Ninja Hollie is down 11 lbs!

Hollie just checked in, and has reported that in 4 weeks, she has dropped 11 pounds! See folks- it works! You don't need any crazy diets, body cleanses, or grapefruit enemas to lose weight. Just burn more calories, eat less of them, and eat healthy- it comes off!

I’m kind of hungry….

****Posted by Nicole

I’m kind of hungry today. I usually have a protein shake and a piece of fruit for breakfast, but we are out of our normal protein shake and I really really don’t like the taste of the stuff our roommate drinks. (No, I’m not stealing it, he offered it to us) So instead I had a stale bowl of multigrain cheerios and now I’m starved. To ease the pain a little I had a ¼ of a cup of peanuts and 30 min. later I am hungry again. These are the days that it’s hard to be good. I desperately want to reach my goal of losing 3 lbs this week so I refuse to give in to my hunger pains. The vending machine is calling to me, but the only healthy option there is a bag of peanuts. I’ve already got peanuts! I have to be careful though because I can get a wicked headache if I wait to long to eat. Maybe I’ll have a tiny bit of hummus and that will hold me until lunch time.

My boss just gave me a peanut butter cliff bar thinking that would help and ……gross. It is helping, but it does not taste good. Blech… I should have stuck with the hummus.

Bad week gets better, Junk food addiction

***Posted by Kyle

So, I'm sure you noticed that last week was a bit of a bad one for us. Neither of us worked out as much as we should have, and we had a couple of nights straying from the "ninja way" when it comes to eating. This week will be much better- we will eat healthier, exercise more, and get ready for our weigh-in on Saturday. My goal is to be down 10 lbs from last month, putting my loss total at about 33 official pounds. I'm feelin' it, it's going to happen.

In other sports news, cut and paste this link into your browser for an interesting article:
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/637430.html

It's the recap of some research done by the scripps institute. Basically, scientists have found that there is actual evidence behind the theory that "the more you eat of something, the more you want of it" that trainers have been teaching for years. Our bodies can literally become addicted to junk food, the same way that we can get addicted to alcohol or drugs. Pretty interesting stuff!

Have a great week- make a healthy decision, and cook a dinner at home for your family this week using fresh ingredients!

Mental Health Evening

***Posted by Kyle

Yesterday was an interesting day for the Ninjas. We got bad news from a couple of different sources- My dad will likely have to start radiation therapy for a potential relapse of his cancer, my good friend lost his job, and I have 4 other good friends that are dealing with marital strife. Combine that with really nasty weather, and it was not a day I would want to repeat.

So, Nicole and I decided to switch our "cheat day" to yesterday, and met up at one of our favorite wine bars. After some riesling and some Italian red, paired perfectly with pizza and salad from Pi, things started seeming a bit better. The "true" ninja way would have been to exercise, eat something healthy, and go to bed early. That wasn't what we needed though. It just goes to show you that sometimes laughing with friends and being flexible with your regimen can be the cure you really need.

Today, it's back on the horse with a protein shake and a long workout session, then meeting up with friends tonight to hang out, complain about our problems, encourage each other, and try to remember that we aren't going to fix the world.

Smile, y'all- it's gonna be a good day.

Healthy Comfort Foods???

***Posted by Kyle

Last night, my sweet bride proved again that there is such a thing as healthy "comfort food" out there. Over the last week or so, I have had a wicked combination of head cold and allergies that has pretty much derailed me. All I wanted last night was a big, huge, hot serving of something to make me feel better. I didn't care if it was chicken fried steak, a bowl of chili, or a steaming plate of butter and gravy laden mashed potatoes. I wanted to whimper, whine, sneeze, snot, and eat. Thank the Lord, Nicole offered to cook, and made up this recipe:

Steak Taco Chili with Pinto Beans
(Cuisine Lite Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 T chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
8 oz trimmed top sirloin steak, diced
1 T evoo
2 c diced onion
1 c diced green pepper
3 c low sodium beef broth, divided
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 c chunky salsa
2 6-inch corn tortillas, toasted and diced (we did this in the oven)
salt
pepper
6 T sour cream (we used lite)
6 T crispy tortilla strips for garnish(just cut 2 corn tortillas into strips, and saute in a bit of oil until golden brown, drain on paper towel)

Combine first four spices, divide in 1/2. Toss steak in half of mix.

