The air is warm, the lawns are green and the season of picnics is upon us. But, can a reformed fat guy still shout a resounding “Huzzah!” and remain healthy? I say yes.

By punching up flavor and pumping up tasty food quantity and getting the most bang for your calorie, you can have all the culinary fun in the sun you want.

Welcome to the flavor of Spring edition of the Fat Guy’s Guide to Health*. These three recipes offer the flavor, volume and texture that I crave and each one has gotten raves. Plus, I didn’t want the temperature to get a degree higher before I passed on to you the results of my exhaustive research in the healthy Margarita department. Priorities, of course.

You could serve all of this together as a meal, mix and match, or just bring one to a picnic with ease.

Triple Threat BBQ Pulled Chicken

This pulled chicken is max flavor with minimum effort and calories. Plus, pulling the chicken adds volume. Thus, it’s a triple threat of food awesomeness.

Ingredients

12 oz. Lean Chicken Breast

2-3 oz. Chicken Broth (just enough so that the chicken isn’t sitting right on the pot)

1/4 cup Ketchup

1/2 Tbs Splenda Brown Sugar

1 Tbs Molasses

14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes

2 stalks of Celery

1/2 Red Bell Pepper

1/4 White or Purple Onion

Lime juice, Soy Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Montreal BBQ Seasoning, Garlic, Salt, Pepper and Cumin to taste.

Directions

Pour the chicken broth into the crock pot, and then lay the whole breasts in.

Mix everything else in a separate bowl, pour over chicken.

Simmer on low for 5-8 hours, until chicken is done by thermometer.

Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks until it’s all nice and pulled, then mix it all up in the pot and enjoy!

Note: 1 cup = 70 Calories and 5 Carbs

Bangin’ Broccoli Slaw

You get more bang for your calorie buck with this flavorful slaw. It’s good on sandwiches but rocks on its own. The Dijon is the lo-cal secret to the bangin’ good time. Yes, I’m talkin’ about broccoli, so? Try it.

Ingredients

4 cups finely chopped Broccoli (or 1 cup chopped crowns and 3 cups pre-made Broccoli Slaw shreds)

1 finely chopped Apple

1 Tbs Fat-Free Mayonnaise

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

A generous amount of Fat-Free non-stick Olive Oil spray

1 Tbs Dijon Mustard

Garlic powder, Salt and Cinnamon to taste.

Directions

Simply mix it all up and keep spraying with Olive Oil spray until the desired smoothness.

Note: 1 cup = 45 Calories and 5 Carbs

Rainbow Salad

Taste the rainbow in a totally veggie way with this light, fresh crunch-tacular salad. This one is a hit with every person who tries it.

Ingredients

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

1 Orange Bell Pepper

2 Cucumbers

5 Plum or 3 regular Tomatoes

1/2 Purple Onion

2 inch wide slice or 2 tablespoons of crumbled Fat-Free Feta (Athenos makes some)

Oregano, Basil, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Balsamic Vinegar and Fat-Free non-stick Olive Oil Spray to taste or desired texture. I will also add a touch of liquid Splenda or Truvia powder for a bit of sweet.

Directions

Finely dice up everything

Mix it up

Serve it chilled

Note: 1 cup = 45 Calories and 5 Carbs

Mighty Litey Margarita

This recipe is the mighty victor in the battle of the Margarita that my wife and I held in late Winter. The battle unofficially ranked Margaritas based on being low or no calorie but not seeming “lite,” tasting the most “margarita-y” and, most important to me, having that salty-snap of pucker that every margarita simply must have to bring fulfillment. It is very much a Spark People.com recipe with some added interesting twists from the non-victorious recipes.

Ingredients

1 Can Sprite Zero

1 “on the go” pack of Sugar Free Lemonade mix

2-3 Tbs Lime Juice (or the juice of 1 fresh lime)

1/2 Tsp Orange Extract

1 oz. Tequila (I prefer Sauza Gold)

Salt for the rim, baby!

Directions

In a separate glass, dissolve the drink pack in the soda, pour into a salty glass over ice, add tequila, and lime, stir gently. “Float” the orange extract on top by adding and not stirring.

Note: 1 glass = 65 Calories, all booze.

I’d welcome feedback from anyone who tries these. The feedback from the first batch was swell enough to motivate me to serve up some more, and I’ll do it again.

I’m a believer that healthy recipes are not just lists of ingredients, they are re-enforcing the concept of balance, joy and empowerment while nourishing your body.

So try, taste and enjoy Spring. Remember food is just the side dish to fun; don’t make it the main course!

*© The Fat Guy’s Guide to Health is the sole intellectual property of Keith Karabin and KeithKarabin.com.

“True balance—dynamic, powerful balance—is sustained by determined and diligent effort to elevate the quality of our lives no matter where our time is being spent.”
- Pr. Dana Arakawa, MAPP 

For the last 13 months I’ve stepped on the same scale every week, at least once. Last Monday was the first time that I was truly afraid. My heart pounded. My stomach was shot through with icy trills of anxiety.

My feet were held back by two great fears. The first was that this wasn’t the night that I lost my last pound and hit the number that I had been striving toward. I felt nearly parylized by feared of the disappointment. The fear that the number wouldn’t change was an old friend compared to the new guy. This fear was that the number would change and thus change my whole life. Again.

 But I did step.

A noise burst forth from me which was more a personal gush of air than a cheer and made it only more precious. So many changes, learning experiences and steps led to that number on the scale, but it was done. 200 pounds lost. Literally half the man I was.

Yes, there were tears. Yes, there were grateful prayers.

There was not a moment of “what next?” I had been facing this number for a over a month, brining my worry to my class and my coach, my wife and my God. I had begun the research, anticipating this change, and this article. The answer to my life after weight loss was both big and small; Balance. I now believe that we all should seek balance after any big life change, as a way to conceptualize maintaining a healthy life, or regaining one, if the change was a negative one.

I learned quickly, however, that healthy balance was about so much more than calories in and out or making time for a work out. Pr. Dana Arkawa, has noted that “the quest for ‘balance’ has become a popular fixation” in our stress saturated and calorically overwhelmed culture. But “in our search for balance, we re-prioritize our to-do lists and think about ways to shift our schedules around” which is not a fulfulling balance at all. “Managing energy,” she said “not time, is the key to enduring high performance” in workouts, carreers and life itself. (Arkawa, 2007)

From “< Less Than” to “= Equal to”

“We often think of [balance] as the end product of a perfectly aligned schedule, with the ‘right’ amount of time dedicated to each sector of our lives,” Pr. Arkawa continued. “Our to-do lists neatly checked off in prioritized order.” While this is certainly a type of balance, it is task focused, rather than fulfillment focused. Further, as I had to learn, it is not rooted in the concept of energy balance—and Dr. Arkawa’s most crucial point of the source of that energy—and thus in jeprody of imploding.

Early in my research I had tried to remain focused on weight maintenance, but quickly became concerned because there would not be the single focus and instant gratification of the number on the scale going down. In the post-weight loss world “medical experts from Mayo Clinic, the FDA and other medical and healthcare offices…believe that fluctuations of up to five pounds within a single day are perfectly normal…” and, while that still sounds a little fast-and-loose, it was a clear indicator that weight was no longer a reliable means of measuring our success. (Dray, 2013)

I knew I need goals to shoot for, as we all do. I fear growing stagnant after so much effort to move the scale needle one direction. Worse, I wasn’t sure it was possible. I could shoot for the extreme, but shooting for a median felt like shooting for “meh;” striving to achieve a nice, firm “whatever.” This idea of balance seemed so devoid of passion.

It need not be. Aristotle knew that way back in the day, when he coined the concept of the Golden Mean. Of course! I mentally cried, we don’t shoot for Meh Median, we shoot for the Gold. “The golden mean is the balance of extremes,” not the pursuit of one, and cornerstone the corner stone of Dr. Patty O’Grady’s work with students on attaining emotional balance. “The golden mean is the equilibrium found in the ecology of science, the harmony of music, the mindfulness of measure, the balance of nature, and the ebb and the flow of life,” she said. “The golden mean is the symmetry of well-being.” (O’Grady, 2013)

You’re Already Gold, Pony-Boy

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind.”
-Buddha

In life after any powerful positive change, this “symmetry of well being” is the holistic goal. “In other words, finding the golden mean creates a ‘golden self’” Dr. O’Grady asserted, “that uses emotional strength to defer impulse, make and keep friends, work in groups, resolve conflict, and help others.” (O’Grady, 2013)

Think upon your “Golden Self” for a moment. What arises in you? For me it’s continuing my physical discipline, increasing my emotional and mental balance and enhancing my sense of personal energy and fulfillment. What does your Golden Self look like? How far out of your grasp is that? Scary, right? Perfect.

