Milk: Does NOT do the body good.

How could something so cute be anything but good for you?

I am not an anti-government yahoo. I believe the reason our Federal government has been gridlocked is because the minority party has chosen to block productivity in a cynical ploy to return to power in future election cycles, while depending on an ignorant voting public to make false equivalencies, i.e. "it's every body's fault, equally." It's not -- it's the Republican's fault and they should all be voted out to both get government functional and almost as important, prevent such destructive cynicism in something so important in our society. Stay with me, I rant for a reason.

A company like McDonald's has depended on phrases like, "as a part of balanced diet" to defend the nutritional validity of products they sell, when it seemed obvious that they are nutritionally void. When you drilled down, it became about parsing the science -- the science was just not there to prove beyond doubt that McDonalds can not be a part of a balanced diet: after all, what the hell is a balanced diet anyway?  Like the Republicans, a company like Coca Cola is not particularly interested in having the truth come out, and would rather take comfort in scientifically unsupported false equivalencies, like, "a calorie is a calorie is a calorie." A work-blocking Republican is not the same as a progressive Democrat, and a corn-syrup carb calorie is not the same as a organically humanly raised chicken protein calorie.

OK, maybe it's not that simple either, but it does help.

The point I babbled about last week is that nutrition is a young science -- it's only figuring out now what the shape of the nutritional universe might be, and therefore all the huge gaps in it. But unlike the 1000s of years it took to move from trying to turn lead to gold to modern chemistry, it's probably going to only take decades for nutritional science to start delivering the, uh, science. We may be on the cusp of that now: Milk is starting to be shown, with out guesses and presumptions or political angles and agendas, but with science, that it may not do the body good.

More and more evidence is surfacing, however, that milk consumption may not only be unhelpful, it might also be detrimental. This is in spite of the fact that the United States Department of Agriculture and other organizations advocate that even adults should drink at least three cups a day.

In study after study involving 50K-200K people, controlled for other factors, the same things keep on coming up: increasing your milk consumption has no effect on preventing broken bones or increasing bone mass, but does add unnecessary calories. Thanks to government policy that protects the dairy industry for strictly financial reasons, there has been a lot of promotional marketing that implies that milk is very healthy and good for bones. Whenever there are bills looking to tax beverages, milk products are always given a pass as being somehow healthier: they should not be.

Weight resistance training and spinach are A-OK with me!

Though some evidence points to increased cancer and obesity because of milk consumption, the science just isn't there yet, so lets not get ahead of ourselves. But beyond a shadow of a rational doubt, just as it is the Republican's fault for our dysfunctional Congress, dairy does not now or ever promote healthy bones. It is a myth promoted by those in power to get your money.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2893
Kinda surprised by the high numbers this week. 

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MONDAY COUNT: 2390

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 5am, 8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, falafel, tomato soup, health salad, 620 cal

PM SNACK : 3:30pm, momma salad, Grazebox crackers , 170 cal

DINNER: 6pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with creamy balsamic, kind bar, 690 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 3035

SLEPT: 9pm-5am, 8hr
Good busy day, needed some comfort food at the end. For a gorge, it wasn't too bad or out of control. Part of it was kid food being left over and not wanting to trash it.

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am,  Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

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

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, momma salad, Grazebox cashews,  290 cal

DINNER: 5:45pm, shrimp with shiritaki noodles and shitake mushrooms, poppa salad with creamy balsamic, 515 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal

EVENING GORGE: 8:30pm, almond butter and chocolate syrup, half a bagel & cream cheese, half a bag of veggie straws, +/- 800 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3040

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:45am, 8.25hr
Good day, dinner out with a good friend.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:15am,  steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, momma salad, grazebox pretzels, 270 cal

LUNCH: 2:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, poppa salad with creamy balsamic, kind bar, 700 cal

DINNER: 5pm, half a shitake burger, various spreads with vegetables and bread, small amount of chocolate, +/- 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, Stouffers French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 650 cal
THURSAY COUNT: 2910

SLEPT: 11pm-4am, 5hr
Good ride in the morning, homemade lunch, post root canal ridiculous dinner.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am,  fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

BIKE SNACK: 11am, granola bar, 250 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, mushroom ravioli, roasted brussels, poppa salad, 1.5 donuts, +/- 900 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, 2 packs of ramen, pint of ice cream, 1800 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 3090

SLEPT: 9pm-6:30am, 9.5hr
Productive day

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am,  fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, pickle, health salad, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, Grazbox edamame mix, 220 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, cookies, +/- 600 cal

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp shumai, pork tonkatsu with curry and brown rice, 1 beer, +/- 1000 cal