MORE ON THE RING THAT BINDS US

   Seven years later the fall season showed a good wheat harvest and we began gathering the root crops of carrots and potatoes to roll through a basement window for winter’s storage in our new home.  Until then we had lived in two large rooms since banks refused to loan money to people in dry areas known for hailstorms.  Our three brothers had been helping build dikes with gates to aid in the upcoming spring runoff from the Cyprus Hills that would irrigate the land.  Rain had left the soil moist and the digging was easy.  Our brothers were nearing six feet in height and sharing the farm work building the wooden gates to control the spring flood that would be rushing from the Cyprus Hills in the spring.  As soon as these waters reached near the top of the dikes in one field the wooden gates were opened and the water rushed on to flood the next field until it reached Pakowki Lake.  Swans, geese and ducks could then be seen landing on its surface to feed on its bounties, and start coupling up to build nests among the grasses.

    One fall day we were digging up the root crops when one of us held up a carrot that glinted in the setting sun. Was this a new kind of vegetable?  With her daughters Mother viewed her long lost wedding ring.  A tiny carrot seed had brought it back to her with the help of that summer’s generous sun and rain.  The carrot showed a large top, and a solid gold waist with about a 9 inch long root, possibly the most valuable carrot ever produced.

    Our parents had another daughter, Esther, in 1927and a son, Harold, in 1931.  In Europe distant drums were sounding as their nations bickered amongst each other.  A man from Austria with evil intent declared war on England.  In l939 members of the royal family were sent to Canada to plead for assistance.  Our mother had worked from dawn to dusk for nearly two decades to have a modern home.  Now her wish was to help her daughters get an education that would qualify them for a less stressful life than hers had been.  We had to go to Medicine Hat for a high school education.  The Keyes family from a church there agreed to give Helen board and room for $30.00 a month.  It was so reasonable our parents brought extras like eggs, butter and other farm produce.  Mrs. Keyes deducted that from the original $30.00.  Helen completed high school there, then graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, took a course in dentistry in Toronto and sailed to Ivory Coast to help the people hear about the Christian life that promised an afterlife after accepting and then living out the Golden Rule of kindness and love that Jesus demonstrated while living on Earth.       

        

THE RING THAT BINDS US

  The wedding ring has been an important symbol in many cultures throughout time and change.  My mother and father were married in 1915.  Her wedding ring was a wide solid gold band, the kind in use at that time.  A dozen years later three sons and two daughters had joined them and three more children would complete their family in which one of their sons would serve overseas for 5 years in World War II.  Back at the farm, droughts and storms had brought difficult years for southern Alberta and some immigrants abandoned their homesteads and sought jobs elsewhere.  Mother sewed most of our clothing, usually made from hundred pound flour sacks.  The well in our yard usually dried up by mid June and water from our house eaves was not enough for our growing family.  The infrequent rains and hot summer sun made it necessary to carry buckets of water to the garden.  When the water barrels were empty my oldest brother loaded them in our horse drawn wagon and hauled water from other wells situated near Manyberries Creek, a mile from our home.  Water in these wells usually lasted all summer.

 At this point you may be wondering why our parents didn’t pawn our mother’s gold wedding ring for more urgent needs, for example, seeds for our garden that supplied most of our groceries.  Mother raised chickens and traded extra eggs and butter at the closest store – a 10 mile wagon trip to Orion, when we picked up our mail once a week.  When we heard the distant train whistle blow it was time to hitch up the two horses to the wagon since that told the train was close to Orion.  If there were no other supplies to unload at the stores, the train didn’t bother stopping and tossed the package of mail to the platform near the two grain elevators.

   You may wonder where Mother’s wedding ring was at this time.  Her mind and hands were so busy with her multiplicity duties, carrying water in for the laundry and seldom wore her ring.  I asked her if my sister and I could take turns wearing it sometimes.  She lifted it from her sewing machine drawer and told us to be sure to put it back.  She took us to the garden where she assigned the rows to each of us to begin weeding..  She told us that every time we found a wireworm in our row we had to pull it apart.  I felt so upset watching it struggle and would make “deals” with my braver sister.  “I’ll wash the dishes that have kettles to clean because they are the hardest to do.”  She took pity on me and the deal was done. You’ve likely guessed what happened.  The ring must have slipped from my small finger and was not seen again for many years. More on the ring tomorrow. 

HOME TESTING KITS

   All patients have the right to be intimately involved in their health care.  An increasing number of people are saying yes and are using one of the many do-it-yourself screening kits to test their blood or urine for many ailments daily, some on their doctor’s advice – monitoring blood glucose or blood pressure.

    TESTS THAT MONITOR DISEASE

Blood Glucose – Worth doing?  Yes, for people with type 1 diabetes, but for type 2 diabetes, the benefit is less clear so check with your doctor.  Monitoring glucose is essential for managing type 1diabetes and is nearly always encouraged by doctors who treat that condition.  They can adjust their diet and exercise routine and tailor insulin doses to keep their levels in the proper range.  That in turn reduces the risk of problems that stem from poorly controlled blood sugar, including seizures, blindness, kidney disease, and nerve damage.

    PROTHROMBIN

This is worth doing for certain people who take blood thinning drugs such as warfarin (Coumadin and generic).  Warfarin and other blood thinners can be lifesaving for people with atrial fibrillation or disorders that can cause blood clots in the brain, heart, legs or lungs.  But the medication can also cause dangerous or uncontrolled bleeding that can even be fatal in some cases.  Self monitoring can greatly reduce that risk.  A review of 14 trials published in the journal Lancet, for example, found that people who monitored and adjusted their warfarin dosages accordingly improved control of their blood clotting and had fewer blood clotting and fewer bleeding episodes compared to people who didn’t adjust their own doses.

   BLOOD PRESSURE

This is worth doing for people with elevated or borderline elevated blood pressure, especially for treating hypertension.  Research shows that an average of several readings over the course of a week provides a more reliable measurement than a sporadic reading. 

    Other cardiovascular tests for Cholesterol, C-reactive is not worth doing.  Experts say you should skip them since levels don’t change much from day to day.  It can be more accurate doing this testing at a doctor’s office where blood pressure can be elevated by patient anxiety known as “white coat hypertension.”  You could also go to a walk-in clinic.

QUICK TIPS

   WALKING IN PLACE:  During the commercial breaks in many programs on TV, a study found that those who followed this certain advice over the course of an hour of TV watching, walked an average of 25 minutes, burned 148 calories and roughly took 2,100 steps, which equaled to about a mile.

   BENEFITS OF EATING FISH:  You likely already know fish is good for your heart, brain, and waistline. Now a large study suggests that eating fish high in omego-3 fatty acids might help protect the colon, at least in women.  Those who said they ate an average of three servings of fish a week had a lower risk of polyps (abnormal growths in the colon) than women who ate less than one serving a week.  The finding didn’t apply to men.

   FOLLOWING NEWS:  A recent study of 959 Italian adults suggests that it might help in dieting.  Those who reported keeping up with the news via newspapers, magazines, TV, or online were more likely to eat a healthy Mediterranean-style diet than people with less media exposure.  The authors offered a possible explanation:  Italian media are focused on nutrition, exercise, and weight.  Italians might be getting a dose of healthy diet advice.

   USE COLOUR AT MEALS:  Eating food on plates of contrasting colour might help you cut portions according to a study of 60 adults at a college reunion.  Half ate the pasta with tomato sauce: the other half ate pasta with white cream sauce.  Participants put more pasta with tomato sauce on red plates than those who did on white plates, while people in the white sauce group put more on white plates than on red ones.

   FOR BLOOD PRESSURE BOTH ARMS MATTER:  A difference of 15 millimeters of mercury or more in the systolic (top) number between your left and right arms might indicate an increased risk of a stroke or death from heart disease, according to a recent review of 28 studies in the Lancet.  An even a 10 mmHg is linked to a higher risk of hardened leg arteries.

   ANTIDEPRESSANTS ARE LINKED TO FALLS:  Taking even a low dose of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) such as sertraline (Zoloft and generic), was linked to a higher rate of falls in a study of 248 nursing home residents with dementia in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.  Those taking an average dose had triple the risk of falls       

Compared with residents who didn’t take the drugs.

