If you sleep for 8 hours a night, the recommended amount of rest every night, and you stop drinking water 2, or 3 hours before going to bed, you are reducing your water intake

to only the hours you are awake.

When you stand, gravity keeps water in the lower part of your body, causing swelling in your legs.

When you lie down and the lower part of your body is at the level of the kidneys, the kidneys remove fluids because the body is more comfortable in a horizontal position.

The body needs a certain minimum amount of water to eliminate toxins from the body.

Drinking water is also very important.

Drinking water at certain times maximizes its impact on the body's function:

- 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs

- 1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - aids digestion

- 1 glass of water before bathing - helps lower blood pressure (did anyone know this?)

- 1 glass of water before bed - prevents stroke or heart attack (good to know!)

Additionally, water before bed helps prevent nighttime leg cramps.

Leg muscles need fluid because they contract, and due to a lack of it, they wake up with muscle spasms.

Please share this message with your family and friends

Pass this message on to others, at least 10 people,

knowing that this information could save lives.

I drink only Alkaline pH water produced by an Enagic JrIV

water Ionizer. This is not sponsored, I purchased the

machine with my own money.

For books, courses, remote Reiki sessions, Alkaline Water

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Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

I use the Free Style Libre 2 CGM from Abbott

It provides information on my Current Blood Glucose level,

the trend, and my time in range.

Blood sugar—Canada—measured in mmol/L or millimoles per litre

CGM Blood Sugar Range — “Green Zone” - 3.9 to 10.0 mmol/L

CGM Blood Sugar Range — “Yellow Zone” - 10.13 to 13.3 mmol/L

CGM Blood Sugar Range — “Red Zone” greater than 13.3 mmol/L

Some medical tests report results in millimoles

per litre (mmol/L).

A mole is an amount of a substance that contains a large

number 6 followed by 23 zeros of molecules or atoms.

A millimole is one-thousandth of a mole.

A litre measures fluid volume.

Myhealth.Alberta.ca

Author - Healthwise Staff

In the Green Zone, Yeah!

A nice almost straight line.

6.2 mmol/L is the current Blood Glucose Reading.

The Arrow indicates the trend which is flat.

Looks like I am having a good day.

In the Yellow Zone! But not by much.

The top of the Green Zone range is 10 mmol/L so 10.4 mmol/L

is not much out of zone and the arrow indicates a

Flat trend.

It is a sharp peak though so what was it I consumed that

caused this?

In the Yellow Zone! But not by much.

The top of the Green Zone range is 10 mmol/L so 10.4 mmol/L

is not much out of zone and the arrow indicates a

Flat trend.

It is a sharp peak though so what was it I consumed that

caused this?

In the Yellow Zone! But not by much.

The top of the Green Zone range is 10 mmol/L so 10.4 mmol/L

is not much out of zone and the arrow indicates a

Flat trend.

It is a sharp peak though so what was it I consumed that

caused this?

I find it best to monitor my Blood Glucose and consume food and

drinks sensibly and so long as I am in the Green Zone, not

to be too worried by the "shape" of the graph.

Trying to achieve a perfectly flat line. I feel is "too" much.

Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

Referral Link: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/x4pe9m/

Thank you.

In December 2022 I was diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic. It took a few weeks of being in a dark place before I

took ownership of my response to the diagnosis.

My response was to make the Life Style changes that allowed me to be free of medication by November of 2023.

Maintaining the Life Style changes since November has been the next challenge I am dealing with, and will be

writing and creating books and videos about. For now, let’s concentrate on July 2nd.

I met with my doctor for her to educate me about why I was taking the Blood Thinner and Blood Pressure medications I am.

You can browse the internet and find out what a medication is, but why I would be taking it and not another needs a doctor to explain.

After that was dealt with we started talking about Diabetes.

She made the point that Diabetes is a condition that will always be present.

It is not like the flu or a broken arm. Once the flu has passed and the broken arm has healed you can say: “I had the flu” or, “I had a broken arm.” You cannot say “I had Diabetes.”

Being off medication just means I am a Type 2 Diabetic that manages their condition through diet.

This was interesting because I was confident in owning my response to my diagnosis, but I had never owned my diagnosis itself.

Because I would always be a diabetic, I had to own it.

After some focused medication sessions where owning my diagnosis was the focus, I came to terms with this fact.

Some people may say that owning the diagnosis has to come before owning the response.

I argue no.

The response, the Life Style changes, has to come before owning the diagnosis.

The Life Style changes confirmed the approach and my understanding of my condition.

My message is that if you have Type 2 Diabetes, own your diagnosis and your response to it.

Use Focused medication to guide you through this second period of ownership.

Be gentle with yourself as you practice and focus on something unique and

special.

Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

Referral Link: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/x4pe9m/

Link to all my works - Click here—https://linktr.ee/markaashford

Thank you.

