Chipotle Revisted, Politco-Economically

The longer I write this blog, the more I wonder how much our food culture is just an extension of our values, and in particular, how our values are shaped/manipulated/influenced by economic interest. There is a weird disconnect on the right, where they champion "family values" and the nuclear family, but when it comes to talking about how the need for 2 incomes per family has devalued the role of the stay-at-home mom and increased the need for socialized daycare, or talking about how the lack of a living wage for the least skilled workers among us directly leads to family instability and divorce,...nothing, just a buzzing/clicking sound, no one home.

It is the right-leaning libertarians who take great comfort on the so-called "invisible hand of the market" deciding all sorts of issues, and nothing is so clearly market-based than the supply and demand of fast food. So it's with particular amazement that I've read reports recently that Chipotle's choice to remove pig meat (excuse me, "carnitas") from their menu when they found their suppliers not living up to their ethical standards has had a real bottom-line effect on their otherwise voracious growth over the past few years. Letting ethics stand in the way of growth is very contrary to American-style 'profit at all cost' capitalism. Or maybe I'm just too cynical? Or maybe the board of this publicly traded company will force the issue and risk alienating some of Chipotle's consumers by redefining what "ethical" means for the sake of the bottom line. I'm curious where this story is heading.

Another trend bucking the state of American-style capitalism is the pay that the workers at Chipotle and other fast food joints will be receiving in the next few years in New York.

The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City began nearly three years ago has led to higher wages for workers all across the country. On Wednesday, it paid off for the people who started it.
A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wednesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour over the next few years. Wages would be raised faster in New York City than in the rest of the state to account for the higher cost of living there.
The panel’s recommendations, which are expected to be put into effect by an order of the state’s acting commissioner of labor, represent a major triumph for the advocates who have rallied burger-flippers and fry cooks to demand pay that covers their basic needs. They argued that taxpayers were subsidizing the workforces of some multinational corporations, like McDonald’s, that were not paying enough to keep their workers from relying on food stamps and other welfare benefits.
The $15 wage would represent a raise of more than 70 percent for workers earning the state’s current minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. Advocates for low-wage workers said they believed the mandate would quickly spur raises for employees in other industries across the state, and a jubilant Mr. Cuomo predicted that other states would follow his lead.

Paying money to people who will spend it immediately will only put a shot of energy into the local economy - that's Economics 101, if I remember correctly. But if you're talking class-warfare, then it's definitely a point on the side of the unwashed masses and an alarming trend for those in power. Unsurprisingly....

The restaurant industry has chafed at these decisions. “We continue to say that we think it’s unfair that they singled out a single segment of our industry,” Melissa Fleischut, the executive director of the New York State Restaurant Association, said.

I agree. Because of the politics involved, a general raise of the minimum wage for all could not be created, but a singling out of the largest minimum-wage industry could. Still, I can't help but shed a crocodile tear for poor McDonalds, who can't seem to get anything right nowadays. Maybe they should try to start replanting the rainforests in Brazil their beef-suppliers destroyed and start touting sustainably raised burgers? At least we could feel good about their slowly crumbling empire!

Know your Pigmeat.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2670

No bike riding for the foreseeable future. All the tests should be in next week that'll hopefully diagnosis the extent of my injury.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2570

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, 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: 3:30pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat bread, pickles,  momma salad, 620 cal

DINNER: 7pm, Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, watermelon, +/- 300 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2450

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 9hrs

AM SNACK: 6:45 am, iced green tea

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

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

PM SNACK: noon, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus, snippets of boiled corn and kraft mac n cheese, +/-700 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/- 500 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2720

SLEPT: 9pm - 6am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 3pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, 700 cal

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

DINNER: 8pm, Chipotle Burrito, diet coke, ice cream, +/- 1100 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2760

SLEPT: 10:30am-6:30am, 8 hours

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed stringbeans, lentil curry, pickle, 640 cal

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

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, poppa salad with dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, gyoza & ramen, chocolate cookie, +/- 1000 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2850

SLEPT: 10:30pm-6:30am, 8 hours

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1:30pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat bread, pickles 530 cal

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

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

DINNER 2: 6:30pm, slice of pizza, +/- 400 cal

Reusable Shopping Bags Makes You Fat

Oh yes you are.

