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The Best Way to Think…

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!

Meanwhile, my painting sustains and relaxes me — it’s like a meditation that will go with me wherever I end up! I’m working on scenes of the beach and the marsh in front of our home. If you’d enjoy viewing my paintings, here’s a link to my online gallery: https://jeanniebeaudin.com/portraits-landscapes-black-art-a-creative-journey/ and to a slide show of my new series, “Welcome Back”: https://jeanniebeaudin.com/2026/06/02/welcome-back-series/

References:
Giving Your Ideas Some Legs (Pubmed) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24749966/
Acute and Chronic Physical Activity Increases Creative Ideation Performance (Pubmed) — https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40798-022-00444-9
Arnold’s Pump Club Newsletter — https://arnoldspumpclub.com/blogs/newsletter/can-fitness-predict-lifespan-better-than-cholesterol

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Keto vs Vegan

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!

Link:

All Day I Dream About Food website: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/

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“Welcome Back” Series

Rain in Grand Digue (9x12" matted to 11x14")

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!

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On Being a Perfectionist…

(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 AI production

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!

References:
1)The Conversation: “In the age of AI, human creative output is becoming a luxury” ( https://theconversation.com/in-the-age-of-ai-human-creative-output-is-becoming-a-luxury-276514 )

2)Natural environments and chronic stress measured by hair cortisol ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204615002510#preview-section-abstract )

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“Katie” (KT) in the health system (Knowledge Translation)

Meet Katie…

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!

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Insulin Resistance

…The precursor to diabetes and other chronic diseases!

Diabetes is a huge health problem worldwide, with numbers affected expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Given that it’s expensive to control (average cost in North America is $10,700CDN or $7,811USD yearly per person) and is a risk factor for other diseases like heart disease and obesity, it will increasingly contribute rising health costs and health risk in the future. Currently, according to the International Diabetes Federation 2024 statistics, 589 million adults worldwide are living with diabetes and this number is predicted to rise by 45% to 853 million by 2050. Already treatment of diabetes consumes approximately 12% of the global health budget.

In North America, 1 in 7 adults have diabetes, and 1 in 3 are not diagnosed. We have one of the highest prevalence in the world at 15.1% of the population. One in 4 live births are affected by hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), a potentially significant effect on the next generation.

Why is this happening?

Diabetes develops when our insulin stops working properly. This can happen relatively quickly, as in Type 1 (“early onset’, autoimmune) diabetes where the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, or more slowly over years, as in Type 2 (“adult onset”, lifestyle related) diabetes where the body becomes resistant to the action of insulin (“insulin resistance”) requiring increased production of insulin to control blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes is only diagnosed once our insulin production can no longer keep blood sugar within the normal range and sugar levels become higher than normal even when fasting. The advancement of insulin resistance to diabetes generally takes several years.

What surprises me is that doctors don’t look for increases in fasting insulin, the test that would tell us that we are becoming insulin resistant and are on the path to developing diabetes. When I first read about this, I asked my doctor for this relatively inexpensive blood test (compared to the cost of treating diabetes!). I was told that there was “no protocol” for testing blood insulin levels. It seems that doctors are discouraged from doing additional testing, even if it could predict the development of a very expensive disease.

This just doesn’t make sense to me on multiple levels: increased blood insulin causes inflammation, and this is now believed to be the root cause of many diseases like heart disease, obesity, fatty liver disease, Alzheimers and other dementias, hormone imbalances, and cancer), as well as diabetes. If we can predict and reverse this years before it develops, why aren’t we doing it?

So, what causes insulin resistance?

Like all hormones, insulin is released in one part of the body (the pancrease produces insulin) and works in another part of the body by attaching to a receptor. Just like staring at a bright light fatigues the light receptors in the retina of the eye causing you to see dark spots for a short time when you look away, lots of insulin in the blood can cause the insulin receptors to become resistant to the action of insulin. Insulin production is triggered by sugar in the blood and even the anticipation of eating something sweet.

One thing I notice when travelling in Europe, is how much less sweet the diet is — even the “sweets” are usually less sweet tasting. We have an amazingly sugar-sweetened diet in North America. Even foods that are not normally sweet have sugar added to them during processing. At the same time, fiber is being removed or ground up enough to make it ineffective. Fiber slows the absorption of carbohydrates from sugar and starches (starch is turned to sugar when digested), so eating fiber along with your carbs reduces the spike of blood sugar that demands higher insulin production. These are the reasons why whole foods are healthier than juices and processed foods. I was surprised when I read years ago that pulp-free fruit juices are as unhealthy as soda pop — they both contain sugar without any fiber and will raise blood sugar and insulin.

Your taste and perception of what is satisfying is influenced by your diet. A high sugar diet can result in cravings for sugar and perception that less-sweetened foods are bland. But your taste will adjust quite quickly to a lower sugar intake, I guess you could say more sensitivity to the taste of sugar, and you’ll start to prefer less sweet foods and find sweet treats you formerly enjoyed to be far too sweet for your taste!

What to do about all this…

First we need to reduce the amount of carbohydrates we are eating and replace some of them with fiber and protein. Realize that starches (flour, potatoes, etc) are broken down into sugars when digested. Remember that fiber slows the absorption of sugars, reducing the damage. Note that the “keto” diet generally counts “net carbohydrates”, a number that is calculated by subtracting grams of fiber in the food from the total grams of carbohydrate, taking into account the effect of fiber in foods.

Second, choose whole foods rather than processed ones. Food processing removes fiber and adds sugars, fats and all kinds of chemicals that we can’t even pronounce, let along understand what they do in the body. These chemicals are included to preserve the shelf life of the product or make it look nice, not to improve our health!

Third, get outdoors and exercise. Exercise has been described as the “silver bullet” for avoiding and controlling diabetes, as it lowers blood sugar (using it up for energy) along with the many other health benefits it gives us. Being outside is a great stress reducer, and stress hormones increase blood sugar — the stress response physically prepares us for “fight or flight”… to fight off a perceived danger or run away from it!

Fourth, if you have access to your blood lipid tests, you can do a calculation that can indirectly tell you if you may have become insulin resistant using an online Triglyceride to HDL calculator. You will need your blood triglyceride and your HDL-cholesterol measurements (included in a full lipid panel). I’ll post links to one of these calculators in the References below. Fill in your cholesterol numbers in the boxes in the center of the page, being sure to correct the units to mmol/L if you live outside the US. Scroll down on the right to find an explanation of the results, again being careful to read the explanation for mmol/L if your test was done outside the US.

Why worry??

Researchers are telling us that more than 50% of us in North America have some level of insulin resistance. Some have stated they believe that number may be more like 85% of the population in parts of North America. These people are all at high risk of developing diabetes and the diseases associated with raised insulin blood levels. While we will often read that obesity causes heart disease, diabetes, cancer, liver disease, etc., researchers are now telling us it’s more accurate to say that all of these diseases have a common cause… and that cause is high levels of insulin due to insulin resistance. The damage caused by elevated insulin starts long before diabetes is diagnosed, and the prevention of these diseases needs to start much sooner, not waiting for blood sugar to increase and for Hemoglobin A1c test to show that it’s staying elevated enough to see extra sugar attached to the hemoglobin in our red blood cells.

Type 2 diabetes was once called “adult onset” diabetes as it was only seen in adults. Now, this type of diabetes is increasing in teenagers and even at younger ages. Our processed, high sugar diet and sedentary lifestyles are catching up with our children too. Insulin resistance is starting earlier in life.

Often doctors don’t bother warning us when signs of fatty liver are detected now as “almost all of [their] patients have it”. Perhaps it would be the same with insulin resistance, even if they did test for it, if over half of us have it. But, for me, if I knew that I was at high risk of developing diabetes and that the process had already begun, that would be motivation enough to change my lifestyle. Heck, we have made major changes since my hubby had his first heart attack in 2004. When it’s that important, most of us will gradually make the needed changes.

Call me the “keto queen” if you want… the keto diet, along with more walking and avoiding processed foods, seems to be the best way I’ve learned to reduce our risk of developing insulin resistance. At my husband’s last cardiologist appointment, the doctor said his major arteries were clear and to keep on doing what we’ve been doing. Hopefully we’re continuing to gradually reduce his risk of another episode.

Post note: On further thought, I’ve decided to create a separate list of people who are interested in seeing more of my art side, rather than subject those who are more interested in health news and controversies to the art world (although I couldn’t resist adding a fun sketch of my hubby, done after a visit to the Picasso Museum!) So, if you’d like to be added to my Art Priority List where I’ll reveal my creations first and share the stories behind the art, send me a message at jeannie.beaudin@gmail.com and I’ll add you to the list!

References:
Triglyceride to HDL calculator — units are set for mg/dL (US units). Be sure to reset for Canadian Standard International Units (mmol/L) if you are outside the US: https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/cholesterol-ratio

International Diabetes Federation statistics: Https://diabetesatlas.com

Dr. Ben Bikman, PhD, Metabolism researcher, author of “Insulin-IQ” podcast, and “Why We Get Sick” – the link between metabolism and chronic disease: https://benbikman.com

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Hello, I’m Back!!

Well, hello again! I’ve been on hiatus for a while, and I thought it was time to explain my absence. While I still enjoy writing and love to share what I’ve learned, hoping it will be helpful to someone (or at least entertaining), I’ve found a new “love”… art!

I actually started drawing years ago, painting wildflowers in a little sketchbook that I would pick on walks , just for myself, for fun. But my hubby said, flowers are boring… why don’t you paint something more interesting… like faces! Of course, I told him faces are hard (and they are!). But it was a challenge! My sister-in-law had been an art teacher for many years, though, and she steered me to a wonderful instruction book: The Big Book of Realistic Drawing Secrets by Carrie Stuart Parks. It is excellent and even includes a section on drawing faces, and I also bought her Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces book. I soon discovered I love drawing faces! It’s the challenge of making the drawing look like the person, a little puzzle to figure out what line or shading is incorrect and making it look “off”.

These early drawings were all done in pencil (“graphite”), occasionally adding some colour with watercolour pencils, but I had difficulty making the colour even – most of the time the colour looked blotchy and streaked. I knew so little about watercolours that I didn’t realize you need special paper that’s made for watercolour! So I decided to try chalk pastels, thinking they would behave more like graphite. They did, but they were messy and didn’t travel well and, by then, we had started going away for the winter.

Then I learned that key piece of advice: watercolour needs to be used on watercolour paper! With the help of online courses and a few You Tube videos, I started to progress and I discovered I love it! Watercolour is my thing!! Suddenly I seemed to have no time for writing my blog, although I continued to read and make note of interesting subjects to write about – I just never made the time to write them. I was addicted!

I drew or painted family and friends, gave them as gifts – wedding gifts, Christmas gifts, even hostess gifts sometimes (invite us to dinner, get a painting as a thank you!!) I started wanting to paint places that we’d visited, and that drew me into painting landscapes and buildings. I still love to look through those paintings because of all the memories they hold.

In January 2025 I decided to try painting outdoors, “en plein air”. It’s so much fun! And creating tiny paint kits that had everything I needed became a sideline hobby (I have quite a few… too many really!) Later in 2025, I heard about an art sale being held at the nursing home here in Cap-Pele. By this point I had so much art created that I didn’t know what to do with it all. I was stuffing it into presentation books to store on a shelf as the walls of my art room/sun room were completely covered with my art, plus there was a lot more scattered throughout the house. So I signed up for that show (a great success!) and 3 more over the summer and fall.

My blog started as a way to reach out to women going through the menopause change – my earliest posts are all about hormones and, if that topic interests you, just scroll back in my archives on this site to 2016 and you’ll find what I wrote. Very little has changed since then, except that taking hormone supplements is believed to be safer than what was suggested when the Womens’ Health Initiative Study was stopped early in the early 2000’s. My opinion has always been that hormones that are the same as what our bodies make, in similar amounts, must be safe. They are what we ended up with through evolution, survival of the fittest. It’s synthetic hormones, that are different and therefore have different actions in some parts of the body, that are more likely to create problems and side effects. And, just like too little of our own hormones leave us with unpleasant effects, too much isn’t good either. The safest and most effective route is always to replace only what hormones are missing with the same hormones in a normal “physiological” amount. OK… I’ll get off my soap box now!!

So, fast forward to today… I feel like many of you are good friends who have followed me during my health journey, sharing what I’ve learned, learning from my experiences, passions, and sometimes rants! And, since this blog has been going for 10 years, like me, most of you are well past the menopausal change. I still read about health issues, for both men and women. I want to stay healthy and active and I’m sure you do to. So, I’m thinking I could and should be writing about issues we older gals (and guys) face.

But I feel like I want to share my art journey with you too, although it seems off-topic from my previous writing. I strongly believe doing art is good for your health, giving a purpose in life, an excuse to continue learning and advancing skills, and a passion that can be shared with others. And viewing art is good for your mental health too – it can transport you to another place and time, capture memories, create positive emotions and so much more! The paintings that sell fastest here in Cap-Pele are the ones I’ve done of the beach – people buy them to take the memories of a wonderful vacation or walk on the beach home with them to view whenever they want to feel those feelings again, to feel calmer and better.

So, I’m proposing a new blog, one that’s aimed at supporting physical and mental health — a chat about current health issues and disease prevention, but also sprinkled with some art for you all to enjoy… sharing my learning and my passions in a weekly or bi-weekly chat. Does that interest you? I hope so!

I’ve added a Gallery page to my website, if you’d like to see some of my work. Just go to the menu on the top right to navigate there. I’ll apologize in advance… some paintings have been sold already. I still need to figure out how to mark items as sold!

Every painting has a story and I hope that some of my art stories will resonate with you. I haven’t figured out how to attach explanations of the where and why behind each painting yet either, but I’ll learn! Let me know in the comments below or by direct message if you’re interested in this new format… and which paintings are your favourites!!

PS: The painting above in the center is my latest — just finished yesterday. It’s a celebration of the return of the Blue Herons… just saw my first of the season!

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Health

Time to think about COVID again??

 

I know, I know… we’re all tired of hearing about it. Won’t COVID ever go away? **sigh** Instead of settling into a flu-like seasonal pattern, this virus has taken on a life of its own and refuses to behave like most viruses.

How COVID-19 is different

An article in The Conversation newsletter this morning discussing a new study of people in nursing homes – a vulnerable population we need to protect – caught my attention. Surprisingly, those who had been infected with the BA.1-2 strain were 30 times more likely to catch the BA.5 strain that followed it a few months later. This is the opposite of what is expected – usually, catching a virus improves resistance to infection approximately as well as getting a booster shot (just a riskier way to develop immunity). This virus continues to surprise researchers… 

If this applies to all ages (and chances are, it does), this means that the protective practices we all know so well –handwashing, distancing, and masks – are important again. The medical community is already reporting an uptick in cases here in Canada this summer, and school hasn’t started yet. In communities south of the border, where kids are already back to class, some schools have already cancelled classes to try to control the spread. 

And, rather than settling into a predictable seasonal pattern like the ‘flu, it seems to surge in late summer, just as the kids are heading back to close quarters in school where bugs are passed around more easily.

COVID also is good at hanging out in our bodies long after we should have recovered — something rarely seen with other common respiratory viruses. Researchers report that 1 in 10 will continue with disabling symptoms from the infection for months to years in the form of Long COVID. This is a huge future concern for our healthcare systems.

Metformin… wonder drug?  

Another interesting study I read on the subject of COVID, was that the diabetes medication, Metformin, can reduce the chance of developing Long COVID by 43% if taken early in the onset of the acute infection. I have to admit, my greatest fear beyond the risk of having a severe infection (for which I never miss a booster!) is getting Long COVID. 

Metformin, by the way, may just become the wonder-drug of the century, from what I’ve been reading about it recently. As well as improving insulin sensitivity (its main use), it’s been found to reduce the risk of relapse of certain cancers and appears to promote longevity, according to preliminary research. People with Type 2 diabetes who take Metformin statistically live longer than people who don’t have diabetes!  

Type 2 diabetes develops when insulin stops working as it should – the body becomes resistant to the effect of the insulin hormone (called “insulin resistance”) and, in response, the pancreas produces more insulin to keep blood sugar normal. This compensation can continue for years – some estimate that insulin resistance can start as long as 10 years before sugar in the blood (“blood glucose”) starts to rise.  

It astounds me that doctors still only look at blood sugar, even though blood insulin measurement is a relatively inexpensive test. My doctor told me that they don’t do this test (that would detect the development of diabetes years sooner) because there was no “protocol” for it! Why isn’t there a protocol for a simple test that would diagnose a serious disease like diabetes years sooner??? This is a prime example of one of the biggest problems in medicine – “knowledge translation”, getting what has been learned through research into real-world practice. It takes, on average, 17 years for an important medical discovery to become routine practice for doctors. Old habits are hard to change, and it takes time for practice guidelines and protocols to be re-written and put into practice. Like all of us, medical professionals need to be educated about new ways of doing things and then need to actually change their way of doing things. You know about old dogs learning new tricks. But I might be ranting again, am I??? 

And the new vaccine… 

Another factor against us as fall approaches, is that the newest version of the COVID vaccine – the updated one that’s strongly recommended – won’t be available for several weeks, probably November here in New Brunswick, my pharmacist told me.  And he’s not sure he’s going to offer it, as it increases his workload incredibly and, at the same time, compensation for giving the shot has tanked… so won’t be financially feasible for many pharmacists. It’s hard to hire extra staff when you’re making almost half as much as last year for each injection given, while salaries have gone up. This may mean that shots will be harder to access than before. 

The epidemiologists are predicting a late-summer “COVID wave”, so it’s looking like there will be a gap in protection for many people. 

Time to think about digging out those masks and hand-sanitizers again… 

Actually, I’m still finding masks tucked into purses and coat pockets, so I don’t have to dig too far, but I’ve started feeling a little silly wearing one again, much like I did back in early 2020. We seemed to be the only ones who were wearing one then… and they were homemade since the commercial ones were being reserved for medical workers. I’ve since upgraded to N95s, of course. 

I still have my little spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide to sterilize my masks too, sitting on my buffet. Hydrogen peroxide, used as a steam after each use, has been shown to sterilize masks well enough for hospital re-use up to 30 times, so we know peroxide kills COVID and doesn’t damage the mask. When coupled with rotating masks so they’re only worn every 3 to 4 days (also known to kill off the virus) I feel safe re-wearing masks until they are obviously soiled. I’m hoping someone will test this cleaning method but, until then, I’ll keep my 4 masks lined up, spraying each after wearing it, and putting it at the back of the line, as this is the best practical method of sanitizing I know of! 

So, how about you? Will you be going back to masking and hand-washing, with cooler weather and classes keeping people indoors, or are you going to just take your chances when you’re in crowded places??? It’s time to think about it… 

References/Additional Reading:

COVID-19 boosters are the best defence — The Conversation

“Breakthrough” study: Diabetes drug helps prevent long COVID — Medscape

Outlive – Dr. Peter Attia (check your local public library for availability) 

Lifespan – Dr. David Sinclair (longevity researcher at Harvard Medical School). Available through the public library system. 

One in five doctors with Long COVID can no longer work: Survey — Medscape

Stay tuned for a future blog on longevity! And, just a reminder, the ads you see here are sponsored by my web hosting site, WordPress, and not endorsed by me! (The price to be paid for a free website these days…) jcb