30 day raw vegan - I've got nothing else to do

So it seems even though my clothes still "fit", a healthy diet of fried veggies and rice in the SE Asia streets caught up with me and I was at my heaviest weight in BB history. I thought by going vegan and eating amazing Israeli food the pounds would just fall off and I'd be happily at a weight (ten pounds less) that I'd maintained in my adult life. WRONG. Although I was far more active, (MP and I got into some P90X and eventually gym memberships) and eating fresher foods it seemed I was at a stand still. Could it be all the baking, olive oil, and pita I was consuming? Damn straight.

So it was time to take my weight into my own hands and drop that ten pounds, more if I was lucky. I decided to give the 30 day raw vegan challenge a go. First off, it's not as tough as it sounds. "what do you eat? Salad?" well...yeah. But with the right tools and some imagination it's not only easy but also fun. I'm sure the average carnivore would struggle more but see much better results but in just under three weeks I managed to drop almost nine pounds. I have roughly a week to go to drop that one last pound and I think I have it in the bag.

The biggest challenge for me was giving up gluten. I could eat a garden of potatoes, and loaf of bread, a pasta buffet, and 24 cookies in one sitting I'm sure...but I didn't, and for that I can thank my regular waistline. Hello again! 

I'm feeling amazing and although MP sabotaged me several times by making me soup *cheat* when I was sick, baked veggies *cheat* when I was weak and taking me for hummus *cheat* when rockets were flying I managed quite well with this new level of foodism and I hope to continue. Below are a few links that made this lifestyle change much more tolerable, and pleasant... you bet your ass I had cheesecake.

If you want to leave a smaller carbon footprint, even if it's every now and then check out...

http://www.therawtarian.com/
http://www.addictedtoveggies.com/

Not raw but gluten free!
http://www.theglutenfreevegan.com/

And go for a walk.

Hells Pub - Final Elimination

Several more weekends of chronic verbal assault, emotional and mental abuse, seemed to sail by with Chef on his A game of complete debauchery. Spirits were low, oddly enough, spirits were the only thing to get us high in this situation, so we kept a clean buzz to numb the pain until we saw the light of day once again and were safe for another fourteen hours.

At least this is what I thought. In my third weekend I experienced the most exhausting thirty hours of my life. I was contemplating my own insanity when the more practical side of my brain (which seemed to be cowering in a corner between depression and anger) gently reminded me I was not the one who was that crazy.  Unfortunately, just when I thought it was safe, when I could rest easy, it seems as though I became the last standing, better yet the Devils associate in Hells Pub.

I've witnessed at least 12 people come and go in eight weeks as I was cautiously tiptoeing around the bar when the compliments came. I wanted to smile and be grateful that Chef was showing me some appreciation, "having you at the pub makes this easy for me, I wish you could be involved in all the other aspects of my life", no thanks. but this has just made me a bit more terrified. When suddenly your enemy has a "change of heart" you put your dukes up... And your mouthguard in.

He is right however. We don't bother each other and maybe that's why this is working out so well. I really enjoy the job, who doesn't want to get paid to drink and bullshit with people? And oddly enough we work well together. So then there was BB, the last standing champ of Hells Pub.