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I've been applying for freelance writing/editing gigs lately. Some website was looking for product descriptions. I decided to do some samples. I only wrote one though. This is it:
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Runner's Diet

I traveled over six miles by foot today. It was mostly walking, but I threw in some jogging and running when the spirit moved me. It was very hot, so that dissuaded me from running the whole time. My weak stamina, sore joints, and asthmatic lungs didn't help either.

My new apartment is about three miles away from Planet Fitness, my gym of choice, and I decided that's close enough for me to jog to. The round-trip endeavor was a little over two and a half hours, including over thirty minutes of doing upper-body weight machines once I was at the gym, but I'm hoping to trim that time down to under two hours soon.

This is the most exercise I've gotten in recent memory, and I'm hoping to stick with it as one of my aforementioned "I just moved into my new apartment" resolutions. I will also be posting recipes, sticking to a food budget (I think I'll be starting at $200 a month for my initial goal), and listing my daily food intake (as I used to do religiously).

I used the "Scooby's Workshop" calorie calculator to arrive at my eating plan, with the goal of losing a pound a week. I guessed that I'm at 160 pounds right now, and that I'll be getting "moderate" exercise for 3-5 hours a week. I'm hoping for more than that, but I figured I should be conservative to play it safe. I'm going with the default 55% carb, 25% protein, and 20% fat (with a total caloric intake of 2,152) that the calculator recommended for "someone like me." I was going to do 50 carb/25 fat based on some article I read in a runner's magazine, but going lower fat seems valid. Hell, I don't know what I'm doing, so who am I to question the default percentages I was offered?

My scale hasn't moved in with me yet, which is why I am guessing my weight. I also don't have plates, or glasses/cups for liquid beverages. I've been making do. Here's what I ate/will eat today:

• 4 tortillas: 436 cal, 80 C, 16 P, 8 F
• 16 oz. rice milk: 240 cal, 46 C, 2 P, 5 F
• 4 tablespoons rice protein: 220 cal, 24 C, 30 P, 0 F
• 1 16 oz. block of hard tofu: 450 cal, 15 C, 50 P, 20 F
• 1 cup F-Factor high fiber cereal: 140 cal, 54 C, 8 P, 2 F
• 8 oz. rice milk: 120 cal, 23 C, 1 P, 3 F
• 2/3 cup (dry) refried black beans: 232 cal, 44 C, 16 P, 0 F
• 3 tortillas: 327 calories, 60 C, 12 P, 6 F

Totals: 2165 calories, 346 grams of carbs, 135 grams of protein, 44 grams of fat


Well, now I'm going to Veggie Heaven. A bubble tea is approximately equivalent to high-fiber cereal with rice milk, right?

New Projects

 

I know my recent lack of food and fitness updates must be at least as disappointing for you as it is for me. Fear not, the wheels are turning. I'm going to be living alone very soon, and I'm taking it as an opportunity for new resolutions and lifestyle projects.

Here are the three main things I'm hoping to work on:

1. Posting recipes on my blog and cooking more decadent things than I've been eating lately. Consistent with my periods of obsessive calorie-counting, I want to include extensive food stats and play around with recipes to make them fit my dietary goals.
2. To make this a bit more challenging, I also want to reduce my food budget significantly. It's typically $200 to $300 a month right now, and I want to start tracking my expenditures and displaying them for public scrutiny. The main goal of this plan is to show that eating lots of delicious, healthy, vegan food can be cheap.
3. I have not worked out in a long time, and I would like to start jogging regularly. I also hope to start doing the machine circuit at my gym at least three times a week.

Those were the main things I've been thinking about. I'm so out of the habit with meal-planning, but I can sense the bug coming back. I've gained some weight in the past few weeks, and I'm just really feeling like I don't have any control over my food intake. The time is now.

So, starting Thursday... Get ready.


(Note: The Ramadan thing only lasted two days. I'm still trying to educate myself more on Islam this month; I just don't feel compelled to also damage my body and mind in the process.)

Pretending to be Muslim

It's 13 minutes until dawn, so I've been up for almost an hour, eating and drinking what I can. Last night all I ate was french fries and Gardetto's. I'm working all this out, but for the moment I am observing Ramadan.

To heighten the experience, I listened to Islamic podcasts all day at work. I probably won't be drinking any alcohol during this month, and I guess I'll try to do some other Muslim things. Already I've noticed I have increased empathy for Muslim people engaged in revolutionary struggles in the Middle East, which is what happened the last time I tried this experiment in 2001. That year it was Nov. 16 - Dec. 11, and I did it out of solidarity with Muslims after the irrational backlash against the community in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Back to the moment, I need to drink more water. I realize I should down at least 32 oz. both AM and PM. Ugh, I was not that thirsty. Bleh. I'll probably be thanking myself later though.

Limerick #3

KFC says it has “world’s best chicken”

Such good bird meat that it’s “finger lickin’”

This has gone on too long

You bastards, you’re wrong

Only good chicken’s one that’s still tickin’.

In other news, apparently it's Ramadan now. I'm tempted to do a Ramadan-style fast...

Limerick #2

My pantries are filled full of starches

My cabinets with cookies and tartses

‘Til these stuffs dissipate

Eating Paleo must wait

‘Cause I’m poor and I can’t waste these carbses.

Limerick #1

There once was a boy on a diet
When he saw a new one he would try it
The "Slow Carb" was "fruitless"
Eating raw: cold and ruthless
Each new plan, he would swiftly defy it.

A Dry Post Mostly Consumed with Details About What I'm Eating

The evening snack I made for Sam last night. It inspired today's meal plan.

Hi, I made it so anyone can comment on the blog. Before you had to have some type of ID. Sorry, I didn't realize that was the case. Also, I fixed the time zone problem. It had been Pacific since I started the blog, and I just started playing around with the settings and found the option by accident.

Writing blogs in the morning is hard, because I have a tendency to zone out. Now it's almost 8, and I need to leave. I use the word "zone" too much.


July 19 - Back on calorie-restricted "Zone"

• 1/4 cup raisins, 109 calories, 1 gram of protein, 29 grams of carbs, 0 grams of fat
• 1 oz. almonds, 180 cal, 7 P, 6 C, 14 F
• 1/4 cup raw peanuts, 207 cal, 10 P, 6 C, 18 F
• 8 oz. almond milk, 45 cal, 2 P, 3 C, 4 F
• soy protein, 130 cal, 30 P, 0 C, 1 F
• can of lentils, 300 cal, 24 P, 51 C, 0 F
• barbecue sauce, 40 cal, 0 P, 10 C, 0 F
• 20 fat-free saltines, 240 cal, 8 P, 52 C, 0 F

Totals: 1251 calories, 82 grams of protein (25%), 157 grams of carbs (49%), 37 grams of fat (26%)


July 20 - "Toddler's Delight"

• Lots of pickles, 0 cal, 0 P, 0 C, 0 F
• 1/2 cup of raisins, 218 cal, 2 P, 58 C, 0 F
• 2 oz. almonds, 360 cal, 14 P, 12 C, 28 F
• 1/2 cup high fiber cereal, 70 cal, 4 P, 27 C, 1 F
• 1/2 cup rice milk, 60 cal, 1 P, 12 C, 1 F
• 4 jumbo Smart Dogs, 320 cal, 60 P, 12 C, 4 F
• 4 Whitewheat hot dog buns, 360 cal, 20 P, 80 C, 4 F

Totals: 1388 cal, 101 P, 201 C, 38 F


"Toddler's Delight" is a reference to a comment my mother made about my son Sam's food last night. I intentionally increased my calories and carbs and decreased my fat (as a percentage) from the day before. I don't have time to go into that part. Also, no P90X this morning. I woke up a little too late for that.

Argh, I better go. Toodles.

Off the Wagon

Sorry for going a week without posting. I've been drinking, binge eating, and lounging for over a week now. In a fit of restless energy I did P90X again for the first time in recent memory. Without calorie restriction, I realize I have no self-control. The Zone with calorie restriction seemed to be working. I'm going to try to jump back in with that. Details to follow.

Raw Food, and Whatnot

The plum thief strikes again!

I didn't find going raw for a day difficult. That could have been in part because I didn't. My son Sam ate four of my plums, so I made up for it by eating leftover chickpeas and lentils.

But yeah, that still put me at close to 90 percent raw for the day, which is probably the most raw food I've had in one day in years. I've tried to do the raw thing for brief periods at a time, but I've never done it while counting calories. It takes a lot of food to hit 2000 calories raw.

I am a big skeptic of the raw craze, but I also like to challenge myself to do things that seem difficult. So, raw on a budget. Bam.

The next several days after tomorrow are going to be semi-raw, because my tofu and hummus are about to go bad. Is hummus raw?

Raisins I am purporting to be raw.

July 11 (Raw #2 - low fat)

• 1/4 cup raw peanuts - 207 calories, 10 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbs, 18 grams of fat ($0.16)
• 1/4 cup sunflower seed kernels - 205 cal, 8 P, 7 C, 18 F ($0.21)
• 1/2 bunch spinach (6 oz.) - 39 cal, 5 P, 6 C, 1 F ($0.44)
• 4 bananas - 420 cal, 5 P, 108 C, 1 F ($1.41)
• 1/4 cup raisins (no oil, sugar, salt, sulfur - raw enough for me) - 109 cal, 1 P, 29 C, 0 F ($0.20)
• 1 pound strawberries - 145 cal, 3 P, 35 C, 1 F ($0.97)
• 2 pounds peaches (7 medium) - 354 cal, 8 P, 90 C, 2 F ($0.94)
• 1 pound plums (7 small) - 209 cal, 3 P, 52 C, 1 F ($0.99)
• 1 pound apples (3 Jonagold) - 236 cal, 1 P, 63 C, 1 F ($0.99)

Total calories: 1924; Total protein: 44 grams (8%); Total carbs: 396 (74%); Total fat: 43 (18%); Total cost: $6.31

Raw on a Budget

OK, you can disregard the percentages on that last post. They were arbitrary anyway. I'm worried that I've gotten too good at this, and I know how to eat healthy without obsessing over ratios and quantities. I had a meal plan today that I followed for the most part, but I subbed a banana for the one and a half cups of beans I had already prepared. I just wasn't hungry anymore. Two thousand calories seems like a whole lot when eating nutrient-dense foods. Hopefully I'll get used to it eventually.

I've been spending more time with Emily, my mostly raw (75+ percent) vegan friend, and she's been reading David Wolfe's "Sun Food System" (or whatever) book recently. I think it has inspired her to go completely raw, which bothers me, because I felt like she was too raw already. To be honest, one of my biggest problems with the raw diet as it is typically practiced is that it is way too expensive. With all the obscure sea nutrients, $50 tubs of dry green powder, cocoa powder that seems to cost 20 times what Hershey's does, and with everything being organic, I don't even want to think about what the actual costs of such a diet might be for me.

With that said, I was thinking about apes today, and what they eat. Fruit, nuts, seeds, and greens, right? (I actually don't know, but that sounds right to me.) Why is this important? I'm an ape. A pale, mostly hairless ape. If I give the raw people any credit, it's on the grounds they are eating a diet more in line with the one nature provides. Wait, scratch that. They are potentially eating a diet along natural lines, so long as they aren't overdoing it with all the dehydrated, powdered, and liquefied stuff.

So, what I want to know is, can I sustain myself on a balanced raw diet for less than $200 a month? Because of my current ape infatuation, I also want to do it without buying anything processed, or processing any of my own food. I chose $200 a month for a goal because that's what the government provides in food stamps to an individual making no qualifying income (at least for Austin, Texas).

I decided to look at the weekly grocery store mailings for the cheapest produce, and I also calculated (and here's the part where I feel clever) the amount of calories per dollar for each item, to use as a factor in making food choices. Below is my meal plan for tomorrow. It's mostly (all) conventional produce, and I guess apes only eat organic, but you know what? I don't care. I'm poor.


July 10 (raw)

• 1 cup raw Virginia peanuts - 828 calories, 38 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbs, 72 grams of fat, $0.64
• 1 pound peaches (3 medium) - 177 cal, 4 P, 45 C, 1 F, $0.47
• 1 pound Jonagold/Braeburn apples (1 of each) - 236 cal, 1 P, 63 C, 1 F, $0.99
• 1 pound plums (7 total, some black and some red) - 209 cal, 3 P, 52 C, 1 F, $0.99
• 1 pound strawberries - 145 cal, 3 P, 35 C, 1 F, $0.97
• 1 bunch spinach (12 oz.) - 78 cal, 10 P, 12 C, 1 F, $0.88
• 3 bananas - 315 cal, 4 P, 81 C, 1 F, $1.06

Total calories: 1988; Total protein: 63 grams (11%); Total carbs: 312 grams (57%); Total fat: 78 grams (32%); Total cost: $6.00

McDougall/Blue Zone

Well, I'm back from "vacation," i.e. my break from religiously tracking my food and having self-respect. The thing I notice most when I don't have a set eating plan is that I eat a whole lot of fat and sugar. I guess that's not surprising, but the astronomical quantities really wowed me. Gross.

I finished reading The Blue Zone today, and I have broken down the main food points from the book, in a way that I can easily include them into my new eating plan:

Food group servings:

• fruit (2 per day)
• nuts (5 per week)
• legumes (3+ per week)
• tomatoes (3+ per week)
• vegetables (4 to 6 per day)

Supplements:

• B12
• D2
• DHA

Per the recommendation of the book, I am going to consume 1900 to 2000 calories as my long-term average intake. My biggest goal right now is to have adequate energy and avoid indigestion, rather than having any weight/fat loss goals. Now that I'll be consuming more carbs, I really should get more exercise too.

The main things I'm incorporating from the McDougall plan are high carbs and low fat. I will also be eating significant quantities of whole grains. After a discussion with my equally food-obsessed friend Raquel, I will be making a point to consume at least 50 grams of fiber a day.

Here's the protein/carb/fat breakdown:

• Protein: 10-20% (50 to 100 grams)
• Carb: 60-70% (300 to 350 grams)
• Fat: 15-25% (22 to 44 grams)

[I realized that I was making myself crazy trying to hit numbers exactly, so I included a +/- 5 percent cushion. Ideally I would be doing exactly 15-65-20, but then I would stress myself out. And stress causes inflammation. And inflammation kills you.]

Because one of my new projects is to get enough sleep, I'm going to have to quickly jot down my eating plan for tomorrow and hit the hay.


July 8

• 1/4 cup mixed nuts - 220 calories, 8 grams protein, 6 grams carbs, 19 grams fat
• 2 cups oatmeal - 294 cal, 12 P, 51 C, 5 F
• 2 packets of McDonald's preserves/jam - 70 cal, 0 P, 18 C, 0 F
• 1/2 can of lentils - 150 cal, 4 P, 9 C, 0 F
• 3 T barbecue sauce - 60 cal, 0 P, 15 C, 0 F
• 1 bag lima beans - 550 cal, 30 P, 100 C, 0 F
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce - 160 cal, 4 P, 26 C, 5 F
• 1/2 package spelt elbow pasta - 420 cal, 18 P, 84 C, 2 F

Total calories: 1924, total protein: 76 grams, total carbs: 309 grams,  total fat: 31 grams, total fiber: 71 grams

Veganism is not a diet.

I know what I ate the past two days. Every calorie of it. But I'm not going to tell you what it was. I haven't weighed myself, so I simply don't know the extent to which the earth's gravitational pull is compelling me toward its center. I do not know. I do not care.

On Wednesday I attended a lecture given by Neal Barnard at the main office of Whole Foods in downtown Austin. He was promoting a book of his, 21 Day Kickstart, and I was less than impressed by the experience. It was clearly geared toward health and nutrition neophytes, and it made me feel kind of bad about associating myself with veganism. "Not in my name!" screamed my unspoken sense of propriety.

To set straight any possible confusion, I am vegan. I am not vegan because I do not like the taste, feel, or texture of animal products. I am not vegan because I think it is healthy to do so. I am vegan because it is fundamentally immoral to be anything but. With all my concern about my weight, appearance, health, and drive for longevity, my veganism is a completely unrelated life choice. I can stop eating carbs, consume nothing but seeds and nuts, drink spicy lemonade for a fortnight, or run in place for six hours a day, but during any of these thought-provoking diversions, one thing, if nothing else, will not change. I will still be vegan.

My sense of well-being is perhaps the most important factor in my being a healthy person, and having a morally sound purpose in life is a centerpiece of that. I don't know that I've been looking out enough for that part of myself. I had not been blessed by a sense of moral outrage until a couple of recent, awkward interactions with animal exploiters, and it made me feel really good. I have never been especially active in animal rights-related activities, but something about being surrounded by "health" or "dietary" vegans recently made me want to punch a beef-eating American in the face, instead of offering them a mango salsa sample. Don't worry. I didn't actually do that; I'm just saying I would like to. That was not one of the awkward situations I got myself into this week. I have punched no one at all recently.

I don't want to be nice. I don't want to cure type 2 diabetes. I don't want to blame society for the individual choices people make to destroy the lives of sentient beings. I want people to stop abusing animals, and that means I want them to stop buying or wearing leather. It means I want them to stop buying and eating/drinking milk, eggs, honey, cow, pig, beeswax, D3, goose liver, etc. I don't want to see any of it anymore. Because I don't choose to believe that people simply "don't know better." I choose to believe they are wrong, they are callous, they are hateful, and that they willingly consort with evil. I choose to believe that in a society where crimes are punished, animal abusers fall into the realm of a guilty party. And when you choose to fund the exploitation of animals, you are an accomplice to those crimes.

No diet news today, kids. Peace.

Or Not

These taste bad, but they must be healthy, because Adventists made them.

I'm done with wine. I don't like it. I was only drinking it because Sardinians do. The Loma Linda Adventists don't drink any alcohol at all and they're old too. I've decided to be more selective in how I pick and choose Blue Zone cultures to emulate in my daily life. To learn more about Blue Zones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone. Better yet, read the book I've been reading the past several days: http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Zones-Lessons-Living-Longest/dp/1426202741. I've been saying I'm going to post my notes, but I have yet to do so. Maybe I will on some odd day off work when I'm feeling...odd.

I actually ate 1585 calories yesterday because I didn't drink wine before bed. Today I ate closer to 1200, even though I said I was going to stop doing that. I'm kind of hooked on unsafely rapid weight-loss now. With that said, I gained a pound at some point during the past 24 hours. That was probably a fluke though. Water weight and what not.

