Health Countdown

Okay. I am jumpstarting my sad little blog. Which I haven't touched since 2010. My friend P called me up and told me his wife A had gotten to the point in her medical journey where they were going to have to try a plant centered diet, taking in advice from one of her bazillion doctors, and the film Forks Over Knives, which I had recommended they see, it being on Netflix currently. P made the post on Facebook about their changeover, called to arrange a visit for advice about encroaching vegetarianism, so I rewatched Forks Over Knives myself. That was last night.

This morning I woke up and there was no food in the house and I was starving to death, it seemed. I decided to nip off to Whole Foods and have a bad for me small breakfast so I could wait for P to arrive without hunger pangs. I got a soy latte and a cranberry orange muffin. I would have gotten a bagel, but nothing they had seemed breakfasty to me, there were only onion ones and the like and I wanted cinnamon or blueberries. No bagel is on the list of a plant strong diet ala McDougall, the direction I favor, nor a bakery muffin, so I resolved to enjoy mine with an eye towards finality. At least for a while.

I have been wanting to make the change towards a more healthy vegetarian diet for some time. I'm the only veggie I associate with regularly, although I know a couple more, and I'm afraid I've been eating out way too much, and totally avoiding the kitchen. That's way, way too much fat, and way too much cheese, not that it takes much cheese to be too much. I have been putting on weight again, the weight I dropped and kept off since 2003 when I became an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and my pants are too tight. This morning I noticed my jeans were ripped by the ass pocket, a new hole for me. Generally my jeans first develop holes on the knees, or often the thigh seams, since my inner thighs touch and whiffle when I walk. Whifflewhifflewhiffle. Hence the abraded thigh seams. But not this time. My fundament is busting forth. Sigh. But besides that, I've noticed more abdominal fat, poorer sleep, possible sleep apnea issues, some other deeper health problems, but since I'm rarely sick, I haven't been to the Dr. in forever. Not since I broke my thumb last November, and that was no checkup.

When P came over, I told him that if he was game, I was game, I wasn't going to preach to him any Plant Strong Diet I was too hypocritical to take up myself. So I'm on a countdown to the same. I bought P a copy of McDougall's new book The Starch Solution, and another copy of Appetite for Reduction for myself, since mine was ruined in the plumbing emergency over the winter. I mostly plan to look it over for salad dressings, which I remembered some good sounding ones, and a few new recipes for when McDougall seems too stark. I downloaded Fuhrman's Eat to Live, since I've never read it, and I know it's well regarded. I already had the Starch Solution on my ipod.

After the bookstore, I drove P. to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and bought P&A a serious nonstick saucepan with a lid, which they didn't have, then we went to the Dollar Store. I got some batteries for my kitchen timer, and a pyrex glass measure and a cheap calculator for P., since he's going to have to be tackling food labels, which take math. While we were still at my place I tried to find Jeff Novick's What to Eat lecture online, but I couldn't find any more than a preview. I donated my food scale, which needs new batteries, and P. took off for home.

I went to the McDougall Site and reupped for the most recent Study Weekend, which was in February. The next one is in September, apparently. Sadly, this version has no Jeff Novick in it, which was a highlight of the last study series I watched, last time I dimly planned a dietary change, in late 2010. So I ordered his DVD.

Oh! And I dropped by Albertson's to use the blood pressure machine, it told me I was 139/78 pulse 78, which is on the cusp of High Blood Pressure on its little chart, which is alarming. I haven't weighed myself yet, it's going to be ugly. I'll do that in the morning. I estimate, by Fuhrman's book, I'll need to lose about 80 lbs.

I went to get some food at last, went to Sweet Tomato's. Big salad, greens, spinach, carrots, cabbage, green peas, corn, red onion, tomatoes, chickpeas, cauliflower, two pickle chips, and I succumbed to some vinagrette dressing, damn it, but only about a teaspoon. I have got to start carrying my own salad dressing. I had two cups of the Navaho bean soup, and one of Minestrone, both way salty, and two small sweet potatoes the size of small pears, with nothing on them. Thankfully they were overcooked and soft. I don't think I could have eaten them if they were firmer.  I had no bread or muffins, or anything with refined flour, finished with a couple slivers of canteloupe and about a dozen red grapes. And water with lemon to drink. I'm still stuffed. It's not the target food yet, but it's better than I've been doing. I'm still counting down.

A brief stop at Whole Foods on the way home, long enough to download the ebooks I already had to the ipad, since I don't have wifi at home. Tonight it's McDougall lectures on video, tomorrow I tackle the kitchen.