Drill Down: Juicing

Mmmm, nothing like a pint of MILF juice in the morning.... 

I drink a pint of freshly "masticated" vegetable juice five days a week, with a little fruit to help ease it down. It's extreme for three reasons:

1. It's probably the healthiest thing I eat in a relatively vegetable-rich healthy diet. 
2. It's also one of the least tasty things I eat all week.
3. However, of all the foods I eat, it's the one where I can mostly draw a direct line between eating and the corporeal, physical level - within minutes, it makes me feel good. Not la-la-la I'm such a friend of the earth and my bunny friends because I'm such a good-person-feel good, but in a holy shit I'm more awake and feel stronger and am ready to get on my bike and ride 2 miles to work to git-r-dun-feel good way.

Larry the Cable Guy, juice head?

I had juiced years before, with a messy centrifugal juicer, mostly 100% fruit juices. It tasted great but didn't really do anything for me, and I got bored of it and it got put away. I wrote about juicing in this forum about a year ago, around the time I was thinking about trying juicing due to watching a rather good documentary.

A week later I pulled out my old centrifugal juicer and attempted to juice some spinach. BZZZZZT, it came to a grinding halt and I instantly had a dead juicer on my hands. So I sucked in my gut and contemplated throwing down for a proper masticating juicer. Juicing has been around as long as there has been fruit, but it was the Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead doc that kicked off the fad for green juice, according to most internet thinkin'.

There are two main kind of juicers, excluding specialized unitaskers like citrus presses.

• Centrifugal - utilizes a spinning blade that resembles a grated basket; faster operation; quickly grinds items and discards pulp in a receptacle

This is the kind I used to have. It's ok for fruit, but for proper healthy juice? No. You can score one for under $100, but you get what you pay for. There are arguments that it's method uses too much friction and "cooks" the juice, but I suspect that is BS. However, the pulp it ejects is a lot moister than the dry pulp spit out by juicers that are...

• Masticating - utilizes a single gear driven by a motor; slower operation; kneads and grinds items placed in a chute

The real deal. Kinda like a meat grinder for vegetables. After doing research, I decided I couldn't afford the model I should get and...got my mother-in-law to gift it to me for Hanukkah!

Thanks, gramma!

This machine can juice the hardest of fruit or vegetable, make smooth nut butters from any nut you can imagine (hello homemade nutella!), extrude pasta in a blink, is incredibly easy to clean and....hard to acquire for less than $275. But you get what you pay for. This is not some miracle machine being hawked on late night TV for several "easy payments", this is the real deal.

It was last November I was at a restaurant with my wife, a place she likes, that has a stress on healthy food and seasonal vegetables. I had already blown out my centrifugal juicer, and noticed "green juice" on the drinks menu. Why not, what was there to lose? So I ordered the juice and when it came, it had the most wonderful light green opalescent color. I was surprised to find how drinkable it was -- it was like apple juice with a slight funky twist! I soon found, once starting to juice at home, that's all it was -- mostly apple juice with a few fig leaves of healthy produce to make the drinker feel good about themselves.

In the past few years, juicing has become "juicing", bent to the needs of entrepreneurs to extract maximum profit to the detriment of the actual juice and the health of their patrons. There are a few big brands that have popped up in the past few years, namely BluePrint and Organic Avenue, and the NY Times has published a few entertaining articles, one where they snipe at each other as to who is the most "healthy" and "real", another in the fashion section where, umm, where....

Did you know, for example, that mixing kale with peaches and blueberries results in a drink that is a rather unpleasant shade of brown?

Or...

“Juice is expensive, but juicers are really messy and then you realize why juice is so expensive,” said Erin Flaherty, the beauty and health director of Marie Claire, who bought a professional-grade juicer that wound up taking up too much space in her kitchen. “You feed it so many fruits and vegetables and it never tastes as good.”

Oy. Just Oy.

Oh Mz. Flaherty. I know the wimmin's mag industry makes it's money by telling the lies it's readers want to hear, so they stay unhappy with themselves, but really? Maroons who spend $12 on a fashionable bottle of juice that contains about $1 worth of produce for the convenience is retarded in itself -- other than the expense and the false sense of esteem that the expense grants, no bottled juice will be as healthy or deliver as much useful nutrition as freshly squeezed, period.

My Mz. Flaherty, my "professional-grade" juicer is a snap to dissemble and clean, but I guess that's a matter of perspective? Or do you just not like having to clean up after yourself, when spending an extra $10 for a "cute" plastic bottle is so much easier?

Dear Mz. Flaherty, I found my first (and last) glass of restaurant juice to be quite delicious because it was mostly apples, very sweet, appropriate for kids (and according to your industry, women) but like soda pop, not particularly healthy. Sugar is sugar is sugar, whether it comes from an apple, an Oreo or an ice cream. My restaurant juice, and all those $11 bottles of juice, no matter how many claims their marketing makes, all are guaranteed to be formulated with enough sugar to make it more palatable to as many people (with $11) as possible.

I think this stock photography model thought she signed up for "ecstasy while holding a salad" pics. Instead, she entered the bukakke side of the biz....

Mz. Flaherty, it doesn't taste good because it's not supposed to. That's not the point. (I guess if your committed to the consumer culture where "the customer is always right", even if their choices kill themselves and the environment, then I can't argue, but let's try to stay on topic.) We are not children whose only reward from eating is the sweetness that pleases our tongue in the morning. We are men, and we are women, and we can delay gratification for a few minutes to appreciate the benefits of what real green juice can do. This is my recipe for one 16oz glass of juice, approximately 160 calories:

• 1 small apple or 3oz of seedless grapes.
• 1 medium whole carrot
• 1 medium stalk of celery
• 1/5 of a large cucumber
• 1/5 of a medium red beet
• 1/4 oz of fresh ginger root
• 1/5 of a large bunch of kale
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper

Wash any dirt off. Cut to fit juicer chute. Juice everything except cayenne, including all skins, cores, stems and roots, in order of things you find most palatable to least. Add cayenne to taste. Deposit into pint glass, fill to top with cold water.

When I say large bunch of kale, I mean the kind that practically takes 2 hands to take from shelf to cart. The juice itself is dark, dark forest green. The apple and carrot's sweetness is small, but it is enough to take a large note of bitterness off the later vegetables.The spice of the ginger and the cayenne are loud enough to also mask a host of bitter flavors that would otherwise turn my head away. The celery and cucumber add a weird slickness and salinity that add interest.  I absolutely despise beet and kale for their flavor, but through juicing I've learned to appreciate the metallic sweetness of the beet and the bright vegetal screech of kale. I have to be honest -- it tastes kinda horrible, but like your first shot of liquor when your a teen, the first taste is the worst, and every sip after is smoother, and before you know it, gulping the bottom of the glass is not such a chore.

It was a chore a year ago, and I juiced 2x a week, it was all I could handle. Slowly but surely, I found when I did the juice thing, i felt good that morning. So I upped it to three times a week, and found myself missing it on the days I skipped. Sometime over the summer I said to myself, well, I think I'm falling into a habit, but unlike Fritos or chocolate chips, this habit may help me feel good in the long run rather than make me maintain all da fatty fatness.

I've been juicing every weekday, and while my produce bill is larger than ever, when I get that hit of juice on a Monday morning, I really do feel what it does for me. The apple and apple/ginger juice from my centrifugal juicer was a nice treat back in the day, but I might have well been drinking Coca Cola or pasteurized juice from a bottle -- it was all just sugar flooding my system and keeping myself fat and satiated. Green juicing has made me hungry for a lot more than just satisfying the childlike side of my palate.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2291

I'm not going to say this was a bad eating week, but perhaps a transitional one. Getting to the new lower budget and subtracting the fritos & cheetos is proving harder than expected. Add in Thanksgiving eating and I suspect next week will be difficult too. 

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MONDAY COUNT: 2065

SLEPT: 8pm-5am, 9 hr
Sunday was an early morning 60 mile ride then pushing a stroller all over downtown to visit friends and do food shopping for the week. "Slept in" until 5am, felt great, good way to start the week.

AM SNACK: 5:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am,grape/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal
Swapped out apple for grape this week, equivalent amount of calories, but less juice and a much sweeter taste, huh.

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 415

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, butternut squash soup, health salad, pickles, 790

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, hake loins, asparagus, kimchi, 400 cal
Kimchi kicked this meal up a notch. Also used a little Worcestershire on the asparagus, definitely an improvement.

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2540

SLEPT: 8:45pm-4am, 7.25 hr
Excellent weight lifting session in the morning. During my dinner, my daughter asked for Cheetos while watching TV, and I got her a bowl. As I was pouring it, I said to myself, "uh oh". My cravings shot through the roof, and I hoped they'd pass as I sat back down to finish dinner. They did not. Hmmm, hope I can take a lesson from this.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am,grape/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, Madras lentils, pickles, 650 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, sauteed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 520 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, double cheetos, 600 cal

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WEDNEDAY COUNT: 2585

SLEPT: 8:30pm-3am, 6.5 hr
Woke up, ate a granola bar, put on every layer of warm weather bike clothes I have, got out the food at 3:45, was home by 4. Low 30s, just too cold, I hit my limit. In those brief minutes, I could feel the chill coming to my finger tips and toes, despite my warmest gloves, wool socks and shoe covers. I have warmer biking gloves and "arctic" wool socks coming, so will try again, but I think I'm gonna go get rollers soon, too. Sucks sitting at home at 4am without a way of doing cardio, and my muscles still a little sore from yesterday's lift.

