Well, here's my introduction: I became a vegan in July 2005. I accidentally ate healthy food because I knew what vegetables and fruit were and how to eat them, and didn't know yet about all the junk-food vegan options. My health improved dramatically. Holy cow. I'll detail that in another post. I became a vegan for environmental reasons and a vague desire to not eat animals. After becoming vegan I learned a lot more about the horrors of animal food production (including dairy!) and I doubt I will ever stray from veganism. I also learned why my health was improving from sites like drmcdougall.com and drfuhrman.com. I decided these guys are right: The most healthy diet is whole foods with little or no animal products, and no refined oils. The last one is a surprise to most people. Where McDougall and Fuhrman disagree is that McDougall recommends a low-fat diet period whereas Fuhrman says that healthy fats like avocado and nuts and seeds are okay as long as you don't overeat them and gain weight. Also McDougall allows for more grains and high-carb vegetables (like potatoes) and Fuhrman emphasizes more leafy green vegetables. Most people would benefit by either plan. As an experiment, I'm trying to eat the most healthy diet possible, to see how I feel. My understanding of this, after reading several books, is that my diet should consist of mostly vegetables (leafy green at the top of the list), fruit (berries at the top of the list), some legumes (beans), and some raw nuts and seeds. I'm also having fun trying to get into good shape. This again was inspired after my health improved so much. Most people would be surprised to find out that vegetables like broccoli have a lot of protein. so I'm eating lots of veggies and beans in order to get my protein (surprise), and it's pushing out the grains--at least in my current experiment. I'm a weakling and I am trying to build some muscles. It's working slowly. I go to this really cool gym: www.monkeybargym.com. I'm the weakling but I notice that I don't get out of breath as easily as everyone else. More on that in my posts. Another thing I'd like to mention: I'm as much a hedonist as any meat eater I think. It's probably true that my tastes have changed, but I feel that I am eating food that tastes very good. More on that in my posts. I'll probably have a bunch of things I want to share at the beginning, and then I just plan to share things like what I ate, and how I am succeeding or failing on a day-to-day basis where I am socializing with people in restaurants and traveling and so forth. I find it very easy to eat healthy at home, but it's with the rest of society where it gets difficult and I have to learn to present my case in a way that people don't think I'm too much of a whacko.
Finally, the reason I'm writing this blog is because some of my family and friends are intrigued at the idea of improving their health but think it would be impossible to make such a dramatic diet change. Yet some are trying (go Betty and Bob!). I'm hoping some of my meal and social situation descriptions will help out. It might scare them off to see what a whacko I am but what is so wrong about being a whacko? It's fun!