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Quickeners Podcast Episode 4: Not Your Fault. Now What?

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In psychology there the idea that “it’s not your fault that you…”. We did not personally create many of the dysfunctional parts of our life. Many of our struggles are rooted in early events and our of our control.

But that’s not the end of the conversation of change. In yoga philosophy, not your fault is only part of (half of?) the conversation. The other part is – now what? Once you realize that you didn’t create these situations, one option is to take responsibility to clean it up anyway because it will likely make your life better to do so.

This dichotomy and the tension in the dichotomy is an aspect of life – it’s the dance of action & embodiment, of being & doing, of masculine & feminine, Shakti & Shiva. In yoga philosophy we need both – we need to accept that it’s not our fault, yet we have the capacity to shift, renew, embody our own experience.

In this episode I’ll tell stories and give examples, and then a 3-step process to navigate from doing to being.

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Emotional Eating, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders

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What, Why & What to Do

These words – emotional eating, disordered eating and eating disorders – are often tossed around by people who don’t understand the complexities of an individual’s relationship with food. Your relationship with food, I’ve learned from decades of serving those struggling with these issues, is as unique as you are. Some folks have very little emotion in their relationship with food, while others are near pure emotion. One is not better nor healthier than the other, though one is easier when it comes to shifting your eating.

Why are some of us so emotional about food? When does it become a problem?

Everybody eats. Every human feels the effect of what they eat. So, in one sense – of what happens in their own body and mind – everyone IS an expert. An expert of their own experience.

When it comes to naming other people’s experiences, however, understanding the deeper currents of our own behaviors, and recognizing when we’ve blasted past the guardrails of healthful behavior, gets complicated. Food is a stand-in for everything – from love to politics to economics. I see a complex relationship with food as a collection of opportunities for self-inquiry and healing.

A Deadly yet Well-Hidden Issue

Why is it important for everyone who eats or cares for an eater to know what these terms mean? Don’t we all want to be slim and look healthy?  Actually, no. When it comes to weight, our culture needs a serious re-imagination of what health – and beauty – looks like. I’ve experienced many thin unhealthful people, and many many a healthy full figured woman or man. Science continues to confirm that it’s your behaviors, not the number on the scale, that determines your health. Let’s celebrate our beauty in it’s unique fullness and the beauty of every body shape and size, every age and color.

When my own eating disorder was most active (and I looked most like an ‘after’ weight-loss picture) was the summer of my sophomore year at Cornell, where I was, ironically or not, a nutritional biochemistry major. I worked on the beach on Hilton Head Island with a group of friends, drank a six-pack of diet coke by day, something alcoholic by night and allowed myself one bag of the junk food of my choice each day. Nothing else. There was cocaine.

When I returned to school, I was showered with enthusiastic attention for my petite boniness. My mother cried when she saw me, correctly worried for my health and maybe my life. I eventually found the help I needed, through counseling and a body-kind yoga practice. Aspects of a disordered eating mindset, and the physical fallout of decimating my physical body haunt me to this day. Now, however, I have a bagful of nutritional, emotional, mental and physical tools to rebalance.

Eating disorders are the deadliest of psychological disorders. A young woman with anorexia, for example, is 12 times more likely to die young (2), and 59 more likely to commit suicide (3) than a young woman without it. Eating disorders don’t discriminate – every gender, color, religion, and corner of the planet have their versions, and we are all susceptible – particularly young people in the formative years of their identify. Even the wold of yoga struggles mightily.

In addition to high risk of death, eating disorders are wildly unbalancing to your physical and emotional well-being. When an individual over-restricts their nutrition, they have inadequate vitamins, minerals, healthful fats and energy to maintain a healthy brain and nervous system. Purging (vomiting) erodes teeth, impares digestion in ways that undermine bone and mental health, and sets a body up for future weight gain. Fatigue, low energy, and inability to think clearly are common.

Here is a mini-primer that can help you understand what these words mean, and if and when it’s time to get some help. I hope it helps you know if your health is at risk or you are simply a human enjoying treats. Treats, by the way, are part of healthy eating.

Food is one of life’s great sensory experiences. Enjoying what we eat without feeling bad about it, or getting compulsive about it, however, is for some one of life great struggles. Happily, there are many dietitians well-versed in how to support you in your journey to finding more peace and balance with food.

Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is when you eat to address an emotion rather than your physical body’s need.  Eating when you are stressed, uncomfortable, worried, or bored has physical hard-wiring based in our genetics of survival. Biochemically, stress gets relieved for the moments you are eating. Problem being, eating never solves the real emotional problem you’re being invited to address.

