Well, the dairy-free week lasted from Monday to Friday (as I had planned, I realize it's not a full week!). On Saturday I actually spent most of the day dairy free as well, until around 9 when I had some chocolate ice cream with cherry compote (yum!).
Reflecting on the week though, led me to realize that I really did feel better this week than usually. Stomach issues were practically non-existant (those of you who know me *well* know this is special!). I felt not only lighter as I had posted in the first post, but by the end of the week, felt slimmer too. My mucusy cough and stuffy nose were almost a thing of the past.
I also found out that actually, I like soy milk in my tea... especially chai tea with honey! Also, I found that one yogurt-type oat product that I liked, and was sad to not find in Stockmann today. I even bought some muesli today, because I realized that I can start eating cereal again since I can get and enjoy soy milk. :) And, it was not difficult at all to eat most of my meals dairy free.
This morning I had egg and cheese on toast for breakfast. What happened after that? Yeah, the coughing started up again, and my tummy puffed up.
The benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks. But, like I said last time, I don't plan on cutting out dairy entirely. Some cheese on my pasta, sour cream on my mexican and possibly the occasional yogurt will still be part of my life. But in the end, I have to say, I'm really glad that I finally chose to do this experiment with myself, because I found out some pretty good info on just how better to take care of myself.
And yes, I do feel better that fewer cows will have to endure the torturous life that is the life of a milked cow to please my human desires.
Now... what's next? How about actually drinking 2 litres of water a day and seeing how that might change my life?? Just a thought.... :)
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
You just gotta learn to relax
If this ain't the best example, then I don't know what is. Bumbi has just spent the previous few minutes running around like an absolute maniac... bouncing from couch to chair to scratching post to couch to bed to window sill and almost up the side of the bookshelf... and then he came back into the living room and just plopped. And this it appears, is the most comfortable position.
He was actually sleeping like this, but woke when he heard the camera beep, and decided he needed to smile for the camera.
But this makes me think about the way I live my life.... it is necessary sometimes to run around getting things done, feeling kind of crazy, like you're going to bust out of your skin. But when it's over, you gotta learn to relax, and even if it's only for a moment, before you hear the beep of a camera, or the next task comes a calling... lay back, close your eyes, splay your legs if necessary (get out of the GUTTER!), and chill the fuck out.
Lessons from a cat... and really cute pictures too. :)
He was actually sleeping like this, but woke when he heard the camera beep, and decided he needed to smile for the camera. But this makes me think about the way I live my life.... it is necessary sometimes to run around getting things done, feeling kind of crazy, like you're going to bust out of your skin. But when it's over, you gotta learn to relax, and even if it's only for a moment, before you hear the beep of a camera, or the next task comes a calling... lay back, close your eyes, splay your legs if necessary (get out of the GUTTER!), and chill the fuck out.
Lessons from a cat... and really cute pictures too. :)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Dairy-free for a week
This is what I'm doing this week. It was something I had been contemplating, because I couldn't help but notice that every morning after I would have my tea with milk in it, I'd be coughing and hacking up nasty globs of green stuff way worse than what I had been before. Getting rid of this last cold (yes, I was STILL dealing with it!) was my main goal. My yoga teacher asked me one day after class what has been up with me, because she couldn't help but noticed that I'd missed a few classes and that when I was there, I was coughing and having a hard time breathing, etc. She implored that I must give up the dairy until I get rid of it. So, I knew it was time to do it. But it's one of those things that makes you go... oh, man... am I going to be able to do this????
Well, I started Monday morning. I had to switch out my daily yogurt snack for an apple...but I could handle that. After that, I found it easier than I thought I would! Dinner Monday was samosas from the Indian restaurant next door. Tuesday's dinner was a highly successful stir-fry made with chinese cabbage, snow peas, tofu, dark and light soy sauce, sesame and peanut oil and a dash of sugar. It was delish! Tonight will be left over stir-fry or french fries and meat-less meatballs (which I found in Stockmann yesterday.... they come in a can, so lets hope they're good!).