HOW TO AVOID GM FOODS

   There is new interest in gardening this spring.  Homeowners especially are working hard at it.  Gardeners have their own personal knowledge regarding the kind of soil and seed that is going into their food products.  There will no doubt be an increasing availability providing guarantees from Farmers Market participants, who are willing to expand on selling organic vegetables and fruits varieties that include their guarantees.  Genetically modified food is one that has had lab-replicated genes from other plants, animals and even viruses added to it in order to give it new characteristics – like resistance to insects or to extreme heat that provides an advantage in terms of hardy growth.  Today, 91% of soy products in the United States are genetically modified, as is 85% of corn products, and 88% of cottonseed, all grown on large industrial farms and other ingredients used in corn syrup, soy lecithin, cottonseed oil or sweeteners in soups, spreads and sauces – even infant formulas.   

  

   A prudent first step is in progress providing obligatory labeling that will indicate the presence of GMOs (genetically modified by food manufacturers.) Last fall a coalition that now includes more than 80 groups including Physicians for Social responsibility – launched the “Just Label It” campaign, asking the federal government to require labels on GM foods.  They are all over the supermarket but so far you’d never know it from the labels.  Hawaiian papaya, certain varieties of summer squash and as recently as last December – drought resistant corn-on-the cob have also joined the list of crops that the food & Drug Administration has reviewed for genetically modification in the United States.  Pushing the envelope even further the agency is considering green lighting genetically altered salmon which would be bred with DNA that makes it grow to full size twice as fast as wild salmon. Many scientists feel there has not been enough proof before consumers can buy them.  “No one has been willing to fund this proof and needs more peer-reviewed research,” says Marion Nestle PhD, a professor of Nutrition at New York University and author of “Safe Food.”  Michael R Taylor, as deputy commissioner for all food as the commissioner of food and nutrition programs, was once vice-president for their public policy, a bio-tech company that produces 90% of genetically modified seeds in the world.  Monsanto’s position is that “there is no need for or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans.”  The burden of proof should fall on both the government and the companies that are producing these crops.  For safety, buyers can choose to shop with GM-free retailers.

MINDING WHAT THE HEART IS SAYING

   Our hearts are the most important muscle in our body.  By minding the advice of John Longhurst , MD, PhD, a cardiologist and the director of the Susan Samueli,Center of Integrative Medicine at the at the University of California, at Irvin.  Since the heart has no audible language voice, it must depend on the wisdom of well educated doctors to help strengthen its power Center.  Doctors use blood pressure numbers to signal danger when the heart lacks the energy for strength.

   The newest weapon in the fight against heart attacks is acupuncture.  Research suggests that weekly acupuncture sessions can slash systolic blood pressure by up to 20 points.  Electroacupuncture, uses battery-driven special acupuncture needles to produces results at par with prescription drugs.  Dr. Longhurst adds, “Just as you would with medication you need to continue getting regular treatments to see results – and this with very few side effects or risks. A flood of feel good hormones will short circuit stress, especially when as you gradually learn to choose positive thoughts that spark a flood of feel good hormones.”

   According to a study of the Institute of Heart, practicing positive emotion as well as positive refocusing is easy.  When you feel anxiety coming on, identify what you are stressed out about.  Then hold the thought in your mind like a freeze-frame of a movie.  As you do this, breathe deeply for several minutes and focus your attention on your heart beat.  Now identify a positive feeling such as an appreciation for a pet or a loved one.  “This calms our emotions and shifts your attention away from negative thoughts”, says Deborah Rozman, PhD, a behavioral psychologist.  Though it can be tough to let go of negative thoughts when you are fuming, regularly practicing this positive refocusing technique can result in fewer stressed out moments overall.  Even if you can’t find the recommended 10 minutes a day for positive thinking, a couple of minutes here and there helps.

   Tai chi is a form of Chinese art sometimes called Chinese Yoga) is more than just a gentle way to work out.  Practicing these ancient disciplines can reduce stress and have a powerful effect on metabolic syndrome – a cluster of five conditions that ups your risk of heart disease reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure and trims the waist size by at least an inch, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  These slow-mo sports can burn as many calories as intensive activities.             

              

   

STAY STRONGER LONGER

    No one expects to break a body bone but when one of the 206 bones in our bodies snaps, everything changes.  A break may mean doctor’s appointments, x-rays, perhaps surgery, physical therapy, a cast, or even more surgery, physical therapy, and months of limited mobility.  If you are over age 40, you may feel concern that this fracture may point to many more to come.  What you fear is osteoporosis, the disease that leaves your bones brittle and prone to more fractures or broken bones.  Eight million women and two million men who are over 50 have osteoporosis and another 34 million have osteopenia, a stage of bone decline that leads to full-blown osteoporosis.  But there is a protection plan.

   The most effective way to protect bones is to make sure you are getting enough calcium during your lifetime.  Dairy products like fat-free milk and yogurt are excellent sources.  If you are lactose intolerant, go to other sources like canned sardines and salmon, cheddar cheese, and tofu (if prepared with calcium sulfate).  “Each body can handle up to 600 mg in one 8 hour period and absorbs only about 30 % of that.  This comes close to the daily amount required “according to Ethel Siris, MD.  It should be noted that calcium carbonate should be taken with meals,” says Director of the Osteoporosis at Columbia Medical Center in New York City.  Calcium citrate can be taken any time of the day. At elevated levels the mineral can cause kidney stones and a slightly heightened chance of heart attack.

   Three ounces of fish includes 21 g of protein, a cup of low-fat milk also provides 305 mg of calcium.  Tofu prepared with calcium sulfate is a good non-dairy source of the mineral.  Fat-free plain yogurt has 452 mg of calcium.  An egg yolk contains 100 % of your daily vitamin D needs..  Manufacturers sometimes fortify orange juice with calcium.  Some cereals are enriched with both calcium and vitamin D.  You can’t absorb calcium without vitamin D.  A glass of vitamin D-fortified milk has about l20 IU.  Vitamin D in it and is synthesized by the skin when sunlight touches it.  A blood test can confirm if you are getting enough vitamin D so stick to a limit of 4,000 units of vitamin D daily, but best to stay under that unless diagnosed with a severe deficiency.  Dr. Siris recommends a supplement with 400 IU of vitamin D (as cholecalciferol).  When you increase protein intake for a woman up to 154 pounds (to 77 grams per day) a multi-university study published in Aging Health showed 56 grams.  Add another 21 g a day to improve bone strength with – poultry, fish, lentils and beans. 

  

      

   

CURING DISEASE WITHOUT CREATING DISABILITY

Surgery to remove a child's tonsils to treat sleep apnea, a toddler was cranky and given a prescription for codeine syrup.  The mother measured out the exact dose of the syrup prescribed by her doctor (to repeat it every six hours).  A fever and wheezing developed.  On the second night following surgery his mother noticed his face looked pale.  She called 9-1-1 but the paramedics could not revive him.  An autopsy showed the child had toxic levels of morphine in his blood.  The New England Journal of Medicine, Canadian drug researchers revealed the toddler had extra copies of a gene that converts codeine into morphine.  It is not just the drugs prescribe to children that can harm them.  Like almost half the new mothers in Canada, a Toronto mother was prescribed Tylenol No. 3 (with codeine) after giving birth to her son.  Twelve days later he died of a morphine overdose.  These adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a popular pain reliever. More than 2,500 Canadian children die from them each year and many more develop permanent disabilities such as heart damage and loss of hearing.

  Some other examples: life-threatening skin reactions to ibuprofen, anaphylactic reactions to antibiotics and destruction of bone tissue from corticosteroids.  “Young children are particularly vulnerable because they cannot express a response to a medication,” says Bruce Carlton, a clinical pharmacologist at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.  “Over 75 percent of drugs used to treat children have never been tested for safety in children,” he concluded.  Carlton’s concerns led him to set up the Canadian Pharmacogecomic Network for drug Safety (CPNDS) with University of British Columbia geneticist Michael Hayden to track and investigate ADRs in children.  The network operates in 13 children’s hospitals from coast to coast.  Carleton, also a senior clinician at Vancouver Child and Family Research Institute, estimates that half of ADRs in children results from differences in genetic makeup that cause some children to break down certain drugs differently.  The FDA in United States and Health Canada have issued warnings that breast-feeding mom’s who take codeine should watch their babies for shallow breathing, limpness, unusual sleepiness and other signs of morphine overdose.  Regulators also required drug manufacturers to change the labeling to highlight the potential risk to children.  The network is doing a study to test the benefits of a predictive DNA saliva test.  Three hundred Ontario mothers will take it.  Ultrarapid metabolizers will be given a pain reliever other than codeine, such as ibuprofen.       

TIPS FOR HEART HEALTH

   Doctors on Government panels were asked for their advice and were told that the saturated fat in meat and dairy products was the main villain when caring for the heart.  Consumers did the logical thing and cut down on total fat while upping carbohydrates.  Research now shows that the sugar and refined flour in our hamburger buns, bagels, pizzas, cookies and sodas are even more problematic.  Stripped of fiber and other nutrients, these unhealthy carbohydrates zip-line through the digestive tract and into the bloodstream, where they deliver a triple dose of heart damage, raising harmful triglycerides, lowering protective HDL and raising blood pressure. Harvard’s Walter Willett, MD., says “Treat cheese as dessert, not the main course, and favor lean meat such as grass-fed bison and getting more exercise to keep the body tuned up.”

  Exercising for an hour a day can be a little daunting.  Any activity is good for the ticker and new research shows that you can maximize its heart-attack proofing benefits and spend time at the gym by making three simple changes to your sweat schedule.  You can double, even triple the heart-protecting benefits even when you exercise for less time.  “Short cardio bursts make your heart work harder and pump more blood with each beat which gives strength to your entire cardiovascular system,” says David Swain, PhD, a professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University.  It also prompts your muscles to develop more mitochondria, tiny energy-making units within cells that use sugar and fat for fuel.  The more mitochondria you have, the better your muscles become at utilizing carbohydrates, improving the body’s insulin sensitivity.  The result is that less sugar floats around in your blood and this lowers the risk of Type 2 diabetes, a major precursor of heart disease, and may give you a greater reduction in blood pressure.  When you pick up the pace, artery walls produce nitric oxide, which boosts their ability to dilate so blood flows more easily.

   “You gauge the intensity based on your own fitness level,” says Sharonne N. Hayes, M.D., a cardiologist and founder of the Women’s Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, MN.  To find your maximum heart rate, multiply your age by 88 %, then subtract that number by 206 to get your MHR.  A heart rate monitor will also gauge your beats.  If you are 50, multiply 50 by by 0.88 to get 44 and then subtract that result from 206. Your MHR is then 162. You can use the talk test.  When working at high intensity, you won’t be able to speak a full sentence without taking a deep breath. 

   

SUNDAY MORNING

Sunday morn my memory box

  Opens as before,

Recalling gentle days of time,

   Treading ancient paths once more.

On dusty trails that hoped to be,

   A driving road in time,

We hopped and skipped those windblown paths,

    Left the Sweet Grass Hills behind.

Their distance nears a hundred miles

   Their gentle slopes bring calm,

And marks the line to USA,

   To share their healing balm. 

Orion’s constellation joins,

   With Taurus bands as king,

Announcing end of Aprils’ mark,

    With twinkling stars of spring.

  

Spring runoff rushed from Cyprus Hills,

   As farmers sloped their land,

Draining waters to Pakowki Lake

    With wood gate tools in hand.

 Now come with me to Sunday school,

    The Kingbirds urged us on,

To hide their sacred nesting place,

     While meadowlarks sang their songs.

 To west a gently sloping hill,

   Swept golden acres of flowers,

That edged up to a poplar grove,

    That led to still more bowers.

Farmers built the one-room school,

   That served for church as well,

A barn for horseback rider folks,

    When teachers rang the bell.

 Mrs. Freed would play the organ,

    Frank Weeks led bass in song,

Weeks’ descendants over a hundred years,

    Still live there and carry on.

(Last yearAlberta bestowed them special 100 year honours.)

THOUGHTS TO REMEMBER FOR EACH DAY

   Each day I know there will be at least one e-mail in my computer’s mailbox.  In the early hours of the morning the thought for each day is entered.  Today the thought is a short one but may take many years to learn the lesson anew and put it into practice it each day.  A parliamentary report was tabled last November, entitled “Not to be Forgotten: Care of Vulnerable Citizens.”   Elder abuse afflicts many of the elderly, when retirees can suffer from ill-treatment.  The greatest and fastest-growing form is not physical violence but is actually financial.  The parliamentarians’ likened financial elder abuse to a tsunami in its growth and scope.

   The view is endorsed by non-parliamentarians as well.  “I’ve seen elder abuse every day of my 17 years caring for older adults,” says Tammy Rankin of the Durham Network in Durham Region, just east of Toronto.  “I have not seen any abuse cases where money wasn’t the root cause.  It is absolutely an epidemic, the key questions for retirees are:  What can I do about it?   Whom can I trust?  What can I do to protect my own interests while ensuring that the needs of my deserving loved ones are also met?  “There are many schemers who want to part us from our savings.  News reports of financial abuse and fraud now have become a regular occurrence, and those are only the cases that are reported,” notes Jay Chalke, former public guardian and trustee of British Columbia. 

   New technology has in many ways made the work of the professional con artists much easier.  With the internet and instant wireless technology it is possible for criminals to find out about you in many ways and this has made their work much easier. Unfortunately, the parliamentary report also found that while criminals are increasingly targeting retirees, financial abuse can begin with Power of Attorney, abuse of joint bank accounts, and misuse of funds or property and fraud or forgery of documents and entrusting another person who banks for them.

   “You have an asset-rich older generation and a debt-ridden younger population struggling to make ends meet.  Relatives use the senior’s money for supplementing their own accounts, or they may use the money to invest in their home.  There are a lot of myths, like ‘That’s really my money, since I am going to inherit it anyway,’ and this is going to be the most significant issue in the next decade,” says Laura Watts, Canadian Center for Elder Law, Vancouver.  From ‘Not to be Forgotten.’

GLUTEN-FREE FOOD

  Gluten-free living could change your life if your body doesn’t like gluten.

The only treatment for this autoimmune disease – an allergy to the gluten protein found in wheat, barley, rye, beer and potato chips is to avoid the offending items.  Recently a number of food manufacturers and restaurants have begun to offer gluten-free options.  It doesn’t have to be a boring diet since these friendly foods can be both delicious and healthy.  Gluten can masquerade in brewers yeast, bulgur, couscous, malt flavorings, hydrolyzed wheat protein, kamut, seitan, semolina, spelt and triticale.  The Celiac Association of Canada publishes a pocket-sized dictionary which outlines which ingredients are safe, unsafe and questionable.  Maltodextrin (unless it is specified as corn sourced) is suspect.  Even ground black pepper can contain undeclared flour that is added to prevent clumping.  More information on the offending ingredients can be found at www.celiac.ca.

    When oats is planted near other gluten-type grains during the growing or processing, the labeling regulations currently prohibit manufacturers from calling oats or oat products gluten-free according to Shelly Case, author of Gluten-free: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Perfect Paperback, 2008, Cream Hill Estates is a brand name: Only Oats are the two Canadian companies that sell pure, uncontaminated oats and oat products.  There are nutritious gluten-free flours made from whole grains, beans and nuts but these aren’t commonly used in commercial gluten-free products.  In case any commercial flours are not fortified with folic acid and iron so it is important to get these two items elsewhere.  According to Alexandra Anca, a registered dietician and author of “The Complete Gluten-Free Diet and Nutrition guide (Robert Rose, 2010, quinoa, buckwheat, and teff are three of the stand-outs.  Quinoa is a seed which provides the most protein, she says.  Buckwheat is also a seed that is packed with fiber, nutrients and antioxidants, and sometimes found under the name kasha, or roasted buckwheat.  Half a cup of dried teff, a tiny ancient grain, provides roughly 40 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron.  Quinoa can be used in place of rice, kasha makes a great base for stuffing and teff can stand in for polenta.  Millet and amaranth are two healthy whole grain options.  Add whole grains, grasses (such as wild rice), nuts, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruit to your dishes.  These “safe” grains can be added to soups, stews and chili or added to salads, and to extend hamburger patties.  Add ground nuts and beans to muffins and brownies.   Download a free copy of “Pulses and the gluten-Free Diet.  Visit www.pulsecanada.com.”