Content To Be Or Not To Be

Been thinking about body image and health again. I'm in a phase of change right now where I don't feel able to change my diet which relies primarily on carbs. Still vegan though, 95% of the time. My biggest challenge is how to get past the all-or-nothing thinking. I think I should go almost raw, eating primarily fruits & vegetables and if I can't, I might as well not try. Realistically, though, I get to town twice a month to buy fresh fruits & vegetables and I'm working full-time and studying full-time so I don't have the luxury of preparing meals from scratch. I rely a lot on vegenaise sandwiches!

When I do find the time, I would like to slowly develop a cookbook that presents realistic, quick, yet healthy meals for the busy professional. Til then, I think perhaps I'll try to step out of my rut and look online for some ideas of things I can prepare that are simple and yet fun. I love my food and want to enjoy it! Rye crackers with molasses just won't cut it for me!

Lifestyle Change & Maintenance

It's confession time. I am finding that when I am not on a regular routine, I tend to not be very motivated to keep up healthy habits. For example, my average weekly exercise has been about 3.5 to 7 miles. That's in a week. Okay, that doesn't count me tramping up and down hill and dale to work and back again, but there have been a lot of times I've been lazy and rationalized that I needed to drive my car to work, for whatever teeny tiny reason I could come up with.

Then there's the whole eating thing. I did really well when I skipped suppers for a month. My blood sugars came down, I slept better at night, I enjoyed my other meals more. Granted my stomach hurt really bad for the first three weeks, because it wasn't used to being empty, but I was pleased with the end results. Then life got hectic.

My biggest challenge I believe is figuring out how to keep on track when life gets hectic. I tend to be too thoughtful of my need for quiet time and rest, so instead of prioritizing healthy meals and keeping up the exercise, because I know I can't keep it at the same level of intensity and commitment that I'm used to doing when life is easy, I decide to let it all slide. Not the best of decisions, I can assure you.

I have a lot of excuses, it seems, for not making an effort. There was graduation, my sister left, now they're paving the road, then I'll be studying for a couple of weeks, then it will get crazy busy hectic at work again. So realistically, in about 3 months is when I may finally feel like my life is settling down long enough for me to get back to what I know works.

I'm not content to wait that long, though. My 33rd birthday is coming up really quickly, much faster than I'd like to see it, and I shall be making some serious goals on that day. When I do, I think I'll need to include a few along these lines:

• Commit to daily exercise. If I can't get a whole hour in, get half an hour in. If I can't get half an hour in, walk around the Loop twice. Make that my very minimum on days when I can't manage more.
• Indulge in tasty whole plant foods. I recognize that my diet is heavy on the carbs and starches and while it is necessary not to skimp in those areas to keep sustained weight loss, the bulk of my diet should be coming from beans and fruits and vegetables. All I need to do is find some delicious quick easy recipes.
• Prioritize adequate sleep. This will go right along with. . .
• Put my laptop to sleep before I do. I think that's the hardest thing to do for me. It's so easy to waste hours on Facebook, watch cooking reality shows on YouTube, or even blog! I rationalize that I'm "connecting," or "learning," or being "creative." And while all of those are true to a degree, what is more important than getting lost in a virtual world is shutting down technology and taking time for myself, whether reading a book, spending time with God, or getting to bed early.

Perhaps the key to lifestyle change lies in this:

Lifestyle change is about doing the things that make me happy and are also good for me. 

A Little Sprout!

Went a month without suppers, then life got busy and I got lazy, so now I'm back to no suppers. This time around though, it's not as difficult. I don't find myself waiting to go to bed so I won't hear my stomach grumbling. Very grateful for that! It also helps that I'm not being as strict about my oil intake, so that helps me to feel full longer.

Am slowly working towards being a full vegan. It's something I know is best for my health, best for the animals, and I really don't mind eating this way. The challenge is when I either can't be bothered, I find my favourite childhood snack, or I'm eating out. Then I forget, and by the time I remember it's too late. I mean, who wants to bother reading every single label to be sure there isn't any dairy in there?

Oh yes, am growing herbs. At this point I have two tiny sprouts, one of cress and one of basil, but am hoping the other pots of dirt that I have faithfully been watering will yield some greenery as well! It really isn't my thing to garden, at least I didn't grow up doing it so I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, but I'm always up for an adventure, and it would be awfully nice to have herbs readily available instead of having to drive 30 minutes to the store to buy exorbitantly priced bunches that go bad in three days!

Lest you think this city girl is completely changing, don't worry, I'm still me. Only now I'm figuring out how to be a healthier me, and so far I'm enjoying the results! Am really learning that a lot of it comes about through experimenting to see what works and what doesn't. No suppers didn't work for me before, but after readjusting my blood sugar levels through weight loss and healthier foods, no suppers now works. So to all your experimenting, keep at it and enjoy the experience!

Tada!

Okay, so here's the big secret I've been hiding for more than a month now! It's something so simple and yet because of it, I have been able to see serious results!

• Lost an inch around the waist
• Lost 10 pounds
• Sleep deeper at night
• Less hungry at breakfast
• Blood sugar dropped 10 points 
• Feel better about myself

Want to know what I did? Cut out suppers. So I'll be honest and admit, it actually wasn't that simple to do. The first 3 weeks my stomach set up a grumbling group that went around picketing from about 6 pm til 10 pm when I would go to bed. I drank a lot of hot chocolate during that time and spent a lot of time trying to figure out what foods to eat for breakfast that would keep me full throughout the day. Lunch I already knew how to eat, but breakfast was a bit more challenging.

I decided to do it for just a month. I knew I wasn't losing any weight, eating supper in the evening took up too much time, plus suppers were my binge time. I really have a hard time binge eating for breakfast because it's way too early in the day to eat a large meal anyhow, and at lunch time I'm pretty good about having a balanced hot meal with veggies and protein and carbs. But suppers were just doing me in! I'd come home, be tired, not want to prepare anything healthy but just grab whatever was convenient, and I craved carbs and sugar. So I figured, since I couldn't do portion control and just eat a bowl of fruit in the evening (believe me, I've tried, I just can't do it), I would just cut out suppers altogether. I knew theoretically it would be good for me, but realistically I wasn't convinced. Until I did it.

Going to 2 meals a day has helped me in all those ways I listed above and I'm sure more that I'm not aware of yet. I am learning that even on 2 meals a day you can put on weight, even if you're vegan you can put on weight, so I'm trying to eat as healthily as I can. I still go out to eat, but I'm excited because now I have a friend who is also trying to be vegan so it's easier to pick restaurants that are vegan friendly. I'm also careful about my portions because that can be a major pitfall.

I still have 8 pounds to go to reach my 2nd weight loss goal. The plan is to continue with the 2 meals, keep sugar and oil on the down-low, and prioritize the exercise. When I reach that goal, I have a 3rd goal that is a weight I'm not sure I've ever seen. At least not while I've been obsessively recording my weight these past 15+ years! So I'm excited! Here's to better health!

Blueberry Chips

It's late at night when I often feel inspired to write. I'm excited. One of the pieces of my journey to health has been an experiment that I've been carrying out for almost a month now. In about a week I shall expound more on it, but for now, suffice to say that I have seen a significant change in my bloodwork which is quite exciting. My blood glucose has dropped 10 points since January, and I have an inkling that it is due to this change I've made in my lifestyle.

Am also working hard on adding more fruits & vegetables to my diet. I realize that a huge part of it is sheer laziness. I can't be bothered to cut up the fruits and veggies when I can grab a pastry or a slice of bread instead. I do eat a diet rather heavy in carbs, and while I am learning that sustained weight loss will happen with a diet higher in carbs rather than attempting to eliminate carbs, I also realize that I still need to swing the balance a little more towards the whole plant foods. A meal should ideally consist of 70% fruits & veggies and 30% carbs/proteins is what I read/heard somewhere recently, and I tried it. For about 2 days. Then I realized that I didn't have time to calculate it all out, neither prepare enough foods or get to the store to buy the fruits & veggies to have enough variety. So I scrapped that.

I'm still cooking without added oil, though, which I'm also excited about! I've found it is so easy to dry-fry if you have a good non-stick pan, and if you don't, just add a little bit of water to the pan and stir vigorously. A great combination to start a dish is to try garlic, onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers. The peppers and garlic really help to flavour the dish and mask the rather strange smell that onions have when they are sauteing in water.

And as I'm learning as well, keep experimenting. Keep trying. Don't be afraid of new things; you may find that you really love them! I picked up a tub of quinoa tabbouleh salad at Costco on Friday and I'm excited to have that as my main dish one day. Super healthy and great on the calorie side too!

