by Donna Ladd
January 6, 2005
I just took a glorious week off. This hasn’t happened to me much since we started the Free Press two and a half years ago. We managed to get away for a week in August to the Pacific Northwest—but, truth be known, I stayed on the laptop editing and perhaps even micromanaging a little from across the country as the home team put the paper out.
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by Todd Stauffer
Illustration by Ken Patterson
August 26, 2004
Ah, the South. The smell of the pine trees, the thrill of a cool evening after a storm, and … the fried food. I like to joke with friends in other parts of the country that even the vegetables are chicken-fried. The unfortunate part—for the weight conscious, at least—is that it isn’t much of a joke.
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Zen and the Art of Monkey Training
by Todd Stauffer
September 2, 2004
“I don’t think there are barbecue chips on the Road to Wellness,” Ms. D opined, as we ambled away from the Semiahmoo Marina in Blaine, Wash., after enjoying a sunset cruise around Semiahmoo Bay complete with wine, cheese and chips. But we’d had a great time, and it was Friday (cheating day), so we cut ourselves some slack.
Our Road to Wellness went through the Pacific Northwest this past week—a change of scenery and welcome respite from the Mississippi heat. We tried to focus a bit more on the relaxation side of the Road and less on the exercise side, which means we just barely fit in the three walking sessions I’d planned by the time this column was due.
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To Creet or Not to Creet
by Todd Stauffer
Illustration by Ken Patterson
September 9, 2004
A recent article in The New York Times suggested that workplace stress is costing us $300 billion a year in the United States, and that’s just what corporations are spending on stress in terms of health care, lost productivity and stress-reduction technologies. What we, as individuals, pay in terms of health and dollar costs is probably quite a bit greater than that.
One of the problems is quintessentially American—we work too many hours. In the U.S., workers put in an average of 1,800 hours a year, about 350 more than Germans and slightly more then the Japanese, according to the Times. And the pervasive technology—cell phones, computers, palmtops, Blackberries—means we’re all “on call” as if we were all Marcus Welby. M.D.
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A Change In Lifestyle
by Todd Stauffer
Illlustration by Ken Patterson
September 17, 2004
“So how is your diet going?” wrote David, my best friend from grade school, who pops up on iChat for a conversation every day or two.
“It’s not a diet,” I wrote back, “It’s a lifestyle change.”
“Ah,” he replied. “So how is the lifestyle change going?”
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Super Deluxe Lifestyle Diet
by Todd Stauffer
Illustration by Ken Patterson
September 23, 2004
I’ve managed to completely swear off sodas in the past few weeks—I’ve switched mostly to unsweetened brewed tea and water. Likewise, I’ve kept away from fried chips, except on Fridays when I give myself a day off. And with the weather finally—knock on wood—turning to fall, it’s a great time for some long walks.
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Walking on the Dock of The Bay
by Todd Stauffer
illustration by Ken Patterson
September 30, 2004
Since I pretty much get to decide where the Road to Wellness takes me, then I say it goes through Bay St. Louis, Miss. Ms. D and I always enjoy any free moments we have to spend down on the Gulf Coast, and Bay St. Louis has its share of the things that appeal to us most—happy, creative, artistic people; good coffee and a place to walk or roam through a touch of nature.
This past weekend, we headed south for about 36 whole hours of vacation (those of you who read religiously will remember the column that covered our workaholic natures) as well as to visit the Art in the Pass festival in Pass Christian. We were pleased not only to enjoy to balmy high-80s and clear skies of a September day on the Coast, but also to encounter some wonderful little luxuries that easily add to an air of wellness—or at least relaxation.
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: Fruits For Our Labors
 by Todd Stauffer
Illustration by Ken Patterson
October 7, 2004
Ms. D is a fan of the book “The Healthy Hedonist,” by Janet Bridgers, which, while it may have a title that scares off some of our fundamentalist-leaning friends, need not be feared. The “hedonism” here is simply an approach to a lifestyle that says you don’t have to be on a strict diet in order to be healthy. Chocolate, an evening drink and even guacamole are allowed as occasional indulgences. In fact, the book’s approach—that getting healthier should be a bit more fun—is the approach I need this week.
Here’s last week for me—Monday evening I was busy with the film series, Tuesday evening was a recovery evening after press day, Wednesday evening was a board meeting, and I was up late doing invoices, Thursday was the voter rally and debate party, Friday was our JFP karaoke birthday celebration, and Saturday I taught a seminar at Millsaps with filmmaker Nina Parikh. Sunday I never even shaved.
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 'Uncombining' Your Meals
by Todd Stauffer
October 14, 2004
Adding more discipline to your diet means that the occasional indulgence is more satisfying. That’s how things felt when we settled into some decadent desserts after a fine Italian dinner at Amerigo the other night to celebrate Ms. D’s birthday. She even gathered up half her key lime pie to bring home with her—partly out of a sense of extending the pleasure, partly in a show of strength in the face of temptation and mostly because they gave her nearly half of the damn pie.
A little success is spurring me to try more. This past week I’ve been looking into the other steps that I can take when it comes to what I choose to eat and how I eat it. So I thought I’d fill you in on something I plan to try—called “food combining” (or “uncombining”) in some circles.
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Getting Well Again
by Todd Stauffer
October 21, 2004
Illustration by Ken Patterson
This past week has been a challenge for wellness—both Ms. D and I have been under the weather, she more so than I. That’s meant relatively little exercise and, while we continue to try to eat healthily, the focus has turned to managing and recovering from our illnesses.
My first rule has always been that as soon as you start to feel sick, especially feverish, you need to climb in bed and stay there until you feel better. There are two reasons for that—first, rest will often stop a cold or similar bug in its tracks, if you get to it soon enough. Second, being sick is only fun when you’re not really sick. A little feverishness and a sniffle is a great reason to take to your bed and read a detective novel. Once you’ve got the raging aches, coughs and other stuff, being sick in bed isn’t nearly as—well—relaxing.
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