Eating Asparagus

I’ve started buying and eating more asparagus lately. One reason is because my friend has been self-prescribing asparagus to help fight her metastatic breast cancer (4 pureed tablespoons in the morning and evening).

Curious (and skeptical), I searched pubmed for some research… and found one study showing that asparanin A, extracted from asparagus, kills liver cancer cells. Another study found that asparagus root extract stimulates the immune system (upregulates T cells, increases antibody levels).

I plan to keep buying and eating asparagus… but seriously, where does that smell come from?! (I've heard that almost everyone's body makes that odor, but not everyone can smell it!)

Marriage & health

It may seem intuitive that people in a loving and supportive marriage will be physically healthier… but check out this article on some of the research behind it!

A happy marriage can strengthen the immune system, while an unhappy marriage can weaken it. In one experiment, researchers gave couples blisters on their arm and measured the length of time for the blisters to heal (a marker of immune function). For couples that argued, these blisters took a full day longer to heal when compared with couples that did not fight. And in couples that fought with hostility, the blisters took a full two days longer to heal!

In another experiment, researchers found significant changes in the brain from simple loving acts like handholding or backrubs. The article explains that these are ways of “outsourcing” negative emotions and stress... meaning that the brain gets less wear and tear over time.

When a husband held his wife’s hand, it “reduced the neural activity in areas of the woman’s brain associated with stress.” When the wife held her husband’s hand during electric shocks, it created “a calming of the brain regions associated with pain similar to the effect brought about by use of a pain-relieving drug.”

This makes me wonder - what is the more general effect of human touch? For example, what do the physical adjustments in our Mysore yoga practice do to our brains? For me, this simple touch can act like a pain-relieving drug (painful postures become easier, my respiratory rate slows).

I'm also wondering what marriage does to telomere length. My hypothesis: a happy marriage means longer telomeres.

Prescribing financial health

Another reason to eat right and exercise: Your financial health.

According to this article, “a growing number of advisors are encouraging clients to take better care of themselves because of the impact health has on insurance rates and retirement planning.”

This makes me feel a little bit better about all the money I spend on yoga… if only insurance companies could be convinced that paying for yoga now will save them money later!

Simplify simplify simplify

I love this sign that hangs over a desk in the hospital...

But why is this so hard to practice in real life?

I've been trying to simplify my yoga practice by moving away from using props (blocks, blankets, etc). Some days props are nice, but most days I want to just be me and my mat (even if that means messier poses or imperfect alignment).

Part of me also thinks that an uncluttered mat helps me keep an uncluttered mind (sort of like how I can't concentrate when sitting at a cluttered desk!)

Lessons from Gandhi

“You may have occasion to possess or use material things, but the secret of life lies in never missing them.” ~Gandhi 

Really loved this Zen Habits blog post about lessons we can learn from Gandhi... I think these are also practiced through yoga.

They include the following:

1. Accumulate little (Gandhi had fewer than 10 possessions when he died)
2. Eat simple food (Gandhi ate vegetarian and local food out of a small wooden bowl)
3. Dress simply (for comfort and purpose, not to impress) 
4. Lead a simple, stress-free life (Gandhi meditated daily and kept his life simple while being a powerful world leader) 
5. Let your life be your message (Gandhi spread his message by the way he lived his day-to-day life)

Moral inferiority

"The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot." 

~Mark Twain 

Photo credit Aaron Paul

Making a trip to the zoo has been on the "things to do in Philadelphia bucket list" and we finally went yesterday. It was amazing to see these animals... but I'm still not sure how I feel about zoos. Especially after seeing the gorillas. Gorillas should not live in cages.

Composting

Our garden is slowly growing!

Weekend project: make a compost bin.

It seems pretty easy (thanks to another useful wikiHow!):

• Get a plastic bin with tight lid (to keep bugs out and soil moist)
• Drill 8-10 small holes in the bottom and 8-10 small holes in lid (for aeration)
• Put some shredded newspaper or dry leaves at the bottom, fill ~1/8-1/4 full
• Place dirt on top of the newspaper/leaves until bin is 1/2 full
• Keep compost bin in a shady area
• Place food scraps/paper products in compost bin
• Cover food scraps with dirt
• Stir bin every other day (keep moist with water if needed)
• Within 2-3 months, you can use compost to cover flower beds, pot soil, sprinkle on grass, etc!