Bites and Bolts

I’ve often thought that food and drink are an addiction for me. Of course I eat to survive, but the reality is that I can quite comfortably eat just about whatever and whenever I want(save daily omakase courses or medium rare prime rib dinners). You get my drift. Instead of hunting down my food, all I, or any number of people in the US have to do is simply walk into a grocery or enter their local restaurant of choosing to be presented with an array of nourishment options.

I don’t know about where all of you dear readers reside, but here in LA county there’s an amazing number of restaurants. And it seems to me, at least among my age group of 20-30somethings, that less people are cooking at home on a daily basis. Perhaps that’s because we’ve grown weary of making the same 10 recipes our mothers fed us on a yearly basis, or maybe it can be blamed on the high cost of living which in turn means cramming your life into a living situation with 5 other bachelors and a shared kitchen in which all your groceries(and beer) get eaten before you can so much as think about baking a chicken. And don’t even dream about busting out the Henckels set with those roomies around. I shiver to think of slicing tomatoes with the cutlery that currently rattles around in the community drawer of my house.

As a food addict…er, I mean enthusiast, I have often felt conflicted. When I grocery shop, I try to find fresh healthy foods. I read labels. I inspect, smell, and caress peaches. C’mon, they’re soft! I look at ingredients, fat, calories, and so on.

Yet when I dine out most of this focus disappears. That’s not to say I’m not one picky forager. I have and will continue to pick apart the presentation, the preparation, and the overall taste. However, when I eat out very freaking rarely do I have the luxury(if ever) to read the ingredients in addition to some fancy schmancy menu item poetry description of the dish or know just how many more calories I’m inducting into the ranks of my already well-stocked fat cell reserves. Without that information, I can try my hardest to eat healthy, but it ain’t gonna happen. Invariably, I end up eating some totally unhealthy food because I don’t want to be the biatch who makes their waiter go back and ask the chef 15 million questions and subsequently get their food molested.

The sad part is, the above is a best case scenario for me eating out. Since getting softcore into this foodiast thing, I have knowingly and willingly eaten stuff that is completely bad for you(and it doesn’t even take a dummy to know that) just because it was/is/will be the newest food craze or restaurant in town. Case in point: any number of tacos, gelato, xiao long baos, frozen yogurt(ahem, Pinkberry), or cupcake I’ve ingested in the past couple years. Even noodles have become the newest member of my junk food repertoire, and it is with much regret that I must say that ramen is not good for me. *tear*

Perhaps there are those who can eat equally unhealthy at home and away without so much as an occasional cringe, and I salute you. I used to think it would be a swell gig to be a salaried and award-winning food critic. Then I realized the frequency with which they are required to eat mass quantities of scrumptious free food and saw the long-term effects of such on these people. Heck, elite Yelpers are a great case study into the effects of too much eating and drinking even after a short year.

So since the beginning of this year I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat healthier and be more active. Getting a full-time job helped that situation immensely(not as a salaried food critic). The bigger change came about 3 weeks ago when I got some stomach virus going around. On my day off too-Murphy’s Law! I didn’t eat much for the week following that. I started cutting out noodles and white rice, crackers, chips, candy, all that crap. I was eating primarily lean meat, vegetables, and fruit. The good news is, I still am.

Because I like to be behind in trends, I recently subscribed to Netflix. Since frugal is my (other) middle name, I signed up for 1 DVD at a time. So in between waiting for DVDs in the mail I began watching food related documentaries instantly on my laptop. The first one was “King Corn“, then “McLibel” and “The Future of Food“. Food, Inc isn’t out on DVD yet, but I’ve already got it saved in my queue.

These movies may blow your mind; they may make you quit eating anything as you succumb to horrifying paranoia about everything you send down the old esophagus. Truthfully, what I saw in the movies came at only mild shock as honestly, I know damn well I haven’t been paying attention to what I eat. They were like a gentle wind at my back supporting my recent decision to start caring about what goes into my body. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to question everything and research as much as you can, which can be good advice for just about everything in life.

Just get to the point already, will ya? Okay, point being that if you don’t care what you eat in or out of the house, fine–but you should. And if you’re the sort like me who was buying “organic” foods and cooking well at home but eating like a paid food critic outside the house–think again. The food industry has to get paid. That’s understandable. However, the mainstream companies we buy food from are doing it to turn a profit and use clever marketing. Research ingredients in the food you have at home, shop local and at farmers markets, take another close look at those labels when you shop, and I’m sorry to say it, but eat out less.

Major Linkage:

• Local Harvest/Farmers Markets/Family Farms/CSA/Organic Food
• Eat Wild-Grass Fed Beef
• Eat Well Guide-Find good food
• Food Routes-Where does your food come from? Buy Local.
• Slow Food-not fast food

And now, some shots from the Vegas McDonald’s from January during the CES show. Very cool interior design–right across from the Riviera Casino.

 

Today marks the 3rd week of my diet(for the rest of my life). Every Wednesday is my weigh-in day and as such I’m starting a new segment to document my journey and hopefully pass along some useful info. It’s exciting and stressful at the same time, seeing if a week’s worth of work paid off. This week it didn’t-at least in numbers. I had been consistently losing a pound or so every week, until today. I’m hoping that it’s my increased exercise which is building muscle, but either way it’s disappointing.

Let’s talk a little about how this new lifestyle change took place. In short, I let some obstacles take center stage for too long. I mentioned previously that a series of events led me to start neglecting my health. Little things started adding up fast: cutting down gym trips after an injury, eating more with family, losing my job, and starting foodblogging were the main culprits. Basically, it was my lack of discipline that led to changes in my eating and fitness habits which led me here.

I suppose I’m lucky that I stopped myself here and didn’t wait until I had to cut off my pant tops and sew in elastic bands. I’ve always had a tortoise metabolism and my love of computers and reading as a child probably didn’t help foster any appreciation for long distance running or weight training.

I’ll be honest, the first 48 hours sucked. Hard core. Food is sort of addiction for me, no doubt. There are certain foods that trigger emotions and also comfort foods I seek when I’m distraught. In those first 2 days, I was incredibly hungry and cranky. It was similar to the times I weened myself off daily coffee consumption or sugar(screw you, Atkins!) in the chemical malaise, but also worse because I had to wait patiently for my stomach to shrink while it screamed for more food.

Now realizing that there’s no way to cheat the body(at least naturally), I know that a weekly weigh-in is the only way to keep me aware of what my weight is and to catch any variances before it starts adding up. I’m not about to get all crazy and start posting photos of myself online as some sort of documentary. But as a way to keep me in check, yes, I am holding myself publicly accountable and like my math teacher always says, “A little shame never hurt anyone”.

The 3 main areas that I know I have a lot to work on are:

1. Eating when I’m not hungry

• While watching movies
• When a friend/family offers food(thankfully I don’t have to worry about those birthday cakes at the office right now)

2. Exercising daily

• Getting in a routine so I have time to work out
• Finding good places to exercise(can’t afford a gym membership)
• Learning new exercises so I don’t get bored
• Building muscle(I want to be able to lift Honda trannies!)

3. Choosing better foods

• Eating whole grains instead of white bread, rice, and noodles
• More veggies!
• Drinking more water

If you have any insight, feel free to pass it along as I can use all the help you can give right now. And with that, I leave you Crying, While Eating.

It seems to me there are 3 typical groups of food enthusiasts: those who are born with the metabolism of a hummingbird, those who work out and moderate their food intake, and those who just don’t give a damn.

Being somewhat of a mix of the latter 2 groups, I’ve put on a few more pounds than I’d care to have over the last couple years. Not surprisingly, my weight gain had a direct correlation to (no shit), injuring my back at work thereby disrupting my gym routine, having a death in the family, getting laid off, and joining Yelp in the same year. Ultimately, taking care of myself was moved to a slow-simmering backburner of my life.

Totally non-related to the new year, I decided I had enough. No scratch that, I decided to get off my fat arse and actually DO something about having enough. I’ve started to seriously track what I’m eating, reduce my alcohol intake, and be more active. So when I was sent a box of Quaker New Delights Granola to sample, I was psyched. Seriously. I had been eating granola bars as dinner on breaks between my Intermediate Algebra night courses.

Apparently, these babies are new to stores beginning this month, and what’s more important to me, they have natural ingredients and a moderate amount of calories. I decided to switch things up a bit from my normal dry granola yogurt topping. The result was a slightly sticky, faintly tart addition that enhanced the texture and imparted the subtle sweetness I was hoping for.

So far Quaker has 3 flavors, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond(pictured), Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut, and Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry. Surprisingly, I haven’t tried the other 2 yet. Yeah, I know. The “true” food enthusiast in me wanted to sample each one in the same day, but that’s how you get fat.

Here are the ingredients for my favorite breakfast/lunch/snack at the moment:

1. 1 cup of fat-free plain yogurt, whipped with a fork or whisk til creamy

2. 1 tbsp of agave nectar

3. 2 tbsp of dried wild blueberries

4. 1 Quaker True Delights granola bar or 1/2 cup dry granola topping of your choice