Pig SIG Notes

A Book Review by John Lansdale
Neal Barnard, M.D., Breaking the Food Seduction

About 20 years ago my Dad, now 90, presented me with a short (secular) homily. Overweight and never athletic until his late 50’s he’s a wiry little thing today. A good doctor started him off. He lost 50 pounds, mostly from dieting but he exercises too. He cut the roller-blading at 89 for fear of a fall, but still runs three miles a day.

His example and my own poor condition at the time made the homily’s exposition clear. “At my age “ (mid 70’s), he said. “A good many of my friends have died. Some were healthy, others overweight or smokers. But nearly all of my overweight or smoking friends are gone.”

A year and a half or so ago, completely ignoring the advice, I was a 60+ year old living specimen of the traveling consultant’s good life. I weighed a little over 220 pounds. My cholesterol was 240 going up. Lipitor helped but it gave me side effect pains. My Doctor reassured me drugs were the only way of combating heart disease. He said “you should try to loose weight, but” reasoning from statistics, “very few people are capable of losing enough weight to make any difference.” He even gave me an example of two brothers, one who took Lipitor and lived, another who exercised extensively, played a lot of tennis, lost very little weight, and died.

I didn’t exactly ignore my father’s advice. On and off I tried everything. Back in the 1990’s I lost about 30 pounds on a Weight Watchers diet but three years later it was back and growing. A couple of years ago I sort of tried a new self-invented, hybridized version of their system. No good. My imitation method, weighing, counting and recording proportioned amounts of breads, vegetables and proteins just didn’t work. Maybe I’d just become too sophisticated at cheating. I was eating in a clever way too. Yogurt with cereal for breakfast, walking a little each day, eating broccoli, chicken, fish, plenty of olive oil. But nothing worked because it all boiled down to conscious discipline and I had none.

I kept searching though. Suspicious of my doctor’s self-serving advice, as we all should be of all experts today—including computer pundits, and knowing my father’s experience, I knew there had to be something else.

I still remembered quitting smoking. I kept remembering, certain times of day my hunger for a smoke and the satisfied feeling afterward. This was so much like the experience to eating a box of fried chicken there had to be a connection.

I knew after about three weeks of abstinence that cigarettes had no flavor or satisfaction at all. They were repulsive. This was the root of addiction. Only prior consumption made the next enjoyable. I was searching Google for food addiction when I found Neal Barnard's book “Breaking the Food Seduction”. Since I am not usually a diet book nut I was on to something so I got a copy and read.

This year, I weigh under 185, still dropping slowly and my cholesterol has dropped to about the same. My very old clothes fit again. An added surprise are the missing aches, pains I had gotten used to. Now, after losing the weight I can exercise without killing my legs and back. Every day I run a kilometer (A Windows Home Edition mile). That feels good too. I can stand up without losing my breath.

Best of all, this is not a Spartan diet. I can eat (almost) Pig SIG style all day, every day while still losing weight. Just be careful of addiction. Only a year and a half has passed, but unlike my earlier diet, I have the feeling, I’ll be keeping it off.

I’ll summarize the book for you quickly. It’s really very simple. If you take my word for it you can save the $11.98 (amazon.com) . You’ll probably want the book anyway. The doctor’s direct explanation is clearer than mine. He’s more persuasive. He explains why, gives you some tips on how to do it, recipes, etc. It’s an easy read.

The advice? Become a vegan. Stop eating all addicting and/or high calorie density foods. No meat, cheese, chicken, eggs, fish, animal products of any kind, olive oil (yes it is bad too), sugar, alcohol, processed breads, chocolate, coffee. Instead, eat only vegetables, beans, fruits, nuts (in moderation), pasta and long grain rice, some potatoes. Be wary of your hunger. It is most likely caused by withdrawal from the (natural) chemicals you’ve become addicted to in the bad foods. Other ex-smokers will understand immediately. People who have switched between skim and regular milk and remember the taste of the other may get some idea. The withdrawal period, like that from smoking, is about two to three weeks. Suddenly, you’ll realize that you don’t like the taste of stuff that has been killing you.

True to the American spirit I’m being selfish giving you this advice. I love the Pig SIG and my friends at DACS who attend. It’s a rare combination of fun and intelligent comradeship. A reminder of the old days, mixed with ideas for tomorrow. I like to drink the beers and wolf down the tacos. Even, sometimes, I will eat some cheese-big-meat thing, but just for fun. Wednesday I go right back to my regular eating. One day a month won’t kill anyone. I want the Pig SIG to last!