Sugar Detox (Again!)

I'm on Day 3 of my latest Sugar Detox and it's not fun. Aside from the cravings, I also have a headache, feel lethargic and unmotivated and am distressingly moody. I just want sugar. A brownie... anything to make this go away.

I keep telling myself that it "this too shall pass" and I wonder... why? Why do I keep putting myself through this? I know why... because once I get through the sugar detox doldrums, I feel great! And as the days and weeks of me feeling great go by... I start to think... I can have a brownie here and there... And then... I am back in a full-blown sugar binge.

So, as I sit here in Starbucks... I ask myself the age old question... when will I learn this life lesson? How many times do I have to come back to this point before I finally "get it"? I would hope that this is the last time. My age, my weight, my family history, my thyroid condition... all tell me that sugar is NOT good for me. So just stop. Let the buck stop here. Let the sugar detox end in March 2023.

Since this is being posted in late October... I can include a post script to let you know how this all shook out in the end. Did I make it my last sugar detox or... am I doomed to repeat this yet again. I certainly hope not because it is quite gross. I'm at the point where I wonder if I am going through some health crisis. I know it's just sugar detox but... sometimes it feels so much more than that. My mood is in the toilet. I can barely get myself motivated to do anything. Blech. 

Here's a blurb about sugar withdrawal:

"The symptoms of sugar withdrawal include headaches, decreased energy, an inability to concentrate and mood changes. Although it’s not completely understood why these side effects occur, research shows it's likely linked to the impact sugar intake has on our brain chemistry.

Eating sugar triggers a release of different chemicals, including endorphins - which boost your mood and reduce pain - and dopamine, which is linked to pleasure, satisfaction and reward. Sugar stimulates the brain's reward system and ultimately, it makes us feel good - so we are likely to want to eat more sugary food and drinks.

These kinds of changes can lead to dependence and addiction2. Therefore, giving sugar up may trigger unwanted side effects."

Or how about this one:

"It's during this early "sugar withdrawal" stage that both mental and physical symptoms have been reported – including depression, anxiety, brain fog and cravings, alongside headaches, fatigue and dizziness. This means giving up sugar can feel unpleasant, both mentally and physically, which may make it difficult for some to stick with the diet change."

These little blurbs make me feel slightly better. I can see myself in all of these symptoms... and I just have to make it through the first week before I know I will start feeling better. So... stay the course... and remember this for next time... Sugar Detox is no fun and I really don't want to keep repeating this.

PostScript - October 26, 2023

Yeah... we all know how this sugar detox ended. Another brownie splurge! And once you have one brownie, it is a slippery slope. But as I write this, I am trying something new and different. I consulted ChatGPT (the AI) for some ideas and it actually came up with a good one that I have not tried yet... I'll blog about it in due course.

Should I Get an E-Bike?

"Should I get an e-bike?"

This question has been bopping around my head for several years now. Everyday, I watch a neighbour power up our hill, pedaling slowly on his e-bike. I know it's an e-bike because I've pedaled up this same hill and wheezed and plodded and ground along in first gear. Pedaling up the hill is not as easy as the e-bike makes it look.

I have a regular bike. Which, as of this writing... I still haven't taken down to the bike shop to get its tune-up. By this time of year... I would have done that already. But it always seem a less important task than everything else on my list.

And I wonder... if I had an e-bike... would I take it out more? Would I pedal off to Starbucks in the mornings instead of taking the car? How much would that affect our carbon footprint? Would I ride it enough to justify the costs? What if it got stolen?

All of this soul-searching has been triggered by a radio ad which said that the provincial government was offering up to a $1400 rebate on e-bikes that cost at least $2000. Ooohhh... that is almost too good to pass up. The rebate scales down based on your net income but... still...

In previous years, you could only get an e-bike rebate if you brought in your car through the scrap-it program. That seems to be gone... and now you can just get an e-bike rebate without turfing your car. So it is appealing. 

Pros

I think of all the benefits...

• I could go farther than I can on a regular bike
• The hills won't affect me like they do on a regular bike
• It will get me out and about more (theoretically)
• I could even pop down to the grocery store for odds and ends without feeling guilty about using the car
• I could even ride it in the spring and fall when it's inclement weather (neighbour dude does...)
• Good for my health!

Cons

And the negatives...

• How do you maintain an ebike? I have no idea...
• What if the bike seat is just as uncomfortable as my regular bike?
• Where to park it? The garden shed?
• How to charge it? Run an extension cord from the house to the shed?
• How to protect it? Will it be thievable?

I see that the negatives are mostly a list of questions. With a fair degree of uncertainty. That is what holds me back - all of these unknowns. I could find the answers to these questions fairly easily. Friends of ours on Gabriola Island have e-bikes and love them... They will have answers to a lot of these questions.

Regular Bike?

Or... do I just stick with my regular bike? Just bite the bullet and get it tuned up and get a saddle fitting? Presuming that the bike shop does that. Or just do little mini-bike rides until sore bum bones get used to the bike saddle.

Ack. Sometimes I wonder at my indecision. It's annoying! Just choose! Make a damn decision and go for it!

And just an FYI... e-bikes in the local shops are running at around $5000. Eek!!!

Ok... enough wiffle-waffling... I am going to take my regular bike down to the bike shop this afternoon. They are open until 6 pm... so I can walk it down in 30 min and walk back without it. I don't know if it fits into the back of the car but... whatever. I can walk down.

While I'm there, I'll see about the bike saddle and whether they do saddle fittings and figure out if my saddle works for me or if I should buy a new one. Heck... they might look at my bike which is... ooohhh... 30 years old... and decide it really needs to be replaced. WTH... will handle that when it comes to that moment. 

Do you have an e-bike?? How does it work for you???

What Does Menopausal Self-Care even Look Like?

It's official, I've hit menopause. Sigh. I know this time of change is supposed to be amazing... or something... but it sure doesn't feel like it!

Hitting puberty, people would say, "Oh, you're a woman now." Yay.

Hitting menopause, what do people say?? "Oh, you're an elder now." I haven't heard that yet. "Welcome to the crone years." Haven't heard that either. "Welcome to the wise years." Nope... not that one either.

I'm not sure what the next years are going to bring but after watching my partner sweat through hot flashes for the last 10 or more years... I'm not holding my breath.

I'm moody, cranky, emotional, tired, exhausted and just plain out of sorts. Some days I feel more like me... other days I feel like a soggy limp dishrag with no "oomph" left for anything. I am resisting my to-do list with a fierceness that surprises me.

My partner tells me that I need to learn how to practice self-care. The menopause resources all say the same thing. I need shift from taking care of others (and everything else) to taking care of me. And... to be completely honest... I have no idea what that means. Bubble baths? Me time?

I do know a few things though. I need (like... "need") to get out in the woods at last once a week... and at this point, I would say more like two or three times a week. Just me and the woods. Because the other thing I've noticed is that this little introvert needs time away from the house. With both of us more or less cooped up together, I don't have as much alone time as before. I used to go to Starbucks for a few hours every morning for some alone time... just me and my laptop and my ear-buds... in a crowd. But... go figure... that counted as alone time.

So there's probably a few things colliding here... menopause, pandemic fatigue and a over-stimulated introvert. And yet... the perfectionist in me thinks I should still be able to race around like the energizer bunny, despite the fact that there are a lot of external and internal events that are draining little bunny. Drained battery on the me-time front... wonky hormones that are sending me on a Tilt-a-Whirl/Roller-Coaster madness... and just general tiredness from the pandemic.

Sooo... self-care... what is this critter? What does it even mean or look like? Well... here's what it looked like today...

I know that my triglycerides are a bit high. The best way to lower them is through... exercise... which is on all of the menopausal self-care lists I've looked at. I have been a bit lax on the exercise front during the winter but today, I plugged in an Amy Schumer audiobook and plodded up the Beast Hill and then extended that to a 45 minute walk. I then sat down, journalled for a bit and decided to go to Walmart for a new watch strap. My Garmin fitness tracker/watch strap has been irritating my skin of late so I have not been wearing it for the last 4 weeks. I've been meaning to run over to Walmart and get a new leather strap for the last month... but it always gets shoved aside for other errands. OK... enough of that... today I drove to Walmart, got the watch strap and two jars of my favourite pickles (no, not pregnant) and a new card game for my partner and I to play during our TV-free evenings. Done. I can now strap on my fitness tracker and at least get a handle on how many steps/intensity minutes I am doing in a day and set some goals.

This trip to Walmart felt kind of decadent... instead of sitting down and writing first thing in the morning... I headed off to Walmart for a watch strap. Pre-menopausal me would have judged this to be a frivolous trip, better tied into Friday morning's weekly shopping trip. But... four Fridays have come and gone and yet... I have failed to manage to squeeze in the Walmart errand. Enough of that I thought... 

Sooo... that's what self-care looked like for me this morning. I'm not sure what the rest of the day will bring... maybe clearing out the shed so I can dig out my bicycle in order to do some small rides (5 minutes or less) in order to acclimatize my butt to the bike seat.

I'm not really used to this idea of putting me first... it seems a tad selfish or self-centred or... self-something. But I am starting to consider the possibility that this is just a concrete example of me putting on my own mask first and then being able to tend to everything else. It's a bit of a learning curve and I'm not very good at it right now but... with some small steps, I'm hoping that I can master this... or should I say mistress this...

Could Four Simple Questions really put an end to my Procrastination?

I'll do it later.

Man, if I had a loonie, or even a quarter, for every time that phrase passed my lips, I'd be set for life!

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the pandemic. Maybe it's middle-age. Maybe it's the alignment of the planets. But procrastination has been rearing its ugly head with a vengeance. Sometimes it's as simple as "I don't feel like it right now. Maybe later." There's really no rhyme or reason to it and it happens with big things and with little things. I know that some things will only take a minute or two and yet... I still default to "I'll do it later."

I'm always on the hunt for an antidote to this procrastination; reading news articles and blogs to see if there is something, anything, that can make me procrastination-proof. I came across a BBC article from late last year which touted Four Keys that could help me Unlock Procrastination. Excellent! Fire away.

Sooo... the gist of the article centres on the idea of asking yourself four simple questions when you find yourself sliding down the slippery slope of procrastination:

1. How could someone successful complete the goal?
2. How would you feel if you don't do the required task?
3. What is the next immediate step you need to do?
4. If you could do one thing to achieve the goal on time, what would it be?
   

I think I'm going to have to print out these questions at some point... no wait... right now! ... OK, I'm back, that took like a minute to copy and paste into a Word doc and fill a page with five sets of the questions. I'm going to tape them to various strategic locations in the house. The bathroom mirror seems like a good place given that the sink and toilet need ongoing cleaning... and showering has become a less than daily ritual. On my office desk is another good place and on my computer monitor, because not filing papers or replying to emails immediately is a pet procrastination peeve. Maybe one in the kitchen by the patio door too, for encouraging a myriad of outdoor tasks. And one by the front door to encourage me to climb Beast Hill in the morning!

Will these four questions make a difference? Well, I already like the first question. How could someone successful complete the goal? For exercise and general fitness, I only have to think about our sports medicine guy who is an avid runner and super lean and trim. He's definitely successful in the fitness/health category. I know what he would do... he'd go up Beast Hill in the mornings, come rain or snow. I know the question says "how could someone" as opposed to "how would someone" but I'll try it this way and see where it gets me.

The second question... How would you feel if you don't do the required task?... hmmm... I know how I feel when I don't do the task... it niggles at me and sucks up brain space. I think about it at various odd moments during the day and feel guilty. Yucky feeling.

The third question could be helpful too... What is the next immediate step you need to do? When I'm standing, brushing my teeth, looking at the bathroom sink which could really use a quick wipe, I always think, "I'll do it later". Because I'll have more time later? Or I think cleaning the sink is going to take too long? Argh. But... ask the question... what is the next immediate step that I need to do? Just get out the rag from under the sink... and then the spray bottle of cleaner.. and a scrappy old tooth brush to clean around the drain. I'm sure I could give the sink and counter a quick once-over in just a couple of minutes. So focusing on the next immediate step might be just the ticket.

As for the fourth question... If you could do one thing to achieve the goal on time, what would it be?... I think the answer to that will usually be "Just get started! On something! Anything!" But... who knows, as I work with this, other things may appear.

Right then, I'm taking my printed sheet, cutting it up into strips and taping these around the house... I'll report back in a few weeks if this has made any difference to my procrastination.

Photo by Brett Jordan from Pexels

Eating by the Traffic Lights

What the heck is Traffic Light Eating? I asked the same question a few months ago when I came across the concept. It's really quite simple... Green Light foods can be eaten with wild abandon, Amber/Yellow Light foods should be minimized and Red Light foods... well, they should be avoided.

I kind of liked the little comment in the diagram at right: "Just like running red lights in the real world, you may be able to get away with it once in a while, but you wouldn't want to make a habit out of it." So true!

If we break it down a bit more...

Green Light Foods

These are unprocessed plant foods, as close to how nature made them as possible. Whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies, herbs and spices. Some green light diagrams also include eggs and lean meats in here, which is a bit confusing. Given how damaging animal protein can be to our bodies, I can see why they should be included in the yellow category.

Amber/Yellow Light Foods

These include a lot of processed foods, things like refined grains, burgers, fries, pancakes, hot dogs, pizza, sugary cereals, etc as well as unprocessed meats. This would also include dairy, eggs and meat and fish.

Red Light Foods

Here, we are into a lot of the oh-so-yummy things - soda, chocolate, chips, cookies, etc. and ultra-processed foods.

The thing that I noticed, as I reviewed different images of Traffic Light Foods is... things move around. As noted above... some plans have lean meat as a Green Light food while in others its an Amber Light food. Or burgers can be Amber or Red... Dairy moves around... Oil moves around... which really makes me wonder what Big Industry lobbies are behind these different schemes.

I found an article on The Washington Post that explains why Traffic Light Eating is not so black and white... or red and green. Which just makes me wonder if its a useful concept at all?

The image I've used above is from NutritionFacts.org, operated by Dr. Michael Greger (author of How not to Die and How not to Diet). He advocates eating whole food plant-based as much of the time as possible and dipping into the amber and red foods on occasion, but only if it helps to encourage eating the green light foods.

If sprinkling bacon bits on a salad helps you to eat the salad... then sprinkle away.

On the other hand... we made a choco-zucchini loaf the other day since we are starting to get buried under our super-productive zucchini plants. Flour, sugar, oil, cocoa powder and more than a cup of chocolate chips helped us to eat one cup of shredded zucchini. In this case... I'm not sure that eating all that red light stuff is helpful in promoting the consumption of one cup of zucchini... Greger has also published a short (7 minute) video about how he sees traffic light eating, which makes a lot of sense...

Traffic Light Food Labels

But there is another form of traffic light food... looking at the actual sugar, fat, salt, calorie content of the food. I've seen this more in the UK... not so much in Canada yet... although it is coming! The idea is that current nutrition labels on food are confusing to the general public. Who really has time to figure out what is healthy and not so healthy on a nutrition label... but... add in colours and put a summary on the front of the package and... it becomes much easier to figure out what is healthy and what is not.

So in the label at right... half a package of the product has really high saturated fat, low sugar and is moderate for salt, fat and calories. I would say... not a great food.

But then... who determines what is low, medium or high? I came across this chart from the UK which outlines how much fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt qualifies as low, medium or high.

But... me thinks that this is really only going to be applicable to processed foods... which, in general... are either Amber or Red Light foods to begin with. Sooo... is this helpful or not?

I mean... if I want a Kit-Kat... is a label like the one below really going to stop me? I guess.... maybe... If I have one once a week... That little two-finger Kit-Kat has that much saturated fat? What does a regular Kit-Kat have!!?

And then... we have something like this oh-so-yummy Starbucks Double Chocolate Chunk Brownie - pure decadent deliciousness... Starbucks has nutrition information on their site... but just a bunch of numbers... I know that 9 grams of saturated fat is probably in the red category (judging by the Kit-Kat numbers above)... But what about the rest? How does it fall in the grand traffic-light food labeling scheme? Sigh... As I feared... red light for Fat, Saturated Fat, Sugar and... yellow light for Salt (200mg Sodium = 0.55 grams of Salt). Luckily, I only have one of these a week but still... If I had to barrel past all those red lights every time I ordered one... I might reconsider it.

I decided to play around in Publisher and...created my own Traffic Light food label for a Starbucks brownie... if I saw this every time I ordered one... would I still order one every week?

It's a good question... In the UK, they seem to believe that front of label packaging helps people make healthier food choices... and... this might be the case here too... I'm going to guess that all whole food, plant-based items will get green lights across the board... the question will be... what will meat, dairy, egg and processed food packaging look like? Can't wait to see!

Dusting off the Foraging Habit

I'm a forager from way back. When I was three, my Mom would take me up the mountain near our house to pick blueberries and gather mushrooms. She's German, my Mom, and the Germans have a long history of foraging for wild edibles... and medicinals.

We'd also go pick St. John's Wort, horsetail, club moss pollen, plantain and a variety of other herbals. Have a wound that won't heal? Just dust on some club moss pollen. Works like a charm.

There was even one year where we went out in the early spring, after the snow had melted and gathered moose poop.

Yup... moose poop.

We had a young apple tree that was not doing much except producing leaves. Mom had read that horse manure would be good, although you have to watch it because it can be too "hot". Not having access to a horse... or horse poop, Mom gave figured moose poop would be a good substitute.

Up in the north... in the spring... you see moose poop piles everyone. They're not like murky cow patties... they're more like rabbit poop... except way bigger. Little nuggets of fertilizing goodness...

The deer trail to the stinging nettles

So we went out with our plastic bags and gloves and scooped moose poop. Came home and distributed it around the apple tree and... let me tell you... that tree went from zero apples to 60 apples in one year. Best thing... moose poop.

Anyhow... I digress. There are no moose poops down here and deer poops are a bit too small to scoop. But... my foraging instinct is still strong.

A few years ago, while exploring a deer trail off the beaten path, I came across a patch of stinging nettles. Ooohhh... good stuff!!! I mean, they hurt like heck if you touch them accidentally. Although, apparently people touch them on purpose because the sting helps arthritis. I haven't tried that, not suffering from arthritis. But... I have been stung accidentally and the tingly feeling lasts for hours (sometimes overnight).

Stinging nettles

As I learned from my mother, stinging nettles are a great edible... like, super great. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and other goodness that act as anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories. And it is a leafy green... a dark green leafy green.

On our revised eating plan, we are supposed to eat two cups of leafy greens a day. Most of those greens come from the store where we buy bags of mixed leafy greens.

Until last week, when the store ran out of the pre-packaged stuff... so I bought bunches of kale and spinach and we made our own, slightly less diverse mix.

We are still waiting for our mesclun to grow up enough to begin harvesting it... so we are at bit the mercy of the greens available in the stores...

Foraged nettles

But then I thought... It's spring and... my nettle patch should be ready!

I did a little excursion on the weekend and... it was in super fine form. I picked three bags full and only got a few stings for my efforts.

**Note to self, garden gloves do NOT work if they only have fabric covering the back of the hands...

Took the nettles home, blanched them, chopped them and froze them. We can use them in all sorts of recipes calling for dark leafy greens... like the quesadillas we made a few days ago which needed five cups of kale or swiss chard...

I should perhaps mention that blanching the nettles disarms the whole stinging thing... Just blanch in boiling water for a couple of minutes and they are good to go. They are still a bit furrier than spinach but... they are also organic! And... to top it off... the blanching water makes great soup stock.

My next big foraging expedition will come later in the summer when the blackberries appear... they too have defenses to guard them (wicked thorns) but our goal is to stock our freezer with bags and bags of blackberries to tide us through the winter. And maybe produce a few litres of blackberry liqueur... mmmm.... soooo good.

Habits of Caring for Self

"Put your own oxygen mask on first, then help others." I don't know how many times I heard that line while I was caregiving for my Dad. Over and over again... "you have to take care of yourself otherwise you can't care for him". It is so true. And  yet so impossible.

Caregiver Burnout

My Dad had vascular dementia. For anyone who has journeyed with a person stricken by dementia... you know what I mean.

For me, it also wasn't a rewarding experience. It wasn't sunshine and butterflies. My Dad and I had a complex relationship. Growing up, he was never there for us when we were kids. Oh, he was occasionally "there" physically... but he definitely wasn't there emotionally.

I did my best to care for him, but the toll it took on me was huge. I also tried to take care of myself, I really did... but when the phone rang at 7:15 am and it was Home Support (saying they couldn't come) or Dad (all confused because Home Support had come)... meditation got put on the back burner.

It was a slow chipping away at my care for self. It got to the point where I would forget to brush my teeth in the mornings. Do that often enough, and you lose the habit of brushing teeth very quickly! Why is it that bad habits are soooooo easy to form while good habits are NOT?

I'm one of those people who do well with routine. I do best when I have a plan. I'm not one of those loosey-goosey airy-fairy... zodiacal Air signs. I am a serious, down to earth... zodiacal Earth sign. Anchored. Grounded. Solid. But during the whole care-giving experience, I lost that... I became untethered from routine, from what grounded me and floated through my days in an aimless fog.

My partner would ask me: "What do you need to do right now, for you?". And I couldn't answer the question. Not a clue. In hindsight, I can see the signs of caregiver burnout and it was nasty. My partner completely freaked out one evening when she learned that I had no plan for the next day. "What about your routine?!!" I looked at her wearily and admitted, "I don't HAVE a routine!". Sometimes the caregiver needs to be taken care of...

Slowly, I began to build a tiny bit of routine into my life. Get up, go for a quick walk, meditate, breakfast. If phone calls disrupted that... then get back on track after the disruption. It was hit or miss for a while. Cause, somehow, it's darn easy to get off-routine and sooo hard to get on-routine!

That's one thing I've learned... caring for self requires some discipline. It's not going to happen by itself. And it's not just having a bubble bath. It's doing the things that I KNOW ground me but that... somehow... are always the first things to fall by the wayside.

I KNOW that walking in the woods is good for me. It feeds my soul like nothing else and yet... even knowing that. I don't do it. WTF? Here's what goes on in my head:

Me: It's nice out. I should go for a walk in the woods.
Other Me: I don't have enough time.
Me: Of course there's enough time. It doesn't have to be long. 20 minutes even!
Other Me: It's too much work. I'd have to change my pants and put on my boots and drive 3 minutes...
Me: Seriously? Come on, you could take photos of pretty leaves in the sunshine...
Other Me: I'd feel like a slug. I haven't hiked for so long, I'd get out of breath.
Me: Well then, this is a good time to get started!
Other Me: What if the plumber phones or...
Me: Good grief!! That's what cell phones are for!
Other Me: I don't feel like it... I don't want to.... You can't make me...

 And on it goes... until the time really is GONE! And both of me are exhausted...

Here's the thing. I ALWAYS feel better after going for a walk. Always. Without fail. Even if I get out of breath. And yet... there's this hump of inertia that I just can't seem to get over...

Wikipedia - Activation energy with and without
a catalyst

It reminds me of Chemistry 11/12... I remember these charts that involved a catalyst to get over the hump that prevented a chemical reaction from taking place.

The hump is called "Activation Energy". See the black line... it's pretty darn high. But add a catalyst (red line) and it becomes much lower, so it takes less energy to get the reaction going.

That's kind of like me and walking. The Activation Energy is pretty high, and gets higher if I engage in a laborious decision-making process with myself. What could I do to lower the Activation Energy?

One option is to skip the whole decision-making process... and just make the walk part of my routine. It's then non-negotiable and just something that I do... Here's the morning routine I'm working with right now:

• Get dressed
• Brush teeth
• Take vitamins
• Feed cat
• Walk

I actually have a check-list in my day planner because honestly... it's soooo easy to skip some of these. Except for feeding the cat... that really is non-negotiable. The other things are not well-ingrained habits for me and so every evening, I write out the list so it's front and centre for me the next morning. I don't necessarily look at the list because I can remember what comes next. Except... here's the thing... "Feed cat" is not written down and yet it always happens, without fail. Interesting--must reflect on that some more...

Another trick I could use is to lay out my walking clothes in the bathroom the night before. If I lay them out... then it becomes much easier to actually put them on. If I don't put them out, then I automatically get out of bed, grab my regular pants and put them on. Then, if I want to walk, I have added a decision point. "Oh, I've put on my regular pants. I wanted to go for a walk. Ah, it's too much trouble to change pants." Seriously... this is what goes on in my head. I haven't reduced the Activation Energy... I've actually increased it!

Finally, I make the "walk" as tiny as possible... at least while I'm in the house. A 20 minute walk seems overwhelmingly long, so I tell myself: "Just get dressed and go for a 5 minute walk." That's a tiny walk, and I'm more likely to say: "Okkkkaaaayyyyy.... fiiiinnnneeee." Once I'm out the door and walking though, over that Activation Energy hump, I usually go for much longer and 20 minutes becomes a snap. 

The trick is to make going for a walk as dummy-proof as possible with as few decision points as possible. Decisions take energy and increase that Activation Energy. Better to eliminate as many as possible. I don't have to think about what to wear because it's right there waiting for me. I don't have to think about what vitamins to take, because they're already all portioned out in one of those day-of-the-week dispensers. I don't have to think about what to do next... because I have the checklist in my head. I don't have to wrestle with the duration of the walk because it's set up to be small and doable (5 minutes).

Now, if I were to think of any of those things as "optional" then it becomes easy to skip them. Trust me... I know this. We went away for a couple of weeks and when we got back... my morning routine was no longer a habit. For the last month, I've been struggling to get back on track and... while I am always feeding the cat... I am still not going for a morning walk.

It's no wonder. I'm treating it like it's "optional". I'm not laying out my walking clothes the night before. I'm not telling myself "Just 5 minutes". Sooo... this is a bit of an insight for me. I didn't really know how this blog was going to play out, I just started writing. And I've got a clue as to why the morning walk isn't happening. I'm going to take my own advice and put these tips into practice tonight. The morning walk is now non-negotiable. I'm going to lay out my walking clothes in the bathroom tonight... and plan for a 5 minute walk in the morning. These are all Small Steps in moving me in the direction of health and wellness... Wish me luck!

Wiping out on Oil's Slippery Slope

Relax, Alberta, this post ain't about petroleum oil! I'm talkin' about the stuff we suck into our bodies with gusto - fat, grease, cooking oil, liquid gold. It's a pretty hot topic and if you follow the news at all, you might know that dietary fat has a complex history. One year, fat is good for you, essential to our body functioning well. The next year, fat is bad. No... wait... there's good fat.... and then there's bad fat. Saturated... unsaturated... polyunsaturated... trans... it's enough to make my head spin. I've even heard that it was the sugar industry in the 1950s that painted fat as the bad guy. You know... dietary fat makes you fat. But now we hear that sugar is the bad guy and fat is... the good guy?

There is a LOT of information out there... and a lot of it is misinformation. Here's a tale of our little foray into the world of dietary fat... based on information gleaned from... wait for it... Pinterest! I should mention here that I, personally, ahem, am NOT on Pinterest sooo...

Coconut oil

A few years ago, my partner tried to convince me that coconut oil was the latest dietary thing. It was a miracle working wonder that was "good" for you while the high temp cooking oils like canola, sunflower and peanut were "bad" for you. I was... skeptical... to say the least. I knew that coconut oil was extremely high in saturated fats (very bad) and that seed oils were low in saturated fats (good). We had a bit of a tussle over this where she would use coconut oil for cooking while I would use canola oil.

I had had a brush with high-cholesterol in 2000 and did not want to repeat history. Going on a reduced fat diet was no fun... good-bye cookies... hello fig newtons. Mmmm... (not).

A year ago, my partner introduced the idea of also using Ghee for cooking. Ghee is basically clarified butter that can be used for high-temp cooking. Apparently it's a thing in Ayurvedic recipes. Let's face it, Ghee is not much better than coconut oil... but it is slightly better. My partner can be quite persuasive and... I caved. Fine... we'll try the coconut oil and Ghee although my arteries cringed every time I saw the stuff slithering around in the frying pan.

My LDL cholesterol levels over the last few years. See spike
over last year? Thank you coconut oil & ghee.

Cue my latest blood results this fall - cholesterol had jumped dramatically... like dramatically! I also appeared to be struggling with a bout of IBS and my doctor referred me to a dietician at the hospital's outpatient clinic. We had a conversation about low FODMAP foods (ick)... and about fats and oils. The dietician was frankly appalled to hear that we were using coconut oil and Ghee. She said that any sautee-ing of vegetables should be done with the thinnest skiff of oil, and then supplemented with judicious amounts of water (not too much at once). I told her she was preaching to the choir but... what to do...

In truth, it was worse than that just coconut oil and Ghee. You see... in late September, my partner saw a sports medicine guy about her chronic pain and he recommended that she go on an 8 week detox diet aimed at reducing inflammation in her body. Great! It was basically a modified version of a Keto/Paleo diet which meant... cut the sugar and grains and eat as much meat, eggs, dairy and fat as you can.

Ummm... really? My arteries cringed some more. But this guy was a lean runner and... he said his cholesterol was high too and... look at him.. trim and fit. Eeeeshhh...

So we followed the detox. And... to be fair... we did feel better - more energy, lost some weight. But, towards the end of the 8 weeks, my partner got her blood work done and... can you guess? Yep, her cholesterol was high as well (including the LDL - the bad cholesterol). Our family doctor calculated her risk of heart attack and... it was high enough to be scary. No wonder... her breakfast of choice during the 8 weeks had been a crust-less quiche stuffed with cheese, bacon, ham and some veggies.

How Not To Diet - Michael Greger

And then... over Christmas, I read a blog which highlighted ten key takeaways from a new book: How not to Diet by Dr. Michael Gregger. The key points were fascinating and we bought the book. It is not for the faint of heart - over 600 pages with thousands of footnotes. We've been reading it out loud and are just past halfway but... already we have some new insights.

For one, my partner has now admitted that perhaps Pinterest and it's associated links are not the best source of dietary information. Excellent. She has also agreed to cut out the coconut oil and Ghee. Sorry Pinterest and Ayurveda... saturated fats are bad news. Coconut oil has more saturated fat than lard (think Crisco)... And, yes, I've heard the story that medium-chain-fatty acids in coconut oil "may" raise good cholesterol (HDL). Jury is still out on whether those actually survive the processing of coconuts to coconut oil. I can also tell you that my blood results do not support this assertion. But that's just me... oh, and my partner... cause her blood results were bad too.

The thing is... seed oils have their own issues. Almost all seed oils are extracted in a chemical process using hexane which is carcinogenic. Well, that's not good, is it? And while olive oil is held up as a shining light of health... there's more to that story too. There's the first press of the olives which is called "cold pressed" and that is the best. After that, each successive pressing (second and third) uses heat and the quality of extracted oil goes down. The dietician had mentioned this when I first met with her in October. "Read the label carefully" she said. "Make sure it says cold-pressed." Oh, and we all know that olive oil should NOT be used for high temp cooking. Right?

Sautéing onions without oil... just water.

On top of all of that... the coconut oil craze has incentivized farmers in the tropics (SE Asia) to plant more and more coconut trees. And where does the land from these expanding plantations come from? One guess. Yep, cutting down local forests and planting coconut trees. This doesn't sound all that different from the problems with palm oil plantations. And let's not even talk about the environmental cost of shipping coconuts and coconut oil around the planet.

So, yes... we've ditched the Ghee and the coconut oil. As well as the seed oils. The other day, I tried sautéing onions with water and... hot darn if it didn't work like a charm. What the heck?

It's all a bit of a grand experiment with us as little guinea pigs. Will any of this make a difference in our cholesterol numbers? Cutting out the coconut oil and the ghee. Backing away from the animal proteins. Time will tell...

The Price of Animal Protein

Environmental Impact of the Livestock Industry

Livestock farming produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector (planes, train, ships, cars).

When I read that in a scientific report, I was stunned. The biggest difference I could make in helping the planet was not by trading in our fossil fuel vehicle for an electrical vehicle. No, the biggest difference would be cutting out animal protein - not just meat, but dairy and eggs as well.

I struggled with that. As a carnivore, I've been in a constant state of negotiation the last few months. Maybe we could cut out meat and keep dairy and eggs? Maybe?

The thing is... it's not just the greenhouse gas emissions... it's the amount of water used, it's the pollution generated and... it's the health impacts on humans as well.

• 30% of the planet's ice-free surface is used for livestock production - that includes all the land used to raise feed crops for livestock.
• 75% of the world's agricultural land is devoted to livestock production
• 40% of the planet's fresh water is used in livestock production. One kilogram of beef requires 15,000 litres of water. That one hamburger from A&W used 2000 litres of water.
• The average American eats 240 lbs of meat/year. The average Bangladeshi eats 4 lbs of meat/year. The global average is 80 lbs/year.
• All of those resources produce only 18% of the calories that we eat

This is huge... but I could try and argue that we need protein soooo... it's a necessary evil? Nope... that one is shot out of the water as well. Most of us exceed the daily recommended allowance of protein. In fact, only 3% of Americans have a protein-deficiency. Most of us get more than enough... in fact... most of us get more than enough JUST from eating the plant-based foods in our diet. Yup, plants contain protein... and if we eat a moderately balanced diet... even without animal protein... a protein deficiency is not the problem.

Meat is the new Tobacco

The real kicker for me was to learn this little tidbit which often gets buried under a bunch of misinformation from American lobby groups (cattlemen's association, dairy farmers, egg producers...). Ready?

Eating animal protein has been linked to higher incidence of:

• heart disease (clogged arteries)
• diabetes (surprise... sugar is not the primary culprit)
• cancer (including breast, colorectal and prostate)
• osteoporosis (go figure)
• infertility (erectile dysfunction is one of the biggest indicators of heart disease)
• obesity (wow)

And it's not just because some meat is high in saturated fat. Oh no... it's the actual animal protein and the heme iron contained in animal protein. So "lean" meat like chicken doesn't sidestep this argument... nor do dairy or egg products. Basically, eating animal protein (from whatever source) increases inflammation and cholesterol in the body. And processed meat is exceedingly bad (bacon, hotdogs, salami, ham, etc. - sigh, good-bye salami).

That woke me up because I'm dealing with high cholesterol. I was cutting out red meat because it was high in saturated fat. And watching what oil we used for cooking. But... if I really want to get a grip on it... I'm going to have to step up my game. Cause there is no way I want to go on a statin... they've got serious issues.

And so... I say goodbye to animal proteins. I had planned to "eat the freezer" and clear out the chicken, ribs and sausages that we had purchased before our light bulb moment. But at this point... I really don't think that's in my best interests. So we are going to canvas our friends and see if they want to have any of our disease-generating animal protein.

My LDL over the last 5 years - vertical axis is:
Low - Mean - High - scary zone

At the end of September, my cholesterol numbers were as follows:

• Total Cholesterol - 7.1 (normal is 2.00 to 5.19)
• LDL Cholesterol - 4.98 (normal is 1.50-3.40 - this is the bad cholesterol)
• HDL Cholesterol - 1.48 (normal is > 1.19 - this is the good cholesterol)
• Trigylcerides - 1.40 (normal is < 2.21)

I'm going to get tested again at the end of February because... you see... their is some good news and hope in all of this. The human body is an amazing thing and... people have reduced their cholesterol significantly after just one week on a whole-food plant-based diet. I'm going to give it a bit longer than that... just to add some buffer.

Canada's latest food guide - looks different, eh?

I told my doctor that we are moving towards a plant-based diet and reducing/eliminating meat consumption and he rolled his eyes at that. He argues that the only diet shown to have a benefit is the Mediterranean diet. That's fine... but I also spoke with my nutritionist at the hospital and she heartily supports the plant-based diet. Given that most doctors get less than 8 hours of nutrition education... I think I'll go with the nutritionist on this one.


I'm kind of amazed at the realisation that eliminating animal protein from our diet can benefit:

• our health - heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, etc
• the planet's health - land degradation, water, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions
• animals - at least 480 lbs (240 lbs x 2) worth out of the 50 billion animals killed every year
• our pocketbook - meat is darn expensive... especially the healthier cuts

That seems like a triple WIN to me... I realize that we are just two people but... that is two Small Steps in a different direction. Our capitalist society runs on supply and demand... Usually, the marketing boffins convince us that we need to increase our demand of whatever thing they are supplying/selling... But what if we actually made a different choice and reduced our demand. Theoretically this is a two-way street and we can make a difference... Remember...

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead)

And... stay tuned for my updated blood work at the end of the month.


P.S. While our whole-foods (NOT processed), plant-based diet may look vegan, I'm not calling it vegan. There is a lot of stuff that is attached to that word... do we have leather shoes, belts, notebooks, couches? And there are a lot of people out there happy to act as the Vegan Police and point out all sorts of offenses and slip-ups...

P.P.S. What about iron, vitamin B12, Omega-3 and other possible nutritional deficiencies? Stay-tuned for another blog post. I will leave you with this tidbit... Remember that only 3% of Americans have a protein deficiency? Well 97% of Americans have a fiber deficiency... and fiber is only found in plants... and is essential for our little gut biome... but that too is another blog post!