Letting Go of Complexity

Mar 30th, 2005

How much simpler would your life feel if you were able to let go of some of the complexity? I don’t know about you, but now and then throughout the year I feel totally overcome with demands on my time and talents. My energy sinks because I think “How can I get all of this done…and do it well?” If I’m smart enough to stop, breathe, and take a look at what’s going on in my life, I always come up with solutions. The answer usually lies in letting go of something – commitments, goals, projects, and physical things. So let’s get clear on what some of these complexities might be.

What Do I mean by Complexity?

The quick answer is that complex is not simple. When life is complex that usually means you’ll need to do some juggling, planning, scheduling, maintaining, and prioritizing. These things require physical, mental, and emotional energy. If a project or job is complex, that can actually be fun – a challenge. But when life is complex, there’ll likely be an energy drain and a stress reaction.

Things That Can Make Life Feel Too Complex

• Commitments every night of the week
• Juggling child care
• Packed weekends with little or no quiet, down time
• Late work hours (by choice)
• Kids enrolled in tons of activities – that you need to coordinate and drive them to
• Too many possessions – shopping sprees
• Multiple Credit cards
• Lots of pets – goldfish, hamsters, 5 dogs, 6 cats, 3 birds, giant turtle
• Gift buying – long list of people to buy for, long list of celebrated holidays to buy for
• Large selection of Plants – to trim, water, debug
• Collections – vases, dolls, tools, etc.
• Stuffed closets, drawers, and cabinets
• Ornate decorations – to dust, care for, insure, etc.
• Holiday celebrations – with the works!
• Color coded filing system that you can’t remember how to use
• Volunteer commitments
• Membership in committees and boards
• Short order cook – making a different meal for each family member
• Multiple jobs – so you can buy extras

Is this a good time to take a small action step now? See if the activities on the worksheet catch your attention and inspire you to act. Nothing changes without action. Is there some mental shift you could make now?

Comments Please

What’s complex in your life? What would you like to simplify? Share your comments and challenges by clicking on the "comments" link below.

Smoking and Your Heart Rate

Mar 24th, 2005

You never know what will be the one thing that will motivate you to quit smoking. Maybe it will be this little exercise.

Take your pulse before and after smoking to see the effect of smoking on your heart rate.

Before Smoking, take your pulse: number of beats in 10 seconds _____ x 6 = _____ beats per minute (example: 14 beats in 10 seconds x 6 = 84 beats per minute)

After Smoking take your pulse: number of beats in 10 seconds _____ x 6 = _____ beats per minute What is the difference in beats per minute? _____

How to Take Your Pulse

1. Take your pulse on the the inside of your wrist – thumb side. Or take it at the carotid artery in the neck just below your jaw bone on the side of the neck. Do not use your thumb because there is a pulse in your thumb, and do not press hard on your neck because this could affect the pulse. Feel around until you feel a strong pulse.
2. Count the number of beats for 10 seconds.
3. Multiply this number by 6 to get the number of beats per minute.

How many beats per minute could you save your heart if you quit smoking?

Take the difference between the number of beats per minute before and after smoking and multiply this number by 60 = _____ Beats Per Hour Saved Take the difference between the number of beats per minute before and after smoking and multiply this number by 24 = _____ Beats Per Day Saved

Take the difference between the number of beats per minute before and after smoking and multiply this number by 365 = ______ Beats Per Year Saved

What did you think of this exercise? Were you surprised? Did it take you even a tiny step closer to thinking about quitting? If yes, then you have been 100% successful. It’s the little things that add up to big things. Keep looking for other little things that will help tip the scales toward quitting.

Invitation and Comments

What is your biggest challenge related to quitting smoking or staying quit? Write your comment or question in the comments link below.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by Eating Greens

Mar 17th, 2005

• Beta carotene (the dark outer leaves contain the most beta carotene)
• Vitamin C, A, B6, and E
• Fiber
• Various minerals – especially iron and calcium

Interesting Tid Bits about Greens

• Countries whose populations eat primarily vegetarian diets (including China) can get their total calcium needs met from eating greens.
• Of the greens, dandelion and turnip greens contain the most calcium.
• A pound of raw greens cooks down to about 1/2 cup.

Preparing Greens

Greens are great spring cleansers. So it’s the perfect time to buy and eat them! When grocery shopping this week, I saw a beautiful bunch of dandelion greens and bought them as an experiment. I had never cooked this kind of greens but assumed it would be similar to cooking other greens. I sauteed them with onions and portabella mushrooms and added a little salt. Very tasty. Here are a few additional preparation tips for greens:

• Clean them thoroughly. Trim off any roots and swish them in a large bowl of water. Do not soak them. You may notice sand and other debris in the bottom of the bowl after rinsing them. Not to worry! They do come from the earth so a little grit is normal.
• Cut off particularly tough or inedible stems.
• Saute in a small amount of oil with fresh chopped garlic, onions or leeks. You may also enjoy adding stock. Greens are also great additions to soups.
• When serving, you may want to top the cooked greens with slivered almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds or other nuts/seeds of your choice.

Why not give greens a try? They pack a huge nutritional punch and are becoming more widely available. Ask the produce manager if they have greens from local farmers.

Comments Please

Are you a greens expert? Do you love greens? If you have tips for growing, buying, cooking, or eating greens, please let us know in the comments section. Click on "Comments." Greens are a very under-appreciated vegetable. Let’s pool our talents and enthusiasm to shine the light on this awesome vegetable.

Tipping the Scales in Your Favor

Mar 14th, 2005

Do you like the way you look naked? If you want a laugh here’s a song that may interest you.

We have a love affair with weight scales. Actually it’s more of a love-hate relationship–always looking for ways to tip the scales in our favor. I received this list of tips for "ideal" weighing from a club member and I thought I’d share.

1. Weigh yourself with clothes on, after dinner… as well as in the morning, without clothes, before breakfast, because it’s nice to see how much weight you’ve lost over- night.
2. Never weigh yourself with wet hair.
3. When weighing, remove everything, including glasses. In this case, blurred vision is an asset. Don’t forget the earrings, these things can weigh at least a pound.
4. Use cheap scales only, never the medical kind, because they are always five pounds off…to your advantage.
5. Always go to the bathroom first.
6. Stand with arms raised, making pressure on the scale lighter.
7. Don’t eat or drink in the morning until AFTER you’ve weighed in, completely naked, of course.
8. Weigh yourself after a haircut, this is good for at least half a pound of hair (hopefully).
9. Exhale with all your might BEFORE stepping onto the scale (air has to weigh something, right?)
10. Start out with just one foot on the scale, then holding onto the towel rack in front of you, slowly edge your other foot on and slowly let off of the rack. Admittedly, this takes time, but it’s worth it. You will weigh at least two pounds less than if you’d stepped on normally.

My recommendation is to consider the scales as ONE indication of how you’re doing weight wise. If you’re hooked on weighing yourself, you may need a 12-step program to get a grip . Weighing once a week, or better yet once a month should be plenty. An even better measure, though, is to have a test pair of pants. If you can still fit into them comfortably, your body composition is about the same as it was last time you tried them on. If you wear baggy clothes and sweatshirts, this isn’t a good measure. So pick a pair of jeans or pants that don’t have much give.

If you want a little fun and have a lot of courage, look at yourself in the mirror – jump – and see what wiggles that shouldn’t wiggle. But that’s just for fun and a silly game.

Here’s that song again

Death of a Junk Food Idol – Commentary

Mar 5th, 2005

My talented friend and chef Hilary sent the very funny piece to me about the death of the Pillsbury Doughboy after 71 years as an American icon. You must read that funeral ditty first so what follows will make sense.

I emailed Hilary and asked for her take on it. I knew it was a funny internet piece that was swiftly being passed around, but I wanted to see what she thought about why it’s so funny (to us), not to everyone. Here’s her email response:

I am sure that many of the people I sent this to will not make any of these connections. They will just see it as another cute thing about the doughboy they love because we were indoctrinated with his almost intolerable cuteness at a very young age.

I really should have changed the subject line to Good News!!! It seems that folks are more inclined to quickly read a sad news subject (isn’t that sad:)

Do you realize that many countries do not allow companies to market foods to children that are unhealthy, or at the very least, place restrictions on their marketing tactics? Here in the good ol’ USA – I bet if I was at a party with more than 20 people there would be someone there that would punch my lights out if I started in on this imaginary doughboy.

Hell, there is a hugh doughboy in a lovely penthouse overlooking The Country Club Plaza in KC- for all to see. Everyone loves it! Everytime I have driven by this monstrosity with a friend or family member they say “Ahhhhhh,” followed by a momment of silence – reverence, I guess. It makes me want to scream, but I say nothing because their love for this icon goes to a very deep, unreal place. They think he is real, and not the result of a very brillant marketing scheme that makes people feel obliged to purchase this insanely-tasty unreal food, get addicted to it, and blindly defend the goodness of it to their death (which it helped speed up).

The good news!!!!! He is dead!! I received this e-mail from Mike Hursey who is the head of the Kansas City slow food movement. He gets it, and a lot of other people do too! It’s really happening!!!! People are turning away from this food in large numbers. I am so hopeful.

Thanks for asking my input- here it goes.

• yeast-infection- exactly what high sugar foods will give you
• fat-belly – what refined white rolls are made to give to us
• grave site pilled high with flours – refined grains are the biggest health offender- high glycemic index resulting in a multitude of diseases from adrenal fatigue, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, thyroid dysfunction, cancer… I could go on.
• not a very smart cookie – I could make cookies for people that would nourish them and taste good. Although the people that are used to eating refined crack-like food find that real food tastes wierd. Once they get off the doughboy pipe, these foods taste like the junk they are.
• half-baked schemes – it’s not a secret any longer.
• rose quickly – yes, of course, they literally rose quickly. Figuratively, most people that rise quickly to fame end up on a behind-the-music episode on E. In the grand scheme of things he hasn’t been around that long.

Why did I crack up when I read it??? Why did all my friends that shot me an e-mail right back say it was the funniest thing they have read in awhile? Honestly, as much as I think everyone loves him- deep down they know they have been duped and they are overjoyed with laughter to know the little demon died of a gargantuan yeast infection – like the one his kind has given us so many times.

Times is a changing. People are getting wiser. It’s all so very good. Don’t forget to skip at least one time in celebration of doughboy’s passing – before he ever became a man!

Hilary

Junk Food Idol Dies at 71

Mar 5th, 2005

A friend sent me this little spoof:

It is with saddest heart that I pass on the following news. Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection, and complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, who as a bun in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Buttersworth, Hungry Jack, The California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy, and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart “cookie”, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he still, as a crusty old man, was considered a roll model for millions.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

May there be more funerals like this to kill off the other junk food idols.