The mighty coconut

I'd like to give props to the coconut. 

• Ex-boyfriend / now friend that I cooked with a lot this summer (the one that I was gushing about back in June) cooks with coconut oil, which is awesome, and I totally picked up that technique. 
• According to the jar, you can use coconut oil as a moisturizer/lotion (and pretend like you're on a tropical island - not sweet enough to be that Malibu Rum/stripper smell)! 
• And last night, I made a vegetable curry with coconut milk. 
• And I've been reading about how coconut milk is a fantastic sports & recovery drink. 

Anyway... if you can get your hands on a jar of coconut oil, it's good stuff. I found it to be cheaper than olive oil and it adds a nice flavor to veggies. (though I can buy California olive oil and this is, unfortunately, definitely not local)

I want one of these.

Talk about knowing your customer. What is something that sucks about riding your bike to meet friends out for dinner? Needing a place to store your lock, wallet, keys, bike lights - sometimes your standard purse won't cut it... and sometimes dudes don't have enough room in their pockets (you know, especially if they're opting for skinny jeans).

Enter the Velopocket, from Hambone Designs. Attach your bag to your bike! Now, this won't solve my "where do I put my heels when I need to ride in flats" or "it's warm now, but this is SF - it will be 30 degrees colder once the sun sets" kind of issues. But for a simple evening out, this is a very stylish, bike-centric option that makes me smile. Mutliple fabric options and some that look like sleek, industrial style clutches - and another that has a purse strap.

Website here.

Etsy link here.

The three (four) Rs...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I think that the order of that little phrase is really important. I'd also add Repurpose.

Step 1 - reduce your waste and consumption in general. Reduce packaging (buy in bulk, look for alternatives), reduce your purchases (do you really need another xyz?). Stop taking plastic silverware and plastic bags from stores and restaurants. This cuts down on the actual "stuff" that's out there.

Step 2 - reuse. You know how you wash your clothes and reuse them? Kind of the same thing here. Could you put your lunch in a washable container, rather than a single-use plastic bag? Think about your purchases and buy products that are reusable.

Step 2.5 - re-purpose. What can you do with an old shoebox? Recycle it, yes... or use it to hold craft supplies, or receipts or something. You're reducing (by not buying something new) and reusing! Think about using food bags - like the ones for bread or frozen vegetables - instead of a new Ziploc to hold your snacks. (Or as poop bags for dogs and cats!)

Step 3 - when you can't reduce or reuse, recycle. Glass, plastic, metals, paper. Take the tops off of bottles and jars - it makes it easier for sorting at the recycling center.

Great article on recycling a plastic water bottle vs getting (preferably, BPA free!) reusable water bottle here.

Performance. It's the name of the game.

bike helmet replacement

Good little PSA from the team at RoadBikeRider -

Helmet Replacement

What's the matter? Your helmet is several seasons old but appears to be in good condition. However, even though you haven't damaged it in a crash or with rough treatment, you've heard that helmets lose some of their protective ability as they age. You're wondering if you should junk this skid lid and buy a new one.

Here's help: It's often recommended that a helmet worn frequently should be replaced every 3 years or so. The reason is that the foam degrades due to sun, heat, salty sweat and other environmental factors, added to the usual knocks of regular cycling activity. These things make the foam unable to provide full protection in the event of a head impact.

A helmet should certainly be replaced after it's smacked in a crash or even dented by a hard drop.

However, some experts (presumably those not working for helmet companies) maintain that a helmet will do the job no matter what its age as long as it's undamaged. In their view, there is no age limit.

There's no arguing, though, that buying a new helmet every 3 years will keep you current with comfort and safety features as well as style.

It's remarkable the improvements we've seen in helmet lightness, ventilation and fit. Almost every new model has a "cradle" for the lower rear of the head. This makes a helmet more stable on bumps and rough roads, and it'll stay in place better when the reason for wearing a helmet is happening.

You can find big savings on some of this year's helmets when next year's models are introduced. Check bike shops and catalogs, find the price and style you like, then wear that nice new helmet on every ride you take.

Bright Eyes. The Flow Chart Version.

I freakin love this shizz. There are some creative folks out there and the innerwebs allows us to enjoy the fru-its of their labor.

Also, if you've never seen a literal video, go spend some time on YouTube, or check out this Top 4 list (Take On Me is my fave).

while i'm on this posting roll...

twitter. yes, no?

Could your next flight be a little greener?

Fuck yeah!

Thanks for posting this, Treehugger. Though, I was surprised that the "urban woody green waste, such as yard clippings" are made into "Synthetic Diesel" instead of biodiesel. Wikipedia helps define the two - basically, it's a process difference. Synthetic diesel is made using non-oil, organic mater using a gasification technique and the Fischer-Tropsch process and biodiesel (starts from bio-oil) follows the transesterfication process.

