Category: Food & Health

Day Eight – Engine 2 Diet

One week down. Katie and I weren’t perfectly loyal to the rules and regulations of the Engine 2 Diet but we did well, especially during the week; the weekend is always harder. I didn’t weigh myself this morning but I definitely feel better and lighter, even if I haven’t lost any significant weight. I’ll check in tomorrow morning and see how I’m doing.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this before but while weight loss is a goal, it’s secondary to a reduction in my cholesterol. It’s sky high and needs attention, now. Also, I don’t want to take drugs to bring it down unless I am confident it’s dangerously high due only to genetics. Based on my previous diet, that could not be confirmed.

One element still missing from the entire Engine 2 regime is the exercise portion of the plan. We’ve been walking the dog most mornings. That’s a start but it’s definitely not enough. This week we’re going to try to incorporate a more structured exercise regime into our daily routine.

Finally, some of what we were eating last week got a little monotonous. Katie whipped up some staples this past weekend for the week ahead, when we are most rushed and most likely to stray from the diet. We’re going to research more recipes and try to add some diversity to our diet. While talking about this early we noted that the diversity of what we ate before wasn’t that great, the food was just so satisfying that it didn’t matter!

Onward and upward!

Day Three – Engine 2 Diet

Resisting temptation is difficult for me; I have no will power. I stared at a friend’s French fries last night for 30 minutes trying to will them into my mouth.  I was even offered some and didn’t bite. Go me.

The first two days of eating a healthy plant-based diet were not as hard as I was thinking they’d be, mostly because we’re already vegetarian so dairy was mostly all that we needed to cut out. There was one regrettable instance involving vegan macaroni and “cheese” that didn’t turn out so well. We live and we learn.

The tricky part about this nutritional adventure isn’t so much the vegan aspect, it’s the health aspect. One major objective is to severely restrict the number of processed and refined foods one eats. Why? Because they’re bad for you! It’s whole foods or bust. So, not eating food like white bread, white rice and white flour is very hard, especially ’cause all three taste really good.

We’re moving forward in baby steps though. We’ve bought brown rice and whole grain breads. We’ve bought plenty of fruits and vegetables. One thing we haven’t done as well as we should have is prepare. The Engine 2 Diet stresses preparation as a strategy to avoid failure. This is some of the best advice in the book.

It’s been a busy week but with our newly purchased rice cooker and vegetable steamer, investing a few hours every weekend to making base foods (like brown rice) will help weekday meal preparation much easier.

Day Three, here we come.

Engine 2 Diet

The wife and I put a dent in the savings account with our trip to Whole Foods today. Wowza. We stocked up on the must-haves for the Engine 2 Diet, which we’re starting Monday morning. More on the Engine 2 Diet can be found here: Engine 2 Diet, and here: Engine 2 Academy.

The Engine 2 Diet isn’t so much a “diet” in the traditional sense but more a new way of looking at nutrition (and fitness). The program’s claim is this: Lose weight, lower cholesterol, significantly reduce the risk of disease, and become physically fit—in just 4 weeks. Tall order, no? Yes, but if you read the book you’ll see how it can be done.

One of the great aspects of the book and the aforementioned websites is the practical nature of the instructions and the tools they both provide. My wife and I both just want to be healthier, and hopefully this will take us at least part way to that end. My primary goal is to get my cholesterol down – it’s quite high – and hopefully I’ll be able to lose a few pounds while I’m at it. I’ll try to post updates are frequently as I can. Wish us luck!

Eating Meat Is Not Natural

Writer Kathy Freston, a frequent contributor to AlterNet on the topic of the human diet, has posted a new article on this great alternative media site about the evolutionary arguments against carnivorous diets. If you don’t believe in evolution you should stop reading here. For the rest of you, please check out the article. A few summary points from the piece are:

  1. We only recently (historically speaking) began eating meat, and that the inclusion of meat in our diet came well after we became who we are today
  2. Early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands
  3. Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging — eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems
  4. In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables. Similarly, like the intestines of other herbivores, ours are very long (carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that rotting flesh they eat)
  5. Most of us are “behavioral omnivores” — that is, we eat meat, so that defines us as omnivorous. But our evolution and physiology are herbivorous, and ample science proves that when we choose to eat meat, that causes problems, from decreased energy and a need for more sleep up to increased risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer

The link in the last bullet point will send you to another article by Freston on Huffington Post that speaks to the “protein myth” the meat industry propagates to manipulate people into believe meat is necessary in their diets.

