RSSArchive for September 2008
Eyebrows Are Everything
September 30, 2008
You’ve heard this before, I know it : If you do one thing to improve your appearance, have your eyebrows done.
It is an undeniable truth. It cleans up your face, it gives you some polish, a little edge that nobody can quite put their finger on. That’s the best kind of “having something done”. Unless you are blessed with beautifully-shaped brows in a perfect color for your hair color and complexion, this will make an enormous difference.
The first time
It can also be scary. What if you get someone who pulls off most of your eyebrow or leaves a big hole? Simple. Find someone who uses tweezers, not wax. Most artists and estheticians strive for a very natural look anyhow, but with tweezers you can keep checking on how it’s going. They’re used to women being nervous about this, believe me.
Do have it done professionally, at least the first time. That means you need recommendations from other women. Ask around. Try to find a makeup artist who will shape brows because they can look at your entire face/hair combination and consult on the best shape AND color for you.
Estheticians are very good but their color advice might not be the same as your makeup artist’s. Still, many estheticians are terrific at eyebrows and they’re easier to find than makeup artists.
DIY Eyebrows
Want to try it yourself? Invest in a pair of Tweezerman tweezers. They are worth every cent. I think they leave the skin cleaner than wax. Mine cost $24.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart. They are shaped on a slant and they do not miss a hair.
My brows peak a little at the top, so I clean away the extra hairs to round the top edge. Takes about 15 seconds. Huge difference.
Naturally dark
My brows are naturally too dark and mousey for my lighter warm brown hair. It looks discordant and a little severe.
Natural (dark) brow color.
Bleaching them lightens and softens the whole eye area. Jolen from the drugstore, 4 minutes and done. It looks softer and brings more light to the eye area, one of those subtle ways of looking a little younger.
Though it was done professionally the first time, this is so simple that I’ve done it myself ever since. It works out to about every 6 weeks, as often as I have my hair colored. You just mix it up like the instructions say, 2 parts cream to 1 part powder approximately. I use ¼ tsp powder and ½ tsp cream, eyeballed, mixed right on the little card in the box. I paint it on, wait 4 minutes, rinse it off. Costs $5, takes 5 minutes, my kind of beauty treatment. Until you know how long it takes to reach your shade, you could experiment by beginning with 2 minutes (which is how long it takes me to see that any change at all is taking place), and then increase in 30 second increments till you figure out your time.
Because my brows are a little thin at the beginning and end, a little matte eyeshadow for blond brows is brushed in among the hairs in those places. Many women like pencils to define brows but I find it easier to get a very natural look with powder and an angled brush. I prefer matte eyeshadow to brow powder because it comes in more color variations and is more sheer than many brow powders.
Lighter, softer brows.
Naturally light
Holly’s brows are naturally so light that they’re invisible. She has them colored with the same dye that’s applied to her hair. Hairstylists do this all the time.
Brows colored with hair dye.
Holly also has her brows shaped, but that’s done at a different salon.
Now her entire face, and the eye area especially, has beautiful definition, but it’s very subtle. Holly is wearing a little makeup but the perfect brows are doing most of the work to enhance her face.
Low cost, low maintenance
Clean brows in a natural, flattering shape are easy to achieve. You can learn this, you really can. The effect of opening, brightening, and defining the eye gives a makeup effect with no makeup.
This is generally one of the least expensive procedures in many salons. Depending on your brows, it needs to be redone about every 6-8 weeks. Once you get used to the new shape, it’s easy to maintain the look with your own handy home tool kit of Jolen and Tweezermans.
-->You’ve heard this before, I know it : If you do one thing to improve your appearance, have your eyebrows done.
It is an undeniable truth. It cleans up your face, it gives you some polish, a little edge that nobody can quite put their finger on. That’s the best kind of “having something done”.
This Month In Allure October 2008 : Yes, Yes, YES!
September 28, 2008
If you have any interest in makeup, any at all, you will want to know that each October, Allure publishes their Best of Beauty issue. This is the best one ever, with Ellen Pompeo (who looks like a cross between Lindsay Lohan and Kate Hudson) on the cover.
For awhile, it seemed the same products were being recycled year after year. This year’s seems fresher, like they started at the beginning again.
Letter From The Editor
The editor-in-chief is a woman named Linda Wells. I would like this woman (though after The Devil Wears Prada, who knows?). She writes the only Letter From The Editor that I consistently read in any magazine. She seems more indulgent of the stardust and glitz than mesmerized by it.
Linda Wells
It’s never a speech promising how great the issue is going to be. She lets you work that out for yourself. It’s just about a point of view, something she thought about or noticed. Though she travels in entirely different circles, the experience is always one you can relate to. There’s no gushing or raving or taking it all too seriously. She seems more genuine than primped to the teeth.
The issues I NEVER buy
Readers Choice Awards issue are futile. The products never seem to evolve. Why is anyone still buying Great Lash mascara (unless you want a no-mascara look), or Clinique DDML (you could be getting so much more!) ? I don’t even want to talk about NARS Orgasm blush (for 80% of women, there are better choices!). The scents are never interesting, the brands names less so, with MAC and CoverGirl being far too heavily weighted.
Chatelaine did a decent Favorite Products article in the September 08 issue. I almost bought it, but in the same magazine was an article about a woman who tortured her children – here if you need to see it.
What are their editors thinking? Am I going bring something so evil, that radiates such horrible energy into my house? And have my kids see it? I remember some years ago an issue with a feature on a woman who was in love with Paul Bernardo. I can’t even bring myself to type what he was all about it, but you can Google him. I warn you, it’s not pretty. Chatelaine must have a very solid readership to print this stuff. I won’t even pick up the magazine any more.
Elegance has one master
Giorgio Armani
The source of the photo is an article in Wallpaper, for his Armani Casa furniture design store in London. The interview is interesting, but even better is the slideshow of Armani interiors. Click under the small kitchen photo to view the gallery.
Anyone who’s been to my house will fall over laughing for days to think I aspire to this. I have a long way to go. Actually, the house is too sterile, but visualize some stuff in it and it starts looking less robotic.
Allure has featured Armani’s belief in simplicity in makeup, just as in clothing, in a short article. His sense of elegance and understatement is, of course, renowned. In these, no one can take his place. I was most comforted by his statement that what he dislikes is “the exhibition of being sexy”. Thank heavens. If there’s one thought that does not cross my mind, it’s whether or not I appear sexy.
A good friend spoke with me recently about a piece on “Why Do You Want To Look Sexy?”, as a follow up to Why To You Want To Look Younger? . I sat, I thought, I read, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t find a place from which to understand the question because the sad fact is looking sexy, or feeling it, just never crosses my mind. Maybe it’s a sign of pre-menopause.
I do want to look attractive. I don’t go out without makeup. I think about my hair. I’m literally happier on my thin days. But sexy per se, why don’t I care? No idea. I’d like to know though. I need to speak with my friend and technical expert, Rick, about putting polls on this page. How many of us think about looking sexy? Always, never, sometimes?
An SJP aside
On page 186, SJP has the weirdest hair color I’ve ever seen on her. I’m pretty sure that girl is a summer, and when they make her hair the color of corn, or even worse, whatever this color is, the descriptive words escape me, pinkish-brown…, man, she just looks off. Does anyone recall when her hair was platinum (white) blond and shoulder length? I for one thought she looked amazing.
Best of the Best
But the Best-Of pages!! Stupendous. You can tell they worked at this. The choices are mostly beautiful and original. The colors are modern and elegant , though those of you who don’t wear sea-foam green eyelids may differ on that point. What can you say, they’re targeting 25 year olds. You’ll enjoy the outstanding gray eyeshadows more. The Winners lists are here, sans pictures.
Any colors from the past are only being re-hashed because they’re still the most beautiful ( and, yes, Orgasm is among them; that color will never go away, it will haunt the beauty galaxy for all time). Brands are spread over the board pretty well, with many expensive choices, but I find it forgivable and expected. That’s often where the best pigments and textures are in makeup (not so with Skin Care).
I appreciated the page devoted to Splurges, Economy, Natural, and Men’s selections.
Is it still the cosmetics industry soaking in you in hype and relieving you of your cash? Of course it is. But if you love the stuff and like to play, and are actually happy to go looking for independent opinions before you buy, throw this issue in the grocery cart. You will find the fabbiest products in lines you might never bothered getting to know. Your list of things to take a look at next time you’re out shopping is going to grow.
-->If you have any interest in makeup, any at all, you will want to know that each October, Allure publishes their Best of Beauty issue. This is the best one ever, with Ellen Pompeo (who looks like a cross between Lindsay Lohan and Kate Hudson) on the cover.For awhile, it seemed the same products were being recycled year after year. This year’s seems fresher, like they started at the beginning again.
Read moreHold Your Ground
September 27, 2008
Exercise is a great metaphor for life. How you look is the minor payoff. The grand prize is its effect on how you think.
The mind-over-body challenge provides an ongoing simulation of asserting an intention and meeting the challenge at every workout. You have to dominate the demon that would keep you sitting on the couch. Get used to conquering demons and pretty soon, they start looking puny. Face down an obstacle every day and overcoming obstacles becomes familiar territory.
The expression “Hold Your Ground” has real meaning in movement, as well as being an analogy for strength and determination.
