Tag: health

Oooohhh, coffee!  Coffee I miss you!  Ohhhh, your sweet, sweet caffeine-y goodness!

Well, I have to share, I’m not off to the most perfect of beginnings.  Let’s just start with coffee.

I’ve spent the last ten days in Hawaii, where I went a little overboard (okay – a LOT) with the kona deliciousness.  Oh, delicious kona coffee!  How yummy you are!  I wasn’t going to eliminate coffee completely from my diet right off the bat, but I showed up at the office and we’d run out.  Darn it!  I had some black tea, but friends, it is not the same.   Just.  Not.  The.  Same.  So I’ve spent the last 48 hours sleepy and with a headache (not helped by the red eye flight and jetlag, I’m sure).  Rather stubbornly, I haven’t taken any Advil.  Although I wasn’t really planning on eliminating caffeine right away, I don’t want to let all this headachey detox go to waste.   I’m going to stick to decaf coffee and teas.  I may get away from coffee and caffeinated tea entirely…but let’s not be too hasty.  This is admittedly a place where I’m a little fuzzy in the elimination diet.

Another hiccup to my start: I did my requisite Whole Foods trip (that’s one of the perks of healthy diet change – a gleeful trip to fill a shopping cart with all sort of permitted goodies), but I had forgotten that on my list is no citrus, corn, and potatoes.  Hmmmm, whoops.  They just seemed so healthy when I put them in my cart.  My tactic is to eat them all immediately and consider these first couple days a “ramping up” into the true elimination.  Also, I just realized I can’t eat mustard.  I love mustard.  Or popcorn.  I love popcorn.  Rats.

Other news?

Well, let’s just put it this way.  My guy decided to stay in Hawaii and extra week and I’m darn glad that he did, lest my veggie inspired emissions mar his image of me as a ladylike creature.  It’s been an exciting two days.

To recap:  what is currently out of my diet:

• gluten, flour
• soy (and soy sauce, oh, sad!)
• dairy
• nuts/seeds
• legumes
• alcohol
• caffeinated coffee
• eggs

I’m also going meatless here, but we’ll see how this goes.  Without nuts, seeds, or soy, I’ll have to stay aware of how I feel.

Onwards!

 

 

Herein begins the tale of a 3-week odyssey into an….(bum bum bum) elimination diet!

Ever since a trip to India awhile back, my digestion has been plagued by inconsistency.  I’ve tried being vegan, omnivorous, seen two naturopaths, seen an acupuncturist, done the antibiotic route….and still had a grumpy gut.  Having spent the last while happily in mai tai’s and  kona coffee, this seems like a perfect time to do a reset, clean up my act, and see if I can get to the bottom of what ails me.

An elimination diet removes foods that have a tendency to cause digestion issues.  Basically, you take away all the trouble makers for three weeks, then add them in one at a time to see if you have a reaction.

Here’s the game plan I’m intending to follow, courtesy of Precision Nutrition:

“To begin with, a good elimination diet will remove gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, corn, pork, beef, chicken, beans/lentils, coffee, citrus fruits, nuts, and nightshade vegetables. That might sound like a lot, but it leaves plenty of options for a relatively satisfying diet comprised primarily of rice, meat (i.e. turkey, fish, lamb), most fruit, and most types of vegetables.

The following table gives an example of what to include and exclude during an elimination diet.”

	Foods to include	Foods to exclude
Fruits	Almost all fresh fruit	Citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, etc)
Vegetables	Almost all fresh raw, steamed, sautéed, or roasted vegetables	Tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes (sweet potato and yams are okay)
Starch	Rice*, buckwheat*	Wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, oats, all gluten-containing products
Legumes		Soybeans, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, all beans, peas, lentils
Nuts and seeds		All seeds and nuts
Meat and fish	Fish, turkey, lamb, wild game	Beef, chicken, pork, cold cuts, bacon, hotdogs, canned meat, sausage, shellfish, meat substitutes made from soy
Dairy products and milk substitutes	Unsweetened rice milk*, almond milk, coconut milk	Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, non-dairy creamers, eggs
Fats	Cold-expeller pressed olive oil, flaxseed oil, coconut oil	Margarine, butter, processed and hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, spreads
Beverages	Drink plenty of fresh water, herbal teas (e.g. rooibos, peppermint, etc.)	Alcohol, caffeine (coffee, black tea, green tea, soda)
Spices and condiments	Sea salt, fresh pepper, fresh herbs and spices (i.e. garlic, cumin, dill, ginger, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, turmeric)	Chocolate, ketchup, mustard, relish, chutney, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, vinegar
Sweeteners	Stevia (if needed)	White or brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, desserts

Join if you wish and do your own version..perhaps just eliminating alcohol, refined sugar, and gluten, for example. Time for a good fall cleaning!

Here we go!

The issue of poo

Ever since I went to India, my digestion has been…shall we say, “off.”  Ummmm, for those of you who like better descriptors, shall we say…”fuzzy.”  Or ill-formed.  Or goopy.  Or how about let’s just say that my body is not producing the perfect, soft, firm poo that we all aspire to.

I got my poo tested (trust me, you do not want to know how I did this), then did the usual Western solution and endured three weeks on some particularly disgusting antibiotics in an effort to rid myself of my new-found digestive pest.

To no avail.

 

The sexy naturopath

In desperation, I went to a highly recommended naturopath, who suggested that I do an elimination diet.   She was dressed like one of the real housewives of Newark, New Jersey.   She had high hair, massive bosoms, and a soft, knowing manner.  I quite liked her, and admired how she was able to walk in heels that were so high.

I took an expensive allergy test, waited three weeks, and came back for the update.  She said that though I looked skinny, I had fat around my organs that wasn’t healthy.  I had developed allergies to several foods, but luckily nothing that was permanent.  If I was disciplined for 9 months, I could help my body recover from all of my bad habits and reset my system.  And then she put me on a diet that removed…well, almost everything.

• no gluten, flour
• no dairy
• no soy
• no eggs
• no nuts
• no seeds
• no alcohol
• no caffeine, no coffee
• no sugary foods
• nothing fermented (this truly sucks.  No Braggs.  No Braggs???)
• nothing that would add to yeast (no nutritional yeast, my vegan friends)
• no bananas (particular to me, I have an allergy.  Which makes sense, because they make me feel sick.)
• no broccoli (particular to me, because I lived on it all the time)
• no pineapples
• no citrus fruits
• no corn
• no nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants)
• no potatoes

Understand: when I went to see her, I was vegan.

Take another look at this list, my friends.  No soy, no nuts, no seeds?  What does a vegan eat exactly?

Answer: the vegan eats meat.

Oh, and the naturopath’s specially formulated protein shake mix that she’ll sell you for a low-low price and you’ll need to eat as two meal replacements.

Now, when this event happened, I was ready to try anything to fix up my belly.  Veganism had been a bit tough on my innards.  (For more information, see the many posts on flatulence under “Going Vegan.”)  So, with my newfound, “what not to eat” knowledge, I went home whipped up a buffalo meat stew.  Yep, the same night.

Alan watched from the sidelines, incredulously.

“You’re cooking meat?”

“Yes,” I say, stirring our stew.

“You’ve been vegan for five months, haven’t eaten red meat in 15 years, and now you’re making a buffalo chili.”

“Yes.”

He crossed his arms, leaned against the fridge, suspicious of his good fortune.  “Why?”

“The naturopath says I should.  And I’m anemic, so I’m low on iron.  She says that if I’m going to eat meat, buffalo is my best protein source.”

