Ragnar Las Vegas Relay

On November 9th I will be running in the Ragnar Las Vegas Relay.  They have teamed up with  St. Baldrick's Foundation to raise money for researching Childhood Cancers.  If you would like to donate please go here to do so.  All the funds go to the research not to me or the team.  

Filling Lunch

You know you want to eat a healthy lunch but you do not want to spend a fortune at the local salad bar.  You do not want to spend your whole life making a salad during lunch.  What to do?  I have found there are some simple ingredients to make a quick and tasty salad.  I go to my local supermarket (Safeway or Costco).  I buy a weeks worth of tomatoes - usually 10 to 15.  I get some chicken sausage (10 to 15). A bag of broccoli florets.  A bag of broccoli slaw. (just raw slaw no dressing) 2 boxes of baby kale.  It takes me 3 or 4 minutes to make a huge salad.  The salad takes about 30 to 40 minutes to eat.  You will be full at the end.  You will also have plenty of protein and carbs. Here are pictures of me making the salad.

Above are my ingredients. 

Next I cut up the sausage.

I put it in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes 20 seconds.

While the sausage is cooking I put broccoli on my plate.  Usually I put more broccoli, but you put what you want.

Then I cut the tomatoes in 8ths. and arrange them on the plate

Like this:

I add kale on top or broccoli slaw on top or both.

Now the sausage is ready. I put the sausage on top.

You can add some salad dressing.

 

How to Lose Fat.

Think of Fat as Famine Anticipation Tissue.  Fat is for your body in times of famine.  Your body is geared to be efficient.  If you go on a starvation diet your body will fight to live.  It will lower your body temperature - burning fewer calories.  You will feel tired - less motivated to burn calories.  Your body may even start using protein or lean body mass for fuel.  That is terrible and counter productive.  So the question becomes how do you burn fat?  In your cells are mitochondria.  These organelles are the cell's powerhouse.  They burn sugar or fat so your muscles can do work.  

You need to do 2 things.  One, have your body produce more   mitochondria and two have them burn fat.  You can produce more mitochondria by doing exercise on a consistent basis. Your mitochondria will burn fat if you exercise.  If you eat a diet low in starch and simple sugars that will help also.  It is a slow process.  Your body wants to hold onto fat in anticipation of starvation.  So do NOT diet by starving yourself.  It will only make getting rid of the fat even harder.  Eat smaller meals but more of them.  Try to not eat after 7 at night.  Have a larger breakfast, a midmorning snack, a smaller lunch, an afternoon snack, and a small dinner.  Make sure the snacks have some protein.  It helps to smooth out the uptake of glucose and your blood sugar levels.  


In the past 4 months my pants got looser, my weight stayed about the same.  I went and got a hydrostatic test. I lost 3 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle.  This change will help me a lot.  The muscle burns more calories per day per pound than fat does. 

You Can Never Go Home Again

I remember July 20th 1969.  I was at the Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid New York.  At the other end of the room was a small, by today's standards miniature, black and white TV. The picture was black and white not the color of the TV set.  I was 10. (yeah I am that old or you are that young).  On that evening we heard those famous words uttered and a little science fiction became a science fact.  On that night Neil Armstrong reached the goal he had dreamed of for most of his life.  What was not widely reported was soon after that event was Neil Armstrong's mindset later.  You reach your goal, landing on the moon and returning safety to the Earth.  What do you do for an encore?  How do you top that?    You cannot.  Earth was forever changed for Neil Armstrong.  You can never go home again.

We have hosted foreign exchange students for about 15 years.  They become part of our family for a school year.  I know this experience, for good or bad, will change them forever.  It will forever color their life.  I hope it will be a positive experience.  If nothing else it will expand their world.  I do not tell them the news that They can never go home again.  Their home will always be changed.  It will not be as it once was.  It can never be that again.

This past weekend I ran in the Hell's Canyon Relay Race .  If you want to know about relay races here is a funny video on it.  The team's name is Sparkle Motion.  Our mascot is a unicorn.  The team is mainly a female team, but for this race they gave me the honor of joining them.  They had also done the Ragnar Northwest Passage and Cascade Lakes Relay last year.  Usually, for a relay race you have 12 runners.  Due to some unfortunate circumstances we were down to 10 runners. (The people who dropped out did NOT want to drop out and we did not want them to.  We hope they can race with us in the future.)  

I was excited and anxious about the race.  I had only met some of the group once time,  they seemed like a very dynamic fun group of people.  The name of the race is Hell's Canyon Relay not A Walk in the Park Relay.  If you look at the course map You will see that over the 210 mile course we gain just over 11,100 feet and an elevation loss of about 12,200 feet.  You could say the race is downhill, Ha, Ha, Ha.  Normally, each runner would run about 6 miles per leg.  These races are not evenly split that way.  Logistically, each race must have a variety of lengths and usually there are at least some hills.  So some of the legs are harder than others.  This relay has a lot of hills.  Running up hill is hard work.  With our team short 2 runners people were going to have to run more.  

