quinoa

Was so tired this morning from staying up 'til 1 am uploading pictures, I drank a soy latte as I got ready, and another to take to work.

I ran out of steel cut oats so I just cooked the next grain I found in the cupboard - Quinoa (incidentally, a difficult word to type).

Accidentally burnt the spelt toast and was too rushed to make another piece, so I scraped the black bits into the sink and smothered the rest in the omega 3 margarine and mom's strawberry jam.

Had the Quinoa at coffee break. Turned out to be not too bad with apple, raisins, pistachios (still the Christmas leftovers), cinnamon, sugar, and a little soy.

Skipped lunch for spinning class; ate banana and yogurt with raw sugar and cinnamon as I listened in on a conference call.

Afternoon snack - tomato and avocado with apple cider vinegar dressing, and spelt toast with margarine (the cheap kind, but non-hydrogenated - still, better check the trans-fats on that one).

Desk raid - some salt-n-vinegar popcorn from Kari, and Tesco wine gums from Elisa.

less ice cream - more cake!

The new healthy low cholesterol lifestyle hasn't taken off as well as I'd planned.

Yesterday started out well, with the standard - soy latte, spelt toast with (Omega 3 transfat-free non-hydrogenated) margarine and strawberry jam (made by mom last week so it's almost like fresh fruit), steel-cut oats with raisins, cinnamon, blueberries, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

No cholesterol there!

Went a little downhill at lunch - working at home, wanted something quick and easy - two egg omelette, with parmesan cheese and a whole lotta sea salt (yum!) and another slice of spelt toast.

Well, two eggs are better than three... and no butter.

Afternoon snack, one hour later, a very healthy banana and yogurt, with some raisins and pistachios (leftover ingredients for Christmas biscotti that never got made). But wait - what's this on the yogurt label... 10 mg cholesterol per serving?

Afternoon snack two, two hours later - I go to the pastry shop with Karen. We resist the cookies and get muffins instead. Hers has chocolate, mine has blueberries and cranberries. The muffins look like they might be whole wheat.

Three hours later, 6 pm, I'm squeezed into a pew with about half my family at the Tsawassen Baptist Church, waiting for my nephew's graduation ceremony to start at 7 pm. Already getting the hungry growlies, and I haven't brought anything to snack on. I ask my sister if she has a cake for afterwards (yes, of course). Phew, good. Scanning the program , I notice there are refreshments after the ceremony. I look at the list of speeches, processions and musical interludes and try to estimate how long it will take 300 grads to file across the stage. Best case scenario, I'm in that pew for a good 3 hours.

I get my niece to come with me out to my car and get my water bottle, commenting on the way back in that the church could use a concession stand. She rolls her eyes and reminds me of the time I drove us to Seattle and insisted on stopping at all the "Free Coffee" rest areas. I remind her how much she enjoyed all the home-made cookies that came along with the coffee.

Three hours later, processions walked, diplomas collected and pictures taken, we seek out the refreshments. An apple juicebox (what are you, in kindergarten? asks my niece, as I ask her to open the impossible straw for me), stoned wheat thins and cheddar, pepperoni, chocolate chip cookies, two-bite brownies, nuts'n'bolts, lemon loaf... and three kinds of cake.

I take a brownie, lemon loaf, cracker and cheese (no pepperoni). My niece gets us all a piece of cake - chocolate for her, carrot for me (no cholesterol in carrots).

Back at the house, I'm still hungry; my sister gives me a big plate of meatballs and rice. The sauce? Chili sauce, grape jelly, and mustard.

Well... no cholesterol in chilis, grapes or mustard seeds.

Grand finale - more cake! This one from the local bakery; layers of butter cake, pastry, and raspberry jam, smothered in creamy icing, congratulating Reid on his graduation.

Congratulations cakes don't count as cholesterol, do they?

5000 calories

Porcupine Rim in Moab, Utah is a fairly technical, strenuous mountain bike ride - 61 km with a 900 m climb to start and lots of ups and downs. Oh, and did I mention the 37 degree heat?

It took 9 hours to ride the whole trail, including pictures stops at "oh wow" viewpoints, and snack stops in rare bits of shade.

Even with 4 litres each, we ran out of water with 10 miles still to go.

The trail was demanding, remote, hot, dusty, a little dangerous, exquisitely beautiful, and enormously fun.

Burning 5000 calories was an unexpected bonus.

It has to be some sort of record. It's been over a week but I've left it on my heart-rate monitor just so I can go back and look at it from time to time.

The reward for this great effort?

Dinner at Pasta Jay's - the best patio restaurant in Moab. A big garden salad with olives and blue cheese dressing; and enormous plate of ricotta and spinach-stuffed cannelloni, in rich tomato sauce, baked with mozzarella cheese; crusty garlic bread; and to top it off - a huge double-scoop American ice cream cone - coffee on the bottom, cookies'n'cream on top.

