The basic premise is that the modern approach to food (looking at isolated nutrients rather than whole foods, diets, and lifestyles) is considerably less healthful than earlier alternatives. An interesting excerpt:

This brings us to another unexamined assumption: that the whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health. Hippocrates’s famous injunction to ”let food be thy medicine” is ritually invoked to support this notion. I’ll leave the premise alone for now, except to point out that it is not shared by all cultures and that the experience of these other cultures suggests that, paradoxically, viewing food as being about things other than bodily health — like pleasure, say, or socializing — makes people no less healthy; indeed, there’s some reason to believe that it may make them more healthy. This is what we usually have in mind when we speak of the ”French paradox” — the fact that a population that eats all sorts of unhealthful nutrients is in many ways healthier than we Americans are. So there is at least a question as to whether nutritionism is actually any good for you.

You really should read the whole article, but here are the author’s basic recommendations: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

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I’d never been to Vegas before, but I tried to do my research ahead of time. I booked a room near the convention center so that I could walk, and scoped out the local restaurants on Google Maps to see what was to be seen.

This worked so-so; I found out about many options but some of those that were missing would have been nice to know about (for instance, eGo in the hotel right next to the convention center).

Based on my prior research, I knew there was a McDonald’s about a quarter-mile south of my motel. Now, McDonald’s wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice for healthy eating, but despite (or probably because of) all the bad press about their nutritional choices, there are actually some very good choices.

McDonald’s is also the exception to many restaurants in that they actually post their nutritional information online, and in a location that’s easy to find.

Being the geek that I am, I turned this into a spreadsheet so I could sort it by my preferences (I deleted the items that weren’t appealing to me, and then did some crude math to find the healthiest choices).

I also had the brilliant idea of packing some food to guarantee that I would always have a healthy option, at least for meals where I was close to my motel. I packed some pre-measured bags of oatmeal (having read the observation somewhere that the in-room coffee maker is ideal for such a purpose), a bag of protein drink powder (counting on finding milk at McDonald’s), and two apples for each day I’d be there.

This strategy generally worked well (though you really shouldn’t underestimate the brutality of the baggage handlers; my extremely cushy packing around my apples was no match for acts of luggage violence, apparently, but I mostly just ate around the bruises).

I wasn’t sure what my food options would be at the convention center itself, but I asked a knowledgeable employee and she pointed me to a cafeteria-style restaurant where I was able to build a killer salad. I also carried some PowerBar Harvest snack bars to keep me from plunging into desperate hunger in a pinch.

My general routine was an apple and protein shake in the morning (it turns out my coffee maker was busted, but I’m too much a coffee novice to have figured that out right away; I just thought I was doing something wrong), a salad for lunch, a snack bar during the afternoon, and something reasonable at McDonald’s for dinner.

My bodybugg was a tremendous help. I logged all my foods for four out of the five days I was there, and closely watched my calorie deficit, and ended each day I tracked with my target 1000-calorie deficit. You could definitely do this without the bodybugg, but it sure made it easier.

Honestly, the only hitch in my plan was the parties. There were two big parties, both at night clubs, both at dinner time, both serving a wide array of high-calorie foods.

The first party, the food was actually so “creative” that most of it didn’t appeal to me anyway. They did have a chocolate fountain, though, and that’s a big weakness of mine. Happily, I spotted some fruit that was designed for the fountain, and helped myself to a plate of strawberries and pineapple. This worked great because it satisfied my sweet tooth, and more importantly, gave me something to do with my hands (have I mentioned I’m socially awkward? and that I don’t drink?).

The second party didn’t go quite as well from a diet perspective. It was my last night in Vegas, I’d been spectacularly good on my diet, and I was tired (and tired of apples). So when they offered me such yummy looking fried things, I took them. Not all of them, mind you (I’m still a picky eater, after all!), but probably more than I should have (”fried” being a helpful clue). That was the day I didn’t track my food.

However, when I got home, I had a slight loss, and I can’t say that’s ever happened to me while on vacation before. And I’ve continued to lose at a steady pace since I’ve been home, so I’m definitely counting this a victory.

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Along the same lines, one of the things that regularly frustrated me was my kitchen scale. It wasn’t annoying enough to motivate me to actual action, but it was one of those nagging frustrations, and every time I used it, I made a mental note to replace it.

It’s not that the scale was that bad; it just wasn’t very good. It was an old-school spring loaded beastie that constantly had me questioning its accuracy; consecutive weighings produced wildly different numbers, and trying to “zero” it (or “tare,” as I now know that function is properly called) was counter-intuitive and subject to the same accuracy concerns.

I’d been annoyed by the scale pretty much as long as I’ve had this blog (it didn’t matter before I started using it for dieting!), so when a guy by the name of William Geronimo wrote to me and offered to let me review a new “nutritional scale,” you can bet I jumped at the chance.

I’d heard of nutritional scales before and knew the general premise (it has a built-in database and tells you the nutritional content of the food you weigh) but had never played with one. When the EatSmart Nutritional Scale arrived, I spent quite a bit of time testing out different foods, entering in their codes, and comparing the results to other calorie data (it looks like most everyone uses the USDA database as a starting point).

As it turns out, after several weeks of using the scale, it’s not the food database that I’ve found most helpful, but the general ability to get accurate information easily with just one tool. First, the scale itself seems to be very accurate in that it produces repeatable results and makes it easy to tare (compensate for the weight of the container).

Beyond the accuracy of the scale itself and the nutritional database, it also has several features I find particularly helpful. First, it’s dead easy to switch between grams and ounces. This is great because most foods’ nutritional label show the serving sizes in grams, but for things like beverages, ounces are more common.

Second, it has a built-in calculator feature where you can put in the serving size (as determined by the nutritional label) and then the nutritional label value of the nutrient or measurement you want to know. For instance, if I have a can of apricots, I enter 122 as the serving size (that’s what’s listed on the label, in grams) and then enter 60 (the number of calories in an official serving). If my serving is more or less than 122 grams, the scale tells me how many calories are in my actual serving. This is immensely helpful for the real world where we don’t always follow the exact serving size.

Now in both cases, you could use your computer to do the same thing. A quick Google calculation will convert grams to ounces and vice versa. A basic calculator can help you adjust your numbers for a different-sized serving. But the beauty of it is that you don’t have to use yet another tool; it’s all built in! One of my biggest dieting complaints is that there are so many steps, so many things to keep track of. This scale is both helping me get better information, and it’s simplifying my dieting process. I’m a big fan!

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I don’t remember how I first heard about this book, but it was probably one of many that I find while playing on Amazon (I know, some people play cards, and I play on Amazon…). My general Amazon policy (central to me actually retaining some of my income) is that I only buy books that aren’t available at the library. In this case, it meant I waited on hold for this book for a month or two, and that I need to decide whether to buy it or not in the next few days, since I have to return it on July 5th.

The premise of the book is straightforward: it’s difficult or impossible to maintain the healthy behaviors that result in weight loss if you don’t change the way you think. Dr. Beck’s father is also the father of the Cognitive Therapy school of thought, and this book is essentially Cognitive Therapy applied to weight loss.

The Beck Diet Solution is made up of six weeks’ worth of daily exercises. The first two weeks are focused on preparing to diet. I’m already dieting, but Dr. Beck says it’s incredibly important to do those, regardless of current dieting status. That makes sense because those weeks are about establishing the habits and knowledge that help with actually sticking to a diet.

Week three is about understanding your body while dieting—learning to accurately interpret its signals and be realistic about progress. Week four deals with sabotaging thoughts (a major focus of the book, based on the introductory chapters), while week five tackles various challenges that can ruin a diet (food pushers, eating out, traveling, and emotional eating, among others). Finally, week six is about fine-tuning your dieting skills for the long haul.

I’ll have more feedback as I go through the book, but my first impression is good. As I mentioned, I’ve got some issues with food and taste, so I hope that working through this book will not only help me see food more accurately but will also help me want to make changes for the better.

The Amazon reviews for this book are very encouraging. Reviewer after reviewer reports success, and many of them are the “I tried everything, nothing worked, and then I found this” type. I also like that the book is compatible with any diet (since I like to try them all!) and develops lifetime skills. I’ll be working through some of the exercises here on the blog (when it makes sense to do them that way) so you’ll be able to see if the book might be helpful for you as well.

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The basic premise of the book is that insulin spikes (the body’s natural reaction when we dump a lot of blood-sugar-producing carbs into it) cause weight gain or discourage weight loss. Keep the insulin regulated, they say, and you’ll be much more likely to lose weight.

How do you keep the insulin spikes to a minimum? Stop eating loads of carbs by themselves. Don’t get me wrong: this is not a low-carb book. The specific solution the book recommends is pairing your carbs with proteins. Eating protein at the same time as (or right before) carbs regulates your blood sugar, which in turn, regulates your insulin.

In practical terms, this means that if I’m about to eat popcorn (I love those Pop Secret 100-calorie packs), I have a string cheese right beforehand. It means having chicken with your pasta, instead of just pasta. The book has lots of great suggestions for specific foods to eat, as well as recipes for balanced meals.

As I mentioned before, I don’t show any of the symptoms of being “Insulin Resistant”, but I believe this is a good concept for anyone seeking to eat more healthfully. I have a hard time finding an appealing protein, sometimes, so I can’t say I’m a perfect follower of the plan, but I do try to “link” my carbs with some proteins more regularly now. I figure that doing it 50% or 75% of the time is still a whole lot better than 0%!

If you don’t have any reason to believe you’re insulin resistant, I’d say that this is something to keep in mind: try to eat 7 grams of protein for every 15 grams of carbohydrates. If you think you might be insulin resistant (particularly if the weight just won’t go down despite good exercise and eating habits), you should probably get this book.

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This is all well and good, but I’m having a problem: I can’t figure out how to reward myself.

I’ve decided that small rewards are in order whenever I hit a five pound loss and stay below it for seven consecutive days. But what should be the reward?

Food is obviously out. There are plenty of “things” I want, but I can’t afford to buy them for myself (my “fun money” has been in debt since I bought my road bike last summer—the snowboard season pass and the mountain bike haven’t really helped, either).

One idea I like is the idea of rewarding myself with free time or something I enjoy… but frankly, I’m self-employed, and the clients just don’t seem to want to pay me for time when I’m not working. (I think this is where you are supposed to chime in and say, “You have to prioritize caring for yourself, and make time for what matters!” Then I will say, “Have you ever been self-employed?” because I can be snide like that.)

I come seeking your advice. I’m looking for something meaningful that doesn’t cost very much (less than $5 would be great). How do you reward yourself?

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