Travelling with your Food

I love bags, purses, packs, anything that carries "stuff". I always carry way too much "stuff", you never know when you might need a tape measure, flashlight, toothbrush, mirror, floss...you got the idea right? 

I have a new bag, you can see me sporting it in these pictures and I love it! This bag is huge, I mean its a good twenty inches long, 8 inches wide and 16 inches tall; It has a nice, thick shoulder strap that I can wear comfortably; it is lined with insulation; it's gray (I hate the flowered stuff); it has a pocket on each end (one zips for the wallet and one is Velcro for quick access); and it was $8.49!

It's a grocery bag from Whole Foods Market! I love the idea of those fancy shamncy "6 pack fitness bags" but they are awfully expensive, and honestly, I wouldn't use half of the little cubbies. I have all my supplements in their own pill containers and dose them out once a week, (actually five of them, since I take supplements five times a day),  I am not about to arrange them in the cute cubbies everyday; I have to carry a couple gallons of water with me or I fear dehydration, so the one slot for one water bottle will not cut it; and I prefer my own food containers.

Sure, if someone wants to give me a gift, I wouldn't say no to that bag but I am not about to spend my money on it as this works better for me. 

This one is great for a one day or an overnight trip. I can carry all my food and it has room for sweatshirts, jackets, even a small blanket! I can also use it for a gym bag if I travel to my father in laws. Just transfer my food to the fridge when i arrive and this will double as a gym bag. 

This is the perfect bag when I go to see my son's lacrosse games, go someplace for the night, or a long day trip wine tasting (even if I am not drinking) with David. Everything fits in here, hell I could almost crawl in here!

Did I mention it was $8.49?

It's "THE" diet not "A" diet

It's happened. For real. I like being on a diet. 

Above I am eating Ahi tuna tartare with lemon, shiso and pine nuts.

OK, Let's qualify that a bit. I just spent the weekend in a hotel and ate every meal out, Friday afternoon through Sunday night.  It was for the State Lacrosse Championships and my son's team won. He, and all of his teammates are thrilled, absolutely ecstatic. 


Here is a short video I captured with my phone, and after you see the entire team run to the left, you can hear someone saying to me "Look, Kristy! Cooper' getting into a fight, Cooper's getting into a fight!", so I pan over to the right, and you can see the ONE guy in white (Cooper) in a sea of black (the other team) and then the referee pushes him out of the crowd...he later explained that the other team was being disrespectful towards his teammates, so he wanted to set them straight.....gotta love the passion that kid has! (email subscribers will need to navigate to the blog to view this).

I will write more about the event later, but right now I want to talk about food.

I live my life meal to meal, I always have and always will. I think about what I will eat at my next meal as soon as I have finished my current meal. I dream about food, I talk about food, I write about food.

I love food.

I always have dreams about what I will eat after a competition, sometimes those dreams can get downright racy, I love food that much.

But, it's losing it's thrill, not the  the "good stuff", but eating it all the time is, it no longer lures me the way it used to. I like it better when its a treat now and not an everyday occurrence.

I know, I have heard other people say it for ages, but I never really believed them. What am I talking about? Eating clean because "I like to"......riiiiight. Yeah I would rather gnaw on a raw celery stick instead of a big cheeseburger too! LOL!

I do love cheeseburgers, but I have discovered that I love to eat them once in a while, not all the time. It's taken me this long to actually feel that. I mean, really, really feel that.

Don't go getting all worked up, I still love fine food. I love to go out, but I have discovered that for me, a little goes a long, long way now. It's like alcohol, I just don't want to drink much anymore, a couple drinks and I am done. I am happy and then I can enjoy myself with my water.

Same with food now.

Friday we had a plate of bone marrow. Talk about rich!

It was really good, and I loved it. Before that was butter poached halibut cheeks and morel mushroom fricassee.

I had it with wine, lots and lots of wine (actually these are 2 ounce pours so four glasses equal one full glass of wine).

David's had enough, we had several courses. I didn't show you three of them....

But the weekend continued and although I loved my meal at Willie's Wine Bar, I was ready for some of my own food the next day, and I found that I was trying to create it at every restaurant I visited.

In the morning I woke early and had a meal replacement drink then headed off to the gym. It was wonderful gym, one I wish we had here. I had another shake after lifting, just as usual.


