Leftover Turkey Tikka Masala-Great alternative to turkey sandwiches!

Like most of you, my diet has consisted of turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes and other Thanksgiving leftovers since Thursday.  This isn't an issue because I love all of the foods in our fridge, but I'm running out of time, and taste buds, to get it eaten.  So I started thinking-hey, chicken tikka masala is made with already cooked chicken, wouldn't leftover turkey work?

So of course I Google that "stuff" and sure enough, there are many returns for turkey tikka masala.  Most are full on recipes with a variety of homemade tikka masala sauces, different ways to cut/shred the turkey and all kinds of delicious sounding ideas.  But I also know I won't make sauce from scratch, so I run by the store, get some Saffron Road Tikka Masala Sauce and jasmine rice.  I get home, throw the rice in the rice cooker (two whole ingredients-rice and water) and get out the leftover turkey.  I strip down one drumstick and one thigh and grab some of the white meat.  The turkey gets chopped into about 1 inch cubes, some pretty square, others all kinds of shape.  Many recipes also called for shredded turkey-that may be next time!  Two tablespoons of butter go in a large pot (no ghee-said this was the quick and shortcut way to tikka masala) and once melted in goes the turkey. I brown/stir-fry the turkey for a few minutes, then dump the sauce all over it.  It doesn't look like much sauce, so I add water to the pouch and add the water.  This isn't recommended by Saffron Road on the package, but didn't weaken the sauces too much as it called for simmering the sauce and turkey.  So we're now up to three more ingredients-turkey, sauce, and butter, plus water but since I also used that with the rice, we're talking 5 whole ingredients.

I let the sauce and turkey simmer for about ten minutes. It could have gone longer and likely would have thickened everything up, but it was hot and I was hungry!

I split the leftovers into four lunch size servings.  2 or 3 would have been closer to my "real" serving sizes but I need to cut back on main course/rice and potatoes only or focused meals and add more variety into my diet.  So these will be good for that.

BTW the link above to the sauce is my Amazon Affiliate store-please help out with a purchase of the sauce or another item of interest. Thank you!

Quick and Easy Sweet Potato Planks

Just a quick update to capture a recipe I made last night-Sweet Potato Planks.  I had a couple of sweet potatoes in the pantry and I have been wanting to try making sweet potato planks, so I looked up a few recipes and gave it a shot.  I need to do better cutting consistent pieces, but the seasoning worked pretty well, and for softer planks, 350 for 30 minutes worked.  I may try broiling them for 3 minutes a side (recommended on one site) next time.

Basically all you do is cut sweet potatoes into either "planks" 1/3-1/2 inch thick or equally thick "discs", place in a large bowl, and add 3 tablespoons olive oil.  (this is actually a bit much-lots left in bowl and on baking sheet).  I added freshly ground sea salt, black pepper and some Italian Seasoning.  I then laid the sweet potatoes out on a baking sheet and put in oven.  Took them out half an hour later and ate a bumch but still have leftovers from two potatoes.  I'm guessing two to three servings per average to large sweet potato.  Or less if you eat sweet potatoes like I do!

Enjoy!

Neat kitchen gadget I remember from my youth

Do you remember flour sifters from your mother or grandmother's kitchen?  I remember Mom had one that she would use baking.  Filling the sifter with floor, then turning the handle to sift the flour, break up smaller clumps and have nice uniform flour both foreshadowed yummy baked treats and looked like fun.  Getting to be old enough to use the sifter was a goal for a few months-simple but fun to use.

Via Commission Junction, or CJ now, the company that is the clearinghouse for my affiliate marketing, I received an e-mail from Jacob Bromwell Company that has been in business many years making classic American kitchen and household sundries.  One is the All-American Flour Sifter.  The company website states they have been making this sifter since 1819 and held the first patents for flour sifters.  Their sifter holds 5 cups of flour-probably close to as much as many of my foodie friends need for their recipes!  Built out of stainless steel, it is guaranteed not to rust and will likely become a family heirloom from the day it arrives at your house.



What a great Christmas present (or late birthday present) for that baker/foodie in your life.  In the sake of full disclosure, I do get a commission as an affiliate marketer for purchases made via this blog, and even more disclosure, since it's Movember I'm donating a portion of those commissions to the Movember Foundation in honor of my late friend Ed "Hoggy" Herrmann.

