The 10 day Vegan

One of my talents is that I adapt quickly and I am able to fool myself easily. When I exercise for more than a week I start thinking of myself as an athlete. When I go to the opera or a play I feel sophisticated and cultured. When we head to the mountains I go into rugged and outdoorsy mode.

So it shouldn't surprise you that after only 10 days I am proudly calling myself a vegan. If you had told me last year that I would be happy about being vegan I would have said you were crazy and tucked into my BBQ ribs (mmm...ribs, sigh). But here I am, 10 days into veganism and feeling much better. Bring on the hemp!

My handsome husband works with overachievers who have, like, metaled in the Olympics or at least hang out with people who did, and they are practically perfect in every way. Did I mention that they are overachievers? They teach people how to eat and how to exercise and how to be amazing. They have been talking to Roland about this plan for over a year. They want to do a CEO makeover thing on him and the family just has to go along if it going to work. So we measured our cholesterol (mine is high, Roland's is higher), heart rate, weight, and body fat and took before pictures (only of Roland - I ain't doin' that).

On Valentine's weekend we gorged on sugar cookies, pizza, french bread dipped in butter, and pot roast. Then we started the program.

Eat To Live is what we are following. My doctor endorsed the book and encouraged us to stick with it. So far it has been an amazing experience.

I am keeping a journal of the experience. Here is my report after Day 1:

I followed the plan exactly yesterday. For dinner we had spinach salad with a dressing like applesauce; Veggie Goulash - we named it that- which was steamed swiss chard, cooked with onions, zucchini, mushrooms and stewed tomatoes; and baked acorn squash with unsweetened pineapple and cashews. We added no oil, salt or seasonings and it was amazingly delicious and we were satisfied and full all evening. In fact we were supposed to have blueberries for dessert but we were too full so we had them on our oatmeal this morning with an ounce of walnuts.

In the last 24 hours I have had NO sugar, meat, salt, dairy, fat or processed food. I have never done that. I already feel healthier and more in control.

Lunch is going to be left over acorn squash (nice and sweet) and pita with hummus and a salad and I will snack on oranges/pears if I get hungry. We are having veggie soup ("Dr Furmans cancer fighting soup"), salad and a baked potato for dinner (put tomato sauce on the potato...hmm. Sounds weird hu?). Strawberries for dessert.

This would be hard to do if I worked outside the home. I am learning a lot. The food prep is new and involves lots of chopping. For example: swiss chard - it is pretty and nutrient rich and I have never cooked it. I have never made acorn squash either. And today I have to deal with leeks. Have you ever done leeks?

The checker guy at the grocery out got half way through my order and said, "Gee, you sure are testing my knowledge of produce today!" as he looked up each bag of unusual veggies.