Our pursuit of our Golden Self requires a powerful fuel. “We can think of balance as the powerful flow of a river whose constant flow creates enormous energy,” said Dr. Arkawa, and the source of the river is spiritual. “The benefit of a spiritual practice…is to refresh our confidence that our lives inherently have the power and unlimited capacity of a mighty river.” (Arkawa, 2007)

I could not have become half the man I was without the power and refreshing of God. Maybe that’s not true for you—maybe you find your spirit in other things—that’s up to you. Pr. Arkawa is a Buddhist, I am a Christian, for all I know you may be a Jew a Wiccan, A Pagan, in terms of practicing healthy, spirit fueled balance it doesn’t matter what you call the source of your spirit, only that you give honor to it as the source—in the means your faith dictates—and that you’re continually refreshing yourself spiritually, because moving toward your Golden Self along the Golden Mean takes continual effort.

Note the language; “Moving toward” your Golden Self, not attaining it. What we’re considering is not the ribbon on the finish line, but the next horizon on the path. Once you define your Golden Self and your Golden Mean, you already become your Golden Self. All that’s left is continually walking the path. Take heart, “this emphasis upon continual effort is consistent with research at UCLA, ‘that those who maintain a learning or process approach to intelligence…are better able to withstand the storms of life.” (Arkawa, 2007) 

All Systems Go! I mean “Forgive!”

“Autopilot is great for driving a car, but no so great for emotional functioning.”
- Melanie A. Greenberg, Ph.D

Final Program Picture!

In therapy we speak of “generalization” which is when a skill or concept learned to adapt to one stressor is successfully and intuitively applied to others. In terms of attaining a healthy weight, the self-disipline and “can do attitude” become generalized to over-all health.

 I find it best to think of this generalization in the form of the dashboard of your car. We never want all the gauges to be at maximum. Similarly, we never can be fully, 100% successful at maintaining a healthy diet, a sound mentality and a balanced emotional spectrum all the time. That will put all the gauges into the red.

The base line for our physical Golden Self can be achieved through “Keeping a food and physical activity journal [to] track your progress and spot trends [and] try different behaviors,” according to the Centers for Disease Control. They further advise that “people who have lost weight and kept it off typically engage in 60—90 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity most days…This doesn’t necessarily mean 60—90 minutes at one time.” (CDC, 2011)

“The golden mean” of emotional balance “requires the brain-based skill of self-regulation of feelings: the awareness, identification, and moderation of emotion…” This can be achieved through anything from emotional journaling to art, to music, to simply having a conversation with someone you trust. The key is to involve yourself in the process of judging the validity of your emotions and their value to you. Remember, just because you’re feelings are real that doesn’t make them true all the time. You get to choose how and when to let them out. As we become more aware of our emotional spectrum we can then “…learn to deconstruct negative feeling so that a positive feeling emerges. When students are able to balance conflicting and competing emotions, they become emotionally stronger: more calm, capable, and resilient.” (O’Grady, 2013).

Similarly, our Golden Self is the CEO of their brain, as advocated for by Dr. Melanie A. Greenberg, Ph.D. “You feel like your thoughts and feelings are you and so you accept them unconditionally as the truth without really looking at them.” Dr. Greenberg’s no-nonesense approach to keeping our brain in check, like an inconsistent employee, is in line with Golden Self thinking, because it does also incorporate a key element; mindful forgiveness.

“Our thoughts are passing, mental events…like mental habits. And, like any habits, they can be healthy or unhealthy, but they take time to change,” She said. “Just like a couch potato can’t get up and run a marathon right away, we can’t magically turn off our spinning negative thought/feeling cycles without repeated practice and considerable effort.”

There’s that idea again, repeated, consistent, considerable effort no matter if it’s on your food choices, your physical training, your emotional regulation or to “retrain your runaway amygdala” through Mindfulness practice, which is “not only noticing where your mind goes when it wanders, but also gently bringing it back to the focus on breath, eating, walking, loving, or working.” (Greenberg, 2013)

Now that we stand in the shadow of our Golden Self, let’s not forget our fuel. “When we feel unbalanced and bitter about the challenges in life, we can take these feelings as ‘an indicator of the need to focus our faith and actions on awakening to and expanding our true capacity.” Let us also remember that the goal is not to achieve the Golden Mean, it is to be ever-moving toward it. The closer we get the more resilient we will become, and what was impossible yesterday will become tomorrow’s baseline. (Arkawa, 2007)

The Real Which-a-ma-callit 

 
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

We were never talking about balance, holistically. Yes, any one of the items on our dashboard should be balanced within itself—emotional, physical, mental and spiritual balance are the tennants of our Golden Self—but the over-all goal is to keep all of those componanents in line with the Golden Mean, and that is about harmony. Balance is an equals sign in quantitiy, where harmony is a fluid, invigorating dance of quality.

 In wrestling with how to illustrate the harmony we seek, I developed an acronym to get keep us shape. Or, S.H.A.P.E. This is how we walk along the Golden Mean.

[S]pirit Fueled because “the spiritual struggle to awaken to our true capacity is a form of training as necessary to our well being as exercise is to maintaining a health body,” and it can be just as taxing, if not properly fueled. (Arkawa, 2007)

[H]ope Focused because being future-focused is back to the quantified, calendar idea of balance. We are hopefully planning our next move toward the Golden Mean in faith that we will reach the next horizon.

[A]chievement Celebrating because there will be more achievements. The number on the scale, or the LDL Cholesterol, or the A1C or the dress or pants size is just a number. Our achievements live in us. Let them thrive in the sun.

[P]racticing Mindful Forgiveness because the only true failure is the one we didn’t learn from. The best way to retrain your body, spirit, amygdala or heart is with gentle, consistent effort. This also applies to others. Our walk can’t be weighed down by holding on to the hurts of others. Keep your dignity and leave them behind you.

[E]ver Evolving because balance is not stagnant and harmony is a dance. There will always be a new goal, that is why we celebrate the ones accomplished and the ones ahead. Thank God for the next horizon!

And when we get tired, remember the final thoughts of Pr. Arkawa. “To live a balanced life, we must have faith that the unlimited power of a river is available to us. Then…train our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual capacities…to harness the power of the river and continually refresh the lake that is our life…though it may appear stable and calm on the surface, you will know that this balance is not stagnant, and not a result of shifting around your schedule and to-do list,” and you will know that you are ever closer toward the Golden Mean, and already your Golden Self.

__________________________________________________

Arakawa , D. (2007) Living a Balanced Life. Positive Psychology News Daily. Retrieved from: http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/dana-arakawa/20070814368

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). It’s not a Diet, it’s a Lifestyle. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/keepingitoff.html

Dray, .S (2013) What Is Normal Weight Fluctuation? eHow. Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5007466_what-normal-weight-fluctuation.html#ixzz2Tv8d04hT

Greenberg, M. A. (2013) Become the CEO of Your Own Brain in Six Easy Steps: How to be the boss of your brain, rather than letting it master you. Psychology Today. Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201304/become-the-ceo-your-own-brain-in-six-easy-steps

O’Grady, P. (2013) The 3′R’s of Emotional Learning Golden Stars or the Golden Mean? Psychology Today. Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positive-psychology-in-the-classroom/201304/the-3rs-emotional-learning

“Direction is more important than speed.
We are so busy looking at our speedometers
that we forget the milestone.”
-Anonymous

I do a lot of work with milestones in therapy. They’re great conceptually because they’re heavy, concrete objects to which we can tie all sorts of life experience. Even ephemeral changes in thinking or perspective can be processed and internalized as “a milestone in my journey.”

It takes effort to internalize a positive milestone. We must conceive of it, quantify it, and then finally commemorate it then, after repetition, it will become part of our self concept.

That’s a positive milestone. It’s so much easier to internalize a negative milestone. We all remember many times that we made a mistake, screwed up or were beaten down by someone and thought “I’m never going to let that happen again.” Fueled by the “helpful” energy of our own adaptive nature, internalizing a negative milestone is practically a default process.

Once a year, near our May anniversary, I do a bit of commemorating the website and I discuss milestones. Welcome to it! As a special bonus, we have the reveal of the winner of the Amazon Gift Card from our NextGen Communication Subscription Challenge!

But first, a look back on the three milestone articles of the year, and why I find them valuable enough to internalize them.  

It’s Not The Year…

“It’s not the years; it’s the mileage.”
-Indiana Jones,
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Miriam Black: Mental Evaluation

This was a book review in a new way—not just a review of the tight, dark, powerful prose but of the female protagonist herself via the University of California: Los Angles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Index. While novel, and garnering solid response, this concept isn’t what makes it a milestone.

Two articles prior, in 2012’s year-end review, I said “I pride myself in showing my data with hyperlinks. I will continue to do so but now in American Psychological Association style with in-text citation and endnotes. Why? Because I’m trained in it and needed to get over my grad school “Nyah-nyahs” about being graduated and never using it again. I write psychological work, I should put on my big-boy pants and write it in APA.” The article on Ms. Black and Chuck Wendig’s novel Blackbirds was my first chance to make good on that commitment. I’ve kept it up ever since.

I don’t know if you love it, hate it, or just don’t care. I find the brevity of hyperlinks less distracting and the end-notes may be more useful to some, like the woman at an EMDR training I went to who used some of my Olympic You article for her own research or my Clinical Director who was impressed that I “still care about APA.” It’s not so much caring “about APA,” though I do, it’s prioritizing that with this format the site appears more credible, the articles run more fluidly and the data is clinically accurate for you guys. You remain my priority one.

