If I had more room in the title bar, I’d call this post, “inflammation, fuzz, food, geeky scientists, movement, yoga, inner space, enlightenment, spirituality and twisty-bendy stuff.” I might even add the word cadaver, but I wouldn’t want to scare you away before you even got to the post.
In case you’re wondering about the photo, cotton candy has nothing to do with this post, other than it looks exactly like fuzz. I wanted something that would visually compare to fuzz in case you wanted to opt out of the cadaver video.
I bet you’re curious, though.
I’m a nutritionist, but my college education began with a degree in exercise physiology. Because both disciplines are science-based, I’ve ended up taking anatomy, physiology and bio-chem two different times, from different teachers, at different institutions. My first semester (20-some years ago) of anatomy included a cadaver lab. It was there that I found my religion (seriously) and began my intense fascination with how our bodies work from the inside out.
Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, joint pain and inflammation where a daily thing for me. Nothing debilitating, but it was annoying and constant. I even slept with my arms in a pillow-version of traction because my shoulders hurt so much. I attributed the pain to a lifetime of physical activity and overuse. To make a long story short, a gluten-free, whole foods diet and lots of yoga solved my problems. No more inflammation and very little pain — as long as I eat well and move often. Bend, stretch, twist, twirl and dance.
I’ll let my dear friend Gil Hedley explain why. (Okay, Gil has no idea who I am, but I find his approach to teaching anatomy and physiology humorous, creative and spiritually enlightening. He’s also brilliant and charmingly geeky, which I absolutely love.)
Did that help (and isn’t Gil charming)? Doesn’t fuzz look like cotton candy? Well, there’s no need for either.
Movement is key, but so is food.
Now on to inflammation.
Inflammation isn’t always a bad thing. It’s a natural and protective response by the immune system to infectious agents, toxins, tissue injury, temperature extremes, cooties and other icky things. It’s a bad thing when the response is misdirected, never shuts off and targets healthy tissue. Because inflammation is a general and non-specific protective mechanism, the response is similar whether the damage is caused by gluten cooties, poor diet, a fall down the stairs or a misdirected hammer.
So — what can we do to decrease inflammation and enhance our health?
Make anti-inflammatory foods your foundation and twist, bend, stretch, twirl and shake your booty every day. You might also consider some beneficial body work.
Here are 10 tips to get you started.
1. Eliminate or minimize processed foods, fast food and junk food. Avoid products containing trans-fats, partially hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup, chemicals, additives and other “non-food” ingredients. Sugar is also pro-inflammatory.
2. Choose healthy fats such as extra-virgin olive oil, coconut, avocados, nuts and seeds.
3. Avoid soda pop and opt for old-fashioned water or green tea. If you choose to drink alcohol, an occasional glass of red wine has been shown to be beneficial.
4. Choose a wide variety of fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables. Organic is best. Strive for 9 to 10 servings per day. Eat more veggies than fruit (5-6 servings of veggies, 3-4 servings of fruit). This is just a guideline.
5. Eat healthy non-gluten grains like teff, montina, quinoa, amaranth and brown rice. Legumes (beans, peas, lentils) are also a rich source of high-quality plant protein.
6. Choose nuts, seeds, raisins and dates for snacks or an occasional small serving of dark chocolate when you need a “sweet fix.”
7. Season foods with health-enhancing herbs and spices like garlic, capsicum, turmeric, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, parsley and cilantro. This list is endless.
8. The right balance of EFAs (essential fatty acids) is important. Ingeneral, omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and omega-6s are pro-inflammatory. I’ll do an entire post on this one of these days.
9. If you choose to eat animal products, 100% grass-fed, organic choices are best. Meat and dairy products from 100% grass-fed animals contain higher levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which studies show may fight inflammation and have anti-cancer properties.
10. Reduce stress, think positive thoughts, get adequate sleep and exercise.
Bottom line?
Your body is a temple, not a trailer park. Go inside, learn as much as you can about the inner workings that make up the divine space in which you live. As my dear friend Gil (yeah, I know) so eloquently expresses in his book, Reconceiving My Body – Take Two, From The Heart, “I realized that I had been sitting for my whole life outside the doorsteps of the most finely wrought Cathedral ever built, without ever having gotten off my arse to walk through the doors and have a look about. My body in all its complexity represented the wonders and workings of God’s creation. Rather than being some insufferable obstacle to spiritual growth, my body as a temple could become my greatest resource for beholding the hidden face of the Divine within me.”
Go forth and explore inner space. The more we understand the magic of what’s going on inside our bodies, the more likely we are to appreciate and take care of this wonderful creation.
The competition was fierce (see prior post), but in the end, the brownie sundae took the crown. It didn’t seem to matter that it’s now winter and half the country is experiencing record lows, people have an unrestrained and almost delirious passion for ice cream.
I’m a nutritionist, but half the time I feel like an investigative reporter or an underpaid research geek. My last post and your amazing response sent me into overdrive. I’m obsessed with books, obsessed with research and my office is a study in organized chaos. And although I’m not proud of this, I’ve had an intimate relationship (a serious love affair) with Amazon.com since 1995. I’m a charter mistress. Talk about insatiable appetites – I have one for books. And damn that Amazon, their one-click ordering with free shipping makes it nearly impossible for me to resist. My UPS guy just shakes his head. I’ll get to why and how this ties in with brownie sundaes in a moment, but for now, let’s just say this whole dang thing with over-indulging is complicated business.
The brownie sundae was the hand’s down favorite, followed by the bacon cheeseburger and the chocolate cake. It’s no surprise that raw broccoli came in last. Other than being the choice of a few of my hyper-healthy readers, it had no chance against ice cream and chocolate. I like broccoli, but when I’m craving a blissful treat, raw cruciferous veggies don’t jump to mind.
Why is that? Why do we choose to pig-out on ice cream and not bok choy? Who obsesses over Brussels sprouts?
Not me.
Studies show that we’re more apt to crave fat, sugar, salt and more fat, sugar and salt. A few of you did said you might choose the broccoli if it was covered with cheese sauce. And a few others mentioned that I failed to include nachos. You’re right, chips or cheese fries should have been on my “tempting foods” menu. But no one suggested parsnips or beet greens.
We’re almost three weeks into the new year and many of us started 2010 with intentions of eating better, losing weight and exercising more. I did, and right now I’m doing fairly well with my intention, mainly I believe, because I’m focusing on something that trumps the feel-good sensation I get from eating tempting treats. I have a goal and it has nothing to do with conventional dieting.
Diets are bad and they don’t work. Changing what you eat, how you think about food and replacing the buzz you get from over-indulging with something physical, is good. And don’t count on the food industry to help you out. In fact, be very suspicious of them, very suspicious indeed.
I grew up in Colorado and back in the 50s and 60s, hardly anyone was overweight. I look at old photos from my parents’ generation and from when I was a little girl and everyone appears to be a “normal” weight. Our serious weight gain has happened in the last couple of decades and along with it, a rapid rise in lifestyle-related diseases. Two new studies suggest that 2/3rds of adults are now overweight or obese. Check out these guys in the photo above. These are many of the men who lived in a small Colorado mountain community where my dad grew up. The photo was taken sometime in the 1940s. My dad is 4th from the left in the bottom row. Healthy looking guys, right? Fit, handsome characters. If you took the same sampling now, many would be overweight and out of shape. We don’t exercise as much and we eat totally different foods from what these guys ate.
There’s a variety of reasons we’re becoming a nation of overeaters, one of them being what is available to us now. Ridiculous “foods” that weren’t around back then. Quick-fix breakfast cereals that turn milk weird shades of pink and purple. Ding Dongs that never spoil. Irresistible brownie ice cream sundaes that are absolutely loaded with sugar, fat and salt and designed to make you want more. That kind of food gives us a sweet rush of dopamine, the “reward” neurotransmitter. We like that feeling and seek out the foods that give us that high. In fact, so much so that we often can’t think of anything other than the plate of chocolate chip cookies on the table or the brownie sundae on the menu. Add in the perceived depravation of having celiac disease (no gluten means less treat options) and all the sudden that gluten-free brownie sundae at the chain restaurant (I won’t name any names) takes on monumental importance. If you feel deprived, you think you need and deserve the “reward” even more. The food industry knows this and has figured out the right mixtures to make us obsess over the brownie sundae or double whopper with fries. Fat, sugar and salt. It’s “almost” not our fault. We can “almost” blame the food industry, much like we blamed the tobacco industry. They are a sneaky bunch and they want you to want more of what they’re selling. Here’s the catch though, if you believe it’s not your fault, you have no control.
