Hawaii Nutrients

As we were researching for our last book, "Your Ideal Hawaii Health: Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy",  we discovered that the health and happiness was due to people getting nutrients in Hawaii that are missing on the mainland. People living in Hawaii get vitamin D from the tropical sunshine, iodine from the ocean, and omega 3 oils in local fish and grass fed beef. Each of these nutrients are so important that doctors have written entire books about how they can be a miracle cure for people that are severely deficient in any one of them. As we read stories of amazing recoveries from taking a few supplements, we were curious if taking additional supplements of these nutrients would have an even greater positive effect on us?

We found iodine the most appealing to try after reading about people who reported that their tumors disappeared and kids with autism had sudden improvements after taking iodine supplements. It was hard to believe that a simple inexpensive supplement could have such a big impact. After convincing ourselves that it was safe for us to try, we started taking iodine supplements in the form of Lugol's Solution (5 drops of 2%) in the morning. We were impressed at how much energy iodine suddenly gave us and we no longer need coffee to get us going. It has been over two years now and we still take iodine every day.

Over the last two years we have found Facebook groups on iodine and we followed one of them closely. It seems like most people are excited at first and then find for one reason or another that the supplement did not do what they were expecting.  Generally people on Facebook groups trying iodine seem to have some severe illness and when they are not cured overnight they are very disappointed. For us, our low energy was cured within a few weeks, so we are very happy about that.

Our success with iodine supplements has inspired us to try other supplements and continue researching key nutrients missing in our diet. We will post what we discover in our continuing adventure in improving our Hawaii life with better nutrition.

The Dilemma of Renting versus Buying a House

Since moving to Oahu nine months ago, we have been perplexed about whether to buy a home or keep renting. Since we plan to move back to the Big Island at some point, our decision has to take into consideration the economy and inflation.  We could get financially crushed by buying a home if there is significant de-inflation on Oahu in the next 3 years.

The problem is we have conflicting views about whether there will be inflation or deflation in Hawaii. We have a list of things that will cause housing prices to go up in Hawaii and another list of things that will cause housing prices to go down.

Here is our list of some things we think could cause inflation in Hawaii:

1. If the U.S.’s military and defense infrastructure in the Asia - Pacific region expands, there will be strong demand for housing in Oahu.  Currently, the U.S. military presence in Oahu is down about 7% from 2012.

2. If the U.S. economy continues to improve and more jobs become available, Americans will have more money to spend on vacations and to visit Hawaii. Furthermore, Hawaii’s vacation appeal will increase if unrest spreads in vacation spots elsewhere in the world. Tourism on Oahu was up 4% this year. More tourism means more jobs and higher wages for residents which would increase the demand for housing.

3. If the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low that will help keep the cost of a mortgages lower and the demand for houses higher.

4. The 76 million baby boomers are retiring in large numbers (some estimate over 10,000 a day). If even 1/10th of one percent of them move to Hawaii that would add 760,000 new residents to Hawaii which would increase the demand and prices for housing.

5. Affluent buyers from China and India may continue to buy homes in Hawaii which is already a positive factor in Hawaii real estate prices. 

Here is our list of some things we think might cause de-inflation:

1. The military presence in the Asia – Pacific region could be decreased by the next U.S. president and congress which would reduce the housing demand in Hawaii. Even cuts in military housing allowances for soldiers stationed in Oahu would have a negative effect on housing prices in Oahu.

2.  If the U.S. economy suddenly stalls, which some people think it might, Oahu could see a sudden drop in the number of visitors. There are numerous things that could tamper with the U.S. economic recovery. Robots and automation, for instance, are replacing workers in the U.S. in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and retail jobs. The rising U.S. dollar makes a vacation more expensive for visitors from Japan, China, and Canada.  A shrinking tourist industry would result in job cuts that would ultimately effect the demand for houses on Oahu.

3. Although the 76 million baby boomers are starting to retire in large numbers, they may not have enough income to move or even visit Hawaii.

4. Although lower oil prices have reduced the cost of airfares to Hawaii, they have also lowered the cost of driving vacations on the mainland which may reduce the number of visitors to Hawaii.

5. If the Federal Reserve raises the interest rates it will make buying a house in Hawaii much more expensive which could damper demand. An interest rate increase from 4% to 8% would increase a mortgage payment 54% percent.

Over the last year, more rentals have come available in central Oahu and many are renting for 10% less than last year.  Like many places in the U.S. right now, the current cost of a home in Oahu plus the additional expenses of owning is more expensive than renting. Our plan is to keep track of the cost of renting versus buying and watch for changes that may result in inflation or deflation. Right now, we believe the risk of a collapse in the housing market is too high to buy. 

2016 Year of the Fire Monkey Predictions

It is time for our annual predictions based on the Chinese lunar calendar for 2016, the Year of the Fire Monkey.  As we predicted, the current 2015 Wood Sheep year has seen some financial improvement of the economy and more jobs. Unfortunately, the strength of the hostility star overshadowed the normal calm and diplomacy that Sheep years can bring.

The Chinese Monkey New Year starts Feb 8, 2016. In contrast to the Sheep Year, the Monkey Year will be wild, crazy, and disorderly. Organizations and groups will find it hard to make progress during the constantly fluctuating Monkey Year; accomplishments and financial success will be through your individual efforts. This year will bring the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a contentious U.S. presidential election in November.

During the last Fire Monkey Year, 60 years ago (1956), Eisenhower was reelected as the U.S. president and the Olympics were in Melbourne.  The Soviets invaded Hungary, Britain and France bombed Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal, Israel captured the Straits of Tiran, and there was a military coup in Sumatra. Racial tensions were high in the U.S. and the Supreme Court ruled that race separation on buses was unconstitutional. Morocco and Tunisia gained independence from France, Sudan became independent from Egypt, an Islamic republic was formed in Pakistan, and the last French troops left Vietnam.

The 2016 Monkey Year will go by at a fast pace with lots of communication, humor and wit. This is the year for new thinking, new ideas, and inventions. It is a time for taking risks and wild ideas, but watch out for monkey schemes and deception.

Unfortunately, the year will be dominated by the star of illness, so you should guard your health and energy. Extreme views and lawlessness will pervade the year and it will be more difficult for world leaders to keep control.  The Monkey Year will be a great  for money opportunities, but make sure to keep safe, healthy, and secure.

Life on Oahu versus the Big Island

We recently moved to Central Oahu from South Kohala on the Big Island. Though we are still in Hawaii with its great weather and aloha spirit, the differences between the two islands are dramatic. It is a lot like the difference between living in one stop-light town in the Midwest versus an apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan, NY.

Crowds

Oahu is very crowded. On a recent Saturday night at Ala Moana Mall there were so many people we struggled to walk through the mall.  Less than half of them were speaking English. It felt more like being in Hong Kong or Tokyo than the US or anywhere else in Hawaii. Everywhere you look on Oahu there are houses, cars, and people which is a major contrast from the miles of desolate lava fields, acres of pastures, and empty beaches we are accustomed to on the Big Island. At our condo complex in central Oahu, cars come and go at all hours of the day and night,  a big change for us after years of living in a mostly empty (except around Christmas) condo complex in South Kohala.  All the people on Oahu keep things very lively and there are endless activities and events, but unlike the Big Island it is surprisingly more difficult to make friends.

Distances and Traffic

Everything on Oahu is only a short distance and if you are lucky and there is not much traffic, you can get anywhere quickly. On the Big Island, everything was a long drive.  It was a long drive for us to get to COSTCO and potlucks with friends in Kona from Kohala.   On Oahu we can drive to three grocery stores, Walmart, our bank, and 20 or more restaurants in our neighborhood in less than 5 minutes.  However, it recently took us 30 minutes to drive a little over a mile on a Saturday morning near Ala Moana mall when dropping someone off at the Convention Center. We rarely ran into traffic on the Big Island.  Occasionally, the traffic from the airport into Kona would jam up a bit and it was frustrating to get behind a slow moving truck, but Oahu has epic traffic jams which we just have to surrender to sitting in the car for a very long time.

Driving Style

Folks drive slower on Oahu than on the Big Island and the speed limits are lower. Honolulu police are out in force giving tickets to speeders, a rare sight on the Big Island. In our seven and half years on the Big Island we saw maybe a dozen people getting tickets, whereas, we see one or more cars getting pulled over every day on Oahu.  Driving in Oahu requires threading your car through tiny parking lots with tiny parking spaces. The freeways are massive in Oahu compared to the two lane roads throughout most of the Big Island, but the lanes are narrower and it feels like the cars are going to scratch the paint off your car as they pass.  Freeway driving takes a great deal of concentration on Oahu. There is just more room for cars and parking lots on the Big Island.

Shopping

Shopping on Oahu is amazing. There are so many stores and malls it feels more like New York or Paris than Hawaii. On Oahu every neighborhood has a wide selection of stores and there are numerous malls.  The Big Island is just not the place to be if you like shopping, whereas Oahu has an amazing selection of things to buy and great prices.

Food

Food shopping on Oahu is easy compared to the Big Island. There are numerous grocery stores with greater selection and lower prices than the Big Island stores. But Oahu does not compare to the Big Island for fruits and vegetables.  There are fewer Farmer’s markets on Oahu with limited selection compared to we had on the Big Island.  On Oahu, there is no place like Suisan or the Kona harbor with fresh fish and the amazing Big Island Beef is hard to find. Restaurants are abundant, excellent ,and affordable on Oahu, a very unfortunate thing for our waist lines. We never found a place on the Big Island that had consistently excellent food and service at an affordable price whereas on Oahu we have trouble deciding where to go among all the choices.

Weather and Vog

The weather on Oahu depends on where you live, just like the Big Island. We live in central Oahu where it is very rainy, similar to Hilo.  When we drive to west Oahu the weather is usually hot, dry and sunny, similar to Kohala. A bad Vog day on Oahu is like a no Vog day on the Big Island. We are happy to not have to deal with the Vog.

Rent and Jobs

Rents are substantially higher on Oahu than the Big Island.  We are paying $600 more a month in rent for a much smaller condo than we had on the Big Island. The same size and quality of rental on Oahu is about double the cost on the Big Island.  The driving factors for Oahu’s high rents seem to be the large number of soldiers who get a substantial housing allowance and the job market.  Getting a job on Oahu is fairly easy and although they pay better than Big Island jobs, the pay is still very low compared to the cost of housing.  The competition for housing can make it a challenge to even find a rental.

Beaches and Parks

The gorgeous white sand and black sand beaches on the Big Island are in a league of their own.  The famous North Shore beaches on Oahu are tiny with only a few places to  park along the road.  It is a big contrast to the Big Island’s long stretches of beach with large parking lots near many of them.  On Oahu, the malls are more accessible than the parks and trails and beaches.  We miss counting the turtles, talking to the eels, and enjoying the gorgeous scenery on our daily beach walks in Kohala.

We are enjoying our new life in central Oahu but we are missing the incredible outdoor lifestyle we had on the Big Island.

Surprising costs of an interisland move in Hawaii

Packing crates on the Big Island for Oahu

We always assumed that moving between islands in Hawaii would be much easier and cheaper than our move from California to Hawaii Island. The distance from Kawaihae harbor on the Big Island to Honolulu is only about 160 miles compared to 2300 miles from Oakland to Hilo, so we figured that the move would be less expensive and take less time. We were surprised to discover that the cost and complexity of an inter-island move is the same or more than our initial move to Hawaii from the mainland. 

The major expenses shipping between the islands include: 

• the materials and labor to pack everything to survive an ocean trip, 
• the labor to load a container or crates,
• the cost of transporting the container or crates to the harbor,
• the cost of shipping, 
• and finally transporting the container to a residence and unloading. 

It turns out the fuel savings from shipping the shorter distance between islands versus from the mainland is only about $200.

In Hawaii, Young Brothers has a monopoly on all shipping routes between the islands. Young Brothers prices are based on weight with a set amount for different types of items such as cars, containers, cement, etc.. They publish their tariffs on their website. They do not offer the type of moving services Matson does, like dropping off a container at your residence and picking it up. 

So, to move personal effects you need, at a minimum, a moving company to deliver a container or  wooden crates and transport them to the harbor. The cost of loading a container or wooden crates (which have to be covered with plastic) and transporting them to the harbor is the same or more in Hawaii as on the mainland. In addition, the cost of packing everything for transportation, including the expense of boxes and wrapping material, is also the same or more on Hawaii as on the mainland. 

On the Big Island there are only six companies authorized to move between islands including Big Isle Moving, Royal Hawaiian, Kona Transportation, and Town and Country Moving. The moving companies provide door to door services including packing, loading, transporting to the harbor, pickup and unpacking. You can save some money by packing yourself. 

The moving companies send a person to estimate the total weight of your effects and overall moving costs. Regardless of their weight estimate, you are charged the actual weight of the container or crates weighed at the harbor for Young Brothers portion of the shipping costs. 

We had three local companies provide us an estimate and were shocked at the differences. Their  weight estimates ranged from 9300 pounds to 6100 pounds. Their cost estimates, after adding in packing, supplies, and delivery ranged from $10,000 to $4,621. 

Although all the moving companies use Young Brothers and their tariff rates are fixed, the actual rates they provided varied from $67 to $59 per 100 pounds.  Their moving estimates included only about 60 cents of insurance per pound. Additional insurance, which we required, was an added cost. 

The actual weight of the four crates was 6800 lbs. The crates took over a week to arrive in Honolulu from the Big Island, which was almost as long as our 20 foot Matson container took to get to Hilo from California. On the bright side, all of our things made it safely with no damage. 

Crates arriving in Oahu

Overall moving between islands in Hawaii was complicated, expensive, and time consuming.  Our  challenge now is getting all our stuff to fit into our much smaller apartment. 

In our next blog we will tell you about all the things, good and bad, that are different  living on Oahu than living on the Big Island.

Our Move to Oahu

Our Oahu Apartment

We loved living on Hawaii Island for the past 7 years.  We were able to experience the culture, climate, and life styles of Hilo, Kona, and Kohala.  The beaches, food, people, and amazing activities on the Big Island have been a constant source of entertainment and enjoyment for us.  Even so, our endless wanderlust, made us wonder what it would be like to live on the other islands in Hawaii.

Our son attended college on Oahu, so we visited the island many times.  Although the noise and congestion in Waikiki was too much for us, we marveled at the shops, restaurants and sights to see elsewhere on the island.   There is also the draw of jobs, particularly jobs requiring technical skills.  We started looking around and found a great job in West Oahu.  Last month, we moved from Hawaii Island to find out if living on Oahu is as much fun as it looks.  Our move kept us too busy and overwhelmed to blog; but we are back to it now.

Although we are in Oahu, we plan to continue to update our HiloLiving website and calendar.   We still own property on the Big Island and consider it our home. 

Our next blog will be about our move from Kohala on the Big Island to Oahu.  We always assumed that moving between islands in Hawaii would be  easier and cheaper than our move from California to Hilo.  We were very wrong.

Booming Hawaii Island - the off season that never came

It has been a strange Spring on the Big Island. Usually by this time of year it is very warm, the tourists are gone, and the residents that live full time on the island have the beaches and roads to themselves. This year the weather has been unusually cool, far cooler than it was this winter, and the tourists never left.  The island is the most crowded we have seen at this time of year.  The Mauna Kea Hotel is having a job fair this weekend, which is very surprising for this time of year.

In addition, new home construction seems to be booming on the island. On a drive to Kona yesterday, there was bumper to bumper traffic both directions with about half of the traffic construction trucks and  construction workers. Everywhere we look we see huge new projects being started. We are also seeing a lot  of older, presumably retired couples who appear to be setting up new households on the island. They are in Targets and K-Mart shopping for household supplies instead of souvenirs.

Our best guess is that what we are seeing is the result of lower oil prices which makes a Hawaii vacation more affordable than it has been in years by reducing gasoline expenses and air fares. We may also be seeing the first wave of the 77 million boomers starting to retire this year.

It is an interesting and exciting time ahead for Hawaii Island.

Vog and Snow

Snow and clouds cover Mauna Kea

Like most of the world, the weather on the Big Island of Hawaii has been strange this year.  Two weeks ago the island was blanketed in vog from our constantly erupting volcano.  When the winds finally changed, it brought a thick blanket of clouds, rain and very cold temperatures

The heavy vog (volcanic smog) hung over us for over a week as a southern wind blew it north covering the west side of the island. When the vog gets thick, some people have a reaction in their lungs. The lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand from volcanoes, Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, is actually the longest word in the dictionary.  In our case, the vog lowers our energy and we feel like we are down with the flu.  Our only recourse is to stay inside and run the AC to get some of the sulfur dioxide out of our air. 

When the winds changed we got rain with record cold temperatures for March.  Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are covered in snow with high winds and freezing fog. The huge Thirty Meter Telescope, under construction on Mauna Kea, was delayed from the blizzard.

While we bundle up in temperatures in the low 60’s (F), the ocean surrounding the Hawaiian Islands is not cooling down.  The water is warmer than normal by up to 3.6 degrees. Last week NOAA Climate Prediction Center predicted a 60% chance of El Nino conditions because of the unusual warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.  The effects of the El Nino last year produced 20 named storms in the Eastern Pacific, the most since 1992.

An El Nino means our cold weather will likely be followed by a dry summer and another active hurricane season.  

East Hawaii Blue Zones Project

East Hawaii, which includes Hilo, was selected as one of 3 communities in the state of Hawaii as a Blue Zones project by HSMA, Blue Zones LLC, and Healthways Inc.  The Island of Kauai has been a Blue Zones Project pilot since 2013.

According to Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, people in the Blue Zones he identified reach age 100 at 10 times the average rate.  Blue Zones LLC states that only 20% of how long a person lives is because of their genes; the other 80% is due to their lifestyle and environment. 

The Blue Zones project has best practices for communities to improve the lifestyle and environment for the residents. In Albert Lea, Minnesota, a Blue Zones project since 2009, the residents lost a total of 12,000 pounds, cut their health care costs, and added over 3 years to the residents’ average life expectancy.    

To be selected as a Blue Zones project, the community must have broad buy-in within the community including local leaders, schools, employers, restaurants, and grocery stores who agree to support the program.  In addition, at least 20% of the citizens must sign a personal pledge to take actions to improve their well-being which include eating wisely, moving naturally, making changes at home, connecting socially, and finding a purpose.

The personal pledges are based on 9 shared traits of the world’s longest lived people that Buettner identified.  Summaries of these traits listed on bluezones.com website include:

Move Naturally The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron or run marathons or join gyms. Their environments nudge them into moving without thinking about it.

Purpose Why do you wake up in the morning? Knowing your sense of purpose adds up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

Down Shift Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. The world’s longest-lived people have routines to reduce their stress.

80% Rule “Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawans say this mantra before meals as a reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. That could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.

Plant Slant The cornerstone of most centenarian diets are beans. They typically eat meat, mostly pork, only five times per month.

Wine  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers, especially if they share those drinks with friends.

Belong Attending faith-based services four times a month adds 4 to 14 years of life expectancy.

Loved Ones First Centenarians put their families first. They keep aging parents and grandparents nearby, commit to a life partner, and invest time and love in their children.

Right Tribe They world’s longest lived people chose or were born into social circles that support healthy behaviors.

East Hawaii is the perfect place for a Blue Zone project as it already has many of the nine shared traits listed above. When we researched our book on “Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy” we found lots of reasons why people in Hawaii already live longer and have better health than the rest of the US. 

Why Christmas is so special to us in Hawaii

The first Christmas I celebrated in Hawaii was in the 1960's when I was in grade school.  I remember vividly how wonderful it was to be warm, feel the sun on my skin, be outside without a coat, and swim in the ocean. I do not remember any gifts that year.  My Christmas gift was being in Hawaii.

When we came to Hawaii for Christmas vacation as adults, we enjoyed the decorations and all the fun events planned for the season by the hotels.  We made an effort to decorate a tree and string lights in our hotel room.  But our big Christmas gift was being in Hawaii where we spent the days in the sun and met people from all over the world enjoying the season.

We have always loved the Christmas season and the commercialization of the holiday has not lessened our joy of celebrating the birth of Christ.  Living in Hawaii, Christmas is more about fun and celebration and less about stuff.  We still enjoy the colorful decorations around town and Christmas tree displays at the hotels.   And seeing the happy, expectant faces of Christmas visitors arriving to the island brings back wonderful memories of our vacations. 

Mail Service Disruption in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii is always an adventure and this week it was the sudden lost of our US mail service.

When we moved to a remote part of the Kohala Coast  three years ago, we were surprised at how little mail was being delivered to our condo complex.  Only a dozen or so letters a day and a few packages were delivered most days to over a hundred units in our complex. This was in sharp contrast to the overfilled mail truck in our previous condo complex in Kona that kept the mailman busy for hours stuffing boxes.  We decided it was related to the unoccupied state of most of the units during the year.   At Christmastime the number of packages would always increase as the condos filled with their owners and vacation renters.

Since we regularly order from Amazon Prime, we quickly became familiar with the local carrier who was a contractor in an unmarked van rather than a postal worker.  Starting about a year ago, when Amazon’s Prime service with free shipping became more popular, we noticed a surge in the number of packages he had to deliver.  The rural carrier’s job lost its luster as his work day dragged out and he spent hours moving boxes.  Many times he would dig through the back of his van stuffed with hundreds of boxes looking for ours.  Most of the boxes were from Amazon and marked Prime or from some other retail outlet.  As shopping online increased in popularity our rural mail carrier became more and more miserable.

Last week were notified that our contract carrier quit and that mail service along the Kohala coast would be limited until they found a replacement.  We have had no mail pick up and sporadic deliveries of boxes by post office trucks.  Our location is about an hour round trip to the Kamuela post office. 

For us, and apparently many other people in our complex, being able to order products online with free shipping significantly lowers the cost of living in Hawaii and adds to the quality of life.  It turns out that having viable US post office services that can deal with massive numbers of packages, particularly during the Christmas season, is an important piece of living remotely in Hawaii.

Baking Soda as a Bug Killer

Before we moved to Hawaii, baking soda was just one of those ingredients to make fake “lava” for paper mache volcanoes in grade school. When we lived in Hilo we found baking soda very useful for improving the air quality on very voggy (bad volcano emission) days.  We had heard that soaking a towel in water and baking soda and putting it in front of a fan helped. Since vog is mostly sulfuric acid, the mildly basic baking soda helped make the environment less acidic.

Recently we started using baking soda to clean things.  We have a wooden table that had built up layers of dirt, oil and volcanic ash.  No wood cleaner or furniture polish we tried would take it off.  When we sprinkled baking soda on it, we were able to scrub the layers off and the table suddenly looked great again. We also started using baking soda on the rug to help reduce the musty smell.  We sprinkled some on the rug and let it set for 15 minutes  before vacuuming it up.  The rug seemed cleaner and felt better on our bare feet.  

We normally use ant baits to keep the ants under control, but with all the rain we have been getting the last couple of months there have been many more ants and bugs of all kinds.  We have had to replace our ant baits more frequently, about every two weeks instead of every two months. Our guess is everyone else is having the same problem because the local stores have run out of ant baits.  We noticed the ants, cockroaches, millipedes and other bugs seemed to slow down after a baking soda treatment on the rug.  So we tried sprinkling baking soda along the window sill and under the door to see if that would slow them down.  

Baking Soda on the window sill

Much to our delight, a few days later there was a pile of dead ants in the baking soda on the window sill.

 

Dead Ant in the Baking Soda

Is it possible that something as common and inexpensive as baking soda could really kill ants and other bugs?  If so, this would save us lots of money and keep us from having to deal with insecticides.   

We started researching how baking soda kills ants and it appears that ants and other bugs like the taste of baking soda. When they eat it is causes the production of C02 which causes their stomach to rupture and kills them.  It is apparently a very good pesticide. 

Now we buy 13.5 pound bags of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda on Amazon or at Costco. We even wash our clothes and sheets with soap that contains baking soda and seems to discourage bugs from crawling into the bed.  We sprinkle it on the furniture and put it in all the entry ways. The baking soda has greatly cut back on the bugs in the house. 

We wonder why we have never heard of this simple solution before.  But we are glad the local stores ran out of ant baits so we could find a new use for baking soda

Designing a Healthy Home

East facing window for best morning light

Since moving to Hawaii Island we have moved three times to experience different communities and climates on the island.  Having lived in many types of houses and condo rentals,  we often think about home design changes that would make our life easier and more healthy. Some things we have installed ourselves, but others require major changes to a house design. Here are some home design ideas that we wish were standard:

1. Situated to maximize the amount of early morning light that floods into the bedrooms;
2. No granite or other sources of uranium in the house - granite in counter tops, floors and molding have uranium that decays to radon. Other non-radon producing surfaces like marble, stainless steel or tile are healthier;
3. Designed for robots to constantly clean, with no steps up and down through the house and all the plugs required so the robots have power and unobstructed movement;
4. Maximized for air flow through the house so mold and mildew cannot flourish and humidity is lowered so tropical bugs will stay away;
5. Automated humidity control to maintain moisture and keep it at the ideal level for health and to minimize molds;
6. Easy access to AC air filters and smoke detectors so they can be frequently changed;
7. Built in security cameras for discreet monitoring of the outside perimeter;
8. Back up lighting installed for safety in the event of power outages;
9. Built in water purification with easy access to change the filters;
10. Backup power systems for electric and an easy switch between primary electric power and backup power.
11. Non toxic walls, paint, and furniture without heavy metals, chemicals, and bromine;
12. Single story construction with no steps or landings to reduce the chances for falls;
13. If multi-storied, then the staircase is designed for installation of an elevator chair or other means to get people up and down if it is needed.
14. Showers with built in seats for comfort and safety;
15. Sound proofing to minimize noise in the house – there are many negative health effects of not sleeping well because of noise;
16. Automatic window shades to open windows and window shades easily and control the amount of light from hard to reach windows;
17. L ED lights, low energy appliances, and other electrical devices that minimize electricity usage;
18. Storage area designated for survival supplies and water storage;
19. Non-toxic plantings around the home - ornamental plants are often selected because they are easy to take care of but are often highly toxic;
20. Easy access outside the house without stairs, barriers, or long distances to get to the car or street.

It seems like modern houses are focused on a “prestige presentation”; it would be wonderful to have homes designed with healthy features instead.

Delightful Hawaii Mornings

Every day on Hawaii Island we cherish how great we feel when wake up in the morning.  It is a special type of joy to awaken to the sounds of tropical birds, the smell of flowers, and the sight of a brilliant sunrise.

We were recently reading a book called Your Brain On Nature: The Science of Nature's Influence on Your Health, Happiness and Vitality that details research that explains why we sleep so well and feel so great when we wake up on Hawaii Island.  We specify Hawaii Island because many of the attributes are unique to Hawaii Island.

We go to sleep with a very dark sky.

Hawaii Island is careful to control light pollution in support of the optical telescopes on Mauna Kea.  There are lighting ordinances that require shielded light and limited street lights.  On cloudless nights, the bright stars are visible above when we fall asleep at night.  According to Dr. Selhub, research shows that artificially brightened night skies interfere with the sleep cycle by affecting melatonin production and that even low levels of light during the night can interfere with normal adult brain cell structures. Our very dark night sky helps us get into a deeper sleep.

At night we hear calming sounds of nature.

We keep our windows open and can hear the wind blow through the palm trees as we fall asleep. A Japanese research team at Chiba University showed that sounds of nature, like the sound of a creek, changes the brain blood flow to a state of relaxation. A study from Stockholm University showed that nature sounds calmed people down whereas road traffic noise increased stress based on measurable physiological markers.  We don’t have noise from traffic or machinery where we live.  We didn't realize how quiet it was until we spent some time in Honolulu last year and were unsettled by the constant background drone of traffic, AC, and machinery spiked with loud sirens all night long. 

We wake up to a symphony of tropical birds songs 

Every morning the birds start to sing as the sun is rising.  Research published in Psychological Medicine in 2006 showed that hearing birds songs in the morning lifts the mood and decreases fatigue.

Blue light shines through our windows at sunrise  

Early morning light has more blue spectrum.  The eye is very sensitive to the blue color (460nm) and causes the brain to wake up, increase alertness, and boost concentration. Researchers at the University of Greenwich showed that blue light made people happier, more alert, and more productive. The blue spectrum declines the most in the winter compared to other spectrums, but in Hawaii we do not lose our blue spectrum light in the winter.

We breathe fresh air and negative air ions.

Breathing in negatively charged air ions, most prevalent in the morning, has been shown to improve health. Dr Selhub cites research that shows negative air ions reduce stress, depression, anxiety, and improve cognitive performance.  Negatively charged ions are depleted by pollution, electronic devices, and in enclosed places. Being near the ocean with warm tropical rain, gives us plentiful negative air ions in Hawaii.

We have aromas from flowers all year long.

We love having beautiful, tropical flowers around us all the time.  Research at Wheeling Jesuit University found that the aromatic chemicals in flowers can increase alertness, even in extremely small concentrations.

We start every day by waking up to bird chatter, soaking in the early morning sunlight, breathing in negative air ions, and smelling the flowers.  Now we know it is not just our imagination that this place is good for our health. 

Are you waiting too long to Retire in Hawaii?

This year we have noticed more retirees remaining on Hawaii Island since the departure of the snowbirds last month. They really stick out with their coiffed hair, tweed caps, black silk shirts, long pants, and patent leather shoes.  We see them struggle to carry their garbage out, argue with the gardeners, and frown at the food displayed in our local grocery store. We never see them at the beach, lying in the sun, or laughing.  These recently arrived 70-something year olds may have waited way too long to retire to Hawaii. 

The transition from “mainland clothes” to sandals, shorts, loose shirts, and wild hair takes a while.  It takes a while for the rejuvenating effects of the sun, warm weather, local food, and laid back lifestyle in Hawaii to increase your energy and health.   It takes a while to realize that nobody cares what a big shot you were on the mainland and that yelling gets (at best) no response in Hawaii.  It takes a while to focus on Hawaii’s beaches, sunshine, and peacefulness and give up on the mainland’s addictive foods, restaurants, and malls.

Recent studies have shown that retiring earlier leads to living longer, in contradiction to older studies that showed working longer correlated to living longer.  Researchers at the Tinbergen Institute at the University of Amsterdam compared Dutch men who retired early (age 55 instead of in their mid-60’s) and found that early retirement decreased their chance of dying within the next five years by 42.3%. The researchers concluded that lower stress levels contributed to the lower mortality rates.  Stress in the workplace, since the economic downturn, may be partially responsible for the higher death rate of older workers.   However, observing the difficulty new elderly residents are having adjusting to retirement, waiting too long to retire may also be part of the reason. 

The growing fear among Boomers of running out of money before they die is creating another type of stress.  Money stress keeps people in stressful jobs longer and counters any health improvements a Hawaii lifestyle might offer.  Retiring earlier brings you the mental and health benefits of the relaxed, laid back Hawaii lifestyle sooner.

We believe that money is not a good tradeoff for health which led to our move to Hawaii Island   in our 50’s.  Watching the elderly newcomers hobble from their newly purchased Hawaii condos, we wonder when they will switch to clothes more suitable to a tropical island.   We wonder if they will stay long enough to get any of the benefits of living in Hawaii.  

You need a minimal level of health to walk, swim, lie in the sun, and enjoy what Hawaii has to offer.  Waiting too long makes it more difficult to move across the ocean and create a low-maintenance, tropical lifestyle.  So, if you are dreaming about retiring in Hawaii, don’t wait too long.

Iodine and the Ocean in Hawaii

We have always been drawn to the ocean and mesmerized by the crashing waves.  Living in Hawaii, we look forward to our daily walks along the Kohala Coast; after the walk, we sit close to the crashing waves and feel invigorated and revitalized as the salty mist covers our bodies and fills our lungs.  Our recent research into iodine has given us new insight into our addiction to ocean surf.  The ocean’s mist contains iodine, which affects the body’s metabolism (which the thyroid gland located in your neck controls). A shortage of iodine causes cold feet, hair loss, constipation, depression, dry skin, fatigue, poor memory, throat pain, muscle weakness, cysts, and worse in adults. In babies and children, iodine deficiency is catastrophic to the brain’s development.

In his book Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, Dr. David Brownstein, claims up to 40% of Americans have thyroid disease from lack of iodine, which every cell, muscle, and organ in the body depends upon.  A minimum amount of iodine was added to table salt to prevent goiter (the swelling of the thyroid) and mental retardation in babies.  However, iodine deficiencies in the US population has been increasing dramatically with low-salt diets and the use of bromine (in flour and soft drinks) and fluorine (in toothpaste and drinking water) which both block iodine absorption in the body.

In 1829, a French physician Jean Lugol discovered that a solution of potassium iodide and iodine treated infections and numerous other ailments.  Different tissues and glands in the body require iodide or iodine or both, for example, the thyroid needs iodide (which was the form added to salt to prevent goiter) whereas the breast and prostate glands require iodine.  "Lugol's Solution" was a major breakthrough in the medical world and widely prescribed by physicians before being replaced by prescription drugs.  The use of iodine to treat breast cancer dates back to 1896.  It has been known for 5 decades that low iodine levels result in cysts and ultimately cancer in the breasts, ovaries, uterus, and prostate where iodine is concentrated.  Iodine is also required by the gastrointestinal tract, salivary glands, bones, and body fluids.  Without sufficient iodide, the thyroid won’t stimulate the mitochondria to produce energy (ATP) and muscle soreness, fatigue, and brain fog takes over.

Our discovery about iodine explains why we feel so wonderful after our daily pilgrimage to the Kohala Coast.   The ocean is unique in that it has both iodine and iodide in the mist, both of which are needed by the body and are absorbed by the skin. There are lots of ideal places under coconut trees further from the surf,  but our favorite place is out on a point where the waves crash around us. Though we are getting iodine and iodide from the ocean, seafood, and even local grass-fed beef, we have found new levels of energy and concentration since starting supplements of J.CROW'S® Lugol's Solution of Iodine 2%.