I am a Patient Boy

I relish any time that I can quote Fugazi. However, the milestone with this article is a personal one. I also relish any time that I can become closer to my patients in my own life. The realization that my weight and eating habits had become so vast a problem that only a treatment team could solve it has truly changed my life.

I had a problem. No one else could help. I did find my A-Team. Now I pass that on to you in the category Fat Guy’s Guide to Health. Expect an article on the truth about exercise and some fun summer recipes—including the tastiest, skinniest Margarita that my wife and I could craft! This is my thanks to you for the huge amount of internet support that you’ve given, and continue to give me.

The Family Marathon

I am a psychotherapist and a journalist. But before all those things I am a Christian, a father and a husband. Great family is the key to a great life. This year’s Christmas article on the 24 Hour Holiday Radio Show on WPRB in Princeton, NJ pushed me well out of my journalistic comfort zone, channeled my therapist’s mind—not that the Solomon’s needed therapy, quite the contrary—and most of all touched my heart in a profound way.

Jon Solomon, his mother, his father, his wife, sister and even daughter opened their life to us here at KeithKarabin.com. I’ve never had a journalistic experience so humbling in its responsibility to tell the tale rightly and justly. That tale-telling is where my therapeutic edge cut and refined, because the tale became the story of how one extraordinary family rallied around one extraordinary event—embraced the spirit and overlooked all possible religious prejudice—and helped bring the Holiday Marathon to us all every year.

I don’t know what we’ll do next year, but this one was hard to top. Thank you, Solomons.

And The Winner Is…

“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past
and enjoy working in the present toward the future.”
-Denis Waitley, Author

As with any milestone, the winner is you. Not only did you accomplish what you did, but you now get to relive the experience every time you revisit the milestone. Last year this revisit spawned actual changes in the site. This year the site functions well and the change is more of a conceptual one.

I am ever grateful for your readership and humbled by my responsibility to it, in this wee corner of the internet. That, too, is the power of milestones. They keep you humble and grateful.

…okay…the real winner of the Subscribe and Win Contest is…

…Bradley Barninger! Mr. Barninger you have been randomly drawn as the winner of a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card! Congratulations. Simply email me and I will forward it along.

Don’t fret if you didn’t win, or if you didn’t become a free subscriber to our twice-a-month email—you still can subscribe and win. The next contest will be a random drawing from the current pool of subscribers, so please join us at any time!

Thanks for subscribing, for reading, and for reflecting on another year of milestones at KeithKarabin.com.

“In a democracy that all too often bemoans unfairness in injustice,
the Depravity Scale’s goal of distinguishing the worst of crimes,
must…incorporate…current diagnostic understandings, the clinical
experience of evil from a range of forensic sciences beyond psychiatry,
and attempts to define evil by law.”
-Dr. Michael Welner, MD

I don’t need to tell you what happened in Boston. This article isn’t about that. It is about the moral and ethical bombs that have been exploding throughout America ever since. “Should they be tried as terrorists?” “Foreign or Domestic?” “Were they more like Loughtner and insane?” “Were they evil?” “What does it matter?”

This moral, ethical and ultimately legal debate has been the focus of the Depravity Standard, Dr. Michael Welner, MD and the 70 person Forensic Panel that he heads for over a decade. I had been preparing this article prior to the Boston Marathon Bombing, the attack simply crystallized the need for a standard that objectively judges the crime itself—not the perpetrators—and determines the level of depravity, or some say evil. Victims deserve justice, perpetrators deserve consequences and, ultimately, society deserves a voice in the process—and a clear voice, not one muddled by feelings about the persona of the perpetrators, only the fact of their crime.

“With ill-defined instructions,” the Depravity Standard literature states, “judges and jurors have little direction as to what makes a crime ‘depraved.’ They are forced to rely on easily manipulated emotions. In certain instances, these potentially uninformed or biased decisions can mean the difference between life and death.…they can have years added to their sentence, or be given the death penalty, depending on the offense.” This is not fair to judges, juries, victims or perpetrators.

However, the Standard continues, “there is no standardized definition for such dramatic words that courts already use. And while we may all recognize that some crimes truly separate themselves from others, there is no standard, fair way to distinguish crimes that are the worst of the worst, or “evil.” (Depravityscale.org, 2013)

This is where the scale comes in. “The Depravity Scale research has, by the complexity of this approach, established the unfathomable – that consensus of what defines an evil crime can be achieved,” Dr. Welner said in a personal response to a Blogger Article, “From the standpoint of scientific search for answers, this progress validates that our landmark research will contribute greatly to the evolution of justice.” (Connelly, 2007)

The scope and practice of the Depravity Scale research is perhaps the greatest achievement of the Standard. Phase A and D research into established criminal cases, but we are Phase B and C. Over 22,000 people (myself included, now) from 25 countries have participated in the simple web survey and helped focus the research into our present society’s definition of evil or depravity. You can, too. One day, public opinion on how a bomber was “just like everyone else in High School” won’t be as much of a factor of debate because we, the people, will already have dropped the gavel on the evil of his actions.

“This research will establish a consistent and fair distinction for the worst of crimes,” according to the Standard, “incorporating input from the public, who will become tomorrow’s jurors. Ultimately, the research will develop an operational Depravity Standard, which will assist judges and juries at the sentencing phase of trials.”

Victims Deserve Justice

“I don’t much care about the legal system…
Welner is transfixed with the legal system. I’m not.”
- Dr. Michael Stone, developer of The Taxonomy of Evil
Part of the ID Network show Most Evil

 New York Times journalist Adam Liptak summed up the struggle with justice when the wording is ambivalent. “The Supreme Court has never been particularly comfortable with vague phrases like ‘heinous, atrocious and cruel.’ Justices have repeatedly mused that all murders can be said to be depraved, and the court has sometimes struck down death sentences based on that factor.”

Lawyers have also found multiple ways to bend a jury around such phrases. “That is where Dr. Welner comes in.” Liptak continued. “His aim is to use the objectivity of science to help jurors confronted with that phrase to sentence consistently.” (Liptak, 2007)

There are some who’ve said that the Depravity Standard may skew towards lighter sentencing once the severity of “evil” has been diffused by mass opinions. Dr. Welner disagrees. “This objective, evidence-based instrument will measure the specific intents, actions, victimology, and attitudes of a crime—the “what” of a crime, as opposed to the ‘who’ or the ‘why’—to distinguish the aspects of a crime’s fact pattern as reflective of depravity, and thus warranting a more severe sentence. (Depravityscale.org, 2013)

My gut says will see the trial, and the media circus, for the Boston Bombing continue throughout the summer. This also twists my gut on behalf of all the families who need to see justice, grieve and move on. Yes, having a standard that says “Premeditation, seeking mass casualties, seeking child death—Okay, that’s this sentence” may be an over-simplification, but it also may be a balm to hearts that need to heal.

Perpetrators Deserve Consequence

“Hey, I’m depraved on account I’m deprived…
So take him to a headshrinker!”
-West Side Story “Officer Krupkie”

Dr. Rod Hoevet, now Clinical Psychologist at Saint Louis University, possesses the compassion to have seen the “hearts who need to heal” debate from the other side. He is a former Clinical Psychologist at Correctional Psychology Associates for federal probationers and at the Saint Louis County Department of Health Buzz Westfall Justice Center where he acted as one of the “practical program directors, guiding and overseeing all mental health matters for the Corrections Medicine division of the Saint Louis County Health Department” providing services to inmates.

“First, depravity is an evolving (or devolving, depending on your perspective) concept and requires some parameters,” Dr. Hoevet said, supporting use of the web to garner public date on the present evolution of depravity. “The more powerful reason this is relevant, though, is that judges are too often bias, self aggrandizing, and full of themselves. Thus, they should not be able to wield subjective weapons (concepts, words) to show off their authority. The other thought that comes to mind is that the justice system tends to target certain groups more than others and this may cut down on some forms of discrimination.” (Hoevet, 2013)

I, too, identify with patients and their practitioners who now have to over-come harsh sentences that focused on the personality factors of the perpetrator. For me, that falls under kids who received harsher sentences for “giving attitude.” I would welcome sentencing based more firmly on facts rather than interpretation of demeanor or depravity. This was part of Dr. Welner’s original plan. “As a practitioner who witnesses recurring sentencing that does not accurately reflect the seriousness of a crime or lack thereof…” he was stirred by the need to build “a fairer, more evidence-based justice system.” (Connelly, 2007)

“The Depravity Standard focuses on what a person did, rather than who he is,” said the study. “The research will enhance fairness in sentencing, given that it is race, gender and socio-economic blind.” (Depravityscale.org, 2013)

Though some crimes are simply beyond the realm of life outside prison—or in some extreme cases, life at all—the role of a therapist in helping their patient deal with their crimes involves building accountability and personal acceptance for what they did  that is essentially separate from who they are and who they could become. This is the essence of our judicial punishment system and the concept of penitent redemption. When it works, it’s an awesome sight. I believe the scientific objectivity of The Depravity Standard could aid this process.

Society Deserves a Voice

“When you start talking about evil, psychiatrists don’t know anything
more about it than anyone else…Our opinions might carry more
weight, under the patina or authority of the profession, but the point is,
you can call someone evil and so can I. So what? What does it add?”
-Dr. Robert I. Simon, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry

“We ask more of juries in capital trials,” wrote Mr. Liptak. “They must decide whether convicted defendants deserve to die.” He focused on the plight of a jury stuck with the present unclear guidelines. “The current system of capital sentencing, which the Supreme Court likes to call guided discretion, is not quite an oxymoron. But, as efforts to make scientific sense of it demonstrate, it is something like one.” Thus, an average person, with no legal degree, must make a life-or-death determination about a case when there is no clear standard from which to gauge. It’s hard for me to build a bookshelf without directions—and I’m no carpenter—not only would the Depravity Standard increase the accuracy of a sentence, it would relieve some of the emotional burden that ill-equipped people face when determining these cases by providing an objective, depersonalized scale. (Liptak, 2007)

Dr. Welner, and the Forensic Panel, doesn’t simply consider participants in the web survey mere points of data, they refer to them often in the literature as the potential “jurors of tomorrow” who may face the bind detailed above with as little to arm their decision. To those people Dr Welner urges that if you “see representative laws and democracy as applicable to numerous aspects of controversy” then “participate in this groundbreaking research and to witness their input making a difference in clinical and legal settings.”

Final Verdict

“This is the first project in which public participation can directly
shape a future justice instrument. Every participant has equal
influence—and, like voting, every voice counts.”
-The Depravity Standard, FAQ

So, what do I think?

I think it will help clarify sentencing. It may not be as Television-worthy as Stone’s Taxonomy of Evil, but Dr. Welner’s had his share of TV, and I think this study will provide something more valuable. It needs to be said that Dr. Welner will not have the standard used in trials until the survey is complete and the findings are accurate. “You cannot rush quality,” the Standard site says. So time is of the essence.

“If a family member, friend, loved one, or even you are in any way involved in a criminal case where the severity of the crime was at issue,” the Depravity Standard asserts, “we are confident that this research will enhance your confidence in the fairness of our justice system, whether you are a defendant or victim.” (Depravityscale.org, 2013)

I participated. Dr. Hoevet did. One voice, one vote. If for nothing else it helped clarify my view of depravity and evil. Will you participate? That’s the real question. I can’t say if it will increase your “confidence in the fairness of our justice system.” 

I can say that “fairness” is the most arbitrary of words. But if this study helps put bombers behind bars, helps grieving hearts heal and determines the balance between punishment and redemptive hope for the guilty, I say click those buttons.

__________________________________________________

Epilogue

UPDATE 5/3/13: I had contacted the Forensic Panel, and Dr. Welner, in preparation for this article, if only to notify them of my intent—but I did slip a few questions in; I am ever the joyful opportunist!

Interestingly enough, Dr. Welner (himself!) came across the article on his own and then responded to my email. I am humbled that he said the work above took the complexities of the standard and “made it all seem understandable and your interpretations were on target” because one of my minor missions is to stash psychology’s cookies on the bottom shelf for all the world to munch.

I was also heartened that he assured all of us supporters that “I have and continue to elaborate this work, very carefully and deliberately, with the broader concerns you articulated in mind.”

With that introduction, I offer you his responses to the questions that I “slipped in,” for your further edification and enjoyment.

What keeps your passion about this topic high as we near the 10 year mark?

My passion for the Depravity Standard and the study of evil in the everyday is fueled by the same factors that inspired me in the first place – namely, that depravity and evil somehow eluded the study by the behavioral sciences, and if I  did not do it, it would not happen, and that avoidance is unacceptable for our profession and for justice, for all of the reasons you noted in your article. I am heartened by all that we have learned to date that has demonstrated that a consensus can be achieved about what distinguishes the worst of crimes and an operationalized way to apply this to crime can be achieved. What we are now doing is refining the standard for its eventual valid application to murder and then, to other crimes. But this has to be used carefully, and so I am pleased with the deliberate approach this project has taken. It’s hard not to be excited about the implications of what we have been learning. 

How close to complete are Phases B and C?

We continue Phase B & C because societal attitudes may change, and the data has to account for such shifts in order to avoid being outdated. We have enough data, however, to apply weight to individual items. The key step to validation is Phase D, which is very labor intensive at our end and is informed by the statistical data generated by the public in the B & C surveys. Phase D specifically looks at large samples from adjudicated murder cases from a variety of American cities and mines the presence of each of the items, establishing the clusters of the exceptional crimes that separate themselves by the depravity items present.

What hopes you see in the future as the research completes?

My hopes are to aid juries and judges to make more informed and evidence-driven conclusions. And, to use the findings of this research to inspire case investigation to go beyond guilt and into providing juries with better evidence about intent and attitudes about crime, components which are unwisely overlooked in appraising crime and its severity. If we accept that each crime is different, some more or less severe than others, I believe intent, actions, attitudes, and victimology all have to be part of that consideration. To appraise crime in this manner is a far more substantive undertaking, and key to fairness in justice. And, it’s bringing out the best in forensic science as an informative tool.

Thank you, Dr. Welner for coming by our internet psychology booth! 

__________________________________________________

Connelly, Michael. (April 02, 2007) Depravity, Objectivity, and The Death Penalty Retrieved From: http://correctionssentencing.blogspot.com/2007/04/depravity-objectivity-and-death-penalty.html

 Depravity Scale.org (2013) The Forensic Panel. Retrieved From: https://depravityscale.org/depscale/

 Hoevet, Rod. (April, 2013) Email Interview. Linked In Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-rod-hoevet/20/a70/750

Liptak, Adam. (April, 2007) Adding Method to Judging Mayhem. New York Times. Retrieved From:  http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/us/02bar.html?ex=1175572800&en=04354a0a15cd116d&ei=5121

“[Communication] is not as common or as
practiced as I once believed…we need weapons
in the war against disconnection
and misinterpretation.”
-Me, Fantasy Contact
and Real Communication (2011)

The befuddled ranting of a Philadelphia Court Judge (in front of me and my patient) inspired the article quoted above. Today I am inspired by much more positive things, which you, dear readers, deserve credit for.

First, the Pinterest Site from the last article was very well received and followed by a nifty psyche magazine, to boot. Feel free to follow there if you are more visually attuned. Second, the site here has reached a monthly viewership nearing 1,000. This is both humbling and awe-inspiring, but most of all, it fills me with deep gratitude to you all. Third, my Twitter following has increased to 70. I love this number because it continues to feel intimate, and I try for brevity, intimacy and humor in my Twitter feed.

All this awesome caused me to reflect on the commitment I made to increase the level of connectivity and communication offered by us here at KeithKarabin.com back in November 2011 when confronted with that shining example of judicial idiocy.

I’m prone to reflection most of the time, but especially so as the site nears its May anniversary. I’m proud of us all for being able to report that most of our communication goals are being met. Though many articles don’t receive direct comments, readers use the email and contact page to connect directly when inspired rather than publicly. Twitter and Facebook comments are always consistent, as is the occasional use of our contact page for insight-sharing, advice or support-seeking. Keep up the dialogue however you feel comfortable. I always love a conversation.

The only area for growth that I find is the Off-Week FYI mailing list, and to that end, I’ve offered a special anniversary prize. But first, let’s talk talking.

Quality Despite Quantity

“We just don’t have time to really communicate well.”
-Dr. Tim Elmore, Best-Selling Author & Thinker

“Information is more readily available today than ever before,” says Dr. Tim Elmore, author of over 25 books and considered “a thought leader on the emerging generation.”  “Communication, however, is an increasing challenge. Our current culture, full of technology, speed and convenience, makes effective communication even more challenging.” (Elmore, 2013)

Dr. Elmore says it’s about time, and I agree. No matter if it’s text, tweet or email, the beauty of Next-Generation Communication is that it’s fast. Yes, that also means that now hearts can be broken and spelling thrown out the window in the heat of a click, but I consider that evidence of the power of the medium, not of a deficit.

Many do not see it that way, such as Dr. Oliver James’ view of Twitter. “Twittering stems from a lack of identity. It’s a constant update of who you are, what you are, where you are. Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity.” (And no one would say “Twittering” if they familiarized themselves with their topic, Doc.) (Grenville-Cleave, 2009)

It is between these factions—these polar ideas—that we hold our digital conversations every day. On one side, the world gets faster and we seek to speak in it, sometimes to it, and find understanding. On the other side we find the erosive reality that “fast” can become “sloppy” and the frightening idea that the quantity of our messaging can dilute our identity.

