Delay is increasingly expensive.  Take care of yourself today!

Having Fun!

Self-care isn’t just about taking care of your body.  It’s also about taking care of your mind and your spirit, and everything else that encompasses your life.

Tomorrow morning Toby and I are headed out to Cincinnati to join up with my two sisters and other family members.  We’re each bringing equipment, gadgets, potions, and notions for our spa day–probably Saturday.  

No doubt my niece will manage the spa activities.  She’s a natural entrepreneur and all around fun being.  She’ll set up the equipment, take our orders, write up a price sheet, and take great care of us.  We’ll gab and chat and give her a tip. 

We’ll ask the guys to join us….and we know they won’t!

I’m going to load Toby up in the back of my Vibe and head on out first thing in the morning.  What fun.  Speaking of fun, do you have enough fun?  If you don’t, I highly recommend it.  It’s good for just about anything that ails you.

How about having some fun this weekend?  Tell us about it at the comment link below. 

DIABETES WALK IN OVERLAND PARK, TOPEKA, AND WICHITA - sign up to join in!

Step Out and make a difference! Diabetes takes a devastating toll on more than 23 million adults and children in the US, and the number is growing every day. Diabetes is linked to nearly 300,000 deaths a ear, and increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney disease and blindness. Chances are that a family member, friend or colleague has been touched by diabetes.

It’s time for Kansas to Take Steps Now to Fight Diabetes!

Join hundreds of people across the state in the annual signature event for the American Diabetes Association - Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes! The event raises funds to support the American Diabetes Association’s mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. The ADA’s mission is carried out through educational programs and services for the public, as well as workplace support, camps for children with diabetes, support groups and research grants to cure diabetes. There are three walk sites throughout the state so sign up for one of them today! Register online at www.diabetes.org/stepout for one of the following walk sites:

Overland Park/Kansas City Area - Theis Park on the Country Club Plaza
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Registration and a Wellness Fair opens at 7:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremony and Walk begins at 9 a.m.
Questions? Contact Andrea Hughey, ahughey@diabetes.org, (888) DIABETES, ext. 6842.

Topeka, Kansas - Lake Shawnee
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Registration and a Wellness Fair opens at 9 a.m.
Opening Ceremony and Walk begins at 10 a.m.
Questions? Contact Andrea Hughey, ahughey@diabetes.org, (888) DIABETES, ext. 6842.

Wichita, Kansas - Sedgwick County Zoo
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Registration and a Wellness Fair opens:TBD
Opening Ceremony and Walk begins:TBD
Questions? Contact Jackie Nelson, jnelson@diabetes.org, (888) DIABETES, ext. 6911.

Thanks for joining this critical fight against diabetes!

Putting together your health care team (notice I didn’t say medical team)

I must say for the past couple of  years I’ve slacked off getting my annual check ups.  But since I’m doing this 30-Day Self-Care Challenge, I’ve gotten back on track. I’ve now gotten my well-woman checkup including blood work, renewed my tetanus shot, and have scheduled a mammogram.  I feel good about this.

When it comes to my health, I tend to have more faith in my ability to access the appropriate members of my “health team” than I do in running to the doctor for my every need.

Having a good doctor who listens to you, considers you a partner in your health care plan, and who respects your choices for healing is very important.  They’re skilled in treating sickness and doing surgery–both important things when you need these skills.  But who are the best choices for your medical team when you’re not in need of sickness care or surgery… when you simply want to stay well?  I look for doctors and other health care professions who are open to alternative (or complimentary medicine), but they’re often hard to find. 

Recently, I have been trouble shooting a knee problem.  My chiropractor has been very open, he listens well to me, and he has tried a variety of things to get me back to normal.  I appreciated his approach very much.  Feeling that I needed a little more of a “look inside” my knee, I made an appointment for an ex-ray and a visit with a physical therapist.  He cared more about interacting with his clipboard than he did with me.  I felt that he perceived himself as the expert and that I didn’t know anything–big him, little me–as is sadly so common in the medical model.  I found the experience awkward, embarrassing, and unsatisfactory–and in a later conversation with him when he called to schedule physical therapy with me–I told him of my unsatisfactory experience. 

Next, I went to a physician group that specializes in orthopedic injuries, rehabilitation, and surgery.  The doctor who saw me was young and I was hopeful that he would have an open mind about health care.  So I told him about the positive effects I had received from chiropractic and an herbal tonic I had been rubbing on my knee.  During my visit, his demeanor felt stern, unfriendly, critical.  In that short visit he gave me a lecture about the knee tonic saying that my positive experience was the placebo effect and that it couldn’t possibly have helped me because herbs and supplements are not regulated by the FDA, etc.  Next, he gave me a lecture about chiropractors saying they were only trained in the spine and that they wouldn’t know anything about knees.  He knows this because he had visited chiropractic web sites!  I didn’t bother to argue with him except to repeat that I had gotten very good care with my chiropractor. 

