What is this Paleo stuff, anyway?

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You’ve probably heard of the Paleo Diet by now. Like all new and popular diets, it is controversial, but it differs from other low-carb diets in its emphasis on natural foods and exercise.

The Paleo Diet is based on the idea that modern humans should go back to eating whole unprocessed foods to achieve optimal health. It is also sometimes called The Caveman Diet, but don’t let the name deter you. The Caveman is just a mascot, and the Paleo Diet is not about historical reenactment. It’s simply a framework for improving health through food and lifestyle.

The idea is simple:

  • Eat more nutrient-rich whole foods, like fresh vegetables, meat, seafood, nuts, and fruit.
  • Avoid processed foods with added sugar, chemically processed and refined vegetables oils (corn oil, soybean, sunflower, corn), and anything with ingredients you can’t easily identify.
  • Avoid processed and refined carbs. This includes most breads. Carbs are acceptable in lower quantities, but they should not be the bulk of your diet.
  • Eat healthy fats, like avocados, grass-fed butter, and coconut oil.
  • Dairy is OK in small amounts. Aim for organic, grass-fed, full fat or fermented (yogurt, kefir, cheese). Skim milk is high in sugar!
  • Get some exercise every day, preferably outside and at a relaxed and steady pace. Avoid stressful cardio.

If you want to embark on your own Paleo journey, the Cheshire Public Library has over 50 books on the Paleo Diet! Here’s a small sample to get you started:

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Practical Paleo: a customized approach to health and a whole-foods lifestyle – Diane Sanfilippo

Your personal Paleo code: the 3-step plan to lose weight, reverse disease, and stay fit and healthy for life – Chris Kresser

The Paleo diet: lose weight and get healthy by eating the foods you were designed to eat – Loren Cordain

The Paleo approach: reverse autoimmune disease and heal your body Sarah Ballantyne

The Paleo slow cooker: healthy, gluten-free meals the easy way Arsy Vartanian

The autoimmune Paleo cookbook: an allergen-free approach to managing chronic illness – Mickey Trescott

Paleo lunches and breakfasts on the go: the solution to gluten-free eating all day long with delicious, easy, and portable primal meals – Diana Rodgers

Paleo comfort foods: homestyle cooking for a gluten-free kitchen – Julie & Charles Mayfield

Paleo desserts: 125 delicious everyday favorites, gluten- and grain-free – Jane Barthelemy

Mediterranean Paleo cooking: over 150 fresh coastal recipes for a relaxed, gluten-free lifestyle Caitlin Weeks, Nabil Boumrar, and Diane Sanfilippo

10 Books We’re Looking Forward to in July

Beat the heat! Find yourself some air conditioning (or a spot at the beach) and settle in with one of the new books hitting our shelves in July. Romance, thrills, good eats – the perfect summertime reading!

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. Click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month. The top ten titles for July are:

  1. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
  2. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
  3. Kiss Me by Susan Mallery
  4. Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis
  5. Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
  6. Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
  7. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  8. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
  9. Love Lies Beneath by Ellen Hopkins
  10. Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/day by Leanne Brown

National Nude Day – July 14, 2015

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While doing some research for future blog posts, I came across National Nude Day.  Now, I know what some of you are thinking, but I immediately thought about……. Art.   The human body has always been a fascinating subject for artists.  A recent example was featured on CBS This Morning here.   The Cheshire Library has a wonderful collection of books, DVDs, and magazines on a variety of art subjects, including some of the world’s best known artists famous for their nudes.

A Few Famous Artists

Michelangelo: a life in six masterpieces

Francisco de Goya

Vincent Van Gogh: life and work

The Unknown Matisse

A Life of Picasso

Magazines

American Art Review Magazine

Art In America Magazine

DVDs

Drawing the line: a portrait of Keith Haring

Getting Started With Bob Ross

Vincent Van Gogh: A Stroke of Genius

Vincent – A Dutchman

Andy Warhol

A Model for Matisse     

The Great Masters of the Italian Renaissance

Alex Katz: Five Hours

 

Books – Adult

Lives of  the Great 20th Century Artists

How to Paint Abstracts

Art: over 2,500 works from cave to contemporary

Art: a new history

The Collins Big Book of Art: from cave art to pop art

Introduction to Drawing the Human Body

Books – Children

 A History of Art for Young People

Paul Cezanne

100 Artists Who Changed the World

History of Art for Young People

 

The Children’s Librarians and Reference Librarians will be happy to guide you in finding the perfect title for you.

Now –  for those interested in the actual National Nude Day -” National Nude Day is a way to keep cool on a hot , sticky summer day. Nudist groups around the world celebrate this holiday and take it quite seriously! Nudist’s are not perverts…even though their desire to go “au natural” might be offensive to the conservative population! Nudist’s are individuals who believe the human body is most beautiful in their natural state. Whether or not you agree with them, nudist’s encourage people to strut their stuff. ”  (source:  National Day Calendar)  And, yes, there are a few ‘clothing optional’ resorts in Connecticut.

 

 

Oprah’s Summer Reading – 2015

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O, The Oprah Magazine has listed their favorite books for the upcoming summer season.  Below is the short version.  You can see the full list in the July 2015 issue of the magazine.