Power to the people, as Flo says on the Progressive ads! We get to choose.
Now, what do we do instead of overeating and then dieting and depriving ourselves? This one’s tough because we have imbedded in our neural pathways the delicious dopamine spike we get when we eat the tempting foods. It’s hard to replace that with a handful of raw broccoli. That doesn’t work for most people. We need something that trumps the buzz we get from the fat, sugar and salt. Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. No pill, no diet, no magic formula. We have to take control, retrain our neural patterns, adjust our lifestyle habits and change our perceptions. We have to find something physical that makes us want to eat better. That’s especially hard when there’s a donut shop, a burger joint or a chain restaurant on every corner. It’s way too easy to get the fix, just like it’s way too easy for me to hit “one click ordering.” (Ooh, but I get so excited when I do that.)
Does this make sense?
Yoga helps me overcome the food part because it connects me on a deeper level with my body. I have a greater respect and appreciation for what’s going on inside, even on a cellular level. I feel stronger, healthier and have more energy. I like that, it feels better than eating the brownie sundae.
I feel better, I look better, so I continue to eat better. And on it goes.
I’m taking a 4 week arm balancing class right now from one of my favorite yoga instructors. A 4 week inversion class will follow. It’s hard to do these poses if I weigh just 5 pounds more than my normal weight (which I do now), it hurts my wrists and I find I’m not strong enough to hold that much weight upside down (or sideways). Five extra pounds is too much. That’s my “tipping point.” I need to weigh less and that is my motivation, that is my reward. Yoga trumps my desire to eat high-calorie, low-nutrition food. Most of the time, although I got sidetracked during the holidays and now I’m paying the price.
Maybe this will add fuel to your motivational fire. Here’s the breakdown of what’s in that irresistible brownie sundae that is served at a major US restaurant chain.
Calories: 1911
Carbohydrates: 135 g
Dietary fiber: 13 g
Total fat: 153.8 g
Saturated fat: 88 g
Protein: 26.9 g
Cholesterol: 426.3 mg
Sodium: 401.4 mg
So, skip the brownie sundae and take a yoga class. Or ride your bike to the farmer’s market and buy some broccoli. You’ll feel much better if you do.
Can you see down that long (hopefully) and winding road that makes up your life journey?
No, none of us can. But I’m going with the intention of living a long and healthy life so I want to make sure I’m positioning myself to do so. And in style.
January 1, 2010.
No better day to start than today.
I have trouble considering myself as anything other than early-middle-aged (oooh, that seems strange), so to have that play out chronologically, I need to make my way to the other side of 100. And as I said before, do it with style. I want to be one of those old ladies doing handstands on the beach (or the only one), telemark skiing and climbing mountains with Colorado’s “over the hill gang.” Perhaps sporting an antique blond (also known as grey) ponytail and wearing chic and groovy clothes. Even golden girls can feel good, look good and be full of life. I want to eventually be that golden girl.
Thriving in style.
No time to waste. I need to be preparing for that now. I got sidetracked with the holidays and have been baking (and eating) muffins, cookies and cakes. Drinking red wine and eating dark chocolate. Not exercising enough. My metabolism is off-kilter and I’ve gained 6 pounds. Okay, I know I should know better and I’m not going to mention any names, but it’s not entirely my fault.
Now that the holiday roller coaster ride is over, I’m ready to get back on track with a healthy eating and exercise program. If you’re remotely interested, read on. Here’s what I’m going to do to lose that 6 pounds, reset my metabolism and get back in shape before this uptick in weight becomes the norm. That’s how it happens, my friends. Before you know it, this slow, inauspicious cookie-creep becomes an accepted part of your backside (or spare tire for the guys).
