The whole fam was here & we each brought part of the meal. Chiro-sister brought the BEST wild-Alaskan-salmon. I made a green salad & Brother H made a HUGE fruit salad. Sister M came with her famous chocolate cake, yummy artichoke dip and a jar of pickles. She insisted we all eat our quota because she wanted the glass jar. Can you believe that pickles have high fructose corn syrup? Pickles?! Mum had requested "nothing" for her birthday, so we got her a computer, which Brother D set up. She didn't know she wanted one, but I think she's happy with it! I love getting together with the sibs and having the 'member when stories. 20 years from now, all the nieces & nephews will be doing the same thing. Love that! :-) H.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Day of Rest: Mum's B-day
The whole fam was here & we each brought part of the meal. Chiro-sister brought the BEST wild-Alaskan-salmon. I made a green salad & Brother H made a HUGE fruit salad. Sister M came with her famous chocolate cake, yummy artichoke dip and a jar of pickles. She insisted we all eat our quota because she wanted the glass jar. Can you believe that pickles have high fructose corn syrup? Pickles?! Mum had requested "nothing" for her birthday, so we got her a computer, which Brother D set up. She didn't know she wanted one, but I think she's happy with it! I love getting together with the sibs and having the 'member when stories. 20 years from now, all the nieces & nephews will be doing the same thing. Love that! :-) H.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Flowers for Mum
Today is Mum's official birthday celebration. She pointed out these flowers as we were driving through a neighborhood on our way to lunch, so I stopped and took a photo for her. She has created a No Gift Policy. Last year she only wanted "consumables."
Apparently she hasn't consumed everything. My sister set her up with enough tea and soap for the rest of the decade. So today I'm giving her these flowers & my appreciation & LOVE.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM! LOVE YOU!!!
And this is a repost of last year's birthday wishes:
When I was little, she used to call me Treasure and make me soft boiled eggs with "soldiers" for dipping. I watch her with my nieces and nephews now and see the love and joy and pride in her face for another generation. She is the glue that holds our family together, the Queen. No really, and with the British accent! There are so many things that I am grateful for: she taught me to sew and knit and cook for an army. We sibs cook giant pots and casseroles of food--even for two. I don't know how to make single servings. That is why there is a freezer.
More than the overt teachings, I learned by her modeling. Age is never an excuse to stop doing anything: she took up skiing at 41, karate at 46 (she's a black belt), took my brother bundgie jumping for his college graduation, and just for kicks, went to body guard school at 65. We had a lot of fun with that one. We created scenarios where she was security for Sean Connery and he's lying on the ground having been shot and she'd say, "Oh, get up. You're not hurt. Just a minor flesh wound!" While my dad adjusted us for everything ( Nooooo! Not the toggle recoil!!!), anything to do with bleeding was Mum's territory: the famous butterfly stitch. We all wore a box of bandaids at one time or other. You'll be fine. And we were.
I love her laugh and she has anchors that will set her off, like... SHEPHERDS. Oooh hoo hoo hoo! She sparked in all of us a passion for lifelong learning. She says she's not creative but she sewed our clothes when we were little, does calligraphy, refinishes furniture, and most recently built a harp from scratch. I've never particularly cared for harp music, but now that I've built one I guess I'll learn how to play it. I love how she does things JUST FOR FUN and that learning is fun.
