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The Anniston Star's Healthy Living edition for Fall 2012.
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Fitness ▶ Health ▶ Weight Loss
HEALTHY LIVING
Produced by
The Anniston StarFALL 2012
THINKPINKBreast cancer survivor Teresa Smith shares her story
BrEAsT cANcEr AwArENEss
HoLIdAY surVIVAL GuIdE
BArEfooT ruNNING
ANNIsToN YoGA cENTEr
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2 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Contentstable ofHEALTHY LIVINGfall 2012
EDITORlisa Davis
features Editor,anniston Star256-235-3555
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WRITERS
Brooke Nicholls Nelson,
Deirdre long, Brett
Buckner, Erin Williams
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PHOTOGRAPHERSTrent Penny, Bill Wilson,
Stephen Gross, Paige Rentz
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DESIGNERSBran Strickland,
annaMaria Jacob, Jessica Stephens
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TO ADVERTISE IN
HEALTHY LIVING
Janet Miller
256-235-9225
Copyright 2012
Consolidated Publishing
Company
fitnessAN OASIS Of cALmanniston Yoga Center offers classes for all levels
BAREfOOTIN’Ditching those running shoes from time to time can help improve your stride and even take you back to childhood
STRENGTH IN NUmBERSSteel Magnolias is a local breast cancer support group
THINK PINKT hese three women beat breast cancer, and they want others to do the same
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Healthy living is a product of the Anniston StarHealthWALK THIS WAYWhat does a pedorthist do?
HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDETips for surviving the stress of the busy holiday season
Weight lossHEALTHY HOLIDAY cOOKINGadd pumpkin to gingerbread for a healthful sweet treat
mENU fOR HEALTHa complete dinner that’s quick, easy and diabetic-friendly
Fitness
By DeirDre [email protected]
Like most working moms I know, there’s not a lot of time in my day for relax-ation. A recent Saturday was no exception. My husband had to work, I was at home with our two young children, who were in the beginning stages of sickness — coughs, runny noses, general grumpiness, etc. And it just so happened that this was the Satur-day I was having a yard sale with my neigh-bor, so I was trying to help out there, too. But in the midst of this craziness, thanks to a gracious mother-in-law who loves to babysit, I was able to escape for an hour and reconnect my body and mind with a class at the Anniston Yoga Center.
I’m no beginner to yoga; I’ve taken many classes and practiced with various videos over the years. The Gentle Hatha Yoga class is exactly what I needed to stretch and loosen my stiff muscles. These restorative stretches are great for begin-ners; the poses are held for only a few moments, with plenty of time for rest and meditation.
I was lucky enough to have a private session with Tamara Levi, a history instructor at Jacksonville State University, who has been teaching yoga since July. Our stretches included many of the basics: plank, downward dog, sun salutations. Nothing too taxing, and there were varia-tions to most poses if one was uncomfort-able. The stretches made me very aware of muscles I had been neglecting; my hips and thighs were especially resistant, which I attribute to my lack of stretching after running.
The postures — floor, standing and upside-down against the wall — were supported by blankets, blocks and straps, which can be used to ease the body into the correct position without too much strain.
“Yoga is very beneficial for your health,” said Mariya Bullock, the founder of Annis-ton Yoga Center. “It is not high impact; you get the health benefits, but it’s not hard on your joints.”
Bullock, who moved her studio to its current location on Noble Street about a year ago, is a certified level Kripalu yoga instructor and Yoga Alliance-registered yoga teacher, with a master’s degree in physical education and physical therapy
from South Ukrainian National Peda-gogical University in her home country of Ukraine.
Kripalu yoga, the most prominent style of yoga she teaches, combines “meditation and movement” to help students learn to reconnect with their bodies.
“When you meditate, you’re looking into yourself and recognizing different pat-terns to your behavior or things you need to let go,” Bullock said. “You learn how to control breath and control emotions, which helps you control your stress.”
Beginning Oct. 6, the center will offer Yoga Basic Training, an eight-week course for beginners to observe demonstrations and receive step-by-step instructions for each technique. Students will be guided through the details and alignment of each posture with hands-on assisting as needed for one 90-minute class per week.
An oasis of calmAnniston Yoga Center offers classes for all levels
Anniston yoga Center905 Noble St., Anniston256-403-3328www.yogaannistonalabama.com
Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
Holly Box (above) and Bailey Kiker (right) participate during instructor Mariya Bullock’s class at the Anniston Yoga Center recently.
3HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
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Barefootin’Ditching those running shoes from time to time can help improve your stride and even take you back to childhood
Fitness
7HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
By Brooke Nicholls NelsoNSpecial to the Star
If the mere mention of being barefoot sets your toes twitchin’ and your feet itchin’, then read on.
Barefoot running is a huge fad right now. Ever since Christopher McDougall’s bestseller “Born to Run” hit bookshelves and night-stands in 2009, runners look-ing for ways to run pain-free have embraced McDougall’s “run free” philosophy like it was the best thing since, well, since waffle soles. (Remember those? In 1974, first-generation Nikes had a type of sole originally cre-ated by Bill Bowerman on his wife’s waffle iron. My first “real” pair of running shoes were blue Nikes with a bright yellow swoosh and the iconic waffle soles.)
McDougall’s book, published on the cusp of what continues to be the largest running boom since the ’70s, proposes that everybody should run barefoot, because this improves and pro-motes a more natural gait, forcing your body to learn to run more efficiently.
He asserts that man was made to run long distances, and is able to chase down anything from “deer to an Olympic marathoner” and enjoy it. He bases most of his book on the reclusive Tarahu-mara Indians of Mexico and their amazing feats as distance and endurance runners.
Shoe companies have under-standably pushed back, since barefoot running threatens their livelihood. No shoes, no sales. Companies have created minimalist shoes that are lighter, more flexible and help mimic a more natural footfall. Vibram FiveFingers are probably the most recognized minimalist footwear; they’re the ones shaped like human feet, with individual sec-tions for toes.
Barefoot was something I was as a child, particularly in the sum-mer. In June, July and August, my feet were covered with one of four things:
• Church shoes worn with thin, white socks with dainty lace around the cuffs (I despised them).
• Flip flops, the ones with the rubber stopper between the toes.
Cost: 25 cents at the local Wool-worth’s.
• Sneakers that had already been worn the entire school year, so threadbare that my big toes peeked out.
• A deep suntan, born of hours of play outdoors unshod — hands-down my footwear of choice. The tan was usually com-plemented by thick calluses on the underside, a badge of honor of toughness. In fact, before the first day of school, my father would assess each of his three offspring’s calluses and award the one with the thickest layer.
I loved being barefoot. Heck, my mother was lucky to even get clothes on me during the sum-mer, as I pretty much lived in a bathing suit. Shoes? No way.
So when, about three years ago, one of my best running part-ners, Will Williams, proposed we incorporate barefoot running into our weekly running regime, I stripped off socks and shoes quicker than you could say, “Run-ners take your mark.”
Williams’ daughter, Megan, had run cross-country in high school and continued her run-ning career on the track team at the University of Alabama. Megan’s high school coach had the team run barefoot on a foot-ball field.
“They would run strides, and since I had read numerous times that you should do strides at the
end of some of your weekly runs, I thought the barefoot thing might be fun,” Williams said.
Slowly, we began to add bare-foot strides into our regular run schedule. The first time, I ran up and down the McClellan football field about four times. The key was to take it slow and build up the distance over time.
Immediately, I recaptured my childhood love of being barefoot, running free.
Running without shoes pitches you onto your toes or the balls of your feet, so that you look like you’re tippy-toeing down the field. Before the advent of the barefoot/minimalistic move-ment, traditional running shoes
promoted a heel strike and a roll-forward style.
Over the past three years, we have increased our barefoot runs to a little more than three miles, and have moved to the soccer fields at McClellan to accommo-date the longer distance.
People, particularly other run-ners, ask us questions about our barefooting. Here are the four most common inquiries:
q q
Q. Why are you running bare-foot?
A. Because it feels good and it’s fun.
Q. Does it make you faster?A. I feel faster because I feel
freer. Honestly, I don’t know that running barefoot makes me any faster, but it hasn’t made me any slower. And it’s fun.
Q. Doesn’t it hurt you?A. The first few times we ran
barefoot, my feet ached. I think my feet were so used to being confined, controlled by my shoes, that they were a little stressed by the drastically different run-ning mechanics. Now, it just feels good. It’s my favorite run each week. We do it after a punishing track speedwork session, so it’s a reward.
Q. Does it make you stron-ger?
A. Yes, I believe it does. I believe running barefoot has strengthened the muscles in and around my feet and ankles.
For every article promoting barefoot running, there are just as many saying it is a fad, that it is hogwash, that it is harmful. Regardless of running style, any training program should be start-ed with caution.
Every body is different, and what works for one runner may not work for you. We don’t run races barefoot; barefoot running is a small portion of our weekly mileage, and we always run on grassy surfaces.
Oh, and did I mention that running the way God intended is fun?
Brooke Nicholls Nelson has run 12 marathons, three ultra-mara-thons and too many triathlons, 5Ks, 10Ks and half-marathons to count. She is past president of the Anniston Runners Club and former race director for the Wood-stock 5K. She is currently the club’s triathlon director.
Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
ABOVE: Cole Nelson puts his feet up after a run. LEFT: Nelson, Brooke Nelson and Will Williams go for a barefoot run on the McClellan soccer fields. In response to the growing popularity of barefoot running, shoe companies have also introduced min-imalist footwear like the Vibram FiveFingers (pictured above).
��������������������������������������������For almost 50 years, the residents of Randolph County and surrounding communities have entrusted their health and well being to Wedowee Hospital.
Through the years, the 34-bed acute care Wedowee Hospital has added new capabilities and services, evolving to meet our patients’ needs. Today, our commitment to the communities we serve has never been higher.
Wedowee Hospital proudly provides:
To learn more about Wedowee Hospital, visit www.WedoweeHospital.org.
209 South Main Street | Wedowee, AL 36278 | Phone 256.357.2111
� A 24-hour emergency department staffed by ER physician specialists and advanced cardiac life support-trained nurses
� Diagnostic imaging, including X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, echocardiograms and mammograms
� Inpatient care with hospitalist services
� Outpatient surgery
� Laboratory services
� Respiratory therapy
� Sleep lab studies
� and more
Phone: 256-847-3369 Toll Free: 888-400-9357
171 Town Center Drive, Ste. 6Anniston, AL 36205
Charles P. Lattuada, Jr., MD, FACPMedical Oncology
Tatyana Sycheva, MDMedical Oncology/ Hematology
Michael Marks, MD, PhDRadiation Oncology
According to 2011 estimates reported in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians,
a woman in the U.S. has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer over her lifetime. A woman age 40-59 has a 1 in 27 chance while a woman less than 40 years of age has only a 1 in 207 chance. Although an estimated 39,520 women in the U.S. died due to breast cancer in 2011, the treatment of breast cancer has signifi cantly improved as evidenced by 5-year survival rates that have increased from 75% in 1979-1977 to 90% in 1999-2006.