I ran 20 miles in 3 legs.   My first leg was midmorning.  The weather was sunny and not too hot.  There was a slight breeze.  I started up hill.  I have a tendency to start running too hard and then dramatically slowing down.  I used my pace watch and regulated my speed using my target heart rate.  I had a tendency to get it up to 95%+ of my projected max heart rate (162 plus BPM).  I aimed for  85% of max heart rate (144-152 BPM) .  This worked for me.  I kept up a good pace and warmed up during the 7 mile run.  I actually sped up towards the end of the run.  I did slow down to a brisk walk halfway through to drink water.  I cannot drink water while I am breathing heavily.  The air is very dry in Hell's Canyon and it was well worth slowing down to drink water.  I got passed by a woman in black and purple tights.  She paused and gave me a high five.  She slowly pulled away, but I was able to keep her in sight for the rest of the run.  She was a runner on the Kicking ASSphault team.  Our team ran with their team for the rest of the race.  Sometimes we were ahead, and sometimes they were.

My second leg was also a little over 7 miles.  It happened at about 3 AM (or similar time)  There wasn't any moonlight.  This area is wilderness.  In the middle of the night it is dark.  The temperature was about 38 degrees.  I wore gloves, a hat, a pull over with a hood.  I get very warm when I run and I could take off my gloves, hat and remove the hood on the pull over if I got too hot.  About half way through the run I was really getting hot.  I slowed down and took off the gloves, hat, and hood.  The fresh, cold clean air was  refreshing.  In the process I dropped my hat.  Since it was black and the road was black and it was pitch black outside I did not try to find the hat.  My van took the gloves and drove to the end of the leg to pick me up.  I felt good.  I was running a good pace.  This leg was mainly slightly down hill.  I knew that but I could not tell.  I could only see a few feet in front of me.  I had a head lamp and a small flashlight, but it was very dark. The road was uneven and had pot holes.  I ran in the middle of the road and moved to the side when cars came.  This was a small race and there were not many cars.  My second leg ended on an incline (HILL).  I am not that good at hills yet.  I kept at it and was able to hold off a runner from  passing me.  

My third leg was a little shorter.  It was small rolling hills.  About half of the run was through farm fields.  The road was loose gravel. You have to work harder on gravel because the ground is loose and you have to be careful to not twist an ankel.  It was hot and there was a slight breeze.  My last stretch was on a long straight country road that got steeper towards the exchange point.  I kept repeating "bananas" to myself.  

I have to give a big Kudos to our team captain.   She did a fantastic job getting everyone, making hotel reservations, vans, and much much more.  She was not just a logistical person.  She was very supportive to the team.  Our last runner had a long hard run to the finish line.  We were all cheering for her, each in their own way.  We know she had run hard and for a long time.  We all had been up for about 30 odd hours at this time.  Everyone was exhausted.  Our team captain got out of the van about 2 miles from the finish.  Waited for our last runner and ran with her to the end.  I know they both were wiped, but that is real leadership.  

We had other people on the team who had never run on a relay race.  Without a doubt they did fantastic.  Everyone really is competing at the level they set for themselves.  Your job as a team mate is to encourage them, to give them water, to cheer for them, to give them a hug, break bread, enjoy the moment.

Why do relay races?  Yes, it is a big challenge.  Running is a solitary sport.  The relay races combine team camaraderie and individual running.  The running is an individual challenge.  You get to encourage your team mates with their own challenges.  My team mates were very encouraging.  It really does help at the end of a 7 mile run to have them cheering you on.  

After we drove back to Portland and emptied the van of garbage and our stuff we gave each other a high five, and hugs.  We all got in our cars and drove home.  As silence descended on the neighborhood I was alone.  It was a melancholy moment.  You can never go home again...

I am in the team uniform.  Skirt, cape, and sparkle head band.  Yes, I ran all my legs with them.

Team picture at the end.

Lessons Learned From Relay Races

This past weekend I ran in the Hood to Coast Relay Race .  The team I ran with are all older than me.  I   was impressed with their fitness and running.  I have run in 3 relay races so far and here is what I have learned:

1. Eat right.  These people are not eating junk food.  They are eating properly.  Carbs are not bad but here is a simple rule to follow.  Eat carbs that are not concentrated calories.  For example, sugar is very dense calorically.  Broccoli is not.  Do not starve yourself, eat little meals all the time.
2. Consistent exercise.  You do need rest and a day off from exercise, but you also have to keep at it every day.
3. Slow and steady wins the race.  You are going to have set backs, but just get up and try again.
4. Change it up. Do a variety of exercises, have fun.
5. Age does not matter.  I am no spring chicken and I was running with men who were older than me.  They were running significantly faster than I was.  I know I can improve.  (as a note they were very supportive not condescending or anything. It was great running with these guys)
6. Exercise with someone better than you.  It will push you to improve.  You can't fly with the eagles if you are training with the pigeons.

One Step at a Time

How does one cut down a large Oak tree?
How does one begin a journey (on foot) of 1,000 miles?
How does one crawl out of a cravasse with a broken leg and get back to camp through a glacer field?
How does one get healthier?
How does one recover from chemical dependency?
How do you eat an elephant?
How does one row across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans?

One Step at a time.  One bite at a time. One day at a time.

No really,  if you think of the whole of a problem it usually daunting.  Roz Savage has rowed a boat across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  She did it one stroke at a time.  If you go to AA one of the techniques is to shorten your time span, take each day at a time.  If that is too big, too daunting, take an hour at a time, if that is too daunting take a minute at a time.  Take smaller manageable bites.  if you want some great insight into this read "Touching the Void"

Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was forced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death.

The next three days were an impossibly grueling ordeal for both men. Yates, certain that Simpson was dead, returned to base camp consumed with grief and guilt over abandoning him. Miraculously, Simpson had survived the fall, but crippled, starving, and severely frostbitten was trapped in a deep crevasse. Summoning vast reserves of physical and spiritual strength, Simpson crawled over the cliffs and canyons of the Andes, reaching base camp hours before Yates had planned to leave.

How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival, and a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship.

Joe, traveled the distance by just focusing on going another 5 feet.  Setting a goal of getting 100 yards by noon, going 5 feet in 30 minutes.  Just keep moving forward. He literally crawled inch by inch back to the base camp.  If he had not returned in time his climbing buddy would have left.  His climbing buddy thought he was dead.  So he was not waiting for him.  They were in an area of South America were few people ever went.


I just finished the Ragnar Northwest Passage Relay Race.  It is a race from Blaine Washington to Whidby Island.  The distance is just over 200  miles.  The scenery is beautiful.  Each runner on the standard team of 12 runs 3 legs for a total of about 17 - 18 miles.  How do you run that far? One step at a time.  When you are out running it can seem daunting.  You have to not think about the distance.  Just concentrate on setting a smaller goal and getting there and then setting another one.  There were even teams as small as 2 people!


Can you run 10 feet?  Can you run 10 feet and then walk 10 feet?  Try doing it again and again. You will be surprised how far you can go.  Can you run for 30 seconds?  Can you run for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute?  Can you do that 10 times?  If so then you have just run for 5 minutes.  Not bad. Just keep doing that.  Try running for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds.  I think you get the idea.

Got 20 Minutes?

Perspective.  Keep moving forward.  Learn fromt he past do not dwell on it. (I can use improvement on this one.)  This post is for those who cannot ever imagine themselves running a marathon. (for example)    Do not make that your first fitness goal.  I have run half marathons in a reasonable time and it is not easy.  I think someday I will be able to run a full marathon. However, you do not wake up one day after lounging on the couch for the whole year and run a marathon.  It is like trying to eat the whole elephant.

You must tackle the problem in small bites.  The first thing is to NOT aim for running a marathon.  It is a nobel goal, but unless you have trained for it it will be overwhelming.  In all likelihood you will be inundated and give up.  Shoot for a smaller goal.  Like running a mile in 15 minutes on a track.  if that seems outrageous then go for 1/4 of a mile in 4 minutes.  If you cannot do that, and do NOT get discouraged.  Set a goal you think you can do.  Try it.  If you make it great, now raise the goal a little.  Keep moving and at a later date try the bigger goal.

People, there are individuals out there who can barely get up a flight of stairs without breathing hard.  They are NOT failures.  They need encouragement and help to get better.  As always consult your Dr. before starting an exercise program.  We want you to get healthier not keel over!

Assuming the Dr. gives you the thumbs up. The next thing is "But I do not want to live in a gym. I do not want to be a gym rat."  Here is something you can do in 20 minutes.  First warm up and stretch.  If that means take a small walk at a moderate pace that is fine.  The goal is to get the blood moving.

Once you are warmed up and stretched do the following.  They have smart phone timer apps for this.
    1. Do an exercise as hard as you can for 20 seconds.
    2. Rest for 10 seconds.
repeat steps 1 and 2 8 times.  You may have some fade.  That is okay.  By fade I mean your hard times may not be as vigorous.    These are called tabatas.  They help burn fat.
Rest for 2 minutes.

If you can do it again.  each tabata takes 4 minutes so with a 2 minute rest between you can do 3 sets in under 20 minutes.  If you cannot do 3 sets do as much as you can do.  You will be very tired at the end.  Afterwards cool down, take a slow walk or jog, and let your heart rate go back to normal.  Stretch.

You can do this in under 30 minutes.

