How to Live - 1

Hello world!

It's been awhile since I posted anything. It's been a busy few days here in Los Angeles, and I didn't really have an energy to give this blog a thought... Then I wondered... is anyone reading my blog?

I have decided to shift my blog concentration from food/restaurant experience, school, cars, and all that stuff to my so called "diet plans" for awhile. Now, it's not really a diet, but it seems like a lot of my friends are curious (more like doubtful) about how I keep my body weight steady/down while eating stuff I want to eat (you see, some of them think I'm anorexic or bulimic?!?! I am writing these series of blogs, partly, to prove to them that I AM NOT!!! but also, I'm writing these blogs to share how I did it, so maybe some of the readers who want to lose a few lbs could try what I did and see how it turns out!). Now, I am not going to give one of those "crap" speeches like "oh I just have naturally fast metabolism, and I'm a very active guy, so I get to eat whatever I want whenever I want". I so wish I could say that, but that is so far from the truth. My idea of diet is simply "watch out what I eat, and how much I eat". There is absolutely no way I can write all these down in one blog, so I decided to make it as a series of blogs. This is also my attempt to make my friends and some of their friends to visit my blog every so often~~! Along with my tips with "diet", I am also going to share some of the recipes I tried from one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE TV celebrity cooks, Nigella Lawson (www.nigella.com), and some of the things I tried to lower the calories, fat, carbs, and all those things people care about and see the difference in taste and texture. Before I continue, I want to lay out one thing: I am NOT a licensed nutritionist or a personal trainer. I am not advertising any particular product or any plans, and I am not going to suggest any of those "extreme" diet since I do not believe in starvation. To simply put it, I am not going to suggest anything I cannot/couldn't do it myself. These series of blogs are going to be things that worked for me, things I tried that didn't work, and my opinion on them (after all... that's what blog is all about, right?). Please feel free to leave any comments, or questions and I will answer those in the following blog. I have decided to name these series of blogs "How to live" because I truly believe having a healthy life style, and maintaining certain body condition that works for each one of us shouldn't be a seasonal thing. I find it kind of funny and unfortunate to hear commercials like "oh it's summer time! so why don't you come visit one of our plastic surgeons to get your body ready for the summer!". It shouldn't be like gaining weight during winter, then lose weight during spring, some touch ups by early summer, and enjoy your "new body" in summer only to lose it by end of fall. However, I do not think one should be obsessed with body image, and worry about body weight every time he/she eats.

To start this blog, I will have to give my background information first. I used to be a swimmer (though not professionally), but I had some health problems (I am not going to explain all that since it's a very long story, and I simply don't feel like talking about it) and I had to gain a few lbs. I went from 155 lbs to 215 lbs, and stayed like that for a few years (I'm 6' 0.5" tall male). After a few years, I moved to LA to attend UCLA, and it hit me HARD!!! LA is one of 3 cities in the U.S. where you are often judged by the way you look, and your weight is a big part of it. Now, I don't have low self esteem, and I do not like people who judge others by the way they look or the clothes they wear. However, it is NOT easy to live in Los Angeles, and not being fit. So, on January 7th 2008, I told myself "I am going to get back into shape!" I recorded my weight, and marked on the calendar with big red ink: 205 lbs. Exactly 1 year later, I was down to 145 lbs. Now, losing 60 lbs in 1 year isn't all that much, but many consider that as "quite fast weight loss". I guarantee you, though, I did not take any diet pills since I am extremely against any types of diet pills, nor was I on any of those commercialized diet plans. I have never starved myself or overly worked out.