Ongoing research and analysis of existing data have suggested that for some patients with breast cancer, surgery alone is suffi cient for potentially curative treatment. However, for the majority of breast cancer patients, particularly younger breast cancer patients, radiotherapy plays an important role. Radiotherapy continues to be shown to decrease the incidence of local relapse and in some, to improve survival. For those with early stage disease limited to the breast who wish to conserve their breast, resection of
just the tumor (lumpectomy or partial mastectomy) followed by radiation therapy yields survival rates equal to those of complete breast removal (mastectomy). For more advanced disease, radiation therapy may be recommended even after complete removal of the breast and chemotherapy and may be directed to the chest wall on the side where the cancer occurred and to the lymph nodes in the area. There are essentially two ways radiation treatment can be given. High energy x-ray beams generated by a machine and aimed at the areas to be treated and using a high activity radioactive isotope placed into a catheter that has been implanted in a patient’s breast (brachytherapy). X-ray treatment can be used for every patient while only some patients are candidates for treatment using a radioactive isotope. The appropriateness of brachytherapy is currently somewhat controversial and its use is discouraged in younger patients. For both x-ray treatment and brachytherapy, advances in therapy and planning technology have improved outcomes and reduced
complications of treatment.Chemotherapy (chemo)
is a common part of the breast cancer treatment process. At Cancer Care Centers, the physician determines whether or not a patient would benefi t from chemotherapy treatment based on the constantly ongoing research done in breast cancer management. Chemotherapy is a systemic breast cancer therapy. The anticancer drugs enter the bloodstream to reach cancer cells through the entire body, not just the breast. Breast cancer chemotherapy treatments are typically used to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
The other form of breast cancer drug treatment is hormonal therapy. Not everyone would be a candidate for hormonal therapy and the decision is based on the biology of the tumor and the expression of certain receptors on the tumor. However, there are cases when neither of the above mentioned modalities can save a patient’s life. If cancer is diagnosed at an early stage and there are indications for the patient to receive chemotherapy, or hormonal therapy, or radiation, or a combination of the above, it can save one’s life. The timing of delivering chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and radiation is crucial. In the case of metastatic breast cancer (cancer spread to other parts of the body), treatment can still prolong survival and improve quality of life of ill patient. There are unfortunately many cases of late diagnosis and treatment delays due to many reasons including socio-economic, personal choices and due to lack of understanding the nature of the disease and what can be offered to patients. Screening and early detection and proper treatment are the key to survival.
American Cancer Society Guidelinesfor the Early Detection of Breast Cancerin Average-risk, Asymptomatic Women
Age 20-39: • Clinical breast examination at least every 3 years • Breast self-examination (optional)
Age 40 and over: • Annual mammogram • Annual clinical breast examination (preferably prior to mammogram) • Breast self-examination (optional)
OCTOBER
Steel Magnolias Breast Cancer Support Group, meets at 5 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every
month, Suite 403 of the Physicians Center at Regional Medical Center, 256-231-8827
10 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
By Brett BucknerSpecial to the Star
“It’s cancer …”As soon as the words leave the
doctor’s lips, a life is thrown into turmoil.
Some greet the news with tears, others with silence. Some rage against unfairness of it all. Others are stoic and workmanlike, pre-paring for the fight, the chemo and the inevitable sickness.
But none should ever be alone. Though cancer invades the body of an individual, it affects many lives. Those who have been through the fear and confusion and have come out on the other side can offer the thing that people need most: hope.
That is the foundation upon which the Steel Magnolias breast cancer support group was built. As a breast cancer survivor, founder and executive director Lenora Johnson has walked down that same lonely path of fear. She wants other women — as well as their husbands and boyfriends — to know they are not alone.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see a woman who feels that she is in a
breast cancer-imposed cocoon break free, finding her strength as she soars like a butterfly,” John-son says.
In September 1999, a cancer-ous lump was discovered in John-son’s left breast. A month later, she underwent a mastectomy. But the surgery to remove the breast was only part of the healing process.
Johnson says it took her at least two years to reclaim her life and
strength. During that time, she began to notice just how little sup-port was available to women who were either battling or had con-quered breast cancer.
It was in a Golden Springs hair salon that Johnson’s friend, Liz Edwards, gave her the phone number of Regional Medical Cen-ter chaplain Jim Wilson with the simple instructions, “Call him.”
Within a month, Steel Magno-
lias was born.The group originally met in
Wilson’s “very small” counseling office in Professional Plaza. Five women gathered to share their stories.
From those humble begin-nings, a juggernaut was born.
Today, Steel Magnolias num-bers between 28 and 35 people for their weekly meetings and has spawned a second group, Men of Steel, for men whose wives and girlfriends are battling the cancer.
“It’s not enough to let people tell their stories and have a snack once a month,” Johnson says. “Patients have real needs that affect them physically, mentally and emotionally.”
In an effort to meet those needs, Steel Magnolias is active on many fronts. A few of these services include care packages to newly diagnosed breast cancer
patients, dining vouchers for two family members of cancer patients in surgery at RMC.
Pinks Boutique, located in the RMC Physicians Center, is stocked with mastectomy bras, breast prosthesis, wigs, caps and scarves. “Everything is free to cancer patients,” Johnson says.
Part of the Steel Magnolia mis-sion is to keep young girls from ever having to join by sponsoring the Steel Magnolias School Girl Awareness Program. Under the direction of Margaret Taylor, this program has been responsible for teaching more than 6,000 young girls how to perform breast self-examinations.
But perhaps the group’s proudest moment came in 2009, when they helped push through a legislative bill sponsored by the late Rep. Lea Fite that closed a gap in coverage of the Alabama Med-icaid Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, which excluded women from treatment based on where they were diagnosed.
Through it all, the greatest joy for Johnson is seeing scared and confused women regain their strength.
Steel Magnolias is a local breast cancer support group
“I’m a Steel Magnolia”By Lenora Washington Johnson
I’m a daughter, a sister, mother, wife and lover.I’m tender, I’m toughI’m a Steel Magnolia!
Pink ribbons on my clothing, scars across my chestCourage in my heart and steel in every stepI’m a Steel Magnolia!
God raised me up and dried my tearsHe filled me with amazing grace and calmed my fearsI’m a Steel Magnolia!
We cross the oceans, climb mountains steep,Praying for a cure, our daughters to keepWe are Steel Magnolias!
Strength in numbers
Orange Beach firefighter Sam Jackson, left, shows off the ‘Cindy’ the fire truck to retired Anniston Fire Department Capt. Jim Parish recently.
It was in town as part of an effort to raise money and awareness for women battling cancer, the Anniston Fire Department spon-sored a morning of fun and fundraising.
Jackson said the truck is named in honor of the wife of a mem-ber of his department who died battling breast cancer. He drives ‘Cindy’ around the Southeast as a member of the Lower Alabama chapter of the Guardians of the Ribbon, a national organization whose mission is to support women and their families battling all types of cancer.
— Paige Rentz
Pretty in pinkDifferent kind of fire truck visits Anniston
11HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
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GRIZZARDLIVING AIDS
Mammograms• When breast cancer starts, it is too
small to feel and does not cause signs and symptoms. Mammograms help doctors look for early signs of breast cancer. If breast cancer is found early, it may be possible to treat it before it spreads.
• In 2008, more than 75 percent of women over 40 reported having a mammogram in the past two years. Women age 40 and older should have mammograms every one to two years.
Risk factorsNo one knows what causes breast
cancer. Doctors do know that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer. Some risk factors include:
• Age: The chance of getting breast cancer increases as you get older. Most women are over 60 years old when they are diagnosed.
• Personal health history: Having breast cancer in one breast increases your risk of getting cancer in your other breast. Also, having certain types of abnormal breast cells increas-es the risk of invasive breast cancer. These conditions are found with a breast biopsy.
• Family health history: Your risk of breast cancer is higher if your mother, father, sister or daughter had breast cancer. The risk is even higher if your family member had breast cancer before age 50. Having other relatives (in either your mother’s or father’s family) with breast cancer or ovarian cancer may also increase your risk.
• Radiation therapy to the chest: Women who had radiation therapy to the chest (including the breasts) before age 30 are at an increased risk of breast cancer. This includes women treated with radiation for Hodgkin’s lym-phoma. Studies show that the younger a woman was when she received radia-tion treatment, the higher her risk of breast cancer later in life.
• Reproductive and menstrual history: The older a woman is when she has her first child, the greater her chance of breast cancer. Women who never had children are at an increased risk of breast cancer. Women who had
their first menstrual period before age 12 are at an increased risk of breast cancer. Women who went through menopause after age 55 are at an increased risk of breast cancer. Women who take menopausal hormone ther-apy for many years have an increased risk of breast cancer.
• Race: In the United States, breast cancer is diagnosed more often in white women than in African Ameri-can/black, Hispanic/Latina, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native women.
• Breast density: Breasts appear on a mammogram (breast X-ray) as hav-ing areas of dense and fatty (not dense) tissue. Women whose mammograms show a larger area of dense tissue than the mammograms of women of the same age are at increased risk of breast cancer.
• Being overweight or obese after menopause: The chance of getting breast cancer after menopause is higher in women who are overweight or obese.
• Lack of physical activity: Women who are physically inactive through-out life may have an increased risk of breast cancer.
• Drinking alcohol: Studies suggest that the more alcohol a woman drinks, the greater her risk of breast cancer.
SymptomsEarly breast cancer usually doesn’t
cause symptoms. But as the tumor grows, it can change how the breast looks or feels. The common changes include:
• A lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the underarm area.
• A change in the size or shape of the breast.
• Dimpling or puckering in the skin of the breast.
• A nipple turned inward into the breast.
• Discharge (fluid) from the nipple, especially if it’s bloody.
• Scaly, red, or swollen skin on the breast, nipple, or areola (the dark area of skin at the center of the breast). The skin may have ridges or pitting so that it looks like the skin of an orange.
SOURCE: National Cancer Institute
Breast cancer RISkS AND PREvENTIoN Fitness ▶ Health ▶ Beauty ▶ Weight Loss
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HEALTHY LIVING
By Brett BucknerSpecial to The Star
October is breast cancer awarness month, when pink ribbons appear on everything from candies to fire-trucks. Every year, more than 200,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
On these pages, three local women who survived breast cancer tell their stories — their fear, their pain and the happiness that can be found on the other side. ▶
THINKPINKT hese three women beat breast cancer, and they want others to do the same
Veronica Epperson’s OB/GYN was 99 percent sure that the shad-ow he saw on her mammogram was nothing. “99 percent” sure sounded good.
But on his advice, Epperson visited a surgeon. It was 1985, and even a 1 percent chance was too much of a risk to take. The surgeon found a malignant tumor about the size of a pea. Veronica Epperson had breast cancer.
“I was shocked, especially considering that whole 99 percent business,” says the now 69-year-old Epperson. “But that’s why we wanted to make sure, and it’s a good thing we did.”
Epperson had her breast removed and began a torturous 9-month regimen of chemotherapy, during which she refused to let the cancer get the upper hand. She’d have her treatment during extended lunch breaks before returning to work.
“But I’ve got to confess, when I got home, I did absolutely noth-
ing,” she says with a small laugh. “It’s bad when they take a piece of your body, but, really, the chemo was worse.”
There’s little doubt where Epperson found the courage to beat cancer. “God gave me the strength to go on, to keep fight-ing,” she says, “and I was willing to do whatever it took to survive.”
