I HEART CURRY (and the brain benefits of Turmeric!)

It was brought to my attention while I was slaving in the kitchen cooking my first Curry, that “Turmeric is good for your brain”. Wow! I know science, doctors, surgeries, scans, tests and more tests could be helpful in fixing F’ed up brains, but could my little Curry recipe help as well?

As everyone knows (from my two blog posts which both happen to be cooking and recipe related- humm) I love to cook! I cook for Brian and I, but cooking for a crowd & entertaining is even more fun! Last week I decided to take the plunge into international waters and test of my first home made curry- from scratch I might add.

I will have to admit it was a little more involved that I had originally anticipated. Step One: Make the Curry Sauce, then add the other sauce ingredients & Turmeric, plus don’t forget to marinate the chicken tikka, (ooops). But in the end after making 3 different pages of recipes for one dish- it finally made it onto the plate at 9pm! (Thanks for your patience boys). I am proud to report; all of my dinner party guests were a part of the clean plate club . . . after their second helping of course.

Post dinner conversation, I was very intrigued on the health benefits of the Turmeric I had just added in my curry and why it was good for the brain. Can we include things in our diet to prevent future disease and promote brain health?

Turmeric derived from the plant Curcuma longa, is a gold colored culinary spice, a major ingredient in Indian curries, the source of American mustard's bright yellow color and a relative of ginger (I learn something new every day). Curcumin, which gives the yellow color to turmeric, was first isolated almost two centuries ago, and its structure as diferuloylmethane was determined in 1910. Since the time of 1900 BC, numerous therapeutic activities have been assigned to turmeric. Curcumin exhibits activities similar to recently discovered tumor necrosis factor blockers - which is just what we are looking for! Tumor Blockers for that puncus uncus! Evidence suggests this spice is a promising preventive agent for a wide range of diseases, probably due largely to its anti-inflammatory properties. After my little research session, the bottom line is that the advantages of turmeric (and more specifically Curcumin) are too numerous to list! An overview published in Advanced Experimental Medical Biology in 2007 states that, "Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and thus has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease and other chronic illnesses." That is the most “anti” ingredient I have ever used in my kitchen!

Looks like I will be making lots more Indian Curries in my lifetime. They promote “anti” everything! Did my little Curry recipe help us build better brain health? I think so.

Spring! A season for learning new languages…

I recently started the last term of my first year of medical school. Our new course directors reminded us of two medical school analogies:
1) Medical school is similar to drinking from a fire hose. The material in essence is not the difficulty; it is the rate at which we have to learn the material.
2) Medical school entails learning new languages. In other words, we are barraged with not only new information but words we have never heard before and have no idea how to pronounce.

I am finding the course directors credible. In three weeks and in only one course (neuroscience), we have learned about generating and propagating action potentials, what happens at the synapses, the topographic anatomy of the brain and spinal cord, the vasculature of the brain, the blood brain barrier and how the brain makes cerebral spinal fluid, the morphogenesis of the brain, the organization of the brainstem, glial biology, how the somatosensory system works and audition. Ummmm…what was that you ask? Yes, spring has arrived and it is my season for learning new languages and new information! So, while I learn about the telencephalon, funiculi, and sensory homunculus, I thought I would share a few interesting tidbits with you:

• Did you know the brain develops from a tube? It’s why we have spaces or “ventricles” in our brain around which lies the cerebral cortex and brainstem. Brain development starts early on for the fetus – around the third week and before one might even know she is pregnant.
• The brain weighs around three pounds yet receives almost 20% of total cardiac output. One fifth of the blood that our heart pumps goes to the brain!
• We have around 1,000,000,000,000 neurons in our brain and each one can communicate with multiple other neurons so that the information it sends on is the sum of many inputs. Our brain is complex!
• We have cells in our inner ears called outer hair cells that change their lengths based on electrical signals generated originally by sound and protect our ears from damage. Check out this video (and yes – this is the cell dancing to music)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9bwQuYrRo.

As spring announces itself, I hope you all enjoy lots of time outdoors and take advantage of the vegetables coming into season. After all, we can’t forget to nourish our brains and bodies! Check out our friend Kristin McCurdy’s new food blog at http://daysfork.com/. Not only does she have an outdoor mindset, but she also is a kick-butt chef who has spent years getting dirty on organic farms. No one can make salads like her (yeah – delicious and she has yet to bring the same salad to a dinner I have been to with her). Kristin posts other recipes too (and when our classmate Brooks brings leftovers to class, we all salivate).

Here’s to spring and nourishing our minds and bodies with good food, the outdoors and new languages!

Thanks to you

So as you all know by now, OM is in the middle of our huge March Madness event to raise as much money as possible in March through all sorts of creative activities. We've got a big Adventure Race, a couch potato-thon, a mustache growing event, the list goes on. Jill and I talked over and over about what we wanted to do. We tossed around the idea of running a marathon but decided that it might be a tad ambitious given the fact that we were both averaging about a mile a day. We decided a 5K might be a better place to start!

Next, we had to decide which 5K to run. Being the procrastinators that we are, we waited until about April 31st to get on the computer and really search one out. By this time our options were slightly limited. Out of the 5 available in March, we could both attend 2 of them. There was one that started at a bar and ran around the side streets of Denver, and then there was the "Stop TB" Trot. Although the bar run had its own unique advantages, we collaboratively decided that running for a good cause was more important to us. We also figured out that although Tuberculosis is mainly a disease of the lungs, it can also have strong impacts on the BRAIN as well. We were thrilled to figure this out and obviously excited about finally making a decision about our March Madness event.

Throughout the entire process of trying to find an event and then raise money for OM through these March Madness events, the best thing for me has definitely been receiving the feedback and support from so many people. I mean, the grueling training has been great too, but the enormous amount of people who have come out and shown their interest in OM has definitely been the best. I am constantly overwhelmed by how much care, interest, and support I receive from friends, family, and strangers when OM comes into conversations. At Outdoor Mindset meetings, we always talk about how great we think the things we come up with are, but we sometimes wonder how everyone else will feel? I must say that the feedback and support that I have received alone with my one event has been amazing. It confirms the fact that OM is on the right track and we really have something special going on here, and not just from the boards perspective, but from yours as well! So what I am trying to say is that Outdoor Mindset appreciates you! Thank you all for being who you are and supporting what you believe in. We are all so lucky to be a part of an organization that means something to us personally. It means so much to us that you are a part of OM too!

Team Outdoor Mindset Goes to Moab

So...this is how I was going to start:

Outdoor Mindset will have a presence as “Team OM” in the Adventure XStream Moab Adventure Race. Just as we’ll be navigating our way through the race using nothing but a compass, map and a trust in our designated navigation point person; Outdoor Mindset’s Guide Program has great hopes to inspire our Guides to leverage their own experience in facing a neurological challenge to help navigate OM Travelers through a new diagnosis.

But then I decided that while it’s a good one, I rely on metaphors WAY too much when writing blogs, so forget that idea. Next, I thought about writing this:

While I’ve participated in a few races in the past, for me, the Moab Adventure Race that Team Outdoor Mindset will be competing in will be the most difficult challenge to date, by far. Over 50 miles of kayaking, mountain biking, trekking, rappelling and navigating takes another level and different style of training than I’m used to. However, as will be true during the race; when I’m on my last few miles of any given training day, what pulls me through is thinking of the many people we hope to serve through our Guide Program that find it difficult (or impossible) to enjoy these sports due to the limits of their neurological condition.

Now, while its absolutely true that a week ago I wanted to stop hammering my mountain bike up the hill to take a break; but literal flashes of people unable to get on a bike due to a neuro disorder pushed me through; I realize that this perspective of “why we race” has been done. [que Lance Armstrong]. So then I decided to cover logistics:

We’re pumped to have a team in the Moab Adventure Race on Saturday March 26, 2011. 50 miles, 8 hours, multiple disciplines, a 4 person team (made up of 3 board members, 2 of them brain tumor dudes) and plans to have a hell of a time; or goal is to raise awareness and funds for Outdoor Mindset. Check out our Crowdrise Page. Training is an 8 week minimum and includes all disciplines at various distances as well as core strength work outs. Here’s a snapshot of the typical Training Plan. Sometimes we train individually, sometimes as a team; but having a specific goal in sight with an entire team relying on each other is motivation enough. For a quick video of what’s in store:

Huh...while we think it’s pretty cool, the details might not be the most engaging topic of conversation.

So in the end, I included it all; why not cover what I was thinking when writing about our upcoming Adventure Race and let you pick the story that resonates. Come on...don’t act like you’re not a fan of the Hardy Boys.



We'll be tracking our progress, snapping photos and filming video the whole way. So, stay tuned-in to this blog, Facebook and Twitter to follow along. It's going to be a blast and it's the first of many events that we'll be participating in this summer.

-KM

Let’s get crazy!!!

With intense winter weather pretty much all across the US in the past few weeks, it’s easy to get in winter hibernation mode. But not us at OM! Instead we’re gearing up to do some great things in March. In fact, we’re doing things that are SO great that we’re calling it March Madness and the goal is to raise $25k by March 31st. Sheer madness you may say? Nope… we know we can do it, but we need the help of other great people to reach our goal (as is true for many things in life!) so we’ve started the March Madness fundraising campaign on Crowdrise, an online community that helps pull people together to start projects that all help reach a common goal for non-profit organizations. We need to raise $25k to get our Guide Program up and running on a new online platform that will better match Guides and Travelers, which is one of our main goals at OM – so of course we want to be GOOOOOOD at it!
On our March Madness Crowdrise event, there are many options. First, you can donate directly to the overall campaign. Second, you can create your own project to help raise money for March Madness, and ultimately Outdoor Mindset. Third, you can join other people’s projects, and become part of their team if you like what they’re doing and want to do the same thing.