Literally, pull the ground
It means to grip the ground beneath your feet. Grip the ground when you move, like the tread on a bulldozer, and pull yourself along it. The ground you stand on? You own it.
I bought an elliptical machine at Canadian Tire. It was $299, on sale for 119 ( yes, 119, not 199!). Seemed like a good deal, with just-warmer-than-lukewarm reviews on the CT site. I agree with the reviewers who said the stride is short. But that’s not a bad thing. This feels more like running than stair-climbing or elliptical work. My body deeply dislikes running, and my knees abhor it. This is a great way to get the huge toning and calorie burn of running without the pain. 85% of the reviewers agreed that it was worth it for the price and I concur. Watch your CT flyers, women!
If you kickbox, picture being hard to tip over and impossible to lift up. It means you have to consciously set and harden your pelvic muscles. You can’t solidify your entire body from your legs alone. It has to come from deep in your middle.
If you remember the article Where Strength Begins : Hold Your Body Together, you’ll have seen the analogy of the cross hairs of a rifle in your pelvis (spine Y axis, Earth and Water line X axis). Tighten along the crosshairs and hold the whole thing together. Don’t let it rock unless you’re in control of it.
Take a few Pilates classes. Learn how all movement begins and is empowered from your pelvis. Once you get how to do this, your limbs work smarter, not harder, because the power is coming from your core. Your limbs are then free to move with more grace and yet, more force. A powerful, rock-solid center is the origin for everything you do – in your head as well as your body. Imagine yourself hard to displace.
Here are a couple of brilliant ones with excellent instruction. Both are linked to their page at Collage Video.
Play with your feet
When only one foot meets the floor, feel the ground connecting with the entire surface of a strong, relaxed, and conscious foot. Feel your foot spread out and give your weight to it. Think about a secure, broad, comfortable foot. Have you ever really thought about how your feet connect to the ground? It’s a very calming thing to do and great for balance.
Anytime you leave the ground, land like Catwoman. We all remember the old record players in our parents’ living rooms, right? When you land, don’t let the needle skip. To do that, you have to tighten your pelvic and leg muscles before you land. Land softly, soundlessly, but securely. Much easier on the joints too.
Figuratively
Visualize these sensations as determination and resolve to get what you want. Whatever gets in the way better move because you don’t intend to. Be as steady metaphorically as you are literally.
Know the calm place in your mind that allows your body to find balance. Practice clearing your mind to make yourself secure. The inner calm that leads to mental stability will also be found faster each time you search for it. That sensation is stored in the same place in your head, whether the situation is mental or physical.
Visualize your foundation deeply rooted in the earth. I lose this when I wear heels. I feel wavering and erratic in my movements and how I think others see me. Though they can look nice if you’re standing or sitting, I seldom wear them. I expect it comes with practice but unless the shoe has a solid heel and comfortable toe, well…too often, the walk looks pinched and wobbly, not empowered. It sends the wrong message.
On the front page of the Allure magazine site, there’s a poll asking whether you feel more powerful in heels. 85% of women do! That’s interesting because they don’t look it.
Develop a strong core. Once the center is empowered, whether in movement or life, the actions that follow can be stronger, tougher, and more intense.
Gains, mental and physical, are guaranteed.
--> Exercise is a great metaphor for life. How you look is the minor payoff. The grand prize is its effect on how you think.
Hold your ground means to grip the ground beneath your feet. Grip the ground when you move, like the tread on a bulldozer, and pull yourself along it. The ground you stand on? You own it. The determination you need to get what you want? You own that too.
Makeup Counter Navigation
September 25, 2008
Navigation means the process of finding your way around. Usability means making sure something works well.
Don’t Make Me Think!
I read a great book. It is Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Steve is a guy who gets paid to figure out if websites are easy enough for anyone, or at least the intended client, to navigate and use. But the intended client is anyone.
Usability seems easy enough, and it’s mostly common sense. The problem is that common sense is not all that common. Add to that the conflicts between the designer, the CEO, and everyone in between, and it makes for tortuous websites.
Steve describes us to ourselves. People view the internet like roadside signs that go zooming past them. If we’re looking for something on a page, the line that has our attention is the only thing on the page we see. We are in a hurry. And we’re coldblooded. We’re looking for something specific, not reading a book. If the page we land on doesn’t have what we want, we click away, often back to the Google Search page.
The internet is like being in a huge mall blindfolded, getting walked around, and having the blindfold whipped off for 10 seconds every 10 minutes. The challenge is in trying to figure out where you are and where the good stuff is. You know it’s there but have no idea how to get to it. Make it convoluted and no one will use it.
Websites that don’t work
The example I keep running into is the Clarins site. Tiny fonts. Can’t tell what’s clickable. Sadly, not enough is clickable. It used to be impossible to find the colors an eyeliner was available in. Now I can get there sometimes, but the swatches are too small. Does the cosmetics industry try these out on real women?
