Lifestyle
Healthy hiking food
20/Jun/12 02:57 PM
by Kate Whimster, BCom, MIFHI, ND
I will soon be heading north to hike the Coastal Trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park, which means I’ve had to plan what I will carry and eat for about a week. In your typical outdoors store, you will find a wide variety of “camping” food, most of which is full of sodium, sugar, and preservatives, not to mention common allergens such as wheat, gluten, and dairy! Here I’ll share some of my food choices on my first long hike in the hopes of helping you choose healthy hiking food.
I used NutritionData.com to calculate calories as well as other nutrient info. On this site you can find info on many, many whole and packaged foods and you can also enter your own custom foods using the label info if you need.
Fruit and veggies
The greatest challenge of camping food is vegetables and fresh fruit, since I don’t have refrigeration. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t still bring some fresh stuff, I just have to eat it early on! I’ll be bringing a few bananas and some whole organic carrots (washed but unpeeled) for the first few days of the trip. Many fruits (bananas, apples, oranges, pears, etc) travel well and I find that carrots of all vegetables also can last a few days without refrigeration quite nicely as long as they still have their peels and are protected.
Dried fruit and nuts
Once the fresh foods above run out, dried fruit provides a great portable snack that is light and keeps a long time. Nuts and nut butters are also good choices. I’m bringing dried mango, peaches, and raisins, along with almonds (that I roasted myself in my oven) and almond butter.
Homemade jerky
Many years ago I got a dehydrator and one of the things I’ve used it for is to make my own homemade beef and turkey jerky, which is MUCH tastier (and healthier) than anything store-bought you can find! For this trip I’ve made a bit of both and frozen it until we leave to keep it fresh. I plan for it to last about 3-4 days.
Packaged stuff
To supplement what I have above, I’ve found a few packaged items that, while not as optimal as a fresh, whole foods diet, are workable for me.
Oatmeal:
Instant oatmeal packets are great for breakfast. Glutenfreeda’s are gluten-free and there is also Nature’s Path. You can get both these brands in plain, unsweetened varieties to which you can add your own fruit, nuts, etc.
Dehydrated meals:
In looking through all the dehydrated packaged stuff in the store, I did find a few brands that have healthier ingredients and less/no preservatives. What I chose for this trip was Mary Janes Farm Outpost Organic Instant Lentil Soup packs. They also make several other meals which look tasty!
Bars:
There are a wide variety of bars out there, so look for some that you like and that fit your needs. Generally, bars higher in protein and lower in sugar are best. I bought a few brands just for flavour variety and plan to eat 1-2 bars per day.
Protein and/or greens powder:
Both are good portable additions to your morning oatmeal to add more nutrition and help make up for a lack of fresh fruits and veggies while hiking.
Drink mixes and electrolyte replacements:
While not necessarily a product I would use on a day-to-day basis, Emergen-C can be a good option for electrolyte and vitamin replacement while hiking and to take the chlorine edge off your purified water! They may also help with immune support while travelling.
Another simple option for sodium and mineral replacement is plain old sea salt. When I travelled to India in 2007 and to Nicaragua in 2010 I brought a small container of sea salt that I added to my bottled water to replace all the salt I was losing via sweat. I truly think this simple trick helped keep me better hydrated on both those trips and therefore illness-free!
I will soon be heading north to hike the Coastal Trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park, which means I’ve had to plan what I will carry and eat for about a week. In your typical outdoors store, you will find a wide variety of “camping” food, most of which is full of sodium, sugar, and preservatives, not to mention common allergens such as wheat, gluten, and dairy! Here I’ll share some of my food choices on my first long hike in the hopes of helping you choose healthy hiking food.
I used NutritionData.com to calculate calories as well as other nutrient info. On this site you can find info on many, many whole and packaged foods and you can also enter your own custom foods using the label info if you need.
Fruit and veggies
The greatest challenge of camping food is vegetables and fresh fruit, since I don’t have refrigeration. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t still bring some fresh stuff, I just have to eat it early on! I’ll be bringing a few bananas and some whole organic carrots (washed but unpeeled) for the first few days of the trip. Many fruits (bananas, apples, oranges, pears, etc) travel well and I find that carrots of all vegetables also can last a few days without refrigeration quite nicely as long as they still have their peels and are protected.
Dried fruit and nuts
Once the fresh foods above run out, dried fruit provides a great portable snack that is light and keeps a long time. Nuts and nut butters are also good choices. I’m bringing dried mango, peaches, and raisins, along with almonds (that I roasted myself in my oven) and almond butter.
Homemade jerky
Many years ago I got a dehydrator and one of the things I’ve used it for is to make my own homemade beef and turkey jerky, which is MUCH tastier (and healthier) than anything store-bought you can find! For this trip I’ve made a bit of both and frozen it until we leave to keep it fresh. I plan for it to last about 3-4 days.
Packaged stuff
To supplement what I have above, I’ve found a few packaged items that, while not as optimal as a fresh, whole foods diet, are workable for me.
Oatmeal:
Instant oatmeal packets are great for breakfast. Glutenfreeda’s are gluten-free and there is also Nature’s Path. You can get both these brands in plain, unsweetened varieties to which you can add your own fruit, nuts, etc.
Dehydrated meals:
In looking through all the dehydrated packaged stuff in the store, I did find a few brands that have healthier ingredients and less/no preservatives. What I chose for this trip was Mary Janes Farm Outpost Organic Instant Lentil Soup packs. They also make several other meals which look tasty!
Bars:
There are a wide variety of bars out there, so look for some that you like and that fit your needs. Generally, bars higher in protein and lower in sugar are best. I bought a few brands just for flavour variety and plan to eat 1-2 bars per day.
Protein and/or greens powder:
Both are good portable additions to your morning oatmeal to add more nutrition and help make up for a lack of fresh fruits and veggies while hiking.
Drink mixes and electrolyte replacements:
While not necessarily a product I would use on a day-to-day basis, Emergen-C can be a good option for electrolyte and vitamin replacement while hiking and to take the chlorine edge off your purified water! They may also help with immune support while travelling.
Another simple option for sodium and mineral replacement is plain old sea salt. When I travelled to India in 2007 and to Nicaragua in 2010 I brought a small container of sea salt that I added to my bottled water to replace all the salt I was losing via sweat. I truly think this simple trick helped keep me better hydrated on both those trips and therefore illness-free!
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Achieve your goals with a vision board
26/Dec/11 09:57 AM
by Kate Whimster, BCom, MIFHI, ND
If you’ve read/watched The Secret or maybe other books about the power of attraction or intention, you’ve probably heard of a vision board. A vision board is simply a visual representation of your goals. It’s a tool to imagine what it is like to have what you seek and it can be a lot of fun to make! This time of year is when most people make New Year’s resolutions... How about this year, instead of making resolutions that you likely won’t keep, you instead set goals and make a vision board to help you manifest those goals? Here are 5 easy steps to making your vision board:
Step 1: Set goals
This is the most important step! If you don’t know what your goals are, how will you ever achieve them? You should probably spend the most time on this step because it shapes all the following steps. Your goals can relate to anything: career, relationships, health, finances, travel, investments, whatever. You might consider a different vision board for each if that suits you better.
Have you ever heard of that Harvard study on goal setting? Interviewers asked Harvard MBA students whether they had clear, written goals for their future and made plans to accomplish them. 84% had no goals, 13% had goals but they were not written, and 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them. 10 years later, the 13% with goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% without goals. However, the 3% with clear, written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97%! This information is prolific in the business community as evidence of the power of committing your goals to paper. Unfortunately, this story has been debunked by Fast Company and several others!
However, that doesn’t mean that setting clear, written goals isn’t effective! There is actual research in this area, most notably this study by Gail Matthews. She found that those with written goals accomplished significantly more, those who shared their commitments publicly accomplished significantly more, and those who held themselves accountable accomplished significantly more.
This is all to say: goals are important, but so is DOING SOMETHING with those goals. A vision board is a key part of making your goals into something productive.
Step 2: Visualize and feel
This step is the most fun! All you need to do here is use your imagination! Remember that thing you used to use a lot as a kid when you played dress-up or make-believe? Time to pull it out of the dusty corner and get it working for you again.
Take some time AWAY from the computer, phone, office, kids, spouse, desk, etc to sit quietly and think about what it would be like to achieve your goals. What would your life look like if you got everything you wanted? How would you feel?
