eco-conscious • healthy • fun • creative
Sensory Changes
ISSUE 4 VOLUME 1 FALL 2019
TRUE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED QUARTERLY PUBLISHER TRUE LIFESTYLE GROUP, INC. PO Box 1030 Bethpage, NY 11714 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR | CO-PUBLISHER Jennifer Wojcieski CREATIVE DIRECTOR | CO-PUBLISHER Daniella Cippitelli CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jim Burgoon Karen Danchalski Linda Lombardo Jessica LoRe Michele Loesch Roberta Perry CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jessica LoRe CONTACT TRUE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE PO Box 1030 Bethpage, NY 11714 (646) 907-9655 hello@truelifestylemagazine.com
Issue 4, Volume 1 - Fall 2019
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Publisher’s Letter
Change is in the air, sights, smells, sounds...what a lovely season Autumn is. In certain areas, Autumn is a feast for the senses. Nature comes alive with color, sounds, and smells. Kids are back to school; everyone still hanging on to the last days of summer warmth. And the looming holiday season begins to take planning. The weather is perfect for outdoor activities such a pumpkin picking. Perhaps visiting the vineyards is your idea of an ideal day. Here on Long Island, our east end has been gaining popularity with wine enthusiasts. Take a leisurely drive and enjoy wine tastings. Many of the wineries offer tastings, and you can enjoy the day with food, drink, and live music. Regardless of where the day takes you, the weather is perfect for outdoor activity. As wonderful a season it is, there is also the anxiety that creeps up as the busiest holiday season races in. We’ve got some tips for conquering holiday stress. And info on maintaining your overall health, which is essential for all seasons. We take you to an authentic farm to table dinner. The change in seasons also means a change in skincare. And for those who need an escape, join us on a journey through Zion National Park. Take a deep breath and enjoy all that Autumn has to offer!
TRUE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
Table of Contents
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26
6
Personal Growth
Self Care
Health
Authenticity
Balancing the Skin
Productive Sleep
An analogy between trees and humans based on the seasonal changes of Autumn.
Understanding causes of acne and how to prevent this most common skin condition.
The quality and quantity of sleep is essential to your vitality and boosts efficiency.
Stress Free Holidays
Exercise for Life
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Cuisine
The Arts
Travel
True Farm to Table
Earth
Zion Natural Park
Nature is the original master of visual arts and composer of beautiful music.
An exhilarating hike fills the soul with a pure appreciation of all the world has to offer.
Restaurant meets the source of ingredients to enhance our human connection.
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HEALTH
Sleep Creates Productivity By Michele Loesch
Insufficient Sleep and the Consequences in the Workplace
I
n today’s fast-paced, go-go-go world, sleep is the very last thing we feel we have time for. You hear comments such as “sleep is for the weak” or “sleep is overrated.” Americans boast about how little sleep they get daily. It’s like being part of an exclusive club or something. Some even believe the less you sleep, the more you will accomplish. Right? Currently, almost 30 percent of American adults sleep six hours or less a night. A 2013 survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that more than 65 percent of the US adult population fail to obtain the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night during the week. The level of productivity in the workplace is what most, if not all, measure, to determine a company’s success. If employees are not productive and not reaching the productivity goals of the company, the future of the company will be at stake. Why does society today overvalue their employees and undervalue sleep? Why is it ok to glorify the high-powered executive who is on an email until 2:00 am and then into the office by 6 am?
Studies have demonstrated little sleep amounts lead to lower work rate and less creativity. Employees without enough sleep will choose a task that requires less effort to support their ability to problem solve. When employees are not getting enough sleep, their productivity drops, requiring them to work longer to accomplish the goal and task at hand. One must often work longer and later into the evening, resulting in a later bedtime, waking earlier in the morning to finish the job, creating this loop of sleep deprivation.
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Photograph by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush
The professional world spends money on promoting employee health, safety, and conduct. There may be policies in place for substance abuse, smoking, ethics, and injury and disease prevention. Nowhere in any of these programs is the importance of sleep mentioned, not only in the workplace but for the employee’s overall health and wellbeing.
HEALTH
Exercise For Life By Karen Danchalski
Seniors and exercise - strength, flexibility, balance, endurance & motivation... a physical therapist’s perspective.
What keeps you motivated to move? Ask this question to an older person, let’s say over the age of 65, and the answer is usually some form of “I’m afraid to stop!”. Many older people fear to lose their physical abilities, want to keep up with their families, and continue doing the things they love. I have been getting more and more calls over the past few years from clients in their 7th and 8th decade of life seeking personal training and in-home physical therapy. One commonality is that these individuals like to exercise, they understand its good for them, and they are willing to put in the effort. Some have been active their whole lives, and others have been content with just simple everyday activities. Older individuals often must adjust to “new normals” as they work through aches, pains, illness, and other age-related changes such as vision loss. We all will eventually be in the same boat, but don’t fear, keep positive, and grab some sneakers. People of all ages can benefit from exercise and improve their quality of life. MUSCLES AND BONES It is normal for our bones, joints, and muscles to degrade as we age. Our bones lose density, become more brittle, and are more susceptible to fracture(1). Our joint surfaces change from wear and tear, and articular cartilage thins which can lead to joint inflammation(2).
Deterioration in our bones and muscles are typical parts of aging and are due to changes in our hormones and nervous system as we age. Diet and leading a sedentary lifestyle can also contribute to bone and muscle loss
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Photograph by Carlos Hernandez
Our muscle fibers reduce in number and size, especially after 50 years of age. Fasttwitch fibers are most susceptible to decline while our slow-twitch fibers remain more steady in number. Fast-twitch fibers are found more in the large muscles of our limbs and generate greater power and force. Slow-twitch fibers are found more in our postural muscles, are not as forceful, but fatigue less quickly and help us with endurance-type activities (3).
Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
PITFALLS FOR SENIORS Seniors face more significant challenges to starting an exercise program, need to listen to their bodies and be mindful of making adaptations to their routine. Seniors should consider any conditions they have that could limit participation and safety such as diabetes, arthritis, cardiac disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, falls, auto-immune disease, or neuropathy, for example. Anyone with illness or injuries should consult with their doctor before starting a program. No matter what limits you feel you may have, there is always something you can do to stay active. The benefits of exercise are numerous, so read on for safety tips and ideas to get you started! SAFETY FOR SENIORS What is a safe exercise for seniors? Generally, low load, low impact activities will be most safe in protecting against injury. It is essential to start slow, pace yourself, and avoid aggravating old injuries. You may have specific goals in mind, but in general, a good program focuses on improving posture, balance, strength, and fall prevention. Weight-bearing exercises are essential in building bone and should be incorporated into a daily routine. Bones need to be loaded to maintain their strength. While it is crucial to build bone in the earlier decades of life, it is never too late to improve bone health. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, numerous studies have shown that older individuals who engage in weight-bearing exercise are less likely to fall and sustain fractures by over 30%. Sedentary women are more likely to have low bone density and reach a fracture threshold earlier in life than an active individual (4). Lifting weights will strengthen the muscles and bones in your arms while simple exercises like walking and using stairs will target your legs. Pushing your routing a little further to
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PERSONAL GROWTH
Taking Stress Out of the Holidays By Jim Burgoon
The seasons are changing. With the seasonal shift, the air has started growing slightly crisper, images of cookies dance around in my memories, and thoughts of spending times with loved one awakens my heart to joy. When I close my eyes, the smells of pumpkin pies and cookies immediately fills my sense of smell with anticipation of some fantastic treat. The air is full of a fragrance that seems to live in this season. It is a great time of the year to be alive. Then, out of nowhere, an anxious wave washes over my body. My mind is confused. My heart seems to be losing the sugary images that once danced across my memory. Joy gives way to stress. Happiness feels hard to find. I search my thoughts, hoping to find an answer to my sudden emotional shift. At first, there is an absence of answers. Anxiety seems to be the only emotion registering across my emotional landscape. As I search for meaning and answers in the sudden shift, a thought occurs to me. There is a difference between the ideal experience and the real experience.
Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels
What I know is that we live in the ideal experience. This experience brings all the emotions of a Hallmark Christmas movie. The cookies, the pies, the trees, and the yummy dinners dance across our minds. We picture all the good times we will have with our families. Food, family, and fun dominate our thoughts.
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PERSONAL GROWTH
Instead of a Hallmark experience, most of us get the National Lampoons Christmas Movie experience. You know the one I am talking about. The experience where stress, anxiety, and unrealistic expectations reign rampant. We want the beauty and smells of Christmas. We want the ideal experience. There isn’t a single person who wouldn’t want that. However, most of us have not experienced that. We experience the reality of it. We experience the stress of gift buying (especially if you buy your gifts last minute). We experience the stress of family. Let’s not even begin a conversation about holiday traffic. It is time, to be honest with yourself. Whether you want to admit it or not you know that the stress of the holidays can overwhelm even the strongest of us. There is no shame in admitting that. My holidays are very stressful. As a family, we do the cookies and pie thing. We go big for each holiday. Yet, we tend to end up with the arguing. We don’t start that way. Every intention is about having the ideal experience. The reality is that many of us struggle with the ‘baggage’ we have failed to eradicate. Due to that failure over our ‘baggage,’ we continue to struggle with each other’s ‘baggage.’ This ends with lots of stress. What if we could do something about the stress? What if we could create something in our lives that helps alleviate or possibly eradicate that stress? Over the last several years, I have been developing a few simple techniques that have helped take the stress level from National Lampoon and reduce it down to A Christmas Story.
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PERSONAL GROWTH
Authenticity of Autumn By Linda Lombardo
“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go” – Unknown Are you tired of hearing that? I, for one, am getting a little tired of hearing, “Be like a tree and just let it go!” Last year, I wrote about Autumn and letting go of your leaves. I shared that trees push their leaves off; they don’t just let them go; they give them an intentional push. I’ll admit to leading forest therapy walks in the Fall and offering invitations to gather leaves and let them go, or be a ‘Leaf Doula,’ meaning, find a tree and encourage it to push off a leaf or two. “Come on, tree. You can do it. Let one go. Push.” And then, that exhilarating feeling when the tree complies, letting go of a leaf or two and watching them float gracefully to the ground. Good job! No matter how many leaves I gather in my arms and throw them not-sotenderly to the ground in a symbolic act of letting go, I am wracked with baggage, old and new: experiences, losses, fears, traumas, wanting to belong where I probably shouldn’t ever want to belong. And more. So, here’s a new perspective on an old story. Did you know that when leaves stop absorbing chlorophyll, they change color? Yes, of course, you did. It happens every Fall. We plan road trips to see the changing leaves; children gather them for school projects. These leaves of Deciduous trees change color as the trees prepare for Winter, discarding what they no longer need during their dormant time. But, did you know that the change in color is the leaf’s authentic color? It’s technically not the leaf changing color. It’s the unmasking of the leaf’s authentic color when chlorophyll is no longer present. Want to try it? Here’s a science experiment that gives you the power of a tree to change a leaf to its authentic color.
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Photo by Mike from Pexels
TRAVEL
Zion National Park by Jessica LoRe
Red rocks, arches and canyons... oh my! An adventure for the soul
Are you looking for a West Coast National Park getaway? Zion National Park, in Utah, would be a top recommendation. This place is simply amazing. Upon entering the park, you will drive about thirty minutes through some of the most beautiful landscapes you will ever experience. It is, for sure, the “scenic route.” These roads lead you to a private community filled with hotels, restaurants, shops, hiking trails, and tons of Zion visitors.
To enter the park, it’s $35 per vehicle. However, if you’re an active national parkgoer like myself, I’d suggest purchasing the “America the Beautiful” park pass for $80 that gets you into all of the national parks and is valid for one full year.
Photo by Jessica LoRe
Zion is truly magical, with breathtaking views. There are a variety of different hiking trails that you can choose. The one captured in these photos is called “The Narrows” hike, which can range anywhere from 6-7 hours. Note there is only one way in and one way out, so taking this route depends on how far you are willing to go. Although the entire hike is flat with no real elevation, it does get strenuous at times due to the rough waters and rocky terrain. There is very rarely a fully flat service, so renting a walking stick is super essential for this hike! The rocks are everywhere and can also be very slippery. A walking stick will help guide you while making your hike a little easier to handle. Since 80% of the walk is through water, waterproof sneakers and attire are essential! The water, for the most part, will be above the ankles, and at times up to the waist. Dress accordingly based on the time of the year you plan to go. A waterproof phone case will allow you to capture some pretty awesome photos while keeping your phone safe and dry.
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SELF CARE
Balancing Your Skin by Roberta Perry
Acne. Just the word alone evokes comments like “ugh” or “WTF!.” So when you wake up to an eruption, it literally brings the frustration to “a head.”
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) notes that acne, also known as acne vulgaris, is the most common skin condition in the United States. The AAD estimates 40 million to 50 million people a year experience acne, and the majority of those afflicted with the skin problem is teenagers and young adults. Though experts don’t completely understand the cause of acne, research has revealed some primary triggers, one of which is a pH imbalance. The pH level of the skin optimally should be at 4 to 6.5. This environment is known as the “acid mantle,” and one function is to help skin cells grow and function. Obtaining healthy skin pH level is “akin to breeding cells in a test tube,” says Dr. Michelle Copeland, author of The Beautiful Skin Workout. She notes that if the pH conditions aren’t right, the skin cells won’t multiply. Another primary function of pH is to kill bacteria before it enters the body, according to the National Skin Care Institute. What you put on your skin and what you put into your body can affect the skin’s pH level. While it is unproven by research that greasy or fatty foods will cause the skin to break out, there has been some research. A 2003 study led by Esther Boelsma of the Department of Nutritional Physiology in the Netherlands reported that“changes in baseline nutritional status may affect the skin condition.” Specifically, the intake of monounsaturated fat, which raised the participants’ pH levels by 6 percent. So let’s get down to it. Basic acne pimples are primarily caused by three things: 1. dead skin flakes that get stuck in the pore; 2. bacteria your skin gets from touching your face and body and transferring dirt and bacteria from things you have touched onto your skin; 3. over-production of sebum oil, which can come from hormonal changes and from using products that dry out the skin.
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When you strip the skin of natural oils, it fights back and wants to make more, which creates a vicious oily/dry situation all over your face. When these three things get together, inflammation begins in the clogged pore and the pimple erupts. There is a significant difference between whiteheads and blackheads. The top of the whitehead has not opened yet, but blackheads have already been exposed to the air. When multiple follicles merge, under the skin, a cyst can form, which, when inflamed, can hurt like crazy. You’ve had one or more of those right? Ouch! The good news about cystic acne is that it does not need antibiotics to make it feel better. Dermatologists will sometimes use a needle to inject cortisone into a bad cyst. The reason they do it is to reduce inflammation. However, a simple anti-inflammatory can make it hurt less, and the swelling of the area go down, and no needles! Whew!
CUISINE
True Farm to Table BY JENNIFER WOJCIESKI
Dining in a field alongside where your food comes from is an experience like no other. Meals are curated based on what is grown or harvested at that location in which the event takes place. Imagine sitting at a farm biting into a tomato while enjoying the earthen aroma of its kin hanging on the adjacent vine or the taste of fresh seafood while embracing the salty scent of the sea. There is no greater connection to our sustenance.
Jim Denevan began the concept of Outstanding in the Field back in 1999. He purchased a run-down bus, dubbed the “culinary caravan” and set off across America. He connected with farmers, chefs, fisherpeople, cheesemakers, vintners, brewers, and more. Over the last twenty years, OITF has been in seventeen countries and all fifty of the United States of America.
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Photograph by Robert Springer
The primary passion is to bring the restaurant to the source of the main ingredients. By gathering with people across the world and celebrating different cultures, OITF has accomplished much more. They have enhanced the most fundamental human commonality – a meal.
Photographs by Jennifer Wojcieski
“There is something beautiful and common when people come to one table in a field where your food comes from. There is something similar to whether you are in North Dakota or Louisiana or the on coast of California or here”, says Jim as he welcomes guests at an exclusive event at Amber Waves Farms in Amagansett, New York.
CUISINE
One would think this culinary concept was radical and rightfully so. In our society, typically the food is delivered to the restaurant. This is what most of us are used to. How exactly did Jim and his team entice chefs to create their masterpieces in a field? As they spoke to and met with more and more people, OITF found that many chefs were excited to participate. It was a cultural change for chefs to get out of the kitchen and enjoy a dining experience with the guests. After having the services set in place, the even more significant question then arose “who is going to come to this event and eat outside in a dirty field?” It turned out, people longed for that human connection. Outstanding in the Field is a chance to meet new people, engage in new experiences, and learn about other cultures one would not be part of in everyday life. It is an exciting realization that we all are one people. Jim pauses when thinking about his successful journey, “When people sit together with strangers and friends and making new friends over the years, I think it’s…I am humbly honored to be able to do this and for people to share a table together. It’s been the most incredible life to lead.”
THE ARTS
Earth...
a spectacular kaleidoscope of color and music
It is Autumn. For anyone who lives in a geographic region that celebrates a physical change of seasons, nature literally becomes a pallet of amazing colors, sights, and sounds. It is a season of sensory delight. If you have ever visited the regions filled with hardwood trees, the earth glows in reds, oranges, and yellows. Some think of fall as a time when nature is dying. But nothing could be further from the truth. She is letting go of what is no longer useful or needed in the preparation of the resting season. This will make the growing season, which awakens in the spring all the stronger. And she doesn’t just lull us to sleep. We get a feast for the eyes, the ears, and wonderful new smells in the air. Imagine if you will, stepping outside to a crisp autumn air, the trees alive, draped in brightly colored leaves. Yellow, gold, orange, and reds like nothing you can recreate with pictures. A glow around you. You take a step and hear the crunch of a leaf, which has already kissed the earth hello. You take a deep breath in, the smell of a freshly baked apple pie is coming from somewhere nearby. Animals give us a glimpse of their worlds as they gather food for the winter or eat to prepare their bodies for hibernation. If you listen close, the breeze plays in the trees like a beautiful instrument.
Photographs by Daniella Cippitelli
Autumn is truly a beautiful gift from the planet we occupy.
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Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. - Robert Frost
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