Everybody has this biochemistry, and the more you use it the stronger it gets. It’s easy for emotional eating to slide from sensual delight of occasional treats into a daily mechanism for managing emotions. When you begin to use food as a means of getting through the day, or managing stress, you’ve got it. Imbalance isn’t far behind.

Every human who has access to bountiful food and stress does some emotional eating. It’s normal. We all, on occasion, overeat. When emotional eating leads to consistent over-eating or begins cycles of deprivation then binging, and the emotions become fear-dominated and increasingly self-incriminating, that’s when it’s become something else. It has led to disordered eating.

Disordered Eating

Every eating disorder begins with a diet. Whenever you manipulate what you eat to create an effect – be it to lose or gain weight, or even to address a biomarker like high blood glucose (sugar) or high blood pressure, you are on a diet, and therefore at risk. You are no longer eating in balance.

Some nutritionists would say ‘diet’ is a dirty word and we should never ever do them. I would say that whenever you ‘diet’, be under the care of a qualified nutritionist. That’s because any diet as I’ve described it, puts you at some risk for emotional or disordered eating. These are next steps along the continuum toward an eating disorder. A qualified nutritionists will spot that slide (hopefully) and curb it before it becomes a psychological problem.

What, when and how you eat impacts your psychology to a impressive degree. So, when you alter how you eat, it’s serious stuff. The media is a nutrition disaster – filled with conflicting and often incorrect or poorly described nutrition information. Some seeking health quickly get lost in binge-deprivation cycles, obsessiveness or compulsion and compensatory food behaviors. Nutrition doesn’t work like that (quick adjustments don’t work for weight or preventing chronic disease – it’s not a straight-forward equation). Over time restrictions change your body composition, which changes your metabolism and nutrient needs. It also impacts your mental health through long-term inadequacy of nutrients needed for brain and nerve health, and psychologically through deprivation. It’s the plight of the ‘good dieter’ that over time, you loose muscle mass and create physical and psychological imbalance through restricting. When it comes to weight, slow and steady always wins the lifelong health race.

Disordered eating is when you follow a diet that erodes your physical and mental well-being. You continue the pattern even when you experience fatigue, irritability, illness and other signs that the diet isn’t working for you. Overly restrictive diets, over exercise, and eliminating entire types of healthful food for weight, often do the trick to create a lifetime on a rollercoaster of suffering. Managing weight and health doesn’t have to be that way.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders (ED) are a collection of psychological imbalances of abnormal or maladaptive eating and related behaviors. Each type of eating disorder is based on signs, symptoms and behaviors. The science of eating disorders is young and evolving, as people with identical symptoms might have different underlying causes and benefit from different strategies. It’s a fluid, moving line of when and how emotional eating and disordered eating turns into a diagnosable eating disorder. Everyone is different. With effective treatment more available, if you struggle with eating, err on the side of getting help.

Here are a few eating disorders defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. These definitions are not complete nor exhaustive, but if you recognize yourself in the next paragraph, you can get help.

Anorexia nervosa (heavily restricted eating, intense fear of weight gain, body image disturbance); Bulimia nervosa (recurrent binge eating, feeling a lack of control, inappropriate compensatory behaviors, self-evaluation focuses on weight); Binge eating disorder (regular binge eating without compensatory behaviors); Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ongoing excessive dieting); Night eating syndrome (binging at night); Purging disorder (vomiting after binging); to name a few.

An individual with an eating disorder can be any weight – under, over or normal. An eating disorder can become more and less severe, based on how frequently the behaviors occur. An eating disorder can be inactive, then reactivate under stress.

Until an individual has long-term treatment that instills confidence in nutritional adequacy without disordered behaviors, the self-knowing to understand when disordered cycles are underway, and when support is needed, their eating disorder remains active. Many nutritionists have issues with their own relationship with food, yet can provide excellent professional support so long as they have participated in treatment, have access to ongoing support and clinical supervision. An individual with an active eating disorder who has not received treatment from a qualified professional may do more harm than good in supporting healing for those they would like to serve. Clinical supervision (ongoing review of clinical cases with an experienced clinician) is especially helpful for those treating eating disorders.

What to Do?

If you think you have an eating disorder and feel ready to make a change, there are many qualified psychological and nutrition professionals to choose from. In fact many doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists work together with nutritionists on an integrated plan for healing. Your doctor may work with someone, so that may be a place to start.

