Breakfast!

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This is an interesting photo essay, although a lot of it looks more healthy than I thought it would!

Quick email to a friend about eating on the road...

Here's a quick email to a friend who works in my business, making his first trip on plan. Here is my lame advice.

You're going to do great! It is, in some ways, easier to be on the road because there isn't as much snacking opportunity!

Breakfast is key for me -- one thing that works well for me is eating breakfast in the room rather than at the gig. The crap they serve in the morning is usually high-calorie stuff, the best option often being a bagel (!!!!). I travel with oatmeal that I can make with inroom coffee. Sometimes in Vegas they won't give you a coffee maker (bastards), so it can be a bit more of a challenge. I know people who travel with small electric kettles so they can always boil water.

One thing that I've always been able to do is get a fridge, and then you're freakin' golden. Since I don't think anyone will have a car, I think I'm going to get a cab to take me to the supermarket and either wait or call another cab to get back to the gig. Then you can get some skim milk, your favorite cereal, some fruit, etc., as well as some fat free yogurt. There are some good cereals, like some of the Kashi or even like special K, which you can have with skim milk for 3 points, then a fat free yogurt for 2 and you're out the door for 5 points.

It's also good to bring some snack food to the gig -- I eat these Kashi granola bar things (you can do a search on Amazon "Kashi GOLEAN Bar Crunchy!, Chocolate Caramel, 1.59-Ounce Bars (Pack of 12)") they fill me up and are 2 points. But some people hate them. If you eat apples or whatever at home, buy some of those just so you don't get so hungry between meals.

Catering I find is almost always OK -- the biggest challenge I have is when they do the stupid "American" night with hot dogs and hamburgers. I guess a hot dog may be a better choice, but neither are worth it to me. In those cases only, I often send out a stagehand to get something better. Usually they're happy to go.

Other catering advice is just keep your wits about you as John Ingram would say. Flat meat is good - wheat bread, turkey, mustard, rock on! Watch the dressing on the salads -- when I was trying to lose weight, I would never do any dressing in catering except for oil and vinegar (I'd count that as 1 point). Chicken breast always good. I try to limit my portions for everything and I don't go back for seconds -- or if I do, I wait 20 minutes to make sure I'm not just eating for the sake of not writing light cues.

Finally, and I know this is a beaten down subject, write everything down (or "journal it" as the cultists say) -- no matter what happens, and nothing bad will happen, keep accountable is the best way to keep with it. I would also write down your activity points for creative directing -- just put it down as "walking" or whatever . Then, EAT ALL YOUR POINTS. Very important to keep eating -- eat eat eat. And then drink. Or just drink.

Take care my friend, I'll see you soon.

What the world eats -- from Time Magazine

A great photo essay at Time Magazine... really interesting stuff. Kudos to Rejected Reality for blogging it.

WeightWatchers Web Site -- Problems worse than usual?

There seems to be growing discontent with the quality of the product our friends at Weight Watchers are providing on the members-only portion of their web site.

Please understand that I am a big fan -- by and large, I think their product is just great, and has gotten me to a place I never imagined I can be. But of late, we've all had some problems. Most of them revolve around the plan manager, which has been in beta for over a year. However, there have also been a lot of issues with the Palm portion of the service, which is called weight watchers on the go.

Threads commenting on these problems have been deleted by management; scarry.
I guess my biggest problem is that while the problems are, well, a problem, the way Weight Watchers is handling it is even worse. Their customer service offers tech advice which is scripted to teh point of being ridiculous ("clear your browser's cache."). If they've got problems, they should announce them, loud and clear, so we can know how to deal with them.

So much thought and care goes into the WeightWatchers program -- why can't the same care go into the web site and its support?

The food that wakes me up

Is there a meal better than Breakfast? A fresh start, a quick shower, er, how about some waffles? Man, I love these freakin' Kashi Waffles. 3 points for 2. Have them with some low-cal syrup, you're out the door at 5 points.

Truth be told, I throw in a hard boiled egg for a little protein. By "thrown in" I mean I eat the egg after the waffle.

Good good stuff.

Can I join the Kashi cult now?

Week One at Goal

Well, I made it to my goal weight, which is great and I'm very proud. However, it is a bit of an adjustment. The web site told me I should eat 9 more points a day, which is a pant load! But then, I did some research on the weight watcher's web site, and it seems that when you attend meetings they recommend adding only 4 points after reaching goal, so I did that. Next weigh in is Monday, so we'll see what happens.

I have to say the cult has been good to me -- I'm happy with where I am, and thankful for the support I received online.

Nutritional Information -- Always and Forever

It has to be a pet peeve of many people on a diet: the lack of nutritional information. It's true, when you buy something in a grocery store it's always on the label, and it's possible to get a lot of information on line. What makes me nuts is when you're some place where you have no options and there is no information.

For example, at the Las Vegas Airport terminal D, home of Continental, Northwest, JetBlue, Delta, etc. has what I, and others, would say is a terrible food selection. There is a Pizza Hut, and a Burger King, both bad options. There may be better options, but of course no one lists the Nutrition Facts of what they are serving.

I abstained from eating anything, because after a cancellation I was booked on Continental, which often has pretty good food (or at least relatively low cal, such a turkey sandwich). However, as this was a dinner flight, they wound up serving a hamburger, which was indeed pre-packaged, but didn't have any labeling on it at all. Even worse, there was a pack of M&Ms in the meal which were "labeled" "Not Labeled for Individual Sale". Now this is garbage -- I mean, there was enough room to print the information on the package, they obviously are omitting it because the food is total crap and they don't want people to know.

I guess I'm going to go on a quest to find ways to push companies to label their food. I wonder if there is a place to sign a petition or something? It could make me nuts!