Instead of dwelling on those sobering thoughts, Laura Zander decided to get busy and do something about it. She galvanized a bunch of people in the yarn industry to get behind her and an initiative called Stitch Red. We're all donating 5% of our profits from the sale of certain red products to The Heart Truth. At Lorna's Laces, it's our Shepherd Worsted in 11ns Bold Red.
Then she took it a step further and created this book. Thirty gorgeous projects by some of the biggest names in knitting today. Each designer has pulled back the curtain a little bit and tells us about their personal experience with heart disease and shares a tip about how they create heart healthier lifestyles. Some of it is as simple as trying a new recipe each week (Jared Flood) to living in a one-car household and walking more. (Cecily Glowik McDonald)
Lorna's Laces is featured in two patterns. Ysolda created the Slip Stitch Beret. This hat is super cute and
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is knit using just a single skein of Shepherd Sport in Bold Red. And I have to add that I think this model is flat-out beautiful. Rose Callahan took a spectacular photo and the styling is wonderful. Don't you think the sparkly little heart pin is a nice touch?
Ysolda's tip? Use unrefined sugars and whole grain flour in your baking to keep those cakes and cookies as healthy as they can be. A sweet treat doesn't have to sabotage your diet.
The second design is Amy Swenson's Eyelet Shawl. This is another one-skeiner, this time using Honor.
Besides the beautiful pattern, I again immediately noticed the styling. Even a dress form can look great if it's styled right and photographed well. The man behind the lens this time is Marcus Tullis.
Amy's tip? Avoid temptation. By investing in a desktop coffeemaker instead of visiting the coffee shop in the lobby of the building where she works, Amy steers clear of sweet treats like muffins and donuts.
Do you have a tip? What are you doing to make your life healthier? Leave a comment to be entered in a chance to win a copy of the book. We'll leave the comments open until June 22nd at midnight and pick a winner when we get back from TNNA.
53 comments:
Park farther away from the store, office, etc. in the parking lot rather than taking the closest space. Forces me to walk a bit more each day.
Get a good blender and use it to make all kinds of wonderful fruit (and veggie!) smoothies. Add -ins like yogurt and flax seed oil can boost the nutritional content even more and help you get your heart-healthy vitamins without always eating salads.
In an effort to drop some weight and get healthier, I've started walking at least 4 days a week. I'm up to 2.5 miles, and I've lost 25 pounds!
Christi
CDBear on Rav
for a knitting, healthy living combination: when you go walking, bring a monotonous project with you, like something that needs to get done and knit and walk at the same time. you get ur exercise in, and you can finish your knitting. ...i put the skein in my pocket, or if im walking at the store, i keep the skein in my purse while im walking.
Take a short walk each night with the dog! It's great for your physical and emotional health, and great for dogs!
I take Michael Pollan's advice and try to eat things with few ingredients, all of them understandable to my grandmother!
teabird on Ravelry
Too funny - I was just thinking about this in the car. The most important think I ever did for myself and would recommend to those who qualify - quit smoking and use that money to buy yarn. You can get the most expensive yarn and still have money left over for a chair in which to sit and knit.
I try to do little things that fit seamlessly into my life like working on the yard a bit each day to get a dose of Vitamin D, playing with the dogs to reduce stress, eating less processed foods, and (as another mentioned) parking farther out to get a bit more exercise.
Walking the children to school every day is one positive thing we do. Sets a good example for them and is good for all of us.
Valuing exercise in its own right is something I have to work on. I currently view it as taking time away from knitting, so don't give it priority!
Fiona - pipnmilly on Ravelry
I have started to mix in more vegetarian meals - came across a book from Joel Fuhrman "Eat to Live" very interesting. In addition I'm walking more and hope to do more Mountain biking in the near future.
A tip that is critical form me- cutting out soda easily eliminates so many empty calories and so much sugar!
I walk at least an hour a day for my commute to work. It's certainly made me feel a lot healthier.
I have liver disease. I eat lean proteins with very little fat added, fresh fruits and veggies (often roasting my veggies with only spray on canola oil), ancient grains like quinoa/farro/spelt. Add Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Trader Joe's Thai Curry Sauces or Eggplant & Red Pepper Spread to jazz it up. Get moving by walking or going up and down your stairs. And watch portion sizes. I lost 76.8 pounds doing it this way. I'm healthier now and my liver is happier!
Switch out juices and sodas for water. Sometimes I think I'm hungry when actually I'm thirsty! So I drink water all day, which keeps my appetite in check and hydrates my body without all the added sugar (which turns into fat).
Eating healthier. Bringing my own lunch to work. No more fast food. Also, lacing up the tennis shoes when I get home at night and taking the dog for a nice long walk. We both benefit.
Do as much of your shopping close to home so you can wallk instead of drive to the market, and try to shop daily so you can always have the freshest, healthiest ingredients for you meals.
Hmmm...my tip. I get stressed out so I have a probiotic smoothie in the morn + I try to have a vegetarian lunch. I also use smaller dishes at dinner to eat + drink at least 50 oz of water a day.
Read the labels on prepared food - if you can't pronounce it or the ingredients are not "real food" put it back on the shelf. You will lose weight and be much healthier because you aren't ingesting chemicals.
Eating breakfast. Let's face it, I'm not hungry when I get up, and get so busy at work it's sometimes lunchtime before I (over)eat. Instead, while I'm waking up and waiting for my morning brew, I throw 2-3 tbsp of a chia/hempheart/buckwheat cereal (my own version of Holy Crap) over top of a blop of yogurt (now made in lots of dairy-free options) in a goof-proof container for my purse. When I'm finally settled at my desk...breakfast. And I keep a bag of lightly roasted almonds on my desk for nibbles...and sharing!