“I am,” he says emphatically, “thrilled about this.”  Alan, though very supportive, had never been a big fan of my veganism.  At heart, he was an avid meat eater stuck in a pescetarian psyche for the last ten years, and his natural carnivorous cravings were beginning to catch up with him.  My decision to go omnivore suddenly lifted his self-imposed ban as well.

My parents happened to be in town visiting (from Texas, so you can well-imagine that they were also pleased with my culinary turnaround), so we all sat down to eat together.

Alan took a bite and moaned, “It’s soooo good!  Why have I deprived myself for so long!”  He looked at me, wide-eyed and slightly wild, “This is amazing.  I want to always eat like this.”

I took a moment to pray for the buffalo before eating.  Thank you, buffalo.  Thank you for showing me so clearly this great cycle of life and impermanence, and my place within it.  I will not always be here, either, and this moment reveals the constant ebb and flow of material and life force, and my part in it – at least for now.  Thank you.

And I ate.

Did it taste good?  Well, yep, it tasted pretty darn good.  Was I freaked out to be eating meat?  A little freaked out.  But I’d been raised on meat, so it actually didn’t feel or taste that weird.   And what, you may ask, were the side effects?   What happened to my poor system from eating a pretty good portion of red meat after 15 years without?

Answer: nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

And, wouldn’t you know, my digestion started to improve too.

 

The follow up

In addition to encouraging carnivorousness, the naturopath had also put me on a rigorous supply of supplements (sold by her, top quality at a low, low price) and her twice daily shakes.  When I went in for a check up, she measured my body fat percentage.  It was higher than when I started.

“Isn’t that weird,” I said suspiciously.  “I thought that number was supposed to go down.  You know, the organ fat.”

“No, sometimes it doesn’t.  It’s okay.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m drinking like a can of coconut milk a day in these shakes.”

“No, it’s not the shakes,” she says, “the shakes are fine.”

“And how long am I supposed to do this?”

“Nine months.”

Uh huh.

 

More problems

Soon after, I started getting massive stomach cramps after drinking the shakes.  I’d never experienced anything like it.

I emailed her, “Why am I getting massive stomach cramps?”

She emailed me back that it’s probably because I’m cheating on my diet. See, even the tiniest cheat can cause a massive setback.  And the tricky things is, you won’t experience an immediate side-effect.  The side effect can turn up a couple days later.  So really, you never know what’s causing your symptoms.  Or maybe it’s the flax oil.  Sometimes that causes a reaction.

Uh huh.

I’m starting not to like this naturopath anymore.  Particularly because she’s right: I am cheating.  It’s four months in and I’m exhausted by the restrictions (particularly the “nothing fermented” rule.  This eliminates pickles, mustards, citric acid…it’s  serious challenge.)  Particularly since the smallest cheat can apparently cause massive problems, it’s hard to tell if it’s actually working.  Am I going through a “healing crisis,” or reacting to a cheat?  Or is my body pissed off because I’m not eating  anything that it’s used to?

I decide that it’s not likely that putting a dollop of cream in my decaf coffee is causing massive cramps.  I think it’s more likely being caused by the massive amount of rice protein and coconut milk that I’m being told to consume every day.  Or the 20 pills per day.  Or the amount of money I’m spending.

I stop going.  It doesn’t feel right and I don’t trust the process.  I don’t trust her.

I go out and have a pizza.  Gluten, starchy, cheesy yum pizza.

And it is delicious.

And frankly, yes, I do feel bloated and paunchy afterwards.

But damn, it was good.

 

Post-script

I am still not satisfied.

Ethically, veganism rocks.  However, as a vegan, my body does both better and worse than it does consuming animal products.   And I do feel a profound connection to the cycle of life and death as an omnivore, though perhaps that is not commensurate with the argument to be made against suffering and the impact the animal husbandry can have on the environment.  Eating only fish (great protein, great omega’s, perhaps the best option) has some problems now due to overfishing and concerns about radioactive saturation from Fukushima.)

More investigation needs to be done.  The self-laboratory continues…

 

 

More distressing news from the Blue Front.

Colbert had a guest on this show named Captain Charles Moore, who discovered (or rather, did not discover, but talked about) the giant floating patch of garbage that can be found in the Pacific Ocean between Asia and North America.  He brought in a tub of plastic bits that had been taken off the shores of Hawaii.  Not encouraging.  Apparently instead of coral, our beaches will soon be made of old Tupperware and plastic baggies.

I also finished the Ocean book (“The World is Blue,” by Sylvia Earle).  It was hard to read.  Kind of like taking the Omega 3 oil that I’m supposed to take everyday.  Frankly, kind of unpleasant. (I’ve been neglecting my Udo’s Oil supplement lately.  The taste and texture just has done me in.)  Basically, we’ve depleted our fishing stocks and destroyed the sea floor so much that until something drastic is done, we are on a steep decline to no-happy-ocean-ville.  And no happy ocean-ville means no happy-people-ville.

Did you know that most of our oxygen comes from the ocean?  All the furor about the Amazonian rainforest – justified as is might be – has deterred our eyes from the more desperate question: what if we muck up the food chain in the ocean so much that the algae stops doing what we need it to do?

Not to mention that eating all these delicious top of the food chain fish (tuna, salmon, flounder, swordfish) means that we’re ingesting the compounded heavy metals (and yes, plastic) that these guys have been eating underwater for the last 100 years.  It also messes up the food chain by taking out the big boys.

AND, there’s also been some speculation lately about contamination from the Fukushima catastrophe.

So, I am concerned and a bit overwhelmed.  What do we do?  And what can I do in my own small little life to help make a difference in these global issues?

I take some solace in a quote from Gandhi: “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”

One step at at time, my friends.  Or one mouthful.

 

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I went with my friend Vicki to see Reginald Ray speak at the Vancouver Public Library.  Ray is in his sixties, has a doctorate in religious studies and is currently meditation instructor in the tradition of vajrayana Buddhism (tantric).  The founder of Dharma Ocean, a retreat center in Colorado, he spoke of intimacy and really “seeing” others, as well as of our need to renew our intimacy with the earth.

At the end of his talk, he asked for questions.  A thin, dark-haired young woman who was sitting in front of me nudged her partner, who shrugged and motioned her to get up.  She made her way up to the microphone.

She shook out her long hair and spoke in a soft voice.  “What do you think about eating animal products?  Don’t you think that not eating animal products is the way to become more evolved and that it is necessary for us to move forward?”

I perked up.

He paused and studied her a moment, “What do you think?”

“I have been a vegan for over ten years.  And it changed my life.  I felt closer to everything, more aware.  And that seems to be the way to go, to be compassionate to the earth, to others.”

My friend Vicki mutters, “So judgmental.”

He took his time, “I would say that that was a very good decision for you.  You got a lot of out of and it works for you.  But I don’t think it works for everyone.  Like me.  I eat an enormous amount of animal protein.  An enormous amount.  For health reasons.  I have this theory I was a Tibetan in my last life, and their diet is almost all animal protein, because there is nothing else.  But this is where we get into trouble as people.  When we find what is right for us and decide that then this must be right for everyone.   Then we are not “seeing” each other.”

“Hmmm,” she said.

He looked around, “The original humans were hunter gatherers.  But they hunted only what they needed.  They thanked the animal for its sacrifice in feeding the people.  Today the problem isn’t the eating of the animals, but the lack of responsibility in the way that it is done.”  He looked back at her kindly, “Dare I say there might come a time when you are no longer a vegan.”

She shook her head emphatically, “No, no, no.  My email address is “forevervegan.” I will never eat meat.”

He smiled, “In Buddhism, we have this thing called impermanence.”

 

Vicki and I hung out after the talk.  “I was so glad she asked that,” I said, “so interesting to see her assume that veganism had to be the way to go.”

Vicki paused.  “I hate that.”

Vicki is a soft-spoken MS physical therapist who has done a bunch of meditation retreats.  She is a fellow yoga teacher; we met when she came to one of my classes and we realized that we’d gone through the same teacher training.  Our yoga style is a tantric yoga tradition, which means that the point is not to transcend life, but to become a deeper, more conscious part of it.

“I went to a vegan feast at Burning Man once,” she said, “It became very clear that I had to lie as soon as I arrived.”  She smiled, “I’m a terrible liar, but they were…ferocious.”  She laughs, “That’s such an animalistic word to describe a vegan.”

“They are, though,” I agree.   “They can be ferocious.”

“I couldn’t tell them that I wasn’t vegan.  But I’m also gluten intolerant, so they were like, “Wow, you can’t have wheat, bread, or eggs, or dairy, what do you eat?” ‘ She laughs, “I didn’t know what to say, I said, oh, you know, uh, quinoa and vegetables.  Lots of quinoa and vegetables.”

She pauses, “I do try to be responsible about what I eat.  I eat consciously and I respect my food.  But I like what Reggie said.  You have to see others where they are.  And be where you are.”

Vicki and Reggie got me to thinking.  Is being vegan a way of resisting – in some way – the impermanence of life?  After all, I don’t believe a cheetah is malicious when it takes down a zebra.   Of course we have a choice and that choice involves non-violence.. but I  began to wonder if eating vegetables was a way for me to avoid staring death in the face.  After all, if you’re paying attention, eating an animal is a huge signpost that points straight at our own mortality.

When I ate my dinner that night, I took a moment to bow my head to my food.  “Thank you,” I thought to my carrots, “for reminding me that I am part of the cycle of life.  From the seed and sun and soil, you have have grown.  Now you will become part of my body, dissolving and transforming – and nourishing me.  So I can go forth and participate in this world.  You remind me that I am a part of this cycle of impermanence.  Of change.  Amen.  Namaste. Om.”

 

My first Vitamix Soup!  Should be called, “fly by the seat of your pants” soup.  Thank you Vitamix, for making my inchoate food choppings into something yummy.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 sweet potatoes, chopped into large chunks (skins and all)
• 2 cloves garlic
• chunk of ginger (not too big, add small pieces until to taste)
• 1/2 apple
• dab of veggie bouillon
• about 1 C. almond milk
• 2-3 C. water

Dump into Vitamix.  Press start.  Wait 5-8 minutes until warm.  Longer for hot.

Pour.  Eat.

Yummy.  Ginger is necessary to liven it up.  Vitamix makes it rich and frothy.  It also made enough for 2 people at least (unexpected!).

Voila!  My first Vitamix soup!

Some future options?

• celery
• carrot instead of apple
• cinnamon and spices
• coconut milk instead of almond milk

 

I found Alan in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of my vegan superdrink.

“You’re eating all my vegan stuff.”

“I’ll buy the next one,” he said.  “I used to drink this kind of stuff all the time.  Here, I’ll make yours for you.”

“That’s $89 bucks per tub,” I pointed out, watching him dole out the powder.

“I know, they’ve got a lock on this market.  If it’s green, has a nutrition promo and a nice looking label, people will buy anything.   They want to be healthy.”

“If you don’t believe it, why are you drinking all my vegan superfood?”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t worth it, I just said it’s a racket.”  He handed me mine, all frothy and green. “You have to drink it fast,” he advised.  “It won’t taste as bad.”

Since consuming that first less-than-ideal vegan superdrink (our best strategy was hiding the flavor in orange juice), I have become privy to some truly delicious smoothy recipes from fellow gal pal vegans.  And non-vegans as well.  Turns out everyone likes smoothies, and most smoothies are vegan unless you want to put a chicken wing in with your blended fruit.

My friend Nicole whipped me up a smoothie using the Vega protein powder as a base and adding in her own smoothie bling, so to speak.  (The new Vega products by the way are delicious: chocolate, 25 grams of protein and 130 calories?  Ah, YES please.)  Protein smoothies are a great way to get your protein so you don’t have to max out on soy.  And since I seem sensitive to eating too many nuts and beans, getting a steady and easy protein source makes me happy.

So IS this stuff a racket?  Or is it worth the hefty price tag?  Word on the street is that the Vega products are really the best quality around.  So,while the pricing might seem daunting, I’m jumping on the bandwagon gratefully.

“I live on it,”  Nicole says.  “Every morning.  The only downside is having to pick berries and chia out of your teeth afterwards.”

I can deal with that.

Nicole’s AM Smoothie:

• 1 packet Vega chocolate protein powder
• 1 cup frozen berries
• ground flax seeds (Grind them!  Or you’ll just poo them out.)
• chia
• hemp
• cinnamon (covers up the slight taste of Stevia, which may be the only drawback to the Vega powder)

Make it the night before and you’re ready to roll in the morning.

 

 

My dedicated omnivore friend, Liz, had invited me over for a vegan lunch.  Now, Liz is one of the best cooks I know.  She is spectacular.  To watch her throw ingredients together in the kitchen is to watch a form of art.

This was the first time I’ve seen her since the cyber-fight with Steph on Facebook.

“By the way,” I said, as she finished preparing the meal, “Obviously, I know you love and support me.”

“With all the lard running through my veins.”

I grinned.

“You know,” she paused from chopping the cucumber, “I did try to go vegetarian for a couple years.”

“You did?”

She nodded thoughtfully, threw the cucumber into a bowl and then snagged a red onion to start cutting up. “Yep.  Then I went to Holland to visit my aunt.  I hadn’t told her I was vegetarian and she had made me a meal.  I didn’t want to NOT eat it.”  Liz looked up for a moment from her dicing,  “I hate people like that: ‘Oh, did you not know that I’m vegetarian? I can’t possible eat the food that you’ve spent all this money and time preparing for me.’”  She shook her head and looked back down to finish chopping, “So I tucked in.”

“It was Tournedos with a green peppercorn sauce and frites au jus.  The meat came from her local butcher, slaughtered from his local grass fed herd which lives in the same village as her, the butcher who is a third generation butcher in the exact same shop his grandfather opened 100 years ago.”  She sighed, “The meat tasted like something out of my deep childhood…sweet rich and my body shouted YES.”  She finished the onions, threw them in the bowl with the cucumber, and started to enfold the dressing,  “I didn’t look back EVER again.”

I nodded, “Alan has that too.  When he has meat, he just loves it.  I think he calls himself a vegetarian so that he doesn’t eat it all the time.”

Liz heaped a big bowl of quinoa veggie goodness together on a plate and placed it before me.  “But for you, my dear…voila.”

Liz’s Delicious Cucumber Cabbage Quinoa Salad with Lime Pickle Dressing

Dressing:

• olive oil
• good balsamic vinegar
• apple cider vinegar
• grainy mustard
• lime pickle

Directions:

• Cook up quinoa of choice
• Chopped red onion to taste
• Chopped parsley to taste
• Cucumber

Mix all together and let flavour soak or devour right away.

Editor’s Warning: this recipe presume you have a good sense of taste.

My friend Steph came over for a vegan feast.  She offered to jump in the kitchen teach us how to make great vegan food.

Alan was excited.  “Teach her everything,” he said, pointing at me.  “Just lock yourselves in there and don’t come out until she knows how to cook.”

Steph’s Amazing Yam and Lentil Stew

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Da’al….ish

Steph instructs:

• Chop up one onion and some fresh ginger in a large saucepan.
• Add in two heaping tablespoons of Patak’s Mild Curry sauce; it’s great in many flavours so choose your favorite.
• Add about 2-3 cups of red lentils or brown lentils, washed and sorted; it’s all eyeballing here, folks.
• Throw in a large can of diced organic tomatoes or whole tomatoes and mash them up, but I prefer diced
• Add the same amount of water- fill the can- this is to help cook the lentils and to add more volume as they expand.
• I throw in a diced sweet potato now, too and a few dollops of tomato paste for thickening.
• Bring to a slow boil, get it simmering for at least 20 minutes so the lentils expand and the sweet potato gets cooked
• I also throw in a can of chick peas and some fresh chopped kale in the last few minutes
• Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and/or add more curry sauce….it’s that easy.

Steph says, “It makes a ton, gets better over the days, freezes like a dream and is chock full of everything- really simple and flexible- I’ve used different lentil/bean combos, too. Plus, you can add fresh baby spinach when you reheat it as well. I serve it over quinoa…yummy! And I eat it cold- I bring it to work for dinner and I never use a microwave; it tastes great cold too.”

We dig in.

It IS amazing.  This is a kick ass dinner.  Just throw it into the pot and cook her up.  We have more than enough for us plus a ton of leftovers.

“It freezes really well,” says Steph.  “Just pull it out and let it thaw when you want more.  Throw in some fresh kale or spinach leaves once it’s hot and there you go.”

After dinner, we make a new vegan brownie recipe that Steph is psyched about.  The secret ingredient is black beans, so the brownies are high in protein.  You can almost justify eating the whole pan.

Um.  Scratch the almost. I can justify it.

 

I’ve been away from my precious, precious juicer since before my Christmas vacation, but today had the opportunity to whip up something delicious thanks to my SPUD delivery.  I ordered their “Organic Detox Juicing Box”  delivered to my home and opened up a bin full of veggie goodness.  OH!  I’d forgotten how yummy these juices are!   At the first taste, my body instantly made a happy face.  AND, it’s the perfect addition to “Total Health Month.”  What an excellent way to get a blast of vitamins first thing in the AM.

Today’s juice was kamikaze style: basically I pulled out a bunch of thing from the box and threw them into my juicer.  I made a bigger whack of juice than I usually do, as life is busy these days and I wanted to have two days worth.  Now, ideally you should drink your juices ASAP after juicing them, but sometimes we gotta make some compromises.

Kamikaze Juice

• 1 lemon
• 4 carrots
• 4 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• handful of parsley
• slice ginger

The lemon, carrot and ginger keep it sweet and zippy, while the cucumber and celery add a” clarity” taste that I really like.

Nutritional Info (this is for two servings, keep in mind )

• 100 g of lemon (about 1) yields:
  • 88% of RDA Vitamin C (53 mg)
  • calories 30
• 400 g carrot (about 4):
  • a whopping 1320% RDA Vitamin A  (66,000 IU)
  • 40% RDA Vitamin C (12 mg)
  • 36% Potassium (640 mg)
  • 64% Vitamin K (16.4 mcg)
  • also some B6, Folate, Vitamin E, Thiamin, Manganese
  • calories 160
• 200 g of celery (roughly 4 stalks, though this can vary)
  • 18% RDA Folate (72 mg)
  • 72% RDA Vitamin K (60 mg)
  • 14% RDA Potassium (520 mg)
  • 6% RDA Magnesium (22 mg)
  • calories = 30
• 100 g cucumber (1/2 medium cucumber)
  • 9% RDA vitamin K (7.2 mcg)
  • trace elements manganese, copper, potassium
  • calories = 20
• Total calories: 240 for 2 servings

I noticed I was feeling a little sick.  The left tonsil (still got ‘em) felt swollen.

“Apparently begin vegan doesn’t mean you don’t get sick,” observes Alan cutely.

“Apparently not,” I say.  “But maybe I’m detoxing.  When you eat better, an the fat starts to melt away, bad stuff that was stored in there starts to come out of you.”

He looks unconvinced, “Maybe.”

“It’s a healing crisis,” I insist.  “All the toxins in your cells come out and you feel bad for a day or two and then you get better.”

“Or maybe being vegan has weakened your immune system and you just got a cold.”

I pause.  I have to do some research on this.

Some naturopathic websites extol the “healing crisis” as a sign that you’re actually improving your health:

• “The healing crisis is a process in which the body undergoes an intense period of cleansing and rebuilding.  It is called a “healing” crisis because the body is healing itself and becoming stronger.  It is referred to as a “crisis” because the symptoms can be dramatic and rather unpleasant during this time.  Because the healing crisis is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms it is often mistaken as a sickness.  In reality, it is just the opposite.  It is a process in which the body is overcoming ill health and becoming healthier and stronger.”

• “Also known as the “Herxheimer Reaction”, this reaction occurs when the body tries to eliminate toxins at a faster rate than they can be properly disposed of. The more toxic one’s bodily systems are, the more severe the detoxification, or healing crisis. It is characterized by a temporary increase in symptoms during the cleansing or detox process which may be mild or severe. You may feel worse and therefore conclude that the treatment is not working. But these reactions are instead signs that the treatment is working and that your body is going through the process of cleaning itself of impurities, toxins and imbalances.”

• “A healing crisis is the body’s sign of being overloaded and overwhelmed with the changes that are taking place on the road to becoming healthier.  This is often due to the body suddenly recognizing and eliminating toxins that otherwise had just been sitting there.  Donna Gates in The Body Ecology Dietrefers to healing crises as something that the body does as it’s organizing a major cleanse:

The first time I saw a healing crisis was when I put my daughter on a gluten free casein free diet (prior to GAPS); one of her cheeks turned bright red with the removal of gluten, which was acting like a toxin (or feeding toxins) in her body.  As we went through the GAPS Intro I saw the same red cheeks.  When I started her on B12 injections (B12 plays a huge roll in detoxification, which many GAPS kids have trouble with) she got night terrors/has trouble sleeping.  Night terrors and trouble sleeping are other signs of her healing crises, though these also are signs that she’s gotten food she shouldn’t have or has been exposed to a toxin.  This is where it gets tricky figuring out what is what.”

Okay, this last one freaked me out.  Seriously, there’s a mom taking her kid off gluten and giving her B12 injections?  Maybe the kid is hungry and doesn’t like being stuck with a needle?

So, what is the medical opinion on healing crises?

Hmmmm, I couldn’t find any.

That made me nervous.

I asked my nurse friend Ashley about it.

“I don’t know about this healing crisis thing,” I said.  “Am I detoxing here or do I just have a cold.”

“It shouldn’t make you sick,” Ashley said, “your body’s major routes for detoxing are breathing, urination, and defecation.”

I blinked.  “Not sweating?  Yoga teachers talk all the time about the detoxifying properties of sweating.”

She shook her head, “Sure, but that’s mostly salt.  Sweating’s good for your circulation.  And yeah, sure, stuff can get stored in your fat, but I don’t buy the healing crisis thing.”

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made.  It seemed to me that if your body was being properly supported by your diet and your nutrition, then it would feel better, not worse.  If you went off of caffeine, you likely just felt worse because you were having withdrawal symptoms or because your body was was getting used to a new diet.  This train of thought of course brought to mind the obsession with doing “cleanses.”  More on that later.

So what exactly is “detoxification?”   And what exactly are we detoxing from?  While “Detoxification” has become a buzz word for alternative health, that also doesn’t diminish the fact that we are truly exposed to a crazy number of chemicals that are probably not good for us.

