Day 83, The well's run dry

I’ve been almost dreading this day since before the project ever began--today I’ve realized that I don’t have much of anything to talk about. There’s nothing that I have to talk about and nothing that I really want to talk about (well, I’m sure there are things that I would want to talk about, if I knew what those things were then of course I would talk about them). It’s like the spigot’s been opened up for the last three months and now all the water’s been let out; what once was a torrent is now a trickle. The ideas are drip dropping out, gone is the waterfall of ideas.

Actually, there still is the indulgence day to consider--and I had better get a move on with that or miss my opportunity completely--and of course there’s the matter of the small assignment that Patrick gave us three recently, what that is you’ll have to wait and see because I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you all (that is unless Corry or David mention it first).

Well, I suppose I could go over an interesting little tidbit that Patrick divulged to us in yesterday’s e-mail. It was one more way for us to better continue our awesome progress into truly better health and a wicked new lifestyle that I’m sure will stick with us as long as we put ourselves to it.

As far as our diets go, the ratio of food has been pretty simply divided now and easy to follow. I’m sure it’s been pretty obvious as to how it’s been divided, as you could tell with my regular diet plan updates, but Patrick presented us with some pretty clear percentages that put things into a much clearer light for me, at least.

Instead of standing at the kitchen counter at every meal, weighing out the correct amount of food (which gets tiresome, let me tell you), there is actually a much easier and more efficient way to dish out our meals, by eye rather than by exact measurements. That ratio being:

50% vegetables
30% protein
20% carbohydrates
With fruit in between meals as snacks.

Simple and straightforward, just as it should be when it comes to something like this. It’s something that is easy to follow and can definitely ensure that I’m getting everything I need, without going overboard on the stuff that I don’t necessarily need, and all the while keeping me on track to a healthy, strong person.

I don’t know why I never saw something as simple as that before but I’m glad it clear to me now.

7 days, one week left...

Day 77, A weird find

So it was Monday night that I found myself at the farmer’s market about five minutes from my house shopping for the necessities, you know, protein powder, some project food, soy yogurt and these babies...



These were hanging out by the cash register, rows and rows of them of all kinds of different flavors like “Hot ‘n Spicy” and “Ginger” and the ubiquitous “Original”. I picked up the Ginger kind because it seemed interesting and exotic and I don’t get too many chances to taste anything classified as “ginger” very often.

I couldn’t walk out of there without getting myself the stuff and still be happy with myself. I mean, how could you live with yourself if you passed up on an opportunity like that? I know I couldn’t have so I bought them.

First of all they were pretty expensive for what they were. What they are are tiny strips of pressed soybeans in the form of beef jerky that look a little bit like this:



They ended up costing about $2.50 which seemed a bit much until I realized that I wasn’t just paying for the jerky (around 50 cents I’m sure) I was paying for the fancy plastic packaging and the colorful label on the front. I’m so not a fan of that particular aspect of shopping.

The texture is nothing like I remember beef jerky tasting like even if the stuff looks pretty dang similar (which, by the way, brings a question I’ve had in my mind for a while, if the whole point of vegetarianism and veganism is to get away from eating animal products then why are those companies making their foods look so very much like foods made from actual animals? Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?). It ended up being just as chewy but not nearly as, um, stringy? I guess, and it didn’t take anywhere near as much effort to tear strips off of the bigger pieces.



The taste? Well, weirdly enough, and I don’t know if it was the ginger flavoring or if it was my odd taste receptors but the very first thing I thought of when I started chewing it around was...sunflower seeds. I have no idea why that came up first but it did, and strongly, too, so much so that I nearly tried to spit of the shell I thought was in my mouth onto the floor. Luckily I didn’t because I don’t need to clean up a gooey brown wad off of the floor. Beyond that, well, it’s hard to describe, it seemed smoky and what I guess ginger tastes like, but unfortunately the aftertaste is a big deterrent to actually buying anymore of the stuff from now on.

It was an interesting taste experience that I don’t think I’ll be taking again for quite a while. Oddly enough, though, my cat seems to love the stuff; I think she may be becoming a vegetarian herself, which could be bad for since she’s, well, a cat and they can’t groove like that.

Day 69, Another find

Finding vegan food at the local supermarket has always been a challenge, heck finding vegetarian food at the store has always been a difficulty but vegan food is difficult in and of itself. Most organizations still don’t know enough about it to offer anything remotely close to eatable food that looking just isn’t worth the hassle most of the time and I’m left with making my own meals from rice and vegetables (which certainly isn’t a bad thing but sometimes my day has been a long one and I just want to pop something in the microwave).

