Equally as important, with the new decade upon us it’s time to set a few goals, and start knocking those pins down, one at a time if I have to.

The Good

On the positive side, I’ve done one thing really well: I’ve maintained steady income for a year – though the impact on my diet hasn’t been so great. For some this idea of having a consistent income is an assumed fact of life, but for many of us it is far from assured. Along the lines of work I’ve also greatly downsized the number of side projects that I was pursuing at the beginning of the year (in January of last year I had 9 personal, full-time projects/business beginnings – and was coming up short on all of them). Taking a quick mental inventory I’m down to 3 enjoyable part-time projects, including Almost Fit.

This is progress.

Another positive includes dramatically improving my cooking and prep skills (in my opinion at least); my wife and best friend is an excellent cook, and I’ve been under her culinary wing for a few years now. I feel that in the last 6 months I’ve really started to develop stronger culinary instincts – meaning I pair food together better, I cook more efficiently, I burn or overcook food much less often, and have good ideas on how to improve a dish I’m cooking by taste. I’m getting to know the flavor profiles of foods and seasonings much better, and I have a clearer understanding of herbs and spices that balance flavors.

These advances in cooking have made cooking at home that much more enjoyable. Of course, it also makes overindulgence a bit too easy at times, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Other positives (that are no less important) include keeping up with my ever-changing children – solving problems and setting them up for success (no small feat); remodeling my wife’s painting studio from bare bones to finished product (finishing this weekend); several small family vacations; and I’ve greatly improving my photography skills and knowledge – as well as starting a new project on the subject.

The Bad

On the negative side (and again, I’ll keep this brief), I have lost a lot of ground in both eating habits and general fitness. Cardiovascular training has been a rare, rare thing over the past 6 months, and resistance training of any sort, be it basic calisthenics or light weight training has been nearly non-existent. Food-wise it’s not much better – although we still eat the best quality we can afford, the expense is increasing because I’m eating too much of that food. Moderation has been lost at sea for a while now, drifting along aimlessly in a leaky life raft with regular exercise, both waiting to be rescued by a passing motivation freighter.

I’ve got an encyclopedia set full of excuses ranging from a sprained ankle in October to excessive work hours and stress, but in the end it comes down to the choices I’m making. The old “taking personal responsibility” saw was never more appropriate. (For you kids who don’t remember what an encyclopedia is – think of printing out all of Wikipedia and putting it in a set of leather-bound books. Yeah, weird – I know.)

The Determined

For 2010, I’m renewing my efforts to take charge of my health. I don’t really like “New Year’s Resolutions” – for me they are just associated with failure to keep those resolutions a month later. Rather, I like the idea of taking the opportunity to set and evaluate long range goals for the year (with a tip of the hat to J.D. at GetRichSlowly on the subject of goals vs. resolutions), or as I like to think of them, goals for a new decade.

However, I also believe that while long range goals are key, you’re only going to get there with short term, reachable objectives. At my day job we actually account for every 24 hour period (we use SCRUM methodology, for my fellow time management geeks out there). I find the daily meetings a bit tedious/unnecessary, but it does keep the ball rolling. For me, I’m going to use a bit of a hybrid approach. I am not inclined to manage my personal time by the hour; but I know that having a big goal will do me no good if I don’t map out the route to get there.

I’ll talk more about the specifics of the approach I’m adopting in a post in the near future, but for now here are a couple of my “big” health and fitness goals for the year.

Year goal: Complete at least one major running event this year. I’m still defining this goal by researching upcoming events in my area, but I will make a choice this month. I may shoot for the Portland marathon, or possibly Seattle, or who knows – Maui? And I should add it may not even be a full marathon – it may be a 1/2, or even a handful of 10k races. I want to push myself, but with a few recent injuries I don’t want enthusiasm to take me out of the running (pun intended). Stay tuned.

Sub-goal: Beat my aversion to running in the Oregon rain. Although we do have a treadmill, I really enjoy getting outside for exercise. I find it much more rewarding on multiple levels. However, when it comes to running in the rain I’m a bit of a baby. In an upcoming post I’ll outline my strategy for this, but in the meantime suggestions are welcome. I’ve already had a handful of suggestions from folks on Twitter, so keep them coming.

Milestone for January: Return to running 3 miles 3 times per week, with one 5 mile run by the end of January. Very do-able, and besides, our new 1-yr-old pup needs the exercise .

Year goal: Lose 75 lbs this year – and if I lose it early, keep it off. I am risking a lot by adding this goal, but I think that this is the year to make it happen. How will I get there? You guessed it – a future post will describe the path. Hint: Real food in moderation will be an integral part of it, but I’m expanding my horizons this year to combine moderation principles with a few dietary ideas that intrigue me, from whole food-based carb reduction to moderate, intermittent fasting. More to come.

Milestone for January: Lose 10 lbs this month through portion reduction and regular exercise. The first 10 are the easiest for me, so I’m shooting for a reasonable goal.

Year goal: Start writing at least one meaningful post per week for Almost Fit. By the end of 2010 I should have at least 52 new entries, and hopefully more. I may “cheat” a little by allowing a few guest posts, but I’ve accepted that as within the boundaries of the goal. Writing regularly for Almost Fit is important for me because of one word: Accountability. That has helped me to stay on track in the past, and I expect no less this time.

Milestone for January: you guessed it – 5 Almost Fit posts. One down. Victory starts today.

I’m in

Those are the three core goals I’m shooting for this year. I may add one or two as I complete my personal annual review, but for now I know these are the ones that are at the top of my list. A few other goals (some more loosely defined than others) include getting outside with my kids more, continuing my daily posting of iPhone photos at LintLife.com (my new site and one of my part-time side projects), improving my programming skills to make me more efficient at work, starting to produce artwork again, and finishing some music that has been on the back burner for way too long.

In other words, I’ve got a lot to do this year, but all good things.

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a very good year.

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Let me start out by saying this post is not about food, moderation, eating, exercising, or just about anything else that normally appears on Almost Fit. In fact, this post has more to do with the state of this site, and some non-food inspiration that seems to be working it’s way into my mind.

To be brutally honest, over the last few months or so I reached a burnout point as the sole writer of Almost Fit, and I didn’t even realize it until it was in full swing. And to take it a step further, the burnout goes beyond this site: although I haven’t abandoned the principles of eating real food by any means, I’ve certainly let a lot of things through the gates that I have not allowed in quite some time. Quantities have crept back up, types of foods that I’d normally avoid have slipped back in (read: too much bread, beer a little too frequently, and more than a few restaurants and food carts that I’d probably do well to moderate, if not eliminate for a while).

So what does that mean? Have I given up? Failed, even?

It means, I think, that I’m human. Just don’t tell my kids quite yet – I still would like them to think of me as exceeding that bar at least for another year or two.

“So there’s this thing called Work/Life balance. Ya’ mighta’ heard of it.”

I think the heading here says more about where I’ve been than probably anything else. In the current economic climate, you don’t need to be reminded about how things are, but sufficed to say I do not take anything for granted with my current contract work in my day job. I am focused, effective, but more than that – mildly obsessed with exceeding expectations. I work many more hours than I should (and than I bill for), but these days I think it’s what you have to do to stay valuable when there are a dozen others in line behind you who would gladly fill your shoes. I freely admit I might be wrong, but frankly, the consequences of failing are not worth the risk of giving less right now. You have to hustle, no two ways about it.

However (and this is a BIG however), I also realize that things have gone a little too far. Too much work, whether it be the actual doing of the work in front of the computer, or continually solving problems in my mind in the “off hours” of the day. Too much working, not enough living. My ultimate fear is that I will burn myself out on this contract by working excessively, and it will be at the sacrifice not only of the income but of my health as well. And of course, above all else, to the detriment of my family, which I cannot ever afford.

So, it’s time for a few changes. Minor adjustments, but changes nonetheless.

The first thing? Take weekends off. I haven’t really done that in months – at least not mentally. I am one of those people who checks their work email at all times of the day and evening 7 days a week, fearing that there will be a minor disaster (and amazingly, there never is). Well that needs to change.

Second, I have GOT to renew my focus on exercise for mental health. Exercise helps me to keep things in perspective much more so than any other activity. Sadly, it’s also the hardest to do for me and the first thing to go when a deadline is approaching. My exercise plan is to start small of course, but I have an idea on how I’m going to get myself back on track – but more on that in an upcoming post.

Third, of course, is diet. Getting back to the basics of moderation and proactive choices. I’ve got a pretty big library of ideas here on this site to review; I’ll be doing that in the coming weeks and hopefully sharing what I find with readers.

