Not so good

It has been a while since I added any information to this blog. The delay was in part due to work, appointments and waiting for test results.

It turns out that I did loose over 10lbs on this diet but I have much more to loose. My goal however was to get my cholesterol lower. This diet failed me. According to my doctor my numbers have risen rather than lowered. He is worried about my triglyceride levels, apparently they are incredibly high. He suspects that carbs were the problem with my diet. Even whole grain pasta, breads and wraps are too high in carbohydrates. These were permitted in the diet, so I did not limit them very much.

It looks like I will be on medication after all.

The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives.

"Studies have shown that producing one kilo (2.2 pounds) of meat causes the emissions equivalent of 36.4 kilos of carbon dioxide."

"In addition, raising and transporting that slab of beef, lamb or pork requires the same amount of energy as lighting a 100-watt bulb for nearly three weeks." (source)

Gallons of water required to produce one pound
of various foods

Meat production requires so much water it's hard to comprehend. As the chart shows, a pound of potatoes takes 99.6% less water to produce than a pound of beef, and 97% less than a pound of chicken.

Number of people whose caloric needs

can be met on 2.5 acres of landfor the following foods

Raising animals for food requires lots more land than growing crops. That's because animals eat a lot more food than they provide as meat. It takes 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. That's 94% more land. And 94% more pesticides. All told, livestock eat 70% of all the grain we produce. They're food factories in reverse.

The information above can be found here.

But of course my primary purpose is to get my cholesterol down to healthy levels without the use of drugs, being a better steward of our environment is a welcome benefit which serves as a great source of motivation for me.

And now I move forward to a different subject. Dairy.

Oh man how I am missing cheese. What I would give right now for a hunk of tangy blue cheese. But for now, cheese is out. One thing is for sure, while I will re-introduce a limited amount of cheese back to my diet at some point, I will certainly savor it more than I used to and I will try to eat much less of it. I have been hearing about cheese substitutes but I have not tried any yet, I am a little iffy on the idea. But at some point I will experiment, it is in my nature.

Milk. I remember years ago the challenge of moving from regular homogenized milk to 2%. I thought I was pouring white water on my cereal. This only got worse as I tried 1% and non-fat. As it turns out none of these lower fat milk options is all that good for you anyway. A group of proteins in milk called caseins appear to be bad for you, and low fat milks are not necessarily low in casein.

Good news. Turns out I really like some of the milk substitutes out there. The Brand name Silk makes some really good soy based milk that is rich and as heavy as the old homogenized milk I used to drink. Almond milk was a great surprise, I really like that too, although the stuff flavored with vanilla can be a little much for my taste, but I liked the unsweetened kind very much. Coconut milk is also a nice consistency but the flavor is a bit overwhelming. I have found a great use for the coconut milk though in my morning oat meal; rather than using water to make the oatmeal I used the coconut milk and it was very good.

So, I think I can safely and happily do away is milk as a beverage and cereal soaker. But of course I LOVE ice cream and other baked goods that have no other option than regular milk and cream, but at least I will be able to limit my intake to just those types of things.

As always if you have any tips or advise for me, feel free to leave a comment. The 18th is drawing closer and I will need to have the Dr. poke me for more blood soon. I will be interested to see how my cholesterol levels have changed.

"Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something." - Carl Sagan

Spoiled

I am still on the diet :) I have had a few indiscretions however. Stephanie and her father share a birthday week and so a couple days ago Tom, Steph's dad invited us over for a wonderful bar-b-q. It was delicious, but completely off of my diet. I enjoyed a fantastic steak, a special potato salad and asparagus. The good thing is the meat I believe was of a premium local grade, so I don't think factory farming was an issue at least. I enjoyed every bite.

On the ship, the dining situation has changed. We now must go to our sister ship which is also at the dock and eat there. Hard to believe but the reports I am getting is the food is worse there than on our own ship. I have not yet made the journey to test it out.

Back on my vessel we can prepare our own lunches with some items provided by the Stewart. I have been eating a lot of instant oatmeal, soup and peanut butter banana sandwiches. The salad bar has been taken away.

At home we had Mexican week. It has mostly been enjoyable food. Stephanie has really made things easy for me and has volunteered a few time to make dinner. She is the best, and her food turned out pretty good too. I do need a better more diverse cookbook though than just relying on the E2 book.

I have found the most challenging thing is menu planning. I am normally fairly good at throwing a meal together with what ever I can find in the cupboards and fridge. But on this diet I have not learned how to do that yet. I feel like I have to really plan things out, and if the plan changes then the whole deal is thrown out of whack. I have fruits and vegetables that have gone bad, and breads and wraps that have gone moldy all because of poor planning or sudden changes.

