A few months ago, I stumbled on a podcast that Radiolab was doing that centered around a live show they were putting on called Radiolab Live: In the Dark, a show they were performing around the country at the time with the help of Demetri Martin. The show moved through three acts, with the last phase, "Dark Side of the Earth", being a recorded audio interview with astronaut Dave Wolf, who tells a story about being 200 miles above space and how every 45 minutes his crew would experience complete darkness followed by blazing light as the sun screamed into view. Tethered to the outside of a their spacecraft, traveling 5 miles per second, disaster strikes as they our faced with the inability to regain entry into their craft.  

     The show also explores the tranquility of space, as Dave spends several minutes floating outside the ship, staring into the emptiness of the universe. During this segment of the live show, every member of the audience has white light laser pointers that they shoot to the ceiling to replicate stars as ambient music plays in the theater.  

     Just listening to the podcast version in my car, I was amazed out how the show sounded, and wished I could have experienced the live show. Just recently, my interest was resparked in a similar fashion when I listened to another interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield, author of his newly released book, "An Astronauts Guide to Living on Earth". In the interview, he talks about the incredible changes the body goes through in space, which inspired me to look further into what exactly goes on, and how astronauts prepare for such rigorous travels. Without gravity, our bones, muscles, and cells do not work as hard, which causes a lot of interesting side effects, both short and long term. Here are a few bullet points on what happens when an astronaut goes into the great unknown:  
 
Loss of Muscle and Bone Mass: Astronauts must work out two hours everyday, seven days a week, in order to maintain a healthy level of bone and muscle density. Without exercise, the crew would have difficulty performing tasks in space and, if an emergency occurred, it could put the team in a very vulnerable position due to weakness. The loss of bone mass can also make it difficult to walk after returning to Earth. Physical therapy is undergone when the crew returns home to regain size, but getting back your bone mass can be difficult if a lot of it is lost. 
     Although it is not fully understood why, the human body excretes a large amount of calcium and phosphorus when the body becomes weightless, causing boss loss. Going from Mars to Earth would result in the same equivalent of half a lifetime on Earth for our skeletal system. Proper training at home after return can take months to fully restore the lost bone mass.  
 
Abnormal Blood Circulation: In a zero gravity environment, our blood flow is disrupted. Usually, our blood must work against the continues pull that we experience on Earth, but in space, this normality is removed. This results in a rush of blood to the upper body much faster than what humans are accustomed to, since blood does not pool as much in the legs.  All those yoga poses you see people do with their feet in the air with their head on the ground make a lot more sense now, right? All of this leads to an increased heart rate and raised blood pressure. Side effects include headaches, nasal congestion, and super skinny legs.  
 
Space Sickness: You think it's bad out at sea? Just wait till your floating hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface with no sense of balance. Vomiting, headaches, and general dizziness are the norm. In fact, almost half of all space travels experience these symptoms the first couple days of flight.  
 
Lack of Balance: Our sense of orientation relies heavily on inner ear and muscular sensors to find terrestrial clues about our environment. This system is rendered useless when in an anti-gravity situation, making astronauts feel disorientated or uncoordinated. Instead, the crew must use visual cues to establish the barrings, but even this can be difficult as the notions of what is "up" and what is "down" are completely irrelevant in space. No doubt, this is a big reason why the team can become so prone to motion sickness.  
 
Weaker Immune Systems: Scientists have been analyzing studies done in space that show lack of sleep and isolation may weaken an astronaut's immune system, making the susceptible to sickness and infection. This is caused from a weaker than normal T-lymphocyte system which could lead to allergy problems as well. Being an unfamiliar environment, astronauts will have to work harder to combat these changes in the bodies as scientists work to find new drugs to aid them.  
 
Disrupted Sleep: Think you get cranky when you don't get your full eight hours? Astronauts must deal with constant noise from the space shuttle and experience irregular shifting patterns of light and dark depending on where they are in space in relevance to the sun and the planets. Fatigue can easily set in, especially with the disruptions of the human's normal day/night cycle.  
 
You Stink: "Welcome to Space: Please Don't Use The Water". This could very well be the motto of most  space flights. In an environment so perilous, you can imagine the precautions astronauts must take to keep rations of water stable. This means strict regulation of water distribution. And when water is used, you can bet the first priority is going to be for drinking. As for cleaning yourself? Well, lets just say it would be best to imagine yourself on a long camping expedition. Astronauts are given a plentiful supply of moist towelettes to use for daily scrubbing, but showers are more of a luxury experience. Best keep your distance from your co-workers if you want to be polite.    
 
     
        As you can see, astronauts have their work cut out for them. Every new journey into space is another chance to experiment and improve the living conditions they must endure. Let's hope they smooth out the rough stuff before they begin taking volunteers for the flights to Mars. And, by the way, that's coming very, very soon.  

Sources: 
 
Click here to hear Radiolab Live: Dark Side of the Earth
      
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Your Body in Space: Use It or Lose It 

Known effects of long-term space flights on the human body
 
Gravity Hurts (So Good)
 
What if an astronaut went on a space walk without wearing a space suit?

     I will be playing a show Tuesday, Novermeber 19th at Toast: Ultra Lounge and Bistro @6pm. Come by and join in on the free wine tasting that will be taking place. coastalnoise.com/musicdates

     
        The last couple days I've been debating back and forth about what kind of article I'd like to put out. I've got a list of growing topics and I have let several days go by doing light research on different ones and pondering them over, waiting for one in particular to really spark my interest and get me to sit down to start writing. Of course, I know the burden largely falls on me, and I can't wait around for inspiration to strike much more. As of lately, I've been considering putting an emphasis back into eating vegetarian "based" diets. I say, "'based", in quotes because I believe some leaner meats are easier on the body in the long and short terms, so I will not omit them completely. Going off of my feelings at the time, I reserved a vegetarian cookbook from the library in the mix of some other reads I had selected for the next couple weeks.     

       Once I had spent some time looking through my new book, I started thinking about a diet that still implemented meat and turned my attention to the Paleo Diet, which has become popular in the last few years. This diet, suggests eating a diet that is similar to how our Paleolithic ancestors ate for tens of thousands of years before man began his agricultural endeavors, which, according to Paleo proponents, has totally screwed us. Evolutionarly speaking, our bodies are geared toward certain types of food (meats, nuts, seeds, vegetables, greens, and fruits) for optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. Foods such as breads, wheats, legumes, diary, and rice my go down easily for most, but the argument is that our body does not take as much from these foods because of counter active anti-nutrient properties that put our digestive system on the defense, among other reasons.     

     A picked up and read Robb Wolf's, "The Paleo Solution" and found the information interesting and compelling. I had begun planning my shift to the Paleo diet for a personal experiment of one month's time. However, I thought it might be best to do some additional research to see what others have written in regards to a vegetarian or vegan diet up against the caveman diet. So I dove in the internet to research and take notes on what was being studied and discussed. 

     That's when things started to get hairy. 

     I knew that the different camps greatly opposed one another and all sides argue different reasons and cases for why their way is the best optimal diet for humans, but the more I searched, the more I saw how complex the science could get. It's like listening to an atheist and a bible salesman having a spiritual debate when all you want is to have a nice Sunday picnic on the grassy knoll. Yes, there was random Kennedy reference in there. 

      My plan was to write about my findings and perhaps discuss my plan for a Paleo switch, but the rabbit hole seems to go so deep that I cannot possibly put my findings down and be satisfied with what my output would be. I would feel like I had left something out, missed important case studies for one side or the other, say something incorrect about a particular diet, or generally just not have all the facts together. Until I can get more information in a way that seems to make a better complete puzzle, I will hold off on my Paleo breakdown. In the meantime, I've already found my local Grass Feed Farm which I plan on ordering my grain free meat from, should I choose to make the commitment. 

     All of this still left me with another big problem. I didn't have anything to write about! So I reflected back to my vegetarian cookbook. I'm not gonna lie, I made two dishes from it and they were both bomb. The first, a mushroom soup, complete with leeks, onions, cream, and plenty of vegetable broth and thyme. Throw in the baked French bread and I had a solid meal on my hands. The second was even better, and this is what I've decided to put down for tonight. It's not Paleo, but it IS damn good and pretty easy to make. Just make sure the kidney beans you get don't have chili sauce in them because it will make the dish more liquidy. I make this warning because...well, I bought kidney beans with chili sauce in them. If I don't make one shopping mistake when I go to the grocery store, then I'm probably somebody else. 

Taken from: "Vegetarian: The Best-Ever Recipe Collection"  by Linda Fraser 


Sweet and Sour Mixed Bean Pot


Ingredients:

About 4 potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil 

3 tablespoons butter 

1/3 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/4 cups tomato sauce

2/3 cup unsweetened apple juice 

1/4 cup each light brown sugar, ketchup, dry sherry, 
          cider vinegar and light soy sauce 

14 ounce can lima beans

14 ounce can kidney beans

14 ounce can of chickpeas 

6 ounce green beans, chopped and blanched

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 tablespoon each chopped fresh thyme and marjoram 

salt and freshly ground black peppers 

fresh herbs, to garnish


Directions:

     1. Thinly slice the potatoes and boil for 4 minutes. Drain the potatoes thoroughly, toss them in the olive oil so they are lightly coated all over and set aside. 

     2. Place the butter, flour, tomato sauce, sherry, vinegar, and soy sauce in a saucepan. Heat gently, whisking constantly, until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring. 

     3. Rinse and drain the beans and chickpeas and add to the sauce with all the remaining ingredients except the herb garnish. Mix Well. 

     4. Preheat the oven for 400F.  

     5. Spoon the bean mixture into a casserole. 

     6. Arrange the potatoes slices over the top of the casserole, overlapping them slightly and completely covering the bean mixture. 

     7. Cover the casserole with foil and bake for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked and tender. Remove the foil and cook another 20 minutes to lightly brown the potatoes. Serve garnished with fresh herb sprigs.