Artificial food colorings considered harmful

In Food Rules, Michael Pollan prescribes "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk." Quite some time ago our pediatrician suggested that artificial food colorings should be avoided, as they may be linked to behavioral problems. Now it looks like the FDA is getting in on the act and considering warning labels for foods containing artificial dyes (via That's Fit).

While I don't agree with everything Pollan has to say about how we ought to eat, Food Rules is definitely worth reading. And one of the things Pollan and I do agree on is that we should be very cautious about ingesting things which are food-like but not really food, i.e. things which our great-grandmothers would not recognize by name as something edible.

During a recent trip to Costco, I made an interesting observation: the heat-and-serve frozen food aisles were so crowded, they were nearly unnavigable. But the aisles of raw cooking ingredients were almost empty. Whether or not it's accurate, this has become my mental model for the way I think about how most people eat: they would prefer to consume manufactured food-like items than to spend the time creating meals containing known-good ingredients. Seeing all sorts of health problems proliferate in our society, I gain more and more appreciation another of Pollan's rules: eat whatever you want, as long as you make it yourself.

Even when we feel motivated to do it, it's difficult to hold ourselves and our families to these standards. Good meals take a lot of time to prepare, and time is a scarce and precious resource. Eliminating dyes from our diet while allowing my kids to eat things they enjoy is not easy. Nor is it easy to always be aware of what is in the convenience foods that we buy.

So while I still believe people should be allowed to make their own decisions about how and what they eat, I'm in favor of more prominent labeling for things like artificial food colorings. As a parent, I'm trying to strike a balance and make informed decisions. It seems worthwhile to make the information I need to arrive at a decision easy to identify while trying to rush through a chaotic grocery store before the kids' (and my) patience runs out.

Happy Spring, Everybody!

Today is the Vernal Equinox, the first official day of Spring. While it's likely that we in Denver will be seeing a few more cold days before warm weather is here to stay, it's still a good time to celebrate.

Yesterday while C. was off at the Phoenix Asylum working on some paintings, the kids and I spent some time outside. While I cleaned up the flower beds a bit, F. sang a little song calling for the plants and animals to wake up from their Winter sleep. I was excited to see that we have crocus already in bloom and daffodils soon to follow suit.

After lunch, we went to the craft store to get some supplies to make decorations for our Spring-time celebration. I felt like we were channeling my mother's spirit while we built bird nests and painted little wooden eggs. My mother was an amazing home-maker, and loved to make decorations for every season of the year.

This morning we attended a birthday party at the Butterfly Pavilion (what could be more Springy than butterflies?). After we got home, it was time for my long-awaited ritual shaving of the Winter beard. I started growing it out around the Solstice back in December, and it did a good job of helping me stay warm while snowshoeing and commuting to work on my bike. But it feels great to have a smooth face once again.

Goodbye, Winter beard.

It's good to have my face back.

While C. was preparing our meal, the kids and I went out in the back yard and played for a while.

M. making a funny face

F. showing me a "moon rock."

Our Equinox dinner was delicious! We had broccoli and quinoa frittata, steamed asparagus, roasted root vegetables, and an awesome rabbit-shaped carrot cake. I'm going to have a tough time trying not to over-do it on the leftovers for the next couple of days.

Mmm, carrot cake. Great job, C!

So here's wishing you and yours a beautiful, fruitful Spring.

Bike fitting

Last week I went and got a professional bike fitting for my Motobecane Immortal Force. I've had the bike for a year, and while the setup wasn't bad, there were a few things that I felt could be better. Based on the recommendation from a couple of coworkers, I scheduled an appointment with Annie at Integrated Cycle Fit in Lyons, Colorado. Now that I've had several training sessions, I can say with certainty that I'm pleased with the result.

Integrated Cycle Fit is a small outfit, so you don't get the ultra-fancy computerized video analysis system which you see in some of the larger bike shops. Instead what you get is a couple of hours in a quiet atmosphere with someone who has a ton of knowledge and experience with cycling and biomechanics. Annie is, after all, a physical therapist and former road racer. And since she isn't selling bike components, I would have taken any suggested part replacements seriously. Fortunately, she didn't think I really need to replace anything.

