The Best Way to Prevent Global Climate Change May Surprise You

When I listen to the mainstream media and hear people talk about the best ways to reduce human dependence on fossil fuels and prevent global climate change, almost invariable the pundits focus on driving less (in more efficient cars), turning down the thermostat, turning off lights, regulating energy companies, and using public transit (as well as walking and biking more). Some suggest incentivizing alternative energy development with subsidies similar to the ones (still!) given to the fossil fuel industry.

But almost always, they overlook one of the simplest and most impactful ways for individuals to help prevent global climate change, even if society and individuals don't make any other significant changes. What is that?

Well, if you haven't guessed by now, it's adopting a plant based diet (SOURCE). Meat, dairy, and egg production in its current form is a primary producer of greenhouse gasses and it is extremely wasteful of fresh water and other resources, compared with plant food production (SOURCE).

So if you want to make a significant impact on global climate change through your own actions, while keeping the thermostat right where it is and leaving the lights on at night, just eat less (or no) meat, dairy, and eggs (SOURCE). 

Importantly, you don't need to wait for the government to step in and do something about global climate change. First of all, they won't! There are too many powerful interests in the food industry working against governmental policies to promote whole food plant based eating (SOURCE). Secondly, eating less meat and more plants is something you have total control over, rather than waiting for an apathetic and bureaucratic government to impose a nanny state on you, over which you will have almost no control, except for civil disobedience. As we have seen, historically, when the government imposes regulations on people and businesses, the result is usually disastrous, because people rebel against any infringement on their personal freedoms, even if doing so goes against their best interests (Freedom First, baby!). But if you have the choice to do something on your own to make the world a better place, with very little impact on your safety and comfort, wouldn't you consider it?

It's just a question. Post your responses in the comments.

Bike Rides and Intermittent Fasting

In addition to tracking calories in a free fitness app on my smartphone, I'm also attempting intermittent fasting again as a means to more effective weight loss. I'm not a conventional dieter. I mainly focus on eating whole food fruits and veggies, but I like to treat myself to junkier food sometimes, as long as it's vegan. So, I need to apply tools and interventions to my diet to ensure I don't overeat. Cutting out refined oil and sugar for the most part has definitely made this easier. Still, I'm a good cook and it's easy to eat more helpings than I should of my kickass recipes...like this African Sweet Potato Peanut Stew that I'll be throwing together for the vegan Thanksgiving celebration at home with my wife today.

My virtual cycling buddy and rock-n-roll bandmate AquaMunkee turned me on to another smartphone app called Fastic, which focuses on intermittent fasting (IF). The way IF works is that you only eat within a fixed time window each day, say between 10 AM and 8 PM (10 hour non-fasting window), allowing your body to rest and metabolize during the other 14 hours of the day (a fair amount of which is sleep). The Fastic app lets you customize your fasting window and sends you reminders to eat during the non-fasting time and drink plenty of water throughout the day. In theory, your body enters ketosis at some point during the fasting period, causing it to burn fat stores for energy. You can set a really strict fasting period, like 19 hours (with just a 5 hour eating window). I decided to be more moderate in my fasting, initially, doing a 14/10 or a 16/8 depending on the day. I typically don't eat breakfast anyway, and if I do it's usually later in the morning (a perk of autonomous self employment is being able to start work later in the day), and I like to eat a big dinner. So, I just need to finish dinner by 8 or 9 PM, depending on when I started fasting that day. If I am able to squeeze in an hour or so of virtual smart cycling during the day (another perk of autonomous self employment), I can earn myself a hefty calorie quota to expend on food and snacks in the non-fasting period each day. So far, it's been a good system, though I have only been at it about four days now. Per usual, it takes a fortnight to really evaluate the efficacy of a new health and wellness intervention.

Today, my fasting window will end when I'm about halfway through a scheduled virtual bike race on the Rouvy smart cycling app. As such, I'll keep some Larabars with me on the ride to scarf down when I'm able to (on a downhill). That calorie burst should propel me to a personal best in the bike race (I don't give a sh!t about winning...just finishing).

Anyway, sorry if you read this whole post. Just rambling some thoughts in my effort to do something productive, rather than be sucked into the social media scrolling sinkhole. I'm considering implementing another social media fast through the end of the year to keep me focused on my goals, whatever they may be.

The End.

Thanks

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, the holiday that demarcates to slow decline into another depressing  round of commercialism disguised as altruism, followed by two brutal months of artic suffering in January and February (at least in Wisconsin).

But this year I'm immune to it thanks to two things: COVID-19 and indoor smart cycling. I'm kind of glad COVID put the kibosh on the usual holiday hassles. It also put the kibosh on our gym membership, which is why Deborah and I invested in smart bike trainers. These contraptions allow you to ride your own bike indoors on virtual bike routes all over the world, with high resolution videos of the places you are biking through. The trainers are smart because they link to cycling apps via Bluetooth and they respond to actual changes in terrain, increasing the resistance if you are going up a hill, for example.

I've been able to bike fair distances almost every day since we bought the trainers. This in turn has allowed me to eat more calories each day, something I very much like to do. I have two bike rides scheduled for tomorrow on account of it being Thanksgiving, and I plan to make a lot of yummie food that I'll need to compensate for.

The End.

