, etc.   Inferior cleaning products—just read the label—even very well known products; they cost a lot, and they poison our homes, our skin, and the air we breathe.  So try to eliminate chemicals as much as you can in your home and yard, and in your laundry and body care products.  Everywhere you can.

5.     Get a full night’s uninterrupted sleep.  That may not happen all at once.  But have that as a goal.  Practice Sleep Hygiene.  I can send you some information on this if you’d like. (Check out my blog on sleep)

6.     Practice Lowering your Stress.  Do you realize when you are relaxed, you are naturally and easily more productive?  There are lots of ways to keep our stress at bay, and sometimes we have to use every tool we have! A certain amount of stress is good—we must have some stress.  But most health issues have their beginning in over-stress.  So we need to control it.  And we can.  Some ideas are:

a.      Take a walk

b.     Meditate

c.      Be Thankful

d.     Have some time for yourself

e.      Eat properly

f.       Take time to “Enjoy” things; have fun. Laugh.

7.     Spend time with people.  Relax time—with people you like to be around.  Love the time.  Love the people.

Know This:  You’ve been blessed with something that can’t be bought.  A most wonderful Quality Human Body. 

It’s made to help us think and reason, to be productive, to help others, to enjoy this life we’re given.  It needs for us to honor it—by taking the best care of it that we can.  That’s the only way it can serve us like we want it to.

To honor our bodies (and minds), against the standards that are taught and exercised in our world today, it takes a determination to “swim against the current”.  It takes a decision, then a determination.

For a long, productive, healthy life, can you make that decision, and set your determination to follow through?

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These are only a few minimal tips.  I have detailed information, and I can help you with your own personal issues if you’d like.  Just let me know if I can help you.

I hope you have not had major problems with all the cold and ice, if you’ve had that in your area.  I know it’s been a challenge for many.

Take good care of yourself.  Love yourself.  God made you.  He loves you.  You are valuable—more valuable than you can even imagine.  God makes good stuff.  Give Him a chance to help your body and mind to be all it was created to be. 

It’s up to us to figure out how to make ourselves better.  And we can do it.

Thank you for reading.

Sharon

Oh!  And drink water!  Lots of it!

P.S.

Remember!

My in-person, one-on-one coaching sessions are $50 per session in January if you sign up for four sessions (really, one session just can’t help you).  This can be online, in person, or by phone.