Still Working On This

This is a work in progress as of the last edit I started my "new way of life" (not calling it a diet) just over 3 weeks ago and I have lost 19 pounds of the goal of 200 pounds.

 

(Sunday, July 30, 2017, 25 pounds)

Chapter One: Why This Book?

 

I have often been asked, why I wrote this book, and why the title? The truth is there are already tons of books on nutrition, the last thing the world needs is another one. But this is more the story of how I let myself get into such bad shape, and what I am doing to fix it. As for the title, for decades, I have dealt with people being shocked to hear that I don’t eat meat. Their reaction clearly speaks their thoughts, “how can a 400-pound guy not eat meat”. People are often confused about nutrition, vegan is NOT automatically healthy, loads of foods do not contain animal products, but are highly processed, or refined and are often times simply toxic. So while this book is a book about nutrition mostly it is written to tell you my story. Simply, if for nothing else, to let you know “if I can do it you can”. A lot of the book is written as a “journal” of my day to day struggle with the weight, even though it is a simple solution to the problem just eat whole plant based foods and get some exercise, there is/will be nothing easy about it when I began this book I was over 400 pounds, and NO I am NOT 11 feet tall, I am 5’11” so 400+ is more than twice what I should be. But more important than the weight I was in terrible shape. I had no range of motion, I couldn’t reach my toes and even had to come up with clever “tricks” just to wipe my own ass. (yeah I know TMI but it is truth) Needless to say, I was fucked up, and it was simply a miracle that I was not already dead. So I have started writing this book, in the hope that it may help you to “save” yourself. I wish I could tell you there was an easy answer, some “quick fix” magic solution but the truth is you are in for a long hard road. Regardless if you just need to lose that last few pounds or for the people this is really written for that need to lose large percentages of their body weight like I did, it is going to be hard, and it is going to suck. The good news is I am nothing special I am a lazy shit and if I can do it you can too. So strap in and get ready for the toughest most rewarding journey ever. You will look and feel better than you ever thought possible. You will enjoy things in life you never imagined you could life will be GOOD.

 

The fat guy who doesn’t eat meat. (with the exception of fish) yeah I know how hard it is to believe when people look at me. So more than a decade ago I quit eating meat, (again with the exception of fish more on the fish later) before that I only ate chicken and turkey mostly. Even though it is not good for you I didn’t do it for the health reasons, I just didn’t really like pork and red meat that much. I never labeled my self (still don’t) as any vegan/vegetarian etc. and I never worried about what I ate if I ate something with animal products in it who cares. And as for the fish I always ate it because I love the taste of fish, any seafood really. I never considered it “good for you” that’s part of how I ended up a 400+ pound guy in the hospital with a heart attack. You would like to think the heart attack (or the $100,000.00 bill for it) would have been my “wake up call” but I continued to get worse, eating animal products, dairy, mayonnaise, cheese, pizza,  (cheese, ice cream mostly) no need to worry, I have a dozen prescriptions keeping my blood pressure, cholesterol etc. in check.  And I just continued to get worse. Each time I lost an “ability” I just come up with some clever “work around” can't reach my feet to put my socks on, sit on the bed and prop my leg up with the edge of the bed, never tie my shoes just slip them on/off. The more “clever” I became, the less I had to move/bend and the more I became unable to move/bend without pain, and so the downward spiral went. Everything hurt, all the time I couldn’t stand/walk for any length of time just walking across the room I could get winded. Back pain was not only unbearably severe, but it was the norm in my life. So have you got the picture yet? I was fucked up. I the worst thing, I always knew what to do about it, I just never did anything.  I don’t even know what the “wake up call” was one day I just decided I had enough.  Something had to be done, I knew exactly what to do and finally, I was going to actually do it. So like I said earlier, it is simple, it is not easy. In fact, it may very well be the most difficult thing you ever do in your life. All I can offer to you is hang in there, find a support group, friends, family whatever it takes.  

 

Chapter Two: Getting Well Almost Killed Me

So as I said in the beginning of this book before I started down this road to “recovery” I was in bad shape, (really bad shape) and on tons of medication. When I decided to “fix the problem” I changed my diet overnight, the change was drastic and hard. I completely cut out any animal products (even my beloved seafood) at the same time I was broke, and could not afford to refill my prescriptions, so I began skipping a few each day to make them last longer. During that time I didn’t feel all that great but never realized it was the drugs lowering BP/cholesterol etc. while the diet was naturally lowing them. Resulting in them being too low. It was not until about 3 weeks into the “new diet” when I refilled the prescriptions and Saturday morning I took them all for the first time since I cut out animal and refined foods. By mid morning I was feeling so bad I had to go to the emergency room and by the time I could get there I was suffering badly and in and out of consciousness. My blood pressure was 80/40 and when I stood/moved around it dropped lower. Even if I was in a “safe place” and was probably not going to die, I truly wished I was dead.  
  In the weeks to come, I continued to take my medicine skipping most of the doses and just kept a close eye on my blood pressure. I had an appointment with the heart clinic already scheduled for the following Thursday so I decided not to call and move it up to sooner. When my BP got a little high I took one of the BP drugs I had, and I  kept up the aspirin daily. I never felt great, but I felt ok most of the time.  I made it to the doctor’s appointment without dying and revisited the need for the drugs I was on. 

