To everyone new here, welcome. I’m Elizabeth, the writer of Delicious Bits, a weekly dispatch for the curious, blending discovery, reflection, and musings, always wrapped up with a seasonal recipe worth lingering over.
I’ve been maintaining a stiff upper lip about my stiff lower back.
But there comes a point in any pain journey when you know it’s gone beyond the curative powers of the Epsom salt bath, a good physio appointment, stretching exercises.
And thus the bad back has progressed beyond the point of annoyance to a real pain in the backside. While I’ve figured out the right meds cocktail to take, and wait for my specialist appointment to materialize, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we manage what ails us.
Maybe it’s time to set the pill bottle aside.
Vitamin P
When we think of remedies to cure our ills, many of us already look beyond physicians and prescriptions to seek answers and relief elsewhere: naturopathy, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, herbal detoxification, dietary changes, meditation, reiki.
Many of these practices come from traditions that were well established before conventional medicine emerged. But there’s a central conceit that still gets lost in the modality itself. Integral to these lifeways was another form of medicine that’s harder to package, prescribe, or regulate — people themselves.
In many cultures, healing begins with the active involvement of family, friends, and community — through encouragement, prayer, song, or simply being present. As Debra Bassett notes in Our Culture Is Medicine, “Indigenous therapeutic interventions…and healing occurs within the context of the community as a whole. The healed person is able to then help the community.”
Healing, then, is not a passive exchange. It’s a constant, living cycle of giving and receiving. We are shaped by the people we spend time with — and they are shaped by us. The quality of our connections affects not only our own health but the health of everyone around us.
Going on for ages
So if the relationships we keep, the communities we belong to, and the traditions we share are powerful forces for health, what does that mean for our long-term prospects? It may just lead us to become super-agers — people in their 80s and beyond who maintain the sharp minds, energy, and vitality of someone decades younger.
Super-agers are anything but a one-size-fits-all crowd. It’s not the Mediterranean diet, a diligent fitness routine, or special supplements that form a common thread. What is universal is the value they place on social connections. And as neuroscientist Ben Rein told the New York Times, people who stay socially engaged tend to hold on to their mental sharpness longer — and even have bigger brains to show for it.
So, science is finally proving what our Elders have always known: strong, loving connections are some of the most powerful medicine we have.
You are where you spend your time
—Scott Galloway, author, professor, entrepreneur
We went sailing yesterday with dear friends. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day—a clear blue sky flecked with just the right amount of clouds; enough wind to make the sails dance; great conversation and snacks and all the time in the world to sit back and let the water work its magic. I could feel the positive energy shifting and relaxing me from my head to my toes.
This morning I got this message from my friend:
It is always so good to see you two. You energize us, even when you are chilling! We appreciate our great conversations and copasetic vibes.
Healing, then, isn’t just about what’s happening inside a body. It’s about what’s happening between bodies — in relationships, in communities, and in the spaces where human connection happens.
It’s no mystery that we become reflections of the people and environments we immerse ourselves in. If the company we keep uplifts, challenges, and nourishes us, our health flourishes. If it drains or isolates us, the opposite happens.
We are where we spend our time. Choose your people like you choose your medicine—wisely.
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Cantaloupe-blueberry salad
serves 2 (can be scaled up; see Note)
Some things in life seem almost too good to be true—summer fullness, seaside relaxation, freshly picked corn from farm stands, and vine-ripened tomatoes. If we draw back from them…or encounters with people, our inner life won’t ripen to the richness it is meant to have.
Jeanne Heiburg, educator, artist, and writer
It’s no wonder that connections to nature and its rhythms is an integral part of this magical circle. It’s how I came to intuitively and then very deliberately focus on seasonal recipes to share here. Preparing and eating that which was grown two hours away from where I live, hand-harvested by the farmer who is selling it to me, whose harvest is meagre or bountiful at Mother Nature’s whim, makes me part of the story too.
The Saturday market was dazzling in its array of produce this weekend. Stone fruits ruled the roost, peaches and nectarines and cherries and plums all gleaming in their neat green baskets. First corn was there, begging to be put with the tomatoes and peaches in the summer’s easiest salad.
While most made it into my basket, I really had my eye on blueberries and cantaloupe. These first cantaloupes were already heavy and fragrant, promising that unique sweetness that goes equally well with a thin wrap of the best Parma prosciutto; a grating of fresh pepper, or is sweetly refreshing as a granita or sorbet.
I had other plans. Why not make both the melon and the berries part of the main attraction? And thus was born this lovely fresh salad, which was the perfect side for a grilled rib eye steak this evening.
Note: The salad can easily be scaled up for more people; I like a two part cantaloupe to one part berries ratio, but it’s easily adapted to your tastes and preferences.
2 cups bite-size cubes ripe cantaloupe
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
¼ small red onion or pickled red onions, very thinly sliced (optional)
6 fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
¼-½ cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds or sliced almonds
Freshly ground black pepper
Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ teaspoon salt
In a large bowl, combine the cantaloupe, blueberries, cucumber, red onion, and mint. Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together until emulsified. Pour over salad and toss gently to coat. Top with crumbled feta, toasted seeds, and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve chilled.
Great post, Elizabeth!
This has been my experience, moving through life with rheumatoid arthritis. I feel so much better after spending time with people who fill me up. So, we should get together for another dinner soon, yes?
Those connections are both grounding and healing. Great post!