Getting back on track...for the 3895737th time.

Perhaps this blog should be titled, "Diary of a Wannabe Blogger."

I've been MIA for four months. There have been quite a few times I sat down to write an entry, and either couldn't get started or couldn't focus enough to finish. I also feel like I mainly write in this blog when I feel I need to be holding myself more accountable for my diet and exercise goals. I feel like I've really veered off track the past two weeks or so, Since it's been over four months since my vegan challenge ended, I'd like to review what I've stuck with and what I haven't.

Since April 1st, 2013...

• I still haven't had a burger. Ever since going vegetarian mid-March and then vegan for the month of April, I have not had a meat burger - and the interesting thing is, I haven't wanted one either. I used to love cheeseburgers and would usually order them 80% of the time I dined out at a restaurant. They just look so unappealing to me now. I've had some fabulous vegetarian and vegan burgers at restaurants as well as cooked up some of my own. I find them to be so much more flavorful and satisfying without the heavy feeling that comes with eating a burger.

• I still haven't purchased or drank cow's milk. I think I switched over to almond milk mid-March, and I've loved it ever since. I don't plan on drinking cow's milk ever again.

• I still buy Tofutti's "Better Than Cream Cheese" for my morning bagel. Back in 2009, I started each work day with a Thomas's 100% whole wheat bagel thin and covered half with whipped cream cheese and half with peanut butter. During the vegan challenge, I bought Tofutti's "cream cheese" and continue to purchase it. I think it's creamier than regular cream cheese without the sour taste that often comes along with it. It's blends so well with the peanut butter, and I couldn't imagine going back to regular cream cheese now.

• I've cooked up a lot more vegetarian and vegan meals and also order them in restaurants. In the months that followed, I only ate meat one meal per week, if that. If I chose to have meat, I usually have chicken. I've had a couple of pulled pork sandwiches. No red meat.

Now, one big "oops" I had came over Labor Day weekend. On January 1st of this year, I swore off fast food. I made it 9 months without anything from a fast food restaurant. Over Labor Day weekend, I had a slight relapse. Dan and I were driving back late from hanging out with friends, and we were starving. Our options were limited. I decided to give in to...

I ordered a six piece chicken nugget and regular size French fry. I felt a little guilty that I broke my 9 month streak, but hey, it could have been worse. I haven't had fast food since then. 

Within the past two weeks, I have eaten meat quite a bit and have felt really guilty about it. The interesting thing is, even though I was craving meat at the time, after a couple of bites it really seemed disgusting and I didn't want to finish my meal. I've been really lazy about grocery shopping, cooking, and meal planning lately and I feel that is partly to blame for my lack of willpower. I'm hoping to get back on track with that this week!

Tonight I made chickpea brown rice and veggie burgers. I would have stuffed these in a pita with some other veggies and perhaps hummus, but didn't have any pitas on hand. I know I left some at work and I didn't want to buy another bag. These were SO incredibly easy to make! Took me only 15 minutes. The recipe suggested wrapping in a lettuce leaf, but all I had was torn-up lettuce bits. I just put one of the patties on a bed of lettuce and grape tomatoes, and it was delish. I could even eat one of these by themselves, maybe with some homemade sweet potato fries.

Tomorrow the crock pot will be on for some vegetarian sweet potato chili. I'm so excited to see how this turns out! I absolutely love sweet potatoes. 

I'm not sure what to consider myself these days. I often refer to myself as a vegetarian/vegan enthusiast. I really love vegetarian/vegan recipes and they're a great way to help me eat healthier and maintain my weight. Over the past four months, my weight has only fluctuated 2 to 3 pounds here and there. I've held my weight loss off since March now. Whenever I start to feel unhealthy and/or out of shape, I turn to my veggie recipes to help me get back on track.

On the exercise front, I completed my third 1/2 marathon two weeks ago. I felt great during this race. After the race was over, I took a break from running - it just always seems to be the trend for me once I've finished the race. I did a couple of boot camp sessions and other cardio workouts. Yesterday was the first time I ran since the race, and I ran 10 miles. I was hurting and cramping up pretty badly towards the end of that long run! I really would like to try to run 15 miles next weekend. I have to make sure to keep up with my exercise throughout the week to keep my endurance up. 

Today is the first official day of autumn, and it's important to me to keep eating healthy because we're starting to enter the danger zone here - Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it. Lots of tempting comfort foods are popping up. Then there's the change in weather - once it starts getting really cold, it's harder and harder for me to get up and go work out in the morning. I really want to fight that this year! I'm signing up for some fun race events in November and December to help me stay on track. I'd like to do the Presidential Towers stair climb again too in February. 

I'll try my hardest to write some more updates this week, including a review of the chili I'm making tomorrow and hopefully some other new recipes!

30 Day Vegan Challenge - How Did It End?

Hello readers! I had no intention of letting this much time go by without a blog post, but my job and life have gotten the better of me lately. I have a lot to recap about my vegan challenge. So let's rewind...

April 30th - Last Day of the Vegan Challenge

I completed a full 30 days of eating vegan meals - in fact, I made it 32 days! I even resisted yet another coworker's birthday cake on the last day official day of my 30 day challenge. I still had my Tofutti cream cheese and my black bean burgers and whatnot, so I continued to eat them. I felt fantastic for those 32 days - light, fit, and healthy. I had all intentions of staying vegetarian and eating vegan as often as possible. I ate vegan from April 1st until May 2nd. On Friday, May 3rd, I broke the vegan streak but still ate vegetarian meals. That Friday, my boyfriend Dan and I went to Pinstripes, one of our favorite restaurants. We had plenty of money left on my gift card to spend there, and so we indulged - far, far too much. I hated myself as we left the restaurant. I had not eaten that much in one sitting for 32 days, and I felt physically ill after the meal! I came home that night and fell asleep immediately. It was a full blown food coma.

It started off with their heavenly breadsticks and pesto olive oil dipping sauce.

Then we moved on to the crab cake.

Then I ate half of my vegetable pizza...

And then came time for dessert. Dan and I could not decide if we wanted the amazing ice cream stuffed profiteroles we had last time, or something else. So...we got two desserts. Profiteroles and ice cream and cookies, which consisted of three scoops of gelato and four cookies.

We finished almost all of the dessert. Thank goodness I had SOME control over the pizza and only ate half of it! I hated the feeling of fullness and sickness I had on the car ride home, and I was confused as to how I had so much self control for 32 days and then let it all go so quickly. After 20 minutes or so, I decided to stop beating myself up so much - it was over and done with. I'd just have to remember this awful sick feeling next time, so that I wouldn't go there again.

On Saturday, May 4th, I went to Coopers Hawk for lunch with a coworker of mine. I had looked at the menu earlier in the week, because I wanted to order something vegetarian. I was very interested in the eggplant and veggie ravioli. However, once we got to the restaurant, I started eyeing my old favorite at Coopers - chicken giardiniera. It's two huge chicken breasts breaded and covered with a zesty giardiniera. I usually ordered mine with mashed potatoes. I spotted a "low cal" version of this on the Coopers Life Balance menu - it would just be one chicken breast over a bit of pasta and veggies, and the chicken was not breaded. It was listed at 500 calories. Hmmmmm...I debated over what to order. I had given thought earlier in the week to allowing myself one meat meal per week. Was this it?

I ordered the chicken, and as I ate it, I was mad I didn't order the eggplant ravioli. The chicken was OK, but I really didn't enjoy it all that much, and then I just felt guilty. I have read so much information on factory farming and animal welfare. I know I feel strongly about it, but clearly, I must not be there 100 percent. I'm not sure why that is, and I've been going through a lot of internal conflict on it lately. While I was proud of myself for setting up and completing the 30 day vegan challenge, I also knew I would feel like a hypocrite once I broke it.  I was recently reading some comments on a discussion board about someone who had been vegan for years and started eating meat again. One comment stood out to me:

"Well, obviously, she wasn't actually vegan. She may have eaten vegan meals, but the diet is a side effect of being vegan. Obviously she had not made the ethical and spiritual connections. Once you have those components, you cannot weigh a moment's worth of taste pleasure against all the harm that carnism causes to the world."

I related to that completely. Yes, I ate vegan meals - and that was it. I don't know if I'll ever fully be at the level the person above references. I know I felt fantastic on a vegan diet, but I also know that if I want a damn cupcake once in awhile, then I want a cupcake - and I don't want to have to give all this thought to an egg being used in a recipe. I'm not selfless enough to go there 100%. However, I do stand by my belief that cutting back on meat and dairy consumption makes a big impact on personal health and, if everyone combined their efforts, it would make an impact on the conditions for animals and reduce the environmental impact.

I still drink almond milk and will never drink cow's milk again - almond milk just tastes SO much better and is so much better for you! I've also continued to purchase soy coffee creamer and Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese". I've continued to make vegan dishes - I recent made grilled tofu with pineapple over a bed of quinoa mixed with pineapple peach salsa. I still love how vegan dishes taste and I love even more how they make me feel. But no matter how good I feel from it, I cannot commit 110%. I just can't.

The Never Ending Journey

I also wanted to share my weight loss results from going vegan. I have to say, there was a part of me expecting to drop a lot more weight - I thought cutting out meat and dairy would make a huge impact. However, I'm glad I didn't drop a drastic amount of weight because if I did, it would be very hard to permanently keep it off. I feel I am at a healthy, manageable weight now.

Here is a recap of my weight loss this year:

January 1st
137.6 pounds
26.4% body fat
30.5" waist
37" hips

April 1st
128.8 pounds
23.7% body fat
27.5" waist
34.25" hips

My weight loss from January to April is due to preparing more meals at home, cutting back on alcohol intake, and complete elimination of fast food. Although I have never been one to eat fast food every day, I did have it 1 to 2 times per week. I am fast food free for 130 days and counting, and I don't miss it at all.

May 1st - post vegan challenge
124.2 pounds (My goal weight was 125! Love this!)
22.2% body fat
27.5" waist
34" hips

Measurements really didn't change much, but the other numbers did. All my clothes have become much looser and I dropped a dress size!

Stress at work has gotten the better of me the past week or so, and I have found myself once again fighting my sweet tooth and cravings for junk food. This again has brought on frustration of how I felt virtually no cravings during my month of veganism. This weekend, I will be taking some time to get back to my healthy meal planning. I lost 12 pounds since January, and I don't want it to come back!

Now that the weather is nice again, I've been doing a lot of running out doors again. Training for my third half marathon will begin mid-June. I've noticed that since eating better, my running has improved a lot.

Last summer, I was a 10 - 10:15 mile consistently. I feel a lot better and lighter when I run. I've also been keeping up with boot camp classes twice a week. I'd really like to go three times a week, but 5:30 AM classes are so tough to wake up for!

I'm looking forward to planning out some more vegetarian and vegan meals for next week!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Let them eat cake. And baklava. And pizza.

There's something about warm weather that makes me incredibly happy. It just makes me love life more and feel much more motivated. I ran 4.02 miles (39:07 minutes) on Saturday and 5.29 miles (50:25 minutes) on Sunday. I love my Log Your Run app! I noticed it's even tallying my miles and minutes each week. I did a shorter run today, 3.43 miles (33:10). I'm staying pretty consistent with my pace. Compared to many, I'm not a fast runner, but a 9:30/9:40 pace is something I am perfectly content with. I'm hoping to improve my time to a 9 minute pace during my half marathon training this summer.

I spent several hours cleaning my apartment and doing laundry on Sunday. I cannot understand how my small one bedroom apartment gets so dusty and dirty all the time. I also swapped my fall and winter clothes for my spring and summer clothes. I know we're due for some more dips in the temperature, but I just couldn't stand looking at my gloomy winter clothes any longer.

So nice to see some color! I have a bad habit of buying all black and gray in the winter. I need to remember that when shopping for new clothes this fall. However, let's not even discuss that - my favorite season, summer, is still on it's way and I want to savor that as long as possible!

Last week I was faced with all sorts of temptation when it came to food, but with some planning ahead, it really wasn't too bad. As I mentioned about a week ago, the worst craving I was having was for pizza. Last Monday, Dan and I decided to make vegan pizza. I bought a multigrain crust at Target, some regular ol' pizza sauce, and tried out some Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella cheese. I previously only tried Daiya vegan cheese, which was just okay. This Trader Joe's cheese was far tastier than Daiya and melted much better too - and it was nearly $2 cheaper! Score! Dan made a plain cheese pizza and I put pineapple, green pepper, and red onion on mine.

The finished product:

Looks legit, right?! Only thing was I think we either A) used too much cheese or B) didn't let the crust cook long enough or C) combination of both - the pizza was a little heavy and messy and I had to use a fork and knife to eat it. Still, it was quite delicious and satisfied my pizza craving. Haven't craved pizza since!

On Tuesday, I had a half day off work for a doctor's appointment. I did some shopping before my appointment and ate lunch at a nearby restaurant that I've been meaning to check out: I Dream of Falafel.

Holy. Freaking. Deliciousness. The wrap you see here is called laffa bread - it's a Middle Eastern leavened flat bread. For meat eaters, the restaurant does offer chicken, lamb, steak, and Turkish style seasoned meat. Besides the wrap, you can also choose a platter - basically a plate of hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, couscous, and a salad mix such as tabbouleh or a cucumber and tahini sauce mix. I realize I'm throwing a lot of words out there that many people probably aren't familiar with! So let's do a quick breakdown here:

Hummus: I think most are familiar with hummus, but if you're not, it's a thick paste or spread made from ground chickpeas and sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon, and garlic, made originally in the Middle East.

Baba Ganoush: Usually made of roasted, peeled, and mashed eggplant, blended with tahini, garlic, salt, white vinegar and lemon juice. Cumin and chili powder can be added.

Falafel: Sweet heaven! Haha, really it is a Middle Eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas formed into balls and deep fried. OK, so the deep fried part isn't the best. You can also make them at home and bake them, if you're looking to be healthier!

Couscous: Couscous is a dish made from tiny granules of durum wheat. The couscous grains are then prepared by steaming them until they have a light, fluffy consistency. Couscous is closely related to pasta.

Tabbouleh: An Arab salad of cracked wheat mixed with finely chopped ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, and parsley.

Tahini: A Middle Easter paste made of ground sesame seeds.

All you really need to know is that's freaking delicious. Seriously. Holy flavor explosion. I also got lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion in my wrap. I loved this place so much, that I met my friend Brittney there for lunch today - and she loved it too!

So, back to the temptations.

Not those temptations! These...

It started on Thursday morning, really. I met my friend Christina at our favorite breakfast restaurant - but I could not order my usual of eggs, feta cheese and tomatoes with hash browns. I also knew I couldn't use any coffee creamer, so I took my little carton of Silk French Vanilla soy creamer with me! For my meal, I made up and ordered a hash brown scramble - hash browns with green peppers and onions with a plain English muffin on the side. I added ketchup to the hash browns and grape jelly to the English muffin, and I was quite happy with it.

Then on Thursday at work, one of my coworkers mentioned that it was my friend and coworker Catherine's birthday on Saturday and that she would be out of the office the next day, so if we were going to do birthday cake, it had to be that day. I volunteered to go pick up a cake. I walked into the grocery store and stood around the bakery section for a good 10 minutes debating what kind of cake to buy and what size. I finally settled on a checkerboard cake with whipped cream frosting. While I waited for the bake shop staff to write "Happy Birthday, Catherine" on the cake, I was practically drooling as stared at the various cakes, cookies, and doughnuts before me. I debated giving in and having cake that day. But then I told myself, "You have not done this for 25 days just to give up now. And besides, do REAL vegans just give up on their beliefs for birthday cake?! No, they do not! No cake for you!" I spotted a cupcake shop on my way to the office and popped in to ask if they had vegan cupcakes. Unfortunately, they did not.

One thing I love about my office and coworkers is we always celebrate each other's birthdays - birthday cards, cake, off key singing of "Happy Birthday!" and all. It's just one of the ways I find my company has a family feel to it. Now there have been days where I truly have not wanted a piece of cake, but somehow, a slice always ends up on my desk. Not this time. When one coworker asked, "Aren't you having any cake?" and I said, "No, it's not vegan", the pressure stopped there. Of course, not before two of my coworkers looked at me like I was an alien and asked, "WHY?!" I gave the briefest answer I possibly could, because I knew the two asking me the question love their meat and cheese. "For health reasons. And the animals." "Oh, you can't think about that!" one of them said in response. Still, they pretty much dropped it after that. I must say, it felt damn good to not have a piece of cake. Normally, I would have spent the rest of the work day beating myself up over having some cake. Not this time!

On Friday, I accompanied two of my coworkers over to a lunch with one of our major clients. We brought them Giordano's pizza. Thankfully, I was able to put in a request for a salad. As I dug in to my salad, one of the women teased, "Oh sure, you get the healthy salad and we just get the pizza!" That's when my coworker Brian announced, "Desiree went vegan for the month!" Oy. There were about 8 or 9 people in the room, and the focus turned on me with one question after another.

"What made you decide to do that?"

"Is it hard?"

"So...what do you eat?"

I answered their questions, but I didn't want to monopolize the entire lunch. Still, it was pretty neat to have people so interested in it and listen. Brian later told me he thought it ended up being a great ice breaker. Whatever works! Personally, I was amazed at myself that I was able to sit in a small conference room filled with people eating pizza and I didn't crave or have a single piece. I also didn't have any of the baklava desserts or brownies we brought as well. Part of my interest in this challenge was to reset my taste buds and gain more self control over food, and I truly have done that. Telling myself, "You can have some next time" is a good way to forget about whatever it is you're craving.

Tomorrow is Day 30, and although I can technically drop this whole thing and order a big cheeseburger on May 1st, I have no desire to. I've still planned meals for the week, including:

Leftover lack bean burger patties from last week. I had cooked up a double batch and froze 4 of them. I love having these in 1/2 a pita.

Detox salad consisting of spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, shredded carrots, dried cranberries and tomatoes. I altered this recipe a bit.

Quinoa taco salad - nom nom nom!

Black bean and potato plate - looks so delicious!

Grilled tofu with pineapple - I'd love to make the coconut rice in this recipe, but kept my grocery shopping pretty cheap and basic this week so I'll be pairing it up with some quinoa and pineapple peach salsa that I have on hand).

I am falling more in love with tofu than ever. Dan and I went to my favorite Thai restaurant on Saturday and I ordered the pad Thai (no egg!) with tofu and veggies. In the past, I'd always order the chicken pad Thai there. I honestly could not tell the difference and did not miss it at all. I also made sure to request the dish not be prepared without fish sauce, but it turns out they don't use fish sauce in their recipe. Hooray!

After the Thai restaurant, Dan and I went to a wine tasting nearby. Wine and a Rock Bottom beer have been the ONLY things I've consumed that violated my vegan challenge. As I've mentioned before, almost all wines and some beers are not vegan because of isinglass. I have still stayed true to eating vegan! The month has flown by and I have really enjoyed all the new foods I've tried, higher energy levels, and overall just feeling much healthier. I do feel very conflicted when I think about staying vegan, or staying vegetarian/mostly vegan, or even allowing myself meat on certain occasions. I do still believe that every little bit makes a difference - for the animals, for my health, and for the environment. I'll be pondering this a lot over the next few days.

Cheers to almost finishing 30 days of a vegan diet!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Happy Earth Day!

When I was planning my vegan challenge for the month of April, I was pretty excited to see that Earth Day would be a part of it. A diet centered around meat, eggs, and dairy products is actually one of the greatest factors impacting our environment. We often hear about the huge impact our car usage has on the environment, have seen advertising on energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, and know we should try to reduce our water usage. However, if you cut back on your meat and dairy intake regularly, you would not only be helping your health but also helping the environment.

Over the past 50 years, world meat production has quadrupled and farmed animals now outnumber people by more than three to one (source). This trend will contribute to a number of problems for this planet, including global warming, pollution, deforestation, water scarcity, and even species extinction. More animals means more crops and water are needed to raise them. Let's take a look at how raising animals for food impacts the environment:

World Hunger

Diets centered around meat and dairy are a big contributor to depriving the world's poor of much needed food. Livestock simply consume much more protein, water, and calories than they produce. Most of the protein animals consume from the vegetable feed is used to sustain them and not converted to meat, eggs, or milk. The world's population continues to grow, and raising animals for food is not sustainable. The amount of land, food, and water required to raise animals for food will always vastly exceed what humans would require. To produce one pound of meat, it takes 16 pounds of grain. If people ate just 10% less meat - JUST 10% LESS - the amount of grain saved could feed the starving world. Do you mean to tell me you can't decrease your meat consumption by 10%?!

Land and Forests

Viable agricultural lands and forests are rapidly diminishing, and a large part of that is to clear land for raising farm animals. 35% of soil degredation and 30% of deforestation can be attributed to overgrazing. This creates a vicious cycle in which declining soil fertility pushes people to find new land to expand agriculture. That then leads to deforestation, which in turn causes soil degredation. Forests are being destroyed not only to provide wood, paper, and fuel but also to provide land for grazing cattle and for growing the crops to feed farmed animals. Switching to a vegan diet - even part time! - can help reduce the destruction of much needed land and forests.

Water

Although statistics vary, it is safe to say it takes at least three times the amount of water to feed a meat eater than it does to feed a vegan. This is largely due to the amount of water required to raise the crops to feed to livestock, along with the amount of water those animals require. Much water and land is wasted by growing feed crops for livestock instead of feeding those crops directly to people. Agriculture is also the number one water polluter. Waste from livestock pollutes groundwater, streams, and rivers.

