Reckoning

206.8-->207.0-->214
Well, this is a reckoning. This past month has been firing on all cylinders - work and money, women and relationships, children and family, friends and loved ones, all have been going really well. But upon reflection, a new imbalance has emerged. I recently got a cat to keep me company at home, as I've been working from home pretty constantly since June. (Sure, it was a gift and a companion to my kids but get real, it's for me.) The numbers at the end of the month indicate that December was successful, and I really have been enjoying my work....but there is a cost. Looking back over my food diaries, I've been indulging in more sweets, more restaurant foods and less good stuff as a way of stress management. I guess "stress" is usually looked at as a bad thing, but the kind of work stress I've been undergoing this past month has been the best kind -- the kind that makes you challenge yourself and results in surprises of what you can actually do.

But bottom line -- it was more calories in, less calories out. I expected the weather to get colder, and work made it easy to schedule less bike rides, allowing me not to sacrifice any time with my kids. Thanks to the WARMEST DECEMBER EVER, I could have extended my ride season but ended up being pretty physically complacent. Clothes don't lie -- I wore a suit last night and while it wasn't ridiculous, it clearly said "OH HELL TO THE NO" as I got it on.

I've done this before. I've been here. But it's different now: I'm not lost in a fuzzy cloud and life is good. Starting right now (and not next week or next month), I'm increasing my vegetable intake, both raw and cooked. I'm bringing back weight lifting once or twice a week. I'm decreasing my sweets and restaurants during the week. I won't be recording or posting during the next week -- I'll take this as an opportunity to shift gears without over-thinking it, just see how it makes me feel, and return to obsessively writing down my sleep, eats and random reactions to food-related media in the new year.

To my 2.5 readers, happy new year and thanks!

WEEKLY AVERAGE: ...

Too distracted.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2600

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 5:30am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 9:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2 : 11:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, beef patty, momma salad, chicken soup, pickles 640 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, grouper, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENIGN SNACK: 7pm, popcorn, pocky, +/- 600 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3090

SLEPT: 9:30pm-3:45am,  6.25hrs

AM SNACK: 4am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, steamed string beans, lentil curry, chicken meatballs, pickles,  680 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, shwarma platter, ice cream, +/- 1000cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, pocky, rice crisps & milk, one brownie, +/-600 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3060

SLEPT: 9pm-2:30am, 5.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:15pm, bacon, poppa salad with dressing,  440 cal

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

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, cashews, 250 cal

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, streetza, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, Chipotle Burrito, ice cream, +/- 1200 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3090

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:30am, 8hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 9:30am, pickle, a small piece of brie, 50 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45am, 3 meatballs, +/-450 cal
Just baked off a bunch, had to make sure they were done...

LUNCH: 2:45pm, poppa salad with dressing and veggie straws, 330 cal

DINNER: 5pm, chinese brick, ice cream, +/- 1500 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 9pm, pocky, pringles, 400 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: x

SLEPT: 10:30pm-5am, 6.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

...

Nigella vs Clean Eating

Guy Fieri's inner child.

When I went to culinary school around 2008, the idea of the celebrity chef still felt relatively new and exciting; the Food Network was hitting it's stride. Unfortunately, most of these celebrity chefs seem to be celebrities first and chefs second. Big personalities who could burble about food are great for housewives (and househusbands) and shut-ins, but none seemed to speak to us, ye mighty culinary students.

Rachel Ray is more of a morning host, Sandra Lee more of a home maker, Gordon Ramsay more of a Trump-like a-hole,  Paula Deen more of a hostess, and Guy Fieri, more of a douche's douche. But there was one who spoke to us: Anthony Bourdain.  Not only was he an old crusty kitchen-dog who had credit from a long established place in NYC, he had a big NYC mouth which would freely rag on each and every other celebrity so-called chef. As a an indiscreet culinary student looking for someone to be MY champion, Anthony was the man. And rather than focus on being a personality making comfort food, he seemed to indulge his own drive by making his shows about traveling the world and eating everywhere and anything, and not just because it was weird or disgusting, but because it was good on it's own level.

Anthony loves the cock.

But that was then, and this is now. I don't cook in restaurants or run a knish business anymore, and my thoughts on food have less to do with the popular celebrity driven media and more with concerns for me and my children's health. So it was with some amusement when I caught this piece come in over the wire this week:

Nigella Lawson is not down with the clean eating trend. The British chef and author, famous for such decadent recipes as her Chocolate Guinness Cake, does not mince words when it comes to the healthy eating craze. At the JW3 Speaker Series in London earlier this week, Lawson said, “People are using certain diets as a way to hide an eating disorder or a great sense of unhappiness and unease with their own body.”
Lawson continued: “There is a way in which food is used either to self congratulate — you’re a better person because you’re eating like that — or to self-persecute, because you’ll not allow yourself to eat the foods you want.” According to People, this isn’t the first time she’s criticized the lifestyle. In October, she told the BBC she thinks “the notion of ‘clean eating’ is an implication that any other form of eating is dirty or shameful.”

