Thursday, March 17, 2016
Loving and Leaving the Scale- managing weight by feel
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I am an inveterate weigher
I have a wifi enabled scale, and have been using it - near religiously - since i got it several years ago. Data, do i have data. And guilt.
Every morning. And fear to start the day.
First thing in the morning it’s been how i either feel good about myself (lost weight; didn’t gain weight) or use it as a Judgement of Failure (gained weight), and sets me on a path for how to change my food practices that day.
And that, my friends, is crazy. I’m a frickin’ certified strength and conditioning coach, nutrition coach, performance researcher. I publish research on just this stuff (eg no such thing as gaining a pound). I've participated in being coached around these principles. I KNOW that daily weigh ins cannot be used in this way. And yet, and yet.
Finally, last week when i was on the road and away from the scale for a week - and i confess, i was in france eating the best sourdough bread in the world after six months of zero bread. It was AMAZING. and i sorta finally had a break - a break through; a break down.
I don’t know. But i thought: i’m eating all these processed carbs; my workouts this week are less intense; i must be putting on weight. I should be freaking out. I will freak out as soon as i go home and step on the scale. I really will. and then i’ll feel horrible. Like what i’m doing right now will fill me with shame. Bad bad person.
And so i thought: what if i don’t step on the scale?
Which thought lead to:
We are WAY more sensitive systems than any trackers we can build and use, so why not use these measures to help us recover our senses?
So i thought: how do i take my own medicine here? how do i apply learning about listening to my body signals better by using the scale to support that sensitizing rather than as a rod to beat myself up with first thing in the morning?
Let’s do an experiment, me thinks. An experiment has an hypothesis, methods, presents data from these methods, then carries out analysis of the data, to see if the hypothesis has been disproven or proven.
Quick Overview of Approach. For a couple weeks or so, maybe longer, i’m thinking, how about trying to go by feel, and see what happens in terms of outcomes for which i care - getting stronger, leaner faster.
By feel, i mean, putting together feeling hungry vs too full; having a good sleep, a good workout and how this translates to adapting practices on the one hand and results like body fat% on the other at the end of the period. Can going by feel - really focussing on feel - let me learn how to do a better job of tuning my performance to feel better.
The hypothesis i’d like to test is that: by focussing on how i feel, and using measures in the background to assess how “feel” lines up with “measures”
The Un-Scale: since the real push here is to get off the scale and its daily guilt trip, i’ve done this: i’ve put a hunk of gorilla tape over the number part of the scale window. I can see that a measurement is being taken, but i don’t see the measure. THis way, post experiment, i can look back on the “feeling” log and map what happens against that.
Other physical body measures: my main reality check will be a saturday tape measure up and skinfold caliper check in. By using 7 point caliper method against girth i’ll be able to see what my body seems to be doing. If lean mass goes up, and fat doesn’t move, weight will go up, girth will go up a bit - likely. If lean mass goes up as strength improves and fat burns up a bit, girth should go down a bit.
Girth measurements use weight so i won’t be doing the calculations at this point to give me a specific Body Fat Percentage measure, but i’ll have the data to put back in at the end of the study for that calculation. This is really good: data is there, but i won’t have to focus on it while going by feel.
So, i’m logging my workouts using these specific protocols to measure progress. What is fascinating to me already is that in the past week that was my fifth week i think into these new protocols, it became a back off week. This week there is a BIG boost in performance. Very cool.
Food: all i’m doing with food tracking is taking pictures using my fave ap for this, diet snap: take a photo, that’s it. There’s no calorie counting - it’s here’s a record of what and how much you’re eating. Great.
HRV for Recovery: For the past few months i’ve been
using the best phone based recovery measurementapp, HRV4Training by medium author Marco Altini(Great story of PhD’er and App builder.)
HRV stands for heart rate variability. It is a very reliable measure by which to assess fatigue - or really - how well have you recovered from the stress of the day before. Let’s say this again: how well you’ve recovered. That is an incredibly valuable measure against which to assess feel: how do you feel; does it align with this score. I’m making progress in terms of predicting what my waking score is feeling roughly to be. While the actual scores in my head may be a bit out, i’m rarely surprised about the direction, up or down from the day before.
How i use HRV: I already have killed my alarm clock. That is i sleep as much as i need and get up when i’m ready, so measuring sleep is not really something that is a big value add for me. All i need to know is how well recovered i am so i can rebalance as needed for the day ahead: above baseline, go go go; below base line - pending how much - either back off a bit (lighter workout for instance) or just rest (go for a walk).
This data can also be exported to a spreadsheet for review at the different periods for review in the study.
Calendar: A biggie in any experiment is also to understand what the heck was going on when. For instance, if i was on the road, does that explain shifts that may show up in weight data on a given day, but no bump in trend of weight overall? How does daily load affect recovery and progress that week, etc?
Wy do i want to know this? to connect back to feeling feel. And from this, to connect with some knowledge, skills and practice to TUNE IN better performance, reliably.
HowDoYouFeel tracking. Each day i’ll be tracking on my own how i feel on a lickert scale - better or worse than the day before in terms of body feel, energy, and anything else i can think of as relevant.
Active Engagement with Feel Checking Another part of this process is what in learning is called Active Learning: we engage with a process deliberately - reading a text, practicing a movement, whatever, with a specific intent. In this case, my specific intent is to ask at various points during the day is HowDoIFeel - in terms of energy, body, attention etc. Make a note that i’ll be able to connect back to any of the data captured.
THe goal of that connection is not just to see if i was right or wrong, but to see if i am building skills to tune in feeling better - better.
Checking In or Analysis: at different check points - the first one i’m thinking will be a month - i’ll be able to see what’s happening with the hypotheses.
I’ll be able to put all the data together - including the scale - to get the trends over time - and to coorelate these against particular food/workout/recovery practices.
What i am hoping of course is that i’ll have data to support the hypotheses listed above. What i may find is that the first check in may show if i’m not on target to confirm the hypotheses i may need to tune in awareness of a particular feeling better - and i may need some more data to help that. But my guess is that, at the very least, i’ll see i get better at tuning in performance - without a scale - over time.
That is - i’ll be able to use measures for a period to learn how to take care of myself - have confidence in that - without the measures.
A challenge here: i *know* about what the right things to feel and to do are. That’s the whole trainer thing - so i have the professional knowledge - and have also gone through coaching around the skills and practices to get to my happy body place. Previously, I’ve used the scale as a stick to re-inforce this knowledge even when i haven’t practiced the Things i Know Work - or worse, have demanded compliance when too stressed to work at that level. I’m hoping that this path may let me just be in my bod and find out what a real, happy place might be - to start to feel ok in the ebb and flow of seasons of our bodies.
