Christmas is all around us

I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season. I do.

I really like Christmas movies, but I typically dislike Christmas music. One of my favorite Christmas movies for adults is Love Actually, which contains my favorite Christmas song. It's a parody, which I hate, but it's a parody only because it's so over the top and "serious" in the movie. If it existed in the real world, it would be lame, yet here it is, the opposite of lame.

It's a similar phenomenon to Spinal Tap. Once I was driving with a friend and on our local rock station, a Tap song came on. "This song is so &%$@! stupid!," he said. I had to explain the Spinal Tap concept, after which he calmed down, but still failed to appreciate it without having seen the movie. The next song came on, and a few minutes into it he was shaking his head in disgust once again. "I don't think I want to see this movie." I quickly changed the station, but there was really nothing I could say to this song's defense; it had been Blue Oyster Cult.

Back to Christmas... Here's the low quality, too quiet version of Billy Mack's music video. Seen here and there throughout the movie.



If you want hi-quality music, try this one.

Here's the "making of" segment..., which I can't embed.

I think I'll watch it again, tonight.

If you haven't seen it. I recommend it. It's only $7.99 on Amazon, so toss it in alongside your other holiday purchases and bump yourself up to that $25 for Super Saver Shipping. You'll probably watch it every year.

The Gallery of Unusual Fruit #7 - The Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't look at me like that, this is Greg's picture...

Emotional breakdowns on The Biggest Loser

Oh. My. God. These people are cry babies!

I had to fast forward through this...

This is the first season I've ever watched in it's entirety, since the training and diet plans are so bad that they make me want to cry, and I'm not even on the show!

Why are these guys crying so much? 

In my humble opinion, these breakdowns aren't really about how hard it is to lose weight. They aren't about a growling stomach. They cry, yell, scream, and fight because losing weight is more than a struggle against too many calories, salty snacks, and late night ice cream – it's a battle with a long time pattern of giving into temptation against your own best judgment.

One might get chubby by accident, but a journey to obesity is a long term commitment. It doesn't just happen without knowing it's going on. You might not have the will to stop it, and each time you don't stop it by giving into overeating, a little part of you silently, subconsciously, and secretly cries.

Anna's crying for a totally different reason

Now that the goal to get back to a healthy weight is within sight, you're still tempted. Do you know better now or do you just have the strength and willpower now? It's a question you pose to yourself every time. Each time you push back that desire to do it wrong, you face yourself. It's a battle that gets easier to win, but along the way, each battle is still just that, and it hurts. Facing yourself hurts.

Why is it such a struggle? Why isn't it easy, especially now that you have some real success under your, now smaller, belt? Does part of you fear your own success? Are you afraid that, at the end of the journey, you won't find what you're looking for?

I might be touchy-feely, but I'm still pretty logical and, like most men, I have the ability to pretend not to have feelings. I figured out my own fat loss fears and silently addressed them, but I don't know how, just that I did, then pushed it down again.

I wish I could take credit for everything I say that's brilliant, but my wife deserves a lot of the credit for my successes. My wife is more hippie-voodoo, so when I ask her about this stuff, she suggests using visualization techniques. Then, probably stuff like yoga, incense, and herbs, but I don't really know because once she starts talking I just look at her all dreamy and the world melts away. She's so pretty.

Anyhow, once I managed to write this all down before succumbing.

Visualize your success

• Visualize your future. Not just what you'll look like. Sure, put that picture on the fridge, but don't stop there.
• How will you feel when done? Think about it. You need to know.
• Use all of your "senses." Not just how you'll look. How will you physically feel? Sound? How will you emotionally feel? All of it. Paint a visual picture. Imagine the story and your own scenes.
• When you're there, how exciting will that be?
• Do it now, and on a regular basis. 
• Do not wait until you the fear rises to the surface. Find it before it finds you.

You will succeed at this, so look ahead. Sneak a peak. Take a good look and remember it. Feel those feelings, regularly.

I suppose it's okay to cry, but eventually they will be happy tears, because you will be overjoyed by your own success.

Visualize that!

tomato paste is a fine vegetable, and really adds some flavor to pizza!

I eat it almost every day. You know what it is? It's cooked tomatoes.

