Tips from gaining health

Hi,

Ive been watching a documentary video on Youtube that was produced by the BBC and stars Michael Mosley. It is called, "BBC Horizon 2012: Eat, Fast and Live Longer." It appears that Michael is one of those guys who makes a living trying out bizarre things and filming it for the BBC. What he had on his mind when he did this one was his own health.

Here is a link in case you would like to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=Pfna7nV7WaM

There were two approaches to weight loss and improving health that he presented that I am interested in. One of them is very similar to what I am already doing which is to fast for one day a week, but Michael is fasting for two days a week (not in a row) and eating normally the rest of the time with no actual dietary restrictions. It seems that when you start fasting in this manner your body gets used to eating smaller meals and you dont actually overeat to compensate on the days in between. Also the fast day actually includes one meal of about five hundred to six hundred calories depending on whether you are male or female, so it is not actually a total abstinence of food on the fasting days. (Right now I am actually fasting for 24 hours one day a week with no food for the duration.)

The other approach involves alternating fast and feast days. With this approach, you also eat one five to six-hundred calorie meal every other day. In between you eat what you want. I suppose if you simply did not count Sunday as one of the days, you could always fast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Feast on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday -- leaving Sunday as simply a day off which will obviously be a feasting day for the normal human being. This then works out to be three fasting days per week on alternating days. I like the idea of managing it this way because it turns into a regular schedule that is easier to remember and manage if you always do the same thing on the same day of the week.

One of the things that attracts me to the alternating day fast is that I might be able to lose weight faster and also will not have to stress about what I eat on the feasting days. I could simply eat normally for me.

Another thing that attracts me to the fasting protocols is the idea that your health actually improves because you are eating less. Blood sugar levels normalize. Fat begins to disappear. Cholesterol gets into good ranges and IGF-1 levels reduce so your chances of getting cancer and heart disease drastically drop down to much lower levels. According to more than one of the researchers in the film there really is no better or faster way to improve your health than with fasting.

I dropped off a lot of water weight a couple of weeks ago and do not seem to be putting it back on. Yet. I did notice today that I seem to be a bit swollen. I believe it may be due to what I think is a yeast infection as a result of having taken an antibiotic. It is quite uncomfortable and Ive been doubling up on probiotics to try to get past it. Im beginning to think I might call my doctor to see if she might give me some fluconazole to speed up the process and reduce the discomfort. It not only affects me in the normal female way, but in my sinuses and my eyes, too. I have one more thing Im going to try tonight and if that does not work, Ill definitely call my doctor tomorrow.

I am considering trying out the three days of fasting per week to see if I can (or will) comply with it, and if I do, wondering if it will take some more of this weight off at a faster pace. Im not in a hurry, Im just tired of wasting time. Ive been at this for going onto two years and have only lost 45 pounds. I want more and I dont want to be held back any more. I see others who lose twice and three times that much in a third of the time, so surely, I should be able to move along at a better rate than what Ive been doing. Im not interested in fad diets, I want something I can maintain for the long haul -- perhaps the rest of my life.

I suppose if I cannot do the three days per week, surely I could do the two. Perhaps I could alternate weeks and do two fast days one week and three the next, making sure to eat healthy in between. That is just me thinking. I seem to get carried away some times. Since I just completed a twenty-four hour fast, perhaps this is a good time to start. I will have to give it some more thought and preparation.

I need to iron out the details like when do the fasts start and when do they finish. I have the idea that what they are talking about is

Monday: sleep/one meal/sleep (all fasting days)
Tuesday: sleep/ eat normally / sleep (all normal days including Sunday)

Right now, with the one-day fast, I time it from the last meal on one day to the same time the next day. It seems that no matter how you calculate it you never really go an entire day without actually eating something. It is just a matter of deciding when you are going to eat your one meal on the fast day because there will be a few hours between eating and sleeping that will need to be managed consciously in order to make it work.

On the fasting days you can drink water or plain tea with no sugar or milk. I suppose for those who drink coffee they could probably do coffee without much trouble, too. Im not a coffee drinker so Ill stick to water and tea. Hot tea seems to satisfy my tummy. I also chew Xylitol gum on my fast days, too. So it boils down to water, tea, and gum for me during the hours Im not eating. Having one meal a day seems, from this perspective of not having yet tried it, to be perhaps easier than the twenty-four hours. But on second thought, perhaps it is not, because the twenty-four hours start on a day when food was eaten and end on a day that food will be eaten so doing the sleep/one meal/sleep may actually turn into more hours of not eating. It just seems more doable because you can eat that one meal -- and you can have your one meal at any time you choose.

So how do you plan the exercise? I usually exercise on the days Ive listed as fasting days, so I suppose I would want to eat my one meal after I exercise. From the reading Ive been doing I find that most experts advise that it is best to exercise during a fast and then eat right after the exercise. I guess I wont know how it will go until I try it.

Another thing. There were no discussions of what kind of food to eat, except for one man who suggested moving to more of a plant based diet, but not advocating vegetarianism or veganism. Eating meat is OK -- just a little less of it, and a few more plants. I have some of my own ideas about that, as you may well know, so I will continue to eat what I believe is healthy for me.

I know what my body reacts to: starchy carbs, wheat and grains, fruit, dairy, and mixed nuts, basically, so I will continue to limit those things. This still leaves an entire array of things I can eat from salad veggies to beef, pork and eggs. I can have fish, but I dont like fish, so "fish" means tuna to me. Occasionally I have some sardines. Chicken is good. I like to make chicken/vegetable soup.

I wanted to buy some more curry powder from Sams and discovered that they dont carry it anymore. I guess Ill have to search for the Tones brand on the internet and get it shipped to my house.

Anyway. As you can see Im still open for new diet adventures and always have the weight loss goal in mind. My next target is 299. I want to be under 300.

My blood pressure seems to be settling down at a lower level than I had been experiencing and Im happy with that.

Check out that video. I thought it was really interesting. (see link above)

Love you,

Be back soon,

Marcia

I eat a handful or so of salt-free nuts (a little less than 1/2 peanuts - which are also apparently good for me) 6 days a week - I will try to eat some on Sundays as well after reading this:

Nut consumption = reduced death rate

In a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers looked at the association of nut consumption with total and cause-specific mortality among 76,464 women in the Nurses Health Study and 42,498 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Consumption of nuts, including tree nuts (such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts), was inversely associated with total mortality in both men and women, independent of other predictors for death. In addition, there were significant inverse associations for deaths due to cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease.

"Compared with those who did not eat nuts, individuals who consumed nuts (serving size of one ounce) seven or more times per week had a 20% lower death rate and this association was dose-dependent," Nuts contain important nutrients such as unsaturated fats, high quality protein, vitamins (i.e., vitamin E, folate and niacin) minerals (i.e., magnesium, calcium and potassium) and phytochemicals—all of which may offer cardioprotective, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

I dont drink any sugar-sweetened beverages but probably need to cut back on desserts a little more:

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption increases endometrial cancer risk

Postmenopausal women who reported the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages had a 78 percent increased risk for estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer (the most common type of this disease). This association was found in a dose-dependent manner: the more sugar-sweetened beverages a woman drank, the higher her risk.

A diet high in sugar and saturated fats increases the risk of premature death from any cause

Chronic inflammation appears to play a key role in the development of cancer, along with heart disease and diabetes. Now a new study presented today suggests that eating a diet high in sugar, saturated fats and others foods that promote inflammation increases the risk of premature death from any cause, including cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.

Im doing better with coffee consumption:

Coffee may help perk up your blood vessels

The caffeine in a cup of coffee might help your small blood vessels work better, according to research presented at the American Heart Associations Scientific Sessions 2013.A study of 27 healthy adults showed – for the first time – that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the bodys smaller blood vessels work. Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

This is good news:

Statin Use Not Linked to a Decline in Cognitive Function

Aerobic exercise improves memory, brain function and physical fitness

A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas published online in the open-access journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience found that engaging in a physical exercise regimen helps healthy aging adults improve their memory, brain health and physical fitness.

I already take aspirin on non-soccer days at bedtime for its positive effect on blood pressure:

Bedtime aspirin may reduce risk of morning heart attack


Im down to Co-Enzyme Q-10, Vitamins D-3 and B-12 and fish/fax seed oil:


Vitamins Benefits: Experts Unconvinced

Even though millions of Americans pop a vitamin, mineral or multivitamin supplement every day, an influential government-appointed panel of experts says the jury is still out on whether they help boost health or not.

In its draft guidelines, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said that in some cases, certain supplements, such as beta carotene or vitamin E, may actually do more harm than good. Instead of focusing on supplements, they recommend that people focus on the health benefits of a well-balanced diet instead.

"In general, the Task Force found that there is not enough evidence to determine whether you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer by taking single or paired nutrients, or a multivitamin," Task Force Co-Chair Dr. Michael LeFevre said in a news release. "However, there were two major exceptions: beta carotene and vitamin E, both of which clearly do not help prevent these diseases."

I dont use them at home - I always wonder what my outside sources use:

Corn and safflower oil may actually increase risk of heart disease

I usually saute broccoli - probably no better than boiling:

Steaming Broccoli Preserves Potential Power to Fight Cancer

The way you prepare broccoli and related vegetables can alter their potentially cancer-fighting powers, new research shows.

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are a good source of sulforaphane, a phytochemical (naturally occurring plant compound) that has shown strong anti-cancer properties in lab studies.However, the enzyme myrosinase in broccoli is needed for sulforaphane to form. If the myrosinase is destroyed, sulforaphane cannot form.

Researchers compared boiled, microwaved and steamed broccoli, and found that steaming broccoli for up to five minutes was the best way to retain its myrosinase. Boiling and microwaving broccoli for one minute or less destroyed the majority of the enzyme.

