Fish Heads at Ein Gev November 9, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: Ein Gev, humus, Israel, Peter, Sea of Galilee, The Bible
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After our detour in the Golan Heights, we headed south along the east side of the Sea of Galilee to a little port village of Ein Gev, maybe 2/3 of the way down the lake. This was a place that served “Peter’s fish”, we were told. We were also warned that it would be served the way Peter would have eaten it to. So, when I got there, I discovered what this meant… The default order at this restaurant was a whole tilapia. Head. Tail. Bones. The whole deal. Plus a bunch of sides and salads served family style. Of course, that included pita and humus. (What doesn’t in Israel?!) However, if you felt you couldn’t handle the “Peter Special”, then you could get the head and/or tail removed in the kitchen, or just get fillets (which would be frozen not fresh), or even order a burger or pizza if you really couldn’t take it.
My philosophy… When in Israel, do like Peter did. Plus, the Philippines had numbed my senses. So I’m the only person I know of that ordered the default. And it came out whole, starring at me, and soaked in oil. Normally I like Tilapia, but I’m used to eating it grilled with mango chutney (long live Bone Fish Grill). But if pita and humus comes with every meal in Israel, then oil comes with every dish served at every meal. Sometimes I’m surprised I don’t see people walking around drinking the olive oil out of a glass.
So, I was once again the party guy. Everyone wanted pictures of my whole fish. A guy at my table, pretended to bite the head off his already-decapitated fish for a classic picture pose. I couldn’t be left totally out in the cold without a clever picture, so even though it was a distant second, I posed for cameras kissing mine. Yes, the fish. We made a cute couple. Here’s a picture…
After doing my traditionally poor job of cleaning the bones of my dinner and supplementing it with 3 massive pieces of pita slathered with humus, we were back on the road heading for Capernaum.
Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads……..
The End of a Long Day in Israel November 8, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: Israel
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Location: At the hotel in Tiberius
After Nazareth, we drove to Tiberias and checked into the Sheraton there. Nice hotel. Another awesome spread for dinner. I even took pictures this time, after forgetting at both dinner last night and breakfast this morning.
Had dinner with some interesting folks from Harvest, New York, and South Carolina. We got into a brief political discussion that I regretted immediately. I’m really working hard on avoiding investing time and energy in the things of this world like the death of Capitalism. My concern is for the gospel and the church and what’s going to happen to both as the politics and economics of the world change. I want to, increasingly, leave God in charge of governments and fiscal policies. That’s not at all my call.
We added a few other folks and wandered around downtown few an hour or so as well tonight. That was interesting. It had a first world feel to it. Lots of women’s clothing stores. I saw nothing exciting to get for souvenirs. I think that kind of shopping will likely be in Jerusalem at the end of the week. But it was fun to just explore. And I got a Diet Coke, so that was good. 
No Pepsi here, though. 
And the best part of my day… I wrapped it up with a call to my family to talk to my lovely wife and son, and to wish my dad a happy birthday. He turned 39 for the umpteenth time today. How funny that I caught them at the Dragon Palace after church! And what’s even funnier is that I knew they were there as I was dialing the phone. Some things just don’t change. Rock on!
I love them and really miss them, but this has definitely already been an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Better get some sleep.
Footnote… WOW! I’m sitting in the lobby writing this, and James just walked in the door, fresh in from a marriage conference in LA. That man must not sleep. God love him! Will be praying for him in the morning, that’s for sure.
Tel Megiddo November 8, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Bible Stories, Food, Philosophy and Religion, Travel.Tags: archeology, Armageddon, Israel, Megiddo, The Bible, Valley of Jezreel
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Megiddo is an area at the other end of the Valley of Jezreel from Mount Carmel. The word “tel” is Hebrew for “hill”. This is a high hill overlooking the Valley of Armageddon, a word derived from the word “Megiddo”. There we saw an archeological site which revealed 26 layers of history dating back to 4,000 BC. To give perspective, King David’s reign in the golden age of Israel was layer 16.
