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.