Health Education

SATURN IN THE 1RST HOUSE
Saturn, planet of health, sits in the 1rst House, the house of self. People will be focusing more on themselves with regard to their diet, exercise, and overall health. Especially with the influence of Virgo.

Health is a recent issue for me due to the class I took this week. This is large part of why I've been blogless this week. I know, you've been desolate without new Sign In Ink to read, but it's been a long week, trust me. A large part of that was because of my Teaching Health for Special Education Students class. This has to be the most depressing class I've ever had the misfortune to attend. Of course it's a required class! No one would take it otherwise.

It takes me back to middle school, when they first started teaching health, especially sex education. It lacks the incredible awkwardness of those first years of learning about sex from a gym teacher, but I'll be damned if it doesn't make up for it in story after story involving injury or death. The class is only a week long, so they're clearly trying to shove as much insanity into these 2.5 hour classes and they succeed. Fortunately, the teacher is a very nice and somewhat humorous older man who has a lighthearted attitude about his age and a somewhat feminist outlook on life.

We began with child abuse. I learned all about the horrendous things that can happen to a child and what to do if I should encounter or suspect it. The laws are extremely strict regarding the treatment of children. I am all for the protection of children, but did we have to go through and detail the countless ways that a parent or guardian can harm a child? Really, I didn't need to know what "sock burns" are. (If you really want to know, it involves scalding water.) The class has gone downhill from there.

We moved on to school violence. As if child abuse wasn't bad enough, let's talk about when the danger comes from inside the school. Children, parents, and strangers have been known to bring in weaponry, putting each attendee in jeopardy. It's a terrifying prospect. My professor was quick to reassure us that most of us would not encounter something like that, but now that he's declared that, it's fairly certain that I'm going to be one of those teachers. Beyond the gun issue, school violence also traverses the wild world of bullying.

Day three brought the most tumultuous subject: sexual education. Of course, it involves none of the joys; just the possible effects (STD and pregnancy) and how to prevent them. Ah, yes. There's nothing like American education to take all the pleasure out of sexual education.

Yesterday, we began forays into drugs, or as my professor likes to call it, "Better Living Through Chemistry." This time, there were none of the fun details to make us go, "Oooh." It was just a brief overview of the kinds of drugs and the ways that they enter our bodies. Of course, our professor was kind enough not to gloss over physical effects that could be detrimental. For someone who tends to have MSS (Medical Student Syndrome), that is NOT a good thing.

Monday, the last class will delve into nutrition. At this rate, the class will be exploring all eating disorders and the ways that food can negatively affect us. I know I can't wait.

I'm sure everyone is jealous that they don't get to take this class with me. If you really want to know how it feels, on Monday, June 22nd, from 430-7pm EST, just go back in your mind to your 6th grade health class. Remember sitting there with all of the other students, listening to a middle-aged teacher who usually forces you into dodgeball on rainy days, showing you the most revolting pictures they can find to scare you away from drugs and sex.

This is worse.

Can You Stomach It?

VIRGO HANDLE
If you look at a chart for today, all of the planets, except for two, are lined up from Capricorn to Gemini, from the 5th House to the 10th, skipping the 7th. Interestingly enough, directly opposite the empty 7th House, you'll find our miscreant planets, the moon and Saturn, chilling in the 1rst House in Virgo. The picture appears to be a basket with Virgo as the handle. With Saturn in retrograde (see Retro-Virus), and the moon's influence, this is a very detail oriented time, where most of us will get bogged down in minutiae. Keep an eye out for the forests, people, and try not to let the trees get in the way. We may see an onset of anal-retentiveness as well as a focus upon health and cleanliness. Spring cleaning, get going!

Information about Virgo can be found here.

Virgo rules the stomach. Makes sense for a sign that's health concerned, no? Since we're getting a handle on Virgo, I got to thinking about the number of things that we ingest on a daily basis and what effect that can have on our bodies. I never really considered the reactions that I would have as a result of food or drink (except for alcohol, of course, but that's an obvious reaction). I'd heard the word caffeine bandied about, especially in connection to coffee and more recently, soda, but I never stopped to think about what caffeine would actually do to my body. Does it really wake you up? Is it really that bad for you? I mean, I jumped on the diet soda kick, but mainly because it seemed like everyone else knew what was going on. I know, jeep + cliff. Guess I answered that question, huh?

Recently, a friend mentioned to me that she takes green tea supplements because it curbs her hunger. Is that natural? Should we be staving off hunger? I mean, there are a million diets out there and hunger even has a face nowadays, according to Weight Watchers. There are also numerous food plans that are supposed to help you not "diet," but eat healthy. Yet, everyone I talk to keeps telling me something different. Carbs are bad. No, carbs are good as long as you're eating good carbs. Fruit is a good source of carbs, but man, they're high in sugar. Sugar is good for you for energy, but you don't want too much of it. Cereals are good sugar, but then you're back to carbs. And where are you getting your protein? You should be eating a fistful of protein at every meal. That's only if you're exercising. If you're exercising, you should be eating more. It depends on how many calories you've eaten that day. The number of calories you eat depends on how big you are and how much weight you want to lose. Weight is just a number; it's all about being healthy.

