Day 13

On time tonight. Had a chicken salad with homemade blue cheese dressing. It's pretty simple to make and much healthier and better tasting that the junk in the bottle. I must admit I like the stuff the restaurants get through their wholesalers. I had a burger for dinner, so not very compliant: shame on me. Went to the store to grab a few things, especially with our daughter coming down for spring break. Crazy visit at the WalMart due to the coronavirus paranoia. We had a guy test positive on base and the place went nuts. School is canceled, church is cancelled, there is no toilet paper at Wally's and numerous other things like bread, water, ramen, canned meals and such are almost gone. Just checked my blood pressure and I'm at a record low for me of 104 topside 75 below down from 135/82 before I started all this. Good things happening in the body, just gotta stick with it.

Days 10 through 12

Been busy these last few evening and have not got to the computer to write. I ended up having to cheat on a couple meals due to our schedule. I definitely feel more bloated and stuff after a meal on the town-even though I ate fairly well for where I went. Tonight I made pizza with my nomato sauce and it was good as usual. I added mushrooms this time to make it a bit healthier. I also made a homemade blue cheese dressing and some Swerve Chocolate Chip cookies. My wife and daughter did not care for them, but I thought they were good. This is the first time my wife has ever not eaten a chocolate chip cookie! There is definitely a change in how your body reacts to things. Since I've only been drinking water and using Swerve and things like that my sugar intake is almost nil, so things appear sweeter to me. However, my wife and daughter's bodies are geared for high quantities of processed sugar, so it doesn't taste good to them. I bet if I had a Dr. Pepper right now (which sounds good) it would taste bad to me as I would pick up on the chemicals. Disclosure, I have experienced this once before when dropping soda for awhile, but it doesn't take long to get the taste for it back. I got some packages today, one with Psyllium Husk Powder for baking and Root Beer extract in an attempt to make a compliant and healthy soda. I also got a Kitchen-aid Pasta maker so I can make my own pasta which is much cheaper than going to Lawton and buying it. Hopefully I can carve out time more routinely to do this daily, but life happens. Thanks for carving out a minute to hear me ramble.

Day 8 and 9

A long week caught up and I slept in Saturday. Had a salad for lunch and we made tacos for dinner. The lectin free tortillas didn't come out as hoped. They need to be very thin and I had them too thick. The taste is okay and it feels like I'm eating a corn tortilla, but it's just almond flour and coconut flour. I learned a lot about making tortillas and I need to make some cassava flour tortilla which should be more like normal flour tortillas. The evening had a band fundraiser called beats and treats. They make money of tickets and auctioned items, but parent made treats are included. And I couldn't eat a one; just had a water. My daughter was still hungry, so we got her some food at Sonic and my wife got a Oreo Sonic Blast. I was pretty stressed today and having to see all the goodies fed the fire. It should be noted thought that despite being irritated/stressed/wanting to quit my blood pressure came in the lowest it's been in about 6 years. This morning I saw 311, so the drop continues albeit a bit slower. My wife made fiesta lime chicken which isn't the most compliant dish and it didn't sit well with me. I'm not sure why, but I paid for it. We made hamburgers for dinner and I made my own buns which were okay, but not great and my own ketchup which did turn out alright. Nightshades are generally a no-no, but can be eaten occasionally if they are skinned and deseeded. The tomato paste base I used was skinned and deseeded (pretty much all are including puree). I finished off by eating the rest of my coconut milk ice cream (butter pecan). I have some things to make this week and we'll see if I actually find the time. Sloppy Joe will be one and the ketchup will be the base for that. I already had my own Sloppy Joe sauce recipe which blows the can stuff and other recipe I've had away. We will see how it tastes with most of the lectins removed. I really need to solve that bun mystery though. A final note, I used to have an program called Pepperplate that I had some of my recipes in, but it went pay be the month and I lost access. I've been looking for something else cheap to organize my recipes and I found the holy grail! It's called Paprika and there is a free version that allows up to 50 recipes to be stored. This is a phone app and you have to pay separate for each platform if you want the full version and they will then share all in the cloud. I was able to go to some different lectin free sites and download the recipe which is so quick and easy. Some other programs do this, but only with certain websites, this had done everyone I've tried so far. There is also a meal planner which is handy and that will create a shopping list for you. There is also a pantry where you can put all the ingredients you have in your kitchen with expiration dates. I input my whole spice rack which will be nice when I'm at the store and wondering what I have. Check out Paprika, it's pretty cool and free for up to 50 recipes. Oh, finally watched Ratatouille tonight since food is the focus lately: good movie.

