Do It Right The First Time

This is the Pont Du Gard, in Provence.  This aqueduct is over 2,000 years old.  It was built by the Romans to collect and carry water to villages and towns hundreds of miles from the source.  If the trail of the aqueduct were to be cleaned up - a daunting task - this aqueduct would still be functional today.  The Romans did it right the first time.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  When in Rome, do as the Romans....do it right the first time and whatever it is....work, exercise, relationships....you'll achieve long lasting results.

This is L'Abbaye De Senaque, just outside the village of Gordes in my beautiful Provence.  This is where the lavendar of Provence is grown and harvested.  The air is luscious with the scent of the violet blossoms and to walk through these fields and graze your fingers over the flowers and hold them to your nostrils is absolutely divine.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Lavendar oil is a natural mosquito repellent; the stalks and flowers placed in a home during the year will keep the nasty biters out of your abode.  Lavendar makes for a soothing pillow stuffer and wonderful scent for your clothing armoires.

Fresh Is Best

After a two week holiday in the South of France, where the food is fresh picked in the morning and on your plate for lunch, I arrived back to New York with a feeling of despair.  Whole Foods after the farm???  Freshly picked makes Whole Foods look like the Jolly Green Giant in a can.  I had the opportunity to get up to my little vegetable garden and much to my surprise I harvested over a dozen zucchini, fresh green beans, tomatoes and peppers!  What a nice surprise to come home to. 

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  My lunch today consists of freshly grilled zucchini and peppers from my garden....what's on your plate for lunch?  If you don't have a garden, visit your local farmer's market for truly fresh fruits and vegetables.  Fresh is best, so get on the real party wagon today!

This is my lavendar plant.  If you look closely, you will see the flowers on the end of the thin stems.  Lavendar grows best in warm Mediterranean climates, but we do our best here in the N.E. corner of the U.S.A.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Lavendar is wonderful for soothing the soul and calming the mind, but did you know that in the South of France, lavendar stalks are placed in the hearths and the flowers are in bowls everywhere....lavendar is a natural mosquito repellent!

Another Reason Why The Mediterranean Diet is Just So Great

From Medscape News, January 13, 2011
Older adults who stick close to a traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) experience slower rates of cognitive decline as they age, new research suggests.

"...adherence to a Mediterranean diet is not only a heart healthy diet plan but also one that fosters a healthier functioning brain,” Christine C. Tangney, of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.  Their results were published online December 22, 2010, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The researchers used a modified version of the Harvard food-frequency questionnaire to assess level of adherence to 2 dietary patterns. One was the traditional MedDiet pattern, which is rich in olive oil, fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and moderate amounts of wine and is low in dairy foods and red meat. The other was the Healthy Eating Index 2005 (HEI-2005), which is based on recommendations from the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The maximum score for the MedDiet, which would mean complete adherence, is 55, and participants' mean score was 28.2. The maximum score for the HEI-2005 is 100, and participants' mean score was 61.2.
Participants most likely to adhere to the MedDiet were white, nonsmokers, and multivitamin users, with higher educational levels and lower body mass index. Those with higher MedDiet scores had lower prevalence of stroke, hypertension, and depression and higher baseline global cognitive scores.
According to the investigators, a higher MedDiet score indicating closer adherence to this eating pattern was associated with slower rates of cognitive decline over time, after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, participation in cognitive activities, and energy.
"If we were comparing 2 persons with MedDiet scores or MedDiet wine scores that were 10 points apart, the person with the higher scores would appear to perform as if she or he were 3 years younger cognitively," the study authors note.
 
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  You don't have to be a professional chef, nor do you need to be a good cook to adopt a delicious and nutritious Mediterranean diet.  All you need to do is do a little research, go to the grocer and produce stores, and not be lazy about your meals.  Modern medicine will have us all living a lot longer than we previously thought possible and I don't know about you, but I'd like to have my wits about me as I move along that timeline!  If anyone would like to share some recipes, please do post them and help out other folks who wouldn't normally create their own meals!

Musings on the Eve of 49

Ancient numerology was based on denominations of 10. This theorum is still used today. But the number 9 was very special because it represented the completion of a cycle. 9 is the number that preceeds a new beginning, a new decade. It's a 'wrap up'. The number 4 traditionally represented the culmination of self (1) duality (2), the trinity (3) in the real world (4). The earth has 4 corners, the square is an equal and harmonized form containing equal sides and equal angles. The number 49 represents the 'wrap up' of the solid and formidable 40's. 49 is the last year before embarking into 50 (5 being the number of uncertainty and the number that represents man..head and limbs). No wonder everyone makes their stake in their 40's and has a midlife crisis when they hit 50...it's only natural.  Hence, as I turn 49 tomorrow I think back on all the sinful fun I've had in my life thus far...how to top all the unbelievable events I've experienced until now?? Well, I've decided to make a list of what I'd like to accomplish during my last year of my 40's:  learn Italian, no whining, have more patience, be a better golfer, keep hitting heavy bags, get a makeover, become stronger and leaner, learn how to ride a motorcycle (don't tell my mother!), be a better physician, a better friend, learn how to decorate cakes, take my bestest human friend back to France to see my beloved Provence, do more yoga.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day: Whatever you've done and no matter who you are, there's always more. Make a list today and each day, try out a new idea or activity. See where it takes you. The unknown is exciting - go out on a limb. Embrace change and have the courage to tread unknown waters. Don't whine - it's boring.  Just think of all the fun you haven't even thought of having until this point!!  Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off.  Don't know what I going to do or where I'm going, but I'm going to do it with my bestest friend...I know we'll have fun! By the way...anybody got a creme for this turkey neck I seem to be getting the past 2 years??????!!!!