What is food?

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diet, food rules, health, michael pollan, what is food

Mirriam- Webster defines food as, " material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy; also : such food together with supplementary substances (as minerals, vitamins, and condiments). By that definition, a wide range of consumable items qualify as food. 

The folks at Oxford Dictionary define food as, "any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth." With the addition the word nutritious, the meaning of food changes. 

In the last several years, we've added a value qualifier to the word food. There's an argument made that products which are designed for consumer to consume don't meet the definition of food. That's one of Pollan's  key arguments in his Food Rules concept. Pollan argues that these "food like substances" are not real food. They are chemical concoctions designed by scientists, not designed by nature. 

Yet depending on the definition you chose, these designer consumables are indeed food. They combine protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals into a substance used to sustain growth, repair the body, and support various vital processes. After all, the commercially designed feed that goes into pigs, cows and chickens does indeed fulfill those requirements. 

So if we proceed to add the word nutritious into the mix, it appears on face to change things up. Nutritious comes from the word nourish, meaning to "nutrure or rear, or to promote the growth of."  So nutritious leads us to look at food types as foods which promote growth or encourage. There's a positive value associated with them. 

So how do we associate these values with the things we eat? Is blowfish, a fish valued for the toxin it produces, better for you than a cheeseburger from McDonald's? Why? The blowfish requires minimal preparation, yet prepared incorrectly it can lead to major illness or even death. The McDonald's cheeseburger won't kill you with the first bite. Are both items food? Are both items nutritious? What changes between the two?

There's no easy answer. At what point does human manipulation of an edible item change it from a nutritious food item to something else? Where do we draw the line?

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Life in the Doldurms

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food rules, michael pollan, motivation

Well bother.

A couple of weeks goes by and not word out of me. Which also coincides with a case of me not sticking too hard to the food rules. Looks like we've hit the Doldrums. You know what I mean, that spot where the wind just sucks out of your sails and you sit there thinking, "I don't wanna do this".

As simple as it is in concept, it's actually hard to make lasting lifestyle changes. We are in a society today where we get bombarded day in and day out with messages telling us to take short cuts and make things happen faster. Everything is packaged to drive us towards convenience and ease. Workout programs emphasize speedy results. Food is packaged and marketed with an emphasis on fast and easy. If you aren't watching things carefully it's incredibly easy to just get bowled over by the cacophony of voices pushing you to do things the easy way.

Which brings us back to one of the major problems we have as a society. We get so focused on easy that we forget that at some point in time, work and effort does need to get expended to make things happen. The glut of easy to use food like items has made it easier to not think about what goes into your mouth and body. Which makes it in turn easier to not think about what you need to do in order to take care of said body. It's a nice little vicious cycle that leads right back to fat and unhealthy on the couch.

You don't go through life with the wind constantly in your sails. That's one of the first things you learn in sailing. Eventually, that wind that's carried you will die down and you are gonna be stuck in the middle of nowhere, calm seas, and empty sails. There are whole chunks of the ocean where you hit those periods of calm seas and no winds. Sailors called them the Doldrums. You had little choice but to wait for time and the current to carry you out.

Now I could wait for time and current, but that's kind of a pain. So like the cartoon characters, I've got a little fan stashed away in my boat with a loooooooooooong extension cord. It's important to know when you need to provide your own wind.

Tomorrow I've got a trip scheduled to head over to a local farm and help with picking the crops. It's a great way to get me back in touch with what I'm trying to accomplish this year. It's about learning how to eat, understanding where my food comes from, and then working to achieve high end physical results.

Good way to get a little wind back in the sails and get myself out of the Doldrums.

Rule #5- Don’t eat foods containing sugar in the top three ingredients

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fitness, food rules, health, michael pollan, sugar

This is another clear no brainer.

By law, manufacturers are required to list ingredients by weight. So if the top three ingredients contain sugar, you can bet it's a significant part of the product.

(As a side note, I'm reaching a point where I wince at using the word product. I don't want product, I want food dangit!)

Now this seems clear and simple. Sugar is a treat food, plain and simple. It's not something the human body is used to consuming in bulk, it's designed as a source of quick energy, and bottom line is we eat way too much of in the US.

Thing is, the manufacturers are sneaky. There's a lot of ways to hide sugar. For example, this is a list of different types of sugar.

1. Barley malt
2. Beet sugar
3. Brown sugar
4. Buttered syrup
5. Cane juice crystals
6. Cane sugar
7. Caramel
8. Corn syrup
9. Corn syrup solids
10. Confectioner’s sugar
11. Carob syrup
12. Castor sugar
13. Date sugar
14. Demerara sugar
15. Dextran
16. Dextrose
17. Diastatic malt
18. Diatase
19. Ethyl maltol
20. Fructose
21. Fruit juice
22. Fruit juice concentrate
23. Galactose
24. Glucose
25. Glucose solids
26. Golden sugar
27. Golden syrup
28. Grape sugar
29. High fructose corn syrup
    
30. Honey
31. Icing sugar
32. Invert sugar
33. Lactose
34. Maltodextrin
35. Maltose
36. Malt syrup
37. Maple syrup
38. Molasses
39. Muscovado sugar
40. Panocha
41. Raw sugar
42. Refiner’s syrup
43. Rice syrup
44. Sorbitol
45. Sorghum syrup
46. Sucrose
47. Sugar
48. Treacle
49. Turbinado sugar
50. Yellow sugar

I imagine some of those caught your attention. Take a look at the boxes you have in the house again. Do you see rice syrup listed in the first three ingredients for a child breakfast cereal? Guess what- sugar. Yes it's "healthy", yes it's organic. It's still sugar, still in the top three ingredients and still needs to go the way of the dodo.

With that out of the way, I'm pleased to note that workouts are stringing together nicely. I've got a good rotation of daily walking combined with resistance work and interval training going. The battle with the dinner table still isn't getting easier. I think I'm about to institute a no television rule to go along with the must eat at a table rule.

Eulogy for a champion

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bfl, body for life, death, michael t. harris, michigan

Michael T. Harris died Sunday, May 30th 2010.

He lives on through the thousands of lives he's touched around the world. Uncle Mike was a cornerstone of the Body for Life fitness community. He was a Body for Life Grand Champion, a father, a grand father, and a husband. He was a recovering alcoholic, and most important for him he was a Christian. These pieces all combined into one powerhouse of a man, a man who was forthright, honest, and told you exactly what you needed to hear. Even when you didn't want to hear it.

Funny thing, most of us would describe a best friend the same way. And that's what Mike was. He was the best friend you could ever have. You could argue with him until you were both blue in the face, completely disagree with every point he made, yet at the end of it all you knew he still loved you. Because that's just who Mike was. He loved people. He cared deeply and that's what inspired him to reach out day in and day out.

I could pull dozens of Mike stories out of the hopper. I could recount arguments, moments of counsel, and even dig out photographic proof that Mike would indeed eat peanut butter and bananas. Those snapshots in time would give you a glimpse at the kind of person Mike was.

Yet it's Mike's final two acts which sum him up. Mike went out for a bike ride Sunday morning and didn't come back. He died while out on the trail, living an active life. Most of us talk about wanting to die doing something we love. Mike did just that. He was out enjoying the body he built for himself over the years.

Which brings us to his last act. Mike Harris was an organ donor. He took the time to sign his organ donor card and let his family know of his wishes. While I don't know which organs were donated, I can imagine. Somewhere this morning a man is waking up with new corneas, and he notices that he sees things with a remarkable clarity and sharpness. A young woman wakes up and takes a deep breath, inflating lungs that feel like they can carry her up an endless flight of stairs. A former alcoholic who had lost both kidneys is off dialysis for the first time in years.

All of them have a strange craving for bananas and peanut butter.

Last we come to his heart. How I envy the person who ends up with that huge, caring heart. Not may of us can say we have the heart of a lion beating within us.

Love you Mike.

Commencement

Tags

colorado springs school, fitness, interlude, mindset

Today the class of 2010 graduated from my high school alma mater. The Colorado Springs School is a small private school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

What's this got to do with eating better and losing weight? Nothing and everything. You see, CSS is where I learned so many of the lessons that I'm carrying through in my life today. It's the place where I was encouraged to be an active and independent thinker. If that meant being a member of Conservation Committee and also eating meat, that was okay. Little strange, but still okay. 

I look through the images from commencement today (because as Mary Flemke was fond of saying, this isn't the end it's the beginning), I remember my own commencement day. It was a bit cold, typical Colorado late spring. Like all high school seniors I remember thinking that anything was possible.

Kind of like those kids today. 

The lesson I've learned since- Mary Flemke was right. Every day isn't an end, it's just a new beginning. It's never too late to step up and work to make a difference in the world. Some times it seems like that's not possible. You can look at the headlines and think the world is falling apart. It seemed like the same thing was happening back in 93 too. Funny thing, the world is still here. I can't help but think that it's in no small part due to the fact that when I looked out at the world as a senior, I just saw the possible. 

I learned to choose hope, and to believe that my words and actions can and do make an impact. I don't always see that impact. It's not always obvious to me that I make a difference. That doesn't mean I get to quit. That's not what I learned. 

I hope that the class of 2010 learned the same lessons I did. Based on their pictures today, I think they are well on their way. 

Congrats 2010 Kodiaks! 

Believe in the impossible. 

So why get rid of high fructose corn syrup?

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fitness, food rules, health, hfcs, high fructose corn syrup, michael pollan

When last we left our intrepid hero, she was ensuring that the last of her High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) containing items had been removed from the hacienda.

Now thankfully since I've been eating healthy for a good number of years now, the amount of HFCS in my house is minimal. Now odds are good you've been reading the news and watching tv over the last few years. You are aware that HFCS is a bit of a lightening rod food for folks. In some circles it's being touted as the food of the Devil! On the other hand you have the good folks with the Corn Lobby who insist that HFCS is a natural sweetener. Who's right? The answer is both of them.

First things first, high fructose corn syrup is indeed made from a naturally occurring product- corn. Said corn is taken through a series of steps in a factory setting. Those steps include, milling the corn, separating out the starch from other solids, adding naturally occurring enzymes, and finally filtration. 

You can safely say that HFCS is made from naturally occurring ingredients, but is not something found in nature. 

Now the research is still in progress about just how much of a negative impact HFCS makes on the human body. The picture is not clear yet that this particular form of sugar is worse for you then other forms of sugar. By that I mean there are not multiple, peer reviewed studies that clearly demonstrate a causal link. What can be stated is that HFCS is a wide spread source of additional sugar in many foods. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate and a source of calories. Ingesting too many calories without enough exercise leads to growing waistlines.

For people looking to improve diet, cutting extra sugars is a great way to do just that. HFCS is also a product that was not on great gramma's shelf. (It was invented in 1957). So if you are looking to shift away from highly processed foods, looking for HFCS is a great way to do that too.

On face that seems easy yes? Did you take a look at your fridge for HFCS containing items?

Things you may have found-

Skinny Cow Ice Cream bars

Nutrigrain bars

Special K cereal

Yoplait Yogurt

Smuckers Grape Jelly

Clausen Pickle Relish

Ben and Jerry's ice cream

That's just a couple of the items you may find in your fridge. We won't even go into your sodas, assorted kinds of kid food, and salad dressings.

You've got a pile of stealth calories in those foods, several which masquerade as healthy food. No go. Just because a product is natural, that doesn't make it healthy. Remember, arsenic occurs in nature too. Not sure that's on my good eats list. 

Again, the research is still out on HFCS being the tool of the devil. At a minimum, for someone trying to eat healthy and lose weight you do not need those added sugars.

The evil that is High Fructose Corn Syrup, also known as Rule 4

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fitness, food rules, health, high fructose core syrup, michael pollan, slow food

Rule 4- avoid products which contain high fructose corn syrup. Period, end of sentence.

We are going to do something a tad different this week. What I'd like you to do right now is go off to your fridge and open it. Pull out any product that is not a whole food item. In other words, if it lives in a bottle or a box, not a whole food in most cases. Now count up how many of those items contain the words high fructose corn syrup?

I'll wait.

In the interests of full disclosure, I've got a bottle of BBQ sauce with HFCS in it.

Now go count. Shoo!

Reply with the total count in the comments area. Any of those foods surprise you?

Apologies and Rule 3

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fitness, food rules, food science, health, michael pollan, rule 3

Guys I seriously apologize. I was hit out of left field with a couple things this week which just really set me off balance. There's no excuse for it. Life happens, and we all need to do the best we can in order to roll with the punches. In this case, the punches have been rolling me.

With that, off to Rule 3- avoid food products that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry. This is actually the "rule" which got me interested in this whole project in the first place. How many normal people would want to keep soy lecithin in the pantry? Odds are not too many. Yet this is an incredibly common ingredient. To the point where I found it in my shampoo!

Lecithin (besides being difficult to pronounce), is a collection of fat containing substances in a wide range of animal and plant foods. It was originally discovered back in the mid 1800's as a component of egg yolks. It's primary role is typically as a lubricant or as an emulsifying agent. For those of us who missed out on Home Ec, emulsification in food is the process of blending two typically unblendable liquids together. The classic example is blending oil and water. Using an egg yolk, you can blend oil together with vinegar to create mayonnaise. I recall doing this as a child with limited success. But I'm told that's how it works.

In the world of food science, adding soy based lecithin to a product can replace egg based emulsifiers. It also helps prevent things from sticking to other things. I noticed this in my non stick cooking spray first. Now, knowing what lecithin does, my first question is, "why do I need this in my cooking spray?" In and of itself, the spray which is oil based should not need any help. Unless there's something about the propellant they are using in the can which prevents it from mixing nicely with the oil. So that indicates to me that the propellant isn't just air. There's something else there. Which is not on my label.

I do not approve.

Now the last time I checked, none of my recipes call for soy lecithin. They call for eggs, butter, or other things along those lines. This is a product we've introduced to the pantry through the back end. 

General rule of thumb, if it ain't in my cookbook, odds are I do not need to add it to my food.

Continuing to dig

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fitness, food history, food rules, health

So I now find out that Kraft has been making processed cheese since 1915. 

So not only could my great gramma have been using processed cheese product, heck my great great gramma could have been!

It's fascinating to see just how long we've been making some of these products in the US. Even more interesting is that you don't see quite the same pattern in Europe. I haven't had luck finding a list of foods invented in parts of Europe through the beginning part of the 1900s. 

The advertisements focus on the ease of preparation and low cost. So even back then, cost of food was a factor, and not spending hours and hours on food prep was an issue. 

(Tally for the week Table 3-1, Workouts- 3)

Further thoughts on great grandparent foods

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fitness, food history, food rules, health, local food, michael pollan

Okay, so since yesterday's reading showed me that great gramma could have been eating products in the 1930s which today are not high on the list of must eat, I shifted gears. I decided to look at what a great grandmother in say, 1930s Italy would have been eating.

…

Somehow I don't think eating a plate full of pasta with bacon grease is quite what Pollan had in mind. News flash, in the 1920s and 30s, Europe had a serious case of the close to starvings. You've got major issues with food distribution, subsistence farming, and general lack of food. As an interesting observation, this is one of the things which helped Hitler and Mussolini in their respective climbs to power. They got trains running on time and moreover made sure people had food.

Since I've invoked Hitler, Godwin's Law is now in effect.

Jokes aside, it makes you stop and think. Food in the 1930s was not in abundant supply all over the world. Because Italy lacked appropriate distribution channels, food from the country could not make it to the cities. In order to get food from the country to the city you need a distribution network AND a way to keep the food edible.

As I'm discovering, even with modern refrigeration, fresh produce spoils more rapidly depending on when it's picked. It's not like refrigeration was a universal thing in the great gramma days. So if you didn't have local food production and distribution you either ate canned foods or manufactured foods, or you went hungry. Even if you had local food distribution, it didn't mean you had abundant food.

(Daily goal notes-Dinner at table done! Workout according to fit to curl (legs).)