Plantar Fascia Ligament - The Naked Truth

Today I'm the very interesting and hip teacher and you are the eager student. Please sit down in your chair and stop texting. No, you can not jump over to GooglePlus and become my friend yet, but you can do it when we are all finished here today.

Also, I don't mind if you chew gum, but do not stick it on the underside of the desk. You can, however, stick it to the corner of the monitor if you have already chewed all the sugar out and don't want to go to the trashcan yet.

See? I do believe in compromise especially since we are talking about your monitor and not mine.

Plantar Fascia Ligament

Today we are going to talk about the Plantar Fascia Ligament. Say it with me now:



"PLAN-tar Fash-ee-a LIG-uh-ment"

Now let me break down the Plantar Fascia Ligament for you or maybe I can throw it off a very high bridge. Uh huh. We will get to that in a moment.

The plantar fascia is a very strong, dense, fibrous membrane otherwise known as a ligament. It runs along the bottom of the foot starting at the heel and connecting to the toes like a rubber band or bowstring. This ligament helps the bones of the foot maintain the tension in the arch of the foot.

Fascinating isn't it?

In the photo below, the blue line roughly represents the plantar fascia ligament.

The Naked Truth

Whenever I get hurt and my daughter is around, her "thing" to say to me is, "Just suck it up" because I am a bit wimpy. However, having a low tolerance to pain is a redhead trait and is a scientifically proven fact, so I'm not even going to apologize for my wimpiness.

This is what happened...

I was walking beside Alyssa (not exercising) and it was just regular walking. Actually, I stroll more than walk, so we were walking at a very slow pace. When I took one step it was fine and so was the next and the next and the next until ZI-I-I-I-I-ING in the bottom of my right foot.

A SHARP pain shot into my heel and dropped me almost all the way to my knees.

Alyssa was oblivious to my dilemma until I said, "Wait! I've hurt myself. I can't walk!"

That's when she said, "Mom, just suck it up. Come on."

Not wanting to be overly wimpy because I was JUST walking normally, I started walking/hobbling along. By the time I finally got back to the car, I thought my foot was going to explode off my ankle.

After I got home, nothing made my foot feel better, so there was only one thing to do...go to the doctor to get some expert advice. Well, the doctor's office is where I spent a huge portion of my day today and why I have this beautiful picture of my foot.

One thing I was really thankful for was that I keep my heels soft and pumiced. I would have been so embarrassed and mortified if I had yanked my sock off to reveal a rough looking heel! Go ahead and say that I'm vain, but I want my feet soft like a baby's buns.

Anyway, the low down is that I have injured my plantar fascia ligament. It is strained and has tiny tears in the ligament. This injury happens to people old and young alike and without warning during times when the person is making normal foot movements. I wasn't acting like a goofball! The good doctor told me that the reason I now have an injured plantar fascia ligament is because I am "just lucky."

Oh boy! I feel so lucky! (rolling eyes)

This is what I have to look forward to:

• Ice on the bottom of the foot
• Physical therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Pain medication
• A foot brace
  
• Elevating my leg at all times
• Walking as little as possible
• A cane
  
• Keeping my foot warm and massaged before walking on it
• Hot showers
• 6 week minimum recovery, but it could also be as long as 1 year for it to completely heal
  

After I asked the doctor if there was anything else he could do to make this foot get well faster, he said, "I can give you a shot in the buttocks to help speed along the healing."

I opted out on that one and begged for a pill instead. Honestly, I chose the pill entirely for the doctor's benefit....I didn't want the moon to blind him and that's the naked truth. (wink)

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Eye Love The Little Red Hen On Grave's Mountain

Since you read my post the other day, you now know where Grave's Mountain is located, what happens each October on Grave's Mountain and why I love being on Grave's Mountain. Yes, I do love saying Grave's Mountain because just saying it makes me feel peaceful and happy.

The weather was so perfect that day. As we explored the dirt roads, getting lost and making lots of u-turns, I was reminded that not being able to follow a map is often the best way to find treasured hideaways.

We made a wrong turn and found a country store that was closed, but in the side yard of the place were some very exciting animals!

There was a really Fat Turkey that I fear is probably going to be someone's Thanksgiving dinner.





The Fat Turkey definitely wouldn't hold his head still. I just kept snapping photos trying to catch all his cuteness. The top of his head reminded me of brains with all the folds. Okay, maybe I've watched too many medical documentaries. Of course, I loved the contrast of the red head and white feathers of the Fat Turkey.