"BREAKFAST LIKE A KING, LUNCH LIKE A PRINCE, DINE LIKE A PAUPER"

What you eat and when is critical to your proper diet.  "Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, Dine like a Pauper."  When you get up in the morning, or noon if you are a teenager, your body is starting up all your systems.  While you slept your body slowed down.  It rested.  When you wake up your body sends a surge of hormones to get you going.  Your blood sugar rises and other hormonal changes occur.  Diabetics can tell you all about the "Dawn Effect".  In type 2 diabetics they usually have a higher blood sugar reading in the morning even though they may not have eaten in 10 hours.  You would think that since you have not eaten your blood sugar would be low.  Your body is warming up to be active for the day.  This is the time when you should eat a larger meal.  I am not talking about a double dose of Sugar Pops or the equivalent.  No, you need a good balance of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.  A small glass of juice is fine with the emphasis on small.  Juice has good vitamins but is high in sugar.  An omelet with vegetables is a good choice. (protein and complex carbs and some fats)  The protein and fats will help to smooth out the blood sugar rise with any carbohydrates.  Do not skip breakfast.  You cannot run a car without gas.  You cannot start your day without fuel.  You need to fuel up to get your metabolism going.

For lunch, you an still eat well, just cut back a little.  You still have 8 or 9 more hours of activity.

For dinner, eat small portions.  You are going to go to bed in a few hours and your body is going to slow down.  Any unused food is going to be turned into fat.  Having ice cream just before going to bed is like applying fat to your thighs.

A better approach is to have a mid morning snack and a mid afternoon snack.  In proportion make breakfast and lunch a little smaller.  You will keep your body from being hungry, but not stuffing it so much that you creating fat.  I know easier said than done.

Evolution vs Modern Life

For most of the time that humans have been on this planet there were no Mc Donalds, Wendys, Carl Jrs., Burger Kings or Dairy Queens.  Modern farming techniques, including plants and animals, is fairly new.  Yes, corn has been culled from a grass with meager seeds to the tasty vegetable we eat today.  However, that has happened in a relatively short time.

For most of human existence we hunted animals and ate a lot of plants, fruits, and vegetables.  We did not hunt these animals with high powered rifles.  No at best we used a bow and arrow or spear or we ran them down.  Yes, we literally ran after them for many miles.  We are not fast runners. We could not out run a cheetah; it would not even be close!  However, a cheetah can only run fast for a very short distance.  It overheats.  Think about it.  What make up were those animals that we caught and ate?  There are signs of early humans eating shellfish and fish.  Usually lean protein.  Those animals on the African Veldt are always on the move.  They are lean, low fat animals.  Too much fat and you slow down and get eaten.  (I know if I lost 45 lbs I could run faster, I would be using less energy to run if nothing else!)

So our bodies evolved over 10,000's of years to hunt food, and crave sources of high energy foods. (eg honey and fats)  In good times we would gorge ourselves and store the extra.  Remember there was no refrigeration.  We would store the extra as fat (famine anticipation tissue).  When food was scarce our bodies would convert that fat to fuel.

Food scientists know what we like to eat.  They talk about mouth feel.  For example, foods that are slightly hard on the outside and creamy on the inside.  We crave the taste of fat and of sugar.  Honey is a great food to eat if you need a lot of calories.  It is converted into energy and fat easily.  So we have evolved to love that taste. Fat from animals or plants has a  smooth creamy taste.  Our bodies love this taste.  Fat is the highest density calorie source.  It does not digest as quickly, but it is an energy packed food.

The problem is in modern society we have what i call the "Orange Soda Effect".  If you drink orange soda, I do not,  you may notice that it is more orange than 100 oranges.  It is orange flavor hyperbole.  You will not find that orange taste in nature.  You are training your taste buds to prefer this orange flavor on steroids to a regular orange.

Remember our ancestors had times of feast and times of famine.  So we are very good at storing food in our bodies.  The problem is that in modern society the food is readily available.  In addition, a lot of it is selected or engineered to taste fantastic.  That would be great if you ate like that 1 meal a week.  But we eat 3 or meals a day like that.  So we have a huge obesity problem in the USA and it is spreading world wide.

I know since the beginning of the last century (1900's) farmers have gotten more and more efficient.  it takes fewer farmers to grow or raise food for a given number of people.  Two, food companies make a lot more money selling processed food than raw food. (eg Twinkies vs carrots)  They have a bigger incentive to sell a processed food.  They have an incentive to make the processed food enticing. (good mouth feel, good flavor, maybe too  much flavor)  Again salt was not plentiful for our ancestors so our taste buds like the taste of salt.  We were geared to seek out those salty high calorie things because they were rare.  Now it is almost impossible to avoid them!  We are killing ourselves in our orgy of great tasting food.

This makes it especially difficult to eat a healthy diet.  Try to keep that in mind when you go shopping. Get Michael Pollen's book Food Rules.

