This chart has been copied from an article entitled "What Foods Trigger Your Heartburn" by Sharon Gillson published at About.com.  I have GERD and am interested not only in the foods that trigger the reflux but what alternative to medicine I have for getting rid of the problem. 

Foods To Avoid On The Acid Reflux Diet

Food Group	Foods To Avoid
Fruit	• Orange juice • Lemon • Lemonade • Grapefruit juice • Cranberry juice • Tomato
Vegetables	• Mashed potatoes • French fries • Onion, raw
Meat	• Ground beef, chuck • Marbled sirloin • Chicken nuggets • Buffalo wings
Dairy	• Sour cream • Milk shake • Ice cream • Cottage cheese, regular
Grains	• Macaroni and cheese • Spaghetti with sauce
Beverages	• Liquor • Wine • Coffee, decaffeinated or regular • Tea, decaffeinated or regular
Fats / Oils	• Salad dressing, creamy • Salad dressing, oil & vinegar
Sweets / Desserts	• Butter cookie, high-fat • Brownie • Chocolate • Doughnut • Corn chips • Potato chips, regular

My main concern with the reflux is what damage has been done to my esophagus.  I have had the condition for many years but only in the past two have I been treated for it.  I want to be able to stop taking Nexium, if possible, and find an alternative that really works.  My husband and I have been slowing changing our diet to exclude foods that are just not good for us.  But we are also human and enjoy many delightful foods from this good earth.  So, it seems a good idea to look at ways to enjoy eating and being healthy at the same time.  If anyone has some good suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

Sent to me via email from http://www.astrology.com. 

"Intense, intense, intense! From May 27 to June 2 we’ll all be under the influence of a T-square between Venus, Mars and Pluto, meaning everyone will be on their biggest, loopiest emotional roller coaster.

The T-square is a concentrated, dynamic three-planet combination. It's created when two planets -- in this case, Venus and Pluto -- form an opposition (think standoff), which is difficult enough. But this aspect is further complicated by a third planet, combative Mars, who will make a stressful square to the other two.

When Venus, the planet of love and emotions, and Mars, the planet of action and aggression, both meet up with powerful Pluto, the entire world can feel topsy-turvy. But your focus will be on interpersonal relationships. Who exactly is in control here anyway? Even the smallest issues (like what movie to see or what to have for dinner) can trigger major power struggles. Jealousy can raise its ugly green head, and sexual energy (shall we call it tension?) will run high.

The best way to deal with any challenges that come your way right now is to take lots of deep breaths, realize that everyone's affected by this astrological weather and know that it will soon pass. Keep in mind that minor events can trigger major upheavals; now is a time to tread carefully in your relationship. "

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Who me?  Well, yesterday I flew off the handle at someone.  I felt very threatened.  They were just trying to help me stay out of trouble and I almost created a situation that would have gotten me fired.  I am way too paranoid and defensive.  Relax for goodness sake.  Life always works out and it doesn't need my help banging into it.  I am also tired of looking for a job.  I have worked so long that it is next to impossible to get a job because of what I would need to be paid.  I can take a small cut but not $10,000 a year.  So, the only resolution to my situation is to resolve to learn to work better and fit in and enjoy my job (which I do).  My ego just needs to take a back seat.  Only 7 more years.  I can make it and maybe actually do some real growing up in the meantime.

Megs had a great day with Chris but something upset him and he flew off the handle.  Well, maybe there is just a little bit of truth to all this astrology stuff. 

Perhaps the more we know about Life, the better prepared we can be for living it.  I shall keep on expanding the old awareness and share my revelations with my friends.  Should be a healthy balance in there somewhere.

Have a great day and watch the old temper.  zera

This is a reading from Astrology.com.
	The Daily Illumination for Edie on 5/15/2005 - Free Sample Reading.  Your Question or Issue:  What should I do to get a better job
Now	The Now position reveals possible developments, situations, phases, or challenges that you may encounter as well as suggestions for anticipated outcome. The Devil (reversed) in this position suggests that you may be facing a situation where appearances are playing too great a role. You may feel that you are being controlled or restricted, and from this comes a sense of hopelessness or obsession. This situation can become, or perhaps already is a destructive one. You may need to learn how to break the chains that bind you. In general, the Devil represents the fiery male energy of creation in its most material form. He represents a lust for life, and an exquisite and divine madness. He is the Great Pan, the tenacious Goat of Capricorn, pure Will, and the external manifestation of Strength. The Devil transcends all limitations, and his impulses to create are without reason, custom or foresight. He is humor, mirth, sexuality, and the symbol, (according to the Christians of the Middle Ages), for those who LIVE (Evil, backwards) or have LIVED (Devil, backwards), and he may be recognized as Bacchus, Dionysus, Ra, Lucifer, or Vesta to name but a few. The Devil reminds you that you may have imposed limitations on yourself as the result of your perceptions, point of view, or even ignorance. He suggests that you recognize your potential for freedom by releasing yourself from oppressive or obsessive "chains" by accepting personal responsibility for your situation.

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5/28 - I find this to be an incredible card for me to have drawn out of a deck of cards.  I don't need a better job, I need a more awake and aware ME.   I am so caught up in outward appearances that are always at  war with my internal belief structure.  Now, how do I deal with this?  Well, I just plain have to grow up.  I don't like the way things are at work but I love my job.  The hours I spend at work make up a great part of the day though.  I hate playing games but each being at work is on a different path and a different level of awareness of who they are and how they fit into the scheme of things.  I have so much to learn from them and I have much to share with others -- teach by example and learn the same way.  Whether I get another job or not, there are things that I need to learn about myself.  I have much growing still to do before I die.  So, instead of sitting in a corner and pouting and waiting for someone else to hire me, I need to continue on with my life and accept the fact that everyone is a teacher.  Like the devil card in Tarot, the chains only bind me if I allow them to.  Namaste.  zera

I got this from a test I took at Tickle.com.  What a great place to visit.
Your destiny is to be a Peacemaker

"Whether you know it or not, this is the role that is most in tune with who you are at your core. As a Peacemaker, you are a deeply caring and idealistic person who is compelled to make peace on a personal level, as well as a global one. Your deep, quiet strength encourages other to turn to you when they are experiencing crises. You often sacrifice yourself for the cause you believe in, and although your outward appearance seems serene, your intense passion to achieve the ideal sometimes causes inner turmoil. This is a fine thing to experience unless it gets overly intense and causes you to cut yourself off from the world. The fact is, as long as it doesn't conflict with your ideals, you long for unity and "oneness," believe in morality and compromise for the sake of peace, and the world needs people like you."

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Yes, I am a compromiser.  A very stubborn and idealist compromiser which often finds me at odds with others especially bosses.  Work is work.  It has a set of guidelines that must be followed no matter who you are.  I can't bend that wall.  However, instead of trying to change the greater world of my office, I need to change how I see that world and adjust my attitudes.  In order to make change in the greater world, I must first make the changes in me.  Compromise!  Seek to do my daily tasks to the very best of my ability, be pleasant to others at all times and stop kicking against the bricks.  Change comes in its own way and time.  Patience must be my teacher.  Blessings.  zera

A good friend of mine forwarded an email about a brand new postage stamp that is being issued by the US Postal Service that will also allow the purchaser to contribute to the worthy cause of finding a cure for Breast Cancer.  I have a dear friend at work who has just been operated on for Breast Cancer and now must go through the chemotherapy treatments.  I can't even begin to imagine what she is going through.

The new stamp costs 40 cents instead of the face value of 32 cents.  That means that the additional 8 cents is donated to breast cancer research.  We all realize how scary and detestation breast cancer is to all women and such an easy way to donate to finding a cure.

The new stamp as well as the stamp I have posted were designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD.  I was unable to post the new stamp on this site.  However, next time you need a postage stamp, please ask to purchase a book of "Fund the Fight, Find a Cure" stamps.  You will be helping a very worthy cause.

Thanks.  zera

http://www.blogthings.com/whosyourinnereuropeanquiz/

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Good grief, Charlie Brown!  I see myself more as a German, which I am.  There is a great deal to be learned from everything that pops into your life.  Like the the description that my inner European is French.  I am neither smart or sophisticated.  However, I do have an inflated ego.  Always good to be reminded that the ego is something that is built and has only the reality that our true being allows.  I need to do some work here.  But actually I do have the best of everything.  I have my friends at Xanga to remind me that I am only human after all.  zera

I believe it is finally time for me to come clean with the world and with myself. 
This is why I am.
Can you see me?
I am dancing the light fantastic right in front of your eyes.
My heart is open wide.
My thoughts are racing to new levels of interest.
My Soul is at peace.
You can't put me back in that box.
That would kill my Spirit.
I have integrated the Truth of the Devil card.
I am free to Live.

