A Vegetarian in Savannah and On the Road Again

I spent the night down by the City Market and Riverwalk in Savannah. As I strolled the area looking for a restaurant with a salad bar, I was struck by how dramatic the diet changes will have to be to carry through on this program. Fuhrman seems adamant about no meat protein, no milk products, and getting percent of calories from fat below 10% and keeping it there.

With those guidelines, there was literally no place I could eat out of about 20 resturants in City Market and 30 at Riverwalk. Since this is Savannah, there were many seafood places - but I may have eaten my last seafood meal. I'll ask him how he feels about an occasional night out on the town to have a "delicious" salmon steak. This also reminds me to ask him about the omega 3 oils from cold water fish. I have a suspicion what he will say: "If you have a healthy diet in the first place you don't need it. It's needed to counteract poor dietary habits." My list of questions is growing rapidly.

Back to my stroll along Savannah's Riverfront. There were the ice cream parlors, the specialty candy stores and seafood restaurant after seafood restaurant. I was struck by how there was literally no place for me to eat. To make these kinds of changes means going against what most Americans consider an inalienable right: to eat large quantities of food high in animal fat, salt and processed sugar. As I looked in the window of each passing restaurant and saw the families and couples dining, I was aware that I would have to leave all that behind. Robert Heinlien wrote a book titled Stranger in a Strange Land. I was certainly a stranger in a strange land.

On the road yesterday, I found a place to have lunch - Shoneys. Their salad bar (all you can eat at $3.89 for seniors) was just right with lots of stuff that Fuhrman would approve. There was even kale in addition to the spinich. This put me in mind of the pathetic iceberg lettuce that most salads have. Today I'll focus my drive to Atlanta around the location of Shoneys restaurants. Before I leave the motel room this morning, I'll have two oranges and an apple. On the way out of town, I'll stop at Shoneys to hopefully get a big bowl of oatmeal.

My brother has been a vegetarian for years. When he was driving an 18 wheeler, he had a cooler with all the salad fixings. Now I appreciate how important it was for him to travel carrying his restaurant "on his back." As I look forward to Rochester, I realize that even as vegetarians Fuhrman wouldn't approve of their diet. Since they eat a lot of cheese, its high in diary. I wonder how I'll do at their place?