I can't believe that there were times when, as a student, I did most of my work in the wee hours of the night. Now, I am sitting here at 10:30 and I am done! Sleep has become so much more important to me.
I have to be honest, this really is just a pathetic build-up to an excuse. I had a busy day preparing for a Health and Wellness event and I am not going to write more than a paragraph tonight. If you were reading my blog right from the start, you might remember how I talked about the fact that some days my entries might suck. Well, today is one of those days.
I have some plans for further discussion about water, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. As for tonight's Health event, it was about the Glycemic Index and I will write about that at some point as well.
Right now, however, I am going to get a healthy amount of sleep!
You should still go drink some water....
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Water filtration continued...
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of drinking good, clean water. Water that is free of chlorine, medical residues, heavy metals, hormones and other contaminants. So before I move on to other aspects of water, I feel the need to share my opinion about some practical options available for getting good water.
First of all, I would like to acknowledge that we are blessed to have access to what is, in the grand scheme, very clean drinking water. There are too many people in this world, who do not have access to clean drinking water, or have to walk huge distances to get water. Therefore if you currently buy bottled water, I would like to suggest to you the following: Buy a water filter. There will be an initial investment but ultimately you'll be paying as little as $0.02 per liter (depending on the amount of particulates in the water, which determines how long the cartridge lasts). Then take the money you would have spent on bottled water and donate it to a charity that brings clean water to people who currently don't have it. You can find your own charity, but here is one to start with: http://www.charitywater.org
But back to my ramblings about options for clean water here. The reason I don't approve of bottled water is that it requires a bunch of energy. In the case of water coolers, you either by it yourself and do the heavy lifting, or you get it delivered to your house. Either way there is transportation involved. Also, the company that bottles the water is using more energy to process the water before it goes in the bottle. If you are drinking major brand bottled water in small bottles, not only are you paying more for water than you are for gas, but the transportation involved with this water is astronomical! Some of this water comes from the other end of the world! And of course it comes in plastic bottles which have to be made and recycled (if you recycle!). And all along you could have filled your stainless steel water bottle with filtered tap water before you leave the house! Simple!
I also want to address reverse osmosis filtration. Many major brands sell water that is reverse osmosis filtered and you can also install such a filter at home below the sink. Basically, a reverse osmosis filter pushes water through ever finer membranes, the final one being so fine that only water molecules fit through. Seems like a good idea, but the water inevitable ends up acidic. I've tested the water from a below-the-sink reverse osmosis filter and also some major brands' bottled water. The pH was usually around 5.8 as opposed to a neutral 7ish.
I am hoping to get into some of the more interesting, mysterious and wonderful aspects of water next, but today this will have to do. Let me leave you with this question: have you ever drank from a high mountain spring or stream? If you did, it probably tasted wonderful and refreshing. But would you say it was more 'alive' than the city tap water? I plan to explore the concept of living water vs. dead water over the next couple of days, so if you're out hiking in the pristine mountains and come across a spring or stream, have a sip and really pay attention to the experience.
Now, go have another glass of water! ;-)
First of all, I would like to acknowledge that we are blessed to have access to what is, in the grand scheme, very clean drinking water. There are too many people in this world, who do not have access to clean drinking water, or have to walk huge distances to get water. Therefore if you currently buy bottled water, I would like to suggest to you the following: Buy a water filter. There will be an initial investment but ultimately you'll be paying as little as $0.02 per liter (depending on the amount of particulates in the water, which determines how long the cartridge lasts). Then take the money you would have spent on bottled water and donate it to a charity that brings clean water to people who currently don't have it. You can find your own charity, but here is one to start with: http://www.charitywater.org
But back to my ramblings about options for clean water here. The reason I don't approve of bottled water is that it requires a bunch of energy. In the case of water coolers, you either by it yourself and do the heavy lifting, or you get it delivered to your house. Either way there is transportation involved. Also, the company that bottles the water is using more energy to process the water before it goes in the bottle. If you are drinking major brand bottled water in small bottles, not only are you paying more for water than you are for gas, but the transportation involved with this water is astronomical! Some of this water comes from the other end of the world! And of course it comes in plastic bottles which have to be made and recycled (if you recycle!). And all along you could have filled your stainless steel water bottle with filtered tap water before you leave the house! Simple!
I also want to address reverse osmosis filtration. Many major brands sell water that is reverse osmosis filtered and you can also install such a filter at home below the sink. Basically, a reverse osmosis filter pushes water through ever finer membranes, the final one being so fine that only water molecules fit through. Seems like a good idea, but the water inevitable ends up acidic. I've tested the water from a below-the-sink reverse osmosis filter and also some major brands' bottled water. The pH was usually around 5.8 as opposed to a neutral 7ish.
I am hoping to get into some of the more interesting, mysterious and wonderful aspects of water next, but today this will have to do. Let me leave you with this question: have you ever drank from a high mountain spring or stream? If you did, it probably tasted wonderful and refreshing. But would you say it was more 'alive' than the city tap water? I plan to explore the concept of living water vs. dead water over the next couple of days, so if you're out hiking in the pristine mountains and come across a spring or stream, have a sip and really pay attention to the experience.
Now, go have another glass of water! ;-)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Water
My buddy Steve came by today and we ended up having a longer conversation about water filters, particularly about one that I sell. I did a taste test with him and he was blown away by the difference between the filtered water and the tap water. Here in Kamloops, we have one of the most sophisticated water treatment facilities in the world. We also have an old delivery network and therefore the city adds generous amounts of chlorine to the water.
When I moved to Valemount, a small town amidst mountains, from a city of 120'000 in Switzerland back in 2002, I remember how surprised I was that the water was heavily chlorinated. It was something I was not used to at all. We always drank the tap water back in Basel, Switzerland and it did not have any chlorine in it. Luckily the property we lived on in Valemount had a well with fantastic water. In fact, Monashee Spring Water is a company, which takes water right out of the ground in Valemount and puts it in bottles to sell. I couldn't understand why the town had to add chlorine to it, it tasted like pool water!
Of course the general premise is that chlorine in drinking water is safe at the concentration it is present in our tap water. However, I can't get over the fact that chlorine kills things that are alive. It kills living things and it does not stop doing that when it enters our bodies. So that can't be good!
Also, most places do not have a state of the art water treatment facility and therefore the water has various other contaminants in it also. Modern farming practices involve a host of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides which end up in the ground water. Cattle are given antibiotics and other medication which not only end up in the meat we eat of course, but also in the ground water.
But it's not just cows that pee out medications they are given, we too secrete chemicals that have gone through our bodies. Anything from over the counter medications to highly toxic chemotherapy drugs, ultimately end up going down the drain and into the ground water. And of course you can find heavy metals in your water too. Things like lead which is a neurotoxin. All these are reasons why I prefer to filter my water before I drink it.
Water is so important for our health that I think it's critical that we both drink enough and drink good quality water, that is free of contaminants and impurities.
I am passionate about water, so settle in for a few days of water-themed entries. I'll continue with some basics tomorrow and then slowly take it to the astro-plane!
Now go have a glass of water!
When I moved to Valemount, a small town amidst mountains, from a city of 120'000 in Switzerland back in 2002, I remember how surprised I was that the water was heavily chlorinated. It was something I was not used to at all. We always drank the tap water back in Basel, Switzerland and it did not have any chlorine in it. Luckily the property we lived on in Valemount had a well with fantastic water. In fact, Monashee Spring Water is a company, which takes water right out of the ground in Valemount and puts it in bottles to sell. I couldn't understand why the town had to add chlorine to it, it tasted like pool water!
Of course the general premise is that chlorine in drinking water is safe at the concentration it is present in our tap water. However, I can't get over the fact that chlorine kills things that are alive. It kills living things and it does not stop doing that when it enters our bodies. So that can't be good!
