November 30

Post 1011, Day 333 of 2013
- and 1063 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I have nothing to say. I wasted this day, except I must have needed yet another down day, so really not wasted.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         206.6 lbs

Previous Weight:        207.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

Back on track? Well, except for the off-plan, totally spontaneous dinner I bought while grocery shopping, a pretty good day - but that dinner might really cost me.

Food Log 

Breakfast

Skipped.

Lunch

A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Dinner
Mixed nuts, cottage cheese, dark chocolate with chilis and cinnamon.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 80+ oz.

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November 29

Post 1010, Day 332 of 2013
- and 1062 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Laying low today. Did a major financial review using Quicken, my craziest of all compulsions.

Except for when I was married to Kathy, I have used Quicken, or its immediate forebears (Oh, how I miss you, original $ and Sense) to figure out how I'm going to get through, financially, for twenty-five years. That dark period where I didn't use it, because it was too difficult to manage two people's finances when one wasn't used to thinking about how she spent money, I went completely, totally broke.

Getting back to keeping track of my expenses, of making and keeping a budget, was instrumental in my recovery, both emotional and financial.

I did this because I have decided to get a new set of hearing aids. Preliminary investigation and analysis led me to conclude,  "Holy shit! That's really very expensive." I'm looking at dropping around $6,000 on this, with a good possibility that that's a little low. Insurance will pay for one-third, at most, and likely only a quarter of the cost. 

Luckily, this year's financial results have, over all, been excellent. My investments are doing well and are healthy, I have not over-spent, and have, in fact, lived below my means. I was planning to get new hearing aids a year later than I will, but, after they 'failed' me on my vacation in LA - they are supposed to be automatically balancing, and the right one was much lower in volume - I realize the social implications of not wearing them. 

This time, I'm going to look for a pair that is comfortable enough to wear all the time. There are expenses ahead, they will be met, and, hopefully, a reset will mean a brand new start on better communications, all around.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         207.4 lbs

Previous Weight:        206.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

Late-night, high-carb snacking and my excessive dinner nuts-and-chocolate dinner treat, are responsible for this hiccup. Today's eating will probably not remove the excess.

Food Log 

Breakfast

Skipped.

Lunch

Skipped.

Dinner
Grass-fed beef burger with fried onions and peppers on Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread with mashed faux-tatoes (cauliflower, butter, salt and pepper).

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  0 oz.   Water: 32+ oz.

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Thanksgiving Day, 2013 - November 28

Post 1009, Day 331 of 2013
- and 1061 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I have so much to be thankful for - and I'm going to start by being thankful I've developed the habit of everyday gratefulness.

I am thankful to have won the "Life Lottery" by being born a white male in mid-20th Century America, in New York City, the greatest city I have ever been to.

I am thankful that illnesses and injuries I have had beginning young and right up to this point haven't zeroed me out as far as ability to make my own way in life.

I am thankful for every experience, joyous or painful, that led me to this moment.

I am thankful for my family - near and far, emotionally close or distant - it is such a cliche, but the simple matter is, I have dedicated my life to them - whether they know it or not. The connection I have with them is quite real, constant and unbreakable, and is my total understanding of the feeling of love.

I am thankful for my friends, of course. Without them, I hardly know who I am. With them, I hardly care.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         206.6 lbs

Previous Weight:        205.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 1.4 lbs

Diet Comment

Late-night, high-carb snacking and my excessive dinner nuts-and-chocolate dinner treat, are responsible for this hiccup. Today's eating will probably not remove the excess.

Food Log 

Breakfast

Chicken-feta-spinach sausage and frittata (eggs, lentils, spinach, spices) with salsa.

Lunch

Roasted turkey breast on Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread with cole slaw.

Dinner
Grass-fed beef burger with fried onions and peppers on Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread with a salad (Spring Mix greens, cole slaw blend, creamy balsamic dressing.

Snack

Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain cereal with hemp seeds, blueberries, almond milk and stevia-inulin blend. Not shown: Egg salad.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 64+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

November 27

Post 1008, Day 330 of 2013
- and 1060 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

In an article by George Lakoff (the linguistics and neurolinguistics expert), about the New York Times presenting editorials as news on its front page, I came across a few sentences that got me thinking: 

• Because all thought is physical, carried out by neural circuitry, every change in how we understand anything is a brain change...
• A common neuroscience estimate is that about 98 percent of thought is unconscious and automatic, carried out by the neural system. 

Both of these ideas are consistent with both my understanding of how we think and behave and my personal philosophy of what I am and what we humans are.

The important take-away for me is in understanding and judging other people's ideas and behavior when they differ from mine, or my idea of 'right' thinking and acting.

Basically, it says that a persons actions, including what he or she says, reflect more on the persons unconscious than what he or she is aware of and can rationalize.

I am no exception. One difference is that this insight is now built into the way I feel and respond to what other people say and do - I have at least brought that concept to awareness level.

