June is Caribbean American Heritage Month, and one way to celebrate in Charleston is Carifest. Running from Thursday, June 20 through Sunday, June 23, You’ll enjoy the festivities, the food, and the fun. Let’s take a look at Carifest by day.

Thursday, June 20—Carifest Symposium

Meet us at the Avery Research Center at 125 Bull Street from 6–9 p.m. for a meet and greet with special guests Dr. Neil Parsan, Trinidad and Tobago’s ambassador to the U.S. and Dr. Amil Ravanan, Trinidad’s Consulate General.

Friday, June 21—Masquerade Fete

A dinner and dance fundraiser for the Carifest Children’s Steel Band Project, the Masquerade Fete is a special event every year. Dress up in your favorite costume (with mask, please) and join us at the Marriott Hotel at 170 Lockwood Drive in Charleston from 7 p.m. to midnight. Dinner is served at 7:15, and the celebration is $50 per person. The honored guests will be Dr. Parsan and Dr. Ravanan.

Saturday, June 22—Carnival Street Parade, Cultural Festival in the Park, and White After Party

Beginning at 3 p.m., sit along the parade route from Ann Street to King Street to Sumter Street to Brittle Bank Park, and watch the colorful floats and entertainment. If you wish to participate in the parade, purchase a costume per the instructions here.

After the parade, enjoy a festival in the park with Indian and Caribbean dancers, reggae music and steel bands, and Caribbean food and drink. The White After Party takes place at 787 Bar and Grille at 5131 Dorchester Road.

To buy tickets, visit any of the following:

• Butterfly Consignment, 482 King Street
• Things Caribbean, 1644 Ashley Hall Road
• Monster Music, 946 Orleans Road
• Event Brite website for the event

For more information, visit the Carifest website.

High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is an exercise program that alternates short, intense exercise with recovery periods that are less intense. It tends to be shorter than typical cardiovascular exercise because the benefits of the intensity make up for the shorter time. Most HIIT workouts last less than 30 minutes, with some lasting less than 10 minutes.

Those who perform HIIT find that their aerobic and anaerobic capacities are greater, their stamina is increased, and they are able to burn fat more easily than they did with longer periods of exercise due to using more muscles than in typical aerobic exercise. In addition to the benefits in stamina and aerobic capacity, HIIT increases the resting metabolic rate for a full 24 hours after exercise. HIIT is also useful for highly conditioned athletes to continue to improve their athletic performance.

A typical workout consists of a standard warm up followed by fewer than 10 cycles of high-intensity exercise and a medium intensity recovery period. At the end of the workout, you’ll want to do the typical 5-minute cool down. Various versions of HIIT include the Tabata method, which is 20 seconds of high intensity exercise with 10 seconds of rest, repeated for 8 cycles that last 4 minutes total. The Gibala method employs a three-minute warm up, 60 seconds of intense exercise, and 75 seconds of rest for 8–12 cycles. The Timmons method is three repetitions of 20 seconds of intense cycling followed by two minutes of slow pedaling.

The HIIT method can be applied to any exercise, from weight lifting to running. The principle is the same, and the benefits are greater than the traditional form of that exercise. Speaking of form, should you decide to adapt your current workout using HIIT principles, it is vital that your form is correct and consistent. Exercising intensely with incorrect form can lead to injury, but the benefits from using HIIT can be incredible and long lasting.

Dr. Craigie  of the Center for Natural Breast Reconstruction was recently featured on Channel 4, representing East Cooper Medical Center. Check out his video here!

Ask the Experts: Dr. James Craigie

Have a question about breast reconstruction you’d like answered from our surgical team? Just ask us!

An event you don’t want to miss and a “blooming good time!”, the 46^th Annual South Carolina Festival of Flowers in Greenwood will begin on June 1 and run through June 23, with a full schedule of events for all ages.

The Festival is family friendly, with 36 events and plenty of flowers, entertainment, and sports. One floral highlight is the topiary display tour through Uptown Greenwood. This unusual “safari” includes a 14-foot giraffe, an elephant, and a gorilla. The first weekend, June 1 and 2, will feature a horse show, with Western classes on Saturday and English classes on Sunday.

If you like the performing arts, on June 11, the Greenwood Festival Chorale performs at the Josephine B. Abney Auditorium. The show will feature music from three music legends: Mendelssohn, Mozart, and McCartney. Yes, Paul McCartney. From June 13 through June 23, Greenwood Community Theatre will present Oliver! The Musical. Based on the Charles Dickens novel, the musical brings the characters to life with plenty of music and dancing.

For the kids, the Festival offers Farm to Fork for Kids, which teaches how to prepare fresh produce. The 2^nd Annual Kids’ Kick-Off promises unlimited fun and features face painting, mask design, and a community project: a monster mural. This year, Kidfest will host Wildlife Wonders’ “Animals around the World,” with a macaw, a bearcat, and a 12-foot python.

