7 Things to Love About Summer | #4 Gardening (with Lifescript)

This is a sponsored post by me on behalf of Lifescript.com

So let's see.

Summer is now, officially, well under way.

I've sucked down my fave childhood treat

and I've seen an awesome movie or two

and I might have had chance to party like it's 1999.

But when all is said and done,
there is something about
daylight
when you live close to the land of the midnight sun
that makes summer
totally about gardening
and being healthy for me.

Case(s) in point

Thing is,
I totally inherited my green thumb from my granny.
I think I may have also inherited her rheumatoid arthritis.

You see,
she had the most gorgeous gardens
(floral and edible)
on the block.

I loved being out in the yard with her.

The other day,
as I was out and about in my garden,
I started to notice some mannerisms
that made me think about my grandmother.

I remember growing up,

that she really could not bend her knees
to pull flowers or weeds.

I remember growing up,
that she would lay the water hose in her garden beds
rather than hold a trigger sprayer or even use her fingers to
"splay" the water.

I remember growing up,
that she would wince as she
wrapped her hand around a sturdy weed to give it a tug.

As I spent time in my own garden,
I was noticing that if I couldn't sit on the grass
(ie, because it had just been watered)
that it was really painful for me to bend my knees to get close to my beds.

I noticed that
I rarely use my sprayer
without the auto on switch.

I noticed that after a couple of hours of 

pulling and tugging in the garden
my hands would be on fire.

Aside from the green thumb that I got from my granny
I started to wonder if maybe, I had also inherited her
rheumatoid arthritis.

Being the curious girl that I am,
I decided to get to know a bit more
about who I am.

I sent off a kit to 23andme

and I quickly jumped over to Lifescript.comto study up on rheumatoid arthritis.

I checked out the Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center
and boy was I floored.

First, it should go without saying
that I'm a girl that likes to read.
Anything, really.
But especially really GOOD,

really approachable,

really legitimate
consumer health information.

I might have gotten a bit consumed by my time on the
Lifescript.com site.

While I personally love
(and write my own)
health and living advice
I actually like that the site
has writing by professional health writers, experts and physicians.
As in, lots of medical advice
but by professionals who get that
people need it to be in plain English.

While I ended up on the site
as I was exploring Rheumatoid Arthritis,
I love that they have information
on other prevalent medical conditions related to women's health.

I wish they had a Fertility Health Center.
1 in 8 couples struggles with fertility issues
and this is a significant women's health issue.

To that, they do have a general "Women's Health Center"
and if you drill down there, there is a link for infertility.

Alas, I wish it had it's own Health Center on Lifescript.

Interestingly, as I was looking into some of my
Recurrent Pregnancy Loss issues
there were lots of references to Humira and Prednisone.

Who knew that by exploring my arthritis link
I might end up on those meds anyhow?

Anyhow,
as I researched rheumatoid arthritis
here are some of the things I found interesting

1.
Yoga is good.
8 Steps to Staying Active with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

2.
Tired, stiff and achy? Maybe it's arthritis.
Symptoms

3.
Did all that work to harvest the garden, now what?
6 Recipes for Rheumatoid Arthritis
(including a tasty leek, asparagus and herb soup)

Time to get offline
(and off the keyboard)
and back into the garden.

Lifescript’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center features tips, quizzes, recipes and articles
 – all by professional health writers, experts and physicians –
covering common RA symptoms,
foods that compose an anti-inflammatory diet,
new RA therapies and more.
 Please visit the Lifescript Health Center on Rheumatoid Arthritis
for more information.

And to check out this free website, click here!

This is a sponsored post by me on behalf of Lifescript.com.