Beck Vegan Diet Solution

2007-08-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08-13T09:26:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-08-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08-08T05:03:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-08-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-07-10T04:33:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-07-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-26T03:58:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-06-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-15T08:54:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-06-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-11T19:57:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-07T19:53:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-07T04:37:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-06-05T18:55:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-30T18:51:00.001-07:00

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

2007-05-30T04:02:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

I haven't been posting because I haven't uploaded any food pictures and a blog is just so much more exciting with food pictures. But I will list now and then picture later.

Food log:

I forgot what I ate during the day on Wednesday!

Wednesday dinner: I went out of control! I was feeling mildly sick and tired and stressed out, so I decided to treat myself to some take out and watch a movie. I went to a Thai place near my house and got crispy vegetarian duck with tamarind sauce and veggies, tom kha coconut soup and crispy spring rolls. It was enough food for two and I ate most of it. I eventually just threw away the few scraps left so I wouldn't eat anymore. Then I had a homemade ice cream sandwich and a bunch of Newmans-Os. At this point I felt sick and was able to stop. I don't know what happened or even what I was thinking. It was very mindless. But the movie I watched was really good! Delicatessen, a french film, that I highly recommend.

Thursday breakfast: my new favorite breakfast is plain soy yogurt with toasted wheat germ and molasses. I had two organic kiwis on the side.

Snack: tamari almonds.

Lunch: tempeh bacon BLT with jalapeno mayo on a sprouted grain tortilla with chopped tomato and baby carrots on the side.

Snack: peanuts in the shell. This is a good snack because it takes a long time to eat.

Dinner: breaded and baked miso tofu, a healthy version of this recipe: http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=284 with mashed potatoes and turnips with a mushroom-chickpea gravy, spicy kale and beets, asparagus and a mini muffin of zucchini bread from How it all Vegan. For dessert I had some peanut butter chocolate tofu mousse sweetened with maple syrup.

Breakfast today: two mini zucchini muffins (they've good with very minimal sweetness, sweetened with splenda anyway) and this new brand of plain soy yogurt that is really really good! It's called Wild Wood and it is totally unsweetened, unlike other brands of plain soy yogurt. I had some wheat germ and cinnamon stewed rhubarb thrown in.

Lunch coming up: leftovers of tofu, kale and beets and mashed root veggies with some pb and choco mousse for dessert.

Snack: steamed asparagus. It's local! It'll make a good snack on my bus ride to Boston.

I'm debating getting something from a health food place near work to eat on the bus or just trying to stick it out until I get to Boston. If I get food for the bus, I'm much more likely to eat it before I'm really hungry for it, but if I try to hold out I'm much more likely to pig out once I get to Boston. I'm leaning towards buying food first, but not sure yet. I'll let the day unfold first.

Too many sweets

2007-05-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

Nick said he noticed a change in the way my body looks and it made me feel really good for someone to recognize it. I remember when one girl at work lost ten pounds and everyone was complimenting her, but no one (at work or elsewhere) has noticed that I've been working hard at getting my body where I want it to be and making small successes. I feel silly because I don't need other people's validation, but it would be nice to at least have the results of my efforts be recognized.

I went spinning last night and today during lunch. The spin instructor today pointed out that people shouldn't be doing high intensity exercise all the time. Medium intensity exercise most of the time and high some of the time is key to changing your body and losing weight. The only problem with that is my medium intensity spinning class was so much more boring. We did the same cadence with the same heart rate the entire time. The music was boring too. I think I just need to be more active normally, with spontaneous exercise, to count as my not-high intensity exercise.

Food log:

Snack yesterday: I had one and a half of my choco chip cookies from VwaV (Vegan with a Vengeance). I meant to eat half at first, then I ate an entire one. Then I gave one to a co-worker who didn't like it (I think it was the molasses, she said it tasted salty), so I finished her's. I felt really guilty and bad about it. I didn't even have a good sabotaging thought to justify it to myself. I just wanted to eat it and I ate it. But I didn't even enjoy it that much since I knew I was doing something I didn't want to be doing. Spinning class and a good, healthy dinner made me feel better.

Dinner last night: a pretty good copy-cat of the "No Name" from Grasshopper vegan restaurant in the Boston area. Nick made it with Chinatown fake meat store chicken medallions and parsnips and broccoli in a tangy sauce made with tamarind and a bunch of other stuff. On the side there was a simple salad of cukes, toms and scallions with a bit of Bragg's. For dessert I had an ice cream sandwich and a mini carrot cupcake.

Breakfast: multi-grain bagel with Tofutti cream cheese mixed up at home with sundried toms, basil and garlic and a cup of tea.

Lunch: (look! no snack!) leftover samosas from last week (still good), steamed broccoli with rice vinegar and Bragg's and parsnip fries with Polish ketchup from my neighborhood. Parsnips are totally my new favorite veggie. They make great oven baked fries. For a dessert I had a mini carrot cupcake. When I say mini, I mean that one fits in my little Tupperware salad dressing container. They're perfect tiny desserts. I was still hungry after eating all that, probably from my pre-lunch spinning class, so I had my snack of blackberries as an additional dessert.

Snack coming up: half of an Odwalla superfood bar from last week.

Dinner coming up: plans still in the works. I promise pictures tonight!

In other exciting veggie news, a vegetarian diner is opening up a block and a half from my house!

One month vegan

2007-05-20T19:32:00.001-07:00

So I've been totally vegan for one month as of this past Saturday. It hasn't been at all difficult for the majority of the time. And even when it is hard, I just say "oh well, I can't eat that stuff because I'm eating vegan." And it's usually stuff I'm glad I didn't eat anyway.

My daily planner has been stuck with my friend who is moving from Amherst this week and without it the BDS is hard to do right. My response cards and gym schedule and everything is in that. I'm thinking about just holding off on doing a half-assed job without my planner, so once I get it I can go over everything and really work hard at it. I just hope I have the time to pick it up from my friend this week so I don't put off focusing on it more any longer. Daily planners are essential to the BDS for sure.

I've been exercising as much as I want to and tell myself I'm going to. It's great.

Weekend food highlights:

Saturday dinner: one month veganniversary! A veganized version of those KFC bowls: http://www.kfc.com/menu/bowls_potato.asp Mine was with mashed root veggies (potatoes, turnips and parsnips), spinach, corn, chickpea gravy, Light Life chick'n strips breaded with whole wheat flour and panko bread crumbs, topped with Follow Your Heart cheddar style cheese.
An inside shot:

Sunday dinner: a mediocre attempt at baked corn dogs. This is a work in progress that will be revisited. Then along with that was green beans and mushrooms with chickpea gravy, sweet potato and parsnip baked fries with a creamy tomato-y dipping sauce, and roasted brussel sprouts.
Sunday dessert: homemade cinnamon maple pecan ice cream sandwiches! I finally put the ice cream sandwich maker my mom got me last year to use with the help of Nick's new ice cream maker. The sandwich part is made of a blondie from Vegan with a Vengeance.
To bring to work: really delicious chocolate chip cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. Things like this make it harder to get fired! I had one last night and it was delicious. The secret ingredient is a tablespoon of molasses, shhhh.

Breakfast today: marinated and sauteed tempeh with avo, jalapenos, cukes, toms and red onion on a sprouted grain tortilla and cherries on the side.

Snack coming up: tamari almonds, mmmmm.

Lunch coming up: a mush of mashed root veggies, corn and spinach with chickpea gravy, leftover brussel sprouts and sweet potato fries, and Light Life strips with buffalo sauce.

Snack after that: strawberry jalapeno corn muffins I made this weekend and did not photograph. But I really should have. They are both pretty and delicious. The jalapeno is not very spicy (it probably could have used even more) and the flavor goes really well with the strawberries. This will definitely become a regular muffin.

Afternoon slow down

2007-05-18T13:49:00.001-07:00

T was planning on going spinning, but the combination of mildly sore hamstrings and back and a general laziness are really wearing on my motivation. I want to go, but I got a feeling it's not going to happen. The only problem is that with the bad weather this weekend I don't know how much other exercise I will get since my weekend physical activity is generally based on the ability to go outside. How bad will I feel if I don't do it? Maybe a night off is okay? I've done vigorous exercise the last three days and if it weren't for this weather I know I would do something active over the weekend to make up for a night off. Ugh. Friday motivation is hard.

Doing good! Good food!

2007-05-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've been exercising a lot and it's making me feel really good. Right now I'm a bit sore from an intense cardio kickboxing class yesterday, but a good feeling sore. I think I will do spinning tonight to loosen up (I read in the Times exercising when sore is generally okay as long as you aren't actually hurt). Then I'll take it easy this weekend with the usual walking around on errands, maybe a few easy bike rides, and cleaning. I've been sleeping really well because of all the exercise. I've actually not been able to get to bed before 11 all this week, and I usually get up around 6, but I've been sleeping so heavily that I feel generally okay the next day. I hope I can keep this up every week because I feel good about it and I feel accomplished when I exercise as much as I want to and plan to.

I weighed myself yesterday and my weight is still going down. It's hard to tell how much I'm actually losing because sometimes I weight myself with a friend at work in clothes but no shoes and sometimes I weigh myself at the gym in a towel but a belly full of water from exercising. No matter what my weight actually is, I'm slimming down in a healthy way and it's good.

Food log:

Dinner Wednesday: (pictured below) tempeh marinated in Stubbs bbq sauce and grilled on the cast iron grill pan, roasted corn with chipotle sour cream/mayo sauce and vegan parm, green beans (too oily, oh well), and really delicious homemade low-fat dairy-free mac and cheese from a recipe online but I forget from where...

Dessert Wednesday: (pictured below) ice cream cone shaped cookies with tops iced with pink confectioner's sugar icing or chocolate. I had just one with chocolate, very yummy.

Breakfast yesterday: scone with Smart Balance Light, apple, vanilla soy protein shake with rice milk.

Snack yesterday: tamari roasted almonds, my new favorite thing.

Lunch yesterday: (pictured below) too oily green beans (look at that sheen!), roasted corn mixed up with some chipotle sour cream/mayo sauce and mac and cheese. Well balanced and good, but low on the protein.

Dinner yesterday: (pictured below) at first I was really unmotivated about dinner, then I got overly motivated. Clockwise from the top: roasted corn with chipotle sauce and fake parm; mushrooms marinated in red wine vinegar and a bit of Braggs with cilantro and red onions; tomatoes and cukes with a bit of sea salt; refried beans and guac with homemade baked corn chips; taco with refried beans, Light Life steak strips, salsa verde, jalapeños and nutritional yeast on a sprouted grain tortilla sauteed up in a non-stick with a bit of cooking spray.

Breakfast today: sauteed Gimme Lean sausage with onions, sundried tomatoes and beet greens, blackberries and earl grey tea with rice milk and splenda. I usually have my tea with nothing in it and this was a nice change.

Lunch: (pictured below) marinated mushrooms, cucumbers and tomato salad; too oily green beans (trying to get rid of them), baked breaded tofu with corn meal, whole wheat flour, kelp granules and various spices cut in cute diamonds with a avocado mayo minced cornichon dipping sauce.

Snack: (pictured above), tamari almonds and raisins and an Odwalla superfood bar. I decided not to bring the apple.

I need a soy free dinner. So much soy today! Maybe I'll think of something good to do with the rest of those refried beans I opened yesterday. I love refried beans but they aren't very good alone.

People at work have been noticing that I eat more healthfully than most other people here and a few even compliment me on it!

The food porn begins...

2007-05-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

banana split cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting

tostada with refried beans, green chiles, jalapeños,
soy cheese, salsa, lettuce, avocado and soy sour cream

homemade veggie burger with sauteed greens
and baked sweet potato fries and homemade ketchup

spinachy samosas with apple raisin chutney and hot sauces

Homemade samosas and chutney! Photos soon.

2007-05-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hopefully by tonight I will be able to upload photos onto my computer and into this blog. Then I'll do one big post of all the delicious foods I took pictures of over the past few weeks. After that I'll try to throw a few food pictures in my posts- this may be a little off-timed since I blog at work and photo at home, but I can work it out as long as no one minds the lag time.

No major BDS news. I'm still trying to find the time to write out my response times. I need to admit that I need to make the time, not just find it. Last night I got out at 6:30, had spinning class from 7:00-7:45, then did strength training and stretching from about 7:45-8:30, home at 9, showered, did some work for my grown up guidance counselor for a while, ate dinner, went to bed. Not a lot of time in there, but I could have figured something out if I tried harder. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, but I promise myself over the next few days.

Food log:

Yesterday snack: beet and salad greens salad was pretty good. I love raw beets. And it kept me sustained throughout spinning class.

Dinner: Nick made homemade baked samosas (half reg flour, half wh0le wheat pastry flour) and homemade onion chutney. Both were soooo good. It was also a really nice change from my usual style of cooking. For dessert we had homemade lemon cinnamon scones with a little simple glaze and with some Earth Balance spread. Also really good.

Breakfast: sauteed tofu with breakfast scrambler seasoning, asparagus and sundried tomato and a scone with Earth Balance.

Snack: raisins.

Upcoming lunch: samosas with chutney.

Upcoming snack: more beety salad.

Planned dinner: I'm marinating tempeh in Stubb's BBQ sauce that I plan to grill up on my grill pan. For sides I want to make some healthy-ish vegan mac and cheese with broccoli or green beans or something green thrown in and grilled corn with chipotle sour cream sauce. I'm not sure what an appropriate dessert would be with that, maybe some grilled fruit.

2007-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I was in Amherst last weekend, where I went to college, and it was a challenge. The combination of traveling and being in a place easy to fall into old habits made it hard to be healthy. There were no vegan slip ups, but I did eat more potato chips and dip than I'd like to admit. I need to admit it though, that's the point of a food blog. I ate Cape Cod salt and vinegar potato chips dipped in... fake spreadable HYDROGENATED margarine. So unhealthy in so so so many ways. The taste of really fake butter reminds me of the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" at my best friend's house growing up and while I recognize it as gross, it is also somewhat nostalgic for me and irresistible to me. I also had a bit too much white french baguette with baba ghanoush and tomatoes and artichoke hearts for breakfast one day- reasonable but not as healthy as I'd eat at home. I made vegan tiramisu cupcakes and only ate one, which is pretty good of me. For eating out while away, I had half of a cheeseless veggie panini and some salad one night and vegan tofu florentine of multigrain bread with homefries for brunch one morning. Better than I used to be, but not as good as I'd like to be. Maybe once I'm at my ideal weight I can eat this sort of stuff occasionally or while traveling, but as long as I'm still trying to slim down I gotta stick to healthier fare. So last night was a clean slate, back at home, back on track. My biggest focus is going to be to stick to the things I was good at initially but have since let slip, like eating standing up and unplanned snacking.

Food log:

Dinner last night: 1/3 of a small pizza from a pizza shop nearby with tomato sauce, sliced tomatoes, pineapple, vegan cheddar and buffalo sauce and three little garlic knots on the side as a treat from the pizza man for not having any hot peppers for my pizza. For dessert I had three squares (3/16) of a dark chocolate with marzipan Ritter Sport bar.

Breakfast: Gimme Lean sausage formed into a patty with spinach, sundried toms and crushed red peppers sauteed up on one slice of multigrain bread with fresh spinach, red onion and fat free vegan herbed mayonnaise. I also had half a pear and a cookie, one of the choco peanut butter oatmeal ones from last week. Cookie was bad of me, but you win some and you lose some.

Lunch: leftover slice of pizza from last night.

Upcoming snack: mixed greens and beet tops salad with raw beets, red onion and sunflower seeds with a simple dressing of Braggs and red wine vinegar.

Dinner: thus far undecided. I got free spinach at the farmer's market from my farm share farm that starts in June that I want to use up. Hopefully something good will come of it.

I need to focus on more fruits and veggies, at least one serving at breakfast and two at both lunch and dinner, and more protein since I'm going to start up with some strength training tonight. Already some days I'm good about this and some days I'm not, but I need to make sure I'm good most days. I feel much better when I am.

2007-05-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'm officially back on the BDS wagon. I've been doing my daily readings and even stopping throughout the day to remind myself of what that day is about. I've been good about reading my advantages response card. I have yet to make other response cards, but I have serious intentions to do so. I'm exercising more, but not as much as I want to.

I was going to go to the gym during lunch today but I went to a spin class on Monday then a Wholefoods trip on Tuesday, work ends early today for an office morale boosting karaoke party, and I took tomorrow off. So I decided I just didn't have time to do it and be the type of worker my office expects me to be. I did a spin class last night and pilates this morning so it's not the end of the world. I just hope I'm not justifying not going with any self-fooling thoughts. My roommate is big into taking it slow when getting back into exercise so you don't hurt yourself or stress out your body. I personally don't think this is all that necessary, but it probably also is an okay thing to do. I have big plans to work out outdoors tomorrow during my day off. I want to start jogging once a week so I will be able to work out outside if I even can't get to the gym or just want to be outside.

Food log:

Dinner yesterday: refried bean enchiladas (two were on my plate but I only ate one!), a small salad of black beans, corns, peppers and avocados and another little salad of lettuce mix and salsa and Kate's soy sour cream sauce. For dessert I had the most delicious mini hand pie, about the size of a big-ish ravioli made with whole wheat crust and filled with chocolate, pears and almonds. This dinner really hit the spot.

Breakfast: homemade seitan pepperoni and chicken ham sandwich on multigrain with mustard, fat free vegan mayo, pickles and lettuce mix. Maybe a weird breakfast, but good.

Snack: small salad of lettuce, a bit of avocado, red peppers, onions, black beans, corn and salsa.

