Vegan Experiment Finishes

The saying goes that if you do something for 21 straight days it becomes a habit. After 21 straight days of a vegan cleanse diet, I can say I am in the habit of hating the vegan cleanse diet.

That's not quite true. The experiment is over, and the results are dramatic.

1) I have new appreciation for water-that it's there and really cheap to drink. I spent about $30/month on alcohol, money I didn't spend during the diet. Money I normally spent on soda and juice (I'm a fiend for OJ) stayed in my pocket.

2) I learned about new tasty foods. Did you know that kale is a thing? It is! The cabbage-like plant is about the healthiest thing you can possibly eat, unless you consider Cadbury Eggs a healthy thing.

And if you're going for those filling grains, many substitutes for rice exist. Quinoa cooks fast and at least three of its letters are pronounced as they should be. You can get white or red versions. Red quinoa is red in the way hair is red, in that it is not red. Couscous cookscooks eveneven fasterfaster.

3) Do not eat an entire can of refried beans with your dinner. They taste great, but your body will not forgive you.

4) I like whole grains. I used to buy white pasta and white bread, without realizing that they bleached all the good stuff out of it. When I hear "bleach" I think "Yum!" Now I will be buying strictly whole grain bread and pasta, except those rare times when I won't.

5) I weighed 174 pounds the morning I began the diet. I weighed 163 pounds on the morning it ended. That means I lost one pound every two days, without the benefit of strenuous exercise or watching the amount of food I ate. The weight loss amazes me. I didn't do the diet to lose weight, but that's exactly what happened.

Now the challenge will be maintaining that weight. Wish me luck.

Vegan Update

Five days to go on the vegan diet. The first 9 days of the diet I felt weird, off, empty. It's hard to describe the sensation. I suspect my body was used to the way and things I eat, and needed that time to adjust. Day 10 and on I felt great, with an increased pep in my step and slimming waistline.

So far I've lost seven pounds, and without exercise. At first I didn't have the energy, and now I'm still not doing it enough but the pounds melt away anyway. Word from the wise: Exercise will not help you lose weight! (The author is not qualified to make that statement.)

As for the food, well, I'm pretty damn sick of water. I need a beer! I've already started planning my reward meal on Monday when it's all over (thinking pizza).

Another Post About Issues

This week's issue is new dietary guidelines!

One of the comments on the above article really made a lot of sense to me. Maria in Texas writes:

A lot of this started when the government put out the food pyramid. Experts said it was wrong, had too many carbohydrates (since it treats fruits & veggies as one category and breads & cereals as another, and they are they same type of food source - carbohydrates) and people would gain weight. The government ignored this because of the food and sugar lobbies, and that is exactly what happened. Double the amount of carbohydrates you tell people to eat and they get fat. This still needs to change.

The other major contributing factor is the food industry. If a company does not produce 18-20% growth, it is not "hot" or in demand by Wall Street. Therefore, companies pursue this 20% bogey at all costs.

International opportunities are limited as most of the rest of the world would never consider eating the over-processed, over-salted, and over-sugared food that is the standard diet of Americans. Population growth doesn't help much, especially since the fastest growing demographics in America is immigrants, and the first generations generally continue to eat as they did in their home countries. They can't get a lot of pricing on food either - maybe a couple percent a year, but that doesn't help nearly enough.

So that leaves food companies trying to get 10-15% plus volume growth per year in a stable population. They spend millions of dollars trying to figure out how to get people to eat more sugar, pasta, breakfast cereals, cookies, potato chips, and ice cream. The sad truth is, the food company bosses can't get their bonuses unless they come up with new ways to get Americans to eat substantially more food every year. Clearly it has worked.

Another contributing factor comes from restaurants. There is a perverse logic in food pricing. If a restaurant (and that includes all categories - from fast food to 5-star) sells you a reasonable portion size, they make very little money. They need sell you 2-3 times as much as you should eat to cover the costs of running the restaurant and make profit - especially if they can't sell liquor. Most people eat whatever is put in front of them - I can't tell you how many times I've seen a single person eat an entire pasta bowl that had enough food for a whole family, and then remark (proudly?) that they've finished the entire bowl. Then the restaurants claim these large portion sizes as great values for the consumer. Once again, in order to keep their jobs and get bonuses, restaurants must encourage people to significantly overeat.

In addition to the millions spent trying to convince consumers to eat more, there are millions spent lobbying to keep healthful, truthful information out of the reach of consumers. Just look at the sugar lobby. Study after study links increased consumption of sugar to increases in obesity, but the sugar lobby insists that eating more sugar does not result in weight gain. Really???

Of course individuals have a responsibility for what and how much they put into their mouths, and their activity level. We now have an active food culture that did not exist even a decade ago. One of the unfortunate and perhaps unintended consequences is that people now feel that they are experts in food and nutrition from all the information they get on food television channels and internet website, and many of them cling fiercely to their mis-information and un-truths with an almost religious fervor. Which will likely make the clearly necessary re-education of the American population virtually impossible.

The sad truth is, no matter how big a proponent of personal responsibility one is, one has to admit that there are a lot of very powerful forces that have strong vested interests in making sure that Americans continue to eat too much of the poorest quality food possible. And until someone has enough guts to publicly call these obesity pushers out, point out their ridiculous claims (sugar lobby, anyone?), there is very little hope that this situation will be arrested, let alone reversed anytime soon.

What do you think?

MAIL BAG!

It's been a while since we've reached down into that deep bag of letters here at JoP. We at Jar of Paperclips value each and every hand-written and electronic mail item we receive. The amount of incoming mail is so extensive that it is difficult to answer each and every one. We've picked a few in the category of "Health and Diet" which we thought might be of particular interest to our audience. Here we go!

Dear JoP,

I don't eat a lot of meat and I'm worried about getting my 0mega-3 fatty acids. I can't sleep at night...what can I do???

Thanks,

Omega-less in Omaha

p.s. Don't tell me to take a vitamin!

An excellent inquiry! The primary source of most of the omega 3's for Americans is through animal products, like meat and dairy, fish being the best source. If you don't eat a lot of these why not incorporate ground flax seed in your diet? Flax is growing in popularity in America for its great health benefits. It's a great heart-healthy way to get your omega-3's. Many people often find it to be a great laxative as well.

I hear its important to a) grind it up, and b) grind it up right before you use it. Say, in a coffee grinder. If you don't grind it up it will apparently pass through your system and not break down, and you won't get as many benefits. Then add to oatmeal or hot cereal, anything you are baking, pancakes, yogurt, really the list goes on and on. It adds a bit of a nutty taste. Great question, you are smart in being concerned about getting these brain sharpening omegas!

Next...

Dear Jar of Staples,

I HATE exercise. And when I say "HATE" I mean "HATE". It just seems like, so stupid, but I know its healthy, and I've gained a few pounds in the past couple years. Do you have a diet plan that works?

Got a gut in Greenville

Dear Gut,

First off, its Paperclips, not Staples. Think about it this way, our current culture has enabled us to be extremely inactive if we so choose. This is a contemporary problem, and perhaps was once only a problem for the extremely wealthy. I've heard it said many times before, "If there was a pill that could encapsulate the many benefits of exercise, everybody would be taking it" or something like that.

The point is this, get active! I don't think its possible for anyone to hate exercise, its just a mind game. You don't have to run ten miles right now, just go on a walk. Slowly build up, and walk more and more. If you do this every day, you can build up to almost anything you want to athletically if you are in good health. With food its simple math. Eat what's healthy, watch the calories. The calories you take in, you also get rid of by being active; its simple math. Remember this, exercise not only helps the physical body, but your emotional well-being as well.

Dear JoP,

I've had some strange digestive problems over the past few years. I've also developed migraine headaches, skin rashes, and just don't feel as good as I used to. I'm tired of treating each of these symptoms individually. What's up with my body???

Thanks,

Crappy in Calcutta

Dear Crappy,

I'm sorry for all of your problems. I'm not a doctor, so I can't say for sure. But I can suggest something! It is estimated that 1 in 100 people suffer from Celiac's disease whether they know it or not. This is also known as being gluten-intolerant, and the patient can't consume wheat, rye, or barley. It is responsible for a wide variety of symptoms, including some of the ones you mentioned. Try for yourself! Go off gluten for a couple weeks and see if there are any differences. It may be difficult at first, but there are some great gluten-free rice products out there!

DISCLAIMER: these statements have not been written by a doctor and therefore do not eat anything or exercise without first speaking with your doctor.