Bullet Point Wednesday

Lasagna

• Leftover crockpot lasagna is delicious!
• But, put the same amount of salad as your piece of lasagna.
• Not ideal to eat except in rare circumstances, this was a rare circumstance ;)

No drinking

• Whenever I give up drinking (having a wine, or whiskey after work), it's always tough that first week because we are conditioned (Oh, it's Thurs., how about a glass of wine...). But then it's pretty easy

Sleep

• I always go to bed too late because I get caught up reading or watching something. 
• Going to bed early accentuates how good i feel in the AM after eating healthfully

Fasting

• Intermittent  fasting is the new craze that I'll skip
• However, the last two days I have unintentionally not had lunch because I was too busy....not bad to fast for a day-ish

Numbers... And the Necessary U-Turn

Friday and Saturday was a bit of a decadence.  Friday night I wanted to meet Annie for a glass of wine.  I suggested Campbell's Apartment in Grand Central Terminal - too crowded. As was Bobby Vans. We ended up at the upstairs bar at Smith & Wollensky's, and decided to split....a steak! Good? Yes. Can I live without? Yes.


Sat.  started off strong with a handful of strawberries, then a blueberry smoothie I made in the afternoon.  We also decided to make lasagna in the crock pot. Additionally, I pulled a trick I've used before. As part of my goal to drink much less, but enjoy liquor more, I bought some high end whisky the ensures much less trips to the bottle. That may sound insane, but the rationale is whisky only on special occasions, and not having cheap booze around helps ensure that...it's stupid trick I play on myself, but if it works, it works.

Well, the test results are back in, and though not as bad as when I first went on this quest 10 years ago, but they are terrible, and I've got a lot of work to do to bring down my cholesterol and purify my liver. What was amazing when I did my quest was how quickly the liver cures itself without liquor, and cholesterol drops without pills, but in changing your diet. Let's a take a look from a decade ago, with a description for what is considered optimal levels:

Total cholesterol levels less than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) are considered desirable for adults. A reading between 200 and 239 mg/dL is considered borderline high and a reading of 240 mg/dL and above is considered high.

LDL cholesterol levels should be less than 100 mg/dL. Levels of 100 to 129 mg/dL are acceptable for people with no health issues but may be of more concern for those with heart disease or heart disease risk factors. A reading of 130 to 159 mg/dL is borderline high and 160 to 189 mg/dL is high. A reading of 190 mg/dL or higher is considered very high.

Normal levels of AST and ALT may slightly vary depending on the individual laboratory's reference values. Typically the range for normal AST is reported between 10 to 40 units per liter and ALT between 7 to 56 units per liter. Mild elevations are generally considered to be 2-3 times higher than the normal range.

JANUARY 7, 2009  (probably a regular check-up)

Cholesterol:           268
LDL Cholesterol:   197
AST:                         93
ALT:                         94

OCTOBER 30, 2009 (the day before my vegan quest)
Cholesterol:           300
LDL Cholesterol:   227
AST:                         36
ALT:                         73

DECEMBER 7, 2009 (just five weeks into veganism, and booze free)

Cholesterol:           208 (down 92 points!)
LDL Cholesterol:   150 (borderline high, but trending in right direction)
AST:                         25
ALT:                         30

APRIL 14, 2010

Cholesterol:            170 (living healthy in the optimal zone, and without any drugs)
LDL Cholesterol:    105
AST:                        15
ALT:                        16

OCTOBER 25, 2019 (Why I need to comeback special!)

Cholesterol:            280
LDL Cholesterol:   212
AST:                        30
ALT:                        57

Feeling a Tad Slimmer, a Tad Less Tired, and a Tad Less Pain in the Knees

Yesterday I had a vegetable smoothie and fruit smoothie for lunch, then for dinner a salad with....left over tri-tip steak, very little. Remember, I'm not going vegan anymore as that was 10 years ago when I started this blog, rather, just trying to eat a nutrient dense meal.

