Category: Deliberate Consumption

Mt. Si and FiveFinger Treks

Posted on Posted in Deliberate Consumption, Fitness and DietTagged , , , ,

My friend and bad/good exercise influence Emily was in town for the weekend, which meant saucy* happenings abounded amidst barbecues and typical Northwest weather.

Emily was one of the first FiveFingers enthusiasts that I met, and this past weekend she showed me her newest acquisition,Vibram Fivefinger KSO Trek. Since we had planned on hiking during her trip, we ended up doing a pre-hike shopping trip wherein I bought my own pair of treks.

Interesting to note, the store we bought them at (REI) had most of their selection of FiveFingers obliterated – only the Treks were available due to high demand. Crazy! Luckily, they had them in my size, and we headed, late, to Mt. Si, where we did the 8 mile, round trip hike, burning more than 2000 calories each, and exiting the mountain ravenous, tired, and a little beaten up.

I loved the feeling of the ground and the rocks, and the rugged soles of the Treks served me well those first 4 miles up, and I couldn’t help but run up the trail a bit. Looking out for sharp rocks and watching my footing was a bit distracting, but I may learn to compensate for my insecurity over time. 🙂 My toes were definitely sore by the time we were three miles down the mountain, and the last mile was really rough. At one point I stumbled as my hips through ankles were starting to complain, and I don’t know if it’s my improved fitness, or if the Treks gave me cat-like reflexes, but I did not faceplant, but instead, deftly caught myself on both feet, not even dirtying my hands. Truly remarkable.

It’s now Thursday – and the hike was on Monday – and my calves are STILL aching, while my hips and thighs are a little more tempered. It was a wonderfully brutal experience, and I look forward to taking the Treks out for another hike or trail run sometime in the near future.

*sauciness comes from letting me/me taking the liberty to update your Facebook ustatus updates. Offer not available in all cities.

Reusing Plastics to Cut Down on Waste

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I’m very lucky to live in Seattle, where farmer’s markets are nearby and year round, where even the conventional grocery stores carry local and organic (though still, not as much as I’d like), and I can buy items in bulk easily, including at co-ops and small markets, bath and body items.

Today I peeled the labels (using Citra-Solv to get the gunk off as needed) off of my old conditioner bottle to prep it for being filled with bulk conditioner (Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Conditioner) at my co-op. I dutifully weighed and labeled my bottle with the tare weight, to save the cashier any trouble.

I proceeded to do this with some other plastic containers I had lying around. I have about 4 clean plastic containers, once used for cottage cheese, sour cream and cream cheese, all great for taking home bulk items.

Why bother with all this? Well, we’re already using cloth bags to go to the market, and I’m already re-using an empty bath salts container to get more bath salt, so why not? Why use new plastic bags for bulk items when we have perfectly good (and easily washed) plastic containers that, at best, might be downcycled domestically and at the worst, chucked into the ocean (adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch) or burned in the developing world (where it was sent to be “recycled.”)

I’m still working on the balancing act between being a part of the world and choosing where to opt-out or minimally opt-in. I don’t claim to be completely awesome at this. Especially because there is always some news item about current research that conflicts with previous assertions. The truth is that there is no blanket statement that you can go by – it’s really a case-by-case scenario, like why I chose conventional Argentine garlic over organic Argentine garlic (which was at least 4x the cost). This is because I have trouble trusting the veracity of many organic claims from abroad as well as those domestically grown, USDA certified organic.

My first choice is local sourced organic. Second, local sourced or organic domestic. Third is domestic or organic Canadian (preferably from BC, our neighbor directly north.) Luckily I don’t usually have to go to the fourth option which is organic from abroad, or give up.

For my bath/body products, I’m trying to remember that the labels “natural” and “organic” mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in things other than food. (Which recalls that “natural flavors” in food just means that the ester or whatever was distilled from a natural product, and can be chemically identical to a synthetically produced chemical.) Lots of things are naturally derived, including Vaseline. Petroleum is natural, right?

It’s a big world to tackle. Today, I’m just trying to smartly re-use.

Eggs vs. Eggs

Posted on Posted in Deliberate Consumption, Fitness and Diet, Food and DrinkTagged , , , , 2 Comments

As my frittata breakfast settles in my stomach, I thought I’d write about my most recent experience at an IHOP in Texas. I don’t go to IHOPs, or any national chain restaurant, if I can help it, or am going through a particular bit of insanity. This is mostly because that in Seattle, you have unending choices of delicious food that is from local businesses (including local ingredients!) I’m still on a path of weight-loss, so Texas is a challenge no matter what. I thought that I could navigate breakfast rather simply, even when the family chose IHOP, but it turns out I was wrong.

The order was simple – 2 eggs over medium, 2 strips of bacon, whole-wheat toast.

What I received was all that, PLUS hash browns and an extra slice of toast, both drenched in butter.

I left one slice of toast and hash browns to the side. I planned only to eat one of the eggs, but ended up eating both. During the entire meal, I was stunned with the fact that the texture of eggs and bacon was there, but the flavor wasn’t. It wasn’t for lack of salt, as I sprinkled more than my usual on it. It wasn’t for lack of hot sauce, either, as I slathered my eggs in Tabasco and Cholula. My brain even raised the question, “Are these eggs sweet?” It seemed like I couldn’t escape a syrupiness, even on my eggs.

I’m a fan of bacon and eggs. It’s something I eat on a semi-regular basis, usually being a piece of bacon and a single egg. This combo breakfast usually sustains me for 4-5 hours before I remember that it’s time to eat. This is much longer than my usual high-fiber breakfast cereal gets me. I have found that the key to being satisfied and not overeating is limiting my simple carbohydrate intake, or ensuring that I pair all simple carbs with protein or fat. I hoped that my order at IHOP would net me the same fortitude as my experience with bacon and eggs at home. I was horribly, horribly wrong.

One reason this happened could be that I ate toast (and a bite of pancake) along with my protein and fat rich breakfast. It was whole-wheat, and naked except for butter, so I don’t imagine it had much of a glycemic impact as naked toast alone. The other reason, and I don’t have a scientific basis to believe this, is that perhaps the IHOP eggs and bacon and our eggs and bacon at home (which come from the farmer’s market) are actually different, nutritionally. IHOPs sources are likely from CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), where our sources come from a short ways out into Washington, where allegedly, the animals lead happy lives up until their deaths. The feed itself, perhaps, makes a difference.

All I know is that in a short 2-3 hours, I was really, really hungry. Unreasonably hungry.

Maybe, instead of obscenely stacked burgers and plumped up milkshakes, THIS IS WHY WE’RE FAT. Food, in the greater parts of America, is so bland and tasteless it requires monumental amounts of salt and sugar to make it taste like anything, and when you’re done eating, you’re hungry in short order. Your tastebuds are constantly deprived, deprivation leads to overeating, almost as if you keep on eating, somehow taste will appear. Maybe this bite will be tasty?!

Corn syrup has taken a hit as the culprit of the obesity epidemic. Maybe corn syrup is just another symptom. Maybe the CAFO meats and dairy and fake-food (ie. artificial sweetners, flavors, and artificially low-fat foods) being devoid of flavor, REQUIRING more of ANYTHING to give it flavor are to blame for obesity.

After my excursion into the Heart of Darkness America, I can note that it will be very, very hard for me to ever leave the Pacific Northwest.

Recommended Purchase: Octo T-Shirt $9

Posted on Posted in Arts and Crafts, Deliberate ConsumptionTagged , , , ,

My old friend Mark in Chicago has a shirt on teefury.com of an octo. It’s available today only, for the cost of $9 per shirt. It’s a steal! Even the shipping is cheap. Seriously. I’m a huge fan of octos, especially after diving with the Giant Pacific Octopus in Puget Sound. They’re graceful, and wicked smart. Molitorious coupled his awesome illustration style with the beauty of an octo. I have to admit, I’ve mulled over the idea of an octo tattoo before, and this design may just be worthy of that (though, I’d probably commission a specific illustration if I were to go through with the idea.)

Anyway, check it out:

Now go to teefury.com and buy one today!

Shout out to another artist friend of mine, David Lasky. I now desire to have some of your art on a t-shirt. 🙂 Specifically, something from your James Joyce comic.

First-World Problems: My Trip to the Dermatologist

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Perhaps it’s a vanity that comes with being 30-something. I’ve noticed some scarring (hyper-pigmentation) on my chin and neck from years of cystic acne. It only flares up once every few months, and when it does, it’s painful. What I went to see the dermatologist about, a week ago, was to get a cream to make these scars a little less noticeable.

I hadn’t been to this particular dermatologists office before. The last time I saw a dermatologist, it was to get an annual mole screening, since I’ve been taught to keep an eye on them. I’ve not been to a dermatologist for cosmetic reasons since I was a teenager, and I don’t remember getting anything that particularly worked.

From the moment I stepped into the waiting room, I felt inadequate. Surrounding me were ads, brochures, lists of options for letting me know that though SOME women were OK with wrinkles, brown spots, discoloration, etc, I didn’t have to be. WHAT A RELIEF! Wait – I think I was OK with some of these things before… HUH? I could tell that this was going to be an interesting visit.
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