OK, so I posted the food I ate yesterday, but I haven't posted anything for today and tomorrow. I will do that now. This is boring, isn't it? Writing everything I eat. By the way, I haven't done P90X since Saturday. It's looking like I'm only going to be able to do it two or three times a week. Oh well. It's better than nothing. Maybe once I get my life on a better schedule I can start exercising more often.

Also, I'm switching from the Zone-recommended 40 carb - 30 protein - 30 fat to 40 carb - 40 protein - 20 fat. I had stomach discomfort today after eating the nuts, and looking back, the times I've had discomfort on the diet are from having too much fat at once. This doesn't mean I couldn't plan better and spread the fat around, but I know me, and I'm bad at that sort of thing. And I've felt really good on low-fat diets in the past, so, this is what I am doing. Additionally, I will be dropping caffeine. And I'm going to avoid protein shakes. I think they might upset my stomach too.

I could write an entire blog on my finicky food problems, but I'll spare you for now. Hopefully forever.

And another rule: 7 hours of sleep. Ideally, closer to nine, but 7 at an absolute minimum.


I ate this:

This is the kitchen where the magic happens.

June 28

• 1 soy protein shake - 200 calories, 39 grams of protein, 5 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fat
• 1/2 cup curry cashews - 390 cal, 10 P, 22 C, 32 F
• 6 oz. carrots - 80 cal, 2 P, 18 C, 0 F
• 1 cup Hi Lo Cereal - 180 cal, 24 P, 26 C, 4 F
• 1 cup soymilk - 70 cal, 9 P, 5 C, 1 F
• 1/2 cup soymilk (last swig from the bottle) - 35 cal, 4.5 P, 2.5 C, .5 F
• 1 individual size bag of Rold Gold pretzels - 230 cal, 4 P, 47 C, 2 F
• 1 banana - 105 cal, 1.5 P, 27 C, .5 F

Total calories: 1290; total protein: 94 grams; total carbs: 152.5 grams; total fat: 42 grams


So, I lied. I'm too tired to post my meal plan for tomorrow. I have a few precious minutes before I must retire if I am going to salvage my dream of 7+ hours of sleep. Damn the torpedoes; I'm going to bed.

1700 calories?

After adding a protein bar before bowling tonight, I ate the most food in one day that I've had in quite a while. My caloric load was still low enough to lose weight, and I still fit into the "Zone." So, yeah. If I'm getting hungry, it makes me feel like I might be doing something wrong, so I'm going to up the calories going forward. Especially since I walk for exercise every day, and I burn a lot of calories from P90X, more calories is definitely more sustainable.

With that said, I had cereal and pie early in the day. It's not that surprising that such foods would not fill me up. So, who knows? I don't.

I don't have a lot to say today. I'm tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow. I weighed in at 151.4 this morning, meaning I've lost 8.6 pounds this month, and 13 pounds since I started this blog. I might as well start posting my weight regularly, since that's a metric I'm very concerned with.


June 27

My home-prepped food that I ate today. Yes, that's wine in a food container.

• 1 slice of homemade blueberry pie - 360 calories, 4 grams of protein, 49 grams of carbs, 18 grams of fat
• 1.5 cups spaghetti sauce - 240 cal, 6 P, 39 C, 7.5 F
• 16 oz. tofu - 450 cal, 50 P, 15 C, 20 F
• 1/2 cup Hi-Lo Cereal - 90 cal, 12 P, 13 C, 2 F
• 1/2 cup soymilk - 35 cal, 4.5 P, 2.5 C, .5 F
• 1 soy protein shake - 200 cal, 39 P, 5 C, 2 F
• Odwalla protein bar - 210 cal, 14 P, 30 C, 4.5 F
• 6 oz. red wine - 120 cal, 0 P, 4 C, 0 F

Tub of soymilk plus tub of cereal, mixed together, equals breakfast at work.

Total calories: 1705, total protein: 129.5 grams, total carbs: 157.5 grams, total fat: 54.5 grams

Today is June 26th

I did another semi-raw meal plan today. I have a banana and mango left to go. I almost bought some greens and sprouts to mix things up yesterday, but I decided they aren't cheap enough. Instead, I opted for two pounds of peaches for $1.03, and a mango and cantaloupe for 88 cents each. Oh, and a $5.97 bottle of red wine...

I did P90X again yesterday, and I may try to do it again today. I'm thinking I might be too tired though. If I go to sleep early I could do it in the morning, but after that I probably won't have time again until Wednesday.

I'm really loving the protein shakes. I'm going to do a soy entree with either tofu, tempeh, or TVP tomorrow, so I'll have to cut down to just one shake. I'm just mixing Twinlabs Vegefuel soy protein with some cheap, green soymilk from the Asian market nearby, but I think it tastes great. It was especially good when I mixed it and left in the fridge overnight. Very creamy.

I was planning to do another semi-raw day tomorrow, but watching my son Sam eat bread today made me jealous (I snuck a few bites when he wasn't looking), so I decided I want to add in some more cooked/processed food.

I haven't figured out my food completely yet for tomorrow, but here's what I had today:

June 26

• 1/2 cup curry cashews - 390 calories, 10 grams of protein, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 32 grams of fat
• 2 soy protein shakes - 400 cal, 78 P, 10 C, 4 F
• 5 small peaches - 154 cal, 4 P, 39 C, 1 F
• 1 banana - 105 cal, 1 P, 27 C, 0 F
• 1 mango - 135 cal, 1 P, 35 C, 1 F
• 6 oz. Yellow Tail Cabernet Savignon - 120 cal, 0 P, 4 C, 0 F

 Total calories: 1304, total protein: 94, total carbs: 137, total fat: 38

Pictures!

This is my soymilk.

These are the little tubs I put my food in. Two cups each. I have nine of them. They come in packs of three.

This is the food I ate yesterday, June 25th.

My home gym!

I know it's late.

But I feel like if I don't post an entry right now I'm going to lose track of my food notes and then all my meticulous lists and computations will be for naught. I have way too much to write about to not be posting daily.

I did P90X yesterday: Kenpo. I went ahead and only ate about 1200 calories that day too, but I broke down and ate about 400 calories worth of cashews before I went to sleep that night. Wait, it was Thursday. When this publishes this should say it's Saturday, so that would be two days ago.