Talking Food

No, this is not about a new musical group (eg Talking Heads).  This post is about food that talks to you and will power.  Will power is like a muscle.  It can get tired and fatigued.  At night when you are tired from the day and have been fighting off the temptation to eat chocolate chip cookies all day you have a more difficult time resisting the urge to splurge.  I speak from experience.  (Plus there is scientific data to show this)

Yesterday, I did a 5K race and after the race watched a beautiful 4th of July Parade.  At the home I was  invited to people bought food to share while watching the parade.  There was a wonderful spread of mini donuts, carmel covered brownies, brownies, cookies, soy crisps, potato chips, fruit punch, coffee, home made cinnamon rolls steaming, some fruit, and other goodies.  it was tempting.  I am trying to cut back on sugar and so forth.  I got a cup and had water.  I was not hungry then and so I did not eat anything.  The fruit was the only thing I could eat.  I am not much of a coffee drinker.

After I went home and showered I had a large spinach salad with left over broccoli salad and chicken shredded.(no bread)  Water of course,  I treated myself to a diet coke later in the day.  I know I will hear about it later.  I am cutting back, 1 every 3 days vs 8 every day is a major improvement. (like 50X)  For dinner I had some brats with mustard, salad, and some fresh fruit. (not in juice)

About midnight I got very hungry and just could not resist a couple of chocolate chip cookies from the open tin on the kitchen counter.  On a normal day I am not exposed to piles of sweets.

There are several solutions.  You can hope that your will power is strong enough to resist the temptation.  Not very likely.  You can avoid the temptation.  Do not bring food in the house that you should not be eating.  If it gets in the house and it starts calling your name then kill it.  Yes, take the food, put it in the trash, and add something to it so you would under no circumstances take it out of the trash. (cleanser like Comet works very well, cheap and you won't eat it.)   But Jim that is a waste of food !  yeah, well next time do not buy it!  Look, if you are upset about the food waste then put it in a container and take it to a food kitchen right away.  Or drive to a homeless area and hand it out.  I am all for compassion for others.  But the cookies etc. are going to kill you.  Do this.  At the next party you go to where people bring food.  If there are a lot of unhealthy foods (cake, pies, cookies, pastry etc.) Look at the people at the party.  How healthy are they?  I bet they do not need that food either.  We have a major crisis in this country with food. (not a lack of food, we are not eating the right stuff)

Stop bringing sweets to pot lucks.  You are not doing anyone any favors.  Find a new healthy recipie and bring that. Show that healthy food can also taste good.  It takes no talent to brink KFC to a party or a Costco sheet cake.

here is a great article about Will Power.

BTW i just got accepted to a team doing the Northwest Passage Ragnar Relay race.  I am very excited.

Day 4 - Eating out problem solving

I am going to post my food today, but I am going to start with dinner.  We went to The Portland City Grill for dinner.  For an appetizer I had seared ahi tuna with kimchi and corn salsa.  The ahi tuna is high  quality protein.  The kimchi is basically cabbage and a small amount of vegetable.  I skipped the corn salsa, it is very starchy and I can do without it at night.

Then I had the seafood soup.  They had a fancy name for it but it was a tomato based soup with fresh seafood.  It did not have any starch (eg pasta etc.)  I was very hungry.  I did have the piece of bread that came with the soup.  I did not have the bread they put on the table.  I drank water and ice tea with lemon. (no sweetener of any kind)


For the main course, I had the chicken breast roasted in macadamia nuts.   I had them leave off the rice and double the veggies.  I choose the asparagus because I love that.  I was full at the end.  I did have a teaspoon of creme brulee.


I had very tasty food and it was good and I was full at the end.


Here are the picts of dinner:

ahi tuna with kimchi.

seafood soup no pasta

chicken in macadamia nuts

protein shake for breakfast

cranberry rolls with peanut butter for breakfast

For lunch I had my usual salad with chicken etc. I had a Greek yogurt with some fruit for an afternoon snack because I was very hungry.

I couldn't get the pictures to post properly.

It is just fuel and building material

Matthew 7:24-27 (paraphrased), Build your house on a foundation of rock not sand.  So make your body healthy not with potato chips, and fast foods (sand) but with good building materials.  Things like lean high quality protein, vegetables, fruits.  

Okay, it is not as simple as that.  People are complex and we have been trained to use food as a reward, a comfort, solace when we are depressed.  These are difficult habits to break.  It is especially difficult since we have to eat.  It isn't like a chemical addiction where you can just stop.  Chemical addictions are very difficult to solve, and food is even harder.

But we must.

This post was inspired by The Trainer.  I am trying to be better about what I eat.  I am pretty good, but my body is highly efficient. It loves starches and thinks they should be converted to famine anticipation tissue (FAT).  I do want to improve my lean body to fat ratio.  

I am continuing to take picts of my food intake and will post them.  I send them to The Trainer also to keep me in line and make recommendations to help.  The Trainer has been fantastic about that.  Not judgmental, no blame storming, but helpful. 

