Guest Post: Temporary Vegan

Guest blogger, Joanna, here.

I don’t think I’ll ever be totally vegetarian. I love seafood too much and I love tasting new and interesting foods.

However, I've wanted to add more vegan meals to my diet. I have a dairy sensitivity, I don’t digest meat terribly well, I should be eating more vegetables, and I hate the meat industry with a white hot passion. Yeah, I should be leaning more vegan.

Last month, The Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine hosted a 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. I gave it a try. The September 3rd official start date seemed a little funny to me. I guess since it was a holiday here in the States, it was chosen as a good starting point. Instead, I started on the first of the month.

The biggest change to my routine was my weekly visit to the local diner. I'm a regular now and the waitresses know my usual order: coffee, 2 eggs over-easy, home fries & rye toast. Oh, well. That had to stop for a bit. 

Grocery shopping was a pain at first. I spent ages reading labels on the few processed foods I tend to buy. In some cases there were inexpensive vegan alternatives, in others, I decided to go without.  

Over the course of the month I tried new things. I bought some nutritional yeast to add to things for flavoring. I pressed and scrambled tofu. I baked things without using eggs. It's been great.

All in all Vegan September was a success. Out of the whole month only a few days had non-vegan moments. (Oddly enough, I think they all involved pancakes in diners.) Dining out is pretty rough when it comes to chain restaurants. I had to rely on vegan message boards discussing fast food restaurants. Fortunately, in the age of smartphones, I had the internet in my pocket at all times.

I have several vegetarian friends, and one vegan friend that I see regularly. I received only support from them. Also, many of my friends have other sorts of food allergies and special diets. So happily, the people around me were supportive. Online, I know several vegans including a vegan cookbook author. Again, nothing but support from the internet.

Only one person has given me any flack. At first they were dismissive, but now they're more pitying. "I'm sorry you can't eat this", they said of a sandwich the other day.

"Why do you say that?" I asked. "It's my decision to not eat that."

I guess it's a defensive reaction, but I'm not certain why since I don't criticize their food choices. It's strange, especially since we have vegetarian friends that this person doesn't pity at all.

It's October now, and my official vegan experiment is over. I haven't had any stomach problems all month. This is a wonderful thing. I even lost a few pounds.

For the first of the month I went to the diner and had two eggs over-easy. When the plate was brought out I found myself indifferent to my breakfast. I ate the eggs but they weren't special, and I even felt a little guilty about eating them. I realized I would have been just as happy in the diner with half a grapefruit and home fries.

My diner experience was telling. I've decided I'm going to stick with veganism a bit longer. I don't think I'll be perfect, especially when dining out, but vegan meals at home are easy and fun to make. Especially now that my pantry has been veganized.

My beloved diner coffee. Thank you for being vegan. (Let's not think about organic quite yet.)

Wasting Food

Or why I just put a perfectly good buttermilk biscuit down the garbage disposal.

The two skinny males that I live with seem to have decided recently that Popeye’s chicken and biscuits are the best thing ever.  They are kind enough to indulge in this tempting food which I absolutely cannot have when I’m not home.

The problem is that they never eat all they buy, and so the leftovers wind up forgotten in my refrigerator for roughly two to three days before my willpower breaks and I consume them.  I then cry and rail against my poor, unsuspecting husband for sabotaging me.

Not to be melodramatic – but leaving that stuff in the fridge of a food addict is about the same as leaving an open bottle of Jack Daniels on the kitchen table when you live with a recovering alcoholic.  It is absolutely cruel and unfair, whether the person doing it realizes it or not.

Tonight I got home from class, and while going into the fridge for some water, I noticed the Popeye’s box.  I immediately picked it up and said: “Whatever is in here needs to be gone before tomorrow night, because I’ll be here alone and have to cook dinner for myself.”

To which my husband replied: “It’s just one biscuit.”

He’s right, it’s just one.  Here’s the nutritional information on that one:

Calories: 240

Fat: 14 grams

Sodium: 500 mg.

Carbohydrates: 25 grams

That’s just ONE.

He went to throw it in the trash and I took it away and put it down the garbage disposal just to be extra safe.  I’d like to think it’s utterly ridiculous to think that I’d have taken it back out of the garbage, but you can never be too safe.

It may seem crazy to some, but I’m important enough and this is important enough to me to warrant this kind of extreme.

Full Disclosure

As I’ve commented on before, about once a week I come across another news article screaming headlines about the “Obesity Epidemic” and how much of taxpayers money is being gobbled down by out of control fat people, causing an overwhelming drain on the health care system.

Almost daily, I come across posts on blogs from self important people boasting about their own socially acceptable clothing size and all the hard work they do to maintain it.  Repeatedly, they advise people of my own size to, “STOP EATING MCDONALDS AND GO EXERCISE!”

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m now going to strip for you.  I’m going far, far deeper than clothing and showing you what this 267 pound, 37 year old woman looks like on the inside.

Below are the real numbers from two health blood screenings I had performed about a week and a half apart.  I’ve arranged them into a handy chart for your convenience.

