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!