If I forget a key ingredient of a recipe then I make something else, but that leaves other ingredients purchased for that original recipe unused and subject to spoilage. I know once I get my skills together this will not be such a problem. Learning how to shop and cook all over again is perhaps the biggest challenge of all. I am sure with practice I will be able to toss together a meal on short notice like I used to.

Oh, and one other thing. (whispering) a few days ago, before the ships galley was closed... I stole a piece of bacon. Oh that was so good. Except for a few minor transgressions though, I have been a very good boy.

"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons." ~Alfred E. Newman

1st week complete, 2nd week begins.

More than one week ago I began the Engine 2 Diet. The basic rules being that I eat only whole foods, no animal products or heavily processed foods like oils.

I have managed to eliminate meat completely for the first week and for the most part I have done pretty well on the rest of the diet. But there were a couple spots were I did not hold 100% true to the plan.

A few weekends ago, prior to starting this diet, my wife and I visited the Farmers Market in Downtown Vancouver. We purchased some homemade frozen soups from a little company called Souper Natural. Their soup is delicious by the way, and I highly recommend you go there this weekend, find those gals, and buy some of their soup. The other day I came home from work, after not having the best of days, and I was in no mood to cook at all. Without thinking I grabbed one of the frozen soups out of the freezer and put it in the microwave. Curry Lentil, oh so yummy. However I quickly realized it was a creme based soup. I forgave myself rather quickly after enjoying my bowl, and promptly finished what Steph could not. She being somewhat lactose intolerant worked out for me, or against me depending on the perspective.

Today we enjoyed a little Chinese food for lunch. I had the Spicy Garlic Broccoli and a bowl of Hot and Sour soup. I had forgotten that a little bit of egg is floated in the soup, but it was very good and I did not feel too much guilt. I should not have had the spring roll though. The no no there was the oil.

All in all though, my week went pretty darn well. Never in my life did I think a major carnivore like me could ever go a full week with out meat. But I did, not even a slice of that bacon which still haunts me every weekday morning. And I am discovering some new things.

Saturday morning I ate Biscuits and Gravy!!! No kidding, and I did not cheat when I did it. I took the family to a little place in Portland called Dovetail Bakery. A vegan bakery. They make a pretty darn good Biscuits and Gravy, and completely vegan. I do not know for sure if any oils were used to make the dish, but certainly no meat, dairy or eggs were used and it was very tasty. We also had one of their sticky buns while we were there and it too was delicious. We brought a few scones home to enjoy later. I don't know how they do it, but I am glad they do.

There were several times throughout the week where I just wanted to say fuck this shit, give me a burger! But I didn't, I hung in there, and I will continue to try and make it to the end of this 28 days. I now know this is not an impossible task for a meatatarian, I know I can do this.

Here is something you may be interested in reading about.

"Meat and Mortality: A Prospective Study of Over Half a Million People."Researchers at the National Institutes of Health review diet history and cause of death from a study population of half a million over the course of 10 years. Study participants who consumed more red and processed meats had an increase in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality.

Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009

Bacon alimentation termination

On this ship we have a steward; I will call him Al. The reason I have chosen to call him Al is because his name is Allen and Al is shorter by exactly 3 letters, and that is of course a huge time saver. Humm... Perhaps the explanation eliminated the savings. Oh well, I'll still call him Al.

Anyway....

Currently we are in port and have been for awhile so I am lucky enough to eat at home on the weekends and every night for dinner. During the week, I eat breakfast and lunch aboard the vessel. Al is perhaps the best steward anyone could ask for, if you want your steward to defrost and heat pre-made meals and to deep fry most everything else.

Al is not opposed to cooking completely however. In the mornings he prepares eggs to order everyday. I stopped eating his eggs along time ago. I used to order eggs over easy, but I cannot handle having even a trace of runny whites, runny yolks are just fine by me, but for some reason runny whites turn my stomach so I found ordering over medium usually cures that issue. But Al has some sort of magical juju working for him. I think he could serve up a hard boiled egg with a perfectly solid creamy yolk and still have the whites be runny as hell. It has to be magic.

Besides eggs, every morning Al makes a few breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal and he also opens a giant can of country sausage gravy and plops it into a large chaffing dish and he defrosts and warms biscuits from the Acme Biscuit Co., He also serves up a few pounds of bacon. By now you know how much I love bacon.

Since I dislike his eggs and his sanitary prowess (his use if rubber gloves is interesting to say the least) I would most often opt for the biscuits and gravy, they seemed the least likely to poison me with any illness he is carrying. Of course, with that I would have my share of bacon.

