Monday, March 16, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Science of Happiness?
Forget Survival of the Fittest: It is Kindness That Counts
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=kindness-emotions-psychology&page=2
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=kindness-emotions-psychology&page=2
Monday, March 2, 2009
Eat Something
True Story:
A girl once had inexplicable and irresistible cravings for dirt. Yes dirt. Soil, earth, mud, muck, whatever you want to call it, she wanted to eat it. Realizing full well the sordid strangeness of the situation, she tucked herself away in a corner of her backyard, got down on her paws with a bite-sized shovel and secretly spooned away. Too embarrassed to tell anyone, it was years before she figured out why, when all the other kids wanted snickers bars and donuts, all she could think about was actually eating all those backyard mud pies.
Turns out she had a severe iron deficiency.
It makes me wonder, whenever I have craved something a little unorthodox for the healthy yogini crowd I spin with (miso spread straight on toast, candy corn, french fries dipped in Wendy's frosties, BBQ sauce straight out of the bottle, lumps of butter, or pickle juice), if I usually talk myself out of eating something strange that holds the vits and mins my body really needs. (Okay, okay, I know, candy corn?)
Still with all the plethora of diet and health information that changes its mind every week, overlaps and underpins, proves this and denies that, how are we supposed to really sort out what is good for us or bad for us? Red wine is good for the heart while carbs are bad. Wait, now some carbs are good but no fat. No, no, the fat free craze was in the 90s, now it's all about 30% protein, 30% fat, 60% good carbs. And I need to remember to get my 5-9 servings of whole grains, 2-3 servings of dairy, 1000 miligrams of Calcium, B-12 and Vitamin C, avoid polluted fish, get plenty of Omega fatty acids, try to eat raw as much as possible, chill out on the nuts, skip dairy, eat butter to support my immune system, count calories, snack 3 times a day, eat only two big meals a day and keep an intricate journal of foods that make me feel good and not so good.
Gaw! Unless you're a full time nutritionist, who has the time to get this all sorted out and still maintain the simple pleasure of food?
After years of calorie counting, fad dieting, Jane Fonda step-aerobics and fizzled detox plans, I've come to only one conclusion that really makes sense and that works for me.
Eat something.
Preferably something that makes you feel good.
The closest "diet" I've found that condones this lavishly liberal motto is Ayurveda. While no simpleton science, at the end of the day an Ayurveda practitioner will tell you to listen to your body's signals when determining what to eat, based on what feels right both prior to eating AND two hours later. If it's meat and potatoes, do it. If it's peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, be my guest. If it's raw beet kale juice, keep that juicer roaring all night baby. If it's dirt, find someone to talk to.
A girl once had inexplicable and irresistible cravings for dirt. Yes dirt. Soil, earth, mud, muck, whatever you want to call it, she wanted to eat it. Realizing full well the sordid strangeness of the situation, she tucked herself away in a corner of her backyard, got down on her paws with a bite-sized shovel and secretly spooned away. Too embarrassed to tell anyone, it was years before she figured out why, when all the other kids wanted snickers bars and donuts, all she could think about was actually eating all those backyard mud pies.
Turns out she had a severe iron deficiency.
It makes me wonder, whenever I have craved something a little unorthodox for the healthy yogini crowd I spin with (miso spread straight on toast, candy corn, french fries dipped in Wendy's frosties, BBQ sauce straight out of the bottle, lumps of butter, or pickle juice), if I usually talk myself out of eating something strange that holds the vits and mins my body really needs. (Okay, okay, I know, candy corn?)
Still with all the plethora of diet and health information that changes its mind every week, overlaps and underpins, proves this and denies that, how are we supposed to really sort out what is good for us or bad for us? Red wine is good for the heart while carbs are bad. Wait, now some carbs are good but no fat. No, no, the fat free craze was in the 90s, now it's all about 30% protein, 30% fat, 60% good carbs. And I need to remember to get my 5-9 servings of whole grains, 2-3 servings of dairy, 1000 miligrams of Calcium, B-12 and Vitamin C, avoid polluted fish, get plenty of Omega fatty acids, try to eat raw as much as possible, chill out on the nuts, skip dairy, eat butter to support my immune system, count calories, snack 3 times a day, eat only two big meals a day and keep an intricate journal of foods that make me feel good and not so good.
Gaw! Unless you're a full time nutritionist, who has the time to get this all sorted out and still maintain the simple pleasure of food?
After years of calorie counting, fad dieting, Jane Fonda step-aerobics and fizzled detox plans, I've come to only one conclusion that really makes sense and that works for me.
Eat something.
Preferably something that makes you feel good.
The closest "diet" I've found that condones this lavishly liberal motto is Ayurveda. While no simpleton science, at the end of the day an Ayurveda practitioner will tell you to listen to your body's signals when determining what to eat, based on what feels right both prior to eating AND two hours later. If it's meat and potatoes, do it. If it's peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, be my guest. If it's raw beet kale juice, keep that juicer roaring all night baby. If it's dirt, find someone to talk to.
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