My Kids

One kind of unexpected side effect of this whole food battle is the impact it has had on our kids.  Weight is not something you can hide, so my kids were very aware of my size.  They knew that I was fat - they even told me so.  They weren't trying to be mean.  But to them, it was pretty cut and dry.  When I started this, I had to explain what was going on.  It would have been too tough to hide things.  They saw me doing the juice fast and wanted to know why Daddy wasn't eating.  They wanted to know why I couldn't eat pizza with them.  And I have my progress charted on a white board - so they see that all the time.

I have tried to explain to them about it all.  It is a tough balancing act.  I want them to be careful with their food choices.  But, at the same time, I don't want them to hold themselves to some unrealistic body image.  The fact of the matter is that God made everyone different.  And I believe that some people are just going to be bigger.  I doubt I will ever be a "skinny guy."  I have a big bone structure.  I am taller and broad.  I will always have to shop in a Big Man's section, just because of the length of my torso.  And I am okay with that - now.  I don't want my kids to see themselves as something less than good because they don't fit into a society-ordained body shape.

With the battle over childhood obesity raging, kids are confronted with messages about weight and body image in mainstream media.  It is a very important issue.  I can't imagine how obese I would have been as a kid if I was growing up today.  It was bad enough then, without the constant presence of Kids Meals and soda and processed food.  My kids are just like your kids - they love those things.  The first restaurant out of their mouth is McDonald's.  Even the youngest one - not even three years old - can spot the Golden Arches from a mile away.  They are suckers for desserts.  They beg for Kids Cuisine and Lunchables.  The older two would drink soda every meal.

On the flip side, how does a parent make kids aware of their food decisions and body without giving them a complex or making them hyper-sensitive of their weight.  The last thing I want to do is give them an eating disorder (anorexia) trying to stop them from having an eating disorder (gluttony).  My daughter is getting into gymnastics.  She has been bumped up into a more advanced class to prepare them for team gymnastics.  And she is loving it.  My wife showed her the old movie Nadia about Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci.  The girl would watch that every day.  Except we won't let her.  Several of the scenes talk about how Nadia started "getting fat" and how she "ate bad."  Between the movie and watching me, my daughter started to stress about getting fat.  We finally sat down with her and talked to her about the weight/eating thing.  We told her that she can make healthy choices, stay active, and do her best.  But she doesn't need to go down that road.  She's six.  Six year olds don't need to have that stress in their lives.

So, I have had to walk a tough road - knowing how much to project onto the kids in this weight loss and food change effort.  Obviously, there are going to be some major changes in our home - since I won't be introducing problematic foods any more.  I would guess I was responsible for 95% of the bad foods coming into our lives.  The kids have had to get used to a different menu of foods.  We don't have cookies or brownies or cake or ice cream.  Mini rice cakes and frozen yogurt have taken those spots.  We don't have Italian food or casseroles or pasta any more.  We have changed our restaurant choices.  They get told "no" a lot at the store when they beg for stuff.  They have gotten used to this concept.

But, at the same times, they are still kids.  I don't want to take away McDonald's forever - aren't McNuggets a rite of passage?  I think Friday Night Pizza and Movie Night is still something worth having at our house.  I still want them to have candy at the movie theater and chocolate Mini Wheats and the occasional Pop Tart.  And I still think the very infrequent donut surprise is worthwhile.  Let's face it - you can't escape childhood without hot dogs or mac and cheese.  I just don't want those things to be the sum total of their food intake.

This is completely new ground for me.  I have NEVER been the health conscious parent.  I used to ridicule the snack box lists at our kids' preschool.  Everything had to be healthy.  It was crazy.  Even this past year, Natalie couldn't bring cupcakes for her birthday.  We had to bring blueberry muffins.  Seriously?  Muffins!?!  [Ignoring for a moment Jim Gaffigan's assertion that muffins are just bald cupcakes.]  Now, though, I have to be careful for myself - and I have to be careful with them and for them.  I can see some of the same bad habits in my kids as in myself.  I see their draw to fatty, greasy, fried, sugary foods.  They also would be glad to just sit and watch tv and play video games.  That combination should be adding up to fat kids.  (Praise God for my in-laws' genetic disposition to svelteness.)