In that appointment, the doctor reluctantly took me off of 4 of the 8 prescriptions I was on. she did, however, instruct me to continue to monitor my blood pressure and record it daily so she could see it at my next appointment, also to call her if it went up at all or if I had any chest pain, shortness of breath etc.. and so I went off with my new instructions. I feel better and as I continue to lose weight each day "life" tends to hurt less, which is a good thing I guess. 

Chapter Three: The First Few Months

The beginning was the worst, I can only compare it to recovering from a drug addiction. And yes I have quit drugs and quit smoking so I have experienced those things to compare this to them. People have told me “you are feeling sick because your body is telling you your need meat.” That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. You have the same sick unbearable feelings when you quit cocaine does that mean your body is telling you it is good for you? No, like any addiction your body wants it even though it is killing you it feels good your body wants it and you will soon find out (if you follow this diet plan) animal based foods are a powerful addiction.  They are NOT anything you need or have to have to survive. There are plenty of examples of people who are vegans that are perfectly happy, healthy people. I am not going to start listing off names of vegan persons here you can google it if you like proof. Science, experimentation and testing aside animal products (and more importantly quitting them) have the same kinds of effects on your body as quitting hard drugs, that can’t be a good thing. And don’t try to say things like “that’s your body dying” or “that’s your body crying out for the meet it needs” that is simply BS. If it was your body “crying out” for something it needs to survive how come it passes, and soon you feel much better and are perfectly happy and healthy? and also there are plenty of vegan people in the world and they are perfectly happy, healthy, well-adjusted people.

so the first few months are going to be the worst you will have. Depending on how bad of shape you are in to start will determine exactly how bad you get it. Myself I think I got it just about as bad as it can be, I started off in bad shape and even with improvements (yes the improvements have come even quickly some times) I am still in really bad shape.  But I can see the "light at the end of the tunnel" so to speak, as things are better today than any time in memorable history. 

Chapter Four: Start Slowly But Completely

What do I mean by that? Well, this is more than just a diet, it is a new way of life, becoming more active and eating well as well as spiritual healing too. So don’t try to tackle them all at once start with just the diet, but do that completely when you find yourself “cheating” pick back up and go on. The ultimate goal of the “diet” part of this is to completely eliminate processed, refined, chemically altered, genetically modified, manufactured foods, and animal products from your life. Food is a staple of life, not a commodity to be mass-produced in huge factories for astronomical profits. So to start off aim for the end goal listed above, but take steps to get there if you need to. My self, I needed to leave bread in my diet for a while, I just made better bread choices and soon got rid of them completely, the chapter "breads and pastas" can help you make better choices if you need to hang on to your bread for a while. Also if there is something that is a “deal breaker” for you, like bread maybe, you can get the rest of your diet so healthy that you can still have bread once and a while and be fine.  There have been tons of books written on how healthy a whole food plant based  diet is, I would recommend you read them they are great information (in addition to this book naturally)  

So "start slowly" make small changes every day and keep them forever, well mostly forever again if you get "in shape" and years down the road are doing great and you want to have a piece of meat or a bowl of ice cream or something that won't be a problem if it is a once and a while thing and not a "new way of life". With a whole food plant based diet your diet will be healthy enough to allow those minor occasional "bad things" and not hurt your body. As you are determining your path through this "new life style" only you can determine what is right for you based on your health needs and your determination and will power etc. I would recommend as I stated in the name of this chapter "start completely"  so if you decide to go "all in" on the diet don't let yourself "cheat" if you decide, based on all the variables in your life, to keep bread for example then set realistic obtainable rules like "I will have no more than 2 slices at a time no more than 3 times a week" and also goals like "in 3 weeks I will cut it down to one time a week, and in 6 weeks I will get rid of bread completely" That way you will have a "game plan" and you will know where you stand.

When you do find yourself falling behind your goals do not give up and quit "oh well I had a bowl of ice cream my diet is fucked might as well give up now" just pick yourself up dust off and start a new plan with new goals. Each time you "fail" if you restart make new goals try to analyze what went wrong so you can fix it and try harder next time you will get there soon enough. The key is realistic goals, my goal is to be healthy enough to enjoy life and not die if I set my goal at being a "sports illustrated swimsuit model" I would soon give up as that is never going to happen. But once you set those goals, stick to them, fight for them whatever it takes.

