16th April 2013
Becoming a Cliche - The Middle Ages
During my fiftieth year, I started to write a poem. It went :
In my 50th year,
on the ascent to the birthdate,
strange thoughts & feelings come
over the horizon.
Seeing them on my way up,
they appear out of focus,
& I'm not sure if they're
coming straight at me.
As the first one approaches,
I'm surprised by its anger,
running full pelt towards me.
It aims directly at my heart.
It breaks all known rules
of engagement or behaviour.
It hurls itself and whacks
its wounding weapon across my defending arm.
I am shattered and tearful
at this unmitigated attack
and I bow myself down
to avoid another onslaught.
Well I know I'm no poet, but I do find it a useful device for identifying feelings and crystallising thoughts. I can see how the hill metaphor seemed appropriate because life has felt like a long, hard climb to me and as I approached 50 I began to find the "hill" almost unsurmountable. Symptoms of tiredness, emotional volatility and physical weakness which have featured on and off throughout my life increased in intensity and frequency to the point where they were dominating me.
As I told doctors and close women friends how I felt, they would nod knowingly, sometimes smiling wryly and, being a bear of little brain, it took me a while to realise that they all thought it was my age.
I went slightly crazy that year, looking up long-lost friends, lamenting my sins and failures and generally drove myself & those around me mad with my anxiety. Life sometimes seems to conspire to make you ill. A hectic 18months getting our house ready to sell then trying to sell it left me utterly depleted in every sense. My body spiralled out of control & I ended up on the edge of collapse.
A very learned and well-written site on-line came to my rescue. It's called CemCOR - the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research and if I ever have any spare cash, this site will be one of the beneficiaries. I urge all women, young and old, to go to it and learn from their research and carefully considered conclusions.
One of the things I took from this site was that I could live with and manage the drama that was being enacted by my body. I went to the doctor with confidence and felt armed with enough information to be able to choose how to manage my symptoms.
Alongside this, I reflected on how I had not paid attention to my diet properly for a long time. I had bored myself silly over the years getting overly anxious about nutrients & eating/not eating certain foods to the extent where I had become a laughing-stock over the size of my supplement collection. So, I tried to let myself relax about what we ate as a family, only stressing out on the rare occasions when one of us fell ill. This seemed a much healthier approach, but I also ignored my own increasing growing malaise, thinking that one day I would wake up and feel well, i.e. full of energy and not plagued by painful joints and aching muscles. I was doing alot of house-painting at the time, along with gardening and taking our collie for long walks and, disappointed as I was that my fitness wasn't improved by all this intense physical activity, I didn't think too hard about why that might be so.
Now forced to take stock, I decided to make a concerted effort not to approach it over-zealously, but to focus on the foods and meals we, as a family, enjoyed eating and see if I could supplement them with other foods which would round them out, nutritionally speaking.
IRON
Since I was officially declared anaemic, I had to take iron supplements for a while. I chose to take an iron tonic called Ferroglobin from my health food store rather than prescription iron since the tonic contains other nutrients necessary for the production of haemoglobin & it doesn't upset my digestive system like tablets.
Contrary to popular misconception, iron is easily obtained from a veggie diet as long as you're eating properly balanced meals and not too much processed stuff. However, for your body to absorb it efficiently, I know you need vitamin C, E and some other nutrients like copper alongside it. Then, for your body to utilise it, you need other things like B vitamins. Phew ! I'm trying not to get too bogged down by detail, just buying organic veg in the hope they'll provide a better source of minerals and trying to encourage my daughter in particular to drink a vitamin rich drink like orange juice with her meals. Small steps !
I regret not taking an adequate iron supplement each month over the years. I think it would have helped me to build up my iron stores, but I had been put off by Adele Davis's warning that iron supplements destroy vitamin E. I am now of the opinion that as a vegetarian who finds it hard to eat a large quantity and range of food, it would have been wise for me to take an iron supplement during menstruation, counterbalancing it with a vitamin E capsule taken at a seperate meal 8 hours later.
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS
In Margaret Atwood's book "After the Flood" one of the main characters , trying survive after a terrible illness has swept across the world, draws upon her knowledge of what she needs to survive and begins to get worried when she starts running out of a source of essential fatty acids. I've since forgotten what her source was & I've given the book to a friend so I can't look it up easily, but I remember that the character is a vegetarian and is forced to eat a dead animal in order to stay alive.
This sent me running to my nutritional "bibles" to look up what these fatty acids are. I knew that Omega 6 & 3 had become popular supplements but I'd never looked up why. Adele Davis explains how every cell in our body is partly comprised of certain types of fat and that our brain, nervous , adrenal and digestive systems rely on particular types of fat in order to function. These fats seem to be the most fundamentally important aspects of our nutrition ! Ms Atwood certainly seems to know her onions (or at least her fats).
Ms Davis is the supreme expert and explains the chemistry and biology of it all beautifully in her book "Let's Eat Right To Keep Fit". The gist of it is that our bodies can cleverly make most of these acids from sugar, but she tells us that there are 3 that our bodies are unable to make and these are the essential 3 - LINOLEIC ARACHIDONIC & LINOLENIC. If we don't get sufficient linoleic acid, we eventually die. It seems that if this is missing but the other two are provided, they can sort of cover up for the deficiency, but we eventually get ill.
Adele Davis recommends Safflower oil as one of the richest sources of linoleic acid. I see that you can buy it from my health food store and I might do that, (but it's very expensive) . I also note that they sell hemp oil which is advertised as having a perfect balance of Omega 3 & 6 . Oh dear. My supplement cabinet will start to fill up again at this rate!
The Vegan Society's website comes to my rescue ! The explanation of the complex interactions between fatty acids is very good. It's as clear as you can make this topic I think! I also draw inspiration from their list of good sources of Linoleic (Omega 6) and Alpha-Linoleic (Omega 3) oils. I decide that I will put the following foods on my shopping list :
RAPESEED OIL - It seems we've been consuming a bit too much sunflower oil which is a
very rich source of omega 6 & you need a balance of 6 & 3. Rapeseed
oil is a good source of Omega 3. This will help us get a better balance
of fatty acids apparently.
GREEN LEAFY VEG - We tend to only eat cabbage in stir fry so I'm going to look for another
green leafy veg so we're eating it at least twice a week. We do eat a
lot of broccoli though & I assume this is sort of leafy.
NUTS - Well we do eat nuts but I'm always running out. I think I'll buy a few larger
packets. I like to toast them and put them on the table with our meal.
I think I'll get walnuts as the oil contains Omega 3.
SEEDS - I usually put sesame seeds in our stir fry because of their good amino-
acid content but it seems they're also good for Omega 6 so I think I'll
add them to other dishes too.
MUSTARD SEEDS - Well we all love these anyway ! As the Vegan Society reckons they're
a good source of Omega 3, I think I'll sprinkle them on everything!
I'm beginning to feel excited now. I can feel an idea for a lovely, healthy curry or stir-fry coming on!
IODINE
The Vegan Society's site also jogged my memory about the importance of iodine. It is thought that most people don't get enough iodine and there is an optimum range between which the body benefits - between 100 - 300 micrograms. I have been using a bit of iodised salt but, other than my dreaded supplements, this seems to be the only reliable source in my family's diet looking at the list. Usefully, I read that alot of vegans keep a jar of dried seaweed in the kitchen and crumble it over food sometimes. I note some types are so iodine rich, you can over-dose so I'll buy some and refer back to the site to see how much to use.
I note that potatoes in their skins and strawberries are a good source (dependent on the soil). I also read that dairy products are, but since there's only me who eats them in any significant quantitiy in this house, I'll be stocking up on the seaweed and strawberries !
**** THANK YOU VEGAN SOCIETY! ****
CLICHE - The origin of this word, apparently, is from the past participle of the French verb clicher - to stereotype.
I like the dictionary definition of the word. It says it's a "widely held but fixed and over-simplified view of a person or thing ".
As a middle-aged vegetarian woman, I do feel a bit cliched sometimes! Must try not to just slip into my own fixed view of how I should be.........................
>*<