Oceans

Ocean ecosystems are drastically affected by large scale fishing. Destructive fishing methods, such as nets which are dragged across the ocean floor and catch all sorts of marine life, destroy a multitude of fish and other creatures, along with coral and plant life. Much of the animals and plants caught in these nets is thrown back into the sea as waste. This in turn affects the quality of life for dolphins and whales, too. Fish farming is no better - farmed fish are fed on meal made from wild fish. More than three tons of wild fish are needed to produce one ton of farmed salmon. Then there is the amount of chemical treatments given to these fish which are later consumed by humans.

Climate

When carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are released into the air, they blanket the Earth, trapping heat inside the atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect, and it keeps our planet at a temperature at which life can thrive. However, the massive increase in the output of these and other greenhouse gases has caused the effect to intensify. Meat eating is responsible for at least one third of all methane emissions. Methane is produced by bacteria in the stomachs of sheep, cattle, and goats and is released through the animals' bodily functions. Methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Factory farming also uses massive amounts of fossil fuels to produce, transport, and process feed for the animals; as well as transport the animals to slaughterhouses. A University of Chicago study concluded it would be more environmentally effective to go vegan than to switch to an electric hybrid car! And again, let's not forget about the destruction of the forests to raise livestock - destroying forest land to grow food for cattle, pigs, and chickens results in fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide. See how this is all connected?

Here are a few more fast facts for you:
Source

• Red meat and dairy are responsible for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions from food for an average U.S. household.
• Can't commit all the way? Replacing red meat and dairy with chicken, fish, or eggs in your diet for one day each week reduces emissions equal to 760 miles per year of driving.
• Switching to vegetables one day per week cuts the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles per year. 
• A single dairy cow produces about 120 pounds of wet manure per day, which is equivalent to the waste produced by 20-40 people. That means California's 1.4 million dairy cows produce as much waste as 28-56 million people.

I could go on and on and on. If you care about our Earth and how we are impacting it, doesn't reading this information inspire you to want to make some changes? You don't even have to go 100% vegan - the facts above show what a difference a vegan diet just one day per week can make. ONE DAY! We can all sacrifice meat and dairy products at least one day per week.

Please make a difference, for yourself and for future generations.

30 Day Vegan Challenge: 9 days left! What happens next?

Last week was one crazy week - and I'm not even talking about just for me! There was the Boston Marathon bombing and everything that followed it to identify the suspects and get them in custody. Then there was the extreme flooding in Lisle, Lombard, Naperville and surrounding areas. For me personally, Monday was the start of me working as the interim staffing manager of my office, a step up from staffing coordinator. I will be in this position for approximately six weeks. It's been non-stop busy at work, I typically get in to the office around 7:45 AM and leave at 5:30 PM. I love being kept busy and the days have  been very productive and are going by fast. However, the last thing I usually feel like doing after 9 hours on the computer is coming home to sit on my computer and blog.

So, let's recap a few things. Vegan life is still going well, with the exception of some pretty intense cheese cravings lately. I can pretty much find satisfying substitutions for cheese with most of my meals - for example, if I want cheese on my tacos, guacamole squashes that craving for me. Salsa is a good substitute too. I loved the creamy tofu mixture that replaced ricotta cheese in my vegan lasagna. But pizza has been tough to stop thinking about lately. In the past, Friday nights usually consisted of what I called my "Friday night meal" - a plain cheese or veggie and cheese frozen pizza with a bottle of moscato wine. This past Friday, I especially missed that. After work on Friday, I went to visit my Aunt Debbie, who is still in the recovery stages from a surgery she had a couple weeks ago. My aunt has been a vegetarian pretty much her entire life, so we of course talked a lot about vegetarian and vegan living. I was excited to see she had a few books and pamphlets out on her table for me to borrow. While most of the cook books are vegetarian, it will be easy to modify most of the recipes to be vegan!

My aunt lives 5 minutes from my parents, so I stopped by to see them next. I hadn't planned on staying there for most of the night, but I had nothing going on this Friday, so I stayed there til 10 PM or so. My only dilemma was dinner - what to eat? I tried to think of some restaurants nearby that I could get a vegan dish from. I knew there was a Thai takeout place nearby, but I also know that my favorite dish - pad Thai - contains fish sauce and eggs. I hopped on to Google for a few minutes to see if I could get this modified. After reading information and comments on a few sites, I read that most restaurants could leave out fish sauce if requested for dishes like pad Thai and pad see ew. However, I also read that many restaurants have their pad Thai sauce pre-mixed, but pad see ew you can always modify to be vegan. I decided to order the pad see ew for something different. It's a dish with fat, wide noodles and broccoli. You can order it with meat, I got tofu. The dish was very tasty, but I got totally gypped on the broccoli! I love broccoli tops, and there were NONE to be found in this dish. There were three broccoli stalks, and that was it. I wasn't starving, so I ate half my dish and saved the rest for the next day. When heating up my leftovers, I also sauteed some broccoli tops and added those in. Much, much better!