Sear steak in large saucepan until browned on all sides (5 min), remove to a bowl.

Sautee onion and bell pepper in oil until tender (8-10 min)

Deglaze pan with 1/2 c broth, then stir in remaining broth, beans, tomatos, salsa, toasted tortillas, and remaining spice mix.

Simmer, covered, until tortillas begin to disentegrate (will take about 30 min).

Return steak to chili, season with salt and pepper.

This makes 6 servings, 284 calories each, including when you top each bowl with Sour Cream and crispy tortilla strips.

Give it a shot, I know you'll like it. Also, if you want, check out this link


http://bit.ly/c3y0Ea

for more healthy comfort foods.

Back to bed.

Update on Ninja Kimberly

***Posted by Kyle

Check out this blog by our friend Kimberly- she lost 18 lbs her first month, simply by changing her eating habits. Amazing!

http://www.rhubarbandhoney.com/2010/03/182-pounds-gone-that-is.html


Great job Kimberly- keep it up

We just keep rollin'

***Posted by Kyle

Today, I got on the Facebook page for Ninja Fingers- we have nearly 100 fans! That is incredible to me, especially when some of them we have no idea who they are. I truly hope that our efforts are inspiring you and your friends to make healthy decisions on a daily basis.

This last week was a great week for workouts for me, and I was able to make it through trying times like St. Patty's day without too much caloric destruction. I did have one disappointing note. On Saturday, a friend of mine and I went to a new restaurant that I had been wanting to try. Since it was my cheat day, I was excited to get a good, moderately unhealthy lunch in me. The trouble was, the lunch wasn't very good. It wasn't terrible, but more just kind of made me go "meh." It's just a shame to waste the calories and dollars on something that just doesn't quite do it for you, ya know?

This is going to be a great week- we'll post about some new recipes we are going to try, and we will have another weigh in on April 3. I'm fully confident that I will be in the 33 lb lost range on that day.

Honorary Ninja, Kristopher Mash

****Posted by Nicole

The other day I was telling one of my carriers at work about Ninja fingers and he told me that he lost 70 lbs over a year! That’s a small child! So, I decided to make him an honorary ninja to help keep us all going in the right direction. The weight CAN be lost, so keep fighting Ninjas!

Here he is showing off his workout skills to his girlfriend who is in the background. I asked him if she was gasping for air from laughing, or ogling. His answer was, of course, ogling at his manly ways. (Sure) :)



Nice job Kris!

Girlie Weekend

****Posted by Nicole

This past Saturday a bunch of my friends and I packed up and headed to a cabin in the woods by a lake. There wasn’t cell phone reception so we said our "I love you’s" to the husbands, while we could, and then left technology behind. After a few Friday the 13th Jason, Jason, Jason whispers from me, we settled in and did the normal things girls do to relax. No makeup, no boys, and only comfy clothes. We rearranged the living room furniture, ate whatever we wanted, and had tickle fights with our hair in pigtails. Not really on the last part, but that’s what our husbands pictured us doing.

I was so thankful for it being a cheat day and I took full advantage. Not only did I double fist the chips and queso, but I had a McDonalds Cheeseburger and fries after I ate a six inch subway sandwich. I wasn’t even hungry for dinner but I still couldn’t stop eating the garlic bread and pasta. (oh how I love carbs) I had reverted back to my high school days when I could eat anything and everything and not worry about the consequences. There was no limit to the amount of food I ate, and the next day, there was no limit to what my body did to retaliate. Today was the first day that I felt normal. Not only did it hurt my stomach, but I haven’t been able to leave the bathroom at work or at home in two days. Ouch...

It just proves that most of the food people eat these days is literally poisoning our bodies. The convenience factor of it all makes it more appetizing but in the long run it’s so unhealthy. I’m just glad that my body is back to normal and hope yall have a happy Saint Patricks day!

Update on Ninja Chuck

***Posted by Kyle

Chuck is blowing all of us away! Since the beginning, Chuck has lost 32 pounds, simply by eating right and doing light to moderate exercise. Great job man!!!

Update on Ninja Hollie

***Posted by Kyle

One of our fellow "Ninja's", Hollie, has checked in, and reported that she has lost 9 lbs so far. She has done in in a healthy manner by eating mainly weight watchers recipes, and working out up to 5 times per week.

