Sometimes we need a painful reminder. Yesterday was one of those days. Seventeen years ago, I experienced a stroke and thanks to our local medical staff and a great doctor I still enjoy life, but my right side is more useful than my left.
On Sunday, I woke up with a very stiff finger on my right hand. As the day progressed, that finger became more painful by the hour. All I could think about was when my grandfather was about the age that I am now, he used to rub his hands a lot and . . .
said that rheumatism was setting in to his hands and making them stiff and sore. There was no cure, just old age.
We went to church, but the finger kept getting worse. At about 5 p.m. Jeannie said, “Maybe you have gout in your finger.” Over my lifetime, I have had gout before in my big toe on the right foot (just like when a cow gets laminitis in her inside toe, right rear leg). I also had gout in my right knee once. I thought, “The stiff sore finger is on my right hand.” Then I started to remember what I had eaten recently. Yup, muffins, Timbits and a few double-doubles. Toast and jam for breakfast and part of a chocolate Easter bunny. For me, a rack of ribs, two beers and apple crisp for dessert will cause gout within half a day.
The challenge for every animal nutritionist is trying to balance a dairy cow’s ration to keep her healthy and still fill the pail with milk, is to balance fiber (hay, silage and grass) and energy (sugars, non-structured carbohydrates and fats.)
People don’t eat hay, corn silage or grass, but we do eat salads, far too much sugar, fat, carbohydrates, chocolate, beer and highly processed food. Farmers do feed brewers grain, left over from making beer, except the cows get the fiber and most of the protein left over from making beer. The carbohydrate which is part of the barley goes into the beer.
Another tool that every cow farmer has pinned on the wall is a body condition score chart that shows the farmer how skinny or fat the cows should be. Our doctors and nutritionists are too polite to give us one for ourselves.
Some of us think that by switching from a fully dressed cheese burger to a veggie burger, we will lose weight but there is no effective fiber (long grain fiber) in a veggie patty. Most of the carbohydrates are in the bun, sugar in the condiments, and there is more protein than fat in the cheese.
I can usually prevent or get rid of gout in a couple days by eating less like a pig and more like a rabbit. Those little blue and white pills that the doctor prescribed worked too.
Remember that most of our health problems are caused by what or how much we eat. My most important exercise every day is to push back from the table. Don’t forget to plant a garden.
