Breakfast, the exercise

It is amazing how much bad stock photography of breakfast plate smiley-faces there are....

I've been contemplating breakfast lately. I've been working from home almost exclusively since June, and slowly my lock-step of eating almost the same thing every day in a 5-day weekly rotation has been evolving. However, my breakfast has been pretty locked into three parts, the third which is a rotation of three things:

• Pint of iced green tea, no calories and a low dose of caffeine. And due to cold brewing, pretty much is guaranteed to be naturally not bitter in the least.
• Fresh vegetable and fruit juice. Low on the fruit (just 1/2 a large apple and carrot, which is not a fruit but almost has as much sugar as one) and high on the nasty kale and beet. Tastes nasty, but makes me physically well.
• Two of the first two, one of the third:

1. Steel cut oatmeal (prepared the long way, with everything needed to make it taste wonderful)
2. Fage Yogurt (full fat and plain, sweetened with just a touch of honey to knock off the bitterest notes and amped up with homemade vanilla extract and a healthy sprinkle of roasted, salted almonds
3. Fruit Smoothie (made with banana, a selection of frozen fruits, yogurt, chia soaked in pomegranate juice and a proper dash of salt and vanilla.)

To recap: grain based, boxed breakfast cereals are bullshit.  Millenials, who have less exposure to the advertising and the emotional connection, are rejecting it as over-processed sugar traps. Recently I've been using my weekends to indulge in comfort breakfasts like BLT on a bagel, pancakes and waffles, and lately I've been working my way through the breakfast cereals of my youth: "healthy" cereals like corn flakes, rice crispies, crispex, Special K. All of them taste oddly sweet to me, and looking at the ingredients it's not hard to see why -- there is plenty of sugar processed into these "unsweetened" cereals. I also grew up on Raisin Bran, but I actually rejected them from my weekend eating because they had the added sugar equivalent of a "Honey Smacks" or "Frosted Flakes", a level of sugar that literally puts my body feeling funky and weird.

How I feel on too much sugar.

So I've been trawling the internets lately looking for a new breakfast direction to work into my routine, and found this piece about what nutritionists eat for breakfast.  It's a listicle with 9 breakfasts, and it can be categorized as such

• Oatmeal (2, 4, 7)
• Eggs (1, 9)
• Oatmeal & eggs (6)
• Yogurt (5)
• Juice/Smoothie (3)
• Whole grain toast (9)

If these are all nutritionist-approved breakfasts, I shouldn't be surprised -- they are nutritionists, not chefs looking to push the boundaries. Seems my breakfast rundown already falls in their perimeters with the exception of the absence of eggs. Personally, eggs are out of the question for me for reasons I've stated in these pages before. I try to limit my grains over all as they are calorie dense, nutritionally light and prevent space for vegetables both raw and cooked -- if I were to include rice in my weekly Chipotle burrito, it would make an already big meal kinda silly.

Rather than cleverly putting an egg on the oatmeal, perhaps I should look into waking some bacon on it? Fat and protein to help improve the ratio to carbs.

Part of me considers skipping breakfast, but that is just as bullshit as breakfast cereals. Hormones are naturally quieter in the earlier hours, making it easier to eat less or nothing, but it is at your peril if you choose to skip the meal then endure those same hormones coming back at you 2 to 3 times as hard commanding you to eat because you tripped the starvation trigger.

Hmmm. That was a fun mental exercise at re-examining breakfast, but what did it get me? Add bacon. Of course, I could just say f it all, put my faith in the culinary excitement that food scientists know I crave and go ALL-AMURICAN:

HOUSEKEEPING
Goin' to England next week, going to skip a week. When I get back, there will be a monthly weigh in, and then I will only post once a month. The monthly posts will be an essay, a monthly way in, and a large set of food diaries. I think this is the best because I think the quality of my essays have gone down in recent months as my work and family life have become more intense. Less fat, more muscle!
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2651
Not bad. Riding ramping up.
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MONDAY COUNT: 2510
SLEPT: 9:30pm - 6am, 8.5 hrs
Well

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, pickles, 600 cal

DINNER: 7pm, lemon sole, roasted asparagus, poppa salad, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, kind bar, snippet of banana bread, +/- 650 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 630 cal
TUESDAY COUNT: 2460

