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Endings and Beginnings
14 Plays13 days ago
The ending of one year the beginning of another provides us a great time to reflect and strategize for the coming year.
In 2024, I learned that it takes many people to ensure access to healthy food, that local action can lead to international partnership and that inspiring Canadians can be found in every sector.
As 2025 begins, I've recommitted to eating local seasonal food, to exploring new ways of communicating and to becoming a better business leader.
My word for 2025 is grow.
Let me know if you’ve had similar thoughts.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to 'Unapologetically Canadian'
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello, this is Tracey Arial and this is unapologetically canin Canadian. Canadian. And it is December 31st, 2024 as I record this. We are at the end of one year and at the beginning of another It's always super exciting to look at the world when when you're in this position.
Reflecting on 2024: Challenges & Comparisons
00:00:26
Speaker
Looking back at 2024, I really feel like a little bit like wal Walter Mitty in that so many of the things I really care about did not happen. Well, world definitely did not go in the way that I expected it to or wanted it to Much of my work is in promoting very small local businesses and it sometimes feels like we are in a world designed for multinationals but
00:00:54
Speaker
Like Margaret Atwood, I think that when you think about beginnings and endings, it's what happens in between. So I'm still focused on looking at the growth and making a difference in the best way that you can.
Food Bank Success Stories & Future Plans
00:01:10
Speaker
In 2024, our food bank has been going super well, and it's been very rewarding to support the volunteers who are actually running that project.
00:01:22
Speaker
And it seems to be working quite well, and so hopefully we'll continue that in 2025. We have some really cool projects about showing people how to grow their own food and how to cook some of the foods that they get, how to transform them into really interesting, tasty products. So that's going to be pretty invigorating in 2025 on the food bank side.
Supporting Women Entrepreneurs & Ethical Products
00:01:46
Speaker
on the Promoting Small Businesses side, we're working with a ton of really interesting women entrepreneurs, and they're going to take a bigger role in creating things at the co-op in 2025. So I'm really looking forward to working with them. And I think that that's really going to help. This year, we also created a ah ah successful buying club. And that is where people work with ethical Canadian companies to buy quinoa and chocolate and beans and dried fruits and nuts in bulk from Canadian companies who verify that the products that they're getting are from fair trade and good ethical produced food no matter where it comes from. So that is also a big win and looking forward to having the next one at the end of March for
Family History & Societal Improvements
00:02:43
Speaker
The other thing that I was super excited about in 2024 was exploring some of the history, bringing some of the stories of my ancestors into the future. I've been covering 1735 and the big fire of 1735 and some of the the the ways that justice was handled and looking at that shows how society really has improved since that time. We're no longer enslaving each other. We no longer have indentured servants, at least in my part of the world. And so that's also kind of interesting to look at and compare to how we're doing things today. So I've been enjoying that.
Lawsuit Against Sencine & Apple: Ethical Concerns
00:03:34
Speaker
The lawsuit that we have against Samsung and Apple is now going to the Supreme Court. They still want to set aside the class action authorization because they really do not want to make their products safe. Really, everybody should not be wearing earbuds. right I mean, these companies need to make their devices safe and they're just not safe the way they're handled now. And they aren't even telling people that they're not safe.
00:04:01
Speaker
So that's something that I'm still very, very convinced is an important step going forward. So I'm very happy to be working with the volunteers who are trying to get these companies to act ethically. And mind you, they served my, oh my, and and for those of you who know that I have celiac disease, that means I can't be exposed to gluten. And Apple decided to give me all of my documents in a bread bag.
00:04:30
Speaker
So these are not ethical companies and I don't expect them to behave ethically in future, but hopefully we can force them to do so.
Urban Gardening Innovations & Global Partnerships
00:04:38
Speaker
Then on the gardening side, our garden is still producing food all year. We actually had a wonderful kale salad earlier this month, fresh from the garden. And yesterday my husband picked a fresh mint from the garden. I can't even believe it for the lamb that we'll be serving today. So, that's actually super, uh, super, uh, interesting. And in 2025, I'm going to try and optimize some of my communications around how to grow a garden well when you're in an urban setting. Uh, and and we have some really interesting partners who are doing similar things in other countries. And, uh, uh, I'm going to be part of a delegation Kenya later this month.
00:05:21
Speaker
late in January to see how they're doing it so that maybe I can bring some really interesting techniques from Kenya, from Nairobi into Verdun. We're trying to make a, well we're basically creating a partnership between the organizations there and the organizations here and it's going to be really fascinating learning from other people from around the world to try and figure out how to grow food better.
Experiences with Intermittent Fasting
00:05:45
Speaker
On the health side, I'm still exploring the world of intermittent fasting. You may have heard of that great Canadian leader, Dr. Jason Fung. He has the Obesity Code the Diabetes Code and now the Cancer Code And part of what he's discovered about how the body works is using our natural inclination between fasting and feasting and so I've been exploring intermittent fasting. I have to say I've had a very mixed bag in 2024. Early on I tried the intermittent fasting as a daily window protocol where you basically open your window meal and you you you basically eat one or two meals a day instead of three.
00:06:32
Speaker
You close your window after five, six, or seven hours, and then you don't eat anything at all, no snacks, nothing until the following day. I tried that. I didn't like it. First of all, when I have snacks, I like to have snacks. And also, I just felt like I was dieting every single day. And for me, having the same time so that you can get consistency was really, really hard. Sometimes I like to eat breakfast. Sometimes I like to eat dinner.
00:06:58
Speaker
because for me, eating is a very social event, so if other people are available, I want to eat with them regardless of the time. So I just found that it was too much like diet, so I didn't like it much. I've changed since then. Now I'm doing the alternate daily fasting protocol, and that is where you just fast one day, and so you don't eat one day, and you eat a lot the next day.
00:07:36
Speaker
uh,
00:07:38
Speaker
I either want to think about eating or I don't want to think about eating. I don't like doing both. So anyway, I'll be exploring that more in 2025.
Diverse Diet & Microbiome Health Plans
00:07:46
Speaker
And I'm still actually, I'm super excited because I just read another study that talks about how It's ideal for your microbiome if you eat least 30 different fruits and vegetables a week. Now that includes spices. And so I've been exploring all sorts of like putting spices, cinnamon on my oranges and peanut butter on my apples and all that kind of stuff, trying to get more protein in the diet. And so I'm going to be exploring. So this is, I think the year starts tomorrow where I'm going to explore local seasonal food
00:08:19
Speaker
So that's going to be super fun 2025. We'll see if it if I can stay healthy. Obviously eating well is part of that. And so the seasonal diet, the seasonal food project could make that really fun again.
00:08:37
Speaker
Now that we're empty nesters, I find that it's actually quite hard to cook for just two of us, and neither one of us ever feels like eating. So I'm hoping that this project will reinvigorate food, at least for me, in in
Foot Health Improvements & Walking Ability
00:08:49
Speaker
the coming year. we'll see how that goes and on the movement side my foot healing has been going super well. I I have a huge bunion and for a while big toe on my right foot wouldn't even move and now I've got it moving the bunion has gone down significantly You can't even tell that I had a bunion on the left foot
00:09:06
Speaker
right foot is super flexible and I'm using more parts of my feet thanks to another book called The Foot Fix. It's amazing how books can just change your life. Anyway, so that's where I'm able to walk up to 10 kilometers a day now, which I love because hiking has always been one of my favourite exercises.
00:09:25
Speaker
So I'm going to continue that in 2025
Conclusion & New Year Wishes
00:09:27
Speaker
as hopefully you have some fun and invigorating projects for the coming year as well. And I hope that this is the ending of one year and the beginning of ah ah an even better year for you too. And take care. See you next week.