The Real Age Test

I heard about this site on the radio today, and thought it sounded pretty intriguing.

I haven't taken the test yet, myself (it apparently takes about half an hour), but I liked the way the guy was talking on the radio today.

One of my favorite points he made is that really being healthy isn't about being a "super" athlete or anything extreme like that. He quoted Governor Arnold as once having said something to the effect of, "There isn't an athlete I know who hasn't destroyed their body for their sport."

If anybody does try it before I do, let me know what you think.

Fame!

I don't think I've liked back to The bearable lightness of being yet, which bothers me. I'm sorry!

I usually try to post a link to anybody who links to me, but you know how it goes.

What I really need to do is put a links list in the sidebar. Maybe that'll be a project for this weekend . . .

Ground Turkey

It's not the super-lean stuff they encourage you to buy in the fitness magazines, but it is leaner than ground beef, and the way my wife's been getting it, it's been cheaper than ground beef.

Yup. We're talkin' turkey.

It's been an experiment. Neither of us have much experience with the stuff, and I was a little surprised to see that it thawed to more of a soupy texture than the consistency we normally associate with ground beef.

Undaunted, we started thickening it up. Rather than using breadcrumbs, like you'd do for meatballs, we used oatmeal. Higher fiber, complex carbs. Also, I still have a can of Neston I got at an international food shop a while back. Neston is a flakey, whole wheat cereal Nestle sells in Brazil that makes a good additive for shakes. It's got vitamins and minerals and thickens the same as the oatmeal or breadcrumbs would.

We've also learned that it's dreadfully bland by itself. We've added all manner of seasonings, from barbecue sauce to Grillmates to vinegar. We've made burgers, meat sauces and meatballs with it, and while some experiments have been more successful than others, we're getting closer to figuring it out. The spaghetti Marci made tonight turned out really well.

So I recommend it to those frugal adventurers who are willing to put the extra bit of work in the extra few cents will save you, but do be warned that what you're going to get will not be something you can just form into a patty and put on the grill. The addition of the oatmeal or bran or whatever-your-flavor will do the trick, though, and makes the final product even better for you.

Another Pic: Because everybody wants to see how big Mia is getting, here's a shot of the two of them playing with Nikki at my folks' house. I believe this was taken on my birthday . . .

Fat Man Walking

Okay, a quick word about this guy.

I first heard him on the radio about a month ago. The makers of the insoles who are sponsoring him were having him do radio interviews to sponsor them.

Personally, I thought it was a terrible idea. And not just because he's going to walk right through New Mexico, a state which has driven even some who've attempted to drive through it insane.

And not just because, even though the six months is already half up, he's not even 1/6th of the way.

The fact is that, for all his talk of "No quick fixes for me!" on the website, this is still a quick fix. It's a long, slow, torturous quick fix, but it's a quick fix just the same.

A quick fix is a one-time "stunt" that is meant to make everything all better, but that is so far removed from your natural reality as to be ineffective in the long term. In this case, once he gets back home he's still going to have to go through the process of finding an exercise program, figuring out a healthy diet, and completely changing his life for the purpose of maintaining any weight he lost, or losing any weight he doesn't lose in these six months (or more).

And he'd have to spent six months (or more) of his life away from at least part of his family. Granted, this is the part of his story I know the least about, but that could easily be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Is it worth it to try to change your life, if your family goes to pot in your absence?

But now that I've seen the site, I see his kids are pretty young, and are kind of tagging along in the support van with Mom. Which turns this whole thing into a big six month long family vacation, which I've got no problem with at all. I wish this guy a ton of luck.

Of course, he really is still going to have to get down to the real business of changing his life, eating habits, and exercise patterns once he gets home. The temptation will be to say, "Alright, now a week off." The week will become a month, then a year, and then he'll be back where he started from. And pretty soon his kids will start saying to him, "Daddy, when are you going to walk across the country again," and he'll realize he's back where he started from.

But that doesn't have to be! And I must say, this is a heck of a way to kick off a turnaround.