Ponderances, Inanities, and other Nonsense
Fitness
Meat quality and the apathy of the bureaucrats
Jul 8th
Since I have to read the labels of everything we buy at the grocery store, I have the ingredients of several thousand products keyed up in my head…mainly what these products contain that we don’t want or can’t have rather than a complete list of ingredients.
However, some things are a little trickier due to the pure apathy of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food & Drug Administration. As with all government, these two entities are large and ineffectual, with the USDA employing 105,778 (2007) and a budget of $95 billion (2009) and the FDA employing 9,300 (2008) and a budget of $2.3 billion (2008). What I mean by apathy is that I cannot, with any confidence, go into the store and arbitrarily buy quality meat. These companies do less and less to manage the quality of what we eat. Nowadays, most meat is raised in large factories owned by 3 or 4 companies and slaughtered in 3 or 4 large processing plants. Words like “Prime” and “Natural” are allowed to be put on labels when they don’t really mean anything. About the only label you can trust is “USDA Certified Organic.” Most of these cows stand knee-deep in a collective pool of their own waste and get fed corn to fatten them up quickly (though cows don’t naturally eat corn.) Most of these techniques were used for supplying to fast-food restaurants, but now includes the stuff you buy at the supermarket and the stuff you buy at restaurants.
Couple all of this with the fact that the food pyramid is bullshit, and you start seeing statistics like “it is estimated that with children born after 2000, 1 in 3 will have Type II Diabetes before adulthood.”
Previously, I could get acceptable beef and chicken at the supermarket at which I shop…until yesterday. The beef I normally bought that was “grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free” was gone. I asked and they said I could buy it but it was as expensive now as the “prime aged” and the “Kobe” varieties of meat and I had to pre-order it on Monday to get it the following Monday. What? Just a week prior it was $1 more a pound than the “Natural” stuff they were offering now. How did the demand drop so fast? What the f*** is going on here?
I thought we as a society had made progress in this area. People demand and stores carry a variety of organic fruits, vegetables and meats. Besides, the store I go to is a little ritzier than most, comparable to a Harris Teeter or similar.
I am going to try to make it to a local farmer’s market this weekend and see what they have to offer. I hope it isn’t as expensive as what the supermarket offers…even if so, I will buy it…just to send a message to the supermarket. I hope to take a couple of you with me. Who’s in?
When we finally get our own house again, should mine sell this time, I am going to get a deep freezer and “cowpool.” This term means you go in with some family/friends and buy a share of a steer. You get a much better deal on the meat, and you usually get it from the place that raised the cow.
Here is some information that may be useful:
Mark’s Daily Apple and Eat Wild
Just remember, you are what you eat. Also remember that you, in effect, vote when you make your food purchases by affecting the demand of said products. If you don’t buy the crap, then eventually these businesses that produce crap will either have to offer quality or risk going broke.
For you activists, or if you need a little convincing, rent “Food, Inc” and watch it.
Food
Jul 6th
Over the past couple of years, and doubly so the past few months, I have become more aware of the food offerings at the grocery store. Let me just say I am not very pleased with some of it, but outraged at most of it.
Because our daughter, Sophia, cannot have milk, we have to read the labels of everything we buy. Again, for clarification, it is not because she is lactose-intolerant, but rather she is “allergic” to the protein in milk called Casein.
There are many things that I don’t buy, even if I like them, because of their questionable content. Add to that list mystery meat…I only buy organic meat for reasons that are too numerous to divulge here. I was flipping through the documentaries on Netflix, and decided to watch “Food, Inc” last night. Most of the information was not new to me, but the stuff that was just reinforced what I already suspected or knew about food. Some of this information was unfair labor practices and unsanitary conditions which are far more compelling when you see it for real. The makers of the film also have a site out on tha’ interwebs. At that site, you can learn more about current affairs and help take action on forcing our government to do the right thing.
Triathlons
Mar 10th
I responded to a post by an old friend about triathlons a short while ago. It seems that having done extremely well on his first cut at a marathon made caused him to think about adding triathlons to his “bucket list.” I started reminiscing about my couple of years of competing in triathlons and figured I would put together some thoughts to share with anyone else out there thinking about doing one. I encourage it: it is extremely fun to train for and the event itself is a joy.
One thing that you have to keep in mind, though is to avoid the risk of over-training. I have heard it said that one should not increase their intensity or duration more than 10% per week. This was a good rule of thumb and it worked well for me. So what should you start at? Depends on your age and level of activity. Don’t be afraid to ease into it, and it is a truly subjective issue.
I had a short list of grievances about triathlons, though. Injury made me stop, and laziness and lack of opportunity perpetuated my hiatus. I am almost ready to get back into it, though. I should be ready to compete again after May of next year (when school is done.)
Grievances:
1. The swim is proportionately shorter than the bike and run. I am sure this is by design, as the swim (and training for it) are boring and a major limitation for non-swimmers hoping to compete in a triathlon. Most people are average swimmers, at best. I am a very good swimmer and an average runner, so the fact that average swimmers and good runners have an unfair advantage over me out the gate sucks. Period.
2. Someone perpetuated that you can “draft” or “slipstream” in the water. If there is any advantage, it is marginal at best. Yet, every race some asshat would be swimming on my feet, almost grabbing my feet to gain traction. At first, I tolerated it. After I while, I retaliated. This retaliation would include a light kick, followed by much more obvious and obnoxious kicks. Again, the swim isn’t long enough for me to really distance myself from everyone until the last couple hundred meters, which is only possible in a half-Ironman or longer.
3. Swimming in open water is a bit unsettling due to the sometimes mirky water and the lack of visibility. Throw in waves and a bunch of floundering novice swimmers that can’t swim in a straight line and the aforementioned “drafters” and you are in for a real treat. Basically, most people need to do more open water swimming so they can practice swimming with the current in a straight line. Here’s hoping.
4. The swim is the start, so everyone is floundering about at once, jumping over you, onto you, etc. I see all kinds of locomotion out there. A lot of leapfrog diving and whatnot. A lot of people are very combative. I actually like the start, but it is unnerving at first.
That’s about all I can think of for now. More to come.
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