Weigh In: Fatty Boom Boom edition

192-->190.4-->194.6

Well, that's a drag. Lot of 4 day weeks this past month, between a holiday and a food-heavy extended weekend in Montreal. I really thought summer would see me weight trend down, but due to my increase in calories, should I really be surprised I'm bouncing around the low 190s instead?

When dealing with variations this relatively small, over month-long periods, we could just be talking about statistical margin of error, influenced by hydration and output. Still, I feel a rededication coming to getting my calories back to 2200-2300 during the week...

Gawd knows I'm not a teenage girl, where the onslaught of media images commanding me to be a certain kind of sexy drives vulnerable people crazy. I fear for my daughter. But man, just glancing at so-called "Men's" magazines in passing at a newsstand or at the playroom, they're just as terrible as the lady-mags. All the guys are ripped, all the content is either about getting ripped, sex, clothes or things tangential to those things. Bleah. Gotta do some research, do an entry about body image that could serve both me and my 5 year old girl. If I start getting down in the dumps about a silly 4lb fluctuation this month, that could rise to crazytown levels if I don't check myself.

West of Doucheville, just a freeway exit away from Donttazemebro City

I can't do any more physical activity than I'm doing -- one weight lift and 100-200 miles per week on the bike is enough, it fits my schedule and it makes me happy. If I'm going to push the scale's needle below 190 and keep it there, I have to try to get to 2300 calories during the week again, and be a little easy on Fridays and let 'r rip on weekends enough to keep me satisfied. Some strategy for next month:

• Cut out Cheetos and Fritos for the time being.
• If I eat enough to meet the calorie budget, no snacks, even if it means going to sleep hungry.
• Poppa salads going bad before the end of the week. Package cut components separately and mix together during daily food prep. Whatever element goes bad first won't spoil the whole thing.
• Make one of the two weekend days "conservative", keeping the quantity of calories reasonable without counting.

Bottom line: despite this fermenting brew of self-doubting and slight disappointment at the weigh in, I'm hopeful. I'm still strong, healthy, I'm present for my kids and my kids are great. Refocus, kick ass a little harder, do the work, do the research and answer the questions, enjoy the ride, move on. Everyday is a winding road. I want know what love is, I want you to show me. We are the world, we are the children.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2788

I can do better. I'll do better.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2725

SLEPT: 6pm-10:15pm, 12:15am-5:30am, 9.5 hrs
Totally forgot the poppa salad today, damn, and it was freshly made in the morning. Felt a sugar craving after dinner, was able to keep it calm with a kind bar.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel and hummus, chicken soup, health salad, pickles, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, Grazebox seed mix , 290 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, broiled flounder, roasted asparagus, Fritos, 665 cal


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal


EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, homemade popcorn, +/- 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2920

SLEPT: 9pm - 4am, 7 hrs
Decent weight lift in the morning, a little too easy going but hey, it's summer.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, mushroom masala, steamed string beans, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45 pm, momma salad, Grazebox toasted corn mix , 260 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, grilled chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, fritos, poppa salad with ranch dressing, 900 cal

MISC SNACKS: 6:30-8pm, a few mouthfuls of tortellini, small bowl of cheetos/fritos, kind bar, +/- 500 cal
Really hungry, did some random grazing, starting with finishing my kid's meals. This was different, as I didn't lose control, and avoided any sweets. This feels new.

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2460

SLEPT: 8:45pm - 2:30am, 5.75 hrs
Good eating day, putting myself to bed early circumvented the need for additional snacking.

AM SNACK: 2:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

AM SNACK: 7:45am, veggie straws, 130 cal

While I laid on the couch, my youngest child decided instead of eating his veggie straw snack, he poured it into a bowl then came up to me and pretty much force-fed me the whole bag, one by one. At first I resisted, but he kept on saying, "Mmmm? MmmmmmMMMMmmm?" and when the first one went in and crunched, he lit up like he just discovered a gold nugget in a river bed, and quickly repeated the act until the bag was gone. Moments later, he was back with another bag, but I had to lay down the law.

