Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Five Weight Loss Secrets: Secret #1 "And" is Not Your Friend

This is the inaugral post in my new series Five Weight Loss Secrets. These are observations I have made throughout my attempts at losing weight. These tips work for vegans and non-vegans alike, though I can say with absolutely certainty being vegan will speed the weight loss and fitness process.

Secret #1: When Ordering Food, NEVER Say "And"

Here's the scenario: I would like the pita sandwich and to start off with, some red pepper hummus.

I would like the phad thai, no egg please and some spring rolls.

I think I will try the spaghetti marinara, no cheese, and some breadsticks.

Problem #1: Extra Calories and Fat

All of these orders should sound fairly common. Getting extra hummus with a pita is normal. What is a Chinese meal without an appetizer, right? Well, the problem is that each time you say "and" with an order you increasing your caloric intake by 100 or more calories and usually they're not nutrient-rich calories. Usually, what you get when you "and" is either fried or laden with empty, processd carbs.

In other words what comes after the "and" is not good for you.

Problem #2: American Restaurants Serve Too Much Food Anyway

Remember a serving of anything, be it fruit, veggies, hummus, etc. is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards. Next, time you go out, see how many decks of playing cards can fit on the platter you are served. I had Chinese last night and there were probably 6-8 decks on the plate they gave me.

Vegan or not. Fitness fan or not, that is Too Much Food. And it's only made worse by using the word "and."

The challenge for you is next time you go to your favorite restaurant: don't say "and." Order one thing and enjoy it. Then enjoy the fact that you took steps to lose weight.

In the next installment, we will talk about tips for reducing how much you eat. And I promise you won't be hungry.

Back after Posting Hiatus

So yeah, vegan fitness fans, I'm back.

Don't worry, I was vegan the entire time. I was also still into fitness, at least from a dietary side.

I was also extremely swamped with a multitude of projects, work issues, and generally exasperation. The good news is that I've been able to work out from home. Getting a set of dumb bells for the house was a fantastic decision and one that has allowed me to work out on my own terms. I think this has lead to me being fit overall and I think being vegan has really helped.

The scale says that my weight has fluctuated, and that's kind of depressing. I have found that when I don't work out at all, my weight will climb. When do any little bit of working out, though, it seems to drop off. I think this is an important tip.

Still, I have targeted Aug. 15 as sort of crunch time. I have some friends who are reading my vegan fitness blog and I really, really want to look better so to prove a point that being vegan does help.

I think that means I need to wean myself off fried foods.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Bird Flu Found in Tyson Chickens

Normally I am not much of a hypochondriac, but stuff like this always scares me:

According to this article, the bird flu was found in Arkansas chickens.

I'm not very happy about this development considering that my son eats chicken if we go to a restaurant and I bet at least some of it comes from Tyson chickens. And frankly, I just don't want him to get the bird flu. Or any kind of flu for that matter.

I feel medium safe from any outbreaks of bird flu because of the vegan diet, but if I am at a restaurant, I hope they're preventing cross contamination.