Tag Archives: Veganism

by

Day One of No Sugar, Again

Yeah, I haven’t stayed away from sugar yet, but today I am.

Some things I am trying to keep in mind today to help me focus on this goal for today…

I’m not back to the gym yet, but I thought this was a good slap in the face:

One of my favorite bloggers posted this the other day and it makes me want to eat raw kale (um, I don’t think I’ve ever said that):

Chop-It-Up Veggie Salad with Tahini Garlic Dressing

I was looking for a link to a tofu recipe I have in my mental recipe box that I wanted to try…I can’t find the link at the moment, but I am still looking… but I did find this tofu cooking inspiration. I do try to eat tofu at least once a week and I want to learn how to prepare it in different ways. I usually get it in my Thai food — like yesterday, I ordered Pad Kra Tiem — the sauce is light and broth-y rather than heavy, and it’s loaded with veggies (garlic, broccoli, baby corn, carrots, red bell peppers, garnished with sliced cucumber). With brown rice and steamed tofu it’s enough for a lunch and a half.

I am planning on going vegetarian for Lent again this year, but I also like to experiment with vegan and raw vegan cooking. I found this graphic and thought it was a good thing to keep in mind about all the food/nutrition sources available on a vegan diet:

About these ads
Veggie or Vegan?
by

Veggie or Vegan?

I have to tell you… I’m not really missing meat. I haven’t had any since February 22, aka, Ash Wednesday. I am still eating some seafood here and there, but not much.

I have been going back and forth about going vegan, but vegan seems very… a lot. I want to say severe, but that seems too strong of a word. Perhaps it is just my “dairy + egg” eyes seeing the choice of a no-animal-product diet as kind of strict.

My initial goal of giving up meat was just for Lent, but I am seriously considering not going back to carnivore-town. For now, though, I think I need to practice vegetarianism day by day and see how it goes. I have actually been finding a lot of delicious sounding recipes that I want to try, including the following:

Broccoli and Goat Cheese Pizza

Vegetarian Bolognese

Spinach Artichoke Dip (though I feel like I can lighten this one up)

Smashed Potatoes

So far, so good.

I went to a formal dinner for my husband’s job last Saturday night. It was fancy-schmancy, and while I said no to the meat that was being served, I did say yes to the apple cobbler dessert. So… a tad more sugar. But I haven’t gone back to it since then. I just gotta keep moving forward…

I will workout tomorrow for the first time since I sprained my ankle, which was almost two weeks ago; it’s still swollen and bruised so we’ll do upper body. I am also planning on weighing myself (I don’t do that that often). I feel like I have a lost a few pounds…which is good!

I confess
by

I confess

I made oatmeal raisin cookies last night to bring into the office (ok, oatmeal raisin craisin chocolate chunk coookies). And I ate two last night. And two today.

On the minus side, I ate some sugar.

On the plus side, I really didn’t feel the urge to eat every cookie. They were small… and what I had was enough. Usually for me, the word “cookie” and “enough” are not in the same sentence.

This is a huge deal. I tested my sugar taste buds and they didn’t betray me… so this is wonderful information. I will still avoid sugar as much as possible, but I feel like it’s hold over me has weakened considerably.

In other news… I spoke my co-worker friend who is a vegan and told him about the yummy California Suncakes that I found… and we got into a discussion about how I’m vegetarian for lent and vegetarian vs. vegan. He told me if I read The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food and When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals my eyes would be opened about how we treat the animals we use for food. His were… I believe him.

Am I ready? Almost.