Food

Update.--After some food experiments, I've updated (removed for now) some foods from my approved list, below in bold type. Those removed are struck through.

Original Post.-- I've written ad naseum about my digestive problems, as anyone with IBS knows it's boring to themselves and more so to others to hear or read, but they persist because it's what they live with. I'm no different in that regard, but I try to avoid too much. Ok, less than a lot.

That said, I decided to post what is my diet I live with for foods I know work and everything else gives me mld to severe adverse reactions. I tell people I can write it on a 4x6 postit note and have room for doodles. So here goes the expanded and postit note versions.

Meat:

Natural, organic Turkey breast and thighs, which I buy locally raised sold by the local Metropolitan Market. I've found local brands of Turkey far better for everything Turkey, especially taste. All the national brands are bland.

Hormel sandwich Ham, which is nitrate/nitrite and preservative free. Other similar brands (for additives, or lack of) are acceptable, but I get a good price on Hormel at several local stores.

Occasionally I can have seafood (Lobster, Crab and Shrimp - I love Tiger Prawns) and some fish (low fat such as Halibut, Flounder, etc.). I keep the Monterey Bay Aquarim Seafood Watch app on my iPhone to know what's acceptable from the world market. This is an app everyone should and use.

All other meats (beef, lamb, pork, bacon, etc.), poultry and most fish are off-limits.

Dairy:

Lactose, fat-free milk. You don't need either. I occasionally buy low-fat or 2% for drinks or recipes with need fat, but still Lactose free. The only real exception is whipping cream I make for drinks. Those pressurized ones are great you can flavor it.

Hard cheese, but specifically Gouda and Edam cheeses. No soft cheeses or spreads. I've tried a range of hard cheese, eg. Cheddar, etc., but all produce reactions or I don't like the taste.

Everything else in this catagory, especially yogurt and any dairy product with pre-biotics or pro-biotics, are off-limits.

Bread, Grains, cereals, etc.:

It's simple, corn chips, but occasional recipes with cornmeal. I also restrict the corn chips to brands which use canola, peanut or coconut oil, and are local brands. All the other brands which use oleic-free oil to lower fat taste like crackers (someone said carboard).

No wheat or similar grain and others when in small amounts in products, but wheat, barley, rye or similar grains, or oats are absolute no's.

Vegetables:

Carrots and celery and occasionally peas.

Everything else, especially green or leafy, is off-limits. No starches, meaning potatoes, roots or similar plants.

Fruits:

Coconut and occasionally banans, some berries, and very occasioally oranges. Everything else is off-limits.

Spices:

Just one, salt, but sometimes orange peel and occasionally a dash of pepper.

Nuts:

All the peanut butter I want, and other nut butters except I don't like those.

All nuts only occasionally but peanuts more often.

Seeds:

No foods which are or have seeds.

Drinks:

I live on protein drinks, coffee and water.

No tea (don't like it), sports drink, fruit juices, etc., especially any with additives with end in "ol" for sugar substitutes.

Products:

This means I buy very few ready made or off the shelf products. I read the ingredients and have eliminated almost all because of ingredients common to mass produced products, such as wheat, starches, spices, chemicals, preservatives, flavorings, coloring, etc.

What I do buy are cookies, mostly coconut and/or peanut butter cookies, and a few brands of crackers.

So that's it and written on a postit note:

Lactose, fat-free milk; Gouda/Edam cheese.
Sandwich Ham (caveats); locally raised Turkey.
Seafood and some fish.
Corn Chips (oil specific); cornmeal.
Carrots, celery, peas.
Coconut, bananas, berries and oranges.
Peanut Butter and nuts.
No spices, just salt.
Protein drinks and coffee.
Coconut/Peanut Butter cookies.

With that I generally don't mind the diet. I like the foods and have been creative at times to make combinations, such as Turkey breast salad (chopped breast, sweatened coconut, chopped juilenne carrots, celery, salt and mayonaise), and the like.

I also have a food experiment once a week or where I eat or prepare a food on the three strikes list - meaning I give a food 3 times if it makes me sick, the third time it's gone - an old food I haven't tried in a long time, or a new food.

An example is potato chips. I can't eat potatoes (any type) but I love Kettle brand potato chips, but my system can't handle them very often, so I buy a small (1-2 oz) bag to prevent from overeating them and the system overracting.

Another is vegetables or fruit, but almost always ends in digestive disaster. Grains are a definite no under any circumstance after several experiments with the variety of them. In part, it's not just the gluten, it's the natural chemicals in the grain and the fiber.

Anyway, that's it. I live with it.

Food and Cooking

I've written about the foods I can eat, and all the rest I can't, or occasionally try and eliminate if I have adverse reactions with them under the 3 strikes rule. That said, what I've learned is two things about food. Nothing new, just observations living on a limited diet.

First, when it comes to any type of meat, seafood or fish, taste matters the most, especially when you can only cook with a very few spices, mostly salt and some flavor spices, like lemon or orange peel. And the taste of meat becomes important along with who produces and how it's processed.

What I've found is the most flavorful meats are locally produced, usually free range or organically raised. Comparing the different brands of Turkey and Chicken it's not hard to notice most national brands are bland, almost tasteless where spices are necessary to flavor them.

I've found locally, or in some cases regionally, grown and produced turkey and chicken are flavorful on their own and only need a minimum of spices, often just butter and salt for me. And they're often have more texture compared to national brands

I'm sure there are a lot of technical reasons for this, the type (species) of Turkey or Chicken, the chemicals adding during the growth period, and the processing, all of which I only focus on those grown and produced without the chemicals and preferably free range.

Since I don't eat beef, pork - only some types and brands of ham, lamb and other meats I don't have much to say, but I suspect it's much the same. The only ham I eat are Hormel's naturally produced and Hempler's, a northwest regional company, which are also naturally raised and produced.

As for fish, well, it's easy, I live in the Puget Sound where fresh fish is not hard to find at local markets, but even then, you have to read to know if it was previously (recently) frozen or is actually fresh caught, meaning not frozen at sea.

Having fished in the Puget Sound years ago (it's free for any fish but Salmon), I've caught, cooked and eat fish the same day, and there is a big difference with fresh fish. But with Alaskan fish it's often processed and frozen aboard ship and thawed for markets.

This doesn't mean it's old, because it's often quite fresh, and usually still full of flavor, far better than fish frozen and shipped elsewhere. For me, though, I still have to watch what fish I eat. Salmon is often too oily, but it depends on the species, which are available fresh from late summer through winter.

If you haven't eaten Salmon, you do have to distinguish the various species of Salmon as they all have their own taste, texture and oiliness. You'll be surprised by the range if you have the opportunity to buy and cook the different species of fresh Salmon, meaning caught that season and preferably not frozen at sea.

And as a fisheries biologist reminds me, they only eat Salmon caught at sea, before it returns to their origins to spawn. They said it doesn't matter if they caught in the ocean or the Puget Sound, just not once it's in fresh water.

This is because the fish change when exposed to freshwater in the process to spawn and die. This process begins immediately when leaving saltwater into river esturaries and continues through their trip upstream to their spawning grounds. The exception is Steelhead Salmon/Trout which returns to spawn but then goes back to the ocean.

Otherwise, I've found most fish don't have enough flavor by themselves to enjoy. I try them occasionally, but usually realize it's more for the texture and few spices than the fish itself, so I only try it a few times a year when it's fresh in season.

Seafood is a different kettle of fish as they say. I love seafood (lobster, crab and shrimp), but again it depends on the species and where it's caught. For buying the appropriate seafood I use the Monterey Bay Seawatch fish guide for iPhone (app), see their Website.

Great resource you should have on your smartphone to buy the right seafood and fish, and if the seller doesn't identify where it came more on the package, ask them, and if they can't or won't answer, don't buy it.

Anyway, enough about food again and onward to cooking, which is fairly straight forward for me. I have a Breville Smart Oven, which I use a few times a week for almost all my cooking. I only use the oven with the range for occasional baking big items or large amounts, like cookies.

The Breville oven will take large single items easily, such as whole chicken, turkey breasts, etc., and it has multiple settings, such as bake, broil and roast (both upper and lower heating elements). The cool part is you just set the temperature and time, and then just wait.

All my cookware and bakeware are Calphalon. I have over two dozen pieces of their professional grade cookware I bought 25 years ago. I've never regretted throwing out every piece of cookware I had then for this cookware.

It makes a average cook like me better because it can't fail unless I do something stupid. The only exception are two nearly 50 year cast iron skillets, a small 6" skillet and a 10" skillet. They're handy with frying and easy to keep clean and ready.

With that I've learned is how much you can get out of the taste of food with the least spices. Most of the time I use just butter, sometimes olive or coconut oil, and salt, with occasional lemon or orange peel and natural raw sugar, and even less often with some real spices as food experiments, most with fish since most fish don't have strong flavors.

This is where the food is important as cooking brings out the best in the best poultry and fish. This is obvious to real cooks and chefs, but more so to simple cooks like me who lives on a limited diet to know I can enjoy the foods I can eat.

With respect to vegetables, most of the time I steam them in a double boiler. and only occasionally cook them according to recipes, usually broil, saute, etc. in butter or oil. My problem is that I love vegetables but my digestive system doesn't, at least the way it works now, which isn't working right.

I've alway experimented with the foods on my diet to make combination dishes which is where the taste of the meat is most important. An example is turkey salad with coconut and with celery and/or julienne carrots (with maynaise and salt). Simple and great tasting with the right flavorful turkey breast.

Anyway, some wandering thoughts. I think I wander to the kitchen for some turkey salad in a tortilla now.

For What

Today I spent two hours travelling to a doctor’s appointment, to get there early as they demand, and then meet with the doctor for 10 minutes, half of the time was a lecture about what he wanted me to do, dismissing what I came to talk about and get help resolving a medical problem, to hear, “Thank you, follow the advice, and come back in a month.”, and then pointed at the front desk. For what I kept asking myself driving home. For what. Nothing resolved and advice I already know won’t work, but you have to prove it because some doctors don’t want to listen to their patients. They’ve already decided what’s best without hearing them. And for this you pay. For what I keep asking myself.

What I Have Learned

I have no great wisdom since I turned 65 in 2014, but I have learned a few things going forward in life. Not big things, but important things I see in older people. And I'm not perfect with practicing them, and have to constantly remind myself to follow my own advice, but it's what I know.

First, since pinching my Sciatic nerve in July 2012 and starting walking two months later when the body and legs accommodated it, I've learned a simple rule, use your body. As much as you can, push it, even if it hurts the next morning.

Your body is the old adage about use it or lose it, and it's especially important as you get past 60 and more so past 70. It's easy to be lazy. You have to be conscious to not to be. It's a constant fight you wage against yourself and time.

For example, when you stand, stand. Don't lean against something, like the kitchen counter when working in the sink or on the counter. Put space between your body and the counter or sink. When you pick something up from the floor, squat. Use you legs to to move you up and down.

Don't use a prop to help you get down or up, if possible, use your balance and legs. Do this everytime. It's the practice but also the exercise for your whole body. When you get up, use your legs without using something to pull you up, even your arms, unless you need to, but learn to do without anything but your legs.

Second, walk. And walk a lot. I walk 6 miles days 20-24 days a month, down from 8 miles for medical reasons, but I plan to get back to 7-8 miles this summer, if I can and they resolve the medical issue. I also park far away from stores in their lots, which isn't a lot of walking, but it adds up.

The goal since 2012 has been to get back to hiking, and while I've worked to be fit again, I've frequently run into health issues which sometimes sets back my progress or slows it with physical problems. The problem is that all the medical science and professionals haven't found what's causing the latest problem, which is (my guess) a low grade bacterial infection, but that's another story.

When I go to Seattle I park in one specific lot close to the Interstate and walk everywhere I go downtown. When I'm home I often stop by stores on my walks home to carry stuff in the backpack or grocery bag. I'm still limited by the weight but it's enough.

Third, read newspapers. Some years ago researchers discovered one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp in old age, read newspapers. They engage you to read, to learn (Google and Wikipedia are  great tools when reading to learn more about places, people, events, issues, etc.).

Newspapers teach you about the world, the issues, the people, the events, etc. and engages your mind to learn more and see the greater scheme of life and the world we all live in. It teaches you about other cultures, governments, people, which are far more diverse than your immediate world.

I read 3 newspapers a day (NY Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal) and often read the previous day's newspapers in the recycle bin at Starbucks, such as the USA Today, and Seattle or Tacoma newspapers. I also subscribe to the Chrisitan Science Monitor Daily Briefing and Weekly magazine, which is great for positive news stories.

Fourth, find something you're passionate about to last the rest of your life and then some. Make it so you'll never run out of stuff to do and will die with a long todo list. Mine is photography and Mt. Rainier National Park. Make sure it's something you can do everyday of the year.

Fifth, listen to music. Not just the music of your generation and genre, but music, all genres and world music, all music. Just listen if only once to hear it. You'll find a lot of music you like you didn't even know before.

It doesn't mean you'll like it, and probably won't, but you'll have listen to know why than say you don't like it without knowing about it or hearing it. But more so listen to music from the all the countries, from their traditional music to the latest.

A good place to start is Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. Another is iTunes new music. Listen to the minute and half samples if not the whole songs and album, at least once. There are other on-line stores for music similar to iTunes. There are Website for artists. Give them a listen.

You don't have to learn the language but you can catch the tune enough to know, and there Websites for lyrics you can translate, but I focus on the music where the lyrics are just part of it than knowing specifically what they're singing.

When you read about a musician, especially from another country, read about them, hear the music they produced, learn about their music. You'll be surprised music is part of the history and culture of countries, just like the U.S.

Sixth, be a kid, if only to learn new things to realize it doesn't interest you. Find what small things interests you to just know, such as the native trees and plants where you live, the local birds through the season to notice their departure and/or arrival. Things which makes you keep asking and exploring.

Seventh, expand your world. Don't stay within your world, such as your faith. Read about other religions and faiths, if only to understand the basics of them, so you're not having opinions out of ignorance. Don't be mentally blind.

Start a blog. Write stories, opinions (reseached of course), whatever. Find one or a few social media sites and visit a variety of others' Web pages. I like Tumblr, but Pininterest, Facebook, etc. are good ones. Read the young generations' Websites there.

They will show you what the young people of the world are doing, thinking, writing, etc. Follow people in a range of interests, but especially include travel. See the world, see the peole, especially the young people, around the world.

Last, and something I learned from watching my father in his later years, keep the number of prescription drugs you have to take to a minimum, and think hard about those you do take, weighing the advantages versus the side effects.

My Dad at one time was taking 11 drugs, just over half to treat the side effects of the other drugs. I won't argue, I'm lucky to have a good, strong heart and a blood pressure at the low end of normal. But I have a block pulmonary artery (~15% blockage), but I've learned my body has adapted and adjusted to it and I've learned how to live with it.

I do have high cholesterol, and after trying statin drugs and health supplements to help, I can't tolerate any of them, and all the excercise and activity barely brings the bad cholesterol under the upper limit. But the good cholesterol has always been well above normal, along with other factors which makes drugs a choice than a requirement.

I also have Dysthymia, genetic, lifelong condition (runs in family), and occasionally worsens to low grade depression, but I've learned to recognize the symptoms and learned ways to, as they say, tread mental water through the episodes. It hasn't always been 100% successful, but the episodes always faded with time.

But most of all I haven't taken drugs for it. Years ago the psychiatrist who diagnosed me didn't recommend them then, and one of late still doesn't unless the worse episodes get longer, but even she cautioned against them for the side effects which are often potentially worse than the treatment.

In short, expand your world to the whole world. And above all else, don't stop living. It doesn't have to be 7 days a week, take mental vacations, but keep going back. See the world beyond the horizon.

Weight and Fat

The original purpose and reason to start walkng back in September 2012 was to recover from a pinched Sciatic nerve in July which left me flat on my back for most of a week and unable to sit, stand or walk for very long for a month.

I spent that August walking short distances and recovering, before starting 2-3 miles walks. The back specialist then said surgery wasn't an option, which he didnt' recommend anyway as the relief from most surgeries are short-lived and leave a lifetime of lingering effects on the vertebra.

I've since had a MRI on the lower back in May 2015 (first in July 2012) and the (different) back specialist (specializing in sports injuries and the like) found more degeneration of the lower vertebra, normal for an aging back, but found the compression to have improved, still there but far less.

The fact then I had no pain was a surprise but attributed to the walking. But that's not the point with this post. It's about losing weight and fat. In July 2012 I weighed around 190 lbs, and for a 5' 9", early 60's man, you can imagine it was a lot of "extra" weight, aka fat.

