Meet My Meat

Black, gay, Jewish. I can't speak to his mental acuity or political leanings, but three out of five ain't bad

When someone says something horrible and defends themselves by saying, "Hey, my best friend is black/gay/Jewish/retarded/Republican", they're probably a horrible person. I guess I have to face the fact that I have spoken poorly of the concept of vegetarianism and veganism, and when it was brought to my attention that perhaps I'm a little prejudiced, I've defended myself by saying, "Hey, one of my best friends is a vegan!"

Okay, maybe I've moderated my tone and have withheld judgement a little bit more in the past few years since culinary school and started thinking of food less about sensations and profit and more about health individually, societally and environmentally -- being married to a vegetarian and having kids will do that to you, if you want to live in peace. But the fact remains, the HVS remains one of my best friends, despite life allowing us only tete-a-tetes every few months these past few years.

Well, the HVS recently recruited a co-president (aka wifey), and I was honored to be invited to a very intimate dinner with the HVS, Momma HVS and Sister HVS. It was a vegan meal of course, and the conversation veered toward this blog, of which various HVSs actually read, oddly enough. The HVS asked me about my meat consumption. She mentioned Michael Pollen, who we both respect. His stance is that nothing is wrong with veganism, but nothing is wrong with eating a small amount of meat sourced from environmentally sensitive, non-industrial sources. She also referred to "Vegan Until 6", a book by another writer we both respect, Mark Bittman. The book is angled like a diet & health book, where the basis is you act like a vegan until dinner.



The HVS asked me how much meat I ate, and it gave me a weird sense of anxiety -- I didn't really know. Despite recording every friggin' thing I've eaten in the past decade or so, as of late I don't think in terms of meat/dairy/grains/veg as much as I think of a balance of protein/fat/carbs.

Truth be told, once upon a time way before you were born, I spent a decade being a vegetarian, and within that time a few years as a "vegan". It's gotta go in quotes because I made a rule of excepting the animal-product ban from desserts. Looking back, that's LUDICROUS, as it undermined both the health and ethical aims of taking on such a relatively extreme diet. A couple of years ago when I visited a licensed nutritionist for the first time and presented her with a couple of weeks of my typical eating, the first thing she said was: I don't eat enough meat.

Actually, I think she said "protein", but it sounded like "meat" to me, as I regarded that as my primary source of that macro nutrient. She guesstimated my intake of protein/fat/carbs were around 10/30/60, and it should be closer to 20/40/40. She added that I should up the protein, lower the carbs and the fat will take care of itself.

Huh. So how am I doing? This past week was relatively good and tight, so let me look at my 21 meals over the five days and figure out some percentages.

• All my breakfasts are vegetarian ("Vegetarian Before Noon"?) Two of my five lunches were vegan, and one of my dinners was vegan.
• By volume on average, about 20% of my lunch is meat. About 25% of my dinner is meat 
• By caloric value, it's actually less, as I eat fish and shrimp and avoid calorically dense meats like beef, bacon n' burgers. About 15% of my caloric intake comes from meat sources.

Notably, during the week I am almost dairy-free. This is not intentional, but a side effect of keeping calories un-dense. My main dairy is full-fat Fage yogurt for some breakfasts. The only other minor sources are the cheese-dust on some cheetos and the butter I occasionally cook with. Maybe 5%-10% of my calories come from dairy during the week.

Due to a conspiracy by Big Salad, there is very little stock photography of women joyously eating multiple helpings of meat.

Thing is, I feel like I'm always eating meat, much more than before my consultation. Part of it was the slight aversion to meat -- it takes more effort to make, as its not that great if not cooked fresh. There is so much riding against meat, from all sides, it feels comfortable to abstain. It's expensive, and can be bloody. Let's not even go to the cancer & heart disease thing. However, I took a close look and decided I should worry about protein, not meat. Fish n' chicken came in, as well as regular servings of almond butter, fast food veggie patty, falafel and nuts. And to be honest, because of my culinary training, I have the confidence to cook a plain boring piece of chicken breast 10 different ways to Sunday that'll still make it sometimes tasty but always interesting. Yeah I indulge in some meat balls and sausage, but most of the time my meats are whole, and cooked by my own hand.

