no no, it's not like that

March 23rd, 2012

I’d like to clear up a few misconceptions;

1.      Radically changing my diet was not my wife’s idea. It was me that got the test results, and, not being an idiot, I realized that my cholesterol needed to be lower. I started looking at labels and cutting back on my meat and cheese. After a few days, the wife and I decided to watch some Netflix one evening, and it was my choice to watch ‘Forks Over Knives.’ As the closing credits rolled, Jen looked at me and asked what I thought of it, and I told her I was going without meat and dairy, starting right then – didn’t even have one last hurrah with my customary pastrami, bacon, and Swiss before bed.

2.      I have not gone Vegan. I know I’ve used the term Vegan at times to describe my new eating habits, so I apologize for any confusion. My focus is on eating a plant based diet, and eliminating animal sources of food, and also oil. What’s the difference? Excellent question! If my goal was to be Vegan  (at least as far as I understand that ideal), then any time I had some incidental dairy in my food, such as some small amount of milk fat and/or egg in a restaurant hamburger bun, I would be committing a small amount of murder or animal extortion. Instead, if I have the occasional bit of animal product by mistake, because I am not willing to ruthlessly interrogate a waiter/waitress or counter help, I won’t freak out. Instead I’ll focus on controlling the controllable, such as the food in my own kitchen.

3.      This is not forever. My hope is that at some point my cholesterol will be low enough that I can withstand the occasional animal treat. Pizza with real cheese looks fabulous, and I can’t fathom never smoking and eating a brisket again, it’s just too tasty. I know myself, so I know that I will have to be very on purpose about what ‘occasional’ looks like, and plan for it - otherwise, 'occasional' will be all days ending in a 'y.' Yes, my brisket is worth planning for, absolutely.

Okay, I’ll be back later with my normal blog content, but I wanted to clear those things up first. Have a fantastic day!