1. March 15: 3 slices of bread is about right for breakfast, and 2 slices of watermelon is about right for one snack
2. My eyes felt itchy sometimes
3. Fat makes you full. Although I wouldn’t say I overate, I definitely ate a lot / almost overate in the last two days (March 17 Thu, 18 Fri), and my weight picked up a little as a result. For some meals I ate little or no protein/starch, but I was still stuffed, because my vegetables were oily (especially broccoli, although it was extremely good). Thursday night I bought two packages of Sensible Foods Crunch Dried Snacks. They were “organic sweet corn” and “organic soy nuts”, which were essentially concentrated starches and proteins. They were so good that, even after normal dinner, I could not help finishing them both (not in one go tho). Strangely I didn’t feel bloated. Moreover, starch+protein totally violates food combination, but I didn’t fart or experience anything usual. Probably I did feel a little bit uncomfortable because I ate too much, but it was not very memorable. I can’t make many conclusions yet, but one thing I can conclude is that fat is the No.1 thing that makes you full. Vegetable with a lot of oil stuffs you fast, while a lot of starch/protein with little oil does not.
4. Probably because of stress, I got a couple of bad dreams. Not nightmares, but intensive dreams. Haven’t had bad dreams for a long time.
5. Yesterday my dad expressed his understanding for my vegan decision. He believed that happiness and freedom is very important, so he supports whatever decision I make. My mum initially said that she was still against my vegan diet even after reading my emails, but later she said she would like to give me time to study more about nutrition and hopefully make the decision of eating meat again on my own. I am grateful to their understanding.
6. This is not an accident, because I was aware of it when I ... had a little bit of white sauce (which very likely contains dairy) while biting the mushroom and black bean burgers bought from Axe & Palm. I had mushroom burgers from Axe & Palm twice before, and both time there was no sauce at all. However, this time both Lisa's black bean burger and my mushroom burger got sauce in it :( I still wanted to eat breakfast (we bought the burgers on Thursday night and saved it for breakfast on Friday), so I ate the margins of the burgers and took in a little bit sauce on the way.
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Extremely tired Brussels sprout with dairy
Last night I went to bed at around 11:30pm and took a while to fall asleep. Surprisingly I got up as early as 6am this morning. I went to bed pretty late in the last two days but still got up relatively early in the morning, so I haven’t got enough sleep these days. What’s more incredible is that, 6am today is actually 5am before the adjustment of day-light saving time two days ago. I was pretty energetic in the morning and watched lectures online for the whole day (also went out to send my OPT application), but now around 7pm, I’m extremely tired. I haven’t felt this tired for a long time. So I plan to go to bed at 9pm tonight.
Lunch I discovered that the Brussels sprout had dairy in it after I had already got one plate of Brussels sprout. Dumping it does not save cows of pain or reduce energy consumption, so I ate it anyways. I could taste a little bit of dairy, but the taste was very minor. I didn’t feel good after having that plate of Brussels sprout, and I didn’t feel like eating Brussels sprout when I saw it at dinner. Be very careful with vegan/vegetarian labels next time!
Dinner, again, like yesterday, I didn’t think I ate too much but I felt full. Actually after having half a plate of food I thought that was enough, but I still wanted some Zucchini and mushrooms, so I took some more. I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I still think I need more food for dinner while in fact my stomach has already been smaller.
Lunch I discovered that the Brussels sprout had dairy in it after I had already got one plate of Brussels sprout. Dumping it does not save cows of pain or reduce energy consumption, so I ate it anyways. I could taste a little bit of dairy, but the taste was very minor. I didn’t feel good after having that plate of Brussels sprout, and I didn’t feel like eating Brussels sprout when I saw it at dinner. Be very careful with vegan/vegetarian labels next time!
Dinner, again, like yesterday, I didn’t think I ate too much but I felt full. Actually after having half a plate of food I thought that was enough, but I still wanted some Zucchini and mushrooms, so I took some more. I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I still think I need more food for dinner while in fact my stomach has already been smaller.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dead week
Tuesday, March 8
I overate for dinner: had a lot of lentil puree, among other stuff like squash and mushrooms. It made me feel sleepy the whole night, gain 1 kg compared to last night, and fart a lot. My stomach was obviously very flexible – it suddenly became HUGE. However, I still felt better this time than last time when I had the two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry. I concluded that too much starch/protein is better than too much fat.
I canceled the bet with Lisa, because I decided to fast for the next day to recover my stomach, and this violates the eat-every-meal rule of the bet. I was sure I would win the bet, but I hated the restrictions that the bet set on me. I wanted freedom, so I canceled the bet.
Wednesday, March 9
I was woken up by alarm that morning – the first time for a while. It showed that I needed more sleep due to overeating. I fasted for one day, and it was easier than the first time I fasted (although the first time was easy too). This time I was not as thirsty and hungry as last time. It was probably because 1) from morning to 3pm I was totally focusing on the humbio final paper due that afternoon, 2) last time I starting fasting from lunch, but this time I started fasting from dinner, so maybe it was less intense of a fast this time, or 3) the second time is just easier than the first time.
I was also more energetic: I didn't feel sleepy in the 3:15-4:30pm class at all! I broke the fast with two apples at probably around 5:15pm. At around 6:10pm I had some green salad and broccoli. At around 7pm I had three slices of watermelon. Wow that’s a lot of break-fast compared to just two apples last time!
Thursday, March 10
It was awful that I overate again. I had slightly less than normal amount for dinner, then I when into the Flomo kitchen to talk to the staff there for a while. After a short while, I felt like some bread, so I went downstairs to get some. I saw one girl pass by, eating Oroweat 100% whole wheat English muffin. I was curious so I checked the muffin out. It looked healthy, so I had one slice (half of one English muffin). It was soooo delicious, and it was instantly ranked as my favorite bread. To compare with the normal Oroweat 100% whole wheat bread, I ate a piece of the normal bread too (the crust part that I love). The normal one still tasted good, but the English muffin tasted softer and a little bit oilier, like cakes. So I had another English muffin (composed of two slices). Then I regretted, because I overate again. But this time it was much better than the previous two overeating that made me feel imperative to fast.
Friday, March 11
Although I felt ok when I went to bed last night, I felt very full this morning. But I still had one apple around 9am. At around 10am I had the big mushroom burger from Axe & Palm (I took it back home the previous day). I didn’t have time for lunch because I had a final paper due at 1:15pm. After submitting the paper, I ate 1.5 English muffin and a piece of leftover mushroom on the lawn. I had a small dinner. My stomach does not feel great that day. Overeat-fast-overeat in three days hurt my stomach, and my diet today was also irregular. I should protect my stomach more. Take good care of it.
