Week 6: Hey, I’m not Alone! (Links to Other Sites)

Weight: 3/4 kg down (3.5 down, 5.5 to go)

Originally, I’d intended this post to be titled “It’s not Just about the Diet”.

But, actually, it is. Six weeks in, this diet is still very/overly challenging & time-consuming. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time on diet-related activities: thinking about, preparing, and engaging in meals, exercise, and some degree of mindfulness. My life will regain more balance…but not, it seems, just yet.

So I’ll reserve that title for a future post. This week’s will instead focus on my delight at finding a number of online sources of inspiration/consolation.

There are so many blogs about diet, veganism, weight loss, wellness, balance, etc. etc.

The best have great recipes, beautiful photos, and good writing. Here are a couple I actually subscribed to:

• Veganizzm
• Can You Stay for Dinner

Want more? There’s a well-organized list of popular health & cooking blogs here.

I was struck by the About pages of many of these sites. Most of the owners are women who are young and beautiful. Clearly, following their advice is bound to make us readers young and beautiful, too. (So, then, if you’re a man, you may not want to read them.)

Not convinced? Me neither. So one disappointment is that reading these blogs may not make me young & beautiful. Another is that I can’t actually use most of the recipes.

I used to think that a vegetarian diet was too limiting. But once I started on a vegan diet, vegetarianism suddenly seemed very liberal. And now, compared with the Flay-y program, veganism is downright hedonistic.

With vegetarianism, got rid of meat, poultry, and fish. With veganism also scotched any animal-related products like eggs and dairy. But with Flax-y, the limitations are even more draconian; no: nightshades, gluten, soy products, fruit (except apples), nuts (except small amounts of almonds), salt, sweets (except 2 tsp. royal jelly per day). Other no-nos that severely limit my choices: canned food, GMO produce.

I’d never before realized just how many of my vegan recipes are based on canned tomatoes…

So, yeah, I like looking at the pretty pictures on the vegan blogs–but can’t actually prepare most of the recipes. At least not now.

Initially, I’d committed to this program for 3 months (till January). I’m half way through now, and can conceivably continue till I reach my target weight — which at this rate may be by mid-February. But after that, all bets are off.

 

Week 5: Retox (& Kitchari & Millet Pilaf)

• Weight: 1/4 kg down (2.75 down, 6.25 to go)
• Energy level: I’m going to quit reporting on this. Assume “no change”. Maybe maybe maybe reaching a good weight will result in more energy?

I’m not even supposed to be doing a true detox now; seems it’s contraindicated in autumn. However, I didn’t anticipate that I would, after a month of good behavior, embark on a personal re-tox program.

It started innocently enough. I’d intended to buy a wide-mouth thermos, for bringing hot food from home, but couldn’t locate one. And the thought of yet another miso soup lunch made me gag.

So I ordered food in. But just a salad. And without any goodies. No: cheeses, egg, tuna, peanuts, bottled dressings. Highly virtuous.

Yet, since I’m supposed to avoid raw food now, guilt was already setting in.

Which seemed grossly unfair. If I’m going to suffer guilt, why over a &*#@+^ salad?? I don’t even like salad!

And so, I reasoned, logically enough, as long as I was feeling guilty anyhow, why not run with it? Why not truly own the guilt?

That slope is slippery as a luge track. From salad I progressed to “tastes” of what the normal humans around me were eating. I had bites of: lasagna, pizza, potato kugel, salmon, roast cashews—even <gasp> Ben & Jerry’s Dulce de Leche and the birthday cake I’d prepared for my daughter, Chocolate Mint Dessert. So while I still abstained from meat, I did manage to ingest representatives of nearly all the other no-no categories: eggs, dairy, junk fats, white flour, nightshades and every possible variety of sugar. Plus enough sodium and additives to pickle a vat of cucumbers (thanks a lot, Pringles).  At least I’m thorough.

Although the amount of each food was—truly!—small, the effects were immediate and overt. Apart from losing less weight (hey, I was grateful I didn’t actually gain), my appetite revved into overdrive. All the forbidden foods, which I’d learned [slowly & painfully] to ignore, suddenly seemed to bear huge labels with dayglo print: “Eat me. Now! This is an order!!” Hunger was not just keeping me from falling asleep, it was also making me awaken ravenous, ready to devour the entire huge box of stale Telma cornflakes left from the grandkids’ visit.

A DIY emergency detox seemed the answer.

A few years ago Yoga Journal ran a 3-day detox program—for autumn!—with a recipe that the whole family liked: kitchari. Warm, spicy, and with the accompaniment of a pretty fresh coriander chutney, this dish makes penance palatable.

By the way, finally figured out a way to rewarm moist food without killing it: bamboo steamer in a wok. Works perfectly & quickly & there’s no pot to scrub. (Next challenge: learn how to remove the plate without suffering 3^rd degree burns.)

Also on this week’s menu: millet pilaf. Although the texture is a bit gooey for a pilaf, it’s tasty and attractive enough.

So these two dishes—plus cooked greens / roast veg, and the ubiquitous miso soup—should get me through the week with more variety than usual. I’m actually looking forward to lunch tomorrow. [Imagine Homer Simpson’s voice:] Mmmm, millet.

Week 4, Part 2: Indulge Me

I know snacking is evil. So is watching TV.

But I love both–preferably at the same time.

I don’t need a huge amount, mind you. Just a single program at the end of a harried day, with the accompaniment of, as Pooh Bear would put it, A Little Something.

So I’ve been searching for a treat to substitute for one of my favorites: buttered popcorn.