I have sat my older two kids down to explain the situation to them.  Honesty was key - but not in a way that would make them feel bad about their own bodies.  "Daddy made a lot of mistakes with food.  He liked to eat the things that were bad for him and he did NOT eat the things that were good for him.  He did this for a long time.  And there are consequences to our choices.  So Daddy got very fat.  It made it hard for him to play with you and to feel good.  So now he has to change the way he is eating.  There are some foods he cannot eat.  That does not mean those foods are bad for everyone - it means that he cannot be in control when he eats them.  The key is to learn to be careful about the foods we eat.  We need to eat more of the food that are good for us.  And we need to let those other food be for special times - something we control and don't have all the time."

They seem to understand and have jumped on board.  There are times where I point out something about food - especially when I tell them "no" at the grocery store.  I explain why frozen yogurt is better than ice cream.  We try to find healthier foods they like.  I force them to exercise - all of them are enrolled in gymnastics.  Their tv, computer, and video game usage has time limits.  We discuss this stuff.  And I stress the importance of establishing good habits now so that it will be easier later for them.

Overall, I think one of the harder elements about this whole effort has been the reversal of direction with my family.  I was leading them all down into the destruction of obesity.  Now, I have had to completely change how I am doing things - and how we are doing things.  I am the main food preparer, so I am the one who is going to control what is served.  It hasn't been easy to totally alter the way we eat - the kids have wanted to be supportive.  But there are times they don't like the changes.  They miss certain things. There are times when I feel very bad about the example I set for them for so many years.  It is tough for a parent to stand there and say, "I was wrong.  Ignore everything I showed you and did for the last x number of years.  This is the right way, now."  But I figure that is an even better example - a grown up who is not afraid to admit their mistakes and try to do things right.  I hope they learn the lessons well.

Greek Yogurt Showdown

I feel bad.  It's been two weeks since I posted anything.  A lot of it is that there just hasn't been a lot to report.  Things have been going well - kind of hitting a bit of a plateau right now.  Well, that and I've been out of town almost non stop for two weeks now.  I've been experimenting with allowing rice cakes into my diet.  But I am eliminating them because they have had an adverse reaction on my weight loss efforts.  I was actually debating something - which is why I tested them.  Is it better to snack on cashews or rice cakes?  Here's why I wonder.  Cashews have 160 calories, 14 grams of fat, 8 carbs, and 5 protein per serving.  The Quaker Quakes have between 60 and 90 calories, 0 grams of fat, 13 carbs, and 1 protein per serving.  So is it better to have higher calories and fat or higher carbs?  Turns out, for me at least, it is better to stick with the cashews.  The rice cakes are almost empty calories - offering little other benefit.  They don't fill me up like the cashews can.  So I end up eating more of them, or adding a glass of milk, or even grabbing some cashews.  So they kind of end up being pointless.

The other big food decision I have made is to switch my yogurt of choice - again.  When I first started out on this, I was very strict with my yogurt consumption.  I had Fat Free, Plain yogurt with berries in it.  Slowly, I allowed myself to move to Fat Free Vanilla yogurt with berries in it.  Eventually, I compared those yogurt choices to eating a small container of regular flavored yogurt and realized that I wasn't really saving myself much by being so strict.  There was maybe a 20 calorie difference.  So I was eating either vanilla or flavored yogurt in the morning, then I would use Greek yogurt for sauces or dips or sour cream substitution.  But I never actually ate Greek yogurt for my breakfast.  I had tried the plain Oikos stuff and it was pretty bad - like eating a spoonful of sour cream.  And one time I tried Dannon's Greek blueberry yogurt and it was horrible.

