I recall (and not so fondly) the days of researching papers for class. Those days were spent in a large room. A very large room. A very large room full of books. Most of those books were not what you needed at that moment in time. In fact, after you had acquired the skills to open a mini-file-cabinet full of recipe cards (if you're under 25 you probably have no idea where this is going) and then itemizing a row, shelf and other coordinates, and then finding your way to those coordinates, you would find the book you needed was taken out already. It was probably not returned. Years ago. Because the library [lahy-brer-ee, from Old French librairie, from Medieval Latin librāris, n use of Latin librārius relating to books, from liber book] was the only local, easy access source of knowledge for inexperienced little minds.
There was no such thing as smart-phones with wikipedia. Those were called Encyclopedias and they required hours of perusing, again, if they were there.
So the joy of taking on something new in modern times is the ease of acquiring information. For example, take veganism - a much and oft misunderstood practice (or lack thereof), that is actually easily interpreted with three easy steps:
1. Log in to Twitter, search "Vegan" and Follow every single person in the search result. Or try to. It's time consuming to click Follow. Imagine how many calories you can burn doing this! CARDIO!
2. Peruse your list of tweets. UnFollow inappropriate or useless twits... er twitterers. Favorite the tweets that you like. Retweet the ones you reeeeeaaaally like.
3. Bookmark any interesting websites or otherwise info you come up with for later or revisitation.
As easy as One, Two, Twee! (Yeah, I know.)
If you're unsure where to start, Follow me on Twitter at @fatguygoesvegan and I'll set your course!
FatGuy
Showing posts with label intro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intro. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Where Was I
So, here I am. Mid-thirties, overweight, out of shape, suffering from gout, a reformed smoker (most of the time), occasional drinker, working way too many hours and spending far too little thinking about what's in the fridge beyond "I'm Hungry" and having far too many Take Out menu's committed to memory.
I've had my bursts of energy to attend the gym. I've tried almost every diet. I've sucked in my gut and reassured myself I'm just "big boned". I've eliminated soda from my diet, stopped eating as much as I did in past (cut calories, gave up most sweets)... So what could be wrong that I just can't lose weight?
Well, simply put the problem WAS the solutions. Diet soda is the devil. There is no such thing as "Fat Free" written on a label for a food that is actually good for you. White sugar is in almost everything.
So, how does one get healthy when everything is bad about almost everything out there? How on earth does the Average Joe break the cycle when you don't know any better? Well, just as with quitting smoking, there was The Choice. I just decided to quit. Quit the bad foods, and the bad habits and i CHOSE to do better.
Easier said than done though.
You won't truly make that Choice until you truly believe a healthier lifestyle is needed. You make that decision through educating yourself and understanding what your options are. Every person is different, as is their set of habits and lifestyle (which is another reason diets fail). So to make the start, simply research....
I recommend you start with a few documentaries. Those are:
Vegucated
Food Inc
Hungry for Change
TED Talks: Chew On This
Watch one or more of those and tell me if your opinion about "typical" grocery store food doesn't change. Then let's talk.
I've had my bursts of energy to attend the gym. I've tried almost every diet. I've sucked in my gut and reassured myself I'm just "big boned". I've eliminated soda from my diet, stopped eating as much as I did in past (cut calories, gave up most sweets)... So what could be wrong that I just can't lose weight?
Well, simply put the problem WAS the solutions. Diet soda is the devil. There is no such thing as "Fat Free" written on a label for a food that is actually good for you. White sugar is in almost everything.
So, how does one get healthy when everything is bad about almost everything out there? How on earth does the Average Joe break the cycle when you don't know any better? Well, just as with quitting smoking, there was The Choice. I just decided to quit. Quit the bad foods, and the bad habits and i CHOSE to do better.
Easier said than done though.
You won't truly make that Choice until you truly believe a healthier lifestyle is needed. You make that decision through educating yourself and understanding what your options are. Every person is different, as is their set of habits and lifestyle (which is another reason diets fail). So to make the start, simply research....
I recommend you start with a few documentaries. Those are:
Vegucated
Food Inc
Hungry for Change
TED Talks: Chew On This
Watch one or more of those and tell me if your opinion about "typical" grocery store food doesn't change. Then let's talk.
The Beginning
I'm not quite sure where, or when exactly, it all began. This story of my evolution from mindless eater to health fanatic could have simply begun a few weeks ago when I watched a documentary or three on where our food truly originates (More on those documentaries later) and how it's produced.
Perhaps the beginning was earlier than that when I realized my blood pressure, cholesterol and body fat percentage were sky rocketing and I needed an overhaul.
And perhaps I was truly born, like all other humans, with a predisposed taste for good food, and my behaviour was adapted to the culinary catastrophes I was conditioned to. In truth, one of my earliest memories about food was steak. Good, high quality and expensive cuts of beef hand were chosen by the local butcher for my grandmother, a valued customer, whose extensive experience in selecting prime beef for her doctor husband and live-at-home son riveled even the most detailed and prestigious cattle judge. Red meat has been a staple of my family's homes in past, with Prime standing rib roasts being typical Sunday fare. Yet, I can remember early on the taste of beef being accompanied with salad dressing, and specifically Creamy Cucumber, to bribe my taste buds into passing each bite along the stomach, almost as a culinary bribe.
Years later, I still found the same reluctance to a cut of steak unless it was heavy burdened by a thick sauce, seasoning or accompaniment that masked the texture and flavor. A heavy blanket of buttery, creamy mashed potatoes always went a long ways.
Which brings me back to the present: The beginning of the end of meat consumption. It took very little reading and documentary viewing to understanding the less than desirable source of our commercially produced sausage, steaks and ground meats.
Further to the farming standards and practices, there was the environmental implications of the production of mass quantities of beef. However, the point is not the outcome, but rather the catalyst: What caused me to want to get away from it all?
Ultimately, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back took place in early December of this year when, after watching two specific documentaries, I had a sudden epiphany as if I had been walking around in the dark my entire life and suddenly the lights were turned on. I had been asleep at the wheel my entire adult life; stuck in a rut of high calorie meals eaten out of convenience, with poor dietary habits, lousy meal preparation skills and simply a complete disregard for my own personal health.
I would never, ever put low quality fuel, laden with impurities, into the gas tank of my expensive vehicle and yet here I was with the most important machine of my life (literally) and I wasn't paying attention at all to the junk going in, the warning lights going off, and what was coming out.
Just as the Book Of Genesis says, God said, "Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
On Planet Carl, light had been created, and the light separated from the darkness. The trick is to stay lit up.
Perhaps the beginning was earlier than that when I realized my blood pressure, cholesterol and body fat percentage were sky rocketing and I needed an overhaul.
And perhaps I was truly born, like all other humans, with a predisposed taste for good food, and my behaviour was adapted to the culinary catastrophes I was conditioned to. In truth, one of my earliest memories about food was steak. Good, high quality and expensive cuts of beef hand were chosen by the local butcher for my grandmother, a valued customer, whose extensive experience in selecting prime beef for her doctor husband and live-at-home son riveled even the most detailed and prestigious cattle judge. Red meat has been a staple of my family's homes in past, with Prime standing rib roasts being typical Sunday fare. Yet, I can remember early on the taste of beef being accompanied with salad dressing, and specifically Creamy Cucumber, to bribe my taste buds into passing each bite along the stomach, almost as a culinary bribe.
Years later, I still found the same reluctance to a cut of steak unless it was heavy burdened by a thick sauce, seasoning or accompaniment that masked the texture and flavor. A heavy blanket of buttery, creamy mashed potatoes always went a long ways.
Which brings me back to the present: The beginning of the end of meat consumption. It took very little reading and documentary viewing to understanding the less than desirable source of our commercially produced sausage, steaks and ground meats.
Further to the farming standards and practices, there was the environmental implications of the production of mass quantities of beef. However, the point is not the outcome, but rather the catalyst: What caused me to want to get away from it all?
Ultimately, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back took place in early December of this year when, after watching two specific documentaries, I had a sudden epiphany as if I had been walking around in the dark my entire life and suddenly the lights were turned on. I had been asleep at the wheel my entire adult life; stuck in a rut of high calorie meals eaten out of convenience, with poor dietary habits, lousy meal preparation skills and simply a complete disregard for my own personal health.
I would never, ever put low quality fuel, laden with impurities, into the gas tank of my expensive vehicle and yet here I was with the most important machine of my life (literally) and I wasn't paying attention at all to the junk going in, the warning lights going off, and what was coming out.
Just as the Book Of Genesis says, God said, "Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
On Planet Carl, light had been created, and the light separated from the darkness. The trick is to stay lit up.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Welcome
Welcome to my Blog.
It's a new Blog. But certainly not a new idea. The transition to "sensible eating" is a concept that has been around for decades, if not centuries or millenia. I am certain there has *always* been someone sitting around a campfire somewhere at some point in time saying,"You know, Ralph, I think I should get away from eating X and start trying to incorporate more Y into my diet!".
Whether fast food was invented yet or not, I am certain there has always been a healthier lifestyle to abide by. Why? Because humans are lazy. So much so that the average human now purchases most of their meals in a "ready" state, electing to now simplify their meals; for example almost all vegetables consumed are in either cans, bags or frozen that are so processed they don't even need to be washed, chopped, peeled or in some cases, even cooked! Just microwaved! In just minutes you can have a full meal complete with oven roast, mashed potatoes and a green vegetable without running water or even dirtying a knife! How lazy is that! That's just a tad less exertion than driving to the restaurant to get Take-Out!