One more update on the "new" diet

Yesterday I gave blood and today I had a paramed exam done for a life insurance policy.  My blood pressure numbers are lower than they have been in years, maybe decades.  I'm pretty sure this is due to the better diet since June-much less fried food, way less french fries, not as much salty snacks like chips and crackers, and the 15 pound or so weight loss.  I'm still drinking lots of coffee and didn't really pick up the aerobic exercise, so it's got to be diet related.

Again-Eat it as close to how God made it as possible!  Stay to the outside of the grocery store, and avoid fast food!

Real food is more filling without bloating

Returned from yet another week on the road this weekend.  While I enjoy my job and some travel I find my diet is pretty hit and miss on the road, especially the shorter trips.  On longer trips I stock the hotel room fridge and have eaten very well.  But sometimes.....yeah, restaurant meals for lunch and supper, appetizers split among the team, maybe a drink or two some nights.  Next thing I know, I feel fairly full 24/7 but keep eating the hotel breakfast, quick lunches and big suppers.


Today I ate a fairly high carb snack for breakfast (oops) and mainly coffee the rest of the day.  So I went to the grocery, picked up a whole roaster chicken and headed home to cut it up and grill it.  After longer than I expected hacking it apart (out of practice!) I had five or so skewers, the wings and the lower quarters seasoned and in the fridge.  Out to the grill, open a can of sweet peas and pop two pieces of bread into the toaster.  Chicken on the grill, peas in the microwave-yes, not fresh, but at least some veggies, and the bread in the toaster.  Once the bread popped, I spread some cheese spread on them, keep turning the chicken and heat the peas.  Supper was a serving of peas, two pieces of toast and spread, a chicken skewer plus a few pieces and a wing.  Well I also had a Foster's Ale Oil can over the evening including cooking to now nearly 5 hours later.


I'm still full and "A lert", unlike when I fill up on fast food or too big a starchy restaurant meal and end up lethargic all night.  Another reason to "Eat It Like God Made It!"

Feelling full with real food

As I experiment with diet and enjoy eating lots of different foods, I've re-discovered what I should have known all along.  Eating real foods and whole foods is the easiest way to lose weight and be healthy.  Last night's supper consisted of roasted chicken breast, a large salad of romaine lettuce and some noodles with veggies mixed in.  Two full plates of food but very little bad stuff-the noodle's fairly simple carbs were probably the worst of it.

Well, I was pretty satisfied even after I woke up this morning.  I've had a small McDonald's sausage biscuit so far today (yeah, that's kind of a cheat meal) and need to go get lunch soon.  Not because I am starving hungry, but because I have two meetings this afternoon and I want to focus on them.  The densely nutritious meal last night has proven so much better than a high carb, high fat meal that leaves my tank on empty within a few hours.

Eat it the way God made it!

A blog post about nothing

Just a quick post to revive this blog.  Have only worked out once in about a month, so nothing really to report.  I'll hopefully have something more to say this weekend about fitness, clean eating, and health.  I've also got to update my Presidential Fitness Champion Challenge tracker-I was doing pretty well for a while there and have almost completely stopped entering exercises for points.

Clean Diet-the blood donation reason

I have been an apheresis blood donor for many years.  There are many benefits for this-first, it's a good thing to do when you are healthy enough and have big blood vessels the phlebotomists love!  Also I get points towards goodies (no more blood bank t-shirts however) and a basic wellness check each time I give.  I get immediate feedback on my hemoglobin count, blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature, and a few days later a total cholesterol score.  This is also tracked on the blood bank website once I sign in, so I can track my total cholesterol over time for free.

Another benefit is getting a visual reminder of the quality of my diet.  The platelets and plasma are separated by the machine and sent to IV bags while the remainder of my blood fluids are returned when the machine cycles from draw to return (Are two-armed machines even used anymore? Not by my blood bank thankfully!).  As the products accumulate any extra lipids/fats congeal in the bottom of the bag and the color of the product becomes apparent.  The closer your bag is to honey-colored, the "better" your diet has been.  Saturated and hydrogenated fats show up in the plasma and platelets as a cloudy appearance, and more congeals out and drops to the bottom of the bag.  Since I have had a good diet the past few weeks but a few cheat meals lately,today's looked really good.

Plus I got to help at least three patients in need of platelets and plasma.  This marks 31 gallons of blood I have donated since the fall of 1984.  While I could be proud that averages over a gallon a year if I'm going to join the 100 gallon donor club I need to pick it up a bit, or keep donating to 118!

Please think about donating blood if you can, and keep that diet clean!

Another benefit of God's Diet Plan/the clean diet

I have been eating the "no white flour, no white sugar and little starch" diet for almost a month now.  I have also been eating many other foods much closer to the way God made them (my version of God's Diet Plan) during this time.  I've been eating a greater variety of fruit than usual, lots more veggies, and almost nothing fried.  Also eliminated has been almost all soda, all but three pieces of bread in over as many weeks, and desert in general.  I think I have had three cookies, two small peppermint patties and maybe four or five hard candies in a month-which is huge for me as I had developed quite the sweet tooth.

To top it off, I have been traveling for the past week for work and either eating out or having to make sandwiches for lunch.  That could have been a landmine-loaf of bread, chips to munch on with it and sweet or very salty snacks.  Instead I have used Romaine lettuce leaves as "bread" and too be honest like the "sandwiches" a lot like that!  Another change has been when we go out for supper-no eating half a loaf of bread or my own basket of chips, plus a big supper and either lots of Coke or the occasional beer.  As I have posted about in the past, these meals would result in feeling bloated by the third or fourth day on the road.  Portion control helped, but changing what was eaten has had an even bigger impact.

So let's recap:
Smaller, frequent meals
Food close to how God made it, include lots of raw fruit
Protein and good fats like almonds and other nuts
Water
NO ADDED SUGAR
NO WHITE SUGAR
NO WHITE FLOUR
No added salt

Overall very happy with how I feel physically, and oh by the way, I've dropped at least ten pounds without even trying!

Recalibrating my taste buds

As I posted last week, I am on a type of elimination diet and have gotten rid of most refined flour, sugars and synthetic sugars from my diet over the past two weeks.  This is the first few days on the road for work since embarking on this, and new challenges have cropped up.  Where I no longer am at home where we have lots of bread, crackers, chips and candies, I also only have a small fridge, no real way to cook other than a microwave.  Fortunately the hotel I am staying in cooks hot breaksfasts to order, and I have enough nights at this chain to get the breakfast "comped".  Of course there are all the pastries I normally enjoy, plus a waffle iron I have used many times in the past!  But they also do eggs to order, fruit, and have milk available.  The team I am part of doesn't really eat fast food, so that is good-I never seriously looked at a fast food menu until recently and saw how much of the food is basic, over-processed starch!  I've already hit the grocery stores twice in three days to stock up on romaine lettuce and sandwich fillings that aren't too bad.

One thing I also noticed is despite knowing better, I have the typical modern American diet:  Lots of white bread and buns, daily french fries, little fruit and vegetables, and too much soda-whether diet or loaded with sugar.  My taste buds have gotten acclimated to "sweet", "salty" and "peppery" and little else.  Not only is this not very heathy, it actually was quite boring once I reintroduced natural sugar from a variety of fruits, whole vegetables but no potatoes, and piece of romaine lettuce instead of even good breads as "sandwiches".  While I hope to go back to eating a few pieces of quality bread a week I honestly don't miss whole wheat bread sandwiches compared to the romaine lettuce!  I also am back to eating many small meals a day most days.  Last night was the exception, as we went to a Mongolian grill and I definitely enjoyed it!  I resisted eating a whole bowl of rice by myself which also allowed me to get thirds (yep, thirds) but truly enoy the vegetables and an extra serving of meats.

One thing I learned from my friends who are unfortunately going through chemo right now is that our taste buds are rapidly growing cells, and as my body replenishes them, the longer I go without overwhelming them each day with lots of sugar and salt, they become more sensitive to normal amounts instead of mega-doses of these tastes.  I had two small thin mints over the weekend, and was nearly shocked by how strong they were, instead of eating them by the handful.  Two were enough-as the tastes exploded in my mouth since I hadn't had chocolate in about 10 days.  While losing weight wasn't the goal (better health was) I have dropped nearly 12 pounds in just over a month and still feel healthy and am just as strong.  This is further proof that if we eat foods closer to the way God made them and enjoy all the spices and flavor in natural foods, our bodies respond with health and vitality. 

