Food Log

Breakfast this morning was half of a white grapefruit, a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, and a bowl of steel cut oats with brown sugar, soy milk, and hazelnuts. I weighed 155 pounds.

At work this morning I had two cups of green tea with a cinnamon stick.

Photograph of Joegies Hawkeye.

For lunch, I walked over to the Joegies at the HUB (two miles, round trip) and had a Hawkeye — a chicken cheesteak with provolone cheese, grilled onions, mayonaise, marinara sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Dinner was a salad and the last bowl of tin roof ice cream.

Food Log

Breakfast this morning was half of a white grapefruit and a cup of coffee. I weighed 154 pounds.

Over lunch, I walked to the HUB and then to the IST building and back — I am guessing about three miles. I had a banana when I got back and there seem to be a bunch of fund raisers going on right now, so I broke down and got a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup three pack.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup 3 Pack

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 package

Amount Per Serving

340 Calories

170 Calories from Fat

% Daily Value* 

29% Total Fat 19g

35% Saturated Fat 7g

1% Cholesterol less than 5mg

8% Sodium 200mg

12% Total Carbohydrate 35g

8% Dietary Fiber 2g

Sugars 30g

Protein 6g

0% Vitamin A

0% Vitamin C

4% Calcium

4% Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Dinner was broiled flounder, roasted potato wedges with balsamic vinegar, a small salad and a bowl of tin roof ice cream.

Food Log

Breakfast this morning was half of a white grapefruit, a bowl of toasted oat cereal with sliced banana and soy milk, and a cup of coffee. I weighed 155 pounds.

Over lunch I took a winding four mile walk through campus and downtown. After I got back, I had two cups of green tea with a cinnamon stick.

Dinner was half of a sautéed onion and red pepper pizza and a bowl of tin roof ice cream.

Thomas Jefferson: Foodie

This comes to us via The Food Section: Appetizers, via Nuggets. In American Treasures of the Library of Congress you can find a facsimiles of a number of historical documents, including Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence, but more importantly, his plans for a pasta machine, and his recipe for vanilla ice cream.

Thumbnail image of Thomas Jefferson's plans for a pasta machine.

Maccaroni

The best maccaroni [sic] in Italy is made with a particular sort of flour called Semolina, in Naples: but in almost every shop a different sort of flour is commonly used; for, provided the flower be of a good quality, not ground extremely fine, it will always do very well. A paste is made with flour, water, & less yeast than is used for making bread. This paste is then put, a little at a time, with about 5. or 6. lb each time into a round iron box ABC. The under part of which is perforated with holes, through which the pasta when pressed by the screw DEF, comes out, and forms the maccaroni g.g.g. which when sufficiently long, are cut & spread to dry. The screw is turned by a lever inserted into the hole L of which there are 4. or 6. It is evident that on turning the screw one way, the cylindrical part F, which fits the iron box or mortar perfectly well, must press upon the paste and must force it out of the holes. LIM is a strong wooden frame, properly fastened to the wall, floor & ceiling of the room.

N.O. is a figure on a larger scale of the holes in the iron plate, where all the black is solid, and the rest is open. The real plate has a great many holes, and is screwed to the box or mortar: or rather there is a set of plates which may be changed at will, with holes of different shapes & sizes for the different sorts of maccaroni. [Thomas Jefferson]

Food Log

Breakfast this morning was two slices of toasted pound cake, half of a white grapefruit, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. I weighed 155 pounds.

Photograph of pizza bagel with a strawberry, orange, banana smoothie.

At work this morning I had two cups of green tea with a cinnamon stick. I walked downtown to Irving’s for lunch — maybe three miles, round trip. Lunch was a pizza bagel with a strawberry, orange, banana smoothie.

Photograph of turkey salad.

Dinner was a turkey salad and a bowl of tin roof ice cream.

Outdulgence

Do I have a habit (or habits) that are a threat to my well-being (physically, emotionally, and spiritually)?

If I find one… I will work out how much it costs me (in both time and money.)

I will consider another habit to take its place that will benefit my well being (physically, emotionally, and spiritually.)

I will work out what savings there may be between these two habits.

I will commit these savings to a cause that, if funded, would reduce global injustice (as I might see it.)

I will consistently give those “savings” to that cause for a minimum three year period (giving one year’s notice of cancellation.)

As a result I will receive a “Double Benefit.” My own health, etc. improved “well-being” and my contribution to Global justice. [Graham Kerr]

Food Log

Breakfast this morning was two slices of toasted pound cake, half of a white grapefruit, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.

Photograph of Sausage and Brown Rice Casserole.

No real lunch today, though I did have a couple hands full of peanuts. Dinner was Gretchen’s sausage and brown rice casserole and two glasses of Bolla Pinot Grigio and tin roof ice cream.

Post Hoc, Ergo Proctor Hoc?

Just because two events follow each other does not mean that the second event was caused by the first. This is the fallacy that can occur when trying to deduce the cause of historical events by correlating that event with other historical events. I find it interesting that a newspaper would print two articles on the same day that both attempt to imply that the nations obesity resulted from a specific change: in one case the use of high fructose corn syrup and in the other the reduction in the use of fat.

First for the sweet:

An overweight America may be fixated on fat and obsessed with carbs, but nutritionists say the real problem is much sweeter — we’re awash in sugar.

Not just any sugar, but high fructose corn syrup.

The country eats more sweetener made from corn than from sugarcane or beets, gulping it down in drinks as well as in frozen food and baked goods. Even ketchup is laced with it.

Almost all nutritionists finger high fructose corn syrup consumption as a major culprit in the nation’s obesity crisis. The inexpensive sweetener flooded the American food supply in the early 1980s, just about the time the nation’s obesity rate started its unprecedented climb. [SFGate]

Next the fat:

Many dietitians now admit their one-size-fits-all approach to fat consumption is outdated, even going so far as to endorse such former pariahs as highly saturated coconut and other tropical oils.

The shift is driven as much by changing social attitudes as by stark epidemiological evidence: Despite a 30-year low-fat frenzy, Americans are fatter than ever, more than 65 percent classified as overweight or obese.

The nation’s obesity rate began to skyrocket in the mid-’80s — about the same time national low-fat public health campaigns were in full swing. In one year alone — 1998-99 — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show that the nation’s obesity rate rose an astonishing 6 percent. [SFGate]

While I am not saying that I know, specifically, why Americans are fat. I am not saying even that there is a single simple explanation. I believe that there may be some truth to both of these arguments. In fact, both arguments sound highly plausible, perhaps even more so when taken together. What I am trying to say is perhaps explained by this quotation:

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit on a hot stove lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. — Mark Twain

My recommendation is simple: Do More; Eat Less. Eat a balanced, varied diet — nothing to excess — and match your diet to your activity level — or your activity level to your diet — your choice.