We are lazy to a fault. Even for the good of our own evolution. Progress depends on invention which results in less effort.. Take for example, the wheel. It was certainly not the smartest man who invented it - he was the laziest. He (or she) determined the fastest, easiest way to get more done with less effort. Cause meet effect.
As such, agro-business has boomed. Feed more humans for less money causing greater investment returns, or highest, thicker, healthier profit margins. How ironic.
Great! So I've identified the Matrix to which I've been plugged in. I've taken the red pill and followed "Morpheus" (or should I say "More for Less"?) down the rabbit path and here I am lost like Alice in Wonderland wondering which way to go, or whether to indulge in the tasty cake with the tempting "Eat Me" labelled upon it.
Thus, my blog was born. This is a journal of my adventures as I travel into the land of Knowledge and fruitful living, for both my own records but also to serve as breadcrumbs (ancient whole grain or at least whole wheat kinds) for those who should possibly follow.
This is not a documented success story intended to boast of my progress, to categorically assign me into a healthy measure-me-by-numbers where I brag of my gains (where appropriate) or celebrate my losses accordingly. Instead, let me be a liaison, or translator or guinea pig for those who follow; a helpful, informative guide like the blind leading the blind into a wonderful world of new and exciting foods (or lack of) as I enter the realm of the Healthy Eater.
So where to start? In the organic section of the grocery store? Appliance store to get the latest health gadget? The vitamin section of Walmart? Or the gardening section of any Lowes, Home Depot or Rona?
I can tell you already that the health food stores have been overwhelming, the reading list of "You better do this, and not that" has been extensive, and the advice plentiful. In fact, it's almost been easier just to hit a drive-thru, get a McMeal and chalk healthiness up to the group of proverbial bliss that I just read about in fiction novels. Or perhaps, it's just a matter of taking the red pill and choosing to Live.
Here's hoping!
FatGuy
It's a new Blog. But certainly not a new idea. The transition to "sensible eating" is a concept that has been around for decades, if not centuries or millenia. I am certain there has *always* been someone sitting around a campfire somewhere at some point in time saying,"You know, Ralph, I think I should get away from eating X and start trying to incorporate more Y into my diet!".
Whether fast food was invented yet or not, I am certain there has always been a healthier lifestyle to abide by. Why? Because humans are lazy. So much so that the average human now purchases most of their meals in a "ready" state, electing to now simplify their meals; for example almost all vegetables consumed are in either cans, bags or frozen that are so processed they don't even need to be washed, chopped, peeled or in some cases, even cooked! Just microwaved! In just minutes you can have a full meal complete with oven roast, mashed potatoes and a green vegetable without running water or even dirtying a knife! How lazy is that! That's just a tad less exertion than driving to the restaurant to get Take-Out!
We are lazy to a fault. Even for the good of our own evolution. Progress depends on invention which results in less effort.. Take for example, the wheel. It was certainly not the smartest man who invented it - he was the laziest. He (or she) determined the fastest, easiest way to get more done with less effort. Cause meet effect.
As such, agro-business has boomed. Feed more humans for less money causing greater investment returns, or highest, thicker, healthier profit margins. How ironic.
Great! So I've identified the Matrix to which I've been plugged in. I've taken the red pill and followed "Morpheus" (or should I say "More for Less"?) down the rabbit path and here I am lost like Alice in Wonderland wondering which way to go, or whether to indulge in the tasty cake with the tempting "Eat Me" labelled upon it.
Thus, my blog was born. This is a journal of my adventures as I travel into the land of Knowledge and fruitful living, for both my own records but also to serve as breadcrumbs (ancient whole grain or at least whole wheat kinds) for those who should possibly follow.
This is not a documented success story intended to boast of my progress, to categorically assign me into a healthy measure-me-by-numbers where I brag of my gains (where appropriate) or celebrate my losses accordingly. Instead, let me be a liaison, or translator or guinea pig for those who follow; a helpful, informative guide like the blind leading the blind into a wonderful world of new and exciting foods (or lack of) as I enter the realm of the Healthy Eater.
So where to start? In the organic section of the grocery store? Appliance store to get the latest health gadget? The vitamin section of Walmart? Or the gardening section of any Lowes, Home Depot or Rona?
I can tell you already that the health food stores have been overwhelming, the reading list of "You better do this, and not that" has been extensive, and the advice plentiful. In fact, it's almost been easier just to hit a drive-thru, get a McMeal and chalk healthiness up to the group of proverbial bliss that I just read about in fiction novels. Or perhaps, it's just a matter of taking the red pill and choosing to Live.
Here's hoping!
FatGuy
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