Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest, and it certainly was a long time in coming this year. Between a worn out pair of shoes with holes in the soles letting my socks get soaked daily from record rainfall, some pretty big bouts with seasonal depression, and some employment ambiguity, it has been a rough spring. But with 75-degree temperatures and mostly sunny skies, a new pair of hole-free shoes, and the kids out of school for the summer, things are looking up.

An Opportunity in the Making

One of the summer activities we have planned is to go camping with my wife’s extended family in mid-August. Her family has an annual family camping reunion each summer, and it generally involves lots of activities during the day, a fair bit of lounging and visiting, and not just a little food and drink. We always have an absolute blast, but I remember last year how it really would have been so much nicer to be a little thinner when we’re hiking around the mountains or swimming in the rivers.

With all of that on the roadmap, it occurred to me that this is one of those golden opportunities to use an imminent event to my weight loss advantage. Some folks will recall that I lost about 20 lbs at the beginning of the year using a combination of intermittent fasting (IF), whole foods, and reasonable indulgences. But the biggest motivator? An event – a weekend getaway trip with my wife to central California. I used that event as a focal point to lose weight, and it worked. Couple the food plan with exercise, and I was able to lose that weight pretty quickly.

Once the event was over, I wondered how well I would do with keeping the weight off. And to my surprise, I have kept most of it off since then. I say surprise because a) I wasn’t sure whether the quick loss of 20 lbs with IF would be a permanent thing, and b) I’ve taken my eye off the ball exercise and moderation-wise for the last few months. I think what is saving me here is that I’ve developed better food habits over the last couple of years, so my default foods are now whole foods rather than the junk I ate when I was younger. I have crept back up on the scale between 3 or 4 pounds from my low this year, but I can guarantee that its a direct result of a few too many craft beers combined with a lack of an exercise plan, and a whole lot of stress (stress and boredom eaters of the world, unite!).

But that ended earlier this week, with a conscious decision to make some changes to meet my family camping trip goal.

The Plan

With a little planning, I have already started to get my weight loss goals recharged. I would really like to be about 25 lbs thinner by the time family camp comes around, which is roughly 7 weeks. That would bring my year’s total to 40 lbs lost. And if I’m successful with this push, that will leave a final 35 lbs for the fall to reach my goal of 75 lbs for the year.

So how am I going to do it? This is the basic idea:

My Personal “Lose 25 lbs for Camping” Plan

Minimums per day:
6 glasses water
50 push-ups
30 crunches
5 minutes of “wall sit” strengthening exercises
30 minutes walk/run/cycle outside per day

Eating guidelines:

There are a few things I should clarify: First, this plan starts by using the principle of using minimums rather than goals for my basic daily habits. One of my usual reads is a site called Dumb Little Man, where they recently posted an article on this concept. The article was “Thinking Small without Guilt: Setting Your Minimum Goal Standards“, and it made a lot of sense to me. Rather than making success contingent on reaching a higher goal, view it as a bare minimum that must be met. Is 6 glasses of water enough to maximize my weight loss? Probably not – but it is certainly more than I drink on average, and a good minimum with which to start. And that is the idea – are 50 pushups enough after two weeks to really tone up? I doubt it, but it doesn’t matter. As long as I’m hitting my minimums, anything I do above that is cake. Mmm. Cake.

And once the requirement becomes comfortable and habitual, I’ll likely raise the minimums. I also have a set of exercise options to try for fun, but I am not making that a requirement – yet.

Second, you’ll notice that there is no calorie counting in this plan. My objective is to generally reduce my intake on a weekly level and not drive myself insane trying to account for every crumb (which for me has never worked). The plan is simple: eat reasonably on non-fasting days by eating whole, seasonal foods while limiting my sugar intake (including natural sugars). You might have noticed that there’s no “carbohydrate” day, and that is primarily because with my love of carbs I could easily undo the work of two or three other days if I ate bread all day. I’m generally keeping the carbs to a minimum, replacing them with vegetables, protein, fats, and some complex carbs/whole grains.

Third, the core of this plan in many ways is Intermittent Fasting. I enjoy fasting for a variety of reasons, though I know it’s not for everyone. This approach worked well for me in January, but this time I’m adding a little more structure to make planning easier.

Finally, on weekends I’m not going to worry too much about what I eat. I’ll still maintain my habits of moderation and real food, but if I want to have a beer with friends, I’m having that beer. Dessert? Definitely – just not 3 of them.

There are of course a lot more details involved, like what exactly I will eat on each day – but you’ll have to wait for the next few posts to find out. Will it work? Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed the article, please consider subscribing – it’s free, as always.

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To begin this post, I have two choices for an opening sentence – I’ll leave it to you to choose which you like better:

“It was a dark, stormy, sawdusty and bloated night…”

- Or -

“Once upon a time, in a far away land, I was an overweight cabinetmaker.”

(I’m leaning toward the latter.)

During college, I worked as a cabinetmaker in a small shop in the San Juan islands. One of my shining moments as an apprentice (and by shining, I mean horribly painful and incompetent) was during one of my first installations.

As the apprentice my job was primarily to fetch tools, carry heavy things, and clean up, leaving the real installation work to the more experienced installer I was helping. On this fateful day however, things went slightly different.

“Here. Take this screw gun, get under the counter, and when I tell you it’s in, sink a screw to hold it until I can get down there.”

“No problem,” I said confidently.

However, apparently by, “No problem,” I was trying to say, “Great – when you say GO I’ll put a shiny new 3-inch nickel-plated screw right through the visible surface of the brand new countertop for all the world to see!” …which I did. A very expensive custom countertop, I might add. The mistake was a not a cheap one, and could not be fixed on site. It would cost us at least another day, new materials, and a week’s delay to fix my basic mistake.

In the grand scheme of things, this really wasn’t a big deal – after all, nobody got hurt, and although it was going to be expensive to fix, it was a recoverable error.

However, as the new kid I was shaken up by it, partly because I wanted to keep doing this work, and probably mostly just out of embarrassment at having made such a simple mistake. I spent much of the afternoon kicking myself, and had a tough time focusing on much else.

Later in the afternoon as we drove back to the shop, I apologized again. “I’m really sorry about the countertop. It was so stupid.”

By contrast, and to my surprise, the journeyman installer seemed fairly nonchalant about it.

“Don’t worry about it – you’re doing fine. Do you know what the difference is between experience and inexperience?”

“Uh, you don’t put screws through the surface of countertops?”