By Tuesday night I noticed (and so did my yoga teacher) that I was coughing much less, and was breathing easier. Not even a full two days! I also noticed that I was feeling lighter, not so much in weight, but like, less dense. Does that make sense?
So I'm wondering... if this experiment turns out positive results as to how much better I feel without dairy, will I continue? I have to say, the feeling good aspect makes it seem like a great idea! On the other hand, I live in the country of meat, potatoes and dairy products. Latvians eat sour cream like it's going out of style. And cheese is a major part of most vegetarian dishes in local restaurants. I already use soy milk on my cereal, so that's easy. And we also use an olive oil spread instead of butter. But when JS and I make tacos or nachos... no sour cream!??!? And there aren't any dairy free choices available here (unlike in the States, where soy sour cream would be the simple and tasty solution.)
So I'm thinking... there is no reason to create a hard rule. If I know I feel better when I avoid dairy, I can make it a guideline for most days. Stockmann also carries a product that is like a yogurt, but made from oats... it's dairy free, and while I had a berry flavored one that I didn't like, I just had the peach passion one today, and it was GREAT! Pasta without cheese seems almost criminal to me. So that might be a time when I have to step this way of the guideline. Actually, nachos or tacos without sour cream also hit me the same way, like, what's the point? But I have to say, those are the only two things that I can think of where losing dairy seems like the worst idea ever.
I will also soon receive a container of nutritional yeast that I have on order in the States (which has to be sent to my mom, and then to me). I have read several ideas about how nutritional yeast can be used as a cheese sub (flavor wise) on pasta, in sauces and other foods.
So who knows, maybe this will be an easier change to make than I thought. And maybe it will be another change to my diet that will continue to resonate with my body long after it's made.
You know what they say about milk anyway... it's for baby cows! ;)
P.S. Later that night... I had the meatless meatballs for dinner... and while they were salty, they were otherwise very good! :)
Well, I started Monday morning. I had to switch out my daily yogurt snack for an apple...but I could handle that. After that, I found it easier than I thought I would! Dinner Monday was samosas from the Indian restaurant next door. Tuesday's dinner was a highly successful stir-fry made with chinese cabbage, snow peas, tofu, dark and light soy sauce, sesame and peanut oil and a dash of sugar. It was delish! Tonight will be left over stir-fry or french fries and meat-less meatballs (which I found in Stockmann yesterday.... they come in a can, so lets hope they're good!).
By Tuesday night I noticed (and so did my yoga teacher) that I was coughing much less, and was breathing easier. Not even a full two days! I also noticed that I was feeling lighter, not so much in weight, but like, less dense. Does that make sense?
So I'm wondering... if this experiment turns out positive results as to how much better I feel without dairy, will I continue? I have to say, the feeling good aspect makes it seem like a great idea! On the other hand, I live in the country of meat, potatoes and dairy products. Latvians eat sour cream like it's going out of style. And cheese is a major part of most vegetarian dishes in local restaurants. I already use soy milk on my cereal, so that's easy. And we also use an olive oil spread instead of butter. But when JS and I make tacos or nachos... no sour cream!??!? And there aren't any dairy free choices available here (unlike in the States, where soy sour cream would be the simple and tasty solution.)
So I'm thinking... there is no reason to create a hard rule. If I know I feel better when I avoid dairy, I can make it a guideline for most days. Stockmann also carries a product that is like a yogurt, but made from oats... it's dairy free, and while I had a berry flavored one that I didn't like, I just had the peach passion one today, and it was GREAT! Pasta without cheese seems almost criminal to me. So that might be a time when I have to step this way of the guideline. Actually, nachos or tacos without sour cream also hit me the same way, like, what's the point? But I have to say, those are the only two things that I can think of where losing dairy seems like the worst idea ever.
I will also soon receive a container of nutritional yeast that I have on order in the States (which has to be sent to my mom, and then to me). I have read several ideas about how nutritional yeast can be used as a cheese sub (flavor wise) on pasta, in sauces and other foods.
So who knows, maybe this will be an easier change to make than I thought. And maybe it will be another change to my diet that will continue to resonate with my body long after it's made.
You know what they say about milk anyway... it's for baby cows! ;)
P.S. Later that night... I had the meatless meatballs for dinner... and while they were salty, they were otherwise very good! :)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The differences
I am once again in awe of the differences in life depending on where you live. I've lived in several places in the world... spanned a few continents... there is a lot left for me to see, and I'm sure, many more differences that could blow my mind even more... but alas... I must comment on what I've experienced so far.
I'm struck with my (I think) third spell of sickness this year... Just in time for the Super Bowl I came down with a cold, then in February I had a pretty bad cold, possibly sinus infection, that left me useless on the couch for a whole week. Well, spring break started on Friday afternoon, and keeping in the tradition, my body shut down Saturday morning. You teachers know what I'm talking about. If there is ANY time you get sick during the school year, it's just about always as soon as vacation hits!
Well, anyway... it's been spring like in Riga these last couple of weeks, and everyone has been enjoying it. Wearing fewer clothes, being outside in the sunshine just for the heck of it, opening windows to get some fresh air cirulating in the home. Now, I'm pretty sure this is standard procedure for welcoming spring in just about any location where there is a definite shift of seasons. If I still lived in the States, and was hit with this cold, people would just call it a spring cold, or possibly attribute it to some kind of allergy.
Not in Latvia. The first local Latvian who I ran into once I had this cold, of course, blamed it on the evilest of all local evils... the draft. It was my therapist, who I chose not to argue with about it, but her words were, "Oh yeah, well, with this spring-like weather, people have been opening windows and not thinking about it... but letting in drafts none the less, and now people are getting sick!" You see... that is the idea here... that simply being in the way of a draft will make you sick. Forget germs, forget stressed out, over-worked bodies with low to nil immunity... it's the draft.
The draft can attack any part of your body. My hair dresser told me just today, that any time he gets in the way of a draft, his back goes out immediately. Huh?
Some time ago, when I went to the doctor and then gynocologist fully aware I had a bladder infection/UTI... their answer? I'd "frozen" my bladder. Thank God they still prescribe antibiotics for that, and not a schedule of wrapping your midsection in blankets or anything.
Don't even think about walking around in bare feet, well, basically any time of year... if you do that, you can not only get bladder infections, but you're just asking for a cold. Maybe that is how I got this cold... because at home, even in this not so warm end of winter weather, I hate to have my feet confined in socks. Dead of winter, I wear slippers... but, these days, I'm barefoot pretty much all the time.
Well, so... that is the draft.
Next... customer service. OK... I grew up in the states, and I know what midwestern customer service can be like. Sometimes they are overbearing, and you just want to scream at them to leave you alone... "I'm just looking," is a standard answer, and one you hope will send the person far enough away that you can shop in peace, but keep them close enough that if you DO actually need anything they are there to help. That might be in a clothing store. In a grocery store, you might expect someone to be somewhere near by in case you can't find what you are looking for, and at the check out, a friendly smile and a "how are you today". In any other type of retail you might expect along the same lines as a clothing store... someone there to help if you need it.
I know in my local Barnes & Noble I can always go to the help desk and say just the title of a book, or even just a few words of it, and they will do their best to find it in their system, and then show me where it is on the shelf. If they don't have a book right then, they might offer to order it for me, or let me know that there is a copy at the store on the other side of town that they can put on hold for me. Basically, it goes without saying that not only are they there to serve me, but they will do whatever possible to make sure I spend the money. You'd think that would be the aim of most stores. To keep you satisfied and coming back!
Well... let me tell you the story of my shopping experience at the local Janis Roze Gramatnica (a chain book store here in Riga) the other day. I was at the store located in the train station, which is small, but had a small rack of foreign language books. (Yes, I can read in Latvian, but when I read for pleasure, it's much more enjoyable to just read in English, which is much easier and faster for me.) I found a Nicholas Sparks I had not yet read, and then a Jodi Picoult as well. I was very excited to find another Paulo Coelho that I had not yet read. I love his books, and have been slowly making my way through all of them. I was ever so happy about the 3.50Ls price tag on it (as well as on the Nicholas Sparks) because that is literally half what I usually pay at the other book store where I shop.