On Saturday, I had to work my second job from 11 AM to 7 PM...yuck. I really haven't minded my second job much, usually my shifts are just four hours at a time and it's nice to have the extra money to pay down some bills or go shopping with. I know I have to work these shifts now and again though - just how it goes. I work at a grocery store that I worked at in high school and on breaks from college. Even then, I thought it was interesting to see what people by and some different products out there. I was more than stoked when a customer came through my line and bought these:

What?! Vegan ice cream sandwiches?! YES! I asked her where she found them and made sure to go buy some after my shift. I wanted to get vanilla, but they were all sold out. Chocolate sounded like just as good an option, though - and they were only $2.90 with my discount, so if I didn't like them, it's no big loss. Well, this was $2.90 well spent. They are amazing! Actually tastes way better than an ice cream sandwich, the "ice cream" in these was way creamier. I've also been using Tofutti's "Better Than Cream Cheese" on my whole wheat bagel thins each morning with peanut butter, and I love it. Tofutti rocks!

Once I got home, I wanted to go out somewhere for dinner. I've spent pretty much the entire week indoors, and even though it still was not nice outside, I wanted to get out. Dan and I looked up some veg friendly restaurants in the area. We decided to go get Mexican food at Pepe's. I was able to order a vegetarian taco dinner - beans, green peppers and onion soft shell tacos with lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole. These usually come with cheese and sour cream, but I ordered it without those. I've never liked sour cream, so didn't miss anything there. The guacamole was a satisfying replacement for my cheese craving.

Dan and I are making the oven baked tacos we made during my first week of being vegan tonight. Guess we're taco crazy! These are a little different from what I had last night, though. I bought the stand and stuff tacos today - excited to use them, should make the job much easier this time around! My grocery trip was an easy one today. I plan on making my usual black bean burgers for lunch for the week, so I just need some more pita halves to stuff those in to.

I feel like I'm not being very motivating to others with the food I've been eating lately - for example, my black bean burgers for lunch every day during the work week. I'm just not tired of them, and it's easy to prep my whole lunch for the week on Sunday. It's pretty much how I've always been with food. From grade school to the middle of high school, I ate turkey sandwiches every. single. day. Then it switched over to peanut butter and jelly. 2009 - 2011 in the 9-5 working world saw me eating highly processed, high sodium Lean Cuisines every day. At least I've moved onto something more tasty, wholesome, and healthy! Trust me that there is plenty of variety out there for vegan meals. I've just found a few favorites and have been sticking with those for now. Having said that, there is a new dish I want to try this week: chickpea sweet potato burgers. I also have that big stack of cook books from my aunt to look through, and a whole vegan Pinterest board that I've been adding to pretty regularly.

Many of you may be wondering what I'm going to do about my diet once these 30 days are up. Am I going to run out and order a big cheeseburger and a side of fries? No. Am I going to pick up a big bag of friend chicken? No. Am I going to pick up one of my favorite thin crust, veggie covered cheese pizzas? Yes, I am, and I am OK with that, because it's a once in awhile thing. Other than that, I want to keep making many of the recipes I have so far, as well as try new ones. I am going to remain vegan about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, I'll be vegetarian. I just feel too good NOT to stay this way. The tiredness and lack of energy I often felt have completely vanished since going vegan. It is hard to not feel hypocritical about not sticking with vegan 100% of the time, still, I know I am making good choices here and have changed tremendously. I've told many that I feel I have completely reset my taste buds. I notice the flavors in food much more than before. I do not desire greasy food. Even my sweet tooth has calmed down - in the past 21 days, the only sweets I've had were one vegan chocolate chip cookie and a vegan brownie. I really feel that some foods are like a drug. If you are trying to eat healthier, you have probably noticed this. You literally have to detox from some foods - whether it's fast food or something processed. I know darn well that if I were to have some fast food, it would send me into a crazy, downward spiral where I start to crave more fast food and more "bad" foods. You just have to be patient with yourself and focus on improving just a few things at a time. If you take on too much, you're going to be overwhelmed, feel deprived, and fail. Healthy eating has been a long journey for me and it is still a journey now - I am not a "perfect" eater by any means. But you know what? I don't want to be. I'll again share one of my favorite quotes: "It's not about perfection, it's about moderation."

That gives me the perfect segue into my next topic here: moderation. Look, I fully realize that the whole world is never going to be vegan. And I also fully realize that we cannot eliminate some use of animals and animal products in our day to day living. I just learned today that hooves and bones are used in binding glue for books, and most of our roads and buildings contain animal products in curing concrete. However, EVERYONE has the power to help make an impact on factory farming and the cruelty animals experience. We all have limited resources and time, and avoiding all products from factory farms may seem like too big of a change. As with any healthy eating, you need to take small steps. You could eliminate meat from certain meals or on certain days. As you get used to eating less meat and find alternatives you enjoy, it might become easier to eliminate meat altogether. As I've said before, just a year ago I said I would never be a vegetarian or vegan. Just a year ago, I thought vegans were crazy. Don't doubt yourself and what you are capable of, and don't be afraid to try new things. I strongly believe everyone could be a vegan at least three days out of the week, then greatly cut back on their meat and dairy consumption on other days.

Anyone want to challenge themselves on that next month? You really have nothing to lose except for a few pounds! I'd love to put a Facebook group together for anyone who wants to try it. I'm not even asking you to be vegan every day - just three days a week! Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or private message me on Facebook with any questions or concerns you have. I've really loved the questions and feedback I've gotten either through comments here or through private messages.

No matter how you decide to live your life, just live it well!

Vegan Day 15: Falafel is a fun word.

Today has been a long, busy day. I was up at 4:45 AM to make it to 5:30 AM boot camp. "There's something different about you lately, like a glow. I don't know what it is!" That's what Damon, the class instructor, told me today. That's a nice thing to hear on an early Monday morning! I smiled and said, "It's the vegan diet!" He just shook his head and chuckled. 

