I spent $182.42 today at Whole Foods. And, not a morsel of goat cheese, grass fed organic beef or free range eggs to be found in my cart.
Tomorrow, I begin a month of being a vegan. 31 days. 744 hours.
I am committed to eating a vegan diet for the month of October, following the low fat vegan diet of Dr. Neal Barnard. My friends, some of whom will be reading this, are shocked. I love to cook. I raise chickens for eggs. There nothing I like better than to settle down mid morning with a creamy latte or early evening with a glass of Syrah and some aged Gouda. And I love a good cheeseburger. So exactly what's going on?
A neighbor asked me if I was having a mid life crisis. At 55, been there, done that. I've been following a lower carb diet for the past year thanks to a serious bout with insulin resistance and dangerously low blood sugar. I worked with a wonderful nutritionist, Kim Norbert, to lose 20 pounds, which I've been able to keep off, so far, for about 9 months.
However, the weight loss alone didn't do it. I still battled low blood sugar episodes that left me with a lack of equilibrium, headaches, confusion and, one time, a trip to the hospital right out of Nurse Jackie. I couldn't understand why I was having a difficult time figuring out how to walk. I drove myself (stupid, I know) to the ER, where the triage nurse thought I was having a stroke. As he whisked me to the trauma room, with "the code" being called, my entire television addiction flashed before my eyes: ER, St. Elswhere, Grey's, Nurse Jackie, even Medical Center and Chicago Hope. No stroke. Ridiculously low blood sugar.
Fast forward to this past spring A wonderfully diligent endocrinologist discovered that I had enough insulin in my system for about 12 people.Next step? Drugs (Metformin) every day and a suggestion from her that I drop another 10 pounds.
By now, I have become entirely accustom to not eating white anything..sugar, pasta, potatoes, bread...and rarely having a starch with a meal, other than some ridiculously expensive and delicious low carb bread I order from Julian Bakery in California which gives me morning toast and an occasional grilled cheese sandwich. However, this manner of eating has translated into eating meat and fish, or "flesh", as my vegetarian son says, every lunch and dinner. I began to grow very tired of the meat, but without starch based carbs, there was little I could do.
As the way I was cooking grew tedious, I began thinking about whether I really wanted to eat flesh. I care for a wonderful senior citizen dog, Rudy, and keep some completely tame chickens in my urban back yard for eggs (yeah, I know). I've flirted with a dream of a farm with goats and more chickens for about 25 years. Nope. Don't want to eat meat anymore.
As I continued to educate myself on insulin resistance and the eventual and likely diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, I stumbled upon Dr. Neal Barnard's book on reversing diabetes through a low fat vegan diet. I bought the book on my iPad, purchased the hard copy of his recipe book and began investigating. 21 days, he says...give it 21 days to feel great and lose the weight that messes up your insulin. I like self-contained periods of time. The month of October seems like a decent month to try this. It's free of celebrations or holidays, before Thanksgiving and Christmas and features cooler weather perfect for soups.
But, but, but....what about the half and half I put in my coffee every morning that I begin looking forward to when I go to bed? And my chickens have just begun to lay rich, tasty eggs with yolks the color of the setting sun. I needed support to make the leap. Who to call? My 20 year old son, of course.
Seriously, who calls their college student son for support to become a vegan? Well, when you have a son like Seth, you call him. A vegetarian for going on 3 years, Seth embraces the world with fundamental appreciation of and gratitude for all there is to reap from our lives. He went from being a junk-food-eating, 270 pound high school senior to a 215 pound Buddhist- practicing, vegetarian-eating college junior. Seth is a brilliant musician who finds melody and rhythm in others. He understands himself, accepts himself with all the gifts he has and doesn't, and radiates love. And he gets me. Entirely.
I called him and said, "Seth, I'm thinking of eating a vegan diet for the month of October but I don't know if I can do it. No cream in my coffee?" His response, in a nutshell??....and I quote... "Mom, you and Dad eat too much meat. With enough legumes, you won't miss it. As for the coffee? Put on your big girl panties and drink it black."
Enough said. Tomorrow I begin. I'll post EVERY DAY to record my adventure for friends who asked me to and to be accountable to the Internet universe. 9 hours until meat-free. Time to have some cheese.