Anyway, it's a cardio exercise and I'm pretty sure I burned a fair amount of calories. So, that made things tough. Also, I'm officially off Slow Carb. I know it's lame to quit a few days before my goal date, but I've really started doubting the fruit avoidance, among other things. More than that, I'm just bored with it. It's not nearly complicated enough to keep my attention.

I took some notes on Buettner's The Blue Zone I want to share, but it could get lengthy so I'll save it for another post when I feel I have the time, space, and energy. I'm going to skip to all the food now before I forget.

First, I'll make a note about June 21. That was the best meal plan I've put together so far. I bought five cans of spaghetti sauce on clearance from HEB for 50 cents, so I'm hoping to do a similar meal plan to that one again soon.

In order to continue delaying the inane food stats, I will also mention that I am challenging myself to create both a "shelf-stable" meal plan and a raw meal plan. Both of them would be at 1200-1300 calories and follow the Zone recommendations. I created a "semi-raw" meal plan for tomorrow as a start. Only the bananas and blueberries are actually raw, but I think the other foods could be easily substituted for raw versions. Like I said, it's a start.

The purpose behind doing the raw plan is to impress my raw vegan friend. I want to do a "no refrigeration necessary" (or any prep at all, for that matter) one for when I'm traveling or something. I was imagining packing a bag with a few bottles of water and having my little snack containers to carry around and munch from. Zone-friendly trail mix, crackers, jerky, I suppose.

That reminds me. I haven't been posting pictures. I'm really falling down on the job here. And now, for real this time, the food.



June 22

• Tofu scramble - 320 calories, 32 grams protein, 4 grams carbs, 16 grams fat
• Broccoli - 150 cal, 5 P, 20 C, 0 F
• 4 Boca patties - 280 cal, 52 P, 24 C, 2 F
• 2 slices of Whole Foods pizza - 427.6 cal, 9.2 P, 56.4 C, 19.2 F

Total calories: 1177.6; Total protein: 98.2; Total carbs: 104.4; Total fat: 37.2


June 23

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 325 calories, 11 grams of protein, 36 grams of carbs, 16 grams of fat
• Tofu, TVP, mixed vegetables - 867 calories, 76 grams of protein, 58 grams of carbs, 27 grams of fat
• 6 oz. container of blueberries - 97 calories, 1.3 P, 24.7 C, 0.5 F

Total calories: 1289; Total protein: 88.3; Total carbs: 118.7; Total fat: 43.5

(Note: I actually consumed something I calculated to be over 1600 calories due to my cashew splurge before bed.)


June 24

• Tempeh, black beans, mustard greens - 603 calories, 46 P, 49 C, 12 F
• 1 serving cashews (about 14 nuts) - 163 cal, 4 P, 9 C, 13 F
• Boca sandwich with ketchup - 185 cal, 17 P, 30 C, .5 F

Total calories: 951 cal, 67 P, 88 C, 25.5 F

(Note: I screwed up by not eating my last serving of the tempeh, bean, green mix. I may eat it tomorrow to make up for it. I didn't want to eat it late at night, because I've been trying to avoid eating after 7pm. Also, I had a few ounces of wine before bed. I'm going to possibly make that a staple in my meal planning in the future.)

June 25 (bridge to raw plan)

• 2 servings soy protein with 16 oz. soymilk - 400 cal, 78 P, 10 C, 4 F
• 1/2 cup mixed nuts - 440 cal, 16 P, 12 C, 38 F
• 2 bananas - 210 cal, 3 P, 54 C, 1 F
• 12 oz. blueberries - 194 cal, 2.5 P, 49 C, 1 F

Total calories: 1244; Total protein: 99.5; Total carbs: 125; Total fat: 44

Zoning Out

It is so much harder to blog when I have to go to work every day. I also haven't been managing much sleep, and P90X is on the back burner at the moment. I got 7 hours of sleep last night, so I'm doing better.

I actually ate what I said I was going to on June 20th. I forgot until just now that I started counting calories on the 19th, so this is the fourth day of that now. It's weird to eat all day and never get full. It's what Okinawan centenarians recommend though (people on the island of Okinawa who live to 100 or older, in case there was any confusion). I'm over halfway through Dan Buettner's Blue Zone and I'm loving every minute of it. I'll try to start incorporating some of the health recommendations from the book once I reach stasis with my current lifestyle change.

So, I'm finding myself capable of subsisting on 1200 calories for now. If I recall, it's the lowest caloric intake recommended by the P90X nutrition guide to avoid the body going into "starvation mode." That's not as dire as it might sound. It just means that the body does not significantly lower metabolism.

I'm reading Barry Sears' The Zone as of yesterday, since I realized I need some more convincing if I'm going to continue to stick with 40 carb - 30 protein - 30 fat in the long-term. This is a guy who played competitive volleyball, has a PhD, created AZT (the AIDS drug), and several anti-cancer drugs. I don't know about the scientific merits of the diet yet, but the guy himself seems like a winner.

OK, I don't have a lot of time before work, so I'll break down my food for yesterday and today. By the way, I'm only incidentally following Slow Carb at this point. I'm eating pizza today, but this also happens to coincide with the same day of my "cheat" last week, so as far as I can tell I still haven't broken my Slow Carb edge.

Sorry, one more thing before the food. I've lost 10.2 pounds since I started this blog. As some of you might have seen, I started this blog with a challenge to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. How does 10 pounds in a little over 2 months work for you? I actually hit the goal weight of 154.4 yesterday and I'm at 154.2 today. With the calorie restriction, I'm hoping to hit 150 by the beginning of July, but I'm not making any promises.


The Food:

June 21

• 1.5 cups spaghetti sauce - 175 calories, 5 grams protein, 27.5 grams carbs, 6.25 grams fat
• 8 oz. angelhair shirataki - 40 calories, 2 P, 6 C, 1 F
• 1 cup TVP - 320 cal, 48 P, 28 C, 0 F
• 2 T hummus and carrots - 60 cal, 2 P, 5 C, 4 F
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts - 220 cal, 8 P, 6 C, 19 F
• 15 oz. can of corn - 210 cal, 7 P, 31.5 C, 5.25 F
• 2 Boca patties - 140 cal, 26 P, 12 C, 1 F

Totals: 1165 calories, 98 grams of protein, 116 grams of carbs, 36.5 grams of fat

Sorry if that's hard to read with the abbreviations. I'm in a hurry. I'll post about my food for today later.

Perfecting My Eating Disorder

It's past midnight right now. I know that by the time I publish this, Blogger will say it's still Sunday, but that's because it thinks I live on the West Coast. All my settings say Central Time Zone. There's a note right now at the bottom of my screen that reads, "Draft saved at 12:42 AM." But no. It's all a lie. I know that when I hit 'PUBLISH POST' my blog post will transport back in time two hours. Such is its way.

Speaking of time travel, I watched Meet the Robinsons with my son today. I highly recommend it.

So, back to my masochism blog. I made it pretty close to my goals for the day on food intake, thanks in part to staying up late Saturday and napping a lot today. It's easy to eat less when you're sleeping. However, it also means I didn't do P90X. I'm still debating whether to try to do it in these early morning hours, but I don't know if I can handle it. My calves are really sore from "Legs and Back," and "Kenpo" looks like it requires functioning legs. After my fail on "Yoga" I'm a little more hesitant to work out when I feel this sore. Doing an hour tomorrow would be better than doing twenty minutes today, right? Tomorrow is supposed to be my rest day, so I could just call today my day of rest...

In addition to an accounting of my food for the day, I will also include a meal plan for my food for tomorrow. I'd like to start cooking the night before and putting my food into five small, convenient plastic storage containers. Wouldn't that be cute! I don't really see how I could achieve Zone/P90X/Slow Carb perfection without such a routine.


Food I Ate
June 18

• 60 oz. of water
• handful of mixed nuts
• soy yogurt/stevia/cinnamon/vanilla
• 1 package of 20 wasabi seaweed sheets
• almond milk/stevia/rice protein
• entire pack of spinach with tofu scramble
• 20 oz. of tropical green tea
• curry cashews (Way too expensive, delicious, and calorically dense for me to have sitting in my pantry. I need to budget some in for the week.)
• more mixed nuts
• Supplements (Fine, I'll finally list them. I've actually taken them two or three days in a row now)
• B12 (500 mcg)
• B-2 (100 mg)
• D2 (4000 i.u.)
• Acetyl L-Carnitine (500 mg)
• K2 (45 mcg)
• Cal/Mag/Zinc complex (333 mg/200 mg/15 mg) - Also has D2 (233 i.u.), Copper (.33 mg), Bamboo (10 mg), Boron (33 mcg), and Glutamic Acid HCI (33 mg)
• Vegetarian DHA (240 mg)
• 24 oz. of mint/jasmine/something or other tea

 June 19

• 48 oz. of water
• tempeh "sausage" and chili beans with broccoli (I ate it spaced out over morning to late afternoon)
• 1065 calories, 61 grams of protein, 113 grams of carbohydrates, 32.5 grams of fat
• 1 oz. of almonds
• 180 calories, 7 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 14 grams of fat
• 2 packs of sugar-free cherry gel
• 12 oz. of constant comment tea

June 19 Totals: 1245 calories, 68 grams of protein, 119 grams of carbohydrates, 46.5 grams of fat


This is my meal plan for tomorrow. I'm going to try to cook it right now, store it, and then wake up early and buy some small food containers in the morning.

June 20 Meal Plan Breakdown

• tempeh sausage (no oil) - 450 calories, 39 grams of protein, 39 grams of carbs, 15 grams of fat
• tofu scramble (no oil) - 320 calories, 32 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbs, 16 grams of fat
• broccoli (16 oz.) - 150 calories, 5 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbs, 0 grams of fat
• black beans (15 oz. with balsamic vinegar and garlic powder) - 330 calories, 21 grams of protein, 57 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat
• Totals: 1250 calories, 97 grams of protein, 120 grams of carbs, 34 grams of fat

Research, Speculation, and New Ideas

Under the circumstances, I'm afraid this is going to be an excessively long post. At the very least, I'm going to include more pictures than usual. I've been taking pages of notes today, but I'm not going to include all of my thoughts. Oh well. I'll see what happens.

First, I will resolve a couple of issues. I am planning on continuing both Slow Carb and P90X at least until the beginning of July. I ate a lot yesterday, and I performed well doing the P90X Legs and Back DVD today, so whether or not there's a connection, I know that I am both capable of consuming as much food as I need and I am also capable of continuing to handle P90X. Whether there's causation, at least both are true on their own, which is all that matters to me at this point.

I now have a giant container full of mixed nuts and a freezer full of vegetables per Jon's recommendation. Thanks to formerly chubby guy from the P90X infomercial I watched today, I also know that he "couldn't do 20 percent of what those guys on the videos were doing when [he] first started" so I can now feel better about my 50 to 75 percent success rate. (Fine, I admit it. I've been closer to 20 percent on a couple of them.)

I changed my mind about writing a lot. Instead, look at this picture to the left. I checked these books out from the library. As I read them, I will include information I have gained. For now, all I can say is I'm looking forward to finishing The Blue Zone after reading the preface and introduction, and I may never again pick up Barry Sears' The Zone. Seriously, it's the most complicated and confusing math textbook/sci-fi novel I've ever opened.

The main reason I got it was to see what ratio he recommended for the "Zone." It turns out that's a diet with calories that come from 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat. That's all I really wanted to know, and I found it by flipping through the book for a few minutes and finding a pie chart in Chapter 7. I then went to Scooby's "Free Fat Loss Calorie Calculator" and plugged in those numbers. It told me how many carbs, fat, and protein I should have at every meal if I want to follow the Barry Sears recommendations. I'm sure Sears has more nuanced advice written in whatever language he writes in, but I've learned everything I want to based on my ten minutes of research and calculation.

I somehow managed to take five or six pages of notes based around my crazy idea of going on a 1200 calories-a-day diet (because that's how much some of the world's oldest Asian mountain people consume) and making it consistent with P90X, Slow Carb, and Sears' Zone all at the same time. I think it was largely a logic and logistics puzzle, to see if it was even possible. I haven't researched it enough yet to realize how stupid and impossible it is, but for now here's what I have:

I would consume 240-calorie meals 5 times a day. Each meal would contain foods that are both Slow Carb-friendly and are present in the top 2 tiers of Michi's Ladder (per Beach Body/P90X recommendations). Each meal would also contain 18 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbohydrates, and 8 grams of fat.

