Now scheduling Movement + Massage sessions in Vancouver, Washington!
Do you want to:
Feel strong and capable.
Make positive changes in your body composition.
Move your body without fear of injury.
Reach out to me this week!
Together we will come up with a plan customized to your needs, goals, lifestyle, and current season of life.
You’ll have a roadmap for how to take good care of you, moving your body in ways that feel good, feeding yourself delicious, nutrient dense foods, and taking time to rest your mind and body.
Do you suffer from foot pain, plantar fasciitis, bunions, or hammer toes?
Join us on Zoom Saturday March 16th at noon Pacific and learn an easy-to-follow foot strength and mobility program you can do at home with minimal equipment.
We will work from noon to 12:45. I guide you through a quick foot anatomy lesson, a foot massage program, foot and ankle exercises and stretches, and we’ll test our balance.
Your feet will feel fantastic, and you’ll have learned self-care techniques you can use anytime, anywhere!
You won’t need any special equipment, but if you have a couple of towels, a tennis ball, and a dining chair, please have these handy.
My focus for 2024 is BALANCE.
What do healthy feet have to do with balance? If you have strong, flexible feet and ankles, you are better able to balance, and less likely to fall.
Big toe mobility plays a role in a healthy walking gait. If your big toe is tight or you suffer from bunions, you may have a less efficient gait (walking pattern).
While you may think there’s nothing you can do, or that your bunions or hammer toes are hereditary, I’m here to tell you that you CAN make positive changes in your feet.
Join us for this interactive workshop and learn how to take care of your feet so they can take care of you!
Here are your top three daily tips to take good care of your oral microbiome.
Rinse your mouth with warm salt water.
Brush and floss daily, especially before bed.
Breathe thru your nose, not your mouth.
This week I caught the flu that’s been going around and was in bed for a solid two days. When I got a tickle in my throat, the first thing I thought of was my grandma who used to tell me to gargle with warm, salty water. Sometimes just doing this will keep me from getting sick. Unfortunately, this time I was too late.
I spent my sick days resting, meditating, and listening to podcasts. One was Andrew Huberman’s recent episode on oral health.
You may have heard about the connection between poor gum health and heart disease. Daily brushing and flossing can not only keep your teeth and gums healthy, but may improve the health of your whole body. At night we produce less saliva than during the day, so by prioritizing brushing right before bed, you’re giving yourself the best chance of reducing plaque buildup overnight.
Now on to mouth breathing. Notice your breath right now. Are you breathing through your nose or your mouth? Unless you are eating, talking, or sprinting you should be breathing through your nose. If you can train yourself to primarily breathe through your nose, your mouth will stay moist, and your nose will be better able to do its job of filtering and warming the air before it gets to your lungs. If you struggle with mouth breathing at night, watch this interview with James Nestor about sleep taping.
Similar to your gut, your mouth is filled with bacteria. For a balanced microbiome, we want to encourage the growth of healthy, or “good” bacteria. A quick, easy, and inexpensive tip Dr. Huberman recommends is rinsing your mouth with salt water. This encourages production of healthy mouth bacteria. Put a little warm water in a mug, add a spoonful of table salt, stir, swish the saltwater around your mouth, and spit it out.
You may be surprised to learn that traditional, commercial mouthwashes no not support oral health. Mouthwashes containing alcohol or chlorhexidine may cause “dysbiosis” or killing off the “good” bacteria, leaving the “bad” bacteria to take over.
Were any of these tips surprising to you?
Which of these can you incorporate into your daily habits?
Have you (or has someone you love) fallen recently?
Watch this recording and learn exercises you can do at home using minimal equipment to improve your balance.
In this workshop I’ll guide you through simple exercises to:
Improve foot and ankle strength
Boost your confidence walking on uneven ground
improve big toe mobility (important for a healthy gait)
Increase hip strength and mobility
According to the CDC, 30% of adults aged 65 and older fall each year. Falls can result in serious injuries, limited mobility, and loss of independence.
A fall can impact not only the injured person but their entire community.
One of my friends recently shared that a relative had a fall that resulted in a hip fracture. While not life threatening, her injury has impacted the entire family. She is the primary care giver for her husband who suffers from dementia. This injury temporarily impacted her ability to care for both herself and her husband. Friends and relatives have stepped in to provide care for both adults. She is already up and moving and will soon be living independently again. She’s a very active senior with good muscle tone and mobility and I’m sure that has played a part in her rapid recovery.
You can take steps, starting today, to help build muscular strength and coordination so that you do not become sidelined by a fall.
Fall prevention tips for inside your house:
Remove all area rugs. These can be a tripping hazard.
Plug in night lights (especially if you get up in the night to go to the bathroom).
Wear grippy soled socks, or slippers that cover your whole foot (not slides).
Slow down. Often when we fall, we are rushing, or not paying attention.
As we age our foot and ankle mobility can diminish. Calf raises, toe taps, calf stretches, and step ups/ step downs are all good exercises to build ankle strength and mobility.
A really simple awareness exercise is to notice your gait. Do you shuffle? Can you practice picking up your feet, and rolling forward from your heel to the front of your foot as you walk?
Here’s my favorite Thanksgiving recipe, my grannie’s cornbread dressing.
I grew up in north Florida, and in the south, “dressing” is very different than “stuffing”. This is a side dish, cooked separate from the bird, that is the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes, rather than crumbly bread cubes.
Depending on where you are in the south, you may see sausage or seafood in your cornbread dressing. The recipe below is what I ate growing up. If you’re looking for a vegetarian side dish you could easily make this using vegetable stock in lieu of turkey drippings or chicken stock, and leave out the milk. Please don’t try to leave out the butter. This is Thanksgiving, the high holiday of fat, baby!
My Mom’s mom Mattie was born in South Georgia and raised in Florida. She used curry powder (not sage) and moistened the dish with drippings from the turkey. My Dad’s Mom Mary Del grew up in Louisiana and she would put oysters in her dressing.
Below is Mattie’s recipe with an option to add oysters for Louisiana style.
Cornbread Dressing Recipe
Cornbread Ingredients:
1 8.5 oz box jiffy cornbread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup of milk
Dressing Ingredients:
8 tablespoons butter (reserve one tbsp. to grease the pan)
4-5 ribs of celery, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 slices white bread, dried in warm oven, and crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
2-3 cups chicken stock (or pan drippings from the turkey)
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
Optional: 1 pint fresh oysters, drained
Directions:
Make cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble (best to do this a day or two ahead.).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the celery, green pepper, and onion until soft (5-10 minutes).
In a large bowl, place the celery, pepper, and onion. Add the cornbread, white bread, eggs, chicken stock, milk, salt, pepper, and curry powder and mix well (add the oysters now if you are using them).
Pour into prepared dish and bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. (to test for doneness, carefully and gently jiggle the pan, and if the center of the dressing moves cook it a little longer, til it’s set).