If your family likes sports, you can participate in two golf tournaments, June 8–9 (juniors) and June 22–23. A 5K run and 1 mile fun run and walk takes place on June 22. The Bee Buzzin™ Bike Tour is the final event of the Festival and takes riders on a metric century and 25-mile loop scenic tour through Greenwood County.

Tickets are on sale now at the Arts & Visitors Center in the Federal Building in Greenwood. The address is 120 Main Street in Uptown Greenwood. You can also purchase a ticket for the SC Festival of Flowers Annual Ladies Luncheon, to be held on June 14 at the Greenwood Country Club.

For more information about the Festival, visit the website.

Many of us know we don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, and we perhaps eat a little too much processed food. There is an easy way to up your intake of good food, feel better, and improve your health—juicing!

When you juice, you put whole, raw fruits and vegetables into a juicer, which mixes them into a delicious juice or smoothie. Juices and smoothies are delicious, and the process of juicing transforms the food to a form you can more easily digest and assimilate nutrients from. You can create all-fruit juices, all-vegetable juices, or a combination of the two. Most people prefer the taste of fruit juices because they’re sweeter.

While vegetable juice recipes are some of the most beneficial, they don’t taste quite like the fruit juices. To increase sweetness, add some fruit or carrots to improve the taste. As you become a seasoned juicer, you’ll get used to the taste and love it. Organic vegetables tend to be fresher and have a better taste. For the biggest punch nutritionally, leave the skins on your veggies.

Don’t be afraid to get creative and try new things. To get you started, here are a few recipes.

A simple juice to detoxify:

• 5 carrots
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 small cucumber
• 1 beet
• 1 small apple
• ½ lemon

A sweet, delicious drink with just a few ingredients:

• 1 c blackberries or raspberries
• 1 kiwi fruit
• 1 medium pear or apple
• 30 leaves any type mint
• ¼ peeled, cored pineapple

The green drink popularized by Dr. Oz:

• 2 c spinach
• 2 c cucumber
• 1 head celery
• ½ tsp ginger root
• 1 bunch parsley
• 2 apples
• 1 lime
• ½ lemon

When you juice, especially if you use organic fruits and vegetables, you’re eating much cleaner and healthier food—and your body uses the nutrients very effectively. You should feel a difference soon after you start, and the longer you juice, the better you’ll feel.

For more recipes, try the following sites:

http://www.omegajuicers.com/juicing-recipes

http://juicerecipes.com/

http://www.raw-foods-diet-center.com/vegetable-juicing-recipes.html

This week, Dr. James Craigie of The Center for Natural Breast Reconstruction answers your questions.

Q:  After my breast reconstruction, I continue to have pain in my  right breast after each mammogram. Last mammogram was two months ago. The pain wasn’t really sharp, but it did hurt where they made my reconstruction incisions. Is this normal? 

A:  I’m sorry you’re having difficulties. If you have had a mastectomy and reconstruction, then usually routine screening mammograms are not necessary. I would suggest asking your cancer doctor if you would be able to avoid screening mammograms altogether. Also: check with the doctor who ordered  your mammogram, as he or she may have had a specific reason for ordering it other than routine screening. You still have to do self-exams, of course, and  be checked for changes.

James Craigie, MD

Center For Natural Breast Reconstruction

Have a question about breast reconstruction you’d like answered from our surgical team? Just ask us!

Every spring for the past 37 years, the Spoleto Festival USA comes to Charleston and fills the city with choral, jazz, dance, symphonic, opera, and orchestral performances. This year’s celebration is from May 24–June 9.

According to the website, Spoleto’s mission is to “present programs of the highest artistic caliber while maintaining a dedication to young artists, a commitment to all forms of the performing arts, a passion for contemporary innovation, and an enthusiasm for providing unusual performance opportunities for established artists.”

Spoleto Festival USA presents over 200 artistic premieres each year, including Journey to the West by Chen Shi-Zheng, Creve Coeur by Tennessee Williams, and The American Clock by Arthur Miller. Artists who made appearances at Spoleto early in their careers include Yo-Yo Ma and the Emerson String Quartet.

Christopher Keene and composer Gian Carlo Menotti founded Spoleto in 1977 as an American version of the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Charleston’s rich historic and cultural history made it the perfect location for the Festival.

This year’s Festival promises to please, with Toshio Hosokawas’ opera Matsukaze and the rarely performed Italian operas LeVilli / Mese Mariano. Theater performances include perennial favorites Oedipus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If you enjoy dance, you’ll love the tap/hip-hop/street jazz style of Jared Grimes as well as traditional Indian dance by Shantala Shivalingappa and the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía.

Spoleto Festival USA always showcases a variety of music, and this year is no exception. From the West African harmonies of Angelique Kidjo to the Westminster Choir Concerts to singer Rosanne Cash, every taste in music is featured. Other genres include classical, Brazilian, vintage rock, and honky tonk.

Spoleto is also known for its special events. This year, tour exquisite gardens around the city, see the film A Late Quartet and discuss it with Chamber musicians, and marvel at the Spoleto watercolors of Stephen Mueller and Carl Palazzolo.

