« sunrise | Main | more on this veganism thing »
February 15, 2007
Mark this, day one 
Today, I have given up coffee. I've been awake now for 6 hours, and I don't yet have the headache, but I am insanely hungry. Insanely. And so hungry that I wonder if a salad will sate me.
You see, in the last couple weeks when I've been away, there have been huge work deadlines, long days, work brought home, coming in early, coming in on weekends. And also, maddenly, it's sucked all of the life out of me outside of work.
I've still been bike commuting, and its still almost always the best thing in my day.
Riding home is still a test, but I am trying to let go of my tremendous anger at anyone I have to share the road with who will endanger me by speeding past me and almost connecting with me. You can see why I have a hard time with this, no doubt. And the ride home is all about bike lanes and quiet streets. Could ya ring a bell, already?!
But on top of all of this, I've become obsessed with veganism. (Misty, stop laughing.) I've actually started eating fruit. I've eaten more fruit in the last week than I did in the entire last year. And I can't stop obsessively thinking about vegetables.
So as I've been trying to eat better, I've been surprised to realize that my favorite foods aren't actually all that good. I mean, they're not that good. And then there's the stomach distress.
My plan is pretty straightforward. I'm going to eat way low on the food chain for six weeks. And see what happens.
I saw my doc yesterday, and had fasting bloodwork done this morning. So I'll have baseline numbers to compare: blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar, thyroid, cholesterol.
The problem is, I want to begin already. I can't begin before Saturday. And our anniversary is Monday, which probably means going out to eat...
But even if I can't go vegan formally yet, I can abandon coffee.
Posted at February 15, 2007
Comments
Dave has been "almost"* vegan since October of 2005. He had chest pains (which the doc said was most likely a strained muscle) and bad cholesterol levels. His doc was impressed by the drop in his cholesterol after about six months. It's down to a very healthy level.
I have been eating mostly vegan since March of last year. (wait? has it been that long? it can't be?)
*the exceptions are for Dave:
anything with chocolate
the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas
special occasions
seafood.
Chinese food
my exceptions are the same as his but I also add:
milk in my tea daily
nachos.
Posted by: vespabe at February 15, 2007 4:38 PM
Hi Vicky!
Good luck with the vegan thing. I flit back and forth between vegan and OV vegetarian. I love eating vegan, I feel so healthy, but then I go out to eat and the only thing on the menu that is vegan is a salad and that gets old. I read a great book called Eat to Live about why to eat vegan, I would recommend it.
Just a note, though, going vegan can be extremely irritable to your stomach. Eating that many fruits and veggies overwhelms things at first. Give it a couple of weeks, it will sort itself out.
Good luck!
Amy
Posted by: amy at February 18, 2007 4:31 AM