And no alcohol the last two days.

This morning was a physical - a new GP at Mt. Sinai. Both my wife and I went. When the blood tests come back I'll be able to see where I am -- at least as far as cholesterol and liver enzymes compared to where I was 10 years ago, and after my Vegan Quest.

The good news is that I lost 7 lbs last week.  Not terribly difficult for someone my girth since I reigned in the booze, and ate more healthfully.....note: I don't eat unhealthy per se in that I am not feasting on pizza, burgers and fried foods.  It's just that I probably intake way too many carbs.  If a nutritionist viewed my diet the last 3 months they wouldn't go, "Oh, that's awful." They would probably say, not bad, but cut out so much rice and pasta and other carbs, and for heaven's sake stop drinking so regularly.

My blood pressure was an exceptional 115/75 and the doctor, seeing that I am very overweight was shocked. He actually tested it again.

I stopped off for breakfast at The Herald and had some non-very-good oatmeal, and two poached eggs for no good reason, nor were they very good.

Simply eating healthier the last few days, and laying off the drink, I feel a little better, less pain in the knees, not hungry or wanting, and determined to continue to make a change in my life.

Just finished a salad for lunch and a smoothie.

Will await the blood tests....

The Comeback Special

10 years ago I woke up on the couch of a friend's house out in Montauk, Long Island grossly overweight and nursing a tremendous hangover. I was single, chasing fun, and putting food and drink into my body designed to do one thing, make me feel good, serve that impulse. What I wasn't doing was nourishing my body, or my soul.

A friend was pushing me to go on an experiment. To go 100% vegan, AND 100% liquor free for 6 months, and see what effect it had on my health.  Well, no secret, going 100% vegan, and liquor free, and exercising for 6 months, had a tremendous effect on my body. I dropped 60 lbs, felt great, and my vitals like cholesterol and liver enzymes went from danger zone to exceptional.

The purpose was to film me. My friend's friend was Heather Mills who has her own vegan company in the U.K. and I was the guinea pig (a typical overweight Yank who gorged on red meat and other animal products). I was to eat her brand of vegan food (actually, I ate very very little of it), and be filmed transitioning my life to veganism.  The idea was born from the Australian documentary, "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead" about a guy, not unlike me, who did a six month juice fast.  This idea from Heather was self-serving for her company, but she also wanted a champion for the vegan lifestyle who was a regular guy. And by regular, I was the perfect choice since I was formerly anti-vegan. For me the entire goal was to just lose weight and get back to my college weight of 225 lbs (from my weight of 300 lbs).  The drinking aspect was suggested by my friend, and she was right - alcohol contributes mightily to weight gain with all those empty calories, plus inebriation, however slight, invariably leads to poor food choices.

The experiment was a success, and the thiner me was ready to concur the world. 

But then, after all my public proclamations about living a new, healthy life going forward (I was never going to remain vegan, nor alcohol free), something happened on the journey, after my six month vegan quest.  I fell down. Not just fell down, but dug a hole and jumped in it. As my life changed radically, from personal relationships to career upheaval, I relied on the constant friend: over-indulgence, over-drinking, and a sedentary lifestyle made me happy. Then sad, then happy, then sad, then happy, then sad...well, you know how it goes.

I have had a rather tumultuous decade since where I wallowed in misery (long stages of unemployment as my ad industry changed), and celebrated tremendous joy (falling in love and getting married). I ended up marrying, dear readers, the Irish girl who was my co-host when I made vegan lasagna for my inebriated friends.

Along the way, I lived bouts of healthiness, but mostly over-indulgence.  My trouser waist size grew, my unhappiness grew, and I ballooned up, eradicating all the weight loss and even adding on a substantial amount.

I was dumb, I was immature, I was lazy, I was stuck.

Last week, at an ad industry event I was speaking with a guy from Beyond Meat,  plant-based food company.  I mentioned my vegan quest (which I did all the time as a shameful way to say that I used to be skinny as a child, and college athlete, and again when I was vegan, so this fat slob in front of you used to be thin). I also mentioned that the best vegan meal I had was at the iconic, and decidedly non-vegan, 21 Club.  While dusting off this old blog last week looking for the 21 Club story I started reading my words, words from when I was fully entrenched in healthy living. And I remembered how happy and in control I was!  I decided to make a change in my life again: eating wise and drinking wise. I also stepped on a scale for the first time in years and was simply horrified.

At its height, 10 years ago and before the massive explosion of social media (twitter, facebook existed, but not like today), the most activity on this website was the day my story appeared on AOL's home page, and I got over 8,000 unique visitors to this blog.

Now, no one is reading these words, of course, so this is just me delving into a healthier lifestyle, a much healthier lifestyle, and drop all this painfully (literally) excessive weight. This is my journal to keep me motivated and honest.

This is me, 10 years after my first successful lifestyle change, trying to make this my Comeback Special!

Breakfast!

I have 52 New Year's Resolutions....at the end of each week I merely ask myself how positive did I live the past 7 days. This way I don't fret and beat myself up over one meal, or one night of excess.


The last few days has been a determined focus on breakfast. Goal - a banana, and another piece of fruit a day!






Today I kept seeing a bunch of stories on The Daily Meal on chili, so of course, I desired chili today -- and with 20 degree weather it made more sense!  I went to Old Town Bar & Rest., but their chili was too much meat, way too much. Not only have I had much better chili that I cooked on New Year's Eve, I've had much better chili that was 100% vegan!

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." -- Sir Walter Scott
Though that is about Lord Marmion, it's not entirely off the mark to apply it to our own deception with ourselves and our eating habits, cravings, compulsions, and bargaining.


When you work out with weights your muscles tone up, when you stop they become flabby. When you focus on nutrient dense, healthy eating, your brain becomes accustomed to good eating. Your taste buds become accustomed, acclimated, and even cheerful of new, healthy foods. Your bad cravings melt away, like fat when you exercise regularly.
But when you stop, and continuously practice to deceive yourself...your brain becomes flabby, your cravings come back, and your palate is back to adoring the taste of fat, and sugar, and shunning, inexplicably, a good salad.
I've made a bargain with the devil..."Oh, I'm just going to hop off this healthy train, and poke around for a while. Be a tad indulgent. Flirt with the old way of living, and then lope up, and jump up on that healthy train like an old hobo, nice and easy, and enjoy a long, healthy life. But, something funny happens when you are poking around in town, eating and drinking decadently, a little too long -- suddenly those train tracks are farther, and father away. And when you finally reach them the train is moving so fast that hopping back on becomes more and more difficult.


To put it in another poem...we are the fly, and the awful temptation of poor food & drink choices are the spider. They don't want our warm affection, it's all a lie, a deceit, and those cravings that we end up courting, for deceitful reasons, begins to weaves a tangled web:



Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, “Dear friend what can I do,
To prove the warm affection I’ve always felt for you?
I have within my pantry, good store of all that’s nice;
I’m sure you’re very welcome — will you please to take a slice?” -- Mary Howitt




Time to untangle this web...again.

What Goes Through Your Brain?

  Here is a terrific article from Dr. Fuhrman's Disease Proof website:

Think about health when faced with tough decisions

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Deana Ferreri, Ph.D.

Planning in advance to eat healthfully is quite easy – but what happens when you are confronted with an immediate decision between healthy and unhealthy food – especially when you are hungry?
Here’s an example: you’re at a party where everyone is munching on chips, cheesy dips, and greasy finger foods. You see a platter of raw vegetables and fresh fruit, but you feel tempted by the junk food. Do you stick with the produce or indulge in the calorie-laden snacks?  What goes on in your brain while you’re making that decision?

Download full article here.  http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-think-about-health-when-faced-with-tough-decisions.html