Epperson has continued to fight and to share her story of sur-vival to anyone who needs confi-dence and strength to face their own battle against cancer.
Even after 26 years as a sur-vivor, the fear of cancer’s return still haunts her. “It used to be that there wasn’t a day that I didn’t think about cancer, worrying about it coming back,” she says. “But now that it’s been so many years, I don’t think about it as much. Still … there’s not two days that go by that I don’t worry.
“It’s always there. But I’m still here and that’s what matters.”
It had happened before. So many times, in fact, that Teresa Smith thought almost nothing of it. Almost.
Smith was fibrocystic, meaning that she routinely found non-cancerous cysts in her breasts, but every time she felt a lump, Smith was diligent in having it checked out by her doctor. Biopsies on these suspicious lumps had become routine to the point of annoyance.
Which was pretty much her reaction when, in 2000, she discovered another lump.
“I remember lying there in bed, thinking, ‘OK, I’m getting really tired of this,’” says the now 54-year-old Smith, who lives in Alexandria. “I went down-stairs and told my husband. He felt it and said it was just my chest wall.
“Good thing I didn’t listen to him.”Smith went to the doctor just in case.
When she went in to get the biopsy results, she knew something was wrong. Her doctor sat down, held her hand and said, “It’s cancer.”
Smith was 41 years old.A self-declared “people protector,”
Smith hadn’t wanted to burden others with her diagnosis. Believing her biopsy wouldn’t show anything but another cyst, she had brought her mother with her to the doctor’s office, so they could go shopping afterward.
Smith asked the nurse, who was a friend of her mother’s, not to say any-thing. “I already did,” the nurse said. Though she tried to contain the news, her mother called Smith’s husband of five years, Clay, and told him the news. When the women got home, Clay was up on the roof “pretending to hang Christ-mas lights,” but Smith could tell he’d been crying.
“It’s the worst thing that can happen, but it’ll make you appreciate your life,” Smith says. “Nothing is really as bad once you’ve had cancer.”
Because she caught it early and the cancer was only in one breast, Smith’s prognosis was good. But rather than opting for a lumpectomy — removal of the cancerous tissue — Smith opted for a double mastectomy.
Back in 2000, breast cancer hadn’t hit close to home. There was one woman from her high school who’d had breast cancer. Smith remembered see-ing her at a high school reunion, danc-ing and having fun.
“Then she was gone,” she says. “She left behind two little girls. Both my kids are grown, but they still need me.”
That memory helped cement Smith’s decision to have both breasts removed.
“They can’t tell you it won’t come back,” Smith says, “so I just wanted them both gone. They weren’t that great anyway, and I’m not attached to any-thing enough if it could end up killing me.”
Smith had breast reconstruction immediately after the double mastec-tomy.
Today, she is cancer-free. In her 12 years as a survivor, Smith has witnessed breast cancer awareness grow into a national campaign with pink ribbons and fund-raising efforts in the millions of dollars. She shares her story often and bluntly with anyone facing the same fear she once knew.
“Just because you have breast cancer, it doesn’t mean you’re going to die,” she says. “Losing your breasts … isn’t the end of the world, not compared to living and watching your kids grow up.”
12 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012 13HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Kathy Bundrum of Anniston isn’t just a breast cancer survivor. She’s an advocate.
The 52-year-old Bundrum was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2011. Today, she can’t go any-where without sharing her story.
Bundrum is so dedicated to early detection of breast cancer that her car tag reads “KBMRI.” The first two letters are her initials, while the last three letters refer to MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, the medical imaging technique that detected Bundrum’s cancer, and which she credits with saving her life.
“Early detection has become my ministry,” says Bundrum. “I’ll tell anyone who listens. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t share my story.”
April is what Bundrum calls her “health month,” when she gets her annual checkups. With two great aunts who have had breast cancer, yearly mammograms are part of that routine.
This past April, Bundrum’s doctor noticed “a little more density” from her screening than the previous year. Her doctor gave her the option of waiting six months to get a second mammogram. Instead, she started doing a bit of research on her own, asking the opinion of a surgeon who had once removed a benign lump from her breast.
The surgeon suggested a breast MRI, which can capture detailed images of a patient’s breast tissue.
“I didn’t even know there was
such a thing,” Bundrum says.After reading the MRI, it was
obvious something was there.A later biopsy proved the worst.
Bundrum had breast cancer.Bundrum’s doctors told her that,
even though the cancer was only in one breast, a double mastectomy would provide a 97 percent chance of a cure.
“There was no question,” Bun-drum says. “For me, a double mas-tectomy was a no-brainer. In my mind, with a lumpectomy the cancer would come back, and it was going to come back more aggressive than before.”
The breast MRI allowed Bun-drum to find the cancer early, rather than waiting another six months for a second mammogram. Who knows what the cancer might have done with an extra six months? “I would have still probably been a survi-vor, but who knows what could’ve happened if I’d waited?” she says. “Frankly, I didn’t want to wait and find out.”
Bundrum has become an advo-cate for women to get breast MRI. The problem is that insurance doesn’t always cover the costly pro-cedure. Because she had a family history of breast cancer, her insur-ance covered the MRI.
“My question is, how many more women have to die before insur-ance decides to pay, before this tool is used to detect cancer?” she says. “The answer is obvious — too many.”
‘Early detection became
my ministry’
TERESASMITH
KATHYBUNDRUM
‘You can laugh again’
‘God gave me the strength’
VERoNIcA EPPERSoN
Photo by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star
Photo by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
Photo by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
By Brett BucknerSpecial to The Star
October is breast cancer awarness month, when pink ribbons appear on everything from candies to fire-trucks. Every year, more than 200,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
On these pages, three local women who survived breast cancer tell their stories — their fear, their pain and the happiness that can be found on the other side. ▶
THINKPINKT hese three women beat breast cancer, and they want others to do the same
Veronica Epperson’s OB/GYN was 99 percent sure that the shad-ow he saw on her mammogram was nothing. “99 percent” sure sounded good.
But on his advice, Epperson visited a surgeon. It was 1985, and even a 1 percent chance was too much of a risk to take. The surgeon found a malignant tumor about the size of a pea. Veronica Epperson had breast cancer.
“I was shocked, especially considering that whole 99 percent business,” says the now 69-year-old Epperson. “But that’s why we wanted to make sure, and it’s a good thing we did.”
Epperson had her breast removed and began a torturous 9-month regimen of chemotherapy, during which she refused to let the cancer get the upper hand. She’d have her treatment during extended lunch breaks before returning to work.
“But I’ve got to confess, when I got home, I did absolutely noth-
ing,” she says with a small laugh. “It’s bad when they take a piece of your body, but, really, the chemo was worse.”
There’s little doubt where Epperson found the courage to beat cancer. “God gave me the strength to go on, to keep fight-ing,” she says, “and I was willing to do whatever it took to survive.”
Epperson has continued to fight and to share her story of sur-vival to anyone who needs confi-dence and strength to face their own battle against cancer.
Even after 26 years as a sur-vivor, the fear of cancer’s return still haunts her. “It used to be that there wasn’t a day that I didn’t think about cancer, worrying about it coming back,” she says. “But now that it’s been so many years, I don’t think about it as much. Still … there’s not two days that go by that I don’t worry.
“It’s always there. But I’m still here and that’s what matters.”
It had happened before. So many times, in fact, that Teresa Smith thought almost nothing of it. Almost.
Smith was fibrocystic, meaning that she routinely found non-cancerous cysts in her breasts, but every time she felt a lump, Smith was diligent in having it checked out by her doctor. Biopsies on these suspicious lumps had become routine to the point of annoyance.
Which was pretty much her reaction when, in 2000, she discovered another lump.
“I remember lying there in bed, thinking, ‘OK, I’m getting really tired of this,’” says the now 54-year-old Smith, who lives in Alexandria. “I went down-stairs and told my husband. He felt it and said it was just my chest wall.
“Good thing I didn’t listen to him.”Smith went to the doctor just in case.
When she went in to get the biopsy results, she knew something was wrong. Her doctor sat down, held her hand and said, “It’s cancer.”
Smith was 41 years old.A self-declared “people protector,”
Smith hadn’t wanted to burden others with her diagnosis. Believing her biopsy wouldn’t show anything but another cyst, she had brought her mother with her to the doctor’s office, so they could go shopping afterward.
Smith asked the nurse, who was a friend of her mother’s, not to say any-thing. “I already did,” the nurse said. Though she tried to contain the news, her mother called Smith’s husband of five years, Clay, and told him the news. When the women got home, Clay was up on the roof “pretending to hang Christ-mas lights,” but Smith could tell he’d been crying.
“It’s the worst thing that can happen, but it’ll make you appreciate your life,” Smith says. “Nothing is really as bad once you’ve had cancer.”
Because she caught it early and the cancer was only in one breast, Smith’s prognosis was good. But rather than opting for a lumpectomy — removal of the cancerous tissue — Smith opted for a double mastectomy.
Back in 2000, breast cancer hadn’t hit close to home. There was one woman from her high school who’d had breast cancer. Smith remembered see-ing her at a high school reunion, danc-ing and having fun.
“Then she was gone,” she says. “She left behind two little girls. Both my kids are grown, but they still need me.”
That memory helped cement Smith’s decision to have both breasts removed.
“They can’t tell you it won’t come back,” Smith says, “so I just wanted them both gone. They weren’t that great anyway, and I’m not attached to any-thing enough if it could end up killing me.”
Smith had breast reconstruction immediately after the double mastec-tomy.
Today, she is cancer-free. In her 12 years as a survivor, Smith has witnessed breast cancer awareness grow into a national campaign with pink ribbons and fund-raising efforts in the millions of dollars. She shares her story often and bluntly with anyone facing the same fear she once knew.
“Just because you have breast cancer, it doesn’t mean you’re going to die,” she says. “Losing your breasts … isn’t the end of the world, not compared to living and watching your kids grow up.”
12 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012 13HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Kathy Bundrum of Anniston isn’t just a breast cancer survivor. She’s an advocate.
The 52-year-old Bundrum was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2011. Today, she can’t go any-where without sharing her story.
Bundrum is so dedicated to early detection of breast cancer that her car tag reads “KBMRI.” The first two letters are her initials, while the last three letters refer to MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, the medical imaging technique that detected Bundrum’s cancer, and which she credits with saving her life.
“Early detection has become my ministry,” says Bundrum. “I’ll tell anyone who listens. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t share my story.”
April is what Bundrum calls her “health month,” when she gets her annual checkups. With two great aunts who have had breast cancer, yearly mammograms are part of that routine.
This past April, Bundrum’s doctor noticed “a little more density” from her screening than the previous year. Her doctor gave her the option of waiting six months to get a second mammogram. Instead, she started doing a bit of research on her own, asking the opinion of a surgeon who had once removed a benign lump from her breast.
The surgeon suggested a breast MRI, which can capture detailed images of a patient’s breast tissue.
“I didn’t even know there was
such a thing,” Bundrum says.After reading the MRI, it was
obvious something was there.A later biopsy proved the worst.
Bundrum had breast cancer.Bundrum’s doctors told her that,
even though the cancer was only in one breast, a double mastectomy would provide a 97 percent chance of a cure.
“There was no question,” Bun-drum says. “For me, a double mas-tectomy was a no-brainer. In my mind, with a lumpectomy the cancer would come back, and it was going to come back more aggressive than before.”
The breast MRI allowed Bun-drum to find the cancer early, rather than waiting another six months for a second mammogram. Who knows what the cancer might have done with an extra six months? “I would have still probably been a survi-vor, but who knows what could’ve happened if I’d waited?” she says. “Frankly, I didn’t want to wait and find out.”
Bundrum has become an advo-cate for women to get breast MRI. The problem is that insurance doesn’t always cover the costly pro-cedure. Because she had a family history of breast cancer, her insur-ance covered the MRI.
“My question is, how many more women have to die before insur-ance decides to pay, before this tool is used to detect cancer?” she says. “The answer is obvious — too many.”
‘Early detection became
my ministry’
TERESASMITH
KATHYBUNDRUM
‘You can laugh again’
‘God gave me the strength’
VERoNIcA EPPERSoN
Photo by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star
Photo by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
Photo by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
14 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Baby steps and roadblocksA nine-month update on our New Year’s Resolutions project
By Brooke Nicholls NelsoNSpecial to the Star
In the January issue of Healthy Living, we wrote about three local resi-dents and their New Year’s Resolutions, and vowed to check up on them every three months. In March, they were having varying degrees of success. In July, two of the three had plateaued, but one was keeping his goal.
Nine months later, two of the three were maintaining their goals, while the third said he was almost ready to give up — except he knew the Star would be calling to touch base about his efforts.
In January, Munford resident Anne Powers, 72, made a resolution to “eat healthier and exercise more.” In June, she hit a plateau — neither losing weight nor gaining it. She was stuck at having lost a total of 30 pounds.
“At least I haven’t gained any,” Powers said at the time. This month, Powers was pleased to announce she had lost an addi-tional seven pounds, bringing her loss tally to 37 pounds.
“I’m proud of myself,” said Powers. “It’s not easy.”
She had hoped to be able to do more walking and other exercise, but she can-not leave home very often or for very long, as her husband is in poor health. She says she joins in when his physical therapist
comes to their home twice a week for his workouts.
“My blood sugar is doing fairly well, but it has been a little high recently,” Powers said. She attributes the rise to the stress of being a caregiver for both her invalid husband and her 90-year-old mother, who passed away in July.
Known for her baking skills, Powers admits her downfall is her sweet tooth, which she struggles with daily. “I don’t think I’ll ever lose my sweet tooth,” she said. “I could fall in a vat of something sweet and eat up every bit of it.”
But Powers is determined to keep her resolution. She hopes to be able to provide even more positive news when we contact her again at the end of the year.
In June, when we last talked with Nor-man Williams, 62, he said he had not lost any weight since March and admitted he was a little “disgusted” with himself. He hoped to be able to report more progress when we called again.
However, when we touched base with Williams this month, he was even more depressed about his lack of progress with to lose weight. “I’m doing good, but not doing good on the diet,” he said. “I just gave up.”
Williams’ initial resolution was to get down to what he considers his normal weight of 180 pounds. Motivated by the heart attack-related death of his older brother at age 55, he said he believed he would die, too, in less than five years
if he did not make some changes in his lifestyle and lose weight.
He said he has gained a lot of weight in the past two years, more than 65 pounds, because he quit smoking and suffered an injury to his foot, which forced him to quit his job and curtail his exercise.
At each of The Star’s checkpoints in January, March and June, Williams said he was 100 percent sure he would meet his goal to lose weight and get healthier, but in September, he was not nearly as positive.
“When you check back with me at the end of the year, I hope I can have some good news,” said Williams. “I hope I can keep my resolution.”
When we first talked to Dave DeSpagna, 55, of Anniston, he set his goal for the year to “be a blessing to everyone” he met. Nine months later, he is proof that some people can keep their resolutions.
He believes it is God’s will for him to pursue being a blessing, which he does by volunteering for his church — Harvest Church of God — as well as the American Legion Post 111, a food distribution min-istry, and Young at Heart, a senior adult group. He said he had been working really hard on his church’s annual yard sale com-ing up in October, which raises funds for missionaries in Ecuador.
DeSpagna says he is doing “wonderful” and greets every day as an opportunity to serve others. He is always on the lookout
for more ways to improve his community, and is particularly excited about the recent city elections.
“I believe it is time for a change,” said DeSpagna, in regards to the newly elected mayor and council. “We need to move for-ward. Our leaders need to promote getting people to work together for our common good.”
Despagna is a shining example of being a positive force in other people’s lives. He greets every person he passes with a hand-shake and wishes them a “blessed day.”
The upbeat DeSpagna said he wel-comes the phone calls every three months to check on his progress with his goal. He knows he will keep his resolution, because for him it is a way of life.
Norman Williams: Exercise more
Anne Powers: Eat healthier
Dave DeSpagna: Be a blessing
15HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Walk this WayWhat does a pedorthist do?
health
By Brooke Nicholls NelsoNSpecial to the Star
Of the 206 bones in the human body, one quarter of these are in the feet, along with 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles in each foot.
It is Eric Reaves’ job, as a certi-fied pedorthist, to identify and alleviate pain in people’s feet and ankles, primarily by making customized shoe inserts called orthotics.
“There are a lot of places that make orthotics,” said Reaves, 28, owner of Orthotic Solutions in Anniston. “But there is no place that cares more about the patient than we do.”
Reaves honed his skills at the Spain Rehabilitation Center at University of Alabama-Birming-ham (UAB) as a laboratory tech-nician under renowned foot and ankle surgeon John Gould. UAB sent Reaves to Oklahoma State University, one of the highest ranked pedorthist programs in the United States.
After graduation, the Dear-manville native returned to the Birmingham area, working at Pedorthic Care in Hoover, before opening Orthotic Solutions in Trinity Hospital, formerly Baptist Montclair, in May of 2009.
Reaves noticed a lot of patient referrals came from the doctors at Anniston Orthopedics, and decid-ed this area needed an orthotics clinic. He opened Orthotic Solu-tions in the summer of 2009.
Recently, the married father of one child interrupted his busy schedule of commuting from his home in Lincoln to offices in Anniston and Mountain Brook to answer a few questions about what Orthotic Solutions is all about. ▶
orthotic solutions• 600 Leighton Avenue, Suite B, Anniston• 256-238-8877• www.alabamaorthotics.com
Photos by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
ABOVE: Certified pedorthist Eric Reaves stands with two custom molds at his orthotic clinic in Anniston. LEFT: Technician Aaron Anderson puts the finish-ing touches on a set of custom insoles.
16 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Q: How does Orthotic Solutions get patients?
A: Pretty much all of our patients are from referral, probably 99 percent doctor-referred. There are about 60 referring physi-cians, primarily from Anniston, Gadsden, Jacksonville, Wedowee and Pell City. Local chiropractors send us about six a month, too. Most of our patients are very active. Most are athletes, or don’t sit down at work.
Q: What are the top three problems you treat?
A: Just about everything we see is mechanical. We look at it as if we were an engineer: If something is out of place, it causes problems.
No. 1 is plantar fasciitis. About 80 per-cent of our clients have plantar fasciitis, and we have about a 98 percent success rate with it. It is like a tug-of-war with the foot. We can get rid of it, typically within eight weeks. Orthotics combat it by not allowing the arch to overextend, by maintaining the correct length and position, allowing it to heal on its own.
No. 2 is Morton’s neuroma, which occurs when the transverse arch collapses and the metatarsals come together on the nerve itself, making it inflamed. Orthotics add support to keep the bones separated and off the nerve. Women are more prone to this because of high heels and pointy-toed
shoes, which shift weight to the front of the foot.
No. 3 is Achilles tendonitis. Overexten-sion and tightness of the Achilles tendon causes inflammation due to weakness in the ankles, which puts stress on the Achil-les. We check the ankles, and reposition them in a correct position.
Q: What is the process of evaluating a patient?
A: Once the doctor sends us the patient, I watch them walk. Almost all foot pain is postural — arch collapse, ankle problems, etc. I see what type of movement is occur-ring that shouldn’t be there, and when we cast their foot to make orthotics, we cast in
the correct position. We treat the source of the pain, not just the symptoms.
Q: How are orthotics made?A: Once we watch them walk, we find
out what extra movement is there. We cast in plaster or a foam box, and the actual orthotics take about a week to create. The orthotics are layered starting with a plastic or cork base, getting softer as the layers go up, getting cushier to eliminate the cause of the injury. We can make shoe recommen-dations, too, and fit shoes properly.
Once the patient receives the orthotics, we fit them in their shoes and evaluate their walk, to make sure the position is correct. Then I have them come back in two weeks,
and they are usually 40 percent better. We make small modifications as needed, and we see them every two to three weeks for about three months, and we correspond with their doctor throughout. They can come back to us every single day for three months, to make sure they quit hurting, if they need to, with no charge. It is all on us to make sure our product works. Doctors sup-port us because of our follow-up.
Q: What is the cost?A: Most insurance covers the orthot-
ics, and the patient’s out-of-pocket cost is from $50-$60. Without insurance, orthotics are about $275. We can work out payment plans. It’s more important to us that people become pain-free, and that they get back to a normal lifestyle as quickly as possible.
Q: How long do most people have to wear orthotics?
A: Most of our patients stay in orthotics all their lives. As long as they stay in them, they don’t have problems.
Q: Should runners try the popular run-ning craze, barefoot running?
A: As far as barefoot running, if your feet are perfect, you have perfect foot and ankle health, it’s fine. But that’s a small percent of the population. I see it more as a fad. Ten years from now, people will be using what is tried and true, what they’ve been wearing for 50 years.
Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
Pedorthist Eric Reaves shows off a pair of custom shoe inserts.
The Anniston StarPound-for-pound the best newspaper in Alabama
Print • Online
+ +Anniston, Alabama www.annistonstar.com
Sunday, June 13, 2010 A home-owned newspaper $1.50
An open letter to Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP
Crimson Tide one win away from Omaha
Area kids learn first-responder EMA techniques
rEgiOn, 6B inSigHT, 1BSPOrTS, 1C
CiTy Of
nOBy LAurA CAMPEr
During an Anniston City Council meeting, the audience reaction to the council’s disagreements can vary from deep sighs and rolling eyes to whis-pered expletives to delighted comments like, “This is better than TV.”
Council members passionately argue and threaten each other. One council member even
admits he avoids going to City Hall because of the arguments he might find himself in.
“It certainly is intimidating,” said Councilman John Spain. “I avoid coming down here to the build-ing altogether just simply because I don’t want a confrontation with the mayor.”
Does council’s infighting hobble Anniston’s progress? From top left: Councilman Ben Little, Mayor Gene Robinson, Vice-Mayor John Spain, Councilman Her-bert Palmore and Councilman David Dawson during last Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Photos by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
inSiDE:
Bob Davis: gauging the dysfunction
of Anniston’s city council.
PAgE 3B
AnALySiS
Please see AnniSTOn ❙ Page 10A
By JAy rEEVES AnD rAy HEnryAssociated Press
ORANGE BEACH — Alabama’s beaches took their worst hit yet from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as globs of crude and gooey tar — some the size of pan-cakes — lined the white sands and crews worked to try to keep a giant oil sheen just a few miles away from reaching the shore.
Scientists have estimated that anywhere
between about 40 million gallons to 109 million gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf since a drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The oil washing up on Alabama’s shores was the heaviest since the rig explosion and came just as the summer beach season was picking up.
During a flight over the Gulf, Sean Brum-ley, an aerial spotter, said he saw an oily
sheen and brown patches of oil floating for miles off the Alabama coast. Boats trying to remove the oil before it hit the coast worked about three miles out.
“The Gulf looks like it has chicken pox,” Brumley said.
The oily sheen covered the pass leading into Perdido Bay near the Alabama-Florida state lines. Globs of brown oil floated in
(USPS 026-440)
Vol. 130, no. 164
Calendar . . . . . . . . 4BClassifieds . . . . . . 1ECrossword . . . . . . . 3D
frances Stephens Borders, AnnistonMarquis fain,Talladegarachel P. Kohn, Pensacola, Fla.Emma M. nixon,Annistonrosa Ogletree, JacksonvilleBobbie Huddleston Turner, Anniston
OBiTuAriES, 5BinDEx
wEATHEr, 12A
PArTLy CLOuDyHigH: 94 LOw: 72Alex Bryant,Sacred Heart
6 666000 22222
Oil on Alabama beaches worst since spill
Dave Martin/Associated Press
Crude oil from the Deepwater Hori-zon oil spill washes ashore Satur-day in Orange Beach. Please see OiL ❙ Page 11A
LifE, 1D
By DAniEL gADDyStar Staff Writer
Sister Jane O’Connor, the new director of a long-standing charitable organization in Anniston, fires a quick response when asked about her prede-cessor.
“I’m taking her position, but I could never fill her shoes,” she said.
O’Connor recently took over Sister Mary Roy’s duties at the All Saints Inter-faith Center of Concern. The organiza-tion helps Anniston residents in need of food, clothing and financial assistance. Roy served as director of the center for 27 years, earning in that time not just accolades from other civic leaders but also a ceremonial “Key to the City” and The Anniston Star’s 2009 Citizen of the Year Award.
“She [Roy] is the nearest thing to a saint we’re going to find in this lifetime,” said Charles Doster, advisory board member of the Center of Concern. “She is the Mother Teresa of Anniston, but saying that brings out the worst in her.”
Roy left the center after breaking her hip in March. She relocated to the Con-necticut headquarters of her order, the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, where she receives medical care.
O’Connor said she hopes to meet the needs of her clients with the same com-passion and love Roy displayed.
“I feel like I’m treading in the joys
and sorrows of all she experienced here,” she said.
Robin Gladd, office manager of the center, said O’Connor eased into her new job as if it was second nature.
“She just took it and started running with it,” she said. “She’s given them hope and spiritual guidance. I think they’re walking out of here better than when they came in.”
O’Connor said her success is due directly to the work of staff members like Gladd and Sandra Hall, the assis-tant director of the center.
“They’ve been very helpful and very friendly; I couldn’t do it without them,” O’Connor said.
In addition to food and clothing, the nonprofit Center of Concern also pro-vides financial assistance with medical bills, prescriptions, utilities and trans-portation for those in need.
O’Connor transferred to the center from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Prattville, where she served as a pas-toral assistant. However, she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and reared in Wash-ington, D.C. and Maryland. She has a master’s degree in religious education and has worked in Catholic social ser-vices in Philadelphia as well as parishes in Virginia and Mississippi.
New director fills hole in local charitySister Jane O’Connor assumes leadership of Center of Concern
Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star
Sister Jane O’Connor took over Sister Mary Roy’s responsibilities at the All Saints Interfaith Center of Concern in Anniston.
Please see DirECTOr ❙ Page 11A
I’m boooored!THE SUMMER LIST: 46 things
to do with the kids this summer, besides go to the pool.
By Laura Johnson
OXFORD — About 75 children con-
verged on the grounds of the Home
Depot in Oxford Saturday for a building
workshop that was about more than just
construction.
All of them members of local Boys
and Girls Clubs, the children were
assisted by Home Depot employees,
club volunteers and local first-respond-
ers. Together with the volunteers, they
built birdhouses, bird feeders and min-
iature planters.
“They’re gaining a sense of confi-
dence in something they are doing that
is hands-on. It just helps them to create
something,” said Johnny Bird, the club
executive director for east central Ala-
bama.Each child wore a miniature orange
Home Depot apron with his or her
name written on it in black ink. At one
station, children as young as 6 used
hammers to pound nails into pre-fab-
ricated woodblocks to make the bird-
houses as volunteers assisted.
Children at another station used
markers to draw faces on disposable
cups before packing dirt and planting
grass in them. The end product, would
look something like a Chia Pet, with
the cup serving as a substitute for pot-
tery and the grass eventually giving the
appearance of hair.
At a third station, kids used orange
yarn to thread Cheerios, which could
later be hung on trees as “bird feeders.”
Home Depot holds workshops
for kids on the first Saturday of every
month, but this particular Saturday’s
workshop was larger than most. An
average Saturday’s attendance is more
like 20, organizers said.
“We have a lot of centers going
because we had a lot of kids,” said Ash-
ley Mitchell, who works in the store’s
paint department, but also coordinates
the workshops. “They’re having a blast.”
The first responders provided extra
assistance to meet the needs of the larg-
er-than-normal group of attendees.
“It’s fun,” said Rodney Pate with the
Oxford Fire Department. “The kids
seem to like it and we enjoy it. We’d
rather meet them like this than how we
usually do.”
The store also provided hotdogs and
a brief musical performance by one
employee, George Yelder III, who is
also a local musician whose stage name
is C.H.I.C.A.N. George. The acronym
stands for “Coming Hard In Confusion
And Negativity.” He said he hoped he
could serve as a positive role model for
children, like those at Saturday’s event.
“I enjoy doing community work,”
Yelder said. “I try to spread a positive
message.”
Contact staff writer Laura Johnson at
256-235-3544.
regioneditor: Ben Cunningham, [email protected] • Sunday, June 13, 2010 • Page 6B
The Anniston Star
Bettye elkins: Of God’s calling in young lives...
“Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old, he will not depart
form it.” — Proverbs 22:6
It came as no surprise
that when I asked, the
lady sitting across from
me at her kitchen table
reached quickly to mem-
ory — and verbatim — for
that one verse from Prov-
erbs. She also handed me
a note she holds dear ...
“You are God’s faith-
ful servant who teaches
our class about God’s love
by demonstrating that someone cares and
loves and has the desire in her heart to see
them grow in Christ.”
The note was from a former member of
her Sunday School teaching ... 51 years to
be specific.
And that, on a recent Sunday, was rec-
ognized by First Baptist of Saks where, for
49 of those 51 years, she has taught Sunday
School to third-graders.
From a plaque she also let me read ...
“For 51 Years Of Teaching God’s Word To
Our 3rd Grade Sunday School Class ... Your
Faithfulness And Selfless Service Has Been
An Inspiration To All ... We Love You.”
The first two years, if you’re wondering,
were at First Baptist of Sylacauga.
Roll all that around in your mind ... 51
years of teaching kids “in the way he (she)
should go.”
That’s just a smidgen over a half cen-
tury.Oh ...Her name is Bettye Whiten Elkins and
she has been married to Bill Elkins 60
years. You could say Bettye Whiten Elkins
is a “stayer” in just about everything she
does.
Especially in her faith, one that she first
knew as a small child in a Cleburne County
family of 11 kids whose parents, C. C. and
Mamie, knew two things ... hard work and
faith.Bettye talks about that ...
“Mother was very quiet, but she had
enormous faith. She didn’t make a big thing
of it. Her faith was between her and God.
One thing was she didn’t believe in doing
any work on Sunday. You didn’t even press
your dress (for church) on Sunday. You did
that on Saturday. Sunday was a holy day at
our house.”
There is reasoning behind Bettye’s pref-
erence in teaching faith to the young.
“I love children. I don’t do good with
adults. A child is honest with you, adults
will give you all these excuses as to why they
don’t come to Sunday School or something.
Children are honest with you.”
The church of her childhood is a far
cry, in time as well as distance, from the
soaring cathedral and stained glass of First
Baptist of Saks.
“Happy Hill Baptist Church. It was just
up the road from our house, about three
miles. We walked it every Sunday.”
Born in 1930, there was the Great
Depression when she was small, but she
doesn’t recall times being all that hard.
“We were poor, but I didn’t know we
were poor. Everybody we knew was just
like us. I don’t remember ever going hun-
gry. My husband, Bill, gets tickled at me
about cornbread. Doesn’t matter what we
have for supper, when we get through, I
always fix me a small glass of cornbread
and milk.
“He says you can take the girl out of the
country, but you can’t take the country out
of the girl.”
GeorgeSmith
Senior Editor
Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
Children participate in a mock accident
drill at EMA Camp Saturday.
Please see george ❙ Page 5B
Home Depot in Oxford aids Boys and Girls Club
Creative crafters
+
+
George Smith/The Anniston Star
Bettye Elkins has taught Sunday School at First Baptist of Saks for 49 years.
By Laura Johnson
JACKSONVILLE — Calhoun County
might just be a little safer thanks to an area
day camp held this past week.
About four dozen children and teens, ages
8 to 19, took part in a “Youth Preparedness
Camp” hosted by the Calhoun County Emer-
gency Management Agency. The kids spent
five days — about four hours a day at the
Jacksonville Community Center — learning
about first aid, search and rescue, fire safety,
pet safety, disaster preparedness, disaster
sociology and terrorism response.
“The camp is just to teach them to take
care of themselves and their family until
someone comes, if something happens,” said
camp director Debbie Blevins. “It may be
hours until someone can come get you.”
This marks the first year the local EMA has
offered the camp, but Blevins said she plans
on expanding the program. She is scheduling
a similar camp for home-school children in
the fall and is already planning on holding a
summer camp in 2011.
She said it can be particularly beneficial
for the older teens looking toward careers
in disaster preparedness. Brothers Michael
Leavitt, 16, and Peter Leavitt, 14, of Pleasant
Valley agree.
Michael said he is interested in pursuing
a career with the EMA while Peter said he
wants to work for a local emergency response
agency one day. Both said the camp was more
than fun, they said it was also informative.
“They did a very good job of presenting
their information to us,” said Michael. “I think
it would be a good idea for the community to
be doing things like this more often.”
The camp is also serving as a recruitment
ground for another EMA disaster-prepared-
ness program called the Community Emer-
gency Response Team (CERT). Peter said
after participating in the camp, he now wants
to take part in both the teen and adult CERT
programs.
“It was good,” Leavitt said. “I learned a lot
of things I didn’t know.”
Their mom, Denise Leavitt, said she signed
the boys up after hearing about the program
from a family friend. Their 7-year-old sister
was also able to unofficially participate in the
program for a day or two.
“I thought it was wonderful. The stuff that
they learned is very applicable to the times
we live in,” Denise said. “For the teenagers,
if they want to pursue it further, this gives
them enough of idea about what these first
Area kids learn
first-responder
eMA techniques
Please see eMa ❙ Page 5B
Photos by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
ABOVE: Sasha Collins drives a nail home as she builds her birdhouse Saturday at Home Depot. BELOW: Home
Depot employees and volunteers assist children from local Boys and Girls clubs build birdhouses.
FOODEditor: Lisa Davis, [email protected],
256-235-3555 • Wednesday, June 16, 2010 • Page 4A
The Anniston Star
+
+
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press
The idea behind this pork version of the sloppy joe sandwich
wasn’t just to come up with an alternative to ground beef.
I wanted something with a totally different — dare I say, meaty
— texture. Because face it, sloppy joes may be tasty, but the flavor and
texture of whatever meat goes into them usually gets lost beneath a
heavy sauce. So rather than use ground meat, I opted for chopped.
About 10 seconds in the food processor was all it took to get meaty
chunks perfect for piling onto a bun.
I opted for pork because, well, that’s what I had handy. But I did
test the approach later with beef. It was good, but it was a little too
steak-like, as though it should have cheese on it instead of sauce. Pork
loin cutlets and boneless country-style pork ribs produced the best
results. To keep things easy, I used bottled barbecue sauce. You also
could substitute your own by blending tomato paste, garlic powder,
salt, pepper, brown sugar, cumin and a bit of cider vinegar.
BARBECUE PORKY JOES
1 pound pork loin cutlets (or other lean cut of pork)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
1 cup prepared barbecue sauce
4 hamburger buns
Place the pork in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the pork in
short bursts until well chopped, but not finely ground.
In a large skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. Add the onion and
pepper and saute for 6 minutes. Add the pork and saute until lightly
browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove the skillet
from the heat. Stir in the barbecue sauce, then serve on the buns.
The Pentagon’s brownie recipe
We want to pass on a wonderful brownie
recipe we’ve just discovered.
It comes from the Defense Logistics Center
at the Defense Supply Agency in Philadelphia.
It sets forth in 26 pages of Pentagonese what
you need to do to whip up a bunch of choco-
late-covered brownies or oatmeal cookies.
These treats are intended to be packaged in
MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), which means they
have to survive years on a shelf, high desert
heat, desperate mountain cold and a possible
drop from an aircraft.
Specification MIL-C-44072 (the brownie rec-
ipe) is an Internet sensation, with some critics
saying it demonstrates how nuts the Pentagon’s
red tape requirements are.
The recipe contains requirements for water,
cocoa, dextrose, soda, eggs, salt, chemical leav-
ening, flavoring, vitamins, pregelatinized starch,
wheat gluten, emulsifiers, antioxidants and fat.
Whip it all up in the proper proportions
as contained on pages seven and eight of the
recipe, and “pour batter into pan at a rate that
will yield uncoated brownies, which, when
cut so as to meet the dimension requirements
specified in section 3.4f (31/2 inches by 21/2
inches by 5/8ths inch), will weigh approximate-
ly 35 grams each and bake at 350 until done (30
to 45 minutes).
You don’t even want to know about the choc-
olate topping or the rodent infestation rules.
Sandra Lee conquers politics?
Food Network star Sandra Lee is known for
mixing ingredients many cooks would never
think of.Now that her long-term partner New York
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is running
for governor of New York, it’s unclear how much
politics she will mix in with her lifestyle career.
Lee, 43, turned a flare with draperies into
Kurtain Kraft and made millions when she was
still in her 20s.
She has worked her way up from informer-
cials to a lifestyle empire that includes not only
her Food Network shows, but a magazine and
more than a dozen cookbooks.
Lee and Cuomo met at a party in 2005 at a
mutual friend’s house in the Hamptons.
New cookbook: fruit desserts
Vegetarian cooking guru Deborah Madison,
who has also worked as a pastry chef, puts her
knowledge to good use in Seasonal Fruit Des-
serts (Broadway Books, 2010), a book stocked
with no-fuss desserts that exploit summer’s
just-from-the-farm sweetness.
Some of her simplest recipes require no bak-
ing at all: plums are gently sauteed with a touch
of cardamom, while the hollows of fat summer
melons are filled with berries, wine and herbs.
If you do turn on the oven, a berry and peach
cobbler gets crunch from corn flour, and easy
folded pies are filled with grapes or mulberries,
blackberries and other summer treats.
Ask a cook: Freezing lasagne
Q: A friend and I are making lasagne for a
neighbor who had surgery. If we want to give
our neighbor the option of freezing the lasagne,
should we cook it or leave it uncooked?
A: Personally, I prefer to assemble, freeze
and then bake. This has a couple of advantages.
First, the pasta doesn’t get as mushy. In fact,
if you use enough sauce and make sure the
noodles are well-covered, you don’t even have
to boil them first.
Second, it saves a step because you don’t
have to thaw the lasagne. You can bake it
straight from the freezer. Just add a little extra
time to the baking, maybe 15 minutes.
A couple of tricks make it easier. First, line
the baking pan with foil. After the lasagne is
frozen, remove it, wrap it well and store it in the
freezer in a large resealable freezer bag. That
frees up your lasagne pan. If you deliver it in a
disposable pan, your neighbor won’t have to
fuss with returning a dish.
If you use ricotta in your recipe, drain it well
and make sure to use whole-milk ricotta, to
keep it from getting watery.
(E-mail questions about cooking to Kathleen
Purvis at [email protected].)
— Compiled by Lisa Davis
from staff and wire reports.
100ITEMSor LESS
Where to pick
It’s time to
pick some
blueberriesWE FOUND
OUR ThRiLL
Chopped pork the secret
to meaty sloppy joes
Larry Crowe/Associated Press
By BRett BRalley
Star Staff Writer
Several local farmers allow resi-
dents to come and pick berries right off
the bushes:
7 Springs Farm
Owned by Rodney Petty, this farm
opened about two years ago. Petty
grows a variety of crops, including
blueberries, which he sells for $3.50
a pint. Petty says he tries to make the
gathering process a family affair, by
offering something to drink to his cus-
tomers, and allowing children to feed
the baby goats or other animals on his
farm so they can learn what goes into
taking care of animals. Open 7 a.m.-8
p.m. daily. 588 Seven Springs Road,
Wellington, 256-473-9191.
Bennett’s Blueberry Farm
The berries at Bennett’s won’t be
ripe till the end of the month, but it
looks to be a good crop. Check the
website for updates. You can pick your
own, or they’ll pick for you. The farm
will be open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Thurs-
day and Saturday. 535 Ellie’s Lane,
Anniston, 256-236-6410, www.ben-
nettsblueberryfarm.com.
Bill & Faye Graham
Bill Graham says his blueberries
should be ready for picking by June
18 or 19. He asks that customers bring
their own containers for gathering, if
possible. Graham charges $8 a gallon,
and typically he is open from sun up to
sun down daily. 3015 Alabama High-
way 204, Jacksonville, 256-435-1125.
Jerry’s Berries
Jerry and Sheila Gilbert allow cus-
tomers to pick berries for $7 a gallon.
Sheila Gilbert estimated that berries
should be ready for picking by June
20. They do provide buckets for pick-
ing, but ask that customers bring their
own materials to carry the berries
home. Open daily from sun up to sun
down.1281 Dogwood Lane, Jackson-
ville, 256-435-4247.
Craft Blueberry Farm
The farm, owned by Randall and
Teresa Craft, will start selling blueber-
ries June 19. The Crafts charge $6 a gal-
lon if visitors pick their own blueber-
ries or $14 a gallon if they want to buy
them already picked. Teresa Craft said
they provide buckets to pick with and
put the berries into freezer bags after
weighing them. The farm is open from
7 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.
4060 Eastaboga Road, Talladega, 256-
362-7350, www.craftblueberryfarm.
net.
Tips for picking
Teresa Craft, of Craft Blueberry
Farm in Talladega, suggests pickers
arrive early to beat the heat.
“There’s not a lot of air circulating
in the rows on the blueberry farm,” she
said. “It’s really hot.”
Another thing to keep in mind,
Craft said, is that blueberries are unlike
other fruits. They won’t continue to
ripen after they’ve been picked. “It’s
not like a green tomato that you can sit
in front of the window and let it ripen,”
she said. “You need to make sure
you’re picking them ripe.”
The best way to tell if they are ripe
is by tasting one. A light white dust-
ing over the berries indicates they are
ready to be picked, she said.
Don’t wash the blueberries before
freezing them because it will make the
skin quite tough, she added.
Craft advised pickers to wear sun-
screen, bug spray and prepare how-
ever they would for spending extended
amounts of time outdoors. She sug-
gested customers wear a belt, so they
can attach their buckets to their waists
and pick with two hands.
“And bring a buddy to pick with,”
she said. “It goes faster.”
By Joan oBRa
McClatchy Newspapers
The berries are ripe for the picking starting this
week at local pick-your-own blueberry farms. Sure,
it’s easier to pick up a pint of berries at the supermar-
ket, but it’s also more expensive. And you don’t get
the pleasure of eating your fill as you pick berries still
warm with sunshine.
Whether in the supermarket on or the bush, look for
full, rounded berries covered with the white, powdery
coating called bloom. Avoid shriveled and leaky ber-
ries.At home, store them in the refrigerator, and do not
wash them until just before using. They’ll keep in the
refrigerator for five to seven days, or you can place
them in sealed plastic bags in the freezer.
If you’re going to freeze berries, don’t wash them
before freezing. If wet, the berries will stick together
and get icy. They will keep in the freezer for up to a
year, but like all other frozen foods, it’s best to eat them
within a few months.
Blueberries are known for their high levels of anti-
oxidants, which help prevent cell damage.
To get the most health benefits from blueberries, eat
them plain and uncooked.
For those compelled to tinker in the kitchen, the
sweet-tart flavor of blueberries work well in sweet and
savory dishes. Blueberries add a fruity punch to corn
bread. And with thyme, shallots, and lemon juice,
these little berries are a great sauce for meats.
ReCIPeS, PaGe 5a
www.AnniStonStAr.com
To subscribe to The Anniston Star call (256) 235-9253
where elSe?Where else can you get the best of Northeast Alabama & More!
newS • SportS • lifeStyle
LIFEEditor: Lisa Davis, [email protected] • Sunday, June 13, 2010 • Page 1D
The Anniston Star
LisaDavis
Features Editor
Our household is fish-
less for the first time in two
years. The first goldfish
entered the menagerie two
summers ago. There were
two of them, one for my
son, one for my daughter.
We went shopping at a
specialty fish store, because
I like to shop at local, inde-
pendent stores when I can.
My daughter picked out
a fish with a golden head
and a flowing fantail. She
named it Tiger.
My son picked out a fish
that was spotted gold and
white and black. He named
it Ralph.They didn’t make it
through the summer.
There was an unfortu-
nate lapse of judgment on
my part when we went to
the beach and I put way,
way too much self-feeder in
the fishbowls.
I felt so guilty, we imme-
diately went back to the
store for replacement fish.
My daughter picked out
an orange fish with black
and white spots and a fan-
tail. She named it Trumpet.
My son got a bubble-eye
fish, a fancy breed whose
eyes literally stick out of
the sides of their heads. He
named it Ralph II.
It didn’t make it through
the night.
Next came a jellybean
fish, a cute little orange-
and-white thing that really
did look like a jellybean.
It lasted a couple of days.
At this point, we stopped
going to the local, indepen-
dent store, where the exotic
goldfish cost $6 each and
need fancy aquarium tanks
and filters and other noisy
equipment and should
never have been sold to us
in the first place. Instead,
we went to Wal-Mart,
where the fish cost 32 cents.
My son picked out a
speedy little orange fish.
He named it Small.
Small made it a whole
year. When I felt stressed, I
would sit and watch Small
swim in lazy circles, and it
would calm me down.
Last summer, Small
and Trumpet were joined
by Ruby and Flo, when my
son’s teacher gave him the
class goldfish.
At some point in there,
we added another fish,
named Blackie.
And then, for reasons
unknown — maybe an
algae bloom, or drought, or
BP — there was a massive
fish kill.Flo went first (or maybe
it was Ruby), quickly fol-
lowed by Ruby (or maybe it
was Flo), then Small, then
Blackie.Through just about all of
this, Trumpet survived.
It was not easy. He had
a condition called swim
bladder, which caused him
to float upside down a lot.
We eventually got used
to finding him floating
on the top of his bowl,
but not being dead.
My daughter loved
that fish. She read up on
fish care. She fed him a
special diet of wheat germ,
lettuce and frozen peas.
Every night before she
went to sleep, she would
watch Trumpet. He liked to
blow bubbles.
When Trumpet died, my
daughter grieved. My heart
ached for her, but I was
also glad in a way. Grief is a
lesson we all have to learn,
and my daughter learned
it well, and I was glad that
it was only a fish, even if it
wasn’t only a fish to her.
The fish all got proper
burials in a tiny patch of
flowerbed outside the
kitchen door. Trumpet has
a place of honor.
+
+
Jumping
the goldfish
I’m boooored!46 things to do with the kids this summer,
besides go to the pool. PAGES 5-6D.
THE SuMMER LIST
Special to The Star
By Heidi StevenS
Chicago Tribune
Reality is a tricky teaching tool when it
comes to parenting.
On the one hand, you want to shield your
children from images and stories that will
frighten them or cause them anxiety. On
the other, you want to teach them perspec-
tive and knowledge about the world around
them.If you want your child to have empathy,
you can — and should — do both, experts
say.“You don’t feed a baby a steak,” says
Homa Sabet Tavangar, author of Growing Up
Global: Raising Children to Be at Home in the
World (Ballantine Books). “You give them
age-appropriate portions and the right con-
sistency, but you do need to feed them.”
So it is with “feeding” them reality.
When an earthquake struck Haiti in Janu-
ary, Tavangar pre-screened a photo slide-
show on a newspaper Web site to show her
6-year-old. The images showed the ravaged
island and survivors living in tents.
“You want to humanize the dignity and
strength of the people experiencing the
disaster, so it’s not just ’those people,”’ she
says. “A natural part of growing up is knowing
the world has justice and injustice and there
are things we care about and things we can
change and things we need to change.”
In her book, Tavangar writes: “Once you
and your children feel a closer connection
to what is going on in the world and how
others live, play, study, eat, worship and cel-
ebrate, it is natural that you will care about
the health and survival of the planet and its
inhabitants — whom you regard as your fam-
ily and friends.”
But don’t wait for a natural disaster to
start imparting empathy. The lessons can
happen in daily doses. Here are five tips to
get you started.
Meet your child’s needs. Children are
naturally self-centered, and nurturing
them can actually help them become less
so. “When a child’s needs are met in all the
ways they have needs — emotional, physi-
cal, spiritual — they don’t have to put energy
into getting their own needs met, and they
have energy left over to direct in other ways,”
says Warren B. Seiler, child and adolescent
psychiatrist and author of Battling the Enemy
Within: Conquering the Causes of Inner
Struggle and Unhappiness. “They become
other-centered. Empathy comes from being
loved and cherished and watched over as a
child goes from birth onward.”
Don’t overindulge. “If you meet all your
child’s needs, you can’t cause any problems,”
Seiler says. “If you meet all their wants, that’s
a different story.”
It’s important for kids to know that you
aren’t what you buy, Tavangar says. “You can
keep buying your kids stuff and keep enter-
taining them, and it will never be enough,
and it will never help them feel satisfied,” she
says. “That only happens when they learn
to give back. That’s when you get depth and
meaning in your life.”
Be a role model. “When a child grows
up in an empathetic environment, they
know what it looks like and what it feels like,”
Tavangar says. “Who are your friends? Who
do you invite to your dinner table? What kind
of service are you engaged in? Do you talk
that stuff through? ’We’re devoting a portion
of our annual budget to this cause because
On GarDEnInG
What NOT
to step on in
the gardenPAGe 2d
CarInG wIthOut SCarInG
how to teach kids to care about the world
without frightening them off the planet
Please see cArinG ❙ Page 2D
Snakes,
poison ivy
and more ... +
+
sportsEditor: Bran strickland, [email protected] • sunday, June 13, 2010 • page 1C
The Anniston Star
Clemson super regional | AlAbAmA 5, Clemson 4
Patrick Collard/Associated Press
Alabama’s Jake Smith jumps over Clemson’s Chris Epps as he slides into third base during the Clemson Super Regional
of the NCAA baseball tournament on Saturday. Alabama won 5-4, taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
good start
AssociAted Press
Clemson, s.C. — Jake smith got
Alabama started then made sure the
Crimson Tide held on for a 5-4 vic-
tory over Clemson in saturday night’s
opening game of the nCAA Clemson
super Regional.
smith launched a long home run in
the second inning to give the Tide (42-
23) an early lead.
After the Tigers (41-23) cut a 5-0
deficit to one run, smith moved over
from third base and got
the last six outs for his
sixth save. smith got
out of the eighth with
help from a double
play. He retired three
straight Tiger hitters in
the ninth, the first two with
strikeouts.
“It’s not a big deal,” said smith, who
took over on the mound after Wilson
boyd opened the Clemson eighth with
a single. “I just come in and throw
strikes.”
they’lltake it
legendary Alabama football coach
bear bryant said a tie was like kissing
your sister.
must be different with futbol.
The Americans played england
to a 1-1 deadlock to send U.s. soccer
fans into tizzy with the team’s chances
going forward in the World Cup and
the brits walking off the field with their
heads hung low.
The key play was a gaffe on the part
of england keeper David Green, who
muffed an easy shot by Clint Dempsey
and allowed it to roll in, tying the
game.The rest of Group C plays today, as
slovenia takes on Algeria.
For more, see Page 9C
Blanchard
mullingnext stepCoty blanchard already has won
the state’s mr. Football award. but now
he’s got to decide if baseball is what he
wants to do.
Despite being
drafted late,
blanchard’s father,
Fran, said the balti-
more orioles have
come with an offer
that the Cherokee
County standout
must at least think
about, and that deci-
sion could come as early as monday.
For story, see Page 2C
“The whole key
to that game was
the third inning.”— Jack Leggett,
Clemson coach
smith spots Tide early lead, helps it hang on
Braves squeeze
past Minnesota
brooks Conrad filled in neatly for Chipper Jones, making
two nice plays at third base and then driving in the go-ahead
run with a squeeze bunt in the ninth inning saturday night
that lifted the Atlanta braves past minnesota 3-2.
Conrad also hit an RbI double. He was put into the
braves’ lineup about a half-hour before the game — no rea-
son was given for Jones’ absence.
For story, see Page 7C
today: Alabama at Clemson,
Game 2, 6 p.m.
Please see alabama ❙ Page 3C
Elise Amendola/Associated Press
From left, England’s Frank Lam-
pard, Wayne Rooney and Shaun
Wright-Phillips leave the pitch after
their team picked up a lackluster
1-1 draw against the U.S.
Paul Battaglia/Associated Press
For story, see Page 11C
Earnhardt
still upbeat
everybody seems to be doing it, and even we’ve got a take
on how it should be done ... at least for the seC.
C o l l e G e C o n F e R e n C e
For more, see Page 5C
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18 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Health
Holiday survival guideTips for surviving the stress of the busy holiday season
By Erin WilliamsSpecial to the Star
The holidays can be a great time of fun, fellow-ship — and feeling frazzled. Each year, the timeframe between Halloween and New Year’s Day becomes chock full of parties, shopping and socializing, not to mention the additional stress already brought on by work and family life. Some local experts offer tips on how to survive the holiday season, with tips for stay-ing calm, staying on a diet and staying fit.
STAY CALMCounselors Ashley L. Garrett and Ginger Caudell of Garrett
Counseling & Consulting in Jacksonville offer some of their best tips for keeping calm through the stress of the holidays — or anyday.
1. ’Tis better to give.“Being kind to others
has been linked to bet-ter physical and mental health,” says Garrett. Caudell suggests volun-teering, which can pro-vide more benefit than any gift could. “Focusing on the needs of others helps control the tenden-cy to be overly focused on personal issues such as grief and sadness.”
2. Block out the bad.“Feeling connected to positive
things and people can help move you from a place of sadness and heartache to a place of lightheartedness,” Garrett says, adding that making a list of good times to refer to can serve as a pleasant reminder. To move away from unpleas-ant thoughts, Garrett advises employ-ing the cognitive behavioral technique of “thought-stopping,” “where you con-sciously stop thinking about something negative and painful while replacing it with more positive statements.”
3. Get off the computer — and out the door.
“Although social network offers great support, maintain-ing a connection in person is vital for many relationships,” says Garrett, who encourages getting coffee with a friend or trading emails with a co-worker for one-on-one conversation. “Strive to have positive physical touch with those you care about on a daily basis, even if it is a simple handshake.”
4. Take time to grieve.“Just because it is the holiday
doesn’t mean you always have to be happy,” says Garrett, who encourages confronting those “moments of sadness.” Further-more, creating your own holiday memories with new traditions can bring forth new experiences for the whole family to enjoy. “Hold close those few traditions that really mean a lot to you and dare to add something new,” says Garrett.
5. Don’t forget the kids.
With the holidays being such a compact, high-energy time, tantrums are bound to rear their heads, says Gar-rett. “When making a holiday schedule, include children’s input when possible. When children feel as if they have some control over their lives, they become more flexible on those things where choices are not available.”
19HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
1. Drink up.Flannagan recommends
beginning your day with 16 ounces of water — and continu-ing to increase from there. Stay-ing hydrated early can prevent crashes later. “Most people are chronically dehydrated,” says Flannagan, who says that lack of water results in “quick false energy fixes” like caffeine and sugar. “Thirst is often mistaken for an unquenchable hunger, and if you do find yourself ‘thirsty,’ I believe pure water is the only thing that will abso-lutely hydrate.”
2. Don’t “save up.”To keep your metabolism
at a regular level, Flannagan recommends eating a small meal or snack consisting of fiber, protein and healthy fat at least every three waking
hours. While the idea of hold-ing out for a big meal may seem intriguing in theory, Flannagan warns that the results could be tragic: “The body does not think like that,” she says. A slowed metabolism can follow, and “99 percent of the time it leads to consuming more calories than would have been con-sumed in the skipped meal and the meal saved up for com-bined.”
3. Limit your choices.Bringing a dish to a meal?
Make it healthy, says Flanna-gan. “Be in control of your envi-ronment whether it is a home or office,” says Flannagan. If you know you have a weakness for those sugary cookies or fried latkes, “Do not bring them into your environment, or arrange your environment to where your temptations are limited.”