I also have The South Beach Diet, McDougall Program, The Abs Diet, and Atkins, but I haven't had the chance to look at them in much detail. Well, I've looked at Abs a good bit actually, but it's not very specific in its recommendations. My assumption is that I've probably been following that one by accident already, and whatever diet I choose will be more or less consistent with it. It's basically the "eat reasonably healthy foods and lots of protein" diet.

Fine, that was more than enough for one post. Here's what I ate yesterday:


June 17

• 2 Boca patties with Daiya and pickle relish
• refried black beans
• 44 oz. of water
• 2 sticks of Double Mint gum
• a few small handfuls of sunflower seeds
• refried black beans with Daiya and sour cream
• High Country Kombucha - goji berry tea (I know. Liquid calories. I'm sorry. Only 80 at least.)
• handful of mixed nuts
• stevia-sweetened soy yogurt with vanilla and cinnamon
• mesquite-lime flavored seitan Primal Strip
• spoonful of peanut butter
• unsweetened chocolate almond milk with stevia added
• handful of mixed nuts
• wine and diet tonic water
• sugar-free cherry gel

Exhaustion

Twenty minutes through P90X Yoga this morning I gave up and laid face down on the floor for ten to fifteen minutes, thinking about my life and where it went wrong. I have been constantly tired the past two days. To be fair, I did not disclose in my most recent entries that I took the last of my Adderall on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I took it regularly a year or two ago to combat my ADHD, but I have been off it for a while. I happened to have three capsules left, and I decided to take some to be more productive during my week off work, and it worked well while I still had it, but now I'm crashing.

I don't think I can maintain doing P90X while on a low-calorie diet, especially while limited to the options of Slow Carb. If I got back on the Adderall it seems possible, but I don't know if I want to, because I think it would give me unrealistic results. I was so sore from the first two days of P90X that I had trouble lifting my arms. Also note that I started P90X one day after taking Adderall again for the first time in several months. I think I worked myself too hard, harder than my body was actually prepared for. Now I'm having to deal with the disappointment of not being able to match what I was capable of with amphetamine pumping through my veins.

Because I just started P90X and I've been doing Slow Carb for 17 days, I feel obligated to finish out Slow Carb and try P90X again in July. I just really don't think it's reasonable to do high-intensity workouts burning a lot of calories while not taking in many calories or carbs. I just physically can't do it. And I can't physically stomach eating the requisite beans to make up the difference for what I'm burning.

In conclusion, here's the list of food I ate yesterday:

June 16

• 2 Boca patties with mustard
• 80 oz. of water
• spoonful of almond butter
• a few spoonfuls of unsweetened soy yogurt
• orange gel
• strawberry gel
• 2 Boca patties with Tofutti sour cream and Daiya
• 2 Boca patties with melted Daiya and mustard
• wine with diet tonic water

Yes, I ate no beans yesterday. It's the first day I've done that on a non-binge day. I don't know how much that has to do with my current physical state. I also forgot to mention that I walked in the sun for two and a half hours yesterday and got pretty red.

I took my supplement regimen again for the first time in weeks. I have been taking my B12 supplement most days recently, but I hadn't reintroduced the other supplements I have. I'm too tired to type them out right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Moderation

Yesterday was my second "cheat" or "binge" day on the Slow Carb Diet, and it was much more tame than the last one. I had actually managed to avoid making myself sick until just before bed last night, when I ate a third of a bag of chocolate chips. Other than that my food choices were no worse than the "standard American." Or so.

Also, I started P90X on Tuesday. My success in the program may depend in part on whether I injured my shoulder yesterday. Of course, today's workout happens to be "Shoulders and Arms," so I should figure out pretty quickly how bad it is. If it's anything serious it could be a "rotator cuff" injury, but I could have also just strained it since I was stiff. I did a back-flip while hanging from a pull-up bar. That's why my shoulder hurts. It was dumb.

I don't think I got enough sleep last night. Instead of going to sleep soon after 10:30 when I was ready, I played Angry Birds for an inordinate amount of time. I don't know how long it was precisely, but the battery died on my phone, and that's the reason I quit playing. I hope it wasn't more than a couple of hours, but it's hard to tell with those things.

My writing doesn't seem to be very inspired right now, so I'm going to jump to food.


June 13

• 3 sticks of Double Mint gum
• tofu scramble, black beans, and broccoli
• 68 oz. of water
• 12 oz. of yerba mate tea
• B12 supplement
• swig of wine and diet tonic water

June 14

• 2 Boca patties
• 104 oz. water
• tofu, lentil, broccoli
• 1 stick Stride peppermint gum
• 8 oz. almond milk with 1.5 tablespoons of brown rice protein (post-workout)
• 2 Boca patties, this time with mustard

June 15

• 3 Keebler fudge sticks - 480 calories
• 2 Boca patties with mustard - 140
• 8 oz. almond milk with 1.5 T brown rice protein - 110
• 52 oz. water
• B12 supplement
• 2 servings mashed potatoes with 1 T Earth Balance margarine - 240
• 2 servings whole wheat macaroni with "cheese" sauce - 650
• 2 Boca patties with about a tablespoon of olive oil - 260
• 4 tablespoons of cayenne-curry ketchup to dip broken up patties in - 80
• 16 oz. jade green tea
• 16 oz. yerba mate tea
• 16 oz. honeydew melon kombucha tea - 100
• A little piece of bread and 19 french fries (Arbitrarily decided each item was about 35 calories. I don't know. The fries were big and oily.) - 700
• Lots of chocolate chips - 500
• Swig of wine and diet tonic water - 50 (uneducated guess)

Calorie total: 3,310

Like I said, the binge wasn't nearly as extreme as the last. In fact, I probably ate more food on my days off work before I was dieting than I did yesterday. Even on my cheat days going forward, I think I'm going to cut out the fried foods, sweets, and most of the added oil. It makes me sick, and I don't like being sick. It's supposed to be a pleasurable care-free day and it isn't if my intestines are dysfunctional.

Happy eating!

God, what a boring food picture. I need to start eating more interesting food. I could have taken pictures of my food from yesterday, but I did not. (Sigh.)

"It feels like leaping into heaven."

Fine, before I get started, yes. I am a compulsive person. Only on a few occasions have I ever happened upon a new idea or a new set of information and carried it with me for the rest of my life. I only remember two of them right now, but they are two of the most important precepts I live my life by: 1) Violence is wrong. Killing animals is violent. I do not participate in the killing of animals. 2) I own myself. The products of my labor are an extension of myself. The State is an inherently immoral institution.

These are ideas that have never left me. I have clarified, moderated, and tweaked my positions on these ideas, but my feelings remain fundamentally the same.

I am off work this week, and I have settled on using this time to improve myself and my life situation. Some of my goals for the next few days, at least as I conjured them initially, were to do all my laundry, go to the doctor/dentist, eliminate excess "stuff" from my apartment, organize the things I keep, get a handle on my finances, and perfect my diet and exercise regimen.

Then I watched this TED Talk, and I feel different. Watching it hasn't really changed my plans for the week too much. But it may have changed my plans for the rest of my life. Something I don't acknowledge enough is that I have a profound fear of death that I carry with me every day of my life. I don't know how common this level of fear is, as I don't speak with people about it often, but I get the impression it weighs on me heavier than most.

First, here's the video. It's about 20 minutes long:

 

Dan Buettner labels places with people who live the longest as "Blue Zones." People in these Blue Zones walk more often, eat lots of tofu (in the Asian zone) and mostly plants in every case (especially beans, nuts, and seeds), have more close friends, don't do "intentional" exercise, have gardens, engage in regular prayer/meditation, have a sense of purpose throughout life, drink wine daily, and seem to do everything in moderation.

"They set up their lives so they are constantly engaged in physical activity." They do their own yardwork, cook foods from scratch, sit down and get back up often, and get their exercise in other practical ways.

The focus of my health goals tend to revolve around losing weight, lowering body fat, and having visible abs. That's really my point in this. Any other goals I might claim to have pale in comparison to those three. I want to be more physically attractive. That's it. But seriously... I won't care how I look when I'm dead.

So, here's a thought: 3) I am afraid of dying. There are things I can do to be healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually that will delay that eventuality and improve the quality of my living days. I will do those things.

A very appropriate talk followed that video: 

 

I make no promises as to what will appear next in this blog. I have no definite expectation. I need to chew on this.

Oops, I think

Whether or not this is the ideal diet, I could at least do a better job of following it. I re-read both chapters on "slow carb" in Ferriss' Four Hour Body last night and I decided two things: 1) I have strayed too far from the specifics of the diet and 2) this diet can be done by a vegan.

With regard to straying, I am consuming far too many artificial sweeteners. I have been consistently going above Ferriss' recommended 16 oz. of diet sodas' worth. Splenda is bad. Aspartame is bad. I shouldn't be eating them. TF actually seems to suggest that Splenda is worse when it comes to blocking fat-loss than aspartame, but both can have that same effect. If I have nothing to gain from eating this crap, then I shouldn't be doing it. I keep eating these unnaturally sweet things because of cravings, and I realize that has a lot to do with not preparing plenty of diet-friendly, healthy food to eat throughout the day. When I'm scavenging, the first place I head is toward the sweet.

Although exercise is not required on the diet, most of the testimonials from people with long-term success had some sort of exercise regimen. I mentioned early on when I started the diet that I had an exercise routine ready for this month, but I never followed through on it. My only official exercise this month has been walking on most of my breaks at work during the day. But, now that I've developed a certain comfort level with the diet, and I have the energy to be doing a lot more than I'm doing right now, I have decided to toss in serious physical activity. Specifically, I am strongly considering P90X. It seems like an appropriate complement to slow carb. I mean, both are very popular and promise impressive results. Together it must be dynamite, right?

Also, I am starting a meal plan. For now, all I have figured out is breakfast: tofu scramble, black beans, and something green. I will provide my tofu scramble recipe below. I haven't really thought through my bean and vegetable prep very much. This morning I boiled edamame and didn't bother to heat the canned beans. I mixed them together and seasoned them with nothing but garlic salt. I can do better.


Tofu Scramble

Ingredients:

• 1 14-16oz. package (I can never remember which most of them are) of hard/extra firm/super firm/etc. tofu (the firmer it is the easier to cook with and the more protein per ounce)
• a couple chunks of margarine (I use Earth Balance, and I use it liberally)
• handful of nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp garlic powder (I don't actually measure anything for this recipe, so these are all estimates)
• 1 T parsley flakes
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

• Melt a chunk of margarine in a pan on a burner at medium to medium-high heat
• Plop tofu hunk onto pan and thoughtlessly break down into small pieces with spatula/spoon
• This next part takes the longest. You'll want to poke and prod your tofu mush for a good ten minutes or more. Flip it over. Push it around. If it seems like it's about to stick to the pan, throw in some more margarine and/or lower the heat. For me, the more crisp tofu bits and golden-brown sides to my soy specimens the better, so I usually don't stop this part until there's enough water-loss that it becomes annoyingly difficult to avoid stickage.
• Next I dust the tofu with a hefty helping of nutritional yeast powder, my garlic and parsley, and salt and pepper. Lower the heat and mix the tofu up to make sure you get a decent coating throughout.
• Eat it.

Servings: 1 (for me, probably more like 4 for normal people)


TF recommends truffle sea salt and tarragon for eggs, so I may try that soon with my tofu. I know Whole Foods has that sea salt, but I'm concerned it might be expensive. If it doesn't seem too exorbitant I'll probably buy some later this week.


And now for the rundown...

June 11

• tofu scramble
• Hunt's sugar-free cherry gel
• mixed nuts: salted peanuts, raw pecans, raw almonds; about a cup in total
• 8 oz. water
• 48 oz. Splenda-sweetened tea
• And this plate to the right: spicy black beans, yummy cubed zucchini, and beet-tahini-sesame seed-romaine lettuce-magic tacos (My friend Lily's uncle made it when I came over Saturday. I think it's part of what inspired me to start cooking more. It made me think, "Oh, that's right. Food should taste good." Because it was amazing. I'll post the beets recipe later if I can.)

June 12

• tofu scramble, black beans, and edamame
• 32 oz. of water
• 36 oz. of Hansen's diet cola
• 2 cherry gels
• carrots and hummus

I need to eat better. I need to eat more. Goodnight.