“Nope. The difference is an experienced person recovers from their mistakes quicker. That’s it. That’s the big cabinetmaker’s secret. Congratulations. I’ll teach you the secret handshake another time.”

This lesson has stuck with me ever since, and I’ve tried to apply it in almost every facet of life where I’ve made mistakes. And to tell you the truth, I can’t think of an area of life so far where I haven’t made mistakes to one degree or another.

But one area I hadn’t thought about until today in which this applies is, of course, what I choose to eat.

Your Dieting Experience Counts

As a result of years of pop culture guidance and companies with products to sell, for a long time most people viewed weight loss as a “dieting” exercise. The result? Many of us are what you might call “seasoned dieters” – for better or, in my case, for many pounds worse. In fact, you could say we’ve got experience up the wazoo on both sides of the scale: how to lose weight – and how to gain it back with a vengeance.

So like me, you may have won a few (lost 60 lbs as a teen; ran a 1/2 marathon, etc.), and lost a whole bunch (South Beach, Atkins, Pritikin, ad infinitum). But guess what that is?

Experience.

Just because your experience may include more failed attempts to lose weight than successes does not mean that those missed attempts don’t count. You learned things through that experience. You learned what hurts. You learned what feels great. You learned what’s embarrassing, and how it feels to beat that embarrassment.

You also probably picked up more than a few good habits or ideas here and there, even if they might be at times overshadowed by the ones you need to conquer.

But they all count as experience. Each one.

So own that experience. Draw from it, and use it to push yourself forward.

How to Use Your Experience to Your Greatest Advantage

There are hundreds of ways to draw on the wealth of your own experience when you are focusing on diet and exercise. You may know you are more likely to exercise at certain times of the day. You may know that you have a weakness for refined sugars if they are available in your house. You may recognize that you put too much emotional emphasis on food as a means of escape.

But today, I’ll focus on just one way to use your experience to your advantage:

Lean on your experience to recover from your mistakes.

When you make a poor food choice, don’t waste time lamenting it. Don’t spend time kicking yourself over why you chose poorly; Admit your mistake – to yourself, or someone you’ve made yourself accountable to – and get on with the next step. That is powerful way of using your experience to your advantage, because having confidence in what you already know, you can immediately dismiss the past and get on with making the right choice now.

Most of us, in the moments after making a bad choice, go through that cycle of thought where we think that if we focus on the mistake, we’ll learn why we did it, as if we’re on a quest for that unknown, mysterious golden bit of knowledge that will stop us from doing that again. But is that really true? Is it of great value to spend inordinate amounts of time focusing on what we could have done better?

My assertion with diet specifically is that if you’ve been doing this for a while (you’ve got experience), it doesn’t generally require a lot of analysis when you make a mistake; it requires action. You already know why you ate it – it’s what you do next that really matters.

In fact, I think it’s fair to say that if you focus on the mistake for all of 5-10 seconds, you will have learned everything from that experience that you didn’t already know. I’m betting that 99% of the time you already knew it was not the greatest idea to hit the drive-thru.

For most of us in this process of rethinking our diets, focusing on our dietary mistakes for much longer than a few seconds only leads to frustration, negativity, and eventually apathy.

Most importantly, spending your time focusing on what you did wrong prevents you from focusing on this moment, right now, when you can chose to do things right. And by doing so, you’re not giving yourself the credit for years of experience. Credit that you deserve.

Epilogue

I worked as a fulltime cabinetmaker for several years during college, but I eventually left it for a job in software. And I believe that being trained to have a cabinetmaker’s eye for detail has really helped me in my seemingly unrelated career since. In particular, this principle of using your experience to your advantage always made sense in an industry that is perpetually seeking uncharted territory and new ideas. As I built experience, my goal was always to find ways to recover quicker from my mistakes, of which there were of course, many.

Now however, it’s time to apply it to my eating and exercise habits, because I want the end of this story to read,

“And the fit, formerly chubby writer, lived happily ever after.”

Thanks for reading.

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I love thrift store shopping.

And not just to save money.

In addition to being pretty frugal on certain things, I enjoy shopping at thrift stores for more than just the savings. Don’t get me wrong – I love finding that amazing deal, but that’s not quite enough to keep me coming back to the mysterious color-coded tagging systems, “vintage” kitchy glassware, and dusty late ’80s electronics bins. And although you might question how this is connected to improving my health, I assure you there are logical reasons.

There are also a few gigantic, impossible, James-Cameron-like stretches of reason – but hear me out.

Before I get into that, let me be clear that there are a few things I don’t buy ever at thrift stores. Old non-stick cookware is out. Old electronics? Very rarely, if ever. Underwear? No way ever ever ever. And the king of things to never buy? Intimate items for your significant other, which amazingly they do sell (never never ever, gentlemen).

Reasons I love shopping at thrift stores – oh yeah and that health tie-in thing

Here’s a list of some of the reasons why I love shopping at thrift stores when you’re trying to lose weight.

- Rewarding yourself with clothes that fit – on a budget. One of many great tips I come across repeatedly (and use to my advantage) is to “reward” yourself with clothes that fit as you get in better shape. Similarly, you can set up a goal by buying something that you love but that is a little too small – Its a great motivator for me.

However, clearly this could get expensive if you’ve got a lot of weight to lose, and especially if you’re eating higher quality food that may force you to rethink your budget priorities a little. And that’s where thrift stores come in.

Case in point: The pants in the picture.

I bought these pants today knowing full well that they do not fit – YET. They are about a size too small in the waist, but the quality was too good to pass up. So, these pants become a great weight loss tool: they are an affordable source of motivation to get down another pants size.

And these pants are luscious. Yeah, I just said “luscious”.

They are pants that normally retail for easily more than I’d spend on 3 pairs of pants, but being a find at the thrift store means they’re within my inner cheapskate’s boundaries. And the best part? Today was blue tag day at the thrift store, so they were marked down by an additional 50% to $7.47 – an almost 95% discount off of retail, and never worn as far as I can tell. But they will be soon, proudly.

- It’s a hunter gatherer thing: I love the thrill of the style hunt – even for styles meant for thinner folk. My wife and I both love to find and share things that are visually interesting or unusual, from innovative ads to well-designed kitchenware. Fashion is no exception. It’s not uncommon for me to rush from one side of a large store to the other only to extoll the virtues of the triple stitching in a jacket, or the rare-but-highly-sought-after hand-stitching of vintage Italian leather shoes.

