The Pizza Diet

And then there is the Pizza diet! Pizzeria owner Matt McClellan has set out to show the world that pizza can be good for you. We have just learned to eat it wrong he says, "we're trained to eat it wrong -- we're trained to eat a whole large pizza at midnight with a 2 liter soda and fall asleep". For a month McClellan ate a slice of Pizza every 3 hours and worked out for 1 hour. He claims to have dropped 24 pounds and 5 inches from his waistline. Now he has begun his "Tour de Pizza" a 30-day bike ride from Florida to New York set to arrive in Times Square, New York City on the 4th of July. He hopes to remove the "fast food" stigma from pizza while encouraging a healthier lifestyle. Says Matt, "If I can ride my bike to New York, come on America, you can spend one hour a day getting healthier." Right on dude!

The Pizza Diet - ABC TV

The Food Carnival

 Compulsive Eating and the Food Industry

"We are living in a food Carnival." Dr. David Kessler

"Latest figures show that more than one in three American adults are obese. Former head of America's Food and Drug Administration, David Kessler is concerned about what we are eating today. He tells Carrie Gracie that many of us have a compulsion to overeat because he says processed food has hijacked our brains. Food full of fats, sugars and salts is harming our health and making us obese and Dr Kessler says we have to stop eating them." World BBC, The Interview

 Listen to the BBC Interview: The Interview

Our Lady of Weightloss

Our Lady of Weightloss by Janice Taylor

With whimsy and great collages Janice Taylor motivates with humor and creative projects. No reason to be all heavy about weightloss! Here she shares tips on how to energize yourself in less than a minute.

Yoga for Your Head and Eyes

Mellow out your head in less than 5 minutes
with Rodney Yee and yoga for your head and eyes...

Chef's at the White House

Michelle Obama invites Chefs to the White House lawn to promote healthy eating for kids. That's great but... from this video clip it almost looks like all they are eating is broccoli. I've heard Michelle Obama talk about healthy food and I know her to be more moderate than a pure raw food vegan. As she says... "or the kids won't eat it". I'm almost sure the Obamas could not have give up President Obama's famous dish he makes, the tuna sandwich. Rachel Ray's suggestion of an apple for breakfast makes me hope those kids will also get some... maybe not bacon and eggs and sweet sticky buns but how about a little granola?

Purple Cabbage

 There's a Cabbage in my Scanner...

With a mind set toward including more vegetables in my diet I impulsively purchased a purple cabbage just because it was so beautiful. I didn't know at the time what I would do with it only that its voluptuous yet compact maroon & deep violet folds look like a cross between a brain and an opera singer's dress. Here is part of it in the skillet with an onion.

Steaming Cabbage & Onions

Treading Touchy Territory

You'd Be Pretty If You Lost Weight

 Venus at the Mirror - Peter Paul Rubens

In an earlier post I mentioned how much I hate getting even the most well-intentioned advice regarding my weight. I appreciate direct honesty much more than sideways hinting but still, unless you are my Doctor, if you are talking to me about my weight you are walking on very thin ice.

I probably know more than most people about nutrition and I despise being talked down to but lets dig down deeper into the real “meat” of this topic. When someone gives me weight-loss advice I very rarely hear it as helpful or kind. I hear it as complete rejection of myself as a human being. I hear that I am not OK. I hear that I am not worthy. I hear that I am not loved. Of course I hate it!

When I was younger I was told more than once that I’d be pretty if I lost weight. I never thought, “Gosh really? Maybe I should lose some weight.” What I thought was, “So, I’m not pretty. Fuck you, you fucking asshole.” Maybe I shouldn’t be quite so touchy but this is very touchy territory. This is also just the queasy, icky connection between food and self-loathing that I want to expose to the healing sunlight.

A More Asian Approach to Meat

 Anthony Bourdain

The other night famous, possibly infamous, chef Anthony Bourdain was on the Rachel Maddow show talking about his new book, Medium Raw. He talked about Asian street food, fast food that is actually pretty healthy, suggesting America might be better off with a similar system. One thing he said that stayed with me and followed me into the kitchen today was a suggestion that (although it may be a hard sell for Americans), using meat more like a flavoring than as the central focus of the meal like they do in Asia would be not only healthier but more economical.

Anthony Bourdain on Rachel Maddow

Free Advice

Besides giving up chocolate chip cookies and lattes one of the things I really hate about dieting is the unsolicited advice you always get from well meaning people. They usually suggest something obvious like eating less and getting more exercise. DUH. I kind of want to punch them in the nose and say, “I’m just fat asshole. I’m not stupid”. But, they mean well. Or, they may be sold on a particular diet that worked for them and be convinced it is what you should do too. “UH HUH, thank you for sharing.”

Some scientific types like to count and measure things. Not me. I did break down and get a scale but it is for me not my food. I don’t get along with numbers. With the Mayo plan they compare portion sizes to something visual like a portion of meat is about the size of a deck of cards. This is much easier for a semi dyslexic artsy type like me to relate to.

Some people love to get up early, put on their tennis shoes and go for a brisk run or worse yet to a stinky gym with lots of machines. Not me. Putting on my ipod at night and dancing around the living room is what I enjoy. My point is that we are not all the same. Our bodies and our temperaments differ wildly.  Finding the way that works best for you is critical to success.

The Fat Gene

I'm the pudgy baby on my daddy's knee, 
with sister Sally in the sandbox.

If I inherited a "fat gene" it was from my dear old Dad. As an adult my father struggled with his weight and sadly died of a heart attack at 55. His parents were not overweight. The were ranchers with an active lifestyle. My Dad was active in his youth but it was his generation who, after WWII settled down with desk jobs and put on weight.

My family history supports what I've just read about "fat genes", that variants of the gene FTO contribute risk factors for obesity but do not necessarily condemn a person to weight problems.

"FTO will not be the only gene that influences obesity, and inheriting a particular variant will not necessarily make anyone fat. "This is not a gene for obesity, it is a gene that contributes to risk," Professor McCarthy said."

Time Magazine, Mark Henderson, Science Editor - April 13, 2007

We may have developed these genes as hunter-gatherers whose lives were active and an ability to hold on to fat was a survival strategy that saw us through periods of famine. If our less active lifestyle of plentiful food continues a few more millennium these genetic factors may be selected out. Meanwhile, the good news is that food choices and activity level remain the greater factors determining weight. Some of us may have to work harder to maintain a healthy weight but we are not condemned to a life of obesity by our genes.

Sweet and Creamy

From an article on the Ayurvedic approach to weightloss: “Sweets and oils give us a sense of being nurtured and comforted, both mentally and physically, and robbing ourselves of these is the downfall of most dieters.” In the case study they recommend moderate use of oils and sweets while making fruits, vegetables and whole grains the main part of the diet. This aligns well with the Mayo food pyramid also based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains but with a nice little piece of dark chocolate at its pinnacle. Can't quite pay the rent? Well then, better have a cookie with that.
 

Yep, Nothing like a nice cup of hot chocolate to get the bitter taste of the ashes of failure, loss and a broken heart out of your mouth. It is no wonder I like my sweet and creamy substances.

Paring Down by Carrie Demers, M.D. Yoga International 1999

Women, Food & God - Geneen Roth

Geneen Roth was interviewed last night on New Dimensions. The interview can be downloaded free for the next two weeks. After that it can be purchased for $1.99. Roth's book is based on her workshops. She has created a life's work helping people overcome obsessive relationships with food. I have her new book on hold at my public library. A free excerpt is available on her website where you can also join her online retreat.

"The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. No matter how sophisticated or wise or enlightened you believe you are, how you eat tells all. The world is on your plate. When you begin to understand what prompts you to use food as a way to numb or distract yourself, the process takes you deeper into realms of spirit and to the bright center of your own life. Rather than getting rid of or instantly changing your conflicted relationship with food, Women Food and God is about welcoming what is already here, and contacting the part of yourself that is already whole—divinity itself." Geneen Roth

Geneen Roth on Women Food and God