The Asparagus Bean Surprise III

July 21, 2010

This is the hottest, most unrelenting summer heat we’ve known since arriving in southern Missouri in 1993, but the asparagus beans love it.  They are living up to their reputation of being disease resistant, but have attracted the weirdest looking beetles I’ve ever seen. Beetles gross me out, but after spraying with Neem for several weeks, hardly any are left.

These guys are about 1 1/2 inch long, black, with legs that are hair-thin.  The right front leg has something like a fin attached.  They line up 4-5 in a row down the length of the bean and darned if I can figure out what they’re doing.  I’ll spare you a photo because I can’t bring myself to look at them long enough to focus a camera.  I can’t find anything on the internet about these bugs so I don’t know if they’re good or bad, but something has been chewing holes in the older leaves. The newer growth seems fine.  If anybody out there thinks you know what these beetles are, let me know because I’d like to find out more about them. At one point there were so many of them they were crawling on the tomatoes, too.

This morning I went out and clipped quite a few beans to go with the ones I harvested the past two days.  The two gallon bowl was full with beans draping over the sides so it was time to chop and steam them for freezing. They taste delicious in stir fry, Italian food, egg fritatas, or as a side dish.  Over the past few days the vines have been flowering prolifically.  The color is gorgeous so I wanted to share it with readers and took this photo this morning.  We are going to have a huge new harvest very soon.  I highly recommend these beans for simple gardeners like me.

Some things I’ve learned about growing and harvesting these beans:

1. They like full sun.  The second batch of beans I planted by the east gate didn’t get as many hours of light as the 5 I put elsewhere, so they were slower to produce.  However, they are doing well and covered with blossoms like the first batch.  They are just a little behind the others in production.
   
2. What is really weird is that the ugly beetles that got on the full sun batch didn’t bother the shadier batch even though they are planted not far from each other.  I can’t figure that one out.
3. Clipping the beans with scissors is the easiest way to harvest them.  If you clip them just at the top of the bean and below the nodule of the flower, you will get more flowers and more beans.
4. Every flower produces two beans.  Sometimes one bean is ready to harvest before its twin.
5. If you harvest when the beans are 15-18 inches long they cook faster than if you wait until they are 24 inches long.  Beans that are 12 inches long or less are so tender and delicious you can eat them raw.
6. The beans seem to hide behind the leaves.  I have to look at the plants from different angles and move the leaves to make sure I haven’t missed any that are ready to harvest.  Several times I missed beans and let them mature and dry out.  I’ve collected the beans inside the pods and will use them to start new bean plants next year.

Outside of the yucky beetles, I have to say that this vegetable is as easy to grow as the tomatoes.  Spraying with Neem has kept pests off everything.  For people who don’t want to exert too much physical effort and still provide healthy organic food for the table, and especially if you have a bunch of kids to feed, these beans really are an excellent crop. You get so much produce from a very small space it’s amazing.

From Wikipedia here is the nutritional breakdown of the beans:

They are a good source of protein, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, and a very good source for vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and manganese.

In a serving size of 100 grams (3.5 oz.) of yardlong beans there are 47 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 mg sodium (0% daily value), 8 grams of total carbohydrates (2% daily value), and 3 grams of protein (5% daily value). There is also 17% DV vitamin A, 2% DV iron, 31% DV vitamin C, and 5% DV calcium. (Percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Individual daily values may be higher or lower depending on individual calorie needs.)

If you’ve missed them and are interested, you might like to read my two other postings about asparagus beans:

The Asparagus Bean Surprise

The Asparagus Bean Surprise II

Tags: health, wellness

Adventures in Art I

July 20, 2010

Regular readers know that art and beauty are part of my wellness plan, spiritually and physically.  This past week I was learning how to use some brushes in Corel Painter 11 and posted a painting I did of a friend’s cat from a picture she let me use.  For the fun of it, I opened my Adobe Photoshop Essentials to see what else I might be able to do, and found a couple of special effects I really liked. Not all subjects would be well suited to this, but Pogo surely is.

Here is Pogo’s portrait:

Here is Pogo carved in stone:

Here is Pogo on an old piece of crumpled art paper:

I’ve signed all of these so if you’d like to use them please:

1. credit me wherever you use it,
2. make a small donation by clicking the donate button and,
3. link to this site if you use it on the internet.

I can’t decide which version I like the best.  Which one is your favorite? if you have time to think about it, other than making a portrait for the owner, how else could the images be used? I am open to ideas because sometime soon I will have to start marketing my work and could use some inspiration.

Tags: art, wellness

Phytoestrogens and Estrogen Dominance

July 14, 2010

In yesterday’s article Estrogen Dominance: Causes and Cures I discussed some of the causes of estrogen dominance.  Today I want to briefly cover another way of being overexposed to estrogens.  If you are estrogen dominant, in addition to avoiding things I mentioned in the above article, you need to be careful of overexposure to phytoestrogens.

Phytoestrogens (phyto = plant) are naturally occurring estrogenic compounds.  They are in herbs, spices, and some plant foods, among which is soy, which I will discuss lower down in this article. These compounds are weaker than the xenoestrogens or natural estrogen produced by the body, but if you are already experiencing estrogen dominance, it is best not to consume even these.  As the site Energetic Nutrition says:

Some of the strongest phytoestrogen containing substances are soy, the lignans found in flax seed products, red clover, black cohosh, chasteberry, and dong quai. Soy includes soybeans, soy milk, tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein, roasted soybeans, soy granules, soy protein powders, miso, and edamames.

Over consumption of phytoestrogenic foods or herbs on a long term basis may actually increase the risk of estrogen dominance significantly. Furthermore, phytoestrogens have been shown to inhibit the conversion of T4 to the active T3 thyroid hormone, and can trigger hypothyroidism. It is suggested that those with a history of thyroid imbalance, or suffering from estrogen dominance, should consume a minimum amount of phytoestrogens.

The very serious soy problem

Dr. Mercola has numerous articles on soy and the health problems its consumption causes.  In addition to its role in causing or exacerbating estrogen dominance, in certain forms it is one of the most harmful foods we can consume and it is ubiquitous on grocery store shelves. He writes:

Dow Chemical and DuPont, the same corporations that brought misery and death to millions around the world through Agent Orange, are now the driving forces behind the promotion of soy as a food for humans. They are financing anti-meat and anti-milk campaigns aimed largely at those concerned about animal welfare and the environment, trying to convince them that imitations such as “soymilk” are not only healthier than the real thing, but better for the earth too…

Unlike the Asian culture, where people eat small amounts of whole soybean products, western food processors separate the soybean into two golden commodities–protein and oil. And there is nothing natural or safe about these products.

Says Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story,

“Today’s high-tech processing methods not only fail to remove the anti-nutrients and toxins that are naturally present in soybeans but leave toxic and carcinogenic residues created by the high temperatures, high pressure, alkali and acid baths and petroleum solvents.” [Yesterday I wrote about xenoestrogens in solvents and plastics which are derived from petroleum.  Exposure to these stresses the body and processed soy products can pack a double whammy of not only intake of phytoestrogens but xenoestrogens - two for the price of one.]

Dr. Daniel also points out the findings of numerous studies reviewed by her and other colleagues — that soy does not reliably lower cholesterol, and in fact raises homocysteine levels in many people, which has been found to increase your risk of stroke, birth defects, and yes: heart disease.

Other common health problems linked to a high-soy diet include:

• Thyroid problems, including weight gain, lethargy, malaise, fatigue, hair loss, and loss of libido
• Premature puberty and other developmental problems in babies, children and adolescents
• Cancer
• Brain damage
• Reproductive disorders
• Kidney stones
• Weakened immune system
• Severe, potentially fatal food allergies

The danger of genetically modified soy

Most soy, perhaps about 80 percent or more, is also genetically modified, which adds its own batch of health concerns.

The last thing a person suffering from fibromyalgia, estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, chronic fatigue and other related systemic health issues is exposure to genetically modified food.  This added burden on the body to process chemical structures it does not recognize can lead to allergic reactions and other side effects. A sick person is made even sicker. Dr. Mercola writes in his article Genetically Modified Foods – What to Know Before You Eat Them:

Sections of the protein produced in GM soy are identical to known allergens, but the soybean was introduced before the WHO criteria were established, and the recommended additional tests were not conducted.

If this protein in GM soybeans is causing allergies, then the situation may be made much worse by something called horizontal gene transfer (HGT). That‘s when genes spontaneously transfer from one species‘ DNA to another. While this happens often among bacteria, it is rare in plants and mammals.

But the method used to construct and insert foreign genes into GM crops eliminates many of the natural barriers that stop HGT from occurring. The only published human feeding study on GM foods ever conducted on GM foods showed that

parts of the gene inserted into GM soy ended up transferring into the DNA of human gut bacteria.

Furthermore, the gene was stably integrated and it appeared to be producing its potentially allergenic protein. So, years after people stop eating GM soy, they may still be exposed to its risky protein, which is being continuously produced within their own intestines.

None of this is good for anybody, let alone people suffering autoimmune conditions and hormonal imbalances.  Our bodies are complex chemical factories and temples of the Holy Spirit.  To care for them as God intends us to do we cannot simply go to the store and take what we want off the shelf. In today’s age with government corruption at such deep levels the FDA approves many things it should not, and does it without enough testing for bad effects.  It is up to us as individuals to take charge of our health and do the best we can to feel good as we go about our daily business.  Moreover, we need to stop eating ourselves sick and start eating ourselves well.

I encourage readers to sign up for Dr. Mercola’s newsletters ( they are free).  I have learned a great deal from them and hope you will benefit, too.

Tags: wellness

Estrogen Dominance: Causes and Cures

July 13, 2010

Normally I would not talk about my health issues except to close friends, but what I am learning is important to many people who may be being mis-diagnosed and feeling worse every day.  In keeping with my mission to share how I am getting better so others may also benefit, I am willing to disclose personal information.  Everyone is different and needs customized treatment for health problems, but being informed and not giving up is basic to recovery.  One growing health problem is estrogen dominance, which creates many systemic health problems.