Ladies on the move

paris, he saidParis, He Said – Christine Sneed – Aspiring painter Jayne is questioning the choices she has made in the years since college and is struggling to pay her bills in Manhattan when she is given the opportunity to move to Paris with her wealthy lover and benefactor, Laurent Moller, who owns and operates two art galleries.enlightenment of nina

The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay Andrea Gillies – Seeking refuge on a tiny Greek island after an estrangement from two brothers with whom she was in a long-time love triangle, Nina discovers in the wake of an accident the influence of her parents’ marriage on her own.

re janeRe Jane – Patricia Park – Jane Re, a half-Korean, half-American orphan, escapes to Seoul where she reconnects with her family while struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, and wonders if the man she loves is really the man for her as she tries to find balance between two cultures and accept who she really is.

 

Mysteries and Thrillers

the ice twinsThe Ice Twins – S.K. Tremayne – Moving to a tiny Scottish island a year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah are shattered when their surviving daughter claims they have mistaken her identity and that she is actually the twin they believed dead.hyacinth girls

Hyacinth Girls – Lauren Frankel – When her 13-year-old daughter Callie begins receiving suicidal notes from Robyn, the girl she supposedly bullied, Rebecca is determined to save the unbalanced Robyn, refusing to let the school stand in her way, but in doing so, unknowingly places her own daughter’s life in great danger.

jack of spadesJack of Spades – Joyce Carol Oates – Enjoying his successful career and devoted family, a best-selling writer secretly authors a masochist-themed series that threatens his respectable community standing and becomes subject to a plagiarism lawsuit.

 

Biography and Memoir

pawnbrokerThe Pawnbroker’s Daughter – Maxine Kumin – A new collection of work from the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet depicts her childhood during the Depression in Philadelphia, her education at Radcliffe College, her rural New England farm and the changing tone and subject matter of her poetry over her lifetime.my generation

My Generation – William Styron – collection of work spanning the career of the author includes complex pieces on race as well as extracts describing his daily walks with his beloved dog.

something must be doneSomething Must Be Done About Prince Edward County – Kristen Green – A reporter, combining hard-hitting investigative journalism with a sweeping family narrative, exposes a little-known chapter of American History, revealing her hometown’s shameful legacy of refusing to integrate after the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education.

 

Literary Fiction

our souls at nightOur Souls at Night – Kent Haruf – A senior-aged widow and widower forge a loving bond over shared loneliness and respective histories, provoking local gossip and the disapproval of their grown children in ways that are further complicated by an extended visit by a sad young grandchild.death and mr

Death and Mr. Pickwick – Stephen Jarvis – A novel based on the life of artist Robert Seymour describes the birth of “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,” a series of whimsical sketches by Seymour that were paired with stories by a young Charles Dickens, using the pen name Boz.

sunlit nightThe Sunlit Night – Rebecca Dinerstein – In the barren landscape of the Far North, under the ever-present midnight sun, Frances, who lives in an isolated artist colony, and Yasha, who arrives from Brooklyn to fulfill his beloved father’s last wish, form a bond that offers them solace amidst great uncertainty.

 

 

Happy Summer Reading!

Take Your Dog To Work Day – June 26, 2015

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TYDTWDay-DogToday has been designated as Take Your Dog to Work Day by Pet Sitters International.  This day was dog at workestablished in 1999 as a way to recognize dogs as great companions and to encourage adoption by showing non-dog owners the joys of owning a dog.  Will you be taking your dog to work?  Do you have any activities planned?  What’s the best thing about taking your dog to work?  Let us know how your day went!

The Cheshire Library has about 1900 items featuring dogs –  DVDschildren’s books, adult books, – there’s something for everyone.  We have books on training, on service dogs, fiction books with dogs incorporated in the story, whimsical storybooks for children, movies about dogs.  Take a look at what the Cheshire Library has to offer here .  Below is a small sampling of what you can find at the library.

CHILDREN

Dogs, How to choose and care for a dog – Laura S. Jeffrey

A Dog’s Life: The Autobiography of a stray – Ann M. Martin

Lulu Walks the Dogs – Lane Smith

Night of the Howling Dogs – Graham Salisbury (YA)

Dogs in the Dead of Night – Mary Pope Osborne

Dogs – Emily Gravett

My Dog’s A Scaredy Cat – Henry Winkler

Not Afraid of Dogs – Susanna Pitzer

 

ADULT

Dogs Never Lie About Love – Jeffrey Moussaieff

The Possibility Dogs: what a handful of unadoptables taught me about service, hope and healing – Susannah Charleston

War Dogs: tales of canine heroism, history and love – Rebecca Frankel

Bad Dogs Have More Fun: selected writings on family, animals, and life – John Grogan

Old Dogs, New Tricks: understanding and retraining older and rescued dogs – David Taylor

Must Love Dogs – Claire Cook

Isle of Dogs – Patricia Cornwell

The Dogs of Babel – Carolyn Parkhurst

DVDs

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Must Love Dogs

Dogs Decoded

Through a Dog’s Eyes

Chilly Dogs

Hachi: a dog’s tail

Bolt

The Shaggy Dog