Also, most places do not have a state of the art water treatment facility and therefore the water has various other contaminants in it also. Modern farming practices involve a host of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides which end up in the ground water. Cattle are given antibiotics and other medication which not only end up in the meat we eat of course, but also in the ground water.
But it's not just cows that pee out medications they are given, we too secrete chemicals that have gone through our bodies. Anything from over the counter medications to highly toxic chemotherapy drugs, ultimately end up going down the drain and into the ground water. And of course you can find heavy metals in your water too. Things like lead which is a neurotoxin. All these are reasons why I prefer to filter my water before I drink it.
Water is so important for our health that I think it's critical that we both drink enough and drink good quality water, that is free of contaminants and impurities.
I am passionate about water, so settle in for a few days of water-themed entries. I'll continue with some basics tomorrow and then slowly take it to the astro-plane!
Now go have a glass of water!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Meditation
When I was a young boy, about seven or eight years old, my dad would often meditate. He would lay on the ground or on a bed that served as a couch in the living room. Sometimes I would join him. We would lay next to each other, each with a hand on the other's belly noticing each other's breath and slowing it down. I remember that I was usually much better at slowing my breathing down.
Today sometimes I meditate and when I attempt to breathe evenly and slowly I begin to feel the sort of anxiety you get when you feel like you don't get enough oxygen. I ponder why it was that I could slow down my breathing so much and without the sense of anxiety when I was a kid. I thought maybe it was the innate innocence of childhood that let me relax so completely and trust myself in my breathing. I thought it was maybe because as a child I had less things to feel anxious about.
But that wasn't the case. At that time my parents had just recently divorced and so I had plenty of anxiety in my life. So maybe I was able to relax so freely and breathe so slowly and evenly because breathing together, you connect. And connecting with my father put me at ease, made me feel like everything was going to be just fine.
Whatever it was, the experience left a lasting impression. I remember something that I believe is part of the very essence of meditation: a very deep connection with yourself and your own body. Unless you stop and take five and actually pay attention you often notice very little of your own body. But set aside some time and focus only on your breathing and you can connect with yourself in a whole new way.
What's amazing, is that there have been several studies conducted, that show a direct effect on the immune system from meditation. Not only does meditation result in measurable increases in activity in areas of the brain that are associated with positive moods and optimism, but there many experiments that have shown meditation leads to improved immune system function and response.
So, give yourself a bit of time... to connect with yourself. It's good for you!
Today sometimes I meditate and when I attempt to breathe evenly and slowly I begin to feel the sort of anxiety you get when you feel like you don't get enough oxygen. I ponder why it was that I could slow down my breathing so much and without the sense of anxiety when I was a kid. I thought maybe it was the innate innocence of childhood that let me relax so completely and trust myself in my breathing. I thought it was maybe because as a child I had less things to feel anxious about.
But that wasn't the case. At that time my parents had just recently divorced and so I had plenty of anxiety in my life. So maybe I was able to relax so freely and breathe so slowly and evenly because breathing together, you connect. And connecting with my father put me at ease, made me feel like everything was going to be just fine.
Whatever it was, the experience left a lasting impression. I remember something that I believe is part of the very essence of meditation: a very deep connection with yourself and your own body. Unless you stop and take five and actually pay attention you often notice very little of your own body. But set aside some time and focus only on your breathing and you can connect with yourself in a whole new way.
What's amazing, is that there have been several studies conducted, that show a direct effect on the immune system from meditation. Not only does meditation result in measurable increases in activity in areas of the brain that are associated with positive moods and optimism, but there many experiments that have shown meditation leads to improved immune system function and response.
So, give yourself a bit of time... to connect with yourself. It's good for you!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Value of Friends
A large scale study of nurses in the US found that women with breast cancer who could name ten friends had a four times higher chance of surviving than those who could not. It didn't matter if these friends were close by, it was simply the sense of connectedness that was important. A study done in Sweden on 736 men found that friendships had as strong an effect on health as being married, while the feelings of isolation and loneliness are matched in their adverse affect on health only by smoking.
