Gut Health

I think I may have written about the stomach bug that hit my friend and I while we were in Italy – and I seem to have a recurrence going on. So I started taking probiotics and I’ve been reading up on gut health.

Gut health seems to make the news fairly regularly these days, but if you don’t know it refers to the balance of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, known as the microbiome in your digestive system. Studies have shown that when the balance gets off, it can lead to things like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, abdominal pain, acid reflux, headaches, poor sleep, and even joint pain. So keeping that balance is good for your overall health!

Lots of things can contribute to poor gut health – starting with too little sleep and other bad habits like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Antibiotics can also be a factor – so if you’ve been prescribed medication for any sort of infection from conditions like acne to sinus issues, the odds are you could get a stomach upset with it (which is why you are told to take the medication with food to try to mitigate that). But diet is definitely the biggest driving factor. Eating too much processed food, sugar, saturated fats, and additives/preservatives will definitely drive up the bad bacteria in your gut.

So how do you get your microbiome back into balance? It all goes back to a healthier lifestyle:

  • Eat less processed food, more fiber, more fresh fruits and vegetables and limit sugary foods. Whole grains and fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi are particularly helpful.
  • Take a probiotic supplement. There are lots of them available – like Align or Olly Probiotic gummies. You can also find yogurt with probiotics – try Activia or greek yogurt. You can tell if your favorite yogurt has probiotics by reading the label – you want one that says “live yogurt cultures” or even better “lactobacillus acidophilus.” Need to sneak the probiotic into your diet? You can substitute sour cream with one of the healthy plain yogurts – you won’t notice a difference in flavor and you get the bonus of those cultures!
  • Exercise more! You don’t need even need a gym – you can just walk more. Maybe throw in some weight bearing exercises like squats and lunges. Hit those 10,000 steps a day – but if you can’t do that, try to increase your daily steps every day any way you can. Park farther away from the store or walk around the block. You can work up to the 10,000 steps easily. Need something more fun? Try dancing to 2-3 songs at least once a day! Just get moving! Bonus – it will help relieve stress which also contributes to poor gut health.
  • HYDRATE! Drinking adequate amounts of water helps your overall health in a lot of ways but will contribute to better gut health as well. But remember – boosting your consumption of coffee, tea and soda doesn’t count. Caffeine is a diuretic so drinking it actually takes water out of your system.
  • Get on a good sleep schedule. Planning for 7-8 hours of sleep per night can help get your system sorted out. So put those devices down about an hour before you want to sleep and develop a routine that allows you to get the rest your body needs.

Want more info about your gut health? Check out these links to get started!

Telegraph cables

On this day in 1858, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was linked up allowing messages to be sent from the United States to England. By August 16th, President Buchanan and Queen Victoria had exchanged messages – but by the beginning of September, the cable broke and no more trans-Atlantic messages were possible until 1866.

It’s hard to imagine what life was like in the telegraph age now isn’t it? I’ve only ever seen 1 actual telegraph message. Have you seen one in real life?

I used to tease my Grandma about all the technological advancements she saw in her life. She was born in the horse and buggy days and saw beginning of the automotive age. She saw telephones go from party lines to private lines to cell phones. She saw the dawn of TV and lived to see cable TV. She saw the beginning of commercial air travel – and the son of one of her friends walk on the moon.

In my own lifetime, tech has just continued to accelerate. At my first job in NYC at a Madison Avenue ad agency, there were 40 of us that shared 3 computers! Now, I carry around more computing power in my cell phone than those computers had! I’ve gone from green screens to being able to create my own interfaces. And I’m watching AI unfold now. Crazy isn’t it? Cannot wait to see what comes next!

Want to know more about telegraphs? Check out these links!

Happy Birthday MTV!

MTV launched on August 1, 1981. Ahhhh….. I remember those days waiting for my favorite videos to be on. Before reality TV – when it was just videos and the VJs. I LOVED IT!

I was fortunate enough to work on the MTV/VH1 account earlier in my career when I was at Chiat/Day. The first time I got to go to their offices, I was blown away. All the people there were so cool and working with them was a blast. Outstanding memories? Being on the chase crew for the MTV hot air balloon which was a giant MTV logo with the basket suspended from it. We launched in New Jersey and then chased it in a box truck to Brooklyn where as a member of the chase crew, I got to help push the air out of the balloon and fold it up. It was QUITE a day – and somewhere I have the picture of me helping push the air out of the balloon that ended up in the NY Times with a headline about the balloon crashing!

I also got to go to the MTV awards both at Radio City in NYC and in LA. It was so much fun to be able to play with the cool kids!

And now as a real throw back – the video from MTV’s debut:

Hydrate!

Are you carrying around a ridiculously huge Stanley cup? Do you have a timer for your water consumption? Do you even know how much water you drink in a day? When it’s hot, everyone keeps saying to make sure you stay hydrated. But what does that really mean?

Hydration is all about making sure you replace the fluids your body loses through sweating, breathing and waste elimination (I’m being delicate!). On average, our bodies lose between 2-3 quarts of fluid every day and it’s important – especially when you’re sweating more than normal – to keep up with that fluid loss.

What happens if you get dehydrated? You might just feel thirsty – but symptoms can escalate quickly and include dizziness, tiredness, headache, muscle cramps, rapid breathing, rapid heart rate and even fainting. When you get to rapid breathing, rapid heart rate or fainting, it’s time for immediate medical help.

If you have the less severe symptoms of dehydration, you can just move to shade/cool room to rest and drink water slowly – think by regular sips. Suck on ice chips or popsicles. But by all means – DON’T drink caffeinated or alcholic drinks that can only dehydrate you more.

Here are some great links where you can learn more about hydration so you don’t end up dried up!

HOT.

The forecast is for low 90s and HIGH humidity for the rest of this week – so what can you do when it’s too hot to want to be outside?

Living in the Midwest, we have at least one week like this every summer. My own personal to-do list today includes:

  • Trip to the grocery. I’ll be stocking up on veggies and fruits that will make quick, light meals. No oven for me this week!
  • Closing the blinds. You’d be amazed how much cooler my house is with the blinds pulled! Granted, I have a lot of windows (10 in the living room alone!) but that extra shade means my AC doesn’t have to work as hard.
  • Check the schedule for my AC. I have a “smart” thermostat so I program it for temperature by time of day. But when it’s really hot, I like to adjust the settings up a couple of degrees to save energy (and money). It’s also a good idea to check the filter for your HVAC system – no point in making it work any harder than it has to!
  • Check my queues for my streaming services – although the Olympics is also offering a lot of good entertainment too. Today is women’s team gymnastics – and over the next couple of days there is individual apparatus competitions! (Shout out to the Bronze medal winning US Men’s Gymnastics Team!)
  • Water my flowers outdoors. The pots need a little extra care when it’s this hot! And I planted a new shrub on Saturday so it’s going to need some TLC as well.

I think that should hold me. I have a couple of yarn projects to work on so I’m good to go. Stay cool everyone!

Olympics!

Are you watching the Olympics? Did you see the opening ceremony? I loved a lot of it – but it was LONG! Now I’m obsessed with the gymnastics competitions – I have the men’s team final on right now but I was up at 5AM both Saturday and Sunday to watch the prelims.

How about that Paul Juda? Shout out to all the Deerfield, IL Paul Juda supporters out there! The men’s team doesn’t get the attention that the women’s team does – but they are amazing! My shoulders hurt just watching them do the high bar.

If you are a Comcast or Peacock subscriber, I cannot recommend the OnDemand coverage of any of the events enough. Most of the OnDemand doesn’t have an announcer so if you get annoyed by all the pointless chatter and just want to see ALL the athletes from all countries, this way of viewing might be for you!

The US men are on floor – I have to go watch!