Portion Control

At my work, we have a great employee health program. There is this online, self-directed nutrition coach and it send outs a lot of really great tips on nutrition and exercise. One thing I struggle with is portion control - what IS a portion, anyway?

Here are portions paired with common items to give you an idea:

• 1 cup of cereal = a fist
• 3 ounces of meat = a deck of cards
• 1 medium fruit = a tennis ball
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter = a Ping-Pong ball
• 1.5 ounces of low-fat cheese = four stacked dice
• 1 teaspoon of oil = a standard postage stamp
• ½ cup of pasta or rice = ½ baseball

Year of Gratitude - Day 198 - Fitbit

My husband bought me a Fitbit today. Much like my iPod did many years ago, this is the device that is going to help me change my life. I am grateful for tools like this, MyFitnessPal and the countless cooking sites I use to change the way I eat and exercise.

Book Review: Your Big Fat Boyfriend

Your Big Fat Boyfriend: by Jenna Bergen
The reason I picked up this book was because since I had quit smoking, I started gaining quite a bit of weight. Though it appears I have started to get my weight under control, I still wanted to discover ways to make healthy eating and exercise a sustainable part of my life. Surprisingly, this book might be the ONLY reference I'll need. It was fantastic and one of my luckiest book picks ever. It was such a fulfilling read, no pun intended.

Normally I'd never sit down to read A) A self-help book or B) a diet book, but the weight gain from quitting smoking created the need to reach out. But wait - this is NOT a diet book, though it is a self-help title. The author, Jenna Bergen, does a great job of providing a ton of helpful, practical advise in a little, one-sitting book. Topics include ways to add nutrition to your diet, ways to get your boyfriend interested in different foods, calculating your dietary needs and getting exercise out of everyday, fun activities. Not once was Bergen preachy or bitchy. (I tried the "Bitch in the Kitch" series and wanted to gouge my eyes out.)

Also, it's important to note that my boyfriend is not big and fat, quite the contrary. He is very lean, eats very well, and is in good shape. The book made me really introspective and I realized I was the Big Fat Boyfriend (BFB). I realized it was not HIM eating a ton of pizza with ranch dressing. Nor did he make me eat that enormous bacon, cheeseburger. He's also not the one keeping me in bed when I should be up and at 'em, working out. You get the drift. This book is not about boyfriend bashing. I found the author really found a way to connect real life and the choices we have to make when part of a relationship.

Bergen keeps it really fun, lighthearted and simple all while inspiring you to eat better and get your but moving. Plus, I literally laughed out loud a couple of times. The writing is good, very to the point and Bergen wastes few words on rhetoric. It's not the "starve yourself" option or the cut carb option or all the other diet-like crap that's out there. It's about identifying your specific problems, whether they be about eating or exercise, and taking specific, easy steps to make the change.

Loved this book and was immediately inspired to live healthier than I have been. Highly recommended for all women, whether you have a better half or no.

Food and boundaries

Lately I have paid more attention to my diet. I'm not a good eater, but I'm trying to improve. I'm brown-bagging it much more often and eating lots of fruits and veggies. But I like eating a lot of food. There's very few foods that I dislike.

Then I found this quote by Tom Hanks and it put a very interesting perspective on eating anything you want:

"Eating everything you want is not that much fun. When you live a life with no boundaries, there’s less joy. If you can eat anything you want to, what’s the fun in eating anything you want to?"

Good call, Tom Hanks. Good call.

Counting makes it all better

Never thought I'd write something like that. I hate math. Always have. But I've been using my brain (and fingers and toes) for a lot of counting lately. This has the scent of OCD, but I'm cool with that. Counting has really been helping me. Here are my latest counting endeavors...

• When I saw the economy taking a nose dive I really started thinking about finance seriously. I started listening to business podcasts, paying attention to industry trends and just keeping abreast what was going on. Obviously, things looked real bad and I acted on something that I have heard personal finance experts shout from the mountaintops - CREATE A BUDGET! You can't begin to make changes to your spending habits if you don't know what they are. This can be said for the following points as well. It's kind of a pain in the butt at first, but you get used to it and you learn about where your money is going.
  
• About three months ago, I quit smoking for good. No longer would I put myself through the torment of the habit. It was not easy. I found that when I was in bars I would count how many cigarettes people smoked. Man, do they speed up when they have a few adult beverages in them! That was pretty appalling. Yet, perhaps the best way to use counting to QUIT SMOKING is to count how much money you save. When I smoked, I would purchase two packs of cigarettes a week at $5 a pack. I haven't smoked in twelve weeks, meaning I saved $60. That may not seem like a lot, but at least it's being spent for something that isn't going up in smoke. I'll probably put it toward a pair of running shoes.
  
• I've been on a pretty strict DIET lately and I'm exercising more. I have been calorie-counting like crazy. It's miserable, don't get me wrong, but it is so enlightening. You have to know your bad spending habits before you can fix them and you have to know your bad eating habits before you can fix those. Hence, I'm much familiar with the nutritional values of my favorite foods, what healthy portions look like, where I can cut out sugars and the like. I've been trying to keep a count of my calories, both consumed and burned, on this website called myfitnesspal.com. It's worked pretty well so far and it also lets you add your own foods.

Now if I could just apply some accurate measurement to making a decent cup coffee in the morning, I'd be all set.

Anti-inflammatory food pyramid

Found this anti-inflammatory food pyramid on Nutrition Data's Blog. There's an interactive version on Dr. Weil's website. Interesting stuff, but, uh, where does BBQ pulled pork fit in the pyramid?

Take the good with the bad...

I cruised down to Wayne State University in Detroit to do some research for a client at the Detroit Public Library. I had a mixed experience. It dealt with credit and food.

The bad...

As I turned off Warren and headed for the parking structure my eyes turned into tiny slits and I felt my face warm with anger. I saw the messengers of financial doom huddled under their mercenary tent, pictured here. I almost told them they should be a shamed of themselves, but decided since I was looking for a job, it might not be the best time to get smacked with any harassment charges.

The reason that I was so furious about this tent and the Chase minions under it was because of a documentary I watched a bit ago called Maxed Out. If you haven't seen it you must! If you have a kid going to college for the first time, or if you are a freshman reading this blog, take heed: if you are offered a credit card, turn and run like hell.

I understand that people need money in college for stuff, but the reason that these credit card companies come to campus is because they KNOW that students will drop into debt. Students, especially freshmen, are still learning how to spend money, but if they don't learn quick, Chase and all the other thievery corporations of its type bank off the learning curve. Hence, newly graduated high school students think they're getting a taste of independence, when all they're really doing is paving the first stretch of road that leads to terrible debt.

You know who else credit card companies bank of off? Poor people. Like students, poor people don't know how to spend their money and often times fall right into the credit hole as well. Huge corporate conglomerates like this don't make money off of rich people. They make money off poor people who don't know any better. It's disgusting, but all explained very clearly in Maxed Out. Besides, how do you think the mortgage crisis started? Same idea, give to the poor and bank off their mistakes.

The good...

After I completed my research, I took a stroll across the street to Wayne State's Farmer's Market. I was a little late, but still managed to score some beautiful garlic and squash. Good times. There were some good-looking peppers, too, but I didn't have enough cash on me. I've got to say, I'm really happy to learn about all these different farmer's markets in the area - there's one in Southfield every Thursday, one in Royal Oak every Friday and Saturday and there's always good ol' Eastern Market, which I've still never been to. Looking for a farm or farmer's market near you? Check out http://www.localharvest.org/. I haven't visited in a while, but definitely noticed that many more specs have appeared on the map, which is great news for local growers.

In related news, I heard about this really interesting (and controversial) new documentary called Food Matters. Probably one of the biggest draws for me with this flick is that it discusses how doctors aren't asking simple, but insanely important questions about our health: those regarding our nutrition. You know, questions like whether we are staying hydrated, what does our daily diet look like, etc. Thinking back on my visits to the doctor, I don't recall ever being asked that (just being scolded for smoking). What's up with that, doc?

If you're looking for some ideas on how to eat better, I might recommend the website http://www.nutritiondata.com/. There's a fantastic blog there, calorie counters and information about the food you eat, from how nutritious it is to how filling it is. I'm no mega-nutrition expert, but we've all got to start somewhere (and apparently it ain't at the doctors office - that's right, I said "ain't").

Superfoods

Food is fantastic - who would disagree?! However, some of my favorite foods have been getting a little bit ridiculous in price. I've also really been thinking about what I consume: where did it come from, how fresh is it, has it been doused in chemicals? But the most significant thought lately has been "What does it take to make this food?"

The old adage you are what you eat is taking on a new meaning for me. For example, I love beef, but cows have to be fed plenty of grain (not good for world food shortage) just so they can get fattened up, slaughtered and then shipped to Slows BBQ for my eating pleasure (all of which requires energy and creates emissions).

Speaking of emissions, those from the trucks and cars aren't the only problem. Cows also have multiple stomachs, making them burp and fart methane, a greenhouse gas. I don't want to be a multi-stomach gas machine (not all the time, anyway), so I have been expanding my eating horizons to stuff that grows as a plant. Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up on eating critters, but I'm trying to cut back, for their sake and mine.

For this blog, I pulled together some information on superfoods. I have heard time and time again that a nutritious diet can help prevent and/or heal the body's ailments. I intend to find out.

These two WebMD articles are great:

• 'Superfoods' Everyone Needs - discusses blueberries, fish, soy, fiber, tea and dark chocolate!
• 10 Healthy Foods Under $1 - excellent! covers apples, bananas, baby carrots, canned beans, canned tomatoes, oranges, lentils, pears, pearl barley and again, yogurt.

Listen to these Science Friday Podcasts:

• Is it better to eat locally or eat differently?
• The Science of Making Great Beer - This is yet another AMAZING podcast from Science Friday. It is slightly off topic, but a good time to remind folks to drink local beer - it's good for you and the environment.

Here's a list of foods covered by the book Superfoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life:

• Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon
• Soy
• Spinach
• Tea (green or black)
• Tomatoes
• Walnuts
• Yogurt

Nutrition Data

Recently I've been trying to watch what I eat. My plan is to eat healthy throughout the week and then put the hurt on the yummy stuff on the weekend (i.e. beer, barbeque, taco bell). So far, it hasn't been too bad, although eating like a rabbit gets old, quick.

I wanted to know more about the food I'm eating and revisited Nutritiondata.com. This has all types of information to put together the kind of diet that suits you, from calorie counts to fullness levels. After you get beyond all the little graphs, the site offers a little synopsis about the food, basically the good and the bad. Finally, at the bottom you'll find more about the food you eat than you've ever wanted to: fat per serving (with many serving amounts), vitamin levels, minerals and other stuff.