So sorry HVS, I'm pretty comfortable with my level of meat-consumption right now. (Though right now I'm listening to an hourlong debate on NPR about being vegan vs meat eating, so I reserve the right to roll back my smug finality.)  I think the only way it could be improved right now is to follow Mark Bittman's recommendation of paying attention to the sourcing. A lot of my day-to-day raw meats and fishes come in big bulk bags from the freezers of Costco. It's cheap and convenient, but not as tasty, interesting, fresh and ecologically/ethically friendly as what I could get from the butchers who set up shop at local green markets. Huh, maybe I should try some of them crazy expensive organic buffalo cuts that I see there. I promise I won't start that blog entry with, "Hey, my best friend is a vegan, but..."
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2457

Friday blew me out of the water, due to two reasons. One, only two hours of sleep messed me up. Two, I recorded what I ate in the evening honestly. Despite losing weight this past year, I'd let myself slip Friday night and just lump it in with the unrecorded "weekend." No more. We need more honesty, less flim-flammery.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2130

SLEPT: 9:15pm-4am, 6.75 hr
Good lifting session in the morning. Not the strongest, but the twinges in my back are getting better. Funny, I've noticed it's hard to lift after the weekend, but not today, because my diet was a lot more in line with how I eat during the week. All those excess calories and the sugar really does a number on me come Monday morning.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am,apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, stee cut oatmeal, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, butternut squash soup, health salad, picked, 480 cal
Forgot to pack the falafel. -sigh-.

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 480 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, cheetos, 300 ca

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2620

SLEPT: 8:30pm-4am, 7.5 hr
Good eating day, but emotions running rampant, making it harder to stay focused. Calorie budget allowed for cheetos at the end of the day, but made me hungrier, finished the bag (only a little left), then tasted my kid's kraft mac, which didn't taste good to me. Just read an article over dinner about the recent research on the healthfulness of nuts, so I hit up the almond butter, which brought me to where I wanted to be. Probably one of the healthiest "out of control" moments yet. 

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am,apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, roasted brussels, sofrito black beans, pickles, 550 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli, quinoa, kimchi, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, cheetos, 300 cal

EVENING GORGE: 8pm, cheetos, bite of mac n cheese, a few spoonfuls of almond butter, +/- 400 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 1990

SLEPT: 9:15pm-4:15am, 7 hr

About 10 minutes on the bike on the rollers this morning, quite enough.

AM SNACK: 4:30 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, pork tenderloin, steamed string beans, quinoa, pickles, 590 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, handful of roasted salted almonds, 170 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shirataki stir fry with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, 360 cal 

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THURSDAY COUNT: 1965

SLEPT: 9:30pm-4am, 6.5 hr
Long hard day. Got home late, felt hungry, realized I was under budget by a few hundred calories, a big no-no. Realized I don't HAVE to eat chips to make up the calories, I can indulge in something nutrient dense AND healthy: nuts. So obvious, why is it only hitting me now?

AM SNACK: 4:30 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2:  9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli, quinoa, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30 pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, diet coke, 435

EVENING SNACK: 10:45pm, roasted salted cashews, 160 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 3580

SLEPT: 12:15am-2:15am, 2 hr

Not an easy night. When I realized I was up, I got productive, making granola, banana bread, a new batch of vanilla extract as well as work food for myself and a packed lunch for my boy. Watched some TV, just went with it. Took a hit of 100mg of caffeine right before I left. I figure if the science is true that it simply puts a brick under the brake pedal instead of stepping on the gas, I should still be relatively mellow, as I'm low energy. However, it should prevent those tired stress hormones from coming out and making me indulge in carby, fatty foods....

AM SNACK: 3am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 4am, tasting of fresh granola, +/-50 cal

When you cook, y'gotta taste.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, freshly baked banana bread, +/- 700 cal
A little taste and I just had to. It was good.

AM DOSE: 7:45am, 100mg caffiene in a 1/4 ounce water solution.

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2:  9:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickles, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, chicken burrito, chips & salsa, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 6-6:30pm, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate cake, slice of pizza, +/- 800 cal

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WEEKEND REPORT
The computer ate my draft entry again, but this time I had it backed up on Friday afternoon. It seems because I've been working on the 'weekend report' through the weekend, it's causing some conflict with google's blogger thing. I did have a full itemized report, with estimated calories on Sunday (about 3500) but I'll just rant here, and hope I can work it smoother next week.

Since recording the weekends, its becoming clearer what my 'let it all hang out' eating looks like. I kept on eating from 4:15am to around 1:30, where I was just so full, and picked up eating at a party around 8 in the evening, where a bowl of dark chocolate squares really wrapped it's arms around me.