Think of food as the building blocks for your body and the fule it needs.  You must put fuel in it.  Put good fuel and supply it with good building blocks.  Ask yourself, "Do you really need that front porch?"

I will post picts of what I ate today when I finish eating for the day.

Feel free to comment.

Your Environment

We all struggle with food.  Keep food that you can eat around and available.  Also keep a small portion of what you crave available.  It is inevitable that you will crave something.  If you feel you are denying yourself something you will want it all the more.  For example, if you like ice cream then have some ice cream.  Most of us find it challenging to control our portions of those things we crave.  You can get Hagen Dase in an individual serving.  So buy 1 of those at a time.  Do not buy a dozen at a time, but one at a time.  Also make it a flavor you like.  It is much better to have a small portion of really good ice cream (eg Haben Dase ) than the same amount of mediocre ice cream.(eg Dairy Queen soft serve)  If you are going to "cheat" at least have good quality.

I am married and I am very grateful to my wife.  She is a great cook and cooks healthy food.  Veggies, lean meat, low oils or fats.  I do have 2 or 3 teenage boys. (sometimes we have an exchange student) The boys have a tendency to eat more.  So she does buy some chips and desserts for them.  It is not easy to avoid those foods.  But we usually have something else I can eat that is healthier.

When went to a pot luck at school and you have to bring things that you can eat.  Out of 50 families we were the only ones who bought fruit for dessert.  Most of the desserts were cookies, cakes, and candy.  The main course foods were of the type of tater tot casserole or fast food etc.  In those situations bring your own.

There is an excellent book Food Rules.  It is a short book.  He has 63 rules.  His basic premis is eat food, not too much, mainly vegetables.   The rules are short and have an explanation of each one.  It is an easy read.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• If it comes through a car window it is not food.
• If your grandmother would not recognize it as food it is not food.
• If the cereal changes the color of your milk it is not food.
• If it is called the same thing in all languages it is not food.
• You can eat junk food if you make it yourself.

So surround yourself at home and work with good food.  If you are going to go outside your food zone then have good quality and enjoy, it just keep the portions smaller.  

Your self control will fail when you are tired or stressed.  It has been determined that people have only so much self control.  You can exercise it and get more over time, but realize that at the end of the day you may be tired and have less self control.  If you have food choices easily available it will help avoid those binges.

I will post my food picts later.

Here they are:

Whey protein, froz fruit, water and ice

English muffins with peanut butter. i was hungry yesterday this  should help smooth out the calories.  Better to have starch in the morning.

Lunch

Leftovers meatballs with sauce NO pasta

Domas, stuffed grape leaves with rice and vegtables, tomatoes, peppers etc.

Snack

Greek yogurt and flax with pumpkin seed granola

Dinner

Chicken breast, baked with curry, spinach salad with strawberries, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, onions.

I did have a Diet Coke with Lime today.  I think 1 every 3 days is okay.

Day 2 and more on BMI

Here is a link to how wrong BMI can be in reality.  Olympic Athletes who are considered overweight.  A better feel for are you getting healthier is are the pants getting looser?  It is not a sure fire method but if your weight stays the same but your pants get looser then you may be losing fat and gaining lean body mass.  If you concentrate on the scale only and not on your body composition then you could end up being skinny fat.  You could have a low weight but have little or no muscle tone.  You could have a hit fat to lean body mass percentage.

Here is what I had today.  I have excluded the glasses of water I drank.  I am trying to drink a lot of water.  This is day 2 of the no Diet Coke with lime. (or any soda)  Yes, Diet Coke with Lime is my foible.

Whey protein, frozen blue berries, ice and water, blended. Makes about a quart.  About 500 calories.

I then went running for 80 minutes.  My goal was just to do a steady run for 80 minutes without looking at the pace etc.  I ran from my home to Roy Rodgers, towards Sherwood to Grandma's farm and back, about 12 kilometers.  Took a shower and had:

meat balls (turkey) in spagetti sauce with broccoli

I also had water. (both during the run and lunch)  About 30 minutes later I was still hungry.  So I had:

Cherries, small bowl

Then I took a nap.  Slept for about 2 hours.  About 3:30 ish had a snack

Whey protein and small portion of frozen blue berries and water and ice.

Then we went out to Sushi Terriaki in Sherwood.  For an appetizer I had

On top is salmon and tuna (raw) and avocado, cucumber slices and lettuce.

For the main course I ordered the chicken broccoli without rice.

I had hot green tea (no sweetener) and ice water.

A Week of Food Porn

Okay, not really.  The Trainer wants me to photograph all food and drink that I intake.  So here it is:
After my workout I had a protein drink: (low carbs, high protein, low fat.)

