Oldies, But Goodies

1. Protective Style Lookbook || 20+ Styles on Braids & Twists
2. Healthy Hair Feature: Ijeoma Eboh, aka KlassyKinks
3. Foods for Eye Health
4. Mixology || Natural Bubble Bath
5. Shedding Too Much Hair?

Sweet Potato Hash and Eggs (via The Chronicles of Home)

I'm all about breakfast for dinner, so I'm excited about Jennifer's (The Chronicles of Home) recipe for this week, Sweet Potato Hash and Eggs!

Sweet Potato Hash and Eggs – serves 4

When it comes to breakfast-for-dinner I'm definitely more a fan of egg dishes than pancakes or waffles.  This hash is so flavorful and satisfying it almost makes me forget that it's more of a traditional breakfast dish than a "real" dinner. 

Using sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes does change the texture of the hash.  It won't be crispy like a potato hash made with white potatoes but I actually really love the softer, creamier texture.  And the flavor of the sweet potatoes is a great balance to the salty ham.

I use a nitrate-free Canadian bacon, which is a great staple to keep in your fridge.  It's a lean meat, already cooked, and can be chopped up and thrown into any number of dishes or just warmed and served alongside some pancakes.

A fried egg on top with a soft yolk and crispy edges is the perfect finishing touch.  You may find yourself making this for breakfast and for dinner!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons grapeseed oil

2 ½ c. peeled sweet potatoes, cut into ½” cubes

6 oz. Canadian bacon, diced

1 c. chopped yellow onion

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tbsp. horseradish

2 c. arugula

1 tbsp. olive oil

4 eggs

1 avocado, peeled and cut into chunks

Directions

Heat grapeseed oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Add sweet potatoes, cover, and cook 5 minutes.  

Stir in Canadian bacon, onion, mustard, and horseradish.  Cover and cook until the sweet potato is tender and the bottom turns golden, about 8-10 minutes.  

Flip sections of the hash and press down with a spatula.  Cook uncovered  another 8-10 minutes, flipping sections occasionally so hash browns evenly.  Stir in arugula and cook a few minutes until it wilts.

Meanwhile heat olive oil in another nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Add eggs and cook until whites are set but yolks are soft.

Divide hash among four plates.  Top each with ¼ of the avocado and 1 fried egg.  Serve immediately.

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For more recipes from Jennifer, and to see glimpses into her home and fabulous DIY projects, click the banner below.

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My Live Fit Supplements

I've gotten some questions about the supplements I take on the Live Fit program, and I've been following what the program recommends-  a daily multivitamin, daily Flaxseed or Fish Oil, branched chain amino acid (BCAA), and protein shake.  

Multivitamin- According to Dr. Oz, a multivitamin fulfills your daily nutritional needs for the day.  He recommends taking half in the morning and half at night to maximize absorption.  One of my gummy multivitamins is half a dose, so that works perfect for me to take one in the morning and one at night.  

Fish Oil- I posted the information on Fish Oil from Dr. Oz' website below:

1. Although the recent analysis of 20 studies done since 1989 (out of over 3,600 studies performed!) showed that the 10% reduction in cardiac death was not statistically significant, the chance that it might help, in my opinion, outweighs the risk of taking it (basically, no risk!).

2. The studies performed from 1989 to 1998 more routinely showed significant benefit compared to the later studies. The possible reason for the change: Statin drugs have become the standard of care in patients with cardiovascular disease since 1998. With such powerful drugs on board, it may be very difficult to see an added benefit of fish oil.

3. Omega-3 fats are essential fats. That means our body needs them to function, but we can't make them on our own. We must get them from our diets. Unfortunately, most of us don't eat enough fish, or the fish we're eating may not be great sources of these necessary fats (often due to the type of fish or the farming practices). Plant-based sources of omega-3's (like walnuts, flax seeds and chia seeds) are great sources of one type of EPA omega-3, but not the other, DHA. You need to eat good sources of fish (wild salmon, trout, sardines, anchovies, herring and mackerel), or algae (as in sushi), or take supplements in order to get the DHA.