In the evening, the siren song of the chips got me again, damn. Think I'm going to temporarily not have them in the house, and see how that goes. Though I'll be denying my eldest chippy goodness, I don't think it'll hurt her in the long run. And I'll get a bag on Fridays to share with her through the weekend...

AM SNACK: 3:15 am, iced green tea, granola bar, 575

BREAKFAST: 7:15am,grape/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: noon, chicken, ground lamb thing, falafel, 2 stuffed grape leaves, salad with olives, hummus, +/-750 cal
Was very hungry as I skipped breakfast 2 due to the unearned AM snack. Work lunch provided as a 'thank you' for a team I was on, on a big project. Would look bad if I didn't participate. Avoided the rice and the pita, and after one full plate, avoided eating a second plate. The hot sauce on the salad actually helped, he he. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but making it spicy made it easier to stop.

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shiritaki noodle stir fry with shrimp, shitakes and oyster sauce, 350 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, double fritos & cheetos, 600 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 1975

SLEPT: 9:30pm-4am, 6.5 hr
Woke up hungry, so I guess the chip binge didn't totally destroy me -- it was measured, after all. Regardless, I leveraged that guilt into my morning weights, increased the reps by 1, felt good and right, and hopefully I'l feel it tomorrow morning. Calculating my day's eating after packing my food for the day, I discovered if I was going to fit into the new budget, the thing I'd have to cut is….the chips I eat with my Subway sandwich on Thursdays. Damn, chips, you be a problem. You sit down before I smack you.

Postmortem: I did it! I resisted the chips and came in slightly under budget! Woooo!

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 

BREAKFAST: 7:15am,grape/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415

LUNCH: 12:30pm, chicken sausage, sofrito black beans roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 665 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, diet coke, 435

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BIKE CREDIT: 535 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: Ugh.

SLEPT: 10:15pm-3am, 4.75 hr
Over 50 degrees at 3am, had to take advantage after the freezeout on Wednesday. Measured out a very small bump of caffeine on my new microscale, the dose was pretty good.

Between lack of sleep and free and flowing food at work, this was not a good day. The weekend started early, so to speak.

AM SNACK: 3:15 am, granola bar, iced green tea, 100mg caffeine, 575 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am,grape/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH 1: 11:30am, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, 510 cal

LUNCH 2: 1pm, work potluck, including turkey, sides, desserts, +/- 1000 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, 2 slices of streetza, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

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WEEKEND REPORT

Starting to suspect I'll be gaining weight this month. Hit the food hard starting on Friday and didn't let up until Sunday night, ugg. No riding, as the weather stayed stubbornly in the 20s. Let's hope for a better week next week.

How I'm gonna do it

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then what's YOUR deal, lady?

Last week I wrung my hands and ground my teeth a little about gaining a pound, after more than a year of steady losses. I now know better than get into a tizzy and a self-defeating cycle of doubt and indulgences to make myself feel better, so I did what I did about a year and half ago when I started this blog -- I went to visit the nutritionist.

I'm generally pro-science and anti-mumbojumbo, but I'm educated enough to know what, "there are lies, damn lies and statistics" means. Nutrition is considered a relatively young science, and whenever a study comes out that reports on the slight health effect of some component of food, all of a sudden eggs go from evil to good, vitamin E13 goes from unknown to the supplement everyone must gobble, and a new cycle of people offering the solution to all your problems based on this slim study gets refreshed.

PPT humor

When I visited the nutritionist in June '12 for a consultation, the main thing that made me decide that I would not consult her regularly was the sample food plan she offered. Reduced fat foods? Egg white scramble? Salmon? More than half the foods either made me gag or want to drive a nail into my ear and end the horribleness. However, there was some things in that brief, 30 minute meeting that guided me for the last 18 months.

Based on my age, gender, height and frame, she recommended a calorie budget of 2,200-2350 a day. The FDA uselessly recommends 2000 calories a day for all people, and while I would have eventually come to her recommendation, it was comforting to to be told that this was what it would take for me to lose weight. I remember her stifling a laugh when I told her I didn't want to lose too much weight too fast so it could be sustainable, but looking back and to give her credit, I think she laughed only because she rarely heard that from a client, and wished she heard it more.  She thought I was protein deficient and ate too many carbs, which I thought was interesting and was worth exploring (looking back, she was right.) She felt I shouldn't really worry about fat outside of keeping to a calorie budget, because if I balance my protein to carbs, fat will take care of itself. (Funny, as she also recommends low-fat reduced foods, shudder...) She also told me to increase the fruit & veg and decrease the sweets and refined carbs, but I kinda already knew that.

I'll just eat 44 VitaCakes a day, and I'll be all good. They're all natural, after all!

So my questions for her this time was basically: should I be worried about the 1 pound gain? What would be a reasonable weight-loss goal, as getting to 168 for a BMI of "normal" doesn't seem reasonable. She recommended a goal of 180, with the idea of taking a little longer to get there. (It took 18 months to lose about 40 lbs, perhaps the next 12 will take 12 months. And that's fine.

She now recommends 2000-2200 calories a week, down from the initial 2200-2350. Now that I'm literally pushing less weight around when I walk, bike, sleep and sit, it follows that I need fewer calories to maintain a steady weight. A while ago, I reprogrammed my cyclometer's calorimeter to reflect a 30 lbs weight loss, and damn if the same long rides were coming out with lighter numbers of calories burned.

So how the hell am I gonna cut 200-350 calories out of my daily budget? Looking back, the first few months of keeping to budget was difficult, but with occasional exceptions, I've been pretty full and satisfied on 2200-2350. I didn't have to look at my food diaries to figure out exactly the only thing I could cut out simply and directly to minimize change to my diet, it was obvious. The evening snack of Frito's and Cheetos has to go.

I'm hanging up my gun belts.

I have a life-long relationship with Frito's, and my 4 year old daughter loves them, too. But, I'm an adult, maybe its time to say goodbye to childish things. Plus, I can shift them into the two weekend days and make a "salad" of Frito's, Cheetos and peanut M&Ms. Sounds delicious/disgusting (delusting? disgicious?) but thinking about it clearly, it'll actually lower the glycemic index of some of those thoughtless snacking ruts I get into on the weekends.

The final thought the nutritionist left me was a concern over my exercise regime. I see myself determinedly continuing and increasing in strength for my 2x a week weight lifts, but my weekly early morning 30 miles and my bimonthly long rides will probably go by the way side when the temps go below 40.  Years ago when I started riding, I thought I'd use a resistance trainer to ride through the winter. Basically it clamps to your rear wheel and turns your bike into a stationary bike. I used it part of one season, but it was too boring to get in to. I also had a heart rate monitor that I briefly used, but I found it encouraged me to ride harder than I liked....

I think for Hanukkah I'm going to treat myself to a new heart rate monitor and a set of rollers. Unlike a resistance trainer, on rollers you ride freely, unclamped, and you need to use the same sense of balance, core strength and related musculature to stay upright and a straight line. Not staying on a straight line on rollers in your living room means leaving burnt rubber on the carpet and going crashing into the TV, he he.

So that's that. Reduce calories, set a new goal, implement some indoor bike cardio to make up for less rides, accept a Frito-less week. Two weeks to weigh in, maybe I'll see a stabilization or -gasp- claw that pound back offa me?
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It's juice....for yo noni.

Last week's entry got 200% more hits than the week before in the first hour it was posted, I assume because I sarcastically loaded it with terms related to "losing weight," "easily." I got the rare comment on it from a stranger, asking if my plan worked for me because he'd like to try it. My first thought was, wow, did this idjit  actually read my post? Then I noticed his signature was "Mangosteen Juice", and linked to a European juice company that sold such wonderful things like "Noni Juice" for women and extracts and elixirs that made specific health problems, despite all being made from various fruit juices...that have been cooked, processed, homogenized, bottled and put on a shelf for months (if not years) at a time. The beast must be fed. Do you want to be chow for the weight-loss industry?

If you want to embrace the juice, screw any bottled juice, whether its Noni or Blueprint. Buy a proper masticating juicer and invest in some damn produce. Next week, my experience with juicing this past year and why Blueprint and all bottled juices are a rip off of ridunkulous proportions.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2075

No time to lift weights or do a proper ride this week, but it's all good because I was really busy with life, work and family, not slacking. Aiming to ride on the weekend, and resume lifting once the early morning knishing steps back a little.

Fell off on Friday due to lack of sleep and opportunity, so it's not included in this week's average -- this was the first week on a reduced budget, so I think I should be gentle to myself. That's not to say I hope to get enough sleep to allow better control over those slip ups next week....

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MONDAY COUNT: 1940

SLEPT: 8pm-4am, 8 hr
Got between 7-8 hours of sleep both Friday and Saturday nights, feeling pretty good. Enjoying the butternut squash soup with it's chickenstocky goodness, despite the relative high calorie content of a pint of soup. Hake loins came out unusually good, made the foil envelope bigger which made a bigger, hotter pocket of steam, and on top of the butter and salt, I had red wine on hand which I spiked with the umami goodness of some Worcestershire sauce.

First official day of no evening snack, so I was careful to serve myself foods I like, prepared in a slightly novel, improved way. Might have to focus on that  to get me over this hump. Also helped that I got to bed early to avoid any pangs.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, butternut squash soup, health salad, 770

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, hake loins, asparagus, kimchi, 400 cal
Kimchi kicked this meal up a notch. Also used a little Worcestershire on the asparagus, definitely an improvement.