We saw the ruins of several cities which had been built on top of each other. One of the most amazing layers (can’t remember who built this) involved a somewhat unique system used to bring fresh water into the city. A fresh water source existed outside the city walls. They dug a hole about 100 feet deep inside the city, then they dug a tunnel through the rock like 200 feet from the water source to the bottom of the vertical hole, sloping from the source to the hole. Then they camouflaged the entrance to the tunnel.
So, the water flowed down the tunnel, and all they had to do was bucket the water up the vertical hole which was now basically a well. And when enemies besieged the city, they didn’t know this water was accessible to those inside the city, so it made them able to last much longer in the siege. Genius.
The reason so many layers existed here was that this is some of the most contested land in the whole world. It is so highly contested because it is at a major cross roads between the Via Mares (the intercontinental bridge between Africa and Europe) and the road through the Golan Heights to Damascus and beyond into Asia. Here’s a picture of the Via Mares of today:
Before embarking to explore any of this, though, we sat down for lunch. It was awesome. Pita with several kinds of meats and veggies. Simple, but I absolutely loved it. So far the food has been absolutely outstanding on this trip.
Even breakfast was exciting November 8, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: birth order, breakfast, Israel
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Location: On the bus, ready to go
We got up and after dinner the night before (which blew my mind), my expectations for breakfast were a little higher than they probably should have been. But it too was amazing. There were breads and cheeses, croissants, lots of fish, vegetables, fruit, cereal, eggs, and of course lots of stuff I didn’t recognize.
Jace and I tried to get a green bus table together in order to meet some of the folks who would be riding on our bus (there were 5 buses, all color-coordinated), but that didn’t work. Nobody had been on that bus together yet, so there was no bonding to create the table.
Instead, a family from the red bus joined us – parents, son, and daughter. I was thinking, “Wow, that’s expensive, but how cool to do this trip as a family!”. The son (16) Ross wants to be a UN translator someday. He says his first 2 languages he wants to learn are Farsee (an Arabic language) and Korean. He was an impressive kid I expect I’ll be reading about someday. The daughter (15) was so obviously a second child, and lived in the shadow of the first. She didn’t know what she wanted, was quiet and shy in her (almost) responses to my questions. Her dad even teased her about wanting to go to the mall when I asked what she was looking forward to the most on the trip. I felt sorry for her and wanted to help her, but of course no way to do that. Instead, much later, when Linday McCaul (our worship leader) showed up, I asked her if she’d make an effort to interact with / invest in this young girl. Lindsay is a 26 year old single woman who is absolutely amazing in her heart for God, so I figured it would be a good thing for her to have this young woman on her radar.
Knowing that our next hotel was in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, and that we wouldn’t be returning to the Tel Aviv airport until our departure, we were up at 6, bags in the hall and breakfast at 7, and on the bus ready to head north by 8.
Humus, Baby! November 7, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: humus, Israel, Mediterranean food
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Location: In my hotel room in Tel Aviv
As we gathered in the lobby for instructions from the tour guides upon arrival at the hotel, they told us that dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning would be a buffet setting at the hotel. Dinner at 6:30PM. As I mentioned in a previous post, between getting settled in the room and dinner, we had taking a stroll along the Mediterranean sea. By the time 6:30 rolled around, I was starving! I was excited that dinner would be a buffet, but I didn’t really know what to expect.
We walked into the dining room and were greeted by a wall of food. I should have taken a picture, but didn’t. (Sorry! Maybe I’ll get breakfast.) There was chicken, fish, lamb, potatoes, green beans, a whole table full of salads, a table of breads, and a table of desserts. And of course, the humus. It was awesome! I had two big pretzel-like rolls and at least two big tablespoons of humus. I could have eaten that stuff for my whole meal.