This PT and MD were so old school I couldn’t believe it.  Don’t they get it that they have competition in the natural healing arena that is growing by leaps and bounds in popularity?  And if they continue to cut the patient out of the conversation, they won’t get very far with healing.  After all, the patient lives in their body–they know it better than any so-called expert could ever know it.  And it’s up to each one of us to be the best possible caretaker of our bodies–it’s one of our main responsibilities if we want to live a healthy, happy life.

I recommend putting together a strong health care team that you can access when you need help and advice about your physical health.  Select professionals who consider you an equal partner in your health care.  Your team might consist of the following professionals:

• Chiropractor
• Massage therapist and other body workers
• Energy healers
• Acupuncturist
• Herbalist
• Holistic Dentist
• Family Practitioner (MD)
• Nurse Practitioner
• Health Coach

Don’t wait until you have a health event.  Get your health care team lined up and develop good rapport with them.  They can help you stay well.

Do what it takes!

Even though I’m an exercise physiologist, I don’t really enjoy strength training.  You’ve heard me whine about this before in the 30-Day discipline experiment.  And yes, I know how to lift weights, and why I should lift weights, but….I don’t do it.

So I decided to “do what it takes.”  I hired a personal trainer and had my first session tonight.  It was great.  She loves strength training and I’m hoping it will rub off.  When I got home, I did 10 squats, 10 crunches, and 10 back extensions just to get my calisthenics muscles in gear.  I like the idea of lifting my own body weight. 

And then I had a healthy Mexican Chopped Salad.  I’ll give you the recipe for that soon–maybe tomorrow.

If you want to reach a goal and you’re struggling to succeed, think about what would help you succeed–and then do what it takes!

This is from TED:  Ideas Worth Spreading.

Themes What Makes Us Happy?

This image of pure canine joy was captured on the streets of Paris in 1989 by Elliott Erwitt.

It’s perhaps the most universal human yearning: to be happy. But this simplest of goals so often eludes us. We’re not terribly good, we humans, at knowing what we want.

“The Pursuit of Happiness” was 2004’s conference theme, but TED speakers over many years have continued this quest. (Watch the videos for each speaker by clicking the links).  Daniel Gilbert’s astonishing talk shows how we’re poor predictors of what will actually make us happy. Stefan Sagmeister shares how great design contributed to his happiest moments, suggesting that the secret may be attention to detail. And Malcolm Gladwell, tongue in cheek, explores what we might learn about the pursuit of happiness through one man’s quest to make the perfect pasta sauce.

But suppose we understand happiness. How, then, do we find it? Carl Honore says the key is, simply, to slow down. Pastor Rick Warren appeals for a life of spiritual purpose. And Barry Schwartz thinks a little less choice might do us all a lot of good.

The benefits of trimming back…..

I received the following email today from a colleague describing precautions a popular speaker in the EveryDay Qi speaker series is taking to prepare for Hurricane Fay.  I think it’s great self-care advice.

Dr. Sears is preparing for tropical storm Fay, which could well reach Category 1 hurricane status by the time she reaches the Florida coast…

Now Dr. Sears is no stranger to the destruction these storms can bring, as he lost some 200 trees on his property over two years and three storms…

What did he do to prepare this time…?

He trimmed and pruned all of the 65 species of trees and shrubs on his property, piling up branches as high as his house…

How exactly will this help…?

By trimming back all that foliage, Dr. Sears reduced the amount of surface that could serve as a wind trap, reducing the chance for damage from high winds…

Let me ask you this…

What can YOU trim back in your life that might serve as a trap for destructive winds that could come your way?

How about trimming back on letting
negative emotions control your thinking or cutting back on the amount of unhealthy snacks you are consuming…

Pruning just one or two negative things from your life can potentially save you from a bad storm down the road…

But there’s only ONE catch…

Be sure to start trimming well
before the storm arrives at your door!

Do you get enough deep, high quality sleep?  If you don’t you’re more likely to overeat, get sick, be crabby, and be accident prone. 

One of the biggest challenges my clients have with sleep is getting to bed early enough.  They want to stay up late to get things done.  Or they want a little time to themselves after everyone else is asleep. 

Have you noticed, though, that once you stay up beyond 10:30 or so, you start having the munchies and you get a second wind and can’t fall asleep?  That’s because, according to Ayurvedic medicine, your digestive fires heat up again.  Getting on a regular sleep schedule helps bring the body in balance.