A recent study was touted in the NY Times, in which it is shown that people who bring their own reusable shopping bags were more likely to shop for organic and healthy things because of it, but were also more likely to purchase more unhealthy indulgent stuff like ice cream and chocolate.

The researchers attribute the changes to two distinct, largely unconscious processes. The first, called the priming effect, comes into play when you bring reusable bags and then “behave in a congruent fashion, and buy environmentally friendly products,” said Bryan Bollinger, a study co-author and assistant professor at Duke.

Many of us are probably more familiar with the other effect, called the licensing effect. “Previous research suggests that making a virtuous decision in one domain allows you to make an indulgence in a different domain” — like when you have dessert because you just went to the gym, said Uma R. Karmarkar, another study author and an assistant professor at Harvard.

 A huge amount of harm is done by paying attention to this kind of study. It's the same bad science that causes Dr. Oz to get on TV and tout green coffee beans as a miracle weight loss supplement, and the same kind of thinking that turns butter into a "bad fat" then into a "good fat".

If you abandon scientific trends and microp-studies and keep consistent in a philosophy of "less processed is more better", this actually makes sense.

First of all, the sample size is 111 people in ONE location. Though millions of trips were recorded, the sample size kinda makes inferring anything about these effects moot. It's like inferring that Donald Trump WILL be the Republican candidate for president based on his lead in the current polls...of the rightest-of-right wing wackos who are participating in preliminary straw polls.

And let's not forget cause and effect. Is a shopper bringing a bag then decide on the spot to buy healthier, or do they plan to buy healthier in advance and then decide to bring a bag to bolster that decision? Chicken, egg? 

It makes me wonder, what about the health effects of an economic cost to not bringing your own bags? I know Wholefoods purposefully asks me every time, "Did you bring your own bag?" to normalize the act of bringing them, and give a 5 cent discount for every bag you bring. However, there is a move gaining popularity across states to charge 5 or 10 cents per disposable bag used. If me wanting avoid the surcharge lead me to bring reusable bags, would that make it more likely I'd purchase more expensive organics and less healthy foods? My gut says, "of course not", but I imagine a sample of 10,000 across the nation over a period of a few years would answer the question definitively.

These little studies are fun exercises....to use your critical thinking. Otherwise, you end up buying magic beans.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2710
Up and down week, getting though the summer.

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MONDAY COUNT:2690

SLEPT: 12pm-6am, 6 hrs

AM SNACK: 10 am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat bread, pickles, health salad, 620 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn +/-500 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 2680

SLEPT: 9pm-6:30am, 9.5hrs

AM SNACK: 6:45 am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, age yogurt wit honey, vanilla, almonds, 450 cal

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

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

DINNER: 6:45pm, stouffers french bread pizza, poppa salad, 1080 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 1150 cal
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2090

SLEPT: 11pm - 6am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

BIKE SNACK: 9:45am, 2 donuts, +/- 900 cal

LUNCH: 2:45pm, sautéed shrimp & mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, 630 cal

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 8pm, Chipotle Burrito, ice cream, +/- 1100 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3105

SLEPT: 12am-6am, 6 hours

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, pickles, 560 cal

PM SNACK: 2pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, poppa salad with dressing, cheezits, 410 cal

DINNER: 7pm, Schezuan food, ice cream sandwich, +/- 1100 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, nutella, 325 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2985

SLEPT: 11pm-6:30am, 7.5 hours

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, grilled chicken breast, poppa salad, pickles, 615 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, Ethiopian food, sweets & tea +/- 1000 cal

Gluten Shmooten

This is a good metaphor, as the science is equivalent to retelling a story of mythical beast that never actually existed.

When I eat vegetarian dim sum, I always get a plate of mixed gluten. Protein extracted from wheat sources, it has a nice chew and goes down easy. It doesn't have much flavor on it's own but the various strong sauces along with different processes make the flavors and textures bounce. And yet, me and my dinner companions don't go into any sort of gluten-shock.

Gluten is not a big baddy, and the myth that gluten is some intrinsically unhealthy thing has been embraced by the food industry to sell more crap that isn't making anyone healthier. However, you can't throw a rock on the internet without hitting some anecdotal evidence that cutting gluten is a miracle cure for all that ails you.

A recent piece in the NYT addressed this issue, and postulated some interesting theories. The rise of gluten sensitivity might not have anything to do with gluten at all, really. Typical evolutionary thought says that if you introduce something to the human diet like wheat or dairy, over generations the human body evolves to cope -- it's an advantage to survival. However...

Perhaps the best support for this idea comes from a place called Karelia. It’s bisected by the Finno-Russian border. Celiac-associated genes are similarly prevalent on both sides of the border; both populations eat similar amounts of wheat. But celiac disease is almost five times as common on the Finnish side compared with the Russian. The same holds for other immune-mediated diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, allergies and asthma. All occur more frequently in Finland than in Russia.
WHAT’S the difference? The Russian side is poorer; fecal-oral infections are more common. Russian Karelia, some Finns say, resembles Finland 50 years ago. Evidently, in that environment, these disease-associated genes don’t carry the same liability.

A heightened auto-immune response is actually an evolutionary advantage if you live in filth, or raise feces-spewing farm animals and eat them, and you're body is under assault everyday. While on a rare occasion, the balance will tip into full-blown auto-immune disorder, a chaotic & dirty environment can tamp this down.

I bet she has no problem with gluten.

So perhaps the problem isn't that people with "gluten sensitivity" are eating too much wheat. Maybe the problem is that they're too clean. Maybe we shouldn't establish pig pens in our NYC apartments, but perhaps we can let the hand-sanitizer, anti-bacterial everything and more-than-daily showers go?

An important clue comes from the fact that other disorders of immune dysfunction have also increased. We’re more sensitive to pollens (hay fever), our own microbes (inflammatory bowel disease) and our own tissues (multiple sclerosis).
Perhaps the sugary, greasy Western diet — increasingly recognized as pro-inflammatory — is partly responsible. Maybe shifts in our intestinal microbial communities, driven by antibiotics and hygiene, have contributed. Whatever the eventual answer, just-so stories about what we evolved eating, and what that means, blind us to this bigger, and really much more worrisome, problem: The modern immune system appears to have gone on the fritz.
Maybe we should stop asking what’s wrong with wheat, and begin asking what’s wrong with us.

It's easy to pick one big villain and blame all sorts of everything on it, whether it's gluten, carbs, fat, animal products, etc. It's never that simple. Put down the yoke of false "gluten sensitivity" and simply eat more vegetables and fruits, unprocessed foods and let that push out the stuff that may be making you feel not-so-hot.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2740
Worked from home again this week, don't think this lifestyle suits me. It's nice to have access to the kitchen but my regularly scheduled day-food is designed for travel to office kitchenettes....

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MONDAY COUNT: 2970

SLEPT: 12:30pm-6am, 5.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 1:30pm, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm,  beef patty, pea soup, health salad, pickles, 750 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, almond butter & chocolate syrup, 2 kid granola bar, +/-650 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 770 cal
TUESDAY COUNT: 2770

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:30am, 8hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45 am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, homemade granola bar, 150 mg caffeine, 455 cal  

BIKE SNACK: 10am, homemade granola bar, 455 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, chicken meatbals, lentil curry, steamed string beans, pickles,  680 cal

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

DINNER: 6:45pm, stouffers french bread pizza, poppa salad, 1080 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3310

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 5:30am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST: 11am, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, grilled chicken breast, poppa salad with dressing, 740 cal

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, momma salad, cheezit, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, slice of streetza, +/- 300 cal

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 8pm, Chipotle Burrito, ice cream can, +/- 1100 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 1360cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 1940

SLEPT: 10:30pm-6:30am, 8 hours

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, 2 donuts, +/- 700 cal

BIKE SNACK: 1pm, homemade granola bar, 490 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:30pm, homemade granola bar, 490 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER PT 1: 6pm, beef patty, poppa salad with dressing, 560 cal

DINNER PT 2: 8pm, vegetarian dim sum, +/-800 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2710

SLEPT: 11pm-6:30am, 7.5 hours

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat, pickles, momma salad, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, peanut butter crackers, 190 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, hot dog, fries, ice cream, +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, ice cream, +/- 400 cal

Checking In With Mickey D

There's no going home again.

It's no secret that I'm a little fascinated by McDonalds -- it's a dinosaur of my youth that seems to be on the edge of a potential extinction event. My parents fed it to me as an occasional treat, and in the ensuing years they expanded...and expanded...and expanded, pretty much covering the globe, delivering identical Big Macs from NYC to London to China & Russia and beyond. In culinary school, I was taught the momentous scale of this achievement, not unlike Napoleon or Ghengis Khan assembling an army and a strategy that could create a globe-spanning empire. The food it produces had become secondary -- Ronald McDonald became more recognizable than Jesus, and growth seemed limitless.

Unfortunately, the Earth is a limited place and an empire based on a shitty burger will only go so far. But McDonalds is a corporation with the very best minds in the business, the best food scientists, the best marketers, so it's with anticipation that I wait to see what they're going to do to rise out of the tailspin of consecutive losses for the past few years now. Various trends locally and globally work against them. Between a back-lash to unhealthy food, a rising awareness of ecological issues, and the wants of a younger generation to customize because they are all special snowflakes, I thought McDonalds would make some industry-changing bold moves. Instead, they are...toasting their buns a little longer.

Some onlookers see the approach as the right one for the burger giant. “Small menu tweaks and promotions are indicative of the kind of turnaround plan they need,” said restaurant consultant Aaron Allen.
First, the chain has announced plans to toast its buns five seconds longer to make its sandwiches hotter.
Last week, an internal document revealed it would beef up its quarter pounder to weigh a quarter pound (4 ounces) after cooking, a significant bump up from the current 2.8-ounce cooked patty, according to CNBC. The changes seem to an effort to compete with other “better-burger” chains like Shake Shack and Five Guys that have been stealing customers.

A few months ago, McDonalds took to social media and produced a number of videos that showed how the food got made, trying to assure the population that it really wasn't "that bad", but it was pretty obvious corporate silliness. An ad campaign that aimed to 'spread the love' put it on the backs of poorly paid front-line labor to emotionally connect with random customers in quite a creepy way. It's not for nothing that fast-food unionization and the push for a living minimum-wage has started to snowball in response to such corporate machinations.

Yet the one thing they've been doing for years -- making the food healthier in small increments behind the scenes, like adding whole wheat to the muffin of the Egg McMuffin -- has remained unheralded because a) people think things that are healthier are less tasty and b) it's a sort of admission that their food has been previously unhealthy.

“Sure, the quality and nutrition needs to go way up — along with a hundred other things,” he said. But, more importantly, “you can never make it too fast or too convenient for consumers.”

Quality and nutrition? Phneh, whatever! Make it fast and convenient! Maybe the death of the dinosaur is writ large right here...

Emerging brands like Chipotle and Five Guys are literally and figuratively eating McDonald's lunch. Will tiny tweaks accumulate to push the needle, or see McDonalds do a long, slow fade-away. They used to open up stores every year -- now they are starting to close them. Further attempts at creating a meme with the kids, like a new, cool, sexy Hamburglar, seem more embarrassing than anything else.

This makes me hurt for my innocence lost.

In my mind, I see a complete rebrand, a complete reimagining of the menu, a huge investment in making McDonalds more like....Chipotle & Five Guys, going all in on a huge risk in destroying an empire that is only starting to lose it's grip on the world. But corporations and boards who answer to stock-holders who only want profits THIS quarter are conservative by nature, so I don't expect to get the call to come run McDonalds anytime soon. I'm really curious how this story will play out.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2538
Skewed a little by bike riding.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2595

SLEPT: 11pm-6:45am, 7.75 hrs

AM SNACK: 7 am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 2:30pm,  tomato soup, pickles, momma salad, cheezits, 465 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, kind bar, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, peanut butter crackers, nutella pack, kid granola bar, 670 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 685 cal
TUESDAY COUNT: 2595

SLEPT: 10pm-5am, 7hrs

AM SNACK: 5:30 am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken sausage, lentil curry, steamed string beans, pickles,  550 cal

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

BIKE SNACK: 4pm, homemade granola bar, 330 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, stouffers french bread pizza, poppa salad, 1080 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3550

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 1am, 3am-6:30am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 1:30am, nutella snacks, 2 kid granola bars, 740 cal

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

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

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, momma salad, cheezit, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

LUNCH: 4pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, 740 cal

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, cashews, 350 cal

DINNER: 8pm, Ethiopian food, +/- 800 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 2780 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 1300

SLEPT: 11pm-4am, 5 hours

AM SNACK: 4:30am, 3 donuts, 150 mg caffeine, +/- 1200 cal

BIKE SNACK: 11am, peanut butter crackers, 240 cal

LUNCH: 11:30am, 2 slices pizza, diet sprite, +/- 800 cal

BIKE SNACK: 2pm, ice cream, 340 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, Chinese food, +/- 1500 cal
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FRIDAY COUNT: 2650

SLEPT: 8:30pm-4:30am, 7.5 hours

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12pm, momma salad and cheezits, peanut butter and turkey on an english muffin, +/- 800 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with dressing, veggie straws, 340 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, lamb roll, vegetable pakora, samosa, cheese thing, +/- 900 cal

Monthy Weigh In: Point B.

203.6-->207-->208.6

After last month's call for deep thought and self-analysis, I'm going to be brief now. The slight gain is annoying, but not unexpected. I really haven't focused on eating much this past month, but I've made interesting roads into the emotional and professional circles of the ven diagram I presented last month. Despite this being the heaviest I've been in 2 years, my health has never been better, my endurance on the bike and, uh, other physical activities, are strongest it's even been in my entire life.

Though I'm afraid to directly say it as it may cause a jinx, I'm kinda happy right now. Not satisfied or full or complacent or distracted by baubles, but yeah, I'm kinda happy with how things are going. Key word "going", as there seems to be movement from a very dark Point A that starts in February 2010 of the above graph, and will go to some Point C at some undetermined point in the future. It's the trip, not the destination, where all the fun lies. And I don't mean destination like a beach resort in Hawaii, I mean destination, like death. OK, I'll shaddap now.

Heaven, Hell and Point C

I'm gonna try to eat a little less in July. That is all.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2920
Very intense but good week. Ate too much because of emotional eating, but I know it's not a new normal and can be related to very specific, non-repeating events.

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MONDAY COUNT: 3270

SLEPT: 12pm-6am, 6 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, vegetarian meatballs, tomato soup, slaw, pickles, 550 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/- 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, flourless chocolate cake, digestive cookies, +/- 800 cal
Emotional turmoil.
-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 3250

SLEPT: 9:30pm-1am, 3:30am- 6:15am, 6.25hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30 am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 2pm, chicken meatballs, lentil curry, steamed string beans, pickles,  650 cal

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, almond croissant, +/- 400 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 7pm, stouffers french bread pizza, poppa salad, 1080 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 2 kid granola bars, 200 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3390

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 3:30am, 6 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, 740 cal

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

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, cashews, 250 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, homemade ice cream, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, Chipotle Burrito, 880 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, ice cream, +/- 300 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 2550 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 1380

SLEPT: 12:30am-5am, 4.5 hours

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea, 

BREAKFAST 1: 6am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 7:15am, 3 good donuts, +/- 800 cal

BIKE BREAKFAST: 10am, waffle, bacon, +/- 700 cal

BIKE SNACK: 12pm, homemade granolabar, 285 cal

BIKE SNACK: 3pm, homemade granola bar, 285 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45pm, cheetos, twix, diet coke, +/- 800 cal

DINNER: 8pm, Ethiopian food, +/- 900 cal
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 3270

SLEPT: 11pm-6am, 7 hours

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, sardines and avocado on whole wheat toast, pickles, poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

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

DINNER: 5pm, hot dog, fries, ice cream, +/- 800 cal

DINNER 2: 9pm, beef patties, cookies, +/- 800 cal

Truisms: Approaching a "No Diet" Diet

Well, maybe I wouldn't go THAT far....

There are certain truisms emerging after writing this blog for 2+ years, so this post might bore the 2 or 3 of you who've been reading it religiously. When you start believing something as true that shapes  your world, you start seeing it everywhere, but it's eery when articles in the media direct address it in the span of a week or so.

This past week, yet another signpost that in the battle to lose weight, forget about exercise.

A 2011 meta-analysis, a study of studies, looked at the relationship between physical activity and fat mass in children, and found that being active is probably not the key determinant in whether a child is at an unhealthy weight. In the adult population, interventional studies have difficulty showing that a physically active person is less likely to gain excess weight than a sedentary person. Further, studies of energy balance, and there are many of them, show that total energy expenditure and physical activity levels in developing and industrialized countries are similar, making activity and exercise unlikely to be the cause of differing obesity rates.
Moreover, exercise increases one’s appetite. After all, when you burn off calories being active, your body will often signal you to replace them. Research confirms this. A 2012 systematic review of studies that looked at how people complied with exercise programs showed that over time, people wound up burning less energy with exercise than predicted and also increasing their caloric intake.

I would never tell anyone not to exercise -- my exercise regime of bicycling and weight lifting is key to retaining sane, happy, focused, productive and communicative with those I love....but it doesn't help me lose weight. For many years a good friend would ask, "You ride you bike so damn much, why you still so fat?" Because it's about eating less and better, not doing more. Consume and spend less: less on food, and no need to waste your time in gyms and running around in circles.

I had to dig unspeakably far through Google Image Search for a "Fat Racist" to find this image.

Oddly related to fighting consumerism to aid in weight loss and public health, the recent racist mass-murder  in South Carolina saw an interesting response that neither blames racism or gun culture directly, but anti-intellectualism that allows simplistic, fearful thought to grow and discourages the shame that should be applied to those who espouse fundamentalist views in public and in politics.

Corporate influence on climate and environmental policy, meanwhile, is simply more evidence of anti-intellectualism in action, for corporate domination of American society is another result of a public that is not thinking critically. Americans have allowed their democracy to slip away, their culture overtaken by enormous corporations that effectively control both the governmental apparatus and the media, thus shaping life around materialism and consumption.

The drive to eat more is profitable. Offering any solution other than eating less is profitable. Reason and truth that contradicts the drive to eat more is unprofitable. Anti-intellectualism is the solution to keep the stock price high. Who care if a few eggs, or church goers, or entire classes of little kids, get broken in the process?

But to get back on track, as we're not trying to solve all of the world's ills, but just lose some weight and keep it off. So truisms so far:

• Eat less to lose weight, exercise for other reasons.
• Capitalism will do anything to make you eat more.

and thirdly,

• Diets don't work.

Diets don't work for a variety of reasons, from biology to psychology. Mann points the finger, first and foremost, at human biology. "Genes," she writes, "play an indisputable role in regulating an individual's weight: Most of us have a genetically set weight range. When we try to live above or below that range, our body struggles mightily to adapt."
Second to biology, Mann blames a combination of neuroscience and psychology. Our brains are hard-wired to want food for survival, she explains, so restricting calories creates a psychological stress response, which facilitates weight gain, not loss. Also, she adds: "Studies show that willpower, the thing we all blame ourselves for not having enough of, is in many ways a mythical quality and certainly not something that can be relied upon for weight loss."

Books about a "no diet" diet address the question I occasionally get asked as I've maintained a significant weight loss for a few years now: "How did you do it?" Modern "diets" that are published in books with snappy hooks don't really answer it other than "stay forever uncomfortable on this cockamamie scheme we put on you." Eat cabbage soup for 2 meals a day for the rest of your life? Pretend to eat like a caveman? Cut out all carbs/fat/protein/food of a certain color/randomly chosen villain? Balderdash.

You just have to work with the biology, psychology and resources you're given. Anti-intellectual magical thinking will profit someone other than yourself, and will literally and figuratively keep you on a treadmill to prevent you from actually becoming engaged in life in a meaningful way, but it won't help you lose weight and keep it off.
-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2720
Very much an up and down week, a lot going on.

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 3550

SLEPT: 11pm-6:30am, 7.5 hrs
Hungry -- probably still in calorie deficit from the 100 miles I rode yesterday.

AM SNACK: 6:45 am, iced green tea

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, sardines and avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad, pickles, momma salad, chests, 1010 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, ice cream sandwich, 430 cal

DINNER: 7pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/- 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 3 kid granola bars, one kind bar, 500 cal
-----

RIDE CREDIT: 740 cal
TUESDAY COUNT: 2925

SLEPT: 9:30pm- 5:30am, 8hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45 am, iced green tea

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

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

BIKE SNACK: 2pm, homemade granola bar, 290 cal

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

DINNER pt 1: 5:15pm, poppa salad, dressing, veggie straws, 330 cal

EVENING SNACK: 5:45pm kind bar, 200 cal

DINNER pt2: 8pm, Chipotle burrito, chips & salsa, ice cream 1925 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2970

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 12:30am, 3 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

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

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

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

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

DINNER: 8pm, burger, fries, oysters, sticky bun, water, +/- 900 cal
-----

THURSDAY COUNT: 2660

SLEPT: 10pm-6:30am, 8.5 hours

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea, 

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

BREAKFAST: 1:45pm, Fage yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 410 cal

DINNER: 7pm, stuffers french bread pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, +/-1640 cal

-----

BIKE CREDIT: 715 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 1495

SLEPT: 9pm-12:30am, 3am-5:30am, 6 hours

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

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

BIKE SNACK: 2pm, homemade granola bar, 290 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, mussels over pasta in wine and oil, ice cream and flourless chocolate cake, glass of wine, +/- 1000 cal

Piñatas are the stuff of nightmares.

I was sugar mad as a kid. My allowance and stray coins would go straight to the candy store. It was happiness and love when my mom would make a cake or brownies from the Betty Crocker mix, a rare culinary task that was within her reach. A slice of pizza made no sense without grape soda. If I felt down, sugar would pick me up. If I felt good, sugar would celebrate it.

As I slide into middle age, I think I successfully untangled these deep emotional ties to the substance that was messing with my health. Perhaps I'm not free of it, but being aware of it is more than half the battle. Indeed, early on in this blog, I approached sugar from every angle to help me get a bead on it. I even drilled down into the relationship between kids and sugar. In a nutshell, kids are growing rapidly and need lots of fuel to feed that, so their taste buds are programmed to find super-sweet (a.k.a. super-caloric) things attractive. It is in the manipulation and marketing to children for these needs that evil tends to lurk.

GIMME CAAAAANDYYYYYY!

And holy biz-natch, did I see one face of evil this past weekend. It's name is piñata. If there was something to turn a bunch of 20-odd happy-go-lucky six year olds who just spent the last 2 hours playing together idyllically into a raving bunch of blood-thirsty zombies who will think of nothing of gnawing through their neighbor's flesh to get to sweet, sweet brains candy, it is the piñata.

I never paid much attention to the piñatas at other kid's parties, there was usually only 5-10 kids and they were younger than 6. My daughter had been asking for a piñata over the past year, so when her mom suggested it, I thought "of course" and ordered one on line to my daughter's whim -- a pink stripe heart. It was a fun activity filling it with my kids -- some excess Costco swag, fruit paper and gummies and the like, but then the real crack-rock stuff: Hershey's kisses, tootsie rolls, Reese's peanut butter cups, etc -- the stuff that I loved as a kid, and my daughter specifically asked for. She wanted all the candy that I would never give her on a regular or even-semi regular basis. Fruit is on the regular. Good ice cream is on the semi-regular. Cake and cupcakes once every so often. But this stuff, this was the once-a-year, no-way-any-other-time stuff. I could see her eyes get a little glazed as we stuffed that heart-shaped box full.

I kept the ice cream, cake and piñata indoors until the end of the party, and the tradition of gathering around a be-candled cake and singing to the celebrant was enough to focus the crowd. But as we furiously cut cake, scooped ice cream and served 40-odd mouths, just 10 feet away the magnetic power of the piñata beckoned. After all the kids got cake and and open call to the adults to serve themselves, the crowd around the table was a little sparse. A ring of about 10 kids stood around the piñata, staring at it, like it would burst at any moment simply by quietly focusing their mind energy on it.

To cut a long story short, another dad at the party who had real-world piñata experience jumped in and advised me how to set it up and tried to control the crowd with magical side-walk chalk lines. Still, every swing of the broom handle was one more likelier chance for some kid to get whacked on the head or worse. After getting most of the kids to take a few whacks, I called for any parent volunteers, because this fucker would not break. For a moment, I clawed at it with my hands, but no. In desperation, afraid of the 20+ little kids slowly closing the gap between me, them and the candy explosion poised to burst around my head-height, I pulled it down and shouted, "GO FOR IT!" That was unnecessary, as at my feet a dog-pile of 20+ little kids formed, with a soundtrack of shouts for candy, cries for help, guttural murmurs of air being pushed out of lungs by compression, and after a whole 10 seconds, cries that some only got one piece of candy, while unfairly others got pounds and pounds. (I feel for those parents in particular.)

After the fact, I asked my daughter how she liked her party. Unlike last year, there were no crying jags or drama, she lead a pack of fellow girls all day, and the present pile was larger than ever. However, she did not like how little candy she got from the piñata. I recommended maybe next year, instead we should do goodie bags where each kids gets the exactly the same amount. "No," she scolded, "next year when the piñata opens, just let me take candy, and then everyone else!" Unless we engage in some TSA-level security to hold the crowd behind a gate, I just don't see that happening.
-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2615
Surprisingly low average, but probably due to eating crazy the weekend before and not being hungry on Monday...

-----

BIKE CREDIT: 715 cal
MONDAY COUNT: 2095

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 7 hrs
Overate a bit this weekend due to my daughter's party and all the sweets I cooked up and packed into that damn piñata.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine

BREAKFAST: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, vegetarian meatballs chicken soup, health salad, pickles, 650 cal

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

DINNER: 7pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/- 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 2 kid granola bars, one kind bar, 400 cal
-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 2370

SLEPT: 9:30pm- 7am, 9.5hrs

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

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

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

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5pm, shrimp empanada, 2 cookies, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 2 kids granola bars, kind bar, 400 cal
-----

WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2630

SLEPT: 9:15pm - 11:45pm, 2:45am-5:45am,  5hrs

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, grilled pork loin, poppa salad with dressing,  pickles, 620cal

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

PM SNACK: 5pm, cashews, 310 cal

DINNER: 8pm, pork curry tomkatsu, water, +/- 800 cal
-----

BIKE CREDIT: 1370
THURSDAY COUNT: 2910

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 3:15am, 4.45 hr

AM SNACK: 3:30am, iced green tea, 150 mg caffeine

BIKE SNACK: 5am, homemade granola bar, 320cal

BIKE SNACK: 7am, homemade granola bar, 320 cal

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

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

LUNCH: 1pm, grilled pork loin, poppa salad with dressing,  pickles, 620cal

PM SNACK: 2pm, momma salad, cheezits, 410 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, 2 cookies, +/- 600 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, Pizza, salad, beer, +/- 700 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, ice cream, +/- 700 cal
-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 3070

SLEPT: 11pm-6:30am, 7.5 hours

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

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

BREAKFAST 2: 11:45am, Fruit smoothie, 450 cal  

LUNCH: 2pm, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, pickles, +/- 650 cal

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

DINNER 1: 5:15pm, hot dog, fries, ice cream, +/- 800 cal

DINNER 2: 8pm, seating sandwich, half a cookie sandwich, water, +/- 700 cal