Braving Black Friday: A Mall Survival Guide

Do you feel brave? Do you suffer from Thanksgiving torpor the morning after? Can’t look at that turkey carcass or all those leftover pies another second? There’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of getting a jump on Black Friday bargains at your local humongo-mega-mall to shake off that tryptophan fatigue. But being shoulder to shoulder with, seemingly, the rest of humanity, can make you feel stressed to the max. Here are a few tried and true suggestions for, if not sailing through the sales, at least making the waters a lot easier to navigate:

All-important is the attitude adjustment. Stick these ideas in your head: It probably will be crowded. It may take a long time to find a parking space. If you can make friends with these ideas ahead of time, you will have a much easier day. If you are someone who gets claustrophobic to the point of fainting in crowds or explosively impatient looking for parking, stay home, watch football and do all your shopping online. After all, this is supposed to be a joyous season, and why torture yourself unnecessarily? But, if you’re flexible, enjoy shopping, and can adjust your attitude, then you can get through this.

Know your prey. What are you hunting for? Do you have a detailed list, or do you just want to float around collecting ideas for later? Knowing your goals in advance will make the day a lot less stressful.

Bring a friend. Even if you split up and agree to meet back later, it’s nice to have the support.

Dress for success. This is not the day for that big puffy coat. You will get overheated quickly if you keep it on, and if you have to carry it around, it will be difficult to navigate narrow store aisles. Remember: you break it, you buy it. Instead, try some slim layers – sweaters, maybe a fleece jacket or a down vest. If it’s very cold out, leave your giant overcoat in the car and try for a parking spot closer to the entrance – maybe a side door so you don’t have to walk that far outside in the cold. Also, comfy shoes are an absolute must. Mall floors are unforgivably hard, and you will be spending a lot of time on your feet. Be nice to them and they will be nice to you. This is not the time to go parading about in your high-heeled lace up boots, no matter how cute they are. Black Friday shopping is a sport, and like any sport, you need the proper footwear. Save the boots for Saturday night.

Put the right fuel in your engine. That means eat a good breakfast beforehand (and not something so carbohydrate-laden that you feel bogged down), and pop some power snacks in your purse. While there may be some healthful alternatives at the food court (more on this later), don’t get stuck eating junk because you didn’t plan ahead. That will only make you feel more tired and cranky. Some good things to bring are nuts, granola bars, or whole-grain crackers.

Plan for breaks. I don’t know about you, but I get tired wicked fast in malls. Maybe it’s the floors, maybe it’s the music, the crowds, or the stale, overheated air. But I need a couple of good “sit-downs” during a long trip to the mall. Get yourself a bottle of water, (or a cup of coffee, as long as you don’t overdo it on the caffeine) your healthy snacks (you may be lucky enough to find something fairly healthy, like a whole grain bagel, at one of those little kiosks), and take a load off for a good 15 minutes or so.

Get some fresh air. Back when my husband and I used to do one big “mall crawl” during the holiday season, we would get a few gifts, take them out to the car and stick them in the trunk, then go back in for more. It’s a pain in the neck (literally!) to carry lots of packages around, and getting outside gives you some much-needed fresh air and exercise, because you will walk a lot faster when you have a destination than when you are just plodding around the mall (which can become very tiring.)

If you’re making a day of it, don’t skip lunch. If you’re on a budget and don’t want to blow it at one of the theme restaurants that are sometimes in malls (or if you don’t want to wait on a long line for a table), then be smart at the food court. You need a good dose of protein and carbohydrates to keep your engine running smoothly. A big fatty lunch, like pizza or one of those combination things at the Chinese place, will just slow you down. If you go to a place like Subway, you can get any of their sandwiches as a salad instead. Just avoid the cheese, and nix the fat-free dressings, which are usually full of sugar and chemicals. A small amount of oil and vinegar is healthier for you. If there’s a Taco Bell, a good choice could be a bean burrito without cheese (only six points if you’re on Weight Watchers), or, they have a whole new “fresh” menu with healthier alternatives. If you’re feeling adventurous, some malls offer sushi at their food courts, but I’d recommend sticking with something safe like California rolls. (Note: if you or your companion is allergic to fish, skip these. The crabmeat used in California rolls is often fake crab made from fish instead. Don’t take a chance, unless you want to spend a day in the emergency room.)

And, finally, when you get home, reward yourself. I don’t mean with half of the leftover pecan pie. Instead, run yourself a luxurious bath, watch a funny DVD, or ask your significant other for a backrub. After all, you’re a warrior, and you deserve a warrior’s welcome.

Sweet Potato Casserole: A Recipe Makeover

Forget the turkey – pass me the sweet potatoes! I’ve always liked the sides better – sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce -- a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables, spilling over with so many healthful antioxidants I feel ten years younger just thinking about them. And they taste pretty good, too.

For as long as I can remember – when we had Thanksgiving at my mother’s house, anyway – nobody messed with the sweet potatoes. They were served baked, cut in half, and, sometimes, brushed with a little bit of melted butter.  Nothing more. After all, why mess with perfection?

But then I grew up and started having some Thanksgiving dinners at other people’s homes. That’s when I had my first encounter with The Casserole. You probably know what I’m talking about. Pineapple, mini marshmallows, and loads and loads of brown sugar and butter, and maybe a bit of cream thrown in just to make it a little more fattening.  I’ve even heard that some people use Marshmallow Fluff.

I didn’t like it. Not one bit. Okay, sweet potato pie I can understand. Because that’s dessert. But this – this – monstrosity, this insult to the vegetable kingdom, does not belong on the dinner table.

At least any dinner table that I’m sitting at.

One year, at one of these dinners at somebody else’s house, I was asked to bring the sweet potatoes. The little foodie part of my brain started dancing. Yes! Finally, I get to have them my way!

But then, the hostess asked me, “Can you make the kind, you know, with the pineapple and the little marshmallows?”

Ugh. I didn’t want to do it. No way, no how. But, the woman asking me to do this was my husband’s aunt (to whom I apologize profusely if you find any of this embarrassing), and she’d always been very nice to me, and I wanted to keep peace in the family. Plus, every other dish that I’d brought to Thanksgiving at her house had been a major flop. It was during my vegetarian years, and, with a buffet table groaning with all the Turkey Day classics, who really wanted to eat ratatouille with kidney beans?

I compromised. Yes, I told her I would bring the sweet potatoes. I just didn’t tell her what I planned to do them. And thanks to the geniuses at Cooking Light magazine, I found this wonderful recipe for a sweet potato casserole that plays up the flavor of the sweet potato, without loading them up with too much sugar and fat. I have made it for many years, to great reviews. You can even leave out the sugar (and increase the spices a tad) if you are making it for someone with diabetes. And if you want to make this ahead of time, assemble all of the ingredients in the baking dish and it will keep, covered, for up to a day.

 Ingredients:

3 pounds of sweet potatoes
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
2 tablespoons of orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Pierce potatoes with a fork. Arrange in a circle on paper towels in microwave oven. Microwave on high for 16 minutes or until tender, rearranging potatoes after 8 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. (You may have to adjust your microwave time based on the power of your oven.)

3. Cut each potato in half lengthwise, and scoop out pulp into a large bowl (you may want to hold the potatoes by their skins with an oven mitt when you do this – they will be hot). Discard skins. Add sugar and next 5 ingredients (sugar through nutmeg) and beat with a mixer at low speed until combined. Add eggs, and beat until smooth.

4. Spoon mixture into a 1-1/2 quart baking dish; sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Makes 8 servings (serving size, half a cup – 220 calories, 7g fat, 38.8g carbohydrates).

It’s as easy as sweet potato pie, and no one but the most diehard traditionalists will miss the pineapple and marshmallows. Not only is this casserole healthier than the original, but if you combine this with leaving off or cutting down on some of the other fatty extras on your Thanksgiving sides, like butter and gravy, you’ll have more room left over for the important stuff: dessert.

Is Your Smile Safe?

With a recent admission by the FDA that amalgam dental fillings containing mercury may be unsafe for children and pregnant women, an old controversy is stirred up anew: are these fillings truly safe, as most dentists have claimed, or will the mercury they contain poison your body?

