By now, everybody but the amish has seen Rebecca Black's "Friday" video or heard part of the song. When this thing broke big, I wondered if she wasn't actually destined for stardom.
Not because she's talented, though I do think she has some talent. But because, in the same way Paris Hilton got famous for making a sex-tape, the public soon forgets why you got famous, and just remembers that you are famous.
I doubt many people genuinely like her song much. However, it's not something that's bad per se. It's just sorta silly and not particularly well done. Even there, it's not her voice or the production values that stink, it's the innane lyrics, mostly. The first thing I thought once I caught my breath from all the laughing is that a lot of folks will download and listen to this song due to the hilarious irony, but ultimately, this will let it catch on. Pop music has never and will never be about the lyrics. Sometimes, the dumber, the better.
Some of this backlash, undoubtedly, is that her parents had the money to get this done for her. If this had been just her and an acoustic guitar, the song could still have gone viral, but the reality is that the production values on the song are excellent and the video, though not particularly well-concieved, was shot and edited pretty well.
It's the lyrics of the song and the lack of a coherent script for the video, juxtaposed with the relatively high production values that gives this whole thing a hilarious incongruity.
And while I'm putting aside my hater's hat, I heard on Slate Culture Gabfest that this thing was done for $2,000. All I'm gonna say there is, that's amazing. Song and video for $2,000? Really? The guys at Ark Studios have taken a bashing on this, but frankly, I don't think they deserve it. Based on this, I'd have no qualms about letting them record and video a song I did. The production values are really pretty good.
It's the creative side that they need a little help with, but frankly, the creative side is not that easy to do. Millions of people are trying their best at that stuff every day and very few break through the background noise. Also, the $2,000 included providing her with the song, which was already written.
(This may account for the low cost, too. If they wrote the song, they could have already put together all the studio tracks in advance. Still, a lot of work, but maybe they didn't mind because they were able to assemble it without a deadline, during otherwise downtime at their studio.)
I can easily see her becoming a public figure with a career as a celebrity. She's young enough that she can live this down with things she does later in life. Alanis Morissette started out with an album that had tracks on it that were worse than "Friday", and her next album was considered an edgy, genre-defining masterpiece.
Yeah, this is mostly an accident. I doubt she or Ark did this whole thing looking to write a song that was so campy that it gets universally bagged on. A relative in France even told me that this thing has gone international. Granted, she said that in France, it's being called the worst song of the year, but still.
She can sing. She's sorta cute. Most importantly, she's famous, now. We've seen entertainment careers built on less.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Not the Greatest Time
I have maybe another hour's work on my books and then I can submit my stuff to have the CPA do my taxes. Lord only knows if this is too late, though. I bet he hates me; this is pretty late to get my stuff to him.
Today I was in a seriously foul mood. I think a lot of it is that I didn't get much sleep last night.
No word on either acceptance from CWRU or a scholarship from Toledo. All I can do is wait on that. I think I should know on both of them within a couple of weeks, but who knows. It'll be nice to know once and for all.
I'm dead broke right now, but should be getting some money this week. Should be a good chunk. Enough to get current and a little ahead. We picked up a few jobs lately. So if we can pick up a job here and there, and we get some Spring rains, things will be okay.
Trying to stay positive. Lots of negative emotion and feelings about the biz these days. It's hard not to be superstitious, but it feels like the place is doomed right now.
If things don't turn around, I may not last until the Summer. We'll see. Bankruptcy is a real possibility. I may start calling creditors and letting them know that I'll be filing and trying to negotiate offers of settlement before any bankruptcy proceedings.
Of course, if we have a few strong months in a row, all bets are off. This is really wearing my nerves out.
We laid off one more guy last week. Now, we're down to 3 production workers and a marketer, plus me. That's it. If we cut anybody else, it pretty much ceases to be a business and is just me and some trucks.
The weather is really what's killing us. That's got to turn around eventually. Trouble is, it doesn't have to turn around before I go broke. A lot of dustbowl farmers held on thinking the next year would be better.
I don't have a scale, but the workouts and new diet are working really well. I think lower carbs and including lean protien and some fat is the way I need to go. I was really getting out of shape there. My pants were uncomfortable.
I still have a belly, but it's disappearing. I feel more solid all the way around. I'm trying to run 2 times a week and fill in the rest with rowing machine workouts. At my age, I don't want to run more than I need to.
I have to admit: the Navy is a godsend, here. If nothing else, it means that twice a year, I absolutely must get into some semblance of physical condition and try to get into shape so that somebody else can weigh me. If I didn't have it, I can only imagine what sort of horrible shape I'd be in.
I was in a really bad mood all day today. If I declare bankruptcy, I almost certainly need to try and get a deployment so I can at least get a year of decent income. Also, the SSCRA would limit the amount that people could charge for interest on my debts, etc.
It also puts law school in jeopardy. It would mean a year away from my son.
I took him to his baseball practice and he's just killing the ball right now. He's impressing everybody.
The coach, for some reason, had me throw in one of the batting cages. Usually, I don't do that because I'm not a very good pitcher. Still, I did it and it was a workout. (Was throwing maybe 30 pitches to 10 kids.)
It was great because it snapped me out of my funk. I actually feel much better, now.
So, my future? Totally uncertain. God only knows where it'll lead. I sincerely can't say with certainty what I'll be doing six months from now. I hope I can hold it together long enough for Logan to finish his travel baseball season, though.
This is sort of hard times, but honestly, so many people have it worse right now that I have trouble feeling sorry for myself. One way or another, I'll get through this, maybe better than before.
Today I was in a seriously foul mood. I think a lot of it is that I didn't get much sleep last night.
No word on either acceptance from CWRU or a scholarship from Toledo. All I can do is wait on that. I think I should know on both of them within a couple of weeks, but who knows. It'll be nice to know once and for all.
I'm dead broke right now, but should be getting some money this week. Should be a good chunk. Enough to get current and a little ahead. We picked up a few jobs lately. So if we can pick up a job here and there, and we get some Spring rains, things will be okay.
Trying to stay positive. Lots of negative emotion and feelings about the biz these days. It's hard not to be superstitious, but it feels like the place is doomed right now.
If things don't turn around, I may not last until the Summer. We'll see. Bankruptcy is a real possibility. I may start calling creditors and letting them know that I'll be filing and trying to negotiate offers of settlement before any bankruptcy proceedings.
Of course, if we have a few strong months in a row, all bets are off. This is really wearing my nerves out.
We laid off one more guy last week. Now, we're down to 3 production workers and a marketer, plus me. That's it. If we cut anybody else, it pretty much ceases to be a business and is just me and some trucks.
The weather is really what's killing us. That's got to turn around eventually. Trouble is, it doesn't have to turn around before I go broke. A lot of dustbowl farmers held on thinking the next year would be better.
I don't have a scale, but the workouts and new diet are working really well. I think lower carbs and including lean protien and some fat is the way I need to go. I was really getting out of shape there. My pants were uncomfortable.
I still have a belly, but it's disappearing. I feel more solid all the way around. I'm trying to run 2 times a week and fill in the rest with rowing machine workouts. At my age, I don't want to run more than I need to.
I have to admit: the Navy is a godsend, here. If nothing else, it means that twice a year, I absolutely must get into some semblance of physical condition and try to get into shape so that somebody else can weigh me. If I didn't have it, I can only imagine what sort of horrible shape I'd be in.
I was in a really bad mood all day today. If I declare bankruptcy, I almost certainly need to try and get a deployment so I can at least get a year of decent income. Also, the SSCRA would limit the amount that people could charge for interest on my debts, etc.
It also puts law school in jeopardy. It would mean a year away from my son.
I took him to his baseball practice and he's just killing the ball right now. He's impressing everybody.
The coach, for some reason, had me throw in one of the batting cages. Usually, I don't do that because I'm not a very good pitcher. Still, I did it and it was a workout. (Was throwing maybe 30 pitches to 10 kids.)
It was great because it snapped me out of my funk. I actually feel much better, now.
So, my future? Totally uncertain. God only knows where it'll lead. I sincerely can't say with certainty what I'll be doing six months from now. I hope I can hold it together long enough for Logan to finish his travel baseball season, though.
This is sort of hard times, but honestly, so many people have it worse right now that I have trouble feeling sorry for myself. One way or another, I'll get through this, maybe better than before.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Things should start looking up...
We picked up a couple water jobs in the past couple of days. The preferred vendor agreements my franchisor has been out getting really have made a difference. They're gaining momentum and are representing a bigger and bigger chunk of our business. At that point, this truly is a franchise.
I do worry that a lot of somewhat shady activity is hurting us. We're not doing anything shady, though. That's what's hurting us. I know that some adjusters take bribes. Others have cozy relationships with vendors that may or may not be for up-and-up reasons.
We've avoided that sort of thing. Instead, I've preferred to simply let the quality of our work speak for itself. Most days, I think I'm being exceedingly naive, though. I just don't want to open that can of worms of starting to do things that are a little shady. Once you go down that road, you're lost, in my opinion.
These preferred vendor agreements are perfect, though. They take any corrupt adjusters right out of the mix. Granted, they also take good adjusters out of the mix, too, but for the most part, these preferred agreements tend to go our way, not to our competitors.
It sure would be nice if this thing started making money again. I'm really starting to lose hope. Two years is a long time to bail water. Sooner or later you have to accept that the smart thing is to abandon ship.
I do worry that a lot of somewhat shady activity is hurting us. We're not doing anything shady, though. That's what's hurting us. I know that some adjusters take bribes. Others have cozy relationships with vendors that may or may not be for up-and-up reasons.
We've avoided that sort of thing. Instead, I've preferred to simply let the quality of our work speak for itself. Most days, I think I'm being exceedingly naive, though. I just don't want to open that can of worms of starting to do things that are a little shady. Once you go down that road, you're lost, in my opinion.
These preferred vendor agreements are perfect, though. They take any corrupt adjusters right out of the mix. Granted, they also take good adjusters out of the mix, too, but for the most part, these preferred agreements tend to go our way, not to our competitors.
It sure would be nice if this thing started making money again. I'm really starting to lose hope. Two years is a long time to bail water. Sooner or later you have to accept that the smart thing is to abandon ship.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Really hitting the wall...
Well... business isn't any better than usual. Everybody is paying slowly. Business is slow to begin with. Today is a gorgeous, sunny day. Every sunny day, to me, feels like somebody stabbing me in the chest. We've had idyllic weather for 2 straight years, now. Not one single hard thunderstorm. Not one single hard freeze. It's bizarre, and it's killing me and my business.
I actually looked into what it would take to file for bankruptcy today. I was hoping to be able to sell my business, but honestly, I have no idea if there are any buyers and the business has done poorly for so long, now, I doubt it'd be attractive to anybody.
If there were any easy way out at this point, I'd take it, but almost all the paths out are messy. If I could get out of the business, I could see about begging for a deployment. It'd be a year away from my son, which is downright depressing. However, my options are pretty limited.
It's also hard to get a deployment. Lots of guys in my boat are reserve officers and really can benefit if they can get overseas for a year.
