Month: October 2013

The Whole Bag

Because I have been overweight for over 30 years I have heard and (mostly) read thousands of people in slimming magazines, on problem pages and in person talk about food addictions and cravings and bingeing. And in all those anecdotes, I have never heard of anyone bingeing on meat, fish, eggs or green veggies. 

–”curviest” from the UK

The person quoted above was responding to this poor woman:

I have always been the type to “polish off the whole box”. I have tried every strategy, dieting, not dieting, trying to distract myself… but I am a like a child, if there is cereal, bread, chocolate or cakes in the house I demolish them…If I’m honest, i can just polish off a whole packet of wheatgerm crackers

“Curviest” went on to suggest that the problem was carb addiction, not a lack of self control in general, and told them she’d seen these cravings disappear in 24 hours by having someone eat nothing but meat and fat for a whole day.

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Party Like It’s Legal

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.

― Larry Lorenzoni

It’s been a little silent because on Monday I got a concussion. This was unfortunate, as I’m entering “birthday week,” that time of year that exists in nearly every school, office or family, in which a disproportionate number of birthdays fall in a short amount of time.

You may be wondering how I got the concussion, and I can tell you that it was something thrilling and exciting and memorable, which will definitely be a scene in the made-for-TV movie they make about me, where I bent over to get an extension cord and forgot there was a corner of concrete-over-rebar wall right behind the curtain.

Continue reading Party Like It’s Legal

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, 2

Some of you may remember a previous post, where I directed you to the website of Sam Feltham. Mr. Feltham conducted a little personal experiment whereby he over-ate an incredible number of calories worth of fat for twenty-one days straight. He did not eat carbohydrates, and he ate sufficient, but not excessive, protein. He changed nothing else about his lifestyle for those twenty-one days.

By “overeat” I mean that he consumed more than 5,700 calories a day.

The Gospel According to Nutritionist Fatphobes says that he should have put on more than 16 pounds. What actually happened is that his mean weight on day 21 (he weighed morning and evening and averaged the two, to try and get around the up-to-5 pound daily weight shift that everybody sees) was 2.8 pounds higher than on day 1. Not only that, but his waist shrunk by 1.18 inches.

Continue reading Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, 2

Weight Watchers Scam

I used to moderate a weight loss community and we had this whole Weight Watchers trend a while ago and 20 women or so joined it. Only one that was 270lb or so was told to eat above 24 points… Everyone else was supposed to eat under 24 points. 24 points is 1,200 calories, so they were supposed to eat less than where most starvation diets begin. 

–JV1311

This summer I met a number of people doing Weight Watchers.

I also met a number of people doing Weight Watchers for the second, third, fourth or fifth time.

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The Taft Way

No real gentleman weighs more than 300 pounds.

–William Howard Taft

It’s been all over the news the last few days: William Howard Taft, our 27th president and later supreme court justice, struggled with his weight just like you and me, the lowly peons, do.

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Dissatisfries

I like food too much to go on some crazy diet. French fries are my favorite downfall. 
–Holly Madison
If Holly had said “I like tobacco too much to go on some crazy detox. Cigars are my favorite downfall.” What would everyone say?
We would say Holly had an addiction.

Everybody’s Different, Part 2

[Think] of an experience from your childhood. Something you remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even smell, as if you were really there. After all, you really were there at the time, weren’t you? How else would you remember it? But here is the bombshell: you weren’t there. Not a single atom that is in your body today was there when that event took place . . . Whatever you are, therefore, you are not the stuff of which you are made.

― Steve Grand

Just a thought about how we are so much more than our atomized stuff, before we talk about that stuff.

Continue reading Everybody’s Different, Part 2

Yet More Recipes

I have a few veggie recipes for you today, and some meat as well. Some may find this shocking. Over the summer I several times overheard someone confidently explaining to someone else: “She doesn’t like vegetables.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. I love them; some of them, anyway. But this should give you an idea of the question I face when choosing vegetables: for the five weeks she was in the United States this summer, The Roommate ate vegetables nearly daily. She did not choose any organic, farm-fresh, pesticide-free, farmer’s market vegetables, either. She ate (or was served) whatever was the most readily available and reasonably priced at the local supermarket.

She had no issues of any type. No rashes, no congestion, no bloating, no dizziness.

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Recipes the Third

As human beings, we are the only organisms that create for the sheer stupid pleasure of doing so. Whether it’s laying out a garden, composing a new tune on the piano, writing a bit of poetry, manipulating a digital photo, redecorating a room, or inventing a new chili recipe – we are happiest when we are creating.
–Gary Hamel

I just got back from picking up a rug we had dry cleaned, so I’m a little pooped this afternoon. When I say “pick up a rug” what I mean is that I strapped on a Respro air mask because our pollution levels are over 350 today, walked for 20 minutes down to the dry cleaning place, picked up my rug (literally, with my arms) and carried it back home another 20 minutes. This is why running for the dry cleaning can be a little exhausting, especially when there’s no actual air around to breathe. The air quality monitors didn’t use to go up past 300, as it was believed that getting past 300 was pretty much impossible–and at any rate would be so rare that it wouldn’t be necessary. They re-calibrated the monitors just for us!

Continue reading Recipes the Third

Recipes the Second

This recipe is certainly silly. It says to separate the eggs, but it doesn’t say how far to separate them.

–Gracie Allen

It’s about time we started cooking again, don’t you think? Let’s start with dessert because we’re all adults and we can.

I had leftover ground almonds. I sensed The Roommate was getting bored, so I went to make something different for a snack. Something filling, but not sweet (other than a little natural sweetness in the almonds and coconut). So I made:

Almond Butter Coconut Things

Grind some raw almonds in a coffee grinder or something similar

Mix in butter. How much butter? However much you like

Form into patties, roll in egg white and shredded coconut

Fry in coconut oil

I had a little leftover peanut butter cream cheese stuff, so a dollop of that went onto these. Our favorite thing all week.