Fantastic Job! Keep it up!

Back on the Horse

***Posted by Kyle

I feel moderately better today than I did yesterday. Between stomach issues, helping a friend put insulation in his attic yesterday, and work stress, I was pretty darn wiped out last night. Today, I had the added blessing of waking up with a wicked head cold.

I didn't give up, though. I took my own advice, dragged my unhappy butt downstairs into the Ninja Dojo, put Gladiator on the TV, and got on the bike.

Sniff, sniff, sneeze, sneeze, pedal, pedal.

30 minutes later, I felt much better. Still sneezy and snotty, but better in general.

This is going to be a good week- I am determined. What are you going to do to make your week great?

Rejection

***Posted by Kyle

I feel like crap today.

Many of you know that, before we started this project, I had really bad problems with acid reflux and various other stomach problems. As a result of eating much more healthily, a lot of those problems have disappeared. Yesterday, a bunch of "the guys" got together for lunch, and ate at my favorite Barbecue restaurant (Pappy's) to celebrate my friend Ben's 30th birthday. Then, last night, I had pulled pork sandwiches with my wine blind tasting group. This was allowed, since it was out cheat day for the week. That caused a problem. Evidently, my body has gotten used to the healthy way of eating. After putting all that food in my belly, my body just flat out rejected it. The end result was me having such an acidic stomach that I couldn't get to sleep until almost 5 am (the "Spring Forward" didn't help matters.)

This my friends, is why I skipped church.

Oof.

I'm proud of us...

***Posted by Kyle

Last night, Nicole and I had a great victory. She had come with me to help me do an in-home wine tasting that I had been hired to do (If you didn't know, I own a wine-consulting company called Sip of Knowledge- check it out at www.sipofknowledge.com). The group that was hosting it last night each brough a food, and I taught them about 6 different wines. Nicole was my assistant, and poured wine for me, and was my very helpful "go-fer". We had eaten a fairly healthy meal of smoked chicken breast, mixed greens salad, and brown rice, but were each still a bit hungry. The first round of people that showed up brought foods that were right in our allowable wheelhouse- veggies, fruit, nuts, etc.

Then the Entrees came out.

Spinach salad with walnuts and blue cheese

Salmon poached in butter

Taco Meatballs

Creamy, meaty pasta

Oh Lord, a cheese and bacon tart.

Salted caramel pie

Man this could have really gotten bad, really fast! However, I'm glad to report that we did really well- if there was something we were dying to try, we took one bite of it. The rest of the time, we basically ate carrots and grapes.

Not an earth-shaking win, but a win nonetheless.

Whew- thank God it's cheat day!

The Bots

****Posted by Nicole

My grandmother, Yveta Waite (pronounced, the letter Y and then veeta), is still to this day one of my favorite people ever. We called her gaga and she passed away about six years ago. Though she is gone her memory is still very strong in my family’s heart. She used to call it “the bots” when you had no idea what was ailing you.
That is me today. I don’t know what I want. First I wanted to eat nonstop, then nothing at all, then chocolate, a dr. pepper, and nachos. I flip back and forth between working really hard and then daydreaming about sitting in the sun on a beach somewhere. I find myself staring into space even as type this blog. Now all I want to do is go home and pull the covers over my head and sleep. I’m not sad. In fact I’m in a great mood today. I just want something and I don’t know what that is. If I were home it would be one of those days that I would graze. I would open the fridge and then the pantry thinking that something would magically appear that I didn’t see before. It’s cold, raining and I’m puffy.

Blegh

Well at least I’m at work and I don’t have anything to graze on but hummus and pita chips and the one thing I do know is that I don’t want those. I’ll just sit here and eat my lowly salami on wheat and try really hard to concentrate on work. Hopefully that will cure what ails me.

Beer Can Chicken

***Posted by Kyle

This sucker is gonna be good




Want a healthy way to cook a whole chicken that's really, really easy? All you do is rub a chicken with your favorite rub (inside and out), open a beer, "dispose" of part of the beer, put the beer can up the chicken's butt, place on your grill or smoker, and cook over indirect heat until you poke it with a fork and the juices run clear. Voila!

Back On Track

****Posted by Nicole

Last night I had to go to meet with another group from our church to offer them any support if they needed. As we are sitting there, a very sweet girl walks in the door with the biggest freaken ice cream cake I’ve ever seen. Ugh oh.

I really really really wanted to take a bite. It looked like chocolate cake and oreo ice cream. Yum.

I’m standing there watching everyone get a piece of cake and I remembered that I had already had ice cream for the day. Damn!

Okay, how can I spin this? Didn’t I already blow it when I had the first bites of samoa ice cream?

I felt myself traveling to the darks side so I quickly said a small prayer and remembered that in weight watchers they taught us that it’s never to late to end the day well. So when the lovely lady that brought the cake asked me if I wanted a piece I turned her down. I smiled and politely said “No thank you, my husband and I are trying to lose weight.” Then the tempting started.

“Well,” she says, “I’m engaged and I’ve learned what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” “You wouldn’t be lying if you just didn’t tell him.” :-O My mouth dropped. This lovely lady was no longer lovely. She is now the serpent in the Garden of Eden trying to get me to eat something that isn’t good and that I had just talked myself out of eating! I felt like telling her she was bad and running away to hide. Instead, I laughed it off and said, “That’s okay, it looks very good but I’m going to pass”.

Win! Go Ninja’s, Hyee Ya!

Oh my....

****Posted by Nicole

In honor of Saint Louis’s first 70 degree day my manager decided to go out and buy his team ice cream. I am normally not an ice cream fan; however, this was no ordinary ice cream. Edy’s has come out with a Girl Scout Samoa ice cream. Oh my, is right! How do I reject something my manager is telling me I have to eat? I would have gotten fired if I didn’t try it! (well, not really, but it could have happened)

In order to not lose my job, I checked the calories and a half of a cup of this miraculous blend of sugar and cream is only 150 calories. People, when I tell you that the heavens opened up and God smiled when I had the first bite, I’m lying, but that’s what it felt like! In my head unicorns pranced, the angels rejoiced, the people of Colieland were pleased, and it was good. (Colieland is the magical place Kyle says I go when I zone out.)

In all honesty, I did try it, and it was amazing, but I promise I only had a few bites. I will have to run extra tonight to make up for the weak moment. I know, not very ninja of me. Sorry!

Behold

My time…. Wait, what time?

****Posted by Nicole

Is anyone else’s schedule as crazy as mine? Yesterday was one of those days that I just couldn’t sit down and be. It started at 5:30. I woke up, let the dogs out, fed them, fed myself, got in the shower, did my hair, fixed my lunch, and jumped in the car to get to work. Worked from 7 to 4:30 and then got home to immediately start cooking dinner with Kyle. Side note: we had weight watcher easy enchiladas that were sooo good! Hardly had time to finish dinner and I was back in the car to go to a leadership meeting at church. This lasted until 8:30 and I was back at home and desperately wanted to workout. I also wanted to do laundry, finish cleaning the kitchen, put the clean clothes up and clean the bathroom. I can’t do it all. I was tired from getting up so early and would have really liked to sit upstairs with my husband and our new roomy, Adam, and watch Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”. But, to keep myself sane, I worked out instead of cleaning or watching TV. Let me tell ya, it was totally worth every minute.

It was the one moment in the day that was just for me. I put headphones in and ran my freaken heart out. I have never in my life been able to run over a mile without stopping and last night I ran almost 2 miles. It was a sight to behold because I was really digging my music and had a tendency to try to dance and run at the same time. It doesn’t work. Before I collapsed from exhaustion, I switched laundry from the washer to the dryer and felt very satisfied that I had at least started something on my cleaning list. Then it was to the shower and off to bed to start it all over again today. No wonder I have anxiety issues!

So what’s the moral of the story? The laundry will always be there, the bathroom can wait for another day, and I can ask for help to clean the kitchen. Having things clean makes me happy, but my body and mind don’t need a clean bathroom, they need exercise. Lesson learned!

Update on Ninja Hollie

I got a message today that Hollie has completed her first weigh in, and has already dropped over 4 lbs. That's fantastic! Great Job Hollie- keep up the good, healthy work.

The Barbecue Problem

***Posted by Kyle

Summer is my favorite season of the year. Just ask my wife- I like Fall for football season, and Spring because it is leading to summer. I have almost a disdain for winter. I would so much rather be hot than cold!