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, grilled chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 685 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, Grazebox pretzels and peanut butter, 240 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with ranch dressing, 170 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 390 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shiritaki stir fry with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms, oyster sauce, 365 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 675 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 2395

SLEPT: 9:30pm-3am, 5.5 hr
Avoided post-dinner ice cream as I was expecting to go to a drinks thing after, but didn't feel great and went home and got to bed early.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, granola bar, 150 mg caffeine, iced green tea, 350 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, granola bar, 350 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, vegetarian meatballs, roasted broccoli, black beans, pickles, 590 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma salad, Grazebox rice crackerz, 210 cal

DINNER: 6pm, vegetarian dim sum, +/- 900 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 300 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 3440

SLEPT: 8:30pm-3am, 6.5 hr
Bit of a stressy day, took it out a little on a short 15 mile ride in the early evening, really helped.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 7:30am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickles, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, work ice cream, +/- 750 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, hotdog, fries, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizza, 410 cal

Ethiopian Cuisine: Rewarding for those not easily squicked-out.

As a grown man, I think one of my first true love affairs with a cuisine was with Ethiopian. I don't remember the first time I tried it, but it was probably a few years after moving back to NYC from college. Up to that point, the most adventurous I've gotten was with the discovery of different styles of pizza and ice cream. I went to dinner with a college friend who to this day is leagues more sophisticated and worldly than I, and it shook my food-world off it's axis forever. It was like food beamed down from another planet.

By the mid 90s, I was intimate with Indian food from living abroad in England for a year, an old hand at Chinese, Pad Thai was a new thing but not too far removed from lo mien. A few dark years as a vegan helped me open my palate slightly more. African food, though?

Three things about the Ethiopian made it unique in my culinary experience up to that point:

1. Method of eating: Most everything is served in little piles on a large sheet of thin spongy injera bread, made primarily with a fermented grain called teff. Tear off a piece, scoop it up, pop in mouth. No utensils, just hands, bread, and maybe a wet wipe towards the end of the evening. The bread itself was very strong tasting, a bit like sour rye, and I loved it from first bite.
2. Flavor profiles: Like Indian and other hot-climate cuisines, there are some strong-ass spices in the mix, and the spice mix in Ethiopian was like Indian curry....if India was Mars. Berbere is a spice mix with chile, fenugreek, basil, garlic, ginger and some things I wouldn't recognize or try to spell. What does it taste like? Well, it varies from spot to spot, but over all it tastes like...Ethiopian food. And like any flavor profile that has had 1000s of years to evolve in a relatively poor place, it is more bullet proof than what any food scientist at a corporation could invent. 
3. Mouth feel: Most of the foods in this cuisine are long-cooked stew-like pastes of a variety of consistencies, from firm glue to soupy starch fluid. The bread itself is spongy and soft. With a few exceptions, the vegetables are cooked to soft. I know writing this it sounds disgusting, but it is absolutely wonderful, because in the softness there is the texture of firmer lentils, chickpea balls, the remaining structure of the vegetables. Meats, too, if you're into goat or chicken.

Stuffing a handful o injera-wraped mush in his mouth would be much more sensual. Well, for me, anyway.

Real talk: back in the late 90s and early Aughts when I was Internet dating, the goal was usually to take the near-stranger lady out to dinner, as I've never been a fan of alcohol. I try not to hew too closely to gender convention, but I usually chose where we were to have dinner, and I usually paid, too.  At a date a week or so, my go-to was Ethiopian food because:

• If a lady was squicked out by eating with hands, she wasn't for me.
• If a lady was squicked out by oddly spiced but delicious food, she wasn't for me.
• If a lady was squicked out by gloriously weirdly soft but interestingly textured food, she wasn't for me.
• If a lady tried to use the "but I'm a vegetarian" or "but I'm a vegan" line to justify a boring palate, it won't work.
• It was cheap, but not too cheap, and the spots were usually relatively mellow, conducive to conversation.
• Ethiopian beer is nice and light naturally.

On an early date with a woman who I ended up dating and then being good friends with for decades, she totally dug the food but oddly resisted the injera: it was Passover, and she didn't want any leavened breads in her system. She was/is a gal of strange juxtapositions, and I was pretty much smitten from that moment on. And it's not for nuthin' that Ethiopian became one of the favorite foods of the (sadly vegetarian) woman I married.

Don't be sad, Sad Vegetarian -- eat some Ethiopian!

What I knew most about Ethiopia was that many people there were starving from a lack of food -- I think a few years into my affair with Ethiopian cuisine, I took my parents to an Ethiopian restaurant. When I suggested it, my mom said something like, "Ethiopian food, whats that, where you go to eat and you come back hungrier?" Mom jokes, like Dad jokes but less sensitive.

When I took a good friend from England, who is the sweetest gal you'll ever meet but not the most adventurous when it comes to putting things in her mouth, she turned several shades of green and watched in disbelief while I ate everything placed in front of us. For years, she referred to it as the night I ate a big plate of "baby sick". On a recent exploratory post of Facebook, this theme reemerged quickly, but the injera seemed to rise to the top...

Identities hidden to protect the suspicious.

In 2014, Ethiopian food is more common in NYC, and a little bit more expensive, but still mostly produced by Ethiopian expats in small-scale independent restaurants, though I wouldn't be surprised if I were to see a "Chipotle of Ethiopian" concept open up in the next decade. In the years since discovering Ethiopian food, I've gone to culinary school, cooked and ate foods even more exotic than miser wat or timtim fit fit. But like with Indian or Chinese food, I don't really bother trying to make it at home -- it's deceptively complicated to make, heavily dependent on cultural-specific technique, equipment and the freshest of particular indigenous ingredients not available at the corner grocery.

Ethiopia ain't a wealthy country, without a big restaurant culture -- most agriculture is subsistence, meaning a large population of people there spend their time growing the food  so they can cook it themselves. That directness definitely has an influence on what this food says to me -- it's clear and direct. And traditionally you wash your hands before you sit to eat, and you use only your right hand on the food. I don't need to explain that one, do I?

I suspect my kids will be squicked out by Ethiopian at least until they're older teens, but that's ok, more injera for me. If you want to separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls, Ethiopian can be your divining ride. It hasn't let me down yet.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2807

Monday was a day on the Amtrak from Montreal, ate a good deal of overpriced dreck. 

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2,955

SLEPT: 12am - 5am, 5 hrs
Corn is in season. Technically a vegetable, but more like a starch, equivalent to the vegetableness of a damn potato.

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

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel and hummus, chicken soup, health salad, pickles, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45 pm, momma salad, Grazebox flavored cashews , 320cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Cod, roasted asparagus,  2 ears corn, cheetos, poppa salad with Ranch dressing, 1015 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, homemade popcorn, +/- 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2,405

SLEPT: 9:30pm-4:30am, 7 hr
Good eating day, kept the cravings in check. Helped that I was motivated to get to bed early to ride in the morning.

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, mushroom masala, steamed string beans, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix, 320 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with ranch dressing, 170 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shiritaki noodle stir fry with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, 365 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 600 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 3100

SLEPT: 9:15pm-3am, 5.75 hr
Excellent AM ride, despite getting rained on for a bit. Coincidence that the calorie number of the cyclometer near matches up with the calorie count of the 2 small granola bars that fueled the ride...

AM SNACK: 3:15am, granola bar, 150 mg caffeine, iced green tea, 300 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, granola bar, 300 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 710 cal

PM SNACK: 2;45pm, momma salad, Grazebox nuts n' pretzels, 260 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with ranch dressing, 170 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, tasting menu at Pig & Khao, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, corn chips and chocolate chips, +/- 300 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2770

SLEPT: 9pm-4:30am, 7.5 hr
Chill Friday.

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, roasted broccoli, pickles, 630 cal

PM SNACK: 2;45pm, momma salad, Grazebox rice crackers and mango chutney, 180 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, hotdog, fries, ice cream, +/- 800 cal

DINNER 2: 7pm, 2 slices streetza, +/- 500 cal

Big Food's Plan for Growth: Less of what you need, more of what you crave.

I saw a bit on the Daily Show this morning. Previously-eliminated communicable diseases are making a comeback because white upper-middle-class liberals are succumbing to the same anti-science paranoia that drives anti-government, pro-religion conservatives. Very purposefully, there was an interview with a life-style blogger with over 40,000 regular hits to her page who firmly said that even if all the scientific evidence proves that vaccines are safe and effective, there is still no way she'll believe it, no way no how and close the door behind you.

I'm still midway through the Salt Sugar Fat  book, but the amount of documented evidence that piles up on the following two points is startling.

1. Food is addictive when manipulated correctly. 
2. Big Food knows this and uses it for their own profit at the cost of our health, swapping words like "crave" for "addict". 

I previously thought that this was a bit nuts, but the evidence says otherwise. Personal experience of wrestling with the sugar monkey on my back is really beside the point; people who hold up personal anecdotes as evidence are idiots.

I'm wary of becoming the woman from the Daily Show interview, so I'm going to refrain from letting it build up into one long uber-rant about Salt Sugar Fat. However, there was one angle that cut to the core of last week's entry, of which ruminated on how the desire for profit tends to outweigh the desire for solutions in both the nutrition and fitness industries. After posting on Facebook, a good friend replied with another link.