When you exaggerate the news for a headline, you lose credibility.

No one ruled that "pizza is a vegetable," and if they had it would have been years ago. The ruling was that TOMATO PASTE could STILL be considered a vegetable. Still.

not a pizza

By the way, two tablespoons of tomato paste contains 28 calories, or the equivalent of a cup of cherry tomatoes, one large tomato, or two roma tomatoes . This is probably more vegetables than most kids eat at dinner.

Yes, the ruling does benefit the pizza industry, because their product does contain vegetable, according to the ruling. I do not want my kids relying on pizza (which even my kids say is crappy pizza) for lunch, but try to get hold of yourselves. You're [collectively] in a frenzy.

If you want to do something about it, 1st get the facts, not the headlines. Have you ever tried to do anything with the government and not had the right form, missed a checkbox, or stood in the wrong line at the DMV? You start over. At the end of the line...

Do you think Congress is going to hear your crap about pizza being a vegetable? They know it's not. And because you're just wrong and ill informed, they will ignore you.

They also don't care that a tomato is a fruit, so stop bringing that up Mr. Clever. So is an eggplant! Try making a pie out of one of those for Thanksgiving!

You obviously don't know what to do about the state of school lunches, the USDA, Congress, and that stupid myplate, and neither do I.

Jamie Oliver, the mussed up hair chef from the UK seems to have some ideas that, while not perfect, are better than our government's. He seems to have a head of steam, too. Let's start with him. Check out Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and see what you can do to help. Start by signing the online petition, like our own American celebrity Kim Kardashian has!

It's not limited to celebrities, either. Look, Nathan from Kansas is with us, as is Jessica from North Carolina! Way to go Nathan and Jess! We're with you. We're with you.

Pumpkin seeds – spiced three ways

I've had a lot of pumpkin these past few months, and therefore a lot of pumpkin seeds. On top of pumpkins , there have been a number of spaghetti squash, plus a couple of acorn squash and one butternut. Suddenly you have lots of "pumpkin" seeds. Seed size aside, a pumpkin is still just a winter squash. Seeds is seeds in my house.

My recipe for pumpkin seeds is not revolutionary, just simple. The best part about it is that it allows you to easily make a variety of flavors as easily as you would normally make a big tray of the simple and salty ones.

Clockwise from left; smokey, salty, & mole

Pumpkin seeds – spiced three ways

First, scrape the seeds from one or more pumpkins or squash. A big pumpkin will generally yield about a cup or more of seeds, but often those small pie or sugar pumpkins can hold more than that. Most small squash have smaller seeds, but lots of them. Feel free to mix and match, too. You can collect and dry them over a week or more, then roast them when you have enough.

Directions

Scoop the seeds from the pumpkins or squash. Separate the seeds from the strings and pumpkin flesh by putting it all in a big bowl of water and rubbing things between your hands, dislodging the seeds from the miscellaneous.  Strain it all and drain it all in a colander for a while. Spread the seeds to dry on clean dish towels and place it in a warm area, preferably with warm, moving air. The top of my refrigerator works great for me. Stir and turn them a couple of times a day for best results and less sticking. When they are dry, it's time to roast them.

Dry roasting sounds good, but it's going to mean the spices don't stick, so just give up on that idea right now. It's not as tasty, but you can dry roast salted seeds by soaking them in brine, drying them out, then dry roasting them, but that's all the instruction you'll get from me on that.

Before the roasting happens, we have to get the seasonings ready. Ready?

You'll need three bowls large enough to stir your seeds and some spices without making a mess. Cereal bowls work well, and they will appreciate the company now that you no longer eat cereal! haha! I kid... sorta.

In a perfect world, just use three jars with lids, which you can use to shake the seeds and spices instead of stirring. Less cleanup, too, since you'll use them to store the seeds.

Each of the following spice mixtures is to season about 1/2 cup of seeds, so adjust accordingly depending on how much you've got.

I'm listing the spice mixtures first because you need to have them ground and already in the jars or bowls before you've roasted the seeds. So get the three mixtures ready now, then get to roasting.

some of the spices used today

Salty

I don't know about your kids, but most kids are boring when it comes to pumpkin seeds and only like the ones that are seasoned by salt only. I can add "exciting" variety by using more or less salt, coarse salt, fine salt, Himalayan salt, sea salt, and butter, sometimes, instead of coconut oil, but aside from that, pretty basic stuff.