Chapter Five: The Diary of a Fat Man

 This is a new chapter I have added, I am going to keep a diary of my life (well as it pertains to this book) this will not be a daily thing, as I am not that good at keeping track of stuff (sorry) but I will try to keep it up to date with frequent entries.

Sunday, July 30, 2017: All in all I am feeling good today, my back still hurts really bad I do feel tired and "out of energy" a lot of the time, I still have painful muscle spasms in my legs and back and once and a while in my abs. all together even though I am still in terrible shape I can see great improvement so I feel good about my progress. It was a 40+ year journey to get in this bad of shape the journey out of death's grasp will not be easy. I am currently down to just 4 prescriptions, and my blood pressure cholesterol etc is good to low as a norm.

 

Thursday, August 3rd, 2017: Feeling better each day over all is better, some days are better than other. still having back pain but over all, I feel good. I have been checking my blood pressure as much as 4-5 times a day (the doc. is worried about taking me off the drugs) it has been good a few time it was slightly high like 130/90 or so but mostly it is low the average is like 115/78 I think that good.I am just hoping when I lose the weight the constant back pain will go too.

Chapter Six: The Diet

As I said earlier, the diet is simple, it will not be easy. The diet part of this program is simply if it grew in the ground eat it. If it walked around, flew, or swam leave it alone. But just as important, in fact maybe even more so, if you can’t recognize it leave it alone too. Anything processed, refined, altered, modified or manufactured is BAD. That is where the title of this book comes from there are a lot of foods (well they call them food) that are down right toxic and should be avoided at all cost. So what do you eat? Well anything that is a plant is good, assuming it is a plant that is eatable. For example most days I have oatmeal with fruit and nuts for breakfast, then soup or salad for lunch/dinner. Take nuts seeds and dried fruits and vegies and make a “trail mix” for snacks. Use reason, some plants do need to be had in moderation we will cover that later, also don’t eat 10 pounds of grapes at one time (although if you did your body would probably let you know you screwed up) I like to make a soup/stew I call “dump stuff in a pot” literally I go to the store and what ever vegies I see that look good to me at that time I buy, when I get home I laterally dump it all in a pot and make a huge pot of soup I can eat from for the week. Also get in the habit of not over cooking food. You lose a lot of nutrients and taste. Soups also taste great if you put them in the blender make the consistency of split pea soup and bring out all the flavors. Plus a blended soup floods your body with all the nutrients in the food that you may not have gotten out otherwise. Salad is not so good blended but you can make your salad in 2 parts the leaves and the other stuff it keeps longer that way and you can blend the other stuff and use it to replace dressing. That works great and with a little creative experimenting you will find some delicious combinations. As far as the diet goes you will soon notice that you feel like shit, that is “withdraw symptoms” as the toxic animal products are getting flushed out of your system. It is exactly like drug or alcohol addiction just because your body is “craving” it does not mean it is good for you.  It will pass you will feel better soon enough, in fact you will feel better than you have ever felt once you get past the first part with the “withdraw symptoms”. There may also be other things you need to adjust or eliminate (drugs etc.) those need to be discussed with your doctor, my doctor was reluctant to take me off my medications she was basically forced to when my BP, cholesterol etc. was too low it was no longer safe for me to take BP drugs. Work with your doctor, they may not know anything about nutrition and may be reluctant to admit that changing your diet can save your life, but they will not be able to argue with the results. And for the most part as fucked up as the medical system may be (and yes it is fucked up it is BIG business) but the doctors are still people and most of them still genuinely care about your health and will be happy to see you recover from whatever your past issues may be.
 
In the coming chapters I will discuss individual foods that may be “tricky” some foods are not all created equal for example bread not all bread is bad just most all of it. Which leads us into the next chapter “bread”

Chapter Seven: Breads and Pastas

   In this chapter, we will explore breads and pastas, first and foremost bread or pasta, even the ones that are not too bad should be enjoyed in moderation. Unless you have a wheat field in your yard and you are making your own bread you have to be very careful here most all packaged breads and pastas are so highly refined they can not be eaten. Artisan breads from a local baker may be OK you need to discuss with the baker how they are made even if you find “good” bread you still shouldn’t eat a lot of it. myself I found it easier to eliminate them completely (well mostly) once I did get a craving for a sandwich, but cravings are another chapter completely we will get to later. When picking a store bought bread/pasta the first thing you need to check is the first ingredient listed should be whole wheat nothing else. If it says flour stay clear, if that does not say "whole wheat flour" you can bet it is NOT wheat, at least not whole wheat. Anything with words like enriched, bleached, refined or processed don’t even consider  
 
Enriched flour, sounds healthy right after all they enriched it by adding good stuff to it right? Well that is sort of true, they remove more than 20 nutrients (that we know of) in the hardcore chemical/mechanical processing the flour goes through  so they add back in 5 of them The nutrients typically added are iron, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (b3), and folic acid (B9). But these aren’t natural vitamins and minerals added to the flour. The forms added to enriched processed flour are often created in labs or harvested from soil or chemicals rather than grown in nature. Why do they bleach it in the first place well simply put it is all about money. Flour used to be aged with time, improving the gluten and thus improving the baking quality. Now, it is treated with chlorine to instantly produce similar qualities in the flour. The chemical treatment eliminates the need for all that pesky expensive time. No one ever thought to care if they were poisoning the world all that mattered is that they were making more profit. You wouldn’t want all those billionaires to lose a little money just so you can live, would you? How un-American of you.

Chapter Eight: Herbs, Herbs and More Herbs

 Don’t let your food be boring, spice it up, load it with lots of herbs and spices, not only are they good for you, they have amazing flavors. You will soon find that you get good at what herbs and spices you like together. And again soups and veggies can be blended in the blender to make smoothies that are quick easy ways to get loads of nutrition. Herbs and spices are loaded with tons of nutrients and phytonutrients many of which you can not get from any other foods.   
For example, this is the nutrition information for 100G (3.5oz) of Basil.
Energy                  23 Kcal =1%  (pork=297)
Carbohydrates     2.65 g  =2%  (pork=0 )
Protein                  3.15 g = 6%  (pork= 25.7g)
Total Fat                0.64 g =2%  (pork=20.8g)
Saturated               0g      =0%  (pork=7.72g)
Monounsaturated-0 g     =0%  (pork=9.25g)
Polyunsaturated    0 g     =0%  (pork=1.87g)
Omega-3              0.07 g =0%  (pork=.7g)
Omega-6              1.64 g  =0%  (pork=1.64g)
Trans fat                   0g    =0%  (pork=0g)
Cholesterol            0 mg   =0%  (pork=1507mg)
Dietary Fiber        1.60 g   =4%  (pork=0g)
Vitamins         
Folates                       68 µg     17%
Niacin                   0.902 mg    6%
Pantothenic acid-0.209 mg    4%
Pyridoxine            0.155 mg    12%
Riboflavin             0.076 mg    6%
Thiamin                0.034 mg    2.5%
Vitamin A               5275 IU     175%
Vitamin C                  18 mg     30%
Vitamin E               0.80 mg     5%
Vitamin K             414.8 µg     345%
Electrolytes         
Sodium                      4 mg      0%
Potassium             295 mg       6%
Minerals         
Calcium                177 mg       18%
Copper                 385 mg         43%
Iron                     3.17 mg         40%
Magnesium            64 mg         16%
Manganese         1.15 mg         57%
Zinc                     0.81 mg         7%
Phyto-nutrients         
Carotene-ß             3142 µg
Crypto-xanthin-ß       46 µg
Lutein-zeaxanthin-5650 µg
And that’s just the things we know about. Lots of research and laboratory testing has been done on many of the health properties of much of the nutritiants listed and there is overwhelming evidence to support the theory that we really do not understand how they work. Many of the nutrients in plants have amazing effects on the body however when you extract the nutritiants by their selves you often do not get the same results sometimes you get no results. So it is clear that the balance of ALL the nutrients in the food are required for optimum results. So we don’t know why it works but there is clear evidence that it does work.
In comparison here is info for 100g (3.5oz) pork  
Calories                     297
Water                         53 %
Protein                       25.7 g
Carbs                          0 g
Sugar                          0 g
Fiber                            0 g
Fat                               20.8 g
Saturated                   7.72 g
Monounsaturated      9.25 g
Polyunsaturated        1.87 g
Omega-3                    0.07 g
Omega-6                    1.64 g
Carbohydrate             0 g
Fiber                           0 g
Sugars                        0 g
Vitamin A                  2 µg    0%
Vitamin C               0.7 mg   1%
Vitamin D                0.5 µg  10%
Vitamin E               0.21 mg  1%
Vitamin K                 0 µg        ~
Vitamin B1            0.71 mg  59%
Vitamin B2            0.22 mg  17%
Vitamin B3            4.21 mg  26%
Vitamin B5            0.52 mg   10%
Vitamin B6            0.39 mg   30%
Vitamin B12          0.54 µg   23%
Folate                      6 µg        2%
Choline                  88.3 mg  16%
Calcium                  22 mg       2%
Iron                      1.29 mg    16%
Magnesium            24 mg      6%
Phosphorus           226 mg   32%
Potassium            362 mg      8%
Sodium                 73 mg        5%
Zinc                     3.21 mg    29%
Copper                0.04 mg    5%
Manganese          0.01 mg    0%
Selenium            35.4 µg    64%

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.07.2017

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This book is dedicated first and foremost to me. I struggled through the journey to a better happier life and it was not easy. Also to my family and friends for all their support along the way.