Tag Archives: wellness

Marathon Fuel

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

After a few social weekends, I stayed close to home Saturday to get some work done. I had a few exciting projects that needed my attention, so after an early hot yoga class, I  settled in for a productive day.

Post-sweat-lodge yoga glow. Be glad you can't smell through the computer screen...

Breakfast: pumpkin-flax oats in a nearly-empty peanut butter jar

Fueling your brain and body for a marathon work session (especially after a workout) with balanced meals is important. Luckily, I had a lot of pre-prepped ingredients and leftovers on hand to keep me going without cutting into my time too much.

A mix of proteins, carbs and healthy fats keep you satisfied and energized, and adding fiber-rich fruits and vegetables help keep you full longer so you can stay in the zone. I don’t know about you, but nothing frustrates me like a grumbling stomach when I’m trying to work!

Spaghetti squash with tons of leftover veggies, kale, peas & parmesan—whatever works

Lazy-person's shakshouka

I did go out on Friday night to see Pina with a few friends who had been wanting to check it out. If you haven’t seen it, it’s wonderful. I’m not normally someone who gets into movies about dancing, but it’s so engaging and truly beautiful to watch. After getting a lot done today, it looks like Saturday may involve an outing after all, at least for a little while. Tomorrow’s another busy day!

What are you up to this weekend? What do you eat when you need to work for a long time? 

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Prediabetes: What you need to know

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

Don't wait 'til you have diabetes, y'all. Find out your blood sugar levels.

You know your cholesterol levels, so why not your blood glucose levels too?

Type 2 diabetes was recently thrust into the public eye when Paula Deen announced she has been living with the disease for 3 years. However, something we hear about far less frequently is prediabetes.

The CDC estimates that some 79 million Americans over the age of 20 have prediabetes, which is defined as consistently elevated blood glucose levels (fasting blood glucose of 100 – 125 mg/dL or A1C of 5.7% – 6.4%) that are not quite high enough to qualify for a diagnosis of diabetes. That may not sound like such a big deal, but it can significantly up your risk of cardiovascular disease and other long-term damage in addition to  paving the way to full-blown diabetes.

The good news is that if you find out your numbers put you in the prediabetic range (many doctors say “borderline high”—ask for specific numbers), you can do something about it. Getting blood glucose levels under control is key, and many people are able to do that through a healthier diet and exercise.  Your doctor may also prescribe a drug such as Metformin to help lower blood glucose levels.

Don’t wait until you’re diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Speak with your care provider at your next appointment about your blood sugar levels and how to keep or get it into a healthy range.

You can read more about diabetes and prediabetes here.

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Turn Over a New Leaf in 2012

Posted on December 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

With the New Year right around the corner (aka 2 days away), many of us are thinking about  the year ahead and changes we want to make in our lives. Have you ever thought about taking a stress reduction or meditation class to help you achieve some of your goals?

My mother, a psychotherapist based in New Jersey recently announced her winter class schedule. In January and February, she is offering classes in:

  • Smoking Cessation
  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
  • Weight Control and Food Issues
  • Meditation Training

All classes will take place on weekends, and there is information on her blog regarding where classes to be held and how to sign up.

Have you ever taken a class to help you stop smoking, lose weight, or de-stress? 

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Doctor's Orders

Posted on May 22, 2009 | Leave a comment


I’ll tell you a secret: I hate getting on the scale—absolutely dread it—because the number is often lower than I’d like. Though I make an effort to eat enough to keep up with my busy lifestyle, I go through phases where I have a hard time keeping weight on. 

That’s a big part of why I tend to think negatively on the rampant weight loss industry and the media’s obsession with weight loss. However, I suppose my perspective does help balance my viewpoint and requires me to take several sides of an issue into account when I read nutrition and health articles, especially those concerning weight. 
Today I had a check up with my doctor, and was frustrated to find I’m not quite where I should be. While most people would be thrilled with the prescription she gave me: “peanut butter, shakes, and ice cream,” it’s tough to consciously go against pretty much everything I hear and read. 
Guess it’s back to sneaking nuts and cheese and dried fruit into things and trying to be mindful to take in more calorie-dense foods. One good thing about having some knowledge of nutrition and how to meet my needs is that it does make it easier to know what to do to keep myself healthy. The issue, of course, is always habit, turning off the autopilot once in a while. 
Oh well, at least summer’s coming, which makes ice cream a pretty easy choice. I wish New York would adopt Dairy Queen, that’s one of the few things from the suburbs I miss!
Happy Memorial Day. Hope you have a great long weekend planned!

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quote of the day

Posted on May 20, 2009 | Leave a comment

“…I mean, you get people taking a taxi to the gym! Only in America. You know, it’s not like you need to even join a gym to get exercise. Just find the nicest, most expensive gym you wish you could afford and walk to it–and then walk back…”

–instructor during a class discussion about “engage in physical activity” as part of the dietary guidelines put out by the USDA/HHS.
I was amused. She’s got a point. Living in New York, especially, it’s pretty easy to get exercise just walking around. Sometimes you get places faster that way. And besides, with all this swine flu hype still in the media, walking to where you’ve got to go is all the more appealing.

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Heat & Eat At Your Own Risk

Posted on May 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

On the front page of today’s New York Times was an article about ConAgra‘s attempts to figure out which of the 25 ingredients in their frozen chicken pot pie had caused salmonella poisoning in an estimated 15,000 people in 2007. 

To deal with the problem, they told consumers to heat the pie to 165 degrees, using a thermometer to ensure safety. The Times tested this found it ain’t so easy. 
And ConAgra isn’t the only company to be in this position. Other food companies are revamping their food safety notices and instructions in hopes that consumers will be sure to cook food thoroughly and avoid infection. You hear that? It’s in your hands, kids.  
What especially creeps me out is that there are so many ingredients in the pie in the first place. Worse, a lot of companies reportedly don’t even know who supplies all those ingredients!
Perhaps I’m hyper-sensitive to that issue right now because I recently read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, which explores how all the added nutrients and additives in food have us consuming more and more “edible foodlike substances,” products of food science rather than nature.  
Sure, that thing in front of you may look like a loaf of bread, but what’s with the “azodicarbonamide” and “triticale?” I thought bread was basically just flour, water, yeast, and salt. 
I know that in our fridge, we have a hearty loaf of Arnold’s Grains & More DOUBLE PROTEIN. Yikes! Wouldn’t it be better to get protein from sources in which nature intended there to be protein? Yet we still bought it because, eh, this is what was on sale this week. Besides, people who follow a vegetarian diet need to get as much protein from alternative sources as possible, right? I hate feeling like I’m being swayed by marketing, but I guess it’s hard to avoid.  

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"Happy Everything to Everyone!" Adventures in Corporate America

Posted on May 15, 2009 | Leave a comment


To pay my bills right now, I work several jobs, one of which involves the occasional on-site meeting in a very corporate environment. Today included such a meeting, complete with a 12:30 break for cake (hah, that rhymes) in the Career Services department. At 12:34 exactly, a straggler knocked on the conference room door. 

“Oh, is it…time?” my supervisor said. 
My stomach was growling for real food, and I just wanted to get through the meeting as quickly as possible so as to obtain said real food, but I mean, I’m just the lowly hired ghost-writer. And who am I to turn down free cake anyway? 12:30 is just a really awkward time for baked goods.
When we walked down the hall, there was a substantial crowd gathered about a substantial cake on which was written: HAPPY 27th ANNIVERSARY MARY BETH, LESLIE, JOHN and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY. 
5 candles, which Terry himself blew out as everyone clapped. Wax flew
“Happy everything to everyone!” Leslie sang, a hint of sarcasm in her voice (love her). 
 Terry’s vibrant handling of the knife kind of reminded me of me at my twenty-first birthday party (see above), but that’s another entry for another day. 
What really got me was how excited (!) everybody was to have cake in the middle of the workday. Like, wow. On the one hand, I wish that did it for me, but on the other…
My supervisor joked that instead of food, maybe the company should commemorate stuff by handing around cigarettes and letting employees get the hell outside for a few minutes. Those weren’t her exact words, but cigarettes were mentioned in that context. 
I know that when I’ve worked regularly in offices, I’ve made sure to take “imaginary cigarette” breaks. Sometimes you just need to get the hell outside. Why do you need a carcinogenic excuse? 
I’m not putting down birthday cake—I had a few bites of the frosting, and it was pretty good. It just bummed me out to see so many adults so excited about it. 
There’s a whole slew of studies and info out there about how you eat more in groups and at celebrations, and I can only imagine how it could add up if you work in a company with a lot of employees where you’re expected to “participate” in office activities. That can be a lot of pressure, regularly having multi-layered cakes languishing in front of you, taunting, participate…eat me…
I guess the same goes for co-workers with candy jars or people who leave sweets in break rooms, etc. Some people have a hard time saying no even when they should be making more of an effort to say yes to healthy foods that will actually give them energy to get through their day.
Still, it kind of took me back to snack time in kindergarten, which is a much more functional practice that totally shouldn’t have gotten taken out of the agenda after the age of 6. As adults, our perception of what a snack is can be pretty warped. When did juice and crackers give way to monmouth pastries and sugary drinks?
I also wish we could bring nap time back. And recess. I think that would do us all some good. Getting enough rest and outdoor time makes for a happier, more efficient worker, in my humble opinion. 

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Emotional Ties

Posted on May 11, 2009 | Leave a comment
Our media focuses so much on emotional eating (comfort foods, anyone?) yet rarely examines emotional “not-eating.” Some people lose their appetite when stressed out or may (consciously or not) limit their intake when other areas of their life are weighing on them. 
Another thing not often discussed, given the subjectivity of the topic, is the way some of us avoid certain foods with which we have negative associations. While many people have foods they turn to to make themselves feel good, many of us avoid and/or refuse to eat certain foods with which we have negative associations. 
I think there are varying degrees to which this avoidance affects someone’s life, but regardless, I wish there was more info out there about it. So many times, I pick up a magazine or read a website, only to see yet another article about how to create a strategy or deal with the temptation to eat to make yourself feel better. Um, what about for people who have the opposite problem? 
Personally, I just don’t think it’s fair. Still, the $40 billion weight loss industry is pretty damn healthy, and the magazines know where their ad money comes from. It keeps things running to go on feeding that machine rather than take a step to the side and address some other related issues. 
While I do find a lot of information about weight loss interesting (especially the different ways in which publications regurgitate the same few studies every month/week/etc), it’s, like, “Hello! Not everyone is trying to lose weight!” 
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or not, exploring your emotional connections to food can be incredibly valuable and helpful, though I guess it probably goes without saying that it’s best to delve into that with a therapist or trusted confidant rather than read about it in Glamour or Shape. 

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When to say "No"

Posted on May 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

Working for an acupuncturist, I’ve been learning quite a bit about how practices are grown and maintained. One of the things I never knew about before was online marketing through services such as Google Adwords, which enables you to place bids on keywords so your company’s ad shows up when someone searches for that word or phrase.

Last night, while I was looking over recent activity, Chris commented on one of the keywords. 
“PMS weight gain?” Do people really come in for that? 
We ended up having an interesting conversation/debate about where the lines are drawn in terms of when a minor annoyance or discomfort becomes an issue worth seeking treatment for. What “counts” as a medical condition?
He is more of the “rock and roll, deal with it” camp, whereas I am hesitant to tell someone else to man up—especially a woman at the mercy of her hormones. I feel like everybody has different thresholds for pain and responds to triggers in various ways. How do I know that what feels like one of the less pleasant parts of life to me doesn’t equal a debilitating ailment to another person?
(This is why I could never work for an insurance company)
Still, that’s not to say Chris doesn’t have a point. It’s just hard to know when to say when. I always wonder how practitioners make that decision not to treat someone or whether to refer them to someone else. I feel like you really can’t teach that, that it’s a sense you have to develop through experience, being able to gauge whether a person who comes in for the first time would actually benefit from your services.
It makes me think of something a friend told me in college about palm readers. He said that several different palm readers have refused to read his palm, explaining that it’s “too old.” This has become how he decides for himself whether someone is for real. 
That sounds like a pretty good measurement to me. We don’t always like to hear “No,” especially in our “fix me now” culture, but sometimes that is exactly what we need to hear. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hear someone tell me I am equipped to deal with my own issues or at least be pointed in the right direction to someone who can give me the help I need rather than just being given (for a fee), what I think I need or want. 

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White bean and escarole soup

Posted on May 2, 2009 | Leave a comment



I can’t believe it’s already May. The weather hasn’t quite decided how it feels about warming up yet, apparently. It was cool and drizzly this morning, so I went to the market and bought a ton of escarole and other soup greens to use for a white bean and escarole soup. 
I threw in some veggie sausage near the end, to add a little extra protein. Vegetarian sausage is one of my favorite fake meat items—it’s really great sliced up in soups and things, but it’s also good if you mash it up with a fork and use it in sauces too. Very easy to work with. 
I also threw in some dried goji berries because I have some lying around and, well, why not? They added some nice color and hopefully some of those ultra-marketable antioxidants without screwing up the flavor of the soup.
 I just had some for lunch, and I am very pleased with myself. For some reason, making soup is one of the most relaxing things—maybe because it’s so hard to mess up.
I’ve got to get better at taking food pictures though. At least you can kind of tell it’s the beginnings of soup in this shot…

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