If you’ve read this far, you’d probably benefit from making an appointment with me! I’ve done this work for years, and helped thousands to women & men find more peace with food. Please know there are many dietitians well-trained to help you, so if you are looking for someone in your state or locally, there are great resources to help you find the right a nutritionist.

Find a trained, experienced pro to help

NEDA – The National Eating Disorders Association – helpline: (800) 931-2237 NEDA is filled with resources & support, including an online screening tool to help you determine if it’s time to get help.

The Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (AND) – Articles to help you understand eating disorders, and “Find an Expert” directory of dietitians.

EDReferral – Find lists of trained dietitians and other professionals, treatment centers, and information.

Sources

(1) Jessica Setnick, MS, RD, CEDRD. Eating Disorders, Second Edition. Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, Chicago, IL. 2017.

(2) Sullivan PF. Mortality in anorexia nervosa. Am. J Psychiatry. 1995.

(3) Keel, PK et al. Predictors of mortality in eating disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003.

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Garlicky Leek Soup Recipe

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This Garlicky Leek Soup was inspired by my love of potatoes. While there is only a little potato  in it, that certain creamy potato flavor is there. The combination of potatoes, leeks and garlic are more than the sum of their parts – they were made to sing together. Lately I’ve been on the sub cauliflower for white potatoes in everything train, and I did stir some cauliflower into one bowl of this soup and that was delicious. In this vein (of mashed potatoes) you might top a bowl with a little grass-fed organic plain yogurt. This recipe also has the boost of plant protein with a can of white beans in there. All in all, a nutrient-dense and delicious soup, perfect for a cool spring day.

In my humble opinion, potatoes have gotten a bad wrap in the healthy food world. They are rich in fiber and vitamin C, and particularly when you can find smaller colorful purple, red or gold fingerlings – all very worth the space in your garden – filled with disease-busting antioxidants.

garlic leek soup
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Garlicky Leek Soup

In honor of my love for potatoes.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Soup pot
  • Immersion blender or Regular blender

Ingredients

  • 1 large spanish onion chopped
  • 2 medium carrots cleaned and chopped
  • 4-5 stalks celery chopped
  • 6 large cloves garlic peeled, center stem removed, chopped
  • 1 medium organic potato skin on, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 6 cups clean water
  • 3 large leeks sliced and rinsed
  • 2 Tbsp thyme dry
  • 1 15-oz can cannelloni beans (Eden brands is a good choice)
  • 1 small bunch parsley chopped
  • 1 pinch salt and black pepper or to taste

Instructions

  • Place onion, carrots, celery garlic and potato in a heavy soup pot, with olive oil, and simmer over medium heat until vegetables are soft. Add leeks and thyme and stir.  Once you smell the leeks and thyme begin to cook (couple minutes), add water and beans.
  • Turn to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes.
  • If you have an immersion blender, lucky you - blend the soup. If not, use a blender (to minimize accidents, let the soup cool before you blend it). Alternatively, leave it unblended. Add parsley, black pepper and just a smidgeon of salt.
  • Other additions if you so choose:1/2 head cauliflower, chopped. Plain organic grass-fed yogurt.

Potato heads unite!
2014-02-02 07.09.28 2

 

Enjoy!

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Moving Grief with Courage: Quickeners Special Episode

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Born a quad-Aries, I’ve always had access to courage. I’d like to say it’s been tempered by wisdom over time, but no, my fearlessness is as blind as it ever was. If I’ve learned anything about courage it’s the fact that to be brave, to be a warrior and strong, does require some emotional blinders. It requires integration later. For me, anyway.

Through this COVID-19 crisis, we are all carrying a decent amount of grief. We’ve lost great gigs and projects, but what many of us haven’t begun to feel is the magnitude of the people we’ve lost and are losing and will loose through this time.

This week, I created a special episode of my podcast Quickeners. It’s called Moving Grief with Courage. It provides a little warrior flow and some quotes from thinkers on how to cultivate courage in difficult times. There’s also a pdf. May you find it helpful.

quickeners podcast

I also created a little handout to go with it – if you have not done a warrior posture I don’t know where you have gotten through this far without being subject to one – here is that handout. It goes with the podcast. May you enjoy it.

If you haven’t yet experienced Quickeners, I invite you to give it a listen. It is meant to inspire, and I hope it does.

Be well, my friends. Care for yourself and those around you.

A

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Quickeners Podcast: Episode 1 – Finding Inspiration

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Inspired to launch a podcast. May it inspire you too.

