My new Vegan diet is working

[NightWatcher]

I have reduced my caloric intake to just over 1200 calories a day.

I eat two servings of tortilla chips (30 chips = 300 calories total) plus salsa (about 50 calories) in addition to 2 pitas (300 calories) and hummus (50 calories).

I then have three to five beers at +/- 500 calories total.

The total is +/- 1200 calories and it is low in fat. Plus when you dont eat much throughout the day, you get a bigger buzz from the beer.

I've lost 10 lbs in the past month on this, plus it's cheap.

[ThomCat]

1. LOL!

I don't know if a beer and munchied diet is what a nurtritionist would recommend. You might want to add some actual vegetables in there somewhere.

But congratulations on the weight loss.

[NightWatcher]

4. I never said it was healthy

It's probably the farthest thing from healthy, but it's cheap and it cuts down on the likelihood of getting some funky GM food. If I could only find some organic chips to go with the organic salsa and hummus.

[Tektonik]

2. Not trying to be mean but,

W/ that kind of diet I'm sure a good portion of that weight loss is in muscle mass; although that sounds like a tasty diet :9

[NightWatcher]

6. I'm not a health nut

I do try to exercise and lift weights, but I do not claim that it's healthy. It's cheap and working for right now.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. That doesn't sound too balanced...

And is the beer vegan too? 'Cause I know some of it is not...

[NightWatcher]

5. good point

I dont know about that. I drink a good pale ale from a micro brew in Colorado.
I also drink a ton of water.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. Ask LeftyMom or Flvegan

They would know :)

[flvegan]

12. Most beer is vegan.

Guiness, any meade or honey beer, of course, is not.

I loves me brews from Colorado microbreweries.

[LaraMN]

7. Honey, you're gonna get anemic.

Trust me on this one.
I did the 1200-calorie-a-day thing for five months, when I was trying to lose my baby weight and it was HARD to get in proper nutrition.
Take care of yourself!

[NightWatcher]

8. I joke, I'm not too strict on this diet, just ditching some fat

I'm kind of weary about meat nowadays. I dont want to eat pork.

I am trying to restrict my overall caloric intake however

[LaraMN]

10. Everything in moderation,

that's what worked for me!
I found it weird relearning "proper" portion sizes.

Good luck, and be healthy!

[kaygore]

15. The fallacy about diets is restricting calories as opposed to

the type of calories they are.

Very healthy people in Peru, for example, live primarily on potatoes--not fried--but mainly boiled or baked. They have few or no chronic diseases and led active, healthy lives well into their 90s unless the lack of antibiotics or poor hygiene or work-related injuries get them.

[meegbear]

9. I went on one of those diets for two weeks ...

and lost 14 days.

*Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week*

[Deja Q]

13. 1200 is too low. Trust me, you will be regretting it in a couple years...

I did the 1200 calorie routine.

Now my gut is still around, and I have to exercise hard to rebuild my lost metabolism because the body can only go so far then slow down to match the caloric intake...

[kaygore]

14. I went on Dr. McDougall's, vegan-like "diet"

I had been aware of his work for years, but after being the primary care giver for both parents as they were dying of cancer (Mom of multiple myeloma in 2001 and Dad of Stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2005), and being able to only afford insurance that kicks in after the $5000 deductible, I decided to attend an advanced study weekend sponsored by Dr. McDougall the end of September.

I sure didn't intend to leave there a vegan (actually, no meat--even fish--, no diary, no cheese, and little or no fats). However, after being presented with the research and after meeting people who had adopted the McDougall lifestyle because the medical community could do nothing for them, I not only eliminated all meat, eggs, diary, and most fats and oils from my meals, but I also signed up for his 10-day program, March 2-11.

From the end of September until March 2, not watching calories and eating whatever I wanted of vegetables, grains (such as whole wheat and rice pastas), beans, etc.--just no meat, diary, or eggs and replacing vegetable broth for oils in cooking (but also spending several weeks in London and then Paris where I could not control the amount of oils used in the cooking), I lost 32 pounds. I was never hungry and I was first too busy with the election (a lot of time spent on the phone calling for the Call for Change initiative and holding countless Call for Change house parties where I offered both vegan and regular foods and ice cream); next I was in London and Paris; and finally from December 13th to the end of February, I had limited mobility due to surgery to repair a tear in my macula. I mention all this because I did not exercise much if at all during that time and still lost weight effortlessly.

At the advanced weekend and at the 10-day program, we ate buffet style, all-you-can-eat for three meals a day. The food was low-fat and non-fat vegan and it was GREAT. We also had snacks available to us all through the day.

Most people attend the 10-day program for health reasons and come there with bags of prescriptions and leave having lowered their cholesterol 30 or so points and no longer in pain or on medicine! The average weight loss for the 40 people (stuffing ourselves all day on great food) was 4 pounds. McDougall does have a maximum weight-loss program that people can attend, but since I was losing without effort and never hungry on the regular program, I don't think that I need the other program.

I have no health problems. I take no OTC or prescription drugs. Yet, even with low bad cholesterol, my bad cholesterol went down 20 points to below low normal! I do need to lose weight, but my focus has been on health.

Dr. McDougall stresses that if we are hungry, then we are in pain and human beings avoid pain. I would urge you to make the elimination of meat, eggs, diary, and oils/fat a lifestyle change and not a temporary "diet."

I would also urge you to familiarize yourself with the McDougall program. In the archive of newsletters on the website are a wealth of great-tasting recipes: http://www.drmcdougall.com/

The recipes archive can be found at: http://www.drmcdougall.com/newsletter/archive.html

If you are still not convinced, then you should read a description of the largest research study on the effects of nutrition on health: The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
http://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications/dp/1932100660/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1582047-4092600?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176924547&sr=1-1

I would also urge you to read the book, "The Pleasure Trap," which explains how we get trapped into bad food choices. It is not only informative but also a great read: http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Douglas-J-Lisle/dp/1570671974/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1582047-4092600?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176924263&sr=8-1


If we gave up our cars, we reduce global warming by 14.5%. If we became vegans, we would reduce greenhouse gases by 18%! AND, we would be much healthier.

[BarenakedLady]

16. Sounds a bit like my old diet

of coffee, my kids' table scraps, and vodka. Lost hella weight in a relatively short amount of time. However, I got scary thin and quite depressed. Now I'm happy and expanding at an even more alarming rate...hmmmm.

:dilemma: