Foods for Geeks Over 30? 79
tliet asks: "Being a 30+ geek myself I've discovered that the continued consumption of pizzaslices and cola has a rather unpleasant effect on the body, especially if one is over 30.
Not being aware of this in my twenties it's becoming awfully clear now that this lifestyle has to be changed. So, it's water and greenfood for me now. I'm wondering if older geeks like me have changed their eating habits while maintaining the geek lifestyle, e.g. having dinner at 01:00. Also, what do older geeks consume to stay alive?" Ah, how timely this question is....
Vitamin C (Score:1)
Actually, the way you know you're getting enough vitamin C is when you get diarrhea. Then you cut back, and that's actually how much you need. I'm taking ~3g a day, and I know people who, while they were sick, were taking as much as 16g with no ill effects.
It has occurred to me that, just as most North Americans are seriously sleep-deprived (according to recent studies, most people in fact need at least 8 hours of sleep each night), we're also probably just as seriously malnourished and nutrient-deprived.
Interesting fact heard from the Barbara Walters show, whatever it's called: they did a study of young, fit men in their early twenties, had them do full routines including exercise, but only with 3 hours of sleep. After 6 days, they had sugar metabolism problems very similar to diabetes. That's only six days!
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Change is inevitable.
Pizza at 1am != geek lifestyle (Score:1)
Some may be interested in maximizing health and longevity, perhaps at the expense of looking "buff". Check out calorie restriction [infinitefaculty.org].
Re:/. for advice? Deadly? (Score:1)
If you have all those conditions, you'd better consult a doctor before you do anything. If you are healthy, but just a out of shape, a little good old fashioned hard work won't kill you.
The original poster in this thread was complaining about not being able to go out and exercise in the Minnesota winter. The cross country skiing and the above alternatives are certainly good ways to do just that.
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
I haven't had any problems. It must be do to all the practice I got in my youth shoveling snow in the winter and manure all year round. =) Besides, you don't have to worry about frostbite if you are properly dressed and stay active. I've walked 10 miles in -50 windchill temps before and it wasn't that bad (I had to walk to an ATM and then to a impound lot where some bastard had my car towed...walking a mile home w/o hat & gloves the night before sucked).
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
True - I get out and play sports in the summer (heck, even softball is good exercise)... but winter in Minnesota doesn't leave a lot of good days for rollerblading/running/etc...
Shoveling snow can be good exercise. So is running in deep snow.
Re:Skimp On dinner and Get a Hobby (Score:1)
I Have a Schwinn Rowing machine. Its resistance is regulated via a fan and I really like it. It set me back about $1000, kinda spendy, but since I kayak for fun, I am glad to have it to keep me in shape. It has a really nice smooth action and folds easily if I need to put it in the closet, oh wait I'm single, its always out.
I have found a rowing machine that is nicer than the one I bought... at my gym they have a rowing machine that is magnetically regualed, and I like it a little better than mine. Can't remember the brand.... sorry!
Feel free to mail me....
Beware of fads, including Low Carb (Score:1)
Here's some sites to help get started - Google will turn up heaps more but you'll need to sift fact from fake.
Rosemary Stanton is a highly respected Australian nutritionist:
http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/stanton.pdf
The American Heart Foundation:
http://www.americanheart.org/Health/Risk_Factor
A few others:
http://www.dietfraud.com/
http://www.faddiet.com/ (funny)
http://nutrition.miningco.com/health/nutrition/
Re:Dilberito (Score:1)
Avoid Diuretics like Apple Juice and Coffee (Score:1)
Apple Juice is a diuretic. It may be "full of goodness" but you can't drink a lot of the stuff and stay hydrated well enough to think at maximum capacity. It's hard to find many juices that aren't mostly apple juice unfortunately. Coffee will also dry you out. Of course coffee is even worse since the narcotics it contains also inhibit concentration. The euphoria coffee brings is sometimes worth the loss of concentration though.
I'm not even 30, but (Score:1)
Re:Balancing life, diet and code (Score:1)
A friend of mine used to say "the best way to keep the fat off your ass is not to put it in your mouth in the first place."
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
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Re:Better Eating Habits (Score:1)
Would that be an Ethernet or an ATM frame?
(OT: hey, when did we go to 2 minutes between submissions?)
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Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
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Re:Skimp On dinner and Get a Hobby (Score:1)
Thanks for the info.
It's not easy... (Score:1)
My solution was just to be very careful about what I ate. You'd be suprised at how many calories you really have to cut out of your diet, at least 500 a day less than your recommeded daily intake. Also, you can't relax at the weekend, it just doesn't work that way. You will be hungry *all* the time, but it doesn't take long for that not to be a problem. After the first year I had dropped 30lbs, but then I got stuck at a plateau.
About this time my wife and I decided to go totally vegetarian (we had been eating only chicked for a while anyway.) In the 10 months since then I have dropped another 20lbs down to my ideal weight (165lbs).
Keeping at this weight takes a lot of effort though, you can't suddenly relax and eat what you want again. Some people may say this is excessive, but I weigh myself every day and if a couple of pounds have gone on, I simple cut back a little that day (e.g. no dessert with dinner.) to drop the weight off again.
One thing to note though, it is the last 20lbs that really make a difference in your appearance.
So - go for it - it's hard work, but definately worth the effort and you will feel much better about yourself once its done.
Mike - Now back down to a 32" waist !!!
not cola (Score:1)
Re:Atkins Diet (Score:1)
An old one ... (Score:1)
Cut off your head
Samba de Amigo! (Score:1)
Link: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:dreamcast.ign .com/reviews/14748.html+samba+de+amigo&hl=en [google.com]
What worked for me... (Score:1)
Re:The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:1)
Let me Nth that. One exceptionally cool thing that's part of this is a weight watching program that you can get for your Palm. The best part about it is that it has an adequate focus on staying at your desired weight, unlike most diets that only concentrate on losing the weight in the first place. If you don't want to yo-yo, this is a good place to look.
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
This is a very important bit of advice. Make sure that you get enough of the vitamins and minerals you need! You need more than calories to keep you going, and if you're not getting enough of the other things your body will let you know just the same way that it lets you know you're not getting enough calories. You'll get hungry, and try to eat more in order to get those other nutrients, meaning more calories and weight gain.
Re:Diet choices. (Score:1)
Life Style - Food and Exercise (Score:1)
- eat less
- do regular exercise
- eat better (In the USA it's a big problem)
Nothing else.
43 yo geek reveales the secret ..... (Score:1)
Low carbohydrate (Score:1)
Re:Vitamin C (Score:1)
OTOH (I don't have any references handy so take this with a pinch of salt) consuming more than 8g of vitamin C a day can be detrimental to your health. I hope you don't evaluate your vitamin D needs the same way
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Re:Kill Your Car (Score:1)
Re:Thoughts... (Score:1)
On the other hand, just reducing your calorie intake (without exercise) will cause your body to go into 'starvation mode' where the metabolism drops to try and maintain body fat. Sure you can eat little enough that you lose weight in spite of this, but you're fighting your body here. Also there will be a tendency to rebound in weight if you ever slack off from your diet.
Re:Avoid Diuretics like Apple Juice and Coffee (Score:1)
My experiences (Score:1)
Don't count on diets
Diets (as in diet systems) only really work in the short term. I've seen plenty of people lose weight on no-carbohydrate, all-carbohydrate, all-fruit, etc. diets. But fast-forward a year and they're right back where they were. The only real solution is to modify your normal diet in ways that you can live with in the long term. For me, this means restricting fastfood to just weekends and maybe once during the week. I've upped my pasta intake and I usually try to avoid really fatty foods. Do I splurge occasionally? Sure, and I'd go nuts if I didn't. Mostly it's a matter of moderating my existing diet, rather than replacing it with a whole new one.
Get some exercise
This is really the key to maintaining your weight without undue suffering. You don't have to be running marathons or biking hundreds of miles to get most of the benefits, just do something consistently. Find something that you enjoy and that you can do fairly often - say around 2-3 times a week. Anything less than this (even if it's intense) and you're probably not getting your full fitness benefit and it's too easy to slack off and get out of the habit. I'm a big fan of walking, since you can do it almost anywhere and it doesn't require any equipment or facilities. Don't get over-ambitious in your workout, aim for something that you can maintain in the long-haul.
Get some rest
Another big overlooked factor in general healthiness is getting enough rest. In particular, try to get enough sleep. For me that means about 8 hours a night. There's a difference between the amount of sleep you need for functioning and the optimal amount of sleep for your body. When I'm getting the sleep that my body really needs, it's amazing how much more energetic and how much better I feel. I also do a bit of weightlifting, and I've always found a very string correlation between my periods of best progress and the amount of good quality sleep I was getting. While this may not affect your weight directly, it will affect your appetite and energy levels. This will tend to improve your diet and keep up your interest in exercising. Plus you'll feel better too.
Anyway none of these suggestions are fancy, exciting, or even new, but they do seem to work in the long run. While you don't have to do all of them at once, a little of all three is better than a lot of one and none of the others.
Try joining a class (Score:1)
well, I'm not quite thirty, hell, not quite even 20 and I'm already starting to put on the pounds. When I was little, I was a skinny nerdy kid who had asthma really bad and frequented the hospital so much, that my mother kept a pair of clothes in the trunk of the car all the time and the nurses knew me on a first name basis.
Well, fast forward to the teen years, and I hit a growth spurt. My metabolism slowed down, and I started to eat more and the weight piled on. By senior time in High School, I was 6ft 3 inches and 250lbs! I wore a size 42 belt, and I had a santa claus belly.
Things were getting out of hand, so I joined the fitness class at the community college up the street during summer. Well, the class helped me to establish better eating habits and I've lost about 15lbs. I don't feel any smaller, but everyone around me seems to notice a difference. I'm back to a size 38 belt, working my way down to a 36, is my ultimate goal. Anyway, the class was only 6 weeks, of excercise.
Everyday, we did 1/2 hour of cardiovascular excercise, eg walking, treadmill or excercise bike. And for the rest of the hour, anything you wanted to do as long as it was excercise. I chose to concentrate on my biceps and triceps, and do lots of sit-ups. My pudge has decreased quite a bit, and I can do 110 on the tricep lift machine. I can curl around 40lbs per bicep.
The "Eat Watch" (Score:1)
Atkins Diet (Score:1)
You basically eat no Carbohydrates. You don't need to exercise, just, no Carbs..
So you eat Meat, cheeses, diet Coke, Eggs, Anything from a cow pig or Chicken, and a few veggies that are low in sugar like Broccoli.
Get the book, you local Library should have it.
Eating like a Geek (Score:1)
Re:Kill Your Car (Score:1)
Hmm, I have never owned a car, I often walk around the office(s) to get stuff or speak to people, I live on the top floor of a house, 6 flights of stairs whenever I enter/leave - there is no lift. At work the lifts are the only way between floors, as the stair doors are all one-way to the stairs - you can only access the ground floor that way. If ever I get a takeaway I walk the 2 miles to the takeaway and back.
I am 25 and seriously overweight.
I'm thinking of getting a bike instead of walking/taking the metro/bus/tram, but however nice your suggestions sound - they're not the solution to everyone's problems. If life were that easy I'd be far fitter than I am. I don't eat excessively, but the only way I'm going to get fit is to actively take more excercise, and that takes up spare time - which I put a very high value on.
-- Pete.
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:1)
... but can be pretty boring (unless you can rig up your kit so you can work at the same time. Why not try going out for your 5km?
Another tip: use the stairs, not the lift.
I have to say I don't think my diet has changed much since I was in my 20s (I'm 42 now - yeah, I know...). But then I never was much into pizza and cola. I don't drink so much beer though.
Diet choices. (Score:1)
Repeat all after me:.... (Score:1)
Again please.
My partner decided to loose weight (not me thank you, not yet at least). She began to exercise and looks great, she eats as much as she want and can't live without exercise anymore.
Did you wonder why those shepperds in mountanious places or isolated plains live such long and healty lifes in spite of eating bunches of so called "bad" stuff? The hard physaical work is the answer, so wither you become a shepperd or satrt doing some exercise. Now (OK, I walk half an hour to the train station each way every day, avoiding the inviting bus. So don't tell me I don't follow my own advice. I should stop the cheescakes though....).
Re:Avoid Diuretics like Apple Juice and Coffee (Score:1)
It was bad enough when the feral government started calling marijuana a "narcotic", now caffeine is a "narcotic"? Narcotics are opiates - heroin, morphine etc., and maybe other depressants, but all drugs.
~ If you like the war on drugs you're gonna just love the war on guns
Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:1)
David
David Byrd
CEO - 21st Century Tech., Inc.
URL: http://www.nite-surfer.com
i'm in bad shape (Score:1)
Get up from the chair! (Score:1)
Older Eating (Score:1)
After seeing my results, my wife has lost 25 pounds (and still has another 20 to go).
No fad diets, no counting calories, just a couple of simple lifestyle changes.
Here they are and why.
1)CUT OUT THE CARBS!!!! Not completely, this isn't a fanatical thing but carbs will severely screw you up. Why? Ok, your a caveman (well that's where our current model body evolved from right? we are the product of those who survived before us), you NEED energy to survive, to fight, to hunt, etc. Anytime you find high energy foods (like ripe fruits) you crave them, you eat them until you're stuffed and you fall asleep so your body can absorb it and STORE ALL THE EXCESS SUGARS AS FAT!!!!!! so you can survive the coming WINTER.
Starting to get the picture?
Cut your carbs down to 1 meal a day only and limit it as much as possible (after you've lost the weight, and you will if you do what I say, you can add some more back in. That means bread, rice, deserts, pop, chocolate bars, etc.
2) Water, Water, Water. Screw the pop and coffee. Because a) it's full of...CARBS! and b)your body need water to function (metabolically speaking). Remember you want 95% of your fluid intake to be clean pure water. Buy a Reverse Osmosis water system for your house and take a couple of Liters (Quarts) with you every day. Bottom Line, if your pee isn't clear your aren't drinking enough water.
3) Yogurt. Yep, Yogurt. No I'm not a health freak. I don't even exercise (except my mouse hand). Yogurt (live culture yogurt not the dead stuff so plain yogurt is best) has bacteria that help you digest and help keep things "moving" if you know what I mean. I get up every morning, go to the bathroom and well, let's just say I GO. Everything works fine and I can tell you with a great deal of certainty from personal experience that a lot of the "beer belly" like syndrome is your bloated, stretched intestines trying to push out of your body. They are full of all kinds of putrifying crap that's going nowhere. It just sits there and ferments with the sugar youi keep feeding it. Can you spell smelly farts?
Plain yogurt is sour and hard to take at first so add something to sweeten it a little until you get used to reduced sweetness. Try adding a couple of tablespoons of sweetend, flavoured yogurt to the plain or add a muesly cereal. That's what I eat for breakfast every day now, muesli with raisins and dried fruit and I use plain Astro yogurt instead of Milk.
OK, that's it, sermon over.
Believe me or not, it's up to you. I can tell you that almost a dozen friends of mine had seen my results, done what I do (which isn't dicfficult to do, just a few small changes) and their losing weight and feeling better. Allergies get much better, more energy. But you probably won't believe it unless you try it for yourself.
Oh, by the way...EATING FAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU FAT...EATING CARBS DOES....I'm living proof, Prime Rib, burgers, (The buns are carbs so you have to be reasonable), margarine, butter, olive oil, ----- no problem ----, just drastically cut back the carbs.
If it works for you send me an email and tell me - webmaster@canoffroad.net
Good Luck
What to Eat? (Score:2)
Re:The most cost effective solution (Score:2)
My wife tried to get me to start the Body for Life thing, she's all into that. Actually she's into any fad diet, she doesn't actually do them but she loves reading about them.
but the meth stuff, I about choked on lunch (hamburger, yogurt & apple - yeah I should have skipped the burger)
Chris Cothrun
Curator of Chaos
Skimp On dinner and Get a Hobby (Score:2)
Dump the sugar! (Score:2)
In the year since I've made these little changes, I've steadily dropped poundage - I'm down to about 168 (76 kg) now. There's still a slight paunch if I slouch, but compared to last year, I look positively skinny now, and none of last year's pants fit me anymore. It's weird looking at that new, much smaller pair of pants and realizing that they fit me just fine!
I've normally been able to get about 20 minutes total of walking in on weekdays, walking from the train station to the office. Now, with Chicago fuel prices reaching insane (by US standards) levels, I've dusted off my bicycle and started pedaling, instead of hopping in the car and going for long weekend drives. Even though my new car is much more fuel-efficient than my old truck, the bike's better for me...
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4 things (Score:2)
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Re:Three things you need... (Score:2)
As with everything, the key is a good balance.
I get disgusted with those Fad diets, like the high-protein, low carb diets! Talks about friggin' unhealthy... But back on topic:
Plan, be reasonable, cut back gradually on the bad stuff, replace with the good stuff. I stopped eating chips after forgetting to buy them a couple weeks in a row, and then decided that I just didn't want to eat them anymore.
Re:The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:2)
Buy a bike! (Score:2)
A few years ago, I noticed that I was turning into a bit of a "clydesdale". Not good at all. I tried running, but in my mind that is just a silly thing to do. I found it insanely boring, and it felt too much like exercise. Going to a gym to work out also has never been my thing.
So, one day some friends of mine took me out mountain biking on some of the easy local trails. Since that day, I've basically been hooked. In my mind, bikes are probably the most versatile machines humans have ever invented. They're toys for children and adults. They're a super-efficient mode of transportation on the road. They're a serious sport both on and off the road. And most of all, they're healthy.
Now, whether I'm commuting on an old beater of a road-bike or going through trails on my mountain bike, I'm always having a good time. And even though it doesn't feel dreary enough to be healthy, I *am* getting (almost) enough exercise in my life that I feel good about myself.
Re:The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:2)
While the Hacker's Diet doesn't really cover nutrition, it gives you the tools to continue making forward progress and more importantly, keep the weight off when the diet is over. Just a minute or two each day to record your weight and calorie intake. He even provides programs, complete with source code, to help you track everything. I extended it a little bit into a CGI that I run on my FreeBSD box, so I can enter my foods and calorie values from anywhere.
That said, nutrition and exercise are also very important. Lots of other good comments here on that stuff.
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:2)
Yep. In general, you should try to avoid eating for at least 3 hours before bed (so no bedtime snack). Basically, your metabolism slows down when you sleep, so any calories that are still being digested will turn directly into fat cells rather than be burned off as would happen when you're awake.
Oh, and like the poster below, I agree that actually going outside for a walk is far more enjoyable than a stinkin' treadmill. ;-)
Re:Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:2)
I'd substitute an eliptical running machine for the treadmill - easier on the knees and back, and you can run backwards as well as forwards - add a little spice to an otherwise mundane workout.
I can't find the link to them at the moment, but studies have also shown that it is better for your sleep (and therefore your whole body, physical and mental/emotional) if you don't eat a large meal too soon before drifting off for a full night's sleep. So, no huge meal at 9, then drop out at 11/12 (adjust these times forward or backward depending on your own schedule).
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Loosing weight...what worked for me... (Score:2)
First off, I lowered my fat and carb intake - it is tough, to find foods that have low fat and low carbs (for instance, many times when you see a "low fat" food, look on the back, and see how many carbs there are - bet there are tons in many foods - but the sugar will quickly turn to fat, so you want low carbs as well). I wanted foods that tasted good, were easy to make, and were cheap - not an easy thing to do. Most of the stuff I did tended to be homemade - what little I could find pre-made tended to be vegetarian in nature, and expensive (comparitively).