L’Oreal is even more difficult. If you type www.loreal.com, you’ll get taken to a to entire L’Oreal arsenal. There’s this freakishly annoying flickering hand for a cursor (why? is it just my computer?) and the interface is forever loading something. If you’re really on the ball and type www.lorealparis.com, you’re redirected to www.lorealparisusa.com , and wait a long time for something to appear, if it ever does. The pages take a long time to load. Once you’re in, it’s ok, though there will be ads, but you really need a will to stay with it that long.
This is not easy for consumers. They’d even spray you with perfume if they could. It would be a multi-sensorial experience, like walking into a Hollister store, and just as hard to find what you want.
Universal principles
A makeup collection is no different. They sabotage themselves by making makeup counters so complicated that many women avoid them, just like so many websites. Could the marketing be intentional to confuse us and unload more product? Without knowing what they want and what suits them, many women would not venture near a makeup counter.
We walk past islands and islands of displays. They are all clamoring for our time and attention, just like so many neon signs on the highway. It’s intimidating and a little depressing.
In many cases, the easiest choice to make is none, even if there has been an attempt to organize the parade, like at Clinique and MAC. Nobody wants remote controls with 55 buttons. It is not an accident that Google’s main page is mostly white. They asked people what they wanted and they listened to what they were told. We love them all the more for it.
The collections in many Sephora stores might as well be in alphabetical order. If a company makes 5 kinds of lip gloss, the difference between each should be spelled out somewhere obvious (this would be you, MAC). Bobbi Brown, possibly the most real-life-friendly line out there from a color perspective (and if you ignore the prices), has 60 black lipstick cases all turned upside down and no corresponding color swatch anywhere. Now am I really going to turn over each one to find a color I like?
When the pink, orange, and neon lipsticks are all mixed together, the thought balloon over your head says “Who would wear this? Is this the one meant for me? Is it supposed to go with something else? Why didn’t they put the Out There stuff out there?”
What Women Want
Women don’t need 40 lipsticks. We hate that we have that many because 30 of them at least represent mistakes or impulsive purchases. We’d trade them all for 3 that we know look great. We don’t have time (nor confidence, quite often) for eye makeup designs involving 4 different colors, regardless of how well they go together.
What we want are 3 (give or take) colors in each of the blush, eyeshadow, and lip color categories that we know look great on us. These would be the shades made for our coloring that we would reach for every day.
You could walk up to a display, quickly find what’s appropriate for your coloring (or get assistance in doing so), and trust that you would never, ever look silly. The colors would suit you, look true and believable on your face, and would be coordinated to belong in the same color families. Shopping really would be a breeze.
Like well-designed website navigation, you should not have to break a sweat to see where you are and where you want to go. That thinking should be done for you. I maintain that it’s not that hard.
-->
The internet is like being in a huge mall blindfolded, getting walked around, and having the blindfold whipped off for 10 seconds every 10 minutes. The challenge is in trying to figure out where you are and where the good stuff is. You know it’s there but have no idea how to get to it. Make it convoluted and no one will use it.
A makeup collection is no different.
The First 4 Ways To Modify Makeup For Age
September 23, 2008
--> We’d all like the skin we had when we were 20. We’d like the skin we had when we were 5, if it comes right down to it. But that’s not the deal.
Makeup that looks fabulous changes with age just as everything else does. Your face is not the same as it was 20 years ago. It’s better. Your character is beginning to shine through. The makeup can take a back seat.
Book Review : Tom Robbins Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (2000)
September 21, 2008
In my 20’s, I thought Tom Robbins was the man of my dreams. Eventually, I drifted away. I tried to read Jitterbug Perfume but couldn’t get involved. I felt like I had outgrown the excellent but fantasy-like freedom of his thought process.
That was back when I thought growing up was important. I was trying to be in control, a theme not in keeping with Robbins’ writing. I didn’t have the patience to read a story told by a stick and a can of beans. I just didn’t get it, but the limitation resided only within me.
Growing up is overrated
Since I now resist growing up, and am not only allowing, but squeezing all the random energy I can out of life, I’m finding him again. 25 years later, I’m just beginning to get what he got all along and re-reading all his books.
Does anyone remember his picture from the older books? Now who couldn’t drink wine with that for a week? Cuteness incarnate. Still easy on the eyes (yes, ok, I know it doesn’t matter, but it’s a strong memory, so I’m going with it),
Tom Robbins from HistoryLink
Out of pure loyalty to what could have been, and because I needed a travel book, I picked up Fierce Invalids. He’s only gotten better with time. (We all have, right? My point, exactly).
