China & the New Silk Road - Lessons for Canada

I’m often away from the news these days and now and again I turn on the Radio. One day I turned on the radio and they were talking about the New Silk Road, a Chinese initiative to build “new” trade access to Europe and Africa. The initiative brings several Arab countries into the trade picture, looks to Russia and others. It is about infrastructure to connect trading regions, highways, railways etc.  It is a massive initiative, it is visionary, it is real leadership. In management we always look to find the BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal, the New Silk Road is such a thing.

The details of the initiative are less important than fact that China has gotten started on something that is interregional, that reaches out to many “incompatible” national actors and so promises peace and prosperity in the amalgamation of interests under the banner of trade. China sceptics will say this is all in China’s interests, I agree, that is only a problem if you believe China’s interests are mutually exclusive to other actor’s interests – of course, this is in no way the case. Other actors will only participate if they see value in the exchange. It does signal, however, that the “hermit nation” China once was, has now graduated even more dramatically onto the world stage.

Do I see a threat in this, yes – less from the fact that China is doing it and more from the fact that the West is so complacent it has failed to offer such leadership. We use to “do” leadership, Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Breton Woods, British Empire … you’re getting the picture – the west has too many chubby and comfortable people avoiding making waves to lead anymore.  China, by contrast, is emerging, emerging with the most powerful combination of authoritarian government, national homogeneity and a vigorous corporatist culture – if that sounds familiar it should, it is the combination the built the British Empire. We, rightly, let China into our markets so that it could transition from a generally reduced state to be a player at par on the world stage – they and we have a responsibility to ensure measured progress; they in working toward liberating the masses and us in exercising ourselves robustly.

When the wall first fell, there was optimism in the world – we were talking about building a bridge over the Bearing Straight – a North America / Europe connector – I remember my heart leaping at the prospect. Have we wasted that opportunity by mismanagement – perhaps? I think that Russia could be convinced to contemplate such a project – imagine the impact if you will – of a Trans-world highway with a cloverleaf exit to the New Silk Road and inter-modal ground transport from Montreal to Johannesburg. It would have been nice to have initiated such a proposal and hence been able to more effectively define the project, now our only option is to augment and then compete to gain influence in what promises to be one of the most revolutionary “infrastructure” projects in world history.

China has in the main developed infrastructure that pays, that is, national high-tech infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, human capital infrastructure – there has been some overkill in some areas certainly, however, the focus is correct. There is an adroitness in an authoritarian government that can and has in Canada’s case, get lost in democracies. Further, there is longevity in policy, a course is plotted and taken to fruition. This can be a bad thing too, as was the case with the Great Leap Forward that resulted in some 30 million souls starving to death – there is a balance to be struck to be sure.  The embrace of market incentives and a free market stance generally and trade has made a dramatic difference in the progress of the country.

So what’s the takeaway from China’s success for us, Canada, the provinces and communities? First, sit down and clearly define a 25 year and 50-year infrastructure program founded on consensus from interest groups, commit to the program via legislation that isolates it from the rigours of the political process, and execute with vigour and integrity.

What would this infrastructure program look like?

1.       Education – no buildings – intellectual capital

a.       Intellectual Capital is infrastructure – I submit the most important infrastructure, the challenge we have is convincing people to donate time and energy toward valuing it and communicating that value in dollars and cents – the language universally understood by all.

2.       Big pipes for the internet and a world network of server stations

3.       Nationwide Communications

4.       Road, Rail, Sea and other transport – Transmission Lines, Pipe Lines etc.…

5.       Conservation, the general greening of infrastructure, infrastructure support for alternate energy sources.

China’s intellectual capital is growing exponentially, China generates 300,000 engineers annually, we do a tenth of that – engineers apply technology. The world’s knowledge is nearly doubling every 6 months – the fax machine was invented in WW2 and the technology only gained penetration into the population in the 1970s. We need people to convert a mountain of latent technology into usable products and services, it is the world’s weakest link – Canada needs to occupy this space. Disruptions like a transistor radio, the computer will become a weekly event – so knowledge acquisition can no longer have a massive institution attached to it with four, six and eight year time frames to action. In WW2, the time it took to train a pilot was measured in weeks, basic training was six weeks – they were farm boys who had just left the age of horse farming – surely we can get a doctor up and running faster than eight years or a carpenter faster than four years. We are warehousing our best, brightest and most vigorous population in universities for nearly a decade, think about what they could do if they learned on the run as I have and many others have. It is far more efficient to set about a task and collect the knowledge needed for that task than to try and educate yourself for every eventuality or contingency; properly structured knowledge transfer can do this – self-paced, independent and freely accessible are the order of the day.

While China’s infrastructure program is less than perfect, it is better than ours. The Chinese transformation has lessons for us, we would be wise to avail ourselves of them and act decisively. If we meander along as we have, or let the political pendulum send us to and fro, the Chinese assent will be both wasted on us and will likely consume us. 

Can eating make you crazy – the Nexus of Nutrition & Mental Health

Knowing what to eat can make you crazy, in the age of information overload – data roles in – minds change – it is hard to know what is best.

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It seems odd that the predominance of attention paid to mental illness and nutrition by our medical system is well after the pathogenic effects of poor nutrition are on display. The linkage between nutrition and mental illness is clear in many cases, Berry Berry – B6, medication absorption and B12 … the list goes on. Other linkages are less obvious, essential fatty acids & cognitive function and capacity or the complete amino acid complex for fetal brain development, for examples. In contemplating nutrition as it relates to eating one needs to think about the impurities and additives in food, and their effect on the human brain. Conventional western medicine is tardy here, in the world of nutrition – when the symptoms arrive often the damage is done.

Gut health, and the bacterial complex that resides in our gut play an important role in health in general; hence the growing interest in prebiotics and probiotics – so when I read recently that gut health affects mental health, it was no surprise to me. There are a number of factors at play here in the brains interface with the gut, but the scientific connection has been made. The first time I fasted, I experience a real sense of well being, oddly, I love to eat; after 3 or 4 days a general calmness came over me - having this experience affirmed for me the brain gut connection. I am in contact with people who fast regularly and they almost unanimously report the same sense of wellbeing once into a fast for a few days. This article The Emerging Field of Nutritional Mental Health: Inflammation, the Microbiome, Oxidative Stress, and Mitochondrial Function, will help you understand the linkages and functionality better than I would explain it, what is of interest to me is the absence of this consideration in health delivery in general.

The term “Madder than a Hatter” was used for people affected by mental illness, hat makers treated the beaver felt with mercury – mercury exposure causes a complex of systems related to depression and other illnesses. Lead exposure is blamed for ending the Roman Empire; lead causes a “weak mind” and a complex of symptoms like depression. Oddly however, Chelation therapy is absent in the conventional approach to treating mental illness in western medicine, we never test for it in British Columbia, much easier to push a pill.

Attention to holistic concern, the willingness to take the time to treat illnesses like mental illness is absent in government supplied medical care. We pay for illness in our system, we fail in every way to reward health. Medical doctors receive income solely for treating illness as opposed to the overall wellbeing of their keeps. There is testing available to identify many of the subtle medical occurrences related to mental health and nutrition, they’re left unused in most cases – or used once things have progressed. We need to do better in this regard, perhaps if people had the option to self-direct their medical spending, they would pick the modalities of treatment that promoted health, rather than waiting for illness to come.  

For more on this issue click the links below

EATING - Brief Overview Relative the Medical System

British Columbia Health System Reform

Child Killer Goes Free - BAD LAW

Bad Law  - BC Mental Health Act.

Discriminatory - BC Mental Health Act.

Vague - BC Mental Health Act.

Charter - BC Mental Health Act.

Review Panel Review - BC Mental Health Act.

Health & Nutrition - In defense of beef - Neil's Take

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My family had a mixed farm in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia; we made a “good” living on about 140 acres. My father was a pilot in WW2, having seen enough excitement for one life time, he declined to participate in the development of the British Properties in Vancouver to become a farmer, thanks Dad. We did have a good life there and the 140 acres did raise a family of five and when he pasted in 1963, his family lived off the proceeds of the his efforts by liquidating the assets his farming effort generated. How is this defending beef, well think about it, we had a life because people ate beef.

We were a mixed farm, dairy, mink, sheep, grain, and of course a few beef. I get perturbed when people with some weird fetish about “human” conduct, or some misinformation campaign, or some dietary preference, or some unfounded environmental perspective engage in bashing a whole industry, absent any experience in the industry or any understanding about how the environment works. Can we do better, yes, but in the main, the modern agro-complex is producing more and better food AND better health outcomes than all of our preceding history.

Myth One

One article I reviewed “6 Reasons to Avoid Eating Meat”, said by avoiding eating meat you were doing the environment a favour. Statements like this make me want to scream – you idiot – it is critical to have livestock in the “crop” cycle. The “beef haters” are perpetually attempting to steer us away from meat to soy and veggies, soy requires cultivation, fertilizer – forage production has a greatly reduced requirement in this regard. The diet for a cow is predominately forage and augmented by grain. In a mixed farm setting the grazing of livestock contributes to the management of the soil by providing organic matter and fertilizer. In a more extensive ranching operation, cattle are released into the mountains to covert grass to protean; absent cattle there would be no means by which to harvest this grass in a meaningful way for human consumption. The beef industry’s overall interface with nature nets out positive for the environment and the industry is trending to do an even better job with people starting to migrate to grass feeding and finishing of beef.   

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Myth Two

Another article I reviewed said to avoid beef because it was high in cholesterol and saturated fat and suggested to change to Vegetarian diet instead. There was a push away from the “high fat diet” in the late 70s and 80s, the government issued direction to “reduce saturated fat”, the worst obesity epidemic in human history ensued. In the North American diet, the enemy is ubiquitous easily digested carbohydrates. There are studies that support the fact that in consuming more meat protean there is a reconfiguration of cholesterol in the blood, Hdl increases & Ldl lowers. Saturated fat as a source of energy is better than carbohydrates because it metabolizes more slowly. One article suggested eating cooked Salmon is stead of beef so the consumer could access healthy fats, when you cook fish the “healthy” fat saturates in the cooking process; the healthier option is, a lean New York strip and supplement healthy oils via cold pressed flaxseed oil and small fish oils. Red meat is high in iron, B vitamins, protean … it is a healthy part of our diet, and most of all, it tastes good. Be a vegetarian if you like, I’ll take a New York strip, lightly grilled veggies and a bottle of robust Shiraz any day.

My Three

All growth enhancements are bad. There are products used for growth enhancement that have no human health effect, yet make the bovine digestive process more effective – the enhancements reconfigure the enzymes or acids in the rumen and enhance feed utilization,  this is good for the producers pocket book AND the environment. There are also rumen enzyme enhancements that reduce the production of methane gas from the digestive process. There are implants used that alter digestive related hormones ONLY. There are commonly used “sex hormone” implants, these are the ones that excite public concern, largely due to miss-use in other jurisdictions that caused negative health outcomes; as they are utilized by the Canadian Beef industry they are relatively benign. So in the main the use of enhancements in our industry is safe and humane; there are organic / grass finished beef options if you’re worried.  

Myth Four

One person asserted that eating meat causes Colon Cancer, this is a complete scare tactic. Colon health is important, unhealthy things do accumulate in the colon over time – seeds, hard to digest items like gum and yes gristle from meat. So it is important to attend to colon health, however, this imperative is in no way specific to meat eaters. Focus on fiber, healthy foods, lots of veggies and fast from time to time. There are lots of fasts around that really do flush your system, I use the Master Cleanse, some fasts for specific challenges and others that focused more on heavy metals. There was a study done in England that included the assessment of 50,000 people, they found an increase in the risk in colon cancer with the daily consumption of “cured” meats; people who consumed cured meat three times of week had no greater health risk than the control group. The consumption of “uncured” red meat offered no variance from the norm.

The reality is that diet and religion seem to generate the same fervor, so people will do what they will – I’ll be eating meat.

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Health & Nutrition - Nutrition Overview - Neil's Take

Macro Nutrients; Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates; even these seemingly common dietary elements spur debate in some circles. I TRY to balance each meal at about a 1/3, 1/3 & 1/3 respectively. Protein gets the most attention only because it is more difficult to work into a diet than the ubiquitous carbohydrate. Fiber, the arch nemesis of high protein diets, never seems to come in large enough supply – psyllium husk fills the gap.  

I view macro nutrient management as an endocrine challenge, the insulin – glucose axis is better regulated when protein is both present in sufficient quality and at the right time so as to “anchor” carbohydrates. The book the Zone addresses macro nutrient management in detail with a fairly complex block system for ensuring the right combination of each, I find the 1/3, 1/3 & 1/3 easier and I believe it achieves about the same thing. One concept from the Zone I like, is the Glycemic Index ascribed to each food type, with white bread as the benchmark at 100.

Once the macro nutrient mix is in place, then I turn to managing the “micro” nutrients; thinking about how to get the right amino acid mix, vitamins, phytonutrients, antioxidants etc… I attempt to reduce fruit intake relative vegetables in view of the Glycemic Index realities. When I am serious about getting the right balance I avoid bread altogether, all grains are rich in readily digestible carbohydrates so I look to other sources for the “B” complex – I do find a small amount of grain seems to help with “B” absorption, I’m guessing there is some sort of a synergy there in the uptake. 

