Hello to everyone from Davis, California, U.S.A.  Each month I have this unique opportunity to share my MS story.   I often say that we can choose to be a victor instead of a victim of our MS (or anything else in our lives for that matter).   I have chosen to be "enabled" by MS rather than "disabled," and I believe that each one of us has the opportunity to make that same choice.  I believe my body is designed to be self-healing, and that my challenge is to learn how to "listen" to my body and to help it turn on that innate self-healing process. 

Whether you are new to Journey to Wellness, or you have been with me for years, I warmly welcome you to our world-wide network of readers.  Thanks to the Internet and the rapid rise in "social networking," it seems that we are all becoming more aware of how truly alike and connected we all are.  I hope something included in this issue "speaks" to you and challenges you to move ahead in your own journey to wellness.

    IN THIS ISSUE: 

                                                                                                                    ~ Burt Goldman

So here is my message condensed to a few "rules:"

And please remember that your story is YOUR story - not mine or anyone else's. What makes the difference is usually attitude and belief. You need those firmly in place first.

Everything I know and practice is incorporated in the e-book I wrote a couple of years ago, Four Steps to Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis. The few dollars it costs just helps to defray the cost of maintaining this website. If you are still waiting on the sidelines for some magic bullet, then get busy today and you can change your life. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Will you have to do everything I do and have done?  I do not know.  We are all so different, and MS affects each one differently, since the central nervous system is so vast.

How long did it take for me to get over (________ insert your symptoms)?   This is definitely not relevant to you or your case.   About 90% to 95% of people who have MS have the relapsing remitting kind, and the time for most people who have RR MS to see improvements is much shorter than mine was. 

Will it work for me?  This is the wrong question.  The question is rather, will you work at it?  Only you can answer that.  Last time I checked life did not give us guarantees.

Starting a lifestyle program like mine is something that you do not/cannot measure in weeks, months or years.  Rather it is a lifetime commitment, one day at a time!  Just like my recent new awareness that I have reversed my neurological damage, each step along the way I have had these kinds of ah ha moments.  

  Bon Appétit - Healthy Food Tips and Recipes 

If you are like me and love to cook comfort foods like soups and stews on cold, rainy days, I hope you'll like a new favorite I recently found.  It comes from the Hungry Girl website.  It takes a little bit of fuss in the kitchen, but what else can we do on a rainy, cold (or snowy) day, and it only has about 120 calories per serving. Enjoy!

Bake-tastic Butternut Squash Fries
Makes 2 servings

INGREDIENTS:

        1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds -- large enough to yield 20 oz. once peeled & sliced)
        1/8 tsp. coarse salt
           (Optional: additional coarse salt)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Slice the ends off the squash, and then cut it in half widthwise. Peel squash with a vegetable peeler or carefully with a knife. Cut the round bottom piece in half lengthwise and remove seeds.

Using a crinkle cutter or a knife, carefully cut squash into spears/French-fry shapes.  Pat spears firmly with paper towels to absorb excess moisture, and sprinkle evenly with salt.

Lay spears out on a layer of paper towels, and let stand for at least 5 minutes, to allow the salt to draw out any excess moisture, then pat with paper towels again.  If you like, sprinkle with additional salt.

Spray a broiler pan, a baking rack placed over a baking sheet, or a baking sheet with nonstick spray, and then lay spears flat on it. (Use two pieces of bake ware, if needed.)

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, and then carefully flip spears. Bake for about 20 minutes longer, until tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.

NOTE FROM BETTY:  I absolutely love these.  The combination of the natural sweetness of the squash, combined with the salt, is very tasty.  I have rarely eaten any French fries for years, but these are a great alternative.  I found that peeling the squash was easy if I used the technique of standing half of the squash on end and then with sharp knife peeling from top to bottom, like you would peel an orange.  I hope you enjoy them.  Incidentally I used coarse sea salt.  I baked these on two pizza pans and they were both very full.

Easy Poached Eggs and Pasta

Makes 2 Servings
 
INGREDIENTS:

        2 servings (1 1/3 c) whole wheat (or gluten free) penne
        1 c. no-salt-added marinara sauce 
        2 eggs
        4 c. fresh spinach

(1)    Cook pasta according to directions and set aside to keep hot - do not drain. 

