Hi. My name is Ryan and I could stand to lose a few pounds.
Let's be honest here, I could afford to lose 25 pounds and still have a few more to drop to be considered "underweight"... yet, I stand here as 'average'. That in mind, why is it that more than half of the American average overweight or obese? Have settled and raised the bar for the next generation?
A bit about me:
I grew up overweight, then I was much less overweight, then I was borderline obese and back down to just plain overweight. I've dealt with this my whole life and I am pissed that it is a direct result of what I was expected to be eating! "Drink milk", "Eat Beef", "Cheese has calcium which means it's good for you" and the very lonely "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," that one is funny to me now. Eat one apple, but make sure you drink lots of milk to wash it down.
For the past few years I have been a pescatarian (seafood only) and for the last 8 months I have been a strict vegetarian. Prior to going vegetarian, if it wasn't bacon wrapped I wouldn't eat it. Unfortunately, just by changing my eating preference made only a limited dent in overall goals. Who ever said vegetarians are more healthy is a liar. My cheese and egg intake increased as did my love of bean and cheese burritos from Del Taco (Green Sauce w/ Sour Cream). Thick stacks of seitan (wheat meat) on a whole wheat bun is going to sit on anyone like a brick.
The beginning of this desire to do a more drastic change came from purchasing a Groupon for a 7 Day Raw Food plan at a local Raw Restaurant. Four meals a day for a week. While getting all of the calories my body needed, I was also cleansing my palate and just feeling great by the end. Since then I rarely use salt and I drink my coffee black and unsweetened.
I was first inspired by the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" to juice for as long as I could. Joe Cross travels across the U.S. while on a 60 day juice fast. His results are amazing as well as inspiring. My problem is that juicing is expensive and very time consuming. I had to end after about two weeks and I hit my budget for month prematurely. I will probably introduce a juice or two a day after this challenge.
What the heck am I doing?
The purpose of this blog is to share in my successes and failures of the Engine 2 Diet - 28 Day Challenge.
The E2 Diet was created by Rip Esselstyn, a Firefighter from Austin, Texas to prove that you didn't have to eat meat to physically fit and healthy.
"During his 10+ years as a professional triathlete, Rip had adopted a
plant-based diet at the advice of his father, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn,
chief of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who discovered through
medical research that a plant-based, low fat diet could reverse heart
disease and diabetes.
"His plant-powered eating program is based on a diet of whole foods,
including vegetables, whole grains, fruit, legumes, seeds and nuts
and is designed to transform your body and your lifestyle in just 28
days."
In other words, no additional oils (with the exception of a barely any spray oil), no dairy, no eggs and no meat. This challenge isn't only to see if one can eat this way for a month, but really to see if I can make food in this manner! I am a fan of cooking and I've always used oils for it. Why is oil so bad? Because of the addition of saturated fats in a would be healthy meal. Olive oil is supposed to be good for you, but it still contains 15% saturated fat which goes against this challenge. Foods like Avocados already have oils in them that should at least curb the fat cravings.
My Goals:
My goal is post at the end of each day to report on my status, what meals I made and how I am feeling. I also keep an activity log, because let's face the facts, you're not going to lose anything if you don't at least walk around the block.
I am currently 212-215 pounds. The plan is to drop 20 during the next 28 days and to build up my physical endurance.
As soon as you see Day 1, the challenge has begun.
In the meantime, check out these documentaries if you are into improving your health as well (All 3 are available on Netflix):
