Setbacks

I found out what happened to my back.  My sister diagnosed me over the phone on Dec 12.  A nerve root compression at L2-L3 or-L4 vertibra.  Either a bulging disc or a muscle impingement.  She told me to take 800 mg ibuprofen but I've been taking 440 mg of naproxen sodium instead.  (see prev post)  Then I started taking her recommended dose of ibuprofen after I realized the bottle of naproxen was expired.  Now my stomach is all irritated.  Stressed stomach.


I'm on total rest until my back is healed.  That means my backside is starting to channel Kim Kardashian and J-Lo.  All the holiday eating!  I've already crept up to the 150+ lb zone which puts me at OVERWEIGHT.  Damn.  Dear husband predicts I will tackle the weight loss battle again in the new year.  Between cycling, walking, weight training and tennis!  We shall overcome, sing it with me Oprah and Janet!


Looking on the bright side, I have a rehab plan involving mucho core strength, which will put me back in the running for the Riverside Raincross 5K, which isn't until Feb 25, 2012.  Maybe I'll plan to walk it, but I love that race.  Sitting here with a back brace to keep my spine in a neutral position isn't fun.  I'm feeling a deficiency of sunlight in my life.  I hate these short days.  Wait, I thought this was the bright side...

Holiday Half 2011

I was doing so well preparing for this year's Holiday Half.  Right up until the turkey hit my belly.

Mission Inn 10 km Run 2011

The Mission Inn Run (10K, Nov 13th) was a good milestone and I was on track with training 3x per week until the week of T'givs.  Ran the morning of T'givs but since then I haven't run in 3 weeks.  Nothing.  No crunches.  No pull-ups, dips, push-ups, lunges, curls, presses...

My back is totally a wreck.  I spent the past few weeks bound to a desk chair or confined to a bucket seat (in my car) and it has taken its toll.  I can bearly walk and talk or draw with chalk.  I have a permanent hunch.  I have tried applying a volleyball to the middle of my back to prop myself up so I can continue working.  Typing this is excruciating and I have so many online homeworks and lab reports left to grade before the semester's grades are due.

After 3 weeks of no strength training, no cardio, no flexibility, I feel like a flab monster.  I hear it takes a week to recover from one day's missed workout.  Based on that math, it would take me months to recover from this fitness break.  It was such a blur to me it's like the last month didn't even happen.

YESSSS.  It's already been brought-en.

And I am already registered for the half tomorrow.  I promised myself I would reward myself with something fun when I survived my Ph.D. defense (which was this past Wednesday, Dec 7th, and I PASSED with revisions).  So should I do it (show up and finish the race) or not?

I'm concerned about my own state of health.  Since starting at Claremont, I'm burning ~3000 cal per month, compared with twice or four times that (which kept me sane and fit).  I have to find a way to keep up with training.  Dance?  Swimming?  Other cross training that I'm overlooking?

Mission Inn Run ~ Race Report

Place overall 400 (out of 744 runners)
Place in age division 32 (out of 70 women ages 30-34)
Out of all women 188 (out of 451 women)
Total time 1:07:21 minutes
Pace 10:50 minutes per mile



Satisfaction!  So if I can't write about everything now, forgive me. I hope to have more time soon. I had a great time running this course and I'm proud of myself for training and enjoying it.

Airborne

I have been taking this since Saturday because I felt stressed and under the weather.  I had planned to get a flu shot on Monday, so I wanted to give my immune system a boost.  Here are the contents of this *Effervescent Health Formula*
Vitamin A (retinyl palmitate)
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate)
Magnesium (as oxide & sulfate)
Zinc (sulfate)
Selenium (chelate)
Manganese (gluconate)
Sodium (bicarbonate)
Potassium (bicarbonate)
Maltodextrin
Lonicera (flower)
Forsythia (fruit)
Schizoenpeta (aboveground parts)
Ginger (dried rhizome)
Chinese Vitex (fruit)
Isatis (root)
Echinacea (above ground parts)
Glutmine
Lysine

Then yesterday my colleague says to me "I was part of a settlement... We sued the company because the product doesn't work... But I've never even taken it... I got $15."

I've taken supplements like this all through college.  I tried MANY non-FDA regulated supplements which were later part of litigation.  How can we expect to transition to plant-based remedies, where people can grow their own medicines and promote more sustainable health care, if people do not trust plant blends to supply them with nutrients?  People take pills easily, without question, but why are such nutraceutical blends attacked?  Maybe we just need more data...

The Formula

Recently I attended a friend's wedding in Wisconsin.  She complimented me on my skin tone and appearance and asked me (indirectly) about my skin care regimen and am ashamed to admit that I was a bit dismissive.  It wasn't because I didn't want to share my "skin care secrets" with her, it was perhaps because I am embarassed about its expense and complexity.

