I have already written how I have struggled with the on-off again revolving door of eating as a vegan. Over the past 2 years that has been my life. In general terms - not those applauded by committed vegans but those my omnivorous friends think of as hard eating habits- I have maintained a 90% vegan diet. Many dr.'s would applaud such a diet. However, I gained half of the 45lbs lost after the heart attack in Dec 2010 and got a diagnosis of diabetes. My cravings for fatty salty snack at night increased and the desire for a steak started to occur!
I began to wonder if this were signs of a food addiction. I had always told myself that as sweet stuff is no big deal for me then I had no addiction problem.
However, I bought a book - that is my go-to when I want detailed information.
Anne Katherine, M.A wrote "Anatomy of a food addiction. The brain chemistry of overeating" and sure enough I hadn't even finished reading and I realised that addiction to any food is possible if it satisfies or elicits a positive brain response.
Back to my heroes, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn & Dr. T. Colin Campbell.
What I had ignored when I read them before was the amount of carbs they included - whole food carbs not processed carbs that are so prevalent in western diets. As an ex-nurse who studied diabetes from the medical model I was surprised, and realised my "missing" this before was actually a subconscious rejection of something that was counter intuitive to my training.
Another realisation occurred, I had started adding processed vegan food to my diet, stuff with more fat than any of my heroes would endorse!
So I am eating very differently now & I am exercising 2-4 times a week. The result is:
My heart stress test was very positive & the recommendation is I don't need another for 3 years!
My blood glucose after 10 hours has gone down from an average of 9 to 7.2-7.4...and I can get as low as 4.8 during the day without hypoglycaemic symptoms! Yay!
My weight has dropped by 7.9kg /over 17 lbs since Jan 1, this is over double my goal for today!
My cravings have generally stopped - yes I did share a mini vegan cupcake on my birthday last week & yes I did have 3 mini doughnuts yesterday which I actually think is because I had the 1/2 mini cupcake Thursday which may have turned on the addiction response; because I have not even fancied either for 2 months!
My cravings for salty starch have gone.
I have increased whole carbs in the form of beans, legumes and whole grain (not-processed at all) crackers.
I have not been hungry at all!
I have also found some great research articles which I will add to the blog in the next few weeks.
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