Going well so far

[JulieS]

Good for you, Howard, for eating a piece of cake and not letting yourself get derailed from it. I think Dr. McDougall says something about making an exception on holidays/birthdays for a small taste of something forbidden. On my birthday, I bought a slice of vegan cake from Whole Foods, and snuck it in without anybody noticing that I was eating a completing different colored cake (mine was vanilla/raspberry and theirs was chocolate/chocolate). Everyone was so busy enjoying their piece they didn't notice me at all. That was my first holiday/birthday on this WOE but I think now I won't be so shy about eating my own food, like with the holidays coming up soon!

[howardt]

I am a week away from 8 months on the wfpb lifestyle. My weight hovers in the low 150s. My bmi is 21-ish.

I stick to the plan pretty well. We eat out about once per week, but I have mostly salad, vegetable sushi or pasta. Dining out is not the same as before - I used to enjoy the food. Now I just eat out to be social. I eat for real either before or afterward. When we eat at someone's house I bring food, and there's always salad available.

Our family and circle of friends are used to my diet and there is not much comment. No one asks for advice, and I don't proselytize. I don't crave any of their food. As someone very smart on this forum said, I don't see their stuff as food.

This woe has become routine. I shop a few times a week for fresh fruit and vegetables. I make several portions of soup, beans or rice at a time and eat them for a few days. I make a fresh salad every day, and cook some vegetables and greens daily. I use more and more herbs and spices to add variety. I'll eat about a loaf of Ezekiel bread every few weeks, and about a half dozen Trader Joe's corn tortillas each week.

The above doesn't sound all that exciting. And it's not. What it is, is normal. It's the "new normal". At first the changes were radical. What? No chicken, no burgers? But now, there's nothing radical at all about it. Today I will eat what I always eat - some whole grains, some salad, some cooked vegetables, some beans, some potatoes. Tomorrow will be the same.

SAD food was exciting. It was always an event to cook something special, go to a favorite restaurant, try a different cuisine. But that attitude was part of my food problem, and why I wound up wearing 55 lbs of fat. Why should food be entertainment? Why isn't it enough that food is healthy & satisfying? Well, now it is. I enjoy what I eat, but it's not that big a deal.

I still feel unusually good. That hasn't become routine. I am still not fully used to feeling this good. No aches, no pains. Energy level is high.

I don't know that I will post any more. Unless something unexpected happens, what is there to say? I was making myself fat and sick, and now I'm cured.

[~Beth~]

Wow, what a nice post. You have really made this your new lifestyle. No looking back
Good for you
So glad you have had such great results!

[howardt]

Thank you Beth.

Congratulations on your success as well.

[JulieS]

Congrats, Howard on your great success!! You're a shining example of how to do this!

[howardt]

Thanks Julie, congrats to you as well on the 28 lbs!

I read a lot of the other threads and really enjoy your posts. You are always so upbeat.

[howardt]

I don't know that I will post any more. Unless something unexpected happens, what is there to say? I was making myself fat and sick, and now I'm cured.

I decided to post one more time. It's been a little over a year since my first post. My weight is 148, BMI is 21. I've lost over 60 lbs., about 5 lbs more than the last time I posted. I was surprised to lose the additional weight. I was in the low 150s for quite awhile, and figured I had bottomed out, but I guess it was just a lengthy plateau.

I quoted the line from my last post above to highlight the fact that it wasn't true. I am not "cured". I wound up eating vegetarian SAD one day, and all the old food mania issues came back, just as if they never left. The out-of-control feeling, the unquenchable hunger, the need to eat one junk food after the other. Fortunately it didn't last and I was back to myself the next day, but I no longer consider myself "cured". I'm a recovering SAD addict.

I don't have any outrages to report. No one has said anything stupid or offensive to me in awhile. On the other hand, two of my friends, independently tried to commiserate with me on their age-related aches and pains. I answered honestly. "Nope. That all went away a year ago when I started eating healthy." It's true. I feel great.

I used to be confused why this WOE is still on the fringe. I don't volunteer information about my diet, but if comes up people at first assume I'm on a low carb diet. When they find out I'm vegan, they recoil. I think people are simply adverse to giving up meat and dairy, and don't want to hear of an alternative no matter how healthy. One relative seems genuinely frightened by my woe. His wife has him on weight watchers because he has diabetes, high cholesterol, macular degeneration, is 70 lbs overweight and needs a machine to keep his body from strangling him while he sleeps. Yet the thing he fears most is not blindness or a heart attack. It's that she might take his beef away.

I wonder if there is some metric to measure how well the Plant Based doctors are doing, spreading the message. Clearly it's not impossible to find, we've all made our way here. Yet it's kind of like finding Shangri-La. Some hidden healthy valley that no one knows about. If you started at Pritikin and worked forward, has low fat, high carb grown or shrunk in terms of popularity and public awareness? Would be interesting to know.

[Caroveggie]

Congrats on your success. Just wanted to add regarding cheeseless pizza ~ I love cheeseless pizza as long as there is one ingredient -- pineapple! Makes the whole thing very yummy.

[howardt]

Congrats on your success. Just wanted to add regarding cheeseless pizza ~ I love cheeseless pizza as long as there is one ingredient -- pineapple! Makes the whole thing very yummy.

Sounds really good.

Thanks.

[viv]

Congratulations Howard, you are an inspiration.

I too realize that I will never be "cured." I just returned from a lovely vacay staying with my niece for a week in Georgia. She decided she would "eat like me" for a week and she did for the most part with some additions. She had bought a big bag of pita chips and I thought "oh no" well just one wouldn't hurt right? The old cravings came rushing back with such force and I was sneaking those pita chips like a thief in the night. My niece would shout from the other room, "Are you in the bag of chips again?" Thank goodness I'm back home where there are no chips!

Health and happiness to you!

Viv

[howardt]

Thanks Viv. I'm glad the chips didn't derail you.

Over a year ago, when binging was almost a nightly event, it just seemed normal. But when I went through it again recently, it was a little scary to be so out of control. I don't know for sure that I'll never binge again, but it's comforting to know it's not permanent.

Congratulations on your success.

[howardt]

I saw a documentary about native people on the Andaman islands off the coast of India. They are african pygmies, or look like them anyway. But they are thousands of miles from Africa and no one knows how they got there. Their DNA is ancient and researchers hope to get samples of their DNA to help determine when they migrated there.

They are isolated and dying out because of intrusion on their islands from native Indians. They have their own language, own culture, own diet, but on one island their population dwindled to only 100, and they are being swamped and overcome by modern society.

I know how they feel. I am following a relatively ancient way of eating. Food-wise I'm isolated from everyone else - my family, my friends, every restaurant (even vegetarian and vegan places), American food culture. I don't know if the numbers of people who eat like me are shrinking or growing, but I know of no one else, other than this forum, and no one I've met has heard of anyone who eats this way either.

I visited a vegan restaurant the other day. I checked the menu online, didn't see anything all that interesting, but figured I'd stop by. I asked "what do you have without oil". Silence. She went for help. They had some roasted cauliflower. I wound up with a salad and some over-cooked brown rice. I could have found a better meal at any chinese take-out. How can I be vegan if no vegan restaurant cooks food I can eat?

Health-wise I don't know how I am doing these days. Nothing as severe as heart disease or diabetes, but for the second time in 5 months I've had this very salty taste. I thought it was dehydration last time and started drinking more water, and it went away after a few weeks. This time, I'm not sure what it is. I'll see if it goes away on its own.

I felt some muscle weakness in my legs recently. I don't exercise, other than normal walking around, but that's been true since I started this woe and the leg issue is new. It comes and goes.

I noticed some unusual markings on my teeth. Just the front bottom two. It doesn't look like staining from the outside. I need to go to a dentist. No way to know yet if it's diet related.

I've never been to a doctor to get my numbers. I suppose I need to finally endure it.

I'm just feeling grouchy in general. Getting bored with the food. I deviated - went to NYC for pizza a few months ago. Since then I've been compliant, but I think about junk food almost every day.

[viv]

Howard, it might be a good idea to get checked out re the issues that are troubling you, it will set your mind at ease.

How about treating yourself? Even some junk food vegan won't do much harm in the short term. I was recently out with a SAD eating friend for Sunday brunch and I had a fabulous vegan burger on a plump kaiser roll at a fancy restaurant, with a compote of fruit on the side which included black figs. I didn't inquire too much what was in it, it was fabulous, hand made by the chef, very tasty and satisfying. Instead of the high fat creamy dressings, I simply had ketchup. Of course I also had two champagne mimosas! I very much enjoyed the social aspect and didn't worry too much about deviating from the plan.

The message is relax, do something fun and take it easy!

Viv

[howardt]

"The message is relax, do something fun and take it easy!"

That's good advice, Viv.

I was complaining to my son about being a vegan, but not being able to eat vegan restaurant food. He said it's not the vegan that's the issue it's the oil. If I was a no-oil SAD eater I'd have the same problem. So I just shouldn't stress over it.

[viv]

I was complaining to my son about being a vegan, but not being able to eat vegan restaurant food. He said it's not the vegan that's the issue it's the oil. If I was a no-oil SAD eater I'd have the same problem. So I just shouldn't stress over it.

Your son made a good point. In fact if we were no-oil SAD eaters it may even be MORE difficult eating out. So we do the best we can and love the results of good health and feeling lighter and younger. You really can't beat that!

Viv