4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial


Resolve to Have Better Health in 2015


online that can be watched in the privacy of one’s home to determine if the “downward dog” and other yoga poses are adequate.


While walking is a great weight bearing exercise, jogging should be considered if one’s health will allow it.


study by researchers


It was determined in a recent at Humboldt


BY ANGELA JONES


American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr authored the Serenity Prayer that states "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference." The state of one's health is something that can be changed. In 2015, we can all take steps to ensure that we have better health through exercise, proper nutrition and a stress free lifestyle. Now is a great time to develop a plan to gain the energy and strength needed to take on whatever challenges come our way in the future.


In order to improve one’s health through exercise, it is not necessary to perform strenuous exercises. Brisk walks, yoga and pilates can benefit one’s health and do not require much effort. After all, most pilates moves are performed while lying down. Pilates was created to help strengthen the “core” of people who experienced injury to their back. One’s core includes the area between their hips up to their waist. Pilates works all of the tiny muscles that support larger muscles. It is one of the best remedies for an aching back. Anyone who has not exercised recently should consult their physician before beginning a new exercise routine.


Yoga is also an exercise that anyone can perform to some degree. Yoga poses offer varying degrees of difficulty; therefore, it is ideal for people


with little experience with


exercise and for those who spend hours in the gym. If one is not familiar with yoga, he does not have to leave the comfort of his home to try it. There are plenty of yoga DVDs and videos


State University and the University of Colorado that adults over the age of 65 who jogged for at least 30 minutes, three times a week were less likely to experience problems with walking due to age than those who simply walked for exercise. The joggers in the study had a metabolic cost of walking which resembled that of young adults in their 20s. Conversely, there have been other studies which showed that too much running may not be good for one’s health;


therefore, even exercise should be approached in moderation. In order to reduce strain on joints, a small trampoline called a rebounder, can be used for jogging in place.


When determining what foods to eat to improve health, one should keep in mind that good nutrition should include a lifestyle change and not a fad diet. Eating more raw fruits and vegetables will certainly improve one’s health for a variety of reasons. Raw fruits and vegetables supply a plethora


of essential vitamins and


minerals. There is also a great deal of fiber contained in raw fruits and vegetables that aids in detoxifying one’s body.


Raw fruits and vegetables can also be juiced to provide even more vitamins and minerals. There is as much calcium in a glass of carrot juice as there is in a glass of milk and the carrot juice does not contain the fat that is in milk. Eating mostly raw fruits, vegetables and legumes gives one’s body a break from the daunting task


of digesting meat, providing more time for its healing processes.


Let 2015 be the year to reduce stress. Jobs, family members and friends can cause stress that can lead to poor health. Let us resolve in 2015 to develop a plan to remove stressful situations from our lives. There are some situations that just pop-up and cause us stress, those we cannot change; however, the stressful lifestyles that some people are living can definitely be changed. Have the courage in 2015 to eat better, exercise and kick the Drama Queens and Kings to the curb to improve your health.


Volume 9 Number 5 Your Opinion Matters


What's Really Behind Obama’s Cuba Move


January 2015


BY EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON


There were two big takeaways from President


Obama’s Cuban


opening. The first is obvious. After 55 years of U.S.-backed invasions, covert efforts to sabotage and overthrow Fidel Castro, an embargo, and a Cold War freeze in diplomatic relations, the U.S. policy toward Cuba has been an abject failure. Raul Castro remains the official government head, and Fidel, is still a presence in Cuban life and a bigger than ever figure internationally. Obama took the logical step that almost certainly would have been taken years ago, except for a politically retrograde GOP and older, politically connected Cuban


Americans, and and that is to normalize relations with the island.


Obama pointed to the obvious when he said the old policies, meaning containment “make


sense.”


subversion, didn’t More Cubans are


travelling to wherever they can get a visa, political dissent and expression is more open than ever, and there are more private owned businesses and farms in Cuba. While Cuba is still officially a one party-state, Cuban leaders have repeatedly made clear they are committed to real reforms. In an extended visit to Cuba a decade ago, I saw firsthand the changes in tourism, trade, and people-friendly relations in Havana and other cities that I visited.


Given that, and the polls that show that a majority of Americans want an end to the embargo, Obama’s move was more a pragmatic than a bold step. Still, the devil is in the details about how quickly there will be full official diplomatic relations, free trade and free exchange of goods, services and technology, a formal lifting of the embargo, foreign investment, travel, and family relations restored between Cubans in the island and those living here.


normalize relations is


But the commonsense move to less important


than the timing of the move and the domestic political consequences of it.


The prolonged and outdated


Established 2006 Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Rae Willis, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer


PO Box 10414 ● Norfolk, VA 23513


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battering of Cuba was never because it posed any real military or economic threat to the U.S. It was about U.S. domestic


politics. Ten presidents


before Obama were held hostage to the GOP-Cuban lobby and the fear of being branded soft on Cuba. This was tossed at any president and seen as the political death knell for Democratic presidential contenders. This unremitting hostility has not abated. Florida Senator Marco


Rubio, former


Arkansas Governor


Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have repeatedly spoken out against any normalization of relations. Rubio was even more strident on the pending thaw, calling it “disgraceful.” All have their eye on a 2016 White House bid. All, as in the past, were playing the anti-Castro card, to the conservative GOP base.


Obama’s Cuba initiative can’t


be separated from his escalating defiance of the GOP. In the aftermath of its November mid-term election shellacking, the Democratic Party has been in a desperate search to find its legs. It has been denounced for not fighting back harder on issues from opposition to the Keystone pipeline, the relentless GOP assaults on the Affordable Care Act and the recent budget deal that was stuffed with financial giveaway goodies to Wall Street.


With the White House and even more Senate and Congressional seats on the line in 2016, Obama is still the key to Democratic hopes for a strong comeback. Obama’s willingness to weld the executive pen on immigration reform and a defiant promise to use it whenever and wherever he can to push initiatives that a GOP -controlled House has stymied at every turn is crucial to the party.


presidential


Possible 2016 Democratic contenders Hillary


Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders were quick to pick up on the significance of Obama’s Cuba normalization


proposals and


applaud them. It puts the Democratic Party firmly on record as reversing a failed, flawed policy that’s been an albatross around its neck for decades. Clinton, the presumptive favorite for the Democratic nomination, would be the first official presidential candidate to call for full normalization.


Obama’s Cuba move can’t be


considered on the groundbreaking magnitude of Nixon’s China opening or Reagan’s working both sides of the


street with the Soviet Union,


promoting exchanges between students, scientists, artists, and local officials while proclaiming the avowed intent to bring down the “evil empire.” But it sent a welcome signal that on a thorny foreign policy issue such as Cuba, Obama will not succumb to GOP mania and intimidation. This makes his Cuba opening more than just about Cuba.


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