There's a bunch of stuff on the web that I've been meaning to share, but I've been too
1. 50 Ways to Cut 500 Calories a Day
My favorite is Number 34, mostly because I already do this (but also because my father-in-law once told my wife to tell me to cut it out):
Tap your foot. Your skinnier friends are probably fidgeters, who burn up to 350 calories a day just by tapping their feet or being restless. Try it for a few days. Walk around while you’re on the phone, or tap out a tune with your hands or feet (in the privacy of your own office, of course).2. Watch "Supersize Me" For Free
FreeDocumentaries.org has a growing list of full-length documentaries for your viewing pleasure -- but nothing beats watching Morgan Spurlock gain 25 pounds and suffer liver damage after a month of ingesting McDonald's "food" exclusively.
3. Taco Bell's Drive-Thru Diet
Speaking of fast food, Taco Hell's marketing its "Fresco" menu to dieters who are determined to lose weight as long as they can still keep their daily appointment with a Burrito Supreme and a fistful of hot sauce packets. I love that Taco Bell's legal department forced them to put disclaimers on everything, pointing out that the "Drive-Thru Diet" isn't actually a diet. It's "not a weight loss program," Taco Bell confesses. Fresco products "are not a low calorie food," and the results achieved by its spokesmodel Christine "aren't typical." But it's catchy, and it worked for Subway! (Until Jared got fat again.)
4. Ad Age: What The Weight-Loss Biz Has In Store For 2010
I love the fact that Ad Age includes not just Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers in its round-up of "some of the bigger players" in the weight loss industry, but also Planters, Jell-O and Dunkin' Donuts. Why Dunkin' Donuts? Because it's going to make egg whites available in its breakfast sammitches (which, of course, you can wash down with a 630-calorie Chocolate Chip Muffin). And why Planters? Because like Jon Gosselin, Mr. Peanut's taking up yoga.
5. The New Age Cavemen and the City
Thanks to Boingboing and Yacine for pointing me in the direction of this article, which describes hipster paleo enthusiasts in New York City who eat "large quantities of meat and then fast[ ] between meals to approximate the lean times that his distant ancestors faced between hunts," and exercise by "scooting around the underbrush on all fours, leaping between boulders, [and] playing catch with stones." Why? "[T]o replicate how a prehistoric person might have fled from a mastodon," of course.
We went to a dinner party last night where we ate tons of meat from a variety of different animals -- all cooked over open flames in an outdoor wood-burning fireplace. Does that count?
