So…. I started feeling better yesterday as the day wore on. By about 5pm I felt pretty good! And so I decided to break my diet with macaroni and cheese and 2 glass of wine. (I wanted to finish off the bottle of organic merlot I had in my fridge).
Anyway, needless to say my soft skin has disappeared for the time being. Yeah – only one cooked meal and 2 small glasses of wine and BAM: gone. Sharp vision is gone as well. I know they will return in a couple days though.
I did not enjoy the cooked food or the wine and have decided that that was the last time I will enjoy either of those two items. For the past couple of weeks I have been looking for a strong inner conviction to truly become vegan. And last night I found it… I now believe in my heart that it is wrong – for various reasons – to eat meat or animal products. I got the conviction deep in my heart and soul, and it’s what I needed. A visit to sites like all-creatures.org and cok.net (compassion over killing) solidified my resolution.
I do not wish to offend the meat-eaters who read my blog so I will leave it at that! (Don’t worry – I won’t be preaching about not eating meat on this blog, either).
So as of today I am 100% raw vegan. I am no longer afraid of the detox and cleansing process that will likely continue to take place; I got through it yesterday (although painful) and I am fine.
Anyway, after all of my experimenting with fruits and greens over the past few weeks, I now know which ones I love and which I only ‘like’. I’m going to stick with the greens I enjoy – spinach, dandelion greens, bok choy and other tender baby greens for blending, and romaine and other lettuces for salads. My favorite fruits are oranges, bananas, pears, mango, berries, melons, grapes and tart green apples. I will still eat other fruits but not as often. I’m also eager for my trip to Southern California in another couple of months – I know they have lots of other fruit that I’ve never tried but want to (like dragon fruit, etc).
Today so far I’ve had a large navel orange and a green smoothie comprised of spinach, dandelion greens and bananas. I plan to eat a couple of pears, some berries, another orange or two, and some pineapple throughout the day. In the evening I’m making myself a large salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices, mung bean sprouts, broccoli sprouts and shredded carrots. (I’ll take a picture of it if it comes out OK!) An ounce of sunflower seeds will finish off the day’s eating.
Unfortunately it is extremely windy outside so I can’t go walking – plus it’s supposed to storm violently here later, so I’m stuck on the elliptical yet again.
TOM is over early this month (only 3 days!) so I will be weighing myself mid-week. I don’t want to weigh myself now since I had wheat pasta and wine last night… GOK what the scale says right now!
Tagged as:
fruits,
Meals,
raw vegan,
veggies
My fruit adventures may be over for now, but my vegetable ones are not. I’m going to continue eating several servings per day, especially now that I bought some digestive enzymes! I got two types – one that helps digest protein, fat, dairy and carbs, and another one that helps digest veggies and beans and prevents bloating/gas.
Although my heartburn and stomach pains have finally gone away, so I may not need them.
Anyway, I’ve been running around a lot today and didn’t get a chance to eat lunch. It seems appetite suppression has already kicked in from doing low carb because I actually forgot about lunch. So for dinner, I’m planning to have a large salad and some eggs. I’ve been looking up some recipes online and have decided to experiment a bit with salad ingredients. Tonight’s salad is likely going to have:
- Two kinds of lettuce – butter leaf and red leaf
- Baby spinach leaves
- A few slices of strawberries (so few that the carb count won’t matter)
- Sliced cucumber
- Slices of roma tomatoes
- Fresh mint leaves
- Slices of red pepper
- Grated carrots (If I can find my grater!)
- A little bit of olive oil drizzled on top
- Sunflower and sesame seeds sprinkled on top
Mmmm… does that not sound delicious and inventive (at least for me)? I will take a photograph of the salad if it comes out looking good!
I also got some raspberry vinaigrette and a roasted red pepper & artichoke bruschette topping to try on future salads, plus some other fresh herbs I haven’t tried before. I really need to get my Aerogarden set up so I can grow my own!
While at Akin’s earlier, I grabbed some organic teas – a sleepytime tea with passion fruit & chamomile, a blueberry leaf tea, and some parsley tea. (I love parsley – it really helps with water retention and bloating!)
So, something interesting happened while I was out running errands. Some people I [sort of] knew from my old AA group called me. They told me they knew the reason I had stopped coming to meetings (T and another friend who turned out to be a total nutcase) and said that they miss me, want me to start coming back and want me to be sober and happy. I told them that I haven’t had a problem staying sober lately and was generally happy, so why go to meetings? They acted like they didn’t believe me. (Not in a mean way).
Now I can’t but wonder if someone there has been reading this blog, or perhaps someone saw me going into a liquor store last week when I was buying wine? I mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I had had a couple glasses of Riesling a few nights ago, and another night last week had three glasses of organic chardonnay. That is hardly getting drunk or needing AA, as far as I can see it.
They were really nice and said they missed me a lot. But the phone call sounded like an intervention! Grrr. I know they are worried, but at the same time, just because I don’t go to meetings doesn’t mean I’m depressed or out getting drunk. Quite the opposite, in fact.
