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November 30, 2009
But You're Burning It Up So Fast, Searching for Some Lasting Truth
Thanks to Nancy for the sweet comment!
God April! You've been so hilarious lately. The CR conference must have put a quarter in you. It's good to see blog entries from you during my (sometimes more than) daily checking of about ten blogs including yours. I'm so nosy.
I have indeed felt re-energized since the CR conference. Part of it is, of course, hanging out with wonderful CR friends. Part of it is seeing the scientific evidence (thank you Luigi) again that our lifestyle really is life-saving. And part of it, a major part of it, was meeting Dr.Richard Feinman and being introduced to his work on low carb diets.
Low carb, has, for me, all the appeal of forbidden fruit. At a very young age, I was indoctrinated into the low fat way of life. I saw it as right and good, morally good. I feared fat with a visceral loathing that most reserve for cockroaches and criminals. When I started CR and started to raise my protein and fat percentages, I was both stressed out and intrigued by the challenge to my previous identity. My vegan friend said, "You're drinking a protein shake?" with as much derision as if I'd said that I was kicking kittens. I bought my first bottle of olive oil with great trepidation.
And yet my diet has always remained at least 50% carb. Healthy, good carbs: veggies, nonfat dairy, wine. Lots and lots of veggies, lots of Nancy's organic cottage cheese. High protein, but still high carb. And fat as an afterthought that I had to think. Enough fat to make my skin soft and keep me from getting too, too hungry at low calorie levels. But still, low-ish fat, under 25%.
Low carb is like the boy from the other side of the tracks, on the motorcycle with a bunch of tattos. The good girl knows she's not supposed to run off with him, but it's so darn tempting cause it seems like what might be missing in ordinary low-fat life might be hanging out with him. That it could feed the hunger that lurks underneath the low-fat existence, and feed it to satisfaction with fewer total calories.
A lot of what I liked about Feinman is that he has a ton of passionate anger at the health establishment that has refused to acknowledge that low carb diets might be of any value. His obvious frustration, but determination to fight against simply irrational pro-low-fat bias in the medical establishment appealed to both the union organizer and CR-girl sides of me. Sure enough, sometimes everyone else, especially everyone in power, is wrong. The passion to keep on with the work in the face of all that frustration inspires me to keep going with my journeys. At one point I said, "If you think the media hates you for doing low carb, you should see what they do to CR people!" or something like that. "We could have a contest for who has suffered the most," he said.
He is older and much more accomplished than I, so I will give him the point for who has suffered the most. But the point remains the same: when you do something that works, but that for whatever reason most people don't want to do, you can expect to be widely ridiculed.
Yet the low carb diet seems to promise so many people what they want without sacrifice: eat fewer carbs, you just won't be as hungry, and so you will eat less and lose weight. Eat all those treats you thought you would never, in good conscience, taste again! Meat, fat. Hmmmmm. Eggs.
(When I was a vegan -- for five years -- I used to dream about eggs. I'd call my best friend late at night and say, "You know what I want?" and because she'd had this conversation a million times, she'd say, "Eggs." They were the last reliable protein source I could remember.)
In CR, of course, it's all about how can you keep your calories low. I want to take about 200 - 400 off my daily intake, and to lose about ten pounds. I've figured out that ten pounds lost would put me at my lightest CR weight, plus the amount of muscle I've added and don't want to lose. That's about 105, and I'm 113 - 115 depending on the day right now. At my lowest I was 99, with no muscle whatsoever. 105ish should be about right.
So I'm going to give it a try. Feinman's convinced me: there isn't a downside, and it might be just what I've been looking for. I'm going to start out with the moderate, 100 - 130 g carb a day. I had to pull myself off CRON-O-Meter cause I was having way too much fun designing meals to fit. It's my video game... I love playing with macronutrient ratios!
(Outs herself as total nerd, for those who didn't already know.)
And the hunt for info is on! I had forgotten how much I love this chase: the formulating of a question in my head, the internet searches for the answers, the downloading of papers and printing them and carrying them around and reading and re-reading them till I understand what they're talking about (my science background never went beyond high school Chemistry... at Yale they let us graduate with a liberal arts degree with almost no science) and finally starting to piece together real-world advice from all the scientific papers and studies. It's such fun. I love the challenge of understanding that which doesn't come naturally to me, the familiarly unfamiliar words, and now, post my CR-quest, my ability to interpret evidence.
I got a jolt of that long-lost drug when I found a Feinman paper online today. Zing-zing-zing, hmmmm, can print it out, read it over and over again, learn the lesson and incorporate it in my daily life... I take a visceral pleasure in this kind of learning. Mainlining new information and a new way of thinking, awakening pathways in my brain that I haven't visited in a long, long time. Way too much fun. Kid in a sugar-free candy store.
Funny that low carb is the only thing I haven't really tried yet. I've done low fat, I've done zone, I've done vegan, I've done high-protein, low fat, but I've never tried the low carb lifestyle for more than a day or so. But I'm about to start.
For many years my bedside table was stacked with nutrition books and print outs of medical study abstracts and scientific articles. My old kitty, Philomena, may she rest in peace, used to enjoy eating the paper. Dean Ornish had quite a few bites taken out of him, and my friend Aubrey de Grey lost quite a few paragraphs of his papers to the jaws of Philo. Feinman has arrived too late on the scene of my life to be subjected to having his papers eaten by a geriatric cat, but they will definitely be read with the same intensity of attention as the other works.
I've read a lot of books, and I've tried out a lot of ways of eating. I've learned, from hard experience, what works and what doesn't work. And yet some things that used to work for me before don't work anymore. I'm hoping to find something that works again, and that works for a long time. I am indeed, as the Elton John song (it's "Little Jeannie," for anyone who are wondering) searching for some lasting truth.
I was quite inspired and enlivened by the obvious passion that Richard Feinman brings to his work, inspired enough to give it a try. It's the only thing I haven't yet tried, and I think it will really help me go farther in my CR with minimal pain and complications.
