Day Fifty

And the weigh-in says..............240 lbs...........too much bread. As you can tell, I love bread. I am on the road this week to Richmond VA for three days of training. Salads, fish, salads fish etc. I will keep you up to date with how I do.

I apologize for the needless weigh-in suspense. Suzanne was out of town as you know. Lets just say the single parenthood is for no sane person. You know there is a real reason why our great grandparents married quickly after they lost a spouse. The threat of insanity. Ha Ha.

Literally you lose your mind when you are outnumbered. You need two parents to help in the battle. And if you are an ancestry scientist like myself, you will note that often times the grandparents lived with the families.

When I looked at the craziness of our modern lives. That really makes more and more sense and we may end up going back to it if health care and social security go bankrupt. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have my mom, who has a tough time getting around, or my mother-in-law in my house. If nothing else they could play UNO with my kids while I make dinner. How simple is that. And I know that my little monsters would certainly reduce their fighting quota each day. Who wants to upset the grandma's who give them money and presents on their B-Days and Holidays plus they get to spoil them. I really would not mind it one bit.

Day Forty-Nine Dr. Oz

I will be slowly reading "You On A Diet" and posting in relations to my readings. My hope was to blog today about Dr. Oz but did not get a chance to read anything yet. You will hear from me next week on Dr. Oz.

With Suzanne gone, and work being so busy, I have not had much time to think. Thankfully she returns tomorrow afternoon.

I am not feeling to good about tomorrow.

Day Forty-Eight Stretching--Part II

Suz leaves later today for a business trip of her own until Saturday. This is a huge deal in our household. We have been married twelve years this May and she has only gone away by herself, I think twice, for more than one night. Needless to say this fact drives me bonkers. I am never alone with the kids in our house. And she would not say it is because she doesn't trust me. She just likes being family. Plain and simple. I am looking forward to our little adventure. Now back to business......

Dr. Oz stresses that stretching is vital for flexibility. I never used to look at stretching as being very important, until after I turned thirty, which is when our bodies start falling apart. Stretching increases flexibility, which stops us from stooping over when we age. Also stretching helps remove pain too, in the knees, the back etc. I learned this the hard way. My Dr. (Dr. Michael Bartell), about 15 years ago, when I went in for a check up, told me that I was too stiff and that if I stretched more often my lower back pain and knee pain would dissipate and lessen. He was right. However, because of my lack of stretching I already had some wear and tear on my left knee cartilage.

Stretching elongates muscles and prevents injuries. Warming up (stretching) circulates blood to the muscles and heats them up which loosens them and makes them viscous and ready for action. This simple activity greatly reduces injury. I also like to think to that the increased blood also helps our joints where the muscle connects. Warm muscles help the cartilage reduce stress when we are active. The warm muscles that are elongated spread the stress out there by lessening pain etc.

Please know that I am no doctor. Most of what I am saying here is more common sense about how our parts work in unison. Just think about how our entire body works within itself kind of like how nature is connected. The bees need the pollen and the plants need the bees to survive. That is really where I am coming from on this whole idea.

Day Forty-Seven Stretching--Part 1

Stretching is one of the most important things you can do each day for your body's health. I always knew this, but Suzanne has really made me look at it another way. Those of you who have seen Suzanne stretch could see my statement two ways.

Suzanne is a stretching maniac. She does it everyday faithfully. Now I recall seeing my Mom go through periods where she would stretch at night and I always thought it was funny and weird looking. But Suzanne's stretching is a whole other subject.

It should be censored. And she is so innocently oblivious to her contortions because her entire focus is to awaken the muscles in her body that I can't help but watch her when I get the opportunity. Lets just say I love to watch her. (OF COURSE!) Now I know that she stretched in front of one her close girlfriends at the Y one time and Suzanne made her friend uncomfortable. I would have been agitated too, but for different reasons. Ha ha.

My point is that stretching is very important and I would argue that it is as important as exercise itself. Tomorrow, in a more serious light, I will focus more on why stretching is so vital to our health.

Day Forty-Six

I hated brussel sprouts when I was young. My mom used to boil the heck out of them. I still recall coming home to a house that smelled like toots. I can remember thinking "What is wrong in here? Mom must be sick....Oh man, yoooh. What died.....Oh, mom boiled brussel sprouts." God bless her, mom confessed that they did "smell" but "they are so good for you William". Let me tell you there is nothing worse than going to bed with that oder in your bedroom. Now if I had created the smell on my own, well that is another matter all together. Ha ha. And if I had with that kind of strength, I am sure I would have died from methane asphyxiation.

But now that I am older and far more mature(ha ha), I love them. Brussel sprouts are the most neglected of all veggies. Yes I know the mere thought of my previous image sends one as far away as possible.

There is a huge difference between boiled sprouts and steamed sprouts. Steamed sprouts keep some of their crunch and most of the smell inside. The texture adds much more to the eating experience. And they just taste better. All that toot smell comes out with boiling so the water is the source of the methane oder. When you steam BS's you keep all the vitamins and minerals and the oder is greatly reduced. Plus you can do some fun things with them. When I was single, I created a pasta dish with whole wheat spaghetti, roasted garlic gloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and you guessed it steamed BS's. Yummo. Simple and healthy.

So the point is that BS's are really good for your digestive track. They keep cancer away. I guess cancer does not like the smell of toots. So that is one good way to look at it. You are eating toots that kill cancer. Ha Ha.

Day Forty-Five

Dear Katie and all of my wonderful followers/readers,

The protein shakes are back on! So given my success last week, I am retracting my declaration to swear off all protein shakes. I did not reveal how I altered a few things regarding the shake in-take last week. So here is the scoop.

First of all, I stopped making them for dessert. And then I reduced the size of the shakes and I cut out the fruit. For instance, I would have one for breakfast. I did this once and then I had one as the afternoon snack and then one day for lunch. The lunch was the toughest because I was famished by dinner and that was the night I ate popcorn and the small bowl of Fiber One.

How did I have so many and still lose weight. I changed the recipe. I reduced the sugar, and the size. Here are the components and doses:

1/3 cup of Greek yogurt (Trader Joes)
1/4 cup of milled flax seed (Red Mill)
1/4 cup of oats (Red Mill Thick)
1 scoop protein powder
8 0z of Naked Juice (but the high protein versions w/30 grams)
4 0z of Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla
hand full of ice (1/2 cup)

sometimes some blueberries
sometimes 4 oz of Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla

The Almond Breeze would reduce the thickness so it made it easier to swallow through a straw. The thickness factor does slow down your consumption rate, which in my case is needed.

I think the key here is the reduction of the juice carbs and less yogurt and the fact that the portions (calories) were much smaller. The high protein Naked juice is chalky but since there is a ton of graininess anyway, due to all the fiber (the oats and flax seed), I did not mind it.

All the fiber really helped "move" things along. Who needs Metamucil? The changes kept the shakes thick and filling. And it helped with the sweet attacks.

I have been using a chocolate protein powder from EAS. Not my favorite. In these fruity shakes I prefer vanilla, but I have always been a vanilla guy. When I drank the protein powders on their own, I found "Champion Whey" to be the best tasting. I found it at Nutrition Express, a supplemental on-line store But I don't want to pay $80 bucks for a 5lb jar. So buying EAS Vanilla will be a permanent store item once I run out of the chocolate which will be soon.

I will be back tomorrow.

BFST--1 cup bowl of fiber one and my Almond Breeze
LNCH--Spicy Combo Sushi w/brown rice. I have been asking for extra wasabi and ginger and reducing my low sodium soy sauce to just a couple of drops per pc as opposed to drenching them.
DNR--Suz make a Corned Beef with carrots and brussel sprouts.
DSRT--one of my famous shakes. (wont do this again this week for dessert)

Day Forty-Four Feb. 14 Valentines Day

Sorry. We are closed on Sundays. Happy Valentine's Day.

This coming week, I will blog on a few topics: stretching, the dreaded protein shakes (new recipe) and Dr. Oz.

"Be kind to your Mama" (Elvis) today! Thank your parents today if they are with us here or on the other side waiting for us. It is because of them we are all here. They may not have been perfect but they loved us. And that is as perfect as we can get.