244 - The fantastic year is ending with a bang

With only three weeks to go until the end of the calendar year, I've been contemplating what has happened in the past 12 months and what the future has in store for me. I'm excited! Usually, by now, I have already sent out my annual Christmas cards with their 'round-robin' letters. My friends all know how much I love to send (and receive - hint!) letters and cards in the mail. Anyway, it truly has been a fantastic year, and the best is yet to come!

January started out with me weighing 336 pounds (152.5 kg). This morning:

243.8 lbs (110.6 kg)

243.8 pounds, 92 lbs lighter in twelve months. Losing nearly eight pounds a month on average is a good, healthy amount. 

I was still living in Helena at the time (in January 2016), still working for the Dept of Public Health and Human Service in a job that had me practically tied to a desk all day answering a phone. I was walking the ⅔ mile each way to work (a 100 foot elevation difference so, yes, it was uphill both ways 😜), including in the middle of winter with all its snow and ice (and I can honestly say, I never missed a single day because of the weather). At this point I hadn't been riding my bike, which was still stored in my hall closet. I also hadn't substantially started hiking yet, although I had started to make plans to go to southern Oregon and see Crater Lake as part of a 100-mile PCT hike that was scheduled for the end of May. 

In July I had decided that I was financially stable enough to be able to leave my job and move to my "spiritual home" (where I'm actually living now) of Missoula, MT. There was a short 'blip' when I was in Sidney (eastern Montana) for a few weeks. My close friends know the details of that little escapade (temporary insanity? 😵) Anyway, I moved to the Garden City at the beginning of November and have been able to get back on my program (such that there is one - low carb diet and more exercise, basically) with great results. I've been riding my now-heavily-accessorized bike a lot (weather permitting), and walking more than ever before. 

So, next year I'm looking forward to finally reaching my final target - 178 lbs or (80.7 kg) which, for a 5' 10" guy (1.78 m) is still a BMI of 25.5 - so, technically, still overweight. I should be there by, say, mid-July. But, you know what? If it takes me until August, or September, or even December, I'm not that bothered. It's all a heck of a lot better than 405 lbs (June 2015) or 428 lbs (June 2014)!! Of course, there's the question of what to do about the 20 pounds of excess, flapping skin that will be hanging off me all over the place. "Surgery!" (I imagined myself saying that in a ringing, singing voice).

I still have some objectives to meet. I still want to find a place to do some boxing to help develop my upper body musculature. I still want to find a place to do T'ai Chi to help with the physical and mental/spiritual balance. I still want to do a long-distance bicycle ride (Portland, Oregon, is still looking attractive as either the destination or the starting point for that little tour). I really want to start dancing again. I have such fond memories of my daughter and I going to some contra dances in Helena, but that was six and seven years ago! I know that those things are all available here in Missoula, it's just a question of time and money, and making it a big enough priority. 

If you're in Missoula and you're interested in contra dancing, the Missoula Folklore Society has dances twice a month (first and third Saturday) from October through May (http://www.missoulafolk.org). Maybe I'll see you there? Oh, and Sara Bareilles? I'm still waiting for your phone call to ask me to be in a future music video of yours ("Brave" was brilliant! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4.) 

And, I haven't given up on wanting to complete my PCT hike, or climbing Mount Hood ("Go BIG or go home!", right?) I have unfinished business to take care of in Oregon, and I'm not going to let it beat me! 

I still want to expand my répertoire of mostly plant-based (but not exclusively vegetarian) recipes and learn some new cooking styles and techniques. I still want to learn and practise my own food growing, canning and preserving. Not that I want to be all "prepper" self-sufficient, but a little better preparedness doesn't hurt (interestingly, even after living in the US for 20 years now, I've still never fired - much less held - a gun. I get that question from my English friends all the time). 

In the short term, I want to start enjoying the winter (I never imagined that THOSE words would ever come out of my mouth!) I want to try snowshoeing (or cross country skiing, maybe). 