Inspired – again

When I started Almost Fit, I had many inspirations, but one or two blogs in particular really convinced me of the value of creating something meaningful in this format. As I’ve mentioned many times, Zen Habits is certainly one of those sites. In some ways I think Leo (the creator of Zen Habits) and I have developed different views on specific subjects (I like Apple products, but I don’t believe they are the solution to simplicity necessarily, nor do I believe they’ll be shaking Microsoft’s hold on the personal computer any time soon – but I digress), but it is still essential reading for me daily.

Another site that absolutely continues to inspire me is Chris Guillebeau’s site, The Art of Nonconformity, which energizes me like few others. Chris is attacking his business in incredible ways, and is consistently hitting the ball further and further out of the park. I subscribe to his site via RSS and email so that I don’t miss a post.

But where I’m really headed with all of this is a specific post on one of my essential reads: Get Rich Slowly. The particular post to which I’m referring is titled simply, “Failure is Okay.” In it, J.D. describes his experience trying to ice skate, and relates that to his experience with Get Rich Slowly. This particular section really hit home:

It’s never too late to change direction, to start making smart choices. If you’re 40 and don’t have retirement savings, you can start saving tomorrow. If you’re 30 and staggering under the weight of credit card debt, you can cut up your cards and make a commitment to change direction. The wonder of the future is that it can be built upon the ashes of the past.

I have reread this article several times, reminding myself that leaving Almost Fit dormant for a while does not constitute permanent failure; it has been a chance for me to recalibrate my views, and now to build upon the ashes.

Hopefully this is the beginning of great, new things in these parts. I hope you stick around to find out.

Best to you,

Metroknow

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Ed. note: This entry is about working toward lifelong dietary goals by eating real food in moderation. The list of techniques will change over time, but this is where I’m starting from. This is actually an update from an article I wrote a little over a year ago, including my observations, corrections, and a handful of new ideas. Your constructive feedback is always appreciated. If this is your first time here and you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing via RSS. Thanks.

“Action Feeds Motivation.”

This thought occurred to me as I finished my first run of the year today, in the rain and wind. Yes, you read correctly: my FIRST, as best I can recall. As many readers have noticed, I’ve been a little scarce lately. I’ll write another post soon with my theories (and a few personal facts) on why that has been so, but for now I thought it was more important to simply do something about it. And as it turns out, that phrase, “Action Feeds Motivation” is going to be one of my recurrent themes for Almost Fit in 2009.

A year ago I was fully motivated to pursue these techniques. I didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration; I was ready to go. Over the last few months however, I haven’t been “feeling it” like I was. That tide however, is changing. So in an effort to really rekindle that fire I decided to review some of what I wrote a year ago to try to learn from my successes and mistakes, which is one of the great side-effects of writing your thoughts down in a public format like this one. For this analysis, I came back to one of my all-time favorite posts: 33 tips on how to lose weight without dieting, and one that I now think, after a year of trying out this approach to eating, needs a little revision.

As regular readers know, my focus here on Almost Fit is to do one simple thing: Eat Real Food in Moderation. No low fat this or low carb that; just real, whole foods in moderate amounts. As simple as the statement is, the principle is much harder to apply, particularly if you live in what I think of as a culture of excess. Most of us have come to accept as normal the gigantic, oversized meals that are available at every restaurant you go to, and on every food commercial or ad you encounter. We’ve confused quantity with value, and we’ve also convinced ourselves that the cost of food should be minimal – meaning it’s common to think that we simply can’t afford to eat better. I disagree; however, applying it on a daily basis is a lot like trying to light a candle in a hurricane.

In the 2008 article, I stated:

“I don’t believe that moderation in itself is the answer; eating moderate amounts of garbage still means you’re eating garbage. If I eat real food, in moderation, I am convinced that the weight will come off naturally. Changing my diet to focus on vegetables first, and then moderate amounts of high quality meat, grains, and dairy, makes sense to me. And so far, its working with little or no negative side effects including the emotional struggle that I associate with every diet I’ve ever tried, and I haven’t had to buy a single pre-packaged plan or frozen low fat dinner to do it.”

I still very much stand by these statements, and my diet and current condition is living proof. And that’s because I’m now thin, right?

Not quite yet.

In the last year I’ve managed to prove these principles from both angles – “success” in a sense, and “less than stellar” as well; I still contend that it’s not smart to view diet habits in a pass/fail context. No, I definitely proved that it does work; but lately I’ve also proven that if you take your eye off the ball for a while, the reverse is also true. We still eat well; the problem is the idea of eating vegetables first has succumbed to carb-heavy eating habits, particularly in the Winter months when our garden isn’t producing anything other than Leeks. There is plenty of room in my diet for carbs, proteins, sugars, and fats, but they need to be very secondary to vegetables as the bulk of what I eat. When I achieve that balance and combine it with reasonable exercise, Real Food in Moderation simply works.

However, when carbs, fats, and sugars begin to dominate my diet, all hell breaks loose when I step on the scale.

With that in mind, this article is intended to revisit my thoughts from a year ago, and provide new insight where it applies. And to be frank, this is somewhat self-serving; I’m putting my axiom to the test, and taking action to generate motivation.

Let the games begin.

33 Scratch that – 44 Weight Loss Tips for 2009

1. “Eat real food.” This principle is at its core, simply true – my opinion has not changed after a year of testing this out. Every day I am increasingly convinced that our poor, industrially-driven dietary habits particularly in the West are largely responsible for most of the bigger health maladies we suffer today. Real food means to me minimally processed, preferably non-packaged foods. “Good” is organic at the grocery store; “Better” is organically grown (even if not certified) from a local farmer who you can look in the eye and ask intelligent questions; and “Best” is growing your own, right in that patch of ground that used to be your front yard.

2. “Eat smaller portions of real food.” As I’ve pointed out many times before, portion size in the West is out of control. And contrary to what we are told all the time, eating more of someone’s industrial product is NOT what’s best for us – It benefits the seller, but that’s about it.

3. “Eat slower. Take at least 20 minutes for every meal. One of the best tips I’ve read on this is to divide the amount of food on your plate into fourths, and then eat only 1/4 of it each 5 minutes that passes. After a while I’ve found that you do this by nature once you get used to it.” 2009 observation: I am going to do this tonight in fact. This is one area that has really eluded me in the last few months, but I know that it works.

4. Technique: put your fork down between bites. This is another habit that is easy to let go, as I have proved over the last 6 months. Time for an adjustment.

5. Use smaller plates, cups, and utensils. No change here; still applies in 2009.

6. Cut between meal snacking – using some smart techniques. This is one of those areas that still holds true, and if you play it right can actually be a benefit of a sagging economy. Rather than throwing in that $5 dollar iced coffee drink during the morning and afternoon lull, save the money and go with the following: First, try a glass of water. Second, if that doesn’t stop the craving, a small piece of the best dark chocolate you can afford. Third, if that doesn’t work, try a small, pre-rationed handful of almonds. If I follow these steps in order, I’m generally fine for another couple of hours.

7. When you’re eating out, skip the appetizer. This rule still holds true. With the portion size of a typical entree, there is simply no need for “frontloading” your meal with unneccesary calories. On the other hand, if you want the appetizer, order it – as your meal. But if I do, I sometimes tip a little better if possible, only because my bill will be less as a result of my food choice and the server will appreciate the good will. It’s not a rule really, but it feels right for me.

8. Limit certain types of foods to a few times a month. This is one aspect that is more true now than ever, particularly with our current economic state. While I don’t apply this to fruits and vegetables, I certainly do for meat consumption. In addition to the health benefits of a diet rich in vegetables, eating better cuts of non-industrial meat is not only healthier, but more feasible financially when you eat it less frequently. And despite what those beef industry commercials suggest, not everyone has steak 3 meals a day.

9. Be aware of how much you are putting in your mouth, and keep it small. Smaller bites, savoring each one. Sounds simple enough. And, still true.

10. Understand what it means to be not quite full, and be OK with that. I don’t believe that I’ve done an article yet on Hari Hachi Bu (the art of eating until you’re 80% full), but that is soon to come I hope. What are my observations on this now? It is undoubtedly difficult. And it becomes a true mental game, where we often hear that little voice in our head that says, “But I LIKE to eat a lot”. It’s difficult to overcome that voice, but it’s possible. On this, more to come.

11. Don’t eat in front of the television. This technique has really worked for me this year, and I stand by it. That said, I do watch Top Chef while enjoying a very small dish of the best quality ice cream I can afford. The biggest trick here is not eating it straight from the container – which is deadly to the waistline when you combine it with the distraction of television. If you’re going to watch while you eat, serve a small portion away from the television. Savor it; eat it slowly; and don’t go back for more.

12. Don’t eat in front of the computer. See the previous tip – the same applies. 2009 observation: As was the case in 2008, this is still my biggest weakness. In fact, I’ve let the “emergency nuts snack” get out of control on this one – I have a jar of nuts on my desk as we speak. I’ve got to change that.

There. Done.