Type of Test	09/18/2012 Results	09/28/2012 Results	Ideal Range
Total Cholesterol	184 mg/dL	184 mg/dL	Less than 200
LDL Cholesterol	107 mg/dL	118 mg/dL	100 to 129
HDL Cholesterol	53 mg/dL	42 mg/dL	More than 60
Triglycerides	118 mg/dL	121 mg/dL	Less than 150
Fasting Blood Sugar	110 mg/dL	95 mg/dL	Below 110
Hemoglobin A1C		5.7%	4% to 5.9%
Blood Pressure	144 / 70	122 / 80	120 / 80

As you can see almost all of my numbers fall into the normal, healthy range.  The first blood pressure check was performed at work by our health screeners who tend to stress me out (also they tested it first thing in the morning immediately after I’d run up two flights of stairs).  When it was re-checked by my personal physician the second time it was right on target in the ideal range, which is where it’s been for me for all the six years I’ve been a patient there.

The hemoglobin A1C test was performed at my request because I didn’t like the borderline 110 number I got on September 18th.  The A1C doesn’t just look at a single day the way the standard test does, but gathers a three month overall picture of where your blood sugar tends to fall.  My normal score of 5.7% puts me inside the “low risk” category for adult onset diabetes.  Also, as you can see, on the second test my daily blood sugar result had fallen down into the normal range as well.

I was also informed that I have “excellent” liver and kidney functions, although they didn’t give me numbers for that.

My HDL (good) cholesterol score is a little too low.  This is a common problem for people trying to loose weight because we restrict calories and fats, even good fats.  Avocadoes, nuts and fatty fish are all good sources.  I eat avocado and nuts fairly regularly but I’ve been slacking on the fish.  If anyone else knows of another good source I’m very open to suggestions!

These results are not a fluke, and I am not a freak of nature.  This naked picture of the inside of my body is the direct result of the fact that I exercise about five times a week, I keep to a low meat diet, I restrict sugar and carbs, and (surprise surprise) I don’t eat fast food.  Most recently I’ve also cut artificial sweeteners from my diet and almost all caffeine, and I’m happily reaping the benefits of increased sleep because of it.

It’s difficult for me to fully convey how painful it is to be judged as inferior anyway, despite all this extremely hard work, based solely on the way I look.  The reason our health screeners stress me out so much, is because despite these numbers they still score me as a 72 (or a “C”) for health and label me high risk for everything, solely based on my BMI being too high for them.  They don’t acknowledge any of the work I do, they merely say, “TOO FAT!”

I watch videos where people call for the government to regulate what people are eating, because they shouldn’t have to pay for health costs generated by slobs like me.

I read article after article, and opinion after opinion on why people just can’t understand why the fatties can’t seem to stop chowing down on so much fast food, their smug and sanctimonious faces aimed squarely in my direction.

Make no mistake here, my journey is no longer health based.  I HAVE ACHIEVED good health already and I claim that prize as fully my own.  I carry it around inside my chest because it’s the only place I can.  It has to be enough because it’s a badge that no one else can see.

My remaining journey now is 100% aesthetic.  Maybe that’s shallow.  No, actually I’m sure it is shallow.  But it’s my choice and my journey to make should I choose to.  I am not a drain on anyone’s health care costs and I will no longer accept guilt and shame, or a lack of acknowledgement for all the work I have and continue to put in.  What I am going through is not the business of, nor the concern of the American Health Associates.  Period.

So I read and absorb all these things, strap my armor securely in place over my battered heart, and then I get up, crank up the music, and launch into yet another of a hundred thousand workouts.

Breastfeeding in Public

This article is not written as one who has ever had occasion to breastfeed in public (or anywhere for that matter), but rather as a person who owns a set of boobs.

I read recently that the Town of Doylestown near where I live has passed a law prohibiting shop and restaurant owners from asking a woman to cover up or leave an establishment if she is feeding her child.

I feel that this is a good thing.

Breasts are one of many areas where American mentality has gone a bit off the rails.  This part of the female body has become so hyper sexualized in our culture that when a woman is using them for their intended, biological purpose this is somehow considered offensive to people.  However, boobs do not actually exist for titillation – they are, in point of fact, a feeding device.  When a woman is using them for this purpose there should not be anything awkward or sexual about that, it’s just a baby eating.  It’s sweet, and beautiful, and natural – yes, all those things.  But it is nothing whatsoever to be uncomfortable about.

I know all the arguments: Why can’t she put a blanket over herself?  Why can’t she go into a ladies restroom to do that?  I don’t want to see that!

First of all yes, many women do use a blanket or cover and it works fine for them.  However many women have infants that will just not eat that way.  I can’t blame them, would you want to duck under a stuffy blanket to eat lunch?

As for the bathroom – um, gross.  Same argument here, would you eat lunch in a bathroom?  A baby is a human being just like you.  Granted it’s a small, messy and socially awkward human being but I for one wouldn’t demand that a baby do something I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.

As for not wanting to see such things, that’s fine too.  Don’t look.  I give the same answer to people who bleat about not wanting to see fat people in general or not wanting to see arms like mine in sleeveless shirts.  Feel free not to look, my friend.  You control where your eyes go.

