"I'll have a berry rocket squeeze, extra oxidants"

I've not posted anything in years. I hope this is of service to you.

Today I almost ate a caterpillar that was in my greens! I took a huge scoop and finished it before i noticed the bug. So i might have eaten some. Afterwards I ate some processed foods, then it got me thinking about the whole foods vs processed foods. And how much better eating the caterpillar is for me compared to, brownies, cheesecake, ice cream and chocolate.

Lean protein dudes!


if you know me well, you know that I love food. You know that I am not a very picky eater too. I tend to think everything tastes good, even when others dont!

I've spent a lot of time researching nutrition and fitness this summer. I've had a lot of time to look up nutrition and it's become an obsession. Ever since I started learning more about macronutrient partition and how everything we eats affects us, it's been hard to look at food the same way. It all started during student teaching when we went through a nutrition/fitness unit and it hasnt stopped since! it's been quite a lonely quest though, I found not many people really care about quality nutrition. I dont even care all the time.

It's hard to apply all that i've learned, mainly because I dont want to drive myself crazy. I will leave you with the top things I think are the most valuable::

I bring these up because companies dont care about you, but i do.

1) Demand quality from the things you eat. Food makers dont care about you, they care about making money. Go for things that dont have a long list of ingredients you cant pronounce and know that paying more sometimes really means more! For example) did you know ice cream is sold my volume and not by weight? Next time compare the ingredients of Breyers vs One of those huge tubs. You'll notice only like 4 ingredients in Breyers (one of which is milk) vs like 12 in the other. Also notice that there will be a lot more calories in Breyers. Why? It's a lot more dense due to it's quality, so you wont actually need as large of a serving size to be satisfied. I'm so easily satisfied, Lighthouse anyone? Trying to become more selective but not finicky.

2) becareful with trans fats. This one relates to #1. These are chemically altered fats, while lower in saturated fat have been proven to lower HDL cholesterol, and raise LDL. They also also tend to add to belly fat more readily and are linked to heart disease and clogged arteries. the absorption of chemically processed fats cant be good for you. Did you know that products can claim they have 0 trans fats in big bold letters, if a serving size contains .49g or less? maybe its .44 which wouldnt be as ridiculous, atleast not in a math class.

Eat 4 servings and you've hit the daily recommended limit established by the FDA. BTW, you prob. obtain 2g trans fats from other sources daily. (ie dairy) If you see the words "partially/fully hydrogenated oil" you then know the item contains trans fats.

3) Dont drink/use artificial sweeteners. Okay, so this one is up for a lot of debate. But again I dont think putting these kinds of chemicals in your body everyday can be good for you. Companies are playing off the fact that you may want to lose weight and not consume calories or sugar. If this is why you drink these, I dont know, just try drinking less of the real stuff maybe. But if you love the taste, then I suppose you are observing rule #1.

4) Skipping meals doesnt mess up your metabolism. You dont have to eat 6 meals a day to have a strong metabolism, if you miss breakfast you're not going to start burning muscle for fuel. Sure you can find tons of stuff to support such a claim, but I can find you other sources as well. All up for debate, but I really think this is also something that food marketers want you to believe so you eat and spend more. If you're interested, look into something called the warrior diet. Prob. goes against everything you've ever learned. But the guy who is behind it is in incredible shape. There are tons of benefits to fasting, if anyone wants to fast together sometime let me know.

i think it'd be hard to lose weight this way because your body will always have food in it, and insulin levels will stay elevated. (though more moderate since the meals should be smaller) i think this type of eating is more suitable for bodybuilders too who have to eat like 4000+ calories a day. obviously eating 3 1300 calorie meals is not the way to go. but what about a woman who wants to lose weight? if she wants to create a deficit, she would eat what 1,400 calories a day? so she should eat 5/6 250 calorie meals?

5) Fat doesnt make you fat. Eat more monounsaturated fats to help combat #2.

