Sugar: Not So Sweet

Much advice – often conflicting – abounds about what comprises the healthiest diet.  Eat less fat!  No, eat fewer carbohydrates!  It can be hard to sort out.  In reality, the percentage of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in our diets might vary according to how active we are, whether we are trying to lose or gain weight, and how our individual bodies react to various nutrients.  The main thing that I see in common between valid dietary recommendations is that they advocate getting away from processed foods.  In particular, all of us can benefit from reducing the amount of refined sugar that we eat.

One unexpected change I’ve experienced since my crash is that I don’t have nearly the sweet tooth that I used to.  (Maybe that’s the one that was knocked out – ha.)  In the first few months after the crash, my body seemed to crave particularly healthy foods.  I think it knew what it needed, especially as I continued to train and race while my jawbone healed.  It’s not that I didn’t have a healthy diet before, but some things that previously I might have eaten became pretty unappealing.  For example, one day a coworker brought in a box of store-bought pastries, and it practically turned my stomach just to look at them.  Eventually, I quit having such visceral reactions.  However, because my desire for sweets really hasn’t returned, I’ve just kept riding that wave.

I used to make dessert fairly often for Robert and me, but we’ve developed a new habit.  Just about every evening after dinner, we have a cup of hot tea instead of dessert.  Sometimes our tea is an herbal variety that we drink straight.  Other times it’s a variety that I might doctor up with a little honey and cream, like Earl Grey.  Earl Grey is my favorite!   I told Robert that whenever I kick the bucket, he’ll know that I’m really gone if I don’t respond to an IV of Earl Grey tea.

And you know what?  I feel a lot better not eating so much sugar; I never feel bloated anymore, and my weight doesn’t fluctuate as much.  Not only that, I’ve become more and more convinced that sugar is toxic, at least in the quantities that Americans typically consume.

The cover story of the August 2013 issue of National Geographic featured sugar.  It was a fascinating article that described both sugar’s role in world history and its physical and mental effects on us humans.  We probably all learned in elementary school about the triangular trade of the eighteenth century.  European countries colonized the New World primarily to grow sugar.  Sugar then was shipped back to Europe for finished goods.  The finished goods were shipped to Africa for more slaves, who were sent across the Atlantic Ocean to grow more sugar.  It’s pretty sobering to realize that the slave trade came about largely to satisfy people’s craving for sugar.

Today, we Americans consume more sugar than ever.  More than 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day to be exact.  That’s 77 pounds per year, compared with 4 pounds per year for the average Englishman in 1700.  Much research has been conducted regarding the increased consumption of sugar and ever-increasing rates of diabetes and obesity.  One scientist made quite an interesting observation in the National Geographic article.  It’s not that we lie around on the sofa watching TV that causes us to eat lots of sugary food.  Because we eat lots of sugary food, our energy is zapped, and so we lie around on the sofa watching TV.  Food for thought…

Dining with Presbyterians

My church, Monticello Presbyterian Church, will celebrate its 185^th anniversary next year.  That may seem like an odd anniversary to highlight, but as our pastor reminded us, if we Christians are not all about celebrating, we might as well pack up and go home.  We’ll be celebrating our anniversary in many ways in the coming months, including some special community service activities.  We’re kind of getting a jump start on the festivities, however, through Dining with Presbyterians.

Dining with Presbyterians is an opportunity for groups of our church members to eat dinner together once a month for three months, September through November of this year.  We signed up ahead of time, and the organizers assigned us to groups of 8 to 10 people, which change each month.  The host is in charge of the entrée and beverages.  Other people are assigned bread and salad, a vegetable, or dessert.  The main point of the gatherings, however, is to enjoy getting to know each other better.  Last night was our second of the three dinners, and it was a lot of fun.

Eating with family and friends is (hopefully) a frequent experience for us.  But what if we took it a step further?  Not that it would be easy, but wouldn’t it be something to actually share a meal with a hungry person?  Jesus often ate with society’s outsiders, like tax collectors and prostitutes.  I think he set this example for us because he knows that food gets at our common humanity.  It’s not just that we all have to eat; we’re a lot more likely to get along when we enjoy the savory aromas and delectable tastes of a shared meal.  Maybe that’s why the Bible describes heaven as being like a giant banquet.  Heh heh.  I can’t help but think that some of us will be surprised by who our dining companions turn out to be.

