A special discount to all SacWomen readers, if you mention the SacWomen website! See below:

It's All Yoga is a Sacramento-based yoga studio born out of the philosophy that yoga is not just a class, it's a lifestyle. Our mission is to provide a welcoming, safe space where those interested in learning and enjoying yoga can experience the gifts of this ancient practice. We strive to do business in an environmentally responsible manner, and provide students with inspiration and resource to promote individual and collective well being.

Yoga is very much what you make it - physical, meditative, spiritual, balancing, restorative. The saying is, "Yoga cures what ails you." If you are new to yoga, or have tried a specific style, know that what you seek exists -- it's a matter of finding the right studio, the right teacher. At It's All Yoga, we offer many styles from strong to soft, spunky to chill!

Our exciting news is that we've moved to the cusp of Land Park and Midtown. We welcome you to visit our new, green, super sparkly space where we have more leg room, better parking and an updated schedule. Mention this website and receive 20% any regular class card. Join us for class, or stop by for 2nd Saturday (details below). We look forward to meeting you!

2nd Saturday, July 12th 6-10pm
Visit the Hip Strip at 21st and X where we are joining with neighbors for music, food, shopping, and of course, art -- we're proud to host work from the Short Center

It's All Yoga
2405 21st Street
Sacramento, CA 95818
916.501.4692

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This film, with executive producer, Ricki Lake and directed by Abby Epstein chronicles the pregnancies of several women (including Epstein herself) as it delves into the evolution of birthing in the US. In 87 minutes, the movie raises some provocative questions such as why Cesarean sections are the most commonly performed surgeries in the US and rising; why less than 8% of American women turn to midwives for birthing; and why the US has the second worst infant mortality rate in the developed world?

Despite the compelling and intensely personal nature of the material, it wasn't easy to get the film made. Lake ended up financing the project herself over the last three years. Epstein says some TV networks thought it was just too controversial to take on the medical establishment.

"People don't understand the topic and people perceive this as the 'Brown Rice Moms,' those crunchy moms trying to push their agenda on other moms," Epstein explained to me. Instead, she underlines, "The film is about empowerment and about women being robbed of an amazing transformative experience that women deserve to control."

The movie is in limted showing in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Keep an eye on the website to see if and when it arrives in Sacramento. Or you can rent it on NetFlix or the DVD will be for sale at the end of March. It could be a great topic for an upcoming SacWomen event?

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Watch this video

Maybe it's time to have a heart-to-heart with your doctor and ensure your beliefs are compatible.
And watch our ladies, your rights are being whittled away, one by one!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A new clinical model could make it easier to predict the five-year risk of postmenopausal women fracturing a hip.

Researchers from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, created the model which includes 11 factors. To come up with the factors they looked at data from 93,676 women who took part in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). The model was tested in a subset of 10,750 women who had dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans (DXA – an imaging technique) to assess bone mass density which is used to predict the risk of hip fracture.

The study identified eleven factors that predicted hip fracture within five years – age, self-reported health, weight, height, race/ethnicity, self-reported physical activity, history of fracture after age 54, parental hip fracture, current smoking, current corticosteroid use, and treated diabetes. These factors were put into a clinical algorithm to predict the five year risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women of different ethnicities.

“Knowing the five-year risk of fracture will permit patients and physicians to make informed choices when balancing making lifestyle changes against undergoing medical interventions. Publication of these results, along with the user-friendly tool for their application, will permit others to rapidly test their utility. However, we believe 11 readily available clinical variables offer a simple means of stratifying the 5-year risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women,” the researchers conclude.

Further studies are needed to define the implications of the algorithm and to confirm the benefits of treatments of those identified as high risk for hip fracture.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. SOURCE: JAMA, 2007;298:2389-2398

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Federal researchers have found that overweight people have the lowest mortality rates of any weight group. Overweight people are defined as having body mass indexes of 25-30. You can calculate yours here.

The researchers went on to discover that obese peple have more deaths from heart disease. And thin people, while dying less from cancer and heart disease, had higher death rates from everything else.

Is Rubenesque making a comeback?. A third of the American public is hoping the answer is yes. The one third that are the healthiest and a little chubby! Or pick a description: ample, bearish, big, buxom, chunky, fatty, flabby, fleshy, full-figured, hefty, husky, pleasingly plump, plump, plumpish, podgy, portly, pudgy, roly-poly, rotund, round, stout, tubby, zaftig

Of course, you know once we get comfortable with this new rounded condition, there will be more research negating the first!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, now I am getting mad. President Bush is asking Congress for $141 million, $28 million more than last year, for abstinence-only programs. To qualify, the programs must teach that "sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects." I don't think that even ,Bush' dog, Barney thinks these programs are working.

I know that study after study show that they are useless. And trust me I can cite many, many more.

Here's the Dallas Morning News info:

Texas - Schools don't have to offer sex education. If local school boards choose to, they must offer abstinence as the preferred choice for unmarried persons of school age and teach that abstinence only is the only 100% effective method of preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, HIV/AIDS and

the emotional trauma associated with adolescent sexual activity.

Texas' teenage birth rate has declined 19% between 1991 and 2004.

California offers sex education and state law requires both abstinence and other birth-control methods be taught. Information must be 'evidence-based, scientifically driven and demonstrated to have a positive impact." Caliornia rejects federal abstinence money.

California's teenage birth rate has declined 46% between 1991 and 2004.

Nationally, the birth rate has declined by 33% during these same dates.

Please contact your representative and tell them to stop wasting your money, stop using your money to give handouts, stop promoting complete nonsense, and stop ruining the lives of young people and the children they give birth to before they are prepared to be good parents.

Iraq, New Orleans, health care, gas crisis, the environment, the economy, immigration, incompetence, incompetence, incompetence.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New studies confirm that women may benefit from aspirin therapy, too, but not exactly the way men benefit. Recent studies identified these differences and similarities between the sexes and showed that aspirin:

Helps prevent a first stroke for women. There's no risk reduction for men.
Helps prevent a first heart attack for women over age 65 and for all men.
Helps prevent a second heart attack for men and women, regardless of age.

People should talk with their doctor before starting an aspirin a day. Regular aspirin use increases the risk of stomach ulcers or a bleeding (hemorrhagic) stroke. Current medical literature suggests that women who are at high risk of heart disease should be on daily aspirin therapy. However, people should weigh the benefits and risks with their doctor.

Source: Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was reading the November Cooking Light, which, by the way, has so many great recipes, that, after I tore them all out, there is almost nothing left of my copy! It also featured an easy way to significantly decrease your chance of getting cancer. It came from a study of more than 1,000 women over 4 years who combined supplements of 1,500 milligrams of calcium with 1,100 international units of vitamin D.

Results showed that participants were 60% less likely to develop cancer OF ANY TYPE during the study. Previous research has linked calcium and vitamin D to a reduction in breast and colon cancer. Researchers aren't precisely sure why these stunning results happened, but previous studies have shown that vitamin D can stifle abnormal cell growth and formation of blood vesels that supply tumors.

Low-fat milk is a great source of both nutrients. Both of these cancers run in my family. So I loaded up on calcium and vitamin D supplements during my Costco trip today. Maybe I will be able to grow finger nails too!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WATCH THE VIDEO to see what your cat is up to at night.

I got my cat's nails cut after watching this video. And, for sure, all the sports equipment is locked up each night before we go to bed from now on!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A week ago The Lancet, a highly respected British medical journal, published the comprehensive Guttmacher Institute study which found that bans on abortion fail to reduce abortion rates. The researchers of the study also discovered that countries where abortion is legal (and the emphasis is on prevention rather than prosecution) experience the most dramatic declines in abortion.

But there has been nothing but silence from the "anti-abortion" movement. There have been no press releases admitting the (now scientifically proven) error of their ways. Nor have we heard that anti-abortion groups are excited to discover that at least there is an approach that succeeds in reducing the need for abortion. (Doesn't that deserve a 'hallelujah' from the religious right?) Instead, the "anti-abortion" movement is silent about the newly revealed "pro-abortion" effects of their efforts.

Randall O'Bannon, director of education and research at National Right to Life, said, "These numbers are not definitive and very susceptible to interpretation according to the agenda of the people who are organizing the data." No doubt Mr. O'Bannon understands how Lancet editors let the researchers' agenda trump their science. After O'Bannon is done questioning the validity of studies published by one of the world's renowned scientific journals he can explain why 5 of 15 "fact sheets" on his organization's website offer no citations and 6 of the remaining 10 use the Guttmacher Institute, the very organization he claims has an "agenda", as a source. (Apparently a source can be both trustworthy and untrustworthy depending on the reader's agenda!)

Paraphrased from Cristina Page on The Huffington Post

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came across this list the other day. Some of the claims are astounding - "tomatoes may cut the risk of bladder, stomach and colon cancers in half if eaten daily." I am reading the list to Pierre, who is fixing dinner, when we realize that we are about to eat several of the featured items. Salmon, figs, tomatoes, raspberries. We vowed to start trying to get more of them into our daily diet. I even had hope that Pierre would agree to try apricots, raisins and melon - foods he hates. But when I brought it up, he responded that there was no need to eat everything on the list! I definitely want to remember to buy bok choy on my next trip to the grocery store - I really like it but tend to forget about it when I am planning meals.

Check out the list and introduce more healthy produce into your diets. After all, you live in the Central Valley, no excuses about access to fabulous, fresh produce.

FRUITS

01. Apricots
The Power: Beta-carotene, which helps prevent free-radical damage and protect the eyes. The body also turns beta-carotene into vitamin A, which may help ward off some cancers, especially of the skin. One apricot has 17 calories, 0 fat, 1 gram of fiber. Snacks on them dried, or if you prefer fresh, buy when still firm; once they soften, they lose nutrients.

02. Avocados
The Power: Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat that helps lower overall cholesterol and raise levels of HDL, plus a good dose of fiber. One slice has 81 calories, 8 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber. Try a few slices instead of mayonnaise to dress up your next burger.

03. Raspberries
The Power: Ellagic acid, which helps stall cancer-cell growth. These berries are also packed with vitamin C and are high in fiber, which helps prevent high cholesterol and heart disease. A cup has only 60 calories, 1 gram of fat and 8 grams of fiber. Top plain low-fat yogurt or oatmeal (another high fiber food) with fresh berries.

04. Mango
The Power: A medium mango packs 57mg of vitamin C, almost your whole-recommended daily dose. This antioxidant helps prevent arthritis and boosts wound healing and your immune system. Mangoes also boast more than 8,000 IU of vitamin A (as beta-carotene). One mango has 135 calories, 1 gram of fat and 4 grams of fiber. Cut on up and serve it over leafy greens. Bonus: Your salad will taste like dessert!

05. Cantaloupe
The Power: Vitamin C (117mg in half a melon, almost twice the recommended daily dose) and beta-carotene - both powerful antioxidants that help protect cells from free-radical damage. Plus, half a melon has 853mg of potassium - almost twice as much as a banana, which helps lower blood pressure. Half a melon has 97 calories, 1 gram of fat and 2 grams of fiber. Cut into cubes and freeze, then blend into an icy smoothie.

06. Cranberry Juice
The Power: Helps fight bladder infections by preventing harmful bacteria from growing. A cup has 144 calories, 0 grams of fat and 0 fiber. Buy 100 percent juice concentrate and use it to spice up your daily H20 without adding sugar.

07. Tomato
The Power: Lycopene, one of the strongest carotenoids, acts as an antioxidant. Research shows that tomatoes may cut the risk of bladder, stomach and colon cancers in half if eaten daily. A tomato has 26 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. Drizzle fresh slices with olive oil, because lycopene is best absorbed when eaten with a little fat.

08. Raisins
The Power: These little gems are a great source of iron, which helps the blood transport oxygen and which many women are short on. A half-cup has 218 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Sprinkle raisins on your morning oatmeal or bran cereal - women, consider this especially during your period.

09. Figs
The Power: A good source of potassium and fiber, figs also contain vitamin B6, which is responsible for producing mood-boosting serotonin, lowering cholesterol and preventing water retention. The Pill depletes B6, so if you use this method of birth control, make sure to get extra B6 in your diet. One fig has 37 to 48 calories, 0 fat and 2 grams of fiber. (Cookie lovers - fig bars have around 56 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of fiber per cookie). Fresh figs are delicious simmered alongside a pork tenderloin and the dried variety make a great portable gym snack.

10. Lemons/Limes
The Power: Limonene, furocoumarins and vitamin C, all of which help prevent cancer. A wedge has 2 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. Buy a few of each and squeeze over salads, fish, beans and vegetables for fat free flavor.

VEGETABLES

Continue reading "29 Healthiest Foods" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:53 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lately I have been hanging out in too many doctors' offices. And the more I do, the more disgusted I get. So I started talking to my friends about their trips to the doctor's, and they are disgusted too.

It seems that every time we go with a complaint, we are treated as if we are lucky, at our age, to feel as good as we do. And no one seems to be able to diagnose what is wrong with us. It's all blustery talk and promises of complete cures and then months later, and thousands of dollars later, you still have what you had when you showed up the first time.

Over the past eight months, I have seen 3 different orthopedic guys, had multiple cortisone shots in various parts of my anatomy, with promises of more to come in different parts of my anatomy, tried hundreds of hours of physical therapy, tens of hours of chiropractics, and my original complaint - a hip that hurts - is still my original complaint. Accupuncture, anyone?

But now, because they can't fix it, I am told that my CAT scan is better than age appropriate. Translation: At your age, you are lucky you can walk without a cane.

My friend, who is a senior academic, has been in and out of the hospital with stomach problems. When no one could figure out what was wrong with her, her doctor told her she had a shrivelled uterus and ovaries. Good grief. I guess she is supposed to be grateful to be able to walk on this planet unaided.

I don't want to have to go to one more doctor and plead my case. I am not a hypochondric, I don't doctor shop, I don't want any more steroids, I just want you to fix my hip pain.

Next week, it's off to the allergist to figure out why I keep getting this itchy rash all over my body. I am probably allergic to bad doctors.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The 3rd annual Luna Bar Women's Triathlon was held today in Rancho Seco. And three very special Sacramento women competed as a team - Michelle Hallsten, Brenda Diesel, and Gillian Parrillo. Brenda swam, Michelle cycled, and Gillian ran. Friends on hand to cheer them on included Caroline Jensen, Joy Hermsen, and Paul Robinson.

Today the women of Sacramento ruled!

I am extremely proud of Gillian. In her first competition ever, she smashed her practice time best by 5 minutes.

What will these women conquer next?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On Wednesday, I left Dallas to jet to Northern California to rest and recuperate at my lake house before competing in my first triathalon. I left my husband at home to work.

My friend calls me from Dallas today. She is leaving in the morning to spend the weekend in San Diego visiting gourmet restaurants, hiking, and going to the races. She left her husband at home to work.

What a glamorous life we have. And how almost true this is.

But actually, I have an allergic reaction to something unknown which attacks my body by placing an itchy blistery rash all over it, especially acute between 2 and 4 AM. This is the second episode in the past 3 weeks. I am terrified it is an allergy to wine, which would mean giving up the only vice I have left to enjoy. And my life is now a series of steroids and anti-histamines and feeling awful and not sleeping.

My friend reports that she has just left the hospital after having a CAT scan - the second is just a few weeks, following an extended hospital stay - and she is waiting for the doctor to give her the report. She is worried that the carefully planned weekend of gourmet eating, hiking and gambling is going to be severely impacted.

I am worried about the triathlon. I went out to do my last training today. I felt awful. I was breathless and dragging. I only did half of the workout I planned and decided I have tried my best to compete and I just won't be able to do it. There, I felt relieved. I will tell everyone I tried hard, but between the allergic reaction and the disintegrating discs in my back, I just couldn't fight through it. And then, a voice in my ear, that is playing my Nike iPod connection - "This is Paula Radcliffe, congratulations, you just completed your fastest mile ever." Good grief, back to square one. I guess I am going to compete.

Life after a certain age has its ups and downs!

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Eating one serving of fatty fish a week will cut your risk of renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) by 74% as compared to women who don't. Kidney cancer is more prevalent in men than women, but is on the rise around the world. And how easy to serve fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, sardines or mackerel once a week to get such a remarkable pay back in health outcomes.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)