You Should Learn To Cook

I believe that to be a good cook you must have a grasp of three concepts: technique, science, and flavour.  When you understand these three things on a basic level you can make better decisions in the kitchen; you untie yourself from recipes, you can troubleshoot failures, you can work with what is on hand.  Knowing a little bit about the how, the why, and the yum will make you a better cook.

Anyone can be a good cook, and it is an endeavor I think everyone should try to take on.

Cooking is empowering.  When you cook you choose what will nourish you, you are choosing the building blocks of your future self.  For one thing, this is a wonderful act of defiance against industries peddling nutrient-poor food-like products.  Secondly, you learn about yourself and develop important skills.  Cooking gives you a greater understanding of food and a stronger connection to it.  Preparing food is an act of self-love and love towards those you share it with.  It instills self-reliance and allows you to take control over your future in a world where little control exists.

In my books, cooking and eating are glorious acts.

Food is just beautiful.

The Tenets Of Nutritional Wellness

Michael Pollan summed up the tenets of nutrition best when he said:

Eat Whole Foods.

Not too much.

Mostly plants.

Those are the most valuable lessons food science has taught us.  They are the magic secret to individualized nutritional wellness.

As food and our bodily systems are pretty hard to approximate in a lab, and the myriad variables prevent us from drawing concrete and meaningful conclusions from human studies, we know a lot about individual nutrients and food components, but not much about foods themselves.  Since nutrients don’t naturally occur in isolation, this hasn’t really translated into practical knowledge that individuals can apply to their dietary choices.  And I would argue that food science has contributed to the vilifying of healthy foods, the praise of quasi foods, and the confusion of average folks.

Food science is wonderful, of course, but has it brought us any closer to health than we were in the ’80s?

You see, an apple is not an apple, is not an apple, is not an apple.

The nutritive qualities of an apple are affected by a slew of conditions; from growing conditions like soil quality, tree health, light, water, and their consistency in application, but also chemical treatments, processing, transport, handling, and exposure to elements such as moisture, light, and heat.  This isn’t even all-encompassing.  And all foods and ingredients suffer from the same level of variability.

The idea of knowing about individual nutrients and how much a given food contains is just too much!  Especially if all you want is a healthy snack.

So stop worrying about that stuff. Seriously.

It is good to know where your food came from to aid in speculation on quality and freshness, but unless you have a special interest a farmer is the only one I would really expect to know about the growing conditions, the shipper of transport conditions, a grocer of handling conditions, and a scientist of the nutritional composition.

If you are lucky enough to know such important people in our food system, go ahead and ask, it is interesting stuff!  And if you are getting your food directly from a farmer, that is even better, because these things do matter.  It is just that our food system has otherwise become so convoluted that it is more of a headache than it is worth for the average consumer.

I am going to tell you a little about micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – as we go along, mostly in hopes to quell your fascination with food, but it isn’t necessary for the purpose of eating well.  We will spend more time on macronutrients – proteins, fats, and carbohydrates – because these are the larger components of foods that have more of a tangible effect on health, but also because these are what cause foods to respond to cooking in reliable ways, which we can exploit to make foods more delicious.

But if you want nothing more than to eat a healthful diet, you can refer back to the words of Michael Pollan and think very little about it beyond that.

What is a whole food?  It is a food that is not processed or has been processed very little.  There is usually only one ingredient and if there are a few they are all required, none are fillers, and they are all whole ingredients themselves.

 A good example is a yogurt that is made of milk and active bacterial cultures, this would be a whole food.  Yogurt made of milk solids, skim milk, bacterial cultures, aspartame(sweetener), carrageenan (thickener), potassium sorbate (preservative), etc. is not a whole food, it has been stripped into parts and put back together with additives to make up the difference.  These semi food items don’t seem to act quite like their natural counterparts in our bodies and we don’t fully understand why yet.

How much is not too much?  Well, don’t find a wholefood you like and eat plates of it at the expense of variety.  If you eat a variety of whole foods you will get a good selection of nutrition, eat slowly (because it takes time for the brain to get the message that you are full and relay a message back to stop eating), and eat until you feel full.

