Choosing my addiction

Raised in a European household, I had stuff  at home that seemed strange to my anglo friends, like the light green ceramic Melita coffee filter and pot. I loved the way the glass filter holder wedged into the tiny pot – making  just enough for one person. When the coffee was made, you could remove the filter attachment and pop on the ceramic lid – so cute. To add to the coffee mystique, my mother would often heat up a bowl of milk for me, and add just a little coffee for flavour. There I was…hooked.

Coffee is my friend. Big pots of coffee kept me company through nights of studying. (Though nowadays a tanker full of coffee wouldn’t keep me awake all night.) Coffee is the excuse I use to meet friends. Coffee keeps me company while I work. Coffee gets me going before a run.

But there’s always the fear that all this coffee is unhealthy. I worry that one day the US Surgeon General will issue a warning that coffee consumption is a known cancer causer – Think of it: warnings on the side of coffee packages. Shunned coffee drinkers huddled outside their workplaces, sipping on their steaming cups of cancer-causing  java.

These days, however, coffee is beginning to seem like a downright healthy choice. For example, a recent study found that coffee seems to lower the risk of stroke.

While I can sit back, for the moment, and not worry about any personal harm from coffee, I can’t ignore that coffee may not be so healthy for our planet. Shade-grown coffee seems to be the least environmentally harmful way to go. Here are a few links about coffee growing and its impact on the environment:

Cheap coffee threatens to wipe out wildlife and ruin farmers, The Independent, April 2003.

 Green Coffee-Growing Practices Buffer Climate-change Impacts, Science Daily, Oct 10, 2008.

Coffee cultivation good for diversity in aggrarian settlements but not in forests, Stokholm University, Feb 20, 2009

My name is mud

If you’d like to read my article about mud, in the January/09 edition of alive magazine, follow this link.

Inspired by Nature

Last week I threaded my way through the shiny glass buildings at UBC to attend, “Behind the Scenes at  Nature,” a seminar by Nicola Jones, Nature’s on-line news editor. Nature is the journal to which scientist bow down and worship. Getting published in this most prestigious of scientific journals means you’ve arrived, you’re part of the scientific elite, you’re in the company of Stephen Hawking.

Well, even if you get rejected, you’re still in the company of Stephen Hawking, since Nature (and a slew of other highly respected scientific journals) rejected his Black Hole Radiation theory at first. According to Nicola Jones, 90 per cent of the scientific papers submitted are rejected.

I never picked up an issue of Nature because I thought it would be filled with high level research that I wouldn’t be able to understand. But Ms. Jones revealed that half of the journal is devoted to news, discussion and even politics as it applies to science. And while Nature is still available in hard copy, Nature on-line has become an ever-expanding nebula of scientific information. You can spend hours and hours on their site, and then you can spend even more time on their blogs. There is also an active on-line discussion forum,  Nature Network.

Ms. Jones also spoke about some of the publishing bloopers that have occurred at Nature. She showed us the September 25, 2008 issue (above) featuring head shots of Barak Obama and John McCain, looking in opposite directions. Then she opened up the magazine to reveal the advertisement on the back cover. On it were head shots of two Labrador retrievers, one chocolate and one yellow – looking in opposite directions – mirroring the two politicians on the cover.

After hearing about all that Nature has to offer, Ms. Jones asked us to break up and brainstorm about new directions for Nature. The only suggestion I could come up with was Nature for Dummies, a publication that translates all that academic scientific language into material the average person could understand. My friend picked up on that idea and suggested each issue could contain a centerfold of a famous scientist – now there’s a new idea.

Grease is the word

The era of fat phobia may be coming to an end.  Avoiding it like the plague may, after all, not have been necessary all this time. In an earlier blog, I complained about my friend the dietitian who continued to use butter while the rest of us switched to margarine. It wasn’t until margarine was exposed for its trans-fat transgressions that many of us switched back to butter – in moderation.

Fish and vegetable oils are the new health food because they contain those all important Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are also found in whole grains, olive oil and garlic and are thought to be the reason behind the healthiness of the Mediterranean Diet.

And this year a new book, aptly titled Fat, by Jennifer McLagan and Leigh Beisch espoused the virtues of fat. A vocal supporter of animal fat, Jennifer McLagan says it contains more flavour, is more stable (doesn’t turn rancid as quickly as vegetable fats), and contains no trans fats. She points to the French, who seem to have a healthier relationship with fat than do we North Americans. She feels it’s because they take time to prepare their own food and sit down with family to eat it. People will flock to purchase this book when they find out it contains recipes for bacon mayonnaise and bacon baklava.

In another interesting look at the upside of dietary fat,  Dr. Jay Wortman of the UBC Faculty of Medicine initiated a study he called “My Big Fat Diet.” Dr Wortman hypothesized that many First Nations people are suffering from obesity and Type II diabetes because they no longer consume their traditional diet which was high in fat and low in carbohydrates. They have adopted, instead, a less healthy diet full of carbohydrates.  In his study 60 First Nations people from the BC village of Alert Bay consumed a diet that was more in-keeping with their traditional food – meat, fish and non-starchy vegetables such as berries and leafy greens. Those in the study not only lost weight, but experienced an improvement in their cholesterol and diabetic problems. (To find out more, go to Dr Wortman’s blog .)

It seems to be common sense that our traditional diet - free of processed and modified ingredients –  shared with family and friends, may be the best way to a healthy, happy life.

It’s a small world

Just when I thought human designers were getting pretty good….

Check out this “20 BioScapes Contest-Life Viewed through the Microscope.”

Cold versus flu

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Which?”

“Is it live or is it Memorex?”

Those are a couple of the most enduring questions of our time. Another enduring question is “Do I have influenza, or is it just a cold?”

 Recently the Canadian Medical Association published a little guide to help us tell the difference:

Symptom	Cold	Influenza
Fever	Rare	A sudden onset of fever between 39º to 40º C
Headache	Rare	Can be severe
General Aches and Pains	Sometimes, mild	Usual, often severe
Fatigue and weakness	Sometimes, mild	Usual, severe, may last 2 to 3 week, maybe more
Extreme fatigue	Not usually	Usual in the early stages, can be severe
Runny, stuffy nose	Usually	Usually
Sneezing	Usually	Sometimes
Sore throat	Often	Often
Chest discomfort, coughing	Can be mild to moderate	Can become severe
Complications	Can lead to sinus congestion or an earache	Can lead to pneumonia and can eventually become life-threatening
Prevention	Frequent hand washing	Frequent hand washing, annual flu vaccine

For more information on the different types of influenza check out this link to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Haunted Hospital

Listening to ghost stories on the radio this morning made me wish I had a ghost story to tell. Then I realized have do have one – maybe even two.

But the one I’m really thinking about today has to do with some strange happenings on the VGH Burn Unit in the early 1980s. I started working there in 1987, and while I was never witness to any of the occurrences, several people I worked with told me about their experiences.

In the early 80s the burn unit was still in the old Fairview building on 12th and Heather. It had beautiful old double-hung windows with clear views of the North Shore Mountains. The floors were paved with black and white hexagonal tile, and the counter-tops were covered with sterile-looking stainless steel. The elevator had a shiny brass accordion door that shimmied open and shut at each floor. The burn unit was stuck on the top floor of the building, many said to keep the screams of the burn patients farthest away from the rest of the patients – though from their dorm next door, the student nurses heard the cries clearly. (These days, thanks to a better understanding of pain control and because of better pain medication, the screaming has almost ceased.)

So, some time in the early 80s a young man was severely burned and admitted to the burn unit. He was much loved by the staff and they were dismayed at their inability to save him. One nurse I worked with said that she was in the room with him when he died. She said she witnessed a white light leave him and pass out the window – no kidding, she did tell me that. (This was a very normal competent nurse, not at all a flake – as far as I could tell.) Soon after the young man died, odd things started to happen. The elevator started going up and down on it’s own. Strange unexplained noises occurred in the middle of the night. But most unsettling of all was that patients started reporting unusual dreams. They said in their dreams a young man came to comfort them, telling them not to worry, everything was going to be all right.

