Bum Hugging for Spiritual Health

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. 

A recent text from a friend notified me of a suicide at UC Berkeley. See the article >  The Daily Californian :: UC Berkeley Fraternity Member Found Dead in House, Suicide Suspected 

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 =)  

Brittany's Naked-small changes BIG DIFFERENCE - and pasta salad

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.

Thank you for reading! Lets keep up this great momentum

I would like to say thank you so much to all of you who are reading the blog. This has been a wonderful creative outlet and I hope to continue - I can think of no better way to procrastinate than share what I am learning....productive procrastination - - or structured procrastination (Click here - this s a great little blurb- The author is a philosophy professor at Stanford)  . I thought I would say hello from my home on the graduate campus of Columbia University. See video below!

Break the bad snack habit with a brown news-boy hat

Break the bad snack habit with a brown news-boy hat

I thought I had some primary resistance to homesickness. Nope. I woke up this morning after dreaming about In-N-Out. I don’t even like In-N-Out that much. It figures I would be thinking of the one thing I can’t get in New York City, aside from a decent priced bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and real Mexican food.

This also may have been brought on by my efforts to break my midnight snack habit. Let’s face it, our bodies don’t want to break habits, especially those that cause us to lose weight. Apparently I was at one time a hunter-gatherer. Although, I would consider grocery shopping in New York City a, “hunter gatherer,” lifestyle, especially when you get left by the shuttle that brought you to the market because you could not decide between the higher priced real maple syrup and Aunt Jemima’s sugary concoction. That being said, our bodies are very good at storing fat and too nostalgic to let it go easily.

Beth Duncan from Cooley Law School in Michigan asks, “how do I avoid excessive snacking when I am tired and trying to stay awake to study?”

This is something my body tricks me into too. Somehow I feel that a very difficult and/or time consuming project requires an ample amount of chocolate, carbohydrates (my body tells me ESPECIALLY the refined empty calorie type carbs), a few pieces of fruit to make me feel like I am negating the empty calories of the other snacks, and all consumed on several kitchen trips that I deem to be my, “last snack for the night.” The obvious thing our bodies may need at that point is sleep. But, being realistic, that is not going to happen until the 20-page paper is read and the other two-projects are done… and we visit facebook on accident on 20 minute intervals looking for something or someone very important.

So… How do we break the sneaky-snack cycle?

First we need the proper hat. A brown newsboy hat seems appropriate. Studious enough to make a homemade thin crust whole-wheat veggie pizza in and with enough integrity to investigate this complicated cycle. 

Whole wheat, no trans-fat pre-made pizza dough. Lightly brushed with olive oil. Topped with tomato sauce, light Mozzarella shredded cheese, sliced fresh mushrooms, garlic, diced tomatoes, a bit of fresh ground pepper/salt/basil. Bake for 9-15 min depending on crust preference. Perfecto! 

Personally, when I turn into a study snack maniac I reach for hot tea. If I need to stay up I drink something with some caffeine, if not, I choose something decaffeinated. This generally fills up the tummy and because it is warm, it is more pleasurable to drink than a plain cup of tap. However, you are smart enough to be the judge of what goes in that tea. I have been known to put an entire doughnut in the tea, again somehow negating the calories of a deep fried, jelly filled, wad of dough. Another thing that is important is that the brain runs on glucose. Maybe some fruit or a moderate amount of carbs or small sweet treat are acceptable. Don’t underestimate the importance of glucose (carbs and my tea drenched doughnut are big glucose suppliers) but the key is getting that glucose from a healthy source and not letting your body’s urge to eat just anything win.

So how do we stay accountable?

Most likely nobody wants to hear every time you have a carb-binge so keep a food journal. It is a common practice. Be honest and write down EVERYTHING you eat. I can almost guarantee you will not want to eat that random Sweedish fish or 7.5 chocolate covered peanuts and so on because is eating it worth the time of writing it down? Since habit breaking is tough, it may require some prayer so I like the idea of keeping a food/prayer journal. Check out ones that I have picked for you. You can purchase them from my site! These have little bits of scripture and are visually appealing. We need to make habit-breaking doable. 