I admire her strength and sense of adventure. She met my dad in the Yukon wilderness where she was working with Eskimos. On my 7th birthday, we left our home in California: 4 kids & another on the way, to the frozen Virginia country. We lived out of our camping trailer until the dome was built and even then, that was still like camping! I had a Marine friend in college who once said, Anyone who likes camping just hasn't done it enough. Amen. I once asked her about L.A. and the riots in the 60's and she said, "Oh, don't ask me anything about the 60's, I was busy having children." The first 4 of us were 16 months apart. Having raised only 2 children, I don't know how she did it! And that is when you really appreciate your mother: when you're faced with parenting. She gave us chores and bedtimes and limits and consequences. All those things that as a child, make a parent "mean." But really mean, the ultimate love and sacrifice. It's OK to be mad or upset or disappointed, I still love you. And you won't appreciate all this until you're a successful adult--but that's my job: to raise you to get along in this world and be able to take care of yourself. She had 6 children she calls her "Blessings" and said that "childbirth was just a bit of pressure." No big deal. As a midwife, she's delivered 2000+ babies, including most of the grandchildren at home. She went with me to my first Hypnobirthing lecture before I became certified, and the instructor said, "Childbirth is really just pressure." My mother wacked my arm and gave me the Mum-I-told-you-so Look. I am so grateful to have grown up with her as a calm alternative to the emergency pregnancy-as-a-disease mentality in our society. Babies come when they're ready, she always says. A lesson in patience, in trusting Nature, in trusting in your body's innate intelligence.
When people see us together, they say they can tell I'm her daughter because we look exactly alike. The funny thing is: we don't. I am my father's daughter: same eyes, bone structure, sense of humour. However, I have her smile and I like to think, her cheerful optimism. Once we were out to breakfast with a family friend, Melody. I said, "Don't they have any proper butter?" as I'm giving an Ick Face toward the fake stuff. Melody laughed and said, "You sound just like your mother!" And so I do. We appreciate proper things: butter, napkins, cleaning supplies, and anything of Quality. Back in the '80's, it was all the rage to wear men's paisley pajama's with bangles and crucifixes. I hope you don't tell people who you are, she said as she saw me going out into the world in that get-up. I walked out onto the front porch and yelled: "Hey everyone! I'm Anne Holliday's daughter!" THANK YOU, MUM. My heart SMILES whenever I think of you. And I can't express how much I LOVE YOU I APPRECIATE YOU and how PROUD I AM to be your daughter. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :-) BNO
Friday, August 8, 2008
08-08-08
I'm sure today's date is an excuse for parties in offices around the country. And it IS a special date because it's Dan's birthday. Not Dr. Dan Murphy, this week's theme, but the boy for whom I was a nanny. [See? I can do the grammER thing with the best of them].
This was a visit a few years ago after Dan's college graduation. 
See that impish grin on his face? He tickled me.
Happy B-day, sweetie. LOVE you!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Dr. Dan Murphy's Airport Game
Dan looks at butt to belly ratios. He says that your belly should be 80% the size of your butt. If your belly is bigger than your butt, it means you have inflammation and are at risk for any number of diseases: heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer's, cancer, etc. Foods that are high on the glycemic index increase belly fat. So it's best to avoid those. Here's an article in support of limiting grain consumption by Dr. Mercola. He's a lot like Dan Murphy; siting more references than the average person has time to read. ;-) This is my intro into What DO you eat? There were docs joking that they knew Dan wasn't sneaking twinkies behind the organic apple curtain. He really does eat this way.
Eat a salad everyday. Grand Reserve cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar. He kept repeating "Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar." He told a v. cute story about a classmate of his daughter's staying over for dinner. She said, "I don't do salad." He said something like, "This is what we eat. Try it." And then he said, "Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar. She asked my daughter for a bottle for her birthday. It was her favourite gift at the party. Imagine an eleven-year-old girl getting excited about . . . Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar."
Dan says we should be eating 2 lbs. of fruits & veggies everyday. TWO pounds! Everyday! 25% fruits (rich in anti-oxidents), 75% veggies. So: eat a salad everyday. BTW, tomatoes are high in lycopene (excellent for prostate health) but watermelons have even more.
Wild Alaskan salmon. High in Omega 3 fatty acids (separate post later). He didn't say this, but in a pinch you can get canned. I used to feed it to Barkley & Remi.
Protein: Nuts~walnuts, almonds, etc. organic (but not "corned up" meat. He'll do grass fed beef or wild game). Omega 3 eggs. He says that you should have a 2:1 protein to carb ratio in your meals, and that you need at least 20 grams at breakfast. He does a smoothie every a.m. for breakfast, but I'll go into that in another post. Mmmm. . . smooooothie . . .