4. Omega-3's have been found to be beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis, reduction in breast cancer risk, reduction in ulcerative colitis risk, prevention of weight loss during chemotherapy, prevention of age-related macular degeneration, decreased symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disease, and schizophrenia, decrease in premature births, and age-related cognitive decline.

We have a ways to go before the scientists have proven, without a doubt, all the benefits of taking omega-3 supplements, but for now, it makes sense to take at least 600mg/day of DHA as insurance against low dietary intakes, given the minimal risk (other than the cost of the pills or the risk of reaction in patients with severe fish allergy).

BCAA-  Branched Chain Amino Acids may help promote workout recovery, encourage muscle growth, and support strength.  I got mine through the Bodybuilding.com website.  I add 3 tablespoons to my water bottle and drink it while I workout.  Mine is orange flavored so it just tastes like orange-flavored water.  I like the taste. 

Protein Powder- I try to drink a shake after each workout.  Right now, I'm making it with one packet of Lean Body for Her powder plus 8 ounces of water and a few ice cubes.  It tastes like a chocolate milk shake. 

Do you take any supplements?  Vitamins?

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Protective Style Lookbook || Braided Crown Hairstyle

By popular demand, this is a series showcasing various protective hair styles.  Protective styling does not have to be boring. :o)

{Image Source}

Model: Ebony C.

Style description: Braid going around the crown. Can be done on stretched hair, twists, or box braids. 

Difficulty level: 3/5

Environmental Racism

“...lead poisoning could be the major cause of the rise and fall of violent crime.”

In a compelling article by George Monbiot of an even stronger piece of research published by Mother Jones, the story of environmental impact on health and wellbeing takes an insidious turn - one that is new to me and worthy of sharing, if our arts and health agenda is to evolve with the times and take account of the wider determinants of heath.

We’ve all been aware of the impact of our industrialised and market-responsive consumer lifestyles on the planet for decades. Yes, there’ll always be those with vested interests who argue against climate change - twisted and self-interested. Research from Mother Jones exposes an entirely new slant on the impact of pollution on a significant public health issue - that of violent crime.

Taking into account numerous scientific papers and exploring the rise and fall of violent crime during the second half of the 20th century and first years of the 21st, it’s proposed, that it wasn’t changes in policing or imprisonment, single parenthood, recession, crack cocaine or the legalisation of abortion, but predominantly by the rise and fall in the use of lead-based paint and leaded petrol, that has had significant impact on violent crime!

Monbiot himself admits that until you read the well-cited evidence, the whole thing sounds completely implausible. The research between “cities, states and nations show that the rise and fall in crime follows, with a roughly 20-year lag, the rise and fall in the exposure of infants to trace quantities of lead,” with Monbiot being able to find only one critical attack of the evidence - and that was “sponsored by the Ethyl Corporation, which happens to have been a major manufacturer of the petrol additive tetraethyl lead.”

The premiss is this: lead has been withdrawn first from paint and then from “petrol at different times in different places (beginning in the 1970s in the US in the case of petrol and the 1990s in many parts of Europe), yet, despite these different times and different circumstances, the pattern is the same: violent crime peaks around 20 years after lead pollution peaks. The researchers have taken great pains to correct for the obvious complicating variables: social, economic and legal factors. One paper found, after 15 variables had been taken into account, a four-fold increase in homicides in US counties with the highest lead pollution. Another discovered that lead levels appeared to explain 90% of the difference in rates of aggravated assault between US cities. A study in Cincinnati finds that young people prosecuted for delinquency are four times more likely than the general population to have high levels of lead in their bones. A meta-analysis (a study of studies) of 19 papers found no evidence that other factors could explain the correlation between exposure to lead and conduct problems among young people.”

I wonder, how many of us were told as children, not to chew on our pencil because of the lead, or else grew up wary of lead paint? We’ve known about lead poisoning for decades, so is it “really so surprising that a highly potent nerve toxin causes behavioural change?” The thought of my own drinking water through lead pipes for the first 18 years of my life fills me with a little shudder. My parents constantly naively prompting us, even then with, ‘let the water run before you drink any.’

Lead is so toxic that it is unsafe at any level, its impacts are permanent and devastating. “Behavioural effects were first documented in 1943: infants who had tragically chewed the leaded paint off the railings of their cots were found, years after they had recovered from acute poisoning, to be highly disposed to aggression and violence.”

With the reduction and removal of lead based products from our everyday lives, this may seem like old news, or an irrelevant story, but this reporting offers us interesting food for thought - one around inequalities: the other about the only producer of tetraethyl lead on the planet - based here in the North West.

Monbiot describes the inner city lives of people living in un-renovated, inner city housing in the US, where people lived by busy roads and in degrading property, citing research that shows “African Americans have been subjected to higher average levels of lead poisoning than white Americans. One study, published in 1986, found that 18% of white children but 52% of black children in the US had over 20 milligrammes per decilitre of lead in their blood; another that, between 1976 and 1980, black infants were eight times more likely to be carrying the horrendous load of 40mg/dl. This, two papers propose, could explain much of the difference in crime rates between black and white Americans, and the supposed difference in IQ trumpeted by the book The Bell Curve.” The implications of this research for crime statistics, public health and prejudice are huge.

Finally, Monbiot points the finger to the last global producer of tetraethyl lead, who he alleges export to Afghanistan, Algeria, Burma, Iraq, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Yemen, “countries afflicted either by chaos or by governments who don’t give a damn about their people.” The company Innospec is based right here in the North West at Ellesmere Port. 

Banned from sale in the United Kingdom. Furthermore he reports that, ”in 2010 the company admitted that, under the name Associated Octel, it had paid millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Iraq and Indonesia to be allowed to continue, at immense profit, selling tetratethyl lead. Through an agreement with the British and US courts, Innospec was let off so lightly that Lord Justice Thomas complained that “no such arrangement should be made again.” God knows how many lives this firm has ruined. The UK government tells me that because tetraethyl lead is not on the European list of controlled exports, there is nothing to prevent Innospec from selling to whoever it wants. There’s a term for this: environmental racism.”

Just think about the implications of this research - the reality of people’s lives affected yet again by poverty, by greed and by prejudice. Monbiot points to the greater crime - that people’s lives have been destroyed by crime, both as perpetrators and victims. How much violence - lives imprisoned and lives destroyed, could have been avoided.

Please click on the lead symbol above for the full Monbiot article. The film below is a different, but nevertheless related and important story.

I am indebted to Dr N for drawing this one to our attention.

Networking Event

RECOVERY: Creativity, Culture and the Arts

Thursday 7th February 4:30 till 7:00

This is the first free networking event of 2013 here at MMU and I’m thrilled to say that European partners from the I AM - art as an agent for change! will be present to share something of their stories, plus you’ll have the opportunity to share some of your practice!

If you’re interested in recovery from substance misuse as an artist, health professional or if you’ve been through an arts based process as part of your own recovery and you’d like to share your practice or experience, register for the event by emailing us at artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk  I imagine that people can share their stories for about 10 minutes each. For regular attenders, you’ll be shocked to know, I’ll be offering food and drinks too!!! SHOCKER. 

Registering your interest doesn't guarantee you a place and we’ll be in touch with you nearer the time with confirmation and venue details.

But, I hear you ask, what on earth is I AM - art as an agent for change! ? It’s a three year project that brings together people involved in the recovery movement from the UK, Italy and Turkey to explore how the arts might just play a part in recovery from substance misuse. The brainchild of curator Mark Prest and funded by Grundtvig, the project was born as a response to the European Health Commissions revelation that "Europe has the highest proportion of drinkers in the world, the highest levels of alcohol consumption per capita and a high level of alcohol-related harm. Harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption is a net cause of 7.4% of all ill-health and early death in the EU.” In 2010 the UK Government released its new recovery focused Drug Strategy - a move away from previous maintenance provision. Recent UK National Treatment Agency figures show an increase of people deemed as “in recovery”: some 27,969 people were classed as recovering in 2010/11; 18% more than the previous year.  Accompanying this is an emerging recovery movement, as illustrated by the inaugural Welsh Recovery Walk in September 2011 in which an estimated 2,000 people participated. In Liverpool, the city’s first alcohol-free recovery bar, The Brink, opened with 75% of staff themselves in recovery.

The European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction (EMCDDA) estimates that drug abuse in the EU accounts for 6500-9000 deaths (by overdose) a year. Addiction is high on the political agenda, particularly the impact of alcohol abuse and its societal impact, so the time is right to re-imagine how art and culture might be used as a catalyst for change to explore new pathways to recovery and develop new models of good practice. This arts project will explore how creativity, culture and the arts can be offer us a universal language.  I AM is a European Lifelong Learning project that looks at different cultural experiences of addiction and recovery using art as a universal language. Alongside Arts for Health the partner organisations include:

Portraits of Recovery

Portraits of Recovery is an innovative, unique and new visual arts organisation with a core belief that arts, culture and creativity can be transformational in and of itself and can act as a new tool for recovery from addiction. 

FeDerSerD    

The Italian Federation Department's Operators and Addiction's Services is advancing addiction as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education, prevention and human welfare. 

GRUPPO INCONTRO, SOCIETA' COOPERATIVA SOCIALE  

Cooperativa Incontro offers a full service of drug treatment programs and follows an individualized approach to drug and alcohol rehabilitation. This means setting each patient up with a drug treatment program that has been created and based on their particular needs and addiction issues. These programs will integrate a balance of individual and group therapy sessions, holistic healing therapies, social activities, and diet and nutrition courses.

TÜRKİYE YEŞİLAY CEMİYETİ KÜTAHYA ŞUBESİ 

Kütahya Green Crescent Branch is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that empowers young people and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions against different kinds of addictions including alcohol, tobacco, drug, gambling etc. that erode the mental and physical health of young people and the community. 

So if you want to share something and lear about other peoples practice - and find out a bit more about the I AM project, register now at artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk 

Thank you as ever for stopping by...C.P.

My Live Fit (Week 9) Recap

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

I had hoped to bring you my Live Fit Week 9 recap last week, but a lingering cold made it difficult to complete it in time.  It seems all of America is getting the flu lately.  A couple of days I went to the gym, but only walked on the treadmill instead of doing that days' weight training workout.  Phase 3 of Live Fit is difficult because the workouts keep your heart rate up the whole time, no rests!  In between sets, you do "active rests" like jump rope for a minute, jog/sprint, do step-ups, or abs.  I used to hate jumping rope (I couldn't do it, kept messing up, and felt super self-conscious), but now I'm getting pretty good at it and think it's FUN! :) 

After I recovered from my cold, I kicked butt in the gym!  Seriously, we all have stresses in our lives and taking your emotions out on those weights at the gym can be a life saver.  Put on your iPod, play your rock-out music, and GO!  You will feel so much better after a hard, sweaty workout, I promise.  

DAY 57: LEGS

DAY 58: BACK/BICEPS

DAY 59: CHEST/SHOULDERS

DAY 60:  HAMSTRINGS/GLUTES/CALVES

DAY 61:  BACK/BICEPS/ABS/SPRINTS

DAY 62: SHOULDERS/TRICEPS/CALVES

I did pretty good completing the workouts as designated, but did not follow the eating plan exactly, which calls for calorie counting in Phase 3.  Because I'm already pretty lean, I just eat like I normally do, something like this:

7:30 a.m.  Coffee with creamer, oatmeal with raisins/almonds/cinnamon/skim milk

10:00 a.m.  Protein bar (ideally this should be a meal, but I was on the go this week so just grabbed a bar from my purse)

12:00 p.m.  Grilled chicken pasta salad

3:00 p.m.  Extra lean turkey chili

5:00 p.m. Post-workout protein shake

6:00 p.m.  Extra lean turkey chili

9:00 p.m. Cereal (this isn't recommended, but honestly what I ate this week)

I also had a few hot cocoas (with skim milk) and popped into Starbuck's for a tall, nonfat, no whip white mocha.  I told you it's not perfect!

