I’m a .com

One Piece of Fruit Double Bagged, Not!

There are certain grocery items that I eat everyday thus I buy quite often; a few examples being vegetables, fruit and egg whites. I eat salad twice a day, almost everyday, and I try to eat 3 to 5 servings of fruit as well. Those items, unlike junk food, are pricy. I know that the price in a “free market” is a function of supply and demand but that is to prove my point. You can buy a family pack, pounds of meat, for a few bucks, or wander bread for a dollar but the fruit is still sold by the piece. I mean, for how many years we have known that we should eat a lot of fruit and veggies? I go to the farm store across from the A&P to find oranges 1$ EA! WTF?!

Not to sound negative but just prior to the fruit and veggie stand I was in the super market where I had notice a sign stating that “In the US, we use 1 billion plastic bags per year!” While waiting in line rereading the sign, which was pleading the lesser use of plastic bags I notice that the cashier was double bagging absolutely everything and utterly unnecessarily. I don’t know if you have experimented but you could easily fit your groceries in 1/5 of the plastic bags even when not double bagged. Funnily, even when I very politely and explicitly asked the cashier not to double bag my stuff he/she still couldn’t help it and gave me a couple of reassuring double bags.

Salata Meal (Salad “Meal”)

Maggie inspired me for the name of the salad. (I miss you Maggie!)
Not that it’s a huge invention but here’s an idea for a dinner salad high in protein, low on carbs and fats, also very healthy, nutritious and awesomely delicious. I suppose everybody should use their favorite veggies for the salad; I usually use lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, papers, celery and baby carrots. I like my salad to contain a variety of veggies so that I get a variety of nutrients. So to this base for Salata Meal, to that I added:

1 can of tuna fish
½ cup of beans
½ cup cubed tofu (seasoned and not fried*)
2tb spoons of mixed raw nuts
For dressing I used 1tb spoon flax seed oil, lemon juice and salt to taste.
Total amount of protein ~ 60g

*Eating the tofu without frying it was a great discovery for me. I’m still new to tofu; Maggie enlightened me about it – a pound of tofu costs $0.99 at Trader Joe’s. Since it comes unsalted I season it with soy sauce, black paper, and Adobo all purpose seasoning by Goya.

A Lot of Eating to Get 180g of Protein

In the spit of 4th-of-July-Madness I was picking the brains of a guy at the gym that seems to get incredible results. Our conversation veered more toward diet than to exercises. It was very motivational to talk to someone that is so into it.

To give you an idea, while talking about oatmeal this kid said he eats his oats every morning, but what nailed me was the fact that he also eats 10 egg whites as part of his breakfast. This is how the conversation turned to the old rule of thumb 1g of protein per lb of body weight.

I’m currently 180lbs and I like to stay at that level but replace some of the body fat with muscle. But the question comes - how much and what can I eat to come up with the 180g of protein daily? Of course it’s not an easy task! For one thing one needs to ingest some type of food every 2 to 3 hours. I know that the amounts of carbs and fat are also important but here I’m isolating just the protein side of this so complicated matter.

The first step I took was to list the protein containing foods that I’m most likely to eat everyday. I figured with those in mind I can come up with some combinations that will yield the desired 180-190g of protein in my diet. Here is the list:

Chicken Brest – 1 medium skinless and boneless breast (~ 172g) yields ~ 50g of protein.

Chicken Drumsticks – 3 w skin, boneless (150g) yields ~ 42g of protein

Chicken Thighs – 3 w skin, boneless (~186g) yields ~ 48g of protein

Chicken Legs – 2 w skin, boneless (~228g) yields ~ 60g of protein

Tofu (Trader Joe’s, extra firm) – ¼ lb (~100g.) yields ~ 15g of protein

Milk (2%) – 1 cup yields ~ 8g of protein

Yogurt (low fat, vanilla) – 1 cup (227g) yields ~ 10g of protein

Eggs (large eggs) – 1 Egg yields ~ 6g of protein

Egg Whites (Quick whites) – 1 cup (~5 egg whites) yields 25g of protein

Pork Chops – 2 chops (~150g.) yields ~ 44g of protein

Tuna Fish – 1 can (170g) yields ~ 40g of protein

Boiled Beans – 1 cup (200g) yields ~ 14g of protein

Protein Powder (Isopure, 0 carb) – 2 scoops (62g) yields ~ 50g of protein

Ground Beef – 1 cup (154g) yields ~ 45g of protein

Ground Turkey – 1 cup (154g) yields ~ 445g of protein

And here’s my first trial day:

Breakfast – 1 pack Oatmeal 7g
Lunch – 5 Egg whites & tofu 40g
Post Workout – Protein Shake w Milk 60g
Dinner – 3egg omelet w 1 cup Chili 58g
Late snack – 1 cup yogurt w fruit 10g
Total 175g

*I’m certainly opened to comments and suggestions! Please let me know what you think.

Malicious

ma·li·cious
–adjective
1. full of, characterized by, or showing malice; malevolent; spiteful: malicious gossip.
2. Law. vicious, wanton, or mischievous in motivation or purpose.

—Related forms
ma·li·cious·ly, adverb
ma·li·cious·ness, noun

Better to OD on Walking than on Sopping

On a somewhat different note, since I don’t work at the moment and have a lot of time to spare I’ve focused on my fitness. I’ve been thinking to write about my job search but I can’t gather energy for this. In short, the last couple of weeks things sort of died down; I haven’t head from any agencies and I haven’t gone to any interviews but this week I’m doing better – I went to interviews with 2 different placement agencies Monday and Tuesday and I contacted and old friend who’s a headhunter in the city.

Not working = not earning revenue = building up a shopping list. I have about 20 different household items I need to buy; things such as paper towels, napkins, tee lights, wall clocks, soft scrub etc. The truth is - I can always CHARGE. The problem is - I also have another list with bigger items I feel like I need. LOL, things like a bicycle, a pair of rollerblades, an AC unit etc. I suppose I should prioritize! I’m actually already doing this with ongoing bills – I chose gym membership over cable TV service. Yes, I don’t have TV. I’ve been saying all this time that I don’t watch TV, well, now it’s entirely true.

In the spirit of 4th-of-July-Madness, for health in body and in mind, today I walked to the gym, did my regular workout (Chest, Shoulders and Abs), and walked back home. I only spent 3 and a half hours doing that. I think I slightly OD-ed on the walking though, close to 9 miles (~15km) is rather excessive. I have to say though, I’ve lost almost 12lb in the last 3-4 weeks and I’ve been trying, fruitlessly, to lose weight for the last 8 months.

Home Alone

I took Maggie to the airport last Thursday. Sad but true. She went to Bulgaria for an undefined period of time, may be 5 months or may be 8; she might be back in 4. Amongst other things she needed to take a couple of exams so that she can complete her school. We certainly spent a great deal of time together during this past month and especially the final 2 weeks before she departed. It was good for both of us, for a number of reasons. I miss you Mega.

On Tuesday night we went to the city for the last time to see Ricardo playing with Dan Torres. I had heard some of the stuff online but it was nothing like live. We were so impressed that we kept on saying “OMG the music is amazing… Wow, he can sing…” etc.

Maggie left so I had to face reality and rearrange the furniture in the apartment. This project kept me occupied for a few days. Moving furniture alone is not fun though, especially the big pieces. Click on the picture and it will take you to the pix gallery to see the rest of the place.
Although the house was spotless I scrubbed the kitchen and the bathroom to a complete shine just to keep my self busy. This is my very first place completely on my own. I was very much afraid that I’ll feel lonely but I’m fine; I actually like it.

Happy Birthday Kettie!

Today is Ekaterina Minkova-Shukadarova’s Birthday. Dear Kettie, I hope you see this and enjoy today’s day with its little surprise from me. I would like to wish you only one thing and that is: let your one, most earnest and heartfelt wish to come true!

Happy Graduation Milen!

I just read the “Whatever Happens to Birthday Cards” and laughed. Omar had given me a great card but I lost it, thus I can’t share it. It was an awesome, Omar style card - a black, heavy paper, square written on with silver marker; a few simple and sincere words that I’ll remember for ever. Kate when very conventionally unconventional - she gave me a money holder card with the sweetest message and a bill in it. The Kate part was when I exclaimed disapprovingly of the size of the bill (it was simply too much) that she told me “You graduate once honey! Use it to go to Alegria; I know how much you love it!” and we laughed, and laughed.

Innuendo

in·nu·en·do

–noun, plural -dos, -does.
1. an indirect intimation about a person or thing, esp. of a disparaging or a derogatory nature.
“oblique hint, indiscreet suggestion,”

—Synonyms 1. insinuation, imputation.

“innuendo.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 02 Mar. 2007. .