Hey everyone! Hope you had a fulfilling 2019. Did you spend time with the people and the practices you value? This is a good time to reflect on priorities. What do you want to change in your work or home life? Take an inventory and get started now. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today.
The biggest news from Practice of Wellness / Journal of Wellness is the closing of the journal’s first issue just before 2019 ended! <Click this link!>. The issue ended with 4 original research papers, 1 review, 3 humanities, and 2 editorials. This closed issue allowed us to achieve permanent status with the Library of Congress. We are indexed on Google Scholar, and in consideration for indexing in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
Here are your ideas for personal wellness practice.
Food Delivery:
• Many groceries are now offering the carryout version of shopping. You park in their close spots and they run an order out to you. Many issues can of course come up, they don’t have your item, substitutions are not always appropriate, you wait for as long as if you shopped yourself. Now many places will deliver food.
• This weekend after returning from a trip, we tried both Costco and Whole Foods delivery. Costco uses Instacart, while Whole Foods uses … Amazon. Even though Whole Foods is pricey, the Amazon delivery setup was superior. No service charge, but you can tip the driver. Both places save you order so you can repeat many of the items.
• For a busy family, or a busy resident, this is a valid option and worth the extra cost to get healthy food delivered to your home.
Life Without Bread:
• This book from 2000 marked the culmination of decades of work by Wolfgang Lutz MD, now deceased. He was ahead of the game in dietary fat-friendly eating, and in bashing vegetable oils and sugar.
• He believed in allowing some carbohydrates, but set the magic number at 72 grams. Somewhat imprecise considering different body shapes and weights among individuals. But I can appreciate the 72 number. 30-50grams can keep you in ketosis, especially with exercise. 72 might be enough to prevent hangriness in most people. Check out the book for case series of several hundred patients showing resolution of many illnesses.
Maple:
If you are thinking about some carbs, maybe low carb oatmeal with hemp hearts and chia seeds, throw in some of this maple extract. We use it in cookies, pancake mix, even coffee to make a maple latte. No sugar, just flavor.
Cool Orange Glasses:
• Ok if you work night shifts and haven’t picked up subtle blue blocking glasses, or overtly uncool ones, this article could convince you.
• Police officers working night shifts were split into two groups. One group wore orange glasses at sunrise in an attempt to allow for more melatonin secretion, and therefore better sleep.
• The group wearing orange goggles had nigher melatonin secretion (good), no drop in reaction speed throughout the week (good), and stable median reaction time throughout the week vs controls (good). They do not mention actual amounts of sleep in subjects, but the other outcomes in the paper argue for use of orange glasses to block sunlight when going to sleep after a night shift.
• Also get blackout curtains, and do not eat right before you go to sleep.
Quote:
Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.
– Edward Stanley, 1873
