The first month: Nov 7. thru Dec. 7: a brave new diet

The idea is simple: each day try to eat about a pound of fresh vegetables,  a pound of cooked vegetables, four to five pieces of fruit, some bean/legumes/nuts.  The Eat to Live six week plan's aim is to increase food quantity, reduce caloric and fat  intake and carpet bomb you with nutrients and fiber.

So this translates, in real world terms, to salad -- and lots of it.  Our lunches and dinners are built around a massive salad, supplemented with a serving of cooked green vegetables and a serving of beans/legumes/soup/stew.

What we've found interesting is how much variety this new path offers.  We were commenting at last night's meal how in the past we had about two dozen recipes that would get trotted out for dinner.  Everything was centered around the meat.  Each meat had about four popular variations that would get repeated over and over.  Since we didn't eat pork, that translated to beef, chicken and fish -- about 12 to 16 recipes which became standard dinner fare.  I assume this is common for most families.  

Before we began Eat to Live, I bought two vegan cookbooks:  Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.  This was a brilliant move, chiefly because the recipes in the back of Eat to Live are uninspiring at best.  Maya has rediscovered a passion for cooking, coming to realize that she'd become bored with the old, hackneyed meat dishes.  Soups and stews are now relished treats after eating mounds of greens and veggies.  Indian and Asian spices offer new experiences for the tastebuds.  Last night's Barley risotto with Shitake mushrooms and Asparagus was nothing short of spectacular (recipe below).

from "1000 Vegan Recipes" by Robin Robertson (altered slightly: half of the oil only and shitake instead of white mushrooms)

Results have been staggering.  My weight has dropped 28 lbs. in one month.  I can now swim 40 laps in an olympic pool followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I've returned to the gym -- now putting in an hour almost every day.  Far from having diminished energy, as I feared, this diet has provided more energy than I've ever experienced.  In addition, my lifelong nasal infection has disappeared.  Breathing through two open nasal passages feels like a dream come true.

I'm only now, after a month, beginning to get my mind around how massive this paradigm shift is for me.  Gone is the old mindset that I need to comply with the agenda of factory farms and agribusiness.  Extricating oneself from the grips of the Industrial Food Complex is not nearly as daunting as I once imagined.  I feel a freedom I've never felt before -- the unachievable dream of optimal health in now within reach.  Onward.