Category: eating

Do we have a reset button?
eating · fitness

Do we have a reset button?

catherine w22 Comments

For the past month, I’ve been in Sydney, Australia, working with other researchers on a qualitative social science project to understand the experiences of people on very low-energy diets (also called very low-calorie diets).  I’ll be posting in more detail about the study and our results later on, but for now, I’d like to solicit feedback from you, the readers about a topic that came up in the interviews with the participants.

Some of them talked about how going on this diet “hit the reset button” for them with respect to their eating habits.  That is, they reported having the experience of going through a period of severe restriction, and emerging from it able to rethink their eating preferences and patterns in a new way, less encumbered by the habits of their eating past.

Let me say now that I’m not advocating for any particular diet here, very-low-calorie or otherwise.  I’m not saying that this diet actually does what the participants report.

But:  the idea that we could have a “reset button” that can get pushed when we want to clear out old habits (whatever they might be) and start afresh is mighty appealing.

I’ve experienced something like this recently.  In May, I attended a workshop on mindfulness and eating at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in western Massachusetts.  I blogged about it here.  The experience of being away from my home,  from access to my usual foods and behavior patterns around them, was intense and interesting.  One goal I had was to get rid myself of my Diet Coke and artificially-sweetened beverage habit (that has come and gone over many years).  After spending five days not drinking Diet Coke, I came home, feeling ready to tackle that change.  And I did.  And I don’t drink Diet Coke or use artificial sweeteners.  It has not always been easy; I have occasionally craved it, and twice I’ve had a can (for absolute emergency caffeine intake :-).  But I felt like my enforced no-diet-coke period helped me get some perspective and figure out how to substitute other beverages.  In my case, I had delicious iced teas.  I make my own now.  It looks like this:

 

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Of course we’ve all made resolutions for behavior change.  Some of them stick for a while.  Some of them don’t.  Some of them may stick forever.  And they happen for a lot of reasons and under a bunch of different conditions.

It really felt to me like I had somehow found a “reset button” for my beverage habit in May.  And when I’m confronted with beverage options, it feels like that “reset” experience and the way I think about it helps me move in the direction of my newer habits.  But these intuitions are tricky and not always reliable.

I’ll be thinking and writing more about this issue, but for now, I can use some help from you.  Have you had any of these sorts of “reset” experiences?  What were they like? What do you think about them now?  Did they work for you?  I’d love to hear any of your stories.

Beyond Good and Evil (Food)
eating · fitness

Beyond Good and Evil (Food)

catherine w53 Comments

This week, Tracy wrote on the blog about thinking differently about “healthy” eating. If you missed it, check it out.  What she had to say boiled down to this:

Foods are not good or evil.

People are not good or evil for eating foods.

As she put it: “It’s food.  We all eat it.  Move on.”

These are wise words, but not everyone wants to hear them.  Why is that?  Why do we moralize so much about foods and our relationships to them?  Isn’t life already hard enough?  Can’t we focus on enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction or various needs by eating food without castigating ourselves?

As a philosopher who does research on eating, agency, and identity in public health, I think about these questions a lot.  Right now, I’m back in Sydney, Australia for a month to work on a qualitative study on eating, dieting, and our evolving relationships with food.  When we have some data analyzed I’ll be blogging about it.

However, I do have some thoughts to add about so-called “healthy” or “clean” eating.

We all have food preferences– what we like to eat, what we love to eat, what we won’t eat even if you pay us.  For example, I am just not going to eat cottage cheese.  I know it’s irrational, but it grosses me out.

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We also have our own ideals or principles of what constitutes “healthy” eating for us.  We get a ton of information from a variety of sources (which are sometimes confusing– are eggs good or bad this year?)  We also use our own experiences to help us figure out what is healthy-for-us or good-for-us (which may differ from others’ experiences).  One commenter on Tracy’s blog said that she found that eating a lot of rice many days in a row wasn’t good for her.  It’s not the rice, she said; it’s just about how she feels when she eats it.

Our food preferences and our healthy eating ideals often come into conflict.  I happen to love pasta dishes of all sorts.  I also know that  1) eating a lot of pasta makes me feel sluggish; 2) I have a tendency to overeat pasta (to the point of feeling uncomfortable and then remorseful and self-recriminating) when it’s easily available;  3) I don’t want to ban pasta from my diet forever.  So I try to limit my access to pasta to situations where my pasta intake will be constrained, say, at a restaurant or when I’m cooking for friends.  This gnocchi with pesto dish looks delicious, doesn’t it?

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I don’t tend to have pasta in my house, as I know from experience that I tend to overeat it and then feel bad about the overeating.  This is clearly not the pasta’s fault. Pasta is beyond good and evil.

Maybe it’s not really my fault, either.  What I mean is that my relationship with pasta is complicated.  I’d like it to be less burdened, to feel like I could eat it in a way that both satisfies my food preferences and wouldn’t result in shame or regret.  And I’ve tried.  But honestly, it just doesn’t work very well FOR ME to have regular access to pasta.

I discussed this issue with a nutritionist I was seeing a few years ago.  She was clearly against my restricting or eliminating any foods from my diet, arguing that foods were not good or bad; rather they all contributed in different ways to fueling me.  She added, “you don’t want to be a person who can’t have pasta, do you?”  I responded, “well, maybe I am one of those people.”  And that possibility is neither good nor evil.

Pasta isn’t good or evil, healthy or unhealthy, clean or.. uh, dirty?  You know what I mean. I’m not bad or good for eating or not eating it.  It’s food.  We eat it.  Or not eat it.  And we move on to the next thing in our day.

I agree with Tracy that being a food moralist undermines us in a lot of ways.  I guess I would describe myself as a food pragmatist.  That is, we eat what works for us.  We figure out what works through a complicated process of experimenting, reading and learning, forming some goals for ourselves about what health means to us, taking into account our preferences and constraints (economic, social, geographic, cultural, etc.).

I know, this seems like a lot of work just to figure out what to have for lunch.  Would that all our relationships– with our bodies, with food, with alcohol, with sex, with money– could be light and easy.  But if some of these relationships are constrained, or difficult or unstable, then maybe we can approach them not with moralism and judgment, but with a sense of what we want and what we think we can get from them.  I can get pleasure from eating pasta, but not if I eat a lot of it or if I eat it very often.  Okay, fine.  I can live with that.  And at the same time:

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eating

Food prepping, yes or no?

Sam B17 Comments

I remember once visiting a friend who was getting ready for a fitness competition.

She opened her fridge to consider our dinner options and there was no actual food in the fridge, no ingredients, just neatly stacked rows of tupperware full of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week, all carefully organized and colour coded. Chicken, sweet potato, fish, green beans, oatmeal.

Each week she cooked and prepared all her meals for the week ahead. So organized, so intimidating.

We went out and got Indian food instead. Phew!

People like advance meal prep for planning purposes. You won’t be caught off guard without healthy meals at the ready. It’s also typically praised for portion control. When done right, meal prep sure does photograph well. See 20 Photos That Prove Meal Prepping Is a Way of Life. There’s an instagram hashtag and loads of pinterest boards. I don’t make them but I think the meals in mason jars look the prettiest.

Occasionally I give it a go and make batch meals for the week. But in my house this plan can go wrong in one of two ways.

Way 1: Teenagers discover that what’s in the matching tupperware containers tastes good. Portion control be damned. They combine the contents of two or three containers to make a meal.

Way 2: I get sick of the contents, eat non prepped meals, and later throw out the rotten food and feel guilty. When I posted on our Facebook page about this a reader confessed that she too often threw out the healthy meals after they’d gone bad. I’m not alone!

I’ve discovered a solution for the first problem. Opaque tupperware. No one peaks in and my food is safe. Shhhh! But the second problem? Not so much.

In the end there’s some things I can prep and other meals I have to just buy ingredients and let things happen. Too much planning, for me, can be too much of a good thing. I do like cleaning and chopping veggies in advance. And there are some breakfasts I like to make in advance, like these egg and veggie muffins and also tubs of cottage cheese with fruit and granola. But planning out everything is just a little bit too much for me.

How about for you? How much structure and planning do you like around meals? Is advance meal prep a way of life for you? Or do you do it all on the the fly?

 

 

 

eating · feminism · food

Dumping the Sugar Dump: critical follow up

Tracy I29 Comments

Is it disordered eating? Is it unfeminist? Is it rationalization? Does it run contrary to the ideals of the blog? Is it dieting in disguise? Does it demonize sugar? Is it unscientific? Is it pleasure denying? Obsession-promoting? Am I a traitor? Troubled? A hypocrite?

These are all questions raised in the comments on my Tuesday post about “Dumping Sugar: this is not a detox.” First thing to say is that this is one of the reasons I love this blog. Readers don’t hold back. I understand why it generated a strong reaction. As the author of “Why food is beyond good and evil,” a committed anti-dieter, and practising intuitive eater, the idea of ditching sugar for good, as if it were a food group in itself and as if it had no redeeming value every one of these comments makes some sense to me. I’ve considered many similar questions myself right here on this blog. I’m the one who rejects tracking because of the panopticon.

But what I hadn’t prepared myself for was the level of snark and self-righteousness. So okay. I get it. The idea of trying to dump sugar strikes you as ill-advised. That’s fine and to those who expressed concern, thank you. Whatever else, it’s a flash point.

In the past, this sort of response (which at times felt harsh, like an attack, but I can handle that, being over 50 and a feminist this is not new to me–in fact, the last time I took this kind of heat was on this very blog, when my post about why putting “ladies” on the locker room door does a disservice to women fell into the hands of 4chan and some woman-hating subreddits) might make me dig in my heels.

But the sugar thing was meant to be a journey (possibly a short one). And part of the purpose of this week is to reflect on my motives and reasons and whether I even want to do this. And though it hurts when other feminists attack me, even more so when they call my feminism into question, I am positively disposed to taking other feminists seriously. So instead of writing a “back the fuck off, bitches, I’ve had  a rough year, month, week, day…” post (which is what I might have done when younger), I’m trying as hard as I can to keep an open mind. My plan here is to consider each challenge on its own merits, doing my best to set aside the snark and self-righteousness because in the end I don’t think that’s any way to get someone on your side if you have a legitimate point to make. Apologies in advance if some sarcasm and snark of my own seeps in.

Is it disordered eating? This is a tough one. I’m no stranger to disordered eating and I know first hand how it can shrink and ravage lives. Is dumping sugar (or any food) necessarily a sign of disordered eating? Not sure but I can see why it might be a red flag for some since it’s clearly something that lots of people with eating disorders do. For what it’s worth, I wasn’t about to get all fanatical about it. I’ve engaged in disordered eating in the past. But cutting out desserts doesn’t strike me as necessarily disordered. If it involved obsession and hyper-vigilance I’d be worried. But I was not planning to be hyper-vigilant.

Nevertheless, I can see how the idea of restricting a food group (not that sugar is in fact a food group) might trigger those with a history of eating disorders. I can also see how it could have some appeal to those with a history of eating disorders, which is why I needed to take this week of “planning” to try to get clear on my motives, which could easily be out of whack (a point I’m willing to consider and take seriously, though I must admit it’s easier to do that without shaming fingers wagging in my face).

I’ll get to the point about obsession in a minute.

Is it unscientific? Probably. I wasn’t proposing a research paper or study on it. I was engaging in some self-reflection about the role of sugar in my life and whether that itself was unhealthy. But in came the questions about what counts as sugar. Do I only mean refined sugar? What about maple syrup? Don’t we need glucose to get through the day? Don’t I realize that it’s impossible to get rid of sugar because it’s naturally occurring all over the place? All good questions that challenge the very basis of the idea that anyone can actually give up sugar. I find the charge that the a personal narrative post is unscientific to be kind of odd. But hey, if that’s your worry, mea culpa.

Is it pleasure-denying? I said:

There is just no really solid reason why these need to be in my life. If life would be sad without them, then that in itself says something kind of sad about the rest of my life.

This, among other things, offended people because of the implicit suggestion that if enjoying dessert is an important source of pleasure, I must be experiencing deficits in other areas of my life. Instead of seeing it that way, people suggested a different way of looking at it: dessert is an enjoyable thing that no one, especially feminists, should choose to live without. I can see wigging out over that if you’ve fought for the right not to have your food choices policed by friends, families and strangers. I have fought for that right myself, and other than what happened yesterday, have not experienced much policing of my food choices in recent years. And I don’t police the food choices of others despite that I’m an ethical vegan and have all sorts of views about carbon footprints, agribusiness, and unnecessary animal suffering and exploitation.

Is it unfeminist and contrary to the goals of this blog? I’ve blogged before about whether trying to lose weight is an unfeminist goal. I’ve blogged about why I will never, ever talk to anyone about weight loss again. I’ve thought a lot about the way it’s possible for individual women to betray women more generally by their choices. We can do this in all sorts of ways and feminists disagree about where to draw the line.

Some would reject make-up. Others might say we shouldn’t go in for marriage. Some will take issue with choosing to be a stay-at-home mother. Others will deny that sex workers can have any agency at all. Still others will stand on their heads to defend women’s right to choose to be sex workers. I do hope that for anyone who thinks choosing sex work is bad for women, your way of expressing that is not to lash out with verbal attacks on sex workers. Then there are those who will say that any explicit attempt to restrict women’s choices (as perhaps the suggestion that someone might choose not to eat sugar) is anti-feminist because … here I think the argument is complicated and has not been articulated well by any of the commenters on the original post.

I’m going to be charitable and say that these readers have a strong view, as do I, that dieting is part of an oppressive set of social practices that keeps women preoccupied with shallow goals and chasing after normative standards of femininity that ought to be rejected.

They ought to be rejected not only because they are impossible for many to attain (as if, if it were possible, that’s where we should be putting our attention), but also because guess what? There is a huge range of bodies and diversity matters and restricting that range has a negative impact on the value of equality. Compromising equality is definitely not consistent with feminist ideals. Therefore, the thought that anyone should restrict sugar must be contrary to feminism because there is no other reason to do it except dieting.

I’m not sure that’s true. I am not and do not intend to be on a diet any time soon. But I can see how people might link any kind of food restriction to dieting. And what if I were? Does that justify aggressive (yes, I do feel that some of the comments were unduly aggressive) policing of my choices? I’m going to go out on a limb here: no.

It’s even had the negative affect of “confirming” (to some of my friends who are perhaps more quiet, less public and less activist about their feminism) that feminists are scary people poised to lash out. As one friend said, only partially tongue in cheek, “Hugs. Don’t sweat it. Those damn feminists get offended about just about anything.” Great. That’s all we need.

I also don’t feel as if I should need to pull out my feminist resumé to prove myself here, on this blog, the blog that I co-founded, that has provided a feminist space for discussion and disagreement that we hope on our most optimistic days will be kind and constructive, not rife with personal attack.

Don’t even get me started on the stealth judgment contained in “you do you.” Seriously? It’s just passive aggressive bullshit that is code for “you do you, but before you do, let me make it really clear why I hate what you do when you do you. Carry on.” Does “you do you” really make up for the strong staring down of feminist disapproval? For the people who are “disappointed” and “surprised” and see their “red flags waving”? I’m 51 fucking years old. I don’t need anyone’s permission to “do me.” [again, thank you to those who reached out with concern instead, it felt much more helpful and genuine]

[stage direction: regain composure then continue]

Here’s my partial diagnosis of what happened (not complete, because I’m sure it was more complicated than this, but this is a start): After reading and re-reading the comments on the blog and the FB page, the overwhelming feeling I get is that at least some readers feel as if the post (and the project) was a betrayal of sorts (perhaps even evidence of my hypocrisy).

What I have to say about that is…maybe you’re right (though I won’t say I’m a hypocrite, I will say I’m not always perfectly consistent. Crucify me now. Oh, I almost forgot, you already did that on Tuesday.). It’s not at all consistent with my general approach to eating to even consider restricting foods for anything other than ethical reasons (as noted, I’m an ethical vegan). I do not demonize foods, do not believe that some foods are evil, and certainly do not go in for fads.  I spend a lot of time publicly rejecting diets, cleanses, weight loss talk (and programs), and have strongly feminist reasons for doing so. I promote body positivity and an inclusive approach to fitness.

And though some of the comments did sting (like the one that said what a waste of time to be spending energy journalling about sugar. For one thing, I feel that posting those journal entries was kind of exposing even if you think it’s a waste of time, and for another thing, it only took me 20 minutes and, as I said defensively in the comments after the onslaught had been under way for most of the day, I’d already spent several hours before and after writing about climate change and collective responsibility, so I think I’m actually making more valuable contributions in other spheres thank you very much), in the end I take the point while also still feeling fairly confident that food is a feminist issue.

To the person who said to Sam’s post that this whole thing is a “first world problem.” Yes. That’s true. In fact, the whole topic of dieting as a form of oppression is a first world problem. If you think about it in the context of global food systems and issues of real food insecurity, food sovereignty, and food justice, the choice to diet or eat whatever the heck you want, the choice to eat or not eat sugar or anything, oozes privilege. I have a paper on that coming out in the yet to be released Oxford Handbook on Food Ethics. Abstract here. But first world problems are still problems. Just because there may be worse problems in the world doesn’t mean we can’t talk about things that aren’t as horrible.

Before I concede entirely, I do want to address the one point several people made about restriction breeding obsession. I’ve had mixed experiences with this and I’m not the only one. As someone who has completely stopped consuming alcohol, I can attest that when I was moderating alcohol I was obsessed. After I quit, I no longer have to think about it anymore. It doesn’t even enter my mind because it’s basically off the table. I don’t read wine lists with a sense of longing and deprivation, or feel I’m missing out on anything when I toast with club soda instead of champagne. And more importantly for me, I don’t seek comfort in mind-altering substances anymore. Sure, continuing to use them would be exercising a freedom of choice that no one has the right to police, but that doesn’t mean it would be a good life strategy for me.

I have also engaged in seriously disordered and restricted eating in the past, and that did generate food obsession. But it seems to me that it is also possible that removing something completely can get it out of your head altogether (another case in point: I do not think about eating meat or dairy anymore — these are not on the menu for me and I do not obsess about them in their absence). So I guess I thought that perhaps sugar might go that way. The thought that it could go that way is not a totally ridiculous thought.

But I can see how it was a mistake to voice that here. People expect more, or perhaps, expect different, from this blog, from me. Even though sharing my plan and my journal made me vulnerable to criticism (and in other ways, but  it’s a blog and I often make myself vulnerable here), it also opened me up to input (let’s be charitable) from a feminist community that I generally respect and that I realize doesn’t have a whole lot of spaces that welcome their comments as much as we usually do here.

And it made me aware that I can still get caught up in what I call “old ideas” even if I try to dress them up in new ways. Don’t tell me you’ve never grasped after something in the hopes of making you “feel better” and found all sorts of good “reasons” for why doing that might “work.” Again, if you ever have, I hope that those who were concerned you might be making a mistake could find gentler ways of nudging you in a different direction.

When I decided I wanted to stop hearing about people’s weight loss, I said:

So I’m just going to put this out there and be totally frank. I really can’t stand it when people talk about their weight loss. I don’t care what the reasons. I don’t care if you’re trying or not trying. I don’t care if it’s for performance or for looks or just because that’s what friends, family, and strangers like to talk about.

You know, you can dress it up any way you like. But to me it’s such a personal thing that our social world has made into a public thing. And I’m always stumped about what we’re supposed to say. “Good for you!” even when someone is trying just goes against everything that feels right to me. It’s like encouraging something that I see ruin the lives of perfectly excellent people who think that weight loss will afford them something they need in order to feel good about themselves (or better about themselves). I just can’t have the conversation anymore, with anyone.

You know what? This week’s sugar dump response made me realize lots of people feel the same way about food and food restriction. It just reeks of “diet” to them. They just don’t want to hear it. And I agree. From here on out, I don’t either.

How about we eat what we eat and get on with our day? No need to write about it or talk about it or make big pronouncements about it.

Thanks for the feedback. Even though I don’t think it’s simply a choice between patriarchy or cupcakes, I’m dumping the sugar dump.

 

 

competition · eating · fat · Guest Post · racing

My transition to off road racing (Guest post)

Sam B1 Comment

by Lucy Shewell

My alarm went off at 4:30am… but I think I was already awake. I jumped out of bed feeling slightly nervous while quite excited at the same time. It was the morning of my second adventure race. Well, technically this was a multisport race as true ‘adventure’ racing involves a navigational component. Although this race would be off the beaten track, the trail run and mountain bike courses were to be marked with tape. The race that I was about to embark on consisted of a 1.5km ocean swim, a 13km ocean and creek paddle, a 12km trail run, a 22km mountain bike and concluded with a 2km run to the finish line. This was a race I had fantasized about participating in for years. I contemplated the idea of entering as a team. I also thought about doing the shorter course, which lacked the ocean swim and ocean paddle. But earlier this year I made the decision that I would be completing the full event as an individual.

I fueled up with oats, coconut milk, blueberries, yoghurt, cocoa powder, walnuts, coconut, whey protein powder and honey. I normally eat a low-carbohydrate diet with a decent amount of fat, but on race day morning I always consume carbohydrates. And of course I had a strong cup of coffee; also a necessity on race day. Next I loaded up my small, hatchback Toyota Corolla with my 14 foot, 17kg paddle ski, the paddle for the paddle ski, my wetsuit, goggles, swimming cap, mountain bike, helmet, gloves, water pack, running shoes, towel and nutrition for the day. My nutrition took up barely any room as it consisted of one espresso gel and two pieces of a homemade oat and nut slice. This may seem like very little for what would be a race lasting over 6 hours, but years of eating low carb and training in a fasted state has allowed me to fuel my endurance racing by burning my own fat stores.

I drove to the first transition point to drop off my gear for the run leg. The next stop was the mountain bike transition, then it was off to the start line. Both the swim and the paddle commenced from Currumbin Alley, the point at which Currumbin Creek meets the Pacific Ocean.

The weather was not great. There were some clouds looming overhead. It had rained during the night and my thoughts wandered to the mountain bike track, sections of which I imagined would be muddy and slippery. I put on my wetsuit and prepared for the race briefing. I noticed that there was only one other individual woman starting the race. I compared my ski to hers and felt somewhat deflated. I had a short, stumpy, plastic ski while hers was a long, slender racing ski. Did I stand a chance to beat her?

The 14 of us taking on the full course headed over to the swim start. I felt nervous again. Gary, the race director had earlier grabbed my shoulders and said “Lucy, what are you so worried about? You are here to have fun”. I repeated his words in my mind. What was the worst that could happen? If I lost my ski entering through the creek mouth then I would just have to swim after it; something I had done many times before. And I would just have to take it easy on the steep sections of the mountain bike course given the wet conditions. Everything would be fine I told myself.

The swim started and I was pleased to find myself in the middle of the pack. We headed out through the waves around the first buoy. The surf was quite flat that day so the swim did not trouble me at all. I struggled slightly finding the final buoy but managed to get around it and started to make my way in to the shore. I tore off my wetsuit as I ran up the beach to where the skis were waiting. Again I was pleasantly surprised to see that my ski was far from the last one on the shore. But I knew I had the slowest ski so I wasn’t going to be surprised if I was overtaken by the majority of the field.

I paddled my ski out through the waves with no problems. Two guys passed me as we paddled through the ocean towards the creek mouth. The tide was going out so I felt slightly concerned that if I lost my ski it would get washed out to sea. I lined up a small wave to catch in and paddled hard. I rode the wave and as it crashed behind me I tipped out of my ski. I quickly jumped back in and began paddling hard again. I was now in still water. What had I been so worried about?

Two more guys had passed me on much better skis. It was disappointing but what could I expect. The paddle seemed to take forever. At one point I feared that I had somehow taken a wrong turn in the creek and was off course. I was relieved when I paddled up to the bank and the wonderful volunteers were there to carry my ski up while I headed to the run transition.

I chucked on my shoes, put on my water pack and slammed down my espresso gel. The caffeine hit was just what I needed after the 1.5km swim and 13km paddle. At that point I noticed my water pack had been leaking! There was a tiny dribble of water left which I quickly drank as I began the run. There was nothing I could do about this now. Time to get running!

The run course was totally fun. I was running along the creek’s edge; crossing the creek multiple times. I ran over rocks, through thick shrub, under trees, through mud, down hills, up hills; I was having a ball! I passed several people during the run, which made me feel confident. I was sure that I had not seen the only other female competitor doing the full course. I finished the run feeling strong but slightly thirsty. I asked another one of the fabulous volunteers in the bike transition area if she had any water. She kindly poured some into my water pack only for it to start leaking down my back. I jumped on my bike, had a bit to eat and began heading for the first steep climb. Once I reached the top of the first climb the course entered the border track; a rolling section of fire trails and single track. At this point I drank the last of my remaining water, ate the last of my food and kept riding.

Again, I found this section of the race fun. I think that’s my favourite part about off road racing; I was actually having fun while racing! Triathlon and marathon running do have moments of fun (like when you finish), however, these races are all about going as fast as you can physically and mentally stand. I am also thoroughly enjoying the training for off road races. Last weekend my training session consisted of mountain biking on some single track surrounded by trees and shrubs, followed by some trail running. I was thinking ‘This is great!” My training leading up to this adventure race was not as structured compared to my training for triathlon. I hadn’t been focusing on my speed or pace or how many reps per session. When I was training for triathlon or marathons I would ensure that just about every training session had a structure and a purpose. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for structured training. Having a regimented training regime did wonders for my fitness and ability as a multisport racer. But since making the transition to off road races I have been enjoying the freedom of doing what I feel like in training.

Back to the race. The mountain bike section went well. I only had a couple of minor slips and I came into the final transition feeling strong. Due to my background in triathlon I was used to running hard off the bike – so that is what I did. I ran hard to the finish line and I was absolutely thrilled not only to finish, but also to find out that I was the first female finisher! My final time was 6:10:52. I was 6th out of the swim but dropped back to 12th after the paddle ski leg. I made up some ground in the run and the bike to finish 10th overall out of a field of 14. I had a great day and I felt a great sense of pride for finishing this race as an individual. I had previously completed a shorter multisport race consisting of a 14km mountain bike, a 7km creek paddle and an 8km beach run, but a race of this magnitude was something that I never thought I could achieve. I have since completed another off road triathlon, in which I was the third female finisher overall. I am really enjoying off road training and racing. I have a lot to work on, especially my mountain biking skills and my down-hill running, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Dr Lucy Shewell, PhD is a research scientist in the field of molecular microbiology. Her current research focuses on bacterial toxins and their interactions with host cells. Her research has been published in leading scientific journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature Communications. In her spare time Dr Shewell trains for and competes in multisport and endurance races. She was a top age group triathlete before shifting to off road races. She is passionate about fueling her training and racing with practical, easy to prepare, nutritious whole food. She also enjoys researching and writing articles on topics in health, nutrition, fitness and athletic performance using quality, peer-reviewed science. You can find her whole food recipes and articles at her new blog, http://icantbelievethatshealthy.com/

 

diets · eating · family

You do you, as the kids say

Sam B7 Comments

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What does “you do you” mean anyway?

Urban Dictionary says it’s “the act of doing the things that you normally do. Nothing more, nothing less. Just being yourself and showing everyone who’s boss around here.
Person 1: Hey, I went to the mall and bought a YOU GO BAK today.

Person 2: You Do You, Pal!”

The New York Times opines that the expression perfectly captures our narcissistic culture:

“We don’t all partake of the same slang menu — you say “pop,” I say “soda,” and we’ll all get properly sorted on Judgment Day. Wherever you hail from, you’ll recognize “You do you” and “Do you” as contemporary versions of that life-­affirming chestnut “Just be yourself.” It’s the gift of encouragement from one person to another, what we tell children on the first day of kindergarten, how we reassure buddies as they primp for a blind date or rehearse asking for a raise. You do you, as if we could be anyone else. Depending on your essential qualities, this song of oneself is cause for joy or tragedy.”

And there is something conservative about the phrase. There’s an acceptance of the status quo and a refusal to engage in critical reflection. William Safire, also writing in the New York Times, called phrases like this, “tautophrases.”

“According to Safire, “It is what it is” has many tautophrasal relatives and ancestors. “What’s done is done,” “What will be will be.” The striking thing about his examples is how many of them preserve and burnish the established order”

But in our house, a busy house packed full of strong willed people with big, big, big personalities (where did that come from?) “you do you” is the liberal slogan used to end all arguments that are really matters of taste and opinion. I hear it used well among the kids in discussions of sexual orientation and relationship style preference but my favourite use of the expression concerns food and exercise.

We’ve got one formerly vegetarian child experimenting with chicken and another pretty much vegan. But that’s okay, because at the kitchen counter they’re all “you do you.”

It’s also stopped some sports nutrition arguments dead in their tracks. “Is that cereal you’re eating? Carbs at breakfast are a super bad idea.” “Hey, you do you pal.”

CrossFit versus heavy weights? You do you!

Running versus running makes you fat? You do you!

Paleo versus carbs are necessary fuel? You do you!

So while I’m sure there are areas of life where the slogan doesn’t apply, in my house, in matters of food and fitness, I’m a big fan of “You do you.”

Just don’t get me started on “It is what it is.”

 

eating · fitness

The upside and downside to not feeling hungry

Sam B4 Comments

Since my thyroid surgery I just haven’t been that hungry. You can read a bit about that here Forgetting to eat? Who are these people? and here The weak link in intuitive eating.

And if you think that losing weight would be a good thing, you might also think that not being hungry would be wonderful. Wouldn’t it be easy to diet if you didn’t have to deal with hunger? I confess, it’s easier than life when I was hungry all the time. I’m even sleeping in because I no longer wake with hunger.

But even though I’m often not hungry I still have to eat. Why? Well, for one thing I want to ride my bike. That takes fuel.

I’m also discovering that not being hungry doesn’t lead to the best food choices. I’ve had a few lunch hours where I’ve wandered through the university cafeteria, finding nothing I want to eat. Veggie burger? Nah. Bean burrito? Nope. How about soba noodle and tofu? No thanks.

This is a real change. Normally when I’m hungry, everything smells and tastes good. It’s easy to make healthy food choices when you’re hungry. Now I’m having to tempt myself into eating.

When I was arriving home hungry the downside was that I’d eat whatever was easy, but that could be vegetables. It just took preparation. Now easy isn’t enough.

A friend of mine uses the apple test for hunger. If he isn’t hungry enough to eat an apple, he decides he’s not really hungry. But by the apple test I’d almost never eat. I actually had dark chocolate with sea salt and raspberries for breakfast the other day. Now that tasted great. It was a special occasion. But it’s not my usual yogurt and fruit.

I’ve been tempted by food that hasn’t tempted me in years. I find myself thinking, “I’m not hungry but I could eat pizza, or even a drive thru fish burger.”  It reminds me a bit of pregnancy and the chicken eating this vegetarian gave in to. Nothing else seemed like a good idea when I was pregnant and a little bit pukey.

So not being hungry seems like it would be a blessing for diet and weight loss. The truth, at least for this active person, is considerably more complicated. I’m sure it will settle into the new normal after awhile. For now, I’m trying to make good food choices without using hunger or temptation as a guide. Wish me luck.

eating · fitness · food · nutrition

Really, it’s 2015 and we’re STILL talking about protein-combining for plant-based diet?

Tracy I12 Comments

This article came my way from Sam yesterday: “The Best Protein You Can Eat.” Before I read it, I prepared myself to be irked. I was, but not for the reasons I expected. I anticipated an article that focused only on protein from animal sources. That’s not quite what it says, but it does say this:

Animal-based sources (meat, eggs, dairy) pack them all in one amount or another, but most plant-based sources only contain a fraction of the nine essential amino acids, meaning that if you get all your plant-based protein from peas, you could end up not getting enough of certain amino acids, explains study co-author Rajavel Elango, a nutrition and metabolism researcher with the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. When getting protein from plant-based sources, it’s important to munch on various protein-rich plants at every meal to help guarantee you get all of the amino acids you need by day’s end.

Back in the day, and by “the day” I mean the seventies, Diet for a Small Planet perpetuated the idea that you had to combine protein at every single meal in order to get “complete protein.” So if you were going to eat beans, you also had to eat rice. If you were going to eat lentils, you had to add some grains.

But the idea that plant proteins are incomplete and not likely to deliver all of the essential amino acids has not just been contested over the years, it’s been debunked.

The website One Green Planet says:

The idea that all essential amino acids must be eaten together at each meal isn’t true like we used to think. One can eat a variety of foods that are rich in essential and non-essential amino acids, and completely get their fill of protein. Many plant-based foods are filled with all essential amino acids (hemp, chia, sprouted brown rice, and spirulina, just to name a handful).

And Forks over Knives also talks about the myth of complementary protein. The author outlines the history of the myth and its correction:

The “incomplete protein” myth was inadvertently promoted and popularized in the 1971 book, Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé. In it, the author stated that plant foods are deficient in some of the essential amino acids, so in order to be a healthy vegetarian, you needed to eat a combination of certain plant foods at the same time in order to get all of the essential amino acids in the right amounts. It was called the theory of “protein complementing.”

Lappé certainly meant no harm, and her mistake was somewhat understandable. She was not a nutritionist, physiologist, or medical doctor; she was a sociologist trying to end world hunger. She realized that converting vegetable protein into animal protein involved a lot of waste, and she calculated that if people ate just the plant protein, many more could be fed. In the tenth anniversary edition of her book (1981), she retracted her statement and basically said that in trying to end one myth—the inevitability of world hunger—she had created a second one, the myth of the need for “protein complementing.”

In this and later editions, she corrects her earlier mistake and clearly states that all plant foods typically consumed as sources of protein contain all the essential amino acids, and that humans are virtually certain of getting enough protein from plant sources if they consume sufficient calories.

It’s really hard to fall short of essential amino acids on a well-rounded plant-based diet even if working with the concept of recommended requirements:

Where did the concept of essential amino acids come from and how was the minimum requirement for essential amino acids derived? In 1952, William Rose and his colleagues completed research to determine the human requirements for each of the eight essential amino acids. They set the minimum amino acid requirement equal to the greatest amount required by any single person in their study. Then to arrive at the recommended amino acid requirement, they simply doubled the minimum requirements. This recommended amount was considered a definite safe intake.

Today, if you calculate the amount of each essential amino acid provided by unprocessed plant foods and compare these values with those determined by Rose, you will find that any single whole natural plant food, or any combination of them, if eaten as one’s sole source of calories for a day, would provide all of the essential amino acids and not just the minimum requirements but far more than the recommended requirements.

Modern researchers know that it is virtually impossible to design a calorie-sufficient diet based on unprocessed whole natural plant foods that is deficient in any of the amino acids. (The only possible exception could be a diet based solely on fruit).

But back to the “best protein sources.” The article I talked about at the beginning recommends the following:

  • eggs
  • cottage cheese
  • chicken
  • whole grains
  • fish
  • legumes
  • greek yogurt
  • nuts
  • leafy greens

What I love about this list is that 4/9 of the best sources are totally vegan. And, whereas the first thing that comes to most people minds when they talk about protein is steak or burgers, these are nowhere to be found on this list. So that’s progress.

While it’s true that many plants contain some protein, it’s also true that the amount varies. Here’s a good list of plant-sources and how much protein you can expect to get from them (from “Busted! The Myth about ‘Incomplete’ Plant-Based Protein”):

  • Broccoli: 5 grams per cup
  • Spinach: 5 grams per cup
  • Rye Grains: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Rolled Oats: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Millet: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Amaranth: 6 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Freekah: 5 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Teff: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Buckwheat: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Almond Butter: 7 Grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Spirulina: 4 grams per teaspoon (!!)
  • Chlorella: 2 grams per teaspoon
  • Chia seeds: 10 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Flax Seeds: 5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Cacao Powder: 5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Maca: 3 grams per tablespoon
  • Acai: 5 grams per 3 ounce frozen puree
  • Kale: 5 grams per cup
  • Lentils- 18 grams per cup
  • Black Beans- 13 grams per cup
  • Chickpeas- 13 grams per cup
  • Tofu: 10 grams per 3 ounces
  • Tempeh: 10 grams per 2 ounces
  • Endamame (Soybeans) – 16 grams per cup
  • Romaine Lettuce: 3 grams per cup
  • Sunflower Seeds: 10 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Almonds: 7 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Pumpkin Seeds: 10 grams per 1/4 cup
  • Coconut Flour: 3.5 grams per 2 tablespoons
  • Quinoa: 7 grams per 1/2 cup cooked
  • Plant-Based Protein Powders (hemp, pea, brown rice, cranberry bean, soy, etc.) : 17-25 grams per scoop (depending on the brand)
  • Green Peas: 8 grams per cup

And here’s what they say about how much you need:

If you’re still a little antsy and unsure about getting enough protein on a plant-based diet, just figure up how much you need. Multiply your body weight times .40 and that’s the recommended amount of protein you need for everyday functions. If you’re athletic, eat a little more and divide it up evenly between meals – simple as that.

I’ve heard people say that if you’re an athlete you should be thinking about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. I find that impossible. And that would mean a heck of a lot of green peas, for sure. But no one is going to eat only green peas.

Like I said, 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is way too much for me. Here’s where I like what the No Meat Athlete has to say in his vegetarian protein primer:

Sure, athletes need more protein than non-athletes.  But we also need more carbohydrates and fat—our overall caloric needs are much higher since we burn so much energy in our training.

So because we’re eating more calories, we’re automatically consuming more protein if we stay at 10-15 percent of the total.

For example: I’m about 80 kilograms and I need 2500 calories most days. If I want ten percent of those calories to be from protein, then I need about 63 grams of protein.

When I’m Ironman training or have an otherwise heavy load, my caloric needs double. Therefore, so does my protein, to 126 grams.

I tell the vegan athletes I consult to shoot for 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight.  You can see from my numbers above that even when protein is only ten percent of calories, I’m getting 1.5 grams per kilogram body weight.

Contrary to what most people believe, more isn’t necessarily better when it comes to protein.  The body can only process so much per day, and any additional protein is inefficiently converted to energy or even stored as body fat.

– See more at: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-protein-primer/#sthash.dPsmaf91.dpuf

His formula is a lot less than the gram per pound formula. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds. So if you need 1 gram per kilogram, then that’s starting to sound more reasonable.
So here’s the thing: you can be on a vegan diet and get enough protein without having to torture yourself over food-combining at every meal. Just eat a variety of foods and — presto — it will all work out in the end.
And just a quick reminder. I know most of the people who read this blog regularly aren’t big dieters who are bent on losing weight, but it bears repeating that vegan is not a weight loss diet.  It’s a great way to eat, but it’s not a ticket to weight loss.
eating · nutrition

Forgetting to eat? Who are these people?

Sam B15 Comments

 

People do that, I hear. They forget to eat.

I have a friend who works at a computer all day, most days and his Facebook posts occasionally say things like “3 pm, guess I should eat something today.”

But not me. I wake up hungry. If I don’t snack in the evenings I’ve been known to wake up at 3 am hungry.

I never forget supper. Mid afternoon comes around and I’m thinking about food. I snack, the goal is to snack healthily, so I can make it to dinner. I snack on veggies while I cook.

People talk about eating when hungry and stopping when full as if it might push them to eat less. But I’m often hungry. Not vaguely snack-y, I mean stomach growling, actually full blown hungry hunger.

Until recently.

Twice recently I’ve realized that I’ve forgotten to eat. Both times, of course, on bike rides. That’s bad.

Last week I had a 5 pm training ride. They’re hard. I had lunch. Returned to my desk. Started to get ready to leave for the ride and realized, “Oh, crap. Food. I have to eat.”

That’s an external cue, bike ride!, rather than an internal one, hunger, but it didn’t matter. Intuitive eating be dammed, I need to eat. So I found a protein bar in a vending machine and off I went.

But it wasn’t enough. Three quarters way through the ride, I was rustling through my jersey pocket trying to unwrap gel blocks without either a)tipping my bike over or b)getting dropped. I managed but I stopped halfway home and ate a sports bar and then real dinner when I got home at 7.

We’ve written a lot on this blog about cycling and food. See:

Here’s some of what I’ve written:

For me biking is one of the few contexts in which eating intuitively doesn’t work at all. If I work hard I don’t feel like eating but you can’t ride a bike without food.

I blogged about my experiences in the post Hunger and Nutrition.

I wrote,

I struggle a bit with this because I’m often not hungry when I know I need to eat–during long, intense bike rides is the most common example–and at other times I’m famished even when I know there’s no need for extra calories (after long bike rides when I’m often hungry for the rest of the day and into the next one even after I’ve refueled.)

I know from experience that if I don’t eat while riding my performance suffers. It’s not just that I struggle while riding, I’m also hungry for days afterwards. By the time I get off the bike I’m eating anything and everything in sight. Often I’m still hungry the next day.

But if I eat regularly, before I’m hungry, and keep eating throughout the ride, I’m fine.

If I get the balance right not only can I ride faster, for longer, there’s no big swing in hunger associated with a long hard ride. I can have dinner that night as usual.

So I do it because I know it works even if it means setting aside my usual “eat when hungry” mantra.

If I find it tough, I think, again based on experience, my smaller cycling friends have it tougher. Food management can hugely affect cycling performance. It’s worth experimenting to find what works.

——————————————————

I’m not sure what’s caused the missing meals thing with me. I’ve got some guesses related to medication I’m taking. The experience has been a bit of an eye opener about intuitive eating If my hunger cues are so radically different when presumably my energy needs are about the same, hunger might not be such a reliable guide. Indeed, regulating hunger and appetite turns out to be something the body isn’t very good at and many people think these hormones (not a relapse to old ways and bad habits) are a big part of the explanation of weight regain.

The good news is that I might even be able to run in the morning. See here for why I haven’t been able to in the past.

 

diets · eating · eating disorders

Disrupt your Diet Offers a Beginner’s Guide to Eating Right

Sam B5 Comments

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What prompted the creation of the advice graphic? This! (And the hundreds of others like it.)

 

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For Tracy’s take on “clean eating” see Living Clean without Eating Clean.