ML Interest Tag: inflammation

Inside Kyra’s Bake Shop with the Totally Awesome Awards 2016

by writerredtri

Kyra’s Bake Shop just won a Totally Awesome Award for being the “Sweetest Cake Shop” in Portland. We recently spoke to the owner, Kyra Bussanich, about her experience as a business owner, the best advice she has ever received and more. Hear what she had to say below!

 

Red Tricycle: Your community recently voted you “Sweetest Cake Shop in Portland” – what do your customers value most about your business?
Kyra Bussanich: We strive to offer flavorful treats that are absolutely delicious—and happen to be gluten-free! We really like to balance the exotic with the familiar, so there is something to appeal to EVERYONE (and for those who have food allergies, we have plenty of options!)

RT: What do you want people to know about your business that they don’t already know?
KB: EVERYTHING is made from scratch, from our soups and salad dressing to our ice cream, breads and jams.

RT: How did your business get started and what was the motivation?
KB: I was super sick when I was in my teens and early 20s. I was eventually diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, but none of the meds made a lick of difference in how I felt. I got fed up with always feeling terrible (I spent MONTHS curled up on the couch, too sick to do anything). When the doctors wanted to take out the most diseased portions of my intestines, I finally put my foot down and started exploring a gluten-free lifestyle, if only to reduce the inflammation enough that I WOULD respond to the meds. Within a year, I was completely off all my medications, which meant no more chemotox infusions, no more blood panels to make sure my brain and liver functions were still normal…and best of all, no more pain! I started getting my life back, and that’s when I realized that there wasn’t anything out there that was both gluten-free and a treat. I eventually grew tired of always having to sit apart at holidays and birthday celebrations because I couldn’t have that slice of Thanksgiving pie, or birthday cake. Feeling excluded is no fun, so I set out to change that, for me, and for anyone else out there who has dietary restrictions. My primary goal, though, wasn’t to create a line of gluten-free recipes; it was to create absolutely delicious pastries and savories that ANYONE would be happy to eat, and they would just happen to be gluten-free (or GF, DF; etc).

RT: Tell us, what do you start your morning with: 1. coffee 2. tea 3. mimosa 4. water 5. all of the above.
KB: Coffee with cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, and heavy whipping cream.

RT: What is the most awesome thing a customer has ever done for you?
KB: Dropped off a flat of fresh Bing Cherries for me to play with! (I made paleo pop tarts!)

RT: What is your biggest pet peeve as a business owner?
KB: When people forget that mom and pop shops have to do things a little differently than the huge box chains. We don\’t get the same price breaks on ingredients, and we often are pouring our heart and soul into the business, just trying to find a way where we can both nourish our guests and take good care of them, but also be able to take care of our staff.

RT: How do you keep your stress levels down?
KB: I love to dance!

RT: What’s your secret superhero power as a business owner?
KB: I have a phenomenal memory and can recognize and remember our guests a year after I first meet them!

RT: Tell us, what is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received (as a parent or business owner)?
KB: Remember your WHY. The thing that made you want to start your business is the same thing that will keep you going when you\’re feeling stressed out or overwhelmed. You just have to remember.

RT: How about the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?
KB: Be quick to fire. I don’t ever like to just write people off. Many times, there is a reason for why they act the way they do, and a little caring and sympathy can go a long way to solving challenges.

RT: Is there a special offer you’d like to include for Red Tricycle readers?
KB: Let me talk to my team and see what we can do!

 

Check out their website here

 

photo credit: Modern Moments Designs and Courtney Jade Photography 

 

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Cancer – We’re Done with You!

By Kathy Gorohoff

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In honor of Movember, and in an effort to bring attention to men’s health issues, I wanted to share how Prostate Cancer and cancer in general has affected my life. This article has been challenging for me to write, I am not sure if it is because it is such a big topic and it is a pretty emotional to put it into words or if it is that I have so many thoughts about it, that I am not sure how to narrow it down. Probably a little bit of both. Naively, I never thought it would happen to us, but of course I was wrong.

Prior to 2014 my life was cancer free, my first interaction with cancer was when my mom told me she had lung cancer, luckily it was detected early and with surgery it was removed and she is now cancer free. After that incident, I felt that was as close as I really needed to get to cancer. Then in September of 2014 we found out my husband, Andrew, had Prostate Cancer. This was discovered after he had been back and forth to doctor appointments all year long, which began because he was unable to urinate while we were traveling in Hawaii in January of that year, appointment after appointment, taking one medication after another, finally to have a doctor take a biopsy of his prostate to learn what was going on and why his issues wouldn’t stop. Luckily, similar to my mom, my husband’s cancer was found early, the cancer detected was small but treatment was challenging because he is in his early 40’s and his options had a bigger effect on his life than they would if the cancer would have been found when he was older, like in his 70’s or 80’s which is more common. In the end, he had his prostate removed which took care of the cancer. After months of recovery, the doctors gave Andrew the all clear to continue with our plan to travel around the country in our camper – something we had been planning way before cancer ever showed up in or lives. We traveled, cancer free for 9 months with our girls and lived an amazing adventure. Then we came back and at my husband’s first follow up appointment with his doctor after the trip, the doctor determined something was not right. After some uncomfortable procedures and out-patient surgeries we found out that Andrew now had urethral cancer. Seriously, Cancer – can you give us a break?

When we found out about the Prostate Cancer there was so much research and information to learn about it, it’s one of the most common cancers out there. Urethral Cancer – not so much. In fact, Urethral cancer is rare is the most rare of all urological cancer. The doctors said that there are volumes of medical documents on Prostate Cancer and maybe four pages on Urethral Cancer. The summer after our trip consisted of more doctor appointments and surgeries. The last surgery, in September was the last one, for now, that removed the cancer they found. The doctors are hopeful, but not 100% certain that all the cancer was removed and Andrew will go back after Christmas and every three months moving forward to have his urethra checked for any more of those nasty cancer cells. My wish for Christmas is to have my husband 100% cancer free and to have an uneventful and healthy New Year.

Hopefully this article will be read by both men and women, but likely it will be read by a few more women than men. So for anyone reading this if you are a man or if you have a man in your life, husband, partner, brother, father, anyone with a prostate, if they can’t pee, they should talk to a doctor, if it’s difficult to pee, if there is blood in the pee or it hurts when they go, these are signs that there might be a problem. These problems were not going away with all the help the doctors were giving my husband, so they did the biopsy and found cancer. Luckily, all this was found early and surgery has been all the treatment he has needed, hopefully we are at the end of this cancer journey and we can go on living healthy, normal lives.

What I have learned about cancer through this journey is that cancer doesn’t really care what you have planned, it doesn’t care if you do everything right either. You can be super healthy, eat right, exercise and take your vitamins and cancer can still find you. You can be completely average, minding your own business and it’ll find you.  It doesn’t care if you have kids and a family and if you really don’t have time. When cancer comes around it takes center stage and you live your life around it. These days we try and incorporate the foods that are found to fight cancer and inflammation and try our best to keep stress levels down (which is challenging), but in the end we just try and live our best and happiest life, because cancer really doesn’t give a crap what you do, it will find you if it wants to. And with that in mind, we will continue to fight it and cherish each day, say our prayers and eat our vegetables and hope that our journey with cancer is behind us.

I am a mom, a writer, traveler, runner and yogi.  I love the outdoors and am adjusting to re-entry from 9 months traveling in a truck camper around the US and Canada with my family. I am excited to share my travels, stories and perspectives on parenting in the city. 

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Date Night: Team Up With the Vashon Island Diet

by Erin Lem

The holidays are here which means indulging in all of your favorite foods. It can also mean your jeans are bit more snug come New Years. Seattle Magazine has stumbled across a new healthy-diet phenomenon sweeping the residents of Vashon Island. And though we understand that pie is king, ending the holiday season with one less pound to lose might be a great, great thing.

Most people agree dieting is easier when you do it with a buddy. If you live on Vashon Island, diet buddies are everywhere. That’s because a new diet plan—called the “TQI Diet” (“to quiet inflammation”)—has become so popular on the island that an estimated 15 percent of the adults there have signed up for diet classes. Several restaurants offer TQI Diet–based dishes on their menus, and grocery stores stock special shelves with TQI Diet–friendly items.

The diet—created by Vashon resident Kathy Abascal and based on the idea that certain foods cause inflammation in the body—has been gaining fame and followers because, apparently, it really works. “It’s pretty much saved my life,” says Rex Morris, a 64-year-old Vashon Islander. “And it’s unbelievably easy to stay on it. I never feel deprived, I never feel hungry. If I want something, I have it, but I balance it out. The longer I’m on it, the better I feel.”

Until last year, Morris struggled with numerous health challenges: obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and a serious lung disease. He couldn’t walk more than five minutes without feeling winded. Then he discovered the TQI Diet. In the year since he’s adopted the plan, he’s slimmed down 70 pounds from his original 300, kicked his insulin, and seen his cholesterol plunge and his lung capacity expand. He now routinely works outside four hours at a stretch and has energy to burn. His previously frozen shoulders now move much more easily.

The diet is based on the principle that certain groups of food can cause inflammation within the body, causing or worsening everything from arthritis to migraines, while other foods, mostly of the whole, unadulterated variety, can reduce or halt that inflammation, lessening all kinds of aches, pains and maladies, and boosting energy.

The most important thing to understand, Morris says, is that the plan isn’t a diet per se; something you endure for a while until you’ve lost weight. Rather, it’s a way of life that embraces whole foods eaten in abundance, with a heavy emphasis on vegetables and fruits.

Plenty of other diets are based on this premise, but few also make a claim to helping with so many medical issues. Proponents say the diet certainly helps adherents lose weight or maintain healthy weights, but it also helps them ease all kinds of joint pains and problems by eating foods rich in anti-inflammatory properties.

To keep reading about the Vashon Island Diet plan click here.

This is our weekly guest post from our friends at Seattle Magazine, which keeps readers on the pulse of restaurants, personalities, arts, entertainment and culture that reflect the tapestry of our dynamic landscape. We’ve teamed up for an exciting partnership to bring you a weekly dose of fantastic Date Night ideas throughout greater Seattle.

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