Write down some simple notes or even draw if that works better. You want to have some guiding ideas of what you need to put on your vision board that will show you what your goals look like and that will inspire you to feel the feeling of accomplishing your goals.
Step 3: Collect images and words
Now that you know what accomplishing your goals looks like and feels like, you need to find visuals that match. This step is also lots of fun because you get to be creative! When was the last time you did something creative? This step is like window-shopping for all the things you want in life.
Look in magazines for photos you like or even search online. Google Images is a great resource - simply type in what you want, like “cute puppy” and look through the images you get back for one that resonates with you. You can also use the web in other ways. Do you want a great car? Go to the manufacturer’s site and often you can design the car you want with all the features you want and print out the photo! Want a fantastic house? Go on MLS and search for the right house for you and print the listing! This also works for less material things, like a happy marriage and fulfilling family life. Look for photos of happy couples and smiling children. You can also use your own photos of yourself and others as long as they represent how you want to feel and what you want.
If you like to paint or draw, why not create your own images exactly the way you want? Why not use other things you love, like colours, textures, symbols, patterns, ribbons, paper, and great quotes or phrases?
I’ll give you a couple of examples of what I put on my vision board:
Your vision board can be made out of anything you want. First, you need something to put all your images and words on and this will determine what other supplies you need. Here are a few ideas:
Step 5: Create! And place.
Now that you have all you need, create your vision board! Arrange your images and words any way you like. Again, this is your chance to be creative in way you may not have been since primary school!
Place you vision board in a prominent place where you can look at it often, such as your office or bedroom. Use your vision board as a reminder of how your goals look and feel. Whenever you see it, take a moment to experience the feeling of realizing your goals. You can also use your vision board as a reminder to meditate on your goals.
If you’ve read/watched The Secret or maybe other books about the power of attraction or intention, you’ve probably heard of a vision board. A vision board is simply a visual representation of your goals. It’s a tool to imagine what it is like to have what you seek and it can be a lot of fun to make! This time of year is when most people make New Year’s resolutions... How about this year, instead of making resolutions that you likely won’t keep, you instead set goals and make a vision board to help you manifest those goals? Here are 5 easy steps to making your vision board:
- Set goals
- Visualize and feel
- Collect images/words
- Collect supplies
- Create and place
Step 1: Set goals
This is the most important step! If you don’t know what your goals are, how will you ever achieve them? You should probably spend the most time on this step because it shapes all the following steps. Your goals can relate to anything: career, relationships, health, finances, travel, investments, whatever. You might consider a different vision board for each if that suits you better.
Have you ever heard of that Harvard study on goal setting? Interviewers asked Harvard MBA students whether they had clear, written goals for their future and made plans to accomplish them. 84% had no goals, 13% had goals but they were not written, and 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them. 10 years later, the 13% with goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% without goals. However, the 3% with clear, written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97%! This information is prolific in the business community as evidence of the power of committing your goals to paper. Unfortunately, this story has been debunked by Fast Company and several others!
However, that doesn’t mean that setting clear, written goals isn’t effective! There is actual research in this area, most notably this study by Gail Matthews. She found that those with written goals accomplished significantly more, those who shared their commitments publicly accomplished significantly more, and those who held themselves accountable accomplished significantly more.
This is all to say: goals are important, but so is DOING SOMETHING with those goals. A vision board is a key part of making your goals into something productive.
Step 2: Visualize and feel
This step is the most fun! All you need to do here is use your imagination! Remember that thing you used to use a lot as a kid when you played dress-up or make-believe? Time to pull it out of the dusty corner and get it working for you again.
Take some time AWAY from the computer, phone, office, kids, spouse, desk, etc to sit quietly and think about what it would be like to achieve your goals. What would your life look like if you got everything you wanted? How would you feel?
Write down some simple notes or even draw if that works better. You want to have some guiding ideas of what you need to put on your vision board that will show you what your goals look like and that will inspire you to feel the feeling of accomplishing your goals.
Step 3: Collect images and words
Now that you know what accomplishing your goals looks like and feels like, you need to find visuals that match. This step is also lots of fun because you get to be creative! When was the last time you did something creative? This step is like window-shopping for all the things you want in life.