Here’s the answer on our toxin exposure in part.  And a fairly sensible sounding article from the Huffington Post about “detoxing.”

 

 

Ah, the Bridal Shower!

I didn’t think to ask in advance if there would be vegan goodies.  As it turns out, the event was beautifully catered.  But the only thing I could eat besides the crackers were the bananas that the sex educator brought for us to practice our “hand strokes” on.

When the food was laid out, I timidly approached Anne, the very kind and well-dressed gal who hosted the event.  She was doling out a delicious looking butternut squash soup.

“Hi,” I said.   “Is that vegetarian?”

She smiled, “Yes!”

“Um,” I said, not wanting to be a pain in the ass, “Is it non-dairy?”

She paused, “Yes, I think so.  No, well there was a dribble of something white on it.  Yoghurt or something?”

“Ah, that’s okay.  That’s fine.”  I started to back away, “That’s okay, I’m good.”

She got concerned, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No, I know, it’s fine.  I’m not hungry.”

“There are mushroom popovers?”  She looked hopefully at the table laden with little catered delicacies.

I shrugged, a little pained, “Butter.”  I don’t want her to worry about it.

“What about those?”

“Those are salmon.”

“Oh,” she seemed crestfallen.  Then she brightens, “I made a soup for myself, you can have it.  It has nothing in it, just lentils.  No dairy, nothing like that.  It’s in the fridge.”

She was a very nice person.

“It’s okay, I’m really not hungry.  I’m great.”

“Okay, “she eyed me, “You just tell me.”

I slunk away and ate some crackers, figuring on stopping at home for some vegan potato leek soup before the dancing.

One of the fellow revelers, who happened to be a kick ass Australian triathelete with a heart of gold – Tash – had brought a couple vegan dips.  One is butternut squash and tahini.  It’s good, and I am happy.

Tash extolled the virtues of quinoa:

“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” she said.  “It’s great savory or sweet.  A little maple syrup on it, fruit, nuts for breakfast?   I can eat it all day.  So I’ll have it for breakfast with roasted yam, avocado, pine nuts and cottage cheese. It sounds weird but is so good.”  She looked at me, “Since you can’t do dairy, you could take the cottage cheese and do it with banana and tahini and some cinnamon.”

“That does sound weird, but good.”

“One of the best things about quinoa is that it’s great with veggies and with fruit.   A great dressing is apple cider vinegar and flax seed oil.  Same proportions as balsamic dressing and it’s so good for you.”

“Why are you going vegan?” one of the other girls chimed in.

I thought about it.  I appreciated the curiosity.   “It just felt like the right thing for me to do.  It’s not for everyone, and I don’t know how long it will last.  But it feels right for me right now.”  And with a bellyful of Tash’s dips, it really did.

Tash’s kick ass quinoa salad:

• Grated carrot and beets
• Steamed kale and asparagus
• Chick peas
• Sunflower seeds and pine nut
• Artichoke hearts
• Cherry tomatoes
• Fresh herbs (parsley and dill in this one)
• Cut everything up smallish, mixed all together with lemon juice and dressing made from flax seed oil and apple cider vinegar (same proportions as balsamic dressing)

 

 

 

My head hurts.

As part of Total Health Month (THM), I have decided to forgo caffeine.  This is doubly hard after spending a week with my “always-have-a-pot-on” family over the holidays.

Going caffeine free means that rather than ordering my tall Americano, I got a tall decaf Americano (okay, okay, I know that decaf has some caffeine in it – but have some pity, people!).  Being a flavor slave and something of an addict, I also have been drinking coffee substitutes.  Krakus and Grain Gourmet are my favorites in Canada – they are comprised of some miraculous combination of barley, rye, chicory, and beet root.  Throw it with with some Soy Delicious creamer or a MimicCreme and it’s vegan, too!

But my head still hurts.

Withdrawal is a bitch.  Which is probably why it’s 9 pm and I’m going to shortly crawl into bed.

However, before I pass out, I must share that tonight I made some exciting vegan goodies.  I made them while my roommate was out teaching, so I would have ample time to clean the kitchen before she got home.

 

Sundried Tomato Cashew Cheese

• cup of soaked cashews
• container of sundried tomatoes (including oil)
• Water as needed.
• Blend it in a food processor.

That’s it.  And you can tell my ingredient measurements aren’t too exact, so use your judgment and blend until you have a nice thick texture.  The fellow that gave me this recipe also adds in a whole bunch of basil, which I will try next time.  The phrase, “cashew cheese” sounds pretty gross to me (evoking “toe cheese” or something – ew), but the result is spectacular.  Delicious, and so easy to make – even for me.

Chocolate something or other

Okay, I wanted something chocolate to be able to dip into in times of trouble.  Something that would adhere to my THM intentions.  So I whipped this up in my Vitamix (I love my Vitamix) based on inspiration from my friend Steph.  I added in lots of “good for you” stuff, too, to get this in under THM rules.

• raw cocoa nibs – about 2-3 cups
• raw almond butter – about 1 cup
• spoonful of chlorella
• tablespoon of maca
• tablespoon of chia
• water to blend (probably 1/2 cup)
• cinnamon to taste

Blend this all up, then add:

• about 2 handful of dates

Again, it’s not an exact science.  And you’ll need a hard core food processor as the mixture gets quite thick.  I spooned it out and put it into a tupperware container and put it in the fridge to “set”.  My intention was that it would make bars or something of the sort.

My roommate came home and I proudly showed her my chocolate creation.  Susan is also doing the THM this month.

She looked at it, “”Can we find some cake to put under it?”  She dabbed a finger in and tasted.  Her brows lifted.  “What did you use for sugar?”

“Dates.”

She slowly nods, “This could work.”

This is high praise.

“It’s even got chlorella in it.  And chia,” I say proudly.

“So what’s the plan for this,” she says, nodding to my tupperware.

I look down at it.  “I don’t know.  That it will eventually get cold and I can cut into bars.”

She shakes her head, “That’s not going to set.”

“Then we’ll eat it with a spoon.”

She laughs, “Okay, fine with me, just checking to see if there was an end game here.”   I make a note to check in with Steph and see how she gets hers to set into bars.  But seriously, I’m pretty happy with the spoon thing.

She starts unpacking her grocery bag and pulls out a bag of potato chips.

She looks at me, and pauses.  “They’re baked.”

We all have our cheats.

 

Time for a digestive check in

Still flatulent.  Not as much.  But think about it: I’m not a very creative vegan yet, so my idea of a meal is a head of broccoli and some hummus.   Hmmmm, raw veggies and beans!  What a great combination!

So it’s not surprising that another Facebook trail about vegetarianism struck a chord.  The exchange was entitled “Vegetarian Gas and Bloat.”  Apparently vegetarians deal with this a lot.

However, it’s not just the personal discomfort that’s such a problem; the final exchange is a bit chilling:

“One final word: Did you all know that methane (from cows) is far worse for global warming than car emissions? Isn’t it interesting how governments won’t even consider going after (or even exposing) the agriculture industry to encourage more vegetarianism? Regardless, it’s just one more thing we can all feel GREAT about.”

My response

Hey all, I just started being vegan. Mucho flatulence, just outrageous stinky town. Getting better, but thanks for all the resources. It will help me explain to my boyfriend that this is only temporary 😉

A word about the methane

I was suspicious about the claim that methane was worse for global warming than car emissions, so I decided to do some recon and find out.

According to the EPA, it turns out, that yes, “mobile emissions” (which include cars, airplanes, trucks, ships, trains, etc…and your weedwacker) rated just 2 while “Enteric fermentation” (fermentation that takes place in the digestive track of domesticated livestock – doesn’t include emissions from stinky vegetarians) measured a whooping 139.8 in 2009.*  Manure management adds another 49.5.  The only other source that beats the animals is “Natural Gas Systems,” which comes in at 221.2.

Um, wow.

My vegan friend Steph spends time on a farm (not a working farm, but where farm animals have been rescued to).  I mentioned my shock about methane emissions to her.

“Oh yeah,” she nodded,  “One cow can output 150 pounds of manure per day.”

Holy…cow.

*And these numbers are teragrams of CO2 equivalents, where 1 teragram = 1 million metric tons.   Good lord.

Over the holidays, my family and I hold our full tummies and moan things like, “When January hits, you better believe that we’re not going to eat like this anymore.”  The guilt about eating an extra serving of pie or an additional glass of wine is tempered by the impending doom of a January that will no doubt turn us back (?) into the lean fighting machines we were sometime before Thanksgiving.  In January, we think, we will eat celery, drink only water, and run 5 miles daily to slough off the holiday torpor.  We will be perfect.  And healthy. And thin.

I love having a good time over the holidays, but this kind of all or nothing thinking leads to a roller coaster of extreme health habits.   It also reinforces the idea that health is about how much you weigh, rather than about all the factors that play into a deeper and lasting wellness.

This year, my brother-in-law Dave and I hatched a new kind of health intention for 2013.

Rather than only focusing on weight and diet (the usual defaults after the holidays), we decided to take a broader view of health and wellness and instead encourage small, incremental changes through all areas of our life.  Making small changes to your daily habits will do more for your long-term health and well-being than focusing on dropping holiday pounds.  Change your habits, change your lifestyle, change your life.

Total Health Month

Rather than setting a poundage goal, widen your health horizons.  Consider the following factors (whichever are the most potent for you!) to reassess as you embark on your 2013:

• nutrition – what kinds of food are you nourishing your body with? Do you feel good about what you’re eating?
• portions – how much do you really need, are you really eating because you’re hungry, or is there something else going on?
• when you eat, can you focus entirely on what you’re eating (ie: no more eating at your desk)
• can you limit caffeine and alcohol?
• exercise  – is it balanced  (a good combo of cardio, strength, and stretching)
• exercise – can you do a little every day?
• making small daily choices to get your body happy (walk up the stairs, take a 5 minute stretch break at work)
• water – are you getting 2  L a day?
• rest – are you sleeping 7-9 hours?
• mind – can you meditate 5 minutes a day?
• can you take a short nature walk every day?
• supplements – how can you support your body every day?
• do you floss daily?

Let yourself slow down and assess how your current lifestyle choices are supporting the person that you want to be. Even choosing five factors to focus on for January will transform your sense of well-being.  Create a simple way to track whether you meet your daily goals as a way to be accountable for these small changes.  And above all, celebrate your success!

Happy January!

 

Doubts

“What I’d be concerned about is the long-term effects,” said my friend Ashley.

Ashley is the fabulous strawberry blond of hummus and quinoa fame.  She’s also a pediatric nurse who also works in palliative care.  She is a full-on “broad,” outgoing, direct, and someone who will always have your back.  “You see these long-time vegans who are now having all these health problems.  Like my friend Josephs’ mum.”  Joseph’s mum is a long-term member of the Mount Madonna Yoga Center.  “They’re showing signs of diabetes.”

“Diabetes?  How’d that happen?”

She shrugged,  “I don’t know.”

“I feel like I’m eating better than I have in a long time.  Because I’m actively thinking about getting the nutrition I need,” I said, “I can’t take it for granted, so I’m more focused on it.  I actually pay attention to what I’m eating more now.”

She shrugged again, “I don’t know.  I just know that people have gotten sick.  You have to trust how your body feels.”

Hmmmm.  All the vegan sites talk about how much healthier being vegan is.  This is the first time that I’d heard about nasty long-term effects.  I knew I had to be careful about getting the right kind of nutrients, but this sounded serious.  Can I evaluate how good this is for me by how I feel, if the long-term effects may creep up on me insidiously?

More doubts

My friend Susan gave me a tub of soup.  Susan is one of my best friends, a fellow yoga teacher, and an outstanding chef.  “It’s vegan, potato leek with tofu. I don’t think you’re getting enough protein.”  She laughed, but she was also not entirely joking.

“Why not?”

Susan throws back her fabulously curly dark hair, “Well, I just know how I feel.  I was vegetarian for years.”

“You were?”  I was startled.  I hadn’t known.

“Oh yeah.  Then I really wanted a hamburger, and finally I broke down and I ate it.  And it was the most delicious thing I’d eaten.  I couldn’t go back. ”  She paused,  “I didn’t realize how much I needed the protein until I ate it, and figure out how tired and run down I’d been feeling.”

She looked at her soup, “And you have to be careful with tofu and estrogen.  Don’t eat too much.  It’s not good for you.”

“Why?”  I’m stymied.

“Estrogen.  If you get diagnosed with breast cancer, one of the first things they do is take all the soy out of your diet.”  She nodded at my startled look.  “Oh, yeah.”*

I looked at my soup.

“I swear the by Zone diet.  Keep the sugar from spiking, keep the yeast down.  It works for me.  But you have to listen to your body.”

 

More food for thought.

 

*On further research, the role of soy and breast cancer seems to be unraveled – or at least highly contextualized.  Check out this article from the American Cancer Society.  However, when I’ve asked friends about trusting posts from the American Cancer Society, I’ve also gotten knowing looks: “Money,” they say.  “No one makes money unless you get sick.  There’s big money in cancer.”  So who do you trust?

“Paradoxically, estrogen can be both a beneficial and a harmful molecule.  The main beneficial effects of estrogen include its roles in programming the breast and uterus for sexual reproduction, controlling cholesterol production in ways that limit the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries, and preserving bone strength by helping to maintain the proper balance between bone buildup and breakdown. Unfortunately, in addition to these important beneficial effects, estrogen can also be harmful. The most serious problem arises from the ability of estrogen to promote the proliferation of cells in the breast and uterus. Although this ability to stimulate cell proliferation is one of estrogen’s normal roles, it can also increase a woman’s chance of developing breast or uterine cancer.”  – Understanding Estrogen Receptors, Tamoxifen, and Raloxifene, National Cancer Institute.

See what a harmless little Facebook post can spawn?

Rachel Anne Scott

Avocadoes, tomatoes, chickpeas….who said being vegan wasn’t fun?

Carina Roter

Wait until you get hooked on RAW. More fun in the summer but you will feel amazing!

Tyler Wright

there’s a party in your mouth and everyone’s sprouting

Stephanie Belding

Woo hoo!!!! Wait til you discover nutritional yeast and hemp seeds and nori with everything- huzzah!!!

Gregg Paris Yates

Ummm. Vegan? Tell me this is a passing phase…

Brent Hammond

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Roger Andrew

Just sprinkle it with bacon bits…

Stephanie Belding

Passing phase? What, compassion over killing, respect for all sentient beings, not to mention an environmentally intelligent and overabundant and nutritious diet? I never understand the judgment as some negative deprivation; then again I don’t let my palate dictate my ethics.