Lawson herself has had experience with eating disorders earlier in her life, and has made it through. Her mother also dealt with these issues. For her to call it out so clearly is not a common thing, as everyone is trying to make a buck and there is a hesitance to criticize a fellow traveller. Bourdain doesn't seem to give a f@ck because that's part of his shtick, but Lawson has less to gain from placing herself in this firing line. Except maybe for a sense of duty to help those suffering, as her mother did and how I'm certain she does not want her own children to suffer.

Mmmm muffins.

I've been close to people who have extreme diets by conventional standards -- some have said I am extreme myself by virtue of keeping a food diary and counting calories. But I've seem to be puzzling a difference out that puts people into two groups. One group rigorously thinks about their food and acts on evidence both personal and from the ideology we choose to subscribe, and the other group just kinda "feels" like how they eat is the right way, taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that but not really having the time, energy or thoughtfulness to see it through.

So many vegetarians who eat chicken and fish. So many vegans who make exceptions for dessert. So many people who make themselves less healthy and refuse to credit their diets. This is where "clean eating" falls, and the emotional charge of rewarding/punishing yourself by way of your diet is the dominant guiding light. Diet should be a part of your self-worth, because food is wonderful and it fuels us. And that's where it ends. Thank you Nigella for calling out some the BS that the last decade or so's obsession with food has helped to develop.

Eating, disordered.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2798

Intense week, for the best of reasons, but didn't get a ride in due to technical, weather and work factors.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2360

SLEPT: 10pm - 5am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 11am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2 : 1:45pm, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal


LUNCH: 3pm, beef patty, momma salad, tomato soup, pickles 550 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 vegetable samosas with chickpeas,  poppa salad with dressing, banana bread, +/- 1200 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2780

SLEPT: 8:45pm-4am,  6.25hrs

AM SNACK: 4:15am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, scrod, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, veggie straws,  230 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, veg dim sum, ice cream, +/- 1000cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, pocky, 190 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3090

SLEPT: 9pm-5am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 7am, small piece of c-chip banana bread, +/- 100 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, steamed string beans, lentil curry, chicken meatballs, pickles,  680 cal

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, streetza, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 8pm, shoyu ramen with extra noodles, gyoza, mocha, sake, +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, pocki, 190 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2250

SLEPT: 10:30pm-5am, 6.5hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, sautéed shrimp & mushrooms in oyster sauce and poppa salad with dressing, 670 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 230 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, pocky, 190 cal

DINNER: 6pm, falafel platter, mousaka, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: 3210

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5am, 7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST 1: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, beef patty, tomato soup, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

DINNER 1: 5:30pm,streetza, ice cream, +/- 800 cal

DINNER 2: 9:30pm, chicken shnitzel, brocollini, mushroom & pepper, whiskey, wine & song, +/- 1200 cal

Survey Says: Don't trust yo gut

Actually, don't.

My line of thinking about my recording-habits have lead me to explore whether it could be a symptom of an eating disorder. When you don't really pay attention or think straight, it's easy to fall into vague, feel-good so-called diets like "eating clean" or if you think damn too much, it's possible to pick up a specific obsession with healthy eating, orthorexia. Both involve a kind of mindfulness, one is fuzzy and deceptive, and the other is out of balance to the rest of your life. One could argue that maybe NOT thinking (or counting) about your food is the way to go.

"Intuitive eating" is "an approach that de-emphasizes dieting in favor of attending to bodily signals, like feelings of hunger and, more important, fullness." Basically, it's what yo momma taught you when you were a tot -- eat when you are hungry, drink when you are thirsty, and stop eating and stop drinking when you've had enough. So, what do you think happened when it was put to the test?

Well, in a controlled study, one population was told to just eat until your full, and the other group was tasked with counting the calories.

The intuitive eaters began well, according to Anglin, losing slightly more weight during the first three weeks, on average, than the calorie cutters. But then their discipline, luck or bodily self-awareness apparently deserted them, and most began regaining weight. At the end of the six weeks, few had lost much weight and some had a net gain of nearly two pounds.

Discipline, luck and self-awareness are all toothpicks compared to the oak tree of our physiological drives to gain and store as much energy as possible in case a coming famine threatens our survival. Our hunger and biological signals are all set to that oak, not to the toothpicks we stand up to it. So basically this is an argument FOR calorie counting.

And then he ate the sign, for fiber.

Calorie counting not nuts, it's the only sure way to counter act our innate drive to get fat, from a time when maximizing consumption meant the greatest likelihood of survival. Now that it means an ever-increasing chance of obesity and mortality, our bodies just can't evolve fast enough. Big Food has caught on to this drive to sell us ever-more regardless of the effect on our waist lines. Anti-government yahoos refuse to assign responsibility to anyone except the individual. So unless you start voting differently and enable some things like soda-taxes and stricter nutrition guidelines on all food,  it's on you and your children to do more than intuitively eat, because the combination of our fat-for-survival drive and Big Food profit-for-survival drive aren't going away any time soon.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2967

Three grand seems to be my comfortable spot. I wonder if my weight will remain steady this month.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2610

SLEPT: 11pm - 6:45am, 7.75 hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 10:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2 : 11:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, beef patty, momma salad, 430 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, chocolate bar, 420 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, lemon sole, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:15pm, popcorn,  +/-400

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3170

SLEPT: 8:45pm-3am,  5.25hrs

AM SNACK: 3:15am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

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

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with dressing, veggie straws,  330 cal

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp lomeain, pork dumplings, +/- 1200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 6:45pm, ice cream, +/- 800 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3215

SLEPT: 8:30pm-4:15am, 7.75 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm,steamed string beans, lentil curry, chicken meatballs, pickles,  680 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 8pm, chipotle burrito, ice cream, diet coke, 1425

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, pringles, 190 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2980

SLEPT: 10pm-3:30am, 5.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, steel cut oatmeal 450 cal

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 230 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, bacon and poppa salad with dressing, 440 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, slice of streetza, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, burger, fries, dessert, 1 beer, +/- 1400 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 1570
FRIDAY COUNT:2860

SLEPT: 9pm-2am, 3:45am-6am, 7.25 hrs

AM SNACK: 7:25am, half the usual juice, 80 cal

BREAKFAST 1: 9:15am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

BIKE SNACK: 11:30am, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

BIKE SNACK: 12:30pm, brownie, +/- 400 cal

BIKE SNACK: 2pm, streetza and diet coke, +/- 300 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, pint of chocolate milk, 500 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, fried fish, fries, ice cream, +/- 1500 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:30pm, chocolate, bowl of cornflakes & milk, +/- 900 cal

Climate Change and Your Food

Why have separate magazine about food and guns when you can get it all under one cover?

There are some international climate conferences happening right now, but they've been a little overshadowed with the daily murder and mayhem caused by the climate denier's other hobby, the denial of sane gun laws. With the immediate urgency of the terror of recent mass shootings in the US and abroad, it would be tempting to think that climate change is a slower-moving problem that can be back-burnered until some of this gun-stuff gets worked out. Problem is, evidence is growing that it is not.

I've been enjoying some milder winters these past few years, despite the increasingly less-odd massive snow storms and violent hurricanes. This year's bike season went straight up to mid November, while in past years I had to down shift as early as mid-October, and I expect there might be some rideable days towards the end of February. While my personal hobby of riding a bicycle might be affected for the better, our whole damn food system depends on 10s of 1000s of years of constant climate to feed ourselves and the world.

Farmers in (Vermont) used to count on being able to plant corn in May, she says. But weather patterns are shifting. The month of May is now typically cold and wet, "so they're really not able to plant their corn until the middle of June. That delays its harvest. And then we might have an early frost."
The result is less corn for Vermont's cows, and less local milk for the state's dairies. "It really changes the economic structure of how dairy products are produced in Vermont," Brown says.

Climate change will not kill us with super heat or extreme cold (at least not at first), or even super-storms or mounds of snow. It will kill us by food and water scarcity. And if the lack of food and water doesn't get you, the social upheaval might. Even worse, the bleeding edge of crop disasters could possibly start with the primary growers of cocoa in Africa might see their crop. I foresee myself and a massive of pre-menstrual ladies rioting.

NO CHOCOLATE?!?

And once the cocoa and corn yields are suffering, so goes Big Food.

Some of these are major companies in Republican states, and they're standing up and saying we need a strong deal," Kelly says. "This has never happened before."
Parkin of Mars says the food industry will be instrumental in fighting climate change. "What those companies are doing is coming together to encourage governments, basically saying to government, 'We need you to make similar commitments,' " he says.

Republicans deny climate change and avoid sane gun control because it is in their financial interests to do so. However, it is in their financial master's interest to do something about climate change. Too bad their currently isn't similar financial incentive to protect innocent lives from random gun violence.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2973

Oy, too high. If I don't gain weight this month, it'll be a Christmas miracle. Or I can just nut-up and be more mindful next week.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2840

SLEPT: 9pm-11pm, midnight-5am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 1:15pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, 580 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, lemon sole, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:15pm, popcorn, peanut butter pretzels, 2 kids granola bars +/-900

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2970

SLEPT: 9pm-5am,  8hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am,  iced green tea

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


BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie,  450 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, lentil curry, pickles, 650 cal

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

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

DINNER: 6pm, vegetarian dim sum, ice cream, +/- 1200 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3335

SLEPT: 9pm-4:45am, 7.75 hrs
Couldn't sleep, the late night eating wasn't so much from hunger but the emotional reaction to the shooting in California.

AM SNACK: 5am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal


BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, Chinese greens, pork meatballs, chicken ramen, water, +/- 800 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 8pm, chipotle burrito, ice cream, diet coke, 1425

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, bowl of cornflakes and milk, handful of animal crackers, +/- 400 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3100

SLEPT: 12:30pm-5:30am, 5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, bacon and poppa salad with dressing, 440 cal

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, shrimp dumplings, chicken starry with rice, water, cookies, +/- 1400 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 630
FRIDAY COUNT: 2620

SLEPT: 11:30pm-4:30am, 5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:00am, 150 mg caffeine, water

BIKE SNACK: 6:15am, homemade granola bar, 290 cal

AM SNACK: 8:15am, snippet of wholewheat bagel and cream cheese, small apple juice, +/- 100 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm,sautéed chicken and mushrooms, and poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

PM SNACK: 3m,freshly baked chocolate chip banana bread, +/-500 cal

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

Monthly Weight In: Flat Lining

206.8-->206.8-->207.0
Another month, another holding of the line, as .2 lbs is not statistically significant. Looking over the past month (as well as the official start of eating season kicked off on Thursday with Thanksgiving), I'm a little surprised my weight held steady -- I've been regularly approaching 3K calories a day. You see from the chart above that from 2010 to 2012 (and probably long before) my weigth would fluctuate up in the winter and down in the summer. I've seemed to have broken that cycle, but that doesn't mean that demon still doesn't lurk.

But I feel good, my body is healthy and while most of my "skinny" clothes have been feeling snug for a while now, they're still wearable. As Fall is soon turing to Winter, I need to reactivate on the weight lifting as cycling becomes more restricted.

I think my only concern is the fact that I've been working from home almost exclusively since June, and it has afforded me more flexibility in my eating routine than I'm used to. I've started to change things up a little to avoid boredom and take advantage of a new-found trust in myself not to be a garbage-person, but y'know, freedom can be scary. Hence the mindful check of the food diary you all read with great attention and interest. (I know, sarcasm doesn't read well, you'll just have to take that leap...)

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: Void

Didn't record starting Wednesday evening, you'll just have to take my word for it that my eating remained sane, reasonable and enjoyable. Still need this system to get more vegetables into my body, but I did not blow myself out on sugar-binges or never-ending bowls of pasta.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2390

SLEPT: 11pm-7am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea

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

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, beef patty, chicken soup, 480 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, grouper fish, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, popcorn, homemade babka, +/-900

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3045

SLEPT: 9pm-2am, 5:45am-7:30am,  6.75hrs

AM SNACK: 3 am,  iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 1pm, greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, burrito & diet coke, 925cal

EVENING HUNGER SNACKS: 6:30pm, ramen, babka, chocolate chips & cashews, +/- 1200, hunger 9/10
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: x

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 8:30am, school waffle, +/- 100 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, Stouffers French Bread pizzas, momma salad, 920cal

PM SNACK: 2pm, snippets of cornbread, stuffing, apple juice, +/- 300 cal

Discounting sexy, where is the line between crazy and cool?

Subtle advertising, doodz!

Orthorexia is an obsession with healthy eating. Obsession is is the key word -- there is nothing wrong with wanting to put nutrient-dense food in your body that keeps you healthy, but as we struggle without a users-guide that should have come with our bodies when we were born, what "healthy" means is open to interpretation. And it is in that interpretation where obsession can manifest. 

In last week's post, I questioned whether tracking my food and recording it five days a week is on a path to orthorexia. I dated a woman over the winter who, towards the end of our relationship when things weren't going too well, implied that the attention I paid to myself in my eating seemed like some sort of eating disorder to her. On the face of it, it seemed silly and just something hurtful that is said when trying to distract attention from your own issues and noise. But it landed, and it sat with me, a potential red flag humming in the background since before the summer.

So again the pages of the NYT opens and seems to directly address my concerns. Is keeping track of your eating so crazy, or is it cool and in ripe need of a NYT trends piece?

Research shows that people who keep track of what they eat and weigh are more likely to succeed at losing weight and keeping it off. Self-tracking teaches people how their environment and behaviors affect health, said Carly Pacanowski, a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow who studies eating behavior.
“It’s a preventive daily strategy that always stays with you,” she said. “Over time, it provides you a lot of interesting information. It lets people be more in the driver’s seat with regards to their health.”
The key to successful tracking is consistency. An analysis by Withings and MyFitnessPal of their users found that those who tracked food and weight at least once every three days lost an average eight pounds over a year, compared with just one pound for those who less vigorously recorded the data.

