Eat More...

Now I don't actually mean eat more. It's pretty clear that the majority of people in this country do not need to eat more. But, if you are trying to make a change in your diet for any reason, try to think about the foods you want to be eating more of. This will vary for everyone, but in general most people should probably be eating MORE fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and complex carbs. Most diets call for LESS fat, saturated fat, sodium, carbs, etc. These two are the same thing, just different ways of thinking about it. If you eat more fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and complex carbs, you will automatically be eating less fat, saturated fat, sodium, carbs, etc.
The difference is merely psychological, but then again, so are most diet "issues".

Willpower Can Be Strengthened

I was recently reading about a study done at Florida State University that showed willpower can be strengthened by practicing it, just like strengthening muscles. You can also overdo it, like many people do after the New Year, which leads to fatigue and failure.
That makes sense to me. And it seems that much of society is losing willpower strength because we are not forced to use it at all anymore. Just about everything seems to be instant nowadays. And we have everything at our fingertips - we don't ever have to go without anything. And if we do, well that's ok, there's probably a pill for that.
I'm going to try and practice willpower every day.

Eff It

I'm here today to defend profanity, cursing, swearing, cussing, obscene language, or whatever you want to call it.

Fuck
Shit
Ass
Bitch
And all the other words that people consider "bad" (suck, crap, bastard, prick, etc.)

I've been thinking about these words because I enjoy using them, but I always feel like I 'should' try not to. I remember reading an article in a magazine when I was about 16. It was written by a woman defending her right to use what she referred to as "colorful language". So now I'm doing the same. I've been an adult now for quite some time and I can swear if I want to.
Now, I'm not going to go to work at the retirement community and start cursing at residents and coworkers. I'm not going to swear at children (though I will only censor myself so much in a public place). I'm not planning to walk around telling people to fuck off. But there are many other times and places that I think I should feel comfortable expressing myself. This language is often classified as 'abusive', but how often is it actually used that way? There are lots of ways to use these words that are not abusive at all, AND there are plenty of ways to verbally abuse someone without using any of these words. Let me show you.

"I'm so fucking happy for you!"
"Don't step in that pile of shit!"
"I fell on my ass yesterday."
"That test was really a bitch!"

"Everyone hates you."
"You should get a bigger size next time you buy jeans."
"You're an idiot."

When I was a kid I remember adults saying that swear words makes you sound dumb. Well, I hope that anyone judging my intelligence would consider the entire content of what I'm saying, rather than assuming I'm dumb based on a word or two. Actually, that makes them sound dumb if you ask me.

I think these words help you make a point. I could say "I'm so in love", and you're picturing this dreamy romanticness with hearts and flowers and la-dee-da. But that's not the point I'm trying to make. "I'm so fucking in love". See? Now you're picturing skull and crossbones, daggars, and hearts with blood dripping off them. THAT'S what I'm saying.

Happy New Year!

So for the last few weeks I've been trying to come up with my 'project' for 2010. Last year I tried the 1000 pictures project and failed - it lasted 6 months and gave me somewhat of a distaste for photography. I'm NOT doing anything involving cooking, even though I LOVE to cook, I refuse to jump on the Julie & Julia bandwagon. Besides, I want to actually enjoy cooking. I'm not prepared to make any major life changes. But I want to do something. So I'm going to work on this blog that I started more than 2 years ago. I'm going to practice writing about whatever I want. I've never taken writing classes or tried to make money writing, and I don't intend to. But I think of things to write about all the time, and I get compliments on the things I write at work. So I'll give it a go here. There are no rigid rules, which I understand may be a recipe for failure, but I want to enjoy this. I'll use my discipline in other areas of my life.

My Take on BMI

I'm tired of hearing professionals advise individuals to use BMI as a tool to find if they're at a healthy weight. I wrote this as one of my wellness tips for work.

The Problem with BMI

Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a popular way to analyze whether someone is at a healthy weight. It has become so popular due to it’s user friendliness – you only need to know your height and weight and then a simple chart gives you a number which classifies you as underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Simple, but there are some problems with this method. Anyone who has more muscle than an average person will register with a higher BMI, even when they maintain very low body fat. For example, Jay is 5’9” and weighs 274 pounds. This puts his BMI at 40 which is classified as extremely obese. However, Jay is a professional bodybuilder who maintains 3% body fat – about as low a human being can get. Another problem with the BMI system is for those who have less muscle than an average person – and this is becoming more common in our ever-more-sedentary society. For example, Rebecca is 5’6” and weighs 135 pounds. This puts her BMI at 22 which is considered normal. However, Rebecca has 30% body fat, which is too high to be considered healthy.
Bottom line: Everyone has different amounts of muscle mass due to genetics and lifestyle factors, but the BMI charts assume everyone has the same amount. For this reason, BMI is a good way to analyze large populations of people, but not individuals. A better way is to use body composition, or body fat percentage. To measure your body composition you will need to use some type of device. Most body fat scales for home use are not very accurate. Personal trainers and other fitness professionals may use a caliper to measure folds of skin on various parts of the body. This method is accurate, typically within a 3-4% margin of error, but it is subject to human error. Many gyms have ‘bioelectric impedance devices’ which have about the same margin of error as the skin-fold method. The most accurate way to measure body fat is ‘hydrostatic weighing’ which is done with your whole body submerged in water. Hospitals typically have the equipment necessary for this type of procedure.

Grow Your Own Food and Save!!!

Here's a really interesting article from Kitchen Gardeners International by Roger Doiron

What’s a home garden worth? With the global economy spiraling downward and Mother Nature preparing to reach upward, it’s a good question to ask and a good time to ask it.

There isn’t one right answer, of course, but I’ll give you mine: $2149.15. Last year, my wife Jacqueline suggested to me that we calculate the total value of the produce coming out of our garden over the course of the growing season. Initially, the thought of doing that was about as appealing to me as a recreational root canal. I remember replying something like: “OK, so let me get this right: in addition to raising three busy boys, managing two careers, volunteering in a school garden, and growing most of our own produce, you’re proposing that we weigh every item that comes out of our garden, write it down in a log book, and spend a few leisurely evenings doing math?” Jacqueline, an economics major in college and a native French speaker, answered with a simple "oui" and so the project began.

There was a lot of work involved, mostly for Jacqueline, but as with gardening itself, it was work with a purpose. It didn’t take long for our log book to start filling up with dates and figures. Although we started eating our first garden salads in late April, we only began recording our harvests as of May 10th, starting first with greens and asparagus. Our last weighable harvest was two weeks ago in the form of a final cutting of Belgian endives forced from roots in our basement.

By the time we had finished weighing it all, we had grown 834 pounds and over six months worth of organic food (we’re still eating our own winter squash, onions, garlic, and frozen items like strawberries, green beans, and pesto cubes). Once we had the weights of the 35 main crops we grew, we then calculated what it would have cost us to buy the same items using three different sets of prices: conventional grocery store, farmers’ market and organic grocery store (Whole Foods, in our case). The total value came to $2196.50, $2431.15, and $2548.93 respectively.

There are things we didn’t include like the wild dandelion greens which we reaped but did not sow, the six or so carving pumpkins which we ultimately fed to our compost pile, and the countless snacks of strawberries, beans, peas, and tomatoes that never made it as far as our kitchen scale. There were also things we forgot to weigh like several pounds of grapes which turned into about 12 jars of jam. As with any growing season, there were hits and misses. The heaviest and most valuable crop was our tomatoes (158 lb/72 kg for a total value of $524). In terms of misses, our apple tree decided to take the year off and very few of our onions started from seed made it requiring me to buy some onion plants.

On the cost side, we had $130 for seeds and supplies, $12 for a soil test, and exceptional costs of $100 for some locally-made organic compost we bought for our “This Lawn is Your Lawn” front yard garden (normally, we meet most of our soil fertility needs through our own composting). I don't have a scientific calculation for water costs, but we don't need to water much and, when we do, water is relatively cheap in Maine. Also, I mulch my beds pretty heavily to keep moisture in and weeds down. Let's say $40 in water. So, if we consider that our out-of-pocket costs were $282 and the total value generated was $2431, that means we had a return on investment of 862%. The cost of our labor is not included because we enjoy gardening and the physical work involved. If I am to include my labor costs, I feel I should also include the gym membership fees, country club dues, or doctors’ bills I didn’t have.

If you really want to play around with the data, you can calculate how much a home garden like ours produces on a per acre basis. If you use the $2400 figure and consider that our garden is roughly 1/25th of an acre, it means that home gardens like ours can gross $60,000/acre. You can also calculate it on a square foot basis which in our case works out to be roughly $1.50/ft2. That would mean that a smaller garden of say 400ft2 would produce $600 of produce. Keep in mind that these are averages and that certain crops are more profitable and space efficient than others. A small garden planted primarily with salad greens and trellised tomatoes, for example, is going to produce more economic value per square foot more than one planted with potatoes and squash. We plant a bit of everything because that’s the way we like to garden and eat.

Clearly, this data is just for one family (of five), one yard (.3 acre), one garden (roughly 1600 square feet), and one climate (Maine, zone 5b/6), but it gives you some sense of what’s possible. If you consider that there are about 90 million households in the US that have some sort of yard, factor in the thousands of new community and school gardens we could be planting, this really could add up. Our savings allowed us to do different things including investing in some weatherization work for our house last fall that is making us a greener household in another way. Some might ask what this would mean for farmers to have more people growing their own food. The local farmers I know welcome it because they correctly believe that the more people discover what fresh, real food tastes like, the more they'll want to taste. In our case, part of our savings helped us to buy better quality, sustainably-raised meat from a local CSA farmer.

The economics of home gardening may not be enough to convince President Obama or UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to plant new gardens at the White House or 10 Downing Street, but the healthy savings their citizens could be making and then reinvesting in their local economies could.
In the end, it might come down to the language we use. Instead of saying "Honey, I'm going out to the garden to turn the compost pile", perhaps we should say "Honey, I'm going outside to do a 'green job' and work on our 'organic stimulus package.'” I bet that would get the attention of a few economists, not mention a few psychologists!

1000 Pictures Project 2009

I'm going to be taking 1000 pictures and posting them in a seperate blog starting Janury 1st, 2009. This project will last for the whole year. Here's the link:
1000 Pictures 2009