Lizzi Hollanders

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz good luck with that riveting variety of palate sensations. I think I’ll just tuck into my duck breast with a port blackberry reduction, and my dessert of a flourless chocolate cake rich with eggs and cream and sugar…. or maybe I’ll make my rosemary crusted rack of lamb and pepper soufflé… or maybe a simply porter house steak with a peppercorn sauce or maybe…

Stephanie Belding

Wow Lizzi, you’ve obviously never had great vegan food. And do you want to know exactly how your food ended up on your plate and what it costs you, the animal s and the environment to get there? Or what the dairy- filled with pus and feces, btw- is actually doing your heart and arteries, not to mention your overall energy and libido? I dunno, I simply have no humor when it comes to choosing exploitation and suffering as one’s meal. Completely unattractive. Check out The Artful Vegan: http://bit.ly/8c9wb6 – the food will blow your mind. The most exquisite food anywhere from The Millennium Restaurant. Can we say enlightened?

Lizzi Hollanders

No, I don’t really care… I don’t buy mass produced food. I lived and grew up on a farm. I raised, loved and slaughtered animals. And as far as I am concerned you eat the diet your body wants. If my body wanted to be vegan it would be, but it does not want it. I wholly support anyone who wants to eat the diet that is right for them and their path and don’t have time to pass judgment or be all high and mighty about it. I was pulling Rachel’s leg as she knows full well. I deeply respect and support her in whatever choices she makes be it culinary or otherwise. FB is an open forum and sometimes tone is lost ergo my tone was *friendly sarcasm*. Each spiritual path is its own path. Yours is vegan, mine is paved with lard and I am content with it. You want to judge me and call yourself enlightened then by all means live by that code, have a good time and ttyl.

Brent Hammond

Luckily not all vegans are high and mighty Liz. I’ve been vegan for 1/2 my life. Couple of my best friends will never be vegan and I don’t hold anything against them for that. Will say I’m going to outlive them though. LOL.

Seriously though the best tasting meals are vegan — probably because if you just remove meat from a regular North American diet, there’s nothing left. Cooking without meat and dairy requires an expansion of creativity and knowledge. I do eat a much larger variety of food than I did when I ate meat, and than 99% of carnivores. And I can outcook most of them too… My main point is that it’s not restrictive; unless you keep you limit yourself by not exploring all the choices available. Also: not all vegans are judgmental and “religious” about their path.

Lillian Dunn

Oh, Rachel! See what you’ve started with your innocent little posting? Can’t we all just get along? 😉

Oh my. Oh, and in the time that it took me to go and pour a glass of wine and come back to the computer, this came in:

Stephanie Belding

I am really intrigued by your reaction-and yes it is an open forum and tone can be lost or misconstrued. I live by my code and obviously, you, yours. I love and support Rachel’s decisions as well- and it’s interesting that my posts are perceived as high and mighty and not as someone who is also expressing her opinion. I find often that people get quite angry, confrontational and harsh when it comes to food and ethics; I live my life as lightly as possible on the planet and when asked about why I make those choices, I respond with the ethical basis for how I live. How others react to it is indicative of who they are; when it’s construed as high and mighty or judgmental, that’s not my issue, that’s theirs.

Wow.

It’s like the book said, being vegan is quite the hot potato.

On first read, I thought Stephanie’s post was a bit confrontational.  After all, Liz was just being a smartass and funny and what’s the big deal?  No need to get hysterical, right?  But, because I also know Steph isn’t an “in your face” kind of vegan, I decided to drink my wine and read all the posts again.  It did get me to thinking…

What is it about veganism that people don’t want to take seriously?

Like my good buddy Greg writing, “Tell me this is a passing phase.”  Why should this be a passing phase?  What does he really have against veganism?  What could possibly be wrong with it?  Now, Greg is not an jerk, he’s a great guy, but somehow the word “vegan” and “animal rights” raises hackles.   Or at least seems to cause some knee-jerk casual derision.

Abolition v. Regulation

Unlike me, Stephanie objects to any exploitation of animals.  Period.  There is no “kind hunting” or “respectful killing.”  You don’t exploit animals for your food, your makeup, your clothes, or your bag.  She does not support zoos or aquariums.  She is what they would call an “Abolitionist” as opposed to a “Welfarist,” or someone interested in Regulation.

According to www.abolitionistapproach.com, an abolitionist approach:

(1) requires the abolition of animal exploitation and rejects the regulation of animal exploitation; (2) is based only on animal sentience and no other cognitive characteristic, (3) regards veganism as the moral baseline of the animal rights position; and (4) rejects all violence and promotes activism in the form of creative, non-violent vegan education.

Whereas a Regulation approach basically says it’s okay to eat treat animals as resources, as long as you are humane.

At this time, I’m more in the Regulation camp.  Not to cop out, but my reasoning is that animals have been killing animals for ….well, ever.  Circle of life and all that.  However, we have become so removed from the actual process of killing that we’ve been able to forget what our part in the circle actually is.  Most of us participate in a culture of denial around how meat actually comes to us.  Not when we can pop into the store and buy something called “meat” that we easily forget was once the rib of a cow.  And we’re not encouraged to think too much.  One of my best friends used to say  that “hamburgers come from the hamburger tree.”  This is a very enlightened lady I’m talking about.  But, uh, no, hamburgers DON’T actually come from the hamburger tree.

And the ways in which animals are being slaughtered… I mean, it’s pretty terrible.   (Don’t take my word for it.  Do your research.  I trust you not to bury your head in the sand.)  And here’s my problem.  I like animals.  They shouldn’t be in pain, and terrified, and tortured.

So here’s what I’m realizing about vegans:  Veganism is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle.  It’s a moral code.  And Vegans live by their ethics.  The non-violence of Vegan ethics brings to mind Jainism.  Jains are a spiritual sect so interested in the well being of other creatures that they sweep the floor in front of them to ensure they won’t harm insects and creepy crawlies.  Some Jains wear face masks so that they don’t accidentally breathe in insects. Here’s a quote:

“Those who eat the meat of other [living beings] in order to satisfy their own flesh, they are definitely murderers [themselves], since without a consumer [there can be] no killer.” — Acharya Hemacandra (12th c. Jain ascetic/scholar)

Pretty intense.  But if we think of Vegans like Jains, why do we admire one’s commitment to a peaceful life and yet taunt Vegans for their choices?

Maybe we just want to knock them off their moral pedestal: “What makes them think they’re better than us?”   My guess is we wouldn’t get defensive if we really believed in what we were doing.  My hunch is that we want to make fun of vegans because there’s actually something there worth thinking about.  So while it’s true that some people really can’t do a vegetarian diet,  for a lot of us those are excuses that we use when we don’t want to look any further.

So I ask: are we really consuming with awareness?  Or do we just keep recreating the cycle of what our mums and dads fed us  without really, deeply questioning how we want to spend our time, our dollars, and our energy?

Food for thought.

Author’s note: And interestingly, since I have written this article, Greg actually tried being vegan for health reasons…

Ah, what to feed a vegan?

Alan and I headed over to the home of some friends that we know for chow and movies.

Ash is a great friend of ours who is an outgoing nurse with a thick head of strawberry blond hair who is unfazed by the vegan challenge. As we were traveling partners through India, I can attest that she is pretty much unfazed by anything.  Her date was a laid back guy who baked his own bread.  He also had a pull down screen for watching movies on, which pleased Alan, who is a rampant cinemaphile.

They have cooked (or rather, not cooked) up something wonderful.

Ash has thrown together:

• quinoa
• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• chickpeas
• cilantro

Alan hates cilantro (“It tastes like weeds”), so we leave that off of his.

She put together a vinaigrette:

• honey
• apple cider vinaigrette
• Dijon

She was so happy to oblige me in my vegan quest that I didn’t have the heart to tell her that honey is off the vegan list.  VEgans out there: substitute in maple syrup and you’ll be just fine.  Her date threw his bread into bake and whipped up some homemade hummus.  This was hands down the best hummus I have ever had.

