No Snacks For You

English: Snack Machine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other day, I was browsing through some of email news alerts that I subscribe to at work.  These alerts are usually related to the retail industry, with a heavy emphasis on the convenience store industry.  I was going to delete most of the emails, but one of the articles caught my eye and I had to check it out further.

The article was about a new vending machine that they have developed in Europe.  This vending machine uses facial recognition and can detect your age, build, and mood.  It will then go through a series of calculations, including past purchases, before the machine decides whether or not to allow you to complete the purchase.  So if you are stress eating your 4th Snickers bar of the day, good luck.  It also has the capability to tie into your medical records in the approval process.

This disturbs me on so many levels.  I know junk food is bad for me but sometimes I just need, no, want a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.  The machine doesn't have any idea what I have had to eat that day so how can it make an educated guess as to whether or not to sell me the product?  I might not even be buying the product for me.  Perhaps my son or a friend is with me and I am treating them to a snack.

Let's also talk about the fact that the machine has the potential to tie into my medical records.  That just blows my mind.  There are somethings that nobody should have access and medical records is one of those.  That info should only be accessible by me, my doctor, and my insurer.  I would not trust that the info would be safe from other eyes that have no business seeing it.

Of course my geeky side thinks that the technology is very neat.  However, that doesn't override in the least the objections I would have about it.  Way too much Big Brother for my liking.  I'd like to know what others think about it.  Would you want a soulless machine to deny you a snack because it doesn't like the look on your face when you try to make the purchase or would you like a machine making decisions for you?

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Losing Weight

I have shared here my numerous attempts at weight loss.  Currently, I am using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone to keep track of my calories.  So far, it has been working well for me as I have lost a little more than 20 pounds.  In the past, I have tried a wide variety of diets with varying degrees of success.  Unfortunately, as soon as I stopped following the protocols of those diets, I would slip further back into my old eating habits and gain back all of my weight and then some.

I tried the Fit for Life plan which is supposed to utilize your body's natural cycles to lose weight.  The theory is to eat nothing but fruit until noon and then the remaining meals need to use the concept of food combining.  By food combining, you would not pair a protein with a starch, so no meat and potatoes.  I did great on that until I met my wife.  While we were dating we would go to all you can eat breakfast buffets.  It is hard to stick with just fruit when you have pancakes, sausage, and bacon staring you in the face.

I also had a good bit of success with The Atkins Diet and Sugarbusters.  Both of which were centered around higher protein consumption and reduced carbohydrate consumption.  Sugarbusters is a bit less extreme than Atkins in that it does allow for the consumption of good carbs, ie complex carbohydrates.  I blew those diets in my position as a frozen food buyer when the new samples of Ben & Jerry's came in.  My problem was that if I strayed from these regimens and then went back to it, I would feel deprived and give up.

A lot of people like me that struggle with their weight sometimes need a little help when it comes to losing weight.  Sheer will power and discipline just aren't enough.  In my current job position, I subscribe to a number of different trade publications, one of which is Natural Foods Merchandiser.  In a recent article, they talked about the Dr. Oz effect.  Essentially, whenever Dr. Oz would mention a supplement or product on his television program there would be a run on it at the natural foods stores and they would run out of product.  One product that he recommended for weight loss was a raspberry ketone supplement.

Raspberry ketone supplements contain an enzyme derived from raspberries that is believed to help boost metabolism.  When combined with a healthy diet and exercise, it acts as a powerful fat burner.  I have always believed in using supplements and vitamins on a daily basis.  This is one that I may have to look into for my own personal weight loss goals.

If I Can Lose It

Since my last post was about Michael Bloomberg's desire to ban large drinks with sugar in them in New York City, I decided to review a weight loss book that I recently read on my Kindle.  The book is entitled If I Can Lose It...A Middle Age Tech-Fanatic's Extraordinary Journey & Guide-Book For Losing Weight written by Jonathan Ellis.

Quite a mouthful of a title, eh?  Henceforth, I will refer to it as If I Can Lose It.  The author of the book, Jonathan Ellis, is not a medical doctor.  He is a middle aged man, like me, who has always struggled with his weight, like me, who also happens to be into technology, like me.  So you can see how I might be interested in seeing what he had to say about weight loss.

I really liked his style of writing.  It was conversational and humorous.  Ellis is a man who has tried a number of diets over his life time.  Some of which worked for awhile, but eventually he would go back to his old habits and gain all of the weight back and maybe a few more to boot.  Been there, done that!  His goal in writing the book was to take control of his weight loss plan and to do it in a way that would be sustainable in the long term.

So, what is his secret for losing weight?  Consume less calories each day than your body requires to maintain its current weight.  Hardly earth shattering, right?  That is what doctors diet gurus have been telling us for years.  I remember when I was younger, my mom would have a book of calorie counts and when she was trying to lose weight, she would dutifully tally her caloric intake.

Seems like a lot of work to me.  I can easily see why doing that would get old quick, and would not be easily sustainable.  What if there was an easier way to keep track of your calories each day?  That is the driving force behind the Ellis weight loss plan.  His secret to losing weight is by utilizing the MyFitnessPal app on his iPod touch so he can easily track his daily calories.

I have used MyFitnessPal in the past.  It is a great little app.  In fact, I have recently started using it again.  I am discovering a lot of features that I did not notice before that I think are going to be quite helpful in my goal to achieve a permanent healthy weight.  One of the features allows you to enter a recipe so that you can  calculate the caloric content of the food.  I recently added one of my favorite meals that my wife cooks for us.

MyFitnessPal has tools that you can use on the internet or from the app.  It has a place to enter all of your food and exercise daily to track your net calories each day.  I mostly use the app on my smartphone.  It has a great feature where you can scan the UPC barcode on a package and it brings up the nutritional info so that you can add it to your daily diary.  This way, you do not have to try to remember to log it online at the end of the day.  They have a huge database of info.

In the previous paragraph I mention "net" calories.  This is an important part of the app and achieving your goals that I learned from the book.  When you set up your account, you enter your weight, your goal weight, and how much weight you want to lose each week.  That gives you a daily calorie goal.  It is important that your net calories each day not fall below 1200 calories.  That is the minimum number of calories that the body needs each day to function properly.  If you enter a daily diary of less than 1200 calories, the app actually gives you a warning message.

I have to confess that I did not finish the book.  The first half of the book consisted of the main focus of the book, how to take control of your weight loss plan.  It consisted of 11 chapters which shared encouragement and tips for achieving your goals.  When I got to chapter 12, I stopped reading.  Chapter 12 was over half the book and consisted of his daily diary of his quest.  It probably would have benefited me to read it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do.

I can't say that I highly recommend the book because it really didn't break a lot of new ground for me.  I did enjoy parts of it, and I did learn a couple nice tips.  The thing for me is that I know what to do, it is just sticking with it when I get frustrated.  I do recommend the MyFitnessPal app if you desire to lose weight.  I looked at a few others, but of the ones I looked at, MyFitnessPal had the most extensive nutritional database.  Below is my badge at MyFitnessPal tracking my progress to my goal.


 

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Weight Loss Tools

Michael Bloomberg Proposes Ban on Large Sodas

English: New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know all too well about the obesity problem in this country.  It is a serious matter.  I have chronicled here on more than one occasion my desire to lose some weight.  Last year, I did lose about 25 pounds over a four month period.  Unfortunately, I ended up gaining most of it back and a few more to boot.  That tends to happen a lot to those of us that continuously struggle with our weight.

Currently, I am back to trying to get down to a more healthy weight.  If you put any stock into the BMI charts or ideal weight charts, the I need to lose about 50-60 pounds.  Currently, my BMI is 32.5, which technically speaking makes me obese.  Now, when I look in the mirror, I think I look average, and most people I talk to say the same thing.  That, I suppose, is part of the problem.  Obese has become average.

I think when a lot of us think of obese, we think in terms of those that would be morbidly obese.  You know, the type of people that we see each season on The Biggest Loser television program.  Most of us have not reached that level of obesity.  The fact of the matter is that there are an awful lot of us who consider themselves normal or average that are clinically obese.

The reason that I bring this up today is because of a news story that was all over the airwaves this morning, first on my morning local news and then again on the talk radio station that I listen to on the way to work.  Michael Bloomberg, the Democratic Mayor of New York City, is proposing an outright ban on sugary drinks (sodas, etc) of greater than 16 ounces in restaurants, movie theaters, sports venues, and several other businesses that serve food and beverages.

Bloomberg says that the ban on soft drinks and other beverages loaded with sugar is needed to help with the ever growing obesity problem in this country.  While I agree that in general there is an ever increasing problem with obesity, and I am sure that Mayor Bloomberg has the best of intentions, it is really not going to do anything to remedy the situation.