Every once in a while something slips through and I happen upon something tasty, quick, and, in a healthy body sense, none too bad for me. Last week was such an event. Lately, with the project nearing its end I’ve been doing what I can to make sure that I’m not taking in too much stuff prepackaged in an eye-catching technicolor box but I’ll make some exceptions every once in a while. Like these:



Chungs Gourmet Quality All Natural Vegetable Spring Rolls

(phew, what a lot of adjectives)

I found these this last week, like I said, and I was happy to learn that they are vegan. Vegan grocery store spring rolls! Crazy, isn’t it? And they’re pretty tasty as well, which is always a plus. I will say, though, that they tend to be on the greasy side but that’s nothing that dabbing with a paper towel can’t fix.

So that’s a wonderful little once in a while surprise that I think I may indulge in today...just one or two.

Day 59, Some kind of cresty-troughy thing

Let me give you a picture to mull over:



or if you want something prettier to look at, here's this:



As, I hope, you all are aware of waves are characterized by their crests (highs) and troughs (lows). They go up and down and are able to be seen clearly as ripples on the surface of a lake (or pond or river or whatever) or as the reason why surfing exists in the ocean. They are also indicative of life itself to a degree, clearly mirroring the ups and downs of day to day life as things get better and then get worse and then better and then down and up, etc. etc.

Lately, I’ve been riding a pretty high crest during my day to day life on this project and I’ve been happy and thankful for it and for my body that’s been gracious enough to keep me up and smiling at that peak. It’s lasted longer than I could ever have imagined it would and, frankly, I’m really surprised that it lasted as long as it did since those kinds of crests in my life rarely last that long.

I’ve been noticing lately that my daily meals are becoming a cursed chore that I’m forcing myself to get through every day. I’m not sure why that it is and why it suddenly, very suddenly, decided to become a trudge through the mud since for the most part the meals have been one of my favorite parts of the day. I was even okay with the mountain of vegetables (that lunchtime vegetable portion is quite literally enough for two people to dine on comfortably) I was eating three times a day but now I find myself skimping on meals, cutting short some grams at lunch and, horror of horrors, not even eating my dinner allotment. I find myself not looking forward to these meals anymore.

The exercises have always been difficult to get through so I’m not too upset about that (although 200 freaking v-sits a day seems a bit much, ya know? :-). I’m putting this down as just one of those trough things and not something that I should worry myself over too much but at the same time, well, there’s still a little over a month left and, man, I so do not want to go through another few days like I had in my first few weeks. Anything but that, please.

Of course, I’m confident that I’ll make it through unscathed because when I set my mind to something, even if I’m setting my mind against itself (because that’s what this trough is all about--I’m fighting against myself), then I can make it through. I’m confident in my determination to see something through to the very end, especially if it’s something like the PCP. But I will tell you that any encouragement will certainly help here. And I've got a great base of support here with Patrick, Corry, and David and I would have to kick myself in the butt if I didn't thank all of you readers and commenters out there who make this a heck of a lot easier than it would be without you guys. So tell me to get off my butt and stop whining, or something. I know, tell me how all of those world champion eaters get through eighty hot dogs in five minutes without puking it all up, hopefully that’ll make it easier to stomach all of the food I’m eating. Don’t indulge in the telling too much though because I would like to be able to keep all of those vegetables down.

Day 34, Look what I found...

So in my surfings around on the interwebs I was able to find this amazing little thing on the Food Network web site. They’re called Fruit and Tofu Shooters:

Fruit and Tofu Shooters
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

1/2 pineapple, peeled and chopped
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 cup strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup soft tofu (1 block)
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 lime, juiced

Combine all ingredients together in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve immediately.


I’m not sure when exactly I’ll have the time or the desire to make something like this despite how wonderfully tasty they seem even after (or, should I say, especially after) I replace the whole milk with soy milk and the honey with agave nectar. Actually it seems to be less of a matter of when and if I want to make it and more a matter of if I can make it. Obviously I am physically capable of putting all of the ingredients together inside of my trusty blender and pressing the “blend” button to turn everything inside of it into a smooth, sweet concoction that fills the stomach up something good. No, I’m more worried about if I’ll be able to have something like this soon and not stray outside of my diet plan. That’s the real concern.

Unless I give it some thought and modify the amount of ingredients that I try and put into the blender, creating single serving smoothies instead of a giant blender size serving that would probably cause my stomach to, first, tear and then explode very dramatically. I’ll think I’ll give the first one a try since it seems a heck of a lot less messy and definitely more enjoyable for everyone around me (people don’t like to be splattered with the insides of a somebody, right?).

Any hints on how to go about something like that since I am far from a culinary mastermind?

Until I do decide to do that I may just go ahead and look at something like this as a post-PCP indulgence. You know, something to look forward to along with August 15th. It’ll be something to keep me striving towards the end goal and keep me from going off track and doing something unwise. Plus after that whole long wait the thing will have developed in my mind as something epic and possibly mythic so that when I finally do have one it’ll be like the beautiful end scene of the movie Ratatouille where the hard-hearted reviewer Anton Ego takes a bite of the ratatouille that the rat, Remy, makes for him and is transported back to his fondest childhood memory of eating that very same dish at his mother’s table after a particularly bad day outside in the world.

Now that’s something to look forward to.