Mostly plants?  Yes, in all their forms – vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, grains – but mostly vegetables specifically.

Mostly vegetables, specifically?  Yes.  If we wanted to boil Michael Pollan’s advice down further to the single golden rule of nutrition, the one you just cannot ignore, it would be to eat vegetables, a variety of vegetables.  Unfortunately for those of you that don’t like vegetables, there is no healthy diet that is void of vegetables.  Sorry.

But I like a challenge, and if you don’t like vegetables stay with me.  I am going to distill into you all the cooking knowledge I have gained over the years that have helped me turn whole foods, mostly vegetables, into delicious crowd-pleasers with consistency and ease.

Challenge yourself.  Start thinking whole foods, start thinking variety, start thinking vegetables.

I Am Learning To Be Accountable, And You Are Coming Too

For a long time, I have wanted to write.  I have owned multiple websites over the last 15 years, each with the intent to create a haven for those interested in nature, wellness, and simplicity.  However, again and again, I have stifled myself and failed to produce content. 

I looked on, while the holistic/green movement passed me by.

All I have ever really wanted was to live a life without negative impact and help others find their own version of wellness.  I am so glad things are finally happening.  People are questioning consumption, taking wellness into their own hands, demanding environmental and social equality.  It is amazing.

I just wish I would have pushed myself hard enough to be one of the voices that contributed to this vision.

But I am a procrastinator. 

I have put in my 10,000 hours, I am sure, and I am a master.

With the emptiness of COVID looming over the world, this has come into hyper focus for me. 

I lost my job.  My husband accepted a transfer to a new city, and I felt so hopeful.  We were going to purchase a piece of land so I could finally build a closed-loop home, with some ducks and an extensive garden.  I would build an obstacle course and some small guest houses and host incredible family reunions.  Acres upon acres to provide for my loved ones and community.  Unfortunately, the deal fell through and the land remains on the market.  Months later I am still job-hunting and now living in an apartment. I am so appreciative of my wonderful husband and all of the good things this messed up world has to offer, but I am left pondering what I have really achieved in life.

These past few months have been a blank slate for me.  I have been as hopeful as I ever have been and just as hopeless.  I have had so many days that seemed full of opportunity wasted scrolling news feeds, looking on at the world in fear and horror.  But lately, my days seem to stack with little empty moments of unfulfilled intention.  I think “I am going to exercise”, I get my mat out, then I sit down – distracted.  The moment of motivation is gone. I convince myself that getting the mat out is one checkmark on the way to exercising.  “If it is out it will get done.”

But it doesn’t. It sits in the middle of the floor, a beacon that opportunity exists tomorrow.

And so has gone my intention to exercise, to write, to read books that excite me, to practice languages of the places I want to see.

Tomorrow will surely be a better day than today. 

My problem with these websites has been that I want to see the big picture first. I have sections planned and a list of articles to write. I idealize what the user experience will be. I am so good at organizing that it seems okay to dismiss the actual work of it, writing the articles themselves, if I spend more time planning. Then when I write the articles and I am so critical that I don’t post them. Years of material sitting in my digital trash bin that could have helped someone. Now the internet is full of the kinds of resources I wanted to - did - create and my voice doesn’t feel useful. That used to be as far as it went, but COVID has made me a procrastination ninja with all sorts of tasks, large and small, stretching on as the days bleed together. I am a full-on self-saboteur now, and it needs to stop.

Even the best of intentions aren’t actions.

Thinking about doing something isn’t doing something.

Preparing to do something isn’t the same as actually doing it.

Watching other people do something isn’t the same as doing it yourself.

Coronavirus has unloaded an evolving burden on every single person in the world.  But to have the time and ability to take action is a privilege.

I don’t want to be the type of person that watches the world instead of lives in it.

This isn’t really what this website is about, but I needed to put that out there.  I need to be accountable for my procrastination and resulting in prolonged stagnation.

I really do believe we build our lives; even though our options can be limited, our potential isn’t.  No one should waste that and that includes me.

