Simply Living Well: Clean-sweep January!

This edition includes the Clean-Sweep and Life Designer goal setting tools, a recipe and information on natural cleaning products, and an excerpt from Walter Willett's book Eat, Drink and be Healthy on the limitations of the USDA food guide pyramid.

Please send any comments or suggestions to: Katherine@SimplyLivingWell.net
Website http://www.SimplyLivingWell.net 347-661-2143

This month's newsletter includes:

1. Quote of the month
2. New Year's Greetings
3. Link of the month: Clean Sweep and Life Designer
4. January Cleaner Recipe: Goodbye Mold and Mildew
5. Article: Eat, Drink and Be Healthy
6. 6-Month Counseling Program
7. More about Katherine Jamieson, Holistic Health Counselor

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
--Spanish proverb

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NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS

Happy New Year!

January is a great month to take stock of how things are going, a time to celebrate all that we've accomplished in the past year and create our intentions for the coming year. This month's newsletter includes ideas about how to "clean-up" your life, your home, and your diet, with the thought that it's easier, (and much more fun!) to think about moving forward if you've already got the basics in place.

As I move into the New Year, I'd like to appreciate all the United Nations employees who attended workshops in the Fall-- you've made the Wellness Initiative a great success! We are in the process of planning additional programs at the United Nations for the Spring, and even expanding into some other Department of Health Worksite Wellness sites, a very exciting possibility.

My personal intention for the New Year is to integrate my skills in Holistic Health with my skills in writing, so I'll keep you posted of other places to read my writing in the upcoming months.

And again, thanks to all of you who have told me you're enjoying the newsletter, incorporating new ideas about diet and wellness into your life, and cooking nutritious recipes for yourselves and your families. When I sit down to write every month, I am inspired by your interest in holistic health and commitment to creating a healthier body and healthier planet. Thanks for all your feedback and please keep it coming in the New Year!

Katherine

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LINKS OF THE MONTH: Clean Sweep and Life Designer

www.clean-sweep.com
www.coachville.com/lifedesigner2003pdf.pdf

Much lip service is given to the idea of January being the best time to make resolutions and set goals for the year, but without the right support and structure even the best laid plans rarely happen. These two worksheets are helpful for clarifying which goals are the most important for you for 2004. I really like these tools because they cover so many areas, health and well-being as well as finances, personal environment, relationships, and even habits you want to develop and ways you can simplify your life.

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JANUARY RECIPE: Goodbye Mold and Mildew (Please note: Not edible!)

When we think about food, we generally imagine what's on our plate, not what we use to clean the bathroom! However, it's helpful to consider every substance we come in contact with as a kind of food, including personal care products and cleaning supplies. Some of the most serious toxins people encounter on a regular basis are in their cleaning products, so even if you already have a great diet you may be compromising your health just in trying to keep your house clean.

The following is a great recipe for getting rid of mold and mildew, courtesy of Susan Faux-Lewis, Holistic Health Counselor. Using the essential oils counteracts the strong vinegar smell, and makes bathroom cleaning double as a free aromatherapy session. If you're looking to spruce up your house for the New Year, try this recipe for a healthier cleaning experience!

This is a great website with more information about the importance of using non-toxic cleaning supplies, the best pre-made products that you can purchase, and additional recipes for making your own recipes using common household ingredients:

www.vthealthyhome.org/Steps/main.html

Bathroom Cleaner: Goodbye Mold and Mildew

Container: 16 ounce spray bottle
Ingredients:

* 2 Tbs. Borax (a natural mineral powder sold in supermarkets)
* 4 Tbs. Apple Cider Vinegar
* 1/2 tsp Eucalyptus essential oil
* 1/2 tsp Lavender essential oil

Directions:

1. Shake well, fill with water and shake again.
2. Spray liberally on surfaces.
3. Scrub tile and grout with soft bristle bursh.
3. Rinse well.

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ARTICLE-- Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy

The USDA food pyramid is coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism as alarming indicators of American's diet and health continue to be reported. The following excerpt from the book Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter Willett, MD, the Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University, points out some of the glaring shortfalls of the pyramid and indicates why following the guidelines may actually jeopardize your health.

Another excellent resource for information about the limitations of the USDA pyramid can be found in Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, by Marion Nestle, Ph.d and MPH, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University.

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy
By Walter Willett, MD

For no-nonsense, rock-solid nutrition information, people often look to the Food Guide Pyramid developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), opposite. It is supposed to rise above the tangle of misinformation and contradictory claims and offer clear advice on healthy eating. But the USDA Food Pyramid is wrong. Scores of large and small research projects have chipped away at the foundation (carbohydrates), the middle (meat and milk) and the apex (fats).

All Fats are Bad.
There are two types of fat. Saturated fat, the kind that's abundant in whole milk or red meat and trans fats, which are found in many margarines and vegetable shortenings, both contribute to the artery clogging process that leads to heart disease, stoke and other problems.

But the USDA Pyramid's recommendation to use fats sparingly ignores the fact that two other kinds of fat--the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in olive oil and other vegetable oils, nuts, whole grains, other plant products and fish--are good for your heart.

All "Complex" Carbohydrates are Good.
Carbohydrates from the base of the USDA Pyramid. It suggests 6 to 11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta a day. But, as with fats, this advice is too simplistic and overlooks research showing that the types of carbohydrates you eat matter a lot.

Most dietary guidelines recommend limiting simple carbohydrates (sugars) and eating plenty of complex carbs (starches). White bread, potatoes, pasta and white rice all fit this description and are the main source of carbohydrates in the American diet. While the terms simple and complex have a specific chemical meaning, they don't mean much inside your body. In fact, your digestive system turns white bread, a baked potato or white rice into glucose and pumps this sugar into your bloodstream almost as fast as it delivers the sugar in a cocktail of pure glucose. Swift, high spikes in blood sugar are followed by similar surges in insulin. As all this insulin forces glucose into muscle and fat cells, blood-sugar levels plummet, triggering the unmistakable signals of hunger. These high levels of blood sugar and insulin surges are now implicated as part of the perilous pathway to heart disease and diabetes.

The carbohydrates that should form the keystones of a healthy diet come from whole grains, like brown rice or oats; from foods made with whole grains, like whole-wheat pasta or bread; or from beans. Your body takes longer to digest these carbohydrate packages, especially when they are coarsely ground or intact. That means they have slow, low and steady effect on blood sugar and insulin levels, which protects against heart disease and diabetes. They make you feel full longer and so keep you from getting hungry right away. They also give you important fiber plus plenty of vitamins and minerals.

The central message in the USDA Pyramid is that you should feel good about eating carbohydrates, especially if you are eating them in place of fats. But if you eat too much of the wrong kinds of carbohydrates and too little of the good kinds of fats, you can set yourself up for the same problems you may be trying to solve.

Protein is Protein.
The protein group occupies one of the upper chambers of the USDA Pyramid. You need this type of nutrient every day and can get it from a variety of sources. The USDA Pyramid serves up as equals red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans and nuts. All are excellent sources of protein. But red meat is a poor protein package because of all the saturated fat and cholesterol that come along with it. Red meat may also give you too much iron in a form that your body absorbs whether you need it or not. Chicken and turkey give you less saturated fat. The same is true for fish, which delivers some important unsaturated fats as well. What's more, as protein sources beans and nuts have some advantages over animal sources. They provide you with fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy unsaturated fats. Like fruits and vegetables, they also give you a host of phytochemicals--plant products that help protect us from a variety of chronic diseases.

