Flickr

I got a new camera recently, as a wedding gift from my parents. It's an Olympus E-PL5. It's a small camera that can switch lenses. I like the idea of a DSLR, but know I'm not willing to tote around a full size professional camera. This one is small enough (for me) to carry around, with the advantage over a point and shoot or iPhone camera of being able to have quality, removable, interchangable lenses. Not to mention it has a great sensor and can do nearly as much as a full size DSLRs. I'm just starting to learn and have been enjoying the process. I'm fidling with setting and filters and trying out some post processing applications on trial basis like Aperature and Lightroom to see which one I like. I've been posting pictures on my newly created flickr page. I also added some of our wedding pictures, which were taken by Paul Reitano, a good friend and great photographer! If you'd like to see all of them, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/106896102@N02/sets/

Vote for Layla!

Layla wants you to vote for her in the couch dog contest. Click the link and maybe she'll win a new couch!

Do you get "Hangry"?

Do you get “hangry”? Some describe this as the feeling of “low blood sugar”, “grumpy hungry” or just plain irritable. You know that time of day when it’s just been too long since you last ate.  Huffington Post has an article describing the symptoms and the emotional component added when you get hungry. You’re brain and gut are intricately related and when one needs something, it talks to the other and vice versa. And they usually need the same things, so it works out perfectly.

The avoidance of “hangry” is the biggest argument to eating 5 small meals a day. This comes with the benefits of keeping your insulin levels stable, improving insulin sensitivity and helping prevent diabetes. You avoid the cravings and are less likely to lose your will power.  You may remember my previous post called 2 meals and your pancreas where I talked a little about why a few studies showed eating 2 meals might be better for your pancreas as well as weight loss, but if you are trying to avoid the “hangry.” 5-6 small meals is the way to go.

Your liver is supposed to release stored energy when you haven’t eaten in a while to prevent your cells from going hungry. So why do we get this “hangry” feeling? Food provides much more than just calories made from carbs, protein and fat. There are so many other things we get from food. Vitamins and minerals for sure, but eating (or not eating) also triggers the release of hormones and chemicals in the gut and brain.  You may have heard of ghrelin, which gives you the feeling of hunger, along with leptin, which is released from adipose tissue when the cells don’t need any more energy. 

We have a very complex system of back and forth, push and pull, positive and negative feedback loops going on in our body that are constantly in flux, working to keep things in balance. Ghrelin tells your stomach it wants food, and your hypothalamus has a lot of ghrelin receptors, which causes us to become irritable. This irritability increases focus and determination to get food and used to keep us on track and in pursuit of food. It keeps distractions from getting the best of our body’s primary goal.

We’ve only recently (the last ~12,000 years) had a more constant supply of carbohydrates and food in general. Our relatively new position of having food readily available, and having all our other needs like shelter, warmth, medical care and social status essentially satisfied, allows us to more easily listen to our body’s feelings of hunger. We are no longer running from a predator or having to build shelter before a storm. Our modern day distractions, like paying bills, doing homework, and going to work, aren’t exactly life threatening. We have the time and resources to go to the store and buy food, and listen to our wants.

Most people know it’s a bad idea to go to the grocery store hungry. With all the super palatable foods, those oh-so-delicious dopamine and serotonin releasing foods, it’s no wonder why we get annoyed when we don’t have something to eat. We think it’s deprivation, we claim we’re starving, and we get into arguments about nothing. All because our “blood sugar is low.” That ghrelin can get your brain all fired up and focused, on that one ultimate goal of a satisfying meal. Don’t ignore it if you’re about to get into a heated argument with your spouse or boss. Have a snack, and then have a rational conversation, without the ghrelin induced “hangry”.

Apples in October

I rode home from work on Friday on Forest Hill Trail after the inspiration of this video of our local trail. The novelty of riding the trails home will never wear off. It's awesome. We watched Rumble Seat Revival play at Benny's BBQ with a few drinks and had a great time.  