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom-of-night
stays this man from going outside."

2017 is going to be another fantastic year. If I can take some friends with me, old ones or new ones, it'll be that much better. If I can leverage the new-found knowledge and experience of healthy eating and exercise and weight-loss, and get myself a better job, or even just use it to HELP other people, I'll be delighted. 

Lost 150 pounds in 17 months - all natural

Back in June 2015, I had made a decision to improve my health and lose weight. At the time, I weighed 405 pounds (having peaked at an incredible 428 lbs the summer before). I changed my domestic circumstances, moved into my own apartment, was once again 100% in control of the food I bought and prepared and ate. I deliberately put myself in a position where I HAD to walk to work (it was only 2/3 mile, but it was better than not walking at all). I started walking everywhere, hiking and climbing small mountains (for fun!) 

In May 2016, I attempted (this time unsuccessfully - but it won't always have me beaten) to walk 100 miles next to the Pacific Crest Trail (not actually on the PCT because there was too much snow, at the end of May!) I left my desk-bound job of five years in September and moved to Sidney, MT. I started working in a grocery store, expending A LOT more energy than I have in a long time (but also eating more, and more carb-laden foods than normal). Now, it's the middle of November. I've been on this new program (new regime, metamorphosis, call it what you will) for 17 months, and I've lost 150 pounds (68 kg, for my continental cousins). 

I'VE LOST 150 POUNDS IN 17 MONTHS!

I moved house again last week, this time to my "spiritual home" of Missoula ("a place where you feel you belong, although you were not born there, because you have a lot in common with the people, the culture, and the way of life.") I still need to find a new job, but that will come very soon.  The good diet continues now. The increased exercise continues. The improved health continues. In two week's time I will be turning 50, and I'm determined not to slow down or go back to where I was. 

Me, at the 'M' on Mount Sentinel in Missoula, yesterday

As the brilliant Zig Ziglar used to say, "See you at the top!" 

Principles versus practicality (PCT d - 55)

With 15 days to go until my overnight hiking trip to Bear Trap Canyon (near Norris, MT), I'm focusing on making my own "just add water" dehydrated meals that are suitable for the backpacking trail. When Birdie (my daughter) came over for a visit on Tuesday evening, we tried out a Knorr Pasta Sides dish (Parmesan flavor) and a Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef meal (Spicy sauce with macaroni, beef and beans). The former was okay, but the real surprise was just how good the Mountain House product was. It was very easy to make, still piping hot after 13 minutes of waiting, visually appealing, smelled good and was very tasty. Definitely rated 5 out of 5 stars (*****).

Homemade all-in-one meal

Using an ordinary domestic dehydrating machine, I had previously dried out some cooked ground meat and some vegetables (butternut squash, diced carrots and cauliflower). I bought some Safeway-brand stuffing mix, some Idahoan mashed potatoes (Loaded Baked^® flavor), some Safeway gravy mix, and I cheated slightly by adding some 'real' butter.

The store-bought dry ingredients were carefully weighed and split up into 2-serving portions. The potatoes serve 4, so I split those into two. The gravy was the same. The stuffing mix serves 6, so I split it into 3 equal portions. Then I added a cup of my dehydrated mixed vegetables and a cup of ground meat. Normally, I might split the resulting recipe between two ziptop bags, and each person could add their own 1¼ cups of boiling water but, for testing purposes, I used 2½ cups of boiling water. The resulting mix was left to stand (rehydrate) for 10 minutes.

After dividing it into two equal portions, the result: it was certainly enough, volume-wise, for one person for one meal. The second half will be taken to work tomorrow for my lunch. The taste was actually pretty good. The squash was still a bit hard, but the carrots and cauliflower were good. The potato and stuffing mix were a nice consistency and the meat was good. Overall, a successful 4 out of 5 stars (****). The nice thing about it, too, was that there was zero added salt, unlike the freeze dried stuff which ends up having 1,500 mg of sodium per real serving.

Birdie said that she liked the squash as it was, a crunchy snack, without rehydrating. I didn't try it.

Normally, when I'm grocery shopping, I avoid the center aisles, which have all the pre-packaged "convenience" foods. My friends who know me well also know that I try to avoid products made or sold by Kraft Foods and Nestlé. The trouble is, so many foods that backpackers might take with them are made by these companies. Thinking about dry whole milk, for example (versus that nasty non-fat stuff), Nestlé's Nido brand is really popular, but I refuse to buy it or use it. A couple of alternatives: Augason Farms is stocked by a local store (Vans) in Helena, and Thrive sells freeze dried products through their MLM home distributor network. I'll be trying both of those in the coming weeks.

As well as avoiding Kraft and Nestlé products, I'm also torn between wanting to stick to my low carb diet, which has worked so well for nine months, and wanting to field-test my provisions for future backpacking and hiking trips, but they inevitably contain lots of carbs.

On our trip to Crater Lake in May, I know we'll have to carry an average of 1.5 lbs of food per person per day, which means 10.5 lbs each for the seven days that we'll be hiking (unless we mail some food to ourselves at Mazama Village, and pick it up at the end of day 4). With 5 lbs of water, and 25 lbs worth of other gear, we'll be toting 40 lbs on our hips for 100 miles. If "convenience" foods offer a way to reduce that weight, that may be the lesser of two evils (but there's almost nothing more evil than Kraft and Nestlé).

Results of my experimental cooking

Last week I made a couple of experimental recipes, some fortified hard tack to take on a backcountry hike and a 'good for you' chocolate pudding. The hard tack wasn't cooked quite long enough. At the relatively low temperature (250 °F) it needed more then 90 minutes to eliminate all the moisture.

The chocolate pudding turned out pretty well. 

Low carb chocolate dessert

The consistency was good. The flavor was not bad. It could have done with being slightly sweeter, so perhaps an extra teaspoon of honey, or one extra packet of stevia. I used unsweetened almond milk, so maybe regular almond milk would have been better? It smelled very chocolatey. A garnish of fresh berries would have been good (raspberries!)

Today, I have a couple of avocados that are ripe enough to try my other chocolate pudding recipe. I don't have a blender or food processor, so it'll be fun trying to get the avocados to be a smooth paste by hand.

Super grains - fortified hard tack

Last weekend I posted about the idea of making hard tack but adding some quinoa and amaranth for extra protein and other nutrients. Tonight I made some.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• ½ cup quinoa
• ½ cup amaranth
• 1 cup water
• Pinch of salt (I used pink Himalayan, but I'm sure any kind would do)

Add caption

Instructions

1. Mix the flour and grains in a bowl
2. Add water and mix together
3. Roll out on a floured surface until about ¼" thick
4. Transfer to a baking sheet, score in squares (perhaps 1" or 2" squares), and prick with a fork
5. Bake in a 250 °F oven for 90 minutes

The idea is to find a balance of ingredients that will taste good, keep for a long time without going rancid, and that will have nutrients that will keep us going on our 100-mile hike in May.

Super grains for making hiking/trail snacks

In the context of lightweight food that might be suitable to take on a long-distance hike, I was reading about hard tack recently, in an online backpacking forum, when I was reminded that five years ago I made my own kind of long-lasting basic "survival" food.

Sesame wheat crackers, easy to make

My daughter, Birdie, and I made our own sesame wheat crackers, using flour and water and salt and sesame seeds, with some baking powder added, I'm sure. Usually, hard tack is made with just flour and water and salt, and it is slow baked at a low temperature for a long time (like, 200 °F for four hours, or something like that). Anyway, that much wheat flour is not consistent with my low-carb diet at the moment and, honestly, doesn't sound that appealing on the palette. If we're taking sustenance with us on our 100-mile Pacific Crest Trail section hike in May, we want it to actually taste good, and be nutritious too, right?

So, I looked up some alternatives online that were still easy to make, but had more protein and other micro-nutrients, yet would still make a light, flavorful snack. The addition of amaranth and quinoa, both gluten-free pseudo grains with essential amino acids, seems to be the most popular idea for adding flavor and texture and nutrients. Other good things you can add to the mix include spelt, Kamut, chia seeds and teff. Look online for phrases like "fortified hard tack" and you'll find more details.

This site: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/10-ancient-grains-to-watch-from-kamut-to-quinoa has some info on the health benefits of "super grains". It also reminded me that the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture recently published their new, updated 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ ). Check out this link, from the same site: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Ingredients/Cereals-and-bakery-preparations/Seeds-avocados-and-clean-eating-will-gain-traction-in-2016-RDNs-say

So, when I get my supply of amaranth and quinoa, in a few days time, I will be doing some baking and I'll share the results here.

An alternative 'good for you' chocolate pudding

Ingredients

• 1 ripe peeled avocado
• ½ to ¾ cup water (start with a ½ cup and add more if needed to blend)
• 3 tablespoons raw unsweetened cacao powder
• 8 chopped pitted dates
• Dash of vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender.
2. Serve chilled.

The avocado has excellent fats, the dates add some natural sweetness and fiber. The raw unsweetened cacao is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. 

For a change, you could substitute blended coconut milk or almond milk for the water, or add a pinch of ground cinnamon. You could also top it with pistachio or other nuts.

Experimenting with a 'good for you' chocolate pudding

Back in the summer of 2014 I had an opportunity to learn first-hand how chia seeds will swell up and thicken any liquids into which they are poured. They are high in protein, and an excellent way to thicken your shakes and smoothies, or to make puddings. They have other nutritional benefits. A one ounce (28 grams) serving (two tablespoons) of chia seeds contains: 11 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, and 9 grams of fat (5 g of which are Omega-3). They're also packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

When I was drinking freshly squeezed vegetable juices, my diabetic partner at the time would add chia seeds to our drinks so that she'd get the extra protein she needed. It's really a good thing, hence the name Superfood in this recipe.

Chocolate Chia Seed Superfood Pudding

Chocolate chia pudding

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (almond or coconut)
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
• Dash of pink Himalayan sea salt
• 1 tablespoon organic raw honey
• Dark chocolate shavings for garnish

Instructions:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a large glass jar with a lid, give it a quick stir, then put the lid on.
2. Shake it like crazy to mix it all up.
3. Refrigerate until very thick and pudding-like, at least 4 hours or overnight, shaking or stirring occasionally.
4. Serve the pudding chilled with whatever topping you’d like.

Other optional toppings: crystallized ginger, goji berries, nut butter, coconut, fresh citrus, bananas, nuts, pomegranate seeds, whipped coconut cream.

336.2 pounds today, and my staple breakfast

336.2 lbs (152.5 kg)

The progress continues. At this morning's weigh-in I was 336.2 lbs (152.5 kg). That will be my 'marker', my reference point at the beginning of the new year. This is the point from which all of this year's progress will be measured. 

Monthly targets for next year

Based on the progress I've made in the first six months of this journey, and bearing in mind my goal of reaching 178 pounds by my 50th birthday, I'd drawn up a back-of-an-envelope quick table of monthly targets.

• Oct 2015      356       Actual: 356.2
• Nov 2015      341       Actual: 345.4
• Dec 2015      327       Actual: 336.2
• Jan 2016      312     
• Feb 2016      298     
• Mar 2016      283     
• Apr 2016      269     
• May 2016      254     
• Jun 2016      240     
• Jul 2016      226     
• Aug 2016      211     
• Sep 2016      197     
• Oct 2016      185     
• Nov 2016      178     

Even if I don't hit every target, or I'm not at exactly 178 lbs by next November 28th, I'll still be a heck of a lot closer than I would have been if I'd just sat on the couch and not changed any of my behaviors! As long as I'm below 200 lbs, I don't mind taking an extra month or two to reach my target. 

