Tuesday, May 19, 2015

An Anniversary Tribute

Today is the one year anniversary of my dad's death. I could write a sentimental post about how I miss him every day, but that goes without saying. And I don't do well with sentimental. Instead, I'd like to dedicate this post to hospice, which was invaluable to my family during my dad's long struggle after stroke.

What is hospice?

Hospice care is too often under-appreciated and underused. It is supportive care given to people nearing the end of life. Hospice focuses on comfort and quality of life -- respecting the patient's final wishes -- not on cure.

For some people, hospice allows them to stay at home, surrounded by family, friends, and pets, rather than in a hospital bed. Hospice can also be provided at hospitals and in freestanding hospice houses.

The medical professionals, counselors, staff and volunteers who work for hospice organizations are amazing people. They make a difficult time far more bearable by their dedication and compassion.

Serving families

After the stroke, my dad was paralyzed on one side, leaving him unable to do many daily activities. He spent time in inpatient rehabilitation and then three months in a rehabilitation center, which was much like a nursing home. Then he came home, and my mom cared for him.

For the first year after stroke, he was in and out of the hospital. Frequent trips to the ER for infections or unknown pains led to scans, tests, and more medications - not to mention huge bills. Being in and out of the hospital also caused my mom to get sick more often as well.

Eventually, my dad said no more hospitals. That's when they sought out hospice and palliative care specialists. The nurses and staff worked with my parents to help minimize medications to only the essentials and gave them tools to help manage pain. They had options other than the ER, and the caregivers helped lessen the fear of my dad's situation, which held a lot of unknowns.

My dad spent up to five days at the Tucker Hospice House on two occasions as part of its respite care program. He received excellent attention and enjoyed the staff while my mom got a break.

My parents had a plan in place with the hospice house to respect my dad's final wishes. In May of last year, my dad had a febrile seizure that put him in a coma.  He was taken to the ER, but soon after moved to the hospice house where he spent the remaining week of his life. At the hospice house, he was surrounded by family and friends.

The atmosphere was much more family oriented and far less stressful than being in a hospital. The staff was wonderful. They took excellent care, not only of my dad but also my mom. They still reach out to my mom and provide bereavement services and grief counseling.

I can't say enough good about hospice and palliative care. I know others who spent their last days at home with family and friends under hospice care. It's always tough to lose someone you love, but having care providers who listen and respect your wishes is invaluable.

Some extra links

Hospice is not always well funded. The Tucker Hospice House that cared for my dad relies heavily on donations. If interested, you can make donations through the website.

This article from The New Yorker is a favorite of mine and gives an excellent view of the role of hospice care.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Why You Should Add Cinnamon to Your Daily Diet

Eating healthy doesn't mean eating bland, boring foods; neither does it mean adding expensive "superfoods" that make your food taste like grass clippings.

Adding spices enhances meals, drinks, and desserts, while giving your body some great benefits. Here's more about my favorite spice.  

Cinnamon

Photo by Simon A. Eugster via Wikimedia Commons 
I love sweets, and I'm terrified of developing diabetes someday. That's why I love cinnamon.

Cinnamon has been proven to help control blood sugar, make insulin work more effectively, and help reduce inflammation caused by high blood sugar. Cinnamon is thought to lower blood sugar, or at least slow the rise in blood sugar from meals, by slowing the breakdown of carbohydrates in your digestive system.

In case giving you some protection from diabetes and helping you reduce your sugar intake isn't enough, here are a few more reasons why cinnamon is amazing:

  • Just smelling it boosts your brain power, helping you pay more attention 
  • It helps reduce cholesterol, including triglycerides
  • It's high in antioxidants
  • It contains calcium, mineral manganese, and iron (before being processed)
  • It is antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, helping your body fight off infection
  • Recent research is showing that cinnamon may be a powerful tool in helping manage or fight off Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders. 

Tips and Caution

Photo by Chat W via Flickr
Because it's a sweet spice, I can often replace or reduce sugar with cinnamon. I use it in tea, lattes, sweet potatoes, cookies, oatmeal, fruit, spice rubs, smoothies, soups, and so much more.   

You don't need to go overboard adding cinnamon to everything. Just a teaspoon or two a day is enough to reap the benefits. Too much can have harmful effects, particularly for your liver (but you'd have really ingest a lot of cinnamon). Unless your doctor suggests it, there's probably no reason to take a cinnamon supplement.

Splurge and get quality cinnamon, Ceylon and Saigon are two highly recommended types. If you look at the ingredients and see "cinnamon oil," what you're getting is probably stale or highly processed, which is why it needs the oil added. 

Shop at a local spice store or look on Amazon. If you really want to splurge, you can order fresh cinnamon sticks and a grater. When you find good cinnamon, you can see, smell, and taste the difference. 

Do you have any unique uses for cinnamon?

