Veghacker: My Dreams Seem More Intense Without Meat

One of the main reasons I’m not eating meat for a month is to see what difference it makes to my physical state — will I feel “healthier”? Will I lose weight? Something I didn’t anticipate what was that my dreams would become much more intense.

[related title=”VEGHACKER” tag=”veghacker” items=”5″]It’s not that I’ve previously been someone who doesn’t remember their dreams, but it’s rare for them to acquire the kind of cinematic intensity and emotional sharpness they’re currently exhibiting. Like most things related to dreams, it’s hard to explain and probably tedious to read if I tried. Suffice to say that with that having happened almost every night since I started this project, it’s the most apparent difference I’ve seen from a no-meat diet.

On the weight point, there’s not a lot of clear evidence. The first week, my weight stayed exactly the same. The second week, I lost 2kg — but since that also coincided with me doing the Note 4 Roadtrip challenge and trying to make sure I did 10,000 steps a day, it would seem likely that the exercise had as much to do with it as the diet.

Except that this week, I stuck with the 10,000 steps a day, ate similar meals and my weight went up by 1kg. Which means I’m essentially back where I started — not bloating, but not shrinking either. The real lesson is that if I wanted to lose weight, I’d have to consciously cut calories, not just eat more vegetables and less meat, and set my step count higher. I’m in maintenance mode, apparently.

For most of this week, I was at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, relying on conference food. There turned out to be a very generous selection — on most days there were three or four different salads to choose from. But I was disappointed that I couldn’t sample the Mexican beef on my flight home.

One week to go!