The Simplest Diet You'll Ever Need

     It should be no surprise to anyone that the No. 1 New Year's Resolution each year is to lose weight and that right about this time of year millions of people (who have undoubtedly failed at this resolution) are trolling the inter-webs hoping to bandwagon aboard the latest and greatest miracle fad.  I won't lie, a few such things have caught my attention as well:

• 11 Most Destructive Nutrition Lies
• Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 of Produce
• No-Brainer Nutrition for Triathletes

     Before going any further, let me reiterate that I'm not here to sell anything to anyone or to flaunt a zealous fanhood of certain methods, ends, sports, and authors.  That includes the USDA's MyPlate.  Rather, I firmly believe that rules are born of principles (applicable to much more than nutrition of course).   Those principles begin with the sharing of information, hence the title of my previous blog about being an "open source" athlete.  The proverbial "source code" to these kinds of things should be freely available, which, they mostly are; subject of course to the manipulation of business marketing and sales pitches.
     If you've read much of my writing on nutrition in the past you know that I've spanned a pretty broad spectrum of experiments, fads and fashions, trials and errors.  What I have found quite interesting is that regardless of the diet "plan" I was adhering to my body weight stayed about the same (+ or - 5 lbs) so long as I retained the same daily activity level (both recreational and non).
  The later part of this post with get into some more specific aspects and findings that I've discovered in my own research (subject of course to my personal dietary and exercise habits and lifestyle).  But for now, I'll present you with three simple rules principles:

• Listen to  Your Body
• If you're hungry, eat.  Understand that its an uncomfortable process for the body to consume itself for energy (e.g.: losing weight).   When you want to eat something, ask yourself if you're "hungry" or "bored."  If something "sounds" good, then you're probably subject to more psychological romanticism than physical need of nourishment.
•  Do Your Own Homework
• Be it a phone call to your doctor (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), searching the depths of the internet, reading medical journals, books, or magazines; it will be helpful to draw your information from a variety of sources.  Most of all, keep a track record of your successes and failures.  Nothing will give you a more individualized database than a case study of your own body. 
• Don't Eat **** That Doesn't Grow!
• This is probably the best one-liner of dietary advice I have ever heard.  Of course, this tends to run on a continuum more than a binary, but  you can figure that out for yourself.  Basically, if you can't (at least theoretically) kill or harvest it, you probably shouldn't be eating it.  Much to the chagrin of carb-haters, potatoes and rice probably aren't going to kill you.  When it comes to bread and pasta, that's up to you.  A half-gallon of ice cream to chase your McD's Dollar Menu buffet? (you get the idea).  The only caveat here is that even the most seasoned dieter must (I demand it) admit that "junk food" still tastes good.  Whether you'd like to admit it or not, an occasional small reward can do quite a bit of good.  Though, again, "occasional" and "small" are operational definitions that one must decide for themselves.

Further Reading:  Some Findings about Dieting and Climbing

Climbing and Cheating: A Tidbit for Motivation

     Several months ago I made one of many trips to Escalade Climbing Gym.  The gym has a bulletin board above the water fountain on which I noticed this article tacked up and it immediately drew my attention.  I made a note to myself to write a blog post on the contents.  Yesterday, I was at Escalade again and while using the restroom -- a promising source of inspiration of course -- and noticed the same article tacked to the bulletin board above / behind the toilet.  This reminded me to look up / research the article and do a little write up on it.
     The article is short and worth the read, but the meat of it is Tom Hanson's wise words -- " There is no cheating in climbing, only lying."  To further get the point across:  Most of us [climbers] are climbing for an audience of one:  yourself.  If you want to pull on draws and fall your way up a sport route, and then tell yourself you redpointed it, the world is going to keep on spinning.  You're only kidding yourself, unless you record it on [insert your favorite forum, message board, or social media] ticklist, which is not illegal - just kind of lame.  Its not cheating; in other words, its lying.
     If further explanation is needed, insert Carolyn Parker's shorter and sweeter coverage of the same topic.  "Is it cheating?"... "It depends on what you claim you did."  In the world of climbing... there is not a stop watch or referee, our world is all we have, honesty and integrity are paramount.  If ever an ascent was misrepresented it is always found out.  Then your ascent and your integrity will always be in question.  "Is it cheating?"... "If you have to ask, then it is."