Traveling earlier this month in Europe, I missed my daily swimming in the pool so much that I filled a bathtub in the hotel with water to the brim and got in. Now, it happened to be Frankfurt/Main in late fall, and the water was cold. How cold? I don’t travel with a thermometer but it was definitely colder than my Californian pool.
But I enjoyed it. I got in to my neck, and stayed for a while. As it turned out, I stayed too long. Although the rest of my body heated up soon after I had toweled myself off, an ice-cold area over my kidneys the size of a football stayed with me – literally for days.
Uh-oh! I had overdone it! And Sebastian Kneipp had told me so. He used to warn that one should not exaggerate cold exposure. And as difficult it is to give exact numbers for the time frame of “too much” – if one stays cold in the kidney area for days after, as it happened to me, one clearly has gone too far.
Originally, he had cured himself from consumption (tuberculosis) by jumping into the winter-cold Danube River several times a week. When he later tried his method on other people, he quickly realized that not every body was not made for such endurance test: The older people were, and the thinner, the less cold they could handle – and he adjusted his theories to this insight.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine “qi” is the life force, and is generated in the “kidneys”, which is actually what we call the adrenals. In Western Medicine it is known that that the adrenals produce a hormone/neurotransmitter called adrenalin, which is an energizer. If you stimulate the adrenals a bit, it will give you that desired energy jolt; if you over-stimulate the adrenals, you get a downer.
Now, after two weeks of down time, when I didn’t dare to face the cold again, I swam again in the pool today. The temperature was 15 degree Celsius (59 Fahrenheit). I only swam one lap – wasn’t brave enough for more.
One lap might be too short to induce brown fat in my body, but it was exhilarating, and when I got out, my kidneys felt fine! And I restarted in time to strengthen my immune system for the winter. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Fall Chores
November 19, 2011
Because we are in San Diego for the sabbatical, we had only two times in Boston this fall for the dreaded chore of raking leaves. I was worried because, usually, it takes weeks of raking to deal with the bounty. - As an aside, we never bag our leaves; we distribute them over the perennial beds. Makes for an untidy garden, and lush growth the next year. Originally, the neighbors complained. Now they are proud of my blooming wilderness. Second thought to the side: One couldn’t do it for dainty little plants, they would be smothered.
Three weeks ago, I had raked for the first time this year. The weather was pure Indian summer, balmy and rewarding, and the chore was done in four hours of hard work – with a blower. I try to avoid the blower, as much for my neighbors’ sake as for my own. But with two days between traveling, I could not have done it by raking.
This time, I had four days, and I raked by hand. Because the weather had stayed beautiful so long, there were astonishingly few leaves on the ground; my task was easy. But it made me worry: Since we won’t be back before deep snow will cover the lawn, the lawn might rot under the leaves’ burden!
But then I looked up in the trees – there are barely any leaves left that can come tumble down. With two sessions, my fall chore is done. Wonderful!
Wonderful?
For at least fifteen years I have been observing (and complaining – but nobody listens, it seems) that in summer the crowns of the trees don’t look as full as in my youth. Now – that’s a sure sign of getting old, when nothing compares to your memories any more, isn’t it?
Only this time, I seem to be onto something real: Trees don’t have as many leaves anymore. Climate change. Insect damage. Whatever the cause is – one thing I know that in my garden it is not due to pesticides, herbicides or other bad chemistry – my garden is organic, and has been, ever since we moved in twenty years ago. But the future does not look pretty: Silent Spring.
Perhaps it is time to read Rachel Carson’s book again. And: Enjoy your fall chores – as long as we are lucky enough to have them! Read More
Heavenly Dessert
November 10, 2011
Because I am in traveling stress again, today only an easy dessert recipe:
Only because we are eating healthily, we do not have to eat drab, boring, impalatable things. On the contrary!
Here is my recipe for a quick dessert. I tried it with quince compote and fresh papaya; my gut feeling is you can use it with any fresh or cooked fruit. If you make it with papaya, it takes no time at all:
Ingredients:
Half a papaya per person
Coconut milk, shaken, cooled in the fridge
Chocolate nibs
Half the papaya, scrape out the seeds. Pour over a bit of coconut milk that you have shaken before in a lidded plastic container. It comes out as creamy as whipped cream – but it is healthier. Different brands come out differently well; I like the red Thai can – don’t use the “light” version as it is more adulterated. Sprinkle a tablespoon full of chocolate nibs over everything. The “nibs” are cut cacao beans, not processed at all – no sugar, no dairy. Delighted our guests.
With quince: You cook the quince in whole, after washing, with raisins and slivered almonds (or any nuts/seeds) until soft. Cut the flesh of the core, pour raisins and nuts over it. Cool in the fridge. For serving, add coconut milk and chocolate nibs.
The coconut milk lasts at least a week in the fridge – if it lasts that long … And this dessert is not fattening; it satisfies your appetite for real food. Empty (=simple)carbohydrates (cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.) are fattening! Read More