Something potentially scary - these past few days alone of stepping on an un-scale without seeing the data - has been such a huge relief i really believe i must be on the right track: like the hitting oneself on the head - it feels so good when it stops.
Here’s to us all learning about how to tune in feeling great.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
How I’m leaving the Scale and Daily Weigh-In’s behind.
I have a wifi enabled scale, and have been using it - near religiously - since i got it several years ago. Data, do i have data. And guilt.
Every morning. And fear to start the day.
First thing in the morning it’s been how i either feel good about myself (lost weight; didn’t gain weight) or use it as a Judgement of Failure (gained weight), and sets me on a path for how to change my food practices that day.
And that, my friends, is crazy. I’m a frickin’ certified strength and conditioning coach, nutrition coach, performance researcher. I publish research on just this stuff (eg no such thing as gaining a pound). I've participated in being coached around these principles. I KNOW that daily weigh ins cannot be used in this way. And yet, and yet.
Finally, last week when i was on the road and away from the scale for a week - and i confess, i was in france eating the best sourdough bread in the world after six months of zero bread. It was AMAZING. and i sorta finally had a break - a break through; a break down.
 |
| French pain au levain - or sourdough bread. mmm. opiods |
And so i thought: what if i don’t step on the scale?
Which thought lead to:
Why am i stepping on this scale?
I write and talk alot about how we should use any of these measurement tools to help us listen to our own body signals better.We are WAY more sensitive systems than any trackers we can build and use, so why not use these measures to help us recover our senses?
So i thought: how do i take my own medicine here? how do i apply learning about listening to my body signals better by using the scale to support that sensitizing rather than as a rod to beat myself up with first thing in the morning?
Let’s do an experiment, me thinks. An experiment has an hypothesis, methods, presents data from these methods, then carries out analysis of the data, to see if the hypothesis has been disproven or proven.
Quick Overview of Approach. For a couple weeks or so, maybe longer, i’m thinking, how about trying to go by feel, and see what happens in terms of outcomes for which i care - getting stronger, leaner faster.
By feel, i mean, putting together feeling hungry vs too full; having a good sleep, a good workout and how this translates to adapting practices on the one hand and results like body fat% on the other at the end of the period. Can going by feel - really focussing on feel - let me learn how to do a better job of tuning my performance to feel better.
The hypothesis i’d like to test is that: by focussing on how i feel, and using measures in the background to assess how “feel” lines up with “measures”
- i’ll actually be able to get fat down
- i’ll feel better
- i may find an optimal way to conenct feeling with “reality” and that feeling to tuning, that will all be both more “tracker free” and better than “measure first” approach - in other words i’ll have evidence that i’ve been able to dial in “how i need to feel” against food/rest/movement etc to perform better - including being leaner, stronger, faster.
The Method for This Experience
- every experiment needs a plan. Here’s how i’m measuring what i’m doing.The Un-Scale: since the real push here is to get off the scale and its daily guilt trip, i’ve done this: i’ve put a hunk of gorilla tape over the number part of the scale window. I can see that a measurement is being taken, but i don’t see the measure. THis way, post experiment, i can look back on the “feeling” log and map what happens against that.
Other physical body measures: my main reality check will be a saturday tape measure up and skinfold caliper check in. By using 7 point caliper method against girth i’ll be able to see what my body seems to be doing. If lean mass goes up, and fat doesn’t move, weight will go up, girth will go up a bit - likely. If lean mass goes up as strength improves and fat burns up a bit, girth should go down a bit.
Girth measurements use weight so i won’t be doing the calculations at this point to give me a specific Body Fat Percentage measure, but i’ll have the data to put back in at the end of the study for that calculation. This is really good: data is there, but i won’t have to focus on it while going by feel.
Other Input Measures: Workout, Food, HRV, Time
Workouts: what i’m also tracking: my daily practice. I’m currently in another experiment of doing nothing but bodyweight progressions right now - building a base for things like hand stands, levers and the such like. Here’s a shout out to the german lads of CalisthenicsMovement for fantastic beginner and intermediate programs -and awesomely useful vids on youtube.So, i’m logging my workouts using these specific protocols to measure progress. What is fascinating to me already is that in the past week that was my fifth week i think into these new protocols, it became a back off week. This week there is a BIG boost in performance. Very cool.
Food: all i’m doing with food tracking is taking pictures using my fave ap for this, diet snap: take a photo, that’s it. There’s no calorie counting - it’s here’s a record of what and how much you’re eating. Great.
HRV for Recovery: For the past few months i’ve been
using the best phone based recovery measurementapp, HRV4Training by medium author Marco Altini(Great story of PhD’er and App builder.)HRV stands for heart rate variability. It is a very reliable measure by which to assess fatigue - or really - how well have you recovered from the stress of the day before. Let’s say this again: how well you’ve recovered. That is an incredibly valuable measure against which to assess feel: how do you feel; does it align with this score. I’m making progress in terms of predicting what my waking score is feeling roughly to be. While the actual scores in my head may be a bit out, i’m rarely surprised about the direction, up or down from the day before.
How i use HRV: I already have killed my alarm clock. That is i sleep as much as i need and get up when i’m ready, so measuring sleep is not really something that is a big value add for me. All i need to know is how well recovered i am so i can rebalance as needed for the day ahead: above baseline, go go go; below base line - pending how much - either back off a bit (lighter workout for instance) or just rest (go for a walk).
This data can also be exported to a spreadsheet for review at the different periods for review in the study.
Calendar: A biggie in any experiment is also to understand what the heck was going on when. For instance, if i was on the road, does that explain shifts that may show up in weight data on a given day, but no bump in trend of weight overall? How does daily load affect recovery and progress that week, etc?
Wy do i want to know this? to connect back to feeling feel. And from this, to connect with some knowledge, skills and practice to TUNE IN better performance, reliably.
HowDoYouFeel tracking. Each day i’ll be tracking on my own how i feel on a lickert scale - better or worse than the day before in terms of body feel, energy, and anything else i can think of as relevant.
Active Engagement with Feel Checking Another part of this process is what in learning is called Active Learning: we engage with a process deliberately - reading a text, practicing a movement, whatever, with a specific intent. In this case, my specific intent is to ask at various points during the day is HowDoIFeel - in terms of energy, body, attention etc. Make a note that i’ll be able to connect back to any of the data captured.
THe goal of that connection is not just to see if i was right or wrong, but to see if i am building skills to tune in feeling better - better.
Checking In or Analysis: at different check points - the first one i’m thinking will be a month - i’ll be able to see what’s happening with the hypotheses.
I’ll be able to put all the data together - including the scale - to get the trends over time - and to coorelate these against particular food/workout/recovery practices.