Instead of baking a whole spread of holiday goodies, pick just one of your favorites that you do not expect to enjoy else-where.
4. Eyes on the prize.Flannagan encourages tak-
ing the time to focus on your health plan of action now, in order to make good decisions later. “We tend to become our thoughts, so if we think often of our goals we cannot help but take steps to reach them,” she says. Also, nothing saves more money — or time — by cooking ahead and not feeling the need to stuff yourself with unhealthy foods. “Knowing that there is little to do to have a meal on the table at home makes it much more appealing than settling for a quick fix that is incongru-ent with your diet and health goals,” says Flannagan.
5. But give yourself some wiggle room.
The pumpkin pie that Aunt Clara only makes every Thanksgiving is worth holding out for, says Flannagan. “Plan ahead and pick your favorite holiday foods that are not available year-round, and have a sensible portion without feeling guilty.” Be aware, however, that one too many cheese straws doesn’t mean you should stay off the wagon until after January. “Remind yourself that it’s not too late to make healthier deci-sions going forward.”
1. Make exercise the priority.
Don’t have the time or energy to concentrate on both diet and fitness? “If you have to choose between focusing on your eating or exercise, choose exercise,” Flan-nagan cautions, adding that staying active will help soften the New Year’s blow. “If you keep up with your exer-cise, you will not feel like you have to start over at the New Year.”
2. Exercise in short bursts.Between the added travel time,
cooking, shopping and daily work and life responsibilities, adding in an hour at the gym may seem daunt-ing. Flannagan encourages adding in “short bursts of exercise” that don’t even need equipment, “such as pushups, jumping jacks, squats,
planks or leg raises. Time yourself and do as many as you can in 30 sec-onds, take a 30-60 second break and repeat.”
3. Walk and talk.Have that yearly heart-to-heart
with your favorite cousin while hit-ting the walking track, or make time for your high school friends while holiday shopping, advises Flanna-gan. “When we desire to spend more time with others during the holidays, it can cut into our ‘me’ time that often includes exercise.” Planning an activity that’s both social and fit can kill two birds with one stone.
4. Host a fitness exchange.While ornament or cookie
exchanges are great seasonal tradi-tions, a DVD swap centered around
your favorite fitness techniques is a present that can stay present long after the holidays are over. “This will keep you and your friends from get-ting bored with your regular routine and challenge your body at the same time,” says Flannagan.
5. Hold the office accountable.
Keep your co-workers moving by beginning a holiday fitness chal-lenge. “Select a specific exercise to do every 60-90 minutes during the day,” says Flannagan. The added benefit of using exercise to both compete and relieve stress can be a big mental help. “You know how good exercise makes you feel, so rather than automatically self-medicating with food or alcohol, be mindful of your option to exercise.”
• Garrett Counseling & Consulting, Jacksonville, (256) 239-5662, www.garrettcounseling.com
• Remedy Wellness, holistic health coaching, remedywellness.com
STAY ON A DIET
STAY FIT
From the Halloween candy bowl to the New Year’s Day brunch, not to mention cookie
swaps, potato pancakes and other seasonal specialties, the holidays are rife with diet
traps. Nine months of staying on the straight
and narrow can go out the window at the sight of a baby quiche on a snowman plate, or that generous slice of coconut cake made by great-grandma just for Thanksgiving dinner.
But don’t fall into the trap of comforting your-
self with the notion of “It’s only once a year.” Dietitian and health coach Kim Flannagan of Remedy Wellness in Anniston offers tips for eating healthy while enjoying the fun of the
season — special treats included!
Dietitian and health coach Kim Flannagan of Remedy Wellness in Anniston also offers tips for staying fit and getting exercise through the busy holiday season.
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In Honor of Carol Woods
You are an inspirational woman
that is incredibly strong, courageous,
and beautiful. You are a cherished blessing
to us all.
Loving and supporting you always,
Kevin, Ashley, Will, Chaz, and Karsen
MaurineHarmon
Celebrating 8 years being cancer
free. Still going strong at 96.
I love you,Jerry
To my loving wife, Becky
With a positive attitude, friend’s and family’s love and support, has beat this cancer.
I love you very much,Hank
Tia Barr
Our journey began four
years ago. What a beautiful
destination we’ve reached.
In our hearts,love,
Mother & Daddy
Honoring those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer
30
69
42
Make a commitment to your breast healthDo it for you. Do it for those who love you.
A 3D mammogram consists of multiple breast images taken in just seconds to produce a 3D image. The doctor looks through the
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Your breast health is our top priority. And, as a part of our
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New 3D Mammography at Advanced Imaging offers better chance to diagnose breast cancer earlier, at more treatable stages.By: Tara Fulford
Advanced Imaging in Gadsden and Oxford is the fi rst imaging center in Alabama to offer 3D mammography (breast tomosynthesis) for breast cancer screening. Breast tomosynthesis produces a three-dimensional view of the breast tissue that helps radiologists identify and characterize individual breast structures without the confusion of overlapping tissue.
The center’s Selenia Dimensions breast tomosynthesis system is made by Hologic, a world leader in digital mammography. The Selenia Dimensions system offers exceptionally sharp breast images, an advanced ergonomic design providing more patient comfort, and the ground-breaking tomosynthesis platform designed to deliver superior screening and diagnostic performance.
We believe3D Mammography (breast tomosynthesis) will benefi t all screening and diagnostic mammography patients, and is especially valuable for women receiving a baseline screening, those who have dense breast tissue and/or women with a personal history of breast cancer.
Breast cancer screening with tomosynthesis when combined with a conventional 2D mammography has a higher cancer detection rate than conventional 2D mammography alone. Tomosynthesis technology gives radiologists increased confi dence with a signifi cant reduction in recall rates.
The 3D Mammography screening experience is similar to a traditional mammogram. During a 3D exam, multiple, low-dose images of the breast are acquired at different angles. These images are then used to pro-duce a series of one-millimeter thick slices that can be viewed as a 3D reconstruction of the breast.
By offering women the latest technology in mammography, Advanced Imaging expects to increase the num-ber of area women who will be routinely screened. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Statistics indicate that one in eight women will develop breast cancer sometime in her lifetime. The stage at which breast cancer is detected infl uences a woman’s chance of survival. If detected early, the fi ve-year survival rate is 98 percent.
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By Jill Wendholt SilvaMcClatchy Newspapers
Looking for a colossal dose of carot-enoids?
Call on the great pumpkin.After the obligatory wedge of pump-
kin pie for Thanksgiving dinner, this New World native always seems to get the boot. But before you push that can of pumpkin puree to the back of the pantry for another year, consider its health benefits.
For starters, 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin puree has 42 calories and 3.4 grams of fiber. Pumpkin is also a good source of potassi-um, iron, riboflavin, folic acid and vitamin C. But what has really grabbed nutrition headlines in recent years are two carot-enoids known as alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, both powerful phytonutrients.
Like the deep orange, yellow or red fat-soluble compounds found in an array of fruits and vegetables, the winter gourd’s bright orange flesh is nature’s shorthand for carotenoids. The body turns the carot-enoids into vitamin A, which helps boost the immune system and reduces the risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory conditions and macular degeneration.
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines included a reference list of foods high in vitamin A, and pumpkin ranked fourth out of 21 com-mon foods. Still, studies show most Ameri-can adults don’t get enough vitamin A in their diets.
Pumpkin can be cooked like any winter squash, then added to soups and stews. But to create another layer of flavor, add the puree to a traditional dessert. These Pump-kin Gingerbread Bars are moist and cakey, flavored with the traditional molasses and powdered ginger.
Gingerbread is a good holiday choice because it is naturally low in fat and choles-terol. This recipe also is designed to keep the portion sizes in check.
Shopping tip: Canned pumpkin is avail-able year-round. A secret: Most profession-al chefs prefer the convenience and flavor of canned pumpkin over making their own puree. Just make sure you choose a can of pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling that already contains spices.
Per Serving81 calories (10 percent from fat), 1 gram total fat (trace saturated), 31 milligrams cho-lesterol, 17 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, 55 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.
Healthy holiday cookingAdd pumpkin to gingerbread for a healthful sweet treat
Weight Loss
Makes 12 servings
2 eggs1/2 cup brown sugar3/4 cup solid pack pumpkin2 tablespoons molasses1 teaspoon vanilla extract3/4 cup all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground ginger1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square pan with nonstick vegetable spray.
Beat eggs with electric mixer at high speed 2 min-utes. Add brown sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add pumpkin, molasses and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger; stir to blend. Add to pumpkin mixture; stir well.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in cen-ter comes out clean.
Let cool 10 minutes in pan; invert onto platter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
PUMPKin gingerBread BarS
22 HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Tammy Ljungblad/Kansas City Star
23HEALTHY LIVING FALL 2012
Menu for healthA complete dinner that’s quick, easy and diabetic-friendly
Weight Loss
Sliced turkey and refried beans rolled in a tortilla and topped with a spicy tomato sauce make a quick and satisfying lunch or light dinner. You can make it several hours in advance and store in the refrigera-tor. It will just need to be warmed in a microwave before eating.
Helpful Hints• Look for no-sugar-or-oil-
added tomato sauce. Any type of pasta or marinara sauce can be used.
• Shredded, reduced-fat Mexican style cheese can be used instead of Monterey jack.
• Low-fat and no-fat refried beans can be found in the ethnic
section of the supermarket.• If you do not have a micro-
wave, place enchiladas under a broiler for 5 minutes or in a toaster oven.
sHOppinG listTo buy: 1 small package shred-
ded, reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese (1 ounce needed)
1 6-ounce container low-fat fruited yogurt, 1 can low-fat or non-fat refried beans, 1/4 pound sliced turkey breast, 1 small bottle low-sodium, no-sugar-added tomato sauce
(8 ounces needed) and 1 small package 6-inch corn tortillas
Staples: Hot pepper sauce
From “Mix’n’Match Meals in Minutes for People with Diabetes” by Linda Gassenheimer, published by the American Diabetes Association. Reprinted with permission from The American Diabetes Association. To order this book call 1-800-232-6733 or order online at store.diabetes.org.
2 6-inch corn tortillas6 ounces sliced turkey
breast (about 1 to 1 1/4-cups)1/4 cup canned low-fat or
non-fat refried beans1 cup bottled low-sodium,
no-sugar-added tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons shredded, reduced-fat Monterey jack cheese
tuRKeY AnD RefRieD BeAn enCHilADA
Per serving: 335 calories, 4.5 g fat, 2.1 g saturated fat, 83 mg cholesterol, 37 g protein, 35 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, 29 g sugars, 425 mg sodium. Exchanges/Choices: 1 starch, 2 vegetable, 3 lean meat
Place tortillas on a counter top. Divide turkey slices in half and place on tortillas. Spread refried beans over the turkey. Roll up tortillas and place in a microwave-safe dish just big enough to hold them, seam side down. Mix tomato sauce and hot pep-per sauce together and spoon over tortillas. Cover with another dish or plastic wrap and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese. Cover and microwave 1 minute. Divide between 2 plates and serve. Makes 2 servings.
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