Category: Health & Well Being

Planning And Packing Are Key…

One of the big issues with having Type-1 Diabetes is the fact that I can never just get up and go somewhere. It’s not so bad if I’m just heading around the corner to the grocery store or running a quick errand. But even that will have a tendency to involve checking my blood sugars before getting behind the wheel, It can be a onerous process, especially if you’re headed somewhere that will have you out of the house for several hours.

I usually carry a small shoulder sling, which is basically a one-stepped backpack but smaller. No, it’s not a purse, you fuckers! And even if it was, we’re in 2022; I think we should be okay with it even if it was. But I digress. In this backpack I carry some fast-acting carbs on the form of jelly beans, a glucometer, a snack and a small travel-sized first aid kit. All of these things can be life-saving in the event of an incident involving low blood sugar or light injuries.

Things get even worse when I plan to be away overnight. And yes, I know that I promised I’d stay off the vacation posts until we started travelling back to Saskatchewan and I intend to hold to that. But one particular detail happened that directly relates to today’s subject matter. When we were planning this trip across the country, I made a point of purchasing and packing a small cooler pack intended to contain ALL of the Diabetic supplies I would nee in order to survive my trip away from home.

Although it isn’t uncommon for me to forget something, I forgot something rather important this time around; I forgot my CGM sensors. Now, some of you may be wondering why this is a big deal. After all, I survived for three decades before I started using the bloody things so a couple of weeks shouldn’t be a big deal, right? The problem is that consistent blood sugar control is a constant thing when one has Type-1 Diabetes and that control is all the better and tighter when I have the benefit of my insulin pump’s SmartGuard system to measure and maintain my blood sugar by testing through the CGM every five minutes.

As to what exactly happened that I forgot AN ENTIRE FUCKING BOX OF SENSORS ON MY DESK is beyond me. All I know is that by the second day of our journey, the current sensor expired and when I tried to swap it out I realized I had none in my cooler pack. There it was; I was thousands of kilometres from home with no CGM. Okay. No problem. No biggie. I won’t cry about it (much). I figured I would continue on the road and pick up a box at whatever pharmacy I came across while travelling. This has been my practice with things such as insulin and test strips. Hell, I’ve even schmoozed my way into getting free glucometers that way, which is why I have a spare one in the car, now.

But continuous glucose monitoring sensors seemed to be an unfortunate exception to my travelling habits. My first attempt was in a small town outside of Ottawa called Arnprior. I asked the pharmacy technician if they carried Medtronic products. She had no bloody clue. She got the pharmacist for me, who had no idea what Medtronic was. He tried looking it up and I even spelled it for him. He confirmed he didn’t carry CGM sensors. I could see Freestyle Libre sensors behind him, but I intended to use this ONLY as a last resort. The pharmacist added insult to injury by saying that if any pharmacy in town carried something, he made a point of carrying it as well so it was unlikely I’d find what I was looking for in Arnprior.

Alright. Okay. That’s all VERY weird. From a pharmaceutical standpoint, I would have thought that names like Medtronic would be pretty common and well-known. Apparently I was wrong. I left the pharmacy and we continued to travel until we reached a small town in Quebec where we bunked for the night. I didn’t look for a pharmacy that night, running my pump on manual mode. When we finally made it to Dalhousie, I attended the local pharmacy and dearth with a pharmacist I had graduated from high school with.

Besides the pleasure and nostalgia of dealing with an old friend, I was surprised to hear that she also had no idea what Medtronic was. What the hell…? Did no one else in the eastern half of the country use an insulin pump? I was taken aback but I finally relented and asked to purchase a Freestyle Libre, otherwise known as the “poor man’s CGM” to get me through the next little while until I could get my hands on sensors from somewhere, She did me one better and gave me a sample pack she had received from the distributor when they came out with the Freestyle Libre 2. I was set.

I’m obviously running on the Freestyle Libre 2 at the moment and taking advantage of the immediate ability to scan the sensor with my phone and get an immediate sensor glucose reading but it’s obviously not the same as having my Guardian CGM and SmartGuard taking the reins. It illustrates the importance of ensuring I pack properly and don’t forget anything. Having my wife double check my bag can also be a good idea.