Food companies frame obesity as an issue of the choices people are making rather than the choices they are being offered, said Ivy Ken, associate professor of sociology. The companies say the solution is for the public to buy their other products, which they have voluntarily agreed to provide in addition to their full-sugar, full-fat options.

When these food corporations create foundations and fund research to proudly, loudly and PR-office-maximized "partner" with legitimate pro-health, pro-public institutions, somehow the result is always to the benefit of the corporation's bottom line. To put it bluntly, the bottom line is to create revenue growth by ever-increasing the public's quantity of consumption.

The strategy has been very successful, Dr. Ken said. Some of the corporate partners' own analyses reveal that acknowledging obesity as a social problem and offering lower-calorie products as the solution has been very profitable. From 2006 to 2011, a set of companies that account for one-quarter of food sales in the U.S. increased their sales by $1.25 billion from lower-calorie products alone. It's important to note, Dr. Ken said, that sales of their higher-calorie products did not decline as a result. Rather, these sales also grew by $278 million in this period.

In Salt Sugar Fat, this is discussed in industry terms as "line extension":

When people clamor loudly enough for healthier products, enough so that they are willing to sacrifice some of the pleasure these products provided, companies produce a better-for-you formulation. Whether it's low-tar cigarettes, low-calorie beer, or lower-fat potato chips, these healthier versions are no threat to the mainline products. In fact, if done right, they can boost sales for the original full-calorie and full-fat versions by attracting new shoppers to the overall brand. The food managers working for Philip Morris put line extensions in motion throughout the grocery store.

Yeah, that Philip Morris, the tobacco king: they bought up General Mills and Kraft among other companies with tobacco money when the public finally turned on their main product, and brought their skills of managing addictive products to the food world. Line extension worked for cigarettes, why not for cookies? (Hello Oreo Double Triple stuffed and seasonal varieties...)

Menthol Lite Oreos up next.

Before the food industry figured this out, they had a phenomenal hit, then a phenomenal failure, with the now-derided "Snack Wells" brand of cookies, which touted low amounts of fat. However, they replaced the fat with sugar, which had it's own problems, and they tasted pretty bad to begin with. When no-one got skinny but everyone got fatter gorging on them, the brand died, along with all the investment of money and time in it. Now with line extensions, if an extension flops, the brand is still well and alive to live (and profit) another day.

One interesting line extension any dieter of the non-vegetable/organics variety will be familiar with is the "100 calorie pack".  In the early 2000s, sales of all cookies were slumping because shoppers were learning to avoid the cookie aisle all together, probably due to the demonization of "carbs" then like we demonize "gluten" now. Surveys found people were realizing they were compulsively eating the whole bag or package when they opened up some Oreos or potato chips.

And that's good for....who?

So to get people walking back down the cookie aisle, things like Oreos and other cookies were totally reformulated to bring a reasonable amount of food down to 100 calories, and sales shot up....for all Oreos, including the much-more-than-100 cal-per servings kind. Why? Because like alcohol, tobacco and cocaine, individual will-power is only so strong, and if your user figures out "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" is a good way to get unhooked, then you have to do anything in your power to get it back in-sight, in-mind, even if it means making a terrible-tasting less-bad-for-you tiny package to get them rehooked.

The real solution (other than stop-eating-crap all together) is the near-opposite of line extension: reducing the sugar, fat, salt and calories of the main line, and giving people no choice to a less healthy version. The ironic thing about this is Big Food doesn't want you to know if they do this. McDonald's has quietly changed the formulation of things like the amount of whole grain in the muffin of their McMuffins across their entire system -- you can not get a 100% white flour McMuffin at McDonald's anymore.

They've chosen not to advertise it because even the image of being healthier without a choice is a big turn off to consumers. It's the opposite of fun, it's McNanny, it's Bloomberg's very reasonable soda "ban". Why do they do it? Isn't it obvious? Two reasons.

In the near term, it's so they can get a mention on the positive side in little micro-blogs like these. In the long term, when the powers put in place to protect consumers come after Big Food like they did Big Tobacco, corporations like McDonald's will be spinning the whole grains in their McMuffins  like it somehow makes up for the marketing to kids, denial of addictive characteristics and the cost of health care directly attributed to their terrible products. It never will.
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Until this week, I was a Chipotle virgin. I don't have a lot of space in my calorie budget for fast food (oh excuse me, "fast casual food") but my friend MAP was horrified when I told her I never had it. After a long and arduous period of time, we finally got it together and ate burritos together. Two observations:

• Though it was remarkably good for food from a corporate chain, the burritos at Dos Toros,  a local 5-store mini-chain, are better. I rarely eat there, however, because the exact (assuredly high) calorie count is unknowable because the law says only chains with more than 12 locations must provide calorie counts...
• Holy calorie-moly! I ordered a plain-ass burrito, chicken, black beans, brown rice, guac, sauted red peppers and onions, mild salsa and shredded lettuce. I purposefully skipped sour cream, cheeses, soda, chips etc and it STILL came out to over 1000 calories. If they offered a half-burrito, I'd be totally all over this, but the accepted serving size is just way too big to make this more than a few-times-every-year kinda thing. (PS - guac was spot on, worth the extra 200 cal)

No, you either addicted, a total fat-ass, or both.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2890

Friday (and next Monday) not counted as I skipped off to the land of poutine, foi gras and foi gras poutine. Glad I got some riding and lifting in, as my exercise regime has been a bit spotty this month due to things outside of my control.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2510

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 5:30am, work nap 1-2:30pm,  10.5 hrs
Woke at 3 in hopes of riding after a long rideless weekend, rain sent me back to bed.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, tomato basil soup, health salad, pickles, 715 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45 pm, momma salad, Grazebox seed mix, 300cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, shiritaki noodles with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, poppa salad with Ranch dressing, 585 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, fritos, 300 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2785

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 5am, work nap 1:30-2pm, 7 hrs
Fit in a weight lift between kids and work, felt great. Before getting a handle on fitness, I'd feel bad about the sessions I'd miss -- now I feel great about the sessions I get. Then, the bad feelings would lead me to just give up. Now, the good feelings bring me back after a period of scheduling difficulty.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:15pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, madras lentils, pickles, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox cashews , 300cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts,  fritos, poppa salad with Ranch dressing, 865 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, popcorn, +/-300 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2675

SLEPT: 10pm-5am, 7hrs
God eating day, held off on eating 400+ calories worth of cashews to accomodate the big ol' burrito.

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

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 650 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox popcorn , 220 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with ranch, 170 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm, Chipotle burrito, 1025
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BIKE CREDIT: 600 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 3590

SLEPT: 10:30pm-3am, 4.5hrs
Blood sugar dip, tired, and a slightly off poppa salad brought me to the newly installed ice cream case in the office cafe. Free ice cream FTW!

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea, granola bar, 150mg caffeine, 260 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, granola bar, 260 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken sausage, roasted broccoli, black beans, pickles, 550 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox crackers , 180 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, work ice cream, 800 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, vegeterian dim sum, small cup of ice cream, +/- 800 cal

Fitness vs. Nutrition vs. Profit: guess who wins?

If you were to actually get fit on these machines, then who would pay the rent?

This is a blog about what I eat, in the pursuit of better health. A side effect of getting control of my diet and feeling better is a new sense of clarity.  I've been quick to discount the role of physical activity in my life, because I've always regarded it as a mental-health activity, not something for fitness. Though eating & physical exertion intersects in places, like bike riding that requires additional strategic calories and weight-lifting sessions that impact my sleep schedule, it's all a bit secondary to the quality (and quantity) of what goes into my mouth.

After a few years of focus, I still believe that: exercise is secondary to the quality and quantity of what I (and you) eat. Don't tell that to Big Food. It's no secret that the Food Industry will never throw itself under the bus by being honest with us about how the products it sells for maximum profit also does maximum harm. Instead, their mouthpieces will issue statements about "balance" and "choice" but never ever suggest that the only way to a balanced diet is to cut out most of what they're promoting. Instead of balance by consuming less, you balance by EXERCISING MORE. Because you never consume less. Ever.

It's become quite clear  that despite there being evidence for a general way of eating for maximal health that has become more sophisticated in recent years, every time a tiny little study emerges that proclaims one small element has magical powers, the media tends to focus on it like a dog with a bone. Grape skins are a cancer-killer! A trial that suggests megadoses of a certain vitamin can help burn fat! The race for eyeballs and excitement is at the exclusion of the boring, staid truth that doesn't change much over time. Eat more vegetables and fruits, eat less processed "food products", whole grains if you must eat grains, and all in moderation. And that's really it, zzzzzzz.