Breakfast for David was about when I would normally eat lunch and we went to an omelet restaurant. I ordered an omelet with mushrooms, onions, and avocado. I ate a little potato, and no toast. I only ate half the omelet and had the other several hours later (at my 4:00 meal). Eggs are a great protein source, I felt better eating this.


We went to a brew pub for lunch (which would have been my 1:00 meal), David had a pizza and I ate one very small piece and ordered a Cesar salad with chicken, and no dressing. Although it wasn't very good (the chicken was cubed and dry), I felt better eating this instead of a big plate of say...chicken wings.


It's like me and ice cream. I don't eat it because I am lactose intolerant. I don't miss ice cream, people freak when they hear me say I haven't had ice cream in a year or so (I usually will have it once a year for old time's sake). But if ice cream made YOU feel the way it makes me feel, you wouldn't miss it either, believe me. 


The whole weekend went on like that, I did indulge in fun stuff, and I had wine and cocktails, but kept leaning towards my familiar clean food.


Sunday I was sitting in the bleachers eating tuna from a foil pouch along with hard cooked eggs and a couple dates. It tasted great.


When I got home late Sunday night, all I wanted to do was get all my food ready and start back in on my regular diet, lean meat and eggs, lots of vegetables and some brown rice or sweet potatoes. 


Just like lifting has become a permanent fixture in my life, it seems "the diet" has too. I have been able to develop a diet that seems to allow me to eat foods I enjoy, and not gain too much weight, and enjoy the "fun stuff" on occasion and not feel left out. I am still struggling with my size right now, I have gotten big, bigger than ever it seems. I suspect I shall learn to accept it, I want to gain mass and really, a little fat comes with the territory, I cannot be ripped year round, at least, I cannot and live a normal life!


I got back to my regular eating and felt good, I felt strong. 


Monday night I met Roy and we trained hamstrings. It was deadlifts again, and I did a lot. 5 sets of 10 reps (except the fourth set for some reason I could only do 8, I don't think I rested enough between sets). At 200 pounds....that's a lot of weight! Then back extensions with a 10 pound weight on the Glute Ham Raise, 4 sets of 10.  I felt high, I felt really strong. Roy said he could tell it would be a good session just by how I moved when I did my warm up sets, he's a very observant guy.


So for now, I am sticking to "the diet" most of the time, enjoying other food on occasion and lifting heavy, it's all a recipe for success you know. 


I am curious, how many of you actually eat clean 90% of the time and truly like the diet you are on? Or do you just tolerate it? And if you just tolerate it, how could you make it enjoyable?

San Pedro Market Square

On Saturday we went on a little outing. Me, David and Stacy. I am a foodie at heart, always have been and always will be. Just because I diet half the year doesn't diminish that at all, I still eat great, tasty, healthy, low calorie foods most of the time.


I am a firm believer that you can eat healthy food that tastes great too. One of the most exciting part of competing is dreaming about all of the wonderful foods I can eat and prepare afterward!


So I decided we would go check out the soft opening of the new San Pedro Square Market in downtown San Jose. They say it will be alive with restaurants, food stalls, vendors, markets, bars, and music.


First stop ? Vino Vino, a wine bar that has varietals kegged and for sale by the glass . Here is David giving us a lesson on the local wines (above).


Next was to Pizza Bocca Lupo . David said it was great- but not as good as mine, seriously! This pizza cooked in 2 minutes, it was a very, very hot pizza oven. But this style is meant to be eaten with a knife and fork, it is a thin crust but soft. Mine is very thin and crispy crust.


Personally I cannot wait to go when I can try it. I was happy with my chicken breast, brussels sprouts and sweet potato.


We sat out in the warm sun listening to a great band, and there was yet another bar set up outside in front of the Peralta Adobe, a real European atmosphere! It reminded me of all the times I have spent at a public square with my brother in his home city of Barcelona, Spain.

Then it was out back where San Jose Eats operated by Moveable Feast, was gathering.  Several mobile food trucks all lined up serving all sorts of gourmet dishes. Here is a list of the trucks there on Saturday:


An the Go
Eat on Monday
MoBowl
MoGo BBQ
O Mi Ninja
Sanguchon
Soulnese
Treatbot


  Here David and Stacy are waiting for a Heritage Berkshire pork taco from eatonmonday.com

The Peruvian truck had some dishes that sounded wonderful, and the gourmet Vietnamese truck too. In fact, they all had something I would love to try.

