Idelltech - Ramblings of Wes Idell

Fat Bellies, Accountability, and My Goals

wes@idelltech.org — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:56:16 -0500

So I went to the doctor today and got a diagnosis I expected, but dreaded to hear: I’m fat. Overweight. Just inside of the ‘obese’ category according to the Body Mass Index calculator. Doc said, encouragingly enough, that he wasn’t disappointed with my weight and still slept at night. To which I laughed heartily, thinking, “Yeah, most of the population is above normal body weight and I still sleep well, too.” However, he meant that if I was comfortable with my ass and belly being fat that he wasn’t upset. Only when it caused other health problems would he be worried. However, in those words was a solemn, grim reminder – the world could care less about my weight. It’s my family and friends who want me healthy and happy. And probably my insurance company.

I tried denial. I swore to my wife that she was over-drying my clothes, and/or washing them in boiling water because they just weren’t as big as usual.And those gosh-darn, prone-to-shrinkage, 100% cotton undershirts. Denial can only go so far, though.

Here’s where it ends, and the truth begins. I’m 6’0 and 223.4 lbs. This calculates to 30.3. Obese is greater than 29.9. I would love to make it into the overweight category and then keep venturing on towards ‘Normal Weight’ which is a BMI of 18.5 – 24.9. This means my weight needs to be 180 (or less). It’s been years (and two desk jobs ago) since I’ve seen numbers like this on a scale.

What to do? I’ve done Weight Watchers. I like it ok, but honestly none of the techniques applied there can’t be done at home. Seriously enough, even the secret points formula can be derived by someone reasonably good at math by taking into account the 4 fats, calories from fat, calories, and fiber. I think WW’s main strength relies in accountability. However, sometimes instead of encouragement, I need someone to look over their glasses at me and say something to the effect of: “You know what that extra weight is doing to you and your family, right, Wesley Daniel?”

What have I done lately to ‘be healthy’? Well, my December work habits were far from helpful. I’ll leave it at that. But, I did load up on multivitamins, drink my protein, and tried to get my daily dose of Wii Sports. However by mid-December, as Christmas neared, the last item slipped off of priorities and cookies, a bit of candy, prime rib, Yorkshire pudding and all seemed to be at the very top of my priority list.

What have I done in the past to be healthy? I mentioned Weight Watchers. Another diet that has appealed to me in the past is CRON – Calorie Restriction, Optimum Nutrition. What is this and how the heck did I hear about it?

Calorie Restriction is a diet that while rich in things such as antioxidants, is very low in calories. The theory behind this diet fits right in with my goal to live to be a healthy 300 years old. It relies on studies with other animals (mainly rodents) that when 30-60% of their calories are slowly weaned away, they live many years longer than their counterparts who are on a regular diet. Not only longer, but healthier. Who wants to live a long time and not be healthy?

The CRON theory goes far deeper than this, and this is just a brief summary, doing the diet and theory little justice. More info can be found here. As I’m about to go to the store, I’m going to cut this post short.

Before ending this, I’m going to set the goal that I’m going to do the CR diet again, and right this time. My goal also is to post my results, and recipes, more so for accountability than to be informative, but maybe some people will find this to be the latter as well.

Well, I’m off to look at recipes and then to take my daughter to the store so she can enjoy one day out of the 97,455 days I have left of my 267 years left in this world.

That is, if December 21st doesn’t ruin my plans!

I’ll post what I decide to eat.

Wes

1/25/2012 – 223.4 lbs – BMI 29.9

A Mystic’s Treatise on Brewing Unsweetened Iced Tea

wes@idelltech.org — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:35:41 -0500

Today for my company’s Thanksgiving dinner, one of the things I brought was Unsweetened Tea. I’m in the Southeast portion of the states, and this form of iced tea seems to be in a huge shortage. I know there are some closet fans out there, and I met 3 today, as I was complimented on my brew. One gentleman went so far as to ask how I made it, as he had tried and tried and did not feel as if he could brew a decent pitcher. In his eyes I saw the same frustration that I once had. So it has inspired me to write this set of instructions on how I brew what I consider the perfect batch of my favorite drink in the whole world – Unsweetened Iced Tea, a drink that I’m sure the Gods drank as they pondered how to organize the universe.

It’s taken many gallons of horrible tea to perfect the recipe. I can’t tell you the frustration I’ve been through to get that fresh, clear, flowery smelling, easy sipping stimulant brewed to perfection.

The idea came once when I was brewing beer… I thought, “I can brew beer that wins awards, but not a good pitcher of iced tea? What’s wrong here?”

Below, please find the instructions to make a pitcher to help you organize your own universe.

