The Biggest Loser

Being a healthy eating food blogger, I'd be remiss to not share my thoughts on the most recent "Biggest Loser." Tuesday night in the finale episode NBC revealed Rachel Frederickson as the winner with a total weight loss of 155 pounds. Almost 60% of her starting weight. This was the biggest % weight loss in the history of the show. The show should be ecstatic. It's working! Not quite. Poor Rachel had gone so far that she is currently underweight and is looking gaunt and scary.

Weight is a tricky thing. When you lose weight it's not always taken from the exact places you were hoping it would disappear from. When you gain weight your skin stretches and then when the weight is gone you are left with saggy bits. More frustrating, your face may look hollow and older while you may still have a bit of a muffin top or saddlebag. Not fair!

I mentioned underweight above. Before writing this post I made sure that I did my homework. According to Rush University Hospital (very reputable in Chicago) they say that a woman of 5'4" (Rachel's height) should weight between 108-132. And when I calculated her BMI @ 105 lbs she scored an 18. An underweight BMI is considered 18.5 and lower. America is right to be worried over the celebration of a woman who is technically malnourished.

All this said, we know it's going to be near impossible for her to maintain. She's been in an unrealistic situation with round the clock trainers, chefs providing her healthy foods, and not having to work or take care of any dependents. My hope for Rachel is that she doesn't swing back too far. The media has always chronicled show contestants, celebrities and regular folks who are constantly on the swing. The trick will be to never swing more than 5-15 lbs. Can she do it? I don't know.

In analyzing my own size, I did the math. At 111 I am within normal weight range (104-127) with a BMI of 19.7 also within the normal range (18.5-24.9). From an outsiders perspective I'm small. From my perspective I'm a bit too soft around the middle for my liking. I have a trip to Miami in a month and I'd like to lose 5 lbs. That would make we 106 and put me at the bottom of the normal range. Does that make me as crazy as the biggest loser? Hard to say since I'll be losing 5 lbs not 155 lbs. It's just a fact that I look better in a swim suit at 106 than 111. And if you are wondering the weight loss is always achieved with a balance of healthy eating and workouts. Starving myself and not enjoying food in not in my playbook.

Rachel is just human. Although the country has it right that she is underweight, she's just a gal trying to be healthy the best way she can. I hope for her that she gains a few pounds and that she has a strong support system to help her stay within the normal range. If anyone in the media every reads this, please be kind to her.

#GlutenFreeVegan

It's crazy the amount of inspiration you can get from simply typing in #glutenfreevegan in the Discovery tab of Instagram. Over the past 6 months I've started following a slew of Vegan & Gluten Free bloggers and I'm just in amazement. I know our country has a dire health problem with obesity & diabetes but I'll tell you the health movement is astounding. We've all seen the Celebrity Chefs, Celebrities and Doctors over the years pushing their food movements, but what gets me excited the most is the regular Jane's.

Every day on my Instagram feed, I am greeted with Vegetarian bloggers, Vegan bloggers, Gluten free bloggers, Home cooks, Work out fiends, Smoothie connoisseurs, Raw dieters and my favorite... restaurant critics. With a few taps on your phone you are presented with a world of ideas. A holiday or general craving has not gone by without the ability to search online to get all of the answers on how to make gluten free AND vegan. Lately I've had my eye on making gluten free vegan/vegetarian crumb cake. Like New York style crumb cake. Post to follow when I actually achieve this great feat.

What led me to write today was that one of the bloggers I follow Yvonne, of "My Eclectic Kitchen," posted about a holistic online grocer that she is a fan of. This grocer is like PeaPod meets Amazon. It's call VitaCost. In her pic she showed a few of the ingredients that I'm familiar working with and thought I'd give the site a look. I was astounded by finding every gluten free & vegan product I've ever seen in the past 5 years available at this site at a discount. Everyone knows that an alternative diet is expensive and therefore there is an absolutely demand for this type of service. The site has hundreds of thousands of products ranging from food to vitamins to dog supplies. I perused the site like a kid in a candy store. I kept my shopping cart to about $60 to get the free shipping (above $49) but didn't go too crazy in case the box comes to my apartment all mangled. I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. The site says the shipment will take 1-4 days. I can't wait.

Spent~ Closing out Week 2

Today marks the 13th day of my Spent program. This morning marks the first time in a long time that my alarm woke me up. On a normal day I would start waking up at around 5am and stare at the clock on and off until it sounded. I'd say I average about 7 hours of sleep on a work day. This morning, my alarm woke me up after a solid 8 1/12 hours. How much sleep is too much? I'm certainly not a college kid anymore and can't sleep the day away. Should I program myself to sleep only 8? After a very relaxing Holiday season I've really been thinking that I need to get back into routine. Wake up early and get my butt to the gym! I can work out at my gym during lunch hours, but I know once work picks up that lunch hour can slip away from you.

Some other notes on my Spent program:

-I still think of wine every day. A slight cold has kept my willpower strong to keep my cravings at bay. I know the second I have a glass of Red Wine it will result as a sinus cold.

-I find that I'm eating more to combat the lack of wine. I'm feeling a bit soft around the middle but I think that's OK. It is winter after all. Have to keep my strength against the bitter cold.

-Being January, I've found that hot liquids are essential. I've been careful with too much caffeine but have had my share of Decaf Coffee, Earl Grey tea & Hot Chocolate. No more than 2 cups a day.

-Vegan at home and Vegetarian when I'm out is continuing to prove a fairly easy program to maintain. I worry that I eat too many carbs but I feel that my bean/egg/veggie/fruit intake should be providing me with the balance of nutrients that I need.

Pure Sleep

The SPENT Diet works. It worked 4 years ago and it has worked again. I've been sleeping like an absolute baby and I am more alert during the day. I've been sleeping 8+ hours straight. Solid!

This time around has been significantly easier than last as I already live an abridged version of the SPENT lifestyle. Let's call it SPENT light. I already eat gluten free, I don't eat meat, I avoid dairy, I try to incorporate greens into my diet ever day and I work out regularly. My consistent pit falls have always been my daily cup of coffee and my penchant for wine. As you'll see in my log below, I've been strong with my sobriety, however cheated a bit with my coffee & tea*. To be fair, I've been living in "Chiberia" with heavy snow and wind chills of -40 & 50. I was home bound. Or as I called it House Arrest. I did my best.

I should note, that being home bound has also affected my workouts. As of yesterday I'm back to my regular work out schedule (which significantly helps my sleep).

1/1:
Breakfast: "Dad's" Granola/Puffins Cereal/Almond Milk
Lunch: Blue Corn Nachos w/ Egg/Spinach/Black Beans/Salsa
Snack: Pomegranate Seeds
Dinner: Roasted Sweet Potatoes/Onion/Spinach
(PT Exercise/Stretches)
1/2:

Breakfast: Granola/Puffins Cereal/Almond Milk

Lunch: Roasted Sweet Potatoes/Onion/Red Pepper/Spinach/Egg

Snack: Banana

Dinner: Dal Soup/Basmati Rice

Dessert: Almond Dream Ice Cream

(PT Exercise/Stretches)

1/3:

Breakfast: MacroBar

Lunch: Asian Noodle Soup

Snack: Banana

Dinner: Granola/Puffins Cereal/Almond Milk

Dessert: Almond Dream Ice Cream

(Spin Workout & PT)

1/4:

Breakfast: Oatmeal/Blueberry/Agave

Lunch: Dal Soup/Basmati Rice/Spinach

Snack: Pistachios

Dinner: Crackers/Goat Cheese

Dessert: Macaroons

(PT Exercise/Stretches)

1/5:

Breakfast: Almond Milk Yogurt/Granola & Coffee*

Lunch: Roasted Sweet Potato Fries/Sauteed Kale

Snack: Puffins Cereal/Almond Milk & Tea*

Dinner: Crackers/Hummus

Dessert: Macaroons

(PT Exercise/Stretches)

1/6:

Breakfast: Oatmeal/Blueberry/Agave & Coffee*

Lunch: Veggie Chili/Polenta

Snack: Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Dinner: Toast/Jelly/Vegan Butter

Dessert: Chocolate

(PT Exercise/Stretches)

1/7:

Breakfast: Oatmeal/Blueberry/Agave & De-Caf Coffee

Lunch: Waffles/Almond Butter/Jelly

Dinner: Veggie Chili/Polenta/Kale

Dessert: Macaroons

(Short Run/Walk & Arm/Abs Class)

Starting the New Year SPENT

In what seams like a lifetime ago, I read a book called SPENT. It was the book that changed my life. The book lead my to the discovery of my gluten allergy with an elimination diet and more importantly to a lifetime journey of nutrition and health.

It has been 4 years and 4+ months since my Spent journey and in true 201"4" fashion, I think it's time I give this reset/detox a whirl. As a reminder, the main thought on SPENT is that we as Americans are sluggish during the day and can't sleep at night.

Since Thanksgiving, I have dabbled in Vegetarianism, which is code for I allowed myself to eat dairy. And I ate meat for Christmas dinner. Although I didn't overeat over the holiday's, the trifecta of Thanksgiving/Birthday/Christmas is always wearing on the body. Throw in a slew of Christmas parties & a bum knee hindering my workouts and I just felt pickled.

Some of the main tenors of spent are:

No Alcohol

No Caffeine

No Cow's Milk Dairy

No Grains that include Gluten

Workout/Stretch/Do Yoga

Leave the electronics outside the bedroom!

I'm going to stick to my flexitarian, but I will allow myself to eat:

Any Fruit
Any Veggie
Gluten Free Grains
Honey/Maple Syrup/Agave
Goat Cheese
Eggs
Almond Milk products (ice cream, yogurt, milk)
Dark Chocolate
Vegan Thai/Indian Food

6 weeks. Here goes...

Flexitarian: A New Regime

At the tail end of my 3 month trial of Veganism, I finally came up with my sustainable food plan. Often during the trial I had friends and family think I was nuts. How could I possibly do this? How will I get my protein? Aren't you hungry? What the hell do you eat? All fair questions.

I have to say I was fairly devout. I really believed and still do in the benefits of being a Vegan. All that said I found one critical problem. I find all food interesting. I love watching the Food Network and I love eating at new restaurants. I was starting to feel like one of my critical passions was floating away. I could look but not touch. As an adult for sometime now (yes I know that sounds silly) I'm used to getting what I want when I want it. I'm the master of my domain. The day after Thanksgiving I had had it. I had just finished working out and I wanted eggs. Nothing could have stopped me from eating them.  And so my 100% Vegan journey ended.

Back to the plan. Identifying the problem led me to my 3 part solution:

1. Grocery shop Vegan foods for the home

2. Eat Vegetarian when eating at a restaurant

3. Eat Meat/Fish on special occasions (holidays, 3/4 star restaurants)

This allows me to intake about an 80-90% healthy diet and allows for 10-20% to feed my mind and soul.

I'm a few weeks in, so far so good.

Change is Necessary

Yesterday morning on the bus ride to work, I picked up the Red Eye to read per my usual routine and happened upon my horoscope that would hold the answers to what I was looking for as I head into 2014.

I love Astrology and Magic. We only have one life to live and I think that it's fun to believe. Maybe that's why I'm still a devoted Roman Catholic. I know it's a lot of smoke and mirrors and it has unanswered questions. That's OK. Any way, onto the Horoscope...it was dead on. And it's not the first time, here was yesterday's:

Sagittarius
You've gone through a lot of changes recently, thank to Mercury. Maybe you've decided to become vegan. Perhaps you're taking yoga. Or maybe you've simply chosen to let go of relationships with losers and energy vampires. Keep it up.

In my adult life I've thrived on change. I like new things, it gets you excited. It keeps you alive. In recent posts I've shared with you my Vegan journey. In the 3 month experiment I really immersed myself in food bloggers on Instagram, documentaries and a series of books. I learned a ton. I learned that if I truly want to live a long and healthy life I needed to make some changes and continually evolve. With that said, no one is perfect and I had my breakdowns. The important thing was figuring out the meaning of this journey. Making something real out of it. I think I've found it.

