Finding Balance

We visited the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa this week with our grandchildren. They have been here several times and were excited to show us their favourite exhibits. The Crazy Kitchen is a room that appears to have a level floor but it actually slopes upward from the entrance toward the exit door. The eye perceives an even surface but the joint proprioceptors perceive a gradient. I had to check the position of my ankles to see if there was a slope. The conflicting messages to the brain cause dizziness. I had to steady myself with the railing while the children ran up and down revelling in the strange sensation. So many things are not as they initially appear. 

The other big temporary exhibit that runs until January 2025 was called Oh Crap! Rethinking Human Waste. There are no 4 or 6-year-old children who would not think this was the best-est, grossest and funniest science exhibit ever! 

Chamber Pot Display, Museum of Science and Technology

This display of Victorian-era chamber pots was the least explicit although some could double as casserole dishes. Historical and current toilets from around the world were available to sit on. They even had an exact replica of a filthy, seatless Mexican toilet found in rural gas stations throughout the country! The Bristol Stool Chart wasn't hanging on the wall but was demonstrated inside the bowls of seven toilets. And there was a Fart Room where airy discharges were analyzed if you were able to perform on command. 

More seriously, the importance of a healthy microbiome was well-described. The method of doing fecal transplants for patients with C-Difficile was illustrated with the healthy fecal donation, a blender and a syringe or capsule. I have had two patients who had the procedure done in Toronto with good results. Antibiotics, a low-fibre diet, excessive alcohol and too many ultra-processed foods destroy the beneficial bacteria in our digestive tract. 

My granddaughter did not like these buffet Fruit Loops!

My parents were born during the Great Depression and remembered food rationing during World War II. We ate healthy food at home, especially in South Africa. Mom bought most of our food at the city market and it was unprocessed. The "cool girls" in my class at school brought Jello packets in their lunches and ate the flavoured sugary crystals straight up. I begged my mother to let me take a similar treat in my lunch and she gave in only once. I had "brown bread" sandwiches and was teased about them. My classmates said only brown people ate brown bread. This was South Africa at the peak of apartheid. 

We left South Africa when I was 7 1/2 years old and travelled by steamship to Canada. For the first time, I experienced buffet dining and our parents allowed us to drink chocolate milk and gorge on desserts. After all, they were included in our passage. I gained ten pounds during the 28-day trip.

The basic diets of the first half of the 20th century changed greatly in the post-war years as industrialized food became widely available. I spent my allowance on candy and our diet started to include items like hotdogs, cake mixes, Jello, and lots of hydrogenated fats. Dad worked at a plant that produced hard margarine which we spread on our toast and sandwiches. The margarine was white and came with a little packet of yellow food colouring which we mixed into the fat when it softened. Mom still served healthy meals including Red River Cereal for breakfast from Monday to Friday. We had Shreddies on Saturday and oatmeal with raisins on Sunday. Every week! Each summer I spent a week with Grandma D and she would let me pick a special breakfast cereal. I always chose Fruit Loops. Fast food restaurants were not common in my childhood but I do remember getting a child-sized Dairy Queen cone after church some Sundays.

Homemade Strawberry Trifle

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are now implicated in a host of physical and mental maladies in humans. They are the primary food source for many people, especially children and young people. If there is one thing I could go back and change, it would be to greatly limit the UPFs I allowed myself and our children to eat. I recognize now how much inflammation they cause in my body. Joint swelling, migraine headaches, allergies, eczema, acne, weight gain and bowel issues are exacerbated when I eat processed foods. In the past decade, I have gradually stopped buying packaged foods and continue to check labels carefully. It is a daily battle to eat well. I see the effects of poor lifestyle choices in my patients yet the hospital rewards its employees with free ice cream, cookies, and pizza. I love desserts but try to stick to "made-from-scratch" treats with few ingredients. Treats are part of a balanced diet but I don't need them every day.

Costco is full of temptations. We shopped there with the children, mainly for fruit and vegetables. (Master A. went through the warehouse with googly eyes on his eyes and face!) I didn't hear any requests for treats but the children enjoyed the dried apricot samples so much that I put some in the cart. They are a favourite of mine too. 

Food is far more than nourishment. It creates an emotional link with friends, family, special celebrations, and vacations and is used as a reward from the time we start eating solid foods. I can rationalize my need for an ice cream cone in many ways! I am thankful that I never experienced hunger but realize that excess also affects my health and well-being.

We have no assurance of good health especially as time goes on. Eating well and being active are good ways to protect our physical well-being along with ongoing learning, managing stress, spiritual focus and human connections. It is a matter of balance.