For more about the current season of Spoleto Festival USA, visit the website and download a brochure.

Calories fuel your body’s machinery. But should you find yourself in a midday slump before it’s even lunchtime, it may be time to reevaluate the kind of calories you’re feeding your body. Some foods naturally boost your energy, while others sap your stamina stores.

The ideal meal consists of complex carbs, healthy fats,and lean protein. Carbs provide instant energy, fats give longer-lasting energy, and protein helps your body build tissue and muscle mass. A good rule of thumb for energy-conscious eaters is to get 45 to 60 percent of calories from carbs, 20 to 35 percent from fat,and 15 to 30 percent from protein.

Here are some of the foods you can eat to help fight fatigue so you can stay energized and focused throughout the day:

Breakfast
Healthy treats such as half of a whole-wheat English muffin with fruit spread are rich in carbohydrates, which can boost your levels of serotonin, a calming brain chemical. For an optimal, energy-infused breakfast, pair it with 2 eggs and 1/3 of an avocado to get the most oomph from your calories.

Lunch
Eat like a fuel-efficient machine when you opt for a healthy spinach salad topped with a ½ cup of lentils, 3 oz of grilled salmon, and drizzled with 2 Tbsp of olive oil vinaigrette. Round out your calories with a whole-wheat roll for your dose of complex carbs.

Snack
Nibbling on a few squares of dark chocolate will pull you out of an energy rut, thanks to its caffeine and theobromine, mild mood- and energy-boosting stimulants.Or keep your energy full throttle by eating1 cup of berries, 6 oz of Greek yogurt, and 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts.

Dinner
Just because it’s the evening doesn’t mean your energy levels should plummet. Have a cup of butternut squash mixed with a cup of quinoa prepared with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Pair it with a 3 oz serving of grilled chicken breast for a perfect combination and all around healthy meal.

Drink Water
Staying well hydrated is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve memory, focus, and alertness. If you find yourself feeling sluggish even after eating a well-balanced meal, the culprit of your fatigue may be dehydration. Be sure to keep a water bottle handy at all times to combat an energy slump.

What are you favorite energy-boosting foods to eat?

This week, Dr. James Craigie of The Center for Natural Breast Reconstruction answers your questions.

Q:  I just heard about a PAP flap breast reconstruction?  Is it new?  How do I know if I am a suitable candidate for it?

A: The “PAP” (profunda artery perforator) is another type of muscle sparing technique to reconstruct the breast utilizing extra skin and fat taken from the back of the thigh. Dr Allen called this the “banana roll” flap. The concept is the same as the DIEP, sGAP, SIEA and others sometimes referred to as perforator flaps. There are situations when someone has extra tissue in this area but unlike the TUG flap it does not remove any important leg muscles.  Since lymphedema has been associated with the TUG flap in some published papers, the PAP breast reconstruction procedure is performed carefully and specifically to not disrupt the delicate lymph channels and nodes that if removed or damaged might lead to an increased risk for lymphedema.

James E. Craigie, MD

Read more about the “PAP” reconstruction technique here: Breast_Reconstruction_with_the_Profunda_Artery

Have a question about breast reconstruction you’d like answered from our surgical team? Just ask us!

With all the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it’s hard to carve out the requisite time you’d need to lend a helping hand. Thankfully, living in a world of digital connectivity has its humanitarian perks!

Whether you’re online or at work, here are a few easy ways you can donate your time, cash, or skills to a good cause:

On the Web

Support the arts: Try Kickstarter.
Check out who’s looking to fund creative projects by logging in via Facebook. Then chip in for specific costs ($5 to help cover printing costs, supplies, etc.). When you see the finished product on the big screen or can hold the published anthology of short stories in your hand, you’ll feel like part of the artistic process.

Make your cause to go viral: Try HopeMob.
Register at HopeMob.org and start pushing your cause on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Then, enlist the help of your friends to give the cause a simple “up vote.”With enough votes (only about 200),your cause will hit HopeMob’s home page and stay up until you’re completely funded.

Nab some peace of mind:Try Ammado.com.
Thisfantastic humanitarian site allows you and your friends to donate to small overseas nonprofits securely. Every charity on the site is screened by an international vetting service, so you can donate without worry. Just sign up at the site or via Facebook, and search what you’re looking for by category (like arts, culture, or human rights) and country. It’s easy and rewarding!

At Work

Good with numbers?
Give others the benefit of your financial know-how by working with the United Way to teach struggling families to pay down debt and improve their credit. Simply dial 2-1-1, and sign up to learn how to lead small workshops or coach individuals on becoming financially secure.

Silver-tongued wordsmith?
Use your strong communication skills to manage—or create—a Facebook or Twitter account for a local animal shelter. The online interaction will help encourage people to adopt animals in need, donate to the cause, and support their community shelter.

What are your favorite ways to lend a helping hand?