We had to let go of one more employee this week. He'll use up his remaining vacation and that will be it. At this point, we've cut out all the fat, gone through some muscle and sinew and are cutting into bone.
I honestly feel like one less employee and this ceases to be a business. It's just me and a few helpers.
I wish there were a positive way to frame all this, but it's just horrible. April, it should rain, but lately, although I shouldn't, I can't escape the feeling that this business is just cursed and doomed.
It's hard not to get superstitious. It's hard to keep believing that things will improve if you've gone years without seeing the improvement.
At least the government did everything in its power to save the Wall Street bankers. The rest of us are too small to matter.
I actually looked into what it would take to file for bankruptcy today. I was hoping to be able to sell my business, but honestly, I have no idea if there are any buyers and the business has done poorly for so long, now, I doubt it'd be attractive to anybody.
If there were any easy way out at this point, I'd take it, but almost all the paths out are messy. If I could get out of the business, I could see about begging for a deployment. It'd be a year away from my son, which is downright depressing. However, my options are pretty limited.
It's also hard to get a deployment. Lots of guys in my boat are reserve officers and really can benefit if they can get overseas for a year.
We had to let go of one more employee this week. He'll use up his remaining vacation and that will be it. At this point, we've cut out all the fat, gone through some muscle and sinew and are cutting into bone.
I honestly feel like one less employee and this ceases to be a business. It's just me and a few helpers.
I wish there were a positive way to frame all this, but it's just horrible. April, it should rain, but lately, although I shouldn't, I can't escape the feeling that this business is just cursed and doomed.
It's hard not to get superstitious. It's hard to keep believing that things will improve if you've gone years without seeing the improvement.
At least the government did everything in its power to save the Wall Street bankers. The rest of us are too small to matter.
Carbs, Facebook and Movies
I went on a carbohydrate bonanza last night and I have to be honest, I don't feel that great today. Inspired by the movie "fat head", I've been on a reduced carb diet, and honestly, I've been very happy with it.
Now, I'm NOT on Atkins or a no-carb diet or anything of the sort. I think those are actually kinda dangerous. I'm just reducing my carbs from 300-500 grams a day to maybe 100-150. Enough carbs to keep the diet balanced. However, much less than I am used to eating.
Given my druthers, I'd druther eat a diet that had very little meat in it and a ton of carbs. However, I think both of those things work at cross-purposes to losing weight. I don't have a scale, and I've also amped up my workouts, but so far, I'm getting good results with the new diet.
Based on how I feel right now, I won't be rushing back into a high carb diet any time soon.
I saw "The Social Network" last night, and I had been avoiding watching it for some time, now. Frankly, the movie was excellent, but the reason I avoided watching it was true to the mark.
I didn't want to watch it because it would make me feel inadequate as far as what I have achieved in life. I will probably go to my deathbed kicking myself for not being bolder and wiser in my life. Timid and stupid is a bad combination.
The reason I say this is that in 1987, I was a computer science major. By the time 1988 came around, I was a computer science major with a 3.97 gpa.
I should have been on the forefront of the internet revolution. I should have moved to Palo Alto and really gone wild.
Instead, I was preoccupied with making money. So, I worked way too much in college. One thing led to another, and the end result was 6 years in college to get a degree in Information Systems.
Even so, that was 1993, and I could have moved out to Palo Alto. Instead, I took the only local job I could find and worked for a manufacturing company while I got my MBA at night.
Then, it was 1997. Third opportunity. I could have moved out to Palo Alto. Instead, I stuck around, took a promotion, was finally making good (but not great) money.
Hearing or watching stories about internet gozillionaires is, to me, like being reminded about how close I was to making something extraordinary of my life. I had the right general idea, but lacked the guts and vision to move to silicon valley to make something happen.
Now, I'm not saying I had the vision to be Jeff Bezos or Jeff Zuckerberg. If there's one thing I lack, it's vision. However, I had the ability to be a programmer in a startup.
Ah well. You can make yourself crazy at my age by thinking of all the ways you could have done things differently. That's probably the stuff that mid-life crises are made of.
Now, I'm NOT on Atkins or a no-carb diet or anything of the sort. I think those are actually kinda dangerous. I'm just reducing my carbs from 300-500 grams a day to maybe 100-150. Enough carbs to keep the diet balanced. However, much less than I am used to eating.
Given my druthers, I'd druther eat a diet that had very little meat in it and a ton of carbs. However, I think both of those things work at cross-purposes to losing weight. I don't have a scale, and I've also amped up my workouts, but so far, I'm getting good results with the new diet.
Based on how I feel right now, I won't be rushing back into a high carb diet any time soon.
I saw "The Social Network" last night, and I had been avoiding watching it for some time, now. Frankly, the movie was excellent, but the reason I avoided watching it was true to the mark.
I didn't want to watch it because it would make me feel inadequate as far as what I have achieved in life. I will probably go to my deathbed kicking myself for not being bolder and wiser in my life. Timid and stupid is a bad combination.
The reason I say this is that in 1987, I was a computer science major. By the time 1988 came around, I was a computer science major with a 3.97 gpa.
I should have been on the forefront of the internet revolution. I should have moved to Palo Alto and really gone wild.
Instead, I was preoccupied with making money. So, I worked way too much in college. One thing led to another, and the end result was 6 years in college to get a degree in Information Systems.
Even so, that was 1993, and I could have moved out to Palo Alto. Instead, I took the only local job I could find and worked for a manufacturing company while I got my MBA at night.
Then, it was 1997. Third opportunity. I could have moved out to Palo Alto. Instead, I stuck around, took a promotion, was finally making good (but not great) money.
Hearing or watching stories about internet gozillionaires is, to me, like being reminded about how close I was to making something extraordinary of my life. I had the right general idea, but lacked the guts and vision to move to silicon valley to make something happen.
Now, I'm not saying I had the vision to be Jeff Bezos or Jeff Zuckerberg. If there's one thing I lack, it's vision. However, I had the ability to be a programmer in a startup.
Ah well. You can make yourself crazy at my age by thinking of all the ways you could have done things differently. That's probably the stuff that mid-life crises are made of.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Oh, great, as if I needed another reason to get the heeby jeebies...
US News literally JUST came out with their grad-school rankings. University of Toledo? Just a few years ago, they were in the top 100. Now? They're in the 4th (worst) tier. These are the schools so bad, they don't want to humiliate them by giving them numerical rankings. (This year, they actually gave rankings to the 3rd tier.)
I couldn't begin to tell you why UT has fallen so badly in the past few years.
It's amazing how much difference good leadership can make. When I attended CWRU for b-school, it had a reputation as one of the best b-schools in the country. It had been considered one of the best, since the merger of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University. The dean left, the b-school started plummetting. It's now sitting at around #80, which is solid, but basically a total yawner as far as claiming academic excellence.
There are two schools that are within realistic driving distance for me. There's University of Michigan and University of Toledo. So, as far as low schools go, the choice is between one of the best law schools in the country and one of the worst.
I really wish I could chose a nice median choice like Case. They're sitting at 61 for law, and their office of career services reflects their standing. They have a lot more firms coming to campus than Toledo.
Now, I'm not one who lives and dies by the US News Rankings. They're an imperfect instrument. I highly doubt that the #60 school is that different than the #40 school or the #80 school. I mean, yeah, subtly different, but not enough that I think a person should automatically go to #40 instead of #60.
But for crying out loud, I don't think anybody would deny that schools in, say, the top 20 are clearly better than schools in the 80 to 100 range. And schools ranked #150-ish can hardly claim with a straight face that they are comparable to schools in the top 50.
I don't think the rankings give you the merit of a school in exact precision, but they do give you the ballpark.
Toledo's ballpark just got a whole lot crappier.
I'm still going to the new student meet and greet on Saturday. This is a pretty disheartening development, though. Whether it ultimately affects my decision or not, I really don't know.
I couldn't begin to tell you why UT has fallen so badly in the past few years.
It's amazing how much difference good leadership can make. When I attended CWRU for b-school, it had a reputation as one of the best b-schools in the country. It had been considered one of the best, since the merger of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University. The dean left, the b-school started plummetting. It's now sitting at around #80, which is solid, but basically a total yawner as far as claiming academic excellence.
There are two schools that are within realistic driving distance for me. There's University of Michigan and University of Toledo. So, as far as low schools go, the choice is between one of the best law schools in the country and one of the worst.
I really wish I could chose a nice median choice like Case. They're sitting at 61 for law, and their office of career services reflects their standing. They have a lot more firms coming to campus than Toledo.
Now, I'm not one who lives and dies by the US News Rankings. They're an imperfect instrument. I highly doubt that the #60 school is that different than the #40 school or the #80 school. I mean, yeah, subtly different, but not enough that I think a person should automatically go to #40 instead of #60.
But for crying out loud, I don't think anybody would deny that schools in, say, the top 20 are clearly better than schools in the 80 to 100 range. And schools ranked #150-ish can hardly claim with a straight face that they are comparable to schools in the top 50.
I don't think the rankings give you the merit of a school in exact precision, but they do give you the ballpark.
Toledo's ballpark just got a whole lot crappier.
I'm still going to the new student meet and greet on Saturday. This is a pretty disheartening development, though. Whether it ultimately affects my decision or not, I really don't know.
My Great Depression Event
I just remarked to my sister in law that this recession is going to be my "Great Depression event". That's really true.
There are some families that are getting through this whole thing relatively unscathed. They are managing to hang on to their jobs, and their companies are doing well. If I had to guess, I'd say most people are in that boat. Even so, if you used to be a two wage earner family and one of you loses a job, you may be able to survive, but the changes are going to be dramatic.
Worse yet are the folks whose sole source of income got wiped out. Those folks are in trouble.
I'm not far ahead of them. Small business is perilous during the best of times, but during the worst of times, we're right on the front lines. We take more than our share of casualties. I'm no exception.
It occurs to me that even though most of my grandparents' generation were depression babies, that their generation probably fared best out of the depression.
They earned everything they got, but by the time they hit middle age, they had survived the depths of the depression and won a world war. They were tough, resilient, self-reliant. Not that anybody would chose to go through the depression, but it contributed to what they became.
In John F. Kennedy's innaugural address, he told the world that, "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans. Born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage."
Okay, JFK didn't suffer much during the depression, at least not because of the economy. However, he was right to describe his generation in such glowing terms.
Most of the accomplishments that the baby boomers like to give themselves credit for were due primarily to their parents' generation, not theirs. Rosa Parks wasn't a baby boomer. The civil rights attorneys fighting all over the country were not predominantly a bunch of 20-somethings. Ralph Nader was born in 1934, not 1948.
The boomers, of course, would like us to believe that they saved the world when, in reality, all they really did was to re-discover recreational drugs, shoddy clothing and bad hygiene.
It was the greatest generation that changed the world. The greatest generation put men on the moon. The greatest generation gave us the civil rights act of 1964. Only a generation forged in a fire of adversity could achieve such great things.
The boomers, with their conspicuous lack of adversity could never have made these major strides.