On Jan 7th 2008, I started researching some diet tips and work out tips. I knew what kind of body I wanted: lean, toned, and somewhat defined body without too much bulky muscles. At that time, there was this show called "Work out" on Bravo channel. I watched some episodes, and visited one of the casts' (Jackie Warner: www.jackiewarner.com) website. I read through her lifestyle suggestions and eating habits. To be honest, I kind of disagree with her idea of "eating healthy". It seems, to me, that she wants food to be "just a fuel". I'm sure it works for some people. However, I want my food to be pleasurable. Having said that, I need to lay out one more thing about myself: I am not an emotional eater... meaning, I do not eat to make myself feel better when I'm angry/sad/depressed/etc. In fact, I'm the exact opposite. When I'm in one of those "moods", I tend to starve myself (NOT GOOD!!! i know... so I force myself to eat usually). Now, I'm going to kindly go over some of the things I agree/disagree with Ms. Jackie Warner. One of the fitness tips that she gives you is to "be a smart consumer, and read labels carefully". I 100% totally agree with her on that. In fact, EVERYONE should read labels before buying anything from the grocery store (I mean, you do look at labels when you buy clothes, cars, and all kinds of stuff... so why should it be any different with food?). However, her explanation on that, seems to me, implies "don't worry about the content of fat, just worry about sugar, and calories". It is partly right partly wrong. I am not a doctor, but as someone who is studying to be in the medical field, I have to say that is not necessarily true. Fat does not make you fat (this is true), but do you know what saturated fat does to your body? BAD CHOLESTEROL!!! We all know trans fat is bad because it lowers good cholesterol while raises bad cholesterol. Sat fat raises bad cholesterol while doesn't affecting your good cholesterol. When you buy food, make sure it has 0 trans fat, and 0 or VERY low sat fat. She is also partially right about fat free or low fat products. Often, when you see low fat or fat free products, they have higher carbs. HOWEVER, not necessarily higher sugar. In fact, I've seen a lot of products that have lower sugar and fat in diet products! They do have some other chemicals to thicken the product to hold their shapes or flavoring agents, but not necessarily higher sugar (this is what I found after spending countless hours studying labels at local Ralphs and Pavilions). Also, IT IS OUTRAGEOUS to have meals below 400 calories, and have less than 9g of sugar for snack. I mean PLEASE!!! I am from doctors family (meaning we have countless doctors as friends and acquaintances), and they all suggest a reasonable healthy meal should be around 500~600 calories in average. In fact, based on 2000 daily caloric intake level, those who had 20% of their daily calories for their breakfast gained LESS lbs in long term than those who didn't or ate more! In fact, My suggestion is, have a cup of milk, or tea, or coffee, some fresh blueberries (guys, it's good for your prostate! and they are delicious too!!) or strawberries or raspberries or any other berries of your choice in your unsweetened oatmeal with light sprinkle of 1 teaspoon brown sugar (15 calories), or maybe some eggs with bread with jam, or something that would get you between 200~400 calories for breakfast, an apple or banana or pear or grapes for brunch, about 500~800 calories for lunch, about 100~250 for snacks, and about 500 for dinner. To me, that sounds like a reasonable and healthy diet that will get you 2000 calories!! ALSO, 1 serving of Honey, 1 tablespoon, has 16 g of sugar. I mean, is she seriously suggesting I cannot have 1 serving of honey in my warm cup of water at night to calm my cold stomach or sore throat during cold winter day? Also, I don't care what people say about Splenda, I believe (and so are many other scientists and doctors) sugar is MUCH better than artificial sweetner for your health!!! If she is suggesting these tips for "losing weight", then that makes sense to a certain degree, but she doesn't even specify anything in particular so I assume this is her ideal "healthy lifestyle" which I will definitely not follow. If I were her client, I am crossing this one right out of the list!!. Let's move on to another suggestion she makes: sugar is the devil. She suggests any form of sugar is bad. I highly agree with her that MOST people are addicted to salt and sugar. To be honest, salt and sugar do make everything tastes better! However, that is not a good thing! My mom used to (and still does) eat everything quite underseasoned, and I am used to her cooking. So whenever I cook for people, they sometimes say food is slightly blend... though I think that is healthier... (i just hand them over my salt grinder). But just to be clear with her statement under "sugar is the devil", certain amount of sugar can be good for body in my opinion. It is definitely a mood enhancer. It also helps your