Lifting 1000 pounds

Orthorexia, pt 2

Did you know that the reason Kellogg cereals are little more than puffs of sugar and wheat is that their creators, brothers W.K. Kellogg and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, thought that protein was evil? The only hope for mankind to escape the evils of toxic gut bacteria, constipation, masturbation and a host of other evil things (all caused by protein in the diet) was clean, refined carbohydrates. And yogurt enemas every hour. The enemas were harder to market than one might think. But sugary cereals were a hit, replacing the old, un-scientific breakfast of eggs, meat and cheese.
Now carbs are the enemy, Protein is king, and Fat is becoming cool again.

Which is why Denise and I made Brownies from black beans. It requires using a blender on the highest setting, so they are manly too!
With just a smidge more chocolate, they will be excellent. By feastmeeting no one will know if the brownies they are enjoying are from a box or from beans.

Recipe: I guess we could call them Exlax brownies
1 can of black beans (we used left over dry beans from another recipe....cooked of course)
3 eggs
3 tbsp oil
4 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Vanilla
3/4 cup sugar (we wanted to use honey, but didn't have enough)
pinch of salt (more than a pinch if using non-canned beans) ( No I don't remember how much I used)
Drain can of beans, rinse, then dump all ingredients into blender and go for it. Remember to put the lid on. It will look like vomit, then suddenly look like wonderful brownie mix.
Pour into greased 8x8 pan.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

We are thinking of adding a few chocolate chips next time.
Enjoy!

Right eating

We're back!!
I don't have a whole lot of time to go over every single meal since May. Most have been "good." Some have not been. Some Waffle House eating has occurred, but they send me coupons for my birthday and it would be rude not to use them. ;b
Right now we are making good choices ~80-85% of the time.
Many of you know we were at Campmeeting last month, and the cafeteria food is not exactly up to Lalanne standards. But we did the best we could, and we may have had 2 desserts the whole week. We exercised too! The campground is a great place to run. I love it early in the morning.

But, speaking of making "good" and "bad" food choices, check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia

Orthorexia nervosa (also known as orthorexia) is a term used by Dr. Steven Bratman to describe people who have developed a fixation with healthy or righteous eating and has been referred to as a mental disorder. It is not a medically recognized term. Bratman claims that in rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death. Even in less severe cases, the attempt to follow a diet that cannot provide adequate nourishment is said to lower self-esteem as the orthorexics blame themselves rather than their diets for their constant hunger and the resulting cravings for forbidden foods.

I've seen this term in a book (non-medical) I'm reading right now, and Denise saw it today in her Shape Magazine. Interesting. Can't help but think of Jack...

The Streak Is Over!

After total dessert abstinence all year, I caved in. I indulged in Mama Dathie's Apple Dumplins. And they were good. We were invited to a Mother's Day cookout and there were a multitude of Non-Lalanne approved foods stuffs. And I ate them, and I didn't really feel bad about it. Didn't even feel bad about not feeling bad about it. I also had a cupcake. and a literal bite of cake. And then Denise had a leftover cake sitting in the fridge from a Fancy Tea Party she went to Saturday, and I was all alone with it and The Boy was asleep and I had a piece of it. And Today at work they had a retirement party and they shoved brownies in my face and I ate three of them. Once I'm off the wagon I have a hard time jumping back on. Sunday was a balanced decision to enjoy some food prepared by the folks who had invited us, a time to relax and break bread and ribs with friends. That's cool. That's one of my goals, indulgence without guilt and hop right back into the swing of things. Today was not that good happy place, it was just a complete lack of self control. OK, I ate 5 brownies, but not all at once. And then I came home and had the stupid strawberry cake again. But it's gone now, I'm not digging in the trash for it.
Did I mention I have trouble controlling myself when it comes to baked goods?

I've been contemplating what Phase II of this experiment will be lately anyways. I have let a few things creep in- Organic Milk and Kashi or Fiber One Cereal, Cheese maybe once or twice a month, and I've been eating grains more often. All that cheating and I still have kept my weight around 178 pounds, up a mere three pounds from being really strict. Even after Sunday's indulgence, I was back down to 179.8#'s this morning. Tomorrow morning will be worse, of course.
So this next phase will be concentrated on exercising and eating as close as possible to how Jack Lalanne instructed his students to eat. I tried to eat just like Jack, and honestly couldn't do it. And that's OK, he didn't recommend folks to eat exactly like him. He admitted that part of the extreme discipline of his lifestyle was "an ego thing" for him. I'll report back with what the new food rules will be.
But I've got to decide what to do about dessert. Clearly we can't keep cake in the house anymore, that's for sure.

More about Jillian!

Anyone see the cover of May's Shape magazine???  Jillian Michaels!  Woohoo!  As soon as I walked in the door I tore it open to find out what else I could eat.

So imagine my glee when I read the part where "Not everything she eats is "good" for her"....  What does that mean????  Her explanation:  "I give food a number on a scale from one to 10.  Ones are superfoods that will practically cure cancer, like organice spinach.  Tens are crap that could kill you tomorrow, like a prepackaged cupcake.  The highest I'll go is 5 or 6.  For example, I adore Popchips.  They're 100 calories a bag - no preservatives, no trans fat and no artificial sweetners.  Is it a superfood?  No.  But will it kill me?  No!"

Hmmm so as long as it doesn't kill me I can eat it??

More about Jill:
4 - She eats 2,000 calories a day!  "Right now, I'm loving Nature's Path Hemp Waffles for breakfast.  My cleanest meal is lunch because it's usually a salad with seafood.  And dinner is often something from my book "The Master your Metabolism Cookbook", like the black bean chili"  (I HAVE THIS COOKBOOK!  Yea, more options!)
5 - She's a conflicted vegetarian "I don't eat chicken or red meat, but not because I think they're unhealthy.  I do believe we're omnivores and should have healthy meat once a week or so.  But personally, I can't eat it because I'm such an animal lover.  I've been rescuing dogs since I was 17."

Let's see..  she never weighs herself, she thinks she has a big butt (whatever), she sees a shrink and she wants to be a mom.  Important to note that she doesn't like to exercise.  She does it for the way it will make her feel.  Yep, I agree!

She also will eat Larabars.  Rock on - me too!

So I think I'm doing pretty close to what she would do..  Some things I have added in that she might not:

• Some dairy (still not clear on her stand on organic dairy) - I eat greek organic yogurt with organic granola, organic milk with Kashi go lean and I have splurged on a little bit of cheese on eggs when I eat them with Noah.
• Organic pizza - no more than once a week and I'm now thinking she might would consider this a 5 or 6 and eat it too!
• Semisweet chocolate morsels - may not be dark enough but I like to snack on 2 tablespoons in the afternoon while I work.  I let each one melt in my mouth.  It takes like 30 minutes to finish and it's only 4 WW points plus values!  Nice long chocolate fix!

So I guess, overall, I'm still sticking pretty close to her eating habits.

The exercise is another thing.  I need to think more "what would Jillian do" when it comes to exercise.  Like the week the inlaws were here.  I did NOTHING.  I didn't really have any time but could I have carved some time to do push ups, situps, etc?  Sure!  Would Jillian have done NOTHING?  Likely not.  The week following I was so tired that I only worked out an hour and a half the whole week!  Needless to say when I got back on the exercise wagon this week I was sore all week.  I did get 4 hours in this week and the week isn't over... 

So the new challenge is to try to think more like her when it comes to exercise.  I think my eating is under control in terms of her rules of food.  Having additional information is helpful.  Not knowing her scale is challenging but I think I get the gist.  Now off to more challenging workouts!!!

Statue to Statue 15K

The South's Toughest 15K
That's what my T-shirt says, and it's probably telling the truth. Nine miles in the mountains of Birmingham. Or at least the Really Steep Hills of Birmingham.
It is odd to have been in that much pain and enjoying it.
First, we slept terrible last night. The Boy kept us up for hours, crying,whining, feeling and acting a little feverish. At 4:30am when we got up Noah was still feeling bad, and felt warm. So Denise backed out of the race to take care of him. I got to the race site at 6:30am, and stood around and shivered with other strangers for an hour and a half till the race started. (When we signed up, they told us to be early since it was not a circular course, you would ride a charter bus to the starting line. If you missed a bus, you missed the race)
Did I mention it was cold? It was cold. One of the drawbacks to losing weight is when you do shed the fat parka, you get cold like an old woman. So I did not look as robust and healthy as some of the other guys and gals running about mostly naked in spandex or less, but I didn't care. I proudly wore my sweatshirt and huddled around my free cup of coffee trying to stay warm. Thus, I gravitated to the 50 year old guys, who were also wearing sweats and huddling around coffee. Does that make me secure in my manhood, that I don't need to prance around half naked? Or old? I suspect you can't have one without the other. Or shouldn't anyway.
I digress. But it was cold.
The old dudes I was with did confirm this was one of the toughest races out there. Nice. Encouraging.
We started (I shed my sweatshirt seconds before)and the first 3-4 miles were great. Nice rolling hills, and the course ran through one of the Old Money Neighborhoods of Birmingham. I have only been in a few "real" races like this (2 or 3 5Ks, and the half marathon) and I find I really enjoy the energy of a race. Everyone is upbeat and positive, the shared goal, encouragement from strangers, and free water & Powerade every 3-4 miles. I like it.
The bad hills were in miles 5-7. And they were bad. But I only had to walk up two of the worst, the others I gutted it out and ran up. More Powerade at the Top!
Miles 7-9 were mostly downhill, which sounds good but is actually tricky to do.
You are trying not to fall forward, trying to slow yourself down all the time. Maybe there is a trick to it, but I was not a fan.
Overall I felt ridiculously good til the middle of mile 8, when everything got hard. The hills were over, and the ground was a bit more level, but I was starting to hurt. Me and the little pack of folks I was in were starting to worry about how much more there was, when we saw the 9 mile mark, and happily only had 0.3 miles left. Again downhill, but we just ran fast and I finished strong. And then drank lots of water. And consumed bananas and apples till they looked at me funny. And limped around the parking lot trying not to cramp up. My left knee has some torn cartilage, so it decided to be unhappy once I finished. (still aches a little right now, a little stiff, Ice is a good thing)
Mostly at the end I felt very proud of myself, had this wonderful sense of accomplishment and really missed my wife for I was mostly alone in a group of fit, half-naked strangers.