As Elton John says, "And I've known quite a few."
Posted by april at 9:01 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Something We Can All Agree On...
I've always loved the phrase, "Something everyone from Atkins to Ornish can agree on." As someone who used to sleep with a copy of _Reversing Heart Disease_ on her bedside table, where many Christians keep the Bible at the same time as my parents were doing the Atkins diet, I am a veteran of carb wars at the dinner table.
But here is definitely something everyone from Atkins (may he rest in peace) to Ornish (who, just like Leonard Hayflick, is not dead, in spite of my previous beliefs on the topic) can agree on:
The menu for the holiday dinner we're throwing for our bargaining committees at our largest local is a nutritional disaster.
It's so bad that it turns the corner and begins a long, slow stroll down hysterical lane. I just had to share it with you:
The Grand Buffett:
Cold Entrees:
Tossed salad bowl with house dressings (that part was fine, but don't be lulled into a false sense of security)
Hot Entrees:
Pierogies, macaroni and cheese, baked ziti, meatballs, oven browned potatoes, string beans
and (choose three):
roast beef, chicken cacciatore, cheese ravioli, roast pork loin, chicken tenders, stuffed shells, fried fish, beef stroganoff, kielbasa with saurekraut, roasted chicken, baked ham, fried chicken, baked lasagna, sweedish meatballs, stuffed cabbage.
Baked salmon: $1 extra per person.
I choose: roast beef, chicken cacciatore, baked salmon. Not for me, for the entire group. It's a 50 person dinner and I'm in charge of the arrangements. Yes, I am responsible for directing the organizing program of a 6500 member union. But oddly enough, the catering arrangements fall to me on a regular basis. It's one of my favorite parts of my job, in large part because it generates so many laughs.
Actually, now that I write it all down, there are quite a few low carb dishes, the plain meats, but I'm so used to avoiding high fat meat that I don't even notice them. Besides, when I read the list of things that automatically go on the buffett, I was so overwhelmed by the combination of carb and fat that I couldn't stop laughing. How many ways can you combine dough and cheese?
And... we're having our own sweet table, so the workers can all bring desserts. I think I'll bring a fruit salad. A red and green fruit salad. Won't that be pretty?
The only thing this event should do to further the cause of freaking out people on all sides of the carb wars is to fry the pierogies. Deep fried dough and cheese.
My favorite part of the contract for the event is that it says, in two different locations in bold large italicized type: NO CONFETTI ALLOWED!
If you've got to say it...
Posted by april at 9:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 29, 2009
Beginner's Guide to Starting CR
In response to some recent questions on how to start CR (welcome, new folks! thanks for commenting!) I'm reposting a very old post that gives my take on it all.
If you've noticed that my advice seems rather different from Paul and Meredith's, it's because while I love Paul and Meredith dearly, we disagree on almost everything. Reasonable people can disagree. More soon on the IGF-1 question.
The thing that remains most constant in my view of CR practice: don't call your vegan ex-boyfriend. Call your mother, call the weather, call the airlines to check on the arrival times of flights you're not on and don't know anyone on, but don't call your vegan ex-boyfriend.
Here's the old entry:
January 1, 2006
How To Start CR: A Guide for Girls (and some guys too)
This is a repost of an entry I made back in April... I thought it might be helpful to those who are just discovering CR and the blog!
[DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional, a scientist, or anyone who has every handled a live mouse. This advice is based purely on my own experience and what I have learned from others in the CR Society and what has helped my friends work CR into their lifestyles. There is no one way to do CR -- you have to find what works for you. But if you're a girl and you're starting out, this might help you get on the right track.]
I get a lot of questions about how to start CR, and I've come up with a basic set of principles that helped me, but that took me for darned ever to figure out. So maybe if I write them down, you can use them as a shortcut, adapting and fitting them into your lifestyle so that your very own CR practice evolves over time. This advice will be of the most use to women, especially women who start CR with a few pounds to lose, and who are serious about life-extension. But if you're just a guy who likes eggwhites, this might work for you too.
BEFORE YOU TRY TO START CR:
1. Buy yourself some nutritional software. You can get it at http://www.walford.com, at http://www.nutribase.com, for free at http://www.nutritiondata.com. You can also get some useful info at http://www.myfoodbuddy.com, including calorie counts. Use the nutritional software to figure out (honestly!) how many calories you're eating now.
2. Buy yourself a good food scale, accurate to the gram, and a good people scale. Some people say that they don't need to track their calories anymore, or that they track by body weight. I suppose this is possible, but these people have for the most part been practicing CR for a very long time, or they eat almost the same thing every day. Remember, it's total calories, not weight, not BMI, not macronutrient ratios, that seem to cause the mammals to live longer when on CR. So you can't just exercise to make up for extra calories and expect to get any life extension benefits. Lots of people are naturally skinny -- that doesn't mean they'll live to be over 100 looking fabulous. Lots of marathon runners die of heart attacks. So track your calories as carefully as you can, I'd say for at least a year. One thing I've found is that the CR practitioners who track their calories very closely are almost all reporting higher calories than those who don't -- but at much lower weights and BMI's. That tells me that people who don't very carefully track -- especially those who eat out at all -- are grossly underestimating their calories. So buy yourself a scale and use it with your nutritional software to find out how many calories you're eating and what nutrients you're missing.
3. You probably think that hunger is going to be the biggest challenge you face on CR. Almost everyone on CR finds that, especially for the first few months to a year, hunger really isn't that big a deal if your nutrition is well-managed. No, the biggest problem you'll have will be stress with social situations: going out for meals, holiday dinners, work events that involve food, or even just food around your house.
Be ready for this. Sit down with the people who are most important in your life, especially anyone you eat with regularly, and explain CR to them. Don't expect them to think it's a good idea or join you in it, but explain to them that it's very important to you, and that you need their support. You may want to provide them with the link to the CR Society webpage or a good book or article about CR. One of my favorite articles that offers a good introduction (yes it is by MR) is here in AOR's magazine.
This was one of the most critical steps for me. Enlisting the help of those closest to me helped me get through tough stages early on when I felt weird eating differently from how I had before.
4. Don't set any artificial weight goals. CR is not about weight. You can be really skinny and not be CR'd at all (see my college boyfriend Andrew who ate crap all the time and weighed 118 pounds at 5'10"... yes, I have always liked skinny guys, even pre-CR.) I don't look particularly skinny, yet pre-CR I weighed 32 pounds more, so we can assume that ad lib, I eat a whole lot more!
WHEN YOU'RE READY TO START:
I think Walford is wrong about "Clean up your diet first, then cut calories." That's boring for most people, and doesn't get you the kind of visible dramatic results that motivate you to stay on CR. I'm not just talking about weight loss, though if you start CR overweight and are looking forward to that side effect you'll like it. I mean an immediate improvement in how you feel. My advice is to clean up your diet and cut calories at the same time, but cut calories gradually, so that you don't lose more than one to two pounds a week. If you're not feeling good, something's wrong. Most of us feel almost euphoric at the start of CR, especially those of us with weight to lose. If you're feeling bad: tired, lightheaded, starvingly hungry, then try these two things: eat more protein, eat a little more fat, just plain eat more, but don't add carbs.
Here's what I say to do: this advice applies only to women.
1. Up your protein to 70 grams or more a day. There's a forumla that says to eat 1/2 to 3/4 of a gram of protein for each pound of body weight. I find this totally misleading because if you're overweight, that's going to tell you to eat more than you really need. And besides, I find it optimal for my mood and hunger control to eat a lot more protein than the forumla says I should. So I ignore the forumla and do what's right for me. Give a shot at 70+ g protein per day and see what happens to you. Try to get most of that protein through non-meat lowfat sources. Some of my favorites are: eggwhites, non-fat or lowfat cottage cheese, non-fat or lowfat yogurt, skim milk, shrimp, scallops, whey protein powder. Eating more protein will make you less hungry, combat carb cravings, and make you less likely to call vegan ex-boyfriends. You'll thank me for this someday.
2. Never leave the house in the morning without at least 25 grams of protein in you. For me, that's one cup of eggwhites scrambled, 125 cals, 29 g of protein, every morning. Whey shakes work well too. Protein loading in the morning makes you less likely to have carb cravings later in the day, and I find it has a very beneficial effect on my mood. I am less anxious, more calm, etc.
3. Cut out all grains. No bagels, pasta, rice, etc. Just stop. Stop putting sugar in your coffee -- if you must have something sweet, use Splenda. If you are addicted to chocolate, find the most expensive, fabulous chocolate you can afford, and eat a small piece when you really, really want it. Count the calories and enter them into your nutritional software.
4. Try out the "weekdays on, weekends less strict" or "five days on, one day less on" strategy at first. I started out CR by dropping my calories from probably 1800 a day to 1200 a day on weekdays. Then when I would go out on weekends with friends, I would eat restaurant food and not worry about it too much. That way, I didn't feel deprived, I got to socialize in food-centered situations, and I got stuffed sometimes. You *will* underestimate the calories you eat in restaurants -- it's amazing how many calories they pack into restaurant food. But most people find that if you try to stop going out all together, you'll be sad and feel deprived and be tempted to eat gak. So go out -- just plan around it by keeping your calories low and tracking your calories and nutrition most days.
5. Drop your calories on "weekdays" to just enough so that you're very, very hungry right before meals and pleasantly satisfied but not stuffed after meals. Eat your protein and as many veggies as you can. We'll deal with the rest in step two. Monitor with your nutritional software how many calories that is. Set your calorie goal for normal weekdays at just below that. I mean just below. Like fifty calories below. If you start to get freaky with hunger, throw a little more protein and a little more fat into your diet. Fat keeps you from going wiggy. I don't know why, I just know it does.
6. Find an unsaturated fat source you can deal with. If you're a refugee from the lowfat diet days, this may feel really bizarre. Nuts? Olive oil on your salads? Measure it. Eat a little fat. Note that lightning does not strike you, and Dean Ornish does not show up on a cloud of thunder and wisk you off to the nearest ICU. Unsaturated fat is good.
6. Figure out what you're not willing to give up. Is it chocolate? Popcorn at movie dates? For me, it was red wine. At first, I resolved to give up all alcohol other than red wine (bye bye margaritas!) I eventually loosened up a bit, but not until about thirty pounds later.
STEP TWO:
By this time, you should be losing weight. Don't lose too fast: if you're already thin, try not to lose more than a pound every two weeks or so. If you're starting on the heavier side (I was!) up to five or six pounds a month is fine.
If you're a woman, don't expect your weight loss to be linear. I can show 105 in the morning on the scale and 111 in the afternoon, after eating lunch. Women have tremendous water weight fluctuations based on salt intake, time of the month, food intake, time of day, and many other factors that I never quite understand. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Don't pay attention to zig zags -- it's the total picture you're looking at. If you can, graph your weight. You know you look good in your new jeans. Take a moment to feel sorry for the CR brothers, who are always whining that they are too skinny.
It's important during this phase to measure your calories as carefully as possible. Use your scale when you're at home -- don't guestimate. When you go out, you will have no clue how much you're eating. So be sure on regular days.
Tasks for this phase (about a month in):
1. Balance your omega 3's and omega 6's. These are fats and if you get them in balance, you'll feel a whole lot better. Flax oil is a great source of omega 3's -- I eat one teaspoon at breakfast with my eggwhites and one teaspoon at lunch mixed with one teaspoon of olive oil on my salad.
2. Learn to eat new greens: kale, arugula, amaranth greens, various Chinese greens -- give it a try. Make big salads. If you don't like salads, forget I said anything about it. If you're getting your RDA's (which you know because you use nutritional software) then eat whatever you want. I just happen to really like raw kale, and I never would have known it had I not eaten it first at MR's house. So try raw kale and see what you think.
