A Perfect Year, Area #3: Radiant Health
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| A. Sarnoff |
Health has to do with food, water, sunshine, laughter,
smiling, alcohol, drugs, smoking, love, sleep, stress, clutter,
fat, exercise, soda, snacking, and work.
We have a bigger say in our health than we care to admit. Try one of these each week.
1. Create a
pantry. Choose your largest
cabinet. Hire someone to put in shelves
if you can't do it with wire risers from Big Lots or Bed Bath &
Beyond. You also need risers for cans,
so that you can see them 3 or 4 deep.
Can be found at BBB or Home Goods.
Probably Container Store or online organization stores as well. You need air-tight bins for flour and sugar
and oatmeal or cereals. Tape the
directions, recipe, ingredients to the front and keep a measuring scoop inside
if possible. Label shelves if you can't
see at a glance what is there.
2. Buy BAMBOO cutting
boards. You need 3 to 6 of them. Toss your plastic boards. A University of
Michigan study found that "those using wooden cutting boards
in their home kitchens were less than half as likely as average to contract
salmonellosis (odds ratio 0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.22-0.81), those using
synthetic (plastic or glass) cutting boards were about twice as likely as
average to contract salmonellosis (O.R. 1.99, C.I. 1.03-3.85); and the effect
of cleaning the board regularly after preparing meat on it was not
statistically significant (O.R. 1.20, C.I. 0.54-2.68). We know of no similar
research that has been done anywhere, so we regard it as the best
epidemiological evidence available to date that wooden cutting boards are not a
hazard to human health, but plastic cutting boards may be." Dean O. Cliver, Ph.D http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm
Bottom line is that germs die within 3 minutes on wood, and
stay hours on plastic, even when washed in a dishwasher.
3. Make a money plan
on grocery spending. How much do you
have to spend? Save your receipts and
total at month end. I use a Ralph's visa
card and only put groceries on it - from all grocery stores - to track my
spending. It's kinda shocking.
4. Menu
planning. Use online menus from your
favorite restaurants to meal plan. Write
it down on a 3x5 card or in a binder. As
you find a recipe, fill in the card with your notes - what pots to use, what
side orders, what gets cooked first (like rice taking 45 minutes vs. 10 min
beans). Note how you changed a recipe,
when you ate it, the reaction of family.
5. If you want to add
new foods, add it to your calendar. Or
make a rule, "At 10:30 each
morning we will eat our fruit." Or celery. Or whatever you wish to add.
6. Cut the crap. This is the week to stop what ails you. For me it was chocolates that caused
heartburn, and juice that gave me a rash on my arm!
7. Look through your
books on diet or go to library. I like
Dr. MacDougall and Dr. Joel Fuhrman.
Find the foods that boost YOUR energy!
8. Practice sitting
at the table this week - for all your meals.
No more standing up! Stand up
meals cause weight gain. Don't eat in
your car this week (or ever). Clear your
table (my office!). Set the table. Teach your kids how to set the table. Practice manners. Practice moderation of food.
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