Sunday I took it a lot easier, just one breakfast, just one lunch (with a salad), a couple of small (sweet) snacks in the afternoon, one dinner. However, I pounded almost a full pint of ice cream in the evening which left me feeling bleah. Emotional eating.  While looking at it written down, it's clear I ate horribly, to be honest it's a little better than when I was not recording it and trying not to think about it. Small steps.

Step 2 this

Why do I think of things not related to food when I see this?

I have an odd relationship to yoga. It never really registered on my radar until my friend, the Hungry Vegan Society, started getting heavily involved in yoga's practice and culture. Even before I knew she was that heavy in to yoga, I did notice a change in her. She was happier, gentler, nicer, lighter -- that is a lot of foofy words, but I didn't have the language to put my finger on it then, either. That is not to say that she wasn't already a wonderful, rich person to begin with, but she was....changing.

The HVS never tried to recruit me into the ranks of her fellow yogic vegan happy people, but she left the door open without judgement of my non-stretchy, meat-indulging stressy self. At first we attended a few beginner's classes together, later I sometimes would attend classes she would lead as she grew more advanced. One of the things that always slightly bothered me (other than contorting out of my physical comfort zone) was the more mystical, spiritual aspects of the practice. Chanting "om" and the explanation of togetherness-vibrations, making connections between the positions, parts of the body, and aspects of internal emotions and issues, it all seemed a bit... suspicious. When are they gonna bust out the Jesus and ask me for my life savings?

Jesus needs to pay a graphic designer, and lose the pedo-vibe copy.

In the end, I have found that I enjoy the HVS more than I enjoy yoga, but the two together are such an awesome combo. Even though the only time I get to hang with her in recent years is around a yoga class, it's great. On top of that, I guess the exposure to this  easy-to-dismiss talk of "spirituality" also planted a seed. Do back bends open ourselves up to the future? I don't know about that, but making that "spiritual" connection between action and emotion, between external physicality and internal turmoil -  its a powerful idea.

I've been thinking a lot of this notion as I've attended a few Overeaters Anonymous meetings in the last few weeks. OA is not Weight Watchers or a diet plan or a tool to simply lose weight. From my limited experience, I gather it is a non-professional (i.e. no therapists, no dietitians etc) mutual support group that aims to help it's members end compulsive behavior. It hinges on some self-help literature written in the 1930s that stresses the need to connect to others to help overcome addiction, whether it be alcohol, drugs, food or any other compulsive behavior that one wishes to stop, but can not otherwise.

The leaders of the meetings I've attended all stressed that OA is "spiritual" in nature, not religious. What does that mean? There is a lot of talk of a "higher power", which sets off my alarm bells. Is this the "come to Jesus" moment? It was explained to me that yes, "higher power" can be God for those who believe, but it can be anything that fits two criteria. One, it is larger than yourself, and two, it can be called upon in your internal struggle to inspire you to stop doing whatever addictive thing that is hurting you. Common examples given were "the group", "my teachers" and "love". Huh, gettin' kinda yogic all up in thurrrr.

We are not people smoking a joint, we are joints smoked by people. Think about it.

But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. OA comes at food with a very direct, simple idea: Unlike drugs and alcohol, one can not abstain and live with out it. Therefore, food must be approached as a source of fuel, not something to party with.

Wait a second, I love food! I love cooking good food and savoring it! But as I thought more about it, I remembered a few months ago I was at a birthday party for a friend of my 4 year old daughter, in a confined space, and it was loud and raucous. Lots of good food was on offer during the party, but it was when the cake and ice cream came out, all the kids gathered to sing happy birthday, the cake and ice cream was distributed and then.....silence. Everyone was sitting, focused on the food in front of them, adults and kids alike. Even though there was other great food at this event, it was this high sugar, high fat snack that defined the party, that calmed otherwise wild children, and soon would send them spinning off into higher levels of sugar-energy. This is normal?

So it's not about abstaining from food, but about abstaining from the compulsive eating or compulsive over eating of food. In these meetings, members told stories of how they obsess about eating 10 to 12 meals a day, others discuss how they could not stop until the entire half gallon of ice cream was gone. I'm not going to go into those stories here, as the meetings are, well, anonymous. And it's anonymous for a very good reason -- it's a place to reveal and discuss behaviors that would otherwise be looked at with shame, pity, anger or disgust in other settings, and it's important to know there will be no gossip or blow back from being open and honest.