Although I should be used to travelling with Type-1 Diabetes, one can never be too careful. And I learned an important lesson that even thought I USUALLY run to a pharmacy if I run short of something, it doesn’t mean every pharmacy will always carry what I need. I can promise and guarantee that I’m going to be more cautious and hug my sensors tight when I get home. It makes the planning and organizing of any trip all the more important to ensure there’s no disruption in the proper care of my Diabetes and blood sugar management. True story. ☯️

It’s Not Me, It’s You…

Today marks my family’s second day on our epic journey across Canada and I’m clearly aware that I can’t spend fourteen straight days posting about the trip. I mean, I COULD… But the idea is to maintain a readership, not scare them all away. With that in mind, I’ve decided that I’ll be posting about the trip every few days, after photos and material have been gathered in order for share my thoughts on the trip. With that in mind, let’s get on with today’s post…

Sometimes, navigating society can be pretty difficult. You’re probably think “d-uh,” right? Beyond societal expectations and personal hopes of acceptance, there’s also the little detail that we’re all individuals. Although this should be hailed as a good thing, it also means that each and every one of us has our own thoughts, beliefs, perspective and personalities. The downside to THAT is that we don’t always mix well with those aspects in others, which ultimately leads to us not playing well with others.

Picture this; you’re working with an individual who has been tasked with a project. You’ve been asked to look into that project and determine its status as well as verify the quality of the work. During this verification, you notice that some aspects of the project aren’t quite up to snuff with how it was requested. In a casual and conversational setting, you mention this in passing to the individual working on it. You walk away happy that’s you’re able to clearly discuss this matter and look forward top seeing the updated project.

Some time goes by and you come to realize that you’ve received no updates. Curious and somewhat confused, you reach out to the individual in question and discover that not only have they not updated the project, they’re displeased with “how you addressed them” and don’t wish to communicate with you. You’re utterly confused. You run the scenario in your head and can’t understand what you might have said that could have been interpreted as offensive.

Here’s the thing; you likely didn’t! There’s an old saying that goes something like, “I only control my words, not how you react to them…” I have no idea where the saying stems from, but I’ve heard different versions at different points throughout my life. And it’s pretty accurate. With some people, you can be absolutely sweet as sugar and they’ll still get pissed off at you and think you’ve offended or disrespected them. In most instances, there isn’t much you can do about that. It’s not a “you” problem, it’s a “them” problem.

Now, I used a workplace example for this scenario but it can and does happen in one’s personal life, as well. Sometimes, it can be something as simple as missing a comma in a text message and it changes the tone, causing the recipient to take it offensively, regardless of whether it was intended that way or not. For most, this requires the ability to allow room for clarification of the interpretation rather than getting all snowflake-ish about it. But this isn’t always possible and if you’re the one overreacting about something, you may not be amenable to taking that step. Changing one’s perspective can be difficult.

And ultimately, one needs to ask oneself, even if you didn’t MEAN to offend or disrespect someone, does it genuinely make it any less offensive to the other person? If someone makes a joke or makes light of something they consider comedic but happens to be something personal and sensitive to the other, their feelings are genuine even if you didn’t mean to harm them. It’s pretty easy to sit behind a keyboard and say that one should apologize for the harm, even if it wasn’t intended as such. But this practice can become an exhausting and futile exercise, especially when dealing with individuals in one’s life who become offended and hurt at absolutely everything.

At the end of the day, there’s no easy answer to this scenario. It’s simply one of those things that a person needs to accept and recognize requires some give and take from both sides of the conversation. For the offended party, it’s important to recognize that allowing yourself to have an open perspective on what the intent of the message or action is, is important to proper communication and to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings. For the one relaying the message or performing the words or actions, be willing to view things through the recipients lens and accept that even though you may have done nothing wrong, it doesn’t eliminate the suffering that may have been cause. Food for thought… ☯️

Trauma And It’s Many Forms

PTSD is no longer the unknown demon that it once was. In recent decades, it’s become better-known and recognize as a genuine illness. And in more ways than one, it’s a physical injury that can actually be measured and seen through medical examination. Unfortunately some people, most people, don’t understand the nature of it, what causes it and often see it as a sig of weakness or someone just complaining about something unpleasant that happened. The truth is much worse and much darker…

I don’t write about my own experiences with PTSD as much as I potentially could. That’s mostly because my methods of coping with my condition somewhat differ from what others would think is effective. Most people lack the time and the patience to learn inner peace and calm, meditation and allow the negative energy to vent out of oneself through martial arts and physical exertion. Modern society enjoys quick, easy solutions. No one believes in playing the long game.

The important thing to remember about PTSD is that it’s subjective. Something that causes a trauma in one person may seem like absolutely nothing or menial to someone else. That’s part of the reason why some people are inclined to ignore or belittle someone when they try to express that their trauma is bothering them or has CAUSED PTSD in them. That’s why no one should ever tell someone else that their trauma isn’t genuine, no matter one’s perspective on whether it SHOULD have affected someone or not. That’s not your choice to make.

The true lesson is to take care of yourself. Find healthy and proper coping mechanisms and stick with them. Talk to someone if you need to and remember that even though it can feel extremely isolating, there are many of us out there and there’s always someone to reach out to. ☯️

The “Eyes” Have It…

I had an interesting change in routine last week, when my eye injections in Saskatoon took place on a Thursday as opposed to a Monday. I have no idea WHY it happened this way; the Monday wasn’t a holiday and my ophthalmologist never indicated he’d be away on that day. Either way, I rather enjoy my ability to see, so I take the appointments when they’re given to me. In this case, it meant that I would need to travel and stay in the city on Thursday night and into Friday morning as opposed to the Monday/Tuesday mix I usually do.

This showed a number of changes, including the fact that the Irish pub I hang out in while my eyes recover, was significantly busier than it usually is on a Monday night. That isn’t great fro someone like me, who prefers to sit in a quiet corner with his beer and binge-watch Netflix while relaxing than hearing a crowd and live music. Most would say, “If you don’t like it then you don’t need to go.” While this is quite true, having almost no ability to see leaves me with limited options for a meal. But I survived. There are worse things in life.

My bigger issue came from my time in the hospital. When I have a scheduled appointment, I make it a point to always be early. I do this for a number of reasons, including getting through sooner if there are cancellations and working through any potential delays. But for my eye injections, my appointments involve a vision text, ocular photographs and freezing BEFORE I have the actual injections. On this occasion, my appointment was scheduled for 3:10 in the afternoon. So, I showed up at 2:30 so that I could pay the cashier (my injections are not covered by my insurance), get through my vision text and ocular photos prior to the actual appointment.

This makes sense in theory. Unfortunately, it only works if other patients follow this concept, as well. Instead, I only got in to my eye exam AT 3:15, minutes after I should have received my injections. I commented on that to the technician who was doing my exam, which she responded that they put patients through in the order of their appointments. Although I tried explaining that I had been here for over forty minutes and should have been put through by now, it fell on deaf ears. One good thing that came out of it and one habit that I’ve gotten into, is asking for the results of my eye pressure test. This involves pushing a small plunger against the surface of the eye to test how much pressure the eyeball is exerting.

Much to my surprise, it’s almost always high. Through careful questions have led to the conclusion that speed-walking to my appointments contribute to that. I was also instructed to loosen my shoulders, take deep breaths and keep my feet on the floor as opposed to on the foot bar. The result is usually much lower pressure readings, which makes me and the medical staff far happier. That being said, my overall wait had me placed into a procedure room more than an hour later than my scheduled appointment. Total bullshit.

It shows a continuous progression of the systemic issues developing within the health care system. I’m just lucky that I’m still able to get my injections and in the hospital I’m used to, from the surgeon I trust. I recently read a news article about a patient who died in the waiting room of a hospital in my home Province of New Brunswick. i read another article where a woman was in chronic pain from an unknown source and her husband drove her to three different hospitals over several hours, just to be told to manage the pain as best she could and see her family doctor the following day. It’s a scary time to get sick.

Ultimately, I got my beer and boneless wings and enjoyed them both while slamming a few episodes of Cobra Kai. need to get boned up before the next part is released in September. But it was just noisy enough and populated enough that I was out and in my hotel room, ready to crash by 8:30 pm. I’m such a party animal. Next time I get scheduled for my injections on a Thursday, I might just stay in my room and order a pizza. Avoid all the hub-bub. ☯️

Wisdom From The Most Unlikely Places…

There’s a lot going on in the world, these days… It sucks, because most of us would agree that we would prefer not to have these events happen in our lifetime. It reminds me of my grandfather… He fought on active front lines in Europe during World War II. Unlike many others, he wasn’t drafted, he enlisted. He left his family and his home to go fight oppression, thousands of kilometres from our Canadian shores. He was never nationally recognized, never provided with the honours he deserved but ever loved by his family.