SLEPT: 9pm-5:30am,  8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 12:30pm, Fage with honey, vanilla almonds,  450 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, chicken meatballs with mushroom curry, steamed string beans, pickles, 640 cal

BIKE SNACK: 5pm, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

DINNER: 7pm, stouffer's french bread pizzas, poppa salad, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, chocolate milk,  500 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2860

SLEPT: 9pm-1am, 4am-6am, 5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 8:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 11:15pm, quarter pounder, kid's fries, diet coke, 2 nuggets, +/- 750 cal

PM SNACK: 2pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, poppa salad with dressing, veggie straws, 330 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, burrito, diet coke, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, handful of peanut butter pretzels, +/- 150 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 630
THURSDAY COUNT: 2775

SLEPT: 9:45pm-3:15am, 5.5 hr

AM SNACK: 3:30am, iced green tea

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

BIKE SNACK: 10:45am, homemade granola bar, 315 cal

BREAKFAST: 12:15pm,  steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, peanut butter crackers, 240 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, good grilled cheese, poppa salad, pickle, banana bread, +/- 1000 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 240 cal

DINNER: 7pm, Vietnamese food, store bought deserts, +/- 1000 cal 
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2650

SLEPT: 9:30pm-6am, 8.5hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 12:45pm, Fage with honey, vanilla almonds,  450 cal

LUNCH: 4pm, poppa salad with dressing, pork loin, 500  cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 240 cal

DINNER PT 1: 5:15pm, fries, bit of hotdog, spoonful of ice cream, +/- 400 cal

DINNER PT 2: 7pm, sausages, a beer, a few potato chips, bite of brussel sprouts, scoop of ice cream +/- 900 cal

Even if salt isn't that big a deal, knowledge is still power.

I've spoken a little about salt here before, and my conclusions were mild at best: studies have shown again and again super-low and no salt diets not only do NOT cure high blood pressure caused by non-food issues, but are actually very harmful. And if your high blood pressure is caused by salt...

Yes, salt raises blood pressure....temporarily. If your system takes in too much salt, enough to mess with the chemical balance of your blood, the body literally starts a pleasant combination of holding water (bloating) and/or flushing it out (pee) to dilute or get rid of the salt to bring you back into balance. These fluctuations in the amount of liquid sloshing around the pipes of your veins literally raises the pressure within. However, once it's gone, it comes back into balance - permanently - until you eat too much salt again.

If you stop eating too much salt, you're blood pressure will literally normalize in the time it takes to pee it out. The problem lies in the constant flow of salt in our diets, and it's not from the salt shaker on the restaurant table or the little pot of salt you use to season your homecoooking.

It comes from over processed food. As I was taught in culinary school, salt is added towards the end of a recipe and you keep tasting until you have just enough to make it delicious. Once it's delicious, there is a window -- you can keep adding it get a diminising return, but soon enough it'll go from delicious to disgustingly salty, and you have to throw it out and start again. There is only so much salt a food will take, unless...

Pretzels with salt on the outside taste super salty because pure rocks of salt hit your tongue first thing. However, if you dissolve that same ratio of salt and bake it into a muffin or process it into a breakfast cereal, it won't be noticed. Why process the salt as such? There is a flavor benefit, but also by adding more and more salt, the shelf-life the the food-stuff is extended, meaning a more efficient industrial food chain, meaning more profit at the expense of your blood pressure.

It's the same thing with sugar, which also has a preservative effect when processed into food. Coca Cola adds caffeine to their product for various reasons, but the main one is flavor -- not because caffeine is delicious; caffeine is one of the most bitter substances we consume. Without caffeine, Coca Cola's sugar makes it way too sweet for human consumption -- caffeinating it lowers the sweetness profile to trick you into finishing a whole can, or bottle, or whatever.

So it's good news that there is a plan afoot to label high-sodium foods on menus in NYC, just as NYC was the leader in calorie labeling on menus of chains with more than 15 outlets, now a national law. It's not even about the exact amount of salt, only when the amount is totally bonkers:

Some will surely use the study to conclude that the “war on salt,” as Scientific American called the political protest around it several years ago, is unjustified. But the city’s measure to place symbolic saltshakers next to individual menu items with at least 2,300 milligrams of sodium — again, the full, recommended daily allotment — is far from a call to arms. Beyond that there is an inequality argument to be made in the name of such labeling.

The OTHER NRA (National Restaurant Association) is of course against it, as they represent food profit at all cost, just as the the NRA represent gun sales at all cost. The fact is crappy food with tons of preservative salt fall on the the diets of those who can afford the impact of bad health the least. If society is measured by how we protect the weakest among us -- children, elderly, the physically handicapped and mentally ill, prisoners, minorities and the poor -- then this law (as well as restrictions on hyooooj soda portions) is good governance and the moral thing to do. Of course, if you just want to sell sell sell it's to your advantage for the buyer beware, and more specifically, the buyer unaware, because what we are talking about here is not a restriction, but the arming of the populace with information against those who see them as nothing but profit centers.

WEEKLY AVERAGE:2496
Trending in the right direction. Bike season ramping up.
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BIKE CREDIT: 1530
MONDAY COUNT: 1943
SLEPT: 9:30pm - 6am, 8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine

BREAKFAST 1 : 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BIKE SNACK: 10:30am, homemade granola bar, 330 cal

BIKE SNACK: 11:45am, gatorade, Fritos, 770 cal

BIKE SNACK: 2pm, donuts. 620 cal

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, momma salad, cashews, 350 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, chocolate milk, 500 cal

DINNER: 7pm, stouffer's french bread pizzas, poppa salad, 1040 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2600

SLEPT: 9pm-12am, 1am-6am,  8 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30am,  iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1:30pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 7pm, lemon sole, roasted asparagus, poppa salad, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, kind bar, nutella, 490 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2730

SLEPT: 9pm-10:30pm, 1:30am-6am, 6 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 8:30am, 3 turkey sausage patties, +/- 250 cal

BREAKFAST 1: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:15pm, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 4:15pm,  grilled pork tenderloin,  poppa salad with dressing,  600 calcal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, and cashews, 350 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, burrito, diet coke, 920 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 1020 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 2330

SLEPT: 10:30pm-1am,  11:45am-1pm, 3.75hr

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

BIKE SNACK: 5:30am, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:30am,  Fage with honey, almonds and vanilla, kind var, 650 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, good grilled cheese, momma salad, +/- 900 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, skyline-style chili with cheddar over buttermilk waffles, pop salad, chocolate creme brûlée, +/- 1500 cal
Homecooked, not resto.
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2880

SLEPT: 9pm-5:30am, 8.5hrs

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

LUNCH: 1pm, fishball noodle soup, pork and vegetable dumplings, tea, +/- 1000 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, popcorn popped in bacon fat, momma salad, +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate chips & cashews, +/- 600 cal

EVEING SNORT: 9:30pm, whiskey, +/- 200 cal

The Donald Trump Diet

I don't really hide the political thread that runs through this blog; I firmly believe in the responsibility of a government for and by the people to look after their best interests. The personal is political. While government should not intrude into the bedrooms or uteruses of consenting adults, they SHOULD intrude into the safety features of the mattresses in that bedroom and the assured availability of tampons and scientifically proven birth control methods that affect them thar uteri.

So no, the government should not tell you how much soda you may or may not drink. The government SHOULD ban the advertising of all food other than vegetables to children and SHOULD restrict the portions of soda intended as a single serving over a certain size. That's not nanny-state, that's just good governing for the people, by the people. And by "governing by people" I mean people who are educated and know more about specialized topics than you or I.

So while giving Donald Drumpf more media attention is a bit like giving oxygen to a flame, there is no ignoring when such a big political story crosses paths with food and nutrition. Drumpf is a fraud of a brand, and he sells his brand to the highest bidders. Look at how he has debased his brand for profit over the years. It's not just steaks from the Sharper Image...

...and it's not just stuffed crust pizza (wait, isn't pizza the food of IMMIGRANTS?!)...

...and it's not just trying to save the sales of a fast food dinosaur...

....and it's not just some really gross looking oreos...

...and it's not just some low end ethanol in a "classy" bottle...

It's also a blatant disrespect for poor people, fat people, and god forbid poor fat people on food stamps...

Sure, the first 5 videos kinda entertain and crack me up -- Drumpf is not so much a successful business man, but a clownish mockery of what a successful businessman is supposed to be, and shilling for crappy pizza, crappy burgers, crappy cookies and suspiciously sourced steaks and booze are (relatively) harmless.

But don't confuse a clown exploiting a brand for a leader, or what is clownish in the pretend-world of entertainment will become our national nightmare. Drumpf-logic says since McDonald's is so good at making large amounts of food that doesn't poison people and make money while doing it, they should be in charge of all school lunches. It's not a large leap. And from there, it's not such a large leap to watering all our crops with sports drinks, because electrolytes are what the body craves...

I know I'm probably preaching to the quire here -- people with so little information and such shallow thinking to actually vote for a Donald Drumpf probably don't read a blog like this. Still, it just....hurts.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2,564
Good eating week, but still thinking about the idea that all calories are not equal, how while my vegetable intake can be goosed up a little, and how carbs and starches need to shift a little more over to fats and proteins. Last meal of the week was at a steakhouse, avoided a heavy appetizer or a starch, and it was the first time I've finished a steakhouse steak, and felt pretty good walking out and the rest of the evening, with no cravings. Interesting.
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MONDAY COUNT: 2490
SLEPT: 9:30pm - 6:30am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 11:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 1:30pm, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3:30pm, beef patty, momma salad, chicken soup, 580 cal

DINNER: 6pm, lemon sole, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 8pm, kind bar, handful of animal crackers, popcorn, +/- 700 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2430

SLEPT: 9pm-5am,  8 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, fruit smoothie,  450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry, pickles 490 cal

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 230 cal

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

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, handful of animal crackers, +/- 100 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2700

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea


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

BREAKFAST 2: 12:45pm, Fage with honey, vanilla, almonds, 450 cal

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

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, momma salad, and cashews, 350 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, cury pork tonkatsu, gyoza, octopus balls, miso soup, water, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 910pm, Asian cookies +/- 300 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2480

SLEPT: 10:30pm-6am, 7.5hr

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 3pm, momma salad, sausages, sauteed mushrooms, kind bar, 670 cal

DINNER: 6pm, adult grilled cheese, half a poppa salad, tomato soup, small slice of cheesecake, beer, +/- 1200 cal
Homecooked, not resto.
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2720

SLEPT: 11pm-3am, 4:30am-6:30am, 6hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 12:45pm, fage with vanilla, honey, almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3:15pm, shrimp with shiratki noodles and oyster sauce, poppa salad with dressing, 530 cal

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

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, half a slice of streets, +/- 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, 14 oz steak, string beans, a few potato chips and a pretzel stick, half a large brownie dessert, +/- 1200 cal

I'll take it!

214-->216.6-->216.4
It's with a small sense of relief that the gain finally stopped this month -- though a 1/5 lb loss is not statistically significant, I do think my increased mindfulness over the past month did turn the trend. Bike season is about to start, and that matched with increased awareness of what/how/when/why I throw food down my gullet  should hopefully expand the trend over the spring summer and fall.

No declarations here, just more of what I thought about doing in the weigh-in last month. Slow and steady wins this race. I think that's all I'll say about that.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2912
Too high. Really must work on that.
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MONDAY COUNT: 3040 cal
SLEPT: 11pm - 6:30am, 7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, beef patty, momma salad, tomato soup, pickles, 530 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, half a kielbasa, 400 cal

DINNER: 5:45pm, lemon sole, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 8pm, half a chocolate bar, handful of animal crackers, popcorn, +/- 700 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2860

SLEPT: 10pm-6am,  8 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30am,  iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1:30pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry, pickles 660 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 230 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30, cereal with milk, 300 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Stouffers Pizza, poppa salad with dressing, 1060 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3000 cal

SLEPT: 8pm-6am, 10 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 12:30pm, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, bacon, poppa salad with dressing,  440cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheesits, 330 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 8pm, burrito, diet coke, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, kind bar, nutella, peanut butter pretzels, +/- 900 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT:2470

SLEPT: 11:30pm-6:30am, 7hr

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 12:30, fruit smoothie, 450  cal

