I tried to make bean soup again today with Israeli couscous. This was my 3rd or 4th attempt I think. It didn’t turn out so good. Instead of soup, I have a big huge crock pot full of bean jello-o. The little pearls of couscous look like tiny white fish eggs just suspended in this brownish goop. I have no idea how I messed this dish up so bad. I hate the idea of wasting all that food so I tried to see if maybe Bailey would eat it. She won’t. I put a spoonful in her bowl to test it out. She sniffed it, licked it, and then slowly backed away keeping her eyes on the dish the whole time. I’m pretty sure she was scared it was going to reach out of the bowl and try to suck her in, kind of like the blob. Keep in mind, I’ve been eating beans for years now. The only thing is, I normal get the canned variety. At this point I kind of miss the cans. They’re easy to cook with and are great for a quick meal. The sodium content however is not so great. Besides, part of my new diet plan is to go as organic as possible; even if that does mean I burn beans, undercook beans, over season them or simply turn them into a creepy gelatin form. I will not give up. The disaster has been disposed of, the crock pot is all clean and tomorrow I will go out to the store and get another bag of dried beans. I’ll probably pick of few bags, just in case.
Speaking of diet, I never did get around to telling you what my big huge amazingly awesome totally insane plan for a better me plan was did I? Yeah, I know that title doesn’t work either. My main goal is to become 150% times healthier. I want to be one of those annoying woman you see jogging in the neighborhood at 6 o’clock in the morning all smiles while her stupid little pony tail swings back and forth. To do that I have to lose weight, quit smoking and well, learn how to run. As I said before, I am a vegan, most of the time. I do tend to slip a little when it comes to dairy, especially cheese or coffee creamer. Other than that, I’m pretty good with the no meat or eggs (never been a big fan of either one even before I went vegan).
I love animals, all animals. I’ve been a vegetarian on and off since I was 12. The off periods mainly being when I was in the Army and when I was pregnant with Dalton; most of the time I would eat meat only once or twice a week. I never really thought about dairy or eggs harming animals until I watched Food Inc. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly suggest you do. . This is the movie that really changed a lot of things for me. No, it’s not a movie about trying to turn the world vegan. It’s about how the food companies have drastically changed the way we think about food and what it’s doing to our health and our environment. This movie led me to other movies like Food Matters; King Corn and Tapped; a great movie about the bottled water industry. That of course lead me to the web and I spent days researching all kinds of different things and watching a huge variety of videos. I even ordered a bunch of books about going vegan and the benefits it can have on not just your physical health but your mental health as well. What really made me decided to go full fledge vegan was something I read in a book about veganism and the debate on how drinking cow's milk is unatural. A majority of the population is lactose intolerane to some degree. Those of us that can digest milk are thought to have a genetic mutation that occurred thousands of years ago so we could survice on a herd's milk under harsh conditions. We no longer live under those harsh conditions. Milk is basically cow's breast milk. This breast milk is designed to help a baby calf turn into a 400 lb cow. No other animal drinks another animals breast milk other than humans. Yup, we're the only ones. Cows don't even drink milk as adults. So this made me seriously think about a few other things. I say I love all animals and I am completly against animal cruelty. I looked at Bailey and I thought, I would never eat her flesh or drink her milk because she is a living creature, I love her and that's just plain wrong. She's an animal just a like a cow or a pig. Why is it wrong for her but not them? I decided then that I can't just say I'm an animal lover who's against animal cruelty, I have to fully live that life. Cruelty against a cow is just as bad as cruelty against a dog. Simple.
Even though I have been a vegan for about 7 months now, I’ve only been able to lose about 40lbs. Being the google geek I am, I research like crazy. One of the things most of the diet sites or health guru’s suggest is keeping a food journal. Now, I am no stranger to this. I’ve been keeping food journals on and off for years. But I figured once I went vegan, I wouldn’t have to waste my time because well, I was going to be eating nothing but fruits and veggies, right? Wrong. So I decided to keep a food journal for a week just to see what I was actually eating. Here’s what I learned. There is a ton of junk food that is vegan. There is a ton of vegan junk food out there. There is a ton of food out there that is just plan junk. And most importantly, being 100% vegan, 100% of the time is freaking hard! Here are some of the highlights of my week. Keep in mind; this is not the full list and the amounts are what I ate of that food that week. These are just some of the bad foods.
6 large white flour tortillas
1 large bag Salt & Vinegar Chips
2 slices cheese pizza
1 large loaf sourdough bread
1 pint Purely Decadent Chocolate Obsession “Ice Cream”
3 2-liter bottles of soda
5 large orders of fast food fries
1 large order of fast food onion rings
While it seems like a lot listed all together like that, you seriously don’t notice when you are munching on this junk throughout the week. All those things up there are empty calories. And don’t forget, the list doesn’t even include the veggies and fruit I ate that week either. Actually, the only fruit I ate that week was 2 bananas. That’s it. I didn’t have any smoothies or anything. Most of the veggies I ate like spinach and peppers were either rolled up in the tortillas or sandwiched between that loaf of sourdough I inhaled. There are no whole grains on my list, very little fruit. I see a ton of sugar and I know I had to eat 10 times the recommended serving of salt this week. The simple fact is, is that even though I’m vegan, I still eat like crap. On top of that I smoke. I kept all my empty packs that week and I have 11 shiny boxes of Marlboro light 100’s. I thought I had a pack a day habit. I actually have a 1.5-2 packs a day habit. That on top of my complete lack of any form of exercise what so ever, I’m surprised I haven’t had a heart attack yet.
So what am I doing about it? Here’s my plan. I am going to adopt a more organic, raw vegan diet. This means cutting out the simple carbs and sugars and eating more stuff from good old Mother Nature. Basically, if it wasn’t grown, I don’t want to eat to it. I also plan on getting more involved in my food instead of relying on convenience packaging. This means cutting out the cans, jars, bags and premade anything. I’m even going to try my hand at making my own peanut butter! Foods not my only focus either. I started using my green smoke e-cigarette thing again to help me quit smoking. It’s been 2 days and counting!! I’m also working on my exercise routine right now. Because I get so tired so quickly, instead of working out for 60-90 minutes once a day, I am going to break it up to about 15-30 minutes of exercise several times a day and then build on that. Before I would just jump into trying to work out a full 60 minutes and when I couldn’t finish whatever I was doing, I would get frustrated and discourage. This way will not only keep me moving throughout the day but I can prepare for it better mentally.
So that’s pretty much it. It’s nothing new or exciting, just your basic formula for a healthier life. Eat better, exercise more. I have a ton of books and nifty little gadgets to help me stay focused and on task and of course, I have this blog to celebrate my achievements and admit my mistakes. I’ll also be sharing as much information with you as I can like new recipes or really good books or articles I come across. Something else I’ll be sharing with you is how to get the most bang for your buck. Let’s face it, a bag of apples cost twice as much as a bag of chips and you don’t have to wash the chips. Since I’m no longer employed and I’m going to school full time, I will be on the lookout for deals and time savers that are still a part of my diet.
Right now, nature is calling. One of the things I decided to do to kick start this whole new lifestyle thing was use one of those colon cleaners and detoxification things. Yes, I said colon cleaner. Since Monday, I have been following a strict regimen of pills, powder and teas and after the last few days, I can assure you, there is absolutely nothing left in my digestive track. I’ll have to tell you about that later. J
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