I'm changing my Account at work. I won't take you through the details of this change as this is not a business blog, but I may be getting the opportunity to work on a food account come the new year. I've worked in food before and I've always wanted to get back into it. I've devoted a lot of my free time to food. Cooking. Learning. Blogging. Watching. Experiencing. Eating. Working. You name it. I often feel like making a name for myself in the food industry is my destiny.

With the help of my Vegan experience, I feel that I have a starting point for where I want to take my next career move. I'm going to create change. I'm going to change human behavior.

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving

This a bit overdue but I'd be remiss to not document how I successfully made it through Thanksgiving without any meat products and a refusal to even consider Tofurkey.

Aperitif
Every good holiday starts with an afternoon champagne cocktail. Our traditional go to would be Prosecco w/ pomegranate which is always delish, but this being I think the peak of pumpkin mania, we went with a Pumpkin Pie spice cocktail.

Appetizers
My Mom had wanted to keep this simple which worked in my favor. We picked up a slew of marinated veggies from Standard market. Roasted peppers, artichoke, white bean and marinated mushrooms.

Dinner
After tooling around Vegan blogs for a while, I landed on this very simple Butternut Squash soup recipe. The key was to not burn the garlic! Please make note of the timing of the roasting.

The next thing I made was Brussel Sprouts. Funny thing about Brussel Sprouts is that my Dad banned them from the house for years....and now we all love them. We roasted then spiked up a bit with a lemon, dijon and thyme marinade.

I love sweet potatoes and I love marshmallows but for the love of god, they do not belong together!! Roast them with a bit of salt, pepper and rosemary and call it a day. I like to over cook mine and make them crispy.

There is nothing like summer corn on the cob, but frozen corn is a Thanksgiving staple. Just zap these puppies in the microwave with a bit of EVOO and Salt/Pepper.

My traditional annual contribution is cranberry sauce. This year I tested 2. One with sugar and one with agave. The difference is that with the sugar version you dissolve with the water first and with the Agave you add at the end.

Dessert

I searched for recipes for a full month. Since I ended with with 2 pie crusts I decided to land on 2 kinds. Both delicious, but in the end I found the Agave one better. And of course a dollop of Almond Dream Vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt anyone.



Phew....OK so does it sound like I left the meal hungry?

The Workout crave

10 weeks ago I went Vegan. At about 5 weeks in I started battling a sinus infection, fairly common for me as a year round sufferer of allergies. The cold was on and off for 3 weeks due to my refusal to take antibiotics, the only known real "cure" for this type of infection. Musinex D is great at putting colds at bay but doesn't knock anything out completely. I hate taking antibiotics, simply put they destroy your gut...and circling back to the point of this blog, all I want is a healthy digestive system.

Alas I took the meds and the cold went away. With my sleep returned and energy restored, I started working out again. I typically work out 3-5 times a week and with the cold was down to about once a week. With this return I was presented with my next challenge, the "crave." Not the White Castle type but not too far off. I can't say what exactly I wanted but I'm pretty sure a burger would have satisfied it. 

As a result I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to combat my sugar and salty cravings. All vegan and gluten free of course.

Salty:

- Veggie sushi

- Roasted sweet potatoes dipped in ketchup (Annie's organic)

- Roasted Brussel Sprouts

- Amy's black been chili

- Amy's bean/rice burrito 

- Chipotle Veggie Bowl (brown rice, black beans, onion/peppers, tomato salsa, guacamole, lettuce)

- Urban Vegan Yellow curry w/ Tofu

- Roti Rice plate w/ veggies, hummus, tomato/cucumber salad, eggplant

- Protien Bar veggie chili quinoa bowl w/ sweet potato chips

Sweet:

- Swirlz Chocolate peanut butter cupcake

- Almond Dream Toffee Chocolate crunch ice cream

- So Delicious Mint chocolate chip ice cream

- Natures Path pumpkin waffles

I haven't completely beat the crave, but I'm not going hungry.

Vegucated

The title of this post has a few meanings. I was simply going to write about the documentary Vegucated that I watched this past weekend but it became so much more as I thought about it. I can't undo what I've learned in the past couple months. I can't pretend that I didn't watch this movie. I can't remove the words that I read from My Beef with Meat and The Kind diet from my brain. What's done is done.

Vegucated takes you on a 6 week journey where 3 avid meat eating New Yorkers learned about Veganism and everything that comes along with it. They went to farms, slaughter houses, educational seminars, food & clothing stores and of course consumed a Vegan only diet. The participants were in tears. I was in tears and I've been to slaughter houses. I know what it's like to be just steps away from where a stun gun is put to an animals head. My experience years back didn't stop me from eating meat, but I'll never forget the visions from those visits. What I maybe didn't realize was that I was going to some of the best of the best slaughter houses. In this documentary I saw the darker side and deeper view into the elements of the animal production process I didn't know about. I've been haunted by what they do to poor baby chicks. They put live chicks through machinery that looks the exact same as what you'd process candy or crackers with. I've saw pigs dipped into vats of boiling water. These are live animals we are talking about.

My Beef with Meat and The Kind Diet do a really great job of outlining the cause and effects that animals products have on our health and wellness. They outline how animals products cause all sorts of cancers and disease in just about every organ in our body. They share how the production process of animal products is depleting our natural resources like water and oxygen (that we need to stay alive!). Most importantly they share how every bit of a positive element that can be highlighted in an animal based diet can be replaced easily with a plant based diet.

There are few things that I just can't erase. I can't erase what the poultry industry does to baby chicks. I can't erase how female cows are continually impregnated until they are disposed. I can't erase the terrible physical feeling I had after having fish/dairy in my 24 hour relapse a few weeks back. I just can't. Not today.

Honey? Seriously?

Yes I'm that far gone. Well kind of. With Veganism, it's difficult to understand where it begins and ends.  I've questioned in the past week if I wanted to eat something based on a certain ingredient in a packaged food that had been tested on animals (according to a vegan online forum). Am I against fur? Am I against leather? Is my Veganism about my body or the bodies of animals? I don't know anymore.

What I do know is that I feel that to fairly call myself Vegan I have to abstain from eating anything that can live and die. Yes, I know you can say that about plants. If you don't feed them you can kill them. With that said, I'm going to go ahead and lump bees and their honey into the food ban list.

This past weekend my Dad proudly shared that he bought some Steve's sorbet for me. The flavor was Blackberry honey. Now I've had said sorbet before and I'm just not a fan. I think I've even blogged about this before. There are two camps of dessert people. Fruit or Chocolate/Creamy. I find sorbet's a bit too tart for my palette and prefer to have Almond Dream ice cream. When I declined the sorbet due to the honey not being Vegan my Dad gave me this look like "Seriously?!? Come on." I found the moment hysterical because for once I think he realized he created a monster. His influence has maybe taken me a step one too many. We shall see.

Ellen my Dietitian

This week at work we all received an email about a healthy living incentive program through our health benefits. You could receive up to $300 for participating! With the holiday's upon us and my penchant for anything healthy living I signed right up. Part of the program is to participate in a few activities including phone sessions with a health coach. I knew it would be slightly awkward but I gave it a go on Friday.

My health coach's name is Ellen and her main question was whether or not I had any health goals. I shared that it wasn't so much as a goal but more of a question about how to insure a healthy Vegan lifestyle. In my recent research on Veganism (gluten free) I've found discrepancies about how & what I really need to intake to stay safe and healthy.

