Adventures in dieting

I have followed many diets over the years, and by "diet" I simply mean way of eating.  It all started back in high school trying to lean out by a few pounds so I had definition in my shoulders.  I read Dr. Haas and tried low-fat.  Then I read Pritikin and decided Haas wasn't working because it wasn't strict enough.  I went lower fat, less animal products.  At the time it made sense to me.  Wow, I feel foolish even saying that.

I could never really maintain that diet for long, and just gave up after school.  I just followed a typical Standard American Diet (SAD) and by the time I was in my late 20s I was rather heavy.  I had a belly.


Shortly before I turned 30 I decided to do something about it, and I lost a LOT of fat following my "sludge" diet.  It was completely vegan.  It was also completely awful.  I'm prone to some pretty extreme behavior and this diet was a great example. 

I studied some vegan literature and decided I could do it even better.  If low fat was good, then I'd go as low as possible.  If low sugar was good, I'd go as low as possible.  And so I created my own diet. 

I took different types of legumes, typically black beans and lentils, and cooked those in a giant pot along with brown rice.  After it all cooked together it would congeal into a gelatin-like goo which I called sludge.

It was damn easy to calculate how many calories it all contained.  I didn't add anything other than water so I just added up the calories from the packages of beans, lentils, and rice.  I recall making it in batches of 2000-4000 calories at a time.  I would then pour it (while still warm, before it congealed) into plastic containers, each with 1000 calories.

My plan was to eat one container a day.  Super simple, and easy enough.  Well, easy at first.  The first few days I felt incredible!  I felt light, energetic, vibrant!  I thought I was a genius.  On that last part I wasn't wrong, but this experiment came closer to disproving it rather than supporting it.  :)

I bragged about my sludge to anyone patient enough to listen.  And within a week I had taken my belt up a notch.  The weight was coming off, to the tune of about 5 pounds the first week.  The following week I took off about 3 more pounds, and on week 3 I only lost 2 pounds.

So down 10 pounds in 3 weeks seemed good to me.  But I had quit bragging about my diet.  Sure, I had lost close to 3" off my waist in 3 weeks, sure I was wearing a loose size 36 instead of tight size 38 jeans.  But I had lost that vibrant feeling.  I had lost the energy.  I had noticed a drop in my sex drive, and this was at the age of 29!  I'm surprised I didn't start losing my hair.  I had certainly lost my mind.

The fourth week my weight loss stalled and I felt even worse.  Dragging to do anything, I had lost all drive to exercise in any form.  Nothing.  And around then I chatted with my dad about Atkins.  I had always considered it something of a trick diet.  I thought it was a way for very overweight people to take off some weight quickly, but certainly you couldn't actually get trim from it.  I clearly remember asking my dad if he thought that someone could actually go all the way to six-pack abs on Atkins.  He said he didn't see why not.

And so, having switched from a SAD diet just 4 weeks prior to a strict vegan sludge diet, I decided to switch instead to a strict Atkins diet.  I bought the book, and the next morning I dumped out two containers of sludge and cooked some bacon and eggs.

So close your eyes, and try to imagine this scene:  Heaven.  Heaven exploding.   Heaven exploding...in your mouth. 

It was that good.

No, really.

And suddenly I felt like I was superman again.  My energy rebounded.  I felt vibrant.  I had gone from strength of a kitten to eye of the tiger in about 4 hours.  I was curious what would happen though, since I remembered feeling that good when I started the sludge.

But 4 weeks later, and many MANY pounds of bacon, eggs, hamburger, steak, and lobster later I still felt great.  And I lost another 10 pounds!  I had my drive back.  I mean my sex drive, my drive to workout, my drive to do...well, anything! 

I started my sludge diet at a weight of about 220 pounds.  I started my Atkins diet at a weight of about 210 pounds.  And in 4 months I was down to 178.  I was lean, with a six-pack.  I was wearing size 32 pants for the first time since about 9th grade.  It was cool.

My wife was pregnant at the time, and I still remember her last weigh-in at the OB-GYN.  She was up to 172 and I stepped on the scale (dressed) and weighed 178.  I told her that if she could just gain 3 more pounds and I could lose 3 more in the two weeks before her due date that for one day we'd weigh the same! 

