The first fifty

Ok.  I just turned fifty.  All of my life I've consumed a steady diet of meat, eggs, milk, beer, butter, cream, sugar, soda, refined foods, processed foods, snack foods, fake foods ..... beige food.  Without taking much pride in the moniker, I'm The Quintessential American Eater.  Male, six foot four, caucasian Euro-mutt.  Healthwise, my teens and twenties were unremarkable and it wasn't until I got to my thirties that my eating choices began to catch up with me.  Between thirty and fifty I gained and lost enormous amounts of weight.  I've listened to experts and charlatans.  I've cleansed and fasted.  Spirulina.  Blood type.  Scarsdale.  Zone.  Blah, blah, blah.

For years I've been watching everyone around me plumping up like rising loaves of bread, abandoning their small cars and small homes and pouring themselves into beefy SUVs and McMansions.  I kept beating my head against the wall, wondering why I couldn't get a grip.  I was gaining weight and losing ground.  Then I'd lose the weight and still lose ground.

My health never seemed to improve.  I was caught in a revolving door of nagging infections, depression, addictions and finally hypertension and pre-diabetes.  The last few years have been a series of surrenders; multiple crossings of the "fuck it" line (that's the line you tell yourself you're not going to cross, only to find yourself, for whatever reason, saying "Fuck it!").  Eating: fuck it.  Drinking: fuck it.  Recovery: fuck it. Relationships: fuck it.  Career: fuck it.

Recently, things got a little out of control.  My weight finally topped 300.  My cholesterol topped 300.  My blood pressure got to over 160/95.  Blood sugar hit 101.  The signs were flashing red.  The signs were, frankly, all bad.

Then, Bill Clinton came into my life.  It sounds funny, but it's true.  My darling wife, Maya noted to me about how that famous glutton, Bill Clinton had come out publicly as a "mostly vegan".  He chose to forego animal products in favor of eating plants, fruits, legumes and nuts.  My eyes rolled.  To me, vegans were those annoying, patchouli smelling ne'er do wells I would encounter in a San Francisco health food store, or the skinny actress who volunteered to bring the cake to the cast party, arriving with some sweet tofu covered, zuchinni/sawdust blob.

Well, I watched Bill's interview with Wolf Blitzer.  It left quite an impression.

Clinton speaks to Wolf

If Bill Clinton, the Big Mac loving Southern foodie could achieve amazing results eating plants, perhaps there was something to it.  After all, I had read "Omnivore's Dilemma", seen "Supersize Me" and watched "Food Inc.".  I knew there was something out of whack with the American Diet, I just couldn't visualize myself changing.  But I saw what it did for Bill.  I was intrigued.

Bill's Doctor speaks on video here:

Maya did some research.  She came across Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live".  We bought two copies and set out to read them and give the principles and try.

This blog is my attempt to chronicle the changes in my diet, body, relationships and life as a result of adopting a way of eating which severely restricts animal protein and products.  Call it Vegan lite.