One Day At A Time

Here's my latest inspiration:

 

Well, it almost seems like publishing this blog is like a personal jinx. I seem to go on bounce backs. A typical bounce is anywhere from 3-6 pounds of water gain and then I lose it over the next 3 or 4 days. So if I said I lost a net of 0.2 pounds over the prior week to Friday that doesn't sound impressive. The whoosh did continue another 1.2 pounds yesterday to a new diet low by about 1.4 pounds, which isn't bad. But I bounced back a pound this morning, and based on interim weighting I wouldn't be surprised if I got another pound or two tomorrow. So the diet trend is like a ball bouncing down a staircase.

I have also joined a weight-loss Internet forum. I do my weigh-ins but what really annoys me are the little popups. If I type in, say, today's water gain of 1 pound, I'll get this nasty popup of the kind "At this rate, you're going to gain over 300 pounds over the coming year." Of course, many diet experts warn one against frequent weigh-ins precisely because daily fluctuations can be misleading.

I noted one of my exercise regimens in my flagship blog over the weekend: climbing the stairs of virtues. I'm still bringing a protein bar or cookie or two to work. My day shift colleagues often do the pizza thing once a week. I have to laugh when my colleagues, hearing my protest about pizza carbs, said, "Mmmm. Carbs... they're the BEST PART."

I finally got the certification I needed for my job, which had been my principal excuse for not joining a gym (which I stopped doing in late 2007).  I was never a gym rat, but there was a time in the mid-90's  I was working out at my fitness club in Lombard, IL (SW Chicago suburb) literally daily. I would usually rotate among Universal machines every 2 days (I could regularly bench press over 300 lbs.) and focus on cardio (step machines or stationary bikes) on other days. I was so fanatical about getting my workout in that I drove one early evening after work with light snow drifting down and unplowed streets. It wasn't that deep (I'm not insane), but I drove over a piece of black ice around a curb and into the meridian around the curb. (As I recall, around $2000 and 2-3 weeks in repairs.) Probably the most improbable detail: I still managed to drive to the fitness center that night with my limping car and got my workout in. I began to stop the daily deal when I developed heel spurs; my doctor was useless--luckily the heel spurs went away when I changed my routine every other day.

But workouts became harder when I did the road warrior bit in 1997-2002 and again in 2008, not to mention that I typically had hour or longer commutes (each way) when I lived in the greater Chicago and DC areas. A number of hotels now routinely have a fitness room available for guests, but it was hard to do it then (not to mention work/travel schedules that led to 4 or 5 hours of sleep nightly). I ironically moved to within a mile or so of the Bally Club I was working out of, but due to work, health, budget and other reasons, I never went to the club after I moved. Also I think when I did want to resume workout, Bally's had sold their location to LA Fitness--and the transaction did not grandfather in existing Bally's members. I didn't have the budget to join LA Fitness.

So I am looking to start up again here, but I need to buy new workout clothes first, and I need to get some additional information about the local club. But it's in process.

Some buys during my recent Sam's Club visit over the weekend:

• boneless leg of lamb (New Zealand--likely grassfed)
• grass-fed ground beef bricks
• New Zealand ground lamb bricks
• uncured nitrate-free bacon
• rotisserie chicken
• almond flour
• quinoa
• bagged shelled walnuts
• free-range chicken broth pack
• 12-lb sack of black beans
• kiwis, pears, and bananas
• bagged cole slaw
• grass-fed cheese (Gouda and sharp cheddar)
• protein bars
• chickpea pasta
• multiple packs of lower-carb tortillas
• marinated wild-caught salmon fillets

It seems that grass-fed dairy products are a bigger thing: I noticed a big display of New Zealand milk based diet shakes in the supplement/pharmacy section. The cheeses I cited are somewhat pricey but at better prices than many of grass-fed meat portals I've seen (where the price is often $12/more lb.)--but I almost caught them by accident in the cheese aisle.The grass-fed meats are usually marked by organic or natural type descriptions.

Is grass-fed meat worth $6 or more a lb.? It can be tough, especially when you see ribeye on sale for $8/lb, but I prepare most of my meals and seldom eat out when I'm not traveling: so I do have the budget to buy healthier meats. For me, the answer is a guarded yes; quality and price tend to correlate, and I do  prefer the taste of grass-fed meat.  The rotisserie chicken was not a premium (e.g., Heritage) variety, but rotisserie chicken is a lot healthier than breaded or fried chicken. I will still buy conventional meats (e.g., a recent ham I bought at a bargain price from Walmart), but I'm picky what I'll buy, like lean steaks.

My niece's Facebook health posts, Sam's Club buys & More

I started this post on New Year's Eve. It's difficult to give an exact figure to the weight I lost this year because I visited my Mom for the holidays last year and whereas I didn't overly indulge, we went out a few times to some places she likes, including a pizza/Italian restaurant and Tex-Mex places, and I ate far more carbs than usual. When I first hit the scale after the visit, my weight had skyrocketed some 10 pounds over 2 weeks or so, which was absurd. I then managed to lose back those 10 over the next 4 days. If we count the post-trip weigh-in, I lost 27 pounds over the year, roughly 17 pounds since mid-January; not bad, definitely going in the right direction, but very disappointing. I weighed in just 0.4 pounds above my yearly low but only about 1 net pound since mid-November. I've been going through sometimes bounceback spikes up to about 7 pounds over that figure. I ran into a similar long-term baseline about 7 pounds higher for several weeks, when I suddenly dropped about 5 lbs. all at once. The frustrating thing is that I have over 100 more pounds to lose and this year, despite a rigorous diet, has barely dented what I need to lose.

One of my nieces is a prolific user of Facebook; she posted a couple of links recently, one of which pushed Dr. Oz suggesting a weight-loss drink consisting of fruit juice, apple cider vinegar, and a small dose of honey. I made a few comments, noting that for people, especially with a family history of diabetes or other relevant risks, fruit juice, particularly pulp-free varieties, you are getting a lot of the sugar of fruit without the mitigating fiber. I also pointed out that not all apple cider vinegar is created equal, that certain unfiltered (without "the mother") varieties may be healthier. My niece questioned that, and I explained, analogous to extra virgin olive oil or raw milk, certain processes (like heat treatment in pasteurization) may disable beneficial nutrients.

Another thing she posted involved drinking a number of glasses of water. This brought me back to an old debate I had with Atkins fundamentalists in a forum maybe 13 years back. Atkins was one of those who promoted the 8 glasses of water myth, and there were related "laws" like you couldn't substitute coffee or tea for water, that drinking coffee was dehydrating, etc. I simply pointed out that we get a lot of water from our food (especially fruits and vegetables), the body has a way of signaling it wants more water, and clearly we need to replenish after vigorous, sweat-inducing activity and/or our urine has a darker color.

I also pointed out that I'll often add a pinch of ceylon cinnamon and a teaspoon of coconut oil with my morning coffee. Cinnamon (not the conventional store type which can be toxic in high doses) can help regulate blood sugar, and coconut oil is a great source of MCTs, a beneficial type of saturated fat which is less vulnerable to fat storage in the body. (I read a story that farmers fed their pigs coconut and were alarmed to discover their swine were losing weight.)

One of these days I may post some of the websites I consult in terms of nutritional guidance, but a short list would include, but not be restricted to: Weston Price, Eat This, and Livestrong. I will say that I do have some points of disagreement with some of these sites; I'm definitely not a locavore or an anti-GMO guy; I tend to be a skeptic about the cost-effective benefits of organic foods. I have a tongue-in-cheek style of humor, and when a recent Twitter game tag asked to publish an unpopular opinion, I wrote, "Eating locally grown produce makes you fat." Let's just say that some locavores were not amused.

In terms of my recent grocery shopping at Sam's Club, actual items purchased included:

• imported (NZ) ground lamb: oddly enough, the producer and/or Walmart will tend to market the meat as organic or natural vs. grass/pasture-raised/finished. To me, the bigger selling point is the latter (I'm focused on a healthier omega-3 ratio, CLA, and/or other characteristics. "A 2010 research review led by Daley found that grass-fed beef outclassed grain-fed nutritionally, with triple the immune-boosting vitamin E, up to five times the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and seven times the antioxidant carotenoids.") I saw a Huffpost claim that almost all NZ or Australian exported meat is grass-fed.
• American grass-fed ground beef.
• quinoa. In fact, I tried cooking the high protein whole grain for the first time today. To my taste buds, it tastes a little like a nutty flavored rice.
• 100% maple syrup. Actually I tried to purchase from Amazon a paleo-friendly pancake mix and they shipped me a paleo bread mix, a relatively rare screw-up. This is an item I won't use regularly.
• walnut oil
• avocado oil
• bananas
• grapefruit
• kiwi
• uncured sodium nitrate-free hickory smoked bacon
• oatmeal
• fresh produce (spinach, onions, mushrooms)
• multi-lb. nuts (pistachios, almonds, pecans)
• cage-free eggs
• protein bars (Larabars, Fiber One Oatmeal & Chocolate)

I will say that the gimmick foods like  protein shakes, chips, cookies, and bars are beginning to wear a little thin on me.

Most of my grocery shopping is done at a local Walmart. I have found some 2-lb. grass-fed roasts on sale but not recently. They do sell some grass-fed beef bricks which I'll buy between shopping  trips to Sam's Club. I will buy some conventional beef at Walmart, but it tends to be leaner cuts like the loins, e.g., sirloin.

I did enjoy my first loaf of ThinSlim Love the Taste bread (low carb/almond flour). But I liked the taste and the chewier texture, excellent toasted.

Finally, I've started a monthly subscription for grass-fed beef. So far, I'm pleased, but what really blew me away was a promotional Heritage chicken from Emmer & Co. included with my first shipment. You know that trite saying that "it tastes like chicken"? Well, this chicken was so good, it was like I never really ate a real chicken before. You can order them straight for the vendor, although at roughly $10/lb., not including shipping, it's pricey.  And I will say that shipping costs for most premium meats are costly.