Losing Weight

Grilling

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Next week I resume normal activities after undergoing a GreenLight laser procedure five weeks ago.

Just prior to the procedure, my resting heart rate was in the mid- to high-50 beats per minute. Two weeks afterward, when I was instructed to just rest, my resting heart rate climbed into the mid-60s.

When I’m out of shape it’s in the mid-70s. When I’m exercising sporadically, it’s in the 60s. And when I’m in good shape it’s in the mid-50’s. That’s where I want it to be all the time.

I resumed light exercise two weeks ago and my resting heart rate is now in the low-60s. I expect to be in the 50s soon.

My hard-to-achieve goal is to drop into the 40s. But this will take intense short intervals of high heart rate training. My general rule is that when I’m running at a pace where I need to take a breath on every step, I’m close to 160 beats per minute. And I will need to do maybe three or four short intervals at this rate to get my heart rate below 50 beats per minute.

In the three weeks after the procedure, I gained five pounds. At my present weight of 202.7 pounds, I’m still up two pounds. But I hope to lose that in a few weeks.

Since we started eating more vegetables a few months ago, we’ve started grilling vegetables. I didn’t realize how tasty vegetables such as corn, eggplant, squash and tomatoes are when grilled with olive oil. In fact, that’s what we’re going to do right now.

When June and I went to visit our friend Judy in Santa Maria, we experienced how their social lives revolved around grilling. We had a nice relaxing time. We’re thinking about how we can redesign our lives to do more of that.

Company News, Eating Locally, Tomatoes

Something New

The other day at the market I spotted something new and it really caught my attention. It was one of those plastic “clamshell” containers from Hamakua Springs and the label said “Vine Ripened Hamakua Gourmet Tomatoes.”

First, let me tell you that when it comes to Hamakua Springs produce, I qualify as a Frequent Eater. Long before I knew or worked with Richard, I discovered Hamakua Springs produce in the supermarket and it’s what I always bought. And since I’ve been working with Hamakua Springs, I’ve been lucky to have enjoyed more great produce—even some that is still in the experimental stages and not yet available in the markets, which is really fun to me.

And I’ve enjoyed a lot of the company’s delicious heirloom tomatoes, which Hamakua Springs has been producing for and selling to restaurants throughout the state. Really enjoyed them.

These clamshells I saw at the market have different combinations of heirloom tomatoes. I bought one with two small, deep red heirlooms and a large, broad, deep orange and yellow one that smells like sunshine and summer and green vines and a grandma’s garden. Inside it’s streaked with red, and its name is “Striped German.” They are Real Tomatoes, unlike the tasteless tomatoes you can buy in the stores—these are exceptionally delicious tomatoes—and that delights me.

The big one is sitting here in front of me as I write, and I’m planning how we’ll enjoy it. Maybe I’ll do what Richard likes to do with his beefsteak tomatoes: Refrigerate it for awhile, and then cut firm, sweet, delicious slices and eat them with a little Hawaiian salt.

We ate the two small red heirlooms with their deep red/purple flesh a couple days ago when we had people over for dinner. I cut them up and put them in a green salad. And even admidst all the pieces of carrot, cucumber, red bell pepper and sugar snap peas, the tomatos stood out. Biting into one meant getting a little burst of incredible flavor. Summer. Memories. (Did you all grow up eating tomatoes out of the garden?)

The big, fat and sometimes funny-looking heirlooms are great for cooking with, Richard has told me. Sometimes I chop them up and cook them in olive oil with some garlic and onion, and a little Hawaiian salt and lemon pepper, and then put that over pasta. That plus a tasty, quick salad and maybe a chunk of good bread makes an easy, delicious dinner, and I love when we eat like that. Healthy, light, good eating with natural ingredients, most of which come from ’round these parts.

I’m going to go put this burst of flavor in the refrigerator now, and all day I’ll anticipate having cold, delicious slices of sweet, ripe tomato with our dinner tonight.

Community, Sustainability

Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods, which has 195 stores in North America and the United Kingdom, has announced that it is opening stores in Hawai‘i. And its website, describing the company’s corporate values, seems to be in line with what we want for Hawai‘i. But I worry that the company may not really understand what it means to be located on islands in the middle of the ocean.

I think that the company’s benefit to life in Hawai‘i will be determined by whether or not it is a positive force in helping Hawaii become a food-sustainable society. In other words, will it support local farmers in a way that increases locally produced food?

We are the most isolated place in the world. If shipping is interrupted for a long time we are doomed. Will Whole Foods help Hawai‘i to become more food secure?