Where is the healthiest and happiest place to live?

New studies have been coming out about where to live the healthiest, happiest, and longest life in the US.  Although health and happiness are often measured by subjective questionnaires, the rankings are interesting to boomers looking for warm, healthy, and happy places to spend time in their retirement years.  We collected recent rankings on living in Hawaii and compared  them to the overall national ranking on health, longevity, and happiness.

WEATHER AND AIR QUALITY

Though Hawaii has some bad air days from the active volcano, it gets high rankings from the EPA for having all zero ozone days.

Hawaii has strong Smoke-free laws which reduces the chances of breathing second-hand smoke.

Hawaii’s tropical climate (at sea level) has minimal temperature variation during its two seasons.  It is 85-90 degrees in the summer and 79-83 degrees in winter. 

In our opinion, Hawaii has the best weather on the planet.

ACTIVITY AND EXERCISE

Warm weather (that is never too hot) year-round may be why people in Hawaii are more active than most of the rest of the nation.

According to the 2012 CDC report, 81.3% of Hawaii residents participated in physical activity within the past month which is higher than the overall nationwide data of 77.1% and ranks Hawaii in the top 5 of US States.

In 2012, only 16.3% of Adults in Hawaii told the CDC that they are limited in their activities because of physical, mental, or emotional problems compared to 20.1% nationwide and ranks Hawaii in the top 3 US States.

OBESITY

Increased activity and year round sunlight may be the reason for less obesity in Hawaii.  Many people we know, including us, are thinner in Hawaii than we were when we lived on the mainland.

According to the “F as in Fat” project by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Hawaii is the fourth least obese state in the nation (ranked 47/51) with an obesity rate that is lower than 30%.

Hawaii’s 2012 adult obesity rate is 23.6% (men 26.8% and women 20.3%)

Hawaii’s obesity rate for adults age 45-64  is 26.8%, the rate for adults age 65+  is 14.1%, and the rate for  white residents  is 19%.

MORTALITY

According to the CDC, Hawaii had the lowest mortality in 2011 in the US with an age-adjusted death rate of 584.8 deaths per 100,000 standard population.  This compares to the national age-adjusted rate of 740.6 nationwide.  The closest state to Hawaii’s low mortality is California with an age-adjusted rate of 638.8.

Hawaii’s low mortality may be related to the healthy state of the residents.  Hawaii was ranked the most “Healthy” in the nation by United Health Foundation using a wide range of measurements.  According to the report, some of the positive measures for Hawaii as compared to elsewhere in the US include: low cancer deaths, low cardiovascular deaths, low diabetes, low disparity in health status, high immunization coverage, high health insurance coverage, low obesity, high physical activity, low rate of preventable hospitalizations, high public health funding, and low smoking.

The United HealthFoundation’s report on seniors reported that Hawaii has the lowest prevalence of depression among seniors in the nation and the lowest prevalence of obesity among seniors in the country.

LONGEVITY

With a low death rate and better health for people in Hawaii, it is not surprising that the state continues its top ranking for longevity in the nation at 81.48  years old compared with the national rate of 78.61.

HAPPINESS 

One of the best things about spending time in Hawaii is that most people are really happy and very fun to be around.  In 2012, Hawaii maintained its ranking as the “happiest” State in the US by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

Merrie Monarch 2014

Merrie Monarch week in Hilo, Hawaii started on Easter Sunday with the Ho'olaule'a (music festival) held in Hilo's Civic Auditorium.  Presentations of dance and music were made by local hula haluas, Hawaii Community College, and local Charter schools.  The Ho'olaule'a is always a delight and we look forward to seeing the kupuna and keiki dance accompanied by great musicians every year.  This year hundreds of visitors from Japan filled the auditorium and participated with the local halaus.  Here are Videos of the Ho'olaule'a presentations on April 20. 

Easter Hula in Hilo Hawaii

Free music performances and hula demonstrations are held daily during the week at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel and the Hawaii Naniloa Volcanoes Resort.  A Hawaiian Crafts fair takes place from Wednesday through Saturday in the Civic Auditorium.   ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center has events during the week, as well as the Prince Kuhio Plaza Mall which is hosting hula and music performances in their center court every afternoon.  This year a lei competition is taking place with the winners displayed at the Wailoa Arts and Cultural Center.

The Ho’ike on Wednesday night is free for those willing to stand in line to get seats in the Edith Kanaka'ole stadium.  The Ho’ike has local halaus performing, with two groups from Japan, and a dance company from New Zealand.  

 

Edith Kanaka'ole stadium in Hilo

If you don’t have tickets for the main events, the Miss Aloha Hula competition, Thursday night, and the two group hula competitions, Friday and Saturday night, you can still watch live on K5 TV or over the internet.

On Saturday morning, a royal parade winds through downtown Hilo at 10:30 AM.  The last event of the week is Saturday evening, the group ‘Auana Hula.

Here is a Merrie Monarch performance and TV schedule.