Eat Your Leafy Greens

As a fitness instructor and an aspiring personal trainer and wellness coach, I read many of the new books on health, fitness, diet and nutrition. Here are three recent ones. I did not read these one after another; I read mystery books in between. I'll do a post soon on my new favorite author.

The premise of What to Eat When by Michael F. Roizen and Michael Crupain is one that appeals to me. I've always been a daytime eater and tend not to nibble late at night. When I go out to dinner and/or have a big evening meal, I often have trouble sleeping. Roizen and Crupain's theory is that your body best uses the food you eat when your body is active. Their recommendation is that you eat a big breakfast and lunch and then a minimal dinner. In fact, at least 2/3 (or maybe 3/4) of your daily calories should be consumed before 2 p.m.

The authors present a lot of information about the body's physiology to support their advice. Unfortunately, much of this advice is presented in a manor that I'm sure they found humorous, but I found too cute and rather annoying. Regardless, this book is a worthwhile read. And certainly brings to mind the old adage  "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper."

Next up is Eat to Beat Disease by William Li. Li looks at 5 physiological functions of the body - angiogenesis, regeneration, microbiome, DNA protection, and immunity - and looks at different foods that can support these. His theory is that the body can heal itself if we give it the right foods to do so. He lists several foods for each of the 5 functions and recommends eating 5 of the foods each day to support each function. There are menu plans for guidance.

The Longevity Paradox by Steven R. Gundry is somewhat of a combination of the above two books. Gundry proposes certain foods feed what he calls our "gut buddies" - the good bacteria in our gut - and when those "gut buddies" are well fed, they keep our body young, strong and free of disease. He also claims that good bacteria need some (but not too much) stress in order to remain strong themselves and recommends an occasional fast. He also recommends eating at least 4 hours before going to bed to let our bodies process the food we ate.

This is the most restrictive book in terms of what to eat: minimal animal protein (certain seafood is okay), no cow dairy (sheep and goat are okay), no legumes, no grains, fruits only when local and in season. He's also very much opposed to strenuous exercise such as marathon running. He feels it depletes the body and weakens the immune system.

Of course there is a lot of conflicting information among these three books. William Li says stone fruits are good, especially plums while Steven Gundry says our bodies evolved when fruits were only available at a certain time of the year (summer/fall) and we should respect that.

What they do agree on is that eating green leafy vegetables is good and eating processed sugar is bad.

Otherwise, I guess we're on our own.

Aches and Pains

As the years pass, I find my body is less agile and supple than it used to be. When I do injure myself, it takes longer for things to heal. Little (and not-so-little) aches and pains appear with more frequency.

Not so long ago, my knees decided they just didn't want to work very well. They stiffen up easily, and if I squat deeply, I just plain can't get up. So much for lifting and using my legs rather than my back. At one point, I was having trouble walking down stairs. I began to wonder if I needed new knees. Fortunately, my knees are feeling much better, though not as well as they did 10 years ago.

Now it's my shoulders that are making themselves known.

A few months ago, I slipped on a puddle of water on the floor and wrenched my left shoulder. I also bruised my tailbone. I went down so fast I don't even remember exactly what happened. My tailbone healed, but my shoulder still hurts when I move it in certain directions. About 20 years ago, I was diagnosed with arthritis in my right shoulder. It stiffens up quickly and I have to be careful how much stress I put on it. Because of the arthritis, I use a left-handed mouse.

Actually, there are many advantages to using a left-handed mouse. Since my dominant hand is my right hand, using my left hand helps to stimulate the right side of my brain. Everyone's brains need more stimulation. And I also find I can work faster on the keyboard: I can highlight a phrase with my left-handed mouse and delete it with my right hand. Or keep track of my statistics with the pencil in my right hand.

However, using the mouse was irritating my sore left shoulder, so I switched to a right-handed mouse. Now my right shoulder is irritated, too. I'm having trouble sleeping because I sleep on my side. Either side hurts a sore shoulder.

I'm doing two things that I think will alleviate the sore shoulder situation:
1. I've asked for a computer keyboard tray to lower my keyboard at work. I noticed that I need to hold my arms up to use the keyboard and mouse. The tray is supposed to arrive and be installed this week.
2. I've already installed the software program Stretchware. This is a program I used when I worked at CMRLS and loved. Other people do too. You can set it for every 30, 60, or 90 minutes (or anything in between) and when the bell (or harp tone or something else) sounds, a box with between 4 and 6 exercises appears. Each takes 8-15 seconds to do, a total of perhaps 2 minutes. Then you close the box and go back to work till you hear the sound again. Just that brief break, stretching my wrists or arms or shoulders makes a big difference.

If only I could get something like Stretchware for the rest of the challenges in my life.