His writing still sends electricity down my arms when we connect over the right words. He tells a great story. Buried in the silliness, almost Monty Pythonesque at times, are reflections on human frailty and love, living with our imperfections and the meaning of a perfect existence.
Discover possibility
Try rocking your own boat. Shift the ground under your feet, poke a stick at your fire and see what sparks up. What you don’t know may be way more interesting than what you already know. Possibility is more fun than reality. In fact, realism limits possibility and should be done away with. With Tom Robbins, you don’t have to worry about too much realism. It’s the effervescence some might feel goes overboard, but I would disagree. The sparkle is what it’s all for.
He writes of suspending one’s beliefs. True to his inclinations, his clarity is found through meditation, with/without chemical assistance. Meditation and chemical assistance don’t get me there, though chocolate gives me a glimmer. Still, though never one to shy away from shoving one’s beliefs into free fall, I’ll have to reach my destiny in the earthbound, knuckle-dragging way.
The point is important though. It’s our own thought menu that’s the problem. The rhymes of our own lives get stuck in our heads. We need a way to climb out of the grooves we’re so entrenched in. Once the static is quieted and our definitions of so-called reality get peeled back, there opens a void into which new possibilities can live.
Laughter and Shattered Sensibilities
One of his characters is learning about laughter. I’ve never contemplated laughter before as a behavior. Improbably, considering that the subject is the internet (but not improbably at all, since its deeper thesis is freedom), my other life-changing book of the summer, The Cluetrain Manifesto weighs up the meaning of laughter too. It’s an odd behavior when you think about it. I could imagine an animal crying before I could see it laughing.
Some may find offense. If you’re thin-skinned on the topics of sex, government, or religion, these books might not be for you. If you’re looking for safe social commentary or linear plots, head back to the bookshelf.
Still the man of my dreams. He, and maybe the guy on the Josh Groban poster on my wall, which proves I’ve grown up too.
Great links
There’s a very complete life story here at HistoryLink.
january magazine posts an in-depth interview with Robbins about his writing process here.
At wikiquote, the more memorable passages and quotations from his books. I read a few almost daily, especially when I find myself going and getting all serious, important, and tiresome. Freedom (if that’s too much, let’s go with leniency or tolerance) and hedonism (sub pleasure if desired) can surely make the light shine brighter than dry, dusty austerity.
A YouTube interview where Robbins discusses the teachings of OSHO the Indian Mystic. (Uploaded by OSHO International).
Have I mentioned the man-of-my-dreams thing too often ? Nah.
-->In my 20’s, I thought Tom Robbins was the man of my dreams. Eventually, I drifted away. That was back when I thought growing up was important. I was trying to be in control, a theme not in keeping with Robbins’ writing. Since I now resist growing up, and am not only allowing, but squeezing all the random energy I can out of life, I’m finding him again.
Read more… So Damn Afraid Of Who I Am
September 19, 2008
My friend Nathalie said those words in a comment to Are You A Toned-Down Version Of Yourself?
She said,
Every so often, I ‘ll go back to read it again. I find it helps me gain strength in who I want to be and to not be so damn afraid of who I am. I guess the word is “confidence”.
When I began this venture, one goal was to understand what it is that women are so afraid of. Can you feel it, in yourself, or your friends, that holding back? I sense the caution in me too. I can only go so far in my self-discovery journey before I get uncomfortable and antsy.
Women (not girls) and fear
Is there a genetic switch on the X chromosome that flips with puberty?
Is it the female collective unconscious, the buried memories all women share of having been made to suffer physically and mentally for centuries that makes us so hesitant?
Is it just easier to be dutiful and obedient? Are we still listening to our parents’ warnings?
I don’t see it in girls before they’re 15 or so, but it is certainly there once they reach the late teens. Everyone appears to be born equal. Where does our confidence go?
Nathalie gets it in 1
But Nat’s just figured it out. She said it all right there. Are you amazed or is it just me? I was rooted to my chair.
It’s not anything external that we women are afraid of. It’s ourselves! It’s what we know we could be. It’s the knowledge that we could be all that we want to be. We are torn to distraction by the conflict of knowing we’re good enough and thinking we might not be.
It’s the need we have to apologize for everything and doubt ourselves so much. This is not wishing you were someone else. It’s dumbing ourselves down because it’s easier than coping with the fallout of having it all. We’d rather broadcast “don’t notice me, I’m not that great” than turn the spotlight on ourselves.
Living a life without limits is scary. We paint ourselves into a corner that keeps our truest selves, our Deeper Self, secret and guarded.
Grow in your own eyes
You don’t have to be who your parents expected. Or wanted.
You can try something and screw up completely and not be less than who you are. You can change your mind as often as you like and not apologize.