I think this economic climate is our generation's great depression. Sure, there are few soup kitchens or bread lines, and this isn't nearly as bad as the depression, but it's a horrific experience just the same.
The reason I think about this isn't so much for the impact on the greatest generation. My son's generation will be the next incarnation of the greatest generation. They will, in all likelihood, buckle down and work hard. They'll value self-reliance. They will re-examine the materialism and selfishness that the boomers held as core values.
The reason I think about this is that the depression destroyed a lot of people. Financially, emotionally, and in many other ways. Those who are worst hit by our current recession are those who were at the end of their working lives. When a 58 year old loses his or her job, it's highly likely that they'll never have well-paid work again, ever. If they consume their retirement savings to stay afloat until they can file for social security, it's gone, forever, never to return.
They simply don't have time or opportunity to rebuild, and in the last decade or two of your life, it's not realistic to think you would.
So, it could be much worse for me. If I were 10 years older, I'd probably be a lot more panic-stricken and more dejected by events.
Still, it's not coming at a great time in my life, either. Small business is essentially an all or nothing gamble and right now, the needle is pointing ever more slightly at "nothing" than at "all."
On the bright side, advances in medical science have allowed us to live longer. I may have to work into my 70s, but the bright side is that I probably will be able to.
I also live in a time of tremendous opportunity. I'm going back to school to embark on a 3rd career. What an amazing era of opportunity. Don't like what you're doing? Then do something else. Simple as that. In all of human history, how many people have had the luxury of living in a time like this.
Every day, though, I live with the fear that this thing will wipe me out. That I'll end up having to start again from zero at my age.
So, I just fight from day to day, to try and stay afloat. I know I'm not alone in this, but it doesn't really make things any easier.
There are some families that are getting through this whole thing relatively unscathed. They are managing to hang on to their jobs, and their companies are doing well. If I had to guess, I'd say most people are in that boat. Even so, if you used to be a two wage earner family and one of you loses a job, you may be able to survive, but the changes are going to be dramatic.
Worse yet are the folks whose sole source of income got wiped out. Those folks are in trouble.
I'm not far ahead of them. Small business is perilous during the best of times, but during the worst of times, we're right on the front lines. We take more than our share of casualties. I'm no exception.
It occurs to me that even though most of my grandparents' generation were depression babies, that their generation probably fared best out of the depression.
They earned everything they got, but by the time they hit middle age, they had survived the depths of the depression and won a world war. They were tough, resilient, self-reliant. Not that anybody would chose to go through the depression, but it contributed to what they became.
In John F. Kennedy's innaugural address, he told the world that, "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans. Born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage."
Okay, JFK didn't suffer much during the depression, at least not because of the economy. However, he was right to describe his generation in such glowing terms.
Most of the accomplishments that the baby boomers like to give themselves credit for were due primarily to their parents' generation, not theirs. Rosa Parks wasn't a baby boomer. The civil rights attorneys fighting all over the country were not predominantly a bunch of 20-somethings. Ralph Nader was born in 1934, not 1948.
The boomers, of course, would like us to believe that they saved the world when, in reality, all they really did was to re-discover recreational drugs, shoddy clothing and bad hygiene.
It was the greatest generation that changed the world. The greatest generation put men on the moon. The greatest generation gave us the civil rights act of 1964. Only a generation forged in a fire of adversity could achieve such great things.
The boomers, with their conspicuous lack of adversity could never have made these major strides.
I think this economic climate is our generation's great depression. Sure, there are few soup kitchens or bread lines, and this isn't nearly as bad as the depression, but it's a horrific experience just the same.
The reason I think about this isn't so much for the impact on the greatest generation. My son's generation will be the next incarnation of the greatest generation. They will, in all likelihood, buckle down and work hard. They'll value self-reliance. They will re-examine the materialism and selfishness that the boomers held as core values.
The reason I think about this is that the depression destroyed a lot of people. Financially, emotionally, and in many other ways. Those who are worst hit by our current recession are those who were at the end of their working lives. When a 58 year old loses his or her job, it's highly likely that they'll never have well-paid work again, ever. If they consume their retirement savings to stay afloat until they can file for social security, it's gone, forever, never to return.
They simply don't have time or opportunity to rebuild, and in the last decade or two of your life, it's not realistic to think you would.
So, it could be much worse for me. If I were 10 years older, I'd probably be a lot more panic-stricken and more dejected by events.
Still, it's not coming at a great time in my life, either. Small business is essentially an all or nothing gamble and right now, the needle is pointing ever more slightly at "nothing" than at "all."
On the bright side, advances in medical science have allowed us to live longer. I may have to work into my 70s, but the bright side is that I probably will be able to.
I also live in a time of tremendous opportunity. I'm going back to school to embark on a 3rd career. What an amazing era of opportunity. Don't like what you're doing? Then do something else. Simple as that. In all of human history, how many people have had the luxury of living in a time like this.
Every day, though, I live with the fear that this thing will wipe me out. That I'll end up having to start again from zero at my age.
So, I just fight from day to day, to try and stay afloat. I know I'm not alone in this, but it doesn't really make things any easier.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Baseball Season, 2011 Edition
Really, when I look at my life, I've got one thing that's not going so well: my business. I've got one thing that's going spectacularly beyond my most unreasonable hopes: my son.
Really, I would much rather have it that way than the other way around. My son, Logan, is my pride and joy. If you have a child, you really understand, at a fundamental level, what "pride and joy" means.
Logan has been a very active child his entire life. He was born to manipulate the propulsion of spherical objects through three dimensional space from time he could toddle.
Baseball, so far, has been the first competitive sport where he showed aptitude. However, he's been working hard on basketball lately, and I think his chances of making the Junior Cats next year are pretty good. He's always been a kid where a little goes a long way. You show him what he needs to do, and then, your job as a parent, is to keep him from working himself down to a nub.
I'll try to get him a practice session or two a week. When the weather improves, we'll go down to the playground so he can shoot around. Sometime in early Summer, the schools have open gym on Sunday evenings for basketball players. He really needs to do that if he plans on playing Cats next year.
Football is all he can think about, though. He's never played a down of football in pads, but he is ready to go. The football program here starts for 5th graders. They begin with 4 days a week of conditioning. I'm pretty excited about it. I think he'll do well. He's always been one of the naturally fastest kids in his age group.
In the mean time, his baseball workouts have gone very well. He's making a good case for himself to get some innings as a pitcher. He hits better now than he did last year, but then, everybody has improved. Though, this year, it's pretty obvious that you can't take for granted that the kids will be as good, relatively, as they were last year.
Some of the kids in the middle have closed the gap with some of the kids at the top. Logan's best friend on the team, Sam, basically went into an off-season baseball program and it is paying huge dividends this year. I've honestly seen very few people of any age work as hard in the offseason as Sam did. I absolutely have never seen a 9/10 year old do it. The kid lives and breathes baseball.
So, I'm just eager to see how it goes this year. Logan's stroke at the plate is pretty impressive. There are a couple of fields we play on where Logan could go yard. He was among the team's leaders last year in power numbers. I think he may have led the team in triples. He also had two hits that were among the very hardest that anybody on the team hit.
His coaches have also noticed that he's amped up his performance a bit. Last year, he really flew under the radar in pre-season workouts. This year, I think the coaches are a bit more sold on him and they have bigger expectations for him. That will probably mean giving him a few more opportunities to shine. For instance, last year, he started the season batting either 10th or somewhere near it, out of 11 kids. By the end of the season, he led in a couple of offensive categories, and because of his speed, got put up to leadoff hitter.
They really didn't have a position for him to play, and he bounced around here and there getting a fair rotation, but by the end of the season, he has solidly established himself as the team's starting centerfielder. If we'd named a league all-star team, I would have put his chances at being an all-league selection at CF as being pretty high.
All this speculation, though, is just that. Last year, Logan was pretty average in practice, but turned it up a notch at gametime. Other players went the other direction. If Logan manages to turn it up a notch at gametime this year, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
He's just the best little kid and I feel blessed to be able to be his Dad. Even if the rest of the world were to crash around my feet, if I can just help Logan along the path he's naturally drawn to, my life would be complete.
Really, I would much rather have it that way than the other way around. My son, Logan, is my pride and joy. If you have a child, you really understand, at a fundamental level, what "pride and joy" means.
Logan has been a very active child his entire life. He was born to manipulate the propulsion of spherical objects through three dimensional space from time he could toddle.
Baseball, so far, has been the first competitive sport where he showed aptitude. However, he's been working hard on basketball lately, and I think his chances of making the Junior Cats next year are pretty good. He's always been a kid where a little goes a long way. You show him what he needs to do, and then, your job as a parent, is to keep him from working himself down to a nub.
I'll try to get him a practice session or two a week. When the weather improves, we'll go down to the playground so he can shoot around. Sometime in early Summer, the schools have open gym on Sunday evenings for basketball players. He really needs to do that if he plans on playing Cats next year.
Football is all he can think about, though. He's never played a down of football in pads, but he is ready to go. The football program here starts for 5th graders. They begin with 4 days a week of conditioning. I'm pretty excited about it. I think he'll do well. He's always been one of the naturally fastest kids in his age group.
In the mean time, his baseball workouts have gone very well. He's making a good case for himself to get some innings as a pitcher. He hits better now than he did last year, but then, everybody has improved. Though, this year, it's pretty obvious that you can't take for granted that the kids will be as good, relatively, as they were last year.
Some of the kids in the middle have closed the gap with some of the kids at the top. Logan's best friend on the team, Sam, basically went into an off-season baseball program and it is paying huge dividends this year. I've honestly seen very few people of any age work as hard in the offseason as Sam did. I absolutely have never seen a 9/10 year old do it. The kid lives and breathes baseball.
So, I'm just eager to see how it goes this year. Logan's stroke at the plate is pretty impressive. There are a couple of fields we play on where Logan could go yard. He was among the team's leaders last year in power numbers. I think he may have led the team in triples. He also had two hits that were among the very hardest that anybody on the team hit.
His coaches have also noticed that he's amped up his performance a bit. Last year, he really flew under the radar in pre-season workouts. This year, I think the coaches are a bit more sold on him and they have bigger expectations for him. That will probably mean giving him a few more opportunities to shine. For instance, last year, he started the season batting either 10th or somewhere near it, out of 11 kids. By the end of the season, he led in a couple of offensive categories, and because of his speed, got put up to leadoff hitter.
They really didn't have a position for him to play, and he bounced around here and there getting a fair rotation, but by the end of the season, he has solidly established himself as the team's starting centerfielder. If we'd named a league all-star team, I would have put his chances at being an all-league selection at CF as being pretty high.
All this speculation, though, is just that. Last year, Logan was pretty average in practice, but turned it up a notch at gametime. Other players went the other direction. If Logan manages to turn it up a notch at gametime this year, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
He's just the best little kid and I feel blessed to be able to be his Dad. Even if the rest of the world were to crash around my feet, if I can just help Logan along the path he's naturally drawn to, my life would be complete.
