Health Book Recommendations

I’ve always been interested in health and medicine since I was in my late teens. I’ve read a lot of books about diet, health and fitness and every day I’m learning more and more. I find it so fascinating. And even more fascinating that after all this time we STILL don’t know everything about the human body. It’s wild.

I think most people are not in tune with their bodies. We wait until it totally shuts down or is screaming at us until we finally go to the doctor. How many people have we heard that waited too long and then it was too late?

I never want to be that person.

And that is why I can spot something the second my body feels off. And I stop and take a listen. Sometimes it tells me to go to sleep, sometimes it tells me I need to move more, or eat less shit. Sometimes it tells me that I need to stress about the small things less (usually by knocking me out with some sort of daycare illness so I can finally lay down).

For some reason we are conditioned to just power through and that is NOT the right approach. I have no idea who started that rumor but we need to cut it out.

Here are some books I’ve read in the last few years that have really helped me. Hopefully they can help you too or at least make you a little more in tuned with your body and mind. These are definitely for people who are just starting out, I’ll leave the more intense books for a later post.

The world is so loud and there are so many things to do all the time, I get it. But no one will care about you if YOU don’t care about you.

Here are some books I’ve really loved:

• The Blue Zones Secrets For Living Longer by Dan Buettner
• Pain Free by Pete Egoscue
• Food: What the heck should I eat? By Mark Hyman
• Go Green Get Lean by Kate Geagan

My first intro in 2009 to carbon footprints and why/how what we eat affects our environment. We are talking about food and environment now more than ever which I’m very happy about, but it’s been a long time coming. And she made it very easy to understand. This book is why I removed sugar from my coffee and never went back. It’s great for someone just starting who needs to clean up their eating and I think it’s very helpful to know WHY you should and how it impacts the environment around you.

Blue Zones are all the rage now but Dan started this work about 15 years ago and now people are taking note. What he’s shared with us is amazing and you can definitely see commonalities between these communities that live so far away from each other. It’s about slowing down, finding community and purpose, and clean eating. And a little wine once in a while.

How many people are living with chronic pain and just think it’s a way of life? It shouldn’t be and I know this because I found this book as I was going to physical therapy and in a lot of pain. It was really fascinating to learn more about the body and how everything is connected. I tried to keep up with some of the protocols from this book but life eventually got in the way and I stopped. My pain did get better during that time so I do feel there is something to it. A great easy to understand intro into your body and how everything is connected.

He looks at every food group and tells us what we’ve gotten wrong, what is good for us, and what not so good. He gives a lot of incite into the food companies and the corruption behind things we’ve held true to for years before going, wait a minute…like that The American Heart Association (AHA) receives much of its funding from food and pharmaceutical industries. They said coconut oil had too much saturated fat but had never done a real study to show that–The study was partly funded by canola oil processors. Then years later we’re like, wait coconut oil is one of the best things for you! This book helps weed through all the overwhelming info out there.

** Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment and share. It helps me know I’m not just talking to myself **

Work Pains

I’m seeing more and more people complain about pain in my office. We sit in front of the computer all day. Most people order-in all their meals, never take lunch, or go for a walk. 

Everyone is just hobbling around. I call it the Office Shuffle. Everyone is holding onto some sort of body part as they’re walking. It’s like the walking dead in there.

The workplace

Sitting is one of the worst things we can do to our bodies and for our health. mayo clinic sitting faq

The Mayo Clinic says “Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns. They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and unhealthy cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome. Too much sitting overall and prolonged periods of sitting also seem to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

Sitting shortens our hip flexors and causes back problems. Let me raise my hand. 

My back hurt before we left for lockdown for the pandemic. It got better while we were working from home but I also did less moving since I wasn’t commuting anymore so I thought that was weird. I was able to go for daily walks though and do a little yoga and stretching during that time (I was also pregnant during that year). And I don’t know if it was because I was pregnant and my bones and organs shifted or the WFH situation, but my back rarely hurt during that time at home. It just didn’t make sense.

Afterwards when I had my baby, Covid was still around and it was winter so we didn’t go out much. And I didn’t really have time to work out trying to work from home with a baby. But my back still didn’t hurt. I also thought, maybe it was heels since it would always flare up after I wore heels and during the height of the pandemic, we weren’t going out so I wasn’t wearing shoes as much.

I spent years trying to figure out the trigger.

Coming back to the office that July made it clear–The desk job was killing me.

Slowly dying.

My lower back hurt again. My muscles were so tight. I felt terrible. 

That next winter my back got worse, I felt like my legs were so tight and couldn’t stretch them out and then by the next May, my calf popped going down the stairs and I ended up in physical therapy. My hip flexors were so tight and I started getting pain in my hip area. It would take me forever to be able to stand when getting out of the bed in the morning. Or in the middle of the night when my baby woke up. It was terrible having to stop and stretch myself out before I could even walk. 

Physical therapy was great for the fact that it was an excuse to be able to workout twice a week and get away from that desk. It would improve then get bad, and after reading some books, and working with PT I figured out it wasn’t a back problem.

It was a work problem. I had to get out of here.

After PT was over, it got better as I was out of the office for various reasons, child was sick, I was sick, summer break days off, or when I could find time to work out consistently.

But if I went 2 weeks at work without doing any extra movement, my hip would hurt so much. I couldn’t concentrate from the pain. 

After complaining and wanting to cry so many times because I knew that my pain was coming from sitting at this damn desk all day every day which made me even more depressed that I was still there and not able to figure out what I want to be when I grew up, I had to stop and reflect.

Ok, I’m not changing jobs tomorrow so lets focus on the things I CAN do:

• I CAN wake up a little earlier and do a 10-20 minute workout
• I CAN set timers on my phone to remind me to get up every 1 ½ hours at work to walk and stretch
• I CAN take the stairs instead of the elevator to get more steps
• I CAN say yes to my toddler when he wants to go for a bike ride and I’m super tired so that I can get some more movement in

And let me tell you. It worked. 

I’ve been consistent with doing some movement when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes I only have 10 minutes, sometimes I have 20. Sometimes I’ll just stretch and sometimes I will do a quick workout. I’m bleary eyed but I know that not having the pain is so much better so I make myself do it.

I’ve been consistent since the end of April 2023 and my hip doesn’t hurt as much. Once I don’t do my workout for 3 or more days, the pain comes back if I’ve been in the office.

Thankfully in November, my job let us work from home 2 days a week and that has contributed to my well being—another perk of working from home!

People don’t realize how bad sitting is for us. And we really need to put our health first and really investigate what the cause is of our pains. And then we need to prioritize what we need to do to make it better.

We always default to the negative or complaining but we have to change our mindsets.

Instead of what we can’t do, figure out what you can. Even if it’s small. It always adds up.

** Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment and share. It helps me know I’m not just talking to myself **

January Wrap Up

WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO:

Shingles and covid. A double dose of fun for the holiday weekend. I survived but it wasn’t great. I spent the remainder of the month building my immunity back up. Two viruses really wreaked havoc on my body. My nose is finally not stuffy and runny anymore but I lost my smell and my chest doesn’t feel right still. Unfortunately my son got it as well a few days later which I’m really mad at. I protected him from it his whole life so I really wish we could know who gave it to us. Alas, the great mystery.

I finally got to do my vision board at the end of the month and I’m excited about this new year. A lot of good things coming and I want nothing but positivity and good vibes for the next 11 months!

Booked just about all my travel for this year—Denver, Orlando and Jamaica. Vision board coming to life!

WHAT I’VE READ:

• You, Happier by Dr Daniel Amen
• The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
• HumanKind by Brad Aronson
• Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

WHAT I’VE WATCHED:

• The Luckiest Girl in The World (Netflix)
• Working Moms–finally finished all seasons! (Netflix
• The Crown (season 5- Netflix)
• started A Murder At The End Of The World (Hulu)

TODDLER CORNER:

Thankfully his covid symptoms weren’t as bad as mine. At the start of the month we played hooky from work and school and went to a Trolls Experience for some fun. Mostly I went after the Christmas break so it would be less crowded. It was smaller than I thought it was going to be but he seemed to have fun.

He’s really into everything Mo Willems right now and I had no idea just how many books this dude had. He must be a millionaire.

Princess Poppy!

FAVORITE PIC OF THE MONTH:

Don’t have a lot of pics because of illness but here’s my shingles. Which ended up not being as bad because covid came in with a bang and tried to murder me.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

Hopefully a virus free month. Maybe squeezing in a couple of date nights which we need to do more of.

How Old Do You Feel?

A few years ago I was conducting a training and a girl came up to me and said “Do you remember me?”. I remembered her face, not her name, but yes she was a student from back in the day. We reminisced and she said ‘you look the same! I would’ve thought you would age but you haven’t!”

Sorry, had to share. It made me feel fabulous. Plus I’ve looked the same since 12. My bones are just more brittle. Sorry not sorry.

Later that night I started thinking, oh 2009 that was 10 years ago. So she’s like 28. But I’m like…34??? Wait a minute, I could swear I was like 29. But shit, I’m old. Where did the time go? Am I really 34? I don’t think I feel it. My mother was 30 and she had 3 kids by that time. I thought she was SO old!

Am I old? I’m still hip, I know things. Right?! 

It’s interesting how we view ourselves and how the world sees us. Someone somewhere thinks I’m old even though in MY mind I’m still 28. 

That’s probably why the elderly have such a hard time. At some point they think “I was just 60, how am I 85?”.

