Half and Half

This is the time of year when people make an effort to change their ways. I am not a resolution-maker, but I support anyone who is trying to live a better, healthier, more mindful life. I'm kind of a lazy-ass myself, though I'm pretty sure this isn't a revelation to any of you who visit on a regular basis. I don't exercise in any regimented way; the idea of going to a room full of other people and getting all sweaty and grunty just doesn't compute for me. It might be nice to have a treadmill or stair-climber in the basement, but those things tend to be kind of expensive, and also tend to go unused.

Working in consumer health publishing, I tend to see the same advice over and over in our publications: be more active, pay attention to what you eat, don't smoke. There is no denying that following these basic guidelines will help most people lead longer, healthier lives. After a while even an indifferent sloth like me gets the message. While hardly living what I'd consider a virtuous lifestyle, I've been able to make some positive changes in my habits and behavior.

Being a public-transit commuter means that I spend a portion of each day walking. I enjoy walking, and I often try to add some extra steps to my day (it's more difficult to keep up with this consistently in winter, but shoveling snow is good exercise too). If I leave work and there is no train or bus approaching, I will start walking up Huntington Avenue; occasionally I end up walking all the way to Ruggles station. When I'm entering or leaving a station, I always use the stairs. At work I always use the stairs, and I add steps by going to a higher floor to use the restroom (an idea I got from someone else who works here).

With regard to diet, I started paying more attention to what I ate, and to my total food intake over the course of a day. I've always had a taste for snacks, and that is probably the hardest thing to deal with. It's easier to cut back than to eliminate them completely, and I've also been substituting nuts for chips, things like that. We buy hummus and I eat it with either tortilla chips (which are not quite as bad for you as regular potato chips) or pita chips (which are expensive, but are a much better deal at BJ's than at most other stores). We used to buy ice cream regularly at the supermarket; now I try to hold off and enjoy it once in a while at places like Richardson's, because it's much less of a temptation if it's not in the house to begin with.

I eat oatmeal or a whole-grain cereal for breakfast, with 1% milk (we used to buy 2%). I love fruit, but I don't eat enough of it, so I need to try to work that into the morning. I used to eat a big sandwich every day; now I eat salad for lunch almost every day. I concentrate on things like broccoli, chickpeas or kidney beans, olives, tuna, and other choices that have real nutritional value. And I don't negate the nutritional worth of those veggies by covering my salad in ranch dressing; as much as I love it, I stay away from it and use the Greek dressing instead. It's olive oil-based and lighter, while still being flavorful. I never drink soda; I fill a one-liter bottle with water each day at work, and finish it by the time I leave, and I have probably another liter at home each night. (I'm pretty sure I will never get a kidney stone.)

About a month ago I got on the scale after not having checked my weight for a long time. To my surprise I had lost five pounds. All these little things had added up to a subtraction. But there's one thing that I know is bad for me that I can't possibly give up: cream for my coffee. I didn't know what half and half was until I was probably 17 or 18, because it had never been brought into our house. If you wanted to put a dairy liquid into your coffee, there was milk in the fridge. (Back then it was whole milk.) But once I'd tasted coffee with cream (most likely at Dunkin' Donuts), there was no going back. (I don't use sugar.)

A few months ago, one of my coworkers posted something on the bulletin board about low-fat half and half. I'd always wondered why such a thing didn't exist, especially after the vile fat-free stuff came along. When we went on our next trip to the supermarket, I looked for it, but they didn't have it. I kept looking, and finally last week I found some at the local Foodmaster, so I figured I should try it, if only for research purposes.

The texture and consistency is off. The coffee felt like it wasn't quite thick enough. And then I kept having to add more to get to where I thought the taste was right. Eventually I got to the point where the taste was okay, but it seemed like I was using more than I would have with regular half and half, which kind of defeats the purpose of it. It also costs somewhat more than the regular stuff. I think I'm better off limiting my overall coffee intake each day, as I've been doing for years.