Become aware of labels. Even learning little things has helped me. For example, keeping sodium below 200 mg is a great idea. It's difficult to find tomato sauce, though, so I try to keep it as low as possible. Or reading up on how many servings are in a bag of whatever it is you're purchasing. When you calculate how many servings are in a bag, and realize that you'll probably eat half the bag by the time you're home (which would be me), then it is just easier to put the bag back on the shelf and walk on by. But do find foods you enjoy and treat yourself with them. Buy the $9 box of fresh blueberries and leave the $3 bag of potato chips in the store. I know, I know, the chips taste sooooo much better. But seriously? The last bag of potato chips I bought a couple of weeks ago had a warning label on them: may cause cancer. Blueberries don't come with that kind of warning!

So till the next update, keep eating healthy and having fun!

Trial & Error

So I'm finally back again, now that the internet has been restored to a semblance of normality. Super excited to blog about some of the changes that have been happening in my own life as I continue on this journey to whole-health living!

About 10 months ago I wrote out my birthday goals. I do it every year, on my birthday (which occurs mid-year) and around January 1st. I write out what I plan to achieve in the next year, and then when each anniversary comes around I have great fun looking back and reading what I wrote. Amazingly enough, it seems that when I write down my goals I have a greater chance of achieving those goals. I am learning to move to more concrete plans rather than idealistic dreams, but I still enjoy the process.

One of my birthday goals was to become vegan. I was happily writing down about three or four different things that I thought were reasonable and doable, when the thought popped into my head and I obediently wrote it down, not really thinking about what I had just written. "Become vegan." I looked at the words in amazement. I wasn't sure I was ready for such a huge leap. I was raised vegetarian, and while I did do a stint of veganism for a period of time out of necessity, I hadn't made being a vegan a complete lifestyle choice. I still enjoyed my marionberry Whole Foods pastries, my Round Table pizza, my Ranch Doritos, my Chipotle burritoes with sour cream and cheese, and my Subway chocolate chip cookies. Now, ten months later, I try hard to think what my favourite foods were before I began this phase of my journey. As I look back, I realize that it wasn't a decision that I made overnight but rather happened slowly as I learned how to make healthier choices.

I first made the conscious choice to monitor my diet last year when I learned that I was pre-diabetic. Diabetes runs in my family and I was freaked out at the thought of having to poke myself with a needle and try to monitor insulin levels if I didn't take care of my health right away. Though it takes about 5 years to move from pre-diabetes to diabetes, it was enough of a wake-up call to get me into some serious action. On the advice of my Newstart doctor, I cut out all oils and sugars for four very long months.

At first it was super hard, but when I started to see results I realized that it was the best thing I had ever done. I used to love the smell of frying onions, which is how I started every dish I made, and found it difficult to adjust to frying the onions in a small amount of water. As I began to read and research, I bought a non-stick frying pan from Ross and learned how to fry onions oil-free. I've learned how to cook without using oil now and find that I don't really notice that it's gone.

Here are some helpful tips that I've learned from my journey:

• Find fun foods you like to eat and keep a supply of those on hand. I love Dole peach bowls, Mediterranean olives, and creamy honey. What I love to eat changes, though, which also makes it fun because then I can switch it up a bit.
• Read, watch movies, or go online and research. Educate yourself as to why you are making the decisions you are making so you own your choices. Vegucate is a great documentary, Neal Barnard has informative yet easy to understand books on how to eat, diabetes, and more, and there are scores of easy tasty recipes online.
• Commit to change. I can't do portion control, so instead of buying a bag of potato chips and "portioning it out over the next week" when I know that I will finish it in three nights, I don't buy that bag of potato chips.

I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I haven't made a complete switch to veganism yet. At home it's easy to be vegan; I do the food shopping and I cook lunch. When I go out to eat, though, I am probably about 70% vegan and 30% vegetarian. It's a pain to have to ask if something has dairy in it, so I try to pick the options that look the healthiest. But I'm making good choices for myself and I feel good about it. I've lost almost 24 pounds, my bloodwork looks much better, I've cut my thyroid medication in less than half, and I feel healthier than I have in the last couple of years!

It's not easy to make a switch and go against the grain of what you've done all your life. I've had many battles with myself where I wanted to just give in and eat the food I was craving, rather than make a healthy choice. And there were times when I couldn't remain true to principle, or there were times I forgot. But I didn't beat myself over the head with those trip-ups. Instead, I tried to learn and I determined to move on, and it has all been worth it. Because I'm worth it. . .and so are you!