So today and yesterday I have stuck to my new diet and ordered only the oatmeal. I load the bowl up with blueberries and I use Agave Nectar for added sweetness. Pretty good actually. But the bacon...

The bacon stares at me, each morning it is beckoning to me. Jesse, eat my salty meaty goodness it says. But I resist, I refuse to give in. But O' how I want slip a strip and masticate the hell out of a piece of that yummy bacon.

I have to walk past the serving area several times a day in the course of my work. Between lunch and dinner, Al puts out some leftover breakfast sandwiches and all the left over bacon for anyone to grab as they pass. With every pass I hear my name being called, I turn to look, and it's the bacon calling my name. It is possessed meat dammit and it wants my soul...

If that plate of bacon someday says, hey... Jesse. I promise to make you the greatest musician since Robert Johnson sold his soul at the crossroads if you just eat me... I may just break down.

So far I have not heard the offer, and so, I have not cheated. Yet.

I miss you bacon,
Love, Jesse

Night at the Movies

I was first told about the movie Forks Over Knives by Steve a Third Mate who sometimes works on the ship I am assigned to. He strongly suggested I watch the movie. I asked him what it was about, but he just insisted I watch. He didn't want to push any expectations on me which may cause me to reject his suggestion only saying it would open my eyes to nutrition. Steve is a surfer, and pretty darn fit, I was sure I was much older than him, turns out he has 10 years on me. Several months later, my friend Micheal posted on Facebook how his health has improved after having had some heart issues . He also mentioned the film Forks Over Knives.

I figured it was time to watch it. I think it was worth watching. You can see a preview on Hulu . Watch it and tell me what you think about the movie.

Another movie that I think everyone should check out is Food, Inc. Everyone should watch this one.

These documentaries talk about the corporate control of our food the effects on our environment and our health. There are so many issues relating to our food production and consumption that I don't think one movie can cover it all.

You can watch Super Size Me right now for free. If you haven't seen it yet, you should, especially if you love french fries and McAnything as much as me.

I am a little late to the party when it comes to eating healthy, and I hope this strict diet will help me develop better eating habits in the future. For 28 days I think I can avoid meat, after that, I hope to keep my consumption limited to just a couple times a week. We shall see.

Do you have any food movie suggestions? If so, post them below. :)

Where's the kale?!

"...according to a 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), our diets and, specifically, the meat in them cause more greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, and the like to spew into the atmosphere than either transportation or industry."


Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good food day overall. All three meals were good, I was happy to have a dinner that was both filling and tasty. But once again, I wish the Engine 2 Diet book would not use the word "meat" or "steak" in the title of the recipes. It would be easier for me to disassociate meat altogether from what I am eating. Calling a loaf of textured vegetable protein mixed with tofu and sauteed veggies 'Lynn's Meat Loaf' is not right. Why not call it Lynn's Dinner Loaf? The word meat, causes an expectation in my brain that is never met. It was good though.

Breakfast Tacos started out the morning. They were actually pretty tasty. Nothing more than corn tortillas filled with Gimme Lean breakfast sausage, some non-fat hash-browns topped with salsa. I had three of them. The fake sausage was way better than I had expected, however I was supposed to use veggie meat crumbles instead... I guess not following instructions this time worked out.

For lunch I was supposed to have a Kale, lemon and cilantro sandwich, but finding Kale on a Saturday has turned into a problem. After visiting three stores I finally went to Chucks Produce only to be reminded they are closed on Saturdays. They seem to be the only store in town that carries Kale. So I made the Basic Wraps that I had yesterday, only I added the Jalapenos to the hummus and sliced some tomatoes for the the sandwich with some extra pepper. Turned out good, but.... KALE! I like kale, and lemons I will get some eventually.

Dinner was meant to be comfort food night. I made Lynn's Meat Loaf from the E2 Book. Of course there is not meat in the meat loaf. But, it was a good meal and we had left over potatoes and green beans from the night before to serve as a side. While the loaf had no meat it did have a look of meat and the texture was close. I liked it, and will probably make it again with a few tweaks of course. :)

For dessert I made Blueberry Dumpster Fire Cobbler. It was good, but I do have to get used to the taste of wheat flour in baked goods other than bread.

So, yesterday was a good food day. Our household did our part in reducing our environmental impact yesterday. No meat, and all our errands were done in our electric powered car.

Stephanie has been a great cheerleader for me, and so far has been eating what I have fixed for dinner, but she did not sign up for this diet. I keep telling her, she should eat the bacon in the fridge, it's going to go bad, but so far she is avoiding it. I love her so much, and I am grateful to have her around me. She is the best.

"The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson