Best Health Magazine

I have been a fan of Women's Health for a while. I was recently in Canada and picked up a Canadian health magazine called Best Health and I loved it. I am blogging about it because of the content, but also because it is a Canadian magazine and probably isn't available south of the border. I am attempting to give it some exposure. Considering my occasional readers are a few family members and friends, it is hardly going to make a difference for the future of this magazine...but it's the thought that counts, right?

I am still reading this magazine. It is jam packed with articles and is divided into sections (I love all things organized!): Look Great, Get Healthy, Eat Well, Embrace Life, and New and Now. I actually worried while reading this magazine that they would run out of content for the next, or maybe the one after that. I think that says it all. Like Women's Health, I also like that it balances natural remedies with mainstream medical advice. And this magazine even had a little article about health for dogs! (Don't feed them bone scraps.) While not in the title, it is focused on women for the most part. And for those who are not traveling north or interested in subscriptions without trying it out first (I wouldn't be), they have a website of course.

www.besthealthmag.ca

Microwave Safe

I find the microwave to be a bit of a mysterious appliance. I step aside when I realize I am standing in front of the microwave 'breeze' thinking it might do some harm and I definitely have some unanswered questions about microwave safety.

What containers are safe to use?
Does it matter, nutritionally speaking, whether I cook vegetables in the microwave or on stove top?
What about those foods, like flavored rice, that cook right in the package?

Firstly, we really don't use the microwave very much at home. We reheat meals, very occasionally make popcorn, but we rarely cook anything in the microwave. I do reheat lunches almost every day at work, and I have wondered about what is safe to use for reheating food. I prefer to use glass containers when I can. I looked online to get some answers (Microwave Safe Containers and Microwaving Food in Plastic: Dangerous or not?) and it was pretty interesting. These are some tips I found out:

• When microwaving with plastic containers, definitely only use ones that are labeled microwave safe
• Microwave safe means that the plastic has been approved by the FDA based on a series of tests that consider surface area of plastic touching food and temperatures food can reach
• Glass containers are considered safe, but they should still say microwave safe because of the possibility of shattering due to heat (you can check this by microwaving it empty for one minute and if it is hot then it is not microwave safe)
  
• Plastics that are not labeled microwave safe may be okay to use, but haven't been tested for FDA approval
  
• Unsafe plastic containers mean harmful chemicals could be leaking into the food when reaching a high temperature
• There are also food grade containers that can become unsafe if used to store high fat foods (may cause original oils to leak into food) or if used to store non-food items
• Food grade containers are not necessarily microwave safe
• Plastic wrap should not touch food and any container should be vented.
• Alternatives to plastic wrap are a paper towel, wax paper, parchment paper
• Most take-out containers are not microwave safe
• Do not brine food in non food containers such as plastic bags

This definitely confirms that I want to continue to microwave in glass containers which, I have found, can be quite expensive. But, obviously they should last a long time and are worth it.

I still want to research more about cooking foods in their packages, I am very suspicious of this but didn't find anything this time around on the internet.

Wordless Wednesday: Shikoku, Japan

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, or one of our anniversaries. We eloped in July of 2007 and had a wonderful wedding in August of 2008. It turns out that marriage, and therefore celebrating an anniversary, does have something to do with health. There are many articles out there about the health benefits of a happy marriage, such as longevity, better immunity, less anxiety and depression, and even fewer injuries. (Marriage is Good For You) I guess the important part is that the marriage is a happy one or all of those benefits reverse. I am not too worried about that.

I can definitely say that our anniversary dinner did not contribute to our good health, nor did the cake in that picture, but being married to my husband definitely contributes to my health. Happy Anniversary to Us!

Procrastination

I am the Queen of Procrastination. It should be my middle name, and I believe I come by it honestly. There may be a few procrastinators in my family. And as I was thinking of writing a new post, while procrastinating writing my current paper on assessment (sounds interesting, right?), I thought of writing about the very topic that was inspiring said post: procrastination. I actually googled procrastination and health, and there were quite a few results.

