Day 71... It's baba ghanoush all over again!

Hi there.

I'm back from a helluva hiatus, and I'm here to tell ya, it's a 'fat' world out there, and I've been a bad vegan. Let's put it this way... I gained two ounces since my last weigh off. There are many reasons why I gained what I gained (if, in fact, I did actually gain weight). But let's put this nonsense aside and allow me to explain the primitive drawing of a plate full of food pictured above.

I attended to a dietitian just over two weeks ago, and she 'designed' the helpful diagram above. It is a plate describing approximately what proportions of food I should have in respect to fresh vegetables, starches/carbs and proteins. Apparently half of my plate can manage at least a cup or more of fresh, mostly raw, vegetables. I need a cup of carbs on one quarter of my plate, consisting of possibly fruit, beans, whole wheat pasta or whole grain rice. The last quarter of my plate is reserved for protein, consisting of beans, nuts, seeds, tofu and other vegetarian type fake meats (there's a lot of meat substitutes out there if you look for them).

I am to eat five times a day, broken down to three meals and two snacks consisting of a fruit of some kind, like an apple or peach. Breakfast can be one of my famous tofu smoothies consisting of a cup of fruit, two servings of tofu, and vanilla soy milk blended to a shake. Use the silk variety Tofu -- extra soft. Fruits can be frozen berry blend or smoothie blend with peach, papaya and pineapple -- or just blueberries or strawberries. Another breakfast is a slice of Ezekiel bread, 2 tee spoons of almond butter and a fruit. Another breakfast is a Lara bar, a Cliff nectar bar with a soy yogurt or soy milk.

The lunch and dinners are more or less what I've been eating, but a smaller portion to compliment the breakfast and snack.

Afternoon snack is 60 minutes before going to the gym, and consists of either a piece of fruit, a soy yogurt, one third cup of almonds or a Lara or Cliff Nectar bar.

What do you think? This seems like a good plan, doesn't it? It insures that I will not starve, but I will also lose weight and feel great.

We'll get there. Last week was a disaster though. I was in a big rush to eat all my frozen veggies. Apparently they expired and lost all their flavor. They are what I call 'discomfort food' where one eats, out of obligation or some sense of duty, foods they would normally throw out. Then I had at least two loaves of Ezekiel bread to compliment the Jerry Lewis of eat-a-thons, eating these unpalatable veggies to get to the organic good stuff I bought at the farmer's market last Sunday. The good stuff sits in the fridge 'languishing' while I eat the tasteless tailing's of frozen veggie rejects packed in Mexico, and delivered frozen to our stores.

So I ate, and ate, and ate. Yesterday and today I ate a total of four bagels from the office break room. I was overcome by the urge to eat bagels. But no more.

My fridge is clean and empty of undesirable food. From now on it's fresh veggies, fruits, soy smoothies and healthy snacks. Are you in on this one with me? Can we do it? We'll find out.