13. Whenever possible, eat together as a family. This is still true in my mind, however there’s one big challenge for me. Having two small children, I spend more of my focus on what they’re eating and less than on what I’m eating. I’m looking for suggestions on this one, but I still maintain it’s a good principle not only for dietary health, but for familial emotional health as well.

14. Whenever possible, in addition to your family, take your meals with friends and coworkers. We have been moderately successful at this one, but I have found that it is easy to overeat in these situations as well. I think ultimately you can truly appreciate the food more in the company of others, but it requires diligence to not get carried away.

15. “Read the ingredients list of anything in a package, but pay less attention to the statistics. The general rule should be to strive to eat things that don’t require ingredients lists, like fruits and vegetables. But in real life, this is not always practical. That being said, the key is to focus on the contents, not the scientific descriptions. You should try to eat only things that are easily identifiable as real food, not chemically processed substitutes. If you focus on eating only real food, and in moderation, the other elements become less important (unless you suffer with food allergies of course). The emphasis should be on real food and less of it, not counting milligrams of any one element.” 2009: More true now than ever.

16. Use real sugar, preferably raw, even if only trace amounts of it. Don’t use chemical substitutes. Again, for 2009, this rule holds absolutely true. I just spent a year NOT consuming chemical sweeteners, and I didn’t suffer in the least. Actually, I do have one amendment to this: I now prefer Agave syrup for most sweetening. Agave is a great sweetener, and requires very little refining. It’s also a great substitute for simple syrup for the occasional mixed drink.

17. “Eat fat – but only eat real, high quality fats. [...] the key is moderation – if you eat a pound of Brie, you’ve gone to the dark side.” 2009 observations: I still strongly feel this is accurate. However, with one caveat: Fats, specifically great-tasting ones like real cheeses, are difficult to control on the moderation front. But my theory is the French succeed here because it’s awfully difficult to eat the stinkiest of cheeses. For practical purposes, take what you want from the block of cheese, and then put it away. This helps to prevent “nibbling” on the cheese left out on the counter.

18. Don’t rely on supplements – eat the real thing first, and supplement what you need. 2009? Still true, with one bit of advice: If you do take supplements, make sure they are not synthetic. For a great resource on the subject, see my fellow writer Robin’s blog, here: http://realnutritionsupplement.blogspot.com/.

19. Focus on the reasons you are overeating, and address those first. in 2009 I did a fair bit of work here, but even after a year of self-analysis, I still have yet to control my emotional eating patterns effectively. 2009 may be the year that I seek professional help with emotionally-driven overeating, which I believe is at the heart of most of my struggles with weight.

20. Don’t eat fast food if at all possible – its not real food. This has been a great success for me, with one small exception: In Oregon and parts of Washington, we have a restaurant chain called Burgerville, which uses organic, grass-fed, locally grown products whenever possible. The bigger problem of course is it tastes really, really good. So it’s a little too easy to justify a stop at Burgerville on somewhat shaky “ethical” grounds. Granted, it’s not very often that we go here, but to be honest it’s more than it should be. This needs to change.

21. Avoid vending machines. Still true in 2009. If you work in an office or a building near these machines, it requires a small amount of planning ahead, but this is entirely possible, and entirely the correct choice.

22. “Don’t believe the “no pain no gain” philosophy. Regardless of what your gym coach told you, or what that aggressive personal trainer says, unless your goal is to be a body builder or a professional athlete, if you are practicing moderation, this philosophy is simply not true. In order to maintain health, eating should not be difficult. Exercise should be a pleasure, not a struggle. For those of us who simply want good health, if its painful, you’re not doing it right.”

In 2009, my opinion? Despite some disagreement among readers, I still stand by this statement. While pain can be a useful tool, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. That said, there ought to be some “burn” going on; it just doesn’t have to be as painful as most “gung ho” advocates indicate. Let the disagreement begin.

23. Don’t apply the “if its not hard its not worth doing” philosophy to eating. 2009: Still true. This statement stemmed from a “diet counselor” who was clearly bitter in her feelings about diet. “Do you like Caesar Salad?” she asked. I replied, “Uh, yes I do…” She said, “Well get used to the idea that you’ll have to give that up. If you want to lose weight, forget eating Caesar salad again.” That diet, of course, didn’t work. And hopefully my embittered “counselor” moved on to a new career, perhaps in Credit Collection.

24. Learn to cook. Over the last year this has become, its fair to say, an obsession. My wife and I are systematically working our way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I truly think this is key, particularly if you want to wean yourself from the industrial food products that many of us are used to.

25. Educate yourself on the diets of cultures that live longer and are generally in better health. 100% true. I would add only that if possible, it’s best to go visit those cultures, which we hope to pursue further in the coming years.

26. Reduce your coffee size to enjoy real cream – not “creamer”. I absolutely believe this is true, but I must admit: working at home as I do, it is terribly easy to “overdo” it by drinking coffee throughout the day. In 2009, I am considering eliminating coffee in favor of Yerba Mate tea, which I also enjoy, and for which I don’t need cream.

27. If you are a coffee drinker, develop an appreciation for espresso. I am hopeful that in 2009 we’ll be able to pick up a quality espresso machine. I am a little particular on this and have my eyes set on one that I of course cannot afford, but with some planning and saving hopefully we’ll be able to pick one up sometime soon without breaking out a credit card.

28. Avoid packaged juices. Juice is one of my biggest weaknesses, because it feeds my inate and powerful sweet tooth. I find that when I drink juice, I stimulate sugar cravings terribly for the rest of the day. I really try to limit juice intake, even going as far as asking my wife to refrain from keeping it in the house. That said, there are a few juices that I do enjoy on occasion, including pomegranate juice from POM. I like the flavor, and it’s expensive enough that I rarely can justify the expense – a built-in moderation feature.

29. Buy the best food you can afford. After a year of doing this, I have to say that it is the most important aspect in my opinion of eating in moderation. A food budget is a balancing act. For the more expensive cheeses that we buy, we have reduced our coffee and packaged foods (we still eat a few) budget. This year we will continue to grow our own produce, which also reduces the overall cost of food for us especially with a family of four. I am hopeful that this year we will have a better handle on our food budget (and our budget in general) – once I find out exactly how much we’re spending, I’ll share the information.

30. Retrain yourself away from the “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” mindset. 2009: THIS one, I think needs a little correction. After reading many, many arguments in favor of eating breakfast, I think I missed the mark on this one in some ways. My original reasoning was that if you overeat at breakfast, you’ll just overeat later. I still think that is true; however, I took it to the extreme and started skipping breakfast altogether, which is a big mistake. I am not entirely convinced of the metabolic reasons yet only because I think this is a matter of conditioning (considering the lack of heavy breakfast in many “lighter” cultures); however I am sure that if I reach lunchtime and am starving, I make bad choices. Better to start out with a whole, light breakfast, than to skip it only to be desperate for anything to eat later.

31. Eat at regular times. This is still true, though I am admittedly not good at it. I tend to eat breakfast sometime in mid-morning, lunch somewhere in mid-afternoon, and dinner at a regular time. I think this is one of my problems, and I need to work on a better morning and afternoon eating schedule.

32. Keep junk food out of the house. To me, this one is obviously true for 90% of us. If you are one of the lucky few who don’t have this weakness, good for you. But for me, this is a necessity.

33. Don’t be in a big rush to lose the weight. This is for me, in the top 3 lessons that carry the most, ahem, weight. I lost 25 lbs or so last year, which is what I would have shot for in a month on some of the crazy diets I’ve tried. Rather, I’m very happy with those results. This is a lifelong process of health improvement; not to mention, it took me 37 years to get to this point. It’s madness to think it will turn around, permanently, overnight.

NEW FOR 2009:

34. Skip the afternoon snack – in favor of afternoon tea. I think our friends across the pond have this correct – afternoon tea time seems to me to be a great idea. I did this today in fact, and it satisfied my slight hunger until dinner. Give it a try. Make the tea time an opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate where you’re at. Enjoy the moment – be present for your life, which will be one of the themes this year for Almost Fit.

35. Focus on broadening your tastes in food. There are so many cultures that eat incredibly healthy foods, often out of necessity. Broadening your taste can lead to tremendous, healthful discoveries. This is something that we are also passing on to our children, who these days will eat pretty much anything – a fact for which I am convinced is at least in part due to exposure.

36. Develop a better understanding of the ethics of food. Foods as they are presented by the food industry are just nice, tasty products that we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about – just trust the food industry and surely we won’t go wrong. Unfortunately, this is why we have an obesity epidemic, and quite bluntly, family tragedy from things like poisoned peanut butter – our misplaced trust in a) the marketers to tell us what we should eat, and b) the government to look out for us. Neither is even close to a good source of information on what we feed ourselves and our kids, as they always have an agenda that puts consumers squarely in the last position.

37. Use tools, like social media, to your advantage. I am an active Twitter user and have been for some time. One of the benefits? I follow a number of great health bloggers, inspirational/motivational writers, and generally just good people. I find great inspiration and motivation in their suggestions throughout the day. One great example is a Twitter user I follow posts “nudges” throughout the day to remind followers to get up and move around a bit, or grab a glass of water. This is useful for me, particularly working by myself.

38. Be careful with the calories in wine. I have found that surprise surprise – when one glass of wine at dinner is good, two glasses is often a little better. It’s easy to overdo it – not in an alcohol/sobriety sense necessarily (though that is certainly a reasonable concern), but in the unwanted calories in particular. One glass is usually all I need; I just need to remember that especially after a hard day.

39. Consider (as in think about) trying moderate fasting. Many, many cultures use fasting as part of their dietary regime. I am currently fascinated with this, and plan on trying it sometime this year as an Almost Fit documented experiment. But for me, it is fasting moderately; I don’t intend to go more than a day on a fast. But it’s definitely something I think may have health benefits beyond weight loss.

40. If you make enough for leftovers, pack the leftovers first. When you make a meal, before you serve it, set aside the leftover quantity you intend to eat the next day. I’ve read this tip in numerous places, and it really both makes sense, and works.

41. When possible, only bring to the table what you plan to eat. For me, if the bowl of pasta is on the table, it’s much easier to eat more than I need. If I serve myself in the kitchen, it’s one step more difficult to overeat on seconds.

42. Find the stress relievers that work for you – other than food. With the economy in the current state of disrepair, this for me is of critical importance. I will be exploring this over the coming year on Almost Fit, and welcome suggestions.

43. Don’t go to bed too late. This one is one of my most difficult habits to break, but one I’m set on accomplishing this year. When I stay up late, I eat more. Simple as that. If I go to bed early and rise early, I rarely eat much if anything before breakfast. This may be different for you, but I have a feeling that late night work sessions, or #afterhours as we say on Twitter, are not great for a healthful diet.

44. Action Feeds Motivation. I think the best thing you can do on the weight loss front is simple: get up and do something about it. It sounds simple, but I know for me, I spent an awful lot of time trying to find motivation to exercise, often with mediocre results. This year, I’m hoping to turn this on it’s head on a personal level – rather than waiting to be motivated to do something physical, I’m going to focus on getting up and doing it as a means of creating motivation. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that I feel is worth making. My intention is to feature great sources of motivation that focus on taking small, immediate actions that you can do with minimal planning. Plans are great. But action is what is always needed if you want to get anywhere.

Thank you for reading. Here’s to another great year of working together. Your comments and suggestions are, as always welcome and maybe more importantly, appreciated.

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readers, both long-time friends and new acquaintances. I will be posting a "Best Of" article shortly, but I think you'll agree that this letter was already plenty long enough. Thanks for reading, and thank you for hanging in there with me in my recent absence. UPDATE: I dozed off last night, so this is now a Saturday post. A day late - but that's what you get for blog dollars ]

Tonight is the one year anniversary of a mild obsession: testing whether eating real food in moderation can actually work to lose weight and achieve better health.

And the principle corollary: Is it possible to live moderately in a culture of excess?

No low fat this or low carb that (both of which I had previously tried, exhaustively, to no permanent success); just eating real, whole, and at times decadent, foods – the key of course being to keep the quantities in check.

Before I get started, let me just say that it’s been a long day; I slept about 3 hours last night before heading out at 5AM for a 4 hour drive to Seattle for a business meeting at 9, and then turned around several hours later to drive 3 1/2 hours back home (don’t ask me where the missing 1/2 hour went). I’m admittedly exhausted, but some things simply cannot wait, things for which any devoted writer knows sleep deprivation is no match.

In honor of this anniversary I am sitting down with my laptop and a stiff margarita – ice, fresh squeezed lime juice and a healthy dose of tequila – evaluating as honestly as I can whether this year’s changes have been worth the effort. So if things get a little squirelly, you’ll know why.

Where did I start?

It has been 365 days since my first post on Almost Fit (“Welcome to Almost Fit – Almost Who?“). So what have I learned through this first year? Am I miraculously thin as a result of this “revolutionary” idea of eating less (hmm…eat less to lose weight? What?) ? Have I left all of my old bad habits for good, happy to eat only truly local, sustainable, whole foods, perhaps donning hemp shoes and opting not to shower for weeks on end? The truth is, if you ask my pants, not only will they stare back at you blankly, but inside they will concur – I’m certainly not thin – not yet – and I don’t own any hemp shoes. That said, this year has marked some of the biggest changes in my diet, how I feel about food on an emotional level, how I feel about taking social responsibility for what I eat, and what I expect from this approach.

A year ago to the day, here’s what I had to say about my condition. At the time, I was:

• “An average guy who’s weight is driving him crazy, and has done so for most of his life
• A card-carrying member of the TV, Coca Cola (second only to Dr. Pepper), and fast food generation
• A food lover, bordering on “foodie”, thanks to my wife’s cooking and mutual love of food
• In my mid-thirties with two children, and at my heaviest weight ever
• In my mid-thirties, at my heaviest weight ever, and tired of it. The whole thing. From carrying several extra useless sandbags-worth of weight every day (I don’t think the near-term global forecast is pointing toward temperatures dropping dramatically, where I’d need this extra layer of fat for warmth) to trying things that work, but don’t last. I am tired of being out of breath when I take a flight of stairs. I am tired of being hot when I should be comfortable. I am tired of being uncomfortable with how I look in horizontal stripes or clothes with any color other than brown or black. I’m tired of being in mild degrees of pain when I crawl around pretending to be an elephant with my kids (oh don’t think for a second I don’t see the irony there). In other words, I am ready for a change.”

Some things have not changed, including:

• Still an average guy in most ways: I still put my talking pants on one argument at a time
• I still watch television – in fact, I am putting off watching a DVR’d Top Chef episode in favor of writing tonight;
• Still very much in a hot and steamy relationship with both my food and, might I add, my smokin’ hot wife ;
• Still in my mid-thirties (which I plan to claim for at least another oh, 9-12 years) with two wondrous and beautiful children;
• Still carrying extra weight - though less of it.

Over the previous 6 years, I had been steadily gaining weight despite a lot of boxes of low fat cookies, losing weight and gaining it back thanks to South Beach, Oprah’s diet guy, and just about every chemical product or supplement that the food industry could throw in the feed trough. I ate it up, and it showed. I was gaining an average of nearly 10 lbs each and every year – even having run my first 10k race and a 1/2 marathon in the 5th year. That’s right: 6 years and 60 lbs later. And quite frankly, with no end in sight, other than the one that wasn’t fitting in the mirror.

Perhaps more importantly, when I started this experiment there was one very large fear on my mind: I was staring into the headlights of all sorts of health complications with which I was all but guaranteed to collide. I felt strongly that if I continued on the path I was on, I would certainly be setting myself up for blood sugar management and degenerative cardiovascular problems that go hand-in-hand with my family history. These elements, I am convinced, always loom in my DNA, but their onset is sped up rapidly by poor diet and lack of exercise. Sounds like common sense to me. Ultimately my hope is that doing what I can will help me to outlast the diseases until science finds a reasonable solution.

Where I’m at today

Here’s the short answer: For the year, I’ve lost 22 lbs (as much as 27 before the holiday season – more on that in a bit). And equally as important, I have not gained the 10+ lbs that I was on track to add, if history was any indicator. I’ve also had some pretty big challenges over the last few months, but those are finally starting to settle down.

So in a sense, you could say that all in all I’m down 32 lbs from where I would have been, but I’m choosing to only view it as 22 lbs down for the year. And how do I feel about that? Is that enough for a year? What did I learn? And where am I going with it?

10 things I’ve learned from a year of moderation

Changing my diet to real, whole foods has been a learning experience to say the least. Some successes, some failures, and some revelations. Here’s a list of things that seem clear to me after a year of giving this a shot.

1. It is hard to learn to NOT diet, if you are a career dieter. Since my early teens I had been off and on dieting, buying into the low fat/nonfat craze that swept my generation (and ultimately did not work), trying things like diet shakes, diet vitamin pills, and every edible diet product out there. None of them worked in the long run, and most of them tasted like cardboard with a Xylene chaser. But more importantly, it is the cycle of dieting that I had to break. When I would lose weight, I found that my strong inclination was to essentially starve myself trying to speed up the process, because that always worked before. On a diet of rich foods in moderation, it does NOT work, at least not for me.