The neck on this turkey was saggy, baggy and wobbled. Fat Turkey had a long beard, but as hard as I tried, it was impossible to actually take a good picture of it!





Friendliness was definitely a trait of Fat Turkey and I loved all the sounds he made while strutting around the caged area.





White Duck seemed like he wasn't paying any attention to me at all while cleaning under his feathers.





However, he looked up, saw me and then turned tail and walked away.





I named one fancy looking bird Polka Dot. She slowly walked around like June Cleaver. I almost could here her say, "Beaver, your father will be home soon."





As much as I hate to admit it, the black and white hen with the big feathers sticking off her head reminded me of the Queen of England. I can't help it! All those proper English ladies wearing fascinators (a fancy British term for hats and headpieces) at the Royal Wedding are indelibly etched in my memory.





The Paisley Hen was quiet and didn't venture off on her own. Maybe she knows that paisleys aren't as popular as they used to be and she wants to hide.

Maybe I should be called the Hen Whisperer.





But wait!

A feather fascinator on a redheaded hen!





Honestly, I felt like I was looking at myself right after I wake up in the morning. My hair sometimes is all over the place, so now I know I look like a hen with a fascinator.

I wonder if that makes me fascinating. (wink)





"What?! No way! Don't take my picture to just make fun of me!" the redheaded fascinator hen said as she ran to the other side of the cage.




Then I saw her...

I found The Little Red Hen.

She was beautiful and her feathers are an exact match to my hair.

The Little Red Hen on Grave's Mountain stood at the wire mesh and stared at me. Naturally, I talked to her because I always talk to animals.

"Hi Little Red Hen. We are the same color. "

The Little Red Hen didn't say anything, but she turned her head a little bit.

"I like you, Little Red Hen. You make me think of my childhood and my mother reading to me each night. You also make me think of love-filled Sunday afternoons spent with Mama Minnie and Daddy Cecil on their farm. They had lots of chickens."

Now The Little Red Hen leaned against the fence and watched me with one of her beautiful eyes.

That's when it happened...

The turkey had moved closer, spread out his wings and flapped. That probably wouldn't have been too big of a deal for most people, but I'm actually allergic to birds if I hang around them too much. When the turkey flapped his wings, all the dusty stuff from the dirt floor of the caged area filled the air and got in my eyes.

It wasn't painful...then.





When I stood up, The Little Red Hen walked over to be with her other hen friends. I wanted to take her home. I really want chickens!





"Mom!" Alyssa called to me. "Come here and look at the bunny!"

So I walked over to where she stood. Sure enough! There was a cute little bunny rabbit just sitting in the middle of the open dirt.

Awwwwww.





Unfortunately, I have suffered with a terrible eye infection this week because of the chicken-turkey-duck-bunny stuff that got in my eyes because of Fat Turkey flapping his wings.

Sitting with the Optometrist yesterday, I had to tell him what I "thought" was going on with my eyes. After a few drops of blue dye that burned my eyes like fire, the doctor looked in them and said, "Yep. Your whole eye is inflamed."

Lovely.

Well, he wrote me a prescription for another kind of burning drops and I have been putting them in my eyes every two hours. Thankfully, tonight my eyes actually are feeling better and not hurting at all!

The Optometrist asked, "Was the visit to the animals worth it?"

I didn't even hesitate with my answer. With thoughts of The Little Red Hen on Grave's Mountain still in my mind, I said, "Yes, totally!"

Hmm...I guess that proves I really am a country girl.




Cluck, cluck.

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Grilled Chicken Mushroom Salad Recipe - Healthy Ingredients For Salads

This is yet another post that will make you drool all over my blog, but that's okay because hopefully you are learning some great information. After I discussed how eating mushrooms daily has proven benefits, I made a point to incorporate them more often in our meals. When I baked Healthy Crab Stuffed Mushrooms Without Bread Crumbs, my daughter, Alyssa, decided to give mushrooms another try.

After biting into one of the moist and delicious mushrooms filled with crab, Ayssa still didn't like the mushrooms.

Salad is one food that Alyssa has eaten since she was a very young child. We have eaten a wide variety of salads throughout the years. I always knew that there were many health benefits of eating salad, so keeping the salads original and interesting remained my goal.

Last night I decided to cook some mushrooms and add them to a big salad for our dinner. As the onions, garlic and mushrooms cooked down, the aroma filled the air. After all the ingredients were cleaned and cut, I put my salad together with all the ingredients and fixed Alyssa's with everything except the mushrooms.

"Mom, I think I am going to try the mushrooms to see if I like them yet," Alyssa said as she walked into the kitchen.

