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.

Exercise Your Brain

So, I was listening to a radio podcast of quirks and quarks http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/ and what I learned made me happy.  

They have found significant correlations between exercise and increased executive brain function.  Exercise has been shown to be correlated to better brain function later in life as well as healing from stress, depression, neurological diseases like no brain teaser puzzle or computer game can.  

Even switching from a long term sedentary lifestyle to a more active lifestyle shows increases in executive function.

One of the studies even asserts causation; exercise causes the growth and re-growth of neurons in areas of the brain responsible for executive function. 

Here is a video by Art Kramer showing exercise can improve memory, attention and decision making.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaS11Ck_bI0

Cool stuff so get out there and run, bike and swim!!

Corie

Dear Life; You are not helpful.

Here we are about 2 weeks into our quest and some thoughts have been thought.  Looking back over the last weeks since we started, something has become apparent, we have had more days with concessions made than days without.  These days were spawned out of the thinking, "if I don't eat this, I don't eat" which may or may not have always been the case.

Our summer life is rather unpredictable and quite busy and that makes food restrictions more difficult.   Most of the concessions have been things like fruit, rice, cheese and other things that fit with the year long diet but, not the strict one month diet.  We have a couple of options as to where to go from here.  These are our thoughts:

1. The last couple weeks shouldn't count as part of the strict month.  If we want to do this strict month, we should restart it.

2. Haiti is less than a month away so the end of our strict month will be difficult (if not impossible) to keep on a strict diet.  In Haiti you eat what is served to you.

3. Psychologically, having guidelines and not following them is not good for us.

4. Skipping a strict month and just staying on a gluten and sugar free diet for a year is still a good goal.  Adding the strict month back in once our schedules become more structured.

With those things, and more, in mind, we have decided to bypass the strict month of our quest and focus solely on one of our main goals, cutting out sugars and gluten (and other processed things).
This means that now we have re-incorporated such things as starchy vegetables, fruit, dairy products and more grains (rice).  We believe that this is the best thing for our minds and bodies in the coming month and have not lost sight of our goal.

There are some rules to follow.
Dairy - only 1 serving per day
Starches - only 2-3 servings per week (for Corie) many servings for me
Fruit - only 1 serving per day

Eating slightly more things,
Ian

When away from home . . .

We are finished our first week.  *Sigh of relief*  

This week didn't go perfectly for sure. We have only eaten at home two nights in the past five.  Eating at friends or out at a restaurant has proven to be difficult when following a strict meal plan.  

We went for a beach BBQ with some very wonderful friends and chose to eat homemade salad dressing that had some cane sugar in it (which was divine by the way, all lime-y and delicious) as well as some chicken that had marinated in a little soya sauce with wheat in it.  But I don't totally regret either choice.  Both were so delicious and seemed like the absolute best options we had available to us.

The very next night we went and played a scavenger hunt, all through downtown Vancouver, ending at a Mongolian BBQ.  It was super good, 1234 Robson street (by the way dad, when you come visit, we are taking you here!).  Check it out if you like little hole in the wall adventures!  It was a good restaurant choice for us but we did make some concessions as well.  The nice thing was being able to choose everything that went into our meal, the veg, the meat (although probably not high quality meat) and the sauces.  I gave into my weaker self because very certainly those sauces had sugar in them. 

I think our goal for the next eating out experience is to avoid sugar.  It is very difficult as it is in EVERYTHING.  But at the BBQ we could have vouched for salad with no dressing or brought some of our own.  At the restaurant we could have chosen only garlic or only ginger rather than soya (which we know has wheat) and the sauces very likely to contain sugar.  

Meals at home and lunches at work have been spectacular.  I made up a big bowl of cabbage salad with greens and nuts added in to last us a few lunches (all with that lovely dressing I am quite obsessed with).  

For supper tonight we had one of my all time favorites: Spaghetti Squash with a homemade tomato and pesto sauce (plus tonnes of veg and tonight some bison).  We simply cut the squash in half, scoop them out, lay the halves cut side down in a pan of water and bake at 350 degrees for about 45min or until a fork can penetrate the skin.  The pesto I've been making is a full food processor of basil leaves, 2-3 cloves of garlic, a couple big handfuls of pine nuts, (normally some Parmigiano Reggiano), the juice of 1 lemon and olive oil until it is the right consistency (I like mine thicker).  This is so filling and so delicious.  You can save the seeds from the squash, like Ian always does, and toast them up for munchies later.


One of the questions I have is about priorities.  When faced with going hungry or eating a food that doesn't work with the plan I'm not sure which foods to avoid over others.  At this point it has been the food of least resistance (the one containing the lowest number of concessions) but sometimes it seems like that is a worse choice or under pressure I have trouble recognizing which food that is.  Like today, not sure what I was thinking, it was my work mates birthday so we went out for lunch at a burger joint.  My choices were burger, burger, breaded chicken sandwich or poutine.  I chose poutine.  Not my finest moment.  It probably would have been better to order a burger no bun or pick it off the bun but I was embarrassed to do this in front of my work mates.  So I chose potatoes (probably mixed with flour AND sugar), cheese and a gravy made from who knows what.  In a quick decision I determined these were a better choice than a bun because they weren't blatantly wheat.  I realize now I probably should have swallowed my pride and eaten the burger without the bun but under pressure I didn't realize this.  How to prioritize in less than ideal situations. 


I am feeling slightly discouraged with some of our food choices, some could have been much better, but I am hoping that these good habits we are attempting to make now will only get stronger as we keep trying.

I hope this finds everyone well.  Be inspired by our successes and learn from our failures.


Corie and Ian

Quinoa saves the day!

So we have just about successfully made it through our first week. 

This week was good but a little tough because of the Vancouver Folk Festival!  It was an amazing weekend of music, sunshine, ocean and dancing (plus sunburns sadly).  We discovered some great new (to us) bands too; Good For Grapes (Vancouver locals), Bette and Wallet (from the east), Canailles (from Montreal), and The Cave Singers (Washington).  You should check them out for some soul food for sure!  Of course Ani Defranco, Hey Rosetta and Dan Mangan were amazing as well. 

For us going to events like this is wonderful for a number of reasons and food happens to be one of them.  We love the unique vendors they usually get to come out, Ecuadorian Food, Sweet potato fries, Chickpea flour pakora, lots of Italian food and of course mini donuts.  This weekend we really did not want to waver on our health commitments and we knew it would be really tough.  Those foods may be a treat sometime in the future but not for this year.  One of the things that saved us in our will power was packing celery, carrots, nuts and a quinoa salad. We brought just enough for us to eat up so it wouldn't get all warm and it was super satisfying.  We thought we would share this salad with you in case you find yourself in a simular situation.

We love quinoa.  It is hearty, super nutritious and very tasty.  We make a cold salad packed with whatever veggies we have in the fridge at that time.  This weekend we had peppers, kale, cucumbers, asparagus, dandelion greens, cabbage and carrots.  You rinse the quinoa really good and cook it just like rice; 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water and let it cool overnight.  The dressing that I have been making tonnes of right now (mostly because it is cleanse friendly) is 2 parts olive (or grapeseed) oil, 1 part Braggs soy sauce (wheat free), 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice and whatever seasonings you want to add.  This weekend I added some Tahini and garlic and it was super. 

There were rough patches where we just about bought salted caramel ice cream (oh yum). 
After thinking very hard we realized we have to take this one day at a time and at that moment, on that day we decided we didn't need it. 

I have broken the "no coffee" rule.  I am officially drinking decaf (when available) black coffee once a day.  I cannot foresee a year without coffee cold turkey so I will slowly limit it to less than once a day but too much change at once left me lacking some of my willpower. 

I don't want to sound overly positive.  We are struggling but we have had some successes.  Getting through a festival weekend without buying icecream is something we are taking as a victory. 

Here is a link for some info on quinoa if you are interested in learning more.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice

Talk to you soon.
Corie and Ian

Pesticide Priorities

Here is a site that a friend recently showed to me.  It is great for cleansing.  You can be aware of which foods to prioritize buying organic.  Especially if you are on a budget.  I thought I would share it with everyone.

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/?utm_source=201203grocerytips&utm_medium=email&utm_content=first-link&utm_campaign=food

The journey begins . . .

Today marks day one of our journey.  We spent all last week prepping by cutting out sugars and wheat.  I worked hard to reduce my coffee intake and we both made an effort to reduce starchy vegetables.  It was a slightly more difficult week to do this as we not only had our jobs to work around but we also had a 13hour car ride to Edmonton, a wedding and a 13hour car ride back all in 56hours, YEESH! 

We have been reading through two books and a number of websites that have inspired our next months food plan;  Overweight Kids In A Toothpick World by Brenda Wollenberg and (along with a bit of internet research) The Candida Albicans Yeast-Free Cookbook by Pat Connolly.  After doing a 8 week program with Brenda Wollenberg including metabolic typing and a Candida questionare we realized we both likely have some candida issues.  Because of this we are doing a month of strict yeast free and candida reducing eating to begin our journey.  This means; no dairy, no grains other than quinoa, no starchy vegetables, no fruit other than cranberries and lemons, NO CAFFINE, NO ALCOHOL!!!  We will be eating only vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, meats (no shellfish or pork), oils (grapeseed, olive oil, coconut oil) and good clean water for this next while.  We have done things like this before but not for a month.  We are both excited but it does mean a lot of work as we will have to have homemade mayo, salad dressing, hummus and beans all ready to go for quick lunches and suppers. 

Also this week we will begin implimenting a bed time; 11pm.  We are very bad for getting to bed on time and almost never get more than 6 hours of sleep which is especially hard on Ian.

We have begun taking suppliments upon reccomendation by our Nutritionist and our Naturopath. 
They include, vitamins; D, B, C, probiotics, Ambertose (a prebiotic), Omega 3 and 6.
Corie also takes: Evening primrose, Endocrine support, a multi vitamin, Mg, Cranberry, Eye antioxident support
Ian also takes: Vitamin E
Many of these we will be phasing out as our bodies become more balanced in the next little while and all of our vitamins and minerals are being met by healthy whole foods.


This month will be a tough one but hopefully very rewarding.  We will be doing weekly updates including recipies and success stories. 
Please give us encouragment, suggestions, more research material or your own personal health journey stories.

Talk to you soon.
Corie and Ian