What’s the Deal With Cupping and Scraping?

Prior to leaving Taiwan for the United States, I will admit: I over indulged in some things, like bubble tea, stinky tofu, night market games, and of course, massages.  I am pretty sure I hit up at least three or four massage centers in the last month I was in Taiwan!  I have always wanted to try cupping and scraping (yeah, call me crazy, I know I am) and I made it one of my goals to do that before I went home.  So that’s just what I did.  

Taking on Taiwan: Health is Wealth

When I came to Taiwan, I was fresh out of working job that involved manual labor, sometimes longer than eight hours a day and six days a week.  In a word, I was exhausted.  I spent the two weeks I gave myself off from the job laying around, catching up on all the things I didn’t have time to do when I was under the blazing sun.  And like in years past, I seemed to gain back all that I had lost during the ten weeks I worked, and then some.  And then couldn’t shake it off me.  

The Key to a Proper Diet

The year is 2011.  I was seventeen going on finally being a legal adult, preparing for university and collegiate division three ice hockey.  In the spring of that year, I’d written my first real full length manuscript (which I never ended up publishing) and I was attempting to get noticed on other smaller websites or journals.  As far as my future appeared, things were looking up.  Until I glanced around at the other aspects of my life.  Then the truth became more than apparent to me: my diet was inadequate.

Why I Went Vegan (Again)

Way back when at the age of twenty-one, I was seeing a girl who was deep into veganism.  It was, honestly, the first time I had seen or heard anything about it.  And I was intrigued by the idea.  At the time, I was a little oblivious and ignorant to my own needs.  I thought I was healthy and continually found myself in a pattern.  I’d lose weight, get real close to where I wanted to be, and then I’d falter back, ending up right back where I started.  I was unhappy, not healthy, and I needed a change.