Dear Cia Column

Dear Ice,

Well two simple reasons... 

1)  Video games were originally mass-marketed as entertainment systems or "toys", with a very specific purpose of entertaining more than as a medium of artistic expression. And initially, with such blocky Atari graphics and pixelated "posing", it wasn't hard to make the case that Zelda or Pacman were no DaVinci or Monet paintings.  In essence, they started off as sub-par mediums in the eyes of the art critics at the time, and that leads us to point #2....

2) Video games haven't really been around long enough to be taken seriously as an art medium.  I mean in a sense movies have been around for almost 100 years, and only in the last few decades have they really been taken seriously as an art form.  And when Renaissance-era paintings were first being created, no doubt they were also admonished and villified in their day (I'm sure quite a few artists must have been burned at the stake for sorcery, lol).  It takes TIME for a medium to be treated like art, often times requiring that the older generation die off, and the newer generation that grew up with the medium take over and broaden the scope.

I mean why do you guys say PC or console gaming is TRUE gaming, and yet mobile gaming on an Android or iPad are silly little casual games that NO TRUE GAMER would possibly take seriously?  Perhaps it has some truth now, but I bet you in 10 years mobile gaming would be so advance, the admonishments of this generation will seem quaint and backwards, like when people decried the Beatles for being music of the Devil.  

I would argue that games are just now starting to be taken seriously as an art medium to a small degree, and this will only improve over time.  you just happen to be old enough to experience this transition from "toy" to "joy".  


--Cia

Dear Cia,

Have you looked into ways to make wheat-free pastas during your research into wheat alternatives? I don't know if much is out there, but I know you've done a lot of research on wheat and wheat products, so I was wondering if there was anything out there you had found.

Dear Lom,

Hmmm, well in all honesty, I wasn't too much of a pasta person before my diet change.  Pre-diet I would only eat pasta when I, ironically, wanted to eat "healthier", and I constantly avoided the only pasta dishes I truly loved, like fettucini alfredo or meat lasagna, mainly because they were "unhealthy" (which they are, just not for the reasons I thought at the time).  It's striking that, in hindsight, when I think back to dishes like fettucini alfredo and lasagna, the thing I loved the most wasn't really the pasta (which alone never had much of a taste to me), but rather all the declicious creamy, cheesy, greasy, meaty ingredients that gave them their true liveliness!  XD

If any effort went into make alternative wheat items, it was mainly towards making bread which was my true passion.  Or scratch that... SANDWICHES were my true passion; I never did like eating bread on its own, although I know some people who love that.  >v>

However, at some point during what I call the "proto-diet" phase (when I accidentally took out wheat, corn and rice from my life before I knew the real impact it would have), I did try making something like a pasta (or more specifically, long flat noodles) using freshly-ground sorghum and some spelt.  Despite spelt having a little gluten in it, neither was really up for the job, so the pasta was fragile and easy to break, and made for a sloppy "pasta" dish, but at least it had good flavor.  I opted instead to simply cook the sorghum whole, which ended up being a far better proposition since boiled sorghum is like a slightly bigger, chewier, nuttier-tasting, more gratifying couscous (or perhaps more specifically, pastina or pearl pasta).  It's no surprise that sorghum is often used in junk gluten-free foods, given it's a relatively-cheap but high-nutrient grain that has a taste similar to whole wheat and a consistency that's relatively easy to work with.  And being related to corn and teosinte, you can pop its kernels to make a damn good little popcorn (or popsorghum).  

Sadly, it has no gluten so it still needs a binding agent when making alternative baked goods; and more importantly, it also spikes your blood sugar stratospherically, just like any other grain, so after a while I stopped experimenting with it, and I started using my stockpile of sorghum grain (and millet and amaranth) to feed the local birds who positively LOVE it. ^^

[interestingly-enough, though, they hate spelt, and I see it tossed on the soil a lot] XD

Now, post-diet, I simply don't crave pasta any more to even try.  In restaurants I see pasta dishes as rip-offs... often-expensive dishes with cheap ingredients that negatively impact our health.  I get a far better value at an Italian restaurant from a huge dish of chicken and sausage giambotta with a health serving of peppers, onions, garlic and potatoes than I would from a similarly-priced plate of 20-cent spaghetti and tomato sauce, and perhaps a token meatball tossed in.  

And as I said earlier, what I really missed from my favorite pasta dishes were the other ingredients besides pasta... and no longer fearing fat, I pretty much had carte blanche to eat them without the offending grain ingredient.  In other words, should I want a wheat-free alternative to pasta, I'd actually find a non-grain alternative to pasta entirely.  Lasgna is easy... dried eggplant is a great (and infinitely healthier) alternative to lasagna, and I've done at least one eggplant meat lasagna with great success.  I was nervous at first since I used to hate eggplant, but it might have simply been my shot taste buds deciding that because now I can't get enough of the stuff. XD

Spaghetti is easy,... spaghetti squash, but that's a no-brainer.  I wasn't much of a spaghetti eater, however, so I only tried that once, and then switched to much tastier and better squashes (like butternut, my favorite) ^^

And as for fettucini alfredo, yum... ^^
Let's just say mushrooms make a FAR better pasta substitute.... expensive but so worth it.  

I made one using a mix of shitaki and porcini mushrooms and it was to die for.  I know the doc wrote a similar recipe using shirataki noodles... 

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/04/fettucine-alfredo-from-the-wheat-belly-cookbook/

...but I prefer the more substantial taste of the real thing.  ^^
I'm sure enoki mushrooms would also be great pasta alternatives, but I haven't tried them yet.  Like I said earlier, imitating pasta dishes is kind of outside the scope of my radar. XD


--Cia

Dear cia,
if you could have one inactive player come back on (and not have it affect them irl other than the joy of being on the server =D) who would it be?

Dear A4,

Wow, what an odd question.  XD

I can't answer that without reeking of favoritism.  
[but yeah, I have one person in particular that I would absolutely ADORE to have on more often if that person's scheduling would only allow it]  ^^


--Cia

Dear Cia,
Could you please help me understand what vitamin D does and what happens if we don't get enough of it?

Hi Hannah!  Welcome back!  *hug*

I'll try to be brief since the topic is a bit too complex and fascinating for me to answer properly and I encourage you to read up (or Youtube) more about it on your own.  

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that assists in "chaperoning" essential minerals in our body which in turn are used EVERYWHERE, from our gastro-intestinal tract to our nerves to our brains to our hormones to our skin and even our immune system.  Understandably, this is a VERY ESSENTIAL VITAMIN that is very difficult to get in excess, so you'll want to get as much of it as possible, either from food, sun exposure and/or supplements.

The best and highest-quality source of vitamin D is in fact the sun (and specifically, the sun doesn't give you Vitamin D, but gives energy to the cells in your skin that produce vitD), and this is why being out in the sun can feel real good.  You would need at least about 15-30 minutes of exposure in the arms and legs, when the angle of the sun is at its highest in the day, to get enough VitD for a couple of days.  VitD is actually rare in food, or exists in quantities too small to make much of a difference, so while it's great to eat VitD-rich foods, don't rely on them as your sole source of it.  VitD supplements work, but these are artificially made and don't come with the whole complex of benefits that you get from sun exposure, so use these only to augment your intake, or during winter and rainy months when there is rarely any sun.  

As far as benefits...

Proper VitD intake can cause the following improvements:

- Improves absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate and zinc in your intestine.
- Better heart health through impaired plaque buildup
- Better blood pressure readings.
- Prevention of osteoporosis and other degenerative bone diseases
- Helps raise HDL cholesterol 
- Helps prevent insulin resistance and normalize blood sugar
- Helps reduce risk for certain kinds of cancer, such as in the colon, prostrate, bladder or breast.
- Helps improve skin conditions including resistance to sunburning
- Helps improve focus and mood through the proper maintenance of neural pathways

And likewise a deficiency can cause the opposite...

- Impaired absorption of ingested minerals (malabsorption) and health deterioration as a result.
- Increased risk of cardiovascular issues
- High blood pressure
- Various bone diseases such as rickets, osteoporosis and osteomalacia
- Contributes to the decrease of HDL cholesterol, and increase of oxidized LDL-b cholesterol and triglycerides
- Contributes to the development of insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity
- Contributes to the risk of developing cancer
- Causes skin problems and, ironically, increases risk of developing skin cancers.
- Increases risk of developing depression, cognitive-learning disorders and depression.

Given that wheat consumption impairs vitamin absorption, including vitamin D absorption, it's not surprising at all that a lot of the health implications of wheat consumption are tied to all of the above since it's essentially the same problem... a deficiency of VitD, either by force or by choice.

Now that you know the importance of this wonderful vitamin, please do your best to get more of it (and reduce whatever may hinder it from doing its job).  ^^

If you'd like to know more, here's a fun lecture to watch on the subject...




--Cia

Dear Cia,

Why do you think this community is as strong as it is? (minecraft, Gulliver Mod, and Big Sister)

Dear Ice,

Hmmm, well honestly this really sounds like a question I should be asking YOU guys since from my point of view we're not really THAT strong.  

