McDonalds & Coke: Tomorrow's Dinosaurs Today

We go (screaming downwards) together

Sometimes it takes a lot of work, time and patience to read cultural tea leaves -- you have to live it and breath it to become a proper cultural weather vane. I'd like to think my 5+ years ruminating about food on blogs, graduating from culinary school, a few years of professional cooking experience and some studious time with nutritionists have given me a little bit of radar in this department. But low-hanging fruit is low-hanging fruit, and you don't need to be a wizard to analyze where our food dollars are going. Two megalithic standard bearers of all that is wrong with American food and American nutrition are seeing what may be the beginning of a long downward trend in their fortunes:

McDonald's has been failing badly for a while now — this was the second straight quarter in which they reported losses across the board, and nothing is stemming the bleeding: sales fell 3.7% in August and 3.6% in September. August's figure represents the worst monthly drop for the company in a decade. In the US, the decline is blamed largely on millennials seeking out fast casual options like Chipotle due to people suddenly being willing to trade a (somewhat) higher cost for a huge perceived jump in both quality and healthiness.

Tainted meat in China and Russian national pride shutting the Golden Arches down lately haven't helped their cause, either. Desperation moves find management adding more and more things to the menu in hopes of finding the next "McNugget" or "McMuffin" break-through, but instead are just slowing down operations, taking the "fast" out of fast food, and cheapening their brand with dollar menus and anti-burger stuff like salads and parfaits.

Seeing a corporation groveling and trying to change the subject is kinda sad in a weird way, like a child (a very powerful, amoral child with shareholders) who doesn't quite understand how the world works so is hoping to somehow change reality by pleading it's case with very limited/specifically chosen facts. Does McDonalds have any pink slime in any product? No, they say confidently. Did McDonalds have pink slime in most of it's meats as recently as a year ago, and only removed this profitable but disgusting habit when it was exposed in the media? Oh, wait, those facts are inconvenient to redefining the brand.

On one hand, some new competition does take on an aspect of what made McDonalds groundbreaking: Chipotle keeps their menu small and their service fast even at high-demand times. On the other hand,  there are plenty of new franchises like 5 Guys and Shake Shack who keep the menu focused like an old school McDonalds: just burgers really well done. On both sides, they do something that McDonalds is way too old, slow and giant to do: market to the healthfulness of their food with organic ingredient, declarations of environmental friendliness, and the like. McDonalds can try, but after all this time, no one believes them. Despite the options for milk, juice, water, fancy coffee and the like, the main drink of choice at a McDonalds is a coke product:

Coca-Cola, meanwhile, doesn't have any similar franchising issues or international scandals to blame for their falling stock — they're just losing money hand over fist. They're dealing with the same health issues McDonald's faces, as Americans don't seem to be into the idea of high sugar drinks as much as they used to, to which their solution has been to introduce lower-calorie drinks like Coke Zero.

It's been said over and over again that the #1 leading source of excess calories is by drinking sugar dissolved in flavored fizzy water. The best way back to better health, away from metabolic syndrome and all the diseases that accompany it, is by simply consuming less/none of it. Of course, Big Soda (and the Big Government that is in thrall of it's money) says, "Hogwash, keep consuming more and more, just 'balance' your time with a hell of a lot more moving!"

As a cyclist who does measure calories in and out on rides to assure efficiency and health, if I were to "reward" myself with an acidified carbonated high-fructose solution after every ride like the dorks in the video, I'd be either vomiting on the regular, 50 lbs heavier, or probably both. A calorie is not just a calorie if the calorie is from high fructose corn syrup, but that's another entry.

Marc Bittman had a recent editorial that touched on the trending down of McDonalds matched by the 'healthier' options like Chipotle. He names three sources where real change in food policy and increasing public health can come from: Food Business, Government, and Consumers. The first two are  both in thrall and enslaved to the money that the third party supplies. So the best, most efficient and likely way to improve our world of food is to personally follow two rules:

1. Stop eating junk and hyperprocessed food. This eliminates probably 80 percent of the stuff that is being sold as “food.”
2. Eat more plants than you did yesterday, or last year.

This, of course, is a continuation of everything Bittman has written up to this point, but it still holds it's power. If someone were to ask me how I lost 40+ pounds and kept it off for over a year despite set-point fear mongering, I'd honestly have to say, I ate more real food, less food-like substances, and more plants. Though in honesty I hit up McDonalds a few times a month to satisfy my children's McMuffin cravings (and my need for convenience and peace), over all in the past few year's I've eaten vastly less McDonalds-like food, and drank literally gallons less Diet Coke and sweetened beverages. Guess my eating lines up pretty well with the cultural weather vane.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2763

OK eating week, life in a weird state of flux, good things, bad things, anxiety and hope. Regardless, the kids are happy, healthy and living a stable, loving life and that's the real measure of how things are, so I shouldn't complain.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2910

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 1:30pm-2:45pm, 10.25 hr
Good quiet day. Good to have a sleep room at work to help catch up on sleep from the weekend.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, cream of mushroom soup, health salad, pickles, 810 cal 
Pickles slightly off. Have a small amount left, still think I'll not buy the full gallon of pickles next time. Maybe 3/4.

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut mix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 680 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, kind bar, 200 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 3030

SLEPT: 9pm-12:30am, 1:30am-5am, 1:45-2:45pm, 8 hr
Chill day.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, whole fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry,  pickles, 620 cal 
New pickles.

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazeboxseed mix , 270 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast,  roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 630 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 kind bar, 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanut butter & chocolate syrup, one child chocolate chip granola bar, +/- 500 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2876

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 1:30-2:30pm, 8 hr
Bumpy morning with rain and sorting out kid travel, but somehow we survive.

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

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa,  pickles, 635 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox cracker mix , 230 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, soba in soup with shrimp, 2 shrimp dumplings, a spoonful of ice cream, +/- 500 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 2 kind bars, cashews and chocolate chips, ritz crackers with cheese spread, +/- 800 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2535

SLEPT: 1pm-5:30am, 6.5  hr
Excellent meal at Hearth with a new friend.

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

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45am, chicken sausage, sauteed mushrooms and onions, pickles, 515cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox wasabi peas , 210 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, bread and butter, ribolita & roasted fall veg, cod & chestnut cannelloni, gnocchi, 1 glass alcoholic cider, herbal tea, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cookies, +/- 200 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 670 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 2465

SLEPT: 11pm-3am, 1pm-2:30pm, 5.5  hr
Early AM ride, felt good, as this coming weekend's only ride is on the big bike with kids.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine, granola bar, 275 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, granola bar, 275 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:15pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad,  pickles, 615 cal 

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

DINNER: 6pm, Pad Thai, fried tofu, diet soda, +/- 1000 cal

Set point: forever fat.

As long as he doesn't lose the beard and brows, I guess this is ok.

Recently, a small blip on the gossip scene has made hash of comedian/actor Zach Galifankis's weight loss. When abruptly asked about it by a bubble-headed interviewer at a red carpet event, he stonily answered, "I'm dying." A small part of me is, "Damn, another positive media representation of us big boys succumbs to the pressure to conform!" but the bigger part of me is simply happy for another human being who has gotten his shit together.

From what I know of Mr. Galifankis, he's about my age, also has young kids, and now has gone through a similar reckoning where he realized, "damn, I better start looking at this eating thing if I'm going to be around and functional for the long term." Though the gossip thugs are hungry for any stupid unserious story that will fill up their endless hours and column inches, I'm not really concerned how Zach lost the weight (though for his sake I do hope it was slow, steady and under his own steam and not a team of outsiders.) I do wonder about if he (and I) can keep it off. Popular science tends to be pessimistic: let's consider the theory of the Set Point.

Set point theory is a theory that the body maintains its normal weight and body fat level with internal regulatory controls that dictate how much fat one has. According to the set point theory, some individuals have a high setting, meaning they tend to have a naturally higher weight as a set point, and others have a low set point, and therefore a naturally lower body weight.
The set point theory suggests that despite dieting efforts, the body tends to return to its set point weight, however regular, consistent exercise may help to adjust the natural set point.  Some refer to the set point theory as an internal "thermostat" that regulates body fat.

While it's easy to understand that the body gains weight when too many calories go in and not enough go out, Set Point points to things like hormones and the hypothalamus which have evolved over millions of years to assure the human race that our bodies have emergency back up sources of power in case of periods of famine. Restricting calories will throttle your metabolism, grinding weight loss to a halt and increasing your drive (hunger) to consume more food. If you're fat, hey, it's genetic. It's implied that when you try to lose weight, the set point's pull grows stronger, potentially snapping back at a higher weight. Maintaining a lower weight will require constant and unending vigilance, as you are fighting nature.

Another famous fatty abandons us.

This theory has a certain grip on the popular imagination, and it's easy to see why: it relieves the individual of responsibility for fat-assedness, as well as the role of the Food Industry in encouraging people to consume more and more to fatten their own bottom lines. The diet book industry loves selling the latest "trick" or "secret" to breaking through the set point. Then there is the theory of the Settling Point:

The settling point theory was proposed ...to help explain why overweight and obesity are more than problems of metabolism. (The) idea is that weight loss and gain in most humans are more related to the patterns of diet and physical activity that people “settle” into as habits based on the interaction of their genetic dispositions, learning, and environmental cues to behavior. Evidence suggests that obese people are more sensitive to food-related stimuli in the social and physical environment, which influence their energy intake, than to the stimuli for energy expenditure.

Simply put, it's a combination of nature and nurture, both genetics and the choices of what you regularly and constantly put in your mouth. The idea is if you eat about 4500 calories a day on the regular, your body's set point will rise to accommodate it, and if lower it to 3000 calories, your set point will eventually lower to accommodate that, too. That means that your desire for food, the unthinking urge to eat until you are full, can be reduced with a little bit of behavioral modification and tenacity.

Fitty Cent lost weight to star in "Tyrone Biggums: The Movie"

I didn't pick those numbers from nowhere. I was consuming somewhere around 4500 calories a day, unmindfully, around the time I decided to start trying to lose weight and did a 2-week recording of what was flying down my throat. I was able to keep a steady 2300-2500 calories diet for a year or so but since/because my weight loss stopped, I find I'm only satisfied when I consume about 3000 calories daily. I have devised a new settling point, if not a set point, and it us up to me to continue to settle there, regardless of work, weather or schedule stress.

Does the human set point automatically shift when foreigners move to America? It all circles around to the fact that all diets fail because they are assumed to be something you visit for a while before going back to how you ate before. The only "diet" that works is when the d-word is simply referring to how you eat. When you change how you eat permanently and within your comfort zone, that is where me, Zach and Jonah try to dwell. 

I guess this is the "Celebrities: Just like you and me!" edition of FBIWC

I've been thinking about set point recently because I'm soon to undergo some change in my professional life, and between the stress of that uncertainty, the change of the seasons that will see significantly less weekly miles on the bicycle, and the heavier food of the holidays and the like, I suspect this is the first major challenge in a few years to what I hope is a newly set "set point". 

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2830

Continue to try to live well in uncertainty. Rain Thursday made for a good Friday early AM ride.

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MONDAY COUNT: 3000

SLEPT: 10pm-6:30am, 1:45pm-2:45pm, 9.5hr
Thought I got enough sleep, but blinked out during my quiet reading session over lunch. 

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am,  Fage whole yogurt with almonds, honey, vailla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, matzoh ball soup, health salad, pickles, 680 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut mix , 330 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 680 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 kind bars, 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2740

SLEPT: 9:15pm-5:45am, 8.5hr
Feeling better today, sad sleep is eating into weight-lifting time, but it's a fair trade off, I suppose.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am,  Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, chicken meatballs, curry lentils, steamed string beans, pickles, 680 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox peanut & dried bean mix , 260 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, grilled pork loin, roasted brussel sprouts,  poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 690

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 1 kind bars, ramekin of cashews and chocolate chips, +/- 500 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3110

SLEPT: 9pm-2am, 4:30-5:30am, 2-2:45pm, 6.75 hours

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with almonds, honey, vailla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45am, pork tenderloin, roasted brussels, quinoa, pickles, 770 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox popcorn , 230 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 9:15pm, spicy pork ragu over spatzle, masa scallion pancake, bockchoy and shrimp paste, duck stuffed date, 1 glass wine, 2 ganache truffles+/- 700 cal

EVENING SNACK: midnight, 2 kind bars, a little peanut butter and chocolate syrup, +/- 600 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2470

SLEPT: 1:30am-5:30am, 4 hours
x

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45am, vegetarian meatballs, sauteed mushrooms and onions, pickles, 595cal

PM SNACK: 1:14pm, work cookies, +/- 200 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15 pm, momma salad, Grazebox pistachios , 200 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm, chipotle burrito, 865 cal

Had to dig up this saved draft, as google ate my current draft and destroyed Friday's log. Oh well.