One day, though, Winn Dixie was running a sale on Chobani Greek yogurt.  So I went out on a limb and tried a peach one.  I was pretty surprised to discover that it actually was very good.  It was a lot thicker, so it took some getting used to.  But, after a while, it became my normal breakfast food.  Switching to Greek yogurt is a huge benefit to me.  Here's why:

Stonyfield Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt - 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 22 carbs, 6 protein
Stonyfield Fat Free Oikos Blueberry - 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 16 carbs, 13 protein

You catch that?  Same calories, same fat, less carbs, twice the protein.  Basically, one 5.3 ounce Greek yogurt will carry me all the way from breakfast to lunch with little to no snacking - maybe a few cashews at 11am.  After I started eating Greek yogurt, I basically abandoned regular yogurt.  I would still get it to make peanut butter yogurt dip, but once I lost peanut butter - well, it seems silly to get it.  I still had this differentiation in my head - Oikos was the best for dips, Chobani for eating.  Well, I decided to just go ahead and try the different variations and compare them.  Here's what I found.

OIKOS (by Stonyfield)

PLAIN:  This is the original type that I used.  My mom had it and I tried it at her house.  It is a great product - especially as a replacement for sour cream or mayo in salads, dips, etc.  I use it on chili, in tuna salad and chicken salad, as veggie dip.  It has a thicker consistency so it really holds up well in recipes.  That is its greatest benefit - and greatest drawback.  Just like you wouldn't want to eat sour cream or mayo straight, you would not want to eat this straight.  I would rank it first in the plain category for recipes, third for eating.

FLAVORED:  Right off the bat, the vanilla flavor is awful.  Imagine vanilla sour cream.  There you have it.  I was very hesitant to try the other flavors, but I have been surprised.  The strawberry and blueberry are actually very good.  This is Heather's favorite brand of flavored yogurt.  I still am not sold on it.  It is not very creamy - still has that solidness to it.  It works in a pinch.  It is the biggest brand of Greek yogurt, so it is the only one you can find at Walmart - if they have any at all (some of them don't carry Greek yogurt).  The one we visited on our trip to Orlando only had the 4 ounce containers.  I rank it third in the flavored category.

CHOBANI

PLAIN: The first time I ever had Chobani, my mother in law had bought a big container at BJ's.  I used it half and half with regular vanilla with fruit - back before I started eating Greek yogurt for breakfast.  I was surprised at how creamy and not gross it was.  That is one of the biggest selling points for Chobani - its creaminess.  While this may not be a big benefit for dips, it can be good for creamier salads.  The other big benefit is for baked potatoes.  It makes a super replacement for sour cream - and the creamier nature really is a benefit.  For recipes, it is second best.  For eating, it is also second best.

FLAVORED: There are two big advantages for Chobani in the flavored category - and neither of them have anything to do with taste.  The first is availability and the second is variety.  Sam's, BJ's, and Costco warehouse clubs all sell Chobani.  BJ's even sells both variety packs of the flavored kind and big containers of the plain.  That drops the price under a dollar per small container.  Chobani also has twice the flavor options of Oikos.  In addition to the normal strawberry, blueberry, peach, and honey - they also have pomegranate, pineapple, raspberry, and strawberry/banana.  Their flavored yogurt is very creamy and good.  It is a great option - but it is only second best.

FAGE

PLAIN: As I was buying my Greek yogurt at Publix, I noticed that they had the same setup in every store.  The Oikos was on the third shelf - right at eye level, befitting the most popular brand.  Chobani was on the second shelf.  And then there was this weird brand with a stupid name and goofy looking cup on the top shelf.  I ignored it.  Well, then we went through this stretch of like two weeks where Publix had absolutely no Chobani available - and they had no Oikos either for like a week.  I never figured out why.  I needed something, so I tried this other brad - Fage (pronounced fah-yah).  They had cherry flavored, which is my favorite flavor and one no other company had.  By the time Chobani restocked the shelves, the damage was done.  Fage is the creamiest of them all.  It is ridiculously good.  Even the plain is good - like I could actually imagine eating the plain.  And I used it on a baked potato the other day.  It was amazing.  Plus, they have both 2% and Fat Free varieties of their plain.  It ranks number one.

FLAVORED: Fage has containers that keeps the fruit and yogurt separate - instead of keeping the fruit on the bottom like the other brands.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not.  It is a little annoying to have to either dip into both containers each bit or scoop all the fruit into the yogurt and mixing it.  But it is worth it.  And, the fact that they have a cherry flavor - well that clinched it.  But, to be fair, I did try the blueberry and strawberry and they are better also.  (The peach is not.  Chobani wins on that flavor.)  The one caveat is that Fage is a 2% yogurt instead of a 0%.  Oikos is fat free.  Chobani is mostly fat free - but they have some 2% kinds.  That adds like 10 calories to Fage.  It also is the most expensive brand - $1.60 per container.  And it is the least common - I haven't found it at any other store than Publix.  But it wins the flavored competition anyway.

DANNON
FLAVORED: Awful.  It is gritty and gross.  I actually threw most of the container away.  As a result, I have avoided it and the Yoplait brand just to be safe.  Leave it to the experts, guys.

That's my humble assessment of the different Greek yogurt flavors.  I really cannot recommend switching to Greek yogurt enough.  It is a huge benefit to your weight and diet efforts.  It provides a ton of protein without a lot of negative calories or fat.  It gives you active healthy bacteria - which has done wonders for my family's digestive systems.  And, there have been studies that have shown yogurt actually helps in weight loss.  (Of course, there are studies that show lots of things.)  My next showdown is going to be comparing frozen yogurt brands.

WEEK TWENTY EIGHT: Famous and Fat

First the quick details, for those of you tracking that on your own "Life Size David Staples Vanity Poster" hanging from your closet door.  I was 274 as of this morning.  That is a total of 81 pounds lost.  The 40" shorts I have fall down unless my belt is cinched up to the 7th or 8th hole.  So I am pretty squarely into 38 shorts now.  My 2XLT shirts are getting pretty loose - even after multiple washings.  I have tried on some XLT shirts, but they are too tight for my comfort.  (Some people wear shirts that clingy, but I don't.)  I really think there is a bigger size jump from XLT to 2XLT than between higher sizes.  Of course, then I put on my 4XLT shirts and realize I may be wrong.  Today, I went through my closet and pulled out another round of shirts and pants that I can't wear any more.

Contrary to popular belief - and my wishes - this weight loss has not done much for my physical pain level.  My back has been excruciating as of late.  I finally went to a chiropractor the other day and he took x-rays of my back.  They showed the wear and tear of decades of obesity.  I have spur formations in my thoracic area.  My lower back has some characteristics of "sway back" - from toting my huge gut around.  He adjusted me - which helped for about two minutes.  But he reiterated the need for Core Strengthening.  So that's the next step.  (Sigh - I hate exercise.)

The food efforts are still going great.  I have settled into a routine.  Rarely do I miss anything - usually it is random or if I am confronted with something I used to love, but rarely see.  Yesterday we were at Heather's parents' and went to Red Lobster after church.  I got grilled rainbow trout with maple cherry glaze, broccoli, rice, and water.  It was great.  But there were baskets of those dreaded Cheddar Bay Biscuits all over.  I'm not going to lie - that was pretty tough.  But I ignored them.  When everyone has ice cream, I have frozen yogurt.  When other people are eating chips, I have mini Quaker rice cakes.  I've come up with healthier options for a lot of stuff.  My latest is roasted potatoes - which are amazing.  The kids say they are as good as fries.  (Yessss, but so much better for you.)  I still avoid potatoes most of the time, but that is my rare allowance.

One thing I have noticed it a welcome trend among experts and celebrities embracing a healthier way of losing weight.  We've seen so many shady and even dangerous suggestions for dieting come along.  I'm glad to realize that others are promoting a similar approach to what I've done now.  In case you didn't see the news stories, there have been a couple of updates on celebrities with big weight changes.  Drew Carey unveiled his new shockingly svelte figure the other day.  Like me, he's lost 80 pounds since January.  And it has all been through healthy diet changes and exercise.  Here's one story on the process for him.  There were some interesting things in the article.  One, Carey actually was a Type 2 Diabetic.  Since he lost all the weight, his body regulated that and he's off medicine.  Another thing was when he listed his foods - he eats Greek yogurt for breakfast (yeah!), avoids starches, drinks only water.  It sounded very similar to what I have done.

John Goodman is another who lost a lot of weight lately.  Here's one article that talks about his struggle.  He lost over 200 pounds already!  At one point he was up over 400.  Lots of people actually feared for his life.  He was like a lot of fat guys - on the perpetual yo-yo.  He would lose weight, gain it back, lose it, gain it.  Now he seems to really have adopted a healthier approach.  I'm glad for him.  I also know that it going to be hard for him.  He's been known as this big guy for so long, it is going to be tough for Hollywood to change its view of him.  I hope that he is able to keep things up - especially when the temptation from his favorite beer comes back.

I remember back right before I started this whole thing, I saw a show about Alton Brown.  He had lost a ton of weight and did a show about his process.  I was really eager to hear what he said - desperate myself to shed the bulk.  Instead, I got some strange convoluted system of foods and meals.  It was impossible to follow.  Sure, if I was a television chef with unlimited resources, money, and a schedule that didn't include taking care of family - then I may have been able to pull it off.  But it just was not realistic.  So it just served to frustrate me, rather than motivate me.  (That combined with many rumors of Alton's newfound arrogance and mistreatment of overweight people at appearances make me lose a lot of respect for him.  It is almost like he projected his hatred of his own fatness onto anyone fat around him.)  That has always been the problem with media-promoted weight loss programs.  They involve personal trainers or bizarre restrictive diets.  I remember when the Atkins Diet was booming in popular back in the late 1990s.  People all around me started the diet and lost a ton of weight.  They kept encouraging me to try it - since it seemed right up my alley.  For some reason, I just couldn't do it.  I guess I saw through the hype and even in my gluttonous state thought it was too good to be true.  I remember sitting eating with my boss and he ordered multiple double cheeseburgers from McDonald's, peeled the bread off, and ate them.  Then he smirked at me and said, "It's just that easy."  No way, dude.  The second you got off of that diet, though, the weight flooded back.  In addition, you had reinforced addictive dependence on fat and sodium.  AND, the other damage to your heart and body didn't go away.  You still never learned how to eat right, so how was that a good path.  (The fact that the creator of Atkins died of a heart attack right at the height of the diet's popularity didn't help matters.)

So many times, celebrities are also praised for big weight loss that comes from gastric bypass.  Al Roker was one of those.  I know that some people come to the place where they have to resort to that surgery.  But there is still the overall issue of not learning how to eat right.  There are many people - even some celebs - who gain their weight back after bypass surgery.  That is EXTREMELY unhealthy and dangerous.  And it very disheartening to people trying to lose weight - feeling that the surgery is the only way to get the results you want.

I can't imagine how hard it is to actually be obese in Hollywood.  This is a place that has labelled skinny celebrities "fat."  (Jessica Simpson, Brittney Spears, Nicole Ritchie, Christina Aguillera)  And they blast guys who allow themselves to beef up - unless it is for a role.  I remember seeing the beating guys like Alec Baldwin, John Travolta, Val Kilmer, Bruce Campbell, and Marlon Brando have taken for losing the battle of the bulge.  They are ridiculed and mocked (probably by bloggers and writers who never have imagined being as fit as those men once were).  There is a legacy of fat guys in entertainment - but they usually exist so people can laugh at their awkwardness and buffoonery.  John Belushi, John Candy, Chris Farley, Jonah Hill, Kevin James.  They are all of that class of "fat funny guy."  There is also that big intimidating guy class - but you have to have the right gravitas to pull that off.  Brian Dennehy, Ving Rhames, Michael Clark Duncan.  It is such a ridiculous standard.  Our society pushes people towards obesity.  Hollywood continues to put the ideal image up as some ultra-skinny or six-pack packing unrealistic person.  So the gulf between the "ideal" and "average" grows.  I feel bad for those unfortunate people whose career is in that field who suffer from weight issues.  They must be miserable.

All of that to say, I am glad that there finally are some people who are finally providing an healthy and realistic example for others to follow.  Guys like Goodman and Carey are working on long-term lifestyle changes.  They know it is going to take time and are willing to invest that time.  It is not a quick fix. And it requires discipline.  But it can be done.  I admire them and salute them for their efforts.  Hopefully it will be something that inspires others.  That would be a good way for them to throw their "weight" around.  HAHAHA.  Ahhhhh.  Man, that was a stupid cliched way to end a post.  I just couldn't help myself.  It must be the Baptist minister in me.  :)