All the daily physical therapy, icing, glucosamine, and strength training are paying off. The pain is still there, though not as much, but I can move unhindered more than I could before. When I’d gone to my latest doctor visit, I wasn’t as sore as I had been, and the doctor told me it would do me good to go back to training if I didn’t push it. I actually listened to everything the doc said, not just the part I wanted to hear (you can go back to taijutsu, you’re fine) and I iced Leftie throughout practice.

However, some cold hard facts came to light as I started getting back into the thick of it:

• I have a lot of catching up to do.
• My mental game still needs work.
• My knee is better but not well.

I love taijutsu. I don’t just love it because it’s a martial art or that I’m learning to defend myself, although those do factor in. I love it mainly because of the discipline and perspective it gives me. I’ve lacked those two things throughout much of my life and picking them up in such an unlikely place has helped me immeasurably.

Taijutsu has helped me lose weight because of the discipline and perspective it imparts. I’ve watched as it did the same thing for my senpai. Being able to step back and let things flow naturally is like learning to live for the first time. I have balance in my life now and black and white don’t have the meaning they once did. Because of taijutsu I see things more in the spectrum of gray and “never” is a seldom used word. Good ol’ perspective.

But right now, I have to play it safe with the knee and take it really slow. I was able to throw and be thrown for the first time in almost a year, yet my body and mind aren’t on the same page, or even reading the same book for that matter.

Although I sat in on practices throughout the months of my injury, my body can’t react to what my mind is saying. Sure, I know I need to be right there, and be there fast, but I can’t move like I did before the trouble started. I can’t even kneel properly to bow in. Thanks to my training though, I can say, it’ll happen. Thanks to training I can say, keep going. Thanks to training I won’t give up and snivel in a corner. I learned a new phrase last night which sums up how I feel about taijutsu in my life: Arigato Iroiro- “Thanks for Everything!!”

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage made from placing a round, rubbery colony of yeast and bacteria in a solution of regular black or green tea and sugar. The lil’ beasties eat the sugar and tea and create probiotic acids (lactic and acetic) and vital organic acids (glucuronic and gluconic) in the process. These acids are supposed to balance the body’s pH level and aid in self-healing.

Some people swear this stuff gives them all manner of touchy-feely good hippy vibes, but as yet, I only find myself addicted to the taste. I drink kombucha three times a day, per recommended dosages but I don’t feel any life shattering changes. However, as with any natural supplement or remedy, this is neither, really, it takes time, a loonnnnggg time, for any significant improvements to be noticed. If anything, this stuff is delicious and refreshing, so even if I get nadda outta the experience, I still walk away knowing I brewed my own kombucha for $1 a gallon while everyone else is forking over $35 for the same, overly sour stuff.

I’m now considering fermenting my own natto. Yes, natto. That gloopy, boogery snot-looking Japanese test of gaijin-ness. I’ve had natto, three times. Each time I was disgusted beyond words by its foul stench and loathsome texture. Japanese folk have a great time feeding this to foreigners to see their reaction. It’s the equivalent of feeding someone “prairie oysters” and then passing it off as something eaten all the time. Natto, despite its overt grossness, is still a fermented food, and has all the criteria of being “good” for you. I figure if I grow it home, it can’t be as nasty as the stuff at the store. Can’t be.

Growing one’s own “food” has become quite a hobby, with rewards ranging from smugness (it really does feel good to raise minute colonies of bacterium) to healthy intestines (no more sharp stabby night pains!) My only issue is where to put all the bowls and jars of fermenting food so they don’t gross out company…

I didn’t even think about my test results until I tore open the envelope and read them.
My test results were:

• Total Cholesterol: 134
• Triglycerides: 85
• HDL (good cholesterol): 50
• LDL (bad cholesterol): 67

I’m told that’s good. But I don’t want good; I want great. I want sparkly award winning cholesterol. I want arteries so shiny I emit light every time I bleed. That may seem far-fetched and a bit of a reach. Fair enough. Yet I made a goal to live to a vibrant, energetic 120 years, with all my faculties and all my functions. I was hoping I would end my days in a spectacular gliding accident right after I hit 120. I have this whole life thing pretty mapped out, and I need to be in the best shape possible to achieve my goal. So “good” won’t cut it. It’s got to be great.