Daily
Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser (US$21.50, 5 oz)
Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Refining Moisture Cream Complex (US$54.50, 2.5 oz)
Erno Lazlo Total Skin Revitalizer (US$80, 1 oz)
Erno Lazlo Intensive Decollete Cream SPF 20 (US$95, 2.1 oz)
Clinique Sun SPF 50 Face Cream (US$18, 1.7 oz)
Clinique All About Eyes (US$29, 0.5 oz)

Weekly?
Alba Botanical Deep Sea Facial Mask (US$9.99, 4 oz)
Dr. Mercola's Organic Acai Night Moisturizer (US$37.80, 1.7 oz)
Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream (US$40, 0.5 oz)

These are my current go-to items for skin care.  Many of them were recommended (or gifted) to me.  Those items that are mainstays are the Elizabeth Arden Moisturizing Cream and Clinique SPF 50 Face Cream.  If I forget (or run out) of either of these, my skin quality deteriorates rapidly.  I get rosacea on my forehead, cheeks, and chin (commonly called the T-zone) from sun exposure and air pollution.  A product that forms a barrier between your skin and the atmosphere is a must in Southern California.



Gardner and Garbo



The weekly (pampering) treatment is administered to soothe my skin when it's become overworked.  This may come from many hours in front of the computer, holding my head in my hands, sitting in front of a bonfire, or any other activity that doesn't involve excessive sun or wind exposure.  When my skin is already stressed, I don't do extra beauty treatments like masks.  When it's just run down through routine, I find I notice a difference after a night treatment of Acai Night Moisturizer combined with Repairware Eye Cream.  I use the Botanical Deep Sea Mask to unclog pores and give the appearance of smaller pores, it seems to have an astringent effect.  Always good to have is a freezer-stored eye mask, to reduce swelling around the eye area.  Cold cucumber slices covering the eyes also work well.



Living now so near Hollywood, it's fun to think of the celebrities (pictured above are two starlets who were treated by Erno Lazlo before his death in 1973) who have used skin care regimens formulated by chemists.  Lazlo also treated Jacqueline Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn, among others.  Erno Laszlo was a Hungarian-born medical doctor, who earned a reputation in skin quality improvement after treating the Princess of Belgium



Elizabeth Arden





Florence Nightingale Graham (died in 1966), who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire started by a collaboration with A. Fabian Swanson, a chemist, to create a "fluffy" face cream, bringing a scientific approach to formulations.



Josephine Esther Mentzer (died in 2004), who went by the business name Estée Lauder, became more interested in her uncle's business (chemistry) than her father's (hardware). She agreed to help her uncle, Dr. John Schotz, a chemist. He owned a company called New Way Laboratories, which produced numerous beauty products (creams, lotions, rouge, and fragrances). She called one of his creams Super Rich All-Purpose Cream and began her business by selling beauty products to her friends.  Evelyn Lauder, daughter of Josephine, paired with dermatologist Dr. Norman Orentreich to create the Clinique line for Estée Lauder.  The same company also owns Aveda, incorporating the healing properties of Ayurveda (the Hindu science of longevity) and aroma, while producing products that are as organic as possible and produced with greater environmental responsibility as a guiding principal.





Estée Lauder with a customer



I definitely understand that appearance isn't everything, but the face is key to making a good first impression.  I am happy to be teaching at the Claremont Colleges and I do so without wearing cosmetics (foundation, concealer, shadow, rouge, lipstick).  But I still engage in skin care.  And I appreciate the efforts of pioneering businessmen and businesswomen who combined an interest in sales with improving the appearance of our facial skin and for formulating protective creams that allow us to enjoy the atmosphere regardless of how polluted it is and how many DNA-damaging free-radicals and UVA and UVB rays encounter our faces each day.  Even 10 minutes in the sun without these creams and I notice a decline in my skin quality. 

Hurrah for chemistry and for those willing to work at the interface between medicine, chemistry, art and fashion!  Do I spend too much on these products?  Is it worth every penny?  What would my skin look like if I washed it with Dove soap?  I can't tell you that, but I can say that since beginning the Erno Lazlo products (August), I have received more compliments than before when I was using only the E. Arden and Clinique regimen.  The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

I want to also articulate that the ingredients in such creams and lotions often have botanical origin.  I believe that as issues of sustainability and biodiversity become more widely appreciated, the cosmetic and cosmaceutical industries will continue to offer improved formulations of bioactive creams from natural sources.  A friend I met at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany works toward the characterization of molecules isolated from plants used in traditional medicine in French Polynesia.  She holds a patent on a natural product with antioxidant properties that is currently formulated into a skin cream.  Chemistry is beautiful!

Want more?
Chemists' Corner: Organic Cosmetic Standards Podcast (39 min) with Gay Timmons , who owns and operates Oh, Oh Organic, Inc., a company committed to the development and delivery of sustainable agricultural ingredients for the cosmetic and personal care industries.
Cosmetics Design: Formulators Need Green Ingredients Podcast (2 min 39 sec) with Dr. Liliana George, Executive Director of Strategic Developments, Research & Development, Estée Lauder.
Potions and Lotions: Lessons in Cosmetic Chemistry Activity Learn more about solids, liquids, solutions, mixtures and solvents, oils, waxes, emulsifiers, emollients, surfactants, stabilizers, antioxidants and how they apply to cosmetic chemistry.  Hosted by ScienceBuddies.com

Swimming upstream, or, Finding the current

Reflecting, for a brief moment, on the changes that have come my way in recent weeks.

