Category Archives: This -n- That

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

Have You Sprung A Leaky Gut?

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Finger in the Dike

Remember the story of the little Dutch boy who stops a dam from cracking and flooding the town by plugging the hole with his finger until adults could come to the scene to affect a more permanent solution? Legend has it that he stood there all night before more help could be obtained.

Judging from just the cursory view last week of what is an autoimmune disease and how it might happen, we could conclude that our dam has more than one hole. In fact, we are running out of fingers to plug all the holes.

Where are the holes? Look to the millions of us with autoimmune diseases and see if there is a common experiential thread…

  • In the residual chemicals found in our food from growth practices
  • In the chemicals added to our highly processed Western diet which is also high in sugar, fat, and salt
  • In the consumption of food that is pro-inflammatory
  • In the polluted air we breathe
  • In the chemical exposures we subject ourselves to in cleaning products, toiletries, and cosmetics
  • In the chemicals we use in our yards and gardens
  • In the stress hormones of the feedlot animals we eat
  • In the chemical transfers of packaging, storing, and cooking food in plastic products
  • In stress
  • Eventually – in the air, as we breathe nano dust particles of plastic which do not decompose but just degrade into smaller and smaller pieces

Clearly, there is no one answer, but taken as a whole, it is easy to see that the world we have created is not the world our genes were built to withstand.

As promised, I want to bring up just one facet of how genetically susceptible people might be opening the door to the lurking wolf on the outside. And I believe that there are more of us genetically susceptible than we may realize.

Dr. Alessio Fasano

Let me introduce you to Alessio Fasano who is a world-renown physician and researcher. He holds numerous positions both in Boston and in Italy. To read his biography HERE: Alessio Fasano – Wikipedia is to be awe inspired and grateful for all the lives he and his teams are helping.

In 2000, Dr. Fasano discovered a protein in the lining of our small intestines called zonulin. The lining of the small intestine is just one cell thick. Touch your tongue to the side of your cheek – that’s the same sheet of cells that extends from our mouth all the way through our digestive system to the very end.

Thin, yes, but strong and resilient to keeping our insides in and the outsides out. Each cell is connected to its neighbor by what’s called a tight junction.

Better be tight. Lots of stuff in the pipeline. Don’t want random particles of food or toxins punching through to the other side without first being properly broken down and absorbed by the blood stream and taken through several filters.

Turns out zonulin is a moderator of sorts for what can get through this layer of cells. An uptick of zonulin will cause these tight junctions to open wide, allowing large, foreign/non-self materials to flow through to the gut tissue and eventually be absorbed unfiltered by the blood stream and land anywhere in the body.

Because these large particles are foreign, our body will wage an attack.  

According to Dr. Fasano, “When the zonulin pathway is deregulated in genetically susceptible individuals, autoimmune disorders can occur.” Check out this list of autoimmune diseases to see if you can find what has been plaguing you and if you might be genetically susceptible: Autoimmune Disease List • AARDA

This brings us full circle. Remember those questions I posed for us to ponder a couple weeks ago?

  • Can you see a DON’T TOUCH – WET PAINT sign and not touch the surface it’s indicating?
  • If you know a certain food will cause an immediate harmful reaction in your body, will you eat it anyway?
  • Is there a habit you have or a food you eat that will most likely cause problems for you down the road, but you justify continuing it by saying, “I’ll stop when it starts to bother me”?

It might be time to check out some anti-inflammatory practices found in my book, Toolkit for Wellness, to see if you could be more proactive in controlling your health destiny.

I am doing this for myself as well, as I continue my experiment of eliminating my beloved grits and oatmeal.

Since following my Noom way of eating starting this February, grits and oatmeal have become a staple in my morning. Simultaneously, my hips and knees have been complaining. This is not the first time I’ve experienced this potential cause and effect.

Knowing that many aches and pains are self-induced, I’m accepting responsibility by eliminating a couple foods I love to see if the picture improves. Who wants to bet that grits and oatmeal are inflammatory to me?

