Worldle – A New Game

Private Home Health Care blogged about Worldle for words last year.  There is a new Worldle game that has become wildly popular.  

It’s called Worldle for Countries.  Instead of trying to guess a word, you have to guess the country shown.

Here’s how the game is played:

You can play this game in five languages:  English, Portuguese, Spanish (Espanol) and German (Deutsch).  You can play it on your phone, iPad or computer.

Each country in the game is a real country in the world. 

First, you are shown a black and white outline of the country.

You have five chances to guess the correct one.

When you enter the name of the country and make a guess you see green and orange tiles.  These tiles will tell you how geographically close your guess is to the actual country pictured.

You have to think about how close or far your guess is.  You’ll also know how far it is North, South, East or West.  It’s a great test for your brain!

Hmmm . . .

We wonder if you can guess the countries who play this game the best? It is based on the average number of guesses it takes people to complete the game.   It might be surprising to you:

#1 Sweden – average time to complete the puzzle – 3.72

#2 Switzerland – 3.78

#3 Poland – 3.79

Best score for an English speaking country is Australia and they are tied with Belgium with a score of 3.83.

Here is a link to the game if you’d like to try it:  https://worldle.online/ 

National Bean Day

On this National Bean Day we would like to celebrate the mighty beans and their health benefits.

There are so many different varieties of beans like soy, black beans, pinto and white beans.  In general, beans are a healthy option.  They are high in antioxidants, and they have a low glycemic index rating so they are good if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic.

In addition, beans have both soluble and insoluble fiber.  Soluble fiber helps with your digestive system.  Insoluble fiber shows positive signs of helping reduce the risk of some cancers and helping to reduce heart disease.  You can thank the phytonutrients found in beans for these.

You can add beans to so many recipes!  They are delicious in soups and salads.  You can use them to make black bean burgers and even black bean brownies.  Very tasty!

Private Home Health Care loves beans.  We especially like Boston baked beans.  They are easy to make and they carry lots of nutrients like plant protein, fiber, B vitamins and minerals.  

We have a homemade Boston baked beans recipe to share with you. They are easy to make and this recipe makes enough for a meal for many people.  Leftovers freeze great!

Here is the recipe:

2 lbs. White navy beans

2 tsp. Dried mustard

1 c. molasses (scant)

4 Tbsp. brown sugar (you can use Swerve brown sugar to reduce sugar)

Wash the beans and then soak them overnight in water.  In the morning, drain the beans and put new water in just to cover and cook them on the stove over medium heat.  When you can blow on a couple of beans and the skin starts to crack they are done.  

Place a small whole onion in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Pour in the beans.  Add the dried mustard, molasses and brown sugar.  Cover the beans with water so they are fully immersed.  Cook on high until there is steaming, then change to low.  Cook for approximately five hours, checking intermittently to be sure some water is always covering the beans.  

You can also cook these in a bean pot in the oven.  If you do, you’ll want to follow the bean post directions.

National Spaghetti Day

It’s National Spaghetti Day so time to bring out your favorite spaghetti and have a nice bowl for dinner!  You could have it with a nice red sauce, a pesto or a yummy alfredo sauce to name a few.

Did you know that we saw an estimate online that there were over 300 different types of pastas?  That’s just crazy right?  Spaghetti is one of those and within it there are many different types too.

It’s also unclear how the pasta came to be.  Did it start in China?  Did it start in Italy?   Who knows for sure but in the end does it really matter?  Pasta is a great option if you’d like to have a meatless meal.

Spaghetti is one of the simpler pastas to make because you simply roll and cut the dough.  We aren’t recommending you make it yourself but it’s one reason it is plentiful in stores.  

If you want to be extra healthy there are whole wheat spaghettis and also spaghetti made from chickpeas.  Both of these spaghetti are better for anyone dealing with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

There are stores that carry fresh pasta and while it might be a bit more expensive it is extra delicious.  Look for different sauces there too.

Whatever type of spaghetti you choose and whatever sauce, remember that you can always add vegetables to up the nutrition.  Let your creative side lead the way and eat the vegetables that you like.  Add a nice salad with a homemade dressing.  You’ll have a very nutritious and delicious mea.

Private Home Health Care says mangia!

International Mind-Body Wellness Day

It’s the beginning of a new year so it makes sense that there would be a day for Mind-Body Wellness Day now.  The idea of mind body wellness has actually been around for thousands of years.

The oldest healing science began in India back in 3000-5000 BC and was called Ayurveda. The movement then moved to the Chinese and then the Greeks before it spread across the world.

Additionally, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, osteotherapy, chiropractic and Reiki are other areas of mind-body healing that have come on the scene over the years.

One area that is a hot topic currently is called mindfulness. You can find the practice of mindfulness in elementary, secondary and higher education. It’s even become popular in Corporate America.

You may have tried mindfulness exercises already or you may wonder what it’s all about.  Mindfulness is meditative moments to try and live in the here and now.  You let go of things from the past and you don’t worry about the future.

Mindfulness is a great way to be kind rather than critical of yourself.  It can help manage emotions and keeps your mind from wandering in different directions at once. 

You don’t need a lot of time.  You can practice mindfulness in 5-10 minutes if that’s all you have.  Longer time works too.  It’s up to you.  

You need to find a quiet place.  Sit and take deep breaths.  Focus on your breaths and quiet your mind.  You can play soothing music if that helps.  

The goal is to sit and pay attention to your feelings and emotions without judging them.  Let your mind go and see where your thoughts lead you.

You may discover something that has been subconsciously on your mind.  How will you deal with it?  Perhaps the session will help prepare to focus on work that needs to be done. The possibilities are endless.

Private Home Health Care hopes you can take some time to practice mindfulness.  It can be a great tool to quiet your mind and place you in a calm place.  You should feel less stressed if everything goes well.  That’s always a very nice place to be.

It’s Almost Time  . . .

We are on the cusp of New Year’s Eve when we will look back on 2022 and look forward to the new year of 2023.  This is our last post of the year.

New Year’s Eve is a time when we often reflect on our lives and experiences over the past twelve months. 

What are your reflections on 2022?  Any happy experiences?  Did you travel to any exciting or fun places?  Any regrets or things you wished you had done differently?

Private Home Health Care is reflecting on how grateful we are for the people in our lives.  The patients we care for and the families we have helped. We are hopeful for the year ahead for our community and our country.

Whether you host or attend a new year’s eve party or you spend a quiet night at home we hope that you will feel peace and a hopeful joy.  We leave you with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

National Playing Card Day

Do you like to play cards?  Are you a card shark?  It’s National Playing Card Day so today’s the day to play a game of cards with a friend!

We have the four suits of hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds thanks to the French back in the 1400’s. After the War of the Roses in 1462 the cards and suits spread to England and later Germany. No one actually knows for certain who originally thought of them!

Today you can get a deck of 24 or the more common 52 cards.  According to bfsoftech.com these are the top five most popular card games:

1. Cribbage
2. 500 Rum (also called Rummy 500)
3. Poker
4. Solitaire
5. Hearts

You might also play Go Fish, Crazy Eights, War or Memory with younger or newer players.  These are always fun!

Part of the popularity of cards is the fact that you can take them anywhere.  They are also easy to set up and even though some require skill, you can just get lucky too. Don’t forget about magic tricks.  There are that entertain by doing magic with playing cards

If you want a budget friendly deck of cards that has been around a long time, you could try Bicycle brand cards.  The company has been making cards for over 130 years.  

Today, you can get them in all different brands like Back to the Future, Mythical or Tally-Ho.  So many fun times to be had by playing cards!!

Private Home Health Care hopes that this week you can find time to play whatever game of cards you enjoy.  Have a few laughs and relax!

Happy Birthday, Louis Pasteur

Today is Louis Pasteur’s birthday.  He was born in 1822 in Dole, France and is best known for inventing pasteurization.  

Did you know that he also contributed to findings with germ theory?  His additional research helped to create the anthrax and rabies vaccines as well as TB and cholera vaccines. 

All this is impressive considering he grew up in a poor family with a father who was a tanner. In addition, he was just an average student in grammar school.  Pasteur was more interested in fishing and sketching in those years.  He actually turned out to be exceptional at drawing and painting.

He did get a bachelor’s degree in the arts and in science.  In 1847, at the age of 25, he got a doctorate from the Ecole Normale in Paris. Once he was appointed professor of chemistry and dean of science at the University of Lille his research began.

At this time Pasteur showed that bacterias could sour beer, wine and milk. Based on this knowledge he came up with a process to boil the bacteria and cool it down.  This is the process known as pasteurization.  His first test was in April of 1862, 160 years ago.

In 1865 he helped save the silk industry by preventing a disease that harmed the silk cocoons.This was followed by his first vaccine in 1879 to help with chicken cholera. His true fame came when he cured a 9-year-old-boy bitten by a rabid dog with his rabies vaccine.

Unfortunately, during the time of his research and discoveries he was partially paralyzed with a brain stroke in 1868.  His research did continue but by his 70th birthday his paralysis overtook him so all his research came to an end.  He passed away at the age of 73 in 1895.

Private Home Health Care follows the Pasteur Institute in France.  It is a private, non-profit international research facility that strives to continue research in important areas of science to continue the legacy of Louis Pasteur.

#healthresearch

Winter Solstice

December 21, marked the first day of winter or the winter solstice.  

According to National Geographic, “a solstice is an event in which a planet’s poles are most extremely inclined toward or away from the star it orbits.” 

For you and I living in the Northern Hemisphere the sun is the farthest away from us in winter.  This makes the first day of the new season the “shortest” day of the year because it has the least amount of daylight.

As children, anyone with a birthday today surely felt that life was totally unfair! How could it be that they had the shortest day to celebrate?  Someone needed to tell them that a day is twenty-four hours so they have as much time as anyone!

You could travel to Stonehenge in Great Britain or Machu Picchu and see monuments to the winter solstice but traveling might be a bit too much.

Another way to observe the winter solstice is by reading poetry about it.  It’s an adjustment for many of us to lose the daylight earlier so a bit of poetry could help pass the time.

Read the poem below and see if you can feel the season and the shortest day of the year.  It is from Robert Frost and it’s called “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.The little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound’s the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.

Private Home Health Care finds poetry relaxing.  We hope you can enjoy some poetry, short or long on this “shortest” day of the year.

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

Oatmeal and muffins.  What a great combination!!  

The Oatmeal Muffin is celebrated every December 19th.  It’s a great choice if you are in the mood for a muffin and the good news is that there can be health benefits.

The mighty muffin has been around for a long time, centuries even.  They started out being made with yeast but once they came to America we swapped out the yeast for baking powder. Leave it to Americans to find a faster way to bake!

If you love oatmeal but need a bit of variety in your diet try an oatmeal muffin.  They can be diabetic friendly, and carry some good nutrients like antioxidants.  Low calories is another plus. Add some blueberries for more healthy goodness!

Oatmeal can help with digestion and the whole grains can help reduce your blood pressure too.  There are ongoing studies but oatmeal may help with colon cancer too.

When you make your muffins you can try swapping out healthier ingredients to pack a bigger health punch!  Try using white-whole wheat flour instead of just white flour.  There is a healthy sugar replacement called Swerve (these come in granular and brown sugar) to try and almond milk instead of white milk.  It is doubtful you will find any difference in the taste!

Private Home Health Care loves oatmeal and we believe variety is the spice of life.  We hope you can find a delicious recipe to make and enjoy!