Communication-Connection Continuum

“If you want to change the way people think, you can educate them,
brainwash them, bribe them, drug them. Or you can teach them
a few carefully chosen new words with the power to change the
way you see the world.”
- Howard Rheingold, They Have a Word for It

London based Psychologist Bridget Grenville-Cleave, MAPP argues the idea that social media is solely an update of the “facts” of our existence. She asserts that it has grown into something more. Seeking deeper connection, users are “…adapting the medium, using it far more for 1-to-1 or 1-to-many exchange of ideas, information, web links, and dialogue, both public and private.” (Grenville-Cleave, 2009)

In a 2008 focus study Dr. Elmore and his team also uncovered a desire for deeper communication as key to the reason that people are “adapting the medium” of social media. Texting and “Internet (e.g. Facebook)” ranked first and second of the top eight mediums of communication, but further, they found that “this list moves from more personal [communication] to less personal in nature.”

“Attention spans are becoming shorter,” Dr. Elmore says, therefore, “expectations of value are getting greater. Patience for ‘average’ content is becoming slimmer. The demand for customization in a message is growing larger.” (Elmore, 2013)

This hunger for efficient but valuable communication is potent. It may mean that, as a young society, we have begun to yearn for the inter-connectedness that teases on the bleeding edge of our present technology. There will be more rapid communication, but if that is balanced with deeper connection, value should increase not decrease and lead to a potential validation of identity, not its loss.

“This is where the theory of the ‘strength of weak ties’ comes in,” according to Mrs. Grenville-Cleave. This theory, written by Professor Mark Granovetter of Stanford University suggests “weak ties can be more beneficial than strong ones, in some circumstances” because “Our acquaintances move in slightly different social circles to us, and thus have access to different information and resources than our close ties have, and so can provide us with a different kind of support.”

“So having a great many Facebook or Twitter friendships based on weak ties is certainly not to be sniffed at,” Grenville-Cleave concludes, “if anything it makes sense to use social networks to create as many new connections as you can [since]…for someone with a hoped-for possible self that receives some validation on-line, it is possible that this bolsters their attempts to achieve the possible self off-line too.” (Grenville-Cleave, 2009) 

Talking Like Amazons

“We can’t rewind we’ve gone to far
Pictures came and broke your heart
Put the blame on VTR
Oh-a-oh…”
-The Buggles, “Video Killed the Radio Star”

For every person who bemoans that “the art of letter writing is dead!” because of the Internet, I must reassure that yes, so is the art of cave painting because of canvas. Tools are simply tools. Masons use chisels to build houses and Michelangelo used them to make David.

We are still growing to understand the tool of the Internet, but one thing is very clear to me; There must be a bedrock of connection for there to be the deep, valuable communication that we crave at the speed which we need it.

So, welcome to the contest. It’s so very simple. You can WIN A $5 AMAZON GIFT CARD. Just SUBSCRIBE TO THE OFF WEEK FYI mailing list and you will be entered. One random name will be drawn from the new sign ups on May 10, 2013 and they will win it.

Simple, right? Right. The pool will be small, your chance to win will be high, and five bucks is five bucks. Not to mention everyone wins something even better; the chance at more meaningful communication.

__________________________________________________

Elmore, Tim. (March, 2013) Communicate or Stagnate: Next Generation Communication Technology is changing the way we interact and communicate. Psychology Today. Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201303/communicate-or-stagnate-next-generation-communication

Grenville-Cleave, (Bridget. 26 February 2009). Flourishing and Facebook Friends. Positive Psychology News Daily. Retrieved from: http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/bridget-grenville-cleave/200902261601

“[Visual Thinking is] the ability to find meaning in imagery.
It involves a set of skills ranging from simple identification
(naming what one sees) to complex interpretation on contextual,
metaphoric and philosophical levels…Objective understanding
is the premise of much of this literacy, but subjective and
affective aspects of knowing are equally important.”
-Philip Yenawine, Thoughts on Visual Literacy
(Visual Thinking Strategies, 2013)

 I’m always an advocate of stretching ourselves, including the way we think. Visual Thinking is an emerging amalgam of art, science and psychology which focuses on studying how our brains absorb, organize and interpret our world with the aim of improving and harnessing that process.

But, I’ve said enough. I’m setting a crucially low word limit on this article and seeking to do more with pictures. Let’s call it my own Visual Thinking experiment. Don’t be afraid if you only see diagrams. Just look, absorb and click if you choose.

The Power of Visual Thinking 

“Visual Thinking is the next evolutionary step…
Through the application of specific visual thinking
techniques and strategies you will improve your ability
to think more critically and creatively about the events
and circumstances in your life.”
- Visual Thinking Magic

…and also…

The Peril of the Visual Revolution

Howard Gardner, professor and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has referred to the visual/digital explosion and “kids’ use of digital media and technology ‘epochal change’ similar to the printing press, but “overnight.”

According to CNN “By the time they’re 2 years old, more than 90% of all American children have an online history. The fact is, by middle school, our kids today are spending more time with media than with their parents or teachers…The impact of heavy media and technology use on kids’ social, emotional and cognitive development is only beginning to be studied, and the emergent results are serious.” (Clinton and Steyer, 2012)

Across the pond, The Education Department of Ireland “said cutting-edge communications technology has encouraged poor literacy and a blunt, choppy style at odds with academic rigor,” according to a study of Irish teens. They found today’s teens “unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary…choosing to answer sparingly, even minimally, rather than seeing questions as invitations to explore the territory they had studied and to express the breadth and depth of their learning and understanding.” (AP, 2007)

The fear of the visual revolution that occurs when there’s a camera phone in every pocket and a connection to the Pic-opolis of the web is being realized. Studies warn “the Internet may actually be changing how our brains work. Too much hypertext and multimedia content has been linked in some kids to limited attention span, lower comprehension, poor focus, greater risk for depression and diminished long-term memory.”

Opponents of the visual revolution agree that the benefits to society are vast “But for these positive outcomes to occur, we as a society must confront the challenges endemic in our 24/7 digital world. We need legislation, educational efforts and norms that reflect 21st-century realities to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks for our kids.” (Clinton and Steyer, 2012) 

The Pinteresting Result

 “My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that’s the way I likes it!”
-Grampa Simpson

Yes, there is data to back the idea that our emerging digital culture will turn us into some blend of Homer Simpson and the Borg, but Visual Thinking proponents believe that immersion and understanding will actually increase our potential. We may lose proper use; of semi-colons (see what I did there) and LOL at my little joke, but that we will become problem solving wiz kids. Me? I think the printing press was the best analogy. No doubt it was seen as the doom of all education and rigor of the times. Which it was, thank God.

This whole investigation came from my desire to translate this website into a more visual framework via Pinterest. We’re coming up on another year anniversary and I always like to tidy up the joint. I found some interesting things.

Let Them Speak! My first draft of the Pinterest included little synopses next to the titles of the pictures. I realized that this was reflecting my own need to “word up” the interaction with explanation, and thus my own picture related nervousness. So, I ditched the synopses and the pictures gained their voice.

Flowing, flowing… Thinking in visual pin boards about the web site’s categories forced me to take the axe to three of them, re-title another two and re-organize almost every article. The result, I hope, is a more evocative and efficient organizational system. I love that this is one of the main goals of Visual Thinking and it occurred organically, before I knew that.

It’s the gut. Yes, Visual Thinking is all about the mind-eye link. To me, it ends with the gut. The gut is what is hit by the picture. The gut is what’s drawn first, then it goes to the mind. If you wish to call your gut a soul or a spirit or a metachlorian, feel free. To me, the study of Visual Thinking is in a way a return to another level of the root of Psychology or “Soul Study.”

Click here if you’d like to see the Pinterest.

__________________________________________________

Associated Press. (2007, May 25) Ireland’s Text-mad Youth Losing Writing Abilities. USA Today. Retrieved from:http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-04-25-ireland-spells-doom_N.htm?csp=34

Clinton, C. and Steyer, J.P. (2012, May 21) Is the Internet Hurting Children? CNN. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/opinion/clinton-steyer-internet-kids

Visual Thinking Magic. (2011). The Visual Thinking Framework Retrieved from: http://www.visualthinkingmagic.com/framework

Visual Thinking Strategies. (2013). What is VTS? Retrieved from http://vtshome.org/what-is-vts

“Ya gotta love wat’cha eat!”
-Andi, My Weight Watchers Leader

I’ve been contacted by a kind and encouraging number of you who’ve said things that fall into two main categories:

1) “You’re an inspiration to me!”

2) “Alright, buddy. Make with the recipes already.”

To those of you in category one, I say, “Thank you. I’m still trying to inspire myself to keep this up, so you’re helping me.” This post is the first in what may be an on-going answer to those in category two. If you like what you read, say so, and I’ll do it again.

Focusing on what you eat is irrelevant and will trip you up every time. There, my secret’s out. Don’t believe me? Scandalized? Good. I was too, when I realized it. Instead, I prioritize two other factors: What I Love About Eating and How Much I Eat What I Love.

Though Weight Watchers wasn’t the answer for me, my former** leader Andi’s attitude about eating was a big answer to my habits. Her statement above proved formative to my diet once I was able to mix it with the hard-core education from my Abington Weight Management Class.

The ethos is simple: We must love what we eat or we will quit. The problem then becomes how to focus on what you eat. I say we must discover and embrace what we love about eating. Use as few words as possible and describe what you love, crave, and need to be satisfied for you to have a full belly and heart. For me it was Flavor, Volume and Texture.

I list them in that order on purpose, because once you have more that one word, you must rank them in order of importance.

Here, here and here are some fine lists of food words, craft your own food priorities. Each recipe that follows is a representation of mine. 

Flavor First

For me, a powerful flavor brings immediate satisfaction for the majority of eating—I seek out flavor first.

This Skinny Pizza was my first attempt at getting that robust Italian burst of tomato, garlic and oregano, melted mozzarella cheese and crispy crust which shouts “Pizza!” without all the calories. It’s a favorite of mine, and my wife’s too.

Skinny Pizza

3 Wasa (brand) Rosemary Thins

1 tbs FF Mozzarella cheese per slice

1tsp parmesan cheese per slice

1-2 tbs Tomato Sauce (below) per slice

+ Veggies & meat as desired (will change calories/carbs)

The Sauce

1 pureed Tomato & 1 diced Tomato

1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

Oregano, basil, onion & garlic powder to taste.

Simmer until it thickens

(or I like Prego Original for 12 calories a Tbs)

Directions

1) Top Wasa with all ingredients like a pizza

2) Sprinkle with Oregano, basil, onion & garlic powder to taste.

3) 15 min at 425 or until cheese is melted/brown.

SERVING: 3 slices 70 calories and 7 carbs per slice

Pump Up The Volume

Volume stops my hunger and also fulfills my need to munch, so I have to do it on the calorie cheap side or I’ll balloon.

Any water or fat free broth based soup is a winner for calorie cheap volume with killer flavor. This Chicken Foodle (faux noodle) soup was a hit at our Solstice party this year and at our dinner table. It’s savory, hearty and there are plenty of slurp-able noodles.

Chicken Foodle Soup

2 cartons Fat Free Chicken Broth

3-4 stalks Celery

1/2 raw Onion

3 oz chopped Carrot (any kind)

16 oz light chicken breast (140 cal or less)

2 tomatoes, diced

1/3 to 1/2 rutabaga

Season with:

Garlic

Sage

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Thyme

Directions

Chop all items except rutabagas. Once soup is assembled in pot, slice rutabaga into 1.5-2 inch wide chunks which are able to be hand held. Hold chunk over the pot and use a vegetable peeler to peel faux noodles or “foodles” into the pot.

Simmer or Crockpot until chicken is done.

SERVING: 1 cup = 80 calories & 2 carbs

Food With Feeling

Texture is a stress reliever for me. Some to Tai Chi, I crunch and munch, gnaw and gnash.

I enter a chili cook off every year. Last October, focused on losing weight, I told myself I can’t enter. Well, you know how I am about “can’t.” Not only did I craft a healthy chili, but I conquered one of my pet peeves about my own chili: The Mush. I put all these great crispy fresh veggies into my chili, and then cook until they’re brown and uniform. Unless you’re UPS, brown and uniform is a recipe for blech.

The secret of this powerful, flavor-mad chili is to mingle the fire or chili essence with the ice, or veggies, in your bowl right before eating. (Yes, like the McD.L.T.) What you lose in mush, you make up for in crunchy, fresh satisfaction.

Fire & Ice Chili

The Pico De Gallo

5-6 Roma Tomatoes

1 Cup Celery

1 Cup Red Onion

1 Medium Yellow Pepper

Lime Juice

Malted Vinegar

Cilantro

1 Tbs Minced Garlic

2 tsp Salt

The Chili Essence

4oz Beef Tenderloin, hammered thin, in strips

3-4 Cups Low Fat Beef Broth

1 Can small Red Beans

4 Tbs Chili Powder

1 Tbs Ancho Chili

2 Tsp Cumin

2 Tsp Ret Al Hanout (it’s Moroccan, but McCormick brings it to us)

Cayenne to taste

Chipotle to taste

Directions

Simmer broth while chopping all veggies. Toss the veggies in the spices and juice to make a Pico like slaw.

To eat well: Pour one cup of broth over two cups of veggies, top with sour cream and cheese (I prefer the fat free kind).

SERVING: 1 cup broth, 2 cups veggies = 135 calories and 16 carbs. This doesn’t include the cheese and sour cream.

For Dessert

Find what you love about food and make your recipes to fit that; not the steps above. Eating is personal; it need not be a personal tragedy when it can be a personal triumph. Andi used to end most of her classes with a simple statement. I’ll echo her words here. Try the recipes; find your own food priorities, but most of all “Act like you care about you!”

__________________________________________________

**I can’t call her old or she’ll mention me in class and say “he called me old”—so, “former” it is.

*© The Fat Guy’s Guide to Health is the sole intellectual property of Keith Karabin and KeithKarabin.com.

Books, DVDs, Magazines, Comic Books, Kinck-nacks, Tchotchkys, dust-catchers, #@%# clutter everywhere and why can’t I find a single flat surface to put down this coffee mug?! Does this sound like something that runs through your brain when entering your “office,” “den” or your whole house?

Don’t worry; you are simply part of the “great American propensity toward accumulating stuff,” which has been studied by Tom Litton, a Self-Storage industry veteran and Sociology departments around the world. “By the early ’90s, American families had…twice as many possessions as they did 25 years earlier,” according to Juliet B. Schor, Boston College sociologist. “By 2005, the average consumer purchased one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.” (Mooallem, 2009)

My wife and I are no different. The findings of a 2006 U.C.L.A. study particularly hit home. It “found middle-class families in Los Angeles ‘battling a nearly universal over accumulation of goods.’ Garages were clogged. Toys and outdoor furniture collected in the corners of backyards. ‘The home-goods storage crisis has reached almost epic proportions,’ the authors of the study wrote.” (Mooallem, 2009)

I hit a point in November, financially and spatially, when I had to draw the line. I needed extra income for Christmas, and I needed my office closet back. Both of those objectives were reached, but here it is, entering Spring, and I’m still selling stuff. Why? Because I discovered something; I “struck gold” emotionally and metaphorically speaking.

My family—and I posit many American families—are stuck in a negative stuff cycle. We accumulate, enjoy, cram the now-less-fun stuff into some corner of our home, and repeat. This cycle weighs us down financially, organizationally and emotionally—and one of the ways we respond is to buy more stuff. Hence, the Stuff Cycle. (see Fig. 1. above)

This is not an article about how to make money online—although that’s in here. This is an article about breaking the Stuff Cycle and building a healthy cycle which fulfills your finances and your family. 

Who Made This Mess?!

“Only in America – do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in
the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.”
-Anonymous

“Our stuff has a powerful grip,” says Regina Leeds, author of One Year to an Organized Life, and she’s right, of course. (Grimshaw, 2008) America is fascinated with the show Hoarders because of its depiction of people in the grip of their stuff. Further, some form of that fascination is also due to a self-absolution of our own clutter achieved by watching someone worse than ourselves.

I posit that there is a Clutter Continuum, which goes along with the Stuff Cycle.

Hoarding is “‘a debilitating condition where they accumulate clutter to the point of impairment,’ said Dr. Julie Pike, a psychologist at Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center in Durham, N.C. ‘We estimate 2 million people in the U.S. have this problem, but we can’t be exactly sure because people who hoard are very secretive about it.’” (Doyle, 2010)

Hoarding is on one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum is the attachment to stuff in which “people turn physical objects into magic talismans that connect them to memories (and) better times in their lives,” and thus have great difficulty letting them go, wrote Regina Leeds. (Grimshaw, 2008) The rest of America is crammed into the middle of the continuum. Don’t fret; there’s plenty of space. The Self Storage Association noted “with more than seven square feet [of storage for sale] for every man, woman and child, it’s now ‘physically possible that every American could stand — all at the same time — under the total canopy of self-storage roofing.’”

The constant consumption of the Stuff Cycle and our American progression up the Clutter Continuum, has birthed an entire industry which provides storage for things that we don’t need to live, but are psychologically gripped by. The self storage industry loves the bind you’re in, according to Derek Naylor, president of Storage Marketing Solutions. “Human laziness has always been a big friend of self-storage operators…as long as [people] feel psychologically that they can afford it, they’ll leave that stuff in there forever.” (Mooallem, 2009)

No matter if you are simply a clutterer or a hoarder, the root cause is the same. Emotional attachment, fast pace of life and Naylor’s accused ‘laziness’ all combine with holding on to something you don’t need “…to avoid the distress of having to make the decision to let go of something,” Dr. Pike said. Elizabeth Robinson, a Denver psychologist, agreed. “I think there is a great fear of making a decision that could be wrong, of feeling something like regret or loss our guilt about getting rid of things.”  

Cognitive Consumption

“Your home should be your sanctuary, your buffer against the
world, it is torture if you’re living in chaos.”
-Regina Leeds

Balancing our buying and storing with sharing and selling has three main benefits; decreased emotional, spatial and financial stress. Take these three examples of the cost of over-consumption. 