I mean sure we've been around for a little over a year (woohoo), but we don't have tons of active players (apparently a standard of measurement for your average server), we've had lots of player turnover (from banned players to staff leaving), we don't have fancy server thingies (impossible to install Bukkit), we only have improvised security, and we don't have a complete and active development team of our own. And despite appearances, I don't exactly have Mion's full support either, primarily because of her scheduling, but there's a small degree of personality clash as well.  

In short, for all intents and purposes, we're just barely getting by and we're most definitely on our own.  

Perhaps you'd have to think of us like a small but stable country... sure we have our problems and we're not rich, but so long as there's stability, security, a robust economy, plenty of work and learning opportunities, and a familial culture, then it's just enough to live a comfortable life.  And you'd be surprised how many people just seek a simple comfortable life over boundless ambition.


--Cia

Dear cia,
what is the person you would LEAST want back on this server?

Dear A4,

Ohhhhhh no,... I'm not inflating some silly filly's ego if they're still stalking this forum.  XD

Besides, we do actually have a real blacklist of people who will never ever ever return (even denying them parole), but it's for staff eye's only.  It's also not a very long list, but the ones on there are for some real (and usually crazy, arrogant and/or demented) scum.  


--Cia

Dear Cia,

Can you explain me to what the significance of Zinc is and the effects of not consuming enough of it?

Dear Avocado,

Oh, Zinc... you mean that mineral that is found in EVERY cell in your body?  From every nerve cell, white blood cell, skin cell, brain cell, bones teeth and hormones?  One of the most critical minerals needed for cell division, and without which you couldn't be big and strong?  XD

Suffice to say, it's freakin' important, and it's thus very alarming how common zinc deficiency is.  The best sources of zinc in our diets are:

- Oysters
- Crustaceans
- Beef
- Liver
- Lamb
- Venison


With far less but still decent quantities in:
- Goat
- Pork
- Certain Mushrooms
- Some nuts
- Some seeds (like sesame or pumpkin seeds)
- Dark Chocolate

Given many of these foods are either too expensive for some people, or not desirable due to the "low-fat" or "low-meat" mantra, it comes as no surprised that people would start off with relatively little zinc from their diet.  To confound that further is the consumption of grains (which not surprisingly I bring up in almost every answer, not because I'm obsessed with them, rather because they rear their ugly little heads everywhere XD ), given that their phytates are especially effective at inhibiting your body's ability to absorb zinc.  

When zinc deficiency occurs, terrible things can happen including...

- Skin problems, including discoloration, eczema, psoriasis and acne
- Stunted growth
- Early stretch marks and wrinkles
- Dry hair
- Unnatural weight loss due to malabsorption
- Diarrhea
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Migraines
- Easy sunburns
- Impaired immune systems (easier to get sick)
- Impaired thyroid function
- Sex hormone deficiency

And given its complimentary pairing with copper, when there is a deficiency of zinc but an overabundance of copper (mostly abundant in plant sources such as soybean, lentils, garganzos, beans, nuts, turnips and spinach), you can also include a whole host of cognitive and neurodegenerative conditions, such as...

- hyperactivity
- attention deficit
- behavior disorders
- anxiety disorders
- chronic fatigue
- depression
- schizophrenia

This is known as a copper-zinc imbalance, and like with omega-3 and omega-6, the two minerals should be more or less in a one-to-one ratio in order to maintain the best health in your body.  Because copper is pro-oxidant, any severe copper toxity (with little to no zinc to counteract this) can lead to some even more severe conditions conditions beyond those listed above, such as... 

- liver toxicity
- infertility
- Alzheimer's disease
- candida yeast infections
- possibly even cardiovascular disease.  

Zinc toxicity, while technically possible, is very rare and usually results in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anemai and impaired immune function.

Bottom line is, be aware of this valuable mineral, and be sure to either consume foods that have zinc, eliminate foods that inhibit zinc, and/or supplement if necessary.  


--Cia

(This question needs explaining, so here we go) In 1997 Apple launched the "Heres to the Crazy Ones" campaign/advertisement.
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjgtLSHhTPg

Dear Cia, if you had to make a list of all "The Crazy Ones" from your perspective (kind of like a list of inspirational people or heroes) who would you put on it?

Dear cia,
when was the last time this was used

... I went on it most of the time when I first got on but stopped because it was being used just about as much as myspace.

Dear Ice,

Oh, what a nice commercial.  

Well sadly, many of my "Crazy Ones" might stir up a little socio-political controversy given my thoughts on mainstream news and culture, so I'll probably not mention them here. 

I will instead mention some "safe" Crazy Ones that I admire.  ^^

- Ada Lovelace
- Nikola Tesla
- Mark Twain
- William Banting
- Petra Herrera
- Grace Hopper
- Valentina Tereshkova
- Rachel Carson
- Sandy Allen
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Lauren Faust
- Erich von Däniken
- Jonas Salk
- Albert Howard
- Robert Atkins
- Sally Fallon
- Mary Enig
- William Davis
- Joel Salatin (<=I'm reading his books and wow!)

And those are the ones off the top of my head. ^^

If you don't know who some of these are... Google is your friend.  


--Cia

Dear A4,

HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!
I almost forgot that thing was there. Who knows, who cares, it came along with the forum...


--Cia

Dear Cia,
     With the consumer version of the Oculus Rift coming out soon this year, what're some things (they can be things that don't exist yet) you would love to experience through it?

                                  - Slimeyz

Dear Slimer,

Welcome to Dear Cia. ^^

Hmm,... well, since i've never been particularly interested in the Occulus Rift per se, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything about it that I might like.  Maybe it would be a convenient medium to experience 3D movies perhaps, although there aren't THAT many good 3D movies to begin with, so it'd be wasted potential. XD

But will some kind of immersive travel experience (like say visiting the pyramids or a mountain or an ocean floor) would be very cool.  ^^


--Cia

Dear Cia,

What are the best breakfasts for a busy work day (or exam day) or a busy physical day (like a competition day)?

Dear Cia

Why does the weather effect our emotions. Like when it's raining we feel more tired than usual.

~Tex

Dear Ice,

I'm not sure if there could be a proper answer given different traditions and cultures have different conceptions of breakfast.  All I can say with certainty is that if you intend to have a very busy work or school day, you'll want to have a sizable amount of fat to keep your satiety up for most of the day (so you aren't starving by the time 11am comes around), on top of which you'll want to have your largest daily serving of protein.  Keep your carbs to lower glycemic whole foods such as fruits, veggies, nuts and safe starches, and consume only moderate amounts of these; don't load up on sugar and grains, such as pure fruit juice and cereal, as these will spike your blood sugar and cause hunger later.  

If, on the other hand, you have a heavy sports day, you will have to increase your carbohydrate intake more than usual to fill your muscle glycogen reserves for later -- assuming the sporting event is for something short and intense, such as a race, game match or marathon.  How much glycogen can be stored depends on how much you've been conditioning your muscles... highly-skilled atheletes can store a LOT of glycogen for intense performance gains at greater durations than your average competitor.  Even so, stick with lower-glycemic carbohydrate sources and simply consume more of them.  If you really HAVE to make a grain concession, try rice and millet which are safer than the other grains.  Read up on how the famous Kenyan runners eat, and you'll see that despite eating a large amount of carbohydrates, these are all mainly low-glycemic carbohydrates (including some native starches) and plus they never disregard their fat intake which is still sizable (and of course they train intelligently, lest you forget it's all about just the food). 

If on the other hand the sporting event is for something that requires endurance, such as weightlifting or ultramarathons, you'll probably want more ketogenic (or fat-heavy) portions since fat is a far more consistent and bioavailable energy source than glucose.   

As for actual foods... depends largely on your preference, but eggs are wonderful for fat and protein and many other goodies your body needs.  Whatever your weekly breakfast plans may be, make sure eggs are a nutritious part of a balanced breakfast.


--Cia

Dear Tex,

Ah, I'm going to venture to guess that the majority of the cases of cloudy weather blues is due to Vitamin D deficiency.  Not so much that we have outright rickets (or at least hopefully not!), but rather that we're BARELY getting enough vitamin D per day, and fluctuate wildly between breaking even and being deficient.  Like a person living paycheck to paycheck, any little disruption can mean the difference between happiness and misery.  >.<

And indeed, Vitamin D deficiency is very common thanks to modern lifestyle choices such as a) wearing too many clothes, b) being locked away all day at school or work, c) avoiding direct sun exposure through sunblock and so forth, and d) not supplementing.  It's also naturally harder to get Vitamin D during extended rainy periods or winter months, or even if you live too far north or south of your hemisphere.  So don't feel bad if a doctor says your deficient... almost everyone that isn't conscious about this wonderful essential vitamin is.  Up until recently, "I" used to be very deficient.  

Anyway, I just answered a question about VitD earlier this week, so I encourage you to read it for more information... ^^

https://bigsister.forumotion.com/t419p330-dear-cia-column#8450


--Cia

Thanks Cia

Dear Cia,

Apart from the fact that when someone is more hungry they tend to be in a worse mood, how else can the food we eat affect us emotionally?