My Sassy and Sophisticated journal... yes that is what it is called! I think it is very masculine too - ha

Next: Assess your overall snacking and diet

Go to  www.mypyramidtracker.gov . Sign up (painless).  Click on “food tracker” (see the youtube video - as Darth Vader teaches you to use the site) 


enter the food consumed in one day. Then adjust the quantity. Finally, hit save and analyze. This will give you a breakdown of how many calories, fat, carbs and so on you consumed for the day. Then, above the table, click on the link to show you recommendations. This will let you know if there is anything that the food pyramid recommends that you adjust. This is also good because knowing that doughnuts drenched in some bizarre tea is not a noted food item, maybe I would be more likely to eat something reasonable. Maybe you will too =)

Good luck and let me know what you think! Let me know if you have any additional questions that I can look into or other advice that I did not mention.

For now I am off on a run to ponder pollution and the birth weight fluctuation of those living in urban populations… Graduate school reading is intriguing.

Hats off to you! Have a happy day

Grandpa dancing...need I say more

I feel this can stand alone... I am sorry it is sideways....I tend to like to do this. Just tilt your head...no the other way ;)

Also another Niagara Falls Video.....

Eggplant and Jersey Shore

I am here and this is the beginning. I am also hungry which means this should be some of my best writing yet; brief.

Classes started this week but I have failed to inform everyone of the previous week when I was on Jersey Shore. That was a tricky use of words. I was on the barrier island, not the show.

I need a snack.

Barnegat Lighthouse on Long Beach Island....frame-worthy

Okay I just ate an entire eggplant. I love eggplant. There is a great farmer's market right in front of our classes in the Hammer Building every Tuesday. I bought eggplant. I love eggplant. It has nothing to do with eggs. This is deeiving. I like to slice it, put it in the pan with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (this is good because it is monounsaturated fat - - we are allowed to use a bit of this and still call ourselves nutrition master's students at Columbia. I am so excited to be here =)

This last holiday weekend I was fortunate enough to be invited to Long Beach Island ( Jersey Shore) by my fantastic Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Michael Michelis. This place is amazing. The only islands I have ever visited include: Catalina Island, the Hawaiian Islands, and Treasure Island (Los Vegas) - all of which you cannot see from side to side from on vantage point. Long Beach Island, on the other hand, I was able to see from ocean side just by standing on the rooftop deck.

I am sure the people there thought I was odd. I am not accustomed to dining with AIG executives, IBM executives, judges, physicians and so on. Even our waitress was an attorney, I am not joking. When I started talking about wine in boxes, apparently only acceptable in California, someone quickly switched the conversation topic to politics and religion. I didn't know box wine was such a faux pas. Strolling on the beach we invited neighbors over for pre-dinner cocktails and hors d'oeuvres (this was not an easy word to spell). It was like something you see in a movie. Fantastic. Thank you Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Michael! Had the time of my life! Glad we didn't run into Snookie - that would have been awkward.

Working on secondaries, I came across this video on Virginia Commonwealth University's website. I think this is great. I have no idea if these guys are medical students BUT if this was funded by the price of secondaries I will be thoroughly upset.



I recently met Rene and Ellen in the admissions office for Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia's medical school)... wow- they could not have been nicer. Very kind ladies. This school is an amazing community. My roommare, Varun, always things it is strange when I say someone was kind. "What did you think they were going to be like?" He asks in an Ummmm-duh-they-are-nice tone. But really, the faculty, admissions office, students....all very nice. I am sure impressed.

Aside from criticizing my appreciation for the overwhelming KINDNESS here at Columbia - Varun helped me to put together my bookshelf last night. It was $29 and from Wal-Mart online. I think putting this thing together should be part of the admissions requirements for graduate school. Luckily we figured it out and Varun had the novel idea that Ikea, Wal-Mart and Lego (and any other put-your-own-junk-together type stores)should pair up with Habitat for Humanity and send entire houses in boxes with instructions like we had - - can you imagine how many houses would end up assembled upside down? Haha-this would be counterproductive but make a great reality TV show. Everyone would be yelling..."I need part number 0 no not O but Zero." I think they add unnecessary confusion for fun.

Next blog I am going to talk about MyPyramid.com (a very neat tool but controversial pyramid design) and fashion week . . . in no particular order.

I need a jacket. Fall in NY is = to winter in CA.

Ciao for now...

p.s. Thank you so so much Aunt Beth, Uncle Sean, Grandma and Grandpa for the amazing care package! A rope/safety ladder, milk frother, several hats to be work together nicely as shown, a toffy bar and then some =) This was amazing.

If anyone else feels so inclined to send care packages I will not be upset =)

RV Trip to NYC with Grandma and Grandpa G!

Click here to view these pictures larger