I don’t want to go there. I want to be able to do cartwheels when I’m 80 and each extra pound makes stuff like that sooo much harder to do. Pretty soon playing upside down is longer an option. And that’s not in my plan.
Your plan may be different, but the bottom line is the same. We want to stay healthy for a variety of reasons, whatever they may be.
This isn’t a cleansing protocol, that will come in the spring. This is my basic weight loss protocol. Nothing complicated, but after the sugar rush of the holidays, certainly not easy.
Onward, with resolution resolve!
1. I’ll eat a good, healthy and relaxed breakfast each morning. Something like a bowl of GF oatmeal, a smoothie, a sliced apple with almond butter and a cup of goat kefir, or poached eggs with greens on teff toast. The best thing right now is something fairly substantial, but not high in calories – and with a mix of protein, carbs and fat.
2. No snacking in between meals. I’ll stick with herbal tea or water.
3. Exercise every day. I will either go to yoga, go for a long walk, ride my bike (or indoor trainer), go skiing – anything that gets me moving, stretching, breathing and thriving.
4. Eat my main meal at lunch – something like a healthy bowl of soup or stew, a side salad and a few flax crackers.
5. Eat a light dinner before 6 PM. No snacking after dinner. I’ll drink some nice mellow herbal tea with honey before bed.
6. Drink lots of water throughout the day. Have an occasional glass of red wine on the weekend, but not during the week. No sugar, no processed foods, smaller portions, no snacking in between meals.
That’s a start. I had a bowl of oatmeal (see recipe below) for breakfast early this morning and now I’m going to go ride my bike trainer and listen to 80s music on my iPod.
Hearty and healthy GF oatmeal to usher in 2010 *
what you need
2 cups water
3/4 cup certified GF oatmeal
2 tablespoons teff grain
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chopped nuts (or a mix of nuts and seeds)
handful of raisins
what you do
1. Bring water to a boil, slowly add oats and teff, stir well and turn heat to low (the lowest setting).
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, blend well, cover and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Check and stir occasionally. Add a touch more water if you need to.
Serve with brown rice milk and raw honey. Makes 2 hearty servings.
* Some people with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity don’t do well with oats even if they are pure and uncontaminated, so check with your health care provider before adding oats to your diet.
Music to ride by – 80s iPod play list
1. Start Me Up (The Rolling Stones, 1981)
2. Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler, 1983)
3. I Love Rock & Roll (Joan Jett, 1982)
4. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson, 1983)
5. Love Shack (The B-52s, 1989)
6. Straight Up (Paula Abdul, 1980) Sorry about this one, but who can resist singing along?
7. Thing Called Love (Bonnie Raitt, 1989) Go, Bonnie, go!
8. I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues (Elton John, 1983)
9. Super Freak (Rick James, 1981)
But you already knew that if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time.
Now, thanks to some researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK, I have documentation that this deadly serious vegetable is a performance-enhancing substance. In fact, there are forty pages worth of scientific documentation on just that subject in the August 6th issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. If you’re interested.
Yes, the beet root is not only well-suited for a starring role in an offbeat Tom Robbins’ saga, but it also has important implications in mitochondrial respiration.
Deadly serious? By all means.
Do you care? Probably not.
But that’s never stopped me before. Here’s the scoop. To make a long and very convoluted story short, researchers have determined that beet root juice, which contains inorganic nitrate, decreases human oxygen requirements during sub-maximal exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise.
So, how did they figure this out?
The researchers rounded up a compliant study group of males, aged 19-38 years old (only guys that age would agree to this). Half the group drank 500 mL per day of beet root juice, while the other half drank black currant juice, which has little nitrate content. They were hooked up to metabolic equipment to measure pulmonary gas exchange, their BP and heart rates were monitored, and capillary blood samples were collected during several days of exercise testing and juice drinking.
Well, guess what? The beet root drinkers showed significantly improved exercise tolerance and muscle oxygenation. I doubt you have to be a 19-38 year old male to benefit in this way by eating beets or drinking beet juice, but I’m happy to let them be the guinea pigs.
