The Delightfully Healthy Blog

Pause

I've discovered something.

You know how we're being told, and admonished, and screamed at hysterically to wash our hands as often as possible?  For at least twenty seconds?  Like every time we touch anything at all?  Which, along with not touching anything at all, least of all our eyes, nose or any other part of our faces, is supposed to help keep us safe from the dreaded Swine Flu?  It is even suggested that we sing the Happy Birthday Song, or the ABC Song, so that we'll lather for a sufficient amount of time to kill all of the nasty germs we've inadvertently acquired in the thirty minutes or so since we last washed our hands.  Well, while Swine Flu Mania is turing us all into Howard Hughes (yes, I do have face masks and rubber gloves on hand), there is an up side.

Washing your hands while singing Happy Birthday or the ABC Song, or even while slowly counting to 20, gives you a 20 second break every time you do it.  A pause for your paws, if you will.  Plus, who can think about anything stressful while singing the ABC Song?  Call it your Inner Child Meditation.

Now, as we all know, meditation can ease stress.  And easing stress can help boost your immune system.  It's a win-win situation. 

So skip the hand sanitizer when you can.  (It only works so many times in a row, anyway, before it becomes useless for a period of time.)  Use good old soap and water and sing a nursery song.  Bet you'll smile!

Smooth

I mentioned in a previous post that I would share my morning smoothie experience.  Today is your lucky day!

As the weather grows colder, fresh, local greens (the Dark Leafies, I mean) become harder to get here in the Northeast.  And, okay, sometimes I feel too busy to shop and wash and chop and sautee.  But greens make me feel good, so I don't like losing them.  I was planning to do a Fall planting of arugula and kale on the terrace, but my building had other ideas.  They thought a terrace renovation might be nice.  So I packed up my garden on Labor Day.  Sigh.  On a positive note, the terrace is much less leaky now, so it was all for the best.

But that lack of greens got me thinking about a greens powder I used to use, called Green Utopia.  I went out and bought some, and re-started my smoothie habit.  I was really only thinking about it from a nutritional perspective, but what I found was that the benefits were larger than I expected.  Not only do I feel more balanced and energetic, but things are - erm - flowing better, too.  Digestively speaking.  So, in a sense, I'm doing a mini cleanse.  With very little effort at all, I might add.  Cool.

Anyway, here's what I typically put in my morning smoothie:

Morning Greens

Ingredients

6 ounces juice of your choice
1 scoop Green Utopia powder
1 ounce aloe vera juice (very healing for the digestive tract)
1 serving liquid multi-vitamin (might as well get it all done in one shot)
1-2 tablespoons plain yogurt (not Greek yogurt, though.  It's too thick)
1 teaspoon flax seeds (if I'm using a blender and not just my shaker)
Frozen blueberries and/or raspberries (again only if I'm using a blender)

Directions (like you need 'em)

If I'm using my shaker bottle, I'll stop at the first four, or sometimes five ingredients.  Add them all together and shake-shake-shake.  (Sometimes I dance while I'm shaking.  It helps wake me up.  Plus, it's fun.)  If I'm using a blender or immersion blender, I add everything and hit the button.

Other options, of course, are many.  When I can get my hands on some, I'll start adding maca powder, for instance.  (Maca is a Peruvian root, which is dried and ground to a powder.  I have found it to be a great hormone balancer.)  Cacao powder is another good option (any excuse to add chocolate).

What do you put in your smoothie?

Disclaimer:  I do not work for, or have any connection with Bluebonnet (maker of Green Utopia).  I just like their product.

