I went to 7am spinning this morning but I was so exhausted and sleepy that I didn't get a great workout. But I figure it's better than I worked out at all and got my heart pumping a bit before I went to work to sit on my butt for ten hours. I'm noticing a definite change in my body, specifically my legs. I'm starting to look athletic. The problem is that I'm also not losing weight. I know I could be stricter with my eating, but I also feel like I just gain muscle too easily and muscle weighs a lot. I want to get a body fat test done and see how I'm really doing, because I just don't trust the scale anymore.

Food log:

Dinner last night: stroganoff with whole wheat pasta, seitan, portobellos, extra peas and non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream from Vegan with a Vengeance.
Dessert: a small piece of dark chocolate with almonds and cherries and half of the super healthy corn muffins I made (fake sugar, whole wheat flour, half oil/half apple sauce).

Breakfast #1: local nectarine on the subway ride to the gym.

Breakfast #2: two corn muffins (they are pretty small) with Soy Garden butteriness, two little local plums, soy protein shake with chocolate rice milk, and coffee with Silk Creamer.

Lunch: leftover stroganoff. I can't wait. With some pressure cooked local beets on the side. Look at the size of that beet!

Snack: wasa crackers with edamame hummus, local corn, local tomato.

Dinner: quinoa salad I made last night with broccoli, local grape tomatoes, local fresh basil, garlic, baked tofu, Vegannaise and lemon juice. A complete meal in one bowl.

I have not been excited enough about my vegetables recently. I want to really enjoy veggies so it'll be easy to have my meals focused on them. I think I just need some new tricks in the kitchen to get me excited again, but I don't know what those tricks would be.

I'm going to start taking bikram (hot) yoga once I get my first paycheck at my new job (i.e. once I have money for it). I'm really excited about it. I think it will make me feel really good about my body.

Food log:

Breakfast: four pieces of small whole wheat sesame toast sandwiched with homemade nutritional yeasty cheese spread and heirloom tomatoes, extra heirloom toms on the side with basil, salt and a bit of olive oil, and two little plums.

Snack: wasa cracker with edamame hummus.

Lunch: stir fry with eggplant, cabbage, carrots, onions, collards and fake chicken over quinoa and a salad of romaine, arugula, carrots, raw beets, tomatoes and cukes- everything except that carrots, fake chicken and quinoa was local! My co-worker saw a vegan cookie at a health food store near work and got it for me as a present. It was a really nice gesture, but full of calories. I ate half the cookie and that was 240 calories! I justified this with a spinning class and potentially smaller snacks later on.

Snack: another cracker with edamame hummus and/or strawberry soy yogurt.

Dinner: I'm thinking about making the seitan portobello stroganoff from Vegan with a Vengeance. I think if I use whole wheat pasta and extra peas it will be fairly healthy.

I'm also going to try to make up some pasta salad or quinoa salad or something to eat tomorrow night while picnicing and watching Purple Rain on the big screen in an empty pool near my house (weather providing). I want to make one dish that can be eaten cold and is a well-balanced meal.

I can't think of anything to write today. On to the food.

Food log:

Dinner last night: I came home quite famished, so I made some mac and cheez with broccoli and tempeh bacon. Even though I was really hungry, I portioned myself a small amount and stuff to it. Then I ate a homemade twinkie, which I shouldn't have, but it was calling to me! I've discovered they don't have much filling in them, so they are a bit healthier than planned.

Breakfast: olive toast with tofu spread and cut up local nectarines.

Snack: delicious and local blueberries.

Lunch: leftover mac and broccoli and a big salad with local red leaf romaine, local arugula, local cukes, local toms, red pepper, green peppers, orange peppers, about 1/4 of an avocado, cut up green olive and red wine vinegar. It got me really full!

Snack: twinkie.

Another snack: if I need it, a small portion of chili from last weekend and sauteed collards. But I'm pretty full right now, so I'm just going to see if I can go without it.

I ate too much this past weekend. I always eat too much on the weekends. But I love food so much that I like cooking a lot and eating with friends. I should at least start exercising more on the weekends. I got lots of good things at the farmer's market that I'm looking forward to enjoying all week.

Food log:

Breakfast: a few small slices of olive toast (bread from farmer's market) with sundried tomato basil tofu spread, a nectarine and two fresh apricots.

Lunch: homemade chili over quinoa and a homemade twinkie. The twinkie is marginally healthier by having half whole wheat pastry flour and no hydrogenated oils.

Snack: sauteed collards with basil.

Snack/early dinner: salad with mesclun mix (farmer's market) and a bunch of random veggies that Nick took home from catering on a job this weekend.

Small dinner in evening: probably a tempeh lettuce and tomato sandwich on whole wheat pita (from farmer's market). Hopefully I will be able to resist more twinkies.

I did my third spinning class this week during lunch. This is good because I'm trying to do 3-4 spinning classes a week, so I've reached my minimum. I feel pretty good. I hope I don't crash.

Food log:

Dinner last night: a small grilled uncheese with jalapenos on olive bread; sauteed chard, mushrooms, carrots and onions with cilantro; popcorn with vegan butter flavored spray, adobo and nutritional yeast; and a few small squares of espresso dark chocolate.

Breakfast today: multigrain bagel with sundried tomato and basil tofu spread.

Snack: green apple.

Lunch: pasta with cilantro-lime-butter sauce and carrots, leftover sauteed veggies from last night and some cinnamon chocolate pudding. I was sooo hungry before lunch, so I tried to eat slowly and really savor it. I'm still hungry. I hope it goes away, but I'll give myself a snack at 4 if the hunger doesn't subside.

