I’ve abandoned every type of special nutrition in favor of this way of eating

I used the expression “special nutrition” instead of “diet” because I was never on any diet. The closest I got to dieting was when I was on a calorie restriction. During the initial months of the pandemic, I increased my running by a lot and started to lose weight. It felt awesome. I started eating less and lost even more weight. It wasn’t a purposeful pursuit of calorie restriction, but it was that: I exercised more while eating less.

I don’t think I was ever overweight though at 190 pounds I was close to that physical state, at least as defined by the BMI index. In fact, I do remember being told that during one of my medical checkups — that I was above the “normal” range of the BMI scale. I sure knew I had extra pounds but was a little surprised. Even at 190 pounds, I’d run regularly, three times a week, plus or minus. So I never pursued any diets.

But I experimented. Or maybe it wasn’t experimenting but pursuing various restrictions or types of eating that resonated at the time.

There was a period when I’d not touch any bread.

I went — for a few of months — vegetarian a couple of years ago.

Then I started calling myself plant-based.

I abandoned red meat. Then started eating again and enjoyed it. Not often but occasionally.

I tried Beyond Burger and Impossible Foods, thinking they’d become my new go-to foods at the time when I…