Weight Loss

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I am on a diet for life, that I can promise that if you follow it faithfully you will will lose your unwanted fat. A oil free vegan diet when combined with 30 minutes of exercise a day has helped me to lose about 5-8 pound a month for the six months. 

I have lost 50 pound since March 2017 on a vegan diet and 4-12 miles of bike riding a day.

What exactly do I eat? 

Fruit, vegetables, whole grains (no white bread or pasta, or white rice) beans, nuts and seeds. That's it. Add water and stir. 

No sugar.

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No meat

No cheese

No cggs

No oil

No butter

No soda

No chocolate

Lots of no, no, no.

Having said that, what I eat really tastes great because I am an excellent experienced vegan cook, and I have learned the value of fresh produce and seasonings. You have to cook to do this diet, sorry. Get a crock pot, and learn how to make lintel soup. You can eat half of your meals with just crock pot cooking.

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This plant based diet is tough to follow unless you are willing to do some cooking or live near some good vegan restaurants. But my energy level is amazing, I feel great and full of life. With my weight loss, I look much better as well!!!

Diet for Life

Vegan – Diet for Life

Have you ever done anything that you knew was bad for you, but you did it anyway? Like smoking tobacco, drinking vodka or even soda pop? Have you ever eaten anything that you knew would make you fatter and gain weight? Like eat pizza, pasta with cheese stuffing, or ice cream? Why? You knew it was bad for you, but you like the taste and you ate it anyway. True?

Then perhaps you can understand how I, after giving vegan cooking classes and lectures, writing blogs and articles about the advantage of the vegan diet, could stray away so far as to get really fat again. Yuck!

Who could predict that the name of my blog – Vacationing Vegan – would apply to me, and my vacation away from logic, good food, and a vegan diet? Yes, I ate my pizza, drank soda, and ate pasta stuffed with cheese. I loved it, but felt like a fat blob that didn't want to move off the couch.

Today? I am over 30 pounds lighter than I was in April of this year. I have lost from size 38 inch waist pants to 34 inch falling off me. My XXL shirts look like bathrobes on me, and now I wear size medium or large. I eat vegan 95% of the time, and snack on vegetarian but non-vegan items on weekends to keep my sanity.

But the other half of my program is just as important as my diet to weight loss. I am riding my bike 8 to 12 miles a day, and loving it! I am crazy about exercise on my bike, and ride on the LA river bike path day and night. This daily exercise and my vegan diet have worked to make me feel great again.

Although I am 60 years old as of March 24^th, I was at college last week and I asked a stranger how old she thought I was. I ask her not to lie or flatter me, and as she was LGBT there was no sexual reason for her to lie. 

She said I looked like I was in my mid thirties, but I could be as old as 40 but just hide it well. 

Yes, I use lotion on my face, and I colored my gray hair brown again, but really – mid thirties? That is because of my diet and exercise program, and my spiritual program.

So here is my thoughts on the topic. Eat vegan if you want to lose weight, feel good, have energy, live longer, avoid disease and look 20 years younger than you are. Enough reasons?

All content and photography copyright 2017 by Dennis Davis. See www.LosAngeles-Photo.com, www.DennisDavisPhotography.com and www.LongBeachPhotographers.net

#vegan #vegetarian #food #foodporn #foodphotography #weightloss #pounds #skinny #thin #weight #fat #nofat #diet 

The Diet Plateau

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There comes a time in most diets when compromise begins to catch up with you. Decisions are made that are not in keeping with the guidelines of the diet. “Just one candy bar a day” easily becomes three or four. “This fast food restaurant does not have a good price on juice, so I will get a soda.” I have arrived at the point of the plateau in my vegan diet, and I have been there for months. I have lost 65 pounds in the first nine months, and then nothing for the last six. I don’t like it one bit, but what am I willing to do to get those last 30 pounds off of my belly?

Sugar is the devil, it is seductive, crafty, and a master at temptation. Sugar is almost everywhere, and in almost everything, and avoiding it is a life-long challenge for the plump. I can never eat just one cookie, or one piece of candy. Once I have one, it is only moments until I want a second one. The more I eat, the more I want. The scales tell the story in great detail.

It seems that I am making just enough compromises to stay exactly where I am. It is a basic principle of weight loss that your calorie output must exceed your calorie intake to lose weight. You will either need more exercise or fewer calories to make the fat go away. For me, controlling my diet was always easier than adding hours of exercise to my schedule, so that has been my focus. Lately, there have been about 300 calories a day in my diet consisting of sugary snacks or drinks, or my biggest enemy, CHEESE!

Many cheeses are 70 or 80% fat, and it all seems to collect at my belly button. When I go out to eat, most restaurants serve entrees that are either meat-based or cheese-based, and meat is not an option. Other people in my family eat cheese, so it is always in the refrigerator. I love cheese! Pizza is awesome! However, if I eat it more than once a week, I know I am going to stay at my plateau, and that just doesn’t work for me.

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I have become lax, and I am making too many compromises with my diet. It will take new dedication, new determination and all the self-discipline I can muster to make these extra calories go away. For me, that will not be enough. I also have to give my body and my mouth to God daily, and give up the right to eat what I want. My body is His temple, and junk food doesn’t belong here.

“Lord, I surrender my body to you right now. I ask that you take control of my mouth and my mind, and keep me away from food that will harm your temple. Help me to stay away from sweets, soda and fatty foods. Help me to enjoy the fruits, nuts, vegetables and whole grains You have provided to keep me healthy. I give up the right to eat candy today. I give up the right to French fries. I surrender my pizza craving to you. Please control me, and make my body beautiful. Amen.”

Permanent Weight Loss

Permanent weight loss requires a permanent lifestyle change.

My list includes the following:

• ·         Sugar
• ·         Candy / Chocolate
• ·         Soda Pop
• ·         Cheese
• ·         Sour Cream
• ·         Whole Milk
• ·         Fried Foods
• ·         White Flour Products
• ·         Egg yolks

My personal weaknesses are for chocolate and cheese. One ounce of cheddar cheese is 113 calories, but 84 of those calories are from fat. Many cheeses made from whole milk are 70-80% fat, which is why pizzas are so greasy. A Hershey’s chocolate bar that weighs 43 grams has 24 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of fat, and out of 210 total calories, 110 of them are from fat. 

I try to follow a vegan diet as much as possible, making the most of fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables at home. When I eat out, I know that I will have to make a few compromises, however I still try to avoid sugar, cheese and fried food as much as I can. 

I have lost 65 pounds this year on my vegan diet, and 10 inches in my waist. I went from a XXL shirt to a medium and from a 42 inch waist to a 32 inch waist pants. The Spa Body Wrap took an additional 2 inches off my belly the first time I tried it, and I look forward to trying it again. 

Right now you may be thinking, “How could I cook a weight loss diet for myself, and still please my family?” I recommend the three pan cooking method. In the largest pan on the stove, put the base dish that doesn’t contain animal products. The base dish could be stir fry vegetables, brown rice, whole grain pasta, or similar items. In smaller pan one, put meat or seafood. In smaller pan two, put vegetarian meat substitutes, tofu, or similar proteins. Combine the meat or seafood with the base dish right on the plate, and your items on your plate. Garnish both meal types with lots of fresh herbs, sauces, salsas, etc. and serve.

Try this dish for dinner this week:

Veggie Fajitas 

One Package of Morning Star Farms Grillers or Chik Patties, defrosted and chopped

One each green and red bell pepper, chopped in strips

One - two large onions, chopped in strips

One garlic clove, finely minced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 corn or flour tortillas

Toppings

Salsa

Chopped tomato

Dairy or vegan cheese

Vegan or dairy sour cream (vegan for you, dairy for your skinny family members)

Directions:

In a large, non-stick frying pan, cook the Morningstar Farms patties with the oil, lime juice and seasonings. Cook for 3-4 minutes over medium high heat, and then add the onions, bell peppers and minced garlic and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Heat tortillas in foil in the oven at 350 for 7 minutes, on the stove top on a dry griddle, or in the microwave as desired.  To serve, spoon a portion of the fajitas mix down the center of each tortilla, top with your desired toppings, fold over and serve.

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A summer camp for obese children

Waterfall in Yosemite Valley
DennisDavisPhotography.com

I was a dirt poor, obese, gay kid with few friends. The one thing I looked forward to more than anything else when I was growing up was going to Yosemite and going to Camp Wawona summer camp. Most of those camps were for one week, but that was plenty of time to change a kid’s life. We had swimming, hiking, archery, water skiing, crafts and taking care of live animals in the nature center. We were so broke the church had to pay our way sometimes, but I went every summer for ten years.

I would love to help a charity put on a summer camp for obese children. The best way to teach a child about a new diet is to put them in a controlled environment, and feed them healthy food, and help them have fun with outdoor exercise. As you know from the name of my blog, if it were my charity I would feed these kids a vegan diet with very low sugar. Hey, it’s my dream, and I can dream it any way I wish! I would teach them songs around the campfire that will instill health principles in their head forever.

Yosemite Valley
DavisPhotographic.com

So steal my idea, and start one! We could use 50 of them. As I was a poor, gay, obese kid, I think it would be cool to offer at least one or two weeks of the camp for gay obese kids. Maybe they would need to have all kinds of medical and professional people there to monitor them; I am not sure what would be required. I do know that lots of them will come hating themselves, and leave with new friends and new hope for a better life.

On a low sugar, vegan diet, an obese child might lose 10 pounds in week, or 20 or 30 in a month, when combined with climbing mountains, swimming or volleyball every day. I enjoyed feeding the animals in the nature center, and was able to take care of a Rosy Boa for a week, which is why today I am not afraid of snakes.

Church was under the trees in the “church bowl”, and night time church looking up at the stars was awesome! But the nightly campfires were my favorite. The camp would bring in missionaries, who would tell stories of Africa, China, or the Philippines, and the children were spell bound. I was so impressed with the guys playing guitar that I later took guitar lessons from one of the guitarists from the camp, and that’s why I play guitar today. Climbing a ½ mile uphill 4 times a day just to go to your cabin to get something can really work off the calories!

This is a really big idea, but it could be a great blessing to lots of overweight kids. Childhood obesity is increasing.

Facts:

•  Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.
• In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

Ray of Light sings the Word of God

This video features songs using bible verses as the lyrics, called scripture songs. These songs were released on cassette in 1983, and were converted to digital format this year. Matt. 11:28-30, Phil. 1:6, and other popular bible verses are performed by Dennis Ray Davis, also known as Ray of Light.

These songs are excellent for memorizing bible verses, and are popular with parents for helping children learn the bible. Many parents put their kids to bed with these songs playing.

To hear more music by Dennis Ray Davis, see www.GuitarMinister.com

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It is Well, With My Soul

Performed by Ray of Light, a.k.a. Dennis Ray Davis at the glass church in Palos Verdes, CA known as the Wayfarers Chapel http://www.wayfarerschapel.org/. This location is known as the best beach wedding location in California. For more music by Ray of Light, see www.GuitarMinister.com

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

keywords: Christian, Jesus, Lord, music, music video, singer, ray of light, Dennis Ray Davis, famous singer Ray of Light, famous photographer Dennis Ray Davis, Guitar Minister