Category: Real LIfe

The Three Quarters 30

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Recently a friend completed the Whole 30 program  and raved about it. 

You can change your whole life in 30 days by “letting go of bad habits, guilt, anxiety around food”. 

Change my whole life in 30 days?   Weeeee… sign me up.   But wait, by doing what now?   

Did you know: 

Certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent or non-existent? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you try? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies or fertility issues) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat – even the “healthy” stuff. So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you?

– Whole 30 website

Yes, the Whole 30 programs asks you to eliminate the following from you diet for 30 days:

  • Grains (note:  this includes rice, lentils and quinoa!)
  • Sugar
  • Legumes
  • Dairy
  • Alcohol

Is changing your whole life really worth that?    I’m was not so sure…

Then I went to Ireland, land of fish and chips, amazing soda bread and Guiness for a week.  I returned feeling like the Michelin Man who could no longer fit into his clothes.   Just a grain, yeast and hops filled bleeeeeecccchhhhh….    Something had to change.   So I thought I’d give Whole 30 a try. 

When I reviewed the above restrictions, I saw basically what was left were fruits, vegetables, some nuts and meat.   Since I am a nearly vegan (well, I am a vegan who on occasions falls off the cheese bandwagon or maybe the cheese bandwagon falls on me, thus I must eat my way free. Something like that), this seemed nearly impossible and possibly not healthy.   I researched and found a whole section of the Whole 30 site on Vegetariana/Vegans .  Read it for yourself, but their position boils down to you should eat some animal based protein.  I’m not going to do that, so I’ll be creating my own Whole 30, the Three Quarters 30, which entails:  

  • Limiting Grains – no traditional grain (bread, pasta).  Limited rice, lentils and quinoa (gotta have it, yo)
  • Sugar
  • Legumes:  limited edamame and organic tofu (as suggested), limited chickpeas and other beans.   I need them! 
  • Dairy
  • Alcohol   (gah!)

I know the Three Quarters 30 won’t do what the Whole 30 promises, but it will certainly be good for me, so watch me go. 

Tears for My Country…

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Enough, I don’t want to turn on the news, but I will after I post this.   I’m so tired of the violence.  I’m so tired of worrying about some poor soul’s family and friends.   Enough.  

The United States is a country with so much promise that has given so much to so many, though not perfect, it’s been a bitch for so many as well.   But if we work together, there is so much we could accomplish. 

You just can’t kill people because you’re angry, because that just makes someone else angry.  And this will never end.   We could be so much better than this.  

 

Sorry to the victims and their families in Dallas this evening, and the victims of all other violent crimes, covered by major news media or not. 

Honey I know, I know, I know times are changing….

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I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray

I gasped out loud, in the middle of a meeting at work when I saw the breaking news that Prince had been taken from us.   Didn’t he transcend such things?  

I ain’t got no money, but baby I’m rich in personality

I wonder if people of such immense creative talent have any idea how they touch the rest of us?   Not all have the success of Prince, but really is that what matters?  

Purple Rain possibly changed my whole life, something I had never really realized or thought about until today.  Dig if you will, the picture…  two people so different:  a black guy from Minneapolis (I had to look up how to spell that.  I know Prince’s full name, but I had to look up Minneapolis) and the whitest white girls from Boston.  Yet he spoke to me.  There were bad things happening and ways to escape them.  Believing in yourself, what you want to do… be authentic to yourself, that is what matters.  Now I know that is what other people relate to (not all others, but the ones that matter to you).   I haven’t watched it in years, but it’s queued up.  I remember that year.  How big that album was, how influential the movie….  the era of Micheal Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cindi Lauper and… the purple one.  

I can’t disguise the pounding of my heart… 

Wooo… did Darling Nikki blew this school girls skirt up….

If you don’t like the world you’re living in, Take a look around you,  At least you got friends

I flash back to being at my friend’s basement.  Oh, could we dance to Rasberry Beret, Little Red Corvette and the entire Purple Rain soundtrack.  We were learning our way in the world.  Learning who we were.  This was all before she married a Mormon shortly after college, move to Utah and had a bunch of kids.  Today I wonder what they would think if they could have seen her then.   I hadn’t spoken to her in years, but I found her on Facebook tonight and if something that comes out of that, well Prince will have helped me one more time. 

Listening to Purple Rain again today is like visiting an old friend.  One you haven’t seen in years, but you fall back into after years, like you’d never been apart.  

You make me so confused
The beautiful ones
You always seem to lose

We lost a beautiful one today…  and I just say thank you for the time we had and the gifts you shared.

RIP Prince Rogers Nelson (if that’s what you want…)

And if the elevator tries to bring you down, punch a higher floor…

 

 

 

 

 

RIP Prince Rogers Nelson (if that’s what you want…)

An open letter to the broken hearted freshman at UNC..

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I was once in your position.  I know the heartbreak… I feel your pain.  Losing on a buzzer beater is the worst of all ways to lose.  You will see that shot in your mind a million times.   I once sat in a crowded dorm room and watched my beloved Orange play for the National Championship… alas our One Shining Moment was not to be.   You would think a lifetime of being a pre-2004 Red Sox fan would have prepared me for such a blow, but no.  I BELIEVED, as I’m sure you did.   In fact, I think my heart actually stopped for a few seconds. 

But I want you to know that things can get better.   It’s entirely possible that you experience your beloved team go on to multiple Final Fours and win a national championship (it’s possible you’ll cry like a baby when this occurs).  You may also see your hometown win 4 Superbowls, an NBA Championship and a Stanley Cup.  You may also watch your beloved baseball team come back from 0-3 down in the ALCS to win against their dreaded rivals who had won the World Series 26 times in the 86 you won nothing and then sweep the World Series, then go on to win 2 more World Series, including one in a year that terrorist bombed your marathon on Patriots Day of all days*.  Ok, you may never see that.  The greatest comeback in all of sports only happens once and I hope your city is never bombed on important local holidays, but my point is this:  things will get better.  You will smile again.  And your team will be back on day.  Of course, moving to Boston after graduation may help. 

 

*don’t fuck with us.  This is our fucking city. 

Today I’m starting…

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On this 29th day of February, which only occurs in bissextile years, I am starting a new eating plan.   My friend wants to do a cleanse to kick off getting ready for clothes season.  I was interested as first, then considered the other information which has been coming into my consciousness recently:  how bad sugar is for you, how a plant based diet seems to improve the health of many, allowing them to recover from horrible diseases and conditions as well as reduce their prescriptions. 

All that sounds great, right?   Just eat your vegetables.   I already do not eat meat, but have yet to give up dairy, eggs or fish.  So I decided my ‘cleanse’ isn’t a fad, something to do for five days, then back to the norm, but an eating plan that I can hopefully stick to for life.   It’s simple and here it is: 

  • Only real foods, no processed foods
  • Vegan

And yes, I’m going to do it for five days to start.   If i can make it five days and feel better and have more energy, I’ll be quite pleased.   Then perhaps I’ll do another five days, until this is just how I eat.  

I’m not sure if this is a good plan, but I’m giving it a try.  

I’ll let you know how it goes.  I already have no idea what to eat for breakfast.  Do people really only eat fruit? 

My New Years Resolutions

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Because they say if you write them down and share them, it’s more likely to happen.  Let’s see, shall we?   Not really in order because then I’d have to think about prioritizing and coming up with a prioritization system could blow half the year.  The first thing I did was change this whole site to look better just so I could start fresh for this post.  You see how I allow myself to get distracted??

  • Lose weight (required, I think)
  • Work out more (also required)
  • Read more!   (should be required, but somehow isn’t)
  • Keep dinning room table clear.  It’s not a storage location!
  • Write on this blog 2-3 times a week
  • Figure out life stuff
  • Spend more time on the things I want to do(less tv and internet, more books!) 
  • More Photography projects
  • Have more patience with inept co-worker, or perhaps should be:  find job without completely inept co-workers
  • Come up with metrics for the above so I know what to actually shoot for. 
  • Stop procrastinating with dumb stuff(again:  less tv and internet, more books!)

It’s a start! 

Adventures in Cooking: There are 2 more meals

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Lordy… 

I made the one meal and was quite proud of myself, but there are two more in the box.   So here I go:

Check it out:  three pots and/or pans at once.  That is more than I usually use in month.   I made my own pasta sauce (via ingredients portioned out for me and described in a glossy brochure).  I am a chef!  

All the ingredients combined to create something that appears edible.  No one in this household knows how to react.

 

WO…  It has presentation, it has style.  Someone could eat this.  It’s a real meal.  

Hello Fresh has worked some voodoo on me. 

Except that…  these two meals have taken it out of me.   There is one more from the first week, and (gasp!) today is Tuesday, delivery day.. .which means: 

Three more meals.  Three more nights of cooking.  Three more feelings of accomplishment or three more pressure to perform?    We shall see. 

I can’t wait for the autumn risotto, though