Food Matters

Seems more and more people are waking up and realizing how badly they eat.  Check it.

Grapefruit - the wonder food I hate

I start my day with a peeled, whole grapefruit and a cup of coffee.  I know I know, I should ditch the coffee.  But I love coffee.  Caffeine inhibits fat burn, so anyone who really wants to lose weight should avoid anything with caffeine in it.  My weight is pretty much where I want it to be, so I am enjoying coffee again.  Besides, studies have shown that the risk for type 2 diabetes is lower among regular coffee drinkers than among those who don't drink it. Also, coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease, and reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease. Coffee has also been shown to improve endurance performance in long-duration physical activities.  And there are other benefits, as well as risks.  In this case the argument is moot, as I love coffee and have an industrial espresso machine in my kitchen to satiate any cravings - end of discussion.  My struggle is with the grapefruit, which I hate but eat anyway because the known health benefits are so good.  As an American Male, statistically my top three most likely ways of dying are from heart disease, cancer, or accidentally killing myself, (in that order).  While my vehicle choices certainly almost guarantee number three, I am still going to fight numbers one and two as best I can these next thirty years or so.  Which is why I eat the grapefruit, which despite all the money the farmers in Florida throw at their advertising campaigns still don't taste any better to me (I eat locally grown fruit anyway) .  But I did just learn you can use the grapefruit to help heal cuts and burns.  Well then, guess I'll keep them around.  Blech.

Splenda is far from Splendid

So I was eating some canned peach slices (childhood favorite) that I'd purchased specifically because it said in big letters on the can "No Sugar Added!".  To my horror, mid-bite, I also noted a tiny little blurb "Sweetened with Splenda".  WTF?  The whole point of my buying this can was to avoid sweeteners of any kind, and just have natural fruit!  This is of course very difficult in the United States, where consumer taste buds have been bombarded since birth with sugar, and anything less sweet than a Big Gulp Dr. Pepper is unsalable wood, apparently.  Well I for one do not want any artificial sweetners in my body.  Hard to be serious about health and then eat something that was developed by accident while making pesticides.  Seriously.  Splenda starts life as a sugar molecule, with some of the bonds replaced with chlorine - CHLORINE!! - not really something you want in your body!  When given to test rodents in the lab they suffered from dangerous side effects such as shrunken thymus glands, and enlarged livers and kidneys.  You want this in your body why??  The pro Splenda people (i.e. the ones who make tons of money selling it) claim your body doesn't recognize the molecule as food, and will pass it on.  But typically 15% always gets absorbed, more in healthy people (nice irony huh?).  So no to Splenda.  Or Aspartame.  Or Nutrasweet.  All just time-bombs doing nasty things a little at a time in your body.  Don't focus on 'weight' - the goal is 'health and longevity'.  You won't grow old using artificial sweetners.

Seek, and Ye Shall Find

Whenever I run, I find my inner voice hunting for excuses; "My knee hurts, let's stop.".  Or "I have that chore I need to do...", or "my left butt-cheek is falling off...", or whatever....  I will keep trying to find a reason that is 'acceptable', that if I had to present it to the league of Jedi's or something I'd get a pass.  But that is a horrible thing to do - if you go looking for an excuse eventually you will find one, and that isn't the point.  Generally I just keep podding along, ignoring the whiny inner monologue and look for reason's to continue.  There are always reason's to keep pushing - everything from personal health to revenge, its in there too if you look. Search for the reason's to continue, not to quit.  Picture your success, not your failure.  If I get in a real funk, I look at photos of the kids.  Do I want to attend their future wedding receptions in a wheelchair dragging an oxygen tank, or do I hope to embarass the holy hell out of them with my spastic body moves on the dance floor??  I think I'll choose the latter.  Bound to be more fun.  For me, especially.

The "Cheap and Easy" Trap

So I found a new grocery store in town, and was in line purchasing whole-wheat tortillas, when my nose detected the divine odor of rotisserie chicken.  I am a fiend for rotisserie chicken, fueled by my experiences in Munich at the Oktoberfest perhaps, but I can't pass up the opportunity for a fresh cooked bird.  So I wander in to the deli where they indeed have my precious cargo for sale.  I always have to ask if they use paprika in their recipe, as my enthusiasm is often met with bitter disappointment as middle-America for some reason always puts that horrible spice on rotisserie chickens (just visit a casino buffet, you'll taste what I'm talkin' about).  Anyway my inquiries led to news of the "Family Pack" - a chicken with bread and two choices of side dishes.  It was cheaper than the combined total of my tortillas and a chicken alone, so I said "Sure!".  But that is just the 'cheap and easy' trap we all so easily can fall in to as its always cheap and easy to eat crap!  My side choices were lard and starch, fat and oil, or carbs and fat.  And white rolls.  So there went any attempt to eat healthy right out the window.  Nothing but 'yellow' food - which is a big no-no.  <sigh>  And because I was busy I bought it.  Isn't that always the case?  The busier and more stressed out you are the worse you eat.  Such a bad habit.  DON'T FALL FOR THE TRAP!  Make time to eat healthy always.  NO YELLOW FOOD!!  Next time I'll stick to my whole-wheat tortillas and skip the fatty, carb-laden crap that passes for 'side dishes'.  Yeesh.