a) stick margarine
b) butter

a) lard
b) shortening

a) coconut oil
b) grape-seed oil

a) olive oil
b) canola oil

a) peanut oil
b) palm oil

a) tub margarine
b) butter

a) 35% cream
b) creamer

a) corn oil
b) beef fat

a) fish oil
b) soy oil

I wrote a post a couple of years ago about how hip pain and SI joint pain can be the result of a pelvis that is tilted forward forcing a very effortful walk, and an unhappy wearing of the hip socket. Through working with people in bare feet, I've recently noticed a common pattern in people with SI joint and hip pain - many have very poor flexibility and openness in the feet and toes, and I think it is at least possible if not quite likely that this lack of toe flexibility is forcing poor walking mechanics and a poor pelvic position, leading to SI joint and/or hip pain.

The statistics are scary.  Over 1 in 4 of kids age 2 to 17 are overweight or obese.  Since 1979, overweight and obesity in kids doubled in 6 to 17 year olds, and obesity tripled among adolescents age 12 to 17.  And this is despite the fact that kids are eating less fat and roughly the same or fewer calories than they were three decades ago, according to the Nutrition Journal, which looked at the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Other studies show that overweight and obese kids are eating about the same number of calories as their slimmer counterparts.

Well the dust is settling after the latest skirmish between Fraser Health and my cow share, Home on the Range Farm, which distributes raw milk to the owners of the cows that live in the city of Vancouver. This kind of arrangement is common for city-living horse owners who pay someone in the country to board and look after their horses. The owners can come out and ride their horses whenever they want. Similarly, cow owners who pay the farmer to care for their cows, have the right to the milk from their own cows.

Although this kind of exercise can be done any time, it seems to come more naturally for me at least, when the decade turns over. Remember how as the year clicked over from 1999 to 2000, we were all worried about the Y2K disaster? A decade ago the ipod and the Wii were not a part of our consciousness, and no one had heard of Susan Boyle.

What will the next decade bring? I hope that we will come together as a people and do what we need to do to protect our shared home from the ravages of global warming. Hopefully there will be lots of cool inventions that will help us do that. I think it is possible that "localization" will become the trend and "globalization" will wane, because the cost of shipping stuff around the world may become too expensive, and more and more people will seek out local alternatives for food and products, which will have the side benefit of helping local economies.

I think gardening will continue to grow in popularity as more people will want to grow at least some of their own food. Hopefully as food-quality consciousness grows, smaller farms that have a variety of crops and animals will make a comeback, and as a result we will finally be increasing and improving topsoil again, and pesticide run-offs into waterways will reduce.

I'm hoping that every one of us will have a way of generating our own power via solar panels, wind or whatever, and what we don't use will be plugged into the grid for others to use. We will pay for the power we use, and power companies will pay us for the power we provide the grid.

GOAL-SETTING GUIDE: Enough of my thoughts. What about you? Time to get out any goals you have previously written down and review and update them, and if you do not have anything written down, get yourself a pad of paper. Got it? Okay.

• What is your dream?
• What makes you happy? 
• What were you put on this world to do? (What will be your legacy?)
• What are the 5 things you want to do in life before you die?
• What values are important to you?

Chocolate is my weakness. Especially if it is good quality 85% dark - I love it. But pretty much any chocolate in my house winds up in my belly - I simply can't resist. So if I receive chocolate, part of me is delighted, and part of me is concerned that a binge may be about to take place. Oh yes, and I also can't resist my mother's home-baked Christmas cookies. I'd be happy with one, except she bakes about 30 different kinds, which means I want one of each. Not a good idea! During the rest of the year if it isn't in the house I don't eat it, so it is easy to avoid over-endulging. But at this time of year, sweets, cookies and alcohol are common gifts, and with the frequent parties and social events it can be tough not to go overboard in the food department.

Some may decide that "Christmas comes but once a year", (insert whatever holiday you celebrate), and so no harm in indulging for a couple of weeks. But for those of us that really do want to keep a lid on an expanding waistline despite all the temptations and the coaxing of Aunt Milly to have second and third helpings, here are some ideas that may help.

Multiple Sclerosis is a neurological, progressive disease where the insulating myelin sheaths that protect the brain and spinal cord are damaged, resulting in poor nerve conduction and messaging. Symptoms and disability vary significantly depending upon which parts of the brain and spinal cord are affected as well as the stage of the disease, but eventually sufferers develop cognitive as well as physical symptoms, including decreasing ability to walk, move and see. MS tends to strike young people more frequently than older, and women 2 to 3 times more frequently than men.

I went to a very interesting lecture a few weeks ago about the decline of the Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks, presented by Dr. Glenn Crossin from the University of British Columbia. His studies of the Fraser River sockeye implicate climate change as one of the most important factors in their almost complete collapse this year. Ten million salmon that were expected to return to the Fraser River, simply did not show up at all. This disastrous collapse has caused the Canadian Government to launch a public inquiry in the hopes that we will not have a repeat of the cod fishery collapse of the early '90soff the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This question which first came up in France in the mid 1800s is still worth asking today, because one's view of how to obtain optimal health and wellbeing depends upon which side of this debate one agrees with. Germ Theory was put forward most famously by French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, and states that certain sicknesses are caused by the invasion of micro-organisms that cannot be seen without a microscope. As such, treatment or prevention involves figuring out which microbe (bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite) has invaded the body and then killing it to prevent or stop the disease. This is the theory upon which western medicine is based. You get sick, you go to the doctor and get an antibiotic/antiviral/antifungal to get better. Much of our food, like milk, juices, canned food and even nuts like almonds are pasteurized in order to eliminate the bacteria to avoid sickness. Many people use anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizers in order to prevent the spread of infection. These actions are all about killing the germ, and are in support of Germ Theory.

I remember being a fly on a wall many years ago, listening in on a conversation between two exercise physiologists at the University of Toronto, arguing over which is more important for overall health, a weight training program or a cardiovascular training program. I think weight-training program wins the argument hands down, especially when one considers that if the exercise program is designed well, the participant will be getting a cardiovascular workout at the same time. So unless you are training for a particular athletic event such as a triathlon or 10km race, why bother spend all that extra time doing cardio? Most of us have better things to do with our time, and furthermore, aerobic training tends to break down muscle tissue which is counter-productive if you are trying to build strength or burn fat.