What's really funny is that even at 178 lbs, my BMI will be 24.9, borderline overweight. According to the chart, I should be aiming for 149 lbs. That's not going to happen! 

Wilted spinach with eggs

Wilted spinach and eggs, my
"breakfast of champions"

My "go-to breakfast" these days is a very simple wilted spinach with eggs, soft yolk of course. I start with a couple of large knobs (2 tbsp) of good quality butter. Kerrygold butter is tasty and has a great natural yellow color. Then I fill the pan with as much spinach as will fit in it. Initially the lid might not fit very well, but the spinach soon cooks down. After a few minutes, I'll turn the semi-wilted spinach over so that the other side gets a chance to cook. 
In the meantime, I have cracked my three large eggs into a small dish, ready to add to the pan. An extra knob (1 tsp) of butter is added to an empty circle that I have created in the pan. The eggs are quickly added, with seasoning (usually just salt and pepper), and the lid is placed back on. This cooks over a low to medium  heat for several minutes, until the egg whites have set and the yolks are the desired consistency. I like mine runny. Depending on what I have in the fridge, I'll sometimes add a small sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, or some salsa or picante sauce. 

Extra days off lead to excessive reading (a good thing)

** Originally written last week but only published on December 1st **

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day in the US, so I was off work and had lots of time to read. Some of the things I've been reading about food and nutrition lately talk about:

• the value of fermented food and drinks (pickles, sauerkraut, kefir)
• how the human gut is the second brain
• the importance of fiber in our diet
• the merits of intermittent fasting versus eating multiple smaller meals each day
• low carb diets, high in fats (like Paleo), with or without grains and gluten

I remember when I lost a lot of weight once before, when I was living in England back in 2006, I drank a little bottle of Yakult probiotic dairy (sugary) drink each day. I wouldn't do that now, but I would be okay with other fermented foods and drinks. 

Butter is back in favor, and high in flavor

If you only read one other thing today, let it be this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/opinion/bittman-butter-is-back.html

It's an article by food journalist and author Mark Bittman, talking about the benefits of butter. After being told for 40 years that saturated fat in butter is bad for us, the consensus is shifting again back in favor of 'real' butter and away from highly processed margarines, etc. As Bittman says, "...the real villains in our diet — sugar and ultra-processed foods — are becoming increasingly apparent".

Cauliflower tortilla recipe

This versatile cauliflower tortilla recipe is super simple and allows you to "have your cake and eat it", so to speak, if you are trying to avoid wheat flour. The ingredients are very straightforward:

• a large cauliflower, with the stem and leaves removed
• one or two eggs (depending on how large your cauliflower is)
• seasoning to taste

That's it! 

Then, preheat your oven to a moderately hot 375 °F (190 °C, Gas mark 5). 

Using a blender or a food processor, pulse the cauliflower until you get a texture finer than rice. Steam the riced cauliflower over boiling water or in a microwave for 5 minutes.

After letting it cool for a few minutes (so that you don't burn your hands), place the steamed cauliflower in a wet dish towel and squeeze out as much excess water as you can. You should be able to get out a lot of water; be really aggressive about squeezing it or you’ll end up with soggy tortillas later.

Cauliflower, eggs and seasong

Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl. Add in the eggs (one if it was a small cauliflower, two if it was large), salt and seasonings (you can use any spices you like). Mixture should not be sloppy wet. Use a rolling pin for thinner, larger tortillas.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, separate the mixture into 6 balls of equal size, and spread each ball out on a parchment-lined baking sheet to make six small circles.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes; then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

The finished product

Alternatives for flavoring water without Aspartame

Water flavor enhancers

After reading some more about the safety (or not) of Aspartame, I've decided to get rid of all the products in my apartment that contain it. The two things left were sugar-free chewing gum (more on that later) and water flavor enhancers.

Filtered water with lemon slices

I'm not opposed to drinking plain water but it's easier, sometimes, to drink it when it has some flavoring added. I still have to experiment with cold brewed teas. In the meantime, I will be trying out simple sliced lemon. It's not that my tap water at home tastes bad. I would just like some variety. I currently filter my tap water in a jug in the fridge but it's really only to get rid of the chlorine smell.

If you have any good recipes for flavoring water, please share them with me. If I get enough, I'll create a new web page with those recipes so that everyone can enjoy them. Happy hydrating!

A week of intensive learning

I'm on vacation (holiday) this week. I was supposed to be writing a novel for NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing month. Instead, I have been learning a LOT about different aspects of diet and nutrition. Oh boy! There's a lot of information available, and a lot of misinformation. The challenge for anyone is to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

My biggest take away, the most striking thing I've learned, is just how evil refined table sugar is. Artificial sweeteners are just as bad, which makes me sad since I was a faithful user of stevia for years. And, even though the government says it's safe, I'm more convinced than ever that Aspartame is really evil and dangerous, and I'm redoubling my effort to eliminate it from my diet altogether.

I've been reading a lot, and watching YouTube videos, on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is gaining in prevalence in the population as a whole and, frighteningly, among young children. The number one culprit: sugar-laden drinks, whether they are sugary colas or "sports drinks" or even fruit juices (and most of those contain very little actual fruit).

I've been learning about the benefits of chewing gum after meals. Not as substitute for brushing and flossing teeth, but as an extra thing. The American Dental Association has information on its website: http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/ada-seal-of-acceptance/product-category-information/chewing-gum about how the mechanical act of chewing increases the flow of saliva in your mouth. If you chew gum for 20 minutes after eating, the increased saliva flow can help neutralize and wash away the damaging acids that are produced when food is broken down by the bacteria on your teeth. Now my dilema is, do I use gums that are made with synthetic plastic and use Aspartame (No!) or go for something more natural, with the old-fashioned and more natural chicle as its base?

Since your mouth is the gateway to your gastrointestinal tract, it has an underrated importance in your overall health.

We need honesty and clarity from the food industry

I have a growing amount of respect for my compatriot, Jamie Oliver, who gave an interview on Canadian radio earlier this week: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-wednesday-october-28-2015-1.3291976/jamie-oliver-challenges-our-mindless-consumption-of-sugar-1.3291979 in which he said that: "I believe, passionately, that people ... make good choices when they have clarity; and business and money and marketing ... it's murky...". The processed food industry is a $1 trillion business with unimaginable political muscle, able to buy off lawmakers at will. We need people's champions, like Jamie Oliver, to stand up for us, the consumers, and advocate for change.

One area that MUST be changed is food labeling. It has to be easier for consumers to recognize the HUGE amounts of added sugar in processed foods. Requiring that sugar to be expressed in terms of teaspoons instead of grams would be a good start. Then, your can of cola which has 40 grams of added sugar can be seen to have 10 teaspoons of white death. Much more easily recognized, even by people who don't know what a gram is! That healthy granola bar with 12 grams of added sugar, that's three teaspoons! Does three teaspoons of sugar sound that healthy to you!

Another thing that has to change is the recommended serving sizes printed on packages. Just for fun, I filled my breakfast bowl this morning with what I thought was a reasonable amount of a high fiber cereal. It was 1½ cups. Then I measured it and compared it to the nutritional label's recommended serving size.

Unrealistic serving size

What! ½ cup is totally unrealistic. So, instead of just 100 calories (including the milk), I've eaten 300 calories. At least I got 42 grams of fiber though, right? Serving sizes for drinks are the worst. They are all based on an 8 ounce cup, which babies and young children might drink. In the real world, adults drink from glasses that are 14 to 16 ounces large. If you have a tall glass of real orange juice, now you're consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar (40 grams) instead of just five.