Imagine my delight when I found a recipe for popped amaranth.

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Fast, easy, and healthy. Okay, so I’d be skipping the butter & salt, but at least it’d be crunchy and kinda fun.

Hauled out a pan & followed the directions. It worked. (Note there’s no exclamation point at the end of that last sentence.)

Here’s a pic of my former TV treat:

And here’s the new version:

You don’t see anything? Look closer, there at the very bottom of the cup.

Was that recipe supposed to be a joke? As a snack, it’s suited only to a Smurf. The taste? you ask. Think miniature Styrofoam pellet. And how is one to eat it? With tweezers?

Aside:

Per Flax-y, craving comfort food–specifically sweet, like chocolate–can actually be sublimation of a more basic–and important–desire: for love. More romance, she explained, equals less food cravings.

I’m not dismissing that theory. Quite like it in fact. Yep, I’m up for more romance. And my husband is on board.

But, I can’t help wondering, isn’t more romance enhanced by more chocolate?

The search for an acceptable snack continues.

Week 4: Polenta Quiche (& The V Word)

• Weight: 1/2 k down (2.5 down, 6.5 to go). Quite amazing…
• Energy level: Still poop out way too early in the day. Starting to suspect early rising is due not to more energy, but to Daylight Savings Time having ended.

I am not, and probably never will be, A Vegetarian. On the other hand, for about 5 months I haven’t eaten meat or poultry. And the Flax-y plan is all-out vegan. But I am certainly not A Vegan.

I would like to be. But it’s similar to how I’d like to be energetic: I see that it’d be a good thing, and I try to conduct myself as if I were; but, on the most basic level, I’m just faking it.

Intellectually and morally I’m on board. I’ve read, and been suitably appalled by, exposés of the meat industry such as Eating Animals and My Year of Meats. And my earlier assumption that V-ans are dangerously malnourished has been trounced. For example, my vegetarian son is an enthusiastic and accomplished runner. He recently earned 2nd place in the 61k heat of the Sovev Emek ultra-marathon. The guy who came in 1st place is a vegan. And so are the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners of the 200k (!!!!) heat. Googling “vegan athletes” produces 7,750,000 results.

So I’m convinced. And not eating animal products. But cannot declare myself a V.

I have been exempting myself at home from preparing/serving dishes with animal products. My family at first generously credited this to my having become squeamish in the presence of meat. I wish. It’s actually because I fear that, in a moment of weakness, I’ll seize someone else’s plate &, before he can react, cram his entire steak into my mouth at once. Sadly, I’m still powerfully attracted by the scent of roasting flesh. No matter how much time and effort I invest in the V meals, they seem a pallid & insubstantial alternative.

Case in point: the polenta quiche I prepared for Shabbat.

It wasn’t bad–just not equivalent to the golden, crispy, roast chicken my son prepared.

In general, while I’m not truly hungry these days, I deeply miss emotional/recreational/carnivorous eating. Absence of hunger ≠ satiety.

So I’m not a V. I’m simply not eating meat products today.

Week 3: Borscht (In Praise of Kind Husbands)

• Weight: Another 1/2 k down (so 2 down, 7 to go).
• Energy: Don’t know if this is a blip or a trend, but on a couple of mornings actually woke before the alarm went off. For someone who usually hits Snooze–and/or hurls the clock against the wall–this is major.

The evening after I published last week’s post, I arrived home from work to find that my husband had prepared a huge pot of hot, beautiful, tasty, filling and diet-compliant (well, nearly) soup. Bliss! A month ago I never would have believed that soup —  borscht, yet — could make me so happy. But it did. The adzuki/greens soup was consigned to its most appropriate home: the compost bin. Whew. The days since have been a lot more bearable. Although my hopes re the second consultation didn’t quite materialize–all the requirements stand as originally specified; there was no additional recommendation of a daily dose of chocolate– my schedule has been less crazy. So I’ve been able to prepare enough food that tastes good-enough. This was helped by the tips I got in Comments from ck. Thanks, ck! I’m sure my family & co-workers are grateful. Hunger does not make me a delightful companion.

So I’m muddling on. Mostly compliant — though we did go out for a nice dinner at Kohinoor to celebrate our anniversary. Yes, I know, we must find alternative, non-food-related, ways to mark occasions…Someday. But meanwhile, it was possible to enjoy the evening without guilt. And, in general, I haven’t been hungry or particularly craving sweets.

Another development this week was the arrival of an order from Book Depository. Move over, Julia Child, Moosewood chefs, and Claudia Roden. The new kid on my cookbook shelf is Paul Pitchford, author of Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. We’ll have to wait to see if he remains a permanent tenant there–or if I wind up donating his book, like so many others, to the library. It’s a primary reference for the Flax-y consultant. If nothing else, just holding it to read will burn calories. The paperback version is 700+ pages in large format. I’ve started reading and PP makes his case rather persuasively. But so did Atkins, etc. on first reading. And I was rather surprised to find that, for a book that’s had several re-printings, and that Amazon classifies as “#1 Best Seller in Chinese Medicine”, there are almost no editorial reviews. But at least it has recipes for some of the ingredients I was advised to buy. Like millet. Up till now I’d have assumed that a recipe for millet would read:

1. Open package.
2. Feed to parakeet.

In addition to experimenting with weird new ingredients, I’ve also started bringing lunches from home: Miso soup. Every. Single. Day. A lot less fun than ordering in with the company card, but tolerable. (However, for lunchtime meetings I reserve the right to still go to Ricotta or order from Sushi Rechavia.) Upshot: I can do this. At least for now…