Throughout my Mom’s battle with cancer, I downed more comfort food and bottles of wine than I care to admit. Take my 35th birthday for example: dad grilled steaks and mom arranged for the most amazing cupcakes. Bronson and I went out later for margaritas. And boy, did I ever feel the full brunt of it: the acid reflux dragon reared its angry ANGRY head. I told mom about it the next day. “You’ve got to eat right, son.” she warned me matter-of-factly.

It would be one of her last admonishments.

It wasn’t the first time the reflux beast had gripped me. Five years ago, (on my 30th) we gathered at El Coyote Mexican Cafe with the same gruesome result. Back then, I didn’t know tacos and tequila were GERD’s best friend, but in the wake of Mom’s warning this year, I knew something had to change.Three weeks pass, and I’m at LA Times Magazine‘s annual health & wellness conference, sitting in on a session Rory Freedman, author of the bestselling vegan manifesto, Skinny Bitch. Without pretense, Rory challenges us to go vegetarian for 30 days, adding: “the biggest and most surprising change I experienced from becoming a vegetarian was that I became a more compassionate, empathetic and loving human being.” (OK, it helps that she’s also wicked hot).

Rory rang in my head as fellow conferees heaped beef and chicken fajitas onto their plates (I saw big, steaming mounds of torn flesh). Can it be true? I wondered. I couldn’t shake Rory’s words: baby male chicks stuffed into grinders while still alive, the beaks of female chickens sliced off “with a hot knife?” Half disgusted and half resentfully, I loaded my plate with salad. But I knew what was happening: I’d taken her challenge.

Thirty six hours later, Mom died.

I probably didn’t pick the best moment in my life to become a vegetarian, but the seed had started to sprout. Within days of switching, I felt emotionally and physically lighter. I went grocery shopping with mom-in-law, Conny, loading up our cart with organic food, guided by Rachel Richardson, a South Beach trainer. In this clip, she explains how to eat organically on a budget:

Bronson, inspired by actor Jerry O’Connell, suggested we also eliminate dairy and additives: aspartame, milk, diet soda, even Crystal Light. And much like Jerry, within a couple weeks, the weight started “dripping” off.

At my peak this year, I weighed 238 pounds. Nine weeks later, I’m 213 pounds—a net 25 pound loss. That’s two waist sizes, and 10 percent of my total body weight. I even experienced flu-like symptoms, (a common reaction for new vegetarians, it turns out) as my body began to detoxify from decades of eating meat. The symptoms were gone within 1-2 weeks, and my weight loss seems to have stabilized.

Bye bye, In-N-Out. Hello, Vegin’ Out

I’ve had a couple slip ups (ate a turkey croissant at Mom’s wake), and really craved In-N-Out once. Bronson still uses Splenda, I’m working off the caffeine. But my number one challenge has been learning how to cook new vegetarian entrees, I’ve spent the better part of 30 years making meat-based meals, and didn’t want to eat salads all the time. I needed to investigate new tastes and flavors, so I approached the guys at Vegin’ Out, a vegan food delivery service in Los Angeles, who indulged my experiment with two weeks of food. I was blown away by their succulent fare, and began looking forward to Mondays when they’d deliver a big box full of tasty meals. My fave was the “Newer England Chowder” a creamy soup seasoned with oyster mushrooms, tempeh bacon and seaweed. It’s as close to the real thing as it gets; I defy you to tell the difference. Bronson raved about the “Pepper Steak Mushroom Stroganoff” made with seitan, button mushrooms, and soy cream cheese. As a personal trainer accustomed to eating cows, chickens, and guzzling whey protein shakes a gaga—I thought it would take awhile to adjust to the new palette of proteins and textures. But we’ve adapted no problem. Rubbery tofu has never been my thing, but we’ve found new protein friends in seitan, lentils and beans. On Thanksgiving, Vegin’ Out even offers a special menu of seasonally inspired treats: seitan roast w/gravy, roasted shallot mashed, and quinoa stuffing. And it would be a sin if I didn’t tell you about the cookies, which are unbelievable.

Food delivery services in L.A. abound, and I’ve tried the Zone Fresh diet and Susan’s Healthy Gourmet, but neither is vegan, and both are more costly (Susan’s charges $34/day, ZoneFresh charges $27/day). VeginOut’s meal delivery is $110/week for 9-10 meals.

There will be more about my adventures in urban vegetarianism in forthcoming blog entries: recipes, tips, etc. But I’ll always be grateful that Rory and Mom conspired with the cosmos to get this 35-year-old Krispy Kreme loving guy to end his dietary adolescence and start eating his veggies.

BTW, the GERD is history.

Tags: Dieting, GERD Symptoms, New Vegetarian, Organic Food Delivery, Scrawny to Brawny, Skinny Bitch, Vegan, Vegetarian Diet, Vegetarian Dishes, Vegetarian Meals, Vegin’ Out, weight loss

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.