Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Clear Away the Clutter

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

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

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Give Me the Salad!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Appreciating Almonds

Who, me? Additional alliteration?

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Antidepressant Cashews?

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

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

Huh?

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Sodium

Let’s talk about sodium.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Strategies & Substitutions

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

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

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

Yes, that deserved a celebration!

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

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

How?

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, I digress.

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

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

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Carrots!

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

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

Eat. Your. Carrots.

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

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

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Scale or No Scale?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Go For a Walk!

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

12/23/2015

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

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

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

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

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Say Cheese!

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

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

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

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

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

I also really like cheese.

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

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

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

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

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Being Intentional Is Good for Your Health

Being intentional about _______ can be really good for both your physical and mental health.

Yes, I left that blank on purpose. It’s different for everyone, and it’s different day by day or moment by moment.

For example, on a recent morning when I knew the remainder of the day would be really busy, I sat down and took a few minutes out of my morning exercise to pick up one of my smaller cross stitch projects. I added a row of stitches, thinking about nothing other than how much I enjoyed cross stitching, how nice it felt to sit with my stitching, and how I hope the person for whom that project is destined will like it.

It felt wonderful.

It took less than five minutes.

That wonderful feeling extended into the remainder of that morning’s exercise. I felt calm, and focused, and a bit joyful.

For me, the concept of being intentional goes beyond having a to-do list and checking things off, or sitting down at my computer and thinking, “I want to…” for whatever the project or task may be. It’s about granting myself permission, as well as encouragement, to focus entirely on whatever I want or need to be doing in that moment. In this world of multi-tasking, we spend much too much time trying to spread ourselves out and get as much done as possible in as little time as possible, and by the end of it, we are worn out, unhappy, and unhealthy.

Intentional is defined as, “done on purpose” and “deliberate.”

I deliberately sat down and cross stitched because I knew the day would be busy.

I sat down and cross stitched on purpose because I knew the day would be busy.

Yep. Both of those substitutions (definitions?) fit how I felt that day.

To what other actions can I apply the concept of being intentional?

I deliberately poured a glass of water instead of a glass of soda.

I went for a walk on purpose to clear my mind and get exercise.

I took intentional action to improve my mental and physical health.

This goes hand-in-hand with being mindful! (I’ll include a link to a Wine & Wellness Wednesday post from last August about mindfulness.)

When you set an intention, and focus on it, and devote positive energy to it, I expect you’ll find yourself feeling more than OK by the time you are done.

Try it, and let me know how it goes. :) Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Heart Health

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s #winewellnesswednesday, so my glass of red wine & I would like to talk to you about heart health. (Of course! What an appropriate topic for Valentine’s Day!)

Let’s start with red wine and your heart, or Concord grape juice and your heart. You can get similar benefits from either, so there’s no need to start drinking alcohol if you aren’t a drinker! Red wine has antioxidants and resveratrol. The antioxidants may help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart, and resveratrol may help prevent damage as well as break up LDL cholesterol, improving your overall cholesterol count. Again, you can get the same benefits from Concord grape juice. So have a glass of a good, dry red wine, or have a glass of Concord grape juice. They’re both good for you, in moderation!

A healthy diet is critical for your heart, and it can be a lot of fun as well! Lowering cholesterol, raising fiber, lowering sodium, and focusing on more fruits & veggies in your diet are all beneficial. And even better, there are dozens of ways to do all of those things without feeling as though you’re consumed every day by managing your meals. Add spinach to a salad, or to your breakfast eggs. Substitute sweet potato for potato. Substitute black bean pasta for regular spaghetti. Select a smaller steak and have broccoli with it instead of mashed potatoes. Have a nice piece of a quality dark chocolate for dessert. See? Fun!

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Even just 40 minutes of a brisk walk three times a week can be beneficial! If all you ever do is sit at a desk, get up from your desk regularly and walk around. Take the stairs if you can. Walk up and down the block around your neighborhood. Park further away from the grocery store. If you already exercise, add to it and add some variety! But GET MOVING! If you’ve never been into exercise, what are you waiting for? You don’t have to run a marathon, but you do need to move.

Get good sleep! If you don’t get enough sleep, you are at risk for diabetes, weight gain, and cardiovascular disease. Sleep for solid periods of time so your body can rest, heal, and prepare for the next day. This isn’t just a good idea; it’s a critical necessity to protect your heart and your overall health!

Heart health. Not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day. Take care of your heart, and take care of you!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: No Diet Shaming. Ever.

I’m going to do something a little different with this week’s Wine & Wellness Wednesday. I’m going on a rant.

No diet shaming.

Ever.

None of this: “YOU ARE CRUEL IF YOU AREN’T VEGAN.”
None of this: “EVERYONE SHOULD GIVE UP CHEESE.”
None of this: “EAT ALL MEAT ALL THE TIME.”

Yes, I know. I’m shouting.

More of this: “I went gluten-free; here’s why, here’s how it works for me, here’s why I think it’s beneficial. I’d encourage you to give it a try and see how it works for you.”

More of this: “I really enjoy eating a vegetarian diet and here’s why. I feel better when I don’t eat meat, both for physical and ethical reasons.”

Yes, I know. I think my way is best. (Don’t we all, all the time?)

ALL PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.

I know, I know. I’m shouting again. Let me say that one more time, with added punctuation for emphasis.

ALL. PEOPLE. ARE. DIFFERENT!

If you choose to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet for ethical reasons, that is your choice and it is to be respected. It is not to be used to badger, or shame, or degrade other people for their choices. If you choose to be or must be gluten-free, same thing. Dietary choices or necessities are not things to use to badger other people into making choices and changes.

It is absolutely critical that each person figure out the best diet that works for them. Asking for help with figuring it out is an excellent plan. (And of course, a health coach is a good resource!) I’ll say it again. All people are different. Not every diet is appropriate for every person.

When has anyone, ever, changed their mind about anything, ever, because someone yelled at them and told them their choices were cruel or stupid or wrong or bad?

When has anyone, ever, changed their mind about anything, ever, because someone sat down and carefully, respectfully discussed the whys & wherefores?

That second one? That’s a whole lot more likely.

If a loved one asks for support or opinions when selecting a diet to include in their lifestyle, give it to them, with respect and with love. The support piece is extremely important for success.

Get educated. Get informed. Pick a diet that works for you. (And sometimes, break the rules.) Share that information, joyously, energetically, gently, and respectfully. You might just encourage other people to do the same.

Cheers! Here’s to your health!!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Food Rule #19

If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

For this #winewellnesswednesday, Michael Pollan’s FOOD RULES #19 is my topic. Generally speaking, I think he has a point.

If what you’re about to eat is a plant product, and by that I mean you can readily identify the actual growing plant that produced your food, then absolutely! Go for it! Chow down. Keep in mind that some plants are indeed NOT edible, of course, and be aware of any food allergies you or someone else might have as you’re preparing or purchasing food. I thoroughly enjoy knowing where my food comes from, and, if possible, knowing the people who grew it. For example, last weekend I roasted a spaghetti squash that we grew where I work part-time. (It was delicious!) Not only was that from an actual plant, it was from somewhere very specific.

If what you’re about to eat is a mass-marketed, mass-produced mass of chemicals that have never been closer to a plant than the grass growing outside the factory, maybe give it a second thought. Is all food that’s produced in factories evil? Not at all! A lot of it can be really good for you. Rice and quinoa, for example; you wouldn’t want to have to harvest it yourself. It’s processed at a factory and comes in a bag or a box. Does that make it bad? Nope!

In large part, eating whole, real food is always going to be best. I’ve mentioned it before (and it’s also in FOOD RULES): try to stay at the periphery of the grocery store as much as possible. If you have the option, try to get as many of your groceries at a farmers’ market as you can! Check the ingredients. If you can’t pronounce them, maybe you don’t want to eat them. It isn’t always practical to eat whole, real food that comes from actual plants instead of from factories. It’s a good thing to strive for.

What plants are your favorites when preparing meals? :)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Eat Your Beans!

It isn’t one of Michael Pollan’s FOOD RULES, so I suppose I’m deviating a bit from using those as #winewellnesswednesday topics. Or am I, since I planned on doing things other than FOOD RULES?

I digress. Again. (I’m told I write the way I talk!)

Eat your beans! Specifically today I want to talk about black beans, those magical little legumes that can fit so nicely into multiple types of cuisines. In fact, they’re SO magical that they can be made into black bean PASTA. (How’s THAT for a versatile food?) Since going gluten-free back in 2015, one of the things I really missed for a while was spaghetti. Somehow or other I came across Explore Cuisine’s black bean spaghetti and the rest, as they say, is history. The same company makes other pastas out of other beans and so far we’ve enjoyed them all. One of the best benefits to bean pastas is the high protein and high fiber content, which for me means that there’s no carb coma after I have spaghetti.

Black beans are a good source of protein and fiber while being low in fat, and their calorie content is low compared to the weight of the bean. Translation? You can eat more of them without overloading on calories. If you’re counting calories, that totally counts! One thing I didn’t know about legumes is that they have a compound in them that can be toxic in high amounts. Cooking them (on the stovetop, not in a slow cooker) for at least ten minutes breaks down that compound, and black beans are lower in that particular item than other beans, such as red kidney beans. So moderation is definitely called for; maybe don’t have beans for absolutely every single meal every day!

I love cooking with black beans, whether they’re whole or in pasta. How about you? Any favorite black bean recipes?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Food Rules #64

Ok, so last week for #winewellnesswednesday I went back to Michael Pollan’s FOOD RULES and started at the beginning, with rule 1: Eat food.

Now, just to be contrary, I’m skipping to the end of the list with rule 64: Break the rules once in a while.

I like this rule. This is a good rule. This is a good rule that I am sometimes very good at following! It can also be rephrased as, “All things in moderation, including moderation.” :) Ha!

Healthy habits are important.

Maintaining those healthy habits on a day-to-day basis is also incredibly important. Personally, it’s how I’ve lost (and maintained!) 50 pounds in the past several years.

Here’s the thing: there are going to be times when you throw the healthy habit out the window, at least temporarily. I’m not advocating for it daily. That leads to too much indulgence, which can lead to setbacks, which can lead to feeling aggravated and potentially giving up on the healthy habits.

From time to time, however, breaking the rules is good for you! Obsessively sticking to healthy living, to the point of excluding enjoyment? That is not good for you, and potentially not good for people around you. Counting calories? Ok! Watching your fat intake? Ok! Watching your carb intake? Ok! Whatever you need to do to feel good about what you’re eating is important, and everyone will be different. But doing it to the exclusion of pleasure in what you’re consuming? Not so good.

I have tried to build a healthy habit of not eating potato chips or French fries on a regular basis. This one is hard, because I looooooooooove allthesaltycrunchythings. I’ve mostly successfully substituted lightly salted nuts for the chips, which works since I also really enjoy almonds and cashews. Every once in a while, though, I will allow myself to give in to the craving for a serving of either fries or chips; usually sour cream & onion or barbecue. Temporarily? It’s a fun thing to eat. Regularly? Nope; at least, not any more. I’ve tried for long enough to not eat fries & chips that even when I do, they don’t register the same enjoyment. And in the long run, that’s a very good thing.

What rule are you going to break on occasion? Enjoy!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Food Rule #1

Well…we all know where the road paved with good intentions goes, right?

DING! Is that chocolate cake in the oven? (Gluten-free, of course!)

Who, me? Easily distracted? Naaaaaaaaaaaah…wait, was that a shiny squirrel?

Meanwhile, I digress.

A year or so ago I read FOOD RULES by Michael Pollan, which I found to include some very interesting information. I thought at the time, “Gee, it would be fun to write #winewellnesswednesday posts about some of these topics!” I did a couple and then…well…y’know. Distractions!

Hey! Who drank my coffee??

So! Back on track with thoughts on FOOD RULES. :)

Having done rules 12, 52, and 53 a while back, I thought I’d go all the way back and look at rule 1: Eat food. This seems simple enough, right? Hold that thought! Have you ever looked at the ingredients in many of the things that are presented as food? Other rules in the book address topics such as not buying foods that are advertised, and shopping the margins of the store, as well as not buying anything with ingredient a third grader couldn’t pronounce. Seriously! There’s an ANIMANIACS cartoon that addressed this really well, listing off all of the ingredients in a couple of treats and many of them simply don’t sound like food. Highly processed items are presented as food and honestly, while some of them are delicious, they’re not actually quality items that we should be eating. How many different derivatives of corn or soy do we really need in our diets, anyway?

We did a compare and contrast once of the ingredient list of two different kinds of ice cream. (Because really. Ice cream! It should be simple and as long as the lactose doesn’t bother me, it’s one of my favorite things!) One of the brands had more than 25 ingredients listed, and many of them were either unpronounceable or sounded unpalatable. The other brand? It had five ingredients. Five! I think you can guess what ice cream we usually buy now!

Real food. It’s even better if you know where it comes from. Local is awesome, even though it isn’t always possible. (There aren’t any orange trees near us, for example.) Real food that you’ve cooked yourself is even awesomer. (YES I KNOW. Not a word. I like it anyway.)

What real food have you enjoyed recently? Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Happy New Year!

(Today’s super-long subtitle: Why I Don’t Make Specifically Healthy New Year’s Resolutions)

Happy New Year! I have a glass of wine, so it seems like a good time for Wine & Wellness Wednesd! :) It also seems completely crazy that it’s suddenly 2018. And it’s suddenly the third day of January, 2018. Time flies and all that!

In December of 2015 I wrote a post about resolutions and themes for resolutions. Oddly enough, at the end of 2016/beginning of 2017, I didn’t post about resolutions. (So weird, right?) As 2017 drew to a close and New Year’s Eve loomed, I found myself thinking again about resolutions and how they are so often broken, usually fairly rapidly, and then we get discouraged. And I thought again about all of the resolutions I’ve made recently that were simply fun and occasionally constructive, but never related to health or weight or fitness.

Ummmmm…say what? Jolie, you’re a health coach. Shouldn’t your New Year’s resolution be about that?

Well, to put it bluntly: nope.

Here’s the thing. Every day is a chance to start (or maintain!) a healthy habit. Every day is a chance to build wellness improvements into our lives. Just because a new year begins on January 1 doesn’t make that the perfect time to start a massive change. And massive changes can be overwhelming and hard to maintain.

So I’ve been trying to figure out what fun resolutions I want to make for 2018 and coming up with way too many.

Walk the dogs once a week. (This mostly went well in 2017, although I missed a few. And as much as I love my dogs I am so very much NOT walking them when the high temp is -10F!) Bubble bath once a month. Work on the woodland faerie cross stitch project once a week. Sit in the hammock once a month at minimum, even in bad weather. (I actually, honestly contemplated this yesterday as the temp was up to 13F instead of -10F. And still…nope.) I may have actually settled on all of the above, which seems sort of silly, but all of the above are things that will add value to my life. Working on the woodland faerie will feel productive as I try to finish it up and give it to my mother. Hammock time will be relaxing, as will a bubble bath at least once a month. Walking the dogs will be productive, in that it’s both exercise for all of us as well as togetherness time.

What’s your resolution for 2018? Are you going to try to lose weight, run a 5K, read 100 books in a year, or have a bubble bath once a month? :)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Getting Back to Routine

Routine is a wonderful thing. I was a bit lazy and very relaxed while on vacation, which is really rather the point of being on vacation to begin with! I am delighted, however, that after three days of being home from my vacation, I’m back in the swing of things. I started that on day one of being home, and it felt (and feels) great! Here’s a look back at an old #winewellnesswednesday post about routines. :)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: March 23, 2016

Routines are good things. Healthy routines are even better things.

Changing your routine can be an even better thing. (An even better, better thing?) :)

Say what?

Do you get bored? Do you feel stuck? Switch stuff up! I’m not talking radical changes, such as suddenly waking up on a Tuesday and deciding to run marathons. (Although that would totally be awesome if you do it!) I’m talking about modifications to things like your exercise routine, or “I always have ___ for breakfast.”

I thought about this a few weeks ago when I switched the order in which I always do pieces of my exercise routine. Whoa. My muscles were very differently sore and tired when I was done, and I felt great! It was as if I’d done an entirely different routine, and yet all I’d done was rearrange the order of the exercises.

I do the same thing with breakfast, actually; most of the time my marvelous husband makes scrambled eggs (usually with goat cheese). That loaded-with-protein breakfast does a great job of getting me through the morning with minimal snacking. J But sometimes I want something different, so I’ll have hard-boiled eggs or sunny-side-up; you get the point. A small modification makes all the difference. It saves me from getting completely bored with eggs every day.

Making a modification to part of your routine can also help you get unstuck, whether it’s from a plateau for weight loss, or boredom, or whatever!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!