Vegan Diet Update

So some of you might be curious about how my vegan/gluten-free diet is going, and some of you just couldn't give two shits: the more likely of the two. Well this update is for the former, and the later can stop reading now. ;)

So as you know from the post I wrote a few weeks ago, I was frustrated with some unexpected weight gain and wanted to change things. The doctor told me to give a vegan gluten-free lifestyle a chance, and it could help. Now let me just say that I was totally one of those people who thought that vegans were absolutely nuts/extremists/hippies/fillintheblank. Also, meat and I have a wonderful relationship. To me it doesn't get much better than a carne asada burrito or a rare steak. I ate meat and bread like it was going out of style: of course I ate fruits and veggies too, I mean come on, my dad works in produce, it's not like I'm a stranger to spinach or broccoli. But meat and bread were a huge staple in my daily diet.

I went cold turkey. For the first two weeks, I ate nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables: a completely raw diet. I think the strangest thing about it was that I was rarely hungry. I thought I would be ravished without meat and bread, but in reality, I rarely felt the hunger pangs that had plagued me and led me to check the fridge/pantry ever two hours. On the flip side, since I was not compelled by hunger, I did not eat as much as I probably should have. I mean, I'm not going to force broccoli and carrots down my throat if my stomach isn't yearning for it. So in this respect, I was probably getting too few calories to keep my doctor (and my tummy) happy. But other than this, I was following everything about the diet to a tee.

Through these two weeks, I made myself suffer. How did I do that you ask? I didn't step on a scale once. We all know that the home and doctor scale are two very different demons, and instead of subjecting myself to both of them, I figured I'd trust the doctor's scale and go by that one only. So I was following this radical diet change for two weeks without any proof of it working or not (except for fitting into a pair of shorts that hadn't fit in a year, just in time for my San Diego trip, yay!!), and I was exceptionally excited to step on that doctor's scale.

Two weeks had passed. Kris and I sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office, my palms sweating out of shear anticipation. Finally I was called in, got on the scale and was floored at the results.

16 pounds lost in 2 weeks.

I was fucking ecstatic! I couldn't keep the smile off of my face during the whole appointment. All my doctor could say was, "Wow!" She was thrilled, of course. She told me to up my calories a bit with some avocados and sweet potatoes, but other than that she was very impressed with my results. She wants me to stay with the program I am doing, but I now get to cook some of my veggies and add some beans, nuts and seeds into the mix. She still wants me to stay away from grains for now until I'm farther into my journey, but honestly I'm fine with that. I'm just glad I get some variety now.

So anyway, that's how it's working so far! If you are interested in following my diet plan, watch "Forks Over Knives", or ask me and I'd be happy to share! My next appointment will be in two weeks from this Thursday, most likely. I am a little nervous for spending a week in San Diego followed by a week in New York, because I'm just not sure how easy it will be to stay on this diet (especially New York, they're like KNOWN for their amazing restaurants), but I will just remember the feeling of stepping on the scale and seeing those results! 

My experience at the Cars Land opening!

This past weekend Kris and I decided to brave the crowds and be among the first to experience Cars Land on opening day. For anyone living under a rock, Cars Land is the new land in Disney California Adventure based of the Pixar movie "Cars". The land is supposed to make you feel like you are immersed in the movie, walking right into Radiator Springs, the cutest little town in Carburetor County. The land itself is incredible, and I don't want to ruin the experience for any of you, but I'll share our day. First we got to the Esplanade around 11:30pm and camped out. Kris was nice enough to let me go back to the car for a couple hours and take a nap while he slept outside to keep our place in line. Around 8 they let us in the gates to watch the grand opening ceremony led by Bob Iger. We were then taken to Cars Land where most people bolted to Radiator Springs Racers (the E ticket ride of the land). This was our original plan, but we decided that trying to get a Fast Pass would be our best bet. Believe it or not, we got a Fast Pass for 9:05am; that's right, pretty much the earliest possible time. Since everyone was hauling ass to Racers, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Flying Tires were left virtually untouched. Fast Passes in hand, we hopped on the other two rides, each have a zero, yes zero minute wait. We walked onto both rides, when we were expecting 2-3 hour waits for each one. When it was time for our Fast Pass, we went to Racers and right as we sat down in our car, the ride broke down. It took about an hour to fix, so when all was said and done, we waited for a total of one hour to complete everything in Cars Land. I honestly think camping out was 100% worth it. For anyone wanting details, all I will say is that Radiator Springs Racers is one of the best rides that Disney has ever come up with. The animatronics floored me and I was completely speechless after riding it. However, on opening day it got up to a 5 hour wait and since then I have not been there without it being around 3 hours; fast passes ran out at 8:45am. So be warned that it will be busy when you go, ESPECIALLY during the summer. I'd wait until September or so to check it out, but if you just can't wait that long, get there very early. Overall Radiator Springs is worth all the hype. It is incredible what they did there, and I am thoroughly impressed.

Me? A VEGAN?!

So for the last month, I've been living a life without wheat. The whole wheatless thing was inspired from a book that I read called "The Wheat Belly". It was very interesting, and I enjoyed how I felt when I didn't eat an abundance of wheat like I was used to eating. It was for weightloss mostly, although I do have a skin condition that is supposed to clear up by removing wheat from my diet.

So what happened to get me to the doctor was I was getting super strict about my weightloss, I was writing down everything I ate, keeping it at 1500-2000 calories a day (I'm 6'1'', so this is cutting back for someone my size) and I was working out 5 days a week for at least 1 1/2 each day, and at the end of 2 weeks of doing this, I GAINED 7 pounds! This not only frustrated me, but got me a little worried, so I went to see my doctor. She did some blood work on me and it turns out my thyroid is on the low side of normal, nothing to freak out about, but it could be a contributing factor to my sluggish metabolism.

My doctor decided that a radical change was something that I really needed; taking out all animal products, gluten and processed food from my diet. I'm not going to lie, when she told me that she wanted me to go on a vegan gluten-free diet, I kinda freaked the fuck out. I had tried being a vegetarian once... yeah, that lasted all of 2 months. Being a vegan was way too crazy for someone like me.

 I'm doing a liver cleanse right now (doctor's orders). The cleanse consists of drinking 16 oz of room temperature apple juice for breakfast and lunch, followed by a dinner of raw fruits and vegetables, while drinking 8-10 glasses of water throughout the day. That goes on for 5 days, then on the 6th and 7th day, I have to drink a solution of water and epsom salt. This binds with the toxins in the liver, allowing you to poo out the sludge and waste being stored in your liver. It comes out as little bb sized lime green stones, and you are supposed to count them. A healthy liver will have very few, but my doctor has had patients who have had thousands. So that is my first week, after that I am on all raw fruits and veggies for another week, then I am to see my doctor again where she'll see how I've done and probably introduce nuts and beans into my diet after that.

After I'm off the strict diet that she has me on now, I think the biggest problem will be cooking. I've never cooked without using oil before: I didn't even think that was possible! I'll need to find all new recipes and try to incorporate them in my new whole foods, vegan and gluten-free life. It's life changing to say the least. But the cleanse has been awesome so far. I haven't really been hungry, because the apple juice does a good job at filling me up. I also find that I have a clear head and I wasn't tired or groggy this morning when I woke up.

I still struggle with my food addiction. My parents brought In-N-Out Burger home last night for dinner, and I had to sit there and watch them eat it and SMELL it... while I was chomping on a carrot. I can tell it's going to be a struggle. But in times of weakness, I'll just have to pop in the dvd "Forks Over Knives" to remind me why I'm doing this. I know it's good for me, but food addiction doesn't go away over night.

So that's about it. As of now I am a gluten-free vegan. Technically I'm a raw gluten-free vegan, but the raw part of that will only be for another week or so. This is a huge lifestyle change for me. I fear that it could change the dynamic of my relationship with Kris. We had, up until this point, always bonded over food. It was a big part of our lives. We love trying new restaurants and we eat out more than we should. Now everything of mine has to be made at home. It will be a huge change, but Kris has been extremely supportive and happy that I'm working so hard to get healthy. He's been great, and I appreciate his help!