Healthful Habits - Chew, Swallow, Repeat

As the Steve Miller Band said, "Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping, into the future."  I definitely feel that way and use that as the excuse why our blog has remained un-updated.  However, I am back to post, even if it is little.  Today's topic is Healthful Habits.
I noticed this concept while in Haiti over the summer and have now tied it to healthy eating.   In Haiti, our daily routines started and ended the same almost every day.  Some people would get up early to read, write or play music.  As they did this on a regular basis over two weeks, it became a habit.
If we apply this principle to healthy eating, you can see some benefits.  For example, I drink a large quantity of water at work.  If I do not drink a large quantity of water, I feel thirsty.  Years ago I started having a water glass and filling it regularly.  Now I cannot go through a day without drinking water.  What started as a conscious effort, has turn into a subconscious one.
Part of my breakfasts and lunches growing up was yogurt   I would only eat the sweetened flavoured stuff, because the plain stuff was gross and boring.  As I started thinking more about my health, I realized that the sweet yogurt was not the best for my body.  After a time of choosing the best sweetened yogurt (not always easy), I ended up on plain yogurt with a touch of vanilla and stevia.  Stevia has a funny taste (or at least did at this time), I will grant you that, but as I used it regularly, it became the norm and I enjoyed it.  Now (mostly due to laziness) I have switched to plain yogurt by itself or sometimes with fruit or hemp hearts.

Other ideas can included:
-eating carrot sticks (or similar) as a snack when you get home (I find the time between work and supper the worst for wanting bad snacks),
-ensure you grab breakfast in the morning
-take fruits or vegetables as a snack for that 10:30 or 3:30 time of hunger
-reduce the amount of salt and/or sauces you put on food

It is amazing how just a little bit of effort for a little bit of time can get you into a pattern that moves you toward healthy living.  That is all for today, until we meet again.
Ian W.

Food for Every Body

I have not posted to the blog for a while and I am a bit out of practice.  I had a couple of ok ideas but neither of them panned out.  So I am reverting back to something that happened to me near the beginning of our quest.  Here it goes:
    A work trip to Kelowna for the day was turning out to be more stressful than anticipated.  After our flight was delayed in the morning (because of Toronto storms), we got all of our work done (2 meetings, site visits and lunch) and we headed back to the airport to find out our return flight was also delayed.  After some flight switching we were able to get on a different flight and had 30 to 45 minutes to kill before our flight.  Seeing as we had not eaten since a rushed lunch, we decided to hit the airport restaurant.  This restaurant was set up so that the food was cooked in another part of the airport and carted in to serve.  Given our tight time frame, the server said that it was unlikely we could get food from the kitchen before our flight.  That left us with three options, 1. not eat, 2. Order and risk not getting our food or 3. Choose soup.  I chose option 3.  The 2 choices were beef vegetable and a chowder.  My initial thoughts were, "Meat, good for me. Vegetables, good for me.  Chowder, creamy and less good for me".  Then my second thoughts: "Vegetable soups often contains green beans.  I am allergic to green beans."  I asked the server and she said that she did not think that there were green beans in the soup, but she did not sound 100% sure.  Here I was faced with the "Healthier option" or the "Won't have allergens" options.  Given the options, I figured it was in my best interest to order the chowder, and I did.
Allergies are a unique and extreme example of our body disagreeing with our food.  Our bodies can also only slightly disagree with food, and this is harder to notice.  Recently I have re-introduced grains into my diet.  Without the grains, I was not feeling full after meals.  For Corie, she does not need grains and they make her feel bad when she eats them.  It is these small things that we need to pay attention to to improve our diets.  They can be difficult to notice because the feelings come after you eat, but usually not right away.  How they make you feel can include your energy level, your mood and how long you stay full.
That is my story and my healthy thought for the day.

Ian W.

PS - The soup I ordered actually turned out to be "healthier" then I expected as it was not cream based.  It was also delicious.
PPS - The hamburger by co-worker ordered did come before the flight.

Running to the Past

I recently watched The Nature of Things "The Perfect Runner".

The episode talked all about the evolutionary significance of our ancestors ability to run long distances. The way our body sweats to cool down and the make up of our legs and feet to accommodate terrain.

It also talked about the best runners in the world coming from rural (and often impoverished) roots.  Groups of people who run to herd their animals and don't have a shoe to help manage the rough terrain.

I know as a runner I suffer from some old injuries I just can't shake.  Knee swelling and hip aches as well as a bit of chronic heal pain are some of the background annoyances that I'm sure all runners struggle with.  

This program inspired me to give the science a try and see if I can gently retrain my feet to not rely on a runner to absorb a shock wave that still runs through my body but let my body land in a way that best minimizes the shock.  

This program also made me marvel at the human body.  We are capable of so much.  Runners can push their lungs and legs for distances unthinkable to me at this point in my life, hikers can climb to heights vehicles can only dream of, hunters can chase down antelope and waltz right up to lions and take their prey, we can map the human genome, push our way into space and birth perfect delicate babies.  

Take some time to marvel at your body.  When you move; envision your movement in slow motion and compartmentalize its actions.  Your lungs heaving and your blood shooting through your veins dispersing oxygen into your cells.  Your muscles violently and vigorously contracting and relaxing with each forceful movement drawing you forward.  Your feet intuitively grabbing the ground to propel you.  Your heart pumping with deliberate powerful pulses.  This body takes you everywhere you go, this body keeps your cells supplied so you can move and connect with your world.  

What a marvel your body is.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/the-perfect-runner.html

Birthday Bliss

We are back from Haiti and slowly getting settled into normal life again.

When you are in 40 degree heat and 100% humidity and working all day you don't need to worry quite as much about watching what you eat in the traditional weight loss sense.  Ian needs to worry about eating as much as possible and I ate as much as the next person and still lost some weight.

Now the trick is to keep it off.

September is like  my new years.  Everything feels like it resets.  New courses and a new job for me.  I also find the beautiful fall weather renews all of my outdoor excitement.  September also brings my birthday! 

These past two weeks have been so amazing sharing meals with friends and family.  Ian and I coming together over home made eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and roasted asparagus with my white wine hollandaise sauce.  Sharing a meal with my family of home made butter chicken, dahl, coconut green curry and spaghetti squash.  Having delicious vanilla ice cream over Ian's home made quinoa chocolate cake.  This is the best cake I have ever had!  It is so moist because it is flourless and made with blended cooked quinoa instead.  This year we brought back some cocoa from Haiti that had cinnamon and anise ground into it.  This cocoa made the cake incredible.  Very easy to make yourself.

The incredible cake recipe came from Quinoa 365 http://quinoa365.com/aboutquinoa.html.

My mother made the butter chicken and the dahl but I can share the Thai green curry recipe.

I start by browning the onions in some butter and add the mushrooms soon after.  I usually let them brown in the wok for awhile.  I add freshly chopped ginger and lemongrass to the wok and the green curry paste (which you can make yourself http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/green-curry-paste but I usually purchase it).  Then  I add 2 cans of coconut milk to the wok (I prefer coconut milk where the cream separates and sits on the top).  I then add sweet potato and chopped Thia chilies.   Then it is a veggie free for all!!  I add green sweet peas, kale, spinach, broccoli, baby corns, red peppers and any other vegg I feel like experimenting with.  This goes very well with chicken if you want some meat involved.

We have had to make some adjustments to Ian's food choices.  We found on the grain free eating regiment he lost 10lbs!  He doesn't have that much to lose.  Based on this we have decided to add in whole grains back into his diet.  We will be trying that for the next month in hopes that he will gain a bit of his weight back.

Birthday hiking at the top of Mt. Harvey

Talk to you soon!

Sacred Sharing

Friday evening we fly out to Haiti, to do medical clinics, for my third and Ian's second time. 

I am not going to go on about finding food in Haiti.  While in Haiti we will respectfully eat what is served to us while making the best choices possible.

Our ability to choose healthy options and eliminate certain foods as well as run or swim for exercise is put in perspective by a trip like this.

Healthy food should be a human right, but in practicality it is actually a luxury.  Food in any form is all most of the people we encounter could even hope to have.

When fundraising for this trip we did a race; 25km for me and 15km for Ian.  To explain this to one of the children there would be mind boggling for them.  "Why would you force yourself to run for 25km??  People paid you to do that???"  Even exercise for health (or the need for it as it is not supplied by our work) is foreign to the people we meet.  They hold on to their calories, they don't expend them . . . they don't even get enough to maintain their bodies.

All this to say; we are pursuing healthy living because we are blessed enough to have that option.

But, in Haiti, I will humbly and graciously accept every offering of hospitality with the awareness that they are giving me something huge, something profound.  When thinking of it; I feel teary eyed and am aware of something so much bigger than just shared food.  All meals held in community are so much more than a bowl of soup or a loaf of bread.  I am so blessed and privileged to go and give my time, my money, my energy to help, but to receive sustenance in return from someone who has so little overwhelms me.

I will be honoured to share a meal, any meal, with these generous people.
The only word I can find to describe this sustaining and overwhelming sharing . . .


Sacred

Functional Fitness: Shake 'em if you got 'em!

For both Ian and I sports and exercise have played a very large role in our lives.  Ian played sports throughout all of high school and most of University.  I have been a runner and swimmer for about 10 years now.  We both need physical activity to feel good and happy.

With busy lives getting to the gym regularly is near impossible so I usually do my workouts either on trails nearby or in my living room late at night.

One of the things Brenda Wollenberg taught on during the Adults in Balance program I participated in  was "functional fitness".  This is changing your daily routine ever so slightly to incorporate more physical activity without adding in a workout every day. 

Some of her suggestions were; parking your car further from the store in order to walk further and vigorously doing your daily chores.  Adding in ankle weights or wrist weights for washing a car or mowing the lawn could also help.  Functional fitness in this basic sense is very second nature to Ian and I, we walk everywhere, avoid elevators and escalators when stairs are available and must climb three flights of stairs just to get to our door, but I realize I need to find ways to add more.  Especially as we are preparing for Haiti and our evenings get fuller and fuller and my workouts down size from 5 nights a week to 3 or less. 

So . . .
I bought myself a skipping rope from the dollar store.  Last night as Ian and I walked our pooch I jumped rope the entire walk.  No, I'm not very good.  I tripped, dropped the rope, looked very silly and couldn't stop laughing but I also worked up a sweat.  I also added in a quick resistance workout before bed.  Lily (our puppy) needs a walk everyday for about 20 minutes, so on the nights when I am too busy to get a jog, swim or yoga in I will be looking like a fool skipping rope as she and Ian walk (slightly embarrassed) ahead. 

Be inspired to add in some functional fitness into your life.  If you have legs; relish in the fact that they are powerful and can propel you everywhere you go.  If you have arms; delight in the reality that you can reach, lift and push with them.  Both of these appendages and the whole rest of you can all be a part of my favorite exercise; dancing!  So shake 'em if you got 'em and feel good!

Watch this video to get your dance on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6oBeJJF1fI

We meet again Mongolian BBQ

In a previous post we discussed our trip to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant.  In general, the BBQ is a great place to eat while you have restrictions because you are able to choose all of your own ingredients from the ones provided.  These consist primarily of meats and vegetables.  The area we were less than good last time was in our selection of sauces.  We selected sauces based on deliciousness factor, and not on health factor and so we ingested sugars, glutens and other things.  This time we were determined to make better choices and avoid things that were not good for us.  We definitely did better.  I did use a bit of soy sauce (almost certainly contained gluten) and the ingredients of the sauces were not all known.  We chose the best ones we could and avoided BBQ Sauce, Teriyaki, Honey Lemon and other certain sugar containers. 
The previous night we returned to the Red Wagon Cafe (we had been there pre-1095 eats) where their signature dish is pulled pork pancakes with Jack Daniel's maple syrup.  We were able to avoid foods we could not eat (I didn't eat my cous cous, which I now recall is not similar to quinoa) in our orders.  We did use some ketchup and vinegar as a condiment, but the food choices were good (fries and chips are maybe not "good" but are mostly ok).  We even passed on the dinosours that came with the bill.
Overall we are getting used to eating at restaurants while making good choices.  We have not been perfect, but our choices are getting better.  The great thing about the city we live in is that there is a huge variety of ethnic foods available.  Some cultures use rice flour instead of wheat, sushi is good for us (some the fish/shrimp is not) and Ethiopian food uses teff flour (gluten free) for injera bread.  We are glad that the choices are becoming more natural for us and we look forward to new and exciting places that we can take this journey.

Ian

PS - Kayaking trip this weekend.