Time and abstinence from delish menu items will tell the story.

In health-

Deidre

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

Some Things To Ponder

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Before I start my mini-series on autoimmune diseases, I want us each to consider our individual level of commitment to mindfully guiding our health outcomes.

Let me pose some questions.

  • Can you see a “DON’T TOUCH – WET PAINT” sign and not touch the surface it’s indicating?
  • If you know a certain food will cause an immediate harmful reaction in your body, will you eat it anyway?
  • Is there a habit you have that will most likely cause problems for you down the road, but you justify continuing it by saying, “I’ll stop when it starts to bother me?”

Why am I offering this discussion in the first place? Because we are in the middle of an explosion of people suffering with autoimmune diseases … in a way not seen before.

Judging from the descriptions of my friends on Facebook, their autoimmune-challenged lives are constant torture – filled with inexplicable bouts of painful, life-disturbing days when even just lying around can be a challenge.

Is our human race crashing and burning?

Rather than crumbling strands of DNA inside of us, it may be a case of having to be ever more knowledgeable, vigilant, and proactive about our internal and external environments

As readers know, I believe we are designed for health, not disease. Foodtalk4you investigates what we are using to fuel our engines, offers ideas on making changes based on knowledge and experience, and then explores what we can do to restore much of our lost health and vigor.

The world of autoimmune disease seems to be growing exponentially. The coming posts will not solve all your problems, but may open your eyes to possibilities.

In the world prior to this autoimmune explosion, life was simpler, food choices were fewer, and air was cleaner. We also had fewer cures, limited access to medicine, and little knowledge of how deadly many things were – smoking is one of them.

Let’s not go back. We are in the present, dealing with today’s world.

First, just consider what your commitment to your improved health might look like. Are you willing to wait until something hurts, or are you willing to be proactive now, so it won’t hurt later?

Think about it.

Deidre

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

More Vacation Mindset -Please

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Or is it Empty Brain Syndrome?

Have I been anything but brutally honest with you? No, I can promise you, I haven’t.

This week is no different.

First, a big shout out to my dear friend and editor for foodtalk4you, Sheree Alderman, for pitching in on the writing side of things with her post, Life in the Stairwell. When she told me of her experiences during those scary hours leading up to, and during, the tornado, I immediately knew it was a story best shared in the first person.

Which was very timely for me, because I was seeing both of my adult children and grandchildren, simultaneously, for the first time in fifteen months! Fully vaccinated – except for the children, at this point – we shared hugs, laughter, delicious five-star restaurant-worthy home cooking, the warm spring weather, walks with two rambunctious and loving Goldendoodles, and happy family trips to nurseries for spring herbs and flowers.

In other words, a slice of heaven for this mother.

Just hearing my son and daughter, who are separated by 3 thousand miles of land plus an ocean, as they talked, laughed, and caught up with each other – made my heart sing.

Ten days of blissful memories carried me through being solo on Mother’s Day.

Still smiling here.

That brings me to EBS. Empty Brain Syndrome. Yup. I’m blaming EBS for my lack of fresh ideas. It’s a part of the umbrella diagnosis of PVS. Post Vacation Syndrome, which may be familiar to you.

PVS is now placed under the new diagnostic category of: First Time Getting Together with Vaccinated Family After Being Isolated in a Global Pandemic Syndrome. FTGTWVFABIIAGPS.

All I really want to do is sit outside, enjoy the sounds of nature, drink coffee/fuzzy water/wine, and just BE.

And prop up my sprained ankle with an ice compress – that’s another story, altogether – still savoring the happy feeling in my heart full of warm memories, while also planning on making more.

Hmmm.

This EBS/PVS/ FTGTWVFABIIAGPS is not such a bad thing after all.

There’s not a stressful thought, feeling, or twitch on the horizon.

When was the last time you could say that?

I think the dark night of my soul during February and March has passed. Nothing that a little sunshine, the safety of being vaccinated, and being around family again couldn’t cure.

Now, about that Empty Brain thingy…

Make sure to subscribe to foodtalk4you to easily receive next week’s post about some mindful exercise and body check-in techniques I learned about during vacation. The brain is beginning to percolate.

In health,

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, This -n- That

A View From The Stairwell

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By now, most everyone has probably heard about the storms that ravaged the great state of Texas this past week. Of course, they’ve damaged more areas than that, but I currently live in North Fort Worth, which was particularly hit hard the other evening by some very unique, brutal waves of high winds, hail, and even a possible tornado.

When you live in Texas, you soon realize that this type of weather is not that unusual, especially in certain areas of the state, which match – and sometime kick off – angry thunderstorms that march straight into Arkansas, Louisiana, and sometimes bolt north into Oklahoma. All this can happen in a matter of hours; and – at times – without much warning.

On the morning of April 28th. The day started out normal, it was full of sunshine and pleasant temperatures, with no peculiar or alarming weather broadcasts for the day. However, I did see where the National Weather Service, NWS, was mentioned earlier we had a particularly good chance for an evening shower.

I went about my  day and texted my daughter, Abby, to let her know she might want to keep in mind we could have a storm later on in the evening/ They are a family on the go, with three children – one being old enough to drive.

Truthfully, I don’t think anyone takes me seriously in these situations, but I trudge forward and hope for the best. After retiring from Emergency Services some years ago and having lived in an area where we got yearly hurricanes – and tornados from them, I did take it seriously, very seriously. I’ve seen what a powerful storm can do, and I keep a healthy respect for each and every one of them.

So, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, started out as any other day.

About 5:00 o’clock that evening, I was scouring the Internet for ideas beside the window of my apartment, when out of the corner of my eye, I notice a flash. I immediately knew it was lightning. As I looked more closely, the lightning started coming quicker and with more of it. Kind of like when the DJ kicks up the strobe lights on a fast tune that’s so loud, your spine vibrates.

They do still do that, right?

My apartment overlooks the courtyard and business office and is open for miles when you look straight out. Over the next 20 minutes or so, I watched this lightning start to evolve from what seemed to be miles across the street from me, to being within a mile or two, it seemed to get a lot closer a lot quicker – and the sky darker.

By this time, I was getting more concerned about this electrical storm they were now projecting. I kept checking my phone for the weather update when things went bad to worse. Going online two some of my favorite weather reporters, they were running constant radar on our location and, by 6:30 they were saying there was a super cell with tornadic activity in our area.

In fact, moments later, it had a slow rotation that was starting to pick up. I knew immediately that meant a tornado was forming, whether it would develop into a full-fledged tornado or not, remained to be seen. However, the lightning was off the charts. It, at times, looked like the lightning was striking four and five times within a second in the same area. This lightning was going right down to the ground. I could tell as it progressed, it was getting closer and closer to me.

Now the weatherman was starting to alert us that hail was on its way and I start to have tiny pellets of it hitting all my windows. He had an alarm in his voice you never want to hear, telling us to be prepared – we have rotation on the ground, very large hail coming your way, and get prepared to go to safety quick.

I could literally, see the storm forming in front of me with a lighter sky on the right, where it had pulled the dark clouds in, and on the left was gray. But in the very middle was this giant, angry, black ball of swirling hail and debris.

Within minutes, the weatherman was spitting out the tornado’s coordinates – and it exactly where my apartment was. Although, I have been thoroughly trained to handle situations such as this in my career, it is an entirely different issue when you are standing in your window, seeing this monster coming at you. Within seconds, what sounded like pebbles were now large rocks were hitting the windows – so hard – I thought they would surely break in a thousand pieces.

At the same time, the larger, what they now refer to as gorilla hail, started hitting my windows, the tornado sirens started screaming. It was upon us. As the tornado sirens swirled the alarms, the NWS loudly paged my phone, telling me to get to shelter – in a basement, a cellar, or somewhere safer than where I was – our storm had now upgraded to a tornado warning – meaning, they were seeing one in our area.

I just stood in the middle of my apartment terrified. What do I do? Where do I go? I hurried to my door which leads out into the interior of the building, then turned back to my windows, and repeated that behavior briefly. I finally decided I was risking my life to stay; but where I do I go? I just couldn’t believe this was happening.

As I finally stepped out of my apartment and into the corridor, I nearly ran for the stairwell. The sound of the hail and debris hitting everyone’s windows was deafening. You could not have had a conversation for a single person out in that hallway.

There’s only one place I could think of to go – the stairwell beside our building’s elevator. At least there are no windows there and I would be surrounded by cement blocks and iron.    

I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to have any windows left when I get back here; but I hurried as much as I could, heading for the relief of the stairwell. At least there was less chance of this thing getting to me there.

You might think after me telling you all of this, there would not be much good news – but you are mistaken. As I reached the heavy door of the stairwell, I could hear voices. Many voices. I saw familiar, happy faces smiling at me as I stepped into a peaceful atmosphere.

There were neighbors from all three floors sitting inside with their dogs and cats – a lot of them chatting about a variety of topics. One person had an emergency radio, many had their cell phones and tracked the storm that way, some didn’t have anything to rely on but just trusted those around them.

The most touching part of the stairwell was the beauty of the genuine, deep concern for one another. If someone had a need, another would take care of it. They found chairs and blankets and water for each other. People would think of a neighbor that wasn’t there and volunteer to go get them so they would be safe.

Down in the stairwell, there were people of every color, every religion, every walk of life – and none of that mattered to anyone. People were praying out loud for our safety and the storm to pass. Some were singing praises. Periodically, someone would holler out where we were in the hot zone, right up until the time we had passed through it and were okay. I learned more that night than just where to find safety in a storm.

It was a beautiful place to be, and I thought of how heaven might be just like this. I remember sitting there at the top of the steps, looking about, and thinking, I wish the world could see all of us piled in this one little part of a stairwell – the room bursting from the gentleness of the human spirit – bonding us together always. My heart was filled from witnessing the kindness of others.

Some of us may have been complete strangers going in, but we sure were besties going out.

Never underestimate the storms of life that come to you, because they just could lead you to the stairwell and be a blessing in disguise. I know where I’m headed if another storm comes my way.

God bless us everyone.

Sheree Alderman,

Editor-at-large,

N. Fort Worth, TX

Over and out!

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

Strawberry Fields Forever …

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I am bringing rose buds, African daisies, and chive flowers into the house, just to bring that spring vibe indoors.

My Aussi and Kiwi readers, I know, are now nestling into the fall season of harvest: but spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere! We are just now setting out new plants in anticipation of colorful blossoms and produce to come.

Ah, the faith of a farmer – gardener!

It seems to touch us all. My regular trips to the local garden center are showing every age, socio-economic level, race, and gender walking the isles of seedlings, young blooms, fertilizer, chips, and bags of “dirt” as we all seek the color and promise of outdoor life in the coming months.

No longer are we indulging in out-of-season fruit grown in South and Central America. Our strawberries are coming from the United States and, man, are they sweet!

Our local strawberry fields are ready for customers. My neighbor sent me a picture this morning of her cardboard flat filled with ripe strawberries after just a short time of easy picking.

Are visions of strawberry cakes, pies, layered truffles, and jam filling your head?

Not mine.

I’m relishing every bite of fresh berries possible.

Sporting an average of 4 calories each, strawberries are a filling, SWEET, food and are satisfying and good for the body. Woohoo!

A quick check on their nutritional benefits HERE will remind you why strawberries are so beneficial. To summarize:

  • Strawberries are 91% water and just 7% carbohydrates – 26% of the carbohydrate is comprised of fiber, so the net carb content is low.
  • The soluble and insoluble fibers found in strawberries help contribute to great gut health by feeding the good bacteria found there.
  • The high fiber of strawberries contributes to their low Glycemic Index which helps prevent blood sugar and insulin spikes.
  • Strawberries are a good source of Vitamin C, manganese, folate, and potassium, as well as several other vitamins and a host of antioxidants that decrease inflammation and oxidative stress.

Why add empty, white flour carbohydrates, cholesterol-raising saturated fat, and even more carbohydrates in sugar to something that screams PERFECTION and HEALTH?

  • Looking for hors d’oeuvre? People will rush to get a fresh strawberry.
  • Want to ramp up your oatmeal in the morning or as an evening snack? Add a dollop of non-fat Greek yogurt and several sliced strawberries. Simply divine!
  • Looking for an awesome snack? Several fresh strawberries will rock your world, without rocking the calories or the blood sugar.

There are some folks who are allergic to strawberries, especially young children and people with sensitivities to birch pollen or apples, who may have symptoms after consuming strawberries.

Until the blueberries are available sometime in late May or June, fresh strawberries will be gracing my breakfast, snack, salad, and dessert plates for a while.

How about you? Are you going to choose strawberries in the raw without the detractors of flour, sugar, and fat?

Our editor, Sheree, advises to pick only the fully ripe strawberries because they will not ripen after picking – they only age out.

If you liked this post, please click on the share button to spread the word. If you are not a subscriber to foodtalk4you, please click the subscribe button so you won’t miss the next post – we promise not to share or sell your email address and we will not bother you with endless sales pitches.

In health-

Deidre

Now, craving anything special yet?

Blogging for good health!, This -n- That

Happy 7th Birthday To Us!

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I believe personal growth starts when the comfort zone is in the rearview mirror.

That’s what happened on April 12th, seven years ago. Goodbye comfort zone. Hello, foodtalk4you.com!

The thing to understand is – growth is not linear. When you grow in one direction, little accompanying offshoots spring up and out from your initial effort, all requiring additional growth.

My musings about total body good health out there for the world to read?

Geez. Who was I? How do I even start?

Hostgator? Domains? WordPress? What’s all that?

Foodtalk4you has led me to self-publishing, marketing, advertising on Amazon, to putting a full-fledged, free course on Teachable.

So far.

Maybe you are actualizing your desire to watercolor; it’s not something you’ve ever learned how to do. Maybe you have never done anything artsy before.

First comes learning about what kinds of brushes you need. Then comes the type of paper to use. Where or how are you going to learn watercolor techniques? Pretty soon, you are conversant about different kinds of paint, types of palettes – maybe even easels.

You start out with a simple still life and then discover the world of plein air art. Shading. Light. Perspective. Focal points. Seasons. Now, there’s matting and framing to consider.

You have amassed a sizeable collection of paintings that you now want to share with the world. You learn about getting a booth at the local farmer’s market and then you learn how to attractively present your beautiful pictures.

Business cards? Well, there you go. You learn how to design them. You learn where to get them printed.

One of your watercolors was bought by an elementary school teacher who asks if you would come to her class to demonstrate to the students the basics of how-to watercolor. You, teaching others? Now your comfort zone is really being stretched. But you go for it, and the students were wonderful, talented, and they hung on your every word.

Eventually, your tiny little shoot of growth has matured into a thriving tree with many branches. Bravo!

Stepping out of our comfort zones is where life is. Where there’s life, there’s growth.

So, go ahead. Step out of that comfort zone. It’s just one step, but it will lead to many others. Pretty soon, you’ll look back and marvel at all you have accomplished.

Happy seventh birthday, foodtalk4you! The trip is just getting started!

If you were inspired by this post, please share on social media.

If you know of a family caregiver who is struggling with their journey, send them to my free mini-course: Family Caregiver Emotions | Toolkits for Health (teachable.com).

Growth. We can do this!

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, 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!

If you enjoyed this post, please share on social media, and click on the subscribe button so you won’t miss the next post.

In health and love-

Deidre

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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