8 US Airlines to Use Synthetic Diesel Made from Plant Waste

by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 08.18.09

Photo via CDN

Good news for alternative fuel fans--eight major US airlines have just signed a deal to use 1.5 million gallons of synthetic diesel made from plant waste.

The synthetic diesel will be used for ground-service transportation at LAX, starting in 2012. According to Greenwire, the fuel, made by Rentech Inc, will "be made primarily from urban woody green waste such as yard clippings." Rentech will evidently begin mass producing the fuel at a plant in California to satisfy the demand.

Greenwire continues:

The Air Transport Association of America, the domestic industry trade group that joined Rentech in announcing the deal, called the purchasing agreement the first of its kind and said it could signal an industrywide move toward using lower-carbon fuels.

This could indeed prove to be a good segue to adding synthetic jet fuels to the airlines' fuel diets as well--a product that Rentech also manufactures.

So who's buying the green fuels? Anybody who's anybody in the US airline industry it seems, despite a glaring omission or two (no Jet Blue?). Here's the list:

Using the renewable fuel will be American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and UPS Airlines.

Anyhow, a small step in the right direction here.

Time's article - Exercise & Weight Loss

I've seen a couple of commentary pieces on Time's article,Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin, by John Cloud (9 August 2009). People have been touting their weight loss and increased fitness achieved by incorporating exercise into their diet plans... agreeing that the trip to the gym gives them a free pass to indulge in high calorie foods... and saying that exercise - regardless of the weight loss outcome - should be encouraged for the cardiovascular and mental fitness benefits.

Personally? Uh, yeah. Exercise isn't making me thin. I ride my bike to work every day and I exercise 5-7 days a week. Some of that is pretty long, or intense - track workouts on Tuesdays and long bike rides on the weekend come to mind first. And my weight? It's even climbing a little, now that I'm in my 30s. I do LOOK fit (and am, damnit), but I do not look, or feel, thin.

Now I'm trying to actually look thinner* - and it's challenging! I have a huge appetite. Mostly for healthy foods, but I like my desserts and drinks. As pointed out in the article,

"After we exercise, we often crave sugary calories like those in muffins or in "sports" drinks like Gatorade. A standard 20-oz. bottle of Gatorade contains 130 calories. If you're hot and thirsty after a 20-minute run in summer heat, it's easy to guzzle that bottle in 20 seconds, in which case the caloric expenditure and the caloric intake are probably a wash. From a weight-loss perspective, you would have been better off sitting on the sofa knitting.

Many people assume that weight is mostly a matter of willpower — that we can learn both to exercise and to avoid muffins and Gatorade. A few of us can, but evolution did not build us to do this for very long. In 2000 the journal Psychological Bulletin published a paper by psychologists Mark Muraven and Roy Baumeister in which they observed that self-control is like a muscle: it weakens each day after you use it. If you force yourself to jog for an hour, your self-regulatory capacity is proportionately enfeebled. Rather than lunching on a salad, you'll be more likely to opt for pizza. "

Good think I'm taking up knitting. Now I just need to get a sofa ;)

Seriously. While I'm not opting for pizza again and again, as the author implies, I will eat something that's probably calorically equivalent - though whole grains, veggies, good proteins, etc.
...............
Anyway, this article is well-timed for me, as it is a good reminder that it really is all about calories IN! I've been loosely tracking my eating habits and am moving towards a more calculated approach, using the iPhone app "Lose it!". I'll be essentially counting calories - which means measuring portions (ugh). However, I'm not doing it for non-starchy fruits and veggies. Just because I'm lazy. It'd be nice to have this stuff in there for the nutritional info (vitamins, minerals, etc), but I don't really care about the 10 calories in a cup of lettuce.

Thoughts? Advice? Experiences to share?

*I want to be thinner NOW while I'm in my early 30s because I don't think that it'll get any easier as I get older. And I would like to keep the (genetically hopeless cause) cellulite at bay. And I really want to be a faster triathlete. And I want to wear skinny jeans. And I want to test the "Looking good is the best revenge" theory at an event in October. And I mean thinner like athlete-thin, not model-thin.

do the honeydew

poor honeydew melon. often it's the leftovers of the fruit salad, or the remainder of the melon trio.

i wouldn't have even considered purchasing one on friday, except that i got a delicious honeydew in my veggie box (www.farmfreshtoyou.com/) a few weeks ago and it was lovely. so i bought one because they were on sale at my market and OMG - seriously, ate half of it when i got back from a ride+run. not just because i was hungry, mind you, but because it was sweet, juicy and delicious.

see if you can buy an organic one near you! i didn't refrigerate mine, which may have added to the flavor a little.