Imprecise South Beach Diet Update

Well, after one week of the South Beach diet, my weight has moved from somewhere around 194-197 lbs down to somewhere around 187-191 lbs. So, I've probably lost about 6 lbs.

Now, when I say that I've been on the South Beach diet for a week, that's a bit of a stretch. Saturday was an officially sanctioned cheat day because we had to go to Kristen's work party at the Ciccaro Club and there's no way in hell I'm going to pass up a free Italian feast ... and drinks ... and deserts ... and coffees. We also ate the appropriately-named 'Perfect Lunch' at Mykonos (a greek restaurant in Windsor), which is a chicken kabob with rice and Greek salad. Perfect.

Since this weekend silliness doesn't seem to have slowed the weight loss, I'm creating the new Jay Morris Diet (patent pending), which can be concisely described by the following rules:

Do Phase 1 of the South Beach during the week.
Be reasonable on the weekend.
Or don't.
Also, a little bit of dark chocolate every day is good.

This may soon be ammended to include one packet of natural cane sugar per day in my coffee.

I'll keep you (who reads this thing?) posted next week!

South Beach Diet

Well, I don't think most people would consider me to be fat (though at Carleton I was the fattest guy in a house of 4 skinny guys). My weight has recently varied between 168 lbs when I returned from backpacking around the world, to this year's post-christmas weight of somewhere between 195-200 lbs. I'm about six feet tall, which put my post-christmas BMI (body mass index) around 27, eeking me into the 'Overweight' category. So I'm trying out a diet.

When I tell people I'm trying out a diet they usually say something like "What? That's crazy! You don't need to lose weight!". I'm not exactly the type who follows recipes, rules, directions, ... and I'm not worried about my BMI number either. But, here are the two reasons I do need to shed some pounds:

1. The extra weight that I am carrying is almost exclusively in the middle of my body, which any nutritionist or doctor will tell you is a bad sign.

2. Much more importantly: I don't feel comfortable in this body.

When I was down around 170 lbs, I felt fantastic, I had more energy, and I felt better in my clothes.

So, Kristen and I have decided to check out the South Beach diet. The main idea of the diet is to get you to think about what you're eating and recognize good and bad carbohydrates. The main issue with carbs is the speed at which they are broken down into sugars. Unlike the Atkins diet, which basically says that carbs are bad across the board, South Beach tries to promote an understanding of why some carbs are worse than others, and that they can be made better or worse depending on HOW you eat them and WHAT you eat them with. Consuming fibre with carbs requires the body to work harder to break down the fibre before it can get to the sugars, which means the sugar is absorbed more slowly and you don't end up with an spike in your insulin levels (which is what causes you to be hungry after lunch or dinner, and start snacking).

There are three phases to the diet. The first two weeks are 'strict', where you cut out all carbohydrates except certain vegetables (e.g., brocolli, lettuce, and peppers are okay, potatoes and carrots are not). Phase two loosens up and you can re-introduce some carbs back into your diet. Not all at once though. You only get a small amount per day. You have to choose the ones that you really want to include. When you reach your desired weight you move to Phase three, where you can eat what you want, though by then you have hopefully changed your eating habits and won't eat much (if any) more junk.

I like the idea behind this diet, mainly because it makes you think about what you're eating it and how. With each new diet that comes out, the general public seems to learn more about nutrition. Of course if you think simplistically about them, you'll end up drinking nothing but juice, or eating nothing but Atkin's official products, which should be obviously dumb. I like to see these things as a slow education of the public, building up our common knowledge base.

Anyway, this is only Day 3 of the diet. Because my bathroom scale is a little old and because my weight seems to fluctuate wildly from day to day, I'm not going to get very excited about specific numbers, but here are some. Last week my weight varied from 194-197 lbs. This morning my weight was 191. That doesn't necessarily mean I've permanently lost any weight (lousy scale + weight fluctuation), but that's one of this week's measurements. I'll post my progress as we go.

What does it mean to be poor?

Folks,

My student loan debt is currently higher than my annual salary. My monthly payments are high enough right now that I am essentially leasing an imaginary Hummer. I am trying to aggressively pay off my debts so that I can have a net worth of zero dollars before I turn 35. When I hear about people being 'broke', I feel jealous. Oh, to have nothing!

Kristen and I visited friends in Rochester, New York this weekend, and got to see Kyle's photo exhibit there. Along our merry way, we stopped for lattes at Starbucks, and in Rochester, we went out for breakfast, had dinner at a nice little Mediterranean-style place, and saw a movie (Brokeback Mountain - very good, but so sad).

On the way back, we stopped at Ikea in Burlington and I picked up some nice wine glasses, a shelving unit for the bathroom, a matching set of towels, and some other fun stuff. We spent about $350 there.

This doesn't sound like the life of a poor man.

Here's an article from the Economist that compares two very different situations.

Read the article and see how you feel about your own situation.

Incredible Journey

You've heard about that American kid sneaking his way to Iraq without telling his mother? That was nothing.

Check out this story from McSweeney's.

New Years Revelations

Happy New Year!

Since my last post, Kristen has moved in to my (oops, 'our') apartment, my (our) roof has suffered reindeer damage, and we have slept through January 1st in a very traditional and respectful manner.

Now that Kristen and I are living together, I can more effectively steal her Christmas presents. So I'm just starting to read her copy of 'The Pagan Christ' by Tom Harpur (Thanks Ken!).

Harpur importantly first clarifies that the word 'pagan' originally means something like 'farmer' or 'peasant' (basically normal folks) and that the negative connotations of witchcraft or other goofiness that we have today are misleading.

The main idea of this book (so far) is that the Christian character Jesus borrows heavily from the Egyptian man-god named Horus (who had been around for a while). Both were born to virgin moms named (roughly) Mary and earthly dads named Joseph, heralded by 3 kings and a star, both referred to as 'the annointed one', baptized by someone who was later beheaded. Both raised someone from the dead named (roughly) Lazarus, etc. Far too many similarities to ignore.

The book is engaging and (so far) very readable. I have heard vague versions of this kind of claim before, but it is fascinating to see it laid out and explained. Unsurprisingly, Christianity is a story that is based on previous stories. Given the literalist wackos in Kansas and their Intelligent Design concept, is it ironic that the story of Christianity itself has actually *evolved* from previous versions?

Here's the part I like: Harpur is a Christian and claims that these findings have STRENGTHENED his faith.

His basic point seems to be this: Christianity is obviously not meant to be taken literally. Once you accept that, you can more effectively understand and celebrate the SPIRIT of the religion.

Let me add ... and once you ditch the literalism, the spirit of Christianity is basically the same as the spirit of most any religion: Do unto others, don't kill anyone, etc.

What a great idea! Let's all accept Jesus as a really nice character who we should try to emulate. Like 'The Dude' from The Big Lebowski, or that guy on Blue's Clues. Just good people who are trying to figure things out.

Merry Dudemas!