Crank It Up!

Great-grandmother may have lived in the age of crank-started cars.

You may live in the age of (biodegradable) crank-powered cell phones.

The future is now: http://www.core77.com/competitions/GreenerGadgets/projects/4416/

Think Yourself Thin(ner)

The Daily Mail reports that you can "think yourself thinner."

It says researchers have found "actively remembering your last meal suppresses appetite and reduces the desire to snack on junk food." The paper also says the study found concentrating on food while eating makes you less likely to get hungry later on.

For more, click: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/105560.php

You Name It and Exercise Helps It

I love Tuesdays because the New York Times runs its excellent Science section.

In Jane Brody's column in today's Personal Health column, for example, she quotes Frank Hu, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, as saying: "The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise.”

Brody writes exercise can lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia, osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticulitis, falls, erectile dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease and 12 kinds of cancer. It can also be beneficial if you already have one of those conditions, or ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure or osteoarthritis.

But how can you exercise if you’re always tired or in pain or have trouble breathing?

Here are a few of the answers:

• Diabetes: Exercise improves glucose tolerance so less medication is needed to control blood sugar, reducing the risk of life-threatening complications.
• Joint and neuromuscular disorders: Exercise that increases strength and aerobic capacity can reduce pain, depression and anxiety and improve function, balance and quality of life.
• Rheumatoid arthritis: Exercise that builds gradually and protects inflamed joints can diminish pain, fatigue, morning stiffness, depression and anxiety, improve strength, walking speed and activity.
• Multiple Sclerosis: Water exercises are particularly helpful as they avoid overheating.
• Parkinson’s Disease: Resistance training and aerobic exercise can increase the ability to function independently and improve balance, stride length, walking speed and mood.
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; Resistance training, along with aerobic exercise, is especially helpful as it counters the loss of muscle mass and strength from lack of oxygen.

For the complete article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/health/29brod.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

Kiss Off

Remember when great-grandma would "kiss it and make it better"?

Turns out she was on to something: Human saliva contains a painkiller up to six times more powerful than morphine that may also be an anti-depressant.

I feel better already!

Oh, Poo

Do you season your toothbrush with toilet water? You might be, without even knowing it.

Every time you flush, particles from the toilet - water and ... other stuff - blow as far as a 20 feet from the toilet. There is a great-grandmother-worthy sensible solution, though: Flush with the toilet lid down.

To really grasp the concept, though, I recommend this (semi-serious) video:

Anxious? Here's Relief That's Good for You

Great-grandmother didn't take "mother's little helpers" like BuSpar, Ativan, Valium, and Xanax for her difficult times. Maybe she would have if they'd been available, but there are lots of advantages to getting at the cause of anxiety instead of just treating the symptoms.

Below are excerpts from an article on the subject. I especially recommend physical activity and EFT. For the full article, click: http://www.womentowomen.com/depressionanxietyandmood/anxiety.aspx.

Physical activity is the single best anxiety medication I know. It’s just essential to hormonal balance. In one study, people who engaged in 30–60 minutes of moderate exercise every day reported less anxiety than a similar group on anti-anxiety meds who did not exercise.

Get enough sunlight and fresh air. Fifteen minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) in the early morning and late afternoon stimulates the production of vitamin D in your body.

Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep is paramount to brain health. Women should get 7–9 hours a night. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid all caffeine (including chocolate and green tea) and set a bedtime for yourself that you stick to. Practice a calming technique like meditation or deep breathing before bed.

If you can afford it, find a counselor to talk to about your emotional experience. Ask for a referral from a doctor, family member or friend. The local Y, religious institution, or grief counseling center may have a list of therapists they can offer. Interview several to make sure you find someone you really like and trust.

Try using the Emotional Freedom Techniques, widely known as EFT.... I like it because unlike conventional relaxation methods, EFT gets at the root causes of anxiety rather than masking them.

Investigate integrative manual therapy (IMT). Using gentle applied pressure, IMT opens up blocked energy channels to help the body do what it does best — heal itself. Anxiety is in a sense blocked energy, and bodywork helps redirect that energy constructively.

If you are paralyzed by catastrophic thoughts and debilitating physical symptoms of anxiety, talk to your healthcare professional about the usefulness of short-term medication. If your doctor does not offer additional support techniques to help you in the long term, look around for an alternative or integrative medical practitioner. Long-term use of anti-anxiety medication will not cure you.

Handy Craft

Maybe it's because I like thinking I'm more than a cog in America's retail machine, but I love having unique things - the scarf I crocheted myself, the necklace a friend made for me, even the long skirt I bought at a chain store but then got hemmed to be a knee-length skirt. (It's something!)

I also like to buy local. Why enrich some factory owner in China when I can enrich an individual craftsman in my community or, at least, my country?

Enter Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/.

I think my great-grandmothers would have adored this handmade item online marketplace (and not just because each of my great-grandmothers was, herself, excellent at needlework). Among the ways potential buyers Etsy can search or sort are by the type of craft, the area where the craftperson lives, the colors in the craft or traits of the intended recipient. Sometimes, to get inspired for my own projects, I hit "refresh" to see the updates (every 15 seconds!) to the "recently listed items" part of the site.

I don't know much about listing through the service but it looks like it is free to set up a virtual storefront, 20 cents an item to list and a 3.5 percent commission on sales. Even a frugal great-grandma could probably handle those prices!

Sound off

Ah, spring is upon us! Colorful flowers, frolicking bunnies, noisy leaf-blowers.

Arrrrrrgh.

Yes, I am a card-carrying leaf-blower hater. (Well, I would carry a card if someone issued them. I am considering founding a leaf blower-hating activist group. Perhaps WHALE? We Hate All Leaf-blower Elements.)

Our great-grandmothers (well, more likely our great-grandfathers, but that’s not the name of this blog) would have done this exact task – leaf gathering – via a method that is nearly silent, requires no gasoline and is more efficient. Namely, a rake for leaves in the yard or a broom for leaves in the street.

If quietness, lack of pollution and a better end result aren’t enough for you, there are even more reasons not to use the leaf-blower, courtesy of U.S. News and World Report:

Leaf blowers throw mold, allergens and dust particles into the air at high velocities, potentially worsening health problems like asthma and lung irritation.

Using the leaf blower for an hour uses about 140 calories. In the same amount of time, raking can burn about 325 calories.

The initial investment in a rake ($25) is one-twentieth of the cost of buying a leaf-blower ($500). Not to mention the leaf-blower’s later need for gasoline or electricity.

So, if you use a leaf-blower, please stop. If you know someone who uses a leaf-blower, please show that person this blog or the U.S. News and World Report article. Together, we can be a mighty WHALE.

Boo!

Is phantom energy haunting your electric bill?

Phantom energy - also called phantom load, standby power or vampire power – is the electricity consumed by a device when it is turned off.

That’s right – when it’s turned off. Our great-grandmothers may have used radios that took time to “warm up,” but that was because the radio wasn’t in constant “ready” mode. Today’s televisions and computer monitors pull power when plugged into the wall, as does anything with a digital clock display, such as the microwave, DVD player and coffee maker. Anything with a thicker-than-usual plug, such as a charger for a cellphone, laptop, power tool or hand-held vacuum, is among the worst offenders.

Luckily, this is a problem even great-grandma could have solved pretty intuitively – unplug the offending appliance when you’re not using it. It wasn’t hard for me to get used to unplugging my cellphone charger when I’m not actually charging my phone. It’s been a bit tougher to remember to plug and unplug the TV, but it’s worth the improvement to my electric bill. (Some people buy power strips they can switch off to disable the appliance’s power-draining capability but I’m too cheap to do that.)

A few other facts:

• By some estimates, cutting phantom energy can trim an annual electric bill by $200.


• There is a way to test your phantom energy without buying a fancy kit or meter some websites want to sell.


• According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services: “A typical home has as many as 12 to 15 appliances on standby power that are consuming electricity 24 hours a day, or about 5 percent of the average total electric bill,” and: “The total phantom load of the United States could power the countries of Greece, Peru, and Vietnam combined.”

Phantom energy -- pretty scary stuff, eh?

Happy, Happy Chocolate Joy

More happy justification for chocolate lovers: Blood pressure responds favorably to cocoa, but not tea.

Authors of the new study say both products are rich in polyphenols, but study findings suggest phenols in cocoa may be more active than those in tea.

The study appears in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Products rich in cocoa may be considered part of a blood pressure lowering diet, provided that the total energy intake does not increase," lead investigator for the study, Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, from the University Hospital of Cologne in Cologne, Germany, told heartwire. "I believe that cocoa is healthier than other sugar confectionary or high-fat dairy products."

Great-Grandmother's Shopping List reader Red is sure to rejoice!

Great-Grandmother to Everyone

What is your "Earth Day resolution"?

