Ken Nelson

Not a protein in sight.

This morning I went out to my hotel’s common room to read in its comfortable chairs.  The large space also serves as the breakfast room. 

Of the approximately 40 adults I counted, most were fat. Not ‘plump’, but fat. The rest were just overweight, except for one guy who was very skinny.  I suspect he was a meth user (based on tattoos, dress and other mannerisms).

So, including the meth guy, I figured… yep, all of them are going to be pretty expensive for the “free” health care I was forced to fund in 2010.

Since most of them likely aren’t spending their own tax dollars on their health care, they are spending my money  to cover their biscuit and gravy induced diabetes.  And I can’t say I’m too happy with their choice for my money. Nope. Not at all!  Not personally. And not as a nation.

If you want to force me to pay for nuclear plants so we can have cheap electricity… heck I might even chip in more than you ask.  But putting a gun to my head and forcing me to cover your pastry and Frosted Flakes habit… doesn’t that seem wrong even to you?

If you inherited diabetes, or had an accident, hey, …I’m happy to help. But paying for your Type 2 diabetes caused by a pancreas blown by a syrup and cola induced perpetual sugar load hardly seems “charity”. It’s theft.

As an aside, I asked myself, “What would happen if the hotel put out good food to eat?”. Sadly I knew the answer… A lot of chunky folks griping. Sigh.

Let’s get Diabetes!

http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity

Has facts that aren’t facts, but are plain wrong.  Science doesn’t back them up. Logic doesn’t back them up.  Most of what is there is pure poppycock, written in correct grammar.

I suspect that Michelle Obama’s genetics let her eat whatever she likes, in copious quantities, and not gain weight.  I’m similar. I’ve put on a bit of weight after my pituitary failed due to an accident, but I’ve spent most of my life eating everything I could and staying the same weight. Others aren’t so genetically fortunate.

About 60,000 generations of humans shaped human evolution during the Stone Age. Perhaps 10 have occurred in the Industrial Age. Maybe 600 in the age of agriculture.  Put another way, 99.something % of our human evolution and adaptation happened when we were hunter gatherers.

What do hunter gatherer’s eat?  Meat.  The fattest yummiest meat they can get their hands on. In percentages ranging from 80% to 100% of their daily nutrition.  When they eat fruit it, it is typically during a short period of the year, prior to “hard times”, also known as “winter”.  The plant material they gather is not dense in nutrition and is wrapped, generally, in hard to digest fiber.  Hunter gatherers are not fat.

Hunter gatherer’s do not have “western” diseases. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s are unheard of in their cultures. Yet, when they begin eating like us their rates of those diseases hit Western levels quickly.

So it would make sense, logically and historically, to want to eat as they do. And science backs that logic up. When you eat like a hunter gatherer you don’t get fat, you lose fat if you are fat, you are not lethargic, and your risk of many Western diseases such as diabetes and heart disease disappear.

So why would Michelle, and the USDA, and other parts of our government recommend this food plate:

Why would they recommend this really bad advice:

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
      ●     Make at least half your grains whole grains.
      ●     Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Why?  Do they want us to get diabetes?  Do they want us to have heart failure? Do they want us to be fat, lethargic and tired?

I don’t think they want us to do have those problems. But I think they care less about us than about their preconceived notion of how the world works. They treat nutrition like they treat economics – what works need not apply.

So my advice to the nation…. if you want to live a happy, healthy, economically prosperous life… DO EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT MICHELLE OBAMA and YOUR GOVERNMENT TELL YOU.

Eat this folks:

Fatty meats, some seaweed, and a few veggies

Or this:

(minus the corn chip)

or this:

Whatever you do… AVOID what Michelle and her USDA buddies recommend!

Somebody has big binge day plans…

Other blogging with continue though…

I intend to continue with the Four Hour Body approach to eating. I’m maintaining a great weight and I feel fantastic. Why would I change?

Alas, however, I’m bored with blogging it. I may, from time to time, blog something about it, but since my meals have remained relatively stable for about a month now, I doubt I’m adding much on the topic.

If Tim Ferriss ever pins down binge day, I’ll certainly pass that along.

For those of you interested in just my Four Hour Body posts you can set your subscriptions for e-mail notification to only be notified of posts in that category.  Or you can set an RSS reader to monitor this link.

And starting tomorrow, I’ll resume blogging mostly about other things. What those will be… I’ve no idea. Whatever grabs my fancy.

Thanks for all the comments and feedback. And best wishes to all of you that are continuing on using the 4 Hour Body as an aid for a happy and healthy life.

Start: 201
Today: 183.5

I tried to sleep a long time, like the night I dropped all the weight, but I just wake up. Darn it. I’m just not a long sleeper it seems.  Maybe once I kick in the exercise again.

