Vegan Day 13 update

So almost half way through the month. I have another confession. If I am not thinking about it, I will make a mistake, case in point. I forgot to order a soy white chocolate mocha at Starbucks. I didnt even think twice until my co-worker asked if he could taste the soy version. Oops! Then I popped in a piece of milk chocolate when my niece offered. Don't misunderstand. I can have chocolate, just not milk chocolate. I have had some non milk chocolate and I like it, so no problems there, I just have to remember. Other than that I am finding this an easy goal.

Vegan day 6

So week 1 is coming to a close, and I am doing fine. Okay I had a little mishap. Devil thy name is cookie. I got over it though. However here are some things that I have noticed with Vegan week. First of all, I am really not suppose to be eating dairy anyway, my body does not like it. But since I am aware of what I am putting in my mouth, my body has been rejoicing. I have not had to take my medicine all week. So that is awesome! So awesome in fact, that I am seriously thinking about vegan for life, starting now. I know what you are all thinking. What will you eat? Well when I go to my moms house..... a lot of salad. When I go out to eat...... a lot of salad. Just kidding I am sure I will be able to find things that I can eat. I will just have to see how it goes. Plus I will have to learn how to bake some Vegan treats. I can't live my life without chocolate and cookies.

June Goal

So this is a big big goal. I have been thinking about it for a while but I think June is the perfect month to do this. So including the goal to be able to run for 10 minutes, I am going to work on my diet more and have a vegan month! Yes 100% vegan for 30 days. That might mean that I don't go to my mom's house for 30 days because sometimes her food is hard to say no to. It really shouldn't be that hard for me because I mostly eat vegan anyway. I do however like my occasional ice cream and buttered mash potatoes. But luckily in this day and age there are great alternatives. Also its fruit and veggie season. My favorite. My Fred Meyer store here has an excellent vegan and veg section that I shop at a lot, but now I guess I will have to shop there all the time.
My ultimate goal is to be 100% vegan all the time, but It might have to wait until I get to California where the resources are abundant, and I won't offend my Aunt Mary when she makes me fruit pizza with cream cheese.
So BFFH Vegan day every day! Come see me.

Hey Remember

This blog? I kinda forgot about it, but I am going to start posting up here again. I need you lovely ladies to help get my tush in gear. I think its been a couple of months since I have last went to the gym. Silly right what the heck am I paying for? Also a group of gals down here go walking in the summer, so I am excited to get that going again. So I set a new mini goal. I need to be able to run for a full 10 minutes by the end of June. BFFH and I still have to do that 5k and right now I could drive that, but nothing else.
How is everybody else doing? Any health goals for you?

I have a confession....

I like to cook. There I said it. I like it, and I am kinda getting good at it. I would feed you if you came to my house, and I wouldn't be afraid of killing you! I think I might even be better than my sister who used to be awesome at cooking. She had tried my food and has raved about it. The thing is, I keep it pretty simple, but I am working on it.
In my Bountiful Basket a couple weeks ago I got an eggplant. What the heck? Before I tell you what I did with the eggplant I want to start a discussion. So I was talking to somebody the other day about how if your parents don't like something you probably haven't even tried it. Like my mom does not like artichokes, I think I was well into college the first time I had one of those. I LOVE THEM. It makes me wonder what my kids wont eat....besides meat. I have a friend who is very careful about what food she gives to her little boy. He is a very healthy eater. In fact a funny thing that happened the other day was that they had gotten the kids pizza at the daycare he goes to, they also gave the kids some cut up carrots along with the pizza. Most kids just went strait for the pizza and didn't even touch the carrots, or a few tried some after the pizza, but my friends little boy went strait for the carrots first and only had a little pizza after that. I thought that was so great. Train them young I guess.
Wow long story long.
I got this eggplant and did not know what the heck to do with it. After researching some recipes online I found something I thought I would give a try. I changed it a little bit. Even though it doesn't really look that appetizing, it was yummy.


I cut the eggplant and coated the slices with olive oil and some salt and baked them for about 30 minutes on 300. ( Some of the slices I cut to thin and they got a little too crispy)


Meanwhile I got out my most favorite Christmas present ever. I use it a lot. Santa would be so proud. I threw in a few cloves of garlic and some olive oil and let the food processor do its job. If I was making this for anybody else I would use less garlic, but I like it. What I forgot to take a picture of was all the other stuff I put in this baby. I threw some tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, and Parmesan cheese and mixed it together as well as the eggplant when it was done baking.


Then I got some of this bread. I forgot what its called, and put my concoction on each piece. Then I threw it in the oven for 20 minutes.

I took it out and threw some mozzarella cheese on it and set the oven to broil to melt the cheese.


And this was the end result, yummy and relatively healthy appetizers.

Update

So far the cleanse is going good. I have already dropped a few pounds, so I am back on track with the weight loss.
Something I have discovered though is that I really like eating this way. Especially the raw way. I think I might just continue it, just not to the extreme. I haven't missed all the processed foods that I normally eat.

