I’m still working away at improving my skies – up to 17 now, all done in miniature! At the same time I’ve been working on 2 large (25 x 37″) commissions and preparing for an art show, Art in Your Face in Cap-Pele, on Saturday (10-3) at the Castel de Flots Bleus Nursing Home, just behind the Jean Coutu pharmacy here in Cap-Pele! A busy month…
So, here are a few of my fun little miniatures (2.5 x 3.5″) of clouds – I’ve had some amazing skies to work with in the past couple of weeks… Hope you enjoy them!
I’m a lucky woman – I am married to a really optimistic man and he’s changed the way I think.
His logic, when faced with some of life’s crappy episodes (sometimes that’s the only way to describe them!) is to remedy the situation as best possible, learn what you can from it, and move on. He actively avoids talking and even thinking about negative episodes from the past when you can do nothing further about it, and will abruptly change the subject if it comes up!
My nature, on the other hand, has been to dwell on these situations, replaying them over in my mind – what could I have done differently? Why did that happen? … a totally useless activity and a recipe for depression or at least a bad mood!
Psychologists will tell you that the more you use a neural pathway, the stronger it becomes and the more likely these thought pathways will be activated again in the future. In other words, the more you think about something, the more likely you are to remember it and the more often it will pop into your mind. Nerve pathways that are used more often become stronger, and those that are neglected will wither.
So dwelling on the positive and setting the negative aside is great for your mental health. This is the idea behind keeping a positivity or gratitude journal, but just making a point of “changing your mind” when you realize useless negative thoughts are creeping in can make a huge difference in your mood. I’ve learned to do this with lots of encouragement from my hubby… my “go to” positive thoughts are all about art – my “happy place”! And if that isn’t enough, I head for the beach for a walk. I’m sure it helps to have a default thought or place to go to when you need to change your thinking.
Optimists live longer…
So, this week, I read that multiple studies have found optimists, on average, live 15% longer, and that optimistic men are 70% more likely to reach age 85, while optimistic women are 50% more likely to see their 85th birthday (They didn’t suggest any reason for the difference, but maybe we women just worry more?? or perhaps our worries affect our health less?? Just a guess…). This held even when various risk factors were taken into account.
Those whose negative moods and thoughts hung on for several days, compared to those who had a rough day but moved on quickly from their stresses, had fewer chronic diseases 10 years later. Long term stress is known to raise cortisol levels, contributing to increased inflammation and insulin resistance over the long term,and this could explain the difference.
So, find yourself a default happy place to go whenever one of those nagging negative scenes creeps into your consciousness, and have a happier more positive life!!
I read an article this week on how people too often ignore experts’ warnings before disasters (leading to increased risk of loss of life) that reminded me of something that happened here a few years ago. The article talked about the problem of people ignoring warnings of climate change because they had difficulty imagining how things could change as a consequence of their actions.
A few summers ago, a group of young people (not from our road) had gathered on the beach in front of our house. A friend came to join them, driving his large 4-wheeler down the path to the beach, only to discover that it was too large to cross the little bridge (which, of course, is designed to prevent vehicles from accessing the beach, as they can cause a lot of damage to wildlife habitat). They, instead, drove their large vehicle into the marsh along the side of the trail, crushing the grasses and wildflowers in a fairly large area.
Neighbours, passing by on their way back from the beach and seeing the damage, were incensed! We all live here because we love the beach and the wetlands behind the dunes, and understandably are all very protective of our beautiful environment. I decided to walk back to the beach and talk to the young people, to explain that what they had done was upsetting to our neighbourhood. That what they had done was wrong.
The owner of the ATV told me he didn’t think anyone would care that a few grasses were crushed, he didn’t think it was important. I described how we all love our walk to the beach with its beautiful flowers, grasses and wildlife, and how much we care about it. Marsh ecosystems are delicate and it would take 2 to 3 years or more for the scars the machine created to heal. It was wrong to assume no one would care. He should care too. The marshes and dunes protect the coastline and our properties from erosion and damage, especially during storms. He seemed to understand, apologized and even gave me a hug…
Many of us have difficulty imagining outcomes of our actions creating problems for others or leading to serious climate problems until disasters occur. Even warnings from experts are often ignored because many cannot imagine the consequences being worse than they’ve experienced in the past. Scientists know that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, wildfires and more are a result of small human actions that compound over time.
But it’s hard to see that in our everyday activities. We need to start using our imaginations to picture what could happen as a result of our collective personal actions, both positive and negative. In our neighbourhood, caring for our little piece of coastline by planting grasses, and staying off the dunes, has resulted in dunes and a beach that are growing, not eroding. We have an ever-growing wall between us and the ocean, and a marsh that absorbs the impact of storms when they occur. The signs we post on the beach each year, asking people to stay off the dunes and explaining why, are having an impact, reducing damage to our stretch of coastline – we rarely see visitors to the beach walking in the dunes any more. Our collective small actions are having an effect we can see.
Meanwhile, my passion for the environment pours out in the form of painting the marsh, beach and amazing skies here, over and over! If you’re interested, here is a link to a new, more detailed page I set up on my website:
I read two interesting things this week, perhaps unrelated, but my mind wants to put them together. Of course, I instantly applied these ideas to my art pursuits, but I believe they could be helpful in determining how to achieve anything you wanted to accomplish.
Move… The first is that creativity is increased when you move your body, for example, thinking while walking rather than sitting. Although my creativity is expressed currently through painting, creativity also helps to solve problems or accomplish anything you want to do. I’m reading Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series, and the main character always goes for a walk when he’s trying to figure out a particularly difficult case! Scientific studies support improved creativity during and immediately after walking, and doing this activity outdoors works even better than exercising indoors. The benefits of movement and being outside add together.
Routine… The second idea is that having a routine makes movement more automatic. Building exercise into your daily routine makes it much more likely that you’ll do it every day. Changing habits can be a challenge but, once established, these habits take a lot of decision-making out of your day, making your life less stressed and more relaxed, saving your brain-power for the rest of your day. Truly creating a new habit can take a month or two to become really automatic. Of course, we live in a 3-story house, so our exercise is built into our day… even easier!
But, when it comes to walking outside, my habit has been to paint and then go for a walk. In fact, I often like to leave my walk until late afternoon! But I very likely would benefit from a change in my routine — go for a walk outside first, think about what I want to create, then sit down and paint!
And I could also use the anti-stress effects of exercise — we are just putting our beloved home on the market after almost 18 years here… it’s time to downsize! You should see our place — totally decluttered and depersonalized, ready for the photographer to come this afternoon. Feels so weird!
I was once asked (in a podcast interview!) “Keto vs Vegan?” Just that… no explanation. Now, I’m a pharmacist not a dietitian, so it’s really not my area of expertise (and the interview was about women’s hormones!) but I did my best to answer. I said I would choose keto over vegan, but really didn’t have a good explanation for my choice. Of course, I’ve had lots of time since then to consider what I could (should!) have said… and to do some research as I always do when I’m stumped for a good answer to a question.
So, here in a nutshell is what I learned…
Note: I’ve always recommended “everything in moderation” especially when it comes to diet, so it’s very unlikely that I’d ever recommend a vegan or strict keto diet. I’m more likely to recommend a “plant based” diet where all foods are included, but with an emphasis on more plant-sourced foods, while minimizing processed and sugary food.
Vegan Diet
I see a vegan diet as introducing more risk of nutrient deficiency than a keto diet because all animal products are eliminated. This can make it more difficult (but still possible) to get enough protein. However, there are plenty of plant foods with protein so a person would just need to include enough of these.
The exception, however, is vitamin B12, which can be difficult to get enough of from only plants. It is recommended that anyone following a strict vegan (or even vegetarian) diet simply take a daily supplement of this vitamin to avoid any risk of a B12-related anemia or nerve damage. Easy-peasy!
Although some people choose a vegan diet for heath reasons, I read that the majority choose it for ethical reasons, sometimes because of an awareness of animal cruelty. I can understand that – farming and food production should always be ethical.
Keto Diet
A strict keto diet limits daily carbohydrate intake to 20 grams or less. Less strict versions limit them to 30 grams daily. Carbohydrates (sugars and starches) are broken down into glucose which the body uses for energy. If not enough glucose is available, the body can break down fats into ketones that the body can use for energy instead of glucose. So the diet’s name “ketogenic” (or keto for short) comes from this generation of ketones. This diet was originally designed to control seizures in children when medication wasn’t working well enough. It’s been around a long time and is considered very safe.
The main glitch that can occur is when starting the diet. It can take some time for the body to start creating ketones so, if you cut carbohydrate intake too quickly, you can end up with what’s sometimes called the “keto flu”… flu-like symptoms of tiredness and headaches. So the key is to gradually cut back on sugars and starchy foods over a couple of weeks to give the body time to adapt.
In the past, keto diets would often replace the carbohydrates with fats. However, I’ve noticed that newer recipes lean more toward increasing protein instead. This can be a bonus for us as we age, as increased dietary protein can reduce the muscle loss that often occurs in later years.
Diabetes, Pre-diabetes and Insulin Resistance
The other population that can benefit from lower carbohydrate intake are those with insulin resistance (as discussed in last week’s blog) as well as Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes (both of which are actually driven by insulin resistance).
Less carbohydrate intake means less requirement for insulin production, in a nutshell. And higher blood insulin is associated with inflammation and increased risk of various chronic diseases.