It turns out I wouldn't get the chance.  The nurse took her blood pressure, the doctor checked her out, and they said she wasn't doing well and they were going to induce labor.  And they meant right then!  We went from the office to the hospital, and my youngest child was born less than 12 hours later.

Somehow I got off track diet-wise in the aftermath, and never got back on track.  It felt effortless to get to 178, and then the weight crept back up.  And it kept creeping.  And at some point about 10 years later I stepped on the scale and read 239.  Wow!

And so I started reading again, and in the last 7 years I have played with Body for Life, Atkins, NHE, Zone, and Paleo.  At this point, I think I'll be eating Paleo for life.  When I'm strict I have great results, feel great, and perform well. 

Most of the time when I stray from my diet, it isn't due to some cravings.  It's almost never because I feel deprived.  I just have some emotional eating patterns that I have not handled yet.  From time to time food is anesthesia for me, as opposed to fuel. 

As I continue to get better at handling those times, I full expect to return to the same lean levels I had on Atkins 14 years ago.  I have much more muscle now, so don't know if I'll ever get to 178 again, but I don't see any reason to be over 185.  Right now I'm about 10 pounds heavier than that, but I have the components of my diet completely dialed in.

My focus right now is on getting to 185 or less by the end of March.  I'm going to create a few challenges for myself, and some rewards to move towards and penalties to move away from.  I'll post some updated pics as soon as I reach my goal.

Sayings I hate, Part 3

"All things in moderation"

Really?

I mean, really?

I mean John Marshall of CrossFit Richardson style "Really!?!?"

Okay, I'll bite.  So you believe in moderate amounts of rat poison?  You endorse moderate amounts of infidelity to your spouse?  Moderate amounts of rape, robbery, and kidnapping are okay with you?

I'd love to see the reaction if this saying was used for things unviversally acknowledged as bad.  Imagine the following exchange when one notices that his friend is upset:


"Hey Joe, what's bugging you?"

"Well, my car was stolen this morning!"

"Oh.  I see.  Well, just how many times have you had a car stolen?"

"This is the only time!   Why does that even matter?"

"Well, all things in moderation.  I mean, I'm sure it wouldn't be good if it happened every day but this is just one time.."


No, dummy, it's not good if it EVER happens!

When I hear it said it's usually in response to my decision to not eat grains.  It goes something like this:


"Hey, Joe told me you don't eat any grains.  How come?"

"I believe they're bad for me."

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Uh...no.  If it's bad for me then I think it's smart to not eat them.  Avoiding bad things equals smart, not extreme."

"Oh.  Well, all things in moderation.  I'm sure a little bread or pasta isn't going to kill you."

"Neither will a bee sting to your scrotum, jackwad."


I think people say this because they don't want to consider that it might really be bad for them, or they know it's bad and they justify it with a saying they've heard before.  I have friends who know grains are bad, and they just say that they're not willing to give them up completely.  Accepting some occasional bad effects is quite different from sweeping it all under the table with a nice pat "All things in moderation."

It's a deflection, and for whatever reason it pushes my buttons.

If you find yourself saying "All things in moderation" a lot, perhaps the real problem is your moderate intelligence.

Ask your doctor if PFERLIS is right for you!

Now THAT is what the Paleo community needs!  The drug companies spend a small fortune advertising crap on television because they know that advertising works. 

I can't imagine going and asking a doctor if a drug is right for me.  How would that exchange even go?  But in the population at large medication is not only accepted it is sought after!  People are seeing ads on television and then asking a doctor if they might need that.  Total insanity.

Which is why I'm announcing PFERLIS(tm).  Paleo Food, Exercise, and Rest, Leading to Insulin Sensitivity. 

Here's the ad copy:

"Do you sometimes feel like crap or feel tired all the time?  Maybe you have a hard time picking up heavy objects, or moving quickly when needed.  You might have noticed that you have to eat all the time and snack to keep from having blood sugar crashes.  If so, you may have symptoms of TFM, otherwise known as Totally F'd up Metabolism."

"TFM affects most Americans, though most are unaware of it.  If you feel you may be suffering from TFM, ask your doctor if PFERLIS is right for you.  PFERLIS has been shown to work best with intelligent, open-minded individuals but is probably applicable in other cases.  To prevent and perhaps even reverse the damage from TFM,  PFERLIS may be right for you.  You won't just feel better, you'll actually be better."

"*Warning:  While proper dosage of PFERLIS has been shown to be 100% effective, there are many reported side effects.  If you find that you have increased energy, greater strength, and the ability to fit in a normal size airline seat, you may be experiencing some of the common side effects.  Some men report firmer erections, erections lasting longer than an hour, or nearly painful morning wood.  If you experience any of these symptoms, notify your doctor immediately so you can high-five him on your next visit."

I need to make a YouTube video.  This is sounding like a good commercial.

Finally, an all-natural way to raise blood pressure

Feeling faint?  Do you get dizzy when you stand up?  Maybe you suffer from low blood pressure.  Finally there is an all-natural cure for it right here.  Just watch this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOsuSaK8Tpc&feature=channel


See, wasn't that easy?  The government is going to make sure that our kids get their BMI checked.  Michelle Obama said that her pediatrician said to keep an eye on her daughter's BMI and she "wouldn't have known to ask for a screening on my own."

Hmmm.  One of the things I like to do is translate the B.S. out there into what it really means.  Here goes, Michelle, free of charge.

"My doctor said my daughter was getting fat, and I am too stupid to observe that on my own.  In fact, I wouldn't have ever noticed if it had not been pointed out to me."

What the...?

I recently posted my before and current pictures here.  Take a look at my then-current picture.  Yeah, you can kinda make out my abs.  BMI in that picture?  28.1!  According to the BMI standards, I am seriously overweight, and just 1.9 points away from OBESE!

According to the BMI I would need to get down to 173 pounds to drop out of the overweight category.  So take a close look at that picture and ask yourself if I really look 23 pounds overweight in that picture.

The BMI is useless, especially for kids!  But luckily our government is going to take a useless standard and make it a guideline for action.  Google around and you'll find the video of Michelle Obama saying that she wants to encourage doctors to not just measure BMI, but to start writing prescriptions.

Great.

Really, just great.

I may have to go see a doctor, I have blood squirting from my ears at this point.

K-Starr knows his stuff

Ever had any pain in a joint?  Any problem with flexibility or mobility?

My wife and I attended a Crossfit Mobility Certification given by Kelly Starrett in California early this year.  Kelly is a genius and gave us some stuff to work with that has changed our flexibility and pain in our shoulders in particular.

We learned the joys that a properly applie Lacrosse ball could create.  We learned stretches that we had never seen before.  We learned that Kelly has an offbeat but awesome sense of humor.

And now Kelly has a daily WOD (Workout of the Day) just for mobility!   Check it out at mobilitywod.blogspot.com. 

Need some structure to get all those knotted-up muscles working properly again?  Check out Kelly's awesome, free, daily post.  Start today.

Before and current

Well, it was bound to happen.  Eventually I'd post an old picture with a current picture.  Below are two pictures.  The first is from almost exactly 5 years ago, during a family vacation in 2005.  The second picture I took just before my daughter and I went on a 6 day trip together about a week ago.  I went off diet and pigged out with her for most of the trip, so I'm about 3 pounds heavier, but never mind that.  It will go away within another week.  Heck, I'll even post a newer pic sometime in October to prove it!

I think I've actually improved in 5 years.  Well, It would be even better if I smiled in the more current picture, but at least I'm not risking harpoon marks like I was in that first one! 

I was walking out of the water in that picture, and shortly after I reached shore a group of volunteers arrived and tried to drag me back in!  They kept saying "Splash water around his blowhole and keep his skin wet till we get him back in the water!"  Once I convinced them I wasn't beached they left me alone.

I like to think that I'm a pretty trim guy who just went through a heavy period.  That period lasted from, oh, about high school graduation until I was 40.

Please show these pictures to anyone who questions whether or not a high fat diet works.  In the picture on the left I was eating a pretty typical Standard American Diet.  In the picture on the right I'm eating about 70% of my calories from fat.  A typical lunch is a pound of grass fed beef with some veggies.  I eat between a pound and pound and a half of meat every day, and cook things in butter and coconut oil. I'm not strictly low-carb any longer, but a high carb day is about 100 carbs unless I'm having a free meal/day.  And on those days anything goes.  Well, anything except grains and legumes. 