How do you get good sleep?
Over time I’ve figured out several things that help me get good sleep:

• Go to sleep at about the same time every night.
• Make getting to sleep a priority.
• Wear an eye mask to block out any light.  You can purchase these in the pharmacy section of any discount store.
• Make sure the room temperature is comfortable.  I use a small fan to keep the air circulating so I don’t get too warm.
• Wear ear plugs if you’re a light sleeper.  They won’t block out noises that you need to hear.
• Don’t work or watch TV right up until bedtime.  Your brain needs quiet time to “download” events that occurred during the day.  If you go to bed without allowing this down time, your brain will start this processing while you’re trying to sleep.  One way or another, your brain needs time to process the day’s events–why not make it while you’re awake?
• Don’t rely on sleeping pills.  Occasional use won’t hurt, but if you regularly can’t sleep, get to the heart of the problem.  Sleeping pills are powerful drugs, and they can have side effects, including changing the kind and quality of sleep you get.  My mother fell and broke her leg after getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  She was still under the influence of a sleeping pill and got disoriented.  She has vowed to stay off them.
• As you start to wind down in the evening, take a hot bath or shower, or sip a cup of Sleepy Time tea with camomile.  It will help your body and brain slow down.  Camomile is an herb, and there are no negative side effects.
• I read something inspirational for 20-30 minutes before bed and that almost always gets me in the mood to sleep peacefully.

If you’d like to get more sleep, create a comfortable evening sleep routine.  Routines help us stay in balance. 

I know I’ve just scratched the surface of ways to get a good night’s sleep.  What can you add to my list?

Healthy Waldorf Salad Recipe 

I love Waldorf salad–it’s loaded with nutritious, tasty ingredients.  This is a recipe from Denise Austin’s Morning Stretch e-newsletter.

Wonderful Waldorf Salad!

Sick of the same old sandwiches for your lunchtime eats? Then check out this new twist on an old favorite — Waldorf salad! Throw it together easily for a delicious and satisfying lunch that’s high in protein! It also has less total fat and more healthy fats! So eat up and enjoy!

Chicken Waldorf Salad Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
2 cups cooked chicken breast cut into 1-inch chunks
4 small apples, chopped
4 tablespoons low-fat plain yogurt
4 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons walnut halves or almonds
1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, apples, yogurt, raisins, walnuts or almonds, and mayonnaise.

Per serving: 276 calories, 12g fat, 26g sugar, 77mg sodium, 33g carbohydrates, 4.5g fiber, 13g protein

7 pounds!  So far that’s the result of my new self-care program.  I’ve never taken better care of myself in my life.  I’ll tell you about it, but first a little background.

As a wellness environmental designer, I think a lot about how our lifestyle choices are shaped by our personal environments (fast food restaurants, technology, busy lives, demanding jobs, sedentary lives, coffee shops, bars, athletic events (that we watch), and on and on.  There are endless opportunities to indulge in high fat, highly processed foods and beverages and many of us do so on a daily basis.  Rather than exercise and watch what we eat and drink, many prefer to take pills to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol and eat Olestra so that they can have their fat and eat it too.  And– I just posted about a pill that will take the place of exercise!  When that’s approved, that will be popular.

As a collective we tend to eat like the Romans, and if we keep it up we’re headed for a fall.  I was headed for a fall and didn’t know how to prevent it without giving up my daily pleasures.  I knew that my morning coffee was part of the hook that kept me tied to my old eating habits.  And my eating habits are good compared to the standard American diet.  But I couldn’t imagine not drinking a cup of coffee every morning.  Now I barely miss it - honestly.  I’m also not consuming any processed foods, sugar, soda, or alcohol.  Yes, I’m amazed too! 

I think people love diet plans because they promise us great success.  That promise gives us the impetus to give it a try.  Maybe this one will work! Diet plans often begin with a ritual that helps us wipe the old behavior pattern slate clean while we learn new behaviors.  This is a good thing.  Out with the old, in with the new. 

If you have a lot of negative eating habits, it’s difficult to change them without having a plan that sounds exciting.  My plan as you know if you’ve read the other posts is the Mars and Venus Diet and Exercise Solution.  Again, I was inspired to try it because of the promise of balancing the brain chemistry and thereby balancing my mood.  I knew my goose would be cooked if I couldn’t stay happy while eating a pure, clean diet–I’d feel sorry for myself and long for my coffee and other temptations like ice cream.

Instead of eating like the Romans, we should eat more like the pioneers who ate a diet of simple foods.  Special, high fat foods were consumed only on special occasions–not every day.  Now that I’ve wiped my habit slate clean, I’m enjoying eating more like the pioneers.  It’s satisfying.

Do you eat more like the ancient Romans or more like the pioneers?