LUNCH: 3pm, poppa salad with dressing, veggie straws,  330 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 330 cal

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp & scallop scampi with freshly baked Italian bread, creme brûlée, wine, +/- 1200 cal
Homecooked, not resto.
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FRIDAY COUNT: 3190

SLEPT: 2:30am-6:30am, 4hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea


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

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal,  450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, sauteed chicken and mushrooms in wine and spices over quinoa, momma salad, creme brûlée, +/- 1000 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, chocolate bar, pirate booty, 580 cal

DINNER:7pm, sushi, desserts, +/- 1000 cal

Questioning the Calorie

Part of the fat shaming discussed last week is the assumption that losing weight is an easy no-brainer: just eat less and do more, and the laws of thermodynamics dictate you must lose weight. As the writer Will Self noted in taking down the defender of fat people, no one ever saw a fat person leave the Nazi's concentration camps.

Which got me thinking: huh, is this the dawning of the "concentration camp" diet? Simply enter a concentration camp run by Nazis, and sit back and watch the pounds melt away, easy-peasy! So let's set up concentration camps for fat people, we'll be doing them a favor! Right? Right?

I've written a couple of times about the usefulness of calorie counting. Over-consumption is profitable and necessary to have an every-growing economy, and regulatory agencies responsible for nutritional labeling and warning the public are hobbled by business interests. (Profitable because the health care costs generated by obesity are hidden costs, i.e. bore by the government and the tax payer, not Big Food.) "Intuitive eating" is a nice idea to avoid the stress of calorie counting but is easily interfered with by food scientists who hijack our evolutionary drives for survival by appealing to our base instincts for sugar-fat-salt.

Nutrition is a young science, under invested in by an industry that doesn't want to invest in things that lose money and ignored by a political system that profits from going all in on "individual responsibility". Still, evidence is growing that despite the strongest wishes of the fat-shamers who deduce that fat people just eat too much, it's not so. Growing evidence is showing all calories are not created equal.

Nuts are generally regarded as a calorie-dense, energy-dense food group. But David Baer, a researcher at the United States Department of Agriculture, found that our bodies only absorb about 70 percent of the calories in almonds. Same with walnuts and pistachios....Research found that our bodies absorb up to 40 percent more calories from meat, starches and fat when they are cooked....it’s hard to make a conclusion when there are so many variables – from the bacteria living in your stomach to how accurate our food labels are.

Calories are measured by putting a food in a calorimeter -- basically, a furnace that burns the food and measures the units of heat that comes out of it. However, we are not furnaces, but complex acid-engines attached to various systems that interact to give unexpected results based on factors OTHER than personal resolve and how much fat is in that muffin.

Due to research involving gut bacteria and the Internet friendly idea of poop pills and fecal transplants related to IBS issues, it's been found that the billions of microbes living in our gut, set by our parents, environment and first foods we eat, may help determine our set weights. Other research points to the rise of cheap sugar and processed food in the 60s and 70s as tracking with the rise in obesity. What research has NOT found is a rampant wave of laziness and lack of personal responsibility. If anything, it is the opposite. The rise of the diet industry, Oprah's partnering with Weight Watchers and the amount of cash being generated by foods catering to fat people wanting to get skinny have never been greater...or more profitable.

I've swapped out a weekly slice of pizza for a handful of nuts. It's a tiny thing, but real diet change is slow and cumulative, not fast and extreme. I've relaxed on the counting of calories in the past few years. For example, I used to weight every vegetable and fruit in my morning juice, now I just say "160", which is about the average of what it was, day to day. My counting is indeed my personal responsibility, to keep myself accountable, but it is not the solution. It is only a wall against giving in to the temptations of all the delicious food out there that would blow me up like a balloon. I don't have an answer to how to lose weight in the face of a body striving to regain to where it was through hormones and evolutionary habit. I do have the personal fortitude to keep trying, despite what the fat-shamers say, and I have trust that morally-upstanding scientists will point us in the right direction, even if it means an industry will have to suffer a loss of profit.

