I am finished the 5 Day Challenge and there was a Town Hall Meeting in Oshawa last night discussing the outcome of the " Do the Math Challenge" Sadly I could not attend due to other commitments.

However, today I consumed a bowl of guacamole and two blackened season breast topped with the ever yummy goat's cheese!!!

Hence the stomach ache!! 

I firmly believe, everyone is entitled to healthy eating and it shouldn't be more expensive than manufactured food. Some things in life are not fair and I am ok with that but i am not ok with Canadians having different qualities of food or education. In order to do well in life, ideally we want to treat our bodies like a Ferrari. If anyone of us has the good fortune to own a Ferrari I can guarantee you would put high octane fuel in it. You wouldn't put regular leaded gas in the car. You would never choose to undermine this fine automobile's performance, would you? I think not!

Then why would anyone choose to decrease the optimal health of the human body. Innately our bodies are a higher performing machine over a Ferrari. Some people choose to eat whatever they want healthier or not. They are not fooling their bodies but they are fooling their minds. But for those people who don't have an option, they have no choice but to ignore the poor quality of food because they are not choosing. 

Today's economy anyone of us could be needing the service of a food bank. 

In the future, donate Quaker Oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill pancakes, whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter, dry peas and beans, long grain brown rice, eggs and butter. You can always drop off these items to your local food bank, they will never turn it away. Donations from consumers are only one part of the solution. There is a wonderful service called the Good Food Box that provides fresh produce on a weekly basis for a very nominal cost. ( under 30.00). The 100.00 increase to social service cheques's could include the Good Food box for all families requiring the need of a Food Bank including the working poor.

If you love food like I do, imagine not having an option to enjoy it but merely eating anything so you can survive the day!

I am finished the 5 Day Challenge and there was a Town Hall Meeting in Oshawa last night discussing the outcome of the " Do the Math Challenge" Sadly I could not attend due to other commitments.

However, today I consumed a bowl of guacamole and two blackened season breast topped with the ever yummy goat's cheese!!!

Hence the stomach ache!! 

I firmly believe, everyone is entitled to healthy eating and it shouldn't be more expensive than manufactured food. Some things in life are not fair and I am ok with that but i am not ok with Canadians having different qualities of food or education. In order to do well in life, ideally we want to treat our bodies like a Ferrari. If anyone of us has the good fortune to own a Ferrari I can guarantee you would put high octane fuel in it. You wouldn't put regular leaded gas in the car. You would never choose to undermine this fine automobile's performance, would you? I think not!

Then why would anyone choose to decrease the optimal health of the human body. Innately our bodies are a higher performing machine over a Ferrari. Some people choose to eat whatever they want healthier or not. They are not fooling their bodies but they are fooling their minds. But for those people who don't have an option, they have no choice but to ignore the poor quality of food because they are not choosing. 

Today's economy anyone of us could be needing the service of a food bank. 

In the future, donate Quaker Oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill pancakes, whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter, dry peas and beans, long grain brown rice, eggs and butter. You can always drop off these items to your local food bank, they will never turn it away. Donations from consumers are only one part of the solution. There is a wonderful service called the Good Food Box that provides fresh produce on a weekly basis for a very nominal cost. ( under 30.00). The 100.00 increase to social service cheques's could include the Good Food box for all families requiring the need of a Food Bank including the working poor.

If you love food like I do, imagine not having an option to enjoy it but merely eating anything so you can survive the day!

I have spent the past 4 days preparing meals from the food hamper and only the food hamper. No spices, condiments or olive oil which is a staple in my daily repertoire.

I have done so, as I needed to really experience the what it would feel like not to have these luxuries and understand the feeling of eating only to survive.

Primal instinct takes over, the basic need to consume something to keep on going. The bodies hormones signal the brain eats and eat anything in sight to feed it.

I would be fair to say many people and families whom survive off of the donations of the shopping consumers will eat anything to survive. In Canada that is a shame.

A family or individual relying on food banks or on social assistance will not be picky as to what they eat.

I can say I know these feeling after these 4 days, it is horrible.

My husband told me today that I am being very moody and he didn’t like it. He thinks I have been wacky all week and getting worse and asked me to eat.

Well I will soon, one more day to go.

Today I ate the same as yesterday. Apparently my symptoms are worse according to my husband and kids.

A possible solution is healthy donations from the grocery shopping consumer!

As a Holistic Nutritionist, I coach my clients to better health by explaining when we eat live, real, and local, in season food we will have more energy to do the things we really enjoy.

I also explain we must kick-start our day with a breakfast that will provide us the fuel our bodies need to perform our daily tasks optimally.

Once I state this and explain the daily symptoms a client will feel when not eating a balanced breakfast, skipping meals and consuming highly processed, chemical laden food they can be empowered to change their choices.

 The food bank hamper provided me food enough for one person for the week. The only real food in the hamper was 4 potatoes, 2 onions and 4 apples. The rest of the basket is what I call dead food. Dead Food contains no life, it is highly processed, contains chemical ingredients for stabilization and increasing shelf-life that also causes addiction to the food, allergies and poor health. It is no wonder eating this type of food stuff will eventually cause a breakdown of the highly connected systems in the body. i.e. the digestive system, immune system, hormonal system, nervous system etc. I would suspect many people consuming these type of food daily overtime develop mental illness starting with sadness and depression. How can an individual depressed feel as if they can turn their situation around. It would require enormous faith and dedication.  

Today, like other people living off a food hamper, my choices of food were provided. I ate toast and peanut butter for breakfast, an apple for snack and made a minestrone soup with the ingredients from the hamper. I had this for lunch and dinner.

To prepare my soup, I rinsed under cold water for 10 minutes the can of green peas and creamed corn. The creamed corn was no longer creamed corn. Then I sautéed the remaining onion, boiled the pasta until almost soft, added the green peas and corn to the skillet and continued sautéing. I drained the pasta, then added the tomatoes soup into the pot with 3 cups of water and stirred. Once it became a soup I added my pasta noodles, green peas and corn. I seasoned with ground black pepper.

My headache is mild today, I am not feeling hungry yet, but I will and I am looking forward to eating an avocado or two Saturday. Some brain food!!

When I woke up this morning I wondered what I was going to eat for breakfast.

I stood in my kitchen staring at the contents of my food hamper and decided I would start the day off with a cup of hot water and ½ sliced apple. At about 8, I ate the rest of my apple, took my kids to school and went to my scheduled work-out in Cullen Gardens.

At 10.30 this morning after my work-out I was starving and choose toast with kraft peanut butter. I enjoyed my toast. I also drank a diluted glass of cranberry juice.

There was no snack before lunch and lunch was at 1.30 today which was a can of tuna. No bread and no condiments.

Again this afternoon around 3, I was very lightheaded, felt faint and was moving at a much slower pace. By 4 o’clock this afternoon I had another massive headache, my body became clammy all over and concentration dropped.

For dinner I craved some warm comforting food. It is not the hunger I am having an issue with it is the symptons I am experiencing.

Therefore I sautéed ½ diced onion my skillet with a little water until cooked then added 2 chopped potatoes and continued sautéing for approximately 10 minutes adding little water when I needed too. Then I added 2 cups of water brought to boil, reduced and made a nice potatoe soup for dinner.

 Nutritionally, I have had limited protein and virtually no essential fat. Tonight I did enjoy my potatoe soup but it did not have any protein or a good source of fat with it. I am holding off for as long as I can on consuming any canned vegetables or pasta. I fear the sodium intake.  Therefore I have not had a balanced meal in terms of Carbohydrates, protein and fat. I am definitely way off base when it comes to following Canada’s Food guide. I do not meet any of the nutritional requirements. Daily essential fat is vital for concentration and it is no wonder it is hard to stay focused. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to motivate yourself and improve your situation if you are not meeting your basic daily nutritional requirements.

 Well on to Day 3!

 Today I started the “ Do the Math Challenge” facilitated by Feed the Need Durham in order to create awareness that families living on Social assistance do not receive enough financial support to eat healthy food. Many families on Social Assistance and the working poor rely on what is provided by our local food banks.

 This morning started off at Feed the Need in Durham with powdered milk and cereal for breakfast with a small fruit salad.

I was delighted to have my morning meal as I was genuinely hungry. I consumed some of my cereal and found the milk very sweet. Something I am not used too. My everyday breakfast is breakfast smoothies, soft-boiled eggs and fruit. Today was much different. I did notice many of the participants did not eat that much as well. Maybe because they are not used to cereal and milk for breakfast either or the other thought I had, was they felt guilty for eating food that could go to someone who needs it, even though the CDCD funded the project.

 After breakfast I headed over to my Part-time RBC job for the day. The only meal I had was breakfast and on a typical day I would have eaten breakfast and 2 healthy snacks. As a CSR, I do need to be very careful with one’s banking transaction and I found it very difficult to maintain focus on the computer screen as well as actively listen to the clients. By 1. 30 in the afternoon, just before my lunch, my heart was racing, my skin was clammy and I was dizzy. My blood sugar levels had drop so low, that I was in a hypoglycemic state. Not good. I consumed my lunch which was a sliced apple and a cup of Lipton’s cup of soup. As soon as I ate I felt much better.

Later in the afternoon, I was not able to concentrate anymore and doing my job became a real struggle.

My headache was severe. I drank multiple glasses of hot water to alleviate my headache and I couldn’t wait to go home and crash.

 For dinner I had pasta that was provided by the food hamper with the store bought sauce, again with hot water. My dinner meal was not bad but not good either.

 Nutritionally speaking I have consumed minimally amount of protein, in the Lipton soup and only one fresh real food which was the apple.The cereal and pasta are refined carbohydrates that did spike my blood sugar levels into a very uncomfortable zone. Though I do not feel hungry, my body did react with the rise and fall of blood sugar and hence I have had a headache all day.

 So Day 1 of the challenge is over and I have survived barely!

A Statistics Canada report says, shift work, long hours and blue-collar jobs are all associated with higher levels of obesity than regular hours, shorter hours and white-collar jobs. More men and women who worked shifts were more obese than regularly scheduled workers. The percentage of obese workers were aged 18-64; by job type.

In 2005, 2.3 million people, or about 16% of employed Canadians aged 18 to 64 were obese -- 1,423,000 men and 918,000 women, according to Statistics Canada.

Lead author Dr. Jungwee Park said that Employers might want to make work place plans, to prevent obesity and sponsor health initiatives for weight maintenance programs, to benefit the individual workers and the Canadian economy in general.

Night work and shift work brought changes in the levels of stress hormones causing high stress levels. The stress caused by long and irregular hours may be the root of the higher obesity levels and even diabetes. Cardio vascular diseases and sleeping during daytime affect the natural rhythms of the body and body temperature. All these pointed to one fact; slowing down metabolism can make a person gain weight rapidly. With a sensible diet it's possible to reduce the effects of stress, avoid some common problems and protect your health. For most of us, stress and food go hand-in-hand. Food can give us the feelings of power, control and satisfaction that we need in stressful situations; giving your body the nutrition it needs is a positive step you can take every day toward combating stress. With the correct nutrition, you are better prepared to face the challenges of the work place.

Companies may want to provide free nutritional work shops or seminars to their workforce in order to better educate and become more knowledgeable as to what to eat during stressful work time, since our food choices directly affect our energy levels.  Also, if providing food in the work place, put healthy food choices on their menus to prevent obesity and support workers' physical, mental and emotional health. 

For info on CBC News: Shift and blue-collar workers more likely to be obese: Stats Can go to: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/02/20/obesity-statistics.html
 

Organic Spa Magazine is a lifestyle magazine committed to the sustainable side of life – be that spa and wellness, food and fitness, or design and décor. Eco friendly lifestyle has become a key issue for all of us due to many of us becoming much more open to the bonuses of living attuned with nature rather than against it. The magazine talks about practical aspects of nurturing organic beauty; the one way to change as a green movement.  It makes the most life-affirming choices that bring pure joy and lively happiness into your lives at home, work, play and rest. That is something we can embrace in the privacy of our own homes; an alternative lifestyle option that can be just as much about personal choice (what to eat, what to wear). You will find interesting inner and outer beauty information on: Ask The Organic Beauty Expert,  Organic Spa is available to readers in both digital and print formats

Science has taken our food, our bodies and even our lifestyles and divided them into parts. Many conclusions have been created from this, but is that the way to study who we are and what we need? Holistic Nutrition focuses on all aspects of our lives, the food we eat, the homes we live in, our emotional and spiritual health and the physical activities we engage in. The goals are to address all issues that may be affecting our well-being. This includes looking at all aspects of our bodies, the specific foods we eat, including how they are grown and how they are prepared, and the choices we make for work and play. Please enjoy the articles in this section.