Day 1 Tuesday February 2, 2009

INTRODUCTION

Just got back from 1 month holiday in Rio Grande Valley in Texas. During that time, both Katie and I ate more than we usually do...a lot more! The portion sizes were often huge and a lot of the foods were fried, and certainly not what one should be eating on a regular basis.

Friends of ours have adopted the Rave Diet, which is a Vegan diet...http://www.ravediet.com/

It is an old-fashioned, plant-based, whole foods diet based exclusively on whole fruits, whole vegetables and whole grains and offers literally thousands of food choices. It is derived from very simple dietary rules doctors use to successfully treat and reverse a wide range of diseases, particularly our number one killer, cardiovascular disease.

Both of us can stand to lose quite a few pounds and eat in a more healthy manner. We have tried many diets in the past with only limited success. My dad died of a heart attack when he was 54, although my mom lived to 100...so what does that mean? Katie's family has a history of Cancer.

We have decided to give the Rave Diet, which basically amounts to a change in lifestyle, a go, for 30 days and longer if possible. All will depend on how well we do, how we feel, and if we still believe that it is a more healthy way of living.

We are going to combine this type of eating with regular exercise. Prior to going to Texas I went for a 40 minute walk every day, and also went to the YMCA, Katie would go to the YMCA downtown at lunch time and do 30 minutes on the stair stepper. We intend to keep this up.

Our goal is to get thinner, reduce the important readings the Doctor takes for the annual medical, and in general just be more fit and healthy.

The Rave Diet book comes with a DVD which is an eye opener. I feel that some of the DVD contains some material which I think goes a bit far, but I can't argue with the claims of the medical benefits. There have been many studies over the years which I am aware of, which prove, that thinner is better. That's one thing....now, we intend to see if Vegan is better as well.

We are both committed to doing this, although I anticipate some difficulty as I dislike many of the foods which I will likely be consuming.

Today, Katie and I will be going shopping and loading up on fruits, vegetables, nuts etc...to start this adventure.

I anticipate posting as often as possible to create a personal account for ourselves as well as any of you who may be interested in following our progress, and/or trying the same thing in the future.

Katie and I will both do a weigh in today so that we can establish a starting point. We will also take before pictures....I will publish my starting weight...but Katie will keep hers to herself...at least for the time being. The pictures will also not be published, but may be at the end of the experiment.

Wish us well on our adventure, please.....

Morning

Starting weight on this adventure for me is 242.4 lbs, which means I gained approx 7 pounds on the Texas Trip.

We started off our morning with a bowl of Oatmeal complete with banana and blueberries. The only thing at this point we plan on cheating on is having one cup of coffee in the morning. On the Oatmeal, we put whole grain brown rice milk...not quite as good as regular milk, but not too bad at all really.

LUNCH

today we had to go get enough groceries to give us a good start on eating the vegan way. So lots of running around. We decided to have lunch at Subway. We had the veggie delighte sub, all veggies with whole wheat bun, with mustard. Actually quite delicious, I quite enjoyed it.

As I said, lots of running around, Costco for different types of nuts, Bulk Barn for spices, whole wheat pasta, more nuts, and other powders, apple butter, molasses etc. to make some of the recipes.

SUPPER

We are both pretty tired from the drive home, and are just glad to be home now. We had thought about going to a vegetarian restaurant today, but decided instead we were better off at home.
Katie is making yams with real maple syrup, fussilli pasta with vegetable tomato sauce. Hmm...sounds yummy.


And is Yummy!! A very good supper, the veggies were stir fried with no oil, and the yam was excellent. Katie is just an excellent cook, and it it weren't for her we would not even be attempting this. I would lose weight by just slowly starving.

We are just going to kick back and relax and watch some of the tv shows we missed which were recorded on my PVR while we were gone.

more later.....