{"id":502,"date":"2020-03-09T21:27:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T21:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/?p=502"},"modified":"2020-03-09T21:27:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T21:27:18","slug":"adopt-a-shelter-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/adopt-a-shelter-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Adopt a Shelter Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ADOPT A SHELTER DOG<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I heard a few interesting quotes recently. One said \u201cIf you\ndo not make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your\nillness.\u201d The other said \u201cYour health is an investment, not an expense\u201d. No\nmatter how your phrase it, the point is that many diseases are preventable, at\nleast to a certain extent. Obesity, in particular, can lead to high blood\npressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, sleep apnea, certain types of cancer,\ngout, and osteoarthritis. Don\u2019t even get me started on smoking! Modern medicine\nhas made it so that there is a drug for everything that ails you. Literally every\ndisease state and every symptom can be treated with yet another prescription\nmedication. This fact is both a blessing and a curse. It\u2019s a blessing because when\nall else fails, there is most likely a medication that can help treat the\nparticular disease and hopefully extend your life. Some are safe and easy, and\nsome cause even more problems. The curse, however, is that since you know there\nare medications readily available, you simply accept the fact that one day you\nwill have to take them and you don\u2019t try to prevent any diseases from taking\nhold in the first place. As a pharmacist of 26 years, I have seen where this\nroad leads and I, personally, don\u2019t want to be on that bus! Although there may\ncome a day where I have to take 20+ meds a day to survive, I am going to fight getting\nto that point every step of the way. Now, I completely understand that we will\nall leave this great earth someday. But that shouldn\u2019t stop any of us from\nbeing an active participant in our health journey. So here are 5 tips to help get\nyou started on a healthy path:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • THE FIRST STEP IS THE HARDEST. TAKE IT ANYWAY<\/em><\/strong>\u2026Every\nsuccessful person started somewhere, such as the CEO whose first job was in the\nmail room, or the Olympic gymnast who used to fall off the balance beam. \u201cHealth\u201d\nis one of those things that you can\u2019t always see. You can see weight loss, but most\nlikely you can\u2019t feel your A1C (diabetes marker) come down. Dr. Martin Luther\nKing once said \u201cFaith is taking the first step even when you can\u2019t see the\nwhole staircase\u201d.  I urge you to have\nfaith and take that first step, whether it is being more active, eating healthier\nfoods, or seeing a doctor for the first time in years. You can thank me later.<\/li>
  • HAVE REALISTIC GOALS<\/em><\/strong>\u2026How many of\nyou started a New Year\u2019s Resolution in January only to forget it by February? I\ncommend you for wanting to make a resolution to eat right, exercise, cut carbs,\nlose weight, stop smoking, and be a better person. However, sometimes trying to\nchange everything about your lifestyle ALL AT ONCE is just setting yourself up\nfor failure. Add in work and family stress and suddenly you are completely\noverwhelmed! Instead, try tackling each of these things one at a time. After a\nmonth or two of success with one thing, add another. Personally, this approach has\nworked the best for me and I have to remind myself often that \u201cRome wasn\u2019t\nbuilt in a day\u201d.<\/li>
  • STOP MAKING EXCUSES<\/em><\/strong>\u2026I adopted a\ndog recently. I have been telling myself for a few years that \u201cmy zoo is full\u201d\nbecause my husband and I already have 2 older dogs and 3 cats. I love animals\nand felt like my heart has had a hole in it ever since my beloved Lexi Lulu\npassed away in 2017. So, we went to an adoption event sponsored by the local\nshelter and a one year old, 28-pound, sable colored little girl stole my heart instantly.\nMy life will never be the same! Did you know that scientists have found that dog\nowners were likely to live longer than those who didn’t have dogs? In fact, dog\nowners had a 24% risk reduction for death from any cause, according to one study.\nThe main reason for this is that owning a dog increases your physical activity.\nYou have to go outside and walk the dog! Secondly, when dogs and people interact,\nthey both experience an increase in oxytocin (the \u201ccuddle\u201d hormone). These facts,\namong others, leads to a happier and healthier person (and dog). Maeve has\nalready brought so much joy and increased activity to my life! In fact, I was\neven experiencing writer\u2019s block until adopting her inspired me to write this\ninstallment of The Dancing Druggist<\/em>. Even if you can\u2019t adopt a dog, get\nout of the house and walk around the block. You don\u2019t need to join a gym to\nexercise or be active. I know you\u2019ve been thinking about taking control of your\nhealth for a while now. Stop making excuses and refer to the first bullet\npoint. <\/li>
  • USE TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE\u2026<\/em><\/strong>On\nthe one hand, the \u201cscreen\u201d via TV, computers, and tablet\/phone has made our\nsociety more inactive and less healthy than we have ever been. On the other\nhand, we now have more tools at our disposal to help us manage our own health\nin a way that wasn\u2019t even imaginable decades ago. Gone are the days of spending\nhours at a library trying to figure out the Dewey Decimal System just to find a\nbook or article about a particular subject. In addition, technology and research\nhas given us so much more knowledge about preventable diseases nowadays, most\nof which is easily accessible on the internet. While there are reputable resources\nto be found online, there is also a plethora of misinformation floating around,\nso I caution you about consulting \u201cDr. Google\u201d too much. There\u2019s a reason\nMedical school takes so long. The same could be said for nursing school,\npharmacy school \u2013 you get where I\u2019m going with this. The internet is great as a\nstarting point and for a basic understanding of the topic, but nothing else. In\naddition, your smart phone can be a great tool for taking control of your\nhealth! There are literally apps for everything including ones for weight loss,\ncalorie\/macro counting, fitness tracking, exercise programs, medication reminders,\nexercise programs, etc. etc. etc. \u2026 Find the ones you like and use them to your\nadvantage.<\/li>
  • 80\/20 RULE<\/em><\/strong>\u2026Nobody is perfect. I certainly\nam not! I have had ups and downs just like the rest of the world. I have had\nperiods in my own life where I was very overweight, had no motivation to be\nhealthy whatsoever, and felt depressed and defeated. But there have also been times\nwhen I prioritized being active and eating healthy, dropped a few pounds, and\nfelt like I could conquer the world. I know I\u2019m not alone. People have constant\nups and downs. That\u2019s life\u2026as Sinatra would say. The key to a healthy and happy\nlifestyle is realizing that you can\u2019t be perfect all the time. So just keep on\nkeeping on! Keep trying! Remember the Little Engine that Could and say to yourself\n\u201cI think I can, I think I can\u201d. Sometimes you will do your best and will\nsucceed. Other times you will fail because you didn\u2019t feel 100% that day. I am\nhere to be your cheerleader and say that it is OKAY. If you can do your best\n80% of the time, you are doing better than most and should be proud of your\naccomplishments!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    MAEVE<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Now pat yourself on the back because by reading The\nDancing Druggist<\/em> today you have already demonstrated your desire to be healthier\nand more informed, so I commend you. Hopefully, I will be able to continue to\ninspire you through future installments. Now go adopt a shelter dog!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ADOPT A SHELTER DOG I heard a few interesting quotes recently. One said \u201cIf you do not make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.\u201d The other said \u201cYour health is an investment, not an expense\u201d. No matter how your phrase it, the point is that many diseases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wheelercompounding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}