Food!

[altarflame]

So now that I've been at it for a bit and it's remaining something I feel good about, I'm "coming out" as a for health, for now, flexible-ish vegan. I don't like sabotaging myself by spreading the word about weight loss efforts that fail. This is a weight loss and digestive health and overall health effort...meat and dairy both make my whole entrapped hernia thing way more uncomfortable, dairy in general makes it like I have a cold and am itchy all over all the time. And both of those things (along with many other things) make me continually get fatter. So. This is my indefinite experiment.

So far it's working out really well and is almost shockingly easy (especially compared to the strict rigidity of Eat to Live). I have coconut ice cream in the freezer and coconut milk and creamer in the fridge, and dark chocolate is hidden in a closet. Neither coffee nor alcohol contain animal products of any kind ;) I will continue to consume honey, to eat animals at holidays and special occasions, and to not be hard to accommodate when I'm someone's guest.

The rest of the family is still eating whatever they want, though I feel this is only having a positive effect on what my kids eat.

Anyway, this has been about a week and a half now and I've already lost 5 pounds. I'm also "going to the bathroom" at least 5 times as much as I was before...frequency and quantity, good grief, I mean damn. It makes me feel SO MUCH LESS freaked about my hernia! Constant reassurance that I am nowhere near needing emergency surgery ;) Really, though.

And, I'm kind of shocked by how much LESS I'm eating. I mean I'm not putting any restrictions on myself at all as far as how often or much I eat, and I think it's still probably more than most people eat. And sometimes reactionary/not hunger related...it's just ending up being a lot less. Because it's more filling stuff? Because it's more nutritionally dense so my body wants less? Maybe both? Or maybe there aren't as many rich things to entice me ;) Sort of irrelevant.

I'm posting all that because I want to write about my menu plans re: tonight's grocery shopping. I'm psyched! I've been eating a lot of standard fare of ours, like kale and bean soup, salads, fruit, chips and salsa, curried chickpeas with brown rice, lentils, carrots and peanut butter, and oatmeal. But I've decided to branch out based on some experiments I've done, recipes I've looked up and things I've had out places. Some of the things I'm planning to do include:

-quinoa with a bunch of little sauteed junk thrown in, i.e., corn, peas, diced red and green bell pepper, onions, garlic and black olives
-coconut curry of onions, carrots, celery, broccoli and who knows what else, with rice
-sweet potato and black bean enchiladas with green chile sauce on top
-cauliflower tacos

I'm also mixing salsa into hummus because I'm weird like that, and bringing back the old but good waheni and wild rice mix that's loaded with mushrooms and cooked in broth that I used to make all the time. And non-dairy risotto full of mushrooms and almond slivers.

I am soy-phobic in addition to having a legitimate nasty reaction to concentrated soy protein, and Elise is out and out allergic, so standard "vegan alternatives" and manufactured fake foods don't work (or appeal, honestly). I've been doing some (non-protein) Odwalla bars and toasted edamame here and there and things like that seem to agree with me ok, as does soy sauce as a condiment. Also taking B12 every day, and I use nutritional yeast which has it.

Very much kicking around making this a permanent change. A real lifestyle change is what I need, and if I am not in a position to really alter my trigger-y and emotional eating, I can at least make sure I'm eating way better stuff. It's green and factory farming is horrifically disgusting. I've gone through weird meat aversions before and not eaten dairy for months at a time since I know it messes with me - it seems doable in many ways and much less restrictive than stopping to add up every calorie on Weight Watchers or stick to some precise very difficult formula with ETL.

I am totally reserving my right to watch Earthlings if I start to slip up too often, because I've been avoiding that, knowing it will ruin meat and cheese for me, like, forever.

I also think I found the place I'd like to get my surgery done when the time comes. It's in freakin' NYC, but having spent a week there that seems a lot more doable than it did when New York was like the moon to me. If I can go to Boston for months to have a baby, I can spend a week in New York for a surgery, right? It's not like it's happening tomorrow. They cater to and specialize in hispanic women, meaning this body type and this skin type. The galleries are SO much more things I can relate to (and would desire) than typical plastic surgery before and after galleries, I mean, gah. So while I don't feel GOOD about it...I feel better than I have.

It's interesting, not living in denial about my body. I have the peace that comes from accepting that I'm a work in progress and the hope that comes from knowing I'm doing things differently. But those are mixed in with the soul killing sight of myself as I actually am, rather than my standard idealized version. Don't get me wrong, I think in many ways I still have more confidence in my looks than many women do...but it's a whole hell of a lot less than I typically would. Being present in my own skin to experience my back aches and foot pain and hip weirdness is as jarring as looking in the mirror honestly is.

Also - I realize I'm "supposed" to be against street harassment, but damned if it isn't exactly the boost I need sometimes when men are telling me I'm beautiful or asking if I'll stop and talk as I ride by on my bike.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I watched Earthlings and ate chicken the same day. I have nothing against vegans and I think factory farming has a lot of terrible practices, but that movie was awful. It starts out by comparing the treatment of animals to the holocaust, which is flat out disgusting and I'd rather personally slaughter 10,000 cows than ever agree with a sentiment like that. Then it goes on to show all the standard PETA type footage of animals being abused and slaughtered, which sucks, but I realized the film itself was a crock of emotionally manipulative shit when I felt really sad watching someone fishing. I see people fishing all the time and I have no problem with it, but add in some seriously over the top music and anthropomorphization and you get some great reactions.

Then it just pisses me off that they go so far as to try to make you think fish are just like people, but they completely ignore insects along with a host of other issues like how many (usually native) animals are killed and have their habitats destroyed by vegetable and grain farming.

Just wanted to provide a different perspective :P since I've only ever heard people praising the shit out of it.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well, that could mean it would mean little to me, too, then - because I definitely hate normal PETA type crap and really am not down with a holocaust comparison, either. I also have many fond memories of my father fishing :p

Honestly there has been enough stuff in the news recently about hog farms in particular to really make me disgusted and horrified, as a person eating this stuff as much as a fellow living creature...and that without any music or personification...but I hear what you're saying.

I have some vegan friends, but what I'm doing feels SO DIFFERENT because, 1. it's not an ethics thing for me and 2. I'm not ready to start eating soy-everything. *shrug*

[jamievulva.livejournal.com]

This comment really annoys me. I feel this person is completely misses the point of the movie. It's not dramatized. It's real shit, that is really happening. I hear a lot of people getting huffy about the Holocaust comparison, and in that I honestly think they are trying to point out that we are animals, and yet we place more value on the life of a human than we do a cow. So, in the context of us both being animals, which we are, the same thing is essentially happening, only in far greater numbers for the cows. I don't feel that they are trying to take anything away from the Holocaust in any way, but rather trying to give the viewer the clearest understanding of what it happening. They do show really graphic footage, but I really believe it's something that needs to be brought to our attention. It's happening because we're not paying attention, and though it may not taste very good to swallow, it's still fucking happening whether you brush it off or not. I feel like there are a number of things I could say about this annoying turds comment, but I think I will just shush now.

It's all a matter of perspective, and I feel this person has a very narrow one. It also sounds like they are trying to do some rationalizing for themselves here.

I am not generally one to be consumed by sad, sappy, or fucked up shit as I am a grossly terrible, and I have a great appetite for things most foul. But, I truly feel this movie is incredibly important.
Also, I am not a fan of PETA, and this movie has nothing to do with PETA.

I guess I am chirping in on this so that if you do choose to watch the movie, you're perhaps able to step into it with the least walls up.
E>

[itsyspy70.livejournal.com]

Good on you, sounds like it's a good fit for you. Soy-only isn't really a healthy thing imo, as it can do weird things to your endocrine system. It always makes me feel bloaty but I try to stay away from it because of my thyroid stuff. I won't turn away a bit of tofu in a soup or something, but I never seek it out.

Does the vegan stuff also line up with things Ananda will eat? If so, that sounds like a win in more than one way.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually that is a huge perk!

And yeah I'm like bloaty times a million with soy protein - like, seriously painful wtf is wrong with me bloat :/ And Elise had blood in her stools until I cut it out while she was an infant :( I agree about the thyroid stuff, too.

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

My diet now is quite opposite this (paleo - no grains, no sugar, little starch, plenty of meat, little dairy, same as erinmdmd), but like yours includes heaps of vegetables. I've never eaten so many vegetables in my life. I've also noticed I've been eating less volume. Probably because all those vegetables fill me up.

But I also fast like, half the year, which is vegan. Let me tell you, trying to be a grain-free and lower-carb vegan is the pits. Since I also avoid soy, I haven't really figured it out yet. The paleo diet is supposed to be no-legume as well, but I think I just have to ignore that during Lent. We'll probably be eating fish once a week and eggs once a week to start.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

You are very very naughty for fasting! You are not allowed!

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

You always say that, but I am too!

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

Nursing mothers are not allowed. It's not ambiguous. Fasting is a privilege, not a right.

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

Whose rule is this? There is not a single authority on fasting, and the only one I've read is that pregnant women and those nursing "newborns" are not "required" to fast. Fasting rules are almost never absolute and the primary rule is that anyone, nursing mother or not, should not fast without permission of their priest, which I have.

I don't know a single Orthodox Christian mother who ignores the fast in its entirety for the whole time they are nursing. We can mitigate based on circumstances, which I do. Even if we are not ourselves fasting, we still have to come up with fasting food for everyone else, and I'm not making separate meals. These days, I only make fasting meals for dinner anyways. I could very well be pregnant or nursing for 18 years straight, and even if I didn't have to fast for 18 years, I don't want my kids growing up their whole lives without it.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I agree with you - there are plenty of full time non-religious vegetarian and vegan pregnant and nursing women out there nowadays. We know enough and have enough options available that it's possible to be responsible about a fast!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_delphiki_/]

We're going to be here another year. We're about an hour away from NYC, if you need somewhere to recover.

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

you should try the bounty of the sea. sea animals and sea vegetables are superfoods and you don't need much to get the benefit, just a fraction of your diet. oysters, kelp, mussels, all that sort of thing. shrimp, not so much, shellfish are where the real benefits lie, and kelp/seaweed.

[naptimefriend.livejournal.com]

My friends who are "sort of kind of almost vegan" tongue-in-cheeklly call themselves Pregans, which I like a lot.

I would like to recommend to you Isa Chandra Moskowitz for food inspiration. She makes yummy (though sometimes actually rather indulgent) vegan food, but she avoids soy and processed vegan products. theppk.com is her website.

Also, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a great read. It is biased, of course, but not in such a way that it would compare factory farming TO THE HOLOCAUST (cannot believe anyone would do that). And it's readable and relatable.

I also am always suggesting Forks Over Knives as a good watch, but it's basically Eat to Live: The Movie, so you might not get a lot out of it.

[phoebebeast.livejournal.com]

I had a really amazing coconut ice cream when I was visiting my parents in Hollywood this winter - I think it was called something like "So Delicious" - haven't had "real" ice cream in about four years but I don't remember it tasting as good as the coconut one. The same brand also does chocolate/coconut shakes which are positively amazing. The good news about being on a vegan-ish diet now is that there are so many more alternatives (even non-soy) available now than, say, 20 years ago.

[noelove.livejournal.com]

1. thefoodinmybeard.com is like one of my most favorite sites ever. I love that guy.
2. fuck yea at cat calls. ;)
3. I'm in this same boat as you. I don't want to claim that I am a vegan, but I do want to give up dairy, cept organic eggs, and meat, but not fish. HA. But treat fish, like going for sushi as a special occasion.
4. I like what you said about not being a 'difficult guest.' But the thing is, I have vegan friends, veggie friends, muslim friends, and I never feel put out making something specific for them. I never see them as difficult.
5. ?????????
6. Profit.


p.s. I'm stoked for you. Keep it up!