The fun questions a vegetarian gets asked!

      I'm a little behind on my blog writing, life really takes off sometimes!  Back in September I celebrated my two year anniversary of a (mostly organic) vegetarian!! Yay me!!  That's a triumph for someone with a 60+ work hours per week life, and a signature phrase that was, "It's not a meal if it doesn't have meat!"  You know what that means?!  It means no matter how busy your life is there is no excuse!!  Might I also mention, I own a home which I live in alone (hence I have no help) have 2 cats and 1 dog, 2 jobs, attend a bible study weekly, a yoga class 3 times per week and I'm starting school in the spring (more on that later)!  I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying this to let you know... Where there's a will there's a way to make a healthy lifestyle happen!! 

Excuse all my exclamation points... apparently I am feeling extremely enthusiastic about life right now!

Okay!  lets get to the good stuff! Over the past two years, I have been asked a plethora of questions about my lifestyle.  I don't typically tell people I'm a vegetarian, as I don't like to draw attention to myself.  Obviously friends and family know, and occasionally it comes up with different people in life.  I have been asked the age old question that makes all vegetarians want to roll their eyes and strangle someone... "Where do you get your protein?"  I even wrote a previous blog about this.  No one cares about your protein intake until they hear you don't eat meat.  What about my Vitamin E intake, or my Amino Acids?  Why does no one ask me about that?!  Why don't they go ahead and ask me about my bowel movements while we're at it?!  I don't mean to be harsh on the uneducated people, who are seriously interested.  Maybe google it, it is the most asked question to vegetarians and vegans!  My go to response is,  "Americans take in too much protein.  A cow didn't eat another cow for protein."  You can't argue the facts!  Also,  I have not lost any muscle from lack of protein, in fact I have gained muscle!  I have been called fat most my life, but recently was told I was mostly muscle and had an athletes body!  That's whats up!

Okay!  For real now!  The super fun questions I have been asked!  "Have you ever dreamt you ate meat?"  and, "Have you ever accidentally ate meat?"  The answer to both those questions are YES!

I first went vegetarian in late September 2012.  I hadn't intended on starting my new lifestyle until after the holidays, I accidentally stumbled onto some meat research, swore it off at that moment and never looked back except for in dreams!  I was a big meat eater before, hot, cold, throw the leftover meat from dinner in an omelet for breakfast.  Shortly after my swear off of meat, the holidays arose.  My first Thanksgiving as an organic vegetarian I went hardcore.  I cooked all my own food organically and took it to my Moms.  She was not happy about that, I have since cut back on the organic in family as well as friend situations.  The truth is you can't stop living life and socializing due to a lifestyle change.

We had Thanksgiving dinner, everything went off wonderfully for me!  It wasn't until later that night I had an issue.  It happened... The dreaded, I ate meat dream.  It was the most silly simple dream, however it sure did make me suddenly wake up with a gasp!  I dreamt it was the day after Thanksgiving, I went to hang out with my family.  I'm a scavenger always digging through my parents fridge so that was nothing new.  Behold I found the container of cold left over turkey meat, I grab it start eating right out of the container and talking to my family with my mouth full of turkey meat like a barbarian!  So I'm eating away and it suddenly clicks in my head... My eyes get huge, my mouth drops, and I say in a horrified voice, "OH MY GOSH!  Guys, I'm eating meat."  My Mothers attitude remains the same in real life and in my dreams, she gives me the you're stupid look and replies in a snarky voice, "SO."  I reply with a scared, what have I done voice, "I'm a vegetarian."  She rolls her eyes huffs and walks off leaving me standing there terrified with the rest of my family starring at me.  That's when I wake up, My eyes shoot open and I gasp!  Shew It was all a dream!  Shortly after that I did read that dreaming you ate meat is a common occurrence for new vegetarians as well as vegans.

I've had a few more instances where I have accidentally eaten meat, or rather got meat in my mouth and spit it out in disgust.  I try not to be too picky when I'm with my meat eating friends.  Truth is, I have no qualms with anyone eating meat, it does not offend me, so I try not to offend others with my vegetables!  Some vegetarians are sticklers on not wanting there food even cooked on a griddle where meat was.  While it does bother me,  I'm aware I don't have much of a choice here in the Midwest and try to be thankful for any vegetarian options. 

All that said, I have learned it is probably not a good idea to share a pizza with a meat eater.  There has been several instances where the pizza place of choice has mis-cut the pizza and I end up with meat on my side!  The bummer of this is.. when there is extra cheese.... sometimes its not noticeable until... dun... dun... dun.. it's in your mouth!  WHAT! Gross meat in my mouth.  People like to tease me and say I like getting it... Let me tell you.. maybe if I accidentally ate a hamburger or a steak I would enjoy it,  but processed pork.. No thank you,  I didn't eat pork before!

One particular time I almost ate meat.  I was eating at a local pizza place with one of my best friends,  She is so good at ordering things without meat when I'm around.  Not because of me really, but rather because she's not a meat fan herself.  We both ordered a starter Caesar salad (anchovy free dressing).  There I am shoveling ice burg lettuce into my mouth like a bunny rabbit who hasn't ate in 3 weeks.  Suddenly I stop in my tracks, I look at my friend in shock, dig out a random colored piece and hand it to her, "Is that bacon?" I ask confused as neither of us have ever known Caesar salad to contain bacon bits.  Again I did not eat pork previously to being vegetarian therefore never understood the bacon hype.  "It sure is bacon."  she confirmed... We both grabbed a menu to see if this particular restaurant adds it to be different.. It is not listed on the menu.  We both dig through out salads in case there is more.  She has no meat in her salad, meanwhile I pull a giant piece of ham out of mine.  We can't help but laugh hysterically.  I would be the one to get meat in my salad, we stop the waiter, he confirms they do not put meat in any salad except the ones listed.  We explain the situation and he offers me a knew one.  I kindly decline. 

Similar incidents have happened to me other places.  Something I ordered the other day had a big chunk of chicken in it.  Somehow it still throws me for a loop.  If I ate meat I'd probably enjoy it like when you get surprised with an onion ring in your french fries! SCORE! 

Those are my two biggest asked questions, that are worth answering.  Those, and is this forever? I can't really answer that, I would like for it to be forever, I feel so much healthier and happier, but there is no promise of forever. 

So here is to two more years as a happy healthy vegetarian!!

47 days a Vegan!

 

 

       Prior to being a full time vegetarian, I gave up meat for lent two years in a row, eventually vegetarianism just stuck!  Although I am not Catholic I like the idea of sacrificing something for lent.  As I am already a vegetarian, this year I opted to go vegan for the 47 days of lent, little did I know how much more of a sacrifice that would be!

 

Before starting this adventure, I toured around a vegan friendly grocery store in search of vegan options for the things I was already using, like coffee creamer.  I am a lover of cheese!  I attempted to try some vegan cheese... guys it was not good, the texture was really off!  In fact I gave the cheese to a friend to attempt to feed to her 3 year old niece, I wish I had a fun story about how that went, however Grandma intercepted when she saw it in her fridge and threw it out!  I know I should have taken the vegan cheese label off!  I have been told nut cheeses are much better and would be open to trying one!  I did purchase some raw vegan protein powder, as I am a runner and wanted to double check my protein intake, although I probably didn't need it, it was delicious!

 

Life obviously can not stop due to my food choices, Google was my go to friend for this 47 days!  Its amazing to me how many animal products are in foods it has no business being in.  I attended a birthday dinner and luckily was able to order a salad with no cheese or croutons with vinaigrette, while everyone laughed including myself!  I have since been told I could order a bowl of lettuce and ask them to put all the veggies they have in it!    I am a wine drinker, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for teaching me to drink a glass of red wine for your health!  Most wines are NOT vegan!  I am just as shocked as you!  A lot of wines contain casein, an animal derived protein, however it is not the good kind of protein.  Too much animal protein such as casein is linked to many types of cancer, breast cancer being the most common.  The good news for wine drinkers, there IS such thing of vegan wine and they are delicious!  I even found a company in California that sells organic vegan wine and it IS amazing, they have several options!  Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.organicwinelounge.com/

 

I have always been told when you go vegan you have more energy.  I think it takes longer than 47 days for that to kick in.  I was tired at first, I felt depleted, that said, I am certain  it was just due to my body detoxing any animal proteins left in my body.  Had I pushed though the 47 days I would have been more energetic!  

 

Over all it was a wonderful experience, and I intend on doing it again next year!  Meat eaters can participate in what's called Meatless Mondays, which is a concept where they give up meat one day a week for a plethora of reasons.  Everyday is meatless for me, I have incorporated one day a week where I go vegan!  I love that this experience has opened my eyes to new things!  Who knows vegetarianism started this way for me, perhaps one day I will be standing in front of you a vegan!

I just felt like running!

   I just want to make it clear right off the bat, I am not a runner.... At least I wasn't a runner previously.  I was that kid in gym class that instead of running the mile I would walk it with a friend and we'd talk the whole time!  Yes!  I was the annoying one with the 25 minute mile and the whole class standing there starring at me waiting for me to get done! 

At the ripe age of 30 suddenly I decide to run a 5K, that in itself was a strange decision for me!  I have never been that athletic, I have had a few gym memberships in the past but was never very regular with it.  For some strange reason in the summer 2013 I kept thinking maybe I should join a gym and start working out, but for real this time!

I had gone through a severe depression back in the fall 2013 which I wrote about in another blog.  I was trying to conquer it without synthetic drugs, and everything I read said you should work out to release happy endorphins.  I finally got myself to a point where I decided to say YES to every invitation I was given schedule permitting!  One of my friends asked me to do a 5K in a tropical place, I would have 4 months to prepare so I figured why not and said yes!  I immediately got signed up for the gym as it was a bitter cold winter here, I freeze when it is 60 degrees let alone 16 so running outside was not an option!  I didn't even own a pair of running shoes, as I wear converse 92% of the time even with my dress pants and skirts, they just don't make good gym shoes.  Luckily someone gave me a pair, they tied me over until I was able to purchase my own!  I downloaded the couch to 5K app and went to running!

Working out really can get addicting!  It is an amazing feeling, and gives this incredible sense of accomplishment.   I'm not going to lie, it is an internal struggle for me to even get to the gym, and once I'm parked I sit in my car and contemplate going in for a minimum of 5 minutes each time.  I have never reversed out of the parking lot or regretted going in for that matter.  Once I'm in, I'm in and most of the time I give it my all!  I have heard about this "runners high"  unfortunately I have yet to feel it, but I will keep trying for it.

The tropical 5K fell through, so I signed up for a different 5k a month sooner here in the city.  It was a night time race in March with very unpredictable weather.  I had every excuse not to go, the 4 girls I invited to run with me all bailed the week before for various reasons.  I finally found one of my awesome fit friends to do it with me the night before the run.  The weather the night of the race was 26 degrees with precipitation.  In fact, it iced later on that night and we had a two day ice storm.  Anyhow we bundled up and made the best of it,  our bodies were so frozen I think we walked more than we ran, but the fact of the matter is we got out there and we did it!!

I recently participated in my second 5K with the same awesome friend!  Luckily for this one the weather was sunny and gorgeous, we jogged most of it even.  We finished and felt amazing, there is something so rewarding about finishing the whole thing!  My body was so sore the next day, but it was a good sore, what I would call battle wounds of accomplishment! 

The 5k association often takes action photos, I can't help but run them with a smile on my face every time!!  My next 5k is a month away and I am completely stoked!  Never in a million years did I ever think I would enjoy running unless it was to get away from an axe murderer or giant people eating gorilla, but I DO enjoy running, the happy endorphins and all the health benefits!! 

I challenge you to attempt a run even just once, you wont regret it!  Here's to running a 10K and maybe even a half marathon in my future!! 

Organic does NOT mean healthy!

 

Organic does not mean Healthy!

 

 

Organic does not mean healthier, this is a sad misconception.  Many people somehow associate the term organic with weight loss or something else along those lines.

 

While I do not typically walk around publicizing my organic lifestyle choice it does come up in conversations from time to time.  If I had one dollar for every person who learned about my organic lifestyle and then asked, "does organic food have less calories?"  I could probably quit one of my jobs!

 

The answer is no, organic does not have fewer calories, in fact a lot of organic options actually have more calories.  A friend and I were recently comparing the nutritional labels on organic and non-organic ice cream, noticing there was more calories as well as fat in the organic option. 

 

The reason there are more calories etc. in organic food options is due to the fact they do not substitute any ingredients with harmful chemicals.  Which in turn regardless of the amount of calories, fat, etc. makes organic the better choice.  Do not be fooled by labels though, like the one on the oreos above, Just because the label says organic, unhealthy processed oreos are NOT healthy no matter what you try to convince yourself of.

 

Often times when people are trying to lose weight, they immediately go to packaged food that says, "fat free", "low fat", "sugar free" among others.  Foods labeled like this are the absolute WORST things you can purchase and put in your body.  Think about this,  if they took out the fat, sugar, etc.  what did they replace it with?  The fat is often replaced by sugar, not even pure cane sugar, GMO sugar made from sugar beets, sugar is replaced by aspartame and many other harmful chemicals.  Rule of thumb is, if it has more than 5 ingredients and/or you can not pronounce the ingredients do not put it in your body.  Allowing these chemicals in your body has many side effects including:  dry skin, eczema, depression, low energy, miscarriage, learning impairments and so on. 

 

Regardless of the caloric and fat intake, organic is still the smarter choice, just do not be fooled by "organic oreos", "organic coke a cola" and other products like this.  These are giant money hungry corporations who, due to laws or lack there of are able to put whatever they want on their labels in order to make a profit.  I can tell you from personal experience, despite the calories and fat, when I went organic a year and a half ago, I still lost weight. 

 

Think about it, be smart in your decisions and remember that there are way too many people counting calories and not enough people counting chemicals!  There are no short cuts and nothing will ever replace healthy eating and exercise.  Many diets and fad diets end in eating disorders.  just make the right decision, and EAT REAL FOOD!!