Politicians are jumping up and down on behalf of the Food Industry. Without explicitly saying, "Keep consuming! Don't cut back anything!" they get behind industry-friendly programs that fight obesity and poor health by promoting fitness & activity.

Putin just karate-CHOPs the fat kids.

So on one side is the toxic Food Industry, who like the tobacco industry of the past, will never admit to any fault or role in our obesity crisis until it becomes so apparent that government regulators will be forced to step in. But never underestimate the forces of capitalism -- on the other side is the Fitness Industry, whose pursuit of the new, the improved and the profitable have no time for boring, staid truths that don't change much over time.

The science of fitness that is funded drills down into micro-level granular things, the equivalent of the nutritional studies that discover that the extract of a grape skin tamps down cancer in lab rats, but in real human life, it doesn't really apply to anything or anybody.

The problem is that everybody in the fitness industry grabs onto this (promoted, granular) science — plus the occasional underfunded applied study with a handful of student subjects — and then twists the results to come up with something that sounds like a science-backed recommendation for whatever they’re selling. Most gym owners, for example, want you to walk in the door on Jan. 2 and think, Hey, this looks easy. I can do this. So they buy stationary cardio and strength machines that anybody can use without hurting themselves, often bearing brand names like Sci-Fit (Scientific Solutions for Fitness), which might more accurately be described as scientific solutions for liability management.

So if a gym is just interested in your monthly fees without concern if you see any results, ponying up for a personal trainer must make a big different, right?

As for personal trainers, I’ve known great ones. But the business model is akin to babysitting: There’s no percentage in teaching clients independence by showing them basic barbell lifts and telling them to add weight each time. Better to invent super-fun, high-intensity routines that entertain and bewilder clients, so they’ll never leave you. The science of muscle confusion, in other words, looks a lot like the marketing trade craft of client confusion.

Like nutrition, if fitness is made to seem confusing and complicated, it will give power (and profit) to the gatekeepers who mask what should otherwise be simple and self-evident. One could argue that praying to the sun and to rocks and nature was too simple and available, and by locking up spirituality in the straight jacket of patriarchy and unyielding dogma led to a great accumulation of wealth by a few (Sup' Popey!) . But let's try to stay on track here.

Bling bling!

THEN there’s the matter of our collective cravings. From cable news to the nation’s great newspapers, there is a tacit understanding that in fitness stories you and I want to hear variations on exactly one theme: that a just-published research paper in a scientific journal identifies a revolutionary new three-and-a-half minute workout routine guaranteed to give you the body of an underwear model. So powerful is this yearning — this burning ache to look good naked and have great sex and live forever — that even the best-intentioned of fitness journalists scour every little academic study for anything that might justify telling you that same sweet story, one more time.

The real harm, however, is caused when this fog of misinformation distracts from a parallel truth. Namely, that athletic coaches the world over conduct applied research all the time, and know precisely how to get people fit. If you train for a sport, you already know this, whether you realize it or not. Anybody who has trained for a marathon, for example, knows that regardless of what some TV fitness reporter says about some uncontrolled observational study with 11 elderly subjects somewhere in Finland, the web abounds with straightforward marathon-training plans that go like this: Every week for several months, take a few short runs midweek and a single long run on the weekend. Make sure the long run gets a little bit longer each time. Before you know it, you’ll be able to run 26.2 miles.
Those plans works for the same reason Mr. Rippetoe’s protocol works: The human body is an adaptation machine. If you force it to do something a little harder than it has had to do recently, it will respond — afterward, while you rest — by changing enough to be able to do that new hard task more comfortably next time. This is known as the progressive overload principle. All athletic training involves manipulating that principle through small, steady increases in weight, speed, distance or whatever.

Last weekend, I rode my bicycle about 150 miles from my home in Manhattan to the eastern end of Long Island. I did it in (for me) a surprisingly brief period of time, despite a wicked headwind, and made the first train scheduled to leave from Montauk that day. I did not pay anybody anything for a fitness plan or go on a special diet. I just have been increasing my load regularly, and found the time to stretch out and see what my legs could do. I did that on Saturday, and on Sunday I was relieved to find my legs and back were a little sore and stiff, but still had a normal full day with my kids and friends, and took care of the usual weekend chores.

Actual photo: I did a little time travel on last weekend's ride.