How great would have this show been if it was all about addicts talkin' smack about each other? Maybe it was, I never saw it. Was it?

It makes one wonder how those "celebrities" on TV going through rehab are really benefiting from putting all their crap out there between commercials, when what they need is to be unjudged so they can get a handle on their bad behavior. I have discovered a podcast, however, of real non-celebrity people telling their stories, similar to the stories you might hear at an OA, or any 12 step meeting. You can search their library for just OA, though they interview all sorts of addicts, and it's all pretty riveting in the way reality TV was supposed to be before it became totally fake and scripted.

I don't think I'm going to write about OA again, though I think for the time being I'm going to continue to explore meetings. I haven't quite drunk the koolaide yet, but nothing I've heard makes me think it could hurt me anymore than I've already hurt myself with years of over eating and lack of thought about what I was doing to myself. All the bad habits that I've compressed into the weekends have allowed me to lose weight, but it's sitting there, a fat little weasel, just waiting for when my guard is down to come back out and do some serious partying with more than just cake. (Like ice cream! And brownies! And big bowls of pasta! And fries, and bread, and fried bread!)

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Oddly enough, food addiction got a small spot light in the media this week because one of the horrible dummies from some dumb morning gossip program wrote a book about her struggles. Funny, I see her using some 12 step language, but she kinda skirts that topic, as she is supposed to, because the 1st rule of 12 step is you don't talk about 12 step. Well, rule of media relations, anyway. I gotta skim her book in a store, to see if she goes there at all.
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2366

A relatively decent eating week, though I did fall off late Friday, unrecorded as it is rationalized by "oh, it's just part of the weekend." Thinking of instituting some sort of "weekend report", to hold myself accountable for all my eating. Just think readers, now you'll be able to read about my eating all seven days a week! 

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MONDAY COUNT: 2300

AM SNACK: 3:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 350 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, peanut butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, 590 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, babganoush, 200 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, poppa salad with miso tahini, 100 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shirataki noodles with shrimp, mushrooms, butter and dried herbs,  600

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, Frito's, 300 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 750
TUESDAY COUNT: 2110

Up at 3am, out to Coney. Caffeinated granola bar helped, but not as dramatically as last week. Also, last week I was running on the fumes of almost no sleep, this time I had 6 hours in. 

AM SNACK: 3:15am, caffeinated granola bar, iced green tea, 350 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, Fage yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, spinach daal, pickles, 580 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, babganoush, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, Subway veggie burger 6" hero, chips, 12oz diet coke, 760 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, Frito's, 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2605

Still felt honestly hungry a full 30 minutes after the Fritos, so I allowed myself that extra indulgence.

AM SNACK: 6am,  iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 350


LUNCH: 1pm, chicken sausage, roasted broccoli, sofrito black beans, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, hummus, 180 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, poppa salad, miso tahini, 100 cal


DINNER: 7:15pm, hake loin, whole wheat cous cous, roasted asparagus, boiled corn with butter, kimchi, 765

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, Frito's, 300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, Cheeto's, 300 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2435

Nice dinner out with B. Made me crave....an accurate calorie count. But it was a nice place without a bottomless bread basket, and we skipped booze and dessert, so I think I did OK.

AM SNACK: 6:15am,  iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, Fage yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad, 575 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, hummus, 180 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, poppa salad, miso tahini, 100 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, skirt steak, string beans, Yeminite tart, crispy chippy things, water, +/- 800 cal
Out at Babooshka with the wifey. We fortunately resisted dessert, 

EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, Frito's, 300 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2380

Electrical work in the office over the weekend, office manager commanding us to eat all the ice cream in the freezer. Uggggg.

AM SNACK: 4:30am,  iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, fruit smoothie, 410 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, quarter pounder, 16oz diet cherry coke, 540 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, hummus, 180 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad, home made Italian dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, challah grilled cheese, corn on the cobb, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, Frito's, 300 cal  

Oh no, another smug blog post about veganism!

When we universally turn vegan, the vegetable overlords will rule us all and cows will quiver.

