healthy eating – Subjects to change

Betting on the future…

If you distill this journey of life down to its purest form I think you’ll find that everything we do and say is reasoning with the future and its potential outcomes. Were always looking way out into the future dreaming about what could be if we just stay the path. The fundamental problem with the long play is just that it’s long, arduous, and more often than not the progress is so slow that it’s barely noticeable at all.

The good news about a task so huge is that it can usually be widdled down into more manageable pieces. I know this isn’t a mind blowing epiphany as I’m sure you’ve heard a dozen or so analogies about this subject matter, but the question is are you employing those in your daily life.

5 years ago I started down the path of losing weight and getting healthy, there were a ton of mountains just on the horizon but I didn’t focus on those. I tackled the molehills in hopes that I would be strong enough to take on the mountains a couple of years down the path. There was certainly no guarantee that I would ever make it to the base of those mountains and even if I never would have gotten there I would have made significant progress in my life.

Fast forward to March 18th of 2020 aka 5 days into the epidemic I went out to my backyard to contemplate just what the heck was going on and I looked out into a jungle of an overgrown yard and thought to myself maybe this is finally the time when I’ll be able to clear out all this junk and put in all those fruit trees and vegetable plots I’d always talked about but never got around to.

Over a long hot summer, I got out the shovel and the chainsaw and went to town whenever I could find the time. If you want to see what a mountain looks like when it comes to back yards here it is.

I snapped a shovel digging out one of these trees.

That was a lot of bargaining with the future if you ask me. People would come by seeing what I was trying to accomplish and they would tell me I was nuts and that I should just hire someone with a bobcat to dig everything out. Sure this would have been the easy path and put me months ahead of where I am now but when the results come easy you won’t be willing to put the work in the work to maintain what you have.

Hundreds of hours later including taking a full week off from work I rounded the corner on destruction and finally got to a point where I could put plants in the ground instead of ripping them out by the roots. It was 11 months worth of bargaining with the future to get to this point and there’s still a decent amount of finishing touches to do but you wouldn’t believe how good it felt to put a few trees in the ground and then stand back and appreciate how it amazing it looked and just how much blood, sweat and tears went into getting to a rainy valentines day morning when the next chapter of bargaining with the future began.

A couple of the fruit trees I bought should be short term wins and produce fruit this year but several of them are long term investments. Sure I am the happy new owner of a mango and avocado tree but the reality of walking out to the backyard and being able to make a mango smoothie and a bowl of guacamole is still years out into the future and that’s if the weather and ton of other variables decide to cooperate. But you know what all that work I put in digging out giant tree stumps pails into comparison to maintaining the food forest.

My hope is that one day my kids will say. Hey Dad, I’m hungry and I will just be able to point to the backyard and say I’m sure there are several things ready to pick out there.

Call to Action.

search out a local independent nursery this spring and buy a fruit tree for your backyard. Don’t have a back yard? buy a planter box and grow some herbs. It’s super exciting to watch something as small as a seed turns into something that can fuel your body.
Don’t take the shortcut no matter how tempting it is, sure it looks tempting but it will most likely cost you in the long run. Put your head down, put in the work, relish the process and never forget just how miserable the journey was as it will be the best motivator possible to keep pushing forward.

breakfast club… 1

I don’t know about you but I’ve always been a fan of savory/spicy breakfast dishes than sweet breakfast items. In fact, I bet I haven’t had a bowl of cereal with milk more than a handful of times this century. So without further ado here’s another recipe you can add to your repertoire.

I know I said I was going to get down to business but I want to talk about the word “recipe” here and elaborate that I see them as a general set of guidelines that will help point you in the right direction. I’m always more interested in the over reaching concept of a dish than a lot of the specifics. This way if you don’t have peas but you do have zucchini you can improvise and still create something delicious. Do not take this approach to baking as it will end in a total disaster.

Kedgeree. aka Indian fried rice.

Kedgeree is traditionally made with smoked fish and a small number of vegetables and often cream and butter. This version ups the vegetables and although it calls for boiled eggs you can easily leave those out to make it vegan

cup basmati rice
8z package of baby portobello mushrooms
Thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 red chili
¼ of a bunch of fresh cilantro
2-3 scallions
1.5 teaspoons curry powder
olive oil
15-20 cherry tomatoes cut in half
4oz of frozen peas
2-3oz fresh greens, (kale, collards, spinach)
Fresh Lemon

Cook the rice following the instructions on the package and allow it to cool off and dry out a little bit. If you can do this step a couple of hours in advance it will turn out even better.

Quarter the mushrooms and add them to a dry frypan over medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir them frequently allowing them to get a bit of color. Chop half of the cilantro, deseed the chili and finely slice, reserve some of the chilies for plating, and finely chop the ginger and the green onions. Move the mushrooms to one side of the pan and add 1 TBS of olive oil. Add the above-mentioned cilantro, chili, ginger, and green onion and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder and mix thoroughly into the vegetable mixture. After 1-2 minutes add the tomatoes and the greens and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add your peas to the vegetable mixture and cook until they are heated through. Add your cooked rice and stir regularly to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan, at this point zest your lemon and add it to the mixture. The goal here is to bring everything up to temperature. just before service juice half your lemon and serve with remaining cilantro leaves, sliced chilis, and top with the cooked eggs.

Why do we scream for ice cream ??

It’s the middle of summer here in the northern hemisphere and on these scorching hot days, there’s no denying that ice cream is pretty much the answer for all of life’s problems. But have you ever wondered why foods like ice cream are so crave-worthy?

The answer to that question is relatively simple once you understand the science behind it. All forms of fat pack 9 calories per gram and all carbohydrates aka sugars pack in 4 calories per gram. Ice cream along with a lot of our other favorite foods is the magical combination of both. This combination of chemicals is the most energy-dense partnership in the world of food and I think we can all agree they taste pretty amazing as well.

So why is it that we crave that combination so much? The answer dates back to the beginning of our species and has a lot to do with food insecurity. If you were a nomadic hunter and you happened to stumble across something high in fat or in sugars your brain would send a message through the reward circuit that this is pleasurable and you should keep eating. This reward circuit was massively important for the success of human beings when food was hard to come by but now it’s a major pain in the butt when the next meal is as easy as tapping a few buttons on your phone.

You can read more about the science behind the reward circuit here. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sugar-and-fat-trick-the-brain-into-wanting-more-food/

Fat and Sugar in nature

The combination of fats and sugars are for the most part a man-made culinary combination. There are very few if any naturally occurring foods that are high in both of these categories. You either get high fat in foods like dairy and eggs or high in sugar like fruits and honey. I’m not sure if you’ve ever read a recipe on how to make homemade ice cream but those last four food Items I just listed would be in the vast majority of them.

Sugar Coated Lies

The first food that I was able to seriously reduce in my diet was added sugar and it was thanks to Jocko Willink and this epic little piece of wisdom.

Call To Action

Now we know why we crave ice cream, the desire to eat more of foods like that have been hardwired into our brains since the beginning of time. But we are 21st-century beings, we built self-driving cars, put people into outer space and have been to the bottom of the ocean. We are smart, we are disciplined and just like Nancy told us to do back in the 80’s we can “just say no” to ice cream and all of her nefarious cousins, or at least we should 95% of the time.

Ogres, Onions and Fathers Day…

One of my favorite movie quotes of all times comes from the original Shrek movie, its funny but has some deep-seeded wisdom lurking under the surface. Shrek and Donkey are walking through a garden discussing why Shrek didn’t torment a village, Shrek’s response is Ogres are a lot like onions, they have layers.

Ogres and people are very different, at least that’s what I’ve been able to infer from the movies, I’ve never met one in real life before. But just like onions and ogres, we do have a lot of layers. I’d be willing to bet that I could put my self in at least 2 dozen categories of groups I belong to. Like a surfer, aspiring farmer, runner, cook, husband, and father. Of all of my layers, those last two are at the core of the onion for me. They are why I go to work, eat healthily, exercise, and try to be the best version of myself I can be. I hope that I am better at those now then I was a year ago and that future me is better then I am today.

I am very grateful to have both my parents in our lives as they are fantastic parents and even better grandparents. They are a literal encyclopedia Britannica of wisdom on everything from parenting to building an outdoor shower. I’m 37 and I still need my parents for that wisdom and perhaps most importantly to watch our kids a few days a week so we don’t completely lose our minds as a result of working from home with an almost 2-year-old.

The most important thing I will do with my life is to be the gentle guiding influence that will hopefully turn my kids into kind and successful members of society as they grow and mature throughout their lives.

The best way I’ve come up with so far on how to accomplish that goal is to lead through example and take care of myself mentally and physically so I can be around for along time.

I want to take the next few minutes to implore you on the importance of taking care of yourself so we can be great fathers for many more decades to come.

If you haven’t been to the doctor to get a physical because your young and invisible in the past 5 years you need to stop and make that happen. In the spirit of brutal honesty, I belonged to that camp until about a year ago. I went, it didn’t hurt and I felt grateful walking out of there after getting my lab results knowing that nothing unforeseen hadn’t been lurking under the surface.
Take an inventory of what you eat this week, maybe even write it down. If you see something that surprises you next Sunday, pick that one thing and try to eat half as much the following week and in half again the following week. I truly believe that quitting cold turkey is bad for long term success.
Pick a couple of bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats, lunges, dips, crunches, planks you get the picture. Now pick a reasonable number of reps and days a week you will commit to putting in the work and start TODAY!!!

I promise you that if you put these three things into practice this year that you will be running circles around your kids come, fathers, day 2021.

Whats a portion

11 years ago my wife wanted to go see the movie Avatar in theaters. I wasn’t completely on board with this idea as going out to the movies is not on my top 10 list of favorite things. After a bit of negotiating we landed on an agreement. She would buy me one single beer at the world of beer before we saw the movie. My wife was speaking my language with this offer and pretty soon we were in the car headed to the theater.

On the drive I hatched a devious plan to make sure I got the best end of the deal and it went a little something like this.

Bartender – What will you have?

Me – Liter of Hofbrau please.

Bartender sets down beer.

Me – Thanks

Wife – Wow, that’s a lot more then one beer.

Me – It’s 1 beer because it came in 1 glass.

Wife – I hope you pee your pants in this 3 hour movie.

In theory I was totally correct in ordering that 33 ounce beer but in spirit I was way off base. And I did have to take a restroom break half way through the movie.

Thanks for sticking with me through that little story, I hadn’t thought about it in years and it made me laugh but I feel like it can teach us a good lesson.

What we eat and burn

The average American consumes more than 3,600 calories daily – a 24% increase from 1961, when the average was just 2,880 calories. I know right. That factoid is from a 2013 study released by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT)

For a reference point the average american male burns between 1,900 and 2,500 calories a day, that number will vary with activity level. That leaves an excess of a 1,000+ calories a day. Which in theory sounds like a ton of extra food but in reality can easily be accomplished when your 1 beer has 440 calories.

Understanding portion size.

Our view of a portion size is completely out of wack with that we actually should be consuming. This is most evident in restaurants where studies have shown that we could be consuming up to 4 times the correct portion size based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Think about the giant bowl of pasta the last time you ate out at your favorite Italian joint. That’s probably what Nona Maria would have served to her entire family back in the old country.

Practical Advice.

Consult with a registered dietitian and see what you really need as your daily calorie intake. If you can’t do that a Basal Metabolic Rate – BMR calculator will give you a good idea of where you are supposed to be.

Buy a digital scale and read your nutritional labels. It’s a bit of a shocker in the beginning when you realize that you’ve been eating what is considered 2-3 portion sizes. https://www.amazon.com/digital-scale/s?k=digital+scale I agree it seems really silly to weigh out everything you eat but after a few weeks of retraining your self you wont have to rely on it nearly as much. ( we will dive deeper into this subject in a future blog, there’s some sneaky business going on with nutrition fact panels)

Fill your plate the correct way. A well designed plate will look like this. 50% vegetables, 25% whole grain carbohydrate and 25% protein. Vegetables are nutrient rich, relatively low in calories and are high fiber/high volume foods. When you get that digital scale try weighing out 300+- grams of vegetables its a lot more than you think it will be. P.S that’s a pretty good number to aim for at dinner and I almost guarantee you wont leave the table hungry after that portion of vegetable.

Like I’ve mentioned before in so many of my posts the key to long term success is to slowly but surely eliminate those junk food items from your daily diet. If you need some Doritos’s in your life right now i’m cool with it. But instead of taking the whole bag to the sofa for the ensuing T.V binge fest make friends with your new digital scale and weight out a correct portion and then get your chill on.