Vegan Resources

We have tapped into some great resources to really make this experiment successful, not the least of which are the Vegan friends and family who have come out of the woodwork, sharing recipes, recommending brands, etc.  Here are some of our favorites thus far:

Recipes and cooking:
http://vegandinnerparties.com/ - Great mexican Lasagna Recipe
http://www.theppk.com/ - TONS of great recipes, including sweets for the kids

Restaurant help:
http://www.vegguide.org/region/13

Vegan on Vacation - Epic Fail!

So... picture Mama and 17 month old baby strapped up with the mai tai carrier and a huge dufflebag slung around the back.  Mama thought about deeply timing the trip to perfection.... morning nap, 1 hour to check in and get through security, 40 minutes before take-off at the gate... all was in order...then it happened.  4 hour delay.  Keeping baby entertained meant a constant stream of snacks and many laps around the chairs at the gate.  Our 2 pm departure turned into a 6:30 pm departure.  And it wasn't as simple as, "oh we'll be taking off at 6:30", no no.  It was we'll know a new time in an hour, we'll board the plane, wait on the tarmac for an hour, deboard the plane, have 3 minutes to grab dinner before we reboard and wait for de-icing.  Across from our gate was a coffee stand, a burger king and a Chinese fast food place.  What can a vegan mama and baby eat?  As soon as I took a bite of the lomein, I knew there had been chicken broth in it.  arg.

Once we finally made it, we were at the mercy of our hosts, (thank you auntie for buying bananas and oatmeal!) who fortunately are sympathetic to the cause.  But out and about at different restaurants is another story.  Vegetarian, is easy.  Many options exist with a little cheese on them.  Vegan is a whole different story.  Especially when you're a vegan who needs a lot of protein to balance the carbs.  There were times when I had to settle for cheese as the only protein source.  Going to parties was even harder.  Cake, at a birthday party is required.  :-)  so I broke the white sugar rule.  I did eat around the shrimp, sausage and chicken int he Jambalaya, but it's interesting how those meat flavors made rice taste heavy and oily to me now.

So I think I need to figure out how to eat-out as a vegan, and be better prepared for trips with vegan-mama snacks.  Any ideas???

Minnesota Josh & the Burrito of Doom.

Day 39, So overall we have been eating at home which really is much easier to have what you want & need, as obviously we buy it to prepare. So I dropped my wife at the airport on Friday & was hungry to the point of being spacey. I hit my exit and there is Taco bell, yeah I know... I think ok 7 layer burrito that would work, minus the sour cream & cheese it is now a 5 layer burrito seems like I am on the right track. while the list of ingredients of said burrito all fall in the realm of "I can eat this" the quality of those ingredients leave much to be desired. Having consumed the first real crap food since the start of this, my body was like WHAT THE HELL!!! didn't feel well the rest of the afternoon. Later that same day I attended my sons school carnival, which they were serving pizza at, we skipped the pizza but after it was over both hungry, it being late we stopped at Burger King for the Vegi-burger... Not good either ..just gross we have them at home & they are fine I am not sure how BK managed to make it so bad.

So yes is it a no-brainer that those places have crap food yes. My take away is how often I would eat at those restaurants out of pure convenience before. We have found a very good Indian restaurant close to us that has great vegan options. I am just going to take fast food off the table, I didn't like how I felt eating it before, & it makes it even worse after a steady diet of organic/ healthy food.

Day 23 - Dude..Where's my belt?

First off, I don't have a scale in the house. I like it when I step on the scale in my doctors office best; it's a bit like being on a game show. Big bucks no Whammies!! Big bucks no Whammies!!! Ohhhh thanks for playing, here is your parting gift; high blood pressure & 5 more pounds.
So I think I will be the big winner on my next visit, I left 2012 wearing size 36 jeans, tight 36 jeans and now 23 days later I fit into a pair of 34 that are loose on me. I joked with  Elias today that if I keep shrinking I am going to steal his jeans, he wears a 32. I just look forward to him saying HEY! those are my jeans! Yeah I know it's weird. I feel so much healthier & very motivated that I need to make a new notch in my belt, going the other direction for a change.
NO WHAMMIES!!!

I dream of cheeseburgers

So, it has finally happened. I wanted meat. I have had dreams the past couple of nights about eating meat. Why? I don't feel hungry. Am I missing vital nutrients?

I think I found the answer with the boys... We had errands to run, so I opted for a stop at a healthy stir fry place. When the boys chose it, they immediately asked if they could eat "anything they can wanted". I immediately said, "hold on, I'm not the one imposing these dietary standards, this is something we all decided to do together." They started pleading with me, as kids might beg for sugar while in line at the grocery store. So we had a good conversation about not turning me into the enforcer on the whole experiment. That this was all intended to be a learning experience, not punishment. Dylan had some insightful, comments about how it makes me the bad guy, and how that wasn't fair. Elias wasn't really grasping the concept but shrugged it off.

We ended up having some good conversation about how, as kids, they are at the mercy of adults to feed them, and how that resulted in them not really taking agency in their food choices. (yes, "agency" is my word, I'm summarizing here.) Which basically trains them to the become sneaky about angling for treats, and then over-indulging whenever given the opportunity. Couple that with the fact that sugar and fat is now super-injected into everything from peanut butter and pickles to ketchup and soup, it's no wonder we grow up to be food addicts...

The scariest part is that unlike cigarettes or heroin, you will actually die if you stop eating food all together. You have to learn how to eat in a way that won't trigger the addiction tendencies. My body feels better on this diet, the kids tell us that their bodies feel better on this site diet, but even that good feeling is not enough for them to voluntarily give up the adrenaline rush that comes with sugar/fat binges. Will my rational thinking be able to win over the ancient, and biologically reinforced drive to consume sugar/fat?

Day Fourteen - Breaking wind & the BBQ of dreams.

Well, I think my body is coming to terms with the adjustment. Throughout the weekend I didn't feel that sense of endless hunger, which was good as I had my first shift back to work since starting all this. So I was a little concerned about fading out while I was at work, but all was well. I have to say I am enjoying the experience the food we eat has been great some vegi-lasagna my wife made was amazing! I haven't had any strange meat obsession craving driving me to linger at the butchers counter longingly eyeing a rack of ribs. Tho coincidentally I did have a dream that we were having a summer BBQ & I opened the grill and there on the grill was rib bones and bbq sauce, NO MEAT. So all you experts in dream analysis can make what you want out of that lol. Dining out can add up so fast for 4 and a baby; that even buying organic we are ahead in our budget. Oh I didn't mention that we switched to blue agave to sweeten our coffee and all is happy in coffee land again, I was very used to splenda.
So I will end my rambling today with a brief rant in the key of beans...I am just going to say that never in my life have I so much gas, at times it feels like a scene out of blazing saddles. Granted you can't have something called 13 bean soup without some reaction on the back end of things, that's just how it is, but having fresh vegetables almost every meal has pushed all of that to an almost comical level. We all just sort of let fly & shake our heads & giggle.
end rant...

Positive Pickle Perspective

So in search of bread n butter style pickles I came to discover the huge prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in all of the brands on the shelf. Classic dill style was fine. I eventually found some bread n butter ones at whole foods that did not have the corn syrup. I was there anyhow so it wasn't a special trip for elusive pickles, so it worked out well. But it did open my eyes a bit wider to the corn syrup connection & how it can snow ball into one massive syrup tidal wave in a diet that includes it.
If you stop to look at all the parts of a meal & count how many parts of it could contain high fructose corn syrup; it is really staggering.

When I look at label after label of products & see it. I can't help feeling like the major food producers have little to no concern for public health & well being. Sigh...
I am just one very little squeaky wheel.
*SQUEAK*