October 20

I ate only a single meal on the 19th, due to playing an evening concert.  I noticed that I felt fine, and thought I would try a single meal on the 20th.  It was leftovers over rice - nothing worth a photo or recipe, but was tasty and satisfying.  As I  write this, on the morning of the 21st, I have a new weight low of 182.6.  That is about 2 pounds lower than my previous low, and shows the folly of worrying about the scale on a daily basis.  When you focus on what you are doing, the scale will reflect the quality of diet.

I saw Dr. McDougall's video, The Fat Vegan, recently.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIY-A_UspTs
It got me thinking about why I am doing this blog, which is to promote healthy eating and help people realize their goals.

Sooner or later, everybody in this country and on the planet even is going to convert to a whole plant food diet.  I would rather that this be sooner, and that is going to require everybody who supports healthy eating get healthy themselves.  A fat and unhealthy supporter of Dr. McDougall and Jeff etc. is not an effective advocate for the program.  You can't tell friends to believe you and not their own lying eyes.

We have to start with ourselves.  It is just too easy to focus on other people's issues and fail to address our own.  That is one of the purposes of my challenge to myself here.  Although I have made a lot of progress, that it not good enough.  The better I can do, the more effective spokesman I can be for the program.  The better Farley and I look and feel, the more credibility we have.

The reason credibility is so important is because this world is so full of spin and false claims, especially where obesity and diet are concerned.  It is said in the bible that a good tree does not bear bad fruit, and that is so true.  The world needs to see that following a healthy eating plan always bears good fruit.  I have personally witnessed obese people telling me and others how I should eat.  I paid no attention, and neither did anybody else.

Knowing the right message is not enough.  We have to show that this program works.  If we are going to change the way the nation and the world eats, it has to start with us doing it properly.  The change is unlikely to come from doctors, who have little training in nutrition and less incentive to promote such a simple and effective therapy as proper nutrition.  It is unlikely to come from government, which is so heavily dependent upon special interests that depend themselves on the status quo.  It is going to have to come from people like Farley, me, and you.

Farley just returned from a convention.  Several people there wanted to know about her nutrition plan.  As I write this, she is sending links to one of these nice ladies.  Surely, one of the main reasons that people asked is because Farley looks so healthy.  It is obvious that what she is doing works.

I hope to get something from my friends Penny and Steve, with whom I kayak.  Penny was being recommend heart surgery.  She is now doing great on Dr. Esselstyn's program without the surgery, and she is very grateful that she heard about that program from me.  I doubt if she would have investigated Dr. Esselstyn without my obvious success on the program.  So charity begins at home, and so does good nutrition.  Let's do our best to have everybody who knows about healthy eating look and feel healthy themselves.  That is how the message will get out.