Category Archives: Food & Health

Health and Wellness | The Low FODMAP Diet a Digestive Wonder

The Low FODMAP Diet | The Natural Remedy to Digestive and Gastrointestinal Disorders

Do you suffer from the occasional bout of gastro-intestinal distress? Most people do, and at best find it to be uncomfortable and discomfiting.
At times, that gastro-intestinal distress can flare up to such an extent, a person becomes bed-ridden, as was woefully the case in February and March with VanRamblings, in the process gravely depleting one’s energy.
Some years back, research scientists at Melbourne, Australia’s Monash University developed an eating regimen called the “low FODMAP diet”. Simply eliminating and reducing specific, high FODMAP foods proved to be such a salutary resolution to the alleviation of gastro-intestinal distress in patients with digestive disorders that many years later, the low FODMAP diet has become the default treatment for most digestive disorders.

High (not good for you) and low (very good for you, and your digestive system) FODMAP foodsHigh FODMAP foods are not well tolerated by most people’s digestive system, and should certainly not be consumed by persons who suffer with digestive disorders, whereas low FODMAP foods are well tolerated, lessening or even eliminating gastrointestinal distress

FODMAP is an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disaccharides Monosaccharides and Polyols.
In plain language?
FODMAPs are specific carbohydrates that are poorly digested by the vast majority of people (that’s you and me). Since these foods are not absorbed by the body, these short chain, sugar-laden carbohydrates travel through the digestive tract where they become fermented, resulting in painful gastro-intestinal distress, severe lower abdominal pain and discomfort, bloating, inflammation and a range of bacterial disorders that cause severe gastric distress in a person’s digestive system, more often than not resulting in discomfiting stomach cramps, bloating and problems with a person’s elimination system. In other words, not a lot of fun.
Twenty years ago, at the strong suggestion of our family physician, we eliminated dairy from our diet (probiotic lactose free yogurt, and Daiya coconut cream yogurt are just fine, though). Brad, our doc for the past 36 years, has also long been on our case to eliminate wheat from our diet — which we’ve now done, fortuitously and much to the benefit of our health.
We’re now consuming products, and baking and cooking at home with foods made with buckwheat (there’s no wheat in it!), brown rice, tapioca, almond and other non-wheat flours. We made a great, fluffy Strawberry Cinnamon Dutch Baby (with organic brown rice flour, eggs, raw turbinado sugar, and almond milk) yesterday morning for breakfast — mmmm, good.

Low FODMAP Strawberry Cinnamon Dutch Baby German Pancake

Here’s a pdf of the definitive list of low and high FODMAP foods.
A month ago, VanRamblings had never heard of the low FODMAP diet (you’ll want to watch the Monash University produced video available in the preceding link). Fortunately, VanRamblings’ friend (and saviour, as it happens) Maureen Bayless — we’ll be writing much about Maureen in the months to come, given her pivotal role in seeing us through our seven month cancer journey back in late 2016 and early 2017 (quite simply, we wouldn’t be here without her) — came to our rescue with information on and a suggestion to adopt the low FODMAP diet (which had worked wonders for friends of hers, she said), and one month later, our energy has returned and the symptoms of our digestive disorder have been reduced by 80%; most days, anyway. We really are feeling much, much better.

High FODMAP alternative foods

All and all, the low FODMAP diet has been a snap to adopt, resulting in little change to our daily eating habits. Oatmeal — love it, and that’s still on the menu. Peanut butter on rice cakes. Almond milk rice pudding made in our Instant Pot (which, by the way, is on sale for half price at Best Buy this week, with the sale ending tomorrow, so you’ll want to rush right out to acquire this must, must, must, must have kitchen appliance).

Instant Pot, with a sous vide function, on sale at Best BuyThe latest 10-function (with sous vide!) Instant Pot on sale at Best Buy til Thursday

Cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries (organic, of course, cuz non-organic strawberries are at the top of the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of pesticide-ridden, cancerous foods), blueberries and every other berry, save blackberries, are also on the approved low FODMAP list.
There are a great many low FODMAP beverages that are readily available. Lots of approved low FODMAP sweeteners are also on the list.
SPUD.ca have hundreds of gluten free / low FODMAP foods available. Save On Foods carries dozens of gluten free products, and has in fact dedicated a whole long aisle and refrigeration case to gluten free and low FODMAP foods. The same is true for Real Canadian Superstore, and most bulk food stores (for years, we’ve visited regularly at Kitsilano Natural Foods, now located at 1st Avenue and Yew, open 365 days a year, with a friendly staff).
We sorta miss apples, and have found a way to get around not being able to eat garlic (which we love!) and onions — most recipes that require garlic and onions also require oil, so we just cook the garlic and onions in the oil, infusing the oil with the taste we love, then remove these allium foods. It’s a small price to pay to not eat celery, cauliflower, and some mushrooms — when, in fact, if one is careful, one can eat small amounts of each of these foods, including wheat-based foods (but only one slice of bread a day).
Still, long term use of the low FODMAP diet is not recommended, even by those who developed the diet at Monash University, and as you’ll read in the article by respected holistic nutritionist, Julie Daniluk.
In fact, Monash University scientists make changes to their recommended list of low FODMAP foods weekly, while suggesting that one acquire their low FODMAP app to stay on top of their latest findings, and as a helpful and necessary aid when out grocery shopping.
Their scientists also recommend adding back high FODMAP foods, one by one, after 8 weeks on the diet to determine their impact on your health.
Monash University scientists are also big proponents of adopting a vegan diet, and eliminating sugars, as Ms. Daniluk recommends. As a supplement to the low FODMAP diet, VanRamblings’ doc also recommends a regimen of Align Probiotic, should one’s digestive disorder rear its ugly head.
So that’s what been happening on the health front in VanRamblings’ life since the beginning of the year. Fortunately, we’re now feeling much better, and as we’ve written earlier, as long as our health holds out — and we’re doing pretty darn good, we think — our intention is to continue to publish daily on VanRamblings through the end of June, more sporadically in the summer, while ramping up our federal election coverage full steam ahead throughout the months of September and October, until year’s end.

Vessi Shoes | Local Pop-Up Store | 100% Waterproof Footwear

Vessi Footwear Pop-Up Shoppe | Vancouver | 1151 Robson Street | December 14, 15, 16 2018

While the members of our federal and provincial governments, and our newly-elected City Council, Park Board and School Board set about to do the work of the angels to make ours a freer, more welcoming, fairer and more just nation, province, city and region, the “big issues” of the day — given that for the first time in nearly 50 years, we are experiencing progressive governance at all three levels of government — are auspiciously and dutifully (if haltingly, at times) being taken care of, which is all to the good for Canadians, and particularly meaningful for all of us during this most festive and warm-hearted of seasons of good will.

Have you ever noticed, though, that while in the larger world — at work, with family, or with friends or neighbours — all goes well, it is the annoying little things that will tend to get you down, causing frustration and irritation (even if in the greater scheme of these things they don’t really matter): the jar that won’t open no matter what you do, the door that won’t close, the car that won’t start, and your shoes, socks and feet that get completely soaked when you step off a curb into a puddle, because there’s just no other option if your going to move forward.

Well, I’ve got the solution for the latter: no wet feet, no wet socks, no wet shoes ever, ever, ever again. Watch this video …

Vessi shoes for women or men mean no more soaked feet during the long winter rainy (or, on some days, snowy) season, no more stepping into puddles or slush and walking to your destination with absolutely freezing cold, soaked feet — that’s a thing of the past with Vessi footwear.

Here’s what I’ve found …

  • The fashionable and ultra-comfortable Vessi shoes are light as a feather, slip onto your feet and then hug the sides of your feet just below your ankle, allowing no water ingress no matter how many puddles you jump through;
  • They’re incredibly easy to clean, almost cleaning themselves;
  • The heel and arch support are just great, and the Vessi shoes are perhaps the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned.

So, why bring Vessi shoes to your attention now? Here goes …

Vessi Footwear Pop-Up Shoppe | Vancouver | 1151 Robson Street | December 14, 15, 16 2018

Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, the good folks at Vessi Footwear will host one of their very occasional pop-up shoppes, where you can purchase a pair (or more) of their shoes, usually at a deep discount ($99 Canadian, usual price $135 U.S. plus shipping). Vessi Footwear is a Vancouver-based company, started by two, young UBC scientists, who distribute their shoes worldwide — after having raised a million and a half dollars on Kickstarter a couple of years back — and because Vessi is Vancouver-based, we’re the only jurisdiction worldwide where Vessi hosts pop-up shoppes for customers, so that’s good for all of us who live in Vancouver.

So, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, from 11am til 9pm each day, at 1151 Robson right near the London Drugs, between Thurlow and Bute, you can pick up a pair, or two, of the must-have shoes if you’re a Vancouverite, and if you’re at all interested in keeping your feet warm and dry this winter.

Buy Nothing Day vs the Siren Call of All the Black Friday Specials

Black Friday 2018 | November 23rd

Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism.
Founded in September 1992 by Vancouver-based artist Ted Dave, and subsequently promoted annually by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, the founders of Adbusters magazine, Buy Nothing Day was designed as a means to examine the issue of overconsumption.
Early on, a decision was taken to hold Buy Nothing Day on Black Friday, the Friday of the American Thanksgiving long weekend, one of the ten busiest shopping days across North America, the day that signals the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and the day when retailers across North America discount consumer goods by 50% or more.
Although Black Friday is not an official holiday, many American states designate Black Friday as a holiday for state government employees. For many non-retail employees and schools who will celebrate the Thanksgiving long weekend (Thanksgiving in the United States is a more important holiday down south than Christmas), since 1952 Black Friday has marked the beginning of a four-day Thanksgiving weekend — the net result: to both increase the number of potential shoppers and boost the economy.
If you’re like me, your social media feeds are likely rife with posts imploring you to not to buy anything this upcoming weekend, to boycott Black Friday, and not give in to consumerism. God knows we’re a society of waste, we focus far too much on acquisition of consumer goods over building community, and our landfills are laden high with perfectly well-functioning consumer items that have been discarded for no reason other than waste.
Still and all, if you’re a pauper like me, a senior living on a fixed income of under $20,000 annually, or if you’re a minimum wage worker just barely getting by, yet you’ve had your heart set on finally buying the much-talked, and indispensable Instant Pot (on sale all over town at around $65, rather than its usual price of $130), or if you’re looking to make your first foray into Smart Home technology — because, why should the Smart Home be just the preserve of the wealthy? — or if there’s a sweater or a jacket that you see discounted at 70% off that you’ve had your eye on, would it really be an offense against God and all that is right and proper to treat yourself to a consumer good that you have long desired and can now afford.

Instant Pot sale on Black Friday, more than 50 per cent off the regular price

Not being a particular follower of fashion, and as much as we agree with the principle behind Buy Nothing Day, we also see that there’s a class issue involved. All well and good if you’re earning the average $65,000 median wage for those resident in Metro Vancouver, and whether you pay $129.99 (plus tax) for the Instant Pot, or the one-day Black Friday sale price of $64.99 (plus tax) makes no never mind to you, for seniors and others living on a fixed income, or for the working poor, the $72.80 (including sales tax) saving for the most popular Instant Pot model, the 6-quart Duo, or if you’ve got a large family, the $102.03 (including sales tax) saving on the 8-quart Instant Pot model, that’s a chunk of change in savings for those who’ve been waiting for the Instant Pot to go on sale — and the only day that happens is, you guessed it, Black Friday, in 2018 … on November 23rd.

Word to the wise: if you want that Instant Pot at the sale price, there are some conditions that have to be met. Whether it’s Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Walmart or Real Canadian Superstore, Instant Pots at the sale price are in short supply — retailers bring in only 100 Instant Pots to each store, which means that if you want one, you’re going to have to line up no later than 6am to get one, cuz let us assure you, there’ll be a great many folks waiting in line to purchase their new Instant Pot at a 50% or better saving.