I want to expect more than a better lunch for our kids.

I miss the olden days, where school lunch was an apple, a carton of milk and a fiber-filled brown paper bag!

This major article about the bald politicization of the United States Federal school lunch program made me sad, not just because of it's detailed dissection of how federal standards for public school food is at the mercy of private industry, but because of the obvious topic outside of it's range: if the Obama administration is serious about supporting childhood health and combating childhood obesity, the federal school lunch program is not the place to start. I imagine it seems politically appealing because hey, it's food provided for free by the Federal government, should be easy to influence it's policy, amirite?

The federal school-lunch program has always invited martial metaphors, and not without reason: It was the U.S. military that first advanced the national-security implications of a healthful lunch. In the spring of 1945, at the dawn of the Cold War, Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, a former school principal who joined the armed forces before World War I, went in front of the House Agriculture Committee to deliver a stern warning. Hershey headed the Selective Service System — the draft — and he told the lawmakers that as many as 40 percent of rejected draftees had been turned away owing to poor diets. “Whether we are going to have war or not, I do think that we have got to have health if we are going to survive,” he testified.

The original and continuing purpose of serving food in public schools is to help guarantee the health of the general public, so they can succeed academically to become productive members of society, and yes, to grow strong and firm so they can fight in wars protecting our freedoms. Today, the same military that promoted the 'national-security implications of a healthful lunch' mourns the current state of the weight of our nation's children. Kids are too fat to fight.

Even if we chose to blame obesity strictly on personal choices and relieve all business practices of responsibility, does that mean the government should also blame the victim and not be concerned with the ability of the population to participate in a military key to protecting our freedom? And, uh, dumb fatties, they so funny!

 Republican lawmakers, who now controlled the House, were beginning to view the Obama-led nutrition effort as a new and pernicious form of big government.

No, this is a very old form of big government, and in one of it's very best forms -- feeding healthy food to our children to protect our future. The definition of what is 'healthy' has changed since the 1940s -- kids aren't underfed anymore, they're mostly overfed, or more precisely overfed cheap empty calories promoted by huge corporate conglomerates and underfed more costly, less processed nutritionally valid food.

So why isn't using the Federal school food program an easy place to start effecting the obesity crisis in our youth?  Money.  It is a huge Federal program where many actors in Big Food make serious bank, and they will use their army of lawyers and lobbyists and stacks of cash to make things go in the direction of their profits, regardless of the health or obesity rates of the people and kids who eat their products. (Shades of Big Tobacco, anyone?)

"Vat? I don't understand dah problem heer!"

Since it is in the nature of any Big Industry to give no compromise unless it is in their own "rational" (i.e. profitable, not moral or ethical) interest, there is really no difference in political challenge to only focus on the Federal food program or go after the real root of the problem:

• un- or under-regulated marketing to children, 
• permissible levels of sugar, salt and fat in common processed products, 
• price supports for commodity grains instead of fresh fruit and vegetables,
• USDA recommendations of consumption level paid for and vetted by the Food Industry,
• taxation to influence better consumption, i.e. incorrectly coined "soda bans"

Conservatism is all about control: control women's reproductive choices, control your freedom from God and guns, control your recreational drugs, control nonprofitable speech, control who can vote, control our access to international oil, control the uppity poor 'takers' and uppity protesters and uppity unions, control your ability to expect more from your gubbermint, etc. 

Outside of the school food issue, Big Food has shown it's power, resources and political pull in efforts to squash any and all attempts to tax sugary soda, a proven main contributor to obesity in the US. Mayor Bloomberg, he of a quite successful smoking band and large personal fortune, was no match for the Soda lobby. Recently, the far-far left politicians and very educated populace of Berkeley, California, have been inundated with media paid for by Big Soda calling for a rejection of soda ban coming to the polls there. Soda taxes have been rejected everywhere, including San Francisco, basically due to a large outpouring of money into the media and into lobbyists. Berkeley, where free pot is supposedly given to poor people, is the last and best chance to establish a beach head in the war against sugar-fueled obesity. As with the public's turn against tobacco and it's long-reigned plague of death, the turn has to start somewhere, and it's not going to start within the hardened fortresses of private industry.