Get your degree at ACCU!

Welcome to ACCU!  We only have one curriculum here, and it's the study of how things relate to each other. 

That's it.

The Association Correlation Causation University was founded a few minutes ago when I decided to compose this post.  In that short period of time, we've educated no one.  But we have high hopes for the future.  VERY high hopes.

I hope that once you earn your degree at ACCU you will recommend it to your friends.  Now let's get started:

First please notice that the name, ACCU, is the same as the first four letters in "accurate".  That's a complete accident, and I just noticed it myself so I thought I'd point it out.  But it does bring us to the "A" in ACCU, which stands for Assocation.

Assocation is the state of being associated.  Not too helpful, but it's a start.  Associate means to join or connect together.  So to say two things are associated says they are connected somehow.  It doesn't say anything more or less. 

Let's look at an example:  Drinking water is associated with living.  In other words, there is a connection between drinking water and living.  But only a connection.  To say they are associated doesn't imply that more water makes anyone live longer.  Nor does it say less water will make someone live longer.  In fact, drinking water is also associated with dying.  Most people who die have at some point had a drink of water.  Not all, but most, so it's fair to say they're associated.  Again, just association.

Now if you start noticing trends in your associations then you might have a Correlation.  Correlation is a step beyond association. Merriam Webster said it beautifully:

"a relation existing between phenomena or things or between mathematical or statistical variables which tend to vary, be associated, or occur together in a way not expected on the basis of chance alone."

You're only seeking a Bachelor's Degree at ACCU, so let's keep it simple.  If one thing correlates to another, it means they vary positively or negatively with each other.  As one increases, the other increases is a positive correlation.  A negative correlation means one goes up the other down, etc.  An interesting example is the presence of fire trucks and fires.  There is a strong positive correlation between fire trucks and fire damage. The more fire trucks present at a fire scene, the more damage done at a fire scene.

Now, this is an accurate correlation.  The two things vary positively with each other.  But are the fire trucks causing the fires?  No!  Notice that a correlation only shows that two things vary together in a way "not expected on the basis of chance alone."  Correlation does not show Causation. 

Oops, it appears we're nearing the end of our curriculum, because that's the final C in ACCU!  Causation is the act or process of causing.  It's important to realize, as the example shows, that two things which correlate may or may not indicate causation.  It is a common mistake prior to attending ACCU to naively accept causation when all that has been observied is correlation.  In some cases, even simple assocation is enough to convince some people of causation.

I once had a friend who said that milk couldn't be bad for you because there were people who lived more than 100 years and they drank milk.  Pop quiz, what is this relationship?  It's just association.  Some people who drink milk live longer than 100 years.  It isn't even a positive correlation, which would take the form of evidence that lifespan increases with increases in milk consumption.  Yet this simple assocation convinced this person of causation.  Don't fall prey to the same error in thinking.

Which brings us to an additional point (don't worry, I'm only going to cover two of them) which is the idea that all of these relationships are assumed to be taken on average.  The presence of exceptions at the association and correlation level doesn't necessarily invalidate the relationship though it may shoot some holes in causal relationships. 

As an example, consider that higher IQ correlates with higher net worth. In other words, the smarter you are, the more wealth you accumulate.  There may be rich idiots and broke geniuses, but ON AVERAGE there is a trend in the association between IQ and wealth that is greater than can be explained on the basis of chance alone.
Let's just hit that next point as well and be done with it, which is the idea of a confounding variable.  Up till now our examples have only included two variables.  It is quite possible to establish a false correlation via confouding variables.  It is even possible to become convinced of causal relationships by ignoring confounding variables.

So just what is a confounding variable?  Let's imagine that we have a theory that drinking in night clubs causes lung cancer.  So we create a poll of 10,000 people and we ask them these two questions:  1) Do you frequently have drinks in a nightclub?  2)  Do you have lung cancer? 

Now let's imagine that 5000 people say they DO have drinks in a nightclub and of those 5000, 500 of them have lung cancer.  Of the other 5000 people who said they DO NOT have drinks in a nightclub, 100 of them say they have lung cancer.

The math is simple.  500/5000 people who drink in nightclubs have lung cancer and 100/5000 people who don't drink in nightclubs have lung cancer.  The next step is a headline on a newspaper or magazine which reads "Nightclub drinking makes you five times more likely to get lung cancer."

That's where those bizarre headlines come from, but it doesn't necessarily mean that because of two things.  First, this is a correlation based on observation, it does not prove causation.  Second, there might be confounding variables.  It might be that if we added a third question to our poll, "Do you smoke cigarettes?", then we might find that what we thought was a correlation between nightclub drinking and lung cancer is really a correlation between nightclub drinking and smoking, and it is the smoking that correlates to the lung cancer.

So it's time for your graduation from ACCU.  I'll deliver the commencement speech.  Here it is: 

Go forth and use what you've learned to listen critically to the flow of B.S. that occurs in the media, in books, and in conversation.  The next time you hear a headline that reads "Study shows that increased camel feces consumption lowers heart attack risk." find out if the study really showed causality or if it just observed a correlation.  Read the actual text of the study and see if causality is demonstrated or if correlation was observed.  Ask yourself what confounding variables the researchers might not have considered.  And just in general, don't be a dolt.

Throw your little square hat thingy in the air now and you don't have to come to class any longer.

Sayings I hate, Part 2

"Isn't that a little obsessive?"

To be more accurate, I hate that phrase when it is the response to my statement that I don't consume grains. 

To be fair, for a while I wondered if these people were onto something.  Maybe life would be simpler if I didn't hold such high standards for doing what I was convinced was best.  I tried it for a couple of weeks and they turned out to be the most expensive weeks of my life:

First, I got tired of filling the tank for my exotic saltwater fish* with fresh water that had been dechlorinated and purified.  In fact, it was much easier to just fill the tank with leftover bottles of Diet Coke** that I had quit drinking.  I figured it was a good way to use them up and not let them go to waste.  Imagine my horror when all my tropical fish died in a bath of carbonated water and Aspartame!  Dangit!

So I decided I'd jump in my big yellow truck to go get some fish to replace the dead ones, but the truck was almost out of gas.  I was in a hurry so I just filled it up with water from the hose by the driveway.  I only made it to the end of the alley before the truck quit running and wouldn't start!

All those years of being obsessive about putting only gasoline in my truck might have been the best plan after all, but I didn't want to stop my experiment too early.  I pushed the truck back to the house planning to have it towed to the dealer to have the tank drained and lines flushed to get it back in working order.  By the time I got home though, I was incredibly sore from pushing (it's a big truck) so I decided to take a few Advil*** for my sore muscles.

I opened our medicine cabinet but couldn't find the Advil anywhere!  Assuming my wife must have taken them, I looked at what else might be available.  I certainly wasn't going to be obsessive about finding a particular drug!  Finally, I just took a few swigs of children's cough syrup, a couple of old antibiotics that someone hadn't finished, and a few of Aerial's (my Portugese Water Dog) hormone pills.

When I woke back up 3 days later I reconsidered how the little details count. 

Fact is, exotic saltwater fish don't live long on diet coke.  My truck won't run on water...or diesel...or propane.  It runs well on 89 or higher octane unleaded gasoline. 

Interestingly enough, my body runs MUCH better without grains.  The effects aren't as acute or immediate as they are when I try to use water in place of gasoline, but they exist.  And I have a basis for thinking that this is the case that is not only based on science, but also confirmed by experience.

Yet the same people who would tell me I'm obsessive for not eating grains would tell me I'm an idiot for putting water in my gas tank.  So, just like I did on my last "Sayings I hate" I'm going to translate this idiotic saying:  "I don't want to investigate the details to see if your choice has validity, especially since I would be faced with what I consider a difficult choice if I come to the same realization as you.  Instead I will avoid awareness of my own ignorance by insulting your knowledge-based choice."

There you have it.

*I don't really own exotic fish.
**I don't drink diet coke...well, maybe 2 or 3 a year when the mood strikes me.
***I don't take Advil if I'm sore.  I either rest, stretch, or workout more.

Why your low-fat, vegetarian diet is really a high animal fat diet

What?  How does that even make sense, right?  I also considered another title:

"Why your low-fat vegetarian diet works..for a while"

or

"Why any successful weight loss diet is an animal fat diet"

Figured it out yet?  Let's have some fun with numbers and you'll see what I mean.  Take for example a typical adult male who needs about 2000 calories a day to exist. Let's assume he's overweight and The China Study (thorougly debunked here) finally convinced him to start 'eating healthy' and become a vegetarian.

So our example new vegetarian starts chowing on broccoli, brussel sprouts, and spinach and just in general eating like a goofball.  Without being smeared or cooked in butter, that stuff all tastes like crap.  Trust me, I tried it years ago.  Eating steamed broccoli without butter (and preferably Kerry Gold at that!) is not too yummy.

As a result, he manages to squeeze in 800-1000 calories a day and the weight starts coming off.  In fact he loses about 2 pounds a week!  Success!  And after a bit of adjustment he claims to feel great and have more energy.  How can that be?

Simple:  He's getting about half his calories from animal fat!  Still haven't figured it out?  IT IS HIS ANIMAL FAT!  That's right, if he needs 2000 calories to cover his energy expenditure and he only gets 1000 from his veggies, the other 1000 has to come from somewhere.  It comes from his fat stores (and some from breaking down muscle as well) and that means he's getting 50% of his calories from animal fat.

But ask ANY new vegetarian how they feel, and they will tell you they feel fantastic.  Well of course they do, they're finally getting adequate amounts of saturated fat.  Now that works for a while, but then what happens when they lose the weight and their body starts becoming increasingly insulin resistant from the constant exposure to carbs as the only source of food and fuel?

Well, for that you can just ask Lierre Keith.  Or read her book, which you can read more about on her website.  In a nutshell, if you don't give your body what it needs for long enough, your body won't work well.  Seems to make sense.

So what to eat?  Well, the new vegetarians who claim to feel great and lose weight aren't lying.  So instead of getting a high animal fat diet from your own fat, buy some tasty animal and eat it's fat instead.  Some avocado and some coconut oil wouldn't hurt either, but make the source of your fat healthy saturated fat, preferably from grass fed beef or other natural sources.

Start getting 5-20% of your calories from plants, preferably slowly absorbed veggies.  Get 15-25% of your calories from protein.  Finally, get 55-75% of your calories from good fats.  'Good' means that the vast majority of it will come from animal fat.

Take the vegetarian's brussel sprouts, steam them, slather them in butter, and eat 3 or 4 along with a pound of grass fed beef.  Sounds like a lunch I could be okay with.

CrossFit Games 2010!!

This is awesome! If you don't CrossFit or something like it, why not? Part of moving your body the way it was intended to move!

Blood pressure

Crazy to think I used to have much higher blood pressure. This was taken about an hour after working out and a half hour after a cup of coffee. Typical morning BP is about 110/70 and pulse is 46-52.

Years ago I saw things like 170/110 and pulse 90.

I guess bacon and eggs are good blood pressure medicine. Ask any cardiologist. Right?

Vitamin D and tanning

I just got back from a trip to Mexico visiting beautful Playa del Carmen and had some observations about Vitamin D and tanning.

First a little background:  I started supplementing with Vitamin D3 several months ago, and undoubtedly had raised my D levels substantially before I began getting sun exposure in April of this year.  When I got out in the sun I noticed that I did not burn.  I've always tanned quickly, but had never tanned THIS quickly.

I didn't think much of it, but I did do some searching and found that other individuals on Paleo diets were reporting the same thing.  I didn't associate it with Vitamin D at the time.

Then during our trip to Mexico my older son, Charles, was relating how he couldn't seem to get a tan.  He said he had been spending almost an hour a day in the afternoon sun and just wasn't tanning.  But if he stayed out long enough, he did begin to burn.  I thought that was weird, but didn't have any idea why it would be.

My younger son, Mitch, was about as tanned (or not\ tanned!) as Charles, but by the end of the trip Mitch was much, much darker than Charles.  In the past, they've always seemed to both tan about the same.  This really got me to thinking, and then I recalled that Mitch had been supplementing with Vitamin D for several months along with me.

That experience combined with my experience earlier this year has me wondering if slow tanning rates are associated with low Vitamin D levels.  Here's my thinking:

I think that the skin darkening response is the body's attempt to not only protect itself from the sun, but also to reduce production of Vitamin D once levels are sufficient.  This paper discusses skin pigmentation of the more permanent type and how it varies with latitude.  It also explains that the production of Vitamin D decreases with increase of melanin in the skin.

I'm confident that Mitch's vitamin D levels were much higher after months of 3000-4000 IU/day of D3.  Charlie, on the other hand, had no supplementation.  And because we all participated in the same outdoor activities, I can say with certainty that our sun exposure was nearly identical.

Charlie got a slight burn but but also tanned very little.  Mitch burned less but tanned much more.  I did not burn at all but I am only slightly darker since I started very dark to begin with.  In fact, I had Mexicans ask me where I got my skin color, and jokingly asked if I was really a Mexican.  :)

So that's my theory.  I've been searching online to see if I can find support for it, but have not been successful so far.

I'll keep digging, I'm curious about this.

Sayings I hate, Part 1

"Everything in balance"

Sounds so enlightened, so easy to just let it roll off your tongue.  But what does it MEAN?

I usually hear it when I discuss my diet with people.  I get responses like "No grains!  That seems extreme, I believe in everything in balance."

Okay, I'll just say it:  That's what you say when you have NO F***ING CLUE about the subject matter at hand.  You want everything in balance? 

So, what is this magical balance of food?  If I told you that there were three food groups and they were particle board, rat poison, and steak, how would you choose to balance those?  I just made up those food groups, you say?

The generally accepted food groups themselves are made up!  The only reason we have a food group called grains is because we discovered thousands of years ago that we could cultivate and grow crops and get a lot of food per unit of land.

If instead we had found a certain type of tree that would regrow its bark overnight, and the bark was somewhat edible if we crushed it and soaked it and cooked it, then we'd have found a way to get a lot of food from bark.  And undoubtedly we'd be hearing how we have to "eat our healthy whole barks!"

It's a made up food group that only exists due to mechanized farming.  That's it!

If you want to balance things (whatever that means!) then at least apply some thought to what things you're lumping together to balance. 

And if I'm singing to the choir, next time you hear someone say they believe in all things in balance, ask them if they really intend to balance everything good in their diet with something bad.  Chances are they'll contradict themselves almost immediately. 

Then drop it.  You can't educate the unwilling.

But you can poke fun at them.

When everyone wants Italian food...

Don't complain. Just order the fish.

Sugar water cheaper than water!

I wonder what metabolic derangement awaits my friends in Mexico!

Sugar water with fruit flavoring for 1.7 pesos/liter or water for 4.9 pesos/liter. You're low on cash and the kids are thirsty...what to do?

Real Food

It's right there in the title, so I thought I'd share what I consider real food.  Here are a few examples of my little, tiny meals.

Yumm.  A few strips of bacon cooked in a skillet, then squash and zucchini cooked in the bacon grease, and finally 8 eggs cooked in what was left of the bacon grease.

Bacon grease is your friend.  Well, at least it's my friend!

Bacon and zucchini/squash and eggs again, except this time the eggs were hatched.  :)  I can't show it here, because it borders on food pornography, but I used the chicken skin like a tortilla and made a wrap with all that stuff.  Truly satisfying.

Zucchini, celery, shredded chicken in coconut milk.  Cook it until the water evaporates from the milk and it's just coconut oil and awesomeness!

Last but not least, grass-fed beef meatballs and a whole avocado.  What more do you need?

Notice there are no grains, legumes, or heavily processed foods.  In fact the only concession to processed food is the coconut milk!

More when I get back from my trip to Mexico next week!

First blog post. What is this all about?

I've been threatening to do it for a while. This will be my blog for all things nutrition and exercise related. I'll talk about real food a lot, and will share my results with you.

I will be reaching the lowest bodyfat % of my life this year, and will periodically update with progress info and pictures.  I'll be doing it with "Paleo" food choices I've learned primarily from Robb Wolf and the excellent coaching of John Marshall at Crossfit Richardson.

As of today, I weigh 195.0 pounds and am somewhere slightly under 20% bodyfat by my calculations.

More to follow soon.