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