Corporations are not people, it is something much less moral and accountable that is made up of people. Tomato paste is not a vegetable, it is something much less healthy made from tomatoes. Conservative and liberal viewpoints can be dismissed as doctrine, but at some point it's not about 'balance' or blind belief, it's about right and wrong facts. Corporations are not people, tomato paste is not a vegetable, one plus one does not equal three.

"Oi oi mate, I think I grok your lingo" or something.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2580

Rough week. Work stuff. Kids are great, and that trumps all, so I should get straight next week, I hope.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2345

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 1:45pm-2:45pm, 10hr
Slept a lot over the weekend, no riding during the weekend. Thought I was out of the woods, but when I tried to wake at 5 to lift, it just wasn't happening.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, carrot ginger soup, health salad, pickles, 745 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut mix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 680 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2670

SLEPT: 9pm-5:45am, 8.75 hr
Stressful day on the work front, but kept eating on track despite being tempted by office pizza. Finally getting over the bug, heh, thanks to sleep. Feel bad about no weights these past two weeks, though.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, whole fate with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry,  pickles, 620 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast,  roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 630 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal

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

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BIKE CREDIT: 590 cal
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2380

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:45am, 8.25 hr
Lower stress at work, but things will get shaken up sooner or later, TBD. Just gotta stay on my flow, hustler keep hustlin'. Stay on da sleep n' eat game hard core.

AM SNACK: 6am, 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, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa,  pickles, 635 cal 

PM SNACK: 4:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 290 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, ramen, dumplings, chocolatey dessert +/- 1000 cal

BIKE SNACK: 12am, granola bar, 235 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2760

SLEPT: 3:30am-7am, 1:30-2:30pm, 4.5 hr
Couldn't sleep, so left the house at 11pm last night, guess it counts as a Wednesday evening ride instead of a Thursday morning ride. Ate a bit too much, prepped food, watched TV until sleep finally hit. On the positive side, got a good ride in and I'm finally over my bug. On the negative side: I'm exhausted!

Tried to eat lunch but the smell of the broc made me queasy, so I trashed it and went straight to break room to read and nap. Got a solid hour in and my appetite somewhat returned after. Indulged in some badness, but it helped.

AM SNACK: 1:30am, cashews & chocolate chips, bagel & cream cheese, +/- 800 cal

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken sausage, black beans, roasted broccoli,  pickles, 535cal 

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox chips , pickles, 200 cal

LUNCH: 3:45 pm, quarter pounder, diet coke, 540 cal

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, duck breast with jus and greens, gelato, tea, +/- 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, +/- 500 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2745

SLEPT: 11pm-5:30am, 6.5 hr
Short but deep sleep.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad,  pickles, 12oz diet coke, 615 cal 

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

PM SNORT: 5pm, 1 cocktail, 160 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, mixed fried perogies, kraut, +/- 1000 cal

Drill Down: Popcorn

"Thank goodness it's not more salad!"

Every Monday night, after my youngest goes to bed, my 5.25 year old installs herself on the couch while watching something on Netflix and I go to work in the kitchen. I take my best heavy copper-core sauce pan, blast the heat, put in one tablespoon of butter than another tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil to just cover the bottom. I give the fats a heavy sprinkle of salt, then pour yellow corn kernels straight from the bag in the fridge into the bottom of the pan, again just to cover the bottom, before it gets too hot. The pan gets tightly covered. In a minute or so, the popping starts, I start casually moving the pan. Soon, the popping reaches a crescendo, then slows down to a pop every 2 to 4 seconds. Another few moments and the white steam coming out of the corner of the lid will turn dark and acrid. Two metal prep bowls catch the bounty, the first whiter, softer top portion to my child, the crisper, sometimes darker bottom portion to me. I install myself on the couch next to my daughter, we munch the popcorn before bed, drink water to clear the salt from our mouths. This is our Popcorn Party. 

It's not a potato chip party, Frito or Cheeto party, because if it just lazily plopped out of a bag, where would the love be in that? I've made Fritos at home before, and other being meh, it was not casual. Unlike a bagged food scientist-tuned, hyper-palative addictive snack attack, popcorn is American in the best sense possible. You do it yourself, you choose your quality and balance of whole grain, fat and salt. You can get a specialized piece of equipment, but really, just a good heavy pot with a solid tight fitting cover will do you. A farmer 200 years ago could not go into his field and whip up a bowl of Cheetos for his kids, but popcorn was there.

Popcorn was first domesticated in Mexico 9,000 years ago from a wild grass. A few thousands of years later it then made its way across Central and South America. Popcorn is one of the oldest forms of corn; evidence of popcorn from 3600 B.C. was found in New Mexico. Corncobs found at two ancient sites in Peru may date from as early as 4700 B.C. This suggests that people living along the coast of northern Peru were already eating popcorn by that time.
The legend that English settlers, who came to America in the 16th and 17th centuries, learned about popcorn from Native Americans is considered to be a myth. No evidence exists from colonial times to support the claim that natives of North America's east coast even knew of, or, for that matter, grew popcorn.

 "When she saw the happy throng approaching camp, she patted an even layer of coals over the clay.  One of the maidens shook the coal-covered tray back  and forth like an old fashioned popcorn popper while another maiden took large handfuls of worms from the bag and sprinkled them over the live coals causing a sudden flash of fire as the hair burned off of them.  Then the worms went into a frenzy of squirming that brought shrieks of delight from the excited children.  The maiden continued shaking the worms back and forth over the coals until they puffed up about three times their original size.  When they were completely toasted, they were dumped into a basket, and the process was repeated until all the worms were cooked." Uhhh, popworms, the Native American predecessor to popcorn? 

While the earliest evidence  suggested that throwing a whole popcorn cob on a fire would result in a fun, dirty but edible mess, the earliest methods of cooking popcorn was indeed in a covered pot on top of fire, not unlike what I do with my daughter. Steam powered poppers emerged in the late 1800s, which made popping large quantities for sale in movie theaters a thing. 

During the Great Depression, popcorn was fairly inexpensive at 5–10 cents a bag and became popular. Thus, while other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers. During World War II, sugar rations diminished candy production, and Americans compensated by eating three times as much popcorn as they had before.

I can't lie, this makes me nolstagic for my mom.

In the 60's, as food went from "woman's work" to no-one's work, popcorn was conveniently all-in-one "jiffied" into a disposable covered pan and not-so-healthy shelf-stable hydrogenated fats. Ultra-convenient popcorn was update in the 1980s with microwave popcorn, and in the 1990s it let go of the fresh homemade angle, with brands like "Smartfood" embracing a healthy sheen but adding flavors, preservatives and other food science angles to help popcorn join the other hyperpalative savory snacks. 

Of course, popcorn is not necessarily a salty & savory snack. When I went to the movies in England a few years back, I was confronted with a popcorn choice: salty or sweet? I got the sweet, which was basically unsalted popcorn with sugar sprinkled on it, about as bad as you think it was. However, "Kettle corn", in which the popped corn is lightly glazed, is a popular thing and carmel-coated popcorn tossed with peanuts was trailblazer by Cracker Jack since the the beginning of the modern American popcorn popularity at the end of the 19th century.

Back when food was scarce and being underweight was a thing, marketing the addictive qualities of your product was a positive.

Is popcorn healthy? Well, of course anything can be "healthy" in the context of proper moderation. Better question: is it recommended to eat popcorn every week, like my daughter and I do?

Air-popped popcorn is naturally high in dietary fiber and antioxidants, low in calories and fat, and free of sugar and sodium. This can make it an attractive snack to people with dietary restrictions on the intake of calories, fat, and/or sodium.

Unfortunately, popping popcorn in what is a gerry-rigged hair dryer is strictly for people who hate themselves and hate life -- fat free popcorn tastes pretty much like packing material, tends to be chewy/gummy and delivers no satisfaction.

For the sake of flavor, however, large amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium are often added to prepared popcorn, which can quickly convert it to a very poor choice for those on restricted diets.
One particularly notorious example of this first came to public attention in the mid-1990s, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest produced a report about "Movie Popcorn", which became the subject of a widespread publicity campaign. The movie theaters surveyed used coconut oil to pop the corn, and then topped it with butter or margarine. "A medium-size buttered popcorn", the report said, "contains more fat than a breakfast of bacon and eggs, a Big Mac and fries, and a steak dinner combined." The practice continues today.

So as long as you don't go cheap with bad fats like the movie theaters and you cook with appropriate amounts of fat and salt, the presence of large amounts of dietary fiber and antioxidants still count. Welcome to the world of shades of grey.