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2065

SLEPT: 7:45pm - 3:30am, 7.75
Good sleep, woke up early to bake knishes. Glad I tasted 2, as a batch came out too dark on the bottom but upon taste, it was just deeply browned, not burnt. Also, I thought the raw mix was too salty but after sitting for a few days and expanding in the baking process, the salt level went from the edge of too salty right into a flavorful sweet spot. Uh, salty spot. Well worth the 50 calories for the peace of mind.

AM SNACK: 3:45 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

AM SNACK: 5:30am, 2 mini potato knishes, +/-50 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm,chicken meatballs, string beans, jodpur lentils, 2 pickles, 600 cal
Pickles made the meal pop, made it less samey. Salty fermented goodness.

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken breast, brussel sprouts, 540 cal
Kicked the brussels up a notch with some Worcestershire. 

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2075

SLEPT: 8:30pm-3am, 6.5 hours
Not quite enough sleep but acceptable. Woke up hungry, undoubtedly due to my new Fritoless existence. Unlike a year and a half ago, I know a) this discomfort will fade in a few weeks, and b) Fritos are on the menu for the weekend that starts Friday night. That knowledge really helps in these moments.

Not a usual day, as I didn't go to work -- I baked in the morning, vended knishes at the WTC ribbon cutting through noon, went home for lunch, then to Costco for more knish supplies. Got home by 5 to eat salad (ate my momma salad at Costco!) but found myself hungry and running out of steam, and I still had to go back out and do some chores. So I wolfed down 2 bowls of Fritos and Cheetos, it powered me up and I was able to focus until I got home at 8. At 8, though, I found I just wasn't hungry for the brisket I had in the oven for the last 6 hours, so I just went to bed, feeling happy that I was gong to stay in budget without too much craziness. 

AM SNACK: 3:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

AM SNACK: 5:15am, 1 mini knish, +/- 25 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 8:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310

PM SNACK:  noon, cornbread, +/- 100 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on wholewheat, pickle, 480 cal cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, small portion of Fritos, 250 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

SNINNER: 5:15, bowl of fritos, bowl of cheetos, +/- 600 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2220

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 3:30am, 7 hours
Woke up hungry but happy. Knish duties in the morning, chores and an early morning out.

AM SNACK: 3:45 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, brisket with jus, roasted brussel sprouts, 585 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, chips, diet coke, 760
BBQ potato chips taste weirdly sweet. Why did I think it would be more smokey and spicy? These are candied. Yuck.
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FRIDAY COUNT: x

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 4am, 5.5 hours
Alarm set for 5:30am, but woke up on my own. Probably contributed to my lack of control when the office wheeled out free pizza for everyone and my hunger overcame my rational thought, despite having just eaten lunch. It's Friday, I did ok considering my new budget, I'll get back to it Monday...

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 410 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, brisket with jus, roasted broccoli, 575 cal

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, 5 slices of pizza

DINNER: 7pm, half an order of onion rings, 2 gin & tonics
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WEEKEND REPORT

Busy with knishes Saturday, over ate. Sunday morning took myself out for a 60 mile ride after being cooped up all week, felt good by my knee had weird pain that kept the ride slow. Made baked potatoes for dinner Sunday night, reminded me of the many bad meals my mom made for me, but also reminded me of the love and hope for my health in those meals, too. Weird.

How did I do it?

Fiddy Cent to star in the feature length Tyrone Bigguns movie!!

"How did you lose the weight?" I've heard this question a few times in the past few months. That is the wrong question. Within that question lies the path to gaining it all back and then some. The reason the weight-loss industry earns billions of dollars year after year after year is not because the people who buy into it lose weight, even though they do. They earn billions, rather than mere millions,  because the the customers/victims of the weight loss industry are put on a perpetual cycle of losing and gaining weight.

We need a new word, because "diet" ain't cutting it. On one hand, a diet is simply your way of eating. On the other hand, the word "diet" has come to mean a temporary proscribed way of eating and living to achieve a weight loss goal. When you're on the "diet", you lose weight. When you go back to your original diet after you meet your goal, you eventually balloon back to where you were, but probably heavier due to the tole of the whole process. This is insane. All "diets" are insane by design. Any "diet" that is not intended to be used as a model for eating and living until the day you die is a false diet, and hence gets the quotations.

"How did you lose the weight?" is wrong. "How are you losing weight/maintaining your weight loss?" is what we should be asking. I blame capitalism and the consumer culture of instant gratification.

I find most cooking shows, particularly competitions, dull and shrill, especially when they assume their audiences can't cook and have unsophisticated, childlike tastes. Still, it caught my ear when this bona-fide competition-winning media chef announced a new show, "Cook Your Ass Off". He himself lost around 50 lbs, and is now going to act within the framework of the same media that wants nothing more than you to endlessly consume and feed your desires....to be skinny?

Close buddies to the weight loss industry is the fitness industry. A while ago I wrote about the book "the 4 Hour Body" in which this guy wrote about you can get totally ripped by working out just 4 hours a week. In reality it was a book about starving yourself 6 days a week, then gorging yourself one day a week -- you didn't even really need to work out those 4 hours. Does it work? Probably. Can you do that for the rest of your life? I guess so, if you hate yourself and you hate all the people who you can potentially bond with over food. Y'know, like your family.

Over the past year, once I started showing a weight loss, I've been asked on occasion how I did it, and I'm usually finding myself at a loss for an answer. My fall-back answer is "read the blog".  A friend's husband keeps a weekly blog about an American President who died well over a hundred years ago -- what his bones are doing week to week nowadays I dunno, but several of his readers and friends have encouraged him to turn his writings into a book. Suffice to say, no one has suggested I turn this blog into a book, though Gawd knows there is a hell of a lot more money in "diet" books than a tome about a long dead, non-big-5 head of state.

Why can't I develop a million-selling diet "blook" from my weight loss success? Because I don't have an easy, pithy slogan that can answer a complex question. (Well, not honestly, anyway.) No one wants to hear that it's going to be slow, it's going to be hard and it's going to be forever. I make a reasonable living in a non-food-related industry, and have no urgent need to compel anyone to spend one more damn penny on anything that perpetuates the cycle of "diets". If you want to spend money to lose weight, this is my hard-earned advice:

1. Spend more money on good homecooked food by spending less in restaurants.
2. Spend a little on basic work out equipment like a set of weights and a weight bench, or a bicycle, and don't even bother with a gym. Use your weights and bike regularly.
3. If your not happy with how you eat, don't look to the weight loss industry. Eat more vegetables, whole fruit and less sugar and grains.
4. Finding you can't eat right, even though you know what right is? Go see a shrink who deals with eating issues. If you don't have insurance, go to an Over Eaters Anonymous meeting, as at it's core it's just free group therapy which you pay for by wading through some people who don't understand that religion and God-worshipping doesn't always go hand in hand with spirituality. 

It ain't easy, it can't be made into a zippy catchphrase, and to be honest, it's a plan cut to my size and specifications; you need to explore and figure out your own roadmap. Yes, you can figure out your own roadmap by trying others on for size, but don't be a zealot and don't be a dupe -- take what works, leave the rest behind.

Route 64's Food Roadmap....to Constipation Alley!

Two articles struck me this past week, as my head has been churning with the thoughts that came from discovering I gained a pound last month. They both suggested that people, taken as a whole, are stupid and insane. One was a bit about research that indicates the majority of American seek out food in grocery stores labelled "All Natural", despite the fact that the label is absolutely meaningless and not regulated. Arsenic and lead are all natural, as is high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oil and all the salt in the Dead Sea.

The other article was from a restaurant industry journal, which delivered the latest report in dining trends. There is a disturbing trend that people who are going to eat out less next year because....they want to eat healthier. This is the first time health became more of a concern than money.

Does this mean people actually value their health more than just having food as cheap as possible? Will restaurants have to put more of an effort (and more budget into) buying better ingredients, cooked better and less processed? Let's not go crazy, as I suspect the restaurant industry is targeting a demographic whose idea of "healthier" is extra french fries, because potato is a vegetable. More likely, people will be "healthier" by eating out less and then consuming more frozen, microwaveable prepared meals from the freezer section. Give me convenience or give me death. Oh heck, just gimme both.

I guess I'm pessimistic because as the survey suggests, a key to being healthier is eating in restaurants less, but it is reports like this that help the industry sharpen it's tallons to redirect people's desire to be healthy....right back into restaurants. After all, any and all McDonalds food is "part of a well-balanced diet." What, exactly, is a well-balanced diet? Well, it's all-natural, of course. And according to McDonalds itself, probably excludes french fries and sugared soda.

Balancing act.

The implications of last month's gained pound is rattling around in my head -- next week I'm visiting the nutritionist I consulted before starting this blog for a check in to gauge her opinion.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2438

From the average, clearly I busted my budget, but looking at the reasons why, I'm happy to say there wasn't a binge.

• Monday: Sick family members necessitated quick, convenient food. Not common.
• Tuesday: An portion controlled extra evening snack to meet a real physical hunger.
• Friday: Home cooked meal, had a special guest over, ice cream and chocolate syrup was a nice way to end the week with friends and family around me, and c'mon, it was only 130 cal over budget.

