Dark meat more nutritious than white

Hello everyone,

I've taken an illness-induced hiatus from blogging; it feels a little hypocritical to write a wellness blog when you're taking antibiotics, cough medicine, and asthma medication (also for the cough), so I postponed the inevitable. But here I am, and I confess this "minor cold" has done a number on me. Ultimately, it seems, you can know all there is to know about viruses and infections, and you can eat wholesome foods and do everything in your power to stay healthy, but you can't control what happens to you--and if it's an infection, so be it. Soon it will pass.

On a lighter note, perhaps you will be as intrigued and delighted as I was to learn that nutritionally, dark meat trumps white meat. According to DietsInReview.com, dark meat contains more iron, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin, selenium, and folate. It has more fat and calories too, but consume it in moderation and I'd say it's worth it, especially if you normally douse your white meat in gravy. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving! A happy and healthy holiday to all.

Giving in to sick

Ironically, after writing my praise-laden post on massages, I came down with a minor cold. From what I could gather online (though admittedly there appears to be no authoritative explanation), it seems that deep-tissue massage can release toxins from deep in the muscle tissue, which, passing through your lymphatic system after a massage, can make you sick. This is a contested point, but it makes sense to me, and this is the second time I've come down with a cold after a massage. I suppose I'd prefer to experience the symptoms of the virus for a few days and then have it exit my system, rather than leaving it embedded in my muscle tissue.

For me, having a cold is a good excuse to slow down and listen to my body. I've been drinking a lot of fluids, eating chicken soup (the healing properties of which are not just an old wives' tale), and getting plenty of rest. I even baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and rented a movie, both very restful and comforting!

Based on how quickly this cold seems to be passing, I think this strategy of giving in to a cold and slowing down is a good one, especially since our lives are normally so fast-paced and activity-filled. It's even a pleasure to be sick if you use it as an opportunity to treat your body right.

Ginger Peach Longevity Tea

Quite simply, I want to recommend this tea. I'd been looking for a way to wean myself off of chai tea lattes when I spotted Ginger Peach Longevity Tea and decided to try it. The ginger is very subtle--I'm not convinced I taste it at all--and the peach is soft and delicious, the black tea exquisite. What also strikes me is the smoothness of the blend. It's perfect in the morning with breakfast; as a black tea it contains more caffeine than most teas, though not as much as coffee. And I like it with a bit of honey (to brighten the flavor and cut any hint of bitterness, particularly if you've over-steeped). Tastes best when it's cooled a bit to a gentle warmth, not steaming hot. It's also supposed to be excellent iced, though I've only tasted it hot. Enjoy!

TGIF, I'm Getting a Massage

Ahhh, Friday.

I'm not much of a party person, but there's something magical about knowing the weekend is arriving. I love sleeping in, leisurely making breakfast and having tea, going for a slow walk around the neighborhood, and most of all, doing anything I want on a whim.

And this evening I'm getting a massage.

Just thinking about getting a massage is calming me down. It's been a busy week at work and more physically demanding than usual (multiple trips to court on Wednesday, standing all day to take inventory of twelve boxes Thursday, assembling several gargantuan binders today, etc.--paralegal stuff). I've also been eeking out every last morsel of strength from my calves as a beginning "barefoot" runner in Vibrams, my minimalist running shoes. So I'm ready to dissolve in a heavenly massage.

New York is an optimal place to live if you love getting massages. You can find plenty of cheap hole-in-the-walls (holes-in-the-wall?) on Yelp, or you can do what I did as a college freshman between essays and logic problems and before the days of Yelp: sniff out massage parlors. You need a kind of sixth sense to do this, and I had an uncanny ability to almost literally sense which corner to round next in order to arrive at a Chinese massage place.

ANYWAY, massage has numerous health benefits that are increasingly well documented scientifically. The Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that a single massage session literally causes biological changes, imparting significant decreases in the stress hormone cortisol, decreases in arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can amplify cortisol levels, and increases in lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.

I particularly enjoy deep-tissue massage, which is useful for athletes, anyone with tense or injured muscles, and those recovering from surgery. It alleviates chronic pain by loosening tight tissue clusters, it breaks up scar tissue, "facilitates the movement of toxins from the muscles and helps stretch tight or twisted muscle mass," and even lowers blood pressure, according to Livestrong. All of this is very relaxing and feels delicious.