Trying to Shrink my Radical Middle
Okay, I'm back on the wagon. Was doing well in the Fall, but then there was some wierdness about my treadmill. (Don't ask and don't get me started. Really.) I also did a vacation to Disney with my boy. The diet went out the window, then the holidays approached.
Now, I'm back on the diet. A few little tweaks to it, though. I'm going a little lower carb and a little higher fat because of some things from the documentary "Fat Head". I'm not sure where my scale is, but I'll start weighing myself, soon.
The workouts have changed, too. I'm going 50% rower workouts and 50% treadmill. So far, so good. No problems with hips, knees or ankles and such.
The other day I bought a bunch of those Starkist tuna salad kits. They give you a packet of tuna, some light mayo and some relish. You mix it up yourself and you put it on ritz crackers.
I figured that was an expensive way to go. So, I've been buying canned tuna, mayo, relish, eggs and crackers to make the stuff myself. Good stuff and not nearly as bad for me as I would have thought at first.
I'm also including a few more breakfasts that are actual eggs with turkey bacon. Oatmeal, I'm convinced, is a miracle food, but it gets sorta gacky chocking the stuff down now and then. Need a little variety in the diet, anyway.
I have my Navy weigh-in next month, which only gives me a few more weeks to try and bring my weight down. We'll see how it goes. Even when I'm over the weight standard, I always fall within tape standards. (Tape is a rough body-fat approximation.)
After that, I just need to pass the fitness test. That used to not be much of a big deal when I was younger. These days, the situps and pushups aren't a problem, but the run gets harder every year. Losing weight will help with that, of course.
Now, I'm back on the diet. A few little tweaks to it, though. I'm going a little lower carb and a little higher fat because of some things from the documentary "Fat Head". I'm not sure where my scale is, but I'll start weighing myself, soon.
The workouts have changed, too. I'm going 50% rower workouts and 50% treadmill. So far, so good. No problems with hips, knees or ankles and such.
The other day I bought a bunch of those Starkist tuna salad kits. They give you a packet of tuna, some light mayo and some relish. You mix it up yourself and you put it on ritz crackers.
I figured that was an expensive way to go. So, I've been buying canned tuna, mayo, relish, eggs and crackers to make the stuff myself. Good stuff and not nearly as bad for me as I would have thought at first.
I'm also including a few more breakfasts that are actual eggs with turkey bacon. Oatmeal, I'm convinced, is a miracle food, but it gets sorta gacky chocking the stuff down now and then. Need a little variety in the diet, anyway.
I have my Navy weigh-in next month, which only gives me a few more weeks to try and bring my weight down. We'll see how it goes. Even when I'm over the weight standard, I always fall within tape standards. (Tape is a rough body-fat approximation.)
After that, I just need to pass the fitness test. That used to not be much of a big deal when I was younger. These days, the situps and pushups aren't a problem, but the run gets harder every year. Losing weight will help with that, of course.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
My Grandfather, Francis Holsclaw, Just Passed Away
My grandpa Holsclaw just passed away. It happened a few days ago and I've spent the past few days wrestling with what, of anything, to blog on the subject.
He was pretty much the first larger than life hero I ever met. He flew bombers in World War II and until I got my eyeglass prescription in the 6th grade, I wanted to fly airplanes in the Air Force, just like he did.
His life accomplishments were impressive. However, that's not what stands out most prominently about him in my memory. It was simply the demeanor he presented to the world.
He was calm, commonsense, reasonable. He was basically the kind of man I wanted to grow up to be.
The Holsclaws are my stepmom's family. However, he and my grandma Holsclaw never made me feel as though I was anything other than a complete and full member of their family.
I remember once when I was in my early teens, my grandmother saw me slouching and said, "Walk with your shoulders back and stand tall. You're a (awkward pause)... well... you're a part Holsclaw." It was a funny exchange where she didn't think to realize until halfway through the sentence that I wasn't actually Holsclaw at all, genetically. But family extends beyond bloodlines.
The Holsclaws used to pay my airfare, in the era of exceptionally expensive, regulated air travel, for me to come spend time with them in the Summers about every other year.
I loved California. My time at their house was some of the fondest memories of my childhood. They had a motorcycle that they let me ride all over their property. They had a swimming pool. The climate was heavenly, and when I was 14, that is where I first kissed a girl.
Grandpa was a greatest generation guy. He really fit that description to a tee. Tall, handsome, patriotic. Probably the closest thing I ever met to a real life John Wayne.
My grandparents loomed large in my childhood since my parents weren't really involved in my upbringing. Primarily, of course, it was my Strebler grandparents who raised me. However, the Holsclaws were also a huge part of my life and of me becoming who I am.
Grandma Holsclaw passed away recently. Grandpa just the other day. Grandpa Strebler passed away years ago, when I was still in college.
Grandma is still around, and I'm thankful for that.
I know this is the natural order of things. That older generations pass and younger generations rise up to take their place. I'm here straddling the middle.
If viewed in that light, then it's every generation's obligation to pass the torch responsibly to the next generation.
I can only hope my generation is as successful as his was. I can only hope that I'll leave as positive imprint on the world as he did.
I'll miss you, Grandpa.
He was pretty much the first larger than life hero I ever met. He flew bombers in World War II and until I got my eyeglass prescription in the 6th grade, I wanted to fly airplanes in the Air Force, just like he did.
His life accomplishments were impressive. However, that's not what stands out most prominently about him in my memory. It was simply the demeanor he presented to the world.
He was calm, commonsense, reasonable. He was basically the kind of man I wanted to grow up to be.
The Holsclaws are my stepmom's family. However, he and my grandma Holsclaw never made me feel as though I was anything other than a complete and full member of their family.
I remember once when I was in my early teens, my grandmother saw me slouching and said, "Walk with your shoulders back and stand tall. You're a (awkward pause)... well... you're a part Holsclaw." It was a funny exchange where she didn't think to realize until halfway through the sentence that I wasn't actually Holsclaw at all, genetically. But family extends beyond bloodlines.
The Holsclaws used to pay my airfare, in the era of exceptionally expensive, regulated air travel, for me to come spend time with them in the Summers about every other year.
I loved California. My time at their house was some of the fondest memories of my childhood. They had a motorcycle that they let me ride all over their property. They had a swimming pool. The climate was heavenly, and when I was 14, that is where I first kissed a girl.
Grandpa was a greatest generation guy. He really fit that description to a tee. Tall, handsome, patriotic. Probably the closest thing I ever met to a real life John Wayne.
My grandparents loomed large in my childhood since my parents weren't really involved in my upbringing. Primarily, of course, it was my Strebler grandparents who raised me. However, the Holsclaws were also a huge part of my life and of me becoming who I am.
Grandma Holsclaw passed away recently. Grandpa just the other day. Grandpa Strebler passed away years ago, when I was still in college.
Grandma is still around, and I'm thankful for that.
I know this is the natural order of things. That older generations pass and younger generations rise up to take their place. I'm here straddling the middle.
If viewed in that light, then it's every generation's obligation to pass the torch responsibly to the next generation.
I can only hope my generation is as successful as his was. I can only hope that I'll leave as positive imprint on the world as he did.
I'll miss you, Grandpa.
Vegans vs. The Universe
Okay, my cousin's husband just called me to task on my last blog post about Supersize Me and Fat Head.
He's calling me out, rightly so, for saying that vegans are a bunch of militant hippies with no upper body strength. To prove his point, he mentioned that his wife, my cousin, the Amazon workout freak, is a vegan.
Honestly, I didn't know this. Erin, his wife, is one of the two fittest people I know. The other being my buddy Patrick. Both of them are crossfitters. Both of them are in incredible shape. Both of them take their fitness to include not just workouts, but diets as well.
Now, my point in the previous post wasn't really to bag on vegans. It was to bag on Supersize Me and I used vegans to illustrate two basic points.
First, that sometimes people have an agenda regarding food. With vegans, that agenda is pretty obvious. It's partly nutritional, but it's also political. This could be said about a lot of groups in the food debate, including the guys who make the nutritional pyramid. Honestly, the controversy about the new food pyramid was probably akin to what I'd expect about a debate on whether it's prudent for 15 year olds to be sexually active. I still can't believe the controversy that thing stirred up.
Second, that veganism, or any diet, has advantages and disadvantages. I believe the advantages of being a vegan outweigh the disadvantages, but there are disadvantages. I think that generally speaking, it is not the optimal diet for a person trying to add strength.
Doesn't mean you can't add strength. It means it's harder and more problematic than it would be on other diets.
Most of the vegans I know are admirably slender. Frankly, they're some of the most physically attractive people I know of, generally speaking.
So, if looking good and feeling good are your goal, veganism is probably a great choice. You should be aware of the potential vitamin deficiencies that could result. You should do something to make sure you're getting sufficient iron, but as a lifestyle choice, this one isn't bad, and is better than most.
The bottom line is, there are dangers with a vegan diet. If you account for them, you're going to be fine. Is it a perfect diet? No. Is it a good diet? Yeah, I'd say on balance, it can be.
You'll notice a lot of shading, here. I've acknowledged a lot of benefits of veganism. So, why not endorse it wholeheartedly?
Because I believe you can achieve all those benefits with a non-vegan diet as well. In fact, I think if you add some lean animal meats to a vegan diet, you'd have a great diet. Trouble is, you can't add lean animal meats to a vegan diet.
This is where I want to illustrate a principle. I was watching a TV show the other day where a woman testified that she did 45 minutes of Windsor pilates every day for a month and came out with a physique that resembled something halfway between a runway model and a playboy centerfold.
I didn't doubt it for a moment. I wasn't the least bit skeptical. Why? Because 45 minutes a day of any workout routine is going to get you into enviable physical condition. We aren't in bad health because we're doing the wrong exercises. We're in bad health because we're doing NO exercises.
If you did P90X every day? You'd be in great shape. If you lift weights for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape. If you went to the crossfit gym every day? You'd be in great shape. If you ran for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape. If you did your rowing machine for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape.
In fact, if you went to your backyard, got down on all fours and crawled around like a dog for 45 minutes a day, you'd be in great shape.
See the pattern here? It almost doesn't matter (within reason) what activity you chose. If you do it regularly, for long enough and with some intensity, you'll not just be in good shape, but you'll be in great shape.
Same thing with diets, but with some very serious caveats, which I'll add at the end.
What vegans are eating is important. You want to make sure it's a balanced diet. However, what's probably more important is what they're NOT eating. They're not eating ice cream every night. They're not eating a giant plate of nachos drenched in cheese. They're not eating a bag of fries as a mid-afternoon snack. They're not eating a snickers bar to sustain them until lunch.
All sorts of diets can work, if you approach them with a high degree of self-discipline. One of the best diets I ever did was one where I ate chicken breast or lean beef, rice, vegetables, etc. The diet was highly planned out, nutritionally complete and allowed me to lose weight and feel great.
More importantly, what was NOT on the diet were the things I mentioned above. I wasn't eating candy. I wasn't eating ice cream. I wasn't snacking on fatty foods, etc.
A well-planned, disciplined diet works. Within limits, it doesn't matter which one you chose.
So, that's why I say a vegan diet is good, but that I tend to shade away from it. I think it could be better. Now, in practice, probably 90% of the country would benefit from going vegan because 90% of the country is giving no thought, whatsoever, to what they're eating.
So, this may be a case of not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good. If you're eating vegan and it works for you, I take my hat off to you.
We could debate 'til the sun goes down about whether adding some lean meat to your diet would be beneficial. I will not be able to sway a single vegan on the planet.
Ultimately, the diet that works is the diet you can stick to and incorporate into your day-to-day life. Period. If that's a vegan diet, then get down with your bad self.
Personally, what I'm settling in on is a "lower" (though not "low") carb, balanced diet.
It works for me, it might not work for you. We should all eat what we think is right, and frankly, if you're thinking about what you're eating and eating in an even remotely disciplined manner, you're way ahead of most folks.
Now, for the caveats: you can eat a diet that's nutritionally incomplete. That's just common sense. So, you should be aware of this fact and avoid doing that. However, you can achieve good results with diets that I think are genuinely bad for you, like Atkins. What will always work best in the long run is a nutritionally complete diet, and Atkins isn't.
You can lose a lot of weight eating just cottage cheese and peaches. There are actually dietary clinics where this is the menu. Does it let you lose weight? Yes, at astounding rates. Is it a good idea? No, I really don't think it is.
He's calling me out, rightly so, for saying that vegans are a bunch of militant hippies with no upper body strength. To prove his point, he mentioned that his wife, my cousin, the Amazon workout freak, is a vegan.
Honestly, I didn't know this. Erin, his wife, is one of the two fittest people I know. The other being my buddy Patrick. Both of them are crossfitters. Both of them are in incredible shape. Both of them take their fitness to include not just workouts, but diets as well.
Now, my point in the previous post wasn't really to bag on vegans. It was to bag on Supersize Me and I used vegans to illustrate two basic points.
First, that sometimes people have an agenda regarding food. With vegans, that agenda is pretty obvious. It's partly nutritional, but it's also political. This could be said about a lot of groups in the food debate, including the guys who make the nutritional pyramid. Honestly, the controversy about the new food pyramid was probably akin to what I'd expect about a debate on whether it's prudent for 15 year olds to be sexually active. I still can't believe the controversy that thing stirred up.
Second, that veganism, or any diet, has advantages and disadvantages. I believe the advantages of being a vegan outweigh the disadvantages, but there are disadvantages. I think that generally speaking, it is not the optimal diet for a person trying to add strength.
Doesn't mean you can't add strength. It means it's harder and more problematic than it would be on other diets.
Most of the vegans I know are admirably slender. Frankly, they're some of the most physically attractive people I know of, generally speaking.
So, if looking good and feeling good are your goal, veganism is probably a great choice. You should be aware of the potential vitamin deficiencies that could result. You should do something to make sure you're getting sufficient iron, but as a lifestyle choice, this one isn't bad, and is better than most.
The bottom line is, there are dangers with a vegan diet. If you account for them, you're going to be fine. Is it a perfect diet? No. Is it a good diet? Yeah, I'd say on balance, it can be.
You'll notice a lot of shading, here. I've acknowledged a lot of benefits of veganism. So, why not endorse it wholeheartedly?
Because I believe you can achieve all those benefits with a non-vegan diet as well. In fact, I think if you add some lean animal meats to a vegan diet, you'd have a great diet. Trouble is, you can't add lean animal meats to a vegan diet.
This is where I want to illustrate a principle. I was watching a TV show the other day where a woman testified that she did 45 minutes of Windsor pilates every day for a month and came out with a physique that resembled something halfway between a runway model and a playboy centerfold.
I didn't doubt it for a moment. I wasn't the least bit skeptical. Why? Because 45 minutes a day of any workout routine is going to get you into enviable physical condition. We aren't in bad health because we're doing the wrong exercises. We're in bad health because we're doing NO exercises.
If you did P90X every day? You'd be in great shape. If you lift weights for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape. If you went to the crossfit gym every day? You'd be in great shape. If you ran for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape. If you did your rowing machine for 45 minutes a day? You'd be in great shape.
In fact, if you went to your backyard, got down on all fours and crawled around like a dog for 45 minutes a day, you'd be in great shape.
See the pattern here? It almost doesn't matter (within reason) what activity you chose. If you do it regularly, for long enough and with some intensity, you'll not just be in good shape, but you'll be in great shape.
Same thing with diets, but with some very serious caveats, which I'll add at the end.
What vegans are eating is important. You want to make sure it's a balanced diet. However, what's probably more important is what they're NOT eating. They're not eating ice cream every night. They're not eating a giant plate of nachos drenched in cheese. They're not eating a bag of fries as a mid-afternoon snack. They're not eating a snickers bar to sustain them until lunch.
All sorts of diets can work, if you approach them with a high degree of self-discipline. One of the best diets I ever did was one where I ate chicken breast or lean beef, rice, vegetables, etc. The diet was highly planned out, nutritionally complete and allowed me to lose weight and feel great.
More importantly, what was NOT on the diet were the things I mentioned above. I wasn't eating candy. I wasn't eating ice cream. I wasn't snacking on fatty foods, etc.
A well-planned, disciplined diet works. Within limits, it doesn't matter which one you chose.
So, that's why I say a vegan diet is good, but that I tend to shade away from it. I think it could be better. Now, in practice, probably 90% of the country would benefit from going vegan because 90% of the country is giving no thought, whatsoever, to what they're eating.
So, this may be a case of not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good. If you're eating vegan and it works for you, I take my hat off to you.
We could debate 'til the sun goes down about whether adding some lean meat to your diet would be beneficial. I will not be able to sway a single vegan on the planet.
Ultimately, the diet that works is the diet you can stick to and incorporate into your day-to-day life. Period. If that's a vegan diet, then get down with your bad self.
Personally, what I'm settling in on is a "lower" (though not "low") carb, balanced diet.
It works for me, it might not work for you. We should all eat what we think is right, and frankly, if you're thinking about what you're eating and eating in an even remotely disciplined manner, you're way ahead of most folks.
Now, for the caveats: you can eat a diet that's nutritionally incomplete. That's just common sense. So, you should be aware of this fact and avoid doing that. However, you can achieve good results with diets that I think are genuinely bad for you, like Atkins. What will always work best in the long run is a nutritionally complete diet, and Atkins isn't.
You can lose a lot of weight eating just cottage cheese and peaches. There are actually dietary clinics where this is the menu. Does it let you lose weight? Yes, at astounding rates. Is it a good idea? No, I really don't think it is.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Supersize Jimmy
Just saw a great documentary, "Fat Head", where the guy goes on a fast-food-only diet for 30 days. He actually manages to lose a lot of weight (12 pounds). This documentary is a direct jab at "Supersize Me" where a guy goes on a McDonald's diet for 30 days and gains a ton of weight. Well... 25 pounds to be precise.
In both documentaries, they go to doctors before and afterwards and the doctors verify that weight wasn't just gained or lost, but that basic measures of health corresponded.
I have always had trouble with Supersize Me, and not just for the guy's child-molester fu manchu mustache.
The first problem I had with it was that he drank gigantic full-sugar (or corn syrup) sodas. In fact, I sorta wonder if towards the end, he was starting to panic when his weight-gain plateaued and his numbers started to improve. Because, it appears that he wanted a milkshake with pretty much every meal in week 3 and beyond. Can't say for sure: he doesn't provide the public with his food diary. Set aside the idea of drinking 3 servings of ice cream with every meal, and let's talk about sugary soda.
McDonald's didn't invent soda with sugar in it. In fact, you can buy soda with sugar in it nearly anywhere. McDonald's wasn't even the first place where you could buy a big one. Those of us who are a little older can remember when the 32 ounce big gulp from 7-11 was the cultural sign for sugared beverage excess. Today, 32 ounces is considered a pretty pedestrian size. The big drinks I get at McDonalds are usually in excess of 40 ounces.
So, I don't think you can lay the calories from the sodas at McDonald's door. Roughly speaking, a can of sugary soda is about 200 calories. A big McDonald's drink is equivalent to 3 or 4 of them. So, if you got a big drink, 3 times a day, you could literally be drinking about 2,000 calories in beverages, alone. Not only is this common sense, but one of his technical experts in the movie flat-out tells him to stop drinking his calories and, at the very least, drink water or some other non-caloric beverage to add some sanity to his diet.
2,000 calories, times 30 days is 60,000 calories. If the math is right (and in this case, the 3,500 calories = 1 pound isn't that good as far as explaining weight loss or gain, but I'll go into that in a minute), then his beverages, alone, should have accounted for almost 20 pounds of weight gain.
During the documentary, he gained 25 pounds. Again, the math is wonky on this, and I'll go into that in a bit, but basically, the bulk of his weight gain might have been avoided if he did everything the same, but ordered diet coke instead of coke.
The second problem I have with Supersize Me is that the guy is just a giant P***Y. I ate pretty much that exact diet. Not for a month, but probably for something like 11 years. Seriously. From about 1987, when I got out of the Army, until about 1998 when I started training for my first marathon.
I wasn't the picture of health. I'll admit that. I gained weight. I'll admit that. I probably weighed about 190-ish when I got out of the Army. I ballooned up to about 225 at one point. So, literally, over the course of 11 years, I gained somewhere on order of 30 to 35 pounds. That's 3 pounds per year.
During the first 3 years of that period, I also consumed at least a six pack a day of full-sugar soda, too. I switched to diet because I noticed some weight gain.
Also note that we're talking about the period of time where I went from being 21 years old to being 32 years old. It's not that unusual to gain weight during this time.
I'm not saying that my weight gain was due to just getting older. I mean, what, maybe 5 pounds or so would be a natural and healthy weight gain during that period.
I gained weight because my diet wasn't very good and my physical activity was ridiculously little.
Which brings me to problem #3 with Supersize Me: he basically stopped getting physical activity. In fact, he limited the amount he walked every day to less than he usually walked.
So, okay, he's blaming McDonald's for the fact that he gained 25 pounds. However, he drank sugary soda (which wasn't invented by McDonald's and is served or sold in pretty much any place that serves or sells food). He ate McDonald's, three meals a day, every day. He limited his physical movement.
Essentially, he deliberately ate the most ridiculous diet he could conceive. In the end, he gained 25 pounds, which, he attributes to McDonald's.
The first warning bell that went off for me while watching this thing was that his girlfriend was a vegan chef. In a way, he seemed to fit the profile of somebody who ate low calorie, low fat food. He was very thin. He did have high blood pressure, but frankly, those types of things are so frequently genetic and not related to anything behavioral that I can't really draw a conclusion there.
However, he does a fitness assessment at the start of the movie, and I couldn't help but notice that he appeared to do only about 35 push-ups. Pushups have been an area of expertise for me ever since I got off the bus at Fort Dix for basic training. For a dude, 35 push-ups is what would be considered "not many". In fact, 35 push-ups, for a man, is what would be considered, "very weak and not in very good shape". It would be indicative of a person who has a serious deficiency of upper body strength.
Which, in a way, affirms a little bit about what I suspect vegans end up becoming: very thin people who aren't very strong. Fine, they look good, and this guy's physique was something to be commended. Being strong isn't that important in society, but I'm just mentioning this to illustrate that diets have consequences. Good diets have good consequences. Bad diets have bad ones. However, even good diets, like a vegan diet (which I will admit, has more good going for it than bad), may have some negative consequences if you pursue it mindlessly.
He does say in the movie that he eats meat and has no intention of becoming a vegan. However, living with a vegan chef probably influenced his diet a lot. I know that if I lived with a vegan chef, I'd be eating a lot of vegan.
The thing I notice when the movie starts is that this guy is impressively thin. With his lack of strength, I do tend to wonder if he was maybe a tad underweight. (Don't get me started on BMI. That's such a total joke that anybody who believes it probably couldn't pass the requisite science to get a bachelor's degree in biology.)
If so, then eating a high-fat diet, especially abruptly, would probably be a huge shock to his system. In the end of the movie, he even notes that during the last week of his insane "diet", his blood-analysis numbers actually improve. He probably settled into something approximating a reasonable weight for himself and his body was no longer in shock. It looks like he actually lost weight during the last week.
So, if you eat McDonald's, yes, you're going to get fat. However, if you eat vegan, it's possible that any reasonably fit 12 year old will whip your ass in a fistfight because you can barely do 35 push-ups. When I was in the Army, that was not enough to let you graduate basic training. I believe that today, that's not enough to let you START basic training. This guy is literally weaker than essentially every male in the Army.
The fact that this guy's girlfriend was a vegan chef tells me that there may be the slight possibility that this guy had an agenda going into this thing. I don't know how many vegans you've met, but despite the patchouli and incense hippie nature of the vegan vibe, some of them can be militant "meat is murder" type people sometimes. They can be zealots and like many zealots, they don't care a lot about the means they use to advance their cause, so long as it advances their cause.
Now, he's not a vegan, but at one point in the movie, he talks to her and they mention how they hate the system that produces food the way it does or somesuch. This is obviously a topic of conversation in their household and something they both believe in. (The details aren't that obvious in the movie, but it is clear tht they both have a problem with the food industry. I'm not talking about McDonald's when I say "the food industry". I mean, the industry that produces food that's not vegan.)
So, bottom line, I don't like the guy. I think he had an agenda and that agenda wasn't to try and find the truth, whatever the truth may be. I think his conclusion is BS. I want to find a reasonably fit 12 year old to whip his ass.
To me, the biggest problem I have with his conclusion is that nobody forces anybody to eat at McDonald's. This is a point he acknowledges, but then he immediately says that McDonalds should stop selling super sized cokes and fries.
What? Whose business is that? I really like being able to buy a bucket of diet coke for $1. If McDonald's wants to sell it to me, what right does he or anybody else have to demand that they don't?
Yes, I really do wish that healthy food choices were as convenient as a McDonald's drive thru. I really, really do.
I just don't see how that's McDonald's problem.
One of my favorite dishes to get at take-out is Thai Pad Chicken noodles. If I want them, I go to a place that sells them. I don't berate McDonald's for not selling them. If you go to McDonald's, you know what they sell. To me, being mad that McDonald's doesn't sell healthy food is like being mad that the Chevy dealer won't sell you a Honda or Lexus.
To their credit, McDonalds sell salads and apple fries and all sorts of stuff that truly is better for you. Guess what. I don't buy that stuff. Neither does almost anybody else. McDonald's has to keep that stuff on the menu because some activist is going to make a big stink because they don't offer healthy choices, otherwise.
Perhaps the best quote I ever heard regarding cheeseburgers came from a dietician who said, "There is nothing wrong with eating a cheeseburger. I just ate one. The thing is, you can't eat it every day. However, if you want to have one, and you have it once a week or once every two weeks, there is no harm from it at all."
People are people. We overindulge. We eat stuff that's bad for us. Nobody is shutting down Godiva Chocolates. They sell food that's horrible for you, and I sincerely doubt you could live on that for 30 days or 11 years, or really any amount of time.
So, enough about Supersize Me. There are fans of the documentary, and I'm not one of them. The guy seems like the worst kind of activist who has decided that he knows the best way to live, and he wants to prevent anybody else from living any other way.
In fact, a note that I find particularly hilarious is that they say, basically, that McDonald's is evil for putting playgrounds in their restaurants. One of the people interviewed says that in some neighborhoods, there are no other playgrounds. Okay, let's accept that premise for a minute: that the only place you can find a playground in some parts of the country is at McDonald's.
In Fat Head, they point out that if nobody else is providing a playground for children, and McDonalds does, how does that make McDonald's bad? They're the only entity providing a place for kids to play and that makes them bad? I don't get that line of logic at all.
So, on to Fat Head.
The counter-argument is coming from a guy who made "Fat Head". I love this documentary. Not just because the guy is infinitely more entertaining, infinitely less pompous and generally does a better job of presenting factual information. I love it because he points out some problems with the way we try to lose weight.
This is the part where I admit that I struggle with my weight. I don't think anybody who sees me would call me obese, but I clearly weigh more than I should and more than I want to.
One thing I've always thought was a total crock was the calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss.
It doesn't work that way. (If it did, then Supersize Me guy would have gained probably more like 50 or 60 pounds). In fact, at the end of the movie, his weight basically plateaus at a tad over 200 pounds. This is despite eating about 5,000 calories a day. If calories were all that mattered, he should have gained over 10 pounds a week, every week, like he did in his first week.
Now this is controversial. You have guys who swear up and down that this is true and it works this way every time and you can't ignore math.
Personally, I think this theory, at best, illustrates a general principle, but doesn't do it with any precision, at all, and frequently doesn't explain what happens in the real world.
According to this theory, a calorie of fat, carbohydrate, or protien is treated exactly the same by your body. That's simply not true and anybody who asserts this doesn't have the slightest clue as to what they're talking about.
I figure this is probably one of those things like when they tell an alcoholic that alcoholism is a disease. It's not. Or, if it is, it's the only disease that's instantly cured by making better decisions. It's just that sometimes you can get a good result by shading the truth a little bit.
On the calories in - calories out side, yeah, it's better than nothing. If you believe this, it's possible that it could help you make lifestyle changes that do, indeed, cause you to lose weight.
However, I've used it to try and lose weight and I never lose as much weight as the formula says I should. I also notice that when I go off the wagon and eat whatever I want, I also don't gain as much weight as the formula says I should.
The documentary says that perhaps fat isn't the problem in diets. Instead, that it's carbohydrates.
To prove it, the guy eats at McDonald's, but avoids french fries. He also gets diet soda, or iced tea, or lite lemonade, and avoids the sugary beverages. He also doesn't eat 6 McDoubles at a sitting. He eats, say, one Big Mac, and that's it. (Note, he isn't going carb-free. He isn't throwing away the bun from his hamburger. He's just reducing the amount of total carbs he eats.)
Yeah, the diet has a little more to it than that, but not much. That's about 90% of the diet.
When I thought about it, I've heard people say that fat is good and that fat is bad. I've heard people say that meat is good and that meat is bad. I've heard people say vegetable oil is good and vegetable oil is bad.
There's a lot of controversy in dietary circles.
However, I honestly don't ever remember anybody who said that french fries are anything other than little dietary death sticks.
So, if nothing else, the movie has gotten me to basically give up french fries for life. I think this is going to be one of those quantum changes like giving up sugary soda. There is so little consensus among dietary "experts" that when you find one thing that 100% of them agree on, you might want to consider embracing it.
In any event, this "eat the burger, not the fries" theory is actually borne out by an example from Supersize Me of a guy who eats 2 or 3 Big Macs a day, but has perfectly healthy weight (he's actually on the thin side) and great cholesterol. Seriously, Supersize Me gives you an exact case study in a guy who is eating this diet and it is working.
Now, the rest of the deitary advice in the documentary is controversial to say the least. However, I am wondering if perhaps I do need to incorporate more animal fats into a healthy diet.
He is working on some theories that are tangent to a lot of diets, the most notable and recent being paleo diets. Basically, that we weren't meant to consume all these carbs. That we were not meant to consume ANY vegetable oils or corn syrup. Finally, that our diet was meant to include meat. Yes, we did murder the meat to get it. Usually this involved running after it, but that's getting into exercise, which is a different subject, altogether.
I also notice that (insert ominious government conspiracy theory music, here), our current obesity epidemic coincides with the timing of when everybody switched from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup. Corn is heavily subsidized by the government, making it one of the cheapest foods in the country. That means that when you drink a sugary soda, it's not generally sweetened by sugar, it's sweetened by corn syrup. All these corn oils and stuff we cook with? Probably has more to do with cheapness than goodness.
Now, we've basically been sold on the idea that corn stuff is better than other stuff, but now that I think about it, the logic appears to be: corn is better than fatty beef. Thus, corn oil is better than beef tallow.
The more I think about it, the more I see that although this may be true, it also may not be. We've simply been given no evidence at all. Well... a little evidence, and frankly, corn products are turning up on the losing side more and more as the evidence comes in.
How does this all relate to me? My dieting tends to be one of two varieties. Option one: eat anything, any time, gain weight. Option two: eat low-fat, calorie controlled, to lose the weight I gained with option one.
I'm actually going to try incorporating some more fat into option two. That's actually a bit of a new twist and one of the things I've never tried before.
I'm also going to try focusing a little on eating fewer carbs. I'm not going to eliminate them or go all Atkins or anything, though.
I figure that I can eat the equivalent of two slices of bread or a serving of rice, 3 meals a day, and still come in around 100 grams of carbs.
As a final note: I should point out that I'm not advocating that anybody take up an all fast food diet, like I did for 11 years. It wasn't good for me. My health clearly didn't benefit from it. I may have done lasting damage to my body. It probably hastened the arrival of my first heart attack. (Which has not happened, yet... knock on wood.)
I'm just saying that it wasn't as damaging as Supersize Me suggests. I didn't gain 25 pounds a month. In fact, that's probably in the ballpark of what the fast-food diet caused me to gain over the course of a decade, with the rest of the weight gain more than attributable to getting older and not exercising.
Now, you'll notice that I'm a little defensive about McDonald's here, and I'm going to give you a reason why. When I got my first real job, I made less than $30,000 a year to start. I made enough to pay rent, make my car payment, and meet my basic living needs and that was about it. I tried to save maybe $50 a month, but usually a blown tire or some other calamity reduced my savings to zero on a pretty regular basis.
I wasn't poor. I know what poverty looks like, and during a few months in my life, I got way too close to it for comfort. However, I was struggling.
At that time, my meals consisted of a very, very large amount of the following:
1. A chinese restaurant on the way home from work would sell me a pint of rice and a pint of sweet and sour soup for $2. (Granted, this isn't fast-food per se, but it's exceedingly high in fat and carbs, making it pretty close to the nutritional value of fast-food.)
2. McDonald's, at that time, had a combo called the "All American Hamburger Meal." It was almost never on the menu. You had to know it existed and ask for it. You got a medium soft drink, small fries and a hamburger. It cost $2 as well.
At the time, I was going to night school (a very, very demanding, research-oriented school) and was pursuing a certification. So, saying I should have gone to farmer's markets and bought fresh produce and cooked it myself was just out of the question.
At the time, I remember watching a TV documentary on people in prisons and they mentioned that they got 8 hours of recreational activity a week. I thought, "I don't get 8 recreational hours a week and I haven't done anything wrong."
So, I was broke and I had no time. McDonald's food wasn't good for me. I know that. I wasn't delusional. But it was cheap and fast and kept me alive at a time when I had darned few other options.
It kept me going until a point in my life where I had the money to buy better food. To me, it was never a destination, but a way to get to a destination.
So, for somebody to say that McDonalds is evil, or they shouldn't be allowed to sell X, Y or Z, or that people who shop there are stupid, just rings of unnecessary paternalism to me.
If I want a big mac value meal, I should be able to buy one. If they want to supersize it, then I should be able to buy it if I want to. Period.
If I'm broke and the only option is to either get fat or to go hungry, guess what? I'd rather get fat.
I'm just not a big fan of beating up on a business that sells a product that's perfectly legal, perfectly safe (if used reasonably) and that, at one point in my life, really helped me get through. Yes, McDonald's food is dangerous, even deadly, if eaten improperly.
However, what's "improper"? Both of these movies showed an example of guys who ate at McDonald's every day and were the picture of perfect health. Fat Head even provides some scientific rationale to back it up.
I'm for people having all the information they need so they can make the best choices for them. Then, I'm for government and activists and busybodies of all kinds to just butt out.
In both documentaries, they go to doctors before and afterwards and the doctors verify that weight wasn't just gained or lost, but that basic measures of health corresponded.
I have always had trouble with Supersize Me, and not just for the guy's child-molester fu manchu mustache.
The first problem I had with it was that he drank gigantic full-sugar (or corn syrup) sodas. In fact, I sorta wonder if towards the end, he was starting to panic when his weight-gain plateaued and his numbers started to improve. Because, it appears that he wanted a milkshake with pretty much every meal in week 3 and beyond. Can't say for sure: he doesn't provide the public with his food diary. Set aside the idea of drinking 3 servings of ice cream with every meal, and let's talk about sugary soda.
McDonald's didn't invent soda with sugar in it. In fact, you can buy soda with sugar in it nearly anywhere. McDonald's wasn't even the first place where you could buy a big one. Those of us who are a little older can remember when the 32 ounce big gulp from 7-11 was the cultural sign for sugared beverage excess. Today, 32 ounces is considered a pretty pedestrian size. The big drinks I get at McDonalds are usually in excess of 40 ounces.
So, I don't think you can lay the calories from the sodas at McDonald's door. Roughly speaking, a can of sugary soda is about 200 calories. A big McDonald's drink is equivalent to 3 or 4 of them. So, if you got a big drink, 3 times a day, you could literally be drinking about 2,000 calories in beverages, alone. Not only is this common sense, but one of his technical experts in the movie flat-out tells him to stop drinking his calories and, at the very least, drink water or some other non-caloric beverage to add some sanity to his diet.
2,000 calories, times 30 days is 60,000 calories. If the math is right (and in this case, the 3,500 calories = 1 pound isn't that good as far as explaining weight loss or gain, but I'll go into that in a minute), then his beverages, alone, should have accounted for almost 20 pounds of weight gain.
During the documentary, he gained 25 pounds. Again, the math is wonky on this, and I'll go into that in a bit, but basically, the bulk of his weight gain might have been avoided if he did everything the same, but ordered diet coke instead of coke.
The second problem I have with Supersize Me is that the guy is just a giant P***Y. I ate pretty much that exact diet. Not for a month, but probably for something like 11 years. Seriously. From about 1987, when I got out of the Army, until about 1998 when I started training for my first marathon.
I wasn't the picture of health. I'll admit that. I gained weight. I'll admit that. I probably weighed about 190-ish when I got out of the Army. I ballooned up to about 225 at one point. So, literally, over the course of 11 years, I gained somewhere on order of 30 to 35 pounds. That's 3 pounds per year.
During the first 3 years of that period, I also consumed at least a six pack a day of full-sugar soda, too. I switched to diet because I noticed some weight gain.
Also note that we're talking about the period of time where I went from being 21 years old to being 32 years old. It's not that unusual to gain weight during this time.
I'm not saying that my weight gain was due to just getting older. I mean, what, maybe 5 pounds or so would be a natural and healthy weight gain during that period.
I gained weight because my diet wasn't very good and my physical activity was ridiculously little.
Which brings me to problem #3 with Supersize Me: he basically stopped getting physical activity. In fact, he limited the amount he walked every day to less than he usually walked.
So, okay, he's blaming McDonald's for the fact that he gained 25 pounds. However, he drank sugary soda (which wasn't invented by McDonald's and is served or sold in pretty much any place that serves or sells food). He ate McDonald's, three meals a day, every day. He limited his physical movement.
Essentially, he deliberately ate the most ridiculous diet he could conceive. In the end, he gained 25 pounds, which, he attributes to McDonald's.
The first warning bell that went off for me while watching this thing was that his girlfriend was a vegan chef. In a way, he seemed to fit the profile of somebody who ate low calorie, low fat food. He was very thin. He did have high blood pressure, but frankly, those types of things are so frequently genetic and not related to anything behavioral that I can't really draw a conclusion there.
However, he does a fitness assessment at the start of the movie, and I couldn't help but notice that he appeared to do only about 35 push-ups. Pushups have been an area of expertise for me ever since I got off the bus at Fort Dix for basic training. For a dude, 35 push-ups is what would be considered "not many". In fact, 35 push-ups, for a man, is what would be considered, "very weak and not in very good shape". It would be indicative of a person who has a serious deficiency of upper body strength.
Which, in a way, affirms a little bit about what I suspect vegans end up becoming: very thin people who aren't very strong. Fine, they look good, and this guy's physique was something to be commended. Being strong isn't that important in society, but I'm just mentioning this to illustrate that diets have consequences. Good diets have good consequences. Bad diets have bad ones. However, even good diets, like a vegan diet (which I will admit, has more good going for it than bad), may have some negative consequences if you pursue it mindlessly.
He does say in the movie that he eats meat and has no intention of becoming a vegan. However, living with a vegan chef probably influenced his diet a lot. I know that if I lived with a vegan chef, I'd be eating a lot of vegan.
The thing I notice when the movie starts is that this guy is impressively thin. With his lack of strength, I do tend to wonder if he was maybe a tad underweight. (Don't get me started on BMI. That's such a total joke that anybody who believes it probably couldn't pass the requisite science to get a bachelor's degree in biology.)
If so, then eating a high-fat diet, especially abruptly, would probably be a huge shock to his system. In the end of the movie, he even notes that during the last week of his insane "diet", his blood-analysis numbers actually improve. He probably settled into something approximating a reasonable weight for himself and his body was no longer in shock. It looks like he actually lost weight during the last week.
So, if you eat McDonald's, yes, you're going to get fat. However, if you eat vegan, it's possible that any reasonably fit 12 year old will whip your ass in a fistfight because you can barely do 35 push-ups. When I was in the Army, that was not enough to let you graduate basic training. I believe that today, that's not enough to let you START basic training. This guy is literally weaker than essentially every male in the Army.
The fact that this guy's girlfriend was a vegan chef tells me that there may be the slight possibility that this guy had an agenda going into this thing. I don't know how many vegans you've met, but despite the patchouli and incense hippie nature of the vegan vibe, some of them can be militant "meat is murder" type people sometimes. They can be zealots and like many zealots, they don't care a lot about the means they use to advance their cause, so long as it advances their cause.
Now, he's not a vegan, but at one point in the movie, he talks to her and they mention how they hate the system that produces food the way it does or somesuch. This is obviously a topic of conversation in their household and something they both believe in. (The details aren't that obvious in the movie, but it is clear tht they both have a problem with the food industry. I'm not talking about McDonald's when I say "the food industry". I mean, the industry that produces food that's not vegan.)
So, bottom line, I don't like the guy. I think he had an agenda and that agenda wasn't to try and find the truth, whatever the truth may be. I think his conclusion is BS. I want to find a reasonably fit 12 year old to whip his ass.
To me, the biggest problem I have with his conclusion is that nobody forces anybody to eat at McDonald's. This is a point he acknowledges, but then he immediately says that McDonalds should stop selling super sized cokes and fries.
What? Whose business is that? I really like being able to buy a bucket of diet coke for $1. If McDonald's wants to sell it to me, what right does he or anybody else have to demand that they don't?
Yes, I really do wish that healthy food choices were as convenient as a McDonald's drive thru. I really, really do.
I just don't see how that's McDonald's problem.
One of my favorite dishes to get at take-out is Thai Pad Chicken noodles. If I want them, I go to a place that sells them. I don't berate McDonald's for not selling them. If you go to McDonald's, you know what they sell. To me, being mad that McDonald's doesn't sell healthy food is like being mad that the Chevy dealer won't sell you a Honda or Lexus.
To their credit, McDonalds sell salads and apple fries and all sorts of stuff that truly is better for you. Guess what. I don't buy that stuff. Neither does almost anybody else. McDonald's has to keep that stuff on the menu because some activist is going to make a big stink because they don't offer healthy choices, otherwise.
Perhaps the best quote I ever heard regarding cheeseburgers came from a dietician who said, "There is nothing wrong with eating a cheeseburger. I just ate one. The thing is, you can't eat it every day. However, if you want to have one, and you have it once a week or once every two weeks, there is no harm from it at all."
People are people. We overindulge. We eat stuff that's bad for us. Nobody is shutting down Godiva Chocolates. They sell food that's horrible for you, and I sincerely doubt you could live on that for 30 days or 11 years, or really any amount of time.
So, enough about Supersize Me. There are fans of the documentary, and I'm not one of them. The guy seems like the worst kind of activist who has decided that he knows the best way to live, and he wants to prevent anybody else from living any other way.
In fact, a note that I find particularly hilarious is that they say, basically, that McDonald's is evil for putting playgrounds in their restaurants. One of the people interviewed says that in some neighborhoods, there are no other playgrounds. Okay, let's accept that premise for a minute: that the only place you can find a playground in some parts of the country is at McDonald's.
In Fat Head, they point out that if nobody else is providing a playground for children, and McDonalds does, how does that make McDonald's bad? They're the only entity providing a place for kids to play and that makes them bad? I don't get that line of logic at all.
So, on to Fat Head.
The counter-argument is coming from a guy who made "Fat Head". I love this documentary. Not just because the guy is infinitely more entertaining, infinitely less pompous and generally does a better job of presenting factual information. I love it because he points out some problems with the way we try to lose weight.
This is the part where I admit that I struggle with my weight. I don't think anybody who sees me would call me obese, but I clearly weigh more than I should and more than I want to.
One thing I've always thought was a total crock was the calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss.