• My wardrobe has been pared down to business dress.  And workout clothes.
• My schedule has been unpredictable and hectic.  I feel disorganized 99% of the time. (OK this is not different than usual.)
• I am smiling constantly.  A whole new range of body language has begun to express itself.
• I am starting to talk to myself.  Nicely.
• The shoes on my feet are for style and safety.  And have been bought in the last week.
• I see more of my husband.  And less (he is killing me in a weight-loss battle).
• I feel closer to (and farther away) from my fierce female friends.  Go Scripps!
• I hold my head up high.  People actually listen to the words coming out of my mouth.
• I haven't been for a run since moving to our new house in August.

Goldenseal: friend or foe?

Hydrastis canadensis

In periods of stress, a person could be written a prescription for the newest anti-anxiety medication (see prev post) or a person of botanical pursuasion such as myself may tend to look to Gaia (Mother Earth) for treatment.  My dear sister, who for the moment shall remain nameless, recommended to me a while back the tincture of Goldenseal root.

I looked at a small bottle of Goldenseal root extract in a store in Riverside and didn't buy any.  Or if I did buy it, I didn't take it and now it's lost.  I forgot why.  Recently while celebrating the Ph.D. defense of a good friend, who shall also remain nameless, we ran into a herbal store to see what kind of stress-mitigating substances they might be carrying.  With my first paycheck in the bank, I decided to splurge on the stuff I had been prescribed by my sister years ago.

Berberine 

Hydrastine

The "Supplement Facts" certify that 1 serving of this product (1 mL) contains a minimum of 5 mg Hydrastine and 10 mg Berberine, both isoquinoline alkaloids (can you spot the structural similarity?).  A single serving of this extract is said to have been prepared using 500 mg of plant root.

 The root is the active part of the plant, it is harvested in the autumn after the plant has died down and is dried for later use. It is said to be antiperiodic, antiseptic, astringent, cholagogue, diuretic, laxative, stomachic, tonic. It is used mainly in the treatment of disorders affecting the ears, eyes, throat, nose, stomach, intestines and vagina.  I am intrigued and have taken 3 doses so far.

1) Friday before a Red Eye flight to the East coast - in green tea - 1 mL ( too strong )
2) Sunday/Monday after whirlwind weekend trip - in green tea with milk/honey 0.5 mL (still too strong)
3) Tuesday afternoon - 0.5 mL in decaf coffee with milk/honey (EXCELLENT)

So I'll keep you up to date on my personal experiment.  It is recommended not to exceed 10 days of this treatment.  Hoping to cut carbs from my diet and banish anxiety.  Hit the RESET button on my metabolism.
Also note on previous post RE: vitamins, I think they accelerated some of my cavities.  When I entered graduate school I was accused of not being a serious chemist because I didn't have bad teeth.  The things we go through in the Ph. D. process to prove we are serious...

file > new > blank document

So I have a week left until I need to start showing my face around the new campus.  I am not terrified, but for some reason I am having trouble with the transition.  My husband says from his perspective it's like I am "sitting down right before crossing the finish line."  I've never done that in a race, so why am I doing it in real life?

I remember in the LA County Half, I was sooooo frustrated with myself for having to walk almost the entirety of Mile 10.  I knew I was closing in on the home stretch, but my legs simply wouldn't work.  I guess that's what this feels like.  After an incredibly productive week last week, I am sitting down right before the finish line.

my baby-doggie, Edna Jo

What's wrong?  I feel like there's soooo much to do, it's hard to start.  I am starting to feel grounded here at the new house.  Thank goodness.  After a year-and-a-half of feeling like the rug was snatched out from under me, because of living apart from my husband and baby-doggie, it didn't seem right.  So at least we're under one roof again and I think that is definitely helping me find my center.

Everything is working out as well or better than we had hoped.  Yet, I can't seem to find the motivation to finish the dissertation.  Spending 8+ hours per day in front of a screen, watching the blinking cursor, combing through notes and files accumulated over 5+ years of study, trying to synthesize all this knowledge into a coherent summary with references, it is maddening!  It's so much easier to turn my energy towards a task that can be completed in an afternoon, or even a week.  This project (the dissertation) you could say has spanned 5 years, focusing on the write-it-up part for the past 6 months.

So with that I will conclude with a quote I found on twitter:
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." ~Mario Andretti

Dorkin' Out with Team Garmin-Cervelo

Forerunner 110

So I have a bit of a crush on Thor Hushvod and I am happy to finally have given myself a moment to blog about it.  Watching Le Tour this year has been inspiring me to "take the high road" i.e. do some climbing on my morning commute.  It also encouraged me to set goals and develop a winning team, so I was stoked when team Garmin-Cervelo won the team competition in Le Tour.  At my bicycle club Winter Holiday Party last year, we did a white elephant gift exchange and I got a DVD called Beyond the Peloton.  That's how I got the crush.

Anyway, I got a Garmin Forerunner 110 as a gift from my husband last month and so far it is pretty cool.  I can easily see the route if I upload the data to MapMyRide, which I had been doing before manually and sometimes it would take quite a bit of time to remember where I had gone.  The Garmin works for both running and biking (that I have tested) but all my workouts seem to upload with a "run" default setting and I have not yet figured out how to change that.  Other than that it beeps at me at each mile.  That's kind of encouraging.  I track my workouts under the username fb.KayK.679.  Then I can see if I'm overtraining in one area or another (biking/running/aerobics).  Also I can track my weight and mood and how that corresponds to what I've been doing.  At least that's what I use it for.  I used to post my workout stats to a Leaderboard with another club member, to compare things like distance, calories, pace and weight, which was also pretty motivating.  Supposedly you can swim with the Forerunner 110 too, as long as you don't dive.

So should I retire the Nike+ device (see prev posts RE: elation, frustration, realization, and commiseration)...  Well the watch/USB fob logged 89 miles, the shoes have 231 miles.  So it worked about 38% of the time, give or take my accuracy in uploading workouts manually.  The Nike+ system seems in retrospect more geared to Apple users and I am not one of those.  No iTunes for me, but for those who do, it has the potential to coordinate your playlist with your run.  So I guess I may give in to my Garmin.  Especially since the Nike+ was not compatible with cycling.  MapMyFitness has all kinds of features besides cycling, so overall I am happy with that platform, even though most of my profile is cycling-related and I access it through MapMyRide.  I know they have a good iPhone app, but I use my Sanyo SCP-2700, which is just as good for me.  Speaking of triathlons, I dropped my phone in the jacuzzi in La Jolla, took it apart, let it dry out for 3 days, put it back together and it is still working fine.  The Nike+ wristband has been a handy watch even when it didn't work for uploading run data.  I don't think I'll trash it just yet.

While I'm doing a technology review, [ahem, avoiding writing my dissertation] I might as well tell you about my Shell Eee PC. "Easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play" (Eee) is the company motto and I think they did a good job.  I've had it since before I went overseas (over a year).  It has been my video phone for Skype (low-cost international) calling and videoconferencing.  I've written my dissertation on it, thanks to a large hard drive (250GB).  I am addicted to multitasking and the Intel Atom processor has yet to overheat like my previous Tablet PC.  Which my dad and I tried to fix like this, and then had to take it in for service to get a new mother board put in.  I installed Google chrome for browsing and use pretty much the entire Google suite of cloud computing solutions.  And just now, I had forgotten to save the entire above writing and it restored itself.  It weighs less than 4 pounds with AC adapter and I can take it everywhere on my bike.  Obviously I use it to track my wellness activities.  Also I use it to back up photos taken with my phone.  All this technology supported my husband and I while living apart for the past year and a half.  I tagged this post "green" because the Eee PC's annual electrical consumption is less than $3.

I tagged this post "weight loss" because I am back in a size 8 for wedding season.  Hurrah!

A liberated woman!

GREEN STATS from MAPMYRIDE.com Since 02/18/2009
Total Workout Days: 496 
Distance Traveled: 4,547.33 mi.
Gas Saved: 252.63 gallons 
Money Saved: $879.15 
Carbon Offset: 4,890.9 lbs. of CO2
Total Burned: 203,916 (kcal)


My bicycle liberates me from a dependence on gasoline.  My bicycle liberates me from excess body fat.  My bicycle liberates me from sitting in traffic jams.  My bicycle liberates me from anxiety and depression, bringing me closer to my friends and relatives.  The bicycle liberated women from having to wear 35 pounds of heavy dress (as was common prior to 1890s, before the golden age of cycling, around the time of the founding of my bicycle club). 

Viva Le Tour de France!

Crossroads

You know how sometimes a concept gets stuck in your head and you can't shake it and you don't know why or how it got there?  It's times like those when I put pen to paper (so to speak) or in this case fingers to keyboard.  If I can't flush out the meaning by exploring my own thoughts, then there's no hope for me as a writer.

So the theme of a crossroads keeps popping into my head.  In the context of life, research, birthdays... thinking about each aspect of my life seems to land me at a crossroads.  Got me thinking about the blues, i.e. Robert Johnson, selling my soul to the devil for a mess of talent in one specific medium (guitar or chromatography or writing for example).  Let's say this is the dark side of being at a crossroads, being somewhere mystical (between worlds).  Desperation, confusion and danger seem to previal in this concept of a crossroads.  Criminals and those who took their own lives were traditionally buried at crossroads.  I wonder if there is any astrological significance to this day or week...

I was also thinking about crossroads in terms of travels, knowledge and ideas.  Certain places become wealthy of thought by being geographically positioned at a crossroads.  Different cultures encounter each other and exchange of wisdom is mutually beneficial.  The same could be said for academia and our IGERT training program being a crossroads between traditional disciplines.  This seems to be a rosy view of the meaning of a crossroads.

Finally we come to discuss my birthday.  Finding onesself "at a crossroads" implies that one is literally in crisis.  A crossroads is a turning point, with an unpredictible outcome.  Personal crisis occurs when events trigger extreme tension and stress within an individual which require major decisions or actions to resolve.  Crisis can also mean "a testing time" or "emergency event."  I would say the culmination of my life's educational phase and entry into professional work is such a type of crisis.  Not to mention preparing to defend my dissertation, which is a battle of its own.  Becoming truly an adult, potentially a mother, and owning up to my new status in society... I am at these crossroads.

There's also somewhere in my psyche poems by Robert Frost and the ethos of the Cowboy Way in contrast with Kit McCallum where the twentieth century message of choosing to take the "high road" is updated to something more like "choose the best road for you or make your own road" rather than bending to society's pressures regarding which road is the best.  I'm not sure how to choose where to go from here, to be honest.  I guess I need to slow down and keep setting aside time for myself to think and process everything that is going on in my life right now.

The crossroads is represented visually by the christian cross and the mandala, which are useful in meditation practice for focusing attention and according to Carl Jung help the artist work towards wholeness in personality.  My dear roommate has encouraged me to draw lately.  Perhaps the mandala is the way to go.

Busy Bee

June has been very busy so far and it's not going to get any less so.  I remember what I was told about 10 years ago at the UNK Gold Torch Mentoring Weekend, "you can have it all but not all at once."  Seems like as the health comes and goes, so does the intimacy in a marriage/friendship, and the financial security/stability provided by a job/career. At least for one moment you may have it all. The Gold Torch society's motto is  “To be born a girl is a gift we were given. To become a woman of wisdom and courage is a gift we give the world.”  This picture reminds me of our family's strength in numbers and how we support each other in large and small ways.

As I make progress towards wrapping up here at UCR and get prepared to head into full-time teaching, I am reflecting on great mentors I've had over the years and the wonderful people who I have had the privilege to mentor along the way.  I have a quote running through my head and I hope I can find it.  Meanwhile a few gems from the archives:

 "Do you know why they call it 'PMS'? Because 'Mad Cow Disease' was taken."
--Unknown, presumed deceased

"It's not normal for a woman to read! Soon she starts getting *ideas*, and *thinking*..."
-- Gaston, Beauty & the Beast, Disney

"Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good."
--Charlotte Whitton

"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."
--Linda Ellerbee

"God gave women intuition and femininity.
Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met."
--Farrah Fawcett

"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.' "
--Clare Boothe Luce

Debt crisis?

Thinking about education costs, so I made this graph comparing annual cost to attend each of these schools.  A quick comparison of schools I have attended (UCR, ASU, UNK, MetroCC) and schools I have or will be teaching at (Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, UCR, CSUN, ASU, UNK, EMCC) and a few others purely for comparison sake (Sarah Lawrence, Creighton, UCLA, UCSD, RCC) reveals a trend of doubling as the institution becomes more elite.  Of course California is more expensive than Arizona, and both CA and AZ are more expensive than Nebraska.

With state contributions to schools dwindling, I wonder how much longer states can provide higher education to their residents.  I also wonder how realistic it is for 18-22 yr olds to shoulder such a debt burden after 4-6 years of this.  UCR graduates incur an average debt of $17k for their entire education, the total burden eased by a combination of work study, loans, and parental contributions.  Whew!  I feel like I need to step up my game 2-fold...

Bathing Beauty

As of late, I have been trying to take good care of myself, physically and mentally. To this end, I have been taking 1 bath per week. Into the hot bath I put about 2 oz. eucalyptus spearmint foam bath, 1 Tbls. lavender body oil, and 5 drops lavender home fragrance oil. I soak in the bath for about 20 minutes, until I have worked up a good sweat, breathing deeply. The humidified, perfumed air clears my sinuses and my mind. The hot water loosens my muscles, usually I massage my legs and shoulders, squeezing them out like sponges. Then I rinse off in a cold shower until I feel all the sweat is gone, letting the water hit my neck and spine. Then I turn the shower back to hot water. I hear this increases circulation and detoxifies the nervous system.

Because I am in the middle of writing up my Ph.D. dissertation, I am always thinking about science. I was soaking last week and it occurred to me that I would probably benefit from having some bath salts also and it got me thinking about writing a blog about bathing chemistry. How do all these components aid the body and what else could be added to enhance the quality of the bath?

I found a long article about epsom salts that was pretty informative. Also found some good recipes on a site about lavender baths. I think there are many reasons why this kind of bath would be therapeutic. Contrary to popular belief, it is not lactic acid in the muscle that causes muscle soreness after exercise, but small tears in muscle tissue. I would argue that soaking in hot bath water would increase circulation, and hence delivery of nutrients and bloodflow to repair damaged areas.