Hot Tat Soi

My wonderful friend Claudia invited ChuckieT and me to lunch to meet her parents on Saturday.   She had the brilliant idea of making the event a snack-fest.  Salsa, gaucamole, carrots, celery, cheese, peaches.  It turned out to be quite a spread, and the company was even better.  There was lots of laughter, lively conversation and dogs and cats running around endearing themselves and having a great time.  (Well, the dogs were running around.  The cats were mostly napping and/or hiding.  They think my dogs are weird.)  Sometimes, when I'm trying to explain how things other than food can nourish us, I'll ask the person I'm speaking with to think about the last time they had a really memorable meal.  What was it about the meal that made it so great?  (Usually, we're talking memorable in a good way, although it could work the other way, too.  But I like to keep things positive whenever possible.)  The food itself is often pretty far down the list.  The company comes first a lot.  The atmosphere.  The reason for the meal - a celebration, a commemoration of something, a reunion, perhaps.  When we feel relaxed and happy.  When we like who we're with and where we are.  When no one is checking their watch so they can rush off to the next thing.  That's when food can taste the best, and our bodies can digest it well.  It's those things surrounding the meal, that are also feeding us, that make it all work so well.  Of course, really good food doesn't hurt, either.

This was one of those memorable meals.

As it happened, so far were we from rushing off that we didn't finish lunch until nearly dinner time.  Which meant that I didn't need much for dinner.  Since ChuckieT and I had decided to rent a movie (Away We Go - I HIGHLY recommend it!), and I felt the need to eat something green, I fired up the oven to make one of my favorite things:  roasted greens.  I look forward to roasting season all year.  Usually I use kale, which is hardy and strong and comes out nicely crisp.  But what I had on hand this time was tat soi -  a lovely, spicy little green that I hadn't heard of until a few years ago.  What the heck, I thought.  What's the worst that could happen?  As it turned out, the worst thing was that I thought for a minute or two that I had simply sauteed some greens in the oven.  A little on the overkill side, but not bad.  Then, at ChuckieT's suggestion, I waited a little longer.  Bingo!  Nice half-crispy, half-chewy little clumps of deliciousness.  Ahhhhhhh.  The only downside was that there wasn't more.  Greens shrink A LOT.

Roasted Tat Soi (or Kale, or Collard Greens or Bok Choy or...)

Ingredients

1 container/bunch/head  fresh tat soi or green of your choice
Olive oil to coat
Sea salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Wash greens and dry them thoroughly.  Tear into bite-sized pieces (if necessary) and place on a cookie sheet or roasting pan.  Drizzle with olive oil - not too much, or the green won't crisp - and toss to coat.  (This is where I use my hands and get in some gratuitous skin softening.  Great for the cuticles!)  Sprinkle with sea salt and place in oven.  Roast for 5-6 minutes, toss, then continue roasting until most leaves are crispy - at least at the edges - but not burnt.

Eat with fingers, fresh out of the oven, while enjoying a movie of your choice.  Feel virtuous that you're not eating popcorn or milk duds.  Then forget to feel virtuous as the salty, roasty flavor makes your mouth all happy.

Yoga Yay

I've been feeling pretty good on the reflux front.  My recent flare-up seems to have been tamed by natural means and I've been pretty pleased with myself.  Then last night I felt the familiar grumbles of IBS.  Sigh.  It wasn't only my bowels that were threatening to become irritable.

My plan had been to go to the gym when I got home.  But plans change.  I ended up needing to walk the dogs, since ChuckieT was detained at work, so I decided to take them on a nice, long walk, hoping that would help ease the stress going on in my intestines.  (There was bloating involved.  Need I say more?  Well, I don't need to, but...okay, okay, I won't.  Just picture sausages and...okay.  'Nuff said.  I promise.  Really.  Anyway...)  The problem with that plan is that my Pug likes, no NEEDS, to stop at every tree, every bush, every sign post, every fire hydrant...there's really not a lot of forward momentum involved.  So, while the walk helped a little, it wasn't nearly enough.  But now it was too late to go to the gym. 

That's when I spied my yoga mat standing forlornly in the corner. 

My poor little mat.  I have been neglecting it lately in favor of the fancy treadmill, elliptical trainer and weight machines at the gym.  But it doesn't judge.  It is patience itself.  Though I thought I might have heard a sigh of relief as I spread it out on the living room floor.  Or maybe that was me.  Because after a few sun salutations I was already feeling better.  I was disappearing into breath and movement, feeling my muscles stretch and contract, my whole body elongate and begin to let go.  Then I turned to kundalini and did some simple head and body rolls - moving twists, essentially.  And something inside me shivered all over with happiness, like my Lhasa Apso does when she knows she's about to be fed.*  Why do I keep forgetting how good yoga makes me feel?

Baby step of the week:  Add in at least one sun salutation per day.  (Yeah, I know, who can stop at just one?  But baby steps, remember?)

What would you like to add in this week?

*Speaking of my Lhasa Apso, she is my official Yoga Dog.  She comes right to the edge of the mat, lies down, and stays with me for the whole session.  Then, while I'm relaxing in Corpse Pose, she lays her little chin on my thigh, reminding me to let go.  I'm relaxing and grinning just thinking about her.  Although, to give my Pug his due, he's really good at Down Dog.

Milk: Why Whole is Better

There is a very interesting argument for drinking and eating whole, unprocessed milk products on Care2's site.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

Green and Gold

Yesterday was my first completely heartburn-free day since my reflux resurfaced.  Phew!  Thank you aloe vera, kombucha and eating lots of greens!  Today has also started out well.

I'm still working on the emotional/life part of the imbalance that caused the reflux, though.  I found a website today that I found pretty interesting:  torihartman.com.  Tori Hartman is a psychic and spiritual advisor, and she has created a deck of  cards to help people manifest the things they want in their lives.  Yes, yes, you say, you've heard it all before.  Next I'll be touting The Secret (which I have seen, by the way, and from which I did take away some valuable lessons, in amongst what looked to me like an awful lot of desire for Stuff.  Not least of which is the idea of focusing on what you want, rather than what is wrong, since the nature of energy is to follow whatever you pay attention to). 

Keep an open mind for a moment.

I clicked on an ad for Tori's site that offered a free reading.  I think things like that can be fun.  I've been known to read my horoscope for fun, too, although since I was born on a cusp I have two to choose from, so it can get a little confusing.  Anyway, so I clicked.  I was instructed to think of a question, and the question I thought of was "What is the next step I can take that will lead me to my true path?"  That is the question I've been struggling with lately, as I sit at a desk day after day to which I feel shackled by the Almighty Dollar.  You know the desk I'm talking about.  It's called The Desk of Security.  Also known as The Desk of the Steady Paycheck.  It's a desk that can look all innocent and even, sometimes, exciting.  Enticing.  Look at the shiny nameplate!  Ooh, free pens!  Then you sit down, and the clamps come out and you start thinking that you will never be able to leave now, because nowhere else will you be compensated in so abundant a manner.  If you leave, you will surely perish!  There is absolutely No Way you can make this kind of money doing anything remotely soul-satisfying, especially in This Economy, so just buy some drab-but-office-appropriate clothing and sit yourself down.  Would you like a cup of coffee?

Okay, rant  digression over. 

So I closed my eyes and mentally repeated my question, and then I clicked.  When I opened my eyes, the screen was green and showed pictures of plants with roots, and lots of grass.  I got a little shiver.  I like grass.  I like plants.  I like to fantasize about moving to the country.  Eating greens makes me feel good.  I was thinking about adding more wheatgrass to my diet just yesterday.  My hand may have trembled a little as I clicked on the box that would tell me what green meant in this context.  Here's what it said:  "Green is unconditional love.  The softness of grass is about personal commitment to what one's heart tells them.  It is about honoring your growth, and the growth of others."  Um, okay.  Yeah.  That fits.

Then I clicked on the Inspiration box:  "Grass says that the time is right for you to move on from anything holding you back from full self-expression... Be different.  Be unique...  [I]t is time to grow!"

So, all signs point to getting off my ass and getting on with doing the things that fulfill me and help me to grow.  Great!  Now I just have to figure out which of those things will support me in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed, so I can kick off those aforementioned shackles and leave The Desk behind.  But wait!  I'm a cautious type.  I am not about to go running off willy-nilly on Green's sayso.   I clicked on the 'free reading' button one more time, with the same question.  (Tori's instructions say that that's okay, although I will admit that I was being a mite skeptical.)  This time I came up with Gold.  Like, you know, money.  As in, fix your relationship to money and the rest will follow.  Oy.

Go ahead and try it yourself.  Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer:  No, I do not know Tori Hartman, nor am I any kind of spokesperson for her.  Today was the first time I'd heard of her. 

Language and Power

I write periodically about language and it's power, and as a writer I'm hyper-aware of word choice and what it can do to make meaning clear.  As I embark on my journaling adventure to help heal my acid reflux, I'm beginning to notice what the words I use say about how I'm feeling about where I am.  How powerful (or not) I feel.  How clear (or not) I am about what I want and where I want to go.  I'm listening more closely to my inner voice.  But what about the words I use in my daily life?  How am I expressing myself to others?

This article on Care2's site has given me a lot to think about.  It's about the difference between 'I'll try' and 'I will,' 'I want' and 'I have.'  It's about listening to myself, as well as listening to those around me.  I encourage you to read it.  It's not that long, and it's truly packed with food for thought.

This week I'm going to practice making stronger language choices.  I'll start with a baby step, of course.  I know me well enough by now not to bite off a whole mouthful before I've learned to chew properly.  I'll start by noticing what words I'm using now.

Here goes.  I can do this.  I will do this.  I have a clear path.

Hello Reflux, My Old Friend

It's ba-aaaaaaack!

My acid reflux has decided to make a return visit, with phantom pains in my chest, floating around and down to my belly.  If I didn't know better, I might have rushed to a cardiologist.  This has happened before, though, so I grabbed for an acid reducer instead.  In fact, it was so bad earlier this week that what I reached for was an over-the-counter acid blocker, because that was the easiest thing to get.  (Remind me to rant about that some other day.)  And it worked against the acute attack.  But now I'm ready to approach this situation in a more natural way.  I've learned in the past few years that my body is pretty darn smart.  And sometimes I even listen to it.  But I guess I've been a little out of touch with everything lately, including me.  So my belly resorted to shouting.

Well, I'm listening now!

The first thing I did to quiet things was buy a bottle of kombucha and sip it down.  In fact, I bought enough for a few days.  It seems to be the new designer drink amongst hip young urbanites at the moment, at least in Manhattan, which, fortunately, makes it easy to find.  But kombucha (pronounced comb-BOO-cha), has been around for a very long time.  There are conflicting reports about whether it came from Russia or Japan, although most sources say Russia.  But everyone seems to agree that it's good stuff.  Kombucha is a fermented drink made with tea, sugar, and a "mother" (much like sour dough starter).  The fermentation process, in which the starter eats the sugar, turns ordinary black tea into a powerhouse of a healthy drink.  People claim to have cured cancer with it.  It's packed with B vitamins, probiotics and digestive enzymes (the enzymes, by the way, occur naturally in all raw, fermented products, including sauerkraut, miso and tempeh - one reason they're so healthy.  Sorry, the health counselor in me just couldn't resist...).  For me, a few sips can stop my discomfort almost immediately by bringing ph balance back to my stomach.  It's definitely an acquired taste (think pickle juice), but boy does it do the job!  But beware - it's EXTREMELY fizzy.  My husband calls it violent juice...

The next thing I did was replenish my stock of aloe vera juice.  If I had had some with me to begin with, I probably would have skipped the OTC stuff altogether.  Aloe vera is a natural antibiotic, as well as highly alkaline (the opposite of acid), and is extremely soothing to the whole digestive tract.   Actually, I really can't say enough about the whole aloe plant.  My mother keeps one in her kitchen for first aid purposes.  If anyone gets a cut or a burn, she snips off a leaf and slathers on the fresh gel and poof!  The pain stops and the healing begins.  It's magical.

So that's the first part of the physical plan of attack.  But when my body is out of balance, so are other things in my life (and vice versa).  So I'm going to be journaling, too, to see if I can figure out what needs to be adjusted in other areas.  I have a few guesses, of course, but it always amazes me how much comes up when I put pen to paper and just write for a while. 

It all feels like a big job right now, but I'm a big girl.  I can do this.  It's time to wake up and take a few (baby) steps.  Wish me luck!

Train Diaries, Part 1

I've decided to try posting from my commute.  They'll be short posts, mostly, because I only have a 22 minute train ride.  Still, might as well use it, right?  I'll be writing them on my Blackberry.  I apologize for typos and wonky formatting up front.  But, hey, it's all an experiment, anyway.  I'll deal.   [ETA: Unfortunately, the mobile posting didn't work.  So until I get it figured out, it'll be a cut and paste job, I guess.  Sigh.]

So I've been going through some hormonal, um, shall we say imbalances?  As in, the drug that was supposed to keep me from being hypothyroid did its job too well, and I became hyperthyroid.  If I have to choose, I pick hypo.  During the hyper phase, I was exactly that.  I stopped being interested in food, I was exhausted - like not just really tired, but bone-weary - and I didn't sleep for what seemed like about a month.  Then other, slightly more disturbing things started to happen, which sent me to the doctor.  I stopped taking the medication when I got the test results.  Like magic, the symptoms began to fade.  I felt pretty good for a time, and now I seem to be swinging back to hypo.  Which means I'm tired all the time, and I've put back any weight I lost.  Crap. 

Lessons?  Balance is good.  Bodies change.  Pay attention. 

I knew something was wrong long before I did anything about it.  Next time...next time I'll probably do the same thing, life being hectic and all.  But maybe not.  Maybe I've learned. Maybe I'll stop and listen much sooner when I don't feel "right."  Either way, I've been reminded once again what balance feels like.  And I like it.  I want to stay there.

Now That's Something To Celebrate!

I decided to take the RealAge Test yesterday.  It includes questions about diet, lifestyle, relationships, habits - it's pretty comprehensive.  The medical experts involved in the test are Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, authors of the You books (You on a Diet, You the Owner's Manual, etc.), so I was intrigued.  Also apprehensive.  I mean, I think of myself as healthy.  People tell my I look younger than I am (chronologically, I will be 45 in a little over a month).  But what if this test tells me I'm actually OLDER (i.e., sicker)?! 

Okay, okay.  I say it all the time about weight and scales and even age.  They're all just numbers.  They don't mean as much as we like to make them mean.  What's most important is how we feel.  And here I was freaking out about a number.  Oops.  I guess I'm human after all...(thank goodness).

So, back to the test.  It landed in my spam folder, so it wasn't until this morning that I found the email with the results.  I clicked the link and held my breath.  My heart pounded like I was waiting to be picked at the junior high dance.  And then it came.  The most beautiful result:  my RealAge is 36.3!  Woohoo!

Of course, they still included things I can work on in my results.  I will always have things to work on - as will we all.  But there's an extra pep in my 36-year-old step today!  So, um, maybe paying attention to numbers can sometimes have a beneficial effect after all...  I will, however, try to refrain from taking the test every week in an effort to become even younger.

Healthy Snacks To Go

I don't usually toot my own horn.  I'm a shy person, and it makes me uncomfortable.  But I figure a little shameless self-promotion is good for me, so here goes...

I'm getting ready to send out my latest edition of Delightfully Healthy News (my email newsletter), and I'm pretty proud of it.  In it I talk about healthy, portable snacks, including a recipe for some delectable muffins, and even include some inspiration.  I'd love to share it with you.  You can subscribe in the box on the left or

click here to sign up

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

A Revelation and a Recipe

Yoga class was not as fun as usual this morning.  I was achy, I was tired, my body didn't want to do what I was asking it to do.  New pains cropped up in poses that usually feel great.  My mind didn't want to stay in class and went skittering off in ten directions.  Harumph, I thought.  

