Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Eat Edamame!

Wow, when I go for alliteration I really go for alliteration! :)

One of the bars in town has a simply scrumptious edamame appetizer.

Wait a second…did a health coach just extol the virtues of an appetizer at a bar? Yes, yes, I did. (They also have one of my favorite drinks, and as alcohol has many unhelpful empty calories, while I will definitely still imbibe on occasion it isn’t an everyday thing. After all the name of this blog post is “Wine & Wellness Wednesday!”)

As we were sitting and munching on edamame & carrot slivers, I was suddenly super excited to remember that at some point relatively soonish we might hopefully possibly start seeing edamame bundles in our CSA box and/or at the farmers market. I might, at one point, have purchased nearly all of the edamame bundles from one of our favorite market vendors, who happen to also run our CSA. Blanch, shell, and freeze, and then I’m set for some yummy veggie goodness during the winter. Yeah, yeah, I know, I can get edamame all kinds of places now, including in the freezer section at the grocery store. I do indeed go for frozen veggies but it’s nice to have some on hand from a favorite farm. In the middle of a harsh, bitterly cold January, it’s a culinary reminder that warmer weather is truly going to come back. At some point. Maybe it will come roaring back and be 96 degrees in May, but I digress.

Naturally, I started thinking about the health benefits of edamame. I’m also somewhat baffled to realize I haven’t done this topic already!!

By the way, if you’re wondering what edamame is, it’s young (green) soybeans that have been harvested before they have ripened or hardened. I don’t know how to describe the flavor other than scrumptious and highly satisfying when I’m in the mood for green food, which is pretty much every day. :)

Fiber. Protein. Unsaturated fats. Vitamin C. Iron. Vitamin A. Calcium. Those are some of the fantastic nutrients you’ll get from eating edamame. Steamed. Pureed into a hummus-like spread. Cooked and then cold in fresh vegetable salads. As a side. As dinner!

How do you like your edamame? Share! Wait…does that mean I have to share, too? Ok fine. I’ll share!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Scale or No Scale & Final Thoughts

Are you a scale or a no scale person?

I am surprised to say I found weighing myself every day (back in April) to provide the most useful information and the most motivation to stay on track with healthier choices.

As a recap:
For April, I weighed myself every day.
For May, I didn't weigh myself at all.
For June, I went back to my old habit of weighing myself before and after exercise on Mondays and Fridays.

It was very interesting to compare and contrast the experience and the feelings of each month! On days in June when I felt like I'd been doing well over the course of a week, I'd get on the scale to grumpy-making numbers. On days when I felt like I hadn't done anything right, I'd get on the scale to numbers that were ok. It was confusing! On the days in April that I weighed every day, the information was at least interesting. I spent lots of April sick, though, so it will also be interesting to try weighing myself daily during a normal month without illness!

Cheers! Here's to your health!

 

http://www.makeonechange.today/new-blog/2018/5/30/wine-wellness-wednesday-scale-or-no-scale-an-update

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Raw or Cooked?

Ok, let’s talk veggies. I am loving farmer’s market and CSA season. (In case you’re curious, CSA is community-supported agriculture; we get a share of fresh veggies every week! It’s a great way to try things that are new to us!) And let’s talk about whether raw or cooked is the best way to go.

First, a poll. Who likes raw carrots best? How about cooked carrots? How about don’t give you carrots, in any way, shape, or form, ever? I am one of those people who like carrots about any way I can get them. And what I find interesting is that cooking carrots means the nutrients in them become more available for your body to absorb. It’s true for other vegetables as well; cooking some veggies breaks down the cell walls, which makes it easier for us to absorb the nutrients in those veggies. On the other hand, for water-soluble nutrients such as vitamin C, cooking veggies high in the nutrients drains off those vitamins.

While it is critical to get as many nutrients from your food as possible, it is at times very difficult to do so. I don’t advocate for or against taking nutritional (vitamin) supplements; I do take some myself. You need to figure out what works for you! It’s important to get good quantities of veggies in your diet daily. The recommended daily servings of vegetables: 3-5. So what do you do with a tomato when it’s technically a fruit? :)

What do you do in order to make that recommendation happen? What might make it easier? For example, take time every couple of days to clean, peel (as needed), and chop or slice up some peppers or cucumbers, etc., and then keep them in Ziploc bags or containers in the fridge so they are easily grabbed when you want them.

What’s your favorite veggie? Let’s talk about some nutrients in those! Be aware that this list is nowhere near complete and doesn’t list all of the nutrients for the vegetables I’m including.

So what’s the difference and how do you decide what to eat raw or cooked?