When I was talking to my parents at night, my parents forced/begged me to eat meat. I was sad and extremely frustrated that I needed to give up my belief just to make my parents happy, so I wrote a long email to them, hoping that they understand why I chose to become a vegan. As a result, I went to bed at around 2am. It was the first time that I went to bed after midnight since the Viennese Ball on February 11.
Saturday, March 12
I naturally woke up at around 7am. I intentionally canceled my alarm last night, expecting to sleep more this morning. But I woke up early by myself as usual, although not as early as 5:40am. Not getting enough sleep, my complexion did not look good today.
During lunch, I had a talk with the manager friend at Wilbur Dining. She told me about how she loved her children by letting them make their own decisions. She’s a wise woman who practices meditation. She said this was a good chance for me to educate my parents, so I decided not to compromise my belief for my parents. They need to understand what I think, who I truly am, what’s most important to me, and what makes me happy. So at round 4pm I started to write a letter to them. I sent the email out at around 11pm and went to bed at around 11:40pm.
I didn’t feel energetic today, although definitely didn’t feel sleepy either, until after I sent out the email to my parents. I yawned after shower. Wow I suddenly realized that I hadn’t yawned for a looong time!
My stomach still felt weird sometimes, but much better than yesterday. Today I practiced good diet and my stomach is recovering.
This morning I discovered that “Food for Life Wheat & Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread” is also soft and oily, so Food for Life’s Brown Rice Bread trumped Oroweat English Muffin as my favorite bread.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Today I got up at 7am again. It’s interesting that that’s roughly 1.5 hours later than 5:40am. I just learned the 90-minute sleep cycle last week and it looks like it applies here! I used to believe in a smaller sleep cycle of 40 minutes (my dad told me this and it works).
Lisa just got up around 10am. I always know I went to bed at around the same time but got up way earlier than her every day. However, today is the first time I consciously calculated: 10-7 = 3 hours! Before going vegetarian, we used to have the same demand for sleep. Am I really saving 3 hours every day nowadays? I’ll try keeping track of our sleep time next week.
Wait … that why! I just realized that because of the day-light saving time, we just lost an hour today. So if today were still yesterday, Lisa got up around 9am and I slept only 2 hours less than her. (The time I got up, 7am, was shown on my alarm, which did not automatically adjust for day-light saving time)
This morning, I had one slice of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread, one slice of Food for Life Brown Rice Bread, one slice of Ezekiel, and one slice of Udi’s again. They are all very good, with totally different tastes. I almost wanted to rank Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain as my new favorite, but I just discovered that it has egg whites in it. Egg’s only a minor ingredient here, so I think it’s ok to eat Udi’s once in a while, but I don’t want to make it my favorite. I compared nutrition facts and figured that the best is still definitely Ezekiel. Food for Life Brown Rice, Udi’s and Oroweat Whole Grain all leg behind. I think I won’t rank among breads, but I do think bread has become one of my favorite foods. I’ll use Ezekiel as my staple, and eat other breads once in a while.
Lunch I had half a plate of green salad and half a plate of squash and roots. I didn’t think that was too much squash and roots, but apparently that was. My stomach didn’t feel good after the lunch, although overall I didn’t eat that much. I recalled that actually I never felt very comfortable after eating a lot of squash or roots. Probably they are just difficult for my stomach to digest, so in the future I should only take very small amount of such food each time. I finished lunch at 12:45pm and had pineapple at around 2:50pm. My stomach was noticeably uncomfortable at around 3:50pm, so I went to bed at around 4pm.
Dinner I had green salad, boy choy, broccoli, and three slices of breads: Ezekiel, Oroweat whole wheat, and Oroweat whole wheat English muffin. Oroweat English muffin didn’t taste THAT great to me anymore. I actually enjoyed the Oroweat whole wheat the most today. It’s weird that, for dinner again, I felt full after meal even I don’t think that I had that much. There are a few possible reasons for that: 1) I took a 1.5 hour nap right before dinner, so I didn’t feel like eating before dinner. 2) I suspect that boy choy in the US contains too much fiber or is too huge and thus it fills me up easily. 3) I guess that I should not eat both Ezekiel and normal bread at the same time, because Ezekiel is a complete protein and leaner on carb. Mixing Ezekiel and normal bread is a bit like a starch-protein combination. 4) Three slices of bread is just about right for breakfast, but for dinner, since you also consume so much fiber from other sources, three slices of bread may be too much? About two hours after dinner I also farted a little bit. I guess farting is directly correlated with how stuffed you are after each meal. You may also fart if you violate food combination, e.g. having starch and protein at the same meal, but I’m not sure on this point.
I overate for dinner: had a lot of lentil puree, among other stuff like squash and mushrooms. It made me feel sleepy the whole night, gain 1 kg compared to last night, and fart a lot. My stomach was obviously very flexible – it suddenly became HUGE. However, I still felt better this time than last time when I had the two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry. I concluded that too much starch/protein is better than too much fat.
I canceled the bet with Lisa, because I decided to fast for the next day to recover my stomach, and this violates the eat-every-meal rule of the bet. I was sure I would win the bet, but I hated the restrictions that the bet set on me. I wanted freedom, so I canceled the bet.
Wednesday, March 9
I was woken up by alarm that morning – the first time for a while. It showed that I needed more sleep due to overeating. I fasted for one day, and it was easier than the first time I fasted (although the first time was easy too). This time I was not as thirsty and hungry as last time. It was probably because 1) from morning to 3pm I was totally focusing on the humbio final paper due that afternoon, 2) last time I starting fasting from lunch, but this time I started fasting from dinner, so maybe it was less intense of a fast this time, or 3) the second time is just easier than the first time.
I was also more energetic: I didn't feel sleepy in the 3:15-4:30pm class at all! I broke the fast with two apples at probably around 5:15pm. At around 6:10pm I had some green salad and broccoli. At around 7pm I had three slices of watermelon. Wow that’s a lot of break-fast compared to just two apples last time!
Thursday, March 10
It was awful that I overate again. I had slightly less than normal amount for dinner, then I when into the Flomo kitchen to talk to the staff there for a while. After a short while, I felt like some bread, so I went downstairs to get some. I saw one girl pass by, eating Oroweat 100% whole wheat English muffin. I was curious so I checked the muffin out. It looked healthy, so I had one slice (half of one English muffin). It was soooo delicious, and it was instantly ranked as my favorite bread. To compare with the normal Oroweat 100% whole wheat bread, I ate a piece of the normal bread too (the crust part that I love). The normal one still tasted good, but the English muffin tasted softer and a little bit oilier, like cakes. So I had another English muffin (composed of two slices). Then I regretted, because I overate again. But this time it was much better than the previous two overeating that made me feel imperative to fast.
Friday, March 11
Although I felt ok when I went to bed last night, I felt very full this morning. But I still had one apple around 9am. At around 10am I had the big mushroom burger from Axe & Palm (I took it back home the previous day). I didn’t have time for lunch because I had a final paper due at 1:15pm. After submitting the paper, I ate 1.5 English muffin and a piece of leftover mushroom on the lawn. I had a small dinner. My stomach does not feel great that day. Overeat-fast-overeat in three days hurt my stomach, and my diet today was also irregular. I should protect my stomach more. Take good care of it.
When I was talking to my parents at night, my parents forced/begged me to eat meat. I was sad and extremely frustrated that I needed to give up my belief just to make my parents happy, so I wrote a long email to them, hoping that they understand why I chose to become a vegan. As a result, I went to bed at around 2am. It was the first time that I went to bed after midnight since the Viennese Ball on February 11.
Saturday, March 12
I naturally woke up at around 7am. I intentionally canceled my alarm last night, expecting to sleep more this morning. But I woke up early by myself as usual, although not as early as 5:40am. Not getting enough sleep, my complexion did not look good today.
During lunch, I had a talk with the manager friend at Wilbur Dining. She told me about how she loved her children by letting them make their own decisions. She’s a wise woman who practices meditation. She said this was a good chance for me to educate my parents, so I decided not to compromise my belief for my parents. They need to understand what I think, who I truly am, what’s most important to me, and what makes me happy. So at round 4pm I started to write a letter to them. I sent the email out at around 11pm and went to bed at around 11:40pm.
I didn’t feel energetic today, although definitely didn’t feel sleepy either, until after I sent out the email to my parents. I yawned after shower. Wow I suddenly realized that I hadn’t yawned for a looong time!
My stomach still felt weird sometimes, but much better than yesterday. Today I practiced good diet and my stomach is recovering.
This morning I discovered that “Food for Life Wheat & Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread” is also soft and oily, so Food for Life’s Brown Rice Bread trumped Oroweat English Muffin as my favorite bread.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Today I got up at 7am again. It’s interesting that that’s roughly 1.5 hours later than 5:40am. I just learned the 90-minute sleep cycle last week and it looks like it applies here! I used to believe in a smaller sleep cycle of 40 minutes (my dad told me this and it works).
Lisa just got up around 10am. I always know I went to bed at around the same time but got up way earlier than her every day. However, today is the first time I consciously calculated: 10-7 = 3 hours! Before going vegetarian, we used to have the same demand for sleep. Am I really saving 3 hours every day nowadays? I’ll try keeping track of our sleep time next week.
Wait … that why! I just realized that because of the day-light saving time, we just lost an hour today. So if today were still yesterday, Lisa got up around 9am and I slept only 2 hours less than her. (The time I got up, 7am, was shown on my alarm, which did not automatically adjust for day-light saving time)
This morning, I had one slice of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread, one slice of Food for Life Brown Rice Bread, one slice of Ezekiel, and one slice of Udi’s again. They are all very good, with totally different tastes. I almost wanted to rank Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain as my new favorite, but I just discovered that it has egg whites in it. Egg’s only a minor ingredient here, so I think it’s ok to eat Udi’s once in a while, but I don’t want to make it my favorite. I compared nutrition facts and figured that the best is still definitely Ezekiel. Food for Life Brown Rice, Udi’s and Oroweat Whole Grain all leg behind. I think I won’t rank among breads, but I do think bread has become one of my favorite foods. I’ll use Ezekiel as my staple, and eat other breads once in a while.
Lunch I had half a plate of green salad and half a plate of squash and roots. I didn’t think that was too much squash and roots, but apparently that was. My stomach didn’t feel good after the lunch, although overall I didn’t eat that much. I recalled that actually I never felt very comfortable after eating a lot of squash or roots. Probably they are just difficult for my stomach to digest, so in the future I should only take very small amount of such food each time. I finished lunch at 12:45pm and had pineapple at around 2:50pm. My stomach was noticeably uncomfortable at around 3:50pm, so I went to bed at around 4pm.
Dinner I had green salad, boy choy, broccoli, and three slices of breads: Ezekiel, Oroweat whole wheat, and Oroweat whole wheat English muffin. Oroweat English muffin didn’t taste THAT great to me anymore. I actually enjoyed the Oroweat whole wheat the most today. It’s weird that, for dinner again, I felt full after meal even I don’t think that I had that much. There are a few possible reasons for that: 1) I took a 1.5 hour nap right before dinner, so I didn’t feel like eating before dinner. 2) I suspect that boy choy in the US contains too much fiber or is too huge and thus it fills me up easily. 3) I guess that I should not eat both Ezekiel and normal bread at the same time, because Ezekiel is a complete protein and leaner on carb. Mixing Ezekiel and normal bread is a bit like a starch-protein combination. 4) Three slices of bread is just about right for breakfast, but for dinner, since you also consume so much fiber from other sources, three slices of bread may be too much? About two hours after dinner I also farted a little bit. I guess farting is directly correlated with how stuffed you are after each meal. You may also fart if you violate food combination, e.g. having starch and protein at the same meal, but I’m not sure on this point.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The day of 18+1 books
Starting from yesterday I began to feel my bones in the butt area while sitting on the chair. I've always had a big butt which is a nice "cushion" to carry around, but is my cushion shrinking along with my weight these days? It's not comfortable at all and I want my cushion back.
These days I haven't overate, but I'm definitely eating more than enough in each meal. I think it's because 1) the plates at Wilbur is bigger than those at Flomo, and 2) my need for food decreases, but mentally I still feel that I should eat the amount I used to have. Nowadays I sleep 7 hours per day, and I'm energetic most of the time. But today I felt tired roughly two hours after lunch and dinner. I took a nap this afternoon in the library, and now I feel a little bit tired again! Not overeating is not enough. In order to increase your energy level, you should not eat more than you need. Also, don't do something just because you used to do it.
Today I ordered 18 books regarding meditation, zen, fasting, and vegan. Plus one more book Monkey Business to foresee my future.
These days I haven't overate, but I'm definitely eating more than enough in each meal. I think it's because 1) the plates at Wilbur is bigger than those at Flomo, and 2) my need for food decreases, but mentally I still feel that I should eat the amount I used to have. Nowadays I sleep 7 hours per day, and I'm energetic most of the time. But today I felt tired roughly two hours after lunch and dinner. I took a nap this afternoon in the library, and now I feel a little bit tired again! Not overeating is not enough. In order to increase your energy level, you should not eat more than you need. Also, don't do something just because you used to do it.
Today I ordered 18 books regarding meditation, zen, fasting, and vegan. Plus one more book Monkey Business to foresee my future.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Breaking the fast
At 10am, I ate three slices of Ezekiel bread, breaking the fruit fast. Actually I had always planned to wait until brunch to have a bowl of hot oatmeal, which I think is better for digestion than bread, but I finally chose to listen to my body: I was imagining how satisfying it would be to have some Ezekiel bread, but oatmeal didn't turn me on at all. Sure enough, the bread meal was very satisfying.