Simple, delicious food.   The food far eclipsed the movie (some Angelina-being-Bad-Ass-in-a-car flick).   In fact, the food was so good that the next day I posted about it on Facebook.  Little did I know what drama would ensue from an innocent little post.

Never underestimate the power of social media to make a mess….(stay tuned)

Previous Eating Experiments

I’m one of those people that likes to have a book to latch onto for dietary inspiration.  I read all the testimonials inside about people changing their lives and I feel unstoppable:  “This is the answer!  This is the key to being healthy!” I tell myself exuberantly.

This feeling generally lasts a month.  Maybe two.

A sampling of what I’ve previously done:

• The Zone: I did this about about 15 years ago.  The idea at the time was to eat 30% carbs, 20% fat, and 20% protein to stay in “The Zone,” where you will keep your sugar levels even.  But if you’re eating the right carbs, you won’t spike your sugar levels anyway, so that didn’t make total sense.  At any rate, since I did it, they’ve upgraded their PR and now call The Zone an “anti-inflammatory diet.” They’ve changed their recommendation to be 33%  protein and 66% fruit and veg (with a dash of flax oil for your omega’s), which is…sort of a no-brainer.  Eat lean protein and whole foods?  Get rid of processed flours and sugars?  I’ll lose weight and feel better?  You don’t say!
• The Aktins Diet:  Yes, I even tried this carnivorous extravaganza about 8 years back when I was trying to be a very thin actress.  I ate cheese, cold cuts, eggs, and ricotta cheese desserts.  And I lost weight, which is saying something because I didn’t have a ton to lose.  But whether I lost weight because of the diet or because I couldn’t stomach eating another turkey slice is uncertain.  Let me say right now that I do not advocate doing this diet, as it cuts out all fruit and veg.  Seriously, does that make any sense?
• Eat Right for your Blood Type: When I was looking into killing my Indian bug, I went to a naturopath, who took $60 from me and made a book recommendation.  So I bought the book.  I read the book. I was baffled by the book.  The lists of foods that I could or could not eat made no sense to me.  Disgusted, I donated the book.  If you are a control freak and can stay on top of the rules, you may have better luck.  However, I did learn that my blood type – A+ –  is the blood type that does well for vegetarians, so maybe that’s some reinforcement.
• “The Anti-Aging Plan”:  This has the distinction of being hatched out of a biosphere experiment.  I tried this back in the late 90’s when my brother-in-law gave me the book for Christmas.  It’s actually pretty awesome and still makes total sense to me.  Basically, eat nutrient-dense food.  Keep your caloric intake sensible (although if you eat nutrient dense food and calorie restrict, there is some scientific evidence this may prolong your longevity).  When I read the book, they were still promoting taking lots of supplements, but I think has actually fallen by the wayside and now it’s just about eating really nutritious food.  But a great read and very sensible.  I’m still inspired by it.

Vega

My current inspirational book is called, “Thrive.”  I actually picked “Thrive” off the bookshelves a few years ago on a whim, not even realizing at the time that it was vegan book.  It is written by Brendan Brazier, a triathlete who realized that his diet was holding him back from taking the next step forward in his racing.  He discovered through trial and error that a plant-based diet allowed him to recover faster, improved his endurance, and therefore improved his racing times. Not a bad endorsement of the health benefits of veganism!

I plucked “Thrive” back off my bookshelf to give my Veganism another pillar of support and decided to try some of their products.

I wasn’t completely new to Vega.  A couple years back I’d tried making a shake out of a tub of vegan super food that I’d been given while working at the Estes Yoga Journal Conference.  The result back then had been a shake that was blue and cold and lumpy.

“That retails for $89,” Vegan Steph had told me.

Make that blue, cold, lump, and expensive.  I wound up letting it sit in my cupboard and eventually threw it out.

However, since then, the product lines have seriously evolved.   I can now confess to being seriously enamored with their (still expensive) products.  The chocolate protein bars and Vega One Nutritional shake are my favorite breakfast snacks.   A non-vegan friend of mine was told by her doctor that Vega was the highest quality shake on the market, which is another good endorsement.  And you get around 25 grams of protein in the protein specialized formulas – yay!  That’s about half my day’s protein in 5 minutes of delicious!

And for traveling, you can’t beat it.  Throw a couple sachets in your bag and shake one up in your Starbucks travel mug at the airport. They are a great back up plan when you don’t have your juicer and Vitamix handy.  While they’re still slightly chalky and they do have a hint of stevia taste, I’m pretty thrilled with them.  And they’re great for when you’d like more options at the airport than $6 crudite and hummus snack packs.

Other inspirational Vegan reading on my shelf:

• Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet – this is an incredible resource.  Great detailed descriptions of all areas of intake and where you get what.  A must for your vegan bookshelf.
• Skinny Bitch – an excellent, playful, and irreverent guide to veganism.  When you need to feel sassy.
• How it all Vegan – a classic recipe guide.  Those girls are so cute.
• Fast Food Nation – this just makes you want to be vegan…or seriously question your diet.

Okay, so when SPUD sent me YAMS in my pre-fab juice box, I was seriously skeptical.

Yams?

Yes.  Yams.

Juicing a yam seemed like about as good an idea as juicing a potato, which is to say, not at all.  Would juice even come out of these tubrous little guys?  I had my doubts.  But SPUD seems to know that they’re doing in the juicing world, so I figured it couldn’t have been sent by accident.

Inspired by the color, I decided to go all shades of orange.

It blew my socks off.

Yammy Yumminess

• 1 yam (small)
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 lemon
• slice ginger

Now, to date, this is the most delicious, sweet juice that I have made.  Given the name, I should have figured that sweet potatoes would be, well…sweet, but I was still surprised.  (What is the difference between a yam and a sweet potato, anyway?)  The yammy juice was on the thicker side, giving this juice just the tiniest bit more heft than other juices.  The lemon and ginger went in for a splash of zing, the celery so that I didn’t feel completely non-green, and away we went.

I would never had expected juiced yams to taste so good, but now it’s top of my list.  And the color alone will wake you up in the morning.  However, note to self to watch the sugar content – it gets high quick with something this sweet.  Next time I’ll use 1/2 yam – or use yam or carrot, but not both.

Or just do the same thing because it’s like having dessert in a glass but with more vitamins 🙂

Nutritional Info:

• 1 yam (small) – estimated 200 g (1 cup)
  • 6% RDA Vitamin A (276 IU)
  • 14% RDA Thiamin (.22 mg)
  • 28% RDA  B6 (.58 mg)
  • 12% RDA Folate (46 g)
  • 58% RDA Vitamin C (34.2 mg)
  • 12% RDA Phosphorous (110 mg)
  • 46% RDA Potassium (1632 mg)
  • 40% RDA Manganese (.8 mg)
  • Calories: 236
• 2 carrots
  • a whopping 660% RDA Vitamin A  (33,000 IU)
  • 20% RDA Vitamin C (12 mg)
  • 18% Potassium (640 mg)
  • 32% Vitamin K (16.4 mcg)
  • also some B6, Folate, Vitamin E, Thiamin, Manganese
  • calories 80
• 100 g of celery (roughly 2 stalks, though this can vary)
  • 9% RDA folate (36 mg)
  • 37% RDA Vitamin K (30 mcg)
  • 7% RDA Potassium (260 mg)
  • calories = 15
• 100 g of lemon (about 1) yields:
  • 88% of RDA Vitamin C (53 mg)
  • calories = 30
• Total Calories: 361 (whoa!)