Even though my own kids tell me to make all the seeds with just salt, I do not. First, who's in charge here? Second, they won't eat them all anyway. They just think they will. So nod your head, and wait a minute. They'll put their earbuds back in and go away, and you just do what you will.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (ish) roasted pumpkin seeds (directions to follow)
1 tsp plain or sea salt OR about 2 tsp coarser salts like Himalayan salt

Directions

Put the spices and seeds in a bowl or jar and set aside until you've roasted the seeds.



Smokey

I like spicy. I grew up mild, but at around 20 years, I was suddenly thrust into the world of chili cookoffs and hot salsas via my old boss, Mike. Mike cooked chili that burned. Because of Mike, I'm a chili fan, a chili purist, and I also enjoy really spicy foods. My family, however, not so much. That does mean that I get to keep my bottles of devil sauce to myself, yet rarely get to make foods that are spicy in and of themselves.

Today, I made mine smokey but not too spicy, using smoked paprika, which is hotter than the sweet paprika, and tastes deliciously like a milder chipotle chili.


Ingredients

1/2 cup (ish) roasted pumpkin seeds (directions to follow)
1 tsp spicy powdered chili (smoked paprika, powdered chipotle, New Mexico, etc.)
1 tsp plain or sea salt OR about 2 tsp coarser salts like Himalayan salt

Directions

Put the spices and seeds in a bowl or jar and set aside until you've roasted the seeds.



Mole

Yeah, I think I know you. You like the sensual touch. A bit of spice in your food, balanced out by something sweet maybe. A bite of ginger in your cheesecake rather than a drizzle of overly sweet topping. You can be lured in by a promise of mouth feel, a tingle on the tongue, or that flush of temperature that mysteriously comes from some ingredient in the dish or from somewhere deep within yourself; we don't always know.

You are the reason I make mole sauce from scratch, put luscious mango slices along side cheesecake, and use foods like crème fraiche instead of whipped cream. For you.

You don't need to know what mole (pronounced 'molay') is, but just know that it's a Mexican sauce that's typically made of chocolate, spices, and fruity ancho chilis. It can be sweet, spicy, savory, or all of these at once. It looks and tastes beautiful on anything and everything. While it's a decadent and sensual little sauce most of the time, as a spice on your pumpkin seeds, it warms the mouth and leaves your lips tingling from the spice on your fingertips, all the while almost satisfying that inner desire for chocolate, and encouraging bite after bite.



Ingredients

1/2 cup (ish) roasted pumpkin seeds (directions to follow)
1 tsp powdered ancho chili (or California chili or sweet paprika, if ancho isn't available)
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1-2 pinches of powdered cinnamon
1 tsp plain or sea salt OR about 2 tsp coarser salts like Himalayan salt

Directions

Put the spices and seeds in a bowl or jar and set aside until you've roasted the seeds.


Pan roasting the seeds 

1/2 to 2 cups of pumpkin/squash seeds
1 to 2 tbsp butter, ghee, or coconut oil

In a large skillet, heat the fat over medium high heat. Be especially careful of the butter, because it can brown if too hot. When in doubt, do with lower heat and roast longer.

Add the seeds and stir to evenly coat with the melted fat. Stir and shake periodically, until the seeds are puffed up a bit and have browned spots throughout. Cool one, periodically, and try it. It should be crisp, hollow, and tasty. That's called "done."

Final steps

Divide the seeds into three portions. One at a time, mix the seeds and the spices by stirring in the bowls or putting the lids on the jars and shaking well. After shaking, remove the lids and allow the seeds to fully cool before covering them again.

The seeds keep well for days, covered tightly in their jars.

Tea, but with what?

For this damned cold, tea with honey has been the suggested "remedy," but I don't know. I'm okay with honey, but I don't have any. What's the point of keeping it around? I don't plan to buy it just for this cold, either. I do have some sugar. It's the evil white sugar, though.

Honey vs sugar is a common point of discussion and debate, both for those looking to lose weight and those looking to be healthier. People switch from sugar to honey, but what's the real value of the switch? Should you switch? Let's look at the two...