She reached into the pan, grabbed a slice of mushroom between her fingers and popped it into her mouth.

"Eww, yuck. I still hate mushrooms, Mom. Sorry."

I was just happy that Alyssa was still willing try the mushrooms again just in case her tastes had changed. I will keep on creating new mushroom recipes until I finally make one that will tantalize her taste buds too.

For the rest of us who already love mushrooms, I have a very delicious salad to show you.

Grilled Chicken Mushroom Salad

Wash 16 ounces of mushrooms unless you are brave enough to just wipe off the "stuff,"
but I wash them with cold running water.

Slice 1 onion and try not to cry about it.
This was a mild onion, so no tears for me this time!




Peel and chop at least 5 cloves of fresh garlic.
I love the way garlic smells.




Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan.
Layer the onions, mushrooms and garlic to allow them to cook down and caramelize.




Add 1 tablespoon dried parsley.




Add 2 pinches of oregano after rubbing it between your fingersto make it more of a "dust" than pieces.
After everything is cooked, add Worcestershire Sauce
and cook a minute longer.




Slice 1 red bell pepper, removing the stem and seeds.




Peel and slice 1 cucumber.
I usually take the seeds out, but Alyssa likes to eat them, so I left them in this time.




Separate, wash and dry the lettuce leaves with a salad spinner or towel.




I use 3 artichoke hearts packed in olive oil and
5 pickled jalapeno peppers with the seeds to add heat to the salad.




Finely chop the artichoke hearts and jalapeno peppers.




Add Kalamata olives and capers.
Finely grate 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and sprinkle it all over the salad.




Add 1 pound of chopped grilled chicken.




While the cooked mushrooms are still warm, add them to the salad.




Toss all the ingredients in the bowl with tongs or large forks.




The warm mushrooms and grilled chicken will slightly melt the Parmesan cheese.




Add a few tablespoons of Caesar Dressing and toss until...




everything is wet.




The only thing left to do is grab a fork and feast on the delicious Grilled Chicken Mushroom Salad!




Maybe you're thinking that some of the ingredients I added to the salad aren't foods you enjoy. Well, that is okay because substitutions are totally allowed!

To help get your creative salad juices flowing, the following is a list of some ingredients you might want to incorporate in a salad. Not all of them at once, of course.

• avocado
• asparagus
  
• snap peas
• hard boiled egg
• blueberries
• nuts, especially almonds and walnuts
• strawberries
• mushrooms
• salmon
• cheese
• shrimp
• carrots
• crab
• cucumbers
• chicken
• bell peppers - red, yellow, green
• steak
• onion - white, yellow
• apples
• chives
• oranges
• broccoli
• grapes
• cauliflower
• jalapeno
• dried cranberries
• pickled beets
• raisins
• pickles
• lettuce
• pears
• grapes
• spinach
• tomatoes
• lettuce - Romaine, Red Leaf, Arugula
• beans - kidney, garbanzo, black, lima
• artichoke hearts
• corn
• sprouts
• olives
• cabbage
• celery
• edamame
• fennel
• water chestnuts
• bamboo shoots
• grapefruit
• kiwi
• pomegranate
• leek
• shallot
• banana peppers - Peperoncinis

Obviously, there is no reason to have a boring salad.

What are your favorite salad ingredients?

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20 Health Benefits Of Eating Salad

Eating raw fruits and vegetables will keep you feeling better, look more fit, become healthier and live longer. Listed below are twenty health benefits of eating salad. Hopefully this will encourage you to add salads as a staple to your diet.

Salads Are Delicious

Fresh fruit and vegetables are delicious, so mixing them in an array of different combinations to create a salad ensures exciting meals. Salads are delicious and knowing that they are also good for you, adds to the delicious factor.

Salads Are Visually Satisfying

First, you eat food with your eyes. Salads have varied textures, shapes, sizes and colors which make them visually appealing and satisfying. We enjoy foods that are entice our eyes and also eat more of them.

Eat A Different Salad

A salad does not have to be just lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. There are thousands of ingredient combinations possible for making a salad. You could have a different salad every day for years! Not only are the ingredients in the salad numberless, but there are also many salad dressing combinations that can spice up a salad.

Eat Salads To Decrease Calories

As long as you don't add a bunch of fried ingredients that swim in dressing, salads are low in calories and can help you lose weight. Adding fruit and good fats such as olive oil, nuts and avocados to a salad enable the body to absorb lycopene (in tomatoes), lutein (in dark green vegetables), iron (in spinach) and other nutrients.