I am not, nor will I ever be, a vegan. I was vegetarian for about 8 years in my 20s, and within that period, "vegan" for about 3 years, in quotations as there was a notable exception for dessert. I did it solely for health, as arguments about the value of animal life being equal to human life has never held any water with me. I've been close friends with a wonderful woman since those days who is many things, one of which is a relatively strict vegan in terms of both diet and lifestyle. To her credit, the HVS has never been anything other than a great friend despite our obvious differences in these matter.

So I find myself in a strange position all these years later, reconsidering my position in being rather dismissive on the health claims of the strictly vegan diet. Why the huggy-animal introspection all of a sudden? Blame it on Netflix; I've been working my way through all the food documentaries, taking away a little thing there, a few notes there, and then there is Forks Over Knives.

This is a bit of a talky, dry documentary that does the standard look at the horrible state the modern American diet.  The state of the majority of the population is dire, yes, but the film answers it with a vegan diet whose main staple is vegetables as a solution. I would have found my alarm bells going off and my cynicism shutting it down if there was even a whiff of animal rights content, spiritual mumbo jumbo or even a push on the ecological or economic angles. My only selfish interest in really changing my diet is either to taste better or make me healthier. It's all about science and research, not agendas and appeals to emotion.

They approach the protein controversy head on -- we just don't need that much, and what we do need can easily be consumed in many, many things, not just bland blocks of tofu or weird soy extracts. When you think about  basic human physiology, needing protein to build muscle is ridiculous. Everything we eat to live becomes one thing and one thing only (after poo n' pee): glucose, aka sugar, to energize the body or store away in fat to energize it later. If you want to build muscles, stress those muscles beyond what is comfortable then eat enough calories to recover. Other than those few essential amino acids that we can't get any where else, then what is protein good for? Well, it takes more effort to break down into sugar, there fore having a lower glycemic reaction, hence all those high-protein miracle diets. Unfortunately, other than losing weight, high-protein diets have some other less fortunate results.

The centerpiece of the science is a study of areas in China, where over the last 30 years some provinces have retained their traditional vegetable based diets, while others have rapidly transformed their food supplies into Western style gluts of burgers n' fries. The results in terms of incidents of cancers, obesity and other health-related outcomes are kinda....nerve-rattling.

I'm not going vegan, it's too restrictive and extreme, and potentially kinda meaningless health wise: you can be a vegan by consuming mass quantities of refined flour, sugar, caffeine, and other industrial junk. Hey, potato chips were a staple when I was a collegiate vegan, mmmmmm.  However, nudging the needle a little bit further from the center seems not only wise, but necessary. Outside of butter, dairy has pretty much dropped out of my diet during the week, as it's just too calorie-laden without much power in terms of feeling full (in a good way, not in a cheese-stomach way.) Tilting towards veganism to me mean VEGanism I've been increasing my vegetable consumption head-on, unadorned and unpretentiously. My rotation has been:

• Steamed string beans
• Roasted Asparagus
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts
• Roasted Broccoli
• Poppa salad daily
• Momma salad daily

Simple, direct, boring. After these few months, it's a good start, but now if I'm going to go farther and increase not just mass but calories from vegetables and throttle back animal proteins, I need to add more to my rotation.

After watching the film, I sat down on a Saturday morning and went through four vegan and vegetarian cook books, stickying recipes and concepts that appealed. I avoided potato, grain and sweets-based things. The take away:

• Stir frys are an opportunity
• Grilled leeks!
• Artichokes could be a regular
• Mushrooms, holy crap, why am I not going crazy with these?
• Mushroom-nut loaf, interesting concept the
• Alternate salad dressings to enliven salads
• Why am I dropping the ball on spinach? Baby bok choy sounds fun.

My wife is trying to reboot her diet. We've been at loggerheads about meat consumption for years, and now perhaps is a good time for each other to meet halfway. I'll cut back on the meat and increase variety of interesting vegetarian and near-vegan dishes (go butter!), and she needs to get straight and try some properly cooked lean pork loin and broiled fish.

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"Cheese"cake for the HVS

There is a subplot in the Forks Over Knives film involving a former triathlete who is now a fire fighter, and how he brings a vegetable-based vegan diet to his fellow fire fighters and they all thrive. The HVS thinks he's dreeeeamy, and others seem to agree, as he spun off his own book and even film. I watched it, and found his recipes kinda gross and clunky, and his charm stiff and cloying. The HVS needs to come over to FBIWC HQ and get a REAL vegan meal - me and my toddler will even dress up as fire fighters!

