On being off the grid (more or less)

I know I am in a very weird little minority here, but I hate cellphones and smartphones. Actually, I'm skeptical about any mobile PDA-type device, but I truly detest mobile phones. Now, before you get all in my face about it, please understand: I get it, I totally do. Mobile phones have made life exponentially more convenient (albeit all that quicker with all the texting, tweeting, FB-ing, etc. going on.). We can be in touch with whomever we need to be when we need to be whether it's a life-or-death emergency or simply checking in with someone.

But, can you remember what life was like before we all carried these electronic tethers? Years ago, when cell phones were first becoming ubiquitous, I weighed the convenience (and admittedly the time-savings in emergencies) of carrying a phone against the freedom and solitude of not having one and I decided against having one, relying on land lines instead.

Thus far, I feel I made the correct decision as I cherish the quiet time to myself by being off the grid while in transit, for example, far above having to be always on top of what's happening elsewhere in my life. I do not feel the need to always be available and if something is important enough, anyone can leave a message on the voice mail of my land line and I will return their call as soon as I can. I'm never away from a land line of some sort for more than an hour or two most days, unless I am on vacation or travelling or something where I actively choose to be incommunicado.

But, that's just the thing -- it's my choice, my decision. I have control over what and when I deal with things in my life and instead of jumping to respond to every little text, tweet, email message or FaceBook post, I can breathe a little, relax a little and deal with things at a measured pace. Nothing is that important that I need to be reachable 24-7. I realize that there may be instances where having a mobile phone would be a great advantage or even life-saving (caught in a traffic accident for example), but I am willing to bet against those odds and pay the price for the peace, freedom and control of dealing with my life at my own pace.

You may be thinking that you do have control by turning off your phone, but honestly, I think the convenience of carrying one would require strong self-discipline to keep it turned off -- the knowledge that the phone is there would be enough to keep curiosity piqued that I think the urge to turn the phone on and check in would be irresistible. That's just me, though -- if you are that disciplined, you have my admiration in spades!

Then there is the tracking aspect. This prospect terrifies me. Not having a smart phone of my own, I can't honestly profess to know a lot about them, but I do believe there is a method, a setting of some sort, that turns the tracking "beacon" off. Apparently. And now with this as incentive, I can see more and more people actively choosing to allow themselves to be tracked through their smart device.

According to the article,

"This is how it works: Passive sensors installed in the mall (or bank) pick up Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular signals from personal electronic devices carried by shoppers, with each device represented on a computer monitor by a separate moving icon.

The installed sensors poll the environment every six seconds, quickly enough to give retailers the ability to send out a coupon to a customer with a loyalty app as they near a store." 

Further,

"But the real value to retailers is that the data can be gathered, analyzed and distilled to provide information on what people are doing in the mall. Where do they go after they leave the food court? How much time do they spend in the bookstore? Are they visiting daily or weekly? How many new visitors come to the mall each day?

... compares it to knowing a person's licence plate number — knowing it tells you nothing personal about the owner or the driver or its other occupants." 

Personally, I feel that what I'm doing in the mall, where I go and how much time I spend is none of the mall's damned business, even if they are not collecting any personal data about me, know nothing about me (apart from where I am and how much time I'm spending there), and to them, I'm "just an icon". The comparison to a license plate number would only be valid if we were photographed where ever we drove and parked. Knowing a license plate number may not tell you anything personal about the owner or the driver or its other occupants, but it also doesn't tell you where the vehicle has been, where it is going or how long it stays in one spot.

What really frightens me, though, is how readily we as a whole will adopt this, led like lemmings over the cliff of privacy invasion by the promise of coupons and loyalty points. As the article states,

"But shoppers who download loyalty apps should know this: Permission granting a retailer the right to gather more detailed information about you through your phone may be buried in the terms and conditions of the app.

"The question is, who reads the terms and conditions?"...  (emphasis mine)

Less than three per cent of people in malls have loyalty apps, ... but the upside is that having the loyalty app can open up a whole new experience for some customers, creating the possibility for retailers to provide individualized service to customers as they arrive in-store, based on their shopping history."

I am as guilty as the next person for not reading the fine print, although I am starting to get better at it as more and more potentially egregious breaches of personal privacy become possible as a result of technology and our implicit agreement to it.

We should always view new technological offerings with a healthy dose of skepticism and not be dazzled by the initial potential or by promotional "carrots" (customized digital coupons, for example) aimed at getting us to adopt the offering. Learn to read the fine print, painful as it can be, because it is certainly eye-opening what you may have to give up in order to participate in a new service or program. We need to reflect on what we must give up versus what we are getting in return to truly decide whether it's worth it.

The GAPS diet -- one month in

Well, here we are in February already!  I can't believe how quickly we sped through January and we are having an absolutely beautiful day here in Toronto -- sunny and mild -- it really feels like spring is just around the corner although I know February, March and sometimes even April and May can be fickle and cruel.  Plus, we've had next to no snow so far, so part of me feels that we are going to end up paying for having it so easy thus far. But, never mind, I'm just enjoying this gift for what it is in the here and now! Tomorrow will be what it will be.

So, it's been one month since I started the GAPS diet and how am I doing?  Overall, I would say pretty good. The healing hasn't been as fast or dramatic as I had hoped it would be (that's just me being impatient -- the books clearly say that it's a long, slow process; we didn't end up with compromised digestive systems overnight and we won't heal them overnight either!), but it HAS been steady.

The greatest thing about it, I think is that it has given me a good roadmap to follow to start an elimination diet (which is what the GAPS Intro diet is). Now having achieved a more-or-less neutral, non-allergenic, non-inflamed digestive system, I have gained practice in slowly adding foods back into my diet and I am becoming aware of which foods I can tolerate and which ones I react to and need to eliminate again for now.

I have discovered, for example, that coffee and black tea are irritants, although I can have 1 or 2 cups of coffee a week and not have any problems.  Raw and cooked cabbage, too, is a problem, although fermented cabbage (i.e. sauerkraut) is easily tolerated. I know now what it feels like when I have ingested a food that I am still intolerant of and I know how long it takes (approx. 48-72hrs) for symptoms to appear.  And that's why the diary has become such a vital part of this exercise.

As of yesterday, I moved on to Stage 4 of the Intro diet, which allows me to have roasted meat and vegetables and I am currently trying potatoes. Although potatoes are off the GAPS diet completely, I seem to be having little, if any reaction to them and even though I don't eat a lot of them, it's nice to have the option of having them boiled or roasted (no french fries just yet!!).  Now that I know how my body reacts to intolerant foods, I feel more confident in branching out and trying different things -- still following the basic guidelines, of course.

I am hoping to move forward through Stages 4, 5 and 6 in the next couple of weeks and on to the full GAPS diet.  The best thing so far, is the elimination of the abdominal cramps, gas pains and bloating, which I recognize now as the symptoms of food intolerance.  Whenever I do experience symptoms, I consult the diary, see what I had eaten over the previous 2-3 days and eliminate any new food for the time being.  A tablespoon of kefir or whey helps calm things down again in the meantime.

My skin is slowly clearing up and I am gradually losing weight so that's good. The brain fog still comes and goes, although it is more intermittent again, like it used to be, and not a near-constant thing. So that's good too. Hopefully, as I continue on and my gut heals further, the fog will dissipate.

Time will tell!  On to February!

Signs of spring.

It's been a while since I've posted anything not related to the GAPS diet, so with all the snow hitting the eastern seaboard over the last couple of days, I felt like talking about spring. Plus, a sure sign of spring for me arrived in the mail on Friday: the Vesey's bulb and seed catalogues.

Nothing lifts my spirits on a cold winter's afternoon more than leafing through gardening catalogues and dreaming of all the warm spring days to come. We're nearing the end of January and the days are getting noticeably longer. I no longer am leaving in the dark (although it IS still dark when I get up -- this, too, shall pass) and the sun is actually still visible on the horizon when I get home in the evening.

All this warms my heart and makes me realize that no matter how cold and blustery the weather may be at the moment, spring is on its way. February will soon be here and it will be time to start planning the garden, buying seeds, and setting up the greenhouse in the basement, ready to start planting.

So, if you're caught in the snow right now, stay safe, stay warm, gather up some seed catalogues and gardening magazines, grab a cup of tea, sit and dream and know that spring is just 57 days away!

Going overboard.

I have been noticing over the last week or so that I'm starting to feel a little bloated and constipated again and have been waking up with a headache every few days or so. I started to wonder whether or not it was a result of the solid foods introduced in GAPS Stage 2, but I couldn't see how -- the solid food I've been having up until now has been chicken, beef and fish and in very limited quantities.

So, I cast my mind about looking at what else I've been doing and realized that I have upped my consumption of probiotics via yogourt, kefir and sauerkraut now that I am in Stage 2 (and just about to move on to Stage 3).  The sauerkraut I started 4 weeks ago is now ready and it is delicious!

A typical breakfast for me has been a soup of some sort, a cup of broth, about a full cup of yogourt and one of kefir.  I don't take yogourt or kefir to work with me, so lunch is typically a soup or stew and herbal tea.  Dinner is more soup or stew (sometimes with sauerkraut, sometimes not) and another cup each of yogourt and kefir.

Just out of curiousity, I tried Googling "probiotic overdose" and was quite amazed at what I found. It seems that while it's pretty difficult to technically "overdose" on probiotics, there is definitely the possibility of having too much of a good thing. I looked at many of the links and gleaned a lot of information from them including the facts that ingesting too many probiotics, especially if your digestive and immune systems are already compromised, can actually worsen some symptoms such as bloating, skin eruptions and mental fog. Plus, having too many probiotics in your system can also cause you to crave carbohydrates! It's no wonder I went crazy with the pizza and chocolate!

Out of all my reading, a couple of links that seemed to be the easiest to understand are this one and this one. In particular, I was struck by this quote from the second link:

"If you think you’re very dysbiotic – you have a very disordered gut, or serious health problems – you’re going to want to start slowly with this stuff.  Taking tons of probiotics or gobbling up tons of fermented foods is probably going to make you feel bad, bad, bad.  The changing gut ecology brought on by an “overdose” of probiotics is going to send your system topsy-turvy and can lead to many issues, including diarrhea or constipation, fatigue and/or brain fog, body aches and flu like symptoms, skin “stuff” including rashes, and possibly a worsening of the symptoms you already have.  So start slow.  If using fermented foods, start with a teaspoon once a day and build up from there.  If using probiotics, go with one of the lower potency probiotics to start with, possibly as low as 1-2 billion/dose, and gradually increase from there.  (And, as always, it’s best if you can work with a naturopath or a functional medicine practitioner.)"

So, although I have been generally feeling better having been on the GAPS diet thus far, I'm a little concerned that my brain fog hasn't cleared as much as I had hoped. Ditto for my skin. Perhaps I am taking in too many probiotics. In their book, "The Heal Your Gut Cookbook: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Intestinal Health Using the GAPS Diet", Hilary Boynton and Mary Brackett state that you should start with a teaspoon a day of probiotic and/or fermented food and gradually work your way up. Which I initially did, but increased more quickly than I should have, I guess.

Actually, the container of kefir currently in my refrigerator has this on the back:

"A small portion is sufficient.
Only one tablespoon (15ml) per day is necessary to obtain 5 billion of good probiotic bacteria."

Since I have been taking in a lot more than that, plus the yogourt and now sauerkraut, maybe I have been getting too much of a good thing. I am going to try cutting back and limit myself to a daily teaspoon each of yogourt and kefir and ease back on the sauerkraut, too, perhaps having it only one or two times a week. I'll see what happens. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good, but I think I can do better and perhaps this will help.

Oops, I did it again!

They say confession is good for the soul, so here goes:  I cheat.  There, I said it!  I'm a big cheaty-cheat cheating cheater. If you've been following my progress on my other blog, A Digestive Diary, you'll know I'm referring to my cheating on the GAPS diet.

The pizza I snarfed down last Saturday night was one thing, but I did it again last night while watching Rick Mercer on TV. I had a perfectly lovely beef stew for dinner and was completely content and satisfied until, out of nowhere I simply HAD to have chocolate -- and a lot of it, too! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on which way you're looking at it), I had a fair amount of chocolate left over from Christmas that I had stashed away at the back of the top shelf of one of the kitchen cabinets. I had actually forgotten all about it until, in the throes of extreme chocolate craving, my sub-conscience helpfully reminded me.  And all bets were off. 

One full jumbo chocolate bar and half a box of After Eights later, and I finally convinced myself that I had had enough. Sheesh! Haven't weighed myself yet, but with all that sugar, I bet I've gained back those extra 2 pounds I reported lost yesterday. Again, it serves me right for cheating.

But, here's the thing. I'm good with it. As long as I don't make a habit of it. Once on Saturday and again on Tuesday is a bit much, so I am going to have to be firm with myself, be a good boy and buckle down for a bit. The thing with dieting is that in order to be successful at it, you can't allow yourself to feel deprived. For the most part, you need to fill yourself with diet friendly foods and as long as you're full and content, mad cravings won't happen. Well, let's say they're less likely to happen -- a mad chocolate craze can apparently hit at any time!

One thing to do when a craving hits is to pause and take a deep breath. This allows your brain a second to re-think and hopefully re-direct you to a diet-friendly alternative. Perhaps if I had done that last night, I would have been satisfied with some yogourt or a glug or two of kefir instead of chowing down a week's worth of chocolate and sugar!

Another thing is to recognize that cheating happens. It just does. And in Tim Ferris's 4 Hour Body diet, a weekly cheat day is built in. So, keeping that in mind, I am not beating myself up over the fact I cheated and will probably do so again. I am accepting it, I'm owning it, I'm getting back on that horse and I'm moving on.

A third thing I will do is create a supply of diet-friendly snacks. Yogourt cheese, for example, made by draining the whey from probiotic yogourt, mixed with herbs and spread on some home-made flax crackers is an excellent, tasty and satisfying GAPS-friendly snack. The more diet-friendly snack options you have at your disposal, the more likely your brain will choose one of them if given the chance.

And of course, you will always need a certain amount of will power to get you through.  So, I may be a big cheaty-cheat cheating cheater, but I'm a happy and content cheaty-cheat cheating cheater, so there!  

Resolutions

Hi there and Happy New Year! I hope you had a chance to celebrate the end of 2015 and welcome in 2016 exactly how you wished, whether that was out on the town celebrating with family and friends, a quiet dinner for two, or just hibernating with a good book or Netflix.

I realized late last week that jumping into the GAPS diet with both feet starting Dec. 27 was asking a bit much of myself what with all the edible goodies left over from Christmas and the fact that I still had a number of non-GAPS meals sitting in the freezer.  I needed both the freezer space and the freezer containers to hold the GAPS soups that I had yet to make at that point.

So, my apologies for the late start, but I gave myself a week's reprieve in order to finish off all the Christmas goodies, clean out my freezer and get a stash of GAPS soups prepared, frozen and ready to go. That done, I hereby announce that tomorrow, Jan. 2, 2016 is the official first day of my journey on the GAPS diet and to that end, here is a link to A Digestive Diary, my new blog that will record my daily progress in chart form.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2016!

Merry Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2016!

Just a quick note to wish you all the best for the holiday season, good health and happiness to you and yours in the years to come, and now more than ever, peace on earth and goodwill to one another.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving.  A time to pause and be grateful for all we have, to celebrate the bounty of the season's harvest and enjoy the company of friends and family.

A wonderful way to express gratitude is to give back whatever you can, be it time, money, food, clothing or whatever you can spare.  Donate food to your local food bank and/or volunteer there as a sorter/packer.  Clean out your closets and donate clothes, toys, books to shelters.  Offer to help a neighbour with shopping, yardwork, etc.  And not just now, but all year long! You'll be amazed at what happens.

All the best to you and yours for a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

The Barometer of Autumn

I love autumn!  The lazy, languorous dog days of summer are gone and the air is fresh and crisp.  Time to harvest and get the garden ready for winter.  Cool nights with the windows left open a crack are wonderful for sleeping, snuggled under blankets and duvets once again.  Sweaters and jackets come out and as much as it's a slowing down for the vegetation around me, I can't help but feel energized and renewed.  Vacations are over, school has started and a new cycle has begun.

The maple tree in the picture above is off the end of my back yard in my neighbour's yard on the next street over.  It is always, without fail, the first tree in the neighbourhood to start changing colour and it always changes from the top down.   In another 10 days or so, it should be pretty much completely changed.  It's my barometer of autumn and I always know that fall has truly arrived when this tree starts its transformation.

An auspicious start? Maybe not.

Starting this blog is something that I have wanted to do for quite a while now and part of my procrastination has been deciding on when to start it.  My life is full of works-in-progress and on-going projects and there hasn't been a moment in time yet where I've thought it to be a logical starting point.

The seeds of this blog were planted several years ago when I started looking for information about vegetable gardening and preserving the harvest, specifically canning.  I have stumbled across hundreds of amazing blogs in my meandering through the Internet and I have gained much knowledge from them.  The thought occurred to me to chronicle my own application of this knowledge in my quest to live better by eating locally and perhaps inspire you to live better by eating locally too.

Initially I viewed this as another project to have fun with in my retirement however, I still have a little less than 2 years to go before I actually do retire, so I make no promises as to how often I will be posting.  At least for the time being.  I do enjoy the process of blogging and meeting new folks through it, so my thought at the moment is that once I do retire and have more time to devote not only to blogging, but also to the pursuit of my myriad interests which will provide much of the content of this blog, my posting will become more regular.



Fading Glory

I am also at a bit of an awkward point in those interests at the moment as it's now the time of the season where the garden is looking tired and rather sad, I'm more or less finished canning from the garden for now (there may be one more batch of tomatoes to put up so I'll see about posting about that), and I'm currently caught up in rather mundane maintenance chores around the house that I have no interest in including here.

So, why start blogging now?  Basically, eagerness I guess.  That and the fact that I am going through a slow period at work right now, so I do have some time.  And I'm viewing this as a "warm-up" for after retirement when I am looking forward to really having fun with it.  This will also give me a chance to develop my photography skills a bit for the web.  I am by no means a photographer, but hopefully this will give me a chance to practice some "mindful" picture-taking and not just go snap-happy.

If you've found me, thanks for reading this far and I hope you'll stick around and watch with me to see what this thing turns into.

Cheers!