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MONDAY COUNT:2785 

SLEPT: 9:30pm-4am, 6.5hr
Got a good lift in in the morning. Did an extended commute to work, oy, too cold. Holy crap, I ran out of matzoh ball soup! How did that happen? Must make soup this week.... A lot going on, must focus...came home to a sick house, just didn't have the time or focus to cook, so I baked off some frozen pizzas and added the asparagus as an afterthought, realizing the hot oven and time worked just as well for it. Right before bed, realized I hadn't stopped moving since I left work, and treated myself to some corn chips. Didn't need them, busted the budget, but it was NOT a binge and it felt right.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken sausage, madras lentils, steamed string beans, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, French bread pizzas, roasted asparagus, 950 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, Fritos, 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2555

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 7 hours
The main task of the morning was making Butternut Squash soup, with homemade chicken stock. Surprised to find the calorie count is almost twice the matzoh ball soup. I didn't use any dairy or cream, and carefully measured the coconut oil I used to soften the onion, but unlike the previous soup, the main component is the vegetable (.47c/g), rather than just stock (something like .1 c/g) Oh well, it's still a) full o' vegetable and b) relatively low calorie.

Tired in the evening, busted out the extra cheetos after having fritos with dinner in hope of spendng less time eating to get to sleep earlier. Didn't work that way, just too much goin' on. Funny, had to check myself, was honestly hungry when I ate the extra cheetos, it was not a binge....though the thought of wolfing down a bowl of peanut M&Ms did flash through my mind.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, whole fage with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, butternut squash soup, health salad, 770 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, hake loin, roasted brussel sprouts, fritos, 715

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, cheetos, 300 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 585
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2000 

SLEPT: 9pm-3am, 6hr
Not as much sleep as I would have liked, but there are only so many early-morning ride days with temps in the mid 40s before winter shuts the gate. Breakfast was delayed due to sitting in a DOH office waiting to get a permit for an event next week (can't really write about it yet, I signed a contract that makes me mum without explicit permission.)

AM SNACK: 3:15 am, granola bar, iced green tea, 575 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, sofrito black beans, roasted brussel sprouts, 510 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, cheetos, 300 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm, stirfry with shirataki noodles, shrimp, shitaki mushrooms, oyster sauce, 325 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2320

SLEPT: 9:15pm-3:45am, 6.5 hours
Woke up 15 min early on my own, but looking forward to hitting the weights and getting chores done. That does sound a little nutty, doesn't it? Went out to a midtown businessman pub with a friend I don't see nearly often enough for dinner, indulged a bit with her -- we used to go buck-wild eating together years ago, so I didn't feel bad about greatly enjoying the meal. I ate relatively reasonable the rest of the day, and had to cycle to and from Costco with 120 lbs of shopping, so the sugar came in handy.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sauteed chicken breast, quinoa, roasted brussels, 550 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 6pm, French onion soup, moules frites, brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce, +/- 1000 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2630

SLEPT: 10pm-3am, 5 hours
Not enough sleep, but could not be helped. Had to get up to do chores and chop 40 lbs of onions -- if I fall behind on knish production at this point, it'll domino down the schedule.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1:15 pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, shrimp summer roll, +/- 150 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 6pm, scallops, butternutsquash soup, knishm broccoli, ice cream and chocolate syrup, +/- 1000 cal
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WEEKEND REPORT
Saturday was a gut-buster, starting with breakfast at McDonalds, going through cookies, pizza, a hot dog and more, though I didn't have much dinner, just wasn't hungry oddly enough. Woke up at 3 on Sunday after 7 hours of sleep, got in a caffienated 45 mile ride that did my head good. Spent the day making a kick-ass cake for my son, whose birthday we celebrated in the afternoon. Eating wasn't great, but it didn't feel compulsive -- between ride, prep and party, I was just too busy to really slam too much food down. Perhaps this suggests a way forward? Maybe I should look into a scheduled, structured repeating activity for me and one or two of my kids to participate in and keep my face out of the feed trough?

Weigh In

191.6-->191.2-->192.4

Never been happier to gain weight.Well, not "happy" in that gaining weight is a goal, but content in the knowledge that nothing is wrong because of this development. The supporting evidence:

• Friends who I only see every few months have remarked on my shrinking physique and new muscularity.
• In the past week, I just started using the second loop of my new 3 month-old belt. (Sure part of it is the leather stretched, but it's not all that.)
• The sweet Ben Sherman shirt I bought 6 months ago that didn't fit at all, I tried it on this morning as I do at every weigh in and it almost fits -- I probably could wear it out without looking silly, but will give it a few more months.
• Feel good, weight lifting increasing in intensity, food is still on track and improving.

I do have fat on my frame, I'm hardly ripped, but the bulges and rolls are actually starting to look smaller to me, something that I really haven't been able to see until now -- ironically, on the eve of me gaining weight. I'm fairly confident in saying I'm probably gaining more muscle weight than the fat weight I'm losing.

Regardless of mental gymnastics, there's room for improvement. As we all move into the winter months where historically I've gained weight, my cycling will either go into only short weekly rides or stop all together. Big, heavy, starchy winter foods will become more prevalent. Short days, less time outside. Points to focus on:

• Get a better grip on weekend eating.
• Minimize weekday binges by easing up on the reigns when necessary.
• Further increase the length and intensity of weight lifting sessions.
• Vary weekday lunches with equally caloric menu (550-700cal)
• Cook more big dishes to portion out over weeks (i.e. sofrito black beans, soup, etc.)

