An Experiment in Cooking

For the past six years, I have been a vegetarian, and took the plunge to full fledged vegan about 4 months ago.  For those first six years, I have to say, I was a very unhealthy vegetarian.  It started in college with pizza and beer, and lack of working out. Which led to the weight gain.  And now, looking back, I can see what a toll I had put on my body.

The choice to go vegan was partially about ethical treatment of animals, as well as doing my part in fixing the environment.  But it was also about trying to find my health. What I didn’t know was how much junk food you can still eat on a vegan diet.  Perhaps I was naïve in thinking that the choice for ethical eating would automatically make me healthy. Wrong. You still need choose healthy foods each and everyday.  Soy nuggets, boca burgers and Amy’s vegan pizza are all tasty, but perhaps not the best choice if you’re going for health and weightloss.

Which is why I was so excited to try the 30 day challenge.  And on day 2, I realized how much work it is to prepare healthy whole foods. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of it, but I did spend the majority of my Sunday in the kitchen. Steel cut oats, beans, brown rice, homemade vegan burgers, millet “mashed potatoes”, and of course brightly colored salads all made their way through my kitchen. One question – how do you make steel cut oats taste good without processed foods? Not really, I’m asking, because my oats were just awful.

Cooking the Whole Foods Way - Christine Pirello - inspired the millet mashed potatoes

So the dinner pic is not that great, but was really tasty. The millet mashed potatoes come from Christina Pirello. She’s like the queen of Whole Food cooking. Check out christinacooks.com

Daily food log:

Steel cut oats with 1/2 green apple and raisins – 3 points
Green Monster – 2
Rice and Chili (LO from last night) – 7
Salad with scoop of guac – 2
Air popped popcorn with nooch – 1
Millet Mashed potatoes – 3
2 veggies patties – 4
Carrots – 0

Total – 22 points (hit my daily target!)

Tomorrow should be a challenge. It’s the start of a work week, and my game plan is to have a ton of challenge friendly food on hand. That way I will be ready when hunger strikes. Also, I have a weigh in at Weight Watchers tomorrow, and I’m kind of nervous for it…I had a few “last processed meals” this week

One Day Down…29 To Go

I’m really glad this challenge started on a Saturday. It gave me the chance to really plan out the day, and think about how I wanted to approach the kitchen.

Breakfast started out with two cups of straight black coffee.  I’ve decided not to give up coffee for the challenge, because I love it too much.  However, I am used to putting in soy creamer, so that was a change.  I had bought steel-cut oats, and planned to make them for breakfast, however, that just didn’t seem appealing. What I really wanted was a green smoothie. If you had asked me two months ago what I thought about green smoothies, I probably would have rolled my eyes and gagged. But thank goodness I decided to get over my fear of green monsters, because now I am addicted.

Water, Spinach, Banana, Frozen Strawberries, Fresh pineapple and slash of lemon juice = 3 points*

3 point Green Monster

For lunch I was inspired by a place I used to go when I lived/worked in Chicago. A place called Freshii.  I used to always get a brown rice, tofu, veggie, chickpea  bowl, with a cucumber/dill/avocado dressing. And this is my version:

6 point rice, chickpea delight

1 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup chickpeas, veggies and dressing = 6 points*

I found I was pretty hungry again not too long after the rice dish. Knowing I didn’t want to spend a ton of points on an afternoon snack, I decide to make a nice side salad. This contained mixed greens, chickpeas, fresh salsa from the Blue Goose, 1/3 avocado and mixed veggies.

greens, 1/2 cup chickpeas, salsa, veggies, 1/3 avocado = 5 points

After a nice salad, I hit the gym for a lovely 45 minutes of cardio, which equaled 2 activity points. Bonus!

Dinner was a great vegan chili and brown rice, which totaled 6.5 points for the meal. The chili recipe comes from EnLIGHTened, a book I recommend to all busy working women, trying to find peace and happiness with themselves. Oh, and I made a beautiful salad. Look at all of the colors!

6.5 points for rice and chili - delish!

Side salad - spritzed with lime juice - ZERO POINTS!

And after a lovely dinner, I wanted to be done with food for the night. But I was still pretty hungry. So I counted out 14 cashews, which equals 1 serving= 4 points

So all in all, a very successful first day of the challenge. I had fun cooking today, thinking about what I was going to eat and how.  I made my first batch of non-canned beans (chickpeas) and they turned out alright.  I did use canned items for the chili, but I did make sure that they complied with the challenge. So I have to say, I am quite impressed with myself

Daily points total =  +.5. So I went over half a point, but I think it’s worth it. I found myself much hungrier than normal, but my body felt great all day. And as pleased as I am with my food choices today, I can tell 30 days is going to be tough. But I am determined, and can’t wait to try again tomorrow. See you then!