Quickeners: A Podcast to Inspire Self-Care

Quickeners are mini-inspirations that help people make a quick shift toward…better.

My beloved brilliant friend and astrologer Michelle LeCroix gave me the name for this podcast during one of her amazing intuitive astrology readings (turns out I am quad Aries…yes there is fire but I try to contain it with kindness. With mixed success). If you want a life-changing reading delivered by a poet-wordsmith, she’s your gal.

This podcast show focused on shift – toward a bit more love or health or whatever it is you are aiming for. I plan to do 13 weekly episodes and hope that you enjoy them. Please let me know how they land for you, pass them on if they work for you, or let me know if there’s something you’d like to ask or hear about.

A great place to start when it comes to making a shift in self-care is finding inspiration – that energy to get you going and to sustain action. I have been deeply inspired lately by the guests I encounter in workshops, and the clients I work with, in private practice. They, along with my wonderful husband (who recently healed from a life-threatening super-aggressive cancer with style and grace), are deeply inspiring to me.

So, have a listen. let me know what you think!

Listen to all episodes of Quickeners Podcast.

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Breakfast Salad Recipe

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This summer I was breakfast salad crazy – in the garden, knee-deep in some wonderful greens, and the vegetable bowl craze just pointed to making more breakfast salads. Yum.

Now that the weather is just beginning to cool, my breakfast salads are warm. The garden is filled with tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and other delectables. Now, my breakfast salads are one-pan wonders morphing into veggie bowls. All good!

To put together a breakfast salad, pull together whatever you have in the fridge, notice the veggies that are in season (even better, at their peak) now, and think about the flavors you’re pulling together. I choose greens, a vegetable or two, flavorful protein-rich compatibles like nut butter, nuts or seeds, whole grains or soft-boiled eggs.

Salad dressings can boost nutrition – making your own from whole ingredients is worth it! Topping your breakfast salad with a bit of mayo, smooshed avocado, or good olive oil and vinegar works great too.

breakfast salad recipe
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Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes & Soft Boiled Egg Breakfast Salad

Quick, fresh and satisfying.
Course Breakfast
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 1
Cost $2.00

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup spinach or other greens I used baby organic
  • 5 stalks asparagus, sliced Use any vegetable you have on hand.
  • 1/2 sweet potato, cooked, sliced I often cook-off 3 or 4 sweet potatoes on a Sunday to use through the week.
  • 2 eggs, soft boil To soft boil an egg, place them in a small pan in cold water, then turn to high and bring to boil. Turn heat off - when the water is cool enough to peel the eggs (about 15 minutes) the eggs will be soft-boiled.
  • 1 Tbsp mayonnaise, good quality organic or it's actually easy to make your own
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp Fresh dill, diced

Instructions

  • Toss sweet potatoes, greens, and asparagus in a medium breakfast bowl. Top with 2 soft-boiled eggs, sliced in half. Top with mayo and mustard.
  • Toss all together, top with dill and enjoy.

Notes

There are so many combinations of breakfast salads.
Here are a few combos to try: 
Spinach - walnut - egg - turkey bacon - poppyseed dressing 
Cabbage - cashews - carrots - egg - Asian peanut dressing 
Red or green lettuce - grilled BBQ chicken leftovers - red peppers - balsamic vinaigrette
Tomatoes - basil - pine nuts - olives - tofu - olive oil 

pint breakfast salad

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How a baby bird taught me to begin again

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Cats, birds, and nature don’t always  – or maybe ever – mix. We get busy and distracted in our important lives – starting a new practice, entertaining and improving my level of fitness and oops. Right now I’m grateful to a tiny baby bird, who reminded me about the courage to begin again and again, to make space for practice.

Here’s what happened

Two days ago, a baby bird came into our lives and reminded us about moral clarity. I was pulling weeds in my garden, stood and came around the corner of the house and there it was – a naked egg-shaped baby bird between the paws of my two-year-old cat Bandit. Clearly alive. Clearly struggling.

My beloved and I live atop a hill overlooking an undisturbed field (no spring cut). There are too few uncut fields anywhere these days. A type of bird in New England nests in fields – I don’t know its name but I can show you two of them right now, perched in the tall grass courageously watching their nest and babies – I believe they are endangered.

I scooped up the hatchling so it would not be eaten alive, showed Craig, brought it inside, and made a little nest out of cotton and leaves in a flower pot. I thought I would just make it comfortable as it died and I tried to forgive myself for said death. I googled, made calls and started to find my way to people who could help with information or maybe even save this little one. That might take me off the hook for this possibly endangered bird that my cats have been feasting on while making me feel as though I was doing my part – check!

Fearless fighting Freddie lives

I found out that you can feed them softened cat food. It was clear this little one was not going to die immediately, his neck strained and little beak opened wide for the dropper. He grabbed that dropper and sucked with force. Wow. Impressive.

Through that first night, with (fearless fighting) Freddie cheep-cheeping every 45 minutes, and me rolling over to feed it, it was clear that 1. he might actually live and, and 2. we needed to – as every bird-oriented wildlife person will tell you –  keep the cats in to give the other babies a fighting chance. Maybe weeks. Or forever.

Freddie dies but lives on

Freddie died the next day after a valiant effort – he spent much of a day and a half in that upstretched open-mouthed position that is so cute. He/she died for a hundred possible reasons including that he was too warm/cold/over-hydrated/underhydrated/had internal injuries/the wrong food/or handled too much. I loved that little bird. I could recognize his/her voice cheep-peeping every 45 minutes. Craig loved him too – we decided, after he made it through the night, that we would roll him into the family – do what we had to to take care of the little fellow. This in spite of the mess and stink and the fact that I really do not like bird-pets. We also have 3 cats.

Through the experience, we were reminded that once in a while doing the right thing comes and smacks you in the face. We have to keep the cats in, regardless of how cute they are as they scamper to the door when we make the slightest move in that direction. Maybe for weeks. At least until those two parents are no longer guarding their nest. Maybe indefinitely.

It reminded us, too, that as conscious beings we have to practice – we can’t just wander on and let nature and life take its course. We had a lot of house guests around the time Freddie came into our lives and had stopped practicing. We were less connected to nature than usual. Tending the land comes with responsibility – now that we know those birds are there, we can’t let the cats out. If a little Freddie shows up because we didn’t know or weren’t paying attention, we try to rise to the occasion. Peep peep!

Now what? The answer is always practice

Freddie is now resting-in-peace near his nest. I am grateful to that little fellow and to the practice of mindfulness that allows me to slow down enough to learn from all the crazy things that are unfolding around me.

A good reason to think about joining our online group – to begin (or begin again) to practice mindful living.

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Herbal Water Recipe

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I finally got a glass pitcher with a cylinder in the top so that I can easily make herbal waters – cold water sun infusions. These are really the perfect alternative to soda or even to sparkling water in plastic containers.

Why Drink Herbal Water?

With herbal waters, you take a pass on the sugar and whatever else is in packaged drinks you purchase. But you also get a smidgen of phytonutrient and bioenergetic support (that certain je ne sais quoi – a delight of unknown origin) from herbs and other botanicals. Herbs do contain some of the most potent of nature’s medicines, and the flavors and fragrances you experience are those potent antioxidants that provide health-enhancing benefits like calming inflammation and helping to make your internal environment resilient.

How to Make Herbal Water

The recipe is so straight forward – it’s really more of a reminder.

herbal water
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Herbal Water Recipe

Herbal water passes on the sugar and expense of soda and soothes your senses with some of the most potent of nature's medicines - phytonutrients.
Course Drinks
Cuisine Plant Medicine
Keyword Herbal Water, Recipes, Plant Medicine
Prep Time 15 minutes
Steeping time 6 hours
Servings 4
Author annie
Cost $2.00

Equipment

  • Pitcher

Ingredients

  • 1 quart water clean, filtered
  • 1 /2 cup herbs & flavorings any edible fresh herb, root, flower or spice

Instructions

  • Fill a one-quart glass pitcher with water.
  • Place herbs and flavorings in something that will allow their suspension in the water - a clean small cloth bag, for example - I have a pitcher made just for sun-tea, with a plastic cylinder attached to the lid. A tea-ball would do the trick. There are an array of options available commercially.
  • Place pitcher containing herbs on a sunny windowsill or a sunny spot free from critters.
  • Leave for at least an hour, preferably several hours.
  • Remove herbs/flavorers, and enjoy as is or over ice. Keeps refrigerated for about a week.

Notes

This is one of those non-recipe recipes - perhaps it's more a technique. But, having a quart of herbal water around is a wonderful direct and simple way to connect with what is blooming or at it's peak in my yard. Simple refreshing plant medicine. 

Here are a few of my favorite herbal water combos I’ve tried over several summers:

  • Fresh ginger and English mint – refreshing and delicious
  • Lavender and blueberries – sweet and soothing
  • Cilantro – like a light green drink – tastes cleansing
  • Watermelon and lime – sweet and tangy and what is it about watermelon that just makes me happy?

What’s Your Favorite Herbal Water Combo?

If the idea of botanical cooking appeals, check out Kami McBride’s book, Herbal Kitchen. It’s an inspiration, a classic and uses botanicals in a variety of creative ways, from herbal waters to soups to cordials and even bathing and beauty non-products. Check her out!

Check my other plant medicine and plant-centric recipes.

herbal water

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Prediabetes Symptoms – Here’s How it Feels

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The last couple years have been tough. Through my challenging time I had a personal experience of how prediabetes symptoms feel – I don’t recommend it. For me, it was the wake-up call I needed to refocus on lifestyle.

One indicator of how life is going generally is my eating – for years I had it together, surfing life’s ups and downs while my relationship with food was stable and happy. It helped that I work at a yoga center famous for its healthful food, and that I’ve studied nutrition for almost 30 years (still fascinated!). Being an “expert” actually heightens the misery – I’m sure many of you know of what I speak.

Over the past two years, when I realized several of those big life fears (I watched the love of my life die, quick and gruesome…then…he came back to life! wait, wha?), the place that slipped was eating (of course!). In my despair, movement-related self-care was also just too hard to keep up. I moved a little but not enough – and I just could not find the joy I always felt with dance, movement and fitness.

Through this time, my A1c creeped up. While I know in great detail how to address it (hello, moderating carbohydrates and moving more) it hasn’t been easy. My progress until now has been rather slow. One thing that I’ve experience (I think) is how someone feels when their blood sugar is on what I call the blood sugar roller-coaster, giving you prediabetes symptoms.  It is a profound feeling and impacted nearly every moment of my day, and has a set of unhelpful thoughts attached.

Prediabetes Symptoms

While many people with prediabetes do not have symptoms, here are a few that can happen.

Fatigue. First, you’re tired. Really tired and unmotivated. It’s hard to comprehend a reason to get up and out of bed, and why-botherism is right there, pretty much all the time. There are moments of light, but mostly grey. Tired and unmotivated.

Unwellness. Then, you feel sort of crummy. Most of the time. Low energy and achy deep inside for no real reason.

Increase Thirst & Urination. I’ve always been a water drinker and didn’t notice this one, but some folks do.

Weird things begin to happen physically – blurred vision, skin things, digestive things, that have never happened before and don’t help with moving forward.

Cravings. For me, eating my favorite comfort/trigger foods (starch for me – mashed potatoes) became a heightened experience. I got trapped in a familiar cycle of emotional eating – stress, think of mash potatoes – eat mashed potatoes, overeat mashed potatoes – wish I hadn’t eaten mashed potatoes as I feel over-full.

What to Do if You Have Prediabetes Symptoms

Get ye to your doctor. Have labs drawn. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes and 90% of those that do don’t know it.

Know that it’s action time.

Gather helpers. My counselor/therapist – weekly through the worst of it, gave me someone to get into the muck with – to go deep deep into my fears and feel them, honor them. I could never have moved on or begun to release my fears around losing my dude without her.

Find yourself a good dietitian. Every town has at least one excellent dietitian – that’s is the right fit for your personality and pocketbook. More dietitians take health insurance, and more dietitians also offer premium services like custom fitness routines, custom meal plans and seriously regular meetings.

What is Prediabetes Anyway?

Prediabetes is when you begin to have problems with your blood sugar but you are not quite to the place of having a diagnosis of diabetes. It is action time, my friend.

Specifically, by the numbers, prediabetes is when:

  • A1c (a measure of blood sugar over several months) between 5.7 -6.4%
  • A fasting blood glucose of between 100-124 mg/dL

There are other indicators, like a oral glucose tolerance test, blood lipid levels that can also point to your risk of having prediabetes.

Here is a quiz of risk factors from the American Diabetes Association.

Why do I say it is action time? Because you can change it.

prediabetes symptoms

Update – My Story

At times, progress seemed a game of inches – sort of exasperating. It does, as you might imagine, heighten the excitement to also be a expert in the field. That’s where self-compassion comes in.  Then, as I tried to show up for my own life, and my family’s life, over and over day after day, it began to slowly shift. I had a great leap forward – normal labs! Now, I’m feeling better, eating better. My mindset is better and I’m heading in the right direction. I just show up, over and over, and participate in my own life (I wasn’t for a while). Recovery is one step forward, one step back. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back and I do my best to notice and celebrate that.

