Health

Category

No More Pink Ribbons Please

We have met so many lovely people through blogging. After more than eight years here in Mexico and going on ten years of blogging, our blogging friendships have become quite strong. It’s been a hard time lately for bloggers in México, though. In January, San Miguel de Allende blogger Shannon passed away from cancer. I knew Shannon and her husband Todd from their blogs although I never have met either of them in person. Shannon and I bonded a bit...

Shopping in Mazatlán

I finally headed out today to Naturalia and Dulceria Don Juan since the cupboards were getting bare. I’d been putting it off as it has been a bit too hot and humid lately for schlepping heavy bags in the blazing sun. We eat a lot of nuts and seeds and even though it was hot I braved the weather this afternoon to replenish our stores. First I went to Naturalia. (Zaragoza 807, Centro) They have all kinds of things I...

My Health Promoting Turmeric Tonic

I admit it. I am a health nut. I’ve written extensively about the things I do to keep healthy, but basically I just eat real food. Fruits and vegetables of course, with as much organic as I can find. I drink a ton of water and seldom have sugar or processed foods. I make, eat and drink a lot of fermented foods. I choose sea salt or Himalayan salt over table salt. I choose coconut or olive oil over canola....

What DOES a vegetarian eat, anyway?

A couple of my friends have asked for me to share some of my vegetarian meals so that they could make a change to eating less meat. To that end, I have been snapping phone pictures of my most photogenic meals for the last month or so when it occurs to me. I’ve written posts on this topic before, here and here. The descriptions for the photo above: 1. Bulgur wheat and vegetables with parmesan cheese. 2. Veggie burrito at...

The City Gym in Mazatlán

Mazatlán has a wonderful city gym, a gym that is totally free to all city residents and guests. Free! No cost! Open 24 hours, too! Yes, you guessed it, it’s the malecón. From the Pedro Infante monument in Old Town (Olas Altas) at the South end to Valentino’s at Rafael Buelna at the North, it is a four and a half mile gymnasium with a world class view. At the top of the post is a picture from this morning,...

Time passes on

I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership, teamwork, and what makes a good boss lately. One of my former bosses, Jim Potter, died back in May, and I only found out about it recently. The news of his death hit me hard, surprising me with its intensity. His real estate investment and property management company was a hardworking place but we had a lot of fun. Jim could always be counted on to think about things in his own unique...

Morning in Mazatlán

For the last two months I have been taking a long walk on the malecón nearly every morning. Some days I walk past Los Pinos, some days I head straight to Playa Norte. Some days I walk on the beach and some on the pavement. Every day is unique and wonderful. These walks are a chance for me to listen to an audio book or music and just absorb nature’s gifts. And yes, it truly is sunny nearly every morning....

Old age can have its benefits…

Last month Paul and I went to the ophthalmologist for in depth eye exams. Since we’ve lived here we have only had optometrists check our eyes, and that’s been almost seven years. So off we went – to find out Paul needed a stronger prescription and I don’t need glasses any more, except for reading. I almost didn’t believe him when he told me, but then when we got home I took them off and realized it was the truth....

My (mostly) healthy habits

I am very interested in healthy living, reading everything I can and I enjoy sharing ideas with like-minded people.  I know that my enthusiasm for green tea and other healthy choices I made helped me when my ovarian cancer developed.  It was unbelievable that my (probably due to genetics) tumor was very large, yet it hadn’t spread. One of the things green tea (and other foods, too) can do is stop angiogenesis, or the development of blood supply for growth...

I’m crazy for probiotics

I am really having fun these days adding lots of good nutrition to our diet using fermented beverages. I wrote about making kefir before, but now I have added kombucha and rejuvelac to my rotation. If you want to know more about these beverages, here is a link to a great site with tons of information. I also bought a book that I’d highly recommend titled Cultured Food for Life....

After Chemo, Mazatlán Woman Grows Second Head!

This is true.  My hairdresser, the famous and talented Deb from Tippy Toes, says so.  A couple days ago she said “This is so strange, it is like you have two heads.  The front part is pretty much like your old hair but the back….it is truly somebody else’s head.” Well, maybe somebody else’s hair? Check it out.  The front part is normal.  The back, curly and crazy.  Who knows if it will stay like this as it’s only been six...

The 5:2 Diet Update

A while back I had promised to update you on how it was going with the 5:2 diet. If you’re not familiar with it, it is a way of eating where for two non-consecutive you almost fast.  (Women eat 500 calories, and Men, 600) That’s about a quarter of our normal caloric intake. Then for the other five days of the week you eat normally. This eating strategy has lots of health benefits, you can read more about it here....

Making Kefir

When I finished chemotherapy last April I began taking probiotics tablets to help with restoring my body to balanced good health. Chemotherapy is rough on your digestive system and I felt that a couple of bottles of probiotics tablets probably wouldn’t be enough. Fermented foods are frequently mentioned as a way to bring helpful bacteria to your gut – eating sauerkraut, kimchi or kefir. You can buy a product called Yakult in the dairy case here but it is non-organic...

It’s been three months since chemo…

It doesn’t seem like it could be three months since my last chemotherapy but it has!  I am feeling great and am enjoying the summer. It isn’t too hot yet and there are still a fair number of people in town to have fun with. I am jetting off on Saturday for a couple of weeks in the US.  I’ll be splitting my time between my sister and her family in Tacoma and my son and his family in Bellingham....

A Walk on Mazatlán’s Malecon

This summer is going to be the summer of getting in shape for me.  I wasn’t able to work out a lot while I was having chemotherapy, and I realized recently that I had lost a fair bit of strength in my muscles.  So it is time to really get to work! Every other day I have been using my Nordic Track cross-country ski machine (which I love) for a half hour and working my arms with hand weights. I...