Thursday, February 11, 2010

Advocating for Myself

A time when I was an advocate for myself is when I took control  and decided to better my health. I did so by changing the habits I had, what I drank, and exercised more.

The first change I made was to cut back on soda and drink more water. Then eventually, I quit soda completely. Once I got past all the headaches, it was easy to quit.

The second change I made was with my eating habits. I stopped eating for something to do, eating after 9 pm and before bed. I stopped going back for seconds, and stopped eating junk food such as chips, and ice cream. I started to control how much carbs I ate and many other things, including eating more fruits.

Another change I made was to try and exercise more. I have difficulty with it due to an injury, but I make do.

These are just some of the changes I've made in the past few months and they have helped. Even the smallest changes can make big changes.

-- by a GED student

Taking Care of Myself

It's always very important to take care of myself.

They are many ways to take care of myself.

First of all, I need to educate myself academically, and socially, and in the health.

It's very important to be aware of my surrounding.

It's never too late to learn about any things in my life.

Always there is so much to learn in this life. So by learning what is surrounding me, I will be able to take care of my self especially in health. The more I learn, the more I will be able to take care of myself.

-- by a GED student

When were you an advocate for yourself or someone else?

Almost everybody has been an advocate sometime in their life. I have been an advocate for myself, recently, when I stopped smoking. However, it wasn't that easy, but somehow I managed to do it. I strongly made up my mind, gathered some helpful information, and tried my best to be patient.

It is very important to make sure that you really want to quit smoking, otherwise it is not going to happen. For instance, I quit two times before, but, I wasn't successful because I really didn't know exactly why I was doing it and I couldn't make up my mind until recently.

Secondly, it would be really helpful to gather information that explains about the difficulty that your body might experience and this data will make it easier to go through quitting. For example, I found the website that is called "easyquit.com," and I found out that having a lot of snacks around me helps me to keep my mind occupied and not to think about smoking.

Thirdly, stopping smoking is not something that just happens overnight. It takes time, and somehow we have to create this ability to be patient. For instance, for me the hard part was the first two months, but I knew this would come to the end finally.

All these steps helped me to overpower that habit. Making a strong decision, having knowledge about what we are doing, and having patience for the result led me to quit smoking successfully.

-- by a GED student

What Is Health?

Health is a very important part of life. If you have bad health, it can lead to diseases, sickness or even death. When you are in good health, you are more likely to live a better longer life. There are few things I consider about health: my diet, weight and regular doctor visits.

If you have a bad diet, there are many complications that can follow later in life. Heart conditions are caused by many sources. If you eat lots of fatty foods or sweets, you may become obese or even have a stroke because of all the fat around your arteries. Also, you may weaken your body's self defense system, which helps you fight off sickness. One way to prevent this is by eathing healthier foods and/or make an eating chart.

Another factor is weight. It is appropriate for you to be at a weight for your age and height. If your weight is not enough you may develop anorexia. That's a disorder where your body does not have enough nutrients and may eventually shut down. Another factor is being too heavy, where you may have shortness of breath, get asthma or heart disease. You much maintain a healthy lifestyle without damaging your body or just do certain activities without stressing yourself.

The last thing is maintaining regular doctor visits. By doing so you will find out more about your body that you may not know. Your doctor can give you advice on helping you stay healthy. They can also do tests to find out if you have any disease or special conditions that need to be treated. By doing this you will stay on top of your health.

If you do these three things you will insure your overall health to be better. Your diets controls what you are able to do. Your weight will be how easily you can do things. Seeing your doctor will insure your wellness. Once you have all of this down-packed you will be much happier.

-- by a GED student

"Health is wealth"

It's a small idiom that has a very big and nice meaning in our life. Health is a very important part in a human's life. Taking care of life is our first responsibility. First healthy eating grows healthy minds and healthy bodies. We need healthful food. Basic exams of the body are very helpful. It is important for health. Different fruits, vegetables, and meats have very helpful vitamins. After an exam, we know about our health. Some conditions need medicine, and sometimes we take care of ourselves by vitamins and fresh juices. If we can take care of our health we will have a good long life with good health.

-- by a GED student

Thursday, February 4, 2010

An Invitation to Share Your Stories


Dear Parkway ESL and GED students,

This blog is for you. It's a place to share your health stories with other adult students. Maybe health care professionals will read it too. You can help them understand the experiences and feelings of the public.

You can write about any health issue or experience here. Please give your story to your teacher so I can post it. You can write comments on other students' stories, too.

Remember that this blog is public. Think about all the people who could read your story as you are writing it. Don't use your last name, the last names of doctors, or specific clinic or hospital names. You can make up a fake first name if you don't want your classmates or friends to know you wrote a story here. When I post stories, I will take out anything that seems like a privacy concern, and I will take out most swear words. Otherwise I will not change your writing.

Stay healthy!

Debbie Smith
Health Literacy Project Coordinator
Parkway AEL