Sep 27, 2011

The Journey: Eat This...

I've become a big fan of the Eat This, Not That people. I haven't read any of their books, but I follow them on Twitter and have read quite a few of their articles from there.

I like that they go beyond the obvious in their analysis. Any idiot knows that having green tea is more healthy for you than a soda. But they go much deeper into it...

For example... Let's say you've got a hankerin' for a bowl of cereal. You look in the cupboard... You've got a box of Frosty Sugar Sweetness, a box of Cheerios, or a box of Quaker Natural Low Fat Granola with Raisins. Which one is better for you? Obvious the sugary stuff isn't. And Cheerios doesn't sound nearly as healthy as the Quaker stuff. I mean it's got raisins. And it's low fat. And it's got granola. It's like it was designed by Richard Simmons!! Surely the Quaker cereal is the way to go!

WRONG!! The healthy soundimg Quaker Natural Low Fat Granola with Raisins has 315 calories in one cup. For comparison, a Snickers candy bar only has 275 calories. Yeah, you'd be better off enjoying the candy bar for breakfast.

Oh, and the Cheerios... Only 100 calories for one cup. For reference, here's the link to the article...

And speaking of granola bars... Have you ever thought about what holds them together? That's right, it's sugar. How is that healthy? Okay... what about dried fruit? I mean, it's fruit. How can you go wrong with fruit?!? Well, often times the makers add a bunch of sugar to it in the process. And bran muffins? Made with sugar & refined flour and can have over 400 calories. Lot's of things that we have been told are "healthy" aren't necessarily so. You can read more here...

I've probably depressed you by now, so I'll end it here. But in future posts I'll highlight more fun stuff from the great folks at Eat This, Not That.

Sep 25, 2011

The Journey: An Update

It's been over a month since my last post... And almost two months since the I've been to the gym or stepped on a scale. I'm still not drinking soda, and I'm still being somewhat careful about what I eat.

Well, I did go to the gym on Friday. I was only there for about 40 minutes, and did that time on the elliptical machine. I've got a spot in my neck where a nerve gets pinched and it was killing me, so it was a short work out.

And I'm headed to the gym after I finish typing this post for a couple of hours. I've still got at least 120 pounds to lose. I don't watch what eat closely enough to do it just through diet. So I've got to exercise.  Before going to Hawaii back in late April I was going about 5 days a week. In July I went three days a week for 3 weeks.

Work has been busy and I've been working some overtime. But it's not so much overtime that I don't have time for a good work out.

I'm not at a point where I'm ready to declare The Journey a failure. It's only a failure when I give up. And I haven't given up. Not yet...  I've got some ideas for some good posts in the future, so now I just need to get consistent again on blogging.

The Journey takes quite a bit of focus and the past couple of months my focus has been on other issues. But now that those have cleared up, it's time to get back on track.