  • Artichoke (either)
    • Calcium
    • Potassium
  • Asparagus (cooked)
    • Potassium
    • Vitamin A
  • Beets (either)
    • Vitamin B (group)
  • Broccoli (either)
    • Calcium
    • Vitamin C
  • Carrots (either)
    • Beta-carotene
    • Vitamin A
    • Cookin g carrots increases the beta-carotene your body can absorb.
  • Corn (either)
    • Iron
    • Vitamin B (group)
    • Cooking corn increases antioxidant availability.
  • Cucumbers (raw)
    • Vitamin K
  • Green Beans (either)
    • Calcium
    • Vitamin C
    • Green  beans are mildly toxic when eaten raw, however, the quantity shouldn’t be a problem. Blanch green beans quickly to cook out the toxins but retain more of their nutrients.
  • Kale (either)
    • Iron
    • Vitamin A
  • Kohlrabi (either)
    • Calcium
    • Vitamin A
  • Peas (either)
    • Iron
    • Vitamin C
  • Peppers (either)
    • Vitamin A
    • Vitamin C
    • Cooking peppers makes some of the nutrients they provide easier to digest.
  • Potatoes (cooked)
    • Iron
    • Vitamin C
  • Pumpkin (cooked)
    • Beta-carotene
    • Vitamin A
    • Can be eaten raw but nutrient availability is better when cooked.
  • Spaghetti Squash (either)
    • Beta-carotene
    • Vitamin B (group)
    • Can be eaten raw but cooked is more common.
  • Spinach (either)
    • Calcium
    • Iron
    • Cooking/steaming spinach changes the percentage of vitamin availability. Calcium is hard for the body to absorb from spinach.
  • Sweet Potatoes (cooked)
    • Beta-carotene
    • Iron
  • Swiss Chard (either)
    • Iron
    • Vitamin A
  • Tomato (either)
    • Vitamin C
    • Cookin g tomatoes decreases Vitamin C but increases lycopene accessibility.
  • Turnips (either)
    • Calcium
    • Vitamin A
  • Zucchini (either)
    • Potassium
    • Vitamin A

Have you learned something new about one of your favorite veggies? Have you seen a tidbit about a new-to-you veggie you might try soon? What’s your favorite veggie recipe? :)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Meditation

I’m having trouble comprehending something. I’ve apparently only posted a #winewellnesswednesday about meditation specifically twice; once in 2016, and once hypothesizing about reading as meditation. (I'm including the original text below.)

Even though I post a #mondaymeditationminute regularly on Facebook, and even though I meditate almost daily, I’ve barely talked about it! Zoikes!

I realized this morning as I was meditating just how much I needed it, and just how much I enjoy that part of my daily routine, usually my morning routine. I’m also going to be very candid; for some reason, while on vacation and on weekends, the meditation routine goes splat and I don’t entirely know why! It’s probably because routines in general go splat at those times, and it’s definitely something I’m working on changing!

I’ve been all the way up to 15 minutes recently, and then my routine went splat and I started over at 5 minutes, then 6 minutes, then 7 minutes, and so on. :) (I really enjoy the Centering Prayer app on the iPhone/iPad for its timer, sound, and background settings.) I’m back to 9 minutes and it’s amazing to me how fast those 9 minutes go by when I’m focusing on breathing and a mantra. Speaking of, this is one of my new favorites:

Kind hearts are the gardens;
Kind thoughts are the roots;
Kind words are the flowers;
Kind deeds are the fruits. (English proverb)

I know people who can meditate for an hour at a time, and I know people who think trying to meditate for a minute at a time is torture. We are all on that spectrum somewhere!

How about you? Do you have a meditation practice? What do you think about trying to start one?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

**************************************************************************************************************

Wine & Wellness Wednesday 01/06/16

For this week’s Tea (Wine) & Wellness Wednesday, I want to talk about meditation. (Yep, I’m still temporarily off wine. But I’m on the mend!)

Meditation is my favorite thing to forget to do every day. (Say…whaaaat?) Working with my own health coach, I’ve set a goal to meditate every day. And I’ve already missed more than one day in a row. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why this one is so hard! I exercise at least a little almost every day. I use essential oils every day. I drink good amounts of water every day, and I finish my shower with cold water every day. All of these are really good healthy habits to maintain. Meditation would be a great healthy habit to maintain, too, and I can’t seem to get it to stick!

Some of the benefits of meditation include (although the HOW it works isn’t clear) decreased blood pressure, decreased stress, and improved concentration skills. When I meditate at night, I feel clearer and more settled, more ready to be done for the day; I don’t have solid evidence for it yet, but I think I sleep better. When I meditate in the morning, I feel clearer and more settled, more ready to get into whatever the day may bring. (Are you sensing a trend yet?)

Meditation seemed like this big, impressive thing that would be hard to make myself do. (It’s still hard to remember to make time for, honestly.) It’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be!

Here’s my short version of how to start meditating. :) Pick a comfortable place to sit, preferably somewhere quiet. (Keeping the dogs out of the room when you’re meditating might be good too.) Pick a short timeframe, for example, five minutes, and set a timer. Start. That’s it. Start meditating. It doesn’t mean shutting down your brain. (I mean come on! :) You need your brain to function.) It means shutting out the brain rats and focusing on something. Pick a mantra, a phrase you’ll say over and over to yourself. Pick a breathing pattern. Do something you can focus on, and acknowledge to yourself that you’ll get distracted. You’ll think about things you didn’t get done the previous day, or things you want to do the next day, or…or…or…I’m sure you can think of a dozen things that you’ll think of. Allow it to happen, and go back to your focus. When the timer goes off, congratulate yourself for giving it a try, and commit to yourself to do it again tomorrow. When you don’t look at the timer every five seconds, increase it to six minutes. And then to seven minutes. And so on. (I’m all the way up to ten minutes!)

So what do you think? Do you meditate already? What benefits do you feel? Do you think about starting? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Exercise! (Again!)

I’ve talked about walking, and microbursts, and finding enjoyment in a regular exercise routine. Today, I’m so grateful to be back into my regular exercise routine that I want to revisit the topic I originally posted in September, 2016.

What are the benefits of exercise (the short version)?

  • It’s good for helping prevent (or eliminate) type 2 diabetes.
  • Exercise is good for your brain.
  • It’s a weapon against heart disease.

When I was restricted from exercise again because of a small fracture, it was a real drag. I’m not athletic by any stretch of the imagination, however, I enjoy my workouts and they make a good start to my day. Gardening, mowing, and walking around the greenhouse also contributed to feeling better and getting back to normal!

What's your favorite exercise? Now, go do some of that! :) 

If you don't have a favorite, now's a great time to find something! Go for a walk! Find a class! Get an exercise buddy!

Cheers! Here's to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Self Worth

I’ve been enjoying some quiet time with just myself the past few days, exploring a new-to-us area while my husband is on a business trip. I’ve been both out-and-about, exploring, as well as basking in silence in our hotel room.

And I’ve been thinking. One of the results of that contemplation is today’s slightly different #winewellnesswednesday post. All of us have value. All of us. Recognizing that intrinsic value in self becomes reflected in everything else.

You. 

Yes, you, the person reading this. 

You have value.

Go find a mirror, take a deep breath, and repeat those three words to yourself. Or find a smartphone and turn the camera to selfie mode. 

Whatever it takes, look yourself in the face and repeat those three words to yourself. Out loud.

Believe yourself. You’re telling yourself the truth. 

What would change if we said those things to ourselves every day, with conviction behind the words?

A simple act of kindness can change someone’s day. 

A simple, genuine word can change someone’s world. 

Why not your own?

Self care and self worth are critical to your health.

It both is and isn’t about thinking positively or positive self talk. You have value every day, whether you’re having a good day or a cruddy one. You have value every day, whether you’re in a good mood or a bad one. You will make mistakes; you will make magic. Those positive words, “You have value,” said to yourself with conviction? Those will help.

You have value.

Don’t forget it.

Isn’t it important to treat what you value with care?

Isn’t it important to treasure what you value?

Treasure yourself. Treasure your health.

Look in a mirror and repeat after me, “You have value.”

Cheers! Here’s to your health! 

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Scale or No Scale? An Update!

For this week’s #winewellnesswednesday, I’m looking back at my general thoughts about the difference between weighing myself every day, as I did during April, and not weighing myself at all, as I did during May. I then decided to add a month to the experiment, so my full review of things will come on the first Wednesday of July.

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

04/30/2018: Weighed every day during April. Overall, it was interesting to weigh myself daily and see how it compared to what I felt about the previous day’s activity and eating. I didn’t anticipate being sick with a stomach bug twice or being severely limited in my exercise and activity due to an avulsion fracture in my right foot. So at the end of the month to have gained two & a half pounds instead of being steady or down was frustrating, but also understandable considering the circumstances. The daily weighing didn’t seem to add stress to my days and it was interesting tracking the up and down on my calendar. 4/30 is the last day I’ll weigh myself until June 1, and that is very, very strange to contemplate!

 

05/02/2018: Just a few days in and I’m finding myself missing the scale, which seems really odd. In April, weighing myself daily, even though I was ill & injured, helped keep me accountable to myself about what I was eating & my activity level. So far in May, not weighing myself is making me re-think whether to have creamer in my coffee or pick up a chocolate bar. That’s ok, but other than how I feel in my clothes I don’t have another tangible way to track my weight progress. It’s odd, but I feel guilty for not weighing in!

