Virtual Relaxation

Want to relax, but finding it difficult? Do you have two minutes to spare? Gaiam has a wonderful set of virtual meditation rooms that can help.

There are six different rooms to choose from: space, winter, floral, forest, water and zen. Each room has a soundtrack, though the sound can be turned off if thoughtful silence is more your style. The soundtrack lasts for approximately 2 minutes, then loops after a brief pause, so you may wish to substitute your own music for longer periods of meditation.

The space room consists of beautiful photos of galaxies, planets and nebulae. The soundtrack is reminiscent of a space-age interpretation of the harmonies of the spheres, though a little busier acoustically than expected. The photos are breathtaking.

The winter room is crisp, and cool, with photos of snow-draped trees, landscapes and mountains. If you struggle with hot flashes, this might be your room--it almost had me reaching for a sweater! The soundtrack is a relaxing piano accompaniment reminiscent of George Winston.

The floral room is a riot of sunflowers, tulips and roses. The soundtrack consists of light ambient electronica, with faint background vocals.

Of all the rooms, I think the forest room is my favorite, as it reminds me of one of my favorite activities, hiking. The soundtrack is nature-based, and filled with birdsong, crickets and falling water.

The water room is another favorite, with water in various forms, including droplets and splashes, frozen mid-motion. This soundtrack is also nature-based, a hypnotic lullaby of waves and crashing surf.

Last but not least, the zen room ranges from nature to zen. The soundtrack consists of a tonal drone, accompanied by strings and sitar.

It is estimated that up to 80% of doctors visits are stress-related. Facilitated relaxation such as these meditation rooms can help to decrease stress and enhance well-being, even in just a few minutes. Hope you enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Between pumpkin carving and pie making, do you have a lot of pumpkin seeds? Don’t throw them away! Pumpkin seeds are rich in manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, tryptophan, iron and zinc. They may help to strengthen bones, benefit prostate health, and promote healthy cholesterol levels.

Instructions:

When collecting the seeds, remove the large pieces of pumpkin innards. (It’s ok to leave a little bit—it helps the seasoning stick and adds to the crunch later on.). Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and spray or wipe a cookie sheet with olive oil. Pick a seasoning option, and combine with 1 tbsp flour in a baggie or small container. Add seeds and shake until coated. (You may need to adjust the amount of seasoning and flour depending on the number of seeds.)

Seasoning options:

• salt and pepper (oldie but goodie)
  
• garlic and/or onion salt (slightly more eclectic)
  
• brown sugar and cinnamon (sweet option)
  
• salt, cumin and coriander (savory option)

Shake to coat, then add seasoned seeds to the cookie sheet, spreading them out into a single layer. Check them every 5-10 minutes for doneness, and remove when lightly brown. Let cool, and enjoy!

Making Time for Exercise

One of my purposes in this blog is to share natural health resources that I have found and use myself. I love martial arts and attend classes regularly, but I don't always exercise as much outside of that as I want to, or know I should. I've looked online for various streaming workouts, and have experimented with several--but found the options limited, and they didn't hold my interest.

I was extremely excited to discover that hulu.com is currently hosting 29 episodes of Gaiam workout videos, for free online streaming. My favorite one so far is Episode 10: Cardio Burn Kickbox, though I would have liked a little more variety on the kicking. I have long been a fan of Gaiam, a health and wellness company, and own several of their exercise dvds.

Pros:
1) Quality instruction (including time spent on proper technique)
2) Stunning scenery (beaches and mountaintops in addition to studios)
3) Upbeat, pleasant music
4) Short--each episode is around 20 minutes in length, so easy to squeeze in
5) Variety--29 different workouts to choose from, from yoga to pilates to kickboxing and more
6) Free

Cons:
1) Short--20 minutes is great if you're pressed for time, not so great if you'd like a longer workout (though you could do several in a row).
2) There are commercial breaks, so you will have that "jogging-at-a-stoplight-waiting-for-the-light-to-change" feeling a few times during the workout.
3) The videos are marketed as "wake up workouts" so they're fairly caffeinated. If you're looking for soothing bedtime yoga, you won't find it here.

All things considered, I've enjoyed the workouts so far, and plan to do more of them. I'd love to hear about your favorite ways to make time for exercise!

Food Additives and Preservatives: What's In My Food?

Ever want to know more about those weird abbreviations and long, unpronounceable names on ingredient lists? Now you can.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI, has a richly informative section of their website called Chemical Cuisine. The website is simple to navigate, and free to use. There is also a "Chemical Cuisine" app available through Itunes.

What I like about the site:

1) It lists additives and preservatives, both synthetic and natural. (While natural things are often safer than their synthetic counterparts, natural does not always equal safe.)

2) Rather than relying on simplistic "Good" or "Bad" answers, ratings include "Safe," "Cut Back," "Avoid," "Caution," and "Certain People Should Avoid."

3) Ratings are based on scientific evidence rather than opinion, another plus.

4) It's easy to navigate. You can search by alphabetical order or rating type.

Searching by rating may reveal some unexpected finds--for example, caramel coloring, which sounds natural and relatively benign, is on the "Avoid" list, because when produced by a process using ammonia, the end result often contains cancer-causing contaminants. Also, stevia and Quorn products (vegetarian meat substitutes), generally considered safe in the natural health community, are surprisingly listed under "Caution." Stevia had some unfavorable animal studies, and Quorn products can be problematic to those with mold allergy as mycoprotein is used as the base.

5) It elaborates on levels of risk. For example, caramel coloring is more of a concern in beverages due to the large amount consumed, vs. soy sauce, where the amount consumed is relatively small.

Overall, I find this site to be an excellent resource in investigating food additives--from general education, to safety, to politics. While I have not yet tried the app version of the site, I look forward to doing so in the future.

Whole foods make healthy bodies

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is a new reality tv show set in Huntington, West Virginia. In Huntington, nearly half the adults are obese and the incidence of diabetes and heart disease are the highest in the nation. British chef Jamie Oliver has come to Huntington to turn around the health of this city, beginning with revamping the food served in the school system, and teaching anyone who wants to learn, how to cook.

Perhaps most shocking was a scene in a first grade classroom where he held up various vegetables and the kids couldn’t identify a single one. We are not only talking about less common veggies like eggplants or brussel sprouts, we are talking about simple things like tomatoes and potatoes. They had even less idea that French fries came from potatoes.

This becomes a little more understandable when Jamie Oliver walks into the school freezer, looks around, and describes it as “an Aladdin’s cave of processed cr**.” In typical school systems where chicken nuggets, pizza, and other processed foods form the bulk of the meals, it isn’t suprising that young children lack the ability to be able to tell where their food comes from. It also doesn’t help that processed foods are more economical than fresh, for families as well as school systems.

Chef Jamie Oliver advocates a healthy diet of whole foods, foods that are minimally processed and as close as possible to how they are found in nature. While initially facing opposition from the kitchen cooks, school administration and the local radio station, through gaining the support of the parents and kids, he is slowly but surely making a difference. Stay tuned as he dresses up as a pea pod in an effort to increase the kids’ enthusiasm for eating vegetables.

Will his food revolution succeed in an environment where regulations place French fries on equal footing with other vegetables? Watch episodes at hulu to find out, and post your feedback below!

Spring is here!

"Spring is when you feel like whistling,

even with a shoe full of slush."

--Doug Larson