Women care more (or actually notice) how others feel. We are programmed to smoothe and unite. Now and then, overlook the discomfort of others for the sake of your growth and theirs.
Ignore the ‘on the rag’ comments, the “bitch” and the “dizzy” comments. People are not really being negative about you, just reacting to unease in themselves as you change the rules. Others become a little afraid of who we are too. It takes time to learn.
Is it the shift in the balance of power in the relationship that they sense? Is it anxiety about what else you’re planning to torpedo them with?
Who cares? Unfold a new piece of you every day and let it flex its muscles. Practice thinking about yourself in bigger terms that you do now.
Tulips smiling up at the sun, just for you, Nathalie.
-->
My friend Nathalie said those words in a comment to Are You A Toned-Down Version Of Yourself?
She said,
Every so often, I ‘ll go back to read it again. I find it helps me gain strength in who I want to be and to not be so damn afraid of who I am. I guess the word is “confidence”.
Welcome To Reality
September 17, 2008
At a party recently, a group was discussing and wondering why life is so tough, why you never get a break, why things always seem to go wrong, why everybody’s broke. One woman chimed in “Well, welcome to reality”.
Whose reality?
That’s not my reality.
Is it just the reality of people committed to being sick and miserable?
Is it the reality of people who watch the news and believe that it really represents the world we live in? The news on TV is only ever bad, which is just not possible. But it will still paralyze you if you watch it.
Is it the reality of people who have lived with financial tension for so long they no longer see a fridge full of food? What exactly do they need so much that they can’t buy ?
Is it just our culture? I’m reminded of the type of people who work in Small Business Loans in banks. Now I know that banks (at least in Canada) are doing what they’re supposed to which is to be risk-averse (they’re not investors after all) and to keep our money safe, and they do it well. But the Loans officers across the desk-who are also just doing their job-have gotten a lot of practice at saying No.
They read the proposals, purse their lips, look down through their progressive bifocals (nothing against them either, I wear them myself, see?
, it’s just the image I’m conjuring), you can hear the sizzle as their scrap of imagination fries up, the more of the proposal they read, and they hand it back to you across the desk with a terse, tight-lipped, and final little “No”. No, No, No, No.
Reality can’t be real. It’s not the same for any two people. There are no rules to this game. You can make them all up as you go.
Have a little creativity. Reality is whatever you say it is. Make your own reality. Yeah, ok, you don’t have the exact car you want. In your list of things you’re thankful for, is your car on the list anyway?
There are people for whom everything is a Yes. They say Yes things, they see them, they live them. Their life becomes a self-directed Yes because they chose it. Their imagination is unleashed. They invent their own Northern Star.
Get excited about what’s right in your life. Most of us have so much of it. Continue to dream. It’s you in the control tower. It’s you at the wheel. Nobody is running your show but you.
Let those Welcome To Reality comments ricochet right off you. It’s as good or as bad as you decide it is.
Does this sound like nothing more than positive thinking? Basically that’s all it is. But that’s a choice too. You’re not born a negative thinker or a positive thinker. You can certainly absorb the tendency from the family whose conversation you hear or the friends you spend time with. Before you know it, you’ve heard yourself say it so often, it’s a habit.
At some point, it was a choice you had. It’s still a choice you have.
-->At a party recently, a group was discussing and wondering why life is so tough, why you never get a break, why things always seem to go wrong, why everybody’s broke. One woman chimed in “Well, welcome to reality”.
Whose reality?
The Healthiest Smoothie
September 16, 2008
300 days of the year, this is lunch, with a plate of steamed green vegetables. The other 65 days are a bit of a letdown, but you can’t be near a blender with your well-stocked kitchen all the time.
Sometimes, I see the food I eat through the eyes of my white-bread-and-Cheez-Whiz husband and I realize it’s funny. It looks like a chemistry experiment.
Oh well. I learned 10 years ago that I cannot eat what my family eats and look, feel, or think the way I want to. For some, that will just sound like too much extra cooking.
But that’s not the case. Mostly, it’s just more stuff in the fridge. Like everything else you set your mind to, everyone else will get used to it. Give them, and yourself, time to learn.
Ingredients Every Day
-1 banana, not too ripe (unless you love ripeness; I find them mushy, sweet, and have a higher glycemic load)
- 1/2c berries (straw, rasp, blue, mixed) (I buy the 2kg bags of frozen mixed berries, keep them in the freezer, and scoop the amount I want each day)
- ½ scoop natural protein powder (I use unflavored whey powder ; you could use soy protein powder too ; if you like the flavored ones, try to avoid real or fake sugar just because we don’t need more of either one)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1-2 Tbsp psyllium fiber
- 2 Tbsp raw wheat germ
- 1 Tbsp fresh ground flax seed
- a few scrapes of lemon zest, maybe ¼-1/2 teaspoon
- 1c O.J. Not From Concentrate Extra Pulp (want to use milk? works fine) (use less if you like it thicker)
- 1/2c Pomegranate juice (I like the POM brand)
Ingredients Even Days
- 1 c. (or what looks like 1c.) chunks raw fresh pineapple
- 125g silken or soft plain tofu
Ingredients Odd Days
- 1 small (or half a large) mango, peeled and chunked (a steak knife will slice it off right to the stone)
- 1c plain 2% organic yogurt ( I like the taste of organic yogurt; it’s less watery, tastes more like a cream cheese/sour cream blend; I’ve also read that the live bacterial cultures are preserved better)
Ingredients When I Have Them
- ¼ c. fresh or frozen cranberries (buy the bags of fresh berries at Thanksgiving or Christmas for about $1.50 each; fire them into the freezer as is; use them all year)
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin organic coconut oil (twice a week) ( set it in a warm place to liquefy and pour it into the blender while it’s running; otherwise, you’ll have little flakes of solid oil which will be esthetically not ideal)
Technique
Toss in blender. Buzz. Thank you very much, it was nothing.
An anti-oxidant bonanza, an anti-cancer festival, an anti-aging free-for-all.
Why Psyllium?
This powdery stuff comes from the husk of a seed. It contains both soluble fiber (like oat bran and legumes) to slow the rate at which sugar leaks into the bloodstream and so stabilizing insulin levels which is important for weight control and to lower cholesterol , and insoluble fiber (like AllBran) to promote regularity.
There’s some good info about it here.
You won’t even know it’s there.
Why freshly ground flax?
The excellent and important book, Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer ( reviewed in the articles Book Review : Foods That Fight Cancer - One Book Everyone Must Read and Book Review : Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer) contains an entire chapter on the wonders of flax seeds. They fight the types of cancers that are influenced by too much estrogen, breast cancer being the most familiar. Because they reduce inflammation, they have a general protective activity against many other cancers too.
It has to be ground flax seed to work its magic, and ground less than 2 weeks ago, and stored airtight in the fridge. I just grind a tablespoon as I need it. It’s much easier. My fridge is full of kale and Cheez Whiz.
I grind the flax seed in a Braun coffee grinder that is used only for that purpose. It works perfectly. It’s a little loud but you could pre-grind a week’s supply and keep it in the fridge. The coffee grinder comes in black also and costs about $20. You won’t be able to taste it. It adds a little grainy texture, as does the wheat germ but it’s a minor thing.
Your body is going to be so happy.
-->300 days of the year, this is lunch, with a plate of steamed green vegetables. The other 65 days are a bit of a letdown, but you can’t be near a blender with your well-stocked kitchen all the time.
An anti-oxidant bonanza, an anti-cancer festival, an anti-aging free-for-all.
Sites To Know : ChefMD
September 15, 2008
Since finding Dr. LaPuma through Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks site (see the article Sites To Know : 101 Cookbooks), I find myself visiting ChefMD often. I get the weekly recipes in my Inbox. I’ve looked at all the video clips and searched inside his latest book, The Big Book Of Culinary Medicine.
This book is now on my Christmas list. The Table of Contents knocked my socks off. If there’s a healthy food you’ve wondered about, it’s in here. Now, learn the best way to use it to reap its fullest benefit.
Dr. John LaPuma, M.D.
Rebecca Powell Marx
Dr. John LaPuma and Rebecca Powell Marx
I place more faith in his advice because he has such impressive medical credentials. He understands the implications of your medical test results or condition in ways that someone without the M.D. training, let alone a boarded internist, just can’t.
I’m not saying that a nutritionist needs an M.D. to be effective. But, perhaps because I’m also a product of North American medical training, I don’t believe that the scope and depth of comprehension about health and disease that an M.D. provides can be replaced by any other teachings. An internist takes it many levels beyond that, with a truly staggering understanding of the human body. (In Canada or the U.K., his designation would be M.D., F.R.C.P. (Internist).)
Since he’s also a professionally trained chef, and not some guy who taught himself to cook on Sunday afternoons, he can provide recipes and cooking tips to create truly delicious dishes.
You can read about Dr. LaPuma’s medical and culinary training and accomplishments on his About page . You’ll also meet Rebecca Powell Marx, the co-founder of Chef MD. She is a writer, TV producer, and marketing executive. Together, they bring you the art and the science of foods that can heal.
Food as pharmacy
Pills certainly have their place. So do acupuncture, SOME supplements, and many other conventional and less traditional treatments. However, we look to them all too quickly and bypass the power of food as medicine in the process. For many conditions, especially common ones like joint pain and depression, your medicine cabinet begins in your refrigerator.
Just generally feeling great is hard to measure, except by comparison to when you’re feeling rotten. Immunity is hard to see; it’s not like a broken bone or a rash. It doesn’t actually hurt in the moment when it’s not working well, like cramps or headaches. So we forget how much it matters, but it’s the cornerstone to health, present and future. By being satisfied with it working at half-strength, you’re using yourself as the gambling chips.
Overboard on pills and supplements
Why don’t we exploit the capacity of food for fighting disease all the time? There are no side-effects to diet and there’ s not a pill out there that you can say that about. It’s money you’re spending anyhow and it’s not more costly to eat this way. I’ve decided the problem is four-fold :
1. Not believing how much food can actually do to improve how you feel next week. Either you don’t believe food alone can do that OR the payoff doesn’t outweigh the effort (or it’s more fun to complain). And, after all, you don’t feel that rotten.
2. Feeling you just don’t have time to learn a new way of cooking. Life is too busy as it is. And cancer in 20 years is just too far away to take seriously.
3. You might be like my husband who combines the philosophies of “Nobody’s going to tell me what I can and can’t do” and “I might die tomorrow so I plan to enjoy every minute”. He would prefer not to live with back pain, but he’s not willing to do a thing to prevent it. He’d be anti-cancer if you give him a choice, but he doesn’t really believe the choice is his to make. I tell him he’s 70% wrong but he doesn’t want to hear it.
4. You have to take a little responsibility. That implies that some of this not feeling so good is your fault. And if the diet change doesn’t work, will that be your fault too? so maybe it’s easier to not play the game at all than risk defeat? Pills and supplements… if they don’t work, can you blame the pill?
The thing is, food change works for everybody. Is it going to happen in a week? No way. Pills are what works in a week.
You can’t change your weight in a week with diet. You can’t change your cholesterol in a week either with food alone. But you CAN change it appreciably in 4 or 6 weeks. In the long run, it’s the better thing, the cheaper thing, the safer thing.
I love dessert too
Sometimes you just need sugar, right? Believe me, you’re talking to a woman who gets it. I mean, really gets it. But I don’t need it all the time. Dr. LaPuma’s is not just a world of barley casserole here.
The Ginger Snap Apple Crisp with Sweet Cinnamon and Walnuts : fabulosity.
Warm Spinach Salad with Chicken, Grapes, and Toasted Pecans : So good , and cool to make; it cooks in white grape juice!
The Food As Medicine News is my favorite. Quick bits of information I can absorb into my life. I like the “Do this , don’t do that” style. Like “Add fat to your salad to absorb way more nutrients”. Oh, OK. Avocado and olive oil. Easy.
His blog is in Video format. He’s so into it that you can’t help but get a little excited. Like “yeah, yeah, I can do that”. He CARES about food as medicine like I CARE about skin care. I love this guy.
Can you tell I’m a true believer? Instead of salt and pepper shakers on my table, there are turmeric and pepper shakers. I’m finding places for fresh oregano in just about anything. I’m doing salmon twice a week (Pacific only). We all know about my commitment to quinoa. And I believe I make the Healthiest Smoothie out there, so I’m posting the recipe tomorrow. Wait till you see it! It’s not for everyone, but ChefMD’s recipes are.
In every recipe, as you browse the list, he’ll tell you what is special about the ingredients chosen from a health perspective. The same is true of the weekly recipes that can be delivered to you by email. The Health Tip and Cooking Technique Tip are included.
Some of the recipes are a little too fancy to feed the army of 4 that I have to fill up every day. The techniques are simple but the tastes are a little sophisticated. I have had kids for dinner that squeegee the sauce off each individual spaghetti noodle. So, adapt it. Triple the amounts to last the week and leave out the arugula, or substitute it for another food from that family.
The key is always about gaining knowledge to make better decisions in your daily life. It’s what you do every day that adds up to create the biggest impact. The 30 minute workout you get everyday counts; the hour every 3 weeks barely does. The flossing you do each day makes a big difference. Will the hour at the dentist once a year reverse the 340 days you didn’t floss?
All lasting change begins with learning. It is consummated in baby steps and the awareness that you never have to be perfect.
Make EVERY day count. Time is passing.
-->Since finding Dr. LaPuma through Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks site (see the article Sites To Know : 101 Cookbooks), I find myself visiting ChefMDoften. I get the weekly recipes in my Inbox. I’ve looked at all the video clips and searched inside his latest book, The Big Book Of Culinary Medicine.The Table of Contents knocked my socks off. If there’s a healthy food you’ve wondered about, it’s in here. Now, learn the best way to use it to reap its fullest benefit.
Read more-
A Greener Tea
Web Maintenence by Rick Beckman
