Back to Trader Joe's

The weight gain spike continues to hold. I need to cut back on nuts, I think, and I really need to get back on a sustained exercise regimen.

I made a second trip to Weis and my first trip to a Trader Joe's probably in at least 4 years (no outlets in WV, SC, and AZ). First, I stocked up at Weis on grass-fed beef, and some venison and bison. I didn't find much on Weis' sources for grass-fed beef, but the some packages of bison and venison had labels I could search on. The bison steak (medallions) came from Great Range Bison, and venison bore a Durham Ranch brands. One thing I noticed about (American) bison from both brand: grass-raised but grain-finished. I'm not happy about grain-finished--that implies they are fattened up for slaughter, and the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio is likely not as optimal, although I'm not sure the nature and extent; I would suspect it depends on the duration of the grain cycle. The venison was sourced from New Zealand (I hate to make generalizations, but I believe Australian and New Zealand meat is grass-fed and grass-finished. I know Butcher Box emphasizes its beef products are grass-finished.) I was mildly surprised that deer or elk were sourced from down under; I can remember when I worked in WV, there is an abundant deer population that has been known to reach the local interstate, and one proud papa showed off his 9-year-old daughter's first kill. I don't recall when I bought my first venison; I probably found it at a Trader Joe's, although I haven't found it in more recent trips. My boss in late 2004 was a strident Maryland Democrat, so unhappy over Bush's reelection that he went out and shot a deer. The smell of venison stew from his crock pot filled our office suite (although I didn't really sample it). I like to diversify my meat sources.

I know I've discussed Trader Joe's in past posts. I first discovered it (and other California signature businesses like the infamous In 'N Out Burgers) when I worked for Oracle on an Oakland project in 1998 and when I moved to California (for about 18 months) in late 1999 (not my idea: it's what I call the job offer by extortion: I had been commuting on a subcontract to Santa Clara; as I was preparing to leave for the airport back to Chicago, my client boss told me not to come back Monday unless I took his offer. I didn't think I could under the no-compete terms of my subcontract.)

I remember my first impression of going to Trader Joe's, seeing aging, silver-haired hippies exit the store. I've been in a few natural food stores before, and to be honest, never cared for those (I only went to those, e.g., to buy Ezekiel/Food For Life products.) I went a few times to a Whole Foods store within walking distance of where I worked for client USPTO in Alexandra back in 2009-2010, mostly with friends for some pricey lunch deals. I hate to make sweeping generalizations but Trader Joe's strike me as somewhere between a natural food/health store and an upscale Whole Foods. Trader Joe's mostly sells price-competitive private-label merchandise, with a few name brand foods in the mix. For example, I can buy Ezekiel bread for about $6 a loaf at Weis and around $4.50 at Trader Joe's. And its private-label merchandise is priced attractively; for instance, I can usually find one sandwich thin brand going about $2.50/package at WalMart, and Trader Joe's sells its packages for the same price.

I ended up spending about $200. There are a few things I particularly look for at Trader Joe's: an extensive selection of nuts and nut butters; meats and seafood; the bread selection; dark chocolate (I remember fondly barrels of dark chocolate pieces wrapped in cellophane; I didn't see those last week, but they have an extensive selection of dark chocolate/combination items, including very reasonably priced 1-lb. Belgian dark chocolate bars); various sauces (hot, BBQ, curry, etc.) They do have an excellent organic produce section, although I go there more for their high-quality branded items; almost any supermarket has a decent produce section. They do supply some sturdy grocery bags/double-bags with handles which one can easily appreciate given flimsy plastic bags elsewhere.

Although I did broadly hint at my shopping list in the last paragraph, here is a more specific listing (which is abridged, although I think it's fairly comprehensive):

• meat and seafood: seasoned rack of lamb;  2 pounds of ground  (1/3 lb) buffalo patties; a pound of wild-caught sockeye salmon; a grass-fed ground beef brick; multiple tins of branded sardines, uncured bacon
• dark chocolate: power berries (2), chocolate almonds (2), mega-bars of dark chocolate (4)
• breads: Food for Life Ezekiel bread (2), flatbreads, lavashes (2), and sandwich thins (2)
• seeds and nuts: sunflower (2), macadamia (2)
• sauces and condiments: various flavors of BBQ sauce (4); spicy mustard; Sriracha ranch dressing (2); hot sauces (2) and curry sauce (2), free-range chicken broth

I will say that I am annoyed I didn't find much about the sources of the meats, although I believe the lamb is sourced from New Zealand which is generally pasture-raised and finished. Generally the first few listed things ran at about $10 package or pound. Ground beef bricks (across retailers) tend to be $6-8/lb.

A couple of side notes:

• If you haven't noticed, there is a glut on the market of eggs. WSJ and others have pointed out the average price per dozen is down to about $1.33. (I've even seen occasional bargains at 39 to 49 cents a carton.) At these prices, eggs are a no-brainer (including the highly nutritious yolk) for superior nutrition at a low price. I like to scramble a couple, add some sliced onions, mushrooms, and peppers (maybe some ham if I have leftover), toss in some cheese, put in the microwave for 2.5 minutes (your mileage may vary; I have a cheap, small microwave), put onto a large whole wheat tortilla (optional) and cover with salsa. Eatthis, one of my favorite nutritional sources, has pointed out the hype on brown vs. white eggs; basically, brown eggs cost more because they are laid by larger birds which are more expensive to keep. (Incidentally Eatthis did a critical piece on Trader Joe's here; among other things, yup, they don't like the buffalo burgers because of the fat content. (Ask me if I care; I cook my burgers on a Foreman grill with a drip tray.)
• As you may know from my signature political blog, I have an aversion to political correctness, and this extends to various fads, including the anti-GMO movement, organics, gluten-free, free range and other assorted distinctions. I realize some readers may feel the same thing about my focus on grass-fed/finished meats, but I assure you I can taste the differences (and I've been intentionally focused on more Omega-3's in my diet, particularly in their more natural food form (e.g., oily fish)), although I will occasionally buy leaner ("loin") conventional steaks. There are obvious exceptions, and if you have certain rare allergies or medical conditions where you have been instructed to avoid certain foods, I don't intend to suggest abandoning professional advice based on specific knowledge of your health. But, for instance, minor nutritional variances can be offset by changes in your diet. I'm not willing to pay twice the price for produce because of minor alleged nutritional improvements (keep in mind there is also a trade-off in nutritional decay from the point of harvest). Trader Joe's was particularly promoting Angus beef. This distinction is largely marketing hype. Angus is more of a common breed of American cattle, not some genetically, nutritionally superior super-breed.

The Super Spike Continues

I had started an unpublished post at the end of April, a month after my last post:

I've occasionally encountered the super-spike; I think about a year or 2 back I got a 12-lb or so surge that literally took weeks to drop, almost as if I had to lose the same weight a second time. I feared the same would happen again when in my last post I noted a quick 6-point bounceback, and that extended in the days that followed up to 12-15 pounds. Since then I've slowly lost back to the 10-12 lb. level, which means basically 10 points net gain over the past month.

I'm currently cycling between 15-20 pounds over my annual low. A lot has happened over the past 3-4 months, including changing jobs and relocating across the country. I've been fairly lax over watching  the diet, including eating some frozen burritos and pizza. (I even did the ultimate cheat--I bought a pint of Blue Bell Cookies and Creme ice cream--I discovered by accident that my WalMart in Yuma was selling Blue Bell, a legendary Texas-based ice cream as I passed an aisle end display case and caught out of the corner of my eye. I probably hadn't had Blue Bell in 8 years.) I suspended my ButcherBox subscription, mostly because of uncertainty over the timing of my move. (I had a lot of grass-fed meat in my freezer back in Arizona but finished it off.)  I usually don't keep to a diet during stressful circumstances during my job changes.

And eating during a 2700-mile move with a U-Haul towing my car tends to be difficult--usually I ate at a gas convenience store or adjoining fast feed place for lunch and maybe a diner or fast food place near a hotel for the night. (I did eat some protein cookies I had brought in the truck cab for dinner in a WV hotel stay.) The "free breakfasts" at hotels were mostly a joke; the closest I had to a hot breakfast was a buffet pan of dried out cheese omelettes and bland sausages. Most of the time it was like the ubiquitous packaged blueberry or banana nut muffins. Why not go through a drive-through? It's almost impossible to thread a truck towing a car through many of these things. You have to find ways of turnarounds with right angles. Maybe shopping centers with lots of empty parking. I remember stopping at my first hotel, not sure if there was a path around the back of the hotel.

I'm now getting back to more of a routine and will likely publish on a more frequent basis (of course, I maintain a daily publication schedule on my flagship political blog).

I do have some notes on my core diet options. Butcher Box has rolled out a new custom option since I suspended my account about 3 months back. But returning to the Maryland area has resulted in some updated options, although I live in a smaller town not big enough for a Sam's Club and the nearest one is about a 30-minute drive away. It appears there are some nuanced offerings between the current and last Sam's Club, e.g., they don't carry some of the cheeses and grass-fed offerings in my current one. (My AZ one also carried ground lamb and grass-fed ground beef.) I usually end up buying a (grass-fed) boneless leg of lamb for $20-30 every other visit.  Neither carried sandwich thins ( for God knows what reason) which I had been buying for years.

I have discovered more grass-fed options at my local vs. AZ WalMart, including steaks and roasts. One day I even found the grass-fed burger packs on sale for about 1/3 off--still far more expensive than conventional grain-finished beef. I also visited the Weis supermarket chain (there was one near where I went to MVA to revert to my MD drivers license, auto tags, etc.) I also found them stocking a variety of grass-fed meats at competitive prices--including venison (listed as $10/lb ground--I found some discounted packages). I like to vary my meat sources; I recall buying ostrich and buffalo at BJ's in the past. One of the reasons I went to Weis is that Food for Life listed them as a local vendor of their sprouted grain products. (Just like when Safeway stocked it, I found a few loaves stored near other, e.g., gluten-free bread in frozen foods.) Given the current options at Weis and WalMart, I may defer resuming my ButcherBox subscription.

I have yet to return to Trader Joe's for the first time in nearly 4 years, maybe a 40-minute drive away.

Not to promote WalMart (I get no incentive of any kind from any vendor I've mentioned in my blog, also ncluding  Amazon, Netrition, Vitacost, etc.; I spend my own money across a number of vendors) But  after doing a search on Food For Life's Ezekiel bread, I noticed browser ads for jet.com, a relatively recent WalMart acquisition. If you do a search on the website, you'll find that they do carry grass-fed meats and Food for Life products (shipped frozen) for a flat $5 or so handling charge and shipment is purportedly free for orders at least $35. (This is similar to how Netrition handles some low-carb bread loaves.) Now granted the loaves aren't cheap (you should expect something in the $5-8/loaf), but I recall Amazon and/or its partners were also adding shipping charges nearly doubling the cost. I haven't tried jet.com yet, so I can't vouch for them, but I'll probably try them over the next couple of months. (Usually ground beef ranges $5-8/lb., roasts about $7.50/lb., cheaper cuts like stew meat about $10-12, and steaks $12-24/lb., depending on the cut.)