Early on I tried MyFitnessPal and found that it's database skewed heavily towards restaurant and packaged food, stuff I can just look on the packaging and weigh out to get numbers from - I quickly sussed that if I were to invest my energies in these apps, it would encourage me to literally eat crappier, as the corporate might that got the processed food into their apps would be a self-strengthening closed loop.

Will Chilli ever forgive me?

I've basically been doing what the app does on the fly in this blog, remembering loosely numbers of different dishes week to week.

The strategy might also work better for men than women, according to research by Dr. Pacanowski. Self-tracking works by forcing people to pay attention to how food affects weight; it may be that women are already exposed to so many ads and messages about weight that the extra attention makes little difference.
Dr. Pacanowski also cautions that those already overly concerned with weight and shape — or who are at risk for disordered eating — could be adversely affected by detailed self-tracking. 

This sounds like the truth. People who are scrutinized most about their appearance and weight are the ones who get eating disorders most often. The main trigger in getting me on this path was a bought of kidney stones and impending middle age, not a concern about how I look in a bathing suite or younger guys competing with me for dates. Food tracking is a little time consuming, but in the scheme of things -- maybe 20 minutes total during the week and an hour or so to write these essays -- is really time well spent. It is in balance. Unlike what my ex implied, I don't really spend a lot of time drilling down on myself -- when I am thinking of food, it's about the fun of eating out, the fun of cooking, or the fun of eating with my kids. The tracking of the food is kinda the opposite, a balance to the partying.

Fat used to be the enemy, more recently carbs have been vilified, and with the recent meat-cancer links, proteins are coming under scrutiny. Tracking food intake, at least the way I do it, is not about trying to find the ideal ratio of macronutrients. It is about portion size -- people have tried all sorts of fad diets, restricted this and that, and time and again they go back to however they were eating and get fat or fatter. Tracking is, at it's core, about portion size. We Americans eat too much, and it is encouraged from the moment we wake to the moment we sleep -- you could say we as a nation have an eating disorder: we've been hypnotized by Big Food to consume more and more, and when someone suggests perhaps we should eat less, they respond by saying we should be free to eat as much as we want, just exercise more. It's insanity, but it's profitable. Fat, carbs or proteins need not be demonized, just portion sizes and any corporation who profits from keeping portions consistently growing.

The piece then goes on to a long disertation about one guy who tracked his food, his ups and downs, and his relative success. Found this quite boring, who cares what another slob puts in his gob day to day? I mean, just read my diary below, boring! While keeping a food diary seemed unbalanced and disordery to my ex, I can comfortably say now, with thought, that no, it is just a corrective to restore balance from the disordered eating we have accepted as normal due to assiduous interests in the market.

A sampling of the food that MyFitnessPal can automatically track...

-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2957

Heavy eating week, but not out of control. As can be seen from the content of the last few weeks, the gears are turning...

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 3320

SLEPT: 9:30pm-6am, 8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, health salad 750 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, cheezits, 210 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, scrod fish, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, popcorn, pocky, +/-900

-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 3300 cal

SLEPT: 9pm-5:30am,  8.5hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45 am,  iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oats, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:15pm, chicken meatballs, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, 680 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, vegetarian dim sum, +/-700 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 3 packs pocky, a few homemade brownies, +/- 1000 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3005

SLEPT: 8:30pm-12am, 4:30am-6:30am 5.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 8:30am, 2 small school pancake +/- 100 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:45pm, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3:15pm, shrimp and mushrooms with oyster sauce,  poppa salad with dressing, 670cal

DINNER: 8pm, burrito & diet coke, 925cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, ice cream, +/- 300 cal

HUNGER SNACK: 9:30pm, pocky, brownie, +/- 400 cal, hunger 8/10
-----

THURSDAY COUNT: 2660

SLEPT: 10:30pm-5:30am, 7 hours

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 2 tylenol

BREAKFAST: 11am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:30pm, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, bacon, poppa salad with dressing, 440 cal

DINNER: 6pm, seafood platter, coq au vain, 1 beet, chocolate cake and creme brûlée, bread & butter, bite of steak frites+/- 1500 cal
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2500

SLEPT: 10pm-6am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 2 tylenol, 160cal

BREAKFAST 2: noon, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, steak, poppa salad, +/- 600 cal

PM SNACK 4pm, momma salad, pringles, 290 cal

DINNER: 6pm, sushi meal, chocolate chips & cashews, +/- 1000 cal

Eating Clean: the Disorder

I wrote about "eating clean" a little over a year ago:

I was out for brunch over the weekend, and while we were pursuing an exciting, free-form conversation stretching across too many topics to recount here,  my perfectly pleasant dining companion mentioned that she ate freely during the weekend (sounds familiar), and during the week she ate "clean".
I've heard that buzzword before on the periphery, and to be honest it raised my bullshit antenna. I casually asked, "Oh, clean? What does that mean?" Her eyes glanced down and to the side, a physical sign that she perhaps was not completely comfortable. She said something about no sugar and no flour. "Oh, carb free diet?" No, well, kinda, lean proteins and vegetables. I kind of wanted to ask more questions, but I could tell pushing it would not be gentlemanly. Fair enough, guys needling ladies about their eating habits can be creepy in the wrong context, and perhaps this afternoon was the wrong context.

I think my instinct was right -- our eating habits are very personal and subjective, and not a good topic for a 2nd (and in this case, final) date. But I do remember this lady well, she was quite impressive. She was the director of a major department at the NY Times, raising a kid on her own in a fantasy Brooklyn brownstone, and really nice on the eyes. I let the conversation about eating habits go, despite me having a lot to say on the topic, because her body language expressed discomfort, the kind of discomfort that usually doesn't lead to a third date.

This is how sexy NYT ladies dress for the office.

I've thought of her twice in the past few months. First, her department was reorganized and I saw her name in an article about it in the newspaper, which indicated she took a new role in her specialty outside of the newspaper -- maybe moving back to Cali to be closer to the baby daddy? I also thought of her this past week, when I buzzed passed this article while writing last week's entry about the licensing effect.

The idea of an eating disorder that didn't involve a loss of appetite or the desire to purge began hitting the zeitgeist a year and a half ago. The disease was called orthorexia, a term coined by Dr. Steven Bratman in 1997. "Orthorexia is defined as an unhealthy obsession with healthy food," Dr. Bratman tells Broadly. "It's not the diet that is orthorexia, it's the diet that could lead to it. The more extreme or restrictive the diet, the more likely it could lead to orthorexia."

Eat disorders are a facet of addiction, if you believe that addiction is not simply the physical craving caused by things like heroine, caffeine and alcohol. Anything that gives pleasure can be obsessed over and brought out of balance, whether than is drugs, booze, food, sex, money, gambling, whatever, pick your poison. The idea of being obsessed with something righteous and healthy is something I wrestle with -- I ride my bicycle 100+ miles a week, but as far as I can tell it is in balance with my work, family, interpersonal relationships and health. And the fact that I monitor my eating on a daily basis during the week, similar to the NY Times Clean Eating Woman (NYTCEW), am I on a spectrum? Am I on a path to orthorexia?

After coining the term, Dr. Bratman went on to publish several books about orthorexia and healthy living. Today, he has created an official scientific definition for the disease and is working on getting it published and accepted by the medical community. But Dr. Bratman was not the one to bring orthorexia to the mainstream some year and a half ago. Jordan Younger, a 25-year-old lifestyle blogger from California, was.
Younger was a devout raw vegan who had built an online following of tens of thousands by writing about veganism and her virtuous diet on her then-blog The Blonde Vegan. To Younger, veganism was the cure-all she was hoping for—no longer did she suffer from chronic indigestion or feelings of bloating and discomfort. As she preached about the benefits of a plant-based diet alongside photos of bright green smoothies, mason jars brimming with chia seeds, and chopped kale salads, the popularity of her vegan persona grew.

Cut to the chase, gradually she went more and more hardcore. All that extreme experimenting in foods that are deemed to be unquestionably healthy did a number on her.  And it is in the following graph, as they say in clickbait, she really nailed it (bolding mine):

Eventually, Younger came to understand that she had a problem. But hers wasn't a classic eating disorder that people were familiar with; hers was a fixation on the virtue of food. She introduced the term orthorexia to her following, saying that she was suffering and was going to get help. The response she got was overwhelming: "Once I started talking about experience with orthorexia on my blog and national news picked up on it, a flood of people came forward saying they identified with me," Younger tells Broadly. "We're talking tens of thousands of messages. It's been a year and a half and I haven't stopped hearing from people. It's not that number anymore; it's a couple people a day now, but it showed me how many people feel inadequate and feel that living a balanced life is not enough."

All that bad stock photography of ladies eating salad? Just make 'em frown and POOF! orthorexia.

Balance is all there is - it is an acceptance that things are not black or white, that to function we must live in a shade of gray. For example, the problem tearing the Republican Party apart is an adherence to ideology over governing, to beliefs over facts. It is reflected in out culture, nailed by Stephen Colbert as "truthiness", the feeling that something is true, regardless of reality. To believe a raw-vegan-regular-detox habit is healthy for your body, mind and planet despite the immediate evidence to the contrary is a symptom of truthiness, and definitely needs a place in medical literature. Hopefully the "Eat Clean" lobby won't interfere in that process, god knows how much good has been prevented by financial interests who politicizes things that should be simple public health concerns (hello, Big Soda & the defeat of soda taxes!)

"There is nothing wrong with eating local or being a vegetarian or vegan. I think a lot of those diets are inherently valuable. The problem is that we have moralized eating, weight, food, and exercise. Food has become presented—more and more—as the answer."

Other than a very brief and furtive make-out session with NYTCEW, there was never another opportunity to explore what she meant about "eating clean". I do admit, perhaps because of my male privilege or own obsession with food, when she avoided the conversation it was a red flag for me -- is there an issue here? Is this blog out of balance, or a tool to keep in balance?

-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2836

Disappointing but not surprising high average.

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 2470

SLEPT: 11:30pm-6:45am, 7.25 hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: noon, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5pm, beef patty, chicken soup,  poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, popcorn, almond butter & chocolate syrup, +/-800

-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 2850

SLEPT: 8:30pm-2am,  5.5hrs

AM SNACK: 2:30 am,  iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oats, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, sole, asparagus, momma salad, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, birthday cupcake, +/-200 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

HUNGER SNACK: 7:30pm, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, +/- 400 cal, hunger 9/10
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3275

SLEPT: 8:30pm-5:30am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

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

AM SNACK: 8:30am, bite of donut, +/- 50 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, bacon,  poppa salad with dressing, 440cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 8pm, burrito & diet coke, 925cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, ice cream, +/- 500 cal

HUNGER SNACK: 9:30pm pringles, 190 cal, hunger 8/10
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 1055
THURSDAY COUNT: 3025

SLEPT: 10:30pm-3am, 4.5 hours

AM SNACK: 3:45am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, homemade granola bar, 320 cal

BIKE SNACK: 6:15am, homemade granola bar, 320 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, pickle, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, veggie straws, 160 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, kind bar, 200 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, cheezits, 210 cal

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, homemade browmies, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 7pm, pork tenderloin, mashed potato & mushroom gravy, steam string beans, +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, home made brownies, +/- 500 cal
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2560

SLEPT: 9:45pm-12:30am,  1:30am-7am, 8.25 hrs

BREAKFAST: 10am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 80cal

AM SNACK: 11am, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, poppa salad, pickle, 770 cal

PM SNACK 4pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 260 cal

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

License to be a Fatty McFatterson

Good habit to match with driving everywhere.

We tell each other lies, but the worst are the lies we tell our selves because sometimes we don't even know that we are lying. At the heart of many of these lies is "false equivalency". Fox News is a master of the false equivalency lie: to be "fair and balanced", one fact must be balanced with an equal and opposite fact. An unfavored set of facts set off  a move to "balance" them with equal and opposite falsehoods under cover of "opinion". If there is any place in our personal lives where the line between opinion and facts are blurred, it's how we approach food.

Route data from more than 1,000 shoppers, matched to their purchases at checkout, revealed a clear pattern: Drop a bunch of kale into your cart and you’re more likely to head next to the ice cream or beer section. The more “virtuous” products you have in your basket, the stronger your temptation to succumb to vice.

Why make yourself TOO miserable with eating the healthy stuff? There needs to be "balance" to satisfy our baser cravings to prevent them from taking over. This is the "virtuous" thinking behind my eating for the past couple of years -- keep to the kale juice Monday through Friday, and hold on to your hats when the weekend came along. And to be honest, it worked for quite a while...as a transitional step, not a routine to live by forever. I used to mindlessly eat 95% crap, and by regimenting myself into 70% strict/30% whatever, I found a new balance that seemed fair to me. But  my body has seemed to settle on a new (lower) weight for a while now, and I'd like a new strategy to retain my health and get a little slimmer as an investment in my well-being as I teeter into my mid and late 40s.

Well, I guess thats fair. And balanced.

But it’s a particular problem in health because we’re confronted with so many decisions on a daily basis and yet the outcomes we’re most concerned about — like disease, disability and, ultimately, death — are difficult to measure, heavily influenced by chance or too far into the future to be sure of cause and effect. That leaves us vulnerable, because unlike Newton’s Third Law, the actions and reactions of the licensing effect aren’t necessarily “equal and opposite.” Few of our health decisions are clear-cut, so we’re left weighing uncertain benefits against unknowable behavioral compensation.
So how can we maximize our chances of coming out ahead? Psychologists have identified a few tactics.

A head of kale is not the equal or the opposite of a pint of ice cream. Eating well for 5 days does not license me to eat like a f'ing retard for 2 days. Maybe I'm being a little bit too harsh, but it is a line of thinking that has been brought to my attention a while ago by a loved one, and is now only starting to sink in. Disordered eating doesn't have to be as dramatic as death-taunting anorexia/bulimia -- it can be as simple as some one trying to "eat clean" obsessively or, uh, keeping a food diary on line for years and years. Obsession with healthy eating is no good because it's an OBSESSION, and by definition obsessions are out of balance.

One is to focus on the process of living healthfully rather than the goal of being healthy. (italics mine.)

It goes back to that ol' buzzword of the moment: mindfulness, living in the moment, not worrying about what my eating habits are going to do for me at the end of the month at weigh in, or years down the line when others of my age are crumbling. It's thinking how this food is going to make me feel after it hits my stomach in the next 30 minutes, will it get me through feeling strong to the next meal and not sap my energy or send me through a blood sugar rush? It is about shopping on Monday so I have good stuff to eat through the week. There is no need to think further than how long it takes for said head of kale to wilt and go funky.

A recent University of Zurich study tracked the progress of 126 dieters and found that, as predicted by licensing theory, the more weight the subjects lost in any given week, the less weight they would lose (or the more they would gain) the following week. But this rebound effect was weakest when the subjects homed in on the process of changing their eating behavior rather than on the outcome of losing weight or improving their appearance.

It is a truism that people who go on crash diets and are desperate to lose weight by any means necessary eventually stop panicking, return to "normal" and gain all the weight back. Nice to see (albeit small and maybe statistically undependable) study say in no uncertain terms, just worry about the process being good and healthy and sane, let the outcome take care of itself.

Another approach, proposed by Professors Khan and Dhar, is to narrow your focus so that you weigh the pros and cons of each decision in isolation. To illustrate this principle, they offered either a single free movie rental or two rentals (once a week for two weeks) to a group of undergrads. In the one-shot choice, just over half the subjects opted for a “lowbrow” film like “Dumb and Dumber” rather than a weightier selection like “Schindler’s List.” But when they knew they’d get another chance to make a “good” choice, the number who went lowbrow shot up to 80 percent.

In other words, judge each eating choice like it's the sole determinant of the outcome. There is no need or option to balance a virtuous choice with a guilty pleasure. Not every choice has to be kale, but every choice doesn't need to be kale OR ice cream, the trap of licensing and Fox New's "balanced fairness."

It would be funny if Fox News & it's corporate overlords weren't actually doing real damage to our country and our democracy.

I've depending on the recording of my eating to allow me to go on automatic during the week, but my life has been such since June that I'm able to work from home, therefore cook from home, too. No need to pack lunches that can be cooked in an office microwave. My life has gotten better in the past year, maybe it's time to ease up on the lock step of eating to the beat and get a little jazzy.  I'm kinda little scared, but more excited than fearful.

-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2861

I don't like the high average, but I can live with it.

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 2805

SLEPT: 7:30pm-4:30am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, beef patty, chicken mulligatawny soup, momma salad, health salad, 825 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, tilapia, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 570 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, popcorn, +/- 400

HUNGER SNACK: 8pm, almond butter with chocolate syrup, +/- 400
-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 3340

SLEPT: 11:15pm-4am,  4.75hrs

AM SNACK: 4:30 am,  iced green tea

AM SNACK: 8:30am, half a donut, +/- 150 cal

BREAKFAST: 11am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oats, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, chicken meatballs, mushroom curry, steamed string beans, 650 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

HUNGER SNACK: 8pm, pringles, 2 kind bars, 790 cal, hunger 9/10
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2655

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms in oyster sauce, poppa salad, 670cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, slice of streetza, +/- 250 cal

DINNER: 8pm, burrito & diet coke, 925cal

EVENING SNORT: 10pm, whiskey, +/- 100 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 1055
THURSDAY COUNT: 3005

SLEPT: 10:30pm-1am, 2:30am-3:30am, 3.5 hours

AM SNACK: 1:30am, 2 kind bars, cheezits, 410 cal

AM SNACK: 3:45am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine

BIKE SNACK: 6am, homemade granola bar, 240 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45am, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:15pm, vegetarian samosa and chickpea curry, momma salad, +/- 900 cal

DINNER 1: 7pm, whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce and parm, poppa salad, 700 cal

DINNER 2: 9pm, 1 slice pizza, ice cream, oreos, +/- 1200 cal

-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2550

SLEPT: 10pm-5am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea

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

AM SNACK: 11am, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, beef patty, pickle, 410 cal

PM SNACK 3pm, kind bar, 200 cal

PM SNACKS: 5pm beef patty, pringles, veggie straws, 720 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm,  peking duck, shrimp, dumplings, +/- 750 cal