A Smorgasbord of Awesomeness
Filed under: General Health, Movie Review, Nutrition
So I know there has been a serious lack of blogging on here of late. I assure you that I am not a slacker, I have simply had a ton of things on my plate, not allowing me the time to write any quality content. For example it recently took me the better part of two months to finish an article I had started for t-nation, I just did not have the block of time I needed to wrap it up!
I figured that I would give you all a smorgasbord of stuff today, encompassing recent thoughts, nutrition, what I have been up to and more.
1. So while I have not had much time to blog, which is true, a small reason as to why I have been lacking in that department lately is that I was a little burnt out. If you look back over my blogging history my writing over the past few months far exceeded my normal output. While I did enjoy it, it also became more of an obligation rather than a fun exchange of information. So a small part of this hiatus was to refocus and recharge my batteries!
2. I have also been cranking out school work like a champ lately. I had to wrap up two huge projects last week as well as take a test and make a trip to the Blaine House with my classmates. For those of you not from Maine, the Blaine House is where the governor lives, as the Maine Dietetic Association honored the outgoing First Lady of Maine, Karen Baldacci. Karen is a Registered Dietitian and she worked hard to increase the recognition and credibility of our profession in this wonderful state. Below is a picture of my classmates and I with the First Lady.
3. I recently read a “nutrition expert” stating that it is going to be difficult to get Americans off the “meat and potatoes diet” and eating more veggies. They were basically asserting that eating meat and potatoes was a big part of the obesity and diabetes epidemic. This is absolutely absurd!
If more people actually ate meat and potatoes for dinner, we would be much better off. Instead people are eating more meals out of the home, are getting take-out chinese, deep-dish pizza and other calorically-dense over-processed “food”.
To me many people view the nutrition problems of this country through the wrong lens. The problem isn’t the meat, or the potatoes, or the butter or any other currently “evil” food. No, the problem is people eating far too many “edible food-like substances” and not enough actual food. It is definitely difficult to overconsume calories when eating mostly real, whole foods. It can be done, but it takes some serious effort!
Overeating man-made processed crap on the other hand is rather easy. It is specifically engineered to get you to eat more of it. It is designed to excite your brain and encourage you to indulge in overconsumption. Not only that, it is generally incredibly calorically dense, so eating the same volume will greatly increase your calorie intake compared to real food. It also tends to be nutrient-deficient, lacking in fat-soluble vitamins, phytonutrients and more.
We need to change our focus away from specific nutrients and creating new “foods”, and instead focus on teaching people how to get back to basics.
4. One thing that I going to change in my diet is getting more green tea back into it. I used to consume 3-5 cups on a near-daily basis. These days I hardly manage one cup per day. I drink more coffee instead, which in and of itself isn’t a problem as coffee has plenty of antioxidant capacity and health benefits. However after one of my classmates gave a presentation on the health benefits of green tea, it reminded why I used to drink so much in the first place.
While I will still have my cup of coffee at breakfast because I simply enjoy it so much, and will still usually have some coffee before I train, I am going to make a concerted effort to increase my tea consumption during the course of the day. My goal will be to aim for 2-3 cups of a mixture of white, green and black tea per day.
5. While many people think of Tony Gentilcore as the resident Harry Potter and Star Wars expert in the fitness industry, Tony knows all too well that I would utterly destroy him in Star Wars knowledge, with Harry Potter probably being a toss up. For those of you who are not Harry Potter fans, you should be.
My wife and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie last night, and I absolutely loved it. I think David Yates has been the perfect director for these last few. To me he has really captured the essence of the books, and I honestly felt that this was his best effort yet. While it is only half of a movie really, I think it set the stage beautifully for what will be an utterly epic finale next summer.
Just like with the Order of the Phoenix, I think Yates has made a better movie than the actual book itself. If you are even a moderate fan and you haven’t seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for?!?
Could there be a more appropriate picture?
6. I also want to note that I am very excited and relieved to know that my best friend has returned safe and sound from his tour in Afghanistan. We are happy to have you home Nicholas!
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Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
3 Comments
November 23rd, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I LOVED Harry Potter too! I think it did a great job setting the stage for the last movie.
I’ve been reading a lot (and thinking a lot) about nutrition, healthy eating, and society’s impact on nutrition – overprocessed foods, etc. This was definitely food for thought – especially as I try to tweak my own intake.
November 23rd, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Karen is a good friend and great lady. Hope you had a good time
November 26th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I can only imagine the pressure that running a blog might turn into. Having to come up with fresh stuff to try to out-blog your peers, having to deal with commenters that (believe they) may be smarter than you, sitting in front of a screen, etc. I think Ferris Beuller’s quote applies here: ‘Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it’. How tragically ironic that he didn’t heed his own words in Enniskillen. Anyway, keep up the good work, whenever it suits you