One of the things that I like about summer is Barbecue (or Barbeque, or BBQ- Can't we just agree on one spelling?). I don't just love eating BBQ, but I also love the whole process. I love preparing a Pork Shoulder with a "secret" rub, and slow cooking the thing for hours. I also love that this usually involves sitting in the sunshine with friends, a cooler of ice cold beer, and a football/frisbee/bocce ball set. After 8-9 hours in front of the grill or smoker, it is great to drag that volleyball sized hunk of fatty goodness out, chop it up, slather it with hot sauce, and put it on a cheap white bun.




This is where the problem comes in. The "Ninja Way" is not to sit around all day, eating potato salad and drinking beer, only to cap the day off with a huge portion of cooked piggy.

I will have to come up with a solution to this problem this year, as I will have a hard time giving up my long, hot days in the spring and summer slaughtering swine.

Month 2 weigh in and results

***Posted by Kyle

Okay, so we are two months into this deal. The second month wasn't as successful as the first month when it comes to weight and inches lost, but that's okay. I actually expected that.

Here are the tallies:

Beginning weight- 351 (actually, 1 week in)
Today's weight- 328.
Weight lost so far- 23 lbs

Beginning waist inches (around belly button)- 62"
Today's Waist inches- 56 1/2"
Total inches lost so far- 5 1/2"


Then


















Now












I feel great, I'm starting to look better, and I got my ring off this month. I'm really excited to see where this thing heads over the next 10 months!

We celebrated (and took advantage of our "cheat" day by going to the place that is the U.N. of the restaurant industry- Waffle House. I might be going back on the "I feel great" comment from earlier!









***Posted by Nicole

Sooo, I didn't do as well as I wanted to this month. I still lost, but only went down a 1/4 of an inch in my waist compared to last months results. There could be a few reasons for this ranging from missing workouts due to being sick, gaining a few pounds in the middle of the month and having to lose that plus extra, and I am bloated. (I really hate that word.) Anyway, it’s all part of the marathon. Earlier this week I weighed and had reached my goal of being under 200, 199 to be exact. This morning I got on the scale and was back to 200. I'm over the fact that I didn't get down one more pound. Big deal, I could lose one pound in an hour just sweating. What frustrates and makes me a little sad is that I didn't go down in my waist very much, but, we move on. I love that Kyle is doing so well so quickly and I have to keep reminding myself that number one; he is a boy and they lose it faster, and number two; he has a more aggressive goal in mind than I do. Alright, enough with giving excuses and here are my results.

Beginning weight- 212.6
Today's weight- 200
Weight lost so far- 12.6 lbs

Beginning waist inches (around belly button)- 39 1/2"
Today's Waist inches- 37 1/4"
Total inches lost so far- 2 1/4"

Beginning BMI: 33.29
Today's BMI: 31.59





































Like I said, I still had results, they just weren't what I wanted. It reminds me of the hardest lesson I have to learn over and over from God. I don't always get what I want, I can only do so much and then the rest is out of my control, and I'm way to hard on myself. So chin up and lots of prayers and my loving husband will lift my spirits. :)

It's Weighing on me

***Posted by Kyle

One of the tips that we received a couple of years ago from a trainer is to only weigh yourself once a week. Do it on the same day, at the same time, wearing the same type of clothes. This prevents you from freaking out about your natural rhythms of weight fluctuation, and gives you a truer sense of your progress. I noticed this morning that the clothes had been kicked off of the scale, so I knew that Nicole had been weighing herself every day. I normally weigh on Wednesdays, but I decided to "cheat" again and weigh today.

"What the...?"

I weigh exactly the same!

Well, yeah, dummy- it's only been 48 hours since you last stepped on a scale, and you had a fairly heavy dinner last night.

When we started this thing, we stated that we didn't want to make it all about how much we weigh. It has started to slip into obsessing about it, and worrying about a pound gained or lost in the matter of two days, which is asinine.

Lord, help me remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that I should take it a week at a time, not a day at a time.

Next measurements are tomorrow. I'm actually somewhat looking forward to this one!

Have a great day, a great weekend, and make a healthy decision.

Hey! Where did the Girl Scout cookies go?!

****Posted by Nicole

A few weeks ago our neighbor’s kid showed up on our doorstep with her annual Girl Scout cookie order sheet. I stood there in silence and tried to think of ways to say no to her blonde curls and rosy cheeks without making her cry. In the end the sweet little girl won me over. I had already turned down another random Girl Scout earlier that day and my heart couldn't send another one away disappointed.

I’ve been known to sit and polish off entire sleeves of these devil cookies so I had to be careful. I ordered one box of shortbreads thinking that would be the safest thing. A few days passed and the box was delivered. I purposely left them in our basement so that I would have to make an effort to go get one if I had a craving. Have I mentioned before that I have a will power or food obsession problem?

So yesterday I went downstairs to run and thought,

I’m about to workout, surely I can have one....
Hey!.....Wait a minute! There aren’t any cookies in this box!
KYLE, where did the cookies go?!

Damn! Knowing me all too well, Mr. Smarty Pants hid them from me! The answer I got from him was that they were in a safe place and not to worry.

Safe place my butt! The safe place should be in my belly!

So we came to an agreement and we can each have one a day. Kyle knows the secret hiding place and that’s fine with me. The man can have thin mints in the freezer for months before he eats the last one. However, I do know that they are located somewhere in the basement, Muuuwahahaha!

Congrats to Chuck

***Posted by Kyle

I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Chuck. He and his fiancee are both trying to lose some weight, in the healthy Ninja fashion. It's even harder for them because Chuck is a chef. Never trust a skinny chef!

Chuck reported today that he has already dropped a belt notch. Great job, man. Keep it up!

Obsessions

****Posted by Nicole

So this Sunday Kyle and I met some friends at a restaurant called The Royal to listen to a speaker talk about his theory on the book of Revelation from the bible. As he chatted away about apocalypses and the rapture I was completely engaged in obsessing over the other half of my cheeseburger. Should I eat it? Am I really that hungry? Doesn’t the cheese look so good? Could I just eat the bread or the cheese and leave the meat?

I had eaten all of my cucumber salad that I chose as my side, so there was nothing else for me to look at other than my sandwich. Little side note, The Royal has one of the best burgers in town. So here is my question that I’m throwing out there. Do skinny people obsess over food like that?

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine mentioned that he asked a skinny person if they ever really looked forward to a meal. Did they get excited to eat something? The answer was no. Now, I have struggled with my weight my entire life and I will continue to do so because I enjoy eating way to much. There have been times that I’ve ordered a meal and the plate hasn’t even gotten to my table and I am excited because I get to eat the other half for lunch or breakfast the next day. Really? Yes, really.

So I ended up not eating the other half of my burger and I was very pleased with myself. Win! However when I got home I ended up peeling off the cheese and eating the bread with it. Oh! Soooo close! The meat was eaten by my dogs last night as their treat for the day. So the moral of the story is get a to-go box to cover up the other half of your food. Out of sight out of mind!

P.S.
I cheated and weighed today (supposed to wait for tomorrow) and I am at 200! My goal is to be under that by our big weigh in on Saturday. Go Ninjas!

Congrats to Hollie- the newest "Ninja"

***Posted by Kyle

I just got a message from a woman in Kansas named Hollie, that has been inspired by our efforts. She was inspired enough, in fact, to go to a Weight Watchers meeting, and start on her own path of health and fitness. With her permission, we will update our readers on her progress.

Thanks Hollie! You are going to do great!

Chicken Anxiety

***Posted by Kyle





Never in my life did I think that I would have anxiety over a chicken. Now I realize it is possible. In previous posts, we have talked about how we try to support local farmers, and also eat as healthy of products as we can. Some weeks, we pre-order chickens from Greenwood farms, and go pick them up. Other weeks, we simply forget. Our normal solution to getting chickens that are healthy to eat when we forgot to order them was to go to Trader Joes, and pick up one of their "Free Range" chickens. However, through a little bit of research (and some notes from friends of mine who are passionately in-the-know), we discovered that these chickens aren't necessarily treated any more humanely than the ones owned by Purdue.

How can this be? I mean look at the people working at Trader Joes. They wear jeans, t-shirts, and have scraggly beards. They look very "granola". Surely they wouldn't sell food that was labelled "free range", but the chickens are all crammed into a warehouse and choking from the ammonia produced by their own feces! Did I get duped by the hippies? Evidently so.

Our search continues for locally available, truly "free range" chickens.