Tag Archives: Featured

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General Health, Health, Nutrition

A Quarter Steer Order from Hooke Farms

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Introduction

Before I get into the specifics of my quarter steer story, here’s some background.

I love beef. The heartiness. The meatiness. The warmth.  The fat. The feeling of satisfaction after eating it. The high nutrient concentrations. I love it. There is a reason it’s so freaking popular. Problem is, when beef is raised unnaturally (think feedlots, antibiotics, tearing down rainforests for pasture, etc), it can be a devastating force on the natural world around us. I don’t debate that can be the case. That’s not always, true, however.

I have read articles written by intelligent people (like Diana Rodgers, RD, of sustainabledish.com) how some of the numbers you hear about when it comes to beef production are often out of context Continue reading A Quarter Steer Order from Hooke Farms →

Health, Sleep

Sleep Series – Part 8: The Power Nap

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Introduction to the Power Nap

As I write this, I am brimming with mental energy. I don’t have this sort of mental energy all day long, so I have to take advantage of it when I do. As long as I got a good sleep and am healthy, I have this kind of energy about an hour after I wake up (and after a coffee…). Then, there’s another time of day where I have this kind of energy again. It’s right after my power nap. I’ve been power napping for over ten years. Not every day, but whenever I can make it happen or really need it. It’s almost always in the early to mid afternoon, and takes at most twenty minutes, and usually more like fifteen. I simply let go, nod off, and I’m back, refreshed.

It’s a skill I’m quite proud of. Continue reading Sleep Series – Part 8: The Power Nap →

Energy & Environment, Gardening

A Cedar Self-Wicking Planter

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In my last post, I described the changes I had made to my balcony to increase the amount of “nature” in my apartment to provide a more soothing and relaxing environment. As part of that, my friend and I made a bare cedar self-wicking planter with a waterproof basin in the bottom. The basin holds just over 25 litres of water, and contains multiple soil ‘contact points’ so that the water will wick up into the soil and keep the plants watered. I got the idea from Jesse Lemieux (of Pacific Permaculture). He made a video of him using plastic containers to make a very similar planter that uses this concept. It was definitely cheaper and easier to do than what I did, but I wanted the bare wood to create a nice environment for myself.

Here’s what I did (with Chris Gordon, of course): Continue reading A Cedar Self-Wicking Planter →

General Health, Health, Nutrition

Nutrient Density Part 2 – My Take on Nutrient Density

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Introduction

Nutrient density – just what exactly does it mean? In the first part of this two-part series, I took at look at Dr. Fuhrmann’s and Mat Lalonde’s work on nutrient density. In short – Dr. Fuhrmann based his calculation on “Nutrients per Calorie”, and his nutrient-selection for this analysis was suspect at best. Mat Lalonde stuck to known essential nutrients, and his formula included a rigorous statistical analysis, but basically worked out to “Essential Nutrients per Unit Mass”. Overall, I agreed with Lalonde’s approach for the most part, while Fuhrmann’s work seemed biased towards vegetables on purpose, and ignored the valuable contributions from animal foods.

That said, I think Fuhrmann’s analysis does illustrate that there are indeed foods that provide a lot of nutrients while providing little to no calories, Continue reading Nutrient Density Part 2 – My Take on Nutrient Density →

General Health, Health, Nutrition

Good Fats and Bad Fats: Fatty Acids Revealed

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When I meet other health/fitness/nutrition minded folk and mention that I follow a mostly Primal/Paleo lifestyle, a lot of the following discussion centres around defending my decision to limit grains in my diet, or how much meat I eat. What usually doesn’t come up, or isn’t focused on much, is the restriction or even elimination of industrial seed oils such as soybean, corn, cottonseed, and canola oil in favour of healthy animal fats, coconut oil, olive oil, oily fish, and small amounts of nuts. This, however, is one big freaking deal! Industrial seed oils are cheap and highly prevalent, and unless you’re paying attention, you’re getting more of those fats than you think. Continue reading Good Fats and Bad Fats: Fatty Acids Revealed →

General Health, Health, Sunlight

Sunlight Series – Part 11: Sunburn Resistance Through Behaviour

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Introduction

The last post in this series was quite a hit! In that post, the focus was how to use your diet to increase your resistance to sunburn so that all the benefits of sunlight could be obtained, while minimizing any negative effects. With the right diet, even the palest gingers among us can improve their resistance, and gradually build up a tan and abandon the use of sunscreen, or really cut back on its usage (and I’d stick to physical sunscreens over chemical).

That’s all well and good (great even!), but even the best diet won’t make some of us sunburn immune. I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where the sun barely shines for five months of the year (we have rainy winters here). Continue reading Sunlight Series – Part 11: Sunburn Resistance Through Behaviour →