She spent plenty of time examining me both on and off the bike. After talking about my background and goals for the season, we tested the flexibility and strength in my legs, arms, and back. Then we looked at my form on the bike. From there we worked to determine not only how the bike and shoes can be adjusted to fit me better, but how I improve how I use my body on the bike.

So Integrated Cycle Fit has my resounding endorsement. If you don't feel like your current bike setup is optimal, send Annie an email and see what she can do for you.

Delicious Things

While I've always been capable of it, I never used to spend much time cooking. Recently, though, my obsession with eating (or more accurately: fueling the rest of my life) has turned into a series of hacking sessions, trying to optimize great food on the nutritional dimension. And it develops good will from the wife, who doesn't mind letting me prepare some meals from time to time.

I've been enjoying a few really tasty things lately that I thought I'd share.

Tea

I started drinking more tea when I decided to cut back to 3 cups of (caffeinated) coffee per day. I've really gotten hooked on Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. It's one of the few teas that my desensitized taste buds can appreciate with no additional sweeteners or flavorings. However, a few minor additions really puts it over the top.

I put an ounce or so of skim milk in the bottom of the cup along with a dash each of cayenne pepper powder and allspice, and a few drops of stevia extract sweetener. Then put in the tea bag and hot water. (Douglas Adams teaches us that you should put the milk in first.) It's really spicy and makes a great after-dinner drink.

Soup

I've tried two very good soups recently. The first was an Avocado and Broccoli puree, which I made straight from the recipe, more or less. I halved the recipe, since I didn't expect anyone else in my family would eat it (wife is allergic to avocado; daughter is a really picky eater; it turned out a little too spicy for my son.) I did use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. And I used cayenne pepper powder instead of chipotle (it's what I had on hand). For a garnish, I used roasted red and yellow bell peppers. The result was an incredibly creamy soup (with no cream), and the green, red, and yellow colors were just lovely. I had no trouble eating the whole thing by myself.

The second soup that I made was a variation on Gena's Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup. By the way, Choosing Raw is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs. Check it out.

The changes that I made (aside from halving the recipe) were that I used a large turnip instead of parsnips; pearl onions instead of shallots; basil instead of thyme. Again, that's just what I had on hand. And since I'm not vegan, I used plain fat-free yogurt instead of rice milk. Three out of four family members enjoyed this one (like I said: daughter is really picky.). That's a pretty good result in my books.

Smoothies

Liquid breakfast is a good way to go before an early-morning workout, or if you just want to supplement normal breakfast with something that tastes like a milk shake. There isn't much to it. I've been having fun just dumping lots of things into the blender and hoping that I don't wake anyone else up at 5:30.

I bought a bunch of over-ripe bananas at a discount, peeled them, and stuck them in a freezer bag. We also chopped and froze some strawberries. So this morning's version went something like this:

• 1 frozen banana, chopped
• 3 frozen strawberries, chopped
• 1/4 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 tablespoon organic peanut butter*
• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa
• 1 packet of stevia-based granulated sweetener (I've been using Truvia brand).

* I'm not trying to be snobby by specifying "organic" here. But when I compare the ingredients of "normal" peanut butter to an organic/natural variety, I feel a lot better about the latter.

The result was almost like soft-serve chocolate ice cream, thick enough to eat out of a bowl with a spoon. I put a little bit of cereal on top for texture.

I frequently do something more fruity. Maybe half of a banana, and a half-a-handful of every type of berry we have on hand (blueberries, raspberries, grapes, etc.). When I do this, I usually throw in some baby spinach, just for fun.

These smoothies are something that the whole family enjoys. The boy gets his cut with some extra milk so he can draw it through a sippy cup.

A Sunday in the Park, and then, Supper

Today started out rather questionably. Due to time constraints, my weekend run was moved from Saturday to Sunday (today). But I was feeling some discomfort in my left knee, so I eased up on the pace a bit. That got me through the first eight or so miles, but I was eventually forced to walk. And soon even walking was too much for me, so for the first time I had to call my wife to come pick me up. Fortunately I was only a couple of miles from the house.

I think some of the power intervals I've been doing on my bike had something to do with the knee problems. Tomorrow's cycling workout is going to be a lot more low-impact.

Still, I didn't let that spoil our other plans for the day. I recently got a one-year National Parks pass from my work, and I'd been anxious to put it to use. So we had been planning to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some sledding at Hidden Valley. My kids had never been sledding before, so it would be a great adventure.

We had lunch at the Estes Park Brewery, which is quickly becoming our go-to eatery in EP. My sister and family introduced us to the place when they were staying at a near-by cabin. Despite its beer-centric nature, it is really quite family-friendly and has proven plenty low-key each time I've been. We didn't have any beer this time, but the food, while not gourmet, is good enough to stand on its own.

After lunch we hit the slopes for a little while. My 5-year-old daughter gets intimidated by new things that she perceives as dangerous. She recently rode a horse for the first time, and was terrified. But afterward she couldn't stop talking about how great it was. Sledding turned out to be the same way. Fortunately it was my wife, instead of me, who forced her onto the sled the first time.

It only took one run down the hill for her to be convinced that sledding was a lot of fun. She was less convinced, later, when I told her that every good sled outing should include at least one crash. Maybe that's just because the crashes were my fault, and her mother always got them down the hill safely. I'm not sure she trusts me.

My 15-month-old son did pretty well with the sledding also, though he was much more noncommittal in his response. Luckily I didn't crash with him.

It's hard for little ones to keep warm, no matter how much you bundle them up. So we kept the outing short. But we're looking forward to using that Parks pass as much as we can in the coming year.

After we got home, my wife had to run out to the grocery store while I got started making supper. I've been reducing my meat consumption lately, and I'd already had two servings of meat for the day (turkey meatloaf after my run, and a bison burger for lunch), so we planned to have a vegetarian supper. There were roasted root vegetables (beets, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, and onions); a tabbouleh-inspired quinoa dish; and sauteed beet greens.

It all turned out really well, if I do say so myself. There are too many really good cooking blogs out there for me to want to compete, but I was really surprised by how good the beet greens turned out, so I'm going to present the recipe here. The strategy was based on recent efforts of sauteeing chard and kale.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 tablespoons of canola or olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 or so cups of coarsely chopped beet greens, stalks removed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add onions and cook for a few minutes, until they become tender and translucent. Add mushrooms and garlic, and continue cooking for a couple of more minutes. Add vegetable broth and bring to a low boil. Stir in the greens, add a few sprinkles of salt & pepper, and cover. Reduce heat and simmer until the broth is mostly reduced - perhaps 20 minutes.

I'd never had beet greens before, but one taste was enough to convince me that it should become part of our regular menu. And it's packed with vitamins A and C with a good bit of calcium and iron. Even my wife, who doesn't usually go for cooked greens, wanted a second helping.

You go, Guy!

Today Guy Fessenden, of AFathersJourney.org, completed his 100th marathon in 140 days across the U.S.A. to raise awareness of, and funds for, mental illnesses. Actually, I haven't seen any confirmation online, but I have no doubt that he reached the Santa Monica pier this afternoon as planned. His daughter Suzanne was diagnosed with schizophrenia 12 years ago, and he is determined to do whatever he can to improve the lot in life for her and others like her.

I wish I could have been with him and everyone else who came out to run that last mile of the Journey. My thoughts were with them as I went out for my run this morning. It actually helped motivate me to hit a personal record of 13.3 miles in 1:39:20.

One of the points Guy drives home is that we need to end the stigma of mental illness. Things cannot get better if nobody is willing to talk about it. Schizophrenia is more often the punchline of a stupid joke than a topic of serious conversation. That needs to change.

To that end, I would like to make a departure from the normal topic of this blog and talk about the worst day of my life. I wish this story wasn't so much about me, but I can't know or convey what things were like for the person in the story who really mattered.

It was December of 2001. It was only a couple of days before I was going to be taking time off from work to go visit my family at my sister's house. My parents and brother were back in the States from Germany, and so the whole family would be there. I was finally going to get to introduce my girlfriend, C, to the rest of them.

I was so excited, I was feeling on top of the world as I sat there at my desk at work, counting down the hours. When the phone rang, I saw the Alabama area code on the caller ID and was certain that it was someone in my family calling, perhaps to verify our travel plans, or maybe just to say how they were equally anxious for us to be there. I answered with a cheerful "Hello?"

It wasn't anyone from my family. It was the local police department telling me that I needed to call home.

My little brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia a year or two previous. He had gone through a lot growing up, and when my dad got an assignment in Germany, my brother moved with my parents, hoping to get away from a bad scene and unhealthy circle of friends. But it was too late. All of the drugs had done their work on whatever underlying proclivity had been lying dormant in him, and he started exhibiting obvious symptoms soon after they moved.

He suffered unimaginable torment. Voices in his head constantly berated him and wore away at his will to live. After a couple of suicide attempts, he was sent to a hospital in London for a brief period. He had been such a bright, fearless kid, and I was certain that despite his troubled teenage years, he had great things in store for him. So it was really difficult to know that he was in such pain, and I was so many thousands of miles away. He was 20 years old, and was planning to stay in Alabama when my parents went back overseas after the holidays.

When I called home on that December afternoon, my dad answered the phone. He was so distraught, he didn't even recognize my voice. After I told him it was me, the conversation was very short.

Dad: "It's your brother."

Me: "Did he..."

Dad: "Yes."

Me: "Oh Fuck!"

Dad: "He shot himself."

Me: "I'll be there as soon as I can."

When I hung up, everybody around me in the office was looking at me. I told my supervisor that I had to leave, and walked out the door. On the drive home, I called one of my oldest, best friends. Her family had gone through precisely the same thing in the mid 1990s. I felt bad for dumping that on her, and I wasn't really in any shape to drive, let alone talk on the phone at the same time. But she had to know.

I got home and told C that we had to go. I pulled out a suitcase and just started dumping things in it. Somehow she managed to make sure we were reasonably prepared for a 1300-mile drive, funeral, and a trip to Michigan the following week; and we were out the door in, I could swear, 15 minutes. After dropping off a house key with my other oldest, best friend, we hit the road and drove straight through the night, arriving at my sister's house the next day in a state of complete emotional and physical exhaustion. The days that followed were full of tears which, after these 10 years since, never feel too far away.

Anyway, there we have it. No more stigma. Mental illness is a serious problem, and there are entirely too many stories just like my brother's, and like mine, but most of them are never widely told. There are others who survive, but their quality of life is nothing like it should be. Things have to get better.

The day my brother died was the worst day of my life, by far. But it's impact has been kind of unexpected. After that, I determined that I was going to lead a more positive life and focus more on the good and beautiful things around me. I wanted to be a better person. And I wanted to make the lives of those around me better as well.

One of the few direct approaches I've found to try to help in the fight against mental illness is to support NARSAD - the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. It's a non-profit which helps fund research in hopes that we can understand the problem better, improve the quality of life for those who suffer, and maybe some day find a cure.

A Perfect Weekend

The weather in Denver has been unseasonably warm for the last few days. That's all about to change, and we'll be paying for it with single-digit high temperatures by mid-week. But whatever the week turns out like, this weekend has been just about perfect.

Friday night my wife and I went to see the Colorado Symphony Orchestra perform Mozart's Requiem. We met up with our friends Jody and Hayley at the concert hall. Afterward we went out for drinks at Baur's Ristorante, where the wine list was impressive, the food was great, and the service was amazing. It isn't very often that my wife and I are able to get out without the kids. I think we got the most out of the time that we had.

Saturday morning I got out and ran my first (unofficial) half-marathon. CardioTrainer (a workout-tracking app for Android phones) said it was 13.2 miles. The CardioTrainer website has this map with a circle on it with a radius equal to the total mileage that you've logged, and centered on whatever location your last workout was in. The run on Saturday was enough to finally push my circle beyond the borders of the USA, both into Canada and Mexico.

Total (mostly running) mileage since August 26, 2010

Later in the day on Saturday, my boy and I did some running around while my wife and daughter were at a birthday party. I scored a new pair of boots for snowshoeing on clearance at Marshall's for $25.

Sunday I headed out early to meet a coworker at the Longs Peak trail head for a bit of snowshoeing. The trail was packed down pretty hard, and a pair of crampons would have been sufficient much of the time. There are several places where the switchbacks of the trail have been bypassed and folks have cut a trail straight up the side of the mountain. We took every one of those that we saw. So while it wasn't a terribly long a hike, it certainly got my blood pumping. We went up as far as the tree-line, which afforded a really nice view of the diamond on Longs Peak.

So now it's Monday, I've returned to the bike trainer in my basement for my workouts, and we're bracing for the snowy cold weather that's settling in as I type this. But it is winter, after all, and it was a really good weekend.