6) lift heavy weights esp if you're a woman! give your body a reason to need muscles. my mom does way too much cardio and I try to make sure she does resistance training. going for tone? do this too! i think 5-6 reps is a good range. it's not going to make you bulky i promise. bodybuilders lift in the 8-12 range and eat tons of calories. go for compound, body weight movements rather than focusing too much on isolation stuff.

7) and do sprints! sprint hard for a shorter amount of time instead of doing long cardio episodes. or do both, but do some sprints it'll save you time. do intervals of sprints and walking for like 10-15 mins. and you're good to go!



well thats it for now, im down to discuss any of the above. not sure if you even cared to read this but this is what i do with some of my time. good thing i start working soon. this is also an invitation for you to get me out of the house..

my wife is making sugar cookies they taste amazing and are made with love. how can i resist? rule #1

maybe its so hard to apply all these things because we dont ever see the results of what we eat today until far into the future. maybe none of this is really important because God has our days numbers. But he'd appreciate us valuing the bodies he's given us, no?

congrats if you read all this. let me know if you did, you deserve a prize.

we actually made it to the championship game this season!

but lost it walk off style 6 - 7. been with this team for over a year and still no shirt. :/

Last season

Avg                AB    RBI    R
0.439              41     5        6

H     1B    2B    3B     HR
18    13     4      1        0

this season

Season Avg  AB  RBI  R
0.512           41    8      7
   
H   1B   2B  3B
21  18   3      0

come out for the cbcsd softball tourney, Kit Carson Park Escondido 12-8pm

so the question of "how's wedding planning going?" has become "how married life, learn anything new about each other?"

i guess theres lots to say about that and the wedding all together. things are going well so far, its been fun. we spend time at home just relaxing, cleaning and stuff like that. having learned anything really shocking about each other yet, but its only been a lil over a month.

san marcos is such a cool area to live. there are so many stores here and some unique ones too, they have almost everything here. its so far away tho. they have a boomers up here, dont ever go to the convoy one again! its so much better up here, cleaner, just better! they got chick fil a up here! the real one, not like SLO, best buy, frys, tony romas, famous daves, movie theatre, frozen yogurt, pat and oscars, chillis, target, walmart, souplant, and applebees to name a few things. so come visit and explore.

i guess xanga is so much slower to update than fb.

streak of unfortunate events continue

   jenny's car was just recently towed and we dont even know why. towing is the one of the worst inventions. hey imma pick up your car move it down the street against your will and then charge you 300 bucks to get it back. and they arent open 24 hours, so you cant get it if its after hours.which sucks cuz a) you need your car and b) they charge per night they have it. they do tow 24 hours a day tho. those be*ps.

  i hate that and i hate those back to school lists stores publish for students. mom i have to buy this compass with interchageable color face plates.. please buy it, its on the list and teacher says we have to get everything, or else i wont get an A this year.

 my kids arent getting anything on those lists, they'll be getting paper, pencils and prob a padres tin lunch box but thats it. sorry office depot not gonna get the best of me in this life time.

blah.

margaritas anyone?

  we have the power to make like 10

   at once!

on honeymooning with the beautiful mrs. ngo

    so far our trip has been a long and tiring one. we missed our flight in the morning because of a very busy airport. which caused us to miss our cruise. we had to stay in a hampton inn for the night (good free breakfast) and today are going to have to buy a couple more flights to catch up with our cruise. so far we've spent a lot of time and money on travel, got in around 11pm last night. jenny doesnt have any sandals either so we're on the lookout for those, shes wearing dress shoes and they are quite uncomfortable.

   the airport was quite slow yesterday because this latin soccer team was in front of us, consisted of about 10 girls and their coaches. all wearing red jump suits. turns out they followed us the entire way here! from sd, to popeyes chicken, and now san juan puerto rico. next stop, saint thomas. look for us!

keep us in prayer.

   ready for this vacation to start!

eagle one out.