So I know I just posted about how I was going to update this weekly, and here I am 30 minutes later posting again, but I just had an experience I need to share.
Yes, I know fruits and vegetables have more fiber. Yes, I know it... regulates you. What I didn't realize was that it was going to shoot me 2 feet off the toilet. No one in the world has taken a larger dump than I just did, not even Stan's dad, or Bono. I actually had to take a shower to clean off (yes, the shower has been sanitized, and I washed my hands again before touching my laptop) Seriously, it was like I had a firehose attached to my bowels.
On a side note, I feel very... empty. Like tiny Fabulous Freddie's workers climbed up my ass and squeegied my intestines. I don't know if I ate something that doesn't agree with me, or if my body decided to purge all of the animal products I've ever eaten all at once, but I'm sure I lost about 4 or 5 pounds.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Week 1
I love meat and cheese. Like, I LOVE it. But I hate pain. I'm not one of those tree hugger low carbon footprint PETA types, I'm talking about personal pain here. I don't like to be uncomfortable. I'm also not all about aligning my chakaras (sorry Michelle!) or not wanting to consume hormones and toxins and crap. Couldn't care less. I'm becoming vegan for one reason. Well, one and a half. Weightloss is a bonus side effect of this plan.
So, yeah. Some backstory. I broke my back when I was 16, but the first I heard about it was when I got an x-ray at the chiropractor 10 years later. I'm 28 right now, and I've had back pain since I was 16. Whenever I went to the doctor for it, I just got pain medication. Now I've started pinching my Sciatic Nerve- twice in two months. If you've never done it, and want to experience my pain, go stand behind a horse and poke it with a stick. Position your body so when it kicks you, it's hoof hits your left hip. Then, take a vice and clamp it over your left shin and tighten it until your bone actually starts to collapse in on itself. That's the pain a pinched Sciatic Nerve will cause.
After the pain medications stopped working, and a few helpful articles my mom, my friend Micheline, and my sister-in-law Michelle sent to me, I decided to try vitamins. It turns out that B-12 can help with back pain, as well as fatigue and a whole slew of other problems I've noticed about myself. In addition to B-12, I'm taking a women's multi-vitamin, and a calcium/vitamin D supplement. I've also decided to cut out all meat, dairy, and nightshade vegetables (I know that's an arthritis thing, but since the disk in my back where my two vertebrae smashed together is half the size it should be for someone my age, why risk it?) So, here's my log.
Back Pain: at about a 6 out of 10 (10 being unable to walk)
Fatigue: No naps so far, but I hit the snooze button 5 times this morning.
Weight: here's the kicker. If I were only doing this for weight loss, then I'd probably fail. I'm horrible at losing weight and keeping it off. I'm sure it has a large role in my back pain as well, so I'm including it as a part of the log. As of 5 minutes ago, I weigh 229 pounds. Ouch. Last year at this time I was at 201. The year before that, I think I was at 250. So you see, I yo-yo a lot. I'm hoping I level out around 165 or 170 this time next year, if I can stick to this plan.
Exercise: I'm just doing light stretching right now, but as the pain subsides (as it always does, at least enough for me to get back on a treadmill) I want to add to this.
Animal Products consumed: Friday, I ate a Jimmy Dean D-Lite sausage egg mcmuffin, but since then, I haven't had any meat or dairy.
Here's the recipe for the soup I made and plan on eating all week. (Not normal for me, for one, I don't cook, and two, I have no portion control whatsoever, so I have a monsterous vat of it in my refrigerator. It happens nearly every time I cook) I'll try to do at least one new recipe a week.
Vegetable/Feat (that's faux meat)/Horse Food Stew
1 box of vegetable broth. Not the canned, that stuff in the pourable boxes next to it. I think mine was like a pint or something
2 green peppers chopped
1 zuccuini chopped
1 handful baby carrots chopped
1 bunch green onions chopped
1/2 of a red cabbage chopped- A disclaimer on this. Put it in if you don't care what your food looks like. After it's cooked, it turns the white beans purple, and looks very much like you boiled construction paper. Ever see Bridget Jones' Diary, where she ties the vegetables with blue string to cook them? Yeah, exactly. I think white cabbage (or green, whatever) would taste the same, but without the muppet hue, Red is what I had, so red is what I used.
1 can corn
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cans black beans (I just really like black beans)
Don't drain any of the cans. Just dump the whole thing in.
