Vegan Shopping List

I get lots of questions about what I discoveries I have made on my recent switch to semi-veganism (still eating fish). I have to say that I have been really impressed with my local grocery store's selection and Whole Foods is a vegan (or semi-vegan) dream.

I am in love with Whole Foods hummus. I love the roasted red pepper and the jalapeno cilantro.

Also, the Whole Food Vegan Peanut Butter cookies are delicious.

I am also in love with their granola.

Happy Thursday!

Baby Vegan

So it sounds pretty unanimous that everyone wants to hear more about my new found semi-veganism (still eating fish).

I have learned a lot about food in the past two weeks and a lot about what our food does to our insides. This is what I have learned and the answers to some questions...

Resources that I Love...

The Kind Life by Alicia Silverstone. I have only tried one recipe her chocolate peanut butter cups (find the recipe here) and they are amazing. They totally satisfy my sweet tooth. The first half of the book is filled with lots and lots of advice and info.

The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen. I haven't cooked anything out of it yet but the food looks incredible.

PROTEIN? Someone asked what I was eating for protein. All of the resources I have looked at have addressed protein and apparently we don't need as we think we do. Luckily, I have found a veggie protein I love.... Edamame. My fave. Love it. Eating it as I type.

A lot of people have asked about cheese and I have to say I have not missed it as much as I thought I would. I really miss the convenience of cheese more than anything because it's so easy to order and so easy to find so cooking and eating out without it is an adjustment. Now at times I crave some fresh mozzarella but I have been able to resist so far.

I also have found that this is very much a process. I learned a lot and I am also giving myself some room to cheat if I really want to. I was craving mac and cheese bad so I had a few bites and then fed the rest to the dog. He loved it. I do find that I am not having as hard of a time as long as I plan and have plenty of good food on hand.

All that being said.... I do miss butter.

Back soon with a new original recipe

Vegan Update

I just realized I had not talked about how Vegan Week ended. If you haven't been reading, last week I went 7 days Vegan mainly as an experiment on how I felt and how difficult the lifestyle would be to keep up.

The Ugly Truth: I cheated three times but considering what a massive departure this was for me I was okay with that. Also the cheating was minor. I didn't eat a cake or a side of beef or anything.

The Verdict: I loved it. I really saw a tremendous difference in how I felt. All of my stomach issues subsided. I wasn't nauseous at all. I was amazed at the massive amount of resources that are out there for Vegans too. I actually found that eliminating dairy is something I certainly want to do. It's difficult simply because it's in everything but I really think that is what made me feel so different. The thing I missed most was fish and I did not miss chicken, beef or yogurt. Cheese and butter I miss.

The Plan: I am definitely going to incorporate Veganism into my diet. I do want to include fish in my diet (a life without sushi is no life at all) but I am going to stick with no meat except for fish and no dairy. I think I learned a lot through this process. Being vegan is a process and it's actually easy to be a vegan if you eat really unhealthy (sodas, chips, etc) so the challenge for me at this point is to not use sugar as a crutch to get me through and to continue to keep away from processed food. It will be a process but I can already tell a difference in my body, how I feel and how I interact with food.

So onto the bigger question.... do you guys want to hear me talk about this anymore or not? I hate hearing people talk about diets so if you say you are sick of it I will not take it personally. I promise. :)

If you want to hear about it, I can share some of the awesome resources I found but I promise not to talk about it more than 1-2 times a week.

Confession

So tomorrow will be day 6 of my 7 day Vegan Journey and I have a confession.

I cheated.

I went to lunch and the restaurant had NOTHING I could eat so I got fish tacos as a compromise. So there was a little fish and a little slaw. I cheated.

But I felt really bad physically so I was encouraged to stop being a cheater. Yay!

Day 3

Day 3 of Veganism and I can't believe I am about to say this....

I think I am in love.

I woke up this morning and I felt fabulous. Amazing. I really wanted to feel better and that was the purpose of this entire experiment. I have felt fabulous all day.

Talk about motivation. I also learned that Agave Nectar is delicious!

Yay!

3D and the Vegan Update

I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I am totally behind on this 3D business so this was my first 3D movie. I really liked it and the movie was gorgeous. I was a little worried I would get motion sick. I threw up in the Bourne Ultimatum (not IN it but I had to run out) no joke. I'm like a cocker spaniel. I throw up at the first sign of motion sickness.

As for the vegan update. Today was my second vegan day and it was hard mainly because I was at home a lot. Breakfast was peanut butter toast, there was a 1030 guacamole incident referenced in my earlier post, lunch was a salad, twizzlers at the movie, brown rice and veggies for dinner and a Starbucks soy latte. Thanks to a great reader Rebekah I decided to try out the soy latte at Starbucks. Quite honestly I find soy milk slightly chalky but it was delish! Very excited. Although this is a HUGE adjustment, I am liking it. I have certainly got some work to do on how to make this work for me but I am encouraged. Thanks for everyone's sweet words!

Special thanks to my sister, mom and Chris for being super supportive and braving a veggie filled dinner so I didn't flip out. I would have wrestled someone to the ground for a cheeseburger. :)

Vegan Update and a Question

Why are roofers so loud? I mean seriously. I don't think they need to be THAT LOUD.

On another note, I've gone Vegan for about 36 hours at this point. Yesterday was a breeze. Well not a breeze and I was faced with my favorite cake, cheesecake and lunch at my favorite greasy spoon. For breakfast I had peanut butter on whole grain bread. Lunch at the greasy spoon was umm.... tater tots (it's a vegetable!) and dinner was whole grain pasta with pesto.

As you can see I am not going strict vegan more of a general giving up meat and dairy. This morning I struggled a bit. The peanut butter toast didn't cut it and I wanted a latte so bad I could taste it but instead I ate quacamole at 1030 AM (don't judge me). I think I can do this in some form so we will see how the rest of the 7 day vegan experience goes. Here are the lessons I have learned...

1. Milk is in freaking everything. EVERYTHING.

2. I miss butter the most.

3. Rice Dreams remind me of dog treats.

4. Alicia Silverstone has a great blog. Check it out here.

5. Life would be a lot easier if I lived near any sort of vegan or vegetarian restaurant (like Babycakes in NYC. See above).