Ah, but here’s my take on it. Don’t wait for beet root capsules to be sold at your favorite supplement store (just wait, it will happen). Instead, eat the whole beet and enjoy it. You’ll be able to run faster and farther. Seriously.
Well, maybe it just won’t hurt as bad.
The above photo was my lunch. I sautéed onions, garlic, celery, carrots and beets in a little coconut oil for about 6-8 minutes. I added some leftover cooked brown rice and a few splashes of chicken broth and stirred occasionally for another 5 minutes or so, until rice was hot and veggies were lightly cooked.
Now I’m going to go run (maybe I’ll just walk) my dog 16% more efficiently than if I hadn’t eaten beets. That might be a bit of a leap, but you get the idea.
Eat all your wholesome CSA or Farmer’s Market power food and you’ll be dancin’ in the streets like this guy.
I’d suggest you tell your kids that if they eat their veggies they’ll be able to do stuff like this — but then again, it might happen and you’d be stuck with a kid who does stuff like this. Yikes!
Go forth and eat your power veggies. Stay tuned, I’ll post a “hearty greens” recipe tomorrow. This one’s just for fun.
Melissa
I’m shifting from food to altitude to sophisticated blog posting from the highest mountain on the planet. First a short altitude 101 lesson to create the appropriate ambiance (pun intended).
I took the above winter mountaineering photo from the summit of Drift Peak, high in the Tenmile Range of the Colorado Rockies. Drift Peak is a little over 13,900 feet, making it one of Colorado’s centennial peaks (the 100 highest summits, all over 13,800 feet in elevation).
If you’ve ever wandered around at high altitudes (above 10,000 feet), you know that as you ascend it becomes more and more difficult to do anything in a hurry. Your legs feel heavier, your respiration increases and you might even feel nauseous or develop a headache. That’s because you’re not breathing in enough oxygen and the consequences can go from mildly annoying to life threatening.
I won’t go into too much detail, but the higher you go, the more the body has to adapt to less air pressure, therefore less oxygen intake. Here’s where it gets confusing. The percentage of oxygen in the air is the same whether you’re at sea level or on top of Mt. Everest, which is 29,000 feet. Our atmosphere is made up of 21% oxygen at any altitude. There isn’t less oxygen as a percentage of gases at 29,000 feet, it’s just that the higher you go, the less atmospheric pressure there is. With less air pressure the oxygen molecules scatter into a larger volume of air. If I’m standing at sea level that same 21% of oxygen molecules is being pressed down around me so it’s much easier to breathe and get the oxygen I need to do whatever it is I’m doing.
Our bodies do adjust somewhat and depending on our individual physiology, we adapt and acclimatize to varying degrees. To begin with, our breathing increases and our movement slows down. Heavy breathing (the altitude-related kind) allows us to take in more oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. Our heart rate goes up to deliver the oxygen to our brain and muscle tissues. There’s also a lot going on with our kidneys when we increase elevation. Have you ever noticed that as you get above treeline you have to go to the bathroom more often? Darn, no bushes to hide behind — that can get a bit tricky if you’re a girl (especially in the winter). Men have it made.
Here’s what happens (to make a long, complicated story short). Your kidneys know you need more oxygen so they conspire to get rid of extra water so your blood becomes thicker and can carry more concentrated oxygen. Aren’t we just amazing little creatures?! All the more reason to honor and take care of ourselves.
I’ll leave it at that and get on to the point of this post, which is about dispatch-blogging at super-high altitudes. I just wanted to set the stage as I often find it difficult to write a wimpy little post while sitting in my office, listening to music and sipping tea. Think about doing it on Everest. It’s hard enough just to breath, let alone create glorious dispatches such as these.
I’m a Mac girl, so I love the idea that they’re using MacBook Pros to do their Himalayan blogging. I’ve been following the progress of this expedition and their daily dispatches since they started several weeks ago. I’ll explain why later and keep you posted as the team expects to summit in a few days.
I took these photos at the base of Winter Park Ski Area in the mountains of Colorado. No thought went into it, no positioning myself for optimal light, no effort to get the right angle. I had my little point and shoot camera in my jacket pocket and as I was taking my skis off to go inside and eat lunch, I saw this wonderful dog on duty. Although he was doing his dog job, he was also taking full measure of the fact that his owner was off tearing up the slopes and he could take a break and relax in the sunshine.
