Salad Rolls w/ Soba Noodles

For the first half of dinner, I made some fresh salad rolls with chilled Japanese Soba noodles. I think Soba buckwheat noodles are usually served chilled. I added some Ponzu sauce to the noodles, and put them in the fridge while I went to spin. These ingredients made three salad rolls. The fresh basil, mint, and cilantro make the dish. I’ll probably make a veggie burger, then have some Weetabix and fruit for dessert.

BTW, if it isn’t clear, I prefer to eat this way. I’m not force-feeding myself vegetables. I love this stuff. That’s what makes losing weight so easy. I make fresh food, and eat until I’m full. Unlike hyper-palatable junk food, you can’t binge on this stuff.

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If There’s No Food Reward, Then Why Do I Eat The Whole Box Of Cookies?

Learning about The Pleasure Trap, aka Food Reward, taught me why a whole foods diet prevents us from over-eating. I never even thought the concept could be controversial. Obesity isn’t even your fault! Hyper-palatable, ultra-refined products are so good, you’d be crazy not to prefer them to traditional food. Once hooked, you’re normal to reject a salad, vegetables, or even fruit as unappetizing. (But, once you break the Pleasure Trap of fast food, you again enjoy the real tastes of whole foods.)

So what’s the controversy over Food Reward? Who could even doubt that it’s the high-availability (24 hr/day, everywhere, cheap, super-sized) of these highly processed addictive foods that makes us fat? Oh, right, Gary Taubes. Apparently, he couldn’t stomach the idea of someone with a real hypothesis which elegantly addresses the obesity epidemic, and that (indirectly) invalidates his own fixed-idea. So what should Taubes do? Hijack the Q&A follow-up to Dr. Stephan Guyenet’s Food Reward talk at AHS11 to personally attack him, of course.

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I saw the “incident” unfold a few years after it happened, while I was watching Guyenet’s talk on YouTube. It was a great talk, then he opened up the Q&A. Next I hear a familiar droning voice that I (WTF?!) recognized as Taubes. (He jumped the Q&A line to make his outburst.) He goes on about his apocryphal, tiny populations that got obese eating no calories while doing manual labor, and accused Guyenet of ignoring them in his work. Awkwardness ensues.

This incident exposes something of a natural rift between the Paleo and the Low-Carb cliques at these types of conferences. They’re allies in their love for fat, especially saturated fat, and they both demonize wheat and most starches. However, there are some very fit Paleo eaters, and they find it necessary to fuel their workouts with “tubers” like sweet potatoes (never white potatoes, even though both are agricultural products). But since real Low-Carb’ers do ketosis, this theological rift is going to cause some problems. As it turns out, the Paleo side with Guyenet over the issue, and the Low-Carb’ers align with Taubes. One commenter noted that the Paleos resent the Low-Carb’ers as the “fatties” at these conferences, and associate Food Reward with personal responsibility. The Low-Carb’ers naturally go with the “insulin made me fat” story (since Gary Taubes confirms that exercise won’t help them lose weight).

Anyways, look it up (Google: taubes guyenet ahs11). There’s a pretty good conciliatory post that attempts to bridge the two camps (but is more Paleo-oriented towards personal responsibility, and “calories count”).

PS: I always wonder if Dr. Doug Lisle’s Pleasure Trap video would help the Low-Carb’ers. He explains the real reasons why obesity isn’t a personal short-coming. It’s natural in this food environment. And you don’t need extreme measures like cutting out all carbs to break the Pleasure Trap.

Fresh Foratini Al Pomodoro

I figured it was time to post another scary looking plate of pasta, so I made some foratini al pomodoro for breakfast. I bought the fresh pasta from Assenti’s, and made my the sauce from 6 roma tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil. Foratini is a huge noodle, and is a little chewy. I bought it to scare the low-carb’ers. I’ll buy spaghetti next time.

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I learned to make the sauce in Italy. You blanch the tomatoes in near-boiling water for a minute or two, until you see the skin break. Then cut the tomatoes in half, and remove the skin and seeds. Keep only the fleshy part of the tomatoes, and purée them. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan, and fry a quartered clove of garlic until golden. Remove the garlic from the oil. Add in the puréed tomatoes and basil, salt & pepper, and reduce without a lid at medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. It’s a snap.

Should I Try To Lose Weight Faster?

I’ve lose weight at a steady 100g/day, without restricting calories. I eat a whole-foods, starch-based diet, with lots of vegetables and fruit. I eat a lot at night, usually right before bed. I eat huge quantities of food while watching television on the couch. I could probably lose weight faster if I didn’t always stuff myself. Well, I might try harder now, since they’re offering a $200+ prize at my small spin studio for the most weight % lost from Jan 1 to Feb 28.
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It’d be great to lose 10kg in two months. If I could do it, it’d save me a month off my current schedule (3kg/month). Overall, it’d get me to my goals a lot quicker. I may start running, and I’ll definitely do more strength training. Ok, I’m in.

Dessert of Champions

Shredded Wheat is another of my staples, and I eat it by the box. Well, I probably buy a 0,5 kg box every 5 days, so I guess I only eat 100g/day, or 400 calories/day. I eat it straight out of the box, or if I slow down, I’ll get out the almond milk, banana, and blueberries. I almost never eat it for breakfast, since I make potatoes or have a veggie burger in the morning. I eat the cereal after dinner, usually just before bed.

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100 Calorie Pack of Salad

My Chinese No-Chicken Salad is my go-to staple for filling up with nutrients, fibre, and volume with a relatively low number of calories. I add about 200 calories of Top Ramen, at least 300 calories from crushed almonds, and probably another 150 calories from my garlic sesame dressing. And, if you even bother to count it, the whole bag of cole slaw mix is 100 calories. I add chopped green onions, yellow bell pepper, and cilantro. So, that’s about 750 calories for the whole mixing bowl, which takes me about 1/2 an hour to eat in front of the television. Lately, I’ve been eating about 4 of these meals a week.

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1000 Calorie Pack of Almonds

I could have easily eaten the whole package in one sitting, but I had the discipline and will power to make them last 24 hours. I used most of them between two huge Chinese No-Chicken Salads, which also shared a package of Top Ramen. Everything else was fresh greens (except for the 30g of sesame oil and 30g of sugar). This is how I lose about 100g/day. I also had two veggie burgers yesterday, and potatoes and cereal before bed. I did spin twice this weekend, so I’m not worried.

Interestingly, these almonds cans sell as cheap as bulk almonds @ $15 USD / kg.

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