3. Try to get 30% fat in your diet, almost all of it unsaturated. That means olive oil, flax oil, nuts. Find a nut you like, but measure them -- they're very high calorie!!!
4. Check in with your friends/family and see how they're doing with your progress. Are they starting to hate you because you're losing weight and feeling fantastic? Do they think your diet is a big pain? Are they supportive because you're happier and healthier?
4. Take this time to remember that it's your life. You and only you live with the consequences of your decisions.
5. Find someone you can talk to about CR, even if it's a friend you make over the CR Society email list (you're more likely to make friends on the Community list, where the cynical old curmudgeons like MR rarely venture. Read about both lists here.) Someone who isn't bored with talking about food and science and someone who won't be jealous of you when you lose weight and live longer. Well, chances are, your jealous friends will be dead long before you.
6. Figure out what nutritients you're usually missing. Most people don't eat a very big variety of foods, and we're consistently missing this or that. Use your nutritional software to figure out what you're usually low on, and to find the foods that will help you correct this deficiency.
STEP THREE: THE LONG DROP
Depending on where you start, you may be in weight loss phase for awhile. This is a good time to start figuring out what your CR personaility is. Do you enjoy keeping a consistent calorie level every day? Do you like eating very little, getting hungry, and then eating more all at once? Do you need volume to be satisfied, and therefore gravitate towards massive salads and stir-fries of low-calorie vegetables? Is eating on the go important to you? Is eating out at restaurants a problem?
Play with your CR style. Try hitting a consistent calorie level for about ten days, skipping your going out meals. See how you feel. Are you happily buzzing along, or are you going wiggy with boredom and hunger? There's no one way to do CR -- you might be an every other day faster! I like to eat three meals a day, keep my calories very low, and then on about the fifth or sixth day go out for a bigger meal. When I do go out, I skip the grains and focus on the protein foods.
Start to think about your designer diet. If you were to make up your daily or weekly menu plan, what you would eat when you were working as usual, what would it be? Put 70 g of protein or more in there, put your omega 3's and your omega 6's in there, and some generous servings of veggies. Make sure you have room for that thing you don't want to give up. Do you want a glass of wine with dinner? A piece of chocolate on Friday afternoon? Pancakes at Sunday breakfast with your family? Find out how many calories it has and put it in, but make up for it elsewhere. You can eat ANYTHING you want on CR -- in the right amounts. You just have to control your total Calories. Deal with your nutritional deficiencies. Is there a food you can eat maybe once a week to make up for something your missing in your regular diet pattern? For example, I tend to be low on zinc, so I eat oysters when I go out to make up for it.
No matter what, don't stop tracking.
Most of us find that CR is a lot easier when we develop a list of things we eat on a regular basis. The fact is, most people do that whether they're on CR or not. Most people just don't have much variety in their diets, so it's important to make sure that what you do eat, you're getting maximal nutrition out of.
My CR is an ever-evolving practice, and I imagine yours will be to. The social struggles, the weirdness of being thin (some of us love it, some of us hate it, mostly breaks down on gender lines.) The change in how you relate to food. Lots of things about CR change over time, and I expect my CR style to keep on changing. If you're interested in trying CR, I hope these concrete instructions are of some use to you. If you don't like them, throw them in the recycle bin and find your own way... there's no one way to do CR! My way works for me, but let me know what you do and I can learn something from you too!
And don't call your vegan ex-boyfriend. Eat some eggwhites instead. Trust me. It works every time.
Posted by april at 7:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 28, 2009
Shoot High -- Aim Low (Carb, that is)*
I am flirting with the idea of doing a low carb diet.
Not the lower carb, higher protein, recovering fat phobic diet that I've been doing for years. It's a radical departure from the nearly all-carb low-fat vegan diet I was on for years, but it's not truly low carb. Sorta like "Cooking Light" magazine would be better described as "Cooking Lighter," you could describe my diet as "So much lower carb than I was eating before!!!" Or: "You would die instantly of complications of spontaneously induced type two diabetes if you knew how high carb a diet I was eating six years ago."
Now, I don't eat sugar. The first changes I made when I started CR were:
-- eliminated all added sugar (this from someone who prior to 2004 took the sugar jar at Starbucks and poured it into her coffee for about a five count)
-- eliminated all grains -- no more nachos, bagels with cream cheese, or bread from the ubiquitous bread basket
-- stopped drinking any alcohol besides red wine
Over time, I relaxed all of these rules: occasionally eating bread at restaurants, and I started drinking white wine in the summer. But about two years ago I made the discovery that eating sugar, just like drinking coffee, gives me anxiety attacks. So I put out a memo that at the holidays I hoped friends and family could understand if I passed up all desserts and sweet treats: that I was not depriving myself of pleasure, but rather depriving myself of horrible anxiety. I've barely had any sugar at all since then, and I find that on an empty stomach, even an overdose of fruit (which I eat rarely anyhow, though I do love the occasional berry or melon or banana, and I can do some pretty amazing things with grapefruit) can spike my anxiety levels, which now between yoga and moderate CR, are very low on a quotidian basis.
Most of my carbs, therefore, come from a) veggies b) dairy c) wine. Though my diet is not as high protein as it was when I mainlined a cup of eggwhites every morning before six, it's still relatively high protein. Fat... well, I hit about 25% on a regular basis, between flax oil, olive oil, almonds, avocadoes, and the occasional cheeseburger and fries when I'm out. But it's still quite high carb.
Since Dr. Richard Feinman's presentation at CR Conference (aka GSA, but to me, it was CR with a bunch of other people milling about) I've been wondering if I might find increased benefits from taking my carbs lower. There can be no question that, at least for most people, lowering carbs makes it easier to lower calories as a whole. I call it the Subway Club Effect: why is it that I can be completely satisfied all afternoon from one Subway Club salad, 140 calories, while my quotidian lunch of 100 g (or thereabouts) of kale plus one cup nonfat yogurt plus 10 grams almonds leaves me hungry by 3 or 4, even though it has more calories? The protein itself has a staying power that carbs just don't, and I suspect the low-ish carbness helps.
