Category Archives: Nutrition / Fitness / Weight

Careful With That Cookie Dough: Holiday Food Advice

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With the season of baking in full swing, we need to be reminded of a few proper food handling techniques that can make a healthier holiday season and less trips to the urgent-care for tummy troubles.  There are also a number of seasonal favorites that require either special ingredients or a specific handling method that I’ve found ways to make healthier.

I recently saw a news report discussing the importance of not eating cookie dough.   As you may know cookie dough contains raw egg which has been linked to salmonella outbreaks in the past.  However, the flour itself has recently been found to have traces of E. Coli.  This is especially important with prepared, refrigerated cookie dough which can often be mistaken as safe because of quality control during production. Consumers should also be aware of pre-made dough, since these products go through the same basic process as at home, only on a much larger scale.   It’s also important to clean the surfaces the cookie has come in contact with to prevent cross-contamination.

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Since I’m on the topic of egg safety, let’s not forget a seasonal favorite, Eggnog.  While I find it a guilty pleasure for the calories, I’d love to make this myself but didn’t know how to do so safely. The idea is to cook the eggs well, at least to 160 degrees and chill well overnight afterwards. I found a delicious recipe that avoids any contamination issues, and one that is kid friendly.  Let me know how your works out in the comment box below.  Enjoy!

 

Meeting in the middle with high quality exercise experience

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The latest project for Social Media Mom is getting involved with a new high quality exercise experience with Community of Movement.

Moms are particularly vulnerable to their exercise getting lost in the shuffle. That’s why we created our phone programs. Community of Movement provides the motivation and accountability to do what you want, where you want, when you want.

Simply call in on your self-chosen scheduled work-out days and times, enjoy a 5 minute motivating “pow-wow” with your community leader and Mom “workout buddies,” jump off the phone for 50 minutes, doing the exercise of your choice, and afterwards, call back in for 5 minutes of connection and accountability letting everyone know you did it! Simple as that!

The benefits that come from consistent exercise are truly irreplaceable. We encourage you to join one of our communities today and give yourself the gift of an energetic, healthy, and happy YOU!

When you are on the phone and you can hear people saying, “I’m going to go for a walk” or “I’m going to do some stretching,” you kinda feel like, “I better do something because everyone else is doing something.” I know that after I hang up the phone I better be doing something; I can’t cheat.

Ann, Stay at Home Mom – San Francisco CA

Diabetes and diet: Smaller is better

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We often think of the traditional mealtimes as a 3-a-day routine.  Assuming there is a decent breakfast, the common logic is to follow about 6 hours later with a sizeable lunch accompanied by the usual ‘food-coma’.  There are the usual cravings between meals which we’ve been conditioned to accept as normal.  Furthermore, we’re bombarded with countless ads for quickie supplements and drinks to get past that  low energy/between-meal slump. By the end of the day, we’re still expected to finish with a on-the-large-side dinner, often consisting of the usual meat and potatoes, or if time doesn’t permit, the ever-dreadful fast-food drive-through beckons.

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With diabetes however, it’s important to re-evaluate how to view meals and mealtimes diffently than before .  A study published in 2001 in the British Medical Journal explored this issue and despite the 15-minute discussion it evoked, the subject is just as relevant today. It’s difficult to re-think eating habits and bad ones still persist.  The idea of between-meal snacks in fact should be instead thought of as meals, just smaller, with a total of 5 to 6 meals distributed throughout the day. Ideally the suggestion from experts is having a small meal every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. This also has an added benefit of helping you lose weight by keeping you feeling satisfied throughout the day with your body’s blood sugars evened out. You’re much less likely to either binge in a rage of hunger or reach for that candy bar or coke while in the grips of a cold-sweat, nausea-inducing blood sugar drop. Not coincidentally, this same study also showed that eating these multiple smaller meals had a 5% lower overall cholesterol (including the LDL, the bad cholesterol) compared to those eating only one or two meals regardless of calories consumed.

Smaller meals during the day become a kind of "grazing" .

While at first it may seem all your focus is on food all day. It helps however to think of this routine like  ’grazing’ since the calories consumed are done so in smaller quantities but in a more uniform pattern.  The easiest way to do this is slashing each larger meal in half instead of just adding a couple of extra snacks. This way the calories you’re already consuming will result in less blood-sugar highs and lows and keep you sane all with minimal cravings.

Happy grazing!

 

 

Nurse Your Boo-Boo's Back to Health

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While doctors have been saying for quite sometime that breastfeeding your baby has a gazillion and one health benefits for your baby, many doctors agree that breastmilk could also help with common ailments – colds, ear infections, scrapes, you name it!  According to Dr. Basil Bruno, a pediatrician in New Jersey, breast milk offers cures to several maladies.  Feeling a little stuffy lately?  Drop two drops of breast milk into each nostril and then blow (or use an aspirator).  Have a kid with a scrape?  Breast milk is naturally antibacterial and antiviral, so rub it on the abrasion instead of Neosporin.  A drop of breast milk in each eye twice a day can even, apparently, alleviate pink eye!

Even patients with more invasive conditions are trying breast milk as a remedy.  Some cancer patients drink breast milk regularly to increase their immune system and for its nourishing qualities.  “We’re noticing an increase in the number of patients who are adults and children who have a variety of types of cancer who are using human milk,” said Pauline Sakamoto of Mothers’ Milk Bank.  Mother’s Milk Bank provides breast milk to over 60 cancer patients, each with a doctor’s prescription.  All this milk donated to adults, however, gives some milk donation advocates a startle.  According to Dr. Pamela Berens with the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, there is already a shortage of breast milk as it is. Yet another precious, natural resource to be appreciated!  Still, before trying breast milk as a remedy, contact your doctor to be sure its the best option for you.

Weighing in on useful bathroom scales

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weight and mass

Weight and mass. Pounds and kilograms. The most important thing is that your bathroom scale is useful for you as an individual user. From my clicking around online, l have found various digital and analog and combination scales which are similar but not all the same. Continue reading →

Cold and Flu Season: Tai Chi "The Natural Flu Shot"

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...yowch!

...yowch!

How many people do you know who got a flu shot and immediately came down with the flu?  It’s one of the potential side effects of the flu vaccine.  How would you like to boost your immune system naturally and without side effects?  You can do just that and greatly reduce your changes of coming down with the flu, and other diseases as well.

While a host of medical studies have been done showing that tai chi does in fact boost the immune system, tai chi actually takes a multifaceted approach.  One of those ways is stress reduction.  Doctors tell us that excessive stress is a key factor in developing a variety of sicknesses.  Tai chi has been shown to be a very effective stress reducer.

As more and more research is done on tai chi, science is beginning to prove what the Chinese have been telling us for some time. “Tai chi supports and strengthens the entire body.”  There are medical studies demonstrating that tai chi can stabilize blood pressure, improve joint health, increase bone density, help us breathe better with increased lung capacity, even improve our balance among other things.

According to One Medical Study: “… what we are really testing is the overall immune memory [cell] and function. Since those memory cells are critical in a whole host of viral infections, I would expect these findings to generalize to other infections…”

According to a WebMD Medical News article by Daniel DeNoon written in September of 2003 titled “Tai Chi Each Day Keeps Shingles Away” stated that taiji practice seems to boost the overall immune system. In arriving at this conclusion the study noted a positive relationship between the risk of contracting shingles and Tai Chi. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus never really goes away and you are at risk for shingles if your immune system dips. The study noted a 50% increase in associated immune cells, “enough to actually prevent shingles”.

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Michael Irwin, MD of UCLA

Michael Irwin, MD of UCLA, conducted this study and states “But what we are really testing is the overall immune memory and function. Since those memory cells are critical in a whole host of viral infections, I would expect these findings to generalize to other infections …Shingles is a debilitating illness. There are no medical treatments to prevent shingles. No medical treatment has yet been shown to boost shingles immunity. This novel behavioral intervention – tai chi – may have those beneficial effects and it looked to us that the people who practice tai chi had improved ability to carry out day-to-day activities …”

As reported by the National Institutes for Health, a similar 2007 study was done by a team also lead by Dr Irwin. Testing done in conjunction with a vaccine for shingles, now available, found that tai chi alone had a similar increase in participants’ immunity to varicella as much as the vaccine typically produces in 30-40 year old adults … combined with the vaccine tai chi produced a significantly higher level of immunity, about 40 percent … over the vaccine alone.