Dinner: I'm going to a free concert then dinner afterwards. I have no idea where I'm going, and honestly I'd rather eat at home then wander around looking for a place with something for me to eat. Plus I know I'll be tired. But I'll buck up and suggest a place that will have a nice salad for me and hope I get home at a reasonable hour.

This morning has been really stressful but I've maintained control and continued to eat healthy despite of it. My normal half hour commute to work took two hours due to weather-related total subway meltdown in NYC and ended up with me biking through the swelteringly humid weather to work and having to shower at the gym before I went it. I usually eat breakfast at work, so I ate breakfast a lot later than usual. I gobbled it down and was convinced I was still hungry. But I held out until an acceptable lunch time to eat what I brought for lunch. Plus, I had the unplanned work out of biking to and from work today.

Food log:

Breakfast: two small pieces of olive toast with sundried tomato and basil tofu spread and cherries.

Lunch: Caribbean tofu and broccoli stir fry, angel hair pasta and shredded carrots with a cilantro-lime-butter sauce, zucchinis and summer squash with garlic and cilantro.

Snack: leftover pizza slice on whole grain crust with veggies and Yves brand veggieroni and a low-fat chocolate almond milk.

Dinner: I'm thinking something light, like lots of veggie dishes, but we'll see how I feel when I get home later.

I did a 7 am spinning class this morning and I am pretty proud of myself. It was really hard to get out of bed, but I did it, and I got to class on time. On some sort of sleepy whim, I decided to take the spot directly in front of the spin instructor in the classroom. This ended up being great. I really pushed myself with her right there in front of me. I want to make a point of doing this morning often. I felt really good afterwards. Two spinning classes by Tuesday and I'm really into it. I just hope I can keep up this energy for long periods of time... that and maintain a social life on top of exercising, eating well, and everything else I need to do.

Food log:

Dinner last night: multigrain pizza crust with tomato sauce, garlic-y sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, green olives, Yves brand veggie pepperoni (sparingly, a little weird tasting) and a slice yellow tomato. I must admit I ate more than I needed of this. But I also made sugar-free cinnamon chocolate pudding that wasn't set before bedtime so I had no dessert to make up for it.

Breakfast #1: before spinning, I had about 2/3rds of a banana nut Odwalla bar so I wouldn't get too famished and weak during class.

Breakfast #2: really good strawberries and a few pieces of olive toast with my new favorite spread on it, accidentally local too! Picture not mine.
Lunch: two leftover slices of pizza.

Snack: red tomato, yellow pepper, white onion and green olive salad without lettuce and dressing and pudding I made last night.

I've also been snacking throughout the day on little bites of dried goji berries and these little carob banana spirulina energy chunk things (I really can't describe them) that they sell at my local natural food market. Both yummy and un-scientifically proven healthy.

Potential dinner: I'm thinking a simple stir fry of tofu and broccoli while having a picnic outside (weather providing). I'm trying to think of a super easy and quick grain to go with it, but nothing is striking me. Maybe quinoa? But it's pretty calorie dense, in addition to nutritionally dense.

It's been a really long time since my last post, I know. But no excuses, just starting again. I could stand to lose a few, again.

I had a really exhausting weekend but I'm going to force myself to a lunchtime spinning class. I need to get in the groove of spinning early in the week or I'm lost. And I think it'll break up my day nicely. I just hope it leaves me with enough energy for a tea date with a friend after work.

Food log:

Breakfast: two small slices of olive toast with baba ghanoush hummus on it, a banana and hibiscus tea.

Snack: local celery with all natural peanut butter.

Lunch: spaghetti with spinach marinara and LightLife sausage meatballs and chocolate soy pudding for dessert.

Snack: salad of local greens, local beats, carrots and walnuts with just balsamic on top.

Dinner: something simple and easy tonight. Maybe a stir fry or something, with extra to eat tomorrow.

Back on track!

zucchini diet

I got a whole boat load of zucchini from my farm share this past week, so yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen determined to use it up. And I made a few other things.
-zucchini bread from the New Soul Vegetarian Cookbook, made with whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar (per the recipe) and I cut the oil in half and made up for it with apple sauce. It turned out really well.
-stuffed zucchini with corn and dill (both also from farm share) from Vegan Planet. It had a good flavor, but didn't hold up very well, especially since I dropped the tupperware holding it...
-black beans and brown rice mix with leftover stuffing from stuffed zucchini.
-brown rice pizza from Vive le Vegan where you smush sticky brown rice into a spring form pan and bake it for a bit, then treat it like a pizza crust and top it. I topped with a homemade kale and hoisin tomato sauce, roasted zukes and peppers, olive, and some veggie parm.
-tofu quiche from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog with zucchini, (farm share) onions and red peppers.
-olive and walnut tapenade recipe from Vive le Vegan. It's pretty good, but I think I'd like any tapenade because I love olives.
-vegan pâté from How It All Vegan. I was surprised by how delicious it is. I think it's the first recipe I've made from this book where I was really shocked by how good it was.

I was so motivated by all the healthy food I made, that I decided to be extra healthy and get up early this morning to do a 7am spinning class. I was sleeping during the class, but I'm feeling good now.

Food log:

Pre-spin class snack: two smallish zucchini bread muffins.

Breakfast: zucchini tofu quiches and a grapefruit.

Lunch: brown rice pizza and a lemon Larabar.

Late afternoon snack: stuffed zucchini, pâté maybe on a pilfered piece of bread from the work fridge (was going to buy crackers but left wallet at home) and a green apple.

Late dinner: I'm thinking beans and rice with some steamed broccoli and sautéed Soyboy smoked tofu (really yummy in small doses) and a low carb tortilla/wrap thing.

Thinking about food

So since I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" I've been trying to be more conscious of what I'm eating. I'm really trying to enjoy the complex tastes of all my foods and the time and care that goes into making them. This is good because this sort of automatically means that I'm cooking and eating healthier and eating less. I think when I'm done with it I'm going to do another go-over of the BDS book and remind myself of all the things I learned in it with the additional perspective of this new book.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: half of an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese, arugula, tomato, cuke and red onion and a banana.

Snack: four leftover falafel balls with cuke-dill-yogurt sauce, hummus and hot sauce.

Lunch: other half of bagel sandwich and a salad of raw baby zukes, cukes, radishes, red onion, adobo seasoning and fresh pepper.

Dinner: breaded and baked buffalo tofu, breaded and baked okra, twice baked potatoes with non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and chives. This was a really comforting and really yummy dinner. I have a picture on my camera of it that I will upload soon.

Dessert: peanut butter cream cheese brownies from this blog: www.cozyinside.blogspot.com not the mostly healthy things ever, but maybe the most delicious things ever.

Breakfast today: half of everything bagel with tofu cream cheese, sundried tomatoes and red onion and half of a grapefruit.

Snack: other half of grapefruit.

Lunch: leftovers from dinner last night and some brownie with vanilla almond milk.

Snack: Larabar and a banana

Dinner: I'll be getting home later so I think I'm going to have a leftover twice baked potato and sautee up whatever veggies I have on hand for a quick and healthy dinner while making cupcakes for work tomorrow.

I've started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and its' getting be back into focusing on my food and really enjoy and appreciate what I'm eating. I think this will help me get back into a BDS state of mind. If I love my food more, I'll eat healthier and less of it, like the French and Italians.

Some recent food pics:

A pretty salad Nick made for me with mixed greens, blueberries and homemade spicy candied walnuts (plus a shot of the apple bran muffins he made in the top left corner).

Fajitas with (I think) grilled onions, zucchini and kohlrabi and avocado, salsa, Tofutti sour cream on a low carb wrap.
Bowl with brown rice mixed with salsa verde, refried beans mixed with hot tomato salsa, melted FYH jack, Tofutti sour cream and avocado. Yummy and simple. All leftovers.
Dinner last night was homemade (from a box) falafel with mixed greens and radish salad, yogurt dill cucumber sauce, tomatoes and red onions, chopped up cornichon, baba ghanoush and low carb wraps. Really yummy and complete one dish meal.

Food log:

Breakfast: leftover pasta with sundried toms, tempeh, Soy Garden and veggie parm and a grapefruit.

Late morning snack: odwalla bar.

Lunch: leftover falafel fixings minus the low carb tortilla. I'm just going to eat it as a salad.

Dinner: picnic while watching the NY Philharmonic as Prospect Park. I think I'll get some take-out burritos for me and Nick.

Back on track!

I need to get back on track! I've been getting really busy at work, so I haven't had as much time to blog during work, and I try to spend as much time out of work away from a computer. But because of the lack of blogging and diet tracking, I'm gaining some weight back. I need to make time to think more about my eating and read more of the BDS book, but it's hard when any spare time I might have I just want to sit on my couch with my kitties and watch a movie.

So shortly after I stopped blogging, about 2 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to train for a running/biking duathlon. I've never been a runner ever. So I started doing things like going to the gym before work and running two miles or sometimes running a mile after a spinning class. After a week and a half of this, it was made clear to me I was doing way too much too soon and my knees were mad at me for it. Bad knees run in the family and I need to take it especially slow if I want to be able to run. I took some time off from running, but was still doing spinning and other stuff. The knee ache was lessening, but not entirely gone. I thought I might be able to do some gentle jogs this week. Then last night during kickball I collided with another player and was thrown to the ground with the immediately noticable injuries of a scraped up back and a bumped up head. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I noticed my left knee was not feeling okay either. This is really frustrating. Deciding to do a short duathlon really gave me a focus with my exercise. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do one, but if I can, probably not anytime soon. Maybe aim for next spring? I hope so.

Food log:

Breakfast: one flax waffle with Soy Garden and maple syrup, a kiwi and a cup of tea.

Lunch: sauteed swiss chard, bok choy and zucchini mixed up with some non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and salsa on a low-carb (but yummy I swear) tortilla. Homemade baklava for dessert, too much sugar and Soy Garden, but made with whole wheat filo so it's ever so slightly healthier. And I only brought myself a small amount to work to control myself, which is difficult to do around large amount of baklava.

Snack: whole wheat pasta with some Soy Garden, veggie parm, sundried tomatoes, balsamic-soy tempeh and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Dinner: I have no idea yet. I want to use up more stuff from the fridge and freezer before I do a shopping next, so I think what I make will be determined by what calls to me when I open up the fridge and freezer and stare.

Dessert: probably more baklava, but hopefully not too much!

I forgot to bring my ipod to work today, so my post-work gym workout plans are dashed. I was going to do a treadmill for 15 minutes and an elliptical for 30. I really don't think I can manage that without music. I'm hoping that it won't rain and I can make it home, retain my motivation, and go for a jog at the track near my house. It won't be as long of a workout as it was going to be, but my goal for the night was to get better at my jogging so at least I'll still be working on that.

Food log:

Dinner last night: the hemp tortillas I bought were accidentally wheat free and totally gross. So I just threw the grilled veggies, pepper and onions, on top of a giant salad of farm lettuces and greens, red onions, raw zucchini, home-marinated mushrooms, avocado, green olives and probably other things I forget. It was an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salad and really good. For dessert I had 1/6 of dark chocolate bar with almonds and cherries and one Back to Nature sandwich cookie.