If you live in San Jose, sign up to receive updates from the market. Their grand opening will be in late October, once all the tenants are in and open. Although it is small, I am envisioning a great place to spend some time.

Food Guidelines Updated

The U.D. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services have gone back to basics and are making changes, it's about time!

I read this article on April 13 in the newspaper, it is by Jennifer Gish.

Here are a few of their "discoveries", ones most of us health conscious folks have known for ages.

Watch your portion sizes. Drink skim or 1 percent milk. The number of calories you consume and the number you burn should be balanced. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. And you've got to cut back on your sodium.

Here are some of the highlights: Don't blame the shaker. It's not just canned soup and frozen meals. Sodium -- which the guidelines say you should limit to less than 2,300 milligrams a day or 1,500 milligrams a day if you're 51 or older, black or have hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease -- is found in unexpected places, like your morning toast. 

According to the USDA's report on the guidelines, the highest individual source of sodium in the American diet is yeast breads (7 percent), followed by chicken and chicken mixed dishes and pizza. But don't toss out that loaf of whole wheat yet (even though Ingoldsby says whole wheat bread contains slightly more sodium than white). It's more about how much bread we eat than the bread's sodium content. The key to reducing your sodium intake, Ingoldsby says, is by eating fewer processed foods, which tend to be sodium-rich. It can be as simple as shopping on the perimeter of the grocery store rather than the center aisles, where many of the processed products are sold. 

Two and a half cups? You can do it. It's never any trouble when it's ice cream. The guidelines say to eat more fruits and vegetables. Research says taking in at least 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and fruits (five servings) a day has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

The guidelines say to avoid oversized portions. They're not just talking about polishing off a pint of ice cream in one sitting. Our society has a case of portion distortion. You may know that the bottle of Pepsi you drank with lunch was 2.5 servings, but did you realize you poured a triple serving of Special K into your cereal bowl that morning? One serving of the cereal is just 1 cup. Dump it into a measuring cup for a while until you get used to what it looks like in your bowl. (Your cupped hand is a quick way to measure 1/2 cup. A fistful is roughly a cup, Ingoldsby says.) 

Fortunately, most people need two servings of grains in the morning, so either double the cereal or eat a piece of toast, too. And if you're afraid your properly portioned meals aren't enough to fuel you through the day, consider what you're eating. A balanced diet -- with all of the needed fiber, protein and nutrients -- will make you feel full, Ingoldsby says.

Sushi for my 50th

I went out to dinner with friends on Friday, we had an absolute blast! “R” and her husband “J” wanted to take us out to celebrate my 50^th, we were looking for something fun yet (somewhat) healthy, so it was sushi all around.

We went to Mizu, I would go back!

First, a few appetizers, this was yellowtail tartare with a cilantro jalapeno-cilantro–roe topping, stupendous! I could easily have a bowl of soup and this.

We also had grilled hamachi kama, yellowtail collar grilled to perfection served with Ponzu sauce. It was good but difficult to share.

The men had beers and the women had a nice, big bottle of J Brut (sparkling wine) to wash it all down.

Next was miso soup and salad, then we ordered the sushi/ sashimi boat - this is for two people but we all shared it.

I immediately snagged one of the deep fried shrimp heads.

Yup, just the head and it’s contents, including the little black eyeballs. Suck it all out, the taste is crispy, briny, sweet, and hot, all at once. It was wonderful!

The boat was soon empty, and I almost licked my plate.

Sashimi is a fantastic diet choice; sushi can get you into a little trouble as it is easy to eat too much rice. The killers are the rolls, like the ones on our boat. They usually come with fat laden mayonnaise toppings, but it was a great treat!

Thanks "R".....see you at the gym!

Fast Fish Soup

Well I suppose that is not proper English, the fish isn't fast, it is a quick soup to make, how's that?

I love soup, and when you are trying to eat a low calorie or low carbohydrate (starch) meal, soup is just the ticket.

I almost always have tilapia in the freezer, my friend Virginia gets it at Costco for me, I am not a member. I sometimes get it at Safeway or Whole Foods, but rarely buy it anywhere else. Both Safeway and Whole Foods (along with Costo) sell the right kind of tilapia. Yes, Safeway does indeed!

I will not buy tilapia from China or Taiwan, and all frozen tilapia is from one of these places. I have written extensively about the reasons, so you can search back and read, but basically their methods are not safe as far as contaminates in the water and feed.

If you are concerned about what you put in your body, then you should only buy tilapia from the US or South America.

I know many people, mostly competitors (because who else eats tilapia?) who buy frozen tilapia and frozen hockey puck chicken, they do it because it's cheap and convenient.

You need to decide what is more important to you: cheap and convenient or pure and healthy? Make the choice, be open about it and then live with it.

I digress.

I wanted soup, I was home alone, so in the morning before work, I had taken a pre-measured package of tilapia out of the freezer (that I received fresh then subsequently froze), it was thawed and ready to go.

I heated a skillet, sprinkled the fish with plenty of Spanish paprika, and quickly cooked it.

I then took 2 cups of homemade chicken stock out of the freezer (I always have it) and added vegetables that I had in the fridge that have been cooked for my lunches.

I added chard, kale, asparagus, and then a nice spoon of Thai Red Curry Paste! Yum!

After that was heated, I poured it over the fish I had laid in the bowl.

On the top? A few splashes of Sriracha sauce, so hot and tasty.

It took me about 15 minutes, start to finish and I ate (and loved) the whole thing!

GMO

You have heard of GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) right? Hopefully you care about it and pay attention.

I just read an article in Natural Muscle Magazine and it reminded me that I haven't written about this in a while.

Some food crops are genetically modified by gene cloning or protein engineering and are being sold to consumers before they have been properly and thoroughly tested.

Monsanto is of course behind most of this, 95% of all soybeans and 80% of all corn in the United States grow from seeds that have been genetically altered by Monsanto's patents. They are putting small farmers and growers out of business. If you have never seen the movie "Food, Inc." I highly recommend it.

The problems with genetically modified foods are too numerous to go into here, but we should all care about what we put into our bodies and into the developing bodies and brains of our children.

I avoid soy, although there have not been enough studies to conclusively state that soy is bad, it does seem to raise estrogen in bodies and estrogen is linked to breast cancer.

Frankenfood is what it is!

So how can you tell if the fruits and vegetables you are buying are GMO's?

Easy!

I have a saying that helps me remember (I am blond, it works for me)

9 is divine 8 is not great

And just what does this mean??

Fruits and vegetables usually have a label on them- you know those pesky stickers? 

Take a look at the bell pepper in the picture above, it has a 4 digit number, 4688 and this means the pepper was grown conventionally.

5 digit numbers can mean one of two things:

If they start with  an 8, they are genetically modified and heavily sprayed with chemicals.

If they start with a 9, they are organic.

It is illegal to sell foods in the US and Canada labeled 100% organic if they have been genetically modified in any way.

Here is a bunch of asparagus, and what does the sticker tell you?

4 digit number so conventionally grown, but it may still contain some GMO's.Unfortunately the labeling laws do not yet protect us, so the wisest choice is to buy 100% organic.

Maybe you cannot afford to buy all organic, then avoid the foods that are the most heavily GMO's. What are some of the most common GMO foods?

Soy, corn, canola oil, cottonseed oil, high fructose corn syrup, sugar beets, dairy, aspartame, papayas and farm raised salmon.

Here is a snappy music video about the dangers of GMO's (E-mail readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view this).

Check out Seeds of Deception for more information and to educate yourself.

8 Weeks To Go

 

Sunday morning at the gym, shoulders. I set my alarm for the same time as usual, even though David said I should sleep in because of daylight savings time, nope, I want to be there when they open, that's just what I do.

I was feeling a little discouraged. I am looking at myself all the time as I lift, I hit a few poses in between and I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing. My skin was looking a bit soft, I wasn't lean enough and my weight hasn't changed since last week.

So, we had to have a talk. Who is "we"? It's me, my ego and my logical self, all three of us get into heated debates quite often. I really have some of the best conversations with these two- we argue, debate, rationalize, laugh and cry. In the end we all walk away a bit wiser and friends, we love each other very much.

I had a high calorie day yesterday, I did not have what some call a "cheat meal", I had the same foods, just a bit more. It's important to change up calories and foods to make the body adapt. Eating the exact same thing everyday is not recommended by any nutritionist, bodybuilder, Figure competitor or coach, it's not going to produce the best results.

