In an afternoon lecture regarding ethical issues involved in research, I had a thought.... ( pause for thinking faces below)
Sometimes we need to go to Chicago to think about morality and science
how does science know about ethics? To consider what is ethical requires some moral code to reference.
To make a moral code, there needs to be some idea of what is good.
So...science (which I am a part of) what is good? What is Bad? What type of scandals occur behind the scenes that may have minor to severe implications, such as vitamin or drug recommendations. Could this help to explain fluctuating nutritional recomendations that flood the market and why I eat chocolate, don't eat chocolate, drink wine, take calcium then don't for fear of aggressive prostate cancer...then remember I don't have a prostate... it can all become very confusing for the consumer (me included) - but you SHOULD be supplementing with vitamin D!! There is significant evidence that most of us are deficient (aim for around 400-500IU per day - although most supplements that I find are at least 1,000 IU , I don't have an answer for you on that, I take one every other day) - - remember this is a fat soluble vitamin which means your body does not excrete it as readily as water soluble vitamins (like the B vitamins) - - this means toxicity in high doses can be an issue and that one may argue that absorption is better if consumed with food containing some fat content.
AND
Science, how is that moral code working out for you?
The Moral Parameters of Scientists.
Within the blue bubble are some things that scientists/health care professionals/researchers try to avoid.
To get rid of these sins-of-science, very strict parameters and systems have been made (yellow box).
doctors choosing their career or path based on financial reasons (this is ridiculous unless pursing plastic surgery - cost of schooling plus the cost of malpractice insurance means choosing to be a physician on the basis of money is a complete fallacy)
bias when reporting information and so on.
Coercion
$$ still makes the world go-round.
FUNDING (this is vital) - if you have read a study lately, look at who funds it an be weary that if coercion or dishonesty have entered the picture, the results may point to favorable findings based on where the money comes from.
The ADA (American Dietetics Association) - - - see other blog. I was APPALLED to see who was funding the group that claims to be "nutrition experts" - - a HUGE loss of credibility in my eyes....(interested yet!)...quackery but more about that in a later post...
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Maintaining objectivity is not always done-- if researchers want an outcome, they know how to work the numbers to achieve that outcome, the question is, do they value results or morality/integrity more?
Who is studied in these trials that yield results that impact our public health programs and recommendations? - - have you ever considered that the people in a test population are not a very good representation of the truth or even lack generalization to the general population.
Inequality of Treatment
Per-say a researcher is thrilled about a new screening method and gives certain cases much more attention than others. This "preferential bias" will inaccurately overestimate the results of a study.
Perhaps subjects were chosen on the basis that they would provide the results of interest
Invasion of Privacy (In a more clinical aspect of things)
HIPAA - - patient confidentiality. Nothing is supposed to be shared outside of specific parameters.
In a research setting - - often identifiable information is separated from the specimen being used or turned into a code with the key locked and monitored by a third party
BUT WHO CARES IF THEY LIE, OR TALK ABOUT A PATIENT'S HEMORRHOIDS IN THE ELEVATOR OR FABRICATE RESULTS OR FRAME QUESTIONS TO GET STUDY SUBJECTS TO ANSWER FAVORABLY......who will stop these rogue scientists?
One thing that the moral laws of science is lacking is accountability. What omniscient review board or group can get into the minds of and convict those to want to maintain integrity? And to make a full circle - -what is integrity without morality?
Just some food for thought =) As a Take Home - beware of what you hear/read and choose to believe. Even in science and medicine, never trust blindly.
BUT guess who is back in full-force..... little e.coli ! and she is spreading to others.... ( pun very much intended)
Cousin Sarah With her very own e.coli......
Natural Habitat
You might not believe it but...you also can get your very own E.coli right HERE d
This is a continuation from the Breast Feeding Part I post. WARNING - What you are about to read may change you and your baby's life for the best! Stop reading now if your baby's IQ, your weight, and your pocket-book are of no concern...
Formula Costs Money$ ; Breast Milk is Free.
Talk about eliminating the middle men...er industries. There is really no such thing as a free lunch, but this may be as close as it gets. Perhaps it was stubborn feminism or WIC (Women, Infants, and Children - now supporting breast feeding, by the way) that led people away from breastfeeding, but I can't fathom paying for something that one can otherwise get essentially for free.
Women love the FREE gift with purchase at Lancome or Clinique, we love the FREE food samples at Costco and Sam's Club...
...they apparently love the FREE benefits of online FREE dating
In fact we love $$FREE so much that we have websites that somehow make money off of FREE stuff
AND....we must not forget one of the most profitable and well known....Craigslist ...
What is my point? None of this stuff is actually free but we obviously have an affinity for bargains...especially when they come with added bonuses such as...something that costs more money than usual to offset the price of the "free" item, stalkers on the "free" dating sites who are really NOT 190lb with an athletic build (unless round is the new athletic build), an eternity of spam mail, and bed bugs (if you live in NY and are looking for that "NEW" mattress on Craigslist).
What if there was something that could: make you loose weight (women should already be interested because on average we all want to loose 5lb), make your baby smarter, and not touch your wallet. Um ... breastfeed.
According to Dr. Sally Lederman, Special Lecturer at Columbia University, breastfeeding has been shown to raise a child's IQ (research shows) and help mom's utilize approximately 500 extra calories per day in the content and production of breast milk .
Now that I have the men interested with a large picture of a breast.....
Why else should women breastfeed (as if your baby's IQ is not enough)
The Female Breasts Need at Least Two Purposes.
We multi-task in everything else that we do - why shouldn't our breasts have an equal opportunity to do the same? - - I don't have anything academically remarkable to say about this. However, we did learn that size, of the breast, does not matter. Women with smaller breasts versus larger breasts should not be any less able or more able, respectively, to produce milk.
As an interesting physiological tie in - Oxytocin is a feed-forward hormone while most other hormones undergo negative feedback inhibition. What this means is that while other hormones, when stimulated and in abundance, tell the body to stop producing that particular hormone, Oxytocin does the opposite. This remarkable hormone is responsible for the continually increased intensity and frequency of contractions during child-birth (also interesting tid-bit "pitocin" is the synthetic form of oxytocin that is administered to induce labor/contractions). Another interesting tid-bit....oxytocin is involved in a female's orgasm.
Conclusion: Breast is Best.
It is cheesy but true. I don't care what fallacy I am committing in claiming an absolute - this is my blog and I think breastfeeding (and breasts) are the best way to go - if you are nervous to beast feed because of the "milk letdown" that may occur in inappropriate settings...say at work, leaving your blouse with awkward spots, try LilyPadz. These silicone inserts prevent milk leakage and have been highly recommended by personal friends and family with breast feeding experience.
Other recommended sites for resources regarding the benefits of breastfeeding - please see the links below:
Yesterday (Halloween Oct 31st) some friends and I took a break from studying, which reminded me why I need to study.
Halloween in New York is not like Halloween in Los Angeles. I am not even sure most people recognize Halloween in LA, except for my uncle David who recognizes Halloween on my behalf as a classy Corvette driving Elvis.
Personally - I would be studying for mid-terms upstairs with all of the lights off...inconvenient for studying... but felt it was bad practice to hand out candy to kids and goblin princesses. I am not one to promote dental carries and childhood obesity.
Fruits and vegetables should be passed out instead.
In New York, I am fairly certain most kids have gotten shoved out of the celebration so the ever more immature adults can dress themselves as: a giant boob (traveling in 3's ... this was coordinated by men), a man covered in blown-up latex gloves, a Jew dating a Nun, several men with only diaper-like things on, impersonators of the ever-more-forceful street evangelists with a, "the end is near" sign, and a tinfoil man or what I presumed to be leftovers from Gladstone's restaurant. Despite not knowing if the street evangelist or the bum, seemed more theatrical than usual said one of my friends, were actual costumes - I do know one thing - - despite being around 35 degrees out, the cold did not stop the scantly clad from making a statement.
"Aren't you cold," I asked. "I am DYING!" - she said. Needless to say - still a creative costume. - Posing with friend Trisa on right.
While I am more apt to be dressed as the panda in the background - warm and a much better way to attract the men...(?).. this woman was BRAVE.
Some other happenings included:
The Parade in West Village which we accidentally saw twice due to walking in circles...it was worth it!
Street Break Dancing (or brake dancing? - I need to pull out my Urban Dictionary)
A restaurant for my people (nerds):
And a national monument...not so much related to Halloween.
Left to right: Jane, Trisa, Me ( I am a pumpkin..?)
Brittany sleeping in the train....like mother like daughter!
At the end of the day all I really wanted were some really good crepes (thank you tour guide Anthony! and the random Russian guy who was willing to share his while we waited for ours)....and to return to my natural habitat:
Columbia
And Study groups generally organized by Kirk and including a GIANT sweet potato and tiny pears (thank you Ming!) - we all do love a good farmer's market! **note**this was not the best non-strategic centerpiece layout.
Why do we always try to fix things that don't need to be fixed?
Margarine and Crisco
what was wrong with butter? We wanted longer shelf life and a cheaper price. We ended up with the creation of trans fat and more heart disease. That worked well.
(Just FYI avoid all food products that contain "partially hydrogenated" oils. These are trans fats. Even if the container says "0 trans fats" they are permitted to say that as long as it is under a certain amount. Translation = if you eat more than 1 serving, you are getting a sizable portion of trans fats. These fats took unsaturated fats, saturated them (add max amount of hydrogen ions) BUT the reaction tends to go backwards. So hydrogen comes off and forms a "trans" bond. So although trans fats are unsaturated. They are not healthy like the natural mono- and poly-unsaturated fats that we consider good (olive oil, avocados etc.) because these have "cis" bonds. Result - it Raises our LDL cholesterol (bad) and lowers our HDL (good cholesterol)
In summary - avoid "partially hydrogenated" oils and this has nothing to do with breast feeding - I digress.
GMO (genetically modified ) Foods
We wanted to improve soybeans - we ended up with a company called Monsanto who now OWNS the patent for the genes of these GMO soybeans and is monopolizing the market. That also worked well
Marriage
We want to fix marriage. The quick fix to prevent infidelity, divorce, and other marital problems. We ended up with Mort Fertel
I did not know that E from Entourage was a marriage councilor. These people were not staged at all....yea. Regardless - with piles of self help or other people helping you to help yourself books / seminars/ sessions of quick marriage fixes. We still end up with a high divorce rate. Success?Not really.
How about what we feed our babies?
Breast milk was not free enough, accessible enough, called for too much/too close of contact with our babies. Our fix; formula. I will let you decide how this one ended up...
p.s. amidst this we created bottles also.
"Dirty bottles contributed, and still do, to the deaths that result from exposure to germs everywhere in the environment and from a failure of formula to provide the many things in breast milk that kill all kinds of germs," said Dr. Sally Lederman.
Dr. Lederman, a wonderful faculty member of ours here at Columbia's Institute of Human Nutrition in New York and a dedicated lactation expert has a few words with which to enlighten us:
You Have a Baby. It Needs Food.
It does not take an M.D. or D.O. after your name to figure this one out. We think babies are so helpless and fragile. Having been in the OR for several cesarean sections and vaginal births - let me tell you - the human body (devoid of serious health disparities), even as a child, is resilient, stronger than we give it credit for and DESIGNED TO SURVIVE.
According to Dr. Eugene Dinkevich, Pediatrician at Suny Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, Babies are most alert right after birth. According to Dr. Sally Lederman, special lecturer and lactation expert at Columbia University, NY, if a baby is placed on the mother's abdomen - skin to skin - shortly after birth, then newborn will wiggle their way up to the mother's breast and try to feed/suckle.
Instead what do hospitals do? They take the baby away to administer a Vitamin K shot, Hepatitis B Vaccine, eye care to prevent eye infection, metabolic screening (to check for phenylketonuria - inability to break down phenylalanine which is a milk component - and diseases of the blood), hearing test and the ever famous APGAR test which looks at the babies : heart rate, muscle tone and reflex, skin color, breathing, and overall reflex. **Note** your baby did not just take the MCAT, LSAT, or an IQ test... I can't tell you how many times I have heard parents boast about their babie's APGAR test. Parents - it has nothing to do with their intelligence or aptitude to be a professional athlete, but breastfeeding does...but I am not going to tell you about that yet. Keep reading. (info from www.womenshealth.gov )
The BIGGEST INSULT - - often even when mother's say they want to breastfeed - the babies are still taken away to be tested, the moms are given a breast pump and the babies are given formula and warmed in a heated bed and wrapped like a burrito (which does take a particular skill set I might add).
Two things:
According to WomensHealth.gov all of the testing can wait except for the APGAR (due to possible presence of previously undiagnosed health issues of the baby.)
Everyone likes a warm burrito but babies are for nurturing and not for eating.
Mom's warm chest offers warmth and mom's breast offers nutritious food tailored to the baby's age and length of feed.
Name a formula that can do that.
This blog post is going to be two posts so look for the sequel soon! .... See a preview of the next post below...
Also - note - this blog is meant to provide useful and educational material to expose all readers to what I am learning and finding to be very valuable information. This information is based on my background in cellular and developmental biology, print journalism, and the education I am currently receiving here at Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, and living life each day to the fullest. I hope you enjoy because I am certainly enjoying writing for YOU!
WHAT is to come?!!
Formula Costs Money$ ; Breast Milk is Free.
Talk about eliminating the middle men...er industries.
The Female Breasts Need at Least Two Purposes.
We multi-task in everything else that we do - why shouldn't our breasts have an equal opportunity to do the same?
Conclusion: Breast is Best.
It is cheesy but true. I don't care what fallacy I am committing claiming an absolute - this is my blog and I think breastfeeding (and breasts) are the best way to go.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good..." (Psalms 34:8)
Sunday morning in my house....er dorm (excuse the domestic undertones - my grandma got me an apron and I am elated)... anyways.. Sunday mornings in our apartment typically involve a warm oven that gently releases the hint of banana bread or stuffed french toast..or today warm chocolate chip muffins. Taste or gustatory senses don't start with chewing and the action of our alpha-amylase. It starts with olfactory or sense of smell. A sense of anticipation - - a sense of something really good.
While it is easy to feel this way about shoving a hot chocolate bready muffin in our mouth - - it is harder to feel this way about a run or gym visit. Especially when we are tired, sick of the monotony, and don't feel any payoff besides stinky armpits and the need to do more laundry.
How do we moderate consumption and maximize workout enthusiasm? Find what you love. I am going to take you on a run with me... check out the video and pictures below:
This is from one of my running routs here in NYC in Washington Heights and here are some pictures - I was surprised- it was largely uneventful- however I did learn how Yard-less New Yorkers achieve the impossible....a yard sale...strange.
Interruption - We now have several blog hits from Lithuania ... Hello to you from Lithuania! I am very excited because I am actually part Lithuanian! I don't know what part of me is Lithuanian and I know absolutely nothing about Lithuanians so I am forced to overcompensate with my Italian heritage. PLEASE if you are from Lithuania PLEASE E-MAIL ME BrittanyKunza@gmail.com - - I would love to learn more about the culture and you! I am not very good with the Italian style of communication - so with all of the hand movements I have hit a few people - I need to learn about Lithuania! Maybe we are related - - is that naive?
So two steps and a payoff:
Savor your food
Savor your workout
Result - savor your life
sa·vor [sey-ver] -
distinctivequalityorproperty
powertoexciteorinterest.
(Thank you to www.dictionary.com - I don't think this is standard AMA or APA citation ) /ˈseɪvər/Show SpelledThere is a difference between food environment and eating environment (1). Food environment we talked a bit about in the portion distortion blog. It is basically the packaging/portions/variety/availability of food. Eating environment is the: social aspect, effort to obtain the meal, ambiance, and distractions(1).
I am not going to lie. I am a student and often (my mom can vouch) very often a can of peas (with ketchup...I know it is weird - - I avoided tomatoes for so long because I though I was allergic to them. Now I eat ketchup by the spoonful ...ugg to high fructose corn syrup - without you there would be NOTHING wrong with my beloved bottle of Heinz57) alone and even, dare I say, in front of the computer watching the Britney Spears episode of glee, is what I consider dinner.
BUT, when I have more than five minutes (preparing a meal does not have to take hours) I find preparing food to conjure up images of a svelte French woman walking home in a fitted pencil skirt and flouncy blouse - fresh baguette in one hand a complimentary bottle of wine in the other and an enthusiasm to concoct something deliciously seductive. I find food to be very sexy. ( I am sorry for using that word grandma - I know you are checking up on my blog but I couldn't think of a synonym that better describes it - - darned to the English language!) I think this is why I love the movie Chocolate.
Yes this movie has Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche and an overabundance of chocolate but Binoche still maintains fabulous clavicles that scream BMI < 24.9 (healthy). Now, THAT is something different from an obese yet malnourished American population (we will talk about this in a later blog). Something else stands out as well - the chocolate plays the role of a social catalyst in a very orthodox town unwilling to accept outsiders. And again, yes, Binoche frolics around with a gypsy (Depp) but she also helps the town to learn to ENJOY life through enjoying her rich savory chocolate creations.
I went through a period in life where at each meal I ate until I was disgustingly full. I couldn't seem to help it. It made me feel horrible about myself. I have a picture of myself in a stretchy poke-a-dot tank to remind me so.
To achieve goal #1 (Savor your food) - we need to realize something; a meal is to nourish our bodies and provide essential nutrients and amino acids to maintain a healthy body, and be a time to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor (er veggies of our labor?). I think the pit that many fall into, is seeing a meal as something to make us full and that's about it. NO NO NO! Juliette Binoche would be so upset. Don't worry I am a big novice at this too.
Reading a book called "I've Kissed Dating Goodbye" by Joshua Harris- I came across a great quote that I would like to challenge all of us with :
"Produce before you consume; serve before you seek [food]."
I have no idea what this has to do with dating but I think it is applicable to eating.
According to a University of Illinois journal review, the eating environment can alter consumption. Quickly summed up:
Dim lights tend to lift inhibitions, guys don't misuse this info and fake a power outage on your next date, and result in increased comfort and increased food and dessert intake.
Soft music correlates with slower rate of eating, longer mealtime and more food and drinks. (So then does rap = violent eating?) Fast music does show shorter meal times BUT may cause over consumption because people eat faster and fail to monitor intake.
Social environment has to do with comfort and norms.
Comfort - if you want to loose weight by eating less - eat with people you feel most uncomfortable around. Now that is a novel idea.
Norms - how much the co-diners consume will mediate how much others in the group eat. I am a big eater, but if nobody goes in for seconds or thirds, I just end up going home and having a bowl of Captain Crunch.
2. Savor your workout
You don't have to workout. You can eat Twinkies and lie on the floor all day if you want. Chances are you will end up on an embarrassing reality show, but, it is your choice.
If that statement made you defensive and appalled that I thought that YOU would ever lay on the floor pshaw...then you want to exercise (I am sure this is fallacy flawed thinking but you get my point - just go with it).
So find something you like to do. Or if you are like me, find something (besides rollerblading) that you hate doing/are horrible at and force yourself to learn and succeed. That is how I learned to salsa dance. My fear of not knowing what a cross-body lead is, wearing the completely wrong shoes, and being yelled at by a non-English speaking apparently expert salsa elder - - all occurred. But, I loved it - because it was something new and I broke a sweat without knowing it, made some new friends, and partially overcame my Anglo-Saxon CND-4-NR gene (can not dance for no rhythm gene; I can not even spell the word rhythm let alone obtain it easily).
Exercise is dynamic. Climb a rock, experience physics as you glide on ice (which is solid but undergoes melting due to the increased pressure of the blade and the formula PV=nRT where T=temp and P=pressure - - I am sorry...I digress. It is also a great ice-breaker for a date - - pun-completely intended and based on personal experience. Just don't happen to make fun of the fellow skater that just happens to be your dates best friend without any prior knowledge.), go for a jog in a new place (checkout Map My Run ) , go kayaking, follow Matthew McConaughey and do weird poses in the dirt:
"Life is meant to be enjoyed not endured," As Pastor Stephen from C3 Manhattan says(Christian church I have been going to). Life is more than a full belly, life is about more than just you.
"Produce before you consume; serve before you seek [food]."
Just chew on the idea that life may be much richer and void of many difficulties when we focus on others and not on ourselves.
Love someone today - it might be the best weight-loss / life-gain diet out there.
...and e-mail me if you are from Lithuania
P.S. Favorite quote of the week:
"I think mother nature is going through menopause." - Michelle Trihn on the drastic heat/thunder storm
Reference 1. Wansink, B. (2004). Environmental factors that increase the food intake and consumption volume of unknowing consumers. Annual Review of Nutrition. 24:455-479
While my new and fabulous friend Jane posed stylishly with this metallic mega-star....I thought it a good idea to rest my head on her bosom...? I am not sure. Lady Liberty, I believe, has been watching her food intake because she is not as large as I thought she would be.
Do you know what are much LARGER than I thought they would be? Click here to take this quiz - I bet you will get it wrong also.
As a master's student studying nutrition - you would think I could estimate the number of calories in a bagel. You better bet I let my roommate know his bagel frenzy is costing him. The very large bagels are approximately an entire day's serving of bread (depending on the person's size and EER [estimated energy requirement]). In this particular instance I feel we get jipped. It is the density of the bagel AND the size that is the killer. About equal to 5-slices of regular bread.
So how do we avoid this pit-fall? How can we ever manage to realize that a football sized piece of cheesecake is just too much of a good thing? (ug especially for you lac-tards out there [lac-tard = lactose intolerant. Very scientific terminology] ).
First we need a new hat.
Portion control plates - genius.
The perfect hat for this instance is not a baret, for many reasons. I can not spell the word and I certainly don't know how this guy kept it on his head. No bobby pins here - and hat wearing should illicit a much happier countenance.
I am fairly certain I am wearing the same hat as the guy above me. Or it is backwards. I am utterly confused.
Now that we know what hat NOT to wear to discuss portion distortion. Lets take a commercial break -
My fabulous mom is my consumer reporter. She came up with two fantastic things this week - toilet bowl cleaner and panda-pups - the latter holding far less utility, well I guess it depends on the person. This is what she has to say:
The gel disc gradually dissolves with each flush, allowing a controlled release of cleaning solution and fragrance. Each disc lasts up to one week and leaves no residue behind. Your toilet bowl will remain cleaner, longer—with practically zero effort."
The consumer reporter herself! Jojo and Jason Wolak
"What makes this product so unusually nice is the fact that you never feel like you are actually doing house work. In essence you feel as if you are making little gelatinous sugar cookies which you dispense onto the inner rim of your toilet; this in turn leaves your bathroom smelling delightfully fresh with every flush.
Yes, my toilet bowl does appear to stay cleaner longer but who really cares about that when your bathroom smells so fresh andyou are having so much fun dispensing these little star-bursts inside your toilet... sure I did two to three on each bowl and was actually ready to head out to the neighbors house to continue my stamping delight (all this made possible because of the bulk type packaging that is warehouse shopping fun!) I did finally gain control of myself - But you can bet in one week I will be back at it! " - JoJo Wolak Everyone loves a nice toilet. Everyone also likes dogs painted to look like pandas.
I am just going to let you formulate your own opinion on this one. Click Here for the whole story.
Okay back to it. Food portions. While it is easy to fathom a reasonable serving of veggies, I have a hard time accepting that the whole pint of ice cream does not = 1 serving. What?! But it is in ONE container! I guess that reasoning is not sound.
Therefore, someone, much more logical than I, has developed fantastic portion control plates. Sheer genius. The idea here is to take the guessing out of meal portioning. In the Western diet - more is often better. (Check out the book French Women Don't Get Fat ) More is also: heart disease, diabetes, and the underlying cause many of the times is obesity. Cardiovascular disease- there is not a good hat for this situation. It is serious.
These plates and containers allow us to reshape our ideas of a "portion." Our stomachs are elastic - our mind's are stubborn and easily influenced. It is up to you how to handle the situation!
Checkout the products above - also in my boutique (link in the right column) there are more tools to help with portion control under the "Health Conscious" category.
Au revoir my friend (maybe if I speak like a French woman I will eat like one...logical.)
This is the morning view from my kitchen. What a morning =) "The lions may go weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lork lack no good thing." (Psalm 34:10) - I am humbled. wow......
Being away from my big Italian family means two things: significantly fewer birthday parties to go to at Tony's Italian Restaurant ( in San Dimas California) and a hugging deficit.
To some - this might be okay, but words of affirmation and physical touch are my love languages (the ways that I feel loved). This crazy talk comes from the book, "The Five Love Languages," by Gary Chapman. (small plug - this book is incredible for anyone who ever intends to have human contact. I had a notable amount of "ah-ha!" moments when reading. It really teaches the reader a lot about him or herself!. Check out the link below and there are more versions listed in my boutique if you click the link to "Brittany's Boutique" to the far right)
One option to fill the hug deficit - in a sort of mutualistic symbiotic relationship: Bum hugging.
Aside from being erroneous and not politically correct - I see many homeless people in New York City...every single day. Who is loving them? Symbiosis ( read again ) - it is the close relationship between unlike things. But, are we really that un-alike?
