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Archive for August, 2010

28 Aug How To Poop In The Woods

I was torn on what to title this post: ”Vacation Number Two,” “Yo Yosemite,” “Get Back to Earth,” “Best Yoga Studio Ever” … but “How To Poop In The Woods” seemed too perfect, for way too many reasons. I spent the first week of August backcountry camping in Yosemite with 14 other fabulous people who thought lugging 45-pound packs for five miles, camping along Snow Creek Falls with Half Dome watching over us and taking two yoga classes a day was a great way to go on vacation. Weirdos, I know. The best weirdos ever, if you ask me.

We day-hiked, we camped, we yoga’d – layering up and down from thermal underwear to tank tops and back again as the sun shifted to and fro behind different peaks – we swam, we ate amazing food, we went gaga over meadows of lupine, tiger lilies and butterflies, we sniffed the butterscotch bark of jeffrey pines, we spotted shooting stars, wild grouse and rattlesnakes, we listened as bears inspected our goods late at night, we laughed (a lot), we got dirty (really, really dirty), we honored the people and places that mean the most to us, we played charades and … perhaps most importantly, hilarious, delightfully … we learned how to poop in the woods.

In a nutshell:

1) Talk about it. Nothing, nothing, makes pooping in the woods more uncomfortable than having to sneak around to do it. An honest and funny conversation about how to properly dispose of poop (e.g. digging holes, marking “poop graves”, etc) and why pooping with the best view possible is sooooooo satisfying, makes alllllll the difference; it becomes a source of pride to grab the bathroom bag and head off beyond camp.

2) Drink water. Hydration is key to achieving and maintaining properly flowing pipes whether you’re trying to stay regular at home, abroad or at 6,600 feet.

3) Eat the right foods. Oh, it’s tempting to stock up on Pop Tarts and Ramen, but if you’re over say… 16, it’s time to step it up. Soluble fiber (e.g. beans, whole grains, etc) is key, key, key to preventing and relieving both diarrhea and constipation. Insoluble fiber (e.g. veggies) is also important for maintaining regularity.

4) Relax. Be present, letting go of mental, emotional, and physical tension or reaching. Just be where you are and let yourself relax.

5) Find the best view ever. Watching dawn break over Half Dome while doing your business = best poop EVER.

Now that I think about it, pooping in the woods is a lot like living everyday life (talk about things, drink water, eat right, relax, find a good view). But let’s get back to number 3: Eat the right foods. Remember soluble fiber from above? Yeah it’s good for your body, but guess what else? It’s deeeeeelicious. Here’s my version of the fabulous lentil stew/dal our guides made for our last dinner in the wilderness.

Kylah’s Lentils

1 C lentils (dry)

2 medium-small carrots, thinly sliced

1 small onion, medium dice

1/2 medium poblano pepper, finely diced (add more of the pepper, if you want more heat)

1 medium zucchini, quartered length-wise and thinly sliced

1 t gharam masala

pinch cayene pepper (or more, to taste)

water

1/4 C coconut butter

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Rinse and soak lentils over night* (cover with water, about an inch above beans, leave on counter and protect with a dish towel). Before you’re ready to cook, drain and rinse the lentils in a strainer and set aside.

In a medium pot, saute onion and poblano pepper in a little olive oil (one turn of the bottle) over medium-high heat until onion begins to turn translucent, then add the gharam masala, cayene and a pinch or two of salt and pepper.

Cook the spices with the onion/pepper for a minute, then add the carrots and zucchini.

Keep cooking until zucchini begins to soften a little, then add lentils and water – you want enough water (~1 1/2 to 2 C) so you can see it, but not enough to cover everything.

Stir well to fully incorporate lentils into vegetables (the legumes may seem way outnumbered but don’t worry, they’re little fighters and will dominate in the end). Reduce heat to the lower side of medium, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure everything’s okay (e.g. the water hasn’t evaporated leaving the lentils and veggies to burn).

Now, the secret ingredient: coconut butter.

Start with 1/4 C, stir well, let simmer a few minutes and taste. Adjust spices – add more gharam masala, cayenne, salt or pepper to taste – and add just a little more coconut butter if you want things creamier (as it simmers and sits later, the lentils will thicken up a little more, so you don’t need to go super crazy with the coconut butter).

Simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve with rice and/or flatbread (e.g. naan or chapati). I really don’t know how to describe how creamy and decadent this is. The coconut butte gives the lentils a “wait, what is that taste? It reminds me of India and Thailand, and, something else” quality, but it’s so yummy your guests won’t waste anymore time puzzling it out because they’ll be too busy scarfing down their bowls of beans. By the way, left-overs make an awesome Indian burrito or go nicely over polenta.

*Note about prepping legumes: Most people don’t presoak their lentils. I never did before and suffered mightily for it. There are two legumes that I avoid – black beans and, to a slightly lesser extent, lentils. Most people feel some… let’s call it “digestive challenge” when eating beans. Those babies pack a high-fiber punch, so it’s no surprise that eating them leads to all manner of digestive excitement. If you’re lucky, you get a little extra gas, maybe an ill-time toot in public; if you’re unlucky, you can get intense intestinal cramps for days.

There are a few ways to make legumes less of a digestive challenge for your body. (1) Make sure they are well-cooked, which means soaked for an appropriate period of time, rinsed afterward and then cooked long enough. (2) You can add a piece of kombu (a type of seaweed) to beans as they cook – kombu is credited with magically making the beans more digestible (remove before serving or processing). (3) You can also process your beans (blend them like hummus or refried beans) to give your stomach and small intestine a head start on breaking them down (I’ve definitely noticed a difference between eating whole chickpeas and hummus).

13 Aug Bitter Sweet

For the past few months I’ve had to avoid refined sugar. I don’t mean that I gave up having treats or that I’m simply abstaining from dessert. For health reasons, I had to go cold turkey-clean off the magic white stuff. And it worked. Within 10 days I felt better. After three weeks, I felt back to my old self. After five weeks, I felt amazing. This is all more or less beside the point. The point is: do you know how hard it is to avoid sugar? I’m not talking about how hard it is to have willpower to refuse the slice of cake at a birthday party or the boss’ candy jar on a bad day, I mean do you know how hard it is to eat out in the world, regular breakfast, lunch and dinner food, and not unknowingly have refined sugar?

Sidebar: In case you haven’t already heard, Americans typically eat 150-170 pounds of added, processed sugar each year (i.e. this doesn’t count natural sugars in fruits, vegetables and other whole foods) – that’s 22.2 teaspoons or 355 calories per day. What’s so bad about sugar? Here’s a short list of consequences to this kind of consumption: an extra 355 calories per day (which could lead to 36 extra pounds each year), jerking around your blood sugar levels, developing hypoglycemia or type 2 diabetes, suppressing your immune system, adrenal fatigue … really it goes on. Thankfully, for people who like numbers, the American Heart Association now recommends some specific limits on sugar consumption: 100 calories/~25 grams/6 teaspoons for women and 150 calories/~37.5 grams/9 teaspoons – or roughly one 12 ounce soda. (For the Diet Coke addicts who just passed out, sorry.)

Back to avoiding sugar. Like I said, the challenge isn’t necessarily in choosing to avoid the obvious sources: baked treats, soda, candy, etc. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that it’s everywhere – in packaged food that would surprise you, in medicine and in freshly prepared restaurant food.

So, whether you just want to be more aware of your sugar intake or you want to control the amount of sugar you consume – here are some tips to navigating this bitter sweet world:

Read your labels – Get into the habit of scanning ingredients lists on everything, especially condiments, until you get a sense of likely sources in your regular diet. Most ketchup, mustard, vinaigrettes, soy, rice and nut milks contain sugar. Even deli meats – including lean roasted turkeys – contain sugar. And can you believe I only found one – ONE – cough syrup without high-fructose corn syrup in the wall of cough and cold meds at Safeway. Seriously.
Learn how to spot sugar in disguise – Sugar often likes to fly under the radar, so take some time to educate yourself on its aliases (brown sugar, cane or beet sugar, evaporated cane juice, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, etc.), and don’t forget the chemical derivatives (the “oses” – dextrose, crystalline fructose, maltose). This will help with the label reading, for sure, especially if a sweet product claims to be “sugar free”.
Beware of healthy snacks – Most sports drinks, energy bars and yogurts have some form of processed sugar in them (see vocab list above). Don’t assume because a food is branded as healthy or branded for athletes that it’s free of processed sugar.
Eating at a restaurant is not the same as eating at home - Eating out has been the hardest part of this and I learned quickly to ask about everything because restaurants add sugar to the least obvious dishes. For example, I found sugar in sushi rice, stirfry sauces (Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese), and hummus. What to do? ASK. You don’t have to apologize for wanting to know what’s in a dish – you’re the one who has to eat it, right? And, if everything you want on the menu has sugar in it, order off the menu. Most places will accommodate special requests, as long as (1) you’re polite and (2) you’re not asking for major ingredients you don’t already see on the menu (e.g. featured vegetables or meats). This may sound extreme, but… if you’re shy about asking at the table, do a little recon ahead of time by looking up the menu online. I’ve even called ahead of time to ask if sugar was added to sauces and I was so glad to be able to walk in, confidently order without any fuss and focus on my dining companion.

Really, the challenge has been eating out. At this point, I’m rarely surprised to see sugar added to packaged foods, even when it doesn’t really make sense (maybe the sweetness is to mask preservatives or bland, low-quality ingredients). But eating out, where food is being prepared fresh… the needless addition of refined sugar totally baffles me.

I suppose the biggest take away from all of this is not to be deterred. I certainly don’t eat a pristine diet – what’s the fun in that – but I like to make conscious choices about the foods I eat. Information is power and helps you be in control of your health. You want the sugar? GO FOR IT! And love every bite, knowing that you made the choice, not someone else.

If you’re interested in cutting back your sugar intake but are afraid to miss out on satisfying sweet things, don’t be alarmed. I feel like I should’ve earned a merit badge in alternative sweets this summer! Look out for more information on natural sweeteners and recipes that allow us to have our cake, eat it, too and not send our bloodsugar through the roof!

11 Aug Green Love

More substantial posts about my break up with sugar, my love of brown rice syrup and pooping in the woods are coming, but in the meantime, enjoy this ode to an often intimidating Asian green: bok choy. (Yes, I know the pic above is of a different Asian green, but it’s what I had, so… there you go.)

Bok Choy…It’s Delicious.

Thanks for letting me post this, Patrick!!