Indiana Master Naturalist training is available through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Upcoming area training information below!
Welcome to the fifty-third year of The Penrod Arts Fair®. As “Indiana’s Nicest Day®,” Penrod is one of the nation’s largest single day arts fairs.
Join us on Saturday, September 7th, 2019 on the beautiful campus of Newfields. This year’s fair features over three hundred artists, six stages of entertainment, more than 50 arts-related non-profit organizations, and an extensive children’s area. Open 9:00 AM-5:00 PM on the campus of Newfields (Formerly the Indianapolis Art Museum).
4000 Michigan Road
Indianapolis, IN 46208
acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/exercise-library/
Link above to free access to an exercise library, including short video clips. Library includes activity/exercises for children, as well as adults.
The start of the school year can be rough on some kids. It’s a big shift from summer’s freedom and lack of structure to the measured routines of school. And sometimes that can build up into tears, losing sleep, outbursts and other classic signs of anxiety.
“Going back to school is a transition for everyone,” says Lynn Bufka, a practicing psychologist who also works at the American Psychological Association. “No matter the age of the child, or if they’ve been to school before.”
In the vast majority of cases, this is pretty standard stuff. It doesn’t mean it’s not painful — for you and your kids.
“If you see that in your kids, don’t panic,” says John Kelly, a school psychologist in Long Island, N.Y. “For most kids, there’s gonna be some level of anxiety.”
And, if you think back on it, you can probably remember feeling that way, too.
We talked to some experts about what parents can do to ease the transition — plus, what to watch out for if there’s a more serious problem.
For further helps:
npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/28/545393966/how-to-counter-back-to-school-anxiety
Makes 6 Servings
1 pound zucchini, unpeeled
1 medium sweet onion, sliced thinly
1 bunch radishes, sliced thinly
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1/2 cup Equal Spoonful or Granulated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram or tarragon, crushed (optional)
12 cups salad greens
3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill (optional)
Use a vegetable peeler lengthwise on the zucchini to make long ribbons. Continue to peel on the same side of the zucchini until the ribbons become too wide for your peeler then rotate the squash and continue. Combine onion and radish slices; set aside.
Whisk together vinegar, water, oil, Equal, salt, pepper and marjoram. Toss dressing and vegetables to combine.
Refrigerate, covered, overnight to allow flavors to blend.
Spoon vegetables over salad greens using a slotted spoon. Top with chopped dill and sprinkle with pine nuts.
Calories: 71
Protein: 4g
Carbohydrates: 10g
Fat: 3g
Sodium: 129mg
Scoot your chair away from your desk and sit down comfortably. For many people, it would look a lot like sitting in a car. Your feet are on the floor in front of you; your hands are in your lap; and your shoulders relax as you lean back just a bit. Your behind…is behind you.
It’s comfy, right? This is called your “natural posture.” In it, your vertebrae are stacked, your entire back moves as you breathe, and your pelvis is positioned so that your spine is stacked properly.
Memorize this natural posture. Since we’ve been taught to “sit up straight” and “tuck in” the tailbone, it won’t be an easy change.
With this in mind, you can start building an ergonomic workstation that supports this posture.
Building around the natural posture, the keyboard and mouse should be positioned in a way that keeps your elbows to your sides, and your arms at or below a 90-degree angle. This way, the muscle load is reduced and you’re not straining.
Height. Position your keyboard 1 to 2 inches above your thighs. For most people, that probably means employing a pull-out keyboard tray. Alternatively, you can lower your desk, but the keyboard tray is a preferred method. Here’s why.
Tilt. The keyboard should ideally be positioned with a negative tilt — down and away from you, so that your arms and hand follow the downward slope of your thighs. That being said, never use the kickstands provided underneath most keyboards.
Position. Ideally, your keyboard and mouse should be shoulder-distance apart and as level as possible. A couple of things will help you achieve this.
First, consider purchasing a keyboard without a number pad, as the number pad puts the letter keys — your primary input tools — off-center. As for keeping the mouse and keyboard level, you might want to raise your keyboard with some DIYing, or get a flatter mouse.
Setting up your screen, or screens, doesn’t have to be complicated. Arrange them in this order, and you’ll be set.
Distance. If your screen is too far away, you’ll start doing something ergonomics experts like to call “turtling,” or craning your neck. Place the monitor too far away, and you’ll find yourself extending to reach it.
To find the sweet spot, sit back and extend your arm. The tips of your middle finger should land on your screen. That’s it.
If you have two monitors, set them up side by side (no gap), and place the secondary monitor off-center. Those who use both monitors equally should center them both. Now, sit back and extend your arm and pan in an arch. As you pan your arm, your finger tip should almost always touch the monitors. Use the same logic when placing other items, like a document holder or a phone.
Height. To adjust the height, try this ergo trick: close your eyes. When you open them, your eyes should land on the address bar. If not, lower or raise the monitors using the built-in option, with risers, or with a book.
Angle. Finally, tilt the monitors down just a smidge to avoid reflections.
Your chair is your best ergonomic friend. It supports your back, your bottom, and your posture. There are many chairs to choose from, but only a few important things to look out for.
Shape. Think back to your natural posture. With your tailbone sticking out just a bit, and your vertebrae in their slight curve, the lumbar portion of your spine points in toward your belly. To help you sustain this posture, find a chair that offers good lumbar support.
Length. When you sit down, there should be a little space between the edge of the chair and the back of your knees, about the size of your fist. Depending on the chair, you might be able to adjust the seat depth accordingly.
Height. When you sit, your feet should be on the floor (not dangling) in front of you, and your thighs should be slightly below your hips. Shorter folks might need to use a footrest, while extra-tall types might need to adjust the height of the desk.
If you ever find yourself tucking your feet behind you, sitting on one leg, or in another funky position, you chair needs to be adjusted.
After all is said and done, there’s one final piece that you can’t simply set-and-forget: physical activity. Take a break at least once an hour to walk around the office or stretch. If it helps, set an hourly alarm as a reminder.
No matter how ergonomic your workstation is, stretching your body is the only thing that can combat the health issues that arise from prolonged sitting.
Old Fashion Days bicycle tour is a casual ride along scenic, rolling countryside near North Salem, IN. It is part of the Old Fashion Days Festival and is a fundraiser for the B&O Trail. The event includes a hot lunch or breakfast, marked routes, sag van, refreshment stop, and scenic roads. The route is a figure 8 course, offering 11 and 34 mile routes. All riders start by going northwest out of North Salem. After returning to North Salem and passing the SAG stop, the longer routes continue south of North Salem. The ride includes a breakfast or lunch at one of the festival vendors.
Check-in begins at 7:15 AM. The ride begins at 8:30. Breakfast buffet ends at 10:00 AM, but you can still use your voucher at other food vendors after that. Parking is available south of town on State Road 2375.
Check the website for participant information and reservations:
brinin.org/sep/old-fashion-days-bicycle-tour-2019
The Old Fashion Days Festival will be held on August 31 – September 2, 2019. It’ll include live entertainment, carnival rides, parade, pizza eating contest, pet parade, horse pull, pie contest, car show, truck pull, bed race, kiddie tractor pull contests, craft and commercial booths, food vendors and much more. Hours: Sat 9pm-6pm; Sun 10am-6pm; Mon 10am-4pm
It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.
As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults, life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. But by seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life.
Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
Laughter burns calories. OK, so it’s no replacement for going to the gym, but one study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes a day can burn approximately 40 calories—which could be enough to lose three or four pounds over the course of a year.
Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.
Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.
Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with exercising, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything.
Here are some ways to start:
Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter, and like laughter, it’s contagious. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and smile at people you pass in the street, the person serving you a morning coffee, or the co-workers you share an elevator with. Notice the effect on others.
Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the positive aspects of your life will distance you from negative thoughts that block humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to reach humor and laughter.
When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”
Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Even if you don’t consider yourself a lighthearted, humorous person, you can still seek out people who like to laugh and make others laugh. Every comedian appreciates an audience.
Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm
IF as a weight loss approach has been around in various forms for ages, but was highly popularized in 2012 by BBC broadcast journalist Dr. Michael Mosley’s TV documentary Eat Fast, Live Longer and book The Fast Diet, followed by journalist Kate Harrison’s book The 5:2 Diet based on her own experience, and subsequently by Dr. Jason Fung’s 2016 bestseller The Obesity Code. IF generated a steady positive buzz as anecdotes of its effectiveness proliferated.
As a lifestyle-leaning research doctor, I needed to understand the science. The Obesity Codeseemed the most evidence-based summary resource, and I loved it. Fung successfully combines plenty of research, his clinical experience, and sensible nutrition advice, and also addresses the socioeconomic forces conspiring to make us fat. He is very clear that we should eat more fruits and veggies, fiber, healthy protein, and fats, and avoid sugar, refined grains, processed foods, and for God’s sake, stop snacking. Check, check, check, I agree. The only part that was still questionable in my mind was the intermittent fasting part.
IF makes intuitive sense. The food we eat is broken down by enzymes in our gut and eventually ends up as molecules in our bloodstream. Carbohydrates, particularly sugars and refined grains (think white flours and rice), are quickly broken down into sugar, which our cells use for energy. If our cells don’t use it all, we store it in our fat cells as, well, fat. But sugar can only enter our cells with insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas. Insulin brings sugar into the fat cells and keeps it there.
Between meals, as long as we don’t snack, our insulin levels will go down and our fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy. We lose weight if we let our insulin levels go down. The entire idea of IF is to allow the insulin levels to go down far enough and for long enough that we burn off our fat.
Initial human studies that compared fasting every other day to eating less every day showed that both worked about equally for weight loss, though people struggled with the fasting days. So I had written off IF as no better or worse than simply eating less, only far more uncomfortable. My advice was to just stick with the sensible, plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet.
New research is suggesting that not all IF approaches are the same, and some are actually very reasonable, effective, and sustainable, especially when combined with a nutritious plant-based diet. So I’m prepared to take my lumps on this one (and even revise my prior post).
We have evolved to be in sync with the day/night cycle, i.e., a circadian rhythm. Our metabolism has adapted to daytime food, nighttime sleep. Nighttime eating is well associated with a higher risk of obesity, as well as diabetes.
Based on this, researchers from the University of Alabama conducted a study with a small group of obese men with prediabetes. They compared a form of intermittent fasting called “early time-restricted feeding,” where all meals were fit into an early eight-hour period of the day (7 am to 3 pm), or spread out over 12 hours (between 7 am and 7 pm). Both groups maintained their weight (did not gain or lose) but after five weeks, the eight-hours group had dramatically lower insulin levels and significantly improved insulin sensitivity, as well as significantly lower blood pressure. The best part? The eight-hours group also had significantly decreased appetite. They weren’t starving.
Just changing the timing of meals, by eating earlier in the day and extending the overnight fast, significantly benefited metabolism even in people who didn’t lose a single pound.
I was very curious about this, so I asked the opinion of metabolic expert Dr. Deborah Wexler, Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Here is what she told me. “There is evidence to suggest that the circadian rhythm fasting approach, where meals are restricted to an eight to 10-hour period of the daytime, is effective,” she confirmed, though generally she recommends that people “use an eating approach that works for them and is sustainable to them.”
So here’s the deal. There is some good scientific evidence suggesting that circadian rhythm fasting, when combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle, can be a particularly effective approach to weight loss, especially for people at risk for diabetes. (However, people with advanced diabetes or who are on medications for diabetes, people with a history of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and pregnant or breastfeeding women should not attempt intermittent fasting unless under the close supervision of a physician who can monitor them.)
.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156
