Quick Healthy Updates

Yesterday I ended up walking 3 miles – 2 to work, and then one at lunch. But today I didn’t get any exercise in. I will try to do a little extra tomorrow.

Today’s food had lots of veggies and fats, but no overkill of protein. I’m trying oatmeal for breakfast again. It’s good. I missed it. I’m going to be a little bit honest. I’m getting really frustrated with these few pounds that I’ve put on. I feel like I’m trying hard to lose it, but I forgot how annoying it is to lose weight!

I’m reading this really good book: The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker. He’s a very smart linguist. It makes me feel very intelligent as I sit on the subway on my way to or from work. I’m starting to carry it everywhere which is always a good sign.

What’s your favorite book?

How Much Protein Do I Really Need?

How much protein do I really need?

::Steps onto soapbox::

The current accepted answer (in the medical community) is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight. This is what I learned in my nutrition class (from a PhD in nutrition). This means that a 125 pound woman needs about 45 grams of protein a day. This is actually down from many outdated recommendations.

Want to hear something crazy? That number might be overestimating.

I saw my brother about a week ago and he is STRONG. Rob is a vegetarian and has been for probably 7 or 8 years now (he’s 20). Rob is 6’4″ and close to 200 pounds, but he wears the same size shirt as my 6’1″ 165-170 pound fiance (hope they don’t mind me telling their weights, heh – and the shirt size is a men’s medium).

What I’m trying to say is that Rob is skinny and all muscle. I asked him how he bulked up. “I’m working out and eating tons of protein,” he says to me. “How much is ‘tons’?” I respond. “Oh, you know – maybe 50 or 60 grams a day.” The fact that he could gain so much muscle on just 50-60 grams of protein a day is quite a shock to some people, but Rob is living proof.

For some people that amount of protein may seem like a pittance. Those people would be wrong (IMHO). As a disclaimer, I will admit that protein needs can vary drastically if you are sick or have a specific medical condition. I’m speaking more about the average person, not those in extenuating circumstances. And I will admit that there is variation within the average – maybe Rob and I need less protein than the “average” person… but not that much less. I do best on a high-fat, high-veggie diet.

According to this site, the body burns about .34 grams of protein a day per kilogram of body weight. To add in a margin of safety, we can bump that number up to about .45 grams per day per kilogram of body weight (this would be just 26 grams per day for that 125 pound woman). That’s barely half of what the medical community is telling you the “required” amount is. I’m not shocked at this anymore. Our country likes to prop up big business – what better way to promote the meat industry than by telling our citizens that more protein is better?

If the requirements really are that low, it is nearly impossible to be protein deficient if you’re eating enough. Fresh vegetables and whole grains are fantastic sources of protein. Have you ever met someone who had a protein deficiency? Probably not. People that are protein deficient are usually junk food junkies or people who aren’t eating enough, period. One other way to be deficient is by eating poor sources of protein that are hard to digest (dairy comes to mind).

This is a direct quote for this site, because I can’t say it better:

By the way, breast milk, which has been the ideal food for human babies for hundreds of thousands of years, provides 6% of calories as protein – far less than cow’s milk, which has 22% of calories as protein.”

How interesting. 6% of a 2000 calorie diet is just 120 calories – or just 30 grams of protein.

If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates (or enough in general), your body will start to use its protein for energy – a process called gluconeogenesis. If you have too much protein in your diet, gluconeogenesis breaks down the protein into glucose. You pee out the extra amino acids. One benefit of getting glucose from protein is that it doesn’t cause sharp spikes in your blood sugar (which is why higher protein diets can be good for people with diabetes). However, gluconeogenesis is taxing on the liver which is why high protein diets can damage the liver.

Basically, if you’re eating enough carbs, the your body uses carbs and spares protein – and is able to use the protein for the amino acids it needs. If it breaks down the protein for energy all those extra amino acids are wasted.

The other neglected and ostracized nutrient that I think is incredibly important is… FAT! Specifically healthy fats (this can include animal fats). Healthy fats promote hormone balance, fight depression, and fill us up.

::Steps off of soapbox::

What’s your favorite carb? Fat? Protein?

How much protein do YOU feel that YOU need?

(Back later with today’s journal-y entry. Just had to get this post out there.)

Another Perfect (Souen) Sunday

We just got back from another great brunch at Souen. If you are a new reader, Souen is a macrobiotic restaurant – my favorite location is the one by Union Square.

Bobby’s family (mom, dad, sister) are in town this week (up from Miami) and they are staying a few blocks away. This morning we took them to Souen for brunch. I was nervous about it, because Souen can definitely be an acquired taste… I love it, but not all do. Fortunately brunch was a success. I think. Bobby’s sister, Tina, got these great chickpea croquettes (three deep-fried pieces of chick pea croquette with curry carrot sauce, served with yam and mesclun salad) that Bobby got a few weeks ago:

His mom got “Brunch C“, which is similar to this

But has broiled fish of the day instead of tofu skin. It also has the mixed grain of the day, stewed vegetables, gomae (steamed greens with a black sesame sauce), goma tofu (sesame tofu).

Bobby’s dad opted for a starter of broccoli soup, which apparently was not as good as Bobby’s mom’s broccoli soup. He did really enjoy his udon pad thai though (sauteed with onion, carrot, mung bean sprout, scallion, shiitake, broccoli, kale and baked tofu in all natural house-made peanut sauce with lime):

Source.

Bobby got the stir-fried soba noodles (with onion, carrot, mung bean sprout, scallion, cabbage, shiitake, snow pea, greens and broccoli in miso ginger sesame sauce). Can’t find a picture, but it was great. I helped him a bit.

And I got the vegetable curry (chunky broccoli, cauliflower, kale, carrot, squash, mushroom and onion in homemade mild curry, turmeric and ginger root sauce):

I got kabocha instead of brown rice, which is what it usually comes with.

I don’t think they realized it was all vegan aside from the fish in Brunch C. Hehehe. (Now they do! They read the blog. Hi mom, hi dad!)

For “exercise” today, Bobby and I walked down to Souen from our apartment (~45 blocks = 2+ miles). Yesterday we had an off day and did not do much walking – maybe just 1 or 2 miles total.

AND I finally got my yoga groove back this morning. I did a 20 minute yogadownload routine – Power Yoga #5. I missed yoga. I’m going to try to start doing it for 20 minutes a day because I want to be toned for the wedding (July).

Our dinner last night was at a French restaurant called Bistro du Nord (Madison and 93rd). It was alright. I actually was quite pleased up until dessert – too sweet!

Stay tuned for a protein post tomorrow. I’m writing it now. It should be good.

How was your weekend? (And if you have any protein questions you want me to answer hit me up in the comments and I’ll try to incorporate answers in my post tomorrow.)

Moving in Manhattan – Kinda Rough!

I had a horrible couch-moving experience (bad bad Craigslist), but I do want to say thank you to Rob the Mover as well as the lifesaving New York Couch Doctor for making my horrible awful day not quite so bad after all.

I was pretty stressed all day because of the couch drama, but I did make this yummy dish for Bobby because he was actually the one who had to deal with most of the awfulness.

  • rice
  • coconut oil, garlic powder, teriyaki sauce
  • shrimp, red peppers, scallions

So simple. He loved it. While he ate this I ate chocolate. Kinda wish I’d just made more of this because the bite I did have was delicious.

Today I got a smoothie for lunch at Jamba Juice. My tum has been really bloaty lately. I got the Berry Fulfilling, which does have Splenda, so I may get something else next time. It was yummy. It has a dairy base and then raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries (I think).

I thought it would help my stomach since smoothies should be easy to digest, but it didn’t do much – I was still bloated. And now I’m really hungry. I did have an apple with the smoothie so maybe that’s what did my tummy in.

I did manage to get in my exercise by walking home (2 miles) and walking at lunchtime to meet Bobby (<1 mile). I try to get in 2 miles of walking every day but it doesn’t always happen.

Do you ever feel like you should act a certain way or eat a certain thing because of other blogs? I know I used to, but now I pretty much do my own thing. I think it’s better this way.

Movin’ On Up…

… To the East Side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y-.

I have had that song stuck in my head for the last hour for some reason. I already live on the east side, but I am making some improvements to our place. Tonight we got rid of our old couch and tomorrow morning we get a new couch and a great oversized arm chair. Keeping my fingers crossed that they fit up the stairs!

Out with the old…

In with the new…

Morning breakfast was this week’s special (again) – a waffle from my dad. I have one left. Toppings were cream cheese and agave nectar. It was good, but not as good as the macademia nut butter I had last weekend.

Lunch was another favorite – Cafe Metro has $6 unlimited salads if you order online this month, so two of my coworkers and I opted for yummy salads. Avocado, chicken, and other goodies? I approve. My one coworker and I walked to pick up the orders – probably a mile total (there and back).

The rest of my day was busy, but otherwise uneventful (aside from getting rid of the couch). I walked home for exercise (2 more miles) and made a standard dinner, finishing off the meal with some maca chocolate and kabocha. Predictable.

Not predictable – a cookie from Bobby! It was an amazingly gooey chocolate chip cookie from City Bakery. Oh my, heaven in baked good form. It had huge chunks of chocolate. Definitely a good splurge.

Source.

Bobby is out getting dinner with our cousin, but I don’t really like to be out late on weeknights so I stayed in. I might even go to bed early. I’ve been so tired this week! An early night would be amazing. So that is where I’m headed.

How often do you splurge on something yummy?