Changes

So lately I've noticed some huge (and altogether positive) changes happening to my body. Besides the fact that I've lost thirteen pounds with absolutely no extra exercise, I feel great, and I'm more in tune with my body than ever before. I know that my weight loss would be much more significant if I would have cut beer and soda from my diet, but only one of those things is ever happening, and alas, it hasn't happened yet. What can I say? I'm weak. But enough about the negatives. Let's run through the positives:

Weight: This is the first time I've lost weight. Ever. I knew I was overweight, but I didn't think I was so obese that a thirteen pound weight loss would be entirely lost on me. But I was. And I am. Nevertheless, I am shedding pounds and steadily, at that. Today my pants were a little loose, which gave the whole experience a qualitative measure of reality that numbers on a scale have not. I used to never want to get on a scale. Now I can't wait to wake up and weigh myself every day. Talk about drastic.

Health: I used to have loads of health issues. Nothing diagnosed, mind you, as I never go to the doctor (them requiring monetary payment for their services and all), but I used to suffer from migraine headaches, stomach problems, mood swings, and depression. Long story short, I was addicted to fast food, and the only thing that would alleviate these symptoms for a short time was a quick run through the drive-thru. A scant month ago, it wouldn't be uncommon for passerby at any given time of day to see me sitting in the parking lot of the McDonald's on Broadway, car running, listening to an audio book, and waiting for the inevitable, dichotomous, and simultaneous feelings of euphoria and dull chest pains to overcome me. Sometimes I would go through the drive-thru before going home to eat dinner, hiding my bad habit from my family with all the guilt and shame of any addict. Now that I've been on a plant-based diet, I haven't had any health problems, excepting some recent allergies (thanks, mold). While I'm sure had I gone to a doctor before becoming a vegan, s/he would have put me on blood pressure meds and/or anti-depressants, all I had to do was change my diet to make my life exponentially better. All of my health problems have "magically" gone away without the aid of a wonder-drug. Funny how that works, huh? I'll have more to say about this in the future, to be sure.

Energy: I have more energy than any time in recent memory. When I wake up in the morning, I don't immediately think about how nice it would be to go back to sleep again. I also don't fall asleep as early in the evening. And while I still haven't kicked Mountain Dew entirely, I'm not relying on it (or other sources of caffeine) to keep me going throughout the day.

Food: It's the last on the list, but it is certainly significant. The food that I'm eating is amazing. It's hard to miss the tasty food that made me feel like shit when I'm eating tasty food that provides actual nutrition for my body, allowing me to feel better and lose weight. Being a vegan has broadened my food horizons, and I feel much more liberated than restricted. I'm eating fantastic food which I had never even heard of before. Now I "just" eat fresh, organic fruits and veggies along with legumes and whole grains prepared in a variety of fun, creative, and delicious ways. I eat as much as I want, and all I do is lose weight and feel better. Talk about win-win.

Following the current (albeit amateur) motif of this blog, I'll end with a quote from the prolific and prophetic Tupac Shakur. I've been listening to Pac (and the song with which this post shares a title) for more than half of my life, and these wise words have finally sunk in:

We gotta make a change.

It's time for us as a people to start makin'  some changes.

Let's change the way we eat.

Let's change the way we live.

And let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't workin' so it's on us to do what we gotta do

to survive.

40oz to Freedom

I just want to open this post by saying that I feel great (excepting yesterday as I was rather hung over). I've lost ten pounds this month, and I have more energy than any time in recent memory. I still have some work to do (cutting out soda and cutting down on carbohydrates), but this is a process. I feel that my eventual product (a new, healthier me) will certainly be worth the effort.

I hoped to post sooner, but this was a rather eventful and exciting week. On Tuesday, we picked up our first share of organic produce (pictured above) from Three Rivers Community Farm in Elsah. We received broccoli, kale (two varieties), salad greens, spinach, romaine (two varieties), turnips, radishes, garlic scapes, and strawberries. The strawberries didn't even last through the evening (they were amazing!), but we've been making delicious meals with the rest throughout the week.

On Wednesday, we went to the Schlafly Farmers' Market at the Bottleworks in Maplewood. Beforehand, we had some tasty vegan treats and Goshen Coffee from Foundation Grounds. If you've never been, you're missing out. At the market, Tara got a couple of certified organic tomato plants (potted today), and we picked up some organic raspberries and asparagus (all from Biver Farms in Edwardsville). We followed all of this up with a vegan pizza at Bottleworks, and our visit was timely enough for me to bring home a growler of their impressive American IPA. Thankfully, the brewers at Schlafly stuck to the recipe used in last year's July 5 batch, and they can now boast one of the best IPAs in the country. It's very well balanced with a kind of sweet, buscuity malt and a nose full of citrus and pine resin. Needless to say, the growler didn't last long in my fridge.

While I don't want to inundate this blog with recipes, I do want to share some of my meals just to demonstrate how healthy, delicious, and easy vegan meals can be. You can saute or grill vegetables or toss a salad in the time it takes to run and get some take-out; however, you just have to have fresh produce in the house and be willing to do some dishes. If you want more details about any of these meals, get at me. But here's just a few highlights from the meals we made this week using our CSA share and market purchases with some ancillary items from local grocers:

• Quinoa topped with cooked spinach, asparagus, and garlic scapes. We had kale chips on the side, and even the kids were asking for seconds on both.
• Marinated tofu and sauteed turnips. The turnips stole the show here as I realized that I'm really not that into tofu (at least how we prepared it). It's a texture thing. I'll stick with tempeh for soy-based protein in the future, methinks.
• Steel cut oatmeal with fresh raspberries. I've also eaten quite a bit (perhaps too much) toasted oat cereal with soy milk and fresh fruit.
• Soy-rizo and bean tacos with fresh avacado, tomato, spinach, and roasted corn salsa. Thankfully I can get my chorizo fix without all of the cholesterol and shame built in.
• Way too many pretzels with hummus. Seriously, it's a problem.
• The Zach sandwich. While my namesake sandwich used to be only meat and cheese (and lots of both), it now consists of a baguette with hummus on one side and olive tapenade on the other. In the middle are sliced cucumbers, roasted bell peppers, and greens. Make one on your next visit to 222 Artisan Bakery.
• Multiple salads topped with balsamic vinaigrette that look like the one pictured below.

Tara has been immensely supportive throughout this change, and I don't think I could have done it without her. She has prepared vegan dinners for the whole family every night that I've been home, and she has even cooked them for only me and left them in the fridge when I've been working late. She is extremely conscious of what she eats around me, even though I have told her numerous times that she need not worry. In the words of Bradley Nowell, "I know that ohhh, I'm not going back. God knows I'm not going back."

Do or do not. There is no try.

This blog has been catalyzed by a major lifestyle change on the part of its author. For various reasons, I have decided to begin a vegan diet. I don't mean diet in its most common connotation, the way it's bandied about so indiscriminately by corporate America to prey on the unhealthy masses (oh, yeah, that's a pun). I mean it in the sense of its denotation: habitual nourishment.

So I'm not going on a diet. I'm simply changing my diet by not consuming animal products of any kind. Why? I could spout statistics supporting the benefits of such behavior, but I'd rather readers do their own research. Put simply, I'm tired of feeling like shit, and I don't want my kids growing up without a father (or my wife raising them without a husband) because I decided upon a lazy, destructive, hedonistic lifestyle. I've been on a fast track to diabetes, cancer, and heart disease for too long. It's time to progress. Nearly three weeks into this experiment, I feel I have lived up to the wise words of Yoda referenced in the title of this post. I'm doing it--not trying it; therefore, I'm sharing it.

Alas, I'll probably end up one of those evangelical vegans. After all, I am blogging about it, right? While I can't claim to have found God in raw veggies, I find it plausible that I have stumbled upon freedom and happiness (both of which are respectively divine, no?).

I am greatly indebted to my good friend Matthew Herren and his lovely bride-to-be Amy Zupanci for exemplifying the liberating nature of the vegan lifestyle rather than any negativity based on its inherent restrictions. Seeing them happy and healthy has done more for me than any research. Thank you, friends. All that follows is dedicated to you.