Drum Build

I have wanted to build a Native American drum for several years; one that I could drum alone or take to the drum circle here in town. I thought about building one from scratch but in the end decided to build one from a kit. After looking around on the internet I settled on an 18 inch drum from Grey Wolf (www.greywolfdrums.com). The drum that I ordered arrived promptly and in good condition. The instructions that accompanied the kit were sparse but provided sufficient guidance.


The kit included the octagonal drum frame made from Western Red Cedar (six sides) and pine (two sides), the drum skin with pre-punched holes, a rawhide circle, and three lengths of rawhide lacing. The first step was to soak the rawhide for 48 hours. This was the hardest part of the build because I didn’t want to wait.


Photo 1 shows the components after the soak, all laid out on a table ready to start.

The drum frame is sitting on the drum skin. The rawhide circle is top left. Two lengths of rawhide lacing are to the right. The third length of rawhide lacing is bottom left. It needs to be spliced onto the double length of lacing. The rawhide slips when knotted so splicing works better. The following photo shows one of the splices. Grey Wolf’s instructions explain how to splice . . . it is really easy.

Rawhide Splice

I suspended the rawhide circle inside the drum frame with four lengths of wire and began to lace the drum. I doubled the three lengths of rawhide lacing, now joined with splices, to find the middle and threaded the lacing through two holes in the drum skin, making sure that the lacings on either side of the starting position were the same length. That way I would thread the lacing in both directions and when they met at the other side of the drum the remaining lacing from each side would be about the same length. I kept the lacing loose so that I could make sure that the rawhide circle was centered inside the drum frame. The following picture shows the rawhide circle suspended by the last wire and the lacing as it was progressing.

Partially Laced Drum

When the drum was completely laced up I began the process of tightening the lacings. I started in the middle opposite the side of the drum where the lacings ended. This was a rather slow process because I wanted to make sure that the tension on the lacings was consistent all the way around the drum, and that the rawhide circle stayed centered. This process resulted in a substantial increase in the lengths of “free” rawhide. The following photo shows the result after going around the drum one time tightening the lacings.

Drum After First Tightening

Notice how long the “free” ends of the lacing have become. Before the first round of tightening the lacings the “free” ends were about three inches long. After the first round of tightening I went around the drum to make sure that the triangles formed by the lacing were symmetrical and then tightened the lacing a second time. After adjusting the triangles again I went around the drum and pulled hard on the rawhide circle to tighten the lacings a third time. Grey Wolf recommends really tight lacings, guitar string tight, so that was my goal.


When I was sure that I couldn’t get the rawhide lacings any tighter then I tied the “free” lengths of rawhide to the circle and then, without cutting the rawhide lacings, I used one of the lengths of rawhide lacing to make a five-pointed star on the inside of the rawhide circle. I used what was left of that rawhide lace to wrap the arms of the star. I then used the other length of rawhide lacing to wrap the other arms of the star.

Drum with Star Wrapped

Notice in this picture how much closer the rawhide circle is to the drum frame. It is much closer than it was after the initial lacing and the first tightening.


At this point the drum looked great but it sounded dead. I worried all evening that I had built a dud. Not so. The drum had dried and tightened substantially by the next morning and it had a wonderful sound. Here is what the semi-dry drum looked like.

Finished Drum Drying

While the drum was drying I put together one of the drum beater kits that I had purchased with the drum.

Finished Drum with Beater

I have a great sounding drum, one that I can’t wait to show off at the drum circle in June.


Would I do it again?   You bet, in a second.

Would I buy another kit from Grey Wolf?   Absolutely! Grey Wolf’s kit was excellent, his service is outstanding, and best of all, the kit is very fairly priced.

 I'll record the drum on my YouTube channel so you can hear how it sounds.

Get To Sleep Naturally

If you are having a hard time getting to sleep at night here are a few hints:

1. Go to bed (sleep) earlier.  Most people are hardwired to go to sleep between 9:00 and 10:00 if you miss that sleep window and stay up until midnight you will have confused your body's clock.  Not only that, but if you miss the sleep window then your body secrets stress hormones to help you stay awake longer. 
2. Exercise in the morning rather than at night right before bed time.  When you exercise your body raises its adrenaline level . . . this makes it even harder to sleep.
3. Relax with a warm bath half an hour before bed time. 
4. Add relaxing foods to your diet and eliminate stimulants like caffeine, sugar, and MSG.  Calming foods are high in magnesium, which calms the nervous system.  Some magnesium rich foods are black beans, spinach, pumpkin seeds, and salmon.  You might consider a 200 to 300 mg magnesium suplement twice a day as well.
5. If you are still having a hard time getting to sleep then you might visit you local health food store and pick up gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).  GABA is a calming brain chemical.  When I get too stressed out, yup it happens sometimes, I take 100 mg of 5-hydroxytryptohan (5-HTP).  5-HTP is a natural compound that relaxes by balancing the serotonin level in your brain.

Note:  If you don't have a local health food store that you can support (please buy local if you can) then visit http://www.swansonherbs.com/.  They carry both 5-HTP and a variety of GABA formulations.  Please remember I don't work for Swanson Herbs and they don't pay me to hype their products.  However, when I can't buy locally, they are my internet source of choice.  Great prices and service.

Making Bread

I'm making bread today . . . nothing tastes better than bread fresh out of the oven.  I thought that I would make some Naan too.  Naan is Indian flat bread.  It is great with curry.  Here is my recipe:

NAAN FLAT BREAD RECIPE


Ingredients for indian naan recipe:

4 cups White Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Milk
1 tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
4 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Nigella seeds NOTE:  I use sesame seeds when I can't get Nigella at the health food store

Procedure:

1.  Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and make a well in the middle.

2.  Mix the sugar, milk, eggs 2tbsp of oil in a bowl.

3.  Pour the liquid mixture into the well in the center of the flour and knead adding water if necessary to form soft dough.

4.  Add the remaining oil, knead again, then cover with damp cloth and allow the dough to stand for 15 minutes. Knead the dough again and cover and leave for 2-3 hours.

5.  About half an before the naan are required, turn on the oven to maximum heat.  Your oven needs to be really hot.  The bread bakes fast.

6.  Divide the dough into 8 balls and allow rest for 3-4 minutes.

7.  Sprinkle a baking sheet with nigella or sesame seeds and put it in the oven to heat while the dough is resting.

8.  Shape each ball of dough with the palms to make an oval shape.

9.  Bake the indian bread naan until puffed up and golden brown. Serve hot.  I don't know how hot your oven will get so I can't tell you how long this will take, sorry.  Turn the light on in your oven and watch the bread.  Take it out when it is golden brown.

Serve warm with a vegetable curry or drizzle honey on it.  Yum.

Rahu and Ketu

Rahu and Ketu moved into new signs, (Scorpio and Taurus), on May 3rd. They will be in these signs for the next 20 months. Vedic astrology uses the visible planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn) and Rahu and Ketu, the nodes where the Moon crosses the ecliptic. While not identical, the nodes function somewhat like the outer planets in Western astrology.


If you would like to learn more about Rahu and Ketu then visit

http://www.komilla.com/pages/rahu-ketu.html for a quick summary.


Rahu and Ketu will affect the houses in which they reside for the next 20 months. To place them in the correct houses you will need to know your rising sign, not your Western Sun sign. You can download a free Vedic astrology package at http://jyotishtools.com/downloads.php. If you are a Windows user then click on “Download Junior Jyotish for Windows for free” to download and install the software.


Once you have installed Junior Jyothish then you can click on “File” and “New” to enter your birth data. To see your chart in fixed sign order click on “View” then “Chart Style” and select the South India style chart. The chart should look like this, but without the identification of the signs:

The Sign that contains the designation “As” is your Vedic ascendant and consequently your first house. Count clockwise from your ascendant to Scorpio. For example, if you are Leo ascendant then Scorpio is the 4th house. Taurus will be located 7 houses away from Scorpio in the 10th house. If you are a Leo rising then Rahu will affect your 4th and 10th houses and for the next 20 months.

Again, if you are a Leo rising then you would want to connect spirituality (Ketu) with work (the 10th house), and ambition (Rahu) with assets (the 4th house), for the next 20 months. Rahu and Ketu can have a significant effect on your life of the next 20 months so act with wisdom and understanding.

Namaste

Do You Love the Sun?

We lived in the former Soviet Union for a year about a decade ago.  It got cold in the winter.  I mean really cold.  We would bundle up to go out for our daily walk when I would come home for lunch at noon.  I was amazed to see rows of old men sitting in lawn chairs in front of Soviet-style apartment buildings.  They sat there for about an hour every day sunbathing wearing their boots and underpants and nothing else.  I wonder what their vitamin D level was.

Humans have been out in the sun for millenia.  Our bodies are designed to convert sun light into vitamin D (which is really a hormone not a vitamin).  Now the cosmeceutical industry is trying to convince all of us that sun light is bad.  The American Academy of Dermatology has adopted a policy stating that a "comprehensive sun protection program, including avoiding outdoor activities between 10 am and 4 pm when the sun's rays are strongest, seeking shade whenever possible, wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SP) of at least 15 and reapplying it every 2 hours, and wearing sun-protective clothing.

Given that apparently sound advice, after all dematologist couldn't be wrong could they, then why has Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on the FDA to reveal the findings between a possible link between a chemical found in (yup, you guessed it) most sunscreens (retinyl palmitate) and skin cancer.

According to Dr. Holick vitamin D levels are low in a large fraction of the world's population.  This deficiency causes an increase in osteoporosis, rickets, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer.  May the old guys taking sun the in winter in Tashkent had the right idea.

Want to lear more?  I recommend Dr. Holick's book, The UV Advantage.  It is a great read.  You can pick it up at Amazon for about $10.  It's well worth the small investment.

Spring Cleaning

Spring and sprung and thoughts turn to Spring cleaning.  It's time to open the windows and get fresh Spring air circulating through the house.  When I was a kid in the 50's  we hung the rugs on the clothes line and gave them a good beating (that was always fun).  We clean our yards, wash and wax the cars, and plant gardens.

Why not give your body the same care.  This is a wonderful time to detox your body and even think about a colon cleanse.  Your body's most important natural detoxifier is glutathione, an amino acid-based antioxidant.  Glutathione contains sulfur and so toxins stick to it and are then flushed from the body via urine and stool.  One way to increase your glutathione level is to eat foods that are high in sulfur.  These include garlic, onions, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower and boc choy as well as egg yoke.

You also might want to consider adding gultathione building supplements like N-acetylcystine (NAC), alpha-lipoic-acid (ALA) and milk thistle extract (MTE) to your supplement routine.  I take 500 mg of NAC, 100 mg ALAand 175 mg of MTE twice a day.  Some people double the NAC and ACA intake. 

In addition to a multiviatamin you may consider taking 500mg of vitamin C, 20 mg of zinc, and 150 mg of selenium.  These all provide metal-chelating benefits.

If you have never considered or done a colon cleanse then you might want to read this informative article at Web MD:  http://www.webmd.com/balance/natural-colon-cleansing-is-it-necessary.  From my perspective I think that it is important and do a colon cleanse every six months. 

To your health . . .

Emergency Kits

A couple of days ago I responded to a Twitter request for info about emergency kits with the following.  I hope that it is useful.  Obviously, my way is not the only way.  Develop emergency kits and plans that meet your family's needs.

I have a large plastic box in the back of the van with food for three days (lots of easy to prepare canned food, etc.). The van also caries an ax, hatchet, small shovel, and a camp stove with fuel. We live in a heavily wooded area so wood for fires and shelter is plentiful.

I have prepared a fanny pack for each member of the family. The fanny packs are in the back of the van. Each fanny pack includes the following:

• Small AA flashlight
• Plastic poncho
• Emergency blanket (reflective plastic)
• Whistle
• Pocket knife
• Fire starter (the kind that make goods sparks)
• Box of matches in a zip lock bag
• A $5 roll of quarters
• $20 bill
• 2 protein bars

I have also prepared a large backpack with the following (the backpack stays in the van):

• Two rolls of toilet paper
• Compass 
• GPS with East Coast topo maps
• Hunting knife
• 20 protein bars
• 2 wakie takies
• A 2 meter portable transceiver that runs of 6 AA batteries (I'm a ham radio operator)
• 2 meter, roll-up J-pole antena with 6 meters of coax
• 100 meters of parachute cord
• 20 meters of rope
• Fishing line, hooks, lures, and weights
• Fire starter
• Snow Peak GigaPower Stove with 2 liters of white gas
• Small fry pan
• Small pot for boiling water
• Five metal drinking cups (they nest well inside each other) Can be used to heat water for instant soup or noodles
• Water purification tablets
• MSR Water purification filter
• 1 Liter Nalgene water bottle
• 12 rechargable AA batteries
• Solar battery charger
• Solar/crank AM/FM/SW radio
• Pocket version of the Bhagavad  Gita

Finally I have placed a tent, ground cloth and five sleeping bags in the closet by the front door of the house so that we could load them in the van in a hurry if we had to.  We also have a canoe parked next to the house for quick access.  It takes about five minutes to toss it on top of the van and tie it down.

Pray for the best, plan for the worst.

Capsaicin and Heart Attack . . . The News is Good!

Capsaicin, the hot stuff in cayenne peppers, has a long history of use in folk medicine and by alternative health practitioners.  In fact, cayenne is often called, The King of Herbs".  Now scientists have come up with proof cayenne does have a remarkable ability to help the heart. University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists have found that capsaicin, the main component of cayenne, may literally stop a heart attack in its tracks when applied topically.

New research just published in the journal Circulation concludes that a common, over-the-counter pain salve containing capsaicin rubbed on the skin during a heart attack (mice were used in this experiment) could serve as a cardiac-protectant -- reducing or even preventing damage to the heart. The researchers found an amazing 85 percent reduction in cardiac cell death when capsaicin was used. This is the most powerful cardioprotective effect ever recorded, according to Keith Jones, PhD, a researcher in the UC department of pharmacology and cell biophysics.

According to Natural News, Dr. Jones is currently working in collaboration with cardiologist Neal Weintraub, MD, director of UC's cardiovascular diseases division, and other clinicians to test capsaicin's heart protective abilities in people. "Topical capsaicin has no known serious adverse effects and could be easily applied in an ambulance or emergency room setting well in advance of coronary tissue death," Dr. Jones said in a media statement. "If proven effective in humans, this therapy has the potential to reduce injury and/or death in the event of a coronary blockage, thereby reducing the extent and consequences of heart attack."

Learn more:  http://www.healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/9213/

Vegetables In Coconut Curry Sauce

Hope you enjoy this, it is one of my favorites:
 
Vegetables in Coconut Curry Sauce
Prep time; 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Serves; 6

Ingredients

• Vegetables
• 1 head of cauliflower florets (about 4 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into half rounds
• 2 zucchini, cut into found
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into half strip
• 1 cup frozen pea
• 1 medium onion, mince
• 2 tablespoons garlic, mince
• ¼ teaspoon dried crushed red chili pepper (more or less to taste)
• Spices
• 2 tablespoons ground coriande
• 1 teaspoon turmeri
• 1 teaspoon curry powde
• 1 teaspoon sal
• ½ teaspoon powdered cumi
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamo
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamo
• pinch ground clove
• Other
• 2 cups coconut milk (use 1 can of pure coconut milk, 14 fl. oz.
• ¼ cup canola oil or peanut oi
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon honey (optional)

Steps:

1. Steam cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, bell pepper and frozen peas until al dente
2. Heat oil and mustard seeds in a medium sized pot
3. When seeds start to pop, add onion, garlic and red chili pepper and sauté until the onions are is translucent
4. Add spices and mix and cook for 3 minutes on low heat
5. Add 2 C coconut milk and simmer, but do not allow to boil
6. Fold in steamed vegetables
7. Add 1 T honey if desired
8. Serve with steamed rice

Humus

If you like good humus as much as I do then you might be a little dismayed by grocery store prices.  I have been making my own for a long time.  Its quick and easy, and pretty inexpensive. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained (reserve the liquid)
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini - OR- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine all of the ingredients in blender or food processor.  As you blend slowly add the liquid from chickpeas until you get to the desired, creamy consistency. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.
Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).
Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

For a little variety you might add one of the following as your are blending:

• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 C drained artichoke hearts
• red pepper flakes (these are hot so be carefull)
• 1/4 C drained and pitted black olives

Enjoy

Meditation and Your Brain

While at the gym this morning I listened to Episode 50 of The Secular Buddhist (http://www.editurl.com/qb0).  The discussion was about a recent study conducted at Boston General Hospital.  The study was designed as a pretest-posttest control-group design.  They started with a group of non-meditors and measured their brain structure.  Half the group then participated in Boston General Hospital's MBSR meditation program.  At the end of eight weeks the brain structures of the new meditators and the non-treatment-group were again measured.

The results were astounding.  They concluded that the results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.  Wow.  Meditation is good for your brain.

The article is a little technical but you can reference it at the above link.  The link will also give you access to a summary article about the reserach that was published at Science Daily.

The Power of Green Tea

Ever wonder why people in China and Japan have such relatively low rates of heart disease, cancer and other chronic aliments?  Might be because they drink so much green tea. 

Tea is widely recognized as a rich source of healthful antioxidants called catechins.  Tea is produced from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant.  The leaves are picked, rolled, dried and heated.  Back tea leaves are left to ferment and oxidize as well.  Green tea leaves are not.  This may explain why green tea leaves contain more antioxidants than do black tea leaves.  White tea, made from young tea leaves, has even more antioxidants but is harder to find and is more expensive.

Hundreds of studies have been conducted on the effect of green tea consumption.  Most of the studies indicate a strong link between drinking green tea and health benefits.  In one study, for example, of 18,000 Chinese men, the tea drinkers (who primarily drank green tea) were half as likely to develop stomach or esophageeal cancer as the men who drank little tea.   Other studies in Asia have shown a linkage  reduced risks for bladder, colon, prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancers and green tea consumption.  It appears that at least three cups of green tea is needed to achieve the healthful benefits of drinking green tea.

Want to learn more about the health benefits of drinking green tea?  Read Lester Mitscher, PhD's, book The Green Tea Book:  The Science-backed "Miracle Cure".

Your Brain on Statins

I just finished a very interesting book by Dr. Graveline, MD, titled Lipitor: Thief of Memory.

It appears, from his book, that Lipitor may cause transient global amnesia.  Here are a few of the other problems that he associates with Liptor (a statin) use:

•  Personality changes / mood disorders
• Muscle problems, polyneuropathy (nerve damage in the hands and feet), and rhabdomyolysis (a serious degenerative muscle tissue condition)
• Sexual dysfunction
• Immune suppression
• Pancreas or liver dysfunction, including a potential increase in liver enzymes
• Cataracts

And, according to Dr. Graveline, a form of Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS may also be a side effect.

If you want to know what to do about it then I highly recommend that you read the book, you can find it on Amazon.  You also might want to read up on CoQ10 and ubiquinol.

Don't Wait for Your Doctor

Wellness is your responsiblity so don't wait for your doctor to make you well.  Taking a pill for high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol doesn't make up for a bad diet and lack of exercise.  Here are a couple of easy things you can do to take charge of your health:

1.  Get creative with exercise -- you can do simple things like taking a parking spot in a far, out of the way, corner of the parking lot, or walking the stairs rather than the elevator.  How about joining a walking club or going mall walking.  Make if fun and mix it up.  The key is to move your body every day.

2.  Get smart about nutrition -- know what you eat, and what it does to your body.  Check the local hospital for a free nutrition or weight-loss program.   http://www.healthcastle.com/ is a free web site run by registered dieticians that has great information about nutrition and weight loss.  I made one simple change to my diet and have lost eight pounds in less than three weeks.  Email me and I'll tell you what I have done.

3.  Don't let chronic health problems sideline you -- A chronic health care problem is not a prescription or permission to become a couch potato.  Check with your doctor and see what activites are right for you.  If you do have a chronic health care problem then I really suggest that you talk with your doctor about safe activities.  Check the resource section on my website for a free PDF on Qi Gong.  It is an easy and safe way to start moving.

Remember that there no pills that can take charge of your health . . . that is something that only you can do.

Change Your Brain Through Meditation

A study published in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) concluded that an eight-week mindful meditation practice produced measurable changes in participants’ brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. 

MR images were taken of the brain structures of 16 study participants two weeks before and two after they participated in the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness.  In addition to atttending weekly mindfulness meditation practice sessions the research subjects also listened to audio recordings of guided meditation practice and were asked to log their daily meditation time. MR brain scans were also taken of a control group of non-meditators over the same time interval.


The meditators reported spending an average of 27 minutes a day practicing mindfulness meditation. The MR images showed increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus (an area of the brain known to be important for learning and memory) and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.  In addition the MR images showed reductions grey-matter density in the amygdala, (the part of the brain which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress).  None of these changes were seen in the control group.

It's exciting to know that by practicing meditation we can cause physical changes in the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life.

Feed Your Brain

As I get older I start to worry about little things like degenerative brain conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  Not happy thoughts, but there is some new, good news.  I call it "Nerf 2" but it's real name is Nrf2.  Nrf2 is a protein that turns on genes that produce a wide arry of antioixidants, like Glutathione, in the body and particularly in the brain.  Antioxidants protect against free radicals, the little nastys that cause disease.  Because the brain uses so much energy there are more potential damaging free radicals up there.

Dr. David Perlmutter, MD, is an integrateve neurologist and has written several books about brain health (You can see my favorite in "Recommended Readings" at the right).  He recommends nutritional supplements to boost the brains ability to protect against free radicals.  Here are some ways to crank up your Nrf2:

• N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) help boost glutathione production.  ALA can reduce blood sugar so diabetes need to be monitored if they take ALA.
• Docosahezaenoic acid (DHA) dramatically boost Nrf2-related antioxidant activity and increases the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).  BDNF is a protein the stimulated the growth of neurons and synapses and helps protect neurons from trauma damage (a bump on the head).
• Tumeric, oh I love tumeric.  It's active ingredient in curcumin, a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflamatory substance that also increases the production of BDNF.  Just for good measure, it also has a stimulating effect on Nrf2.
• Broccoli, or really sulforaphane, is one of the strongest Nrf2 activators.  If you don't like eating broccoli then you can take broccoli seed extract.
• Blueberries, or the active component pterostilbene, is effective in boosting Nrf2 levels.  In addition, it seems to be more easily assimilated by the body than its chemically related cousin resveratrol.
• Green Tea Extract contains antioxidants that help eliminate free radicals.  It also stimulates Nrf2.

In addition to feeding your brain you might try replacing some TeeVee time with quiet meditation, spending some time in nature, or enjoying loved ones.

Don't Eat That!

I just finished a fasicnating book, In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan.  He notes that humans historically consumed over 80,000 different species fo edible plants, animals, and fungi; and that about 3,000 of those have been in widespread use by humans.  When was the last day that you ate 3,000 different foods?  What about last year?  Did you eat 3,000 different foods last year?

It turns out that you probably got most of your calories from only three (yup, 3) foods:  corn, soy and wheat.  About 67 percent of most people's diets come from those three foods and their derivatives.  It's no surprise that we face a health crisis today, a crisis of obesity and life-style diseases.  Some of the common derivatives include:

• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• Corn oil
• Soybean oil (hydrogenated or plain refined)
• Refined wheat flour

Think about how many foods that you eat that contain HFCS; foods like soft drinks, marinades, salad dressings, ketchup, breads, and 100's of other fattening HFCS.  Don't forget all of the fried foods that you may eat that are cooked in corn or soybean oil.  These oils are found in processed foods like chips, candies, cakes, salad dressing, tomato sauces, burrito wraps, corn chips, breaded chicken.  Then their are all of the foods made from processed wheat:  breads, cereals, pastas, and muffins.

So, what's wrong with that?  Well for starters:

• It skews the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in our diets from the healthy 1:1 to 2:1 to an unhealthly 30:1
• Gluten intolerance caused by heavy wheat consumption
• Weight gain
• blood-sugar swings and reduced insulin sensitivity
• And, if too much corn and soy is bad for us, what do you think it does to the farm animals that eventually find their way onto our tables.

So what can you do?  Here are a few ideas:

1. Don't purchase processed foods and eat one-ingredient foods instead like fruit, vegetables, beans, eggs (free froaming if you can get them), nuts, seeds, a meats from grass-feed or free roaming animals
2. Get most of your carbs from fruits and veggies, rather than from grains
3. Make your own salad dressings (olive oil and quality vinager are an easy choice)
4. Make sure that your tomato sauces don't have HFCS or soybean oils, or make your own
5. Eat guacamole or hummus with veggie sticks rather than with crackers

My goal is to get my corn/wheat/soy calorie count down from the American average of 67% to a healthier 5% of my diet.  See what you can do.

Exercise for Better Sleep

A recent article published in Sleep Medicine indicates that aerobic exercise (walking, cycling, biking or jogging) can reduce insomnia in middle-aged and older adults.  All it takes is two twenty-minute sessions four times a week, or one 30 to 40 minute session four times a week.  Exercise was shown to improve the quality of sleep, and to reduce symptoms of depression and daytime sleepiness.  Exercise was also shown to increase vitality.

Source:  K. J. Reid, et al.  (2010).  Aerobic Exercise Improves Self-reported Sleep and Quality of Life in Older Adults with Insomnia.  Sleep Medicine.