Walk - or do some exercise. I walked about a mile each day after work, not quickly, no power walking - just normal walking.
Cut out soda - I started drinking a lot of water, and also flavored water, that used artificial sweeteners (instead of sugar - no carbs)...
Need potatoe chips? Lays makes a brand of potatoe chips that are cooked with olestra, rather than vegetable oil - much lower fat, and they taste great (but be easy on them - olestra is a "fake" fat, and your body with flush it out via number 2, if you get what I mean, and can be nasty if you eats too many).
Finally, don't deprive yourself - at the end of the "week" on a Friday or Saturday, I would go to Jack in the Box and have a burger or chicken sandwitch, coke, fries, as a "treat" - then it was back to the regemin for another week.
I did this for about a month and a half - the first month I lost 20 lbs, then plateaued. What happened to knock me off the diet was not walking anymore. It wasn't because I got lazy, it was summer came around in Phoenix, temperatures soared above 100 in the evening, and I would be damned if I went out into that crap.
But now I am thinking about trying it again, and maybe do something different for exercize in the summer months - I really need to get rid of this weight myself (as I too am an aging geek, approaching 30 - want to live to see 60 and beyond, certainly)...
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
fad diet (Score:2)
And on the subject of exercise - have more sex.
"Smear'd with gumms of glutenous heat, I touch..." - Comus, John Milton
Thoughts... (Score:2)
Let's say you want to weigh 220 lbs. Eat no more than 2200 calories per day. 180 lbs? 1800 calories. Multiply your desired weight by 10 to get how many calories you should eat per day.
How many calories are in a pound?
3500. Burn 3500 calories and you've lost a pound. Stop drinking 3500 calories of soda and you've lost another pound. It's easier to lose weight by changing your diet than it is by exercising. Drink water. Just consider the number of calories in everything you drink in a typical day. You'll lose a few pounds a week just from drinking water.
What should you eat?
Fruits. Vegetables. Stay away from breads. No more candy bars. If you can't create the same food at home, you probably shouldn't eat it.
When should I eat?
Don't eat before bedtime. If you're hungry, drink a couple glasses of water instead. Water is filling! Also, by spreading out small meals throughout the day, your body will spend the entire day digesting which in turn, burns more calories per day.
Exercise is no fun? :-) Leave things laying around the house that you know you'll need later just so you have to get up to go get them.
You're right. So don't exercise. Just find something to do away from your computer. When you go to the grocery store, make a lap around the entire store before you start shopping. Try hitting golf balls at a driving range. Buy a dog just so you can walk it.
Three things you need... (Score:2)
1. Eat right, and eat the amount of food your body needs in a day. A mere extra 350 calories (think: half a Big Mac) a day translates to 3 pounds of weight gain a month. If you want to lose weight, aim for a 500-750 calorie a day deficit.
2. Exercise. Not only does this improve your overall health, but the more calories your burn, guess what? The more you can eat without going into calorie surplus and thus gaining flab.
3. Behavior. The big problem is, people tend to lose 5-10 pounds, and then go back to their old eating/living habits. Guess what? The flab comes back, and the exercise benefits go away.
Be realistic, too. If you want to lose weight, the most you can lose and remain healthy is about 2 pounds a week, if you're lucky.
There's a lot of solid information out there, avoid the 'fad' diets, they're a bunch of garbage. Your body is like any other equipment, except it comes with no manual. Learn about it, study it, and it will generally do what you want it to for a long time.
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Dilberito (Score:2)
One word: Dilberito [dilberito.com].
"From Dilbert Creator Scott Adams comes a totally new, delicious meatless, hand-held meal that will change the way you think about convenience foods."
Re:Soylent Green (Score:2)
I just had to say it. ;-) Apologies to the younger ones who haven't seen the movie.
Re:Bah, city kids (Score:2)
Move out of the city and I'd die of catastrophic brain hemorrhage within hours.
A little podunk one-horse farming town like DC is already enough to keep me pretty edgy. Once I get back to New York I can stop wasting my time on Slashdot and start living again.
Re:Kill Your Car (Score:2)
You'd be surprised at how many buildings actually have showers. Talk to your building engineer/super and see if there are any surprises.
Alternatively, you can probably get a free health club membership if you talk three or four of your co-workers into joining. Or just claim to have talked them into joining, even if they were already planning on it.
Re:The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:2)
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Re:Better Eating Habits (Score:2)
A bit sad to miss out on all that Real Food you could be having, though.
Learn how to cook *well* (Score:3)
Seriously. It may sound odd, but cooking yourself good-to-excellent meals is an astonishingly pleasurable experience. It can also be very healthy.
Put off buying that new Nvida card and invest some money in good kichenware equipment, particularly things like *good* knives.
Here is one to get you started.
Ingredients
Salmon (about a fist-sized peice)
Pasta (any kind except flat sheets)
Coriander, basil and parsley. (get living plants or fresh bunched stuff, nothing else will do, the dried stuff sucks)
Vinagrette (pre-made shop stuff is fine, substitute any salad dressing if you can't find some)
Olive oil.
Method
* Turn on the oven and heat it up to about 250C
* Boil the kettle, you'll need the water for cooking the pasta in a moment.
* Strip off any bits you don't fancy eating from the salmon (bones, skin, eyes etc) and wrap it in some tinfoil. Put the tinfoil wrapped salmon in the oven (assuming it's heated up now).
* Pop the pasta in a pan, douse with the boiling water and bung on a bit of oil and cook (boil) until the pasta is chewy.
* Reboil the kettle and use the water to douse off the starch and gunk from the pasta. Drain off the pasta and chuck on some olive oil (very little, you only want to lightly coat the pasta w/the oil, so put a wee bit in and stir the whole lot around until it all looks sligtly glistening)
* Take the salmon out the oven (about 25mins will have passed, I'm assuming) and unwrap it. Chuck away the water that'll have collected in the bottom of the foil and let it cool down.
* Get a big bowl and chuck in the pasta and then shred/flake the salmon in to it. Chop up the coriander, basil and parsley roughly and pop them on top. (More coriander than anything else) dribble a bit of vinagrette on and shake it.
* Eat.
Re:Learn how to cook *well* (Score:3)
Seconded, with additions:
k.
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"In spite of everything, I still believe that people
are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
Re:Let this be a lesson (Score:3)
Back in my day, working with computers involved lifting large tape reels, finding and replacing bad tubes, and walking all the way across the room just to read what you just typed on the LF printer.
Now-a-days you lazy kids have it easy... "Ohhhh, logging onto a remote machine takes too much effort to type my password over again" or "I actually have to lift this fancy-schmancy flat panel monitor onto my desk? Can't a temp do it??" Do you know that all of the respecable hard-working user interfaces, such as line-feed printers, way at least twice that of a monitor.
If you want computer workers to get excercise in their jobs, then start using respectable computers that have tubes and no monitors! Use respectable media like Reel-to-reel tape drives instead of the unnessecary CD Burner.
Food? Easy. (Score:3)
OK,
- B
--
Comment removed (Score:3)
Better Eating Habits (Score:3)
Eat a solid breakfast within an hour of waking up. I'm guilty of breaking this one though, opting instead to leave a bag of muesli in the office and crunching a bowl of that while reading slashdot.
Lunch:
If anything I'd say cut down almost completely on junk food. If you can't get anything else for lunch then try and get the junkfood that is (seems) a little bit healthier, i.e. not MacD's. It might sound like an oxymoron (healthy junk food) but rather get a frame grilled burger, for example, then something deep fried. Preferably though you should be making/buying sandwiches or rolls of some sort. Warming up last nights leftovers in the microwave works for me too.
Supper:
Cook your own supper! It doesn't take as long one might think, especially once you get a few recipes you know how to do. You'll be finished chopping, dicing and bundling into the oven before you know it. It's kinda boring if you're on your own but getting a friend/wife/g.f./s.o. to help should make things more fun (and even quicker too). Only get junk food if you are really beat or something like that. Again stick to the healthier side of junk food.
Kill Your Car (Score:4)
I find it discouraging that so many people focus on the eating side of the equation.
Eating healthy is great - there's certainly no harm in cutting down on the amount of crap that you eat. But look around a little. People eat crap the world over, but only Americans are grotesquely fat. Why? Because they sit around all day worrying about diets. All that most people's "diets" ever lead to is cycles of weight loss and gain, frequently accompanied by malnutrition.
There's a much simpler answer: Kill your car. Get rid of the damn thing. It's killing you.
Build exercise into your daily life. Ride a bike to work. Too far? You're too fat and lazy? (Hint: about 20 miles is too far to practically bike to work if you're not a serious cyclist. If you're balking at anything less than that, then yes, you are too fat and lazy) Then at least walk to the subway station and ride that. Every one of my friends that started driving to work flabbed up within months. Those that woke up and stopped driving came right back down.
Never again take an elevator unless you're going up at least 10 floors. Anyone at any age can climb 10 flights if they really need to. Anyone under 40 who can't jog (I didn't say sprint) up 10 flights without breaking into heavy breathing is seriously out of shape and needs to be jogging up a whole lot more stairs. Living in a low-rise city (Washington DC) I haven't been in an elevator for years, except in security buildings where the stairs aren't accessible.
There are other advantages, too: Biking in a city is much faster than driving, and jogging up the stairs is much faster than taking the elevator (jogging up the stairs in my apartment building carrying my steel-frame bike is still faster than taking the elevator). So you save time AND your body.
Whenever you need something from the other side of the office, stand up and get it that very moment. Rather than dialing someone's extension or sending a quick email to answer a question, just walk over to their desk. Don't stay in your chair more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time. There's always a reason to take a little walk around the office. It'll clear your head and help you live longer too. And you'll have a chance to chat with other people, making friends in the process.
Want pizza for lunch? No problem. But don't have it delivered. Get off your spreading rear end and walk the four blocks to pick it up.
You'll be amazed at the difference. Eat what you want, and keep fit at the same time. No need to waste money on gym memberships. Between that and the thousands you'll save by ditching the car, you can afford a giant vacation to Bali each year to show off your new fit self.
-- raju1kabir
mid-30s
190lb
Let this be a lesson (Score:4)
All geeks under 30 should also heed the warning: sitting in front of a computer all day and night cannot be healthy. I'm only in my 20's, but the gut has begun to form. Trust me: chicks really don't dig guys with large guts.
My current plan has been to work out 300x more than I used to. That means I go rollerblading around the neighborhood for at least 45 minutes every other day. I'm also trying to do a lot of work on my house since the weather's nice. Basically, I'm spending less time on the computer and more doing more laborious tasks.
Food has been a sticking point, too. I was getting way too much food into my system, and healthy or not it was making me heavy. My solution to this was to eat a very light breakfast and then a nice lunch: turkey or ham sandwich, pickle, and a few chips. I'm also staying away from sodas when possible. For dinner, I tend to fix about the same amount of food I used to eat and separate it over two meals. Another good choice is a baked potato or good french bread and salad.
So far, I've been doing this for about 6 months and have lost a few inches--my jeans feel much nicer now. Oddly enough, I'm also happier because I "seem" to get more work done. Good luck with your endeavor!
The most cost effective solution (Score:4)
This is at a cost of $2.10 per unit for the supplements, a loss of an hour a day at her console ($50-100 depending on the person) and nothing for her gym membership provided by her primary employer. This brings her weekly program cost to over $400.
In response, I have been using large amounts of methamphetimines. An eighth of an ounce a week costs around $300 in any large metro on the west coast. I have lost 25 lbs. in the same time.
My costs are 1 hour a week to score; $300 for the supplement; a GAIN of 3 working hours a day; and a loss of approximately 1 hour a day looking for the bugging devices I am convinced the government, friends, family and coworkers have started putting in my keyboard, clothes, and lighting fixtures. This brings my weekly program cost to a gain of $400 a week, which I place into my fund for eventual rehab, making my adjusted total cost zero.
Let's recap: Body for Life Program: -400 Meth addiction: 0
The choice is obvious.
Balancing life, diet and code (Score:5)
I need more sleep
If I exercise, I find out very quickly how good of shape I was in at the end of high school/beginning of college (and how I wish my body was that way now)
I *need* to eat healthier.
So let me explain:
I get tired quicker. If I go for a jog, I used to be able to run 10 miles at a drop of hat, in 'the day'. Now, a few miles and I want to keel over on someone's lawn for a nap.
If I don't eat healthy, my insides quickly let me know. Indigestion, gurgling, you name it. I'll find out. I'm slowly realizing that if you take the time, and you listen, your body will tell you more then you ever thought it could. (rather rudely sometimes, but...)
It seems like all my 'computer friends' are slowly all growing up. There's less lan parties, less endless hours on irc, less bar hopping, less getting trashed every Thursday, Friday and Saturday (using Sunday as recovery time). Now everyone's getting married, having kids, houses, mortgages, kids in sports, kids (did I mention that?).
With all this new stuff coming in, the time on the computer is the hardest thing to make up. I find I'm falling asleep at night with all sorts of code and ideas and crap going through my head. Wakeup, kick the monitor on and type it in before I get a shower and head to work. Otherwise, if I try to put too much time into the comptuer, the wife will not be pleased, and the kids won't get the time they need either.
Anyway, back to what to eat: whole grains (drop the white-bleached-bread), FRUIT, water. Yes, water. It's one of the best things for you and most people don't get the daily does they need. Eat smaller - most people garble down why more food then they need. Cut your portions down. Eat more often. Yes, that will help your metabolism and it'll help you burn callories quicker if you want to lose that gut and extra pounds.
Stay *away* from fast foods. There's not much worse then the crap they give you at those fast food places. At first I thought this was a load of crap, but after not eating any for 6 months, I went and a had a burger from one of the national chains - damn did I feel horrible for the next 10 hours. It felt like I had ate a friggin rock. No more of that crap from now on, let me assure you.
Don't skip meals. Make 'lunch' your biggest meal. At nite, eat a salad, and don't put a ton of goop and crap on it.
My wife, about 8 months ago, started us on this 'new eating scheme'. (I don't know what book she got it out of, I can get the info if someone wants it). It's not a diet, as I've known them, but it's more of a lifestyle change (or minimally eating habit change). It's very similar to the above. It's not cheap at the grocery store, but quite honestly, after a while you'll feel better. When you eat better, you have more energy, you're apt to get more exercise, and you *think* more clearly.
Don't believe me? Try it. Get an hour's worth of exercise everyday. (try walking to start off, stretch before and after).
Go to bed at a timely fashion, so make sure you're getting minimally 6 hours of sleep. Some people require less/more, so if you're getting the minimum, leave yourself time to get a few hours more. But make sure you go to bed earlier. And if you're married, make sure you both do, and take advantage of that extra time alone when you're both not so tired
You'll also be amazed at how hard you'll sleep if you get a bit of exercise each day. Personally, I took up mountain biking. But that's another story.
