I have decided to move from a roughly 90% whole food, plant-based diet, to 100% for at least the next year. Why?
Reason #1: Food!
I love to eat food, alot.
I love to be healthy.
Plants allow me to eat alot and be healthy.
Animal products make them mutually exclusive.
Everything good that I need to feel great, run far, and be healthy is found in plants.
Meat and animal products offer nothing additional that I need, but instead add calorie density and excess animal protein--with NO fiber to digest it all.
Reason #2: It's Working!
My body responds very well to a high carbohydrate*, low fat, high fiber, complete plant protein, high water diet. I cannot eat animals for even 10% of my diet without feeling sluggish, bloated, and tired--my allergies get worse (rhinitis), mucous increases, I don't sleep as well, I crash in the afternoon, and I run like a sloth. Do I have an abnormal sensitivity to animals? I don't think so. I had all sorts of symptoms before, but I thought they were normal, as many people I see at the hospital do. Now I realize I don't have these common symptoms unless I eat animals.
*Simple and complex plant sugars: Fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit, brown rice, oats, beans, quinoa, Ezekiel Bread, etc.
Not refined sugars: High Fructose Corn Syrup (which is in alot of stuff), granular sugar, "white" floury foods, etc.
Reason #3: Feast not Famine
All other "diets" tend toward restriction and restriction never lasts. This even applies to vegans that are carb-fobic and end up eating high oil/fat vegan pseudo-foods. This high-fat, high-protein, high-calorie, low-carb approach inevitably leads to binges and throwing in the towel--like many "paleo" dieters who are under-carbed. I want to stuff my face with foods that satisfy and nourish--nothing accomplishes this like tons of watery, sugary, fibery fruit! Embracing the fruit. Spiritually, a lifestyle with restriction and control at the core is not life-giving or sustainable. Spiritual vitality is about abundance, freedom and feasting on goodness. The only reason to count calories on a whole foods plant-based diet is to make sure you're getting enough calories. Carb up, I say! No one ever got fat eating fruit!
Reason #4: So why not 90%? Why the need to go 100%?
If my 10% non-whole foods intake right now was lean fish and egg whites, for example, I wouldn't be writing this post. But it ain't. I have a couple bad habits that in themselves aren't the end of the world, but they serve the function of keeping other incongruent practice's feet in the door. For example, I drink a 20oz bottle of zero-calorie soda most days. That false sweetness confuses my brain and body and makes it much easier to grab junk on impulse. There is no purpose for the 10% of non-whole calories I eat many days. For example, if I'm running at 2500 calories a day and I eat a 250 calorie Milky Way, 10% of my intake did nothing for my nutrition, but instead confused my otherwise thrilled and thriving brain and body. I am 10% mal-nourished (mal=bad).
"So just eat junk once in a while as a treat. Why you gotta be so hardcore?"
I can't. "Once in a while" means nothing to an addicted brain. "Once in a while" usually means, "whenever it is readily available." And junk is everywhere.
I do well with goals and clear areas of sobriety. Unlike alcohol, I need food. The foods to me that are analogous to alcohol, that I can totally live without but don't control well when consuming "once in a while" are all the pseudo-foods and rich animal products....all of which are foot-held by seemingly unrelated habits like soda drinking.
Reason #5: It's Really Working!
I've been contemplating a thorough, year long experiment for some time now, but the news I got today confirmed it! Each year at Allina Health we get a full workup in partnership with Life Time Fitness. This is required if we want health insurance and it can lower our premiums depending on our score. Last year I scored 84, being deducted 8pts for high body fat % and 8 pts for high Triglycerides/fat in the blood. I got the full dollar credit, but still this was alarming.
Today I got a score of 100!
- Weight dropped 37lbs from a lifetime high to my weight of 15 years ago
- Body fat dropped 8.7% into the low risk range.
- LDL/HDL Ratio dropped by .2:1
- Total Cholesterol dropped 25 points to 121
- BP dropped from 131/88 to 121/71
- Triglycerides dropped 109 points from 200 to 91!
- Glucose dropped from 87 to 80
- Resting Heart Rate dropped from 69 to 56
This will be an adventure. I'm glad I have a base of knowledge, recipes, and habits that will make this last 10% doable. Still, it will be a challenge, mostly socially I suspect. But, what the heck, we only live once. Enough writing. Where's the watermelon!?