Detox

So, I posted on Saturday night about wanting to do this 5 day cleanse and then I took it down. Why you ask? Well....
So I set a schedule starting with an all water fast on Sunday. I was doing good all yesterday, I even went to a couple movies so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat, so I get home and its getting close to 9:00pm and I caved and had some artichokes. But not just artichokes, but artichokes dipped in butter (vegan butter-as if that excuses anything) and garlic. By the way, garlic smell is not a good look on anybody. I guess I know how to keep my annoying boss out of my office today.
So anyway I kinda botched the fast and made up my mind to not do the cleanse. But it totally rubbed me the wrong way all night. To error is human right? So I am going ahead with the cleanse as planned.
So before you get all freaked out by what I am doing, its a good one. I am not taking any celebrity endorsed products or medicine, just a program that I made up by doing some research.
Sunday- Water all day (oops except for a couple of artichokes)
Monday and Tuesday- Just juice. So when I say this, I mean I ground up a bunch of fruits and veggies into my food processor along with some distilled water. Today's juice is all about the carrots, celery, mango's, strawberry's and a banana thrown in. It was yum and surprising filling. I had to make a big batch because of work, so the other half is in my mini fridge here by my desk.
Wednesday-Friday is an all raw fruits and veggies. That just means nothing cooked.
I also can have as much water as I want this whole week. Hopefully this cleanse will get my body feeling refreshed and get my diet back on track.
Wish me luck.

Beating back the demons

Seriously, I am alive. Its been a rough couple of weeks, but I am ready to get back into the swing of things. After all, I only have 27 more days until my 30th. So far that 30 by 30 thing.... was going great, until my emotional breakdown. But even with as much crap that I have crammed in my gullet I sill have not gained weight. WooHoo! I am down 13 pounds, so just over half way until that 30, but I am not going to let myself be bummed out if I don't make it. Unless I put back on that 13 that I already lost.
Anyway to make myself get out of this little funk that I have been in, I ordered something super cool. Well cool to me anyway. AND IT CAME YESTERDAY!
I know I tend to get a little preachy about being a vegetarian, but its only because I know how much better for you it is then eating meat and animal products. It really is guys. I have read the research and it just makes sense. I know its hard to give it up. Trust me I know, but I also know how much healthier you can be without it. I am still working on eliminating all dairy products..... that is hard hard hard. But I also know its worth it.



So, I haven't ordered a full year subscription of this mag, but I am planning to when I get settled in SoCal. I just ordered a couple of back issues. I think I might have to order all of them, they are so great. Lots of recipes, green education, special interest stuff. Just awesome! I can't find them here at any magazine stand or bookstore, but they might be in B&N in Idaho Falls? If so will somebody let me know? Anyway I just feel like the more you educate yourself the more understanding you get about, well I guess anything in life. But for my particular passion these days, health. S many people bury their heads in the sand. I know. Sometimes its just easier that way. But I choose the opposite approach, hey mom look learning can be fun..... unless its in an educational setting, sorry BFFH. ,)

The Uphill

Its been a while yes? Well I still didn't win the lottery so I still don't have a home computer, so I have to update at work, and I was sick two days last week. Excuses Excuses right? Well I noticed that you fine ladies forgot to include me on your workout e-mails...... or maybe because I took a few days off so did you? Stop it!
Anyway the real topic of this blog today is Summit on the Summit. So you all know I am a vegetarian borderline hippie/Eco-freak. Well I have been waiting for this special to come on tv called Summit on the Summit. It finally did on Sunday night. It was awesome! It was about a group of celebrities and how they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to help make people aware off the clean water crisis happening in our world.
These guys trained for a while to be ready for this adventure, but they were still barley hanging on at some moments in their 7 day climb. I was awestruck. Here I was in my comfy bed in my warm room and I couldn't help but think how lame I was because I had a head cold last week.
For some reason if everything is not in line with my daily schedule then it throws off my whole week. For example, if my kitchen is not clean then I don't cook so I end up eating cheese rolls at Taco Bell. Or If I take a couple days off then in my head that means no work outs for the week. So silly. I am a creature of habit. If anything upsets my balance I kinda just give up.
Which brings me back to Summit on the Summit. These guys were pushed to the extreme both physically and mentally. They were out of their comfort zone from the first second they stepped foot in Africa. And I can't make it to the gym because I don't have clean towels because I didn't do the laundry last weekend? LAME!
So I am calling myself out on my bullshit.
Bullshit that I can't work harder and reach my goals faster. Now I don't think I will be climbing any Mt. Kilimanjaro anytime soon, but maybe someday. I guess my point is, there are so many hard things in this world, in our lives. Taking 15 minutes or 1 hour out of our days to make you the best you should not be one of those things.

By the Numbers

So I already said I was not going to get caught up by numbers on this venture. But sometimes its hard not too. Especially since I feel like I have been working my buns off and the scale should be moving a little more than it is. Now don't tell me the rules. I know all the rules "muscle weighs more than fat, water weight, blah blah blah" I however think that still sucks! I kinda have to look at the numbers a little anyway because of my 30 by 30 goal I set and my Coach 60 although I think that might become a computer 60. I really miss a home computer.
Anyway even though I would like the scale to move a little more, I really don't care what it says in the end if my cloths are fitting right and I no longer have to shop in the chubby section.