My friend Barb's VegNet group is leading a local Engine 2 Diet 28-Day challenge. Even though I've moved far away, it didn't take much convincing to find a way to participate from the opposite coast. I'm going to do it right here, on the blog. I'll update you on Sundays.
My food "issues" have been well-documented. Cooking for one [most of the time] changes things a little but highlights the same old problems in a much more significant way. I'm spending about $100 a week on groceries for myself, and every Friday (trash day) I throw out about $30 worth of meat and dairy.
I've purchased the items because I'm "supposed to." To meet my protein requirements as a regular exerciser and keep my blood sugar in line. (I take Metformin for PCOS, and I probably always will.) For years now, I've been engaged in a kind of internal war. I was vegan in the UK but it was pretty easy. Those were the "Mad Cow" years and healthy vegan food was available almost everywhere in Europe. When I came back to the US, I was commuting 90 minutes each way and I didn't have time for anything extra. Especially cooking. I'd wait until I was starving and then just eat whatever.
Married again, I would usually cook a vegetarian entree and serve it as a side dish to meat or fish. I enjoyed the fish but would just eat one or two bites of meat and then give it to my then-husband. Now? I force myself to cook meat and eggs and then I force myself to eat it. The whole time I'm trying not to focus on how it feels in my mouth or that it once had a mother. Or, as Marisa's kid said when she served us pork tenderloin one night, "This used to be breathing."
And none of that stuff has really worked. I'm not thin. I may not be the biggest, most out-of-shape fattie on the planet, but I'm *alot* heavier than I was six years ago. My boobs are ginormous. They were never small, but now they slide back into my throat when I'm doing situps and practically choke me. Post-menopause, I began to retain a ton of water so now I'm on a diuretic. My blood pressure falls in the normal range, but it's definitely a different reading. I used to be 110/60 and now I'm around 112/85.
But, most of all, I hate my food. So I'm going to quit meat, eggs, and dairy. My overall feeling? Relief. Excitement.
I'm going to give you some metrics:
Chest: 42.25"
Waist: 30"
Hips: 42"
I'm what you call a BRICK house. I'm not going to check those again for a month - after I've finished the Engine 2 Diet's 28-day challenge. I'll weigh myself at the gym later but if you think I'm going to tell you that number? You're crazy.
And by the way, I'm doing this in partnership with "The Big Sexy," Jonny O. So head over there and see what he's up to and how all of us on the jonnyogoesvegan wagon are doing.
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