Tubby tub, tubs.

Today, the post-modern reaction to the codification and de-healthy-fying of this time-worn food can be seen in the emergence of "heirloom popcorn", just the same way our expanding local-driven farmer's markets highlight heirloom tomatoes and other variety of vegetables that have fallen by the wayside to carefully genetically selected (if not modified) mono-crops that cover millions of acres of our country between the coasts.

Over home-canned tomato juice and sweet rolls at the farmhouse breakfast table, Mr. Mealhow acknowledged that his was a battle that would not be easily won. America is perhaps too deeply in love with size over flavor. 

He blames Orville Redenbacher, a 1928 graduate of Purdue University and a master marketer who used genetic material developed at the university’s Agriculture Alumni Seed Improvement Association to breed a high-volume corn that shifted America’s expectations.

“Orville produced a giant popcorn to be a delivery vehicle for butter and salt,” he said. “He convinced the entire world that was the way to go. But it doesn’t taste like anything.”

Smaller, tastes more like toasted corn, leaves more "widows" a the bottom of the pot, just like it might of used to be -- I'd be a liar if I denied I'm going to pick up a bag of pricier heirloom popcorn the next time I stumble on some. If my kids can become emotionally attached to some special popcorn made at home that takes that extra care, maybe I won't be such a bad father after all.

Edie asked me the other night, "Can we make M&Ms?" I mentioned when she was older, we could totally make chocolate truffles together and sit in front of the TV and have a diabetes party together, I assume she just took away the "cooking together" and "chocolate" parts. But for now, our Popcorn Parties are what bonds us, it gives her a little whole grain and nutrition in her chicken nugget and strawberry diet regime, and I hope we never outgrow it.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: x

x

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MONDAY COUNT: 2755

SLEPT: 9:45pm-6:45am, 9hr
Realized that despite not riding formally this weekend, I got about 30 miles in on the big bike, loaded with either two kids or a large load of Costco stuff. Might be coming down with a bug going around, too. Oy.

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea, 500mg Vitamin C

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, carrot ginger soup, health salad, pickles, 745 cal 

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

DINNER: 6:30pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with caesar dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, 500mg Vitamin C, +/- 300 cal

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TUEDAY COUNT: 3100

SLEPT: 9pm-12:30am, 1pm-6am, 1:45pm-2:45pm, 9.5hr
Fighting a bug, body sucking up a lot of sleep. Not even going to try to wake up early enough to lift. Ride on Thursday, however, hmmmm….

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 500mg Vitamin C

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am,  steel cut oatmeal,  450 cal

AM SNACK: 11am, 1 French macaroni from France, +/- 50 cal
Work friend just got back from Paris and walked into a big promotion, would been rude not to help celebrate, and this was a hardcore macaron, not some stupid local cupcake or something.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, lentil curry, steamed string beans, pickles, 680 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox seed mix , 270 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, grilled pork tenderloin, roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with caesar dressing, 690 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, kind bar, 200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, kind bar, 200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, almond butter & chocolate syrup, +/-400 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3130

SLEPT: 9:30pm-2am, 3am-6am, 1:45pm-2:45pm,  8.5 hr
Still feel off, getting sleep. Out to dinner with a friend, surprisingly hungry when I got home.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 500mg Vitamin C

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage full fat yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, grilled pork tenderloin, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa, pickles, 770 cal 

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox crackers , 210 cal

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 170 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Ethiopian food, 1 glass of wine, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 kind bars, almond butter & chocolate syrup, +/- 600 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3060

SLEPT: 11pm-6am, 7 hr
Skipped the morning bike ride, still not feeling over this bug that is slowing me down but not stopping me.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 500mg Vitamin C

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am,  steel cut oatmeal,  450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, left over vegetarian Ethiopian food, pickles, +/- 600 cal 

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

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 170 cal

DINNER: 8pm, pasta and meatballs, squid, half a tiramisu, bread, water, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, ice cream, pie, +/- 500 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 800cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 2760

SLEPT: 11pm-4am, 2-3pm,  6 hr
Forty mile ride to Rockaways in the evening, good to get out but made me aware that I'm still not completely over this bug.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea, 500mg Vitamin C

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9am,  fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter & grape jelly on whole wheat, roasted broccoli, pickles,  +/- 700 cal 

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

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

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizza, ice cream, +/- 1200 cal