That's my $.02. Good luck to all you fellow aging geeks out there.
Geek weight loss! (Score:5)
When I graduated from the 8th grade, about six years ago, I weighed 247 pounds. For a 5'7" female, that's not healthy! A few years before that my mother had gained a good deal of weight as she attempted to LOSE it on 80's fad diets, and as a result was diabetic. In fact, when I was 10 she had a hyperglycemic stroke and had to learn to speak all over again (she's doing great now, btw). It eventually got through my brains that sitting at a computer and playing Nintendo and eating potato chips/little debbies/Coke all day was REALLY increasing my chances of the same thing happenening to me. I wore a women's size 20 (!!) jeans (if you don't know what size this is, go to a Kmart and check out the plus size section. I'm willing to bet most of the skinny geeks on
I started out with little things. I recall using the cement steps in our basement as a stepping machine, and I would do 100 reps on it a day. I also began watching my thinner friends eat (by this time I was a freshman in high school) and I saw how much more slowly they were eating than I was. I'd eat my lunch slowly enough that by the time I was done, I couldn't go up for seconds. It didn't seem like much, but the excess weight came off so quickly at first that I lost about 45 pounds my freshman year! It was at this time that I bought a belt, a men's 38" in very cheap leather, with four punched-out holes in it each an inch apart. I remember wearing the belt buckled so it would be at its smallest..but that would still be about 35" or so.
So, I got to buy new clothes *G* and I entered my sophomore year of high school, in which I discovered skateboarding. I was never good at it. Ever. But it made me run pretty fast to try to catch up with my runaway $13 board. Off came another 20 pounds, and I put two new holes in the belt.
My junior year of high school I lost 20 pounds due to a deep depression. No, I do not recommend losing weight in this way. Do not, I repeat, do not starve yourself. I am still feeling the effects to this day of the calcium deficiency I developed (my teeth are horrible). When I got so depressed I could not eat, and I felt so nervously jittery that all I did was exercise. (It was at this point that I discovered my mom's stepping block, a sturdy plastic step with adjustable legs, and exercise videos, which make you feel silly but are WONDERFUL to do in a nice cool basement when it's 90 degrees outside.) The pounds came off and stayed off, but I would rather have done it in a healthier manner. Again, I got new clothing, and put two new holes in the belt.
My senior year and freshman years of college were tumultuous, but I discovered new exercise videos. I also discovered that when I got to college, the shopping center was a mile and a half from campus. Often I would walk three miles a day, then go to the campus rec center and swim for a half hour. Unlike some of my friends, I LOST about 10 pounds my senior year and another 10 my freshman year of college. I put two more holes in the belt (which is about due to be replaced) and I also discovered running, which is surprisingly fun.
I worry about some of my geek friends who sit around, snarf Doritoes and Mountain Dew all day, and play Counterstrike as their most strenuous activity. Sure, their metabolisms can handle it now, but they're not going to be healthy later on. They also scoff when I talk about calorie content and exercise time, and often try to pressure me to eat more tator tots in the cafeteria.
What'd I eat? Normal stuff. I just cut back on fatty things and began to eat more fruits and vegetables. I've never been able to eat much for breakfast (usually a granola bar or a Pop Tart will suffice). At lunch I will have a sandwich with lean meat, a little mayo, and lettuce, with a salad on the side, and a cookie or two. At dinner I'll usually have something a bit more substantial, but I won't eat all that much of it. The key is moderation and exercise.
Let's see. 45 + 20 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 105. I've lost 105 pounds! No gimmicks or shakes or diets...just normal foods and exercise.
This was entirely too long. ENTIRELY. Wow. Maybe I'll help someone though.
Just like on /. - moderation is the key... (Score:5)
Get some exercise. If you don't like gyms - get a treadmill - a decent one which can tilt. Doing 5km a day walking on a treadmill can work wonders. At lunchtime, have a light meal, and go for a 20-30 minute walk and clear the cobwebs out.
As for food - breakfast is important - moreso if you do that 5km a day in the morning. Lunch? Easy - small portions of leftovers from the dinner the night before or soup or a small garden salad. Dinner? Eat what you would normally eat, just don't eat the whole pizza - have 2 slices - don't forget that pizzas do have a bunch of goodness in them. Save the rest of the pizza for future dinners or for lunches. Always make dinner and plan for saving leftovers - cutting down on eating out of a restaurant or company cafeteria saves me $25 CDN a week.
Beer? Drinks? I personally don't drink soda (unless it was made from barley) so I have a can of apple juice (200% daily recommended vitamin C). Oh yeah - take supplementals just in case you do something silly like try skimping on some food group or other. But yeah, don't drink the whole 12 pack in one sitting - share and save for later.
For me, that formula has worked to allow me to lose 5kg this past month. So far I feel great.
But yeah, just like on slashdot, moderation is the key...
The Hacker's Diet by John Walker (Score:5)