In Defense of Food

"The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison."

-Ann Wigmone

Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants... with friend on the beach.

I am completely obsessed with food and I believe that has been the case from the time I was probably 15.  At that age I was aware enough to know when my parents were "dieting" which always in my mind meant losing weight.  In fact I recall close family and close family friends joking often about drastic weight gains and weight losses.  Nothing dieters of that time were doing seemed like something that could be kept up long term.  This was the norm and this has become the American way, terrible eating for months followed by a trendy "cure all" diet that someone is making millions off... it's absolutely insane.  The most insane part is that it's weight based dialogue not health based.  How after this many years of evolution and food science breakthroughs have we in America (and soon worldwide if we are the trend-setters) fallen into an obesity and diabetic epidemic?  I'm not asking that question in a negative way I'm just really confused how the laws and policies of the people we elect as well as what we allow media to push on us has led to this.

Before I jump too far into the weeds I'd like to start with the disclaimer that I study this stuff all the time and feel that I (and we) only know the tip of the iceberg as far as the science behind nutrition and diet... but I believe that we need only follow our ancestors' lead and forget all this trendy B.S. in order to achieve a better state of public health.  If you want a better picture of how I think about nutrition I recommend you all read "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food).  It's the most simple and unbiased nutrition expose I've ever seen or read.  Others like "Forks over Knives" or "Food, Inc" are wonderfully informative but are edited in a way that is too one-sided to resonate with all people.  "In Defense of Food" discusses how simple food is and what we've learned over 100+ years of obsessing over nutrition and questionable research and policy decisions that have led us to where we are today as a country.

I've chosen to steer away from the topics of organic, vegan, and gluten-free (which are ways I attempt to eat) because I think the basics are the most helpful.  Once those are taken care of as a culture we can start to argue more about the fine details.  As I begin to write this I'm going to attempt to not be preachy about any of this stuff because I hope for people to be reflective and not defensive when they read my thoughts and habits.  Knowing my intention at the outset, if you start to feel defensive maybe consider an honest look at how you are treating your body.  I only chose to write about this topic because I receive so many questions from friends, family, and co-workers about how and why I eat the way I do.  Finally I have avoided using specific health claims associated with diet such as weight loss or heart health because I feel if we treat ourselves well in moderation of activity and varied foods those things will take care of themselves.  This is the basic outline of how I think:

Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.

Knowing EXACTLY what is in what you are eating is the best start.  Be conscious.  If you are eating processed food with a bunch of chemicals, which is what most Americans do, just be honest with yourself that it's probably not good for you.  Even the "health foods" that are processed and contain extra sugars and preservatives like Yoplait yogurt probably have better alternatives available to you.  If you can't understand everything in the ingredient label it's not REAL FOOD.

It's easy to see how we fell out of eating mostly pure good stuff.  From a convenience and business standpoint companies like Cargill and General Mills found ways to mass produce calorie dense foods that taste good.  America has over the past 50+ years given these already powerful companies crazy tax subsidies that completely stack the deck against sustainable agricultural practices and vegetable production.  I'm going to try not and sound off on this too much but if you have interest in learning about the policy side of food and how it affects our public health you can start here (Concerned Scientists and Food Policy).  Bottom line is that before we could understand the full health affects of these foods (processed corn and wheat products are in everything), the productive over-worked American could more easily and cheaply get their energy from a packaged Special-K bar than from a fresh and healthy whole food alternative.

Once it was realized that maybe the processing of food was stripping it of all it's goodness besides calories (energy) the quick fix was fortification. From a health standpoint I'm sure some scientist noticed that some healthy person or population was eating a certain pure good thing.  From there that really smart, well-intentioned person tried to discover what nutrient in that pure good thing was so beneficial.  When they thought they found that miracle nutrient, they isolated it and put it in a pill (or fortified it into Cheerios) and made health claims that were partly true... then they made millions... then repeated the process.  We as American's LOVE the quick fix and are very willing to try it, whatever "it" is.  Once again, I'm sure the decisions surrounding fortification of processed foods were well-intended and in a historical context an amazingly beneficial thing for the global power of our country (The Origins of Fortification (Wonder Bread)).  The problem is that there is so much involved in the interactions of food, nutrients, and how different people react that there can never be a quick fix in the food world.


Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.