Hopes: impact from outcomes
Best case scenario, after a month, if nothing else, i’ll have broken the Morning Madness of beating myself up about a number that is meaningless when trends are where it’s at.What i am hoping of course is that i’ll have data to support the hypotheses listed above. What i may find is that the first check in may show if i’m not on target to confirm the hypotheses i may need to tune in awareness of a particular feeling better - and i may need some more data to help that. But my guess is that, at the very least, i’ll see i get better at tuning in performance - without a scale - over time.
That is - i’ll be able to use measures for a period to learn how to take care of myself - have confidence in that - without the measures.
A challenge here: i *know* about what the right things to feel and to do are. That’s the whole trainer thing - so i have the professional knowledge - and have also gone through coaching around the skills and practices to get to my happy body place. Previously, I’ve used the scale as a stick to re-inforce this knowledge even when i haven’t practiced the Things i Know Work - or worse, have demanded compliance when too stressed to work at that level. I’m hoping that this path may let me just be in my bod and find out what a real, happy place might be - to start to feel ok in the ebb and flow of seasons of our bodies.
Something potentially scary - these past few days alone of stepping on an un-scale without seeing the data - has been such a huge relief i really believe i must be on the right track: like the hitting oneself on the head - it feels so good when it stops.
Here’s to us all learning about how to tune in feeling great.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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Saturday, September 19, 2015
Tools i Use, Episode 1: Notebooks App is Your Infinite Workout Log
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Notebooks APP for logging workouts. Are you looking for an awesome app to help you log your workouts? Maybe thinking you should be able to take use your phone or tablet at the gym - since you have at least a phone with you anyway?
Great idea.
And the humbly named "Notebooks App" makes it dead easy to log your workouts your way, including adding photos (want to track your gun show progress after all) and back up your data to whatever sync service you wish. What could be easier/better. The infinite logbook has arrived.
This is the first post in a series on “tools i use” for different aspects of personal performance. This first post is about the tool i use for logging my workouts. It’s called Notebooks (notebooksapp.com) and you can download it from the iTunes store or get the mac app OR - yes the PC version TOO (isn't that cool?) -from the developer site
There are several key attractors for me and the way i like to record workouts.
see how many of those slots get filled or reflect on what was happening in a month where there are fewer or more.
The syncing still strikes me as a kind of magic.
Notebooks app is the first universal and cross platform app i’ve encountered that has the rich variety of features, in an easy to access fashion, that makes workout logging both highly (re)usable and just a treat to keep.
If you found this review helpful, and you'd like to support this blog, you can use the following links: for US itunes store and
for uk store
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Notebooks APP for logging workouts. Are you looking for an awesome app to help you log your workouts? Maybe thinking you should be able to take use your phone or tablet at the gym - since you have at least a phone with you anyway?Great idea.
And the humbly named "Notebooks App" makes it dead easy to log your workouts your way, including adding photos (want to track your gun show progress after all) and back up your data to whatever sync service you wish. What could be easier/better. The infinite logbook has arrived.
This is the first post in a series on “tools i use” for different aspects of personal performance. This first post is about the tool i use for logging my workouts. It’s called Notebooks (notebooksapp.com) and you can download it from the iTunes store or get the mac app OR - yes the PC version TOO (isn't that cool?) -from the developer site
There are several key attractors for me and the way i like to record workouts.
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| ipad with external keyboard running Notebooks- fantastic for logging at home or in the gym - really. Adding photos - like this screen shot from iThlete Precision Pulse HRM is easy with yes the "add photo" button |
- Cross iOS.The app is available on iOS and Mac so for me, that’s cross device accessibility
- Network Storage. The device supports all sorts of remote storage and syncing like dropbox and iCloud - none of which i use. I use webdav: my own home-rolled data service - and the cool thing is that Notebooks supports this independent syncing solution. Though outside the scope of this post, let me just say if you have an old mac hanging around, it’s pretty straight ahead to set up a “webdav server” and set up your own networked/cloud/whatever storage. The main takeaway here is that Notebooks syncs to your server of choice, meaning that no matter what device you use to log your workout, your complete log is always with you.
There are a few more attributes for which i dig Notebooks for logging. - Notebooks and sub-notebooks How i set up my workouts is a big enclosing Year notebook called “workouts YEAR” and then sub notebooks per month. They stay ordered by giving them their number, e.g. “02-February WO"
- Each Workout is its own Page For every workout i add a new “formatted” page.
- TIMESTAMPS and Calendar Adds At the start of each workout i hit time stamp - to get the date and time in their. WIth the preference settings, these dates become links that when clicked on, put an Event into your calendar - fantastic - easy way to add workouts to “workout” calendar to see at a glance how consistent (or overdoing it) i’ve been.
- ADD PHOTOS At the end of each workout if i’m working with something like PP Heart Rate Monitor from iTHlete (another tool i use - and have used for years to get HRV r-r data), i can take a snap shot on the phone of the Chart from that workout, and add that to the Log page: how many times did my lifts go into the red? What is the estimated calorie load? it’s nice to have that visual. I can do likewise for scale data to see how it’s trending and interogate any possible links in fluctuations between that and say hours slept or meals (i like meal snap for MEAL not calorie tracking - another tool i use).
Photos are also great when traveling as a hotel gym may mean different than regular tools - a photo means i can quickly log what the set up was. Can take the photo with the iPad or iPhone directly into Notebooks App as well. Nice
taking pics at a hotel gym to remember what the set up was.
YOu'll note some other tools i use - on the road - travel with bands
These pics are then added to Notebooks in the Workbook log page. - SYNC i’ve mentioned this, but bares repeating: you can easily sync your data to a network service, and next time you’re at a different device, hit sync with that service and voila: your data is there.
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| iPhone iOS view of monthly workout books inside Annual workout book |
Notebooks makes logging workouts and reviewing workouts kinda fun.
It’s fun to see the pages in a book build up. There’s a max of 31 pages in a month book. IT’s fun tosee how many of those slots get filled or reflect on what was happening in a month where there are fewer or more.
The syncing still strikes me as a kind of magic.
Additions i’d like to see in Notebooks
There’s only a few things i’d love to see in notebooks for logging workouts to make the logs even more effective.- It’s own calendar view to show entry dates for a given notebook. This calendaring was a terrific feature of a now-unsupported app on iOS ipad called Max Journal.
I have a few years of logs in that one. Being able to glance a simple calendar image to see where there were entries was a great way to see consistency. I can imagine notebooks being able to set up calendars for various Notebooks - i have Clients notebooks and Workout notebooks for instance - being able to see some kind of date of entrey/calendar scrolling option perhaps like Max Journal would be grand.
How Max Journal incorporated calendar data for views - A single click timestamp option Right now timestamping is a two-step process. One of the things with myJournal is that you could hit “timestamp” and it just plopped one in - which was great for checking how long a set took today vs. last week. Or even how long the last set took vs the first. In notebooks, you have a bunch of types of timestamps you can choose, so it’s hit time stamp, then pick the one you’d like - a way to set a default that single clicks in fast would be awesome.
