For years, the medical community as a whole has resisted recommending a gluten-free diet to patients who have not tested positive for celiac disease, a digestive ailment that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients as a result of eating gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. At the same time, [...]
Making Change and Breaking Old Habits
Whether you’re cutting out food, television, or something else entirely, breaking old habits is easier than you might think. Veganism always sounded too rigid for my tastes, so to speak, and not particularly fun. While I believe that eating is meant to sustain us, I also associate eating with great pleasure. Living by the ocean [...]
Posted on January 22nd, 2013 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Healthy Living
Resolution Recovery
Already bailed on your goals for 2013? It’s okay—really. Studies estimate that 80 percent of resolutions made for the New Year fail within six months, and many within the first 30 days. It’s not that we’re lazy or uncommitted, or resistant to change. Instead, says life coach and program advisor for Kripalu Healthy Living programs [...]
Posted on December 18th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Nutrition
The Skinny on Fat: How Bad is Fat for Us—Really?
The total fail of the fat-free ’80s and ’90s taught us that fat isn’t perhaps the villain we made it out to be, and that following a low-fat diet not only isn’t the cure to obesity but also may actually make things worse. That’s because fat plays an important role in giving us energy, building [...]
Posted on December 11th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Meditation
‘Tis the Season to Meditate
Forget about enjoying the holidays: More and more, the majority of us just want to make it through. Which is why a meditation practice—proven to counter stress, beat depression and illness, keep energy levels up, and help encourage better sleep—can come in especially handy this time of year. The best part: You don’t need to invest a lot of time or commitment (and, unlike most everything else this season, it’s totally free). Angela Wilson, MA, Manager of Evidence-Based Yoga Curriculum for Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living, offers the following tips for practicing on-the-go mindfulness: no quiet room, dimmed lights, or mat required.
Happiness and Fruit
Seems obvious: Who doesn’t get at least a little bit excited by a heaping bowl of fresh-cut fruit (especially if someone else has done the cutting for us)? But now science confirms that happiness and mental health rise with the number of servings of fruits and vegetables we eat each day.
Researchers at the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College studied 80,000 people living in the United Kingdom, and compared their fruit and veggie intake with their life satisfaction, mental well-being, presence of mental disorders, self-reported health, happiness, nervousness, and how often they “feel low,” factoring in such variables as the rest of their diets, alcohol, and many demographic, social, and economic factors. In an overwhelming number of cases, people who ate the World Health Organization-recommended five servings per day were happier than those who didn’t, and those who ate seven per day were happiest.
Posted on November 27th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Life Lessons
The Politics of Emotion
In the days after the election, millions of people around the world watched as President Obama delivered a heartfelt—and teary—speech to his campaign staff. “What you guys have done,” he said to them, wiping away tears with his finger, “means that the work that I’m doing is important.” It was both surprising and moving to see a man in a position traditionally known for coolness—under pressure always—overcome with such visible emotion.
In fact, emotions came up a lot throughout the election. Some of the most prominent issues were ones that spoke to us, our lives and our beliefs, very personally: our right to control our bodies, our right to marry whomever we want. We saw many tender moments between the candidates—though some more tender than most. Both during and after the election, the emotional vulnerability we saw from Obama far surpassed that of his opponent, making us wonder: Could emptions have contributed to Obama’s win?
Posted on November 20th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Healthy Living
Can Having Friends Help Ease Physical Pain?
A recent study conducted by researchers at Ohio State University and presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience seemed to prove that friendship has benefits beyond the emotional. In studying treatments for peripheral neuropathy, a pain and numbness of the hands and feet that’s a side effect of diabetes and one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, researchers found that lab mice paired with a cage-mate experienced far less pain from nerve damage than those who were caged alone. Mice who had “friends” had higher thresholds for pain; they also experienced reductions in inflammation. The lonely mice were just lonely.
Posted on November 14th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Nutrition
How to Have a Nutritious Thanksgiving
With all the focus on overindulgence—of food and family—we often forget that Thanksgiving is, at heart, a day for giving thanks and being grateful. That said, let’s get back to the food. Some of us choose to “let go,” and eat whatever we want, giving ourselves myriad excuses: It’s tradition, it’s etiquette, it’s just so delicious! But Thanksgiving offers a bounty of ways to enjoy fresh, local vegetables, so while it’s okay to treat yourself, it’s also entirely possible to indulge but not overeat—and, even, put together an optimally nutritious Thanksgiving dinner that sacrifices neither taste nor holiday spirit.
Still, if you can, try to avoid flour and bread products, says John Bagnulo,PhD, MPH, who teaches nutrition in Kripalu’s Healthy Living programs. “This will significantly help reduce the tendency to overeat,” says John. “Grains and flour raise levels of leptin—the hormone that controls appetite and cravings—more than any other food after sugar.” We asked John to share his ideal grain- and cruelty-free Thanksgiving meal.
Posted on November 5th, 2012 by Alyssa Giacobbe in Conscious Living
The Art of Unfriending
I’ve always been an exceedingly devoted friend, so much so that, when I was in high school, my father, perhaps in a fit of frustration and almost certainly with unintended cruelty, informed me that my friends would never be there for me the way I insisted on being there for them. I’m guessing, now, that he was only trying to protect me from hurt and disappointment, or perhaps encourage a sense of cynicism (that has since served me well as a journalist, if not as an optimist). But at the time it only made me feel sad. That might be his experience, I thought, but it wasn’t going to be mine. Once I made a friend, I made a friend for life.
At 35, I’ve largely stuck to this philosophy, collecting friends through my various life experiences—college, jobs, yoga classes, travels—and only rarely shedding them. Perhaps this need to connect with and amass people—a mix of confidantes and companions—is a byproduct of being an only child; I seek friends to fill the space siblings otherwise might have. For a few summers in my twenties, though, the habit had me spending the bulk of my weekends at weddings. It was not a cheap hobby.
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