Jumpstart Day 6

Sometimes, Supper just happens. Tonite was one of those nights. An onerously long meeting at the office, plus Mrs D. having work struggles led to finishing the entire bottle of wine. Its days like this that reinforce the concept of perfection being the enemy of the good. Because some days, good enough is just that.

Breakfast; Scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa

Lunch; Steak, salad with olive oil and vinegar

Snack; apple and almonds

Supper; Atkins Quick Seafood Chowder, Crackers, Cheese, and Wine

Snack; Pepperoni and cheese

JumpStart Day 4

Breakfast
Bacon
Eggs
Orange

Lunch
Steak
Salad

Snack
Banana
Mixed Nuts

Supper
Ham
Acorn Squash
Broccoli

Snack
Cottage Cheese
Peanut Butter
Protein Powder

Jumpstart Day 2

Today got off to a rough start. We were having our coffee and getting ready to cook breakfast when the power went out. We waited a few minutes and then a few more minutes and still no electricity. Having an electric stove, a cooked breakfast was out. I dind't really feel up for cold-cuts for breakfast, so I just had a bowl of Kashi Cereal, with some walnuts and a protein shake. It wasn't ideal, or what I wanted, but sometimes you got to do the best you can in any given situation. As for the rest of the day.....

Lunch
Deli meat rolls with cheese
Vegetable soup
Apple

Snack
Cottage cheese
Peanut butter
Protein Powder

Dinner
Scampi Style Shrimp
Spaghetti Squash
Tossed Salad
Wine

About the snack, I know it sounds a little weird. I even made fun of Mrs D for a couple of weeks for eating it. Then I tried it. It is really good, just add a little vanila extract or such for a little flavor. Its almost like desert. I also added 3o minutes on the bike today because of what happened with breakfast. Ordinarily I would not have worried about the cereal for breakfast but being that I'm trying to do the jump-start, I did it.

Jumpstart Day1

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with vegetables, Bacon, an Orange, Coffee with Splenda and Half and half.

Lunch; Italian Sausages on a salad with vinegar and olive oil

Post work out, afternoon snack; Milk, Bomber Blend Protein Powder, peanut butter and banana

Dinner; Vegetable Soup, Salmon with a macadamia nut and coconut crust

Evening Snack (not pictured);Fage Greek yogurt with berries and walnuts.

Todays work out consisted of 2 circuits of the following exercises;
Deadlift
Dumbbell press
Lat Pull down
Lunges
Push-up
Dumbbell row
Wall Sit
dumbbell curl
dumbbell tricep press

I used a moderate weight for all exercises that allowed me to finish the first circuit with moderate effort, ut a challenge for the second circuit. Rest between exercises was kept to a minimum, and rest between circuits was avout 60 seconds.

Ancient Amish Secret Ingredient

Well friends and neighbors I have just come back from a week of vacation, err, intensive research that is, in Lancaster County PA. And I am here to tell you the real secret of the Amish. Now lets not kid ourselves, the Amish do live with out many of the modern conveniences most folks consider necessities, like electricity and cars. And yes, the do travel about on bicycles, scooters, foot, and horse and buggy. The Amish also eat, a lot. I personally witnessed a petit young woman eat a rather large sausage, potatoes, cabbage, a couple of large rolls with butter and jam, a large whoopee pie and a quart of home-made root beer. She didn't even burp. After which she promptly went back to work. Had I eaten that much I would have needed a nap. Rather than approach the young woman I asked an Amish Matron, who was not so petit, what made Amish cooking so good. At first she looked at me with the kind of look a woman gives a man when he has said the wrong thing, then she softened, a little. "Young English", she said with a bit of accent, "Care we, for them that our cooking eat". After which she turned her attention to things far more pressing then my questions. (PA Dutch Grammar can be exemplified by the following sentence. Johnny run the stairs up, looked the window out, and saw the street coming down with the soldiers.) Like most things Amish there were no frills, or fancy explanations, just the simple truth. The people who are providing the food, care about what it is they are feeding the people who eat it. A quick glance at the ingredient list of Amish goods is a lesson too. I am a big fan of the potato chips, Ingredients; Potatoes, lard, salt. Pretzels, Ingredients - flour, water, salt. The bread - flour, milk, butter, salt. All made daily. You won't find any polysorbate, red dye number 6 or any other unpronounceable ingredient. Just real food, made by people who care.

South Beach vs Atkins

No, this is not going to be one those my diet is better than your diet posts, accompanied by flaming comments from the true believers of either plan. Sorry to disappoint. Rather this is about why a person would choose one plan over another, and be successful. Each plan has its success who are die hard adherents and turn it from a way of eating into a religion. Each plan has had converts from the other plan, and each plan has its failures. In a short one word answer, its about compliance. Which eating plan are you most likely too stick to over a long period of time, and why?

I am going to admit up front that my own personal preference is for the South Beach plan. This is based on my attempts at very low carb dieting, which I hated. With in a couple of days of starting phase one of SB, I always start to feel "better". Even after several days of induction, I can't shake the feeling of death warmed over. I never seem to get to that happy ketosis place. Even accounting for the people like me who don't do well with induction, there seem to be other components which make one successful on one plan versus the other.

While in each eating plan, both red meat and seafood are allowed, even encouraged, the Atkins plan seems to draw the meat eaters, while the seafood folks gravitate to SB. I am sure there are exceptions to this observation, but based on my observations both on and off line this seems to be a general distinction between the groups. Using myself as an example, if I had to eat Fish or beef every day for a month for dinner, I would choose the fish. I like beef, but if I eat it once a week that's enough. I cannot, however, say I have met (in real or cyber space) a practitioner of Atkins who would make the same choice, or that has the same preferences. Maybe they exist, but I haven't met one.

A second area where preferences seem to differ is the choice between olive oil and butter. I'll admit that I think real butter from grass fed cows has a place in every kitchen. I also think that the fear of saturated fat is unwarranted. Most SBer's I know use a bit of real butter now and again. Many Atkinser's use olive oil as well. Perhaps because the SB book encourages olive oil, and the Atkins book doesn't discourage butter that this is a side effect of the plan, but I also think that personal preference plays into this as well. Given the amount of veggies both plans encourage you to eat, a preference for olive oil or butter may be a factor in deciding which plan is best for you. While its true that you can use olive oil on Atkins and one the butter type spreads on SB, if you start looking at the recipes and menus associated with the plans, the trend becomes clear.

There are certainly other points of distinction between the diets, that may be make or break issues for some. Some will prefer to count carbs, while other will prefer to follow the rules and food lists of SB. Some people won't like either diet. With all of the noise lately about low carb vs low fat vs the Mediterranean diet, I find that the South Beach plan provides a livable mix of the best parts of a reduced carb and Mediterranean type diet. Success on any plan is about the commitment to change the way you eat permanently, whether you ultimately end up choosing South Beach, Atkins, or even the Ornish plan,

Beans and Biscuits

My great-grand parents, Henry and Mena Bennett, whom I called Poppy and Mom-mom, observed most of the twentieth century. They survived two world wars, the great depression, Korea, Vietnam, Water-Gate and disco. Even in my earliest recollections of them, they were already old. Intellectually, I know they were once young, I just never knew them that way. Most of my memories of them revolve around Fishing, working in the garden, and making home made ice cream. I did as a matter of course stay with them, particularly in the summer when I was out of school. The garden had all sorts of vegetables, and a bean patch that would have made Thoreau proud. They were not fat, and actually would probably be considered skinny by todays standards. I can still recall what they ate for breakfast every day, Corn flakes with milk and sugar, biscuits with butter and jam, coffee with cream and sugar. Every day. Being a woman of her generation, my great-grand mother used real butter and cream, real sugar, lard and gold medal flour to make her biscuits, and made her own jam. Lunch, especially this time of year as berries and other fruits become available locally, was often a piece of freshly baked pie or short-cake. I can still picture in my mind, Mom-mom standing at the sink in a plain house dress capping and slicing strawberries with the smell of short bread in the oven. How eagerly I waited for the cast iron skillet containing the short bread to be pulled from the oven. And the still warm biscuit to be topped with a generous scoop of sweetened strawberries and topped with clotted cream. Few things can match such childhood memories. The dinner I remember most often was biscuits and beans. Might great grand father loved lima beans. From a big pot with a big piece of fat pork came the beans served in blue agate bowls. My great grand mothers biscuits ( My grand mother has commented that my great-grand mother made biscuits every day for more than 60 years) and stewed tomatoes rounded out the meal. They would cut small pieces of the pork and mix it with my beans, and butter my biscuits. The stewed tomatoes were not my favorite, but I ate what was in front of me and didn't complain. Perhaps it was the love with which she made everything, but nobody could cook like my great-grand mother. The most simple foods had a flavor and a comforting effect that no gourmet meal can touch.

By current standards they did everything wrong. They ate butter and pork fat. They ate sugar and white flour. They ate fried foods, remind me sometime to tell you about her clam fritters. And in spite of all that they lived to ripe old ages with out succumbing to heart disease or diabetes. They lived quietly and with a deliberateness seldom seen today. How much did they know about how to live that we failed to learn?

Eat Food

Michael Pollan summed up his most recent work in seven words; Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. Now I am going to admit that I have just started reading "In Defense of Food", but the admonition to "eat food" has gotten me to thinking. I suppose for a variety of reasons I always thought what most people ate was indeed food. By definition, if you ate it, it was food. Then on a recent trip to the grocery store, I actually started looking at many of the products lining the shelves of the store. Normally I just focus on the list. Being a man, I get the list. I go from item to item dutifully retrieving the items on my list, paying little attention to the various and sundry products not on my list. Generally the only isles I travel are canned goods and frozen foods for beans, fruits and veggies. I hit the produce, deli, dairy, and meats. During the holidays, I might visit the baking isle but thats about it. Even so, many of our groceries are purchased from our co-op where much of the food is in bulk bins, not boxes. On this particular occasion however I wandered aimlessly up and down the isles looking at all the brightly colored packages. All the while thinking, people eat this crap? I guess they must because the store certainly stocks a lot of it. I picked up a couple of boxes that had pictures of what looked like food on the cover and read the ingredients. Most of the stuff in the box wasn't anything I recognized as food. Is sodium benzoate, hydrolyzed starch, or red dye number 5 really food? They are not any where in my cupboards or list of ingredients in any of my cook books (I have a collection of more than 100). One box had a picture that looked like fish. The first Ingredient however was hydrolyzed starch, followed in order by salt, sugar, hydrogenated soybean oil, and then finally fish. It seemed like everything in these brightly colored boxes that I examined was what I would call imitation food. There is no way conceivable in my mind that a steady diet of this stuff could possibly be good for you. One of the things had processed and reformed meat. Why would you need to reform meat? Its already formed when they butcher the animal, and nature got it right the first time, it doesn't need to be reformed. For a while I had an image in my head of sending the bad meat to reform school. It was silly, but so is reformed meat. After passing what was probably an inordinate amount of time gawking at people and what was in their carts I realized that I was the only person I saw that didn't have a cart full of brightly colored boxes of imitation food. I'll bet that I was also the only person I saw that day who could stand up straight, look down and see their toes. Coincidence?

Strawberry Catfish

Not Having made any culinary contributions is a while, I offer up this upscale, down home dish. For those of you who are familiar with catfish, this will - I'm willing to bet, become one of your favorite ways to enjoy this wonderful fish. For those who have not yet enjoyed catfish, what a wonderful introduction this will be. The recipe originally used cornmeal and white flour to bread the fish, after several substitutions, I settled on almond meal and whole wheat flour. For those who are fastidious with their carbs, you can use just almond flour, or mix almond flour and carb quick mix. My Favorite oil for frying catfish is rendered bacon drippings, but a cooking grade of olive oil also works just fine. No need to waste good, expensive, extra virgin olive oil here.

Serves 4
2 Lbs Catfish
3 tbsp soy sauce
4oz Strawberry Jam - I use polaner all fruit
2 tbsp hot sauce
2 tsp horseradish
4oz red wine vinegar
2 oz marinara sauce
1 tsp crushed garlic
6oz Whole Wheat Flour
6oz Almond Meal
1 tbsp Cajun Seasoning
oil for cooking - about half a cup
Salt and pepper

Place catfish in large shallow dish, season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce on both sides. Cover and place in fridge for at least one hour, upto over night. In sauce pan combine Jam, vinegar, soy sauce, horseradish, marinara, and garlic. Simmer over med low heat till jam has melted and sauce is warm. Combine flour, almond meal, and cajun seasoning in shallow plate. Heat cooking oil in heavy skillet to med high heat. Dredge fish pieces in flour mixture, coating evenly, and place in skillet. Saute the fish until brown on both sides and fish is done. Drain fish when done. To serve, divide sauce onto 4 plates and top with fish. Garnish with extra strawberries if you have them.

clue bat

Sometimes we all need to be smacked back into reality. Despite good intentions, and knowing better, most of us will do things, that after coming back to reality, will cause us to scratch our heads and go, "WTF was I thinking?". My most recent post prior to this one, is one of those things. At the time I started down that happy path, it all seemed so logical. I even lost weight. Must be a good thing right? Sometimes too much knowledge is worse than not enough. When I read things, especially new studies, or different twists on old ideas, my mind goes off on these tangents and starts coming up with ways to improve or alter what I'm doing to incorporate this new information. Sometimes these things can take weeks to play out. This latest episode was relatively short lived. In the case of nutrition, Pareto's principle still holds true. All the complicated answers and formulas and ideas and all the new and novel plans, still come down to the basics. Get enough protein. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables everyday. Minimize refined sugar and sweeteners. Be active. It really is that simple. For reasons I can't understand, I, like countless others, seek to make it so much more. The hardest thing about all of it is to keep it simple. Is it because we live in a world of such startling complexity that simple answers seem so unacceptable?

