Slowly but Surely

An obese mom has lost 38 pounds since beginning her weight loss efforts in August. The before and after photos here were taken after she lost 30 pounds. The weight loss has been sporadic. She's had months of no weight loss;

278 August 2007
265 September (-13)
258 October (-7)
253 November (-5)
248 December (-5)
248 January 2008 (-0)
248 February (-0)
240 March (-8)
Total: 38 pounds

She's a very good writer. See her story at Escape from Obesity.

Real Food I: Soup Stock

Making soup stock is a common practice in cultures throughout the world. It's a way of maximizing the value, nutrition and flavor of foods that are not always abundant. It's particularly relevant in the 21st century, when it's important to make the most of animal products that have a large environmental footprint.

The simplest way to make stock is to keep a "stock bag" in the freezer. Keep two plastic freezer bags (or whatever container you prefer) in the freezer, ready to accept food scraps whenever you have them. One is for vegetable scraps such as carrot peels, onion skins (not the brown part!), radish tops, etc. The other is for animal scraps such as bones, fish heads/tails, gristle, etc.


These are examples of vegetable scraps that are appropriate for stock:

Vegetable peels
Carrot ends
Onion scraps
Wilted greens
Asparagus stems

These are examples of animal products that are good for stock:

Bones
Gristle
Fish heads/tails
Chicken feet
Parmesan rinds (thanks Debs!)

These should not be used for stock:

Brown onion skins
Anything covered in dirt
Anything rotten or unpleasant-smelling
Celery greens, carrot greens and other bitter greens


Vegetable stock is the easiest. Take a generous amount of vegetable scraps out of your stock bag and put them in a pot full of water. Boil for one hour, then strain.

In my opinion, the best stock is made with animal bones. It's rich in minerals and gelatin, and has a full, meaty flavor. Break the bones to expose the marrow, put them in a pot full of water or a crockpot, add 2 tablespoons vinegar, and simmer for 1-20 hours. Add vegetable scraps for the last hour, then strain. Large bones from beef or lamb require long cooking to draw out their full flavor, while thinner chicken bones and fish parts require less. The vinegar helps draw the minerals out of the bones into solution.

Fish heads also make a delicious, nutritious stock. They're full of minerals (including iodine), omega-3 fats and vitamin A from the eyes. You can often get them dirt-cheap at the fish counter. Boil them for one hour with vegetable scraps and two tablespoons of vinegar, strain, pick off the meat and add it to your soup.

Reclaiming Food

We, as individuals, are gradually losing control of our food.

For the majority of human existence, we have been in more or less full control of food preparation. We roasted our own meat, churned our own butter, and stewed our own vegetables. Gradually, mostly over the course of the last hundred years, we have ceded this control to others.

People in industrialized nations now rely on processed food and restaurants for the majority of our diet. Our food has been outsourced, and it's killing us.

The problem is that the incentives of individuals are different from the incentives of restaurants and corporations. The individual cares about the enjoyment and healthfulness of food. The corporation and restaurant care about money. It's not a conspiracy against our health, it's just a difference of motivation.

This explains why processed food is so unhealthy. Is a food manufacturer going to use butter or dirt-cheap hydrogenated soybean oil in that cookie if you can't tell the difference?

The only reason we accept this state of affairs is we're completely disconnected from the preparation of these foods. For example, let me tell you how hydrogenated soybean oil is made. First, the oil is separated from the rest of the bean using heat and extraction with organic solvents like hexane. Then, the oil is mixed with nickel (a catalyst) and exposed to hydrogen gas at high temperatures. This causes a chemical reaction (hydrogenation) that results in trans fat, which is solid at room temperature like saturated fats. The oil is now a grayish, rancid-smelling mush. They filter out the nickel and use chemicals and heat to deodorize and bleach it, creating the final product that is ubiquitous in processed snack foods. Delicious!

If you were able to watch this whole process with your own two eyes, would you still eat hydrogenated oil? If you had to make it yourself, would you? How about if I told you eating it is associated with a dramatic increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and probably many other diseases?

It's time to re-connect ourselves with real food. It's time to reclaim food preparation.

Join me as I explore traditional methods of food preparation, one of our most valuable conduits to health and well-being.

Weight Loss Surgery Gone Wrong?

Hello Isadora,
I stumbled upon your website tonight and read a couple of the stories. One of my best friends actually has a very inspiring weight loss story; he went from 270 to 170 pounds over the course of 1.5 years by eating right and engaging in almost excessive exercise. Do you think this is the kind of story that might fit on your blog? If so, I'll encourage him to send it in.
On another topic, I run a blog on the topic of weight loss surgery in Fort Worth texas. I would like for it to eventually become an authoritative site on weight loss surgeons and processes in the Fort Worth, TX area. It will eventually feature local doctors, reviews of their medical histories, etc. I think that if we participated in a Blogroll link exchange the portion of your readership that resides in Texas would benefit, and all of my readership would benefit. Please tell me what you think! You can find my blog at liposuctionfortworth.net. Keep up the inspiring stories,
Ian

Hi Ian,
Sure, ask your friend to email their story. But if you had read more here you would know I'm not a fan of surgery as the best way to lose weight. I can relate to the people who choose to go this route, but there is so much persuasive money and so many commercial websites already devoted to promoting surgery that I'd like to stay away from it and focus on the stories where people have lost weight without medical intervention.