One (Bad) Word: Plastics

Bisphenol A. There’s a word great-grandma didn’t know. Turns out bisphenol A (BPA) is a dangerous, hormone-disrupting chemical that can leak out of plastics into food or beverages.

BPA is in the plastic of baby bottles (and sippy cups), grown-up water bottles, can liners and lots of other products we all use. Government studies show 95% of us have it in our blood. If you want to learn more, there are plenty of websites offering facts and information.

The good news is alternatives are coming to market. Life Without Plastic, for example, has an assortment of non-plastic non-breakables for both children and adults.

Personally, I love my Pyrex (pictured). I use the glass tubs to store most leftovers. There are plastic caps to put on when I take the tubs someplace (like when I take lunch to work), but at least the food doesn’t come into contact with the plastic.

I should – and plan – to do better, though. My great-grandmother used to store food in glass jars with screw-tops. Lots of jams and jellies still come in glass jars – and any solution that involves eating more strawberry or grape jelly sounds great to me!

Power Play

Solar power, wind power, ocean wave energy -- all forms of renewable energy. How about treadmill power?

I co-owned a gym and I often wished we could harness the power folks create when they run or walk on treadmills and other cardiovascular equipment. I've been mumbling about this for years - and now it's happening! Here's an excerpt from the New York Times' Sunday Magazine, April 21, 2008; the "green issue" -

SWEAT EQUITY: Many people go to the gym to become more powerful. But at California Fitness in Hong Kong, an Asian-based subsidiary of 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, exercisers are actually powering the gym. The program, “Powered by YOU,” was conceived by Doug Woodring, a Wharton grad, and Lucien Gambarota, a French inventor, who run an alternative-energy company in Hong Kong. When a member begins to exercise, the machine she uses captures the energy she creates as electricity (which would otherwise be lost as heat) and uses it to run a light above the machine. Gambarota says that a person can produce 50 watts of electricity per hour working out at a moderate pace. “If you spend just an hour per day on a machine annually, you could generate 18.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity,” he says. That’s the equivalent of powering a three-bedroom home in New Jersey for 14 hours. Since the program made its debut last year, 13 exercise machines have been hooked up; the chain plans to extend the project to its 24 other clubs throughout Asia. ABBY ELLIN

For more "green" go here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20Live-a-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gym+electricity&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Functional Foods

Newswise — Foods that may provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition, identified as functional foods, are becoming a key part of everyday life, according to a new article appearing in Food Technology, a publication of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Here's a few highlights; for the complete article click on the link below:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/539944/?sc=mwhn

New superfoods include:
• Blood Oranges
• Goji Berries (pictured above)
• Seabuckthorn
• Mangosteens
• Garbanzo Beans
• Specialty Mushrooms

Studies show that 69 percent of Americans are incorporating foods into a preventative lifestyle, while 27 percent are utilizing food as a treatment to manage a preexisting health condition. One-third of shoppers (36 percent) are trying to reduce the risk of developing a health condition, follow a doctor’s advice (30 percent) or manage/treat a specific condition on their own (25 percent), according to the Food Marketing Institute data.

Many consumers are taking a simpler, more-natural approach to the foods they eat, looking for foods with only a few ingredients and as fresh and close to the farm as time and budget will allow. Hormones topped the list of ingredients that consumers were least comfortable consuming.

Organic food and beverages sales grew 13 percent in 2007 and are expected to continue at double-digit growth through 2008. Consumers believe local products are fresher, have fewer pesticides, and in general are of higher quality.

We think great-grandma would agree.

Tick-Tock Tummy

Have you ever noticed that some people, if you ask them if they are hungry, will look at their watches? "It's 11:30 and lunch isn't until noon," they'll say, bellies grumbling. Or, "It's 4 o'clock - too soon for dinner."

Time wasn't the question, hunger was. And, the last time I checked, hunger was a feeling, not an item on a schedule.

I know many of us have to eat by the clock when we're at work, but regimenting our hunger on the weekends is just sad. After all, it wasn't until Nov. 18, 1883 that time, as we know it, in the United States even existed. That was the date city authorities reset their clocks to mesh with railroad schedules. Before then, there were more than 300 U.S. time zones. If it was "too early" for lunch in one town, just go to the next one.

So why do we feel the need, today, to schedule things our great-grandmothers would just do by instinct, such as eating when she was hungry?

Cornucopia of Craziness

Red's comment about chocolate got me thinking about the vindication of chocolate. Remember when chocolate was nothing but a guilty pleasure? Doctors said it gave you acne and made you fat. Now, the scientific word is, since chocolate has flavonoids, eating it in moderation can help prevent heart disease and cancer. Cool!

My guilty pleasure used to be potatoes. (Yes, I know I'm boring.) Doctors said white potatoes were too starchy/sugary and could help lead to diabetes. Well, "ha!" on them because current research shows potatoes have twice as much potassium and three times as much vitamin C as a banana. Potatoes also give you more than 20% of your recommended daily allowance of iron and magnesium.

The point here is, a food Red or I might have felt we should deprive ourselves of due to "the latest science" is, thanks to the latest, latest science, found to be good stuff. Our great-grandmothers didn't have to listen to "science" to tell them what to eat - they ate what made sense to them. With the recent medical reversals on not only chocolate and potatoes, but also on red wine, coffee, eggs and so many more grocery items, do you also have a food or drink that has been "vindicated"?

Great-Grandmomma's (Don't) Got a Brand New Bag

Maybe your great-grandmother was like mine - toting a battered bag with her everywhere she went. (This was in addition to a handbag so hard it could be considered a deadly weapon.) Sometimes, the battered bag would produce food she cooked at home and brought for family. Sometimes, the battered bag would receive food she (or someone else) didn't finish at a restaurant. Sometimes, the battered bag would just be there, at the ready.

I've got my own bag, now. But it's not battered -- it's from Target and it folds into about the size of two makeup compacts. (It is just like the one pictured - shown in both folded-out and folded-up versions.) It cost me 99 cents. But it may help me save the planet.

Salon.com says plastic bags are killing us. The online newspaper says Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags every year - equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil. The bags are banned in some parts of Canada and folks there don't miss them.

If you're not on the no-bag bandwagon yet, climb on! You can get re-usable bags for 99 cents from most major grocery stores - Publix, Whole Foods, Kroger, Harris Teeter. Some even give a discount if you bring your own bags (Whole Foods) or charge you for taking a plastic or paper bag (Earth Fare). Trader Joe's enters you into a contest for free stuff.

As a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) fanatic, I have a few recommendations for newbies:

1. Get at least one bag that folds, zips or snaps small enough to carry in your purse. Others that may be larger, like for major grocery runs, can stay in your trunk, but you'll be amazed at how often you'll pull the little one out of your purse. (That trip to the mall you're going on just to help your friend find something? Yeah, you'll probably end up buying something. Better BYOB.)
2. For grocery shopping, be sure to get a bag that folds out to have a flat bottom. Otherwise your stuff will bulge and make the bag more difficult to carry. (Overall, the cloth bags are so much easier to carry than plastic, you'll marvel you didn't make the switch before!)
3. You may think you'll miss having plastic bags for trash liners or dog poopie pickups. You won't. Just dump your trash into a single, larger garbage bag, keeping the plastic bag liners in the smaller garbage cans. For dog poopies, newspaper plastic bags work fine and many parks and other areas have small bags for you, anyway.
4. Tell the salesperson you have your own bag as soon as he or she begins to ring you up. I've had salespeople grab a plastic bag quickly and, when I explain I have my own, the person will just throw the unused plastic bag in the trash. Argh!

Within the last few months, I've noticed more and more people bringing their own bags. It's not an oddity anymore, it's a simple thing we can all do to help curb pollution - and to help honor our great-grandmothers and their battered bags.

Market(ing) Madness

If you offered my great-grandmother some candy, she'd probably take some. She'd probably enjoy it, too. But if you offered her more, she'd say something along the lines of: "Why? I already know what it tastes like."

My great-grandmother was wise enough not to confuse a good taste for a good time. These days, marketers try to use memories - especially those precious, gauzy memories of childhood - to snooker us into eating things like candy. For example, this commercial for Oreo 100 Calorie Packs:
.

Now, I'm lucky enough to take after my great-grandmother in that I'm not a "comfort food" person. But these commercials (especially the new one, which I can't find yet online, showing the four women doing the "Miss Mary Mack" handclapping game in the elevator) make me both smile and grimace. Childhood was fun. But it was much more than candy.

Am I taking these commercials too seriously? What do you think?

Walking the Walk

Can you envision your great-grandmother waiting in line to use the eliptical at the gym? Can you picture her getting all tangled up in the ski machine? How about using the stepper?

When our great-grandmothers wanted to get their hearts pumping, they probably went for a walk -- or a run, if they were very athletic. Some of us are lucky enough to live near beautiful places to walk. (The picture at right is from a walk I am fortunate enough to be able to take in my neighborhood.) Others of us, due to timing or safety issues, have to use the treadmill.

The important thing is the joy in walking -- an old-fashioned, time-tested exercise. Among the benefits the Mayo clinic lists are weight loss, reduced risk of heart attack, better diabetes management and lower stress levels. Not bad for something that can cost as little as the price of a decent pair of athletic socks and walking shoes!

What was the best walk you've ever taken or the best walking buddy (either in person or over the cell phone) you've ever had?

Lazy Do-Goodery

Ever want to do something good and giving and wonderful that increases your intelligence without requiring you to do anything besides click your computer mouse around?

Viola! http://www.freerice.com/

(The Web site is a vocabulary test that donates grains of rice for poor people for each word you get right. How splendiferous! Get your vocab level as high as possible to make your great-grandmother proud.)

Peek-At-You!

Okay, so I peek into the shopping cart of the people ahead and behind me at the supermarket. Here’s what I saw yesterday in the cart of a tired-looking mamma with two toddlers:

Soda (dark and bubbly)
Bread (white and squishy)
Chopped meat (wet and red)
Cooked chicken
Disposable diapers
Apple sauce
Frozen yoghurt
Crackers (yellow and round)
Frozen peas
Eggs
Pancake mix
Instant coffee
Band-Aids (two toddlers!)
Tangerines
Chocolate kisses
Laundry detergent
Cheerios
Paper towels
Toilet paper
Wipes

Then I called my own mama, who is a grandmother several times over, to ask her what her mother bought on a typical trip to the grocery store. Of course, living on a farm in Germany, they ate off the land and didn’t go into town often to buy food. Here's what my Mutti (German for mom) had to say about what her mother bought:

"1/4 lb of coffee
salt
vinegar
sugar
raisins
cacao powder
rice
pepper
3 herrings (salted)
soap and soap powder

"We did not buy meat, fruit, vegetables, milk, sour cream, butter or cheese on a regular basis, only occasionally when for some reason, we did not produce them on a farm. Because we also had a bakery, we did not buy any baked goods in stores. Once in a while - and these were great treats, we might buy a few bananas and/or oranges."

Spice it up, Herb!

New Reasons to Season: Spices and Herbs are Surprisingly Rich in Antioxidants, on Par With Many Fruits and Vegetables

Seven 'Super Spices' Deliver Big on Both Flavor and Function

HUNT VALLEY, Md., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- When you hear the word "antioxidants" mentioned, what foods immediately come to mind? Blueberries? Pomegranates? How about cinnamon?

That's right, when it comes to antioxidant prowess, just one teaspoon of cinnamon vies for top billing along with a half cup of blueberries and one cup of pomegranate juice. Surprising to some, spices and herbs are extremely rich in antioxidants -- with levels comparable to many fruits and vegetables, including today's popular "super foods."

For more on this, see: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/04-14-2008/0004791789&EDATE=MON+Apr+14+2008,+08:00+AM2008/0004791789&EDATE=MON+Apr+14+2008,+08:00+AM

My thumb is nowhere near green, yet I love growing herbs and spices. If I can do it, you certainly can. Try your kitchen windowsill -- the smell of growing mint or rosemary will make you smile. Basil is easy, mint is a weed, oregano is forgiving and parsley doesn't hate me.

Here's some photos of my herbs. Three points each if you can identify them:

(Okay, that's not an herb, that's my dog, Roxie.)

Send your herb-acious photos (and your dogs and cats) and any experience, tricks, raves or woes about growing herbs.

H2-Uh-Oh

How did your great-grandmother drink her water? Probably not out of a plastic bottle.

Not only did making all that plastic cost the U.S. 17 million barrels of oil and generate more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2006, it also cost consumers as much as $10 per gallon compared to less than a penny per gallon for tap water.

Oh, and bottled water isn't even monitored by the government the way tap water is.

Check out http://www.tappening.com/ for more information and updates about the tap water movement.

Why this blog is important

“The evidence is mounting; if you want to stay healthy and save the planet - eat less, eat more plants and eat only food that your great-grandmother would recognise if she were alive today.” - Sir Muir Gray, chief knowledge officer of Great Britain's National Health Service.

Sir Muir Gray's quote encapsulates why we are starting this blog -- to try to keep ourselves, others and the planet healthy.

Our goals are to share healthy, fun ideas on everything from food to crafts to exercise to the three eco-Rs (reduce, re-use, recycle). We have some thoughts, but are eager to hear from all of you blog readers out there. Together, hopefully, we can make a positive difference. Let's make our great-grandmothers proud!