h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's a little something for those who need to increase activity:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7037243.PN.&OS=PN/7037243&RS=PN/7037243

An invisible skipping rope??? What will they think of next?

Yeah, I hear ya about the 'eating less' thang and that is certainly part of my plan, along with 'doing more'. But I will no longer go on a *diet*, as such. Instead I'll just eat less of what I prepare for me and Nog, which makes far more sense. After all, there's really no such thing as bad food. Especially at casa az - all the food made here is actually quite wonderful.


az

past the 35 lb mark today.b

Great for you!!!

Gonna stop now? Do you actually have a goal or are you just shrinking until you decide to stop?

I was told on my blog this morning that I project a 'podgy' image - which of course did flick all for my pretty much non-existent self esteem. Why do people say such things?

az

ps
aside from the fact that it's true ...

You're not podgy.



I plan to keep going until I'm gone.


Seriously, I'm going to try to go a little further, but I definitely will stop before I get to my High School size (I don't think that losing ninety pounds would be reasonable.)


I celebrated today with a nice lunch of home-made squash blossom soup and home-made chopped liver on home-made bread.

I've lost 12 kilos since the start of May. Don't be so quick to pooh pooh the Atkins diet -- I don't strictly adhere to the carb counting and strict portion control. I eat more veggies than the diet recommends and certainly drink more than anyone recommends (Laphroaig has zero carbs!!) but I don't eat any bread, rice, or sugar. I do cheat once in while and have a plate of pasta or piece of fruit. I am essentially carnivorous anyway, so after the first two weeks giving up bread and such wasn't so tough. It does make it difficult to eat out, since so many place serve only sandwiches or pasta -- and just try to get away from rice in Japan.
In my experience you can either eat fats and protein and no carbs OR carbs and protien and no fats, but you can't have both carbs and fats without turning blimpish. Which is why stuff like burgers and pizza tends to go straight to the waistline and stuff like salad does not.

Other observations:

Carbohydrates and starches (bread, pasta, rice) fill you up, but you end up hungry again soon after. Protien and fiber (steak and a salad) fill you up and you stay full.

Fiber is your friend. It is filling and keeps you regular and has no calories or carbs. Fiber is essentially the stuff your body can't digest so it just passes through your system.

Caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant, so coffee and tea, as long as you are taking them without sugar are good. I tend to drink a lot of iced black coffee in the summer and can easily go most of the day without eating anything. Another friend of mine drinks about a gallon on iced tea a day with lemon.

Lots of water, at least two liters a day, three in the summer.

take the stairs, walk faster, fidget yourself thin.

Eat more in the morning, less in the evening.

keeping your bloodsugar level even is better than having it spike and then drop. five small meals a day is better than three big ones, but three small ones is even better.

Running is hard on the knees and stationary bikes are hard on the backside -- swimming tones the whole body and is way more refreshing. Half an hour of swimming laps, even at a relaxed pace will scrap more jam off your back than half an hour of running or biking will, and you get to cool off a bit.





The only thing i miss is beer.

Fiber is definitely my friend!

Here's something you might be interested in, Rev: 'A diet high in certain carbohydrates may help people who are overweight to lose body fat and reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke, a diet comparison shows.


Researchers directly compared high protein diets to those low on the glycemic index, which measures the impact of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/07/25/diets-lowgi.html


You might also be interested in my comments on Az's blog: http://azahar.wordpress.com/2006/07/10/stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-one-before/

I've pretty much abandoned the little bit of meat I once ate. I do still have a little sushi at times and I'll throw a bit of bison on the grill once a month or so (and then there's that homemade chopped liver), but other than that what I seem to be eating are fresh fruits and vegetables and legume based indian stuff (pappadum and something called 'Guru Lucky Punjabi Mix'.


A staple right now is my squash blossom soup. I always have a plate of herbs that I've pinched back (parsley, sage, thyme, basil, oregano). I take an onion or two, saute it in olive oil or butter, throw in a bit of stock, a plate full of herbs, whatever squash blossoms are blooming, a bit of pepper and lett it simmer for a bit. Then I throw the whole thing through the blender. I keep that in the fridge. A microwaved mug is a full dinner.


