Meatless Monday...A Meal Idea and Elvis Peanut Butter Bananna Sandwich for dessert

Even going meatless for one day will make a difference, for you and the earth. If you click on the title above it should take you to a cool video on Treehugger.com that inspires how one day can make a difference.

Lately, my favorite quick veggie meal to make is a Thai style stir fry.  I put the frozen veggie in a skillet with just a little bit of water (maybe 2-3 Tablespoons) and let warm on medium heat for 3-4 minutes (make sure there is just enough water to keep it from sticking but not too much, you don't want a rice/veggie thai soup). I then add Trader Joes frozen brown rice.  I just open the bag and place it in a skillet. I then add some of the sauce. I do it different combination's; sometimes I add the Peanut Sauce and Szechuan Sauce (careful - its spicy and will kick you in the pants). Other times, I just add Tamari and a little bit of Agava Necter to make a traditional Soy Sauce stir fry. Sometimes I mix all three.  I typically only have to add about 2 Tablespoons of each sauce. I'm not very good at measuring when I am making recipes up on the fly. I just try to eye ball it.  Remember, you don't want soup! Stir often.

In honor of Elvis's life and the 33 years since his death, why not aa after meal treat Peanut Butter Banana Grill Sandwiches...these are kind of healthy....click here to see recipe

What to Serve When Company is Coming Over?

Yesterday we celebrated my oldest birthday with a party of our friends and family. I have wrestled with what I serve in my house when we have company over. (Heck, I struggle with what to feed my family on a daily basis.) So finally, this past month, I have settled one of my struggles. I decided that I will not prepare meat when company comes over.  This is not an easy decision for me because I don't want to push my choices on others. My purpose is to set an example, to show it can be done. Because if we could cut into some pharma profits by getting healthier I'd be happy.


I can only think of two people over the age of 55 that are not diagnosed with some chronic disease in my life. I've started to realize that the change needs to start somewhere. That change needs to start with me. If I really love those around me I will do my best to provide the healthiest opportunities for them I can while still enjoying the fruits of life… so to speak. It started a couple of weeks ago when I had a couple of the girls from my soccer team and their families over. I tested the waters with my idea that I could provide a plant based meal for more than 15 people and have everyone enjoy it. The feedback I got was positive, so I repeated most of it for my oldest birthday celebration. I did bend and get pizza along with the roasted vegetables I served make-your-own fajita style. And of course there was birthday cake. I choose not to do goodie bags because I honestly was lacking creativity this year. I did not want to fill bags full of candy and hand them out to the kids, and I didn't want to buy a bunch of cheap, lasts-only-for-a-minute toys. The later because I feel it is wasting the resources and money. I typically throw the stuff out within hours that it arrives in my house.

Chronic disease is an umbrella term that encompasses: obesity, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes mellitus. There are other chronic diseases such as different types of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, even some mental disorders which are thought to have a diet/lifestyle connection.

According The World Health Organization (WHO) report of Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease, "79% of all death worldwide that are attributable to chronic disease are already occurring in developing countries." (WHO 4) WHO also projects that by 2020 "chronic disease will account for almost three-quarters of all deaths worldwide…The number of people in the developing world with diabetes will increase more than 2.5-fold, from 84 million in 1995 to 228 in 2025." (WHO 5).

Most experts agree that chronic disease is largely preventable (WHO 5). "Modern dietary patterns and physical activity patterns are risk behaviors that travel across countries and are transferable from one population to another like an infectious disease, affecting disease patterns globally." (WHO 5)


 

 

Cause of Death	Death
Diseases of the Heart	710,760
Cancer (Malignant Neoplasms)	553,091
Medical Care	225,400
Stroke (Cerebrovascular Disease)	167,661
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases	122,009
Accidents	97,900
Diabetes Mellitus	69,301

Table 1 - Leading Cause of Death in the United States (Campbell & Campbell 16)

 
According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell,

Both diabetes and obesity are merely symptoms of poor health in general. They rarely exist in isolation of other disease and often forecast deeper, more serious health problems, such as heart disease, cancer and stroke. Two of the most frightening statistics show that diabetes among people in their thirties has increased 70% in less than ten years and percentage of obese people has nearly doubled in the past their years. Such an incredibly fast increase in these "signal" diseases in America's young to middle age population forecast a health care catastrophe in the coming decades. It may become an unbearable burden on a health system that is already strained in countless ways. (Campbell & Campbell 14)

 
In 1972 a community based CVD prevention program began in the province of North Karelia in Finland due to their high CVD mortality rates. The initial goal was to achieve a substantial decline in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, especially among middle-aged men through promoting cholesterol lowering dietary changes and a stop smoking campaign. A massive community approach was initiated through health services, voluntary organizations, local media, businesses and public policy. There was a considerable decline in CVD (and cancer) mortality (over 60%) among the male population in North Karelia throughout the program and beyond. "The experience of the North Karelia and Finland as a whole is a major demonstration that premature mortality from modern epidemics of CVD and cancer can be greatly reduced" (Puska et al. 424).


 
Reference:

Campbell, T. Colin, and Thomas M. Campbell. The China Study: the Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. Dallas, Tex.: BenBella, 2005. Print.

World Health Organization. Diet , Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Rep. The World Health Organization, 2003. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

 

 

The Importance of Love -- for our Health

I have this powerful memory of my (then) 7 year old son, in a hospital gown, with blood still stuck in his baby-fine sandy blond hair left from brain surgery earlier that week.  It was dark outside and our family was gathered around him, trying to keep his spirits up as he fought the pain.  Along with the monitors, creamy white walls and pastel privacy curtains, we were also surrounded by a ton of little stuffed animals and gifts from family, friends, church and even strangers.  There, in the middle of his 5th floor hospital room, in a uncomfortably hard, but sturdy, chair I watched as my son struggle to sit upright for the first time since his surgery. He sat and started to read the cards his classmates made for him that someone had dropped off while he was sleeping.  I will forever remember the happiness, love and the warmth I saw fill his tired soul as he read those simple handmade cards from his second grade classmates. One of the little girls even signed her name with 'Love, so-and-so'. In that moment the struggle to sit upright got a little less as he went on to read the jokes (and giggled at) the boys wrote and the kind words from the rest of the girls. 

The cards and all other little mementos of positive thoughts, letting him know he was surround by love, were just as important to his healing as anything else we were doing. They gave him power I couldn't alone; the doctor's couldn't, nor could his dad alone. It was almost a years' worth of months that accumulated a collective effort to not just heal Kevin through modern medicine, but also through love. I believe it worked.

Since then, I have believed strongly that love can heal physical ailments and mental anguish. And science is proving it (love it when really smart people prove me right). An article in Scientific American this past July talks about how healthy relationships increase survival up to 50%. It mentions that, "Social support has been linked to lower blood pressure, and a diverse collection of contacts is associated with better immune system functioning. The list continues to grow, she says, now encompassing other bodily processes such as wound healing and inflammation."  

In a 2005 Newsweek article, Dr. Dean Ornish, author of The Spectrum also the founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute said, "… love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well. If a new medication had the same impact, failure to prescribe it would be malpractice. Connections with other people affect not only the quality of our lives but also our survival. Study after study find that people who feel lonely are many times more likely to get cardiovascular disease than those who have a strong sense of connection and community."  

There is little control to how your social structure holds up in times of crisis. But what we do have control of is who we decide to be when someone we know is faces a crisis. The outreach and kindness of the community that we live in was also a huge lesson in how to react when I see others facing their times of trial. It is my tendency to want to keep to myself, mostly out of fear of saying something wrong or offending and a bit of fear of having to endure another painful loss. But it is also so hard for me not to be the shy girl. It takes every ounce of confidence I have to overcome the decades of being initially shy. Now more than ever I see the importance of overcoming this. Love is complicated.

In Monday's newspaper, within the Sexetera advice column a person wrote in asking if they should end a relationship that had just begun because in the fall the guy returns to school. Mia's response I thought was adroit, "Let the relationship play itself out. If you two are meant to be together, it'll last and if you're not, well, at least you saw it coming. If you're smart, you'll enjoy getting to know this guy but not invest too many emotions until you see where things are heading. One way to do this is by investing in your own future as well as a potential love affair. Why not? He's looking out for himself by furthering his education. I hope you're doing the same." Steve, the other writer for the column asked, "What is wrong with getting hurt?"

The point is that healthy, good, complex friendships and relationships are collectively a part of the happiness formula and a healthy life. There is a challenge and an art to balancing and blending a life with other adults. Throw in some kids and we are knitting a complicated design. It seems to me, if it all is handled enough compassion and understanding, sprinkled with just the right amount of independence and dependence that our relationships with others have the capability to extend our lives, to keep us, and our loved ones, living healthy…. maybe even greater than anything else we do to improve our health. 

I recently had a nightmare about one of my children drowning. I woke up still feeling the loss even though that child is the one who woke me up from that dream. (I can't say he isn't wearing a life jacket even when he takes a bath.... Just sort of kidding.)   Loving anyone, even our own children, can make even the strongest of people feel vulnerable.

There is an inherit risk when we give something  (or fear the loss). But most especially when what is given is something as precious as the influential emotion, love. I think it is interesting studies show when we don't (wisely) take that risk and say, "What's wrong with getting hurt?" we actually hurt ourselves more in the long run. How ironic.     


  
Articles referenced in this post: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=relationships-boost-survival
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9466931/site/newsweek/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/01/AR2010080102508.html?sub=AR
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/07/29/1231774/sexcetera-take-a-chance-on-love.html#ixzz0vW36mmep