Feeling stressed? Go out and play!

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's been an  exciting week around here, since we're launching Personal Best - the magazine - on Saturday in most of the Tampa Bay area. Creating a new project is thrilling -- and nerve-wracking. We have such a terrific team here that as the editor of Personal Best I should really just sit back and admire it all. But being the natural born worrier/control freak my mother raised me to be, I've been sweating all the details. So as I was reviewing the page proofs on Thursday, I re-read with renewed interest St. Petersburg writer Yvonne Swanson's package of stories about economic stress, and how local folks are coping. Full of great tips, inspirational, and a timely reminder that as bad as the economy may be, there still are things many of us can do to protect our health and sanity.

Such as ... getting out of the house, enjoying the sunshine, and playing. Play with your kids, join a basketball league or do something completely different like taking up hoop dancing. Our gorgeous cover photo, shot by Dirk Shadd and designed by Suzette Moyer, shows local hoop dancer Christin Taylor at Pass-a-Grille, and if her abs aren't a testament to the power of the hoop, I don't know what is.

Whatever you do, have a wonderful time of it and make the weekend count.

If you want to get all analytical about this fun business, I highly recommend a new book, "Play,'' by Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play (which is in California, naturally). Brown says a lot of smart things, but one line jumped out at me: “The opposite of play is not work — the opposite of play is depression.''

So there you have it: official medical permission to get out there and play. No need to thank me, just go do it.

Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine editor

[Photo: Dirk Shadd, Times staff]

When do you call in sick from work?

Encouraged by the flashing “WALK’’ sign, I stepped into a crosswalk on the way to work one recent  morning, only to come within about 4 inches of getting creamed by an SUV. This of course is to be expected in Florida, where pedestrians are accorded the status of the hated Replicants in “Blade Runner,’’ but it was nonetheless jarring.

Then I realized something else: If not for the fact that I had this icky cold that made me move in slow motion, I might have marched right into a nasty accident. Aha! There IS something good about feeling bad. .

Of course, if I had just stayed home like everyone says you should, none of this ever would have happened. But although  I’m lucky enough to have paid sick days, I generally try to tough it out.

I’m not alone. A Harvard School of Public Health poll found that 67 percent of Floridians with jobs have paid sick leave, But 44 percent of those polled said that they’d gone to work sick sometime in the previous year because they feared the economic repercussions – either missing out on pay, or appearing unreliable to their employers.

It stands to reason that people are more fearful now than they were when the poll was published last summer. What about you? If you have a job, how do you handle being sick?

-- Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine Editor

[photo: Photos.com]

Sick days
When do you call in sick from work?
Whenever I?m feeling less than 100 percent. Can't do your best if you don't feel your best!
When the weather is really great, or I get an invitation for a long weekend somewhere fun, or I can't decide what to wear.
When the paramedics have carted me off. If I don't work, I don't get paid.
When the paramedics have carted me off. I am indispensable.
When I fear my coworkers will accuse me of trying to infect them with my nasty germs.

Is red wine going to kill me?

This is definitely not a headline I needed in the middle of a very busy week: More evidence links alcohol, cancer in women. This is the biggest study ever done looking at the cancer risks women who drink face, and it looked at 1.3-million middle-age women in Britain. Even one glass of wine a day increases your risk of several cancers, including breast cancer, according to researchers at the University of Oxford .

I love my daily glass (ok, sometimes it's more than a glass....a large glass) of wine. It's a lovely transition from the work day into a relaxing evening. It's the reason happy hour is so happy. It's just downright delicious!

But honestly, I didn't need a million English ladies and a bunch of smart people at Oxford to tell me that although there do seem to be some health benefits of wine, it does come with drawbacks. Cancer risk aside (and really,the risk of one glass a day is not THAT enormous, according to the AP story), we're talking significant calories here. I've also noticed as I get older that alcohol messes with my sleep patterns, which are pretty much of a mess anyway.

Sigh. Fact is, despite the drawbacks, I do like my wine, in moderation. Doesn't the fact that I had oatmeal for breakfast and took a yoga class at lunch entitle me to a nice glass of Shiraz tonight?

And is it really reasonable to give up something legal that you truly enjoy for the sake of something that may not happen? This is really about a lot more than wine. I may have to convene my own Top Level Study Group (that would be my girlfriends) at happy hour to discuss further.

Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine editor

[photo: Photos.com]

Vitamins, minerals, supplements, oh my

My medicine cabinet is the silent witness to my struggles with vitamins and supplements. Sure, I eat a balanced diet (most days), but somehow I just can’t get over the idea that I’d run faster and jump higher if I found just the right supplement.

Open the cabinet and you’ll see the multivitamins with iron for when I came up a little low on a blood test. The multis without iron for when the iron made me queasy. The calcium with Vitamin D because Mom always said so, and my doctor agrees. Fish oil because, well, I never eat enough of the real thing to get my Omegas. 

I have to confess: None of this stuff has ever made me feel any different (except of course for the iron, and that was not a good feeling).

Lately I’ve been wondering if I should clear out room for something more useful – like maybe all those lipsticks I never use. Supplements have been getting a drubbing lately in the research world, although we did get word this week that Vitamin B complex can help stave off age-related macular degeneration and calcium might protect against some cancers. Although nutrient-rich food, not pills, seem the way to go there.

If your medicine cabinet looks like mine, I think you'll find this rundown on supplements helpful. With the aid of Dr. Kevin Sneed, assistant dean and clinical director of clinical pharmacy at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, writer Philip Morgan has produced a guide that makes sense.

Bottom line? I'll keep taking the multivitamins (without iron), the calcium and the fish oil. For now.

Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine editor

[photo: Photos.com]

RECIPE: Healthy Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday, better known as Mardi Gras, the big blowout before Ash Wednesday ushers in the sobriety of Lent for Christians. When I hear Mardi Gras, I think New Orleans, and naturally I think about great food .... jambalaya, crawfish and especially rich, creamy, sinful etoufee.

Good news, Personal Best-ers. Today we have a recipe for Crab Etouffee that will get you into the Fat Tuesday spirit, with very little fat -- but with the roux (that's fat, flour and magic, people) that makes it real. The secret is using just enough heart-healthy olive oil. This comes to us from our friends at the American Heart Association and their handy cookbook, 47 Healthy Soul Food Recipes, available for the low, low price of $3.99. Click on the link to get the recipe for Jamaican Jerk Shrimp. For us traditionalists, here's the etoufee, which makes enough for four, and weighs in at a very sleek 292 calories per serving (about half the usual freight), and just 1.5 grams of saturated fat.

CRAB ETOUFFEE

1 teaspoon olive oil plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, 1/2 medium red bell pepper, 1/2 medium green bell pepper, 1 medium rib of celery, 3 medium green onions

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups water

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

12 ounces fresh crabmeat, all cartilage and shell discarded

salt and red pepper sauce, to taste

1 cup uncooked instant brown or white rice

Chop vegetables. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium nonstick skillet and sautee veggies until browned. Transfer to a plate.

In the same skillet, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with flour. Stirring constantly, cook until richly browned. Stir in water, bay leaves, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and veggies. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Gently stir in the crab, salt and pepper sauce. You can make all this ahead of time and refrigerate; it tastes better prepared in advance. When you're ready to eat, prepare the rice according to package directions, but without added fat. Rheat the etoufee gently, stir in the remaining 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and ladle over the rice.

Special thanks to Kate Sawa, communications director at the American Heart Association in St. Petersburg for bringing us the cookbook and pointing out the etouffee!

Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine editor

[photo: Associated Press]

Weekend indulgence? Get back on track

Does this sound familiar: the New Year’s resolution didn’t quite work out, and then came the Super Bowl, and then Gasparilla, and then that big Washington’s Birthday Blowout.

Let’s make a deal: How about if we all forgive ourselves and move on? Before you know, swimsuit season will be here. Here are my Six Favorite Ways to Get Back on Track.

* Stop beating yourself up RIGHT NOW. Bruises are never attractive.

*Put the scale away. What if you’re getting all worked up over a little water retention? Give yourself a day or two of healthy living, then check in.

*Drink lots of water. Even if you feel bloated right now, the best remedy is more water, not less.

* Get some exercise. Start with a 20-minute walk and some stretches, then advance as you’re able.

* Get back to your normal healthy eating plan, emphasizing fruits and veggies, and lean protein. Resist the urge to starve yourself.

* Remember: Keep with steps 1 through 5, and you will feel better tomorrow.

--Charlotte Sutton, Health and Medicine editor

[photo: photos.com]

Dashboard dining on a diet

What is it about eating in the car that makes you think it doesn’t count? I can’t remember ever eating a McDonald’s sausage biscuit when I wasn’t behind the wheel. And really, it’s not like I’m eating alone – I can always find plenty of dashboard diners on my commute.
A few too many fast food breakfasts, though, and the old backside starts looking pretty biscuity. So for all who must eat on the run, here are some ideas from the American Cancer Society. Added bonus: No special sauce to stain your shirt!

* Fill a baggie with dry cereal, dry roasted peanuts, and raisins. Take along boxed low-fat milk and orange juice. A handful of raisins and 6 oz. of juice provide two servings of fruit—a good start toward the goal of at least 5 fruits or veggies a day.

* Toast whole-grain bread for a sandwich of natural peanut butter and fruit-sweetened jelly. Bring a calcium-fortified orange juice box.

* Try a hard-boiled egg, mini-bagel, banana, and a juice box.

---Charlotte Sutton, Health and medicine editor

[photo: Associated Press]