I also like to remember what Julia Child said (I paraphrase): If your parents and grandparents lived to be 100 after eating bacon and eggs every morning, you're probably safe to do it as well.


But really, I think the key to a healthy diet is to eat less than what we in the west usually expect to eat. I sometimes think about how I'd feel going to a restaurant since I've cut back. I just can't imagine eating the platters you usually get handed.

Although, there is that little plate of goulash, spatzel and red cabbage that they serve at the pub at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise . . .

Well done Rev! A few years ago I lost quite a bit of weight by simply not combining certain foods (well, and cutting back a bit). In general you weren't supposed to combine carbs and proteins at the same meal and there was a list of 'neutral' foods that you could combine with both.

It certainly felt different eating that way - much lighter even after eating a good-sized portion of stuff. Think I'll try that one again.

Any chance of a recipe for the homemade chopped liver, anhaga?

az

a quick one


saute a mess of chicken livers in butter.

throw in some onion

a dash of madeira and a bit of salt.



When the livers are cooked, put the whole mess through your blender.

anhaga. Sounds a bit like a chicken liver paté I used to make, but I used cognac instead of madeira and also added a few chopped pistachios and coarsly ground black pepper to it.

I think I'll try it using dry sherry, which is something we usually have in the house for cooking.


az

Here's one for you, since you're getting more into veggie stuff.

Peel 1/2 kilo shallots and two heads of garlic. Sprinkle on a little salt and sauté in olive oil until lightly browned. Then add dry sherry (or perhaps madeira?), cover and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Melt in your mouth gorgeousness. And extremely tasty.

Also works well as a spread on pita bread or in a veggie sandwich.

az

I must confess a failure today.

Being forced into a visit to CapitalEx (formerly the Klondike Days Exposition, but finally changed this year after a number of decades organizers realized a) that Edmonton really had little to do with the Klondike Goldrush and b) that people didn't really want to dress up in outfits from the 1890's during the hottest weeks of an Edmonton summer), a visit I usually avoid through the good graces of a summer day camp (a summer day camp sadly scuttled by ill timed illness) I found myself in posession of a very greasy four dollar corndog with a single bite missing (the recently ill child having suddenly come to her senses) and I felt I simply mustn't waste the four dollars.

It was disgusting!

I used to love those things! At least, I acted as though I did. I can't imagine it now! Four dollars for deep fried battered lips and a**holes that have been sitting in their own grease for who knows how long!




(please, give me an evening of bulemia.)




Okay. 'Lips and &**%(#*' was failed by the profanity engine. And we can still say 'hotdog'? Or weiner?

Here's a good bit of advice:

'If you want to lose weight, get more sleep.

In a new article appearing in the current issue of Obesity Reviews, University of Michigan researcher Michael Sivak presents calculations showing that replacing one hour of inactive wakefulness—such as watching television—with sleep can result in a 6 percent reduction in caloric intake.

"Caloric consumption in a society with readily available food is likely to be approximately proportional to the number of hours of being awake," said Sivak, head of the Human Factors Division at the U-M Transportation Research Institute. "By replacing one hour of being awake with sleeping, we forgo a significant consumption of food because of the resulting reduction in the opportunity to eat."

Sivak says that a person who sleeps seven hours a night and consumes 2,500 calories during the remaining 17 hours of the day can cut 147 calories by simply sleeping an extra hour instead of watching TV. He calculated that such a decrease in caloric intake would result in a body-weight reduction of about 14 pounds per year.'

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2006/Jul06/r072406

Just for the record, I remain in a holding pattern after the holidays.

and, as a bit of couragement (I'm not sure if it's *en*couragement or *dis*couragement):

'Although we would all like to believe that changes in diet or lifestyle can greatly improve our health, the likelihood is that, with a few exceptions such as smoking cessation, many if not most such changes will produce only small effects. And the effects may not be consistent. A diet that is harmful to one person may be consumed with impunity by another.'

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=13A84F12-E7F2-99DF-3AAF3B046BF5FEB4