How did this begin? Part One

Becoming a vegan is a pretty radical step for many people.  And it was for me.  This is definitely a case of one thing leads to another.

A few years ago I had an encounter with (and beat, so far!) ovarian cancer.  My oncologist told me that I needed to do what I could to minimize the chances of the cancer returning.  He recommended the book Anticancer: a New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber which I got and read.  This is a terrific book that recommends changes in lifestyle to reduce the inflammation that exacerbates the growth of cancer cells, such as adding more cruciferous vegetables into the diet along with turmeric, garlic, ginger.  Also eliminating sugar and exercising at least 30 minutes a day.  My doctor also recommended eating as much organic as we could afford.

I took this all to heart and made some small incremental changes.  We started eating organic.  We bought a Vitamix and started making smoothies from time to time.  I convinced myself that I was cumulatively exercising at least 30 minutes a day. Right.

Let me say, changing fundamental habits such as the way you eat and the amount of exercise you do is hard,  Really, really hard.   I wanted to lose weight and so I joined Weight Watchers (again!) and half-heartedly followed the program.  There is no real secret to losing weight. To do so you need to eat better and exercise more.  End of story.

Looking back I think I was trying to game the system and that food manufacturers/marketers were aiding and abetting me.  I quit going to Weight Watchers when I realized at my last meeting that everyone there (including me) was trying to eat what we always ate, but were looking for a "low points" way to do it.  Fake whipped cream, fake peanut butter, low fat cheese, on and on and on.  I would lose 2 pounds and gain 2 pounds and lose 2 ponds and gain 2 pounds.  I stepped up my exercising, but was not really losing weight.  (But muscle weighs MORE than fat, I tell you! So why do my clothes fit the same???)

A couple of years passed and the only significant change I made was that we ate organic everything we could.  I kept thinking about what I should do, but actually doing it was another story.  In the meantime we had a situation with our home and zoning that was super stressful.  It finally came to a head and we ended up moving.  That process was all-consuming and became the tipping point for major change.  One of the main criteria for a new house was it had to be located close enough to my office that I could walk.We managed to find a house 1.5 miles from my office.

The next part of the story in Part Two!