To me this means we are all connected and this connection is vital to our survival. It means I must remember to reach out. I have had quite the journey over the last few years with cancer and I have also been blessed with incredible support from friends and my family. The experiences I have shared with the people around me deserve more than what I intend to write here tonight. Tonight I happen to be really full, because some wonderful friends took us out for dinner (Indian food! ;-) and now we going do play some games.
But I hope you think about your connection to the world and people close to you! If you're feeling strong, be a rock for someone who's having a hard time. When the time comes around and you feel like curling up in someone's arms and crying, then hopefully you'll have someone who will be your rock!
Peace and Love!
To me this means we are all connected and this connection is vital to our survival. It means I must remember to reach out. I have had quite the journey over the last few years with cancer and I have also been blessed with incredible support from friends and my family. The experiences I have shared with the people around me deserve more than what I intend to write here tonight. Tonight I happen to be really full, because some wonderful friends took us out for dinner (Indian food! ;-) and now we going do play some games.
But I hope you think about your connection to the world and people close to you! If you're feeling strong, be a rock for someone who's having a hard time. When the time comes around and you feel like curling up in someone's arms and crying, then hopefully you'll have someone who will be your rock!
Peace and Love!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Fighting Cancer With Curry
As I was sitting in the kitchen at 7 am, thinking about what to write about today, Jenna shared her excitement with me about the fact that the "The East-Indian Lady" might be at the Farmer's Market today. We don't know the east indian lady's name, but we are huge fans of her and the food she makes and sells. She comes to the Kamloops Farmer's Market every two weeks from Revelstoke a sells pakoras, samosas, chutney and a whole bunch of sauces and dips that you can take home.
So there we go, I have my topic for today: Turmeric! It is the most powerful anti-inflammatory food ingredient there is! It has been written about in medical texts in China, India, Tibet and the Middle-East for over two thousand years. The important molecule in terms of inhibiting cancer is curcumin. Beyond the anti-inflammatory effect, it has several other capabilities that affect different mechanisms of cancer growth. If you want a better understanding of some of these mechanisms or cancer in general, I recommend the book 'Anticancer - a new way of life' by David Servan-Schreiber M.D., Ph.D.
In India people consume, on average, 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric a day. They are generally exposed to more environmental carcinogens than us , yet here are some surprising stats from the Anticancer book: "...Indians have one eighth as many lung cancers as Westerners of the same age, one ninth as many colon cancers, one fifth as many breast cancers, one tenth as many kidney cancers, and one fiftieth (yes 1/50!) our rate of prostate cancer". Kudos to our brothers and sisters in India!
There was a study done in 2005 on mice who no longer responded to Chemotherapy with Taxol (while Taxol is considered effective against metastatic breast cancer, it actually works in less than 1/2 of cases). In the study, curcumin reduced the spread of metastases impressively and any micro tumors that could still be found did not grow and were therefore no longer a threat.
Here's the deal though: you are actually better off eating delicious indian food than taking capsules of only curcumin. Researchers in Taiwan found out that it's not absorbed by your intestines very well unless it is mixed with pepper or ginger. In fact pepper increases the body's absorption of turmeric by 2000 percent!
Ok, I say it's time for a stroll down to the Farmer's Market. I am ready for some delicious Indian food for breakfast!
The beautiful ladies at Pam's Curry stand at the Kamloops Farmer's Market.
My friend Will and I enjoying delicious pakoras and chutney. Yum!
So there we go, I have my topic for today: Turmeric! It is the most powerful anti-inflammatory food ingredient there is! It has been written about in medical texts in China, India, Tibet and the Middle-East for over two thousand years. The important molecule in terms of inhibiting cancer is curcumin. Beyond the anti-inflammatory effect, it has several other capabilities that affect different mechanisms of cancer growth. If you want a better understanding of some of these mechanisms or cancer in general, I recommend the book 'Anticancer - a new way of life' by David Servan-Schreiber M.D., Ph.D.