I’m sorry to say this, but the majority of the people in the AA program I was going to seem to have either traded their addiction for another one (excessive caffeine, smoking or serial dating) or are horribly self-absorbed people that I wouldn’t want to be anything like even if I never touched another drink in my life. Then there are the ones who have true mental illness. Am I wrong for wanting to separate myself from that? Am I wrong for wanting to focus on other things in life and not worry about ‘not drinking’ every single day? The stringent program and worrying about ‘not drinking’ only made me want to drink even more. My worst binge-drinking episodes were the ones I had during “relapses” in the program.
I don’t know… maybe I’m only fooling myself. But for now I’m OK. Life is OK, I have a spiritual connection with my HP, and there are a good many other things to do in life than stress out over alcohol. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying a couple of glasses of wine maybe once or twice a week. I learned some really good things from the program while I was in it, such as to not hold grudges or resentments. Before doing my 4th step back in July 2008, I was holding an awful lot of resentment towards various people and things in my past. But today, I can honestly say I hold none. And anytime I do incur a new grudge or anger against someone else, I pray for them for a few nights in a row, and the grudge/anger goes away! (This truly works, by the way.)
Anyway… I told them I may show up to a noon meeting sometime soon. But I doubt I will. If I went to a meeting now I’d be a hypocrite, anyway.
Enough updating for now… I think it’s time to get dinner started. (Although to be honest, I’m still not hungry!)
Tagged as:
AA,
alcohol,
salad recipe,
veggies
I have learned that I don’t like Arugula at all. Dandelion greens are OK – not my favorite – but fine when mixed with other salad greens.
I have also learned that the fat is now just melting off of me! Even after my vodka and cheeze-it binge the other night. Tonight I’m going to break into my designer jean stash and see if any of them fit me yet. I think my body has finally got the hint that I mean business.
I have learned that eating super-nutritiously causes me to almost never be hungry. My body is now getting fed most (if not all) of the nutrients it needs, so by the time dinner-time rolls around, I forget to eat! When I look back on what I have eaten for the past few days, many would say that my calorie counts are way too low. But for some reason I feel healthier and more energetic than ever.
I’ve been having really interesting meals lately… mixing together odd combos of veggies, fruits, seeds and protein. Right now, for example, for lunch I’m having a mixed salad of green lettuce, dandelion greens, red peppers and sesame seeds, plus some mango and pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
Some would say I’m really going all out over this new eating plan… especially now that I bought an Aerogarden indoor planting system which I will be using to grow herbs and other veggies. I’m also going to buy a sprouting kit and will be growing all sorts of healthy sprouts to add to my salads. (This website has some interesting info about sprouts and all of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes found in them!)
Some might say I’m going overboard, but if you look at the sorry state of our nation’s food supply, I think I should have done all this stuff long ago!
Tagged as:
gardening,
sprouts,
veggies
This is what I ate for lunch (pictured above): delicious whole wheat fettuccine (with flax seed and omega 3), organic four-cheese sauce, a dash or two of Parmesan cheese, a veggie salad and some Pellegrino. The total calories comes out to around 300. The only veggies in this salad are romaine lettuce, carrots, and red and orange peppers. I think I will have another one of these with my dinner tonight, only add in the missing mushrooms, celery and cucumber. The best thing about this salad is that it takes forever to eat, so by the time you are done, you are satisfied!
Anyway, I blew it big-time last night with my diet. Altogether I probably ingested around 2700 calories yesterday. But I’m not beating myself up… today is a new day and I’m back on track! As a matter of fact, it’s already 3pm and I’ve only had just over 500 calories. I’m going to stick to about 1000 calories today to make up for yesterday’s indiscretion…
I went and bought a citrus fruit juicer yesterday, so I’m going to start adding in some freshly squeezed orange and/or lime juice to my daily regime!
Tagged as:
calories,
Food Photos,
meal plan,
salad,
veggies
Boy did I get off track over the holiday weekend. The scale is showing a 1-pound gain (from the 13 total lost) but I don’t know if it’s just water or actual fat. I’m leaning towards the former since I did have quite a bit of salt last night.
So to get back on track despite still having weird pressure in my ears and nasal/sinus problems, I have decided to challenge myself to lots of exercise today. So far I have walked up 9 flights of stairs (a total of 135 steps – I counted!) and back down them. I am also planning to work out on my elliptical throughout the duration of the new episode of Gossip Girl tonight, which will be an hour, give or take. I was talking on the phone to my boyfriend today and we were speculating on what would happen if I started working out 2 hours a day on the elliptical. He knows I want to lose a lot more weight and he is very supportive, but not in a way that makes me think he wants me to lose weight, if that makes sense. He doesn’t mind either way. I want to get back to doing my hour-long walks but it’s been so cold and windy lately.
Anyway, I am going to really push myself on getting back to working out 1 hour per day at least 5 days a week. It’s time to work on losing this next 10 pounds!
Today I’m back to doing my 4 or 5 small meals per day thing, but with a twist: my first 2 meals have healthy, fiber-filled carbs in them; my last 2 or 3 meals are only protein and veggies.
I bought lots of fresh sliced jicama at Whole Foods the other night, and that stuff not only tastes good (if a tiny bit bland), but is SUPER low calorie and packed with fiber! (Click the link to see the fiber/calorie/vitamin content of it). I also had some butternut squash today, which is low calorie and tastes just like potatoes when cubed and cooked for a few minutes on the stove.
I still have my goal of being down 20 pounds total by the end of 2008… let’s see if I can do it!
Tagged as:
calories,
exercise,
foods,
veggies
