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It's hard to believe that the leaves are changing on some trees and have already fallen! Enjoy the last bit of summer and the beginning of autumn!
Don't forget to take care of your health during your hectic life!
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HEALTH FEATURE
Drinking Pickle Juice
Pickle juice isn't something many people think about when it comes to health benefits, but it is an incredibly source of electrolytes, antioxidants and nutrients that is easy to make a part of your diet.
The next time you buy pickles, remember that there is more to that jar than just the pickle itself. Learning why drinking pickle juice can boost your health will help you avoid certain conditions, and help boost your body's ability to restore itself naturally.
Benefits of Drinking Pickle Juice
1. It's Better Than Any Sports Drinks
While football players and professional athletes have long thought that drinking pickle juice helped to restore electrolytes because of its sodium levels, there are now scientific studies to support this. In many emergency rooms, it is used to help those in cardiac difficult. Within 85 seconds, pickle juice can relieve cramps and begin to restore balance. It isn't so much the sodium content, but that pickle juice can deliver it to your body faster than other sources because that sodium is in calcium chloride and vinegar.
2. It Can Prevent or Treat Muscle Cramps
As mentioned in #1, the calcium chloride and vinegar in pickle juice helps to make the sodium and potassium more readily absorbed by the body. Athletes drink pickle juice before and after activity to help prevent, or to treat muscle cramps. There is more clinical evidence being released that there is value to this claim too.
3. It Can Relieve RLS
Many people with Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) have found that having just a couple of ounces before they go to bed quiets their leg movements. It has yet to be officially studied, but there is enough anecdotal evidence by users to suggest it could be worth a try.
4. It Soothes Upset Stomachs
This one can be hard to even think of trying when you are experiencing heartburn or an upset stomach, but many people swear that drinking pickle juice can relieve their symptoms. Your other choice is vinegar and honey, but that sounds even less appetizing and pickle juice is easier to find and drink fast for relief.
5. To Prevent Hangovers
Since pickle juice helps balance the electrolytes it can be a best choice for avoiding, or recovering from a hangover.
6. Pickle Juice Delivers Antioxidants and Nutrients Too
Low in calories, packed with electrolytes, high in vitamin C and calcium, pickle juice can be an excellent way to boost your health and manage weight. Better still, all of the antioxidants and nutrients are more readily absorbed in the body due to the acidic content of the pickle juice.
Recommended Ways to Drink Pickle Juice
All of these benefits may sound great, but when you picture yourself drinking pickle juice right from the jar, you get a little queasy; there are many other ways to add pickle juice to your diet without having to suffer through the taste. Here are just a few ways people have found to get the benefits without the sour face:
- Mix a few ounces into water for your after workout recovery drink. You can even add it to any recovery shake you use too.
- Anywhere you can think to add a pickle, you can also put pickle juice. Add some to salads, egg salad, tuna salad and any other place where putting in a few slices of pickles makes sense in the first place.
- Yogurt is an excellent choice for your diet that can become even more powerful if you add several tablespoons of pickle juice. The added bonus is that yogurt will mask the taste of the juice too.
- Add it to any marinade, or use it as its own marinade for your poultry, fish and even meat.
- Use it as a salad dressing. The vinegar and salt taste of the pickle juice can make it an ideal salad dressing.
Are There Any Side Effects of Drinking Pickle Juice?
Just like any other change to your diet or supplement, always talk to your doctor before starting. Drinking pickle juice has no real side effects, but there are certain preexisting conditions that could be aggravated by it.
- If you are on a low sodium diet for any condition, you do not want to drink pickle juice.
- If you have gout, or even a family history of gout, you may also want to avoid drinking it too as it can cause a buildup of uric acid.
- One thing you do need to do is check with your pharmacist if you take medications. The acidity of the pickle juice may not be a good mix. Your doctor or pharmacist may say it is OK for you to begin drinking it, but that you need to wait a certain amount of time after taking your medication to make sure they are properly absorbed.
Outside of those considerations, drinking pickle juice is a safe way to start boosting your health.
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SAUGANASH WELLNESS KITCHEN
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BERRY GOAT CHEESE SALAD
4 servings
Ingredients:
- Salad
- 1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 8 cups (about 12 ounces) spring lettuce mix
- 1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup mixed seasonal berries, such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons raspberry or sherry vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1/4 ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toss onion with canola oil, salt and pepper and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until onion is soft and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Toss lettuce, walnuts, tomatoes, berries and goat cheese in a large serving bowl.
For the vinaigrette, whisk together vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Drizzle in the oil while continuing to whisk, until vinaigrette thickens slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle dressing over salad, add red onion and toss to combine. Serve immediately
Nutritional Info:
Per Serving:
330 calories (250 from fat),
28g total fat,
6g saturated fat,
10mg cholesterol,
470mg sodium,
16g carbohydrates, (5
g dietary fiber,
8g sugar),
8g protein.
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All Trails
Cost: Free
AllTrails is your guide to the outdoors!
Find the best trails to hike, bike, or run. With 50,000+ hand-curated trail maps as well as trail reviews and photos crowdsourced from a community of millions of hikers, mountain bikers and trail runners, AllTrails helps you spend more time doing what you love.
Find that dog-friendly or kid-friendly trail that you've been searching for. Take that mountain biking or backpacking trip you've always wanted to do. Explore a national park. Or discover new hiking trails in your area. Whether you're a hiker, biker, or trail runner, AllTrails will help you find the way.
EXPLORE 50,000+ TRAILS AROUND THE WORLD
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* Filter by dog friendly, kid friendly, and wheelchair friendly trails
RECORD YOUR ADVENTURES
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* Make and share lists of trails you want to explore
GET DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO THE TRAILHEAD
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AllTrails Pro is available for $29.99/year. You can subscribe and pay through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renew can be turned off anytime by going to your Account Settings in iTunes after purchase.
 
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Chillie is our canine member of the SWC team.
She
shares pet tips for your cats and dogs.
10 Tips for Creating Mealtime Success When Feeding Your Cat
Feeding your cat. Sounds pretty basic, right? Well, there are some things cat parents can do that may influence how successful the mealtime routine is for their cats.
What you feed your cat,
when you feed,
how food is offered and even
where the feeding station is located are all contributing factors to whether kitty gives it a paws up or a paws down. Here's a list of 10 tips to help you create a mealtime environment that follows your cat's natural instincts and desires.
Tip 1: Start with the Right Food
Feed a high-quality, natural food that's appropriate for your cat's life stage and health. It's also important to feed the right amount of food based on stage of life, health and physical activity level. Wellness recently introduced new Complete Health Grain Free dry recipes for cats which may be a good option. If you're unsure of how much food your cat should be eating, talk to your veterinarian.
Tip 2: Create a Comfortable Feeding Station
Create a feeding area that takes your cat's natural instincts and preferences into consideration. Avoid the mistake of placing the feeding station close to the litter box. It may seem tempting to create a convenient "cat area" but a cat's natural survival instinct is to eliminate away from the nest in order to avoid attracting predators. If you place the food bowl close to the litter box it may cause stress when it's time to eat or it may even result in a litter box avoidance problem. If the feeding station and the litter box must be in the same room, make sure they are on opposites sides with maximum distance between them.
The most common location for the feeding station is in the kitchen. This works well for most cats but if the kitchen area is chaotic or noisy, your cat may prefer a more quiet, private area. Choose a feeding station location that allows your cat to eat undisturbed.
Tip 3: Use the Appropriate Food Bowl
A bowl is a bowl you say? Not true. Let's start with the cat's whiskers. Those long whiskers on your cat's face are very sensitive and most cats find it uncomfortable for them to be squished or bent. If the food bowl is too deep or narrow, your cat will either have to withstand having the whiskers bent, or she may start dipping her paw in the bowl to scoop the food out. This is common in cats who experience whisker stress or discomfort. The food bowl should be shallow so your cat can easily get to her meal without any discomfort. This applies to the water bowl as well. While you want to make sure your cat always has an adequate supply of fresh water, if the bowl is too narrow, she may experience the same whisker stress.
Tip 4: Put a Distance Between Your Cat's Food and Water
Many cats prefer their water to be separated from the food. In fact, it's a good idea to have several water bowls scattered throughout the house to make it convenient for your cat and to encourage more water intake. When your cat is thirsty and looking for water between meals, she doesn't necessarily want the scent of food nearby. It comes down to a cat's natural survival instinct and even if your cat never sets one paw outdoors, she still retains those instincts.
Avoid using double feeding bowls that keep the water and food connected. Food can easily fall into the water, causing contamination and it also changes the taste of the water.
Tip 5: Feed The Appropriate Number of Meals
In the wild, a cat would typically eat several small meals per day. Cats have small stomachs and aren't like the lions on the Savannah who gorge on food and then don't eat for a while. Cats hunt small prey because they're small animals. If unsure about the quantity to feed, talk to your veterinarian about how much your cat should eat in a day and then divide up that portion into several smalls meals. If you're gone for long periods during the day, consider a timer-controlled feeder that will keep wet food fresh and open for feeding at the precise time you set. There are also timer-controlled feeders for use with dry food. If you do feed dry food, there are many food-dispensing toys you can use to give your cat the added bonus of having playtime during meals. Working for food is a natural concept for a cat so batting a puzzle feeder around to get a food reward can add more fun to mealtime.
Tip 6: Don't Feed Cold Food
Feed wet food at room or body temperature. Cold food straight from the refrigerator may cause stomach upset and also isn't as appealing. In order for the enticing aromas to do their magic, food should be at least at room temperature. Cats aren't scavengers and in the wild, they determine whether a food is safe by the temperature and smell. A cat uses her nose to detect temperature and freshness.
Tip 7: Ease Your Cat Through Changes
Variety is good in a cat's diet but changes must be done gradually to avoid causing tummy upsets or food rejection. Cats are creatures of habit and an abrupt change of food may cause her to turn her little nose up at what might be a high quality, highly nutritious meal, just because it's unfamiliar. When changing to a new flavor or formula, add a little of the new food into the current brand and increase the amount over the course of a few days.
If you're transitioning to a new food and your cat doesn't eat, it might be that you've added too much of the new food too soon. Back off on the amount for a few more days until your cat has adjusted to the change. Your cat is an individual so go at the pace that works best for her. She'll let you know when you're doing it correctly.
Tip 8: Decrease Stress in Multicat Feeding Environments
Although cats are social animals, they are not social eaters. If you have a multicat household, you can greatly decrease stress and increase a sense of security by making sure each cat has their own individual bowl of food. Cats don't necessarily feel comfortable eating side-by-side as well, so separate the bowls to provide more comfort and peace. If any of your cats engage in resource guarding or there's tension between them, set up feeding stations in different rooms so everyone feels safe and you eliminate any feelings of being threatened.
Tip 9: Don't Leave Food out to Harden or Spoil
If feeding wet food, take up the dish after about 20-30 minutes so it isn't left to dry and harden. It's very unappealing for a cat to walk by the feeding station and get a whiff of old, rock-hard wet food. Take the bowl and wash it, wipe up any spills and keep the feeding station area clean so it'll be most appealing for the next meal. Wash water bowls daily and refill with fresh, clean water as well.
Tip 10: Encourage Activity
Use playtime before meals to help encourage a healthy appetite. As a hunter, if a cat had to depend on her own skills to obtain a meal, she'd have to go through some physical activity as she stalks, chases and pounces to capture dinner. The concept of working for food is natural for cats, and luckily, you can incorporate that in a fun way by using playtime. Engage in an interactive play session with your cat before meals. Use a toy based on a fishing pole-type design so you can maneuver it like prey to encourage your cat to show off her skills. Customize the play session to fit your cat's age, health and physical ability. Even a quick little game may ignite a spark of energy for a cat who may have been sleeping much of the day. Then, after a job well done, the might hunter gets her reward in the form of a healthy, delicious meal.
Interested in adopting a Greyhound in the Chicago area? Go to
Greyhounds Only
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Being with Cancer
Hire a Breast Cancer Doula
BirthLink Member - Grace Lombardo CD(DONA) - Diamond Doula Care
I have been a DONA trained birth doula for 8 years. In that time, I founded Diamond Doula Care and have been working with families on the North Shore except for when I was home with a newborn of my own (I have 3 children ages 8, 7 & 3). In April 2016, I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma breast cancer. I was a healthy, 35 year old mother who had done everything 'right' in terms of avoiding cancer, but cancer doesn't discriminate. Throughout the remainder of 2016, I had a bi-lateral mastectomy, months of chemotherapy and 3 other surgeries. Clearly, I was unable to work during this time.
Now that I am in remission and feeling healthy and vital, I have started taking on birth clients again. It feels wonderful to be back in the birth arena, one of the places where I feel most myself. During my cancer odyssey I started a blog called Grancer, it is me and cancer's celebrity name like Brangelina. Hey, you've got to find a way to keep cancer fun somehow! The initial aim of the blog was partly to disseminate information on my health and partly for my own catharsis. The blog started making the rounds and by the end of 2016, had over 300,000 visitors.
Now that I am known in the breast cancer community, I have started to hear more and more about women being diagnosed while pregnant. Breast cancer is often driven by estrogen & progesterone production so pregnancy can set a flame a cancer that was perhaps brewing latently. My plan going forward is to specialize my doula practice to women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy or who have been effected by cancer prior to pregnancy. Navigating pregnancy or cancer alone would be difficult enough, but to experience them in tandem, is a devastatingly difficult situation.
I hope that with my expertise as a doula and my personal experience with breast cancer, I will be able to walk alongside those in our community who have been dealt this wicked card. I am cultivating relationships with MFMs, OBs, Surgeons and Oncologists to funnel these patients my way should they seek the specialized support that I will be able to give to them. Should you encounter anyone in this situation, please feel free to pass along my information:
[email protected]. You can also read my blog:
www.grancerblog.com.
Grace Lombardo CD(DONA)
Founder & President, Diamond Doula Care
Birth Doula & Childbirth Educator
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Free Aromatherapy Treatment
with Your Massage Session
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Take care of your body in the new year with a massage and a get a complimentary aromatherapy treatment ($10 value). A layering of essentials oils -- such as lemongrass, cypress, helichrysum -- open the senses, alleviate stress and improve your mood.
Call or email for your appointment today. Mention you saw this offer in the newsletter!
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