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2135

A good eating week again, marked by increased vegetable consumption, constrained animal protein intake and easily staying below my official calorie budget of 2200-2350. I think soon I may have to change that depending on the next weigh in, maybe I should consult with the nutritionist just to get some perspective before I make a lower budget official.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2035

My stir fries are getting better, but I'm handicapped because I'm not using oyster sauce or hoisen. When I read the labels, they were concentrated forms of sugar. Maybe I should experiment with small amounts of sugar in them to see how it affects palatability? Asian cooking is all about balance, and my bean paste/soy/mirin/ fish sauce combo just isn't quite cutting it.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 11am, organic Os with whole milk, 300 cal

PM SNACK: 1pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, teryaki chicken meatballs, string beans, madras lentils, pickle, water, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, apple/carrot/beet/kale/ginger juice, 170 cal

PM SNACK: 8pm, poppa salad with miso tahini dressing, 100 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, stir fry with shrimp, broccoli, mushroom and shirataki noodles in bean sauce, 465 cal
Really filling, a lot of food, surprised how low cal it was, though this time I did skip finishing with a tbsp of sesame oil (120 cal), as it seemed unnecessary.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, Frito's, 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2110

Good eating days are getting easier and easier to come by. Staying between 2000-2200 seems just as satisfying as 2200-2350. Hmmmm.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, steel cut oatmeal with butter, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, 250 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, almond butter and jelly on whole wheat, momma salad, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, beef jerky, 180 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, grilled chicken breast, sofrito black beans, butternut squash soup, poppa salad with homemade Italian dressing, 7oz diet coke, 7oz diet sprite, 680 cal
Took a pause on the diet soda ban -- needed something rewarding after a hard time pushing a cargo bike full of Costco goods about 7 miles with a flat tire. What ever you can say, the diet soda was appreciated and not quaffed thoughtlessly.

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2020

Good eating day. Yogurt, even at my reduced serving, is very satisfying.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with almonds, vanilla and agave, 310 cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, chicken sausage, health salad, roasted asparagus, roasted leek, momma salad, water, 490 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, apple/carrot/beet/kale/ginger juice, 150 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, mahi mahi, broccoli, quinoa, poppa salad, 770 cal
Cut the quinoa in half, as I did the math as I was cooking. The plate had a small piece of fish, a tiny lump of grain and a huge portion of broc filling half the plate. Roasted it a little too long, was nice and crunchy with slightly charred edges, hmmm, this might be the way to do it in the future.

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, Fritos, 300 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2190

Spent the morning making a vegetable lasagna with my cousin, who has been spending the week from us. She's been eating what I eat when she's been around, but there needed to be a special meal, as she splits tomorrow. Baked pasta and brownies says love, y'know?

Calories for the meal was estimated, but I went to bed hungrier than usual, and used a diet soda to blunt it. I almost had a bowl of Fritos, but didn't want to blow a hole in the budget, and re-estimating my dinner calories downwards to accommodate it felt dishonest and would make this whole thing less worth while.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, fruit smoothie, 375cal

LUNCH: 1:15pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad, pickle, baby carrots, 685 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, beef jerky, 180 cal

DINNER: 5:45pm, vegetable lasagna, small piece of fudge brownie, 7oz diet coke, +/- 800 cal
Didn't do a calorie count on this dish, as there were lots of moving parts and I was talking it through while cooking with the cousin. It was full o' vegetables, and in the end I ate about half of what everyone else ate. Brownie, I actually only ate 1/4 of what I used to consider a portion, and blunted the sugar-cravings caused by it with a diet soda.

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, poppa salad, 150 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 7oz diet sprite, 0 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2320

A good eating day, but again, around 10:30, broke down and are some brownies, chocolate chips with almonds, undoubtedly primed by the social ice cream cone I had with the HVS. Definitely more controlled than last week, less guilt.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, steel cut oatmeal with butter, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, 250 cal

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, poppa salad with miso tahini dressing, 100 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs with roasted brussels, roasted leeks, Indian lentils, water, 750 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, celery/carrot/beet/kale juice, 60 cal
Apples were eaten by the family, but I had celery on hand from yesterday's lasagne making. I must say, this tasted....disgusting. And that is after being diluted with 50% water.

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, baby carrots, 60 cal

SNICKLEDINNER: 8:15pm, falafel & salad & pickles, +/- 500 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, vegan ice cream cone, +/-300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, fritos, 7oz diet sprite, 300 cal