Archive for 2012
Posted by terrepruitt on March 17, 2012
When I was younger I remember many people saying that “once you go to a chiropractor you always have to go”. Maybe you have heard that. I still hear people say that. Back when I was young I don’t think a lot of thought was given to that statement. I know I didn’t think about it much, I just had heard it so often I believed it was true. At one point in my life back then I considered myself to “have a bad back”. Being in so much pain once I found myself at a chiropractor. This was all a very long time ago so I don’t remember all the details. I guess they did SOMETHING to make me feel better because I left and must have felt ok. But before I left he prescribed something outrageous like I would need to visit him three or four times a week in order to take care of it. Again, fuzzy on the details, but I know I never went back to that guy. I do remember having medical insurance at the time that would pay for a portion of my visits if I visited a doctor on their list. So, I found one, I believe he was on the verge of retiring and was not interested in seeing people more than he really felt was necessary and he did not think I needed to be seen more than once a week. But I do remember that by the time my next appointment came around I was ready. I think my issue was, and still is, stress or tension. I don’t have a “bad back”. I hold my stress in my upper back. Well, after I had seen a chiropractor I came to believe the saying “once you go to a chiropractor you always have to go” is true. It is because that once you go and you get relief then you always want to feel that good so you “have to go”. But now I also know that there are a lot of things we can do ourselves to either bring relief or make sure we don’t get in a state where we need it in the first place.
One of the things I was doing back then was holding the phone in the crook of my neck and shoulder when talking on the phone. I worked in the mortgage business and like many businesses when you get a phone call you don’t stop working, you keep working because you are having to look at information while talking. After I had been to the doctor I decided I was not going to hold the phone like that any longer and every place I worked after that I got a headset. Ever since then I’ve had had headsets for my home phone, too. That ONE thing alone brought HUGE changes in my back. I never hold the phone in the crook of my neck and shoulder.
But occasionally I still allow the tension to rest in my back. I have been fortunate enough to have someone help me with my back when she is available, but she is not always available and so I try to work on it myself. As I said, I believe a lot of it is making sure we don’t allow our bodies to get into a state where it needs work, but that is not always possible, but there are still things we can do. If you have read a few of my posts you know I have a tendency to scrunch my shoulders up towards my ears. That is a major thing that causes my back to hurt, so I really work on keeping my shoulders down. Also, I work at sitting up straight, which is not easy for me because I like to sit on a leg folded under me.
Aside from plain ol’ not doing things that cause issues I have been doing some things that tend to help my back by keeping the muscles loose and the vertebrae lengthened and relaxed. Often the floorplay in Nia helps with keeping my back loose, but the Nia routine that I have been doing the past few weeks does not have that type of floorplay in it so I am doing other things. My old friend the Downward Facing Dog is a great help for opening the back and releasing the spine. Doing the Downward Facing Dog at least a dozen times as part of a sequence is a great help in keeping my back loose.
Also the Pyramid Pose/Intense Stretch Pose (Parsvottanasana), which I mentioned in my Muscles Used In Nia During Yoga-like Sequence post. When stretching the crown of the head out and over it really does a great job of creating space in the spine. Since my discomfort seems to manifest in my upper back, moves or poses that have me hanging over do a fantastic job of opening my cervical and thoracic spine.
Another “hanging” pose that I feel does a nice job of relaxing my joints and muscles is the simple fold. Just folding over and letting the body hang. Either the ragdoll or the forward fold. Doing both types of hangs, with a relaxed back and a straight back, works to create the sensation that I want – space, space, space, and more space in my spine. The space in my spine helps to relax the muscles that hold the tension.
As I was doing some side bends today, I actually heard my back crack. On each side I heard it crack. While I am not a fan of hearing my body snap, crackle, and pop, I take my back making that noise as the vertebrae getting back into place. When I can move my bones back into place and not have someone else do it, that makes me happy. It is what I have come to think of as self-healing. One of the side bends I have been doing consist of bending to the side while holding my arms over my head with my hands clasps. The other is holding my wrist as I bend.
So I am excited that I am working on my back myself. I have to say that I have not had back pain, tension, or even discomfort in the last two weeks. Yay. I know that I am not the only one that holds stress and tension in the back. So I was hoping sharing some of the things I have been doing to give me relief might help you too.
Do you have issues with your back? Do you hold stress in your back? What do you do to bring yourself and your back relief from your discomfort?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: back pain, back pain relief, back stress, back tension, bad back, chiropractor, Downward-Facing Dog, hanging poses, Nia, Nia floorplay, Nia routines, pyramid pose/intense stretch, yoga poses, yoga sequences | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 15, 2012
While Nia is not yoga nor is it a yoga class we do borrow from Yoga. We borrow some of the ideas and sometimes some of the poses. In one of the Nia routines we do the Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II). We do it both static where we just rest into it and we move in it, we bend our bent leg more and sink into it and come up. Then we do the Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), then a version of the lunge, which depending upon your body could be a variation of the Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana), or the High Lunge (Utthita Ashva Sanchalanasana), or the Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I) – all without the backbend. Then we straighten our leg into the Pyramid Pose/Intense Stretch Pose (Parsvottanasana). With these poses we are using a lot of muscles. The muscles can be challenged in strength, stability, and/or flexibility. It all depends are your body at that moment.
When we do the Warrior II pose in this Nia routine the arms are extended out to the sides, opposite from each other, the hips, torso, chest, and shoulders are facing the mirror/front, while one of the legs is bent at a 90 degree angle and the foot is in line with the arm. The other leg is straight and the foot is slightly turned with the toes pointed toward the body and the heel pointed away. Of course participants have the option of having the foot at a right angle, but for this dance it is led with a slight angle. Even with that slight variation it is working the glutes (all of them), the thigh muscles: inner, outer, hamstrings, and the quadriceps, and your calf muscles. And for some, like me, who have a habit of scrunching the shoulders, it works the rhomboids while holding up the arms and keeping the shoulder blades down and pulled back. This is true for many yoga poses, that is why it is so great for encouraging straight posture.
Then for our Extended Side Angle Pose the arm, on the same side as the bent leg, is lowered, forearm to the thigh, the opposite arm is raised towards the sky and extended to a position that puts the arm next to the ear. There are options to stay in this modified Extended Side Angle or to move to another modification by removing the forearm from the thigh and placing that hand on the earth next to the inside arch of the foot. With this pose the primary work is in the bent leg. It is another pose that works the hamstrings and thigh muscles. Through the back of the straight leg and all along that side of the body there is a wonderful stretch, which is greater and more wonderful the better the body is as keeping the shoulder blades down and the back straight (not leaning forward).
We then move into a lunge with many options. As with all movements in Nia the responsibility falls on the participant to decide what it is their body is able to do and needs to do at that moment. We start off by placing the hands on the ground and straightening the foot on the leg that was straight in the Extended Side Angle Pose to be parallel with the foot on the bent leg. Then gently bring the back leg down resting the knee on the ground. As I said, many options so many places to go from here. One can stay here in Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana), or do a moving lunge by moving up and down, or go to High Lunge (Utthita Ashva Sanchalanasana), or come into an extended Warrior Pose I (Virabhadrasana I) with the arms up but with a parallel back foot and a straight back. Here the body receives the benefit of a lunge no matter which one the body does. If doing the extended Warrior Pose I like pose, the glutes and thigh of the bent leg are getting a great deal of work, while the straight leg’s foot parallel to the other foot results in a slight change in the muscles being worked and stretched than with the angled foot position of a traditional Warrior I. The inner thigh gets less work while the work and stretch shifts almost entirely to the back of the leg, the hamstrings and calf. The arms extended up in the extended Warrior Pose I allows for work in the spinal extensors, deltoids, lats, and traps . . . . basically a lot of muscles in the back, including the ones that keep your shoulders down. With the crown of the head reaching towards the sky abs get a stretch too.
Moving from whichever lunge was done to the pyramid where the bent leg is straightened and the crown of the head is reaching over the leg while back is straight and chest is on or close to the straight leg. Of course, variations are offered and participants do what is right for their body to remain in the sensation of Joy. With this pose the sensation experienced is a great stretch. The leg to which the head/chest is close to get the largest stretch in the back. If the body is active with the leg and working to keep the knee cap up then the quadriceps will be engaged. The spine gets a nice stretch because the crown of the head is being reach over and down. The back leg might also feel a stretch in the hamstrings if the body is like many people’s and has tight hamstrings.
This is a small yoga-like sequence that we do as part of the cool down cycle of one of the Nia routines. Again, since Nia is not a Yoga class there are many options and variations that are offered that might not be part of a yoga class teaching strictly yoga. With all classes whether it be Nia, Yoga, Zumba, Jazzercise, whatever, the goal should be to give your body what it needs at that time. Bodies are constantly changing so the needs do too. The idea is not to force the body into a pose, but to allow the muscles and bones to sink into the pose, finding strength and flexibility along with openness in the joints and that constant sensation of Joy. This is a little review of movements that are Yoga or are very similar to Yoga, to explain some of the muscles we use in Nia.
Can you see how Nia can improve strength, stability, and flexibility?
Posted in Muscles, Nia | Tagged: back muscles, butt muscles, Extended Side Agnle Pose, Jazzercise, lunge, Nia, Nia class, Nia Moves, Nia routines, Pyramid, thigh muscles, Warrior I, Warrior II, Yoga, Yoga class, yoga poses, yoga sequence, Zumba | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2012
I like tea. Do you like tea? I like to have tea to warm me up during the day when I don’t want to have caffeine or when I don’t want to just make a hot cup of spices. I also drink it at night for the same reason. Herb tea in itself is said to be good for you. Green tea is supposed to have all kinds of benefits. I like tea and I do believe that herbal tea has benefits depending on what herb you are drinking. Echinacea tea would fall into that category. For instance I whole heartedly believe in Echinacea being helpful when you feel you might be catching a cold. I believe it can help you not get the cold or help make it less severe. In the same vein I think it can help you get better faster if you are sick. Echinacea is one of those herbs that helps with immune systems. Whenever my husband mumbles he is not feeling well, I make sure he has a cup of Echinacea tea. I also tend to believe in the teas that claim to help with certain things (help you sleep, boost your immue system, etc).
Last October we used up the last of our Echinacea tea. Funny I remember when it was exactly because the studio I teach Nia at had just moved. I found myself looking around the new area one day in November. Normally I wouldn’t remember when I bought tea but this I remember. I wandered into a health food store. They had a large selection of herbal tea. My friend and I had just been having a conversation about green teas so I was looking for green teas. I wanted something to replace my Echinacea tea. There were two I could not decide between. But then I spotted another one and wanted that. So I ended up getting Green Tea Triple Echinacea and a Green Tea “Super Antioxidant”. Not sure I believe that one, but I did believe it was green tea and thought, “Well, what the heck.”
Well, they taste green. If you are conscious of green taste you know what I mean. I don’t think my other Echinacea tea was green tea because it didn’t taste like green. They are ok, I like them but I kind of just save them for when I think I need them. When I want a yummy cup of tea they are not what I think of. Plus they have caffeine.
Not all herb tea is decaffeinated. Green tea has caffeine. So if you are not drinking coffee because you don’t want the caffeine and you are drinking green tea instead, you you could still be getting caffeine. Unless it says it is decaffeinated it has caffeine. Sometimes I don’t mind the caffeine, in fact I will drink it because of the caffeine. But lately it has been cold here at night and I don’t want the caffeine at night. I wanted some decaffeinated tea. While I was buying my calcium I clicked on their tea section and found some interesting looking tea. It is Echinacea Immune Support. It was on sale so I took a chance. Ahhhhh! I am so glad I did.
It has Echinacea root and Cinnamon Bark in it. Also Cardamom Seed, Rose Hip, Ginger Root, and Elderberry Extract among other things. This is not a green tea, but it has other things I like, for instance a yummy taste. It is really good. This tea is one that I think of drinking when I want to have a warm cozy cup of tea. The moment I ripped open the little package I was intrigued by the delicious smell.
Echinacea is good for fighting colds. Cinnamon and cardamom are anti-inflammatory spices. Rose hips is high in Vitamin C so it has anti-oxidants. Ginger can help with chronic inflammation and digestion. And I just learned about Elderberry being an immune system boost. So, with all the ingredients in here that I am familiar with I can concede its claim to be Immune Support. Even if not, it is a good cup of tea.
Do you drink tea? Do you drink herb tea? Do you drink herb tea for health benefits? What is your favorite tea?
Posted in Food | Tagged: anti-inflammatory, Coffee, cold fighter, cold night drink, Echinacea Immune Support, Echinacea root, Echinacea tea, ginger, green tea, Green Tea Triple Echinacea, herb tea, herbal tea, immune systems, Nia, Nia Teacher, Super Antioxidant, vitamin C, yogi, Yogi tea | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 10, 2012
I have posted about Nia FreeDance before. Nia FreeDance is meant to encourage creativity. In Nia routines sometimes we have entire songs that are FreeDance. Not all routines have an entire FreeDance song, but all routines have at least one part as FreeDance. The one part could be that our feet have choreography and our arms and hands are free to move. The creativity is released. As the 4th Principle of the Nia White Belt it can also be used as a tool to help a Nia teacher learn a routine and/or explore his or her practice. The principle has 8 stages. The third stage of FreeDance is Feelings and Emotions with a catch phrase of: Pretend, Fake It, Act As If. This is the stage where you pick an emotion and you act it out. This is not the same as stage 4 where you draw on the real you and you act out a story you have experienced, this stage is pretend.
The idea of stage 3 of Nia FreeDance is to pick an emotion, a feeling and then act it out. Pretend you are feeling that emotion at that moment. This would be practice or play outside of a class setting where you are doing a routine. So when using this tool as a way to grow and create you aren’t even expected to dance. The exercise is to pick an emotion act it out for a bit, then pick another emotion. Acting and explaining the feeling with your body in an exaggerated way. If it helps create a story in order to fake that emotion. It can be somewhat fun because normally when you are angry you probably would not throw yourself down on the floor and kick and scream, but when we are pretending to be angry and acting “as if” you can. You can throw an angry punch. You can run and jump for joy. You can do anything you would like and since it probably wouldn’t be something you would be “allowed” to do in society it tends to spur creativity. And this creativity gets your body moving in news ways. It gets your heart pumping. It gets your blood moving. It gets your joints juicy.
I used this stage not too long ago as the focus of a few of my Nia Classes and it turned out to be very interesting. So within the class setting we actually danced our pretend feelings and emotions. We continued on with the routine we were doing at the time, but we added our “act as if”. So it altered our movements a bit. We allowed ourselves to follow the emotion so as we were dancing steps and hand movements might have been changed, but we still danced. As I said it was interesting because my class did not want to act the “negative emotions”. Some had a difficult time with some of the ones we deem as “negative” or ones that go against one’s normal self. We danced: keeping a secret, letting a secret go, happy, loopy, light, jealous, worry, love, angry, masculine, annoyed, bashful, brave, calm, childlike, guilty, fearless, and more. We tend to assign negative and positive, but they just are . . .I think that we can look at an emotion and or a feeling and it can be neither, but as we live with it it could become one or the other. If we let it affect us in a negative way, then maybe it can be perceived as a negative emotion?
The Embody and Share portion of the Nia White Belt Manual states: “Emotions are energetic responses to our experiences. We must learn to deal with our emotions to keep ourselves free and unblocked.” So my thought process is, that if an emotion “blocks” us or causes us stress then we consider it negative.
People didn’t like the emotions they felt were negative. There was a tendency to not pick them from the list I had displayed. But I think they are good for exploring movement. So it’s fun to play with them all. Remembering it is pretend, we are faking being (whatever the emotion is that we chose), we are pretending.
Well, what do you think? I invite you to make a list of emotions and feelings, then put on some music. Pick an emotion/feeling from your list and move to it. Stay with it until you are ready to move on and then pick another one from your list. Do this for a few songs. You might be surprised at your movements. You will probably be able to create ways to move that you didn’t realize. When you are not thinking of your movements it allows your body to release and —- ahhhh! —- movement creativity. Go ahead, you can do it. Let us know how it goes!
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: 8 stages, Act As If, angry, creativity, dance exercise, Fake It, freedance, jealousy, love, masculine, movement creativity, negative emotion, Nia choreography, Nia Classes, Nia FreeDance, Nia Practice, Nia routines, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt Manual, Nia White Belt Principle #4, Pretend, Stage 3, worry | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 8, 2012
Have you ever heard about doing a random act of kindness? We are often encouraged to commit acts of kindness. The acts can be simple and they could be random. Pay the toll on the bridge for the person behind you, pay for the coffee for the person behind you in line at the coffee shop, help someone whose car is broken down, things like that. Always for other people. But how often do you hear about doing small acts of kindness for yourself? Small acts of kindness for your body? I’m going to go out on a limb and say not often. I am not talking about getting a massage or buying something new that will add to our happiness. I am not talking about the “take time for yourself” kind of kindness. I am talking about little things that we probably don’t even realize would be a small act of kindness to ourself and to our body.
I was listening to a Nia Continuing Education recording and Debbie Rosas said to do small acts of kindness for ourselves throughout the day. In this Nia training she briefly mentioned the act being a shift in posture, something having to do with the body. The reference to an adjustment in the body reminded me of the information in my post about Dance Conditioning Tips. In reading the tips I thought they were not just for dance and could be applied to everyday living. The tip was to sense your body while doing a task and see if is in alignment. Well there are more things than just “off” alignment that could cause discomfort, so I was thinking of things that we could do to be kind to the body. Maybe some of them are just adjustments in the way we are sitting that can be made. If your neck is tense is your keyboard to high? Can it be lowered or can your seat be raised? Would the small act of sitting straighter be kind to you back? How about the much talked about and needed break? Taking just a few minutes away from the desk for a little stretch or shake out.
What about a glass of water? A small and simple way to be kind to your body. Would you object to closing your eyes for a moment and taking deep breaths? It’s a great way to show some body kindness. I bet you could go for taking off your shoes and wiggling your toes and flexing your feet moving your ankles—-I bet your feet would LOVE you for that small kindness.
Ok, I have one, it is a big one, and don’t deny you have done it because I would bet we ALL have done it at one time or another . . . . . don’t wait! Don’t hold it. Get up and go to the restroom. I bet more of us have done that than not. We have to go to the restroom because of that small kindness of a glass of water, but we just want to finish one more thing, then we will go. Then that one thing turns into another and next thing you realize you are sprinting to the restroom. Do your bladder a small kindness and don’t “do one more thing”. Stop what you are doing and go to the restroom.
These are all little things, so small, you might not even realize how big of an impact they can have until you try one. The “small” part allows you to do them without much or any interruption to your day. Just little adjustments or small acts of kindness for yourself to fit in easily to your day.
So what do you think? Do you think you any of these would be something you can do? Can you think of a small act of kindness that you can do? Can you think of a small act of kindness that you can do for your body? Do tell.
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: body kindness, dance conditioning tips, Debbie Rosas, kind to the body, Nia, Nia Continuing Educations, Nia training, Random acts of kindness, small act of kindness, take a break, taking time for yourself | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 6, 2012
Have you ever been in a situation where the reaction of the person you are dealing with is completely odd? Before I became a Nia Student and teacher I worked in the mortgage industry. I started when I was 15 going on 16. I learned a lot working with Mortgage Brokers, Real Estate Brokers, Lenders, Title Officers, Escrow Officers, County Recorders, borrowers, appraisers . . . . and the list goes on. One thing I learned early on was from a broker. While I don’t remember the exact situation (what it was he did not do), I do remember the utter perplexity I felt then the moment of absolute clarity. I have what I learned and easily applied it to many, many, many, many, many situations throughout my life. Sometimes it actually helps because I can work with the knowledge, sometimes it doesn’t help because it doesn’t matter that I know what is going on, the person is just going to be the way they are no matter what. Sometimes there is no defusing certain situations or people. The lesson I learned was actually about behavior. I observed that people tend to get over the top angry and blow things out of proportion when they are at fault. The situation I vaguely remember was that I could not do something for the broker because he had not supplied me with what I needed in order to do it. He was angry and his huge outburst completely flabbergasted me because it was not my fault, it was out of my control, in fact. . .. . and then I saw it clearly . . . .it was his fault and he knew it.
People tend to get more upset when they are the one at fault. Even when they are the one at fault they project the anger on the person they are dealing with and more often than not the situation goes down hill from there. Sometimes, as I mentioned, when you know what is happening, when you recognize that the person displaying the anger [(edited, added 02.20.13) is angry at themselves], sometimes you can defuse the situation. You can somehow let them know that it is ok they made a mistake and work to fix the situation. But sometimes that doesn’t work. Sometimes people just want to be angry. Or sometimes maybe it is that they have had such a bad day they almost can’t help but be angry. Or sometimes when the situation involves another person they can’t let go of their anger. If say, whatever it is they did in the situation affected their child or their spouse (or whomever), sometimes this is when they can’t let go . . . and I believe it is because of the guilt of their error.
In some situations it is impossible to help relieve the person’s guilt because you might not even recognize they are feeling guilty. You might not recognize that they feel bad for the situation they have created. It could be that it is not really a big deal to you and it can be easily fixed so when the person displays anger towards you, you might be shocked and not be able to work with it.
This reminds me a little of listening with love, but this is more listening with understanding. Of course, as I mentioned if you don’t have a sense of any wrong doing then it is difficult to understand why someone might feel guilty and then that could be where the listening with love comes in, right? “I have no idea what is troubling this person so that they are so angry, but I will listen with love because there has been no indication that I should do otherwise.” 🙂
With all the different ways to listen; the “not assuming” and the “understanding what someone is going through”, to the just “listen with love” sometimes communicating can be a challenge. We should keep trying, keeping talking, keep listening, even through someone else’s guilt.
Have you experienced what I am talking about? Have you seen or been at the brunt of someone’s anger because they were the one at fault? What did you do?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: angry outburst, appraisers, borrowers, brunt of someone's anger, communication challenge, lenders, listen with love, listen with understanding, mortgage brokers, mortgage industry, Nia, Nia student, Nia Teacher | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 3, 2012
Not too long ago on Facebook a friend of mine posted a list I found to be very interesting. It was a list of food people crave (from Naturopathy Works). The list was an explanation and a counter to the craving.. If you crave this . . . . your body needs that. I thought it was awesome. I love the idea. The food craving or behaviors listed are generally “unhealthy”, the list then shows the thing that is needed; sometimes a vitamin, a mineral, or something along those lines. Then to be ultimately helpful there is a list of suggestions as to what to eat or do, in order to help with the craving or behavior. Isn’t that marvelous. Isn’t it interesting? I thought so.
If you crave Chocolate, your body needs magnesium so you could substitute a healthy alternative of raw nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits. Oh honestly, as I typed this I heard the collective future groan of the chocolate lovers that read this. I know there are people who believe there is no substitute for chocolate. And sometimes, there isn’t. If your heart, head, and mouth are dead set on chocolate, there usually isn’t anything that will suffice, but if you are actually willing to forego it and try something else to satisfy your craving there is a healthy alternative.
For some of the food cravings there is a list of things you might really need, coffee or tea for instance. If you are craving coffee or tea the list states you really need phosphorous, sulfur, NaCl (salt), iron. I would suggest that you then think about your diet and what you have eaten and decide what you might really need. For me I can honestly say I doubt I EVER need salt. I think I get quite enough of it in my diet. So I wouldn’t need to try the substitutions for salt which are: Sea salt, apple cider vinegar (on salad). I might want to try the chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes for the phosphorous, or the meat, fish and poultry, seaweed, greens, black cherries for the iron. But I don’t think I would need the garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables for the sulfur, but maybe the egg yolks, red peppers, and muscle protein. If you read my blog you know I get a ton of garlic and onion (my only flavorings!) and cruciferous veggies. But I am not big on protein, so I am sure that is where I would get the help if I were to look for a substitute.
As I said this list has food cravings and behaviors, as in “General Over Eating” and for that the items needed are silicon with a substitution of nuts and seeds, but a behavior or elimination of avoiding refined starches. Other things this list states a body might need if it is over eating is tryptophan so try cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, spinach, vitamin C supplements or orange, green, red fruits and vegetables for tyrosine.
I found this interesting and helpful. I haven’t had much time to put it to use, but I plan too. A healthy alternative is often a great way to go. But then there are times I feel it is ok to give into the craving, but the key is moderation. Do you find this interesting? Would you give it a try? Let us know if any of this helps satisfy a craving. 🙂
Posted in Food, Helpful Hints | Tagged: crave chocolate, crave fatty foods, crave oil, crave salt, cruciferous veggies, Facebook, Facebook Friend, food cravings, healthy alternative, I want chocolate, Naturopathy, substitute for food cravings | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 1, 2012
In a post about an article I read about boosting your immune system I mentioned elderberries. I think it is funny how things get brought to your conscious. Last year I went to a Yelp Event where one of the vendors serving was St Germain. St. Germain is a French liqueur made from elderflowers. I had never heard of it, but when first hearing of the event my friend had told me it was her favorite. After tasting it in their signature cocktail I understood why. That was my first conscious memory of hearing about elderberries. Then I read the article and it mentioned elderberries. So I decided to do a few searches on Elderberries and as is the case with most things Wiki has a wealth of information. First off the Elderberry is kind of the category of 5 to 30 shrubs or trees.
It seems as if most countries and peoples use the elderflowers to make syrups. The syrups can be added to pancakes or diluted with water and used as a drink. Or what the french had done and made a liqueur. Seems as if the berries are used in the tradition of many berries, in wines, james, jellies, marmaldes, and fruit pies. Every site I have seen says that the flowers are often dipped in batter and fried. Elderberries.com states that they believe it is best not to eat them raw.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture: “Only the blue or purple berries of elderberry are edible. Edible berries and flower are used for medicine, dyes for basketry, arrow shafts, flute, whistles, clapper sticks, and folk medicine. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be observed with this plant. Elderberries are high in Vitamin C. The red berries of other species are toxic and should not be gathered.”
The USDA site also states that folk medicine considered the elderberry a very valuable healing plant. And it sounds like it could do almost anything. The flowers have flavonoids which some say are thought to help prevent cancer and improve immune function. The tannins are a help with reduction of bleeding, diarrhea, and congestions.
The flowers can also be made into a tea to aid in breaking “dry fevers and stimulate perspiration, aid headache, indigestion, twitching eyes, dropsy, rheumatism, appendix inflammation, bladder or kidney infections, colds, influenza, consumption (bleeding in lungs), and is helpful to newborn babies (Hutchens 1991). Used as a wash, the flowers or leaves are good for wounds, sprains, and bruises, as well as for sores on domestic animals. The leaves, which are stronger, have a slightly laxative property. Applied externally, leaves, flowers, bark and twigs are excellent as a poultice, mixed equally with chamomile, for soreness, inflammations, joint stiffness, and to reduce the swelling of bee stings. The flowers and berries, employed as a diuretic, can aid arthritis and rheumatism. Steeped in water, the flowers are used externally to aid in complexion beauty, tone and soften the skin, and lighten freckles or spots. The berry juice made into salve aids burns and scalds. The juice taken internally will act as a purgative.’
Wow, huh? Sounds like the entire plant can pretty much do anything. But I haven’t seen the berries sold anywhere, have you? I have to admit I have not LOOKED for them, but since they sound like they can take care of some many things I would think they would be more popular.
Since the actual genus name is Sambucus, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that the Italian liqueur Sambucca is comprised of oil from the elderflower. Aside from the liqueur versions and the jam versions, it really sounds as if the flowers and the berries are very good for you. They have a lot of vitamin C and a good amount of vitamin A. And according to folk medicine they do a heck of a lot. I am going to look for them in September. That seems to be the season for Elderberries.
After reading they can help boost your immune system AND all the other stuff listed here, do they interest you? Do elderberries sound like something you would like to add to your diet? Do you want to try some elderflowers?
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: boosting your immune system, elderberries, elderberry tea, elderflowers, folk medicine, French liqueur, improve immune function, lighten freckles or spots, prevent cancer, St Germain, tannins, tone and soften the skin, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, vitamin C, Yelp Event | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 28, 2012
My family has always eaten mushrooms. I have not. I remember a time when I didn’t like them. I remember that I started liking them. Not too long after I started liking them, my grandfather, who was the one that cooked them how I liked them, starting his bizarre food behaviors. The way he cooked the mushrooms by which I started liking them was sauteing them with browned butter and a ton of garlic. Then he started adding all types of things, things that might not actually belong mixed together. But my grandfather’s decline is not the subject of this post. Neither is the fact that he was the one that introduced me to mushrooms. The subject of this post is mushrooms. There was a time and I mentioned it before in my Some Foods Can Boost Your Immune System post, when mushrooms were not thought to have much nutritional value. In fact, I remember my mother and I talking about that. We had thought that mushrooms were pretty much nationally void. But now-a-days that is not the case. Mushrooms are not a superfood, but they do have nutritional value.
Mushrooms are a fungus. There are many kind, I know, but I am talking about the plain white variety. The ones that really go with almost anything savory. I mean the other kind are good, but some of them have a very strong flavor so they might drown out a delicate sauce or flavor. But the white ones are pretty plain, so you can make them any flavor you’d like — pretty much. At the same time receive their nutritional benefits.
Mushrooms can be eaten raw or cooked. When I eat them raw it is usually in a salad or in as part of a veggie tray with dip. Oh, we also do use them as a dipper when eating cheese fondue.
Per the USDA Nutrient Database the nutritional value for about 3.5 oz of mushrooms is:
about 27 Calories
Carbohydrates 4.1 g
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 2.5 g
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.1 mg (9%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.5 mg (42%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 3.8 mg (25%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 1.5 mg (30%)
Vitamin C 0 mg (0%)
Calcium 18 mg (2%)
Phosphorus 120 mg (17%)
Potassium 448 mg (10%)
Sodium 6 mg (0%)
Zinc 1.1 mg (12%)
So with that information we can see there is a good amount vitamin B in mushrooms. It seems that mushrooms can be forced to make vitamin D. The process can be compared to how we convert sunshine on our skin to vitamin D. Mushrooms have a chemical called ergosterol, which, when exposed to UV light is converted to vitamin D.
Wiki states: “Testing conducted by the Pennsylvania State University showed an hour of UV light exposure made a serving of mushrooms contain twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s daily recommendation of vitamin D. Testing by the Monterey Mushrooms Company demonstrated 5 minutes of UV light exposure made a serving of mushrooms contain four times the FDA’s daily recommendation of vitamin D.”
Which is funny to me because I thought mushrooms preferred dark.
On Fresh Mushrooms their antioxidant contents is cited. Antioxidants are good for the immune system. They help protect the cells from damage from free radical, which are thought to be the cause of many diseases. Mushrooms contain the antioxidant Ergothioneine and the mineral Selenium which works as an antioxidant.
I love mushrooms. I am happy that they are more than just good tasting, they are good for me. We eat a lot of mushrooms. Do you? How many times a week would you say you have mushrooms? How do you prepare them? Do you eat them raw or do you cook them?
Posted in Food | Tagged: antioxidants, browned butter, Calcium, cooked mushrooms, garlic, immune system, mushrooms, protein, raw mushrooms, sauteing, superfood, vitamin D | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 25, 2012
Are wrist blood pressure monitors accurate? I was wondering because my blood pressure seems low when I use my wrist blood pressure monitor. I know meditative body mind practices like Nia can help keep blood pressure down, but it seems really low. The first thing I looked at on the internet made me laugh. The question was, “How accurate are wrist blood pressure monitors? Mine consistently shows a lower blood pressure reading than that taken by my doctor.” And a portion of the answer said, “blood pressure measurements taken at the wrist are usually higher and less accurate than those taken at your upper arm.”
I often think that blood pressure taken at the doctor’s office is higher just due to the stress of being at the doctor’s office. Even if you don’t have what they call “white coat syndrome” sometimes the stress of getting to the doctor’s office (maybe there is traffic, or you have had to interrupt your busy life to take time to go to the doctor), the stress of WHY you are at the doctor’s (most of us don’t go to the doctor when we are healthy and feeling fine, so the fact that we are there could be stressful), or the stress of having to wait (often times we don’t get called in by our appointment time, or we do and we are stuck sitting on the table) can be causes for higher blood pressure readings than normal. I think that a blood pressure reading at home is more accurate because you are IN your life. You are IN your normal stresses. That is why I was wondering about the wrist cuffs because I think the situation (home monitor) is more ideal then doctor office monitoring. But with mine showing lower than I would expect I was wondering. It isn’t actually LOW, it is just lower than I expect. Because what I usually do is think, “Oh, I should check my blood pressure.” as I am downstairs so I run upstairs and try to sit and wait before taking it, but I end up pressing the button and just seems lower than I would guess because I was just moving around.
The American Heart Association states:
Blood Pressure
Category
|
Systolic mm Hg (upper #)
|
|
Diastolic mm Hg
(lower #)
|
| Normal |
less than 120 |
and
|
less than 80 |
| Prehypertension |
120 – 139 |
or
|
80 – 89 |
High Blood Pressure
(Hypertension) Stage 1 |
140 – 159 |
or
|
90 – 99 |
High Blood Pressure
(Hypertension) Stage 2 |
160 or higher |
or
|
100 or higher |
Just like with all information I found conflicting information. I found information stating that wrist monitors were good and I found information stating they were not accurate. The main concern regarding accuracy was arm position. The common statement was that the readings accuracy is affected by the arm position so if the arm was not properly placed the reading could be wrong. Makes sense, but I was not truly understand why resting one’s left elbow on a table so that the right and monitor were at heart height would be such a challenge to people using a wrist monitor. I also found information stating that wrist monitors were more expensive than arm cuffs, but then the monitors that I saw being advertised on the internet were less than the cuff ones. So, again, a lot of conflicting information. I did see information stating that wrist monitor quality (meaning reading accuracy) had improved a lot I personally think that cuff blood pressure monitor, the kind where you put your arm in the cuff and secure it around your upper arm, is more accurate. However, I also believe they are more expensive, so I bought a wrist monitor.
If you are interesting in having a blood pressure monitor at home, I suggest you buy one from a place that allows you to return it. Then when you go to the doctor take your monitor and take your blood pressure with it to compare to the doctor’s blood pressure monitor. If it is not accurate then you can return it to where you bought it.
There is a technique for ensure your arm is in the correct position when using a wrist monitor that could be easier than the elbow-table method. Cross you arm over your heart, as if you are holding your right shoulder in your left hand. This ensures no movement and that the monitor is above the heart/level with the heart. Don’t hold your shoulder just let your fingers rest on the front of your shoulder. I thought this was an excellent method.
Are you thinking about owning a blood pressure monitor? Wrist or arm cuff? Do you already have a blood pressure monitor at home? Wrist or arm cuff? Do you get a little “white coat syndrome” at the doctor’s office?
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: blood pressure, Blood Pressure Monitors, body-mind practice, diastolic, meditation, Mind-body practice, Nia, Nia Practice, systolic, white coat syndrome, wrist blood pressure monitor | 21 Comments »
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