Then I began to wonder; why was my body so stiff?  Well, I'd been sewing seams on a knitted tank top I'm making, and perhaps I didn't stretch enough afterwards.  But that wouldn't make my foot hurt.  Or keep my brain from settling down.  I couldn't think of anything else that was out of the ordinary.

As I was lying in Corpse Pose at the end of class, trying one last time to empty my mind and concentrate on my breath, it came to me.  I've been eating all kinds of things this week that I don't usually have.  White floury things.  Sugary things.  My body was reacting to the chemicals I'd put in it.  Well, duh!  What have I been studying and helping other people with for three years now?  Apparently, I needed to perform one more experiment on myself, just to be absolutely sure that those foods aren't helpful for me.  Boy was that a successful experiment!  So now it's back to greens, whole grains and mostly vegetable proteins for me.  Let's hope this is a lesson I don't have to keep re-learning...

When I got home from class I decided to make some hummus.  We were out of tahini, so I had to improvise.  It came out great!  Here's what I did:

Chickpea Improv

Ingredients:
1 can organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 heaping tablespoon almond butter
1 teaspoon flax seeds
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
8 or so leaves of fresh lemon basil (it's what I grew this year)
2 fresh peppermint leaves (also from the garden)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
The juice of 1 lemon (I would have put in some zest, too, if I could have found the zester)
1 teaspoon gomasio (ground sesame seeds and sea salt)
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Water

Directions:
Place all ingredients except water in a food processor and pulse until mixed.  Add water slowly until smooth consistency is reached.  Process for several more seconds.

That's it!  Yummy!  Now I'm off in search of some dark, leafy green things...

To Sleep, Perchance to Enhance my Intelligence...

When I don't get enough sleep, I'm cranky, I'm tired (obviously), and my reactions and general brain function are sluggish.  If it goes on for a while, my immune system becomes compromised, and I'll probably get sick.  That much I knew.  But here's something I didn't know.  According to Robert Stickgold and Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen, writing in Scientific American Mind, not getting enough sleep can make me less smart.  (If I were a dog, I would have just raised my ears and cocked my head.  What?!)

Some quotes: 

"[S]leep—in all its phases—does something to improve memory that being awake does not do."

 "[S]ome aspects of memory consolidation only happen with more than six hours of sleep. Miss a night, and the day’s memories might be compromised—an unsettling thought in our fast-paced, sleep-deprived society."  (emphasis added)

So go, read.  And then sleep on it!

Food Is My Friend

"That cake is evil!"

I found myself saying that recently.  And then I came to and realized that I had allowed myself to be hypnotized by my old beliefs.  I grew up with slogans like "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips," and "You can never be too rich or too thin."  My mother was perpetually on a diet, and, meaning to show her love, persuaded me  that parts of my body were less than perfect, too.  (And mainstream culture - I just accidently typed "meanstream."  Hmmm - only reinforced what she said.)  And so the soundtrack playing in my head became full of things like "hips too wide," "butt too big," "arms too flabby," and, the piece de resistance, "too fat to be loved." 

I believe that what we tell ourselves on a daily basis becomes our reality.  The truth of the comments is irrelevant. 

I was 5'4", approximately 123 lbs. and a size 4-6 when I was saying those things to myself.  I wore girdles so my enormous (to me) butt wouldn't jiggle and my "thunder thighs" wouldn't rub together.  And I believed that cake was evil.  So were cookies, chips, potatoes, bread, chocolate, ice cream...you get the picture.  Those foods made me fat.  Those foods were B.A.D.   They were out to get me.  They seduced me and lulled me and took the place of any love that might have come my way were I able to put my attention somewhere else.

Here's what I believe now.  Food is food.  It's neither good nor bad.  It's not a collection of attributes (protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, minerals...).  It's what keeps me alive and keeps me healthy and gives me joy, if I let it.  Cake can be a celebration.  So can a salad fresh from the farmers market, or a tomato I grew myself.  It's what I bring to the food that matters.  If I'm stressed out about how it's going to hurt me, then guess what?  It will make me feel bad - physically and emotionally.  If I savour it, I feel good.  No matter what I'm eating.  And here's another interesting phenomenon.  If I savour my food, I tend to need less of it.  Because my body is sure it's been nourished.  And it's able to do it's job efficiently. 

Nourishment is what food is for.   How will you nourish yourself today?

Knitting as Nourishment

I got some bad news yesterday. 

What used to happen when I got upset, was that I would sit down with my good friends Ben & Jerry, or perhaps my foreign (sounding) buddy Haagen Daz, and freeze the feelings out. 

Then I went to therapy and learned that I was supposed to feel those feelings in order to allow them to go away.  Ben, Jerry and Haagen were just enablers in my grand scheme of avoidance.  So, in between spoonfuls, I wrote about what was wrong. 

Then I went to school and learned how to figure out when I was hungry and when I was looking to food to satisfy something else.  In fact, I learned a whole lot about food, and nourishment, and which was what at any given moment.  I learned to stop and ask myself a few questions before reaching for the bowl and the spoon, or anything else.

Yesterday I decided that that was all very well, but I was too upset to care.  I had all kinds of fantasies during the day about what I was going to indulge in when I got home.  And then I got home.  I poured myself a glass of wine, and then proceeded to break the glass and spill the wine.  I took it as a sign.

I had knit on the train home, and I was soothed by the repetition and the click-click of the needles.  I took it out again, sat on the couch, and spent the next couple of hours click-clicking to my heart's, well, to my heart's ease.  I wasn't putting chemicals in my body (sugar and alcohol are, after all, highly addictive chemicals), I was creating something.  I watched it get longer and more beautiful.  I was captivated by the slowly revealed pattern.  I felt the soft, supple yarn slip through my fingers, and I started to feel better.  And I finally felt, and knew, what I had intellectually understood since graduating. Sometimes nourishment isn't about food.

Here's what I'm making:

I Have a Confession to Make

I used to be what you might call a coffee achiever.  When I was in my twenties, I could drink upwards of a pot of coffee a day.  In my thirties, I started to notice that I didn't sleep as well if I had coffee in the afternoon, so I started to cut down.  I even quit a few times.  But I kept drinking decaf (I know, eek!) and guarana tea (yerba mate), which I mistakenly thought was herbal.  Well, it is an herb, but it contains a WHOLE LOT of caffeine...  Then, when work got stressful, or I found myself doing too much to sleep enough, I started in with the coffee again.

Well, my coffee drinking days are behind me now.  I finally quit successfully when I realized that I needed to ADD IN more herbal teas and other things I enjoy drinking (not decaf!), in order CROWD OUT the coffee, rather than focusing on giving it up.  But I still have occasional nights when I can't sleep.  Like the other night, when I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and just couldn't get back to sleep.  By 5 I figured I might as well stay up for the day.  But boy was I wishing I still drank coffee when I got to work!  I even almost made myself a cup.  But then I thought about it and stepped away from the coffee pot.  I imagined how the coffee might make me feel (jittery), and also how it might keep me up the next night, too, and decided to make myself some twig tea instead.  (Nice smoky flavor, very eentsy bit of caffeine.)  But by mid-morning, I was really having trouble staying awake.  I thought about getting a chocolate bar, or breaking down and having that coffee, but I knew that neither of those things would do the trick, and would probably make matters worse.  Greens work wonders, but didn't seem like enough.  Then it hit me.  Protein!

I ate two hard-boiled eggs, and I was awake and alive for the rest of the day.

Now, this was an extreme situation.  And everybody needs differing amounts of protein, so I'm not suggesting that everyone run out and eat large quantities of it for extra energy.  But it was a revelation for me, and another breakthrough in my ongoing experiment with what works for me.  Woohoo!

What have you experimented with lately?  I'd love to hear about it!

Looking for the Latest Old Thing

I read this article in the New York Times today, and it got me thinking.  I was thinking about how Western Science keeps "discovering" Eastern Science and trying to make it fit a Western model.  It seems that any "new" thing (read ancient practice) gets glommed onto, picked apart, dissected, and applied in bits to heal whatever might ail. 

Meditation, tai chi, yoga - these are all healing things.  But the Western mind seems to want to take bits and pieces and slap them onto a Method or Model.  And then hand them out like prescriptions.  Take them out of context, in other words.  Just like we do with many other things:  French people have lower rates of heart disease on that fatty diet?  Must be something in the wine - let's make a pill.  Antioxidants prevent cancer?  Make a pill!  The germ of the wheat berry has healthy stuff in it?  Great!  Extract it and throw away the rest!  Better yet, make a pill!

The lesson here, I think, is to stop looking through the microscope and start using a macroscope.  Instead of rushing to pop a pill, grab a mat, or focus on our navels, let's take a look at the big picture.  What is it about the whole thing that allows people to thrive?  Just like whole vs. processed foods, whole Buddhism vs. processed meditation needs to be taken into account.

Just my humble opinion.

Some Things I Believe

Diets don't work in the long term.

Everybody's different.

Whole, organic food tastes better.

It's not only what you eat, but how you eat that matters.

Baby steps climb mountains - they're the only way I've found to create lasting change.

Everything we take in can be nourishing - food, relationships, careers, exercise routines, everything.

Everything we take in can be depleting - food, relationships, careers, exercise routines, everything.

It's all connected - imbalance in one area can create imbalance everywhere else.

Balance is key.

Everybody is different (it bears repeating).

A Healthy Dose of Ha Ha's

I was feeling down yesterday.  Tired and irritated.  Dragging a heavy cast around all day for weeks can have that affect.  Then I found the LOLcats. (I know, I know, they've been around for a while, but as usual, I'm a little slow on the uptake.  And I'm no fool.  I'm putting the link at the bottom of the post - otherwise you'll never come back.)  I then proceeded to sit on the couch and laugh for about an hour and a half.  Now I'm a complete believer in laughter as the best medicine.

Detoxing with Oil

Detoxing with Oil: an Oil Pulling Diary

Oil pulling. It sounds like an environmentally friendly activity, doesn’t it? And it is. For your internal environment, that is. It’s an Ayurvedic detoxifying/purifying technique involving swishing sesame or sunflower oil (ideally cold-pressed, although refined works, too) in your mouth for 15 to 20 minutes, first thing in the morning, until it turns white and foamy and, essentially, toxic. Then you spit it out. It’s purpose is to pull out toxins before they can cause problems, as well as getting rid of the ones of which we’re already aware. One nice outcome is the balancing effect this has on the endocrine system. According to EarthClinic.com, it has also been used to heal “mouth & gum disease; stiff joints; allergies; asthma; high blood sugar; constipation; migraines; bronchitis; eczema; heart, kidney, lung diseases; leukemia; arthritis; meningitis; insomnia; menopause (hormonal issues); cancer; AIDS; chronic infections; varicose veins; high blood pressure; diabetes; polio; cracked heels.” A client told me about it. I thought it seemed like a fairly easy way to detox, with the possibility of some very favorable results, and I’m always interested in finding simple ways to feel better, for me and for my clients, so I decided to try it out.

12/17/08
Day One. Swishing oil around my mouth for 15 minutes wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I think I even managed to avoid swallowing any. My teeth feel amazingly clean, like I just came from the dentist. I’m reluctant to eat, lest I get them dirty, but somehow I manage. An interesting side effect: my mouth has been shooting out saliva all day. I’ve clearly started something happening. All I want to do is spit. Why are there so many people around all the time? Why didn’t I pay attention when my older brother was learning to hock a lugie with flair? Maybe I could carry a little cup with me, be discreet about it…oh the images that just popped into my head. Scratch that. I think I must be a little giddy. With any luck, this will be a temporary thing.

Okay. I accept and honor my saliva. Let the detoxifying begin!