Addicted to Smart Cycling

I got up this morning at 7:30 AM so that I could do a couple of virtual bike rides. The first one was on the Rouvy virtual cycling app. I rode just over 16 miles through the Aorangi Reserve - Greymouth, New Zealand. It was a race I had joined earlier in the week, kicking off at 8 AM this morning. Although I wasn't there to win, I pounded out that route in about 56 minutes, allowing me about 4 minutes to transition over to the RGT virtual cycling app for a 9 AM social group ride through the Lake District of the UK. I think that ride was just over 23 miles and I did it in about an hour and 15 minutes. I got a bit of a late start because I had to change devices between the rides (tablet to smartphone + laptop) and I forgot to disconnect the Bluetooth on the first device from the smart trainer, so the second device wasn't connected. So, I am in RGT, pedaling away, and basically going nowhere as everyone else took off, until I figured out my biff. I caught up to some people and we had a pretty nice virtual draft line going. Anyway, I burned something like 1,500 calories biking pretty hard for over 2 hours this morning. My knees and legs were pretty sore. It's awesome that I can bike all over the world from the comfort of my finished basement. I highly endorse indoor smart cycling for anyone who likes biking and lives in a place where weather prevents outdoor riding for part of the year. I mainly do it so I can justify eating more food. It's fantastic exercise though and really gives me a nice endorphin boost.

Virtual Bike Riding

Deborah's and my new smart bike trainers are fantastic. These are going to be a game changer for exercising during the Wisconsin winter when it's too cold to go outside and too zombie apocalyptic to go to a gym. We canceled our gym memberships over the summer and spent the early fall debating what to do for winter exercise, in between walks and bike rides outside in the uncharacteristically mild fall weather. Mid-level smart bike trainers were what we opted for. These will pay for themselves in about a year in money saved on a gym membership, not including the $15/month membership for the smart bike trainer ride apps that connect to the trainers and simulate actual real world bike rides (riding our own actual bikes, which attach to the trainers). $15/month definitely beats the $90+/month we were paying for a family gym membership. Plus, we can have multiple family members on one membership in the cycling app called Rouvy, which is what we'll likely use, having expired at least one of our free Zwift (another app) trials as of this writing. There's also an app called RGT Cycling, which is indefinitely free and works well (although it's limited to just a handful of routes and training regimens unless/until you upgrade to the paid premium membership). This morning, we participated in a group ride on RGT Cycling, which included me, Deborah, and my buddy Brian from California, all of us transported to Europe, virtually and instantly, for a ride through some computer rendered Italian countryside. There were about 20 other cyclist on the ride, who all pretty much lapped us. But we didn't care. It was our first such virtual group ride, and thus very much experimental. No matter what cycling app we end up subscribing to (probably Rouvy), it will be nice to have RGT Cycling available for free.

I think that's about it.

Coming Up On Three Years WFPB Vegan

In January, I will have been on this fantastic vegan nutrition journey for three years. I have honestly never felt better in my life.

Today, my wife Deborah and I rode our new bike smart trainers using the Rouvy cycling app that let's you ride actual bike routes around the world, virtually. Today I rode Stage One Part Two of the Tour de France. It was only eight miles, but it had some significant hill climbs. The smart trainers simulate real road riding by electronically changing the resistance of the trainer depending on the slope of the rode in the virtual ride simulator. How fun! I burned off quite a few calories, although probably not enough to compensate for the two bowls of fantastic vegan Thai curry I threw together tonight. Hard to say for sure, but the scale will tell me in the morning.

The End.

A Little Over 2.5 Years WFPB Vegan and the Results Exceed Expectations

I've been vegan for 2.5+ years, with a good 1.5 of those years as a whole food, plant based vegan. I expected to see some minor health improvements when I switched to this way of eating. However, my modest expectations were significantly exceeded.

My osteoarthritis pain in my toe from a sports injury over 20 years ago has essentially disappeared and has not returned. I sleep great. I feel great. I am the lightest weight I have ever been in my adult life. My airways are clearer than ever before - I can breath through my nose at night. I don't need alcohol or caffeine to keep me happy and motivated, respectively (I've largely quit both and I don't miss it at all). I feel mentally content most of the time (some of which is attributed to supplementing with ashwagandha, an adaptogenic herbal supplement from Chinese Medicine). My blood test at each of my annual physical exams has provided empirical proof that the whole food, plant based diet is ideal for maximal, if not optimal, health.

The only physical issue I have is some pain in my left knee when I go on long bike rides. But this pain is mild and resides almost as soon as I am done with the exercise.

I can't speak highly enough of adopting a whole food, plant based diet for health and wellness. The experimental case study will continue for the foreseeable future and I will report back periodically. But, the evidence thus far is clear: A whole food, plant based diet can't hurt, and it might help.

Good day.

Vegan Cauliflower Teriyaki Wings

This is not a recipe site with a lot of glamorous food pictures that bog down your browser. Punk rock vegans get down to business. Here we go...

INGREDIENTS

One cup of all purpose white flour.

One cup of water.

A TBSP of garlic salt (or garlic powder if you avoid salt).

One large head of cauliflower.

A quarter cup of Teriyaki soy sauce.

A tsp of curry powder.

A tsp of ginger powder.

Parchment paper.

RECIPE

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Mix the flour, water, and garlic salt in a large stainless steel bowl to form a smooth, thick batter.

3. Break the cauliflower head into "wing" sized florets, cutting them up if necessary.

4. Add the florets to the batter and toss until they are well coated.

5. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

6. Put the battered florets on the parchment paper, with a little space between them.

7. Put the battered florets in the oven and bake at 450 degrees F for 20 minutes.

8. Rinse out the stainless steel bowl and then add the remaining ingredients to it.

9. Take the florets out of the oven after 20 minutes and transfer them back to the bowl.

10. Toss the florets in the Teriyaki sauce until coated.

11. Return the florets to the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 450 degrees F for another 20 minutes.

12. Eat them while they are hot (but they can be reheated just fine).

You can experiment with different sauces for the second bake. Hot sauce, BBQ sauce, or garlic sauce are all good options.