Making Strides and The Magnetic Ox

I am making strides. So far, my pattern has looked like this:

B- on plan
L- on plan
D- off plan
  66% on plan.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat....

Until one day I went:

B-on plan
L-off plan
D-back ON plan
  66% on plan.

This was a big deal since it meant overcoming my "all or nothing" mindset to get back on the wagon within the very same day as I'd succumbed to SAD temptations.

Then I discovered that I'd lost 3lbs, ran out of prepared WFPB food and started doing this:

B-off plan
L- off plan
D- on plan.
  33% on plan.

It was a pretty poor pattern.  My dinner-time redeeming grace has been my recently discovered Yamburger on Dave's Killer Bread with mustard, lettuce, tomato and dill pickle. Yum!  They're so good that I don't even miss the cheese which would normally be a central sandwich ingredient for me.

Earlier this week I had a slight sore throat. I've noticed over the past few years that a sore throat almost always precedes any type of illness for me, so I was on my guard... until I started eating honey-roasted cashews and Mountain Dew for breakfast, anyway.

Two days of Breakfast and Lunch off-plan, and I had a full-blown sinus infection.  Now I'm not saying that that there is a direct connection, but yeah... I blame the dairy.

(Jimmy John's Vegetarian Sandwich. See that white hunk of congealed, pus-infested bovine mammary gland excretion between the lettuce and tomato? That's the enemy).

 

 



I have been reading many stories of LDS people who have awakened to the Word of Wisdom. By and large it seems that these people were either humbled through a health crisis, had been searching for optimal nutrition due to an inborn yearning, or were simply open and receptive when the message was presented.

Their stories are inspiring! At the moment my favorite part is that so many have experienced improved health and greatly reduced illness.  Unlike in times of wellness, I am feeling keenly aware of how much I could use that blessing right now, in my illness! 

I've known about a WFPB diet for about three years now. In fact I checked my order history on Amazon: I placed my order for The China Study on November 26, 2010.  Although I have had the knowledge, I have not yet internalized it to a degree that it has spurred me to action, to change. Until now.

On August 26th I received a copy of Dr. Jane Birch's manuscript, soon to be published (Discovering the Word of Wisdom: Surprising Insights from a Whole Food, Plant-based Perspective) on the connection between a Whole Food Plant-Based diet and the Word of Wisdom. In her e-mail Jane wrote:

"I want them (readers) to feel my joy in discovering the Word of Wisdom and feel motivated to make better choices themselves."

I do feel her joy in discovering the Word of Wisdom, as well as that of so many of the people who have submitted their own stories for the book and website.  I'm also feeling motivated to make better choices myself.

I completely identified with this quote from Josh Weed in his blog post "Top 10 Thoughts I Have While I'm On a Diet" from April 23rd of this year: "On day two, looking in the mirror: "Wait, that can't be my body! I'm a skinny person now!"  In the past, dieting has been exactly that sort of experience: attempting to exercise self-control and willpower to a great enough extent that I could overcome my cravings long enough to lose weight... and then looking in the mirror for evidence that the results have been equivalent to the feeling of deprivation (they never are).

By contrast, when I eat WFPB meals (eh-hem, good-tasting WFPB meals) I feel, well, good on the inside. Its a very different feeling and in contrast to how my body and spirit feel after a SAD-attack binge. I think it is this, more than anything, that is keeping me motivated to continue to make changes. Who doesn't want to feel good?*

Anyway I wanted to share that yesterday I was 95% on plan (the best I've done so far)! I ate:
1 green smoothie
3 Yamburgers
frozen grapes
dried apricots
... and a Sprite and a Red Gatorade, for which I deducted 5%. I'm not an herbal tea drinker, I try to avoid fruit juice because of the caloric density, and so all that's left to me is water, which doesn't go down well at all on a scratchy sore throat. The Sprite and Gatorade are throwbacks to my childhood, I guess.

And today's near-victory: I give myself a 90%
So far I've eaten:
1 green smoothie
1 Yamburger
frozen grapes
... a Sprite and an explanation. As a Christian and a Mormon I try to keep the commandments, including keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  I am far from perfect in this. (Someday I will tell you about the most uncomfortable pair of Sunday-shoes I've ever owned. You will laugh, I promise).  Today the ox was in the mire.  I needed to pick up Ibuprofen and a probiotic (to counter the awesome effects of antibiotic use... including the "D" word) yesterday but completely forgot when I stopped at Walgreens after my visit to Urgent Care. By the time the pain... and bathroom visits... were out of control enough for me to regret this oversight, I felt too sick to drive. So I toughed it out.  Until today, when I felt miserable enough to still warrant the meds but well enough to drive. Like I said, the ox was in the mire.

It just happened to be a magnetically polarized ox, which caused a bag of honey-roasted cashews to jump from the shelf into my basket before I had any idea what had happened.  I might have known the nuts were polarized as I've felt their pull strongly before... but I blame the ox for the rest.

 

*I am cringing on the inside at my over-use of the word "good." However I just don't know how else to explain the feeling without waxing poetical and possibly hyperbolic. The feeling is ineffable not for its majesty but for its simplicity.