Saturday morning, we drove to Grave's Mtn Orchard to pick some apples. Even though it was Oct. 5th, it was 91 degrees out and felt more like August. Wandering through the apple trees provided a little shade, but carrying 20+ lbs of apples made things hot. We picked LOTS of apples and had a great time. I made apple butter, and apple sauce, and hope to make more of each, in addition to any other apple concoction we can come up with.

Sunday was another full day: Ran 2.3 miles with the dogs, mowed the front and back lawns, made said apple butter/sauce, baked 2 quiches, cooked chile rellenos, made baked apple, washed/groomed dogs, and pulled weeds. It was a good day.

Here's a picture album from Apple Picking.

And here's a few pictures from Sunday.
 

August and what not

Here's a few pictures. 

Schools out for a couple more weeks. 

Got lots of weekend plans/trips scheduled for Sept and Oct. 

Hopefully more pics and stories to come. 

Softball just ended. All I can say is that we didn't lose EVERY game. 

Yard work, biking, and birthdays have been the big things the last few weeks. All have been fun and productive and exciting. 

If you'd like a version of my websites bumper sticker just let me know! Different slogans available!

A few pictures

Here's a few fun pictures that got some mild doctoring.

Muggy baseball night

Large beer

Crazy mushroom

Train station

Clock tower

Lights on Richmond

And if you haven't seen our pictures from New Mexico, check them out here: Eagle Nest, NM

What we do with our time

I haven't made much time to write on either blog and I feel terrible about it. But then again, the weekends have been full of fun, and weekdays have been full of work, school and volunteering. I haven't made time for blogging or research or other fun science related items but would like to do so. I'll try and post a couple recipes on www.simplerootstohealth.com in the next few days. Meanwhile, here's a few pictures from the last week or two. I start to lose track...

Orange rose in the backyard

Sherando park summit view

Bee on flower

Garden and Maddog

Pronghorn steaks and elk meat from Dad

Crazy flower

Instruments made from gourds.

Awesome storm clouds

High waters on the James

The view on my ride in to work

Some cool evening clouds

Where did May go?

Spring semester classes ended and I had this beautiful two week window that I thought I'd fill with blog posts and some fun food research. That didn't happen. I've had plenty of fun, including Head and the Heart Concert, a house party, visiting with highschool friend, attending Jason's wedding, lots of biking but also lots of neccessary things. Volunteer work started, I finished moving and then summer online classes started, which have been considerably more work than I expected. Not to mention a short trip to OBX for some fishing, and then before you know it, May is gone and it's June. It's been busy! Well, here's a few pictures from the last little while. Enjoy.

New Trails

Add a little urban riding and some new trails south of the city, and you get an awesome longer ride you can do from the house. Thanks Carter for leading the way.

The weather was unbelievably nice this weekend. Unfortunately, that means the poison ivy is out in full force and the ticks are back with a vengence. And they aren't shy about searching out the places you particularly don't want them to bite! But we made the most of it, riding, planting, and playing in the sun. Hanging out with friends/family for dinner is the best way to end two great days.

Wild and Wonderful WV

Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. We stopped by Douthat State Park for a quick evening hike as we made our way to Charleston, WV to visit Kaz's brother Allen.

As we pulled up to his awesome log cabin house at 11:30pm, I turned the dome light on to see what we needed to take out of the car. As it was, we were super tired, since neither of us are night owls, and it'd been a long day. When we tried to go for a drive on Saturday, I remembered I hadn't turned the dome light off. Bummer. Thankfully I got a set of long, burly jumper cables after my last incident of dome light forgetfulness. The bad thing is, if you don't have another car to jump off of, you're still kinda stuck. Well, thanks to Allen, that is no longer an issue either.

After exploring the downtown market, we read, napped and ate, watched some funny internet videos and the movie "Django unchained." It was a good rest day which Kaz and I both needed. Sunday we stopped by the New River Gorge for another hike and then found our way back home again. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and didn't have to do any chores or busy work. It was great! Allen's a great host and we look forward to the next time.