Another thing is that it has changed the way I think about what I say, although sometimes only in hindsight, causing me to clarify or modify what I've said. This, in turn has affected what I say.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         205.2 lbs

Previous Weight:        206.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 1.6 lbs

Diet Comment

Nice loss today - I have almost completely undone vacation 'damage'.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

Salmon salad on Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread, with a salad (Spring Mix greens, cole slaw blend, and balsamic vinaigrette).

Dinner
Pepperoni and cole slaw. A bowl of mixed raw almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, dried cranberries and dark chocolate.

Snack

Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain cereal with hemp seeds, blueberries, almond milk and stevia-inulin blend. Not shown: Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread 'buttered' with coconut oil.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 142+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

November 26

Post 1007, Day 329 of 2013
- and 1059 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

A perfect storm of bad news for my Thanksgiving weekend plans: People are sick, and there's a big storm coming to both Syracuse and New York City.

I'm not going anywhere this weekend.

I called the people I'd told I would be visiting, and then reflected, again, on the futility of planning, which always leads me back to the idea that it isn't that planning is bad or wrong or negative, its just that you can't get attached to your plans - or to the results you're planning for.

You have to always be prepared to let go and - apologies to the cliche police - go with the flow. The silver lining here, such as it is, is that I can continue to feed myself in a way to meet my weight goals - no compromise.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         206.8 lbs

Previous Weight:        207.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

...And so on.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

A turkey breast sandwich on Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread with mayonnaise, and a salad of Spring Mix greens, cole slaw blend and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner
Chicken with feta and spinach sausage, lentils and sauteed spinach.

Snack

Cole slaw.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  30 oz.   Water: 112+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

November 25

Post 1006, Day 328 of 2013
- and 1058 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

A doctor's visit had a highlight for me: The doctor told me that if it wasn't for my history, he would not consider me diabetic - my blood sugar has been well-controlled for more than a year now.

That's enough news for a day.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         207.4 lbs

Previous Weight:        207.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.4 lbs

Diet Comment

Weight is coming off satisfactorily. A last-minute dinner invitation (an unnecessary bribe to rehearse) meant dinner and a late-night snack/second dinner.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Dinner
At Chad's: Turkey chili with beans and a mixed salad.

Snack

Chili (grass-fed beef, red kidney beans, tomatoes and chili spices) with peas. Not shown: cole slaw. 

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 92+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

November 24

Post 1005, Day 327 of 2013
- and 1057 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Lazy day today. Didn't do a thing, never left the apartment.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         207.8 lbs

Previous Weight:        208.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

It is official: I am welcoming back sprouted grains to my eating plan.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Skipped.

Dinner

Chili (grass-fed beef, red kidney beans, tomatoes and chili spices) with peas. Not shown: cole slaw and a slice of Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain toast.

Snack

Cole slaw and hard-boiled eggs.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 72+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

November 23

Post 1004, Day 326 of 2013
- and 1056 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

The first big snow day of the year, and I managed to get to the Landmark Theater to see The Rascals. 

The last time I saw them (they had just stopped being The Young Rascals), was in May, 1967 at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park. I met best friend Thom Jones (RIP) after work and we had a little dinner and walked through Central Park to the show. 

The opening act for that concert was The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first American appearance. This was hugely weird for the audience - some ignored the show (which started without introduction), many were confused, and a small minority booed, and a few walked out (probably to wait until the Rascals came on). 

Thom and I smoked a skinny joint in the bleachers, and just freaked out over how amazing it was. I had heard of the Experience, but I don't think I'd heard them before that. Thom hadn't heard them, and he dug the idea of a black guy leading a rock band. And the music.

Then the Rascals came on, and did their predictably amazing show. I would be lying if I said I thought at the time that the Experience was better - but that idea would come the next time I saw the Experience, a couple of months later. By that time, they had played the Monterey Pop Festival and ruled the known (by me) Universe.

Anyway, last night - well, it wasn't quite as an emotional experience for me. Where I was, the sound wasn't that great, that might have had a lot to do with it. Vocally, Felix still sounds great. Eddie Brigati, on the other hand, worked really hard, but was a shadow of his former self. Musically, again, Felix performed as well as he had forty-five years ago, but Dino Danelli, who early on was the best drummer I'd ever seen, pretty much stuck to the rudiments. Gene Cornish never struck me as more than competent, and that's pretty much where he remains.

The years haven't been kind to the performing skills, but the show, which featured all their hits and a couple of band favorites, interspersed with filmed interview clips of them telling the story of the band, and a group of actors playing them in their glory days, kept it interesting, and really plunged me into a lake of nostalgia.

All in all, I enjoyed the evening. I heard songs I hadn't heard in a long time, played with as much passion as these old men could muster - and I'm meaning that as a compliment.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         208.6 lbs

Previous Weight:        209.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

I'm surprised to find last night's carb-fest didn't derail my effort to get back to where I was at the beginning of the year.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Skipped.

Dinner

From Wegman's take-out:  Grilled garlic-lemon chicken breast with grilled Brussels sprouts. Also, Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain toast with guacamole.

Snack

Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain cereal with hemp seeds, blueberries, almond milk and stevia-inulin blend. Not shown: Buttered Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain bread and a hard-boiled egg.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  0 oz.   Water: 64+ oz.

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!