Recipe of the Week: Napa Slaw

This week’s healthy and inexpensive recipe is Napa Slaw.  It’s made with Napa cabbage.  You’re not familiar with Napa cabbage?  It’s always great to try new vegetables!  Napa cabbage has a milder flavor than regular green cabbage.  This recipe also calls for rice vinegar, which also might be something you haven’t tried before.  It’s about the same price as regular vinegar but has a little more complexity, which makes it good in salad dressing, too.  This delicious slaw is good with Asian-inspired meals or really any meal.  One reason I selected Napa Slaw for this week’s recipe is that I’m taking it to a get together tomorrow night.  This dish is always a big hit.

Napa Slaw

¼ cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger

¾ cup canola oil

1 small head Napa cabbage (about ¾ lb.)

1 Granny Smith apple, diced

¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts

¼ cup chopped cilantro

In the jar of a blender, combine lime juice, vinegar, sugar, onion, salt, and ginger.  Puree; then add oil in a slow stream to emulsify into a vinaigrette.  Refrigerate dressing until ready to use.

Cut the cabbage in half and remove the root end.  Starting at the bottom, cut cabbage into ¼-inch slices.  Stop when you reach the leafy end and reserve the remainder of the cabbage for another use.  You should have about 6 cups of sliced cabbage.

Place cabbage in a large bowl.  Add apple, walnuts, and cilantro.  Toss with dressing and serve immediately.

Tenth Ride in A Year of Centuries – A Benefit for the Jasper County Community Food Bank

Yesterday’s century for October was the Ferst Annual Lewis Grizzard & Catfish Bike Ride.  It had special significance for several reasons.  First, I rode on behalf of my October charity in A Year of Centuries, which is the Jasper County Community Food Bank.  At the same time, it allowed me to support my September charity again, the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy, because the ride was a benefit for the Ferst Foundation in Coweta County:

Furthermore, the Lewis Grizzard & Catfish ride has a personal connection for me.  I did it a few times a number of years ago when it was sponsored by the Coweta County Chamber of Commerce.  In fact, it was the very first century I ever did, which happened to be on my 30^th birthday that year.  I’ve saved the T-shirt from that ride, which I wore to yesterday’s event.  The Ferst Foundation organizers were tickled because they had never seen it before:

Lewis Grizzard & Catfish
I have always enjoyed Lewis Grizzard’s writing.  For many years he wrote a humorous column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution until his too-early death from heart disease in 1994.  Lewis had a beloved black Labrador retriever named Catfish, who preceded him in death by only a few months.  When Lewis died, AJC editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich created a wonderfully poignant comic strip.  I’ve had a print of this strip hanging in my office for years:

 

 

I suffer from an incurable affliction known as book lust.  This means that even though I already have dozens of books waiting for me to read them, I can’t resist buying even more.  I’m especially susceptible to used book sales.  A few years ago I picked up some Lewis Grizzard books at a used book sale.  I finally read them last year when I was recovering from my crash.  (My local library had a summer reading program that challenged patrons to read at least 20 books over a 10-week period.  Working toward – and reaching! – this goal helped me get through my long recovery.)  All of Lewis Grizzard’s books have wackily entertaining titles, like the ones I read last year for the library program:  When My Love Returns from the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care?; Won’t You Come Home, Billy Bob Bailey?; and Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night.

 

Wake Up Call, Part I

Sweet husband Robert accompanied me on yesterday’s century.   Even sweeter, he drove us to Moreland, which is Lewis Grizzard’s hometown and the ride staging location.  I especially appreciated Robert driving because we had to leave about 5:30 A.M for the hour-and-a-half drive.  I closed my eyes before we left Jasper County, and the next thing I knew, we were about five minutes from Moreland!

 

Wake Up Call, Part II

We checked in for the ride and went to change into our kits and get our gear together.  All of a sudden, I had a case of déjà vu when I saw this route marker near our car:

 

 

It was from the Pedal for Pets ride, which was my July century.  Until I saw this pavement marking, I didn’t realize that we were at one of the rest stops for that ride.

 

Robert and I were ready to ride a little before the official start time of 8:00 A.M., and so we went ahead and got on the road.  It was just slightly cool when we began – cool enough for some beautiful morning fog:

 

 

Less than 30 minutes later, the fog had already burned off.  The weather on yesterday’s ride was just about ideal.  I was particularly glad that tropical storm Karen degenerated and didn’t rain on us.