I've been trying to take my calories lower for awhile now, and coming up against various roadblocks. With my higher level of activity and active yoga muscle, which I'm building every day, it's not possible for me to eat the extremely low calorie levels I ate in early CR when I was completely sedentary. While my body fat percentage has been going down for awhile now, with all that muscle growing, my weight has stayed frustratingly the same. I feel like I need to do something to shake up my body, and my routines.
In the old days I'd resort to extremely low calorie levels or fasting. Something of a specialist in the psycho-active properties of diet, I am very familiar with how fasting can bring about a state of almost ecstatic calm euphoria. CR induced euphoria, it is in the early stages of CR weight loss. I remember it well. I'm sure I will get there again, but with all my yoga, I don't see myself being able to eat 1000 calories a day to make it. I'll a) lose weight too fast b) faint in Jonathan's class c) be tempted to eat the neighbors. And I don't want to immediately lose all the muscle I've worked so hard to build up.
I suspect that a real low carb diet might give me the psycho-active benefits of fasting without the dangers, and with less muscle-loss. And if I could kick-start my CR program, escape this annoying weight plateau, and lower my calories without dramatically increasing my hunger, well... what's not to love?
Well, for starters, I would probably have to give up, at least in the early phases, my nightly glass(es) of wine. ????? My favorite treat, savored the way a choco-o-holic savors that piece of Godiva... no wine? None? Well, just for awhile.
Second, MR has profound reservations about the idea. He's not opposed at all to low carb diets, in fact, he is favorably inclined towards them, and at this point his preferred diet is 20% protein, 40% carb, and 40% fat. He would be thrilled if I got my fat content up, as he has always worried that the seemingly slow pace of my neurological healing (as in my tailbone injury, that plagued me from August 2, 2008 -- my 34th birthday -- until I began studying Iyengar yoga with Jonathan) was in part a result of my low fat diet. If I were to replace some carbs with fat, or even protein, he would be ecstatic.
But attempting to hit the low carb levels in the induction phase of low carb diets: that's too low for him. Even for a week or two. But if I were to really come off the carbs, and get the fasting-like psychological-psychadellic effect, I think it would take that kind of abrupt shift, at least for a short period of time.
Perhaps I will write Dr. Feinman with this question: for someone who is definitely not overweight, but wants to reduce her calories with the intent of eventually eating CR-levels (again, this time with yoga muscle) can a low carb diet be helpful, and if so, should I approach it the same way a normal person would, or should I start at some other point? My main priorities: lowering my total calorie intake, maintaining adequate/optimal nutrition, maintaining the muscle strength and energy necessary for my hardcore yoga practice, and not going insane with hunger. And eventually being able to have a glass of wine at dinner?
Wow, that sounds like a tall order for a short girl.
I am still just flirting with the idea... not at all committed. And definitely wouldn't go low carb during the holiday month, when I have so many parties to attend that it will be a struggle to lose even a pound this month. But come January... might be a nice way to start the year. If I could lower my calories without losing too much muscle and strength, and get the benefits of fasting that I can no longer afford if I want to maintain my yoga practice... it's definitely worth considering.
I've been looking for something for quite some time to shake up my nutritional routines. This might not be a bad idea.
*It is indeed a reference to the "Yes" song I just downloaded onto my Ipod. Are they Canadian?
Posted by april at 12:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 26, 2009
Passion, Revisited
The best thing about the CR Conference is that it always recharges my passion for the art and science of living longer, and living more fully right here, right now.
How much time do we spend wandering around in a haze, not fully living in the moment? Yoga definitely helps me focus on the here and now, on what I am doing, right now. But sometimes in the focus on now that I've developed through yoga practice, I lose the focus on the long term. The CR Society Conference helped me to re-connect with the long term goals of our CR practice, which is both fulfilling in the short term and life-saving in the long term.
I've noticed over the last year or so that the passion I once felt for CR has largely been transferred onto yoga, and I've never done anything half way. Do or do not do, there is no maybe. But being at the conference reminded me of why we do CR. It has nothing to do with weight or how you look: everyone thinks I look better heavier, though I prefer how I look as skinny as I get. Listening to Luigi Fontana's results, again, about how CR'd people do better on almost every test of health, made me feel again committed to this lifestyle that appears to extend life.
In the panel discussion, Dr. Richard Feinman said about the low carb lifestyle that it helps people who have felt out of control gain control over their eating habits. I think this is one of the most important things a diet or lifestyle can give its practitioners. CR has the same effect: learning to count calories and measure nutrition gives those who have felt previously out of control a way to manage their food intake, and that discipline transfers into every area of life. I know it did for me. Yoga is similar: the discipline you learn on the mat bleeds into every other area of your life.
CR + low carb + hard core Iyengar yoga practice = the ultimate high. Thus I theorized with Robert K. at the bar on the second night of the conference. I was having a not so low carb glass of red wine, he was having his characteristic nothing. I definitely feel revitalized in my CR practice, and also in leaning towards the low carb end of the scale. Low fat vegetarianism was imprinted on me when I was so young, and it's hard to re-set my mind. But the most successful I've ever been at CR was at a time when I ate at least 70 g of protein a day, and ate no carbs besides vegetables and red wine. I've rarely eaten grains in the entire five years since I started CR, but I've at times allowed my total carb level to creep up, and that only leads to increased hunger and increased calories. Eggwhites, flax oil, yogurt, veggies, brewers yeast... there is a simple formula, one I figured out years ago. The trick is saying no to all the other things (most of them carbs) that threaten to derail the CR train.
Speaking of trains... we have an early train home in the morning, so I should go back to bed! We're packing our food: South Beach Diet bars, frozen veggies, and yogurt with flax oil for me. Not going to take our chances with the Amtrak snack car!
