Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Page A-9
Carlisles ‘Make the jam’ for self care
Laura M. Mancuso
IVN Staff
Healthy U wants to turn health care
upside down with their #SelfCaresHealthCare
campaign.
“When we think about health care we
typically think of doctor’s offices, insurance
companies or hospitals, we see it as something
that is remote from our daily life that is led
by experts or some enormous bureaucracy;
no wonder it is confusing,” said Nicole
Rensenbrink the executive director of Healthy
U, and added, “But really you don’t always
need to go somewhere or have someone show
you what to do. Self care is health care. Self
care is what you do every day to take care of
yourself.”
Healthy U is a nonprofit, health
promotion organization that offers counseling,
exercise classes and other health education
venues.
Last summer Healthy U encouraged the
people of the Illinois Valley to tell them what
they do to stay healthy as part of a health
promotion and fundraising campaign and then
promoted the responses they received in the
Aug. 31 edition of the Illinois Valley News.
It turned out that a couple from Selma
was the epitome of Healthy U’s mission which
is to promote health of the mind, body and
heart. Tom and Kathy Carlisle listed their
response to Healthy U’s question: “What’s one
healthy thing you do?” by saying, “Make the
jam.”
Unexpectedly, their jam has nothing to do
with fruit.
“‘Make the jam’ means you just gotta
keep going,” said Kathy Carlisle. “Maybe
you’re worried about things or you can’t
do anything about things, so you just do
something physical if your mind is distressed.”
And doing something physical is how
both Tom and Kathy live their lives.
The Carlisle’s moved from Seattle to
Selma 35 years ago when they decided to
fulfill their goal in life which was “country
living.” Their role models for this lifestyle
were Scott and Helen Nearing from the back-
to-the-land movement who wrote a 1954
publication called, “Living the Good Life.”
Tom Carlisle said they found a house that
needed a lot of work when they moved in and
they had to replace just about everything. They
ended up doing most of the work themselves.
And so for the past 35 years the Carlisle’s
have had a work in progress on their 13 acre
property.
The amazing part of this is that every day
they have spent time outdoors working on their
vast 2 acre botanical garden that is two-stories
full of terraces, steps, fountains and beautiful
recycled art with intricate stonework all done
by hand.
Tom and Kathy Carlisle who claim to be
in “fairly good health” are both “interested in
exercise that has another component.”
“I’m not interested in a stationary bicycle
or going to the gym; that just seems pointless
when you can go outside and work in your
garden. Make it beautiful and enjoy the
weather and at the same time get exercise,”
said Kathy Carlisle.
Tom Carlisle’s take on exercise is
“Jumping jacks do not appeal to me but
pushing firewood uphill everyday; that’s
exercise.”
When asked why they believe in a
healthy lifestyle, Kathy Carlisle said, “Without
your health you can’t do much of anything.
Tom and I are both getting older now. He is
72 and I will be 72 soon. We are realizing that
we have to do our best to stay healthy so we
can maximize whatever time we have left.”
And Tom Carlisle added, “In my opinion, to
maximize your activities you need to stay
healthy. You don’t want to have to spend time
with doctors all the time.”
It’s not just exercise that makes the
Carlisle’s healthy. They eat a “well-rounded
diet and very little of their food is processed.”
Kathy Carlisle said they cook most of their
meals at home and their typical diet is meat,
lots of fish and vegetables and dairy. “No
restrictions, just sensible about eating.”
And it is not just their bodies they keep
healthy. When it comes to their minds and
hearts they’re the same way.
The Carlisle’s spend about two hours
a day reading anything from books to
newspapers and they also make listening
to music a priority in their lives. They love
classical music and Kathy Carlisle plays the
piano.
According to Kathy Carlisle, “Music and
creative arts are important to a healthy life.
Music, because it is soothing and inspiring.”
And Tom Carlisle mentioned that they go to
the symphony in Grants Pass five times a year.
The Carlisle’s do socialize with friends
but spend most of their time together. They
have been married 45 successful years and
when asked about the secret to success, Kathy
Carlisle said it was all about “tolerance and
compromise and that fairness is key.”
Tom explained how they always try to
be fair with each other and split all the chores
around the house. He then added, “We rarely
get angry with each other or about things. I
feel health suffers from getting angry all the
time. A healthy way to get rid of anger or stress
would be to do something physical.”
It all really comes back to “Make the
jam.”
For Tom Carlisle, making the jam means
you can make your life sweeter. “The bread
might be the staff of life but the jam makes life
interesting.”
Healthy U hopes to have an annual health
campaign that engages citizens in this sort of
way, perhaps next recruiting local residents
to answer the question: “How do you support
your community?”
When it comes to self care Lindsey
Gillette, health educator and yoga instructor
for Healthy U said, “I want everyone to know
that there are countless ways to do self care
and the most important thing is to just start
somewhere!”
To get more information about
#SelfCaresHealthCare or to donate, call 541-
592-4888 or go to www.healthyucenter.org.
Healthy U’s mailing address is PO Box 1491,
Cave Junction, OR 97523.
(Photo by Laura Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Kathy (left) and Tom Carlisle of Selma work in their botanical garden around
one of their handmade fountains Saturday, Oct. 22.
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