Whoever owns this dog skis at Winter Park and if his (or her) wheelchair is any indication, he (or she) is out and about regardless of what some might call a “limitation.” Winter Park is home to the National Sports Center for the Disabled and is known internationally for the caliber and dedication of its athletes and participants. That includes the hundreds of volunteers who are committed to helping people with disabilities learn to ski, snowboard, snowshoe, climb and enjoy the outdoors. The program also includes the Disabled Competition Center and the NSCD Alpine Ski Team. The Competition Program has placed dozens of racers on the U.S. Disabled Ski Team. At the 2006 Paralympics in Turin, Italy, NSCD worked and trained 16 of the athletes who were representing the USDST.
Miles from England and Xenny from South Africa inspired me to do this post (although they don’t know it). Long story, but Xenny is an amputee and plays on the beaches in South Africa. When I saw a photo of “Xenny’s Beach” on Miles’ blog and read how newly installed stairs gave Xenny access to the beach, it made me smile and think of my own stomping grounds. I’ve spent my life skiing at Winter Park (and Mary Jane) and the base area is home to wheelchairs, artificial limbs, and the occasional dog companion. The scene always inspires me.
Do you ever talk yourself out of doing something because you think it will be too much effort? Convince yourself you don’t quite feel good enough? No real reason, you just can’t seem to muster up what it takes to get off your bum and go move about? We all do that on occasion. I did it yesterday and skipped one of my favorite yoga classes because I was — lazy?
Okay, no excuses.
Imagine what it must take for this guy (or girl) to get up skiing. Or the access needed for Xenny to get to the beach and have fun. I’m grateful to have these folks around for inspiration and I thank them from the bottom of my whiny (occasionally) little heart.
If you need more inspiration in the coming year to celebrate life and movement, check out this video of one of my all-time yoga heros, Matthew Sanford.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? — Mary Oliver
I definitely plan to finish the second half of the Colorado Trail. That is at the top of my “things I absolutely HAVE to do during my one wild and precious life” list. Hopefully I can finish it next summer as work and family responsibilities have put completion of our journey on hold for now. My son and I recently finished the first half of the CT — from Denver to a trailhead between Buena Vista and Salida. We backpacked close to 250 miles and trudged up (and also down) some 37,000 feet of elevation gain.
That’s a lot of ups and downs. In a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Our trek took us through four different wilderness areas and over several mountain ranges. In addition to a variety of terrain, we experienced all kinds of weather as well — including sun, rain, sleet, hail, and even snow. We also inadvertently timed our travel through the Mt. Massive Wilderness area during the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race and ended up having to spend the night at a hotel in Leadville (aaahhh, nothing like a warm shower and a soft bed). Lance Armstrong competed in the event, which is intense to say the least. It’s a 100 mile off-road mountain bike race with what is described as “steep climbs and serious descents.” No kidding! The start and finish is in the heart of the small mountain town of Leadville, CO (elevation 10,200 feet). Fifty miles out and back with a turnaround point at 12,600 feet makes this race pretty dang extreme. After 100 miles, Lance was second by less than 2 minutes! How does that happen? Two minutes after 100 miles of mountain bike racing? And there were hundreds of entrants.
There’s also a Leadville 100 Ultra Marathon which is billed as the “Race Across The Sky” and considered one of the toughest distance races on the planet. It was held the following weekend. Starting at 4 AM, with most of it on the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, it’s a true high-altitude, hard-core distance race. To make it even more interesting, this year runners experienced rain, wind, lightning, marble-sized hail, and snow during their 100 mile marathon. Almost sixty percent of the entrants didn’t finish. They’ve been doing this race for 26 years now and they never cancel because of the weather. Hardy souls indeed.
But I digress…
We experienced some of the same weather during our journey, but at least we were in our sleeping bags and tents at 4 in the morning and we didn’t have to cover more than about 12 to 15 miles a day. Some longer days, some shorter days.