"But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 'He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. since He delights in him.' " (Psalms 22:6-8)
I think we are getting the, "turn-the-other-cheek," mentality confused. How many people per day to we ignore/not see? What are the possible implications.
One of the comments on the article from "Calguy" reads: "I knew him face to face. No we weren't the best of friends, but what if I'd reached out to him? Did anyone? ... People wear masks, and you can't always see beyond a smile or a laugh. Nowadays we're too afraid to tell the people we love, our friends, that we care"
I am not failing to account for confounding factors that may have led this young man to suicide, I am simply saying, open your eyes and SEE. Really acknowledge the existence of others, even those that society may scorn and make feel like a, "worm" or less than human. Everyone has worth - even those physically deformed can, if given the opportunity, greatly impact the lives of others- Nick Vujicic is a prime example:
Would you say Hello?
In a recent meeting that I was fortunate to have - set up by my Uncle David Kirchgessler - with Jim O'Brien, vice president of distribution and postal affairs for Time Inc. I noticed something wonderful. He said a sincere hello to every maintenance and service person that we passed in Time's expansive NYC real estate. Coincidence? I also saw a similar attitude of kindness in the successful individuals on Long Beach Island.
Folks - it is not faux pas. What is faux pas is arrogance.
This is my MOVEment - I say hello and smile to almost everyone I pass when I go running. Mind you, I am living in Washington Heights so many people are not economically very well-off. Surprisingly - I get the strangest looks. Now some people are saying hello back. You never know when a simple hello and smile is enough to make someone who feels invisible - feel seen. Everyone has value, potential, and a purpose. What is your MOVEment going to be? My readers are world changers, I just know it.
----P.s. my Grandma Linda added me on facebook then messaged me as to why I hadn't accepted her as a friend. I was just savoring the novelty of the moment =)
Whoop there it is. Brittany's Naked feet. I hate my feet. I don't allow anyone to touch them for the good of man-kind. But the thing is, I never do anything about it. I refuse to go to a nail salon because I can't ignore the possibility of contracting a fungal infection and I generally don't like it when people talk negatively about me in a different language. Intuition. My mother says I ruin all of the fun experiences with my scientific reasoning - it is not my fault that raw fish at sushi bars may contain life-sucking parasites ready to infiltrate the human GI tract. Not my fault.
So this week I did something. I painted my nails, trimmed the cuticles and even talked negative about myself in a foreign language to better simulate the proper pedicure experience. I love my toes. Sitting in class wearing a fabulous pair of strappy sandals, I couldn't stop staring at my own toes. Yes this is completely wierd but it is applicable.
Before I make any valuable point about toes and nakedness. Lets take a "Only in New York"commercial break that I am not getting paid for.
Only in New York do you go to church on Sunday and find an acoustic guitar-ing pirate in the subway. Thank you Jane for your photo skills. Very discrete.
Only in New York do you go jogging and find a lady wearing a leaf blower and a Gucci fanny-pack at the same time. Only in New York do you find a health department that is not afraid to conquer the big name companies to do good and make disgusting commercials. Check this one out:
Sometimes small changes can make a big difference. A bit of nail polish. Giving up sweetened beverages. A BIG change.
A fun trick - Calculate your EER (estimated energy requirement) to determine how many calories you should actually be eating each day. Click here to find your EER. Side note - I can't believe we are even outsourcing our EER and BMI online calculators to India...that doesn't even make sense.
A few calories here, eliminating sodas, increasing activity, dressing up as a pirate and acquiring a foot fetish - you see! So simple and such small changes to make such big differences - or land you in jail. It is not entirely certain.
So I make pasta salad. Not with my feet - don't worry. This is a fabulous and simple recipe. It requires pasta (routini or farfelli) or both. Veggies of choice ( olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, guitar-playing pirates and anything else) and some Italian salad dressing.
Note*** One innocent olive can was significantly destroyed during the process of making pasta salad.
Cook the pasta, rinse and cool. Chop the veggies. Combine. Add the dressing and wah-lah! You have way too much pasta because you decided to make two bags. Good thing the roommates are hungry boys! I am not actually certain that they like my food or just eat it to be nice. Regardless I am going to continue cooking so I can take more pictures.
Good-bye from my naked feet. I am done talking with you.
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