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!