The old Fairview building no longer exists. In its place is a stand of gleaming condos. I wonder what kind of dreams the people living there are having.

Group Dynamite

There’s a lot of talk about group dynamics and how to get along in groups. We’re supposed to be good team players. But what happens when someone doesn’t play by the rules? Judging from all the websites that offer courses on how to deal with difficult people, there are one or two individuals out there who are playing by their own rules.

I’ve been reviewing these sites because I recently attended a meeting during which one group member was aggressively derailing the proceedings. As the meeting progressed I noted several people looked very flushed and blotchy, one woman was visibly shaking, and my heart rate was probably over 100. Very unhealthy. I opted for flight over fight and quit the meeting. 

Here are a couple of links that I found useful:

 Munn Conflict Resolution Services

Dealing with Difficult People -“Have you been Omarosa’d?”

Vitamin I

For years I was a strong believer in Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). While I still think it’s a wonder drug, more recently I’ve discovered Ibuprofen. It helped me through a worrisome knee injury, and since I was taking it so regularly, I started calling it Vitamin I.

This week there were reports of a study  on anti-inflammatories such as Aspirin and ibuprofen. Taken regularly, it seems these drugs reduce the chance of developing breast cancer. The researchers concluded that inflammation is closely related to the development of cancer which, they believe, explains why women who regularly took these medications experienced a lower rate of breast cancer. This study involved over 2 million women – a huge sample size, which makes the results quite reliable.

Aspirin and ibuprofen belong to the group of drugs called NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The problem with NSAIDs is they are hard on the stomach. So much so, they’ve been known to cause bleeding ulcers. They can also hinder blood clotting, which can cause all kinds of bleeding problems.

So, the question is, what do we do now? Go back to an aspirin a day – or an ibuprofen a day?

I say tomato, you say tomato

It’s the season to celebrate the tomato. The plant I’ve been babying along all summer is weighted down with fragrant, sweet and tangy tomatoes. There’s nothing finer than pulling a warm red tomato off the vine, rinsing it off, slicing it in half, sprinkling it lightly with salt, and eating it in two juicy gulps.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned a little about growing tomatoes in containers. Actually, I haven’t learned my lesson. When I put that little plant in its pot, I postpone putting a tomato frame around it. It seems so small – then before I know it, the plant is too big to put the frame around and I have to use all kinds of tricks to support its heavy branches. Next year the frame goes on as soon that little seedling gets stuck in the dirt. Also, I will plant more than one plant. Since it takes quite a bit of energy to coax along that single plant, I might as well have a few since I’m out there anyway.

According to the American Dietetic Association, tomatoes are high in Vitamin C and contain little cancer-fighting nutrients such as lycopene. Unlike many vegetables, tomatoes are even more nutritious when they’re cooked because the lycopene is easier to absorb. There is also evidence that adding a little healthy fat, such as olive oil, improves absorption even further.

And so, recipes. This one is from a recent edition of the Globe and Mail.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

Dressing

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, seeded

12 tsp ground coriander seed

1/4 cup olive oil

some chopped fresh basil (to taste)

1 tsp sherry vinegar

salt and freshly round pepper

Salad

4 medium heirloom or other tomatoes

8 ounces aged goat cheese

salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine ingredients for the dressing and puree in a food processor till smooth. Set aside.

Slice tomatoes thinly. Cut goat cheese into 8 slices and place one slice on each of the four plates.

Drizzle some dressing over the goat cheese. Top each slice of cheese with a few slices of tomato and drizzle with a little dressing. Place another slice of cheese on top and then a few more slices of tomato. Drizzle on some more dressing. Decorate with a few basil leaves and left over dressing.

 

And for some additonal food fun go to this link by one of my favourite food writers, Cinda Chavich