The Perfect Guinea Pig

A guest post by Anton, director and producer of 100 Man Fight

I am lucky enough to be staying for a month with Chris and his wonderful girlfriend in their house in Akasaka. Stacked up against just about anyone else I would have to be the closest thing to the perfect guinea pig for the Blue Belt Life diet.

A lifelong rampant alcoholic and consumer of excessive amounts of meat, caffeine, salt and sugar in various forms I truly wonder what effect a vegetarian, alcohol free diet would have on me. Hopefully not the massive coronary my father claims is waiting for him should he ever deviate from his diet of cigarettes, alcohol and fatty meat. Apparently after enough time has passed these vices can be the only thing that still holds an old man’s body together. A medical fact according to my retired GP dad.

Not that I am completely at the bottom of the hill here. In January I was on holiday in Thailand with an old mate, spending my days sitting by the pool and soaked in beer and I decided for a laugh to step on the 10 baht scales in front of a 7-11. 109kg was the result. At only 172cm that is about as wide as I’ve ever been.

In the months since that milestone event I have been running 4-5km most days and have generally stayed away from getting completely obliterated on the booze, although I do have the odd quiet beer or two. I have also avoided eating full packets of Tim Tams after 3 bottles of red and tried to stick to 3 meals a day. Arriving in Japan just a few days ago I’m a much more reasonable 92kg.

So here I am in Tokyo, just beginning my stay with Chris and I have caught up with the latest blogs on Blue Belt Life. Two days in I am 2 for 2 on running 7km from the Blue Belt household around the Emperor’s Palace and back and figure I’ll try to keep that up for the duration. Added to this I have had a first-hand initiation into the post-finance Chris lifestyle and diet and my first reaction is not what I expected. I am honestly impressed.

I’ve got to say that from a meat eater’s perspective I thought it would be a lot harder to win me over on the food side of things but the vegetable servings have been larger in volume than I would usually consume and a lot tastier than I could have imagined. So yesterday while still on an endorphin high after surviving my first run through the crowded Tokyo streets I volunteered to join the team and become part of the experiment.

Accompanying Chris to the Farmer’s Market in Yurakucho today to get the weekly supplies was an eye opener. The vegetables here in Japan really are the best in the world. And this coming from an Australian. After talking like old friends with each stall owner and buying at least one product from just about all of them of them, the farmer’s market’s best customer and I filled two backpacks with vegetables for the week ahead. This will be an interesting week. I have barely missed a day without meat in 44 years – I am not kidding. To clarify however, I am not going totally vegan – I can’t visit Japan and not eat sushi. Japanese sushi is the only food that enters my dreams. But aside from fish I’ll try to stick to the game plan and be the resident guinea pig on the Blue Belt Life diet.

For the sake of posterity I’ll write my own entry at the end of each week and chart my progress. If I don’t find total enlightenment through food I might at least drop a couple of kilos and raise my energy levels. That should seem an achievable goal. Hopefully my dad’s dire prediction for those who attempt to change course and chart a healthy alternative at a late stage in life was made in mirth.

And Pete, if you’re reading this, yes mate its true. We’re swapping Hoegaarden, red wine, salami and sedatives for broccoli, beans and water. Well for a month anyway.

2015 Update: follow-up post here

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