Lunch coming up: leftover enchilada with a side of steamed asparagus and Kate's soy sour cream sauce for dipping, then one mini hand pie for dessert.

Dinner: I'm going out to that work karaoke thing. I know dinner snacks are provided there, but a) they probably aren't vegan and b) I shouldn't/don't want to eat it anyway. So I brought a peanut butter, banana, apricot preserves and agave nectar sandwich on multigrain. I think this will hold me over.

Midday update

2007-05-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

I brought the cookies I made to work in order to pawn them off on other people. I told myself I could have only one. I ate half after my lunch and wrapped the other half in my napkin. The other half is still in the napkin, waiting to be eaten after my salad at 5. Not only have I not eaten my entire one cookie yet, but I even have the entire container of cookies for co-workers on my desk and I haven't thought about opening it to have one for myself. I'm really proud.

Also, I've lost roughly five pounds since becoming vegan. I estimate my pre-vegan weight around 117, I was 115 about two weeks ago when I weighed myself, and I was 112 today. Good progress.

2007-05-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

I was a pretty healthy eater all weekend until Sunday night when the madness of the Brooklyn kickball league got to me and I gorged on cookies. I was very disappointed in myself, but got back on the wagon Monday morning. I'm finding more and more that I really enjoy eating healthy food and it is becoming what I crave. For example, I can't even imagine wanting some toasted white bread when I know I could have some delicious fresh multi-grain toast at home. But I still have problems with overeating, especially when it comes to snacky foods. My cookies were peanutbutter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It was vegan and even made with whole wheat flour, but it was still fatty and sugary and I ate more than I needed. Similar experience last night. I made baked corn chips from corn tortillas and had some leftover refried beans, homemade salsa and tofu sour cream sauce, so I ended up snacking on those mindlessly. While I was doing it I already felt guilty about it. I think the weekend cookies just weakened my theoretical eating resistance muscle and built up my theoretical giving-in muscle. I also haven't been blogging as much as I wish I would. But actually saying these things out here, putting my realizations abut my eating habits in writing, helps a lot. I need to stick with it and I will. I know I'll be proud of myself if I do and in the end I will feel it's worth it.

My biggest goal for today is to write out the response cards I've been putting off. I can probably even do this during little breaks at work. I've been better about reading my advantages response card regularly and I'm remembering it really does help. More cards, more help, I figure.

I'm trying to incorporate more cardio and more pilates. So far so good, but not at the level I want to be. As long as I can increase and improve every week until I'm where I want to be, I will be happy with that. I just need to make sure I don't slack and disappoint myself.

I also don't want to go over everything I've eaten since I last posted. So instead I will start posting food logs daily to avoid this. It doesn't take that long and I'm always glad I did.

Food log:

Dinner yesterday: toasted corn tortilla topped with refried beans, green chiles, jalapenos, melted vegan monterey jack, salsa, lettuce, red onions, Kate's special soy sour cream sauce and 1/4 avocado. This dinner was delicious. I made some chocolate peanutbutter oatmeal cookies and ate too many of them, but not too too many, only two when I should have had one. At least I didn't have ten. I snacked on too many corn chips I made, but they were as healthy as corn chip snacking can get.

Breakfast: tofu scramble with veggie chicken ham (weird Asian vegetarian store product) and red and green peppers with a side of toasted fresh multigrain bread and tea.

Lunch: whole wheat gnocchi with tomatoes, corn, black beans, salsa verde and pepper. Weird but surprisingly okay tasting (I had the first half of this concoction yesterday). On the side baked lightly breaded okra with a fat-free vegan tartar sauce.

Snack: salad of boston lettuce, raddichio, corn, apples, red onion and toasted walnuts and sunflower seeds. I couldn't find a single-serving dressing tupperware container so I just decided to eat it without dressing and I'm totally okay with that.

Bad blogger, bad BDSer

2007-05-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

I've been surprisingly busy at work and therefore much worse at blogging. I can never get myself to blog at home. The BDS is going along fine but I am having a hard time devoting as much time to it as I'd like. I have been reading my advantages response card a lot less, but I did read it this morning before breakfast like I planned to. This weekend I plan on reading over everything I went through over the past week to make sure I really got it down.

Food log:

Tuesday night: navy bean and veggie soup and a salad with lettuce, raw beets, beet greens, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and walnuts with a little balsamic vinaigrette and Braggs on top.

Wednesday morning: one little blueberry corn muffin and an orange.

Wednesday lunch: same thing as dinner the night before.

Wednesday snack: a small vegan raspberry blondie square.

Wednesday dinner: I pigged out on a megasoy burrito from Burritoville. It was fairly healthy with red beans and brown rice and tempeh, but I ate way too much of it. Then I had a full calorie soda! They were out of diet and I should have just had water. I'm disappointed in myself.

Wednesday later: I went out for drinks with a friend for her birthday and restrained myself to only whiskey and diet coke. That was good of me.

Thursday breakfast: mango smoothie with a shot of wheatgrass.

Thursday lunch: nothing! My attempt at a fasting day.

Thursday snack: I caved around 3:30. My breakfast was very low calorie (like 220 calories) and all fruit so not very long-term filling food. I was tired from being out late the night before and miserable. I had some spicy pita chips and a banana, about 300 calories or so total. Totally okay given it was a cave from fasting.

Thursday dinner: so good. Half a veggie burger on half a sprouted grain english muffin with ketchup, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, jalapeños and napa cabbage; four soy nuggets tossed in buffalo sauce and dipped in soy sour cream mixed with fresh cracked pepper and racaito; steamed collards, beets and red onions with toasted walnuts. For dessert I had a cookie that Nick made and I elaborate on below. It was a really good, albeit indentity-confused, dinner.

Today breakfast: multi-grain bagel with veggie tofu spread and sun dried tomatoes.

Lunch: lunch out on the company dime. I was good. I had one piece of bread with olive oil and a salad with baby lettuces, cherry tomatoes, pears, asparagus and corn with too much lemon vinaigrette. The dressing was good, it was just too oily and too much. I need to remember to always order dressing on the side.

Snack: carob carrot oatmeal cookies made sweetened with splenda and maple syrup and made with whole flour. As probably as healthy as a cookie can get, but very good.

Dinner: I'm planning on making this http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/eggplant-pancakes-florentine.html

BDS day 11 and 13 cont'd, feeling sick.

2007-05-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, when I rush through days I feel like I don't absorb them as well. So I decided to continue to focus on yesterday's tasks today.

I'm trying to note how I feel before, during and 20 minutes after snacks. Bringing my lunch makes it easier since I only have a limited amount of food I can eat, but I will try to remember to work on this when eating at home or eating out. I think keeping a log of this for dinner over the next few days could be useful, rather than just focusing on it today when I don't have much of a choice for how much I eat until dinner at home. I also need to do this on weekends since those are the times it is less easy to distract myself when hungry and eating becomes more of a social activity.

I'm need to make up a little index card tonight to specifically address cravings since I know I am so bad with cravings. I meant to do it last night, but I was feeling sick and braindead.

I got myself a daily planner to make sure I do all the things I'm supposed to and say I'm going to do. Now I'm working on actually opening it and checking it a few times a day.

I've been feeling sick and it makes me worried about my diet. I'm eating really healthy, but I think maybe the shock because of the change has got my body off kilter. In the interest of getting over it, I haven't exercised in a few days. I'm really bummed about that. I want to be better now.

Food log:

Dinner last night: homemade veggie burger on sprouted english muffin with ketchup, avocado, soy cheese, jalapenos, red onion and mixed greens. Very satisfying.

Dessert: 1/4 of a Ritter dark chocolate with marzipan bar. It's vegan! And has very normal ingredients, like chocolate liquer and cocoa butter, nothing weird like corn syrup and hydrogenated oils or milkfat.

Breakfast: tempeh sandwich with the usual veggie fixin's plus some good ketchup.

Lunch: whole wheat rotini with broccoli and fresh tomatoes with a sauce made of lima bean-roasted garlic-basil puree mixed with a bit of soymilk. Good, but not great.

Snack: crunchy all natural peanut butter and half a banana on a sprouted grain tortilla.

Planned dinner: navy bean and faux "chicken ham" soup, hopefully with some appropriate veggies thrown in.

I really wish I could calorie count for a day but I feel like it would be too complicated to do with all homemade and somewhat weird foods. It would at least take more effort that I think it's worth, but it'd be interesting.

BDS day 11 and 13, bad weekend

2007-04-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

I am so bad at BDSing over the weekend, so bad. I'm a weird mix of being too busy then wanting to relax whenever I'm not busy. I carried my book with me all day Sunday hoping that I would have a chance to read and take some notes, but I didn't open the book once. This is the perfect example of why I need to make time to diet. My mom had the idea of going over my BDS stuff Friday evenings, which is probably a good idea in most cases. This last Friday I had about five minutes in between coming home from work and going out again, but that isn't the case on most Fridays. And hopefully all weekends won't be so ridiculously busy. If I need to, and I probably do, I will start setting my alarm for an earlier (but still pretty late) time on the weekends so I know I'll have time to work on meal planning and exercising before I need to start weekend activities.

Day 11 is learning to differentiate between hunger, desire and cravings. I'm doing the notes in the book before lunch. It's about 11:30 am and I'm trying to wait until 1pm to eat, but I already wrote up a note about how my stomach is feeling before lunch since I'm already hungry! I felt the need to recognize I was hungry but also reflect on it not being all that bad. I will write up more as lunch gets closer.

Day 13, dealing with cravings, is going to take a few days of focus I think. I'm bad with giving into cravings, but I also might not really get any today if I'm busy or satisfied with what I brought to work to eat. I need to keep this in mind. I think I'll write up a cravings card full of key advantages response things and a few other techniques for dealing with cravings.

Day 12 is skipping lunch. I came down with a cold this weekend so I think I'm going to put this off until Thursday when I'm feeling better and I know I have to walk somewhere during lunch, which will help to distract me.

Weekend food highlights:

Friday night: I drank beer even though I explicitly said I wasn't going to. I got a snack of homemade pita and hummus at a restaurant, fairly healthy but pita was white flour and what not. Late at night I had two slices of a personal pizza with no cheese and olives. Like the hummus, white flour instead of whole wheat like I would have at home. It was all bad stuff, but not the worst and certainly far from total slippage.

Saturday brunch: I went to a non-vegan friendly brunch spot with a friend and got chickpea salad with watercress and homefries. The salad had too much oil on it, but was good. I didn't feel deprived.

Snack: Naked brand green superfood juice. It was really good and it made me feel full. I went to Coney Island with some friends and they all got hotdogs and I didn't get anything. I was very proud.

Dinner: a very mediocre veggie burger at a restaurant with a giant white bun with guac, jalapeños, onion, lettuce and ketchup. It had fries with it but I managed to eat only a few and give the rest away. I was pretty full at the end, probably more than I needed to be.

Sunday brunch: so good. Tofu scramble with tons of veggies and a grilled little corn muffin. Very satisfying and healthy.

Snack: I baked up a batch of blueberry corn muffins with fresh blueberries. I like the recipe I go off of because the muffins come out fairly small. I had one warm for a snack. It was delicious.

Sunday dinner: so great. Homemade veggie burgers made with lentals and wheat gluten on sprouted grain english muffins with homemade ketchup (so good!), avocado, red onion, jalapeños, and mixed greens. On the side there was homemade chipotle sweet potato fries with some of that delicious homemade ketchup and greens with garlic (a little too oily, but okay).

Dessert: another blueberry corn muffin. I probably didn't need this, but it was reasonably healthy.

Food log:

Breakfast today: I was starving this morning before work since I woke up earlier than usual to do some pilates. I had one muffin at home then had another one at work with a cup of green tea.

Planned lunch: a roll-up on a sprouted grain tortilla of homemade basil-roast garlic-lima bean spread with oven roasted eggplant, red and green peppers and mixed greens.

