Day 224 -- I'm Behind! I'm Behind!

This post was supposed to be written on August 7th, my two-hundred and twenty-fourth day.  But it is now August 13th.  I'm eight days behind on my blog and I have no excuses except that I've been ridiculously busy and have barely even been on my computer for the past week.  So I will simply try to catch up over the next few days and provide some clever insights into my new life as a vegan.

By the way, after my big fall off the vegan wagon, I hopped back on again and am doing well.  So, my apologies to my blog and to any readers I may have out there, wherever you may be!

Day 222 -- Oh, My!

I usually try to be as honest as I can on this blog.  It's like a journal of sorts.  But I'm really reluctant to write about the events of Tuesday, August 5th.  I've fallen off the wagon before, but this was a complete diet disaster.  I suppose I should try to explain and rationalize it, but let's just say that the next time I work for 24 hours straight, I need to make sure I have healthy food in the house.

I was working under a pretty intense deadline for work and over the course of four days, I was working 18 hour days to finish.  I jumped off the diet to enjoy a pizza, thinking that would give me the energy to complete the project.  And it was good.  But then, once I finished the project, I was on my way to Starbucks to get my iced green tea latte and I made a little detour to Perkins.

I had a deep-fried shrimp, and mac and cheese and corn for my two sides  I followed that up with a slice of peanut butter silk pie.  Yes, it was bad.  In fact, it was worse because it wasn't even good food.  If I was going cheat, I should have at least had something really great to eat.  So, I left the restaurant feeling guilty and stupid.

Then, my friend L. called and asked if I wanted to meet her for dinner.  I decided to go, thinking I'd just have a drink and maybe a salad so I suggested Texas Roadhouse, knowing that there probably wouldn't be anything on the menu to eat.  Well, this place was set up to tempt even the most dedicated dieter.  They started by dropping off a bucket of salted peanuts.  Then we order margaritas (which were excellent, I might add).  And then, I decided, what the hell, I'll order dinner.  So I ordered the dinner I should have had in the first place -- grilled shrimp, a baked potato with sour cream and butter (soooo yummy) and a salad with french and bleu cheese dressing.

The toll for this little trip into gluttony -- 2+ pounds on the scale.  So, it's right back to eating healthy again.  But this time with the knowledge that it is so easy to fall back into old habits.  I have no idea how long it will take before my mind will be able to say "No!" in a case like this.  I'm sure I'll find out along the way.

Day 217 -- Vacationing On The Diet Plateau

I'm quickly approaching my birthday and I was hoping to reach a major milestone in my weight loss goal by that date.  It doesn't look like I'm going to make it because I've been vacationing on the diet plateau.  I don't use the term vacationing lightly because, beyond eating healthy, I haven't done much to shed pounds.  I haven't added an exercise plan to my routine, which would probably be of great help.

The diet plateau is so common that NPR even did an article about it.  Called, How To Find A Path Off The Dreaded Diet Plateau, the article lays out the reasons why, despite our best efforts, we sometimes get stuck at a weight.

I think back to the weeks, early on in this vegan adventure, when I was losing five pounds in a week.  Now, I lose a pound a week.  Although that's still good, it's not getting me to my weight loss goal as fast as I want to.  I hoped to be down to my goal weight by Christmas and I'm halfway there now!  I've been eating vegan for thirty-one weeks and my average weight loss per week has been 2.3 pounds.  Which means I've lost a total of 72 pounds!  Not bad for seven months work!

But it is time to jump start this program!  Eat more greens, get more exercise, drink more water!  Hopefully by the end of August, I can say that I've jumped off the plateau and I'm back on the road again.

Day 209 -- A Battle With A Craving

Yesterday I had an overwhelming craving to eat seafood.  I very rarely have cravings, but when I do, I tend to listen to my body.  Something was telling me that I needed a shot of animal protein and nothing I could make on the vegan end of the spectrum would satisfy my hunger.

So, I stopped at my favorite restaurant and instead of choosing the portabello mushroom fajitas, I had the shrimp fajitas.  I'm not sure why I get these cravings and they come so infrequently that I don't worry too much about feeding them.  Maybe it's physiological or maybe just psychological.  But it was a good meal and the first time I've had meat in about six weeks (since my cheeseburger cheat in June).  That seems to be a bit of a pattern for me.  Every six to eight weeks, I eat meat.

Oh, well, today was back to veggies.  And some reading about the Paleo diet, which I may discuss further.  I don't have any intention of going on the diet, but in reading about it, I'm finding that the Paleos are as outspoken as vegans and vegetarians about their diet choice.  More on that later.

Day 198 -- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I've written mostly about the positive effects of my new vegan diet.  But there are a few negative effects that I've experienced.  I noticed, recently, that I've been losing a lot of hair.  At first I thought it was because it was summer and I was shedding.  But I did a quick internet search and found out that hair loss is quite common -- and completely reversible -- for people who have begun a vegan or vegetarian diet.  It's so common that the problem is addressed on the Livestrong.com website.

Three possible causes are all deficiencies in the diet -- protein, amino acids or iron.  I could be deficient in any one of these three.  Or all three.  But I suspect iron might be the culprit since I don't eat a lot of greens and that's the best source for iron.  I sometimes struggle with amino acids and I know I get plenty of protein.

 

The most likely cause of my hair loss is something called telogen effluvium.  This is a transitory increase in the number of hairs in the telogen or resting phase of the hair growth cycle. This can occur spontaneously, but it can also come as a result of a high fever, stress from surgery, or shock.  From a nutrition standpoint. the condition can also come from malnutrition or "crash" dieting.  The sudden switch to a vegan diet may cause the body to react as if it were experiencing a crash diet.

The good news is that this condition usually reverses itself in a matter of a couple months.  So, for now, I'm not going to worry too much about it.  I'm going to pay closer attentions to my intake of protein, iron and amino acids and make sure that I'm getting what I need in nutrition.

Day 188 -- When Good Food Goes Bad

"When in doubt, throw it out."  That's going to be my new motto.

I haven't been writing on my blog the past few days because I was brought down by a case of food poisoning.  The terrible thing was that this was entirely my fault.  I used a package of fresh mushrooms that were not quite fresh enough.  I wanted to make a dish and didn't want to run out to the store to get a new package.  My laziness has cost me two days in bed and a complete disinterest in eating anything.

Fever, cramps and an assortment of other symptoms assailed me, all because of those damn mushrooms.  So, from now on, I will follow my new motto.  I'm going to go back and write posts for the days I missed, but right now, it's very hard to think about any food without feeling a little bit sick.

Day 183 -- It's All Downhill From Here

Today officially begins the second half of my year as a vegan.  Yesterday, on the last day of the first half year of eating vegan, I enumerated the various challenges I'd faced.  Today, I'm going to set some goals for the second half of my vegan year.

1.  I will eat greens every day!  I don't know why  can't seem to get this done.  I don't particularly like greens, but when I eat them, the weight comes off much faster.

2.  I will not cheese cheat for the rest of the summer.  That's going to be a tough one, especially if I go to visit my sister who loves to send out for pizza (or La Gondola lasagne) when I'm in town.

3.  I will start to do some exercise.  I'm not going to say what, but I am going to walk when I don't need to drive and maybe lift some weights to get rid of my batwings.

4.  I need to start eating breakfast again.  I've been sleeping late and starting the day with lunch, but breakfast is the key.

5.  I will start taking my vitamins regularly AND I'll make sure to get my chia/hemp seeds for the Omegas.

I'd hoped that I'd be halfway to my weight loss goal by now, but things have been at a standstill for the past 3 weeks.   I'm pretty sure it's because I'm not eating my greens or my chia seeds.  So this is the plan!

And look, I figured out how to get my text to wrap around the photo!  Six months and that's what I learned about blogging!

Day 182 -- The Penultimate Day?

Tomorrow will mark the six month anniversary of my year as a vegan.  Today is the last day of the rist half of the year.  Would that make today the penultimate day before my six month anniversary?  I don't really care.  I'm going to call today the penultimate day because I get to use the word "penultimate" for the first (and probably last) time in my writing career.  Before setting some new goals for the second half of the year, I thought it might be nice to look back at the first six months and list some of the things I've learned along the way.

I think the most important thing I've learned is that it is possible to change habits that have taken many, many years to build.  I went cold turkey from dairy, meat and fat on December 27th and I didn't go crazy with cravings.  Instead, I focused on putting only healthy food into my body.  I also learned to not make this all about losing weight but more about becoming healthier.  This way, if I had a week where I didn't lose anything, I could still feel good about the fact that I had eaten healthy!

I also learned that variety is important in any diet.  If I push myself to try new recipes, I'm much happier about my eating choices.  Eating has become an adventure, grocery shopping is fun and I've come to be very proud of the things I put in my cart.  I've also learned to like the taste of whole foods, the sweetness of a red pepper, the tartness of a Pink Lady apple, the deep, mellow taste of mushrooms.  Without all the additives, food can taste really good!  I've discovered great products that I've added to my kitchen, new tastes that I've incorporated into my diet and interesting insights that have proven to me that my plan is the right one for me.

I've learned that time flies.  It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog, but here it is, a half year gone by and 66 pounds gone as well.  I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn for years and that's kind of fun, too.  But I think the most important thing I've learned is that food is the best medicine for the body.  By eating a healthy diet, you can alleviate so many health problems.  I feel good, and that's enough to keep me going for another six months.  So, tomorrow I start the second half of the year.  If the second half of the year goes as quickly as the first, it's going to be Christmas before I know it!

Day 181 -- Slaw And Order -- Part Two

And this is the "order" part of the post.  "Slaw" was yesterday.  I don't know why I put these two posts together, except that these two food related things hit me on the same day.  The actually have nothing to connect them, except a clever title.  And I'm a writer so a clever title trumps an interesting subject.

I've recently become heavily addicted to Starbucks' Green Tea Lattes.  I have them made with soy milk and I ask them not to put the requisite FOUR pumps of sweetener in my grande size.  As an aside, why does every drink at Starbucks have to be loaded with sugar.  The calorie count for the drink without the extra sweetener is about 210 calories according to this blog post on Off The Broiler.  But after drinking quite a few of these, I was beginning to wonder if there was more than just green tea and vanilla soy milk in this drink.

Starbucks doesn't give you a list of ingredients for the drink and I wasn't able to find any information online.  My worst thought was that there was some kind of powdered milk in the product and I'd have to stop drinking it because it contained dairy.  But wouldn't they let people know there was dairy in it, especially when you make a point to order it with soy?

I decided to take my nutrition into my own hands and talk to the barista.  He was very, very helpful and went in back to get a package of the green tea powder they used.  To my relief, it contained only green tea and sugar!  Yes, more sugar from Starbucks.  I am searching for a way to make this drink at home and will report back on the results of my search.  But until then, I'm hitting the Starbucks almost daily to order my Green Tea Latte fix.

So, there you have it!  Slaw and Order.      

Day 173 -- One Cheeseburger. Just One!

I spent the weekend cheese-cheating.  I even ate some butter on some tasty garlic bread and in a couple of yummy almond croissants from Peet's Coffee.  But I was visiting my sister and having a great time and just didn't want to sit on my vegan high-horse and watch what I ate.  So, I didn't fall off my horse, I jumped off.  Over and over and over again!