At 12:40pm I had some green salad and 3/4 plate of cooked vegetables as a light lunch. I rinsed the Zucchini with hot water, because I thought it was greasy. Today I really chewed all my food till they breakdown, which I think made food taste better. I almost never ate sweet peppers, but today I ate the sweet peppers that went with the Zucchini, and it was the first time I think sweet peppers taste great. I also discovered that summer squash (Zucchini) does taste like squash!
Before the bread, I felt a little dizzy when I stood up; after the bread, the symptom lessened; and after the vegetables, the dizziness was gone.
Boring lectures have always had a hypnotizing effect on me, so I went to take a nap at 1:40pm. I planned to limit it to only 20 minutes but ended up sleeping until 3:30pm. Then I had some honeydew, 15 minutes later some pineapple, and went to the presentation group at 4pm. In total, I still slept 7 hours today, and I have been energetic the whole day, so it looks like 7 hours per day is my standard amount of sleep these days.
I'm happy that tonight I resisted the temptation to get another plate of curry. Actually I only had a bowl of green salad and half plate of curry today (plus Flomo's plate is smaller than Wilbur's). If I had taken more curry, the tragedy of two plates of curry before the fast might occur again, although in a smaller scale. I'm about to go to bed now and my stomach is feeling terrific. Actually I'm not that excited about curry today, because now whenever I saw / thought about curry, I thought about the two full big plates of Thai vegetable curry, which immediately turned me off a little. Maybe it's also because after the fast, my body does not feel like fatty food.
At 12:40pm I had some green salad and 3/4 plate of cooked vegetables as a light lunch. I rinsed the Zucchini with hot water, because I thought it was greasy. Today I really chewed all my food till they breakdown, which I think made food taste better. I almost never ate sweet peppers, but today I ate the sweet peppers that went with the Zucchini, and it was the first time I think sweet peppers taste great. I also discovered that summer squash (Zucchini) does taste like squash!
Before the bread, I felt a little dizzy when I stood up; after the bread, the symptom lessened; and after the vegetables, the dizziness was gone.
Boring lectures have always had a hypnotizing effect on me, so I went to take a nap at 1:40pm. I planned to limit it to only 20 minutes but ended up sleeping until 3:30pm. Then I had some honeydew, 15 minutes later some pineapple, and went to the presentation group at 4pm. In total, I still slept 7 hours today, and I have been energetic the whole day, so it looks like 7 hours per day is my standard amount of sleep these days.
I'm happy that tonight I resisted the temptation to get another plate of curry. Actually I only had a bowl of green salad and half plate of curry today (plus Flomo's plate is smaller than Wilbur's). If I had taken more curry, the tragedy of two plates of curry before the fast might occur again, although in a smaller scale. I'm about to go to bed now and my stomach is feeling terrific. Actually I'm not that excited about curry today, because now whenever I saw / thought about curry, I thought about the two full big plates of Thai vegetable curry, which immediately turned me off a little. Maybe it's also because after the fast, my body does not feel like fatty food.
More on fasting
I went to bed at midnight last night and quickly fell asleep. The two apples around 6pm last night was excellent in keeping me satisfied for 6 hours, although occasionally I thought I should feel hungry now, so I did feel a little hungry, but I believe my stomach was actually in a good shape. I woke up at 4am this morning, thinking it was too early, so I went back to sleep. I woke up at 5am again, and 10 minutes later I was totally awake, so I got up. Eating less does reduce the amount of sleep you need. I was feeling very hungry when I was about to get off the bed, but after brushing teeth and washing face, my stomach was comfortable. While in bathroom, I finally decided to break the fruit fasting by eating light today. The reason is that I have a lot of work to do and catch up and I need to make sure that I have enough energy to work efficiently. Also, I’m expecting my menstrual cycle in two days, so I don’t want to disturb my body too much. As long as I eat light, mostly raw food, and eat only the amount of food that I need, I’ll be in a good shape to enter my 10 day water fast 3 weeks later.
When I took off my cloths to weight myself before eating or drinking anything, I noticed that my stomach had flattened out. Haven’t had that for a long time. I weighted 53.3 kg, 2 kg lower than before the Thai curry. But according to my readings yesterday, I’ll be back to where I was after resuming my normal diet. Sure enough, right after I released solid waste, roughly an hour after drinking a lot of water and eating two apples as breakfast, my weight increased to 53.9 kg. I’m still curious to see to what extent I will recover though. Some side notes about the water and apples I just mentioned: 1) Water: starting from yesterday, I began to drink boiled (as opposed to just warmed) tap water to make sure my water is absolutely safe. Clean water is important in adjusting your body. 2) Apples: right after having the two apples, I might feel a little bit full, but my stomach soon felt great. I’m feeling great too, because the sun is out, I opened the window, and everything is alive!
Since I was talking about weight, I suddenly remembered that I need to mention that 20% of the reason why I decided not to fast before spring break is that I might win the bet with my roommate without any effort. Just think it interesting to see her doing the funny/awful thing as a result of losing the bet :) Another 80% of the reason is academic. I just checked that next next week I’ll have a project due and final exam, both for the hardest class I’m taking this quarter, so I won’t fast next weekend. The next next next week is final’s week, which I expect to be miserable considering I’m taking 6 classes this quarter, so I don’t want to fast next next weekend either. In conclusion, I won’t fast until the end of this quarter, which coincides with the end of the bet. The bet has good timing: it starts a month and a half before I went vegetarian, unknowingly helping me transition from a voracious carnivore diet to a vegetarian diet; the bet ends right when I want it to end so that I can take another major challenge in my life.
Yesterday while sitting at the lunch table (i.e. I didn’t have lunch) with my friends off campus, I preached a lot about being vegan (I haven’t preached for a long time). That was a more tolerant group than I expected, since 4 out of 5 of them seemed to enjoy listening to my sermon. But sometimes they just could not believe the numbers I listed and I didn’t have a PhD title to be credible enough to convince them. This is frustrating, as well as getting into an argument with friends. I think I’ll just stop preaching anything non-mainstream until I have acquired solid knowledge and extensive experience with what I would like to preach. If I’m not credible enough, even if people don’t disagree or argue with you, they will at most think what you advocate entertaining and won’t actually adopt them, so there is no use preaching and making your friend think you are a freak, although I do think I have always been a freak.
Starting from now I’ve decided to fast reading about fasting and other health related stuff. It’s too addictive and has stolen an enormous amount of time from my work this quarter. I would say since the weekend when I went vegetarian, I have spent almost all my weekends on studying health related stuff online. It has become my biggest hobby now. But it is also important that I do decent work in school, so it’s time for me to prioritize work over hobby, especially in the last three weeks of the quarter, when the time investment yields the highest return over the entire quarter. Most importantly, since I will need a lot of rest during my 10-day water fasting over the spring break, I will do almost nothing but reading about fasting and meditation, practicing meditation, plan my parents’ trip to the US, and plan my last quarter of undergraduate career, so I will have enough time indulging myself with my hobbies. If you don’t have the self-discipline to fast your hobby for just three weeks, why do you think you can successfully do a 10-day water fast?
When I took off my cloths to weight myself before eating or drinking anything, I noticed that my stomach had flattened out. Haven’t had that for a long time. I weighted 53.3 kg, 2 kg lower than before the Thai curry. But according to my readings yesterday, I’ll be back to where I was after resuming my normal diet. Sure enough, right after I released solid waste, roughly an hour after drinking a lot of water and eating two apples as breakfast, my weight increased to 53.9 kg. I’m still curious to see to what extent I will recover though. Some side notes about the water and apples I just mentioned: 1) Water: starting from yesterday, I began to drink boiled (as opposed to just warmed) tap water to make sure my water is absolutely safe. Clean water is important in adjusting your body. 2) Apples: right after having the two apples, I might feel a little bit full, but my stomach soon felt great. I’m feeling great too, because the sun is out, I opened the window, and everything is alive!
Since I was talking about weight, I suddenly remembered that I need to mention that 20% of the reason why I decided not to fast before spring break is that I might win the bet with my roommate without any effort. Just think it interesting to see her doing the funny/awful thing as a result of losing the bet :) Another 80% of the reason is academic. I just checked that next next week I’ll have a project due and final exam, both for the hardest class I’m taking this quarter, so I won’t fast next weekend. The next next next week is final’s week, which I expect to be miserable considering I’m taking 6 classes this quarter, so I don’t want to fast next next weekend either. In conclusion, I won’t fast until the end of this quarter, which coincides with the end of the bet. The bet has good timing: it starts a month and a half before I went vegetarian, unknowingly helping me transition from a voracious carnivore diet to a vegetarian diet; the bet ends right when I want it to end so that I can take another major challenge in my life.
Yesterday while sitting at the lunch table (i.e. I didn’t have lunch) with my friends off campus, I preached a lot about being vegan (I haven’t preached for a long time). That was a more tolerant group than I expected, since 4 out of 5 of them seemed to enjoy listening to my sermon. But sometimes they just could not believe the numbers I listed and I didn’t have a PhD title to be credible enough to convince them. This is frustrating, as well as getting into an argument with friends. I think I’ll just stop preaching anything non-mainstream until I have acquired solid knowledge and extensive experience with what I would like to preach. If I’m not credible enough, even if people don’t disagree or argue with you, they will at most think what you advocate entertaining and won’t actually adopt them, so there is no use preaching and making your friend think you are a freak, although I do think I have always been a freak.
Starting from now I’ve decided to fast reading about fasting and other health related stuff. It’s too addictive and has stolen an enormous amount of time from my work this quarter. I would say since the weekend when I went vegetarian, I have spent almost all my weekends on studying health related stuff online. It has become my biggest hobby now. But it is also important that I do decent work in school, so it’s time for me to prioritize work over hobby, especially in the last three weeks of the quarter, when the time investment yields the highest return over the entire quarter. Most importantly, since I will need a lot of rest during my 10-day water fasting over the spring break, I will do almost nothing but reading about fasting and meditation, practicing meditation, plan my parents’ trip to the US, and plan my last quarter of undergraduate career, so I will have enough time indulging myself with my hobbies. If you don’t have the self-discipline to fast your hobby for just three weeks, why do you think you can successfully do a 10-day water fast?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The weekend of room decoration
Dizziness
From probably Thursday to yesterday, I felt dizzy when standing up from the floor (I sit on the floor to admire/arrange pictures). It was the first time I showed such symptom after I went vegetarian/vegan. I suspect it’s because 1) not only did I overeat in general, but I also ate too much starch and protein, which are too heavy for my stomach, and 2) iron. So this weekend I studied iron, along with zinc, another mineral that vegans usually do not take enough. Reason 1) may sound weird, but that’s my intuition. Starting from yesterday I began to consciously follow the 80% eater rule and eat less starch and proteins, and it does seem to work against dizziness. I admit that I didn’t follow the 80% rule well in the past few days.
Fruit
Does a vegan diet enhance your ability to listen to your body, or it makes you less adaptable? Recently I began to notice the effect of some fruit on my body. Probably even before going vegetarian, I had already discovered that pears were incredibly good at making me feel full. Even when I’m very hungry, one pear can keep me full for more than an hour. After eating a pear today, I felt very cold for a few minutes. Watermelons stuff me quickly and make me cold too. Last Tuesday, I felt very uncomfortable after eating a banana in class (MS&E 270, Markstrat party). It occurred to me that these fruits were all “of cold property” according to Chinese medicine. So I studied fruit today. Sure enough, cold fruit makes you feel cold and slows down your digestion, which makes you feel full.
Eating
I didn’t eat much today and it felt good. Couple of thoughts: 1) I don’t really need to eat as much as I usually eat. Moderate intake of food is enough; 2) water fills me up too; 3) feeling hungry is not necessarily a sign of actual hunger. After waiting for a while the hungry feeling disappears. If the feeling of hunger lingers for probably more than 15 minutes, then it’s real hunger.
Nuts
During my visit to Palentir this Friday afternoon, I had two handful of mixed nuts, and my stomach definitely didn't have a good experience.
Flax Seed Oil
I've only used my new flax seed oil once after I bought it two weeks ago, but starting from today I'll use it pretty frequently.
Sleep
Regarding sleep, it’s been both good and not so good. I was decorating my room for three days including today. I loved doing it so much that I didn’t want to go to bed or didn’t even realize that it was already past 11:30pm. So for the past two nights, I slept from midnight to 7:10am. I woke up at 7:10am in the past two days naturally and pretty precisely, and I didn’t feel sleepy at any point of the day (maybe it’s because I was loving decorating my room and studying fruit, vegetables, iron, zinc … …). So the not-so-good part is that I went to bed too late, but the good part is that I figured my natural amount of sleep now is 7 hours every day. I believe if I go to bed at around 10:30pm-11pm, I can sleep even less.
I’ll make a few new resolutions and edit my vegan documents tonight and tomorrow.
From probably Thursday to yesterday, I felt dizzy when standing up from the floor (I sit on the floor to admire/arrange pictures). It was the first time I showed such symptom after I went vegetarian/vegan. I suspect it’s because 1) not only did I overeat in general, but I also ate too much starch and protein, which are too heavy for my stomach, and 2) iron. So this weekend I studied iron, along with zinc, another mineral that vegans usually do not take enough. Reason 1) may sound weird, but that’s my intuition. Starting from yesterday I began to consciously follow the 80% eater rule and eat less starch and proteins, and it does seem to work against dizziness. I admit that I didn’t follow the 80% rule well in the past few days.
