Bushie: The Final Frontier - Update Season V

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Does this mean this is the final season? If so, is that a foreshadowing to BushOk finding a wife and moving to Kenya to adopt his children?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

My claim to fame: I was the last person to ever begin posting in Season IV. I was shocked when I hit submit and saw the thread was locked!

I was talking to my brother today about you - he also has an interest in Kenya and is going there soon. He asked me, and I wasn't sure, so I figured I'd ask this question to you: What do you do when you're in Kenya?

I work at the Maisha International Orphanage in Kisumu, Kenya in the Western Part of the country near Lake Victoria and the Ugandan border.  I just help with the building projects on the grounds, the medical clinic, even computer support as there is a computer lab on the Maisha grounds and mainly just love on the kids and the widows and let them they're not alone in the fight and that someone 10,000 miles away in the Midwest/Southwest United States loves them and more importantly that there is a God who loves them.  The same God that created the entire universe and spoke it into existence, the same God that called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and started the nation of Israel is the same God that loves them individually, sent His Son to die for them, knows the very number of hairs on their head.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

How is the eating going? Any breakdowns? Trips to Dennys?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

How is the eating going? Any breakdowns? Trips to Dennys?

The eating is going alright.  I made a trip to Village Inn last Saturday morning and a trip to Golden Corral this evening, but other than that I'm eating alright.

Oh no! The Golden Corral! And I've never seen a Village Inn but it looks like an IHOP/Dennys type place! How naughty, BushOK!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

How is the eating going? Any breakdowns? Trips to Dennys?

The eating is going alright.  I made a trip to Village Inn last Saturday morning and a trip to Golden Corral this evening, but other than that I'm eating alright.

Oh no! The Golden Corral! And I've never seen a Village Inn but it looks like an IHOP/Dennys type place! How naughty, BushOK!

Yes, Village Inn is a IHOP/Dennys type diner.  I tend to treat myself once a week.

Old habits die hard....

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What is Village Inn? They don''t have those around here, or if they do, I have never seen one.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What is Village Inn? They don''t have those around here, or if they do, I have never seen one.

Like Dennys or IHOP, it is a diner that specializes in breakfast food.  They also bake and sell pies of all flavors.  The pies leave something to be desired and calorie regret, but the breakfast is really good.

I saw! LOOK at those pies!

http://www.villageinn.com/pies/

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The pies are only 500-800 calories a slice. The carrot cake is 1300 for some reason. The nutrition info is really hard to find. I had to Google it because their site really doesn't give a link for it.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

That's good. What did you eat? I went to ihop for the first time a few weeks ago, and the whole grain pancakes I ordered had over 1000 calories in them! More than plain chocolate chip!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Oh BushOK! There's nothing green in that!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I am going to assume you are eating green things when you are not "treating yourself," amirite?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

You're welcome to have meat with your greens, pal. It's not like I just eat raw vegetables every night or heat up a can. Corn is fine, but remember, that is a carb and a starch, not really in the same class as green vegetables like brussel sprouts, asparagus, zucchini, field greens, broccoli, snowpeas, etc..

Frying a hamburger patty is fine as long as you are using lean meat, like 93% or something. Otherwise, it's full of fat and cholesterol.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Canned peas?!?! What the hell?

Baby steps. I am trying to be patient with BushOK, given it seems like eating vegetables is foreign to him. I would be sick if all I ate was meat and potatoes and dessert!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Roasting broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, or anything really in the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper is a good way to start. Steaming them is boring and forces you to put butter or something on them to make them taste good. Olive oil is a much better fat than butter.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Come on, man. Make cooking fun. Boiling anyone outside of pasta is boring, blah, put me to sleep type food. Roasting, grilling, anything is better than boiling, and it is imperative that BushOK learns this before its too late, and he is bored to death into eating burgers and fries again.

I do hope he is not merely opening a can and eating the contents out of it. If so, no wonder he is struggling. Eating can be fun and interesting, especially when there is thought behind your food. And it can be healthy for you too. BushOK needs to educate himself on these things, and he will be well on his way. Unfortunately, he can eat all he wants, but if he keeps eating crap, he won't lose anything.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I had exclusively Pabsts and then went to Taco Bell at midnight. It was really bad.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Judging by how excited he was last time, he was probably depressed because he was no longer at work.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I kinda cheated tonight.  As you may know today was free pancake day at IHOP's all across the nation in exchange for a small donation to the featured charity or organization.  I went to IHOP this evening and indulged in the free short stack of pancakes.  I donated $2.00 to the Primary Children's Network of Salt Lake City and only had to pay for my drink.  I did have a regular Pepsi with my meal.  I don't feel too guilty about it because I may have consumed 500-700 calories altogether.  All I had were the pancakes, syrup, and 1 glass of the Pepsi.  I didn't have any eggs or bread or bacon with it, just the pancakes.  Plus, I helped out an honorable local charity.

Eggs would've been fine. Protein is good for your body. Now that you did that, I hope you won't also treat yourself on Saturday.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

According to IHOP's website, a short stack is about 500 calories, 1 glass of Pepsi is 130 calories (if you only had 1), and regular syrup has 110 calories an ounce.

This was a cheat meal for BushOK, make no mistake, as nothing he hate had any nutritional value at all to make up for the calories he ate. They were "empty calories" essentially. I hope he doesn't go stuff his face at Village Inn or Golden Corral this weekend, or he may as well not even bother trying to drop weight.

I understand this is difficult and a real life changing experience, so patience and careful changes must be made, but perhaps it is time to go from once a week at Golden Corral to once ever two weeks and go from there. Heck, I couldn't imagine eating that once a week! But I am not BushOK, so it would be like telling me I couldn't have any greens or something for a week and I could only eat carbs, pizza, hamburgers and drink regular soda. I'd feel sluggish and bloated.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

According to IHOP's website, a short stack is about 500 calories, 1 glass of Pepsi is 130 calories (if you only had 1), and regular syrup has 110 calories an ounce.

This was a cheat meal for BushOK, make no mistake, as nothing he hate had any nutritional value at all to make up for the calories he ate. They were "empty calories" essentially. I hope he doesn't go stuff his face at Village Inn or Golden Corral this weekend, or he may as well not even bother trying to drop weight.

I understand this is difficult and a real life changing experience, so patience and careful changes must be made, but perhaps it is time to go from once a week at Golden Corral to once ever two weeks and go from there. Heck, I couldn't imagine eating that once a week! But I am not BushOK, so it would be like telling me I couldn't have any greens or something for a week and I could only eat carbs, pizza, hamburgers and drink regular soda. I'd feel sluggish and bloated.

How many ounces of syrup do you think was on their, Dukey?  And of course the 500 count is probably for a plain pancake.

Oh definitely. It was just for the pancakes, not the syrup. I'm sure it was at least 2 ounces of syrup. All in all, he probably had close to 1000 calories!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Well, I have grown to really hate unhealthy food in large quantities. Yeah, sure, I love pizza now and then, or onion rings, or a burger, or something like that, but if I eat enough of it, I will feel sick, bloated and lethargic the rest of the day.

The thing is, BushOK needs to cut it all off to condition himself off of the unhealthy diet he has eaten his whole live, the diet he learned from his parents, and embrace a new lifestyle.

Let's be honest, he will never lose weight doing light exercises each night and then pigging out at IHOP or Golden Corral at least once a week. But I am sure this is extremely hard for him to do because he lives in a family that probably does not value health, that eats crap most meals, that thinks green foods are icky, and that does not encourage exercise at all. It is much easier for us to lecture to him to do something that we do naturally or have grown accustomed to than for him to do it. He has to want to do it, and lets face it, he really, deep down, has no interest in wanting to lose weight or get hearthier.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yeah, that's what I expected. You weren't raised to eat things like that, and so you are not used to them, and thus don't like them. If you don't like any of that, I expect you won't really ever lose weight, maybe a bit here and there, but nothing substantial, and he doesn't have the drive to actually learn to eat better. Of course, we all have known that for a while

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying, BushOK. I know exactly what you mean and why it is not as simple as it sounds.

But I guess what we want to hear is you are open to changing the way you eat. You'll feel better, you will look better, and you will be in much better shape! You don't want to live life as a ticking time bomb, where you are at risk of a heart attack. You're only 30!

Vegetables are not hard to eat, you just need to be curious, learn a little culinary expertise, and soon you will be on your way. Even I can't open a can and eat vegetables straight from it. Gross! I imagine that is not fun.

Your friend from work may be a good asset to you if you chose to take advantage of it. Learn how to cook some basic things like oven roasting fresh veggies and sautéing things in a little olive oil. It isn't that hard and will taste a lot better than canned crap. Once you learn to like those things, you won't want to eat burgers and pizza every meal - although I still love a good pizza here and there.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Guys, I haven't given up.  I am still working out 6 nights a week.  If I'm working out with the Wii, I'm doing light exercises while watching TV.  I'm eating mostly healthier food.  Yes, I do splurge every now and then, but I believe meals are supposed to be enjoyable times, not boring and mundane.  Also, I don't like a lot of vegetables especially the ones mentioned earlier.  I hate broccoli, brussell sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, among other things.  I do not eat salad other than taco salad.  Finding things that are healthy that I actually like and enjoy is a bit challenging.

You know what's more challenging than finding healthy food that you like? Finding a reasonably priced funeral home for your son.  If you aren't going to do it for you, at least do it for your family.

Daaaayyyyymmmmnnnnnnn that's' gotta cut deep.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

All you need is olive oil, dijon mustard and champagne vinegar. And boom, you have a vinaigrette!