At the time I didn't realize I had gained so much weight and fat. In June of 2006 I weighed about 155 lbs. I was running 15-20 miles a week and hiking 1-2 weekends a month. But then I reduced the running and hiking while taking some medicine for a medical condition.

The combination of the two lead to the weight gain. I had a clue of somehing wrong with the Sciatic nerve in June 2011 with my left leg went numb for 6 weeks. I had enough feeling to walk but not much else, but it went away and life continued.

So when I started walking I had no idea how much weight and fat I could lose or how fast it would be since all I was doing was walking. I stopped training with free weights for fear of hurting the back. But over time I noticed I was losing weight, so I upped the miles to 8 per day, 20+ days a month.

It wasn't until I reached 160 lbs I really noticed the differences in the body, mostly losing fat. This is where it started being interesting how and where on my body I lost fat. It's nothing as they advertise or write about losing fat with this or that training method or device.

In fact, quite the opposite. I lost most of the initial fat from the intramusclar and outer (skin) fat in the legs since that's the muscles walking uses. But then I started to lose fat around the body, such as the arms, hips, etc. everywhere except the chest and abdomen.

I learned the last place I lose fat is the chest and stomach, and even that's been uneven at best. When I thought I had lost most of, if not all, of the fat in the legs and around the body last year, I began to lose the fat around the waist (top of hip bones) and the chest and abdomen.

Until I got to about 145-150 lbs when I started losing fat in the legs and around the body again. Not fat I regained but fat that was still there. Not a lot, but enough to be obvious there was fat there before and not there now.

This has left most of the fat left on the chest and abdomen, and it's begun to come down again, but not very fast for two reasons, one obvious and one I learned of late. The first is the simple fact, I'm walking less miles per trip and less miles every month, so the distance isn't there to lose more.

Second is that with less weight it takes fewer calories to walk the same distance even at the same pace (14-15 minute per mile pace). So I'm not burning enough calories every trip and every month to keep the pace of weight and fat loss as before.

While some some would argue I can increase the weight I carry in the backpack, which is the plan for this summer, to add 5-10 lbs (free weights or water) or add miles to the trips. For now, both aren't possible with some health issues which allows me just enough to walk 6 miles with 10-15 lbs in the backpack.

The third is that I've learned that my metabolic rate has likely dropped due to the lower weight and better fitness level. This means the body needs fewer calories to work. This includes the basal (rest) metabolic rate (BMR), so overall I'm burning fewer calories, less coming from the fat I still carry.

This means after getting to near 140 lbs, it will take a lot more trips and miles to lose the last 5-7+ lbs of fat I want to lose. In additon, I'm also battling my genes. Yes, those pesking things which determines how much and the distribution of fat your body wants to normally carry.

Research has established it's easy to get to your "normal" body fat and weight level, but it's harder to get below it, so you have to exercise more or harder for each pound than being above your normal body weight and fat level. It's also easier to regain the weight and fat if you stop or don't keep the pace for losing it.

When you pair your genes and physiology losing weight and fat below the normal level takes a lot more work and/or time. This is showing as the rate of weight and fat lose in the last year, and especially this year, has slowed taking more miles per pound.

And almost all the rest of the remaining fat is on the chest and abdomen, the most visible part of me, or anyone for that matter, so it's my goal for the summer to work on that by my 67th birthday in the fall, to lose most of, if not all, of the remaining weight and fat.

I'm not focusing on the weight specifically, that's the result of losing the fat, so focusing on losing the fat will lose the weight. I plan to use walking trips in May to test the body for the summer walks here. But I know when I get there I can't let up, or my genes and body will simply add it all back.

So I also have to plan for the longer term trips and walks to keep the fat off and the weight where I want to be. It's been surprising as I've gotten to 140-142 lbs, how good overall I feel. The goal is to be  135-138 lbs which should keep the fat to the minimum and be able to manage any fat or weight gains.

And that's the last issue against the effort, simple age. The older you get past 60, the harder it takes to stay fit. The weight will take care of itself, I fight to fight my body just aging now on top of the rest of the issues against me.

In the end, it really just boils down to one thing, said by the back specialist, "Just get your ass out there and walk as far as you can as often as you can, and add a backpack and weight when you can." That I can do and keep doing.