And not one ounce of guilt.

the best dinners are free

especially when it's seafood with your best party-crashing friends!

After nibbling a few canapés at Steamworks with Cheryl and Cindy while looking over the 6 photographs that comprised the Vancouver exhibit of Lori's Guatemalan photos, and after Cindy determined that the drinks were not complimentary, the three of us decided to go somewhere for some real food.

Cindy, who was triple-booked for the evening, suggested we tag along to her second function - a big shindig at Monk McQueen's thrown by a friend in real estate.

Not sure what to expect - we'd heard there was a jazz singer, but that's about it - we were ushered upstairs. We'd barely introduced ourselves when we were offered canapés (ahi tuna on a wonton crisp? grilled lamb tart? stacked crab cake with wasabi?) and drinks (complimentary).

We settled out on the sunny patio with our drinks, plucking canapés off trays as they whisked by, and decided that small, garnished bits of fish on tiny wafers actually make quite a good dinner, if you eat enough of them.

Then we ran into Keith - who was working his way through the beer list - and his German girlfriend Susanna, who pointed out the buffet.

Did someone say Buffet?!?

The three of us made our way over as nonchalantly as we could, and piled little side plates with crab cakes, oyster fritters, smoked salmon, dill creme fraiche, marinated vegetables, figs, satays, and crusty bread.

As we mingled around a bit, chatting with Keith and Susanna, and Keith's brother Mark, the buffet was replenished, this time with cheese plates.

We floated over for poppyseed chevre, strawberries, double-cream brie, aged stilton, blue cheese, and impossibly rich crusted goat cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

As the third chevre round melted in my mouth I thought, I'm going to pay for this tomorrow.

I guess I'll wait 'til next week to start worrying about my LDL cholesterol :)

know your numbers

I went to the free "know your numbers" health screening today at work - blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index, and cholesterol. I sat patiently waiting my turn, thinking smugly of 6 hour bike rides, body blast classes, berries and soy every day, and barely a drink since January. The pinprick blood test would reveal lipids and glucose levels so stunningly low that that the nurses would gush in amazement and declare me a paragon of health.

I read the handout about high blood pressure, stress, and heart disease with bemused detachment, and chirped smugly to the nurse about commuting to work by bike. She went through my lifestyle habits (nope, never ever smoked!), weighed me, measured my height, squeezed blood from my finger, put it all in a little machine, and started writing down numbers.

age - 38 (when she said "you look so much younger!" I decided she was the loveliest woman I'd ever met)
height - 161 cm
weight - 54 kilos
BMI - 21 (good)
blood pressure - 110/80 (low)
glucose - 4.86 (good)
cholesterol - 6.05 (high)

WHAT?!

I suddenly remembered the savoury thin-crust pizzas, 3 egg omelettes, and caramilk McFlurries that had recently become staples in my diet. The 2 barbecued hamburgers at the beach on Sunday. The box of trans-fat-laden cookies last week.

Well, she said, your cholesterol is high. Ideal is 5.2 or lower; up to 6.2 is borderline but getting up there. I'm referring you to a doctor for followup.

I ask her, could it be the eggs? I love eggs.

Well, she asks, how many eggs do you eat exactly?

I feel silly explaining that there's a woman at work whose daughter has a farm, with chickens she's raised them by hand since they were chicks, knows them all by name, and feeds them the very best of whatever it is that chickens eat. That the mom sells the eggs to people at work; brings them in fresh from the farm every week. That these are the biggest eggs with the brightest yolks (which are, of course, the very best part), and only $2.50 a dozen. That most days I have an egg sandwich for lunch, and an omelette for dinner - because they make the best omelettes, especially with a little sharp cheddar and some spinach and cherry tomatoes. I couldn't possibly tell her all that 'cause I'd just sound weird.

About two a day, I tell her. Sometimes only one. (I think for a minute). Well actually sometimes three.

Hmm, she says. That's a lot of eggs. Maybe you could cut back a little. Or just eat the whites.

I can't give up the yolks.

I tell her I'll cut back by a few eggs a week. I don't tell her I have 3 dozen eggs in the fridge. I do tell her they're the omega 3 eggs, which seems to make her happy. I wonder what I'm going to make for dinner instead of omelettes.

The nurse writes down another number, this one for HDL cholesterol. HDL is the good cholesterol; it flushes the bad LDL cholesterol away and keeps your arteries clear. For HDL levels, the higher the better.

HDL - 2.05

Wow, she says. Your HDL cholesterol is high.

A glimmer of hope. Really? I ask. Is that good?

Yes, she says, it's very good. Above 1 is good. Most people we've seen today are around 1. But 2.05 is great. You know, I don't think I've ever seen such a high HDL number.

I glow at this acknowledgement of my excellent health. Must be all those omega 3 eggs.