And, please, don't buy Sunny D for your kids. 98% of it is water and evil High Fructose Corn Syrup, 2% is all the other chemical stuff (like; thiamin hydrochloride, natural flavors, modified food starch, canola oil, sodium citrate, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium benzoate, yellow 5, and yellow 6). A small 8 ounce serving of Sunny D contains 27 grams of sugar (6½ teaspoons), and that sugar is from the HFCS, not fruit juice. So, Junior's big glass will have 13 teaspoons of sugar in it!

A healthy obsession (Part 2)

Alice follows the rabbit down its hole.

OMG! I knew this would happen. I started reading about the dangers of added sugar in our diets, and about the benefits of not eating so much meat, and now I'm hooked. I've been reading more and more, and watching so many YouTube videos, my brain can't process it all quickly enough. People who know me will know how much I like to follow tangential threads, like in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

So far, the two big lifestyle changes that I will be making are to eat less meat and more vegetables, and also to cut out the stevia that I had been using as a sweetener.

There is a growing body of evidence that granulated table sugar is actually REALLY BAD for us. Many places are considering removing soda/pop machines from schools, or introducing a "sugar tax" to help reduce consumption. A great resource, that I will be going back to again and again, is http://www.sugarscience.org, which is designed as an authoritative source for the scientific evidence about sugar and its impact on health. It is developed by a team of health scientists from the University of California, San Francisco.

When I started to delve into some of these things, I realized that improved health isn't just about losing weight per se. It's also about:

• controlling fatty deposits on your liver, 
• reducing insulin resistance, 
• lowering your blood pressure, 
• reducing the amount of abdominal fat we carry around our midriff. 

Visceral fat, that pendulous "belly fat", has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, with good diet and exercise it's possible to get rid of it.

I started to read about Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), or simply metabolic equivalent, which is a way of expressing the "energy cost" of physical activities in a way that allows comparison of the effects of exercise between people of different weights. An activity with a MET value of 2, such as walking at a slow pace would require twice the energy that an average person consumes sitting quietly at rest. Raking leaves from your lawn has a MET value of 3.8. Backpacking or hiking has a MET value of 7.8. Running at 5 mph (12 min/mile pace) has a MET value of 8.3.

The more I've read, the more certain names keep cropping up again and again: Dr Rob Lustig, Gary Taubes, Cristin Kearns, Laura Schmidt, Joel Fuhrman. More and more documentaries and videos, such as Sugar Coated or The Secrets of Sugar, are coming out.

It's not just sugar that's bad for us, processed foods too can be damaging to our health. So, once again, Michael Pollan was correct with his 7 Rules for Eating: "Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce".

There's more to come ...

Frankenfood (part 1)

I've mentioned Michael Pollan's name before on the main website (http://www.ergoob.org), but one of his 7 Rules for Eating is: "Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce".

So, I was in the cafeteria at work this lunchtime when I noticed that my "oven baked" Ruffles, with "65% less fat" had a horrific list of ingredients.

Cheddar and Sour Cream oven baked Ruffles with 65% less fat

Sounds healthy, right? With words like "oven baked" and "65% less fat", but look at those artificial and unpronounceable ingredients. Yikes!

I don't eat chips very often any more but it reminded me that about a year ago I made my own potato chips at home. Now, before you write to tell me that, technically, Ruffles are "Potato Crisps" and not potato chips, I know. The food industry is SO powerful that they can dance rings around regulatory authorities and get away with deceiving consumers on a MASSIVE scale, which leads their customers to have MASSIVE readings ON the scales. Kraft Foods are one of the worst offenders. People who know me well will know that I try as hard as possible to avoid buying Kraft products.

My homemade chips were made using a mandolin with real potato, a quick spritz of cooking spray to prevent them from sticking to the plate (it's fake, I know) and a few minutes in the microwave.

When you make them yourself, you don't need many actual potatoes to produce a huge plate full of chips. The Ruffles came in a bag whose net weight was only 0.8 ounces (22.6 g) - not even a whole ounce!