Category Archives: QoL (Quality of Life)

Morning surf = increased serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine

05 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in Freelance life, Health, QoL (Quality of Life)

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When I wake up in the morning, and this is what I see from my office window (home office, that is), sometimes I just have to go surfing. Surfing first thing in the morning is the MOST invigorating activity in the world. It’s physically strenuous, it calms the mind, and it somehow cleans the spirit (especially if there are big wipeouts that include large quantities of water in nasal cavities). Like horse-back riding, the act of matching and adapting your movements to those of another force is exhilarating. Afterwards, my shoulders and upper arms are happily tired and my abs and lower back have had a good workout. After a quick shower and a large, healthy breakfast, I am ready to do battle with any and all tasks that the day may bring.

Do you exercise in the morning? Do you have a secret anti-stress/depressant activity like morning surf sessions?

(Note to all you big bad surfers out there: 1) although these waves LOOK small, they are about 1.5 meters tall; and 2) I am what I call a “small wave surfer”. I have a large wave phobia and I’m ok with that. As long as it is well formed and has some power, I prefer those little (insert: safer) waves. I’m 30, I have a baby, and much less strength than I used to.)

The best breakfast

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in American in a foreign land, Health, QoL (Quality of Life), Spain, Spanish Food Moments

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Eating a balanced, healthy breakfast is probably one of the easiest ways to feel better on a daily basis and improve your performance or output throughout your busy days (whether at work, with your family or to pursue recreational activities). After sleep, your body needs nourishment, and before expecting our body vessel to behave properly moving swiftly from one task to another over a span of some 16-18 hours, it needs fuel. Eating a quick bowl of sugary cereal with a giant cup of coffee is like adding water to your gasoline and expecting your car not to notice while cruising at 80 miles an hour on the freeways surrounding Los Angeles. Too much sugar, not enough good fats, too much caffeine, not enough slow-burning carbs, not enough protein…these are obvious recipes for feeling blaaaa some 45 minutes after consumption, not to mention the lack of vitamins and minerals. Where are you 45 minutes after breakfast? And what are you expecting from your body at that point? 

Before living in Spain, fat at breakfast meant bacon or fried eggs or butter, all of which were off-limits in my “healthy” diet. I ate oatmeal or homemade yogurt shakes with fresh fruit, or my dad’s famous homemade multi-grain bread with peanut butter. Not bad. However, I still felt hungry or sluggish soon after eating. Since I’ve been here, I’ve found that incorporating good fats and less to no sugar (including that from fruit) makes me feel better for longer in the morning. My all-time favorite is a good, freshly baked “heavy” multi-grain bread (with visible seeds and nuts) topped with olive oil and avocado slices with 6-8 walnut halves on the side and a large half-caffeine soy latte (no sugar). When it’s not avocado season, I have tomato slices. The “good” fats from the olive oil, avocado and the walnuts (and the seeds/nuts in the bread) keep me going for hours and the lack of anything sweet helps me to avoid any sugar cravings later in the day. The slow-burning carbs from the multi-grain bread also propel me through my activities without any glucose peaks and valleys. The walnuts, the seeds and the soy milk provide proteins, and the avocado and the seeds provide essential vitamins and minerals.

I used to fear fat in all its forms, but following Spanish traditions, I’ve learned that olive oil dripping from anything is a good thing (extra virgin please).

What do you have for breakfast? Would you try my breakfast? Does your breakfast make you feel full for various hours after eating it? Do you feel light and energetic and ready to face your day? What do you give your children for breakfast?

Yoga asanas instead of Café

14 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in Health, QoL (Quality of Life)

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I’ve mentioned my Lady that I have Lunch with at my Ladies Lunches in a previous post, but what I didn’t mention is that she is a yoga instructor (and just happens to be SMOKIN’ hot AND forty AND have the body of an 17-year-old high school cheerleader!). At Ladies Lunch yesterday we talked a lot about health and yoga and creating more awareness in our ever-fattening communities about the importance of movement, proper nourishment (of both stomach and soul) and understanding the connection between our emotions, our environment, our actions, our thoughts and our physical vessels–our bodies. I am new to yoga but I’m finding that many of my thoughts, beliefs, feelings and opinions about health and happiness are those found at the base of yoga. It’s like meeting someone new and feeling like you’ve known them your entire life! Hello yoga! Where have you been all my life? Wanna be best friends?? So, after feeling recharged from my weekly dose of Ladies Lunch yesterday, I woke up this morning, grabbed my tall, awkward, shy greyhound, threw on some flip-flops, and we bee-lined (b-lined? be-lined?) to the beach. The tide was out, the moon was still up and the temperature was perfect. I let Sammy go (“run, Sammy, run!”-I love watching her run, pure energy, happiness and grace), I found a good spot, and I did 10-12 Sun Salutes (confession: its pretty much the only dynamic posture-asana-series that I know how to do so far). Uuuup. Doooown. Hold. Breeeeath. Uuuuup. Streeeeetch. Hold. Breeeeath. Sammy came back to me, propped down with curious eyes to watch me go through this new set of movements. I stopped, I brushed the sand off of my feet, my thighs, and my chest (later, in the elevator mirror, I noticed I had a spot of sand right smack in the middle of my forehead…), and we leashed back up and headed home. This, my cyber friends, is health. This is feeling like I never need coffee again. This is flexibility, peace, strength and concentration and the PERFECT way to start the day. THIS is QoL. And it’s powerful.

And now I’m going to go have my coffee and toast with olive oil and tomato…what’s that you say? Lack of coherence?

Do you do yoga? Do you ever think about how your health is directly linked to your thoughts, your movements and what you eat? I know it sounds simple…but do you? Do you make an effort to put energy into being healthy?

Quality of Life (QoL)

11 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in American in a foreign land, Health, QoL (Quality of Life)

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Are you happy? You know, in a most-of-the-time kind of way? What is happiness for you? Is it a state created by fleeting moments of laughter or euphoria, or an overall situation of positivity and pleasure? Is your happiness based on your professional achievements? On your children? On finding more time to NOT work? Dolce far niente? Is your happiness about watching a sunset over the ocean in some remote location? Is it about being with those you love? Or simply that those you love are happy and healthy? A little bit of all of the above mentioned? Is it about finding time for a special hobby? Or feeling challenged and existing in an environment of growth?

And what is Quality of Life for you? What is the Quality of your life? Do you live well? Are you taking care of your mental, emotional and physical health on a daily basis? Do you nourish your body and mind with good stuff? Good stuff. That’s a technical term. You know, brussels sprouts and reading Voltaire, stuff we all do.

I left America many years ago to a new situation and a fresh start in a foreign land. Due to the fact that I couldn’t work in anything remotely similar to what I was previously doing (not much opportunity in little Cadiz-40% unemployment rate), and not without strife and sadness and lots and lots of questioning, I took advantage of my new situation to make my professional life fit my personal life in this beautiful area of this amazing country, in a direction that I never would have imagined (it has taken 8 years…). I still work my 8 hours a day, I’m still American and Max Weber would still approve of my protestant work ethic, but I don’t commute (I hardly use a car), I walk everywhere, I work for myself, from my home office, no grumpy boss. I have time for my family, we have lunch together almost everyday (and dinner) and I’m able to cook fresh, healthy meals daily. I feel very, very fortunate. There are definitely negative aspects to my situation: I miss my family and friends so much it hurts, I miss America and American cordiality in random, everyday situations (supermarket, gas station, etc.–Spaniards aren’t known for their customer service), I miss garages connected to houses, and living in houses, for that matter. But my good Quality of Life makes me happy on a daily basis.

One of my star QoL routines here in my little coastal, Spanish life happens every Tuesday and Thursday, from 330pm to 530pm. I toss on my running sneakers, I grab my ancient ipod, I elevate down 7 floors to the boardwalk (yes, we live right across the street from the beach…not bad), and I trot 3 kilometers along the ocean to my Pilates studio (it also overlooks the ocean, not bad and a half) listening to the same three songs from Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Stadium Arcadium album the entire way, every time (creature of habit?). I do my hour of machine-pilates, oxygenating my muscles, loosening and stretching my joints, firming up my core, and then I trot back 3 kilometers to my apartment, jump in the shower and get back to work for a few more hours. It’s alone time, it’s breathing-fresh-air time, it’s time to think, reflect, or to be absent. It’s time to just listen to my breathing and appreciate my body as a vessel that transports me through the tasks that I require of it on a daily basis. That, for me, is a HUGE part of my QoL.

Do you have any similar routines? Do you exercise regularly? Do you do it to release stress, to burn calories or just because you enjoy it?

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