So, that’s what I’ve learned and tried to follow over the past few years. As Michael Pollan puts it in his simple Food Rules: Eat food (real food not processed), mostly plants, and not too much.
If you’re interested in a good keto recipe website (in an effort to reduce your sugar intake), my favourite is “All Day I Dream About Food.com ” (see link below). Her recipes are well-tested and always work out great, although I sometimes cut back on sweetener. I find my taste has adjusted to less sweetness over time!
I’ve created a little slide show for you to showcase my first “series” of paintings on a theme. It was fun to do and truly reflects my Artist’s Mission:
“To create art that captures life’s meaningful moments, important people, favourite places and dreams of where you’d love to be… providing a way to revisit the things that matter most to you and re-experience the warm emotions they create.”
These paintings share the joy I feel when I look out from my home toward the ocean, seeing the wildlife return to the marsh I like to call my “private bird sanctuary”. The marsh behind the dunes teems with wildlife and our entire neighbourhood realizes the importance of protecting it from the effects of human disruption as much as possible. The marshes and beaches are most certainly a favourite place for all of us who live along the NB coast or love to visit there. I hope these paintings capture memories of being on the NB coast, or portray a vision of where you’d love to live one day…
These artworks are shared for your enjoyment. Of course, they are also for sale. If you are interested in owning one of these, please contact me directly at jeannie.beaudin@gmail.com . The paintings in this series measure 9 x 12″, and can be matted and framed to 11x 14″. I sell them for $100 ($120 framed) plus shipping. Note that we often go to Fredericton, Halifax and Miscou Island and can facilitate a free delivery if the timing works!
(A page from my sketchbook, celebrating a successful art show in Barachois, NB last September… I learned that faces are really hard to do with an ink pen!)
There’s a “thing” we artists and writers call “impostor syndrome”… Many of us feel like we can’t really be true artists, our work can’t be worth actual money or must be worth very little. Never mind how many hours we’ve spent learning our craft and creating the art! We’re impostors, trying to pass as real artists!! Hence the “starving artist” persona that is all too common.
But when I compare my paintings to works selling for far more than I’d dare ask, I find it compares well! Must be a result of the years of practice and online study I did to learn the craft, just enjoying it as a hobby. When I first started selling my art at local art shows, I thought I was being brave and asked a price that actually made me feel a little uncomfortable (with an alternative list with lower prices, in case nothing sold…), only to have buyers tell me what a great price I had on my art. I guess I too suffer from “impostor syndrome”!
Am I done yet?
I also often have difficulty deciding that a painting is finished. One client, for whom I was doing a commission, thought that it was very odd that I wouldn’t know when I was done. But we perfectionists are rarely satisfied with every part of a painting. At some point we have to just decide to put down the paint brush or the pen and tell ourselves it’s finished! Too many “fixes” and “additions” can actually result in spoiling the painting, making it look overdone or overworked. Too much editing means you’ll never be finished the book.
So, one of the things I like about painting outdoors “en plein air” in a little sketchbook, is that there’s no pressure to be perfect. The painting is just for you, it can’t be taken out of the sketchbook especially if it’s painted across both pages, as I usually do. It’s a great place to experiment and learn, and to just paint for the fun of it. And being outside is an extra bonus! It’s like an active meditation that’s great for mental health…
I guess I gush about this quite often — several of my friends in Spain decided they wanted to try watercolour too, and we had a few sessions at our dining room table this winter to help get them started! I also put together a half dozen Plein Air Paint Kits (with lessons included) with the same goal — sharing the fun of being able to paint outdoors and when travelling! They all sold and I made 8 more to sell at art fairs this summer (Of course, you can always contact me if you too have always had an “envie” to paint…). And I always bring my own little kit and paint at shows – it makes the day even more fun!
Human creation vs AIproduction
I was just reading another article about AI in art and writing, especially in digital media and online posts (a popular topic these days). They noted that people show a preference for artistic work that they know has been done by humans, appreciating the work, knowledge and hours of practice needed to learn the craft and create the piece of art or writing. While people in general have been willing to pay more for an item that was handcrafted, the work of human artisans is being increasingly valued in this age of invasion of machine generated art into the marketplace.
And, strangely, while human artists worry about small imperfections remaining in their work, current AI generated art is noted for containing blatant errors, like people with 3 hands, extra fingers or some body part attached backwards! You’d think a computer would make the image too perfect. Too funny, really…
I’ll put a link to the article I was reading below, along with a link to a study of how being more exposed to nature can lower stress hormones. The article ended with this quote:
“Ultimately, what we value about art is not whether it’s perfect, but its ability to connect us with another human being.” Art is more than just a pretty picture — it’s an image with story, an ability to generate emotions, feelings and memories, and a connection to the artist too! I think that explains why people generally prefer handmade art and human generated writing — to share emotions and feelings with another person, often over time and distance, rather than with a machine that has no feelings at all and can only borrow the words and images of others.
