Sunday Salon ~ eating, exercising, and reading

Our DASH group at the Crown Center for Senior Living gets together to focus on eating a healthy diet with support from friends wanting to do the same.  We also encourage each other by doing about a half hour of simple exercises three times a week.  (That's my friend Donna checking out the exercise equipment after one of our recent sessions.)

EATING

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, but not all of us have hypertension.  (When high blood pressure becomes chronic, it's called hypertension.)  Some among us must avoid certain foods because of medications or health concerns, so we don't all eat the same things.  Each of us has to decide which Crown Center menus work and which don't, so whoever shows up can start conversations about food or exercise or what's working or what hasn't been what the person hoped to accomplish.  Among us, we've bought a variety of DASH diet books so we are "on the same page," so to speak, when we talk about food.  Nobody, however, has to follow any meal plan to be a part of our group.  We simply encourage healthy eating and activities that help us be well.

• The DASH Diet Action Plan: Proven to Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol without Medication ~ by Marla Heller, 2007
• The DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution: 2 Weeks to Drop Pounds, Boost Metabolism, and Get Healthy ~ by Marla Heller, 2012
• The Everyday DASH Diet Cookbook: Over 150 Fresh and Delicious Recipes to Speed Weight Loss, Lower Blood Pressure, and Prevent Diabetes ~ by Marla Heller, 2013
• The DASH Diet Younger You: Shed 20 Years ― and Pounds ― in Just 10 Weeks ~ by Marla Heller, 2014
• DASH Diet For Dummies ~ by Sarah Samaan, Rosanne Rust, and Cynthia Kleckner, 2014

EXERCISING

In today's exercise get-together, I'm going to suggest we always remember to warm up before exercising, cool down at the end of exercising, drink plenty of water, and don't work the same muscles every day.  Because nearly all of our scheduled exercise classes meet in the morning, we decided to meet twice during the work week and once on the weekend, settling (so far) on 3:00 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays because the exercise room is usually empty except for individuals using the equipment.  Anyone who wanders by or learns about what we're doing is welcome to join in, and a few people have done that.  As with our meals together, anyone who shows up can lead a session.  We don't have any experts beyond what we are willing to educate ourselves about what works.  (Updated after our Monday evening meal discussion, changing our exercise time to 3:30 pm on Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday.)

We exercise for flexibility, balance, strength, and endurance.  So far, we've been using the 20-page booklet from Melissa called Workout to Go.  You can see three handouts she gave us by clicking that link.  We have kept our focus mostly on balance and flexibility, since seniors definitely want to avoid falling.

• Endurance ~ to increase breathing and heart rate (for example = walk, bike, swim, dance)
• Strength ~ to increase muscle strength (for example = lift weights, use a resistance band, climb stairs)
• Balance ~ to help prevent falls (for example = stand on one foot, heel-to-toe walk, tai chi)
• Flexibility ~ to stay limber (for example = shoulder and arm stretch, calf stretch, yoga)

READING

The best of the books I've finished since the last Sunday Salon I posted was the first on this list:

58.  Wonder ~ by R. J. Palacio, 2014, children's fiction, 10/10

"I made a mistake ... But the good thing about life ... is that we can fix our mistakes sometimes.  We learn from them" (p. 391).  "One mistake does not define you ... You must simply act better next time" (p. 392).

59.  The Stars Are Fire ~ by Anita Shreve, 2017, fiction (Maine), 8/10

"Don't worry about me, Mother.  I've discovered, ever since the fire, or maybe more recently, that I have inner resources I can count on" (p. 222).

60.  Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler: A True Love Story Rediscovered ~ by Trudi Kanter, 2012 (originally 1984), memoir, 9/10

One lunchtime, I rushed out of my front door, looked back to wave good-bye to a friend, and bumped into Walter.  For a moment, he held me close.  Apologies.  Laughter.  He took my arm.  "We're going to have a glass of champagne, Trudi.  This calls for a celebration."  It was a command, and I obeyed.  (p. 3).

61.  The Scarlet Macaw Scandal: Nancy Drew #8 ~ by Carolyn Keene, 2004, YA fiction (Costa Rica), 5/10

"We spent our final day in Costa Rica repairing all of the damage.  There was a ton of work to be done ... I found and filled in all the monkey traps ... When we finished with all of that, we got to work on ... fixing broken tents ... planting new vegetable and herb gardens.  It was a lot of work..." (p. 148).

62.  Hucklebug ~ by Stephen Cosgrove, illustrated by Robin James, 1975, children's, 10/10

One day Berry's father sat him down on a broad, green leaf and said, "Berry, you are old enough now to help with the chores of the village.  There is food to be gathered for the winter and all Hucklebugs who are able must help."  "Me?" said an unbelieving Berry.  "But I don't want to."

63.  A Short History of the World ~ by Christopher Lascelles, 2011, history, 8/10

"...the Great Wall of China was built to keep foreigners out" (p. 95).
"If the steam engine and electricity are credited with revolutionising the way in which we live and work, the invention of the microchip in the middle of the 20th century must also gain its place as one of the most important innovations of all time" (p. 232).

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading a good novel:

• Burning Sky: A Novel of the American Frontier ~ by Lori Benton, 2013, fiction (New York)

And I've just purchased several more books for my Kindle.  The first one is a novel about "a stunning discovery amid the rubble after an earthquake demolishes St. Louis," where I live.

• The Jericho Iteration ~ by Allen Steele, 1994, 2013, fiction (Missouri)
• The Misunderstood Jew ~ by Amy-Jill Levine, 2006, religion
• From Jesus to Christianity ~ by L. Michael White, 2004, religion
• The Lost Way: How Two Forgotten Gospels Are Rewriting the Story of Christian Origins ~ by Stephen J. Patterson, 2014, religion

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.