But your note makes me want to ask readers who have had a weight loss operation - where things did not go well - to comment below.

Please don't send me stories of success with this (unless they are extremely sincere) - this would surely attract a ton of spam. I would delete these comments. Here, I'm just interested in cases where surgery did not lead to success.

The beautiful photo above is by Rubyran.

Mad couple'a days

Haven't really done much these last few days other that clean, paint, tidy and stuff like that. Its all been quite intense. Having 2 lodgers is actually a lot harder to prepare for. But I am sure I will like the money which will make it all worthwhile! HA HA.

Band wise, I am not sure if its my imagination, but I seem to be feeling hungry occasionally throughout the day...

For the last couple of weeks, I haven't felt hungry really that often... only at the normal times if you know what I mean. But for the last couple of days, I have been feeling a little hungry and checking out the pantry and fridge and generally having a look around for food...

However, my calories intake has NOT significantly increased...

I am wondering if its a combination of possibles...

1.) Maybe I am missing Carina, and I have been anxious over what our new lodger will be like and its making me resort to old habits of comfort eating...
2.) Maybe I have just worked my absolute butt off and have therefore negated all my calories I have eaten by mass painting/housework. For my weight I burn off 450 calories an hour in heavy housework. Yesterday I was doing 'on my hands and knees scrubbing' kind of house work (with sweat!) for 3 hours solid! Its been a pretty manic few days, so maybe my body is just thinking its not only starving, but in a labour camp!
3.) I need a fill... I don't think so, because I am still sick too often on the easiest of foods, and I am full quickly aswell. I don't think this is the case, but I am wondering if maybe at some point you just need it to keep it tight around the stomach. Losing 18 pounds must mean you lose a little around that area too... (surely of drop sized equivalent anyway!).

I was wondering, because I have 2 weeks of shortly for the traditional Easter Holidays, I was thinking about doing a day trip to Brugge with the family and seeing Dr. Dillemans at the same time to check me over. That way I will know how things are going and also be able to get a fill if he thinks its necessary.

I don't really want to think about fills. I feel completely different these days and I know I have restriction, but in 3 weeks... maybe I will need a top up? Anyone know how long the restriction lasts for? I guess that's a huge question, and it must differ from person to person so strike that.

So yesterday's calories were 950:
Breakfast: 2 weetabix with milk
Snack: 3 mini savoury eggs
Lunch: 1 bread roll with beetroot and salad creme. (Geez that took ages to eat!)
Dinner: Rice and chicken curry
pudding: small portion of sponge cake with tinned peaches.

Yesterday I had absolutely NO sick episodes.

Today so far I have had:
Breakfast: 2 shredded wheat with milk

will update later.

Bigger than yer Britches

Shout it from the rooftops!

Low Fat Diets More Likely To Reduce Risk Of Heart Disease Than Low Carb Diets!

This gem, courtesy of Medical News Today. I was curious so I looked up the abstract.

It was a 6-week study in the journal Hypertension where they measured a number of surrogate measures of cardiovascular disease risk, in patients eating either an Atkins-style low-carbohydrate (LC) diet or an ADA-style low-fat (LF) diet.

"Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation" and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation basically measure the ability of your arteries to dilate. The loss of the ability of vessels to dilate is associated with cardiovascular disease.

Where do I begin.

First of all, this was a 6 week study, not long enough to really say anything about cardiovascular disease risk. But nevertheless, let's look at the actual data:


The LF group lost an average of 4.3 lbs over the course of the 6 weeks. The LC group lost 5.7 lbs.

The LF group's blood pressure decreased 8/5 mm Hg (systolic/diastolic). The LC group's decreased 12/6 mm Hg.

The LF group's flow-mediated dilation increased +1.9, but was reduced in the LC group by -1.4.

There was no difference between groups in nitroglycerin-mediated vasodilation.

Here's the best part (full text only): the triglyceride/HDL ratio went from 1.2 to 1.6 in the LF group, and from 1.4 to 1.1 in the LC group. Trig/HDL ratio is the best blood lipid predictor of heart disease we have, and the lower the better.


So let me get this straight. What we're looking at is data showing that LC beat or tied LF on every relevant parameter they reported except one, and somehow that means LF diets are healthier than LC? Even though overweight and hypertension are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease? Even though trig/HDL is probably the best predictor of heart disease of any of these measures?

This article wouldn't bother me if it weren't so arrogant. If it had simply reported the facts as an interesting phenomenon, instead of tacking on a politically motivated (and incorrect) interpretation, I would have just found it interesting. But the author is bigger than his britches: "LF diets may confer greater cardiovascular protection than LC diets."

The irony isn't lost on me that the paper is published in the journal Hypertension, shows that LC diets ameliorate hypertension better than LF diets, yet somehow claims LF diets are more protective of cardiovascular disease than LC. Huh?

Unfortunately, this is typical of researchers in the diet-health field and the media that report on it.

Why is Kevin Federline Getting Fat?

Kevin Federline looks like he is on his way to getting fat over the many months since his divorce from Britney Spears was finalized. The photo on the left was taken this weekend, the photo on the right is from not too long ago when he was in super duper good shape.

Federline will be celebrating his 30th birthday in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. He was born March 21st 1978.

Could it be the stress of being a stay-at-home father, feeding and tending to two little children under the age of three that is making him grow a belly?

Read all the speculation at X17.