Welcome to bodyofwisdom.com

This is our a collection of resources for fit, balanced, joyful and conscious living. No manifesto, no one right way to live. Just a space to share the wisdom of what’s working for us — physically, mentally, spiritually.

We’re posting healthy living tips and strategies, recipes, meal plans, food diary forms, sources of inspiration and laughter, helpful links and stories from our own lives. We hope you’ll find our work helpful.

Use the links below to explore the site, or scroll down to enjoy the bodyofwisdom weblog.

We’re eating more curry because sources are telling us that Turmeric — a primary spice in the curry mix — is the anti-inflamatory bomb! (And because it is so delicious.) Last week we made our own version of this yummy recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. (Pretty painless registration required.) Dr. Weil sums up Turmeric’s benefits like this:

Turmeric is useful for all inflammatory disorders and for autoimmune conditions. It also may have a role in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. (Elderly villagers in India appear to have the lowest rate of Alzheimer’s in the world, perhaps due to the fact that Indians eat turmeric with almost every meal. Some animal studies have shown that curcumin [a turmeric active ingredient] blocked the formation and accumulation of the plaque that characterizes Alzheimer’s.) Overall, turmeric appears to have significant anti-inflammatory and cancer-protective effects. These seem most evident at doses well below pharmaceutical strength, which suggests that it would be wise to consume more foods spiced with turmeric. [Read more — including info on who should avoid turmeric — here.]

20 great ways to well-being from thirdage.com. Among my favorites: laugh a lot (it boosts the immune system); get a pet (it lowers the heart rate); have a drink (it could protect you from cognitive decline); eat dark chocolate (it can lower your risk of stroke); take up singing (it reduces depression); and eat more pasta (live longer!). Read more.

The Geek Way. How do the brainiacs do it? Pretty much as you’d expect: by-the-numbers with an emphasis on charting.

Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo platform engineer, lost 50 pounds and documents his process to the world in his diet plan. In his “What You Need to Know” section:

• Small changes have a major impact on weight loss because they’re compounded over time. It’s just like saving for retirement. The sooner you start doing just a little bit every day, the better off you’ll be.

• Anyone can do this. Anyone.

• The process is self-reinforcing once you start to see real results. That means you need to commit to a month — a very difficult month. After that first month, though, it’s easy. And the more weight you have to lose, the easier it is.

• During that first month, you’ll be developing three new habits. Only one of them is likely to conflict with an existing habit. The other two will consume maybe 5 minutes of your daily routine.

If you’re seriously thinking about trying to lose weight, give it a shot. This is one of the easiest non-fad and non-gimmick plans you’ll run across, mostly because the “plan” is very simple and tangible. It’s not quite “the simplest thing that could possibly work” but it sure comes close.

John Walker is the founder of AutoDesk and the author of The Hacker’s Diet: How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition his online book about weight-loss. From his introduction:

The Hacker’s Diet, notwithstanding its silly subtitle, is a serious book about how to lose weight and permanently maintain whatever weight you desire. It treats dieting and weight control from an engineering and management standpoint, and provides the tools and an understanding of why they work and how to use them that permit the reader to gain control of their own weight. The book is intended primarily for busy, successful engineers, programmers, and managers who have struggled unsuccessfully in the past to lose weight and avoid re-gaining it.

Other neat stuff from geeks: Jeremy Zawadny notes the value of eating like an ape and wisegeek.com shows us What 200 Calories Look Like.

Good form is essential for effective and safe workouts. The American Council on Exercise — a non-profit fitness certification and education organization — offers an online library with photos and instructions for more than 80 exercises, many including a discussion of common errors in form.

January tipmania. ‘Tis the season for the resolution-makers and the tip purveyors. Here’s a sampling:

From WebMD: 10 Ways to keep your motivation high all year long.

From Dr. Weil: Five Tips for Successful Weight Loss.

From The Boston Herald: Successful dieters serve up their weight-loss secrets.

From Homemakers Magazine: A dietitian’s weight-loss secrets.

The Way Française: slow down.  Kate Hill — an American culinary teacher and writer living and working in Gascony — recently discussed the “The French Paradox” on Public Radio International’s The World. So why aren’t the famously food-loving, butter and meat-eating, wine drinking French fat? Hill says the French approach eating with the patience to savor thier meals, and so they are more satisfied with smaller portions — typically a third the size of American portions. Also the French don’t typically eat between meals, she says. Hear the interesting 5 minute interview here.

Exercise excuse busting from the National Institutes of Health: Tips to Help You Get Active.

Tools for a new start. Made some resolutions about healthy weight and exercise? Keeping a journal will help you keep your resolve. To get started, click here for our free, printable journal worksheets.

Food labels confuse many, says WebMD. They also offer tips for deciphering the info on labels.

Game Hen and Grapes. Kate tested and approved this delicious, super-easy recipe for Roasted Cornish Game Hen and Grapes from Martha Stewart OmniMedia. Budget some fat grams and splurge. They don’t include the counts, but roughly it works out to be: Calories = 550, Protien = 29g, Fat = 33g, Carb = 34. Portion: 1/2 hen (with skin), 1 cup grape/shallot mixture. It’s satisfying! Unusual and pretty enough for company. We served it up with a big green salad.

9 exercises that don’t work from WebMd.

It begins at 40. A U-Mich Study says people consistently underestimate the sweetness of adulthood.

“People often believe that happiness is a matter of circumstance, that if something good happens, they will experience long-lasting happiness, or if something bad happens, they will experience long-term misery,” says Peter Ubel, M.D. “But instead, people’s happiness results more from their underlying emotional resources — resources that appear to grow with age. People get better at managing life’s ups and downs, and the result is that as they age, they become happier — even though their objective circumstances, such as their health, decline.”

Read more.

Elevation, the good deed emotion. Jonathan Haidt studies the feeling triggered by witnessing acts of human moral beauty or virtue. Read about his work here.

Think you know what makes you happy? Think again while you listen to this very engaging public radio interview of Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness.” from AirTalk on KPCC. (Requires RealPlayer)