Everyone, when it comes to health and well-being, has both unique challenges and resources. I am not recovering without support and friends. I have support from the medical community – I live in the great state of MA – a place that attempts to provide care for all – and that care for me (and my husband) has been nothing less than life-saving. I have access to mental health and physical health care.

Take Your Next Step

As part of my healing and hopefully helping, I am now in private practice – both telehealth and face-to-face in Great Barrington, MA. Find out more about my personal lifestyle coaching.

Tell Me

What’s your story? What are the challenges and resources you have to heal your life? I want to know!

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Pork Tenderloin Cauliflower Curry Recipe

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If you live in New England, this has been a chilly – OK freezing – spring. Our minds are thinking of fresh herbs and lightening up, but our palates crave warmth. It’s an excellent time for a fresh curry. Here’s one made with pork tenderloin and cauliflower. You have here a one skillet meal, my friends, that takes about twenty minutes.

My beloved husband has, over the past year or so, become quite a connoisseur of quality food for less $. Do you know how sexy that is for a dietitian? Quite. I have become a student of his method of finding excellent quality food deals locally. It involves knowing when the local shopper’s guide comes out, and knowing what’s on special. In last week’s supermarket circular, there was a two-for-one offer of pork tenderloins (and organic chicken breasts, by the way). Who knew.

Pork tenderloin is a lean and healthful meat, particularly when raised as nature intended – on a small farm with love and a varied diet. Here’s what I did with half of a pork tenderloin. This Pork Tenderloin Cauliflower Curry recipe is easy to modify.  You may of course eliminate the pork and sub tofu or beans for a vegan curry. Chicken and shrimp are also easy substitutes.

Pork Tenderloin Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

Half a pork tenderloin (about 1 lb), sliced into bite-sized pieces

2 Tbsp Sesame oil

1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets

1 cup asparagus, snapped into bite-sized pieces

1 12 oz can coconut milk

2 Tbsp red curry paste

2 Tbsp chopped Thai or regular basil

Directions

Coat the bottom of a large skillet over medium-high heat with sesame oil, add pork pieces and sear, turning, for about 4 minutes. Turn head down to medium. Add cauliflower and saute for 4 minutes. Add asparagus, coconut milk (give the can a good shake before you open it). Stir in curry paste and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Slice into one of the pork piece to make sure it is cooked through – no pink inside. When pork is cooked through, cauliflower is soft and asparagus is bright and al-dente (still has some firmness), top with basil and serve as is or over brown rice or another grain.

Check out all my easy healthy recipes.

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Annie’s Health Philosophy – What’s Yours?

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Hi, I’m Annie

I’ve been a clinical nutritional biochemist for over 20 years, a yoga teacher and therapist for 15, and a student of the psychology of how people change and of consciousness for all my career.

Through my years of helping groups and individuals improve their health through lifestyle, I have seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of people who want to eat a healthful diet that supports who they are, but don’t.

It’s Tough to be Healthy

They can’t get started, can’t sustain it or get sidetracked by things that don’t work. It can be nearly impossible to eat well in our current (nutritionists call it toxic) nutrition environment.

Our modern culture is filled with mixed messages about food, weight, and how we should look and feel. The same is true for other aspects of healthful lifestyle – we want to be physically active yet our worlds are set up to be sedentary. We want to practice mindful resilience and stress-management yet we don’t have time because of the 24/7 culture of work, family, life.

Where I Fit In

I am an unapologetic proponent of spirituality as essential to health. Mind body and spirit have been fractured in our modern culture, and re-uniting and fully occupying our multidimensional selves in balance with the earth is the path forward that resonates for me.

One of the gifts of living right here and now is that we have the potential to be the re-integrators. We have at our fingertips the modern health sciences, and we also have new and accessible interpretations of ancient wisdom-sciences such as shamanic plant work, Ayurveda and tantra. Many practices from these wisdom traditions are proving to be effective modalities for addressing the mind-body-spirit split and toxicity of modern life.

Here’s How I see Health

Practicing an integrated life (imperfectly but regularly) maintains wellness and supports dynamic well-being. For a variety of reasons, most people don’t or are not able to sustain regular practice. Enjoying a plant-based diet, moving, taking time for rest and contemplation, and connecting with family like-minded people are components of a life that keep things in dynamic balance. Your unique variation on that lifestyle fuels your life force – healing is a feeling. But life, for nearly everyone, inevitably becomes imbalanced. It is our nature and indeed the nature of life here on earth to become imbalanced.

