Oh, I remember! The short version? I suck. Allow me a moment of self-loathing. Oh, I know, that's taboo. Love thyself, and all that. I do love myself. If I didn't, would I write a navel-gazing blog? But it's a vegan navel-gazing blog, so it's okay.
But that vegan part: time for confession. I'm a good, albeit liberal Catholic, after all. I dabbled. Yes, yes. I dabbled in French cheese from St. James Company, and even, this Lent, in crawfish. Yes, it's true. I'll save you the catalog of my sins, and get to the point: I'm repenting. And if we are asked to be witnesses on this Earth, can I be so arrogant as to ask you to be my witness? Not as "accountability," but as champions of "authenticity," of "vulnerability," of that word we vegans hold so dear to our hearts, of compassion?
So, all you readers that I don't have yet, here's what this blog is gonna cover:
1) Losing 100+ pounds. Oh yes, I am paying dearly for those sins. Actually, I think I can give a nod to the karma of my own misdeeds here, rather than divine punitive attention. Let's get this bit out of the way while I'm on the subject: I want to lose weight. I'm not saying you should. Attention all ye who enter here: I am body positive at any size. I heartily acknowledge that being overweight does not mean bad health. I do not equate skinniness with health, or disallow that obese persons can kick ass in the health department. I do not think that losing weight will solve all my problems. I do not think life begins at an "ideal weight." All I know is that I am, as of this morning, 237.2 pounds (how's that for authenticity?!) and that I don't want to be. I know that this does not feel like me, but that it has sadly been my reality (in varying degrees) for way too long. If I promise that I love myself, and love all of you, at any size, will you let me try this without believing that I'm lying to you about the whole self-love thing?
2) To prove the "life does not begin at goal weight" idea, I'm taking up yoga. If you see me in a class, my face gets really, really red at the slightest exertion, and you don't need to ask if I'm okay. It's gonna be ugly. Oh, whoops, it's going to be beautiful. I'll let you know how it goes, and I'll share my favorite links about yoga at any size very soon.
3) Cooking. As in, at home. I need to keep my butt out of all these restaurants for the sake of my waistline and my wallet. So, I'll share what I'm cooking, and cookbook reviews (new and "old"books) and any original recipes I come up with. So, I won't be able to help you as much with NOLA vegans out on the town, kind of thing, but my friend Melissa Bastian at New Orleans in Green does an excellent job of that. I'll be cooking recipes that are going to help, rather than hurt, my weight loss efforts, but I'm not going to post "dinners" of a single apple, or some such nonsense. Like many overweight people, I know exactly what I need to do in order to do it right. Don't worry; I'll prove it to you.
A parting word about "health": I won't even begin to discuss the tired ol' subject about all the ways vegans can eat unhealthy foods. Duh. I won't say that there's no room for French Fries in your life, either. I do want to say that I think the vegan diet is the best on Earth, but it doesn't mean you'll never get sick. Or that, if you get sick, it's because you weren't on top of your diet. Or that you can cure cancer with kombucha. Good foods help us have a good life. Yes. Yes. Yes. But let's watch out that we do not cross the line where we treat veggies like a magical guarantee against illness. I know plenty--I mean plenty--of healthy, "plant powered" vegans who got cancer and other surprises. And it wasn't their fault. And it wasn't from a lack of antioxidants in their diets. The reason I'm bringing this up is that I don't want any comments popping up that makes anyone feel "less than" in the vegan department, the health department, the body positive department, or the "right" to eat the whole pan of brownies. Let's support each other, and keep our dogma to ourselves. That goes double for me. So that's my last bit of "advice." Stay tuned for vegan fun, and, unavoidably, vegan navel-gazing. I'll try to keep that related to navel oranges.
