Fitness

I've been doing interval training for the last ten weeks, and I can feel a remarkable difference in my body. I've only lost about 10 pounds, but I have muscles and strength and posture in places I haven't in years. I'm realizing that my slouching and slumping is not a result of a lack of dignity and grace, but a lack of muscles in my torso and core. Every time I complete a 60 minute punishing explosive power set, I feel a sense of pride and purpose and accomplishment that is intoxicating.

Today I did my first Couch to 5k run. It was delightful. My exercising over the last couple months prepared my body for the work, but it was still a painful fifteen minutes up front until I was warmed up, muscles loose, lungs working, blood pumping. The sense of accomplishment from this was equal to the weight and physical workouts. I can see myself getting to 30 minute runs, and doing a 5k this summer. 

It's going to be great.

2009

I have a few things to concentrate in 2009.

Budget. First, and this is a biggie for our family, is the budget. I have been blessed all my life with the ability and inclination to make good money, provide a good quality of life, buy all manner of toys, and in almost every way satisfy all of my basic desires. However, I have realized (about five years too late) that I have been missing out on big things - big vacations, big purchases, big houses, because I spend far far too much on little things. Instead of a trip to Europe, I bought 4,000 DVDs. Instead of a big beautiful house with everything I've ever wanted (including huge yards, magnificent kitchens, study, library, giant baths) I ate at restaurants four days a week every week for years. Etc. So in 2009 we are following a strict household budget. Strict in the sense that I will not lose track of any dollars - not strict in the sense that we are eating white rice and water for every meal.

I've been using wesabe for about nine months. Which let me put some great categorizatioon and spending habits together, to create what I think is a darn good first budget. I switched to mint because it has better budget management tools and it automatically integrates with all my banks now, and away we go. Biggest opportunities are in a couple areas: 1, eating out (of course), 2, making sure money doesn't just dissolve away. We are great at making $100/week go nowhere, with a budget I'm planning on seeing that stop. Based on this first round of computations we are good for an $11k surplus by the end of the year, all of which I plan on going towards debt elimination and savings.

Fitness.

Professional Development.

Family.

To be continued...

Christmas Eve Dinner!

Another dinner party. Very similar menu as Thanksgiving.

The menu. Unless noted, recipes from The New Best Recipe:

Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib), p405
Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, http://www.evernote.com/Home.action?login=true#Note/9f460dd5-7a88-425a-8cf4-b7448d4f1260

Garlic Butter Green Beans, p136 (recipe sans bread crumbs)
Individual Yorkshire Pudding, p411
Orange Liquor Cranberry Sauce, p373
Deviled Eggs, Family Recipe

The secret is timing.

More Nutrition

From another Josh contact, two posts. The first I heartily agree with, as crazy as some of it sounds. The Omnivore's Dilemma is obviously a huge influencer.

Here's what I've learned from Michael Pollan's two books this year (The Omnivore's Dilema and In Defense of Food). If we want to avoid "western Diseases" (heart disease, cancer, strokes diabetes) we have to get off the American/Western diet plan and adopt a different cultural way of eating. Its not only what and how much we eat, it is also important to focus on how and why we eat. The "culture" of our eating is as important to understand and to change as well.

Here are the new rules of engagement:

1. We are committed to eating as much organic, pasture raised meat and dairy and produce as possible.

2. talk to a nutrionist about whole milk vs skim. Skim may lack some key micronutrients and the fat thing is a big controversy now.

3. We will not buy for consumption in our house ANYTHING that has more than 5 ingredients, or that has any ingredients that are unrecognizable or unpronounceable.

3. We will completely eliminate partially hydrogeneated fats and high fructose corn syrup from our in house diets. They are both toxins and no amount of consumption of them is safe or permissable

4. We will increase the amount of "whole" foods in all our diets and avoid highly processed foods, especially white flour, sugar and white rice.

5. We will avoid corn amd soy based products which are the new monoculture that predominate most ingredients and are completely taking over the food supply. Soy is especially scarry for girls.
(We have to find alternative vegtable oils that are not soy based to cook with!)