I also think that feeling bad about ourselves is overall the largest chronic health problem. Please please don’t feel bad about the choices you make. It’s the critical first step to change.

And Healing

The opportunity of imbalance is to learn more about who you are and why you are here.

You can become a discerner of the array of therapeutic options from evidence-based and wisdom realms, or find others you trust to help you sort it out. You can become a students of who you are – each of us are unique, and what works for someone else will not necessarily work for you. Then you can become a thoughtful experimenter of what works.

With time, life comes into a (often new) balance. Dynamic, changing balance that requires ongoing tending and practice.

It’s a long-term project and a lifelong dance. The alternative, for many, is to get sick before your time. You can do this. I’m honored to share what I know to show you how.

What’s your health philosophy? What’s most important for your health and well-being? I want to know!

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Practice Finding Peace – Begin Mindful Living Online Group

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Mindfulness is the skill that seems custom-designed for modern life – so it’s popular.   I can’t tell you how many books I saw (many from new graduates of mindful meditation courses) – at the most recent Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (AND) conference. The more the merrier, really – all attempts at helping people begin mindful living are welcome!

I’m sure you’ve heard about the fascinating studies that suggest the simple (but not easy) practice of mindfulness helps with nearly any chronic condition, from stress to diabetes. True. But, you have to practice regularly, and I do think you have to practice reasonably well (not to be confused with perfectly – intention counts). For bet effect, you aim is to let go and be deeply and completely absorbed in what you are doing. I’m in the camp that thinks that mindfulness is a little more than just paying attention to what you are doing, though paying attention is a marvelous thing.

Here is a fun and easy solution to that tricky problem – each season, I hold an interactive online group called Begin Mindful Living. It’s been a hit! Because it works.

So, what is mindfulness?

Mindfulness – a meditative practice of focusing on what happens moment to moment with an attitude of non-judgmental awareness – seems like medicine for what ails us in modern life. It can begin to change us from the inside out.

In the past couple decades we’ve learned a lot more about just how this happens. There are short -term neurological mechanisms, and longer term genetics at play in the inside-out change of mindfulness. There are also mindset changes that, over time, reinforce the primary two mechanisms of neurobiology and genetics.

Why it can be so hard to start & maintain?

Mindfulness is a way of being. It’s a big shift in how you approach life. I think of the things you do in life – your habits and choices – as a flowing river. You flow along, doing what you do. When you begin to practice mindfulness, it’s like putting an oar in the water – it starts to make waves. It takes energy and skill and determination to keep it going. Practice. That means it’s easy to give up when you don’t see quick benefits. It’s easy to give up when it gets a little challenging.

Community to the rescue!

Annie Kay

That’s why it’s great to launch mindful living in a group under the guidance of a skilled facilitator. Having the touchstone of others that will motivate you to try try again catapults the likelihood that you’ll keep it going. That you’ll press through when things get tougher.

Now, a word about online groups. I’ve given a number of interactive webinars for national health organizations, and conducted several of my own online groups. I love the magic that happens in groups and it’s the center of the work I do. There have been some recent advances in online interactivity that – while there is nothing like face-to-face – do the trick to connect you with others. You can see them, you can speak to them. It is an online kula – an online gathering. Overall, for the cost and time, it’s awesome.

Begin Mindful Living Online Group

I love this group!

Here is an easy way to launch mindful living that focuses on your self-care. Self-care is anything you do to do well by your whole being. It’s everything from making a balanced choice for breakfast – then enjoying every sensory bite of it; to taking a slow mindful walk in nature as you breath and receive the beauty of your surroundings.

I’ve begun to do a 4-week session every season, and our summer offering goes off between July 18- Aug 8th, Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm EST.

Join us!

begin mindful living

 

 

 

 

Each session will have a theme and your learning will progress over the month. One week before each session, you will receive a tip sheet with an introduction of the topic, an easy suggested practice and a journaling question.

 

Week 1: Intention & Mindful Practice

  • Get clear on why, and begin the experiment with easeful practice. 

Week 2: Mindful Self-care

  • Health care IS Self-care. It’s for everyone, even you. 

Week 3: Mindful Relationships

  • Others in our lives give us our greatest opportunity to practice! 

Week 4: Take it Forward into Life

  • Clarify what you’ve received, and set intention for moving forward. 

Each week, we’ll discuss overcoming challenges! 

I so look forward to seeing you in our mindful living kula! Here’s more information. 

Ready to sign up? Sign up now.

Have questions? Ask away.

Annie b kay

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