That was the weekend.  But the worst came today.  On my way home, I ran a few errands in a nearby town which happens to be home to my former favorite drive-in restaurant.  They make the very best flame-grilled burgers and serve them on hard rolls with a dollop of butter -- not very vegan, I'm afraid.  I've been thinking about breaking my vegan diet to have one of these cheeseburgers just once this summer, since it is such a traditional part of my summer.  It didn't take me long to decide that today would be as good a day as any to indulge.

Strangely enough, I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I thought I would.  And I just had one -- followed by a kiddie-size Dairy Queen ice cream cone!  All right, enough cheating.  I'd hoped to have lost 70 pounds by June 27, just 10 days from now.    I'm about 6 lbs short of that goal, so I'm going to have to do some serious veganating between now and my deadline.  My other goal is to lose 85 pounds by my birthday in mid-August.  That's actually still possible, but for the next few months, I'm going to have to be very, very diligent!

Day 167 -- The Ultimate Comfort Food

There is nothing better than a good mac and cheese.  Now, I have to admit that I've cheese-cheated over the past couple of weeks.  I've eaten real dairy cheese three times in two weeks.  Twice on pizza and once in a cheese soup.  But, I've learned not to be so hard on myself and I'm going to try to get through the next six months without another cheese-cheat.  It's not quite as bad as a meat-cheat, but still not the best for my efforts to shed a few more pounds.  I need "Just Say No!" when it comes to cheese.

To that end, I came across this recipe for Chipoltle Mac and Cheese (with roasted Brussels sprouts!) that I'm looking forward to cooking!  It comes from one of my favorite websites, The Post Punk Kitchen, which features lots of yummy vegan recipes.

I've tried a Mac and Cheese with butternut squash that was pretty passable (see Day 60, February 24th), but this one uses cashews to create the creamy sauce.  Though it's definitely more caloric and higher in fat that the butternut option, I'm thinking I might want to try to combine the two recipes and see if I can find a happy medium.  I will report back and let you know how it was!

ETA: This is really yummy.  But also very spicy.  I used two 1.5 inch chipoltles in adobo sauce in a half recipe.  Next time I make it, I'm going to cut the peppers back by half.  A little too spicy for me, but very creamy and cheese-like.

Day 163 -- Grocery Cart Shame

A few days ago, I was standing in line at the grocery store and remembering how I used to feel when checking out -- shame.  I'd have a cart full of junk food and not a veggie or fruit in sight.  I'd unload my choices and wonder what the people around me were thinking.  I knew what they were thinking -- no wonder she's so fat if she eats that junk every day.

Now, when I go to the grocery store, I find myself analyzing other people's carts.  When I see a lot of packaged junk food, I don't make a judgement, but I do think to myself, oh, please don't eat that stuff.  It's so bad for you.  Of course, I think people should be able to choose exactly what they want to eat and I'd never say that outloud.  But I want to tell them how good it feels when you get rid of processed food and eat whole foods instead.  And if someone asks how I've lost so much weight, I'm very happy to tell them about my vegan diet and my aversion to processed food.

Yesterday, my grocery cart was a thing of beauty.  I had mushrooms, onions, zucchini, avocados, cauliflower, cherries, apples, bananas, a melon, two jars of organic no-fat spaghetti sauce, and  two packages of Boca crumbles (yes, I know they're bad, but I have to get protein!).  I was so proud.  And then I started to think about what other people were thinking -- if that woman eats so healthy, why is she so fat!

I don't care what other people are thinking.  I'm very happy with the changes I"ve made to my diet and that's all that matters to me.  I've just finished week 23 and in just 19 days I will be at the halfway mark in my year as a vegan.  I can't believe how fast time has gone -- or how lucky I am that I stumbled upon this plan.  I could still be back where I was 60 pounds ago -- unhealthy, depressed, uncomfortable.  Thank goodness for  veggies.

Day 161 -- Extreme Weight Loss

Since I've been focused on improving my eating habits, I seemed to be fixated on these weight loss reality shows.  I started with "The Biggest Loser" and have now moved on to "Extreme Weight Loss".  And I have to say, this show is really EXTREME.

On tonight's episode, they featured a 24-year old who weighed 315 pounds.  In the first 90 days she was tasked with losing 90 pounds.  Ninety-freakin'- pounds in 90 days!  In a year, she wanted to lose 160 pounds and she actually achieved that goal, which I could believe, considering the amount of exercise she was doing.  But even with all the exercise, her weight loss rate dropped radically as she approached 200 pounds.

Which brings me to my situation, which is somewhat the same.  I started off like gangbusters and now I've come to the point where things have started to slow down.  I don't have three pound losses in a week any more.  I'm lucky to get two pounds in a week.  So I'm afraid I'm going to have to add some exercise to the mix to see if I can jump start the program.  Either that, or try a fast and see how that goes.

 I suspect that my original one year goal weight is probably overly optimistic.  It required me to lose an average of about 12 pounds per month.  I'm at that average right now after 5 months, but that average will be harder to maintain as I go forward.  Strangely enough, I'm not really concerned since no matter what, I'm eating really healthy and feeling good.  So if it takes two years to get where I want to be, then I'm okay with that.  Although there may have to be a few "cheese cheats" along the way.

Day 160 -- Dreams Of Cheese

This is my third post in a row about cheese.  Does it seem like I'm obsessed?  Well, maybe I am.  Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese.  I ate cheese on pizza the other day and I would have ordered cheesecake for dessert but they didn't have desserts at the pizza parlor.  (Thank you, George Takei, for the meme.) 

  

I guess I never realized how much I enjoyed cheese until I had to give it up.  It's such an important part of so many dishes.  What would grilled cheese sandwiches be without the cheese?  I decided to answer that question today and open the package of Daya cheddar cheese-like shreds.  A little Earth Balance butter-like spread and some whole grain bread and I was on my way.

First impression wasn't great.  Something smelled a little fishy.  Was it the margerine?  Or the cheese?  Or the bread.  I wasn't sure, but I decided to proceed with caution.  The "cheese" did melt as the package promised but it laid between the bread like a thin slice of cold Velveeta, kind of rubbery and shiny and a bit slimy.  It didn't have a strong taste so had it not looked like cheese, I'm not sure I would have made the connection.

Over all

Day 157 -- Pizza With Cheese Is Not Vegan!

Yes, I will admit it here.  I strayed.  And it was very deliberate.  I had lunch with a friend who I see only a few times a year and we'd planned the lunch a few weeks ago.  We usually go out for pizza and the last time we went was a few weeks before I decided to eat vegan.  I had  the choice to order my pizza without cheese, but I figured, what the hell.  I'd been thinking about pizza for two weeks and I was going to have pizza.  And it was so good!

Now, you'd think I'd feel guilty about this but I'm not exactly an ethical vegan.  I could very easily be an ethical vegetarian, because I'm pretty okay with cheese and dairy products.  I'm still on the fence about eggs though I have had exactly two prior big lapses and about five other smaller lapses (ranch dressing on tortilla chips at my favorite restaurant).  I never thought I'd be able to make it for an entire year as a strictly strict vegan.  I expected that there might be a few little lapses along the way.  But I'm pretty proud of what I've managed to do so far.  Five months ago, I was a committed meat eater and now, I've managed to stick to a vegan diet 98% of the time.

So, thank you, J, for the fun lunch.  And for giving me that chance to eat a little dairy!

Day 155 -- Interesting Factoid #1

I was recently browsing the Vegetarian Times website, one of my favorite sources for recipes, can came across this article -- Why Go Veg?    The article lists all the reasons why we might want to eat a plant-based diet.  Of course, I've known a lot of these things all along.  People who eat a plant-based diet are healthier and live a longer life.  But how much longer?

Accordnig to Michael F. Roizen, MD, if you switch from the standard American diet to a vegetarian diet, you can add about 13 healthy years to your life.  That's a lot of years!  Who wouldn't want another 13 healthy years.  According to Roizin ”People who consume saturated, four-legged fat have a shorter life span and more disability at the end of their lives. Animal products clog your arteries, zap your energy and slow down your immune system. Meat eaters also experience accelerated cognitive and sexual dysfunction at a younger age.”

Want more proof of longevity? Residents of Okinawa, Japan, have the longest life expectancy of any Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world, according to a 30-year study of more than 600 Okinawan centenarians. Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.

Roizin's book, The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat, looks like it would be a good read.  And a with a visit to his website, RealAge.com, you can take the RealAge test.  I did and with my health as it is now, my real age is 57.9.  My actual age is 57 years and 10 months, which is almost spot on.  So, from this, I can see that the loss of weight and the improvement in diet has pretty much stopped the downward spiral.  There's nothing left to do but get a little younger!

Day 144 -- Protein For A Day

Everyone is always worried about protein.  So I decided to worry about it for a day or two as well.  There doesn't seem to be a consensus on how much protein a person needs on a daily basis.  People who eat meat and eggs don't have to worry.  A 3 ounce piece of chicken breast is 24 grams of protein.  An egg is 6 grams, a cup of milk 8 grams.  It adds up pretty fast when you're eating meat and dairy.

First, things first.  How many grams of protein do I need?  One source says that you should eat .4 grams of protein for every pound of weight.  For me, this would result in over 80 grams of protein a day.  Since there are 4 calories in a gram of protein (4 in a gram of carbos and 9 in a gram of fat), that means the I should eat 320 calories of protein a day.  This doesn't really jibe with the notion that you should eat 10% of your total calorie intake in a day in protein.  This would mean I should be eating 3200 calories a day, not the 1500 that I do eat.   Or I should be eating mainly protein, which is hard to do since vegan sources of protein contain lots of carbos as well.

Other sources don't figure protein needs by weight but just give a flat amount.  For instance, the Livestrong website says that adult women need 46 grams which is the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance)  So,  you can see my confusion.  There's a big difference between 46 and 80 grams!  And finding 80 grams of protein by veggie sources is hard to do while keeping the calorie count low.  To figure out where I stood, I decided to count my protein grams for a day.  I was surprised to learn that veggies have a small amount of protein in them.

Breakfast Blueberry Chia Smoothie -- silken tofu - 5 gr., chia seeds- 3 gr.
Chickpea Tahine - couscous 6 gr., chickpeas - 6 gr.  onions 1 g
Chickpea Tahine - couscous 6 gr., chickpeas - 6 gr.  onions 1 g
Superfoods soup - Kale 1 g., Edamame 2 gr., mushrooms/onions 1 g., plus 6 grams in JJFlats cracker
Repeat superfood soup  -- 10 grams
Wheatberry salad -  8 grams

Total:  72 grams of protein

Wow!  Though this is usually more than I like to eat, it's good to know that I can get enough protein from veggie sources.  I will admit there are some days when I don't come close to the 80 gram mark and even fall below the 40 gram mark.  I need to make sure I get legumes and whole grains every day!  I should also probably pick up some protein powder for my morning smoothie.  And I should track my protein grams every so often, just to make sure I'm doing it right!

Day 142 -- Now This Is Cool

I've been concerned about my protein intake lately.  I haven't been doing as much cooking as I was a few months back and at the end of the day, haven't had as many legumes and whole grains as I should have.  Time to start paying closer attention.

I was interested in figuring out the protein content of one of my favorite recipes and had heard about online calculators.  So I went out on a search and came back with this!  It's from the Calorie Count website.

I entered my recipe for Wheatberry and Wild Rice Salad and came up with all kinds of useful information (see above).  First, you have to enter the number of servings in the recipe, then type in the recipe.  You may have to look up a few of the ingredients on their database if the application doesn't recognize an ingredient.  But once that's done, it gives the calorie counts of all the ingredients (per serving).  It also gives a nutrition grade for each of the incredients.  My salad got straight As except for the B+ for the wild rice.

In addition, it gives a traditional nutrition label that lists protein, fat, carbos, sodium and cholesterol.  And finally, it gives you the good and the bad points about the recipe.  The only thing it doesn't do is give Omega 3 and 6 counts, which would be really great info for vegans and vegetarians.

It does have a few glitches.  I entered a 15 oz. CAN of garbanzos and it read it as 15 oz. of garbanzos, which isn't right.  So I had to go back and look for a can in the data base and figure out how many cups of garbanzos there were in a can.  And I needed to figure out if the app was reading the whole grains as cooked or uncooked.

Over the next week I'm going to try to keep better track of my protein intake and she where I'm at.  The subject of protein requirements is a whole can of worms that I'll open in my next post.  How much protein do I need every day? (And, as a good vegan, I'll let the can of worms go in my garden after opening, if anyone is asking.)

Day 122 -- Another Milestone In A Year-Long Journey

Four months ago, on December 27, 2012, I decided to make a major change in my life.  Now, here I am, on Day 122, a third of the way through the year.  I'm over a third of the way toward my weight loss goal, but I expect that as I get closer to my goal weight, things will slow down.  Though I'm tracking my weight loss, this still doesn't seem like a diet to me.  I'm eating all the time and there's no deprivation.  And I still love veggies!  Let me show a little veggie love before I go on.

In looking back at my first four months as a vegan, I think I did pretty well.  I ate meat once -- pepperoni on a slice of pizza a week ago.  I have eaten tiny amounts of extraneous cheese a few times (picked out of a salad and stuck to some guacamole) and enjoyed a few treats that contained eggs and butter.  And I can't seem to visit my favorite restaurant without indulging in the ranch dressing dip with the tortilla chips.  So, I will proudly declare that I'm mostly vegan.  About 98% vegan.

Of course, the vegan police will beg to differ.  If anything other than veggies pass my lips, then I'm not a vegan.  But every now and then, I meow like a cat. Does that mean I'm not 100% human?  So, I'm going to continue to eat vegan, even though I might not be considered a vegan.  One thing is very true -- I'm so much healthier than I was four months ago.  I feel good!  And I'm looking forward to the next four months.

Day 112 -- A Vegan Meal In A High School Cafeteria?

Yesterday, I dined out on portobello mushroom fajitas at my favorite restaurant.  It's the only vegan alternative available on their menu unless you're in the mood for lackluster salad with most of the ingredients left out.  The meal was good, but it was probably a little higher in fat that I'd like.

Fast foward to today.  I was working at my local high school over the lunch hour and decided to see what was for lunch, not really expecting to find anything I could eat.  But I was surprised!  On the menu was Santa Fe Rice Bowl.  That sounded hopeful.

Let me back up and explain that several years ago some of the mothers got together to lobby for healthier meals in the cafeteria.  They outlawed chocolate milk, they got rid of the soda machines, and they insisted that the chef offer more fresh fruits and veggies and use whole grains whenever possible.  Their lobbying resulted in a total overhaul of the food service program.  Now, there are always several choices available to each student.  The alternative today was a hot dog on a whole grain bun with baked beans.  Or a turkey ranch wrap.   Every meal also includes an all-you-can-eat salad bar that usually offers raw veggies, fruits, and some type of veggie or grain salad.  And you'd be surprised how many fruits and veggies kids will eat when they're still hungry after eating their entree.

So, here was my healthy meal -- much healthier than the restaurant meal I ate the day before.  A scoop of white rice (brown would have been better) topped with black beans and corn and garnished with salsa, ripe olives, onions, pico di gallo and crushed tortilla chips.  From the salad bar, I got chilled peas, honeydew melon, sliced cucumbers and raw carrots.  You can't get a much more balanced vegan meal than that!  So, thanks to those moms responsible for making our local school cafeteria a great place to get a good meal.