Planned snack: leftover sweet potato fries with yummy homemade ketchup and leftover greens.

Planned dinner: another homemade veggie burger on sprouted grain muffin. Toppings undecided.

I need to make sure I eat fairly light today since I canceled my plans to go spinning later in order to get over my cough. I'll work with the book a lot today to make up for slacking over the weekend and to help me get through lighter eating.

BDS day 10, corn muffins

2007-04-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Day 10 sounds simple, but I'm actually finding it harder than I expected. "Set a realistic goal" The problem here is that I'm already petite, I have probably a total of ten pounds to lose max, but if I'm setting goals within the 3 pound range, that sort of weight loss/gain fluctuates from day to day based on water weight, what I've eaten, etc. I'm going to say I want to lose five pounds because that is at the point where I know I'm really losing the weight I want to be losing, but that is actually about 4% of my body weight and maybe that's unrealistic. I don't know. I need to stew on this to the end of the day.

I have some other stressful things going on in my life right now and it's the first real test of if I can stick to eating healthy while being stressed. The book goes through this extensively, but in the madness of stress it can be easy to forget everything. Being stressed about one thing in my life makes me want to give up on everything else that I'm trying to improve in my life. I need to not do this, obviously, but I also want to try to work on applying BDS techniques to everything else. I need to learn to stick with the things I know I really care about when I'm stressed out.

Food log:

Snack/dinner: baby bok choy sauteed with Braggs, lemon and sriracha hot sauce.

Snack/dinner part 2: Silk Live mango smoothie thing.

Snack/dinner part 3: air-popped popcorn with vegan butter flavored spray with negligible calories and nutritional yeast (lots of b vitamins!) and a homemade corn muffin. Clearly, I made several attempts at dinner last night. I just wasn't hungry and I was busy catching up with a friend over some herbal tea. Suddenly it was 9:15 pm and I haven't really eating much of anything in the way of dinner and I started craving corn muffins. So I decided to have a snacky dinner of fairly healthy cheesey tasting popcorn and I made vegan low-sugar corn muffins from scratch. I used splenda instead of sugar, but there was a fair amount of oil in the batter (1/3 or 1/2 cup of canola oil, I forget which). I need to learn how to do lower-fat baking. I added the zest of one lemon and that made them a little more special. They were also pretty small sized muffins. I ate only one warm with some non-hydrogenated margarine. Very good.

Breakfast today: two little lemon corn muffins, warmed up, no margarine.

Lunch today: pasta with Light Life faux chicken strips and broccoli and seasoned with Braggs, tahini and sriracha. Five dried prunes for dessert.

Snack: cup of coffee black with one french vanilla flavored Splenda packet.

What I have waiting: baby lima beans with roasted garlic, parsley, adobo, pepper and non-hydro margarine and a dinner out. For dinner I get to choose a vegan or vegan-friendly restaurant since I'm going out with some pretty liberal people, one of whom is already vegetarian. My picks all have pretty healthy vegan options so hopefully I won't stray from the healthier choices on the menu.

Tonight I might be going out to a bar with some friends. I want to make sure that I order cocktails with diet soda, as much as I love a good beer, because I just know that is as healthy as I can get while drinking alcohol. It'll be tricky to do and even harder to read the advantages response card in a public place with low-lighting if I feel tempted. Hopefully my will power will be strong enough to survive it.

BDS day 9, more fooding

2007-04-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Day 9 is easy. I had already figured out my exercise goals within the past week as part of an increased overall focus on my health. Pilates three times a week and an intense cardio workout at least three times a week (intense qualifies as a spinning class or another really challenging cardio class and not just doing an elliptical for a half hour). Otherwise, I just want to be more active. I need to walk and bike everywhere on the weekends. Last weekend I walked over the Williamsburg bridge three times and it felt really good. It also doesn't take all that long to walk from my house into the Lower East Side. The weather is warming up and I don't have any more excuses to be lazy indoors on the weekends. I just need to also figure out a way to stay active on rainy days and once the weather gets bad again.

I'm getting to enjoy being hungry, as long as I can distract myself so I don't dwell on it. I'm really focusing on the difference for cravings out of boredom and true hunger, and my food tastes so much better when I'm truly hungry for it. I was a little hungry the hour before going to the gym during lunch hour at work but I didn't eat anything right beforehand. I went to a really good cardio kickbox class and came back to what tasted like the best whole wheat pasta with broccoli, chickpeas, lemon, tahini and pepper. It was worth waiting for.

Food log:

Yesterday lunch: boring napa cabbage salad but a really good crunchy pb and apricot j sprouted grain roll up.

Yesterday snack: chickpea salad that was so good the first day and is getting boring by now.

Yesterday dinner: spinach quesadilla. It was pretty good, nothing great, but satisfying. I added lots of pickled jalapeños and that added a nice kick.

Breakfast: tempeh sandwich, almost perfected, except the pita got soggy in the hours between making and eating. It had the usual suspects: avocado, racaito, tomato, cucumber, a little lettuce and jalapeños.

Snack: a little handful of wasabi peas to clear up my sinuses.

Lunch: whole wheat fusilli with broccoli, chickpeas, tahini, lemon and lots of pepper. This was really satisfying. The flavors went together perfectly. Then I had about a quarter cup of trail mix for something sweeter as a dessert.

Snack: crunchy peanut butter, apricot spread and a little agave nectar wrapped up in a sprouted grain tortilla. Those tortillas are fairly small, so it makes a little pb & j pod and a good size for a snack.

What I have waiting: a mango soy yogurt smoothie bottle and some sauteed lemon chili baby bok choy. If I can manage it, which I think I can, these might be my dinner even though I brought them to work to eat here.

I'm going out to a non-vegan cafe/restaurant tonight to meet a friend. They have a few vegan options, but not many and most involve modifications of the menu item. I'm hoping I have the will power to just order tea since I know they have a great and extensive tea menu.

BDS day 8, vegan exercising

2007-04-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

I'm staying on Day 8 today to do some more planning with my time management. Last night I reviewed the first 7 days and made sure I really went through everything. I even scribbled some notes in the book. It's a lot to keep track of, so I think it'll be a good idea to review what I've done so far every week, but I will probably make time to do this on Sundays since that is usually my errands/chores day. Today I'm going to plan my exercise and social activities and errands/chores for the next week and a half as best as I can.

So last night I took my first spinning class in a month and did my first really intense cardio session since beginning to eat vegan. I was worried I would get wiped out easily from changing my eating and eating a little less. I've also had a lot of people ask if I've been feeling tired since I started eating vegan. To my surprise, it went great. I maintained pretty steady energy through the 45 minute class and kept up with my co-worker who I went with and is in great shape. Then I slept better than usual and woke up early this morning to do a short pilates tape. I'm feeling a little more tired now, but I'm still pretty exhilarated at how easy it has been to get back into exercising while eating a very different diet.

Food log:

Yesterday lunch: my cabbage salad, but it was accidentally without a dressing and really disappointing. I went out and bought a bottle of dressing, but store bought dressing sucks and it was higher in oil and calories than a dressing I would make. I was so disappointed that I added a soy yogurt onto my lunch to make me feel better. I know I shouldn't have done any unplanned eating, but it was relatively healthy and did make me feel better.

Snack: chickpea salad with fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, scallions, parsley, tahini and lemon. Really good. It was pretty high in fat from all the tahini, but it was so filling and satisfying. It really kept me going through spinning and not eating dinner until 9 pm.

Dinner: spinach and soy cheese quesadilla on another delicious sprouted grain tortilla with homemade salsa. Simple but really satisfying. I ate it slowly and savored it.

Dessert: none! I realized I didn't need it and I shouldn't eat it just because I told myself that I'm allowed to eat dessert. I went to bed satisfied without it.

Breakfast today: a really good tempeh sandwich. I made my sandwich extra delicious today so I wouldn't be tempted to eat any of the food ordered for the monthly firm-wide breakfast meeting. It had tempeh, avocado, cucumbers, lettuce, salsa, pickled jalapeños and racaito (cilantro seasoning/sauce stuff) on a pita half. I felt confident this was much better than a mediocre bagel and cream cheese. I also had a few pieces of fruit from the fruit salad for the breakfast. It was a nice treat.

What I have waiting: another napa cabbage salad (hopefully more satisfying this time), peanut butter and apricot spread in a little sprout grain tortilla, and chickpea salad. I might have to do another quesadilla for dinner. I'm obsessed with those tortillas.

Website for the company that makes the tortillas and other presumably delicious bread and pasta products: http://www.foodforlife.com/ They sell them at a natural foods store in my neighborhood but I don't know where else. I'll check Whole Foods and Trader Joe's soon.

BDS days 6, 7, maybe 8, more cupcakes

2007-04-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know what happened to the days. I opened up my BDS book this morning to the bookmark and it was at day 8. I don't know how I smushed so many days into one. Perfectly timed, day 8 is about time management. So tonight I'm going to spend some time going back through all the days and writing in the book where I was supposed to and making sure I've made all the response cards I need and see if there is anything I rushed too much and need to make sure to focus on. I might spend an extra day here making sure I've gone through everything I was supposed to and make sure that I can keep on the diet in a timely way.

Yesterday I really savored being hungry. I was starving for dinner, but I knew that meant it would taste that much better. So I really spent time making something healthful and delicious, and it was totally worth it. A total BDS moment.

I made my roommate cupcakes for his birthday that I missed while I was in Egypt. They were banana cake with a peanutbutter buttercream filling topped with chocolate ganache, half a cherry in the center, some walnuts sprinkled around, and a little squiggly piping of peanut butter buttercream frosting around the edge. I didn't eat a single one. Even more amazing is that I didn't stick my finger in the batter, frosting, ganache or taste anything while I was making it. But I am still confident that they were good since my roommate at 2 1/2 of them by the time I woke up this morning.

Food log:

Yesterday breakfast: another tempeh sandwich. It was a little too salty and I have since decided it is probably a good idea to cut back on the salt somewhat. I really like the taste of food and sometimes I feel salt gets in the way.

Lunch: napa cabbage salad with tomatoes, scallions, cukes and a little bit of Annie's goddess dressing; leftover taco filling with tvp, tofu and refried beans; apple slices with peanut butter.

Snack: sauteed baby bok choy with onions.

Dinner: soy cheese and LightLife chicken strip quesadilla on a realllly good sprouted grain tortilla with homemade salsa, avocado and pickled jalapeños cooked inside it with a salad of leftover iceberg from taco night and homemade salsa and soy sour cream. This was a really good meal.

Dessert: a orange chocolate vegan cupcake made last weekend. I ate so well all day that I felt I deserved to treat myself at the end of the day. It was good.

Today breakfast: another tempeh sandwich. This time there was some of that iceberg thrown in for a nice crunch, but it was lacking a little bit. I think tempeh has a perfect breakfast texture, but I need to expand my repertoire of uses for it as a breakfast item.

Waiting for me: Napa cabbage salad with fake chicken strips, cilantro, pickled jalapeños, and leftover homemade salsa for dressing; chickpea salad with fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, scallions, parsley, tahini and lemon; steamed broccoli with lemon; and orange slices.

I think for dinner I'll make something with those tortillas again since they were sooo good. Maybe I'll make something beany so I'm not so soy dependent. There are rumors too much soy is bad. I don't know if I totally believe it or that I'm eating that much, since I probably eat as much as some traditional cultures, but too much of any one type of food isn't good.

This week I will figure out how to get pictures on here and start posting food pics too.

BDS days 4 and 5, vegan cupcakes

2007-04-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

I've slowed down this weekend since I was busy and I couldn't devote the time I wanted to towards the BDS. I did day 4 and 5 at the same time over three days. I found giving myself credit for what I do right has been really helpful. I even use it as a reason to choose to right eating behavior. I'll say to myself "I'll be proud of myself and be able to give myself positive credit if I don't eat that." Eating slowly and mindfully is a little harder, so I do that by recognizing I'm eating too fast and giving myself a minute break or so.

This weekend I didn't eat super healthy, but I did eat much better than I usually do on weekend when I'm not eating healthy. For example, late Saturday night a friend and I got an order of french fries from a place near my house and there were still french fries left when we both decided we were done with them. This wouldn't have happened two weeks ago. I would have eaten them until they were gone. I recognized I was full and satisfied and I just stopped eating them. It was bad that I ate them at all, but at the same time I was good about not eating them all.

My major vegan success this weekend was making three dozen delicious vegan cupcakes then inviting people over to enjoy them. I made one dozen banana split cupcakes (banana cake, peanut butter frosting, drizzle of chocolate ganache, walnuts, banana slices and a cherry), orange chocolate cupcakes (orange choco cake, orange cream filling, choco ganache) and chocolate cookies and cream cupcakes (choco cake, cookie buttercream frosting, half of a cookie on top). I took pictures that I will post eventually. Also, I only ate 2 1/2 cupcakes over the entire weekend, even though they were totally delicious. I realized the fewer cupcakes I ate the more I enjoyed the ones I did eat.

Weekend food highlights:

Saturday brunch: vegan huevos rancheros with tofu scramble, black beans, soy cheese, salsa on crispy whole wheat tortilla with a few fries (bad) and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice from the veggie restaurant Kate's Joint.

Saturday dinner: vegan tacos that I only ate two of. I love tacos and I love them just as much when I only eat two rather than my usual four or something. I also made some pretty good homemade salsa for this.

Sunday breakfast and lunch: a multigrain bagel with veggie tofu spread and tomatoes, cukes and red onions. Half for breakfast and half for lunch.

Snack: all fruit smoothie.

Dinner: taco salad on napa cabbage.

I want to try to update this in the afternoons Monday through Friday so I can keep track of what I'm eating. Half blog, half food log. I think it'll be helpful.

BDS day 2 and 3, Vegan night off

2007-04-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've decided to do day 2 and 3 of the Beck Diet Solution in one day, because it seems doable and so I can catch up with my mom's schedule on the BDS. Day 2 task is picking a diet, which I already had set on healthy veganism. Day 3 is to eat sitting down, which is kind of a freebie since I eat 2 meals and all snacks of the day sitting at my desk. But the real trick here will be to try not to snack while cooking. This was a real struggle this morning making my food for the day, but someone I managed and I was really proud of myself. I put up some post-its above the stove saying "DON'T SNACK WHILE COOKING!!" and "EAT SITTING DOWN!" just to remind myself. I only hope my roommate doesn't get bothered or confused by them and take them down.

I want to work on letting people know that I'm trying to diet and change my eating habit and I need their support as much as my good friends always tell me I shouldn't worry about my weight and eating. I don't know if this is a task part of the BDS yet, but I'm going to start working on it now. I think this will help especially when my friend and I are deciding where to go out to eat.

Food log:

Snack yesterday: I ate the orange I had left for a snack at work and it was surprisingly satisfying.

Dinner yesterday: breaded and baked eggplant slices with brown rice pasta and spicy tomato sauce.

Dessert yesterday: half a Clif Bar. This was also significantly more satisfying than I expected it to be. I also successfully warded off the craving to eat a chocolate biscuit for dessert instead.

Breakfast: another delicious tempeh and veggie sandwich in half of a whole wheat pita pocket.

Snack: curry roasted cauliflower and some trail mix.

I brought for the rest of the day: another meatless bologna sandwich with soy cheese and gherkins in a half of a whole wheat pita, steamed broccoli with lemon, asian inspired cole slaw with green cabbage, scallions, soy sauce, rice vinegar and a bit of olive oil.

Dinner tonight: tonight I'm splurging a bit. I promised my friend we would go out for les moules et frites (mussels and fries) at this restaurant he's been wanting to try before I became vegan. I decided to eat primarily vegan prematurely, but I also decided to stay good on my word. My big goal is to try to stick to really healthy eating before and after my one indulgent meal out. That will be hard with my old friend from home in town this weekend, but I will tell her about my diet and ask her for her support.

Day 1

2007-04-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today is day 1 of the Beck Diet Solution and my first 24 hours of being vegan.

The Beck Diet Solution is a cognitive therapy based sort of diet/diet book written by my second cousin, Judith Beck, daughter of the founder of cognitive therapy, my great uncle, Aaron Beck. So clearly the family pride has some sway in getting me to try out this diet book. It's all about changing how you think about eating and resisting the cravings to eat food you know you really don't want to be eating. Granted, I don't have a huge amount of weight to lose, but my petite body has not faired well against the ravages of entering adulthood. I've gained 20% of my body weight since I started college 4 1/2 years ago and I want to reverse this trend. The first two weeks of the diet plan aren't on an actual diet, but are spent building the tools to succeed with a diet. For my diet, I've decided to be vegan. In the first two weeks, I'm going to try to eat primarily vegan, and then go strict on May 1st.

My decision to eat vegan came about through the combination of boredom at work and the discovery of some pretty great vegan food blogs. Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/) was my initial and main inspiration. I decided to go vegan for the culinary challenge of cooking delicious and healthy food, on top of the regular ethical reasons that probably most vegan have.

So as part of my first day on the BDS, I made my response card that list the reasons I want to lose weight. All standard, but I think having this written out to read to myself when I'm having cravings or in stressful situations will really help.

And most importantly, for day 1 I ate:

Breakfast: soy sauce and rice vinegar sauteed tempeh sandwich on a half of a whole wheat pita with cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos and avocado. So good.

Snack: chopped cabbage with horseradish mustard and cider vinegar marinaded for four hours.

Lunch: veg bologne with melted soy cheese, gherkins and whole grain mustard on the other half of the whole wheat pita.

Snack: one dried tamarind.

So far very good, but I'm already feeling myself getting hungry and I have three hours left of work and at least four hours until dinner. I have an orange left for snacking on and I hope that can hold me over with the help of reading of the response card.