Sharing Lunch

We have a small "kitchen" area in the office where we can sit, eat and visit. Small tablecloth covered table, a few chairs, full size fridge, counter top convection/toaster oven, coffee maker and electric tea kettle. We used to have a microwave but we removed it about 6 months ago.
We had heard and read research about the health hazards to using the microwave and were convinced that it should be removed but the time would go by and there it sat.

Side note, I work best with deadlines and when I am under a bit of pressure. So the pressure to remove the microwave came in the form of our annual fire inspection. The fire inspector told me that I need the microwave plugged directly into the wall not into a power strip because it could cause a fire. He would be back in 10 days to see if I made the changes and then sign off that the office is compliant. Needless to say the microwave "left the building" that afternoon.

Joya brings a balanced and nutritious lunch each day. If you are one of her patients and she advises you of the best balance for your meals be assured that she practices what she preaches. Most days Marylou Gantner sits across the table from Joya and they share a laugh over lunch. Marylou prepares great food that looks beautiful because she mixes colors of veggies and serves her lunch up in lovely dishes.

This past week Heather Crider brought in some pureed butternut squash and shared it with me. It tasted yummy and I decided to photograph the squash and share the photo here.
She insisted that it looked like baby food but I assured her it was a lovely puree not baby food. I've asked her to share the recipe in a blog post sometime soon because she said it is a very easy recipe done in the oven and I can attest to the fact that it was delicious.

Lunchtime for me usually consists of a meal size salad of greens, some type of protein, and some cut up veggies. This is most efficient lunch for me because it is all in one dish, transports easily and if I want to sit in my office and read emails instead of being in the kitchen I don't have anything to spill. So share lunch ideas with us. You can comment here or on our Facebook page through our website.

Can laughter protect your heart?

Do you laugh? Do you have long, gut busting laughs?

If so, your heart thanks you. According to a new study through the University of Maryland, "laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack." People with heart disease are 40% less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to others the same age without disease.

Michael Miller, M.D., is the director for the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He says they don't understand yet why laughter protects, but they do understand that stress, hostility, and negative feelings have a damaging effect on the lining of the veins and arteries. Atherosclerosis, begins as inflammation and damage to the arteries that leads to deposits of fat and cholesterol.

The study compared how 300 people answered humor responses. Half of the people asked to participate had already suffered a heart attack or had coronary artery disease. The other half did not have heart disease. The questionnaires asked how much or little people laughed in certain situations and the second one used true or false answers to measure anger and hostility.

Dr. Miller found that those with heart disease found less humor in everyday situations than those who did not. They were generally more angry and hostile and laughed less even in positive situations.

A popular inflammatory marker is CRP, or C-reactive protein. This is a blood test that measures general inflammation in the body. Marsland, in a study of 855 middle-aged subjects showed that hostile affect was independently associated with increased CRP levels (Antagonistic characteristics are positively associated with inflammatory markers independently of trait negative emotionality).

Naturopathy also offers a variety of herbs to help reduce inflammation in association with laughter.

Orlando has a wonderful comedy club named SAK, that our office had the pleasure of visiting on Friday. We laughed and laughed, and then laughed some more! They were superb! Laughter is the best medicine!