Unsweetened Tea

Lunch, Baked Chicken on the bottom, steamed broccoli, some walnuts, sun flower seeds, dried cranberries, asparagus, tomatoes

Snack about 3 PM. I was hungry

Dinner, romain lettuce and poppy seed dressing, tri tip underneath, water to drink

Had 4 of these during the day and 3 16 Oz glasses at night

The Trainer

I have worked with a trainer at 24 Hour Fitness - Downtown and The Pearl Locations - for several years now.  It has worked for me.  The issues are complex and you need someone who is a domain expert in the field.  If you get sick you go to a Dr. and get professional advice.  If you get into legal trouble you hire a lawyer.  A good trainer understands body mechanics, nutrition, motivation, training techniques, and biology.  If they think The IT Band is a 80's Rock Hair Band get a different trainer.  The trainer must balance pushing you beyond what you think you can do and injury.  Like a great teacher they need to stretch you to make you better.  In working with a trainer provide them with feedback.  If an exercise hurts tell them.  Don't gut it out.  They want the exercise to be difficult in some cases but not painful.  Pain is almost always a sign you are doing something wrong.  It means you may get injured.  You want to avoid injury.

I value my trainer and have voluntarily written several as positive letters to her management and higher up the chain.  Yes, actual snail mail letters, not email.  It means more.  In future blog postings I will refer to this person as The Trainer.  Her name is not publicly important.  Since this is a public blog I would like to err on the side of privacy.  I do not want to make public their private life or interfere with it in any way.  The world is full of crazies and the last thing I want to do is expose this person to some unknown nut job.  For those of you whom I know I would be glad to recommend you to her.  At least you are a nut job I know. (a little humor folks)

The Trainer has been very diligent in the training aspects.  Very encouraging, pushes, checks up on nutrition.  I am not always the easiest to work with.  I have my foibles.  I do try to not bitch about the exercises.  After all I am paying for it and I would rather have her push me than bitch about it and still have me push me.  I want to encourage The Trainer to assist me in my journey.

How you do an exercise is very important.  I developed "runner's knee".  I was running and turning my right foot out too much.  This caused the tendon to take a sharp turn under the patella (knee cap).  It hurt. It hurt a lot.  I rested the knee for a week and tried again.  I got about .25 of a mile and it started hurting again.  I stopped and walked home. Again the rule is do not get injured. If injured do not make it worse.

I went to a GP and was told I had arthritis.  I went to a bone Dr. (not a surgeon) and he said no, you have runner's knee. Go to the physical therapist and she will help you.  I did (Providence Jel Wend Center where the Portland Timbers play).  I can only say positive things about the therapists there.  They gave me exercises to do, made sure I did them correctly, and communicated with The Trainer.  They , the therapists and The Trainer, knew their stuff.  Domain Experts.  It made a huge difference I am running again.

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8

It is hard to change habits; it is difficult to go outside your comfort zone.  You will have set backs.  At times I have worked hard to lose 5 lbs, taking a couple of weeks to do it.  Then one week you gain 6 lbs.  AAARRGGHH!  Frustrating I know.  Look forward, if you Fall down 7 times get up 8.  Try to learn from it.  Use it to motivate yourself.  Do not beat yourself up over it.  I have done that many times and it doesn't work.

The game of getting healthy is a game of inches.  You are going to have fluctuations.  The body is complex.  I had a meal that was very salty and I gained a lot of weight. 2 days later I was back to where I thought I was.  I didn't make a major diet or exercise change.  I found I am sensitive to salt.    I do not try to avoid salt, but I do not add extra salt to my food.  Everyone is different.  You have to find what works for you.

Be aware that the timing of what you eat is important.  Smaller more frequent meals are better than one large meal even if the number of calories is the same.  Your body can only absorb so much at a time.  Too many calories at one time and the body will try to store the extra calories as fat.  On the other hand, you don't want to starve yourself.  The body will turn down its furnace and you will get more efficient and burn fewer calories.  Also your body may start burning protein for fuel. Again not what your goal should be.  Burning protein is burning lean body mass.  Lean body mass takes more calories per day to sustain itself than fat.  To help recover from a work out you need to eat some protein.  When I say that I do not mean a 16 oz steak.  I mean an once or two of protein.  Also drink water.

It is a tricky balance.  If you fall down 7 times get up 8.

Skinny Fat, ignore BMI, and Pet Peeves

I hate to say it but people keep using BMI as a measure of obesity.  BMI stands for Body Mass Index.  Here is a link on how to calculate your BMI. The formula is basically your weight divided by your height squared.  In theory it is supposed to give you a ranking on how what percentage body fat you have.  In reality this works fine for a normal person.  Normal being what the formular expects.  In reality it stinks.  If you are fit but overweight then you may have a large amount of muscle (good) but your BMI might indicate you are morbidly obese.  if you are light weight but do not have much muscle then your BMI will be low even though you are unhealthy. Think of a cancer patient wasting away; their muscles have atrophied and they have a great BMI.  You would hardly call them healthy!

