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The
Bee's Knees
The University of California, Berkeley reports overweight
people are three times more likely than their leaner
counterparts to tear the meniscus cartilage in the
knee, and obese people are 5 to 25 times more likely,
according to researchers from the University of Utah
School of Medicine. This cartilage bears much of the
load on the knee joint, and excess weight greatly
increases the stress on it. About half of the 850,000
meniscus tears that require surgery each year in the
U.S. can be attributed to extra weight, the researchers
concluded.
According to Dr.
Jeffrey Michaelson, MD who specializes in Orthopedic and Arthroscopic surgery, "With each step you take, four times your body weight goes through each knee and six times your body weight passes through each leg when you run. If you can lose 10 pounds, that's 40 fewer pounds going through each knee with every step. Imagine how tired you'd be carrying around a 40 pound sack of potatoes every day. Knee pain is your body's way of begging for mercy. Lose the weight, your joints will thank you."
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The
Perfect Father's Day Gift for Mom
(and everyone else you love)
10,000 steps a day is more achievable than you think,
especially if you wear a pedometer. According to a
new study from the University of Tennessee, wearing
a pedometer to track your daily steps will motivate
you to walk more. The study found that people who
used them walked more than people simply told to walk
30 minutes a day.
Once a year, my nieces have to wear them for school.
The nine year old, a budding type A, puts it on the
second she wakes up and goes so far as to clip it
to her PJs at night. I asked my Mom (65 years young
and the mother of 4) if she'd use one, "If I
had it and wore it, I can see where I'd walk more
because I'd be constantly challenging myself. It's
a reality check for the voice in your head that says,
‘Oh that's a mile' after two blocks or ‘I've
gone far enough'." Guess who's getting a pedometer
for Father's Day?
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Magic
Chill Pill
If you could reduce muscle tension, a mind racing
with anxious thoughts, decrease your heart rate, breathing
rate, blood pressure and unhealthy activity in your
brain for free in the privacy of your own home, would
you do it? Science shows that deep relaxation eases
anxiety. The magic chill pill? Exercises and activities
that result in progressive muscle relaxation; yoga,
pilates, meditation and tai chi. Tai
chi, an exercise so gentle it can be performed
in a chair or a bed, has been shown to improve cardiovascular
health and lung function, aid in the prevention of
artherosclerosis, help reduce spinal degeneration,
help to maintain bone density and is highly effective
for the prevention of falls in the elderly. Reading
a sumptuous book, wandering a garden path, listening
to the kind of music that sweeps you away will also
help you relax your body and refresh your soul.
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What
We're Reading Now...
My Mom and I snuck away for a three day trip to Toronto
after wrapping up a particularly challenging round
of edits on Chef
Kathleen's Cooking Thin Daybook, a 52 Week Guide to
Get Fit, Eat Right and Lose Weight. We had visions of shopping until we couldn't possibly carry another bag, eating out in every fabulous restaurant Toronto has to offer and loading up at our favorite book store, The
Cookbook Store.
My Mom caught a horrible cold on our way out the door
to leave for the trip. Sunny warm summer was confiscated
at the Michigan Canada border. It's done everything
short of snowing since we arrived. Because we neglected
to pack our parkas and umbrellas, we decided to sign
up for a bus tour which means I'm definitely older
than I thought. After 20 minutes of You guys gotta
go here eh, You guys oughta eat there eh, You guys
gotta see that, eh, we leapt off the bus mid-tour.
And walked for 9 hours in the rain. We had delicious
Chinese pastries at a little shop in Kensington, looked
at antique, hand drawn, hand colored, horticultural
drawings that would be right at home in my artless
living room if I could afford them and somehow found
our way to The Cookbook Store before it closed and
gorged on cookbooks.
Books we couldn't live without:
Rhubarb:
More Than Just Pies by Sandi Vitt &
Michael Hickman
Good
Cooking: The New Basics by Jill Dupleix
Peter
Gordon's World Kitchen by Peter Gordon
Fresh
in Summer: Cooking with Alastair Hendy by
Alastair Hendy
Bill's
Open Kitchen by Bill Granger
Plenty:
Digressions on Food by Gay Bilson
And
the two we're most excited about...
Grazing,
by Julie Van Rosendaal, an author whose "new
healthier lifestyle helped her to drop an amazing
165 pounds..."
...and
Donna Hay's hot-off-the-press The
Instant Cook
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Cinderella,
Home Alone while the Queen and the Princess are Holed
up at the Four Seasons Toronto
By
Carol Daelemans
(Edited by Kathleen Daelemans who is most definitely
not at the Four Seasons Toronto though I walked by
it and wondered what it would be like to stay there)
It is 9am. I've been awake for 3 hours now. My little
polka dotted girl can't sleep again. She's been sick
for almost two weeks now. I need a fast, miracle cure.
I don't know how those heroic people with chronically
ill or truly challenging children do it. They are
obviously better people than me. Keep me from sleep
for a week and a half and I'm ready to kill everyone.
Everyone except my poor, little, sick dumpling. She's
so pathetic. She has a little, tiny, squeaky voice
and she melts when her fever gets high. She has big
dark beautiful eyes, like two giant plump-for-picking
California prunes. When she's sick like this they
look like two burnt holes in a blanket.
I let her be naked which is her favorite way to be.
Normally we have rules about no naked people downstairs.
But now with her fever up again I can't ask her to
wear clothes. All she wants to do is lie snuggled
up in her many flannel blankets on the couch and watch
Pinocchio for the 100th time with her favorite
stuffed cat "Figaro." Poor little Pumpkin.
We are on our way to the doctor's office for the second
time this week. Her condition also warranted calling
the nurses station three more times. Her symptoms
are not life threatening and only slow her down a
little but it's all gone on too long now.
I dread taking her back to the doctors. They are so
very nice there but she will cry and want to go home.
I want to cry just thinking of holding her down while
they do that horrible strep throat test. If I had
more sleep, I might be able to handle it all better.
Frankly, I'm too tired and therefore too emotional
to have to deal with his on my own. It is times like
this that you realize just how much you value your
own mother. While I'm holding little Maya's hand I
would like my mother to be holding mine.
On any other day I could take Maya to the doctor's
office which is near my mother's house and then we
could go over to Gramma's afterward. This would help
to cure everything. Gramma would already have Maya's
favorite petit fours from the local bakery waiting
for her when we got there. She would have a big milk
cup (the nectar of the Gods as far as Maya is concerned)
and no doubt fresh raspberries as well. All fresh
fruit are Maya's favorite but she especially loves
out of season, horrifically expensive raspberries
served to her by Gramma. Gramma could spoil her and
settle her down while I went to the pharmacy to fill
whatever I hope they are going to give us to cure
her. This is how it should be.
Unfortunately, my mother has run off to Toronto with
my much older sister. This sister is also one of Maya's
favorite Aunties and she will not be here to help
me either. Don't worry about me. I'm not feeling abandoned
in my time of need. OK, well maybe a little. Grampa
would be a fine substitute in this case but he will
be at work. It will just have to be me and Maya and
the doctor.
I can't even remember now how long Maya's illness
has been going on. I know that last Thursday was the
start of her high fevers. I remember this because
it was the last day of school for Pony Girl. Maya
woke up extra early and was actually out at the bus
when it left. I had to warn the mom of the other little
one who accompanied his sister to the bus not to let
them get too close to each other lest Maya spread
her disease to Emmett. This is not really too much
of a concern since the way they interact is Emmett
tries to play with Maya's toys and Maya tries to tell
Emmett to go jump in the nearby pond.
I'd finish this story but we're late for the doctor
and Maya just walked up to me with a pair of scissors
in one hand and a clump of her curls in the other.
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