I’ll be sharing the stories behind my art with those on my Art Priority List. Join me there if you love art, or if you find nature relaxes you and drains away stress, like it does for me! Click HERE to join my Art List!
I was involved in promoting health research in New Brunswick for a number of years, and was even chair of the Board of Directors of the NB Health Research Foundation for 3 years and its Vice-Chair for 3 years before that. Along with being a pharmacist (for longer than I like to admit out loud…) I’ve learned a lot about research, including how problematic it can be to get new discoveries into actual use on the front line of patient treatment.
This is called “Knowledge Translation”, nicknamed KT (or sometimes referred to as “Katie”) — translating the knowledge gained through years of research, into actual practice in hospitals and doctors’ offices. People tend to be resistant to change, doctors are trained to follow protocols, and protocols are too often difficult to update. Research results that involve lifestyle or diet changes can get lost in the sea of drug solutions…
It takes, on average, 17 years for changes to get from “bench” to “bedside” — that’s incredible really, and is very likely delaying needed improvements in treatments!
Last week I wrote about the problem of Insulin Resistance, and that’s a good example of a lack of knowledge translation — we continue to look only at glucose blood levels when researchers (and most health professionals) know Type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance, with raised insulin blood levels. That was discovered almost 100 years ago by Joseph Kraft, a prominent researcher of insulin resistance. Insulin doesn’t work as well when our bodies are insulin resistant, so the body produces more to get the insulin action we need when our cells are resistant to the action of insulin, creating detrimental effects throughout the body because of insulin’s many actions in the body.
But because historically it has been easier to measure blood glucose (“sugar”) than insulin and, in spite of claims I’ve read that you can test your blood insulin for as little as $25 USD (which sound inexpensive to me), it’s still considered an expensive and difficult test to do. In most places, it’s not included in standard blood tests, even though (as I mentioned last week) it could alert you that you were developing diabetes several years before a blood sugar or glucose tolerance test would detect the problem.
So, to cut through the “red tape”, some researchers are now publishing their research results in book form (the traditional route has been to publish in medical journals, which they also do). In my research for last week’s blog, I discovered one such book, by Dr. Benjamin Bikman, PhD, metabolism researcher and professor at professor at Brigham Young University, where he directs the Diabetes Research Lab in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology. It is called “Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease–and How to Fight It”.
Of course, you do need to look closely at the credentials of any writer (as I’m sure you’ve looked at mine!) I certainly looked at Dr. Bikman’s background and found him to be reputable, the type of researcher we would like to have funded when I was involved in health research.
In his book, Dr. Bikman explains the results of his research (and that of others) very clearly and offers a solution/preventive strategy through lifestyle and diet changes, all based on science with footnotes included, so if you’re keen to look up the original research the links are there. My kind of book! I’ve ordered a copy that I plan to share with family and friends — anyone who wants to avoid the long list of chronic diseases associated (and likely caused) by insulin resistance and elevated blood insulin, according to Dr. Bikman’s research. The good part, whether you are trying to prevent or correct insulin resistance (remember that 1/3 to 1/2 of us probably are affected), you can make the changes yourself. It’s all about correcting diet and lifestyle. No prescription needed!
But meanwhile (if you have a good relationship with your doctor and can discuss such things), it’s interesting to know that Metformin, a safe drug that’s been around for many years, reverses insulin resistance. If you have symptoms of insulin resistance (weight gain around the waist, high blood pressure, etc., have been diagnosed with “pre-diabetes”), or any of the chronic diseases associated with insulin resistance, or your triglyceride to HDL-cholesterol ratio is elevated, it’s worth having a conversation. Metformin can help reverse the effects of elevated insulin while you implement the necessary changes in your diet and lifestyle to reverse your insulin resistance. After decades of use, it’s considered a very safe drug with limited side effects (mainly the potential of stomach upset, which can be mitigated by taking it with food and increasing the dose gradually). It’s also interesting that longevity experts recommend taking Metformin as people, on average, live longer when taking the drug, whether or not they have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Once I’ve read the book “Why We Get Sick” (the last section, Part 3, is all about how to make the changes!) I may be tempted to pass some suggestions along… healthy advice for us all! But, meanwhile, if you have suggestions for a blog or a question you’d like answered, let me know. I’ll try to find answers for you!
Note: The painting above is of my friend Katie in Benalmadena Pueblo… [I’m still learning to paint figures 🙂 ]
And a final post note: I’m setting up an “Art Priority List” for those who are interested in following my art and seeing it first! Just click this link https://mailchi.mp/bbfbd5414055/art-priority-list to sign up directly on my site or drop me a note with your email at jeannie.beaudin@gmail.com and I’ll sign you up!
Jeannie Beaudin, Artist and Author 