Life is Healthy

Since 1985 October has been celebrated as breast cancer awareness month, often symbolized by pink ribbons and the color pink. It is interesting to note that the awareness month was started by the drug company AstraZeneca (which manufactures several breast cancer drugs) and the pink ribbon originated from cosmetics giant Estée Lauder.

In his epic work Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston Price documented the abnormal dental development and susceptibility to tooth decay that accompanied the adoption of modern foods in a number of different cultures throughout the world. Although he quantified changes in cavity prevalence (sometimes finding increases as large as 1,000-fold), all we have are Price's anecdotes describing the crooked teeth, narrow arches and "dished" faces these cultures developed as they modernized.

Price published the first edition of his book in 1939. Fortunately, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration wasn't the last word on the matter. Anthropologists and archaeologists have been extending Price's findings throughout the 20th century. My favorite is Dr. Robert S. Corruccini, currently a professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University. He published a landmark paper in 1984 titled "An Epidemiologic Transition in Dental Occlusion in World Populations" that will be our starting point for a discussion of how diet and lifestyle factors affect the development of the teeth, skull and jaw (Am J. Orthod. 86(5):419)*.

First, some background. The word occlusion refers to the manner in which the top and bottom sets of teeth come together, determined in part by the alignment between the upper jaw (maxilla) and lower jaw (mandible). There are three general categories:

• Class I occlusion: considered "ideal". The bottom incisors (front teeth) fit just behind the top incisors.
• Class II occlusion: "overbite." The bottom incisors are too far behind the top incisors. The mandible may appear small.
  
• Class III occlusion: "underbite." The bottom incisors are beyond the top incisors. The mandible protrudes.
  

I assert that these results serve to modify two widespread generalizations: that imperfect occlusion is not necessarily abnormal, and that prevalence of malocclusion is genetically controlled so that preventive therapy in the strict sense is not possible. Cross-cultural data dispel the notion that considerable occlusal variation [malocclusion] is inevitable or normal. Rather, it is an aberrancy of modern urbanized populations. Furthermore, the transition from predominantly good to predominantly bad occlusion repeatedly occurs within one or two generations' time in these (and other) populations, weakening arguments that explain high malocclusion prevalence genetically.

Ugh. I feel terrible. Even though I'm not eating that much, I'm not losing any weight—bright side, not gaining either.

One year ago Regina set a goal to lose 60 pounds. She wanted to be in great shape for her wedding. At that point she weighed 195 pounds at 5'1" tall.

She has succeeded in losing 43 pounds so far. She's done it via exercise and a high protein diet.

Her fiancé is an ER nurse and "has seen some horrible situations with young girls overdosing on diet pills and other things like that. I made it a point to not do anything like that to my body. The only pill I take is a multivitamin.”

And she likes her new lifestyle and energy level so much that she says “This is forever for me. I like the way it (exercising and eating healthy) makes me feel and I don’t plan on giving that up.”

See her story here.

I just found another very interesting study performed in Japan by Dr. Hajime Haimoto and colleagues (free full text). They took severe diabetics with an HbA1c of 10.9% and put them on a low-carbohydrate diet:

The main principle of the CRD [carbohydrate-restricted diet] was to eliminate carbohydrate-rich food twice a day at breakfast and dinner, or eliminate it three times a day at breakfast, lunch and dinner... There were no other restrictions. Patients on the CRD were permitted to eat as much protein and fat as they wanted, including saturated fat.

One female patient had an increased physical activity level during the study period in spite of our instructions. However, her increase in physical activity was no more than one hour of walking per day, four days a week. She had implemented an 11% carbohydrate diet without any antidiabetic drug, and her HbA1c level decreased from 14.4% at baseline to 6.1% after 3 months and had been maintained at 5.5% after 6 months.

...the 30%-carbohydrate diet over 6 months led to a remarkable reduction in HbA1c levels, even among outpatients with severe type 2 diabetes, without any insulin therapy, hospital care or increase in sulfonylureas. The effectiveness of the diet may be comparable to that of insulin therapy.

“When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad.”

Just so we’re clear, I’m not feeling particularly bad. It’s just limbo. When I find myself in this neutral free-falling space, I like to focus on happy things. And when I do, Julie Andrews’ voice always pops in my head.

So, now that I have that song lodged in your head, too, I’m going to inject you with even more sugar-crusted sweetness with these photos, the first of my list of favorite things this week:

Claire and Luca (who cut his first two teeth today! Little bugger told no one.) had their first official photo shoot with a professional photographer last week. My friend Pam is a gem. Has a real eye for people and their emotions and gestures. Check out this photo that I had printed in poster size and will frame for my living room. Not just because this is my granddaughter, but because it’s a lovely piece of art.

And of course my daughter loving Luca and vice versa isn't so shabby either.

The scale is not usually one of my favorite things, but on Saturday, it delivered some really good news: I’m not a water-retaining mess anymore! Whoohoo!

Another favorite thing: my bike. Oh what I’ll do to ride my bike, especially this time of year.

Here’s Larry dressed and ready for our bike ride last weekend.

Here’s me.

I’m dressed like I’m hiking the Andes and he’s ready for a romp on Padre Island. It was not even 50 degrees outside! Guess who wasn’t freezing five minutes into our ride? Hint: it wasn’t me.

A few food favorites. Remember how I said I’d cleaned out my homemade recipe books? I discovered the Dijon roasted potatoes recipe I’d totally forgotten about. Since last Saturday (as in 9 days ago, not 2), I’ve made them at least four times. Heaven!

Mix 1 T Dijon mustard, ½ to 1 tsp crushed dried rosemary, ½ to 1 tsp dried oregano, and a few shakes of pepper. Put it in a plastic bag with 6-7 ounces of potato wedges. Shake it all together and put it on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Spray the potatoes. Cook for 17-18 minutes. Flip. Cook for another 17-18 minutes. Serve with ketchup and/or mustard and or/fat-free sour cream. I do all three.

I’m heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow and will partake in four of my other favorite things: watching the grandkids, seeing my daughter, shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and listening to NPR in the Jeep. I might even stop at Starbucks and get me a vanilla rooibos latte. It’ll be darn cold tomorrow (barely 50 for a high and 40 mph winds). I’m breaking out my favorite sweaters, that’s for darn sure.

And finally, two other recipes that became my new favorite things today.

Sautéed Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, cut into 1 1/2–inch pieces
1 T light butter
2 cloves minced garlic
½ c veggie (or chicken) broth

Sauté asparagus and garlic in butter for about two minutes or until the butter is mostly absorbed. Add the broth, cover and simmer until asparagus is tender. (3 points for the entire dish. 1 point for half.)

Lentil Vegetable Soup

(I apologize for having no clue where this came from. If it’s one of you readers, please let me know so I can publically bow in your presence because this is really good stuff.)

1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 t chili powder
1 t ground cumin
2 (or 5 like I use) cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups veggie broth
1 C dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (or use 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes with skin removed)
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chilies, undrained
1 C frozen corn
1 C sliced carrots
2 C zucchini, cut in quarters

In Dutch oven sprayed with non-stick spray, sauté onion, garlic, cumin, and chili powder for about a minute. Add tomato sauce and cook until onion is tender, about 2 minutes. Add everything else and simmer for 30-45 minutes (depending on if you use fresh or canned tomatoes. Fresh require a few more minutes.)

Makes 6 2-cup servings. 180 calories, 1 gm fat, 8 gm fiber, 11 gm protein per serving. (3 points)

Good stuff. No lie.

And finally, one of my very favorite veggies is beets. And last week, Claire tried them and now loves them, too.

Pfaffia ( Amaranthaceae ). This herb is grown in Central and Southern America and is known as Brazilian Ginseng. The roots have been used by natives as a cure all, but more widely as a tonic aphrodisiac.


Pfaffia has been used internally for stress, chronic fatigue,debility, poor appetite, Epstein-Barr disease, glandular fever, infertility, impotence, menstrual and menopausal problems, diabetes, pancreas dysfunctions, ulcers, rheumatism, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, nervous disorders, chronic degenerative disease, and various kinds of cancer. Also to improve resistance to infection and increase stamina.


Extracts are added to food supplements and herbal tonics.

HEALTH is the most important thing in life. Therefore, people take a variety of ways to maintain and health care. Even people looking for health insurance to support and ensure their health. Moreover, the cost of care and treatment of disease increasingly soar.With the health insurance program means you have shifted the risk to other parties. Risk transferred to it, you have to pay a premium

Public opinion against an insurance is strongly influenced by how the insurance companies, which offer products and services the insurance company to the public. One of the most influential parameters insurance company's image is the process of claims filed by participants of insurance to insurance companies.When the claims process went well and smoothly, insurance participants will have a good

I was looking through a scrapbook and an album of photos of Al. It's been almost four years since he died. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering "us." It seems like it was someone else's life, not mine. I look for signs that maybe he's still with me--somehow. I ask him to make a noise or something, but nothing ever happens.

When I first sat down at the computer, it felt like someone touched my leg. But there was no one there. I asked for it to happen again--it didn't. My imagination the first time?

I'm not sure what happens when we die. Is there more than this? One thing for sure, we'll all know one day.

I'm still sick and feeling kind of flu-ish. I hope I can make it to the surgery, and I don't end up in the ER. I've been working on it. It bothers me most to eat spicy food. I can almost get away with a little fat. I will be so happy to be able get my life back together. I've tried so hard, but when you're sick lots of things don't go the way you'd planned.

I'm going to practice a little piano and then go to bed.

I had good food news and some not so good food news today. First, the good news.

God love the owner of our local “health food” store, Sage Meadow. Because of Pat, there is tahini in Podunkville! I can make this hummus recipe this weekend rather than wait until after Tuesday when I hitch up the wagon and travel 90 minutes to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for provisions.

How good does this look?

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus (From “1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes” by Sue Spitler. It’s like my vegetarian bible)

8 servings (about ¼ cup each)

1 can (15 oz) chick peas, rinsed and drained
1/3 C fat-free yogurt
2-3 T tahini
3 cloves garlic
4 sun-dried tomato halves (not packed in oil), finely chopped
1 t each: dried oregano and mint leaves
2-3 t lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Process chick peas, yogurt, tahini and garlic in food processor until smooth. Stir in tomatoes and herbs; season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Refrigerate 1-2 hours for flavors to blend. (Nutritional info: 73 calories; 1.7 gm fat; 256 mg sodium; 3.6 gm protein; 11.4 gm carbs)

More good news, we haven’t had a freeze yet which means the local farmer who raised a field of late summer/early fall strawberries is still at the market. These are better than the early summer strawberries by far. I call them god’s apology for such a cold and rainy summer.

The Swiss chard was lovely and I couldn’t resist. So were the brussels sprouts. I also picked up some old-fashioned cranberry-type beans. Aren’t they pretty? The farmer I bought them from said to cook them like a butter bean. Okey dokey. I’ll find a recipe and check them out.

The not so good news is that the Wal-Mart here in Podunkville discontinued yet another one of my favorite foods. And unlike Greek yogurt (I protested) and garlic cloves (I protested again. How can a “grocery” store not sell garlic cloves?), my beloved hearts of palm won’t be back.

I was in the canned vegetable aisle – the same place they sold hearts of palm just last month, right next to the artichoke hearts. I looked and looked. Didn’t find them. I asked the guy straightening the shelves, “Where are the hearts of palm?” He looked at me like my head was on backwards. “The what?”

Happens all the time.

“Hearts of palm. They used to be right by the artichokes.”

“I don’t work grocery. Let me call someone,” (he was very helpful) and he grabbed his James Bond 007 walkie talkie and paged Jess. Jess came over and looked for the hearts of palm, then said, “Wait. I think we discontinued these. Let me check.” (To her credit, she’d at least heard of them.)

She paged the Wizards of Wal-Mart – the decision makers they keep hidden behind the doors all around the building – and found out that yes, hearts of palm had been discontinued. Crap.

“Thank you so much for checking,” I said and I pushed my cart slowly away.

“What are they?” asked the guy I originally talked to. I stopped and explained what they were – a chunk of the heart of a palm tree – and he asked if they were a “vegetarian thing.”

Hunh?

I told him no, hearts of palm are not exclusively for vegetarians and are very good on salads. He looked perplexed, but let me go.

I left the canned vegetable aisle and walked toward the freezer section. A few seconds later, Jess walked up behind me and said, “Look what I found in our discontinued section!” In her hand were two cans of hearts of palm. Eureka!

“Are there more?” I asked. Yes, she said. Four more cans. Whoohoo! And they were marked down to $2 each. Bonus. I got six cans of hearts of palm for $12. To quote The Who, “I call that a bargain.” Maybe not “the best I ever had,” but close.

I heart hearts of palm. I’d never heard of them until my friend Heather in Chicago tossed them on a salad she’d made for us last year. I fell in love. Now every time I slice one up and throw it on my salad (which is almost every day), I think of Heather. Do any of you have people/food associations like that? Come to think of it, when I shave my legs I think of my junior high choir director. I have no idea why. It’s not sexual or anything, just an odd association.

See how my mind wanders? It’s a wonder I get anything done sometimes.

Anyway…When I followed Jess back to the “discontinued items” section, the guy I’d originally talked to about the hearts of palm was close behind.

“So, do they taste like anything ‘normal’?” he asked.

I felt like an evangelical preacher reaching out to a lost soul looking for salvation. I could have a hearts of palm convert on my hands, right there in Podunk Wal-Mart! I was a little nervous. How do I describe them well yet vaguely enough to get him to try them?

“Do you like canned marinated artichoke hearts?” I asked.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

“Well, they’re kind of like artichoke hearts with a smoother texture,” I said. “Here. Have one of my cans.”

“No, that’s OK,” he said.

Dammmit. I lost him. Either he didn’t want to make the $2 investment or he was being a good Wal-Mart employee by not taking anything away from the customer. I’m new at this conversion thing, but I realize I should have gone back to see him after paying for my groceries and slipped him a can of hearts of palm.

Maybe next time.

In the meantime, I’ve got some hummus to make. And Swiss chard soup. And chili. And pickled beets. Yup. I said pickled beets. I’ll let you know how that goes.

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El noche en blanco (white night) was happening in Madrid last weekend. Basically this is a festival where all the museums are open all night for FREE and concerts and performances take part in the street, it's a very interesting experience and typically very busy.

So at the start of this program when we had 6 Anglos not show at the tapas I presumed they were off enjoying one of Madrid's many parties. The following day however we were still one Anglo short; a simple no-show it seems.

Ricardo worked very hard to get the rooms ready (I'm pleased to say) - as again this was a looming issue for us and our guests.
A very mixed and diverse group, South Africa, Canada, USA, UK, Guana, New Zealand all represented; great for the ears of the Spaniards, and such a mix of personalities too; groups like this are fantastic, we had several veterans return too.
Folks seem to be getting a few tummy bugs lately, so perhaps think about bringing some medication for upset stomachs ;)

In the entertainment hour, we had lots of presentations offered by the Anglos; from one of them talking about his experience with adopting 6 children, another giving us virtual tours of stately homes to making pottery and more besides, so that was great. The sketches worked wonderfully and we have some great photos to prove it, check out the Yorkshiremen ;)

The Spaniards (including the masters) worked very hard on their presentations and storytelling too, with some wonderful performances from the likes of Alvaro and Jose C; Jose has a career in either comedy or stage work - his presentation had me in tears (in a good way you understand), again this reinforces my point of having them video recorded.

The quemada and karaoke went down very well too, which was good to see.
The party was interesting... ...lots of dancing, but also lots of sneaking off to bed early too, so before I knew I was left with maybe half a dozen dancers :S
I don't mind it has been a great week and EVERYONE worked hard and gave so much of themselves they were exhausted by the end.

One small hiccup threatened to dampen what was an otherwise great week, but it was dealt with accordingly and he was removed from the program without any further issues.

The flies this week have been 'a pain in the arse' (idiom), when I return some months from now they will all be gone thank goodness!

On a personal note: I have some tough choices ahead which will affect more than just myself, so I must tread carefully. With such wonderful people that I have the fortune of meeting and touching the lives of, it is making that choice so much harder.

Vaughan Town - Gredos - Program 182

A month ago, I wrote about a reader "Steve" who reversed his fatty liver using a change in diet. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a truly disturbing modern epidemic, rare a few decades ago and now affecting roughly a quarter of the adult population of modern industrialized nations. Researchers cause NAFLD readily in rodents by feeding them industrial vegetable oils or large amounts of sugar.

Steve recently e-mailed me to update me on his condition. He also passed along his liver test results, which I've graphed below. ALT is a liver enzyme that enters the bloodstream following liver damage such as hepatitis or NAFLD. It's below 50 units/L in a healthy person*. AST is another liver enzyme that's below 35 units/L in a healthy person*.

Steve began his new diet in November of 2008 and saw a remarkable and sustained improvement in his ALT and AST levels:

Here's how Steve described his diet change to me:

I totally eliminated sugar, heavy starches, and grains. Started eating more whole, real foods, including things like grass-fed beef and pastured pork and eggs, began supplementing with good fats and omega-3 (pastured butter, coconut oil, cod liver oil). Ate more fruits and vegetables instead of refined carbs. Also completely gave up on the idea that I had to eat only "lean" meats. After my last results, the GI doc said that I wouldn't need the biopsy at all, that things were great, and that if I kept it up I "would live forever."

My triglycerides also went from pre-diet measures of 201 and 147 to post diet 86, 81, and 71.

The added bonus, of course, was that my weight went from 205 pounds to 162 pounds and my body fat percentage from 24% to 12% in the matter of five months--all without the typically excessive cardio I used to try unsuccessfully for weight loss.

I went to see a new doctor about my ailments. He told me my illness is "screaming gall bladder," and he suspects that my pancreas may be infected, too. He said that my pancreas is likely an innocence bystander—in other words, he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it other than the bile backup that's going on. And it might be infected now. So I have an appointment with a surgeon on October 9. I hope I can make it that long.

The fourth edition of Medical Insurance: An Integrated Claims Process Approach is designed for medical insurance courses. The textbook provides medical assisting, medical insurance, and health information technology students with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully perform insurance and billing related duties.Medical Insurance - The chapters’ organization follows the medical billing

I did some research into herbal healing and found the top three natural healers can all be grown in your garden. They are used in alternative health as healers for a number of conditions.

1. Chamomile. The flowers from chamomile can be used in a tea and are calming and soothing and especially beneficial to the nerves and digestion. It is also very good for skin irritaions.

2. Rosemary. Rosemary helps memory and concentration, improves mood and sweetens breath.

3. Lavender. This herb can calm and relax, eases pain, and is an antiseptic for cuts and bruises.

I have grown all three herbs in my garden and use them on myself and family for all the above medicinal reasons.

Everything and nothing was on my mind yesterday. You know how you can be discontented for no apparent reason? Yesterday was one of those days that in the past I’d have mindlessly eaten whatever – and lots of it – just because I was bored/stressed/fill-in-the-blank. Instead, I got a haircut and a pedicure (my feet look like a Florida Christmas tree!).

A few hours at the salon shook off the food demons and I felt like a new woman by dinner. I made the spinach salad I’d planned and all was right in my food world. (BTW, you can get a haircut and pedicure in my little Podunkville for $60. My friends in a very large city that I won’t name here but is located in the midwest and on a lake could pay for roundtrip airfare to Pittsburgh and still get their hair cut and a pedi cheaper than their salon downtown big city. //word)

Anyway…defeating the food demons made me think about an article I read on CNN a few weeks ago: “One week to a slimmer you: Focus on the little things.” It recommends small strategies you can use to lose weight like yogic breathing during cravings, eating more colorful foods and foods with vitamin C, and taking a photo of your meal before you eat. But it wasn’t the strategies part that made me remember the article. It was the headline, specifically the “One week to a slimmer you” part.

One week.

What’s one week? When I was 300 pounds, one week of dieting didn’t make a visible difference, even when I lost 5 pounds. But it was that first week that laid the groundwork for success this millionth time down the scale.

In 2005, I didn’t know about yogic breathing or eating a rainbow, but I did know that in order to do it right this time – to make it my last time losing a large amount of weight – I had to have a much clearer goal and the mental tenacity to overcome those moments when I’d otherwise cave in to the cookie/crackers/ice cream/chicken nuggets…and the list goes on.

One week.

For me, the first week was the most important and the most dangerous. I call it the honeymoon phase. It’s the week you feel really good about your decision and think nothing can stop you because you’re so gosh darn enthusiastic. This is the last time! This is it! I can do this! Then real life sets in and you begin to wonder and wander. The new pedicurist at the salon reminded me of this yesterday when she told me how she’s lost and gained a lot of weight because she was so enthusiastic the first week and then old thought patterns slipped in again. “Just one cookie won’t hurt. I worked out all week…” You know the story.

So I started thinking, “What was different for me this last time? What was different that first week of my ‘diet?’” And I realized (and this shouldn’t surprise me, but identifying it and giving it words did) that I established “food boundaries,” which is WAY different than demonizing certain foods. I didn’t rule anything out. I didn’t say, “I can’t have _________! I’m on a diet!” I simply established boundaries. I’d tell myself: “I can eat ______ in a reasonable amount if it’s what I really want to eat.” Just saying this opened up the space for me to think about my relationship to food, something I’d never done before. In the past I would set up a list of things I “could” eat and disregard the rest. That is, until I made my “goal,” and then every food was game again. Thus the cycle.

Beginning with that first week in 2005, I remain living week to week, planning what I’ll eat and eating what I plan (for the most part – life does throw us curve balls now and again, does it not?). I still “crave” chicken nuggets, but I know they’d make me sick so I don’t eat them. I still love my mother’s chocolate cake and so I eat a small portion and am satisfied because it’s special. I adore mashed potatoes. But I also love roasted cauliflower and parsnips and carrots and broccoli; and they give me as much “comfort” as my old standard.

One week. If anyone asks me what made it “different” for me this time, I’ll tell them it’s food boundaries.

Amazing what you can learn while getting a haircut and pedicure, isn’t it?

When you go online to buy insurance the best place to start is an all inclusive comparison site. These sites search all the top companies and present you with four or five of your best quotes based on the information you have provided. These sites are becoming more popular since they allow you to find a quote, compare the price and the coverage with other companies.You have a car, it gets you

On Friday evening, my friend K. will be arriving from the Netherlands for a long-anticipated visit. I haven't seen her since she flew to London to hook up with S. and me in the spring of 2008. I can hardly wait! Two more sleeps!

If you have a business and you have employees you are going to need the driving record of every employee who drives your business car or cars. This is not being intrusive it is to protect you as the business owner. You must not allow any employee who has a bad driving record to drive your company's vehicles. It is highly likely that your business car insurance company will not permit such a

Car Insurance Costs - If you drive a best performance car you are going to need best performance car insurance. This is an actual category and it would make sense to look into this kind of insurance before you actually buy a best performance car. Insurance is definitely going to be more expensive for this category of car. The reason for this is because these cars are more costly to repair when

Yesterday I stumbled across this wonderful, very clever and thought provoking presentation.
Of course I shall no doubt incorporate this into my work.
If you know of any other such works or things that made you sit up and take notice please forward them to my email address ;)




In the meantime, enjoy

Do you need help with a health related problem?. Can I help with an alternative health remedy?. I am not a qualified person in relation to holistic cures but I do however have a wealth of information on this subject, and my aim is to help people who have any illness or disease

You can contact me here at Natural cures or at curesforyou on twitter

I look forward to hearing from you.

The very best of health to all of you.

Here's a good video about seven tips to change your eating habits for effective, long-term weight loss.

Try this exercise every day, It strengthens the kidneys and the immune system, and boosts vitality.

The location of this acupressure point is on the lower back two finger widths on either side of the spine, approximately level with the waist. So that is in the centre of the back.

Fold your hands into the shape of a fist. Now bring your hands behind your back and using the knuckle of the hands use a rolling action around either side of the spine.

Try not to press too hard, do this for about one minute, once each day.

Where do I know the actor from who played the handyman in The Waterhorse?

Should we have washed the dogs before we cleaned the carpets?

What if my oncologist ordered a thoracic CT scan so soon after my last abdominal one because they heard something during my last exam (and not just because I hadn't had one in a long time)?

Is the hat I'm making for D. going to be too small?

Was the other movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs? (I looked it up. His name is Ben Chaplin and it he was the actor in both movies).

Was I sent for two CT scans two weeks apart because of poor planning (or poor communicaiton) or is there something ugly growing on my lungs?

If the hat is too small, should I give it to someone else or rip it out and start over?

Are you working too many hours for too few clients? Does it seem that you do more paperwork than peoplework? Will you spend more hours on the road than in front of people this year?Whether your agency is big or small, if you answered yes to any of those quesitons, you need more than an andrenaline boost! You need a shot of strategies to wake things up and put you on the path to success fast.How

Inside the Minds: The Insurance Business is an authoritative, insider’s perspective on the ins and outs of this dynamic industry and the future of the business, on a global scale. Featuring Chairmen, Presidents, and CEOs, representing some of the top insurance companies across the nation, this book provides a broad, yet comprehensive overview of the current state and future shape of the

Sometimes a girl just needs to purge. To send stuff packing. Create space and start fresh.

Purging, at least for me, isn’t usually planned. It comes from an overwhelming desire to clean, toss and reorder after coming off a particularly stressful period (or sometimes right smack dab in the middle of one). A good purge can involve things like cleaning out a file cabinet, clearing your Internet browsing history, or having a garage sale and taking what doesn’t sell to Goodwill. It just feels good. The space you created is physically visible, yet it’s also like you’ve opened up space in your head.

I had no particular plans yesterday. I met a stressful deadline last Tuesday and so I’m in that place where I’m lost for a few days. Never sure what to do with myself as I try to acclimate to my surroundings. I walked to the farmer’s market, hauled produce home on my back like a pack mule, and then rather than stare at the computer all day, I took out my four homemade cookbooks and purged.

As I wrote back in February, I own a lot of cookbooks. Most are in a big box ‘o books in the basement. Before I store them, I tag the recipes I make the most and make copies at Staples. Then I put them in the corresponding homemade recipe binders I created.

These three-ring gems save me from recipe hell. You know the place: that abyss of clipped snippets of recipes from magazines, soup cans, applesauce jars, flour bags, the underside of Cool-Whip or yogurt containers, and the sides of rice, pasta and cereal boxes? All those recipes you say you want to try just pile up in the junk drawer until you practically go insane trying to find “that one recipe” ten times a week. You can also go insane promising yourself you’ll try all the recipes you save and never do. And so I purged.

I probably tossed 100 recipes. Recipes that I forget why I found them appealing (they sounded good at the time, I suppose) and recipes I tried and thought, “Well, maybe if I change this or that…” knowing full well I’d forget about them like the garbage. It took four hours, but my cookbooks are now lean, mean fightin’ machines – ready to give me the perfect recipe when I need it.

The best part was that I discovered some old favorites, like the WW roasted potatoes recipe. Mix Dijon mustard with some olive oil, oregano, rosemary, pepper and salt. Stick some wedged potatoes in a plastic bag. Add the mixture and shake. Put on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam and roast for awhile. I forgot how much I loved this recipe. I forgot because it was lost among the minutia and forgettable recipes I didn’t need anymore.

Purging is what energized me to cook this weekend. I roasted the roma tomatoes I bought after my bike ride this morning and they’re now in a sauce on the stove (for the recipe, see “Chillaxin’ With Some Old Recipes”). After attending my neighbor’s piano recital (which was spot on and gave me goose bumps: see “Even Blythe Danner Makes Mistakes Sometimes”), I threw together my veggie chili with butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, red peppers, fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. It involved a lot of chopping, but my iPod kept me company. My husband watched the Steelers’ game, but was serenaded by my rendition of David Cook songs.

It might sound silly, but I feel rejuvenated. In control. I cut through the mass of unappealing recipes, leaving in my books the ones that mean the most. Do you ever go through your “favorite” websites that you’ve stored on your internet browser and think, “Why was that site important?” It’s kind of like that. Sometimes you have to clear things out so you can breathe again and see what’s really important.

I have to go check the sauce and chili. That’s all that’s on my agenda tonight. That and eating the chili. And maybe checking Facebook. I feel back to earth. Don’t know how long this post-purge feeling will last, but I’m grateful for the time I have with it now.

Prevalence of obesity in infants under 6 months had risen 73 percent since 1980. 'Since they're eating only formula or breast milk, and never exactly got a lot of exercise, the obvious explanations for obesity don't work for babies,' he points out. 'You have to look beyond the obvious.' The search for the non-obvious has led to a familiar villain: early-life exposure to traces of chemicals in the environment. Evidence has been steadily accumulating that certain hormone-mimicking pollutants, ubiquitous in the food chain, have two previously unsuspected effects.

They act on genes in the developing fetus and newborn to turn more precursor cells into fat cells, which stay with you for life. And they may alter metabolic rate, so that the body hoards calories rather than burning them, like a physiological Scrooge. 'The evidence now emerging says that being overweight is not just the result of personal choices about what you eat, combined with inactivity,' says Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina, part of the National Institutes of Health."

Read more on: Newsweek