So, at the end of Week 9, my arms are getting a little more muscular and so are my legs/glutes- yay!  Also, I'm finally noticing that my abs are tighter.  

My favorite body parts to work out are shoulders and legs, I don't like doing biceps/triceps, but I can tell the results are worth it.

Here's a comparison from where I started to now.  Probably the biggest difference that I'm most thrilled about is my shrinking belly.  I know it's difficult to tell because I'm not showing my stomach, but you can kind of see in the first shot where my little "pooch" was, and now it's disappearing.  

You can read about the Live Fit Program (and my progress) by going HERE.   Three more weeks to go.  I will definitely be ready for bikini season this year!  Start NOW, so you will be ready too.  Come summertime, you'll wish you started today.  

I've got my eye on these . . . 

Snake Print

Bandeau

Ombre

Who's starting TODAY??

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Patient Safety Lessons Forged on the Flight Deck

Patrick Monaghan
JSPH Director of Communications

When John Nance talks about safety, people listen. An internationally recognized aviation safety expert, Nance was on the Jefferson campus this week, speaking to 3rd-year Jefferson Medical College students at the 10th Annual Interclerkship Day for Improving Patient Safety. Nance is one of the best speakers you’ll see.

He is a pioneer of Crew Resource Management, which revolutionized aviation safety, and a founding member of the National Patient Safety Foundation. Best known for his work as aviation analyst for ABC World News and Good Morning America, Nance is also a decorated Air Force officer and pilot, a lawyer, and the author of 19 books, including Why Hospitals Should Fly, which received the prestigious “Book of the Year” award for 2009 by the American College of Healthcare Executives.

His mission: to convince people that patient safety can be dramatically improved only when the hospital is run to directly support, and be extremely responsive to, the needs and limitations of the people who actually take care of the patient. It’s a message that he also brought, that same evening, to a special meeting of the JSPH Chapter of the IHI Open School.

In a small and intimate setting, Nance’s message is even more striking and clear. He spoke of the climate of fear that prevails in health care – fear of rocking the boat, fear of harming a patient – and how that climate must change. He posited that simple safety checks and checklists can reduce medical mistakes. “We make mistakes because we don’t see or hear what’s there,” he said. “We make mistakes because we’re human.”

Organizational excellence is a theory that has been wrongly built, especially in the U.S. health care system, on the notion that no one is going to make a mistake, Nance said. Medical schools and other health care training institutions must change their philosophy to prepare students to expect errors and to understand how to deal responsibly with to mitigate their impact. Physicians, Nance said, are still too often taught to be commanders rather than leaders. To put it in Star Trek terms, which Nance likes to do, physicians need to evolve from Captain Kirk – who pretended to be omnipotent and infallible – to Jean-Luc Picard – who understood the inherent fallibilities that come with being human. Interesting.

Nance applauded the bravery of institutions such as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center for its commitment to transparency and high quality care. In December, Cincinnati Children’s was named one of just 12 children’s hospitals and 81 hospitals of any kind in the U.S. included in The Leapfrog Group’s annual class of top hospitals. There was plenty of back and forth between Nance and his IHI audience, leading to discussions on patient safety surveys, coordinated care, and applying his teachings to small practices.

Nance’s now annual visit to Jefferson never fails to shed light on our health care system’s patient safety shortcomings. He’s the first to point out that progress, system wide, is slow and results are nominal. While the culture shift required is seismic, I’m betting on the resolve of groups such as our own IHI chapter and 3rd-year medical students to help see it through.