Whiskey and Wisdom

I am not a Luddite.  I think technology, like money, makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master.  Having lived short six decades on this planet, I have no doubt that our lives are better in many material ways than in the good old days.  There are people I love who are still here because of medical technology.  For that matter, I could have died of pneumonia a couple of times if it hadn’t been for effective antibiotics.

I have a rural home that runs off grid, quite luxuriously, thanks to the development of affordable solar power devices.  My cell phone and the internet have freed me from being chained to an office, allowing me to travel at will without neglecting anything essential.  And for everything I use there are hundreds or thousands of applications, devices and accessories that I have no clue about.

But I never got religious enough to believe that technology will solve all our problems, including the ones that careless use of our inventions create.  Enter the era of complexity.

When I was a young man, I could tinker with and often fix my old cars without any mechanical training.

It was simply logical trial and error to figure out what made things go and how to get them going again.  Now I can’t even find my spark plugs underneath all of the cabling and electronics. Even if I could, most problems aren’t even mechanical but require expensive diagnostic devices and experience to find and fix.

This is also what has happened to the rest of the world.  We are increasingly less self-reliant and ignorant of the systems that we depend on.  Most of us understand risk as dealing with known paths with unknown outcomes.  But we can deal with that in life because we have paths to choose and can at least consider worst-case scenarios.

But the world today has now transcended risk and reached a state of complexity that makes predicting the future impossible. In other words, we are dealing today with what military strategists have always referred to as the unknown unknowns.

In other words, we not only don’t know the outcome of taking certain paths, we don’t even know where they are.

That feeling of being lost in the fog is not a sign of brain softening due to age.  It is the reaction of a sane mind in an unpredictable, interconnected, complex world. In fact, if you don’t feel bewildered, you probably live alone in the woods.

The good news is that experience and perspective become a valuable resource.  Unlike younger folks who have grown up in this environment, unthinkingly dependent on connectivity, we have the ability to be resilient.  The fact that we remember how to do things like have conversations face to face instead of texting the person next to us or even sending heartfelt notes of encouragement through old-fashioned mail gives us an advantage. We still read books that don’t need batteries. Things that are free and that nobody is selling can entertain us.

Above all, most of us have learned to be comfortably alone with our thoughts, regaining perspective without needing external prompting or stimulation.  Wisdom is like good whisky. It is distilled drop-by-drop and aged quietly.

When things fall apart, a small sip provides a lot of courage. And of course, it is best when shared.

Article by Alan Atkins, CPCA

Heart Healthy Recipe: The Ultimate Mixed Bean Salad

A summertime staple, this version is sure to please with its fresh taste and colorful hues. Make this salad a day ahead to let the zippy dressing soak into the beans. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

8 oz (227 g) green beans, trimmed

8 oz (227 g) yellow beans, trimmed

1 cup (250 mL) shelled soy beans (edamame)

1 can (19 oz/540 mL) sodium reduced chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

2 green onions, sliced

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup (60 mL) apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard

1 tbsp. (15ml) canola oil

1/2 tsp (2ml) fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup (60ml) each chopped fresh basil and parsley or mint 

Directions

1. In a saucepan of boiling water, cook green and yellow beans and soy beans for 3 minutes, drain well and rinse under cold water to chill. Cut green and yellow beans into 2 inch (5 cm) pieces. Set bean mixture aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine chickpeas, celery, green onions and red pepper. Add bean mixture to bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, oil and pepper. Pour over bean mixture and toss to coat. Add basil and parsley and toss again.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1 cup/250 mL) – Calories 116, , Protein 6 g, Total Fat 4 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Trans Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrates 16 g, Sugar 4 g, Fibre 5 g, Sodium 145 mg, Potassium 329 mg.

Recipe developed by Emily Richards, P.H. EC. The Heart and Stroke Foundation. Reprinted with Permission.

Seniors Tip: Gout – The Disease of Excess…

We had a doctor friend round for dinner recently and after solving all the world’s problems before dessert, we moved onto the much more interesting subject of my latest blood test. The results were the best they had been in a long while, with one annoying exception – high uric acid.

“Living the high-life,” my doctor friend said, as he helped himself to seconds of my wife’s famous chocolate pudding, “just like Kim Jong-un.” Despite his penchant for Swiss cheese, fresh Danish pork and old French cognac, of course we now know the Dear Leader simply had a less-than-dictatorial cyst on his ankle.

Gout has been described as ‘the disease of kings’ ever since Henry VIII was diagnosed with it. This was at a time when neither the average English peasant, nor modern-day North Koreans, it seems, had access to such a high protein and high alcohol diet.

Gout was not of course limited to 16^th century kings: indeed Sir Isaac Newton, Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Franklin helped confirm gout as ‘the rich man’s disease’.

The kidneys break down proteins into purine, which is further metabolized into uric acid. This would be fine if the body’s uric acid levels were only due to cells dying naturally, but uric acid levels can sky-rocket when high-protein foods are added to the mix. The kidneys are then working over-time to reduce those uric acid levels. A certain amount of uric acid is good for you – it is great at mopping up nasty free radicals in the body. But when uric acid levels reach a certain concentration (over 7.0 mg/dl), it begins to crystallize. In fifty percent of cases, that crystallization happens in the joint before the big toe (and scientists still don’t know why it happens there!). But the second most popular destination for crystals to form is in the kidneys, where they appear as excruciatingly painful kidney stones.

While there is some evidence of high uric acid levels being hereditary, all sources agree that it is a lifestyle disease. Diets high in meat, fish and fructose-sweetened drinks put you at a high risk. As does the consumption of beer and spirits (but interestingly, not wine). Purine-rich vegetables, such as spinach, beans and lentils, were once thought to contribute to the body’s total purine, but that has been proven incorrect.

Mom was right – vegetables are good for you!

Abdominal obesity is also a major factor. A body-mass index (BMI) of 35 or more increases a male’s risk of gout three-fold (find yours at www.ow.ly/GXuem). Yes, gout tends to be a male disease – likely because males consume more protein and their excess weight tends to be around the waist, which has a much greater effect on BMI.

A uric acid concentration of 9.0 mg/dl increases the risk by 3.5% for every year the level is high. That means if you have been overweight for 14 years, you have a 50% chance of developing gout. That is a shocking statistic. To reduce the risk two things need to change: waist size and diet. A combination of exercise and a sensible diet will ensure you don’t end up suffering like Henry VIII did!

Article by Alex Handyside, CPCA

Did you know? Your Pillow

Ever wake up with a cramp in your neck or a stiff back? The culprit may be your pillow. Many people don’t know that a pillow has a lifespan.

Follow these steps to see if yours needs replacing.

For a down pillow, fluff it up, and lay it on a hard, flat surface. Fold it in half and let it go. If it springs back it’s in good shape.

For a polyester pillow, do the same thing, but put a sneaker on the folded pillow and let go. If the sneaker holds the pillow down, It’s time to replace it. Remember, the lifespan of a down pillow is 5 to10 years, and for polyester, it’s 6 to 24 months. 

Source : Reprinted with Permission from Living Assistance Services www.laservices.ca, Article by www.101lifestyle.com Article Reprinted by Request.

Joke or Quote of the Month: Change

Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.

Anthony Robbins