On Getting Soft

The findings? "People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored," said Dr. Campbell.

I am taking some heat for this. The Big Bread test. There has been disbelief and skepticism. There has come looks of amazement, the look that asks: Have you lost your mind? Or, quoting a line from one of my faves, Michael Clayton, (Marty to Michael, pictured above) Have you gone fucking soft?

And I know why. The two way street at the intersection of change and tradition. Or worse, changing tradition. Here's a couple of for instances:

Try telling a broker that the stock market is legal crime.
Try telling an Irishman that Guinness tastes like mud.
Try telling a runner to stop.
Try telling a baseball fan that the game is too slow.
Try telling a politician that lobbyists are evil.
Try telling a cop that doughnuts aid & abet fat.
Try telling a kid that there is no Santa.
Try telling me that the Huskies can't beat UCLA tomorrow night.

A hard road to hoe. So let's please clarify. I am NOT telling you to do as I do. Yet. All I am doing is trying to isolate the culprit behind my inability to get to my desired racing weight. The training is solid. So it must be something in my diet that makes this last 8 pounds so challenging to properly recycle. Sound OK?

Already being vegetarian I can't blame it on Whoppers or Wendy's. I eat a very healthy diet and sup with soy protein. I could probably replace some coffee with more water and beer with green tea, but I want to test the grain/carbohydrate angle first. So here we are. Bread out for 31 days. This is only a test. I am not challenging the entire history of man's use of this wonderful food. Nor the associated tradition and cultural romance. It might be a simple balance issue. It could have something to do with glutens, processing, sugar or something else altogether. I don't know.

But I am going to find out.

For your reading pleasure, topical and timely (and tasty):

The pain body response.

The China Study.

Notes from Nancy Clark.

The Paleo Diet.

Paleo defined.

And lastly here is the reference this morning to the recipe from the Bible and its manifestation to our table. It is becoming quite popular on the training circuit.