So, I take my three books to the checkout. The lady rings up the Sparks and the Picoult, but says the Coelho is not ringing in. She calls her manager. While we wait, she suggests that I just pay for the other two books because the other one might not even ring up. The manager comes, says not a word to me, takes the book, and disappears into the back. She comes back, still not saying anything to me, and starts trying different ways of punching the book into the system. Nothing works. I ask if they couldn't just ring up the price and write down what book they've sold. No. I ask if they can ring up a different book that is the same price. No. The answer was, "We can't sell it to you today. Come back another day."
WHAT??? I want to spend my money at your store, for a product you are holding IN YOUR HAND, and you're telling me I can't buy it?!? I just don't get it. I just don't. Can anyone explain this to me???
So you see...it's these little things.
Latvia has plenty of charms that keep you happy to be here... the beautiful old buildings that keep you entertained on any old walk through town, the flower stalls set up not just in some places, but on street corners everywhere... because, you always need flowers! And even if you don't, I have to say, I love walking past them anyway. You can't beat that by taking a train that will cost you a whopping .45Ls (that's 45 santimi, like <$1.00) you can get all the way to the seaside where even if the wind blows like there's a storm coming, and the water, even in the dog days of summer, never rises much above freezing (people want to argue this with me, but I say to them, you've never been anywhere tropical, and felt what real WARM water feels like, the Baltic Sea is freezing all the time!)... it's still beautiful.
But the differences, sometimes, can come close to driving you mad. Latvia stands as a very intersting cross between being a "western" country, but still being only less than 20 years out of opression, which has left a lasting impression. I've heard from those who have lived here always, and from those expats who moved here in the early 90's about how huge the differences are from then to now... how much better everything is. I believe it. I do. I have even seen in the two years I have been here how things have changed. But still, I have to say... living in the moment, the now, these little things, like not being able to buy the book I want to buy, can frustrate me to no end.
I've sort of weaved in and out of what I originally wanted to say here... but, the differences still make you wonder. Like, how can this evil draft exist here, as such a powerful force, when it was certainly something I never knew about much less worried about for the 25 years I lived elsewhere? How can certified medical doctors believe in a draft over germs, bacteria, etc?
I'm sure that somewhere in the myriad of emails I sent while I lived in China, I documented similar differences. China exists now for me in happy memories, and I choose to keep it that way, because why dwell on what was bad there? And possibly in this way I have also forgotten the things that drove me mad there. I also have wonderful memories of the short time I lived in France... and only remember how great it was there. How I had to be dragged back onto the plane to head home... I didn't want to leave. Possibly someday, if and when I leave here, I will look back with similar nostalgia, and not remember all these things that made my life not so easy while I was here.
I'm up for another adventure someday. I do want to try another new place, experience the culture and all these small differences that can make you mad, but also set the stage for wonderful memories. Living in different locations has thus far been an incredible way for me to discover things about myself, and about the world. I do hope that JS will be up for creating another experience like this with me, someday. For now, it's back to the local flavor here in Latvia...trying to only enjoy the differences that make Latvia what it is today.
P.S. I went to yoga tonight... a few hours after posting this... while I was walking from the yoga room to the locker room to change, I was feeling the stare of all the people who were sitting in a waiting area, watching my sock feet walking on that cold, tile floor. Of course, I had to think about what I would say if someone said something to me (it's happened before). Well, my old excuse is that I'm from America, so the draft/cold doesn't affect me like it does native Latvians. But then, I actually thought about that a little further... you know how the bumble bee isn't technically, according to the laws of physics be able to fly? But it does. And some say, it's because the bumble bee doesn't KNOW that it isn't supposed to fly, so it just goes ahead and does it! Maybe, just maybe, the draft is the same kind of thing... those of us raised in other places around the world don't know about how evil drafts are supposed to be, and so they don't affect us. But here, in Latvia, they are raised from birth not only being protected from drafts, but being told all about how dangerous they are. So they buy into the power that a draft might have. So... are local Latvians like bumble bees who finally find out they not supposed to be able to fly? And so, they give themselves up to the power of the draft, and have to run their lives by it. Hmmm... maybe.
I'm struck with my (I think) third spell of sickness this year... Just in time for the Super Bowl I came down with a cold, then in February I had a pretty bad cold, possibly sinus infection, that left me useless on the couch for a whole week. Well, spring break started on Friday afternoon, and keeping in the tradition, my body shut down Saturday morning. You teachers know what I'm talking about. If there is ANY time you get sick during the school year, it's just about always as soon as vacation hits!
Well, anyway... it's been spring like in Riga these last couple of weeks, and everyone has been enjoying it. Wearing fewer clothes, being outside in the sunshine just for the heck of it, opening windows to get some fresh air cirulating in the home. Now, I'm pretty sure this is standard procedure for welcoming spring in just about any location where there is a definite shift of seasons. If I still lived in the States, and was hit with this cold, people would just call it a spring cold, or possibly attribute it to some kind of allergy.
Not in Latvia. The first local Latvian who I ran into once I had this cold, of course, blamed it on the evilest of all local evils... the draft. It was my therapist, who I chose not to argue with about it, but her words were, "Oh yeah, well, with this spring-like weather, people have been opening windows and not thinking about it... but letting in drafts none the less, and now people are getting sick!" You see... that is the idea here... that simply being in the way of a draft will make you sick. Forget germs, forget stressed out, over-worked bodies with low to nil immunity... it's the draft.
The draft can attack any part of your body. My hair dresser told me just today, that any time he gets in the way of a draft, his back goes out immediately. Huh?
Some time ago, when I went to the doctor and then gynocologist fully aware I had a bladder infection/UTI... their answer? I'd "frozen" my bladder. Thank God they still prescribe antibiotics for that, and not a schedule of wrapping your midsection in blankets or anything.
Don't even think about walking around in bare feet, well, basically any time of year... if you do that, you can not only get bladder infections, but you're just asking for a cold. Maybe that is how I got this cold... because at home, even in this not so warm end of winter weather, I hate to have my feet confined in socks. Dead of winter, I wear slippers... but, these days, I'm barefoot pretty much all the time.
Well, so... that is the draft.
Next... customer service. OK... I grew up in the states, and I know what midwestern customer service can be like. Sometimes they are overbearing, and you just want to scream at them to leave you alone... "I'm just looking," is a standard answer, and one you hope will send the person far enough away that you can shop in peace, but keep them close enough that if you DO actually need anything they are there to help. That might be in a clothing store. In a grocery store, you might expect someone to be somewhere near by in case you can't find what you are looking for, and at the check out, a friendly smile and a "how are you today". In any other type of retail you might expect along the same lines as a clothing store... someone there to help if you need it.
I know in my local Barnes & Noble I can always go to the help desk and say just the title of a book, or even just a few words of it, and they will do their best to find it in their system, and then show me where it is on the shelf. If they don't have a book right then, they might offer to order it for me, or let me know that there is a copy at the store on the other side of town that they can put on hold for me. Basically, it goes without saying that not only are they there to serve me, but they will do whatever possible to make sure I spend the money. You'd think that would be the aim of most stores. To keep you satisfied and coming back!
Well... let me tell you the story of my shopping experience at the local Janis Roze Gramatnica (a chain book store here in Riga) the other day. I was at the store located in the train station, which is small, but had a small rack of foreign language books. (Yes, I can read in Latvian, but when I read for pleasure, it's much more enjoyable to just read in English, which is much easier and faster for me.) I found a Nicholas Sparks I had not yet read, and then a Jodi Picoult as well. I was very excited to find another Paulo Coelho that I had not yet read. I love his books, and have been slowly making my way through all of them. I was ever so happy about the 3.50Ls price tag on it (as well as on the Nicholas Sparks) because that is literally half what I usually pay at the other book store where I shop.