(2)    Pour the sauce into a small skillet and turn heat to medium-low. When sauce starts to bubble, carefully crack eggs onto the top. Cover and cook until eggs have reached the desired doneness.  The egg yolks should still be runny; some carryover cooking will occur. 

(3)    Meanwhile add the spinach to the pasta just before you drain it. Stir and drain well. 

(4)    Divide pasta and spinach between two bowls. Top with one egg and half the sauce. 

 

NOTE:  I recently discovered this recipe and love it.  I have experimented with substituting other veggies like broccoli or zucchini for the spinach.  The only caution is that you not overcook the eggs.  The yolk mixes with the sauce and makes it a creamy delight.

 

If you eat dairy, you may top with a little goat or Feta cheese, or a sprinkle of Parmesan.

 

    Being a Senior

Senior Citizen! I love this stage of my life, but I find it easier to say "mature" or "aging" rather than senior. I know that it is a societal prejudice, especially since we are all living longer. Whatever age you are today, I guarantee you will be a senior citizen much faster than you realize.  I keep reminding myself that aging is not optional! 

Perhaps our aversion to being a senior is because at some deep level we spend much of our life in denial. As we watch parents and friends age, that is sort of something that happens to "them," not us. Then one day the big 70 rolls around and we must admit that we are now "them."

Now that I have reached that magic time of life, and I am very healthy and active, I think a lot about how to age well, and what that really means.

AGING WELL: What is it, and what can I do to contribute to aging well myself?

First we need to accept that we can age well, and that we must take responsibility for doing that. Health and happiness are both things that we create. Conversely being unhealthy or unhappy are both states that we create, either consciously or unconsciously. So I see my major task is to be certain that I am CONSCIOUSLY contributing to my health and happiness.

I live in an age-55-plus community where I serve as treasurer of our home owners' association. I also am a regular volunteer at the Senior Center in the city where I live. Volunteering has added great meaning to my life at this point. Both these volunteer activities provide lots of opportunities to observe mature people at all stages of their advancing years.

Some are always negative, while others are always positive. Some are always unhappy, while others are always happy. Some have a reputation of always being troublemakers.

Some are always complaining about their physical ailments, while others never complain. Some are eager to learn new things, while others just "go with the flow," in their same old rut.

Some are old people at 60, while others happily look forward to their century mark birthday. I believe that for most of us the choices we make every day determine how our lives turn out. The key word here is CHOICES. Choices are something we and only we must take responsibility for.

Last month we celebrated the 100th birthday of one of our active Senior Center members. He is a retired medical doctor and medical school professor. He was born in Austria and graduated from medical school in Vienna the year I was born. Last year at age 99 he traveled to Europe and visited his birthplace and several other countries for a month. He is truly amazing and such a great role model! He drove his car—not much but regularly—to the Senior Center until he reached his 100th birthday. Only then did he give up his driver's license.

I have gotten to know him well over the last couple of years since I retired and began volunteering at the Center, and I have talked with him about his philosophy of life, and what it takes to live to be100. Incidentally his wife lived to her mid 90s. Here are some of his suggestions.

Doctor Herbert, as we affectionately call him, says that probably the best thing he has done for himself was that he never stopped learning. He was the public health officer in our County, and when he retired from that position he went back to school and became certified in pediatrics psychiatry, which he practiced for another 20 years, as well as teaching in the local medical school into his 90s.

He has a voracious appetite for reading, and can discuss any of the latest best sellers. It is not unusual to read one of his passionate letters in the Letters to the Editor column in our local newspaper. Another of Herbert's great passions is politics. He loves nothing more than a passionate debate on a current political issue.

Herbert still stands ramrod straight, walks unaided, and only wears glasses to read, and I have never known him to be ill. He credits his passion for walking as one of the reasons for his longevity and health. Herbert says most people think they must do some intensive program for fitness, but he says that all he does is walk every day. Unless it is pouring down rain you will always find him out walking. There is also a social aspect to walking in your neighborhood he says. He stops and talks to everyone and he knows everyone.

Herbert says he avoids what he calls fad diets but is careful to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies as well as whole grains. His most important advice, maintain a positive attitude, ALL THE TIME! Dr. Herbert certainly lives by this recommendations.

As regular readers know I am passionate about fitness. Not the bone jarring kind associated with most fitness gurus, but the gentle movements combined with breathing techniques featured in Qi Gong and Yoga. As we age our internal organs like lungs and heart change; we lose bone density also and we must exercise smarter. The symptoms of aging are greatly slowed by these gentle exercise programs.

Brain fitness has also become a subject of anti-aging research. Today through imaging we can observe the changes in our brain that we can bring about by various nutrients as well as mental activity. Such simple things as reading and doing puzzles and games make a visible improvement in brain scans. I like to call my computer games "mental gymnastics."

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my mature years is that the things I thought were important when I was younger are not and never were really important. Such things as the accumulation of things come to mind. I have also come to know that the most important things in my life are relationships. I treasure the relationships I have with my daughter-in-law and grandson, and also many friends. They are all important to me. I have learned that the best things in life really are free. I have learned that when all is said and done and our life is over, the only thing that remains is the love.

    FROM MY MAILBOX

  Dear Betty,

Thanks so much for the newsletter.  I have a question about the research news regarding CCSVI.  What is your personal feeling about it?  Thanks.  /s/  John K

Hi John.  Thanks for writing.  I wish I had a really definitive answer for you.  I have watched and read the reports with a great deal of interest - and hope.  Wouldn't it be great if we could finally find an answer to what is called multiple sclerosis.  It has also occurred to me that if there is a circulation problem behind MS, perhaps that is the reason exercise is so beneficial in cases like mine; just something to think about.  As we learn more about CCSVI I'll certainly be updating you through the newsletter.

   Dear Betty

I know you write about exercise all the time, but I don't seem to be able to stay with a program. I start off with good intentions, but then fall by the wayside. Any suggestions? You have helped me a lot over the years.  Thank you, and please keep up the website and newsletter.  You always seem to write about what I need.   /s/ Karen V.

Hi Karen.  I understand, and I wish I had a magic answer for you. But it seems to me that perhaps attitude and belief may be problems for you at the core level.  Miriam-Webster says that attitude is: "a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state."  Remember that we create our lives out of our feelings, so first we must recognize that we can change our feelings, as well as our beliefs.  Both are matters of CHOICE.

How does one do that?

When it comes to exercise, take it in small increments first, like 5 minutes, at a set pre-determined time of day, like when you first get up in the morning.

For increasing your belief level, reading positive stories like mine helps raise your belief level.   People tell me that reading my story has helped them to believe they too can make a difference.

Affirmations are a great tool for both attitude and belief.  Who are you talking to when you repeat an affirmation?  YOU ARE TALKING TO YOU!  Your higher self, your subconscious, the same you that sits on your shoulder and tells you that you can't, or don't want to, are too tired, or it won't work, etc.  The most important conversations we ever have are with our self.  Here are a few to get you started:

Say each affirmation aloud many times each day.

For all of you who like Karen are trying to get started with a regular exercise program, here's a repeat warmer-upper little exercise to do first thing after you put your feet on the floor in the morning.

1]    Repeat this affirmation several times:

"This is a divine, blessed, and infinitely abundant day.
Good things are coming my way'"

with a few deep breaths between repetitions of the affirmation.

2]    With arms dangling freely at your sides, walk in place while breathing deeply into the diaphragm for about 2-3 minutes. Just imagine that you are inflating a balloon in your lower abdomen as you inhale, then exhale all the air as you "suck" your tummy in.

3]    Begin with your hands on your tummy. Extend your arms vigorously out to the side then back, then extend them in front and then back, then high above the head and then back, affirming "I am positive," "I am energetic," and I am "enthusiastic," as follows:

Begin with your hands on your tummy, flinging your arms out to the side while saying "I am positive."

Bring your hands back to your tummy, then extend your arms vigorously in front of you while saying, "I am energetic."

Bring your hands back to your tummy, then fling them high above your head while affirming, "I am enthusiastic!"

Finally, relax your arms at your sides and take several deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Repeat this exercise and affirmation several times, for as long as you like, gradually extending the length of your exercise period.

This is a great way to jumpstart your day and set yourself on a path to a healthy, self-healing day.  I personally do this little routine almost every day.

BOTTOM LINE - MOVE IT!
It doesn't matter nearly as much how your move -
JUST MOVE!

I know that if you could see me you'd probably think I am strange, but I put on some good "moving" music and dance all over my house.  Today I danced to the new Michael Jackson This is It!  It is wonderful "moving music."

And just this week I signed up for a line dancing class.  Stay tuned!!!