These women are not closet exhibitionists, they’re perfectly average everyday people who know that a baby does not wait patiently when it’s hungry – it becomes increasingly loud and demanding until it’s needs are met.  It will in fact annoy the crap out of everyone around it until it gets what it wants.  The mother does not want you to be impressed by her boobs, she isn’t thinking about you at all, she just wants to get her child fed and ease its discomfort as quickly as possible.  Simple as that.

This is not a question of modesty.  Immodest is wearing a peek-a-boo bra or a skirt so short your cheeks are dangling out.  Girls do wear those things sometimes to look impressive, and expect people to be impressed when they do.  However, there is nothing immodest or indecent about a breast with a baby attached to it.  This situation is not sexual in any way, shape or form – and Americans are seriously overdue in adjusting their mentality to this fact.

So to that end, I offer some advice:

I understand that we don’t see boobs often when they’re not on a screen or on the body of someone we’re very familiar with.  So when someone you either don’t know well or don’t know at all pulls them out in your vicinity it can be a little startling.  You may glance, and then feel bad about the fact that you glanced.  It’s okay.  Glancing is hard not to do since it’s a reflex, its standing and staring that’s awkward, unwanted and creepy.

If you are having a conversation with a woman and she starts to feed her child, don’t freak out.  If she didn’t want to continue her conversation with you while doing this she would have left the room.  The same rules in this situation apply as normal: you look her in the face and continue talking.  You wouldn’t stare at her breasts otherwise, so why do it now?

Take a deep breath, smile, relax, and go about your day.  I promise it won’t hurt you, it’s just a baby eating.

Status Update

Just a short post to let people know that I eeked into a different set of digits on the scale this morning.  *points to weight loss ticker*

I am now officially in the 260's.

Also, predictably, I have hurt my back so I cannot exercise the moment I start doing well.  I wasn't actually even exercising when I did it.  I am now old enough that bending over to clean the bathroom can cause a spontaneous and inexplicable lower back injury.

However, I refuse to let this get me down.  I didn't sleep it off last night like I wanted to, but tomorrow I intend to be all better.

Go snail go!

"Meow"

The Day After

Hi,

First off, I'd like to thank my lovely wife Carolyn for inviting me to post on her blog.

I'm writing this post a day after the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to make several points. Some of you may be looking at your calendars right now, thinking: "Wow, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of 9/11...it's been 11 years?". Yes, a decade plus one year. The date doesn't have as much impact in 2012 as it did in 2002.

But this is what I really noticed: In all my life, I have never seen the country more united than I did the day after 9/11/2001. There were no Democrats, no Republicans, no Christians, no Atheists, no straights, no gays, no 1%, no 99%. We were all just Americans. We were united as a people, because someone hurt our own, in our home.

Now it's 11 years and a day later, and in my life I've never seen the country MORE divided than it is right now. Everyone has an opinion, stance or cause and chances are it conflicts with yours.  And boy, if there is a disagreement, how the hate spews. Eleven years ago, an enemy hurt us. Now we just hurt ourselves. I hope and pray it's not going to take more loss of innocent American lives to make people realize that united we stand, divided we will fall.

Thanks for reading.

-Ted

Where I Won't Be Eating

Where to even begin?

I guest first of all, as a person who has come to eat meat fairly infrequently, the food in this commercial doesn’t even look appealing to me anymore.  It looks greasy and sloppy and heavy.  I can easily picture gas and nausea following it’s consumption in short order.

As for content… wow.  Just… wow.  Do I even need to say that people who eat like that do not actually look like that?  Talk about reinforcing the stereotypical, unattainable (for most) beauty ideal while simultaneously lying to you about how to achieve it.  Way to go.  The two girls in this commercial undoubtedly worked extremely hard for their physiques and followed nutrition plans that do not include a sandwich that packs in 1,260 calories, 21 grams of saturated fat and 3,010 milligrams of sodium.  Getting through the making of this thing had to be torture for them.  I’d be very surprised if they didn’t spit out each bite of the sandwiches they had to take.

I realize that sex sells, okay?  However, if I were a man I would even find this offensive.  My husband is the one who located this spot and he was offended by the idea that he could be led around by his libido like a dog chasing a bone.  He was also appalled by how old these girls look.  I don’t know how old they are in reality, but we figured the blonde looks about fifteen and the brunette maybe seventeen.  Look closely at the faces and you’ll see what I mean.  When he dragged me to the living room to see this thing, he was irritated and told me we would never be eating there.  Granted, for me it’s all a moot point, since I don’t eat fast food anyway – but he and my son are fairly regular consumers of it.

Believe it or not, a lot of men are tired of being treated like stupid animals who conveniently hemorrhage cash whenever someone waves a  little T&A in their direction.  I know that my husband is not alone in this.

And two last notes to advertisers: women’s sole purpose for existing isn’t for men’s titillation, and exploitation of lesbians like this is extremely offensive.  Exactly how long is it going to take for the guys who write this drivel to figure out that lesbians are not actually interested in sexually stimulating men?  Is that really so hard to understand?

I have a headache now.