Take me. Now I have lost quite a bit of weight but my BMI says I am morbidly obese.  I know  I need to lose more fat. I need to improve my lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs) ratio to my body fat.  Why does BMI fail me?  I have a short leg inseam (29 inches).  I am 5 feet 11 inches. I have a long torso.  When I sit down on a plane my head is well above the seat back.  I have very large calves and quads.  Not fat legs but very muscular legs.  Muscle is denser than fat.   So the more muscle I have the worse my BMI will be!  There is a trainer at the gym who is very muscular.  He is a weight lifter.  I have seen him without his shirt on in the locker room and I would be surprised if he has over 5% body fat.  Yet, i am sure BMI says he is overweight.  The guy looks very healthy and is a darn nice guy.

There are better measures.  One measure is to do hydrostatic body fat testing.  I get it done at Adventist health on 10123 SE market St. In Portland out by the 205 mall.  It is very reasonable and accurate.  You make an appointment, bring a towel, and a bathing suit.  They have a locker rooms. You change into your bathing suite.  She has you step on a scale.  Then you climb into a pool of warm water.  You sit in this PVC chair that is hanging from a rope. (attached to a scale)  She tells you what to do and you are in complete control.(no reason to panic)  You put your head underwater, exhale as much air as you can.  She will tap on the pipe to tell you she got the measurement.  remember you control your access to the surface so there is no reason to panic.  She has you do this 4 or 5 times to get a consistent reading.  Then you take a shower and get dressed.  She gives you the results.  The cost is about $35.  it is well worth it.  You can see if when you are losing or gaining weight if it is muscle or fat.

This method is much better than the skin fold test.  I used to do that but as I lost weight it "said" that I was getting fatter.  I was not as The Trainer and my Endocrinologist said, your fat is getting looser, more giggly because your body is getting ready to metabolize it. (burn that stuff off)

Another pet peeve of mine is the starvation diets.  Often they give you soy protein and starve you. (800 to 1,000 calories a day).  yes, you will lose weight.  Unfortunately, soy protein is not as good for you as other proteins and can affect women's hormones, promoting fat stores. So you get lighter by losing muscle and gaining fat.  Just the opposite of what you want!  Your basal metabolic rate drops. (basal metabolic rate is how many calories you burn per day doing nothing)  You end up not being able to stay on this deprivation diet and when you add a normal amount of food, your body doesn't need it and stores it for future diets. (FAT-> Famine Anticipation Tissue)  You become skinny fat.  But you have a great BMI!

Finally, I want to say something about motorized wheel chairs.  If at all possible never get one.  There are a small group of people where they are necessary and appropriate.  Unfortunately, they have become very popular and you see very obese people in them.  If they do not get up and try to never use them again they will die in that chair.  I have a friend who is a nurse and she sees this all the time.  The chair kills them.  Those people need a lot of help and encouragement.  They are not going to get out of the chair in one day.  It is going to take months of hard work.  So please do not misinterpret what I am saying as I think they are lazy bums.  Not at all.

The Begining

For decades I have been obese.  A variety of General Practitioner MDs all had the same advice.  "Eat less and exercise more."  I would try for about 6 months to follow that advice.  I would almost starve myself and exercise as much as I could.  I would lose some weight - 10 to 15 lbs and then plateau.  It was very frustrating.  My Type II diabetes got worse.  I went on more medications.  I felt helpless to control my blood sugars.

Type II Diabetes is a terrible disease.  Basically it is the inability of the body to keep blood glucose levels in the proper range.  It has devastating effects on the body.

• Adverse effects to the cardio vascular system, (eg heart attack, stroke, loss of circulation which can lead to amputation of limbs, etc.)
• Depression.  This one took me 15 years to understand.  Note: if there are any Dr.s out there please explain this to your patients.  Swings in Blood Glucose levels are a stressor on the body.  The body reacts with the fight or flight response.  An occasional fight or flight response is normal.  If your body keeps going into that response you will increase the possibility of depression.  It would have been nice to know this when I was diagnosed not 15 years later.
• High Cholesterol and triglicerides.  High blood sugars overwhelm the liver and so the liver starts dumping the extra glucose as triglicerides and cholesterol.  Very bad.
• Neropathy  (I may have spelled it wrong).  This often feels like your feet are warm or it is uncomfortable to wear socks.  
• Compromised immune system.  You are prone to infections.  Infections can become worse quickly and lead to amputations.  This is especially true if you are a smoker.  I am not.
• Nerve damage.

Think of it as a slow death.  There Type II Diabetes is a huge problem in the USA.  

My peak weight was about 360 lbs.  I could not run 1,000 meters.  I could walk for quite a distance, but forget running.

After decades of this I went to the 24 Hour Fitness in Downtown Portland, Oregon.  There I met a trainer.  We discussed my fitness goals, lose weight, get much healthier.  I stepped on the scale and she did the skin fold measurements to determine my body fat percentage.  We confirmed that in fact I was obese.    At this point in time I was on a large daily dose of insulin, and many other diabetic drugs.

That is the beginning.