Self-Improvement Week: Diet and Health

Southern Man's views on diet haven't changed much since this post in which he compares the old and new FDA food pyramids and proposes Southern Man's Platter, which is a watered-down Gary Taubes approach (Southern Man won't cut all carbs and starches and go into ketosis but he's pretty careful with them) plus paleo (mostly by snacking on apples and nuts and berries and such rather than dark chocolate). He's stuck with it fairly well, avoiding processed foods (although he sometimes eats some fairly nasty microwave meals for lunch and dinner) and keeping the carbs and starches low (although nachos have recently re-entered his repertoire) and it's helped him maintain his soft diet-and-health goals (don't get fat and stay healthy) but his weight is still a bit higher than he would like. Southern Man lost a fair amount of weight using the low-carb, low-starch approach and the Hungry Man microwave meals and nachos may have to go for a while until he sheds a few more pounds. A long-term goal is to get a water well down at The Land and get a garden started. A hindrance there is that if Southern Man is successful in his ongoing court battle to gain physical custody of Teen Daughter Casa Southern Man will move back to town and The Land will again become a series of weekend projects until she is off to college in five years or so. But the long-term plan is to grow (and eat!) as much as possible out at The Land. He may re-visit the geocache site where he found those wild blackberries a few weeks ago and transplant some to the fenceline this winter and just see what they do.