- Weather THis may be asking for one too many things but some logging / journaling apps are able to add location and weather. That would be just a nice option to add to an entry like timestamps. A macro or something to pop this in to be able to see oh ya it was cloudy all that week but my times on the bike went up. Wow, it seems 9C is a great place for me to work on X.
- Smart Notebooks it would be great to be able to create a kind of “smart notebook” that could pull together all my “upper body heavy” workouts - maybe that’s a tag - for the past month/six months, whenever just to see what’s happening or not, to be able to page through such a notebook quickly would be awesome. Fantastic if things like “saturday” became a smart notebook, or whatever - to gather practice trends. Afterall i might believe i’m killing it on saturdays: may turn out to be only once every month is saturday as intense as i think it is...
Notebooks app is the first universal and cross platform app i’ve encountered that has the rich variety of features, in an easy to access fashion, that makes workout logging both highly (re)usable and just a treat to keep.
Conclusion: Notebooks App to infinity - and beyond for Rich, Useful Workout Logging
Highly recommend exploring Notebooks App for your workout log - bet you’ll be using it for more than just your workouts, too. The great thing is: you can!If you found this review helpful, and you'd like to support this blog, you can use the following links: for US itunes store and
for uk store
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Going Vegan - an Exploration of Eat Less; Mostly Plants - to avoid death
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About five years ago i started eating meat again quite happily based on what i saw in blood work - my veg eating was not optimised for performance, so thought screw this, i’m checking out meat again. and that’s been fine. Perhaps not the best way to ditch a dietary practice, but i was hanging with a Paleo / Perfect Health Diet crowd so i had support. I also dropped 4 pounds of fat, so bacon is my friend.
Ryan Andrews (b2d interview) in his Drop the Fat Act and Live Lean (b2d review) points to Victoria Moran as inspiration. She has a lovely book, Main Street Vegan (US Amazon Link || UK amazon Link ), on exploring veganism as a moment to moment choice (my paraphrase - all inaccuracies mine) My approach is very much informed by Victoria Moran's one day/one meal at a time approach to doing the vegan thing. so not a vegan, but committed to exploring "mostly plants" as Michael Pollan's eat less, mostly plants, phrase goes.
As Victoria Moran suggests, I take it a day, even a meal at a time, and just ask before i eat, can this be a plant based meal? Implicit in this question is "a healthy, nutrient dense, satisfying" plant based meal.
Concerned about Death? want to avoid it in a robust way of youth/health preserving? Oh ya. So how about "mostly plants" for eating and less death? Does that help? Magic 8 ball and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says, looks promising.
Hence, over the past 5-6 weeks, i've been exploring going vegan. That is eating less; mostly plants. It's not about weight loss - though i have been curious about that effect. It's been about budget - is it cheaper - and most especially - sustainability - and not really of the planet - but that's there - i mean about my health. And longevity.
Death - and really the ill effects of aging - are things i'd like to avoid right now. IF you're over 24, that's where you're heading. We peak around 24-27, eh? So how optimise telomere length for this post peak period - which is usually longer than the pre-peak? Well, deliberate exercise, eating slightly less (the occasional fast) and a more plant-based diet seem to be worth exploring, based on research.
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| inadvertently, increasingly raw: home grown kamut wheat grass - so easy with spinach, banana, brown rice protein powder fresh ground cinnamon |
Death - and really the ill effects of aging - are things i'd like to avoid right now. IF you're over 24, that's where you're heading. We peak around 24-27, eh? So how optimise telomere length for this post peak period - which is usually longer than the pre-peak? Well, deliberate exercise, eating slightly less (the occasional fast) and a more plant-based diet seem to be worth exploring, based on research.
A bit of context: long time on and off vegetarian but not vegan. getting real.
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| on the road, travel with nuts and seeds; soak overnight have during morning with coffee. yum |
But to get back to thinking about longevity (and sustainability from a good for person; good for planet synergy as a nice co-incidence)
So about five weeks ago, right before going on a road trip - super timing, right? i started a vegan experiment. And i’m still on it. The decision was to explore what going the full yard - going vegan - was like.
Ryan Andrews (b2d interview) in his Drop the Fat Act and Live Lean (b2d review) points to Victoria Moran as inspiration. She has a lovely book, Main Street Vegan (US Amazon Link || UK amazon Link ), on exploring veganism as a moment to moment choice (my paraphrase - all inaccuracies mine) My approach is very much informed by Victoria Moran's one day/one meal at a time approach to doing the vegan thing. so not a vegan, but committed to exploring "mostly plants" as Michael Pollan's eat less, mostly plants, phrase goes.
Mostly Plants: Here’s what i’ve found so far:
- IT's EASY i find it so much easier to do clear vegan than dealing with dairy / eggs. it’s also cheaper and one might argue healthier.
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| Lentils, soaked over night, cooked in pressure cooker, with fresh sautéed onions tomatoes and mm mm spices. Cheap, super nutritious - serve with greens - lasts a week. |
- VEGETARIAN COP OUT? intellectually - knowing how meat is processed whether free range or organic or grass fed is for dairy - i’ve been to the farms so labelled. i don’t see how animal (ab)use with chickens and cows for egg/dairy is much different than eating the slaughtered or asphyxiated end product. If you can use a cow for milk, you know what happens to the beast at the end of its life cycle? You know what happens to male chicks? so WTF. I feel like an idiot for doing that so long.
Dark chocolate: vegan - beyond vegetarian
- no dairy (and often no sugar or just a touch) - Feels like yoda: either eat or don't eat animal products; their is no try.
In other words, and this is just me - for me - i’ve kinda given up on vegetarianism - intellectually - as a cop out. The arguments about animals at that point just get too nice. And there’s no energy/sustainability argument that can save it either. it just doesn’t work. Either you’re in or you’re out - i say to myself - if you're going to claim to be something. And right now, i claim to be an opportunistic vegan - i opt for that right now as a default.
- ASK! Restaurants Will Go Theere - for your Green Backs. When i’m out, i also find it empowering to ask a restaurant if they can just put together something green and beany/lentilly - lots of dark stuff - i’m amazed how willing to accommodate these places are. Sometimes completely surprised. Like testing for wifi where you KNOW they won't have it and oh wow there it is. Yesterday this gastropub bent over backwards to figure out a way to do something that met the vegan way - made sure i knew something i'd suggested "red pesto" had dairy "well let's try something else..." This is cool as a way to help folks i work with say "see, you can ask; it's ok if it's not on the menu"
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| Restaurant (@theGoatUK) truly iterated to pull every usable item from its full menu - v. non-vegan - to create a vegan lunch. No idea what the orange stuff was, but kinda tasty. |
- It's a Choice When push comes to shove - it did out a a business dinner the other night and rather than to -and fro’ing with the waiter about me and my dietary needs, i was fine to eat a piece of fish - opportunistic vegan - creating opportunities as frequently as i know how so far.
- BUDGET Oh ya, and my food budget? that's part of the experiment i'll be looking at again in another week, but it's looking like a SIGNIFICANT difference in my grocery spend. Esp. when you're the must be free range, grass fed, not grain finished, home schooled type of meat eater.
 |
| stuff sprouts - just add water - soak, drain and literally rinse, wait, repeat - good things happen like increase protein quality |
- New Way to Explore Food for Fuel not Fat In terms of clients working with me around fat burning, and healthier relationships with food and their bodies, and we look at dairy - that becomes one of the easiest performance ways both to save calories (assuming there are sufficient nutrients in the mix already, so this may not be a starting point at all) i’m stunned at how much extra *stuff* comes into meals from processed dairy and eggs. If you say goal: reduce/eliminate dairy/eggs, that also gets rid of processed food pretty much in a heartbeat. it’s stunning. Not saying these things are evil, and not saying it's good to do UNLESS there's a great practice for how to replace the protein/healthy fats that are there, but it becomes part of the conversation now.
Optimising for Mostly Plants - one meal at a time.
SO right now, i’m personally optimising at the moment for mostly plants - the raw and the cooked - and getting into sprouting grains and legumes to make them more tasty, live and consequently bio-available. I LOVE sprouting chickpeas. Those things sprout crazy fast. As does Quinoa. IN a fry pan with some veggie umami Tast no. 5 paste. um umm good.
I can make Dal on sunday and it’s tasty and lasts all week long. awesome. And CHEAP. and fresh.
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| sprouted chick peas, sprouted rice, sprouted oats and greens and beats and seasonings and WOW. taste bomb |
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| Main Street Vegan (US Amazon Link || UK amazon Link ) |
Im not religious - last night i had chai tea and that is milk based and i loved it - but now i'm thinking, hmm, what would the social alternative be there without dairy? is there one? if yes what?
I love this one meal at a time, no judgements; each meal is a choice. I know why i'm making this choice: sustainability of me for as long an happily as possible - and the nice side benefits for the planet aren't bad either.
This is an experiment - mind you - i haven't committed to this as a way of life - but i'm intrigued, and enjoying on many levels. No massive changes in weight clarity of mind or other such things, but them i'm a pretty clean eating omnivore - so not really expecting much there. And 5-6 weeks is early days yet. But, cool. worth continuing. Today. Right now. After coffee. Black. Fresh roasted.
Aside:
If you're an athlete, lifter, or someone looking for hypertrophy/strength and think how can this be done on a vegan plan? you may find this plant-based experiment by John Berardi interesting (and here's part II)
Are you exploring mostly plants? how's it going?
What encourages you to explore - even a couple days a week? or a meal a day?
What keeps you from exploring?
What would you need to know to make it safe and fun?
How goes?
i'm on twitter @mcphoo but please feel free to leave comments here - they go to moderation after a couple days to deal with spam alas. but floor's wide open.
Look forward to your thoughts.
Meanwhile, eat less; mostly plants - lots to recommend it.
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This is an experiment - mind you - i haven't committed to this as a way of life - but i'm intrigued, and enjoying on many levels. No massive changes in weight clarity of mind or other such things, but them i'm a pretty clean eating omnivore - so not really expecting much there. And 5-6 weeks is early days yet. But, cool. worth continuing. Today. Right now. After coffee. Black. Fresh roasted.
Aside:
If you're an athlete, lifter, or someone looking for hypertrophy/strength and think how can this be done on a vegan plan? you may find this plant-based experiment by John Berardi interesting (and here's part II)
How about You?
Are you exploring mostly plants? how's it going?
What encourages you to explore - even a couple days a week? or a meal a day?
What keeps you from exploring?
What would you need to know to make it safe and fun?
How goes?
i'm on twitter @mcphoo but please feel free to leave comments here - they go to moderation after a couple days to deal with spam alas. but floor's wide open.
Look forward to your thoughts.
Meanwhile, eat less; mostly plants - lots to recommend it.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Tweet your #lunch4science!
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It's June 15 (or pretty close)
For the next few weeks, would you please tweet a pic of your lunch - for science?
Would you please ask your friends, colleagues, loved ones to do likewise?
Tweet
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Dear All: Please Share your Lunch (photos)
 |
#lunch4science - white whole bowl
for scale and colour balance
by @leslieowensby
|
For the next few weeks, would you please tweet a pic of your lunch - for science?
Would you please ask your friends, colleagues, loved ones to do likewise?
Here's all you need to do:
It's simple:- PREP YOUR PIC: ADD A WHITE BIT
Before you take your pic, make sure there's some white in it. If it's on a white plate - showing the whole plate is great for scale, too. That's a bonus.
If there's no plate - please put something white in the photo - a napkin, or piece of paper - an open notebook - this helps with colour detection by something known as "white balance." - TAKE PIC With the twitter app - or any way you wish - take a pic of your lunch.
- Use the hashtag #lunch4science or even #lunch4sciBONUS: if you feel like it, use text to tell us what it is "a ham and rye sandwhich" a "salad with tuna and moz".
Example Tweets
Tweets about lunch4scienceExample Pics
Thank you
You are making an incredible contribution to science.
Really? yes you are.
Two main ways, for this first phase of #lunch4science:
FIRST, you're helping to create an awesome log of what folks actually eat at this time of year (who happen to be connected to the internet and likely have a smart phone). That's potentially v. interesting.
SECOND, you're contributing a set of real world images to test out some computational vision techniques.
What we're not doing:
- We're not trying to identify specific foods - that's been worked on/done
- We're not trying to convert what's in the pictures to calories. (We don't think counting calories is particularly helpful or interesting: there are better relationships to have with food).
What we ARE doing in this first phase:
- We have a pretty simple (but perhaps elegant) hypothesis at play in this wee quest for our lunch images. We'll be sure to share this with you after this collection effort is finished up - if we did before that, that might affect the pictures we take. Hope that makes sense?
- If you have quesitons, just ask either @mcphoo on twitter, or here, in the comments.
Again THANK YOU for your help.
#lunch4science (or #lunch4sci if you're running out of characters)
this is work with Alex Rogers, University of Southampton, UK, Stefan Rueger, Open University, UK and well, me, dr. m.c. uSouthampton too.
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| #lunch4science - white bit, full plate in pic much appreciated |
Friday, December 5, 2014
4 gift ideas to create WELLTH - a book a sensor a stimulant an energy source - Fire Up the Season.
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'Tis the season of giving, and boy do i have what i think are absolutely AWESOME ideas to help the ones you love experience joy and wellbeing - all over the map in prices, so you have LOTS of wonderful options.
Today, i'm going to offer you food for thought on four wellbeing things:
Hope you enjoy, and perhaps get inspired with related ideas to help your loved ones OWN their wellbeing practices.
The book is Kenneth Jay's CardioCode - download
That's it. This is the only book on the list, and there's a reason:
It's a kind of paradigm shift for those of us who love strength training and have thought of cardio as more of a supplement than a primary.
From reading this book, you'll get that that perception of cardio may just be a bit wrong. You'll see why especially if you're doing a lot of strength work, your heart valves NEED this kind of cadio/vascular work.
If you already do primarily aerobic work from step to long runs, this book will help you understand how to tune that practice and assess it on multiple levels to make sure you're spending your time on the trail as effectively as possible.
I hope to do a more indepth review/interview with KJ about the book, but for now, suffice it to say, the emphasis of the book is to get at helping us (1) understand what cardio vascular training really is/means (not what we usually think eg long slow endurance or occasional fat burning intervals) (2) what CV training means (3) how to assess baselines and progress across multiple factors (not just heartrate zones, oh no. we're talking power power power) (4) why CV training in the way described in the book may need to become the dominant form of training.
For those who know KJ from his Kettlebell days, Cardio Code is not a repudiation of strength training; it's a refinement of previous practice - it comes to terms with how doing One Thing of anything when talking complex systems like the body may not be ideal. KJ seems to be exploring how to develop optimal approaches to training to support optimizing the performance for which we as humans seem best designed. The next time KJ talks about weights, it will likely be around power/force generation rather than lifting raw loads for the sake of. I'm not prescient - he's been posting about Fast Force First for awhile on Facebook.
This book is what ya might call "important" - and part of why i think it's important is this alignment - as i see it anyway - of exploring what it means to be Human - physically in particular. And how to be a Great Human - physically.
Other books that treat CV related training do so as a means to an end: do this to be a better rower, cyclists, runner. And that's fine. KJ's focus - again, this is my take - we haven't talked about this - is that he's interested in how to become an optimal KJ - for his own sake. And that he's sharing this rationale with the rest of us so we can optimise up, too.
It's not that other folks haven't been talking about functional, primal and all sorts of basic movements and practices for ages. You will be hard pressed however to find another book that goes into the basics behind why the kind of intense CV work KJ describes. Or offers ways to baseline performance.
I've said intense a few times. CV training in this book is intense. It's not sit on a bike and casually spin. It's work. Again, the book takes you into why/how of working this way in order to achieve very particular adaptations.
I'm kinda in love with the book because it shows research on what are the BEST mechanisms to achieve these CV adaptations. Guess what they are? Running Rowing and Biking. I rarely see that combination - especially getting down with the research on rowing. and i love to row as my cv power hour and channel Xeno Muller.
On biking if you cycle (i like to ride (hills in the rain, oh ya) and row; run is usually recovery) - there's good literature review of what's going on there and why but the two main performance examples illustrated throughout the book are running and rowing. And that's fine. If you're into cycling this book will let you know why you'd want a power meter - and there are some good books in that space - but neither focus on the why's for wellbeing like KJ does - they focus on dialing in power for performance. So if you're a power cyclist - you will benefit mightily from this book.
Examples Live: As we speak KJ is also running a 6week protocol for rowing to improve his 2k row time. Folks can follow the program on facebook, run it themselves etc. He walks the walk and the book lets you know why this might be a Good Idea for getting into the CV intense space. And because he's always online on FB it's easy to engage and get feedback.
If you're super interested, KJ has started a course on the cardio code, too, to help you get one with the measures and techniques.
Really, read this book. It will tune your mind in new ways
Very short list, eh? really, i just don't want to suggest anything else till we're all on the same page with this one.
Not that there's anything wrong with a fantastic latte - esp with latte art - but that's a different drink that a lovely cup of coffee. They are different. That's a latte this is a cup of coffee, you know?
Roasted Single Origin Beans. If you have someone in your life that enjoys coffee, you may want to find out how they make it at home: if they like to buy beans and grind them at home, consider getting them some single origin coffee beans. Just check for roasters in your area. Mail order is easy; beans come fast and fresh roasted - just ask when the beans do get roasted - try to get under a week old. In the UK i just got some from a roaster called RaveCoffee that was roasted the day before it got to me.
Life tuning events can happen so unexpectedly...
My thanks to Ed Cutrell for challenging me this spring/summer to give the Aeropress a try.
If your loved one has pots/pans on the bottom that say they can handle induction, you may want to give getting a portable induction hob as a gift - if they don't already have induction. Why? It's a great complement to gas, and blows the doors off any kind of traditional electric.
Induction is cooking by magnetic field: so only the part of the element gets hot that is under the pot. really simple. And very very fast to get to any level of heating. Very efficient, too. It's so clean in how it works, it's just awesome. When it's off, like gas, it's off. And like gas, the only thing that stays warm is what the gas has heated - so it comes on fast the area cools fast. It's amazing. For the pressure cooker that i love the induction plate is its soul mate.
I first got turned onto induction watching a how to make a hanah grant Saxo bike team how to make an omelette video (take a look)
Then! i was staying at a place for a conference that had induction. WOW.
Some portables i can tell ya, are great in the mid range but are not great when it comes to simmering - so need to check how it does its temperature intervals. It seems that they may have a limited shelf life, given comments on amazon. But they're cheaper than taking the family out for a meal, so oh well.
Now, in looking for a better induction hob, i inadvertently found one that is the Ferrari of induction plates: the CS30001TS. Ferrari From quality to price. Designed and made in the UK for the catering 12-15 hours a day of use, it has 99 steps for tuning its heat. My portable has 10.
If you're into the pro level - or just want to see what that's like, in the UK, do check out Induced Energy - they even have an induction set that works under a fabricated granite-type counter top - to no cutting holes in the counter to have a hob. Freaky. If you are at that place where you can get one of these - let me know - would love to hear how you use and enjoy it to pieces.
Heh, they even have a two ring version - and after watching Little Paris Kitchen - where the wee wee flat has a two ring gas burner and toaster oven for all cooking - well you know - one could do a more space age version of that flat - and still save space.
And if none of this works techno wise, but your pal/family want to get more into cooking, then Little Paris Kitchen also shows, it don't take much besides fresh whole food to make flavourful feasts (check out use of limited space, dual gas ring and toaster over here).
