A Vegan Menu

I am by no means a vegan expert. But I do get the question "What do you eat?"

Here is a sample of what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Apple
10 almonds
1 cup of chocolate soy milk (yum)

Lunch:
Edamame
2 vegan sushi rolls (cucumber, carrot, avacado, rice, algae wrapper)

Snack:
Orange

Dinner:
Steamed broccoli
Whole wheat pasta (vegan)
Tomato based sauce

It's all quite delicious and filling, though I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't found out first hand.

I find it important to always have fruit everywhere I go. I am a snacker so I keep apples in my desk and a pouch of almonds in my handbag.

I'm also fond of http://www.vegweb.com for great receipes from real people.

I bought this book once called "Nobody Cares what you had for Lunch". This book was about blogging and gave the reader 100 blog themes to write on. I never used the book, I mostly purchased it for the clever cover. However it occurs to me now that I have violated the first rule of thumb = "Nobody Cares what you had for Lunch".

Training Update

So after yesterday's smack in the face, I was out hitting the pavement this morning. I managed another 1.5 miles, but was done after that. I didn't feel like dying or hurling or sinking to the bottom of a deep fryer, but I wasn't all shits and giggles afterward either.

The month of February means no eating out. It's a fun lil experiment hubby and I thought we would try. Of course when you spend $500 a month on eating out and another $450 on groceries you start to really question your budgeting skills.

I also have 6 more yoga sessions to use in the next 4 weeks, so I'll be hitting the studio 2 times a week now instead of just once.

I'm still eating vegan. It's great. I feel fantastic. I have started incorporating non-vegan bread into my diet, mainly because vegan bread is dry, expensive and pointless. I read a couple articles about "almost" vegans who splurge on salmon because the Vitamin E in salmon gives a "healthy glow". So I decided to get sushi Friday with raw salmon. I nearly ralphed after the first bite. That $7.50 sushi roll now resides in the dumpster waiting for Ducks Disposal to remove it from my property. Now you understand the whole $950 food expense line....what a waste!

No eating out, so I need to figure out how to roll an algae leaf around rice and cucumber. Time to scour the database of vegweb.com for some cheap meals. I'll keep you posted...

This is gonna be harder than I thought

Gee, imagine that.

FYI Apparently running 3 miles on the Precor FX is not the same as running 3 miles in REAL LIFE.

I went to the park, measured out 4.5 miles (I was feeling ambitious), grabbed my ipod and JEEP sweatshirt and started out for a little jog. After less than one mile I was pretty sure I was going to die. It was cold, my lungs burned, and the fat on my ass itched like a parasite infestation. But I forced myself to run 1.5 miles, mostly because running would get my pathetic body back to my car the quickest.

I can't believe I could only complete 1.5 miles running! Its such a breeze at the gym to go 5 miles even. I'm starting to feel the fear.

Only 2 months until the 10K. OMG I need to go for another run right now!

Poems that Don't Rhyme

I cooked vegan eggplant parmesean which was delicious.







Here is a picture of Payton eating vegan pancakes. Yum.




I'm greatly bothered by the turantulas running across the banner ad at the top of my screen.

I decided that if I were Pochantas I wouldn't have left the teepee this week. My heater is barely managing these cold nights. It's made my morning workouts a challenge.

Last night Chloe gave me a popsicle stick with one google eye glued to the top. I asked her "What is this?" She said it was baby jesus' eye. "Where is the other eye?" "He lost it." "We should find it then!" I said. And she replied, "No, he didn't like it so he rubbed it off." I'm tempted to see if this is in the New Testament somewhere as a show of how Jesus is capable of seeing without sight.

In the car this morning Payton said "I know how to tell good poetry from bad poetry." I was intrigued. "How's that?" "Good poetry doesn't rhyme." I remember learning that in school too. So in honor of that rule that teachers try to convince us of, I am posting a good rhyming poem to prove them wrong:

..>..>..>..>..>..> ..> ..>..>..>..>..>..>..>
SONNET 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

And that would be pronounced "loouved".

So it's been determined by a group of my closest friends that I am emotionally unavailable. I avoid attachment and I'm easily smothered. This bothers me, and Rachel Angel says "of course it bothers you, because it's the truth and the truth is hard to hear." Then she tells me whenever we have a deep conversation I won't talk to her for two days afterward. I'm not sure how that fits in with vegan parmesean and poems that don't rhyme, but this is my blog and I'm letting it flow.