If you have come back to this website, despite great lags in content and a lack of any solid base to form healthy habits around, I apologize and I thank you for your patience. I am going to write some unpolished articles on here, articles that may seem irrelevant to you, or dated in an already saturated market. I am searching for a groove and I need to feel beholden to something to get there. I have some hard truths to work through, none of us are perfect - not even the peddlers of betterment, but maybe the journey will be helpful for you too.

I am going to figure out how I can help you be the best version of yourself, I just have to get there first.

What Is Minimalism?

Minimalism is not some radical lifestyle.  It is a movement that simply encourages individuals to question their consumption habits, and streamline as they see fit.  Every minimalist journey is different, and minimalism can be implemented in different ways.  This is why the lifestyle of some minimalists can seem radical, but rest assured, it was a natural progression that they felt was worthwhile.  You don't have to take the concept any further than you want.

Minimalism is a worthwhile pursuit because it offers us a way to sift through the constant bombardment of someone else's ideals, so that we can decide for ourselves what is important in our lives, who we want to be and how our time would best be spent.

Advertising is an entire field devoted to making you feel like your life is not as good as it could be.  Like your life would be complete if you had that, or looked like this, or could do that.  No matter how we stack up, we could be better.

That is bullshit.  

It is a garbage message that was painstakingly crafted to keep you consuming.  Happiness does not come from a possession or appearance or ability, the capacity for happiness is inherent in all people.  You aren't a dollar, or possession, or pound, or achievement away from happiness.  If that is what fulfillment actually required, kids wouldn't spend hours of the summer in their backyards, stark naked, trying to out run giggle fits.  Happiness is a state of mind and it can't be purchased. 

Rant aside, if you totally dropped all expectations, external and internal, would you buy the same things you currently do?   Would you spend your time differently than you currently do?  What would matter to you?

Minimalism is the application of this type of critical thinking. 

Minimalism is about removing things that aren't adding value from your life, so that you can make more room for the things that do.  More room for joy, more room for relationships, more financial freedom.   It is a deeply personal affair that seeks to offer clarity, intentional consumption. 

You Don't Need Beauty Products

I have a colleague who wears a lot of make-up, gets her nails done and generally invests a lot of money, time, and effort into her image.  I have a sister like that too.  If I were to do that, I would be tired, broke, uncomfortable, and I still wouldn’t measure up.  I don’t know how these women do it.  I have even heard of parents who manage this, are they manipulating time and reality as we know it?

I used to try.  I got my nails done until they felt so thin that it was painful to get them done.  It was expensive and the products are hazardous (a lot of those nail salon workers wear masks to reduce chemical and particle inhalation).  I put make-up on my face – poorly, I may add - which was, again, expensive and toxic.  I bought clothing to suit various parts of my personality; some of which I never even wore, some of it I wore despite how uncomfortable it was, and a lot of it was probably made in unsavoury ways.  I am not that person anymore, and I guess I never really was, to begin with.  I like sleeping in, I want to spend my money on other things, and I don’t want to be thinking about how I look all the time and comparing products hoping the next thing will make me feel better about myself. 

Sometimes I get in conversations about self-image and vanity with people who do make that type of investment in themselves and I think they believe I am judging them as if I think I am better than them or something.  But I don’t.  I just hope that these people know they don’t need those things to be beautiful. I hope those people know they don’t have to buy products or take part in practices that don’t actually make them feel good.

It makes me angry because I believe our society sends us all such skewed messages that it is hard for us to decide for ourselves what does make us feel good.  We are raised with certain expectations that don’t take our whole selves – our entire well-being – into account.  There are costs to our beauty rituals that get swept under the rug (high heels will deform your feet after a lifetime of wear, cosmetics can contain carcinogens, heavy metals, and all sorts of other nasty things, the fashion industry is notorious for poor working conditions and environmental pollution).  And I really question how much these products benefit the individuals that use them.  The beauty industry tends to sell us self-confidence by telling us their products will make us feel better than we currently do, playing on and amplifying our insecurities.  It is one more industry creating needs to fill them.  Remember the Dove soap campaign that celebrated all body shapes and skin tones that aired at the same time Axe body spray had those commercials where a spritz of body spray would pull classically beautiful women to an average-joe-esque young man like a magnet, with heavier doses of spray for a stronger magnetic effect?  Those brands are both owned by Unilever.  We are nothing more than consumers, just another dollar, to these folks.  As a whole, the beauty industry doesn’t often seem to care if the products they produce really (truly, deeply) make us feel good, or if they are even really safe for us. They just want our money. 

