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 162 -- A Big Old Can Of Vegan Worms

Had I ever had the chance to try poleta, I probably would have.  After all, its main ingredient is corn and I love corn!  I've never tasted grits either, which is made from the same thing -- corn -- as polenta is.  A few months ago, I bought a bag of Bob's Red Mill Polenta/Grits and the bag has been sitting unopened in my pantry since then.  Today, I decided to try new recipe that calls for baked polenta.

Of course, no new food enters my mouth without me finding some odd question to ponder and polenta is no different.  The question of the day -- Is corn a grain, a legume or a vegetable?  This becomes important because I've been trying to balance my daily consumption of all three in the hopes that I get the proper amount of protein.  In finding the answer, I had to define all three and I threw fruit in there for good measure.

.Grains are derived from the seeds of a plant, either whole or ground.  So, corn is indeed a grain.  But what about legumes?  Aren't they also seeds?  In order to qualify as a legume, you must start life inside a pod, like peas, peanuts, beans.  But what about nuts?  Are nuts legumes?  They begin life inside a pod.  But the major difference between legumes and nuts are that nuts store fat instead of sugar.  Also legumes grow from a bush and nuts grow from a tree.  Hence the reason peanuts are not really a nut but a legume.

Let's toss a little fruit into the salad, shall we?  If we eat the part that protects the seed, then we are eating a fruit.  Apples, peaches, pears -- we eat the flesh but not the seed.  Tomatoes are also technically a fruit, except that we also consume tomato seeds and most people think tomatoes are a vegetable.  However, I have learned that we call a lot of fruits vegetables such as  pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, green beans and all types of peppers.  So let me get this straight.  The green part of a green bean is a fruit and the bean inside is a legume?

So what's left for vegetables?  It turns out that vegetables are not a botanical term but a culinary terms.  Radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do not have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.  They aren't fruit, legumes or nuts, so they have to be vegetables.

So now, I'm pretty thoroughly confused.  This article should help, but when it mentioned that nuts were fruit, I realized that I opened a big old can of worms -- which I happen to know are not vegetables, or fruit, or even legumes.  I think I just need to make the damn polenta and stop thinking so much about what's in it.

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 159 -- Better Than Cream Cheese?

And the answer is -- not better, but just as good!

Over the past five months, I've tried a number of new foods.  Some of them are vegan substitutes for dairy or meat products and I usually approach these with a fair amount of trepidation.  I've found some great substitutions, like So Delicious Chocolate Ice Cream, that taste just as good, if not better than regular dairy.  And then I've tried just as many awful things, like seitan.  I still have some shredded cheddar "cheese" in my fridge, unopened after three months.  And a brand new package of tempeh, which I'm still waiting on.

There is one little treat that I found that I really enjoy and that's Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese spread.  I mistakenly bought the Herbs and Chives flavor, which was a mistake since I thought I was getting plain.  But it turns out that it's really good spread on a JJ Flats cracker.  The pairing is a nice little snack, creamy and crunchy at the same time.  And the "cream cheese" is only 60 calories in a 2 tablespoon serving.

It's nice to know that products like these exist.  Because they do, I don't really have to go back to eating real cream cheese.  Not that I eat cream cheese that often, but when I do, I've got a tasty substitute that will keep me on the vegan straight-and-narrow.

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 156 -- A Child Speaks

I just saw this video and thought it was so sweet.  I'll just post it and let it speak for itself.