Personally, I think it’s good for our marriage. Unfortunately, most of these great finds are for people of, well, slimmer physiques. But turning that into motivation works for me, even if I don’t buy it (I will never be a size 28 waist. No way.). It doesn’t help me with fine leather shoes much, but pants, shirts, and jackets? Definitely.

- Exercise equipment graveyards – Or, “things at which you should not throw your money”. Thrift stores almost always have piles of grungy, junky fad-driven exercise machines. The piles of junk are good reminders not to waste your money in the first place. There are better ways to exercise than overpriced, poorly made fly-by-night contraptions that wither and die in the closet or under the deck.

- On the other hand, exercise equipment graveyards are good places to find new things to try – on the cheap. Occasionally buried in those piles of ab floggers and thigh blasters you can find high quality items that are made to last and might give your exercise routine a change – at a fraction of the original price. Good examples of quality items I’ve found are cast iron dumbells, kids’ sports gear, and sometimes bicycles (if you know what you’re looking for).

Today was a great example: Thanks to some personal knowledge of bike gear and my iPhone I was able to check the original price as well as the reviews for a bicycle that had just been put out, and it was a good deal: It retailed for over $400 dollars several years ago, not including the improved seat and rims that it came with. My price? $19.95. Sold.

- Haunting thrift stores is a good way to stay grounded. This might sound terrible to some, but it’s honest: If you visit thrift stores often you will quickly encounter a huge cross-section of people ranging from those who are pretty “together” just looking for a bargain, to those who…well let’s just say that in the Texas Hold ‘Em game of life, so far they either a) haven’t been dealt much by way of face cards, or b) wasted more than a few good hands by indulging in some of the more destructive vices of life – for much too long.

I point this out because there are a few immediate internal results each time I leave a thrift store. First, with regard to patrons clearly down on their luck, it’s a good reminder that hard times can befall anybody no matter what station you think you’ve reached in life, or what good fortune you’ve had so far. It reminds me to be thankful for what I have in health, in my family, and in my work. It also reminds me that we’re all just people, and it takes all kinds.

But it also reminds me that my life choices matter. If you continue down a path of self-destructive behavior (i.e. smoking, eating junk, drinking excessively), in all likelihood it’s going to catch up with you sooner or later both in form and function. And some of the rougher folks at thrift stores, sadly in my opinion, are living proof.

In my case, that means being as healthy and “put together” as I can be. Seeing someone at the opposite extreme is frankly a good reminder that I’m in control of my own fate, regardless of the circumstances or in some cases, the choices, of others. Does this make me better than them? No. It means every day I make a good choice, I took responsibility for my life in that moment, and I was really fortunate to have that option.

- Buying quality products is synonymous with buying quality food. While I don’t recommend ever, ever buying a snack at a thrift store (yikes), being surrounded by piles of plastic disposable junk reminds me that we are bombarded with the “more, and cheaper, is better” philosophy in everything, and we as a culture continue to buy it over and over again.

But we don’t have to. You can buy quality things that last, even on a budget. Finding good quality items in a thrift store requires time, including both the search and the research beforehand. But the investment of time pays off in big ways, and affords me the “luxury” of putting my money into better choices in other categories, like food.Thrift stores have piles of cheaply made, worn out clothing. But occasionally you find something that you could never normally afford that has little if any wear (my wife once found a pair of women’s pants that were from an exclusive designer – they were $400 dollars originally!) But knowing what you’re looking at of course involves learning a bit more about what to look for in brands, in construction, and so forth. And that may not be your cup of tea.

For me, it has become a hobby of sorts that I enjoy. I love looking at sites like The Sartorialist for style ideas (though some are a bit too “out there” for me), as well as guidance in understanding why some clothes look better than others (where a jacket should fall on the shoulders, what a tailored shirt looks like vs. a cheaply made shirt, etc.). Again, it may be a little too “chi chi” for you, but there is nothing that says you have to follow what sites like these suggest; you can pick and choose some of the advice, or none at all.

The soapbox – You knew it was coming, right?

Believe it or not, I am increasingly of the belief that consumerism is one of the root societal causes of obesity – even beyond our food choices. Walk down the aisles of a thrift store and look at pile after pile of broken, branded, unnecessary junk, from giant candy-shaped plastic toys to junk food-themed cookie jars, and you will start to see how this mirrors what we are being continually told to put in our body from a food perspective.

And while I may be waxing philosophical a bit here, I think there is merit to the idea that we can easily look at our food like we look at a pile of cheap plastic goods. Buying cheaply solves an immediate problem/hunger, and on occasion is necessary – but more often than not a better choice can be made by reprioritizing where we put our dollars and planning ahead for what we need. And in the end, whether it’s plastic thrift store items or cheap industrial food, the junk adds up.

As I mentioned, thrift store shopping may not be of interest to you. But that’s OK. It just means more bargains for the rest of us.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it via Twitter, StumbleUpon, or Facebook. I do appreciate it.

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• Year goal: Complete at least one major running event this year.

Sub-goal: Beat my aversion to running in the Oregon rain.

Milestone for January: Return to running 3 miles 3 times per week, with one 5 mile run by the end of January.

• Year goal: Lose 75 lbs this year – and if I lose it early, keep it off.

Milestone for January: Lose 10 lbs this month.

• Year goal: Start writing at least one meaningful post per week for Almost Fit.

Milestone for January: you guessed it – 5 Almost Fit posts.

So how am I doing so far?

Return to running

Grade so far: A-, but satisfied

What I’ve done so far: Running has been going really well for the most part. As you may know if you’ve been reading Almost Fit for a while, I am a big fan of interval training particularly for those of us who are overweight. It’s a great way to safely increase your workouts without as much risk of injury.

This month so far I’ve completed:

• Five 3-mile runs
• One 3-mile speed walk (recovering from a mild heel injury after my last run of 2009 on New Year’s Eve)
• One 5-mile run

By my count I should be at a total of 9 runs so far this month (including the one recovery walk), but I’m only at 7. And yet I’m satisfied. Why? In a word, illness.

Down for the count

I’ve been sick this week with what started as minor chest congestion and sore throat, but concluded the week with a major asthma and fever attack. Without exaggeration, Friday night was nearly a visit to the emergency room. In fact I’m writing this post from bed, where I’ve stayed by direct order from my amazing and wise wife for the last two days. So the fact that I’m a little behind on the number of runs doesn’t bother me at all. It’s the smart thing to do not to push it too hard. I’m starting to feel much better today, but I’m going to lay low for a couple of days to be sure.

Oh and my sub-goal of beating my aversion to running in the rain? Check. Most of those runs were in rain and wind, and believe it or not I actually enjoyed the stormy Pacific Northwest winter weather on my 5-mile run. There is something thrilling about jamming out with your ipod while the world rages wind and rain around you – I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Weight loss progress

Grade so far: A+

My goal this month was to lose the first 10 lbs, which for me have always been the easiest. So how am I doing?

As Gary Vaynerchuk says, I am CRUSHING it.

Weight loss so far this month: 16.2 lbs, and counting

How am I getting there? Two things:

• First of all, I have a specific objective for the end of the month. I am surprising my wife with trip (she knows we’re going somewhere, but I’ve kept the destination a secret), and I’m using that to fuel my motivation. When we head out in whatever transportation fashion we are taking (sorry love, no clues here ) I want to feel as good as I can feel. Losing weight is the principal way for me to achieve that.

• Second, I am controlling what I eat, but in a slightly unusual (I think) way: I’m trying out what I’m calling the “keep my body guessing” technique. I’m using a combination of eating methods: I’ll practice intermittent fasting (IF) one day, then eat primal foods the next, then eat all things moderately the next, then have an IF day with an evening of indulgence – in good, real food, including on one night, (good heavens) beer.

With eating however, there are three significant undercurrents:

• I am only eating real food, meaning well-sourced proteins and fats, moderate whole grains (with the occasional whole wheat English muffin), lots of vegetables, and some fruit, though I keep that to a minimum. Also no more half and half in my morning coffee (but that is more for digestive reasons). I’m also very water conscious, and have eliminated juices.
• I’ve all but eliminated refined sugar from my diet. Here’s an article at one of my favorite sites, Mark’s Daily Apple on why this is crucial to good health: The Definitive Guide to Insulin, Blood Sugar & Type 2 Diabetes (and you’ll understand it)
• I’ve limited indulgence in alcohol to one evening out this month (so far), and occasionally a small glass of wine with dinner (particularly on IF days).

For me, sugar is one of my worst addictions. Even fruit sugars (meaning the sugars in a piece of real fruit) activate strong cravings for more and more sugar, so I am keeping fruit consumption to a minimum. Literally an apple a day, if that.

I love this approach so far, partly because I’m rapidly growing fond of intermittent fasting-but don’t want to overdo it. By eating moderately across the board (sans sugar) on non-fasting days, I ensure that I’m getting the nutrition I need, I’m getting food satisfaction, and the pounds are dropping. And as I mentioned in the previous article, fasting brings a whole different set of benefits that I am increasingly enjoying.

Third goal: Writing regularly to stay motivated

Grade so far: B+

By my count, this is article number four of five for this month. Whether this particular piece is meaningful or not (part of my goal) depends on your perspective of course; but for me, it’s personally important, so I’ll take it.

Preview of coming attractions

I’ve been having some interesting conversations about calories, fats, and so forth (thanks Jen for the inspiration) via Facebook that have challenged me to dig deeper into the science of calories, so look for a post soon on that. I’ve also been studying more on the science and lore of primal and paleo eating, which I find interesting as well.

I also have an upcoming guest post from a friend who is on his way to losing 80 lbs by his birthday in just a few days, which is incredible considering he is a gourmet chef. Definitely stay tuned for that.

One more post this month and I’ve reached my goal for five in January. That said, I have room for improvement as I feel that its gone a bit too long between this post and my last. I’ll get there.

Wrapping it up

So far, January of 2010 has been a great, great start to reaching some major life goals. I hope you are finding success as well. Have you had success with fitness goals this year so far? What has worked? What hasn’t?

Thanks for reading.

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The idea of intermittent fasting (IF) has intrigued me for some time. I am a big fan of the website Fitness Spotlight, and have read their exhaustive research on the subject of IF several times, always wondering whether it is realistic for me. Today, I gave it a shot.

A little context: Before I tried the fast I had a doctor’s appointment at which I discovered a) that I had already lost two pounds on the year at that point, and b) my blood pressure was surprisingly good (122/78) despite increased stress right now. This was great news since it was a significant improvement from borderline high blood pressure a year ago, and made me feel as though my longterm dietary changes have helped my overall health. Of course one measurement is not enough to establish a trend, but I’ll take it until the next BP check. Although I am far from in ideal condition weight-wise, my other vitals appear to be pretty good.

Good news at the doctor’s office, even a little, is a great energizer.

Second, this morning I got up with the kids at around 7:00AM, and felt motivated to go hard after my general dietary goals. I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything last night after about 9:00PM or so. Having been reading about the paleo/primal methods of eating over the past few days, and the use of intermittent fasting in combination with it, it occurred to me that I was in an ideal state to give it a try. I knew that I had a 3-mile run scheduled for the afternoon, so I was curious to see not only how I would deal with it throughout the day, but how it would affect my energy levels.

Why fasting?

In the bigger picture, I am intrigued by fasting because in a sense it de-emphasizes food as something to obsess about. Current trends in the diet world often include eating lots of small meals and pre-packaged snacks to “keep the fire burning”. I think there is some merit to this perhaps (stabilizing metabolism makes sense intuitively); but I think the opposite end of the spectrum is worth exploring. In many countries around the world people do not seem to need to eat constantly just to stoke the fires; when it’s time to eat, it’s time to really eat. When it’s time to do something else, food isn’t part of that activity. I’m not sure which way is better, but I have a feeling that thinking about food all day long by scheduling everything around 6 or more eating times and bringing snacks and drinks with us everywhere from car rides to doctor’s visits may not be the best solution.

That was a long way of saying I enjoy keeping an open mind on the subject, especially because there are simply no one-size-fits-all absolute truths in diet and exercise.

I also think that giving your digestive system a break, or an opportunity to recover, makes intuitive sense. Whether or not it leads to effective cleansing and restoration I can’t say; but it seems logical to give such a vital system a break once in a while.

[ed. note: I'll discuss more of the benefits in part 2.]

Quick summary of intermittent fasting (at least the way I did it)

For the uninitiated, the rules of intermittent fasting are relatively simple: No food at all for a set period of time, but water is fine. Water with lemon is preferred in part because it helps with hunger and additionally because it’s good for your liver. Note that in religious disciplines it is not uncommon for water to also be prohibited during a fast. This is far from a religious thing for me, so I opted for the water.

One of the chief strategies in intermittent fasting is to use your sleep time to your advantage. Sleeping for 6-8 hours means you don’t eat during that period; so starting a fast the night before is a great idea, and ultimately what I did.

Generally folks who fast successfully seem to fall into two categories. Quoting from Mike’s article on Fitness Spotlight (“Intermittent Fasting 101: How to start burning fat“):

Daily Fasting: Typically done every day and only giving the person a smaller eating window in which to get their calories. (for example, a 18hr daily fast would mean someone would only eat every day between the hours of Noon and 6pm). You will see varying times from 15-19 hours for daily fasting as seen with the Warrior Diet, Leangains, and Fast-5 approach.

Fasting 1-3x a week: This could also be called alternate day fasting/calorie restriction (for those doing it every other day). This is just fasting of usually longer periods 18-24 hours but only 1-3x a week. Many variations to play with here like the Eat Stop Eat method (24 hr fasts 1-2x a week).

I chose the latter option, fasting for 20 hours.

Finally, another key to fasting is what is called “clean eating” during eating times. This basically means eating whole foods with an eye on nutrients and meeting caloric guidelines. Again, the idea is that if you need to be eating at a calorie level that will keep your metabolism flowing, but if you are trying to lose weight, that you maintain a healthy caloric deficit. I’m not too concerned about the calories; but the nutrition is essential.

Heavy disclaimer: I should take a moment to note that if this is something that interests you, you should definitely read not only the Fitness Spotlight article, but do your research, talk to a doctor, etc. Fasting is certainly not for everyone, particularly people with known or underlying health conditions. This particular article makes it pretty clear that there is no magic formula for fasting that will work for every person. Your approach to fasting may be radically different from another person, ranging from a wider window of eating daily to 24 hour periods. Combining exercise can be effective, but it depends on whether you are an irregular exerciser or an athlete in perpetual training. In other words, this is not a one size fits all situation – there are simply too many variables. As Mike says, if something isn’t working for you, change it!

Common fears of fasting

If you read any of the forums where folks discuss the idea of fasting, you quickly notice that people generally fall into either the “I do it and love it” camp or the “oh my Lord that is so bad for you/dangerous/I could never do that/you could die” group. I am somewhere in the middle – listening to the concerns on one hand, but interested in the benefits as well.

The most important factor that seems to get confused is that contrary to the fearful mindset, you are not starving yourself. You are simply changing the time at which you eat. In fact, the idea is to reduce the window during the day in which you eat, but when you do eat you emphasize greater quantities of whole foods that provide the necessary nutrients and calories for a healthy diet.

The mental game

As longtime readers of Almost Fit know, I have clearly identified that food has some significant emotional ties for me. In fact, that is the biggest challenge for me diet-wise. The physical feelings don’t generally bother me when I’m less than full; it’s the emotional part that gets a little (or a lot) funky. When I’m trying to make a significant dietary change I almost always get irritable and, on a bad day, a sense of “hungry desperation” takes hold. I can get quite emotional about it, and completely irrational. Not fun.

So how would IF affect my emotional state?

Additionally, I purposely avoided activities that might bring out cravings. Television was off limits, as well as any reading on new recipes for lemon bars or smoked bacon.

The physical game

Physically I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had a strategy: Stay busy, and stay hydrated. Simple as that. I knew for sure that I’d feel the pangs of hunger, but I was more curious about the blood sugar effects.

I was also really interested in my overall energy level with no food; so often we convince ourselves that lack of food is the cause of low energy, when in reality it may be that the real culprit is poor food choices.

Lastly, knowing that I had a 3 mile run scheduled, I was really interested to see how I’d feel pushing exercise on nothing but water. Would it cause low energy, cramping, lightheadedness, or worse?

Going for it

With a plan in hand, I chose to go for it – I decided to try a 20 hour fast, which meant I would not be eating until 5PM. I also knew that if things got too frenetic I wasn’t exactly stuck on a desert island; I could always stop if it started to feel wrong.

So how did it go? Stay tuned for part 2.

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Editor’s note: This post is a “Real Food” recipe that follows the core philosophy of this site: Eat Real Food in Moderation. The idea is to find delicious, practical, seasonal alternatives to industrial food products. Of course, the recipes do not focus on low fat/low carb dietary ideas, so the key as always is moderation. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

Green corn tamales are a seasonal favorite in the American southwest, various areas of Mexico including Sonora and Veracruz, and even a few islands in the Caribbean. If you’re unfamiliar with green corn tamales, one of the hallmarks is the texture: where a traditional, well-made tamale is moist and cake-like, a green corn tamale is generally a little “wetter”. Depending on the version, the texture can range from nearly a creamy corn salad to somewhat like a thick custard. They are best made when corn is in season, generally from May to October in northern regions.

After doing some digging, it’s clear that there are a variety of theories on why they’re called green corn tamales. I’ve read ideas ranging from the use of the green husks to wrap them, to the fact that some include a non-traditional whole green chile (I highly doubt the latter as the reason). The theory I find most likely however is the use of fresh corn straight off the cob. Where “traditional” tamales rely on corn flour (masa) as the primary ingredient for the dough, green corn tamales generally use fresh corn as the main ingredient. The physical difference is obviously the moisture content in fresh corn, but I’ve also found that the flavor is (usually) slightly sweeter (particularly if the corn is ripe). The flavor also has an “earthy” quality to it that I don’t seem to get as much of in corn flour tamales. I also tend to think that the use of fresh corn for the tamale probably predates corn flour, but I don’t have any proof – it’s just a hunch.

Are green corn tamales worth the effort?

When I decided to try to make green corn tamales for the first time, I received a variety of responses from folks I knew who had made tamales before. But mostly it seemed that each comment echoed two themes: a) It is a LOT of work, and b) what time should I come over for dinner?

In making these tamales, I can confirm that they are right – there is a fair amount of work involved. But I would counter that it is no more work than many other traditional “real food” dishes we’ve tried so far (for example, authentic Indian meals we’ve prepared took nearly twice as long to prepare).

They are truly delicious, satisfying, and…did I mention delicious?

So the answer is YES. It is time consuming and does require some manual labor, but for me the payoff is well worth it.

One last thing…

I freely admit that I am far from a tamale-making expert, but I do love to eat them (big surprise). I developed a love for authentic tamales while living in Los Angeles for years, where abundant Latino culinary traditions are fundamental to the cultural landscape. These days I have some definite opinions on the qualities of a good tamale (translation, I’m rather picky at times), but I certainly fall into the Gringo category when it comes to making them. In fact as I made these, I really wished that I had my brother-in-law’s mother from Mexico looking over my shoulder and telling me what I was doing wrong – because truth be told it took a few tries to get them right.

Real Food Recipe: Green Corn Tamales

This version of the recipe happens to be vegetarian, but substituting beef or pork would be excellent as well. One of the great things about making tamales is you can really use any filling that suits your taste. Most typical savory tamales have shredded beef or pork of some kind, but I’ve found that this basic cheese and green chile vegetarian option is excellent (and does not require the extra steps of preparing the meat). Experiment; see what tastes good. For example, we recently had a Nicaraguan version of a tamale called a Nacatamal, and they used ingredients like a savory meat and asparagus with sweet plums, which was a great combination.

One alternative to try? Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato is excellent. And I imagine that a more dessert-like version would be wonderful as well.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

20 ears yellow corn, ripe and in season
1 package of corn husks* (optional, see notes)
2 cups medium grind cornmeal
1/2 cup unsalted organic butter**
1/2 cup organic shortening**
3/4 cup agave syrup (sugar also works if you don’t have agave)
1/2 cup cream
1 Tbsp. salt

Filling:
16  strips medium or sharp cheddar cheese
1 24-oz. can of whole green chiles

Parchment paper (optional)

Makes approximately 16 tamales

Preparation

Cut the ends of the corn off, leaving the husks easy to remove in large pieces. Reserve the husks and discard the silk. With the corn still on the cob, rinse each in cold water and pat dry. Cut the kernels from the cob.

In a blender, grind the kernels with the corn meal in roughy equal batches to make sure the corn meal is distributed evenly. The length of time in the blender depends on the texture you prefer, but we blended each batch pretty well until the hulls of the corn were mostly gone. Using a large spoon, mix the batches together in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the shortening until the mixture is creamy. Add the agave, salt, and cream, and then mix lightly. Add the cream mixture to the corn and mix together well.

Assembling the tamales

On a piece of parchment paper roughly 12 inches square, place two large husks, overlapping them lengthwise so that the narrow ends are pointing outward. Your little tamale nest should be shaped something like an American football. Using a large spoon, spread the batter into the husk – somewhere around a half a cup or so depending on the size of the tamale you want. Add a piece of cheese and a green chile in the center, and then cover with more batter.

Roll the long edges of the corn husks over the tamale, and then fold in the ends to seal in the batter. Roll the tamale up in the parchment, and then twist the ends of the parchment several times to seal the package. You can also tie them shut, but twisting seemed to work just fine.

To cook, steam on a rack for about an hour depending on how you’ve packed the tamales. For us, I stood the tamales up on one end and packed them into the steamer pot. This increased the overall cooking time to about 1.5 hours, but allowed for many more to be cooked at once. To test if they are done, take one out and open it up carefully (the steam is of course scorching hot, so use caution). If the tamale pulls away from the husk in a single piece, it’s done.

One side note: I don’t believe that the parchment is strictly necessary. If you package the tamale properly in the corn husk, you don’t necessarily need the paper to wrap it in – you can use string to tie off the ends. But if tamales are not in your regular rotation of cooking, the parchment is a shortcut that makes it a little easier.

To Serve

One of the brilliant things about green corn tamales is they really do not need a sauce since they are by nature very moist. That said, a good fresh mango salsa is excellent with this version. Serve with a side of seasoned rice and black beans, or eat it by itself – it’s up to you. Tamales are typically served in the husk, so that the person eating unwraps the little package and enjoys the melting, comforting contents.

Notes

One of the great things about these tamales is they freeze and reheat very well, so it’s worth taking a little extra time to make a large batch. By freezing them, green corn tamales transform from real food into “convenience” food for later. Forget the frozen TV dinner or awful tasting Hot Pocket – opt for the homemade comfort of a tamale.

*Corn husks: To wrap the tamales, there are basically two options. Traditional green corn tamales use the green husks from the corn you use, which does work, though your success depends on both your skill and the size of the green husks you have removed. The second, easier alternative is to use pre-dried corn husks that are pre-soaked in warm water. I tried both ways and found that I had better results with the pre-soaked husks, as they are much larger and easier to work with. So, if you go with the easier choice, you’ll want to pre-soak the husks in warm water for at least 10 minutes. Dried husks can be found in ethnic food aisles at most grocery stores, and a package of 100 or so costs all of five bucks.

**Lard as a better alternative: The next time I make this I’ll use locally obtained lard (not the hydrogenated store-bought version), which not only has health benefits but is undoubtedly closer to the original recipe. For more information on the health benefits of lard, see this Seattle Times article: The Real Thing. The Weston A Price Foundation also has some excellent information on the subject.

All in all, this recipe was well worth the time and effort. I’ll be making another batch soon – so be on the lookout for a dinner invitation.

Thanks for reading.

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Note to Almost Fit readers: This photo is, surprise surprise, ME, from a while back. I rarely post photos of myself, but I think I’m going to try to change that over the coming months to increase my level of accountability. At any rate, this is what I looked like – 4 years ago after having run 13.1 miles .

That’s not physically possible for me to do

When my wife and I trained with a group for a 1/2 marathon a few years ago, part of our motivation was to spend time together. That worked sometimes, but the truth be told when we ran together, my wife was always holding her pace back a little, and I was usually pushing harder than was healthy for my body at the time. Essentially I was trying to “catch up” even though my body really wasn’t ready for it.

When we trained, I was put in a slower pace group. When I expressed my wish to catch my wife’s pace group to our coach through extra training, she looked into my eyes, put her hand on my shoulder, and quietly said, “I hate to break this to you, but…you’re not going to. I know you think that if you just work harder you’re going to get there, but the truth is? Not possible.”

I was rather shocked.

I mean, wasn’t she supposed to say, “Great Goal, Big Guy! You can do anything you want to do! Why, you can be President someday if you just put your mind to it! Go Team Go!”

But realistically? She was right. Part of me thinks that given a longer stretch of time and some really consistent training, I could eventually have caught up with her. But one obvious problem with the aspiration was that our event was only 3 months away, and there simply wasn’t time for me to get there in that short of a training window. But beyond that, I had to remember – my wife was literally less than 1/2 my weight, and in good shape. Secondly, for every hard run with my slower pace group, she was logging a hard run with her faster group. In other words, with every day we trained, we each got faster and stronger.

So what was the lesson? The coach was trying to help me to see that overtraining would not help me accomplish my goals, and with such a limited timeframe, my goal was truly unrealistic. If I wanted to complete the task, I was going to have to forget about the competitive aspect of trying to catch up with someone much faster than I, and just focus on where I’m at, and where I’m going.

Lesson learned.

Catching up – on Reading: Part 1

It has been months since I’ve made the time to really catch up on what folks around the Web are writing about, particularly when it comes to health, fitness, and overall well-being.

That ends today.

To all of my fellow writers, bloggers, and scribblers (you know who you are), this is for you. This is part one of a list of my favorite articles over the past couple of months, as well as some blogs that readers of Almost Fit will probably find interesting/inspiring, as I have. Note that most of these are diet and fitness related, but there are some great food blogs in here too – they may require an extra bit of moderation though, so consider yourself warned.

Fit Bottomed Girls: My Own End to Overeating (Well, for the most part)

Mark’s Daily Apple: How to Render Bacon Fat (Plus a Fennel and Dill Omelette Recipe)

Kelly the Kitchen Kop: Ten Tips for Building a Healthy Immune System

Fitness Spotlight (formerly Modern Forager: Are Low Carb Diets Overrated for Health and Longevity? The Kitavan and Okinawa Diets

Wine Guy World: I’m feeling super, man

Andrew is Getting Fit: A few questions answered [or, the secrets of one of the most inspirational fitness bloggers I've ever read]

Get Fit Slowly: Where I’m at

60 in 3: How Far are You Willing to Go?

FertileHealthy: Taking it to the next level

Cranky Fitness: Evil Non-Dairy People

Bohemian Revolution: How to send back food at a restaurant

Go Workout Mom: Beware of Limiting Labels

Gym Junkies: The Quickest Way to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Gourmeted: As Basic as Choux Pastry, As Classic as Julia Child

Health Bolt: The Keeler Migraine Method Q and A

John is Fit: My Visit to a Sleep Clinic: Overnight Sleep Study

MizFit Online: Spotting 101 and Losing the Guilt

What’s Cooking: Blackberry Flan Ice Cream

Orangette: The whole point [and a recipe for salsa verde for potatoes]

Food Blogga: Healthy Cherry, Banana, and Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Food Wishes: Dry-Aging Steak at Home – The Final Chapter: I think it worked

That concludes part 1 – I’ll be back in a week with part 2. Again, thanks to everyone who has stuck with Almost Fit through some down time. I think things are finally back in gear.

Thanks for reading.

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Last night we had a great evening out. The idea was to get a babysitter for the kids, have dinner with friends, then go to a parenting class, and finally head to a pub for a well-earned drink or two.

Mission accomplished.

However, in the midst of all of that fun, I learned something tremendously useful that I thought Almost Fit readers either a) already do (and I’m clearly in the dark again), or b) might find really useful, as I have.

Get with the program

Our friend K. runs a very successful business, and he has done quite well despite the current economy. That in itself is a feat given that I’ve heard of several of his peers that have gone out of business recently in Oregon, but add to that a full docket of family responsibilities, and I have wondered how he does it all.

As we ate dinner, in passing I described what feels like a slightly new philosophical direction for Leo at ZenHabits.net – one of the few blogs I read every day. Leo has made a few fairly “radical” moves lately, including attempting to eliminate email from his life altogether and bucking the popular productivity trends of heavy long and short-term planning in favor of going with the flow, with a focus on being present. Not exactly common ideas in productivity and motivational circles from my admittedly limited (but interested) experience, but the concept of being present really resonates with me.

In that context, K. described how a seminar he attended has really changed his life toward being present, organized, and effective without a lot of expensive planning tools ruling his every move. His wife also noted that this has made a huge difference for K., so much so that friends have asked what has happened to him lately. [Ed. Note: At this point I'm going to leave out the name of the system until I can get a few more details, but sufficed to say I think the readers that are interested in motivation and productivity may have heard of this. I'll update the post when I can verify the facts.]

I was intensely interested in this, not only because I’m working on a variety of personal projects that have stalled in some ways (including reviving Almost Fit to a level I’m happy with), but I really believe that the concepts of motivation and organization contribute to success in achieving health goals.

The ideas behind the system are not revolutionary; basically it involves using a log to capture thoughts, and then organizing those ideas at an established time each day. The system relies on using a calendar as a repository for thoughts and actions. As I said, these things are not new; however as part of this system they suggest a series of simple techniques that are all designed to free your mind from the clutter of a fast-paced life.

I need that.

One simple tool

To help organize myself a little better, I do what I think most of us do: I keep lists. Lots of lists. But to be honest, this often fails to be enough to motivate me to actually do the things I’ve written down.

It turns out that this is a common challenge (who knew?). To help make lists more powerful, here was his suggestion:

Rather than just writing down a task that must be done, rephrase the task to include the “why” of the task. This is similar to the concept of “positive phrasing”, but feels more practical (and useful) to me.

For example, rather than writing “do laundry”, or “Rock the laundry” (my version of positive phrasing ), I could rephrase it to “wash shirt to feel good at dinner tonight” – and then put that on my calendar. I know it’s a subtle difference, but the idea is to quickly state the reason that I need to do a thing, not just record the idea that it must be done. The trick of course is to keep it simple; it should be one sentence that captures the value of doing that one thing today. The power of that is then compounded when I actually schedule a time for it during the day.

So why bother? Why spend the extra few seconds to write out the reason? Ultimately, there are two key reasons that immediately come to mind: First, it’s so I don’t have to carry that reason around in my head any longer or rework through the reasoning later. My head is chock full of things I really need to purge that float around in there for years on end, and this is a good way to do it. Second, providing a reason not only frees your mind from having to recall the reason later (which for me leaves room to justify procrastination), but forces you to pause, be present, think about and concisely state how important it is to get the task done.

So I decided to try it straight away – no excuses. Here’s how it went.

Testing the technique

Big picture goal: Complete the first draft of my super-secret new book.

Task: Write a rough draft of one chapter of my new book – Today.

A little context: I am currently writing a book, but it’s been slow going. I have the outline formed and the concept is ironed out (it’s evolving as I think it through), but getting to the actual writing has been a real challenge. I know that I’m passionate about the subject, and have been thinking about it for a couple of years now, so it should be coming together. Unfortunately, it is my easiest task to procrastinate.

So, today here’s what I wrote:

“Complete rough draft of one chapter to get one step closer to November completion.”

Maybe its a little cheesy (I can admit I need to practice this idea) but it seems to be working. After I thought about whether I wanted to do this today, whether it was attainable, and WHY it’s important to me, I could let it go and focus on my other tasks without the nagging distractions of uncaptured thought on this subject. Each time I look at that goal I feel a small charge of energy realizing that I have a really, really good reason to work on this today. Since I wrote the reason out, I am essentially telling myself that I’ve already gone through the “why do this” phase and now have little excuse but to just do it. And then by allotting time to do it, I’ve suddenly got a workable, reasoned plan that feels good.

Applying this to exercise and health

I think the practical application of this idea is pretty clear: Probably most of us have written on our daily list “exercise”, but for me that is rarely enough to get me to actually do it. If you want to exercise today, why not write out a very concise reason why, and then schedule it?

Here are a couple of other ideas: Do you want to eat a light dinner? Why not write that down as a task for the day, possibly saying something like, “Eat light tonight to prepare for a DECADENT meal with friends on Saturday”. Or, preserve your sanity with this: “Eat a reasonable sized piece of chocolate to stay satisfied with what I’m eating.”

I am going to keep trying this technique as well as a few others over the coming months, and will report back on the success. I hope it works. I have a lot that I want to get done, and could use a simple (and free) tool or two.

One last thing on motivation

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a big fan of ZenHabits.net. I read it daily, and have recently purchased Leo’s new book, “The Essential Motivation Handbook“. If you are looking for a very straightforward set of ideas on motivating yourself to accomplish your goals while simplifying your life, I highly recommend the book.

I’ll be doing a more indepth review of the book soon (I’m still in the midst of reading it), but I highly recommend it if you are looking for help to get up from the couch and back on track. It is based on many of the articles on Zen Habits as well as Eric Hamm’s site, MotivateThyself.com (Eric is coauthor), and is well worth every penny.

Thanks for reading Almost Fit.

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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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“OK, let’s see. What made me happy today was drinking hot chocolate with Jonah and his Mama after sledding.”

“OK Mom, now your turn.”

“What made me happy was…well Dad stole my idea, but I’m going to say getting to sleep in a little today on a Sunday morning.”

“OK my turn: My favorite part was…Dad can I have the same favorite part as you?”

We’ve begun a new tradition in our house.

Of Tequila and Artichokes

For whatever reason we don’t really seem to have many family traditions; Neither of us have a lot of “extra” things that we simply have to do regularly out of a sense of duty, solely because that is what one does under the circumstances. We have definite habits, patterns, and schedules, but the vast majority of the time we’re not conscious of daily, annual, or seasonal out of the ordinary traditions that we look forward to. Having just passed through the holiday season, it is pretty clear that many families have a lot of food-related traditions, which come in every shape and quantity imaginable, but it’s also equally clear that many of us have lost those traditions.

I would say my wife’s family has a few traditions that we honor; when they get together my wife’s siblings and their Mother truly enjoy sharing a steamed artichoke together, which reminds them of times gone by when sharing an artichoke was an extravagance. And in times of either joy or sorrow, a shot of tequila is their family drink – a tradition that as an inlaw (or, “Outlaw” as we’re collectively named) I apparently heartily embrace.

You’ll eat it – and you’ll like it…at least you better

So what happened to the importance of family traditions? Are many of us just too busy to make time for them anymore? I think the “time” excuse is the most common among folks I’ve asked. But if you think about it, we’ve developed much of the framework of modern life to surround convenience, all so we can, “save time for the things we really want to do”. So why don’t we do those things?

The simplest answer is we don’t, because we don’t have to. Families seem more fragmented and independent than ever, and family traditions seem to be a casualty of being more easily removed from one another. Somewhere along the way many of us have lost the desire to carry traditions forward, even when we have the means or time to do so. It used to be that religious involvement was the medium for the passing of traditions, but these days even those traditions are often pretty easy to dismiss as a young person, too busy to bother with what Grandma thinks is the “right” thing to do.

I guess one straightforward question to ask is, why is it important? Why should I care about whether or not my sister-in-law made her Jello-Pretzel salad again at this year’s reunion? Wait – this fruit cake is How old???

Ultimately, I think carrying on a family tradition is valuable for one simple reason: a family tradition reminds us of the importance of, well, family. It emphasizes the necessity of togetherness, spending time in person, face to face, in the company of our “people”. For us, we of course have extended family, and adopted family members, and all points in between when we get together. When family assembles, there’s almost guaranteed to be a lot of hugging and laughter, and equally likely a disagreement or two. It wouldn’t be the same without a little friction at times I suppose.

But on a more daily level, I think family traditions are important too. Many of those simple daily traditions, particularly the ones surrounding food, have gone by the wayside as the television has taken over. Eating a meal together at the table is less and less common, and daily family traditions are hardly the subject of conversation on Facebook, Twitter, or Digg.

Our new tradition

In our house, we’ve made the conscious decision to create a new family tradition that emphasizes the simple importance of slowing down and reflecting on the day and talking to each other about what we experienced. Here’s how it goes:

My son gets the salt shaker and he usually begins. It’s very simple; holding the salt shaker as a symbol of who has the attention, he announces what part of the day made him happy. In his case, he always says, “My favorite part was…” which is something he’s picked up at pre-school, but ultimately our tradition is to take time each day to express to the family the part of the day that made us happy. After he recites his choice, he chooses who goes next, and the salt shaker is passed.

It’s a simple tradition, but one that our 4-year-old son absolutely loves. He gets to very clearly be the center of attention for a few moments at dinner, and he glows when he does. But more than that, he sees that we all share the same patterns, and that he is part of us as a whole. He also learns to focus on the positive parts of his day, I believe because he’s seeing his parents do so. It also makes him feel like he is part of something bigger, which is not often talked about in our culture but I think is fundamental as humans. I hope that he carries it forward to his kids, in whatever form makes sense at the time.

And while I may be focusing on what our 4-year-old gets out of it, as adults my wife and I get something out of it as well: It reminds us to reduce our life’s velocity, eat slower, savor the experience of eating a meal together, and remember that we did indeed have positive things that occurred throughout the day. Our family’s tradition of getting the salt shaker helps us to stay grounded, to see the good in each other, and to remember that life is not about the speed with which one passes through it.

From a diet perspective, slowing down and savoring what you eat is one of the core principles of Almost Fit. In this case our new tradition is not some revolutionary diet hack; it’s a simple tool to add to the variety of approaches that remind me to eat slower, remember the good in the day, and give my loved ones my undivided attention over a meal.

As it’s been said many times before, In many ways, and maybe no greater so than with traditions of food and family, the journey is indeed the destination.

Thanks for reading.

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