Regular aspirin use appears to be associated with an increased risk of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a leading cause of blindness in older people, and it appears to be independent of a history of cardiovascular disease and smoking, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Aspirin is one of the most widely used medications in the world and is commonly used in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, such as myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ischemic stroke. While a recent study suggested that regular aspirin use was associated with AMD, particularly the more visually devastating neovascular (wet) form, other studies have reported inconsistent findings. Smoking is also a preventable risk factor for AMD, the authors write in the study background.

Gerald Liew, Ph.D., of the University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues examined whether regular aspirin use (defined as once or more per week in the past year) was associated with a higher risk of developing AMD by conducting a prospective analysis of data from an Australian study that included four examinations during a 15-year period. Of 2,389 participants, 257 individuals (10.8 percent) were regular aspirin users.

After the 15-year follow-up, 63 individuals (24.5 percent) developed incident neovascular AMD, according to the results.

"The cumulative incidence of neovascular AMD among nonregular aspirin users was 0.8 percent at five years, 1.6 percent at 10 years, and 3.7 percent at 15 years; among regular aspirin users, the cumulative incidence was 1.9 percent at five years, 7 percent at 10 years and 9.3 percent at 15 years, respectively," the authors note. "Regular aspirin use was significantly associated with an increased incidence of neovascular AMD."

The authors note that any decision concerning whether to stop aspirin therapy is "complex and needs to be individualized."

"Currently, there is insufficient evidence to recommend changing clinical practice, except perhaps in patients with strong risk factors for neovascular AMD (e.g., existing late AMD in the fellow eye) in whom it may be appropriate to raise the potentially small risk of incident neovascular AMD with long-term aspirin therapy," the authors conclude.

Commentary: Relationship of Aspirin Use with Age-Related Macular Degeneration

In an invited commentary, Sanjay Kaul, M.D., and George A. Diamond, M.D., of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, write: "This study has important strengths and limitations. It provides evidence from the largest prospective cohort with more than five years of longitudinal evaluation reported to date using objective and standardized ascertainment of AMD."

"The key limitation is the nonrandomized design of the study with its potential for residual (unmeasured or unobserved) confounding that cannot be mitigated by multivariate logistic regression or propensity score analysis," the authors continue.

"From a purely science-of-medicine perspective, the strength of evidence is not sufficiently robust to be clinically directive. These findings are, at best, hypothesis-generating that should await validation in prospective randomized studies before guiding clinical practice or patient behavior," the authors conclude. "However, from an art-of-medicine perspective, based on the limited amount of available evidence, there are some courses of action available to the thoughtful clinician. In the absence of definitive evidence regarding whether limiting aspirin exposure mitigates AMD risk, one obvious course of action is to maintain the status quo."

Heres another reason why a healthy diet during pregnancy is critical to the future health of your children: New research published in the March 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal, suggests that pregnant mothers who consume junk food actually cause changes in the development of the opioid signaling pathway in the brains of their unborn children. This change results in the babies being less sensitive to opioids, which are released upon consumption of foods that are high in fat and sugar. In turn, these children, born with a higher "tolerance" to junk food need to eat more of it to achieve a "feel good" response.

"The results of this research will ultimately allow us to better inform pregnant women about the lasting effect their diet has on the development of their childs lifelong good perences and risk of metabolic disease," said Beverly Muhlhausler, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the FOODplus Research Centre at the School of Agriculture Food and Wine at The University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia. "Hopefully, this will encourage mothers to make healthier diet choices which will lead to healthier children."

To make this discovery, Muhlausler and colleagues studied the pups of two groups of rats, one of which had been fed a normal rat food and the other which had been fed a range of human "junk foods" during pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, the pups were given daily injections of an opioid receptor blocker, which blocks opioid signaling. Blocking opioid signaling lowers the intake of fat and sugar by preventing the release of dopamine. Results showed that the opioid receptor blocker was less effective at reducing fat and sugar intake in the pups of the junk food fed mothers, suggesting that the opioid signaling pathway in these offspring is less sensitive than for pups whose mothers are eating a standard rat feed.

"This study shows that addiction to junk food is true addiction." said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "Junk food engages the same body chemistry as opium, morphine or heroin. Sad to say, junk food during pregnancy turns the kids into junk food junkies."

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.

Last week, I came across an article in Slate, Ignore Expiration Dates, which claims that product dating is arbitrary and can largely be ignored. Since there are no food industry standards for “sell by,” “best by,” and “use by” dates, and because storage conditions will vary wildly, consumers are wise to use their judgment when deciding what to eat and what to toss.

Ignoring the “best by” date is something I do regularly. I tend to trust my nose and taste buds when deciding when food is past its prime, particularly with leftovers. It may seem reckless, but I seldom buy perishable food with such labels: never meat, occasionally dairy, and rarely eggs. Vegetables are pretty clear about letting you know when they’re done with you.

But what about the pantry? I have a bag of jasmine rice that’s been in my cupboard for at least a year. Is it time for us to part ways? How about that ancient package of texturized vegetable protein (TVP) nuggets? I can’t remember when I bought it or the last time I used it.

I mean, after a taste test of 28-year-old rolled oats, Brigham Young researchers determined that, if stored properly (sealed container, cool, dry place), dry goods and canned goods can last for years and years, taste be damned. Good news for emergency stockpilers and promising for my rice situation.

So what’s the skinny on pantry shelf life and storage? I jumped into my InterWebShip to see what I could find.

I was initially shocked at what I didn’t find: the FDA website has no recommendations for dry goods—at least not that I could find. Meat, eggs and dairy, and fruit and vegetables are covered, but grains, nuts, legumes, and spices are sadly neglected.

Fortunately, the usual culinary suspects (and one newbie) are chock full of great information:

• Shelf Life of Pantry Items from Slashfood provides a handy chart of basic dry goods and their life spans.
• The Kitchn deftly handles Condiments and Expiration Dates and Vinegar: Does It Have a Shelf Life?
• The grand dame herself, Martha Stewart, gives up a Kitchen Chart of baking staples.
• StillTasty kicks it with a comprehensive shelf life database. Just enter the food item that concerns you and get the life span and storage suggestions.

In a nutshell (4 months; longer if rigerated), dry good shelf life is less about spoilage that will make you ill and more about maintaining nutritional density and flavor. Following these storage basics will extend the life of your pantry goods and save you money:

• Cool, dry location: vital. Pantry items should be kept between 60° and 70° F
• Air-tight containers: important. Storing food in jars and canisters with tight-fitting lids increase the mileage of your goods.
• Refrigeration/freezing: helpful. The oils in nuts and flours can turn rancid over time. Refrigeration stabilizes the oils and slows the aging process.

So what about my rice and TVP? Well, according to StillTasty, because I’ve kept my rice sealed and away from heat, it will last indefinitely. TVP lasts about a year in a sealed container, but I’m pretty sure it would sustain the roaches through the nuclear winter. If I don’t use it in a month, it’s getting the heave-ho. There is no room in my pantry for emergency insect food.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr member Maksis.)

~~~

If you dug this article, you may dig:

• 20 Cheap Healthy Dishes Made from 10 Pantry Staples
• Pantry of the Gods
• A Beginner’s Guide to Beans

Sweet readers! Thanks very much for being so patient with us last week while we got drunk on Jagermeister worked on work-stuff. It was fun doing the wayback recipe thing - I hadnt looked at some of those in quite awhile, and it made me want lassis.

I had a different post set up for today, but instead, my entire body has been possessed by a zombie demon a nasty case of hives. So, instead of going to work and bringing home the bacon (mmm...bacon) like a boss, Im sitting at HOTUS computer, awaiting a swift and merciful end to my pain callback from the doctor. Its very exciting, unbelievably itchy, and also kind of weird, because this has never happened before, and I dont have any allergies, as far as I know.

And now theres one on my face. ARG.

Considering the circumstances, I figured this was as good a time as any to broach the subject of allergic reactions, especially since todays dish, Peanut Dipping Sauce from Catherine Walthers Soups + Sides, should not be eaten by those with an aversion to nuts (doy). For those without allergies, its an easy, relatively inexpensive sauce that pairs well with satay, vegetables, and dumplings, and makes for a nice changeup to straightforward soy sauce. One batch lasted us three different meals, and Id make it again right now if I wasnt furiously attempting to scratch my elbow off my body.

Anyway, back to that allergy thing. Its a topic weve covered only briefly here on CHG, but a very important one, since it affects the way some buy, prepare, bathe in, and consume food. I know several people with dairy issues, one or two with severe peanut allergies, and I grew up with a girl who was allergic to sugar. At the time, her condition seemed inconceivable and tragic (NOTE: I was eight), but now similar immune system reactions are pretty commonplace.

Happily, there are more foods and food products available for folks with allergies, though there can always be more. Well hit that topic in tomorrows Ask the Internet, but in the meantime: Do you have any food allergies yourself, or have loved ones with shellfish, nut, soy, or similar issues? How do you cope?

And with that, Im off to find a spiky hairbrush, so I may vigorously remove my epidermis. Happy Monday!

~~~

If this looks dang tasty, you will also find mucho happiness with:

• Aromatic Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Oatmeal

~~~

Peanut Dipping Sauce
Serves 6
Adapted from Catherine Walthers Soups + Sides


6 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
½ cup light coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1-2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (optional)

Mix everything thoroughly in a small bowl until smooth. Add more of any ingredient to taste as needed.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
110 calories, 8.7 g fat, 1 g fiber, 3.9 g protein, $0.30

NOTE: These calculations are without sriracha.

Calculations
6 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter: 540 calories, 48 g fat, 6 g fiber, 21 g protein, $0.62
½ cup light coconut milk: 75 calories, 7 g fat, 0 g fiber, 1.5 g protein, $0.85
1 tablespoon soy sauce: 8 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, 1 g protein, $0.09
1 tablespoon brown sugar: 34 calories, 0 g fiat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.01
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice: 3 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.13
1-2 teaspoon grated ginger: 2 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.10
TOTAL: 662 calories, 52 g fat, 6.1 g fiber, 23.4 g protein, $1.80
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): 110 calories, 8.7 g fat, 1 g fiber, 3.9 g protein, $0.30

Sweet readers! I apologize for being kind of AWOL this week. (No Wednesday article! Ack.) Wedding planning is starting to really kick in, and our world is slowly being consumed by strapless bras and canapés. How did people do this before Excel spreadsheets?

Still, it’s a strong round of links this week with various tutorials, a coupla neat new sites, and a dashing finale. (Hint: The Old Spice Guy is involved.) Enjoy!

1) Wise Bread: 50 Healthy Foods for Under $1 a Pound
Wise Bread wins. They just do. (Pic from Natalie Dee.)

2) Washington Post: Kentucky town of Manchester illustrates national obesity crisis
If you’ve ever wondered how obesity affects and why it prevails in small towns, this moving, in-depth account of Manchester is the piece to read. The line about the intersection will tell you just about everything.

3) Casual Kitchen: Knowing When Not to Be a Food Snob
Sadly, the anonymity of the interwebs often means we foodies come off like raving packs of Comic Book Guys. (“Worst. Recipe. Ever.”) When do we hold back? When is it okay to unleash our inner elitists? Dan uses a fairly recent piece by Ratio guy Michael Ruhlman to discuss.

4) Surviving and Thriving: A big meal plus leftovers for less than a buck. (Hint: Let others do most of the cooking.)
Donna Freedman waxes poetic about potlucks. Most helpful? This gem: “Deviled eggs are a big hit because everybody loves them and nobody likes to make them.” Truer words, never spoken.

5) Urlesque: Annoying Cooks on the Web – a Field Guide
The title is a tad misleading; it should really be “15 Reviewers You Meet on Community Recipe Sites.” My favorite, and the one that makes me most crazy: The Ingredient Switcher. To wit: “I hated this recipe! I followed the instructions to a T but instead of white flour I used cornstarch and I swapped the honey for chili powder. It was terrible"

6) New York Times: Hungry Girl Offer a Real Take on Diet Foods
NYT’s (first?) profile of Lisa Lillien echoes a running theme in almost all HG articles. The author is clearly wary of her endorsements and use of processed foods, but has to maintain a respectful tone out of deference to Lillien’s bagillions of followers. Despite that, it’s still one of the better Hungry Girl pieces I’ve seen.

7) The Kitchn
10 Things to Eat When You Return From Vacation
Quick, Easy Ways to Get More Vegetables Into My Diet?
You think you’re so cool, don’t you, The Kitchn? “Blah blah blah here’s another positive, incredibly helpful and thoughtful post with a bunch of pictures that put Ansel Adams to shame blah blah blah.” Yeah, we getcher point. Punks.

8) Kitchen Myths
Oodles of Alton Brown-type cooking myths, busted in no-nonsense style, presented ing Internet-circa-1996 style. I give this three Bill Clinton heads out of a possible four.

9) Marketplace: Farmers Market Guide – 20 Cities, Coast to Coast
Ooo … handy!

10) Bargaineering: How to Dry Fresh Herbs
Just in time! We inherited our friends’ CSA shipment this week, and it came with the most enormous bag of tarragon you’ve ever seen in your whole puff. Anyone for some Tarragon Pops?

HONORABLE MENTION

Jim’s Pancakes
Oh, yay! It’s amazing what you can do with a little food dye and some hungry children.

The Kitchn: Zucchini At Your Door? 12 Recipes to Help Eat It Up
Again? Again with the practical deliciousness? Harrumph.

Promo Machine UK: Discount Design - 23 Fantastically Vintage Coupons
Who wants $0.07 off a box of Life cereal?

Village Voice: Americans Getting Too Fat for Theater Seats
Hey! We’re still fat! Whee! On a related note: Has anyone seen Twilight: Eclipse? My sister and I have three questions:

1. Why are these two supernatural, smokin’ hot dudes fighting over The Most Boring Woman in the World?
2. Why is being turned into a vampire so bad? You live forever, receive awesome powers, and still get to have sex. I don’t see the downside here.
3. Where was the eclipse?

AND ALSO

New York Times: On Facebook, Telling Teachers How Much They Meant
God, I love this story. Mr. Leogrande, this one’s for you.

BoingBoing: Goodbye Old Spice Guy
I will miss you most of all. SWAN DIVE!



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You can wreck your back in any number of ways, but a few major offenders stand out: Not stretching, not paying attention to your movements, and years of wear and tear, says Nick Shamie, MD, associate professor of orthopedic neurosurgery at UCLA and a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Here are five habits that put your spine at risk and simple strategies to stop them before the damage is done.
Back Wrecker #1: Weekend Warfare

"Most often, I see people who injured themselves during a weekend basketball game or a round of golf," Shamie says. "These people think theyre athletes, but dont train like the pros, and as a result, their backs suffer."

Tackling those "Honey Do" lists at home can also set you up for injury, especially if you were idle for most of the week. Cleaning out the garage, bending over a workbench, or spending hours in the yard or garden can be just as hard on your back as anything you do on a playing field.

"Like any other part of the body, the back is likely to be injured if you havent warmed up or stretched," Shamie says.

Prevent it: "The only preventive solution Ive found for back pain is exercise," says Michael Hisey, MD, orthopedic surgeon and president of the Texas Back Institute in Denton, Texas. "The fix is to stretch and strengthen your core muscles."

The obliques -- the abdominal muscles on your sides -- are especially important for back stability, Hisey tells WebMD.

Hiseys tip: Get an inflatable exercise ball. Use it in your workouts and sit on it, instead of a chair, to engage your abs.
Back Wrecker #2: Poor Lifting Technique

"Improper bending and lifting causes back injury; thats all there is to it," says Dan McMackin, a spokesman for UPS.

Prevent it: Engage your abs to help support your back. Here are the basic principles that UPS uses for safe lifting, according to McMackin:

    * Bend your knees and keep your back straight. Dont bend at your waist.
    * Keep the object close to you. The farther away you hold it from your body, the more it stresses your back.
    * Never hold an item higher than your armpit or lower than your knees.
    * Dont move something that weighs more than 20% of your body weight.
    * Dont pivot, twist, or turn while lifting. Point your feet at the item youre lifting and face it as you pick it up. Change direction with your feet, not your waist.

Back Wrecker #3: Absentmindedness During Daily Activity

Simple tasks like taking out the trash or washing the dishes can get your spine bent out of shape if your body isnt ready.

Back Wrecker #3: Absentmindedness During Daily Activity continued...

"The movement doesnt necessarily have to be exaggerated or involve a heavy object," Hisey says. "You can hurt your back grabbing a paperclip off the floor or loading the dishwasher."

And if your mind is running on auto-pilot instead of focusing on what youre doing, you could be in trouble.

"At UPS, weve seen a higher proportion of injuries occur at the end of the shift, due to fatigue of the mind and body," McMackin says.

Prevent it: Train yourself to keep your core muscles engaged.

A simple way to do that is to pull your navel toward your spine and imagine youre wearing a corset that pulls the sides of your abs inward. Doing that throughout the day -- and especially when lifting or bending -- strengthens and supports your back, says Esther Gokhale, author of 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back and owner of Ester Gokhale Wellness Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
Back Wreckers #4 and #5: Commuting and Computing

You sit, and you sit, and you sit some more -- at work, while driving, and in front of the TV. And your back doesnt like it. Heres why.

Your discs are spongy and cushion the vertebrae in your spine, but discs have poor blood supply, Hisey says. When you move, fluid circulates through the discs. When you sit still, the fluid is wrung out, so youre depriving discs of nutrition, he says. Spending so much time behind the wheel of a car or sitting in front of a computer adds mileage to our discs, which leads to stress in your back.

"The discs in your spine are nourished by motion," Hisey says. "So sitting still is hard on your back and neck, and can do long-term damage." Studies have also shown that sitting puts more pressure on your spine than lying down or standing up.

"The worst posture is sitting and leaning forward," Shamie says. This makes you lock your pelvis and flex your spine, putting pressure on the front of the vertebrae, where your discs are. The more you arch forward and exaggerate the curve of the spine, the more pressure youre putting on your discs. "This uneven pressure on a disc puts it at high risk of rupture," Shamie explains.

Prevent it: Youre going to sit. So try these tactics to lessen its impact on your back:

    * Get up and move at least once every 20 minutes, unless youre driving. Set your screen saver to remind you; make a habit of going for a drink of water; when you answer the phone, stand up to stretch and change positions.
    * Keep your spine properly aligned by holding reading material at eye level (when sitting or standing) rather than bending over. Dont lean over a desk or table to work. Whenever possible, your spine should be straight.
    * Choose a chair that supports your back. Adjust the chair so that your feet stay flat on the floor. If the chair doesnt support your lower backs curve, place a rolled towel or small pillow behind your lower back. Remove anything from your back pockets, especially a wallet, if youll be seated for long periods of time because this puts your spine out of alignment.

Gokhale suggests doing the following exercises to help lengthen your spine:

    * Get on your hands and knees. Reach your left arm straight ahead and straighten your right leg behind you. Use your stomach muscles to stabilize. Hold for 5-10 seconds and slowly return to starting position. Switch arm and leg. Repeat 3-5 times on each side.
    * Sit tall, lengthen your spine, and let your shoulders relax. Concentrate on squeezing your shoulder blades together, keeping your arms hanging at your sides. Hold for 3-5 seconds, then release. Repeat 10-20 times.

 If All Else Fails

The experts interviewed for this story all told WebMD that most back pain should abate with in 48 hours with a nonprescription pain reliever. But in some cases, your pain could require urgent care.

You need immediate attention if you suffer any loss of bladder or bowel control with your back pain, Hisey says. This is associated with a disc thats pressing on nerves and the faster you relieve the pressure, the faster the function returns.

"Most back pain wont radiate below the waist," Shamie says. "If you feel pain in the thighs or knees, you likely have a disc herniation causing nerve compression." Seek medical attention to ensure there isnt more serious damage.

If your back pain keeps coming back, see a medical professional. You may have begun to rupture a disc or have another injury that could require treatment. "The older you are, the quicker you should get to a specialist.

Research published in the prestigious journal Diabetes Care (published by the American Diabetes Association) suggests that two ounces of nuts consumed daily when substituted for ined carbohydrate foods can prevent diabetes and the deadly complications caused by the disease. Researchers found that nuts eaten as part of a healthy diet can lower serum blood glucose and lipids to lower long-term blood sugar control as measured by the HbA1C blood test. Grab a big handful of almonds, walnuts, pecans or macadamias to ward off diabetes and metabolic syndrome, devastating conditions currently evolving to threaten human health and longevity.

Every Saturday, we post a piece from the CHG archives. This one is from March 2009.

Spend an afternoon perusing family-oriented frugality blogs, you’ll discover there are a few recurring themes. Among them: yard sales, thrift store shopping, a widespread love of free shampoo, and of course, weekly menu planning.

Menu planning, it’s argued, will streamline evenings in the home. Ma and Pa are saved money, time, and mounds of frustration because they know what the brood’s having for dinner days ahead of time. There’s no scrambling in the kitchen or supermarket, since both shopping and cooking are ined to a science. Kids (sometimes) get to have a say in what they eat, too, which makes the whole thing a family activity rather than merely a parental chore.

All in all, it’s a fantastic strategy. Even better, EVERYBODY can use it.

See, while weekly menu planning for non-families is a rare topic around the blogosphere, it’s just as monumentally helpful for post-collegiates, office workers, struggling singles, and young couples. It even offers extra benefits, mostly involving time management. Like:

• You’re saved from 8pm post-work dinner freakouts, because dinner is ALWAYS planned.
• Ingredients are guaranteed to be on hand.
• Cooking goes much faster, since you go in knowing how to prepare a meal (by instinct or through print-out recipes).
• You eat healthier, as home-cooked meals are generally much more nutritious than calorie-laden takeout or heat-and-eat dinners (Hot Pockets, Hungry Man, etc.).
• Grocery shopping goes waaaaay faster. You go in knowing exactly what you want, and don’t have to blow an extra half-hour wandering around. Case in point: last night, using my weekly menu plan, I did all my shopping in 59 minutes, door to door, WALKING. In that time, I hit two stores, the further of which is about a half-mile away. Woo!
• Extra trips to the grocery store are mostly eliminated.
• You can plan for leftovers for office lunches. This is huge, personally speaking, because turkey sandwiches get tired 40,000 times in a row.
• You always have food for those bag lunches (the night before, no less), saving you $30 per week, or around $1500 per year.
• For budgeting purposes, you can pretty much estimate the cost of your bill to the dollar.
• There’s less food waste, because you’re buying only what you need.
• It allows for variety during the week, since you’ve got all the ingredients on hand anyway.

But how to begin? How do you organize this stuff? How do you create a weekly menu and grocery list without it taking a billion, gazillion years?

The answer: I don’t know. Everybody has their own system, based on what works best for them. But here’s what The Boyfriend and I do currently:


STEP 0
Create a new word document
This is what you’ll be typing, cutting, and pasting to. It’s much easier than writing everything down, and at the end, you can print out the grocery list, weekly menu, and recipes all at once.


STEP 1
Make a quick grocery list of what you need
What groceries are running low? What foods do you eat regularly from week to week? This is my most recent list:

Cereal
Cumin
Deli ham or turkey (for lunches)
Eggs
Fruit (for breakfast and lunch)
Meat (general)
Yogurt (for lunches)


STEP 2
Brainstorm the dinners you want to eat this week
New dishes? Old favorites? Seasonal experiments? Whatever you’re in the mood for, list ‘em here, with special attention paid to food you need to use up before it goes bad. This is also a good time to take a cursory glance at your local online circulars. Entire menus can be built around loss leaders (biggest bargains).

This week, our dinner list includes:

• Chickpea and Bread Soup from the Kitchn
• Spinach Rice Casserole from Tammy’s Recipes
• Brunch Clafouti from Serious Eats
• Spiced Chicken with Tangerine Sauce from Cooking Club
• Curry Cauliflower Soup with Honey from Sunday Nite Dinner
• Pasta with veggies
• Turkey burgers with rice and frozen veggies

For the sake of convenience, cut and paste each new recipe IN ITS ENTIRETY into your document. That way, you can print it up and consult it when you’re cooking.

(Note: I cook a lot of new dishes for both Serious Eats and CHG, so chances are your list will be a lot less complicated.)


STEP 3
Make a rough menu
Based on what you have in the fridge, what you’re planning for the week, and what you usually have, create a weekly menu. Take care to note when you won’t be home for a meal. Yours can be simple or complex, but I might start off pretty low-key until you get the hang of it. Heres ours:

WEDNESDAY
Lunch: sandwich, leftovers yogurt, Kix, fruit
Dinner: Spinach Rice Casserole with leftover Irio

THURSDAY
Lunch: Leftover casserole, salad, fruit, yogurt
Dinner: The Boyfriend OUT; Me - Chickpea and Bread Soup w/asparagus

FRIDAY
Lunch: Leftover soup and/or casserole or sandwiches, fruit, yogurt
Dinner: Both OUT @ comedy show

SATURDAY
Brunch: Brunch Clafouti
Dinner: Both OUT @ friends’ house for dinner

SUNDAY
Brunch: Omelets, toast, and fruit
Dinner: Spiced Chicken Breast w/tangerine Sauce and Cauliflower-Honey Soup

MONDAY
Lunch: Leftovers, crackers, fruit
Dinner: Pasta with veggies

TUESDAY
Lunch: Sandwiches, popcorn, fruit
Dinner: Turkey burgers with rice and frozen veggies

(Note: 90% of our weekday breakfasts consist of cereal [or homemade whatever], so we don’t list them. Also, we keep our beverages limited to coffee, beer, and water. This way, we’re always awake, tipsy, and hydrated, just the way we like it.)


STEP 4
Add additional ingredients to the grocery list
Now that you have a concrete menu, add your new needs to the foods you listed in STEP 1. Mine are at the bottom here, for the recipes I plan to make:

Cereal
Cumin
Deli ham or turkey (for lunches)
Eggs (for Clafouti and otherwise)
Fruit (for breakfast and lunch)
Meat (general)
Yogurt (for lunches)
2 15-oz. cans chickpeas (for Chickpea Soup)
4 cups beef stock (for Chickpea Soup)
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock (for Cauliflower Soup and Tangerine Chicken)
3/4 a baguette (for Chickpea Soup)
9 or 10 ounces fresh spinach leaves (for Casserole)
1 1/2 cup fresh fruit (for Clafouti)
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (for Tangerine Chicken)
1/2 cup tangerine juice (for Tangerine Chicken)
2 tangerines (for Tangerine Chicken)


STEP 5
Go through circulars (thoroughly this time)
Now that you have a general plan, comb your online (or paper) circular for sale items corresponding to your list. If you have coupons, this is a good time to see if there are any good discounts.

One more thing: if you see something you love but don’t need on mega-sale, go for it. For example, I don’t NEED red peppers this week, but I use them frequently for salads, pastas, and whatnot. So, I’ll probably pick up a few because $1.99 is a good price. If beans were on sale, I’d be all over that, too. But they’re not. Boo.

This week, this was on sale from my list:

SUPERMARKET #1
Chicken Breast - $1.69/lb (for Tangerine Chicken)
Bananas – 2lb/$1 (for breakfasts/lunches)
La Yogurt – 2/$1 (for lunches)
Oranges – 8/$2 (for breakfasts/lunches)
Red Peppers - $1.99/lb (for whatever)

SUPERMARKET #2
Cantaloupe - $0.99/ea (for breakfasts/lunches)
Blueberries - $1.99/6oz (1-1/2 cups for Clafouti)
Eggs – 2/$3 (for Clafouti and otherwise)


STEP 6
Finalize the list
Okay, stocks weren’t on sale. Neither were tangerines, chickpeas, baguettes, cold cuts, or spinach. So now, I assign them to a grocery store that I think will have the lower price.

In the end, my list looks like this:

SUPERMARKET #1
Chicken Breast - $1.69/lb (for Tangerine Chicken)
Bananas – 2lb/$1 (for breakfasts/lunches)
La Yogurt – 2/$1 (for lunches)
Oranges – 8/$2 (for breakfasts/lunches)
Red Peppers - $1.99/lb (for whatever)
2-15 oz. cans chickpeas (for Chickpea Soup)
2 tangerines (for Tangerine Chicken)
1/2 cup tangerine juice (for Tangerine Chicken)

SUPERMARKET #2
Cantaloupe - $0.99/ea (for breakfast and lunch)
Blueberries - $1.99/6oz (1-1/2 cups for Clafouti)
Eggs – 2/$3 (for Clafouti and otherwise)
Cereal
Cold cut ham or turkey (for lunches)
4 cups beef stock (for Chickpea Soup)
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock (for Cauliflower Soup and Tangerine Chicken)
3/4 a baguette (for Chickpea Soup)
9 or 10 ounces fresh spinach leaves (for Casserole)

(Note: I get cumin in bulk from an ethnic grocer on the walk home, so it’s not included here.)

~~~

And that’s it. Now, after only 40 minutes of planning, I have an exact grocery list AND menu for the whole week. Plus, I’m guaranteed to save money on sale items, prepare healthy foods, and have plenty to bring to the office. And that’s good for everyone involved.

Readers, how about you? Do you menu plan? What’s your plan like? How might you change this one? Fire away in the comments section.