I wish our society cared a little less about appearance and a little more about wellness. 

Make sure you get enough sleep, eat well, exercise.  Challenge yourself.  Have a sense of companionship in your life.  Find time for pure enjoyment every once in a while.  Those things have a tangible positive effect on a person’s life and their self-image.

Sometimes people think it must be easy for me to care less about how I look because I am in a committed relationship, and I suppose it does, I would imagine having someone who knows you intimately and accepts and loves you probably has benefits in many realms, but it doesn’t mean I am free from or immune to superficial scrutiny.  My plain presentation has had negative impacts in the workplace and on my social life, and that sucks.  But I feel pretty good about who I am and the thought process behind my decisions.  I believe I would present myself to the world in much the same way even if I were single.  The people who have made me feel self-conscious can just go fuck themselves.  And I hope that everyone can have that sense too.  Maybe you are angrily taping your fancy nails on your desk thinking that about me right now, and good for you.  You strong, fierce, beautiful creature, you. 

People are judgmental doinks, no matter your appearance.

I hope that you know you don’t have to take part in any aspect of a beauty regime if you don’t want to and that you shouldn’t feel like any less of a person for it.  Just do what feels good and assess what that is and why regularly.  Strive to be your version of your best self, not someone else’s version.

I know my sister and my colleague feel bad about themselves most days when they aren’t wearing make-up.  I wish they could see through my eyes and know that they are beautiful and loveable.

I hope you know that someone is thinking about how wonderful you are, even on your bad days.

Time: A Finite Resource

We are what we give our time to.

Let that ruminate for a while.

You will never reach optimal health, or build strong relationships, or learn, or create, or live a full life if you don’t give your time to the behaviours that support that end goal; whatever that may look like for you.

When you take responsibility for yourself and remain actively engaged with how you spend your time you begin to take as much control as life allows. (Which isn’t much, but it’s something, right?)
That is powerful.

You become powerful.

You can take pride in the small choices you have made, regardless of the time they took, because you know these are investments in yourself; a recognition that tomorrow holds the potential for you to be a better person and that you are capable of getting there.

You can build the life you want to have by giving your time to the process.

If your job makes you unhappy you can look for other opportunities, get additional certifications, seek out connections and experience by volunteering in your community. Hell, you can go back to school, move halfway around the world, and start over from scratch if you want to. If you don’t like your choices in the store you can grow your own food, make your own clothes, build your own furniture, 3D print your own designs. You can meet new people, change your attitude, share in the joys of others, listen more intently, laugh more often. You can learn to cook, dance, speak another language, solve complicated math equations, play an instrument, master martial arts. You can train your brain, body, and personality to accomplish just about anything. Be stronger, faster, funnier, graceful, smarter, calmer, happier - anything.

We live in a world of nearly limitless potential.

You can reach out through the internet, libraries, community groups, or as an individual to make new connections, gain knowledge or find the tools or means to do absolutely anything. We are really only limited by our own commitment and imagination. And though imagination may wax and wane through our lifetimes, we each get twenty-four hours every day. Twenty-four hours isn’t a lot, so it is important to actively choose how you will spend those hours; keeping your needs and wants in check and your priorities in balance.

Decide what you want to achieve and give your time over to it, even when it feels convenient to check out.

Whether it is spending more time with your loved ones, making the time to eat well and exercise, taking some time to yourself, giving time to charity, or any multitude of other things, you deserve to achieve your own version of success.

It is never too late to invest in yourself.

Food Security

I think one of the biggest problems in our society today is the commodification of food; the idea that a necessity of life be leveraged for profit. 

Commodifying food creates a threatening environment in terms of food security.  Industry utilizes means of larger scale production which separates consumers from food sources, which I believe has reduced food literacy among recent generations.  Large scale farming methods deplete the soil of nutrients, decreasing the level of nutrients found in produce over the past few decades.  These large-scale farms are also input intensive, with water needs that deplete aquifers and chemical runoff that pollutes waterways.  Large industry animal farms often keep animals in unnatural conditions, increasing health risks for the animal and decreasing nutrition in the animal products.  The industry takes part in these practices so that they can produce food as cheaply and quickly as possible for as great a profit as possible.  Food is processed and stripped of nutrients and then fortified with other nutrients and marketed as being healthier.  Scientists discover a new antioxidant and all of a sudden there is a new marketing campaign for a superfood.  Big players in the industry lobby governments to protect these practices.  Like any other commodity, there is an elitism surrounding food where brands matter and the upper class has better access to healthy food.  We accept this system because it is convenient, or affordable, or we feel powerless to change it; while diseases of affluence like cardiovascular disease and diabetes strain the medical system in some parts of the world, and starvation ravages others.

But neglecting our health is not economical or sustainable in the long-term, and it is a reality too bleak for me to accept.  Hopefully, you feel the same way because there is a lot you can do as an individual.  We need to start focusing on the quality and availability of our food.  I think smaller scale farming with a large diversity of plantings and care for the multitude of nutrients and microbes in our soil, not just the N-P-K, could solve many of our food troubles.  Local-scale food production increases resilience because food sources are close to the communities they serve, crops adapt to local conditions and require less input through seed saving, diversity creates a buffer against crop failure because others will still flourish, and care for the soil increases nutrition and yields over time.

That is a nicer picture, right?

You can take action yourself by increasing your food literacy, fighting food waste, voting with your dollar, cooking from scratch, growing your own food, and helping others do the same.

A great and exciting way to increase your food literacy is to grab a wholefood you are unfamiliar with at the grocery store (a fruit, vegetable, nut, grain, meat – something that is not processed or adulterated); look up where it came from, how it grows, and how it is traditionally prepared, then try using it in a dish you prepare yourself.  If you are lucky enough to speak with the people who grew or prepared (ex. Butcher, baker) your food; ask them about the food and how they recommend the food be stored, handled, and prepared.  Schedule a tour of a nearby farm.  Learn how to read a food label.  If you have a favourite food product, research the production process and its ingredients.  Any way you can learn about food is a plus here, get as involved with your food as possible.

Fight food waste by making sure the food at your house doesn’t go into the garbage. Planning meals can help you use what you have on hand. Use up things that are about to go bad with an impromptu stir-fry, stew, or casserole, or give those items to a neighbour or friend, and, if all else fails, compost your food waste. If you go out to eat don’t be afraid to ask that items be excluded from your meal if you won’t eat them (ex. no side of slaw for me please), try no to order more than you think you can eat, and take any leftovers home if you do.

Let your money do the talking for you by supporting local food production.  Remember that farm you visited?  If you liked the farm – animals looked happy, vegetables were vibrant, no one was wearing a hazmat suit while tending to pest prevention, food was flavourful – spend some money there or see if they are willing to trade food for labour. Buy whole foods and try to buy them in season. Don’t buy processed foods, the money you don’t spend says just as much as the money you do.

Learn to cook if you don’t know how already.  All these incredible wholefoods will have to be prepared, but once you get your footing in the kitchen it is so worth it.  There are a lot of things you can do to cut down the time you spend in the kitchen so don’t feel like cooking is a luxury you are too busy to afford.  If you don’t feel confident in the kitchen try to find a cooking buddy; you can share skills, save time, bond, and make something delicious and nourishing.  Cooking gives you the power to create absolutely endless flavor combinations, take part in cultural traditions you might not otherwise have the chance to, and take control of what is in your food.