Doing a Google search on tai chi medical studies yields about 334,000 results.  If you’d like to narrow that down just a bit.  There are a few other medical studies sited on my website at www.camptaichi.com/health-stories-medical-research.  You can also find interesting information by going to the Mayo Clinic’s site at www.mayoclinic.com and doing a search for “tai chi”.

So if you’re healthy and are thinking about getting a flu shot this year consider tai chi.  If your doctor has advised you to get a flu shot, go ahead and get it. Tai chi has also been shown to increase its effectiveness.

by John Crewdson -
John is a formally accepted protege (disciple) of the 5th generation Yang Master, Cui Zhongsan of Beijing, China.  John trains and teaches at The Mei Zhong Yang Style Taijiquan Association, USA in Decatur, Georgia, as well as teaching via the internet.  Read John’s Tai-Blog at www.camptaichi.com/blog or visit www.camptaichi.com.

Anyone may copy this article and use it however they see fit, as long as it is copied in its entirety with all links, the author’s information, and this statement.  You may also email John@beginningtaich.net.

We've switched to hot air popped popcorn

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Is corn a healthy vegetable?  Obviously it’s a major ingredient – I used corn meal today in a recipe in fact- and its derivatives fuel an uncountable number of people, animals and machines.  Original to the Americas, corn is a traditional food of cultures situated in modernity and of cultures that remain aboriginal.

But I’m worried about additives to a popular food- popcorn.  The offender? diacetyl.

A study commissioned by the Seattle P-I (online newspaper) shows that top-selling butter substitutes, when heated, release vapor from a chemical additive called diacetyl. When inhaled, this vapor has been linked to a rare, sometimes fatal respiratory disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. Yes, many brands have elimiated this additive but there is still the aspect of the professional cook or chef who uses products containing diacetyl constantly over heat as a condition of their employment.  No one outside the industry is examining what consumers and workers who pop corn in theaters, discount stores, school gyms and fairgrounds are being exposed to.

The diacetyl vapors from some of the products are released in such volume that they could pose a significant risk to professional cooks who stand over hot grills or skillets for hours and use large amounts of these butter substitutes, according to the analysis. source

Brain-body, get moving

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baby

The other day I was holding my baby a.k. the youngest [see above], looking around the room in panic, saying, “WHERE’S THE BABY?!”  [really happened]

So you have forgotten where you put your car keys. You just can’t remember the name of a friend you have known for ages. You are looking for your sunglasses and finally find them — on your face. The most dramatic example I ever saw happened at Preservation Hall in New Orleans with a jazz group. The aging leader of his group tried to introduce the jazz players. He couldn’t remember the name of his own brother. Continue reading →

Grilling season begins

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Grill tofu

The 19th Annual Weber GrillWatch Survey says 31 percent of American grill owners are grilling meat more than they were a year ago because they are “trying to eat healthier.” Nearly 40 percent said they are grilling leaner meats, more vegetables (38 percent), more poultry (34 percent) and more fish (22 percent) than they did a year ago. Meanwhile, six percent indicated they are grilling more meat substitutes such as veggie burgers and tofu, and 5 percent are grilling more fruit, although women are more likely to do so than men.

Grilling is growing in popularity, evidenced by the following factors, among others:
Continue reading →

Dishing It Out

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When it comes to the most eco-friendly ways to serve and consume and consume food, real dishes and silverware are always the most sustainable. They are reusable and you can always adjust how much water and what type of dish soap you use (less phosphorous is better). They also tend to be cheaper in the long-term, and generally classier looking. However, if you’re on the go or must use plastic and paper kelim, there are some environmental alternatives to bleached paper plates and plastic forks. New plastics are now biodegradable. Try BioPlastics by WorldCentric or Eco Products. Both sell plastic utensils, cups, straws, and more. Most local grocery stores also carry Seventh Generation brand items, if you’d rather not drive to the closest Whole Foods or order these items online.