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Yoga hurts my lower back

I have come to a sad conclusion. Yoga — which was my preferred workout for about 6 months a couple years ago, and which I still enjoy and work into my regular routine – hurts my back.

I do not say this lightly, and, I will readily admit, that, while I’ve been practicing yoga for more that 4 years now, the problem is surely with my technique. However, my technique is not likely to change, because I don’t see myself going to an actual yoga class, even though I’m sure that would help.

You may wonder how I figured out the connection between yoga and my back pain. I have several compelling pieces of evidence.

I never had back pain prior to starting yoga. However, at the time I started yoga, I also started other exercise, including lifting some weights and high-impact aerobics, so I was never able to isolate it.

When I have been able to isolate yoga, such as when I was doing a 21-day cleanse back in 2012 during which I only did yoga for exercise, my back pain continued. In fact, I remember thinking before the cleanse that “this will be a good opportunity to let my back heal” — and it didn’t.

My last such isolation of yoga was earlier this week.

After a visit with my doctor a couple of months ago, during which she tried to tell me that my back pain was arthritis (she thinks everything is arthritis, and, so far, it never is). She told me to continue exercising, because exercise helps arthritis pain. When she said that, it triggered a thought in my head — I’ve never tried not exercising to heal my back. After all, I had not had back pain prior to starting to exercise, so it only made sense to take away the exercise and see what would happen.

Guess what? After 5 weeks of only a bit of walking (if that) each day my back felt great! No pain, good as new!

I wanted to start exercising again, though, so I put in a T25 DVD and did it. Things went well. Back still felt fine.

I continued doing T25 routines for a few weeks, then took 5 days off. This past Monday I was supposed to start back up with T25, but I had already taken a shower (for an early morning meeting) and didn’t feel like taking another that day (the older I get, the less I like to shower — not sure why), so I thought I’d do a rather easy yoga routine as my exercise for the day.

And … the next day my back pain had returned. It’s the exact pain I’d been living with for 4+ years. Honestly, it’s not devastating by any means, but it’s annoying, and I’d like it gone.

Anyway, that’s how I’ve concluded that yoga hurts my back.

Again, I want to emphasize that this must be a technique problem on my part, not an actual problem with yoga (duh). I am guessing, based on the location of the pain, that I am hurting myself when I swing a single leg through to between my hands from having it raised in single-leg downward dog. I will probably experiment with this after my back fixes itself again, but until then, no yoga for me.

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Baby wipes are not good for hemorrhoids

Imagine my surprise when I figured out that baby wipes, which I used to help with my hemorrhoids, were actually irritating them. Yup.

I had hemorrhoid surgery back in late 2000. Nothing too major, but just so you know — I have a problem. I pretty much simply lived with the things for years, even after the surgery. They were an uncomfortable way of life for me.

I started using baby wipes back in 2011 on the suggestion of my brother. I didn’t notice any improvement in the hemorrhoids, but the wipes couldn’t hurt, I figured, and they provided an overall cleanliness that I liked, so I continued with them.

In 2012, though, I switched over to a meat- and dairy-free diet. I did this for general health reasons, but I figured that, for sure now, I’d be able to call bullshit on anyone who tries to tell me I don’t get enough fiber, which is highly cited as a reason for hemorrhoids.

After about 6 months of the diet, it seemed that my hemorrhoids were actually getting worse! Yes, worse! What the hell?!?!?! I was about to go to the doctor specifically about the hemorrhoids, but I hate going to the doctor, so I thought, “Hmmmmmm…. How about I try stopping the baby wipes?”

Within 2 weeks of stopping the use of baby wipes, my anal irritation went away. That was more than a year ago, and the problem has not returned.

After my experience, I looked up the relationship between baby wipes and hemorrhoids on the web, and, sure enough, others are saying the same thing. Plus, it made sense that my hemorrhoids would get worse after I switched to a vegan-plus-eggs diet, because I was going to the bathroom more, and, therefore, applying baby wipes more often.

Fwiw, I was using both Cottonelle and Kirkland (Costco house brand) baby wipes. Maybe there are some wipes that would work for me, but I’m not willing to find out, because I’m all good now, and I don’t want to mess with that.

I hope this article helps you. I remember reading about a guy who was using wipes for 20 years before figuring out the connection between them and his hemorrhoids. I’m glad it only took me about a year.

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RECIPE: World’s Best Fried Egg Sandwich

You may or may not know that I am an ovo-vegetarian, which means I only eat plants and eggs. It’s a lifestyle I enjoy — works for me.

I’ve made a lot of egg sandwiches over the course of my lifetime, but I stumbled upon this combination yesterday that blew me away. It includes gluten-free bread, which is part of my diet this year, as I am reducing my ingestion of wheat in 2014 to see what that does to my system, but you could, of course, use any kind of non-descript bread. I say “non-descript”, because a rye, for example, would give the sandwich a different flavor profile, which may be better — or not.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 slices of Udi’s Whole Grain gluten-free bread, toasted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp to 1 TBsp sriracha, to taste (I like Trader Joe’s and I use a lot of it)
  • 1 TBsp mayonnaise (I used a local organic one)
  • sliced tomato (I always use campari tomatoes)
  • baby greens (I used an organic spring mix)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Put the bread in the toaster.
  2. Heat and oil a pan and add the egg. After it sets a bit, crack the yolk. I prefer not to scramble mine, or to blend the yolk and white before frying. I like the white and yolk to mostly stay separate. Once it’s almost completely set, flip the egg and turn off the pan.
  3. When the toast is done, put the mayonnaise on one slice and the sriracha on the other.
  4. Place the greens on the sriracha side, top them with the tomato (4 slices works well, if you are using camparis), and then add the egg atop that.
  5. Put the mayo’d slice of bread on top of everything.

Man, that is good eating.

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RECIPE: World’s Best Cinnamon Schnapps

I enjoy making schnapps. When I make it myself, I can control the quality of the ingredients and the strength of the liquor. What’s not to like? Okay, maybe the waiting is the hardest part, but that’s the only downside. Saves me money, too.

Limoncello is still my favorite, but I know cinnamon has been pretty hot lately, so I wanted to give that a try.

I tell you, I think I nailed it on my first attempt.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 liter 190-proof Everclear
  • 12 to 15 small cinnamon sticks, or 5-6 giant ones snapped in half or thirds
  • 2/3 cup organic light brown sugar
  • 1.5 liters purified water

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place the cinnamon sticks into a widemouth 1.5 liter wide-mouth resealable jar.
  2. Pour the Everclear into the jar.
  3. Store the jar in a cool, dark place for a month (it might not need that long, but I didn’t get around to the next step until a month had passed).
  4. Once the cinnamon infused Everclear is ready, start to heat 1.5 liters of water in a pot.
  5. Add the light brown sugar to the pot, and continue to stir as the pot heats.
  6. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, turn off the heat and let the sugar water cool.
  7. Once the sugar water is cool, remove the cinnamon sticks from the Everclear.
  8. Filter the Everclear to remove any excess solids. You can do this using cheesecloth or a clean coffee filter.
  9. Divide the Everclear equally into 3 quart-size Ball jars.
  10. Divide the sugar-water equally into the same 3 jars, to mix it with the Everclear.
  11. Enjoy the World’s Best Cinnamon Schnapps however you prefer to drink it.

I like this schnapps with no ice at room temperature. The alcohol content of this recipe means this schnapps may get slushy in the freezer — or, at least, mine did — but keep it in there, if you like, and you’ll have ice already built in.

There’s one other thing: Enjoy!

If you like this, try my World’s Best Limoncello, based on a recipe I got from a shop owner in Sorrento, Italy, the home of limoncello!

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RECIPE: World’s Best Gluten-Free Pasta Dish

Every once in a while I come up with a really good recipe. When I do, I like to pass it along.

Gluten-Free PastaI say “I like to pass it along”, because, well, there are a couple reasons I don’t do it:

  1. Some recipes I’ve been meaning to pass along — like my no-sugar-no-fat-added banana-apple waffles — but I just haven’t found the time.
  2. Most recipes I make are one off. That is to say, I don’t measure anything, and I often add things along the way, and forget what’s in them, so there is no way for me to accurately tell you about it.

But this one for the World’s Best Gluten-Free Pasta Dish is one that — while I didn’t measure — I can figure out about the right numbers to give you a chance to make it.

And so, without further ado, here it is.

NOTE: When I say “gluten-free” I am referring to the pasta. If you need things to be completely gluten-free, you should probably use a tamari-style soy sauce, and check on any other ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 oz (dry) Tinkyada brown rice spaghetti, broken in half (unless you really like whole spaghetti)
  • 30 young, thin (size of a smallish drinking straw) asparagus spears, less if you have thicker ones
  • 2 Tbsp (or to taste) of your favorite soy sauce, I prefer to use a non-GMO soy sauce like Polar
  • 1.5 Tbsp (or to taste) Huy Fong sriracha
  • 2 or 3 medium tomatos, diced
  • 1 handful baby kale, chopped OR similar volume of kale tips
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1.25 cups slightly sprouted mung beans (less than 1-inch sprouts, about 1.5 to 2 days into sprouting)
  • Splash of lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Put the pasta water on to boil and heat up a grill pan or your grill.
  2. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. Set your timer for 13 minutes. (NOTE: The package directions say 16 minutes, but we’ll work that out in step 8 below. If you don’t use Tinkyada brand, check the cooking instructions on your package, and shave 2 or 3 minutes from it.)
  3. Once the grill is hot, add the asparagus. Leave the spears on just long enough to add dark marks, but don’t cook them through. This should take no more than 2 minutes.
  4. Remove the asparagus to a cutting board, and cut off and discard the woody bottoms, then cut the rest into slightly larger than bite-size pieces, i.e. don’t destroy them. 3 or 4 cuts is all you need.
  5. After 13 minutes, drain the pasta, and return it to the pot.
  6. Add the soy sauce and sriracha to the pasta. Stir to coat.
  7. Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the lemon juice. Stir to mix.
  8. Cover the pot and let it sit for 5 minutes. This will warm up the uncooked ingredients and cook the pasta the rest of the way. (NOTE: I use cast iron, so the pot holds its heat. If you use a type of cookware that cools faster, you may need to leave your pot on the stove on “warm”.)
  9. Serve in shallow pasta dishes. Add the splash of lemon at the table for just the right touch of acid.

TIME NEEDED
30 minutes, including prep

NUMBER OF SERVINGS
2 large, 3 medium, 4 small