My cheat days are primarily about staying healthy and enjoying the good stuff at the same time. But I'm also learning lots of neat stuff about my body. Yesterday, I was eating A LOT. A giant plate of ricotta-stuffed french toast with a half dozen slices of bacon. A pork bahn mi sandwich and an…
Category: Food and Drink
Health Update August 2016: Eating Well and Always Moving
Not many significant changes since my last major post about my health in March. Still doing the same stuff I was doing back then, including a low-sugar, low-carb, high protein and veggie diet, burning about 2,600 calories a day in activities, and cheating once a week. The stats above show that over the year, I've…
Taste Test: Lyckans Ost Rakor – Swedish Shrimp-flavored Cheese Spread!
Swedes love their cheese spreads, apparently. There are several varieties in the grocery that I saw when I was there last week. This one looked particularly weird, since it had a picture of some shrimp on it. Shrimp cheese spread? Sure, why not? Here's how my taste test of "Lyckans Ost Rakor" went. All…
Nana’s Rolls, Mom’s Spaghetti, Nairobian Langoustines: Your Wonderful Food Stories
For my birthday this year, I decided to request my friends to send me personal stories about food. I’m so impressed with the stories that people shared! Here are some of my favorites. Mom’s Noodles Credit: CC-licensed photo by Cameron Cassan Homemade spaghetti came up a couple of times in friend's stories. My friend Jim…
Which is more effective for weight loss: diet or exercise?
An interesting video from Vox summarizing scientific research on the efficacy of exercise versus diet with relation to weight loss. TLDR; several research studies conclude that a healthy diet is a better strategy for losing and keeping off weight. Exercise is good for your health overall, but is only a small portion of your overall…
Figs, Proscuitto and A Birthday Request to You
It was the summer of 1998. I was on a work trip to Rome, Italy with some colleagues at the human rights group I worked for a the time, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. We were being treated to dinner by a local Italian human rights nonprofit. It was one of our first…
Happy Kouign Amman Day! Touring SF’s Best Kouign Amman
Today, June 20th, is "National Kouign Amman Day." (Just go with it.) Since it falls on a Monday, I gathered some friends to run around San Francisco yesterday to sample the various versions of this unique, very French pastry. For those that don't know, kouign amann is a round crusty cake, made with a yeast-raised dough containing layers of butter…
Salman Rushdie: To Stop Terrorism, Dance, Make Love, Eat Bacon Sandwiches
The words of Salman Rushdie need to be remembered particularly today, the day after a dreadful massacre in Florida, but really, everyday: “The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable…
Recipe: How to Make an Andytown “Snowy Plover” at Home
I decided today that I wanted a “Snowy Plover,” the tasty coffee beverage that they concoct at Andytown Coffee in the Outer Sunset. The Snowy Plover is a fizzy, creamy, slightly sweet coffee beverage composed of sparkling water, a double-shot of espresso, a little brown sugar syrup, and some whipped cream on top. Very delicious…
Health Tips: My Five Don’ts for Healthier Living
A lot of diet and health tips focus on the things you should be doing to lose weight or be in better shape. Join a gym. Drink this breakfast shake every morning. Follow this G75-Z regime for 9 weeks. There's certainly good sense in a lot of that advice. But I also think it's possible…