Conclusions

Day 24

I've lost and kept off about 15 pounds. My blood pressure has come down to a normal 120/80. I feel healthier. I've learned to enjoy buying fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store and preparing meals. I look forward to it each day. Studying the particulars of the most effective parts of this diet, it seems to compare most directly to what is know as a "Vegan" diet. I studied fasting and found that it is an effective way to detoxify your body and is considered a healthy activity at 5-7 days, and should be done from time to time. An unexpected benefit of this diet experiment is that I have developed a keen interest in cooking from scratch, whether it is making bread or preparing my own dishes by varying the ingredients of other recipes that I've found.

For the selection of foods throughout this diet, I rolled dice and compared the results to a table of possible foods I might find. I started with nothing but water, then added tropical fruits, grains, and vegetables. Each of the items I could find was on a percentile table. If I rolled a low enough number to have found it, I added it to the diet.

The events of the blog were loosely based on events going on in my real life. Part of the reason for going on the diet was to prepare for a reunion of people who worked at Apple Computer, Inc. over 20 years ago. (I worked at Apple from 1983-1993.) I had not seen many of these people for 20 years and wanted to lose some weight before they saw me. The "Festival" at the end of the narrative was based on the Apple Reunion held at the Lake Lanier Island Resort near Atlanta, GA.

This will be my last entry in the maroonediet blog, but I intend to continue cooking our meals from fresh and healthy ingredients, working out at the fitness center, and fasting about once every 6 months. I think that this will not only allow me to live a healthier life as I move toward old age, but is just another way to enjoy the little things that pass by unnoticed every day.

Thanks to all of you who have read and commented on this blog or to me in person. It helped me adopt the attitude necessary to make the diet a success.

For those of you who want to follow my adventures in cooking, I'm starting a new blog garrycooking.blogspot.com where I intend to keep notes on things I cook. Mainly so if I ever cook anything good, I'll be able to figure out how I did it, so I can do it again.

Festival!

Day 23
Weight: 218 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Brunch:
  • orange juice
  • whole grain pancake with pecans, walnuts and honey syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 strips of bacon
• Dinner:
  
  • various fruit juices
  • steamed beans and carrots
  • roasted potatoes
  • carved flank steak
  • fish cooked with almonds
  • mixed greens salad
  • various cheeses, crackers and meatballs
  • chocolate pie

Today was a great gathering of villages from all over these lands. The sun rose over the lake and the air was cool, clean and crisp. The leaves on the trees were changing to glorious autumn color and falling.There was no breakfast because all of the land's best cooks were setting up their cooking pits, fires, and ovens for use all day. For masons like me there was nothing to do but wander around the island and enjoy the beauty of it.

At mid-morning we had a brunch consisting of pancakes, eggs and bacon. For the rest of the afternoon, I watched as the villagers interacted with each other...old friends, new friends. I rested most of the day content and one with the nature and peoples around me.

By sunset, a great feast was prepared. There were bonfires and dancing. Everyone ate and drank. Several of the leaders gave speeches and many just went up to a platform and talked a bit telling stories about things that had happened to them since the last gathering. Some of the natives sang beautiful songs. It was a grand evening.

After the feast, the villagers began making their way down to the shore of the lake. It was late and very dark. The waxing moon had set. There were no fires on the beach-like shore of the lake. At the shore of the lake, everyone started lying down in the sand. I followed in turn and laid down. Everyone was looking up into the sky at the stars. Soon it began...one, two, then a pair. There was a meteor shower...beautiful streaks of color across the sky. We lay there for hours watching this heavenly display.

Then I noticed something odd. I was looking at the big dipper, but something was wrong. It didn't look right. The handle of the dipper was bent back toward the stem at a very sharp angle. Then all at once it hit me. I remembered reading something a long time ago about how due to the movement of the sun through the galaxy and our solar system's perspective of constellations, images like the big dipper would change shape over time. The top of the handle would eventually bend back into the stem. If this was correct, then what I was seeing in the sky told me that thousands of years had passed. I was not on some remote island...I was not somewhere far in the past...I was someplace far, far into the future.

Suddenly there was a bright light in the sky between Mars and Betelguese. It grew brighter and brighter until it lit up the whole sky in blinding white light. Someone grabbed my shoulder and shook me. I opened my eyes and saw my wife in bed beside me attempting to wake me up. She asked if I was okay. I looked around me and realized that I had dreamed everything since the time I found myself floating in the raft. I told her that I felt a little thinner, healthier, and well-rested...and also that I felt like getting up and cooking breakfast for us. "How about some polenta with fresh fruit?"

A Long Journey

Day 22
Weight: 219.5 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Breakfast:
  • small cup of mango juice
  • polenta (grits) with melted provalone, Swiss, and pepper-jack cheeses
  • plain rye toast
• Lunch:
  • orange juice
  • chicken smothered with spinach and cheeses
  • a salad
  • a type of pasta with a rich creamy sauce
• Dinner:
  
  • various fruit juices
  • steamed squash and other vegetables
  • some leftover chicken from lunch

Slept very well last night. When I awoke this morning, everyone was packing and checking their packs. They seemed to be packing for a journey of several days, so I did the same. I found a pack with a wood frame in my hut, so I filled this with everything I thought I might need for a 2-3 day journey.

Breakfast was the usual polenta, except they had added a generous amount of melted cheeses to the mix. This made me feel well-prepared physically for whatever journey was ahead. After breakfast, everyone in the village put on their packs and grabbed one of those walking stick things and began the journey. I had found a stick in my hut with a particularly carved head which I think identified the type of work I do. I fell in with the rest of the villagers and we walked inland for the rest of the morning.

Around noon, after crossing several streams, we encountered another village. This village was about the same size as ours. They had a very large meal prepared, complete with cooked chickens. Everyone seemed to know each other and they seemed to be expecting us. We all sat down together and shared a marvelous and satisfying meal of chicken, spinach, melted cheeses, pasta, and some other vegetables.

I noticed that no one unpacked. In fact, the other villagers had all packed, and as soon as the meal was done, they joined us and everyone began walking again. Miles and miles passed. Darkness fell and we were still walking. The air became cooler and the ground ascended. I caught a glimpse of some granite outcroppings which let me know we were climbing into a mountainous area. Suddenly, in the darkness, we saw torch lights ahead. It was very quiet in these woods. The tropical vegetation seemed to have given way to hardwood trees of many types. Tiki torches marked the path we followed.

Soon I began to hear voices. Many voices talking excitedly. Then we came to a very large lake. There were many canoes pulled near the shore and several paddling out into the lake. There were hundreds of villagers from many villages gathering at the canoes. I climbed aboard one of the larger canoes and was soon smoothly moving with the rest of the villagers out into this mountain lake. The water was clear and cold and not salty. In the distance I some more flickering lights from what looked like bonfires on an island in the middle of the lake. We steered toward this island and soon made landfall.

Everyone clambered out of the canoes and followed a well-worn path up onto the island. The path was marked by tiki torches and there were many villagers from all over following it. The lake island was very steep, and the path wound its way up through the woods on the island until we came to what looked like a large festival area in the forest high above the lake on the backside of the island. There were many, many villagers here. There were camps set up all through the woods and in the meadows. Many small campfires were burning, giving the air a smokey flavor. Although many villagers were just getting there, many more were already asleep. I laid down in a meadow under the stars and fell fast asleep after the long journey.

Preparing for a Journey

Day 21
Weight: 218.5 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Breakfast:
  • small cup of banana juice
  • polenta (grits)
  • rye toast plain
  • a banana
• Lunch:
  • mineral water
  • pot pourii stew leftovers
• Dinner:
  
  • pineapple juice
  • 2 ears corn on the cob
  • steamed asparagus spears
  • steamed okra
  • stewed squash
  • plain rye toast

Had a pretty good day today. After starting the day with my regular fare of polenta, I began laying on the terracotta roof to the storage house. It was a beautiful sunny day. Temperatures in the 80s. Most days here are usually in the mid 80s with the nights in the mid-70s. It is very nice weather. For lunch there was leftover pot pourii stew. It was still mild and filling, though most of the spice had lost its punch. By the end of the day, I had half the roof finished.

Toward late afternoon I noticed a general flurry of activity in the village. Everyone was packing. They packed mostly food and food-making implements. When I tried to understand what was going on they seemed to indicate that I should pack, and they pointed far away toward the mountains. For dinner I had steamed asparagus, okra, and stewed squash along with a slice of rye toast. I was feeling very good by nightfall, glad to be over my sickness.

Sick

Day 20
Weight: 220.5 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Breakfast:
  • small cup of pineapple juice
  • polenta (grits)
  • rye toast with butter
• Lunch:
  • mango juice
  • 2 slices of barley bread veggie pizza
  • stewed squash
  • handful of salted, smoked almonds
• Dinner:
  
  • pineapple juice
  • 2 ears corn on the cob
  • asparagus spears
  • fried okra
  • 1/4 a papaya
  • thin slice of buttered rye toast

Woke up about 3:00am very sick. Had a bad dream where I got lost in London and accidentally went through a wormhole and traveled too far too fast for the current laws of physics and ended up in my Grandma Ruth's house. As I started to make a cell phone call, all the windows and doors of the house started shutting to prevent me from causing a paradox. Weird, I know, but those are the kind of nightmares I have sometimes (especially after eating spicy food).

I was sick all morning. After trying to eat a little polenta for breakfast, I went out to check on the terracotta shingles, but got sick again and ended up going back to my hut and spending the rest of the morning in the hammock. I think the leftovers contained a lot of meat. My body really wasn't use to processing meat for the last 20 days. Maybe my gall bladder just decided to shut down or something. I dragged myself out to the courtyard for lunch (because I didn't know what the consequences of begin late for a gong call were). I ate some barley bread veggie pizza and stewed squash and felt a bit better, but I still spent the rest of the day in the hut.

By nightfall I began to feel somewhat normal again. I decided to stay away from any meats for awhile. We had corn on the cob, okra, asparagus, and papaya for dinner. Very nice. I hope to sleep better tonight.

Leftovers

Day 19
Weight: 221.5 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Breakfast:
  • small cup of banana juice
  • whole wheat bagel with avocado spread
• Lunch:
  • glass of sweet tea
  • mixed leftovers from the feast and rice
• Dinner:
  
  • glass of grape juice
  • mixed leftovers from the feast and rice spiced with horseradish

Had a good bit of indigestion last night which kept me from sleeping as well as I'd have liked. Had some avocado with wheat bread for breakfast.

Today was mostly a left-overs day as far as food was concerned. It seemed they wanted to finish off any food left over from the feast with no waste. I worked with the villagers who made pottery and finally got them to understand that I wanted them to make me some terracotta shingles. I spent most of the day helping them craft the shingles and determining how many we'd need to cover the storage shed.

The evening meal was mostly leftovers mixed with rice, but really spiced up with horseradish (I suppose to cover any bad flavors associated with the leftover food). Time to crawl into the hammock.

Pot Pourii Stew

Day 18
Weight: 220 lbs.
Food Intake:

• Breakfast:
  • small cup of mango juice
  • polenta (grits)
• Lunch:
  • glass of sweet tea
  • 2 tacos
  • stewed beef and vegetables
  • corn bread with beans
  • some fried flat bread with honey and cinnamon
• Dinner:
  
  • small cup of pineapple juice
  • pot pourii stew
  • jalapeno corn bread

Slept very well last night. I've started snoring again. I think 218 is the magic "snore" number. After a bowl of the usual polenta with mango juice, I continued laying mud bricks onto the storage building. This would be a nice building. It should help keep provisions dry.

At noon, we were treated to a new dish. Tacos, beans, meat and vegetables. I have a feeling that this was mostly leftover food from the feast turned back into a new meal. These people wasted very little. The dessert was interesting. Cinnamon and honey coated flat bread. Very tasty.

By the end of the day, I had a few rafters in place. Most of the masonry was done. Dinner time brought a new dish. It smelled absolutely wonderful while it was being cooked. It reminded me of a Kirkland store at the mall around Christmas time. It looked a lot like Mom's beef stew. As for the taste ... well, close your eyes and try to imagine eating beef stew with potatoes, except it tastes like a Kirkland store smells at Christmas. That is why I call this dish "pot pourii stew". It had brown rice, plantains, okra, onion, squash, dates, and almonds in it, flavored generously with cinnamon, ginger, and clove with some jalapeno cornbread on the side. It was very filling, but I think I'd have to eat it a lot to get used to it. It just didn't taste like something you'd eat. Sure made the village smell good though.

As the moon was setting, several of the young men gestured for me to follow them down to the beach. When we got to the beach it was very dark. I began coughing, but looked out into the water and thought I saw lights. Perhaps a ship? Then a large wave welled up. It was lit from one end to the other like a neon sign. The water was full of a phosphorescent algae bloom. That's why I was coughing. Irritating fumes in the sea spray. That would also explain a lot of the dead fish I saw washed up on shore. They were experiencing a "red tide". I had heard that those things could cause a good amount of irritation if you swam in them, but had only killed people who'd eaten contaminated seafood. I hiked back to my hut in the village and drifted off to sleep, thankful that I was high above the ocean breeze tonight.