A CRUNCHY review: Going Against the Grain by Melissa Smith

It's no secret, I've been a cavewoman for a while now (Not well, mind you...but I've been trying!) I've been following a paleo/primal plan and trying to cut out certain food groups from my diet. One of those food groups is grains and for a while I wasn't sure I understood exactly WHY the paleo community frowned on them so completely (even in their whole sprouted form).

Then I found this book, Going Against The Grain by Melissa Smith. Boy, was this a great find. Melissa, a registered dietician, goes into great but UNDERSTANDABLE details about grains, their effects on our body, blood sugar, joins, immune system and so on, and gives fantastic alternataives to use instead. I loved how easy she made it all to understand, because even though I'm a nurse and consider myself a fairly smart person...even I struggle with nutrition and all the confusion surrounding it. (Low carb? Low fat? Low bacon?) If, like me, you are looking to go for a more "primal" diet, definately check this book out! No, it's not paleo specific but the information in there is important!

Yoga for the obese:Does it exist?

I love Yoga. Okay...I love the IDEA of yoga. But you see, I'm a short, round, unflexible and unbalanced woman who weighs...well ahem. (You didn't really think I'd share that did you?!) So what's a gal to do to get some yoga around here?

I purchased several 'at home' options and so far I'm liking them. I like the idea of doing it at home for several reasons:
1. Self conscious
2. not having to leave the house in unflattering work out clothes
3. Eh...did I mention being self conscious?

Here is what I got:

Yoga for inflexible people: This one is cool because it comes with THREE DVD's, all meant for people who are...well..inflexible. My favorite so far is "Gentle yoga for every body" which is just what it says..gentle! Gentle is important to me because as much as I want to do it, I don't want to suffer for my ambitions. I just want to loosen up some!

Yoga for Beginners: Another one that is basic. I'm finding some aspects of this one to be more challenging than the other DVDs. Maybe it's because I am SOO out of shape and this one assumes you have some level of fitness. Still, not a bad option!

Yoga for Back Care: I got this for my mom who has bad scoliosis, but I've used it a couple of times because well, as it turns out I have scoliosis too and I need to look after that, right? It's gentle. The teacher is careful and explains everything fairly well also.

Now, even though I'm doing this at home, I did invest in a couple of supplies: A mat, a yoga belt and a set of foam blocks. I also keep with me a small pillow for my head/neck since laying down tends to hurt my neck or low back a lot without them. If you are "plus sized" like me...I suggest you really look for a yoga belt that is longer than normal. The belt helps a lot with some of the exercises for improving flexibility but if you can't get your hands to reach each end, what's the point? Longer is better to start with...again, if you are "plus sized".

Maybe some day I'll get up the courage to take one of the classes taught here locally but until then...Namaste from my house!

Now, if anybody has any tips on how to do yoga without the puppy climbing all over you, chewing on your mat, ears, hair, blocks and socks...I'd appreciate them!

Another not so crunchy review: Flowertown by S.G. Redling

This book was one of those impulse amazon purchases that I'm guilty of (FAR to often...ahem). You know them? You see the cover, read just a little then CLICK it's on your device before you have time to think about it? You know you do that....okay, maybe it's just me (I do have over SIX HUNDRED books on my kindle devices for a reason.)

I am extremely glad I purchased this one. It was one of those surprising reads that you sometimes stumble across. The books takes place in middle of nowhere midwest America (Iowa I believe) in a small bit of land that was the subject of an accidental spill of a highly toxic pesticide. Now all the residents of what they call "Flowertown" are in quarintine, maintained by both the military and the company that is responsible for the chemical that they were infected with. The quarintine has lasted over six years when we enter the story and things are definately falling apart. Everything has to be kept isolated so water, food supplies...everything is balancing on a delicate edge. The book goes on to have a component of psycological warfare that is terrifying when you really think about how close to the truth it could be.

Part of why I enjoyed the book so much is, as you may have noticed in my blog, the issues hit close to my own fears, contaminated food and water and a system that is run more by big corporations than government. The book takes a hard look at what might happen in this very possible scenario, and the most striking was the apathy of the world outside of Flowertown to the suffering of the people with in. But knowing what happens in our world now, it's not that shocking afterall....(Remember how long the people of Katrina suffered? And the story was less and less "news worthy"? This is a seriously plausible scenario.)

The author of this book is new on the scene and I love that as well. I know the book had it's faults and flaws, but I think that overall it was an amazing start to her carreer as an author and I'm looking forward to seeing more works from her, including hopefully a second installment to Flowertown itself!

Stressed out!

So, I started back to school. That's right, momma's getting herself edumacated! I'm in a bridge program, RN to MSN, which means I'm on a fast track to my masters in nursing using an online college. Classes started on Aug. 27th and I'm already feeling the STRESS of another bit commitment in my already pretty committed life! I'm happy that I'm not alone in this. Most of us these days are chronically stressed right? We work to much, we sign up for to many bake sales, we put our kids in a gazillion and two classes we then have to drive them to, we spend to much....it all takes a toll on our system!

So how do you counteract the effects of stress on your body? Take some advice from a friendly nurse...take it seriously! Stress can cause a lot of damage in ways you may not be aware of, including to your heart, your liver, your immune system, your circulation, your sleep, your sex drive...(Oh, that got your attention, right?)

This site here has some great tips for not only dealing with stress at it happens, but also avoiding it in the future: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm

My plan for myself?
Work on organization. I'm chronically disorganized in a lot of ways. Hopefully, working on this slowly (being kind to myself) and methocially will help to reduce the general overall stress that comes from always being ten steps behind.

Keeping a journal: This is a practice I'm already working on pretty reguarly with "art journaling" and from taking courses like Soul Garden with Suzi Blu and Lifebook with Tamara Laporte. I need to focus on written journaling, especially as I move into this phase of my education, as well as the artistic portion. Art and writing are both nourishing to your soul and should not be neglected in your "self care"!

Taking long walks: Remember that hyper puppy I have? Well I need the walks as much as she does. Right now we're going 1-2 times a day around our block. I know we'll have to increase the amount as she gets bigger and I'm getting mentally (and physcially) ready for that. Walking helps with a lot of tension. It's not an outlet I'd turned to in the past, but I'm finding it to be really helpful now, for the most part anyway. It doesn't hurt to be walking along with the worlds cutest puppy....

Taking time to NOT DO SCHOOL: Time to read, to make art, to take a bath. (I so love baths...) I need to remember to do these things for my own sanity and the safety of those who live with me.

So that's my stress plan, what's yours?

Coconut oil for Fido?

So, as you know we recently adopted a puppy. She's a happy girl, wriggly and floppy and nearly four months old now! She's also itchy. VERY VERY itchy. Poor girl has to stop and itch while we're walking, while she's playing, while she's eating, in the night when she's sleeping...it's got to me miserable!

I looked around at some options for itchy skin and was surprised by what I found. Did you know coconut oil is good for dogs?  That it can help cure and heal itchy skin? I didn't! It was studied at Toronto University: http://naturalhealthychoices.weebly.com/coconut-oil-for-dogs.html

Of course, since I had a good bit on hand (thanks to Elaine for sharing an order with us!) I started adding some to their food. So far..it's just been a few days but I'm optimistic! I will try to remember to keep you posted! I added it to both dogs foods since both dogs suffer from allergies and itching. (Our Daschunt mix, Dottie gets red skin all over and watery red eyes).

A (not so crunchy) book review: The Wool Omnibus

I am deeply and completely in LOVE with my Kindle from Amazon. I know other people are just as passionate about their e-readers, regardless of what the brand. I recieved a kindle as a gift and I've been hooked ever since. One of the most fascinating things to me though, is that with the rise in popularity of the E-reader comes a new era of self publishing. Browse through a "Free kindle book" search on amazon.com and you will be riddled with short stories, addtions to series and other offerings from authors who are trying to build up their self published presence. It's a wonderful thing...most of the time. I have found that many of these offerings lack basic editing and are at times...abysmally written. But still, I will click download time and time again if I come across something that even remotely catches my eye.

Sadly, I'll do the same for books in the 99 cent to $5 range as well. This has lead to the purchase of some pretty bad pieces of writing.

But every once in a while you come across an incredible gem. That was the case when I purchased "Wool" by Hugh Howey. Wool was written as a stand alone short story, but reader demand prompted Hugh to turn the first offering into 5 more installments, which are now available as a complete package. And trust me, it's worth every red cent! I devoured all five stories in a few days time and am starting the next bit of the series. I've even purchased a few other titles by the author and am looking forward to those as Hugh has shown and amazing depth of skill with the wool series. The stories are science fiction, but it's "subtle". Each one is filled with beautiful agony and characterization and an edge of your seat rhythm of handing out just enough information to keep you engagued and enthralled. There's VERY good reason that the first story sat at the number one slot for science fiction downloads on Amazon. Spend the money on the Omnibus edition, you'll have a novels length of incredible ready to go!

Picking out a dog food - not as easy as it would seem

Recently I wrote about how we've gotten a new addition to our family, a complete MUTT dog we've named Sophie. Since she's come I've been bitten by a definate case of hyperactive puppy mom syndrome. I enrolled her into puppy school at Manner's and More. She's done now with puppy kindergarten class and is ready to move on to Novice/CGC classes, which I'm really excited about! I'm also dreaming of her one day maybe taking some of the agility classes....but that's down the road!
See, it would appear our little angel may have some cattle dog in the mix. Which makes her a very smart, VERY BUSY little girl! Much more curious that our daschund/beagle mix who is perfectly content to sleep 20 hours a day and nap the other four.

Which leads us to our  next problem. How do we feed one overweight dog and one growing puppy who will be an active adult? How do we do it without breaking the bank? How do we do it without purchasing different "special diet" foods. I talked briefly before about my desire for a "natural" dog food for our pup also, but I'd like to expand a little bit more on the why of that as well.

So, I've hit the books and have been doing some research into dog foods. I've decided that for us and our mixed bag of needs, that a basic dry kibble food is the way to go. But there are hundreds if not THOUSANDS of varieties of that on the market. So...let's break it down a little bit more shall we?

Our local store offers all different kinds of dog foods, of the big  box variety. Kibbles and Bits, Beneful, even Iams. But they don't get much more "specialized" than that. So what is wrong with kibbles and bits? Or even...Iams? Iams is fairly decent as far as foods go, right? It actually offers a good natural selection of foods that is limited in it's fillers (corn, wheat and other products). But did you know they are also on PETA's major hit list for animal cruelty? They have not committed to humane animal testing standards. Add to that that in independant studies, their foods have been found time and time again to be deficient in REGULATED and mandatory levels of nutrients (like magnesium in cat food). You may or may not be a supporter of PETA. I am in some ways, but I'm not a vegan. I do strongly support the ethical treatment of all animals but I also, being a member of the medical community, understand the need for labratory testing. But there is a limit to that testing, and there is always a level of "humane" that needs to be a standard. Read more about it here and decide for yourself: http://www.iamscruelty.com/FAQ.asp. I'm just stating my own feelings here.

But that's not the only concern I have with "big box" brand dog foods. Rendered meal is another concern of mine. Rendered..that's just boiling down the excess to get to the protiens, right? Well....yes and..no. There's a deep dark secret to the rendering of protiens....in that it can and a lot of times DOES include "Meat and bone meal" from euthanized animals. Meaning...euthanized cats and dogs. Meaning...you might be feeding your pets other cats and dog rendered down in the plant and mixed in along with the listed ingredients. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(animals) (Read where it lists animals from animal shelters. This is not an illegal practice and it provides a cheap easy source of protein for dog food manufacturers.)

So how do you know if you're dogs food has been rendered? Comes from a whole source? You read the label. It's a little trickier than reading the label on your own food items but it can be sorted out. Look for trigger words like "By-Products or By-Product Meal". Look for corn as a major ingredient and avoid it. Look for foods that specify what animal source the protien came from. If it's listed as "whole" then it legally can NOT be a rendered product. Grains listed should also be whole: brown rice, barley, rye or whole wheat.

There's more, dry food vs. canned? Canned by nature will supply more meat than dry food. We haven't in the past ever given our dogs canned because they have tended to give them upset bellies. But maybe with a better brand?

For now, I've settled on Nature Selects brand. It was cheaper at the store I was at than Blue Buffalo, which is the food I sought out to buy. It's a "limited ingredient" food, which means you get one protien (lamb in our case) and one grain (brown rice). It's also organic, which is nice, but I didn't set out to look for that. It was just an added bonus.

So far, both dogs LOVE the change from Iams to this. They showed their appreciation by licking the box the food is stored in, after they'd eaten every single bit and crumb. (Dottie the fat daschund had hers mixed with green beans, a tip both our dog trainer and a good friend of mine suggested since she's got to slim down her plump girlish figure). So...it was pricier than Iams yes, but I feel good about our choice.

I know there are many  many out there in support of a raw food diet for dogs. I'd be on board with that...IF I didn't feel squeamish about chasing down the remains of a raw chicken outside. Maybe some day but for now, we'lls stick to our kibble and people food supplemented regimen.