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