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A world divided before and after twins
Shawn Raecke / Idaho Statesman Anthony Doerr sometimes unwinds at the end of the day of cooking, with his 5-year-old twins helping in the kitchen. "I really like it," Doerr says of cooking. "It's nice to put on music and be around food." Do you eat fish daily, or sit in the sun at least 15 minutes every day? If not, you have a lot of company. Half of us are vitamin D deficient. Studies show people with the lowest vitamin D levels are 36 percent more likely to have had an upper respiratory tract infection. Vitamin D is difficult to get from food. Nutrition experts recommend supplements. Optimal dose: 1000 IU daily. • Rickets, which can cause bowlegs, other malformations • Higher blood pressure levels • Lower levels of high-density cholesterol (HDL), which helps protect against heart disease • Higher risk of diabetes • Sunlight (go out in the sun without suncreen for a short while, but not long enough to get sunburned) • Vitamin D fortified milk • Fish oil and oily fish, such as cod, salmon, mackerel and sardines • Egg yolks • Vitamin D fortified cereals Source: Heidi Diller, registered dietitian, Albertsons Young kids are breeding grounds for winter colds. Protect yourself. • Green tea’s immune-enhancing benefits are due to antioxidants in the leaves. Optimal dose: Several cups a day. • Probiotics, or the live active cultures in yogurt or kefir, are healthy bacteria that keep the gut and intestinal tract healthy. Optimal dose: Two 6-ounce servings a day. • Orange and green fruits and vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, broccoli, leafy-greens and apricots contain beta-carotene. Beta-carotene increases the number of infection-fighting T-cells in your body. • Mushrooms are a rich source of selenium, a mineral that helps white blood cells produce cytokines — proteins that clear flu viruses out of the body. Optimal dose: Two servings per week. • Nuts and seeds like sunflower seeds and almonds are loaded with immune -boosting vitamin E, which stimulates production of natural killer cells that seek out and destroy germs. • Also, don’t forget peanut butter, vegetable oils, wheat germ and avocados. Source: Heidi Diller, registered dietitian, Albertsons Doerr has published three books and is working on No. 4. • “The Shell Collector.” This 2002 collection of eight stories takes readers from Kenya to Montana to Liberia to Maine. “Nature, in these stories,” said Publisher’s Weekly, “is mysterious and deadly, a wonder of design and of nearly overwhelming power.” The book was a New York Times and Publishers’ Weekly Notable Book of 2002. • “About Grace.” 2005. A hydrologist named David Winkler occasionally dreams events that later come true. The book tries to ask questions about snowflakes, predetermination, the nature of family and the intersections of the human and natural worlds. The book was a finalist for the PEN USA Fiction Award. • “Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World.” On the same day Doerr’s wife, Shauna, gave birth to twins, Doerr learned he’d won the Rome Prize, one of the most prestigious awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This 2007 book describes Doerr’s subsequent year in the city. By Colleen LaMay
Sunny side up
Effects of low vitamin D level
Sources of vitamin D
Foods to fight colds, flu
Optimal dose: The more the merrier.About Anthony Doerr
When was the last time you lay in summer grass and picked out shapes in the clouds, or climbed to the top of a playground slide or walked in the rain because you wanted to?
That’s kid stuff. If you’re in your 30s, you may find yourself much too busy juggling work and family life to stare at the clouds or go to the gym.
Anthony Doerr, 36, and his wife, Shauna, have twin boys, Henry and Owen, 5. The Boise author of three critically acclaimed books, including the 2002 collection of stories “The Shell Collector,” says raising children is hard work, but your kids also hand you a gift you can get nowhere else.
“I know there are moments when it just sucks, and you are tired, and they are yelling at you, but they are learning the world as if it’s brand new, and it’s such a gift to get to see that again,” Doerr said. “If we hadn’t had kids, we would have lost that.”
Doerr divides his health and fitness into “before kids” and “after kids.” Pre-kids involved long bike rides, time as a couple relaxing, long runs, plenty of time. By comparison, the first year of the twins’ lives were a sleepless zombie blur of feedings, diaper changes, crying babies. “I think I lost all my hair that first year.”
As the boys grew, their world expanded to include more play, inside and outdoors, rain or shine. “You have to run them like dogs, almost, to tire them out,” he says with a laugh.
Doerr rides his bike to his office in the North End. He writes there and tries not to take his work home with him. He gets exercise, and Boise keeps one pollution-generating vehicle off the roads.
Work is work, even for a successful author. “I don’t believe in this whole ‘inspiration strikes from the clouds’ thing.”
When the stress of work or family and bad news (he is drawn to the media’s news of the day, which is often crisis-focused) gets to him, Doerr cooks, rides his bicycle and keeps his troubles in perspective. “I feel pressure sometimes, but it’s not as hard as driving a truck across the country every day.”
The Doerrs’ motto is to set an example of healthy habits and hope the kids will follow.
Getting healthy food into young children can be a struggle. Sometimes it’s easier to give up and grab a handful of graham crackers and some fruit leather for yourself.
The Doerrs don’t force the meal issue. Sometimes, the grown-ups eat at different times than the boys. But it’s easy to grill two salmon fillets for the adults and put a couple of hot dogs next to them.
The family goes on hikes together, and the couple taught the twins to leave the planet cleaner than they found it. The boys take that literally. To them, it means picking up litter, no matter the state of decomposition or the smell. “You are two miles into the hike and they are like, ‘Dad, somebody’s ruining the Earth.’ You’re like, ‘Let’s pick up that gross beer can and put it in the backpack.’ ”
The take-home message for Doerr is time ticking on.“Children remind you that you are a link in a very long chain.
“In geologic time, we are only here for a finger snap, and what do you want to do with that time while you’re here?”