Average Guy's Guide #4

So, how ya doing so far? You're probably wondering when the miraculous transformation is going to start. Well, it ain't. This here is not some get ripped in 90 day type of program. This is about building a foundation of strength and health, one brick at a time. There are plenty of books and websites that'll promise you the moon,take your money, and leave you right where your are now, looking for a real answer. The real secret to strength and health is there ain't no secret. Its about eating right and getting regular exercise, for the rest of your natural life. Sorry to bust your bubble. Thats right, the pursuit of health and strength is not something you do for a little while and then you're done. Nope, to continue to reap the benefits of eating right and exercising, you got to do this forever.

So, Back to the eating right part. Protein, protein, protein. In case I was too subtle, PROTEIN. Forget all the nonsense you hear about the dangers of a high protein diet. Unless you have been diagnosed with kidney disease, a high protein diet is better than good for you. How much protein? I am so glad you asked. Since I am in The U.S., I will answer in pounds and ounces. Dive your weight in pounds by 10. That is how many ounces of meat/fish/foul you should eat everyday. Notice I didn't say grams of protein, this is how many ounces of meat you should put on your plate. A piece the size of a deck of cards is about three ounces. So if you weigh 210 lbs, that would be 21 ounces or seven decks of cards of meat. Such non meat items as eggs and cottage cheese can be used as well. Each large egg is one ounce of meat, a half cup of cottage cheese is 4 ounces.

Your mother was right, about vegetabels anyway. After protein, vegetables are the most important part of your diet. A serving a vegetables is about a cup raw. To get the number of servings you should eat divide your body weight in lbs. by 30. Round Up any decimal point to the next whole number. This is how many servings of vegetable you should eat everyday. One serving can be of root vegetables (carrots, beets, potatoes etc), and beans (navy, kdney etc) can be substituted for a serving as well. People who are carb sensitive may need to do an either/or on the root vegetables and beans.

For servings of fruit divide your body weight in lbs by 70, and round up as before. If you are carb sensitive stick to berries, apples, and citrus, and avoid tropical fruits (bananas, mangos).

Eat one ounce of nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds etc) or two table spoons of nut butters everyday.

The above are minimums. Divide it up over 3-4 meals and a snack or two. You can eat more if you like.

What about Pasta, cereal, and bread? Here is the deal. Fill your plate with the protein, vegetables and fruits first. If on any given day you have the choice between pasta and a potato, pick the potato. As long as you eat your minimums of the meat, vegies, fruits and nuts, you can eat what ever else you want, just don't stuff yourself to do it. I eat dairy almost everyday in the form of yoghurt, or milk in my protein shakes. I go to community dinners where spaghetti is served. I just make sure I eat meatballs, sausages and salad in sufficient quantities to go with it. BBQ's are easy, just stick to the ribs, chicken, beans, and fresh fruits. Everyday isn't going to be perfect. Life sometimes gets in the way of our best efforts. The object is to be on track 90% of the time. If you blow a meal, or a whole day for that matter, just get back on track the time you eat. Again, its not about being perfect, its about making progress and doing better over time.

NOTE: The above diet is based on a post Made by David Maurice in the Hard Gainers Round Table. To see the original diet as posted you will need to join the round table.

Average Guy's Guide #2

Lets start off this time with some house keeping items. I am not a bodybuilder. I have no real interest in bodybuilding. I respect what bodybuilders do, but have no desire to do it. Neither I, nor any of the men I know have any desire to shave every part of our bodies except our heads, put on bikini bottoms, and parade around on stage. In my pantheon Phil Pfister, current Worlds Strongest Man Champ, rates way above Jay Cutler, Current Body Building Champ. After all, what we are trying to accomplish here is to be healthy, strong, men.
For the ladies out there, I am writing this from a male perspective, but it applies to you as well. Muscle is muscle, and the women out there can be healthy, strong, women. Stumptuous.com is the best site bar none, on the web for women. Not that I don't want the women folk reading this, its just that Krista lays it out woman to woman in a way I never could.
I'm not going to quote endless scientific studies to support what I'm writing. Science is fine, but it has its limitations as well. Contrary to popular belief, there were many strong and healthy men before exercising became all sciencey. In fact I'm willing to bet that we can draw a strong positive coorelation between research into diet and exercise and the "obesity epidemic".


Next on our list of things to add into the program is this: Eat Breakfast Everyday. Your body will thank you. I'm going to give you a couple of sample breakfast menus here, but by no means should this be viewed as a complete list of acceptable breakfasts.

Breakfast 1
Eggs
Meat (bacon, steak etc)
Fresh Fruit
Toast
Butter (NOT MARGERINE!)

Breakfast2
Oatmeal
Walnuts
Protein Powder
Whole Milk
Fresh Fruit

Breakfast3
Toast
Peanut Butter
Fresh Fruit
Cottage cheese

For those of you who prefer juice, thats fine, I prefer to eat my fruit rather than drink it, but hey, thats me. Just make sure that you're drinking 100% juice, organic is best. Any added sugars or any corn syrup or High Fructose Corn syrup, turn and ok, (but not great), drink into junk food. The oatmeal should not be instant or flavored. Go for the plain old fashioned oats. If you must sweeten it add real honey or 100% real maple syrup. Supermarket pancake syrup is evil, if you have it in the house, throw it out. For the protein powder I like Designer Whey. It just tastes best to me. You may like another brand. Don't buy the meal replacement shake powder, get either whey or a whey blend protein powder. Use Whole milk, preferably organic, grass fed is best. For those who can't tolerate cows milk, use hemp milk, or almond milk. Use butter, real butter, not some butter flavored spread. For the Toast, go with sprouted or sourdough. Alvarado St Bakery is ok, Food for Life Ezekiel Bread is better. I can find both in my local chain super markets in the frozen section. White bread is not real food, if its in the house, throw it out. Don't even keep it for the kids.

Take a multi-vitamin and fish oil. For vitamins, Centrum or the store brand equivalent will do. For fish oil find one that says concentrated, store brand is fine for the most part.

Eat protein with every meal. This includes eggs, beef, poultry, fish, shellfish, pork, mutton, lamb, veal, game and cottage cheese. You should have a serving of protein about the size of your hand with every meal. You can substitute protein powder for a serving at one meal. Do not worry about the fat in the meat, it is good for you. So enjoy the Rib-eye or pork chop with gusto.

Eat a salad every at least every other day, and do not use Iceberg lettuce. Romaine, fine; Arugula, fine, Spinach fine, Spring Mix fine, Iceberg - skip it. Don't be afraid to dress your salad. I like olive oil, toasted pumpkin seeds, and real blue cheese, or gorgonzola crumbles on mine. Skip the fat free stuff, it tastes bad and the junk in there to cover for the fat they took out, is mostly just sugar.


Next time I talk more about exercise.

Average Guys Guide Part1

The Average Guys Guide to Being Healthy, Not Fat, Strong Enough to do Manly Things, and Not Going Crazy in the Process

Part1.
Most of the fitness books out there for men stink if you're over 40 . They all assume we are 20 something's who want bulging biceps and six pack abs to impress the girls so we can get dates with some shallow bimbo and boff her brains out. To make matters worse they all have these work out plans that assume we have nothing better to do then spend all our free time in the gym. Not to mention we have access to a gym or have all this great equipment at our disposal. On the other hand most guys I know, have wives, kids, houses, errands to run, yard work, and other stuff to do that constitutes real life. I've talked with many of these guys, and am one myself. The general consensus is that our wives would be far more impressed by us volunteering to do the dishes then if we achieved a 300lb bench press or developed 18" biceps. While boinking some young chic might cross our minds from time to time, the real woman we want to make happy is our wife. I talked to my wife, and several other women who are wives or SO's, and their responses were refreshingly simple. They wanted their men to be healthy, not too fat, but not cover models either, and strong enough to do husbandly things around the house with out hurting themselves or being sore for days. Basically what they really wanted was for us to take care of ourselves so we would be there for the long haul. I was also surprised to learn that their idea of "not too fat" was incredibly forgiving. So I talked to a few of the guys I know, and they all said that those were reasonable goals. Several of them had bought this book or that book, but all the books were about building "big guns" and six pack abs, had unreasonable time commitments, diets that were either to complex, or too restrictive, and generally geared to a younger crowd. Mostly they had just plain given up trying to find a livable solution.

At this point I need to make the following disclaimer, I am not a doctor, so none of what I am about to write in this or subsequent installment should be taken or used as medical advice. If you are under the care of a doctor, always clear any eating or exercise plan with them first.

So, lets get started.

Step One, if you smoke, stop. No further explanation should be required. Get help if you need it, but just make up your mind and quit.

Two; stop eating junk food. You're not a teenager so stop eating like one. Lets face it, Twinkies, ho-ho's, oreos, soda's and french fries have no redeeming value. Instead of going to a fast food joint, go to a deli and get a real sandwich and some fruit or a salad. If you like blue cheese or mayo that's fine. Just skip the fake, fat free stuff. I'm going to recommend you buy one book. Jonny Bowden's 150-Healthiest-Foods . If 80 pct of your diet come from the foods in this book, you're ahead of the game.

Three; push ups, sit ups, and deep knee bends. Cardio? Bah! skip it. Twice a week, like say Tuesday and Saturday, do as many push ups, sit ups and deep knee bends as you can for one set each. Do them slowly and smoothly. Take only enough time in between exercises to catch your breath. In the beginning it might take 2 minutes, but after a few weeks you should be down to a minute or less. That's it. That's all the exercises you need, and if you are just starting out this will be sufficient for several weeks. If you can't do at least 10 regular push ups, then do as many as you can then do them on your knees. Until you can do 30 reps of each, don't worry about adding any exercises. Eventually you will need a set of adjustable dumbbells, or a barbell set, but no need for any thing else. For right now however, bodyweight will be enough. I'll be adding in a few exercises as we go, but this is where it starts.

Four; go to sleep. Get at least seven hours a night. If that means you miss Letterman, too bad, now say good night.

That'll wrap up the first installment of this project. They say you get 80 percent of your return on the first 20 percent of your efforts. The above is the first 10 percent.

On the Road to Damascus

Mrs D. and I belong to a local Natural Foods Co-op that supports many philosophies of healthy eating. Most of the members are of one vegetarian flavor or another, but a large contingent, including myself, is interested in organic, local and sustainable agriculture. A large number of people are both, they are generally lacto-ovo ,L-O, vegetarians. Many of the L-O's when pushed will admit to being flexitarian, but just choose meat very infrequently, often for economic reasons. I enjoy talking with these folks as they walk the talk, are generally among the best informed, and don't have the same attitude as the vegans. During our visit to the co-op this past weekend, Paul, (a L-O who is over 80, looks 60 and acts 40), and I were engaged in casual conversation. The subjects ranged from the weather, to the availability of local produce , and our wives shopping habits. Our chatting was sprinkled with the occasional "yes dear' and "That looks fine dear", whilst tagging along behind our wives. As per usual there were a few members handing out samples of things they had prepared. The items of the day were a cookie, and a vegetable-bean casserole. The casserole smelled wonderful. It was made with beans, root vegetables, real raw cream, cheese made from raw milk, and a fragrant blend of seasonings. I took a sample with out hesitation. Paul took one too. It was really quite good, and I remarked as such to Paul. While we were standing there guessing the seasonings, a young, pale, and skinny, couple walked up to inquire about the contents of the casserole. Their look of interest turned to disgust, as they heard the description. They demurred the sample in faux politeness, and strode away horrified at the fat and animal content of this most tasty dish. Paul snorted and said "Kids, they'll never last with a diet of the crap they eat". I inquired as to what he meant. He told me to look in their basket, and see how much was shrink wrapped, low fat, and imported. They were not only damaging themselves but the planet from all the resources it took to process and transport that stuff. He went on to compare that to the sample we had just finished. Everything in the casserole was grown with in 100 miles of the co-op by people who cared about the land and what they produced. Next stop was the cookie sample. It was an oatmeal-honey-blueberry thing and I attempted to take a pass. Paul asked why. I mentioned that in general I tried to control my carbs. Cocking one eye brow, He asked if I ate meat. I said yes. Did I ever buy meat at a grocery store? Again, I say yes. "So you mean to tell me, that you think this cookie made from oats grown right up the road, real honey, berries and butter is gonna do you more harm than meat from a cow shot full of anti-biotics, hormones and god know what else?" He asks. I didn't have an answer. "Kids!" snorted Paul.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

We all know where this is going to lead High Insulin Levels Impair Intestinal Metabolic Function.

The researchers note that excessive insulin appears to alter the mechanics of blood vessel walls, allowing chylomicrons and cholesterol to build up in them, which, over time, creates blockages in the blood stream, leading to heart problems.

I haven't found the actual study, but, the review seems to point to one of two solutions, either cut fat or carbs. Guess which one the authors of the review chose. Despite the growing volume of evidence of the benefit of lowering dietary glycemic loads, fat is still enemy numero uno. We now know that there is more than one way to lower glycemic loads, eat fewer carbs, eat low gi carbs ,or best of all, do both. Not everyone needs or should be on a very low carb ketogenic diet. But, damn few people need 300++ grams of carb per day. Eating that many carbs almost requires one to eat processed food. There just isn't any way around it. I admit, on most days I still eat one slice of bread, generally as toast with my eggs in the morning. I've given up grits and gravy, biscuits and honey, but I still need something to soak up the yolks from my eggs. I also eat sweet potatoes and legumes a regular basis. Even eating bread, sweet potatoes and legumes, I still manage at least two servings of fruit, several servings of vegetables, and a cup of yogurt, all while keeping my glycemic load in the low range, defined as under 80. A high glycemic load is defined as over 120. 300g carb of low GI food (avg gi 50) still gives you a glycemic load of 150, well into high. If you use such whole grain goodness items as whole wheat bread or Cheerios, you GL quickly passes 200. Now remember the problem mentioned at the top of the article was due to high insulin levels. How do we alleviate the build up of chylomicrons? Since chylomicrons are produced as part of lipid digestion, the answer is to limit fat. What about the excessive insulin?? The mighty Oz has spoken.

Passing Between Scylla and Charybdis

So there I am, on Good Friday, shopping at my local Costco to get items for the up coming Easter Dinner. Ham, check. Yams, check. Veggie tray, check, Fruit Tray, check, Eggs, check. When lo and behold there it was. As I rounded the corner from the dairy case there was one of them there sample tastings of the dreaded Tiramisu. As I struggled to get by my cart found itself caught in the tempest of Costco traffic, compounded by the sirens call I like Odysseus crew, floundered, and washed upon the shore of temptation and sampled the forbidden. The marscapone topped The lady fingers soaked in espresso and marsala. It was mahhhvuhluhs. One bite was not enough, and yet to much. So I bought one to take home. Upon arrival at mi casa, Mrs D noted the the Tiramisu was not on the list I had been sent to the store with. I swore that it had jumped into the cart and refused to get out until I reached the check out line, and then it leaped out of the cart and into the hands of the cashier. What was I supposed to do? I got "the look", that all husbands know to well. We had our gathering of kith and kin on Saturday, and a good time was had by all, including yours truly. In fact I enjoyed myself all the way till Sunday morning when upon testing my Fasting Glucose was greeted with a glaring 120. Reality sucks. No Easter candy for me. I cut my carbs to a net of 70 on Sunday, and Monday I was back down to 104. Better, but still not great.


Progress Report

Well Friends and neighbors, In the first 3 months of the year, I have managed to lose 5 lbs, and one inch off my waist. Slow and steady may win the race but I think this is a bit too slow. My eating has been mostly in line with a healthy diet, but no real efforts made at losing. My exercise has been consistent, but again, no efforts made at any real progression. In retrospect, I haven't been as dedicated as I needed to be to really see any significant results. So, on Monday, I started a four week concerted effort at fat loss. After Zero results from Weight Watcher for several weeks, Mrs D. started back on a 40-30-30 diet about 3 weeks ago, and is down 3 lbs, and 1.5 belly inches in just those 3 weeks. This has in no small way got my attention. Her efforts at managing her diet and consistent exercise are paying off. I, on the other hand, have been, well, somewhat less focused.


Etcetra

In the chalk one up to experience dept, I've recently determined that when my sugar is out of whack, I need to really tighten up on my carbs and calories to get it back down. All those formulas that calculate caloric needs, don't mean diddley squat, and what may be reasonable advice for a person with normal blood sugar could harm a person with impaired fasting glucose.

So easy a caveman could do it

The gulf stream shifts, warm tropical air moves in, charcoal in the grill turns light gray, and I with a single malt scotch sit on the deck with the smell of cooking meat pervading the air.  Life is good.  As Spring rolls in and fresh produce once again becomes available, cutting carbs is no longer a decision, its auto-matic.  Even Mrs D is willing to give up her wieght watcher ways for more fresh vegetables, and food on the grill.  Grilled pasta, hah, fugedaboutit.  This time of year the cravings for heavy starchy food seem to fade on thier own.  Its as if nature is telling our bodies that winter is over and its time to shed the excess blubber and get about the business of chasing and eating meat.   The winter sloth is gives way to activity outside.  Cutting grass, clearing brush, organinzing and planting a garden.  Here in the northern lattitudes for the first time in months the Sun is now Strong enough again to cause our skin to make vitamin D.  I think this is at the heart of the need to be outside.  Our reserves of our own natural vitamin D reserves are depleted.  We need the sun to restore us to a healthy state, and this drives us outside to sit and work in the sun. The cold pale flourescent lights now seem mean and hateful.  Get me out of this cubical hell ,and let me go play in the sun my inner cave dude screams.  My inner cave dude and I have been communicating more regularly these days, and I have been trying to minimize anything he wouldn't recognize as food.  I call him my inner cave dude, but more accurately he is my Jungian archetypal ancestor figure, inner cave dude just sounds cooler.  My inner cave dude thinks I should take up bow hunting again, Mrs D says I need a hobby to get me off the computer.  Maybe thier both right.

Butter This!

One of my biggest complaints about the High Carb/Low fat crowd is their insistance that all we who practice carb restriction eat, is bacon and butter. The recent bru-ha-ha about the Atkins diet beating the others has brought Ornish and his cronies out of the woodwork spouting thier nonsense, and his "bacon and butter" comments are everywhere. He's a lucky man he lives so far away from me, cuz If I could get to his house I would put a flaming bag of cow dung on his front porch, ring the bell and run away to watch him stomp it out. So with out further ado.... Do I eat bacon and butter? Sometimes. Do I eat vegetables" Yes, lots of them. Do I eat fish? Again, Yes, quite often. And berries, and apples, and Oranges, and even a bean or two. Right at this moment I'm in an eat on principle, not counting phase. While it might seem silly to some that I measure everything and count nothing, one does have one limits you know. I really don't know what my calorie or carb count is, but If some one wants to add it up, good for them, but I'm fairly certain that my carbs are well below what the ADA etc recomends. A typical day, today, looks like this.

