Category: health

The best yoga class ever!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, fitness, friends, quest for the best, yoga
Kathy, Alexis, Kristen (our teacher!), Janna, Me, Jeannie
Last night was a special yoga class at Windsong Yoga Studio in South Berwick. My friend Kristen (right in the center) is the instructor, and she teaches nice blend of many different styles of yoga. She has studied with some of the top teachers in the United States,  including Doug Keller, Desiree Rumbaugh, Sianna Sherman, and Judith Lasater, to name just a few. A bonus: she teaches women (no men allowed!). 🙂
She planned a special class to celebrate the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year).
After this excellent class, we were treated to an excellent meal, prepared for us by Kristen. A Tempeh Wreath was the main course, accompanied by a side salad of mixed greens, lightly dressed. Dessert was partially by way of Whole Foods  (and may I just say, OMG! Especially the chocolate covered figs? Unbelievable!). There were also some delicious Christmas cookies made for us by Janna, because, after all, what is Christmas without the cut outs? I ask  you.
Now, if you are someone who practices yoga, and midway through most classes you start thinking about pizza and/or assorted baked goods, this was like a class made in heaven. Thank you, Kristen! Put that Tempeh Wreath recipe in your cookbook!
What holiday celebrations are you participating in this year?

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Slowing down, turning inward

by Karen, posted in fitness, health

I am finding that as it gets colder and darker outside, I also am getting colder and darker (of mood). I am going at a much slower pace than I have been used to, and the less I do, the less I want to do.
For example, take exercise–please. I mean, I’ve never liked it, but I would still go and do it. Now, I must have long battles with my inner couch potato to get myself to go to the gym even once a week.

  • ME: Got to the gym!
  • INNER COUCH POTATO: No! I don’t wanna go!
  • ME: You have to go! You haven’t been in a whole week!
  • INNER C.P.: No! I don’t wanna go! You can’t make me! It’s only 24 degrees out there! It’s too cold! It’s still dark out! I don’t have enough time! I’m too tired! What I really need is another hour of sleep!

(See what I’m up against?)

Then I have to wonder: is once a week doing even one bit of good? It’s a short walk (hey! would that count as exercise?) from one to none, which is what is keeping me going at all at this point, I think.

Well, that, and Bagel Tuesday*.

I think of all of the things that I’d rather be doing than going to the gym.

  1. Sleeping for an extra hour
  2. Cooking and eating breakfast in my kitchen with my family
  3. Getting started writing my 2000 words
  4. Sleeping for an extra hour (See how tired I am! I’m repeating myself!)

All right, so the bottom line is… guess! Did I go to the gym or not?

*Planet Fitness puts out free bagels, cream cheese, and coffee from Dunkin Donuts on the second Tuesday of every month. Can you guess what my one day a week at the gym is? Heh, heh, heh.

Garden update: November

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, gardening, raising chickens, tweens
Pumpkins gone wild!

Remember the (multiple) posts I’ve written about how much chickens love pumpkins? Well my husband did a wild and crazy thing: he bartered with the local Walmart and struck a world-class deal to help rid them of all of their end of season pumpkins. (After all, as soon as Halloween is over they have to make room for those Christmas decorations! 🙂 )

He came home with is 4-Runner stuffed to the gills with pumpkins of every size, shape, color, and some even with painted features (one had a frog!). The chickens are now in pumpkin heaven, and as a side benefit, our yard is very extravagantly decorated for fall. 🙂

Since we were having a warm day in November, I decided that would be relatively painless to check out what was left of the garden. I was thinking I’d harvest the dregs of the carrots and beets and check on the lettuce.

Well, the lettuce is not growing very much yet; maybe we got it into the ground a couple of weeks later than we should have (totally my fault). Hopefully there will be some that is harvestable and edible before the snow comes. The carrots were a big surprise though. Since I wasn’t having much luck pulling them up by the green above-ground fronds, I gave up and started to harvest them like potatoes: I dug into the ground under them and pushed them up through the soil. I couldn’t believe how many of them were lurking under there, just minding their own business. Had I not gone in after them, regardless of the presence of waving fronds, I would have missed at least half of them.

Up for next weekend: carrot soup.

P.S. Chickens also love carrot tops and beet greens.

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Conscious eating, Part 3

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, fitness, restaurants

So, now that more weeks have passed and I have totally not given the Women, Food, and God  (by Geneen Roth) approach a passing thought until today, I decided to recommit to some of the strategies I have learned along the weight loss way.

  1. Drink 16 oz of water before every meal. This can be excessive, and at times make you feel like tossing your cookies before you even get to eat them, so modify accordingly. If you can only choke down a half a cup, go for it! It’s better than nothing. The theory is that it will make you feel fuller sooner, thereby displacing some of the food that you presumably would have consumed if not for the presence of the water in your gut. Seems like it’s worth a shot.
  2. Green tea. I am down to only a cup per day, two at most. Green tea is tricky because it has caffeine, and blood thinning properties (just to mention, there are other side effects as well)… it may interact with aspirin, the NSAIDs, coumadin, and so forth. . . but just in case it does contribute to weight loss, a little may be better than none.
  3. Throw out the first bite of your cookie/cupcake/whoopie pie/muffin/miscellaneous baked good of your choice. This is from One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer. I’m definitely still trying to work up the courage to try this one.
  4. Check online before you go out to eat to scope out the menu; get tips from WebMD or Weight Watchers on healthy (or at least less bad) choices.
  5. Oh, yeah: that smaller plate thing. Ever hear the saying that “work expands to fill the allotted time”? Well, I think that this rule applies to food too: the amount of food you (think it’s reasonable to) consume will expand to fill the allotted plate/bowl size.

Question to ponder: Does doing the Happy Dance (a la Snoopy) burn off the equivalent of whoopie pie that I just ate?

Ocean: the cure for what ails you

by Karen, posted in health
  1. Respiratory complaints. Got a cold? Sinus infection? Get thee to the beach. Breathe in that salt air! In my
    The ocean at Two Lights

    opinion, breathing in ocean air is the one true “pulmonary toilet“.

  2. Acne. When I was growing up, I had an older cousin who would bring large, empty gallon milk containers to fill up with the Atlantic to bring home. Why? She used it to “treat” her acne. She swore that using the salt water from the ocean as a final rinse kept her skin clear and her breakouts to a minimum.
  3. Rashes. Same principle as #2.
  4. Wounds. Bruising? Cuts? Submerge the affected part in the ocean. My theory is that it stimulates circulation to speed wound healing.
  5. Joint problems. Same principle as #4.
  6. Depressed mood. I repeat: get thee to the beach! See, hear, smell, feel (okay, but probably you wouldn’t want to taste it…unless you do that vicariously through, say, fried clams or lobster…) the ocean! Bring your binoculars; maybe you’ll see a seal or a cormorant (okay, so last time I went I saw a rat, but then I refocused my attention and saw the cormorant!). How can your spirits not lift? I ask you.

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”
~author, Isak Denison

Anybody have any other ills that they feel the ocean has cured??

Life in the cube

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, health, movies, yoga

I was sitting in my cube at work (hour 10), checking out Mayo Clinic’s website for anything new. I found a video of people working at treadmill desks.

I do not have a treadmill desk. Currently, I sit in my cube (to borrow a line from Sandra Bullock in the movie While You Were Sleeping) for 10.5 hours a day  “like a veal”. I am not burning the 10% more calories that people who are blessed with bad backs and get notes from the company’s contracted physical pherapy associates and are awarded “sit-stand” stations. So I sit, not stand.

I recently attended a yoga workshop led by Judith Hanson Lasater. I learned many things from listening to Judith, including that the optimal angle for the hips while sitting in a chair is 120 degrees. I am currently sitting in a chair at my job that gives me about a 45 degree angle of hipness. Not good.

I attempted to remedy this. I rolled up a blanket and put it on my desk chair which afforded me a hip angle that more closely approximated the goal. I was feeling smug about having saved about $50 on a new cushion for about an hour, when I started noticing that my right shoulder (which was now clearly at an untherapeutic angle) was killing me, thereby proving once again the theory that “the thigh bone’s connected to the shoulder bone”.

Darn! I guess I also need to attend a workshop about shoulders. Or ergonomics. Back to square one.

These are a few of my fa-vor-ite B’s~revised

by Karen, posted in books, family, health
Drakes Island Beach

When you have to schedule a not-so-fun medical or dental procedure on your day off, it can be hard not to look at the day as a total loss. If I can schedule it for earlier in the day rather than later, that helps some; at least I don’t spend the whole day with a root canal hanging over my head. Just get up; get the kid off to school, go to the appointment, then when it’s over, the rest of the day (such as it is, depending on your pain and/or anxiety threshold) is your own.

Shortly after it was over, I thought of some positive things on which to focus my attention:

  1. Beach: I went to the beach to sit and look at the ocean for the extra 20 minutes I had between dropping off child at school and getting to appointment.
  2. Books: I stopped off at Nonesuch Books, newly located in Biddeford (next to Best Buy), to “be with the books” for a half an hour. Just because I could. Also, buy a present (for someone else). I bought some cute little horse magnetic book clips for someone…(reference said child who loves horses above). Nonesuch has (besides books, magazines, newspapers) a lot of gifty-type things…good for stocking stuffers, I’m thinking.
  3. Breakfast: Pumpkin Muffin from Tim Horton’s. The best pumpkin muffin in Southern Maine thus far (and I have
    Tim Horton's Pumpkin Muffin

    been doing my homework). 

  4. Bed. Fear (of medical procedures) is exhausting. 🙂
  5. Best root canal ever! After thinking it through, I realized that this was true; Tina Kell at Dental Specialists of Maine is the best endodontist ever!
  6. Oh yes: the most important B of all: my husband BILL! Bill, who took me to my appointment, who took me to see the ocean, who brought me to be with the books, who took me to get my pumpkin muffin (…I think that I’ll skip over the bed part…)…thank you, Bill, for making a difficult day so much better than it might have been.

“The true creator may be recognized by his ability to always find about him, in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note.”~ Igor Stravinsky 

Sometimes I have to look hard, but the good moments are usually there.

Baby tooth

by Karen, posted in health, Someone's gotta say it

Many of you may have had a toothache at some point in your lives.  I certainly have.  Many of you may also know how expensive it can be when something goes wrong with your teeth. Even if you have some dental insurance, even if it’s good insurance, after the procedure is done and the dust has settled, you probably will be left with a huge portion of the bill for your very own.

Because of this, in the past you may have (like me) chosen the path of least resistance (read: least cost) in dealing with equivocal tooth issues, like a root canal. Now, sometimes there is nothing you can do: the tooth needs attention NOW as evidenced by the relentless, screaming 10 (on a scale of 1-10) pain. $1300 to make it stop? A bargain! Have at it!

At other times, however, if the pain eventually subsides, you may decide to take a watchful waiting stance (especially if your budget does not allow for an effortless expenditure for a large, unexpected medical bill that month)…and “baby” your tooth.

This involves trying to remember not to chew on that side, or at least avoiding nuts, seeds, raw carrots, and so forth, avoiding cold and hot foods and liquids (especially cold!!). It probably also involves lots of ibuprofen, and potentially, orajel. Arnica and oil of cloves may also be useful during this denial…er, watchful waiting stage. All are certainly much cheaper in the short-term than a root canal, or even (god forbid) an extraction.

These tactics have helped me “baby” my errant teeth for about 3 years now. Except for one of them, which definitely did not respond to the conservative treatments today, and over the course of 3 hours I decided that it was time to consult the professional.

That would be the one I consulted 3 years ago.  Now, years and years ago (like, more than a decade) when I found myself in a similar situation, the staff at the endodontist’s office that I called (who didn’t know me from a hole in the wall) couldn’t have been more sympathetic and helpful, and had me in the chair that day. So today, I (foolishly, it turned out) expected the same treatment from the (different) provider that I consulted for this tooth (having moved too far away to go back to prior one).

Caring health professionals? NOT! The secretary that took my call couldn’t have been less interested or sympathetic toward my predicament. The best she could do in an emergency was to give me an appointment 2 days from now.

After I hung up the phone, I was pretty disgusted with the way my problem had been handled. I called a different endodontist practice and the secretary was the polar opposite of the first. She was very sympathetic, very concerned about getting me in as soon as I wanted to be seen, fully assuring me that if I couldn’t stand the pain she would get me in immediately.

Need I say which provider I chose? (Hint: not the first one!). After all, if they weren’t concerned about me today, what would be different about Thursday? I didn’t want to support their dental practice in any way (root canals are NOT CHEAP!) so I put my money where my mouth was (literally) and took my business elsewhere.

Sometimes, we can make small choices that make us feel better. It still hurts; it will still cost a lot, but…I do feel better. 🙂

In to Africa

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, health

M. Lennon

My friend and work colleague, M. Lennon, RN, is preparing for a trip (not her first) to Africa;  she and other volunteers will continue the work they were doing at the Newstart Children’s Home and Clinic last year. This year they hope to build a separate school; right now the school is contained in the baby center.  Newstart currently is home to about 70 (amazing!) children.

M. is collecting supplies to bring with her to the children, as well as monetary donations that will be used to buy shoes (and possibly other needed items) for them. Needed items include: many sizes of boys’ clothing, all sizes of plastic diaper covers for cloth diapers, baby bottles, ring worm remedies (either homeopathic or prescription), walking shoes (all sizes), Tevas (all sizes).

It’s called The Zimbabwe Project. I am thinking of this today because M. is having a bake sale fundraiser to support the effort.  There will be another fundraiser this Sunday, September 19th from 5-8pM at the Fuller Glass Studio, 129 Congress St. (across from the Portland Observatory).

The bake sale fundraiser includes items made by local artisan Susan Henry, RN. Not only did she donate baked goods, but the time that she took to design meaningful packaging reminds us all of the importance of the undertaking and why they are doing it. Everything offered for sale is infused with love and blessings; you can feel it.

When I checked out the website,  I saw this quote from Mother Theresa:

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”

This reminded me of one of my goals for 2010: to support food security. Here’s an excellent chance to do that (literally and figuratively) and to help others to do something great at the same time.

If you want to be involved in any way, visit the above Zimbabwe Project or Delaney’s Heart Organization.

No one will feel better about your efforts than you will yourself. 🙂

All of the items for the fundraiser were donated by the baker and/or crafter themselves. Here’s just a few that I was able to photograph before they were bought or eaten!

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Magical thinking (or: the 80/20 rule revisited)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, fitness, health, restaurants

This summer, for the first time since losing weight, I put some back on. In reviewing my behavior over the past 3 months, I realized what happened: I reversed the 80/20 rule of maintenance. Instead of staying on track with eating 80% of the time so that the other 20% I could eat whatever I wanted, I ate whatever I wanted 80% of the time, using magical thinking to hope that staying on track 20% of the time would balance the wild abandon of the other 80%. I did the same thing with exercising (ugh!).

Coffee gelato

What happened? Well, for one thing, I guess I got smug. For a while, it actually didn’t matter that I did that; my body compensated for the excess until it just couldn’t anymore. Also, I got lazy about portion sizes and, in many instances, doubled what I knew was the amount that I should have been having. What can I say? So much (goooooood food); so little time.

Plus, hello?  Tiramisu, gelato, sweet potato fries every week? Cinnamon buns and (just today, as I recall :)) blueberry muffins as big as your head? How did I think that would turn out?

Okay, time to put the 80/20 back in the 80/20 rule; time to lose the magical thinking. Goodbye maintenance; hello active losing: points counting, writing everything down, exercise of some sort 6 days a week for 30 minutes instead of 3…um, or 1.

It ain’t gonna be easy.

The foods of the summer of 2010 will not be soon forgotten. Here’s a (small) sample:

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