Posted by april at 11:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 25, 2009
CR Conference Report
The CR Conference was great of course. This year we did it as a subsection of the large Gerontological Society of America meeting, so there were lots and lots of people attending our sessions, many of whom weren't there for CR. Luigi Fontana presented his data on CR'd humans, and once again, it seems to be working. My favorite presentation was given by Dr. Richard Feinman, who studies the effects of low carb diets. Sure enough, low carb diets have profound positive effects on metabolic syndrome. He was also my favorite because he practices what he preaches: has been on a low carb diet for 8 years and looks great.
The best part of the conference, as always, was getting to hang out with CR friends. I admit that I miss the intimacy of our CR-only conferences, but I got to spend plenty of time one on one and at the meals with CR friends old and new.
I really missed some of the old regulars: Mary Robinson and Dean Pomerleau weren't there. But I got to see Mike Linksvayer, who probably got some of the worst roughing up in the media after he did an NY Times article. I noticed him when he walked in but didn't recognize him, and said to MR, "Who is that gorgeous guy over there? I think he's skinnier than you!" I do like 'em skinny, that's fer sure.
Never is a conference complete without me getting really, really annoyed at one or more of the scientists. On Thursday night, the night we arrived, I was dead tired and went to a panel on the possibilities of life extension. Someone asked a question about CR, and Leonard Hayflick piped in something about quality of life and libido. "Don't let me yell at him," I whispered to MR. MR encouraged me to go ahead. So I read the assembled crowd the riot act about how CR doesn't ruin quality of life or destroy sex drive, it just stops men from checking out anything in a skirt. In my defense a) I was tired b) previous to that evening I was for some reason convinced that Hayflick was dead. I think that at every conference I've managed to get into it with some scientist or other. Jay Olshansky, Jay Phelan, and now Richard Miller and Leonard Hayflick have somehow managed to get on my last nerve.
Richard Miller was very interesting and entertaining. We may disagree on several things, but like Reagan, he's the kind of guy you'd enjoy getting a beer with. I was hoping to have more time to chat with Richard Feinman, but it never materialized.
The next day I took an early class at an Iyengar studio in Atlanta, Stillwater, owned by good friend of Lisa Walford, Kathleen Pringle. I was super nervous to take class at a real Iyengar-only studio, but I think I did really well. I could definitely keep up with the class, even though it was a level I/II. The instructor was great and I learned a lot, but she wasn't nearly as funny as Jonathan. I had the awkward moment when asked who my teacher in Philadelphia is, I just say "Jonathan," because I don't know his last name. Then whomever I'm taking to says, "Oh, I think I know that guy," and proceeds to give a physical description of someone who is definitely not my Jonathan. Apparently there is a yoga teacher whom every other teacher in the country knows in Philadelphia named Jonathan, and I wonder if it's the guy who writes the "Yoga Examiner" column for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Anyhow, it's a recurring phenomenon whenever I talk to yoga people.
After class, we rented a car and drove from Atlanta to NC, which was a long drive between accident traffic and rain. Now we're in NC with my father and step-mother for the holiday. Tonight I'm making a batch of CR-friendly lasagna for the entire family, the pasta-less version with zucchini and a million other veggies. MR is very, very excited. It's his favorite.
It's been a nice trip, but I'm missing home and my friends and my yoga class. I've managed to practice most days, but it's not the same. I noticed the first day of the trip when I was in child's pose that my mat still smells like the incense at Practice, my favorite studio. Sigh.
It's okay, I'll be back in class on Saturday.
Food has gone fairly well. Yesterday we took my grandmother (who won't tell us but we suspect she's around 93) out for shopping and lunch. Though the waitress made an annoyed noise when I ordered the Cobb salad with no bacon or blue cheese, no dressing, plain vinegar on the side, I still managed to get a healthy lunch. Dinner last night was salads, since we'd been out for lunch, and today we're going out for lunch to a place that has good salads, then I'm cooking the dinner. Thanksgiving I don't worry about CR, I just eat one meal that day. Then Friday will be the challenge: we're taking a train home, ten hours, so we'll have to pack all our own food. I'm looking forward to it actually... time to be with MR, play on our computers, work on my novel (I woke up three weeks ago in the process of writing a novel... I know, it's weird) and just chill.
I wish I could practice on the train. I'm sure I can do some poses in my seat. Head balance, though, is out of the question.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The
Posted by april at 9:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 14, 2009
Onward
Reading my last post, I feel like I sound rather absurdly despairing. Walking around at 115 wearing a size 4 with the muscle I have is not something to complain about, and please be clear, I am not upset about my weight from an aesthetic perspective. I'm on the low end of healthy weight for my height and frame size and obviously in good shape. Rather, it's that from a CR perspective, I still have a ways to go. Striking the balance between exercise and CR, without entirely giving up going out sometimes, is a challenge. If I just wanted to remain at a "healthy" weight, having kept off 25 pounds for five years now or more, I'd be there. But as we've discussed a million times: that's not CR. CR is getting well below the calorie level at which you are neither over nor underweight.
I'll admit that in addition to being excited about the conference, I am excited to have nine days when I'm mostly just with MR, and not going out with other friends. Being in front of high calorie food when I'm hungry and my muscles are growing and want to eat cheeseburgers is a challenge. When MR and I create our little world together, the food is always good. After we leave the conference we're driving to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, and we'll be CR geeking out the whole way.
I'm so excited to be back in yoga class in the morning, but annoyed that I can't sleep... I forgot to take my melatonin before bed and sure enough, up at 3.
I"m also really, really excited to take class at the Iyengar studio in Atlanta. But if you want more info on that, check the yoga blog. BTW, if anyone has asked for a yoga blog invite and not received, just ask me again: I'm not ignoring you on purpose, I probably just spaced it off.
Posted by april at 1:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 10, 2009
Conference Angst
"Perfection eludes us, but this should not lead us to reduce our efforts."