Honey: contains anti-oxidents, vitamins, and minerals not found in sugar. Made by bees, which are hardworking little guys.

Table Sugar: the main made scurge to our wastelines, teeth, and declining health as a society. The root of all evil and is to be avoided.


Honey: 64 calories of sugar per tablespoon. Those little packets at Starbucks have 43 calories. How much do you put in your tea?

Table Sugar: A tablespoon is 45 calories of sugar. Do you really put a whole tablespoon in your tea? That's three teaspoons for those of you who didn't grow up in a kitchen.



Honey: Honey has a distinctive taste. You can even get exotic honey with more distinctive taste.

Table Sugar: Table sugar pretty much tastes like sugar. It's just sweet.

Honey: There are those who believe that raw honey from local bees (bees which aren't from America, btw) can help with allergies. I call placebo bs on this, but I don't have allergies.

Table Sugar: Seemingly no redeeming qualities except that it bakes well (but only because it's what we are used to).



Honey: Expensive. Will you ration it?

Table Sugar: Inexpensive. Will you throw caution to the wind?




Honey: Honey is paleo/primal. This is laughable just because it's just not a good argument. Ancient man smoked all sorts of things, ate bugs, sometimes ate poisonous things in rituals. That it's been around for a long time is a pointer or clue, it's not the decision maker. Ancient man didn't have honey every day, and when he found a big stash and feasted, he probably felt like crap, too.


Table Sugar: Neolithic food. That it's relatively new to us is a pointer or clue, it's not the decision maker. Broccoli has only been here for a few thousand years, for instance.



What's the bottom line? 

1. Use the sweetener that you will use in the greatest moderation. In the above examples, for me, sugar is the clear choice for my tea, since I use a teaspoon of sugar, but a packet of honey. What would you use?

2. Many sweeteners have a distinctive taste, and this can either allow you to use less OR prompt you to use more. Brown sugar and honey are flavoring agents in addition to sweeteners, how will that effect your oatmeal and your dose of sugar? I would use fewer calories of brown sugar or honey, because there's a taste in there.

3. Is having it around an issue? In your pantry:

• Sugars tend to come in large bags, so you'll have a lot of it around. Problem?
• Brown sugar gets old and hard, so will you hurry up and use it?
• Honey crystallizes, so will you try to use it before that happens?

4. Fancy sugars are just fancy sugars. Taste aside, they are sugar calories. Don't go thinking coconut sugar, raw sugar, or turbinado sugars are better for you, they aren't. Like honey, they are just different.

5. Agave is one of the most processed sugars of all. It's a trick. Agave nectar sounds natural, but it's no more natural than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

6. HFCS is no more a problem than sugar, but it's everywhere. HFCS has been fingered as an obesity cause because obese people and type 2 diabetics tend to have so much of it, but if it wasn't there, they'd have the equivalent amount of table sugar in that soda (the soda would just cost 5 cents more, probably). Remember, that SUGAR and the amount of it that "we" eat is the problem, not one particular type.

7. Some "sugars" have more fructose or more glucose than others. In the amounts you should be eating them, this is insignificant, but just be careful not to fall for the hype. Honey and agave, for instance are higher in fructose, which you are told is awesome. But, more fructose isn't awesome, especially if you are already heavy, obese, metabolically challenged, or have type 2 diabetes. Again, in the amounts you should be having sugar, don't sweat the fructose levels of a tablespoon of "sugar."

8, Don't rely on your sweetener for vitamins and minerals. There's hardly anything in there. You're kidding yourself if that's a decision point. Eat more vegetables or take a vitamin, if that's your concern.


So? 

So, after all that, should you switch? Or should you even worry about it?

What did I have with my tea? Half and half. I don't really like my tea sweet.

Roland is sick

Just a cold. Nothing serious.

I'm tired, but wide awake.

Watching Spinal Tap and then back to bed. Too bad my alarm clock only goes to 10



 The Tap classic; Stonehenge

 

Some early Tap, circa 1967. The year I was born.

 

Good night

In-N-Out, 'Primal' Style vs Protein Style

Primal eating isn't just about ditching the grains, but also minimizing the unhealthy fats, like soybean oil.