Obesity has lead to an epidemic of spontaneous decapitations! Good thing fat people are so stupid they actually don't need anything above their necks to continue to live.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2840
Too high, but was a weird week, I'll give myself a little slack this time. A few weeks until bike season starts for me...
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MONDAY COUNT: 2510
SLEPT: 9:30pm - 5am, 7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 2:15pm, beef patty, momma salad, tomato soup, pickles, 550 cal

DINNER: 6pm, grouper, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 8pm, kind bar, handful of animal crackers, popcorn, +/- 700 cal

-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 3340

SLEPT: 9pm-7am,  10 hrs

AM SNACK: 7:30am,  iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2:15pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, lentil curry, pickles 700 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 230 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Amy's Pizza, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:30pm, pocky, 760 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 580
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2750

SLEPT: 9pm-4:30am, 7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 8:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 150 mg caffeine, 160 cal

BIKE SNACK: 10:30am, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:30pm, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, grilled pork tenderloin, poppa salad with dressing,  600 cal


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, momma salad, cashews, 350 cal

DINNER: 8pm, burrito, diet coke, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, 2 pack of pocky, small bowl of cereal and whole milk, 550 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT:3040

SLEPT: 11:30pm-5:45am, 6.25hr

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10am, movie popcorn, pickles, momma salad, 480  cal

BREAKFAST 2: 1:30pm, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, shirataki noodles with shrimp, poppa salad with dressing, 500 cal

PM SNACK: veggie straws, small amount of chocolate chips and peanut butter pretzels, +/- 400 cal

DINNER: 6pm, spagetti carbonara, polenta terrine, bitter chocolate tart, +/- 1500 cal
Homecooked, not resto.
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2560

SLEPT: 9pm-midnight, 2am-6:30am, 7.5hrs

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal,  450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, sardine and avocado on wholewheat, momma salad, 600 cal

LUNCH PT 2: 3pm, left over spag carbonara,  chocolate tart +/- 850 cal

DINNER:5:15pm, 1 hot dog, +/- 300 cal

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

Fat Pride comes before the Fat Fall

I'm not a fan of the fat-pride movement; should we accept the world as it is, or strive to make it better? However, I recently read a piece in the NYT that gives a more nuanced approach to the issue. It made me think: have I internalized fat-hatred from our culture at the expense of my own health and sanity?

The author of the piece is a novelist who put a central character in her fictional story who is a stand in for herself, but unlike Woody Allen swapping himself out for a younger, more handsome movie star, her heroine is unvarnished: an unapologetic fat woman. She's been called upon in her promotional duties to become the defacto spokesperson for being in defense of being a fat, happy woman who is not afraid to speak of it in pubic.

Talking with people about my book taught me that we might think we live in an age when we can’t be shocked, but a novel about a 300-pound woman who learns to love her body as it is — without losing weight — is a major taboo. Since I dared not only to write this story, but also to appear in public as a fat woman myself, refusing to apologize for my existence or to hide my body in a burlap sack, I became an unwitting ambassador for the revolutionary idea that there’s nothing wrong with being fat and female. I get asked questions more appropriate for a therapist or a nutritionist than a novelist. I get asked about my history of dieting and body image struggles. I am harassed by a mob of online trolls dedicated to bullying fat women.
A few months after the book was published in the United States, I went on a book tour in Australia. During a live radio interview on my first day there, another novelist, Will Self, hijacked the discussion of my book to lecture me about how unhealthy and ugly fat people are; to cite the Holocaust to make a point about the correlation between body size, exercise and food consumption (“You never saw anybody fat come out of Auschwitz,” he said, quoting a drug counselor); and to spread fear about a looming fat apocalypse, claiming that, among other things, “statistically, where I live in England, by 2030 nobody will walk.” 

God damn! Doesn't that guy know the truism that if your argument involves invoking Hitler and the Holocaust, you've lost?

It's easy for me to shove this issue to the back of my brain, excusing myself with "live and let live." However, I know if I care about the world, it's not as simple as those libertarian imbeciles would like you to believe. I know rationally that the evidence is in: obesity is NOT equal to ill health. Obesity is a symptom of ill health, but obesity is also a symptom of eating more than you exert and/or a symptom of a slower metabolism for reasons nefarious or natural.

What this poor woman is coming up against is a whole system that profits (yep, in my view, it comes down to economics when dealing with broader social issues) from making obesity a personal failure. You're fat because of a lack of self control; it's all very Christian in the worst sense of the word. There is a huge diet industry dedicated to profiting from individuals just trying harder, and it doesn't help the bottom line by actually resolving the issue, only promising to. On the other side is an army of corporate sponsored food scientists designing cheap food to be addicting, and marketeers who sell this stuff without consequence, protected by "small government" zealot politicians who are happy to take money to do less.

Of course, it's not just economics -- there is misogyny in there, too. It's not a far leap to propose that certain aspects of our culture values women by their desirability to men, and how a woman who is happy to be fat is repudiation of the power of patriarchy. This ain't that kind of blog, but I do have a daughter and other women in my life who I love dearly. I don't have the solution but hopefully by acknowledgment, I'm less a part of the problem.

In a culture where most fat people in the media have missing heads — the anonymous, decapitated, interchangeable blobs whose photos accompany scary news stories about obesity — a fat woman with a voice can be threatening, not just to bullies, misogynists and anti-obesity crusaders, but to many of those who consider themselves to be enlightened, too. I sometimes think it would be easier to be one of those anonymous, headless fat people. But if you’re missing a head, you can’t speak up.

My own personal preferences (prejudices?) say no one in their right mind should be prideful to be fat, but no one should be ashamed or belittled for being fat, either. When you get to the root of it, most people are good, not stupid and lazy and and poor and selfish. Really, it's about a betrayal of the individual by a lack of protection from the "free" market. I've been struggling with getting my head around my own weight gain over the last year. I don't think I'm lazy, stupid or selfish, and by most standards I'm not poor. My weight gain, the abuse this poor woman has suffered, the world of shit my daughter & son are entering: I wouldn't say it's my fault, but I do have prejudices that need to be checked. One thing I can say with certainty: it's my responsibility.

You don't have to go back as far as Botticelli to find a time when fat chicks were all the rage. It's more about social values then actual health concerns...

WEEKLY AVERAGE:2610

Better, but I suspect it would be better to have all 5 days closer to the average rather than +3k days and sub 2.3k days...

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 2410

SLEPT: 8:30am - 5am, 8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3:45pm, beef patty, momma salad, pickles, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 7pm, lemon sole, aspargus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 8pm, kind bar, handful of animal crackers, small bowl of cereal and whole milk, +/- 500 cal

-----

BIKE CREDIT: 570
TUESDAY COUNT: 2290

SLEPT: 9pm-5am,  8 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30am,  iced green tea


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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45am, fage with honey, vanilla, almonds, 450 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:15pm, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:30pm, kind bar, pirate booty, peanut putter pretzels, 600 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3100

SLEPT: 8:30pm-4:30am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 5am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 8:30am, turkey sausage patty, +/- 100 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45, fruit smoothie,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom masala, pickles 640 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, cashews, 350 cal

DINNER: 8;15pm, burrito, poppa salad with dressing, 1120 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, peanut butter pretzels, 280 cal
-----

THURSDAY COUNT:3020

SLEPT: 10pm-3am, 4:30am-6:30am, 7hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 11:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal


BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, poppa salad with dressing and cheezits, 410 cal

DINNER: 6pm, onion soup, stuffed rice balls, sautéed broccoli, lemon tart, white wine, +/- 2000 cal
This was an extensive few hours of cooking, not a restaurant meal.
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2240

SLEPT: 10:30pm-5am, 6.5hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced black tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, pickles, momma salad, cheezits, 730 cal

DINNER:5pm, 2 slices of pizza, small amount of ice cream, a few chips, +/- 900 cal

A Coke Product, for fat people in denial.

It's a total fat-person's move to fill their cup at the soda fountain with half diet soda and half regular. You're in the thrall and addiction of carbonated sugar water, and can't quite let it go, so you literally half-ass it by watering it down with carbonated artificially-sweetened water. So it's no wonder that the slowly-dying corporate monolith that has millions and millions of dollars to study their shrinking consumer base to make it just a little bit easier to be half-assed. Ladies and Gentlemen, "Coke Life."

