Editor’s note: This post is a “Real Food” recipe that follows the core philosophy of this site: Eat Real Food in Moderation. The idea is to find delicious, practical, seasonal alternatives to industrial food products. Of course, the recipes do not focus on low fat/low carb dietary ideas, so the key as always is moderation. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

Green corn tamales are a seasonal favorite in the American southwest, various areas of Mexico including Sonora and Veracruz, and even a few islands in the Caribbean. If you’re unfamiliar with green corn tamales, one of the hallmarks is the texture: where a traditional, well-made tamale is moist and cake-like, a green corn tamale is generally a little “wetter”. Depending on the version, the texture can range from nearly a creamy corn salad to somewhat like a thick custard. They are best made when corn is in season, generally from May to October in northern regions.

After doing some digging, it’s clear that there are a variety of theories on why they’re called green corn tamales. I’ve read ideas ranging from the use of the green husks to wrap them, to the fact that some include a non-traditional whole green chile (I highly doubt the latter as the reason). The theory I find most likely however is the use of fresh corn straight off the cob. Where “traditional” tamales rely on corn flour (masa) as the primary ingredient for the dough, green corn tamales generally use fresh corn as the main ingredient. The physical difference is obviously the moisture content in fresh corn, but I’ve also found that the flavor is (usually) slightly sweeter (particularly if the corn is ripe). The flavor also has an “earthy” quality to it that I don’t seem to get as much of in corn flour tamales. I also tend to think that the use of fresh corn for the tamale probably predates corn flour, but I don’t have any proof – it’s just a hunch.

Are green corn tamales worth the effort?

When I decided to try to make green corn tamales for the first time, I received a variety of responses from folks I knew who had made tamales before. But mostly it seemed that each comment echoed two themes: a) It is a LOT of work, and b) what time should I come over for dinner?

In making these tamales, I can confirm that they are right – there is a fair amount of work involved. But I would counter that it is no more work than many other traditional “real food” dishes we’ve tried so far (for example, authentic Indian meals we’ve prepared took nearly twice as long to prepare).

They are truly delicious, satisfying, and…did I mention delicious?

So the answer is YES. It is time consuming and does require some manual labor, but for me the payoff is well worth it.

One last thing…

I freely admit that I am far from a tamale-making expert, but I do love to eat them (big surprise). I developed a love for authentic tamales while living in Los Angeles for years, where abundant Latino culinary traditions are fundamental to the cultural landscape. These days I have some definite opinions on the qualities of a good tamale (translation, I’m rather picky at times), but I certainly fall into the Gringo category when it comes to making them. In fact as I made these, I really wished that I had my brother-in-law’s mother from Mexico looking over my shoulder and telling me what I was doing wrong – because truth be told it took a few tries to get them right.

Real Food Recipe: Green Corn Tamales

This version of the recipe happens to be vegetarian, but substituting beef or pork would be excellent as well. One of the great things about making tamales is you can really use any filling that suits your taste. Most typical savory tamales have shredded beef or pork of some kind, but I’ve found that this basic cheese and green chile vegetarian option is excellent (and does not require the extra steps of preparing the meat). Experiment; see what tastes good. For example, we recently had a Nicaraguan version of a tamale called a Nacatamal, and they used ingredients like a savory meat and asparagus with sweet plums, which was a great combination.

One alternative to try? Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato is excellent. And I imagine that a more dessert-like version would be wonderful as well.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

20 ears yellow corn, ripe and in season
1 package of corn husks* (optional, see notes)
2 cups medium grind cornmeal
1/2 cup unsalted organic butter**
1/2 cup organic shortening**
3/4 cup agave syrup (sugar also works if you don’t have agave)
1/2 cup cream
1 Tbsp. salt

Filling:
16  strips medium or sharp cheddar cheese
1 24-oz. can of whole green chiles

Parchment paper (optional)

Makes approximately 16 tamales

Preparation

Cut the ends of the corn off, leaving the husks easy to remove in large pieces. Reserve the husks and discard the silk. With the corn still on the cob, rinse each in cold water and pat dry. Cut the kernels from the cob.

In a blender, grind the kernels with the corn meal in roughy equal batches to make sure the corn meal is distributed evenly. The length of time in the blender depends on the texture you prefer, but we blended each batch pretty well until the hulls of the corn were mostly gone. Using a large spoon, mix the batches together in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the shortening until the mixture is creamy. Add the agave, salt, and cream, and then mix lightly. Add the cream mixture to the corn and mix together well.

Assembling the tamales

On a piece of parchment paper roughly 12 inches square, place two large husks, overlapping them lengthwise so that the narrow ends are pointing outward. Your little tamale nest should be shaped something like an American football. Using a large spoon, spread the batter into the husk – somewhere around a half a cup or so depending on the size of the tamale you want. Add a piece of cheese and a green chile in the center, and then cover with more batter.

Roll the long edges of the corn husks over the tamale, and then fold in the ends to seal in the batter. Roll the tamale up in the parchment, and then twist the ends of the parchment several times to seal the package. You can also tie them shut, but twisting seemed to work just fine.

To cook, steam on a rack for about an hour depending on how you’ve packed the tamales. For us, I stood the tamales up on one end and packed them into the steamer pot. This increased the overall cooking time to about 1.5 hours, but allowed for many more to be cooked at once. To test if they are done, take one out and open it up carefully (the steam is of course scorching hot, so use caution). If the tamale pulls away from the husk in a single piece, it’s done.

One side note: I don’t believe that the parchment is strictly necessary. If you package the tamale properly in the corn husk, you don’t necessarily need the paper to wrap it in – you can use string to tie off the ends. But if tamales are not in your regular rotation of cooking, the parchment is a shortcut that makes it a little easier.

To Serve

One of the brilliant things about green corn tamales is they really do not need a sauce since they are by nature very moist. That said, a good fresh mango salsa is excellent with this version. Serve with a side of seasoned rice and black beans, or eat it by itself – it’s up to you. Tamales are typically served in the husk, so that the person eating unwraps the little package and enjoys the melting, comforting contents.

Notes

One of the great things about these tamales is they freeze and reheat very well, so it’s worth taking a little extra time to make a large batch. By freezing them, green corn tamales transform from real food into “convenience” food for later. Forget the frozen TV dinner or awful tasting Hot Pocket – opt for the homemade comfort of a tamale.

*Corn husks: To wrap the tamales, there are basically two options. Traditional green corn tamales use the green husks from the corn you use, which does work, though your success depends on both your skill and the size of the green husks you have removed. The second, easier alternative is to use pre-dried corn husks that are pre-soaked in warm water. I tried both ways and found that I had better results with the pre-soaked husks, as they are much larger and easier to work with. So, if you go with the easier choice, you’ll want to pre-soak the husks in warm water for at least 10 minutes. Dried husks can be found in ethnic food aisles at most grocery stores, and a package of 100 or so costs all of five bucks.

**Lard as a better alternative: The next time I make this I’ll use locally obtained lard (not the hydrogenated store-bought version), which not only has health benefits but is undoubtedly closer to the original recipe. For more information on the health benefits of lard, see this Seattle Times article: The Real Thing. The Weston A Price Foundation also has some excellent information on the subject.

All in all, this recipe was well worth the time and effort. I’ll be making another batch soon – so be on the lookout for a dinner invitation.

Thanks for reading.

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…a nasty little virus knocks you down.

No, not swine flu thank goodness, but something toxic that took up residence in the back of my throat for a week. I came down with a virus shortly after my last post (same day), and after fighting it for days finally gave in and went to the doctor. It turns out it was part bacterial (treatable with a mild course of antibiotics), and part virus (not so treatable – my body just has to do it’s thing).

The good news is I’m on the mend, and the worst seems to be behind me – the fever has been gone for days, and my throat is now functioning again. The bad news is the virus moved from my throat into my eyes and lungs, so I now look like I’ve been smoking an illicit substance or two, and have the hacking cough to go along with it. Believe me, when my throat felt like I had an angry, adamantian claw-fisted animal trying to gnaw and scratch his way out of my gullet horizontally, I would have considered just about any solution. Fortunately, my doctor had a fix that did not require me to take up a new vice.

Because let me tell you, I really don’t need any more vices. Bread, refined sugar and Doritos are enough.

At any rate, I just wanted to post a quick note to let readers know I’m still hanging in there, and should be back to normal this week. I’ve got a few posts in the queue including one on my adventures into the land of making fresh green corn tamales from scratch, another round of suggested reading, and hopefully a significant post on healthy food options (and that’s all I’ll vaguely say for now). And if all goes well, a surprise or two.

Thanks for reading.

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Note to Almost Fit readers: This photo is, surprise surprise, ME, from a while back. I rarely post photos of myself, but I think I’m going to try to change that over the coming months to increase my level of accountability. At any rate, this is what I looked like – 4 years ago after having run 13.1 miles .

That’s not physically possible for me to do

When my wife and I trained with a group for a 1/2 marathon a few years ago, part of our motivation was to spend time together. That worked sometimes, but the truth be told when we ran together, my wife was always holding her pace back a little, and I was usually pushing harder than was healthy for my body at the time. Essentially I was trying to “catch up” even though my body really wasn’t ready for it.

When we trained, I was put in a slower pace group. When I expressed my wish to catch my wife’s pace group to our coach through extra training, she looked into my eyes, put her hand on my shoulder, and quietly said, “I hate to break this to you, but…you’re not going to. I know you think that if you just work harder you’re going to get there, but the truth is? Not possible.”

I was rather shocked.

I mean, wasn’t she supposed to say, “Great Goal, Big Guy! You can do anything you want to do! Why, you can be President someday if you just put your mind to it! Go Team Go!”

But realistically? She was right. Part of me thinks that given a longer stretch of time and some really consistent training, I could eventually have caught up with her. But one obvious problem with the aspiration was that our event was only 3 months away, and there simply wasn’t time for me to get there in that short of a training window. But beyond that, I had to remember – my wife was literally less than 1/2 my weight, and in good shape. Secondly, for every hard run with my slower pace group, she was logging a hard run with her faster group. In other words, with every day we trained, we each got faster and stronger.

So what was the lesson? The coach was trying to help me to see that overtraining would not help me accomplish my goals, and with such a limited timeframe, my goal was truly unrealistic. If I wanted to complete the task, I was going to have to forget about the competitive aspect of trying to catch up with someone much faster than I, and just focus on where I’m at, and where I’m going.

Lesson learned.

Catching up – on Reading: Part 1

It has been months since I’ve made the time to really catch up on what folks around the Web are writing about, particularly when it comes to health, fitness, and overall well-being.

That ends today.

To all of my fellow writers, bloggers, and scribblers (you know who you are), this is for you. This is part one of a list of my favorite articles over the past couple of months, as well as some blogs that readers of Almost Fit will probably find interesting/inspiring, as I have. Note that most of these are diet and fitness related, but there are some great food blogs in here too – they may require an extra bit of moderation though, so consider yourself warned.

Fit Bottomed Girls: My Own End to Overeating (Well, for the most part)

Mark’s Daily Apple: How to Render Bacon Fat (Plus a Fennel and Dill Omelette Recipe)

Kelly the Kitchen Kop: Ten Tips for Building a Healthy Immune System

Fitness Spotlight (formerly Modern Forager: Are Low Carb Diets Overrated for Health and Longevity? The Kitavan and Okinawa Diets

Wine Guy World: I’m feeling super, man

Andrew is Getting Fit: A few questions answered [or, the secrets of one of the most inspirational fitness bloggers I've ever read]

Get Fit Slowly: Where I’m at

60 in 3: How Far are You Willing to Go?

FertileHealthy: Taking it to the next level

Cranky Fitness: Evil Non-Dairy People

Bohemian Revolution: How to send back food at a restaurant

Go Workout Mom: Beware of Limiting Labels

Gym Junkies: The Quickest Way to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Gourmeted: As Basic as Choux Pastry, As Classic as Julia Child

Health Bolt: The Keeler Migraine Method Q and A

John is Fit: My Visit to a Sleep Clinic: Overnight Sleep Study

MizFit Online: Spotting 101 and Losing the Guilt

What’s Cooking: Blackberry Flan Ice Cream

Orangette: The whole point [and a recipe for salsa verde for potatoes]

Food Blogga: Healthy Cherry, Banana, and Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Food Wishes: Dry-Aging Steak at Home – The Final Chapter: I think it worked

That concludes part 1 – I’ll be back in a week with part 2. Again, thanks to everyone who has stuck with Almost Fit through some down time. I think things are finally back in gear.

Thanks for reading.

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Welcome to Almost Fit. Almost Fit focuses on improving your health by eating real food in moderation. This post is about motivation, which is central to accomplishing health, fitness, and life improvement goals. If you enjoy this post, please consider subscribing. It’s free, as always. Thanks.

Last night we had a great evening out. The idea was to get a babysitter for the kids, have dinner with friends, then go to a parenting class, and finally head to a pub for a well-earned drink or two.

Mission accomplished.

However, in the midst of all of that fun, I learned something tremendously useful that I thought Almost Fit readers either a) already do (and I’m clearly in the dark again), or b) might find really useful, as I have.

Get with the program

Our friend K. runs a very successful business, and he has done quite well despite the current economy. That in itself is a feat given that I’ve heard of several of his peers that have gone out of business recently in Oregon, but add to that a full docket of family responsibilities, and I have wondered how he does it all.

As we ate dinner, in passing I described what feels like a slightly new philosophical direction for Leo at ZenHabits.net – one of the few blogs I read every day. Leo has made a few fairly “radical” moves lately, including attempting to eliminate email from his life altogether and bucking the popular productivity trends of heavy long and short-term planning in favor of going with the flow, with a focus on being present. Not exactly common ideas in productivity and motivational circles from my admittedly limited (but interested) experience, but the concept of being present really resonates with me.

In that context, K. described how a seminar he attended has really changed his life toward being present, organized, and effective without a lot of expensive planning tools ruling his every move. His wife also noted that this has made a huge difference for K., so much so that friends have asked what has happened to him lately. [Ed. Note: At this point I'm going to leave out the name of the system until I can get a few more details, but sufficed to say I think the readers that are interested in motivation and productivity may have heard of this. I'll update the post when I can verify the facts.]

I was intensely interested in this, not only because I’m working on a variety of personal projects that have stalled in some ways (including reviving Almost Fit to a level I’m happy with), but I really believe that the concepts of motivation and organization contribute to success in achieving health goals.

The ideas behind the system are not revolutionary; basically it involves using a log to capture thoughts, and then organizing those ideas at an established time each day. The system relies on using a calendar as a repository for thoughts and actions. As I said, these things are not new; however as part of this system they suggest a series of simple techniques that are all designed to free your mind from the clutter of a fast-paced life.

I need that.

One simple tool

To help organize myself a little better, I do what I think most of us do: I keep lists. Lots of lists. But to be honest, this often fails to be enough to motivate me to actually do the things I’ve written down.

It turns out that this is a common challenge (who knew?). To help make lists more powerful, here was his suggestion:

Rather than just writing down a task that must be done, rephrase the task to include the “why” of the task. This is similar to the concept of “positive phrasing”, but feels more practical (and useful) to me.

For example, rather than writing “do laundry”, or “Rock the laundry” (my version of positive phrasing ), I could rephrase it to “wash shirt to feel good at dinner tonight” – and then put that on my calendar. I know it’s a subtle difference, but the idea is to quickly state the reason that I need to do a thing, not just record the idea that it must be done. The trick of course is to keep it simple; it should be one sentence that captures the value of doing that one thing today. The power of that is then compounded when I actually schedule a time for it during the day.

So why bother? Why spend the extra few seconds to write out the reason? Ultimately, there are two key reasons that immediately come to mind: First, it’s so I don’t have to carry that reason around in my head any longer or rework through the reasoning later. My head is chock full of things I really need to purge that float around in there for years on end, and this is a good way to do it. Second, providing a reason not only frees your mind from having to recall the reason later (which for me leaves room to justify procrastination), but forces you to pause, be present, think about and concisely state how important it is to get the task done.

So I decided to try it straight away – no excuses. Here’s how it went.

Testing the technique

Big picture goal: Complete the first draft of my super-secret new book.

Task: Write a rough draft of one chapter of my new book – Today.

A little context: I am currently writing a book, but it’s been slow going. I have the outline formed and the concept is ironed out (it’s evolving as I think it through), but getting to the actual writing has been a real challenge. I know that I’m passionate about the subject, and have been thinking about it for a couple of years now, so it should be coming together. Unfortunately, it is my easiest task to procrastinate.

So, today here’s what I wrote:

“Complete rough draft of one chapter to get one step closer to November completion.”

Maybe its a little cheesy (I can admit I need to practice this idea) but it seems to be working. After I thought about whether I wanted to do this today, whether it was attainable, and WHY it’s important to me, I could let it go and focus on my other tasks without the nagging distractions of uncaptured thought on this subject. Each time I look at that goal I feel a small charge of energy realizing that I have a really, really good reason to work on this today. Since I wrote the reason out, I am essentially telling myself that I’ve already gone through the “why do this” phase and now have little excuse but to just do it. And then by allotting time to do it, I’ve suddenly got a workable, reasoned plan that feels good.

Applying this to exercise and health

I think the practical application of this idea is pretty clear: Probably most of us have written on our daily list “exercise”, but for me that is rarely enough to get me to actually do it. If you want to exercise today, why not write out a very concise reason why, and then schedule it?

Here are a couple of other ideas: Do you want to eat a light dinner? Why not write that down as a task for the day, possibly saying something like, “Eat light tonight to prepare for a DECADENT meal with friends on Saturday”. Or, preserve your sanity with this: “Eat a reasonable sized piece of chocolate to stay satisfied with what I’m eating.”

I am going to keep trying this technique as well as a few others over the coming months, and will report back on the success. I hope it works. I have a lot that I want to get done, and could use a simple (and free) tool or two.

One last thing on motivation

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a big fan of ZenHabits.net. I read it daily, and have recently purchased Leo’s new book, “The Essential Motivation Handbook“. If you are looking for a very straightforward set of ideas on motivating yourself to accomplish your goals while simplifying your life, I highly recommend the book.

I’ll be doing a more indepth review of the book soon (I’m still in the midst of reading it), but I highly recommend it if you are looking for help to get up from the couch and back on track. It is based on many of the articles on Zen Habits as well as Eric Hamm’s site, MotivateThyself.com (Eric is coauthor), and is well worth every penny.

Thanks for reading Almost Fit.

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As most of my friends know, in general I rarely watch sports on TV. I enjoy watching the occasional baseball game or series, college basketball when it gets exciting, and I love but rarely watch F1 racing. Lately I’ve been drawn to watching soccer, but my peak in interest is in large part due to wanting to enroll my son in soccer this fall. When I go to a restaurant or bar that features a television, I typically try to face away from the TV only because it’s such a huge distraction for me to paying attention to those I’m with.

With that said, there is one exception: The Tour de France. For some reason I am completely addicted, and have been for a while now. I don’t know if it is the history of the sport, the speed, or the location, but certainly all of these factors play a role. I enjoy events like the Olympics, but where I’ll casually watch the Olympics for a few nights, I am recording each stage of the Tour, watching it live online in the early morning hours, and rewatching it with my wife in the evening.

(I suppose the only other sport I really watch is Curling, but that is for completely different reasons. How can you ignore a group of people in regular shoes, scooching around on ice, sweeping madly with tiny brooms in front of a big moving rock with a handle? But I digress.)

The Tour is a little confusing at first, with the points system, cut-off times, different colored jerseys, and so forth, but in the end the critical stats are pretty easy to digest. The rider with the overall best time from start to finish is the winner. For a simple primer on the points system, how the colors of the jerseys work, and so forth, here’s a quick quide: A primer on the Tour de France.

A French meal that anyone can prepare

In terms of food, what do you eat when you watch the Tour? After all, French cuisine can be exceptionally technical cooking, and a little intimidating at times. However, the French tradition does not require an elaborate preparation. In fact, keeping it simple is also a hallmark of French dietary practice. Buying the best ingredients you can afford and enjoying them in moderation sums up a simple approach to an afternoon of relaxation – with the Tour de France or otherwise.

I imagine that for most folks, the Tour the same as any other sporting event that you watch from the couch – eating salty snack foods, sodas, beer – you name it while your eyes are glued to the TV. For me, these days I try to avoid most of those things at home – although beer does have a way of sneaking itself into our house a little too regularly. But if you spend all three weeks of the Tour sitting in front of the TV each night eating a bag chips, you are destined for an unpleasant result on the scale.

Instead, I’m using it to emphasize a moderate approach this year, and practice some simple French dietary ideas in the process. The cornerstone of the meal is the baguette, which I’ll bake fresh this morning. I’d love to be able to walk to the market and buy one fresh from a baker’s oven, but living where I do, baking my own is the best (and most affordable) bet. Second, some fresh sliced ham – for me, I like a slight Italian variation adding Prosciutto. Prosciutto is sliced paper thin, but packs a concentrated flavor that allows you to eat less of it while getting the full experience. A small side of Dijon mustard is a great accompaniment as well, as well as a selection of olives and capers.

No simple French meal would be complete without cheese, so for us today it will be a small wedge of high quality triple cream Brie (Saint Andre), one of our favorite Northwest cheeses – Beecher’s Flagship cow’s milk cheese, and a basic goat cheese (chevre). To round it out, we’ll have a variety of crudités primarily from our garden, including cherry tomatoes, radishes, kohlrabi (German turnips), and cucumbers. We will also add a small selection of seasonal fruit, including peaches, blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries.

Finally, we’ll likely drink cold Pellegrino, which our kids love (they call it “spicy water”). We don’t generally drink soda at home, so our kids have grown accustomed to drinking sparkling water at dinner either straight or with some fresh squeezed juice as a sweeter treat. Water with sliced lemons is a pretty common drink, and tastes great, but a lesser known summer drink is water with cucumber slices which is a great refreshing alternative. For the adults in our group, there will certainly be a shared bottle of cooled red wine.

One of the best things about eating a meal this way is the preparation is simple – no cooking required. It makes a great picnic, and is a far cry from the heavy foods that are often associated with watching sports on TV. Preparing these simple ingredients together will also mean there is no great burden placed on anyone to prepare an elaborate feast, and contributes to relaxing all around.

The icing on the cake for all of this? After you watch the Tour, you may just be inspired (as I have been) to get on your bike and go for a ride. Yesterday I went for a short 6 mile ride on my newly refurbished bike, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I don’t know if the calories expended on a bike ride will equal the calories of the cheese, but that’s not really the point. It is about enjoying simple things like a warm baguette, a bike race, and fresh air.

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“Dad, this is the best day of my life.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I have two paper airplanes.”

It seems that I have a thing or two to learn from my soon-to-be 5 year-old, especially lately. I love paper airplanes as much as the next geek, but his simple statement resonated with me on a slightly deeper level – and hopefully woke me up a little. Let me explain.

[Warning: I'm about to get a little waxy and slightly philosophical here. You might want to change the channel for a few minutes if this sort of thing makes you squeamish or, well, bored out of your mind.]

Like most people these days, I have a lot going on. You probably do too. To me, the name of the game in an economy like this is one word: Hustle. I don’t mean card tricks, shell games, or a ’70s dance craze; I mean if you want to find some sense of financial stability, you’ve got to keep moving forward no matter what. If you stand still for too long, the world will pass you by. I’m currently very fortunate to have a great contract for which I’m very grateful, but it means I often work long hours in front of multiple computer screens. Along with that, I have several side projects on the Web, not including this one; I write for a community blog here in Portland; I am an amateur musician trying to take music seriously; I do design work on the side occasionally; provide ongoing Web support services to a non-profit arts org.; I have a book in the works (who doesn’t?); and the list goes on.

But clearly, there is nothing of greater importance than the care and energy that I direct toward my home relationships. Specifically, my amazing wife and my beautiful children. And I imagine that I should include myself in that mix. In a sense, it is a task at times to maintain a “relationship” with myself, keeping (or seeking) a vision of who I am now, and who I want to be. Of course, that concept of having a “relationship” with myself is a little flawed I think; it’s better to actually be me than to have conversations with myself over who I want to be. (I’m not crazy. Are you crazy? Nope, me neither.)

Perhaps I’ve said too much.

At any rate, my son’s insightful words reminded me that I’ve got to focus more on being happy with what I accomplish each day, and less on the things I haven’t finished, or the things that I’ve let slip, or the things I wish I would have started already. As many readers of Almost Fit have commented, sometimes I spend a little too much time being hard on myself about what I haven’t done, or how things have regressed from time to time, and I think that’s a fair assessment. How much better it is to look at each day as it’s own set of challenges and rewards, putting less emphasis on the history of successes and failures, and more on this question:

What am I doing TODAY?

Rather than falling into a self-defeating cycle of obsessing over what I haven’t been doing food and exercise-wise, I think the right answer is found in a familiar old song from the ’30s – I think a lot of us say these words internally, but today, I’m saying them to you.

“Nothing is impossible, for I have found, when my chin is on the ground, I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.”- from the 1936 classic film, Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

It’s cliché without question, but ya know what? There’s truth in it, and it’s what I’m doing today. Here’s the clip:

What am I doing today? I’m finishing this post, making time to play with my kids, work out, and then going on a quiet date night with the love of my life. Sounds like a pretty good day to me.

What are you doing today?

[UPDATE: Just a quick P.S.: Apologies for the misspelling of "Astaire". I corrected it shortly after the post went out in email...Ah dang. ]

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We’ve returned from our brief vacation at the ocean, and although I am glad to be home, I really wish we could have stayed longer. We are definitely going to visit the beach again very soon – it really was good for my head, good for our family, and we kept the sunburn to a minimum.

Last week I had what I consider a significant fitness accomplishment – I visited a personal trainer to get information on whether one-on-one training is right for me, and whether it’s something I can afford. As I mentioned in the previous article, I feel as though right now I need a little help with the diet and exercise routines, including a primer on whole foods in moderation, ideas on good substitutes for the simple carbs that I crave, and a workout regimen that will really stick.

Unfortunately, this trainer is not going to “work out” for me (sorry for the bad pun – wait – no I’m not. G’head. Savor it.). Long story short? He charges approximately $68 per session, and would like to see me in the gym 4 times a week.

Folks, as much as I loved the facility and jived with the trainer, I cannot swing $272 a week/$1000+ a month on a trainer, especially since I’m looking at 4-5 months of training easily to lose the weight I want to lose. So I’m looking for alternatives.

However, I am giving myself credit for the effort. Going to a gym is not something I’m very inclined to do – sad to say; particularly in a one-on-one situation. But I did it – I made myself go admit to a chiseled, smooth-skinned, tanned and toned stranger that I’m really overweight, totally out of shape right now (can you say easily winded?), have needed to strengthen my upper body since oh, I don’t know, high school (please God kill me now), and generally need some help from the ranks of the toned-to-the-bone. These are not things I like to talk about with anybody, particularly someone who is my height and in Greek Mythological shape.

Oh, and yes, he had all of his hair. The bastard.

But I got over myself and did it, and I count that as a win.

I am sure that some of us can’t help but think that this would have been more of a win if I’d actually signed up – and I can see the point. But for me, it is that first step that was the hardest. I’ve been fighting it for a long time, and I feel confident that I can walk into another gym or two and be much more open to the possibilities.

I’m still going to check out other training alternatives, but I don’t want to wait for the perfect situation to hit me. So in the meantime, I’m going to check out a fitness workout DVD or two and see how that goes while I continue to investigate. I am also looking into local 5k and 10k races, which are great motivators as well.
At any rate, I am on the move again, and it feels good.

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I am writing this note in a few moments of quiet, while my 2-yr-old daughter sleeps. I’m sitting by a picture window, with this view:

My son is with my wife at a swordsmanship demonstration, over which his 4-yr-old imagination has been going bonkers since yesterday.

Last summer I wrote about Ma Petite Maison in Port Orford, Oregon (A Taste of France on the Oregon Coast), and the sense of transcendence that I felt during those warm days. We’ve returned for a brief holiday along with our friends J and G, who are the owners of the duplex, and the place is true to memory. Port Orford is notoriously windy; but it also has much more sun than towns only an hour north. We’ve been enjoying the sun, relaxing in the small town atmosphere, and generally taking a break from the rigors of work and school.

Returning to this place always reminds me of Joie de Vivre, which in turn leads to thoughts of, what else, food. Actually, come to think of it, I can relate just about anything to food, but this place in particular is so reminiscent of France that I can’t help but think about what we’re going to eat next. Yesterday we ate a heavier breakfast – I actually had fresh eggs Benedict, which is not a staple for me by any stretch but was a great vacation treat. With such a bold breakfast under our belts, we more or less skipped lunch in favor of snacking a bit throughout the day on fruit and nuts.

After a walk through Prehistoric Gardens, we finished the day with a great dinner of fresh halibut, a reasonable, shared portion of quality steak, grilled vegetables, and a little fresh bread. We also complimented the meal with a great Tempranillo made by a winery a few hours from here. For dessert, a small touch of vanilla ice cream along with sliced grilled peaches.

There may also have been a craft beer or two consumed as part of the grilling duties carried on by the fathers of the house. But we’re on vacation, so what else can you do?

For tonight’s dinner, slow roasted rosemary chicken and vegetables, a scent that is filling the house as I write.

Over the last few months it’s become clear that one component of healthful living that I’ve been neglecting is deliberate relaxation. I seem to have  a hard time setting projects down, whether it’s my work, music, art, or writing. Although I imagine this isn’t universally true, for me I have great moments of clarity at the beach, whether it’s walking along the shore, sitting quietly, or building something out of found objects. Currently, my health is heavily on my mind – everything from needing life insurance coverage to finding the mental tools I need to really stay on track with a diet and exercise plan. The beach is a great place to contemplate both the important and the trivial.

Today, resting both with my family and alone in my own thoughts for a while on the beach, I realized that exactly what I was doing in that moment – taking time out of the day for solitude – is a key component that I let slip all too often.

Over the coming days I’ll be writing a bit about where I’m at diet and exercise-wise this week, and some interesting developments that have occurred over the last few days. But in the meantime, I have some relaxing and playing with the kids to do.

More to come.

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Writing this entry, I hear myself promising that this won’t be one of those “where have I been?” posts; that said, I realize that some explanation might be in order, so apparently I am ignoring the voices again (it’s a joke Mom, a joke! ).

For writers, and particularly blog writers, there are a million theories on the rights and wrongs of keeping readers engaged. Some insist that you should post very short pieces several times a day; others insist that it’s maybe 3 times a week is plenty, and possibly better, if the quality reflects the time that’s been taken.

Regardless, there is one thing that is nearly universally agreed upon among successful blog writers: Posting regularly is the key to keeping readers engaged. In particular, if you post several times a week on average, you should never, ever, just disappear from your site for a couple of months with little or no explanation.

Guess which cardinal sin I’ve committed.

However, the flip side is the break that I’ve taken from Almost Fit will hopefully stimulate a flurry of new articles, and has led to a few moments of fitness clarity (I hope). Time will tell.

State of the Almost Fit Nation

First and foremost, my weight for the most part has remained stable for the last few months, which is relatively positive, though hardly what I would consider great news. And to the point, my general level of fitness has definitely declined. This is especially true in the cardio department, where I find myself these days having to catch my breath at the top of a long flight of stairs. Not bent over gasping, but winded to be sure.

Since starting my current employment contract back in the fall, overall I gained an average of 2 lbs each month over the first 4 months, but I’ve not really gained much more in the last 3 months. Honestly this doesn’t come as much of a surprise for the following reasons:

- Old habits are still my worst enemy. I work in the software industry by day. As many folks know, one of the “perks” of working in software is in exchange for long hours they often provide things like free drinks ranging from flavored water and soda to fresh brewed coffee. While I work at home for the most part, I have spent a few weeks over time in the office, drinking my share and then some of free coffee, juice (though I try to cut it with sparkling water – usually), and the occasional really awful food choice from the vending machine, particularly late at night. I hate to admit this, but there has been more than one or two sodas mixed into the vat of things I know I need to avoid in the provided kitchen.

What is my obsession with “Free” all about? For whatever reason, when I see “free” anything my brain wants it. Whether it is a pile of junky freebies at a game conference or a soda at no charge, my brain automatically says, “why yes I will take one, thank you! (heh, heh, heh, SUCKER!)”, as if getting garbage for free makes it valuable. This old habit must end.

- Old habits, part 2 - Coffee. While I think that coffee in moderation is generally OK (though I am increasingly skeptical of even that – but I’ll save that for another post), I have let coffee get the better of me which costs me in a multitude of ways.

First, the sheer caloric intake of multiple mugs of coffee with cream is clearly not in my best interest on any level. I do not use chemical substitutes or low fat milk for a variety of reasons that are sprinkled all over this site. Instead I use the real stuff – the idea being that it needs to be in moderation. One cup of coffee with a little cream is fine. But when you cross over into multiple cups throughout the day, the benefits are completely reversed.

Second, I have gotten into the habit of once a week going to a local coffee house here to clear my head, get my week organized in my mind, and more often than not indulge in a froofy caffeinated sugary coffee drink. This is an old habit that I thought I had beaten cleanly, but it slithered it’s way back in when I let my guard down.

Third, I have reached a familiar point in my history with caffeine: I have built up a huge tolerance through overindulgence, which means I have to take in a lot more to get any energy effect – which translates to pretty much drinking as much coffee as I can get throughout the day. This for me leads to things like significant insomnia, irritability, depression/mood swings, late night eating, overall lack of energy, limited focus, and the list goes on. The sad thing is I know all of this, but I’ve allowed it back into my habits over time. I’ve got to fix this, and have begun  do so. More on that in a coming post on coffee.

[UPDATE: only one cup today and going strong. Hi headache. Hi sleepytime afternoon.]

- Burning the candle at both ends: My friends and family will tell you that in general I am a pretty busy guy. Between my first priority of family, second priority of a job that keeps the lights on, and a million other projects after that, I am chronically overestimating what I can do in any given day. When I started my business last year, I felt overwhelmed, and there was a reason: I sat down and created folders for the concurrent projects that I was pursuing, and to my amazement, I had 12 full time projects all in the air, slowly moving forward. This didn’t include things like art and music, which I also pursue. And none of which were paying much. Sounds like a great business plan, eh?

So where does all the time come from? As I said, my family is my priority, with my day job closely behind. That leaves all of those “wasted” hours sleeping of course, which could be used for so many other things. So late nights and early mornings have led to significant sleep deprivation, which caught up with me in a big way over the last month. Not to mention, lack of sleep has been pegged as a contributor to all kinds of health problems from obesity to premature death (!). I’m fixing this too.

- Lack of regular exercise. Big surprise here. However, this may be changing fairly soon (gotta’ try, once again. That’s the best I can do.). Weather is better; but more importantly, I’m considering either joining a gym or possibly finding a personal trainer. I’m still in the decision phase, but I’ve never been closer to making that leap.

What I have learned this year more than ever is seasonal depression really hits me hard in the “I don’t want to exercise/I don’t care how I look or feel” department. With summer on its way, that should be less of a factor, but I’m hoping to start building good habits now while the weather is good, to head off the seasonal darkness that will hit later this year. In other words, learn from my mistakes, and try not to repeat them.

- Lack of regular consumption of vegetables. This was really my first winter experience eating seasonally, and I have to admit that I really did underestimate how hard it would be.

Since very little grows in our garden in the Pacific Northwest winter months, I’ve reverted to eating more carbs, nuts, and so forth – things that are particularly dangerous for someone of my body chemistry. I failed to return to the habit of cruising the grocery store more regularly looking for in-season organic produce, and this really has hurt me this year so far.

- Unexpected family challenges: This particular item is more about my extended family, but had a direct impact on my recent fitness progress. In order to circumvent the rain and cold of early spring, we purchased a treadmill last month, and have set up a very simple workout area here at home. However, after using the space twice, we had an extended family member come to stay with us as a result of a family crisis. And you guessed it – they occupied the workout room. Thus, I let that obstacle get in my way and fell out of the habit before it even took hold.

That has resolved itself as of last week, so I think I should be able to get back on track.

Getting the help you need

Through the last six months of new challenges, I think it’s clear that making these changes on my own is a little bit more than I can manage. I need help.

Fortunately, I feel as though I have a good foundation of knowledge that will prevent me from being sucked into crazy diet programs or extreme fitness regimes that are not sustainable over the long haul – plans for which I would have been much more susceptible in the past.

On the food front, I am continuing of course with eating real food in moderation, however I have decided that I want to adjust my dietary balance a bit further away from carbohydrates for a while. And I think I’ve found the assistance I need through a fellow blogger who is a proponent of a program based on whole foods, that I think I can get into. I’ll also be writing more about this over the coming weeks.

While I don’t endorse “low carb” diets per se as a sustainable means of permanent weight loss, I do know that for many of us, reducing carbs in favor of vegetables and healthy proteins is something that really works in the weight loss battle – it always has. My biggest objection to “low carb” diets was always the suggestion that eating chemical substitutes and industrial meat products was the way to go – I believe that is a deadly mistake, and one I won’t make again.

So, in my mind the two areas I need help with are:

- Exercise, via a trainer, gym, or running group (or combination of those three)

- Dietary ideas on healthful, whole food alternatives that lean toward fresh vegetables and healthful proteins/fats.

Sounds simple enough, right? I hope so. I am ready to feel better. Are you?

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Ed. note: This entry is about working toward lifelong dietary goals by eating real food in moderation. The list of techniques will change over time, but this is where I’m starting from. This is actually an update from an article I wrote a little over a year ago, including my observations, corrections, and a handful of new ideas. Your constructive feedback is always appreciated. If this is your first time here and you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing via RSS. Thanks.

“Action Feeds Motivation.”

This thought occurred to me as I finished my first run of the year today, in the rain and wind. Yes, you read correctly: my FIRST, as best I can recall. As many readers have noticed, I’ve been a little scarce lately. I’ll write another post soon with my theories (and a few personal facts) on why that has been so, but for now I thought it was more important to simply do something about it. And as it turns out, that phrase, “Action Feeds Motivation” is going to be one of my recurrent themes for Almost Fit in 2009.

A year ago I was fully motivated to pursue these techniques. I didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration; I was ready to go. Over the last few months however, I haven’t been “feeling it” like I was. That tide however, is changing. So in an effort to really rekindle that fire I decided to review some of what I wrote a year ago to try to learn from my successes and mistakes, which is one of the great side-effects of writing your thoughts down in a public format like this one. For this analysis, I came back to one of my all-time favorite posts: 33 tips on how to lose weight without dieting, and one that I now think, after a year of trying out this approach to eating, needs a little revision.

As regular readers know, my focus here on Almost Fit is to do one simple thing: Eat Real Food in Moderation. No low fat this or low carb that; just real, whole foods in moderate amounts. As simple as the statement is, the principle is much harder to apply, particularly if you live in what I think of as a culture of excess. Most of us have come to accept as normal the gigantic, oversized meals that are available at every restaurant you go to, and on every food commercial or ad you encounter. We’ve confused quantity with value, and we’ve also convinced ourselves that the cost of food should be minimal – meaning it’s common to think that we simply can’t afford to eat better. I disagree; however, applying it on a daily basis is a lot like trying to light a candle in a hurricane.

In the 2008 article, I stated:

“I don’t believe that moderation in itself is the answer; eating moderate amounts of garbage still means you’re eating garbage. If I eat real food, in moderation, I am convinced that the weight will come off naturally. Changing my diet to focus on vegetables first, and then moderate amounts of high quality meat, grains, and dairy, makes sense to me. And so far, its working with little or no negative side effects including the emotional struggle that I associate with every diet I’ve ever tried, and I haven’t had to buy a single pre-packaged plan or frozen low fat dinner to do it.”

I still very much stand by these statements, and my diet and current condition is living proof. And that’s because I’m now thin, right?

Not quite yet.

In the last year I’ve managed to prove these principles from both angles – “success” in a sense, and “less than stellar” as well; I still contend that it’s not smart to view diet habits in a pass/fail context. No, I definitely proved that it does work; but lately I’ve also proven that if you take your eye off the ball for a while, the reverse is also true. We still eat well; the problem is the idea of eating vegetables first has succumbed to carb-heavy eating habits, particularly in the Winter months when our garden isn’t producing anything other than Leeks. There is plenty of room in my diet for carbs, proteins, sugars, and fats, but they need to be very secondary to vegetables as the bulk of what I eat. When I achieve that balance and combine it with reasonable exercise, Real Food in Moderation simply works.

However, when carbs, fats, and sugars begin to dominate my diet, all hell breaks loose when I step on the scale.

With that in mind, this article is intended to revisit my thoughts from a year ago, and provide new insight where it applies. And to be frank, this is somewhat self-serving; I’m putting my axiom to the test, and taking action to generate motivation.

Let the games begin.

33 Scratch that – 44 Weight Loss Tips for 2009

1. “Eat real food.” This principle is at its core, simply true – my opinion has not changed after a year of testing this out. Every day I am increasingly convinced that our poor, industrially-driven dietary habits particularly in the West are largely responsible for most of the bigger health maladies we suffer today. Real food means to me minimally processed, preferably non-packaged foods. “Good” is organic at the grocery store; “Better” is organically grown (even if not certified) from a local farmer who you can look in the eye and ask intelligent questions; and “Best” is growing your own, right in that patch of ground that used to be your front yard.

2. “Eat smaller portions of real food.” As I’ve pointed out many times before, portion size in the West is out of control. And contrary to what we are told all the time, eating more of someone’s industrial product is NOT what’s best for us – It benefits the seller, but that’s about it.

3. “Eat slower. Take at least 20 minutes for every meal. One of the best tips I’ve read on this is to divide the amount of food on your plate into fourths, and then eat only 1/4 of it each 5 minutes that passes. After a while I’ve found that you do this by nature once you get used to it.” 2009 observation: I am going to do this tonight in fact. This is one area that has really eluded me in the last few months, but I know that it works.

4. Technique: put your fork down between bites. This is another habit that is easy to let go, as I have proved over the last 6 months. Time for an adjustment.

5. Use smaller plates, cups, and utensils. No change here; still applies in 2009.

6. Cut between meal snacking – using some smart techniques. This is one of those areas that still holds true, and if you play it right can actually be a benefit of a sagging economy. Rather than throwing in that $5 dollar iced coffee drink during the morning and afternoon lull, save the money and go with the following: First, try a glass of water. Second, if that doesn’t stop the craving, a small piece of the best dark chocolate you can afford. Third, if that doesn’t work, try a small, pre-rationed handful of almonds. If I follow these steps in order, I’m generally fine for another couple of hours.

7. When you’re eating out, skip the appetizer. This rule still holds true. With the portion size of a typical entree, there is simply no need for “frontloading” your meal with unneccesary calories. On the other hand, if you want the appetizer, order it – as your meal. But if I do, I sometimes tip a little better if possible, only because my bill will be less as a result of my food choice and the server will appreciate the good will. It’s not a rule really, but it feels right for me.

8. Limit certain types of foods to a few times a month. This is one aspect that is more true now than ever, particularly with our current economic state. While I don’t apply this to fruits and vegetables, I certainly do for meat consumption. In addition to the health benefits of a diet rich in vegetables, eating better cuts of non-industrial meat is not only healthier, but more feasible financially when you eat it less frequently. And despite what those beef industry commercials suggest, not everyone has steak 3 meals a day.

9. Be aware of how much you are putting in your mouth, and keep it small. Smaller bites, savoring each one. Sounds simple enough. And, still true.

10. Understand what it means to be not quite full, and be OK with that. I don’t believe that I’ve done an article yet on Hari Hachi Bu (the art of eating until you’re 80% full), but that is soon to come I hope. What are my observations on this now? It is undoubtedly difficult. And it becomes a true mental game, where we often hear that little voice in our head that says, “But I LIKE to eat a lot”. It’s difficult to overcome that voice, but it’s possible. On this, more to come.

11. Don’t eat in front of the television. This technique has really worked for me this year, and I stand by it. That said, I do watch Top Chef while enjoying a very small dish of the best quality ice cream I can afford. The biggest trick here is not eating it straight from the container – which is deadly to the waistline when you combine it with the distraction of television. If you’re going to watch while you eat, serve a small portion away from the television. Savor it; eat it slowly; and don’t go back for more.

12. Don’t eat in front of the computer. See the previous tip – the same applies. 2009 observation: As was the case in 2008, this is still my biggest weakness. In fact, I’ve let the “emergency nuts snack” get out of control on this one – I have a jar of nuts on my desk as we speak. I’ve got to change that.

There. Done.

13. Whenever possible, eat together as a family. This is still true in my mind, however there’s one big challenge for me. Having two small children, I spend more of my focus on what they’re eating and less than on what I’m eating. I’m looking for suggestions on this one, but I still maintain it’s a good principle not only for dietary health, but for familial emotional health as well.

14. Whenever possible, in addition to your family, take your meals with friends and coworkers. We have been moderately successful at this one, but I have found that it is easy to overeat in these situations as well. I think ultimately you can truly appreciate the food more in the company of others, but it requires diligence to not get carried away.

15. “Read the ingredients list of anything in a package, but pay less attention to the statistics. The general rule should be to strive to eat things that don’t require ingredients lists, like fruits and vegetables. But in real life, this is not always practical. That being said, the key is to focus on the contents, not the scientific descriptions. You should try to eat only things that are easily identifiable as real food, not chemically processed substitutes. If you focus on eating only real food, and in moderation, the other elements become less important (unless you suffer with food allergies of course). The emphasis should be on real food and less of it, not counting milligrams of any one element.” 2009: More true now than ever.

16. Use real sugar, preferably raw, even if only trace amounts of it. Don’t use chemical substitutes. Again, for 2009, this rule holds absolutely true. I just spent a year NOT consuming chemical sweeteners, and I didn’t suffer in the least. Actually, I do have one amendment to this: I now prefer Agave syrup for most sweetening. Agave is a great sweetener, and requires very little refining. It’s also a great substitute for simple syrup for the occasional mixed drink.

17. “Eat fat – but only eat real, high quality fats. [...] the key is moderation – if you eat a pound of Brie, you’ve gone to the dark side.” 2009 observations: I still strongly feel this is accurate. However, with one caveat: Fats, specifically great-tasting ones like real cheeses, are difficult to control on the moderation front. But my theory is the French succeed here because it’s awfully difficult to eat the stinkiest of cheeses. For practical purposes, take what you want from the block of cheese, and then put it away. This helps to prevent “nibbling” on the cheese left out on the counter.

18. Don’t rely on supplements – eat the real thing first, and supplement what you need. 2009? Still true, with one bit of advice: If you do take supplements, make sure they are not synthetic. For a great resource on the subject, see my fellow writer Robin’s blog, here: http://realnutritionsupplement.blogspot.com/.

19. Focus on the reasons you are overeating, and address those first. in 2009 I did a fair bit of work here, but even after a year of self-analysis, I still have yet to control my emotional eating patterns effectively. 2009 may be the year that I seek professional help with emotionally-driven overeating, which I believe is at the heart of most of my struggles with weight.

20. Don’t eat fast food if at all possible – its not real food. This has been a great success for me, with one small exception: In Oregon and parts of Washington, we have a restaurant chain called Burgerville, which uses organic, grass-fed, locally grown products whenever possible. The bigger problem of course is it tastes really, really good. So it’s a little too easy to justify a stop at Burgerville on somewhat shaky “ethical” grounds. Granted, it’s not very often that we go here, but to be honest it’s more than it should be. This needs to change.

21. Avoid vending machines. Still true in 2009. If you work in an office or a building near these machines, it requires a small amount of planning ahead, but this is entirely possible, and entirely the correct choice.

22. “Don’t believe the “no pain no gain” philosophy. Regardless of what your gym coach told you, or what that aggressive personal trainer says, unless your goal is to be a body builder or a professional athlete, if you are practicing moderation, this philosophy is simply not true. In order to maintain health, eating should not be difficult. Exercise should be a pleasure, not a struggle. For those of us who simply want good health, if its painful, you’re not doing it right.”

In 2009, my opinion? Despite some disagreement among readers, I still stand by this statement. While pain can be a useful tool, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. That said, there ought to be some “burn” going on; it just doesn’t have to be as painful as most “gung ho” advocates indicate. Let the disagreement begin.

23. Don’t apply the “if its not hard its not worth doing” philosophy to eating. 2009: Still true. This statement stemmed from a “diet counselor” who was clearly bitter in her feelings about diet. “Do you like Caesar Salad?” she asked. I replied, “Uh, yes I do…” She said, “Well get used to the idea that you’ll have to give that up. If you want to lose weight, forget eating Caesar salad again.” That diet, of course, didn’t work. And hopefully my embittered “counselor” moved on to a new career, perhaps in Credit Collection.

24. Learn to cook. Over the last year this has become, its fair to say, an obsession. My wife and I are systematically working our way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I truly think this is key, particularly if you want to wean yourself from the industrial food products that many of us are used to.

25. Educate yourself on the diets of cultures that live longer and are generally in better health. 100% true. I would add only that if possible, it’s best to go visit those cultures, which we hope to pursue further in the coming years.

26. Reduce your coffee size to enjoy real cream – not “creamer”. I absolutely believe this is true, but I must admit: working at home as I do, it is terribly easy to “overdo” it by drinking coffee throughout the day. In 2009, I am considering eliminating coffee in favor of Yerba Mate tea, which I also enjoy, and for which I don’t need cream.

27. If you are a coffee drinker, develop an appreciation for espresso. I am hopeful that in 2009 we’ll be able to pick up a quality espresso machine. I am a little particular on this and have my eyes set on one that I of course cannot afford, but with some planning and saving hopefully we’ll be able to pick one up sometime soon without breaking out a credit card.

28. Avoid packaged juices. Juice is one of my biggest weaknesses, because it feeds my inate and powerful sweet tooth. I find that when I drink juice, I stimulate sugar cravings terribly for the rest of the day. I really try to limit juice intake, even going as far as asking my wife to refrain from keeping it in the house. That said, there are a few juices that I do enjoy on occasion, including pomegranate juice from POM. I like the flavor, and it’s expensive enough that I rarely can justify the expense – a built-in moderation feature.

29. Buy the best food you can afford. After a year of doing this, I have to say that it is the most important aspect in my opinion of eating in moderation. A food budget is a balancing act. For the more expensive cheeses that we buy, we have reduced our coffee and packaged foods (we still eat a few) budget. This year we will continue to grow our own produce, which also reduces the overall cost of food for us especially with a family of four. I am hopeful that this year we will have a better handle on our food budget (and our budget in general) – once I find out exactly how much we’re spending, I’ll share the information.

30. Retrain yourself away from the “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” mindset. 2009: THIS one, I think needs a little correction. After reading many, many arguments in favor of eating breakfast, I think I missed the mark on this one in some ways. My original reasoning was that if you overeat at breakfast, you’ll just overeat later. I still think that is true; however, I took it to the extreme and started skipping breakfast altogether, which is a big mistake. I am not entirely convinced of the metabolic reasons yet only because I think this is a matter of conditioning (considering the lack of heavy breakfast in many “lighter” cultures); however I am sure that if I reach lunchtime and am starving, I make bad choices. Better to start out with a whole, light breakfast, than to skip it only to be desperate for anything to eat later.

31. Eat at regular times. This is still true, though I am admittedly not good at it. I tend to eat breakfast sometime in mid-morning, lunch somewhere in mid-afternoon, and dinner at a regular time. I think this is one of my problems, and I need to work on a better morning and afternoon eating schedule.

32. Keep junk food out of the house. To me, this one is obviously true for 90% of us. If you are one of the lucky few who don’t have this weakness, good for you. But for me, this is a necessity.

33. Don’t be in a big rush to lose the weight. This is for me, in the top 3 lessons that carry the most, ahem, weight. I lost 25 lbs or so last year, which is what I would have shot for in a month on some of the crazy diets I’ve tried. Rather, I’m very happy with those results. This is a lifelong process of health improvement; not to mention, it took me 37 years to get to this point. It’s madness to think it will turn around, permanently, overnight.

NEW FOR 2009:

34. Skip the afternoon snack – in favor of afternoon tea. I think our friends across the pond have this correct – afternoon tea time seems to me to be a great idea. I did this today in fact, and it satisfied my slight hunger until dinner. Give it a try. Make the tea time an opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate where you’re at. Enjoy the moment – be present for your life, which will be one of the themes this year for Almost Fit.

35. Focus on broadening your tastes in food. There are so many cultures that eat incredibly healthy foods, often out of necessity. Broadening your taste can lead to tremendous, healthful discoveries. This is something that we are also passing on to our children, who these days will eat pretty much anything – a fact for which I am convinced is at least in part due to exposure.

36. Develop a better understanding of the ethics of food. Foods as they are presented by the food industry are just nice, tasty products that we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about – just trust the food industry and surely we won’t go wrong. Unfortunately, this is why we have an obesity epidemic, and quite bluntly, family tragedy from things like poisoned peanut butter – our misplaced trust in a) the marketers to tell us what we should eat, and b) the government to look out for us. Neither is even close to a good source of information on what we feed ourselves and our kids, as they always have an agenda that puts consumers squarely in the last position.

37. Use tools, like social media, to your advantage. I am an active Twitter user and have been for some time. One of the benefits? I follow a number of great health bloggers, inspirational/motivational writers, and generally just good people. I find great inspiration and motivation in their suggestions throughout the day. One great example is a Twitter user I follow posts “nudges” throughout the day to remind followers to get up and move around a bit, or grab a glass of water. This is useful for me, particularly working by myself.

38. Be careful with the calories in wine. I have found that surprise surprise – when one glass of wine at dinner is good, two glasses is often a little better. It’s easy to overdo it – not in an alcohol/sobriety sense necessarily (though that is certainly a reasonable concern), but in the unwanted calories in particular. One glass is usually all I need; I just need to remember that especially after a hard day.

39. Consider (as in think about) trying moderate fasting. Many, many cultures use fasting as part of their dietary regime. I am currently fascinated with this, and plan on trying it sometime this year as an Almost Fit documented experiment. But for me, it is fasting moderately; I don’t intend to go more than a day on a fast. But it’s definitely something I think may have health benefits beyond weight loss.

40. If you make enough for leftovers, pack the leftovers first. When you make a meal, before you serve it, set aside the leftover quantity you intend to eat the next day. I’ve read this tip in numerous places, and it really both makes sense, and works.

41. When possible, only bring to the table what you plan to eat. For me, if the bowl of pasta is on the table, it’s much easier to eat more than I need. If I serve myself in the kitchen, it’s one step more difficult to overeat on seconds.

42. Find the stress relievers that work for you – other than food. With the economy in the current state of disrepair, this for me is of critical importance. I will be exploring this over the coming year on Almost Fit, and welcome suggestions.

43. Don’t go to bed too late. This one is one of my most difficult habits to break, but one I’m set on accomplishing this year. When I stay up late, I eat more. Simple as that. If I go to bed early and rise early, I rarely eat much if anything before breakfast. This may be different for you, but I have a feeling that late night work sessions, or #afterhours as we say on Twitter, are not great for a healthful diet.

44. Action Feeds Motivation. I think the best thing you can do on the weight loss front is simple: get up and do something about it. It sounds simple, but I know for me, I spent an awful lot of time trying to find motivation to exercise, often with mediocre results. This year, I’m hoping to turn this on it’s head on a personal level – rather than waiting to be motivated to do something physical, I’m going to focus on getting up and doing it as a means of creating motivation. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that I feel is worth making. My intention is to feature great sources of motivation that focus on taking small, immediate actions that you can do with minimal planning. Plans are great. But action is what is always needed if you want to get anywhere.

Thank you for reading. Here’s to another great year of working together. Your comments and suggestions are, as always welcome and maybe more importantly, appreciated.

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