Breakfast:

I had some veggies but didn’t throw them on. Instead I rummaged around in the fridge and came up with this:

Ham, Eggs, Salsa, Lentils, Sauerkraut

And, as you will probably guess, it tasted great… and I ate it all!

Lunch

I’m in the midst of starting a new venture, which is always an exciting, meeting filled time. So I had another lunch meeting, an interview with a promising candidate, today.  We went to Applebee’s. I started with a bowl of chili, and then had the Bourbon Street Steak:

Chili

Bourbon Street Steak

I ate most of it, although first scraping the cheese off the chili, and I didn’t eat too many of the onions.  Supposedly they are fine on 4HB, but they seem sugary, so I just nibbled on them.

The steak was well prepared, and muy delicisio , I ate it all, and most of the veggies (not shown).

As a reminder, pictures of all my Four Hour Body meals can be seen here.

Why We Get Fat (and what to do about it)

I reviewed the book a couple weeks back. Here is an interview with the author that you might find interesting.

And I agree with you: the world is full of obese and diabetic people who know enough not to eat sugar, but remain obese and diabetic. I could avoid sugar and go back to eating starches and put on 20 pounds of fat effortlessly. I’ve done it in the past — distant past. So I don’t buy the idea that avoiding sugar is enough to make an obese person lean again. And the people I know who believe that all tend to be somewhat plump despite their beliefs. In fact, I recently heard Dr. Lustig give a talk in San Francisco, and he acknowledged that he still has a weight problem, but doesn’t know what to do about it. Hmmm….

You will recall that he is in line with the 4 Hour Body belief that sugar and carb caused insulin resistance is what makes us fat.

He also describes fighting the “calories in / out” crowd, even in light of all the evidence (scientific and right in front of them) that that theory isn’t how fat actually happens.

Last time I went to SmashBurger I ate a jalapeno chicken salad.  I liked it.  But today, I noticed something in the menu that got me chatting with the manager… Veggie Frites.

Veggie Frites

Basically, wok fried veggies, flash fried for about 40 seconds in olive oil, rosemary and pepper. Cooked on the outside, still crisp on the inside. Super tasty.

And then I asked about no-bun chicken sandwiches, and they made me a chicken bacon wrap:

Both were very good. I ate them ALL.  The “wrap” part didn’t really pan out. So I ate it with a fork and knife.

Update…

Tasty, but not that filling.  I was hungry again at 3PM.  So I ate a snack of a protein shake

30g protein, 1g carb/sugar

and what I call a “hamturk” roll, where I roll turkey and ham deli meat together and munch it down like a burrito.

That should hold me til my late supper tonight.

Start: 201
This morning: 183

Yesterday, I implied I’m happy at 186 and feeling as peppy and clear headed as I’ve been feeling.  Note the weight this morning… my body disagrees. It says “lower Ken!”.

I’ll go along. And I sort of felt this coming. I’d been going hard for two weeks, and last night I slept from 9:30 or 10 til 8:30 this morning. An absurd amount of sleep for me.  As an example, the night before, not atypical, had been 1:30 to 6:15.

We will see what it says tomorrow, but if I was happy at 186, then I’m happier at 183.

Note that I’ve stopped the exercise portion due to a tweaked knee from other activities. I’ll resume that once it feels right.  I’m continuing various yoga stretches.

Dinner Last Night:

Simple – a pork chop seasoned with lemon pepper, and lentils just cooked in a hambone and onion.  Very tasty.

Breakfast…

Egg Beater w/salsa omelet.  Sauerkraut. Lentils.

I’d always put the salsa on the outside, but today I put it on the inside. The result was a yummy omelet.  I ate it all.

Start: 201
Today: 186

Another day, another reading of 186 pounds. I think I’ve found a good weight, and a comfortable mix of foods that keep me there.

Also, note that I’ve added an occasional diet coke and artificial sweetner back in to the mix, with little apparent damage.

And I feel energetic and headache free through the day.

I’m super busy at work and in my personal life, so I’m happy to maintain at this level.  Once things calm down a bit, or if I get the chance to take a mini-sabbatical a bit later this year, I’ll try and go the next 10 pounds by upping my exercise and being super strict on drinks/additives.

This morning… I had a breakfast meeting at the BearPaw Café

Salmon Quiche with Tomatoes as the Side

Tasty, filling, and I ate it all.

Then for lunch… another meeting, this time at Chilis.  Does this Army move on its stomach or what??   I went with a classic 4HB friendly option:

Margarita Chicken, with two sides of black beans.

Again, tasty, and I ate every last bit of it.

I also had no urge to eat the chips and salsa that came before hand.  They sat in front of me and were scarfed by others at the table.

