fda.gov
Part of managing Lyme disease and quite frankly, any other type of chronic illness is keeping your body and immune system as strong as it can be. This can be done in part, according to our Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD), by paying close attention to Diet, Exercise, Water, and God.
- Eating plenty of fresh, clean food
- Having daily moderate exercising
- Drinking plenty of clean water
- Having faith in something that is bigger than yourself
Of course, this is not a magic bullet to conquering disease – you still have to take proper medications and supplements, but if you pay attention to these four areas, your body will have a fighting chance in managing the illness.
Today I want to talk about water. We all know we should drink water and those of us with chronic illness know that we should drink water to flush out some of the toxins that may result from our illness. But let’s face it; sometimes it’s tough to remember to drink water. I mean it’s tasteless, when you drink a lot it makes you pee – on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most fun, drinking water does not even come close to 1’s ceiling.
Alice
But my entire perception of drinking water changed the other day when my daughter showed me an app she had downloaded. It’s called Plant Nanny, it’s free, and you can download it onto your iPhone or android phone.
Anyone who has ever played with a Tomagotchi will recognize this app’s premise – through your actions, something is allowed to live. When you download the app, you enter your weight and then you are told exactly how many fluid ounces you have to drink each day to be healthy. Every time you take a drink, you alert the app (based on the honor system) and it records your amounts. If you reach your goal every day, your plant grows and not only does it grow but it thrives.
You get to name your happy faced, dancing plant (mine is Alice) and you get to choose what type of plant you want (mine is Dragon Ivy, Addy’s is dandelion.) You also get to choose the container in which your plant lives – as you can see. mine lives in a lovely gift box. There is even a feature that will remind you to drink water if you’ve gone too long between drinks. It’s all very special and makes me want to water my plant. I couldn’t tell you what happens if you don’t drink enough water each day because I don’t want to take the chance of ever hurting my dear little Alice.
Sure the app is cute and yes, even silly, but guess what? After 3 days of using it, I haven’t missed an ounce of water and as a result Alice and I are happy.
Look, we all know we should do things like exercise and drink water without something prompting us, we should do it because it’s the right thing to do. But it never hurts to have a little motivation and if that motivation is a tiny, happy plant that grows and smiles when I drink water – well then that works for me.
You can find Plant Nanny here.
Note: not affiliated with Plant Nanny, not getting anything for this review, simply passing on good information when I see it.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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