As for my friends, they have all been true.
They have taught me the truth of nurturing, loving and patience.
I have seen what they see and am thankful.

I thank the Creator for the having lived this long.
I pray to be awake, alert and thankful for every second further that I live.
And I am very thankful for all my friends who give me strength as we walk along this path of life to the very end.

Namaste.

 

Did you know that one out of every three women has been beaten, raped,
or abused in her lifetime. As women, we are very fortunate to live in a country where we can reach out to our sisters around the world to take action.  We can join Amnesty International or work with our churches to send money and supplies to those areas in the world where women are so poorly treated.  Another way that we may take action is to see that leaders of the world are enacting laws for a new era in women's human rights.   I found this simple way that we can act for those who can't.  I was at Care2 website and they had this particular opportunity available to all of us.  Send it to your friends.  It requires you to go to the site once a day and click the STOP button. 

Click to end violence against women today: http://stopviolence.care2.com

Every click helps Amnesty International generates 3 letters to put pressure on decision makers, urging them to take actions to prevent rape, domestic abuse, war and other violent crimes committed against women and girls worldwide.

Such a simple thing that could effect millions of women around the world.

Read up about it at Care2 and click away.   zera

 

I'm back!  Thought you wouldn't hear from me for another year, didn't you?  I am feeling very Earth Mother-like today.  My patio is filled with flowers from Wally's World (Walmart).  I have seed out for the birds and the "squirrel from hell" and this year we put up a feeder for the Woodpeckers and a hummingbird feeder.  It is quite enjoyable to sit here and type while I watch the happenings on the patio (so forgive my spelling).

This past year I have been on this incredible spiritual journey that was similar to shooting the rapids.  Fortunately, I am finally coming around a bend in the river and the water ahead is clear and smooth for many many miles.  (Told you I was feeling very Earth Mothery). 

My daughter finally decided that working as a waitress was not her thing.  The money was good but the people were mostly obnoxious and cheap.  She is finishing up the last high school course from her correspondence school and will be attending college this fall.  Yipee!  Chris, her boyfriend, is still living with us.  He is a really nice young man and has grown up a lot this past year as well.  He is Mr. Fix-it and built be a beautifully big flower box for the patio and manages to repair my dryer, my vacuum and put up a coat rack bar on the wall, etc.  Things my husband and I are just not good at.

As for work, they have pushed me over the line.  I can work there until someone out there says "Yes! You are just the person we have been looking for."  And when I get a new job, I am gone.  No regrets (Well, maybe one.  Sorry it has taken me so long to get off the fence and look for a new job.)

Husband is doing great.  He is very healthy for one.  And for two, he got a promotion and a raise.  So, between the two of us, we now make one decent salary when you put them together.  By the way, I have lost 40 pounds and I am walking 1 1/2 miles a day.  My cardiologist is thrilled. 

We also adopted another cat.  She makes three.  We have a new hamster since Meatball died a few months back.  Chris is in charge of the two fish tanks.  He bought a very small eel (ewh!).  Megs bought two mice.  I think we have enough animals now until we move into a house.

That's about it from Atlanta.  Just wanted to update everyone. 

Some passing thoughts for the over 50 crowd . . . ..

Everyone has a phonographic memory.  Some don't have film.

NAMASTE    zera

 

Just so you understand where I am coming from, I have looked up three very important words in the thesaurus that should give you a clearer idea of how this story is going to unfold.

Meander:  wind, convolute, twist, go all over the place, ramble, wander.

Digress:  to depart or stray from the main subject at hand, stray, go off on a tangent, beat around the bush, wander.

Ramble:  roam, drift, meander, saunter, wander aimlessly.

I was thinking about how the first half of my life was consumed with rushing.  I was rushing to grow up.  Rushing to get a boyfriend.  Get a job.  Get an apartment.  Get married and on and on.  It seemed like life was spread out before me and the path went directly to my goal -- growing up and being a responsible adult.  Then this strange thing happened, I woke up one morning and discovered that 50 years had just slipped by and I was now a responsible adult.  Lord, where did the time go? 

For the past 7 years I have been meandering down (or up, if direction is really important) this lovely little path with its twists and turns and surprising finds.  I am in the process of becoming.  By combining stories from the past with the reality of the present and a lot of humor sprinkled in, I will share with you the wisdom gained from a life lived.

Remember the old bandage, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  All well and good but, I ask you, who's in a hurry?