I'm not new to vegan eating -- I did it for a year, almost ten years ago, without having planned to. That story will get told later.
Since then, I've wandered in and out of "pure" vegan eating, but I tend to eat mostly plants, and mostly unprocessed foods. My diet has strayed toward the less-healthy in the last couple of years, and so this 30-day challenge is a good opportunity to get back into better habits. I'll post my daily meals, and fill in some of my food story as well as my thoughts over the next month. A big thank you to Mark for the invite. For those unaware, we went to high school together. :)
Today's breakfast:
Coffee with soy milk
About 1 ½ cups homemade oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, and soy milk.
A bit of maple syrup and a big handful of blueberries.
Lunch:
Whole wheat spaghetti with low-salt, low-oil marinara. About 2 cups total.
½ cup mixed cooked greens, a bit of balsamic glaze on top.
Bell pepper strips and celery sticks, about a cup
Two fresh dates.
Snacks:
Another half cup of bell pepper strips
Two handfuls of Just Corn and Just Peas (freeze dried, no salt/sugar added) - about 1 cup/1 oz.
Dinner: TBA
I'm finally done work at 8:30 PM, and about to go home to make dinner.
I'm not feeling very hungry. Those freeze dried starchy veggies I nibbled on during my last commute at 4:30 were really filling!
Pre-diet stats:
My weight this morning was 129.5 lbs. Yikes! At 5'5" I still have a slim build at 130, but I prefer to be at about 120. I'm planning to get my blood lipids done Wednesday morning. At last check, January 12th, my numbers were as follows:
Total Cholesterol 167
HDL 56
LDL 99
Triglycerides 63
Blood pressure 112/77
I was happy with these numbers -- and they weren't unexpected, given my generally healthy diet. I'm actually concerned that they might be poorer now! :-/
We shall see.
Looking forward to meeting the other bloggers!
Hey Mark, how did the bread come out?
I bought some soy milk yesterday in preparation for this challenge. I've never had any, so I'm a little hesitant.
ReplyDeleteThe just corn and just peas sounds interesting. I bought some wasabi peas for a snack, but they are very high calorie. I'm saving them for a rainy day.
Soy milk is an acquired taste. When I first had it ten years ago, it tasted pretty "beany" to me. I think products now maybe taste better to first time users? Many people, like my mom, prefer almond, rice, or other seed milk as an alternative to dairy. I usually find these too sweet.
ReplyDeleteI'm used to soy milk so much now that not only do I prefer it, but dairy milk and other dairy products have a "farm" taste to them. To me, they have a flavor akin to the way a farm smells. Not wholly unpleasant, but not wholly pleasant either.
I'm still fascinated with the way tastes can change. We think of taste as a fixed sense, but I now think it's the most adaptable one we have.
This would make sense in terms of survival in ancient times. If all that's available to eat is a certain type of food, and you don't like the taste, if you can quickly adapt to liking the taste, you are going to survive better than your neighbors who don't.
The freeze dried corn and peas are a bit of a luxury item I happened to have in the car on my commute yesterday. The company that makes them is called Just Tomatoes (their dried tomatoes and fruits are even yummier than the corn/peas), and I get them at the local co-op.
At 100 calories per ounce, the peas and corn are fairly high calorie. But remember that meat is also approximately 80-90 calories per ounce. Put some BBQ sauce on top, or fry the meat in oil, or dip your seafood in butter, and you can get to 100 calories per ounce without really trying.
An ounce of the dried peas is quite filling and takes a while to eat -- it's about a cup in volume. An ounce of meat is just the first big bite. While I can easily overeat on meat, I think it would be hard to overeat on dried peas because you would get full much sooner.