We went to Biaggi’s at the Gateway Center in Salt Lake City for dinner.  We were worried… would it be just pasta?   No worries… they had lots of good options, including this absolutely delicious dish:

Turbo ala de Fuero

Turbo is a fish, sort of like flounder. They sautéed it and served over swiss chard, white beans and peppers in a broth of butter/red wine sauce.

Super tasty and 4HB friendly.

Just back from Vegas, rest 1/2 a day, and drive to Salt Lake City.  I’ve lived in hotels way more than home in the last 12 months!

Driving up we stopped at Denny’s… It had few options but what it had was good:

Rachero Tilapia w/ sauteed spinach.

It tasted good, but was too small a portion for the money.  I’d avoid Denny’s on the 4HB plan.

Then, once in downtown SLC, we walked over to one of our favorite places – Taifoon – a fusion Thai / Asian place near the Gateway outdoor mall.   

Thom Ka Ghai Soup, Lettuce Wraps, Basil Chicken w/ Asparagus

Ah… tasty!

This morning the Radisson had a buffet that was VERY 4HB friendly:

Forgot to take picture before eating…. It’s a veggie/ham omelet, with bacon, sausage and salmon on the side.

Today, Tejas for lunch.  I got the fajitas. I had to take a piece of their cornbread, which is probably wrong, but we’d waited too long to eat and I was hungry:

and the fajitas, to which I added beans and salsa (not shown):

Tejas is a good option for 4HB.

Start: 201lbs
This morning: 186 lbs

Well… that went well. A week in Vegas, lose a pound. You should try it (-:

I didn’t eat perfect, not by a long shot, but I tried to stay in sight of the diet. Lunch was tough. Dinner easier, except when we went to Gilly’s and the Fried Chicken looked so tasty.

No pictures… most of the places were too dark for good shots.

I chalk the weight loss up to staying close to the diet, and the exhausting physical pace I maintained.  I toted a heavy backpack full of iPads, iTouchs and a MacBook all over a huge convention center, hefting it up, down, giving demos, and walking miles and miles.  I was tuckered out each day.

And it’s good to be back to normal, sort of, now.

This morning…

Lentils, Spinach, Eggs with Ham diced in, sauerkraut, salsa.

It started well.  Steak and eggs arrived sharply at 0700 courtesy Treasure Island room service.  The steak was so-so, but the wait was excellent.

We hit Level 1 of 3 Levels today. It was crowded, busy, and the food options consisted of hotdog or hotdog.

So I ate a hotdog.

Dinner time came, and every place was crowded. I was already “binging” due to lunch, so I decided to call today binge day for the week and just eat some fried chicken.

I figured as binge days go it wouldn’t be too bad, since I’d walked about 15 miles.

Tomorrow I should do better because the upper floors of the show are closer to decent eating options.

I’ve never been to a big event in Vegas where they handled breakfast right. So this morning, as 10,000 people all woke up and wanted breakfast at the SHOT show hotels, breakfast became unavailable to those with a timeline.

So… I made due. Egg croisant and water at a Gloria Jean’s Coffee Shop, and I waited a half hour for it.  Sorry, I was too embarrassed to take a picture.

Lunch… better.  Turkey and veggies.  But I didn’t take a picture because it looked so pathetic and it cost me $20 in the “elite” NSSF (sponsor of the SHOT show) lounge.  At least I had no wait. 

Dinner… Ah… Dinner. I went back for that Fish Stew.  And although the wait was an hour, I used charm and friendliness to get a table right away.  Either that, or most of the crowd didn’t know the tables at the bar were self-serve.

It was a bit dark for a picture, so yesterday’s will have to suffice:

Tomorrow… for breakfast,  room service. Pricey, but a bit more predictable.

I’m at the SHOT show in Vegas. It is HUGE. You walk a bazillion miles to get there, and then a bazillion more examining the 2500 vendors.

I’ll be blogging very infrequently this week, but I’ll try to keep up with my food posts.

For breakfast, I’ve got good options… a buffet with 4 Hour Body friendly offerings:

All meat + veggie omelet, sausage, bacon, olives, dolmas

The above was tasty.  The dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) had rice, so I skipped them. Ate all the rest.

Lunch

Here it is harder. I have to go where others want to go. So I’m being accomodating and if I eat a bit bad, I’m okay with that.

Today, an excellent Italian place in the Venetian.  The tortured me by bringing this first:

I bit. I slowly munched on one of the hard rolls, dipping in oil/balsamic vinegar. Sorry!   Just one…

And then this AWESOME seafood stew:

Very tasty and TOTALLY 4HB friendly.  I left the bread alone, although I’m sure it would have tasted great when dipped in this soup.

So I’m trying… but resistance may be futile.  Let’s just hope that what I eat in Vegas… stays in Vegas (-: