Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Archive for December, 2010

Letting Go

Posted by terrepruitt on December 7, 2010

In my most recent Nia class, I decided that I wanted to help people focus on the good of the season.  I think that sometimes there is a lot of negative emotions around the Holiday season.  By negative emotions I mean the way people actually feel during this time of year.  There is always the ever present I-don’t-believe-in-Christ-so-I-don’t-agree-with-any-of-it, the it-makes-me-sad-so-therefore-I-am-going-to-be-sad, the WHAT?-ITS-CHRISTMAS!  The feelings of inadequacy; there is not enough money, goals for the year were not accomplished, baking isn’t getting done, cards aren’t being sent, house isn’t getting cleaned, nothing is enough, there is too much . . . . .oh my the pressure!  I was thinking all of this is negative stuff.  So in class the focus was pushing away the negative, somewhat rejecting it, with the intent of bringing in the positive.

Both the “negative” and the “positive” is different for everyone so that was a very individualized point.  We didn’t discuss anything that I mentioned above, so everyone could rid themselves of whatever they needed and attract whatever they wanted. It was very nice.  It is a focus and an intent that can be used any time, I just thought we’d give it a spin this season.

As with all focuses and intents we use in a Nia class they can be carried into one’s day and/or daily living.  This is where the thought of “letting go” keeps popping into my head.  I love this season.  I love cleaning my house, getting it all ready to put up the decorations.  Then I love spending days . . . at least two or three days decorating the tree and the house.  I always laugh because sometimes I can’t remember where I “normally” put something and it might end up in a new spot.  Then I spend the season either saying, “Yes, that’s good.” or  “No, that really doesn’t work.”

I sometimes feel very foolish for the sheer joy I feel when I look at a silly Christmas decoration that I cherish.  But I do.  I feel joy at the beauty and the sparkle of Christmas.  This year since I am a bit limited in my movements I am having to really draw on that joy.  I am going to have to strategically place things so that I can see “Christmas” everywhere yet not have as many decorations out and up.

Things tend to work in concert.  We ended up with a much, much smaller tree than usual.  Cool, since my hubby had to handle it without my help.  Since it is smaller it will require less ornaments which will allow me to stay off my foot.  Also a small tree requires less maintenance and the couches didn’t have to be moved.  See?  It is all gonna work out fine, I just need to let it go.  Reject the negative when I start to feel a pout coming on.  It’s ok that it is my favorite time of year and I can’t run around.  Oh well.  I can walk.  My toe/foot IS healing.  It is all good.  For heaven’s sake its Christmastime.  Let the negative go, embrace the season, embrace the unity.

Posted in Just stuff, Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Sweet Potatoes

Posted by terrepruitt on December 4, 2010

I know sweet potatoes are full of good stuff.  They are good for you to eat, but I didn’t think I liked them.  I mean they are SWEET right?  Well, recently I saw a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes.  You know how I love roasted veggies.  So I thought I would give it a try one day.  While my hubby and I were buying veggies today we bought some sweet potatoes.  Today was the day!  By the time we got home from our Christmas Tree excursion, I didn’t want to look for the recipe.  I figured that just knowing you can roast them was good enough for me.

Since I am not familiar with sweet potatoes I didn’t know what flavor to give them.  My plan was onions and shallots, but my hubby was saying that they ARE sweet so I thought maybe a more sweet flavor would be better.  Hmmmm?  So I decided on both.

I cooked a pan of “sweet” sweet potatoes and a pan of savory sweet potatoes.  Now I know why I didn’t think I liked sweet potatoes . . . . they ARE sweet.  So to me they don’t need to be cooked with sweet flavors.

In my “sweet” pan I used lemon olive oil, lavender salt, and salt.  In the savory pan, I used garlic olive oil, shallots, white onions, smoked garlic salt, and salt.  I decided I liked the savory ones better.  The potatoes themselves are sweet enough, to me they don’t need additional sweet flavoring. As you may remember sweet potatoes were on the list of anti-inflammatory foods.  Yay!  So that is one of the health benefits.  They are also a great source of complex carbs and antioxidants!  Here is some nutrient information about sweet potatoes:

(a cup of baked sweet potato with skin has about:)

—-180 Calories
—-72 mgs of sodium
—-41 grams of carbohydrates
—-7 grams of dietary fiber
—-4 grams of protein

—-769% of the RDA’s Daily Value of Vitamin A  (WHOA!)
—-8 % Calcium
—-65% Vitamin C
—-8% of Iron

Eating a little “good” fat with this (like the olive oil) helps your body absorb that vitamin A (beta-carotene).

This veggie really packs a punch.  I am going to try cooking it different ways.  Do you eat sweet potatoes?  How do you cook them?

Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

Allergy Relief

Posted by terrepruitt on December 2, 2010

For some reason, unknown to me, my hubby does not like medical shows.  Medical dramas he will watch, but if I have on a show that is a doctor talking about anything he won’t watch it.  So needless to say, I don’t watch those types of shows.  I don’t know when they are on, but every once in a while I will turn on the TV when he is not home and there is one on.  Like recently when I watched the Dr. Oz show when he was talking about foods that starved cancer.  I just think all that stuff is interesting.  I love to hear what they learn about the body.  It is fascinating.  Well, today I sat down for a moment and turned on the TV and Dr. Oz was on.  I really should find out when it is on and just make a point to watch it when my hubby is not home because I always learn something when I watch his show.

I only saw a few minutes but it was really interesting.  He was saying that it is important to change your home’s filter, ya know for central heating, every three months.  I know we don’t do it that often, but after what he said I think it might be something to consider.  I have always known that it helps trap dust and pollen and things floating around in the air that might help to aggravate allergies.  But I never really thought about insect parts.  Ewwwwww.  He said that insects and their parts are a very common allergen.  YUCK.  Not something I really want to dwell on, but one of those things that I like to know, deal with, then forget about, ya know?

Also he has said that certain foods; onions, apples, and citrus contain Quercetin.  Quercetin acts as an antihistamine.  Which is something that most allergy sufferers take in pill form.  It is awesome to me to be able to get some anti itch help from the food I eat!

The information I am seeing as I look around also states that Quercetin is also considered an anti-flammatory agent . . . and a lot of allergy symptoms are from inflammation so something that acts as an anti-flammatory is amazing to me.

I am very happy to have come across this information.  I don’t always EAT white or yellow onions, but I do put them in food for flavor.  I am starting to eat the red onions they tend to be less sharp.  I do eat apples, but I don’t believe I eat them as often as I should, so I will step up my apple consumption.   Although I like oranges, I don’t eat them that often because it is difficult to find good flavorful ones in the store, but I will work on that too.  If these foods will help quell my allergy symptoms . . . . I am there!

Have you heard of Quercetin before?  Do you eat onions?  What about apples and oranges?  Do you have hay fever/allergies?

Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »