SmarterFitter Blog Less diet, more brain

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It’s old news now. I’ve been caffeine free for three weeks as of yesterday. The cravings are gone and I haven’t been missing the “ritual” of afternoon tea now that I’ve embraced rooibos as a black tea alternative. The best part about all this? After about two weeks without caffeine, my sleep quality suddenly improved substantially. I still wake up about once during the night, but that’s my own fault for insisting on having a comforting mug of tea right before bed (in bed, with a good book!).

The benefits of improved sleep seem to be filtering into all of my other daily activities, most notably push-ups! I had a couple weeks back there where I just felt constantly lethargic, the push-ups felt impossible, and I kept having to repeat weeks because I wasn’t progressing. Then last week I suddenly felt stronger and more energetic and I’ve finally graduated to Week 3 of the one hundred push-ups program. (I’ve also re-introduced protein smoothies to my diet, which may also be playing its part.)

I wasn’t sure if I’d stay off caffeine but now that I’m passed the danger zone and feeling good, I don’t feel hugely compelled to go back. I do miss the occasional coffee, and I confess to having a mug or two of decaf which is not 100% caffeine free. But for now I’ll just stay off caffeine completely and enjoy all this wonderful sleep! Zzzzzz.

Despite increased awareness about the benefits of health and fitness, Americans still have poor diets and the obesity rate continues to rise. According to a 2008 survey by the Trust For America’s Health, obesity rates increased significantly in 37 states since last year, and declined only in the District of Columbia.

What’s going wrong? A recent research report by the USDA points to, well, modern life as the culprit.

The report presents a “consumer demand model” which shows how long-term health goals and external factors can drive a person’s food choices. Turns out, knowledge is nothing compared to “visceral factors” like work and stress which contribute to more meals away from home, more time between meals, and in the end, more calories. Here are some of the key findings:

• Individuals are more likely to consume more calories when they extend the time between meals or consume more of their food away from home. For example, going 5 hours between meals instead of 4 adds about 52 calories for someone on a diet of 2,000 calories per day.
• Unsurprisingly, the location at which someone eats affects what and how much is consumed. People are estimated to cosume about 107 more calories when eating foods from a restaurant compared with foods prepared at home.
• People who work more hours are also more influenced by the interval between meals. At 4 hours between meals, an individual who works 40 hours a week is estimated to eat about 20 percent more calories than someone who is not employed. At 8 hours between meals, the calorie discrepancy jumps to nearly 40 percent.

There are no huge surprises here, but it serves to illustrate the challenge of modern life to anyone wanting to establish healthy habits. Work is a real problem. The obesity issue seems to reflect a need for a national shift in attitude away from work and consumption and more towards, well, fun. Why is life so stressful? Why do we have such a problem taking lunch breaks? Stopping for a snack? Packing lunch instead of eating out? Finding time to take a walk?

In my last job at a big bank, I worked with a bunch of analysts who were constantly overworked, yet unwilling to push back on their duties. One girl spoke to me about her former running habits, and how she hasn’t put on her running shoes in months and it makes her so sad, but “I must finish this report!” she said as she settled into her screen with a tray of take-away sushi, not to leave the office until 10pm.

I suppose my inability to accept tasks when I knew they would cause me to work overtime is one of the reasons I no longer work at a bank. One of my goals is to be healthy in body AND mind, and since quitting the bank and working for myself, I’ve never been happier or healthier. And when I think about the rest of the fitness bloggers I know, many of them work at home or own their own businesses - I wonder if their fitness success is connected with this kind of freedom?

Unfortunately, most of us can’t just up and quit our jobs. So then what? Who out there works the 9-5 but manages (or at least tries to manage) to work fitness into the mix? I bet there’s a lot to learn from people who manage to keep a job without turning into a stress-ball. If you’re out there, let us know how you do it!

Is Dietary Knowledge Enough? Hunger, Stress, and Other Roadblocks to Healthy Eating [thanks Rory!]

I’ve been taking photos of food for a while now, not so much to lose weight, but simply because I like taking pictures and I love food and it’s a great way to remember what I eat. Now, a new study suggests that this habit may actually be more effective than a written food diary for weight loss.

From the New Scientist:

[Researchers] at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told 43 people to record what they ate for one week in words and as pictures.

When they quizzed the volunteers, photo diaries seemed to be the most effective. Not only did they provide powerful visual documentation of snack binges, they also triggered critical evaluation at just the right time - before the food was eaten. “I had to think more carefully about what I was going to eat because I had to take a picture of it,” was a typical response.

In contrast, written diaries are often completed long after the meal and do not create as powerful a reminder of the quantity and quality of the food that was eaten.