-- B.K.S. Iyengar
Everybody knows that the conference is almost a week away, and sure enough, I am not nearly as thin as I wanted to be.
In spite of aggressively monitoring my calories *most* of the time, I've still gone out and eaten too much. And I continue to practice yoga so hard that I am putting on muscle at an alarming rate, but still, it makes me hungry and then I am tempted by one too many serving of cottage cheese and chick peas and there you have it: more April then there was last time any of these folks saw me.
I think I'm in the best shape of my life, and there's no way I'd trade the body I have now for the sorta gelationous, un-muscled 99 pound thing I used to carry around, but the fact is, I'd rather be somewhere in between. And I wanted to be further along in the journey by the time of the conference. If I had focused more on a lower calorie level and restricted my going out more, I'd probably be there. But as it stands, people are once again going to say, "You don't look skinny at all!"
To be fair, they never thought I was all that skinny... my body type is the kind that just won't look that thin, even in optimal CR'd state. But we know now that at that point, I was in optimal CR'd state. We didn't know it then... we thought I had farther to go... but judging from the effects on immune function, body temp, blood pressure, and mental state, I was in proper CR range back then. There is no way to be absolutely sure, but we are pretty sure.
Would I like to be back there? Sure. Am I back there yet? No.
Working towards it, but still taking too many bites off friends' plates, extra scoops of cottage cheese and chick peas, the occasional cheeseburger, that last glass of wine I really didn't need. The growing yoga muscles are hungry and my friends love food and wine. It's hard.
Out at lunch with two of my three best friends, my one best friend managed to synthesize my fears about the CR Conference, thinking he was being funny or ironic.
"So what if they're angry at you for giving up the cause? What if they say, 'What are you doing here, you fat pig?'" he was being ironic, making fun of anyone who could judge me as fat at my current, super in shape weight, or really care about such things.
Anyone who has a problem with my weight, we said, flexing our considerable arm muscles (I do yoga, he lifts) can take it up over *there* (and we point far, far away, while flexing our biceps... this is probably only funny if you're there, and maybe not even then.)
Writing a CR blog has given me plenty of opportunities to be criticized for my weight, whether too low or too high. I remember one who said that at 115, I was either 5 or 10 pounds above "ideal." I'd seriously like to meet this person in ten minute headstand, but anyhow... if I have advice to you, dear reader, it is, Never, ever, become a person known in the media for anything having to do with weight. Weight, sex, money: the hot buttons of our culture. I don't want to recount the horrors of the media, I don't want to remember it at all.
I've found a studio founded by a senior Iyengar teacher in Atlanta, two miles from the conference hotel. The owner of the studio is a friend of my dear friend and CR sister Lisa Walford, and I am looking forward to taking class.
So much of yoga is about acceptance: I am not reaching for my toes, I am using a stretching strap, but I am doing the pose. I try to apply the same to my CR: I am not CR-perfect super model skinny, and I know that I live with the icon of CR robotic perfection. I am in many ways a disappointment. But not to myself. I have learned to use this mortal body as a vehicle to states I can't even describe if you haven't been there. I trust that in time it will all come together: the yoga, the CR. And then I won't even care what people think of the way I look.
I apologize to anyone who is upset that I weigh more than 105 or 99. I could engage in a long dialogue about how most of that is muscle, but why bother? If you're looking for an icon of super model thinness, you were always in the wrong place.
When I look at the bravery of the woman at my gym, who has severe physical disabilities but comes to work out, with her walker, I am humbled with gratitude for what my body can do. When I met Sara last night, yoga teacher and Jonathan's girlfriend, a beautiful young girl (my heavens how they look so young to me now!!!) who was in a car accident in August and is now back in class, just freed from her crutches and walking around, and modifying every pose but right there, practicing with us... well, I can't complain about my few extra pounds. I can stand and fight my epic battle with trikonasana, I can experience those flashes of quiet of the mind that keep me coming back for more when Jonathan holds me up and twists me so far I feel like I'm going to fall over, but I don't.
Perhaps at this meeting, I will just be along as MR's girlfriend... the serious yogini with the great muscles and yoga... well... ya know. He could have done worse.
I wish I were different, better. But perhaps by admitting that, by writing a few words that are true, I will let all of you off the hook. None of us are the icons of perfection that we want to be, are we? Perfection eludes us... our journey lies in deciding what perfect is worth pursuing, and what is the projections of others.
Yoga has been amazing this week... so many breakthroughs. On Monday night I took two classes back to back, then came back (five hours of sleep later) for Jonathan's 7 a on Tuesday. Jonathan told me that a friend of his, hearing the story of the girl who took a tripleshot in fourteen hours, said, "That woman's just crazy." It's true... whatever I do, I do it all the way. I find the yoga so healing and so powerful that I want as much of it as I can get.
I am looking forward to the conference. MR assures me that I am slim and beautiful and that no one will be disappointed by my extra muscle and strategically placed extra fat. In fact, any boys who remain testosterone normal will probably appreciate it.
I wonder, often, what my journey would be like if I hadn't gotten mixed up in the media. So much of the emotional stress that led to a de-railing of my CR was spurred by all the horrible media. But it's absurd to wonder what if: if things were different, then everything would be different. I may never have found yoga, had I not been so stressed out and miserable.
So on we go. I'm going to Jonathan's class at 10 am tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to a play with a good friend, then the weekend is all about spending time with my angel and my kitty. I have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
To quote Brian Delaney, CR Society president: onward.
Posted by april at 1:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 7, 2009
It's Amazing How Much You Can Do With Eggplant
Without breaking the law.
Last night I did my soy ginger eggplant, a huge fan fave round these parts.
I've posted it before, but here it is in a nutshell (or in a hollowed out eggplant!):
pre-cook half an eggplant for 3 mins in the microwave, covered. hollow out with a spoon, reserve innards
mix eggplant guts with chopped broccoli crowns and 2 tbsps nonfat ricotta (or omit the ricotta if you choose) and 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce and several shakes of ginger powder, or diced fresh ginger
top with 2 oz nonfat mozzarellla
Microwave until cheese melts. Top with 1 tsp olive oil or flax oil after removing from heat.