Guidelines for eating:
1) No food after dinner
2) 3 meals a day
3) No snacks
4) Eat s-l-o-w-l-y
5)Every meal should have protein
I think I pretty much do this--except for the snack thing. But a snack for me is an apple or Total Green. It's not like I'm wolfing down oreos or what Dan calls "cancer sticks" (french fries). So there you go. I think it's easy to eat this way once you get rid of food addictions & allergies (a separate post).
Eat a salad everyday. Grand Reserve cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar. He kept repeating "Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar." He told a v. cute story about a classmate of his daughter's staying over for dinner. She said, "I don't do salad." He said something like, "This is what we eat. Try it." And then he said, "Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar. She asked my daughter for a bottle for her birthday. It was her favourite gift at the party. Imagine an eleven-year-old girl getting excited about . . . Grand Reserve, cherrywood-aged, balsamic vinegar."
Dan says we should be eating 2 lbs. of fruits & veggies everyday. TWO pounds! Everyday! 25% fruits (rich in anti-oxidents), 75% veggies. So: eat a salad everyday. BTW, tomatoes are high in lycopene (excellent for prostate health) but watermelons have even more.
Wild Alaskan salmon. High in Omega 3 fatty acids (separate post later). He didn't say this, but in a pinch you can get canned. I used to feed it to Barkley & Remi.
Protein: Nuts~walnuts, almonds, etc. organic (but not "corned up" meat. He'll do grass fed beef or wild game). Omega 3 eggs. He says that you should have a 2:1 protein to carb ratio in your meals, and that you need at least 20 grams at breakfast. He does a smoothie every a.m. for breakfast, but I'll go into that in another post. Mmmm. . . smooooothie . . .
Guidelines for eating:
1) No food after dinner
2) 3 meals a day
3) No snacks
4) Eat s-l-o-w-l-y
5)Every meal should have protein
I think I pretty much do this--except for the snack thing. But a snack for me is an apple or Total Green. It's not like I'm wolfing down oreos or what Dan calls "cancer sticks" (french fries). So there you go. I think it's easy to eat this way once you get rid of food addictions & allergies (a separate post).
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
But What CAN I Eat???
Yesterday's post reviewed food additives. Today is about food. There are a few books Dan Murphy recommends:
Milk: The Deadly Poison
The Paleo Diet
Health & Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life
The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat & Ruins Your Health
There are a few foods that Dr. Murphy says we should eliminate:
*Soy~ except tofu is OK. Here are some articles from Dr. Mercola about the health risks of soy.
*Dairy
*Anything refined~ breads, pastas, white-anything including rice
*Peanut butter products~ peanuts grow a mold that is an aflotoxin (corn is #2). Peanuts are OK to eat from their shell if they look blemish-free, but those aren't the ones that go into peanut butter.
*Anything genetically modified. Unless it says "organic," it's most likely a GMO-- especially if it it's corn or soy.
*Farm-raised Salmon--toxic!!! Get WILD.
*Factory farmed meat. Get organic. They feed chickens arsenic as an appetite enhancer. Not to mention the drugs, hormones, pesticides in their food, and the inhumane living conditions for the animals. (Read the classic Diet for A New America for the whole story).
*Fruit juice (too much sugar)
Limit:
*Grains~ especially wheat. One in 132 people have a gluten intolerance/allergy (from wheat, rye, barley a.k.a. Celiac's Disease) and don't know it. It's not the best choice for food, anyway. Dan says that when we look at our ancestors, they didn't eat the concentrated amounts of grains that we do in our modern society.
*High glycemic index foods, like . . . potatoes. NOOOOOOO!!!! One of my faves. :-(
Tomorrow, I'll answer the question: So what DO you eat????
Milk: The Deadly Poison
The Paleo Diet
Health & Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life
The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat & Ruins Your Health
There are a few foods that Dr. Murphy says we should eliminate:
*Soy~ except tofu is OK. Here are some articles from Dr. Mercola about the health risks of soy.