Fruit
Does a vegan diet enhance your ability to listen to your body, or it makes you less adaptable? Recently I began to notice the effect of some fruit on my body. Probably even before going vegetarian, I had already discovered that pears were incredibly good at making me feel full. Even when I’m very hungry, one pear can keep me full for more than an hour. After eating a pear today, I felt very cold for a few minutes. Watermelons stuff me quickly and make me cold too. Last Tuesday, I felt very uncomfortable after eating a banana in class (MS&E 270, Markstrat party). It occurred to me that these fruits were all “of cold property” according to Chinese medicine. So I studied fruit today. Sure enough, cold fruit makes you feel cold and slows down your digestion, which makes you feel full.
Eating
I didn’t eat much today and it felt good. Couple of thoughts: 1) I don’t really need to eat as much as I usually eat. Moderate intake of food is enough; 2) water fills me up too; 3) feeling hungry is not necessarily a sign of actual hunger. After waiting for a while the hungry feeling disappears. If the feeling of hunger lingers for probably more than 15 minutes, then it’s real hunger.
Nuts
During my visit to Palentir this Friday afternoon, I had two handful of mixed nuts, and my stomach definitely didn't have a good experience.
Flax Seed Oil
I've only used my new flax seed oil once after I bought it two weeks ago, but starting from today I'll use it pretty frequently.
Sleep
Regarding sleep, it’s been both good and not so good. I was decorating my room for three days including today. I loved doing it so much that I didn’t want to go to bed or didn’t even realize that it was already past 11:30pm. So for the past two nights, I slept from midnight to 7:10am. I woke up at 7:10am in the past two days naturally and pretty precisely, and I didn’t feel sleepy at any point of the day (maybe it’s because I was loving decorating my room and studying fruit, vegetables, iron, zinc … …). So the not-so-good part is that I went to bed too late, but the good part is that I figured my natural amount of sleep now is 7 hours every day. I believe if I go to bed at around 10:30pm-11pm, I can sleep even less.
I’ll make a few new resolutions and edit my vegan documents tonight and tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Got up this morning at around 4:50
Last night after spending Valentine’s Day with Lisa, four of us were hanging out in our room. I put music on with my speaker hooked up with my laptop. While Latika’s Theme from Slumdog Millionaire was on, I put my computer to sleep without closing the music or tuning the speaker off or unhooking the speaker. Anyways, everything was asleep, and I went to bed at around 11pm.
This morning at around 4:40am, the music mysteriously turned on by itself and played for about 30 seconds. Latika’s Theme was beautiful in the peaceful, dark morning. When I checked the alarm clock, it was 4:43am. I was fully awake and I had a lot of work to do, so I got up. My computer was still asleep; Lisa was still asleep; everything was still asleep except me.
* I ended up falling asleep in my 8:15am class for 40 minutes. I left the class halfway through and took a nice rest on the coach in the GSB lounge for 20 minutes. Clearly 11pm-4:50am 5 hours and 50 minutes of sleep is not enough.
* I fell asleep again in the Bendor Room in the afternoon. Not getting enough sleep at night is awful.
This morning at around 4:40am, the music mysteriously turned on by itself and played for about 30 seconds. Latika’s Theme was beautiful in the peaceful, dark morning. When I checked the alarm clock, it was 4:43am. I was fully awake and I had a lot of work to do, so I got up. My computer was still asleep; Lisa was still asleep; everything was still asleep except me.
* I ended up falling asleep in my 8:15am class for 40 minutes. I left the class halfway through and took a nice rest on the coach in the GSB lounge for 20 minutes. Clearly 11pm-4:50am 5 hours and 50 minutes of sleep is not enough.
* I fell asleep again in the Bendor Room in the afternoon. Not getting enough sleep at night is awful.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Starting Vege Joy
I started this blog Vege Joy on Valentine’s Day 2011, because it’s an easy day to remember. Going vegetarian and then vegan has been an exhilarating self-exploration experience to me, so I would like to keep a diary of the joy of my Vege Journey here on Vege Joy. I intend this blog to be more of a record of what I did and what happened than an educational website about vegetarianism. In fact, what I like most about Vege Joy is that it is not only about the joy of my Vege Journey. It is also about the joy of my life. By life I mean life, unrelated to study and work. I find reflecting on life, designing my life, experimenting a new way of life, and making a change to life a lot of joy.
I created this post on the day I started this blog, but I didn’t write any content. Today, Monday, February 21, 2011, Presidents’ Day, one week after I started Vege Joy and one month after the start of my Vege Journey (btw, I totally didn’t realize that today is such an important day until I was writing the previous sentence), I’m coming back to record what happened in the first three weeks of this exciting journey.
Friday, January 21, 2011 Dinner with Mr. Fauver
I met Mr. Fauver through a class offered by the School of Medicine. I had dinner with him on this Friday night at Wilbur Dining. It was a life-changing dinner. Everything suddenly got connected, I realized that I was actually very spiritual in nature, and I became more peaceful and care-free.
I decided to learn about and start practicing meditation, so the next day I began to read about meditation online. Somehow I learned that a vegetarian diet helps people become more spiritual. I was curious and intrigued, so I began to read about vegetarianism. Then I learned how horribly the food industry treats animals and how a plant-based diet helps protect the environment. A feeling of compassion and love for nature made me want to go vegetarian. After further research, I concluded that a vegetarian diet was even healthier than an omnivore diet. At that time, I knew that I had become a vegetarian.
Sunday, January 23, 2011 Becoming a Vegetarian
I officially became a vegetarian.
I used to be a gluttonous carnivore. I LOVED sea food, dairy and eggs. All-you-care-to-eat dining halls in college were evil accomplices, which made more than 90% of the food on my plates meat. Fortunately I was not fat, so I kept on eating like that, until last year when a friend pointed out to me that not eating vegetables might be the reason why I had acne. This is so duh, but how come I didn’t realize it earlier?! So I began to eat more vegetables, but still not enough. It was not until December 8 last year, when I bet my roommate that I could lose 6 kg in one quarter by neither starving myself nor exercising, that I began to eat probably more vegetables than meat at most meals. Three weeks later, I fell in love with vegetables when eating a big plate of salad in Las Vegas. From then on, I began to be able to crave for vegetables. Coming back to school, I would sometimes even eat solely vegetables for meal out of my free will (not because of the bet at all).
Therefore, going vegetarian was a smooth transition to me. It was so natural that, except for one day when I really wanted the curry catfish at Wilbur Dining, I have never craved for meat at all since I became a vegetarian. Why did I really want the catfish? Well, a few days after going vegetarian, I saw chicken curry at Wilbur Dining and really wanted some curry. So I took some vegetables and curry sauce from the chicken curry. It turned out to be the worst vegetable ever. It had the taste of animal flesh, which instantaneously turned me off. I was surprised to discover that I began to dislike the taste of meat. However, I could not imagine that I would ever dislike the taste of fish, so two days later, when I saw the curry catfish, I decided to try it out to see if I still liked fish. Sure enough, I was still in love with fish. Even after finishing the one piece of curry catfish, I still could not stop thinking about it. So I took another two pieces, telling myself it was the last fish I would ever eat. And so far I was right.
Being a vegetarian definitely made me more sensitive to tastes, not only the tastes of animals, but also those of vegetables. I used to think all vegetables were equally plain tasting, but now I can taste each vegetable’s unique flavor. I was pretty sure that, after 21 years of eating, I had tasted almost all tastes out there, but during the first week of being vegetarian, I suddenly discovered an explosion of new naturally fantastic tastes of vegetables. It was quite a thrilling experience. It was the first time in my life that I loved every single meal I had.
Better taste is not the only unexpected experience I got from a vegetarian diet. Roughly one week after going vegetarian, I also experienced boost of energy, less sleep, and better skin. There’s a 20 degree hill leading to my dorm. I used to hate the hill and I always walked my bike every time I had to climb up the hill. However, one day, I could suddenly bike up the hill without much effort. I also easily acquired the ability to naturally wake up early in the morning (6-7am) and stay energetic all day. I used to sleep more than 9 hours every day, but now I almost never sleep more than 8 hours a day. I didn’t have acne when I went vegetarian, so I didn’t get to witness the direct effect of a vegetarian diet on acne. However, in general, a vegetarian diet is good for skin. Except the week of February 7-11, when I had breakout because of midterm stress, I haven’t had any acne on my face since going vegetarian.
Now move on to the bet I had with my roommate. I entered “safe zone” on the morning of January 27, 4 days after I became a vegetarian, and it was a huge relief. Safe zone means that as long as I hit the upper bound of the safe zone at one point, I could never lose the bet any more, but if I want to win the bet, I have to hit the lower bound by losing another 2 kg. I hated the bet, so hitting the safe zone was like the end of the bet to me. I could finally break the chain and eat freely now (although under the restriction of vegetarian). I didn’t want to become thinner, I didn’t expect to lose more weight, and I didn’t think about losing weight at all, but to my surprise, I lost 1 kg one month into the vegetarian diet. I believe that it’s not losing weight per se. Instead, I’m just getting closer to my natural state of being.
I also became happier and more peaceful. However, it’s hard to separate the effect of a vegetarian diet from other factors. This quarter is definitely much less stressful than my previous quarter, when I was doing recruiting. I also go out more this quarter. Last quarter, three of the four classes that I took had videos online, so I was mostly staying in my room preparing for recruiting. By contrast, this quarter, I began to cram a master’s program into my four years of undergrad study. Plus I am also auditing another three classes. Therefore, I have a lot of classes to attend and I bike around on campus a lot. But one thing is certain: eating only vegetables makes me feel more close to nature and my true self.
Thursday, February 3, 2011 Becoming a Vegan
I didn’t mention earlier that when I first went vegetarian, I decided that it didn’t have to be very strict. In fact, I broke the vegetarian rule twice when I was a vegetarian. First time was in the Integrative Medicine class, which offered students sandwiches for lunch. There was no vegetarian sandwich that day, and I didn’t want to starve myself, so I ate a tuna sandwich. The second time was the catfish incident described earlier. My philosophy was that, as long as I whole heartedly wanted to be a vegetarian, it didn’t matter if I broke the rule in extraneous circumstances. I didn’t like being too intentional and pedantic. I liked being natural and easy-going. I wanted to practice vegetarian out of my free will, not rules. I even briefly considered getting a small amount of fish back to my diet, because of its omega-3 fatty acid (not because I missed fish).
Then how did I suddenly become a strict vegan? First, I learned that cows and chickens are also treated horribly even when they are raised not to be eaten, but to produce milk and eggs. Second, the idea of going completely vegan made me feel more natural and spiritual. Third, being a vegetarian had been a mind-blowing experience, so I was confident to take a step further and discover more about myself. Note February 3, 2011 is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It was certainly a good start. It’s interesting that I turned from a carnivore to herbivore as the Chinese lunar year turned from Tiger to Rabbit.
Sunday, February 6, 2011 Becoming a Food Combinator
I bumped into the Food Combination (FC) theory while studying digestion time of different foods. FC was something completely new while making complete sense to me. In short, FC refers to the combination of foods which are compatible with each other in terms of digestive chemistry. It is a basic component of optimal nutrition because it allows the body to digest and utilize the nutrients in our foods to their full extent. With gazillions of rules, FC first looked extremely complicated, which discouraged me from studying it. But I gradually began to understand the whole theory and finally mastered all the rules.
It suddenly made sense why sometimes my stomach felt weird after I went vegetarian. It was because I ate too much delicious grain (starch) and yummy legume (protein) at the same meal, while according to FC, starches and proteins should not be taken at the same meal. I had a good amount of knowledge about healthy living/eating and I found FC a very sense-making theory, so I started to follow FC alongside a vegan diet. In the spirit of the post I wrote on February 15, 2011, I now call myself a Food Combinator. When first following FC, I messed up the combination rules quite frequently and I felt bad. But now I’m pretty familiar with all the rules and I feel good about my digestion. One proof that better digestion is probably not my wishful thinking is that since I went FC (and vegan at almost the same time), I have almost never had those farts with bad odor anymore. As we know, the amount you fart is one of the best indicators of how well you are digesting your food. Farts that produce bad odor is a sign of toxin formation occurring inside your gut from rotting of incompletely digested food.
I created this post on the day I started this blog, but I didn’t write any content. Today, Monday, February 21, 2011, Presidents’ Day, one week after I started Vege Joy and one month after the start of my Vege Journey (btw, I totally didn’t realize that today is such an important day until I was writing the previous sentence), I’m coming back to record what happened in the first three weeks of this exciting journey.
Friday, January 21, 2011 Dinner with Mr. Fauver
I met Mr. Fauver through a class offered by the School of Medicine. I had dinner with him on this Friday night at Wilbur Dining. It was a life-changing dinner. Everything suddenly got connected, I realized that I was actually very spiritual in nature, and I became more peaceful and care-free.
I decided to learn about and start practicing meditation, so the next day I began to read about meditation online. Somehow I learned that a vegetarian diet helps people become more spiritual. I was curious and intrigued, so I began to read about vegetarianism. Then I learned how horribly the food industry treats animals and how a plant-based diet helps protect the environment. A feeling of compassion and love for nature made me want to go vegetarian. After further research, I concluded that a vegetarian diet was even healthier than an omnivore diet. At that time, I knew that I had become a vegetarian.
Sunday, January 23, 2011 Becoming a Vegetarian
I officially became a vegetarian.
I used to be a gluttonous carnivore. I LOVED sea food, dairy and eggs. All-you-care-to-eat dining halls in college were evil accomplices, which made more than 90% of the food on my plates meat. Fortunately I was not fat, so I kept on eating like that, until last year when a friend pointed out to me that not eating vegetables might be the reason why I had acne. This is so duh, but how come I didn’t realize it earlier?! So I began to eat more vegetables, but still not enough. It was not until December 8 last year, when I bet my roommate that I could lose 6 kg in one quarter by neither starving myself nor exercising, that I began to eat probably more vegetables than meat at most meals. Three weeks later, I fell in love with vegetables when eating a big plate of salad in Las Vegas. From then on, I began to be able to crave for vegetables. Coming back to school, I would sometimes even eat solely vegetables for meal out of my free will (not because of the bet at all).
Therefore, going vegetarian was a smooth transition to me. It was so natural that, except for one day when I really wanted the curry catfish at Wilbur Dining, I have never craved for meat at all since I became a vegetarian. Why did I really want the catfish? Well, a few days after going vegetarian, I saw chicken curry at Wilbur Dining and really wanted some curry. So I took some vegetables and curry sauce from the chicken curry. It turned out to be the worst vegetable ever. It had the taste of animal flesh, which instantaneously turned me off. I was surprised to discover that I began to dislike the taste of meat. However, I could not imagine that I would ever dislike the taste of fish, so two days later, when I saw the curry catfish, I decided to try it out to see if I still liked fish. Sure enough, I was still in love with fish. Even after finishing the one piece of curry catfish, I still could not stop thinking about it. So I took another two pieces, telling myself it was the last fish I would ever eat. And so far I was right.
Being a vegetarian definitely made me more sensitive to tastes, not only the tastes of animals, but also those of vegetables. I used to think all vegetables were equally plain tasting, but now I can taste each vegetable’s unique flavor. I was pretty sure that, after 21 years of eating, I had tasted almost all tastes out there, but during the first week of being vegetarian, I suddenly discovered an explosion of new naturally fantastic tastes of vegetables. It was quite a thrilling experience. It was the first time in my life that I loved every single meal I had.
Better taste is not the only unexpected experience I got from a vegetarian diet. Roughly one week after going vegetarian, I also experienced boost of energy, less sleep, and better skin. There’s a 20 degree hill leading to my dorm. I used to hate the hill and I always walked my bike every time I had to climb up the hill. However, one day, I could suddenly bike up the hill without much effort. I also easily acquired the ability to naturally wake up early in the morning (6-7am) and stay energetic all day. I used to sleep more than 9 hours every day, but now I almost never sleep more than 8 hours a day. I didn’t have acne when I went vegetarian, so I didn’t get to witness the direct effect of a vegetarian diet on acne. However, in general, a vegetarian diet is good for skin. Except the week of February 7-11, when I had breakout because of midterm stress, I haven’t had any acne on my face since going vegetarian.
Now move on to the bet I had with my roommate. I entered “safe zone” on the morning of January 27, 4 days after I became a vegetarian, and it was a huge relief. Safe zone means that as long as I hit the upper bound of the safe zone at one point, I could never lose the bet any more, but if I want to win the bet, I have to hit the lower bound by losing another 2 kg. I hated the bet, so hitting the safe zone was like the end of the bet to me. I could finally break the chain and eat freely now (although under the restriction of vegetarian). I didn’t want to become thinner, I didn’t expect to lose more weight, and I didn’t think about losing weight at all, but to my surprise, I lost 1 kg one month into the vegetarian diet. I believe that it’s not losing weight per se. Instead, I’m just getting closer to my natural state of being.
I also became happier and more peaceful. However, it’s hard to separate the effect of a vegetarian diet from other factors. This quarter is definitely much less stressful than my previous quarter, when I was doing recruiting. I also go out more this quarter. Last quarter, three of the four classes that I took had videos online, so I was mostly staying in my room preparing for recruiting. By contrast, this quarter, I began to cram a master’s program into my four years of undergrad study. Plus I am also auditing another three classes. Therefore, I have a lot of classes to attend and I bike around on campus a lot. But one thing is certain: eating only vegetables makes me feel more close to nature and my true self.
Thursday, February 3, 2011 Becoming a Vegan
I didn’t mention earlier that when I first went vegetarian, I decided that it didn’t have to be very strict. In fact, I broke the vegetarian rule twice when I was a vegetarian. First time was in the Integrative Medicine class, which offered students sandwiches for lunch. There was no vegetarian sandwich that day, and I didn’t want to starve myself, so I ate a tuna sandwich. The second time was the catfish incident described earlier. My philosophy was that, as long as I whole heartedly wanted to be a vegetarian, it didn’t matter if I broke the rule in extraneous circumstances. I didn’t like being too intentional and pedantic. I liked being natural and easy-going. I wanted to practice vegetarian out of my free will, not rules. I even briefly considered getting a small amount of fish back to my diet, because of its omega-3 fatty acid (not because I missed fish).
Then how did I suddenly become a strict vegan? First, I learned that cows and chickens are also treated horribly even when they are raised not to be eaten, but to produce milk and eggs. Second, the idea of going completely vegan made me feel more natural and spiritual. Third, being a vegetarian had been a mind-blowing experience, so I was confident to take a step further and discover more about myself. Note February 3, 2011 is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It was certainly a good start. It’s interesting that I turned from a carnivore to herbivore as the Chinese lunar year turned from Tiger to Rabbit.
Sunday, February 6, 2011 Becoming a Food Combinator
I bumped into the Food Combination (FC) theory while studying digestion time of different foods. FC was something completely new while making complete sense to me. In short, FC refers to the combination of foods which are compatible with each other in terms of digestive chemistry. It is a basic component of optimal nutrition because it allows the body to digest and utilize the nutrients in our foods to their full extent. With gazillions of rules, FC first looked extremely complicated, which discouraged me from studying it. But I gradually began to understand the whole theory and finally mastered all the rules.
It suddenly made sense why sometimes my stomach felt weird after I went vegetarian. It was because I ate too much delicious grain (starch) and yummy legume (protein) at the same meal, while according to FC, starches and proteins should not be taken at the same meal. I had a good amount of knowledge about healthy living/eating and I found FC a very sense-making theory, so I started to follow FC alongside a vegan diet. In the spirit of the post I wrote on February 15, 2011, I now call myself a Food Combinator. When first following FC, I messed up the combination rules quite frequently and I felt bad. But now I’m pretty familiar with all the rules and I feel good about my digestion. One proof that better digestion is probably not my wishful thinking is that since I went FC (and vegan at almost the same time), I have almost never had those farts with bad odor anymore. As we know, the amount you fart is one of the best indicators of how well you are digesting your food. Farts that produce bad odor is a sign of toxin formation occurring inside your gut from rotting of incompletely digested food.
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