Moderation, to me, is the most important thing to remember.  Throughout our existence we have been engineered to eat as much as is available to us for survival's sake.  We forget often that we don't need to be doing that anymore.  Honestly, get rid of all your dinner plates... put a full meal on that big plate, then have someone tell you the calories.  Then for a week just use your salad sized plates for meals and don't allow seconds.  Going from a 12 inch diameter plate to a 10 inch reduces calories by an average of over 20% (The Large Plate Mistake).  By the way, a 10 inch plate (or smaller) was what we in America used to use and is still the standard size in Europe.  You are getting more than enough nutrition for dinner with the smaller portion size and I promise you you'll barely know the difference... but over the course of a year you could easily lose 8-10 lbs without knowing it.  I do not own a large plate (and really don't even eat a proper dinner most nights) and I have a crazy high activity level yet I'm never hungry and I'm not wasting away.  So when I have a patient tell me that this advice will make them starve I have to take a deep breath and reassure them that they'll be okay.

Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.

By no means do I think that vegetarian or vegan = healthy.  I have a clear understanding of this because most of my favorite sweets I've discovered at Whole Foods happen to be vegan and gluten free.  I do think, though, by looking at historical data people with significantly higher proportion of their weekly calories coming from plants tend to be healthier and live longer (Eating to Break 100).  If you are going to eat meat try to choose grass-fed and free range meat as it is well researched and documented that grass-fed beef simply produces a more nutritious meat (Grass-fed Beef Fat Content).  I personally try to eat beef only once a month, poultry only once a week, and fish up to once a day.  Without eating a lot of grains/pastas/bread I find that the majority of my caloric intake comes from nuts, beans, root vegetables.  I find that this allows me to eat more volume of food for less calories.  This way I stay full throughout the day but my body doesn't have excess energy that would need to be stored as fat

Don't Deprive Yourself

Throughout my food journeys of the past decade I have been very careful not allow the feeling of deprivation into my lifestyle.  Dark chocolate, a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a juicy rare steak make me happy.  Scientifically speaking this is true, consuming these delicious foods stimulate the "happiness" chemicals in our body (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, etc.).  Moderation must be observed in order to realize these affects, though, or the balance will tip to unhealthy and negative feelings.  Whole, nutritious food throughout the day for long term health and delicious treats sparingly and in moderation for short term happiness.  It's like taking Lipitor daily and Valium as needed.

To close I'll leave you with a cookbook from my favorite place to eat in the world, Birchwood Cafe (Birchwood Cafe Cookbook).  The cafe's motto is  "good REAL food." and the owner, Tracy Singleton does tremendous work in the Minnesota community and political scene to raise awareness about sustainable farming practices as well as GMO's.  It is my opinion that being conscious eaters and vocal constituents will go a long way for the sake of our public health... and really, wouldn't you rather pay more now to help make a local farmer wealthy instead of eating processed junk and increasing the chance of having to make the pharmaceutical industry more rich later?  If you prefer that latter thanks in advance for the job security.

Sincerely,
Michael MacMillan, Pharm.D.

P.S. this post is mostly meant for people that have the means to make these decisions.  I'm not so "Ivory Tower" on this subject that I don't know the reality of the lower class and why their health is poor.  It's often not their choice, it is and was the choice of the government (indirectly).  There are millions of people in the U.S. that literally cannot make the decision to eat the way I am proposing or don't have the education to know.  Our agricultural system and farm production just doesn't allow it.  For more reading on the reality of the food situation in places of poverty start here: Wiki- Food Deserts

This is what I read...

Dewey Point, Yosemite National Park.  February 14th, 2016

Last week, this week, and next week I wanted to focus on posts about my personal health and goals.  Waking up at 4am (discussed last week) has helped me be more conscious of my sleep, which in turn has reduced the amount of alcohol I drink during the weekdays, which consequently really helped me be more productive with my time.  That habit has given me time to reflect and realize that I wanted to do more reading for enjoyment and personal growth (this week).  These seem to me to be all really healthy things.  I am listing the books below in hopes that someone out there wants to discuss them.  Opening a book that I'm interested in and that can offer me a new perspective as I start or end my day helps get me out of the 24-hour news-cycle, meme-infested social media world we live in and forces me to concentrate on one thing of substance or importance for an extended period of time.  I am not listing these books just because they were influential to me but because I actually read bits from them on a weekly or monthly basis.  They help me keep track of my thoughts and they are a center for me to return to if I get a little too crazy.  In no particular order:

"Letter's to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke:
This is the newest book added to my must take with me where ever I go list.  I was blown away when I started this book and realized that the advice given by this mentor to a young man, about growing up into a man, written back in the early 1900's, is still profoundly applicable to my life today.  As humans I suppose we have universal and never ending struggles with ourselves, our surroundings, and our loves.  The advice to deal with these issues is out there, like the stuff offered by Rilke, but we must go through the emotion ourselves to truly understand and be able to reflect on this advice.  So even if you feel like you are completely in control of everything in your life this book and the next one are fun to read and reflect on why you are so well equipped to deal with all that life has to offer.

"A New Earth" by Eckart Tolle:  
I remember this book very vividly because upon graduation from St. Olaf my uncle Tim asked me what I would want for such a special milestone... I jokingly said, "nothing, okay, maybe a life-changing book."  So this is what he bought me.  I put it on my shelf for 2 years because I couldn't even finish the intro... maybe it was the timing of my attempts or maybe it was that I was busy buried in pharmacology as I was pursuing my doctorate, but regardless I read it in 2011 and it has literally changed my life (or at the very least put a reasonable frame/filter on my life).  My main take away from this book is that the world is going to happen around us and to us the way in which it wants... it's up to us to decide how we react to it and move forward from it.

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” 

― Eckhart Tolle

"The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff: 
This fable was given to me by Dr. Jacob Held after we got into a discussion about taoism during residency.  Everybody loves the innocence of Pooh and he does a wonderful job explaining the most fundamental concepts of this philosophy through his adventures.

"Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:
Subtitled "The Psychology of Optimal Experience" this is all about understanding the difference between pleasure and enjoyment and breaking down why people that are happy are enjoying life.  For the athletes out there "flow" is synonymous with "the zone".  Time flies when we are having fun and this is a good breakdown of the science of that phrase.  It has helped me be more reflective and aware of when I am in my "flow state" and what got me there.  If by knowing the basic criteria of my enjoyment then I can be more able to put myself into that state and be more productive and satisfied in my work life as well as my free time.  What is good for you may not be good for me and vice versa.

"365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao:  
Often an entire book is a daunting task.  That's where this little gem comes in handy.  Throughout the course of this book many taoist thoughts and angles on life are looked at but you only really need about 10 minutes or less a day to get through each passage.  Before you know it it's over with!  This book has been the foundation of my morning and bedtime routine for the past year.  No matter your religious or spiritual stance I believe this one could turn into an essential part of your routine.  It ends up being about 2 pages per day and goes well with a cup of coffee early in the morning.  So, while it is a very light book it does tend to weigh heavy on the mind as the taoist poems and concepts are translated into very relatable passages.

"Super Freakonomics" (and I suppose "Freakonomics") by Steven Levitt and Sephen J. Dubner
Great (interesting) data on, and different angles to, problems "solved" and policies passed and how they are truly affecting our world and economy.  This book can be very polarizing on many subjects including abortion, prostitution, seat belts, and global warming but when read with an open mind can help you realize what we really don't know in terms of cause and effect.

Not listed...
...any book or short story about wilderness survival stories.  I find it fascinating to think what my limits are if I were faced with true survival.

I read a lot about where I fit within this world and how life acts on me and how I can affect the world because these questions fascinate me.  This is not meant to be an evangelical post, it's simply letting you guys know how I spend my time and how I spend my mental energy.  I'd love to hear if you have any must reads, don't be shy.

4am mindset

It's a winter day, cool and misty, dark and quiet.  This is Manhattan Beach... Well, MY Manhattan beach.  This is my time in my new city doing what I want and no one is bothering me or asking me to hang.  At this moment none of my friends have improv or music shows that Facebook is reminding me about.  I have no invites in the next 3 hours to happy hour.  There are no women to go on dates with.  I'm not wasting money and I'm not wasting time.  It's 4:15 am...

A beautiful Moon-set where it all began, 26th and The Strand.

