Well Here Comes the Weird...

For this post I want to document some of the changes that occurred in my body and mind or body-mind or the gut brain axis over the last couple of days.

On Monday I did a bit of a fast and during the next couple of days had some major stuff working its way out of me. During the middle of the week I noticed a very strong pain around the bone of my left orbit - almost like the bone was bruised or I got punched in the face. What was this strange sorcery and did it relate to my detox? Possibly. From the bits and pieces of information I found on the interwebz it most likely was something called "referred pain" stemming from sinusitis infection of the underlying sinuses. On the anecdotal wavelength I did find several mentions of people going through this after a diet change, fast, or detox. The prevailing sentiment was to ride it out and it will go away. I did just that and the pain went away after a couple of days. Perhaps it was related to my body detoxing and shuttling stuff out and away… I also had a lot of boogers, some body acne, smelly poops and other secretions doing their thing during this period after my Monday when I fasted. Hopefully I got through the worst of it because it was pretty gnarly both with brain fog, tiredness, and a general malaise. I stayed the course and things got better.

The War Within

And I want to document a strange case of food craving I got… and how it relates to the growing body of evidence suggesting a profound and encompassing gut-mind relationship. That the microbiome of your gut - the commensal bacteria that help digest the food you eat - exert a strong and profound influence on how you think, feel, and act - might be even influencing the decisions you make. Especially concerning the decisions of what you put into your body. As I mentioned in my last post one day I got a strong craving for some buttered pasta. This was not unusual for that day because I was still on the learning curve of how much I should be eating and was running a bit of a calorie deficit that day. Therefore buttered pasta seems like a sensible thing a body craving calories would want. But it got me thinking…

After that craving I started looking over vegan recipes for various foods and one that I became very interested in trying out was vegan fettucine alfredo. Again, not too unusual as I have been poring over various recipes for vegan dishes and I researched several promising ones on vegan fettucine alfredo. What is interesting is that I was never really that crazy into fettucine alfredo even back when I ate dairy. I can't even remember the last time I ate it? You would think that being, if I can speak in broad strokes, a typical male with a love affair with meat that the most intense cravings would be for meat, not for pasta dripping with creamy dairy? Or was something else going on? That it was not my own mind going to look up veganized alfredo alternatives and that this repeated thought pattern was not simply a quench for calories?

Let me offer an alternative hypothesis: that the dairy loving bugs - the micro biome in my gut that thrives on dairy - that it is losing ground to an increasingly plant based, fiber loving intestinal flora. That such a flora is losing the evolutionary battle in mine own gut for retail space and that such a flora, through a desperate bid for food and survival, might some how communicate via the gut-brain axis to eat dairy and trick me into thinking that "I want dairy" when it is in fact the dying, starving, and losing dairy loving flora that want the dairy. And what better a rescue food for the starving minions than quite literally one of the most calorie rich, buttery and creamy dishes known to man but fettucine alfredo?

Was there a way to test this notion of mine, even in a cursory anecdotally somewhat non-controlled setting? Some observation that would point my nose in the direction that this hypothesis, as strange and weird as it sounds, might have some merit? All I could think of was this: pay attention to when and how these cravings arise. If they arise because I am hungry I can't count that as supporting my hypothesis. But if they arise when I have unequivocally had enough food that day, that I met all my caloric requirements and that if a sudden craving for fettucine alfredo still occurs that might in fact evince the dairy loving gut flora betraying their plea for survival. On Friday such a craving occurred around 11:30 at night as I was ending my shift at work. I know for a fact that I ate a ton of food that day - including lots of avocado and rich coconut milk - there was no way I was running a deficit. Yet there it was the thought of a big rich plate of fettucine alfredo just ram-roading its way into my consciousness. Again, I didn't eat a crazy amount of the stuff when I did eat dairy. I would have expected cravings for In-N-Out hamburgers, baby back ribs, carne asada tacos or fried chicken - NOT some stupid mammary secretion dish. I mean the dishes I just mentioned are also calorie rich foods too, why am I not craving them?

I have a strange hunch that someone who has dealt with a drug addiction can relate to the parable I just told.

Ups, Downs, and All Arounds

Today marks seven days of being completely plant based in my diet. It's been really interesting. As I like to say: try it for a week, even if you do go back to animal based what is seven days out of a lifetime?

I've been doing a lot of research into eating & culture and the whole discourse of vegan/carnist/paleo. I will say this: it is a frothy and tumultuous debate. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around all of the arguments, stories, and anecdotes. A lot of people it seems cheat or go off of the plant based/vegan diet. Why is this? I have not been able to pinpoint what exactly they are missing, and for the most part neither are the people who are now ex-vegan able to pinpoint what went wrong. But it seems like a consistent narrative: after several years or even decades of a vegan diet they fall under a general weakening and malaise, start craving meat and eat a steak. I think it would be wise for the vegan/plant based movement to look at this phenomena. Just sweeping it under the rug and saying that "they did it wrong"... well that sounds a lot like a denial, like something out of the playbook of the meat and dairy industry.

As I mentioned in my last post I don't call myself a vegan - I follow a plant based diet at this moment which is essentially a vegan diet ( I don't care about eating honey). Someday I might put fish and some seafood, especially wild salmon, back into the equation - I'll see how it goes. Veganism is about the ethos in my opinion. A true vegan would still be a vegan even if such a diet irrefutably resulted in worse health for themselves. They would still be a vegan if they started to look and feel like most Americans on S.A.D. (standard American diet) do on a vegan diet. It just happens that vegans are not clogging up the American health care system like a clogged artery (hmmm?).

As for myself on a plant based diet so far I'm thriving. The only craving I've had so far was for buttered pasta on Saturday. And that was because I was probably running too much of a calorie deficit that day. So I ate some vegan butter on bread with peanut butter and then a rich acorn squash/tofu peanut curry. That solved the hunger. When I weighed myself today I was at 296… I had gained 2 pounds from my last weigh in at 294. I was around 315 give or take a few back in September. The weight gain probably had a lot to do with the craving and feast. I'm not discouraged by this slight weight gain, if anything it shows me that yeah, if you want to, you can make hearty, filling, and weight gaining foods from plant bits. I also was probably losing weight… urrr fat… a bit too fast.

Let's hear it for FAT!! I have had to rethink a lot about my relationship towards fat - both on me and in my food - these last couple days. I will say this about making a proper transition from the meaty diet to the plant one: you need to eat a lot of plant derived fats during this period such as avocados, nuts, peanut butters, olive oil, coconut milk. The reason is simple: your system is so used to calorie dense meat & dairy products that it can't handle so much fiber all at once and it is hard to gage how much mass is needed in the form of low calorie plant foods to replace the denser foods you used to eat. So until your body adjusts to more fiber and the bloating goes down (it already has for me) you need to make up the deficit with plant fats and probably more of the protein rich mock meats than is generally advised. Based on my experience so far I would wager that not putting enough plant derived fats to replace the calorie dense foods you used to eat is a big mistake a lot of people make in the transition.

The last three days I have also been experiencing some interesting phenomena. On both Saturday and Sunday I had great sustained energy and lightness of spirit for the first half of the day. These were my first periods of the famed "vegan high". I describe it somewhat like having that perfect relaxed 1 to 2 cup of coffee buzz combined with a sustainable indica like marijuana buzz. You just feel on it. It is quite enjoyable and people immediately respond to your energy, vitality, and lightness of being!! I've read a lot of ideas about what this is; some say that the vegan high is just you cannibalizing your own proteins and fats from caloric deprivation - I'm skeptical of this because I actually gained two pounds over this period and I never read about starving people suffering from bouts of happy feet. Others say that it is due to the serotonin high form all of the sugar fruits you are ingesting, hmmm maybe some truth to this? What I suspect is going on is that your body - on a cellular level - is thanking you. Thanking you for not constantly drenching them in cholesterol, antibiotics, and growth hormones form the insidious meat and dairy cartel. Your cells are thanking you, quite literally, for giving them the good stuff of easily digested plant proteins, abundant anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, fiber, good fats, and plant carbs. Your cells are no longer S.A.D. (standard american diet). Your cells are happy and they are letting you know.

Your cells are also cleaning house. Notice I mentioned that I only felt the uplifting vegan high towards the beginning of the day, on both Saturday and Sunday I started getting detox like symptoms towards the evening. I was always skeptical of your body detoxing itself in great overhauls. I always assumed that your liver, lymph nodes and whole lymphatic system were always cleaning house constantly. The problem is that if you are constantly tracking mud into the house on a day to day basis your system never gets to do that deep cleaning that is needed. To really get into the nooks and crannies. And so on both Saturday and Sunday I was met with mild detox like symptoms and today on Monday (luckily I am off from work) they hit like BWAM!! Gnarly brain fog, tired, and a general malaise. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people transitioning to plant based mistake this detox period for their body not liking its new diet regimen and quit. But I know better and it is just time to stay the course and let the body clean house. I also did a bit of a 24 hour juice fast today. Some tea, black coffee, coconut milk and pineapple chunks.

The bacteria in your gut that lived on your previous diet don't want to die. They might even try and trick you into going back to your old diet. Your gut can talk to your brain in ways that we are just beginning to fathom. There are more of them than there is of you, more genetic potential in your gut flora than in your own genome. They don't want to perish and be replaced by a newer, healthier flora. But you, by your choices, decides who ultimately gets to live inside of you. Let them die. They've had their time. I know, not very "vegan" of me insisting on mass slaughter of malignant gut flora that feasts on refined sugars, bad oils, dairy, and putrefying meat.

I guess that since this a "diet" documentation I have to add the requisite fat boy shot for posterity. October 30, 2017 @ 296 lbs

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