'Cause I'm Always Cooking Up Something! : )
Health and Wellness
Surprising News: Yoga Can HURT You
0January 6, 2012
It’s the time of the year everyone gets re-inspired to get back in shape. If you’re into Yoga, Pilates, or Fusion Workouts, you owe it to yourself to read this article in the New York Times (How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body).
The article details quite a few instances of serious injuries (strokes, cerebral hemorrhages, cartilage and muscle tears, spinal stenosis, etc.) that are much more common than I ever realized.
Yoga aficionados, you owe it to yourselves to learn what poses are particularly risky. Here’s the link again.
You’d never think that by working to insure your health, you could risk it completely. Stay healthy, stay informed!
MelaFind: FDA Approved Technology for Early Detection of Melanoma
0November 2, 2011
Exciting news for anyone concerned about contracting the most aggressive type of skin cancer, melanoma (particularly those of us with Scandinavian origins who live in the US Sun Belt): the FDA has approved MelaFind, a new technology for use by dermatologists that uses specialized light waves for earlier detection of suspect lesions.
Learn more here at the Huffington Post.
Recipe: Cranberry-Grape Energy Drink Base
0October 28, 2011
Here’s another one of my “blog about it or you’ll lose it” recipes.
I use this one as a “base” for an energy drink my husband & I take every day; we use about 2 oz of this “juice” mix, plus some supplements (each of us takes a different combo) like CoQ10, Vitamin C, d-ribose, greens mix, protein, MSM, etc.
For several years, we simply used Ocean Spray’s Cranergy Juice, but they’ve changed their recipe and their name (it’s now Cran-Energy), it’s hard to find, & I don’t like it any more (too much water, too little real juice to justify its high cost).
What we do instead is buy each of these two 96oz juice combos at Costco & then create our own watered-down juice concoction:
1. Newman’s Own 100% Grape Juice and
2. Ocean Spray “100% Juice Cranberry” (Costco’s bottle is larger than this photo’s)
Now, just FYI, pure Grape Juice is full of natural sugars and will add a high Glycemic Load to your body if you drink it “straight” (just one 8 oz glass has 39 grams of sugar), so you need to DILUTE IT if you’re drinking it for its healthy antioxidant content.
This recipe is quick & easy & will yield 60 oz. of “juice” (30 2-oz servings).
My husband DOES NOT LIKE STEVIA, so we use a liquid saccharin called Fasweet instead. Liquid saccharine is inexpensive, easy to use & a very effective sweetener.
You can use whatever low calorie sweetener you prefer (stevia, sweet n low, splenda, Superose Liquid Sweetener from Amazon
Keep in mind that we use this as a base for some rather bitter supplements, so if you’re mixing this to drink like juice, you can cut the amount of saccharin in half (or use even less).
To make 60 ounces “energy juice”:
2 cups Newman’s Own 100% Grape Juice
2 cups Ocean Spray 100% Juice, Cranberry
About 2 16 oz. bottles Reverse Osmosis Filtered Water (don’t use tap water–it contains too much chlorine; regular bottled water is not quite as good as “purified” RO water–but this is your call)
2 tablespoons liquid Saccharin (like Fasweet)
Mix in a clean 60 ounce juice container with a lid; shake well and refrigerate. Each set of 96 oz juice starters will make about SIX 60 oz batches of “juice.”
Salud!
A Father’s Love
0August 2, 2011
by Kerri
in Health and Wellness
Here’s a great story from the New York Times.
Dr. Alberto Costa, once a neuroscientist in Houston, altered the course of his research when his daughter, Tyche, was born. He’s searching for a drug that can help improve the rate of hippocampal development in people with Down’s Syndrome.
His studies have broad implications for everyone, regarding memory improvement and boosting mental performance.
Click here for this fascinating read!
Low Salt Diet BAD for Your Health? Could Be…
0July 20, 2011
Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum (a recognized expert on fibromyalgia), has posted an interesting article, reporting on some studies linking low salt consumption to health problems.
We’ve all been told all our lives that too much salt is a bad thing. Experts are now saying: not so fast.
I blogged about my own dawning realization about the importance of salt here.
Here’s a quick quote from Dr. Teitelbaum’s article:
Most importantly, for people with CFS and fibromyalgia, restricting salt is a setup for crashing and burning, and is very ill-advised — especially in summertime, when you sweat and have more salt loss.
Salt restriction is also a terrible idea if you have adrenal exhaustion. How do you know if you’ve got that problem? The symptoms include intense irritability when hungry, low blood pressure, and a tendency to collapse physically, mentally and emotionally when you’re under too much stress. Salt supports the adrenals.
Read the full article here.
New Study Results: Diet Sodas and Weight Gain
0June 29, 2011
by Kerri
in Health and Wellness
Remember my earlier post asking if diet sodas are addictive?
Now, there’s conclusive evidence that diet sodas actually lead to weight gain.
CBSNews.com reported on this topic today, noting that:
For one study, researchers at the center followed 474 diet soda drinkers, 65 to 74 years of age, for almost 10 years. They found that diet soda drinkers’ waists grew 70 percent more than non-drinkers. Specifically, drinking two or more diet sodas a day busted belt sizes five times more than people who avoided the stuff entirely.
Another study is cited in this CBS piece:
…Researchers divided mice into two groups, one of which ate food laced with the popular sweetener aspartame. After three months, the mice eating aspartame-chow had higher blood sugar levels than the mice eating normal food.
Sounds to me like aspartame may be triggering insulin resistance. Yet another reason to drink more green tea with stevia!
Interesting Theory: Nearsightedness and the Sun
0June 21, 2011
by Kerri
in Health and Wellness
Here’s an intriguing piece from the New York Times:
Have you ever wondered why so many people today have to wear glasses? I have.
Scientists are being to realize there appears to be a connection between a person’s childhood exposure to sunlight and proper eye/lens development.
Those children who are least exposed to the sun (and most exposed to artificial lighting) grow into myopic (near-sighted) adults.
A quick quote:
There is significant evidence that the trait is inherited, so you might wonder why our myopic ancestors weren’t just removed from the gene pool long ago, when they blundered into a hungry lion or off a cliff. But although genes do influence our fates, they are not the only factors at play.
In this case, the rapid increase in nearsightedness appears to be due to a characteristic of modern life: more and more time spent indoors under artificial lights.
Check the full story out here at the New York Times.
Personal Journeys
0June 18, 2011
Personally, I think that one of the most appealing aspects of the internet has been its ability to allow people everywhere to share their stories.
Stories of inspiration, hope, challenges, joys, hobbies, interests, and more.
I’m somewhat saddened to watch the internet morph into a corporate salesplace, as it slowly loses the human touch that made the early internet a pioneering space filled with real stories about real people.
I hate to be the one to tell you, but Facebook really isn’t the center of the universe and you really don’t have 10,000 “friends” this week.
So, as I have the time to do it, I’m going to share with you some of the “other internet.” The Old School Internet that was composed of people with a burning desire to communicate something of importance to their fellow human beings (not just that they “like” Britney).
We’ll start here:
Here’s the story of Sandy Beardsley, who chose to share her journey as she fought to overcome the effects of a brain tumor. Sandy died in 2006, but her husband, Dan, has left her website in place to help inspire and help others. As she said in the first chapter of her site, “I hope that my words can in some way help anyone that is facing such a challenge. You are not alone.”
Thank you, Dan and Sandy, for sharing your story and helping others find their way through what can be a very confusing and scary process.
Here are more of Sandy’s words, from the genesis of her site in the Summer of 1999:
This is an ongoing written account of my journey through living with a brain tumor. I have kept a journal and continue to write about my experience. At first I kept the journal to express my emotions in a positive way. I began to think I might share these words with others when my journey was finished. Now I realize that that day may never come. Life is a journey and the process is what’s important, not the ending. My husband came up with the idea to share my words on a website.
Please visit the site here and experience for yourself Sandy’s wonderful, giving spirit, filled with strength and hope. And remember this: Life is what’s happening NOW, today. Make the most of it while you have it!