Discussion Board

With my 2 cans of chickpeas left I decided to make hummus (1 can) and curry (other can).

The curry has:

2 cans diced tomatoes & their juice
1 can chickpeas
cauliflower
Idaho potatoes (3 smalls ones)
1/2 bag frozen peas
some frozen corn
I forgot onion and garlic but luckily the curry powder I use makes up for that

The hummus has:

1 toasted red bell pepper (in toaster oven)
1 can chickpeas
water to make it blend
1/2 a small lemon juice

The hummus turned out really good!

So I'm waiting for the brown rice to finish and I have some salad greens also to go with the curry. The hummus is to bring to work tomorrow with some carrots and maybe I'll get a white sweet potato, which happens to be really good with red bell pepper hummus.

I also found organic strawberries, buy 1 get 1 free so 1 is for here for dessert and the other one I'll take to work to add to my new favorite breakfast cereal.

As far as exercise, I'm still being lazy. I haven't gotten up early yet nor brought my gym clothes/shoes with me to work so I can go easily after work. But I still want to get in the habit. Finished reading Senior Fitness and she goes on and on about all the good exercise does for your body.

Not much else to report, just reading this website a lot and waiting for my brown rice.

Maybe I can find another healthy type movie on Netflix... or maybe Forks Over Knives is on there. Haven't seen that in a while.

Mentally, I'm definitely getting in health mode. At least eating-wise.

I'm going to try walking to work tomorrow. Possibly a little run in the morning, but no promises.

Forks Over Knives is streaming on Netflix so I just finished watching it. It is indeed inspiring and it covers so many good points. I really enjoyed it. Time for bed.

No walk this morning. Had a hard time getting out of bed because I stayed up until 11pm watching Forks Over Knives on Netflix. It was worth it. I had the same breakfast as yesterday but a little too much fruit. The strawberries were good but I had to add more cereal towards the end because all I had were blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and almond milk. Very yummy breakfast.

No gym tonight. I have a rehearsal for the play which goes up the end of June. We're learning dance routines and lyrics to all these songs. It's going to be a really good show. It's for AA so it's an original musical. I'm not in AA (I don't drink and never really did drink) but a friend and coworker wrote it and invited me to be part. It's a great group of people. My part is small and chorus/dancing but there's a lot of people working really hard on this.

I read Habanero's journal and Habanero likes yoga (and I think someone else on their journal likes yoga) so I'm going to see if my gym offers free yoga classes and then try one.

Lunch will be the hummus from yesterday maybe with a white sweet potato.

Dinner I don't know but I only have 2 hours between work and rehearsal so it'll have to be something easy, healthy, and quick.

Added mango to my breakfast. Delicious.

Finished the curry last night before rehearsal.

Tonight going to the East Bay for a dinner with the family. My uncle's treating us to Black Angus for my mom's birthday. One of my least favorite restaurants because I particularly don't like restaurants whose decor says "cow is food". Needless to say, I will not be tempted at all by any dead cow, mammary secretion, or oil. I'll do what I can with a plain salad and baked potato.

Have been thinking about people's uninformed reactions to my vegan diet and I find it frustrating and sad. I'm particularly sad about my mom who can't now read with her one "good" eye. I'm thinking of waiting until we have some private time together and asking her what she thinks would be or would've been the healthiest thing for her to do, just saying if it didn't matter to her if she liked doing it or not. I think the problems are 1) she doesn't like or think she'll like the food, 2) she doesn't really believe it will help that much, and 3) she thinks that even if it will help it is too late for her, and 4) she thinks because she's Type 1 diabetic none of the stuff I told her applies to her.

Anyway, in a pretty sad and unhappy mood right now about this.

