The Gorilla (continued)

Erik here. Back in March I wrote the first post about my health in which I threw down my own gauntlet. I have to confess now that I'm the same weight I was then. This post is why that isn't a bad thing though, aside from the fact that with the onset of winter, I have until spring before I can get the kayak into the water.

In April I switched jobs, and started to drive to work again instead of bicycling. From my high of 240 in 2010, I came down to my present weight of 220 primarily with the bicycle. Going back further, when I was 18, I bottomed out at about 140 at this height. I was borderline undernourished. I lived a normal western lifestyle after that, gaining 8-10 el-bee's a year as a matter of course. I credit the bicycle with turning things around; I needed an excuse to shed weight faster so it would be easier to ride.

I look back on the last 6 months as mildly successful. I still have an "overweight" BMI at 29.8; which is really .2 away from "obese". That's a pretty narrow margin to hang my hat on. At the same time, my outlook on food has changed dramatically, and 2011 saw no weight gain for the second year in a row. So even without exercise, my weight has become sustainable. Everyone likes lists, so here's a list of things I need to double down on, and maybe something in the list will help you as well. Chances are, if you're reading this, I like you, and I want you to live longer so we can hang out.

1. Food is medicine. We think of them in separate ways, but food can have a much bigger impact on your health than medicine can. One of my prescriptions is "meatless" sandwiches for lunch at work, usually a 12 grain bread, honey mustard, and a huge handful of spring mix lettuce, spinach or kale. You don't need a big lunch, stop paying for one! (Breakfast is coffee and a nutri-grain bar).

2. Plant based is best. Just today I again heard the myth of humans and animal fat from someone. Don't fool yourself, there are plenty of genius vegans out there, and they are more likely to live to be nonagenarians than people getting meat at every meal. Homo-Sapiens has always had a plant based diet. 

3. If you're eating meat, eat really good meat. This means spending more money, which should help with cutting back.

4. Make your own bread (or pizza). Bread is kind of difficult to make. As many loaves as I've made, I still screwed up one really badly at christmas because I was in an unfamiliar kitchen and getting nagged to death by my mother. At the very least you'll appreciate other bread more and have less mindless eating.

5. Find a fruit that you can snack on, and then snack on it when you're not hungry. I go with Craisins, or maybe pistachios. I'd go with a banana a day if I wasn't allergic to them.

6. Drink organic whole milk instead of skim milk or whatever percent, opting for "pasteurized" instead of "ultra-pasteurized" where possible. Since I was a kid, I fooled myself into thinking milk was ok if it was 1% or skim. This way I drink less and enjoy it more. Again, it's more expensive, and it's got a lot of that medicine stuff going on, hydrocarbons that are no-doubt useful to organisms such as yourself. If you're going to put something into your body, go for the gold or go home. You're a huge investment as an animal.

7. Drink more water. My mom shocked me last year when she turned her nose up at water. I didn't know that she just plain didn't drink water, instead opting for diet sodas or a daily iced-coffee from Mcdonald's. She was recovering at my house because they pulled a tumor the size of a golf ball out of her gut. I think the anecdotal correlation between her beverage choice and her tumor is sound; it has been confirmed by legitimate studies.  If you want something else, drink coffee, tea, or Bolthouse Farms' Carrot juice. The ingredients are "carrots."

7a. Your trash is soup stock - AKA tasty water. I've made soup stock out of asparagus ends, carrot tops, brocolli and brussel-sprout branches, pineapple heads, aging veggie trays, potato peels, bones and fat. I've put things into stock I can't even recall. I bet you could even use bean ends and maybe even corn husks. After an hour of simmering, these bits can be pitched into your compost heap (see #8) instead of the trash. This is a much tastier alternative to store-bought stock, and you can hold the salt. One box of stock in our pantry has almost 3 GRAMS of sodium.

8. Grow your own food. We were very successful deck farmers last year. I recommend getting a basil and rosemary plant from a nursery if you have any sunlight at all. We've had a ton of both since we started growing them, and we've been more apt to cook for ourselves and choose healthy recipes. I calculate we harvested over 60$ in basil last year. The other bonus comes from being in touch with where your food comes from, I definitely appreciate each bite more if I had to do the watering and other care to grow it. These herbs have another bonus, they have more of those awesome hydrocarbons, in this case "essential oils" that are vital for human health.

9. Throw away cookies. I'm into throwing away or giving away at least half of any cookies I might otherwise eat. If they are "gross" cookies, made with high fructose corn syrup, throw them away. If they are "good" cookies made with flour, sugar, nuts and stuff, try to give them away. It's better to throw away calories than vitamins.

10. No soda, diet or regular. Replace with coffee/tea. Don't dump a bunch of sugar and milk into them. Agave nectar or honey are ok. I calculated that I'd had almost 2 million calories worth of soda in my 20's. These calories did not replace anything or sustain me in any way, I know because I eat the same after cutting them. My body had to process hundreds of pounds of essentially body fat (3500 kcals per pound of fat). It's really amazing I'm not much fatter.

The underlying theme here is to spend more money on the food you're putting into your body, and compensate for the increased cost by cutting back on tonnage, and on eating out. I will predict that for each one of these items on this list, you get a free year of life (you're welcome!) an untestable hypothesis, but one well rooted in proven science. Also, watch Dan Buettner's Ted talk, which I helpfully embedded below on how to live to be 100. Walk. Drink Argiolas Costera or other granache spanish wines. Eat fish, durum wheat, cheese from grass-fed cows, fresh fish and as many plants as possible.  The longer you live, the more friends I'll have, and apparently that's good for you too. There it is, my confession: wanting you to be healthy and live longer is for my own selfish ends.

Don't forget about the gorilla.