Update 05/08/18: I don’t like it. Maybe it’s the mood I’m in today, and I don’t think I’ve been excessively overeating so it’s probably what I’m eating, but I’m bloated and hot and feel icky and fat and I want to know what my weight is but I’m committed to myself to not use the scale again until 6/1. In April, weighing myself daily gave me regular progress reports and helped keep me accountable. I know I’ve been a little more slack about some of my eating and drinking habits. Now, more water. *gulp gulp*

05/24/2018: Wow, May seems like a really long month when I’m waiting for it to be over so I can check the scale. Aaaaaaand I just decided to add a month to the experiment. In April, I weighed myself daily and I liked it. In May, I haven’t weighed myself at all other than at a physician’s checkup, and I haven’t liked it. For the month of June, I’m going to go back to my old habit of weighing myself on Monday and Friday mornings, before and after exercise, and see how it feels compared to the way April and May felt.

05/30/2018: Almost the end of the May portion of the experiment, and I’m really looking forward to checking the scale and seeing whether the number fits how I’ve been feeling.

http://www.makeonechange.today/new-blog/2018/3/21/wine-wellness-wednesday-scale-or-no-scale

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Discouragement and Getting Back Up Again

“I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down…”

(You’re welcome for the earworm!)

Now that we all have a Chumbawamba song in our heads, I want to talk about discouragement and getting back up again.

I’ve been slowly healing from a small avulsion fracture on my right foot. Now I have matching fractures, one on each foot. (Again, as I’ve said before, golly but I’m super talented.) I’m definitely making progress and adding back activities and have been very grateful for my progress.

Then, today, I managed to slightly injure my right hand. Twice. In the same day. One injury had a clear cause; the other, I’m not quite sure how or what happened. (What can I say other than golly but I’m super talented?) And to be honest, typing kindasorta hurts a bit. So this might be one of those shortish Wine & Wellness Wednesday posts.

I’m grateful that I’d already been planning a different exercise routine for tomorrow morning, as I’m not sure how my injured hand would do with my usual yoga and floor exercises and arm weights. I am super excited to get back to the exercise bicycle and use it for a short time tomorrow morning!

I’m also tired. And discouraged. Because it’s one of those days when it feels as if no matter what I do, something lurks around the corner to knock me backwards.

Except it isn’t true.

Injured? Yes. Annoyed and discouraged? A bit. Powerful in the knowledge that I’ll heal, that I have options, and that tomorrow is another day? Absolutely. Grateful that certain actions don’t hurt and I could actually prepare tonight’s dinner? Completely!

One change. One action. One improvement. One positive thought.

Each of those seems small by itself.

Together, they are powerful.

What will you do the next time you get knocked down?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: When Routine Makes Me Happy

I’ve previously posted about changing up routines to avoid boredom, and how great it felt to get back to routine after a wonderfully lazy vacation. Today I want to talk about routine again, and this time it’s from the perspective of getting back to routine after being ill and (or) injured.

I was recently diagnosed with another avulsion fracture, this time on my right foot. (Now I have matching fractures; one on each foot! Am I super talented or what?) I’ve been oh-so-slowly getting back to regular activity. I took about a week away from my part-time job at a greenhouse and sat around doing not very much. (I did get a lot of reading and cross-stitching done!) I limited my hours when I did go back to work. I followed the doctor’s instructions and things are slowly returning to whatever it is that passes for normal in my life. (I have hopes that within a week or two I will need neither a walking boot nor a brace on that foot!) At the same time, I had my second round of a troublesome intestinal bug. It was a rough month!

Needless to say, for a while I lost track of my routines.

I really love my mornings. I wake up, meditate, journal, and exercise. At least that’s what I usually do when I’m not ill or injured. Of course, rest is one of the most important factors in healing, and I needed lots of it. My mornings were not routine for a while. I finally got back my meditation & journal routine. I started back with limited exercise that I could do while wearing the walking boot. Then I moved from wearing the boot to the brace. Then I moved from the brace to doing my exercises barefoot and I did a little dance, but not enough to aggravate the foot. Then I started adding reps to the exercises and gradually adding back more and more of the exercises I like doing in the morning. This morning, even though it had been almost a week since my last round of deliberate morning exercise, I repeated last week’s success and added a little more.

I felt fantastic!!! I felt as if the patience I’d tried to apply to the healing process was working. And since it’s working, I’ll keep doing it. And as I keep being patient and keep adding things back slowly, I’ll get healthier and stronger again.

I still feel as though occasionally changing routine up is useful, particularly to avoid getting bored, however, getting back to what I enjoy in my morning routines? It’s pretty awesome.

What healthy routines make you happy?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Clear Away the Clutter

I’ve now come back to this topic twice, and I think maybe it is a seasonal or cyclical thing. Recently we started reorganizing our basement; when we did that, we started removing things as well as reorganizing. As our weather is finally nicer, it has become time to box and stow the long-sleeved shirts and sweaters and pull out the short-sleeved shirts and other, lighter garments for nicer weather. I have also found myself more willing to let go of things. “Have you worn it recently?” “Do you love it?” “Did you miss wearing it?” “Will you wear it this summer?” I’ve discarded multiple items and that’s helped me feel lighter and less cluttered, both mentally and physically. It’s also almost time to do some reorganizing of the furniture, which will also probably mean some clearing & discarding of clutter.

How about you? What do you do to clear away the mental and/or physical clutter?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

http://www.makeonechange.today/new-blog/2017/12/5/wine-wellness-wednesday-clearing-clutter-made-me-giddy

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Give Me the Salad!!

Salad, as a friend of mine lamented once, is more than just lettuce and salad dressing. For this week’s #winewellnesswednesday, I want to talk about salads and seasonal eating.

Almost as soon as the weather shifts and it’s nice enough to open the windows and turn off the furnace, I’m so very much more than ready for fresh foods. I start seriously craving lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, asparagus, peas, green beans, carrots, peppers, and so on, and so forth. The list could be endless. And, yes, it’s true that we can get many (all) of these things all year at the grocery store. To me, they’re better fresh out of the garden, and if I can’t (don’t) grow them myself, I’ll get them from the farmers’ market, or, if I’m lucky, from a friend’s garden.

Seasonal eating is about several things for me. It’s more than just salads. It’s about what my body wants and needs, as well as what’s better for the environment.

I always enjoy eating fresh, colorful veggies. In spring and summer, I’m more inclined to the fresh vegetables with fewer heavy foods such as cheeses or some potato dishes or certain meat dishes. In fall and winter, I want heavier, richer dishes with potatoes and other root vegetables, roasted vegetables, soups, stews, and heartier meat & cheese meals. It’s always felt as if my body craves fat-building foods in colder weather to add insulation. We have clothes and electric blankets and furnaces for insulation, and changing those winter cravings is a work in progress! In the spring and summer as I’m ready to shed the insulation and open the windows, I look for more lighter, fresher foods. And as I said at the beginning, a salad isn’t just lettuce and salad dressing. One of my all-time favorites is our family’s big salad, which is lettuce (and sometimes spinach), a meat of some kind, cheeses, and lots of vegetables, including bell pepper, carrot, sweet pickles, cucumbers, peas, radishes; basically, anything and everything I want to include! (Notice I didn’t say anything about salad dressing; with all of the flavors, who needs it? Normally I don’t!) Salads also don’t have to include any lettuce at all, for example, cooked chicken, red bell pepper, red onion, apples, carrots, cashews, and a light dressing of barbecue sauce (gluten free!) and mayonnaise. Easy, filling, and delicious!

Eating seasonally and locally helps cut down on transportation costs and pollution. What you’ll get is fresher, because you’re closer to the producers. If you go to a farmers’ market, you can ask the vendors whether they’re chemical free (or organic) and you’ll usually see only what’s ripe and harvested NOW, instead of two weeks ago. You’ll get foods with better nutrition content, as they’ve been allowed to ripen longer before being harvested. Should you eat only what’s available seasonally near you? It’s a great theory, but not completely applicable or sustainable. After all, the best possible diet is one that’s well-balanced and contains everything you need. And sometimes, you simply must have that strawberry – or that salad – in January. (ALSO! I’m so excited to start going to the local farmers’ market starting this coming weekend!)

What’s your favorite seasonal fruit or vegetable? What are you looking forward to most about the spring & summer season of peas, asparagus, & strawberries (to name a few)?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Appreciating Almonds

Who, me? Additional alliteration?

For last week’s Wine & Wellness Wednesday, I talked about the health benefits of cashews, primarily as a potential anti-depressant. Let me reiterate that I do not recommend replacing <any given medication> with <any given foods>. This week, I want to talk about almonds!

Fiber. Protein. Vitamin E. Magnesium. Low in carbs. Anti-oxidants. Note that the anti-oxidants are primarily in the almond skin, so focus on almonds that haven’t been blanched.

All of these sound like good things, right? Right!

I like almonds (and almond-flavored things) very, very much. I eat them as a post-work, pre-dinner, I-want-to-avoid-eating-potato-chips snack fairly regularly. They help curb hunger and tide me over until dinner. I keep a small bag of almonds (and cashews) in my car, so I’m less tempted to stop and get snacks. I even like almonds in the form of crackers! :)

How about you? Do you appreciate almonds already? (Alliteration strikes again!)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Antidepressant Cashews?

Let me start here: I am not a medical professional. I will not tell you that you can replace <insert type of medication> with <insert type of food>. I will share my applicable experiences and that I’ve made changes to my own life and medication while working with my regular physician. It is not my purpose or role to diagnose or prescribe; I do not have that training. It is my purpose to entertain and share information en route to encouraging my audience to make positive, sustainable, healthy changes.

I’d heard a passing mention at some point that nuts in general made a good antidepressant.

Huh?

So, since I’m really, really fond of nuts, particularly almonds & cashews, I went looking for more information. Because that’s what I do; to paraphrase a fictional character from a mildly popular book & TV show, I read & I know things. :) And then I share things.

Multiple factors contribute to depression, and depression expresses differently for everyone who experiences it. This is not a topic that I take lightly. A healthy diet contributes not only to physical wellbeing but to mental wellbeing as well. (You all know this already.)

Apparently, nuts in general and cashews specifically contain tryptophan, an amino acid the body uses to build serotonin, which then boosts mood. Cashews also have antioxidants, heart-healthy fats, magnesium, copper, and potassium. They can be somewhat hard for the body to digest if they aren’t chewed thoroughly, so make like a food processor and chomp up those cashews until they’re well mashed before you swallow. I’ve heard that it’s best to chew nuts up to 50 times before swallowing. Um…for one thing, I’m not sure I have that kind of patience, and for another thing, I’m not sure I have that kind of patience. That would be a lot of chewing before swallowing, although I know I want the nuts well ground up, and nut butters don’t have the same appeal as crunchy whole cashews or almonds. Finally, even though sodium is necessary in the diet to a degree, as I mentioned in a recent post, raw, roasted & unsalted, or lightly salted cashews are probably the way to go. Unless you’re trying to replace something like potato chips, and then the salt plus the crunch equals a satisfying (and mostly healthy) snack.

What’s the bottom line? If you already take a medication, don’t replace it with cashews. Adding cashews to your diet can be a fun, tasty way to boost your mood. (So can going for a nice walk! Take the cashews along for the trail!)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Sodium

Let’s talk about sodium.

Specifically, I suppose you could say I want to talk about salt. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to consider salt & sodium interchangeable. In truth, they’re not. Salt contains sodium; sodium by itself is not something I’d plan on sprinkling over my baked potato. After all, in the right conditions pure sodium will explode on contact with water. So let’s not do that.

Sodium is a critical element that the body needs, up to a point, to function efficiently. Sodium supports enzyme operations, muscles, fluid levels, nerves, and more. Are you getting the idea that it’s something you need?

Extreme sodium deficiency can result in headache, muscle issues, gut issues, and nerve problems. Not good.

Extreme sodium consumption can lead to dangerously high blood pressure, swelling nerves, and even comas.

Note that for both of those issues, I said extreme. Hopefully this is not something you’ve experienced personally!

We need a balance of sodium in our diet to keep our bodies functioning happily, and to keep our taste buds happy as well. Too much is a problem, but so is too little.

I like salt. Sometimes I love salt. Sometimes I think there’s not enough salt; sometimes there’s too much.

Salt is a wonderful thing. Some foods, as I’ve mentioned recently, are a delivery vehicle for salt (and butter, but that’s a different topic). Craving salt can lead to eating foods that might not be the best choices. For example, last week’s post about strategies & substitutions started with admitting I love potato chips but I’m trying to cut down on them. I frequently crave salty snacks after a long day working outside; sweating too much leaves the body deprived of sodium.

How about you? When do you crave salt? Do you feel as if you have a balanced amount of sodium in your diet?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Strategies & Substitutions

I love potato chips. Crunchy, salty, greasy, sometimes flavored, potato goodness. I mean, come on! What else is a standard Idaho potato for if not to deliver salt and butter, no matter the method?

I also love not feeling blargh or ugh or generally yucky after eating junk food. And no matter how much I love eating potato chips, I almost always feel blargh or ugh or generally yucky afterwards. That grease and salt again, doing unhappy things to my body!

As of 4/4/18, I’ve gone ELEVEN DAYS without eating potato chips! For comparison, my longest previous chip-free streak was four days.

Yes, that deserved a celebration!

No, that celebration didn’t mean I gave myself permission to go buy a bag of potato chips. :)

And also no, I don’t anticipate that my potato-chip-free streak will extend out as far as my current cross-stitching streak, which as of today is up to 162 days. I imagine that at some point in the not-too-distant future I might decide to give myself permission to have some potato chips. Or not. I think about them, and I find I’m losing the craving.

How?

Substitution. Or as the author of a recent New York Times column might say, replace instead of resist.

I found particularly that I craved salt and crunch after a long day working, whether outside at the greenhouse or in my yard. I started stashing a bag of roasted & salted almonds & cashews in my car, as well as keeping a container of them on the kitchen counter.

I’ve said it (and other people have said it too) that when craving crunch, substitute carrots.

Yeah, no. That sometimes works, and that sometimes doesn’t. Largely, honestly, it doesn’t. When I want salt & crunch, I want potato chips. Except that when I munch on some almonds & cashews, I’m done. I’m good. The craving to go out and get chips (or ask my hubby to get chips on his way home) has gone away. I’m not succumbing to the craving and then getting aggravated about it. I’m replacing it with something different. Healthier? Maybe. (The health benefit of nuts is another topic I plan on writing about later!) Still salty & crunchy? Absolutely. Also, the nuts I’ve been eating have been much less greasy than most potato chips. That’s a win as well.

Side note! Is it odd that saying carrots don’t satisfy the cruchy-salty craving moment made me want a carrot? Yum! Gee, it seems as though I recently posted about carrots. ;) 

Meanwhile, I digress.

I’ve also been holding myself accountable by keeping a note in my phone and I update it daily. “Did you eat potato chips today?” When I looked back through recent days and realized how long I’d gone without chips, I did a happy dance! So not only do I have the substitution strategy, I have positive accountability without beating myself up if I do decide to have chips.

How about you? What potentially unhealthy snack or habit have you replaced with a better substitute? What’s your strategy?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

p.s. Tonight’s wine is Lakeside White from the Rocky Waters winery in Illinois. Delicious!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Carrots!

A long time ago, but not in a galaxy far, far away, I had a copy of a newspaper comic strip that featured a bunny holding carrots up to its eyes and asking, “How do carrots help you see better?” :) HA! Thinking of that still makes me chuckle these many years later.

It sounds funny, but everyone knows (or probably everyone knows) that carrots do indeed help maintain healthy eyes. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in your liver. (Unless you’re a plant, you can’t manufacture beta-carotene yourself.) Carrots also contain small amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C, among other nutrients. What does that mean for you?

Eat. Your. Carrots.

I thought about the health benefits of carrots recently when I was munching on some baby carrots, as well as after putting a bunch of carrots and sweet potatoes in a crockpot for a balsamic beef pot roast type of recipe. (Very tasty!) It sounds funny, but I occasionally forget how much I like the taste of fresh, raw carrots. Unlike my recently-developed fascination with the Darlington variety of cucumber, I’m not thinking of any specific variety of carrot. Fresh out of the garden is best, although I’ll take what I can get when it’s winter and I’m stuck at the grocery store.

When I did some digging online, I found things I didn’t know about carrots! Carrots can help prevent tooth decay. The potassium in carrots helps maintain healthy sodium levels in the body. Carrots are high in fiber, which is good for you on many levels. The glycemic index for carrots is only 39, so if you’re concerned about consuming too many sugars, the impact that carrots will have on your blood sugar is actually lower than you might think.

I also didn’t realize that while it seems raw is better, cooking carrots actually does not reduce their benefits. So the carrots in my pot roast were still good for me! (I’m not so sure that the butter and brown sugar-glazed carrots I like to make are still all that healthy…but gosh they’re tasty that way!)

How do you like your carrots? Fresh? Cooked? Grated into spaghetti sauce? (I’m not kidding! Try it sometime; you might like it!)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

p.s. I thought it'd be fun to mention the wine I'm enjoying when I write these, particularly if it's an Iowa wine or one from a winery I've visited. Tonight's wine of choice is from Madison County Winery here in Iowa and it's their gloriously tasty Petite Sirah. Cheers!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Scale or No Scale?

For this week’s Wine & Wellness Wednesday, I want to talk about the scale. Have you ever thought about the impact that your scale can have on your overall wellness?

Think about it. Let’s look at some scenarios.

You’ve exercised daily and feel good about what you’ve been eating & drinking. You’ve been drinking a fair amount of water daily, and you’ve cut back on your consumption of junk food. More salads! Yay you! Then you get on the scale and WHAT?! The numbers are up? What’s your reaction?

You’ve watched what you’re eating and drinking, but you’re not exercising as much as you could. You get on the scale and WHAT?! The numbers are down? Awesome! But…now what?

You’ve exercised daily and feel good about what you’ve been eating & drinking. You’ve been drinking a fair amount of water daily, and you’ve cut back on your consumption of junk food. More salads! Yay you! Then you get on the scale and WHAT?! The numbers are down! Awesome! But…now what?

You’ve watched what you’re eating and drinking, but you’re not exercising as much as you could. You get on the scale and WHAT?! The numbers are up? Well, that’s to be expected, right? But…now what?

Maybe you don’t own a scale. Maybe you judge your weight by how you feel & how your clothes fit. Replace “the numbers are up” or “the numbers are down” in any of those scenarios with “my pants are looser” or “my pants are tighter.”

What’s really baffling is when the scale says one thing and the pants say something else, for example, the scale says “up” but the pants say “down” and OK FINE it’s confusing, but hey, muscle mass weighs more than fat and takes up less space. That’s an entirely different conversation!

If you use a scale, when and how often do you weigh yourself? Every day? Twice a day? Once a week? Once a month? Same time every time? Different times? Before meals? After meals?

My usual habit is to weigh myself first thing on Monday morning, and after I exercise on Mondays, and then again on Friday morning before and after I exercise. I thought about all of these things once recently when I weighed myself after a day of very little exercise and after breakfast the morning after the day of very little exercise. It wasn’t a great feeling. After losing the bulk of vacation weight, and making progress taking the numbers down again, I was up. I was briefly disappointed with myself and then I gave myself a good mental shake and a talking to. “I didn’t exercise yesterday, I had a large dinner, and I weighed myself after breakfast and coffee today. Why?! I know better!”

