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.