Protean I get primarily from Meat (New York Strip, paired with a robust Syrah), Chicken and Fish. I am a red meat advocate and I view it as an important part of my diet, as I do Chicken and Fish. I also eat eggs, too infrequently, more regularly would be better; and then there are lintels and beans when I am looking for a fiber augmentations, normally try to add a more dense protean to the mix – tuna etc.

I drink whole milk, I leave a little fat on my steaks and I buy full fat yogurt – I am less afraid of saturated fats than I am Carbs.  There is clear evidence that trans fats are unhealthy so I avoid them, except for the odd sausage roll the farmers market – and the blueberry basket thing – one needs one’s vices. I supplement for all the healthy oils, supplementation here is imperative from my perspective – unless you are a member of an traditional Inuit Band and you eat mountains of raw fish, whale blubber etc. you will never get enough essential oils. Cooked fish fails to provide help here, once you heat unsaturated oils to cooking temperature there is a molecular change and they become saturated. 

Carbs are a bug bear, as yet, I’ve been unable to find a protean balance for my nightly bump of Rum or Scotch, I like to point out to the nutritional puritans out there, that rum is not only a source of carbohydrates but an excellent source of Alcohol as well. For the most part though, veggies are the carb focus. As a rule, one wants the upper digestion to go slowly and lower work to happen quickly.   

To supplement or not to supplement – SUPPLEMENT. Firstly, it is just easier, secondly, there are nutrients that just fail to come in sufficient volumes for optimal health – essential oils for example. Yes there are issues with “unknown” synergies with respect of absorption, or synergies that only whole natural food can supply – so eat what you can and supplement the rest. The anti-supplement movement seems to forget we want to seek optimal health; no single population’s natural diet has filled all the gaps. 

I always like to point out that Winston Churchill saved the free world on fat food and a near constant flow of various types of liquor, incurred massive stress, went six years without sleep and I lived well into his eighties. He once quipped “Stilton and Port, what god has brought together let no man tear asunder”. If you were to listen to the nutrition puritans you’d find these facts impossible to believe. Perhaps liquor offers a mitigating effect against the rigors of the traditional English diet. The key is to think about what works and eat accordingly, and exercise – the modern complex of media and the overwhelming need to for people to ask their doctor about everything has many fretting instead of living.        

Health and Nutrition - Neil's Take

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It is a constant fixture in the Canadian medical system that prevention is left by the wayside; it’s no wonder that nutrition as a health promoter gets little play in our “health” system. It is also a constant fixture that Nutrition and environment as causal agents for disease are over looked. There is always banter about shifting the focus from treatment to prevention, then funds get limited and the “health” system goes back to chasing symptoms and putting out fires.

I think my present stage of life could be described as middle aged, as much as I hate to admit it. It is amazing to me that; 1) I have never had a physical 2) I have never had nutritional direction from anyone in the system 3) I have never upon picking up a prescription from a pharmacist been asked if I am taking other medication or what my diet is  4) I have never had blood tests done for heavy medals or other “contaminants” that accumulate over time 5) I have never had testing done that assesses health as it relates to nutrition. The point here is that nutrition is key to health and interface with medications, no other life style choice affects quality of life over time more than nutrition, save perhaps exercise. So why is it so neglected?

I had the good fortune of taking Animal Nutrition for two years, I was fortunate that many of my mammalian pals have a simple stomach like mine – if you’re a horse nutritional person, you’ll be happy to know my dysfunctional cecum is still intact. I am an avid reader on the subject my favorite books The Zone, Fats that Heal and Fats that Kill and Prescription for Natural Healing; I have spent some time thinking about the subject and have my opinions – if you’re interested. You can talk to me about nutrition without a judgmental tirade, I get that everybody has their take on it. It is amazing to me however the deep commitment people get to a way of eating, there are few subjects that can provoke more impassioned debate – save perhaps religion – although, for some, nutrition is religion.

I have a difficult time understanding the dichotomy between the generalized fever related to nutrition in the general population and it’s near absence as a treatment aid or prompter of health in our “health” system. It is really odd, when you consider that people need to eat so there is really no incremental cost to changing diet to the patient, no cost to government save perhaps a comprehensive website and a little preventive spending on testing.

I like the topic so I thought I would post a few blogs – another opinion may be helpful.

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