Look in magazines for photos you like or even search online. Google Images is a great resource - simply type in what you want, like “cute puppy” and look through the images you get back for one that resonates with you. You can also use the web in other ways. Do you want a great car? Go to the manufacturer’s site and often you can design the car you want with all the features you want and print out the photo! Want a fantastic house? Go on MLS and search for the right house for you and print the listing! This also works for less material things, like a happy marriage and fulfilling family life. Look for photos of happy couples and smiling children. You can also use your own photos of yourself and others as long as they represent how you want to feel and what you want.
If you like to paint or draw, why not create your own images exactly the way you want? Why not use other things you love, like colours, textures, symbols, patterns, ribbons, paper, and great quotes or phrases?
I’ll give you a couple of examples of what I put on my vision board:
- I want to build my naturopathic practice and see more patients, so I made up an ideal weekly schedule in my calendar in which I put in how many new patient visits I want in a week and how many follow-up visits I want. I also put in there time to exercise, time for social events, and time off. Then I printed my schedule and put it on my vision board. When I made my vision board I was not that busy. The next month was my slowest month in practice ever, but then over the next 3 months I got busier and busier and now my weekly schedule looks like what is on my vision board!
- I went on MLS and searched for houses that fit certain criteria I want (number of bedrooms, neighbourhood, etc), but price was not a factor. I found a house I really liked and printed the listing and put it on my vision board. This house happens to be quite close to where I currently live, so it would be even better for me to go over there and take a look in person!
Your vision board can be made out of anything you want. First, you need something to put all your images and words on and this will determine what other supplies you need. Here are a few ideas:
- Corkboard and pins
- Posterboard and glue/tape
- Wall in your home and some way to stick things up (like sticky tack)
- Magnet board and magnets (this is what I used)
- Large picture frame, piece of cardboard to go in it, and glue/tape
- Fridge and magnets (this is great for kids to play with!)
Step 5: Create! And place.
Now that you have all you need, create your vision board! Arrange your images and words any way you like. Again, this is your chance to be creative in way you may not have been since primary school!
Place you vision board in a prominent place where you can look at it often, such as your office or bedroom. Use your vision board as a reminder of how your goals look and feel. Whenever you see it, take a moment to experience the feeling of realizing your goals. You can also use your vision board as a reminder to meditate on your goals.
Breast health and cancer prevention: risk factors
09/Nov/10 05:39 PM
by Kate Whimster, BCom, MIFHI, ND
In October (breast cancer month) JD Kato and I did a presentation at a local library about breast health and cancer prevention. Here is a summary of some of the more interesting information we shared. This first part will cover risk factors, which JD discussed. There are several non-modifiable risk factors that most people are aware of, such as age, gender, family history, etc. Let’s focus on risk factors you CAN modify…
Radiation exposure:
Ionizing radiation such as x-rays can damage the DNA of cells promoting mistakes that could lead to development of cancer. The amount of radiation of a mammogram is considered small, but yes mammograms use radiation. Other sources of radiation may be from occupational accidents and radiation treatment.
Smoking:
Smoking raises your risk for many types of cancer: lung, esophageal, bladder, stomach, and others including breast cancer.
Alcohol:
Postmenopausal women who drank alcohol had a 22% higher relative risk of breast cancer than those who do not drink alcohol. It is estimated that every additional 10g of ethanol consumed per day (approximately one drink) was associated with a 10% increase in relative risk.
Recommendation for alcohol intake for women: 0-2 drinks per day, maximum 9 drinks per week
Estrogen:
Estrogen exposure can be a contributing factor to many breast cancers. Therefore, both exogenous (outside the body) and endogenous (inside the body) sources estrogen can increase risk.
Hormone replacement and birth control pills are exogenous sources that contribute to estrogen exposure that can be avoided.
Estrogen production within the body is also important. At puberty the brain (the pituitary) tells the ovaries to start to produce estrogen and because there are receptors in the breast tissue they are signalled to grow and develop. Although they grow in number, the cells of the breast tissue do not fully mature. With each monthly cycle there are fluctuating levels of estrogen, which can contribute to the cells that could possibly develop into cancerous cells. A first full-term pregnancy after the age of 30-35 contributes a slightly higher risk.
While a woman is pregnant, there are even high levels of estrogen and so the breasts enlarge to prepare for breast feeding – again putting a woman at higher risk. When a pregnancy reaches full-term and a woman breast-feeds, then the cells finish their maturation, which then helps protect against them developing into cancer. Breast-feeding for one year is protective against breast cancer. It does not matter if this period of breast-feeding is for one child, or combined over more than one birth.
Body fat and exercise:
After menopause a woman’s ovaries do not produce estrogen as before, so most of the estrogen come from fat tissue. Estrogen comes from testosterone and in fat tissue there is the enzyme called aromatase that converts testosterone to estrogen. So having excessive body fat means you have more of these enzymes to produce estrogen which can stimulate cell reproduction in breast tissue and thus increasing the chance of tumour formation.
Excess body fat, especially around the midsection, promotes inflammation in the body, which is a risk factor for many cancers. Chronic inflammation disrupts normal cell growth and development, which can promote.
Excess body weight and low physical activity together may account for one quarter to one third of all breast cancer cases! Contrast that to 3-5% of breast cancer caused by heredity…
Recommendations for exercise: 30 min 3-5 days per week (initially), then 30-60 min 5-7 days per week
In October (breast cancer month) JD Kato and I did a presentation at a local library about breast health and cancer prevention. Here is a summary of some of the more interesting information we shared. This first part will cover risk factors, which JD discussed. There are several non-modifiable risk factors that most people are aware of, such as age, gender, family history, etc. Let’s focus on risk factors you CAN modify…
Radiation exposure:
Ionizing radiation such as x-rays can damage the DNA of cells promoting mistakes that could lead to development of cancer. The amount of radiation of a mammogram is considered small, but yes mammograms use radiation. Other sources of radiation may be from occupational accidents and radiation treatment.
Smoking:
Smoking raises your risk for many types of cancer: lung, esophageal, bladder, stomach, and others including breast cancer.
Alcohol:
Postmenopausal women who drank alcohol had a 22% higher relative risk of breast cancer than those who do not drink alcohol. It is estimated that every additional 10g of ethanol consumed per day (approximately one drink) was associated with a 10% increase in relative risk.
Recommendation for alcohol intake for women: 0-2 drinks per day, maximum 9 drinks per week
Estrogen:
Estrogen exposure can be a contributing factor to many breast cancers. Therefore, both exogenous (outside the body) and endogenous (inside the body) sources estrogen can increase risk.
Hormone replacement and birth control pills are exogenous sources that contribute to estrogen exposure that can be avoided.
Estrogen production within the body is also important. At puberty the brain (the pituitary) tells the ovaries to start to produce estrogen and because there are receptors in the breast tissue they are signalled to grow and develop. Although they grow in number, the cells of the breast tissue do not fully mature. With each monthly cycle there are fluctuating levels of estrogen, which can contribute to the cells that could possibly develop into cancerous cells. A first full-term pregnancy after the age of 30-35 contributes a slightly higher risk.
While a woman is pregnant, there are even high levels of estrogen and so the breasts enlarge to prepare for breast feeding – again putting a woman at higher risk. When a pregnancy reaches full-term and a woman breast-feeds, then the cells finish their maturation, which then helps protect against them developing into cancer. Breast-feeding for one year is protective against breast cancer. It does not matter if this period of breast-feeding is for one child, or combined over more than one birth.
Body fat and exercise:
After menopause a woman’s ovaries do not produce estrogen as before, so most of the estrogen come from fat tissue. Estrogen comes from testosterone and in fat tissue there is the enzyme called aromatase that converts testosterone to estrogen. So having excessive body fat means you have more of these enzymes to produce estrogen which can stimulate cell reproduction in breast tissue and thus increasing the chance of tumour formation.
Excess body fat, especially around the midsection, promotes inflammation in the body, which is a risk factor for many cancers. Chronic inflammation disrupts normal cell growth and development, which can promote.
Excess body weight and low physical activity together may account for one quarter to one third of all breast cancer cases! Contrast that to 3-5% of breast cancer caused by heredity…
Recommendations for exercise: 30 min 3-5 days per week (initially), then 30-60 min 5-7 days per week