We already have some AWESOME projects up there. Tony Stafford, a friend of Outdoor Mindset and founder of Boulder Sports Performance (which helps other athletes train to reach their ultimate fitness goals) is trying to break the World Record for the fastest marathon while wearing a 40 pound pack at the Baatan Memorial Death March. MADNESS!!! A group of OM’ers and some friends are doing a Moab Adventure race that includes at 275 foot rappel off a cliff. CRAZY! Kellyn and I are going to run a 5k or 10k… ok that sounds a little more calm and reasonable, but still, we’re doing it for OM and showing that we’re getting outdoors and getting active in March and it’s all for Outdoor Mindset. If all else fails, you should at least donate the money you win from your NCAA March Madness tournament bracket to Outdoor Mindset. All you had to do was drink beer, watch TV, and make educated guesses to win that… I’m just sayin’.


So here’s to raising $25k by March 31st and loving every second of the process: from getting outdoors, harassing our friends and family to donate, and putting it all towards the goal of connecting newly diagnosed individuals with someone else uniquely familiar to the neurological experience they’re going through. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from us soon, so just go ahead and pass the word along now.

Let’s make this 2011 March Madness campaign as cool as this highlight video from the 2010 NCAA Tourney. Now help us 'WIN'! (I especially like those MSU clips...)

New Years Resolutions

Friday we posted the top ten New Years resolutions to our Facebook page. In case you missed it, here they are.

10: Get Organized


9: Help Others


8: Learn something new


7: Get out of Debt


6: Quit Drinking


5: Enjoy Life More


4: Quit Smoking


3: Tame the Bulge


2: Fit in Fitness


1: Spend more time with Friends and Family

As I read this list, I couldn’t help but think of the times in my life where I chose to resolve one of these items in one way or another. Some were more difficult tasks than others, aka-quitting smoking (best decision of my life!) But as I finished reading the list, I began to think about how my resolutions have evolved in conjunction with my lifestyle choices and values.

In 2006, I traveled west of Chicago for the first time in my life and found myself immersed in the Rocky Mountains. From this point in my life until now, the outdoors has been a very inspiring and therapeutic place for me. How could it not be though? Each year, getting outside more than the year before has been tops on my list (especially fly fishing!)

As I gear up for 2011, getting outside more makes the top of my list once again. Having a connection to close friends and an organization such as OM has instilled an appreciation for being able to embark on each adventure the outdoors provides. For this I am thankful.

So here’s to an active and adventurous 2011, no matter what kind of obstacles may arise!

See you on the river!

~Cood

On the Right Track

I arrived in Denver last week and traveled to my previous hometown of Breckenridge, CO for some days of fun and time with friends before heading into the hospital for surgery. I was fortunate enough to meet up with a lot of special folks in my life there, ski into a mountain hut for a night, and enjoy five unbelievable powder days on my tele skis!

I’m replaying all these things in my mind as I type from my hospital bed. I have been in University of Colorado Hospital’s Neuro Monitoring Unit for the past six days after a successful craniotomy to place electrodes on the surface of my brain. Pretty amazing stuff.

I won’t lie, coming out of surgery feels like crap! You have to tough it out. My new costume has some pretty interesting perks and characteristics too. Imagine a hybrid character influenced by Lawrence of Arabia’s turban, Lord Gandolf’s beard, and the infamous droid C3P0’s intricate wiring. Yeah, that ought to paint an accurate picture of my get up.

Since arriving at the hospital I’ve been reflecting on the journey that brought me here. It’s been a humbling experience. My professional career has always been about serving others and now my situation is turned around. These past several months I have been extremely lucky to have my wife, family and friends helping me through every step.

My Guide Diane has always steered me straight from her own experience with her temporal lobectomy. She’s never once sugar coated things or held back important information. “It’s gonna hurt like hell Jake,” she told me once. Those words raised my nerves for a long time while traveling down this road. Now I’m here with a couple of floating sections of skull with wires poking out of my head, and glad she put things so bluntly! I’m prepared to face whatever the docs throw at me.

I’ve been telling every doctor, nurse and technician about Outdoor Mindset (OM) since I got my room here. Kyle brought over OM business cards and a way cool poster that our marketing folks have been working hard on. My wife Jeanie has put those things into good use while giving our room a holiday touch. We have lights, stockings, and ornaments!! Our room is now OM central. It’s pretty hard for the specialists not to ask about it. When they inquire, all the feedback I get is positive. Most are uniquely drawn to the Guide Program we are establishing.

Last week Kyle, my brother, and I patiently awaited ski patrol’s opening of the Lake Chutes at Breckenridge Ski Resort. If you hit it right, and are willing to boot hike up a steep ridge to access the terrain, there are plenty of fresh tracks to make in untouched snow. On that day I took advantage of everything I could get my hands on. As we descended the chute that day, each laying down our own set of tracks, a few things became really clear. I’m on the right track was my first thought. I couldn’t be in a better position going through this neurological surgery procedure thanks to Outdoor Mindset, my wife, family and friends. The second realization that hit me was just how impressive a set of tracks Outdoor Mindset is making as it starts choosing its own path as a non-profit organization. The board of directors has spent the last year working its tail off to make this organization real. We can see the first summit and the organization is on its way to helping a lot of people.