« The Low-Fat Gospel | Main | Calling All L's from Great Britian... »
August 29, 2006
Cooking the First Dinner In a House I Own
Well, we own. MR and I. We bought a house, and we moved into it. It's wonderful... or at least it will be wonderful once a) the contractors are done with the rennovations and it's no longer a construction site b) I have time to unpack and it's no longer box mountain. The best part of it is that the kitchen is ORANGE! The kitchen matches my partner! It is amazing how the kitchen cabinets match his hair and the kitchen walls match his face. Good thing I like orange!
The last week has been really stressful, between crazy work and then closing on the house, packing, and moving. I'm still clearing our stuff out of the old house and cleaning, and MR has been dealing with contractors, cable internet installation people, and unpacking. There's been tons to write about... the recipes I made up to get rid of the food in the fridge before moving... our last dinner in our old house... the time the movers showed up and asked if we were brother ans sister. But I haven't had internet access and I've been too exhausted/stressed to write anyway.
The good news is: tonight I got to cook dinner in my own kitchen! After a very rough day of cleaning out the old house, I came home to find that MR had almost completely unpacked the new kitchen, and he put my favorite Hello Kitty tablecloth on the table! I didn't have much time to make dinner -- I was running late coming home and MR eats promptly at 6:30 pm -- but I knew I was up for it, and MR had done a few tasks that I had assigned to him to get things prepped. Then when I got home the internet guy said that he was still working on my computer. Uh-oh. You try making a perfectly Zoned, 639 calorie meal without nutritional software! I was a little concerned, but calmly said, "Okay, no problem" and proceeded, with a little help from MR's memory of calorie counts of common foods like eggwhites and zucchini, to construct the beginnings of a meal. Luckily, the internet guy showed up with the ok to use the computer, so I got to finish with the DWIDP. I made a vaguely Italian simple dish of zucchini, eggplant, eggwhites steamed in no salt veggie broth, plus a half cup of store bought lowfat marinara, seasoned with a ton of oregano and garlic. On the side I served apples microwaved with cinnamon, plus a teaspoon of flax oil on the apples and a teaspoon of olive oil on the main dish. Hazelnuts on the side to bring up the fat content. MR loved it, and I loved cooking in my beautiful new kitchen!
Re: MR's CR: MR is six feet tall, weighs 118, and eats 1900 a day. He was 145 pre-CR, eating all the pizza and oatmeal with whole milk and honey he could, so he's obviously very slight of build and a naturally skinny person. However, as with everyone who actually weighs and measures everything he eats, he reports a higher calorie intake than most people who do CR and yet don't measure say they're eating. That's cause people underestimate their calories! If you're not weighing and/or measuring (measuring cups are just as good for things like yogurt and cottage cheese) you don't know. I worry about newbies reading about unnaturally low calorie levels, and then trying to go that low themselves. Maybe because that's what I did, leading to too fast weight loss, some general woosiness (though a definite CR weight-loss euphoria that was a ton of fun) and getting sick on a train after drinking two Cosmos on a nearly empty stomach. My CR friends came after me to eat more, and they were right. In my opinion, most men should not dip below 2000, most women probably should not go much below 1500. BTW, MR also runs about twenty minutes every day and does resistance training three times a week. He is solid bone, muscle and brain. With a little bit of red hair.
He was slightly orange to begin with... the beta carotene in all his orange and green veggies just adds to it.
Re: eggwhites: there is an organic eggwhite called Eggology. I have had it once or twice and it's great! Expensive though. As to overpackaged... I get two cups of eggwhites per carton, and that seems to me to be no more packaged per gram than a carton of eggs. While folks disagree about saturated fat and its dangers, no one disagrees that yolks have a lot. I think it's a better use of calories to eat unsaturated fat in olive, flax and hazelnut oil (or nuts) and get protein without saturated fat in eggs.
Uh-oh, the chimney inspectors are here! Gotta go!
Posted by april at August 29, 2006 7:54 PM
Comments
Hi April,
I have been reading and loving your blog for a while. It is great inspiration and lots of fun too. Congratulatulations on your new house!
I'm relatively new to CRON and trying to ease into it (works better for me to go slow or I'll just binge after a couple of days). I would like to know what kind of scale you use to measure your food as well as any of your recommendations about where I can find CRON friendly recipes (i.e. books or websites maybe.)
Thanks,
Emese
Posted by: Emese at August 29, 2006 8:26 PM
Congratulations on moving into the new house. I wish you lots of love and fun in there.
Plus- I'm thinking of asking my natural food store if they'll order in the organic eggwhites you suggested. Seems a bit expensive- but eggwhite dishes are so cool in a ethereally nutritious way (- all white and fluffy and purified).
Posted by: Hazel at August 29, 2006 10:34 PM
Congrats on your new house !!!
Posted by: Lindsay at August 30, 2006 12:17 AM
while i occasionaly enjoy reading this somewhat quirky blog, generally i find my reaction to it as one of disbelief. the latest is this profession that men should avoid dipping below 2000 calories. i am 6 ft. 1 inch, and weigh 155 lbs. i run one hour per day and lift 30 minutes on most days. i will relate that 2000 calories for me is nowhere close to "CR", nor would 1900 calories that MR professedly eats at his 118 lbs. while i am hardly up on the science of CR since my only calorie restriction originates for other reasons besides health, i'm able to relate that true CR for a person of my height and weight would involve about 1500 calories per day with optimun nutrition, maybe 1600. if you are truly in CR you will be losing weight. unknown to what level and where you stabilize. for myself, when i get down to 150 (my required weight for my profession), i increase calories, but am probably on prima facia CR maintain myself at 150 lbs. it is very frustrating to me to read these supposed CR blogs, which seem to me to be primarily food obsessions as opposed to emphasis on health, for i have yet to read anyone who to my satisfaction has CR'd for any lenght of significant time. On the CR group mails all you ever read is health studies available elsewhere. my question is, where are those that are on 10% CR or is there anyone actually doing 30% CR as in the monkey studies. do any of these do emails and blogs. Willie was the closest, and he seems to have evaporated.
Posted by: anonymous at August 30, 2006 1:36 PM
Uh, fascinating comment, but A) Do you actually weigh and measure everything you eat? MR does. Every single morsel. So we actually know how many calories he is eating. I seriously doubt that you are certain about how many calories you are actually consuming, especially if you eat out in restaurants at all. B) It is well documented in the scientific literature that most people significantly underestimate the calories they are eating if they do not weigh and measure. C) What do you define as interest in health vs. food obsession? Cause we use nutritional software to guarantee that we're getting optimal nutrition, plus we carefully supplement, plus we exercise. We're doing this to live longer, healthier. Personally, I enjoy the short term effects health effects as well, such as never, ever getting sick. D) If you think I'm obsessed with food because I like to cook, then it seems like you confuse a relaxing and enjoyable (and delicious!) hobby with obsession. Lots of people love being in the kitchen and creating excellent meals for their friends and families to enjoy. What's obsessed about that?
Also, to state that "if you are truly in CR you would be losing weight" is just absurd. We all lost weight in the beginning: I went from 137 pounds to 104, MR went from 145 to 118 (and has been as low as 115). Eventually, you stabilize. Cause if you keep losing weight forever, eventually you disappear. MR has been doing CR for over eight years now. I'm almost 3.
155 at over six feet tall with obviously a lot of muscle mass is pretty skinny. I'd be curious as to how many calories you're actually consuming. How about weighing every morsel you eat for a month and getting back to me with the results? It's an experiment that I've done and that I invite everyone to try. Consistently, those who weigh and measure everything, absolutely everything every day, report higher calorie intakes at lower weights than those who just "estimate." Wonder why...
Did you ever weigh more, or do you feel that if you were not controlling your calories, you would eat more? What do you to to make sure you're getting good nutrition? There's so much good software out there, much of it free. Hopefully you're already using software to make sure that when you have to cut calories for your work, you're still getting the nutrition you need.
Also, you say your profession requires you to be below 150. I am dying of curiosity, which is not good for my life-extension program. Are you a model? Swimmer? Jockey? Actor?
Posted by: April at August 31, 2006 8:02 PM
this is my reply. i train thoroughbred race horses and i ride them. i can breeze (ride fast) when i'm down to 150lbs. before this my weight was about 200 lbs. since ive been doing it for 8 yrs im very familiar with the effects of calorie restriction, though i never deliberately go below 150 which is a weight at which there is zero body fat. interestingly, by calorie restriction, i easily get down to 155 lbs, but 155 to 150 is very difficult as i actually have to lose muscle mass. unknown at what weight i would stabilize on more restricive CR. i suspect around 140 lbs. i supplement profusely every day. ive read all the books--best is fantastic journey--and Muscle and Fitness mag is very very good for certain health--nutrition supplement ideas. there are some amazing products out there now. since i eat so little i rely on the supplements including for protein. since i'm sort of dabbling with CR, yes, i do occasionally measure calories. i have a CR tool. BUT, ive never studied CR as a science, so, it is unknown to me what calorie level would be defined as e.g. 10% CR (which personally i believe would do very little good--my calorie restiction is actually about 50% of what I would normally eat which would be about 3000 calories/day. i tend to yo yo in my my discipline as my training horses goes. my "obsession" would be interest in health. i run an hr. per day and lift 30 min/day about 6 days per week. i'm currently of opinion that exercise will be a far more efficient life extender than CR--but, unknown. i'm at age 60 now. while by my definition i do see a food obsession on this blog, i also have the personal believe that people can have an interest in whatever they want. be happy. but, what i have trouble with here is the inconsistency that i see with the discipline required for true CR. when i am "doing it" i try to avoid thinking about food, i eat only once a day with a little snacking. i never eat after 3pm. in short, i avoid food as entertainment. im also of the opinion that anyone enamored of restaurant slop could harldy be doing CR. i prefer my post viewed as other than picking at you. you are very intelligent, and i do believe you are trying to do CR, though honestly i question taht you are pulling it off, simply from what i have stated are the inconsistencies i see. i also think more reading and paying attention will cause you in the future to refine things quite a bit from what you are doing. as i said originally, i would like to read more about the effects of CR, the actual doing it than a daily recitiation of wonderful recipes and what in particular food was ingested, though, as i said, if that is your interest, obsession or whatever you want to term it, understood.
Posted by: anonymous at September 2, 2006 2:56 PM