Taco Bell Countersues

Taco Bell is in talks to countersue, stating that they're taking the recent allegations on the quality of their meat very seriously. I'm glad that the company that gave us "The Drive-Thru Diet" and a burrito with a side of chips already inside of it (for their customers who can't be bothered to eat them separately) is finally taking something seriously.

Taco Bell claims that the allegations are "absolutely false," and have backed this up by saying that their beef is 100% USDA inspected beef and that their seasoned beef contains 88% beef and 12% "secret recipe." We shall see Taco Bell.

I'll be following this story as it develops.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans to be released

Monday, January 31, 2011, the US Department of Agriculture Secretary and the US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary will deliver the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The broadcast will be streaming live here at 10:00am ET.

Taco Bell

A close friend of mine came across a pretty disturbing article concerning Taco Bell's "quality of meat" and forwarded it to me.

To sum up the article quickly: It states that the meat in Taco Bell's beef is only 36% beef, the rest of the mixture being made up of tasteless fibers. An Alabama Law Firm is currently suing Taco Bell for false advertising and requesting that they be made to advertise their meat as "taco meat filling" instead of "beef". However, according to the USDA, any food that is labeled as Meat Filling should contain at least 40% fresh meat, but according to the Alabama Law Firm, Taco Bell's meat only contains 36%. Hmmm.

It's not a very shocking article considering everything that's coming to light in the food industry these days. I'd love some comments on this one...

It's Ok to Have a Strategy

My 21st birthday was two days ago and I ate well despite having gone to a buffet. I'd be lying if I said that  buffets didn't sometimes scare me; I'm usually worried that I'll overeat. Buffets might be the ultimate American meal and exercise in over consuming food and it's all right to go into a buffet with a strategy. When food is readily available, you must fight the primitive instinct to eat in order to control your portions, and for many people this is a challenge.

My strategy was sticking to the things that were most stripped down and/or that I knew to be healthy (which more often than not turn out to the be the same things). Many people unknowingly eat more calories than they think at buffets or in similar situations (like a BBQ) because they get things like Pasta Alfredo or a chicken dish with a sauce on it that could have any amount of butter, sugar, ect... in it (I'm not saying that these types of dishes can't be acceptable on occasion, but you're taking a gamble when you don't know who prepared it and what's in it). And the usual thought process is "it's chicken, it's healthy." Worse than the high caloric intake is now they've just taken in more sodium, cholesterol, sugar, carbs, and fat than they thought as well. So in these situations again, I stick to the most stripped down things, such as plain rice, eggs, toast, raw salmon, fruits, nuts, milk, ect...  At this particular outing I stuck to the fruit, salmon, rice, cheese, and spinach salad, knowing that I could eat till I was satisfied and be better off than if I had eaten the fried chicken, french fries, sausage, bacon, bagels, cream cheese, ect... There are countless other reasons why I chose one group of foods over the other but right now I'm focussing on the weight loss aspect. It all interconnects and I'll get into nutrition as this blog expands. I hate to make eating out sound like war, but when you don't know what's in your foods it is war. You're fighting for your health and it's your job to do what you need to do to minimize damage, and you're wrong to assume that the restaurant you're eating at is looking out for your best interests.

Finding Center

This morning I'm feeling more balanced again, the impulses have subsided somewhat, though I did practically jump out of bed this morning and eat a half of a cookie, but it stopped there. I had a half of an avocado and a bite of a left-over Subway sandwich that my parents must have had for dinner last night. Ugh, that sounds so depressing, but that's my morning so far. It's suppose to be nearly 80degrees again today, I'm taking a "me day."
Gym
Walk through the Cleveland National Forest
Sitting in the sun
Reading

Binge

Went through my first major binge since starting this blog. It was triggered by a night of drinking this past Saturday and started as soon as I got home (around 3am). I made myself a turkey sandwich and finished a large bottle of pomegranate juice. Skipped taking my Adderall and Topamax the following morning and that coupled with a hangover led to an entire day of over-eating. The morning started off with me making myself another turkey sandwich. My parents called maybe an hour later to ask if it were all right to bring home pizza for lunch while they watched the football games. They are very supportive in my goals and they've been doing very well trying to eat healthier too and if they wanted pizza while they watched the game they could have it. 3 pieces and three sodas later and I was full but not done. I went down for a large pelegrino. An hour later I made myself another large turkey sandwich; I also ate a few avocados while I was in kitchen making it. I felt shitty, I wished I could go back to the day before when I had felt on top of the world. I fell asleep for a few hours. I woke up craving chocolate cake. Went to the grocery store and bought an entire chocolate cake, a box of M&M cookies, and 5 pre-made trays of sushi. Ate two cookies on the way home. Shared some of the sushi with my dad. Had a bite of the chocolate cake and a few large glasses of milk but was really too full that I couldn't take another bite of the cake. Went upstairs. Few hours later came down and ate a few large slices of the cake and more milk. Went to bed feeling like shit. Yesterday morning, woke up, first thing I did was eat about of the chocolate cake and finished the milk. That was as far as it got yesterday. I threw the cake out.
The ups and downs suck. I can be on top of the world one day, and feel like I've left the old me behind, but I know that he'll creep back somehow. I like to believe that each time he does that I've learned SOMETHING about myself or someway to better fight the binges in the future. But maybe he just learns a better way to get at me.

Subway

I recently visited a Subway and thought it would be fun to do something on the chain so I went on to the website and did some research, crunched some numbers and was really surprised. Though many of the sandwiches can appear to be low in calories, fats, and sodium, you need to be careful what you add to your sandwiches. This may sound like common knowledge, but let me give you an example of how a sensible meal can easily be turned into almost your entire daily-recommended calorie intake. The Turkey Breast Sandwich says it’s 280 calories for a 6” sub. The Turkey Breast Sandwich includes only non-fat condiments, so cheese mayonnaise and the like are excluded.

Hypothetically let’s say you get the lowest calorie bread (The Italian White Bread), Subway employees are told to put 3 slices of turkey on each 6inch sub, and every 3 slices is 50 calories (although I just visited a Subway yesterday and got this Sandwich and the man grabbed a handful of turkey and slapped it on, probably 8 or 9 slices at least).  So you’re looking at 250x2 so 500 out of the gate for a foot long which is perfectly sensible for a meal (I got 250 because the Italian White is 200calories, and the 3 slices are 50, and Subway says its vegetables do not contain calories, the 280 is probably an average of all the breads and the turkey). The employee asks if you want cheese. All the cheeses are between 40 and 60 calories. Let’s say you go with the Cheddar, this has 60 per two slices. You’ve just added 120 calories to your sandwich along with 10grams of fat and 190mg of sodium. Mayonnaise is next. If you get this topping, at 110 calories per Subway serving you’ve just added 220 calories to your sandwich and 24grams of fat and 160mg of sodium. Olive oil. Subways olive oil is 45 calories per serving so you’ve added another 90 calories to your sandwich and 10grams of fat. Avocado. I personally love avocado and always get it added to my sandwiches and always add it to sandwiches that I make. In this case, the serving size that they add is 100 calories.

I’m not stopping here because let’s be honest, you’ll get a bag of potato chips and a soda, and you might be feeling naughty and take home a cookie. A bag of Classic Lays Potato Chips comes in at 150 calories per bag, Subway says that it’s medium coke contains 200 calories and it’s chocolate chips cookies contain 210 calories. This brings the entire calorie count for just this one meal to 1590 calories! The sandwich alone came in at 1030 calories. And a sandwich that was originally sensible and around 500-600 calories with 7 grams of fat and 910mg of sodium now contains 1420mg of sodium and 51grams of fat!!!! Note* The sodium level will be even higher if you have salt added. Your total sodium intake when adding the cookie, chips, and drink comes out to 1750mg, and the total fat for the meal comes out at 71grams!

Breads:

Honey Oat: has the shortest list of ingredients, no weird chemicals, and doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. I believe all other Subway breads contain high fructose corn syrup.

Roasted Garlic: If you’re watching your sodium intake stay away from this bread. This bread has almost 2-3 times more sodium than any of the other breads coming it at 1390mg per 6-inch sandwich. With the daily-recommended sodium intake being 2400mg or less, getting a foot long would put you well over, and that’s just in the bread. 

All of their other breads are pretty similar to each other in what they contain. The Cheddar has a higher fat content than the other breads.

Subway just introduced a 9grain bread containing Omega 3 as well. 

Shopping List

Going to pick up a few groceries from Whole Foods. Thought I'd post my grocery list. I go to school up in San Francisco and occationally browse the farmers markets and always find great things there. I don't know of any good farmers markets around Orange County so if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

1. Brown sugar (for a face scrub I make)
2. Brown rice
3. Carrots
4. Spinach
5. Tomatoes
6. Avocados
7. Granola
8. Almond Milk
9. Fleur Vert (my favorite kind of goat cheese)
10. Freshly baked loaf of whole wheat bread

Lunch is served... for breakfast

I'm not a big breakfast-foods eater, never have been. I'd rather have lunch and dinner foods for breakfast. This always caused a problem with my mom come breakfast time. As a result I ate unhealthy breakfasts for much of my childhood because the only "breakfast" foods that I wanted to eat were pop-tarts, toaster-strudels, donuts, frozen microwavable sausage and bacon.  Somehow these foods were deemed acceptable for breakfast yet a sandwich would have been out of the question. When I was probably 12 I asked my doctor during a check-up if having sandwiches for breakfast was ok, he said it was fine. My mom was standing right next to me and I think she was embarrassed that I asked the question. That was the end of the breakfast foods argument.
I didn't feel like granola this morning and made myself a sandwich and was reminded of all of this. As I put together the sandwich I thought of all the pop-tarts I had eaten because a sandwich wasn't a breakfast food unless it had eggs, ketchup, sausage and bacon, a side of toast or a pop-tart and hash browns. This is crazy. It seems that marketing and the media have gotten the better side of many people's rationale and has rendered many people unable to think for themselves anymore when it comes to foods. It's this idea of "this is what we're suppose to eat at this time of day," with no thought whatsoever as to what you are actually eating.
This morning's breakfast:
whole wheat bread
fage (used as a spread, at 120 calories per cup a table spoon of this is a great alternative to mayonnaise. It has no fat, no cholesterol, low in sodium and high in protein.)
tomatoes
green onions (which I grew myself at home)
arugula
sliced chicken (Deli chicken is fine, but you'll appreciate it more if you cook it yourself, even for a simple sandwich) *I get free-range organic meats. These animals aren't treated with hormones and aren't fed the remains of other animals and are given an organic diet.
Sprinkling of sunflower seeds (great source of Vitamin E, linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid), amino acids and minerals) Sunflower seeds have also been linked to reducing cholesterol due to their concentration of phytosterols  and dietary fiber. Minerals also included are zinc, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.

I had a side of pineapple, strawberries, and some chopped walnuts. Sometimes I cut pineapple into small pieces and put it on my sandwich for flavor (also try pomegranate seeds). Bread-type is key for this though because if the bread is too flimsy the wetness of the pineapple and pomegranate will seep through and make it soggy. These are also great ways to add color to your meal.
*If you need to salt something, sea salt, always. Check the back label to make sure it includes trace minerals.

Breakfast

Often I just have a bowl of granola for breakfast. It's quick and easy to make. I'll add flax seed, pumpkin seed, walnuts, and fresh fruit to the mix to incorporate more vitamins and minerals.
As far as my milk goes I use Almond Milk for my cereals. Almond milk isn't actually "milk", but a drink made from ground almonds and water. It has no cholesterol and is high in unsaturated fats (which is linked to reducing heart disease). Almond milk also contains omega-3 fatty acids and several vitamins and minerals. You can hardly taste a difference in almond milk once it's I'n a cereal.
 Soy milk should be used sparingly, especially for men. If you're lactose intolerant Goat's Milk you may want to try. Many people who are lactose intolerant can consume goats milk as it doesn't have lactase I'n it and has properties closer to human breast milk, making it easier to digest. You can hardly taste a difference in almond milk once it's I'n a cereal. It's lower I'n calories than its dairy counterpart, it has no cholesterol, has much lower fat content, low sodium, and full of vitamins and minerals. So if your watching any of these this may be the way to go.
Sometimes I'll mix my granola with yogurt if I feel like I can afford the extra calories that day. Always plain yogurt for me, the taste will be spruced up by the granola and fruit.
Fage is a good alternative to yogurt. It's high I'n protein, low I'n rol, fat, and sodium. Mix I'n fruit, nuts, and a reasonable cereal for a healthful breakfast or desert. It can also replace butter I'n some stir-fry or pasta dishes, and can replace mayonnaise or miracle whip on sandwiches.

San Francisco bans McDonald's Happy Meals

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/02/business/la-fi-happy-meals-20101103

San Francisco didn't outright ban the sell of the Happy Meal, but instead added guidelines to the meals that could give out a toy with the meal. From what I've read the meal can include a toy if the meal (including the drink) contains fewer than 600 calories and less than 35% of it's calories come from fat.
This is scheduled to take affect in December 2011.

I've seen a lot of fingers pointed at the government already on the issue. The general opinion for many being that the government shouldn't be able to control what the public eats. I'm at a loss, on many levels I agree. At the same time these children lack the knowledge and maturity to make educated decisions and apparently so do some of the parents,  and at a young age many children are developing eating habits and addictions that will last their entire lives and they have no control over it. At the same time, putting these guidelines on the meal may not change anything because of the numerous alternatives to the Happy Meal and an endless supply of surgary everything that kids will eat instead. It might be best to look at the bigger picture instead. We're in the middle of a much larger movement, the issue isn't the Happy Meal right now, though it's a bold step.

Perhaps the most effective thing that can be done is more education on the subject.

Intro

Sometimes I need a deadline or the feeling that someone is watching to motivate me. At my heaviest I was 245lbs (my junior year year of high school). I'm 20 now and 185lbs, but at 5'8 I still have weight to lose to reach my goal. I promised myself that I would have lost the weight by the 21st birthday, that is only 21 days away and I won't make it. Still I press on. I'm turning to this blog to keep tabs on myself for the last 30lbs. I hope that this way it won't take another year and a half to lose it.

I have learned quite a lot in the last year and a half on how to live healthier and I'll be incorporating what's worked for me along with a little bit of my own philosophies on food and the way we perceive it into this blog. My biggest hinderance, one that I feel I should be upfront about is referred to as "binge-eating disorder."  http://www.medicinenet.com/binge_eating_disorder/article.htm I've been diagnosed by a psychologist and am working through it, slowly.

I hope to share some tips, recipes, nutrition facts, books and articles I come across, as well as my progress. If anyone out there is going through something similar I'd love to hear from you. If you've been through something similar I'd love to hear from you. If you have tips I'd love to hear from you. If you have anything to say I'd love to hear it. Thank you.