Spending that much time in the wilderness allows for hours and hours of time to think, reflect, figure things out, day-dream, re-figure things out, make up endings to stories, sing Johnny Cash songs, wonder what that noise was, think about food, learn to whistle, re-re-figure things out, and have long annoying conversations with yourself. And on it goes, day after day. No money to deal with, no bills to pay, no TV to watch, no phone to answer, no email to check, no newspaper to read, no gas to pump, no purse to dig through, no mirror to look into, no BlackBerry to obsess over (not that I have one). Going back to the basics is incredibly cleansing. I highly recommend it.
Now I’m in the midst of putting together my backpacking meal recipes, sport-specific nutrition information, dehydration tips, and instructions on how to prepare and pack your own food for the backcountry. Most prepackaged backpacking foods contain gluten or other allergens and most companies can’t guarantee that their food is gluten-free, even when there are no obvious gluten-containing ingredients. Most of those foods either use gluten as a filler or prepare their foods on equipment that also processes foods containing gluten. The last thing I want is to get sick while backpacking. No time to have stomach issues. Or achy joints. Or be overly tired. Or have trouble sleeping. Or have headaches.
Well, you get the idea. That’s why I felt it was important to make and prepare all my own food. That way I was able to balance my nutritional needs for exactly what I was doing — this means eating strategies for all-day energy, what to eat when you need a boost to make it up and over the pass, and how to adequately recover so you can start all over again the next day. I’m interested in sport-specific nutrition and how to maximize performance and stay healthy at the same time. I’m thinking a book is in my future. Wish me luck.
In the meantime, here’s a photo wrap-up of our trip, with a reader contest to top it off.
Next week I’ll get back to regular posting with nutrition tips, recipes, and whatever else comes to mind. Does anyone have a topic they’d like me to focus on? Something you might be confused about or interested in? Leave me a comment indicating what’s on your mind and I’ll pick one of the topics and write a specialized post on it.
Photo #1 — Melissa filtering water (a wilderness woman’s job is never done).
Photo #2 — Columbine, the Colorado state flower.
Photo #3 — Breckenridge Ski Area way in the distance.
Photo #1 — I became obsessed with taking pictures of signs along the trail. Some were interesting, some informative, some just plain funny. These little “thumbnail” versions of my photos aren’t great, so I doubt you can see this very well, but it says, “Colorado Trail & Tennessee Pass” with an arrow one direction, then it says “Old Mine” with an arrow the other direction. Who knows where the old mine is as we had just come from that direction and never saw one. Hmmm?
Photo #2 — Very old CT sign, with an awe inspiring back-drop.
Photo #3 — Big mountains.
Does anyone know what this is? Keep in mind, this “find” was out in the middle of nowhere along the Colorado Trail. The first person who knows the answer gets a prize. Take a guess!
And don’t forget to get out there and enjoy your one wild and precious life!
One-hundred and sixty miles down. Three-hundred and forty to go.
We’re one-third of the way through our trek of the Colorado Trail. Depending on what you read, the trail covers anywhere from 485 to 500 miles — from Denver to Durango — with a total elevation climb of 77,690 feet. As I said in the first post I did on the Colorado Trail, that’s a LOT of uphill. We’re now on a 200 mile section of the CT that shares the same footpath as the Continental Divide Trail, so we’re spending more and more time above 10,000 feet, often in alpine zones above timberline.
I’m cooking and dehydrating all our dinners and we’re eating well. And gluten-free, of course. In fact, I have chicken, quinoa noodle, and veggie soup in the dehydrator as I type. With chile con carne waiting in the wings.
Rather than ramble on about the trip, I’ll share some photos with you instead. I’m in a pinch for time, but when things slow down, I’ll get back to posting on a more regular basis. For now, here’s a preview of where I’m spending so much of my time lately. Although the days are long and tiring, there’s nothing more rejuvenating than spending time in the wilderness. No phones, no money, no traffic, no silly TV shows. I love it!
If that waterfall hadn’t been so dang cold, I would have taken a shower — with all my clothes on. They needed washing as much as I did. I won’t even mention how my hair looks after a week of backpacking, although bad hair days aren’t a big deal when all you see during the day is your hiking partner, a few marmots, and a couple of deer.
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