Thanks to all for your sweet comments. It makes me really happy that you're still out there and still enjoying the blog.
Things should get interesting... we have the CR conference in a week and a half!
Posted by april at 3:57 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
November 4, 2009
Happy Anniversary, Baby!
It's our five year anniversary. We celebrate the anniversary of the day we met. We don't believe in marriage (we believe it exists, but like termites or a plague of locusts, it's something that happens to other people) and it's hard to pick any other particular day without venturing into the land of too much information, so we celebrate the first time we ever saw each other in person. He was standing in the lobby of the CR Conference hotel talking with Lisa Walford. He seemed to be standing in a glowing white light, like an angel. And sure enough, he turned out to be my angel.
Tonight for anniversary dinner I am making his favorite: pasta-less lasagna! I'll post the recipe later on... it changes a bit every time.
I am celebrating by going down to 1200 today... I'm most likely going out with Davy Arizona, aka Asparagusphobe, tomorrow night, so I need to trim some calories off the surrounding days. Restaurant food is so high calorie.
Just checking in quickly between meditation and yoga... today is Jonathan's later class, and then I have meetings all day in town. Sleeping until 5:20 is sleeping late for me. Most days I'm leaving for the train at 5:45 am to make it to Jonathan's 7 am or 7:15.
Posted by april at 6:16 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 3, 2009
Iyengar-ish
"Is what you teach Iyengar?" I asked Jonathan a couple of weeks ago, after I'd had a parting of ways with the vinyasa teacher training.
"I teach yoga," said Jonathan, rather unhelpfully.
"Well, people keep asking me what it is I'm learning with you, so what do I tell them?"
"I'm not Iyengar certified yet, but I study Iyengar."
There. The yoga I'm doing is Iyengar-ish hatha. And it's awesome. My body and mind are evolving in ways I always imagined would be wonderful, but saw no road map to getting there.
But this is a blog about CR. If you want the blog about how I read books about trikonasana, look at Iyengar videos and photos online, and quote my teacher's jokes to people who don't practice yoga and therefore don't get why "Sure, I can put my hand on the floor, but that's not the pose, I don't look happy here, do I?" is really funny (it's a trikonasana thing) ... then send me email and I will send you an invite. Warning: if anyone makes nasty comments on my yoga blog, he or she will be uninvited immediately. I've taken enough abuse on this blog for a lifetime, I don't offer myself as a punching bag on the yoga blog.
So CR: well, I've lost some weight, but I've also gained muscle, a lot of it, and it's deep hard muscle of a type I never had before. Perhaps eventually I will look like Jonathan, only a girl version. The kind of deep definition that he has is completely different from what my friends who lift weights have. It's how I imagine human beings are supposed to be: strong with a strength that comes from the bones more than from the muscles, with muscles that aren't fighting with the bones but are working perfectly in harmony with their design to do basically anything they want. Jonathan always says that the strength comes from the skeleton, once you learn how to align it. I know that learning proper alignment has been the major factor in my relief from my injuries. But enough about yoga... we were talking about CR.
I'm still eating too many calories, here and there, but gradually taking it down. Been shooting for 1400 per day, but often hitting 1600, and at that rate I seem to lose about 1 - 2 pounds per week. These muscles are hungry! I had lost four pounds but may have gained back one... there are so many confounding factors on my weight that I'm never sure what's water, fat or muscle. The body fat percentage on the scale continues to go down, and I know my clothes fit more loosely and look better. Hoping my yoga pants shrunk when MR washed them this morning (yes, he does the laundry... I know, I'm lucky, I worship the ground he walks on) because they're getting so lose that Jonathan needs x-ray vision to see if I am actually internally rotating the thighs. (This is a big thing in Iyengar, and one of the reasons why most Iyengar yogis wear shorts. I am so not there yet. I think I would feel more comfortable practicing in a bunny suit than in shorts. Which brings up interesting possibilities for Easter... anyhow.) I've been working hard at rotating the thighs, and it's amazing what definition is already coming out in the muscles. Plus, I actually *get* what the pose is supposed to be... ish... when I do that. But enough about yoga.
So CR is going, along, but is definitely hard with building hungry muscle. At the same time, it is very complimentary to my yoga practice, as all the poses get easier as I lose weight. I can tell even with the small amount I've lost so far. And yoga is such a healthy activity that discourages going out and indulging. When I had eaten too much the night of my work anniversary, the next day my stomach made noise during my entire class, and I felt much less lightness in the poses. It was distinctly less fun, whereas class is usually one of the most fun things I ever do.
But enough about yoga. This is a CR blog.
Okay, here's what I've eaten recently:
Nancy's organic cottage cheese, lowfat
flax oil
kale
green peppers
grape tomatoes
olives
almonds
Ruby Tuesday's white bean chicken chili
cucumbers
wine
a few croutons from the RT salad bar
a clam chowder I made with curry that was really good
Butterworks Farms organic nonfat plain yogurt
a cheeseburger
Things I would like to eat:
Trader Joe's salsa verde
The Control Freak salad at Marathon Grill that I am going to get tonight out with my friend MG
roasted beets
roasted red peppers, no oil
more wine
more variations on my clam chowder, which I make Manhattan style, so red, not creamy
MR's mashed cauliflower
anything off the Olive Garden calorie controlled menu... oh how I adore pasta in calorie controlled amounts
Smart One's frozen chicken enchilladas
My kale salad for lunch
Dino kale, which is hard to come by
Bok choi, which is in the fridge waiting for me to eat it
That seems like a good enough list.
Yoga and CR go well together, even though not over-feeding the hungry muscles is a challenge. I look forward to a long and healthy practice, and a long and healthy life.
Posted by april at 8:53 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack