Wisdom & Witticism

New Year Resolution #3: Healthy skin

Maybe I am a little behind on this important piece of beauty advice, but sunblock is the #1 defensive measure against aging. I just thought it was good for preventing skin cancer, though that reason alone makes it important. But apparently it should be applied everyday and during every season - as much of our daily routine as flossing. So today I did a little research and got some Neutrogena sunblock. Of course I could have also gone to Sephora and invested in something very fabulous there, but I figured I need to start getting used to the frugal lifestyle of a med student, and med students do not have $40 to spare on a small tube of sunblock. That’s like, 2 weeks of groceries, or 1/4 of a textbook.

Jokes aside, this sunblock really is well-reviewed: free of fragrance, oil, and yucky chemicals, and supposedly blends well with skin, moisturizer, and make-up. Did you know that SPF only protects us from UVB, but not from UVA, which doesn’t burn us, but gives us wrinkles? In addition to a high SPF, you want a sunscreen that has zinc and titanium in its list of ingredients, which would protect against those evil UVAs! 

Speaking of ingredients in skincare products, I want to share another resource that I feel like every girl should know. EWG (Environmental Working Group) has this dandy database called Skin Deep that evaluates and rates the toxicity of cosmetics based on their chemical ingredients. I became instantly obsessed when I discovered this. I looked up all my products and was appalled by how toxic some of them were. Of the brands that I use, I found that Boscia is one of the least toxic, and the Yes To Carrots line is awesome (love their face scrub!). I was disappointed to find that Clinique, the brand I trust for simple goodness, contains Paraben, which has a bad rep in the world of cosmetics for disrupting hormones. When I looked into it a bit more, it’s questionable how harmful Paraben actually is, especially in such trace amounts, though it is known to preserve your product, keeping away harmful microbes. And super natural products, while containing less ‘toxins,’ can often be less effective and smell horrible. So we have to ask ourselves what’s important and whether it is worthwhile to get caught up on the details.

I think the bigger lesson I took away from all this is that less is more. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Don’t slab on layers of creams you might not need because nothing in excess is ever good. More than anything, our skin would probably just like to be kept hydrated and left alone, able to breathe. With that being said, I will still check Skin Deep for future purchases so I can stay away from the red-flag products. Also, I appreciate this wallet-size list of no-no ingredients put together by the website that you can take with you while shopping. It’s simple enough but your skin might just be thankful. :)

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I like olives!

… Wait what?! Since when?!

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Food for thought?

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work…”

- John 4:34

This week I participated in our annual all-church fast. But while my mind was working up a spiritual appetite, my stomach grumbled for sustenance. And in my hours of physical hunger, I got a taste of my human weakness. Everyday when the clock stroke 6pm, I inhaled whatever food was available and didn’t feel satisfied until that second serving of dessert. After a week of fasting and a good talk with a sister this weekend, I came to the realization that gluttony is a sin issue not addressed enough in my life and in the church. There is anything wrong with loving food; I believe that God has intended for us to enjoy life through our taste buds. But how often do we overindulge in our hunger, surpassing the threshold of comfortable satisfaction and encroaching on the territory of belt-unbuckling, food-comaing, and just flat out immobility?! I don’t know about you, but I catch myself eating one serving too much on a daily basis… but food is just TOO YUMMY!

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

 - Romans 6:13 

Perhaps it’s because I work in GI, but nothing grieves me more than the prevalence of gluttony in America. Just about every other patient I see with GI issues struggle with obesity. It doesn’t take a doctor to figure out the trend that over-consumption of food is the culprit for so many health problems, and not limited to the GI tract. I wish that people would stop denying that their problems are more deeply rooted than some unfortunate genetic disposition that sends acid up into their esophagus. Acid reflux medications are only a bandage on a bullet wound, a wound which I believe is caused by a deeper hunger for comfort and fulfillment in life.

I realize that gluttony is not easy to overcome, and self-control only sustains us for so long before we cave in to our cravings. We needn’t be so hard on ourselves and our eating habits, but perhaps it’s worthwhile to think about what our relationship to food says about how we deal with life. Is food carrying too much emotional impact in our lives? Unlike people or situations, food is controllable, never fails us and always satisfies; it becomes our defense mechanism when life gets sucky. But does it actually give us strength to overcome hardship, or is it just feeding our love handles and cultivating our weak will.

Gluttony, much like procrastination, spills over to other areas of our life as well. As we become more forgiving with our eating habits, it becomes more permissible to overindulge our other senses too. We begin to relax our discipline with money and time. Nothing lifts this girl’s mood more than a pair of new shoes. But before I break my scale or my wallet, how much should I instead cling onto the unfailing promise I have in Christ? His overflowing grace and His bottomless love? Unlike other self-help mechanisms, hungering for Christ has no negative consequences, but rather leads to eternal life. Our flesh is so weak, even a blessing like food can become an idol and object of sin. This is just one lesson I learned from fasting this week: anything and everything that is ever good comes from Christ alone, and above all else, I need to seek and delight in Him. 

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

- John 4:13-14

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New Year Resolution #2: Bollygroove

It’s finally happened, I signed up for an Indian dance class. What draws me to the dance is the energy, the pure radiance on people’s faces as they perform it. I get a little pumped up every time I watch the dance or hear the music. Who knew bollywood dancing would be such a great cardio workout! And would require so much coordination! Today was a blast, I felt like my soul was rejoicing for being expressed through such an upbeat, uplifting dance.

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New Year Resolution #1: No more snoozing

This morning I woke up to my 7am alarm and out of habit, hit snooze for 10 more minutes, minutes that I grant myself graciously every morning but become a punishment as I fail to eat breakfast, make lunch, or even shower, on those days when I’m particularly generous with myself. Today I was exceptional. I finally woke up at 7:58am, two minutes before i was supposed to be at work, to the alarming realization that I had actually canceled my snooze.  

I am never snoozing again.

Snoozing is a small, sneaky, and terrible form of procrastination, the first act of weak-will that sets precedence for the entire day. Surely it was around the same time I gained this awful habit that I also began to leave the dishes in the sink overnight, and watch TV for two hours instead of doing laundry. Surely it was when I began to allow myself 10 more minutes of sleep in the morning that I also began granting myself 1 more hour of bumming before bed, a couple days before I respond to emails, and several months to schedule my annual optometrist and dental appointments. When one’s morning alarm becomes forgiving, all other forms of order and discipline start to learn the tricks and let go of their responsibilities. 

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