Month: July 2009

Celiac Disease on the rise? Of course it is.

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I read an article in the Toronto Sun yesterday about Celiac Disease (wheat allergy accompanied with digestive system hell) and how its prevalence is on the rise.  It’s 4 times more prevalent today than in the 1950s, and nobody knows why? Apparently the environment is blamed and so is our hygiene.  Since we’re eating less dirt these days, our immune systems are attacking themselves rather than the bugs around us?  I personally thing they should have had someone else write the article, because there are lots of people who have a general idea as to why CD is on the rise.

The environment is partly to blame, but you’ve got to into more detail than a vague “blame the environment!” Most North Americans are growing up on a diet that emphasizes wheat, potatoes, sugar, and meat, and their diet is often void of vegetables.

Even when people do eat vegetables, they’re are often cooked from frozen or they come from a can, meaning they are nearly nutrition-less and fiber-less.  If you want some nutrients, you’ve got to include fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet.  Don’t buy into all that “to increase fiber you must eat x amount of grains per day” crap. Fruits and vegetables are the BEST source of fiber.  I’m not trying to sell you anything here – seriously.  But a cereal commercial that boasts “12 whole grains” is trying to twist your arm into buying their product.  Don’t fall for their marketing ploy!

Most of all, the North American diet is to blame for our poor digestive tracts. Wheat and sugar are nutrient-void devils.  Between the two of them, they probably account for 95% of all bloating and the proliferation of bad bacteria in the digestive tract.  Add into the mix antibiotic medications, and you are completely digestive-ally screwed.  Antibiotics kill bacteria, which would be great except that they kill friendly bacteria too – and you need friendly bacteria to stay alive.  Being the devils that they are, wheat and sugar suppress the immune system as well.  Sugar especially beats it down – just 1 tsp of sugar can suppress the immune system for hours!

If you want a healthy digestive tract, then you’ve got to cut out pretty much anything that is advertised. If you cut out anything that comes in a package, you will successfully cut wheat and sugar from your diet.  Make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and get some exercise.  If you really want to get healthy, try adding a green supplement to your diet, and get yourself some probiotics – Not yogurt (dairy is yet another digestive devil), but probiotic capsules that you take with water just before bed.  This regime may sound like a lot to ask, but if you’ve got digestive troubles, isn’t it worth a try?  After all, if you don’t have your heath…

Downsizing my life.

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Yesterday I went on a purge. I cut my cellphone bill by a whole $17 dollars per month and have hopes of abandoning it completely.  I put one of my great loves up for sale: Vespie the Vespa.  My credit cards have lived in Vespie for the past 2 months, and even with all this, I’m looking at 4 more years of school debt!  Who does OSAP think they’re helping anyway?  Why oh why can’t we have free post-secondary education like Europe?

I want to travel, take pictures, and be free to live anywhere my heart desires. I want to see my lovely Caroline get married in South Africa, visit my cousin in Sydney, and escape every single Canadian winter I can!

In order to do all this, I’ve got to rebel against society, and if it’s one thing I do well, it’s just that.  I’m rebelling against social drinking, social eating, and spending $40 on a night out at the movies.  I’m rebelling against Bark and Fitz, health food stores, pizza pizza, bottled water, Starbucks, and marketers in general.

Lately I’ve been reading books by Seth Godin: Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, etc.  and he’s got me thinking about all of the mundane purchases I make every single day.  He talks about storytelling, and how when we buy a product, we’re really buying into a story.  We buy things because we want them.  Things make us feel good.  Rarely do we actually need something.  We buy a Starbucks coffee because walking into Starbucks makes us feel special.  We buy new shoes and bags because they’ll make us cool.  Every time I entertain the idea of making a purchase, I think about Seth.  Am I being marketed to, or do I really need this?

I pay cash for everything.  If I want something, I’ll wait until I have the cash saved up…and by then I find I don’t really need whatever I was after.  I’ve read that you should wait 30 days from the moment you decide that you want something.  Write it down, and if you still want it in 30 days, you can buy it.  Apparently a month’s time is enough to dissuade you from purchasing.

What’s absolutely crazy is that I found an extra $1000 dollars this month in my bank account. I put it directly onto my VISA bill.  Take that VISA!  In a few short years I will be free from consumer induced slavery.  It seems like a long time to be paying off debt, but I’ve spent the last 10 years digging the hole – it’s not gonna fill itself in over night!

Need or Want?

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Ask yourself this question any time you reach for your wallet.  Is this something I need, or something I want? I almost always find the answer is something I want.  In just the past 2 weeks alone, I must have saved myself close to $200 dollars by asking that simple question!  In fact, here’s just a few days’ worth of expenses and near expenses:

Starbucks: want – saved $5

Thai food: want – saved $35

Movie rental: want (the bachelorette is on anyway) – saved – $5

Breakfast at the local hangout: want – saved $25

Papaya: need – spent $4

Chocolate: want…need…caved  – spent $5

Gas: need – spent $48

What I find the most interesting is that most of my purchases revolve around food and social outings!  I have a friend who has been tracking everything that she spends and earns since January.  What a fantastic idea! It’s amazing to see where your hard-earned cash is going, and seeing the trail makes it less likely that you’ll keep spending so nonchalantly.  I’ve virtually stopped going to Starbucks, and we’re eating most of our meals at home.

I feel all grown-up.