STOP! Everyone is different, but if everyone is different, how can we eat healthily for ourselves? Isn't there SOME kind of master plan that would teach us the basics of correct eating? I'm sure McDonald's has a great one and it's being instituted with their McCafe. For a country that's dealing with an obesity epidemic, you'd think it might behoove us to learn a little bit more about the foods we're eating. Like what those labels on the back of the foods mean. My yogurt today is 90 calories. Is that enough for a meal? Should I be eating more? Should it just be a snack? And some fat is good fat, I've been told. How much good fat should I have? Without a nutritionist, I haven't a clue what these numbers mean. What about organic? Are organic foods better for us?

Now is the perfect time for developing the right eating habits. After all, summer's coming up. Bathing suit season, folks. I have friends who are worried if they have a piece of pizza. Others claim sushi is the healthiest thing as long as you don't eat the rice. Still others say that you should eat only 2/3 of your meal, never the whole thing. Perhaps, but I want to be able to enjoy pizza without the guilt. I want to have my sushi and eat the rice too! What is eating healthy?

Far from being a nutritionist myself, I decided to do a little bit of research and I see that many sites recommend eating in moderation and eating often. They also suggest eating a wide variety of foods. Rainbow takes on yet another meaning. You want to eat as many colors as possible in a given day. Apparently, around 2000 calories is a healthy intake (guess I'm gonna need more than that yogurt). Carbs, protein, and fats are all needed, but in certain amounts - don't overdo it. Drink lots of water. One of my favorites was to slow down and enjoy the food more. Eating is a pleasure. I think the Taurean sun will help us with that. Obviously, these are basic guidelines, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

These are all great rules, but I think the most important one that I found was listen to your body. Something that I haven't done for 27 years. Most of the time, it seems to know what it wants and I say if my body's craving chocolate, I'll give it chocolate - in moderation. In a lot of ways, our bodies have an intelligence all their own and they speak up often. It's a matter of listening and attuning. In addition to the quotidian blog, I plan to work on listening more to my own body and seeing what it wants. Maybe I'll get a better feel for what I should be eating (within the parameters of the general rules).

Time to get a better handle on food. Virgo, lead the way.

Retro Virus

RETROGRADE SATURN IN VIRGO
Saturn, the planet of limitations and health, is floating around in Virgo, the sign of health. Royal pairing, right? Perhaps, except for Saturn being retrograde; meaning, it appears to be going backwards from Earth's point of view. Unexpected results can happen when a planet is in retrograde and in this case, it's health related. Swine flu, anyone?

Virgo qualities can be found here.

Yes, I'm caving in and talking about the porcine pandemic that's sweeping the world just like the Furbies did in the late '90s. (I think they were bigger than the Y2K scare.) Today, the illness-du-jour is pork. Kosher diet's looking better and better, huh? For those who just became alarmed, you can't get it from eating pork, so don't worry. Ham sandwiches and crispy bacon are a go. Thank goodness I didn't know about swine flu until after I got over being sick. Of course, now everyone's asking me, "Oh, did you have the swine flu?" Yes, it was delicious, thank you. No, of course not.

The terror that erupts when a new illness hits the streets is almost as infectious as the illness itself. It's all over the papers, in the news, on TV...even on that infamous source of important knowledge, Facebook. Everyone is convinced that the tiniest sore throat or cough is a symptom of the new disease and quarantine must happen immediately. It didn't really hit me how frightened people get until I saw someone walking down the street wearing a face mask to prevent germs. Is this person smarter than others or paranoid? There's a fine line there. (In case you hadn't noticed from previous blogs, I have a major curiosity when it comes to drawing lines.) People have died from this illness and others have been afflicted throughout the world. So at what point do we panic?

In other health news, the weather is changing. Stop rolling your eyes. Of course you knew that. With the weather unable to make up its mind (it must be a Libra), our bodies are left to fend for themselves and we don't have a great arsenal when it comes to meteorological indecision. Especially with the onset of spring, which last weekend was somehow bypassed for the 90 degree weather of summer. Pollen count jumps up and the air mischievously delivers all kinds of allergens to cause itchy eyes, sneezing, and other fun activities as our bodies try to defend themselves. With our bodies fighting so hard to stave off allergies and weather attacks, is it any wonder that so many people are getting sick, pig-oriented or not?

Add to that the fact that Mercury, the mind-planet, is in Gemini, the multitasker, which is going to have our minds moving faster and concentrating on a lot at once. That's not going to be the best for resting, which adds to the weakened body state. Hopefully, with the weekend coming up, everyone will get a chance to calm down a bit. Try to use the grounded energy of Taurus and make lists of things that you want to remember or explore later. It might help your mind quiet down if it knows that there is something to refer to at another time.

As for swine flu, be careful, but don't panic. Do everything you can to keep yourself in good health, including mental. Meditate if you have to. Do yoga. Wash your hands. Take your vitamins - pills before swine. And of course, if you're feeling sick, unless you're heading out to see a doctor, stay home. It's better for you; it's better for everyone else. Your immune system is down and opening yourself up to all the bacteria and other lovely bugs out there is probably not the best idea. So stay home. Others will probably thank you for it.

Just be glad it's not bird flu. At least pigs don't fly.