Striving for Sustainability - Shirley

Over the past few weeks I feel we have learned a lot, not just from reading and studying, but from each other too.

Last week Roger wrote about overall body fitness and the need to keep moving, especially as you get older. I saw an article on Michelle Obama’s initiative to fight child obesity in the US, one of her first aims is to have unhealthy processed foods removed from school cafeterias. Educating children on healthy eating as early as possible is paramount to stop bad habits forming, which will ultimately lead to ill health and possibly diabetes.

Michaela talked about making decisions and our Locus of control. Do we accept that our decisions have an effect on the world? Now that we have been following a whole food diet for over a month and only eating meat if it is free range, we have found ourselves more committed to ensuring our decisions do not encourage inhumane farming of animals and that whenever available only choose local produce to ensure we are supporting local producers. It has actually been a lot easier than we first thought. The phase “You are what you eat” has a lot more meaning to us now, and processed, artificial food is not what we want to be.

An old song that has been going around inside my head over the past week, “Proud” by Heather Small. What have you done today to make you feel proud? I know what I’ve done; what have you done?

Keep Moving - Roger

It has been over a month since we have been practising a whole food diet and we have all felt the benefits. Lighter and more energy are the most notable effects along with some weight loss.

We recently joined a local gym, Body Boomers, with the membership came some personal training. I have never used a personal trainer before so was curious to find out what it would be like.

The trainer that was assigned to us was the perfect match for us in terms of his approach to fitness. Russ completed his training at the C.H.E.K. Institute in California. At the C.H.E.K. Institute they look at attaining a healthy body and mind, by performing exercises that utilize a large number of muscles. Movement is used in the exercises which replicate movements in the real world; this “functional strength” helps in carrying out tasks in everyday life easily, keeps you healthy and helps you remain injury free.

Most gyms with all their machines isolate muscles in order to gain size. This approach started in the 60’s as body building gained prominence and was seen as the epitome of fitness.

However the body does not act in isolated manner. There is a chain of events that happens every time there is movement, which involves your whole muscular and nervous system. The key to longevity is movement, something we take for granted until we are afflicted with immobility through disease or accident. Movement maybe sounds simplistic but this is exactly what it is, keeping moving, whether you are motivated or not, holds the key to your personal wellbeing and overall health and happiness.

The C.H.E.K. Institute also takes into account nutrition, psychology and spirituality when looking at overall health. As I learn more about these aspects I will keep you informed.

Making Connections - Michaela

This is about You, Your life.
I’m not talking about the connections we make like new clients or business partners through networking. I’m talking about the connections we make between what we learn and how we relate it back to our own lives and the choices we make. Accepting that every decision we make has an effect is the first step to becoming “conscience”.

We make hundreds of decisions every day that affect millions of people we have never met or even thought about. Does that make you feel powerful or scared? Do you take responsibility for that? It is important to understand the effect we have on the world, to live life believing we are only one person and we can’t change the way things are, is naive.

Every time we buy something we are using our purchasing power, supporting a business. Do you think about that business and what they stand for when you buy their products? A main concern for me within this issue is what we choose to eat. This includes which restaurants to dine at and where do they get their food products from? If you are planning to dine in the grocery store is one of the hardest places to find dinner. It is full of marketing schemes by companies competing against each other to confuse you into buying their products. There is a never ending list of products and concerning questions.

Do you realize the cause and effect you have on the world? The world economy is driven by supply and demand. We fit into this by our Locus of Control. If you believe you are responsible for the things that happen in your life, you have an internal locus of control. If you believe that forces beyond your control such as powerful people, fate, or chance are responsible for what happens to you, you have an external locus of control. For example when you purchase something you know is wrong, what do you say? “It’s here anyway, it doesn’t make a difference if I buy it or not. They make it, not me.” Or, “if there is no demand for it, they will not supply it. Therefore I will not buy it. I will encourage others not to but it. They will not supply it.”

We all have a right to choose, but we should understand what we are supporting, where the things we buy come from, and be comfortable with our decisions. Life can be much more fulfilling if we take what we learn, relate it to our own lives, make conscious decisions based on that knowledge, and are aware that those decisions have an effect on you, others, and the world.

Week One and Still Going Strong - Shirley

Well the first blog has fallen to me, Shirley, so here is the account of my week. Last weekend we had been to a couple of markets so were pretty well stocked with local and organic ingredients so this week did not pose too much difficulty. Try the Brickworks in Toronto for local organic vegetables and frozen meat. I know as the winter sets in the menu will become more of a challenge but we are determined not to fall back into global eating when we know there are good winter fruits and vegetables available fresh and from cold storage. Being organized is the key and with all three of us on the lookout for produce we should be OK. We have also stocked up our freezer with local, free range meat, chicken, turkey, beef and lamb, farm names are at the end of this blog. As the evenings draw in we find ourselves with less to do outside after 5pm. Embrace this season, really get into the spirit of it and enjoy cosy evenings by the fire or sitting down to dinner with candles lighting up your table and the sound of family chatter. Slow cooked food not only tastes better but the oven warms the house, and the delicious aromas warm our hearts. We had a very interesting day in St Jacobs yesterday at their indoor/outdoor market where we purchased “propolis” and “bee pollen” both of which are renowned for their healing properties, propolis for its natural antibiotic and anti-inflammatory qualities and bee pollen for its energy value and natural anti-histamines. Google the information on them, very interesting. We started taking them today, so will let you know our views next weekend. Salute!
Found Family Farm, Swain Beef, Yellowlees Family Farm, all can be found on the Durham Farm Fresh Website.