In weight-loss and all other endeavors, goals are vital to success. To put it less pretentiously, we may not always hit what we aim at in life, but the odds go up when we are, in fact, aiming. Dumb luck carries you only so far. (Believe me, I've tested the limits of dumb luck. Planning is better.) Some goals are obvious. For a mountain climber, only getting to the top will do. But there will be intermediate goals along the climb to the summit. Other goals are trickier to set. Over … [Read more...]
Italian Green Bean Salad
For years, Anita has been putting together a summer salad with green beans, tomatoes and red onion. It's an old family recipe. She calls it "Italian Green Bean Salad" in honor of her father, who's an old Italian. It's a delicious, nutritious summer treat, and reasonably low-carb. This summer, with a bumper crop of beans, cucumbers, hot peppers and tomatoes growing in our backyard garden, we were looking forward to making salads with the freshest, most organic of ingredients. Then blossom-end … [Read more...]
The bean that ate America
Those Americans like me with reservations about eating soy are apparently a small minority of the populace. According to a recent survey, 81% of Americans view soy as healthy. OK, the Consumer Attitudes about Nutrition survey (PDF file) was conducted by the United Soy Board (USB), so there is reason to be suspicious of its findings. Oddly, I'm not that suspicious. I think the average American doesn't know beans about soy, but is willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Just a short … [Read more...]
Rounding up more of the usual suspects: soy
In my last post, I speculated about my sensitivity to wheat, noting that having virtually eliminated wheat from my diet, I have also eliminated chronic digestion problems that seemed to be getting worse as I aged. It was easy to finger wheat, which has a growing reputation as a bad dietary player for many people. Both the gluten and lectin families of proteins in wheat have been connected to health problems that fall under the heading of "inflammation." In the post, I considered a couple … [Read more...]
My problem with wheat
"Wheat... lots of wheat... fields of wheat... a tremendous amount of wheat." Woody Allen as Boris in Love and Death, 1975. Grains are the humble seeds of grasses and of civilization. Without grains, we wouldn't be where we are today: fat, miserable, malnourished -- hunched over an iPad or a plate of Fettucini Alfredo. No, where we would be is hunched atop a rock with our trusty spear in hand, waiting for some game to come by, hoping that the game would be the kind we could eat and not get … [Read more...]
Low carb lunch: a lettuce-wrapped burger
I tried a lettuce-wrapped burger for lunch today. Nothing fancy -- just a pan-broiled patty of ground chuck with mustard and pickle enclosed in large leaves of ice-berg. Who needs bread or buns? Well, a lot of people think they do. I used to be one of them. Before I reduced my carb-intake, I ate bread nearly every day, and often twice a day. The main purpose of bread in my life was to make sandwiches. Yes, I occasionally toasted a slice or two for breakfast, usually coating it with jam but … [Read more...]
Another typical day in my life after carbs: 8-15-11
The first time I wrote about a typical day of eating low-carb, it turned out not to be completely typical. But it was a real day. The truth is, I don't have a set routine, a rigid plan, but just some general guidelines. Mostly, I aim to keep my total net carbs per day under 45 and my total calories under 2,100. (Net carbs are total carbohydrates minus fiber.) I pay little direct attention to calories. If I only eat when I'm hungry and avoid grains, starchy vegetables, sugary treats and … [Read more...]
Loathsome, tiresome exercise
When it comes to exercise, I'm a Mark Twain kind of guy. At his 70th birthday party, feted by 170 people in the Red Room at Delmonico's in New York City, Twain said, "I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise is loathsome. And it cannot be any benefit when you are tired; I was always tired" (The New York Times, Dec. 6, 1905). Twain lived a few more years, dying at age 74. Seventy-four was a decent old-age in that era, and it would be … [Read more...]
Progress Report 8-6-11
On May 7, already a couple months into my low-carb way of eating, I set a weight goal of 215 pounds by Labor Day 2011. At that time, I weighed 241 pounds. Today, I weighed in at 219.8 pounds. Five weeks ago, on July 3 when I gave my last progress report, I weighed 227.6 pounds. Thus, I lost a touch under eight pounds in those five weeks, an average of 1.6 pounds per week. My weekly weight-loss average since May 7 is 1.63 pounds. Before setting my goal, I had already lost about 20 … [Read more...]
Protecting discs, joints, bones: other motives for a low-carb lifestyle
Yesterday I was talking shop with one of my department colleagues when she suddenly switched the topic: "How much have you lost?" she asked. "Twenty-five or thirty pounds?" I told her it was more like thirty-five or forty, but who was counting. She asked how I was doing it, and I said "low-carb," but before I could elaborate, she added: "It's very important for your back." I gathered that by "your back" she actually meant her own back. I haven't had any back pain for years, but the … [Read more...]
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