Eat to live

I think I’ve mentioned that my morning routine has been a little bit messed up lately – and that this has had an impact on my blogging. For the past couple of years, ever since I started early rising, I’ve been using the early morning hours before I have to go to work to blog. Early rising (that is, getting up at 5am most mornings) started off as an experiment, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s become routine and something I don’t even think about these days.

The early rising is not the problem, but I have recently started another experiment that has thrown me a bit. I have changed my diet, and for the past month have been eating a low fat, almost 100% vegan diet. This change was inspired by my deciding that I needed to do something radical to change my bad eating habits (basically too much takeaway, fast food, junk food). Reading about Joi Ito’s experiences on his blog also helped.

The diet itself is called Eat to Live, which is promoted by a US doctor, Joel Fuhrman. It is pretty straightforward. You don’t count calories, you basically cut down on meats, oils, fish and carbs. Eat lots of fibre (fruit and vegetables). He stresses the importance of focusing on foods that have a high nutrition vs calorie ration. Fruits are good. Refined, processed stuff should be avoided as much as possible.

You start off on a six week plan which is quite strict – it is essentially a low fat vegan diet, and this is what I have been doing (there’s also a book explaining it in more detail, which I’ve read). The six weeks is sort of like a detox diet which aims to break your bad habits and help you lose weight quite quickly, assuming you need to. (I have lost a bit and feel a lot better for it. I am trying not to obsess about weight though – I prefer to focus on how I feel – so I only weigh myself once a week. Last week I even forgot!)

After the six weeks the idea is that you can “cheat” very occasionally if you want to – while keeping 90% of your eating as natural and as high fibre as possible.

It’s been a very good diet because a) you don’t have to count calories (makes eating seem too clinical), b) you can eat all you want of the allowed foods, and c) the food is good for you. I would have liked to have been 100% strict during this six week period but I chose a bad time to start the 6 weeks, as it is my family’s birthday season. Still, I’ve managed.

I am pleased to report that the diet has been going really well. I have gotten over the first week horrors now, where my body found the idea of eating solely vegetables and fruit very difficult. It didn’t help that I decided to stop drinking caffeine – the caffeine withdrawal headaches were awful. Now I’m enjoying my meals and don’t miss meat. And the best part is, I feel really good. The only problem has been that I have to spend a lot more time preparing my meals – and this is where my routine has been disrupted in the mornings. Washing and chopping veggies takes time. I’ve been eating fruit for breakfast. I find that I’m enjoying the fruit so much I eat it slowly and focus on the fruit, and then find half an hour’s gone, just eating and enjoying the flavours. Maybe I just need to stop stressing out about taking my time with my meals, and just enjoy the experience. (Are you guys still waiting for me to report on Stephen Abram’s visit, and the recent New Norcia library lecture?)