Ellen, funny enough was gluten-free so I knew we were on the right track. She shared the following:

Protein:
-At my weight she shared that I needed 40-50 grams of protein a day. Sounds like a lot.
-1/2 cup of the following items can equal to about 7 grams: Nuts, Almond/Soy Milks, Tofu, Beans

Vitamins:
-I need B vitamins. She thought that my daily vitamin and healthy eating should cover me but an extra B vitamin couldn't hurt. She said it's water soluble so if my body doesn't need it I'll just flush it out. I was surprised to hear that my almond milks and even cereal (even Chex) are fortified with extra vitamins like A, B, C & D.
-Eat colors! I'm already all over that per my previous posts. As along as I eat red (peppers), green (leafy greens, brussel sprouts, asparagus), orange (sweet potato), yellow (squash), blue (potato, blueberry) etc. that I'm fairly covered health wise. My favorite food roasted sweet potato has a ton of A & C vitamins.
-Iron, commonly found in animal meat can easily be replaced with kale and spinach. She said that our bodies naturally absorb Iron easier from animals because our bodies are more similar to animals than plants. She shared that the waxiness on the outside of kale & spinach can be harder to break down. She said a very quick saute or blanch of the veggie can break down that wax to help better absorb the vitamin. With that said, you shouldn't over cook to eliminate all the vitamins you are trying to absorb.

Overall I was very pleased with the session. I have 3 more sessions that I can use over the course of the next year. My first was very impromptu and I wasn't very prepared since I didn't know what to expect. Now that I know I have a Dietitian at my disposal for free I am going to line up my questions!

Last note, she said if at any time I'm curious about my health status, my Dr. can do a blood panel to test my levels. I am definitely going to ask for that at my next yearly physical next month.

24

Anything can happen in 24 hours. Relevant to this blog, I had 24 hours that included a complete breakdown of my Vegan diet. Whenever you are trying something new there is bound to be a breakdown. I'm not going to beat myself up for it...how my body felt afterwards has done all the beating up I've needed.

I had a very pinnacle moment 4 years ago when 6 weeks into a new regime I had a breakdown. Then it was pasta and therefore having the epiphany after 28 years of stomach torture that I needed to be gluten free. This time, it was that my body does not need or want "animal."

To break it down, last weekend was crazy. I had friends in town for 3 days who were supposed to be in town for the marathon, but with an injury made their trip into 3 days of fun. My parents came into the city for a night in between back to back days of concerts. On top of all that, I was invited to celebrate my friends Jancy & Ben's engagement. With each I cheated. Things happens when you have been cocktailing and eating out for 3 days straight:

-Engagement party @ Mon ami Gabi: Shrimp cocktail & a mini pot of creme brûlée
-Brunch w/ Parents @ Southport Grocery: Gluten free Cupcake pancakes
-Dinner w/ friends @ Homeslice: Gluten free pizza

Now I did make it through without eating any red or white meat, but I still killed my stomach in the process. I felt so terrible Monday morning I thought about skipping work. On top of it I had caught a cold. My immune system was shot.

I vowed that morning that I would do everything in my "will" power to never eat animal ever again.

So far so good:

-Fell more in love with Amy's (specifically the Vegan Dal Soup). I've had her gluten free vegan pizza before which is pretty darn good.
-Tried a new Protein bar bowl. The Vegan Black bean quinoa bowl w/ tofu & spinach (added).
-Hilary's Veggie Burgers
-More Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal w/ berries & agave
-My favorite breakfast bar MacroBars
-Nature's path cinnamon raison bread w/ Justin's almond butter


Off to Whole Foods tonight. Craving roasted vegetables.

A Vegan Sanctuary

Sometimes you just need a down weekend. I'm currently approaching a fairly busy weekend with friends coming in town and had decided to head to suburbia last weekend. My family has always been very progressive with food and with my Dad being a current pescatarian I knew that I would find plenty to eat. Little did I know that it would be a gluten free vegan extravaganza.

For dinner Saturday, we had tacos. Ok, we have the most ridiculous tacos. I think they could have been the best tasting taco I've ever had. I know that sounds crazy with a clear exclusion of all animal goodness: cheese, sour cream, beef/chicken. I didn't miss any of it. How is this possible? This is how:

El Milagro Corn Tortillas
Sauteed Corn & Jalapeño
Sauteed Peppers & Red Onion
Standard Market Guacamole
Trader Joe's Black Bean Dip
Trader Joe's Verde Salsa
Fresh Cilantro




I ate 3 fully stuffed tacos.


Sunday I started the day with my Dad's special home-made granola. Then more tacos for lunch. And then once again a killer dinner. This time Mom made pasta (bionature gluten-free) with fresh farm stand tomato sauce with basil, garlic, Olive oil & vinegar. In addition to the pasta we had farm stand salad with roasted pine nuts and basic vinaigrette (olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard). My Dad also
provided a great Pinot. Love.

The Mackey household. A vegan sanctuary. The only animal necessary was Dolls.

Vegan without the MOFO

Sadly Vegan month of food (#veganmofo) is over and it's time for me to stand on my own two vegan feet.

I'm hungry.

I may or may not have mentioned on my blog yet that I bought Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet.  Until last night I had only flipped through the recipes for food inspiration but found I was selling the book short. It is critical to read the opening remarks. Like the title, it truly is about not only being kind to animals & the environment, it's about being kind to your own body.

I read a billboard on the highway recently that said 1 in 3 kids born today will live till over a 100. What if I live until I'm 90? Now my family history has not set me up to have that be my reality but what if it is!?! I need a strong heart.  I need to combat cancer. I need glowing skin. I need to manage my weight. I need strong bones. I need, I need, I need...

My head is spinning. I'm not training for a marathon. I'm not sick. I only have my own motivation. I need to learn to cook vegan dishes so that I'm not hungry. Plain roasted & raw veggies are not going to do it. I have work to do.

"So what exactly do you eat?"

If you are looking to win a popularity contest, being a gluten-free vegan is not for you. People look at you weird, sneer, laugh and roll their eyes. I even had someone say last night that I was that annoying person that servers hate. I totally get it.  I don't blame them. Maybe I am just doing it to be unique. I have so many different answers to why: optimal health (cancer/heart plaque fighting machine), lose weight, generally feel better, for #veganmofo, for shits and giggles...but not exactly for the animals as most Vegans. I love animals. I have a dog that I adore. I think kittens and bunnies are cute, however I have always been able to compartmentalize the treatment of animals and its affect on the environment to the tasty slab of meat on my plate. I used to advertise for the National Cattleman's Beef Association and have seen my fair share of slaughter houses without being fazed (except for maybe the part at the end of the line w/ the gun). I wish I could come up with a really good reason for this silly adventure but it just is what it is.

Leading to the title of this post, what exactly do I eat?...well here goes (by default everything listed is gluten-free):

Breakfast:

Homemade Oatmeal/Fruit Bars
Oatmeal/Fruit
Smoothies
Granola/Almond yogurt
Rice/Corn Flake/Granola Cereal combo w/ Almond Milk
Larabar
MacroBar






Lunch:

Salad (Lettuce, cucumber, oil/vinegar)
Nature's Path Vegan Bread w/ Almond Butter

Fruit: grapes, pears, apples










Dinner:

Roasted Veggies (Peppers, Eggplant, Squash)
Brown Rice (seasoned w/ Tamari)
Roasted Red/Sweet Potatoes
Hilary's Veggie Burger







Dessert:
Almond Milk Ice Cream
Dark Chocolate

Drink:
Wine, wine, wine

Restaurants:

Chicago Diner
Bombay Spice
Native Foods
Protein Bar
Urban Vegan
Rose's Bakery







RE my last post, I've balanced my food quantity intake. With workouts 6 days a week and a reduction of my drinking to 2-3 days a week I'm feeling pretty darn good. Hunger has subsided.

V Week 3

This week marks the third week that I have given up all animal products. Turns out that it's not that hard. I don't miss meat or crave it. The only time that I have faltered (twice) is that I literally would have skipped a meal if I didn't eat meat. I attended a fashion & food event with a friend and a work lunch that would have proved too difficult to satisfy my hunger without ordering a dish with fish.

A major lesson that I have learned in the past few weeks is how much better your body feels when you control your own food. Now as a gluten-free person this is typically my reality, but with truly embracing my new Veganism I had decided to eat out a few too many times. In the middle of my Vegan journey I felt terrible. I struggle with managing portion control when things are tasty.

Overall when you eat too much, it doesn't matter what it is, it will make you feel like crap. Classic lesson of slow down when you are eating and listen to your body. If only restaurant served 100% vegan friendly food at the exact right portion. A girl can dream.

Last side note. After reading "My Beef with Meat," I'm not sure I can ever truly consider an animal based diet every again. More to come on that.

Bird vs Bird Seed

If you are a current reader of my blog, you know that I've been on a food journey for quite some time. I'll try just about anything to feel as healthy as possible while still maintaining an entertaining and delicious experience.

In be past 2 months I've been dabbling in all things above and beyond just "gluten-free." Now, being gluten-free is nothing to balk at but at this point it's easy for me. The more you know how to be gluten-free, the more ways you know how to cheat being healthy (chips, snickers bars, candy in general...). It was time to up the anty.

I started with giving up cow dairy. That means no milk, no cow cheese (goat cheese still in the game), no ice cream, etc. I found it pretty easy as there are so many almond milk and coconut alternatives that are either just as tasty or better.

That gets me to the past two weeks. I have entered into a realm that I swore up and down I would never do as a gluten-free devotee. I went gluten-free vegan. Madness.

As a fairly savvy social media 30 something, I have become addicted to Instagram. Often I would post the gluten free food or restaurants that I have been to and tagged them with the proper monikers. And in return I would get likes or followers that are also interested in gluten-free living. One day as I was tooling around the "discovery" page I started seeing a new hashtag #veganmofo. 

Other than its apparent inappropriateness of the name, it seemed like a movement of some sort. And in fact it was. September is "Vegan month of food." There are people all over the world (literally) snapping pics and blogging about Veganism. And as I kept digging I realized there are thousands of people posting recipes daily. I was completely consumed by all the content and pretty pictures. I was in. Like all in. I've already made 3 plus recipes, have visited 5 vegan restaurants and posted 5 plus pics.

Now getting to the title of this post. In the midst of week 1 of Veganism, my cubemate/work partner in crime started a new diet as well. She is trying to reach the pure state of ketosis by giving up sugar 100%. As a recovering candy/sugar addict I see that as impossible. I'd liken the diet to the Atkins diet. She eats meat/salad/eggs/bacon/cheese. Pretty much the exact opposite of my diet.

Within our almost 2 weeks I have gained weight and she has lost weight. But this isn't about weight. This is about reaching optimal heath. I fear she is building up plaque in her arteries and she feels I'm consuming foods that are turing all to sugar (and then in turn fat). I feel like I'm a cancer fighting machine!

The diet wars begin. Stay tuned for updates in our challenge.

PB&J Smoothie

I have to start this food post by saying that this recipe is a complete rip of Protein Bar's "Pier-nut Butter & Jelly" smoothie...I hope they don't mind!

I don't normally crave smoothies during the work day however I was meeting a colleague for a quick meeting and rather than grab coffee on a hot day, a smoothie felt like a better option to get outside and enjoy the nice weather.

I ordered this smoothie and it was instant love. I can't even remember what I said in the meeting. I fell so in love that I had to recreate for home when I normally crave a smoothie post weekend lakefront run.

PBJ Smoothie

Dairy/Gluten free 

3/4 Cup Frozen Blueberries

1/4 Cup Frozen Strawberries

1/3 Banana

1 Scoop Vanilla Soy Protein

1 Cup Almond Milk

1 Large Spoonful Almond Butter

2-3 Ice Cubes

Throw it all into a blender and blend for at least a minute. Add a few tablespoons of water if your smoothie is too thick.

Yum.

Another Week Another Salad

As I mentioned in previous posts, I like to start off each work with the best of intentions. I get in a workout, I detox from alcohol and I have some kind of meat/vegetable combo for dinner.

Nothing unusual about this particular salad that I was prepping until I sat down to eat. This salad just looked pretty. In addition, the chicken was perfectly moist & seasoned and the salad leaves unique.

I introduce you to the Mache salad w/ BBQ smoked chicken, roasted red pepper & a Dijon balsamic vinaigrette.