Working is a good thing!

Well folks, I've been neglecting my blog, not out of laziness, but because I've been busy working at The Alley Theater, here in Houston, rehearsing Amadeus -- which opens tonight.

My weight has leveled out in the high 230's which puts me at a total weight loss of around 65 pounds.  I anticipate jumpstarting the weight loss next week once my schedule permits time for regular gym visits again.

I've managed to muddle through my first professional acting job as a strict vegetarian with grace and aplomb.  I've not been perfect, by any means, but have managed to stick to the core values of the plan.  There's been some nibbles on a bagel (yes, with a bit of cream cheese) or birthday cake (how can one avoid it?) but mostly I have been true to the commitment and have not strayed very far.  Absolutely no meat.  Period.

In a busy life, it seems to be the leafy green vegetables that get ignored and the legumes, noodles and grains that travel better.  So now that the show is open, my focus will be on salad, salad, salad!  And swimming, walking, gardening!

Next on the reading list...The China Study.

This interview in the NY Times inspired me to buy this book:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nutrition-advice-from-the-china-study/

This is the next book on my reading list.  The China Study.  I'm thoroughly looking forward to perusing their conclusions.  Based on my 12 weeks of experience eating plant-based nutrition,  they're probably going to be preaching to the choir.

Passed the 50 pound mark...

Well, it's a red letter day.  This week, the tenth week, I've passed the fifty pound lost mark.  I'm down to 251 which puts me at 53 pounds off in ten weeks.  Amazing.

To think that this began innocently enough watching a video on my laptop of Wolf Blitzer interviewing Bill Clinton.  Bill spoke of what he'd done to trim down for Chelsea's wedding, but then got into the real reason; his bypass was clogging up again.  He found out that with a plant based diet, absent of all animal protein, it was possible not only to stop the arteries from blocking up, it was also possible to reverse the damage and heal the condition.  This seemed amazing to me.  Upon further research, I found that this miraculous benefit applied also to cancer and diabetes as well as heart disease.

Now, I don't have heart disease or diabetes ... yet.  But my glucose was inching over 100 into pre-diabetes territory and my blood pressure was heading to stage two hypertension.  All I had to do was keep on eating the meat, the fats, the artery clogging cheese and butter and I'd get there .... guaranteed.

Now, I'm ten weeks away from my last animal protein, I've been eating large amounts of delicious foods and losing weight at a rate of a half to a pound a day.  I'm so energized I am able to get to the gym and put in 45 minutes of cardio, lift weights and swim 50 laps ... pretty much every day.  It's a tremendous about-face.

Maya made a pumpkin curry soup tonight with coconut milk that was out of this world it was so divine.  Not weight loss food, but every now and then you just have to indulge a wee bit.  I'll have a photo and a recipe soon.

I wonder if Bill Clinton had any idea how impactful his words were to so many ordinary Joes like me.  Frankly, it would never have occurred to me to even entertain the idea of veganism until I heard 'ol Bubba parse it out for me in terms that made it palatable.

Me in week 9 with my new kitten, Posey.   Around 260 lbs.

Welcome 2011!

THE first time in my life I haven't packed on pounds at the holidays.  The key to my success?  "Eat to Live" eating guidelines allowed me to enjoy plenty of fabulous food, just not the empty calories I'd been used to gorging on during the Holidays.

There were detours, to be sure, like visits to two INCREDIBLE Indian vegetarian restaurants.  But the trend at the bath scale was always, on average, downwards.  During the six week period from Thanksgiving to Jan 6, I lost 22 pounds.  And, I have to say, I never felt deprived.  I've been sharing my progress on Facebook and the encouragement has been overwhelming.  Here is a screenshot of one of my recent progress reports:

As you can see, it's good to have people rooting for your success.  I've also received so much support from family and friend on this blog.  Needless to say, I'm very grateful and happy that the success my family and I have been enjoying can perhaps be helpful to others.

We've had so many great meals lately, and I've been asked to supply recipes along with the mouthwatering photos, so I will make this commitment:  I'll soon go back over all of the photos and splice in recipes wherever possible.

Tonight Maya really hit a home run:  stuffed bell peppers, with a side of zucchini

Final touches before baking 

Fresh out of the oven

Wonderfully seasoned, stuffed with peas, rice and vegan "sausage"

Christmas dinner

A really fine Christmas meal tonight .... thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

Eggplant and mushrooms in garlic sauce with peas and roasted peppers

Vegan banana bran muffins with vegan chocolate chips

Red lentil and butternut squash curry soup with spinach

This stuff is on my top 10!

To misquote Mae West: "What a meal, what a meal!"

It's Christmas...

...and all around us families are sitting down to feasts of turkey, ham, roast beef, butterfat, bacon, cream, dough and sugar!  Ah, the memories of Christmas Stuffings Past.  I am not going to judge others .... I've just had my fill.  Today, I've eaten a very large salad and four yummy crackers.  Later, we'll have some fabulous creation ... whatever Maya decides to whip up.

I don't seem to miss any of it.  Mostly, I don't miss the mood swings I used to get.  Things just seem to be on a more even keel these days.  We're coming up on the eighth week and more and more weight comes off.  Soon it'll be 40 lbs.

Here are some recent entrees:

Buckwheat with roasted sweet potatoes and peas and Vegan cream of Asparagus Soup

Ratatouille

Vegan Lasagna with tofu and spinach (whole wheat noodles)

The fabulous Maya ... and the main motivation for me to get healthy and live many years!

One of those days...

This was one of those days I had worried about when starting this diet.  A holiday brunch at a neighbor's house promised to hold many minefields to undermine my resolve of staying true to a (mostly) vegan diet.  Much to my amazement, when I got there I was more than happy to take a couple of helpings of fresh fruit salad, a very small 1/4 protion of baked French Toast, a tiny sliver of mushroom quiche and some coffee.  What I didn't indulge in was the mounds of bacon, ham, cheese grits, muffins, fudge, candies and rum cake.  The rich quiche was splendid and the French Toast, with its brown sugar and cinnamon, delightful.

Astoundingly, I didn't desire any more than what I had.  This is the key component of this new way of eating that amazes me; I no longer have a gnawing desire to overeat.  By eliminating animal products and animal proteins from my diet, my inner hunger gauge seems to have been reset at the original factory setting (so to speak).  It was the way I felt when I was a kid -- when you're full, that's it.  I'm no longer craving the great platefuls of food which I used to plow through with ease.

I went to the gym in the afternoon, putting in a fairly taxing 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, came home and helped Maya with dinner.  I'd told her I had a hankering for pasta, so she put together a super low fat tomato garlic sauce with whole wheat farfalle.  Also served was rainbow chard with garlic and white cooking wine and salad.  I had very little pasta, but thoroughly enjoyed the small portion, savoring each morsel.  Lastly, Maya whipped up my friend Dan Goldes' vegan chocolate mousse recipe:

1 cup non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips (many good commercial chips are vegan)
12 oz silken tofu
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I use almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
splash of Grand Marnier (Maya substituted Orange extract)

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in microwave for 1 min. Stir and heat another minute. Stir again to smooth them out, they should be completel melted at this point.

Place the tofu in a blender. Add the chips, milk, vanilla and Grand Marnier. Process until completely smooth, pausing the blender to scrape down the sides and under the blade if necessary. Taste, add more Grand Marnier. Repeat.

Chill in serving bowl for at least an hour before serving.

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Cooking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau; Grand Marnier adaptation by Robert Rice.)

Dan's Mousse.  Thank you Dan!!

Aside from Leon's birthday and my birthday, I haven't had a dessert in 6 weeks.  The above portion went down without any guilt whatsoever.

I lost 3 more pounds this past week, bringing me finally from 304 lbs. into the 260's ..... 269lbs.  Here is a shot Leon snapped of me last week on the phone.  It shows, rater unflatteringly, how much work I have left to get to my goal weight of 185.  This week also marked the end of the "six week plan" from

Me at about 274lbs.  It's a process, right?  Right.  

Eat to Live.  I love being able to say I'm succeeding at something so positive.  On the cover of Fuhrman's book, it says: "Lose 20 lbs. or more in six weeks" in the tacky starburst at the bottom of the front cover.  Just the type of sleazy claim every publisher insists on plastering on the front of diet books.  Well, I'm pleased to report that I fall into the "more" category.  I lost 35 lbs. in six weeks following Fuhrman's precepts.  The Eat to Live way of eating has made a believer out of me.  While I readily admit a vegan-esque diet probably isn't for everyone, it sure as hell works for me.  I can say, unequivocally, that I feel better, healthier and more positive than at any time since my early twenties.

Follow it.  Trust me, you'll be a "more" too.

Now we begin the second 6 weeks.  It'll be exactly like the first 6.  We'll do six more after that.  By that time this way of life should be firmly ingrained in brain and habituated in my body.  Eat to live longer, eat to live fuller, eat to live more wholly.

Dieting: a tedious topic.

There's a certain discomfort I feel whenever I discuss dieting with others.  Invariably the topic comes up in conversation, and everyone feels compelled to offer input or an opinion about weight, food or diets.  It's only fair, I suppose, because no one can avoid eating, everyone has a food culture to defend and, of course, there's a certain diet-schadenfreude to be enjoyed, either towards another or oneself.

In the past when trying to lose weight, I've dreaded dealing with the topic.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was destined for failure and I'd be ashamedly facing these same folks a year down the road, having put back on all of the weight I so arduously took off.  However, this time the opposite is true.  I feel extremely confident that I've finally landed on a path to optimal health and an ideal weight and a balanced, consistent method for maintenance.  What I don't feel comfortable with is sounding like a disciple for veganism.  So many people get threatened by the notion of losing their milk or their pork ribs or their fast food cheeseburgers.  Frankly, I have no desire to proselytize on behalf of animal rights.  In fact, the only reason I undertook this venture was that the Eat to Live thesis warning against the dangers of too much animal protein just made sense to me.  It was an "Ahah!" moment.  Joel Fuhrman's argument in favor of nutrient dense plant foods and the phytochemicals they provide really clinched it for me.  I've had fifty years of experience eating loads of animal protein, processed foods, sugar and highly refined psuedo-foods.  It was time to do an about face.

The political component of veganism holds little interest for me.  The practical benefits are where the real gold is.  In a little over a month I've gone from an obese, hypertensive, sweating, palpitating mess to a man on the mend.  I feel as though I've been quietly reborn.  In the past I treated my car better than I treated my own body.  I wouldn't flinch at putting premium gasoline in the tank of my Lexus -- my own tank got stuffed with great gobs of lard.

I'm writing this blog to celebrate the process of discovering a way of life that finally WORKS!  The good news is that I didn't have to have a heart attack to find my way.  I cannot emphasize this enough: having a loving, supportive spouse who will do anything to help one achieve one's goal is the greatest gift.  Maya, you're such a blessing.  I love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tonight's meal

Field greens 

Maya pan toasts walnuts, garlic and dried cranberries ... !

Swiss Chard with garlic

Split pea soup with roasted red pepper and herbs

Photos: transforming a body

Dec. 11, 2010 after losing 30 lbs.

Dec. 11, 2010

We don't miss meat (but we do miss cheese!)

We were talking at dinner.  Maya asked me "Do you miss eating meat?"  I thought this might be a trick question, so I paused for a moment and considered.  Thousands of meat meals passed in front of my eyes.  I began to feel that feeling of comfort when the gooey saturated fat would slide down my gullet.  Then I realized that it wasn't comfort I was feeling but a subtle nausea.

"No", I answered.  "I don't."  And I didn't.  I'm blown away by the fact that my old craving for saturated fat has faded away.  Well, mostly.  I still have a soft spot for peanuts.  Thank goodness, they're legal on this plan.  I often have a very small ramekin (about 1oz) of peanuts in the evening.  THAT'S the fat sensation I love.  It's my Homer Simpson moment, except without the doughnuts .... "Mmmmmmmmm, peanuts"

Turns out Maya misses cheese.  Yeah, I can see that.  Homemade pizza night just doesn't sound viable when made with Vegan Mozzarella.  I miss mayonnaise.  So we've agreed that, after 18 weeks of the strict Eat to Live eating plan, we're going to have a monthly or bi-monthly cheese night.  Maybe it'll be pizza or (my idea) a night out at a swell French restaurant where they bring a plate of cheese for the final course.

The mayo jones is actually readily overcome using something called Silken Tofu.  This very smooth tofu is easily whipped in the food processor to make a dressing base very close in consistency and taste to mayonnaise.  Tonight I used it along with a little ketchup, horseradish and Dijon mustard to make a very palatable 1000 Island dressing.  When you're eating two enormous salads a day, sometimes you just gotta have a creamy dressing to make you feel like a human being and not a ruminant.

Lost another pound today.  I can't believe I can eat such yummy food and still lose weight.  Tonight's dinner:  SALAD w/ 1000 Island, sauteed beet greens with balsamic vinegar, homemade chili beans

chili beans

from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Maya's vegan mayonnaise dressing

Brave new attitude ........ and 25% of the way to my goal today!

I'm in the fifth week of this new eating plan.  What amazes me is that the thing I thought would be the most difficult, namely heading out into the world and having to eat, away from the safety of my own kitchen, turns out to be not so tough after all.

Today I had to drive four hours to Dallas to audition for a Guest Star gig on "Chase".  I took my breakfast of oatmeal and fruit with me in the car and enjoyed it along with coffee.  Additionally, I brought a peanut butter sandwich, about 4 pieces of fruit, some pickles, some peanuts and a salad of spring greens with a mostly vinegar dressing on the side.

Spent four hours in the car, two hours at the audition, and then four hours driving back.  Not once was I tempted to approach the craft services table, despite being invited.  Not once did I think about pulling over and getting something to eat.  What surprised me was the fact that much less food seems to satisfy me so much more than before.  When I got home Maya had some potato pancakes, spinach w fresh lemon, and a yummy sweet potato/yam/onion dish.  I noshed on a small amount of each along with a small salad.  Perfect.

I the old days, I would have stuffed myself with crap at craft services, then stopped for a 1000 calorie restaurant meal on the way home.  I can just imagine how sluggish I'd feel right now -- I certainly wouldn't be writing an entry in a blog.

Btw, I felt great at the audition.  My suit fits me again ... pretty soon I'll have to put it in mothballs, it'll be too large.

This morning I hit 274 on the scale.  30 pounds gone!  Only 89 left to my goal of 185.  And I have 112 days to get them off before my goal date of April 1st.  That translates to about 3/4 of a pound per day.  It'll be tough but I'm going to try.  Maybe I should start taking bets ....

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.

Here's what I looked like before I began on November 7, 2010.

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.