A bit more than 7 years ago I met JPS online. We were both on Atkins and we both found our way to a support board and quickly we became friends. She was in Chicago at the time, and she was always saying something to me about my “research” – she would ask me if I was working on a “little r” or a “BIG R” depending on whatever I was into at the moment. Some research I would do would take days for me to come to conclusions, some would be almost immediate. And I did then, what I do now, shared with anyone that would listen.

She used to joke with me all the time about doing research for a living. You see, this woman has a PhD in Sociology and has done her share of research in her time in school, college and post graduate studies. She knew first hand that people make a lot of money researching things for other people. I would always laugh and tell her it’s just something I enjoy doing. HA!

I thought it would be interesting for you to see what a typical day in the life of Biz goes like when I start obsessing about something. What is quite something is that I am always obsessing about SOMETHING so this is pretty much how all my days go. And just so that you don’t think I don’t do anything else but look at the computer all day, please understand that I home school, run BootCamp – I am a mom and homemaker, and I do crafts, so my days are pretty filled. But research is a fun hobby of mine, and thank goodness for the internet cause that makes it so much easier to research than the hours I used to spend at the Library, cause yes, this has been like this my entire life.

My obsession started yesterday when chatting with Dawn on Yahoo. If you want to get technical, something happened on my load – from Sunday to Monday. Monday morning I woke feeling positively AWFUL after my protein fest at Golden Corral. I hadn’t eaten that much protein in an awful long time, and when I woke up on Monday the mere thought of eating anything related to meat pretty much grossed me out. I decided early in the day to do a veggie type day, and actually enjoyed it immensely. So Tuesday I feel like I can do this again, but this time let me try Vegan and yes, that worked well too.

Yesterday, I found myself going out of town for a bit without being prepared so I ended up grabbing a few bananas at the convenience store thinking that would last me till I got home and it did. I ate like 3 oz of cooked pork and then hopped on the computer and found Dawn in chat. She asked me if I had seen something on a site I don’t exactly care for about doing hCG Vegan and I was like, no, and then she brought out some points that she had read (but didn’t save) so I proceeded to head over to that site and look for what she was talking about.

So one thing lead to another and I started obsessing about Protocol and Vegan. Could it be done? What are the ramifications? Is it a good idea? How can I make sure I get enough protein? Will it last? All sorts of questions that needed answers. Dawn and I chatted a bit last night and I was doing a bit of research on it, to which I continued today.

This morning I started with trying to find some new recipes to make green smoothies. I ended up at Green Smoothie Girl – wow, chalk full of information there. Some things I agree with, some things I don’t – her myths are well worth the read so I would encourage it immensely. While reading her stuff, I came across a name that was unfamiliar to me, and this was a Doctor that had done some extensive studies about proteins and such in what has now known as The China Study – wow, that one pretty much blew my mind. Read it, Dr Colin Campbell is one amazing human being.

So this blew my mind, so much so that I discussed with my Vegan friend this morning this book and if it was worth the cost of buying it, so she told me YES by all means get it and we could read it together. Ok, done. So that is on it’s way. While I was fiddling around the HTA site, I got a Twit from a professional blogger I follow on the subject of The Internet Is Getting Gray – it looked interesting so I went ahead and clicked on the link and was fascinated by the fact that older people are getting on the internet – like really older people, like the 70 – 74 year olds. That was fascinating to me because I just found out one of the members of HTA who has just recently joined BootCamp is 80 years old. I was just thrilled beyond belief to find that out, that just positively RAWKS!!!

So I am still obsessing about doing protocol Vegan, and even considering doing more than a few days a week when off of protocol Vegan and so I asked myself, hmmm, what would I miss if I were Vegan? Better yet, if I did it RAW Vegan??? First thing was Hummus, can Hummus be made Vegan? This lead me to this video on Raw Hummus – ok, another thing I would miss is mayo, can mayo be made raw? And lookie here – it sure can! Raw Mayo

So again, Dawn and I are chatting a bit and I am telling her I am really concerned about getting enough protein trying to do a raw lifestyle and asked her what her thoughts were on adding a raw egg to my smoothie, so I started doing research on if people did this, and for sure they DO. I found this site on making Raw Smoothies with Raw Egg and in it, was something called Goat’s Milk (or Goat’s Protein). Now what is so interesting about Goat’s Protein is that I had just had a conversation with my sister about dairy proteins.

Seems that Terrie (My ND) had told my sister that it’s not necessarily that people are allergic to dairy but that the protein found in cows milk is very “heavy” and that it is meant to be that way because their bones need it, but our bones don’t need to be as dense as a cows, so we develop inflammation because our bodies cannot assimilate the proteins (that is a very OVER SIMPLIFIED EXPLANATION) – ok, so I told this to Dawn, and Dawn agreed. Then Dawn proceeds to inform me that there are actually cows that are being bred out there that have a different type of protein and that their “milk” is much better for us. Ok, this is weird. I was like Dawn, where did you see that. Dawn shows me this article about Dairy and Milk Proteins and then shows me this kicker on THE A1 vs A2 MILK STORY – at the end of that article was something that says “Devil in the Milk” so I Google that and came up with this fascinating video – A1 and A2 Milk Proteins. O.M.G.

Ok, so then I try to go back to where I was before in how much protein do I need and I find this articleHow much protein do we really need? – again, a very interesting read.

Then it was time to play mom and get dinner going and stuff. But that is what I go through each and every day in regards to the protocol. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and it contributes to a healthier lifestyle.

So I ask you, are you impressed? HA! You will be more impressed when I come up with a conclusion. I just wanted the masses to know that a lot of thought process goes into everything I go off about. It’s not just willy nilly passing thoughts. It is sometimes days, more often weeks of careful examination of things before I share my findings. The stuff a lot of you get in BootCamp has come from months and months of research. Conclusions from dealing with literally hundreds and hundreds of people to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I love it, I really do, but sometimes I think there are some out there that think I fly by the seat of my pants. Well I don’t. So there.

Today? I was RAW – I am not gonna move forward with my ‘findings’ until I figure out if this works or not. So give me a couple of days ok? Have I steered you wrong yet, wait, don’t answer that!

In case you haven’t already looked at my current stats, I lost 1.2 overnight. I am thinking I will have another great loss tomorrow! WOOHOO FOR ME!!!

By the way, my stats can be found on this page: Current Stats

NNN – oh yeah, you got that right, we do have to be obsessive for this to work! Well then, we qualify!!!

Allicat – oh well, if your gonna go off, then going off on mac nuts are the only way to go! HA! I will share, soon, I promise!

Amie – ha! Yup, how did I know you would take JUST such an attitude! HA! Gotta love stability!

Monica – awwww, really Moni, your sweet, thank you. I know you girls wont let me go wacky on you!!!

Cat – I hear that Cat – let’s lead the way together! HA! I always said I was the pied piper leading the rats to their destruction! HA!

M – omg, no I can’t be responsible for that, don’t worry, it wont be TOO much longer!!!

At the start of my day today, I had declared today to be “Tofu Tuesday’s” totally prepared to do the day Vegan Style. It was a lot harder than it seems. Getting in protein while on protocol without the added carbs is very VERY hard. Tofu is about the only thing that you can work with VEGAN that will give you some protein but not too much carbs or calories. As it stands, for the entire day I only had 24 grams of protein – when a normal day on P2 is usually around 35 – 50, so if any of you have some ideas on how to up the protein and not go over on cals, bring it on. And don’t tell me protein powder, ugh, can’t do that stuff. Nope, not gonna work for this woman.

Dawn mentioned Nori, and I thought, yeah, that is cool, but when I went to EarthFare today to get some groceries, and saw that a package was like $20 and my budget was $30, I was like, um, no way, that can wait. I ended up getting more than a few things from EarthFare that I have been wanting to get for awhile. Some vegetarian broth, some vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, the Coconut Milk (OMG, I finally bought the RIGHT STUFF) and I got some Silk Creamer, and that actually surprised me, that was pretty darn good.