If you ask those in the world of naturopathic medicine, this is no controversy. Magazines such as Natural Solutions, many holistic dentists, and even some members of the American Dental Association have maintained for years that these fillings should not be used. And definitely should be avoided by pregnant women and children, who are more sensitive to toxic exposure. I went to one holistic dentist who told me that he “didn’t like all that metal in my mouth,” and believed it was very likely that my fibromyalgia had been caused by my dental fillings. For a price (not reimbursed by my health insurance), he would be very happy to remove them all and replace them with a “safer” alternative.

Even though I knew people who had all their fillings removed, and they said it made them feel better, this seemed like an extreme step to me, and definitely something my insurance would not cover.

But neither the FDA nor the American Dental Association recommend removing existing fillings. This, some say, actually increases your exposure to mercury. “You have to heat the filling and drill into the tooth,” says Dr. Mark S. Wolff of the New York University College of Dentistry. “[This means] you’re releasing mercury into the air [which can be inhaled] as well as debris that can be swallowed.”

However, the FDA, (notoriously slow to act even on the most dangerous of health issues) was spurred into action concerning the safety of fillings in general by the threat of a lawsuit from a grassroots organization called Moms Against Mercury (along with 10 other plaintiffs). They settled out of court under the condition that the FDA change their website to read that amalgam fillings containing mercury “may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.”

Some dentists I spoke with disagreed. According to Dr. Robert Boris (in the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that Dr. Boris is my father), there is no credible evidence linking silver amalgam fillings to mercury poisoning. “There is more available mercury in a can of tuna fish,” Dr. Boris says, “than in a mouthful of [amalgam] fillings.”

Dr. James Ross, who practices in Red Hook, New York, concurs. “I have yet to see any credible studies showing that amalgam fillings give you any more mercury exposure then you get from your natural environment.”

While some release of mercury vapors can occur over time, Dr. Boris says, it’s very minor, and not dangerous. Plus, he says, the mercury in the amalgam is bound with other materials like silver, zinc, and tin, and therefore is not available to the body as a separate element. It’s not “free” mercury, like the kind you might see in thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs, or in the thimerosal used as a preservative in many vaccines given to children. (Studies have shown, however, that “free” mercury is a cause for concern, and can cause mercury toxicity. This is the bulk of Moms against Mercury’s advocacy work.)

But both dentists agree that silver amalgam is a superior material for filling teeth. Since the amalgam material sits tighter against the enamel of the existing tooth than composite resin fillings, it makes for a stronger barrier against bacteria, especially when it mixes with the saliva in your mouth. It also has the same coefficient of expansion as natural tooth enamel, which means that when your teeth naturally expand and contract (for example, when you drink a cup of hot coffee or eat ice cream), the filling will expand and contract along with it, allowing for a tighter seal, and longer wear.

Conversely, composite fillings, which are often made from plastics, do not expand and contract at the same rate as natural teeth. This can make them break down faster and allow more bacteria into the drilled cavity of the tooth, especially when used in posterior teeth like molars, which do more grinding and crushing than front, or anterior, teeth.  A compromised composite filling, if not repaired or replaced soon enough, can make you a candidate for a painful root canal, or require the installation of a crown to protect the tooth.

For those of you who are still concerned about possible mercury exposure, the newer silver amalgams contain less mercury. If you don’t mind paying a bit more, or having to replace your fillings more frequently, choose a material like gold, porcelain, or a BPA-free composite for any new cavities.

But if you do choose to have your fillings removed and replaced, choose a dentist who is experienced in the proper procedures. A dental dam and suction must be used to prevent any inhalation or swallowing of the materials.

Thank You!

This is a belated but glorious "thank you" both to PNN for giving me the honor of being your "Health and Well-Being" featured author, and to all of my readers for, well, reading, and supporting me.

And that's one of the things I like best about writing for PNN - the supportive environment.

It's been shown that surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people - physically, and, as more studies are proving out - on the web as well - is great for your health. Social contact can reduce stress, provide important outlets during times of duress, and even help you live longer!

So, I raise a virtual glass (of sparkling apple juice) to our health-to our individual health, the health of our nation, and the health of our world.

To all of you writers, keep writing. To all of my readers, please keep reading-I welcome your comments with an open heart and an open mind. And maybe more of you will want to express yourself here as writers, too.

It's a good place to be.

Namaste.