How do I know that banning sugary drinks will not help with the obesity problem in this country?  All I have to do is look in the mirror.  I can't tell you the last time that I have had a high sugar drink.  I can tell you it has been years.  I have been married to my wife for over 20 years now.  I know that I have been drinking primarily drinking diet sodas since before I met her.  Coincidentally, I have been battling my weight demons for more than 20 years as well.

I don't know what the answer is for the obesity problem in this country.  If I did I wouldn't be struggling with the issue myself.  Primarily, I believe the answer lies in education, though to be honest, I know all to well what to do, but putting it into practice is the issue.  I do know that I do not believe it is the governments job to decide for us what we can or cannot eat.

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Vitamin D Deficiency

Image via Wikipedia

I have been feeling a lot better since I experienced tingling in my left side three weeks ago while carrying garbage out to the curb.  When I saw my doctor that day, he had a technician draw blood for a complete blood profile and put me on 5000 IU of Vitamin D.  Earlier this week, they called me in to the office to discuss the results of the blood profile.  It turns out, I have a Vitamin D deficiency.

According to WebMD, some of the traits that may put you at risk for a Vitamin D deficiency are not getting enough in your diet, too little exposure to the sun, and being obese.  I do not consume a lot of food rich in vitamin D.  As for sunlight, I do not get to spend much time outside.  I get in the car early in the morning, spend the day in the office, and drive home at the end of the day.  I do not consider myself to be obese, but acknowledge being overweight, however, if you put any stock in the BMI charts, I guess technically I would be considered obese.

Symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency include bone pain and muscle weakness though many people do not notice the symptoms.  Being deficient in vitamin D can lead to a host of other problems.  Among those are increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment as you get older, and cancer.  Some research also suggests that vitamin D can help with treatment and prevention of diabetes, hypertension (which I have), and multiple sclerosis.

Needless to say, none of those things are very appealing.  I am currently back to trying to eat right and lose weight.  I have dropped most of the weight that I regained after I fell off the diet wagon a couple months ago.  Vitamin D supplementation has become a regular part of my routine along with all of the other medications that I take.  All of my other blood levels were in the normal range, but I will probably start to take fish oil capsules again for the Omega 3's.  So, do yourself a favor and get plenty of sunlight, vitamin D, and have your levels checked out.

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The Carbohydrate Curve

For the past few weeks, I have talked a bit about my weight loss goals and eating according to The Primal Blueprint.  For the first three weeks of following the blueprint, I was doing pretty well, losing about 15 pounds.  However, over the last few weeks I have hit a plateau and have been pretty stagnant.

The sudden plateau has been a bit perplexing for me.  I have really not changed the way that I have been eating since I started the program.  In fact, I actually thought that I had been eating better than when I first started.  About the main thing that I have been doing differently is that I had pretty much given up diet sodas because they really don't have any nutritional value.

Today, I think I finally figured out what has been causing the slow down in my weight loss, but first I want to talk about the Carbohydrate Curve as outlined in The Primal Blueprint.  According to the Carbohydrate Curve, to maintain your weight, you would need to consume an average of 100-150 grams of carbohydrates per day.  Anything more than that would put you at risk for gaining weight.

To lose weight, the Primal Blueprint recommends that you consume on average 50-100 grams of carbohydrates per day.  Eating within that range on a consistent basis puts you in the "sweet spot" for weight loss.  Eating less than 50 grams of carbs per day would put your body into ketosis.  This would be the carb goal on diets such as the Atkins Diet, but then you would not be able to enjoy the variety of fruits and vegetables that are a big part of eating primaly.

Now with this background of the Carbohydrate Curve, I can address my "eureka" moment as to why I believe my weight loss has stalled.  As I said, I had given up drinking diet sodas at lunch.  Instead, I was drinking small bottles of 100% juice thinking that it would have better nutritional value than the soda.  Unfortunately I had not read the nutritional labels on the juice.  That is, until today.

Today at lunch, I happened to turn the bottle of juice that I had in my lunch around and read the label.  While the juice had no added sugar, it still contained 52 grams of carbohydrates, more than half of the daily limit of carbohydrates if I want to remain in the weight loss zone of the carbohydrate curve.  Needless to say, the juice stayed in the lunch bag.  I am going to see if cutting out the juice and switching to something lower in carbs to see if it helps kick start the weight loss again. 