Oh and btw, if you are contemplating buying "The Secret" (a book about the law of attraction) take my advice and don't do it. You can have my audiobook copy. It's awful. And the author reads it as if she were Chef Tony trying to sell Nylon Kitchen Lids.

BTW, if myspace could add one thing for me it would be the ability to save a blog as a draft. Please see to it Tom. Thanks.

Tagged

I was tagged!

Here's how you play: Once you've been tagged you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself , at the end choose 10 people to be tagged, list their names and why you tagged them. Don't forget to leave them a comment saying '(You're It!) and to go read your blog. You can not tag the person that tagged you so since you can't tag me back let me know when you are done so that I can go read YOUR blog answers.

1. I really dislike intense situations. I run, I move, I quit my job or relationship when it causes me distress. I leave a trail of unfinshed business. I never get attached to people. I am sorely independent and fickle. Oh wait that was like 6 things and I'm only on number 1.

2. When I was a kid my parents would empty the money from their pockets and leave it on the kitchen counter. I would steal a quarter, a couple of dimes, or if I was feeling bold, a dollar. Then I would take the money to Rite Aid and a buy Metal Edge magazine. At one point I covered every inch of my bedroom walls with posters of my favorite rock bands. I taped a four page spread of Brett Michaels on my ceiling above my bed so I could stare at him every night while falling asleep. He was my first love.

3. In 9th grade Jess and I dated the same guy. He was cute but embodied every stereotype of his Polish heritage. He was as dumb as a brick. The first time I met his mom she asked me if I was catholic. I said yes, and she sighed and said "Thank God! Much better than the last girl Jerry dated, she was Lutheran trash."

4. Yes I was raised a Catholic. The only thing I really learned from that experience was how to feel guilt, hold on to guilt, and make others feel guilty. Amen.

5. I love sushi. But I only like rolls. I'm not sure if those are even considered "real" sushi.

6. On my 18th birthday my mother baked me 18 birthday cakes. They were all decorated differently, some square, some round, some chocolate, some yellow. I ate cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner for almost a week.

7. I can't seem to organize myself enough to start my own business. I work hard but totally lack self discipline. I love my art, but I find myself watching TV instead of painting or drawing. My underachievement and wasted potential is my biggest dissapointment in life.

8. I'm 30 and I've been married 10 years.

9. My starbucks drink of choice: grande iced soy peppermint white mocha no whip

10. I am addicted to cheese and rotten relationships. I gave up cheese completely to save my heart. Now for the relationships....



Who am I tagging? Anyone who thinks this would be fun, as all my "regulars" have already been tagged by someone else.

I Don't Understand Americans

How can I be so out of touch with my fellow Americans? I simply can not understand what they are thinking.

Why? Why are Democrats supporting Obama? Was it Oprah? Is it his promise that his smile can make the world a better place? Do we really trust that this man has any clue how to run the country? Can he really win this? Do we want that?! Wouldn't the ideal thing be to vote in the most qualified candidate? A candidate who has a good plan and the balls to execute it?

I watched as my country elected Bush for another 4 years. And I just didn't understand. Angelica says "He got us in a mess, now he needs to fix it." But he didn't fix it. And I didn't like Kerry. But thats who the Democrats picked. What a waste!

Now look at our country. It's pitful. We've lost the Iraq-gusto. We've lost any interest in the environment. We've lost countless jobs. And guess what's ahead? A recession. Do we really think someone with little experience has the skills to get us through a recession? Can Obama reach out to all the countries that Bush has offended? Would old people vote for Obama? He is so young, old people don't like youngings running the country.

OMG, the silly youth vote. Uninformed voters who vote like their husbands or their parents. Or "He is the best looking." Or 1 issue voters: "He is pro-gay marriage so I'm not voting for him". Or "I'd never vote a woman or a black man as my president." All of these people should not be allowed to vote unless they can prove that they have more than 1 deminsion.

Hillary may seem like a bitch but look how CNN, Fox, MSNBC is portraying her. Her photos show her scowling or lecturing the crowd. I'm so tired of the media.

I care about the environment. I care about my children's future. I care about stability in Iraq. I care about fiscal responsibility. Hillary knows these things. And she has a plan. And she has a pocket of gold in her husband whom the rest of the world adores, even if us good Christian Americans think he lacks integrity.

I have grown to hate the democratic process. It infuriates me that people can run so blindly into the voting booths. And I feel entirely helpless. As if our country of gluttons and morons is destined to implode on its own ignorance.

No my Children are not Malnurished

So you tell someone your vegan and that you've started using soy milk and eating tofu...many people immediately say "Oh, did you hear the study that soy is bad for you/causes cancer/makes men grow boobs?" My friends are fantastic that they care enough about me and my children to warn me about anything that could negatively affect my health. I really appreciate their forewarning. However, because I have children whom my lifestyle rubs off on, I have been researching soy's nutritional pit falls myself.

What I've concluded is there is no clear evidence against soy. Most of the studies that "label" soy as a bad food were funded by the dairy community. Further all foods should be consumed in moderation, soy should too. Nothing is good in mass quantities.

I found this blog post interesting:

"According to Christiane Northrup, MD, phytoestrogens have nothing to do with the sort of estrogens the human body produces, they are NOT estrogen. She said that there are SOME components of soy phytoestrogens which connect with human estrogen receptors, but definitely not the way that human estrogens does.
What intrigues me about this soy argument is the lack of thought behind it. When one eats dead cow, they consume a LOT of estrogen and of a type much closer to that of the human body. Consider the hormone replacement drug Premarin (it derives its name from PREgnant MARe urINe). It is horse urine collected under truly cruel conditions and given to women to replace their own estrogen. Cattle are not that far off of horses and I can't see why eating their flesh which contains estrogen would be beneficial over a phytoestrogen, as it IS the real thing. Estrogen from cows is present in dairy products too. And pig meats and even chickens. Anymore, many farms routinely give cows hormones to stimulate milk production and I don't care what they say, these are also present in cow's milk.
When I started to think about soy versus animal protein, phytoestrogen versus actual mammalian estrogen, I laughed at the ignorance of this soy-estrogen argument!
There are a couple of things a woman gains from going vegan. One, because she CONSUMES less estrogen, she is reliant on what her body produces. Often, this leads to a lengthening of the menstrual cycle, which means fewer cycles over her reproductive life and thus less of the ebb and flow of estrogen and other hormones that happens over the course of her cycle. This is known to DECREASE breast cancer. Because, overall (though not true for many of us) vegans tend to carry less body fat, and women's bodies store estrogen in fat, they have fewer estrogen-related problems. More body fat, more estrogen storage and more effects from that estrogen. Weigh less, store less, another known influence over breast cancer."

So I am going to believe that the pros out way the cons, and you know what...I feel better on this meat less diet. I have energy and I'm not hungry, so I'm not eating as much. If I felt worse, I would stop it immediately and go back to eating steak and cheese, two foods I adore.

If you find articles about veganism and health please pass them along.

I have the Unique Privelage of being me

For all my disasters in life, I am acutely aware of how blessed I am. I'm a pretty cool chick. I have great friends. A steady family base. Decent spirituality. I'm artistic. I'm creative. I'm encourageable (which I find a postive!). I love to laugh. And I can admit I cried the first time i saw Titanic. I own 2 Celiene Dion cds. I have 12 journals of which I have written in 5 pages or less. I constantly have dry scalp, but hell, I've got good hair. I enjoy eating seaweed, and I think that makes me down right cool. I've lived in a few states, I've visited all of them except Hawaii, which, strangely enough, I have no interest in. I am really smart. It's pretty amazing actually. And I love my smile. My sense of humor is great, and I can laugh at myself, because honestly I can get a bit loopy sometimes. But it's an honest loopy. And I love people with such compassion, I would never hurt anyone, whether I care for them or not.

I own my home. At the age of 23 or 24 (I can't remember which) I decided I wanted a home. And I went out and bought one. I have such determination. I don't plan well, but I always make it through with tremendous sucess. I am lucky. For Christmas Viv gave me two scratcher tickets and both won! I have some of the most amazing coworkers who have incredible life stories. I make decent money and I can provide for my children (who, coincidently happen to be extremely healthy and robust).

I am blessed to understand and appreciate our planet, and feel as though the small contributions I make (brining my own bags to the grocery store or buying eco-friendly produce) really do make a difference, because I have to believe small things matter. For instance think about how powerful being in love feels, and how that eminates between only 2 people outward, spilling blessings and positive energy throughout the world.

I have made so many good choices in my life. Having Payton and Chloe. That was the best choice. Trading in my Prius for the CRV. Marrying Chris. I really lucked out on that one, though I didn't know it for a long time. Moving to Richmond. Learning to pray.

Yes, I can be silly, obnoxious, moody, and irritable. I can be selfish and heartless and stand-offish. But I love my friends and pretty much everyone else to. And I am proud of who I am. And feel so blessed to be quirky in a sea of normalcy.

Anyhow, thats it.