It doesn't work that way. (If it did, then Supersize Me guy would have gained probably more like 50 or 60 pounds). In fact, at the end of the movie, his weight basically plateaus at a tad over 200 pounds. This is despite eating about 5,000 calories a day. If calories were all that mattered, he should have gained over 10 pounds a week, every week, like he did in his first week.
Now this is controversial. You have guys who swear up and down that this is true and it works this way every time and you can't ignore math.
Personally, I think this theory, at best, illustrates a general principle, but doesn't do it with any precision, at all, and frequently doesn't explain what happens in the real world.
According to this theory, a calorie of fat, carbohydrate, or protien is treated exactly the same by your body. That's simply not true and anybody who asserts this doesn't have the slightest clue as to what they're talking about.
I figure this is probably one of those things like when they tell an alcoholic that alcoholism is a disease. It's not. Or, if it is, it's the only disease that's instantly cured by making better decisions. It's just that sometimes you can get a good result by shading the truth a little bit.
On the calories in - calories out side, yeah, it's better than nothing. If you believe this, it's possible that it could help you make lifestyle changes that do, indeed, cause you to lose weight.
However, I've used it to try and lose weight and I never lose as much weight as the formula says I should. I also notice that when I go off the wagon and eat whatever I want, I also don't gain as much weight as the formula says I should.
The documentary says that perhaps fat isn't the problem in diets. Instead, that it's carbohydrates.
To prove it, the guy eats at McDonald's, but avoids french fries. He also gets diet soda, or iced tea, or lite lemonade, and avoids the sugary beverages. He also doesn't eat 6 McDoubles at a sitting. He eats, say, one Big Mac, and that's it. (Note, he isn't going carb-free. He isn't throwing away the bun from his hamburger. He's just reducing the amount of total carbs he eats.)
Yeah, the diet has a little more to it than that, but not much. That's about 90% of the diet.
When I thought about it, I've heard people say that fat is good and that fat is bad. I've heard people say that meat is good and that meat is bad. I've heard people say vegetable oil is good and vegetable oil is bad.
There's a lot of controversy in dietary circles.
However, I honestly don't ever remember anybody who said that french fries are anything other than little dietary death sticks.
So, if nothing else, the movie has gotten me to basically give up french fries for life. I think this is going to be one of those quantum changes like giving up sugary soda. There is so little consensus among dietary "experts" that when you find one thing that 100% of them agree on, you might want to consider embracing it.
In any event, this "eat the burger, not the fries" theory is actually borne out by an example from Supersize Me of a guy who eats 2 or 3 Big Macs a day, but has perfectly healthy weight (he's actually on the thin side) and great cholesterol. Seriously, Supersize Me gives you an exact case study in a guy who is eating this diet and it is working.
Now, the rest of the deitary advice in the documentary is controversial to say the least. However, I am wondering if perhaps I do need to incorporate more animal fats into a healthy diet.
He is working on some theories that are tangent to a lot of diets, the most notable and recent being paleo diets. Basically, that we weren't meant to consume all these carbs. That we were not meant to consume ANY vegetable oils or corn syrup. Finally, that our diet was meant to include meat. Yes, we did murder the meat to get it. Usually this involved running after it, but that's getting into exercise, which is a different subject, altogether.
I also notice that (insert ominious government conspiracy theory music, here), our current obesity epidemic coincides with the timing of when everybody switched from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup. Corn is heavily subsidized by the government, making it one of the cheapest foods in the country. That means that when you drink a sugary soda, it's not generally sweetened by sugar, it's sweetened by corn syrup. All these corn oils and stuff we cook with? Probably has more to do with cheapness than goodness.
Now, we've basically been sold on the idea that corn stuff is better than other stuff, but now that I think about it, the logic appears to be: corn is better than fatty beef. Thus, corn oil is better than beef tallow.
The more I think about it, the more I see that although this may be true, it also may not be. We've simply been given no evidence at all. Well... a little evidence, and frankly, corn products are turning up on the losing side more and more as the evidence comes in.
How does this all relate to me? My dieting tends to be one of two varieties. Option one: eat anything, any time, gain weight. Option two: eat low-fat, calorie controlled, to lose the weight I gained with option one.
I'm actually going to try incorporating some more fat into option two. That's actually a bit of a new twist and one of the things I've never tried before.
I'm also going to try focusing a little on eating fewer carbs. I'm not going to eliminate them or go all Atkins or anything, though.
I figure that I can eat the equivalent of two slices of bread or a serving of rice, 3 meals a day, and still come in around 100 grams of carbs.
As a final note: I should point out that I'm not advocating that anybody take up an all fast food diet, like I did for 11 years. It wasn't good for me. My health clearly didn't benefit from it. I may have done lasting damage to my body. It probably hastened the arrival of my first heart attack. (Which has not happened, yet... knock on wood.)
I'm just saying that it wasn't as damaging as Supersize Me suggests. I didn't gain 25 pounds a month. In fact, that's probably in the ballpark of what the fast-food diet caused me to gain over the course of a decade, with the rest of the weight gain more than attributable to getting older and not exercising.
Now, you'll notice that I'm a little defensive about McDonald's here, and I'm going to give you a reason why. When I got my first real job, I made less than $30,000 a year to start. I made enough to pay rent, make my car payment, and meet my basic living needs and that was about it. I tried to save maybe $50 a month, but usually a blown tire or some other calamity reduced my savings to zero on a pretty regular basis.
I wasn't poor. I know what poverty looks like, and during a few months in my life, I got way too close to it for comfort. However, I was struggling.
At that time, my meals consisted of a very, very large amount of the following:
1. A chinese restaurant on the way home from work would sell me a pint of rice and a pint of sweet and sour soup for $2. (Granted, this isn't fast-food per se, but it's exceedingly high in fat and carbs, making it pretty close to the nutritional value of fast-food.)
2. McDonald's, at that time, had a combo called the "All American Hamburger Meal." It was almost never on the menu. You had to know it existed and ask for it. You got a medium soft drink, small fries and a hamburger. It cost $2 as well.
At the time, I was going to night school (a very, very demanding, research-oriented school) and was pursuing a certification. So, saying I should have gone to farmer's markets and bought fresh produce and cooked it myself was just out of the question.
At the time, I remember watching a TV documentary on people in prisons and they mentioned that they got 8 hours of recreational activity a week. I thought, "I don't get 8 recreational hours a week and I haven't done anything wrong."
So, I was broke and I had no time. McDonald's food wasn't good for me. I know that. I wasn't delusional. But it was cheap and fast and kept me alive at a time when I had darned few other options.
It kept me going until a point in my life where I had the money to buy better food. To me, it was never a destination, but a way to get to a destination.
So, for somebody to say that McDonalds is evil, or they shouldn't be allowed to sell X, Y or Z, or that people who shop there are stupid, just rings of unnecessary paternalism to me.
If I want a big mac value meal, I should be able to buy one. If they want to supersize it, then I should be able to buy it if I want to. Period.
If I'm broke and the only option is to either get fat or to go hungry, guess what? I'd rather get fat.
I'm just not a big fan of beating up on a business that sells a product that's perfectly legal, perfectly safe (if used reasonably) and that, at one point in my life, really helped me get through. Yes, McDonald's food is dangerous, even deadly, if eaten improperly.
However, what's "improper"? Both of these movies showed an example of guys who ate at McDonald's every day and were the picture of perfect health. Fat Head even provides some scientific rationale to back it up.
I'm for people having all the information they need so they can make the best choices for them. Then, I'm for government and activists and busybodies of all kinds to just butt out.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Depression, victory and defeat...
Yesterday I was as depressed as I can ever remember being. Strange since I got a notice that I'd just been accepted to the law school I applied to. Trouble is, there's been a lot of other stuff in my life that just sorta sucks.
I finally got caught up on bookkeeping for the biz. We did have a great month last month, but not so great this month. Things have really slowed down. This business has really taken a toll on me lately. As awesome as it was in 2007-2009, it's that bad, now. I am doing the best I can, but I sometimes wonder if this thing is going down. We just need more weather, especially rain.
My grandfather just died. He was my stepmother's Dad. Great guy. Flew bombers in WWII. Was always very kind to me. I wasn't a blood relative, but starting in the 2nd grade, they used to pay my airfare to come out and visit them about every other year through High School.
Some of my fondest memories of childhood are from visiting them. My grandmother on that side passed away a little while ago, too.
It wasn't unexpected in his case. He was in the final stages of alzheimer's disease. Not that you ever wish death on anybody, but honestly, I wouldn't want to keep living like that. Death isn't a good thing, but once quality if life is gone, sometimes it's not the worst thing.
I also had a scare recently. My grandmother had a heart issue. She's okay, now, but that was a big shock as well.
I think just under the weight of everything, I started to get a little mopey. I also noticed that I have been eating a very low fat diet the past few days. Just saw a documentary where they linked low-fat diets to depression. So, today, I made sure to get some fat.
All in all, a lot going on. I've got Navy coming up in April. I only need to go once more this fiscal year after that. However, I have to pay my own airfare down to Texas and rent a car. (Long story. Basically, I pay my own travel in order to drill with the unit I want to drill with.)
I'm about as broke now as I can ever remember being as an adult. So, between flying out for my grandpa's memorial service and flying down to Texas, it's going to be a hit. I honestly can't remember the last time I had to sweat so hard over such small amounts of money.
Sometimes, it just sucks to be me. I'll survive, but things really blow right now. I am hoping we get a ton of money in and things look up, soon.
I finally got caught up on bookkeeping for the biz. We did have a great month last month, but not so great this month. Things have really slowed down. This business has really taken a toll on me lately. As awesome as it was in 2007-2009, it's that bad, now. I am doing the best I can, but I sometimes wonder if this thing is going down. We just need more weather, especially rain.
My grandfather just died. He was my stepmother's Dad. Great guy. Flew bombers in WWII. Was always very kind to me. I wasn't a blood relative, but starting in the 2nd grade, they used to pay my airfare to come out and visit them about every other year through High School.
Some of my fondest memories of childhood are from visiting them. My grandmother on that side passed away a little while ago, too.
It wasn't unexpected in his case. He was in the final stages of alzheimer's disease. Not that you ever wish death on anybody, but honestly, I wouldn't want to keep living like that. Death isn't a good thing, but once quality if life is gone, sometimes it's not the worst thing.
I also had a scare recently. My grandmother had a heart issue. She's okay, now, but that was a big shock as well.
I think just under the weight of everything, I started to get a little mopey. I also noticed that I have been eating a very low fat diet the past few days. Just saw a documentary where they linked low-fat diets to depression. So, today, I made sure to get some fat.
All in all, a lot going on. I've got Navy coming up in April. I only need to go once more this fiscal year after that. However, I have to pay my own airfare down to Texas and rent a car. (Long story. Basically, I pay my own travel in order to drill with the unit I want to drill with.)
I'm about as broke now as I can ever remember being as an adult. So, between flying out for my grandpa's memorial service and flying down to Texas, it's going to be a hit. I honestly can't remember the last time I had to sweat so hard over such small amounts of money.
Sometimes, it just sucks to be me. I'll survive, but things really blow right now. I am hoping we get a ton of money in and things look up, soon.
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