At In-N-Out Burger, ask for Protein-Style, but with catsup and mustard instead of spread; fewer calories, less crap, better health.

While you're at it, go for extra tomatoes and throw on some pickles!

Enjoy!

An Amazon ordering tip (duh)

Dear friends,

If you order a bunch of stuff from Amazon, but one item is a pre-order (Lou Schuler's next NROL), and you go for the Super Saver Shipping, nothing ships 'til it can ALL ship. Duh... Like in May!

Thanks, Amazon, for shipping it anyway when I asked where my stuff was. They were nice, and did the free shipping just for me, so it pays to ask nicely, especially when it turns out to be your own stupid fault. :)

Anyway, I got home to find all this, and just in time for the weekend! ...as soon as I FIND time, that is! Super busy, so hasta!

Roland

Tomato Persimmon Chopped Salad

"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad." - Brian O'Driscoll

Fruit salad?

There are some foods that walk a fine line between fruit and vegetable. The tomato is one. Let's just acknowledge a few things here. All fruits are vegetable(s), because they are the fruits (or seed bearing portions) of plants, which... wait for it... are. vegetable. Remember the animal, vegetable, and mineral thing from when you were a kid?

The bottom line is that if it's sweet, treat it as a fruit, and if it's not, treat it as a vegetable. If it's starchy, it can still be either one (plantains are fruits and turnips are vegetables, for instance). From a dietary standpoint, try to treat starchy foods like you would a potato and don't count them as your serving of vegetables.

Most fruits and veggies are clearly used as one or the other, although a hard green mango or papaya is pretty good eaten as a vegetable, while the sweet ripe ones are eaten as the fruits that they are. Likewise, the fuyu persimmon in this recipe can be either one. However you slice it (or eat it), this is your invitation to relax on pigeonholing your produce.

Please understand that this salad must use a fuyu persimmon, which is a non-astringent variety, even when firm. Other non-astringent persimmons do exist, but use of most other hard persimmons will likely ruin your salad unless you really know what you're doing. Do you?

Not a tomato

Tomato & Persimmon Chopped Salad

1 medium tomato (the fruit that always starts fight about "fruit or veggie")
1 hard fuyu persmimon (a fruit)
2 Persian cucumbers (a fruit used as a vegetable)
1 red bell pepper (a fruit used as a vegetable OR a spice)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (the oil of a fruit)
1 green onion (a vegetable sprout)
salt (a mineral)
2 oz goat cheese (an optional animal product)

Chop all of the fruits into similar sized pieces and put it in a large bowl. Mince the green onion and add it to the salad. Salt the salad and toss well. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to an hour. Stir in the olive oil and toss before serving.

If you like, you can crumble some goat cheese over each bowl as you serve the salad. Now that's good stuff!

I think after eating this simple vegetable salad made mostly of fruits, I'm ready to try some more adventurous fruits in my salads. The farmer's market is tomorrow, so I'll see what I find!

Upcoming IKFF Competition

The One Hour Long Cycle is now behind me, and I'm happy to report that I managed 464 reps with one 20kg kettlebell. This is about 130 more than last year!

Needless to say, I'm happy to have finished the hour without setting the weight down, and with most of the skin still on my hands. Nice!

I now move on to train for my first Kettlebell Sport Competition!

On January 21, 2012, my friend Luke is hosting this event at his gym, LEAF Performance Center, in Santa Monica.

For those not in the know, these competitions aren't an hour, but they are still ten long minutes. Ten minutes straight. Ten minutes, and for guys, it's with two kettlebells. That is really a long time in weight lifting minutes.

I hope to compete with two 24kg kettlebells, which are the green guys pictured above. Official kettlebells are color coded, so green is 24kgs.

My event is going to be the Long Cycle, which Troy and Luke demonstrate, below.



I'm sure Troy is awesome, but since all of their kettlebells are "LEAF" green, and we assume they aren't all 24kgs, we have no idea what he's using to demonstrate. 8s or 12s, I think. Go Troy! I'll see you on January 21st!

Related links

IKFF
IKFF Ranks/Rules (PDF)
Competition Registration and Info

My wife thinks I'm awesome! My mom probably does, too.