Category Archives: Blogging for good health!

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, Recipes

Grits ‘N Eggs ‘N Stuff

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Before I became a southerner, I was an avocado and artichoke-eating California girl. While working as a teaching assistant in a GED program at Fort Ord, I received an early introduction to a southern staple: “Grits ‘n eggs.” 

Sort of.

You see, this was before I learned to speak southern.

Now, the “y’all,” and, “bless his heart,” spoken by our own 4’ 8” Georgia peach of a school secretary, were clearly understood – even by a westerner.

Since southern dishes were new to me – then, translating, “Grits ‘n eggs,” into a plate of food eluded my understanding. But our newly-wed secretary raved so much about the grits ‘n eggs she whipped up each morning for her hungry soldier husband, I thought I’d try it out.

Grits were an entirely new food group for me. Armed with instructions on what to look for in the store, I set out on how to, “fix me some grits ‘n eggs.” After scoring a bag of bonified grits, I was ready!

Bring water to a boil. Check.

Add grits and stir. Check.

Add salt as desired. Check.

What about the egg? The package said nothing about adding an egg, but I wanted grits ‘n eggs.

What’s a college educated girl going to do?

Add a couple eggs and stir!

Voila! Grits ‘n eggs!!!!

Unknowingly, I had just created my own hybrid version of “grits ‘n eggs” – even before hybrid was a word.

Not wanting to divulge my culinary ignorance, when our secretary asked how I liked these amazing “grits ‘n eggs,” I gave a tentative approval. Took me a while to learn the error of my ways through attentive listening and asking the right questions as to technique.

Like any true southerner – hey, I’ve been in the South for 40 years, so I’ve earned that label – the fine art of chopping up my over medium fried egg into my very separate serving of grits-on-the-same-plate is pure heaven – in a restaurant.

At home, I am basically a lazy cook, so I have learned to love my now named – “Fluffy Grits,” because only one pan is needed.

Lately, I’ve been kicking up nutritional and fiber values even more, and have added another acquired southern taste to the mix: Okra.

Not the breaded, deep-fried version. No, no. Plain slices of about 4-5 okra sautéed in my small pan with a bit of olive oil and seasoned with garlic salt until slightly browned.

Then I add my grits and water, stirring to make sure the grits are not clumping.

Next comes the egg. Stir/scramble the mixture until the egg is cooked.

Done and done. One pan.

“Grits ‘n eggs ‘n okra!”

My favorite breakfast. The fiber in the okra works wonders on the digestive system, and my day has one veggie in it all ready.

If you have an aversion to okra slime – fear not. Sauteed okra will not slime you.

Since stopping breaded and fried foods years ago, I have never looked back. Plain, sauteed okra is a delight – try seasoning them with a bit of Montreal Seasoning as a side dish to dinner …

Hmmm.

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In health-

Deidre

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

Pretty In Pink – And Calmer

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Psychologists, sociologists, and historians will wag on for decades, looking at our pandemic experience from every possible angle, turning it over and over to draw their sage conclusions.

In the meantime, we’re living in this jumble of emotions while faced with physical isolation, uncertainty on every front, and grief.

Now, as we are possibly crawling out from being under this pandemic monster, we are wondering how we will respond to doing it in real time.

I am recalling past studies about the color pink and its effect on emotions and upon the body.  As I refreshed my recollections here: What Does the Color Pink Do to You? | Psychology Today and here: The Color Psychology of Pink (verywellmind.com), some fascinating research done in 1975 and 1985 came to light.

A study of 153 healthy young men showed that after they stared at 2-by-3 foot pieces of cardboard painted either deep blue or Pepto Bismol pink, the men who stared at the pink boards scored significantly lower in strength evaluations than their blue staring cohorts.

Based on these studies, the Navy painted detention rooms that same pink. Within 15 minutes, angry, unruly detainees calmed right down. Various county jails, youth detention centers, and psychiatric centers across America have used rooms painted in what became known as Baker-Miller pink (after the Navy officers who first used this color) to calm down and pacify angry, anxious, aggressive prisoners/clients.

Pink’s effects can be counter-productive in the long run, however, for after the initial calming phase, those confined to pink rooms for longer periods became anxious and agitated.

Too much of something?

Well, yes. And this brings me back to our pandemic state of mind.

Who, pre-COVID, has not lamented for:

  • More time at home?
  • More time with the family?
  • More time alone with just your thoughts?
  • Time off from rushing around?
  • Time to catch up on household projects?