So if your own exercise routine hasn’t brought the changes you’d like, and if you share my vulnerability to anything that sounds like science, remember: If you pay too much attention to stories about exercise research, you’ll stay bewildered; but if you trust the practical knowledge of established athletic cultures, and keep your eye on the progressive overload principle, you will reach a state of clarity. 

Clarity. I write this blog for clarity. Perhaps that I ride my bike for fun and don't really consider it exercise or a weight-loss tool helps. Because exercise doesn't really effect weight loss that much, despite what Big Food wants you to believe.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2912

Urgle burgle, that's too high. Part of it is the fallout from the exertion of an all-day fast ride on Saturday, which makes me think the next time I do a ride like that, I need to restrategize the number and density of calories I take in, to avoid impacting later in the early week.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2780

SLEPT: 9:15pm - 5:30am, 8.25 hrs
Cheetos kinda snuck in there, dinner just wasn't satisfying due to some grit in the asparagus. Still, I didn't loose control and start shoveling in sweets, so there's that.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, tomato basil soup, health salad, pickles, 715 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 330cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Hake, roasted asparagus,  poppa salad with Italian dressing, 525 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, cheetos, 300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, homemade popcorn, +/- 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3050

SLEPT: 9pm - 5am, 8 hrs
Between slightly under cooked brussel sprouts that left me unsatisfied and one single bite of my son's pasta, I was craving sugar and satisfaction in a terrible way, and I usually don't have M&Ms in the house anymore, but I had some left over from the long bike ride I took this past weekend. Eating them was a little compulsive, and makes me wonder if one can ever truly be over a sugar addiction.

Regardless, it's nice not to have the despair I had when I'd fall of a diet after 2 days, feel totally hopeless and give up and go back to old habits immediately. Tomorrow is a new day to get it right.

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

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

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

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox chili almonds , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, cheetos, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, M&Ms & cashews, four chocolate digestive cookies, +/- 500 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3245

SLEPT: 9pm - 5am, 8 hrs
Ugh, the sugar cravings grabbed me again.

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

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox pretzel mix , 260 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with ranch, 170 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm, shiritaki noodles with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, 365 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate digestives, cheetos, chocolate chips, +/- 800 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2645

SLEPT: 10pm - 4am, 2pm-3pm at work, 7 hrs
Poppa salad smelled slightly funky.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, vegetarian meatballs, roasted broccoli, black beans, pickles, 675 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox chips and salsa , 160 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm, pizza, chocolate cake and ice cream, +/- 750 cal
Out to dinner with people, fancy pizza, fancy ice cream.

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, a little ice cream, a few spoonfuls of pastry cream, +/- 200 cal
Making desert for 40-50 mouths on Saturday, some had to end up in my mouth.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheetos, 200 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2840

SLEPT: 12am - 6am, 1:30-2:30 at work, 7 hrs
Ugg, had insomnia. Was in bed at 9pm, intended to wake up at 3 to ride, but when my alarm went off, it was either ride and destroy my day, or "sleep in". Seriously considered abandoning good eating for the day, as work was doing pizza and ice cream for lunch for everyone, but I got it together when I thought how crappy it would make me feel when I saw my daughter for dinner, and how we'd be eating hotdogs and ice cream, anyway!

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, Fruit smoothie, 400 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickles, slice of pizza, 810 cal

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

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

Weigh In: Street Meat Warning System Activated

196.8-->192-->190.4
Back on track from the winter spike. My lowest weight since recording was 190 this past February 1st, so I'm pretty much back there within a small margin of error. Margin of water retention? Margin of the contents of my digestive system?

This month saw the return of gas to my oven and stove top, and am still catching up on the work-a-day staples, particularly homemade soup which requires homemade stock. I did make a new round of black beans to last me through summer and a set of killer granola bars. Early in the month I thought I'd open up the calorie budget to 3000, as I seemed to be edging up that way due to biking and lifestyle, but after a week started to feel that old heaviness in my physicality. Funny how quickly eating too much every day now sets off a very distinct warning feeling -- a feeling I used to have all the time, and regarded as normal.

Those ain't falling rocks, those are bites of street meat gyro entering my stomach...

This past Wednesday I was out late at a friend's graduation, and was rushing to get home. On the way into the subway, I picked up a street-meat lamb gyro to take and eat on the train. I used to eat these quite often as a high school student but hadn't had one in many years. It tasted OK, not as good as I remember, but I was over-hungry and on the edge of bonking. Looking back, I should have let myself bonk. I suspect the processed lamb "meat" was more than 50% fat. How did I arrive at that number? By the numbers of zits that emerged the next day, as well as the nature of my output, which will not be discussed on this blog. I'm sure there are blogs that dedicate themselves to output as much as I dedicate to input, so if you're getting really interested, perhaps now is the time to visit RateMyPoo.com. And no, I'm not gonna link it, you nasty!

I image-googled "poo". This is the only pic I'm comfortable adding to this blog. I feel a little bit ill.

This past month or two I've noticed a new sensitivity to food, in a good way. Not gluten sensitivity or something suspiciously trendy, but a sensitivity to my physical well being, mood and clarity of mind in relation to eating good food, bad food and levels of exercise. Perhaps more contemplation will lead to a proper entry.

Still reading the Sugar Fat Salt book, and damn if it is not basically a recounting of how the Food Industry has already pretty much done the research and the science and have proven (with sales that track with formula adjustments) how food can be addictive. It is not a dissimilar story to how Big Tobacco knew exactly what the deal was with nicotine years before they were held accountable by representatives of the common good.

I don't really have any new goals/resolutions this month. I'm happy that despite my caloric intake hovering around 2750 instead of 2250, I'm still slowly losing weight. I guess between needing the calories to motor forcefully through life and eating the right things, my body is shaking off the years of indulging the sugar-dragon and numbing myself out to my own body.

I make smugness look GOOD!

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2765

Good eating week over all, though would like to see the weekly average closer to 2500. Looking at some things that elevated it, I know the street-meat incident won't be becoming a regular thing.

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BIKE CREDIT: 1750 cal
MONDAY COUNT: 2455

SLEPT: 8:45pm - 3:45am, 7 hrs
Good hilly ride in the morning, stuck to healthy food at home, indulged in watermelon and skipped the breads, cheeses and cookies at a Memorial Day picnic, and while leaned on convenience food in the evening, it was blunted by vegetables and nuts.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 150 mg caffeine, 160 cal

BIKE SNACK 1: 6am, homemade granola bar, 270 cal

BIKE SNACK 2: 7:30am, homemade granola bar, 270 cal

LUNCH: 11am, Ethiopian chicken stew and lentils, poppa salad, 670 cal

AM SNACK: 11:30am, pint of chocolate milk, 445 cal

PICNIC SNACKING: 1:30-3pm, a whole lotta watermelon, +/- 500 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cashews  340 cal

DINNER: 5pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, 830 cal

EVENING SNACK: 6pm, cheetos, 2 kind bars. 720 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2375

SLEPT: 9pm-5:30am, 8.5 hr
Woke up surprisingly tired and worn, despite the uninterrupted sleep. Probably just need more sleep.

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, yogurt with honey, vanilla, almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, soup, health salad, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 340cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Hake, roasted asparagus,  poppa salad with Italian dressing, 525 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, homemade popcorn, +/- 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3480

SLEPT: 8:30pm-6am, 9.5 hr
Thought about waking up early to lift weights while the kids slept, but still needed to get over the weekend's extended riding and limited sleep. Schedule interrupted to attend the graduation of a close friend, tried to get home and eat the usual, but it was too late and I was crashing, ate street meat and pizza. Though the calorie intake was more than usual, it still set off my sugar cravings and I ate even more before sleep. For me, this is personal evidence how eating white flour products primes my pump for more sugar.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed stringbeans, bombay potatoes, pickles, 620 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox vanilla pumpkin seeds , 240 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 170 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 9:15pm, street gyro, streetza slice, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheetos, peanut butter & chocolate syrup, +/- 700 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT:2725

SLEPT: 11:15pm-5:30am, 6.25 hr
Thought about waking up early to lift weights while the kids slept, but still needed to get over the x

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, yogurt with honey, vanilla, almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, black beans, roasted brussel sprouts, pickles, 735 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox oat crackers and onion marmalade , 210 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 170 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sushi plate, water, +/- 700 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheetos, 300 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2790

SLEPT: 11pm-4am, 2-3pm work nap, 6 hr
Good end to the week. Picked up tags for the Montauk ride during my lunch break, then took a nice nap in the "wellness room" before kicking off early to pick up my daughter for a fine dinner of dogs, fries, and ice cream.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, roasted brussel sprouts, pickles, 780 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox oat crackers and onion marmalade , 200 cal

DINNER: 5pm, crab cakes, salad, hotdog, fries, water, ice cream, +/- 1200 cal