The tofu has to be eaten within 2 – 3 days after opening the box, so I am gonna go ahead and use it tomorrow. I had picked out two recipes to try today that involved tofu, and only made one, so I will do the other tomorrow. Trying to think what I am gonna make Wednesdays for my blogging experience? Wacky Wednesdays? Wildcard Wednesdays? Probably Wild Card Wednesdays so that whatever I might have leftover from my back to back veggie type days I can use up if need be on Wednesday.

So this was my meal for dinner. MMMM, it was delish. It’s called “Ginger-Sesame Tofu with Wilted Watercress” and I redid it to be P2 legal – I have to hand it to the Vegans out there, they really depend on presentation, texture and spice to liven up there meals, this was utterly fantastic. Honest to goodness. I highly recommend this to everyone.

So my meals today were:

• Coffee with Coconut Cream
• Coffee with Silk Creamer
• Green Smoothie made with Tofu, Spinach, Papaya and Blueberries
• Ginger-Sesame Tofu with Wilted Watercress
• Dried plums (this was unavoidable, I got stuck out longer than anticipated, but it was Vegan and delish!)
• Cucumbers with lemon and cilantro

Totals were 497 calories, 17 grams fat, 71 grams carbs (13 fiber), 24 grams protein

I eliminated 3.4 pounds overnight! I am at 6 lbs total eliminated – I am not interested in a daily average, so I am counting my losses from my first day of loading. That goes in direct contrast to the way Dr S does things, but like I said, I don’t care about average daily losses, I am looking for a 20 pound drop for this “cycle” and then I will take a break, so I am almost a third of the way there! WOO HOO FOR ME!

M – WOO HOO – let’s do this thing and let’s do it right my friend! GO US!!!

Today was my first VLCD on my Round 6.1 – turns out the plans that I had to go shopping (yeah, the Bizinator was NOT prepared for VLCD!) did not turn out so I had to make do with what was in the house. If I wanted to go ahead and give my son some real protein, then I would have to forgo some myself.

Since I had already decided to do a few Vegan and Vegetarian days during this round it was no problem for me to start today. Once I realized this was going to be the case, I went ahead and proclaimed Monday’s while on this round as MEATLESS MONDAY’s! Isn’t that special?

We ended up going to Golden Corral yesterday for lunch/dinner. Hubby wanted son to go ahead and load there. I ate a bit more protein than I should have but stuck to the protein and tons of Caesar Salad with lots of dressing, salmon with lots of tartar sauce, beef with lots of mayo and then for dessert I came home and ate pecans and butter. I had run out of Mag earlier during the week and so got out of the habit of taking it and remembered like at 6pm last night to take it in preparation for VLCD so that is probably why I gained .6 even though I had concentrated on high fat. Oh well, such is life.

It’s been a good day, no hunger, this loading with high fat business really pays off. The other thing about loading high fat is that you get your detox done and over with NOT ON 500 CALORIES! Yup! HA! My poor son right now has a major detox headache and I don’t envy him at all.

This right here was my dinner, and YUM YUM it was good.  I already let you know that I decided to do the day veggie style, so my menu today consisted of:

• Coffee and half and half
• Smoothie of Cottage Cheese and Blueberries
• Cucumbers with Braggs, Lemon and Sambal Oelek
• Salad with Spinach, tomatoes, avocados, hard boiled egg, and P2 Legal Caesar Dressing

It’s been a most enjoyable day.  All of that food was under 500 calories, and I did it MOSTLY RAW – WOOHOO FOR ME!  But it wasn’t exactly Vegan so I still need to do a Vegan P2 day. I was fiddling around with some menus today, and the one thing about doing this Vegan is that it’s hard to get protein without meat and eggs. If anyone reading this has any ideas for me, please let me know. I want to keep it to the normal 40-50 grams of protein like Dr. Simeons has us do on his menu, so please keep that in mind.

Day #1 is ALMOST DONE!!!

Linda – And I couldn’t imagine me taking this journey without you my friend! I bet your just frothing at the bit ready to be back on P2 – but HA HA HA – this time I beat you! But I am so excited for you to be doing your next round with HUBBY!!!!

Monica – Awwww shucks – girl, it’s not about “not getting it right” but rather about figuring it out and moving on. Giving up is not an option and you have proved that just by giving it another shot. So girl, no matter how many times it takes, we will keep doing it together.