21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Veggie Daddy Approved

21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart by Dr. Neal Barnard. I have been perusing this book in the bookstore a few times, and every time I look at it, I am more intrigued by it. Anyone that sees me reading it must think I'm pretty odd because I weigh 140 pounds, 6 feet tall--I am thin as a rail, so why in God's name am I reading a book about how to lose weight? But I am sure no one actually gave a rat's ass about what book I was reading in the store, after all, they have better things to do, don't they?

But check this book out. Especially if you're a vegetarian, like I (and my wife) have mostly been for the past ten years or so. There are some very unique ideas here that I am just glomming onto. What? Let me explain.

My whole life, I have always had a very high metabolism. I could eat anything and not get fat. And I was always hungry. I mostly ate crap, of course. Cookies and ice cream were/are my favorite. But ever since I stopped eating meat, I kept feeling like I was missing something, like the meals weren't substantial. And I would be starving before I went to bed, too. I was actually tired of having such a high metabolism because I had to keep eating to have energy and I wanted to do other things besides eat. I was never a big eater either. I drank so much milk as a kid I probably had white blood.

So I was startled by the abrupt and immediate changes I underwent once I became a vegan. As I started to eat more real food, more fruits, vegetables, and grains, I noticed I became way more sated than usual. I actually felt full and went to bed with a full stomach. Why was this? I thought eating ice cream and cookies, cheese and butter would certainly fill me up. It must have been because I wasn't eating any meat? That's what I used to think. Not the case anymore, and this book explains why.

When you eat plant-based whole foods, your stomach actually tells your brain it is full. When you eat refined carbs or animal fats, you're body says, "Hey, I'm still hungry!" and so you have to eat more until you feel sated. Your stomach still hasn't got all that it needs to register the satiety point. I already knew this from my own experience, but I didn't understand the science behind it.

Another fascinating thing this book points out is that when you eat a whole foods, plant-based "diet," you can eat as much of these whole foods as you want so you don't have to count your calories--everything you eat, your body loves. You can stop worrying about how much you've eaten because you learn (as you eat them) that these foods actually make you feel full, so you can't overeat. It's impossible. You'll also feel more light on your feet, rather than that heavy feeling I use to get after a "heavy" meal. 

So this book outlines what exactly you should be eating to trick your stomach into feeling full. This is what was missing from my "vegetarian" diet of so many years. It explains why I do not feel so hungry anymore. And what a great feeling it is! You have to experience it to believe it, of course.

So now I am beginning to understand why I always felt so hungry. It wasn't because I stopped eating meat. I was eating cheese, eggs, milk, butter, all filling right? Just calorie-wise, but your stomach says, "I am still not getting what I need!" and so we eat more and more until our stomach goes "Ding!" and then our brain hears it and goes ""Ding!" I was so hungry all the time because I wasn't getting what I needed: real food.

So what's wrong with animal fats? When you eat too many calories, your body stores it as fat. This is true for animals, too, all the animals we like to eat: pigs, chickens, cows. So when we decide to eat animals, we're simply eating their fat-storage. They eat the food, store it as fat. Then we decide to eat their fat. It's just empty calories, nothing of substance there. We get the protein, but we get protein from plant-based whole foods without the fat so cut the animal foods out and eat the vegetable foods--especially if you're trying to lose weight. It's a no-brainer. And there are far more calories per gram of fat than of carbohydrate, so you can get fat but not feel full. This book really helps explain how to feel full. And when you feel full, you stop eating. "Ding!" 

Eat real food. Eat as much of it as you want. You can't go wrong. You don't have to worry over how much you eat. What a load off. Literally.

Eat B(right),

Veggie Daddy