This:

Turned into this:

Breakfast: whole wheat bagel from the firm-wide monthly breakfast, half with earth balance mixed with dried herbs and half with chunky peanut butter, and tons of fruit- blueberries, strawberries and cherries.

Lunch: sandwich with grain cold-cuts, Vegannaise, mustard, grilled onions and grilled Boston lettuce on a whole wheat hamburger bun and a salad of farm greens and fresh peas with Amy's Goddess Dressing.

Snack: apricot, banana, baby carrots and a small amount of quinoa and black beans with peppers, zucchini and jalapeño.

Dinner: I'm thinking personal pizzas with these crusts: http://www.rusticcrust.com/readymade.htm and roasted tomatoes in a can, swiss chard, whatever else I think will go with it. I've eaten a lot of starches today and this won't even be whole grain, but I need an easy dinner.

I set an ultimate goal for myself. I want to be at a steady and ideal weight by my high school reunion around Thanksgiving. This means I want to be at my goal by October 1st, then be able to maintain that for the next two months, and then from then on of course. That means I have three months to lose 4-5 pounds. I know it's a silly goal, but it's a solid goal and it's good for the motivation.

I haven't been reading the BDS every morning for a while now, but I am making an effort to really think about BDS strategies/tools more throughout the day and reading my advantages response card. I'm almost near the end of the book, then after that I'm going to go back and re-read the sections I dog-eared throughout the book with the intention of going back over them.

Food pics backlog:

Tofu scramble with Tofutti American slices, avocado, Tofuttia Sour Supreme and hot sauce on a whole wheat hamburger bun with homefries.
The full breakfast spread including water, early grey tea with Splenda and soy milk, carbonated pink grapefruit juice, yummy Polish ketchup, and a giant salad with local farm greens and lettuces and roasted eggplant.
Another day, another scramble, with half of a sprouted bagel with Earth Balance and a side salad.
Whole wheat angel hair with kale and a sauce made out of coconut milk, peanut butter, curry, rice wine vinegar and other things. Almost a bit too rich, but very yummy.
Nachos! My new favorite brand of tortilla chips (my new favorite brand of anything really) "Food Should Taste Good" in both their multi-grain style and their jalapeno style with a nutritional yeast cheese sauce, black beans, mango salsa, jalapenos, Toffuti Sour Supreme and guacamole. So good.
Cherrybrook Kitchen brownie mix in a box with Butterscotch pudding made with half the amount of soy milk put on top of batter prior to baking.
Apple fritters based on the corn fritters recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, made with whole wheat flour and some cinnamon.

Bluberry muffins based on both the VwaV cherry almond recipe and this discussion on the PPK http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28632. They were good but could have been better with some whole wheat flour to give them more heartiness.

Food log:

I can't remember a lot of what I ate yesterday, which is weird because I'm usually good at remembering my foods. So I'm just going to start with today.

Breakfast: two flax multigrain waffles with Soy Garden buttery spread and maple syrup and leftover tofu scramble from the weekend.

Snack: raspberries.

Lunch: quinoa and black beans with salsa, jalapenos and a mixture of Sour Supreme, cilantro and fresh cracked pepper with a salad of farm lettuce, apples, cukes, shredded carrots and lemon-soy sauce-olive oil dressing, and a muffin for dessert.

Snack: some thick hearty multigrain crackers with black bean spread.

Dinner: a big salad and veggie fajitas on hemp tortillas. This is going to be a really healthy meal while watching the television premiere event of the season, Shaq's Big Challenge. For a healthy dessert I think I'll have a piece of a bar of dark chocolate with almonds and dried cherries.

I'm plateauing. This is partially a good thing, because it means that my body is close to the weight it wants to be. But this also means that from now on I'll be losing the extra tiny bit at an extremely low rate. I think I've lost a half of a pound in two weeks, and even that half could just be hormonal weight changes or something. I think I can lose a little more weight, but it means I need to be more strict with myself, keep up the exercise, and be patient. I could stand to stop having slip ups in the diet plan on the weekends. I want to see if my gym does a body fat analysis so I can try to determine how close I am to an ideal body weight.

I wonder about how strict I'll need to continue being once I get to my ideal weight. I know I want to eat very healthy for the rest of my life, but does that mean also eating smaller amounts and having no slip-ups for the rest of my life?

I took some good food pics last night but forgot to upload them to my computer before I headed to work this morning. Coming soon.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: half of a whole wheat bagel with Earth Balance marg and pizza seasoning herb and spice blend and soy yogurt with molasses and wheat germ.

Snack: a grapefruit.

Lunch: quinoa and beans with soy sour cream and a little salad of arugula and pea tendrils, and a low-fat whole wheat double chocolate chip muffin for dessert.

Snack: steamed broccoli with adobo and a drizzle of olive oil, other half of a bagel with Earth Balance and pizza seasoning, and half of a freezer bean and rice burrito.

Evening: split two beers with Nick, so maybe about one beer.

Late evening snack: while cooking I had some bites of pasta with a coconut-peanut-curry sauce and a little apple fritter Nick made.

Breakfast today: apple fritters and two tofu mini quiches.

Snack: green apple.

Lunch: whole wheat angel hair with kale and a coconut-peanut-curry sauce. It was a little too rich but I don't know how to make creamy sauces like this a bit lighter. Light coconut milk? A mix of low-fat soy milk and coconut milk? And some asparagus roasted with sesame seeds, shozu, balsamic vinegar and agave nectar.

Snack: canned corn with adobo and fresh ground pepper, grapefruit, and a double choco muffin.

Dinner: plans for nacho night with Nick. They will have some whole grain healthy-looking chips, refried beans, nutritional yeast cheesey sauce, jalapenos, guac, peach mango salsa, soy sour cream and cilantro. Flan would be a perfect dessert but I don't know if it could be thrown together in time since this all happens post-gallery opening Thursdays in Chelsea. But it'll be a great meal regardless.

I read the section of the BDS today about deciding what to do about drinking since alcohol has so many calories. This is something I definitely need to reflect on since I'm a young person in a social world that admittedly has a lot of drinking. It's not that I drink a lot, but drinking is often part of social activities. I need to figure out how I want to approach drinking and dieting at the same time.

Last night I packed myself a little pb & j to eat a lecture for dinner in the evening. I got hungry at work around 5:30 and decided to eat it then. Somehow I managed to pull through and not be too hungry by the time I got home at 10 and I didn't eat anything extra. I should have had the strength to put off eating the sandwich, but I'm proud of myself for eating within my planned food even with some scheduling changes.

I was out of the house at 6:15 this morning to go to a total body conditioning class at the gym and I have a spot reserved for spinning tonight! I'll be proud of myself if I do both today, but it is exactly behavior like this that worries me that I'll crash someday. If I didn't have a job, 2 gym classes a day would be reasonable, but that on top of a full work day can be a lot. At least I know I'll be sleeping heavy tonight if I do make it to spinning.

Food log:

Breakfast #1: on the train on the way to the gym, two tofu mini quiches with broccoli. I didn't want to get wiped from working out on an empty stomach. I know some people can do it, but I'm not good at it.

Breakfast #2: pumpernickel bagel with Earth Balance and half of a pink grapefruit.

Snack: tamari almonds.

Lunch: not dogs and baked beans and a salad with mixed greens and fresh peas topped with a simple balsamic-Braggs-agave dressing. Three Back to Nature cookies for dessert.

Snack: steamed broccoli topped with some adobo and a bit of olive oil.

Dinner: (planned) splitting a burrito with Nick as healthy as possible (i.e. brown rice, whole wheat tortilla, etc.) and a salad.

Dessert: I want to make these http://havecakewilltravel.com/2007/05/24/low-fat-double-chocolate-muffins/ They look really yummy.

I am bad at the BDS on the weekends. Part of the problem is that I only read the book during the week, so it's not as fresh in my mind when I'm situations where bad eating habits are easily triggered. My eating is also not on the strict schedule it is while I'm at work. This weekend I went to Boston and back in a day. I ate pretty okay considering I was out of my home eating situation and going to a high school graduation party. At the party I ate one curried mango-tempeh sandwich I brought and about four cookies I made. So I ate less healthily than usualy, but not all that bad. I went out to eat with friends and got a flat bread with whole wheat dough and lots of veggies. It was probably more than I usual eat and greasier than I usually eat, but again pretty okay. Then yesterday, back in New York, I think I was a little overly confidant in my eating self-control abilities from my success the day before. I went out to breakfast and had a breakfast burrito, pretty healthy. But then I went home and made a bunch of cookies for kickball, ate my fair share, and bought some chips and salsa for kickball, eating more than my fair share. The plus side is that I also was very active this weekend. I biked a lot both days and I did some sprinting at kickball last night.

The section of the BDS I read today is about eating out. The challenge is to go out to eat and feel like you've made the right decisions afterwards. I'm looking forward to accomplishing good eating out skills. I think it'll help me with my weekend binging.

Food log:

Breakfast: two mini tofu quiches with broccoli, half of a pumperknickle bagel with hummus and a nectarine.

Lunch: quinoa and beans, salad and three Back to Nature cookies.

Snack: tamari almonds, lightly sauteed bok choy with some miso for flavoring and a fresh apricot.

Dinner: peanut butter and apricot spread on a sprouted grain english muffin eaten at a lecture tonight.

I need to focus on eating more veggies at each meal. I go up and down with this a lot. I want to keep the veggie intake high and steady.

I haven't uploaded any pictures for a few days because I've been all sorts of busy. And today my stomach feels very off, so I'm not much in the mood to discuss food. More blogging next week!

I forgot to bring my book with my to read on the subway again today. But, on the bright side, I'm still going day to day using the skills I've learned from the book thus far. I'm exercising a good amount, and not pushing myself too much or too little, and I'm eating well. So not all is lost, but there is definite room for improvement. It's a good spot to be in actually. I have made progress, but I want to keep going in the same direction and get better. I just need to find a way to use this frame of thinking to apply to the rest of my life so I can get myself moving in other areas, intellectual, professional, social, etc.

Tonight I want to try to write up a few response cards I know I could use but I've been putting off making. Tomorrow my goal will be to bring the book on the subway and read a day on the way to work.

Food log:

Dinner last night: Nick brought leftovers from his work, which is always catered. It was sesame tofu with kale, to which I added a lot of sriracha hot sauce. It was really good, even cold, but greasey. Despite the grease, it really hit the spot for a night where I just felt like sitting on the couch and getting take out.

Dessert: blackberry sorbet and two Back to Nature sandwich cremes.

Breakfast today: an entire whole wheat bagel, half with hummus and sprouts and half with mushed up avocado, handful of grapes on the side.

Lunch: leftover sesame tofu with kale and grilled zucchini and yellow peppers I made last night. I think I'm finally getting the hang of my cast iron grill pan. Nice results with the veggies. Blueberries for dessert.

Snack: I brought pasta salad yesterday for a snack and didn't eat it (nice!), enjoyed my dinner more because I was hungrier for it, and I left it in the fridge at work for a snack today.

Dinner: depending on my motivation when I get home from spinning, I'm thinking of whipping up a quick tomato sauce for some vegan ravioli I got from a natural foods store in my neighborhood and trying to convince Nick to work on some tempeh stuffed mushrooms for a side/protein.

Dessert: I'm sure more cookies. They were on sale, so I bought another box. They are the only store brand cookies I feel are worth buying right now.

I keep leaving my BDS book at home when I go to work instead of reading it on the subway. I am really slacking with this and I know it. I don't know how to buck up and get back to the level of motivation I was at when I first started. But while I'm not motivated about the BDS as much, I am still doing a good job of eating well and exercising.

I was fairly good with eating on Friday night and Sunday, for weekend eating, but Saturday I was a major pig. I made really good chocolate chip cookies for a barbecue and ate too many of them. Nick made good potato salad and I discovered the delicious combination of dipping potato chips into potato salad. But after a bad Saturday, I was back on track on Sunday. For Sunday brunch I went to the new vegetarian diner in my neighorhood. They are still working out a lot of kinks. The "cook" cut carrots slower than I don't even know what. She cut them at about half my speed when I'm really tired and out of it. But other than that, the recipes were good and the intentions were good.

Nick got: tofu scramble made with Mori-Nu aseptic tofu made on a hot plate... a little weird, but the flavoring was good, and a salad on the side.
I had avocado and spinach tacos that could have used some more spinach, but were good nonetheless. I also had very good coffee on the side.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: sprouted grain english muffin with hummus and sprouts and half of a grape fruit.

Snack: tamari almonds.

Lunch: potato salad with lentils thrown on top; pasta salad with brown rice pasta, beans, tomatoes, green peppers, parsley and Veganaisse; pea tendrils with some balsamic; slice of rhubarb pie for dessert.

Snack: half of a grapefruit and Larabar Jocalat in orange chocolate flavor.

Dinner: yum. Seitan po' boy made by making a batter out of water, chickpea flour and mustard, dipping seitan in that, then dredging it in a mix of whole wheat flour, nutritional yeast, corn starch, adobo, paprika, pepper and a dash of cayenne and frying up in canola oil, on a whole wheat baguette (a bit too heavy for the sandwich) with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, jalapenos and a sauce made from Veganaisse and buffalo sauce. The salad is arugula, apples and sprouts. Dessert was a few sips of Nick's Jones Soda in some wierd blueberry flavor.

Breakfast today: half of a whole wheat bagel with hummus and sprouts, soy protein shake made with rice milk and fruit salad with apples and ruby red grapefruit.

Snack: I'm still working on the fruit salad. If I finish it and I'm hungry before lunchtime gym trip, I brought some tamari almonds.

Lunch: leftover seitan and a salad with mixed greens, arugula, granny smith apple, sprouts and radishes with a dressing of balsamic and maple syrup.

Snack: pasta salad.

Dinner: no ideas yet! It's too early in the day. Something quick that I can eat while watching Lawrence of Arabia.

Weekend eating out

This weekend I know I'll end up eating out a lot. Tonight I'm going to get something to eat before a concert in Manhattan. Tomorrow for brunch I am planning on trying the new vegetarian diner near my house with my friend who is visiting from out of town. Tomorrow night I'm going to a friend's barbecue. Sunday I'm going to the company barbecue at the boss's house. Luckily, but virtue of being vegan my menu is limited somewhat at most of these planned eating out events. But still, it's risky that I could be left ordering french fries tonight, and eating lots of potato chips at the barbecues. I want to make a rule for myself that I'm not allowed to eat any fried starches this weekend. I'm specifying starches because I might end up getting a fried protein thing like tofu or seitan tonight at dinner or tomorrow at lunch (but hopefully not both). Luckily this weekend is perfectly timed with the day in the BDS that specifically goes over the challenges with eating out. I think I should re-read this day in the book every day this weekend.

Food log:

Dinner last night: whole wheat angel hair with carrots, cilantro, lime juice, Earth Balance, shoyu and sriracha hot sauce; some tofu and baby bellas sauteed with shoyu and rice vinegar; and roasted brussels sprouts seasoned with veggie broth powder and black pepper.Dessert: I had a craving for chocolate cake so I made this uber-healthy looking recipe: http://dieflaschenpost.blogspot.com/2007/05/chocolate-cake.html I had a small piece and was somewhat disappointed. It tasted healthy, which didn't totally satisfy my chocolate cake craving. So I ate the last chocolate sandwich cookie, which was stale and totally not worth it. I was feeling down about this whole dessert situation. Then Nick came over and ate a huge slice of cake and promised me it didn't taste healthy at all and I felt better.
Breakfast today: sprouted grain english muffin with lemon pepper hummus and sprouts and half of a giant grape fruit.

Snack: tamari almonds.

Lunch: leftover pasta, tofu and brussel sprouts and the other half of the giant grape fruit.

Snack: piece of chocolate cake.

Dinner: my friend is a total omnivore and really enjoys a good hamburger, so I need to find a place that will have yummy and healthy vegan options that will also satisfy him. Too bad because I really wanted to check out this vegan asian place a block away from the concert. Hopefully I can sway him to try out a vegan restaurant that is very well reviewed.

Summer salad

So I was re-reading the BDS section about writing down your sabotaging thoughts so you can recognize them and respond to them. My problem with this is that when I eat things I shouldn't/don't deep down want to, my thinking is just "I don't care" which is a lot harder to respond to than something like "if no one sees me eat it then it doesn't matter. I know that I really do care, but I still can't ask myself what false thinking is going on there except for just not caring at the moment about something I know I care about in the long run. Thinking about this a lot will at least get me to stop and think some more about what I want to do when I say to myself "I don't care. I want to eat it." in those situations.

Summer is good for eating healthy because all I want to make is yummy salads.

Food log:

Dinner last night: quinoa from a box with seasonings (was mediocre, I would rather plain and spice it up on my own from now on) and taco-seasoned pinto beans with canned diced tomatoes in a sprouted grain tortilla with a delicious summery salad with mixed greens, scallions, cukes, sprouts and carrots with a dressing of lime juice, Bragg's and olive oil.
A close up shot of the salad

Dessert: two homemade rocket-shaped sandwich cookies.

Breakfast today: it is the morning of the month-wide company breakfast where there are free bagels and cream cheese, muffins, the standard continental breakfast stuff. I had a banana and a half of a whole wheat bagel from that which I topped with lemon pepper hummus and sprouts from home. It was a great way to have some free food and also take part in the firm wide breakfast while still eating well.

Snack: vanilla soy protein shake in rice milk.

Lunch: leftover quinoa and beans and a salad with baby spinach, scallions, sprouts, baby bellas and lemon pepper hummus. No need for dressing with the hummus! Two homemade sandwich cookies for dessert.

Snack: a half hand full tamari almonds.

Dinner: I was thinking of having some whole wheat angel hair with shaved carrots lightly cooked, lime juice, Earth Balance buttery spread, shoyu and cilantro and using up some old brussel sprouts as a side. That pasta dish is one of my favorites but one of those things I only think to make in the summer. I'm getting really excited about summer food. Brussel sprouts are not very summery, but they are very good roasted with garlic.

I'm getting to the re-reading of sections of the BDS book that I know I didn't really focus on when I went over them the first time. Because of this, I'm going to try to really make a special effort in reading them carefully and doing what they say. I know my motivation has been dwindling and I'm trying to figure out how to get it back up to where it was when I started.

I went to the gym last night and did an elliptical for a while and that felt good. But I didn't sleep as heavily as I wished I would and I woke up feeling tired and grumpy. I think spinning tonight and getting back to exercising regularly will hope with these things. At least I really hope they will.

Food has been good though. I've been eating well and eating good amounts. With the exception of this new passion of Nick's:
Almost oreos recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/80114. They are good. They are probably somewhat healthier than Oreos or their vegan, all natural counterparts, but not by a ton. And I ate four of them on Monday. At least after that they were gone for a few days, until Nick made more last night. I only brought two for myself to work, and smaller shapes than the USA cookies, small rockets this time. Hopefully I can maintain some more control around them.

Food log:

Dinner Monday: half of a sandwich from a cafe that was avocado, sprouts, radishes, cukes and tempeh on multigrain and half of Larabar Jocalot bar.
Breakfast yesterday: two tofu quiches and oat bran with flax, wheat germ and molasses.

Snack yesterday: a mango.

Lunch: Lightlife steak strips, frozen spinach, tofu feta and hot sauce on a sprouted grain tortilla.

Snack: veggie burger with lettuce, a bit of avocado, cukes, jalapenos, mustard and mayo with no bun.

Dinner last night: Nick made savory pancakes with lots of eggplant, garbanzo flour, and other things then roasted them up with sliced tomato and a basil tofu sauce. On the side he made a salad with mixed greens, cukes, walnuts, grapefruit and balsamic and olive oil. It was very delicious and hit the spot for a hearty but very healthy meal.

Here it is fresh out of the oven:
Plated and half eaten:
Dessert: blackberry sorbet with a chocolate cookie on top.

Breakfast today: tofu quiches and oat bran, again, but good!

Snack: nectarine. Who would bother with peaches when nectarines exist?

Lunch: leftover eggplant pancakes and a salad with mixed greens, steamed broccoli, green onions, cukes, tofu feta and sunflower seeds with a dressing made with balsamic, Bragg's and maple syrup, two cookies for dessert.

Snack: Odwalla superfood bar and maybe some shelled peanuts.

Dinner: quinoa and beans with some veggies or some sort.

Finally, since Brisco has been getting all the blog attention, a fine picture of Bowler showing off his belly, which he is very good at doing.

Cheeseless nachos: delicious blasphemy

I did something great last Friday. Nick and I went to dinner at one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, Kate's Joint, just a coincidence. I was in the mood for nachos, but there non-dairy cheese has caseinate in it (not vegan). So I just ordered them without cheese, but that meant it still came with beans, salsa, shredded lettuce and vegan sour cream. It was totally delicious and healthier and I didn't miss the cheesiness at all.

I'm gonna start exercising again today after my week of being too sick. I biked some over the weekend, but nothing strenuous. Tonight I have a reservation for a spinning class at the gym. I hope I can pick it back up with ease. I also did 20 minutes of yoga this morning, which was good, but I'm not very good at it yet. I imagine it'll be better and more energizing once I know the moves and positions a little better.

I'm still working on re-reading the BDS. It's good. It's helping me stick to my healthy eating habits more easily, without me feeling stressed about "dieting" or anything. I put dieting in quotes because I don't feel like I'm on a diet. I just feel like I'm eating differently now. That's one thing I really am happy to have accomplished with the BDS book, the feeling of being okay with changing how I eat for the long term and not thinking about it as temporary and uncomfortable dieting until I've lost the weight I want to lose.

No pictures today, sorry.

Food log:

The weekend is too much to write about. I'll just start fresh with today.

Breakfast: two mini crustless tofu quiches (based off this recipe http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/12/mini-crustless-tofu-quiches.html) with asparagus, sundried tomato, carmelized onions and topped with a bit of veggie parm. I also had a quarter of what was a big whole wheat everything bagel with olive pimento tofu cream cheese and sliced tomato, about half of a Naked blue superfood juice, and tea.

Lunch: veggie burger made from Fantastic veggie burger mix with some taco mix, sesame seeds and liquid smoke thrown in on a sprouter grain english muffin with fat-free nayonaise, chopped cilantro, jalapenos, avocado and Gulden's mustard. On the side I had a salad with mixed greens, steamed broccoli, sauteed baby portobellas, toasted walnuts and a simple dressing of red wine vinegar, Bragg's and maple syrup. For dessert I had a cookie that Nick made (based on this recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/80114) shaped as USA and made with non-hydrogenated shortening to make it marginally more healthy.

Snack: nectarine and maybe some peanuts in the shell.

Dinner: I want to try making a miso soup with lots of veggies and maybe some tofu or some other protein, but I'll see if that's enough of a dinner for me after spinning.

I feel back in swing with the BDS book and I'm definitely getting back on track with the things I initially accomplished then let slide. For example, I didn't snack while eating dinner last night. I enjoyed my dinner much more because of this. I've also been trying to get better about eating my lunch later in the afternoon so I'm really hungry for it and appreciate it more. My one downfall is baking. I love baking, but I can't keep eating the baked goods I make if I still want to lose a bit more weight. My big goal here is to learn to bake delicious and healthy treats and eat small amounts of them.

I've been sick the past few days so I haven't been able to exercise. I'm going to give myself this entire weekend to recoup then I want to get back to where I was with exercise before I got sick, meaning pilates 3 times a week, spinning 3 times a week, and as much sponataneous or less-intense exercise as I can squeeze in with my limited free time and while also giving myself a solid day off from exercising. I've noticed I don't sleep as well when I'm not exercising regularly. I'm looking forward to exercising again so I can get back to sleeping better.


Food log:

Dinner last night: soooo good. Roasted poblano peppers filled with taco seasoned red bean mush with some FYH soy chedder, brown rice pilaf, avocado, cilantro tofu cream (from this website: http://www.veganchef.com/) and steamed broccoli. This was a totally thrown together last minute dinner and it was so delicious. Nick bought the poblano peppers with not much of an idea of what to do with them, and we just threw the beans I made in them, and it was better than any chili rellenos I've ever had.
Dessert: peanut butter molasses oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and vegan m&m things, a very liberal variation of the peanut butter oatmeal cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. I had no brown sugar so I used molasses. I subbed whole wheat flour for regular and added some extra oat bran and wheat germ for extra healthiness to make up for the fact that these are so not healthy. I ate 1 1/2 (they were huge, I could have just had 1 and been satisfied) with a little bit of soy milk.
Breakfast: 2 mini crustless tofu quiches, 2 strawberry jalapeno corn muffins and a cup of tea.

Snack: one slice of leftover pizza from the other day and a cookie.

Lunch: leftover rice and beans with cilantro tofu cream and steamed broccoli with one cookie for dessert.

Dinner: no plans yet, but hopefully something light like a big salad.

And finally, Brisco looking cute sitting high atop my roommate's matress turned on it's side against the wall.

New planner

I bought a new planner and reread days 14-18 on the train this morning. I feel good about going back over these days and reminding myself of the stuff I read. During work I'm going to write out some response cards and schedule some exercise for next week.

For my uncle's birthday I got him a copy of the Beck Diet Solution. I'm excited to get someone from my dad's side of the family on it since thus far it's all people on my mom's side with the Beck last name. I also think it will just make him a happier and healthier person if he really takes the book to heart.

Food log:

Dinner last night: (pictured below) pizza with homemade pizza sauce, artichoke hearts, yellow and orange peppers, baby spinach, lemon-oregano tofu feta (mediocre, bought it because it was on sale) and veggie parm on a pre-made multi-grain pizza crust.
On the side there was some chopped up romaine, baby spinach and celery with caesar dressing.
For dessert I had two Back to Nature chocolate sandwich cremes and they are my new favorite cookie.

Breakfast today: mini crustless tofu quiches from this recipe: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/12/mini-crustless-tofu-quiches.html with orange and yellow peppers and sundried tomatoes. These are really easy and really good.And also for breakfast, I made strawberry jalapeno mini corn muffins based on the corn muffin recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, subbing whole wheat pastry flour and splenda.

Lunch: leftover pizza and sauteed zucchini with Braggs and red wine vinegar and two chocolate sandwich cookies for dessert.

Snack: tamari almonds.

Dinner: not set in stone yet, but I'm thinking some classic rice and beans would be good.

I still don't have my planner that had all my BDS stuff in it. Tonight I will go get a new planner and re-write cards. Over the next few days I want to go over the day I've done already since I had so much time with no focus on BDS. Then after that I think I'll be back on track. I just need to make sure I do what I say I'm going to. If I had my planner I could write this down and make sure I do it!

Food pics:

Red bean balls with mac and "cheese" and sauteed zucchini.

Dipping sauces for the red bean balls, tamarind bbq, salsa-mayo sauce and spicy peanut sauce.
Peanut butter and chocolate mousse.

Mini carrot cupcakes.
Miso breaded tofu with mashed potatoes and gravy, kale and beets, and steamed asparagus.

Mini zucchini breads. This recipe need some tweaking.

Bagel with mashed up avocado and salsa and black berries. Very simple and very good.

Hazelnut cupcakes, topped with nuts are filled with mocha mousse and topped with raspberries are filled with raspberry preserves.

Food log:


Dinner last night: (pictured below) garlic bread and a caesar salad with homemade vegan caesar dressing and everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. Leftover pb and choco mousse for dessert.

Breakfast today: oat bran cereal with wheat germ and ground flax thrown in and flavored with molasses and some green juice on the side.

Lunch today: salad with r0maine, baby spinach, tomatoes, cukes, sauteed portobello and tempeh topped with caesar dressing and an odwalla bar.

No plans for dinner yet.

And finally, Brisco loving on "How it all Vegan!" cook book.