1 packet of ranch mix- No, I didn't cheat here. Just the seasoning. It doesn't count if you mix the packet with sour cream first
3/4 cup dry barley (horse food) (makes 3 cups when cooked- cook it before you put it in the crockpot)
2 bags of boca feat crumbles- I put in lots the next day, because it was sorta horrific without the meat flavor, and boca is really good about getting the real meat flavor without the actual meat)
So I dumped all that in a crockpot set on high for 2 hours. Honestly, it's not the best, but it'll do for now until I learn some real vegan recipes. If you're desperate for something cheap and easy, then it'll totally pull through as a decent, filling meal. Here's an idea! Nix the feat and ranch packet, and it's a total medeval dinner! Dress up, turn off all technology, and eat with your hands and the dogs at your feet! Name someone as wench and make them bring you mead or ale! It could be a learning experience for your children! Or if you want to add a punch of realism to your next Dungeons and Dragons game. Or not. Just a suggestion to make the soup more exciting.
So there you go. Every monday I'll update this with my progress.
So, yeah. Some backstory. I broke my back when I was 16, but the first I heard about it was when I got an x-ray at the chiropractor 10 years later. I'm 28 right now, and I've had back pain since I was 16. Whenever I went to the doctor for it, I just got pain medication. Now I've started pinching my Sciatic Nerve- twice in two months. If you've never done it, and want to experience my pain, go stand behind a horse and poke it with a stick. Position your body so when it kicks you, it's hoof hits your left hip. Then, take a vice and clamp it over your left shin and tighten it until your bone actually starts to collapse in on itself. That's the pain a pinched Sciatic Nerve will cause.
After the pain medications stopped working, and a few helpful articles my mom, my friend Micheline, and my sister-in-law Michelle sent to me, I decided to try vitamins. It turns out that B-12 can help with back pain, as well as fatigue and a whole slew of other problems I've noticed about myself. In addition to B-12, I'm taking a women's multi-vitamin, and a calcium/vitamin D supplement. I've also decided to cut out all meat, dairy, and nightshade vegetables (I know that's an arthritis thing, but since the disk in my back where my two vertebrae smashed together is half the size it should be for someone my age, why risk it?) So, here's my log.
Back Pain: at about a 6 out of 10 (10 being unable to walk)
Fatigue: No naps so far, but I hit the snooze button 5 times this morning.
Weight: here's the kicker. If I were only doing this for weight loss, then I'd probably fail. I'm horrible at losing weight and keeping it off. I'm sure it has a large role in my back pain as well, so I'm including it as a part of the log. As of 5 minutes ago, I weigh 229 pounds. Ouch. Last year at this time I was at 201. The year before that, I think I was at 250. So you see, I yo-yo a lot. I'm hoping I level out around 165 or 170 this time next year, if I can stick to this plan.
Exercise: I'm just doing light stretching right now, but as the pain subsides (as it always does, at least enough for me to get back on a treadmill) I want to add to this.
Animal Products consumed: Friday, I ate a Jimmy Dean D-Lite sausage egg mcmuffin, but since then, I haven't had any meat or dairy.
Here's the recipe for the soup I made and plan on eating all week. (Not normal for me, for one, I don't cook, and two, I have no portion control whatsoever, so I have a monsterous vat of it in my refrigerator. It happens nearly every time I cook) I'll try to do at least one new recipe a week.
Vegetable/Feat (that's faux meat)/Horse Food Stew
1 box of vegetable broth. Not the canned, that stuff in the pourable boxes next to it. I think mine was like a pint or something
2 green peppers chopped
1 zuccuini chopped
1 handful baby carrots chopped
1 bunch green onions chopped
1/2 of a red cabbage chopped- A disclaimer on this. Put it in if you don't care what your food looks like. After it's cooked, it turns the white beans purple, and looks very much like you boiled construction paper. Ever see Bridget Jones' Diary, where she ties the vegetables with blue string to cook them? Yeah, exactly. I think white cabbage (or green, whatever) would taste the same, but without the muppet hue, Red is what I had, so red is what I used.
1 can corn
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cans black beans (I just really like black beans)
Don't drain any of the cans. Just dump the whole thing in.
1 packet of ranch mix- No, I didn't cheat here. Just the seasoning. It doesn't count if you mix the packet with sour cream first
3/4 cup dry barley (horse food) (makes 3 cups when cooked- cook it before you put it in the crockpot)
2 bags of boca feat crumbles- I put in lots the next day, because it was sorta horrific without the meat flavor, and boca is really good about getting the real meat flavor without the actual meat)
So I dumped all that in a crockpot set on high for 2 hours. Honestly, it's not the best, but it'll do for now until I learn some real vegan recipes. If you're desperate for something cheap and easy, then it'll totally pull through as a decent, filling meal. Here's an idea! Nix the feat and ranch packet, and it's a total medeval dinner! Dress up, turn off all technology, and eat with your hands and the dogs at your feet! Name someone as wench and make them bring you mead or ale! It could be a learning experience for your children! Or if you want to add a punch of realism to your next Dungeons and Dragons game. Or not. Just a suggestion to make the soup more exciting.
So there you go. Every monday I'll update this with my progress.
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