I hope by being continually exposed to the truth on diets and how the human body actually works, people will reduce their consumption of meat. I’m not so naive to think that the world will become vegetarians overnight but a gradual reduction combined with continued education of our youth will make the world a healthier and more sustainable place.

I’ll be having a vegetarian dinner tonight. You should try the same.

The Cost of Meat

I suppose a person has to hear about something a very large number of times before he is willing to change his habits, especially if these habits (religion, diet, biases, etc . . .) were ingrained in him from birth. Hopefully Jane Brody’s piece, Paying a price for loving red meat, has added fuel to the fire.

Meat, if you eat it at all, should be a small part (read: not the entree) of one (read: not two or three) meal a day. If you don’t believe me, ask the FDA. But, American, and much of the rest of the world that has access to it, eats meat like they should be eating fruits and vegetables. What’s the problem with this? Hmmmmm.

First, the health effects. According to Brody’s piece, a recent decade-long study by the National Institutes of Health and the American Association of Retired Persons concluded that over a decade, “the deaths of 1 million men and perhaps half a million women could be prevented just by eating less red and processed meats”. Why? Because excess ingestion of red meat is directly linked to premature death, usually from either cancer or heart disease. This science behind these conclusions is concrete, as concrete as the research that shows smoking causes cancer. Believe both or neither, but you can’t choose just one.

Second, the environmental effects. Also noted in the article is the fact that, “In the United States, livestock production accounts for 55 percent of the erosion process, 37 percent of pesticides applied, 50 percent of antibiotics consumed, and a third of total discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus to surface water.” We’re tearing up the earth so we can make food that kills us faster. Sweet.

The ethical argument is the one that most falls on deaf ears, but while we can agree to disagree that killing animals for for is wrong, animals should still be treated humanely while they’re alive. This point is not debatable. Caged animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and the abuse of animals by physical means or through the use of drugs is completely unacceptable, and makes us less compassionate as people.

Finally, the social and political aspects of farming animals for food are nearly immeasurable. Deforestation, erosion, contamination and the like, while terrible from an environmental perspective, all rape the land and makes farming for plants virtually impossible. Small farms are being bought up by conglomerates all over the globe, making sustainability for farmers in developing nations difficult. Dictators take land meant for the people and sell it to global corporations so they can cheaply grow feed for cows and pigs and chickens while people starve as the harvest drives by their towns.

We’re all ignorant to some degree, myself included. But, what’s we’re doing to ourselves and to others for the sake of food is disgusting. The more people who realize this, the better off all of us will be.

Crabby Crabs

Very hard to be inside today. The weather is gorgeous and I really want to be done working. Unfortunately this is not going to happen for a bit so I thought I’d write a quick post before diving back into what I have to finish this afternoon. While perusing the “Internets” a while ago I ran across an article discussing a surprising find – crabs feel pain. The piece begins:

A favored method of preparing fresh crabs is to simply boil them alive. A longstanding related question: Do they feel pain?

Yes, researchers now say. Not only do crabs suffer pain, a new study found, but they retain a memory of it (assuming they aren’t already dead on your dinner plate). The scientists say its time for new laws to consider the suffering of all crustaceans.

Duh. What I fail to comprehend is the lack of compassion in people. If you think animals are part of the food chain, fine, we will just have to agree to disagree. But, if you think animals should turn into meals in the most efficient way possible, regardless of the suffering they experience, we will just have to agree that I can punch you in the throat. Why civil societies don’t do more to humanely murder animals for food completely befuddles me. There’s

Bob Elwood of Queen’s University Belfast in the UK says in the article:

“Millions of crustacean are caught or reared in aquaculture for the food industry,” he said. “There is no protection for these animals (with the possible exception of certain states in Australia) as the presumption is that they cannot experience pain. With vertebrates we are asked to err on the side of caution and I believe this is the approach to take with these crustaceans.”

All kinds of animals experience pain. It was clear before and its more clear with the publication of this study. Please think about this the next time you sit down to eat. Even if you’re a carnivore, supporting the efforts of organizations like PETA can help make humans more responsible carnivores, whether it be in light of the environment or in light of suffering. If a couple people are converted to vegetarianism, all the better for you and the earth.

Red Meat Bad

In shocking news, a recent study proved yet again that all kinds of red meat are bad, and in so many ways. The study gained quite a bit of attention on the Internet and is summarized nicely in one fabulously named article, titled, “Red meat raises risk of all kinds of death – study“. All kinds of death! All kinds! That’s darkly funny, no?

The article starts with three summary points:

  • Heaviest meat-eaters die sooner
  • Effect is independent of smoking, other diet factors
  • Farming animals for meat hurts environment

I’ve written posts of this nature before, but these points require repeating to sink in. Something needs to be read seven times before its remembered, or so they say. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad. Red Meat Bad.

Of course the meat industry called the study flawed, but that was as predictable as the sun coming up tomorrow. Remember when we believed the cigarette companies? Just give it time. Not only does meat have negative health effects (read: cancer) it is also damaging to the environment.

Many studies have shown that people who eat less meat are healthier in many ways, and Sinha’s team noted that meat contains several cancer-causing chemicals, as well as the unhealthiest forms of fat.

The U.S. government now recommends a “plant-based diet” that stresses fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Barry Popkin, an expert in nutrition and economics at the University of North Carolina, said the study was unusually thorough and careful.

Eating less meat has other benefits, he said, and governments should start promoting this. For instance, farming animals for meat causes greenhouse gas emissions that warm the atmosphere and uses fresh water in excess, he said.

“I was pretty surprised when I checked back and went through the data on emissions from animal food and livestock,” Popkin said in a telephone interview.

“I didn’t expect it to be more than cars.”

More than cars people, more than cars. Another article quoted a man who said he wasn’t necessarily advocating vegetarianism, which of course I do, but that meat should be taking a back seat to fruits and vegetables. The only way to move toward a meat-free society, and thus one with healthier people and a healthier environment, is to take baby steps. Make meat only part of one meal a day and make sure it’s not the biggest thing on the plate.

Smoke-Free St. Louis: Letter to the Editor

I sent the following letter to the editor to all the major local publications this morning:

To the editor,

A recent study by the City of Houston, Texas examined the effects of its smoke-free bar and restaurant law and found the ordinance did not have a negative impact on business.

As St. Louis debates the merits of becoming smoke-free, false fears of economic loss seem to plague progress. The only unbiased, accurate means to measure economic impact is to compare sales tax receipts for years before the smoke-free law, with all quarters after the law is enacted. Houston, along with hundreds of other communities, has conducted these studies and they all show the same thing – no adverse impact on business.

St. Louis and its leaders have fallen victim to predictions of economic doom and that’s a shame. This myth originated with the tobacco industry and its public relations firms in the 1980s. David Laufer of Philip Morris said it best in 1994, “The economic arguments often used by the industry to scare off smoking ban activity were no longer working, if indeed they ever did. These arguments simply had no credibility with the public, which isn’t surprising when you consider that our dire predictions in the past rarely came true.”

Despite the fact that these declines have never come to pass in any community in the country, the opposition has not stopped trying to use this myth to divert attention away from the health-basis of smoke-free air laws.


Let’s try to keep our eye on the ball, St. Louis. For those few who didn’t know it already, the U.S. Surgeon General, numerous scientists and doctors have confirmed that secondhand smoke causes cancer, heart disease and serious lung problems. It’s a no brainer to protect all patrons and employees from the carcinogenic smoke that lurks in St. Louis bars and restaurants.


Sincerely,


Vihar Sheth

St. Louis City Resident

I haven’t been involved in the Smoke-Free St. Louis effort to the extent I would have liked but every little bit counts, right? Hopefully at least one of the publications will pick this up. I can feel the momentum building for a regionwide smoke-free law. If you would like to see St. Louis become smoke-free, send your own letter!

One Cancer Stick At A Time

I can feel the momentum! It appears as though a smoke-free St. Louis may be plausible after all. In today’s newspaper (they still have those?) an article outlines plans for Clayton, Missouri to go smoke-free. Nothing has been settled yet but holy cigarette Batman! would this be great news. For those of you who don’t know, Clayton is downtown St. Louis’ more homogeneous but relatively (sub) urban little sister. It’s where the law firms move when the City can’t pay the firms’ partners their dowry. In all honesty, some times it works the other way too.

One of the biggest problems with making a city smoke-free has been the attitude that everyone needs to be in “this” together or some businesses will suffer while others won’t. That’s mostly hogwash, and the municipalities in the metro area with bigger sacks decided years ago to make their public places smoke-free. Kudos to them. Looks like some of the more sizable ones are coming around.

I’m working with a coalition, Smoke-Free St. Louis City, to make the City of St. Louis smoke-free. The City is not quite where Clayton is in its thinking but a smoke-free Clayton would go a long way in influencing other major parts of town to mimic the behavior. This would also help reach a critical mass of influence with politicians, all of whom claim they don’t want to go at it alone; on the Missouri side of the Muddy Mississippi, St. Louis’ population is concentrated mostly in three counties, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County. The leaders of all three have said they won’t jump off the bridge unless their comrades do the same. The hour is nigh!

I was bowling with friends last night at a laid-back, blue-collar establishment that sits within the borders of St. Louis County. Fun was had by all, though I bowled like a guy who’d lost his primary bowling arm. But, by the time I left, my hair smelled like smoke, my clothes smelled like smoke and my eyes were burning. At least my sister-in-law wore a Smoke-Free St. Louis City t-shirt in silent protest.

Making public places smoke-free is about protecting people’s health, and only about protecting people’s health. These efforts aren’t about restricting rights or shoving more government down your throat. Smoke-free means clean air for everyone, especially the people who work at places that currently allow smoking, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

FYI – Filtration systems don’t work and the studies that say second-hand smoke doesn’t kill are done by the same ilk of people that brought you studies claiming climate change is a hoax and the “theory” of evolution is wrong. Oh, maybe they’re Holocaust deniers too! If you believe those studies let me know, I’ll buy you a pack of cigarettes.

Changing Habits

I received an email from Sierra Club today with a link to a website called 50 Ways to Help the Planet.

The crazy thing is, on the site, “they” give you 50 actual ways to help the planet. Unbelievable!

This isn’t the first published set of green action items, and it won’t be the last, but the lesson to take away from these lists is that they all ask people not to do things differently every now and then. but to change our habits. Only if fundamentally alter our behavior will we change the course we’re on.

The devastating climate change we’re experiencing currently took millions of people and decades to create. Changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs, while helpful, is only a small piece o the puzzle. The 49 others ways to help the planet presented on the list I’ve linked to should also be done by everyone; they must become habits.

Number 8 on the list – Go Vegetarian Once A Week – is the change in lifestyle that can go the furthest, yet is most often ignored by people. The site says, “One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.”

Bill Maher talks about vegetarianism on his show frequently, but no one else in the popular media – if HBO can be considered that - ever mentions it. I’ve talked about it time and time again, most recently in reference to an article written in The New York Times by a freakin’ carnivore of all people. And like Mark Bittman, the author of the NYT piece, a realistic real goal for environmentalists should be to get people to eat meat only once a day, not just be vegetarian once a week.

So go check out the site; it has bitchin’ free wallpapers for download and some great t-shirts for purchase.