Spatial

 “The first extreme case of hoarding came to light in 1947,” according to Doyle, “when police found Homer and Langley Collyer dead inside their Fifth Avenue brownstone in Harlem, N.Y. According to the New York Press, Langley Collyer had transformed their house into a fortress with packing boxes and cartons in interlocking tiers with hidden tunnels…He had hoarded so much stuff; the house was starting to buckle under the weight of it all, and Langley was buried alive while trying to bring his brother food.” 

Financial

This physical stress on the Collyer house—along with the threat of a crap-a-lanch—also wears on our emotional health and financial decision making ability, according to a Rutgers University study. “In financial decision making,” the study found, “where rational and deliberative thinking is essential, a stressful environment” like a cluttered home or office, can “hamper our ability to make decisions.” The study’s press release asserted that the data may indicate that those of us “feeling extreme unease about the security of our jobs and being able to make our next mortgage payment” need to target environmental stress—like disorganization and clutter—because the decision impairing “stress could make our financial troubles even worse.” (Isanki, 2009)  

Emotional

Not only are “guilt, grief and attachment are common motivations for retaining old things well past their expiration date,” but “many professional organizers and psychologists, who often refer clients to each other, believe that clutter can be indicative of underlying psychological issues like…low self-esteem and an inability to make decisions.”  This does not mean your messy kitchen table or boxes of Home & Garden indicate that you’ve lost your mind. Rather, it may indicate increased stress, unsettled losses, feeling overwhelmed or impaired ability to make decisions or create order. 

“Psychology shapes a person’s relationship to his or her space and stuff,” according to organizational psychologists, but that also means the opposite is also true. You can reduce stress, make sense of your life, and increase your feeling of control and your bank account simply by reducing your clutter.  

Soul Sustenance

 “Life is a casting off.”
-Linda, Death of a Salesman

The return of control is found in two things; understanding and balance.

Teri Lynn Mabbitt, a Denver-based professional organizer, uses four categories to help her clients understand the root of their clutter. “Technical: Clutter that causes space restrictions and an overall lack of storage space. Life changes: Clutter caused by a new baby, a death in the family, a move or anything that has thrown a life out of balance. Behavioral/psychological: Clutter caused by depression, attention deficit disorder, low self-esteem or lack of personal boundaries. Time/life management: Clutter caused by the need for better planning.” The greatest value of clutter is that it can reveal things about yourself and your life which need acceptance, addressing or adjustment; that are powerful stuff. (Grimshaw, 2008)

But some of us don’t care what their junk says, they just want it out. I get that. In Figure 2 (below) I’ve mapped out the Sustained Cycle. It is a depiction of how, through replacing storage (or “Cram” in Fig. 1) with a measured amount of Selling or Sharing, we can continue to buy stuff and enjoy life with much less stress, and in fact, reduce our stress. This is achieved when we pull out the items we’ve accumulated and release them to the world with the goal of not just emotional health or reduced clutter or even increased cash flow, but balance. Balance to home-space, balance to the guilt or loss of letting go vs. the stress and weight of holding on and balance to our finances. These are represented by a heart, scale and stack of money under “Balance” in the diagram.

While just a guide, I truly do rate the things that I release on these criteria. Here’s a caution: Never let increased cash flow be the most important. It’ll never happen. For me, less clutter is most important, then emotional health, then financial boost. Thus, if I’ve put an old holiday music box on eBay and someone offers me a price lower than I’ve listed, my first thought isn’t “But, I wanted $35!” it’s “Well, it will get it out of our house, and that’s a gain, We’ll feel more relaxed, that’s a gain and I make $25.” This is a true story which also shows a benefit greater than all of the ones listed; the joy of stuff you don’t need becoming someone else’s treasured possession. That music box was weight passed from my wife’s parents, who never used it, and it sat in our basement for 10 years, unopened. Now it’s half way to California and a new mother of twins seeking to start a new Christmas tradition.

Here are some ideas if you are now eager to jump in and release your clutter to the world:

Create a hierarchy of selling: Sort your stuff into things that you think have monetary value on the Internet, yard sale value, value shared with friends and donation value to Purple Heart or your local thrift store.

Don’t start with eBay or Craigslist: Even though I use both regularly, there are other options. www.SellBackYourBook.com and www.SellDVDsOnline.comare my go-to first stops for books, DVDs and Video Games. Just type in the UPC code and they give you a price. They send you a mailing label when you’re done and your money goes to your PayPal account. So easy. If those two won’t take them, I go to Amazon.com because they have a Trade In department which is similar, if a little more picky, which pays in Amazon gift cards. Finally, check out FaceBook for local “Online Yard sale” groups which usually are organized by county. It’s more informal and specialized, but it connects you with people who want your stuff.

Remember Your Goal: The goal is balancing. Be warned that these sites are more designed to sell you things. If your goal is balance, set a goal to earn a certain amount, or move a certain weight or spatial goal out of your house before buying and bringing new stuff in. I just did that with $100 off a new coffee table amassed in sales of old books, DVDs, Video Games and basement clutter.

It feels great, it’s easy and the power is in your hands once again.

—————————————————————————

Doyle, J. R. (2010, August 13) Under the Clutter: The Psychology Behind Hoarding. FoxNews.com Retrieved From: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/08/13/clutter-psychology-hoarding/

Grimshaw, H. (2008, June 5) The Psychology of Clutter The Denver Post. Retrieved from: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8060057

Isanski, Barbara. Association for Psychological Science. (2009). From Stress to Financial Mess. Retrieved From: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/from-stress-to-financial-mess-study-suggests-acute-stress-affects-financial-decision-making.html

Mooallem, J. (2009, September 2) The Self-Storage Self. New York Times. Retrieved From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

“‘Cause I was thinkin’, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight.
 It really don’t matter if this guy opens my head, either.”
-Rocky Balboa, Rocky

 It’s 4:45AM; the swish-swish of snow pants awakens the sleeping cat, curled into a warm circle of fur. Jealousy rises, but the running shoes go on.

It’s 5AM. It snowed the night before and the sidewalks are reduced to thin passes through miniature Himalayas—careful of the icy patches, only a slight glimmer in the streetlight may mean a slip and a broken ankle.

It was the same on the morning of our Christmas party, or Christmas Day, or New Year’s Eve Morning. Up, raise fist at frigid air, jog. Repeat. There’s a race in a few months and a life being built.

It’s Wednesday February Sixth. Three days before the Cupid’s Chase Winter 5k at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the surrounding Fairmount Park. The realization hits; I’ve no excitement for this race that I’ve been training for. Oh, crap.

In some things “practice makes perfect” is less true. For me—and for many, so maybe for you, too—it’s actually harder the second time, when you’re building a healthy habit. Nobody told me that.

I was looking for the right image to express it and I didn’t find it until the day of the Cupid’s Chase. I had forgotten that the Philadelphia Museum of Art was practically the Wailing Wall for cheese steak and soft pretzel lovin’ Philly guys thanks to the movie Rocky. But then, turning a corner, I came face-to-face with the statue of the fictitious champ. Then I saw the Art Museum steps. Then I remembered Rocky running up those steps, getting beat down, but finally making it. Rocky was about winning—about beating Apollo Creed—but there was more film time about the monotony of training.

The Face of the Nothing

“Ha! Brave warrior, then fight the Nothing.”
-G’mork, The Never Ending Story

Just like Rocky Balboa, if you wanna “eat lightning and crap thunder,” as Mickey the trainer promised, then you have to climb those Museum steps, just like Rocky did. If each step is a chore, they all can become an insurmountable mountain, like “The Nothing” in Never Ending Story—a big, amorphous, thing which sucks the life out of our childish dreams. I’ve given some of these steps a name.

Life Creeps In – It’s the truth. In my weight management class we call the distance between a healthy lifestyle and the American lifestyle “the gap.” The reality is, it’s not the gap which separates us, it’s the ocean we swim in, live in, and breathe in. Like building a sand castle, the ocean will erode our health habit. For me, and the disinterest which gripped me prior to the race, this was due to the hours of cold darkness forcing me to run later in the morning—taking me from some family time—and the pounding of work-related demands on my reserves of mental, emotional and physical energy. Then, as seen above, a snow storm added an extra layer of “life” to an already difficult time. But by then, I had rekindled my flame.

The Other Guy – I kept telling myself during the first races training “It doesn’t matter what I get, I’ve never done this before—just doing it is a victory.” But now there was a time in my head. 50:35, the time from my first race. Sure, I wouldn’t win, but could I beat that? The internal struggle of releasing my desire to beat my last time was ever-present.

Fear – No fancy name here; simple fear. When you’ve never driven to Philly and run a 5K at the Art Museum, it’s all an unknown to fear. Further, there’s the fear of injury, fear of failure, fear of just about anything. I found that there was so much more preparation than for the local Hatboro race and some of that was due to simple, empty fear.

Karabin, Party of One – There was no way I was making my wife and daughter stand outside, on the side of Martin Luther King Boulevard, for an hour in frigid February temperatures. Still, that meant I was going in alone. Not having their smiling faces at the end was a prick of a thorn on the rose, but this one was okay, because the alternative was them freezing for no reason.

It’s Not Special Anymore – I saved the biggest for last. That thought is the true cancer that metastasized throughout my jogging regimen and finally threatened to steal the joy of my race. Race One was special, I couldn’t do it wrong, and damn it, I was special, too! I was the fat guy with Cerebral Palsy who was running his first 5K! But now, it felt like, literally, “Been there, done that, got the long sleeve T shirt.” The shine was off the apple and me, in the throes of “Poor Me,” could only muster “Oh. An apple. Again.” 

Death to the Joy-Stealers!

 “When I first started out they shut all the doors.
But I laughed at all the doors and I kicked ‘em down.”
-Billy Idol, Generation X “English Dream”

That was the ugly state of my mind a mere four days before the race. I knew it wasn’t a fair attitude to have, but there it was. Will, like any muscle, can weary. I had lost heart.

This is where the universal applicability of this message comes in; It’s not about racing. It’s about any new positive habit. Remember, I’m not the 5K guy—I’m the 400lb guy who is only recently become healthy after 35 years of poor-me, crappy health!

I don’t care if it’s switching gum-chewing for smoking, walking your dog every day, drinking seltzer instead of soda or napping daily; maintaining any positive health habit in our mostly indulgent and indolent culture is akin to flapping your wings and flying out of a swamp. Daily. Fighting against gravity and suck-muck every day.

You will be plagued by every one of the above things, and more, in your constant wing-flapping fight. Life will creep in, you will compare yourself to yourself or others, you will be afraid, you will feel alone and your healthy habit will damn well go from special thing and special you to arduous chore! Even if you love it.

But here’s the trick: It can also return to specialness just as quickly, because that negative morass is emotionally based and emotions can be changed by changing thinking and perspectives.

Look over that pile of gear above. Each item, from the list scrawled on the back of a printout, to the gluco-tabs, to the trek pole helped get me from arduous chore back to exciting adventure.

Re-inspiration is key, because it is the only thing that has truly decreased. The first thing I did was go to www.active.com and read articles about running, training and 5K races. Y’know what I found? First, I found that one can become re-inspired simply by turning pages on the toilet. Second I found that it was my own fault that I never heard anyone say that I could lose the fun of running. It’s all over this and every active living site, as are countless ways to re-stoke your fire. The internet is an open sewer of vapid navel-gazing, but it also has innumerable sources of positive information and feedback for any healthy or unhealthy habit.

Planning to fight fear is the only way to beat fear. My plan—scrawled above—came right from the articles that I read, in fact, I wrote it right on the back. I had overlooked simple things like “What is your race-day plan to get there?” and “Where do you park?” Simple things like that were lodged in the back of my mind, stealing my joy and bringing them into the light shriveled them up. By the time my plan was set even a last minute freezing blizzard became only a line-item on the page, not something that could have ruined the whole thing.

Remember your journey and you won’t lose your way. I had forgotten how much I had believed I would live and die on my couch with my hand in a box of Cheese-Its. I had over-looked how much adaptation, commitment and thought went into each of those items above. I had forgotten how my hip tendons ached so bad that I used to run with a cane on my back (now a cool trek pole) rather than give up—and how my first trip to www.active.com showed me simple stretches that eased my legs, and my unfounded fear of arthritis. I had forgotten the joy of becoming, which is the true power of a health change.

Kick Negatives just like Billy Idol kicking through a door. Sneer at them, for they are beneath you. I’ve listened to Generation X: Valley of the Dolls since I was 13 years old. I loaded that album onto my short running mix because of how it’s been the sound track to so many phases of my life. The middle-breakdown of “English Dream,” from which the lyrics above are pulled, hit my ears just I saw the finish line last Saturday. I laughed to myself because I had to kick through a bunch of doors to get this far. I was proud, I was joyful and content.

And then I saw the big red race timer…

Two Minutes

“…if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’,
I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see,
that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.”
-Rocky Balboa, Rocky

…and I said to myself “Oh, yeah?!”

There may have been a mix of the Rebel Rocker and the Italian Stallion in the tone of that defiant, confident question. Body shaking, I hit the gas. I knew I could do it.

You see, despite all my fear and prior lack of inspiration, despite all my internal talk about not trying to beat my previous time, I still wanted to. In that moment I realized that wanting to see improvement is just as healthy as the habit itself.

I wanted to see my preparation, months of frozen running, and all my gear matter, but I had been bracing for it not to matter. The truth was that the biggest inspiration suck was also the greatest joy; I wanted this whole thing to count for something, but I was afraid that it wouldn’t. Health wise I would be “just another bum from the neighborhood.” Instead, in the end, I took my picture with the champ.

With “English Dream” beating on my eardrums, I beat the frozen Philadelphia asphalt and came in 2:20 faster than my last race.

And a whole lot wiser in my life-journey.

“To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
-Thomas Campbell

Back in April, as a way to put my small, small words behind a project (and a Kickstarter) that I dearly believe in, I interviewed Jessica Vale about her time in Liberia working on the documentary Small Small Thing, which told the story of Olivia Zinnah, her mother and Liberia’s culture of rape and witchcraft.

Recently, the Small Small Thing team sent out a difficult email via their successful Kickstarter Campaign site; Olivia had died from the same rape-related complications which had brought her to the Liberian hospital on the day she met Jess and the team.

With Olivia’s death the cost of lives and quality of life caused by a culture that either shrugs or looks the other way, rose again. Infuriatingly, “data collected by the Ministry of Gender and Development in 2012 shows…an increase in child rape.” Any civilization that is not outraged by a self-characterization of increased child rape does not deserve to call itself a civilization, for it is anything but civilized.

Yes, I’m mad. But I’m not alone. “Olivia’s death has caused quite a lot of press, more and more every day,” the team said. “People are starting to take notice, and speak out for her. Read through the articles and please share them with others. That’s the best way to keep this story going.”

Well, when Small Small Thing needed money and exposure to keep the project alive, I did my small part. Now, I will do the same. I’ve listed the articles mentioned below, gave credit where it was listed and admittedly cherry-picked the most shocking bits to encourage you to read more. Click, read, share. Keep the story going.

Ebony Magazine by Michael Arceneaux

“On December 20, 2012, [Olivia] died from the long-term systemic complications spurred by her sexual assault. She was only 13…she had only received traditional healing—described as including “herbs and sorcery.” She was not taken to the doctor, nor were police called.”

Olivia has died “…leaving the rest of us to make sure that the culture responsible for her passing be dealt a fatal blow.”

The Informer Liberia by Marcus S. Zoleh

The Ministry of Gender & Development said “it is saddened by the recent death of twelve year-old little Olivia Zinna Jallah” but “The culprit is yet to face trial”

“It is inexcusable and disheartening that cases of rape of children are rampant in Liberia; this we believe, sends a message of a feeling of impunity among perpetrators that there will be no serious consequences to their devilish action,” Zoleh reported, and further urged that, the children are not the only ones who are in dire need. “The current state of the mother of the twelve year-old girl is unbearable and needs urgent attention.”

Front Page Africa by Henry Karmo

“Olivia’s mother feared her family would shun her if she refused their desire to settle the matter without police, the ministry said.”

“At the funeral service for Olivia, the Children’s Parliament of Liberia in their tribute condemned the act that led the child to an early grave describing it as ‘complete wickedness…we want justice for the death of our colleague. We are not prepare to see other girls be raped and died while they go free,’” they stated.

Indie Wire by Tambay A. Obenson

“In December 2012, Olivia was rushed to JFK with a bowel obstruction. Dr. Jallah was unable to get approval for emergency surgery. Olivia’s condition worsened and U.S. doctors insisted Olivia receive an operation to save her life. Days later, Olivia finally undergoes a colostomy surgery, but it was too late. She died two days later at 13.”

“According to UN statistics in 2012, rape is still the #1 crime in Liberia…Small Small Thing is the result of investigations by the filmmakers, revealing what they call ‘an intricate web of corruption, adventure and hope.’”

Stop Rape in Conflict

“According to the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development, Olivia was the fourth girl to die of rape-related injuries in 2012. The ministry covered the costs of her funeral. Liberian Minister of Gender and Development Julia Duncan Cassell has tried to draw attention to both her death and the issue of rape and gender violence in the country, but her success has been limited. She spoke out against impunity and the silence that continues to surround cases of rape and gender violence in Liberia.”

Her Film Project by Kyna Morgan

“I was stunned and disgusted, saddened by yet another rape, another death from rape, and the loss of a young girl with such possibility in her future…Please go now and sign the petition to pressure Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to make a public statement about the death of Olivia and the epidemic of rape in her country.”

I agree, whole-heartedly with Kyna Morgan. I signed the petition. It is yet another small thing that we all can do. Here is the link again in caps: SIGN THE PETITION, it only takes a minute.

Finally, Jessica Vale puts it best. “I hope the release of Small Small Thing will pressure the Liberian government to find Olivia’s accused rapist and bring him to trial. Olivia was Liberian, but her voice is global. How many times, in how many countries does this have to happen for people to pay attention?”

“A stone I died and rose again a plant;
a plant I died and rose an animal;
I died an animal and was born a man.
Why should I fear? What have I lost by death?”
-Rumi