So "clean bathroom" and "stop at drug store" just got bumped from the to-do list to another day--tonight I'm getting a massage!

Orgain: Healthiest Drink Ever?

Along with water and liquefied egg whites, Orgain is in the running for Healthiest Drink Ever. And the crazy thing? It's delicious. This morning I sampled "Creamy Chocolate Fudge," and I loved it. With a mere 13 grams of sugar, it's pretty tasty and chocolaty.

A doctor recommended this to me as a fantastic post-run drink. The makers of Orgain don't specify anywhere on the box or website that the drink contains electrolytes, which I usually need after a workout, but that appears to be the only thing it lacks. The drink is entirely organic, not too sugary or sweet, and low in fat; it's jam-packed with protein (16 grams) and abundant in nutrients, including a vitamin blend, an organic veggie blend (trust me, you don't taste it), an organic fruit blend, and an antioxidant blend. One "Orgain" allegedly contains the equivalent of ten fruit and vegetable servings, but I have to wonder whether that's even possible. Wouldn't the drink then contain far more calories, and wouldn't it provide 100% of the vitamins you need in a day? (Most of the vitamins in "Nutrition Facts" are listed at a mere 25%, which of course isn't bad.)

Would appreciate any insights or thoughts. In the mean time, I'll keep enjoying these!

cookies

I love milk and cookies. I also love tea and cookies. Basically, I just love cookies. But they have to be the right kind of cookies. If chocolate chip, for example, they should be moist and chewy and preferably warm.

Today when I walked into the office, there were Girl Scouts in the lobby selling cookies. Now, I became a Scout at age 10 exclusively to have privileged access to these cookies. Other aspects of Scouting, like organized friendship, freaked me out a little. But the cookies made everything worthwhile. I even managed to convince my parents one year that we needed to buy 9 or 10 boxes of cookies to freeze so that we would have a store to last us the year.

So you can imagine my dilemma when I weigh my commitment to health against my love of cookies. What's a girl to do?

The answer, I think, is simple, and it's one you've heard before: Moderation. Balance. For me, that meant buying one box of Thin Mints, which thus far I've refrained from opening. Perhaps unusually, I like merely being able to see the box on my desk while I work. It's as though my mind registers sweet indulgence and joy merely by seeing the box, so it's not even necessary (yet) to rip it open.

This  method of moderation and delayed gratification has served me well over time; it also accords with the "French" method (as popularized by Americans) of eating slowly, consuming small portions, and cherishing one's food. But if you're someone who has trouble stopping after two or three cookies, perhaps your best bet is not to buy the box at all and then hope to snag a cookie or two from a co-worker who couldn't resist opening his own box immediately.

Delayed gratification is a great tool for maximizing happiness in general. For example, if you take a vacation after a six months or a year of thinking about it and looking forward to it, you're likely to enjoy it more than if you'd only planned it four weeks prior to departure.

Bear in mind that, generally speaking, a treat like cookies is more likely to detract from than to contribute to overall happiness because the pleasure it provides is fleeting, while the injury to your health, if you frequently indulge cravings, is long-lasting. But do what works for you, sustaining peak happiness without undermining your health.

My ideal scenario? running 10 to 15 miles a day and eating twenty-five cookies.

Tips for Dealing with Hypoglycemia (healthy for anyone!)

Here's the thing with hypoglycemics. We're closeted! At least, the women seem to be, because what sexy, classy lady wants to be seen wolfing down a slice of pizza before she's even finished paying for it, much less sat down?

Either we're closeted or there are only two hypoglycemics in total, my mother and me. And the two of us have done a very good job of upholding the diagnosis--sweating, fainting, and eating enough for the population of a small state.

Whatever. If there are any hypoglycemics out there reading this, or if you don't know what the hell hypoglycemia is but you have a rough time with hunger--rougher than most--I have a few tips that I can share with you, wrought from my personal experience as well as my mother's.

1. First and rather obviously (if you've read any article about healthful eating published since the seventeenth century): Eat smallish meals throughout the day. But take care that your days don't turn into carbohydrate fests, with cereal in the morning, then a bagel, then a sandwich, then pretzels, lasagna for dinner, etc. Snacks like hummus, almonds, apples, bananas, and yogurt work well. Try not to go more than 2.5 hours or so without putting something in your stomach.