Pelosi's Health Care Bill and Vending Machines

Image via Wikipedia

Seriously.  Is there any end to the nanny state mentality of idiots like Nancy Pelosi?  I don't think there is anybody who does not think some reform of the health care system is needed.  You keep hearing how premiums are too high, people turned down for pre-existing conditions, and such.  Those are the types of things that one would expect to see addressed in any type of reform.  However, would you expect to see regulation of an industry not associated with health insurance or health care?

Pelosi's monstrosity of a bill (HR 3962) has a provision in it that will regulate the vending machine industry.  Section 2572 of the bill states:

“In the case of an article of food sold from a vending machine that – (I) does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine the Nutritional Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase; and (II) is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, “the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article.” (See page 1,515 of H.R. 3962 Section 2572 (H) (viii).

The Congressional Budget Office has yet to determine what this provision of the health care bill will cost the vending machine industry, but the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) has provided the CBO with an estimate of the cost for their members.  NAMA estimates that in the first year, the regulation will cost over $56 million.

The industry itself has seen their same store sales drop 17% in the past year, so the business is already suffering.  These provisions will negatively impact the industry even further.  Most vending machine operators are small businessman who own their individual sales routes.  Pelosi and company stand to drive more small businesses out of business, adding to our current 10.2% unemployment rate.  Not to mention what the other provisions in the bill will do to small business in this country.

Why is this regulation needed, and more importantly, why does it need to be in a health care bill?  Show of hands everybody, how many people when standing at a vending machine are concerned with the nutritional value of that Snickers bar they are about to buy?  Don't most people buying a snack from a vending machine already have an idea of how nutritious an item is?  I already know that the candy bar or bag of chips I am buying out of that machine isn't the most healthy choice I can make. 

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Nutritional Food Labeling

I have been in the retail food industry for nearly all my adult life.  Over the years, I have seen a number of changes to the labeling requirements on food.  The labeling has become more and more complicated as the government has required more and more information to be included on the labels.

It used to be that the labels would show the total amount of fat in a serving.  Now you see total fat, saturated fat, and a few years ago, trans fat.  Same with carbohydrates.  Now you see total carbs, dietary fiber, and sugars.  You need to be a chemist to understand all the information on the label.

To be honest, I rarely look at the nutritional labeling.  About the only time that I ever do it is if I am actively trying to watch what i eat or am trying to lose weight.  Even then, I am primarily looking at calories and percentage of fat in a serving.

So I really don't need any new information on my food labels.  I especially don't need it for something as bogus as what the folks in Sweden are starting to see on their nutritional labels.  Sweden has begun requiring that the carbon impact of the product be included on the label so that consumers can make an informed choice on how their food products are impacting carbon emissions.  One such label reads "Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product."

The Swedish government has also issued new dietary guidelines for selecting food products.  For instance, they recommend that people choose carrots over items like tomatoes and cucumbers.  The reason being that tomatoes and cucumbers have to be grown in heated greenhouses causing higher emissions.  Being ornery, I would probably deliberately choose the higher carbon impact items.  I have to ask, how much info do you pay attention to, if any, on a label, and would the inclusion of carbon impact on a food label change how you eat?

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Go Veggie!

I am not usually a fan of PETA. To me they are just another left wing organization trying to impose their values on society. I had to chuckle a couple weeks ago when they got their panties all bunched in a wad when Barack Obama swatted and killed a fly. It was a germ carrying pest for crying out loud.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few things they believe in that I can support. For one, I can not tolerate anybody that would abuse an animal. There are some aspects of animal testing that I would disagree with, but there are a great many medical breakthroughs that have come about by testing on animals. Truth be told, if steak did not come shrink wrapped on a Styrofoam tray, and I had to kill and butcher it myself, I don't think I could (that is one reason I am not a hunter.)

Yesterday, PETA had their annual "Go Veggie" campaign on Capitol Hill with Playboy Playmates dressed in lettuce bikinis serving veggie hot dogs. Some of those veggie dogs aren't bad though, especially with a little mustard. I once read the book "Diet For A Small Planet" and for a while, the thought of eating meat made my stomach turn. I did try a vegetarian diet for several weeks, but could not stick with it.

To be honest, I should try to cut back on my meat consumption and eat more vegetarian meals. Hmmm. For some reason, I am really craving a salad right now.



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