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Never thought I'd say this but I think I'm officially now a vegan.
What brought me to this? Trying to keep weight off. I'm 6'3". At my peak I weighed 260 lbs. My paternal grandfather was my height, weighed 300 lbs and died of a heart attack at age 60, his second one after having one at 50 years old.
Prior to turning 50 and seeing this could be a potential problem for me at 260 lbs, a short hop to 300 lbs, I investigated many alternative diets to try to lose weight. Starving (caloric restriction to 1200-1500 calories) wasn't on the short list. So eventually I wound up on the Atkins diet, a high protein low carb routine where I could eat all the meat, fat and dairy that I wanted. Just had to restrict the carbs to a very low # to stay in a perpetual state of "ketosis." And this worked for me for a number of years. As my weight crept up I'd hit the routine, drop 10-15-20 lbs, then modify out of it in yo-yo fashions. Was able to keep my weight in the 230-235 zone for quite some time doing this.
About 3 or 4 years ago however the effectiveness of this started to run out. It became harder and harder to "get into" the state of ketosis for me. What used to take 2 or 3 days became perpetually longer and the weight came off slower and slower. Eventually I found myself back at the 250 lb mark at age 57. Not happening. I wasn't going to 300 lbs and an early grave if I could help it.
So, I was whining about this to my kids after thanksgiving dinner one year. None of my kids have this issue. They are all tall and slender, healthy. One of my daughters (who has a dietician degree) said I should watch "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on youtube. I did. It was pretty cool. Thought I'd give it a shot.
For the first 30 days I drank nothing but freshly made juice. It was great. Was never hungry. Lost 30 lbs right off the bat. Amazing. Then moderated it with a large salad every evening for another 6 weeks. A total of 10 weeks on the diet and saw the south side of 200 lbs for the first time in decades, losing 53 lbs in 10 weeks. It was really cool. But alas, after the 10 weeks and going off the hard line juice salad routine after a couple years I found myself staring at the 227 lb mark, just shy of 230, and I was not going to go above that, period. I got used to being lighter and liked it.
After scouring endless amounts of information I ended up with what is probably a vegan diet.
No meat/dairy/fish/eggs, no wheat (or most grain) products, no processed oils and no processed foods for the most part.
Just lots and lots of fruits and veggies. Fruits pretty much all day. Maybe juice once in awhile. I do some processed organic hummus and the like in the eve. A reasonable amount of avocados (1 or 2) for oil/protein in salads or salad dressings. Some cooked dishes for veggies, mostly in the evenings. Some ground flax seeds in the sauces for veggies for oil if I don't do an avocado or two. Or some coconut milk in the cooked veggies for lack of the other two sources for healthy oils. Have had more than enough to eat. And I do some brown rice/brown rice pasta's for protein. Completely satisfied.
And saw my weight drop down lower than ever. Back to about where I was at age 19, about 190 lbs. And still falling.
This is probably going to be a permanent change. I'm just sick of fighting it. It's too easy to stay away from the bad stuff when you are fed adequately without the no no's.
Yeah. It's vegan. And I like it, which is what counts to make it sustainable.
What brought me to this? Trying to keep weight off. I'm 6'3". At my peak I weighed 260 lbs. My paternal grandfather was my height, weighed 300 lbs and died of a heart attack at age 60, his second one after having one at 50 years old.
Prior to turning 50 and seeing this could be a potential problem for me at 260 lbs, a short hop to 300 lbs, I investigated many alternative diets to try to lose weight. Starving (caloric restriction to 1200-1500 calories) wasn't on the short list. So eventually I wound up on the Atkins diet, a high protein low carb routine where I could eat all the meat, fat and dairy that I wanted. Just had to restrict the carbs to a very low # to stay in a perpetual state of "ketosis." And this worked for me for a number of years. As my weight crept up I'd hit the routine, drop 10-15-20 lbs, then modify out of it in yo-yo fashions. Was able to keep my weight in the 230-235 zone for quite some time doing this.
About 3 or 4 years ago however the effectiveness of this started to run out. It became harder and harder to "get into" the state of ketosis for me. What used to take 2 or 3 days became perpetually longer and the weight came off slower and slower. Eventually I found myself back at the 250 lb mark at age 57. Not happening. I wasn't going to 300 lbs and an early grave if I could help it.
So, I was whining about this to my kids after thanksgiving dinner one year. None of my kids have this issue. They are all tall and slender, healthy. One of my daughters (who has a dietician degree) said I should watch "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on youtube. I did. It was pretty cool. Thought I'd give it a shot.
For the first 30 days I drank nothing but freshly made juice. It was great. Was never hungry. Lost 30 lbs right off the bat. Amazing. Then moderated it with a large salad every evening for another 6 weeks. A total of 10 weeks on the diet and saw the south side of 200 lbs for the first time in decades, losing 53 lbs in 10 weeks. It was really cool. But alas, after the 10 weeks and going off the hard line juice salad routine after a couple years I found myself staring at the 227 lb mark, just shy of 230, and I was not going to go above that, period. I got used to being lighter and liked it.
After scouring endless amounts of information I ended up with what is probably a vegan diet.
No meat/dairy/fish/eggs, no wheat (or most grain) products, no processed oils and no processed foods for the most part.
Just lots and lots of fruits and veggies. Fruits pretty much all day. Maybe juice once in awhile. I do some processed organic hummus and the like in the eve. A reasonable amount of avocados (1 or 2) for oil/protein in salads or salad dressings. Some cooked dishes for veggies, mostly in the evenings. Some ground flax seeds in the sauces for veggies for oil if I don't do an avocado or two. Or some coconut milk in the cooked veggies for lack of the other two sources for healthy oils. Have had more than enough to eat. And I do some brown rice/brown rice pasta's for protein. Completely satisfied.
And saw my weight drop down lower than ever. Back to about where I was at age 19, about 190 lbs. And still falling.
This is probably going to be a permanent change. I'm just sick of fighting it. It's too easy to stay away from the bad stuff when you are fed adequately without the no no's.
Yeah. It's vegan. And I like it, which is what counts to make it sustainable.