If that is something you want to take one step further, growing your own food is about the most powerful thing you can do for your own food security.  Whether you start a farm, grow a summer garden in your backyard, have a few plants in containers on your balcony, an herb garden on your windowsill, a jar of sprouts on your kitchen counter, a mushroom log under your bed, or a grow light and lettuces in your closet; anyone can grow food if they want to.  You don’t need a lot of skill, special equipment, or time to start growing some of your own food, and once you do, a whole world of variety opens up to you.  You can even save seeds and trade them with others.  If money talks then buying and saving seeds is the ultimate middle finger to the commodification of food.

And if all of this makes you want to raise your fist in the air and shout “Hell yeah!”, then share your action with others.  Help a friend plant their garden, teach someone how to make a meal, bring someone to that farm the next time you go, make an extra loaf of bread and give it to the widow down the street, donate time or money to an organization that supports food security. 

Food security falls on everyone’s shoulders because everyone needs to eat, so take your role seriously.  Your actions do make a difference and you kick ass!

Happiness & Gratitude

If I could tell you only one thing that would radically improve your happiness it would be to practice gratitude every day.

The thoughts and behaviours you indulge in strengthen the connections in your brain that relate to those behaviours, which means that the more gracious you are the easier it becomes.  In essence, gratitude offers a way to train your brain to focus on the positive things in life, effectively amplifying them.  Of course, negative things will still exist, and you will still have unpleasant experiences, but they will be tempered with the knowledge of all the worthwhile experiences life holds for you each day.  In this way, gratitude can offer a deep sense of ease, and I believe this is where true happiness comes from. 

Gratitude practice also helps you shift the focus from yourself onto those around you and the value they bring to your life.  Recognizing the subtle ways people positively contribute to your life, and actively showing them an appreciation for those qualities, will make those around you feel better about themselves and help you to develop a more meaningful bond with them.  A gracious heart is disarming, and while it may take a lifetime to build that kind of depth, there is no reason you shouldn't start right now.

There are so many ways that you can integrate gratitude into your life and, more than following a strict routine, it is important to just be aware and make a conscious effort to be gracious.  Try to commit to at least one act of gratitude each day for at least one month before you draw any hard conclusions.  Graciousness breeds more graciousness; and happiness.

Here are some simple ways you can get started:

Thank those around you.

One of the simplest ways to practice gratitude is by simply saying thank you.  Say thank you unexpectedly.  Be specific about what you are thankful for.  Focus on the individual and make them feel truly appreciated.  Get creative.

Think about gratitude.

What does it mean to you?  How have others expressed it to you?  How have you expressed it to others?  Write it down.  Talk about it with others.

Challenge yourself.

To think of new ways to express your thanks.

To find new things to be thankful for.

To keep graciousness in mind when life gets sticky.

Some of my favourite ways to express gratitude are to stop and smell the flowers whenever life gives me the opportunity, to complement the talents of those around me or leave them nice notes, and to dance whenever the mood strikes me. You can make pretty much anything an act of gratitude if you do so with an awareness and appreciation for your ability to take part in it in that moment. Gratitude is pretty cool like that, so you have no reason not to try it.

Everything Is Going To Be Okay

Everything is going to be okay.

Be okay.

There isn’t really much other choice, is there?

Bad things happen and people tell us everything will be okay if we hold on, and with questionable enthusiasm (or none at all), we do. Then in times of happiness, we look back at old versions of ourselves, amazed at what we have survived.  We lose someone we love or we face tragedy or a sense of loss of ourselves and it becomes a little piece of sadness that we carry through our lives.

But, if we keep our eyes open for it, all sorts of little things that have the potential to enliven our lives are happening, unendingly.

The ultimate quest of life then becomes to collect more uplifting memories than bad ones.

The small and simple, the large and grandiose.

Ones of challenge and adventure, of quiet tenderness.

The miracles of nature revealing themselves to you.

Your triumph over the trials of life.

All the things that make you and the ones you love happy. 

The greatness of your lifetime.   

Out there, just waiting for you to perceive it.

What are you waiting for?