Floods and Fibre

It’s Sunday afternoon and finally got the tree down and finished purging my old decorations from the junk we have collected over the years. I feel like falling into my bed and passing out, must still have a bit of Jamaica trapped in my blood. Had a great weekend but had way too many things to do. The best part of the weekend for me was going to St. Lawrence Market on Saturday morning with Rob and picking up all my organic vegetables and my favourtie sprout salad and of course my Stonemill bread. Now I feel set ...I will eat clean for the week and continue on my quest to get back to my pre-Jamaica weight. 2.4 pounds to go....and 4 Yoga sessions completed in one week. I continue to feel like my hamstrings are small tightened guitar strings ...I will try to believe in what the Yoga teacher says “this will get better”.


I went to see the “The Blue Collar Comedy Tour” on Friday night with Rob...it featured Jeff Foxworthy, Larry The Cable Guy and Bill Engvall....it sucked  I was pretty disappointed, I have seen these guys on TV and they have made me laugh but this show was not really that funny..only to the guy with the Nascar jacket sitting beside me, he seemed to laugh at everything. I did however, get some great pictures (my favourite hobby) and I think I need to write to Larry The Cable Guy, he needs the 10 Weeks To Wow! Nutritional Weight Loss Program BADLY...if he wants to be around to spend all the money he is making not being funny. The Air Canada Centre was packed!

Rob and I had started our evening at Astoria – greek restaurant on the Danforth. I love going on dates with my guy! People always ask me what I eat when I go out for dinner....so: I had a garden salad in which I of course I asked the waitress to change the lettuce and please please give me romaine lettuce rather than the iceburg “zero nutrient” lettuce...and once again she first gave me the “crinkly eyebrow” and then proceeded to make up some song and dance up about only having it chopped up on “this day and that day” and it might not be available.

WHY does this woman not want me to have healthy lettuce, I asked myself. Surprisingly, she brought me the dark leafy greens I had asked for!!! We split the “Land and Sea “meal which is a great tasting boneless, skinless chicken breast with great tasting herbs and spices and six shrimp, potato and rice. I had roughly half the breast, 1 shrimp, 1 potato and 1 piece of bread. It sounds good right? It was, but I met my demise once I entered the ACC and was greeted by poor choice after poor choice for something to nibble on during the show. You know I had to have M&M’s peanuts...damn, I love chocolate. Thinking back thank god I had my sugar high to help me get through this (lack) of comedy show.


Here is a little insight on why I love dark leafy greens! Dark green leafy vegetables are calorie for calorie, perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats.


Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than we once thought (the current minimum may not be optimal), and many people do not get enough of it.

Vitamin K:

• Regulates blood clotting

• Helps protect bones from osteoporosis

• May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques

• May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthritis

• May help prevent diabetes

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil.

Almost Carb-Free

Greens have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest. That is why, in general, greens have very little impact on blood glucose.

Now you understand the importance...and please make sure you annoy the waitress or waiter and ask for these beauties in your salad when you’re out for dinner.

Sunday evening after dinner Rob suggested we go for a walk and walk off dinner. I was a little reluctant as it was -14 outside but I bundled up and off we went to the store to pick up some ingredients ...I wanted to make this amazing Sweet Potato one pot wonder recipe I picked up from one of the trainers I work with. Once we got home I went to flip the laundry (cuz a woman’s work is never done) and low and behold on my way down to the basement I was greeted by a “Tsunami” my hot water tank was pouring hot water all over my basement. Rob came running down the stairs and got the water off but of course I’m standing up to my ankles in water (clean water at least). I’m not sure why I was so calm but I was...I just started trying to clean up what I could but I did realize that my floors were ruined 

After the cleanup I felt it necessary to go up to my office where I knew I had this cute little Christmas bag filled with chocolates (that my ghost writer Marlene had given me the other day). I’ve put off eating them but now it was like they were screaming out my name. I rushed to their calls and devoured each and every one of them...all at once. It’s amazing how chocolate can make all your troubles go away...if only for the moment. My sugar high was just what the Doctor ordered. So now I have a soaked basement, a belly ache, a big zit coming up on my forehead and my evening will soon be interrupted again by the emergency plumber we called to at least get some cold water going because you know in the morning someone will need to have a “poop” in this house with all the fibre we eat. Oh yea, how is it you get a zit and have a hot flash all at once??? What the hell?

Fibre!!! Let’s talk about fibre for a moment so you know why I love it so. Firstly, if you’re a woman you need roughly 25 grams of fibre per day (everyday) and if you’re a man you need roughly 38 grams per day. Most Canadians get roughly 8 – 10 grams per day hence, why Colon Cancer will bypass all other Cancers and become our leading cause of Cancer death. Did you know that from your mouth to your butt it is 30 feet in length? Of course you need to fibre to push all the waste through!

What is Fibre?

Fibre is often divided into two broad classes: insoluble and soluble forms. Wheat bran, for instance, is an insoluble form that is a good stool-softener but a poor absorber of cholesterol, a function that the soluble form, oat bran, does better.

Insoluble fibre makes stools heavier and speeds their passage through the gut. Like a sponge, it absorbs many times its weight in water, swelling up and helping to eliminate feces and relieve constipation. Wheat bran and whole grains, as well as the skins of many fruits and vegetables, and seeds, are rich sources of insoluble fibre. High-fibre diets have replaced bland, low-residue treatments for bowel problems such as diverticular disease.

Also note that as the outer fibre layer is often removed in food processing by milling, peeling, boiling or extracting, it’s wise to eat more unrefined foods to obtain insoluble fibre.

Soluble fibre includes pectin, gums (such as guar), betaglucans, some hemicellulose and other compounds and is found in oats, legumes (peas, kidney beans, lentils), some seeds, brown rice, barley, oats, fruits (such as apples), some green vegetables (such as broccoli) and potatoes. Soluble fibre breaks down as it passes though the digestive tract, forming a gel that traps some substances related to high cholesterol. There is some evidence that soluble fibre may lessen heart disease risks by reducing the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream. Studies find that people on high-fibre diets have lower total cholesterol levels and may be less likely to form harmful blood clots than those who consume less soluble fibre. A recent USA report found that, in sufficient amounts, fibre apparently reduced heart disease risks.