Just bagged up two trash bags full of clothes that don't fit me anymore and threw them in storage. Just received a new maroon flight jacket (size medium, replacing the old XL) and put three new pairs of (34 waist) pants to the tailor for hemming. Good thing I don't think I'll need a suit until Spring, because all my current suits are David Byrning it....

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After school on Thursday, my daughter went trick-or-treating with her baby brother and the baby sitter. I guess they trekked the neighborhood with classmates, hitting up every storefront, restaurant and bodega between the East Village and the Lower East Side. When I got home, I was kinda surprised/horrified to find a gallon-sized zip lock bag filled to the brim with lollipops, chocolate bars, gum, sucking candies, licorice and more. What do I do now? I'd like to throw it all away, but I know that would scar her for life. If I let her just have a go at it in the morning, she'll either get sick or worse, she won't get sick. Will I have to police this bag day by day until it's gone? How much can I throw away (in my MOUF) without her noticing?

Damn it, I thought, I'm a parent now.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2347

Not a great eating week, surprised the average stayed in budget.

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MONDAY COUNT:2240

SLEPT: 8:30pm-6am, 7.5 hours (I was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night for, ummm, GI reasons, but I pushed my alarm back and skipped weights -- thank goodness, I woke up with enough pep to start off a good day.)
Despite not working out and waking up late, felt good when I got up, surprisingly a little sore from the Tour de Bronx. Was only 50 miles all-in with only small, short sharp hills, but pushing an 80lb bike with another 60lbs of daughter and coats and toys makes it a bit more exercisey!

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, whole fage with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel, matzoh ball soup, health salad, pickle, 600

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, mahi mahi, roasted asparagus, kimchi, Frito's, 870cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2090

SLEPT: 9:15pm-4am, 6.75hr
Good eating day, weights in the morning. Was gonna have Frito's, but it got too late and it was more important to get to bed for riding the next day.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken sausage, jodpur lentils, roasted brussel sprouts, 680 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, grilled pork tenderloin, quinoa, brussel sprouts, 535 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 600 cal
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2350+

SLEPT: 8:15pm-3am, 6.75hr
Almost not enough sleep again, but slept deep and well. Cold is starting to effect my riding, but still highly enjoyed it. Felt light headed and wobbly on the way home, so stopped to eat pizza and sit a little rather than eat at home. It really felt like a bonk, so maybe I didn't eat enough? Though I "binged" in the evening and went off the reservation, it was a calm, controlled, not-so-bad binge that hopefully points to the future. I was still feeling a little off, and the evening food really helped. (I also suspect the white flour of the pizza was a trigger.)

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea, granola bar, 575 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, grilled pork tenderloin, quinoa, brussel sprouts, two pickles, 555 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, 3 slices of pizza, +/- 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, Frito's, 300 cal

BINGE: 9:15pm, peanut butter with chocolate syrup, +/-500 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2635

SLEPT: 9:45pm-4:45am, 7hr
Skipped weight lifting, as I still felt a little sore from the session on Tuesday, I ran out of energy last night and waned to both get a half decent amount of sleep and get stuff done in the morning. Out to dinner with the wifey, avoided booze and sweets but the bread basket probably made this a hi-calorie meal. 

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, madras dal, broccoli, pickles, 760 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 8pm, small pizza, plate of salumni, 2 slices of bread with olive oil, water, +/- 1000 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2420

SLEPT: 10pm - 3am, 5 hours
Woke up on my own, just happy to get a jump on stuff I needed to do and also prep to get up tomorrow at 2am to get maybe the last big ride of the year, as weather reports say it's gonna be sunny and in the 60s tomorrow. 

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 6:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 410

AM SNACK: 11:15am, a handful of halloween candy, +/-200 cal
Damn it, the office is flooded with people who brought in their kid's candy. Everyone around me munching on candy all damn day. Most of them are hung over, too.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, steamed string beans, kimchi, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal
There was a poppa salad, but on the first bite, I detected a slight off flavor that indicated that the last salad of the week that was made on Saturday didn't quite make it.

PM SNACK: 5pm, different meats on sticks, salsa, guac, tortilla chips, +/-200 cal

DINNER: 6pm, various Chinese dumplings, ice cream, +/-1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, Fritos, 300 cal
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WEEKEND REPORT
Saturday was spent on the bike, up at 2am and at my parent's gravesite by 8:30am, then home by 3 for a nap before dinner, a little under 100 miles in glorious Fall weather and colorful leaves. Ate a lot, but the 2000 calorie burn and goose to my metabolic rate probably offset a lot of harm. Sunday was a bit of a gorging day, however. Got good time in with my family, but so much time was centered around eating.