 

Robert and I pedaled along at a steady but not crazy pace.  We encountered rolling hills similar to the ones near home.  At about mile 13, we were going up one of the steepest climbs of the day.  All of a sudden, a group of guys briskly passed us.  We recognized their kits from the Beck Cycling racing team, who often go to the same races that Robert and I do.  They invited Robert and me to hop onto their pace line.  I had been in kind of a dreamy state of cycling up to that point, but once I snapped out of it, I agreed with Robert that we should join them.  By that time, they had gotten a little way down the road, and so we had to chase on.  I’m not sure whether that was a good or bad thing.  I’m proud that we did catch up, thanks primarily to Robert’s bridging efforts, but I really should have known better than to let my heart rate get that high for that long during a century.

 

Joe Friel, a fitness expert, has devised a very useful guide to training intensity based on heart rate zones.  The zones correspond to a percentage of your threshold level, i.e., the highest intensity that you can maintain for one hour.  Note that the old method of calculating your maximum heart rate as 220 minus your age is not a good gauge.  Your maximum heart rate, which is genetic, is likely a different number than this calculation, and you really can’t determine your true maximum heart rate without extreme danger.  However, you can determine your threshold level from a test in which you ride as hard as you can for 20 minutes.  Additionally, you can increase your threshold level with training.  Here’s a summary of heart rate zones and how long you can maintain each one:

 

Level                     Name                                    Max. Duration

Level 1                  Recovery            

Level 2                  Endurance                            All day

Level 3                  Tempo                                  1-5 hours

Level 4                  Subthreshold                       45-120 minutes

Level 5a                Superthreshold                   15-60 minutes

Level 5b               Anaerobic Endurance         3-7 minutes

 

Level 6                  Power                                   1 minute

Level 7                  Sprint                                    15 seconds

 

When Robert and I chased onto the Beck pace line and rode with them for about the next 12 miles, I noticed that during much of that time, my heart rate monitor indicated Level 4.5 to 4.8.  I knew that I couldn’t sustain this for very long.  At first, I hoped to hang on until the next rest stop at mile 34, but at about mile 25, I had to give up the ghost.  That subthreshold effort made the rest of my ride more tiring that it would have been otherwise.  At the next rest stop, Robert and I learned that one of the Beck team members that we had been riding with was Jon Atkins.  Jon is a super strong rider that has won the masters category at the Macon Cycling Classic criterium, hosted by Robert’s and my team, Georgia Neurosurgical Institute.  Additionally, when we first saw the Beck group, Robert and I were averaging about 17.5 mph.  When I dropped off, I was averaging about 19.5 mph.  That means that during the time I was riding with them, we averaged about 24 mph.  Yowza!

 

Poetry in Motion

The rest of Robert’s and my ride was fairly uneventful.  Well, we did have one bit of excitement toward the end.  On an organized ride, each turn should have at least two pavement markings.  The first should be at least 25 feet before the intersection to give cyclists time to prepare for the turn.  The second marking should be at the intersection.  A third “comfort arrow” after the turn, confirming that you went in the correct direction, is optimal.   Some of yesterday’s pavement markings didn’t give us much advance notice.  We caught ourselves on a few almost-missed turns, but one pavement marker must have slipped by us.  We got back to the Moreland city limits and were only at mile 85.  We decided that the most prudent way to get our last 15 miles was to start over on the course, ride out 7½ miles, and come back.

 

It’s like déjà vu all over again.

 

It’s kind of poetic that I had to do this extra mileage to get my century.  Back when I did the Lewis Grizzard & Catfish Ride for my first century, I went to the ride prepared to do the 100-mile route.  There had always been a 100-mile option in previous years.  When I got to the ride, however, I found out that they weren’t offering a century that year!  So, I made my own.  I did the 60-something-mile route, followed by the 20-something-mile route, followed by the 12-mile route, giving me a little over 100 miles.  Robert was with me then, too.  He didn’t ride all 100 miles with me that year, but he waited at the staging area to check in with me as I completed each loop, making sure that I was OK.

 

Feed Your Head

On yesterday’s ride the first rest stop was at mile 17, but we didn’t stop.  We didn’t need to yet, and that was also during our ride on the Beck Cycling train.  I definitely needed to fuel at the next rest stop at mile 34, though.  The very friendly rest stop volunteer apologized that there were no more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I didn’t really want one of those anyway, but the rest of the pickings were rather slim, too.  It turns out that the 25-mile and 62-mile riders had already come through and put a serious hurting on the provisions.  It was like the locusts had descended!  Even so, Robert and I had enough to eat and were thankful for it.

 

I’ve found that about three rest stops work well for me on centuries.  Robert’s and my second rest stop was at mile 56.  For the third one, I suggested that we stop at either mile 80 or 89, depending on how we felt.  As we continued, I started getting fatigued, particularly because of my earlier Level 4 foray, and so I started anticipating the rest stop at mile 80.  We got to mile 82, then mile 83, and didn’t see any rest stop.  That should have been my first clue that we had missed a turn on the course, but I just figured we’d catch the rest stop at mile 89.  In the meantime, my earworm for the day, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane, kept playing in my mind.  I wasn’t quite seeing fantastical images of rabbits, hookah-smoking caterpillars, and red queens, but the dormouse saying “Feed your head” seemed quite a propos.

 

When we prematurely found ourselves back in Moreland at mile 85, we stopped by our car, where Robert had an extra Hammer bar.  What a difference that made!  As we rode the last part of our ride, I thought about how vital food is for an endurance ride, contrasting that with people who are hungry every day.  My momentary need for food made me grateful for the Jasper County Community Food Bank, which serves people who need food at the most basic level.

Check This Out

When I visited the Jasper County Community Food Bank a few days ago, I was so glad to see that the foods available there are high quality and wholesome.  Before I went, I was concerned that donations might primarily consist of cheap, high-calorie, yet nutrient-poor foods.  In American culture it’s so easy to rely on convenience foods, which generally are highly processed and loaded with sugar and/or fat.  These often are the least expensive foods, too.  Additionally, poor communities sometimes don’t have much choice if the grocery stores in their neighborhoods don’t carry fresh produce, whole-grain breads, and other nutritious choices.  I’m very grateful for the Ingle’s grocery store in our small Monticello community.  It’s not even the fanciest as far as Ingle’s goes (their stores in the nearby towns of Eatonton and Gray have even wider selections), but I can find just about everything I want there.  In fact, I’ve had quite a number of interesting check-out encounters because of the healthful items in my shopping cart.

I do a week’s worth of grocery shopping at the time.  That means that my cart always has a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in it.  The cashiers usually are teenagers, who often have no idea what some of these items are.  Seriously.  One of them actually asked me what my asparagus was.  Asparagus.  One of the most distinctive vegetables there is.  I guess if it had had one of those horrid stickers on it with the four-digit code, she wouldn’t have had to ask me what vegetable it was.  I understand that the stickers help the store track inventory and usually eliminate produce perplexity for the cashiers, but I can’t stand those things!  Especially on fruit.  Half the time, the sticky part won’t come off of the fruit skin, and so you have to gouge it off.  One of the activities in hell must be removing fruit stickers.

Other gems from the mouths of cashier babes have included, “You must be a health fanatic.”  Why, yes, I would rather eat delicious and nutritious foods that my body can actually use.  Another said, “You must cook from scratch a lot.”  Yep – if you want to eat healthy food, it comes in colors actually found in nature, but it doesn’t come in a box that you simply nuke.

Then there was the time that I bought some fresh ginger.  The cashier thought it was a piece of trash lying in my shopping cart.

One of my most memorable check-out incidents, however, did not involve produce.  I was buying a few Clif Bars for some upcoming bicycle rides.  The teenage girl bagging my groceries obviously didn’t exercise much.  I wouldn’t have even thought about that, but she felt compelled to comment on my purchase, and rudely at that.  As she placed my Clif Bars in the bag, she said, “Those are awesome, but they’re terrible for you.”  I replied, “They’re not terrible for you if you’re going on a long bicycle ride.”  I didn’t follow up with what I was really thinking, which is that they’re not intended to be eaten by people who never get off of the sofa.  Americans are so out of whack regarding fitness and nutrition that they don’t get that sometimes the whole point is to consume calories.

Recipe of the Week: Morning Muesli

Good nutrition doesn't have to break the bank.  Throughout October I will post a recipe each week that is healthful, inexpensive, and delicious.  Since breakfast is the first meal of the day, we’ll start with one of my favorite breakfast recipes, Morning Muesli.  You make it the night before, which is convenient when you’re trying to get out the door quickly in the morning.  The recipe calls for raw oats; yes, you read that right.  The uncooked oatmeal softens in the liquid mixture overnight, resulting in the same texture as cooked oats.  Of course, if you’re my friend Jeff (a.k.a. Stony), you don’t mind eating actual raw oatmeal.  I’ve seen him do this, and I can never suppress the urge to neigh at him.

Morning Muesli

2 cups uncooked oatmeal
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh fruit, chopped (apples, bananas, strawberries, peaches, etc.)
2 tablespoons chopped nuts

Combine oatmeal, apple juice, yogurt, vanilla, and fruit; mix well.  Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.  Serve cold, sprinkled with nuts.  Refrigerate in airtight container up to 4 days.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Visit to Jasper County Community Food Bank

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been looking for some hands-on ways to be involved with my charities throughout A Year of Centuries.  What better way to do this than to volunteer for a day at the Jasper County Community Food Bank (JCCFB)?  JCCFB is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.  Today seemed the ideal day to volunteer because it’s the first day of October, the month when I’m highlighting JCCFB.  It’s also my birthday – a good excuse to take a day of vacation from work.  I’m so glad I visited JCCFB.  It was very gratifying to see people in need in Jasper County being served with love and respect.

Each month JCCFB feeds over 250 families and individuals.  JCCFB has two programs for distributing food: the warehouse and mobile distribution.  The warehouse is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Clients can come up to twice per month to the warehouse.  It has primarily non-perishable canned and boxed goods, but if fresh produce is available, it is distributed, too.  Clients have punch cards so that JCCFB can keep track of visits the warehouse:

In addition to two monthly visits to the warehouse, clients also can sign up for once-per-month mobile distribution.  Mobile distribution is on the 4th Thursday and Friday of the month (families on Thursday and seniors on Friday).  Mobile distribution means that trucks from the Middle Georgia Food Bank in Macon come to Monticello; clients still have to pick food up at JCCFB.  The mobile food bank distributes about 6 ½ tons of food each month.  Mobile distribution items come prepackaged: boxes for families and bags for seniors.  Additionally, the Middle Georgia Food Bank sends fresh produce and usually fresh meat.  Last Thursday, September 26, was a mobile distribution day.  A few packages were still available today, which will be distributed as emergency needs.

Mobile distribution boxes for families:

Mobile distribution bags for seniors:

Additionally, some fresh produce was still available from last Thursday’s mobile distribution, which was added to warehouse pickups today:

The warehouse punch cards are valid for a full year, but clients have to sign up by the 15^th of each month, every month, for mobile distribution.  This is so that JCCFB will know how many prepackaged units to order from the Middle Georgia Food Bank.  This is the mobile distribution form that clients have to fill out each month:

This is an order form that JCCFB sent to the Middle Georgia Food Bank last month:

So, what does the warehouse look like?  It is well organized:

USDA shelves

SNAP shelves

Miscellaneous food shelves

Paper product shelves

Refrigerator room with fresh produce (was full last Thursday)

Freezer room (was full last Thursday)

Guidelines for how many USDA and SNAP items to distribute

Of course, all of this organization doesn’t just happen.  It’s possible thanks to the dedication of excellent volunteers.  This is Mary.  I can’t remember her title, but she knows EVERYTHING that goes on at JCCFB:

Mary was very kind and made sure that I had a chance to see all aspects of JCCFB.  One of Mary’s biggest responsibilities is interviewing clients, determining their eligibility for services from JCCFB.  This includes new clients as well as annual renewals for existing clients.  Mary asked me to sit in on a few interviews today.  She also let me laminate some warehouse punch cards.  The laminating machine was fascinating!

I also did some data entry for mobile distribution from last Thursday.

Aretha is the receptionist.  She greets clients, has them fill out paperwork, and schedules appointments with Mary.  Aretha and I have the same birthday today!

Other volunteers showed me various other aspects of JCCFB, like what goes in a typical warehouse distribution bag.  Everyone was so warm and friendly!  I was especially tickled when someone gave each of us volunteers a rhinestone decorated pirate eye patch.  Arrr!  If only we didn’t have to wait nearly a whole year (September 19th) until the next International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It truly was a wonderful day.  I wish we didn’t have such need in Jasper County, but how blessed we are to have the resources – people and food – of JCCFB.  I strongly encourage you to visit JCCFB or the food bank closest to your home.