2. As a general rule, try not to consume any carbohydrates unless you're also consuming protein and/or fat. For example, pita bread with hummus is preferable to pita alone; similarly, a banana topped with a slab of almond butter will hold you longer than a banana alone. Your blood sugar level will stay more consistent if you aren't eating carbohydrates by themselves. (Carbohydrates are essentially sugars, and once they're fully digested, your body incorporates them as such, so your blood sugar level spikes...and then drops. When you feel gross, your blood sugar is too low.)

3. Speaking of sugar, consume as little of it as possible. Natural sweeteners like honey, Stevia, and sugar are always preferable to artificial ones, but you still should not be consuming much of them. There are infinite ways to reduce your sugar intake; one that I particularly like since I eat yogurt almost every day is to mix in as little as the fruit/syrupy stuff as possible. Better yet, eat plain, unsweetened yogurt if you can tolerate it.

4. In general, protein is great. Many Americans over-emphasize it, but for hypoglycemics, protein sources are especially helpful because they keep us full for a while and don't mess with our blood sugar levels. (Caveat: don't eat too much red meat or too many fatty protein sources.) I eat Greek yogurt every day instead of regular yogurt because it has a ton of protein and is especially creamy/delicious, even at 0% fat.

5. Don't make carrots a staple. They have a ton of sugar, and they turn to sugar faster than most candies do. Other, non-carbohydrate vegetables (think broccoli and cauliflower) are usually preferable.

6. Whole wheat and whole grains are in, plain white flour is out. If you're buying a loaf of bread or making pasta, go for the varieties with the highest concentrations of whole wheat over regular flour. In you body, white flour turns to sugar immediately, whereas whole wheat does so much more slowly and provides fuel for your body for a longer period of time. It also has a much higher nutritional content. In general, if something has a lot of fiber, it's probably good for hypoglycemics (and, of course, is healthier for everyone).

7. Always carry food with you. Apples, bananas, and nut butter sandwiches on 100% whole wheat bread are very portable, as is yogurt unless you live in a hot climate. Power bars (a term I use liberally) can serve very well, but make sure you choose ones without too much sugar. They should be high in protein and fiber without having tons of fat, sugar, or calories. A tough combination to find, but when you do, and if it's tasty, you've struck gold.

8. Unless you have a very weak immune system, don't drink a ton of orange juice--too much sugar. In general, drink water or unsweetened tea and avoid sugary drinks.

9. Sprinkle cinnamon on your coffee or dessert! Among other surprisingly beneficial properties, cinnamon is supposed to help regulate blood sugar levels. And I think the same is true of lemon juice, but I'll have to look into it.

Any more tips would be welcome!

Golf ball foot massage

The newest addition to my workspace is a pink golf ball. I'm waiting for someone to spot it underneath my desk and raise an eyebrow.

My feet are very sore. Not so much NOW as when I find myself on minute 7 of running in my Vibrams. You see, I'm slowly building up the muscles in my feet as my body re-learns the gait I was born with and subsequently overrode by donning sneakers.

So I've procured a pink golf ball, source undisclosed, and am periodically standing up, pawing it with one foot, then the other, and sitting back down. Chuck regrets that this exercise is not billable, but our clients should be advised to check that it hasn't found its way onto the bill under an ambiguous description ("research re: physiological conditions surrounding defendant's ambulatory patterns")

If you, too, want to join the ranks of elite pink-golf-ball-rolling witch foot doctors, here is exactly one tip for effectively massaging the feet:

-Place the ball on the floor and roll the bottom of your foot on it until you feel a tight or painful spot; then apply more pressure by leaning your body weight into it, but keep the foot muscles relaxed.

I couldn't find any others online, nor could I come up with any. Just roll the damn golf ball.

:-)

Thought processes and depression/anxiety prevention

Found an interesting distillation of thought tendencies that provoke depressive and anxious feelings: "Depression is thought to involve an inflexible ruminative engagement with high-intensity negative emotional information and anxiety is thought to involve an inflexible avoidant disengagement (distraction) from low-intensity negative information, the current findings suggest that flexibility may be one key to emotional well-being." In other words, according to the Psychology Today article, incoming high-intensity negative emotional information, such as a notice that a person may soon lose her job, requires her to be mentally distract-able (for instance, to be able to start thinking about her upcoming plans with friends) if she is to avert depressive symptoms. As "distraction" wards off depression, so does "reappraisal" ward off anxiety; if you are late to work, for example, rather than worrying about it, you might reappraise the situation by recalling that you're usually on time or early, so it's not a big deal that you're late today.

Fascinating stuff! Yesterday, when I realized my wrist was still bothering me from using crutches a week ago, I almost panicked (another injury! nooo!). Maybe today I'll handle it better if I notice a twinge.

Barefoot, but not on concrete

Tried the Vibrams, they're a-ma-zing!

!!!!

I had a bigger grin on my face than any person on a treadmill has ever had.

Treadmill, you ask with a sneer?

Yes. And I raise the point because a chiropractor/doctor who's treated me and has worked with many elite athletes, including runners, before, cautioned me not to wear the Vibrams or go barefoot on the city streets or anything resembling concrete. He and his colleagues have seen many enthusiastic barefooters come in with injuries from barefooting on manmade surfaces. It seems we are born to run, yes, and barefoot, but on gentler surfaces like dirt, grass, and trails. (Treadmills are fine, too, which is excellent as winter is quickly approaching--blizzard today! in October!--and I live in Manhattan, not close enough to nature to run trails regularly.)

So my plan is to adjust to the Vibrams and build up the muscles in my feet this fall/winter on a treadmill, and when the sun pokes out its rosy face in spring, I'll be ready to do longer distances on trails. Training partners welcome!

Aging Like a Frenchwoman

So I'm pretty sure that 10 Ways to Age Like a Frenchwoman (NY Times) only lists nine, but I figured it would interest people anyway.

I like the idea of wearing minimal makeup, probably because I wear very little myself, except for special occasions, going out at night, etc.

I'm also a fan of the cold-water face rinse after showering or washing my face. Not only does it seem to increase circulation, as the article suggests, but it also may help to close the pores and keep out dirt.

I used to dread aging, and to some extent it's still something I struggle with when I think about, say, my future fifty-year-old self (which, fortunately, is seldom). More important than the physical stuff is a healthy attitude toward aging, something I want to cultivate. Rather than viewing aging as something to struggle through and counteract, I hope to embrace the gift of long life, cherishing the lessons and experiences that each year brings.

On that note, Happy Friday and Happy Halloween!

"Free meditation workshop" not what it seems

I cheerfully headed off to a free "meditation workshop" after work, not knowing exactly what to expect but looking forward to the chance to meditate in a group setting, learn a thing or two, and potentially meet an interesting group of people.

The group was certainly eclectic, and the attendees appeared friendly and inquisitive. I walked in early, having hustled there because of the cold weather, and was welcomed warmly into a spacious room with an ample collection of chairs designed specifically for meditation. Arriving early meant I had a few extra moments to pause and collect my thoughts before the meditation was to begin. I noted the ample sizing of the space rented out by the organization, the Art of Living Foundation (AoL), and its prime location on fifth avenue in midtown. What did they pay to rent the space, I wondered? And the sessions, offered twice weekly, were free! Where did this organization receive its funding?

My wandering mind stopped speculating and attended to one of the seats in the circle, where the teacher had taken her place once all the other seats were filled. She was pretty and never stopped smiling--she seemed to radiate joy, but was there something eerie about this excess? At the moment I was touched--now I'm closer to disgusted.

You see, the introduction, meditation exercise, and concluding sentiments that followed seemed on the surface a fantastic, high-quality introduction to the art and spirit of meditation, just as the reviewers on MeetUp had suggested it would be. (The session receives very positive reviews, a great number of them.) Yet there were aspects to the session that bothered me on an intuitive level; it wasn't until afterward that I understood why.

There was, for instance, the moment in the guided meditation session when the teacher said in her soothing, quiet voice "You are peace and joy." (Are we not, along with peace and joy, one with everything else, too, not only the "high" or positive sentiments? Talk of "peace and joy" alone connotes something messianic and instills in the listener a false sense of expectation and delight at one's own capacity and potential to exist on a quite lofty plane. Yet practitioners of Zen Buddhism, for instance, would likely say to forget the lofty plane and be wherever you are, accept wherever you are, and not strive for enlightenment or a lofty experience.)

To avoid further rambling, I'll simply say that all along I sensed a dark something underlying this exceedingly pleasant meditation session. And the volunteers! I almost forgot how there were "volunteers" present--at least three of them--and how they possessed a saintlike devotion to this practice and this place. Something was amiss, but what? If they were volunteering and if the whole thing were free, shouldn't I be relieved of any paranoid ideas, secure in the understanding that no one was profiting from this in any way? But alas, it wasn't so.

The organization offers free sessions twice weekly, sure, but after being exposed to the sometimes relaxing, enchanting, even blissful sensation of meditating, attendees are vulnerable to AoL's subtle solicitations to return for another visit (free, of course). At the end of each session they pass out evaluation forms for the session, and you have the option of providing your contact information in case of interest in further participation. (By this point they have already informed you of several longer classes being offered; these, of course, carry a price tag.)

Oy. When I came home after that session, I still hadn't put my finger on what exactly was bothering me, what exactly had been wrong with that place, but I felt physically sick and even dissolved into a short bout of tears before it occurred to me to open up google and do some research. A few websites told me all I need to know: the Art of Life Foundation is a business, not a nonprofit, and they function like a cult. There's a hierarchy with god-like "gurus" at the top and tiers of followers below, there's an intelligent strategy behind the seemingly benign "free meditation workshop," likely designed to recruit and reel in, and there's something damn sketchy about the whole operation, which, I gather, is mammoth. As your involvement increases, it seems, so does your exposure to the idea of "enlightenment" and desire to obtain it, and your allegiance to the organization and the gurus at the top heightens as you slowly hand over your autonomy and lose your ability to think critically about the concepts and people involved.

Stay away, folks. This experience served as a reminder to remain firmly rooted in what experience has taught me to be true; to trust my intuition; and never to get so wrapped up in a search for an elusive spirituality that I neglect to use my head. Indeed this organization's modus operandi is insidious, the way it capitalizes on the undermining of ordinary thought processes in order to subvert your skepticism altogether. Way to pervert and profit from beautiful and wise teachings, Art of Life!

Not sure where to go from here (as far as my own spiritual journey is concerned). I find myself wanting to embrace Judaism, the religion into which I was born and with which I unhesitatingly identify today. Yet surely it's still possible also to learn from "Eastern" teachings by reading from primary texts, such as the Tao Te Ching, and to incorporate them into my daily life and my understanding of morality, wisdom, and life.

Barefoot Running (almost)

Drumroll........

("Drumroll" was supposed to appear BEFORE the picture, but that's okay..)

My new VibramFiveFingers! Woohoo! Woot! Yeehaw!

Here's to a lifetime of healthy, injury-free (or as close to it as humanly possible) running! I am *secretly* plotting to build up to 50-milers on trails, hoping to do it within a couple years. But the main thing, I remind myself (and try truly to believe), is the process, not the destination.

And yes, I know it must be a slow transition to running in these since, like most Americans, I've been plodding around in cushiony sneakers for twenty some-odd years.

!!!!

Moderation and balance: the path to a long, healthy life

As I'm freshly released from my crutches and Frankenstein boot, it seems like the perfect time to start the health/wellness blog I've been thinking about. The doctor I saw today thinks it was tendinitis that attacked my foot after the soccer game on Sunday--not a sprain. Whatever. In any event, I'm delighted to be back on my feet, almost devilishly happy, and even had the fleeting impression this afternoon that I wanted to unload my pockets and supply change to every homeless person I passed on the way home. That resolution deserted me when I passed the first homeless person, and the evening concluded with dinner with my boyfriend, some healthy debate about Occupy Wall Street, and a pot of green tea.

I'll leave you with this nugget:

Dr. Lorraine Maita, a geriatric health specialist, suggests in Vibrance for Life: how to live younger and healthier, that moderation and balance are the secret to a long, healthy life. She notes about six zillion ways in this Health Zone article that stress negatively affects us (it raises blood pressure and heart rate, drains our bones of calcium, lowers muscle mass, contributes to fat stores, raises insulin, alters body composition, depresses the immune system, etc, etc.). That list was enough to make me re-evaluate the way I cope with stress and to remind me to keep my stress level at bay, even in Grand Central at rush hour. If I can do it there, I can do it anywhere. Here's to kindness and order on the subway platform--and thanks to the woman who offered me a *moist towelette* when I spilled my chai everywhere trying to jump into the S train as the doors clamped their jaws on me (won't happen again, fellow commuters)--and here's to everyone who held open doors and issued words of comfort as I slogged along on my crutches! Thank you, New York!