How far?

This marks the anniversary of my first year with my Garmin 405cx ( https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=31859). As a training buddy and motivator this tool is worth every cent. I recommended it to a friend of mine, Brian Rinaldi (http://www.remotesynthesis.com/) who also uses it in his fitness training. There is simply no better way to keep a diary of fitness activities. The sleek watch quickly picks up GPS satellites then tracks location, heart rate (assuming you have the monitor on), elevation, calories burned, and bike cadence. I use it for all my road work (cycling) and indoor training.

A nice feature is the Garmin Connect site (http://connect.garmin.com/) that allows me to upload all my training data to their site through the ANT+ wireless connection. Once the data is uploaded I have a permanent record of all my rides (workouts) and a calendar that tracks fitness goals. Call it a 'fitness blog'.

And I can quickly generate a summary of the past years activities:

Count:	227 Activities
Distance:	3,221.48 mi
Time:	376:19:49 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	87,982 ft
Avg Speed:	8.6 mph
Avg HR:	129 bpm
Avg Run Cadence:	--
Avg Bike Cadence:	75 rpm
Calories:	156,565 C

156 thousand calories? If one pound of fat is equivalent to 3000 cals, that equates to 52 pounds of fat. That's a lot of potato chips!

I did trim up quite a bit this past year though. The secret? Diet and exercise - with extra emphasis on the diet. Jan and I both implemented a healthy diet plan that removes virtually all sugar and flour from our diet in combination with a regimen of three meals a day, no snacking, no alcohol - in short: remove the shit from our diets.

Even the term 'diet' is a misnomer. The food that is constantly pushed on us is engineered to ensure our continued cravings. This in turn fattens both us and the wallets of the Industrial Food Corporations.

I predict that in the future (hopefully not to distant), we will look back at images of these times in the same way that we are amazed that in the 1950's doctors smoked in their offices as they discussed healthcare with their patients.

Are you serious!!!

Imaging a time 10-20 years from now seeing images of parents handing a chocolate bar to their children as a reward. Those future parents will grimace in pain as they try to imagine how those child's organs vainly try to handle the massive dose of pure sugars.

This diet contains the types foods that ensure a harmony in our internal chemistry, and only in amounts that can sustain an active lifestyle.

You can call that a diet, or you can call it a return to sanity.