Optimism for Our (Dietary) Future

Yay! I lost a pound! Let's get triple cheese burgers!

It's easy to be cynical and see the bad side of things. Holy crap, anyone within media-ear shot of this week's Republican debates could not be blamed for thinking our democracy is being subsumed by idiots, clowns and he-man woman-haters. Despite those same right wing lunatics insisting climate change isn't real despite all evidence to the contrary, major projects at my doorstep are being planned to account for the rising sea levels, regardless of any politician's anti-science dogma.

Republican Party, circa 1930

But the thing that motivates this blog is more narrow. It's my health and the health of my children and everyone else's too, and the food that we consume that affects it. Well, maybe it's not a lost cause.

Calories consumed daily by the typical American adult, which peaked around 2003, are in the midst of their first sustained decline since federal statistics began to track the subject, more than 40 years ago. The number of calories that the average American child takes in daily has fallen even more — by at least 9 percent.

That is a mouthful, and is huge, if you believe it. Lies, damn lies, and statistics....but I'm going to go and believe it, given the seemingly credible multi-year wide-ranging studies the piece cites. Doesn't hurt that my anecdotal evidence -- which is recorded here every week for years and years, as well as my awareness of how I feed my own kids -- seems to fit neatly into the hypothesis.

The encouraging data does not mean an end to the obesity epidemic: More than a third of American adults are still considered obese, putting them at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Americans are still eating far too few fruits and vegetables and far too much junk food, even if they are eating somewhat less of it, experts say. 

OK, sometimes it's totally legit to hate on fruit.

As can be seen by my monthly weigh-ins and the trends that can only really be seen in annual-increments, what all this information is saying is that we might finally be past our maximum-fatness, but we still have a ways to go to get back to where we were....before sugar became cheap, plentiful and processed into a plethora of foods to make them cheaper. And there is no other source of concentrated, cheap sugar than soda.

The anti-obesity public health campaigns have focused on one subject more than any other: beverages.
Anti-soda messages hit their target. Americans, on average, purchased about 40 gallons of full-calorie soda a year in 1998, according to sales data from the industry trade publication Beverage Digest analyzed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. That fell to 30 gallons in 2014, about the level that Americans bought in 1980, before the obesity rates took off.

If we want to get serious about the realities of what climate change is doing, it's probably too late to just cut carbon emissions -- we have to start building walls to keep the oceans out of our urban centers. And if we want to get serious about the realities of what sugar is doing, addicting people to cheap food and corporations to easy profits, there has to be a campaign similar to the one that got us hooked off of cigarettes and tobacco. Once sugar and excess calories are recognized as a addiction-manipulated health threat on the level of nicotine cancer-sticks, then maybe we'll have a change at real progress in our life times. The cause is not lost.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2866

OK eating week, not great but not an embarrassment. Bike riding is starting to come back to me, feeling a lot of gratitude about being healthy.

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BIKE CREDIT: 550 cal
MONDAY COUNT: 1970

SLEPT: 11pm-6am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 1pm, Fage with almonds, honey and vanilla, 450 cal

PM SNACK:  2:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:30pm, homemade granola bar, 350 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, mahi mahi,  asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, large piece of watermelon, +/- 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 2 child granola bars, 200 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2690 cal

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 9hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, steel cut oatmeal 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickes, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 7pm, French Bread Pizza, poppa salad with dressing, 1080 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, large piece of watermelon, +/- 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3320 cal

SLEPT: 11:30pm - 5:30am, 6 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, lentil curry, pickles, 620 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, cheezits,310 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 8pm, chipotle burrito, ice cream, 1180 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, nutella, +/- 400 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3440

SLEPT: 11pm-6am, 7 hours

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:15pm, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

LUNCH: 4pm, poppa salad with dressing and grilled chicken, 720 cal

DINNER: 8pm, burger, fries, diet coke, +/- 1200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, nutella, +/- 500 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2910

SLEPT: 12am-4:30am, 4.5 hours

BREAKFAST: 5am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 9:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, Fage with almonds, honey and vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, sauteed shrimp with mushrooms, poppa salad and dressing, 630 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, hot dog, fries, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, beef patty, 360 cal