Flip Flops Can Seriously Injure Your Feet - Beware!!!

Flip flops are fun, and right now they're so popular.  Creative spins on how to make a pair of very basic sandals unique abound - buy them, make them - and they're a great choice of summer foot wear for the whole family. 

Except flip flops can seriously, seriously injure your feet and cause you major pain. 

Dear Reader, it happened to me.  I had a beloved and growing collection of flip flops.  Different colors, shiny, sequined, bowed!  Here in San Antonio, it's perfect flip flop weather -- for almost the entire year, these shoes are a footwear option.  Heck, all year long when you're indoors. 

And, they're so simple.  Not expensive (tho you can pay a high price for some, if you choose to do so).  Unique, creative.  Fun.  And, your pretty toenail polish gets to show itself off, to boot. 

Until last year, when my excessive Flip Flop Fashion resulted in foot pain so intense that I had trouble standing - my mother would have diagnosed "fallen arches."  You may recognize the condition as "plantar fascitis." I had torn ligaments in my right foot by walking for so long in poor footwear.

Choosing Summer Sandals - You Can Have Flip Flops, But You Must Be Picky

Recognizing the greatness of the Flip Flop, the American Podiatric Medical Association hasn't prescribed an outright ban of this type of shoe.  Instead, they've issued a Tip Sheet on which Flip Flops to buy, and they even recommend a brand or two:  SOLE and Orthaheel. 

When I was in such pain (and I'm talking PAIN here, folks - Plantar Fascitis isn't for sillies), Birkenstocks were recommended to me.  I was sold on them the minute I walked - make that hobbled - into the local Birki store, and tried on a pair.  I could feel the support immediately.  Amazing difference. 

I've been sold on Birkenstocks ever since, just from the store experience, but I've gone on to learn much more about the brand.  They originated in Germany back in the 1700s, and they've been around ever since.

Sure, some Birkenstocks are ... well ... ugly.  I love them, but that Arizona model is just Not Cute.  Have horrific foot pain, you don't care.  Get to feeling better, and you miss those Glow-in-the-Dark Floral Flip Flops of old....

Luckily, Birkenstock has come out with a lot of variety, and I'm pleased with the newer versions.  And, I found an online store where I can get Birkis for a great price -- Birkenstocksd.com.    Such great deals that I almost stopped from sharing this link with you Dear Reader -- but that would be wrong.  Right?

Image:  Oasis Flip Flops, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Pepper - Is It Really Better to Grind Peppercorns Instead of Using Ground Pepper?

Last week, I was watching a rerun of the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and I heard Ina Garten explain that she grinds her peppercorns in a spice mill and then keeps them in a little bowl next to the salt on her counter.  As she spoke, she took pinches of both salt and pepper from cute little white dishes and tossed them into whatever she was cooking. 

Switch to last night.  I had insomnia and pulled an old Josephine Tey off the shelf.  There, toward the end, the detective is thwarted by his captive tossing the contents of an entire pepper pot into Inspector Grant's face, and making his getaway.  Pepper pot? 

English Pepper Pots

So, this morning I went and searched for pepper pots and discovered an adorable antique pepper pot on sale for $51.00, made of sterling silver, over at Tias.com.  I also found antique condiment sets, where salt and pepper were joined by dry mustard on tables of the past. 

Pepper Grinders

Of course, today we see grinders everywhere.  They're even selling pepper in little throw-away plastic grinders at the grocery store.  But is this better than having your pepper ground before you use it?

Grinding Peppercorns versus Buying Ground Pepper

I've done some web surfing on the subject of pepper this morning, and here's what I've learned.  First, ground peppercorns are better than buying pepper that's already been ground for you.  Freeze a peppercorn, and it'll last almost indefinitely.  Ground pepper, just like any other spice, has a shelf life.

However, grinding peppercorns as you need better may not be the best thing, either.  A stiff grinder doesn't produce that much pepper - and you may stop grinding before you've obtained all the spice that you need (or that the recipe calls for).  Watch for this -- I know this is true for me.  Grind onto a white cloth, and see how little is coming out despite all your elbow grease.

So, the Barefoot Contessa does it again. 

Grinding peppercorns in a spice mill (me, I use a $20 coffee bean grinder with a handmade "Spices" label on the side) for a couple of weeks worht of ground pepper at a time, keeping the rest of the peppercorns frozen, is the best option. 

Plus you get to go find yourself a really cool pepper pot. 

Strokes Are Preventable Reports MainStream Medicine

Yesterday, there was an article in USA Today that gathered information from several different sources to report that strokes are preventable, for the most part - and by the way, people living in 8 states have a 12% higher chance of getting a stroke than the rest of the country.

Those Southern states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. 

Not much to report on why the populace of these select states are at higher risk.  You'd think they'd be checking into diet, shared vegetation, and the like - but nothing was said (er, written) about that, and this struck me as interesting. Or suspect.  Why not Kentucky or Florida here?  Where's Texas, if you've got Arkansas and Louisiana? 

The article goes on to give various tips to avoid a stroke.  You've heard them.  Don't smoke.  Don't drink.  Don't eat salt.  Walk regularly.  Don't get fat and lose it if you are. 

There's lots more information regarding strokes over at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Stroke Association. 

 Diet and Exercise Keys to Preventing Stroke, Heart Disease, and all Degenerative Diseases

However, just a couple of months ago ABC News reported that following the Mediterranean Diet could prevent strokes - and dementia.  This, from researchers at Columbia University - where they admit there's just not that much mainstream research into this sort of thing. 

Meanwhile, on the alternative medicine front, Dr. Mercola has been telling folk for a long while that the key to preventing strokes (and all degenerative disease, including dementia) is to get physically fit and stay that way -- and to eat the right chemicals for your body.   

Interestingly, Dr. Mercola also points to studies that show one of the biggest stroke factors is STRESS.  The higher the stress level, the more at risk you are for a "brain attack." 

Food is just a bunch of chemicals that you ingest in order to keep your body going, after all.  And everything that you imbibe as well as put on your skin (think make-up and deodorant) impacts your health. 

So, to prevent stroke:

Follow a good diet.
Get fit.
Walk every day.
Keep your stress level down.

In other words, follow the lifestyle that we talk about here!!!!  Have a great week, Dear Reader!

Image:  Edward Arthur Walton's A Morning Walk (1886), Wikimedia Commons public domain