At the moment, I only take pictures of my food if it’s really yummy or pretty and I can be bothered. But I love the idea of doing this all the time, for every meal, so I can have a historical account of my eating habits over time. I think it’d be interesting to correlate what I’m eating with my mood, and to see how the types of food I eat changes with the seasons and my ever-changing tastes.

Does anyone else do this? I think I’m going to start!

Snap-happy dieters reap benefits [New Scientist]

Zucchini (or courgettes as they call them here in merry England) are abundant this time of year. These vegetables are easy to go grow and can get HUGE if not picked early.

Word to wise shoppers: the smaller, younger zucchini have more flavor. Look for firm, heavy zucchini with bright glossy skin.

If you’re trying to cut down on calories, zucchini is a great food to add to your veggie table. They have a high water content (>95%) and so are very low in calories. Zucchini is also a source of folate, potassium, and vitamins A and C.

What to do with all this zucchini? eattheseasons has a sad-but-true observation:

In cafés and simple restaurants across the UK, courgettes are frequently (mis)used to make a poor excuse of a ratatouille or the sort of unappetizing vegetable ‘lasagne’ only ever eaten by desperate vegetarians with no other menu choice.

It’s so true (same can be said of risotto and goat’s cheese, the two other mainstays of vegetarian dining in Britain). But zucchini doesn’t have to be boring. Here are a few tasty ideas for tackling the zucchini glut:

Stuff em

Take a zucchini, scoop out the seeds, stuff with your favorite ingredients, and bake it til it’s done. Easy.

Need some stuffing ideas? Check out the urban vegan’s 50 ways to stuff zucchini.

Steam em’

On it’s own, steamed zucchini is a little bland. But you can liven them up with some herbs and spices. Take care not to steam too long or else they become a soggy mess!

• Steamed Zucchini with garlic and olive oil
• Sesame Steamed Zucchini

Make soup

• Bryanna’s Delicious Zucchini Bisque
• Sunny Summer Squash Soup
• Curried Zucchini Soup

Stir fry

Stir-fried zucchini makes a quick, easy accompaniment to any meal.

Image: zucchini, bell pepper and corn stir-fried with olive oil, cumin seeds, salt and pepper. Served with enchiladas and black beans - yum!

Grate

Simple but delicious pasta dish: grate zucchini and stir fry with garlic and olive oil. Toss with pasta and top with parmesan cheese. SO good.

Grated zucchini is also delicious raw with salads.

Grill

Zucchini’s a great on the grill. All you need is salt, pepper and a healthy dose of olive oil. I like a sprinkle of cumin seeds, as well - very good with Mexican food.

• Grilled Zucchini with garlic, oregano and rosemary
• Grilled Zucchini with lemon, chili, basil and mint
• Easy Grilled Zucchini

with Italian salad dressing

Make fritters

• Zucchini Fritters at limes & lycopene
• Courgette Fritters with Tomato and Feta Salsa
• Zucchini Patties
• Zucchini Corn Fritters
• Courgette and Potato Cakes with Mint and Feta

Eat them raw

I already mentioned grated zucchini over a salad. Here’s a couple other ideas:

• Stuffed courgette rolls
• Courgette salad

Marinate

Marinating zucchini in lemon juice gives it a lightly-cooked, al dente texture.

Marinated courgette salad with pine nuts & parmesan

Make Lasagna

I suspect you could make a no-pasta lasagna with strips of zucchini “noodles” instead of lasagna. But that wouldn’t be lasagna, would it? Why not a tasty tray of the real thing?

Creamy courgette lasagna

Bake it

• Courgette Tomato and Gruyre Gratin
• Zucchini Parmesan
• Sesame Parmesan Zucchini
• Baked Zucchini with Tomatoes
• Baked Zucchini Chips
• Nat’s Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

Ratatouille

No, not the Pixar movie. This Provencal stew is a delicious way to enjoy this season’s zucchini, eggplant, green peppers and tomato.

Delia’s Ratatouille

Don’t forget about zucchini bread

Or CAKE for that matter!

• Heidi’s “Special” Zucchini Bread
• Mom’s Zucchini Bread
• Chocolate zucchini cupcakes
• Chocolate & zucchini cake

Your turn: what do you do with zucchini? Post your ideas and recipes in the comments!

A reader sent me a link to this article in the times:

Evolutionary Fitness: the diet that really works

It’s about the diet and fitness regime espoused by 71-year old Arthur De Vany, who “has the physique of a very fit young man and the springy, energetic demeanour of somebody who has cracked most of life’s outstanding problems.” His “Evolutionary Fitness” concept draws on many qualities of the “Paleolithic Diet”, based on the diet of early man. He’s trying to create a lifestyle that blends our “primal natures” with the reality of modern life.

People in the wild – isolated tribes – do not get fat and neither do other omnivores and predators. But, of course, they die younger. We can’t drop the comforts and protection of modernity. But we can fight its sugary seductions.

His diet is heavy on meat, vegetables, fruits and exercise. Sounds interesting. Sound, at the very least, based on REAL food and our real potential as human beings who, at one point in our evolutionary history, were fit because we had to be. Still, I don’t know about this whole thing. There are a few strange habits of primal man that Arthur embraces, habits I would think we’d be happy to leave to the Neanderthals:

“Don’t eat three square meals a day. Skip meals now and then. Work towards an extended overnight period of no eating. This means eat sometime before you sleep and don’t be in a hurry to eat breakfast… Do not fear hunger. Nothing but good will come of it, but it must be episodic, not chronic.”

Given his stance on vegetarianism, I can’t say I would ever follow the way of Arthur, but I do think it’s interesting. It may not be for me, but it’s worth some consideration. There are some bits of wisdom there that everyone can take away:

“First, everybody over-trains. Don’t do it. Don’t trudge away on a treadmill, count sets or repetitions, or work out according to a top-down Soviet model. You will hate it and it does not produce results. You must let it happen. You must have a playful, intermittent form of exercise. And you must exercise. The benefits are profound…”

If you do click through to the article, I should add that I’m not posting it because the article is particularly well written: the journalist is an ass-kisser who makes me want to puke. But the concept is interesting. I’ll give him that!

Your thoughts? Post em’ in the comments!

Evolutionary Fitness: the diet that really works
Aurthor De Vany’s website

We all know that protein is important, especially for active folks trying to put on a little muscle. For vegetarians like me, this is a little tricky - many of the foods we eat don’t contain complete proteins. That is, beans and whole grains may contain lots of amino acids, but on their own, they don’t contain enough of the right amino acids to form a complete protein (you can read more about this in Nutrition by The American Dietetic Association). As a result, I usually try to balance my meals with grains and beans so I’m sure to maximize the protein punch!

Most recently, I’ve been doing this with pasta. There’s no meal like a pasta meal that cries CARB FEST. But you can easily turn pasta into a more well-rounded meal by simply adding a few beans. Pasta is actually high in the amino acids methionine and cysteine, but low in lysine. Legumes such as kidney beans, however, are low in methionine and cysteine, but high in lysine. Put the two together and you get a complete protein. Science!

Adding beans to pasta is as easy as, well, simply adding beans to pasta. Beans compliment most sauces just as well as pasta, but some combinations work better than others. Here are my preferences:

• Chickpeas or kidney beans with tomato sauce
• White beans or chickpeas with pesto sauce
• White beans or broad beans with garlic and olive oil

I’m not even going to touch alfredo (some foods you just shouldn’t mess with).

Here’s the recipe for the meal I had this evening (pictured above - it inspired me to write this post). Pesto linguine with chickpeas and arugula. YUM! I served this with a tomato, cucumber and red onion salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Bliss, I tell you. Pure comfort.

I always thought that the old cemetery across the road was just another neglected London landmark. That it may be, but amongst its overgrown shrubs and creepy crawly vines are blackberry bushes galore. Say what you will about foraging for food in a cemetery, but I feel pretty darn lucky. Their luscious fruits are just beginning to ripen and I suddenly find myself with more blackberries than I know what to do with.

The skinny on blackberries

• The blackberry season is from late July to early October
• Blackberries get kind of gross after a day or two, so eat them straight away or freeze them
• Blackberries are rich in antioxidants, including vitamin C and ellagic acid, and their seeds contain high levels of omega-3 and -6 fats, protein, and dietary fiber
• Superstition in the UK holds that blackberries should not be picked after Michaelmas (29 September) as the devil has claimed them, having left a mark on the leaves by urinating on them

I have a few months before season’s end, and I’m all about a.) hoarding blackberries in my freezer and b.) experimenting with as many blackberry recipes as possible while there are still fresh blackberries to be picked. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I like the idea of a blackberry vinaigrette for salads. Even so, I really want to try my hand at jam, and I can’t resist a good cobbler. Here are some other recipes I look forward to experimenting with:

Blackberry recipes

• Blackberry Slump - An American version of a fruit cobbler - just dripping in hot fruit sauce
• Apple and Blackberry Pie - a simple pie with simple ingredients from delia
• Spicy Blackberry Chutney - I can see this going well with cheese, or deep-fried Indian samosas!
• Vegan Apple and Blackberry Pie - a pie without butter? The author almost has me convinced: “The apples and pear were all warm and cinnamon-y, while the blackberries just exploded in your mouth with their tart sweetness. mmmm.”
• Quick Bramble Jelly - I somehow doubt this would be quick, but I bet the results would be worth it
• Blackberry-Lime Tartlets - these just look cute
• Blackberry Tart - a decadent tart made with mascarpone, cream, and mint!
• Blackberry Sorbet - It sounds so refreshing!
• Blackberry Vinaigrette - It’s an Emeril recipe. Bam!

Readers, I need your help! Do you have any blackberry recipes you can recommend? Send em’ over! I’m dying to try them!

In this commentary in Wired Magazine, Clive Thompson equates the Weight Watchers program to a role-playing game (RPG).

The Weight Watchers program is designed precisely like a role-playing dungeon crawler. That’s why people love it, stick to it and have success with it. And it points to the way that we could use game design to make life’s drudgery more bearable.

I’ve never used Weight Watchers but I know people who have lost weight with the program, both through diet and exercise. Most of these people have been women - I wonder if Weight Watchers could gain a whole new market by targeting overweight gamers? Of course, this isn’t a marketing blog, this is a fitness blog, and this article highlights a very important point:

The key to getting fit is to have fun while you’re doing it.

Believe it or not, people can get as hooked on fitness as they do to RPGs like Everquest and World of Warcraft.

I’m in awe of the sheer brilliance of Weight Watchers in adopting the word points as its metric for measuring food. The word immediately shoves the user into the semantics — and fun — of gameplay. You regard losing weight as an intriguing challenge, as opposed to a mere grind.

As J.D. points out on Get Fit Slowly, the one hundred pushups challenge operates on this principle.

…make the gradually increasing pushups into a challenge in order to motivate participants. It works.

It’s true. I’ve been having loads of fun with the one hundred pushups program and look forward to “beating my max” at the end of a set (if I can). It’s amazing how these little “semantic” tricks work to keep me motivated through each set. None of this feels like “exercise” to me. Sure, it feels like hard work, but it’s definitely not a chore. And isn’t that the point?

Exercise shouldn’t feel like “work”. Life is short, and we already spend too much time working and doing chores as it is. Shouldn’t we spend our precious free time doing things that contribute to our happiness? Exercise can be one of those things, the trick is finding a way to make it fun that works for you. Some use Weight Watchers, others keep a journal, others run with friends.

How do you make exercise fun?

Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG [via Get Fit Slowly]

As I mentioned yesterday, I gave up caffeine last Saturday and have been entirely caffeine free for all of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (today!). Why? I’ve been feeling fatigued lately and my sleep’s been rubbish. I wake up lots during the night. It’s annoying. So when Tim put me up to the caffeine-free challenge on Saturday afternoon (after my third cup of tea), I couldn’t resist.

So far, the experiment has been interesting. I can’t say it’s been terribly hard the way quitting smoking is. But I was surprised that I was enough of a caffeine addict to experience withdrawal symptoms: headaches, tightness in the neck and head, and noticeable irritability (sorry, Tim).

Today was different though. Despite another restless night’s sleep, today I felt fairly energetic. My morning swim was one of the best (and longest) I’ve had in months. And this evening I did 54 push-ups which burned like hell but mentally, I was up for the challenge (rather than being too tired to care). I’ve had no headaches and just a little muscle tension in my neck (but that could have been the swim kicking in). I probably can’t speak for my irritability but I think I’ve been pretty ace!

One of the coolest things I noticed is that I didn’t suffer the usual 3-p.m. “ack I need a caffeine break” crash that I’d become accustomed too. Bonus!

So now I’m past the headaches. And the cravings. I’m hoping my sleep will catch up with the trend and start showing similar improvement.

Addendum: I also just noticed that I’ve been more productive these past few evenings. Maybe this is purely the spirit of “change” shining through, but I’ve had a lot more mental energy to get on with writing and other “useful” things post-dinner. For a while there I was getting sucked into DVDs and books and dessert. Yummy, yes. Productive, not so much.

Men’s Fitness reckons there are 5 seasonings that “you should always have on hand to make nutritious and delicious meals”: onion powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garlic powder and oregano.

I agree with the cinnamon, oregano and cayenne, but I’ll take fresh onion and garlic over the powder any day. This did get me thinking about my staple spices, which totally reflect my dependency on Mexican and Indian food. Here they are, in order of importance:

• Cinnamon
• Oregano
• Red Chili Flakes
• Cumin Seed
• Mustard Seeds
• Curry Leaves
• Turmeric
• Fennel Seeds
• Cumin Powder
• Bay Leaves

What about you? What’s on your spice rack?

Spice of life: 5 seasonings you should start using now [Men’s Fitness]