As the song goes, "I start my day with a coffee and I end it with a beer. And in between I wonder what the hell I'm doing here." http://blip.fm/~7ygh0
Actually, it is at least 2 (large) cups of coffee most mornings, and at least one more in the afternoon. And I don't have a beer every single night. Sometimes I have some wine, sometimes a whiskey, and sometimes no alcohol at all. Though, to quote another song, "I never drink in the afternoon, I never drink alone, but I sure do like a drink or two when I get home." http://blip.fm/~81lqm
On the subject of wine, while I like a big red as much as anyone, I'm very fond of good white wine, and I don't get the prejudice so many people have against it. In fact, after a holiday in Provence several years ago, I've been a big fan of good rose (yes, there really is such a thing, and no, white zinfandel doesn't count), especially in the hot weather.
In general, I'm especially a fan of the Bonny Doon Vinyard, which, as befits a winery based in Santa Cruz, specializes in off-beat varieties (including some fun, sweet, dessert wines). I also love Laetitia, down on the Central Coast, which makes some nice reasonably priced Pinor Noir, some top-notch California sparkling wine, and some other yummy stuff.
In vino veritas!
Pretty much the only time that I think, "I need a drink" is when I've been around my family too long and they are deeply exasperating me. However, I'm not sure how much of that is really, "I need to get away from my mother," as she doesn't quite approve of drinking so we generally try to do it when we're not around her.
A cookie a day is a lot of sugar? I would have thought that before college, when I ate almost all my meals at home and wasn't accustomed to the idea of dessert as a standard part of meal rather than something for a special occasion. I also used to think that a day with meals consisting solely of rice and vegetable was just fine. But now I have adopted the concept of a meal as being focused on meat/fish, and ending with a sweet. I do not wonder at how American-cultured Americans get fat; I only wonder that they are not more so.
Yesterday I made beef and lamb kofta with coconut rice and roasted peppers, and only because I was too lazy to bake did we not have blueberry pie. I did, on my own, eat a cookie though, and several graham crackers. Still, given the modest portions that I eat, and the fact that the rest of my diet is made of cereal and milk and fruit (no joke, like 1-2 meals a day) and I exercise a lot, I think portion size/level of activity matter a lot more than what you eat. I could totally do without the cookie a day, and I probably would lose 5 lbs over the course of a month. Unless I binged on cookies or something. See, vices are like controlled substances. A little is better than a lot, but none will make you crave a lot.
I like pinot noir and zinfandel, but want to bang my head against the table after drinking cabernet sauvignon. I need to keep a wine log of things that give me a headache. I forgot whether I dislike shirazes or toscanos or sangioveses for their headachey effect. Seems an expensive way to test whether you react badly to a substance, though.
I don't really consider coffee to be a vice, nor bacon. I drink coffee every weekday, and lately am addicted to iced coffees and sausage mcmuffins from McDonalds. Is not eating fruit a vice? At some point after law school I stopped eating fruit. It's weird.
Occasional cigarettes and drinking, only in social situations.
I'm trying to cut back on Diet Coke, it can't be good for you.
A meal a day of cereal, milk and fruit is also the American-culture standard, at least judging by the Cheerios box (and taking that as seriously as the government does).
I wonder if there is a common factor among the wines that give you a headache, whether it's level of tannin or alcohol or something. If there is and you can identify it, that might simplify the process a lot.
Man, I love Diet Coke. It's not good for your kidneys or teeth, but man, I love it. I can't eat pizza or burgers or have a picnic without it. I recently had Crystal Light. It was ok. I am thinking of buying Tang and resurrecting fond childhood memories and possibly pretending to be an astronaught. I am also considering Kool-Aid, although I didn't grow up with that one.
I eat a lot of cereal. I don't really get sick of it, the way I would turkey sandwiches (the other grad student staple). I eat cereal every day, sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times a day. It helps to buy different types. Right now I have Raisin Bran and Honey Nut Cheerios open, in rotation will be Honey Bunches of Oats.
I like fruit. I eat lots of fruit. I only recently heard of people who do not like fruit and do not regularly eat fruit. Maybe it's because I grew up with a ton of fruit, always cut up and ready to eat (it was my only after school snack). But to this day, I have to force myself to eat vegetables, despite that being a part of my diet growing up too. I guess I just have a sweet tooth!
I'm pretty sure that I'd want to insist that most of these are perfectly licit substances!
As for cereal, I don't eat it that much because my wife doesn't like it (she didn't eat it growing up at all, I think) but I highly recommend Nature's Way Flax Plus. Only very slightly sweet and tasty. It claims to be healthy. You can tell it's for yuppies because of they way it says it's sweetened with "cane juice", as if that were not sugar. (It's not refined, or as refined, I guess, but still.) You can get it at Trader Joe's and probably other places.
I eat cereal every day, sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times a day. It helps to buy different types.
Yes! I'm definitely at the extreme but right now I have 7 boxes of opened cereal that I rotate through. I don't know how other people eat the same cereal every single morning, it'd be like eating the same turkey sandwich and orange every day at lunch.
Cereal is definitely one of my favorite snacks. Cheerios with bananas and honey. Any kind of crunchy granola or muesli. Corn flakes, again with bananas. Raisin bran. Wheetabix. I don't much like the very sugary varieties, though as a kid, and well into college, I was addicted to Cap'n Crunch.
I have a very bad habit of eating multiple bowls at night; I've tried to cut this out as part of my ongoing weight loss regime.
Belle Lettre,
When I had a pet rabbit, I used to keep more raw veggies in the house, and for a while I was really trying to eat more celery. After you force down a stalk of celery, carrots taste like candy.
Mmmmmm, bacon. Is that a vice? If so, it's mine. I probably have bacon at least once a week, and on mornings after a long run I'm all about a big plate of the bacon & eggs. Best breakfast evah.
Beer is right up there with bacon, but I only enjoy it once a week, maybe twice (if there's a weekend party). I like wine less but will drink it. I prefer the reds, especially cabs, but like you they aren't kind to me. Whenever I drink cab I sleep really sweaty and wake up every hour or so, then I feel like crap the next day. Someone told me it's probably the tannins. So I stick with Pinot Noir these days.
I used to drink a 20 oz. Diet Coke every day; now at most I'll take a few sips from a can on random occasions. I admit that it's refreshing and awesome, but I need only think of how bad it is for the system and any craving just dies.
Ever since I started taking magnesium years ago, sugar cravings are gone. Gone. I can eat it, but not in any meaningful way-- it tastes too sweet. Plus, I need only think of how bad it is for my immune system and I can easily turn away from it. I've never been a sit-down-with-a-pint-of-ice-cream person; the very idea grosses me out. I'll take salty snacks over sweets.
I love me a daily Peet's dark roast, decaf in the morning and caffeinated a little later. Like you, though, I can't drink coffee after 3 (although green tea later in the day doesn't seem to keep me up at night.)
Drugs--no (I read Go Ask Alice!), ciggies--ick, chewing tobacco--vomit...
Of all the vice-y things I deliberately avoid, processed food is the one I think would be the worst for me. I'm always thinking of how to best keep my system in balance--blood sugar levels, hormones, immune system, etc. and the things that send that out of whack are just not worth indulging in.
I'm wondering if it's the tannins and sulfites we should avoid, which is why pinot noir is kinder on us.
It would be nice to give up sugar completely, but I don't see that happening. Even the cereals I eat, while not kid's cereals, are pretty sweet. Occasionally I get "enough!" of the sweet stuff and crave an egg on toast though, or something savory.
Mmmm, bacon.
As a wine lover and headache sufferer, the problem of red wine-induced headaches is naturally of great concern. Some red wine -- usually bigger varieties like cabernets -- give me awful sinus or migraine-type headaches, sometimes lasting more than 24 hours after drinking just a glass or two. Others have only the more pleasant effects. This certainly has affected my preference toward lighter reds and white, though I'll still risk it with a nice big red to accompany the right meal.
There is surprisingly little medical knowledge about the causes. Sulfites are frequently blamed; but white wine has more sulfites than red, so some argue they are unlikely to be the culprit. Tanins are another commonly identified cause; but there doesn't seem to be any conclusive evidence. More recent theories point to biogenic amines, including histamines and serotonin, which are abundant in red wine (though again, white wine has about the same amount of histamines as red) and believed to trigger headaches (certainly seems to be true in my case -- Vitamin P has the nice effect of seeming to keep my headaches at bay). Most likely, it is a combination, which would help explain why different people experience different reactions to different wines.
So, the only way to solve the riddle for yourself is to sample and record. Sure, you'll suffer some headaches along the way. But it will be in the name of science!
Bacon, incidentally, also is high in sulfites. But you don't hear people complaining about bacon headaches. Bacon = teh good! If only you could make wine out of it.
It's not wine, eric, but maybe you should check this out:
http://bakonvodka.com/
I've not tried it myself so count vouch for it. I think you should investigate and report back.
I'm not much of a vodka drinker, but that does look worth making an exception for. I'll have to see if the State of North Carolina ABC stores stock it. I'd expect it would go over big here in the Pork State.
Bacon bourbon has become trendy lately; make your own!
Bacon bourbon sounds better to me, but it won't allow you to say you're getting "meat and potatoes" in one glass like the bacon vodka will. That slogan might even help bring back the 3 martini lunch, if you get a vodka martini, at least.
Dude, bacon flavored drinks is just wrong! Bacon saturation! There's an ice cream place in the city that sells prosciutto ice cream. I don't think I like the idea.
I don't see coffee as a vice! maybe because i drink it everyday, thrice a day at most. I got hooked during law school and now I have this psychological need to have one cup in order to feel awake.
bacon is more rare in my case. but its only because i try not to eat pork at all, if i can.
I gave up coffee once, toward the end of law school. I was worried that I'd have trouble making it through the bar exam without being able to drink coffee, so I decided to detox ahead of time. That lasted a year, then I went on vacation to France, where I started drinking coffee (and smoking cigarettes -- Gauloises = teh yummm) again.
I remember doing a "hands-on" lab where we decided the best way to determine the worst alcohol hangovers was picking out all the obvious bad things for you in a drink and just summing them up, rather than worrying about specifically what was giving you that hangover. There was a pretty byzantine weighting scheme that tried to take into account that some generally classes of chemicals were more toxic than others and their likelihood to react to become something more toxic, but the deep specifics would be a lifetime of research, and to a good extent it was probably glorified number fudging.
After all, the taste of the alcohol is a pretty good rough indicator of how your hangover is going to go down. In really practical laboratory terms, it amounted to, "Holy crap that's a lot of peaks on the GCMS, who's brave enough to drink that?"
And. Bacon. The night I gave up mammal, the next morning I was merrily frying bacon and as just as it began to sizzle, I recalled my resolution, and I don't know if I can properly describe the mental anguish of having just made delicious bacon, with all the sensual cues of wafting bacony scent, sizzling pops of grease, backed up by having imagined for the past few minutes how wonderful it'll be going down into you gullet, and then faced with the quiet despair that you're going to have to throw it away lest you fail your resolution on the first goddamn day.
There's also a beer whose name I forget, served at the West Side Brewery in NY, that vegetarians have alleged comes pretty close to substituting for bacon.
Food scientists: Unsung heroes of vegetarians everywhere.
Nobody here snorts coke, takes E, or even smokes dope? I thought this blog was based in California?
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