If you try these, please let me know - give me a shout @mcphoo on twitter (kinda phasing out @begin2dig)
And have a great solstice season.
best
-mc
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 |
| Whether celebrating Festivus or Solstice it's fun to share some wellth with the ones you love (image source) |
- a paradigm shifting book on physical practice - the CardioCode
- the one sensor i can recommend on multiple levels - for the sun - sunsprite
- a couple things in the coffee space from flavour to skills beans to pour over
- and still cooking - what may be a paradigm shift to make cooking more fast fun efficient and enjoyable - with induction
Hope you enjoy, and perhaps get inspired with related ideas to help your loved ones OWN their wellbeing practices.
Idea 1: Books
If you already have a fitness practice
"what books would you recommend" in the strength space, a wonderful sports columnist asked me recently - he mentioned a bunch - not the one i'm about to recommend -and i said, well, there's really only one right now - and i'd suggest you read it first as it may change your mind about the other ones.The book is Kenneth Jay's CardioCode - download
That's it. This is the only book on the list, and there's a reason:
It's a kind of paradigm shift for those of us who love strength training and have thought of cardio as more of a supplement than a primary.
From reading this book, you'll get that that perception of cardio may just be a bit wrong. You'll see why especially if you're doing a lot of strength work, your heart valves NEED this kind of cadio/vascular work.If you already do primarily aerobic work from step to long runs, this book will help you understand how to tune that practice and assess it on multiple levels to make sure you're spending your time on the trail as effectively as possible.
I hope to do a more indepth review/interview with KJ about the book, but for now, suffice it to say, the emphasis of the book is to get at helping us (1) understand what cardio vascular training really is/means (not what we usually think eg long slow endurance or occasional fat burning intervals) (2) what CV training means (3) how to assess baselines and progress across multiple factors (not just heartrate zones, oh no. we're talking power power power) (4) why CV training in the way described in the book may need to become the dominant form of training.
For those who know KJ from his Kettlebell days, Cardio Code is not a repudiation of strength training; it's a refinement of previous practice - it comes to terms with how doing One Thing of anything when talking complex systems like the body may not be ideal. KJ seems to be exploring how to develop optimal approaches to training to support optimizing the performance for which we as humans seem best designed. The next time KJ talks about weights, it will likely be around power/force generation rather than lifting raw loads for the sake of. I'm not prescient - he's been posting about Fast Force First for awhile on Facebook.
This book is what ya might call "important" - and part of why i think it's important is this alignment - as i see it anyway - of exploring what it means to be Human - physically in particular. And how to be a Great Human - physically.
Other books that treat CV related training do so as a means to an end: do this to be a better rower, cyclists, runner. And that's fine. KJ's focus - again, this is my take - we haven't talked about this - is that he's interested in how to become an optimal KJ - for his own sake. And that he's sharing this rationale with the rest of us so we can optimise up, too.
It's not that other folks haven't been talking about functional, primal and all sorts of basic movements and practices for ages. You will be hard pressed however to find another book that goes into the basics behind why the kind of intense CV work KJ describes. Or offers ways to baseline performance.
I've said intense a few times. CV training in this book is intense. It's not sit on a bike and casually spin. It's work. Again, the book takes you into why/how of working this way in order to achieve very particular adaptations.
I'm kinda in love with the book because it shows research on what are the BEST mechanisms to achieve these CV adaptations. Guess what they are? Running Rowing and Biking. I rarely see that combination - especially getting down with the research on rowing. and i love to row as my cv power hour and channel Xeno Muller.
On biking if you cycle (i like to ride (hills in the rain, oh ya) and row; run is usually recovery) - there's good literature review of what's going on there and why but the two main performance examples illustrated throughout the book are running and rowing. And that's fine. If you're into cycling this book will let you know why you'd want a power meter - and there are some good books in that space - but neither focus on the why's for wellbeing like KJ does - they focus on dialing in power for performance. So if you're a power cyclist - you will benefit mightily from this book.
If you're super interested, KJ has started a course on the cardio code, too, to help you get one with the measures and techniques.
Really, read this book. It will tune your mind in new ways
Very short list, eh? really, i just don't want to suggest anything else till we're all on the same page with this one.
Idea 2: Sensors
Here comes the Sun: Sunsprite.com
Ya fitbits. wifi scales; calorie counters; hours slept - all things that count - what are we doing? That's
a post coming up. What the heck are we doing with these numbers. Really i'm asking what's our model for these devices? Are they helping to make us healthy? For instance: are 10k steps the big win, or is it movement frequency - maybe fewer steps - that is the big win - and that's harder isn't it? how build a sensor to help us move more frequently? It's not as simple as a jawbone zapping us every 20 mins - it's supposed to do that only if you haven't been moving - but doesn't know if you're standing - and movement is pretty insensitive.
SO i'm feeling a little dubious about measures without good models as part of building resilient knowledge.
BUT there is one sensor that i think is just fantastic in its completeness.
It's something called sunsprite. I THANK Ben Rubin of Boston's Change Collective (formerly of Zeo) for telling me about the folks at Sunsprite and this awesome tool.
It's something called sunsprite. I THANK Ben Rubin of Boston's Change Collective (formerly of Zeo) for telling me about the folks at Sunsprite and this awesome tool.
Gotta do a big review of this too, but for right now why spend money on this over a fitbit or anything else? because it will help you Dial In Better more quickly and easily and effectively than just about anything else with the LEAST cost/effort of any of those other awesome things AND it's the one key thing, especially to be aware of in this dark season, that most of us simply are not dialed into - at our loss. Having a plateau issue? with weight loss or strength or stress? put some light on it and see what happens.
The simple simple premise of a whole lot of complex science is: get a bunch of sun (or bright white light) at the start of your day, and you'll feel SO MUCH better - and sleep better.
The monitor simply tells you when you've gotten 10K Lux worth of radiation. 10 LEDs on a sensor - brilliantly powered by a solar battery - clever or what - let you know how you're doing. That's it.
What's really scary is how dark UK days make it almost impossible to get that level of sun. I've walked 5miles in dark grey days and gotten to 4 only. WHereas a bit more sun - 30 mins and all in. I'm exploring using a litebook or philips goLite as ways to pump up my exposure.
The thing is, getting the sun/light DOES make a difference to quality of life pretty quickly. Do it for a week and notice better sleep - less interrupted - less stress too. I dunno. it's freaky.
The research i've been going through shows that for everything from mood/affect to weight management, syncing our various circadian clocks earlier in the day with a solar jolt does amazing good - quickly.
So why the sensor?
If the intent is to develop a light practice, a sun focus, this tool helps build in some feedback on success or not. There is a bluetooth phone app you can also use to observe patterns of light - would be nice to have a build in affect / sleep quality perception tracker too to make correlating light and mood and rest together. But perhaps that's a developer opportuntiy.
If you've hit a plateau with your wellbeing practice, if you're dealing with stress, poor sleep, mood stuff - or just not feeling like you're firing on all cylinders - get some more big light. And if you want to see how you're doing - and get a nudge to keep this in mind - the sunsprite.com tracker is the only sensor i can happily recommend right now as connecting model and measure so elegantly.
Idea 3: Stimulants - and so much more
Coffee - Consider the source: Go Local and International
Do you know someone who really loves good coffee? Coffee can be so wonderful.
i've been tweating over @mcphoo a variety of articles about coffee and green tea and how they are good for so many things - and i mean the whole food/thing that is coffee and tea - not isolated caffeine.
Coffee because of its strange flavour possibilities can be so nuanced. It's wonderful to have a really good cup of coffee. One where you really don't want to put anything in it. I mean it. Recently i started making hand cut french fries: slicing up the spud, baking them in the oven. We could not believe the flavour - ketchup took away from the natural savory sweetness of the spud. Great coffee is like that - it's so good it doesn't need anything else - that starts to kill it. You know?
Not that there's anything wrong with a fantastic latte - esp with latte art - but that's a different drink that a lovely cup of coffee. They are different. That's a latte this is a cup of coffee, you know?
Beans
Coffee Beans make a fantastic gift: the bag is kinda squishy, you can shake it - and it gives off a fabulous aroma. What's not to love?
AND if you do a google search for your area, guaranteed you'll find roasters who will mail out fresh roast beens. Read the reviews online - find out who people recommend - look at what feels good. This can be a hugely affordable and personal gift all at once.
Coffee Beans make a fantastic gift: the bag is kinda squishy, you can shake it - and it gives off a fabulous aroma. What's not to love?
AND if you do a google search for your area, guaranteed you'll find roasters who will mail out fresh roast beens. Read the reviews online - find out who people recommend - look at what feels good. This can be a hugely affordable and personal gift all at once.
Fantastic.
If they get beans ground: you can still get them fresh roasted beans and ask to have them ground - for the kind of coffee they like - a press pot grind is different than drip is different than epsresso. So are the roasts. Lighter for pour over; darker for espresso - not always but usually.
You may want to get a couple types of beans that are very distinct from each other for flavour. Kenya AA is very different from Ethiopian is very different from Guatamalen. Which is great - it means your pal can start to explore tastes and learn more about the beverage they love.
Local Baristas
What can also be fun is doing a Cafe Crawl - to find independent coffee makers - sans attitude - who will make coffee for you and talk about it with you. Loads of resources here too to put together a tour for your pal - that is something made with research and lots of love. In the London area for instance, Philip Wain is a total coffee area maven. In Boston for espresso and related espresso based drinks, for bean recommendations, well, you might check out San at the coffee trike
Local Baristas
What can also be fun is doing a Cafe Crawl - to find independent coffee makers - sans attitude - who will make coffee for you and talk about it with you. Loads of resources here too to put together a tour for your pal - that is something made with research and lots of love. In the London area for instance, Philip Wain is a total coffee area maven. In Boston for espresso and related espresso based drinks, for bean recommendations, well, you might check out San at the coffee trike
Going Manual - for the slightly ocd coffee person in your life
In the UK startbux was quoted the other day as saying it makes Zero profit here (tax issue - starbucks/amazon not paying uk tax).
Fantastic. Let's help Startbucks go even further away from worrying about profit. How?
1) SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ROASTER we discussed.
and
2) make your own (dam) coffee
I don't mean espresso per say but that cup of coffee thing.
You may be thinking, i have a coffee maker, and i go to Starbucks or Nero or Costa because i don't really like the coffee pot next to my double carmel machiata for a million dollars every morning.
I understand. I hear you.
It's so easy to get coffee wrong - to be crap.
But, it's also fun to get into making it beautifully - to OWN that cup of coffee.
There are many many ways to go here, but i'm going to touch on two i enjoy for one or two people servings - not for something to stand all day.
They both cost about the same in the USD 25'ish mark. They each require practice to get right, but when you dial it in, it's awesome. And saying that - they're both different. The aeropress forces the water via pressure over the grounds (not unlike espresso/moka uses pressure); the pour over uses gravity of the water to flow over the grounds.
There are many videos and how to's for both. In each case, you will hear about grams of water vs coffee -and water temperature, and how these all effect extraction/flavour.
The amazing thing is, a coffee buddy who goes out for coffee and has a cup of coffee from time to time will amaze themselves if they just follow the instructions for instance that come with the aeropress - and make it dead easy to have a brave new coffee experience.
Here's a wee video i did about travelling with the aeropress -
And here's my fave way to make a wee Hario v60 pour over
Life tuning events can happen so unexpectedly...
My thanks to Ed Cutrell for challenging me this spring/summer to give the Aeropress a try.
Idea 4: Cooking
- induction
This gift idea starts to get into electronics and the price goes up. Double the price of that aeropress, and getting even more personal with the one you heart.
 |
| induction plus pressure cooker mas macho. see stock story |
Induction is cooking by magnetic field: so only the part of the element gets hot that is under the pot. really simple. And very very fast to get to any level of heating. Very efficient, too. It's so clean in how it works, it's just awesome. When it's off, like gas, it's off. And like gas, the only thing that stays warm is what the gas has heated - so it comes on fast the area cools fast. It's amazing. For the pressure cooker that i love the induction plate is its soul mate.
I first got turned onto induction watching a how to make a hanah grant Saxo bike team how to make an omelette video (take a look)
Then! i was staying at a place for a conference that had induction. WOW.
Some portables i can tell ya, are great in the mid range but are not great when it comes to simmering - so need to check how it does its temperature intervals. It seems that they may have a limited shelf life, given comments on amazon. But they're cheaper than taking the family out for a meal, so oh well.
Now, in looking for a better induction hob, i inadvertently found one that is the Ferrari of induction plates: the CS30001TS. Ferrari From quality to price. Designed and made in the UK for the catering 12-15 hours a day of use, it has 99 steps for tuning its heat. My portable has 10.
 |
| look - one surface, three pots going - and a half grape fruit staying chill. AND it has that funky blue light. like neon lit license plates, or what? |
Heh, they even have a two ring version - and after watching Little Paris Kitchen - where the wee wee flat has a two ring gas burner and toaster oven for all cooking - well you know - one could do a more space age version of that flat - and still save space.
And if none of this works techno wise, but your pal/family want to get more into cooking, then Little Paris Kitchen also shows, it don't take much besides fresh whole food to make flavourful feasts (check out use of limited space, dual gas ring and toaster over here).
Wrapping Up - An important part of giving, for the Reveal
Well here's a bunch of ways to support various aspects of wellbeing in i hope a few new ways at least - and sometimes a change in practice is as good as a rest.If you try these, please let me know - give me a shout @mcphoo on twitter (kinda phasing out @begin2dig)
And have a great solstice season.
best
-mc
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COACHING with dr. m.c. 