A group of people from Harvest was good enough to invite me to sit with them, so that I didn’t sit alone. I was the only one at the table without my spouse, but I had a great time listening to all their banter back and forth. It was fun, and I very much appreciated their hospitality. Here’s a picture of our table.
Upon leaving, I had to sample the gelato. I tried the mango and the pineapple, and they were awesome. At the end of my first evening in Israel, I have to conclude that the food is AWESOME. I just wish Faith was here to share it with me. She too would be in heaven.
A Few Things I’ve Learned about Health, Nutrition and Weight Loss April 17, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Health and Fitness.Tags: diet, fitness, gym, heath, weight loss
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Yesterday, I did my final weigh-in for the Weight Loss Challenge at my local gym, where I’ve been a member for the last 18 months. When I joined the gym in September 2007, I weighed 305lbs – the most I’ve ever weighed in my life. This morning, I weighed in at 242.2lb, and I’m still working my way toward my goal of 235lbs … what I weighed when I graduated high school.
This morning, I had breakfast with my beautiful wife and son at one of our favorite breakfast places. I ordered a veggie omelette made with egg whites, vegetables, no oil, and no cheese. It comes with hash browns, which I got dry (no oil used) and pancakes (which I got with blueberries at Faith’s request). It’s almost impossible to get healthy pancakes at a restaurant (I make them with 110 calories and 1g of fat ech, but restaurant pancakes have 5x that much fat easily per pancake), so it was all about what she and John wanted, since I knew I wouldn’t be eating them. Oh, and I had water to drink. (Orange juice is 110 cal and a tiny bit of fat per 8oz glass, so if I don’t really want it, I don’t drink it – plus, I’ve learned to drink lots of water.)
I pushed away from the table having eaten about 2/3 of the omelette and hash browns, and thought I should write down a few things I’ve learned on this journey. So, here I am. I thought I’d share a few principles I’ve assimilated along the journey to being far more healthy. None of this is rocket science, but it is worth talking about. Knowledge is important, but discipline is by far the most important factor in doing almost anything hard … and if you’re like me, losing weight is VERY hard.
Lessons / Principles for Healthy Living and Weight Loss
1) You’re eating a lot more than you need. Stop.
I discovered that I wasn’t just eating a little more than I should or “not watching portion control”. I used to eat 3-4 times what I do now. The omelette I had this morning would have been a 4 egg omelette (that’s just what they do). I had it with egg whites only, so it was probably double that. Plus, a cup of hash browns. Plus, three pancakes like 6″ in diameter. A couple years ago, I would have eaten ALL of it, plus had a big glass of OJ, plus sampled others’ food at the table. I know, I did that. That’s just crazy! One trick I like is to order a to-go container WITH your meal in restaurants. The second your meal gets there, cut it in half and put half in the to-go container. Your dollars stretch twice as far, and your pants stop stretching.
2) Your stomach / appetite will adjust to smaller portions. Give it time.
Now that I’ve eaten less per meal for a while, my stomach and appetite have adjusted. I was really too full after breakfast this morning, having eaten a third of what the “old me” would have eaten. But you have to be patient. In the beginning, you have to stop before your full. But now, I don’t.
3) Eat smaller, more frequent meals.
Rather than giant meals that put you to sleep, eat small meals, and eat more of them. I eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. Don’t snack at night though; it’s better to go to bed hungry.
Interesting Fact #1: Water actually fills you up. If your hungry, drink a lot of water. Not only will it put something in your stomach, but it will flush toxins out of your system.
4) Write down everything you eat, including calories and fat
This may be the single best thing I did to help with controlling what I eat. I have a spreadsheet in which I write down every single thing that I eat, and I use online nutrition databases to estimate the number of calories and the amount of fat in each thing. This means that you have to intentionally determine portion sizes, intentionally write things down, intentionally learn what the food you’re eating has in it, etc. Notice that it’s all about intentionality, which is the close friend of discipline.
5) Set limits on calorie and fat intake per day.
After writing down everything you eat, it’s easy to sum up what you ingested in calories and fat for the day. Because I was a really big guy, I started with the “super sized” USDA limits of 2500 calories and 80g of fat per day. As I’ve lost weight, I’ve shifted my limits to the normal-sized person limits of 2000 calories and 65g of fat per day. My average for the last 2 months is about 1800 calories and 30g fat per day ….WAY less than the limits. What I really try to target is about 1500 calories and 20g of fat, since I’m still working hard to lose weight. I also try to watch the percentage of fat I take in. 1g of fat has 9 calories, so if you eat 1800 calories and 25g of fat, then 25*9 or 225 calories are from fat. This is 12.5% of your caloric intake for the day … very good! I generally want my fat intake to be less than 20% of total calories. These simple limits have dramatically helped me to discipline myself and lose weight.
6) Ignore the stupid standards on weight and BMI
Two years ago, when I weighed 305, a doctor told me that the BMI (body mass index) charts dictated that I should weigh 185lbs. I laughed and told him that my skeleton weighs 185lbs. Those charts are absolutely ridiculous. I’m running out of places to pinch now, and I’m still at about 240. I can’t imagine losing ANOTHER 55lbs. That’s crazy. And I just crossed from “obese” to “overweight” on the BMI chart at 250lbs. Crazy! Every person is different. I put about ZERO stake in these indices to indicate health.
Interesting Fact #2: Every pound of lean muscle mass you add to your body increases your resting metabolic rate by 50. This means that your body will burn 50 calories more per day even if you’re asleep.
7) EXERCISE!!!!!
Here’s the part nobody wants to hear. Just eating better alone will likely not get it done for you (although of course it’s a great thing). You need to get your heart rate up and put on lean muscle, not just get rid of fat. That doesn’t mean becoming a body builder, but it does mean burning more calories and making your body (muscles) work more. That’s the way to be healthy, simple as that. Here’s what I recommend as the minimum, then build from there. Three times a week, do aerobic exercise. Get your heart rate over 160 for 30 minutes. That’s the bare minimum. After that, add situps or crunches after your aerobic workout. After that, add simple free weights on the off days. You’re not becoming a body builder; you’re just toning muscle. So, do 3 sets of 12-15 reps each. Pick a weight that makes it hard for you to finish the 3rd set. That’s it. You don’t even have to join a gym. Just get your activity up, focused on having an accelerated heart rate for a half hour and on a lot of reps.
8 ) Don’t skip meals. Don’t starve yourself. You’ll GAIN weight.
Here’s the deal. When you just stop eating, your body will canibolize ANYTHING to get energy. That includes muscle. Actually, it will burn muscle before it burns fat, in many cases. That’s not good. Plus, when you stop eating, your body goes into conservation mode, slowing down your metabolism to save power. Both these realities work against healthy weight loss. Plus, as you loss muscle (remember our interesting fact about lean muscle mass), your body becomes generally less able to work *for* you in accomplishing your goals.
9) Be patient. Metabolism takes a while to change.
I’ve noticed that everything I do has a delayed effect. It takes about 30 days for my metabolism to change. This means that if I stop exercising and slack off on my diet, I’ll continue to lose weight and burn calories at a decent clip for a couple weeks. It also means that if I start from an “off the wagon” position and get strict again, it’ll take 30 days to see results. Not only that, but I experienced a couple of significant plateaus in this process. The bottom line is that losing weight takes the discipline to keep at it even when you’re not seeing immediate results.
Interesting Fact #3: Every pound of excess fat on your body is an extra mile of blood vessels through which your heart has to pump blood.
I thought I’d have ten, but I can’t think of another one, so I’m just going to stop. If you’re reading this and working hard to lose weight, I applaud you. You CAN do it! Post a comment and let me know how your journey is going. I’d be happy to encourage or offer advise. Maybe I’ll post a before/after picture or two once I get to my target weight (only 7-8 pounds to go).
