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I eat a lot of fish

I have probably eaten more fish since I started Tony Horton’s P90X about a year ago than I ate my entire life before that.

Early on in life, I just didn’t really like fish. I don’t think I’d been exposed to it much, outside fish sticks and smoked salmon, so I really had no experience with fish. Probably I’d had fishy tasting fish like salmon or something and didn’t like it because of that. Who knows?

I do, however, remember going to Long John Silver’s one day when I was in college in Tennessee and ordering the fried fish, just to see what it was like. I really liked it.

Still, though, I thought I only liked the fish at LJS, so I never really ate it anywhere else. Until many years later when I visited Seattle. It’s right on the ocean. I had to try fish there, right? And I was hooked — on fish straight from the ocean.

Of course, I have never lived on the ocean, and pretty much any fish that travels more than an hour from the ocean has been frozen, so it’s just not the same. So fish remained a special treat for me, to be eaten only from time to time.

When I started P90X, though, I went on their recommended diet plan, and the only way to really get all the protein I needed was to eat lean meats. As it happened, Costco had a sale going on some kind of frozen whitefish, so I tried it and LOVED IT! Wow, I was blown away by the texture and mild flavor of that fish.

Since then, I’ve bought fish by the frozen bag, always getting a whitefish of some kind like tilapia or cod or swai. And I eat three to six pounds of it a week.

You may realize that fish naturally has Omega 3s, which are important for general wellness. What you may not realize is that really only applies to wild-caught fish. Farm-raised fish tend to be fed a diet that increases their Omega 6s. Now, Omega 6s are not poisonous — we consume plenty of them via other sources and they are essential fatty acids — but it’s nice to balance them out with Omega 3s. (Here’s an article about it from Mark’s Daily Apple.)

As I often mention, I am not a nut about this stuff. I still eat farm-raised fish, because I just don’t like spending the extra money and it tastes great, plus it gives me the protein I need. Now, there are claims that farm-raised fish also have increased toxins and carcinogens. Okay. Still, I am not going to be an alarmist about this. Probably true, but….

I still eat a lot of fish. I buy ocean-caught when I can get it for a good price.

I guess the point of this post is to get you to try fish. I went many years thinking I didn’t like it only to discover quite the opposite. It’s easier to make than chicken breasts, and it goes great on a salad. Give it a try!

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Making up my own routines

It’s been a year since I started Tony Horton’s P90X and I only just discovered recently that:

  1. I know some of the routines well enough to do them without the DVDs, and
  2. I can damn well make up my own routines based on what I’ve learned from Tony Horton

It’s odd how we can become dependent on something — as I had become dependent on Tony Horton DVDs — and not even think about breaking away from it.

It’s a great boredome reliever to be able to watch a tv show or movie while working out, so not needing to use the DVDs is a bonus for me.

But best of all is the idea that I can make up my own routines. Like yesterday I did Legs & Shoulders. There’s no Legs & Shoulders in Tony Horton’s P90X. I made it up!

Day before that I melded some moves and made a new Chest & Back routine.

Besides allowing for other entertainment on the tv during workouts, this new development also provides for yet more muscle confusion. I mean, really, sometimes I get to a point where my muscles are not even sore the next day, and I feel as if I am not working as hard as I can. Varying the routines ensures that I will be working new muscles all the time, and that helps with overall fitness.

I guess the weirdest thing about this new “discovery” is that, obviously, back in the day, I used to make up my own routines all the time. I had no DVDs to work from, just a book or two of moves that I would combine in a way that seemed to make sense.

Everything old is new again. And I feel so much better for it.

I’m not saying, btw, that I’m totally abandoning Tony Horton. Far from it. I still need to learn new things and I need a kick in the pants every so often to keep myself on track. But it’s good to be able to know I can work out without him when I need to.

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Fitness products I recommend

PRODUCTSHere is a list of products I have actually used and recommend.

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An illogical way to manage your health

The other day my friend was sick with the flu. She asked me which medicine I’d recommend. I didn’t have a recommendation, because I have not had the flu in quite a few years, so I queried my friends and family and came up with a consensus best medication.

I passed this along to my friend. She looked the medication up on the internet, and said, “I don’t want to use that one, because I’ve heard it can cause strokes.”

Now, I have no problem with that. I try to be pretty careful with what I put into my body, and, in fact, the kinds of risks she was citing are the very ones that keep me from taking any kind of unnecessary pharmaceutical products.

However, the irony of this situation is that my friend, the one who made this statement of concern about ingesting a drug that “can cause strokes”, is quite a bit overweight and has a hard time finishing any meal without a sugary dessert.

Excess body fat is definitely a factor in heart disease, cancer, liver problems — you name it. Refined sugar is well-documented to be a major culprit in the accumulation of that excess body fat.

My friend knows all these things — we’ve had discussions about them — yet she chooses to continue to risk her life with her poor dietary habits.

Her life. What she wants to do is fine by me.

And you, too. You are free to choose to destroy yourself with your poor dietary decisions.

But don’t, then, try to sell me that you do not want to take a medication, because it might cause a stroke, or liver damage (as many painkillers do), or whatever.

That kind of reasoning, that illogical approach to life, is just too annoying.

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Losing inches off the waist

It’s been more than two weeks since I went off primal eating — where I ate very few carbs and did not count calories — and back to 50/30/20 — where I eat 50% protein, 30% carbs, and 20% fat, and stick to 1800 to 2200 calories daily.

My waist is down an inch. After about 9 months of stalemate, with my waist not budging, it is now down an inch in 16 days.

What does this mean?

It’s only been 16 days, and, as usual, I am not applying the scientific method to these experiences — my environment is not nearly as controlled as it should be for that — so I am cautious about assuming a definite cause-effect relationship between the lower caloric intake and the waistline shrinkage.

However, I am hypothesizing that I was simply consuming too many calories on primal. As I said, I didn’t count calories on primal, but looking back, I know I was eating a ton of salami for snacks (I can buy those 3-pound Columbus salami at Costco — delicious with an apple), plus a lot of protein smoothies blended with fruit, and whatever else — as long as it was not full of processed carbs or grains — whenever else I wanted.

Now that I am watching my calories again, I am losing the inches.

I believe I’ll stick with this way of calorie-restricted eating for a while, but I’m going to mix up the balance. I’ll keep the calories to 1800-2200, but my only other constraint is that I’ll want to get at least 150 grams of protein a day.

I say calorie-restricted, but, really 1800-2200 calories a day, with a focus on protein, is not bad, i.e. I’m not going to feel hungry, you know, like those 1200-calorie diets.

I’m doing this, because the only way I can know what works for me is to experiment on me. I know I don’t feel right when I eat a lot of carbs — I get run down and logy — so I want to turn the tables a bit and eat more fat than carbs, or at least the same amount as a percentage of calories consumed.

As long as I keep losing inches off my waist, I’ll be happy.