Seeing Red

February is American Heart Association Month, but I’ve been seeing red for the past two and a half months! Not the meaning that immediately comes to mind when someone says they see red, but skeins and skeins of red yarn. A couple of years ago, I knitted some scarves for American Heart Association’s “Heart Scarves” project that provides red scarves to women who are just coming out of heart surgery. 

I genuinely believe it’s a great project so around the middle of November, I decided I would participate again. In my search for information about this year’s WomenHeart HeartScarves project, I also found a project in Chicago called Little Hats, Big Hearts. This other project raises awareness of congenital heart defects, the most common type of birth defect in the US. A group of volunteers was asking people to knit red baby hats in “premie” and newborn sizes so they can give a red hat to every baby born in Chicago’s participating hospitals during February. 

I also loved the idea of this project, so I immediately went out and bought 4 skeins of red yarn, downloaded some patterns and started my first hat. I’d never knitted on circular needles before so this was my first attempt to understand how to connect the rows, and keep track of them. I’d also never knitted on tiny number 2 and 3 needles so this was another a new experience.

Some of the hat patterns were easier than others and by the time I was on my fourth skein, I had settled on two favorites and I was much faster than when I started. I ended up sending sixteen hats to the volunteer organizer the first of January so the hats could be washed, sterilized and distributed by the first of February.

With the baby hats finished, I started on scarves for the WomenHeart program. I now have two finished, and I’m working on my third. I wish I could say that since these are on much bigger needles, they go faster, but that isn’t the case. As the scarf reaches thirty inches, you realize you are a little less than half way, and you believe you’ll never finish. 

At least I don’t have a deadline for this project because, unfortunately, there are thousands of women who have heart surgery every day.

Here is where I get on my soapbox about awareness of heart disease in women. There are many more women than men who have died from heart disease and stroke since 1984. And an alarming fact is that fewer women than men survive their first heart attack. Around 55,000 more women than men have a stroke each year! Few women know the signs of a heart attack because the signs are different from those experienced by men.

Another alarming fact is that more women die each year from heart disease than from breast cancer. Yet, we never hear about these statistics and the American Heart Association gets almost no publicity. I’ve looked into how effectively donations are handled by different associations, and AHA has a very high percentage of donations going to the actual prevention of heart disease and stroke and very little going towards advertising. Maybe that’s why death in women has decreased by more than 30 percent in the past 10 years.

February is coming up in just a week, and it’s American Heart Month. On February 6th, it’s national Wear Red Day! This year will mark the twelfth annual recognized day and it’s gaining in popularity. I’d like to encourage you to participate.

February also marks one month since you made your new year’s resolutions. If resolving to break the barriers against heart disease and strokes in women wasn’t on your list, it’s not too late to make this a priority! At least become familiar with women’s signs of heart attack.

Clean Eating is Trendy!

According to a few websites that I’ve recently visited, “clean eating” is extremely trendy now. Not that either of us are trend setters but I think some trendy things are worth trying. 

 Another year, another diet resolution? I can’t believe the number of diet commercials flooding every TV station, and if you believe any of them, their magical pill will “melt your fat quickly and easily”! Our "diet pills" are vegetables.

One of Steve's passions

Steve and I each relished our Christmas food!  I love my turkey and stuffing and Steve’s passion for traditional English Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies is legendary. We found both -- Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies -- at a World Market and we also found some imported Stilton cheese. The Stilton went perfectly with a bottle of port that had been maturing in our cupboard following our move from the UK to Maryland and then on to Texas.

At least one a day!

We relished every taste of all of these holiday goodies but not to excess. We then agreed that we would endeavor to eat healthier for a while. I can’t say that it is a diet, but more of a “clean, whole foods” way of eating.  No, we are not buying all of our food at Whole Foods; we’ve just cut out all processed foods. The change means excluding all white foods except cauliflower and onions, and very little dairy (as in no yogurt because it all has high sugar content). Two of our indulgences are a small bit of cheese occasionally and a limited amount of dark chocolate. We are eating plenty of fish and very lean protein, lots of green veggies, little to no sugar and lots of water. We have no condiments such as mayo, ketchup or mustard, and I make our salad dressing with just vinegar, olive oil, and a few herbs. It truly is a very easy simple way of eating. And if you think about it, didn’t our ancestors eat this way before foods of every kind became “instant”?

This is most of our food shopping

Shopping to prepare for "clean eating" requires more planning than just browsing and picking up whatever strikes your fancy. We’ve realized that shopping is now more frequent since everything is fresh but so far that hasn’t been a problem. You might think that these extra trips to stock up are breaking our bank, but this isn’t the case. In fact, trips to the supermarket are a lot more organized and quicker. There are entire aisles that we can skip such as cereal, bread, pasta, rice and processed packaged items, junk (i.e. chips, crackers, all snack items) and sugary drinks (not that we’ve ever drunk them). Our main focus is on a couple of pounds of spring mix and some green veggies. Cooking our meals is a lot easier too because it’s simply a matter of grilling a bit of protein and steaming the veggies. Simple, quick and effortless and the clean up is fairly painless too.

We even indulged in happy hour last Friday evening, and both of us were ‘way over the top’ virtuous. We ate a little bit of cheese dip and then only a side salad, which was our dinner for the whole evening. We each only had one drink, a low-carb beer for Steve and a red wine for me.  I’m wondering just how long this degree of virtuousness can actually last!

We have a Thai cooking class coming up tonight that we booked before deciding on our “clean eating” regime so we’ve been trying to be extra good the past couple of days. We’ll be making Phad Thai, Green Coconut Curry, and a spicy shrimp dish. The Phad Thai and Green Coconut Curry are two of Steve favorites, and the shrimp is one of mine. I’ve agreed to give him my Pad Thai so that I can have his shrimp.

This trend doesn’t mean that you have to go completely mad and do all of your shopping at the uber trendy Whole Foods. But if you have the extra money and want to go that route, have a look at this link and then decide whether it is really worth it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-maclean/surviving-whole-foods_b_3895583.html

"You are what you eat - so

don't be Fast, Cheap, Easy or Fake!"           unknown

Happy eating in 2015, whatever you choose to eat!