Let food be thy medicine

and

medicine be thy food

Hippocrates … maybe … there is some conflicting information.

There are good reasons for the quote. Hippocrates considered nutrition one of the main tools that a doctor can use. More than that, dietary measures play a lead part in the original oath of Hippocrates. In modern translations of the oath, the central importance of diet is often somewhat hidden. English Wikipedia for example turns it into: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing.”

But the original Greek oath, literally translated, says: “I will apply dietetic and lifestyle measures to help the sick to my best ability and judgment; I will protect them from harm and injustice.”

“Let food be thy medicine”- Hippocrates? | Dr Goodfood

So … Hippocrates who lived 460 BC – 370 BC and whose words are the basis for the Hippocratic oath that physicians take … ascribed to “diet and lifestyle measures to help the sick”.

I have done a lot of reading and research in the past years on what foods do what in the human body as well as in cats and dogs. Because I do absolutely believe that food … the “right” food can be curative or more importantly, preventative. But it is difficult to wade through all of the information, much of which is conflicting.

Two or so weeks ago, a work colleague shared a video with our work group … 5 of us: coders, technical support … information technology professionals. The video was a University of California TV video: “Sugar, The bitter truth”. It was originally posted to YouTube in 2009 and has had over 16 million views. We all watched at least some of it and as a group were absolutely astounded. There is a link at the end of this post, but the 2009 video is 90 minutes and there are some recent videos of shorter duration and perhaps more watchable … two that I particularly liked are also linked at the end.

The video presenter is Dr. Robert Lustig. His credentials are more than I want to write in this post. The short story is that he practiced as a pediatric neuroendocrinologist (child hormone issues), devolved to research and education … based on his clinical experience as well as peer research became an iconoclastic voice in regard to processed food and the food industry AND how physicians are trained. I cannot begin to give justice to all that he has done in his career: clinic work, writing, teaching, research …

Currently, there are many, many YouTube videos of Dr. Lustig being interviewed. His latest book: Amazon.com: Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine eBook : Lustig, Robert H.: Books

I bought the lastest book: Amazon.com: Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine eBook : Lustig, Robert H.: Books

I am halfway through the book … through the biochemistry and into the “fix it”. The biochemistry of the book, like Dr. Lustig’s talks is comprehensible to the non-medical person … me.

Based on the youTube videos, I took a look at my own eating. As a scratch cook and baker, I do not have processed food in my cupboards … BUT, I was drinking a glass or two of wine daily, a glass or two of my own ginger soda, and some licorice snacks. I regrouped.

For the past week … no wine, no ginger syrup … those will be “reward” items like a special dessert. Licorice is done and I will not be replenishing. The only thing I really missed was the ginger soda. But I was rewarded by a 7 pound weight loss and a 3/4 inch waist reduction.

So.

I do not expect the weight and/or waist reduction to continue at the same level for long, but I do hope … for my health and well-being that there is a slow, steady progression to a healthier “size”. Whatever, I feel so much better … partly, the idea that I have a bit of control and understand the why.

Onward!!

The original 90 minute: Sugar, the bitter truth

My personal favorite, below…

And for the “young-ish”:

Oscar: 4.5 months old, 8 pounds … sweet, stinker kitten … channeling Auggie who also liked to have his bath in the sink. I think it is hilarious! This sink is warm from doing dishes, but it is damp. At any rate, Oscar seems to like it as much as Auggie did.

Oscar continues to be a lot of fun. He and Emmett play chase and wrestle. After a play session I pick up pillows, re-align rugs and furniture … they do not play “gently”. I am thrilled that they love to play together. Oscar also continues to entertain himself with pretend hunting games.

And so far … I almost hate to write this … Oscar is a good sleeper … quiet all night. He likes to sleep between Emmett and me. Emmett sleeps against my upper back and Oscar snuggles in between our bottoms. We’ll see what happens as Oscar gets older and also with Springtime mouse invasions.

Outside …

We have had beautiful …

And ugly.

Ice. That was earlier this week. Since, it has snowed and then warmed and as of this writing, the walk paths are wonderful soft snow and good footing.

But when it looked like above … on Monday, I fell on the ice on our first out walk. Kind of crazy as I walked a line that had been bare ground. But it had warmed, snow around the bare ground melted and froze into a very clear frozen puddle. I wasn’t paying close attention and the ice was so clear, that I didn’t notice it was ice until I was down.

Minor ouch to elbow and some first night “whiplash” discomfort, but a fast recovery. I am always grateful if I miss some sort of rib injury!

BUT … although I was walking with 1 ski pole … 1 because I was carrying a flash (torch) in my other hand … I thought about a headlamp so that I could carry 2 poles in the dark.

I had a headlamp that was never stable on my head so did not use it much. Then I stored it badly in cold weather and the batteries leaked. The new lamp is USB rechargeable, stays put on my head and has a number of brightness levels including a “red” night vision setting.

I owe looking at this headset to:

Cecilia Blomdahl who shares her life on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago which is closer to the North Pole than to mainland Norway. They have a Polar Night: 90 days of darkness. Hence, the use of headlamps! Cecilia has an Amazon store and link to the headlamp I bought. BUT, Svalbard and its history and the current lifestyle – I find it fascinating. And Cecilia is a very talented storyteller and videographer. I highly recommend her channel if you like to learn about little known, interesting spots on this Earth. (I included the above video because it shows and tells the phenomena that created the red-pink light during Polar Night)

I found Cecilia via …

From their “About” on their channel:

“We are Dan (From Canada) & Kika (From Haiti), Creating videos of our journey, adventures, and lessons learned, as we explore the world, One country at a time, One project at a time, One Step at a time. It all started 7 years ago when a friend gave us wise advice. He said, “…don’t buy a couch!” Long story short, we never did. Instead we rescued an old beat-up sailboat (1972 Pearson 36), destined for the scrap yard, fixed it up and converted it to an ALL ELECTRIC SAILBOAT by building our own motor, and started our new minimalist life on board.”

Dan and Kika were in Svalbard Summer of 2021. Like most adventure channels, their videos are 3-5 months behind real time. But as I watched their travels, the youTube algorithm led me to Cecilia’s channel.

Sailing Uma is a feast for the eyes and ears: Dan and Kika are also superb video storytellers.

Back to my house!

Since Monday we have had snow, wind, freezing rain and now warm days with clear, below freezing nights. So far, the snow is holding up on our walking paths … soft snow and no ice, i.e. good footing.

Inside …

Bread baking always! Above is a favorite seeded spelt sourdough loaf.

We are warm and cozy: working, playing, walking, baking and cooking.

The state of the house is happy :)

Honestly … I have a warm roof over my head, work I love, pets that are a joy, a full pantry and freezer. I am so very thankful.

In the last weeks (maybe months): tornadoes, fires, volcano (I am so heartbroken for Tonga!), winter storms in the east … one ongoing this weekend… and Europe, particularly Greece where blog friend Margaret lives. Holy Cow!

Every time that I think of being a bit whiny about anything, I think of Tonga particularly. Three years ago … and I cannot remember exactly how I got started, but I was watching “Gone with the Wynns” (https://www.youtube.com/c/gonewiththewynns). It was the start of my renewed interest in sailing and particularly ocean sailing … not that I want to do it myself, but as a spectator and drawing on my own sailing experience as well as my technical knowledge, it was fascinating to see the evolution of sailing and technology.

Then, 2 years ago, the Wynns ended up in Tonga … stranded in the COVID19 lockdown/closed border situation. They used their time in Tonga to learn about the people. They leveraged their YouTube exposure to raise money for animal rescue and clean water for Tongans. During that time of watching and participating, I myself became involved and interested and learned about a place that I might not have except for the Wynns and COVID19.

So, I felt somewhat personally devastated with the news of the volcano and the impact on the Tonga Islands and the lovely people there.

Not to diminish the losses in the U.S., but here we have so many advantages: insurance, FEMA, so darn much money and resources, advance knowledge (storms) … not quite the same as a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on the remote islands of Tonga or the impact in countries like Greece with not the same infrastructure support.

At any rate, it has made anything that might be considered a problem in my own life … insignificant!

So … walking … yes, it is not ideal, but thanks to a few flurries, it is MUCH better and Emmett and I continue to take advantage of good conditions on the state land. I am beyond grateful that we can take walks of 1/4- 1.25 miles right from the house … boots or snowshoes for me and good conditions for Emmett.

We had another power cut … astonishing! Again in the morning …

So, I bought a portable butane camp stove … thus guaranteeing that we will not have another morning outage!

Yes, I can cook on the woodstove, but since I don’t keep the woodstove going constantly, to get it going from cold and get it going enough to do things like make coffee … hours! Hence, the above.

Meanwhile, cozy mornings with dear Emmett and Oscar …

And lovely walks in the woods.

If you follow my Instagram, this is a repeat …

I typically have the ability to shut out background noise when working … but “hear” abnormal quiet or activity … the TP adventure got away from me.

Turkey tracks … they always make me laugh as they look like directions! Actually the turkeys are headed opposite of the “arrow” … think large chicken claw.

Snow over ice … that is an Emmett skid mark in the snow-ice driveway. Our walk paths are thankfully a bit lumpier and so some texture, but walking has not been great.

But…

I am using poles to give me a little 4-wheel drive and then, one day last week, it warmed up so things were soft and I put on the small snowshoes for a longer outing on the state land.

Also, I wanted to test a clip I bought for my Omni Action Cam.

I clipped the camera to the front of my jacket, top of my chest. It seemed to bounce around a lot, but this camera has a function called Rock Steady to stabilize the video. And, the action cams are made for action. Still, given what it looked like moving on my chest, I am pretty happy with the video.

It was a gray day!

The video is 9 minutes, which is still a bit long. This was my first longish snowshoe this winter.

And I got a badge from my activity tracker!!

If you watched the video, the scenic end point looks like below on a sunny day!!

Well, we can’t have a post without Oscar!!

Yes you can :)

I used clicker training with Auggie, also … for teaching him to come and for not going out:

Clicker training is based on B.F. Skinner’s “Operant Conditioning” but turned into Positive Reinforcement by Karen Pryor when she was tasked with teaching sea animals to perform for the first “Sea World” kind of park.

Karen Pryor’s work is wonderfully documented in Reaching the Animal Mind. If you are interested in the development of clicker training as well as the science behind it, it is a great read! It is not dull at all. The last chapters are more scientific and maybe a bit dullish, but the first 2/3 of the book, the story of Karen Pryor’s development of method, her anecdotes and examples are easy reading. If you thought (as I did before I learned…. ) that clicker training was a gimmick … it is not and this book illustrates why.

I was introduced to clicker training by a young dog trainer that I contacted to help me help Bear, my last Karelian Bear Dog, be more comfortable around other animals. She did not pressure me to use the method, but left some reading material and asked if I would consider it. I read and agreed and we made great progress with Bear. I used some of the concepts to help Bear adjust to kitten Auggie.

And then, I studied more and clicker trained Emmett in addition to going to classes with a local “Karen Pryor Academy” person.

Bottomline, I love the method and how it fosters trust and respect between me and my dog and cat. We have all learned and we all continue learning. And that is another of the key differences: teaching vs training. The idea is to teach … and it is so much less stressful than “training”.

So, Oscar knows “Ring the bell” and we are working on “In your place”. We didn’t use much clicker training, but he is doing well at “Oscar come”. Oscar watches Emmett and I playing and learning things as well as Emmett responding to my requests. It is interesting to see how Oscar learns from Emmett and me. When Auggie was a kitten, Bear was an elderly dog so there was not the same kind of opportunity.

I am ever hopeful that I can teach “off the counter” … a girl can dream!!

As noted in the previous post … it got ugly.

It has stayed ugly! As in above freezing, melting, kind of freezing … ugly. The ground is not much good for walking or playing or anything fun.

Visually, it has mostly not been beautiful – outside, but there have been a few moments…

And one evening…

Moon shadows from a 3/4 moon. Plus the lights of a warm little house. I never fail to be cheered by the lights of home!

Cozy mornings no matter what the weather is like outside!

This Friday morning … Oscar is looking less like a kitten and more like a small cat … and he is full of the dickens … just ask Emmett :)

But despite Oscar’s kitten antics, Emmett stays on the alert … SQUIRREL!!!

So, as of yesterday, Thursday 1/13/2022, Oscar has been part of the family for 8 weeks and is 4 months old. We love him dearly! I think he loves us, too!

Oscar and Emmett play and play and play … and then they nap. I love how they are doing together. And it is particularly nice now with horrible walking conditions … Emmett gets extra exercise via the play.

Oscar is very snuggly with both of us. He also is able to play by himself when Emmett has had enough, and I am working. His active imagination has him playing hilarious hunting games with his toys. I am actually wishing for a mouse in the house to see what happens. Oscar is VERY fast and I know he will be able to catch a mouse … the big question is then what???

I am so very grateful for Oscar. I miss Auggie every day. Oscar often does things that are so like Auggie that I wonder … just like I wonder when Emmett does things like Karl and Bear. Whatever, it is all good and comforting and part of the circle of life.