Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I’ve had a never ending problem with caffeine that I’ve talked about for over ten years:

• Starling Fitness – Caffeine Withdrawal
• Starling Fitness – How To Quit Soda
• Starling Fitness – Diet Mountain Dew
• Starling Fitness – Carbonation, Soda, Aspartame and Caffeine Withdrawal
• Starling Fitness – Avoid Caffeine
• Starling Fitness – Make Coffee At Home: Save Bucks AND Calories
• Starling Fitness – Is Soda Bad For You?
• Starling Fitness – Caffeine!

I have limited my caffeine intake to a single Coke Zero every day. I’ve always said that coffee is the cheapest way to get a caffeine dose, but a cup of coffee is not consistent. What I get from a pot of coffee at a convenience store is different from my automatic drip coffee maker at home, which is also different than what I would get from the local barista.

Know what IS consistent? Keurig coffee makers.

I get the same amount of caffeine every time from that machine, if it will keep working. We LITERALLY have returned three machines because they keep on breaking.

Now, I learn that Keurig is trying to prevent people from using coffee pods from other companies in their machines.

• Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market | Techdirt

“Green Mountain has announced a new anticompetitive plan to maintain its monopoly by redesigning its brewers to lock out competitors’ products. Such lock-out technology cannot be justified based on any purported consumer benefit, and Green Mountain itself has admitted that the lock-out technology is not essential for the new brewers’ function. Like its exclusionary agreements, this lock-out technology is intended to serve anticompetitive and unlawful ends.”

So, when my current machine breaks, (and it WILL very soon, I guarantee it because they all do) the new machine will only work with pods that pay for the extra DRM or that come from Keurig. It’s kind of a crappy thing to do to your customers, so I’m sending the Keurig machine to the thrift store.

As Wil Wheaton says: “Friends don’t let friends use pod coffee makers.”

Update 08-03-14

I DID send the Keurig machine packing. Right after writing this article, I pulled down the automatic drip machine from the top of the cupboards and started using it, leaving the Keurig unplugged, but ready for me if I wanted to go back. The thing that I liked best about the Keurig was the variety of flavored coffees. I had no idea that I could get so many varieties for my automatic drip machine, but Folgers has been VERY busy.

• Folgers Flavors Hazelnut Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers French Vanilla Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers Flavors Cinnamon Swirl Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers Flavors Chocolate Silk Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers 1/2 Caff Ground Coffee at Amazon.com: They even have coffee that’s half decaf for those crazy times when I decide to go off caffeine.

They also have a wide variety of roasts (i.e. French, Country, Breakfast, House) for every taste. EVERYTHING that I loved about the Keurig has been easily replaced with my old automatic drip coffeemaker and each cup costs me a few cents instead of a dollar. I haven’t missed the Keurig for the last few months, so I gave it away and didn’t look back.

We had a heinous drive down to St. George this last weekend. I was driving a big truck and my husband was following behind me in our car, hauling the camper. That would have been stressful enough on its own, but there was a torrential rain interfering with that drive that put my nerves on edge.

It was just the kind of thing that has caused me to binge in the past.

We stopped for gas in Parowan at a truck stop. I looked around the store because my alarm for dinner had gone off over a half hour ago. I was hungry and stressed, but everywhere I looked, there was food that made my intestines bleed. Bread, bread, everywhere and not a bite to eat. I was seconds away from a meltdown when I took a deep breath and decided to let Mike decide what I should eat because he wasn’t crazy like I am.

The second I decided to hand over the decision for food over to someone else, I saw it in the fridge section. It was called P3.

It was a bit of cheese, a bit of ham and some almonds. Not too much food, just enough protein to keep me fed and from freaking out. And all that for only 160 calories. It’s made by Oscar Mayer and finding it felt like a Truck Stop Miracle.

Monday morning, I woke up to an empty fridge and major anxiety. My biggest fear is to be HUNGRY. I eat every two and a half hours to keep from being too hungry and starting a binge. I had food for breakfast and a nut bar for my first snack of the day, but I was out of food for snacks and lunches. I was literally two meals away from starvation (in my mind, if not in body).