Now I’m going to make it a goal to up my HDL to 60, 10 points higher than it is now. I’d also like to lower my LDL to 60, 7 points below its present point. Why bother if I’m in good health now? Part of it is the longevity factor but part of it is also the challenge. I’ve come so far in customizing my body and making it look and run better than it ever has before, that my health has become an almost obsessive past time. It’s become a hobby to see if I can make my body do this, overcome that, and look how I want it to. How could I not take up this challenge for better heart health?

I can see how my family member and I may become slightly competitive about improving our cholesterol levels. I don’t mind the competition. As long as we both cross the finish line, I’m happy and won’t give them a heart time if I come in second place.

Kefir is a milk beverage developed hundreds of years ago by the nomadic tribes of the Causcaus. They discovered if they poured freshly obtained milk into a sack and added kefir grains to it, the milk would ferment at room temperature into a sour, slightly carbonated beverage. The milk was thus preserved and kefir was born. The milk doesn’t go bad when it’s fermenting at warm to hot temperatures due to the colonies of yeasts and bacteria which break down sugars in the milk and which also keep harmful microbes from spoiling the milk.

These critters are the same ones we need in our guts in order to have a balanced system. We humans are symbiotic creatures and depend on a slew of microbes, probiotics, to keep us healthy. Kefir is filled with what we need. What about kefir being a dairy beverage and hence a bane to anyone with lactose intolerance?

If kefir is brewed at home, it can be fermented longer. Fermenting longer and then initiating a second fermenting of kefir enables the microbes to digest the lactose, milk sugar, responsible for lactose intolerance. No lactose sugars, no farting. The brew is more sour due to the lengthy fermentation, but it’s possible to sweeten it with agave or honey to take the edge off. I read kefir tastes like yogurt and during a second fermentation, fruits and sugar may be added to create a yogurt like smoothie.

I bought some kefir grains this week from ebay to try my hand at making kefir. The grains looked like white mush and smelled like old socks and rotting bread, which is apparently how they’re supposed to smell; it means they’re alive.

It’s been sixteen hours since I added the milk, and the kefir is thickening up nicely. However, I read on the seller’s website to toss out the initial batch of kefir and to only consume consequent batches. I’ve also read not to initially wholesale chug homegrown kefir after you first start making it. The body may be unused to the massive amounts of good buggies and will be upset at the deluge of incoming microbes, thus upsetting the system. What will follow is a kill off of all the undesirables living in the guts at the thousands of “hands” of the probiotics, which’ll create more turmoil. Slowly titrating onto kefir is the best way to avoid stomach upset. That’s fine by me since I’m not going to have gallons of this stuff handy any time soon anyhow.

I’m excited, though; I’m back to “growing” good food which is good for me. I love being so connected to my own health and well being! I’ll keep you posted as to how my kefir turns out!

To that effect, I’m trying to cut down on my refined sugar and food intake by switching to alternative sweeteners like agave syrup and xylitol for my sweet fix. I’ve been doing a lot of research and have found natural sugars with a low glycemic index can potentially satisfy my insane sugar cravings and won’t shut down my immune system when I need it most. That and the energy I get from agave will be a slow release of energy and not the spiky high white sugar socks people with.

Agave is obtained from expressing the core of select agave plants. The resultant goo is a very watery liquid which looks and tastes exactly like honey, except sweeter. However the glycemic index is only 27 compared to the GI of refined honey, which is 83. Plus, agave dissolves readily in any liquid, hot or cold. This stuff is actually pretty amazing. It’s not as thick as honey, and it’ll never crystallize on the shelf like honey. Agave syrup is still sixty calories per tablespoon, just as honey and other refined sugars are, but I find I don’t need to use as much as I would with honey. So far, I’m loving the agave syrup.

Xylitol is a natural sugar found in corn husks and hardwoods, such as birch. It’s not so much a sugar as a sugar alcohol and doesn’t have the nasty aftertaste other sweeteners, such as stevia do. Stevia, sweetleaf, is a great sugar alternative, don’t get me wrong. However, it has a horrible bite, which I can’t get around. Xylitol sounded promising but I wanted to try a small amount of it before I invested $8 a pound for it online. I finally found some bulk xylitol in the St. Louis area at New Dawn Health Foods and bought a pound.

The crystals of xylitol clump ever so slightly and are airy and light. A first taste doesn’t leave me with any hideous impressions, but xylitol is certainly not sugar. It’s sweet, but not as sweet white sugar. It dissolves fairly easily in a cup of hot tea, which is the only thing I’ve used it in thus far. Xylitol might not be as sweet as sugar, but with half the calories of sugar, I’m willing to overlook its inequalities.

Xylitol is a decent sweetener and I can see myself using it as a sugar substitute in my cooking. There are two huge drawbacks to using xylitol daily, however. One is the price. The other is the way it can cause diarrhea if eaten too much of it too soon. The packaging doesn’t mention this lil’ tidbit, but the info is online. I thought two tablespoons wasn’t enough to cause discomfort. Turns out two tablespoons cleaned me out pretty good. In order to overcome this noxious side effect, xylitol must be introduced into a diet daily and at a low dosage. I suppose I can do that, but I’m slightly bitter about doing so for a sweetener.

I’ll be using both the agave syrup and the xylitol whenever I can (read as, whenever I can afford to do so). They’re both tasty and can be used just like sugar and honey. The only foreseeable problem is the price, both to my wallet and potentially my guts. But in the long run, living longer and finally breaking my addiction to refined sugar once and for all is a small price to pay.

This sounds to me what the food industry is doing to our food supply, quashing the older and healthier in favor of foods easier and cheaper to manufacture but are in demand. Think about it: back in the good ol’ days, great great granny and pappy had to make their own bread and were forced to eat what they grew or were able to trade for, which was also mostly what someone grew or made. Refined goods back then, such as sugar and salt, were a luxury few could afford.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some dark times in terms of food going bad and lack of production oversight, but all that started when food became mass produced thanks to technology. Mass production can be a boon as well, but isn’t it possible to mass produce foods which won’t kill us or make us fat?

Nowadays, you can’t escape from the sugar. It’s considered a luxury to buy home baked bread and to purchase foods with no refined sugars. We call those items “health foods”; granny and pappy just called ‘em “food”. Funny what a hundred years will do to your perspective.

People are slowly beginning to realize the foods they once considered a godsend (Wonderbread, lord knows why, was considered a godsend) are actually poisoning them. The partially hydrogenated soybean oil meant to save us all from the icky palm oil has instead been proven to do just the opposite. Palm oil is now back on the scene, making a comeback at twice the original price (it’s not a health food though, it’s still saturated fat!) Sugar, once so prized, is the new cocaine; a cheap and legal opiate available to everyone in every price bracket.

We’re confused when we go grocery shopping. People need degrees to understand what the hell it is they’re eating. What’s this new, fully hydrogenated oil? Is that a trans fat? It says trans fat free. What’s sucralose?

We’re getting eye strain from reading the fine print on the ingredient labels. We’re getting fatter because our food is more processed than our computers. We’re suffering from food technology.

Technology itself can be a fine thing. People live longer because of new cures and developments. We’re supposedly more connected than we ever were before. Our lives our enriched, our views are expanded, and our body’s are bloated but starving, because of technology. Americans are now suffering the effects of our poor food technology, and choices, by being stunted because of it. You know what we call our native diet? SAD: Standard American Diet.

My mom was ahead of her time. She would make our baby food because Gerber loaded its products with sugar and chemicals. She also grew her own organic produce and my dad would catch fish from small local ponds. Nowadays, people shell out good cash for healthy foods, organic produce and local goods.

I’m not saying we should all go back to growing our own food (it’d be nice if we had that kind of time) but one positive change we can make in our daily food consumption would be to boycott foods loaded with artificial chemicals and with refined ingredients, like white flour and sugar. It’s everywhere and it’s hard to avoid, but maybe by switching over one or two products twice a month could make a difference in how people eat.

One of the reasons I became so heavy was my mass consumption of refined goods. My body was never satisfied because I wasn’t getting any nutritional benefits from what I was eating. And the foods were addictive. Despite my mother’s best efforts, I succumbed to sugar addiction at an early age.

Now, I’m attempting to switch to foods which will treat my body well and give it the energy it needs, along with a feeling of satisfaction. I’m going to give agave syrup and xylitol a shot as a refined sugar alternative and hopefully, this is a toughie, start using more whole wheat in the kitchen. I’ll let you know how it goes, but it’s a challenge to make the right choices when we’re surrounded by easy ones.

You don’t think sugar is addictive? Do you scoff at the claim? Really? Try quitting sugar cold turkey, without any artificial sweeteners to soften the blow, and tell me it’s not addictive. I go on whole body cleanses once a year for about two weeks to rid myself of the goop accumulated therein, and when I stop sugar, look out! No bread, no crackers, no cereal, nothing but fruits and vegetables, and even the fruit is limited due its sugar content. I went without any sugar and very little fruit for three weeks one year at Christmas. I almost killed someone.

Looking for adventure? Cut out sugar for one whole week. Check the ingredients on all your breads, your salad dressings, your croûtons, your supposed health foods. Don’t eat anything which lists sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, fructose, sucralose, aspertame, or any other sweetener know to man. Might as well drop all the fruit and juice along with the sugar if you’re really serious about proving sugar isn’t addictive. Fruit and fruit juice have a lot of sugar in the way of fructose. “Fructose is the sweetest naturally occurring sugar, estimated to be twice as sweet as sucrose“-Wikipedia.

Tell me how you feel after only three days of absolutely no sugar. It’s in everything; salad dressing, crackers, bread, cereal, fruit drinks, gatorade and in pre-packaged meals. You can’t turn around without bumping into sugar in either it’s sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, or cane sugar form. You can’t.

Go to a “health food” store. Sugar’s there too. Lurking on the shelves, drawing you in with its green “low calorie”, “organic”, “natural” packaging. Read the label. Read it every single time you buy instant or packaged foods. You’ll find you’re secret addiction waiting for you, in the first six ingredients.

I’m not through with sugar. I eat it often, daily in fact. It’s a struggle every single day to make better choices about how I use it. Do I put it on my oatmeal (one measured tablespoon) or do I have a homemade treat? Do I have a handful of rice crackers or do I use sugar in the meal I’m cooking? The way I use sugar is a balancing act of where to best use it. How will I get maximum satisfaction from this? If it’s hidden, in the form of high fructose corn syrup in bread, I won’t even taste it, but my ass will feel it. And so will my immune system.

Yes, immune system. Try this. Next time you’re sick or think you’re getting sick, cut out all the sugar. Don’t let a grain of it pass your lips. Notice how you feel, besides having a wicked sugar craving . Eat raw veggies and homemade vegetable soups instead of chicken soup. I guarantee you’ll feel better and heal faster. I do, every time. But you know what? I want that sugar so bad it hurts. I want it more than anything when I’m sick because it soothes me.

What I’m working on now is avoiding the really bad sugars, such as refined or high fructose corn syrup. Processed anything loses most of its health benefits, no matter how small, when it’s made into what it is. If you have the choice, buy something that’s sweetened with honey, cane juice, agave syrup or palm, maple or date sugar.

It’s still sugar, it’s still sixty calories per tablespoon, but your body will thank you for making a better choice, especially if it’s agave syrup. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking natural “raw” sugars are good for you and then eat them like you were eating the “bad” sugars. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. And sugar is sugar is sugar. If you want a sugar high, eat an orange or an apple or a cup of honeydew (there’s honey right in the name!) The high will be actual energy and not some quick fix.

It’s amazing the quite thrall sugar has on all of us. You don’t think it’s in much, but it’s where you least expect it, really. In the future, perhaps refined sugar will become a controlled substance, along with tobacco and heroine. Indeed, sugar is addictive. The obesity epidemic can attest to that. We should have meetings and support groups just for sugar addiction: My name is Rachel Bigler and I’m a recovering suga-holic.

I like a challenge and have always had a massive creative bend. Taking on the task of deciphering the Japanese food terminology was something I couldn’t refuse. I went link-hopping from website to website and checked out every Japanese cookbook at the St. Louis Library (it’s true; you should see the overdue charges). I wanted to know my media inside and out: A person can’t be creative if they’re unfamiliar with the tools they’re working with.

I had to figure out dashi, soy sauce, and mirin are the fundamentals in 90% of all Japanese soups and sauces. I had to learn mochiko dough can be reheated to make flawless daifuku. I figured out the easiest way to make wagashi is to make the anko ahead of time, freeze it, and use it when I felt the need to be creative. I discovered real teriyaki sauce doesn’t even use garlic (too bad). I became acquainted with the best cooking methods for different recipes and how to steam different dishes in the manner best suited to each (there are many ways to steam, FYI).

After I had the basics, I was ready to get creative, and did. Then I had the revelation that I now think about food all the damn time! But not to eat; to make.

I love to cook. I regard cooking as a highly applicable form of art. Most art looks good and can only be enjoyed by a few of the senses; usually tactilely, aurally, and visually. Cooking engages every sense!

The aroma of the sesame seeds as they’re crushed or the ginger as it’s grated, gets the olfactory involved as never before. As spices are ground in a mortar and pestle, they make a soft, low sound just as the chiming of a metal spoon on a wok makes a deep ringing tone. The feel of rice flour dough in the hands is soft, like an earlobe, and tofu has a slippery, cool texture. The finished meal should always look as good as it tastes; the payoff should equal the investment and be visually aesthetic. And to taste the food is the most delightful of all the experiences, but not as much as the experience as a whole to create.

So although I do think about food all the damn time now, I’m thinking of it as an artist thinks of Yellow Ochre or Vermilion Red; as a means but not, by any means, the end.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore Japanese cuisine. I have one of the best stocked Japanese pantries in the area, and my freezer is filled with seafood, abura age, mochi and anko. If someone were to pop over now and demand an authentic meal, I don’t believe I’d disappoint. But making it every night? I honestly couldn’t do it.

However, every night, I do eat similarly to Japanese cuisine. I love almost all ethnic cooking, and even a few American down home recipes. I eat a wide and diverse variety of foods, from Indian to Mexican. I simply apply the basics of Japanese cooking to other recipes. Traditionally, the Japanese would eat tofu, seafoods, rice, and lots of vegetables at their meals.

If I wanted to eat a “Japanese-Italian” meal, I could use TVP “meat” for the tofu, noodles for the rice and add as many veggies to the mix as possible. Viola, I just made a meal following the basic pattern of traditional Japanese ingredients.

In today’s world, where the Far East is thankfully no longer referred to as the “Orient”, soy products are becoming a part of our food vocabulary. There’s soy milk in most grocery stores, along with tofu and the ever wonderful Gardenburger and Boca brand “meat” products, made from soy protein.

One of my secrets is I try and bulk everything up with vegetables. I can sneak a bell pepper or carrot in many things without people catching on to my nefarious deed of subvertly cleaning their arteries. If I’m serving kitsune udon, I add a bigger portion of spinach to my bowl compared to the abura age and noodles. In a stirfry, I tend to use very little seafood and more veggies and tofu. For my enchiladas, my ratio of vegetables (onions, peppers, spinach) to beans is pretty high.

I have a large food repertoire and I don’t eat Japanese cuisine every night. I enjoy a diverse selection of foods ranging from pescetarian to vegan, from Middle American to Middle Eastern. Eating healthily is like working out: you should never get bored with your routine!

Amazingly, my muscles haven’t screamed in protest nearly as much as I initially thought they would. In fact, they didn’t complain one bit the past three times I’ve done the interval training. However, Leftie (my torn left knee) had a few words after my workout. My knee hurt rather badly considering I’ve been healing up well since I first injured it in July. In response to the sharp creaky jabs Leftie’s been directing my way: Shut up! Damn it Leftie, just shut up!!

About when Leftie started yammering, Rightie (an old knee injury in my right knee) added her two cents. Gaaa! Silence you bitches! Don’t make me break out the Vicodan on your asses!

Then the abs started their symphony of pain. You’re all against me! All except my gluts, hamstrings, quads and calves. They’re down.

In a show of solidarity, my upper body sided with my lower muscle groups and staunchly said nadda as I worked them out in the free weight area.

It was a brave show on my part (for me, mind you) to even enter the free weight of my own volition. The equipment reminded me of a dark, iron forest, like the kind featured prominently in children’s tales of horror (yes, Babes in the Woods is a horror story; ask any child who’s read it).

I honestly wanted to pretend I had wandered in there only to tie my shoe, and then run back to the assisted weight equipment when no one was looking. It’s true. I wasn’t as familiar with the area as I wanted to be and knew I’d drop weights or violate some unspoken free weight taboo.

I felt as though the men huddled around the equipment were from some superior tribe, judging my worth to even approach the bench press: “Verily, she doth only lift 15 on the flat press, she is weaaaaakkkkk!”

Yeah, well, 15 or 115, I still mastered my fear of failure and looking like a newbie doof in the free weight area. I stayed there for 30 minutes and finished my routine. I even asked a few people for a some pointers, giving away my total newbie-ness.

Who cares if some meat head gives me (what I think) is a nasty smirk. I don’t lift for him. I don’t lift for the tiny gal next to me who (I think) looks at me funny for easily curling 12 when she’s struggling with 5. Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care. I should spend less time thinking what I can’t do and projecting my assumptions, and more time doing, then I can achieve more with my goals.

It just goes to show you some pain isn’t even physical. Fear is painful. It builds and builds and builds until it paralyzes you as thoroughly as any injury. I got out of my comfort zone and confronted my fear. No one likes to do that, but I have so much at stake, I don’t care how painful something is; if it needs doing it gets done.

They say no pain, no gain. I couldn’t agree more.