So, I take my three books to the checkout. The lady rings up the Sparks and the Picoult, but says the Coelho is not ringing in. She calls her manager. While we wait, she suggests that I just pay for the other two books because the other one might not even ring up. The manager comes, says not a word to me, takes the book, and disappears into the back. She comes back, still not saying anything to me, and starts trying different ways of punching the book into the system. Nothing works. I ask if they couldn't just ring up the price and write down what book they've sold. No. I ask if they can ring up a different book that is the same price. No. The answer was, "We can't sell it to you today. Come back another day."
WHAT??? I want to spend my money at your store, for a product you are holding IN YOUR HAND, and you're telling me I can't buy it?!? I just don't get it. I just don't. Can anyone explain this to me???
So you see...it's these little things.
Latvia has plenty of charms that keep you happy to be here... the beautiful old buildings that keep you entertained on any old walk through town, the flower stalls set up not just in some places, but on street corners everywhere... because, you always need flowers! And even if you don't, I have to say, I love walking past them anyway. You can't beat that by taking a train that will cost you a whopping .45Ls (that's 45 santimi, like <$1.00) you can get all the way to the seaside where even if the wind blows like there's a storm coming, and the water, even in the dog days of summer, never rises much above freezing (people want to argue this with me, but I say to them, you've never been anywhere tropical, and felt what real WARM water feels like, the Baltic Sea is freezing all the time!)... it's still beautiful.
But the differences, sometimes, can come close to driving you mad. Latvia stands as a very intersting cross between being a "western" country, but still being only less than 20 years out of opression, which has left a lasting impression. I've heard from those who have lived here always, and from those expats who moved here in the early 90's about how huge the differences are from then to now... how much better everything is. I believe it. I do. I have even seen in the two years I have been here how things have changed. But still, I have to say... living in the moment, the now, these little things, like not being able to buy the book I want to buy, can frustrate me to no end.
I've sort of weaved in and out of what I originally wanted to say here... but, the differences still make you wonder. Like, how can this evil draft exist here, as such a powerful force, when it was certainly something I never knew about much less worried about for the 25 years I lived elsewhere? How can certified medical doctors believe in a draft over germs, bacteria, etc?
I'm sure that somewhere in the myriad of emails I sent while I lived in China, I documented similar differences. China exists now for me in happy memories, and I choose to keep it that way, because why dwell on what was bad there? And possibly in this way I have also forgotten the things that drove me mad there. I also have wonderful memories of the short time I lived in France... and only remember how great it was there. How I had to be dragged back onto the plane to head home... I didn't want to leave. Possibly someday, if and when I leave here, I will look back with similar nostalgia, and not remember all these things that made my life not so easy while I was here.
I'm up for another adventure someday. I do want to try another new place, experience the culture and all these small differences that can make you mad, but also set the stage for wonderful memories. Living in different locations has thus far been an incredible way for me to discover things about myself, and about the world. I do hope that JS will be up for creating another experience like this with me, someday. For now, it's back to the local flavor here in Latvia...trying to only enjoy the differences that make Latvia what it is today.
P.S. I went to yoga tonight... a few hours after posting this... while I was walking from the yoga room to the locker room to change, I was feeling the stare of all the people who were sitting in a waiting area, watching my sock feet walking on that cold, tile floor. Of course, I had to think about what I would say if someone said something to me (it's happened before). Well, my old excuse is that I'm from America, so the draft/cold doesn't affect me like it does native Latvians. But then, I actually thought about that a little further... you know how the bumble bee isn't technically, according to the laws of physics be able to fly? But it does. And some say, it's because the bumble bee doesn't KNOW that it isn't supposed to fly, so it just goes ahead and does it! Maybe, just maybe, the draft is the same kind of thing... those of us raised in other places around the world don't know about how evil drafts are supposed to be, and so they don't affect us. But here, in Latvia, they are raised from birth not only being protected from drafts, but being told all about how dangerous they are. So they buy into the power that a draft might have. So... are local Latvians like bumble bees who finally find out they not supposed to be able to fly? And so, they give themselves up to the power of the draft, and have to run their lives by it. Hmmm... maybe.
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