*Dairy
*Anything refined~ breads, pastas, white-anything including rice
*Peanut butter products~ peanuts grow a mold that is an aflotoxin (corn is #2). Peanuts are OK to eat from their shell if they look blemish-free, but those aren't the ones that go into peanut butter.
*Anything genetically modified. Unless it says "organic," it's most likely a GMO-- especially if it it's corn or soy.
*Farm-raised Salmon--toxic!!! Get WILD.
*Factory farmed meat. Get organic. They feed chickens arsenic as an appetite enhancer. Not to mention the drugs, hormones, pesticides in their food, and the inhumane living conditions for the animals. (Read the classic Diet for A New America for the whole story).
*Fruit juice (too much sugar)
Limit:
*Grains~ especially wheat. One in 132 people have a gluten intolerance/allergy (from wheat, rye, barley a.k.a. Celiac's Disease) and don't know it. It's not the best choice for food, anyway. Dan says that when we look at our ancestors, they didn't eat the concentrated amounts of grains that we do in our modern society.
*High glycemic index foods, like . . . potatoes. NOOOOOOO!!!! One of my faves. :-(
Tomorrow, I'll answer the question: So what DO you eat????
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Chemicals We Eat
We have become a nation that eats non-food. It comes in pretty packaging that gluts up our landfills and we are left tired, sick, fat and addicted. Happy Tuesday! This is Part 2 in my report of Dan Murphy's seminar & today is about food additives.
Many experts agree that the disease process begins with inflammation in the body. If you are in chronic pain, you have inflammation. If you eat food additives, you have inflammation. It's the precurser to Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, asthma--fill-in-the-blank. The following food additives promote inflammation:
Glutamates~ MSG: not just for Chinese food. It's in all fast food, processed foods, restaurants and has many names. It's what makes this food taste good. You can go to this site for more information on its effects.
Aspartame~ toxic! Gulf War Syndrome is now being linked to soldiers having drunk previously heated up diet sodas. Aspartame is even more dangerous when warmed up. Dan recommends: Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America.
Sucralose~ 70% of people who eat it have symptoms of cramps/bloating, mood swings, brain fog, nausea, headaches, joint pain, depression & dizziness. Yikes! Recommended book: Splenda: Is It Safe Or Not? by Janet Starr Hull, Ph.D.
High Fructose Corn Syrup~ another fat-enhancing, addictive substance that has found its way into the food trough thanks to politics. [Interesting side note: if you go to Mexican food markets, you can still get Coke made with sugar (I am not advocating it, I'm just saying). The reason is that Hispanics as a group have something in their biochemical make-up that doesn't like HFCS.] Dan recommends Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World for more info.
Anything that says "Natural" prolly isn't. Natural flavoring could be a real fruit--most likely it's a glutamate. You have to call that 800 number and ask. The company might say it's a "proprietary secret" to which you can say you are allergic to MSG, etc. and make sure that it's not in there. Natural coloring is from ground up insects, specifically the cock roach family. Eeeewwwww! If it says "carmine," that's code for cockroach. Fruit flavored punch, anyone?
Sugar Is there anyone out there who still thinks sugar is good for you??? Really? BTW, fruit juice, even 100%, is sugar.
Transfats anything partially hydrogenated. Margarine was originally used in machine shops as axle grease. Crisco threw in some coloring & flavoring & voila! It became a food product. It is not.
What does all this mean? It means stop drinking soda. NOW. Drink water. Stop eating fast food. Stop eating processed food. Dan pointed out that the cheaper the food, the more additives there are in it to make it taste good. The cheaper the food, the fatter you get.
For more information on any of these substances, go to Mercola and google. You'll get a wealth of information about why they are toxic to your body. He also has a really great newsletter. While you're there, you can also look up Bruce Lipton. Back tomorrow with the *foods* that are non-foods. Yay!
Many experts agree that the disease process begins with inflammation in the body. If you are in chronic pain, you have inflammation. If you eat food additives, you have inflammation. It's the precurser to Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, asthma--fill-in-the-blank. The following food additives promote inflammation:
Glutamates~ MSG: not just for Chinese food. It's in all fast food, processed foods, restaurants and has many names. It's what makes this food taste good. You can go to this site for more information on its effects.
Aspartame~ toxic! Gulf War Syndrome is now being linked to soldiers having drunk previously heated up diet sodas. Aspartame is even more dangerous when warmed up. Dan recommends: Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America.
Sucralose~ 70% of people who eat it have symptoms of cramps/bloating, mood swings, brain fog, nausea, headaches, joint pain, depression & dizziness. Yikes! Recommended book: Splenda: Is It Safe Or Not? by Janet Starr Hull, Ph.D.
High Fructose Corn Syrup~ another fat-enhancing, addictive substance that has found its way into the food trough thanks to politics. [Interesting side note: if you go to Mexican food markets, you can still get Coke made with sugar (I am not advocating it, I'm just saying). The reason is that Hispanics as a group have something in their biochemical make-up that doesn't like HFCS.] Dan recommends Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World for more info.
Anything that says "Natural" prolly isn't. Natural flavoring could be a real fruit--most likely it's a glutamate. You have to call that 800 number and ask. The company might say it's a "proprietary secret" to which you can say you are allergic to MSG, etc. and make sure that it's not in there. Natural coloring is from ground up insects, specifically the cock roach family. Eeeewwwww! If it says "carmine," that's code for cockroach. Fruit flavored punch, anyone?
Sugar Is there anyone out there who still thinks sugar is good for you??? Really? BTW, fruit juice, even 100%, is sugar.
Transfats anything partially hydrogenated. Margarine was originally used in machine shops as axle grease. Crisco threw in some coloring & flavoring & voila! It became a food product. It is not.
What does all this mean? It means stop drinking soda. NOW. Drink water. Stop eating fast food. Stop eating processed food. Dan pointed out that the cheaper the food, the more additives there are in it to make it taste good. The cheaper the food, the fatter you get.
For more information on any of these substances, go to Mercola and google. You'll get a wealth of information about why they are toxic to your body. He also has a really great newsletter. While you're there, you can also look up Bruce Lipton. Back tomorrow with the *foods* that are non-foods. Yay!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Mighty Mitochondria
I'm back from blogging vacation and do I have many blog-worthy tales-to-tell! I'm starting with Dan Murphy, tho, because this past weekend seminar was my most recent adventure. WOW! He makes me want to be a doctor. I think I'll take a topic a day for the week or rest-of-the-month because otherwise this post would be way long. So here goes:
MITOCHONDRIA
Essentially, the mitochondria of your cells are the factories that produce energy. I know a little about cells from massage school and of course, Bruce Lipton. Here's what I missed: you don't just have a single mitochondria in your cell. You can have MANY. Not only that, you can create more. What does this mean in practical terms? It means more energy. So this is the part where those who know me are going to laugh: one of the easiest ways to create more mitochondria is to exercise. Regularly. That's why when you exercise, you get more energy even tho you're expending energy. [The only caveat to that is that if you get wiped out from exercising or have chronic fatigue, then you have to get evaluated for adrenal exhaustion.] The next part of the equation is diet. Which is tomorrow's topic. What Dan says will blow your mind. Think you know what's healthy? Stay tuned....in the meantime, I'm going for a walk.
MITOCHONDRIA
Essentially, the mitochondria of your cells are the factories that produce energy. I know a little about cells from massage school and of course, Bruce Lipton. Here's what I missed: you don't just have a single mitochondria in your cell. You can have MANY. Not only that, you can create more. What does this mean in practical terms? It means more energy. So this is the part where those who know me are going to laugh: one of the easiest ways to create more mitochondria is to exercise. Regularly. That's why when you exercise, you get more energy even tho you're expending energy. [The only caveat to that is that if you get wiped out from exercising or have chronic fatigue, then you have to get evaluated for adrenal exhaustion.] The next part of the equation is diet. Which is tomorrow's topic. What Dan says will blow your mind. Think you know what's healthy? Stay tuned....in the meantime, I'm going for a walk.
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