Dairy Products are Essential.
The USDA Pyramid includes 2 to 3 servings of dairy products a day. As a prime source of calcium, dairy products have been enlisted to fight the so-called calcium emergency that is threatening Americans' bones. Only there isn't a calcium emergency. Americans get more calcium than the residents of almost every other country except for Holland and a few Scandinavian countries. And despite plenty of urgent public service announcements, there's little evidence that getting high amounts of calcium prevents broken bones in old age. Further complicating the issue are some studies suggesting that drinking or eating a lot of dairy products may increase a woman's chances of developing ovarian cancer or a man's chances of developing prostrate cancer.

If you need extra calcium, there are cheaper, easier and healthier ways to get it than dairy products. Spinach, broccoli, tofu and calcium-fortified orange juice and breakfast cereals are good sources of calcium and have other advantages--they are lower in unhealthy fat than most dairy products, and they give you many extra nutrients. And calcium supplements or calcium-based antacids cost pennies a day compared with up to a dollar a day for two to three servings of dairy products.

Eat Your Potatoes.
According to the USDA, the average American eats 140 pounds of potatoes a year, making the spud the most popular vegetable in America. It is one of the few vegetables to be mentioned by name in the Dietary Guidelines except it shouldn't be classified as a vegetable. Potatoes are mostly starch--easily digested starch at that-- and so should be part of the carbohydrate group. The venerable baked potato increases levels of blood sugar and insulin more quickly and to higher levels than an equal amount of calories from pure table sugar.

Excerpted from the book Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. Written by Walter Willett, MD. Published by Simon and Shuster. Walter Willett is the Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University.

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6-MONTH HOLISTIC HEALTH COUNSELING PROGRAM

Nutrition is a fundamental aspect of health. The food we eat becomes part of our blood cells, which then feed our tissues and vital organs. When we eat food that has limited nutritional value, our cells weaken. When we eat quality foods our bodies reflect that nourishment through vitality, balance and joy.

Whole, natural foods--vegetables, whole grains, beans, fruits--are quality foods. By shifting your diet to healthy, balanced, quality foods, you can support your body to heal itself and prevent future disease.

My fully supported 6-month program includes :

** Two individual counseling sessions a month
** Yoga, meditation and breathwork
** Reiki and massage
** Books, tapes, and articles on health and wellness
** Food and supplement samples
** Easy to cook recipes
** Health Food Store Tour
** Group hands-on cooking classes

Working together, we will discuss all the issues that contribute to your relationship with health and nutrition. Often our health concerns arise from a lack of attention to our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional needs. Holistic health care addresses all of these needs equally. As a result of our work together you will feel healthier, more energized, and you will have the skills to maintain this state of wellness for years to come.

Call or e-mail to schedule a one-hour initial consultation about the 6-month Holistic Health Counseling Program.

Consultations are held in Manhattan and Brooklyn and can also be done by phone.

Simply Living Well
80 E. 11th St, #336
Between Broadway and University
347-661-2143
Katherine@SimplyLivingWell.net

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ABOUT KATHERINE JAMIESON, HOLISTIC HEALTH COUNSELOR

Katherine was trained in Holistic Health Counseling through the Professional Training Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, and certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She was certified to teach yoga in 2001 through the New York Open Center Prana Yoga Teacher Training, instructed by Dr. Jeffrey Migdow, MD. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Wesleyan University. Before entering the Holistic Health field, Katherine was a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Guyana, South America.

Her practice combines cutting-edge, holistic nutritional theory and yoga breathing and postures, to help people address their health concerns and attain optimal health and well being in their lives. She has taught yoga and Holistic Health practices with the New York City Department of Health Wellness at Work program, the Hospital for Joint Diseases, and Beth Abraham Health Services. She maintains a private practice in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as lecturing and presenting at Health fairs and seminars. This fall she is completed an 11-week series of lectures on Holistic Health and Lifestyle at the United Nations.

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If you are interested in reading back issues of this newsletter (in publication since May 2003) please feel free to visit the web hosting site where you can find the full editions catalogued:

http://casts.webvalence.com/sites/SimplyLivingWell/

THANK YOU FOR READING AND BE WELL!