Happy Valentine's Day!
I'm still vegan, but I'm not doing a great job with journaling because life caught up with me. Since my last entry, I've decided that gluten-free is not for me, at least for now. I have a special love affair with sandwiches and it's hard to find a good bread that's GF and vegan at the same time. So for now, I'll just focus on being vegan and will revisit a GF world another time.
We celebrated Valentine's Day early just to avoid the crowds. My family ate at Claim Jumper. My husband has been wanting to eat ribs, and Claim Jumper was the only restaurant where we both could eat. I ordered a California Citrus salad without cheese and a mini veggie pizza without cheese. The food was good, but for the first time ever, I walked out of Claim Jumper hungry. If I ever go back there, or anywhere else that serves murdered animals, I'll have to remember to bring a vegan sandwich along.
I've been vegan for 3 weeks now and I feel great. I don't feel hungry and I'm always looking forward to the next meal. I'm having fun discovering new vegetables and grains that I've never eaten before. I do miss sweets sometimes, but I just remind myself how that junk will make me sick and has made me sick in the past. I plan to make YumUniverse's Flourless Black Bean Brownies.
These look delicious and will be a perfect healthy treat for me (and anyone
else in my family who wants to try them) on Valentine's Day.
Because I'm having trouble keeping a daily journal, I'm officially dropping out of #YU30. As much as I want another Vitamix blender, journaling has never been a strong point for me. So I will still continue to be vegan and stalk the YumUniverse website and Facebook/Twitter pages.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Day 1 #YU30 Plant-Powerful Challenge
A bunch of organic vegetables and bulk grains, nuts, and legumes cost how much? I went shopping today at Whole Foods and my bank account and I feel like I'm eating like royalty! I'm sure once I figure out this whole vegan thing, I'll learn how to stretch the dollar a bit more.
Anyhow, I've been a vegan for over a week now, but today is the first official day of the #YU30 Plant-Powerful Challenge to go vegan and gluten-free. I've been doing to vegan part, but now it's time to start gluten free. I had a few pieces of bread and one tortilla last night and made sure to eat them before today. I don't have wheat sensitivity, so I'm going to test-drive a gluten-free diet for the sake of the #YU30 challenge.
Breakfast:
My cereal concoction was inspired by the Rawtarian's raw breakfast bowl. I toasted some oats with flax meal, coconut, peanut butter, and maple syrup. Then I added dried cranberries, shredded granny smith apple, buckwheat groats, chia seeds, and rice milk. I let the milk soak for five minutes so the chia seeds would plump up.
Lunch:
Unfortunately, my lunch wasn't gluten-free. I had made some tofu soup with a box vegetable pho broth and soba noodles yesterday and needed to finish the leftovers. The soba noodles i used were not gluten-free. I tried picking the noodles out, but decided that it was too much work. But my meal was still vegan and I don't view that as a setback. I have one more package of gluten soba noodles. I will eat those just because I don't want to waste them. After that, I will strive to be totally gluten-free.
Dinner:
I had some mushroom barley soup that was being demonstrated at Whole Foods today. I realized barley was gluten after I ate it. Oh well. The guy serving the soup assured me that it was vegan, and my 5-year-old loved it. Because a quart of soup doesn't go a long way for a family of four, I made green smoothies to finish off some greens before they went bad. I made a "training wheels" spinach and fruit smoothie for my family, but mine was more fun. I blended arugula, cucumber, lemon (peeled), 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, banana, and coconut milk. Delicious!
Snacks:
The only snacks I had today were grape tomatoes and cucumber slices. I made sure to drink lots of water so I didn't feel hungry.
How I feel today:
I feel great, but I really want to try to get more green vegetables in my diet, especially because I'm trying to go gluten free. I will miss my sandwiches, but if I want them that bad, I can always fork over more money to buy gluten-free bread.
On another note, I find myself not craving sweets so much today. I actually threw out the rest of my gluten-free vegan cake. Giving up the processed sugars will be a challenge for me, but I'm confident that I'll get by. I've found lots of great baking recipes on YumUniverse website. I can't wait to try them out.
Anyhow, I've been a vegan for over a week now, but today is the first official day of the #YU30 Plant-Powerful Challenge to go vegan and gluten-free. I've been doing to vegan part, but now it's time to start gluten free. I had a few pieces of bread and one tortilla last night and made sure to eat them before today. I don't have wheat sensitivity, so I'm going to test-drive a gluten-free diet for the sake of the #YU30 challenge.
Breakfast:
My cereal concoction was inspired by the Rawtarian's raw breakfast bowl. I toasted some oats with flax meal, coconut, peanut butter, and maple syrup. Then I added dried cranberries, shredded granny smith apple, buckwheat groats, chia seeds, and rice milk. I let the milk soak for five minutes so the chia seeds would plump up.
Lunch:
Unfortunately, my lunch wasn't gluten-free. I had made some tofu soup with a box vegetable pho broth and soba noodles yesterday and needed to finish the leftovers. The soba noodles i used were not gluten-free. I tried picking the noodles out, but decided that it was too much work. But my meal was still vegan and I don't view that as a setback. I have one more package of gluten soba noodles. I will eat those just because I don't want to waste them. After that, I will strive to be totally gluten-free.
Dinner:
I had some mushroom barley soup that was being demonstrated at Whole Foods today. I realized barley was gluten after I ate it. Oh well. The guy serving the soup assured me that it was vegan, and my 5-year-old loved it. Because a quart of soup doesn't go a long way for a family of four, I made green smoothies to finish off some greens before they went bad. I made a "training wheels" spinach and fruit smoothie for my family, but mine was more fun. I blended arugula, cucumber, lemon (peeled), 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, banana, and coconut milk. Delicious!
Snacks:
The only snacks I had today were grape tomatoes and cucumber slices. I made sure to drink lots of water so I didn't feel hungry.
How I feel today:
I feel great, but I really want to try to get more green vegetables in my diet, especially because I'm trying to go gluten free. I will miss my sandwiches, but if I want them that bad, I can always fork over more money to buy gluten-free bread.
On another note, I find myself not craving sweets so much today. I actually threw out the rest of my gluten-free vegan cake. Giving up the processed sugars will be a challenge for me, but I'm confident that I'll get by. I've found lots of great baking recipes on YumUniverse website. I can't wait to try them out.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Day 6
One of the challenges I am facing is the fact that I have to share my kitchen. My in-laws moved in last year and took over my kitchen. It was fine with me because I had a new baby and didn't spend any time in the kitchen anyway. I was actually thankful that they were there when my daughter was born because mothers of newborns could use all the help they can get. But now I know that I can't ever meet my kitchen goals as long as we have to share the kitchen, unless my husband's parents go vegan with us, which I don't see happening.
For now, I'll just dream of my vegan kitchen where no animal products could be found and everything is organic. I'll have space for my dehydrator, blender, and other kitchen gadgets. There will be no more boxes of sugary cereal and all of my daughters snacks would be full of nutrition, unlike the Teddy Grahams, Oreos, and other candy and chips that's cluttering my kitchen today. Ah...a woman can dream!
Growing up, my mother always told me to be thankful and to always make do with what I have and not demand more if it's not within reach. My dream kitchen is not within reach, but I will work with what I have. This will be the first year that I am excited about Spring cleaning and I will actually have the energy to do it!
I honestly feel that I'm permanently on the vegan wagon, but now I'm trying to get everyone else to hop on. It seems like my husband is a home vegan, only because he doesn't cook and he's been eating everything I've made this past week. I'm not sure what he eats during his lunch hour. I've been making my daughter Tofurkey sandwiches for lunch, but today she asked if she could have Lunchables for lunch. We had them in the refrigerator, so I threw one in her lunch box. For the baby, I told her caregivers at daycare that she is now a vegan. At least it will be easy for the baby to go vegan!
Speaking of the baby, my breast milk is flowing better and it's more creamy now that I'm a vegan. Just a few weeks ago, I was struggling to pump milk. The milk that I did manage to extract was very watery. I'm so happy that I can make my "liquid gold" more valuable by going vegan!
My next goal is to find time to exercise. I'm hoping to dust off my bike and start commuting to and from work. Then eventually I'll start running so I can build up my bone density. Right now I feel wonderful and I know that exercise will make me feel even better!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Days 4 and 5
My favorite part about being vegan is cooking! I took a hiatus from my kitchen when my baby was born, but now I'm back and I'm loving it. My mother is an awesome cook and she's my role model when it comes to the kitchen. No one ever leaves hungry when mom cooks. Now if only mom could go vegan...
I've been cooking up a vegan storm these past few days. I made my own cereal using oats, flax, coconut, peanut butter, maple syrup, and dried cranberries. It's amazing with unsweetened almond milk.
Using a box of portobello mushroom soup, I added veggies and soba noodles. Everyone loved this mushroom soup!
I made some Asian veggie wraps using peanut and hoisin sauce, Napa cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and water chestnuts wrapped in a tortilla.
We had a couple bags of tortilla chips laying around, so I decided to make a dip using quinoa, black beans, avocado, and pre-packed pico de gallo. This dip was amazing and I can't wait to make it again.
With all my fun-filled cooking adventures, I am succeeding at being vegan and loving it. People always tell me that it will be impossible for my appetite to be satisfied without eating meat, but now I know for sure that they are wrong. I never feel hungry and when I do, I eat a couple of grape tomatoes and I'm good to go until I can prepare the next meal.
On top of everything else, I feel great physically and emotionally. I could use more sleep, but my sleep clock is in sync with my 10-month-old baby who still likes to nurse at 3 a.m. Despite not getting enough sleep, I feel much better than before I started on my vegan journey, and it's only been 5 days. Just 5 days of no meat, dairy, or eggs and I feel wonderful!
I've decided that I'm going to kick my coffee habit now. I do enjoy having something warm to sip on during the winter months, so I'm going to look for some loose-leaf teas on my next shopping trip. For now, I'm going with the free bags of Lipton tea that is provided at the office.
Here's to another wonderful day! What am I going to eat next?
I've been cooking up a vegan storm these past few days. I made my own cereal using oats, flax, coconut, peanut butter, maple syrup, and dried cranberries. It's amazing with unsweetened almond milk.
Using a box of portobello mushroom soup, I added veggies and soba noodles. Everyone loved this mushroom soup!
I made some Asian veggie wraps using peanut and hoisin sauce, Napa cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and water chestnuts wrapped in a tortilla.
We had a couple bags of tortilla chips laying around, so I decided to make a dip using quinoa, black beans, avocado, and pre-packed pico de gallo. This dip was amazing and I can't wait to make it again.
With all my fun-filled cooking adventures, I am succeeding at being vegan and loving it. People always tell me that it will be impossible for my appetite to be satisfied without eating meat, but now I know for sure that they are wrong. I never feel hungry and when I do, I eat a couple of grape tomatoes and I'm good to go until I can prepare the next meal.
On top of everything else, I feel great physically and emotionally. I could use more sleep, but my sleep clock is in sync with my 10-month-old baby who still likes to nurse at 3 a.m. Despite not getting enough sleep, I feel much better than before I started on my vegan journey, and it's only been 5 days. Just 5 days of no meat, dairy, or eggs and I feel wonderful!
I've decided that I'm going to kick my coffee habit now. I do enjoy having something warm to sip on during the winter months, so I'm going to look for some loose-leaf teas on my next shopping trip. For now, I'm going with the free bags of Lipton tea that is provided at the office.
Here's to another wonderful day! What am I going to eat next?
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Day 3
Another successful vegan day! I had a green smoothie for breakfast using the leftover rainbow slaw, 2/3 cup frozen berries, one orange and one banana. The broccoli flavor was stronger than I thought it would be, so no more broccoli smoothies anytime soon.
After breakfast, I made my first vegan trip to Whole Foods. I've only shopped there a few times before and usually for organic greens, so I was unfamiliar with the rest of the store. So I spent most of my time browsing the aisles and reading food labels. I picked up some pantry staples and almond milk for my daughter. (She loves vanilla almond milk!) I didn't have time to prepare a shopping list beforehand, because I didn't know what to buy. After the trip to Whole Foods, the creative juices are flowing and I'm creating my family's meal plan. I will be returning the the store soon!
For lunch, I grabbed two veggie sushi rolls from Whole Foods. I rarely buy prepared sushi because of the price, but veggie sushi is about $5 per roll as opposed to $7-$10 for a fish roll. Besides, I needed a quick lunch because the hubby and I were planning to watch Hansel and Gretel at the movie theater.
When we go to the movies, my husband and I usually share a large popcorn with extra extra butter. For my first trip to the movie theater as a vegan, I purchased a small kettle corn for myself and my husband ordered popcorn with a normal amount of butter this time. We habitually grabbed a big handful of napkins, but we didn't need so many napkins this time. I only used one napkin! It feels good not being greasy!
After the movie, I had to take my daughter to a birthday party. I declined the cupcake and ice cream offered to me. My daughter only had an ice cream cup. I have decided that for now my kids and my husband will be vegan only at home. I'm praying that one day they will completely follow a plant-based whole foods diet.
For dinner, I poured some store-bought tomato soup over chopped zucchini and warmed it in the microwave. I went to bed early because I was exhausted from running around all day. I didn't notice the hungry feeling so much this time. I'm ready for another vegan day!
After breakfast, I made my first vegan trip to Whole Foods. I've only shopped there a few times before and usually for organic greens, so I was unfamiliar with the rest of the store. So I spent most of my time browsing the aisles and reading food labels. I picked up some pantry staples and almond milk for my daughter. (She loves vanilla almond milk!) I didn't have time to prepare a shopping list beforehand, because I didn't know what to buy. After the trip to Whole Foods, the creative juices are flowing and I'm creating my family's meal plan. I will be returning the the store soon!
For lunch, I grabbed two veggie sushi rolls from Whole Foods. I rarely buy prepared sushi because of the price, but veggie sushi is about $5 per roll as opposed to $7-$10 for a fish roll. Besides, I needed a quick lunch because the hubby and I were planning to watch Hansel and Gretel at the movie theater.
When we go to the movies, my husband and I usually share a large popcorn with extra extra butter. For my first trip to the movie theater as a vegan, I purchased a small kettle corn for myself and my husband ordered popcorn with a normal amount of butter this time. We habitually grabbed a big handful of napkins, but we didn't need so many napkins this time. I only used one napkin! It feels good not being greasy!
After the movie, I had to take my daughter to a birthday party. I declined the cupcake and ice cream offered to me. My daughter only had an ice cream cup. I have decided that for now my kids and my husband will be vegan only at home. I'm praying that one day they will completely follow a plant-based whole foods diet.
For dinner, I poured some store-bought tomato soup over chopped zucchini and warmed it in the microwave. I went to bed early because I was exhausted from running around all day. I didn't notice the hungry feeling so much this time. I'm ready for another vegan day!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Day 2
My second day as a vegan was a success. I had my usual oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast, two avocado sandwiches for lunch, chips and salsa and steamed veggies for dinner. Lunch had me completely stuffed. I used one avocado in each sandwich. Next time I'll use a half avocado each if I'm planning on eating two sandwiches.
I also made a vegan chocolate cake using a vegan cake mix I had purchased some time ago. I used applesauce for an egg substitute, coconut milk, and coconut oil. The texture wasn't as fluffy as a non-vegan cake. It was more like fluffy fudge. Nonetheless, my sweet craving was satisfied and I didn't feel hungry.
Some things I've heard from people who attempted veganism in the past is that they were always hungry and they were only satisfied with a double serving of meat. When I have those feelings after meals, I drink a huge glass of water, and that really takes the edge off my hunger withdrawals. If not, I'll eat more vegan food. If I'm hungry, I'm going to eat, but I don't feel the need to eat meat.
I feel great and I'm excited for day 3! Bring it on!
I also made a vegan chocolate cake using a vegan cake mix I had purchased some time ago. I used applesauce for an egg substitute, coconut milk, and coconut oil. The texture wasn't as fluffy as a non-vegan cake. It was more like fluffy fudge. Nonetheless, my sweet craving was satisfied and I didn't feel hungry.
Some things I've heard from people who attempted veganism in the past is that they were always hungry and they were only satisfied with a double serving of meat. When I have those feelings after meals, I drink a huge glass of water, and that really takes the edge off my hunger withdrawals. If not, I'll eat more vegan food. If I'm hungry, I'm going to eat, but I don't feel the need to eat meat.
I feel great and I'm excited for day 3! Bring it on!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Vegan Day 1
My first day as a vegan went very well. I had oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast, chips and salsa with rainbow slaw for lunch, and a mushroom sandwich with green beans for dinner. The only thing non-vegan that I ate was a cupcake that my husband brought home for me. Sweets are my weakness. So today I am going to research vegan desserts.
I don't have anything significant to say about my emotions. It was just a normal day for me. On the other hand, physically I felt hungry shortly after having a meal. I'm guessing that's part of the addiction withdrawals from S.A.D. Thankfully it was nothing unbearable. I went to bed with my stomach growling, but today I woke up feeling more energetic than usual.
The next thing on my To-Do list is to give up caffeine, or at least cut down drastically and have a cup of coffee every now and then as a treat. I have a good feeling that I'll be able to eventually say goodbye to coffee forever.
I originally planned to "test the waters" of veganism, so I signed up for YumUniverse's 30-day challenge (#YU30), which begins February 1. But after watching Vegucated and Forks Over Knives, I decided to start early. I don't care whether or not that makes me ineligible for the #YU30 prizes. I'm challenging myself and the ultimate prize is my health. Yesterday was day 1.
I am amazed at how it has been scientifically proven over and over that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is making us sick, yet everyone keeps eating animal protein and junk food. As I watched the patients in Forks Over Knives reverse diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, etc., my own heart ached for all my friends and family who have already passed away from these conditions. I think I'm on my way to becoming a food activist myself.
I don't have anything significant to say about my emotions. It was just a normal day for me. On the other hand, physically I felt hungry shortly after having a meal. I'm guessing that's part of the addiction withdrawals from S.A.D. Thankfully it was nothing unbearable. I went to bed with my stomach growling, but today I woke up feeling more energetic than usual.
The next thing on my To-Do list is to give up caffeine, or at least cut down drastically and have a cup of coffee every now and then as a treat. I have a good feeling that I'll be able to eventually say goodbye to coffee forever.
I originally planned to "test the waters" of veganism, so I signed up for YumUniverse's 30-day challenge (#YU30), which begins February 1. But after watching Vegucated and Forks Over Knives, I decided to start early. I don't care whether or not that makes me ineligible for the #YU30 prizes. I'm challenging myself and the ultimate prize is my health. Yesterday was day 1.
I am amazed at how it has been scientifically proven over and over that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is making us sick, yet everyone keeps eating animal protein and junk food. As I watched the patients in Forks Over Knives reverse diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, etc., my own heart ached for all my friends and family who have already passed away from these conditions. I think I'm on my way to becoming a food activist myself.
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