Entries categorized as ‘Nutrition’
After seeing a segment on Oprah about calorie restriction/life extension, Jennifer and I have been measuring everything we eat to see just how many calories we’re eating in a day. Weird, huh? It’s tedious but this free software, CRON-O-METER, makes it interesting. Interesting, I mean, for a dedicated health nut like myself, anyway.
The software is connected to 3 massive food databases, so anything you are eating will be in there (unless you’re eating things like pencils, paperclips, and tree bark). It automatically calculates all the vitamins, minerals, lipids, carbs, protein and gives you a complete picture of your nutrition. CRON stands for calorie restriction optimal nutrition.
For breakfast I just (mixed up in a bowl) a cup of cherries, a cup of blueberries, almonds, pecans, and a cup of unsweetened soy milk.
That’s exactly 441 calories.
Categories: Nutrition · Vegan (Being a)
Tagged: almonds, blueberries, calorie restriction, cherries, cron-o-meter, optimal nutrition, pecans, soy milk
Here is a good article from PETA.
Here is an article written by Charles R. Atwood.
Most people drink cow’s milk as adults because, well, they have been drinking the stuff since they were around 12 months old. If your body doesn’t reject it because of the lactose, what reason do you have to question its validity? Besides, our own government has been telling us that we need to drink cow’s milk for protein and calcium. What a bunch of bull.
Here is every reason you can imagine why you should stop drinking cow’s milk, today.
I hate to take the chance of offending anyone, but most people just don’t know about this stuff. I didn’t and drank the stuff for 32 years.
Here is a cow with mastitis.
Categories: Animals · Bad Karma · Nutrition · Vegan (Being a)
Tagged: calcium, cow milk, not milk, protein, soy milk
- Three days after my visit to St. Lukes Methodist church, they delivered a grocery bag containing bananas and a plate of mini-carrot cake cupcakes and tiny cinnamon rolls to our front door, along with a nice note saying something like “a ‘bunch’ of people hope you come back to our church.” Do all churches woo members this way? Anyway, it was a nice gesture.
- I haven’t been posting much lately on apples, bananas and my possessions, but I’m still keeping track. Mindless spending has ceased because I first think about my goal of living with less. I bought a new iPod Nano, cherished it for a week, and then returned it after realizing that it was not a need, but a want. Apple and Steve Jobs have a way of making people want things they don’t need. I’m in the process of evaluating my all of my pants. I won’t be able to hit 100 things without paring my wardrobe.
- We found a permanent home for A.J. the tan fluffball cat. We all miss him because he was a laid back “cool” cat, playful and sweet. We’re still looking for a home for Darla, the moody hisser. If Kitty, our oldest, looks at Darla the wrong way, she will hiss like a snake.
- Yesterday I made both rice and cashew milk with the Blendtec. I screwed up the nut milk recipe, but salvaged it and it still tasted pretty good. The rice milk (I used brown rice) was just okay. I ended up mixing the two milks together. I used the cashew-brown rice milk in my oatmeal last night. With the price of soy milk going up ($6.24 per gallon for our favorite) I think I will be experimenting with other kinds of milk as well. In a typical 24 hour period, our family of four consumes 6 bowls of cereal. Right now we have Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Shredded Wheat (2), Fiber One (4), Bran Flakes and Rice Squares. That’s 6 varieties and 10 total boxes of cereal. By the way, all of that cereal is generic brands except for Fiber One. Fiber One comes 6 boxes at a time from Amazon every 3 months.
Categories: 100 Thing Challenge · Clutter · My Life · Nutrition · Progress
Tagged: 100 Thing Challenge, cashew milk, cereal, church, fiber one, nut milk, rice milk, soy milk
October 23, 2008 · 1 Comment
All the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.
–William A. McDonough, architect & designer
Chloe was home from school today and I feel like I’ve have been dragged down our street by the UPS truck. I know it’s normal for siblings to fight, but jeesh I get worn down by it sometimes. Chloe, 8, knows how to push Ainsley’s, 4, buttons and it doesn’t take much. When you combine me being a bit “off,” say, from not sleeping well the previous night with them being a little extra obnoxious and the result is a stressful day. Tonight, the cure is Game 2 of the World Series. I can just veg out on the couch in baseball bliss until I fall asleep–probably long before the game is over.
I’m starving for a bowl of steel cut oatmeal. Unfortunately, it takes 35 to 45 minutes to cook and I think I’m halfway through that. This will be the 4th consecutive night that I’ve snacked on oatmeal. I mix in dried fruit (blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, cherries), nuts (peanuts & pecans). Tonight I’m throwing in a banana and maybe some coconut. Simple pleasures: baseball, oatmeal, and a good book.
Categories: My Life · My daughters · Nutrition
Tagged: baseball, oatmeal, pecans, world series
Somehow, I have gained about 10 pounds in four months. I weigh myself every day at the gym and have watched myself balloon up to 145 pounds.
Going from 250 to 260 isn’t a big deal, but I added around 8% of my body weight. Wow!
Oh, well.
I have lived my entire adult life between 135 and 150 pounds. I remember in 1997 or so I had it in my head that I was too skinny, so I decided to pack on some pounds. I think I drank a lot of milkshakes for a few months. My goal was 150.
The night I realized I had hit my goal, I was standing in front of the hallway closet mirror, brushing my teeth when I also realized that I had flab hanging over my jeans. It seemed like it attached to me overnight. Needless to say, I stopped the foolish weight gain diet and dropped the pounds.
My new goal is 140. I will handle this extra 5 pounds with extra running and cutting the PB & J, chocolate chip, pecan sandwiches. Walking to and from Chloe’s school two times is about a mile. I have been jogging 1 to 2 miles daily on the treadmill and occasionally, I will walk/jog 1 to 2.5 miles in the evening.
We’ll see how long it takes me to lose 5 pounds.
Categories: Fitness · My Life · Nutrition
Tagged: diet, fat, pb & J, skinny, Weight gain
I realize that hemp seeds are not part of most people’s diet. Until a year ago, we didn’t eat them either. Now, Amazon ships a five-pound bag to our door every 6 months. I eat them every day mixed in with my veggies and whole wheat grains. Jennifer sprinkles them on her cereal. The girls have them in smoothies, sprinkled on veggies, and sometimes plain.
No, you do not get high on hemp seeds. Here is some great info…
Of the 3 million plus edible plants that grow on Earth, no other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hempseeds. Both the complete protein and the essential oils contained in hempseeds are in ideal ratios for human nutrition. Sixty-five percent of the protein content in hempseed is in the form of globulin edestin, so that it can actually be used by the body in its raw state (unlike that in soybeans, which have to be cooked or sprouted). (The word edestin comes from the Greek “edestos,” meaning edible.)
Hemp food is also utterly delicious. If you’ve never had hemp seed nuts before, you’re in for a real treat. Hemp seed nuts combine the best qualities of pine nuts and cashews at a fraction of the price. Our organic hemp foods contain no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana (so you won’t get high on them).
Hemp is the oldest food known to mankind. Hempseed oil contains 54.4% linoleic acid (Omega-6), 18.3% linolenic acid (Omega-3), 2-5% gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and 1-2% stearidonic acid; and as such is one of only 4 oils to do so: hemp oil is also the most economical of the group.
Hemp’s ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids is about 4:1 which mirrors the primitive diet the human race evolved on for 2.5 million years. This ratio of fatty acids has been shown to be beneficial for the prevention of heart disease and cancer, especially omega 3 fatty acids.
Categories: Nutrition
Tagged: hemp, hemp seeds
After having breakfast at 6:00, by 10:30 I was starving. In the above picture, you can see most of what I threw together.
- Broccoli
- Brown basmati rice
- Whole wheat rotini
- Cauliflower
- Hemp seeds
- Brussel Sprouts
- Garlic & onion powder
- Baby butter beans (not pictured)
- Salt & pepper
- French fries, homemade (not pictured)
- All-Bran garlic and herb crackers, crushed
- Smoked almonds (not pictured)
- Seeds of Change organic Italian herb vinaigrette
- Seeds of Change organic french tomato vinaigrette
Normally, I will have a few more things in there like napa cabbage, mushrooms, kale, onions, red peppers, garlic, tofu, sunflower seeds, etc. I stir it all together and throw it in the microwave. On one hand, I eat the same thing on most days between 10:30 and noon, but yet it’s always different. Right now, we’re out of soy sauce. We buy our soy sauce in huge bottles and tofu in bulk at an Asian food mart in St. Louis. Here’s a close-up.
Categories: My Life · Nutrition · Vegan (Being a)
Tagged: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, french fries, hemp seeds, Nutrition, Vegan, vinaigrette
September 15, 2008 · 1 Comment
I’m on pace to fall short of my targets, especially on the mileage and water consumption. If I could just break my coffee addiction, I could make up some ground. I did read some good news about a month ago about coffee and tea. Before, they were said to increase urine production and didn’t count towards one’s hydration, but a new study found that both coffee and tea does count, so it’s possible to stay hydrated by drinking other beverages besides water. However, water is the best thing for you and I have no inclination to jack up my coffee drinking, though it’s more enjoyable for me.
We’re in apple season, so I’m going to do my best to down two a day.
Categories: Fitness · My Life · Nutrition · Progress
Tagged: Apples, Bananas, coffee, hydration, jogging, Water
September 10, 2008 · 1 Comment
I was surprised to read that some people DO freeze bananas, peels and all. When you’re ready to use it, you just have to let it thaw before you can easily peel it. If you’re making smoothies and if you’re neurotic like me, you will want to get the frozen banana into the blender as fast as possible before ANY thawing begins.
Since I started making smoothies 1 to 2 times a day, I’ve been buying extra bananas, knowing that I can freeze the ones that get a little soft. I usually freeze 5 to 7 bananas at once. After I peel them, I cut them into small pieces and freeze them in a single layer on stacked pie pans. After they’re frozen, I break them apart as much as I can and transfer them to a big freezer bag.
When I was an amateur banana freezer, I would just break them in half and freeze them directly in the Ziploc bag. The result would be a football-sized chunk of banana. After much effort (hammer and chisel!), I would be able to break off smaller pieces, but my old Black & Decker would still cough and sputter, eventually leaving a “banana chunk surprise” in the smoothie. Not a good thing. Slicing them small and freezing them in a single layer fixes that problem.
Categories: My Life · Nutrition · Vegan (Being a)
Tagged: banana, blender, Freezer, smoothie
