I've officially been on the no processed foods / vegetarian / vegan / whatever combination of these things diet for 51 days, and I am proud to say I have lost 30 pounds.
So wow! Under 200. This hasn't been the case in probably 7 years. Granted, I was never "obese" and no, I was never "at risk of death" but I certainly wasn't nearly as healthy as I should have been. I finally got my dad to watch "Forks Over Knives" and he liked it a lot. He's pretty healthy in terms of his weight and he gets a lot of exercise and drinks a gallon of water daily, but I know he eats too much snacky foods and eats just as much meat and dairy as the average American. I feel like this whole experience has really helped my parents see how much it actually works. My mom of course is like "well don't get too skinny" being the worrisome mother she is. I still have tummy flab and know that I have plenty of room to get skinnier.
The goal still stands to be May 10th - my final tux fitting for the wedding. My dad asked me today "so how long do you think you'll do this? Forever?" Confidently, I answered, "yes, probably forever." There's no reason for me not to. Granted, I'm not afraid of meat and dairy, they don't gross me out, they don't repulse me, and so if I have a little bit of cheese on my Caesar salad, or if I have some chicken with my stir fry, I'm not going to die or vomit or anything. The goal here is to minimize them to as little as possible. Like I've said, it's almost impossible to find some things without animal products. A great example is desserts - even healthy desserts usually have some kind of butter or egg-wash in them for decorative features / "golden brown" stuff. My fiance likes to make pies, and even if she makes an apple pie without any sugar or added sweeteners, there is still going to be egg and butter used in making the crust from scratch.
The idea is to never be afraid of foods. You have to consciously control your diet because otherwise, the American lifestyle tells us otherwise. We've grown up eating these portions of these foods and expecting that this is the way we should balance our diet. We go to a nice restaurant and get a meal and it may consist of 50% meat (e.g, a steak), 30% starch (e.g., mashed potatoes), and only 20% vegetables...this is just how we've all been trained to eat, and that's okay - change is possible! We have to consciously think about it.
One good thing is that by changing the diet even to PARTLY vegetarian/vegan, you can eliminate a ton of strain on your body and help your body our tremendously. For example, if you took that meal and ordered more vegetables instead of the mashed potatoes, and only ate half the steak, you would have cut it down to 25/75 forks over knives, if you will. Taking your meal to-go never goes out of style. You'll save money, and you'll save your body.
It's amazing to me how many things we bypass assuming they are healthy. The first thing that comes to mind here is olive oil. Sure it's an oil, we don't drink it like water, but we use it liberally. We think, oh it's great for you, much better than canola oil or butter or crisco or etc....but in reality, it's 100% fat. Look at the label. Calories per serving: 120. Fat Calories per serving: 120. That means it's 100% fat. Guess what a serving size is? One TABLESPOON. Ridiculous! We use so much more than a tablespoon in most modern cooking. The idea that you have to saute veggies in oil is a myth. I made a dish the other day using NO butter, NO oil, and it was fantastic. Vegetables have their own oils in them (hence, vegetable oil...) so you can saute a lot of vegetables like onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc., with water alone and they get plenty juicy and sweet! I'd like to try to learn to make my own vegetable oil substitute using only raw veggies.
I've been really trying to find recipes that feature things like cloves, cinnamon, oregano, and thyme. These are some of the best spices out there for you with some of the highest antioxidant properties possible. You always hear about this berry and that superfruit and blah blah blah, but in reality, the highest ranked antioxidant substances is clove, with thyme, oregano, and cinnamon right underneath. They are all strong spices with a kick to them. That's sort of a trend I've found - spices that have a kick generally are better for you! Spices that are mild often have less healing properties to them. Things like cayanne and paprika and garlic powder and other strong spices are great for your digestion and liver, and they should be used more often!
I've got 21 days left on this "diet" and I have to lose 12 more pounds. Seems sort of crazy...but the truth is I'm not starving myself one bit! I'm eating plenty of food, I feel great, I'm sleeping better (and getting plenty of sleep), I feel more on top of my work, I feel more alive and well. Go figure, right? Eat healthy, feel good. It seems too simple. In reality, it's very simple, it just takes discipline.
Until next post. My hope is to be under 190 by the end of the month!
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