I talk about food and eating a lot, but I hope I emphasize that people need to eat and eat things that are nourishing, that make their bodies work and feel good, and not to eat mindlessly. I do not always do this. I seem to falling into the ‘I’m bored, I’m gonna get a snack’ trap rather often. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it completely.

So when people truly make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle change that works for them, I’m fascinated. Today’s case is Bossy Ducharme, a Métis man living in Toronto, who, after seeing the damage a Western (well, European-ish) diet has been doing to the Aboriginal population in North America (very high rates of Type 2 Diabetes being one of the major issues), has decided to only eat foods that were available here before European settlement.

He’s not hunting and killing elk or turkey in downtown Winnipeg or anything, he’s not necessarily eating seasonally (blueberries might come fresh from a farmer’s market or frozen from a supermarket), and he uses cooking technique they wouldn’t have (and even gets his mint tea at Tim Hortons), but he won’t eat anything that his ancestors wouldn’t have. It’s done wonders for his health too. His family kinda think he’s bonkers, since he grew up in the suburbs eating a lot of processed stuff and spent most of his adulthood indulging in KFC and other fast food. Now he doesn’t even season anything with salt and pepper.

Extreme, yes, but it’s kind of amazing. He’s working on a documentary project about it too. I can’t wait to see it.

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Sad but true: Ottawa rarely merits a mention in the global press (and on the BBC’s website, they often spell it wrong), but the city is getting some attention not for student protests or government corruption or tar sands funding, but because of someone sent a foot to Conservative Party HQ, which arrived yesterday. They are trying to see if it’s linked to a hand found at a postal sorting facility and a torso discovered in a suitcase in Montréal. Good lord.