Breakfast:
3 eggs plus .5C egg beaters
2 oz Canadian (back) bacon
6 oz V8
1 small banana
Coffee with cream and splenda

Lunch:
5 oz Salmon
3 cups salad
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 med apple
Liptons Diet Ctirus Green Tea

Snack
1oz nuts
2/3 cup cottage cheese
2/3 cup mixed berries

Supper
8 oz Top Round
3 C roasted vegs
.5C rice
2tbsp olive oil
Wine (Yellow Tail Cab/Merlot Blend)

Post Work Out
1C Milk
2 scoops Bomber Blend Protein Powder

How many low fat dieters eat that many vegetables, or get as many
nutrients from thier grain based diet? Not many I'll bet. So for all you
bacon and butter preachin low fat zionist, take that and smoke it.

The Middle Pillar

I've been a slacker lately and not posted anything here. Originally I could blame it on a virus, but then it was little more than shear lazyness. I've been back on track with my diet and exercise for about a 10 days now, and I'm happy to report that my blood sugar is responding nicely. It has been floating in the 87-91 range for about the last week. During this time my diet rules have been simple, always eat protein when eating a carb, and eat Low GI carbs. Most of my carb choices have been fruits, vegetables, legumes, and some whole grains. Though, I did have Ice Cream once. One is not a saint. Unlike some, I actually find it easier to keep control of both my diet and sugar by limiting saturated fat. I know this runs counter to what many feel, but its what works for me. The fact is that foods that are High in fat are trigger foods for me. Some like to binge on sugar, I would binge on fat. It must run in my family, I have a sister who still eats butter by the spoonful. This is not to say my diet is low fat. if I were to assign percentages, my diet would resemble 40-30-30. This is less an attempt to eat in the ZONE, than the fact its just an easy diet to do and live with over a long period of time. Using the "hand-eye" method Sears describes, or the plate dividing method ( divide plate into fourths, cover one fourth with protein, one fourth with low gi starchy carbs, and the other 2 fourths with vegetables and fruit.) provides an easy way to control carb intake, eat nutient dense, and still have a wide varitey of choices. Eating this way, I find I have plenty of energy for exercise and activity. I have been getting at least 30 minutes everyday of some type of activity. Generally three days a week of some type of strength training or calisthenics, yes dear freinds push ups and squat thrusts woo-hoo, and walking at a moderate pace on the other days. Nothing extreme, just the basics. I often am amused by the actions of myself and others who take extreme measures when moderation really does work. I think it may be a symptom of the times that moderation has gotten such a bad reputation. Everything these days is polarized, politics, diet, business, even strength training. The whole issue is one of a false dichotomy, Red Sate vs Blue State, low fat or low carb, HIT or HVT, no one seems to be willing to admit that there might be a middle ground. The high rate of diet failure could be related to this all or nothing mentality. I know for both my wife and I, diets which eliminate one type of food or another ultimately lead to a sense of deprivation. Being deprived of something you enjoy sucks. But I think many people like deprivation. They wear their suffering, and sacrifice like a badge for all to see. They then gather in groups of people who are suffering similar deprivation and cast aspersions upon those who choose other forms of deprivation, then brand them heretics for failing to see the one true path of deprivation. Generally when both sides of an issue think I'm wrong, I know I'm close to the truth. Later this week I'll be posting progress updates, I'm feeling pretty good, and my clothes are fitting better. So it should be a positive outcome

Oatmeal, Chicken Soup, and Peanut Butter

It’s scarcely a week into the New Year, and already I’ve had to adjust course. A nasty cold virus has reared its ugly head and laughed at my plans for diet and exercise. So, you thought you were going to lift weights 3 times a week, do interval training, and eat a fat loss diet? HA!, says the virus. So while I’m recuperating from this, I’m eating lots of vegetable and chicken soups, and peanut butter toast, onFood for Life Ezekiel Bread of course. If all else fails I can always eat Peanut Butter toast. During some of my poorest times, milk, peanut butter and bread kept me from going hungry. On good days there might have even been jam or jelly. These days I forego the jam or jelly. Though I must admit, when my grandmother makes here home made plum jam, I still eat some. The worst part of feeling this way is the drag ass fatigue that takes days to get over. As soon as my stomach is cooperative, I’ll bump up my food intake to help the process along. In the meantime I’m taking a week or so off from any thing more than a brief walk. Hopefully this will quickly pass, as I am not a wonderful patient according to reports from Mrs. D.