I’ve been feeling rather slow these days. It seems to happen every year around this time. I generally dismiss it as a mild case of the “winter blues”, as I’m more of a summer person. But I’ve noticed my energy level is not as high as usual and I’ve been feeling hungrier than I normally do.
Rather than trying to fight it and plod on, however, I’ve decided to “go with the slow”. Because that is exactly what we are intended to do as we transition through fall and winter. And it has to do with our circadian and seasonal rhythms.
Are you sliding down a sugary, slippery slope? You know the one I mean. The one that begins innocently enough in the fall with a slice (or two) of Thanksgiving pecan or pumpkin pie and then a wee bit of Hallowe’en candy a few weeks later. You gain momentum with heaping helpings of holiday treats followed by boxes of Valentine’s chocolate. Before you know it, you’re gathering and gobbling the Easter bunny’s chocolate eggs (not to mention, if you love them as much as I do, hot cross buns). Suddenly, you find yourself awash in sugar. You have more of a sweet tooth than you used to and sugary treats have become a daily ritual, not just a holiday indulgence.
You may be wondering why I chose to focus on fermented foods to kick off my 2021 menus and for the January page of my 
This month I thought I’d talk about what happens in vagus. No, that is not a typo. I don’t mean Vegas, the land of mega flashy casino-hotels, but vagus as in the vagus nerve. I have just spent the last several days wandering around vagus and I must report that what happens in vagus doesn’t stay in vagus. And, not only that, gambling with the health of your vagus nerve is not an optimal strategy. Yet many of us do this unknowingly. Let me explain…