Day 7

Yesterday we had to get up early to substitute teach a seminary class. We were on the hook to bring donuts, but I didn't eat any, nor did my wife. (They ate them up pretty quick). The bakery we get them from also has breakfast burritos, croissants, biscuits and kolaches which has inspired me to try to make some tortillas this weekend and freeze some compliant breakfast burritos. Lunch was the usual Caesar salad again to use that up. We had to run to Lawton, OK to get some things right after work, so I was forced to eat out. In an effort to stay as true as possible, we went to Carl's Jr and I got a Beyond Meat Famous Star. I've been wanting to try this since I tried the Impossible Burger at Burger King which was really good and you can actually get the Beyond Meat stuff in Lawton. I also took the bad parts of the tomato as best I could (seeds and skin). The burger was okay, but the Impossible Burger is much better in my opinion. I think my wife would like the Beyond Meat better as it is not as flavorful. She pulls so many toppings off the burger that the Impossible Burger has too much flavor for her (it was designed to compliment a normal burger). I also had a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette and a water. We did some grocery shopping, but sadly I couldn't find one of the things I was looking for: Root Beer extract. There is none of that for over at least hundred miles. It is interesting to note that I found the Beyond Meat at the store, but when I read the ingredients they were definitely not Plant Paradox compliant/lectin free. I Googled and Dr. Gundry confirmed this and has his own burger recipe. We'll have to try that some time. They are probably better for you, but not the best. No weight loss at all for the first time yesterday, but having to eat out kind of throws a wrench in that. I do find it interesting that I found a few articles on the MSN newsfeed about health and certain foods and they totally support what is said in the Plant Paradox. Still feeling good, we'll see if I get to the tortillas Saturday. See ya later.

Day 5 & 6

It's been a bit busy and I'm really late this time. I had another Caesar salad yesterday for lunch. I also tried some Quest protein bars at work and didn't care for them. I spent most of the night in the kitchen cooking. I made a pizza for dinner, but at it late due to our Toastmasters meeting. The crust was good, but not as good as the almond crust I bought (but they were close). This one had almond flour, coconut flour and tapioca flour along with some Italian seasons and an egg. Put the cheese and prosciutto on top and put it on the spinner. What a tasty dinner. I then made bread and more Caesar dressing with the intention of making croutons for the Caesar salad for our lunch with the General today. Stayed up so late I didn't have time to blog. I had them in the oven to dry and crisp this morning, but ran out of time, so no croutons and no blog. I've been drinking the super reds at work with a bottle of water and everytime I make it I make a mess with the powder. I really need to remember to bring my small funnel. Tonight I had to have dinner with the General at a Steakhouse. I was about as good as I could be there getting grilled shrimp and a sweet potato for a side along with drinking water. I didn't even eat any of the peanuts on the table. Still doing well and hoping to get some more recipes worked in to bring more variety. I finally took some food porn of a slice of my lectin free pizza; who thought being healthy could actually taste good?

Day 5

Another late post. Took a half day off from work yesterday (Tuesday Day 5). The stress and irritability got to me and could not sleep. Still feel pretty good during the day. I had another Caesar salad for lunch today and had two smaller pieces of salmon with grilled onions and cabbage for dinner. I don't care much for the fried cabbage. Putting the Super Reds in my water at work perks me up which is good and the nut mix is also a big help. I forgot to defrost and take my muffins with me, so that was a bit of a bummer. We went to a promotion ceremony and they had some finger foods; they looked and smelt so good. I would have hammered that stuff previously and I thought to myself was we left the party that I would have ingested a bunch of calories. Still losing weight, but it's slowing down a bit. I'm sure one day I will finally get a reading that is the same or a bit higher. Probably Friday morning after our dinner with a General that is coming into town. Stay tuned, we'll see. Thanks again for reading.

Day 4

This is a bit late, but better than never. The first day back was okay. I was working on short sleep, which didn't help. In hindsight, sleep is always important, but even more so when in the first week of this diet. I believe there was something mentioned about being irritable and some of that might be a little hangry streak especially with people eating normal food around you. I imagine it's like a smoker trying to quick but having to stand next to the smoke pit. I started (yesterday now) with a homemade chocolate milk of sorts (coconut milk, 100% cocoa, swerve and stevia drops) and it was okay, but not great. I threw some prebiotic in there too. I had my Gundry nut mix with me and an orange-cranberry muffin which got me through the morning, but I was very tired. A couple hours in I put a scoot of Super Reds in a water bottle and that perked me up quite a bit. Lunch was another good Caesar salad since I need to use the dressing up. We did spaghetti for dinner and I used the Capellos Fettuccini noodles with my nomato sauce and Parmesan Reggiano cheese. It was okay, as Beth said: a little too beety. I had an 8th of a cup of So Delicious Non-Dairy Butter Pecan Ice Cream. The should change this to so-so delicious. I spent the early evening trying to figure out a compliant potluck dish, but failed and will just take a Caesar salad. I wanted to run to the store, but got delayed in that and the frustration and whatnot having built over the day just got worse and I was super stressed at bed time. I couldn't go to sleep. I ended up taking half the day today because I was so wiped out. I think I've reset myself and should be okay for a second half day of work. This is also the 4th straight day with a drop on the scale: I cracked into 312 pounds. I haven't really noticed it on my body except if I suck my gut in the top is a bit smaller. I know from the Six Week Cure to the Middle Aged Middle book from back in Afghanistan that this is visceral fat that is around the organs and water weight. Your visceral fat is usually the first to go-and on that, time for me to go. Thanks for reading and sorry it's a bit late.

Day 2/3

Well, last night's dinner didn't go as planned. My onion from Wal-Mart was bad when I cut into it. I'm so frustrated with our Wal-Mart here, it's the worst. I used to get sandwiches on occasion and stopped because they were not very good, the bread wasn't fresh and sometimes they did not include the listed ingredients. I figured it was just a Wal-Mart thing, but I got one at a different Wal-Mart a month or so ago and it was great. Our produce is garbage and many things are not even stocked. I think Wal-Mart as a whole is going down hill as they try to maintain profits levels with increasing Amazon competition. I did have the salmon per the recipe without the veggies. I also made some Simple Mills Chocolate cupcakes that use almond flour and coconut sugar among other things with Vital Farms Pasture Raised eggs, coconut milk and olive oil. We have all three kids here this weekend and all five of us liked them. My wife took that healthy concoction and ruined it with cheap icing. Today I had a salad with chicken pieces with a homemade Caesar instead of the olive oil lemon juice dressing in the book. It was awesome. I looked at the ingredients to Kraft Classic Caesar and wow what a bunch of junk. I found the dressing recipe here: Dressing Recipe We ate breakfast for dinner and I made Simple Mills pancakes that got unanimous approval; to quote everyone, it tastes like a pancake. The girls used nasty fake syrup, my son used my old real maple syrup and I put minced 72% dark chocolate between two pancakes and that was good too. They ate the rest of the normal eggs and I had a fried vital farms egg with Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce. I also made some snacks for me this week doing the orange-cranberry muffin recipe form the Plant Paradox book. I'm the only one that really liked them because they had so many cranberries in them and I agree it's probably a bit too much. Also realized after the fact that I got sweetened dried cranberries, so I was a bit disappointed. On the scale this morning I was down another pound, yippee! I threw together a chocolate milk experiment with coconut milk, 100% cocoa, 2 drops of stevia and two small spoons of Swerve. It's okay, but not great. I'll have to work on it. We'll see how it goes sitting in the fridge all night and adding some prebiotic in the morning. Feeling pretty good so far, had a bit of a headache this afternoon and last night, but I think it due to all the changes and drastic calorie reduction for me. Admittedly probably a bit too low for my build. This is another issue with many diets; they say eat X amount of calories or whatever and that's great for people that are not too overweight, but for obese types like myself not so much as our caloric requirement is higher. If you want a bleeped chuckle, watch the video from the Bar D farm where our eggs came from here: Vital Farms Bar D Farm That's all for tonight, we'll see how day 1 at work goes with this diet.

The first step into blogging. Why? I have benefited from so many who share on the internet and I figured that maybe I could help somebody and provide a different take on things that connects in a way that others cannot. Today I am on Day 2 of the Plant Paradox Diet which isn't really a diet, but more of a lifestyle. Yesterday morning before starting, I weighed in at 323.8 pounds. My knees and ankles hurt (and they should having to haul my fat butt around), I have high blood pressure, just had a basal cell carcinoma removed from by my eye, my mind is going to crap, plus the normal old overweight guy getting old issues; in short I am going to heck in a handbasket. My other issue is a mystery. Often when I visit fast food places, I have to go straight home to explode. I've tried to isolate it, but it's no use. I realized that I should have titled this obese guy since that's what science likes to call me. A real wake up for me was getting on the Wii Fit Balance Board and instead of it doing its normal rude things like saying oh when stepping on the scale and your obese after it weighs, it said your too fat for this, sorry. I got an exercise bike, and that helped, but it was not the end game solution. While deployed to Afghanistan I read a book call Six Weeks to the Middle Aged Middle and I lost a good 30 pounds on that, but I gained it back when I came home. My sweet-tooth wife doesn't make things easier, nor does not planning for meals and settling to just eat out. I watch a fun YouTube channel called Provost Park Pass that talks about Disney parks. Being a Patreon member for them, I got to watch a Sunday Q&A with Produce Zach and a guy named Thumbnail Dave. Some lady asked about having a YouTube channel and after chatting about it, Zach mentioned Dave's healthy eating channel AZ Life Cooking. That channel introduced me to the Plant Paradox from Dr. Gundry. Many of the good things I have found over the years came together in this book and it all seems to make sense now. People with autoimmune issues have benefited so much from this Diet/Lifestyle and that's great. I consider myself more on the weightloss side, but a little on the medical due to my food issues. I read the book in a week and finally decided to start the diet, but do it my way. Dr. Gundry says do it the best that you can and that's what I will do-especially being in the sticks and not having access to some of the healthy foods in the program. Yesterday I had 2/3s of a green smoothie (I messed this one up and it wasn't great), a chicken salad for lunch and I made a lectin free pizza for dinner (Capello's almond flour crust, nomato sauce I made, manchego and pecorino romano cheese and prosciutto). The pizza was good. I must say that I'm shocked that the nomato sauce made of carrots and beets so closely replicated spaghetti sauce. Today so far I've only had a salad and will do the salmon and onion/cabbage dinner recipe per the plan. I'm not starving and have a decent amount of energy. I know many autoimmune types have a rough time, thats also why maybe I give the normalish fat person a look into what this will do for them. Thanks for following my journey.