2. Dietary choices do not have to be a “religious” choice. In the course of changing my thinking on food, I’ve had to work hard to overcome the desire to “preach” about it in polarized right and wrong terms. When you start to make food decisions based on social or moral principles, it can be easy to come off as judging others who don’t make the same choices. And while I know I certainly do that from time to time here, on my site, in person I have worked hard to avoid sounding too preachy, or even condemnatory of others. And I’m comfortable with that; after all, if you don’t care to hear it on a blog, you are free to move onto something else that resonates. When it comes to food, sometimes changing our dietary habits can become like we’re signing up for a “food religion”, requiring exclusive devotion, evangelism, and the use of “sin” or “guilt-free” metaphors. I don’t think this is necessary, and I’d like to think I’ve proven that over the span of this year. But it required a conscious effort, and learning from a mistake or two.

3. Just because you eat good food doesn’t mean you end cravings for “bad” food. My wife has never been much of a junk food eater – she has always eaten well thanks to some deep rooted family dietary traditions, her thoughtfulness and intelligence, and just plain good taste. So for folks like her, she has a hard time understanding why a KFC commercial would make me want something that makes me feel ill. ME on the other hand…I still, to this day, crave fast food when I see ads for it. Still. Even after a year primarily without. Do I feel bad about that? No. Do I act on it anymore? Almost never, but on occasion, in a pinch, I have succumbed to convenience. So just because I eat decadent cheeses and chocolates does not negate a lifetime of dietary bad habits. It took 30+ years of eating fast food and high fructose corn syrup to get here; it’s not going to change overnight.

4. Overeating is a cultural norm that is beatable – but it’s not easy. On whole, my opinion of our American cultural eating habits is in general, we simply eat too much, and thanks to multibillion dollar efforts of food manufacturers, the wrong things (there I go preaching again). Abundance and immediate availability have led us to consider as normal a portion size that several generations ago would have been considered enough for two or three. It takes real effort to ignore the sense of “this enormous plate is what everybody eats” both in the home and on the town, but it’s possible.

5. Exercise continues to be my weakest link. I openly admit that I am a fair weather runner these days – and even when the winter weather is fair, I seem to find it enormously difficult to get out and really get going. This, I must fix, in part because in life, eating moderately does not always happen. But more importantly because I am better off mentally and physically when I’m engrossed in a regular exercise routine.

6. I have to be OK with slow progress, lest I go mental. Like most of us, I want my weight to be ideal immediately – so when it starts working, I often fall into the “no pain no gain” mindset, where losing weight becomes less about eating right and more about a controlled experiment in denial, pain tolerance, and endurance until the trial is over. In other words, I tend to get a little nuts about it, ultimately to my own detriment. 22 lbs for the year should be a great number, but I struggle even still with the idea that I wanted that to be 50. I still have work to do.

7. I am an emotional eater – this I know. Eating is my response to happiness, sadness, stress, and especially frustration. When I get upset, I go for the cupboards. This too requires additional work. Thankfully there are many folks ahead of me in solving this one, and I think with some education I will beat this.

8. It is possible, though not always fun, to sense 80% full. I am pretty sure that I have yet to do a detailed post on this (hari hachi bu, specifically), but I have read numerous comments on other blogs that suggest that you can’t really know what 80% full feels like, so why try? Well I disagree based on my own experience. I know what it feels like; I just don’t always like it. But it is tangible, and it does work – it just requires retraining a mind that is conditioned to get pleasure and emotional satisfaction from overeating.

9. Eating well requires preparation and time – and believe it or not, not necessarily more money. This subject has been a big question surrounding the suggestions of folks like Michael Pollan that we should all eat better quality food than most of us typically do. While I concede that for some, this is definitely going to be more expensive, I’ve found over this year that you can trade off the cost by using additional time. And in many cases, that additional time is only a perception. It often does not take longer at all; we just think it does. It DOES however require a little more effort and some planning. But we’ve actually saved money this year by eating well.

10. The more you know about where your food comes from, the better you eat. That said, sometimes that rule goes out the window. In general, focusing on education as a means of motivation has worked. When I go to the grocery store, I really do put things back on the shelf if they are made or grown outside the U.S., and often if they’re not from the states in my immediate region. I also avoid anything with ingredients I don’t recognize, and especially foods with chemical additives that I DO recognize, like HFCS. I never eat diet processed foods, and I have worked for the past year to find locally grown or raised alternatives with great success.

All that said, there are certainly times when I make exceptions to eating seasonally and locally. Coffee being a prime example. We don’t have shade grown coffee as a native crop here in the Pacific Northwest (at least not as far as I know), but I still drink it. And I think that is OK. Like I said, it’s not a religion; it’s choosing to live moderately and, I think, reasonably.

Biggest lesson of all

If I step away from the minutia of eating real food in moderation, the biggest lesson I’ve learned I think is this:

Life circumstances, like it or not, help to determine the success or failure in changing your diet. And despite what the gym Nazis may tell you, that is OK.

When I started Almost Fit, I was in a good place. I had a reasonably stable job; our second child was approaching the 1-yr mark (which meant better sleep); I was and continue to be married to a wonderfully supportive and knowledgeable mate who shares a passion for food; I found an online community of support; I live in a region of the country that leads the way in sustainable food practices; and maybe most importantly I was mentally ready to commit.

I started off in a very good position, and made great progress. I was running much more, and eating very purposefully. But as life has a way of doing, things changed later in the year. Most notably when a) I quit my job and then the economy tanked (coincidence? ), and b) I started a new job as a response to the first point, and c) we had an unexpected death in the family. Over the last few months I have not exercised to any great degree, and my eating habits have slipped. In particular, when I was on a 2-week business trip in November, I definitely succumbed to old eating habits including some really awful fast food choices. I also chronically over-ate at family gatherings, which was rather mindless at the time, but shows on the scale.

January on the other hand, feels like things are finally getting back to normal. I feel the original zeal I had starting to return, and a much stronger awareness of making time to eat better. We shall see.

With that in mind, I have definitely met numerous folks this year that are simply not in this zone. They are nowhere near the mindset that is ready to make changes like this. But you know, That is truly OK. I feel now that if you’re not ready, there is no forcing it. You’ve got to have the circumstances to make it happen, whether that means you create them or you stumble into them. Either way, we often get the message of “there’s no time like the present” to make life changes. Well I disagree with that too. If you don’t have the circumstances, and do not have the power to change that, then now is NOT The time to start. That would work if this were a temporary fix; but it’s not. If you want life changes, do it when life gives you the best chance of succeeding.

Anybody who says different is likely selling something.

Where am I going with all this?

This last year has proved the old cliche: The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s been a great first year at Almost Fit. I’ve met literally hundreds of people who impress me to no end with their desire to do whatever they can do to improve not only their own health and circumstance, but the world around them. I’ve exchanged numerous emails and rounds of comments with people I never would have had the pleasure of engaging were it not for this site, or the choices I’ve made. And for these things, I am grateful.

So what are my goals this year? What am I changing?

You’ll have to wait until another post, coming very soon, to find out.

Thank you, and the very best to you,

Metroknow

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I may also fly stunt kites. And know a thing or two about 3D animation.

As part of this curse, I also tend to like to read the stats of my blog, even down to the nitty bits of mindnumbing server data, looking for clues about well, you all. Don’t worry, I don’t know anything about what you did last summer.

That is my other hat – the security software engineering hat. But I digress.

No, for Almost Fit, what I find most interesting is [geek alert!] a) errors in the logs [and thus why I am leaving my current hosting company soon], and  b) [geek alert at DefCon 5!] patterns in the configurations of the computers that visit the site. Again, nothing personal is to be found there – it’s all fascinating minutia like the number of Windows computers vs. Macs that visit, and so forth.

So here’s the apology: Somehow, for months now, it has escaped my attention that 76% of the visitors to Almost Fit have a screen resolution of 1024×768. Being geekish and all, all of my computers at home (yes, multiple – I had as many as 6 not long ago, that I actually USED…I may need an intervention) had the biggest screens I could afford, with resolutions set to extremely high numbers. Prior to today, this site’s layout was not ideal for 76% of the people stopping by. OK, let’s be honest – it looked like crap, and was difficult to read. For this, I sincerely apologize.

But I am changing my ways. If you noticed that Almost Fit looks slightly different, it’s because I’ve essentially reduced the size of the header image and moved things around a tiny bit (whoops – there goes that geek gene again). I hope it helps. And I’ll try to do better in the future. In the coming weeks I’m hoping to complete an overhaul of the site, and hopefully it will be received as an improvement. And if not, I may have to sponsor a “big monitor” contest.

Photography on Almost Fit

I wanted to mention a word about the photographs on this site, as I’ve had several folks comment on them (favorably). All photos on the site were taken either by me or by April, unless otherwise cited/noted. We are both artists, so photography is one of many manifestations of that.

At any rate, if you are interested in reusing the photos on your personal blog or purchasing high resolution versions, please see this page on our photographs. I’ll be setting up a portfolio site soon as well, which will show a much broader spectrum of photos that are available.

Back to the salt mines. Thanks for reading.

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Regular readers of Almost Fit know that I have been mentioning the words World Domination for a few weeks now. Have I gone mad? Do I think that eating real food in moderation will create a position as Potentate of some small nation state? Maybe. But if such a seat were ever offered, I would have to pass – The aspirations that are already on my list are more than enough, and do not include the title of Magistrate. But anything is possible.

For me, Almost Fit is much more than just a hobby – it’s part of a much larger life picture. With Almost Fit, I have two distinct purposes:

1. To improve my health before it’s too late. From my perspective today, losing weight and getting fit is a critical first step in accomplishing my greater goals. Writing Almost Fit inspires me to continue down that path. Writers like Walt Whitman and Thoreau have explained with much greater skill and dimension than I the connections of body, mind, spirit, and the world around us. These are ideas to which I subscribe. For me, my physical state has a very direct impact on how I see myself, how that perception is communicated to others, and my sense of place in the world around me. It affects both my physical ability and my emotional momentum to do the bigger things that I want to do, whether it is to run a marathon, invent something revolutionary, or climb El Cap.
2. To improve the lives of others on a grand scale. I’m one of the many who have spent the majority of my life trying to get or keep my weight under control. This has all sorts of implications, as I mentioned. I have tried everything short of drugs and surgery, with varying degrees of success. Now however, I think I am on to the best solution of all – eating real food in moderation. My hope is that I will be able to help get the word out and impact the lives of others who have struggled with this as I have. And I am doing so, thanks to the Internet, on a global scale.

And this is just phase one.

Inspiring minds want to know

We all have our own aspirations of course – and some of us are still trying to figure out what those are. Whether your goal is to set a lifelong, positive example for your children or to lead a mora of Spartans into battle armed to the teeth – The biggest prerequisites for success in any endeavor are that you must be moved, committed, and determined to accomplish the task. And as important, you have to do the work that is required to get there. For me, getting a handle on my physical state is part of that work.

I am a big believer in finding inspiration in others, which always helps me to get started on the task at hand. For bigger life questions, I look to people who expect more out of life than to pass the time, standing still in a job for 8 hours a day for the best years of their life, until the time is up.

Chris Guillebeau is one such inspiration. Chris’s site is called The Art of Non-Conformity: Unconventional strategies for life, work, and travel. He recently wrote a report for which the timing, for me, could not have been better. He is no guru or prophet; he is simply an excellent writer who is striving to change the world by whispering the unheralded death of mediocrity through a global bullhorn.

With this, I identify.

Chris has published his manifesto which is entitled, A Brief Guide to World Domination (and other important goals): How to Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World. The report is spreading like wildfire thanks to a virtual army, myself included, who are enthusiastically fanning the smoke signals of change in a digital age.

Think Global, Act…Global?

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The message of World Domination is simple: Each one of us can live a remarkable life – we just need to choose to do so. Changing the world for the better does not have to be a product of circumstance. If you want to change the world, the most important thing to do, is to start.

But there is a catch.

If you aspire to greatness, you have to think on a bigger scale than you might be accustomed to thinking. In fact, you have to think of your impact for good on a global scale. Thanks to nearly instant, worldwide communication technology, stimulating positive change in global terms has never been more possible. The good news is that accomplishing your goals does not have to be at the expense of a greater good. In other words, you can do great things for the world while you accomplish your own goals. They are not mutually exclusive.

The bad news is, there is a whole system of conventional thinking that will tell you otherwise.

What are your dreams?

To determine our own goals and to live a life that our children and our children’s children will call extraordinary, Chris has distilled the process down to asking two basic questions that those of us who want more out of life have to answer:

#1: What do you really want to get out of life?

#2: What can you offer the world that no one else can?

The questions are simple, but for many the answers may not be. If you are one of the fortunate few who already know your life’s answers, my sincere congratulations. If you are one of the rest of us who are striving to figure this out, don’t panic. You’re not alone. But don’t analyze it too closely. The single greatest mistake that most of us make is not failing in the process; the critical error is never starting in the first place.

For me, the journey is underway. At the time, I didn’t even realize it was starting, but looking back, I’m now approaching month 7 of doing the work (with Almost Fit being the cornerstone), even if I don’t know where precisely my path is leading. I don’t have my final answers yet to questions one and two. But what I do know is they both involve work, trade-offs, and a willingness to sacrifice a degree of comfort for a while in favor of accomplishing truly great things.

The choice is yours – no strings attached

If you are interested in living a life that is remarkable, making changes that will ultimately benefit both yourself and others on a grand scale, and living a life that is uniquely your own, consider reading Chris’s manifesto. It is only 29 pages, it is without charge, and is well worth an afternoon of exercising your rods and cones.

I read it camping on the North Umpqua River.

To be clear, Chris is not selling anything; the manifesto, as I said, is free. There are no MLM schemes behind door number three and there is no commitment required, though I do recommend subscribing to his blog (I do). Operators are not standing by, and there is an unlimited digital quantity to go around, so take your time. This is simply the opportunity to read a thoughtful piece of work that may open your eyes to your own potential, and may spur you on to achievements that you did not think were possible for an army of one.

One last thing…

Chris is a busy guy. In addition to reading the posts on his site, I follow his broadcasts on Twitter. I love the sense of global connectedness I get when I read one of his messages about being lost somewhere in a province that I have no idea how to even pronounce. In fact, in a recent message, he was relieved to be in the familiar comfort of a major airport in Asia.

How many people from this country do you know who would say the same?

Ed. Note: This post took me a while to compose because it is important to me. I hope it sparked your interest. The photos, by the way, are all shots we took in Paris. If you enjoy Almost Fit, please consider subscribing or sharing the posts with your friends. Thanks.

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When it comes to food, exercise, and our obsession with obesity, the French appear to break all of the rules of Western thought. By and large those who live a traditional French lifestyle eat for pleasure and satisfaction, they often smoke (arguably a stereotype), and they drink regularly. Despite a diet proportionally high in things like saturated fats, the French have remarkably low rates of heart disease and obesity. Welcome to the French Paradox.

On a visit to Paris with my wife and our 7-month old son, I experienced this firsthand. When you walk the streets of Paris, you are tempted with the most sensual culinary delights imaginable: Delicately handmade pastries, beautiful chocolates, freshly baked bread from ovens that have been used for sometimes hundreds of years, full fat, unpasteurized cheeses, and fresh crepes. And that’s just what you can see in the window displays. When you see overweight people in Paris, they are almost never Parisians; in fact, in my experience it was the easiest way to identify my fellow Americans!

Those who practice a traditional French lifestyle seem to break our most commonly accepted dietary notions. They typically:

• Consume 60% more saturated fats than we do in proportion to our overall intake, primarily through dairy. This includes rich cheeses, real butter, whole milk, and yogurt.
• Do not eat low fat products or use or chemically derived sugar substitutes.
• Eat fresh bread daily that is made from refined white flour.
• Regularly consume both lean and fatty meats including pork, duck, beef, chicken, and a few others (someone hide Mr. Ed), as well as fish.
• Drink alcohol with lunch and dinner, and the alcohol is often unregulated. Meaning, where we have a soda fountain, they may have a cask of wine available for refills.
• Smoke cigarettes. As I mentioned earlier, this is a bit of a stereotype since the French typically smoke less than several other European countries, and only a few percentage points more than Americans, on whole. That said, we found in Paris that the smell of cigarette smoke was abundant, yet for some reason we didn’t mind (neither of us are smokers).
• Eat late at night, much later than we do – Often eating heavier foods for supper at around 9 or 10, followed by a dessert course.
• Do not go to the gym or exercise much more than we do (the reasoning being why waste your life in such a way, when you could be enjoying it?).
• Do not obsess about the chemical composition of the foods they eat, and they do not rely on science and industry to tell them what is good or bad. That is what Mother is for.

With all of this dietary rule-breaking, the French simply should be dying off like flies from heart disease. I mean after all, high fat foods? Simple carbohydrates and sugar-filled deserts? Cigarettes and alcohol? No Stairmaster for 3 hours a day? According to our experience, our industrial and governmental science, and our gigantic devotion to every miracle-cure product and approach we can turn our eyes to, their collective hearts should all be congealed, seized up like French-made Peugeot diesel motors full of hardened, varnished sludge.

The truth is that the French typically live 3 years longer than we do, with only an 8.3% rate of heart disease, and a low occurrence of obesity (though sadly this is increasing as Western ways infiltrate French daily life).

So how do they do it?

According to folks like Dr. Will Clower, Michael Pollan, and Mirielle Guiliano (and place me squarely in this camp, by personal experience), it comes down to this: The French simply eat real food in moderation. They eat good food, just less of it (they eat until they’re full, and then they stop). They generally don’t eat the overly-processed, low fat, low carb, hydrogenated chemically substituted well-preserved food-based products that we do. Dr. Clower’s catchphrase: “If it’s not food, don’t eat it.” Michael Pollan? “Eat food. Not Too Much. Mostly plants.”

How to eat rich foods and not gain weight

How can you implement the French approach? What do the French do that allows them to eat what they want, when they want, and still not gain weight?

Here is a list based primarily on the writings of the three authors cited above. Of course, their books provide much more detail on the scientific (and anecdotal) evidence that supports the effectiveness of these ideas, and provide specific techniques on how to implement them. Here’s a sample of the guidance they provide:

• Identify honestly what you eat, think about it, and make changes very slightly and gradually. Remember that you are changing these dietary habits for the span of a lifetime, so they have to be simple, livable adjustments. From Mireille Guiliano, “The answer to weight gain is never dieting.”
• Eat only real food, not processed food alternatives, “faux foods”, or food-like products (particularly high fructose corn syrup).The good news is this means you get to eat butter, bread, and chocolate again.
• Eat for the pleasure of eating, rather than as a means of fuel. Treat your mouth more like a sensory tool and less like a Flux Capacitor.
• Eat at regular times. In France, they maintain a social stigma against between meal snacking. In fact, many of their cars do not have cupholders.
• Eat seasonally, locally, and shop several times a week. And as Michael Pollan says, don’t buy your fuel at the same place you buy it for your car.
• Don’t rely solely on “Nutritionism” to tell you what is good for you; use common sense, and eat real foods. If Great-Grandma wouldn’t recognize it, don’t eat it. This is a simplification here; read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan for a much deeper explanation of the dangers of relying on science and industry alone to tell us what we should eat.
• Your dietary emphasis should be on green leafy vegetables, or animals who are fed those vegetables.
• Eat fat! Just the right kinds, particularly dairy and naturally occurring fats in plants (think avocados not corn oil). In fact, the lack of fat intake may actually be one of the root causes of many of our health problems like heart disease and diabetes.
• Quantity does not equal quality. Buy the best you can afford, and be willing to spend a little more (although I’ve found that the cost levels out when you’re eating less).
• Train yourself to eat less by enjoying your food more, eating slower, putting less in your mouth per bite, and eating for sensory pleasure. Realize that portion size has grown 3 times what it was 50 years ago!
• Don’t eat mindlessly or be distracted when you’re eating by things like television or the computer.
• Incorporate wine into your diet in moderation.
• Don’t stuff yourself. Learn the often forgotten feeling of fullness with practice and patience. For example, eat half of what you normally would, and wait for half an hour. If you’re starving, you know it wasn’t enough. If you feel physically good, that is the feeling of being full. Practice identifying that feeling, and it becomes second nature with time.
• Try to get all of your nutritional needs met through whole foods rather than supplements whenever possible (there is an ongoing, raging controversy as to whether supplements actually have much benefit out of the context of the whole food from which they were derived. [Update: After reading further, personally I believe that they DO have benefit, but only the right kinds. Industrially produced, synthetic supplements are not only worthless nutrition-wise, they can be dangerous. Whole food multivitamins, on the other hand, are a proven source of nutrition. For the "real" thing, and to gain a better understanding of the issues involved, see Robin's blog, Whole Food and More.]).
• Learn to cook, and make time to do it. We often say that we don’t have time to cook, but in reality in the last 15 years most of us have somehow made 2-3 hours time for other things like surfing the Internet. It is ultimately a matter of choosing our health as a priority.
• Make ethical choices in what you eat. Develop a relationship with what you put in your body, understand how it affects you, and recognize that your choices impact the environment. This is an interpolation of the French diet in a sense since it is not a conscious concern of theirs, generally, but in a world of genetically modified foods and questionable shortsighted farming practices, it helps you to identify “real food.” The French concept of the Terroir reflects a profound respect for the land that provides the good things in life – it is a principle that helps when trying to make wise choices.
• Don’t view your weight or your choices as a pass/fail situation. View it as a commitment to improving your life over the long haul.

All of these steps, for me, boil down to this: Eating real food in moderation simply works. It may very well be the solution to the French Paradox.

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Ed. note: I have been off in the mountains in pursuit of fish – but I got a chance to check in. I’ll be sending pictures of the fishing adventures soon – now that the power is back on. If you enjoy this post, please consider receiving Almost Fit in your inbox. Thanks.

As I have mentioned in several places, (IowaAvenue,for one), on Thursday of last week I left my corporate day job in favor of pursuing personal projects, not the least of which is Almost Fit. As crazy as this may be, I have neither a specific plan nor another job lined up, but I do have a little bit of savings and a bunch of ideas.

Sounds like a recipe for World Domination if I ever heard one.

So rather than spending the days and evenings freaking out, I decided to execute the first step in my loosely gathered plan for world dominance: Go Fishing.

Fly fishing on the North Umpqua river in the mountains of Southern Oregon to be exact. My brother-in-law owns a beautiful campground and RV park on the North Umpqua called Umpqua’s Last Resort. The campground has hot showers and power to every camp spot, as well as two new furnished cabins. We have converged with my wife’s family for a week of camping, playing, and familial merriment, which is a fancy way of saying beer by the river with the cousins.

My first order of business (or so I thought) was to get a wireless Internet connection working. After an hour or so of plunking around with settings on their equipment, the wireless router was up and running, and the range was surprisingly far-reaching

This convenience was short-lived.

Later that evening we had a spectacular thunder and lightning storm which included most of us campers outside cheering on the light show as if it were being presented by the park owners. When the storm picked up (and the rain started), we moved under cover, but the display was exhilerating. Unfortunately, lightning strikes brought several trees down over power lines. No power means no Web connection, which meant Almost Fit would have to wait. The power remained out into the following evening, came back on for overnight for a while, but by the next morning the power was out again.

But all things considered, AC power is a minor inconvenience when your long term goals are to rule the world, or other similar grandiose aspirations.

S’more, anyone?

As you might imagine, on the eating track things have been a little looser since we’re camping. At home, I’ve primarily given up drinking beer in my daily routine, but that rule has been enthusiastically suspended here. I am also eating more meat than I typically do, and very few vegetables unfortunately, although the truth is I feel like I’m eating less over all because it is so hot here. Ah, the vagabond life.

On the plus side, exercise has been in full swing – there are numerous rivers and creeks that flow all over the mountains here, and we’ve been busy swimming, skipping rocks (I’m sure there must be a few calories burned there), and jumping from outcroppings into frigid waters below. I’ve also continued to pursue my 100 push-up challenge goals, as well as daily crunches.

In the next few days I’ll be publishing more on my fly fishing experience here, and many points between, so stay tuned.

Oh, and one more thing:

So what’s all this talk of World Domination? Now that the power has returned, I want to share with Almost Fit readers a little something that is impacting my thought processes over the last couple of weeks. But you’ll have to wait until the next post to see what I mean. Don’t worry – it’s not Amway or some cult – it is simply that I have bumped up against a kindred spirit online, and knowing that others exist with a similar goal in life has really thrown me into an entirely new and positive path.

It seems that quitting my job was very clearly a good idea. At least that is what I’m telling myself.

More to come……

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Ed. note: Here’s a little exercise story about a young man named Metroknow. Why his parents chose that name is beyond anyone’s recollection, but that’s not really integral to the story.

When I watch my soon-to-be four year old, like millions of parents before me I marvel at his sheer level of energy. He plays hard, laughs hard, cries hard, and sleeps hard. In my case I seem to have replaced all of those items with “work” hard. But, I’m getting back to playing a little too.

I grew up playing just about every sport I could get into, though rarely in an organized league. While I went through long periods of constant football, soccer, basketball, and some baseball, I really excelled at competitive volleyball into adulthood. As an adult, my somewhat regular exercise was either biking, running, or pickup games of basketball on weekends.

I was also an avid skateboarder from my early teens to my late twenties, and I have the knees to prove it. Throw in some skiing and snowboarding, and you have several years worth of the orthopaedic surgeon’s yacht payment.

At some point I got out of the habit of finding fun ways to exercise, and life times laziness plus a love of food equals about 5-10 lbs a year gained, multiplied by 7 years. Not pretty.

Why I hated running…for a while

In my thirties, realizing what was happening, I started getting back into running, or so I thought. When I was younger, distance running was much easier (to which I hear a collective, “DUH” arising…). But in my thirties, things like my knees started to make odd creaking and popping noises, my lungs seemed to have atrophied, and my ankles were prone to give out from time to time. What was happening to me? Was I being poisoned?

When it came to running, things were particularly frustrating. I was constantly trying to improve my time on my little course around the neighborhood, hoping for weight loss results. While I found it was beneficial mentally to get out, I saw absolutely ZERO results in weight loss. Why?

Looking back, there were obviously two parts of the problem:
1. I hadn’t changed my eating habits
2. I wasn’t doing it enough

I know it sounds simple, but the truth is when it came to exercise I was doing just enough….to hate it. I was running for only about 30 minutes or so, including warm-up and cool-down time. I was getting my heart rate up for what I considered long periods within that 30 minutes – but realistically? That was probably a sustained heart rate of 85% for about 7 minutes or so.

That is not going to yield a climber’s physique any time soon.

When I returned from my “run” (which I say with that ultra-annoying two-fingered “quotes” gesture), I was completely out of breath, convinced that I was exhausted, and ready to sit down and eat something good because I had earned it.

Let me just pause and say this: If you are not seeing a stadium full of little red flags waiving like a television pan shot at the coming Olympic games, then I think you may have a lot in common with me way back when.

So what changed? In short, I decided to participate in a charity training event to run a 1/2 marathon. To be frank, while I really was supportive of the cause (and I did raise my $2000 pledge), what I really wanted was some guidance on what I was doing wrong. And it worked. I was introduced to the walk/run technique, which ultimately allowed me to run 13.1 miles without dying. Though I felt like it was a close call by the end.

Do you have something you’d like to share with the class?

Basically I learned that a) If you don’t exercise enough, you won’t see results for many months, if at all and you will HATE it, and b) Injury is the enemy, so take it slow. That is what I did; even at 75 lbs overweight, I was able to complete the 1/2 marathon. Of course, my knees resented me and reminded me of my lack of consideration to them for many months after, but they seem to be a little more agreeable now.

All of that taught me half of the equation: If I want to see real fitness results, I need to exercise for longer than one half hour three times a week. While there may be some intensive programs out there that advocate abs and hind-quarters like titanium in 5 minutes or less, that is really not what I’m interested in. Wait. That came out wrong. What I mean is, my fitness goals are simply to improve my health, not to be the butt stand-in for Brad Pitt.

In the mean time, I am gaining mastery of the second half of the equation: My diet. Eating real food in moderation really does work. 26 lbs lost so far this year. The problem is, while I do feel better, and the weight is slowly coming off, I do not feel strong. I am not sleeping as well as I would like (a lifelong problem), and things jiggle when I walk that I would like to make stop.

That, and each day that goes by, my son is getting faster. I can’t let him beat me just yet – I have to have a LITTLE dignity, don’t I?

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“64 oz. soda? Does it come with a chance to win Boardwalk? Well then hit me Brutha!” – Metroknow, 26 lbs heavier

About 6 months ago, I completely quit eating fast food. For me, this was no minor feat. In the first part of this two-part series, I’ll tell you about my relationship (yes, relationship) with fast food. In part two, I’ll tell you exactly how I’m doing it, and how you can too.

I am definitely a card-carrying member of the fast food generation. I don’t know how many times I have made the decision on the size of a combo at McDonald’s based on which of the larger sizes included the most “extra” Monopoly game pieces, which generally led to winning – you guessed it – MORE fast food. I never won that extra-heavy Hummer with the dual 40 gallon fuel tanks.

Why do did I like Fast Food?

Like it or not, here’s the truth: fast food sells – in a BIG way. For me, here’s why:

1. Availability. In many parts of the country, we are simply overrun with fast food and junk food options. In L.A. suburbs, Portland suburbs, and most small towns, when you drive through the business district it looks like this: McDonalds, dry cleaners, cellular phone store, Jack-in-the-Box, stereo store, Starbucks, Taco Bell, KFC, cheap shoe store, Burger King, Wal-Mart, and then McDonalds again.

Repeat that cycle every 4-6 blocks, throw in an Olive Garden, a gas station, and a few 99-cent stores, and you have a drive across America that repeats itself like a Politician stumping from town to town, from sea to plastic-bag-filled shining sea.

Yes, fast food and dry cleaners are everywhere. And I’m not sure which one is more toxic. Someone oughta’ just get it over with and combine dry cleaners and fast food joints. After all, their prices are comparable, which leads me to…

2. Price. If there was ever an instance of pure self-destructive dietary temptation, it has been embodied in one thing: the ever-present-well-lit-open-24-hours-drive-thru menu. Double-cheeseburger for .99 cents at 4AM, and a taco? Without even having to sit upright in my SUV? Are you kidding me? I’ll take 3! And a shake and fries too? Good lord how can I NOT buy that?

It is a miracle that you cannot buy cigarettes at a fast food drive thru windows. No really – a true Miracle, as in someone oughta’ alert the Vatican. Whatever group of senators and congress-folk that passed that law may well have surpassed Mother Theresa in lives saved.

3. Taste. Now while some would disagree that for a set of us, fast food tastes, well, pretty dang good, think about it for a couple of seconds and you’ll see why I fall in the “tastes good” camp: Big chain fast food corporations pay tens of millions of dollars to figure out what taste, texture, and temperature combination will be more than just mildly non-offensive; the foodish items have to be so taste-filled and jolly good that an otherwise reasonable person will overlook every detail on where that combination of ingredients came from (and what it started out as), how far it’s traveled (and what rat nibbled on it), who’s touched it, dropped it, sneezed on it, reconstituted it, microwaved the heck out of it, then wrapped it in a container that will take 400 years to melt into the water table.

Your food product better be darn good to get us to forget all that.

That said, I am retraining my tastes, and it turns out that the real thing – you know, real food – actually tastes MUCH better, no matter what those voices in my head tell me every time I come within 500 feet of a container of Mountain Dew. Still doesn’t mean that super sugar taste isn’t sweet.

If I had that job, the one where you decide what goes on the 99-cent menu, I would already have it licked.

When asked how to improve the salability of an item, I would simply say, “Well that’s easy, Mr. Burns, sir! Add more cheap sugar substitute of course, preferably from a corn base, and a whole bunch of salt! Throw in some preservatives and cheap coloring, wrap it in a value menu, and you’ve got yourself the next McRib runaway smash hit! And the kids’ll LOVE it!”

I would be senior management material.

What, as a child of the deep fryer, did I do about it?

I obviously have an unholy relationship with fast food. Clearly. So what have I done about it?

Since the beginning of the year, I have successfully eliminated eating fast food, as well as soda in any form. Quit cold turkey. No more monopoly pieces. No more corn syrupy goodness in a pail. No chance of winning that Hummer.

So how am I doing with that so far? 90% of the time, amazingly well. The other 10%? I think the forces that be have been looking out for me. Let me explain.

Remember that one time? At band camp?

I confess. There was a point, a month ago, that I tried to give in and grab some fast food. I had both kids with me, and it had been a tough day. The three of us were hungry, tired, whiny, and wanting convenience. For me, that spells dietary trouble. And I am REALLY annoying when I whine.

I decided to just forget it – and give in.

I first pulled into the drive thru of the local Burgerville. For those not familiar with it, Burgerville is a local fast food chain that is considered better than average because they buy locally, organic foods, grass fed beef, free range eggs, and so forth. I rationalized, “well, if I’m going to do it, this is the place.” Nevermind that my old meal of choice was a couple of cheeseburgers, with extra sauce, a fry or two, and a seasonally fresh berry shake. Yeah, not exactly in my weight loss plan.

Unfortunately, Burgerville’s fatal flaw? Their drive-thru takes forEVER. Slow fast food. And with 2 tired kids, and no movement of the line, I gave up and moved on. Home? OH NO. I was going to have some fast food, and I was gonna’ have it NOW.

Enter: Taco Bell.

[Tangent: Can I just say that only a mega marketing giant like Taco Bell could pull off having a mascot that looks not unlike a shaved rat, and STILL get us to buy a handful of tacos with unusually finely ground "meat" as it's central ingredient. But I digress.]

Taco Bell is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Surely I could eat some garbage there! Pulling up to the magic board of ordering love, I noticed that there was a little piece of paper stuck to the microphone post:

“Closed for computer problems.”

Taco Bell closed? What? This does not happen in the civilized world! I mean, if there is one thing you can count on, it’s the availability of melted cheese product at every corner of this great nation!

Being a geek and all, I must confess that I thought to myself, “In all likelihood, those are Windows computers. So did Microsoft actually just save me from myself???”

After that, I did indeed give up. And I was glad I did. We went home, made a simple dinner, and all was well.

No Fast Food.

What’s the secret? Hypnosis? Nose plugs? Pain therapy?

So how did I do it? What secret voodoo magic am I using to avoid the most prolific business in America (not scientific statement; it’s my view of the world from inside my own corn syrup glazed lenses)?

In part two, I’ll describe the steps I took to rid myself of the fast food beast. It’s not as difficult as you think.

[UPDATE 6/18/08: Here's part 2: "How I stopped eating fast food - 20 ways to end the addiction".]

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