A Visit to the Nutritionist

This afternoon, I had my appointment with the nutritionist that my pulmonary doctor referred me to. The big takeaways were (a) I REALLY need to be snacking between meals, preferably a couple hours before the next meal, and (b) it takes 3500 extra calories to gain one pound. Some ideas she gave me for good, high-calorie snacks:

• Nuts (850 calories per cup)
• Dried fruit (400 calories per cup)
• Avocado Italian style - mashed (250 calories) with salt and olive oil (125 calories per tablespoon)
• Nutrition drinks - I've had Ensure and it's nasty after a while, but there are other brands
• Adding extra cheese or dressing to stuff I'm eating anyway

I definitely got a vibe of sincerity and genuine concern from her as I unfolded my last several years of health history. She not only understood but also emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy weight in order to support the immune system and better fight disease. The trick, she says, is to change your habits and routines so they become part of your lifestyle - I may even need to go as far as to set an alarm to remind myself to eat every couple hours (this seems obvious when someone says they want to gain weight, but I have never been one to eat just for its own sake - I eat when I'm hungry).

Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to keep track of what I eat and weigh in every week so I can have an idea of what works and doesn't. I am not sure that I am ready to share my weight yet - suffice it to say that I am profoundly underweight.

Haiku 7/11/09

greek fest for dinner
kebab, beer, dessert, coffee
fun with mom and pop

Memorial Day Weekend and an Apology

First of all, an apology to my readers: I have fallen behind lately and have been posting a couple days late and backdating. The backdating is not to be deceptive, but so that posts in the archive will fall in the proper order on the proper weekday. I'm going to try to work up a few posts in advance so I have a little buffer in the future.

Since this post was actually written on Tuesday (5/26), I'll cover all of Memorial Day weekend.

Friday was my day off work, so it was actually a 4-day weekend. I started off going to breakfast with Stevo on Friday at Creme de la Crepe in Redondo Beach. This place rules. It's authentic French food, French press coffee, and French waitresses. I got a custom crepe with Raclette cheese, turkey, tomatoes, and chardonnay creme sauce.

Saturday I got a haircut, took a motorcycle ride (on the BMW) with Stevo (on Daniel's scooter) around Palos Verdes peninsula with a pit stop for a snack at Malaga Cove Market. Later that night, I picked up Mom and Dad from LAX (which was insane) upon their return from St. Louis visiting Dad's mom. They brought back sandwiches from Amighetti's. St. Louis has some of the best food in the US.

Sunday involved church in the morning, Rudy's for brunch, and an afternoon of cleaning the garage. We got rid of a lot of stuff and did some reorganizing to make the available space and stuff more useful. Sunday night we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still - the new one with Keanu Reeves. I am a big fan of the original and was impressed with the new one. It's more of a re-imagining but they capture the essence and fear of the original while translating it into a modern setting.

Monday was taking stuff to Goodwill and another motorcycle ride around the peninsula - this time with Daniel and me on the BMW and dad on Daniel's scooter. We stopped at the yellow taco truck at Vermont and PCH - which has the best tacos around. Later in the evening we watched Ronin, a DeNiro film from 1998 with the best car chase scene in a movie that I have seen to date.

All in all it was a good weekend with lots of quality time with family and even some productivity.

Spoils from the Torrance Farmers' Market

Clockwise from top left:

• Ruby grapefruit
• Sweet limes
• Strawberries
• Sage goat cheddar
• Meyer lemons
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Persian cucumbers

Not pictured because it's in my belly:

• Coffee
• Crepe with goat cheese, green onions, tomatoes and egg

I'm planning to fix a curried lentil, tomato and lamb stew sometime this weekend. It shall be delicious.