So many of us here deal with the singularly painful issue of parents or other family members succumbing to chronic illness while we watch them go down. It is terribly frustrating and there seems to be no easy answer. I feel for you and sympathize with your plight.
f1jim

Caroveggie: My heart just breaks for you and your Mom. I will think the good thoughts for you both that your talk will have some positive impact. For me it feels just like trying to talk my Mom out of smoking, as she had respiratory disease that was limiting her greatly. I ate with my family just last Sunday and watched them order the most unhealthy things imaginable.

My Cousin wanted the recipe for the fingerling potatoes - they are first put in a vat of olive oil & rosemary and deep fried for 20 mins, then they are pan fried in olive oil and salt until crispy. Tell me folks aren't completely addicted to fat too!

Anyway - you're a gentle and kind person and if I were your Mom - I'd be persuaded by you to do this WOE in an istant. Best of luck

Thanks f1jim, I appreciate your comment.

I want to ask her that because I want to find out if I've gotten through at all and maybe it'll make her realize things can get better for her and motivate her to change her diet. There seems to be a thick wall of denial and an "I'll be miserable" feeling regarding eating plants.

Thanks Michelle, I appreciate your support. I will try yet again. I think because she knows things have gotten so bad perhaps she may be more willing to listen and take in what I have to say.

Overall though (have tried before with her) it's frustrating and sad!!

I am thinking maybe I can get them to watch Forks Over Knives with me. It's a nice movie of what the books I've read are about.

Last night I had a plain baked potato, some plain broccoli, and some ice-burg lettuce, a bit of a wedge of commercial-looking tomato, and water. I ate everything with some Grey Poupon for flavor. (The ketchup and A-1 sauce had either corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup.)

I can't say I was too pleased with Black Angus. Even though I said, "You can just bring everything on one plate" they brought everything on separate small plates. Most restaurants do this when you order sides. I asked for the broccoli without parmesan and it came with little white stuff on it so I returned it. Turns out that was butter, so I returned it for a small plate of steamed broccoli. What was funny though was the first order of broccoli (with the butter) consisted of about 3 little bunches. That was it.

By the time I got the plain steamed broccoli I wanted another potato. It finally came but everyone else was already finished.

There were 17 sides and only about 3 made the McDougall grade, and all with modification. Let it be known, it is possible to subsist when one's family wants to eat at Black Angus.

I made curry tonight but unfortunately I think I put in too much onion and not enough potato. But it's not bad. Better than last night's dinner. WAY better.

I'm continuing with the cereal and fruit for breakfast. I really like it. I've noticed I already finished one cereal box at work. That's just one week! Tonight I stocked up for the weekend and next week.

For lunch I had the second potato and 3 plain broccoli trees from last night. My parents didn't put it in the fridge for some reason so I found it at room temperature on their kitchen table before I left for work. I think they would've remembered if it had been meat! Maybe their fridge was too full or something.

I'm reading Dr. McDougall's book A Challenging Second Opinion (or something like that). It's very good. I've read part of it but I don't think I ever read it all the way through. I'm already familiar with most of it. I like that it goes into more detail. The first chapter, about breast cancer, was very interesting. I finished osteoporosis and now I'm on the artery clogging chapter. Very interesting read.

Today I had rehearsal which was fun. I brought my cereal, fruit, and almond milk in little containers for the break, because I didn't have time in the morning to eat. I brought a little knife and chopped the banana, etc. and had a yummy brunch there. Usually on Saturdays I don't eat anything until after rehearsal (which ends at 1) because I milk every second of my extra 2 hours to sleep in.

I read more of the Second Opinion book. I think Dr. McDougall is a very good writer and let me express my appreciation for the honest and caring work he does for all of us. I had walked to a park and although a little bit windy, it was really nice out and I finally got some vitamin D. Enjoyed reading and snoozing and then walked to Whole Foods. I don't really need anything so I just stocked up on chopped plain kale and plain artichoke pieces from their buffet offering. That way I can add it with a bit of lemon to my lunches next week.

Tonight's "Bingo de Mayo" which is a fundraiser for the play but I decided to miss it. I'm still without a car and although I'm sure it would be fun, I'd rather save the money and stay home and read or watch a movie and get to bed at a decent hour.

I had some curry and brown rice for a late lunch and then a bowl of cereal plus fruit and almond milk for dinner.

Think tomorrow I'll go to the gym.

I went to Baker Beach (the beach with a view of Golden Gate bridge) which is about 10-15 minute walk from where I live. It was beautiful and lovely weather. Rather empty at first but by the time the sun was fully out and the mist burned off it was getting popular.

I finished reading the Challenging 2nd Opinion book and ate my cereal with fruit and almond milk. Great book. I decided to walk back home for lunch and the parking lot was completely full and there was a long line of cars trying to get in.

I've had a little more curry and brown rice.

I'm wondering if maybe I should start making my own rice milk which I've done in the past. Almond milk has 25 calories from fat and 30 calories per cup or 60 calories per cup, depending if they've added other stuff.

I still have almond milk to finish up but I'm just wondering because I'm sick of having all these great clothes that no longer fit. 1-2 sizes smaller than me now. I also know I have become quite sedentary (aside from the walk to the beach and back this morning). I read some of my past journals. Back then I had a problem trying to get too much exercise in and injuring myself! Now I'm lucky if I even get a walk in.

So all this is just not good. I'm being careful and picky as an eater and it's time that scale moved. So I'm going to start a gentle exercise program, now.

Plan is to walk to the gym and get some exercise there... and try to get more during the week... and try to get running/jogging back into my life... and swimming... etc.

Maybe I'll post about the almond milk in Dr. Novick's section.

Hope everyone's enjoying the beautiful Sunday.

I took Katydid's advice and got The China Study on Audiobook. Then I walked to the gym (long walk through the park) and then I jogged on a treadmill, did the climber thingy, and cycled a little bit. Then I walked and bussed back home. The whole time, mostly, listening to The China Study. I stopped in Pluto's to see if their grilled portabello mushroom was made with oil or without and the guy said with oil. He checked the back also and no more raw mushrooms so I just passed on a meal there. It's a place where you put together your own salads.

Just got home and showered. I'm sunburnt in places and my muscles are tired (the good tired kind). My eyes have some kind of red itchiness. I just need to sleep.

I'm glad I finally went to the gym again. I made an appointment for my free consultation with the trainer. I accidentally missed my first one. This one is for Thursday evening at 7pm with Mark.

I've lost 3.5 pounds and now fit into one pair of jeans. All the rest are smaller. With time.

Good to hear you are back to the gym and into a pair of jeans you haven't been in for awhile! Sounds like your getting lots of walking in too, but I am sad to hear your car is still MIA. Thinking good thoughts for it's speedy return

You're doing great and I'm glad to see you are incorporating more green and yellow veggies into your diet. When I try to balance the starches 50-50 with the non-starchy vegetables, I lose weight more easily. If you don't have time to process them (wash, peel, chop, cook, etc.), take a tip from Jeff Novick and buy frozen. There's a wide range of frozen veggies available and they can be thrown in with a can of beans to heat in a jiffy to eat with your potatoes.

Enjoy the gym!

Thanks for visiting and for the tips Chile & Michelle. I have 3 bags of frozen mixed veggies that I can use.

For breakfast I had the cereal, fruit, and almond milk. Although not as much as I usually have because I wasn't super hungry.

For lunch I'm having kale, cilantro, a little artichoke, and lemon plus an Eden chili of pinto beans, spelt, and something else. The chili is sure spicy. Pretty yummy meal.

I noticed last night on the way home from the gym my feet started hurting. I'm not sure if that's because I weigh more or because I haven't exercised in a while. My shoes were pretty gushy soft. They feel much better this morning.

I'm thinking of doing the Couch to 5K running program again. It worked well last time and would gradually get me into shape and improve my endurance. Although I am enjoying listening to The China Study. I'll finish that first or use the Couch to 5K just for running.

Not much to report. Enjoying people's journals.