Salads Add Fiber

Eating healthy foods aid in helping the body feel energetic and filled with vitality. Salads add fiber to the diet which reduces cholesterol and constipation. High fiber salads eaten before a meal tend to help you consume less of the higher calorie foods served afterward. This fiber fullness side effect will help you lose weight.

Crunch And Munch

Eating a variety of textures keeps mealtime interesting. Salad ingredients can add a nice crunch which is much better for you than munching on cookies or potato chips.

Eat Salads To Stop The Craving

If you have a sweet-tooth that craves sugar and candy, add fruit or a fruity dressing to the salad. Not only will this satisfy your craving, but it tastes refreshing and will re-energize you.

Salads Are Fast

Compared to making homemade lasagne or waiting for Chinese food to be delivered, making a salad is relatively quick. The basic salad only requires that you wash and cut the vegetables. No baking is required. After buying vegetables, washing and storing them in the refrigerator decreases the time it will take you later to prepare a salad.

Salads Are Healthy

Salads are high in vitamins and minerals such as: vitamin A (immunity), vitamin C (fight infection, boost iron absorption, maintain healthy bones, gums and skin), vitamin K (strong bones, heal wounds, assists blood to clot), calcium (build strong teeth and bones, assists blood to clot, nerves to carry messages, muscles contract), alpha- and beta-carotene (antioxidant that help protect against cancer and heart disease), iron (maintain healthy blood) and many other vitamins and minerals.

Eat Salads Because It Is Hot Outside

Stifling heat in the summer not only curbs the appetite, but also lessens the desire to slave over a hot stove. That makes eating a salad the perfect meal when it is so hot in the summer months. Since there is no cooking required to make a salad, you won't have to worry about adding extra heat from an oven.

Eat Salads To Increase Vegetable Intake

The perfect way to increase the number of vegetables in your diet is to eat a variety of salads often. Eating plenty of raw vegetables ensures that you are getting the benefit of the enzymes found in them. These enzymes enable your body to absorb the nutrients found in the food. More nutrient absorption leads to better health.

Everyone Can Make A Salad

You simply can't go wrong when adding basic salad ingredients, so it isn't necessary to be a chef or even know how to cook in order to make a delicious salad. Children can easily assist in preparing salads. It is also the perfect meal to motivate children towards eating a variety of vegetables since they are more apt to eat what they help prepare.

Salads Unlimited

There is no end to the number of recipes for salads and dressings. The only limiting factor is your imagination. Start with fresh greens like arugula, spinach and Romaine, then add a variety of colorful vegetables.

Salads Travel

Salads can be packed easily and travel well because they won't leak all over. They are compact and great for lunch or a snack. It also doesn't matter if the salad gets "tossed" around.

Be The Farmer

It is possible to grow most, if not all, the vegetables in a salad. Not only is it convenient to pick the amount of vegetables needed for a salad from your own garden, but you will know exactly how everything was grown. As an added bonus, you will feel a sense of pride at being able to provide for yourself.

Salads Clean The Refrigerator

Since there are so many ways to make a salad, every couple of days it is easy to clean out the refrigerator of everything that might go bad soon. Not only is it frugal, but will add variety to the salad diet and help keep it balanced.

Salad Diversity Makes Everyone Happy

There are numberless types of salads which means that everyone can have a different salad at the same table by simply adjusting the ingredients according to their likes and dislikes. Mealtime should be a pleasant experience and encouraging salad individuality will also cause children to want to try new things. You know how it goes - "I want what he has in his bowl!"

Salads Digest

Do you hate that super full feeling and the bloating that happens after eating a fatty meal? Well, salads do not cause bloating and that is akin to winning the golden ticket in "Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory". Salads help to fill you up, but they do not feel heavy nor do they make you feel lethargic.

Salads Ward Off Disease

Salads help protect the body from diseases such as cancer and heart disease because they are high in fiber which improves digestive health. The raw fruits and vegetables in a salad also are antioxidants. Just add a hand full of blueberries and walnuts to a salad to up the health factor significantly. Research has also shown that people who consume plenty of raw vegetables and good fat (olive oil) have a reduced mortality! Salads will help you live longer!

Salads Are Exciting

Salads are so varied, that they are exciting. Really! Think about it! You never know what you will find under the next leafy green.

Obviously, I love making and eating salads. Hopefully after reading the twenty health benefits of eating salad, you will feel more inclined to add salad as a regular item on your daily menu.

Excuse me for a little bit. I've got to "leaf" you, so that I can get "dressed" and eat my salad.

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Ellen DeGeneres - PTSD Symptom Relief

The most wasted of all days is
that in which we have not laughed.~Nicolas Chamfort~

By now you probably know that laughing causes endorphins to be released and they make you feel good...really, really good.

I totally agree with Nocolas Chamfort's quote and believe that a day is truly wasted if there is absolutely no laughter in it. Even sadder is if there are things to laugh at in the day, but you are so depressed that you don't feel the humor.

Every day I have suffered constant PTSD flashbacks and desperately wanted to laugh. I wanted to laugh and really feel it. I often tried to fake a good laugh at what I knew was the appropriate moment in hopes that I would begin to feel the happiness inside. However, there have been very few things that could really make me laugh inside.

I know it is hard to imagine that I always had the horrible one minute flashback replaying like a movie that was showing between me and everything else. It didn't matter if I was driving, working, bathing, putting on my makeup, eating, cooking or watching television. The flashback just kept playing and I had no choice but to watch it.

Very few things could make me feel humor while experiencing the horrific flashback. I thought that I would share with you one of the things that could and still can make me sincerely laugh.

Ellen DeGeneres.

I don't know Ellen DeGeneres personally nor have I ever met her, but something about Ellen was sometimes able to break through the pain of my PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and make me laugh. For brief moments during The Ellen DeGeneres Show, I was able to feel relief from my pain.


Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle~


Ellen is low key.

Ellen is soft spoken.

Ellen dances.

Ellen jokes.

Ellen is Ellen and she helped me during some of the darkest moments of my life to feel something most people take for granted - humor.

It wasn't that long ago that Ellen was doing a commercial for Tide detergent on her show. During the entire "commercial," I had tears running out of my eyes because I was laughing so hard.





It felt so good to laugh and not fake it. I once again can spontaneously burst into laughter because I see and feel the humor.

There are so many benefits of laughter:

• Endorphins are released giving the body an overall feeling that everything is going to be okay.
• Relaxes the whole body because it relieves the tension in the muscles caused by stress.
• Easier to focus and concentrate on tasks.
• Better cardiovascular health caused by improved blood vessel function.
• Immune system is boosted.

It doesn't matter if you suffer PTSD or not, make sure that laughter is a priority in your life. Fill each day with opportunities to promote light-hearted humor for not only your physical health, but also for your mental health.

Don't take laughter for granted and never let a day pass without it.



Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food.~Anna Fellows Johnston~


Thank you Ellen DeGeneres.

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Eat Mushrooms Daily And Gain Health Benefits - 8 Proven Benefits

Over the last twenty years, my eating habits have become more healthy by choice. After getting pregnant, my focus on delicious and healthy eating became even more important because I wanted to instill good, lifelong habits for my child. So my eyes and ears are always open for new ways to improve my diet and lifestyle.

What Is A Mushroom?

Maybe I should know exactly what a mushroom is since I am advocating eating them every day. According to Mushrooms: Cultivation, Nutritional Value, Medicinal Effect, and Environmental Impact, there are approximately 14,000 types of mushroom. Other sources cite that there are over 38,000 varieties of mushrooms available with only about 3,000 that are edible.

A mushroom develops from a nodule that is less than two millimeters in diameter. It is a fungus that usually grows above the ground. Photosynthesis does not occur because they are not plants. The texture of a mushroom is best described as fleshy and springy when squeezed lightly. Mushrooms often have a stem, cap and pores under the cap which are all eaten on the non-poisonous varieties.

Why Should We Eat Mushrooms?

I know that the description of a mushroom doesn't sound very appetizing, but maybe it won't bother you after I tell you about the health benefits.

Research by Keith Martin and S. Brophy was published in November 2010 entitled, Experimental Biology and Medicine tested the effect mushrooms had on breast cancer cells. Their conclusion was that women who consume 10 grams of mushrooms daily are 64% less likely to develop breast cancer. That is approximately one mushroom a day of any variety!

Mushrooms have a very positive effect on our health. Listed below are a few things that have been discovered about mushrooms:

• reduces cardiovascular disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol
• reduces insulin resistance which increases insulin sensitivity
• blocks the growth of cancer tumors
• boosts the immune system
• lowers toxic levels of estrogen hormone
• anti-inflammatory
• strong antioxidant properties
• low in sodium, calories and fat
  

Rather phenomenal isn't it?

Just imagine the health benefits if you add lemons to the mushrooms while cooking them. Maybe I will postpone my regular recipe for Thursday and show you just how delicious mushrooms can be...

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