Vegetize Me, Conclusion

[nacreousflaneur]

Well, the end of the week has finally arrived, and with it the close of my little experiment. I successfully managed to eliminate all meat from my diet, and restricted my caloric intake. Now, I realize that this may not seem like the world's greatest achievement, but from somebody whom the marketing executives from Carl's Jr. were thinking of

Comments

woot..

[heavens_addict]

congrat's on having more willpower than i think i ever could. don't get me wrong; love veggies but i couldn't live without meat.

Good on you for wanting to take a cooking class; people tend to forget even the most 'fatty' food can be healthy if it's prepared the right way..

chicken wings in the oven ftw

so any advice or help you need when and if you take this course; just ask away.. lets not let 14 years of 'knowledge' go to waste..

:)

oh oh, and one more thing since i'm at work and killing time; thanks for inspiring me [in combination] with my boss to actually cook at home... in your veggie week i've managed to make my own cruton's for salad's [a habit i used to do and enjoy] make a balanced roast beef dinner; ditto with a roast chicken and even made asparagus soup with the veg we didn't cook. between me and the boi we've even managed to eat the leftover's... tonight it's chicken catetori [sp?] tho we're being lazy and not making the sauce ourself.

so... Woot again.
:)

-g

[seraphbriar]

This is going to sound silly, but... >.> I would be so afraid of trying so many "new" foods at once that I think I'd've lost weight from fear. (One of many reasons I never joined the Army - I'd starve.)

I am so glad that this worked well enough to make you feel better, though. And I'm pondering the cooking class route myself, since I can't even cook ramen right.

[ilovebugsy]

well i'm glad i didn't put you off with all my rambling posts. I got so excited I couldn't help myself

[ilovebugsy]

Actually I should qualify my South Beach endorsement. The South Beach diet is just as much of a fad type diet as the Atkins in some ways. I'm still not convinced that an induction period is necessary to lose weight. The bulk of the weight lost on this diet seems to be from calorie restriction. I think the reason why my friend was so successful is that she went on her own version of it. She mostly loaded up on steamed veggies like broccoli, ate no bread and ate a little chicken at dinner.

This article pretty much says it all.
http://healthletter.tufts.edu/issues/2004-05/southbeach.html

[trancendenz]

lol yeah. All diets and lifelong diets can be unhealthy and stupid, but fad diets are certainly the worst because people connect a few months with keeping weight off forever.

And steamed veggies are awesome! I love brussel sprouts.

[trancendenz]

My dad lost weight on it, but of course when he stopped, he started eating crap again and thus, gained the weight back. His cholesterol went down as well actually. But the book says the diet isn't lifelong. You are only supposed to do it for a few months to spring-board weight loss. There are several phases that reintroduce different carbohydrates until you are basically on the south beach diet.

I tried it, but my ketones were at the highest level on the pee strip after 2 days...I decided my internal organs weren't worth a few pounds lol

[stabbityrabbit]

Expect gas when you make a significant diet change. Your body takes a little while to adjust to the new diet. It also takes a while for the bacteria levels in your intestines to adjust. I used to fart ALL THE TIME, now I barely have gas issues.

[ilovebugsy]

interesting. what kind of diet did you have before? and the present diet?

[stabbityrabbit]

A normal American diet, consisting largely of junk food, and now I eat smarter. Far less junk, far less processed, far less meat.

[ilovebugsy]

hmmm, i could say the same thing about myself but i didn't suffer lots of gas during the transition (except as mentioned when i ate raw veggies in some form). however i have to admit i don't eat a lot of raw veggies, mostly steamed. i do eat a lot of raw fruit though and the flatulence lvel is...no more than before.

[_boneflower_]

You just rock my world this week. This is the coolest thing I've read on LJ in a while... And sign me up for the first copy of your book!

As a fellow meat lover, I can empathize with your desire to continue masticating the flesh of dead animals. Here's what I've found makes me feel less sluggish:

- When we do steaks, I cut a big one in half, taking just half and eating more veggies.
- I eat red meat infrequently, and instead focus on a lot of chicken.
- I try to eat fish once a week, because fish is so damned good for you and super-cheap. I made dinner for myself and Kevin the other night for under $4.00! Dover sole fillets and broccoli. Mmm.

I highly suggest picking up a book called The New Basics. This is the book I turn to when I buy something and then don't know what to do with it. It is my BIBLE for cooking fish. It has very basic recipes, and explains pretty much... uh, the basics. A great investment if you want to learn to cook.