Focused meditation is a lot easier than some other forms, especially if you use a concrete physical object to focus on.

You can use this object as an anchor, drawing you back into the present moment even as your thoughts try to pull you away.

This method of meditation is open-ended in the sense that there is no prescribed posture or object of focus. You can adapt it to meet your own needs. This meditation can be done in a variety of settings.

You can choose almost anything to meditate upon, including the waves of a river, a nearby tree, or your own hand. Wherever you are, you can sit and do a focused meditation.

If your mind does wander, simply come back to the practice and refocus.

As the name suggests, this practice is ideal for anyone who wants to sharpen their focus and attention.

Focused meditation is a lot easier than some other

forms, especially if you use a concrete physical object to focus on.

Be gentle with yourself as you practice and focus on something unique and

special.

Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

Referral Link: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/x4pe9m/

Thank you.

Visualization and Activity Meditation can work together to form an extremely positive and effective combination.

Earlier we spoke about visualization and activity meditation in terms of lager physical activity such as walking the dog, cycling, or running etc.

But there are smaller things that work well together.

When I visualized being medication free that meant going from 2,000mg of Metformin, 4 x 500mg pills a day to Zero. That is unrealistic.

The Life Style changes I had to make had to become ingrained, and perpetual habits along with a gradual reduction in medication.

Visualizing a reduction in my medication in stages, along with the adoption of the Life Style Changes were the key to victory.

In this video I describe how I visualized reducing medication using a pill splitter. I purchased my pill splitter at a Pharmacy, but you can buy them on Amazon very cheaply.

Cutting a 500mg tablet into two 250mg tablets, and then crushing a 250mg piece into powder and sprinkling it on food helped me visualize the reduction of medication in a practical way. Sprinkling the powder on food helped me visualize not “taking a pill anymore.”

In the end, I went from 1 500mg pill twice a day, to none.

There are many ways to connect the mind and body through visualization and movement meditation to achieve a goal connected to diabetes.

In the next video we will look at how these two powerful meditations can help with shopping!

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Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

In my previous videos I spoke about the many different forms of meditation. The most valuable to me has been visualization meditation.

I used visualization as part of the process of setting, and reinforcing my goal to be medication free.

All types of goals are best achieved if broken into smaller goals that are more easily achieved.

I have a pill cutter and crusher that I purchased from a local pharmacy. I bought it when I had to treat one of my cats.

I cut their pills into quarters, and crushed one of the pieces into a powder. I added the crushed powder to their food.

A bit more work than putting the pill fragment into their mouth, but I did not have to watch them to ensure they did cough it up.

I would set my Metformin dose of 2 x 500mg pills on the counter.

I took the pill cutter and visualized using it to cut each pill in two, 250mg.

Then I opened the crushing compartment and visualized crushing a pill fragment into a powder and sprinkling on my food.

In the end, my doctor reduced my medication from 1,000mg to 500mg and then to zero.

The visualization of reducing my medication, cutting and crushing pills, was positive reinforcement of my ultimate goal.

There are many ways to use physical things around is to reinforce outcomes we visualize achieving.

A simple pill counter I purchased for a few dollars was a powerful way to visualize my medication being reduced in size and strength.

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and our Newsletter.... Join my website: Markaashford.com

Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

Visualization can be greatly helped by including memories of places and events that have happened to us.

Wednesday evening as I was drifting off to sleep, by an open window and there was a rain storm outside.

I listened to the heavy rain falling on the trees outside, the roof, and how animals were experiencing the storm.

Cool breezes came in through the open window.

Thursday, it rained again but not so hard, and last night, Saturday, it rained again.

Each time the sound and experience of the storm was different.

If you are visualizing a storm as part of a meditation, recalling such memories can deepen and enrich the mediation.

In Canada, Father’s Day is celebrated June 16, Mother’s Day was on May 12.

Remember to honour and think about your father, and your mother on the appropriate day.

They were there when important events, large or small, took place in your life. They know your life’s history.

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Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk

Visualization and Movement mediation can be greatly enhanced by correct instruction on how to carry out your chosen activity and having the correct equipment and supplies

An instructor can show you the most efficient, effective, and safest way of participating in your chosen motion.

For example, walking. We all know how to walk, place one foot in-front of the other, right? But a gait analysis and purchasing shoes to support and help the way you walk comfortably is a very sensible idea. As you progress and become more proficient with your movement, go back a little while later and have a new gait analysis completed to understand if anything has changed. Don’t forget to update your shoes often. Remember running shoes, or trainers, wear out and need to be replaced.

Visualize yourself using your new shoes and understanding how you walk. Then visualize walking faster or further to match your improved movement.

For books, courses, remote Reiki sessions, Alkaline Water

and our Newsletter.... Join my website: Markaashford.com

Photography: Mark A. Ashford

Music - Epidemic Sound - Between Dreams - Jon Björk