Matthew 6:16

As I talked about at the end of our vegan experiment, we were a little confused about where to go next.  And frankly, I needed to lose the extra weight I had put on eating that way.
OK, it was only a few pounds.  But I had wanted to get back to my Weight Watchers lifetime goal weight. And I was less than 10 pounds away from it, but no matter how much animal tissue I didn't eat, my scale wouldn't budge.  And we weren't having fun anymore.
So what was next?
I wanted to try another experiment.  So, sitting in a frozen yogurt bar celebrating our ability to eat whatever we wanted to devour again, I picked up a copy of The Warrior Diet.
In between chasing Noah, and stuffing my face with yogurt with far too many toppings, I read parts of the book.  And I kind of liked the author's idea.  Straight from the horses mouth:

The Warrrior Diet was created with the mission to help people better survive in today's world.
The Warrior Diet is a call for action. Based on survival science and historical evidence, the Warrior Diet proposes a radical yet proven effective solution to modern man's ailments and deteriorated physical condition.
Its premise: eat one main meal at night, avoid chemicals, combine foods adequately and challenge your body physically. The Warrior Diet shows how to nourish the body in sync with its innate circadian clock – separating between a.m. foods and p.m. foods for effective removal of toxins, increased conversion of fat for energy, increased utilization of nutrients and improved resilience to stress. The result: a leaner, stronger and healthier body. 

Well, gosh.  Who doesn't want that?  A leaner, stronger, healthier body?  That's something no one else has EVER promised before!!  But wait, there's more: 

The Evidence is Undeniable
Recent studies on intermittent fasting have shown the benefits of following eating programs similar to The Warrior Diet. Mice and rats maintained on an intermittent fasting regimen lived up to 30% longer than those fed ad libitum. Especially striking are the improved insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk profiles in animals maintained on diets with long inter-meal intervals.  

"Our ancestors consumed food much less frequently and often had to subsist on one large meal per day, and thus from an evolutionary perspective, human beings were adapted to intermittent feeding rather than to grazing."
(Mattson, M.P., PhD, Lancet 2005; 365:1978-80)

I've checked into the studies a bit.  And there are studies on mice that show some benefit to various types of intermittent fasting.  In mice and rats.  Not people.  Though the internet is full of folks telling you to stop eating for your health.  I think it's becoming The Next Big Thing.  

So I decided I'd try it.  

Without buying the book.  We were short on cash, and I figured I had the gist of it.  I had already read some great articles and blogs previously on the idea of fasting, and I had been intrigued then.  (Now, two weeks later, I wish I had read a bit more.)  

But The Perfect is the enemy of The Good, so I jumped in.

The Plan: "Nourish" my body throughout the day with "living foods."  Now, that doesn't mean chow down on the squirrel while he's still kicking.  That's more like The Caveman Diet.   No, I was going to eat fruits and veggies during the day, then have a big dinner.  Luckily I did manage to read the part where you can have a protein smoothie right after your workout, and if still hungry have some light protein around lunch.   Then have a big dinner.  And maybe a midnight snack?  

(I glanced through the book today again, turns out I could'a /should'a been eating more than that during the day. And no midnight snack)  

It's been two weeks, and how am I doing?  Well, even after going off plan last weekend (out of town wedding) I'm still down three pounds in two weeks.  Not stellar weight loss.  But more than I had with Vegan eating.  

And now I know why fasting is a spiritual discipline.  You get grouchy.  Even with the wimpy version of fasting I am doing, smoothie for breakfast and snacking on fruit during the day, I still find I can happily murder people for the smallest of reasons.  It requires an almost constant mindfulness of your mood, of how you react to people.  Both Monday's I have been warrior dieting have been difficult.  You have to choke down the urge to snap at people, remind yourself to smile, play nice.  

The moodiness gets easier as the week goes on.  By Wednesday I'm fine. 

Another problem is the social awkwardness of avoiding everyone at lunch so that you a) aren't tempted to eat more than you're little cup of Greek yogurt or a boiled egg and b) enjoy a fresh round of ridicule over trying yet a new diet.  It's one thing not to be eating carbs at lunch, another thing not to be eating lunch.  

The Verdict:  Too soon to tell.  What I read today says I should have been having a small salad or something similar at lunch, maybe with a bit of "light" protein.  And make sure I have morning fruit, but maybe some nuts or something substantial for an afternoon snack.  

In other words, I officially have to start eating more while I'm fasting.  And yes, I realize how stupid that sounds.  Two more weeks, then I think I'll be able to make a final verdict.  

Excelsior!
Cliff

Reboot!!!!!!

Here we go again.
So the Vegan experiment was a bust.  Or was it?
We call our little escapades into the dietary realm experiments because we want to learn something.  Either about the diet or about ourselves, often both.
And I suggest that we learned a good deal last time.  We learned why vegans are mean and we learned that you can go for days and weeks without any animal proteins with no ill effects.  That's good to know.
Why?
Well, lets see what the typical responses were when people were told we were eating vegan/vegetarian:

1. "Why?"   
2. "You guys are stupid."  
3. "I don't think I could do that."

Ignoring the two most popular responses, let's analyze #3.  Why can't people do that?  Are you going to shrivel up and die?  Obviously that didn't happen.  I think it's fear.  Fear of the new, the unknown.  You have to change just about everything when you drop animal products from the diet.  And that means leaving some really yummy food behind, mostly your favorite comfort foods.  And comfort foods are comforting.  Without them what would happen?  (You get skinnier and healthier mostly)  

Thus we are restarting our Jack and Jill blog.  

Well, despite such encouragement as: "Why?" and "You guys are stupid."  I found parts of it fun.  

And I want to keep the food experiments and fact finding up.  

So why not start a whole new blog?  A third one?  Nope, redundantly redundant.  

We are rebooting this blog with a continuing mission to be like our physical culture heroes.  

Part of that will be open scientific experimentation on ourselves with different dietary protocols, where we suffer and report back to you.  

Jack Lalanne did alot of that as a young man, most famously the cow's blood diet.  He'd drink a quart of pure cows blood every day trying to be bigger and stronger.  He did this for weeks' going down to the butcher's shop everyday to drink it fresh.  Until the morning he choked on a giant clot.  That pretty much ended that lil experiment.  

Please trust that there is no way Denise is going to let me drink cow's blood.  

And if she did, we would definitely video it.  

But this is about getting healthy, not trying to get some horrible disease in an equally horrible fashion.  

So stay tuned, we do have some bloodless videos we will be posting shortly.  

As always, your comments are welcome.  

Excelsior!

Cliff