5 Things I’m Grateful for This Black Friday…and Always

Photo: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

These people, places and things (but nothing with a SKU or UPC code) are bringing me joy and gratitude this Black Friday – and all year long.

5. Living and working in New York City

Despite my love-hate relationship with the city – its noise, crowds, transit system, and other offerings, good and not so good – there’s nothing quite like helpful New Yorkers, bodega coffee, or crossing 23^rd Street against the light on a holiday morning when New York shows us its quiet side.

4. William, my trainer

From crunches to rowing, lifting to running, boxing to jumping, the two hours I spend under William’s guidance each week make me a partner in caring for my body, building physical and emotional strength, and expanding my world with a small view into the life of an Ecuadorian immigrant family.

3. Health and the insurance to help guard it

A visit to the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center right before Thanksgiving each year not only reminds me not to take my health for granted, but also to remember the hundreds of people who, whether they know it or not, play a role in ensuring my inherited genetics don’t determine my destiny.

2. The minyan at Temple Shaaray Tefila

In a large congregation, it’s a blessing to slip into “my pew” on most Saturday mornings and to connect to the people around me, and the prayers, music, and rituals that will unfold in the coming hours. Torah study, too, connects me to my (ancient) people, unchanged by the millennia, but ever-changing because of my own new perspectives, knowledge, and “ah-ha” moments.

1. Family and friends

More than an individual's presence, it is the love, support, joy, laughter, humanity, honesty, attention, time, and more that we share with one another that makes my life rich and full. Thanks to the people in my village and in my world – near and far, new and not so new, known and unknown – I truly have everything I need.

Letter to a Nutritionist...But Not Mine

Dear Nutritionist,

When I canceled my appointment with you for next week, the receptionist asked if I wanted to reschedule. I’d rather tell you why I canceled in the first place.

Like countless other New Yorkers, I’m a smart, busy, reasonable person, who tries to make healthy food choices, exercises regularly, and works long hours in a stressful job. I live on a tight budget and don’t particularly enjoy cooking; nonetheless, I rarely order in and eat out only about once or twice a week with friends or family.

You met me once. In the time we were together, you took my body measurements and my weight. After an hour, I left with a second appointment that was further into the future than the two weeks you recommended. The upcoming High Holidays were certainly a factor, but your availability only during business hours on Tuesdays played a role as well.

I left, too, with these takeaways that you had plunked down in what felt like an inflexible, admonishing, and scolding way:
1. Eat organic.
2. Do not microwave vegetables; steam them.
3. Eat no carbs.
4. Eat very little dairy.
5. Keep a food diary.

As I said, I’m a reasonable person and since you have no idea how much or what type of dairy I eat (there’s a big difference between a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream and a scoop of fat free Fage Greek yogurt), it’s not really practical for you to tell me in a first meeting to eat very little dairy.

The same is true of carbs, even though I am trying to lower my blood sugar. Nonetheless, as with the dairy, you have no idea about my intake of carbs or that I’ve worked hard during the last several months to cut back drastically on them. Even so, last week I wasn’t willing to skip a small piece of homemade round challah and a drizzle of honey to mark this season of new beginnings.

Ironically (or perhaps not), my meeting with you did absolutely nothing to inspire me to be my best(-eating) self in the New Year. Instead, it left me frustrated, angry, and overwhelmed – definitely not the person I want to be – and so it is that I won’t be scheduling another appointment to see you anytime soon.

Yes, I know it’s hard to lose weight. I’m willing to give it my best shot, but on my terms: continued smart choices and an “everything in moderation” outlook that is much more suitable for a real person in the real world.

Sincerely yours,
 ~ JanetheWriter.

So Much Anger...

Last Sunday, incredulous about something I'd seen, I put this post up on Facebook:

Ironic sight of the day: two medical professionals smoking across the street from NYU Langone Medical Center. Printed on the back of their sweatshirts? Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 

Really?!

A friend suggested I re-post it on the hospital's website or Facebook page. It seemed like a good idea so I added a brief introduction and posted this:

This post is from my own FB timeline, but a friend suggested that I also post it here, so I have. It's not a reflection on the medical center, but rather an observation about two of its employees. Nothing more:

Ironic sight of the day: two medical professionals smoking across the street from NYU Langone Medical Center. Printed on the back of their sweatshirts? Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Really?!

The next day I received an email from Facebook that someone named Edward Leung had commented on the post. I don't know Edward Leung, but what a bitter, angry person he must be to have felt the need to write this:

Reflection of the employees? Just because a person smokes a cigarette, doesn't mean they're bad people. There's a lot more bad people who DON'T smoke. So... Why don't you take your idiotic sight of the day and blow a f***ing grip, b**ch.

Thankfully by the time I opened the email and clicked on the post, the hospital's social media staff had removed it, leaving only this other, now-meaningless post from Mr. Leung:

The ret**rd is strong with this one.

Thanks, Mr. Leung, for the poignant reminder of how unbecoming anger -- most especially unwarranted anger -- can be.  

#BlogElul: Begin

Moses Maimonides, the 12th century Jewish scholar and physician had this to say about maintaining physical health:

Since it is God's will that a [person]'s body be kept healthy and strong, because it is impossible for a [person] to have any knowledge of his Creator when ill, it is, therefore, his duty to shun anything which may waste his body, and to strive to acquire habits that will help him to preserve his health.

Heeding Maimonides' advice, back in July two Weight Watchers friends and I began meeting up in the exercise room in our building's basement at 6 a.m. three mornings a week to walk (and talk) on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

Although this practice hasn't necessarily increased my weight loss, it has helped my body begin to convert fat to muscle, resulting in a more shapely shape (I don't think I'll ever qualify as svelte).  It also has enhanced my overall energy level, mood, and outlook.

This morning, the three of us got to talking about target heart rate and so after my cool-down, I entered my age and the intensity of the workout (percentage of the maximum heart rate) I want to achieve before letting the treadmill calculate my target heart rate.

Armed with this information, on Monday morning, I will, indeed, "Press go to Begin," walking my way to a target rate of 152 beats per minute, as well as to a healthy and strong body for the new year and beyond.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.