The drink contains Truvia, a branded form of stevia extract. Stevia has no calories. Truvia is currently an $80 million product, as of 2014.
Coca-Cola Life is the first branded Coke product to use stevia leaf extract. However, it is not the first product owned by the Coca-Cola company to use stevia. Vitamin Water and Seagram's Ginger Ale both use it.
Coca-Cola Life contains sugar, but uses less sugar than traditional Coca-Cola. An 8 US fluid ounces (240 ml) serving contains around 60 calories, 17 grams of carbohydrates of which 17 grams is sugar (equals only 1/3 less sugar than traditional Coca-Cola). The list of ingredients is carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, caffeine, phosphoric acid, and stevia.

Though I've never seen this product, it was introduced in 2014. The only reason I'm hearing about it now is that is being declared a flop by the media and the beverage industry. It has sold less every month than the month before for the entirety of 2015. Coke Life is the first new Coke since Coke Zero in 2006, also a product that aimed at the health-conscious consumer. (Do you remember Coke Lemon and Coke Lime from the early 2000s, which solved the problem of putting a wedge of fresh citrus in your drink by dosing it with weird overpowering fake lemon and lime flavors?)

And now they are reducing the amount of sugar in the product from 45% of full-sugar coke to 33%. It's like an abuser saying, "I know punching you in the face repeatedly is not good for you, and I already hit you 45% less. But because I'm such a swell guy, I'm only going to punch you in the face 33% as much, ok? Still love me?"

Selling sex has been in the news recently as Playboy just rolled out a relaunch that takes away the full-frontal nudity. Look at these two images side by side...

Not to be too obvious or pointy-headed on y'all, but both are selling the same old crap by wrapping them in the sheen of barely post-teen sexuality. Covering up the naughty bits, whether it's a bra or diluting the sugar with chemicals, is lame half measure that really doesn't address the fundamental issues of what is wrong (or what was originally great at a previous time) about the product. Ick ick ick.

As I've written before, corporate food monoliths of my youth are starting to realize the ground they stand on is quickly turning into a dinosaur graveyard, and it's fascinating to watch them thrash about trying to deny the inevitable. Coke's concentrated calories has contributed greatly to wrecking our nation's health, using food scientists to build the perfect mousetrap and psychologists and strategists to sell it to us. Now that the obvious truth (coke is BAD for you) is leaking out despite their best efforts, they are trying to trick us into thinking that they aren't the problem, but part of the solution. As long as your locality doesn't cheap out on basic civil works like the water supply (hello, Flint!), the solution largely comes out of your tap.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2810

Surprised how high this number is, but making progress in eating a little less sweets and little things like swapping out a regular slice of pizza with a handful of cashews. Little things will start adding up.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2690

SLEPT: 8am - 5am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced black tea


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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, beef patty, chicken soup, momma salad, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, poppa salad with dressing and veggie straws, 330 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, vegetarian ethiopian food, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNORT: 7pm, whiskey, +/- 150 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm,  small bowl of special K and whole milk, +/-200 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2690

SLEPT: 10pm-5:30am,  7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am,  iced black tea

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, madras lentils, steamed string beans, chicken meatballs, pickles, 720 cal

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

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

DINNER: 5:15, vegetarian dim sum, +/- 1000 cal

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

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2870

SLEPT: 9:30pm-12:30am, 3:30am-6:45am, 6.25 hrs

AM SNACK: 7am, iced black tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45, fruit smoothie,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2:45pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms with shiritaki noodles and oyster sauce, poppa salad with dressing, 660 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, momma salad, pirate booty, 230 cal

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, burrito, diet coke, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, kind bar, 200 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 720 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 2840

SLEPT: 10pm-3:30am, 5.5hrs

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

BIKE SNACK: 7am, homemade granola bar, 300 cal

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

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, kind bar, 200cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, ramen with extra noodles, shumai, moki, +/- 1200 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, homemade pizza, wine, a little ice cream, +/- 1200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, nutella, 500 cal
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2960

SLEPT: 10pm-6am, 8hrs

AM SNACK: 8am, iced black tea

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

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

LUNCH: 2:30pm, bacon with poppa salad with dressing, 440

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER:5:15pm, fish and chips, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, potato leek soup with bialy, herring canapés, fried babka and a little ice cream, +/- 800 cal