- Walking – “Movement is Magic” says Shane O’Mara. In his book “In Praise of Walking” he contends that social walking has been underestimated in evolutionary accounts of walking: that our walking evolved in large part for and through social purposes, as well as freeing our hands and freeing our minds. Social walking requires us to be able to synchronize our behaviour with others – requiring a complex neural machinery which can mirror the behaviour of others. In the article “Better together: The many benefits of walking with friends” from Harvard Health, it discusses how socializing helps to ward off isolation and loneliness, which are associated with heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression, chronic stress, and premature death. Socializing also keeps the brain active because not only are you having a conversation, but you are interpreting people’s non-verbals. If you add walking into the mix, you are firing all kinds of neurons in your brain growing new dendrites. To hear more from Shane and two other types of walking– head to Mel’s podcast “The shocking science of taking a walk”
- Blue Zone – By now you should all know that my favourite colour is blue. Just the word in a headline catches my attention. Which lead me to this interesting article and website. The article talks about the longest living people and how they eat a high carb diet, don’t go to the gym, and rarely eat meat. I wanted to stop reading there. I once referred to myself as a “meatatarian”. But there is some great information in the article, and it relates to what type of carbs you are eating. It seems that beans are the secret. The Blue Zone website has a lot of great recipes that are vegetarian friendly or if you are me, you might add in some meat. It is like the Mediterranean eating style, that emphasizes whole grains, vegetables and having meals become an event. The recipes are said to only take 30 minutes to prepare, which is great for those busy days.
I love to cook and host people in my home. It brings me joy to feed people great tasting food. Their audible appreciation is my reward! That is why when my daughter was home recently there were several special requests. Not even one of them would be featured on the “Blue Zone Website” because they all have meat, cheese, or both. LOL The requests were:
- Smoked Cheese Dip
- Lasagna with homemade meat sauce (A Harvest House copy)
- Fondue as a family with my homemade steak sauce (a Japanese Village copy)
Email me if you would like the secret recipes.
EXCELLING FROM WITHIN