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Adventures in Cooking for Kids Part 2

I recently talked about what techniques I've been adopting to get more fruits and veggies in my kids. This time, I want to talk about the reality of how that comes together.

I see other people post on Facebook about their meal prepping and how quickly it was done. I hear these chefs talk about how easy it is. Some days it is quick and easy. But not always.

Prep work is messy!

I decided to get my 2-year-old to help me, which was probably my first mistake. In the morning, I made a purple puree, a white puree, and a flour blend from The Sneaky Chef. I spent about 2 hours.

I started with the flour blend, which was just mixing up two kinds of flour and wheat germ. However, I thought I would shake it in the storage container. I then dropped it, the lid popped off, and I had about 3 cups of flour on the floor.

This resulted in a few four-letter words flying out. Luckily, my 2-year-old only added "crap" to his vocabulary.

After sweeping up flour, running the vacuum over the area, and mopping, I moved on to the purple puree, which was spinach and blueberries. My 2-year-old was decently entertained pushing the Pulse button on the food processor.

After that, it was the white puree, which required steamed cauliflower and raw, peeled zucchini. While I prepped the zucchini and cauliflower, my child unrolled all of my labels and wrapped himself up in them.

The pureeing didn't take long, but somehow both my attempts made much more than what the recipe said. I had to do them in batches because I only have a 4-cup food processor.

But I finally got all the prep work done and stored. Really, the whole process shouldn't have taken more than an hour.

Cooking

I had picked two recipes I wanted to make from the Sneak Chef cookbook, but I was too worn out to make them in the morning. After I picked up my 6-year-old from school, we made breakfast cookies using the flour blend I made that morning.

Other than fighting the kids to let me bake the cookies before they ate all the batter, that went well. I did burn the first batch, but we ate them anyway. My kids really like these cookies, which use a lot of cinnamon and less sugar. Plus they have wheat germ and ricotta cheese in the mix, giving them more protein.

After the cookies, I made a sweet potato and carrot soup because it's my 6-year-old's favorite. It's also super easy. I usually make this with whatever amount of carrots and sweet potatoes I happen to have. Just cook sweet potatoes and carrots in broth until soft, then puree and add milk until creamy. You can skip the milk. I flavor it with ginger, salt, pepper, and sometimes a little nutmeg.

This time, I added in some of the white puree from the morning, nutritional yeast, butter instead of milk, and threw in leftover lentils because I was too lazy to cook chicken to go with the soup. We also had to eat quickly to get to Girl Scouts on time.

Although it's often hectic and messy, the prep work is worth it, especially for the time it saves me later in the week. I tend to spend about one or two days a month doing a lot of cooking. We eat great for about two weeks, then it starts to fall off and we eat out or have frozen pizza. I then get motivated to cook again.

If you're interested, Amazon has used copies of The Sneaky Chef for $0.01.

What are your favorite meal prepping tips?

Monday, May 4, 2015

Adventures in Cooking for Kids

I'm always looking for ways to get my kids to eat healthy. My 6-year-old has always been good about eating fruits and veggies without arguing. My 2-year-old would live off bread products and cheese if I let him. He doesn't really dislike fruits and veggies, but he won't willingly eat them.

What can you do?

I've looked up new ways to get my kids to eat healthy foods. One being to hide veggies inside stuff I know they like. So mac and cheese now has carrots, celery, and onions pureed into the cheese sauce.

I try getting the kids involved in cooking, but that hasn't helped them expand their horizons. They usually just get full from eating off the cutting board. 

Lately, I've looked at other theories. These include The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious, which are cookbooks with puree blends and recipes for normal kid foods you can mix those in. I think these have some good ideas and are a great start. My one complaint is that they do give in a little bit more than I am willing to and mix in these pureed foods with things like Spaghetti Os.

Another theory I was introduced to this week was by Ellyn Satter. She has some great ideas, I think, although I was at first tempted to say, "Not a chance." For 11- to 36-months old, her recommendations are to sit down and eat with your child for three meals a day, and offer two sit-down snacks in between. Let me get this straight, you want me to prepare food and sit down with a 2-year-old, five times a day? I appreciate the sentiment, but that's not happening.

However, she did have a lot of good advice that I try to follow and some that I need to really get better about.
  • Only fix one meal. Don't prepare separate meals for every picky eater. 
  • Have foods that you know your kids like along with some new foods.
  • Don't force them to eat. They have the option to eat nothing.
  • Stick to a schedule. Don't go and feed them snacks when they're hungry because they didn't eat the meal you prepared.

What I've adopted 

I've adopted a mix of these ideas. I hide veggies into things I know they like, not only for their health, but also because it's easier than cooking a bunch of veggies as sides. Although, I almost never manage to sit down for breakfast or lunch with my kids, we do have dinner together, and only one meal is offered. The only time I cook something separate for the kids is when I'm trying a new recipe that I feel sure they won't like.


What do you do to engage your picky eaters? How do you get your kids to branch out and try new foods?