Some of those items were viewed as our calming pink room.

Ahhh. A place to go to just be us.

Clearly, we have exceeded our calming stay in that proverbial pink room. 

Yes, books have been written, homes redecorated, gardens planted, pictures painted, and much more, but people were not meant to lead such isolated lives. Most people are needing the give-and-take of smiles, hugs, shared meals, and shared experiences.

But a whistle is not going to blow, announcing the start of a race to normal. We aren’t going to be let out of the gate, running toward the nearest hug.

The same way there was no hard and fast rulebook about who would get sick, who would recover, who would have long-term effects, or who would die – there will be no absolute rulebook on how to come out of this.

Despite the agony of longing for social company, our minds will have to learn how to physically leave our safe spots with confidence and comfort – and achieve that elusive degree of safety.

Will we really want to fill our social calendars with endless in-person, have-to meetings or activities just because we can?

How has your focus changed? Once the populace has been vaccinated to an acceptable level, how will your freedom look?

It’s going to be months before this can happen, and millions of people are going to have to continue with safe habits and get vaccinated, but it’s a topic worth thinking about.

People have been changed. Depression is high with more prescriptions for anti-depressants being written than ever before. Many of us have not been hugged in over a year.

My friends and family are beginning to enjoy small, vaccinated, gatherings without masks. I talked to my neighbor yesterday; we’re both fully vaccinated, and neither of us wore a mask. We stayed 6 feet apart. I felt like I was doing something liberating – and yet daring.

Strange times. Need to get out of this pink room, for sure.

By the way – an addendum was added to last week’s post HERE about closing our mouths to breathe. Please be sure to go back and read the additional clarification.

In health-

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

Well, Shut My Mouth!

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Meh. Air in. Air out. What’s the big deal?

Any path in or out doesn’t matter. My nose is congested most of the time anyway, so mouth breathing will do the job, right?

Wrong.

My mind is being blown away by ANCIENT information containing the sure knowledge that breathing exclusively through the nose leads to a long healthy life; and mouth breathing leads to disease, facial deformity, and premature death.

As promised, after sharing some breathing pattern exercises that assist in de-stressing our inner selves, HERE, I am now sharing a little of what I am learning about how to breathe.

Got that??

Yes. James Nestor’s book, Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art, is changing my perspective – not only about how to breathe – but altering my thinking about health, itself, and where it comes from.

And, I am only halfway into chapter 4.

  • Snoring?
  • Sleep apnea?
  • High blood pressure?
  • ADHD?
  • Bedwetting?
  • Erectile Dysfunction?
  • Psoriasis?
  • Depression?
  • Headaches?
  • Crooked teeth?

Oh, the list just goes on and on. Chances are excellent that sufferers of the conditions on the list above are … wait for it … mouth breathers.

You’ve never heard of such? I hadn’t either. I was vaguely aware that mouth breathing lead to an enlarged heart, but all the rest was news to me.

Yet, this is not new information. There is a vast, tough currently not widely shared, body of knowledge on this topic. So far, I have learned about:

  • Texts as old as 1500 BC explaining that the nose is designed to bring air into the body, not the mouth
  • 8th Century Chinese texts citing that breathing is meant to happen through the nose; otherwise, mouth breathing would bring disease.
  • George Catlin, in 1830, who trekked through North America visiting 50 Native American tribes, where he found people to be quite tall – often up to 7 feet – were robust in health, had perfect teeth, and showed no deformities or diseases. Throughout his travels, he discovered a common denominator.
George Catlin

Each tribe embraced what they viewed as an ancient truth regarding health: Breathe exclusively through the nose. Breathing through the mouth brought stress and disease. This single idea was initiated in practice from birth. Mothers would watch over their babies, closing their mouths should they fall open. Even the way babies were carried made mouth opening difficult. So committed to this principle, Native Americans would even smile with closed lips.

  • Catlin continued his exploration of Native Peoples in the Andes, Argentina, and Brazil to see if this technique was universally held. It was.

In 1862, Catlin published his findings, Breath of Life. My copy arrives next week, but James Nestor quotes his last paragraph saying:

“And if I were to endeavor to bequeath to posterity the most important Motto which human language can convey, it should be in three words – SHUT YOUR MOUTH. Where I would paint and engrave it, in every Nursery, and on every Bed-post in the Universe, its meaning could not be mistaken. And if obeyed, its importance would soon be realized.”

See, Catlin became a true believer after closing the chapter of decades-long respiratory disease to opening four decades of robust health, living to about double the life expectancy of that time – all through the diligent practice of breathing exclusively through his nose.

One point of physiology that Nestor is teaching in these early chapters is that mouth breathing begets the need to mouth breathe, while nose breathing increases the ability to nose breathe.

Mouth breathing leads very quickly to snoring. Snoring leads to sleep apnea, whereby the ever-softening tissues at the back of the throat sag down and block the airway, eventually waking the snorer with a snort, which is an intentional gasp to reboot breathing – but just briefly.

So, do you breathe through your nose at night, or through your mouth?

I wasn’t sure. Seemed there was a lot of thick phlegm at the back of my throat that needed to be hacked out every morning. I went to bed with my mouth shut. I woke up with my mouth shut. But I was never ready to get up and out of bed come morning. Hmmm.

Following Nestor’s advice, I purchased some 3M Nexcare Durapore Durable Cloth tape, which in the medical realm is silk tape that is used for bandages.

A one-inch piece of this odorless tape will do. Gently placed over the center of my lips, I am guaranteed to not mouth breathe. Tape removal the next morning is easy, painless, and with no tape residue.

Results? Magically, there is no phlegm to hack out. Also, was that really me – ready to get out of bed? Maybe I wasn’t a lazy person.

Okay, once could have been a fluke. So, I’m continuing my quest to be the best nose breather ever, and the results are the same every day. I feel rested and ready to start each new day.

Who knows what wonders of robust health await? How about you? Ready to SHUT YOUR MOUTH?

Breathing through my nose-

Deidre

ADDENDUM:

Let’s breathe – not gag or suffocate – please! As a reminder to all foodtalk4you readers, I want to remind you not to go to extremes if you want to try your own little tape-over-the-lips experiment.

Clearly, a generous use of Duct Tape, masking tape, painter’s tape, or Gorilla glue should be avoided AT ALL COSTS.

The one-inch portion of silk tape you see me using has now been pared down to one-half inch. You want to be able to cough, sneeze, or even throw up without blocking a natural exit.

This has been safe for me and others while employing common sense.

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

Snack Attack Hack!

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Is it too early to start eating the next meal? But you’re feeling a little hungry, and a bite of something would, “keep the big ones from eating the little ones,” as my mom used to say.

Just who the big and little ones were, I never figured out – but they were starting to wage a small battle in my tummy for sure.

How about a baby Snickers? Or just a bite of one? Ha! Bet you can’t do that!

Used to drive my students nuts taking one bite of Snickers a day until it was gone by Friday! LOL! That was back in the day when I ate Snickers.

I digress.

Point being: Wouldn’t an equal number of calories of any number of things, be equal to the body? Bite of Snickers vs. 15 red seedless grapes vs. 8 baby carrots?

If you are a long-time loyal reader of foodtalk4you, I’ve touched on this before. A calorie-for-calorie approach is not going to bring balanced health. Here’s why:

Just look at the labels. Snickers ingredients and nutrition:

Now look at the ingredient and nutrition labels on the grapes and carrots:

Oops! That’s right. There are no ingredient labels! If the snack choice isn’t obvious yet, let’s look at the nutritional breakdown of first grapes and then baby carrots:

With our COVID isolation hopefully winding down soon – I get vaccine #2 on March 10th! – I don’t want to literally roll out my front door carrying the weight of pandemic stress-eating around my waist.

Remember, any extra tonnage we might be lugging along with us was not put there overnight, and it won’t come off overnight either. Let’s do this one baby carrot, or grape, step at a time.

These two snack hacks will start your journey – and will tide you over between meals.

I’ve been doing this for a few weeks now, and can attest that I am feeling great, weigh less, and feel so much better about my food choices.

While that single bite of Snickers is gone in a flash and we are left wanting more, a snack of 10-15 grapes or 8 baby carrots takes much longer to eat, fills up that tummy, adds to our hydration, and provides positive nutrition.

Normally, a bowl of 10 grapes is all I care to eat at a time — they really are filling when nibbled on one at a time. Ten grapes have about 20 calories. There’s plenty of sugar to power up your activity, lots of water, and vital nutrients. These are great as an evening snack to munch on during a movie.

Carrots? Wow! My little bowl of 8 carrots can carry me a long time, and take a while to eat, as well. That’s the keen thing about these two choices, they are not going to be gone in a flash. Did you see the quantity of Vitamin A in 8 baby carrots? Good for the eyes!

Did you get your steps in today? While talking to two friends on my cell phone, I walked my yard like a Rumba! Got my step goal done and a little extra. Can’t beat being in the sunshine, while spreading friendship the only way we can right now!

Join me in using these snack hacks; what is learned while snacking can be applied to meals as well, but that’s another post.

In health-

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, This -n- That, Titles Worth Reading

Got A Heart(string)?

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You can enjoy some kite-flying weather in the United States right now, but our post is not about kites today.

No, we’re talking about metaphorical heartstrings.

We don’t hear much about heartstrings anymore. You know the expressions, “That story really tugged at my heartstrings”? or “Zing! Went the strings of my heart”?

Most old sayings are rooted in truth. We do have strings in our heart called the chordae tendineae. They hang onto one of the two kinds of heart valve flaps we have, allowing them to close just enough during each beat.

Understanding the concept of love reaching out over the miles during a pandemic, or across space and time as in the Titanic love song, “My Heart Will Go On,” can be a tricky concept to explain to young children or even adults.

How do you paint the picture of feeling love, connection, or concern in your heart? How is it that we are connected? How do you demonstrate love never dies? How do we remain connected after physical separation?

One mother, Patrice Karst, sought a way to explain this phenomenon to her young son, Elijah, and in so doing, has given adults and children a physical way to see that which is invisible.

Her book called, The Invisible String was born. With a relatable, down-to-earth story, and masterful illustrations by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, Patrice Karst brings to life the love ties that bind and connect us all.

  • Is your child anxious about leaving you when going to school, especially after staying at home so much?
  • Has a best friend moved away?
  • Is a parent being deployed?
  • Has a loved one died?
  • Is there a sense of disconnect because of travel restrictions?

I think this book will go a long way in demonstrating the strength and nature of love to young ones and will serve as a great reminder to the adults reading, The Invisible String, as well.

I have my copy! It’s ready to share with grandkids, and has already reminded me not to pout too much, when not hearing from someone for a while. That love string is still there. Maybe I need to make it stronger by reaching out to them.

Thank you, Natalie, my Facebook friend, for sharing this delightful book with me! Now, I am spreading the love by sharing it with my readers!

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In health and love-

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Exercise, Habit Building

Just Breathe …

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One meal… One breath… One movement at a time…

Does that sound familiar? Yes! Good job! It’s the focus of foodtalk4you!

Today, I am going to share some breathing techniques that can instantly become a part of your toolkit for stress reduction. Hmmm. Sounds like another book title. More on new books later.

Right now, we’re going to focus on three specific techniques I shared this past weekend during a Zoom meeting. Listeners seemed to be taking notes, and one participant emailed me that the techniques had helped her through a stressful situation later that day.

But first … a short intro. We are born breathing using our diaphragm, and somewhere along the way, often become chest breathers. The difference being. we switched from using the large, strong diaphragm muscle to move the air in and out of our lungs, to using the smaller, secondary muscles of the upper chest.

As a test, notice if your shoulders are rising significantly as you take a nice big breath. Yes? You’re a chest breather. No? Is your belly moving out more than your shoulders move up? Well, you’re a belly breather – and probably a singer with some training on how to breathe.

Chest breathing is associated with our response to stressful situations – a part of that fight-or-flight response. Chronic chest breathing can increase tension in the head, neck, and shoulders. Belly, abdominal, or diaphragmatic breathing is more effective in moving air and leads to calming effects and responses.

When someone tries to help you calm down by saying, “breathe,” your best response is to mindfully take some slower breaths that allow your belly to move out with each new breath.

You can practice this technique by placing one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. As you slowly breathe in and out through your nose, concentrate on shifting your breath to make your belly move more than your chest. The calming effect is almost immediate.

Armed with knowing how to breathe from your belly, let’s look at three easy techniques that can help you calm down in a jiff.

  1. Falling Out Breath – is excellent for physical tension, and we naturally do this when we groan. Try this: Inhale deeply into your belly, and at the top of the inhale, grab a bit more air. Then, exhale completely, making a sound. A sigh, groan – whatever. Do this a few times, and you’ll note a considerable sense of relaxation in your body.
  • Box Breath – is useful for clearing your mind. Not only will you be moving air more efficiently by breathing using your diaphragm, but your concentration on breathing will scatter whatever emotions or thoughts that are swirling in your head. Do this: Inhale to a count of 4. Hold for a count of 4. Exhale to a count of 4. Hold for a count of 4. Repeat several times. Magic, right? A minute or two of this each should help going to sleep.
  • Emptying breath – our last breath tool for today will deactivate that stress response and reactivate calming mechanisms. Try this for a minute or two: Inhale to a count of 3, and exhale to a count of 6, trying to get rid of as much air as possible.

Please don’t pass out from hyperventilation!

It may take some practice to do these techniques without getting woozy. Take things slow and easy, breathing using that diaphragm. Yes, your belly is going to need to move out – which may detract from your svelte profile – but you can suck it in after your nerves have calmed down.

To learn more about the benefits of deep breathing go here: Decrease stress by using your breath – Mayo Clinic

To learn more about the benefits of box breathing, check this out: Box Breathing: Techniques, Benefits, GIF, and More (healthline.com)

Many thanks to my daughter, Serena, who shared this book with me, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor.

What I have read of it online has convinced me to get a hard copy to study. You can expect some more posts in the future about this most important subject!

Breathe, dear readers.

In health-

Deidre

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Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, This -n- That

Beyond The Sunshine

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Our friend, Mr. Groundhog, was reluctantly pulled from his comfy den and was held up high in the air by a top hat festooned, bearded fellow. Others in similar garb declared the winter would hang around for another six weeks.

Sigh. Whatever.

Just give me some sunshine and I’ll be happy!

Wherever you are on the globe, it is probably being recommended that you supplement with Vitamin D in the winter, as the sun will be too low on the horizon to be effective in triggering the processes, starting in your exposed skin, to do any good. Plus, there’s hardly any exposed skin in the winter months.

I am citing the National Institutes of Health, NIH, today in daily normal and higher limits of vitamin D, and where to find this important vitamin in food sources.

Vitamin D – Health Professional Fact Sheet (nih.gov)

Vitamin D – Consumer (nih.gov)

The NIH offers the following recommendations:

The amount of Vitamin D you need each day depends on your age. Average daily recommended amounts are listed below in micrograms (mcg) and International Units (IU):

The daily upper limits for Vitamin D are listed below in micrograms (mcg) and international units (IU):

Please work with your health care provider to determine what your levels of Vitamin D are and how to proceed with supplementation.

In the meantime, we can get some of our Vitamin D from foods:

If you are like me and are a non-milk drinker and non-cereal eater, we’re left with cod liver oil, (in capsules, please!), and either rainbow trout or sockeye salmon with a raw mushroom salad for a substantial hit of Vitamin D.

Anyone with leanings toward vegetarianism/veganism should take note, and work with their doctors about this vital nutrient.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it needs to be consumed along with a healthy fat to be absorbed by the body. Fortunately, salmon has such a fat in it, but use some healthy fats (olive oil) in the cooking or presentation of your food. Fat Free and highly processed dressings only contribute to not absorbing vital nutrients and expose you to highly-manipulated, food-like substances.

So, show extra love to your body in this season of love by dishing up some Vitamin D rich foods. A candlelight dinner featuring sockeye salmon or rainbow trout sounds mighty fine!

Love to all our readers who support the efforts of foodtalk4you by sharing our articles on Facebook, Twitter, and email. Couldn’t do this without you!

May you be a sunbeam to someone today.

In health-

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, Recipes, This -n- That

Make Your valentine Happy – with Cookies!

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We have reinvented all the holidays and festive days now – except Valentine’s Day.

I consider St. Patrick’s Day to be the start of my COVID pandemic experience. Whew!

Hopefully, people converted their Super Bowl experiences this past Sunday into something that included whoever-is-in-your-bubble-game-watching. The world does not need another surge of hospital admissions.

I hosted my first ever Super Bowl Party last year – even created a tablecloth gridiron with helmet place cards. Was looking forward to a repeat. Darn. Just me and a mini gluten-free homemade pizza this time.

So, what can be done to spread the love at Valentine’s this year? How about a batch of 5-ingredient cookies to share?

I made these at Christmas and had such a blast making and sharing, I thought I’d do the same for Valentine’s. Not sure if they will survive the mailing journey to my kids or not. I may have to send them before pictures!

All credit goes to Southern Living magazine for the original. They included a recipe card for these cookies in a mailing last year, and I converted them to gluten-free, changed the vanilla extract to almond, and added a pinch of salt. Guess they are 5.5 ingredients now.

Here’s the recipe that is easy to fix and fun to decorate – solid therapy for getting into a great frame of mind. Here’s the recipe as I converted it:

Easy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Ingredients for cookies

½ cup/125 ml butter, softened

1 cup/250 ml powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ tsp/7.5 ml vanilla or almond extract

1 ½ cups/375 ml gluten free flour – with extra for rolling out dough – I use Bob’s Red Mill brand

Pinch of salt, if desired

Method for cookies

Beat butter and powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Add egg and vanilla or almond extract and beat 30 seconds.

Add flour, beating at low speed until combined.

Place dough onto floured parchment paper and roll to ¼ inch/6.35 mm thick. I had to dust the dough with additional flour to keep from sticking to the rolling pin.

Transfer the parchment with flattened dough to a cookie sheet and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F/190.6 C.

Cut dough with lightly floured cookie cutters, place ½ inch/ 1.27 cm apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Reroll scraps, and repeat process.

Bake in batches for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Cool completely on wire rack.

Decorating Icing

2 cups/500 ml powdered sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons/22 ml meringue powder – I use Wilton Meringue Powder

A few drops of vanilla or almond extract, if desired

3-4 Tablespoons/45-60 ml water

Food coloring gels

Mix powdered sugar, meringue powder, and the least amount of water until smooth. If you want to pipe decorations, a thicker version will be desired. If you want to cover a large surface, a thinner icing would be preferred.

Divide icing into small bowls if using food color. Use a toothpick to dip into the colored gel and then stir into icing until color is evenly distributed. A little dab of coloring goes a long way!

Spread or pipe the icing onto cookies as desired. A toothpick is your good friend if floating a smooth surface. Check out Karla’s Cookies HERE: Karla’s Cookies (teachable.com) for a free tutorial on Royal Icing.

My Valentine’s cookies are humble, but clearly filled with love. It was an excellent afternoon’s worth of creative therapy and has given me a little something to share.

Enjoy! It would be wonderful to give each of you a cookie in thanks for being such loyal supporters of foodtalk4you, but you’ll have to make your own!

Please pass along this fun recipe post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or email and make sure to subscribe so you won’t miss the next issue.

Happy Remodeled Valentine’s Day-

Deidre

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

And I Repeat – Happy Groundhog Day!

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I feel a bit like Punxsutawney Phil today. He’s being hauled out of his snug spot to test the sunshine factor for prognostications about the duration of winter.

That’s me. Being drug out of my totally relaxed state of snugness to start the day. My gratitude each time for its opportunities, is invariably followed by the overwhelming urge to hit the snooze alarm.

I’ve told Alexa to nudge me awake with meditation music, which beats the effects of an alarm clock. Starting the day with a startle, a jolt, and an elevated heart rate seems counterproductive to greeting the day with a smile.

With nowhere to safely go, or any deadlines to meet, getting up can be problematic for me. There are still cool things to be accomplished at home, so I rely on my biggest motivator: Sunshine.

Sun streaming in my windows is my happy place. Curtains back, shades up – here comes the sun! If I dally in bed too long, the angle of the sun misses my home office, and inspiration is harder to find.

This is all said as a Segway to the fact – we need sunshine.

Remember learning about the “Sunshine Vitamin”? That vitamin we get through the sunshine that’s good for our bones? Well, it is vital for a lot more than that. Take a look:

As you can see from the chart above, this is an important part of staying healthy. Rays of sunlight trigger our skin and body to produce Vitamin D through a cascade of processes.

If strong bones and sound mind aren’t foremost on your mind, then something that is on everyone’s radar right now is the COVID-19 pandemic. I have read that 80% of those with COVID are/were deficient in Vitamin D.

Check it out HERE: New Study Found 80% of COVID-19 Patients Were Vitamin D Deficient (healthline.com) AND HERE: Low Vitamin D Levels Tied to Odds for Severe COVID (webmd.com).

The Mayo Clinic talks about this same correlation, but suggests the need for further testing –  Can vitamin D protect against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? – Mayo Clinic.

The more I read about Vitamin D, the more I think we need to know our blood levels of this vital nutrient better than our astrological sign. Request that Vitamin D levels be checked at your next doctor’s appointment. Normal values are 30-74 ng/ml. An increasing portion of the population is very deficient. Why?

We are creating the perfect storm to become deficient: Young and old, people are not getting outdoors enough. Much exercise, if done at all, is accomplished in an indoor gym. We need some skin exposure to effective sun to start the chemical processes that create this vitamin in our bodies.

But how much sun? This depends on your latitude, your skin color (darker skin needs MORE exposure), time of day, and season.

Check here for details: How Much Time in the Sun Do You Need for Vitamin D? | US News.

Overall, 5-20 minutes twice a week, when your shadow is no longer than you are tall (between 10:00 am -3:00 pm). The early morning jog does not count toward making Vitamin D. Sorry. Roll up your sleeves and take a noon-day stroll.

Of course, skin cancer is on our minds as well. Experts agree that relying on facial exposure to the sun’s beams should be avoided. Wear a hat and/or use sunscreen on your face and ears.

Use of sunscreen is another part of the perfect storm. Give your arms and legs a few minutes in the sun before slathering up.

Finally, the trifecta involving obesity, Type II Diabetes Mellites, and Vitamin D deficiency creates the capstone to this storm.

A summary of research HERE: Vitamin D Deficiency, Obesity and Diabetes – PubMed (nih.gov) says:

Vitamin D deficiency reduces insulin secretion capacity of the islet beta cells in pancreas. Moreover, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is closely related to obesity and increased risk of T2DM. 

Just this one humble vitamin demonstrates the inner-connectedness of our wonderful bodies. Disrupting the delicate balance of proper body weight, alone, put so many other aspects dangerously out of kilter.

There are dietary risk factors I’ll touch on next week, along with where we can access Vitamin D through diet so, stay tuned.

Deidre Edwards

In the meantime, protecting face and ears, show a little skin to Mr. Sun for a few minutes each week as temperatures allow. My bundled up walk here in the Northern Hemisphere didn’t do much for my Vitamin D levels, but did wonders for my spirit and served as excellent exercise on a cold winter’s day.

In health,

Deidre

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Hangin’ Out in Limbo Land

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Limbo Land. It’s a hard place to live.

Sometimes we don’t know when the end of whatever state we’re in will ever end. We may long for the end. Read COVID-19. Or we may dread the end. Read something good comes to an end.

Or we may be in limbo even knowing what we are hoping for.

Recalling the times of physical confinement related to being the sole caregiver to my sweet husband, I remember bristling at no longer being able to hop in the car to spontaneously dash somewhere. Take away the angst of seeing a loved one slowly deteriorate and losing a loved one – and I’m left with much the same feelings today.

Waiting to be free to travel.

Waiting to see family and friends face-to-face whenever we want.

Waiting to be unencumbered by wearing a mask.

Waiting for smiles. Waiting for hugs.

Waiting to meet new people.

Waiting.

Waiting in limbo land.

It takes a toll.

We’re wrestling with being in limbo. We’ve probably all been there and done that. What makes fighting an uncontrollable state of being in limbo winnable?

Accept that you are not going to win.

As citizens of the world, we are being asked to dig deep for that last push before enough people are protected by one of the vaccines. In the meantime, we keep on by following the love.

Love yourself and others by limiting public contact, staying socially distant, wearing a mask over our nose and mouth, and by washing our hands frequently.

Do we know when the end of this high-alert COVID-19 situation will end? No. But that does not give us reason to throw caution to the wind because we are so done with this!

More than ever, it’s time to show the love even more.

Show love to those weary, masked faces in the hospitals trying to save lives. Many lying in those COVID ICU wards didn’t really believe it would happen to them.

Now they are believers.

That’s not enough.

We must be believers NOW.

As we see the lines of ambulances searching for hours to find a place to leave their patients – remember –  and show the love.

As we see stretchers lining hallways for lack of rooms to house COVID patients – remember – and show the love.

As we see family photos with faces of many who will never make another portrait – remember – and show the love.

As we approach the month that remembers LOVE, be the agent of LOVE.

Bolster your sagging spirit by calling a friend. Send them an unexpected card that just says, “Thank you for being my friend.”

Facetime distant family members – it’s restorative!

And make time to do something that helps to purge those negative, pent-up emotions through exercise. Every time my exercise habits lag, so does my spirit. So does my body.

Show the LOVE to yourself by going for a brisk walk and in doing some strength training at home, using a video to guide you along. Whether using YouTube, an app, or your gym’s video link, shake a leg today to work out the stress of being in limbo land!

Control the things you can control. See a simple project through from start to finish. Get some accomplishments under your belt.

And show the love. We can do this!

In health-

Deidre

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