Everytime my back goes out or my knee hurts, I feel betrayed by my body. Like, hello, I’m still 28. Why are you doing this to me!? 

It must be a terrible feeling as you really age, like you’ve lost control of yourself. Your hearing, your memories, the ability to Bend and Snap, all diminished in a blink of an eye.

I’m gonna be a surly old lady, I know this and apologize ahead of time. 

I’m surly now when I’m in pain and can’t do the things I want to do because of my back, my knee, my broken toe. 

The only thing we can do is to make our health a priority now so we’re healthy for later. 

My recent obsession has been learning about the Blue Zones (the places in the world where people live the longest) and health and fitness in general. I highly recommend reading the book for insight on how just making a few minor changes to your behavior and environment could impact your health 30 years from now. Blue Zones

Their big belief is not changing your behaviors as much as it’s changing your surroundings and environment to foster the healthy lifestyle you want to live (having access to bike/walking paths, parks, farmers markets, healthy foods, friends, etc). It actually makes a lot of sense but our area doesn’t really foster that. It half asses it. 

I know that I could probably exercise more if I had a dedicated space in the house to do so. But instead I have to move the table and take my weights out and can’t jump or run around the apartment so by the time I think about doing all that, I don’t want to do it anymore. Just like I avoid baking since I don’t have the counter space it requires to get my stand mixer out and it’s just a straight up hassle.

Imagine if we could just walk out our door and have access to a nearby park that isn’t dilapidated. 

My area definitely doesn’t foster that. There is no park for our kids nearby and the closest one I drive to is falling apart. I have to go to another borough (shoutout to Queens!) so I can take my kid to a decent park. A lot of the sidewalks in my neighborhood need to be fixed and some areas don’t even have sidewalks which makes you just walk on the road which isn’t very safe for kids. And this is the “nice” part of the Bronx.

Don’t even get me started on farmers markets. There’s only a few places around the city that have BIG markets where you can pretty much get anything like Union Square in Manhattan. I used to work nearby and loved going there. In the Bronx, there is one near me that is trying to gain traction but you can only get a few items at a time so that deters people from making that stop if they still have to go to an actual supermarket anyway for the rest of their shopping. 

I know that naturally your body is going to break down as it gets older. But I hope with some adjustments I can make that process a little easier on myself by making some changes now. You know, at a young (mentally) 28 years of age….

** Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment and share. It helps me know I’m not just talking to myself **

Does Meal Planning Save You Money?

My grocery budget had gone insane at the beginning of this year. Partly because prices are up but mostly because I don’t pre-plan my shopping anymore, or meals, or really have time to cook. I have a toddler and work full time, I’m barely making it.

In an effort to get back on track, I was wondering if pre planning would have a real impact on my grocery budget.

I decided the month of May to make a plan, and let me tell you, meal planning is hard. And I’m someone who loves planning, cooking, and food shopping. And it was hard. 

One reason people’s budgets are crazy is because there is no plan. If you wait until the last minute to figure out food, you will probably spend more than you should and eat out because it’s the easier option.

I love reading those articles about how people meal prep or show the weekly budgets and what meals they make. ‘I fed my family of six on $100 for the week!’. Ugh so inspiring and a little hard to believe. 

So much work goes into tracking that! A lot of times though, they are stay at home parents so they have more time to plan and make every single meal. It also seems to be like it’s their full time job as they cook 3 meals a day from scratch. It’s a lot of work to cook healthy food and eat well in general.

WEEK 1

I tried to make my plan and it took me a couple hours over 2 days to make my plan for the first 2 weeks of the month, choose my recipes, and make the list of what I need to buy at Trader Joes. I was exhausted before I even went to the store. 

I made sure that I would have time to do some cooking during the weekend and planned what I needed to buy on Saturday morning.

These are the meals I came up with to feed 2.5 ppl (toddler doesn’t eat much and everything is currently ‘yucky’):

• Fish tacos w/ slaw and pineapple salsa/ rice and beans
• Sausages, potato salad and sauerkraut 
• Penne with lemon, asparagus, peas and TJ artichoke sauce
• Buckwheat bowl with beans, sweet potato, onions, peppers and lemon- tahini dressing

Trader Joe’s groceries purchased 

Total: approx. $43-48 (I forgot to write down how much the asparagus was):

• GF battered fish $11.99
• Slaw $2.49
• Black beans $1.09 x2
• Tahini $3.99
• Sweet potatoes $1.78
• Peas $4.49
• Asparagus $?
• Lemon .98
• Potatoes $3.79
• Chicken sausage $4.29
• Sauerkraut $4.49

Groceries I had at home already:

• Buckwheat
• Frozen onions and peppers
• Rice mix
• Corn tortillas
• Condiments like mayo, oil, vinegars, mustard
• Penne
• Artichoke sauce

So right off the bat looking at this, I spent the amount we spend on 2 meals eating out ($43 and that’s cheap!) and got 10 servings of food. That’s pretty good!

And even if I had to buy the remaining ingredients I had at home that probably would’ve only been another $25 which is still cheaper than if we ate out 10 servings of food!

I prepped some ingredients at various times like cooking the buckwheat and saving it in the fridge for the next day or roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven when I had time. And some other meals like the fish tacos I made everything at the same time since my evening was more free. 

But since my time is limited, I had to schedule my cooking time for the weekend and made sure I had recipes that were relatively easy to throw together. The buckwheat bowls left a little to be desired because I created it off the top of my head, left out some ingredients I had wanted to add and realized afterwards it needed something salty like a feta cheese or olives.

I am also a fan of shortcuts so I used frozen onions and peppers that I had on hand and just warmed them in the pan for the bowls. And instead of making rice and beans from scratch, I had a boil bag of a rice mix I used and threw some beans in there. As good as my beans? No. But I worked with what I had to save time. 

That wasn’t so bad for one week….but what the hell was I doing for the other weeks?

I realize that it would be exhausting and like a 3rd job to cook everything from scratch and frankly, most of the weekends are busy or my toddler is sick from daycare.

I used to meal prep hardcore before having a kid and it WAS my 2nd job. I weighed things, pre packaged meals, cooked for 2 hours at a time…I really don’t have the time or energy to do that anymore. We have to know our limits and when to give some things up.

We’ve been getting meal deliveries for the last year to make my life easier but that is a little expensive and there is never a plan of when we get those vs. when I cook, so sometimes they overlap. That’s also why my budget has been crazy too, sometimes I had too much food on hand and it would go to waste and other times I had nothing and had to eat out. 

I planned to have a meal delivery (Blue Apron) the next weekend so I didn’t have to shop.

And we got a meal delivery (Eat Fit Go) the weekend after which freed up time that weekend to cook.

WEEK 2

I went to Stop n Shop the next Thursday and make a meal plan for the beginning of that week mostly based on what I had that I can use and only purchase a small amount of things:

• GF lemon and blueberry muffins
• Beef and bean chili with TJ GF cornbread
• Noodle stir fry with edamame and shredded carrots

Stop n Shop groceries I purchased:

• Blueberries
• Lemon
• And the rest of the list….I don’t remember because I threw out the receipt so I couldn’t even track how much I spent. Hot mess express. 

Groceries I had at home already:

• Noodles
• Edamame
• Condiments like coconut aminos, toasted sesame oil, and olive oil
• Frozen blueberries
• Ground Beef
• Beans
• Broth
• Diced tomatoes
• Onion and garlic
• TJ cornbread mix

Made the noodle stir fry and my toddler ate it up the first night saying ‘yummy yummy’. Mom happy dance! By day 3 it came back in the container from school. Toddler problems. 

After he kept me up all night, I managed to find the strength to make the lemon and blueberry muffins from a recipe I found on Instagram. They weren’t great and he refused to eat them. Froze most of them in hopes that he changes his mind in a few weeks. But probably I would just eat them. A partial fail. I don’t remember what happened the rest of the week cuz I was just trying to survive. Ah, life.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I ended up spending a little less that month on food from the planning. I continued it in June as well (didn’t cook as much though) and noticed that there was less food waste. Before, I was buying things in the hope I could use them and then ended up throwing it out because it went bad before I got to it. 

I’ve been meal planning with an actual paper calendar so I can see everything for the month.

1. A couple days before the month begins, I sit down with my calendar and put in all the dates I know we are definitely eating out, busy, or weekends I have no time to cook. 
2. then I mark the days I WILL have time to cook and work around that
3. On the back of the calendar I write out what I have in the freezer we can use, pantry, dairy, and fresh ingredients. I try to make a plan based on that first before I buy other things. 
4. Then I write down all the recipes I could make with what I have and what I would like to make, and start plugging them into days
5. I look at 1-2 weeks and come up with a plan
6. I make a list of things I need to buy at the market

Ex. I know I can cook on Sunday morning before my husband leaves for work, so I will go to the market on Saturday so I have everything ready to put together and cook on Sunday. That will cover me for Sunday dinner and leftovers for lunch Monday. If I have time I cook 2 meals that will also cover Monday night dinner and Tues lunch. 

Or Ill make a big soup that will cover me Monday-Friday lunches and all I have to worry about is dinner for all of us. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Planning your month does make a big difference and helps you curb spending and reduce waste so I highly recommend it. It also does take a lot of work. I’ve been consistent since May, some months are better than others, but I feel less stressed about food when I do it.

And one day, I will be able to be the meal prep Queen again.

Do you meal prep? Have you ever tried tracking and found that it saved you money?

** Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment and share. It helps me know I’m not just talking to myself **