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

Happy Earthday :-)

Did you know... Though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. This despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption, according to Rosamond Naylor, an associate professor of economics atStanford University. It is as much as 10 times more in the case of grain-fed beef in the United States.

The above information was taken from this article in the New York Times, click here.

Well, day one was not so bad. Breakfast and lunch went over well, but dinner, oh boy dinner was a dismal experience.

For breakfast I made Migas Especiales from a recipe in the E2 book. Steph first made me this when were dating. It was delicious with spicy sausage. I love, I mean I LOVE Chorizo... Oh man I could eat Chorizo all day, until it killed me. Well, this version had no eggs or meat. It was still tasty and quite filling. While I would have liked to have meat in it, I was quite satisfied. I will make some adjustments to the recipe in the future but I will make it again and this version won't kill me.

For lunch I made the Basic Wrap from the E2 book. Pretty simple to just toss a heaping bunch of hummus (homemade and oil free), romaine and some pepper into a whole wheat wrap. I was supposed to add tomato slices also, but I didn't have any leftover from breakfast. It was quite good though, much better than I expected. I ate one and a half. The second one I failed to wash my romaine well enough and I got a bit too much grit in the wrap. I will definatly make more of these, with more care to washing the leaves and adding the tomatoes. Jalapeno's in the hummus would be nice next time.

Dinner - What a failure! It was filling but terrible. So here I have a huge complaint about The Engine 2 Diet. They relate the recipes to "normal food". Take last night for instance; I figured If I could make things closer to what I like and I am used to, this would be an easier transition. So I chose the following dish:

Tofu Steaks and Mushrooms with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans.
In the description of this recipe, the author says "These steaks have all the taste and texture of a five-star steakhouse restaurant."

LIAR!!!! Bloody awful. This man really needs to leave his diet for a day and go visit a five-star steakhouse. It does not even have to be five stars, he could go to a Sizzler. There were no similarities to any kind of meat whatsoever and as I choked down each bite I thought to myself, 'who is this guy, and why in the hell would he lie to me like this? Why not just call this recipe what it actually is; Sliced Tofu That You'll Hate.

All in all though, two out of three was not bad. I'll keep on keeping on with this diet, but I must find better options for dinner.

This morning I had another good breakfast, I will tell you about it in my next post.

"One should eat to live, not live to eat" -Benjamin Franklin

I have made a few efforts to improve my well being in the past. On the 20th of February of 2009 I woke up and quit smoking ciggarettes. I was dating Stephanie at the time and I was and am still madly in love with her. I knew that smoking was having a real affect on my health and if there was anything in this world worth living for, it is her. Today I feel better, food tastes better etc.

After sailing around the world and spending time in Africa I learned the true meaning of 'it's a small world'. I also learned how so many of us in the western world take our food for granted. I watched as men dug through the dirt to extract grains of rice for their families, as we unloaded our cargo of food aid from the ship.

After my visits to Africa, I began contributing small amounts as I could to Kiva. I figured I should do something, and although it is a very small effort on my part, it still makes me feel good.


After experiencing how small our little home of Earth is, I became more aware of how our human family is negatively affecting our global environment. From polluting our oceans, rivers and streams, to dumping global warming gasses into our atmosphere. Recently my wife, who is an ecologist suggested we buy a Chevrolet Volt. I was more than happy to entertain that idea. To date we are averaging 115 miles per gallon of gasoline. I am very happy that we now contribute much less to all the problems of oil, from pollution to geo-political issues.

But, it turns out there is still much more I can do for my health and for the environment. I am a meat lover. I LOVE BACON!!!! Give me a porter house steak and I am in heaven. Fried chicken? I may eat the whole damn bucket! I love meat, there is no doubt about it.

But, here is some information I did not really know, or willingly ignored in the past.

• 10 people could be fed with the grain that you would feed a cow that would be turned into food for one person

• avoiding meat saves anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water

• Factory farming of animals is disgusting and inhumane

There are a ton of reasons to reduce my intake of meat and dairy foods. As this blog continues I will continue to add some not so fun facts, and some that may be fun. The heart of this blog will to document my attempt to change my eating habits. This morning I began a 28 day diet, free from all meat, dairy and processed foods. I am going to attempt a plant strong diet.

Yesterday I went to the Dr. and had blood drawn, in about two weeks I will know my cholesterol levels and other important baseline data. When 28 days is over, I will have the blood work repeated and share the changes with any who wish to follow along with me.

On July 13th 2011 My daughter Kassidy was born. I would like to stick around as long as possible for her. I have no shortage of motivation.

Today is day one. Breakfast was good, and now it is time to make some lunch.