I can point to two supermarkets who have made a major difference in supporting local food producers. Although they also help many other local producers, I can use our own experiences to demonstrate what they do.

Several years ago, Jenai Walls, President of Foodland Supermarkets, and Abel Porter, its Chief Operating Officer, visited our farm. They let us know that it was their personal intent to support local farmers and to support us as we developed our farm business. Soon after, they invited June and me to lunch on O‘ahu to reinforce that commitment.

Subsequently, Jenai wrote a very strong letter in support of our application for a Rural Economic Transition Assistance Hawaii grant. This grant assists businesses in transitioning from a sugar-based economy to a diversified one. That grant was very important in the development of our hydroponic farm operations and I’m sure Jenai’s letter of support was instrumental in our obtaining it.

Recently Foodland Supermarket agreed to help us by marketing our excess bananas during the seasonal high point. This was very significant because if we were had not been able to sell our bananas during that period, we would have been forced to take them out of production, which would have caused a shortage during the next winter period. Because Foodland supported us during such a critical period, we will have adequate volume of bananas next winter.

Foodland’s support allows us to continue to grow our farm business. This is much more than just talk, and demonstrates real support for local agriculture.

Abel Porter, the company’s COO, visited us again last month. He wanted to see how our hydroponic operation was progressing and also to continue to demonstrate Foodland’s commitment to supporting locally grown produce. We showed him some new products in development. He thought some had potential and we will be working with Foodland to bring those products to market.

KTA Superstores is another local market that makes an extra effort to support local suppliers. Its company brand is called Mountain Apple. KTA makes a special effort to source local products. They are always game to try something new.

We have been fortunate over the years because KTA works very closely with us in product development. They advise us on what kind of packaging might work and then give us real time feedback. This gives us a great opportunity to see what works and what does not. KTA has helped us, in a real way, since we first produced bananas more than 30 years ago.

Recently we took a mainland trip with Derek Kurisu, KTA’s legendary Vice President of Operations. He showed us how some of the Napa Valley wine operators market their products. He took us to see how value-added salad dressing was manufactured—the kind one finds in the Williams Sonoma catalog. And we saw how value-added fresh cut fruit is packaged and processed. This was a very valuable, educational experience.

From our perspective, Foodland Supermarkets and KTA Superstores do a lot to help Hawai‘i become self-sufficient in terms of food. It’s a complex issue, but both of these companies do more than most to try to make this work.

We’ll see what happens when Whole Foods enters our Hawai‘i market. I am hopeful it will be a positive for our local farmers and other food producers. I’ll revisit this subject here on the blog after they’ve been in Hawai‘i awhile and we can see how things are unfolding.

Health, Losing Weight

Fitness vs. Fatness

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It’s been more than a year since I started writing about my attempt to lose weight and become more fit.

I have since learned that fitness and weight loss are two different things.

Which one is more important? Fitness is more important than fatness.

From runnersworld.com:

Steven Blair, Ed.D., of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, agrees. “Fitness, not fatness, is the more important issue.” He bases his conclusions on years of research, conducted at the Cooper Institute, studying the relationship of cardiorespiratory fitness to mortality in men grouped by Body Mass Index (BMI).

That work has shown similar death rates among men of all BMI levels who were moderately or very fit. But the death rates were significantly higher among men with low fitness levels, regardless of their BMI. (Women were not included in this study due to a limited sample size, Blair says, but “we would expect to see similar results.”)

The most important thing I have learned: Don’t get discouraged if you do not achieve your weight loss goals. Just keep on working on your fitness goals. Then revisit your weight loss goals.

I have used resting heart rate as an indicator of my fitness status. I know from past experience that my resting heart rate is around 75 beats per minute when I am out of shape, in the mid-60s when I’m in moderate physical shape, and in the high- to mid-50s when I’m in very good shape.

My goal is to maintain my resting heart rate in the 50s. With imaginative exercise I can achieve this regardless of my body weight. It does take exercising at a high heart rate for short periods of time. Long slow walking does very little to achieve a low resting heart rate.

My resting heart rate this morning was 61. This is not bad considering my doctor has instructed me to take it easy for six weeks following a GreenLight Laser Procedure.

I’m slowly beginning to exercise again. So far, so good.

Books, Eating Locally

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

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I read this New York Times review of the new Barbara Kingsolver book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and knew it would be interesting. From the review’s first paragraph:

“A few years ago, the novelist Barbara Kingsolver packed her husband and two daughters into a car and left their home in Tucson for good, resettling on a farm in southern Appalachia. Their intention was to spend a year of their new rural life eating only what they could grow themselves or buy from local suppliers. The plan was no whim. Kingsolver and her husband, Steven L. Hopp, a biologist who teaches environmental studies, had been raising fruit and vegetables at Hopp’s farm every summer since they met.”

Great author, really interesting topic — and it’s the sort of thing that’s really on my radar since I’ve gotten to know Richard Ha and Hamakua Springs. It reminds me of our recent interview with Andrea Dean, who did something similar here on the Big Island. I got the book and just started reading. Will report back on how it is!

Family News

Music Man

Richard and June were thrilled to watch their grandson Kapono Pa star in the Kamehameha Schools musical “The Music Man” last month. He played Mayor Shinn.

“I auditioned for the role of Harold,” he says, “but there was pretty much no one else who could play the role of mayor the way I played Harold. I had the really loud voice and I could yell a lot, which was basically my role—to yell at everyone.”

Richard and June say their grandson Kapono Pa has always been a performer.

“When he was five years old he would cut small pieces of colored paper into confetti,” says Richard. “He’d throw it into the air to mark the entrance of whichever make believe character was about to enter our living room, knowing full well that he would have to pick up all the bits of paper.
   

“And when he was about 10,” he says, “he used our video camera to make hilarious video productions with his sister Kimberly.”

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Kapono says his grandparents were proud of him for his performance in The Music Man. “They didn’t know I could act like that,” he says. “I don’t think any of my family knew I was capable of that. Yelling and screaming. I never rehearsed at home so they didn’t have any idea what my character was about.”

The Kamehameha Schools student, who will be a senior this year, wrote about the experience of acting in The Music Man for his college applications. “It was one of the bigger things I did this year,” he says, “and I am extremely proud I did it.

“At first I was afraid I wasn’t going to get a part,” he says. “For the audition you had to first learn a dance, even if you weren’t going to be dancing. You had to learn a dance in 15-20 minutes, then go to the front of the room and perform it in front of everybody in the room. We’d get a scene out of the musical and have 15-20 minutes to examine it, study it and bring your own character into it.”

June, who loves musicals, has always given Kapono CDs from musicals.  “Last year we took Kapono and went to New York City,” says Richard, “and we took in The Color Purple, Chicago, Phantom and The Producers.”

Kapono says going to New York City really inspired him in terms of acting. “We went to see all those big famous plays everybody hears about. It got me to thinking that I really like this. It’s not a normal thing everybody gets to do, so if you get a chance do it….”

“I’m ready for next year,” he says. “I want to do it again already.”

While he really enjoys acting, and hopes to do more of it, his college plans are to study business and entrepreneurship. “So when it’s my turn to take over the farm,” he says, “I’m ready.”  — posted by Leslie Lang

Losing Weight

Keeping It Light

Richard Ha writes:

I’m back lifting light weights and getting in some aerobics training. I have three more weeks to take it easy before I can go back to the gym and start lifting weights seriously again.

In the meantime, I’m doing a routine that is ideal for someone who wants to strengthen his or her cardiovascular system. It goes like this: On an elliptical or treadmill do a one lap warm up—six minutes or so. Then do a warm up set of ten reps of light curls, dumbbell front laterals, side laterals, cable pull down and crunches. Move from one to the next smoothly. Then get back on the elliptical or treadmill and do another lap at a moderate speed. Go back to the dumbbells and repeat the cycle at 10 reps.

I do four cycles increasing the weight a little if I feel strong or the same or less weights if I don’t feel strong. I train by feel rather than by a rigid schedule. That is how I was able to enter 16 straight powerlifting meets without an injury.

When I’m 100 percent, after four cycles, I continue for two more laps on the treadmill, for a total of 35 minutes or so of walking. Together with the weightlifting that can be an hour of cardiovascular exercising. Depending on how hard one pushes the weightlifting, it can make for a strenuous workout. My heart rate can hit the 160s if I’m doing curls with 45 pounds or front laterals with 35 pounds on the last set.

I like this exercise combination because it breaks up the monotony of doing just one thing. It is very important that one performs the weightlifting in slow strict form. This helps to prevent injuries.

In my mind I squeeze the blood in and out of the muscles when using the weights and then when I walk on the treadmill I imagine replenishing the oxygen and removing the waste from the weightlifting. To me this is better then just lifting weights or just doing aerobic exercises.

I’m off to Honolulu to go to the Father’s Day Brunch at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room. We got the sneak preview menu, and I’ll have to try as much of it as I can. And Leslie is on the East Coast. But we’re still blogging!

Community

Taking Issue

Richard Ha writes:

Gloria Baraquio writes a column in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and last month she had a column called Auntie, Sistah, Bruddah or Cuz? It was about a conversation she had with friends about “the rules” –- when do you call someone Auntie, Sistah, Bruddah or Cuz? What’s the difference between Bruddah and Cuz? And more.

It reminded me of something that happened to me recently, and after her column appeared I sent Gloria this note:

Aloha Gloria,

I am 62 years old now. Six or seven years ago, when I was into serious power lifting, a kid I estimated to be 17 or 18 years old called me Uncle in the gym. As in, “Excuse me Uncle while I grab this dumbbell.”

“I not your uncle.” “No call me Uncle if you no can out lift me.” “If I’m your uncle then I should be able to slap your head.” I said all this to myself. I think there should be a rule that one cannot call another person in the gym Uncle.

That was 6 or 7 years ago. When it happened, my thinning hair stood up. But soon after that, I found the humor in the situation. I like to find any excuse to laugh.

A couple of weeks ago, a young guy maybe in his late 20s/early 30s was entering One Plus One Café with his wife and young child while June and I were leaving. He jumped forward, pulling the door open for us, and said in the most sincere, respectful way possible: “You go, Ta’ta.” I accepted in the most gracious way I knew how –- nodding, body language, “Thanks, eh.”

On the one hand it was so nice to see respect for traditional values. On the other hand, I’m a ta’ta. “Did you hear that, June? He called me ta’ta.” She laughed, knowing that I refuse to even accept senior citizen discounts.

Anyway, you know what I mean. I love your column.

Richard

I got a note back from her. It started,

“Hi Ta’ta. That’s HILARIOUS!”

Food and Drink

Evaluation

Richard Ha writes:

June and I went to a lu‘au at Leslie and Macario’s place recently. It was to celebrate Shannon’s graduation from UH Hilo. Shannon is Leslie’s brother Steve’s girlfriend. We arrived just as Macario, Rodrigo and Freddy were taking the pig out of the imu.

I just fit myself in and did what needed to be done. I was the runner. Macario pulled the meat from the bones and filled up a pan, which I ran back and forth to the table where Rodrigo, Freddy and Ray shredded the meat. Later I helped with that as well.

The best part of the job was evaluating the crispy skin. All of us “evaluators” would take the crispiest pieces and evaluate it. It was part of the job to nod approvingly and go “Ummmm!!!”

Nothing like going to a lu‘au and seeing the pig come out of the imu and then getting to be an evaluator. Here is some video of opening the imu, courtesy of our friends at Kama‘aina Backroads. And Rodrigo wrote a really thorough and interesting post about how to do every step of the imu, too.

Our Adopt-A-Class project, where we’re trying to send all Keaukaha Elementary School students on field trips this year, is going really well. The latest news:

Lance Duyao, Director of Retail Operations at Big Island Candies, is adopting the 3rd grade/second semester in memory of his mom Audrey.

And Alan Ikawa, President of Big Island Candies, has just donated 60 ‘Imiloa entrance tickets to Keaukaha Elementary School.

We only have two and a half more classes to fund. Have a look.

Uncategorized

The Big Picture

Richard Ha writes:

Because I can’t exercise strenuously yet, I’ve decided to eat a higher percent of vegetables—nearly 100 percent, in fact, to help me keep my calorie-intake under control.

Last night I made a salad from stuff we grow: Manoa Lettuce, spinach and watercress. Then I diced up three different colored heirloom tomatoes, diced some sweet onion that we grew, mixed in Grey Poupon mustard, minced garlic, alae salt and coarse black pepper, and tossed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

It’s really nice to be able to grow stuff we like to eat. We always focus on good taste first, but recently we’ve been looking at increasing nutritional content in our vegetables, as well. In other words, we produce what we feel really good about eating.

I think that my weight, at 205, will start to decline as I become more active. This morning my resting heart rate was 60 beats per minute, instead of the mid-60s as it was last week. I’ve started exercising lightly, and will gradually increase it in the coming weeks.

I was interested to see a Honolulu Advertiser article the other day with the headline Private donations fill gaps at Isle schools. That’s exactly what our adopt-a-class project is all about.

Our “adopt-a-class” project is coming along very nicely, by the way. We only need to fund approximately three and a half more classes, and then every Keaukaha Elementary School class will be able to take school buses and go on excursions during this upcoming school year. It’s beyond everyone’s expectations.

There’s an editorial about our adopt-a-class project running right now on Kama‘aina Backroads. View it here.