Where's the Beef? Part 1

I could have written this:

http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/386123924/the-history-of-my-diet

Well, maybe not as well.  And my own situation wasn't as dramatic.  I was a vegetarian long-term, but only vegan for a short while because I went downhill more rapidly than he did.

Like Rhys, I was tired on the vegan diet.  I also struggled with restless legs, lots of skin problems and I caught every cold and flu version that passed my way.

For me, being vegetarian did "fix" certain problems, like weight and monthly hormones, but eventually it caught up with me.  I tried dozens of prescription and non-prescription creams and lotions for my skin, every type of shampoo and soap for my scalp, and every kind of laundry detergent on my clothing, but nothing helped.

Like Rhys, my gateway drug back to omnivorism was not bacon, it was a bottle of omega 3 capsules.  My skin and hair improved considerably.  My restless legs mostly stopped when I started taking Cal-Mag tablets.  My peripheral neuropathy stopped after I went on a low-carb diet.  I haven't gotten sick ever since I started supplementing with vitamin D over two years ago, so even a Paleo/Primal diet with sunshine didn't fully help.

However, unlike Rhys, I think it was my whole-foods macrobiotic diet that allowed me to be a vegetarian for so long without such severe consequences.  At least I had seaweed and a goodly amount of brown rice for my carbs, instead of wheat.  For me at least, I think an excess of wheat was the main culprit the whole time.  I remember when I became a vegetarian for the first time in my teens.  I had a huge bowl of wheat germ with milk for breakfast every morning, and my skin started to break out more.  Eventually I stopped eating the wheat germ so constantly, because it came in a little jar and I got tired of buying so much of it.

This winter I have allowed a bit of wheat back into my diet.  I was always following some sort of 80/20 rule, and didn't worry too much about going out to dinner, or the occasional cookie.  Right around Thanksgiving, we had a few goodies around the house, then with all the other holidays, there were more wheat options.  I tried to eat wheat only every other day, but eventually I started eating more.

You see, I work in the food rescue business, and most days I am working with mounds of bagels, boxes and bags of pastries, wonderful artisan loaves of bread wheat pasta.  So, a bagel here, a piece of broken cookie there, well you know the drill.

I started gaining weight around the holidays, and then I fell.  4 times!  Every time I fell, I would hurt my knee or something, then get stiff, then trip over something else in the garden.  My last fall was the worst.  I tripped on the vacuum cleaner, went sailing into a hope chest, and rolled down right on my already-injured knee.  My baby toe got numb and I still have problems with my knee several months later.  But then something really weird started happening.  My other toe got numb, and then my baby fingers.  I started running into everything and losing my balance.  And perhaps how I was sitting was causing a problem.  I used to sit anywhere, usually cross-legged on the floor and I could no longer bend my knee that far, or get up off the floor without damaging my knee further.  I couldn't do strengthening exercises or walking either.

I suspected that wheat was causing the problem, since the same symptoms happened after Thanksgiving.  I did a bit of reading and found that there is a condition called "gluten ataxia".  I don't think I have that, since my condition improved immediately after stopping all wheat.  I have been totally wheat-free for about two weeks now, and I am also doing Dr. Davis' wheatlessMarch challenge.  I know there is something else that is causing problems, and if I am not 100% better in a month, I will be eliminating other foods that could either be contaminating or cross-reactive.

This is so weird!  Who knew wheat could cause me to lose my balance?  Who knew it could cause nerve damage that may be permanent?  (OK, maybe Dr. Perlmutter.) Currently, I am experimenting with non-gluten grains to see if they are also a problem.  I don't know if it is due to the wheat proteins or the high-glycemic index of wheat products.  I KNOW that certain other foods are still a bother.  Now that I have drained the wheat swamp, other problems present immediately and dramatically.

I am not sure if I am ready to be one of those people who can't have absolutely any wheat.  In the meantime, I will continue to be one of those faddy people swept up in the anti-gluten craze.

Here's more info on gluten ataxia.

Under Construction

I have wanted to say so many things since Our Mister Moore leaked out a few youtube teasers with his interview with Dick MacDougall, but I didn't even know where to start.  This topic warrants a whole series.

Here's the short part.

I followed the MacDougall diet religiously for as long as I could stand it.  I got fatter, and felt miserable.

Warning:  listening and watching this is like watching a train wreck with an entire load of fingernails crashing into another train head-on, carrying a load of blackboards.  Just do the ole'NLP trick, put the podcast in a frame, turn it into "black and white", and move it away in your mind during the scary parts.  This will make the podcast seem less like one of my famous holiday get-togethers.

Who Got Ancel Keys' office?

Oh, I don't know who got it either, but I got somethin' better.

This REALLY COOL THING that happened today.

I had been feeling out of sorts lately at the local Sunday potluck, since it has gone so much towards vegetarian/vegan.  Earlier I spoke about the demonization of butter, and how coconut oil is the new star.

Maybe it was my speech, or maybe just chance, but a few friendly people joined me at the dinner table, and we continued the discussion regarding butter-as-evil.  Then one guy said something I really didn't expect to hear in polite company:

"We really don't know all that much about nutrition, do we?"  Well, I sure could agree with that.  People tried to recall the exact time (and what they were eating) when butter was declared B-A-D.  Then my friend offered another tidbit.

"Do you know Ancel Keys?"

I replied that I did know him.  Well.....I didn't really know him.  I had read some of his work, and many of the critiques.

"Did you REALLY know him?" I asked.

"Yes I did, in fact, I shared an office with him."  He went on to explain that they used to share lots of the data, and years after Keys' first papers on arterycloggingsaturatedfat, long-term data started coming in that didn't match the theory.

Keys said, "Based on what these people are eating, they should be dead by now."  He couldn't figure it out.

Of course, many were still alive.  These old folks were eating BAD stuff, probably some of that evil butter.  Keys admitted that he had come to the conclusion that his theory was wrong.

"What were these people eating that was supposed to make them dead?  Sat fat?  Lots of eggs?" I asked.

"Yes, lots of eggs and fat.  At first we tried to explain it away by saying that some people were hanging on longer because lots of the fat-eaters must have died so early."

There were lots of rationalizations.  My friend and I talked about our theories as to why all the rationalizations, and will be the subject of another blog post.   I wanted to know why the about-face wasn't made public.

"Well, it was a professional reputation issue," my friend continued.  "This was in the late 80's."  I guess at the time, people weren't allowed to have another opinion on the matter.

My how times have changed!  Or have they?

(Here's the information that spurred the thoughts on butter.  I thought, HUH?  Have I been punked?  Is this from the Onion?)

Paleo on $100 a month - day 29 - yes, Virginia, I can eat blueberries, avocados and eggs on the same day

I should have taken a photo of my garden basket today, as it would have looked better than the finest farm-to-table article in any fancy wine magazine.  I had blueberries.  I had strawberries.  I had potatoes.  I had fave beans.  I had beets.  I had baby onions.  I had artichokes.  And of course, the usual greens, fennel and lemon balm.

I am harvesting and drying the lemon balm in earnest, especially after a trading partner asked for another container.  She said she would even go in on a dehydrator, because the lemon balm was so important and helpful for her family.  I probably gave her about $100 worth of dried lemon balm this season, that is, if she had to buy it on the open market as packaged tea.

Today's breakfast was the usual, along with grapefruit from trader Eta.  While commenting to my family that I might even run out of lemons, I ran into a lemon bonanza from traders Humberto and Delta, and so have plenty.  Delta also gave me several giant grapefruit, so there won't be any vitamin C deficiencies here for awhile.

Lunch was cold chicken burgers with pickles and feta cheese from trader Felix, beet and lemon juice, nuts from trader Dean, kumquats, blueberries, strawberries and the other half of the avocado.  I also finished the last of the olives and the last tangerine from trader Humberto.

Dinner was chicken, fava, potato, leeks, greens, beets, artichokes and nuts from trader Dean.  Oh, and kumquats.  I also finished the last of the buffalo, with pickles.  Dinner took a long time, because so many of the food selections for the day needed the pressure cooker or extra preparation.

A vegetarian friend send me a link to the "archaeological scientist" with vegetarian leanings.  I must say, she should stick to something she knows, maybe like science or or maybe archaeology, because she sure is effin' clueless about real food.  Her talk is also a great illustration of how there is no good review process for choosing TEDx lecturers.

She made some crack about the stupid paleos who think they are OK with eating a meal of eggs, blueberries and avocado, when EVERYBODY KNOWS that blueberries all come from Maine and there aren't any avocados there.  Hey paleo peeps, I would like you to make this post viral.  I DID eat real-time eggs, avocados and blueberries on the same day.  It is not hard to do.  Millions of people in SoCal can do this all through February to May, that is, if they can source that many local eggs.  This is the time of the year where backyard farmers are selling their excess eggs, their blueberry plants are bursting at the seams, and the avocados are ready.  Yep, fully available for one in ten people in the US in February, and more and more, as the blueberry harvest gets in full swing all the way up the coast.

Maybe she was spending so much time in the scientific lab studying ancient animal scat to notice that avocados do not ripen until they are removed from the tree, resulting in an extremely long season, and the ability of long-distance transport.  Even by food, the avocados could reach over 100 miles away from the orchard no problem.

No food purchases today, leaving me with $18.42 in the kitty.

Paleo on $100 a month day 14 - Are these Vegetarian times?

Sunday was potluck day, and unfortunately, lots of people attending were vegetarians and worse yet, vegans, which meant that there was a dearth of protein and even fat.  Since I was one of the first in line, I did snag some half and half for my coffee and a couple slices of cheese, but the rest of it was carby, wheaty or had mostly salad greens in it.  There wasn't even any butter to be found anywhere (except in my dish, of course!)  I took a huge container of swiss chard cooked in butter and a container of herb tea with citrus from my trees from trader Noel and honey from trader Felix.

The chard was immediately devoured but the tea went untouched, probably because of all the competition from the sugary fruit drinks.

I came home hungry for protein and so raided the fridge for more beef ribs and pork and a small package of protein powder from trader Jerry.  I also steamed three artichokes and enjoyed the tea I had prepared earlier, along with extra beet juice, 4 salty olives and some butter.  Breakfast was just more leftovers with tea from trader Olga.  It sure was nice to have the free-trade coffee.  I poured another mug and then my ride announced that we were leaving immediately.  Good for me I had my trusty thermos!

The vegans seemed malnourished and righteous.  The food issue at these potlucks has been contentious for awhile, with the ethical vegans insisting that "flesh" not be served for anyone.  For a time, some folks refused to comply with the request.  (The vote to keep it all vegan didn't pass so the measure died and the ban was voluntary.)  I started bringing lots and lots of garden veggies to these events, since most people don't bring enough food for everyone who attends and I always have tons of greens.  This time it was all vegetarian, which wouldn't be all that bad for a meal if there was some protein besides hummus.

No purchases today, so I have $19.46 left in the kitty.