Breville Smart Convection OvenThe Breville Smart Oven Pro Convection Toaster Oven, on sale at Best Buy at $240 (a $134.39 saving, including tax), reliable, long lasting, great for seniors and singles, a virtual replacement for your oven & a kitchen appliance people swear by, including me.

Now, we’ve written at length about the Instant Pot, and why it has become an essential kitchen tool — we feel the same way about our Breville Smart Oven Pro Convection Toaster Oven — which, by the way, is on sale for $126 off (including tax) its regular price, at Best Buy, the best deal in town for the Breville, the virtues of which one customer extols here.

Do you remember how we were writing about the Smart Home above?
Well, the Google Home Mini is on sale Black Friday, all over town for only $35, rather than at its regular $80 price — which makes for a pretty skookum $50.40 in savings (including tax), if your looking to tech enhance your life. Not bad. The Google Home Mini does all the same things the Google Home pictured in the ad above does, and much, much more (because more functionality is added each and every month by Google).
At $40 (last year, on sale), we bought a Google Home Mini during the holiday season — partly because we’re a tech-y guy, partly out of curiosity, and partly because it was on sale, and we are a parsimonious guy.
So, what do we use our Google Home Mini for?
To turn the lights off and on. When we’re away, using the Google Home app to turn up the thermostat while we’re on our way home, and to turn on the lights in our sensuous hovel just prior to opening the door to our home. We listen to BBC News, news from the American networks, CBC news and podcasts, and all of our other favourite podcasts, to check on the temperature and the weather forecast, as an alarm, and to listen to our favourite music or be introduced to new music.
In the holiday season, we use the Google Home Mini to automatically turn our balcony holiday light display on at 4pm, and off again at 8am. We use it as an aide when we’re cooking — and, if we were of a mind, to turn on our 4K TV to the Netflix, or the channel we want to watch or record.
Could we live without our Google Home Mini? Yes. Do we want to? No.

Black Friday 2018 | November 23rd | Flyers

Here are some Black Friday Flyers

The Sharp 55″ 4K Smart TV, at $450, at the Real Canadian Superstore (also on sale at Visions Electronics, for $448) seems like a pretty sweet deal, if you’re in the market for a 4K Smart TV. Here’s an even-handed review.

Buy Nothing Day

Now, we’re not saying that you should purchase items that you don’t need — we’re a firm believer in the stripped down, simple life. Still and all, if you’ve got your heart set on something, and you either need it, or really, really want to have it, and you’ve saved up your sheckles to buy it (we don’t buy anything on credit ourselves), we’re saying “why deny yourself”?

Sunday Reflection | Save Your Life | EWG’s Dirty Dozen Foods

EWG, the Environmental Working Group's 2018 most and least pesticide-ridden foods | Eat Organic
EWG: The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen & Clean 15 Foods | Eat Organic

From August 2016 through the end of October of that year, from the initial diagnosis of my terminal, inoperable Stage 4 hilar cholangeocarcinoma, I simply stopped eating. No appetite, simply wasn’t hungry. Didn’t feel well.

Not only did I have no appetite, but my entire intestinal system was in an uproar and in the early stages of shutdown, with my kidneys, gallbladder, biliary tract and bile duct, pancreas and liver pretty much shot and so cancer-ridden as to dramatically compromise my tenure on this Earth, my being kept alive a function of my Vancouver General Hospital gastro-intestinal surgeon, Dr. Fergal Donnellan, placing stents into my bile duct to keep things functioning, alleviating the jaundice that was serving to compromise my immune system, my bilirubin count up in the 200 range (normal bilirubin count: 17), my liver shot, my jaundiced body (but not spirit) causing me to glow yellow — not that I could see any difference between how I look normally, and the apparent way I looked to friends in this three month span of 2016 — keeping me bed-ridden, or in the hospital.

The bile duct system in the intestines, the organs and ducts that make and store bile (a fluid made by the liver that helps digest fat), and release it into the small intestine. The biliary tract includes the gallbladder and bile ducts inside and outside
The bile duct system in the intestines, the organs and ducts that make and store bile (a fluid made by the liver that helps digest fat), and release it into the small intestine. The biliary tract includes the gallbladder and bile ducts inside and outside.

Of course, aside from writhing around in my bed or finding myself in meu banheiro for hours on end, there was an upside to all the pain and misery that was now consuming my life: I was losing weight like mad, and I wasn’t spending any money! Now, anyone who knows me — as my daughter Megan is wont to point out — knows that I tend to be tubby. Dropping 70 pounds & not spending any money — what a great programme, I tell ya.

I didn’t announce my hilar cholangeocarcinoma to the world until October 7th, 2016, doing so only after arriving home from Vancouver General Hospital after a day of surgery, still a little fuzzy and discombobulated from the anaesthetic, but ready to reveal to the world that my time on this Earth was seemingly and abruptly, not to mention, painfully, coming to an end.

Not really oh woe is me, I thought, nor did I relay the information of my cancer diagnosis in an attempt to gain sympathy (or, empathy for that matter — as came to be my experience in the next months, though, as one person after another revealed their own cancer diagnoses to me), but more as a matter-of-fact “this is what’s happening to me, it’s been good knowing you, thank you for your support, and for indulging my idiosyncrasies all these years” message to friends on Facebook, and a whole lot of good-natured folks I had no idea had been following me on Facebook, among them friends I’d not communicated with in years, sometimes decades.

Now, my friend (and as it turned out, personal saviour), author and mom and lover of Alan Bayless, the incredible and talented — and “make no mistake, I would not be here today were it not for Maureen’s intervention on my behalf, consistently the only person and the right person to see me through the scarifying experience of my cancer journey, and the only person who knows the whole story” — Maureen Bayless, about whom I will write, and dedicate more than one VanRamblings column in the future, in the story of my cancer journey, which will commence publishing in the aftermath of the current and hopeful 2018 Vancouver municipal election.

Marlie Oden, with whom I had worked as an arts journalist with the Lower Mainland community newspapers, as Director of Special Projects at Vancouver Magazine, and later publisher-editor of Festival magazine, published in support of Leonard Schein’s Festival Cinemas, upon reading in early October of my cancer diagnosis, got on the phone with me, texted and messaged me, told me of her own arduous cancer journey, a cancer with which she was still living, and set about to make arrangements to arrive at my now dark, dank and utterly messy home in mid-October, laden with an organic chicken from Whole Foods, as well as soups and prepared breakfast items from Whole Foods, salads and more, she and her husband leaving me a store of food that took me more than a month to eat, Marlie insisting, “Okay, Raymond. You’re going to eat well. You’re going to eat organically. You may not have much of an appetite, but you’re going to find a way to eat this food, whether you want to or not, because you need nutrition to keep up your strength, and to fight your cancer.” Hallelujah!

And with that, Marlie and her husband were gone.

I should probably say that I’d had no communication with Marlie in 20 years! Yet, there she was in my home, placing food into my refrigerator, giving me much needed instruction, showing a caring that was so heartening and spiritually uplifting that — as dire as everything looked, and would for months to come — for the first time in two months, Marlie gave me hope. You’re reading this, so you know I’m still around. When you run across Marlie and Maureen thank them for me, will ya — please.

I managed to consume the chicken over a one-week period, the soups over the month and into November, and most of the breakfasts over the course of the next month. So, thanks to Marlie and her husband, I was eating again, my weight loss slowed, and my strength began to return.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like (maybe that should read, love) strong, emotionally healthy, and spiritually sound women — any part of me that is at all recommendable comes in consequence to the women in my life, women who have cared for me against all reason, I have often thought to myself, but who have taken on the task of helping to make me a better, a healthier and more spiritually-centered person, women who have given me life and a sense of purpose. Marlie Oden and Maureen Bayless certainly are members of the cadre of compassion who have contributed to creating the best parts of me, and of how I daily bring myself to the world.

EWG, the Environmental Working Group's 2018 most and least pesticide-ridden foods | Eat Organic
Read through the entire Dirty Dozen list of foods that the Environmental Working Group insists you should never eat, unless they’re organically-grown.

Marlie says, “Eat organic,” I eat organic. Of course, I already knew that — but I’d bought into the myth that eating organically would cost a fortune, and living like a pauper like I do, I thought, “Well, I oughta be eating organically, but can I really afford it?” Turned out, though, that eating organically doesn’t cost any more money than eating pesticide-ridden, corporate-farmed agri-business foods. For instance, if you look at the graphic above, you’ll notice that strawberries are first on the list of foods that if you’re not eating them organically, and you’re consuming pesticide-ridden agri-business strawberries, as I wrote on Facebook the other day …

“Strawberries contain residue from up to 22 pesticides — eating ‘regularly grown’ strawberries is like eating little bits of death, as yummy as they may look and taste. UNLESS, unless, unless the strawberries are ORGANIC — in which case, you may enjoy this life-giving food to your heart’s content. A couple of weeks ago, Whole Foods Market had 3 pounds of organic strawberries for only $9.99 (regular price, $6.98 a pound). This week, Choices Market has stepped up to plate, offering 3 pounds of organic strawberries for only $9.94!”

If you’re a Trump / Alex Jones conspiracy theorist, and you believe that there’s no difference between organic foods and agri-business grown foods, have at it, believe what you will. Me, I’m going to eat organic, especially when organic foods are often cheaper, much cheaper, than agri-business grown foods you’ll find at your local grocer. For instance, organic celery at Safeway — which is #10 on the Dirty Dozen list of foods you should stay away from, or as the folks at the Environmental Working Group write, “More than 95% of conventional celery samples tested positive for pesticides. A maximum of 13 pesticides were detected on a sample of conventional celery.” Oh gosh, I want to have some conventional celery right now … not — is consistently cheaper, often much cheaper, than the agri-business celery that you’re probably buying regularly, or periodically.

EWG, the Environmental Working Group's 2018 Clean 15 Foods, the least pesticide-ridden foods
Read through the entire Clean Fifteen list of foods that the Environmental Working Group suggests you can eat, even if the foods are not organically-grown.

The Environmental Working Group also publishes a Clean Fifteen list of foods you can consume without having to be too concerned as to whether they’re organic or not, including as above, avocadoes, corn on the cob, pineapples, cabbages, onions, frozen peas, papayas, mangoes, eggplant, honeydew melons, canteloupe, cauliflower and broccoli — because these foods have thick, impenetrable “skins”, or the Environmental Working Group found that these foods had no detectable pesticide residues.

You’ll notice, too, that on both lists, at the bottom of the linked pages there’s an expanded list of foods under each category, so you’ll want to take a look at the expanded lists, in order to know what you should, or should not, be eating.

If you’re a parent of young children, as is the case with OneCity Vancouver’s Alison Atkinson, Cara Ng, Anna Chudnovsky and Christine Boyle (and their respective partners), or if you’re a good BC NDP supporting parent of a young child, like Kurt Heinrich and Theodora Lamb (should I have reversed the order of names? hmmm), Stepan Vdovine and Mira Oreck, or physician-to-be Cailey Lynch who’s co-habiting with some guy named David Eby (isn’t he British Columbia’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and maybe they’re, like I dunno, married? … who knows, it’s so beyond me …) — and, how in heck did I manage to miss mentioning Vancouver City Councillor Melissa De Genova again? … ew, she’s not going to like that, and what about new mom, and great and democratic Park Board Commissioner, Erin Shum, or mom-to-Grade One student and fiscally prudent and dedicated and hard-working Vancouver School Board trustee, Lisa Dominato? — or even if you’re not a died-in-the-wool progressive — or, maybe you’re the hope of our future, COPE candidate for City Council, Derrick O’Keefe, and his partner, Andrea Pinochet-Escudero, who have a great young son — it’s probably in the best interests of your family, and your family’s health, to take a look at both EWG lists, and act according to your conscience & as I say above, in yours and your family’s best interests.