Monthly Archives: February 2026

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Holiday Celebrations, Stress Reduction

In The Moment

Leave a comment

How did you like Kim’s Corner last week? Please let us know.

Little did I know, I would be using this new approach the very week I learned about it!

The PEACE and LOVE technique has sped my recovery from a sprained ankle using no ice and no anti-inflammatories! I was walking without a limp just over 24 hours after the injury! Elevation is vital early on and periodically throughout the healing process.

I stopped wearing the Ace bandage after day 4, returning to my normal light compression socks.

A challenge came on Day 10 when embarking on a full day of airplane travel to Hawaii. Because of prolonged sitting and wanting to combat normal swelling that occurs with flying, I returned to an Ace bandage for the flights.

After landing and when we got settled in, my daughter tenderly applied Arnicare Cream to my ankle. The combination of her TLC and the pain relief I got from Arnicare was amazing.

This plant-based cream provides relief for muscle pain, stiffness, and swelling from injuries and bruises. I have been using it almost daily, especially while the flight-induced swelling eased off.

Other than daily movement, while I’m seated, I also draw the alphabet in the air with both feet. These movements help restore full range of motion.

I am a believer! Thank you, Kim!

The heart of this week’s message is inspired by our experiences here in Kona with my daughter, son-in-law, and darling grandson, who will turn 3 years old in April.

As any parent and grandparent knows, the life lessons gleaned from a young child are clear: live in the moment with joy.

This approach is not reserved for toddlers – although, we tend to lose those skills if we are not aware we are letting them go.

Watching the US figure skater, Alysa Liu, exuded pure, unadulterated joy both in her practice warm-ups and during her gold medal winning Olympic performance this week. Alysa was blissfully in the moment, thrilled to be doing what she loved.

I had not seen such pure joy on the face of an adult in such a long time. Everyone watching her Olympic performance felt and shared her joy.

As we absorb the joy from our tropical environment with family, and as we share in my grandson’s exuberance in every experience, we feel such inward peace and healing in areas we didn’t know were broken.

As our last message about love – in this month of love – please take a moment to read the following message from Eric Dane recorded before his passing this week from ALS, HERE.

How he resolutely walked toward the final days of that terrible disease is an inspiration to us all and another reminder to find our joy and to live in the moment with that pure joy.

We remember you Jim Tyler, Dan Logan, Eric Dane, and so many others taken too soon by ALS.

In love and health –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Exercise, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Peace and Love? Groovy, Man!

Leave a comment

Is this a throw-back post about hippies?

No, it’s about a change in a protocol we have all learned well.

WELCOME TO KIM’S CORNER

In our first issue of Kim’s Corner at Foodtalk4you, Physical Therapist Kimberly Attwood, PT, DPT, FDN, will explain something which surprised us during a recent visit to her office.

You may have heard about the RICE method of treating soft tissue injury, such as a sprained ankle.

Well, throw out the RICE to make way for PEACE and LOVE!

Remember, the inflammation that happens with soft tissue injury acts as a defense and cleanup crew to initiate healing by sending immune cells and repair substances to the site, removing pathogens and debris, and setting the stage for tissue regeneration. While prolonged inflammation can hinder recovery, making a balanced response is crucial.

Here’s Kim with information about the better approach for soft tissue injury in the acute phase, 1 – 3 days after injury, and the days that follow:

The latest research shows that treating minor acute injuries with RICE is outdated and potentially detrimental to your overall recovery. 

RICE = Rest, Ice (NSAIDs), Compress, Elevate 

Anti-inflammatories (commonly ibuprofen, naproxen, ice, etc.) are very effective at interrupting the inflammatory process. 

Knowing this relationship, hopefully you can see how anti-inflammatories on board during the first stages of healing could slow down the healing process.  

But wait, it hurts! What should I do about my pain?

Well, this is where the elevation and compression come into play. Being able to keep swelling to a reasonable level will help with the pain that you have during those first few weeks. Keep in mind that pain is a sign from your body, and it’s meant to protect you!

What exactly do PEACE and LOVE mean for me after an injury?  As Physiopedia quotes: “Immediately after a soft tissue injury, do no harm and let PEACE guide your approach.”

PEACE = Protect, Elevate, AVOID anti-inflammatories, Compress, Educate 

P = Protect; give the injured body part a break from strenuous activity. Not complete rest, but don’t go jogging on a freshly sprained ankle! 

E = Elevate; the injured body part needs to be above the level of your heart to help reduce swelling .

A = Avoid anti-inflammatories; stay away from ice and medication that reduces inflammation – let your body do what it is designed to do! 

C = Compression; use an ace wrap or other bandage to help reduce swelling.

E = Educate; ask your favorite physical therapist to teach you about your injury, recovery expectations, and prevention strategies

Then, after the first days have passed, soft tissues need LOVE:

LOVE = Load, optimism, vascularization, exercise 

L = Load; gradually increase your activities and weight bearing  

O = Optimism; A positive mindset can carry you a long way in your recovery 

V = Vascularization; participate in low impact cardiovascular exercises to encourage blood flow 

E = Exercise; Go see your favorite physical therapist to learn how to best restore motion, strength, endurance and balance

While diving into the anti-inflammatories and ice packs is what we have all learned previously, Kim reports that the PEACE and LOVE methods are shortening healing times!

Here’s an excellent video that recaps these concepts.

Kim may be reached at kimberly.attwood@ivyrehab.com for your questions or concerns.

In health –
Deidre

Blogging for good health!

What About a Thank You?

Leave a comment

Say, “Thank you!”

As we continue the examination of our February love theme, I’d like to reintroduce something I have not talked about in a while.

It’s our first beverage of the day.

“Why, it’s coffee! Are you nuts?”

No, this is about water. Oh.

At our house, I had slipped away from showing love to my body by concentrating on, “give me my coffee!”

Heading to the coffee pot just seemed trendier, sexier, and more sensually invigorating. I mean, those beans just smell so good! Woohoo!

It’s hard to do a happy dance over a mere glass of water. Clear. No aroma. Meh.

Until you notice how thirsty our bodies really are in the morning. After 6 – 8 hours of drinking nothing, our bodies are parched!

By really listening to your body, you can come to see how a humble glass of water can be AWESOME!

Rehydrating with water helps wake up the digestive system, sharpen thinking, and support overall body function for the day ahead – a great way to say, “Thank you, body, for a job well done!”

This article from WebMD, will provide you with an overview of how drinking water throughout the day makes all body systems function better.

But I would like to highlight just a few here.

Summarizing our post from 23 April 2024, you can see that our body’s ‘night crew’ is very busy with tissue repair, healing, and internal checks and balances. All of these vital processes require sleep-time, energy, and fluids.

That niggle of pressure in your head when you wake up? That’s likely your brain saying it’s dehydrated! Water, please! It’s almost an instant fix.

Having trouble with digestion such as indigestion, bloating, or constipation? First, send in a morning glass of water for the rescue!

Since returning to our wonderful habit of drinking a big glass of water before anything else, I am feeling and functioning so much better!

It’s like being dressed for success! Setting up my body for smoother functioning for the rest of the day.

I remember my grandmother would add a squeeze of lemon juice to her morning glass, and she lived to be 100! Just saying. The added antioxidants and Vitamin C are recommended as an additional boost!

Chugging is not recommended or required – that makes it something you have to endure or get through.

No, this is a love gift and a “thank you.” We sip on our water while we get dressed.

Then, there’s that cup of coffee!

If we want to drink more after a cup of coffee, we switch to Cuppa. See our post for 9 December 2025 for more information about Cuppa.
An additional benefit is, continuing to drink plain water throughout the day, is much easier to do.

In health –
Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Faces of Love and Peace

Leave a comment

Faces of Love and Peace

February is the month of love, and we will be exploring some very different variations on that theme in the coming weeks at foodtalk4you!

Love and Peace just go together, don’t they?

When we are at peace from within, we naturally reach out in love to others and to ourselves.

Our community felt deeply blessed to witness the monks during their recent Walk of Peace through our state. At a time when the news seemed to grow heavier by the moment, and our spirits were sinking, this quiet band of brothers moved through our shared space as a living testament to another way.

The image of them stays with me—shaping a quieter presence within myself and a renewed determination to walk each day with intention, toward peace, and toward being a light for others.

So, how am I doing that?

True confession. I had succumbed to the siren call of convenience, when I used liquid pods in my dishwasher.

The pods’ plastic wrap melts in the hot water, releasing the contents to wash the dishes and provide the sparkle we all love from a clean rinse.

Until I noticed a mysterious ‘dust’ on the back of my plates coming straight out of the dishwasher!

Enter micro and nano plastics …

There is no minimum daily requirement for ingesting plastics. None. No level of consumption or absorption is associated with good health.

Plastic is forever! It does not return to the earth as some kind of compost … it breaks down to particle sizes smaller than dust.

We breathe it. We eat it. We absorb it.

Nano plastics cross defensive barrier systems in our body such as our skin and the lining of our intestines. They are now found in our blood, tissue, and organs.

Consider this quote from the NIH dated January 23, 2024: “The researchers found that, on average, a liter of bottled water included about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic. About 90% of these plastic fragments were nanoplastics.” 

Many people believe that drinking 64 ounces of water a day from single-use plastic bottles is good for their health—but is it? Doing so can result in an estimated 480,000 plastic particles entering the body.

Awareness comes first. We cannot undo what we have done, we just take our next steps forward doing better.

While we just had one pod to eliminate at our house, many people are using pods in the laundry as well.

Did you know that our skin is our largest organ? It’s an organ of absorption! Plastic dust from laundry pods gets trapped in the fabric of clothes we wear!

There will be more about finding ways to eliminate plastics from our lives in future posts.

Now, we have a special announcement!

Foodtalk4you would like to welcome Kimberly Attwood, PT, DPT, FDN, and Clinical Director of IVY Rehab in Garner, NC, as a guest contributor! Very soon, you will see the first edition of Kim’s Corner as she shares with readers her insights into how we can show love to our bodies through the latest techniques for recovery!

In health –
Deidre