Plant some salad greens. If you don't have a yard, try a big pot. I live alone, so keeping salad stuff in the house is hard - a lot of times a head of lettuce or bag/box of mixed baby greens will go bad before I eat it all. But nothings so fun as going out into my yard and picking some lettuce leaves and baby greens right before dinner time.
Running keeps my heart and mind sound. I've also found that the more I exercise in general, the more I crave fruit as a snack vs. sweets.
I'm prplfrog on Rav.
Don't go to the grocery store while you're hungry! I wait and go after dinner and avoid those snacky aisles.
Find a way to move your body that you like and it won't feel like "exercise". You don't have to run on a treadmill or sweat on the elliptical. Take a dance class, walk your dog, play tag with your kids. Even doing it once a week is better than nothing.
More sport...I´ve finally found the right friend to join me in the new place we moved to a few months ago.
I drink loads of water, keep a food diary, monitor portions! Also, wearing a pedometer helps me keep track of if I'm walking anywhere near enough.
For the last couple of months I've been making meals and other food almost 100% from scratch. I can control how much salt, sugar, fat, etc. goes into everything we eat. I'm making my own stocks, breads and baked goods, sauces and soups, darn near everything from the ground up. We need to stay away from all those additives in pre-packaged/pre-prepared foods. I'm even growing my own herbs and veggies. No pesticides and other junk contaminating them.
I take time for myself to de-stress: I run in the morning, and make sure I have some relaxing, uninterupted knitting time early weekend mornings.
We bought ladles and spoons that are actually measuring cups (1/2 cup, 1 cup, etc). When I am eating a meal that 1 cup is a serving, I use the half cup serving spoon to scoop mine out and only have one scoop. Then, when I want seconds, I get another half scoop and feel like I've had a second helping when I really only ate the one serving!
I've recently started walking nearly every day for about a half hour to an hour. I walk enough to get a little sweaty and breathe a bit harder. I love being outside when I walk- Nature keeps me balanced. Already it's helping me shed the extra pounds around my torso- indicators of too high cholesterol and a heart that needs to get healthy. Just even a little bit of exercise done regularly helps the spirits and the heart.
Eat healthy but plan treats. It's much easier to drink water all week, if you know that you can have two glasses of whisky in the weekend.
Get (or knit) a snack bag for the car. Before heading out on errands throw some fruit -- an apple, banana, some grapes -- and a cold bottle of water into the bag. When you get peckish whilst running those errands, you'll be less tempted to pick up something unhealthy when the healthy, tasty stuff is right to hand. You'll save money, too. Money will buy more yarn.
I've increased my intake of fruits and vegetables and cut WAAAYY back on the junky stuff. I also started to do some kind of exericse. I feel much better and have lost about 13 pounds!!!
I saw this book and it is wonderful so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I win a signed copy. To try and stay healthy I laugh often, drink wine with friends and take my dog for a walk (I think she walks me).
I drink more water and less sugar drinks. I need to walk more and get back into Wii Fit which toned things up quite a bit.
I love walking on the treadmill with a (easier) project. I can trick myself into working out for a little longer if I don't feel like I am losing precious knitting time (and that my kids are having fun in the gym child care while I enjoy 2 things that are good for me).
Start each day with yoga with a group of your knitting sisters. Follow with a cup of tea, muffins, and fruit. Follow that with knit knit knit. We've just started this for our summer discipline. We are meeting 3 mornings a week to do beginners yoga. One of us is married to an excellent teacher, who is donating his time to us specifically.
After losing Dad to heart and lung complications, I decided it was time for me to take better care of myself. This last school year was my first time of ever going to the fitness center...and I did it for the whole school year. Now that summer is here, I have been trying to keep in shape with walks and fitness dvds.
Add Greek Yogurt to your morning meal. The hit of protein will carry you further and help you eat less at lunch.
Try saving your favorite TV show for when you walk on the treadmill. It is incentive to use it.
I knit. Therefore, I don't snack because I need clean hands. Since picking up the needles I've very slowly shed weight.
Try to just eat when hungry, then eat something healthier like nuts or fruits.
I stock up on fresh fruit and make a yummy, low fat fruit dip to keep in the fridge. Then, when I get to craving sweets, I grab that instead. Also, I love the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. They are great for the Memphis summer time when its 100 degrees and at least 50% humidity.
I eat well, exercise and knit a lot!
I recently stopped drinking sugary sodas. The first few days were tough but I fee much better without them.
I swim twice a week and am clocking up about 3 miles/week. Stop eating processed foods - especially having seen a TV programme about the addictive nature of glucose-fructose syrup which is much greater than 'sugar' ie sucrose and the ploys the food industry have to get us to eat this rubbish.
I start my day with a cup of coffee and knitting at least one row of my current project. Best stress reliever to start a very stressful day ever
Bike to get around town rather than using public transport :)
fridica on Ravelry
I park in the far corner at work, have to walk farther.
LaurenS Rav
Walking - great way to exercise and it does not require a lot of special equipement. Walking does not have to be done alone, get a walking partner or the dog even. Great way to catch up with your child or spouse even. And Fido will love you more for taking him out for a nice stroll.
We tend not to eat out much, and we work very hard at eliminating or learning to deal with the stress in our lives. Tai chi, meditation, knitting (of course!), therapy, whatever works. Doing any or all of these things regularly does amazing things for helping out your body as well as your peace of mind.
Eat a lot of seasonal produce. It is better for you in season and tastes better too.
knitterlydesigns on Ravelry
I drink lots of water and I usually put a bit of lemon juice in it to give it a refreshing kick. it fills me up. I also go for a walk after dinner too. I might not feel like walking sometimes but I always feel better after I have.
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