6. We will all increase the natural sources of Omega 3's in our diet and find ways to reduce the omega 6 sources from our diets. (.more leaves, less seeds, more fish, less meat, less animals that eat seeds, more animals that eat leaves).

7. Don't eat anything our great grandmothers would not recognize as food! (Including smart balance and any "new" healthier products). Go back to olive oil and butter!

8. Avoid foods that make health claims.

9. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket and stay out of the middle!

10. Buy local, organic, sustainable food from markets wherever possible and avoid supermarket food altogether.

11. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

12. You are what you eat eats!! Animals' diet matters as much as the animal you are eating. Eat wild, organic all natural animals only.

13. Buy a freezer and stock the right kind of food

14. Eat like an omnivore. Find new species, not just new foods to add to your diet.

15. Eat well grown food from healthy soils. Processed organic food is little better than other highly processed food (organic oreos?!)

16. Eat wild food whenever possible. Higher in omega-3s

17. Live a healthy life and be the kind of person who takes supplements, but don't take any of them other than one multivitamin a day for older adults.

18. Eat more like a "culture". French, italian, greek, or mediterennean. Find a food culture to adopt and follow. Look to long histrical based food traditions and cooking methods as a guide. They are time tested.

19. Regard nontraditional foods with severe skeptisism. Novel, health, innovative, engineered food is dangerouis!!

20. Eat less. Pay more. Choose quality over quantity

21. Find a way to eat less: no seconds rule of the French: eat till you are 80 percent full: leave something on your plate: use smaller serving dishes: don't keep the food out on the table or nearby: don't snack: don't keep food in your office: don't drink your calories. Read the book "Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think" by Wansink.

22. Eat Meals: three a day. Less to no snacking/grazing. Try not to eat alone. Don't eat while watching TV. Eat all together and make it a cultural event as well. Try not to eat in your car.

23. Eat Slowly: slow food movement. Cook. Relish. Plant a garden.


Bottom line:

"Eat FOOD, not so much, mostly plants"!

Is everybody with me!!!!!!!!?????

---

This diet is insane and not healthy! When you are done with this sicko, go on the Gary Korn diet plan. I'll give you the same phone and email support, no dandelions required. All you have to do is follow the following rules for guaranteed success:

1. 30 minutes a day of some kind of exercise. Anything that gets you sweating counts. Minimum of 4 times a week.... Trainer, treadmill, take a walk outside, walk 18 holes. If we can't move that min amount each week-we really have no reason to be alive.

2. Eat mostly whatever you want. Stop worrying so much about what you eat (with the exeptions of number 3 below) and start focusing on how you eat. "Mindless" eating is what causes weight gain. "Mindful" eating causes weight loss. The difference between gaining 5-10 pounds a year and losing or maintaining weight is the difference in how you eat and think about food. To "mindfully" eat-focus mostly on portion control. Never eat out of the fridge or out of containers. Always "see" how much you are going to eat before you start. "Decide" what your portion size is for every meal and snack. When you eat, always plate your food or meal and then take it to the table (away from the serving dishes) and eat. In restaurants, dont let the plate they put in front of you dictate your portion size. Look at it, decide how hungry you really are. Set aside a portion of it and eat the rest. Its like a game. Eat 1/3 or so less of everything and see if you are still hungry. When you start doing it you'll realize that 9 out of 10 times, after eating half as much as before, you are not really hungry. Your mantra here is "not so much!". In restaurants and at home, always try and leave something left over on the plate. Also, eat slower. Put the fork down between bites.

3. No fried food. No white flour, highly processed foods. Whole grains. Less red meat, more fish, fruit, nuts and vegetables. Less dairy. Try and eat way more plants. Instead of protein being the "star" of every meal, make it a supporting cast character and make 2/3 of the plate veggies, plants, slad etc with protein as the garnish or side dish instead of the other way around. Challenge yourself to not eat protein at every single meal (this is harder than it sounds!). You'll feel better, live longer and lose weight if youi eat this way.

4. Specifically for weight loss in the short term only-reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption. No sugar, candy cake cookies etc. Don't eat bread at meals (get rid of the bread basket). You can bring all this back slowly and "mindfully" once the weight starts coming off. Just eat it the same way subject to portion control etc.

5. Eat a big breakfast. Nice sized lunch and smaller dinners. Snack if you are hungry, but don't graze. In weight loss stage, don't snack on carbs like bread, crackers, etc of any kind and dont eat much after dinner (unless you are up really late and are hungry). Snack on fruit, nuts, lean protein only. Portion control concept on snacks is the key as most "mindless" eating happens with snacks. Are you really hungry or just bored? Are you grabbing that snack because you are hungry or because you see it and are in the kitchen? Put out to "see" healthy snack food. Hide the stuff you dont want to eat. If you dont see it, you'll eat less of it. You'll eat more of what you see (I keep "out" fresh and dried fruit and nuts from whole foods, everything else is in the pantry).

Nutrition

Here's another set of rules for healthy eating, courtesy of my friend and mentor Josh:

I spoke to you recently about my “high energy, feel awesome” diet. It is simple, easy, and you will feel 100% better in like three days. The big idea is not letting yourself get too hungry or too full. Keeping your glucose levels “in the zone”. Here’s the gig:

1) Eat EVERY three hours no matter what. Plan out some healthy, low glycemic snacks. Keep them small (under 150 calories). Examples: ∏ power bar, apple, handful of nuts, cheese stick, carrots with peanut butter, low-fat beef jerky, etc. Also, make sure to eat something within one hour of waking up, and stop eating after 9pm.

2) Have three meals a day. Using your hand as a measure, think about what you could scoop up with a slightly overflowing handful. You want to eat FIVE of these handfuls of food for every meal. Eat 2 scoops of grains, 2 scoops of fruits or veggies, and 1 scoop of protein. Think in your mind about eating to accomplish “not being hungry” rather than eating to be “full”. Also remember that you only need enough to last you three hours until your next intake. If you consume “other” stuff like sweets, alcohol, fries, chips, etc count them against your “grains”.

3) Drink lots of water.


That’s it. Simple. Easy. No big deal (other than throwing some healthy snacks in your bag or desk).

Try doing it for like 4-5 days and tell me how much more energy and vitality you have…. If you don’t feel a 100% increase, I will buy you a box of doughnuts.

Dancing with Balloons

Look at the joy on that face. Dancing in the snow with balloons. Does life get better than that?

Health and Nutrition

I've been working out several times a week for a couple months. I can feel my strength increasing. Problem is, that strength is trapped beneath inches of insulating fat. 

I realize that exercise without a change in diet is going to be marginally effective. Worse, exercise while continuing to shovel high calorie, high fat, fried, salty, disgusting food into my maw is like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. But I'm not a dieter.

I don't count calories. I don't calculate the weight of what I'm eating. I don't have the time or interest in scrutinizing every meal in-depth for its nutritional impact. What's worked for me in the past, and what I'm going to institute again, are a set of rules or heuristics that govern my eating. I can follow discrete, simple, easy rules. So, here we go:

1) No deep fried. This is a biggie, as it eliminates a ton of really shitty restaurant foods. Exclusions are anything I cook at home. Since I don't have a deep fryer, that's not as big an exclusion as it may first seem.

2) No drive throughs. Drive throughs exist at the worst places to eat, and drive throughs indicate a mad dash to eat. I find that mad dashes to eat mean I'll convince myself that I'm in so much of a hurry, I can't be bothered to watch what I eat.

3) No eating after 10PM. This should probably move to 8 or 9PM, but I stay up until midnight or later on a normal night, so that's at least 3 hours before bedtime.

4) 3 meals and 1 snack a day, minimum. No skipping breakfast or lunch (and gorging later on).

5) No restaurant desserts. We're moving into the holiday season, and cutting all dessert will just create a rule I'm not willing to keep always, but I can cut out restaurant sweets of all kinds. This includes a donut on the way in to work - Dunkin' Donuts is a restaurant, and a donut is a dessert.

6) Snack on cheese, nuts, and fruits. Don't snack on chips, candy, or cookies.

That should be a good start.