Mostly procrastination is said to cause stress and generally be a symptom of various unhealthy mental states. But I did find one interesting article on Self.com that seems to ring true and (I hope) better describes how I procrastinate. It is also pretty funny.

But I guess what separates my procrastination from the other health articles is the fact that I am never late with commitments (report cards, grades, assignments or any other important due dates), I don't pull all nighters (at worst, in bed by 11 pm), I don't think my procrastination has ever led to tears (should ask my husband about this), and I am always satisfied enough with whatever it is I have to accomplish. I say satisfied enough because if it is something for someone else, such as report card comments, I tend to have a stronger work ethic than if it is something that only affects me, such as a paper for my courses.

And the things I can accomplish in the name of procrastination are endless! Learning a new piano piece, a sewing project, blogging, making a new playlist, exercising, cleaning house, emails, cooking/baking, gardening, shopping, internet searches on whatever topic comes to mind, phone calls to family...and taking endless pictures of our cats (see above).

Some of these activities also provide needed distraction between paragraphs for my papers or research, and that is best done at my computer. A few sites that offer a few minutes of healthy distraction are Facebook for the scrabble game and catching up with friends, blogs (of course!), and for mental challenge, check out www.brainbashers.com - I love to do the crossword, daily logic puzzle, and sudoku, but the games are endless.

Charities - Website Share

Today I read an article about ways in which spending money can contribute to happiness, such as vacations, gym memberships, and donating to charities. (another article from Women's Health) This article recommended a great website called Charity Navigator.

It lists charities by category and includes ratings. It explains the rating system and if you click on a charity, you have access to a breakdown of the rating and the charity's financial information.

There is a link to donate online which makes it pretty convenient. And if you click on a topic, such as animals, the next page will provide subtopics and a list of facts about the topic. So, for example, I learned while clicking on charities for animals that for every baby born, there are 15 dogs and 45 cats born.

I am not sure there is a charity for helping our cat, Collette, safely navigate the dangers of the kitchen, but I did find a number of charities for cats specifically, which tells me that whatever my interest in charity donations, I can probably find it through this site.

Cosmetics

One of my resolutions this year was to be more conscientious about buying cosmetics. That means no impulse cosmetics purchases- only buy what I need. (Note: I use the term need very loosely.) And when I do buy cosmetics, I want to be conscientious about where I buy them. The three brands I know about and that I believe are environmentally conscientious about their policies, lack of animal product use and animal testing, and their organic ingredients are Arbonne, Body Shop, and Aveda. I am not 100% sure that they are as green as I would like them to be, but I do believe they make an honest effort. Again, I am no expert. There could be many more brands that make the same effort to produce safe products, I just know of these three. I am concerned with both the manufacturing of the products and how safe they are for our skin.

With that in mind, I chose to buy mascara this week at Aveda. I love it, it works really well, and I like that the products are organic and I am rewarded for not using one of their bags to carry my purchase (10 cents off the price). (On a side note, in the grocery stores in Kingston, Ontario, you actually have to pay to use shopping bags.) The friendly salesperson also pointed out that if the ingredients used in Aveda's products can't be used in a sustainable way, they won't use them at all.

I also chose Aveda because I read in Women's Health that the company has won awards for being environmentally friendly. However, when I research Aveda and Arbonne (I have not researched the Body Shop), there are differing opinions about just how healthy all of their products are. It gets confusing for sure. I did learn that Aveda uses 100% wind energy for manufacturing their products!

A very good friend of mine, Natalie, is conscientious about the environment and making healthy choices. She recommended some great sites for researching cosmetics.

One is a cosmetic safety database called Skin Deep. I'd like to point out that I was unable to find my Aveda Mosscara on this site, and this has happened to me before.

Another website lists the dirty dozen chemicals used in daily products. Natalie also recommended SafeMama for researching products that are safe for babies, including cleaning products.

It certainly can be overwhelming researching every product, but there are so many choices out there, that I think it makes sense to compare and choose the safest products.