DAY 1

This is actually Day 2. I started dieting yesterday and I’m already down from 148 pounds to 146 pounds. I can’t say I’m surprised, it’s basically what I expected since it’s the 3rd time I’m going on this diet in two years. This time I’m planning to lose 20 pounds in 3 weeks, so basically a pound a day. By the way, I’m writing this blog to cheer myself up, but feel free to read/comment if you’d like. 😉

Diet is a big word. What I’m doing is actually just a few healthy changes to my lifestyle. I’m eating vegan unprocessed food (any quantity in any combination at any time) and doing sprints at the gym for about half an hour each day.

Of course, when I did it the first time, I started a lot more gradually, like 15 minutes a day of low intensity cardio and 2 days a week of veganism and then I just challenged myself further every week . It took me about 3 months to lose 20 pounds and then I kept having a healthy lifestyle because I was just used to it at that point…until my iron got a little too low. So now I’m doing prevention and taking liquid iron and B12 supplements after talking to my doctor.

The main reason I’m dieting is not to lose weight, although it’s a very nice side effect, but chronic inflammation. At this point, it is affecting my quality of life in such significant ways that I need to have a healthy lifestyle in order to just feel ”normal”. Every time I let myself go for a little too long and enjoy a typical western diet, the inflammation comes back to remind me I need to take of myself.

Like many people, I suffered from seemingly unrelated and unexplained symptoms which got worse over the years. I had acute joint pain in my knees, back, neck, ankles, fingers and toes, low energy, bouts of depression, weight gain, digestive issues like gas, stomach pain, acidity and nausea, painful periods, foggy brain, dizziness, low tolerance to stress, headaches, stuffy nose, overheating, over sweating to the point of having to change my sheets many times per night, etc, etc, etc…

I went to the doctor, tried acupuncture, osteopathy, Chinese medicine, natural products and all kinds of other ”magic potions” which gave me some short term relief but didn’t fix the problems. At some point, I thought I was probably going through a difficult early pre-menopause in my mid-thirties….until I read about chronic inflammation. The link between all my problems.

Inflammation is a tricky thing. It’s bad but good at the same time. I see it as our body reminding us of our true nature. If another living organism, like a monkey for example, followed a typical human western diet, including processed food, animal products and alcohol, most people wouldn’t find it surprising if that monkey became sick after a while. So what makes humans so different from other living organisms that we can eat anything and be in perfect health at all times? God’ will? More like human delusion I’d say…

So I’m going on a vegan diet as part of a non inflammatory lifestyle change, which includes eating non inflammatory and anti-inflammatory food, doing anti-inflammatory exercises and anti-inflammatory activities. I’m not a super organized or determined person, so I’ll just go with the flow, as long as that flow is non inflammatory.

Other products I use for anti-inflammatory purposes are magnesium supplements and turmeric. I use them every day at first and then every few days as my chronic inflammation goes down over the course of my diet.

So Day 1 diet:

Breakfast was fresh cherries and raw cashew nuts. The quantity doesn’t matter, but it was about a handful of each. If I get hungry, I’ll just eat more.

Lunch will be a salad made of lettuce, cucumber and white radish because that is basically what I have left in my kitchen. I’m going to do the groceries later on today. I won’t use salad dressing, but if I had an avocado, some dill and some lemon, I’d blend it and use that as a dressing and then I’d sprinkle some seeds on it, not just for the taste/look but for the extra protein too.

Dinner will be fun because we’re having BBQ, so while my husband will be having meat, grilled vegetables, bread and wine, I’ll be having grilled vegetables (eggplants, carrots, onions, asparagus and whatever interesting vegetable I find at the grocery store) and water. The fun part will be NOT feeling bloated and in pain after the BBQ. To me, BBQ usually means pleasure and pain: pleasure in my mouth and pain everywhere else. The tongue is what? 1% of our body? I choose to please the other 99% this time.

The question everyone asks me when I diet is: don’t you get hungry? The answer is no because I eat as mush as I want. Also, the funny thing with veganism, is that you get less hungry. I guess because you get more vitamins per item eaten, so your body feels fed quicker. Moreover, you eat to satisfy your hunger, not to stimulate your tongue. After a few weeks, the interest you usually have for inflammatory food/drinks also diminishes a lot. Animal products start smelling like farm more than food. Processed food start tasting like non food.

I try to eat only organic products. I understand it’s not ideal because of price and availability, but since pesticides are inflammatory and many non organic fruits and vegetables are actually processed (like apples which are microwaved, painted and waxed before hitting the shelves), it kind of defeats the purpose. Sometimes I also grow some vegetables at home.

So that’s it for Day 1. See you tomorrow. 🙂