Estrogen dominance is apparently not well understood by many in the health professions.  I, like many other women, had a hysterectomy due to fibroid tumors.  Today, such surgery can be unnecessary if estrogen dominance is the cause.

It’s only recently that I have learned about this condition which I’ve had since my teens.  Every OB-GYN I ever saw couldn’t tell me what was causing such unpleasant symptoms that only got worse with age.  Getting rid of my uterus didn’t solve the problems, either, but now things are different – and better, too.

Generally speaking, we have no one cause for estrogen dominance.  It can be a result of:

1. Stressful living – the worse the stress the more the adrenals are taxed which causes other endocrine system problems,
2. Hormonal imbalance (see above for a major contributing cause),
3. Hormone therapy,
4. Glandular dysfunction,
5. Environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens).

Dr. John R. Lee. M.D. (RIP) has done outstanding work on the subject of estrogen dominance and the troubles it causes. He is a recognized expert for his excellent research and treatment plans.   Dr. Lee’s books are available from his web site, along with updated information on research into this problem.  It is maintained by his wife and others who worked along with him for many years.

How do you know if you have an estrogen dominance problem? I am going to give you only the most severe signs of estrogen dominance.  For the less severe visit Energetic Nutrition to determine if this could be a problem for you or someone you know.

Severe symptoms of estrogen dominance:

1. Uterine fibroid tumors
2. Endometriosis
3. Fibrocystic breasts
4. Polycystic ovary syndrome
5. Breast tumors
6. Infertility (men and women)
   
7. Accelerated aging
8. Miscarriage
9. Anxiety and panic attacks
10. Autoimmune disorders
11. Fibromyalgia (now being thought to be an autoimmune problem)
12. Men with estrogen dominance grow breasts larger than normal and babies exposed in the womb may have abnormalities attributable to xenoestrogen exposure.

What to do about estrogen dominance

Next to reducing as much stress as possible in life, taking control of estrogen exposure from the environment is critical, as estrogen dominance is an ever-growing health problem. Xenoestrogens (xeno = foreign) are found in many plastics, pesticides, fuels and drugs, not to mention food and water.  They are difficult for the liver to detoxify.  Anyone with an estrogen dominance problem should do everything possible to reduce exposure to xenoestrogens – in fact everyone should reduce exposure so as not to develop estrogen dominance at all.

A partial list of typical sources of xenoestrogens are:

1. Commercially raised animals which have been fed chemicals to speed up weight gain and move them to market faster
2. Canned food and beverages which now come with plastic lining that gives off xenoestrogens
3. Plastics, plastic wrap, styrofoam cups, plastic water bottles which give off xenoestrogens when heated
4. Pesticides
5. Paint, lacquers and other solvents
6. Personal care products such as soaps and shampoos
7. Cosmetics
8. Birth control pills and spermicides
9. Tap water (estrogens in urine go through waste treatment plants and are returned to water supply)
10. Car exhaust and fumes given off by new carpets and furniture
11. Cosmetics
12. Air fresheners and perfumes

A simple way to reduce estrogen dominance in the body

Of course, a key way to reduce estrogen dominance is to limit exposure to xenoestrogens as much as possible. This is why natural health doctors advise buying organic meats and vegetables, drinking out of glass or stainless steel rather than plastic, using reverse osmosis water systems or distilled water for drinking and cooking, etc.  For the most informative site I’ve found on health topics visit Dr. Mercola’s web page by clicking it in my blogroll.

The generally prescribed way to reduce estrogen dominance, which you may still have even if you have had a hysterectomy, is to use progesterone to create an appropriate balance between the two hormones. However, my natural health doctor who cannot prescribe hormones gave me another way.  It is very simple.

Estrogens are made by endocrine glands and also taken into the body via xenoestrogen exposure. They circulate in the blood and are filtered by the liver which puts them into the small intestine where they are absorbed once more into the body unless you have a way to bind them so they can be passed out of the body through elimination. My doctor recommended that I use Benefiber® at every meal. This soluble fiber seizes the estrogens dumped into the small intestine by the liver and any that might be in the food.  It prevents their re-absorption into the bloodstream.

Since thin or thinning hair is a symptom of estrogen dominance in women, I know that the Benefiber® is working because my hair is starting to come back and I have only been doing this for a couple of months.  Other moderate symptoms are abating and I am beginning to allow myself to hope that my fibromyalgia will improve.  Granted, leaving gluten out of my diet and taking large amounts of B vitamins as prescribed by my natural health doctor are also helping my hair growth.

If you think any health problems you have could be related to estrogen dominance, in addition to the sites I’ve linked to above, go to the Women to Women web site and read more.

I am sold on getting help from natural health doctors because I want a holistic approach to health and have found that my NHD has helped me more than anybody else I’ve seen.  Most of the fees and supplements will not be covered by insurance, but feeling better is more important to me than having office visits and prescription drugs paid for by insurance. It’s a matter of priorities in the budget and I am committed to not having some things that I want in favor of improving health which I need.

Tags: wellness

Beating Essential Tremor and Bad Hair

July 13, 2010

One of the greatest blessings given my husband and me this year has been our help from Dr. Stuart Hoover, NHD. Following his advice, Roger lowered his blood pressure to normal without drugs in two weeks and markedly increased his energy levels and stamina.  As for myself, this very skeptical lady has become convinced that there is definitely hope after all.

When I started following Dr. Hoover’s recommendations we were focusing on several key issues verified through saliva testing, which is far more indicative of certain problems than blood testing:

1. Gluten sensitivity,
2. Severe adrenal fatigue,
3. Estrogen dominance.

We also focused on the head, arms and hand tremors I inherited from my mother.  These are known as essential familial tremor and differ from Parkinson’s disease. They get worse when I’m tired and have limited a lot of my activities.  All the conventional literature on this problem indicates that the condition worsens with age and that little can be done for it, although sometimes brain surgery can help.

Aside from the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue issues I wanted to improve, I told Dr. Hoover there were a couple of other areas I wanted to see results in.

1.  My hair has been thin most of my adult life, and got so scant on top I could see scalp front to back after my hip surgeries.  A year after the operations nothing was coming back.  So growing back thinning hair is a big thing to me.  It will never be thick but I really wanted to see a lot more of it on top.

2.  I wanted to see my tremors walked back and if possible, eliminated along with the ulnar nerve damage in both arms.

These were tough challenges no one has ever been able to meet to date.  I’ve had the tremors since my early twenties and bad hair since then, too.

Since mid-April I’ve been gluten free which has vastly improved absorption of nutrients and supplements.  How do I know this?  Because I am growing HAIR!!!! – on my head – where it’s thin. My husband, friends and hairdresser have noticed the improvement.  True, there’s a long way to go, but no other health professional has helped me with this issue even though I’ve asked every M.D. I’ve ever seen.

Dr. Hoover put me on his own formulation for adrenal stress that is loaded with B vitamins.  He also put me on Neuroplex for myelin sheath improvement.  It has a lot of B vitamins, too.  In addition I take a multi-vitamin, D3, Iodoral, DHEA and other supplements.  This combination is also working.  Friends, family, and Dr. Hoover have noticed that my tremor is markedly improved. Moreover, after doing chores like chopping veggies, harvesting in the garden, weeding, and doing minor housework, my recovery time for the use of my arms and hands has also markedly improved. I can now rest for an hour or so and have the energy and control to get up and do something else.  For me, this is HUGE.  In the space of two and a half months there is obvious improvement.

How far will this go?  I don’t know.  But I do thank God for bringing Dr. Hoover into our lives.  We may be limited still, but we are able to function better.  The systemic issues plaguing us may just be made right, and all without drugs. Sure, we all have to die sometime, and I’m not doing this to live longer, just to live with better health.  It’s something I wish for everyone.

Dr. Hoover helps people from all over the country.  If you have health issues and you believe there has to be something better for you than what you are presently doing, find a good natural health doctor to consult with.  Dr. Hoover’s web site is e2health.com and I recommend him highly.

Tags: wellness

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July to all my readers.  I praise and thank God for having allowed me to be born in the USA, raised Catholic, and blessed with the skills and calling to “blog for Christ” as I think of it.  One of the greatest aspects of working on our relationship with God is that He always has a job for us, and often it is a new job, no matter how old we get. He’s the only employer that never fires anybody (although some people up and quit).  That’s how I ended up blogging.  As He closes some chapters in our life, He starts new ones with us until He is ready to finish our temporal book with the final words, “Not The End, but The Beginning”.

Please join us at RAnn’s This That and the Other Thing blog where we get to enjoy reading other Catholic bloggers’ posts.  If you’re not a blogger but want to participate, you’re invited to leave a comment anyway.  If you are a blogger, create a “Sunday Snippets” post, link to This That and the Other Thing, and be sure to leave a link back to your site at RAnn’s page.

This week I posted two portraits I painted using lessons on digital painting.  Each are unique and emphasized the uniqueness of the subjects. The first one is about my friend Lynn’s horse, Asti, The Horse with One Blue Eye. The second one is Francie’s Story, a post about our young rescue dog.

I wrote a couple of health related posts: Simple Tips to increase Fat Burning and Improve Conditioning and Simple Way to Stop Mid-back Pain with people like me and my husband in mind. You’re never to old to do easy stuff to feel better, even if you’ll never have a 25 year old body again.

In Thoughts on the Feast of the Visitation I wrote about how Mary and Elizabeth gave us lessons on trust in God. If you’re like me, there are never too many lessons on this subject.

Thanks for visiting.

Tags: art, trust in God, wellness

Francie’s Story

July 2, 2010

This past week my digital art lesson has been to learn how to paint with the acrylic brushes.  I’ve been using Martin Addison’s Painter 11 for Photographers with its excellent tutorials. After many trials, I completed this portrait of Francie, our second rescue dog.

We got Francie from people down the street who were letting the puppies run loose.  Francie was one of five and they were starving and thirsty.  Every week various neighbors had their trash bags torn open because these dogs were so hungry.  Long story short, we got Francie at 5 months of age and she was a wild dog.  It took us 2 months to housebreak her and she had some medical problems which have since cleared up.