In some ways, a lot of ways, I’m fortunate. Even with everything happening in the world, I won’t get drafted, I’ll never see war and I’ll never experience what my grandfather did. I have him to THANK for that. No one should have to live through any of that. We’ve suffered through a rough couple of years, with COVID-19 bringing the world to a halt, followed by creating a level of chaos my country has rarely seen on its own soil. Now, war rages in Europe and Asia. yes, Russia has a higher percentage of its land in Asia, though we don’t think of Russians as Asians. But I digress…

Before I delve too deeply into current world politics, my point is the image above. I’m one of the few, rare people who have actually read JRR Tolkien’s novels and have experienced the full story. The movies were fantastic but despite their length, they left out a lot of details from the book. One of my favourite is illustrated in the image above. And they do have a scene in Fellowship of the Ring that covers it. Frodo and Gandalf are resting on a landing inside Moria, when Frodo begins speaking about how he wishes the ring had never come to him and how he wishes none of it would have taken place in his lifetime. I can relate.

The scene is made memorable by Gandalf, iconically played by Sir Ian McKellen, explaining that it isn’t up to us to wish that things wouldn’t happen within our lifetime but to make the most of the time we have, regardless of what’s happening within the world. Wise words and from the least likely of sources. As I’ve often said, we most often find our destiny on the road we least thought to travel. Although it’s a weird place to find such wisdom, a fantasy book has provided it. Make the most of the time you have. Food for thought… ☯️

Don’t get Cross, You’ll End Up In Stitches…

Everyone has a specialty… a niche, if you will… Each of us has something that we’re good at, that others may not be quite as good at. or in my case, at ALL! I’ve been watching my wife doing cross-stitch recently and I was distinctly reminded that I don’t have the skill, patience or ability to do what she does. I mean, she takes a piece of cloth and uses needle and fine thread to turn it into a piece of art. I’d have set that thing on fire, fifty ways from Sunday by now! But I digress…

I took the liberty of looking up the history behind cross-stitching, and I came to realize that it’s been a practice for most ancient civilizations, dating back as far as 500 BC. Basically, for as long as there’s been cloth to work with, cross-stitching has been a thing. In ancient China, a woman’s worth was measured by her ability to stitch, especially since she had to stitch clothing and materials for the entire family. In medieval Europe, tapestries and embroideries were all the rage and involved the same stitching skills as modern cross-stitch.

My wife’s current project! Look at all that detail!

Cross-stitching as we know it today was introduced in the late 1890’s and is far more popular than many other mainstream hobbies. In fact, when I grew up, I remember my parents had a framed cross-stitched image of giant mushrooms, which was made using thick yarn. This is a different technique, despite the most popular method being the use of linen and fine threads. It takes an amazing amount of time, patience and precision and fucking up just one stitch can mess up the entire project. Like I said earlier… I’d have destroyed the whole thing with fire long before this point.

Art is still very much alive in the world, even though the average person doesn’t recognize it on a daily basis. I’ve been gifted with an affinity for the martial arts but I know some people that would injure themselves far worse than their opponent if they tried to train. I’m in this very boat with cross-stitching. I’ve never even been able to stitch my own crests or patches on my gis or sweaters. My hat’s off to my wife. If she ever believes that she has no patience, I just have to show her the photo above to prove that she does. ☯️

Rain, Rain, Come And Play…

People have this unfortunate tendency to dislike rain. And I get it. It makes the day greyer, brings one’s mood down and prevents doing anything outdoors. But a solid rain also does a number of positive things. For one thing, rain is an important part of plant growth without which, none of us would be here. Outside of that, there’s something therapeutic about hearing a steady drum of falling rain on the roof of the house or against the windows. If one has the time to sit and listen, rainfall can have a similar effect to white noise and can calm and soothe a person after a long day.

A saturated neighbourhood…

The past week has involved a certain level of heat that I usually have difficulty dealing with. I’m the kind of guy who prefers to sweat over freezing or shovelling snow but it’s like I always used to tell some of my co-workers, it’s easier to add on a sweater than do the opposite. You can only remove so many pieces of clothing before it becomes an HR issue. That’s why I’ve always been a bit more comfortable in cooler climates than during extreme heat. And this past week has seen the hottest weather of the summer. It’s made it hard to be outside for anything without having a hard time breathing and turning into a see-through, sweaty mess.

It’s also seen me sleeping in my basement, since our air conditioner can only do so much. But the rain kicked in a bit during the weekend and during the beginning of the week and it’s gone a long way towards cooling things down. It also helps in keeping my shitty lawn watered so I don’t have to do it. Granted, my lawn is only shitty because I have absolutely no ability to grow things and keep them alive, whatsoever. That sounds pretty bad, considering I have two small children. But I digress…

Hopefully the rain helps with that horrible bald patch I haven’t seeded yet

Falling rain is also an excellent aid when taking a nap. Since I’ll be travelling to Saskatoon for my eye injections today, I likely won’t get to indulge in that. Light knows I didn’t get the chance on the day I took these photos. But if one hears the falling rain while lying down and allowing oneself to relax and fall asleep, it can be incredibly centering and therapeutic. One could almost consider that a form of meditation.

Most people tend to dislike and avoid the rain. Having grown up in the Maritimes, right next to the open bay, have allowed me to sit through some AWESOME rain storms coming in from the ocean. That’s probably why I have a bit of a soft spot for the rain. It elicits good memories and calms me. And we all need a little more of that in our lives. And since it cooled the temperature, I was actually able to sleep in my own bed. That sounds like a win/win… ☯️

Sunday, Lazy Sunday…

Keeping yourself moving is an important aspect of life. Not only is it important for one’s health and fitness goals, it’s also important for one’s mental wellbeing as well as Diabetes control. But as much as health & fitness is important, there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing. This is why we have break days when exercising, why we don’t have karate classes seven days a week and why one needs to allow one’s muscles to recover. The funny thing is, even when our fitness goals are on track, taking a break day tends to make us feel lazy.

Last weekend, our home experienced a ridiculous level of summer heat. I won’t complain about that, since I tend to bitch about the cold during the winter… That’s pretty much the definition of humanity, right there. The grass always seems greener during the other season. But the temperatures have made it somewhat difficult to take a full breath while standing outside. We made our way to an outdoor splash pad with the boys on Friday evening, which was wonderful despite the heat. But Saturday saw us running errands in air conditioned environments and retail locations.

Weekends tend to fly by for us, with the majority of our time spent trying to do something fun with our sons coupled with trying to meal plan, exercise and get some much-anticipated television binging in. It tends to make the two days I have off go past as though I were standing still. But once in a while, you need to control the flow of time and simply sit still, which is what we did last Sunday. Sunday morning saw us sleeping in until just shy after 9 am, which is pretty late in my household. My morning started like almost every other, with a cold, 473mL can of caffeine. We started by watching an episode of “The Flash” on Netflix and we had plans to go out and do our weekly groceries.

I threw together a pan of breakfast hash browns mixed with peppers and bacon crumble, seasoned with dill powder and seasoning salts. I make that sound WAY fancier than it actually was. But it’s delicious and has become a staple of our weekends. Once we finished eating and were watching television, my wife and I both agreed that neither one of us wanted to leave the house or run any errands. Given that the temperatures reached the 30’s (Celsius) before the noon hour, it was no surprise that both of us wanted to stay in the relative cool shade of our house. We watched our show for the next few hours until the toddler started showing signs that it was nape time.

We put Alexander down for a nap and provided Nathan with something to keep him busy for a couple of hours and we retired for what I can only describe as an afternoon siesta. And it. Was. Glorious. I write about the importance and benefits of napping on frequent occasions but I would be lying if I said that I get to do it, every weekend. But we indulged in about two hours of napping and I awoke at about 4:20 (insert weed jokes, here). We enjoyed a cold supper of ready-made chicken, cheese and dip. It was a wonderful day of doing next to nothing.

We all need a day like that, once in a while. I can admit that I stepped out briefly to grab milk, bread and some necessities for the week but I did nothing besides that. I originally had plans to knock out 40 or 50 kilometres on the bike but I’m not into peddling in high summer temperatures. The end result is that we got a day’s rest and got to be lazy, which is perfectly okay. Everyone needs to do that, sometimes. It was wonderful and I think I needed that. Between the heat and the fact that I once again go for eye injections tomorrow, it was a nice change of pace. Once in a while, you just gotta have a lazy day… ☯️

All Kneel Before The Mighty Caffeine…

Considering I haven’t properly gotten a decent dose of caffeine into my system yet, I may seem a little testy while writing this post. Sometimes I wonder how different life would be, had I not tried caffeine for the first time, way back when. I guess it wouldn’t have made much of a difference since I likely would have gotten around to it eventually. Caffeine is one of those staples of normal, adult life. But as with all things in life, there is some good and bad to caffeine. And we’re going to discuss some of it, here.

How does caffeine work and why do we use it to wake up in the mornings? In simple terms, caffeine works by stimulating certain parts of the brain that tell you you’re tired, as well as stimulating the central nervous system and blood pressure. people who consume heavy amounts of caffeine may need greater and greater amounts of caffeine to experience the same effects, It doesn’t ACTUALLY wake you up or make you less tired; it simply blocks the neuro-receptors telling you that you are.

Considering some of the effects of caffeine, namely the effects on the heart and blood pressure, it’s important to remember that these things can have an effect on blood sugars and Diabetes control, as well. And considering that caffeine can dehydrate you and acts as a diuretic, all of these factors need to be considered if you’re trying to maintain good Diabetic control.

So, how much caffeine is too much caffeine? This is an important question, despite the fact that many people tend to ignore it. If you visit Health Canada’s website (sorry, I don’t have the link for it), they recommend that a healthy person should limit their caffeine intake to no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day. The key aspect here is “healthy adult.” It could be less than that number for people who already have heart issues, blood pressure issues or may be pregnant.

All of this is also extremely suggestive, since different people will have different sensitivities to caffeine and how quickly they might metabolize it. And let’s consider that 400 milligrams of caffeine is what’s found in about three 8-ounce cups of regular coffee. I know some people who get through an entire pot of coffee every morning. When you get into the realm of energy drinks, such as I do, one usual, 473 mL can of energy drink will have about 160 mg of caffeine. This means that having two cans in one day has you touching the ceiling of your daily limit.

However, when one factors in the Taurine, Ginseng and Guarana included in the drink, which all act as stimulants, it makes an energy drink significantly stronger than your average cup of coffee. And since it’s summer time, one must also remember that an energy drink won’t slake your thirst if out in the sun. In fact, it may very well dehydrate you further.

At the end of the day, caffeine consumption is not a bad thing as long as one is able to enjoy it in moderation and bear some of these concerns in mind. Energy drinks aren’t any worse than drinking coffee. Just keep an eye on your caffeine levels and overall consumption. And for the love of the light, if you don’t drink energy drinks but you see someone who is, there’s no need to comment on it! Keep that shit to yourself! I think I need that coffee, now. Excuse me…☯️

Let’s Get Nuts…

Ahh, nuts… Is there ever to be a more perfect snack? Before everyone floods my comments section, let me be clear that I’m only half serious. Nuts are a great snack, an easy way to take the tinge off one’s hunger and can help on certain levels of health. Unfortunately, if you buy them in bulk they can be a pain in the ass due to the required shelling. If you buy them already shelled, they cost half a fortune.

As with all things in life, there’s good and bad to everything but nuts are pretty good, overall. I’ve recently taken a habit of keeping a few bags of varied nuts at the office and at home. They’re incredibly handy when hunger strikes and mealtime is a fair ways away, or you brought very little and feel you may need to supplement. Let’s examine a few reasons why you should include nuts in your diet, shall we?

The nuts at my office (the non-living ones)

According to an article posted by HealthLine.com (I know, I haven’t quoted them in forever), there are a number of benefits to consuming nuts including but not limited to the inclusion of plenty of nutrients, fibre and antioxidants. The article suggest that the consumption of nuts can also help lower cholesterol and could potentially aid with weight loss.

This doesn’t mean you can sit and binge on an entire bag of salted peanuts at your leisure and expect to lose weight. One needs to bear in mind the increase in sodium intake. If possible, get your nuts salt-free. As with all things in life, a little bit doesn’t hurt. You just can’t overdo it and that previously-mentioned weight loss will only happen if one includes healthy lifestyle choices, such as proper diet and exercise. But I digress.

The big thing for me is the inclusion of fibre. Fibre is an important staple of a healthy diet because you need it for proper gut health, muscle repair and helps you to feel fuller for longer, reducing the portion of your meal and helping with weight loss. While the average adult should be consuming the higher end of 30 grams of fibre or more per day, a small serving of peanuts will give you a few grams of that total and help you along. Not bad, indeed.

The nice thing with nuts is there are tons of varieties and they can be used in many different ways. They can be used as butters (duh, peanut butter), tossed on top of your favourite salad or in your smoothie for a little added crunch or simply eaten by the handful. Just remember what I said… Although they’re better for you than eating a bag of chips or candy, moderation is still key. And if you enjoy some of the flavoured varieties, keep an eye on that sodium count. Now, let’s get nuts! ☯️