Year 3, Day 165: Cramps

Went for a walk today and boy was it hot. We were schvitzing like stuck pigs when we got back. Spent under$5. on my salads at Russo's today, so I was feeling kind of keen. I had a real jazz apple for snack but I did also eat 50 almonds. I knew with my fast walk and tennis tonight it would be OK. I guess I've gotten to that place where a little bit of being bad is OK.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch: Russo's ($4.94)
Romaine, red pepper, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini

Added Tofu

Snack
4 Sticks Beef Jerky
50 Almonds
1 Jazz Apple

Dinner: Paparazzi
Mixed Greens with Goat Cheese
Grilled Boneless Breast of Chicken
SPinach
Broccoli

After
1 Glass of Watered-down gatorade

Emily and I were entering our second hour of tennis play she took the first set, 6-4, after leading 3-2 and then I pulled ahead. Drats! In the second set she was about to serve at 3-2 when I felt the familiar rumblings in my calf. We took a break and called Amy; she yelled at me for not having orthotics, said she didn't want to be liable for a decision and said to get some gatorade. We got off the court, grumbling.

Year 3, Day 157: Muggy Muggy Walk

Today a coworker made Rugleach and entreated me to try it. I did, knowing that I had to (especially because I almost killed my coworkers with crumbly banana cake just a few weeks ago) and that further more, as a result of having one, I would have to go on a fast walk or bust. It was good and tasty, but when I discussed with the baker du jour we determined that it didn't have that spongy-bounce back I like in a Rugleach. He said that was because he omitted cream cheese, therefore eliminating a lot of the fat (and natch, the flavor). I got my walking shoes on which was good because it had been raining cats and dogs all morning.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch: Russo's ($4.70)
Romaine, red pepper, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini

Snack
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
Assorted Jerky
3 cups Boston Lite Popcorn
No nuts

Dinner
Hamburger
Broccoli
Salad

We went on a walk today but it was so unbelievably hot that we were dying and sweaty when we got back. THough I have said it before, it was good that my office is like a meat locker, very helpful.

We got a huge order of jerky today, much thanks from the owner of Buffalo Bill's, which is the greatest jerky on the planet. I tried the Spicy Jerky today which was incredible, though honestly, not very spicy.

Year 3, Day 117: poker

Last night, when we got home from the Met Bar, and made sure our kids were sound asleep in their beds, I got to making my fourth pie. This was necessary because I was going to bring it to the card game and so I needed it to be ready-- I was not going to be able to bake it in between work and poker. So I made it, and left it to cool. I'm not sure it was my best pie ever- and in fact, it might have been undercooked. It met with a cool reception.

breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

snack
6 sticks beef jerky

lunch: talk of the town diner
broccoli/feta omelet
side salad

dinner/poker
cashews, almonds
pistachios
popcorn
salad
steak tips
chili con carne
a bite of pie

A fast walk with some of comrades at work. I thought at one time that it helped me win at cards, but so far it's been failing to do that. Our card host made dinner. As usual, I ate plenty, and naturally, had to try the pie. It was pretty good.

Year 3, Day 116: Date Night with Cranberry Walnut Crisps

So much to tell! Today me and another Domaniac went for a walk because we thought the heat had abated. Alas, it was nearly 93 degrees when we got to Russo's and luckily we ran into another Domaniac who was buying lunch. Celebrating this coincidence we took the ride home and relished our meat-locker temperature office as we enjoyed our lunch. So it was about half a walk. Then Emily and I played tennis but what should have been 90 minutes was more like 40 minutes after which she could no longer even speak to announce the score. We adjourned and had dinner at the Met Bar.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
4 Sticks Beef Jerk
1.5 oz Boston Lite Popcorn

Lunch; Russo's $5.65
Romaine, red pepper, red onion, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini

Dinner: Met Bar
Salad
Arctic Char
Bread Basket

One of the things the South Beach Diet book tells you to do is to get rid of the bread basket as soon as you get to a restaurant. This ordinarily is not a problem since most restaurants serve white, flavorless bread that's room temperature, or worse, cold. The Met Bar, which is already one of the greatest places to eat, serves a bread basket that is comprised of the world's greatest corn bread (probably above the Mason-Dixon line) and Cranberry Walnut Crisps—as described on their Web site: "A thin flat crisp bread with cranberries and walnuts; a tasty treat to include in a bread basket or enjoy as a snack." HELL yeah, you could eat three packages of those things and not bat an eye! If you asked me three years ago what would make me go ga-ga off the diet, I never would have said "Cranberry Walnut Crisps." In fact, two of the three things in the title aren't really things I even LIKE. Yet the alchemy somehow made us eat them all up and honk for more.

Year 3, Day 90: Kellog's to Curb Ads

Fast walk with two other Domaniacs. One starting a diet. Due to time restrictions, Christos Seven-Star was a necessity. I called ahead, which is really the only way, because if you order there, it takes nearly 30 minutes for them to prepare your two pound salad. It's really not fitting for a poor sub shop to have cook all their chicken to order. Since it's not a quality thing, it must be a cost-savings- like don't cook any chicken we're not going to sell- we don't have any second-gen products (like chicken-stew or something).

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
5 Sticks Beef Jerky
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
1 oz Boston Lite Popcorn
A few handfuls of Orville Redenbacher Popcorn

Lunch: Christos Seven Star
Greek salad with grilled chicken.