I didn’t let it affect my mood. I didn’t let it make me think, “Oh, I give up. Nothing I do will make a difference, so why do I bother?”

Everything makes a difference. I bother because I feel better. I check the scale the way I do because I like having the weight numbers to compare. I check my numbers against scales at doctors’ offices. I check my numbers against my past history. For me, it helps me feel I’m making progress and identify ways to make positive changes. And I acknowledge that I won’t always like the numbers, because sometimes I want to have that bag of chips and not worry about it.

As with so many other things in life, multiple opinions exist on whether to use a scale or to skip it. Some even recommend weighing yourself every day. I’m not sure what I think of that idea, honestly! I’m also not sure what I think of skipping the scale for good. I might try both options: skip the scale for several weeks, and weigh myself daily for several weeks, and see what happens.

What about you? Scale or no scale? What’s your thought process and your strategy?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Go For a Walk!

This is actually another throwback post because the weather today was so warm and lovely that even though I've been under the weather for several days, I absolutely had to go for a short walk. Cheers! Here's to your health. :)

12/23/2015

I have my wine, it’s Wednesday, and it’s time for another #winewellnesswednesday! :) So far I’ve talked about wine & water; the alliteration will (temporarily) stop after today’s topic, which is walking!

Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of moderately nicer weather and no precipitation (although a very grey day, at least at lunch) and take our dogs for a quick walk around the block. Twenty minutes and two laps of the block later, the dogs acted as though they were worn out, and I felt invigorated and ready to tackle the rest of the day. I’m glad I didn’t wait to go walking until Wednesday, considering how wet, cold, wild, and generally icky today’s weather is! Maybe I should be having mulled wine instead!

Walking! It’s good exercise, and if you’re not accustomed to exercising on a regular basis, it’s a great introduction to getting moving. I am accustomed to exercising regularly, and I still really enjoy going for walks. :) Most of the time when we go places, we’ve started a new habit of parking a little farther away from the destination so we’ll get a little extra walking in when we run errands. Yes, I said most of the time. If it’s pouring down rain or if there’s a sub-zero windchill? Nope! I’m parking as close as I can get! Walking is also great for improving your mood and getting your energy revamped to dive into whatever comes next.

Call walking the gateway drug to more activity if you like; call it whatever you want if you get up & get going! Take headphones and listen to music or a podcast or a book. Take a friend and have a conversation. Take your dogs. Take a walk through a park, or around your neighborhood, or around the mall. Take a hike! (Walk on a treadmill if the weather is truly awful.) And take care of yourself by adding some movement to your day, or changing your routine to incorporate a little more walking.

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Say Cheese!

Cheese as a health food!! That's this week's #winewellnesswednesday topic!

Seriously? Cheese? As a health food? With all the fat and calories and stuff that is in some kinds of cheese? And knowing that it seems to trigger the same feeling of euphoria as hard drugs?

Clearly, I’m out of my mind. Right? Or maybe I’ve had too much cheese.

(Yes, there is such a thing as too much cheese.)

I realized recently that I’ve been eating a lot of cheese. One reason for that is clear, to me anyway. I like cheese on my eggs for breakfast. Another one of my theories on my cheese consumption is that in the winter, the body wants to build fat reserves to stay warm. Human biology doesn’t seem to have caught up with furnaces, sweaters, and heavy quilts and afghans. I tend more toward heavier, fattier foods with cheese in the winter than I do in the summer.

I also really like cheese.

Cheese has calcium, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals that are useful to the body.

Cheese also has calories and fat; lots and lots of calories and fat. Sadly, cheese is also a reliable source of saturated fat, which contributes to the increase of LDL cholesterol. That’s the bad one, in case you haven’t been keeping track. (Here’s a contradiction; it may be better for you than butter when it comes to bad cholesterol.) Softer cheeses such as cottage cheese have less fat, while harder cheeses such as cheddar or parmesan have more. Hard cheeses, however, help generate saliva, which makes your mouth slightly more acidic and apparently helps prevent cavities. (The human body is seriously weird. Wonderful. But weird.) And sodium. Many cheeses are very high in sodium, which contributes to all sorts of health issues.

What’s your favorite cheese? I hate to pick so I’m going to pick two: Swiss and Parmesan. And oh, my, do I miss bleu cheese, but I’m allergic. Sadness!

Moderation is the key, as with so many things. Eat soft cheese. Eat hard cheese. Sprinkle cheese on your salad or soup. Maybe eat less of it, and eat it as an accompaniment instead of as the main component of your meal. If you’re lactose-intolerant or vegan, eat nutritional yeast or cashew cheeze or soy cheese instead. But find ways to include some small quantity of this delicious item in your menus. It’s good for you!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!