Vegan challenge, day 1!

Day one went off without a hitch. Almost.

I did manage to down an ENTIRE box of gluten free cookies. Yeah. That wasn't good. But it was vegan.

Breakfast was not pleasant. I made crock-pot oatmeal as follows:

1 c. steel cut oats
4 c. unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 chopped apples
Cook on low for 8 hours

It came out like porridge, which in itself isn't bad, but my sweet-tooth was entirely unsatisfied.

Of course, that is part of the point of this challenge, isn't it?

I've got it in the fridge for tomorrow, but I will be adding a very little fresh squeezed cane juice and some salt on the suggestion of some friends.

Lunch was a disgusting vegetable juice drink. NOT pleasant and made me gag.

Dinner, now that's something different. I figured it would be safe to have a pasta dish as my first vegan dinner. After all, I love pasta, so what could go wrong?

Nothing. Nothing went wrong. This is delicious.

I made Pasta and Vegetables with White Sauce with the suggested additions of sun dried tomatoes and kalamata olives from my new favorite blog Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Here's how it looks:

Granted, its a terrible image, but you get the idea. Basically, its a toss of steamed veggies, (gluten free) pasta, and a sauce based on almond milk and nutritional yeast plus spices.  Not much that can go wrong with this.

So yes, now I have a wonderful lunch for tomorrow, and time to make yet another recipe for dinner.

I can do this.

BIG week.

Lasik. Perfect opportunity to change my life around.

The operation went swimmingly, and I am still shocked that I can see. There's a little fog, but geez - I'm not even 24 hours out of surgery.

I was checking out my husband today as he was getting ready to leave on his business trip. That boy has gotten FINE. Like, crazy-hot-FINE. He's been working out five days per week for the past two years, and has made a complete dietary turnaround. Though he still allows himself some beer, and occasionally some dessert, it is very appropriate. Unlike me, who thinks there should be something sweet at every meal...heck...that something sweet should BE the meal, he treats it like it is supposed to be treated. A treat.

We're talking about a boy who used to drink multiple 2-litres of Coke daily. And entire dozens of cookies at a sitting. Though he never was fat (since I've known him) he was certainly doughy. 

Not any more.

So though the title of this blog is "Little Steps...", I am going to attempt a HUGE one this week while he is away. I'm going to be 80% vegan this week. And yes, I'm allowing myself 20% leeway due to the fact that I 1) don't want to waste what is already in my fridge and 2) would rather eat my homegrown chicken than some processed fake-meat.

I've pulled several wonderful sounding recipes off of various blogs. I'll make them and post a review here.

It might be a couple days before I can truly start since I am not cleared to drive yet, but once I do you'll know about it.

A couple hours later...

Oh boy, this is going to be harder than I realized. Went out to lunch with a friend and immediately gave in to a meal I should *not* have eaten.  

Struggling already.

Not feeling it today, but not willing to give up, either.

How can I pursue healthy, vegetarian/vegan meals when I don't particularly like vegetables?

About three hours later...

In an attempt to redirect myself, I logged into Netflix with the specific goal of watching a movie to inspire me. One that would remind me of why I want to eat healthy, why I want to work out, and why I want to start practicing what I preach.

I ended up with Food Fight, the documentary and am *so* glad I did. It was extremely well done, positive, and inspiring. Alice Waters comes off as a down to earth foodie who did not set out to start a food revolution, but simply wanted to share her love of good, real food. It talks about the politics of food and the history of farming and convenience foods in America, but never takes a doomsday tone. No over-the-top threatening music, no lecturing. Simply good, educational conversation.

I'm back on track now, and starting to put together my plans for the upcoming week. 

Heck yeah.

Resolutions.

The last few days have been an interesting experiment, and I cannot deny that on my "clean eating challenge" days I felt significantly better, less stressed, more event in temperament and energy.

Yesterday I went full bore the opposite way. Pre-packaged sugar. All. Day. Long.

And I felt terrible emotionally as well as physically.

Another clean eating challenge begins tomorrow, but I'm going for two days in a row. Yup, one step at a time, right?

And I'm adding something, too. I will start the Hundred Push Up Challenge as well as the Two Hundred Sit Up Challenge.

Here we go.

2nd One-Day Clean Eating Challenge

So, yesterday I celebrated the successful completion on my one-day challenge by allowing myself to eat whatever I wanted. I even went to the grocery store and bought junk food. Yup, junk food, including two Mexican Cokes (glass bottles, real sugar), Ian's GF chicken nuggets, chocolate ice cream, Betty Crocker GF chocolate chip cookie mix (seriously!) and a GF chocolate bar.

Got home, skimmed the melted ice cream of the top and that was enough.

Drank one of the Cokes, and that was enough.

A couple hours later, I ate the nuggets and they made me sick.

Made the cookie mix and hated it (I used to love it!)

The chocolate bar was consumed before I even left the parking lot, of course.

I was shocked at how just that one day of totally clean eating had changed my taste buds. Maybe it was all in my head, but that's fine if it is.

Today I'll do another one-day challenge and again report on my progress.

Weight: 189.5
Woke up: 7:30 after pressing the snooze for one hour (alarm first went off at 6:30!)

7:30am
Energy: Good
Mood: Positive

Breakfast:
Smoothie (Plain fat free yogurt, strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, banana, flax meal)

10:00am
Energy: Moderate
Mood: STRESSED

Snack:
YIKES. Finished the last serving of yesterday's ice cream. 

11:30am
Energy: Good
Mood: STRESSED

Snack:
1 large Banana

1:30pm
Energy: Low
Mood: Resigned

Lunch:
Leftover roast chicken and root vegetables
Almond milk

4:30pm
Energy: Moderate
Mood: Frustrated

Snack:
Banana
1 c. whole milk (no skim in the house)

6:00pm
Energy: Poor
Mood: Frustrated

Snack:
1/2 c fat free plain greek yogurt
4 fresh strawberries
1/2 tsp organic sugar

7:30pm
Energy: Good
Mood: Resigned, good

Dinner:
Salad with feta and chicken, balsamic dressing
Coke (planned decision).


Conclusion? Ok day. Not great. Considering the incredible stress of the day, I'm really quite proud of myself. This is the kind of day that deserved 10 Hershey bars. Amazingly, the yogurt and strawberries is what did the job for me...I like that.

One Day Clean Eating Challenge.

With my glasses, I have a really hard time exercising. But that doesn't mean I have to "put off" my health kick!

Today I am doing a One-Day Clean Eating Challenge. I'll post everything I eat here plus some stats and coordinating information, and we can analyze it at the end of the day.

Weight: 189.5
Woke up: 7:30 after pressing the snooze for one hour (alarm first went off at 6:30!)

8:15am
Energy: Lacking
Mood: Positive

Breakfast:
Smoothie (Plain fat free yogurt, strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, banana)

12:15pm
Energy: Lacking
Mood: Depressed, feelings of worthlessness and frustration.

Lunch:
Turkey burger with feta and spinach, mixed greens salad with carrots and simple lemon/olive oil dressing, fresh strawberries, 16oz water with lemon slice.  

3:10pm
Energy: Moderate
Mood: Normal, focused on the jobs at hand.

Snack:
1/2 Papaya with fresh lemon juice.

4:30pm
Energy: Good
Mood: Overwhelmed, frustrated, but focused

I started getting a *serious* sugar craving. Decided to try to stop it with a high protein snack.
Snack:
3 eggs, scrambled, from our backyard hens.
1 cup original Almond milk. (Sweetened, but it is what I had. Actually tastes too sweet.)

7:30pm
Energy: Waning
Mood: Overwhelmed, but not unhappy. 

Snack:
Fat free greek yogurt with fresh strawberries.
(I admit, I added about 1 tsp. organic sugar. Whoops.)

8:30pm
Energy: Stable, but winding down.
Mood: Frustrated but tolerable

Dinner
1 natural, pasture raised pork chop 
HUGE green salad with lemon olive oil dressing

Conclusion:
It has been a good day, though I definitely struggled with overeating. My sugar craving was satiated by the protein blast of scrambled eggs which was really quite wonderful. I remained snacky for the rest of the evening, though, and I don't know if it was true hunger or boredom. Hard to imagine it would be boredom with everything I do and need to do.

I think I will take tomorrow off and not stress over my food. One day on, one day off?

Its about self-respect.

Every night this past week as I lay in bed, I have promised myself that I would be strong the next day. That I would resist the temptations of poor food choices and general laziness. That I would exercise just a little and treat myself well.

Every day I have failed.

I have asked for help from the spiritual world I believe in. I have looked within myself as well as without. I have not found the will.

Tonight, sitting at trivia with the people I call my friends I realized that it is about self-respect. Nothing more, nothing mysterious. It is a continuation of my need for external admiration, for obvious applause. I still struggle with the need for people to tell me verbally and often that I am wonderful, that I am something special.

It is something I have never learned to do for myself. I've always depended on an outside source. And when I don't get it? I believe that I have failed, that I am unworthy. I am nothing.

The one thing I want more than anything in the world is to develop internal pride, a sense of self-worth independent of what others think, say or do.

Is that too much to ask?