I felt pretty full and satisfied for the first half of my day. I think much of that was because I was so busy at work, I really didn't have time to think about food. I had a banana and a spinach, kale, almond and dried pomegranate salad around 12:30 and that kept me going for quite some time. Around 2:45, I decided to break up one of my black bean burgers into a whole wheat wrap with some salsa. Now, I wasn't feeling all that hungry prior to eating my burrito, but about 10 minutes after I finished eating it I was STARVING! I don't know what the heck happened, but it honestly felt like I hadn't eaten all day. I had to stay late at work to get some things done and left the office around 5:45. Normally I leave at 5:15 and am home by 6. There was a car accident on the way home and I didn't get home until 6:30. By the time I walked in the door, I was ravenous. I couldn't even entertain the idea of cooking dinner for Dan and I until I ate something. So, I ate the last remaining piece of my tofu spinach lasagna that I made on Wednesday. It was a small piece - just enough to hold me over. I can't believe I had to eat something just to be able to cook tonight! Thank goodness that's a rarity. 

So tonight was my first time making falafel. I had falafel once before at Naf Naf Grill in a pita, and I remember it was pretty tasty, so when I found this falafel recipe on Pinterest I decided to try to make it. There are a ton of falafel recipes out there, but this one seemed pretty easy for a first timer. 

What you're looking at here are mashed chick peas, red onion, garlic, and cilantro.

Far too much cilantro.

At this point, I had a feeling I messed these up. Still, I moved forward with the recipe and cooked the in some hot oil.

Here's the final product, which I stuffed into half of a Brownberry pocket thin. These pocket thins are my new favorite thing! I've been putting black bean burger patties in them too. 

Alright, so my review of the falafel stuffed pitas...they were good, but they could have been way better. WAY TOO MUCH CILANTRO.

Photo credit: http://happyorhungry.com/2011/08/30/cilantro-the-recipe-killa/

You did own me, cilantro. I should have used a measuring cup instead of eyeballing the amount. I also forgot to pick up a container of vegan yogurt to put in the pitas, so I planned on putting hummus in the pitas. Well, guess what? I left the hummus in the fridge at work. So again...these were good, but they could have been way better! I will definitely try to make them again and will be sure to use less cilantro and add hummus or yogurt. Dan liked this recipe more than I did.

I also realized tonight that I am going to run out of food within a couple days. I don't know what the heck I was thinking yesterday, but by Wednesday evening I'm going to need at least one extra meal idea to get me through the rest of the week. I'm thinking this stovetop broccoli and white bean lasagna recipe sounds pretty tasty.

Monday 4/15 Food & Exercise Log

5 AM

-Multigrain Cheerios with Almond Breeze unsweetened original almond milk

5:30 AM

-45 minute boot camp

8:15 AM

-Thomas's 100% whole wheat bagel thins with peanut butter and Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

-Coffee with Silk soy vanilla coffee creamer and 1 packet of sugar

I've been meaning to review the Tofutti! Before I started my vegan challenge, I would always have a whole wheat bagel thin with peanut butter and Philadelphia whipped cream cheese. For the first week of my vegan challenge, I stuck to just peanut butter on my bagel. Then I spotted Tofutti at Jewel and decided to give it a try. The first day I had it, I kind of missed my Philly cream cheese. But after day two and day three...I became obsessed! I am absolutely in love with this stuff, and combining it with the peanut butter is heavenly. You really should try things more than once. I wasn't crazy about my almond milk the first time I tried it, and now I can't live without it. Funny how your taste buds change and adapt.

12:20 PM

-1 banana

-Spinach and kale salad with almonds and dried pomegranate and raspberry vinaigrette

2:30 PM

-Black bean burger patty in a whole wheat tortilla with salsa

6:45 PM

-Small slice of tofu spinach lasagna

7:20 PM

-Falafel stuffed pita with spinach

-Sweet potato fries

I normally make homemade sweet potato fries, but I had a $1.50 off coupon for these guys, so I gave them a try. They were fantastic, they turned out nice and crispy.

Last but certainly not least, I want to take a moment to recognize what happened at the Boston Marathon today. I didn't have a chance to read up on what happened until after dinner tonight. I first watched a video of the explosion. I am absolutely appalled and heartbroken to see the photos and read the witness's stories. It is so sad that we cannot go to school or to a movie theater or now to a marathon without fear that something tragic is going to happen. My heart goes out to all affected by this tragedy. 

Vegan Challenge: Starting Week 3

I've been MIA from blogging for a few days, but I haven't stopped being vegan. I'm pretty much halfway through my challenge, and I have to say, it's really not feeling like much of a challenge! I'm eating healthy, filling, and most importantly, YUMMY food. I'm trying new recipes and cooking more than ever before. I'm honestly feeling happier than I have in a long time. I'm also very excited to announce that I've reached my goal weight!

Between August and November of last year, I gained about 8 or 9 pounds. That may not sound like a big deal, but when you're only 5'2", it's definitely going to make an impact. I had a stack of jeans and dress pants that I could not fit into anymore. I felt awful. Even though I was still exercising pretty regularly, I was dining out too much, drinking too many alcoholic beverages, and eating enough junk food that it was catching up with me. So as soon as the holidays were over, I swore off fast food restaurants, cooked most of my meals at home, and cut out alcohol consumption almost entirely. From January 1st to April 1st, I lost the weight - 8.8 pounds. Since I started following a vegan diet two weeks ago, I lost 3.5 more pounds and have finally reached my goal weight of 125. I feel best at 125 - I've been here several times before, and it's a comfortable weight for me. I feel good about how I look at this weight, and it is an easy weight to maintain with eating healthy and exercising regularly. I'm curious to see if I lose a few more pounds in the weeks to come. It's not something I'm striving for, but if it happens, I certainly won't complain! I'm not uncomfortable with saying my weight on here. You all can see what I look like, announcing my weight is simply a number! Of course, weight is not everything, and so I keep a log of my measurements also. I'll chart my final totals at the end of the month.

This past weekend was a social one and I ended up going out to a restaurant each day. By planning ahead or eating beforehand, I was not tempted at these restaurants in the least, but I was still able to enjoy the social aspect of going out to eat. I think my tactics are ones that everyone can and should use if you are trying to eat healthy:

1. Decide what you're going to eat before you arrive. Pretty much every single restaurant out there has their menu available online. Take a look at the dishes and research what would be the healthiest choice. Then when you get to the restaurant, don't even open your menu - just order what you planned!

2. If it looks like a healthy option isn't going to be available for you, or if you're vegetarian or vegan, then you should eat something beforehand. Now I've read this tip in the past and scoffed at the idea. I've thought, "Come on! If I'm going to go out, I'm going to enjoy myself!" But at some restaurants, it is not just going to be easy to order a vegan plate and so I have to have a different plan. Turns out it didn't bother me to do this at all!

Feels like I should have a third point there - "just because" - but I don't, so two is what you get!

So where did I go this weekend? On Friday my co-workers planned to go out to Rock Bottom after work for drinks. Usually, we order food as well. Now as most of you know, Rock Bottom is one of my favorite restaurants. Dan and I frequent RB every few weeks and usually order their amazing loaded nachos. Towards the end of my work day, I ate one of my tasty black bean burgers so that I wouldn't want to order food at RB. Once we got to the restaurant, I did end up ordering something later on - but no worries, it was vegan! I spotted tortilla chips and guacamole on their $5 Happy Hour menu, so I ordered that with a side of salsa. They hit the spot! I think I've come to realize that it's not even their nachos that I'm so in love with - it's their guac! Now, since I do want to be honest here, I might have violated being a "true" vegan by ordering a beer at RB. There is a possibility that they use isinglass in their brewing process. Still, the main point of this challenge was to eat like a vegan, and that's just what I've been doing. However, I felt I had to mention the beer thing.

On Saturday, Dan's mom came out to Naperville to visit with us. I haven't seen her since the Super Bowl, and we were overdue to spend some time with her. We planned to go to the Two Brothers Round House in Aurora because first of all, it's awesome, and second of all, they have vegan enchiladas there. We ordered an appetizer of house chips which came with beer cheese sauce and ranch dipping sauce - I couldn't have those, so I stuck to ketchup. The chips are like homemade potato chips, basically. I noticed they had "small plates" on their menu and spotted vegan tacos. I wasn't really feeling the enchiladas this time, but tacos sounded great! I ordered those and a garden salad, since I was pretty hungry. I was expecting a tiny side salad of romaine lettuce, but their salad was actually great - a big heaping pile of mixed greens, diced tomatoes and shredded carrots. The vegan tacos were delish - I was just sad there were only two of them!

Today Dan and I met my parents and my cousin Jessica and her husband Justin at Giordano's to celebrate her birthday. Happy 30th Birthday, Jessica!

Now, I really haven't been having any food cravings EXCEPT for pizza. I knew this would be a tough one! I still have some of my tofu spinach lasagna left, so I ate that at home before we went to the restaurant so that I wouldn't be hungry. At Giordano's, I ordered a house salad. Despite all the cheesy, deep dish pizza sitting in front of me, I stuck to my salad!

It came with a piece of ciabatta bread, which I did eat - I was reading about vegan bread online the other day and it seemed the general consensus on ciabatta bread is it is vegan. It was a good substitute for the doughy pizza. Overall, I felt pretty good at the restaurant - while the pizza smelled and looked delicious, I wasn't overwhelmed with "MUST HAVE PIZZA!" thoughts. I have five witnesses who can testify I did not have any pizza!

Nice pic of Dan and me :)

Jess and me

Family pic out front

I'm sorry to say I do not have a bunch of exciting recipes to share with you all this week, mostly because I made a batch of black bean quinoa burgers today that will last me the week for lunch. I noticed I need to make the patties smaller - they don't cook well if they're too big and get mushy. I still like them, but they're better when dry. I'm also wondering if the quinoa I've been adding is keeping them too moist.

Tomorrow I'll be making falafel stuffed pitas. I had these on the meal plan for last week, but we had so many leftovers between the enchiladas and the lasagna that I didn't need to make them. Today's shopping trip was an easy one, as I already had most of the ingredients I needed. Just had to pick up a few things like almond milk, cereal, and some fruit and veggies.

Earlier today, I did an interval session on the treadmill. I would have loved to run outside in this gorgeous weather, but I happened to wake up at 6 AM today and it was only 40 degrees out then. I was actually really happy I woke up early, I got all my errands out of the way. I tried a new interval workout today - it was tough! It's a 45 minute plan, I stopped at 38 minutes.

Give that one a try! You'll burn more fat and calories from an interval workout than you will from working out at a constant pace, and they're also a great way to strengthen your heart and improve cardio endurance.

Well I'm off to relax with my honey for the evening before another crazy workweek hits. Hope everyone had a great weekend!