Can't You Smell that Smell?...

Smells are suddenly everywhere… I noticed the smell of death and decay just driving the electric shuttle from the bus terminal to State Street to start my shift. I would pass a storm drain and just stench would emanate, crawling out of the sewer like some Lovecraftian horror. I also noticed just the smell of urea and human bodily expulsions just clinging and crawling forth from every nook and cranny at the gym. By the spa are little drain culverts that collect over flow water and I had to check twice to make sure that someone just did not recently pee all over the floor the smell would be so intense from accumulated bodily expulsions in the drain. Sometimes while driving the bus I would smell pizza, taco, fried chicken, and hamburger smells just wafting up towards me yet no one was even eating. I realized I was smelling what they had already eaten.

It is amazing to me that this world of smells, that I am just now becoming privy to, was and is always around me. That the slaughterhouse has come home to roost. Home to the very bodies of the sedated apes packed full of  cornfed, antibiotic ridden, hormonally twisted, locked and shunned away animal charnel houses now in walking human edifices. I can detect the dramatic change in the odor of my own body, where only a week ago my own personal aroma was a strong sulfurous brew that I only assumed was a natural byproduct, not so easily swayed by a simple change in diet. I now know why vegetarians/vegan refer to meat eaters as having bodies that house the rotting corpses of their victims. That is a literal description of what my shits smelled like… what I smelled like… rotten corpses. But among other positive changes my personal aroma is now lighter and fruitier, my stools don't smell like rotten corpses, and I have a preternatural sense of smell - for good and bad aromas let me stipulate, the trees, the flowers they smell awesome. And I have only been on a plant based diet for 6 days... what else lies in store?

Don't believe me? Don't think that you can get a better sense of smell? Try it. Go plant based for a week. If I can do it so can you. Believe me I loved meat and dairy. Full racks of ribs, al pastor tacos, whole roasted chickens, In - N - Out double doubles, chile relleno burritos, massive omelletes dripping with cheese and bacon, Ben & Fucking Jerrys. I've ate my share. If I can do it any one can for just a week.

Some might say that I simply don't know how to portion control, how to moderate. Why everything in moderation is a mantra many subscribe to but in a culture gone mad with meat and dairy and protein that such moderation is all for naught. The culture does not condone or practice moderation and it shows. There is no balance in a system that is skewed so heavily to one side.

The hardest part of this transition, only six days in, is not actually missing the foods I used to love and enjoy daily - in truth you start to investigate and enjoy so much more foods and your taste buds, as well as your smell, do change to accommodate and enjoy this new diet. The hardest part is the people who look at you with sideways glances and judging eyes. It is the dominant meat and dairy loving culture. Anyone or anything that thrives on a plant based diet is living proof that the reality we are living in is not the only possible reality out there. And I think that scares people more than actually giving up that carne asada burrito. That there is a new, better, brighter, healthier, and happier reality right around the corner.

I have been going through what many refer to as the "detox" phase of going plant based. Sometimes I have some brain fog. I've had some body acne. A little cranky too today and I was absolutely craving some pasta drenched in butter after work today. Luckily I had anticipated such cravings and put earth balance vegan butter and peanut butter on Dave's bread and indulged. You see on a plant based diet it is a bit of a challenge to get enough calories on whole plant foods when you are used to calorically dense meat, dairy & refined carbs!! Today also being the first really cool day of Fall in southern California I wanted to make a real stick to your guts dinner. I roasted acorn squash with firm tofu, all slathered in miso, olive oil, maple syrup, and soy sauce. Combine a half can of trader joes green curry sauce, half a can of coconut milk and eat with basmata rice and you got a really rich fulfilling meal. But not so heavy that you retreat into a corner and fall asleep. I actually just laid on my bed and thought for a half hour and then got a burst of energy enough to start this blog you are reading write now.

That is one of the best things about going plant based…. the energy. I don't think I've even hit my stride on this diet yet but already I'm feeling the benefits. On some mornings I've been waking up before sunrise and I'm just ready to go!! The aches in my joints are going away as well as diminished symptoms of acid refux as my body gets more alkalized as it shifts to more alkaline plants as opposed to acidic based meat & dairy.

Don't believe me? Try it!! I've been on both sides of the fence - a meat & dairy traditionalist - and now I'm feeling with eyes wide open the benefits of a plant based diet.

Even without counting calories and on a sporadic work out regime I've dropped six pounds in six days without really even trying too hard, except for one day where I did a 24 hr fast. In fact without calorie rich meat & dairy I'm more often than not failing to eat enough food on a plant based diet daily!! I'm still on the learning curve, you really have to pack in a lot of fruit, veggies, nuts, beans, and greens!! I usually start with spoonful of spirulina mixed with water in the morning, then a green smoothie with usually a banana, some sort of protein powder or chia/flaxseed, handful of frozen berries and two fists of greens with coconut milk. A B12 vitamin every other day. Grapes, apples, and nuts throughout the day. Grapes are now so fucking awesome, you don't even know. Usually some type of bean & rice & avocado tacos or stir fry with peanut sauce/curry for dinner and lunch. Regardless I probably eat one to two avocados a day. Did I mention grapes? And arugula? Still working on my favorite meals but I got some promising ones already. I feel like I should add a root crop to my daily meal plan for bulk and carbs. I don't really do a lot of the fake meat stuff, maybe every other day. Cashew based ice cream is actually really good!!

Truth is I saw my future, and it was not pretty. My gut had crystalized around my waistline like an anchor holding me down. I saw the older bus drivers and what 20 years of sitting and late night Jack in the Box does to a body. I see the people on my bus in wheelchairs with a foot or leg lopped off due to diabetes. I know of my own grandfathers and how their lifestyle - a meat and dairy lifestyle - did them in. I saw the cholesterol hardening in mine own arteries like bacon grease cooling and clogging up a sink drain pipe. I knew in my heart that maintaining an attitude of 'everything in moderation" is near impossible for me in a culture of meat & dairy excess, and that for me it is simply a matter of leaving those foods behind. That rationalizing away that I'll be eating good quality meats quickly devolves into eating cold cuts, roach coach tacos, fried chicken and Wendy's.

I've got too much stuff to do.

I know some people are skeptical of a vegan diet… I don't even call myself vegan because for me that implies a whole ethos. A real vegan is checking the whole gamut of their lifestyle for animal use & abuse - I'm not doing that. In fact, I might even go fishing… but I would bring along plenty of twigs and berries to chew on of course!! But for those skeptical of a vegan diet providing adequate nutrition or just shouting out that "I can't do it" just know that the more people switch to and start thriving on this lifestyle the more your "reasons" become more and more transparently "excuses".

And even if you don't care about the mounting evidence showing the health benefits of a plants based diet, the manifestly obvious benefits to the environment, or that you don't even give a damn about the animals - aren't you at least curious what it is like to smell things more intensely, curious to see if you can develop vegan superpowers? I mean you've had a whole lifetime of meat & dairy… what is a week going to matter?


Ooooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you