Bad Tea

Things that happen that constitutes failure of a good pitcher of tea, and what I’ve found to be common culprits:

Bitter

Brew water too hot

Bad or Old Tea Leaves

Seems to happen more with tea bags

Cloudy

Over oxygenation

Hard Water

A ‘Thick’ Consistency (which is most always accompanied by cloudiness)

Tea is too old (> 36 hours in the pitcher)

Bacteria growth

This seems to happen a lot quicker with sweet tea, which I dislike anyway.

Ingredients

So, good tea starts with good ingredients. These are really simple and hard to mess up:

Water

I use filtered water. Nothing fancy here; Brita filtered tap water works fine with the water profile I have at my house. And this removes some of the ions and of course, chlorine/chloramine.

I would imagine if bad came to worse and you live in a wetland area, or an area with a lot of minerals in the water (my previous residence included both), I feel you could go for store-bought “Drinking Water” but not distilled. It just doesn’t taste natural, due to having a very low mineral content. Also, the jury is still out on Spring water, as it is either a) Reverse Osmosis filtered water with added minerals, or b) bottled from the source. I haven’t a clue how it works with tea as I’ve never tried it.

Tea

I use Lipton Loose tea. You can’t find it everywhere, and in the places that do carry it, it seems to hide amongst the many varieties of tea bags, which are over priced, and under-performing as far as I’m concerned. The tea in bags is ground very fine, thus leaving you more likely to extract a high amount of tannins and increases surface area, thus letting the tea grow older, quicker.

A good source for this in bulk is Indian Food Stores. However, make sure you are getting leaves, as they sell a type of Lipton that, while awesome for hot tea, produces a strange, reddish iced tea. While the tea is not a bad brew, it is not what one expects for traditional iced tea. It is labeled as “Lipton Yellow Label” and instead of the bare leaves, one finds little balls, for lack of better words, and on the whole, it looks much like instant coffee.

Equipment

Stainless pot for brewing
Strainer, like a kitchen strainer. The straining area is mesh. These seem common in department stores, and here is what they look like:

Also, I’m not big on using ‘tea balls’ as they do not provide enough room for the tea leaves to float in the water. Might as well use tea bags at that point.
Heat Source – stove, flame, or tea kettle.
Receiving vessel – or pitcher, to store the brewed tea.
Some way to measure the tea in at the most tablespoon increments (one can sufficiently eyeball the 1/2 T if one needs to). Remember, 1T = 3t.

Using the Above Two Items to Produce Quality Tea

Prepare the vessel. I use an old pickle jar, which I had long ago purchased tea in from a local deli. Preparation includes using a brush to clean the inside out with dish detergent and I go the extra step in using 3 drops of iodine solution to kill any lurking germs. This is probably overkill, but I sleep well at night knowing I didn’t introduce bacteria into this batch from the last batch. A half-full pitcher of water, 3 drops of iodine solution, mixed, splashed on the sides left for 4-5 minutes, drained, and not rinsed seems to work great. Rinsing may introduce bacteria from the water spigot.
Once again, this is overkill, and I’m sure you’ll find other ways that bacteria can be introduced to the brew, but at least the pitcher doesn’t start out as an inoculated petri dish.

Heat 1.5 Liters or around 3 pints of water to ~ 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I use an electronic tea pot to bring the water to the point right before boiling. If you are using a stove, it would be when the bubbles just start to form on the bottom of the pot.

Measure out 2.5 tablespoons of loose tea to a separate pot, the pot you plan to use to brew your tea. I use a stainless steel sauce pan.

Pour the water onto the tea. You’ll notice the water decreases its temperature to 190 d.f., when the temperature settles. This is important. With temperatures too high, it leads to a more bitter tea, and the aroma seems not as flowery and sweet. A lower temperature will produce tea that has a nice delicate flower-like aroma and a sweet, non-bitter taste.

Do not stir the pot. I follow the Zen method of brewing tea from leaves – let the water hit the leaves where it will and do not force it. This stems more from laziness on my part than any personal statement on life. I’d say the balance here is 80/20.

(Not essential) Prepare a cup with ice cubes to have a fresh glass when you are finished.

Wait 4 minutes and let the tea brew, uncovered, untouched.

Strain. I balance the strainer over the pitcher and pour, pour, pour. And be careful, too.

I complete this with adding about 750 milliliters (3 cups) of source water to taste. If you like strong tea, or are consuming it right away, you may want less water, as your melted ice cubes will do this step for you. For extra certainty that you aren’t introducing a bacteria culture, you can boil this water. Honestly, as anal as I was about sterilization at the first, I find that not taking the step of boiling this water first a bit out of character for me. But I still rest well at night.

Seal it up; do not let it contact any more outside air than absolutely necessary, or it seems to cloud the pot up in a matter of ~ 8 hours. This is why I use the pickle jar with the lid. Do not force it to cool, do not refrigerate it. Do not shake it, and whatever you do, do not add sweeteners.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor.