http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Get your kitchen towels off those grubby appliance handles! A hook is the most hygienic way to keep your kitchen towels handy, and most can be installed in a matter of minutes, or even seconds. Plus, there are so many good-looking options out there that you can easily find a hook that will either punch up your space or blend seamlessly into your decor, as if it’s always been there. Consider attaching a hook or three to the side of a cabinet, along your backsplash, or straight onto the wall in a handy spot near the sink.

Here are our 10 favorite hooks under $20.

READ MORE »

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Over the course of a day’s hike or in a sudden wonderstruck moment, many of us have felt the edges of our selves dissolve into the wild that surrounds us. We become unconsciously “of” our environments. Shedding the insular, constraining cages of our everyday hyperrationality—the mental chatter, the rigid expectations, and inevitable tension and failures that accompany them—identities and desires evaporate into the senses. For a time, we become raw awareness. The heightening of the senses alone can feel like a kind of animalistic thrill.

For our ancestors, the natural world was mystically animated in ways we moderns have a hard time grasping. Today we’re guided more by scientific interpretations of nature and the prevailing metaphysical and monotheistic religions that seat spiritual figures in the otherworldly.

For our hunter-gatherer and early “ancient” ancestors, however, the natural world was the seat and center of spiritual force. The earth was their cosmological stage for the game of life, whose essential figures encompassed many species and whose plot lines were always in the present, spontaneous making. Everything from animal encounters to a season’s weather were part of a mystical dance between people and the forces of creation. Spiritual life was life itself, and vice versa. In the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Thales, “Everything is full of gods.”

Of course, this enchantment came hand in hand with superstition and all of its limitations. Although today we have generations’ worth of scientific insight, we nonetheless still crave that sense of connection and, as Jung and others have called it, “original knowing.” We’re naturally inclined to seek “spiritual” or (in less metaphysical terms) transcendent experience in the wild. These encounters fill some essential hunger in our deeper psychic layers.

In this sense, spiritual experiences in nature aren’t so much about witnessing something of the natural world itself but rediscovering something in ourselves—perhaps the “wilderness within,” as author Paul Shepard calls it. Our encounters are rare moments of deep spiritual consonance, a comforting, vital harmony within our most fundamental natures. Humans, after all, have both the gift and the hardship of living between two worlds—that of the wild that nurtured them and that of the cultures they create. More and more, the two realms grow further apart in our modern age. These spiritual experiences in wilderness perhaps embody a homecoming of sorts and offer balm for the deep homesickness that accompanies our social and cultural progress.

For more, read the past post, “Spiritual Encounters in Nature.”

The post Primal Starter: Meeting the Wild Within appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

When it comes to outfitting your cookware collection with a Dutch oven (a total workhorse and truly worthwhile investment for any kitchen), you’ve got a choice to make: Will you go for an enameled Dutch oven (technically a French oven) or the traditional cast iron version? They can be used in just about all the same ways, and both move seamlessly between the stovetop and oven, but there are a few distinctions that set them apart.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Coming home from vacation can be rough: Not only are you not on vacation anymore, as evinced by the suitcases stuffed to the max with dirty laundry and the fact that your bedroom window probably doesn’t have a postcard-like view of white sand beaches or snow-capped mountains, but there is also regular life waiting for you. You have to deal with that inbox overflowing with emails and — here’s the real rub — you have to feed yourself! Through that pina colada-induced brain fog, you might (vaguely) recollect something known as meal planning.

When I used to come home from vacation to an empty fridge, I dealt with this return to reality with a jar of peanut butter and a bag of stale pretzels. They would satiate my hunger until I could dash to the grocery store.

Now that I have a baby and a toddler, I can’t employ the same laissez-faire technique. (Sadly, I don’t have a grocery genie to make food magically appear in my fridge when I arrive home.) As a mom, I’ve come to rely on a single strategy to ease the transition back to real life. It takes a little bit of planning ahead, but it’s definitely worth it.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

In my family, everything happens in the kitchen: work, bill paying, meal planning, arts and crafts, homework, evening gardening. Oh, right — and cooking and dining, too. Even though those are the main purposes of the space, so much other gear can creep into the kitchen it seems like sometimes there’s no space at the kitchen table to eat, or on the kitchen counter to prep food!

Keeping kitchen clutter at bay feels like an exercise in futility: Even if you work at it every day, it keeps growing. And when you do the big overhaul where you spend an hour going through everything and tidying and re-homing it, the countertop and table only stay clean for about two days before they get messy again. So frustrating!

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Great slaw can upstage salad whenever it gets a chance. This one, full of sweet and crisp apples and dressed with honey and lime, is familiar yet not run-of-the-mill. It pairs with everything from a ham sandwich to fish tacos, but is satisfying enough to stand on its own as a meatless meal.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

So, you’ve got a few chicken breasts in the freezer or a steak ready to throw in a screaming-hot cast iron skillet. That’s the easy part. Deciding what to serve alongside your main can feel tricky, but I’m here to show you that it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 10 veggie-heavy sides that are just as easy to pull off as they are delicious and satisfying.

READ MORE »

https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/

There’s this ridiculous idea floating around that we’ll damage our spine if our posture is less than perfect. Why is it ridiculous? Because our bodies love variability and as it turns out, our spines are part of our body.

Have you ever tried to sit in “perfect posture” for more than two minutes? It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? The reason it’s uncomfortable is because of the rigid nature of the position and, more importantly, the lack of variability, which doesn’t allow the body freedom to move naturally.

Is There Such a Thing As “Perfect Posture?”

During my physiotherapy studies, I distinctly recall learning how to use a plumb line to assess a person’s posture and look for their “imperfections.” Finding these imperfections was not hard because everyone has them. This assessment was the first time anyone ever told me that I had “anterior pelvic tilt” and “forward head posture” in standing.

This plumb line postural assessment planted a seed of fear and negativity in me: the feedback I had been given about my body was that it was “wrong” in some way — that the way I stood in this world, quite literally, was “wrong.” As a person who happens to be a physio, I’m tired of this harmful messaging, particularly as it pertains to women and girls.

Anterior pelvic tilt and forward head are normal. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, neither of these positions is dangerous, or precursory to deterioration or damage in our spine. Yet the impression behind this assessment is that this posture is incorrect or “wrong.” I take issue with this type of messaging for several reasons, the main being that there is virtually nothing that shows us our bodies will deteriorate if we’re not in good posture all of the time.

I believe the ability to achieve “perfection” is impossible and that when it comes to posture, as Greg Lehman might say, “our next posture is our best posture.” The human body is highly capable of handling countless numbers of movements without any ensuing damage.

In fact, if we dig into the research on some of this, one such article that looked at variable lifting postures found that a squat posture (bending at the knees with a stiff posture) actually had slightly higher loads on the lumbar disks than the stooped lifting posture (bending at the hips with a flexed posture) [1]. This is not to say that squatting is bad, far from it. It’s simply to say that neither type of movement is dangerous and our bodies can handle both.

While the literature on spinal loading is still quite controversially discussed [2,3], if we consider how harmful it is to tell a person they were made incorrectly, in any way, we might begin to gain an understanding of why variability is valuable.

Variability in our movements and posture is important, because of the need for our bodies and minds to tolerate day to day activities, without needing to think about what our spine is doing during those activities.

Research shows us, that the words we use with people can do a lot of harm [5]. By simply telling someone that bending over is “bad” for them, we create an environment that lends itself to fear. Fear of one’s own body and how to use it.

Fear is an important thing to understand because fear avoidance has been significantly linked to worse outcomes in patients with nonspecific low back pain [4].

While the fear-mongering messaging that’s so prevalent in the media is only a piece in the puzzle of lower back pain — which happens to be the number one musculoskeletal issue in the U.S. [6] — this is something we, as coaches and physiotherapists, can actively work to change. By helping each person we see feel more comfortable in their body, and to move in the way they want, we can decrease their fear and focus on what they can do.

Adding variability into our day gives us the opportunity to explore and get curious about what our body can do and in what positions it can do it.

This mindset requires the removal of fear and the welcoming of trust. Sometimes this takes practice or coaching from the right person. Coaching can encourage us to explore movement in different ways and this is truly a wonderful thing.

Why Is Movement Variability So Important?

If someone were to ask me why movement variability is so important, my answer would be simple: for perspective.

Perspective gives us the opportunity to change our viewpoint or attitude toward something. As a physio, I want to teach people that bending forward doesn’t damage your spine. (I want to scream it from rooftops!) As a woman, I want to encourage women and girls to feel confident in their bodies in ALL ways. This means in their ability to move in the way they choose, to stand the way they do, and to sit however feels best.

When we encourage women and girls to believe that perfect posture is the one and only answer to reducing their pain, to being able to lift a weight off the ground, or to developing the assurance to ask for a raise, we ultimately diminish their ability to feel comfortable and confident enough to get in the gym, explore, create and discover their truest selves.

I love scrolling through powerlifters doing deadlifts on Instagram. The amount of variability in their lifts is amazing. A lot of the time, you’ll see these lifters lift with rounded spines. They are lifting the heaviest weights in the world with “imperfect posture.” How is this possible without causing harm?

It’s possible because of our body’s ability to adapt with training. Adding variety in our movements allows us to become comfortable with those new movements. The more variability we add, the more movements we get comfortable doing, and the more movements we are comfortable doing, the more resiliency we breed.

Movement variability provides us with an opportunity to gain confidence, learn new skills, test the limits of our body and our mind, as well as break down old belief systems and build up new ones.

So move your body in all the ways you want, relax, breathe into discomfort, and challenge what you once believed so that you can expand your ability to move in every possible way.

References

1. Dreischarf et al. In vivo loads on vertebral body replacement during different lifting techniques. J of Biomech. 2016 49:890-895
2. Hsiang SM, Brogmus GE, Courtney TK, Low back pain (LBP) and lifting technique – a review. Int J Ind Ergon. 1997 19:59-74.
3. Van Dieen JH, Hoozemans MJ, Toussaint HM. Stoop or squat: a review of biomechanical studies on lifting technique. Clin Biomech. 1999 14:685-696.
4. Wertli MM et al. The role of fear avoidance beliefs as a prognostic factor for outcome in patients with nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review. The Spine Journal. 2014 13:816-836.
5. Darlow B et al. The enduring impact of what clinicians say to people with low back pain. Ann Fam Med 2013;527-534.
6. Storheim K, Zwart JA. Musculoskeletal disorders and the global burden of disease study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014 73: 949-950.

The post Striving for “Perfect Posture?” Choose Movement Variability Instead! appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

Day 308 Of 360

5 violent, attentive rounds of:

Position governs weight- no lazy set-ups, no soft lifts. If position softens or mechanics erode, adjust weight during the rest period. Additionally, output governs rest- If you want more, earn more.

read more

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Do really, really rich people compare prices at Trader Joe’s and Costco like us plebeians? Do they know where to buy the cheapest bananas, or that Costco has four-and-a-half-pound tubs of knockoff Nutella for under $8? To no one’s surprise, the answer is probably no. Or at least that’s the case when it comes to Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.

This Wednesday Gates appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show where the host asked him to guess the cost of common items you’d find at the grocery store. “When’s the last time you have been at a supermarket?” Ellen asked Gates before they got started with the game. “A long time ago,” he responded.

READ MORE »