My Valentine to YOU!

Happy Valentine's Day! I have decided to give you, my patients, AND myself a special Valentine- a free "do-over" for any New Year's Resolutions that have perhaps fallen to the wayside. Did you promise to head to the gym after work three days per week, but now a heavy snowstorm blocked your way for a few days, and you simply dropped the whole thing after missing a week? What about walking your dog each morning- same excuse? In Austin, we had SNOW on the ground last week, but today it is literally 73* and SUNNY, so we need to head back outside.

How about eating more plants and less processed stuff? If the main GREEN in your diet is a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie, it's time to focus on more color. Even if your choice today is a chocolate covered strawberry vs. chocolate truffles, take that step and grab the luscious strawberries.

Whatever derailed YOUR good intentions, please use this "get out of jail free" card to cut yourself some slack, and START OVER TOMORROW (or better yet, TODAY!) And if your sweetheart asks what you'd like for Valentine's Day, ask for something that will promote your health, like new work out shoes or clothes, a pedometer, a heart rate monitor, or even a gym membership or an exercise bike! If you are still deciding what to get YOUR Valentine, and he or she hates the idea of exercising and you think a gift like that would offend them, at least choose a pampering gift that wont undermine their weight loss efforts, such as a gift certificate for a manicure or massage.

BOTTOM LINE: Enjoy this Valentine's Day and refocus on your HEART healthy habits for 2011!

Can You Smell That?

Did you know that smells provide your strongest sense of memory? A quick whiff of sunscreen make take you to childhood beach memories, hairspray back to high school, freshly baked cookies back home or perhaps a certain cologne to a special person. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of smelling "fall" as I hiked through a beautiful aspen grove, the path covered in what my daughter calls the "crunchy golden blanket" of leaves. Too bad we can't bottle up that marvelous smell of nature!

Smell might be the sense we think about the least- until there is a problem with it. Without smell, taste is muted, leading to either decreased appetite or overeating (or over-spicing!) as we try to find something to satisfy a craving. If you wonder about your sense of smell, see if you can distinguish some common smells such as cinnamon, peanut butter, vanilla, coffee or lemon.

What causes your sense of smell to decrease or disappear? Some people are simply born without a sense of smell. Most commonly, however, we see transient lack of smell (the medical term is anosmia) from nasal congestion due to colds or allergies. Smoking, of course, not only destroys taste buds, but also decreases the ability to smell. Overuse of nonprescription nasal sprays such as Afrin is another common cause. Less common are medical disorders such as zinc deficiency and hypothyroidism, and rarely loss of smell can be a sign of diseases in the frontal lobe of the brain such as tumors or dementia.

BOTTOM LINE: If you notice you can no longer distinguish smells very well (and have no obvious cause such as a cold, chronic allergies or smoking habit), it's time to head to your doctor for a check up!

Yummy Allergen-free cookies!

Okay, since I put in a pitch for Girl Scout Cookies, and that left out a chunk of our society that cannot eat them, here is my balancing plug. Gluten-free cookies have become fairly plentiful. In both the major grocery stores where I shop, there is now a gluten-free section that includes breads, pastas, and yes, COOKIES! Certainly, I find a greater selection in Whole Foods or Central market, but HEB and Randalls are steadily catching up.
For the past couple months, I have been trying to follow a gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free diet (long story, but not for weight issues.) I absolutely LOVE baking, and needless to say, skipping wheat flour and dairy limits my standard recipes!
Cheers to Leslie Hammond, author of "Enjoy Life's Cookies for Everyone!" This cookbook is designed to avoid the eight major food allergens: gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, tree nut and peanuts. No small task! As you flip through the book, beautiful pictures have you drooling and dying to make these delicious treats. Leslie does a nice job, too, of letting you know how to stock your pantry (and where to buy these ingredients.)
I am a tough critic on cookbooks, and I will confess the first cookie I made looked spectacular, tasted very good, but was hard as a rock. (I will say, though, I'm going to try it again because it has such potential ;0) The second cookie, however, the "Chompin' Choco Chip Banana Bars" were so good that they disappeared immediately, despite my protests to the rest of the family that these were MY cookies!
BOTTOM LINE: Check out "Enjoy Life's Cookies for Everyone" to make homemade allergen-free treats!

Support Girl Scouts- Buy some cookies today!

Okay, how can I recommend cookies when I'm supposed to be all about health? Simple! I have never said that desserts were "bad". I am way less about what you can NOT eat, and more about, well, MORE fruits, veggies, and exercise! Unless you have specific medical issues (such as gluten intolerance), cookies can be included in a healthy diet. (If you have celiac disease, we'll talk about yummy cookies for you another day- the Girl Scouts do not yet have a gluten-free cookie, though I hope they are working on developing one.)
Today marks the official start of Girl Scout Cookie season. I am a troop leader for a wonderful group of Junior Scouts, and we, along with the rest of American Girl Scouts, will be out selling cookies. Our troop does not set any cookie-selling records- to be honest, we joke we do "cookies-light". However, our girls look forward to our annual week or two of cookie sales, enjoying customers' tales of their daughters selling cookies and taking pride in the number of boxes of cookies we receive as donations for our men and women in the military. Of course, back in MY day, we had to go door to door, walking our neighborhoods and taking orders long before we handed out cookies...but I digress!
Scouting is still a wonderful opportunity for girls of all ages to build "confidence, character and courage" as they learn new skills and have fun.
BOTTOM LINE: Enjoy a girl scout cookie or buy a box as a donation for your favorite charity, and THANKS for supporting GIRL SCOUTS!