Daily Recap

"A man grows most tired while standing still." - Chinese Proverb

I'm tired beyond belief, but it has absolutely nothing to do with standing still. I've been busy lately with a huge landscaping project in our front yard.

I've made more than a half dozen trips to pick up large rocks for a boarder, and on Tuesday I had a tandem load of topsoil (about 10 cubic yards of soil) delivered and I spent about 2hrs this morning shoveling soil into my trusty wheelbarrow and hauling it into the garden. I then cleaned up, had some lunch and headed off to work for 8hrs.


I'm sure I broke all my personal bests today, but I'll have to report back with the numbers.... maybe tomorrow. I worked in a grocery store today, and I spent a lot of my shift thinking about food..... I can't imagine why.

I was trying to think of healthier alternatives.... or healthier versions for some of the foods/meals that I love to eat. I have a few idea's, but I need to do a bit of research before I share my findings. Well that's it for now. I'm exhausted, it's late, and I have to wake up at a decent time to do some more landscaping before work again.

23 1/2 Hours

"Walking is Man's best medicine" - Hippocrates

As you all know, walking is a huge part of my new job.... and is the primary reason everything is starting to fall into place for me.  I have more energy, I'm sleeping better, I'm burning more calories, I feel better about myself and better in general.

I'm an avid reader, especially when it comes to personal health.  I recently picked up a copy of Canadian Health, which is published by the Canadian Medical Association.  This magazine is provided complimentary by different pharmacies here in Canada.  The last article was titled "You Tube Can Save Your Life" and it discussed how YouTube and other social media sites are having a positive impact on health by giving health professionals another outlet to spread their messages to the general public.

Dr. Mike Evans founder of The Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital, was one of the articles examples of a success story.

Dr. Mike Evans, along with illustrator Liisa Sorsa, and director Nick de Pencier, created a video titled "23 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?".  I watched the video and couldn't agree with it's message more.

I hope you enjoyed it too.  Until I post again..... keep walking.

Food Wars - Battle of the Breads

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?" - Julia Child
 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm bread. The Carbaholics worst nightmare, and one of my own personal demons.  Bread has been a food staple for longer than most people are even aware of.  According to Wikipedia bread has been prepared for at least 30,000 years.  It's no wonder that we've developed a loving relationship with it.

In this day and age there are so many varieties of bread to choose from it can make your head spin.  I made the switch to whole wheat/whole grain bread many years ago, and although I've switched brands a few times, I always believed that my choice was pretty healthy.

Well after a bit of investigation, I've come to realize that I was wrong.  There are healthier choices out there, you just have to look a bit harder for them.  Here's what I've been eating for around the last 5 years, and my newly discovered favorite.

Note: To be fair to the Country Harvest bread I should point out that it beat the Silver Hills bread when it came to Potassium. Although it doesn't show it above the Country Harvest bread has 90mg of Potassium (15mg more than the Silver Hills bread).

Red Flag Ingredients:

Sugar / Glucose, Salt & Vegetable Oil are 3 ingredients that we definitely don't need more of in our diet..... especially when they're added to the foods we purchase.   Although the Silver Hills contains salt, it's in the form of sea salt which is less processed than table salt.  The Silver Hills sea salt is also listed much further down on the ingredients list which is why the Silver Hills bread contains less sodium.

Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono & Diglycerides..... also known as DATEM (I can't imagine why), is used to help "strengthen the dough by building a strong gluten network" (Wikipedia).  I also love the fact that it later in the article states "In the USA, DATEM is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administrative"...... that's reassuring.  If it sounds like science crap and you can't pronounce it, you definitely don't need it in your food..... just like our next red flag ingredient.

Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate also know as SSL is "used in the majority of manufactured breads, buns, wraps, tortillas, and similar bread-based products to ensure consistent product quality" (Wikipedia).  In other words, it's yet another food additive that doesn't deserve to enter our bodies.

Vegetable Monoglycerides is used to help "mix ingredients such as oil and water that would not otherwise blend well" (Wikipedia).  More unnecessary additives.  Silver Hills removed the oil from the equation, and thus eliminated the need for this additive.

Health wise the Silver Hills bread is the clear winner.  Taste wise I prefer it as well.  Their bread more chewy, but in a heartier, more filling way.... not a bad cardboard way.  I feel far more satisfied after eating a sandwich now than I did with the Country Harvest bread.  I short.... I love it.

When I first saw the price of the Silver Hills bread I was very surprised to find that it wasn't much more expensive than my regular choices.  All but 5 of the Silver Hills ingredients (one of which is water) is certified organic, which typically makes the product more expensive to produce.  The fact that Silver Hills is able to produce a superior product and sell it at price close to the major bread manufacturers is nothing short of incredible.

So lets take a quick review......

Silver Hills bread has less calories, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and no additives while giving you more fiber, protein in the form of mostly certified organic ingredients, for around the same price, all while tasting great and being more filling.  It truly is a no-brainer.

Personal Bests

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

The last time I broke my personal bests I was ecstatic.... well I never expected to beat them as quickly or by as much as I have this time:

Yay me.

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
~ Mahatma Gandhi  

First off, I want to apologize for the lack of posts.  I've been spending all my free time working on the new website, when I should be spending at least some of that time posting updates here..... especially since I've had a lot of good things to share.  I've decided to split my free time between posting here and completing the new website.   Okay.... onto some new news.

Things are really beginning to look up.  Last week I started a new job in loss prevention for a local security company.  It sounds far more interesting than it actually is.  Basically I get paid to walk around and pretend to be just another shopper, and while doing so I attempt to deter people from stealing merchandise.  If the would be thief doesn't catch on to the fact that they're being watched, I'm able to arrest them when they leave the store.  If they realize that they're being watched, they end up putting the items back before they leave the store and my job is still accomplished.

Although the job doesn't pay very well, there are a few perks worth mentioning:

• I can pretty much wear whatever I want to work
• I get paid to exercise 
• I feel better due to the increase in exercise
• Arresting people is a great adrenaline rush 

For a sedimentary person like myself this job is a godsend.  Although I haven't posted any daily results for weeks, I've been breaking my personal bests left right and center.  Just to give you a quick example, my daily exercise targets are as follows:

1. 5000+ Steps
2. Burn 2900+ Calories 
3. Get 1.5hrs+ of Physical Activity

And here are my results for today (as of 11:30pm)

1. 18,984 Steps
2. 4387 Calories Burned
3. 4hrs & 28mins of Physical Activity

Today's results are by far the best I've had so far.  I worked 8hrs in a large grocery store.  Even on a 4hr shift in a smaller store, I'm still meeting/exceeding my daily targets...... which is awesome.

I have more to share, but it's getting late and I have a really busy day tomorrow..... so I'm off to bed.

"The busy man is troubled with but one devil; the idle man by a thousand" ~ Spanish Proverb

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted an update.  Although I've been absent from posting updates, I haven't been absent at all from pursuing my goal.  I've been eating well, getting daily exercise, and I even obtained employment that helps me meet my daily exercise goals.

Unfortunately I have to leave to work in a few mins, so I'm going to have to cut this post short. 

Sherri and I are heading to her parents place for the weekend.  I'm hoping to be able to catch up on a few things I've wanted to discuss/report.

Happy Friday everyone.