As she was maturing her ears became huge.  At times I thought this little part Boxer puppy would lift off as she sailed through the yard.  At about 9 months of age her left ear wouldn’t flop over like the other one, so she has this comical one-ear-up and one-ear-flopped look that adds to her mischievous personality.

In the fall of 2008 on a bright October afternoon Roger and I took our 3.5 megapixel digital camera that was a gift from a friend and went out to take some pictures of the dogs.  Photographers call the kind of lighting on Francie in this portrait “broad lighting”, which is not normally used for portraits, but under the circumstances we were lucky to get her settled down enough to snap this shot.

Painting animals with acrylic brushes is ideal and digital painting is a great advantage for those of us who have always wanted to paint but couldn’t for various reasons.  In this portrait, Francie’s fur came out well.  The photo background wasn’t attractive at all, so I painted in a more traditional studio type canvas.  The intense look in her eyes is typical of her when she is focused on something like a treat or toy.  Perhaps someday I will get good enough to offer painted portraits of pets to people from their own snapshots.

The original size of this one was about 12×12 inches after cropping, and I re-sized it to be about 5×5 to use less memory on the computer, and of course, this version here is much smaller.  The larger size really brings out the brush strokes and paper texture.

Francie has been a real gift from God because she makes us laugh and is such a happy, funny girl.  After four dogs I know that each one of them is as unique as every person, tree, rock and all the rest of what constitutes creation.  She is a vital part of my wellness program.

Tags: art, wellness

Simple Way to Stop Mid-back Pain

July 1, 2010

For several weeks now my husband has been complaining of mid-back pain below the shoulder blades.  It’s so bad he’s had to abandon washing the dishes.  Since we don’t have a dishwasher, yours truly has stepped into the breech.  Given that I can’t stand and prepare a meal without sitting down occasionally due to my own fibro and mid-back pain, this is not a good thing. When I looked at him from the side I was shocked to see how rounded and stoop-shouldered he was.Immediately I said that this was a physical therapy issue and sure enough, it is.

Fortunately today was our usual day to do therapy exercises at the fitness center and the physical therapist who also has fibromyalgia was in the pool working out when I was.  When Roger showed up at the pool to do a little warm water work, I asked the therapist what he thought.  Good news. He said that fixing the hunch problem and pain is easy.

This is the first time that gravity does a favor to an aging body. Yup.  Gravity.  It’s awful for neck wattles, eyelids and eyebrows and other body parts unmentionable, but great for stoop shoulders.

The therapist said to get an exercise mat at Walmart and put it on the floor – you need a hard surface or this won’t work. Lie down on the mat and relax.  Let gravity do its job. No kidding.  The tightened chest muscles that are pulling the shoulders into a forward curve and straining the mid-back muscles will get the gentle stretching they need and the mid-back muscles will get relief. Do this exercise once or twice a day.  At the beginning the shoulders won’t be able to touch the mat all the way across, but after a few days, they will rest flat on the floor according to the therapist.  The improved flexibility will help relieve the back pain and straighten the back. It’s a good exercise to keep on doing to avoid future problems, too.

Since I have had mid-back pain for years, I immediately came home and tried this approach.  It felt so good I didn’t want to get up off the floor.  This is the best excuse I’ve ever had for just lying around. Now if I catch him snoozing on the floor I’ll have to cut hubby slack if I need him to do something and he says he’s busy exercising.

Tags: wellness

Simple Tips to Increase Fat Burning and Improve Conditioning

June 30, 2010

Dr. Mercola has a couple of good articles on exercise and fat burning at his site. I like his newsletter and have put his site in my blog roll because he is very knowledgeable and explains things in fairly simple terms.

One of the biggest challenges for people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue is fighting weight gain due to lack of exercise. When you know you’re going to pay for your exertion with more pain, motivation suffers.  That’s why I do physical therapy exercises in the warm water pool at the fitness center 3 days a week. It’s much easier on the body, but I’m not getting much in the way of aerobic conditioning.

Warm water pool - what a relief!

To me, the main reason to keep the body moving is to throw off toxins and avoid increased muscle weakness and pain. One thing we don’t want to do is to encourage fat storage by doing the wrong thing before, during, and after exercise. From Dr. Mercola’s articles it looks like I could get more out of the pool time and make some changes for the better.  I want to pass this on to fellow chronic pain patients.

In the June 4, 2010 issues of USA Today:

Muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates … if you haven’t eaten before exercising, your body doesn’t have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead, scientists say.”

Dr. Mercola writes:

There’s actually quite a bit of evidence supporting the theory that you’ll burn more fat if you don’t eat prior to your workout. USA Today mentions several such studies.

So, how does it work?…

The combination of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

Dr. Mercola goes on to say that if you eat a carb laden meal before exercising you will trigger your parasympathetic nervous system to store energy, reducing the fat burning effect of your exercise. He also says that people need to use common sense.  If you have blood sugar and insulin problems, you may have to eat before exercising. But he goes on to say that if you eat healthy food every three to four hours, you may not have a problem.  So getting the advantage of maximum fat burning from exercise is going to require a sensible approach taking a number of factors into account.

He remarks on an approach to this I find very interesting in that I do best myself on a high protein, low carb program:

In practical terms, consuming 20 grams of whey protein before exercise and another serving afterward will most likely yield the double benefit of increasing both fat burning and muscle build-up at the same time.

I’ll take those double benefits any time! And here’s the second tip from him in this article and a previous one that is so simple for getting improved conditioning in less time:

I recently coined the term “peak fitness” to highlight the importance of high intensity interval training for optimizing your overall fitness and weight loss. It’s a comprehensive program that includes aerobic, strength training, core exercises and stretching, but the major addition are the peak exercises you perform once or twice a week.

These high intensity, sprint-type exercises raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90 second recovery period. You then repeat this cycle for a total of eight repetitions.

Walking - maybe, but no sprinting!

He wrote about this in his article “The Major Exercise Mistake I Made for Over 30 Years”. Be sure to check these articles out because he has so much good information packed into them. You will also find “What You Eat After Exercise Matters” very interesting.

Now I know that fibro patients and probably people with arthritis, lupus and other problems are not going to be able to do a comprehensive routine of fitness. We are certainly not going to be sprinting anywhere. My strength training is limited to what I can accomplish using items the therapists have taught me to use and depending on water resistance and repetition to strengthen muscles.  But I am going to try to incorporate some aerobics into my routine using the cycle system above and see how it works.

Wellness takes will, common sense, and commitment to caring for the body God has given us so we can do the work He has given us to do.

Tags: wellness

The Horse With One Blue Eye

June 29, 2010

Asti

Suffering with joy means that sometimes you just lie quietly and say the name of Jesus. Sometimes it means taking medicines and supplements that you’d rather not take but you do it anyway to care for your body – and do it cheerfully. Sometimes it means finding something to enjoy at whatever level of functioning you have whether that is puttering in the garden or picking up a skill you’ve always wanted.

For me art and wellness go hand in hand.  Part of my journey to better spirits in spite of chronic pain and fatigue is learning to do digital art – to create beauty however I can. Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some universal tenets that apply to good art such as the rule of thirds, Divine Proportion, color relationships, and for me, a noble end-purpose which is to show the beauty and order of God’s creation. I’m very much a beginning artist, learning to use tools and opening my mind to all sorts of possibilities.

Last week I was studying a lesson on airbrushing and chose a photograph to paint of my friend Lynn’s black quarter horse, Asti, who has one blue eye. It took a long time – about 3 days – and the deleting of many images before I got this one. I not only wanted to capture her blue eye, I wanted to give a sense of her muscled power and force of personality.

The photograph was taken at high noon in bright sunlight with a 300mm zoom lens on our trusty 35mm film camera with the main focus on the eye.  This made everything in front of and behind the eye out of focus.  I eliminated all the background except what was necessary to give definition to the face where needed and carefully applied layers of paint to make the eye stand out.  The wind was blowing that day and you can see that from the mane, which gives a sense of movement to the picture as does the pose itself with the head and neck angles. Through the use of dark and light I wanted to draw the viewer’s eye in a circle around the painting always landing at Asti’s eye. The bright sun brought out the browns in her coat and face which would otherwise have looked much darker.

A horse’s eye is only a small part of the face, which made this project really challenging.  How could I show what I wanted without distracting elements?  Gaining some mastery of digital airbrush technique helped me a lot. The pose gives the impression that Asti is swinging her head out of the frame directly towards you and I wanted to emphasize that, too.  In the 5×7 or 8×10 size, her blue eye really stands out whereas on this page I couldn’t make an image that large so the eye color is not as impressive.  I guarantee you, though, that if you were standing next to her you wouldn’t miss that cornflower blue.  Go ahead, reach out and pet her on the nose.

Tags: art, joy

The Asparagus Bean Surprise II

June 22, 2010

Today's harvest of asparagus beans

Today is very hot in southwest Missouri.  In fact, we are having August weather in June and I sure hope we get a cool front soon.  The tomato plants are blossoming, but then, because of the heat, the blossoms are drying out and not setting fruit.  The fruit that has set, however, is doing well.  The zucchini is producing very well, though, and I chopped and froze a bunch of it today to use in soup.

Another vegetable, my experiment for this year, is producing like crazy.  This photo is the “mess” – as they say in the Ozarks – of asparagus beans (Chinese long beans) I harvested today after coming home from my pool therapy exercise session.  They are at least 18″ long as advertised.  If you want to know more about these beans, look at my post, The Asparagus Bean Surprise.

An Asparagus Bean Recipe

Being one to throw things together, I cut the beans  into manageable bites and tossed them in Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a glass baking dish.  Then I threw in some sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkled a little garlic powder over the whole.  With the oven at 325° I roasted them for 50 minutes, took them out, sprinkled a little sea salt on top and sampled the result.  They taste really good and my husband liked them so much he, as he said it, “put a real dent in them.”

The flavor is mild, somewhat like asparagus and green beans combined, but with a hint of something else I can’t figure out.  Those sun-dried tomatoes added a little sweetness to the dish.  Next time I’m going to fix them with mushrooms, a little olive oil and a dash of red wine and see how they turn out.  It’ll be great if the bean vines produce all summer.  I’ll have another veggie to freeze for winter.

Thank you, Lord for the great asparagus bean surprise and good food for the table.

Tags: recipes, wellness

God’s Bounty and Blessing

June 11, 2010

Tomato plants in the Earthbox. Little tomatoes growing already.

“Bless us O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we have received from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

Spring sprang into summer almost overnight in southwest Missouri.  We are experiencing August heat and humidity in June which is causing fruits, flowers and veggies to leap out of the ground (and the Earthboxes®) and produce prodigiously.

This week we started harvesting zucchini and sharing with the neighbors, and I invented a quick dish good for any day of the week, but especially for Fridays because there’s no meat in it.

As I inspected all the vegetables I saw that the tomatoes are forming nicely and God blessed us with a volunteer cherry tomato plant that grew from one of last year’s. Asparagus beans are climbing the fence and budding with pretty blue-purple flowers.  Six of the nine planted are looking very good.  Yellow squash is coming along and the cantaloupe are dawdling but healthy.  We will be at war with the Japanese beetles any day now, though.

Seeing the garden doing so well made me think of the grace before meals we prayed growing up and still pray today.  It’s such an easy way to remind ourselves that it is God’s bounty in all things that makes our lives possible.

Of course, we must remember to thank God for His blessings after our meals, too.

“We give Thee thanks, O Almighty God, for these Thy benefits, Who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

Recipe: Zucchini Italian

One of our zucchini plants in the ground. We have two in an Earthbox. Leaves are about 10 inches across.

1 or 2  8-10 inch long zucchini, depending on your family size

Home made or store bought Italian sauce, gluten free

1 tbs. butter

Italian seasoning

Parmesan cheese

Shredded Italian 5 cheese

Turn on the broiler.  Cut the ends off the zucchini and slice it into 1/8 inch slices.  Melt butter in your cooking dish (I use ceramic dishes I bought a couple of years ago from Dr. Mercola) and sprinkle a little Italian seasoning in it, or use fresh herbs from your garden.  Sauté the zucchini in the butter and herbs over medium heat on the stove until it starts getting a little tender.  Spoon the Italian sauce on the zucchini and spread it fairly thin.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and then sprinkle shredded Italian 5 cheese thinly over the whole dish.  Pop it under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes until the cheese is lightly browned.

It takes about 10 minutes max to put all this together and get it out of the oven ready to serve. This makes a good side dish or a good main dish.  If you’re making it a main dish, be sure to fix enough zucchini as the recipe above is intended for two.

Tip for making your own Italian sauce: put a little burgundy or merlot wine in it for a gourmet flavor.

Tags: wellness

A Soup for Summer

May 27, 2010

Going gluten-free is an opportunity to experiment with interesting ways to eat in a healthy way.  In other words, don’t think about what you can’t have, think about how to make tasty what you can have.

When I visited my aunt this past week, she gave me her old copies of  Vegetarian Times and Living Without magazines where I found a gluten-free soup recipe that sounded good, but I wanted to make changes to suit us. I made so many changes that it’s actually a new recipe. The great thing about this soup is that you can eat it hot or cold. As regular readers already know, I just throw ingredients together according to what I think will taste good.  This recipe serves about 8 and is a delicious leftover.  It passed the husband test, too.

Barb’s Spicy Vegetable and Garbanzo Bean Soup

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic – or get a small jar of minced garlic and decide how much you want to put in the soup

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 ribs of celery, chopped

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

3 ribs of bok choy, chopped

1/2 bag of fresh spinach or clip it from the plants in your garden

1 zucchini, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 cups of low sodium beef broth (you can use vegetable or chicken broth if you want – just make sure it’s gluten-free and be aware that changing the broth type changes the taste of the soup)

1 large can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)

1 can of garbanzo beans (if you don’t want to use these, go for another kind your family will like)

1 or 2 dollops of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 cup torn fresh basil

1.  Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Throw in the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until the garlic is fragrant.

2.  Add broth, crushed tomatoes, garbanzos and vinegar.

3.  Add rosemary, thyme, and basil

4.  Add all the veggies you chopped and sliced  and stir.

5.  If you want to thicken the mix, scoop 1 cup of the mixture into a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.  Stir it into the soup and season with salt and pepper if you like.

6.  Add the spinach leaves and stir.  Then simmer covered for about 40 minutes until the veggies are tender.

If you don’t like the spiciness of red pepper, skip it.  The soup tastes good anyway.  And if you are too tired after chopping all the veggies, skip the blender step.  It will still taste good. The bok choy gives a nice crunchiness to the soup and the garbanzos add protein.  You can also add 1 medium onion, chopped, to the sauté mix at the beginning if you like.

One thing that makes this soup particularly good are the 3 spices.  I keep fresh thyme, oregano, basil and rosemary growing in pots so I can snip what I want when necessary.  The puny dill plant I had in a pot and put in the garden last year sowed itself into the ground so this year I have volunteer dill and plenty of it!  Fresh herbs add a lot to dishes.

Tags: gluten-free, wellness

Gluten-free Taco Salad

May 21, 2010

It’s Friday and not a day to post a great taco salad recipe, but I’m going to do it anyway.  Readers might go shopping and make it tomorrow or another day when it is not necessary to abstain from meat.

Since I must now eat gluten-free meals and also have to reduce fat intake because of estrogen dominance (I’ll write more on this another time), I adapted this recipe to our situation. As I wrote in my post A Chili Way to Stay Warm, I can’t tell you exact amounts because I generally don’t measure – just go by what looks to be about right for your family.  The goal here is to have lots of veggies mixed with the meat.

Ingredients:

Lettuce of any type you like.  Mixing different types is fine.

Peppers: green, yellow, red bell peppers

A couple of stalks of chopped celery – you can include the tender leaves if you like

Frozen sweet corn

A couple of jalapeño peppers to taste

Garlic and onions to taste

A pound or more of ground beef

Gluten-free chili seasoning of any kind.  I use Williams®.

Picante sauce or salsa of any kind as long as it has no sugar or sugar substitutes and no gluten.  We like Pace®.

Shredded Mexican cheese or any shredded cheese you like.

Getting it together

Tear up the lettuce and put it into a large bowl.

Chop up however much you want of the sweet peppers, celery, onions, garlic and jalapeños and put them in a separate bowl along with however much frozen corn you want in the salad.

Cook the ground beef and drain off the fat and liquid.  While cooking throw in a few tablespoons of Williams® chili seasoning to taste.  If you want it really hot, add a little cayenne pepper.

After the meat is cooked and drained, throw in the veggies you prepared earlier and cook the mix until the veggies are just crisp/tender.  This will help keep nutrients in the veggies and give some “crunch” to the salad.

Take a salad bowl for each person and put the lettuce on the bottom.  Then put the beef/veggie mix on top of that.  Put picante sauce or salsa to taste on top of the mix (family members may want to put on the salsa themselves). Top with shredded cheese.  If you have left-over beef/veggie mix, save it and use it in another taco salad another day.

My husband really likes this and so do I.

Tags: wellness

Online Eucharistic Adoration

May 17, 2010

Thanks to Karinann over at Blessings for The Day for informing her readers about online Eucharistic adoration.  Of course we can pray to Jesus anytime.  He is always with us.  But for us Catholics, adoration is very special.  Under the appearance of bread He is present personally – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.  The King of creation wills to be with us and wills us to be with Him so that He can continue to nourish us as He did in the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday.  It is by faith we know this to be true.

So many of us are unable to get out much because of our infirmities or other aspects of our life situation.  The site, Savior.org is a wonderful way to spend time with Jesus much more often. Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is presented live via webcam from the Chapel of Divine Love in Philadelphia (the City of Brotherly Love – how apropos), PA – a source of perpetual Eucharistic adoration by the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters since 1916.

This is an answer to prayer.  I have wanted to be able to spend time in adoration and been frustrated by a number of practical factors.  When I read about fellow bloggers who have stopped for a short visit with Jesus at a chapel, I felt happy for them and sad for me.  Now I can say the Divine Office in His presence, do spiritual reading, or just pray.

Click on the picture above or on the link and it will take you to the live feed. This site has much to offer, too.  Here are some paragraphs from their “About online adoration” section:

A Powerful Channel for the Aged, Lonely and Suffering

The favorite of Our Savior, the aging, lonely and suffering are those in greatest need of His Love. The on-line access available through Savior.org, provides new hope for these individuals stemming from the electronic access they can now have to the Living Presence of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The suffering will have new opportunities to unite their pain with the passion of Our Lord, yielding merits for their souls and the souls of others. The aged, free from the distractions of their earlier years, can now spend increasing hours in the presence of Our Lord strengthening their bond to Him during the twilight of their lives. And the lonely will benefit from the abundance of love and hope poured forth from this Most Faithful of Friends.

Technology is a wonderful thing if used to do God’s will. Join us at Savior.org in ‘taking back the Internet for Christ’.

Suggestions on How to Utilize Savior.org

On-line Adoration - Be with Our Lord, centered on Him wholly and completely. Sit in silence with Him – The Sacred Doctor of human hearts. Utilize some of the many on-line devotional aides to structure a Holy Hour with Him. Or pray your own favorite adoration prayers and meditations.

Liturgy of the Hours and Other Daily Prayers - Enrich your daily recitation of the liturgy of the hours and other daily prayer routines by conducting them in the presence of a live electronic image of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Invite Our Lord into your day – In your office or at home conducting your daily activities, offer your work as a prayer to Our Lord. We offer a low-bandwidth feed for those who wish to maintain the live feed over an extended period of time, as well as a static image for those who cannot maintain a persistent connection (dialup users).

Family Rosaries - Say your family rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament on-line.

Saying Goodnight – Our children have quickly adopted a routine of wanting to ’say goodnight to Jesus’ on-line. Before they go to bed, they will ask us to bring up the Blessed Sacrament online, then they will say their evening prayers and say ‘goodnight’ to Jesus as the last act before they climb into bed.

For only $10 you can purchase flowers for the altar and everyone participating will pray for your intentions for that week. I encourage my readers to take advantage of this opportunity to spend more time with Jesus.  Prayer is an important part of wellness.

Tags: Christ, suffering