 

I reminded "Ego" that and she quickly acknowledged the fact that might be why I was a little soft around the middle.

Anne stopped by when I was near the end of my training, she saw me posing in between cable sets and said I needed rhinestones on my shoes. We had a little laugh and I was describing my feelings of lack of progress when I pointed at something and her eyes got huge.

She said "do that again!" "You're huge!" So I hit a pose like this:

I asked if my back was wide enough, and told her I have been really working on back and shoulders quite a bit. She said "Definitely, they look great!" I told her I was concerned about my bodyfat, and she said "I have the utmost confidence in you, you have always been very successful and won't have a problem".

This is true, Anne is right, she gave me a smile and went on her way.

So why am I worried? I am smart enough to know that the added starches yesterday means I am carrying more weight and softness as I have more glycogen in my muscles, I tell this all the time to others, so "Miss Logical" gave me a little "told ya so!" and left it at that, she can be quite the bitch sometimes to both me and Ego. We try to be patient with her, but she can be quite annoying at times.

Then a fellow who was lifting there tried to get my attention, I pulled my ear buds out, I was done with lifting so I could talk.

He asked about losing body fat and explained when he would get lean, he would get so hungry, how do I do it? He said he struggles, he can't keep it up.

I explained it is difficult, I also get hungry. A great deal of it is psychological, you are not allowed to eat something, so you want it more, you think of food all the time.

I also explained that when you diet, your body produces hormones specifically to increase your appetite, so you don't starve yourself, the human body is oh so very finely tuned to survive.

I said "It all depends on how desperately you want it. It's mind over matter and it's not easy." He said he was glad to hear that, he thought that it was very easy for me, I laughed, "no, it's not but I prefer to be upbeat and pretend everything is fine, I don't believe in being a whiner."

After we all had these conversations, and I looked at my pictures I realized that competing has taught me many good things. Patience, self confidence, belief in my abilities, self love and desire to constantly improve.

It's now noon, I am prepping food for the week, taking a break to write. I  look great and realize I am on track, I am at peace.

The pictures I take are more for me than anyone else, it allows me to see the subtle changes that occur, to keep pushing myself and not give in or give up.

To be the best I can be, always.

The pictures also help me see where I need to make changes in posing- see the back shot?, my shoulders are sloping down, they need to be up and out across the top, I need to hold them up more so I will work on that now and see the change next week.

And Ego? She says "Looking good Mama!"

Cooking

Me in my kitchen, I love to cook. This is my winter chef's jacket, it's thick and gets hot. My summer and spring jacket is black with short sleeves. I like them because I don't ruin my clothes with splatters.

I know, you are thinking, "she cooks? right, she's always on a diet!"

I understand why you think that, even a fellow at work the other day said to me "you don't eat cheesecake right? You don't even eat anything humans do"

I think he was trying to be funny, but I wasn't laughing, in fact, I found it a bit sad.

I enjoy what I eat, I feel better eating healthy and I shall probably live to have a better quality of life because if it. I also love to eat some "human" food too, I just don't do it all the time.

There are so many wonderful foods that can be eaten, and can be delicious yet not be full of sugar and fat and thousands of calories.

If you make healthy foods the main part of your diet, and allow yourself to eat some of the other foods, you won't feel so cheated.

So exactly what is a healthy diet? It's not rocket science and it's not difficult. Now to diet down to lose all excess bodyfat, that is a science, but we won't be talking about that today.

Eat several small meals a day: This can range from 4 to 6 depending on your activity level. The goal is to never get to a state of ravenous hunger, and to keep your body fueled and blood sugar level. A meal for someone who isn't very active can be an apple and 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter. And then someone like me, who is fairly active and who eats 6 meals of almost all the same size, eats two lunches consisting of 4 ounces protein, 4 ounces starch and a cup of vegetables in each lunch (one at 12:00 and one at 3:30)

Eat what "humans" do: Natural, unprocessed foods. Lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains. Stay away from packaged foods which will not do you ANY good.

Drink lots of water:Your body needs water to function. Water allows your body to maintain it's temperature; it flushes waste; it keeps skin moist; it cushions your joints, it protects your nervous system.

Eat slowly and enjoy the meal: If you rush through your meal you are likely to keep eating even after you are full. You will eat faster than your body can signal your brain that you are full, and then you will over eat.

Eat the right portions: Protein source should be the size of you open palm (not hand, the palm only!). Starches should be the size of your closed fist, no more! Vegetables should cover most of your plate.

Experiment and be open: I try different vegetables and combination all the time. You don't need to eat "breakfast" foods in the morning and "dinner" foods at night. Let your imagination run wild!

See Food Diet

I get emails from Tom Venuto, author "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". Here is an interesting email he sent recently.

The picture above? My absolute favorite treat, Jo's Dark Salt Caramels. They come 2 to a pack at Peet's Coffee for $1.75. I have one, David has one....

You’ve heard of the “See-Food” diet haven’t you? No, that’s not the diet where you load up on fish, lobster, crab and mussels. The See-Food Diet is the one that so many of us crack jokes about – it’s the diet where you eat everything in sight! But don’t laugh too hard. Scientists at Cornell University and other research institutions have proven that you actually WILL eat more food if you see food more. In fact, if you can see it and it’s within arm’s reach, you could eat yourself obese within a few years and not even know what hit you because the eating happens unconsciously.


It should be common sense that when you’re constantly surrounded by food, you tend to eat more.

But one thing that hasn’t been clear until recently was how seeing food (visibility) and having it within reach (proximity) could influence unconscious eating (and how it influences what I call “eating amnesia”).

Developmental psychologists tell us that the more effort or time you invest in a unique activity, the more likely you’ll be to remember it.

In other words, if you have to go out of your way to go get food, you’ll remember eating it. If the food is right there within arms reach, you’ll munch away and more easily forget it.

For years, Dr. Brian Wansink of the Food and Brand Laboratory at Cornell University has been conducting fascinating experiments to find out what really makes you eat more food than you need.

Some of his previous studies revealed that taste, palatability, mood, stress, social context, role models (parental influence), visual cues, visibility and convenience can all influence how much you eat (Eating behavior is environmentally and psychologically influenced – appetite is not just biological).

To explore the influence of food proximity and visibility on eating behavior, Wansink set up an experiment using 40 female staff members from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain. The subjects were not told it was a weight loss or calorie-related study. They were told that they would be given a free candy dish filled with chocolates (candy “kisses”) and they’d be contacted and surveyed about their candy preferences. They were also told not to share the candies, take them home or move the dish.

Participants were divided into four groups:

1) Proximate and visible (can see and reach)
2) Proximate and non-visible (can reach but not see)
3) Less proximate and visible (can see but can’t reach)
4) Less proximate and non visible (can’t see, and can’t reach)

During each day of the four week study, 30 chocolates were placed in 20 clear containers and 20 opaque containers and delivered to the 40 subjects. The containers were replenished every afternoon. They were kept in the same location for 4 straight business days and then rotated on the following week. Researchers kept a daily record of the number of chocolates eaten from each container and comparisons were made from the data collected.

At the end of each week, each subject was given a questionnaire which asked them how much they thought they had eaten over the entire week and asked them about their perceptions regarding the chocolates (such as “it was difficult to stop eating them,” “I thought of eating the chocolates often,” etc).

When the results were tabulated, here’s what Dr. Wansink and his research team discovered:

The visibility and proximity of the candy dish also influenced the subject’s perceptions. Regardless of whether participants could actually see the chocolates, if the candies were sitting on the desk (as opposed to being a mere 2 meters away), they were rated as more attention-attracting and difficult to resist. Candies in the clear containers were also rated as more difficult to resist and more attention attracting.

Most interesting of all, this study confirmed that when food is close by and visible, you’ll not only eat more, you’ll also be likely to forget that you ate them and therefore, underestimate how much you’ve eaten (I like to call that “eating amnesia.”)

Is a few extra candies a day really a big deal?

If it becomes habitual it sure is! Over a year, the difference between the candy dish placement would mean 125 calories per day which adds up to 12 extra pounds of body fat over a year.

When given the advice to keep junk food out of the house and office, I often hear complaints that it’s “impossible” to do because the rest of the family would have a fit, or simply not allow it. As for the office, one of the biggest excuses I’ve heard for diet failure is that the temptations are always there and it’s out of your control to change. Invariably someone else brings doughnuts or candy to the office.

Now you know what to do to reduce temptation and successfully stick with your program more effectively:

If you can’t keep it out of your office or house, keep it out of sight and out of arm’s reach. That alone is enough to reduce consumption.