Dinner:
Hamburger
Leeks
Peppadews
Salad with Feta

Dessert
1 Chocolate Chip Cookie

Kellogg to Curb Marketing of Foods to Children
By ANDREW MARTIN
Froot Loops’ days on Saturday morning television may be numbered.

The Kellogg Company announced today that it will phase out advertising its products to children under age 12 unless the foods meet specific nutrition guidelines for calories, sugar, fat and sodium.

Kellogg also announced that it would stop using licensed characters or branded toys to promote foods unless the products meet the nutrition guidelines.

The voluntary changes, which will be put in place over the next year and a half, will apply to about half of the products that Kellogg currently markets to children worldwide, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and some varieties of Pop Tarts.

The president and chief executive, David Mackay, said those products would either be reformulated to meet the nutrition guidelines or would no longer be advertised to children.

“It is a big change,” Mr. Mackey said. “Where we can make the changes without negatively impacting the taste of the product, we will.”

But if the product cannot be reformulated, Mr. Mackey said, the company will either market it to an older audience or stop advertising it.

The policy changes come 16 months after Kellogg and Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, were threatened with a lawsuit over their children’s advertising by two advocacy groups, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and two Massachusetts parents.

Because of the changes by Kellogg, the groups said they would not proceed with the lawsuit against the company. Viacom was not part of today’s announcement.

“Kellogg’s position has really evolved over those months from pretty much ‘no way’ to acceptance of some nutrient criteria,” said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He said he hoped the Kellogg announcement would lead its competitors to adopt even tougher standards for food advertising to children.

Susan Linn, the co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said Kellogg’s decision to stop using licensed characters on sugary food was particularly significant. “Until now the industry has absolutely dug in their heels,” Ms. Linn said.

In the last several years, health officials have repeatedly warned that the steady stream of food ads aimed at children is contributing to the number of overweight or obese children, which has soared over the last four decades.

Some countries have banned advertising of nutritionally questionable food to children altogether, and some members of Congress have suggested that federal regulation may be needed in the United States, too. The food industry has promised to bolster its own self-regulation.

Last November, for instance, 10 of the largest food and beverage companies, including McDonald’s, General Mills and Kellogg, vowed that at least half of their advertising directed at children under the age of 12 would promote healthier foods or encourage active lifestyles.

The companies also agreed not to advertise in elementary schools and to reduce the use of licensed characters to promote food. Those companies are expected to complete individual plans for how they will address the guidelines in the next 60 days or so.

But like Kellogg, a few companies have already unveiled tougher standards for advertising to children. Last October, for instance, Walt Disney said it would allow its characters to be used in food advertising only if the products complied with nutritional standards.

And in 2005, Kraft Foods announced that it would stop advertising to children products that did not meet specific nutrition guidelines.

Under Kellogg’s new guidelines, food advertised on television, radio, Web sites and in print that have an audience that is 50 percent or more children under the age of 12 will have to meet the new nutrition standards. Kellogg already had a policy of not aiming advertising at children younger than 6, so the new guidelines apply to children 6 through 11.

Kellogg officials said about 27 percent of its advertising budget in the United States aims at that age group.

Under the new nutrition standards, one serving of food must have no more than 200 calories, no trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat, no more than 230 milligrams of sodium (except for Eggo frozen waffles) and no more than 12 grams of sugar.

Cocoa Krispies cereal would not qualify because one serving has 14 grams of sugar. But Kellogg could still advertise Frosted Flakes to children because it has 11 grams of sugar. Shrek cereal does not meet the criteria either because it has 16 grams of sugar per serving and uses a licensed character.

In a related initiative, Kellogg said it would introduce new Nutrition at a Glance labels on the top right-hand corner of cereal boxes this year to make it easier for consumers to glean nutrition information.

Already a hit in Europe and Australia, the new labels will take information from the Nutrition Facts panel on the side of the boxes, which are mandated by the federal government, and highlight important facts on the front of the box.

The new labels will show consumers the percentage of calories, total fat and sodium in a single serving, based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet, and it will also display grams of sugar and specific nutrients like fiber and calcium.

Year 3, Day 27: The Next Deadline

Is a party for my Mom's 70th- can you believe it? There are hundred little details, of which I am forgetting all of from a day-to-day basis. I am making a film, and it requires a lot of time and concentration. I couldn't write about it before, but by the time you read this, the party will be over and it won't be a secret.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
Five Pieces Beef Jerky
1 Fuji Apple
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar

Lunch: Crown Kitchen
Chicken KeBab Salad (no feta)


Dinner: Chang Shin Yuan
Boneless Spareribs
Chun King Pork
Shredded Pork with STring Beans
Beef with Broccoli
Shrimp with Asparagus

Just two of us today, but a VERY Fast walk. Totally sweat-inducing. Got Crown Kitchen again, but they totally bungled the order- no feta on my Chicken Kebab with Feta. I mean, "what's the point?' I like to support my local shops, but I have to, reluctantly, strike them from the list. In alternative eating news, I pioneered the "Chang Shin Yuan" movement at home. I tried to get things my kids would like (Ruby likes steak & broccoli and magnolia likes shrimp & asparagus) but they were both abject failures and got the thumbs down from Emily, even though she liked the shredded pork with string beans and boneless spareribs. She didn't like the chun king pork because it was too spicy. Lessons learned.