The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 340 - 364 of 466
This winter I spent some time in both retro and introspection. The results aren't very good, I'm afraid. I showed some promise as a child, but when puberty arrived, my concerns turned solely to girls, alcohol, and horses. I never developed any long term goals like my more mature friends did. I've always had the proclivity to act on impulse, with no thought of the results my actions might bring. I can think of very few untoward events in my life for which I wasn't solely respon...
I don't know how our paternal grandmother managed. She wasn't different than any of the women who raised families in the early and mid-20th century. They all had it hard. Many families were large in those days, and with no pizza shops, MacDonald's, or heat and eat foods, even lunches for the children entailed a lot of work. Our grandmother kept a house with seven sons, a husband, and a brother-in-law. She gave birth to a girl baby after all the boys, but the child died of meni...
The basis for real change in one’s thinking, feelings and living is found in the Holy Bible. Even people that are not professing Christians have throughout history affirmed the value in the Word of God for living a good life. Many of our Founding Father’s were Christians. They believed in a personal God, the supernatural revelation of the Bible, the Person of the Holy Spirit, the salvation found only in the Person of Jesus Christ. Some were Deists, which is a belief that God...
Dear Dietitian, I have recently lost twenty pounds, and I've been exercising to keep the weight off. My problem is I sometimes eat at night out of boredom. I know I need to break this bad habit, but I keep doing it over and over again. Help!! Thank you, Julie Dear Julie, Eating out of boredom can lead to unnecessary calories and of course, eventual weight gain. The goal is to be healthy, and if our bodies are well-nourished, we will be less tempted to eat when we are not...
March 19, 1969 Local Chamber Has A Name A fiveman steering committee has decided to name the new organization 'Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce'. At a three-hour session Friday the committee also appointed a nominating committee to select a president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer. The group also set up by-laws and determined a six-man board of directors should be nominated. The first election of candidates will provide for two members to serve as directors for on...
With most of the news being about politics these days, I think often about our maternal grandmother who was a dedicated Republican in the Eisenhower vein. Her political views stemmed from her intense dislike of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. She was disgusted that FDR was on the dime, and when the 10 cent stamps with his bust on them were issued, she was vocal in her contempt. She disliked using the stamps, blaming FDR for the high price of postage and everything else...
Dear Readers, Today I am writing about a topic near to my heart: nutrition and cancer, or more pointedly, nutrition myths and cancer. My clinical experience included twelve years of oncology nutrition, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Good nutrition can help prevent some types of cancer, and not surprisingly, it is the same diet that helps prevent other diseases, such as heart disease and stroke. You’ve heard it before and read it in this column: Eat lots of f...
This last siege of storms has made for long winter. The snow is welcome, but it may delay spring grass and the return of migratory birds. As kids, our first sign of spring was the melting snow, which was ideal for snowballs. During the better part of winter, the snow was too cold and dry to stick together. After the doldrums of the cold months, any change was welcome. We knew that the huge snowbanks formed in December would start to disappear soon. Being raised in the country...
Montana is a single state. But in reality, there are many Montanas – some defined by variations in terrain and vegetation, others by climate and still others by land use and population density. Area economies also vary considerably from one part of Montana to the next. From east to west, the state splits into two vastly different regions, one defined by rolling grasslands stretching across sprawling plains and the other defined by a large number of forested and interconnected...
Dear Dietitian, My cousin tells me she is taking fish oil supplements to help her with depression. Do you know of any studies on this topic? Thank you, Andrea Dear Andrea, Omega-3 fatty acids, or simply omega-3s, have received a considerable amount of attention from the healthcare field and the general public. There are several omega-3s, and two in particular have been studied, DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid), which are found in fish, especially...
Winter will end. Trust me. But what will we see when all that white stuff disappears? A landscape green from melting snow littered with dead deer? Probably not. Yes, February was brutal for much of the state, but let's not lose our perspective. This is winter. This is Montana – a northern latitude state. And for the memory deprived last year was worse or at least longer. This year, few ranchers so far have complained of deer in their haystacks. Nothing like last year. That's p...
This last blizzard got me thinking about how hard the old timers had to work just to keep the house warm from September to May, and to cook every day of the year. Both families and homes were often large in those days, many having a cook stove plus three or four heating stoves. I've been told that some of the houses used over 60 cords a year. Our paternal great uncle took care of the firewood at the ranch, and always maintained the woodshed completely full of split blocks – p...
Dear Dietitian, My husband was recently in the hospital and diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He has been instructed to follow a 1500 mg sodium diet. He's trying, but it's very difficult. I'm afraid he will get frustrated and give up. Any words of wisdom? Signed, Deborah Dear Deborah, A new diagnosis can be overwhelming and often brings about the need for a lifestyle change. For readers who are not familiar with congestive heart failure (CHF), it's a chronic condition...
Dear Dietitian, My friend is always on the latest health kick, so now she is taking probiotics every day and swears she feels so much better. She keeps bugging me to take them too, but I priced them at the drugstore, and they are expensive. Are they worth it? Sharon Dear Sharon, Probiotics are a popular health trend with sales of $1.4 billion in the United States in 2014. Since then, sales have nearly doubled, racking up $2.4 billion in 2018. Everyone wants to be healthy, espe...
Having been raised in a rather traditional lifestyle and culture, I by no means consider myself a person who places no value in the past. Having said that, I like to think that I also recognize the danger inherent in clinging inflexibly to outdated traditions that no longer fit in the world in which we live. I'm all for honoring and learning from the past, but at what point does holding on to the version of the past that suits us become a detriment to the future? This is the...
When I was at my sickest in Brazil, and my legs didn't work to the point I sometimes couldn't get off the toilet by myself, I remembered a rancher whom I knew from my infancy to adulthood. Kenny and his brother had a ranch about six miles from ours. He suffered polio as a child, and didn't have the use of his legs. He used crutches his entire life, Even on crutches, Kenny mowed hay in the summer, a job that often involved him struggling on and off the tractor scores of times...
To change biblically and travel the “self-confrontation journey” one must be born-again, a Christian, a Christ-follower; the terms may vary but you must be a person who has sincerely asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior. This is the priority principle. However, even if you are not a Christian, but you recognize there is a need for change you can still gain tremendous benefits tby applying God’s Word to your life. Taking the life principles of the Bible and applying them works...
I've always kept myself on the outer edges of society, preferring to observe its actions and ideas with a soft contempt, always keeping my "ironic distance" from the point of my own contrived superiority. I think this trait began in the spring of 1965, when I was a senior in high school. In those days, Lawrence Welk and Art Linkletter ruled the TV world. The supposed moral decay of the later 1960's hadn't yet reached Montana. It was then that I saw through the arbitrary...
Years back almost every ranch kept a "farm flock" of 100 – 200 ewes. They provided extra income from their wool and lambs, but could be a nuisance with their fence crawling ways and propensity to die when offered any opportunity. We got started in the business when a herder working on a ranch that ran thousands of sheep gave our father thirty orphan lambs. I don't know how our mother managed. She had at least four or five children then, none old enough to be much help, plus s...
This week I want to share some thoughts on how a person can change. But it is not change for changes’ sake, but how a person can change Biblically? How does a person adjust their thinking to match up with what God would have them think; or act or speak or live? I imagine most of us have heard that this “eternal life” God offers us is a gift. Unfortunately many reject this gift (Matthew 7: 13-14; John 3:16-21). If one does not have a sincere relationship with the Lord Jesus...
Dear Dietitian, My husband was just diagnosed with prediabetes. We were given a sheet of paper with information on this, but it left us with many questions. Does he need a special diet? Will he have full-blown diabetes in a few years? We need more information, please. Suzanne Dear Suzanne, A new diagnosis can be overwhelming, and often leaves us with many questions. You are wise to seek information. Prediabetes is when your blood sugars are high, but not high enough to be...
Some time ago I saw a photograph taken at the Helmville cemetery on the day they buried my great grandfather in 1922. In the picture there's a cottonwood sapling, maybe 10 feet high. Both the tree and my great grandfather are still there, but the cottonwood is 80 feet tall and about 3 feet at the butt. I'm sure the old man is part of that tree. Entering the family ranch, a person sees the corrals and the cow barn built before the 20th century. The first cabin still exists,...
I think I may have unwittingly traumatized my kid this weekend. She’s stoic, so it’s hard to tell, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I’ll be hearing about this incident over Thanksgiving dinner in about ten years. I’ll explain, but first I will ask you to not judge me too harshly. I think every parent or step-parent on earth has probably made a similar mistake at one time or another. You all remember that time your parents innocently popped Old Yeller or Watership Down into the VCR, right? Or, maybe they took your tw...
Well after almost one month of the New Year I imagine we all have failed in several or all of our New Year’s resolutions. It is very difficult to make changes. Old habitats die hard they say! For me that is most certainly true. A key aspect of failing to make changes in how we think, act, spend money, spend time or whatever the area is that concerns us, is that we go with the flow. By that I mean we fail to take a real and honest hard look in to our own lives. We keep doing w...
Dear Dietitian, I just read an article that said eating a high fiber diet helps prevent colon cancer, but other articles on this topic have said the opposite. This is frustrating and confusing! Can you help clear things up? Joe Dear Joe, Scientific studies are often confusing because the results are different. Before something becomes clear in science, it has to be tested several times in different cultures in different parts of the world. It must also be tested on men and...
