Things I will never eat

A new series in my blog...

Things I will never eat: I was watching the Travel Channel and saw a corndog cone. Just no.

A Feast of Sushi

Note: I love the fact I can get 12 pieces of good tasting sushi for 2 dollars at the local store here in Japan.

People here are skinnier in general than in the States and I think a lot of it has to do with the better availability of cheap nutritious asian food in the corner shops and stores (salads, sushi, riceballs, etc.). I would love to be able to get a tuna riceball wrapped in seaweed at the local corner stone in the States rather than a hamburger and fries sometimes.

Tea

I was sorely disappointed today when I went to my workplace break room and found there were no packets of green tea left. They had all disappeared.

I, traditionally, am a water drinker. I drink lots of it. I annoy waiters and waitresses with the amount of water I order during your everyday meal. Most people are 75-80% water weight whereas I am some sort of human-aquabeast hybrid. I don't drink soda any more and never was a coffee drinker.

Recently, I've been experiencing coldness in my fingers and nose, especially near lunch time and following lunch time. I can't really explain it. It may be a slowing of my metabolism, low blood circulation, or Reynaud's Syndrome. Here's to self-diagnosing!

I've found a cure to this by drinking a cup of tea - hot. No sugar, no milk, no cream, just the tea please. I'm a bit worried about the additional caffeine, but there are many teas which are caffeine free. Additionally, tea contains considerably less caffeine than coffee on average. It makes me not cold anymore so I think I have to stick with it.

So far I have tried green, earl grey, and apple cinnamon. I prefer the green tea for its simplicity.

The waiting game

I am currently trying to lose weight for the following reasons. This is a ongoing task:

1. More healthy - Being more healthy improves my circulation, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and resting pulse levels. This also gives me higher levels of endurance and cardio levels which applies to many things.
2. More attractive - Despite the fact that people talk about being attracted to confidence, personality, and sense of humor, many people will not consider dating someone to learn about their personality if they do not initially find the other person attractive on a physical level.

It occurred to me recently to me what is most aggravating about attempting to lose weight - waiting. You can work out heavily and eat sensibly, but most bodies are highly resistant towards losing weight. The human body works hard to maintain a sense of balance and the status quo.

Here is what I am currently doing:
1. Walking/running - I walk for 10-15 minutes to get increased circulation through my legs and loosen up my joints, then I run for a few miles.
2. Eating - My daily diet involves eating a bowl of cereal, a turkey sandwich, a banana, and some sort of stirfry or chicken with vegetables for dinner. I probably consume 1500-1600 calories per day as a conservative estimate.

I weigh myself every Friday morning in my skivvees. I have been losing weight every single week, but it's annoying to see differences in weight loss from week to week. The last few weeks losses have been the following:

* 1.6 pounds
* 3.2 pounds
* 0.8 pounds

This past week I was pretty rigorous with my exercise, increasing my regimen. I also remember having some crackers with peanut butter on a few days, but not an excessive amount. The up and down quantities are confusing to me because I want to reduce my current level of health fanaticism (something I have been doing fairly regularly for the past 7 years).

I am putting in the work required, but I wish it was moving along more quickly which tends to be aggravating.

I understanding this is all unreasonable whining, but it's soothing on a superficial level. :)

Maintain and have patience!

Hunger

I have had one cigarette in my life and nearly coughed up a lung in response to the experience. As such, I can't relate to the feeling some of my smoker friends have described in terms of craving or hungering for another nicotine fix.

Sometimes I wonder if it is the feeling I get when I feel hungry. Am I truly hungry, or is it just weakness in my mind? I find it occurs more frequently when I am bored or my mind isn't occupied which makes sense. The problem is differentiating between actual hunger and the underlying habits buried in my brain.

Discipline

I have a good amount of vices in my life. I tend to overeat when feeling stressed. I tend to procrastinate because it's more satisfying gaining enjoyment now than later. I tend to avoid uncomfortable situations even though it may prove to add more long-term benefit by choosing confrontation instead.

One thing I am exceptionally good at is work ethic via inertia.

Some contextual definitions first...

Work - exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.
Ethic - a complex of moral precepts held or rules of conduct followed by an individual
Inertia - the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is not acted upon by an external force.

Again, I am a procrastinator. I tend to put things off until some external force, well, forces my hand. Once I start something, I am brutally focused at seeing it through. I had been getting lazy with my diet and exercise plan ever since I went back to school. I gained weight. I got disgusted with myself. In turn, I started dieting and exercise.

Now, I'm not into any of the random diets (Atkin's, Vegetarianism, South Beach, High Protein). I keep things simple. I eat tasty, health food (this is difficult) portioned moderately. I exercise daily in order to raise my heartbeat and perspire. The end result of this is the most basic diet in the world which works for me. I haven't tried any of the idiomatic diets, but I wager my diet regimen is better. Why?

1. I have discipline to keep the diet. Once I start something, I am exceptionally good at maintaining. My focus and inertia keeps me on a steady path.
2. Eating healthy foods in overall small portions means my calorie intake is smaller than when I ate bad foods in large portions. The amount of calories I eat per day is less than the amount of calories I burn per day. Calorie watching makes me lose weight.
3. Exercising makes me burn additional calories per day making weight loss easier. It also helps me sleep more comfortably which is nice. Finally, it slowly increases my overall metabolism which means I can have bad eating days and still gain no weight. I break even.

I have restarted my regimen and am approaching close to 3 months on my diet. I get my new scale in the mail next week so I will be tracking metrics for motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I asked a co-worker, a fellow runner, how she continues to run when her mind is telling her to stop. She responded that she tells herself internally to push on for only 5 more minutes, or 5 more miles depending on the run.

It got me thinking about the discipline I have when I run. When my mind is telling me to stop, I usually don't go into bargaining (Just go 5 more miles). My mind usually goes into anger and belittlement (Run for another mile you puss). Whatever works I suppose.

Sugar

I am a fairly intense person when it comes to passionate interests in my life. An interest can be a hobby, a lifestyle change, or a routine. When it comes to food, I am not particularly good at moderation. If I like something I eat it. If I do not like something, I do not eat it again. If I need to lose weight, I am unable to eat poor foods in moderation. I have to cut things out of my diet completely to be successful, else I will inevitably fail at the diet. This is particularly self-evident when observing the amount of sugar in my diet.

I try excessively hard to not eat sugar. Yes, I realize this is impossible. Fruits turn into byproducts of sugar. So do starches, grains, and probably a number of other foods of which I am unaware. I haven't had a candy bar, dessert, or soda since 2002. That's approximately 6 years now. I rarely drink juice, more rarely drink tea (always unsweetened), and never drink coffee. I drink water and a whole lot of it. I try hard to not eat foods with aspartame (e.g. - Equal), saccharine (e.g. - Sweet & Low), or sucralose (e.g. - Splenda) in them. This is near impossible to manage completely, but I try fairly hard to manage.

I do this because I am incapable of eating these foods in moderation and it helps my health. I rarely have cravings for extreme sweetness in my food anymore. If I am dying for something sweet, I'll usually have a banana, an apple, or maybe grapes or raisins.

Out of all the sugar-laden foodstuffs, the food I miss most is ice cream. It is amazingly versatile. I love milkshakes and all varieties of ice cream desserts and, yes, delicious girl-drinks like Mudslides.

I love sweets, but I simply choose not to indulge. I sometimes think about having ice cream some day in the future, and it leaves me wistful for a moment, remembering the texture and taste. It fades just as quickly though. I made a choice and the discipline needed to back that choice is needed. It can be painful, but it also can be empowering.