brain too to a certain level especially if you are studying, or trying to prepare for exams, or etc. Also, last time I checked, it is not the sugar that is the leading cause of depression, but the amount of sunlight you get on a daily basis... Another suggestion she makes: remove ALL junk [food] from your kitchen. Now, I have to disagree with her on this one. I suggest, buy moderate amount of "junk food"; moderate as in no more than a few servings portion! (generally 1~4, but no bigger than 10!!!). Now, I am not so sure what she means by 'junk food' but I assume she means candies and other sweets. It is a proven fact that the more you deprive yourself from your cravings, you end up indulging yourself to an extreme degree later on. Trust me, I have been there, done that! My most frequent craving is a generous serving of Nutella on toasted ciabatta bread, sourdough bread, or freshly baked baguette. The longer I cut it out of my life, I may stop craving for it for awhile, but the moment I smell it, I start putting 3x~4x more nutella on thick sliced bread. My idea is to enjoy it every once in awhile, but in moderation: I get about an inch thickness of one of those bread, and spread 1 serving of Nutella on it (which is 2 tbsp, 190 calories. However, Ralphs has their own version of hazel nut chocolate spread which has 160 calories per 2 tbsp) every 2~3 days. Instead of heading to your guilty-pleasure drawer everyday, why not give yourself a treat every 2~3 days? If you crave big chocolate bar, why not just cut it into 2 or 3 pieces instead of having the whole bar? and have 1 bar throughout the week instead of cutting it out for a few weeks, then find yourself swallowing 3 to 4 bars in one sitting? Having said that, I HIGHLY suggest you have a special drawer in your kitchen just for your guilty pleasure treats such as nutella (since it needs to be at room temperature anyway), chocolate bars, candies, etc. By doing so, you aren't constantly seeing these treats everywhere in your house, but well organized in one place. Out of sight, out of mind! remember that! Ms. Warner also suggests that carbs and starches are bad for you. However, this is NOT NECESSARILY TRUE! For her to say "all starches and carbs are bad", she is basically saying "ENTIRE Asian and Mediterranean diet is horrible" since Asian diet HEAVILY depends on rice as main meal, and Mediterranean diet HEAVILY depends on pastas and other carbs. It is a known fact, by statistics, that Japanese have the healthiest diet with the longest life span (on average) and I highly doubt Japanese people eat nothing but veggies and fruits! Eating high carbs results in turning your body into fat storing mode, thus you aren't exactly being efficient w/ utilizing your metabolism and all that cool stuff happening in your body. But everything in moderation!!! It's not like you have 5 cups of rice with 1 piece of broccoli and 1 piece of celery for a meal!!! Also, her suggesting "lean meat" is kind of skeptical. Most nutritionists suggest you do not have too much red meat since they are high in sat fat. While it is good to have 1~2 servings of protein from meat or fish on a daily basis, she is suggesting "fill yourself up with all the veggies, fruits, and any types of meat you want, then have carbs and starch, followed by desserts". My ideal meal is to have veggies, some proteins from meat (alternate it with red meat, white meat, and fishes (watch out for Mercury level!!!)) with carbs and/or starch as main dish (usually), not the other way around. Besides those points, I totally agree with everything she says on her website.

I am not going to go into details about how I lost all the weight, and keeping it off today, especially since I have written a LOT already, but I will tell you this much on this blog: eat right, exercise, and have a positive attitude! Remember, quick weight loss programs that so many advertisements promise are NOT worth it! The faster you lose weight, the quicker it is for your body to try to regain it all back. Your body thinks the "heavier" you were "normal", thus trying to restore all the weight you lost so quickly. However, starving yourself to lose weight is also not good! You can only starve so much!!! Your body will go into starvation mode and start digesting muscles more than fat since it's easier to break down muscles (skeletal muscles to be exact, which is why when you talk to anorexic people, you have that distinctive smell from them. it's the smell of digesting skeletal muscle!!!). Also, your body will only stay in starvation mode for 3 weeks. after that, you won't really see much change. Also, not eating required calories (if you work out, you should eat more! obviously...) you are potentially damaging your metabolism. Meaning, you may have to eat less to maintain weight if you slow down your metabolism. Weight loss should not be "a few weeks plan" thing. Instead, it should be a long term goal, AND try to maintain the weight within a reasonable range is the best way to keep yourself looking good AND healthy.