My official stats can be found here, but my time was 1:36:04.3
I was not near the front, but not completely in the back. I ran my 10 minute mile pace that I had trained for, and felt good about running my race and not trying to beat the other gazelles around me.

Unfortunately, The Boy still isn't feeling well, so any celebrating will be done later, if at all. But it was a good time, a new happy memory, a good accomplishment and a cool T-shirt. Not bad for a Saturday morning.

Sugarholics

I can't think of a witty comment that doesn't overstate the obvious. The old man was right. He was ahead of the conventional wisdom on alot of things. Downright nutty on alot of things too, but as we are finding out, nutty doesn't always equal wrong.

Friday Confessional

I've been a single parent for a few days while Denise is off performing her Maiden/Matron Of Honor duties for her BFF's wedding this weekend.
And I guess I'm cracking under the pressure.
I had...A piece of cheese!!! It was in my Lentil and Organic beef spaghetti sauce that I had to warm up and eat inbetween whining fits. The Boy was whining, not me. Not much anyway.
I've also had...Cereal the past two mornings with milk! Kashi Go Lean Cereal with organic 1% milk, only one measured cup per morning.
And Yesterday I had Subway for lunch, split a footlong Sweet Onion Teriaki without cheese but with every veggie except Cucumbers and Green Peppers. Had the first half for lunch, the second half ~3 hours later at my desk.
Also...I know, the mind boggles that there could be something else, but I have barely exercised the last few days. Monday was good, ran 6 miles in 60 minutes. Bootcamp Tuesday morning. Wednesday 100 pushups/100Squats/3 min back bridge in 15 minutes. Yesterday and probably today, nothing. In the grand scheme of things, a few days off is no big deal. But I did pledge everyday. And I have a 15K run next weekend through the mountains in Birmingham, which boasts itself as The South's Toughest 15K. Joy. Hopefully I'll get to walk around the columbia zoo tomorrow with The Boy. Somthing is always better than nothing.

So there you go True Believers, a friday confessional to hopefully prompt all of us to stay on the straight and narrow this weekend.

Excelsior!!

What you and Bear Grylls already have in common

Quick, what is an all natural ingredient used to color yogurt, juice and other "health food"? Here's a hint: It's used to turn things red, or reddish purple. And it used to crawl around on cacti in the desert.
Carmine! A red dye made from dried and ground up beetles. Specifically, their abdomens that house the fertilized eggs of the cochineal beetle. Yummy! More Strawberry yogurt please!
How did we find out about this?
One of our new toys is an app Denise downloaded onto her iphone called Fooducate. You can use it to scan the bar code of items at the grocery and get food grades, reviews and hints about what the good folks at fooducate think would be a healthier product. Denise scanned one of her previously favorite yogurts and was informed that it contained bug abdomens. Needless to say, we tried a different brand.
At first, I was grossed out and not just a little bit upset. Food manufacturers go out of their way to make sure you have no clue as to what you are eating or where it comes from. The only reason the practically toothless FDA made manufacturers start listing carmine as an ingredient was the risk of allergen exposure and the rare anaphylactic reactions. The food manufacturers knew that "ground up beetle coloring" would hurt sales, so they settled on the term Carmine.
But here's the tricky part.
Which is grosser: An all natural food coloring that is made from dried, ground up insects, or the "normal" food coloring, Red#whatever, which is derived from coal tar?
Limiting your processed food intake makes more and more sense the more you know about the food like substance creation system.
Suddenly, the beetles are not nearly as icky as before, just an extra protein boost. Maybe a little bit of extra fiber.

The joys of live television

So Jack and I are quite alike in one respect, we both love dogs.
Real blog entry coming soon, promise. Denise has been having some more epiphanies. I'm going to twist her arm to write them down.

Another goal for this year

Last time I tried these I think I cracked a thoracic vertebra. The key is holding your core tight so you don't fold very painfully in half, which I did. I'll try them again sometime when my wife is not around to tell me it's a bad idea.

So what DO you eat?

I get asked this alot.  I was explaining (vaguely) what we were doing to Noah's pediatrician and I think I scared her.  I'm sure in the file somewhere she has written down "Make sure he's getting real milk", "make sure she's not feeding him nuts".  Yes, Noah is drinking cow's milk (organic of course) and he's not eating nuts or peanut butter :)  It is, however, a challenge to feed him when we are eating fish and spicy bean hummus.  But he does ok.  What are we eating?  Here's a list of some of the things:

• Breakfast - always a protein fruit smoothie (unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a little greek yogurt, frozen fruit, protein powder)
• Weekend breakfast - brown rice and eggs scrambled together with a slice of Ezekial bread that is topped with natural peanut butter and a drizzle of honey.  This lasted all through sunday school and church without getting hungry!  And we eat breakfast early!
• Snack options:  greek yogurt mixed with blueberries and 1/4 c Kashi go lean, Ezekial cinnamon raisin english muffin topped with 1 TB natural peanut butter and a drizzle of honey, banana with 23 almonds, apple with 1 TB natural peanut butter, any other fruit with nuts, Larabars (apple pie is my fav), carrots with hummus
• Lunch - typically we make a big pot of something so we can zap it in the microwave.  Some recipes we have tried are Black Bean and Beef Soup, White Chicken Chili, some other bean and rice combination.  When we use meat it's grass fed beef or free range chicken and we add more beans.  We throw in rice too so the beans and rice make a complete protein.  We also do salads with black bean salsa and lots of veggies.
• Dinner - pan seared tuna with grilled veggies (still my fav!), last night it was grilled veggies topped with Dill and lemon pepper tilapia.  Sometimes it's salad, one of the bean dishes, or shrimp and grits!  I thought I was going to get tired of fish.  Hasn't happened yet!  We are trying new veggies too:  maple glazed parsnips and carrots (WW recipe using maple syrup - it's a natural sweetner!), roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower, carrots, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, sweet potatoes.  I'm not feeling deprived at all!  I feel like I'm eating gourmet every night :)

There are a few "processed" foods I have allowed back in but they have to be organic.  For the nights we don't have time to cook or I'm too hungry to think I have some of Amy's Organic burritos on hand.  And we did have organic pizza twice BUT it didn't have meat on it, just veggies.  I'm thinking if Jillian was starving and didn't have time to cook (well she would probably run up to the local tree hugging restaurant and grab something) but this is Jemison and there's no such place so I'm thinking she would go for this.  One day I might ask her :)

So there you have it.  This is what we DO eat.  I have tried so many new things and I'm loving it!  The weekends are still sometimes tough but we just treat them as a week day and eat the same things.  When we are out and there are tough choices to make we both agree that it's nice that we don't really have to debate about whether we are going to allow ourselves this or that.  Instead we can blame it on Jack and Jill!  They are the crazies not us ;o)

Unhappy People

`Nuff said,
Cliff

When do you want to stop this thing? (or How unhealthy do you want to get?)

Since finding out that I can't live off of mush for brunch and a salad for dinner, Denise and I have been kicking around the idea of stopping our experiment. We had even thought about calling it quits after the two month mark.
But then we started talking about what we would let back into our diet. Cheese? Milk? Reasonable choices. Chocolate cake? Mama Dathie's Apple Dumplins? Tasty choices, but not really healthy choices. Pigs feet? That was a straight no. I've had barbecued pigs feet, and I can honestly say that is one portion of pig anatomy that holds no attraction for me.
When is it a treat, and when is it a sugary fat filled bomb that will give me a migraine and make me feel like crap? How unhealthy are we OK with being? Is being healthy 80% of the time acceptable? 90%? 99.5%? And how would you even gauge the acceptable level of crap to eat?
Hard questions, especially since I am finally starting to feel good. My energy level is great most of the time. I'm drinking coffee now more to avoid the withdrawal headache than to pep me up. I'm not nearly as constipated as I was before either. (We're all friends here, and when we're in our 80's that will be a normal topic of conversation.)
So I am less inclined to stop now that I am finally seeing some payback for all of my hard work. Also, I'm not so sure that we wouldn't revert back to old "sin and repent" eating habits. I think I need the extra discipline right now.
Thus I will continue with Jack Lalanne's words of wisdom:
"If man makes it, don't eat it."

Exercise challenge for 2011

Since Jack always had a crazy exercise challenge every year we are going to as well. On Nov 12 we are going to run our first marathon. I had said I wanted to run a marathon before 40 so I guess here goes... The marathon is on a Saturday in columbus ga for anyone wants to join us.

In preparation we are training for a 15k in April. Go team...!

Challenges and deprivation

So I have had several challenges starting with finding time to post. I will try to do better. Cliff and I have had many conversations about our experiment and although there are times we may feel deprived it's also kinda nice to blame our whacky (to some) eating behaviors on someone else. Although cliff isn't eating the same meal plan as jack, he's still trying to follow his rules. Luckily Jillian does allow some goodies in her diet (like the yummy Newman O's! Believe it or not I can stop at one. It was a challenge at first but got remarkably easier. The less sugar I eat the less I crave it. The more in control I feel.

The energy is still good. Even during the days following little sleep. I've been off caffeine for so long that I see no reason to ever go back.

The other night we wanted to go to dinner & for the first time we were kinda at a loss about where to go. With our somewhat limited menu choices it seemed hard. We couldn't just say "so you feel like Italian tonight?". Well there's the pasta, the bread, the beef. So we chose Bonefish. Since we CAN eat fish. We skipped the rolls, asked for oil & vinegar on the side and enjoyed grilled fish and veggies. Very yummy! We felt so healthy that when we passed the "hot now" sign at Krispy Kreme I almost asked if he wanted to stop. That's when I realized that although I'm a weight watchers leader advocating that you shouldn't deprive yourself.. I was doing it. I wasn't sure how I felt about it but decided it wasn't so bad. I can do without the doughnuts. And who knows by the time we're done I may decide I don't really like them! Yeah who am I kidding?!

So yes there are times we feel deprived but there are also many times where we are pleasantly surprised that the black bean hummus and a roasted brussel sprout tastes really great!

Feedback, not failure (or Why I can't do it)

We've been pretty slow with the blog posts as of late. I blame The Boy. He's been cranking lately. (I'm sure that wins me father of the year for blaming stuff on my kid, but it's the truth. )
We are still plugging away at our experiment.
Denise is practicing yoga as I write this @ 9:15pm central time. I'm not sure what that proves, either she is embracing this lifestyle, going nuts or she's a little sore from all of her other workouts. Possibly all three. Mostly she still feels great. Energy, vitality, losing inches, stress relief, great bowel movements, the whole nine yards.
Me? I'm having trouble with my blood sugar dropping into uncomfortable levels. Only the low 80's, which is still within the realm of normal. Nowhere close to dangerous, just annoying. So far the worst times have been at work: hands shaking, room kind of black at the edges, sudden surges of gravity making me stumble. It's nice to work around nurses at times like that. It has only been that bad twice, but I feel "low" from time to time.
I had already been considering a change in my eating anyway. I found this interview from the Wall Street Journal where Jack Lalanne laid out exactly what he ate, everyday.
A highlight:

"The way people eat today is sick," laments Mr. LaLanne. "Would you even feed your dog a cup of coffee and a doughnut in the morning?" Mr. LaLanne has many favorite sayings when it comes to diet: "Everything nature's way.…If man makes it, don't eat it.…If it tastes good, spit it out.…The food you eat today you're wearing tomorrow." He lives by all of them. "Before I eat something I ask 'What is it doing for me, the most important person on Earth?' "

Mr. LaLanne only eats two meals per day: One at 11 a.m. after his workout and one at 7 p.m. at a restaurant with his wife.

His 11 a.m. meal consists of three to four hard-boiled egg whites, a cup of broth-type soup, oatmeal with soy milk, raisins and a plate of seasonal fruit.

"Every restaurant we frequent has the 'Jack LaLanne salad' which is ten raw vegetables and four egg whites hardboiled," he says. "I make them throw the fat and cholesterol in the yolk away and you're left with the best protein known to man. Four egg whites have the same amount of protein as one pound of steak but only 60 calories compared to 1,000 calories." Mr. LaLanne eats fish nearly every night at dinner. The only other meat he eats is roast turkey. He doesn't snack between meals.

Not exactly the most exciting meal plan ever.
I also think his math is fuzzy with the protein-in-eggs-versus-steak thing.
Right now, I feel like I'm going to pass out if I go 4 hours without eating something. Could be a piece of fruit, but it's got to be something.
Plus, this is the 90-something version of Jack Lalanne. I'm assuming the 30-something version probably ate more than that. I assume.
So for now, I am abandoning trying to eat exactly like Jack. Maybe after I get used to having what essentially should be normal blood sugar I'll try again.
But this is feedback, not failure. Possibly my sugars where higher than I knew before we started our experiment. I have a large genetic predisposition towards diabetes, I may have been happily skipping towards it without knowing. Possibly.
Or I could be screwing myself up by not eating enough.

Winning and Not Winning

We had a great birthday weekend. The Boy turned 1 year old. Lots of noisy toys, noisy folks, it was great. The Boy didn't really enjoy his birthday cake the way everyone was hoping, but he was cute and that's really the important thing.
To answer the question everyone is asking: No, we had neither cake nor ice cream before, during or after the party. It was a bit of a temptation, but not a struggle. Having fruit instead is a viable alternative. Sweet, satisfying, and no crushing headache afterward.
Speaking of headaches, I'm having fewer and fewer. That's a very nice change. The scale is slowly changing, but I'll gladly exchange six-pack abs for no migraines.
Remember, the goal here is Radiant Health, not a Men's Health magazine photo shoot.
But now, it is time for true confessions:
I am not exercising two hours a day, every day. I do get at least 45 minutes a day of very intense training, sometimes I'll push it and go for a whole hour. I know two hours was the Lalanne Standard. But I am just not there yet physically. Besides not being able to keep up physically, I do not know where I would get the extra hour to train, have a job, see my wife and play with my kid, and sleep. I'm not saying it's impossible, just currently out of reach.
And I'm not sure two hours a day every day is really a worthy goal.
Maybe I'm selling myself short, maybe I'm compromising and taking the weenie way out. Something to think about.

Have fun,
Cliff

Me One Healthy Dude

WWJD?

No exercise for anyone today. Thanks to the blessing of Fatherhood, I was awake for over 22 hours yesterday. So we are taking the weekend off from strenuous exercise.
But it was a great day, so we took The Boy to the park, let him toddle around and fall outdoors and enjoy the fresh air. Like all good first time parents we took plenty of photographs and hovered over him. The other, more experienced, parents glanced at their kids every once in awhile and went back to chatting or reading. One lady didn't even get out of her car, just read People and waited, I suppose, for the sound of screaming.
With sunshine, families, and kiddie parks comes bags and bags of Fast Food. Yummy smelling fast food. Yummy smelling food in wrappers shiny with grease.
After we had spent a little over an hour we were hungry. I admit, it would have been nice to just go through a drive-thru on the way to the park or on the way home and inhale cheap food conveniently. Eating real food takes some planning, thinking, and well a bunch of effort.
What Would Jack Do? Jack wouldn't eat fast food. Jack would've reminded me that we enjoyed a smoothie with almond milk, strawberries, bananas and protein powder and that I really wasn't as hungry as I thought I was. And why would I want to waste calories and fat on crap in a wrapper just for convenience?
"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."
That's what Jack had been saying for decades, and would probably have told me today. And it's true. The folks eating the cheese off their wrappers with the paper still stuck to it did not look healthy. But they didn't seem to be bursting with energy. Merely bursting the buttons off their shirts or pants. Most did not look like Biggest Loser contestants, but a few did.
What price do we pay for convenient fast food?
What price do I pay for healthy food?
Which price is a better long term investment?

To "be rich like jack and jill"

So we went to Publix last night to get all of our organic fruits, veggies, fish and grass fed beef.  GOOD GRIEF it's expensive being healthy!  I had to forgo the organic apples because we buy so many.  We have got to find a cheaper way to eat like this or we are going to go broke!  If any of my blog friends feel my pain and have figured out how to fix it please let me know!

Overall things are going very well.  As I sat at Cracker Barrell (after ordering my spicy grilled catfish and veggies) feeding my child one of the tastiest biscuits ever made and NOT eating one, I decided either we are crazy or a glutton for punishment.  Maybe both.  And oddly enough we both left there feeling very satisfied and didn't get hungry again for the rest of the evening.  Maybe there's something to this.  In doing our research on Jack and Jill we found that both of them ate fish and veggies for one of their meals.  That seems to be the one meal they both go carb-free.  The only thing I could really find on Jillian's daily meal plan was from an interview with Self magazine: http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2009/07/jillian-michaels-diet-tips.  Not much to go on but it's something.

Murdering Shakespeare

It's always my turn to write on the days I don't feel good.
I should have penned a quick note Tuesday morning or early afternoon. I felt great. Better than I had felt in...quite some time. Monday night was one of the first nights when I slept completely through the night in many months. Normally I wake up due to the need to go potty, back/leg pain, a crying baby, or crying dog. So I'm sure that had something to do with my vim and vigor.
Unfortunately I pooped out of energy in the evening and never got it back. Tired all day today, lackluster workout this morning.
And yes, I think I am eating enough. I'm not quite hitting 100 grams of protein a day, but I get well over 60-70 grams. We make sure to mix our amino acids to get complete protein in our vegetarian meals. It's way too early to develop anemia, so that ain't it. Denise thinks I am having withdrawal symptoms from sugar. There may be something to that. Jack Lalanne would probably agree.

To sleep, or not to sleep. That is the question.
Whether t'is better in the gym to suffer and take up arms in a grueling workout and by opposing the fat cells, to end them? Or to sleep, perchance to dream?
Aye, there's the rub.
Because we live with a baby transitioning to toddlerhood, we will never again get "enough" sleep. Waiting for that magic 8 hours of sleep a night in order to hit the gym is a wonderful way to sabotage your training before it even starts.
But I also know that if I stay too sleepy, I'll drive my stress hormones up and sabotage my training and weight loss.
We are trying to make some changes so that I can get some more sleep. It will get better.
The irony is I'm staying up late writing a blog entry about how I need to get more sleep.

Going to bed,
Cliff

Weekend Victory!

I'm proud to say that we made it through the first weekend doing VERY well!  We ate out on Friday night and got sushi.  I know white rice is involved but there's nothing I can do about that.  I think, faced with the options at a Japanese steakhouse, Jillian would choose sushi rolls.  Very tiny bit of soy sauce, I know how she hates sodium!  Saturday we worked out as normal - taking turns while babysitting, ate like we normally would and even made some quinoa to go with a really good veggie soup.  Sunday we brought some quinoa and ate all the veggies available.  No desserts although all the favorites were there!  I came home feeling great!  Not drugged off sweets like normal :) 

And I can honestly say we have not missed any of the junk we typically eat!  And did I mention the energy???

Jack Lalanne 1914-2011

While getting ready to go to the gym this morning I heard the report on the news that Jack had died. I was oddly stunned. I say oddly, for it should be no shock that a 96 year old man should pass from pneumonia. However, I really thought Jack would make it till at least 100, maybe 120.

I am quite sad to lose one of my heroes.

I first was introduced to Jack Lalanne through his Power Juicer Infomercial (which we own and use). I watched some old clips of his show on the web, read through the list of his incredible birthday feats and I was hooked. Here was a living superhero that could pull off seemingly impossible feats, not through trickery, just muscle and cajones. I was inspired. Still am.

Heroes should inspire us to reach beyond our self imposed limits. Grow, expand, and in the best tradition of the US Army: Be all that you can be.

I had planned to write to Jack Lalanne, tell him about our experiment, our little blog. I had dreamed that I would be able to interview him. It would have been great. I would have just shut up and let him roll. He’d been doing that for over 30 years across the country on his own TV show. My TV show was only on for three years on a cable access channel in one city. I figured Jack could handle the interview better without me. It would have been fun.

So it was with renewed purpose that I beat my brains out at the gym this morning, cranking out 5o pullups and 5 handstand pushups. I happily ate my fruits and veggies. And tonight, I'll raise a big glass of freshly juiced carrots and apples in remembrance to my Hero, Jack Lalanne.

Straight from the Horse's mouth

Stop Being So Tired!!

First Work Week done! (or When do I start feeling better?)

I'm glad Denise is feeling great. Really. No, really, I am. She's been getting more and more energy as the week rolled on. Good for her.
Me?
I'm tired and not just a little bit cranky. Quite the opposite of how I was expecting to feel.
I was hoping for, "I feel AMAZING this week, like I could conquer the WORLD!!" And we've eaten so stinking healthy this week even I want to roll my eyes and backhand slap us.
Instead, the folks at work are asking me why I look so sleepy. Getting healthy must make you look like poop. And it makes you tired. Eating beans everyday also makes for some wonderful gas, something most vegetarians probably won't tell you. Maybe that's why Hippies smell funny?
Food wise: I have turned down a great deal of food that normally I would have inhaled this week.
I had a corporate meeting Wednesday with a wonderfully catered lunch. Everyone knows I love coffee, which is why everyone was bringing over the coffee brownie bars for me to eat. "Here, these are great, You'll love them. They have coffee!" But no, I turned them down. Everyone, including myself, looked confused.
The very next day there was a birthday. The food looked and smelled great. Evidently it was much better fare than the last few birthday meals (we have them quite often) because most people were commenting on how great the food was compared to the last few birthday meals.
Me? I splurged and put some of the 7 layer salad on my homemade spinach salad with black bean salsa. Did I mention it was my turn to bring Desserts? I bought and brought everything at Wal-mart with Paula Dean's picture on it. Again, loved by everyone, but me.
Do I sound bitter? I guess I do. I'm not.
No, really, I'm not. I have greatly enjoyed not feeling stuffed and miserable at these big dinners, which is usually the case. I have enjoyed feeling in control when presented with a huge table of yummy food, which is usually not the case. That has been very good.
Exercising everyday this week has also been good. Mostly. The exercise is good, Bootcamp at Cornerstone is great. (Thanks Lori!) Getting up every morning before 5am hurts though. Especially when you sleep as poorly as I have this week. I could blame The Boy earlier in the week, but not the last few nights. I was hoping a cleaner diet and regular grueling exercise would help me sleep at night. So far, not so much. And that's most of my problem, I'm just pooped. Pooped and gassy. Yay being healthy!!
So these first few steps on our journey have been a mixed bag of good and bad for me. The weekend will be tough, but tonight we went out and had sushi. Much healthier than freezer pizza, and tastier too.

Onward and upward,
Cliff

Week 1 - Friday is here! The true test begins!

So we made it through the first week.  I have to say within the first 2 days I felt much better.  Dropped 2 pounds (water weight no doubt) and had more energy!  These are some of the meals/snacks I had:

• Roasted Garlic hummus with carrots
• Organic bean burritos on whole wheat tortillas
• Salads with black bean salsa
• Salad with lentils
• Blackened cajun tuna steaks with roasted brussell sprouts (ironically my favorite meal of the week - didn't know I liked either of these things)
• Scrambled egg and egg white with ultra wheat bread
• Decaf coffee flavored with agave nectar and almond milk (YUM - I can definitely cope with this)
• Banana and almonds
• various other fruits
• We juiced carrots, an apple and pear together and it was really tasty!
• Had some dairy in the smoothies for breakfast but we are phasing out our dairy

So overall I can't say I have missed anything I have taken off my menu this week.  However, friday nights is usually pizza night.  Saturdays we typically make pancakes and by Sunday we have eaten too many desserts at church and are now up the 2 pounds we lost the week before.  Our plan is to go out to eat tonight - likely Cracker Barrell where we can get lots of veggies.  I'm really looking forward to feeling good on Monday!

Exercise will get better next week.  I have 1 more hour to go to complete my 5 hours this week.  I did push myself with every exercise session I had so I feel good about that.  I have the "Making the Cut" book of Jillians and will start the circuit training tomorrow. 

I will let Cliff post about his week and all the MANY desserts he had to turn down.  Poor guy! 

Our Commitment

I thought it would be nice if you all understood exactly what we are committing to.  Luckily our gurus are similar in their Dos and Don'ts.  That helps with the grocery shopping :)

Our Rule of thumb:

• No chemicals or artificial sweetners
• No processed foods
• No whites - white sugar, white flour, white pasta, etc
• No dairy
• No High Fructose Corn syrup
• No caffeine
• Organic Fruits and Veggies
• Exercise like a Fiend (Jack exercises 2 hrs/day; Jill for 5 hrs/wk) - basically push yourself out of your comfort zone every time you exercise
• Jack - NO SWEETS; Jill - eats dark chocolate (once a day) and there's an interview where she had Peanut Butter Newman O's in her pantry so I bought some!  Basically organic Oreos but better!
• Lots of fish; if they eat other meats they are organic (free range chicken and grass fed beef)

Week one - Day 1 for Denise

So today was like most days:  I had a plan for exercise, I had written out all my food that I was going to eat (all Jillian proof) and thanks to my sweet, baby boy nothing went as planned.  It started at 2am when he stood up in his crib screaming.  I wrestled with him for two hours until finally we collapsed on the bed in his nursery and fell asleep.  I know sleeping with my child is not wise and soon I will care.  So we woke up around 8:30.  The class I wanted to take at the gym started at 8.  My backup plan was to run at the gym.  By the time I fed him something and got us all ready we got to the gym at 9:45.  Thinking I had until 10:30 I rushed through the list of instructions for Misha the child care person at the gym.  Little did I know child care on Mondays now ends at 10.  Had I known that I might not have gone so let's make lemonade - I upped the level on the elliptical and went as fast as I could for all of 17 minutes.  Not what Jillian would do in a day but with my time limit maybe she would! 

So for the rest of the day everything felt off.  I did manage to eat well and eat only things Jill would have eaten.  As a Weight Watchers leader I also have to monitor my points which is no biggie.  Something has to hold me accountable to what and how much I'm eating.  I'm not sure if my blog friends would like to know what I'm eating but I thought I would post it so you get an idea:

Breakfast - Protein smoothie (1 scoop whey protein, milk, greek yogurt, frozen strawberries and a little of a frozen banana) - so she probably would not have done the dairy but the milk was organic!
Lunch - 1 egg, 1 egg white scrambled; 1 slice whole wheat bread with 1tsp honey and 1 TB peanut butter, handful of strawberries
Snack - banana with 23 almonds (raw unsalted), apple
Dinner at Shoney's - Veggie salad with boiled egg and oil and vinegar, veggie bean soup, melon and pineapple
Dessert - Apple pie Larabar
Total points plus values of 30 (I get 34 for the day)

So was the day perfect?  Not exactly but taking care of yourself is not something that can only be done on perfect days.  It has to be done on all days.  I have control of my choices no matter what the day throws at me.

Welcome!

Welcome to the “Be Like Jack & Jill” Blog! We thank you for reading, and welcome your feedback.

My wife and I are embarking upon an experiment: Eat and train as close as we can to Jack Lalanne and Jillian Michaels, for one year.

Why? There is a bit of a Myth Busters mentality at work here.

First, we want to see if mere mortals, such as us, can really live the way they do. Their diets, if you believe their books and interviews, are dang near perfect. Jack Lalanne hasn’t had dessert for roughly the past eighty years. (80!) Jillian Michaels is less strict, having a dose of chocolate daily. Of course it is organic, dark, and perfectly portioned chocolate once daily. (My wife is quite happy her health guru eats chocolate!) Lalanne exercises for two hours daily, while Michaels busts her tail in the gym 5 hours a week. That’s a big time commitment. (Especially from Jack, thanks a lot buddy)

Second and our biggest motivator: does eating completely clean while exercising like a fiend really make you feel as amazing as they claim? Can I look forward to bursting with vim & vigor everyday? Sleeping like a log every night? Can I get rid of my weekly headaches? Will I quit losing my hair? OK, maybe not so much that last one, but will we really feel all that much better for all of the sacrifice?

Sure, we expect to lose fat, shed inches, and become walking Greek statues with better skin tone. OK. But we are really focusing on the health aspects of this way of life. Denise and I are in our late thirties. Our son will turn one year old in a few weeks, and we would like more kids. (Lord willing) Therefore we HAVE to stay healthy and active well into our fifties and beyond in order to be the kind of parents we want to be. Is this the path?

So, let’s find out together. We start this coming week. We will be trying out and sharing new recipes, new exercises. There will no doubt be a fair amount of whining along the way as we adjust, but I promise to keep that to a minimum.

Excelsior!

Cliff