White ain't right, at least for starches and sugars

I recently have cleaned my diet up significantly, as I posted about last week.  I really am much closer to my advocated "God's Diet Plan"-as in eating things as close to the way God made them as possible.  While I've always known this, it's so easy to get caught in the fast food/convenience trap like anyone.  One thing I've always enjoyed is bread-white bread, sourdough bread, dark loaf bread, toast, toast tartar, by itself, as part of a sandwich, you name it I like it.  I also like potatoes and rice-so pretty much all your white starches.  While I don't add a lot of sugar to my coffee and almost never drink full calorie soda, I did use some raw sugar in my Starbucks coffee and drink one to two diet sodas a day.  All that is gone too.

It's been a bit tough, and I have to admit having probably the equivalent of one serving of bread a day but that's it.  I haven't added any sugar to any food, and tried to eat natural foods without added sugars in processing.  Also, I have had almost no diet soda in a week.  The end result?  Consistent energy levels except for some fatigue after not sleeping well for two nights, full recovery from the lingering cold, and I've lost over ten pounds-not all this week but over the past few weeks.

So clean those diets up!  Eat it naturally and close to the way God made it!

God's Diet Plan and Presidential Fitness Challenge Updates

Recently I have been instructed by a doctor and encouraged by others to really clean my diet up.  Most the recommendations as he gave them sounded like my earlier posts (started here and continued for 12 other posts or so).  A few differences was his emphasis on good fats, especially avocados, and Omega oils.  I've never taken Omega supplements but will start out on them and see how all this works together.  A number of years ago I really cleaned up the diet, so I know it's possible and beneficial.  In that case I lost something like 25 pounds while not losing much strength, was healthy and vibrant, and still ate well.  Like most people, it's really the convenience of fast food/processed foods that results in me eating so much of them.  It definitely isn't the varied taste, as the overwhelming flavor when you really think about it is SALT!  Ok, maybe some meat taste if it is at a higher quality place, and some cheese or veggies, but sometime ask yourself what you are really tasting/craving and I'll bet more often than not it is salt, followed closely by chemical sweet.

So I am trying to zero the processed starch, sugar and added salt while ramping up the whole foods, fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and good fats.  I'll keep lifting to preserve muscle mass and liking will lean out 10-15 pounds, but that really isn't the goal.

As I posted about earlier this week, maximizing the counted activity keeps my rolling monthly average for Presidential Fitness Challenge points at 10,000 points.  At that rate I should finish up silver and gold qualifications reasonably quickly.  The 1,000,000 point platinum award?  How about sometime next decade?  Hey, it's a goal at least!

The fancy name is Nocturnal Gastrocnemius Hyperactivity, but it still hurts!

2 nights ago I was awakened by an excruciating cramp in my left calf muscle, i.e. a nocturnal Gastrocnemius cramp.  While my muscle relaxed after a few minutes, it has been sore until this afternoon with some response to stretching.  I haven't worked out since before the cramp-I have been active, walked around and worked in my garage but haven't "loaded up" the calf muscle.  What happened, and how can I keep it from happening again?

First, I have begun lifting again, and while the weights aren't very heavy, I have worked at both full range of motion and pushing from my heels for all the lifts like squats, deadlifts and overhead presses.  I also have tried to walk more.  On top of this activity, my diet this past week hasn't been very good (breakfast the best meal of the day but a few trips to fast food places for the standard fast food meal as well).  To top it off, I donated 1 trillion platelets earlier that day, and this was my third donation in four weeks.  I'm guessing I dehydrated a little bit, ran my body down a bit more than I thought, and got my foot in an odd position.  Viola, massive cramp, waking up in pain and another reminder I'm getting older and vulnerable to maladies that used to be purely academic.  I'd read about them in training literature but not identify with them.  Not anymore!

So I googled "Nocturnal calf cramps."  Some websites offer info all over the place-of course potassium is important, as is magnesium and drinking lots of water.  Some discuss supplements and even one talks about using a small bar/hotel bar of soap.  I'm not really sure how that works and am not in a hurry to try that.  But the standard advice should work as it should-plenty of water, whole foods, vitamin and mineral balance.  I probably messed some or all of that up and am paying the price.

As always, unless you have specific dietary needs, eat it as close to how God made it as possible, and when things change-high stress levels, illness, blood or blood product donations-make sure you focus on a good diet and plenty of water.

Road Warrior diet tips and pointers and clean eating now that I'm home

I have blogged before about spending a large amount of time on the road for work travel.  On top of that, the motorcycle ministry I'm part of also seems to "ride to eat, eat to ride" more often than not!  So over the past year and a half I've noticed I eat probably 75-90% of my meals out-everything from a small snack/ice cream to fast food combo or my "made-up" combo (more on that later!) to full sit-down meals with shared appetizer, salad and big supper.  Is it any wonder my waistline was increasing and my health and energy levels decreasing?


Starting last November (as detailed here) I began disciplining myself to eat more fruit and veggies while traveling.  November was the second month of what turned into what has turned into 6.5 months of being on the road nearly 50% of the time.  But as I mentioned in later posts as I traveled, both better choices and portion control, plus working out at least a little, has resulted in better energy levels, much less of the bloated feeling I used to get every teach due to overindulgence, and a leaner appearance.  I messed up one night last week while on the road and definitely paid for it-I didn't feel right until afternoon the next day.  I'm sure it was the starchy appetizers, large BBQ sandwich and lots of fries that did me in.


Now I am home, and here's where phase II starts.  Yesterday I was at another barbeque place (Phil's-my favorite in San Diego).  I know how big their sandwiches are, and how they crush you with fries in the "small" order.  So I get a to-go box right out the gate and give away some of the fries.  Still an enjoyable meal, the basis for supper last night, and a good meeting and fellowship with some guys I rarely get to sit down with.  I've found most restaurants give you twice as much food as you need, partially to justify their higher prices.  I'm also going to try to only eat out 1 meal every other day this week.  I hit the grocery store after church and stocked up on fruit, some salad makings, some green beans to saute' and 5 pounds of chicken thighs.  I ripped the skin off them and stacked them in the crock pot with some chicken rub a friend makes.  Two are going to be supper tonight and depending on if I have to share (my wife doesn't normally eat thigh or leg chicken or turkey) I'll have about 3 more meals worth.


But there are some landmines eating at home too:


1) Corn chip strips have 13.5mg of sodium PER STRIP!  Serving size is 11 strips.....meaning my normal "serving" is probably 3-4 servings and nearly .5 grams of sodium!


2) We are out of mustard, so I put mayo on the sandwich.  Quality mustard is a must to keep sandwiches interesting, even if piled high with raw veggies.  If no veggies and no mustard my consumption of mayo will skyrocket, since I normally only eat it in tuna.


3)  My wife and I are going to have to spend less time working and volunteering or better manage prep and clean-up time.  OK, that should read, I need to help with prep and clean-up time if I want home-cooked food!  Diet isn't the only project I'm working on right now.....


4)  Initial food and seasoning costs for fresh "whole" food must be balanced with eat-out meals.  While $35 for mainly groceries today seems high, that's only 4 or so lunches, let alone suppers.  I'll cover half of that cost today.  And I'll have chopped garlic, sweet chili sauce and sandwich fixings, plus the chicken thighs still to eat.


So between the advice in this and other posts about how NOT to eat on the road and some ideas on eating at home, I hope this helps as you try to eat healthily and "as close to the way God made it" as you can!

Update 4/7:  Ate a lunch I packed, and despite snacking (daughter #2 brought home almond M&Ms, which ARE health food, well sort of, dark chocolate covered almonds are!) I'm eating leftover chicken, green beans and other stuff here.  Chicken thighs turned out great and I froze a third of them for later this month.

Two Restaurant Meals Proved It!

I travel frequently for work.  One problem I discovered was by the third or fourth day of each trip I was feeling bloated, sluggish and generally bad.  The last trip I purposefully ate less and since it was a bit longer trip made a grocery run early on.  While I didn't eat a tremendously clean diet and still enjoyed eating a variety of foods prepared a variety of ways (it was in Georgia, so you can probably put two and two together....) I generally felt much better.  I also began swimming again, which is discussed in this post. 

Since I was in Georgia, I had to go to one of my favorite all-time restaurants:  Krystals!  Yes, I know they are horrible.  Yes, I now drink Coke Zero while eating them.  But since I only get to eat them maybe 5 times a year (including at the Krystals in the Atlanta Airport) they are a go-to cheat meal.  I have to admit that one indulgence had a quick impact on how I felt.  I didn't get sick per se, but I could tell my energy level was off, my stomach felt uneasy and I didn't have the energy/hunger/gut-strength feeling I can maintain in balance when eating better meals over a few days.  The stomach uneasiness lasted over two days, which is about how long full digestion and elimination happen when generally well from what I know.

The second meal was lunch yesterday.  I am on the road yet again and also visited a long-time favorite restaurant I don't get to often.  Dixie Grill on Oahu, Hawaii is a great place, and trust me, their food is much higher quality than Krystals!  This isn't an indictment on them, unless I can blame them for how good it was.  First, they give you popcorn to munch on and I LOVE POPCORN!  So I had to eat it all (yep, had to....).  I also got the Cuban Sandwich, which came with probably enough fries for two or three people.  The sandwich was great, the fries were awesome, and the tray of 6 BBQ sauces was put to good use on both of them.  I was a good boy and cleaned my plate.  Which is the second "reminder" and proof I've made the right call reducing restaurant eat-outs on these trips.  It was way too much food and nearly 18 hours later I am still full.  I'm not bloated and uncomfortable, but if I ate a base food court lunch (more simple starches, some fried) and a restaurant meal tonight I'd be setting myself up for a bad week.

Lessons here are 1) Take friends to Dixie Grill but get a to-go box when the food arrives.  It's too good not to go back, but I know I'll eat all the food they put in front of me if I don't box it up immediately.
2)  Keep making sandwiches, buying fruit and salad supplies and eat many smaller meals throughout the day instead of these monster simple carb/fried meals.

UPDATE:  Wow, I posted on almost exactly this topic back near Thanksgiving in this post.  The good news is portion control over the holidays and these last few trips have netted some good results-while I still need to build my strength back up, I've dropped a good bit of the weight I gained in 2013.  My wife has done a great job too by cleaning up her diet and walking/playing soccer.

The Return of the Son of Portion Control

I travel a significant amount due to my job (Side note:  The blogging and "YouTube World Domination Plan" basically makes enough for a cup of coffee most months...)   When you travel, you tend to eat one of three places:  The continental breakfast at the hotel, fast food places/pizza joints, and full service restaurants.  What I have noticed after returning to this job from my "vacation" in Afghanistan was that I eat much more when I'm on the road, and generally feel bloated and almost sick by Thursday most weeks.  As we tend to go back to the same locales over and over like most business travelers, it wasn't as much what I ate as how much I ate.

I normally don't eat breakfast, or much for breakfast, but I love the waffle irons most hotels have.  At one extreme the Hilton Garden Inns have a full up breakfast buffet and include anything on the morning menu!  Can you say huge omelettes or Eggs Benedict AND a waffle?  I sure have to my waitress more than once!  Then a nice combo meal from a fast food joint, and by the time we head out to supper I shouldn't even get an appetizer, let alone the dinner special with a shared appetizer.  At least we get one appetizer for every two or three of us.  Except for Chili's chips.  Gotta have lots of Chili's chips.....

So after a few days of that, I feel pretty full/bloated.  I experimented in week three of three on the road last month, and the weeks at home afterwards with portion control.  Even with Thanksgiving Dinner thrown in there, where portion control is ensuring the portions all fit on multiple plates, I felt much better the last week on the road and the two weeks at home.  This week on the road I passed up on the waffle two mornings (heresy I know) and didn't even eat lunch two days-I snacked on reasonably healthy things including fruit.  I had much more energy and felt better-even with the usual adjustements of sleeping and life on the road.  I'm not sure how it will help with the extra ten pounds or so I am carrying-that will also require more workouts, but just the quality of life changes are encouraging!

So I'd recommend watching how much you eat as well as what you eat-you'll likely find yourself more energetic and feeling better too.  Have a blessed weekend-

Eating less at least if not better

Got to admit I'm pretty bad at food choices when traveling.  Since we travel in teams and generally stay at hotels that serve breakfasts, I don't normally pick the places we eat.  Often choices are between bad and worse (like lunch today-cheap/low quality Chinese, subs, fried chicken or fatty pizza and pasta dishes at the PX Food Court).  I have found that by day three or four of these 5-6 day "teaches" I'm feeling bloated and sluggish due to huge fast food and restaurant meals.  So to combat that this week I am either eating just fruit at some meals or skipping them entirely.

So far so good-not particularly hungry and nowhere near as uncomfortable this week compared to some.

The importance of smells to a good diet

Today I am flying back from Anchorage Alaska to San Diego.  My gate was right across from the terminal McDonalds.  My flight was right at the beginning of the lunch rush, so they had transitioned from breakfast items and quickly made lots of lunch items-burger patties and fries mainly.

Well, the smell had filled the whole gate area, and since it is constantly below freezing in Anchorage already the heat was blasting in the terminal.  All this combined to have a heavy fatty, nearly rancid smell completely dominating the gate area.  I will admit to eating at McDonalds occassionally (I especially like their coffee) but the smell today almost made me nauseous.  I have noticed certain fast food restaurant "smells" before from the days working for Taco Bell and many years of bicycling and motorcycling, however, this was way worse.

Comparing this smell and feelings it created to the smells of fresh fruit or vegetables, a high-quality piece of meat or fish cooking, or freshly baked wholesome bread and it should be apparent what I need to eat more of!

It's Movember (this post barely about health, diet and fitness)

I'm participating in "Movember" this year to honor my friend Ed "Hoggy" Herrmann.  It's Movember 5th, and I haven't shaved since the evening of October 31.  My usual inability to grow a mo is quite evident, but I'll persevere for the good causes of raising awareness and funds for men's health issues, especially prostrate cancer which has ravaged Hoggy.

I guess to keep this semi-related to the blog theme, I should investigate the dietary needs to grow hair more fully and more quickly, and eat a lot of foods containing those nutrients this month?  Don't think it would help much, and I wont' torture my readers with pictures of my cheesy 'mo!

Example: Eat It Like God Made It

Today's post is a quick example of eating foods as close to the way God made them as you can.  As I walk into my local grocery store, right past the carts is a rack of the pre-made pies in the wax paper wrappers-you know the folded over, baked and glazed ones that come in apple, lemon, berry and chocolate flavors most places and maybe a local flavor, like pineapple in Hawaii.  Just to the right of this rack starts the produce section.  Since I like these pies and will admit to eating them, I decided this would be a great example.

Here's what I did:  I picked up an apple pie for $.50 and then went over to the apples and picked out a gala apple, which ended up being 66 cents.  Doesn't seem like much difference, but it is actually 32% more expensive to get a piece of fresh fruit when the pies are on 2 for a dollar sale.

So I now have two different snacks that are both "apple".  One is pretty much unprocessed and apple only (well a little wax, which I'm not getting into here) the other a finished packaged apple "pie" with many ingredients besides apples.

The financial cost so far is overwhelmingly in the apple pies favor, but that is a very small part of the story.  Here's the label to the apple pie, and then I'll compare some info from the "label" I found online for the gala apple.  Right off the bat, two huge impacts from not eating foods like God made become apparent.  First, the apple pie as 5 times the calories of the apple, and 22 grams of fat.  It gets worse as we continue down the label-nearly 50% of the daily recommended saturated fat!  Over 300mgs of sodium and only 2 grams of fiber compared to 5 for the gala apple.  Also, look closely at the bottom of the package-0 vitamin C!  Somehow, the vitamin C in the apple is gone, as our raw apple provided 20% of the RDA.

While I like these pies, I know I'm going to limit how often I eat them!  I'm happy to report that apples are one of the two main fruits I eat regularly, both because I like them and convenience.  But I was reminded why eathing food's as close to how God makes them is so important!