In India people consume, on average, 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric a day. They are generally exposed to more environmental carcinogens than us , yet here are some surprising stats from the Anticancer book: "...Indians have one eighth as many lung cancers as Westerners of the same age, one ninth as many colon cancers, one fifth as many breast cancers, one tenth as many kidney cancers, and one fiftieth (yes 1/50!) our rate of prostate cancer". Kudos to our brothers and sisters in India!
There was a study done in 2005 on mice who no longer responded to Chemotherapy with Taxol (while Taxol is considered effective against metastatic breast cancer, it actually works in less than 1/2 of cases). In the study, curcumin reduced the spread of metastases impressively and any micro tumors that could still be found did not grow and were therefore no longer a threat.
Here's the deal though: you are actually better off eating delicious indian food than taking capsules of only curcumin. Researchers in Taiwan found out that it's not absorbed by your intestines very well unless it is mixed with pepper or ginger. In fact pepper increases the body's absorption of turmeric by 2000 percent!
Ok, I say it's time for a stroll down to the Farmer's Market. I am ready for some delicious Indian food for breakfast!
The beautiful ladies at Pam's Curry stand at the Kamloops Farmer's Market.
My friend Will and I enjoying delicious pakoras and chutney. Yum!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Flo's Notoriously Delicious Salad Dressing
It's a busy day today, so I decided to finish my rant about essential fatty acids with a recipe. Also I was doing a bit more reading and there seems to be some evidence that omega-3s from fish have greater health benefits than plant-based ones. The plant based omega-3 fatty acids need to be converted by the body whereas the ones found in fish oil are already in the right form. You can get fish oil in bottles, they have lemon and orange flavors to help you get them down, or there are capsules as well (which yours truly sells).
At any rate, I hope to have instilled in you some interest in this and I hope you've learned a few things. The over consumption of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids creates a world of pain, literally.
So, on to my salad dressing. It's delicious and healthy so give it shot:
-Equal parts flaxseed and olive oil (you can also use a bit of grape seed oil)
-Dash of sesame oil
-Balsamic vinegar
-Generous dash of soy sauce or Bragg
-Garlic, crushed
-Dijon mustard, about 1 or 2 tsp (too much makes it bitter)
-Italian seasoning and any fresh herbs you might be growing such as basil, oregano, rosemary...
Here are a few extra tips to take a salad from mediocre to awesome:
Grow basil so you can add some dress to the salad, also I've been using some mint here and there and goes really well with summer!
Candied Walnuts. Walnuts are super healthy for you and when you wrap them in caramelized maple syrup.... Look out! The trick is to use low to medium heat and keep stirring until they have caramelized. Also add a little salt and pepper at the start.
Alright, off to work.... Thanks for reading and let me know how your salad turns out!
At any rate, I hope to have instilled in you some interest in this and I hope you've learned a few things. The over consumption of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids creates a world of pain, literally.
So, on to my salad dressing. It's delicious and healthy so give it shot:
-Equal parts flaxseed and olive oil (you can also use a bit of grape seed oil)
-Dash of sesame oil
-Balsamic vinegar
-Generous dash of soy sauce or Bragg
-Garlic, crushed
-Dijon mustard, about 1 or 2 tsp (too much makes it bitter)
-Italian seasoning and any fresh herbs you might be growing such as basil, oregano, rosemary...
Here are a few extra tips to take a salad from mediocre to awesome:
Grow basil so you can add some dress to the salad, also I've been using some mint here and there and goes really well with summer!
Candied Walnuts. Walnuts are super healthy for you and when you wrap them in caramelized maple syrup.... Look out! The trick is to use low to medium heat and keep stirring until they have caramelized. Also add a little salt and pepper at the start.
Alright, off to work.... Thanks for reading and let me know how your salad turns out!
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