As a high schooler and beyond I remember very clearly my mom's waking patterns.  By the time she was waking me up for 7:45 am class at 7:20 am with a glass of water to the face she had already gone to the gym, done a load of laundry, gotten her fix of Matt Lauer and Katie Couric on The Today Show, shoveled the driveway (on a winter day) and left me breakfast on my car running in the driveway.  I had no idea (and honestly still don't) why she ever started this pattern of getting up at 4:30 am but I used to think it was bat-shit crazy.  I have gone through patterns of being an early riser all of which were extremely unconscious.  While playing for my Junior hockey team in Billings, MT we would often have practice at 7, meaning driving from the west end we would have to be out of the house by 5:45 in order to be on the ice on time.  While working at the Gasper farm in Crookston, MN I was in charge of pulling the airplanes out of the hangar and having them fueled prior to sunrise which required me in the month of the summer solstice to be out of the house at 4:15 am.  At St. Olaf I enjoyed a strong cup of coffee at 630 am in my dorm room and as I walked to the caf to get there when it opened at 7 am in order to get to my 8 am O-Chem class "fresh" and ready.  On my ICU rotation at Regions I had to have patients worked up and ready for rounds by 7 which meant I was up late the night before and woke up at 5:30 to afford time to eat on my drive in and re-work patients with overnight changes.  So I've done the early thing... for reasons determined by others.  This is different.  This is me. This is what I want to do with my time and no one controls it but me...

...Of all places to decide to change your lifestyle to waking up this early on a daily basis mine happened between the hours of 10pm and 1am at the bar in the hockey rink I play men's league at on Wednesday nights.  My buddy Joe had turned a corner.  Sometime in the year of 2014 he had quietly and humbly quit drinking, became more conscious of the food he was eating, and most importantly to me (and this blog post) had decided that he was going to follow many other leaders and effective people and became an early riser.  At first the guys on our team were a little thrown off by the steadfastness of his new devotion and enjoyed ribbing him about not having the customary beer following each game... I was intrigued.  Here's what he has to say about it:

"Why did I start getting up at 4am? Because it was hard to do. That's the simple answer. I wanted to set a new tone in my life, and doing the same old things the same old ways wasn't going to help me become who I wanted to be... There is something really powerful about finding pleasure in discomfort. When you can count on yourself to do what's hard, it becomes very empowering. You build self-confidence, but most importantly, you begin to take accountability in your life. You realize that you're not what you were born with... Doing what was hard, turned into taking accountability for my own success and enjoyment in life. Accountability turned into taking massive action to achieve my goals. I learned how to change and grow."

Now, I haven't even at this moment decided what my definition of success is, and honestly don't give any of the fucks about that word.  What I did know when talking with Joe about the possibility of shifting my schedule and his new consciousness is that I did want to be more aware of the constraints on my time and how I was being distracted from the things I wanted to be doing on a daily basis.  I wanted to make sure that my FOMO in the evenings wasn't affecting my ability to accomplish personal growth, awareness, and enjoyment.  So while I don't care about "success" or any of the other arbitrary and relative terms to describe my life, I do care about discovering myself.  I want to focus on, without distraction, what all aspects and descriptors of life mean to me and be more aware of how I want to shape my life every day moving forward.  
February 2015 was when Joe and I started meeting at the 26th street pull up bars on the Strand in Manhattan Beach between 4:30 and 4:45 am and would do a simple 20 minute jog, a few push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups.  This was not a routine grounded in physical fitness, this was all about accountability.  I had a new-found accountability for what we both knew we desired in the future and present and helping each other develop the habit.  I had vocalized a developmental desire of mine to another human that could call me out on my inability to follow through and that was terrifying.  So I followed through.  That routine lasted a good month and it changed my trajectory for the next year of my life and hopefully beyond.


I managed to continue doing my 4:30 routine at least 2 days a week for the past year and am currently on a 4 out of 5 weekday schedule (I allow myself to sleep in until 6:30 on mornings after late night hockey).  Now that I have moved to West LA the routine has changed slightly.  I no longer run along the beach to the sound of ocean waves... but I now know that I don't need any specific environment to do what I need and want because I've taken the time to truly discover what I need and want.  I enjoy my 20 burpies, a quick headstand, and a Bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil... don't ask, I'll talk about it later).  Because of living within walking distance of work, and waking up at 4:30, I have been able to intensify other pursuits like meditating, reading more, and writing this blog. Most importantly this routine has helped me reset my intentions and it reminds me how privileged I am to pick and choose when I am comfortable and when I am not.  I fully understand that not everyone has those sorts of choices (or has the perception they don't) and that I am currently (and for most/all of my life) extremely privileged in this sense. I also know that the world may not always allow these decisions to come so easily.  If you hear what Joe is saying above you will realize that doing great things and getting out of the grind and growing into consciousness is never easy and there's always an excuse not to.  Now that I have found it, a wish for myself in the future is that no matter what job I have or family structure I find myself in that I am able to each each day find time to reflect, reset and remain conscious of my own enjoyment.

Sunrise over Griffith Observatory with Joe (pictured), Dave, and Torrey 

Talk soon,
Michael

75 and Sunny

...You just don't understand.

So I've decided to write about this because it is currently Sunday mid-morning and I'm stuck in my apartment due to... wait for it... RAIN!!!!

Today (1/31/16 in case when I post this in a week you all check the weather and call me out on my lie) has been a lovely day for a Midwesterner in LA.  To start this Sunday off I was legitimately cold on my way to spin class (I managed to get my Houston native friend to bike with me in the rain!).  I got home took a hot shower, made a fresh cup of coffee, put on my finest pairs of sweatpants and wool socks then snuggled up in my blanket and fell in and out of a nap as I listened to the rain out my window.  I was so happy to have a day down in the 50's!  It was the same euphoric feeling I remember getting in Minnesota when the sun would come out and the temp would get above 60 with no wind for the first time each spring... you remember what that feels like right?  Don't worry it's just a month or so away!

That weather induced euphoria has been missed greatly in my life and sadly been replaced with a constant state of warm and sunny contentment... absolutely terrible!  If I am to be completely sincere there is something to the whole changing of the seasons thing.  It helps us all identify with ups and downs in our life and time stamp moments that we want/need to know based on the craziness of our weather.  As we can see below the MN person deals with some impressive extremes of temperatures throughout the year and likely has an easy time identifying life events with a particular season.  This is the excuse I use when I forget peoples birthdays and have to take about 5 minutes to recall how long I've lived out here.

Average Minneapolis temperature range:

Over the past year I've had an exciting revelation in my thoughts about weather and seasons and my happy seasonal days when I lived in the Midwest: I can vacation to these feelings!  Planning vacations has been a struggle for me because I feel like I'm on a permanent one out here.  Knowing and understanding my desire for varied climates I feel I can definitely be more intentional about the vacations I choose in order to maximize my vacation specific happiness... Vermont/MN in October, Mammoth or CO in Jan/Feb, and the cabin in the summer.  As a side note it's worth mentioning that SoCal does have access to weather when we want it.  Big Bear Lake is only 100 miles away and some of the best skiing in the US, Mammoth Lakes, is only 300 miles as is snowy Yosemite... that's basically Minnepolis to Lutsen dontcha know.

I get the question often from MN lifers, "does 75 and sunny ever get old?" Ummmmmm... NO!  Or I will get the statement, "I wouldn't like having it be sunny year 'round, I need the cold/snow." HAHAHA... okay.  I feel that I am the heartiest of Minnesotans and have the badges to prove it: with growing up on outdoor rinks (including one in my back yard), being a cross country skier and performing in 0 degree Fahrenheit 15-30 mile races on the reg, as well as being a year 'round cyclist and I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that the sun and ability to walk to Sunday brunch in shorts all year more than makes up for the the lack of beauty of a snow fall.  I get it, a warm cup of coffee on a beautiful crisp fall day is pretty amazing, but so is the feeling of an iced soy mocha ("1/2 the chocolate please, yes I'll still have the whip") on sunny 70 degree January morning :)  Anyone that ever tells you otherwise is either a complete liar or they are just trying to make you feel good because you live in a terrible place (weather-wise).

I think by now you've figured it out, and I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just plain soft.  I'll try not to become too Californian in this sense but you know what they say about nature vs. nurture... so please accept my apologies for the parka wearing (in 50 degrees) person I'm likely to become.

Great news!  As I returned to post this topic one week later I am a whole lot warmer!  Out here in SoCal we just returned to a bit of the norm with highs of 75-80 on the beach and all the sunshine you could ever desire.  I spent 2 days riding my bike and sitting shirtless on the beach over the weekend... in case you were worried about me during this whole El Nino pattern I just wanted you all to know that I made it through the worst and I'm okay.

Until next time.