So, I went to the grocery store and stocked up on food. I hauled it into the house all by myself. And right when I felt too tired to do anything else, I washed and separated all the fruits and veggies into little one serving bags. I was tired. No one had helped me shop or carry in the groceries, but that thirty minutes was completely worth it.

I also washed all the apples and put the oranges into the fruit bowl.

For that thirty minutes of effort, I will have one week of serenity. No worries about what to eat. No fears about starving. No temptation to skip a snack because it’s too difficult to find one. No binges.

The next time you grocery shop, remember this. If you spend the extra thirty minutes to set up all your snacks for the week, you will enjoy and entire week of food serenity. Isn’t that what all of us want?

I love the design of this treadmill desk.

• Redetermine: DIY PVC-IKEA Treadmill Desk – Again
• Redetermine: DIY PVC-IKEA Treadmill Desk

He used an Ikea Linnmon Table Top, four Adils legs, and 1.5 inch PVC pipe. Connecting the legs to the table was a bit of a challenge, but he explained how he did it here.

To tighten the connection between the table leg and the PVC make a vertical cut at the end of the pipe and push a coupling down. The coupling will apply pressure and jamb the PVC against the metal leg.

This is the absolute BEST design for an inexpensive treadmill desk. I have been looking at these for a LONG time and this is the first one that makes me want to build it. You can see some of the other treadmill desks here:

• Starling Fitness – A Whole Website About Treadputers!
• Starling Fitness – The Walking Desk Blog
• Starling Fitness – The Walkstation from Steelcase
• Starling Fitness – Treadmill Desk
• Starling Fitness – Fitness Magazine Review: April 2010

It’s obvious that I have been interested in this for a LONG time. The truth of the matter is, I am a literal SLUG during the day. Even walking on a treadmill at ONE mile per hour while I am working would be AMAZING compared to the sloth of my typical work day. I am VERY interested in getting a desk that I can use at my treadmill right now, so this PVC plan is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for.

Via: LINNMON treadmill desk with PVC pipe legs – IKEA Hackers

Why are food companies putting non-food in their foods? It’s a simple question and one that has the customers of Subway up in arms.

Subway has agreed to stop using this particular chemical in their bread, but that doesn’t mean much. This is a common chemical used to “condition dough” or “bleach flour.” Unfortunately, it’s also used as a “plastics blowing agent.”

• Azodicarbonamide – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The principal use of azodicarbonamide is in the production of foamed plastics as a blowing agent. The thermal decomposition of azodicarbonamide results in the evolution of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia gases, which are trapped in the polymer as bubbles to form a foamed article.

A long time ago, my dad told me that they put plastic in bread to make it light and fluffy. I dismissed it as another one of his paranoid rants, especially since he kept eating bread. Now, as I am looking at the ingredients for the bread sitting on our kitchen counter, I see “dough conditioner.”

According to Wikipedia, the USDA has deemed Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate as safe:

• Sodium stearoyl lactylate – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But then again, the USDA thinks Azodicarbonamide is safe as well.

SSL is currently manufactured by the esterification of stearic acid with lactic acid and partially neutralized with either food-grade soda ash (sodium carbonate) or caustic soda (concentrated sodium hydroxide). Commercial grade SSL is a mixture of sodium salts of stearoyl lactylic acids and minor proportions of other sodium salts of related acids.

I’m beginning to think that there is no food that hasn’t been tainted by big business and the hand of greed. I wasn’t eating bread because I thought the gluten was causing trouble, but considering all the other chemicals that have been used to bleach flour, perhaps it’s just the food industry that I’m allergic to.

Via:

• WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR — Look, it’s bad enough that our diets are all out…

• Please Stop Putting Non-Food Into Our Food, Okay? –

Molecular Image via: File:Azodicarbonamide 3D ball.png – Wikimedia Commons

I found this video about a week ago and I decided to try it.

My results weren’t quite as easy or or beautiful as hers. It started out the same. I soaked the almonds and put them into my Blendtec blender.

I used the “Soup” button on my Blendtec twice, and the blending looked exactly how it did on the video.

It was the straining that was difficult. I used a small mesh strainer instead of cheesecloth, but there was quite a bit MORE to strain than shown in the video. It was kind of disgusting, actually.

Of course, I felt vindicated when I was done because it looked PERFECT when I put it in the fridge.

By the next morning, however, it looked awful. I know it just separated and the commercial almond milk has weird emulsifiers to keep it from separating like that. Oh, and they package it in a opaque container, so you can’t SEE it if it does separate. A quick shake of the container made it look beautiful again, though.

Worst of all, unless you shop around for a good deal (which I didn’t this time, but I will next time), one cup of almonds costs almost as much as that much almond milk, so I saved hardly any money for all that work.

The taste and texture, however, is far and above the almond milk I’ve been drinking. Once you shake the container, it’s white, creamy and thick. I sincerely thought that my husband had played a trick on me and replaced it with whole milk when I ate my cereal the next morning. That alone made up for all the work (and perhaps even the cost).

Additionally, there are some benefits. When I make my own, I have almond milk without any added sugar, sweeteners or preservatives. More importantly, if I notice that I’m almost out of milk, I can make some in a short amount of time using dry and storable ingredients. I always notice I’m almost out of milk at the most inconvenient time. This way, I can pretty much make a new batch whenever I want.

So, if you’re willing to do a lot of work, you can make your own almond milk. It’s possible, but in the end, you probably will do better to just pick up a tetra-pak or two while you’re in the grocery store.

I found this image on Pinterest, but the original came from BIKINI BODY MOMMY.

If you click on her link, she has a bunch of ideas to help you get through winter, which are all great. I had seen her before and after pictures on some scummy websites selling diet pills, but I think those guys must have stolen her pictures. She is selling books and tools, but no diet pills. Check out her website.

We are almost through winter. In just a few short days, it will be officially spring, although Utah will probably looks something very similar to this picture. I have been exercising on the treadmill and itching to get outside, but the cold and the horribly polluted inversion air has kept me inside.

All of that is an excuse, though.

If I blamed the cold or the pollution on not exercising it would be baloney. There is ALWAYS a way to get it done. I could go to a mall in the early morning and jog indoors. I could get a used treadmill and run on it every day until it finally dies. I could do jumping jacks in place in my tiny bedroom. There is NO excuse for not keeping up with my exercise in the winter.

Bikini Body Mommy is right. Summer bodies ARE made in the winter. If you want a hot body for summer, you need to stop letting things like cold, ice and snow get in your way. There are a hundred inexpensive ways to get thin. Don’t let a little frozen water get in your way.

I found this motivational poster on MotiveWeight a while ago.

It reads:

Every day has 1440 minutes. Be active for 30.

I always forget that when I’m procrastinating my exercise. It’s only 30 minutes and heck, ten of those, I can use for a warm up and cool down. I’ve written about this way back in 2005:

• Starling Fitness – Less Than An Episode of Gilligan’s Island

Back then, I said:

Why do I tell myself, “Less than an episode of Gilligan’s Island?” Why do I find that phrase inspiring? When I was a kid, I loved the show and it always felt like it ended far too soon. I realized commercials took up a third of its time, so each episode was really only about twenty minutes. It was motivational to me. Twenty minutes is short. It will fly by quickly.

It’s only thirty minutes out of 1440. That’s a slim 2% of your day. If you are unwilling to donate 2% of your day to your health and fitness, then you need to readjust your priorities.

But I hear you naysayers out there. You’re screaming at me all the excuses that people have been using for years.

• “I have to sleep!”
• “I have to work a full-time job!”
• “I have kids to take care of and meals to cook.”

I’ll give you sleep and work. That takes your total minutes from 1440 down to 480 minutes. I’ll even give you an extra hour for commuting. That leaves you with 7 hours, or 420 minutes. You’d think that would change things drastically, right? Your percentage of the day devoted to exercise is now, like 30%, right?

NOPE.

30 minutes is only 7% of your newly revised 420 minutes. SEVEN PERCENT!!! All you have to do to gain all the psychological and physical benefits of exercise only requires you to “sacrifice” 7% of your time. That gives you plenty more time to play with your children, shower, cook meals and watch all the TV you could ever want to watch.

Quit listening to the lazy voice inside your head who tells you that you don’t have time to exercise. It’s a liar. You can make room for 30 minutes out of the 420 minutes of free time you have each day. You MUST make room for 30 minutes of exercise every day. Your life LITERALLY depends on it. Start acting like it.