At home, if your significant other or family is not willing to remove all offending foods from the premises, then get their agreement that their food is not to remain in plain sight - it goes in the back of a refrigerator drawer and not on the shelf at eye level, or if non-perishable, it goes inside a cupboard that is exclusively the domain of the other person.

At work, tell your office pals to keep the candy, doughnuts and other temptations off your desk, at a distance and out of sight. If they put any unhealthy snacks on your desk, promptly remove them!

Environmental cues can trigger you to eat impulsively. If you can see it and reach it, you’ll eat more of it, and you’ll forget how much you ate. So get the junk out of your home and office now and if you can’t, then get it out of your sight. If you can’t do that, get it out of arms reach.

Fish Tacos for Breakfast

Yes I am eating yet again. David and I always enjoy the food fest the three weeks following a competition. 

One of our favorites is Mijita's at the Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco. We get there before they open, mainly to find a parking place, and it was pretty tough this weekend, seems a few sailors were in town, it was Fleet Week!

The weather was one of those stunning days that make you want to move to San Francisco, it was actually hot. You can see how warm it appears in the picture above and It was only 9:30 am!

Their fish tacos are great and the mushroom quesadilla is another one of my favorites, so I have both! They make the tortillas there as they cook the rest of the food, and they don't use one of those silly "tortilla machines" that Chevy's does.  

David gets to eat too.

And I know many of you may not approve, but we have a big glass of red wine with our taco's for breakfast too. It really does start the day off right for all the shopping and dining we plan to do.

We wandered over to Prather Ranch Meats and there were 6 guys standing behind the counter, they are all young, healthy good looking meat kinda guys.

One of them shouts over at me and says "Hey- Campbell Farmers Market! You like skirt steak!" Bingo! I am known for what I eat far and wide! Or maybe it's the long blond hair and the muscular arms...not quite sure.

He explained he was selling there when Prather Ranch first set up a year or so ago, and they "relocated" him, up to San Francisco. David was explaining why we haven't been there much lately, I am on this diet see....it went on for a while.

Then I told them it was time to get big! They all laughed and liked that. I needed some good meats for that and they were able to help me with everything I needed. I bought some veal shanks to make Osso Bucco, and beef cheeks to make Beef Bourguignon for a big family get together.

If you are a foodie, you must go to the Ferry Plaza on a Saturday morning. This time of year is amazing, the shops indoors give out wonderful samples, and there are hundreds of sellers in the outdoor market and dozens of restaurants who set up grills and are cooking all day long.

You can get eggs, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs, shellfish, charcuterie, honey, milk, breads, pastries, chocolates, coffee, the list is endless.

There are musicians and performers, the people watching cannot be beat. The best place on earth to eat, drink and be merry!

Dinner Out Back to Normal!

Lest you think I am always on a diet, here's a picture to prove I can eat with the best of them and hold my own too!

I had to go exchange some pants at Santana Row, so there happened to be a wine tasting at Vintage Wine Merchants, and then we had to eat too, so we ended up at Left Bank.

What did I eat? Steak Frites with Bordelaise Sauce and Aioli.  

It is important to learn to balance things like this. Some people eat like this all the time, and they look like they do too.

I know other people who are afraid to eat like this once in a while. I think that is really unfortunate, but if they are happy living like that, then that is totally their business.

People will look at me and say "well you adhere to a totally strict diet for months! What's the difference?" The key word there was "for months", then I am not obsessed with it. I have to stick to a rigid diet to get my body fat abnormally low, for a competition, not for life.

I will then choose my meals carefully, I don't eat garbage on a regular basis, I don't suck down alcohol all weekend long, then clean up my diet on Monday morning, that doesn't work, you have got to live fairly clean 90% of the time. 

Think about it, if there are 7 days in a week, and you drink alcohol 3 days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) you are drinking 42% of the time! That is hardly even close to 90% compliance. 

The same goes for the food you eat, if you aim for 90% compliance, then don't beat yourself up when you "fall off the wagon" or better yet, you get to a point where you allow yourself meals like this once in a while, not only will you feel better emotionally but you will probably adhere to the clean diet better in the long run.

By the way, Left Bank does an amazing job with their skirt steak. Did I tell you I had a Sapphire Gibson too? And my alarm went off Saturday morning and I got to the gym when they opened at 6:00 am for my Quadzilla workout.