My chemist's intuition tells me that adding salts in the bath would increase osmosis (movement of water) from inside the body to the bathwater, assuming the salt concentration in the bathwater is higher than inside the body, although this may only occur in the outermost layers of skin and may not affect deep muscle tissue. If water is being transported from inside the body to outside of it, it could carry (water-soluble) toxins with it. Maybe a more likely route for detoxification is via sweat.

The other point is the salts themselves. Muscle action cannot take place without movement of sodium, calcium, and potassium ions. These ions are not found in epsom salts (which instead contain only magnesium and sulfate) so that would suggest that a bath of sea salt would be better. Comparing sea salt composition to salts found in the human body, we find that sea salt provides an abundance of chloride and sodium, with sulfate and magnesium in lesser amounts, whereas the human body contains more calcium with potassium, sodium, chloride, and magnesium in lesser amounts. Sulfate is present in the human body but in trace quantity (less than 1%). There has been evidence that soaking in saltwater can increase corresponding salt concentration in the body, although the precise mechanism is unknown, so perhaps soaking in a salty bath could help the body regulate and reset its contractile and message-conducting salt composition.

Besides salt, taking a bath in oil is a tradition thousands of years old. Seems like coconut oil is most recommended, but olive, sesame, or other nut oil is also recommended in addition to pure vitamin E (molecular structure shown here). Oils contain this and other antioxidants, which may act directly on the skin or diffuse into the body. I also wonder if adding activated carbon would help adsorb organic toxins and wonder if it would work even in the presence of bath oils. All I know for sure about the oil bath is that my husband appreciates the softness of my skin. It's like it enhances the contrast between man and woman, making me seem more attractive to him.

I found a lot of hype related to therapeutic baths on the internet, it seems like there are some interesting areas left to explore in this informational landscape. Or better yet, go take a bath and see for yourself! Wellness is as wellness does.

human beans

and sometimes we just go out dancing

Making Progress

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees. I think anyone who undertakes a large project experiences this feeling. And I rarely take on small projects.

I can happily report that my Nike Zoom Nucleus MC+ and Nike+ wristband have escorted me through 200 miles already. They are "misplaced" at the moment so I ran this morning with my secondary pair of Asics. I am still on the fence about Running Through Redlands this weekend because I haven't been doing the long distance training and I feel like I have no time.

My dissertation is progressing although still not fast enough. Just like I wish I could run 8'30" miles, I wish I could write 830 words per day. It just doesn't work out like that. The good thing about writing is that I can really take a look at the "forest" and see my project from different angles and it makes the lab work run more efficiently because I see how each experiment fits into the larger picture.

This is also why I normally enjoy long-distance events. Good for building perspective about one's place in the world and the amount of energy we expend in getting ourselves around in it. Getting around on foot on bicycle is a direct use of the energy we put into our bodies. Better to fuel ourselves with healthful sources of energy and then burn it off doing fun stuff (like running) instead of jumping in our cars and driving to McDonald's... Not to be hypocritical so I have to admit I do both. But getting groceries on foot or spending the energy to garden, cultivating one's food in the backyard, really relates to sustainability and health. This is my spinach & chive patch. It's been producing for over 6 months now. I strongly encourage backyard/balcony farming.

Another topic of note: medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Perhaps these have been written about before or someone told me about them, but I am discovering them anew by reading a book I borrowed from UCR's science library. MCTs are abundant in coconut oil, are more soluble in water than long-chain triglycerides, and can be broken down in the mouth, stomach and intestines. Research studies involving this class of molecules have proven that MCTs can be used by the body as supplemental energy for exercising endurance athletes. In addition to carbohydrates, the incorporation of MCTs in sports drinks increased performance in a 40 km timetrial by about 2 minutes over a control group using only carbs. This got me thinking about fats used in all types of cooking and pre-packaged foods. I vowed to myself to try to improve the quality and variety of triglycerides I will include in my diet.

Additionally, I have given in to the pressure of medical advice. I now take vitamins. Since I hate taking pills (because I doubt the bioavailability of nutrients delivered by them) I got instead these chewable gummies. I take one in the morning and one at night. I still hate the idea of overloading my body with unnatural amounts of one nutrient or another. I think it might be as stressful as it is helpful. Just because scientific studies show that a particular nutrient is correlated with a beneficial outcome doesn't mean I have to take 400% of the recommended daily value of that chemical. So we'll see how this goes.

Topics for the future: dietary fiber!

Spring, St. Patty's, daylight Savings

I try to limit myself to one blog post per month. This is why I am excited it is March! I am trying to focus my writing hours on my dissertation, but in the afternoons I always hit a wall. During my productive hours, I was working on Chapter 4 and I got the distinct idea for a blog post involving "the chase" so I typed CHASE into clipart and found the following pictures. The character on the far left is happily chasing a butterfly. This is how I feel about my current project.

My boss sent me the link of a YouTube video that apparently went viral, turning a Lady GaGa song into a song about research. The sickening thing is that the professor I teach for posted "It is great to see the students show this kind of creativity, and I am sure that their Professor is proud." I don't think any research advisor would say that about their students if they had spent 80+ hours making such a video. The costumes and redoing all the words to the songs, the choreography and video editing would have taken forever. Anyway, my advisor called me into her office to discuss it and asked me if I feel that way. Like I'm stuck on a bad project. Well, I don't feel that way. I feel like I believe in my project otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my life studying it. I started to think maybe she feels that way about me. Like I am a bad project of hers that she can't quit or get rid of.

The second (middle) figure is an animal chasing its tail. I do feel like this most days. I feel like I am going around and around instead of forward. But I guess that's why they call it RE-search.

The last (right) figure was originally a boy chasing a girl, but for as long as I can remember I've been the other way around. I've been trying to keep up with boys my whole life. I chased them on the playground, at recess, in coursework, math competitions, on my bicycle. It's totally a reoccurring theme in my life. I realized the other day that I have a pattern of trying to do or re-do the same things over and over again, thinking "I'll show them, I'll do it better THIS time." But in that moment, I wondered why I do that. If somebody tells you that you aren't good at something, or aren't fit to do a certain job, why keep trying to do it?

I am so ready for spring. We had the coldest weekend of the year here in Southern California last weekend. I've been superbundled up. My knees have been acting up and I blame the cold weather. Looking forward to the San Dimas Stage Race. Hope we have great weather.

Race Report: Riverside Raincross 5K

Official results (3.1 mi) Place: 239 Div: 21 No: 667 Name: KAYLA KAISER Age: 28 S: F Div: F2529 Town: RIVERSIDE St: CA Time: 34:05 Pace: 11'00"

Unofficial results (3.37 mi) from my

Nike+ device Place: 106 Div: No: Name: Kayla Kaiser Age: 30 S: F Div: F3034 Town: RIVERSIDE St: CA Time: 26:46 Pace: 7'56"

Then check this out: From Official Results Place: 104 Div:3 No: 723 Name: XOCHITL HURD Age: 31 S: F Div: F3034 Town: RIVERSIDE St:CA Time: 26:35 Pace: 8:35

So maybe if I had started right at the front and registered in the right division, I would have finished 10 seconds behind this girl.

So much for my ambitions to place in this race. Looks like last year I got a time of 26:29 with a pace of 08:31 minutes per mile, so I actually beat her last year but didn't post a personal best for this race. Oh well, it's all luck who shows up and who turns it out anyway. I got in a super-brick workout, biking to and from the race and I got to see my friend Matt who won first place overall.

Who cares anyway, right? It's all just numbers. I had mixed feelings about this race. Pro: it was short, there were men in uniform running with us, it didn't rain and the air was perfectly cool and clear. Con: the mistakes on my entry form, dodging puddles and people from the back of the pack to finish somewhere in the middle, and the official timing not starting when the chip crosses the starting line. Unfortunately, although my Nike+ device does not keep proper distance because my stride is shorter than average, it keeps good time and I started and stopped it right at the starting and finish lines. So I am happy with my performance.

Who am I kidding, do I claim to be a runner? Well, really what motivated me to run in this race this was my personal desire to make my body the best it can be. I'm choosing to call it "sculpting" now. My body had become "like a mozzarella" as my amica Italiana Claudia says. So it doesn't matter if I came in first, third, or thirtieth, the important thing is that I enjoyed myself. It was fun to see the kiddos run in the 1K race and to see families outdoors interacting in a beautiful park. I was actually running so fast, I didn't enjoy the scenery much. Except along the ridge overlooking the Santa Ana river basin, that part was bomb.

What I'm thinking now is how wonderful my husband is to drive up and see me. I had considered taking the Amtrak train from Riverside to Oceanside. It's leaving right now actually and would have taken me 3 hours, costing $34. If we take the car it's about $12 for gas each way but I am thinking we are going to have to save up some money for new tires. At least the insurance is paid through August so we hope the car will last at least that long.

So many wonderful things are coming up in the next few months, I'm almost beside myself with joy. I am trying to keep my body moving and stress-free, as much as it is possible to do so when I am trying to make progress on so many fronts continuously and simultaneously. I am putting myself in some serious pain, but isn't why they invented antinflammatories (see prev post)? I just noticed I put a bunch of tags on this post and I don't have time to write on all those topics. So I'll just stick with the blog post title: Race Report. This race was AWESOME.

To soy or not to soy... part II

Flavonoids are thought to affect their anticancer properties by a variety of mechanisms. One route is by inhibiting cytochrome P450 (CYPs) from activating procarcinogens. Another route is by inducing phase II enzymes, facilitating carcinogen elimination from the body. Some flavonoids can even affect promotion and progression of carcinogenesis by interfering directly with cell cycle, angiogenesis, invasion and apoptosis. Of course, these properties have been investigated in vitro and the bioavailability and speciation of flavonoids (and their glycosylated relatives) needs further study.

As for me, I guess I will continue to eat soy in moderation. I am not convinced it is harmful. Nor do I believe that genes from genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) will spring into my DNA. FYI, 93% of the soy raised in the US has been genetically modified to confer herbicide tolerance, compared to 77% globally. That's all the science I have to share with you today.

It's two weeks until my next race and I am feeling fatter and lazier than ever. Looking for that motivation... where's it gone?

To soy or not to soy...

Today I was craving my old standby for days spent writing a thesis -- the soy latte. I started drinking these upon the advice of a personal trainer. She was concerned that if I started burning calories with workouts, my body would utilize my own muscle mass as an energy source if I didn't incorporate more protein into my diet. She suggested substituting dairy milk with soymilk in my coffee for starters. That was waaaay back in the early 2000's when I lived in Arizona, worked out at 24 Hour Fitness, and was a size 16 at 175 pounds.

My diet right now is all messed up. I am super stressed and craving carbs galore. I am spending days and days in front of the computer and not spending time outdoors taking exercise. I am

anxious that I will look down at my belly one day and not be able to see my feet on the scale which reads 180 pounds again. When I felt healthier, I craved milk so why am I all of a sudden reaching for soy?

Clif bars have become a staple of my diet, which contain soy protein and a ton of ready-for-action carbs. I like them because they are easily digestible and allow me about 2 more hours of productivity from the time I eat them to when I start to feel hungry again. Easy to eat on the run. The company uses soy protein because it provides amino acids in a vegetarian-friendly form. The other pillar in my diet right now is Premier Nutrition shakes (chocolate and vanilla) which are fortified with milk isolate protein & whey concentrate. So I am getting a non-soy source of protein too! These are also individually packaged as well for on-the-go days.

I have heard repeatedly that Clif bars are essentially junk food. Just because these items are marketed as "healthy" they may in fact be harmful to me. So I decided to investigate for myself whether soy is harmful or helpful. It seems the literature is full of contradictions. Some claim to have shown that soy is harmful and the studies that tout its benefits can only demonstrate a marginal difference from a placebo.

Isoflavones are part of a class of molecules called FLAVONOIDS. Isoflavones are molecules made by plants which are thought to (1) have harmful estrogenic effects in the animals that eat them and (2) have helpful health-promoting effects on the animals that eat them such as preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease and (3) are used by the plant for recruitment of rhizobacteria and pollinator animals. These studies were of particular interest in light of the molecules I have been studying in my research.

I have been looking at flavonols in the model plant Arabidopsis, while another colleague in my lab has been looking at anthocyanins in pomegranate. The structural similarity between isoflavones (phytoestrogens) and the estrogen made by animals (17-b-estradiol) is pretty low to my eyes. This entire class of molecules has low toxicity in animals, which is why we enjoy so many foods that contain these molecules.

Levels of isoflavones in soy are high, which I found in the USDA 2008 report on the isoflavone content of 557 food items (I have pulled out only a few of these for the purposes of this blog). Clif bars contain even more isoflavones per 100 grams than soybeans. For some reason blogger isn't letting me use more than 3 images per post, so this topic will be continued shortly...

Carbs, Calcium, Cortisol, oh my!

What is going on? I feel like crap. I don't even want to exercise. I am once again mildly overweight. I cannot seem to keep myself at a healthy BMI.

I feel like my metabolism has dropped off the radar. Either I'm not eating enough, not sleeping enough, or I am too stressed. http://caloriecount.about.com/tools has revealed that I am consistently eating ~1200 cals per day. This is enough to support a sedentary lifestyle, which I am living now with the exception of 150 min per week of cardio (my bicycle commute). I am showing a deviation from the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium (unless I eat yogurt and have a glass of milk in the same day), iron (unless I eat 8 oz. greens), and potassium (no matter what). Maybe I'm just depleated and that makes me tired and that makes me lazy and that makes me fat! I had to get out a different set of pants for teaching because I have definitely increased in size.

My training buddy told me to force my body to eat fats and it would in turn start to burn fats because it would get used to using fat as an energy source. Also hills! I'll let you know how it goes. From mapmyride.com I can see that in early/mid 2010, I was spending more time cross training with biking and running (40-60% of workout calories in a month were burned in runs). From September on (when I started creeping up in weight), even though I was burning the same number of calories per month, I was not cross-training as much. Instead of being balanced in my workouts, I was burning 80-90% of monthly calories (4000-6000) on biking and 5% on running. So running it is. And eating like a runner too.

Free association

Frisbee. Cinnamon rolls. The smell of a puppy. Vanilla candles. Waves crashing. Sunsets & sunrises. A good pair of shoes. A good pair of trousers. A nice hairbrush. Chamber music. A hug. Birdsong. A warm gentle breeze. Snow gently falling.