Caroveggie's Training Journal

[Caroveggie]

I'll use this journal to keep track of my training for a 5K and to keep compliant with the McDougall program.

Today I had:

1 grapefruit
1 banana sliced with
2 cans of (drained and rinsed) chickpeas

The sliced banana with drained and rinsed chickpeas is a quick, easy, tasty, filling, and healthy lunch. I can probably bet that no one else on the planet has tried this dish that I invented, but let me tell you, other people are missing out.

I'm about to have a white sweet potato with roasted red bell pepper hummus (homemade, no oil). Here are directions:

peel and slice the sweet potato into 1/2" discs. Cut them in half if they're too big. I put them in a (very) small casserole (with lid) and cook it for 5 minutes.

The hummus you make with a can of drained chickpeas. I used the toaster oven to grill a red bell pepper (just cut in pieces, de-seed, and lay on the toaster oven pan). Then I blend hummus, red bell pepper, and a little lemon juice in the blender. I added water this time. It's turned out pretty good. Since I eat it with a white sweet potato I don't mind that it doesn't taste store bought. On the contrary I prefer my simple, healthier version.

I've also been eating some pomegranate seeds with dinner. The seeds came in a little container ready-to-go from the grocery store. I didn't mind paying a bit more for them since the rest of my items were cheap.

So there are some quick ideas for tasty, healthy, simple meals you can try.

I walked a bit to work and back. I stayed up late last night and was too sleepy to get up early and run.

I still need to get new running shoes. But the ones I have (using my more minimal, less cushiony ones) will do.

I'd like to run a 5K for a veg race. I don't know if such a thing exists, but there should be one! I know how really powerful this diet can be and I think it needs more promotion. I'd like my donated dollars to go toward what really works against a lot of diseases and conditions.

Day 1 ~ 100% Compliance

[Caroveggie]

Day 2 was 100% compliance. Had more of the same ~ grapefruit, white sweet potato & red pepper hummus, brussel sprouts and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar and white rice with soy sauce. I walked a little to and from work, not much other exercise. Watched 2 movies and then crashed.

Day 3 (today) ~ too sleepy to get up early to run. Walked to work. At lunch I had a grapefruit and white sweet potato with the red bell pepper hummus. Walked quite a bit after work since I started home and then remembered I forgot to return a red box movie so I had to go back the other way. I walked a bit but not all the way, that would take too long. I bought turnip greens, which I'd never had, and some beans and stuff. I cooked the turnip greens the way I usually cook chard but the chard I like more. I'll have to look up some recipes for the turnip greens. They are so bitter! I'm eating them with cauliflower and black beans. I made more hummus to improve the meal but cauliflower dipped into isn't the same as sweet potato.

Haven't researched any 5Ks yet. I still want to be in a veg one.

This meal is unyummy. I blame the bitter turnip greens. Also, the beans cooled off and they're better warm. I'll return to chard next time, that's actually good. Not sure if I might eat something else... maybe a small sweet potato with my hummus.. I'm going to compost this dinner. Ah well. It's a doozy.

[Caroveggie]

I got up early and jogged down to 5th (about 2 miles). I felt a twinge in my hip and my knee didn't feel right so I walked to Arguello and took the bus back. I'm ok, just being cautious since it's my first time out in a while. I really should get new running shoes soon.

Today it's going to be more of the same ~ sweet potato and hummus, grapefruit, maybe a banana and chickpeas. I don't typically have breakfast, even when I'm up early like today. Kinda want to snooze some more actually.

I'd like to check out the Longevity Soup from Dr. Novick's DVD. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Another thing I'd like to do eventually is start swimming again. There's this pool near my work I want to check out.

I think I'll check out the soup right now, before I get ready for work.

Everyone have a lovely day, a wonderful evening, and a fabulous rest-of-your-life. (A lady at my work says that every evening when she leaves.)

Happy McDougalling

[sksamboots]

It's good to have you back

[Chile]

I'm not a huge fan of the bitter greens but after several years with a CSA getting lots of them in the winter, I learned a few ways to make them palatable.

With turnip or mustard greens, blanching a couple of times before using helps reduce the bitterness. Use new water each time and just blanch in the boiling water briefly (15-30 seconds). Rinse if you want or just drain and repeat. You can then drain them well, squeezing out excess water if you want, and chop them up. Put them in with your other food (stew or stirfry) at that point.

Also, adding a bit of acid to them helps cut the bitterness. Try your favorite vinegar or lemon juice.

[Caroveggie]

Why, thank you for the tips. It is indeed good to be back.

And nice to see so many people still going strong.

Instead of checking out the Dr. Novick DVD (and getting the Longevity soup recipe) I just read the Journal threads this morning, so I'm going to check it out tonight. I'd like to make it soon.

As for my most excellent progress , I also walked to work and back today.

I had:

~ a grapefruit
~ most of a white sweet potato with red pepper hummus
~ a can of chickpeas
~ part of a banana (sliced) with the chickpeas

Since I usually don't have much time (or appetite) for breakfast, I skipped it again, so at lunch I made a lot of food but didn't end up finishing it.

On the way home I stopped at a small health food store and got:

~ long grain brown, sweet brown, and dark wild rice
~ adzuki, pinto, and chickpeas
~ Casa Sanchez salsa, although not the same kind I always get since they were out; this one is spicy hot
~ popcorn kernels and lots of nutritional yeast

For dinner I'm having a mix of the wild rice and long grain brown rice, black beans, corn, and salsa along with over-steamed (mushy ) brussel sprouts and balsamic vinegar.

It would've been better if I hadn't overcooked the brussel sprouts. That's why I usually bake them. I usually go do other things while things cook which only seems to be a problem with stupid steamed brussel sprouts.

Today at work I talked with my coworker about McDougalling and he seemed interested. He wanted to know the website and what I usually had for dinner. I think he wants to lose weight and prevent diseases. Sounds like a good candidate for McDougalling. I sent him the website and I'll invite him to the next McDougall get together. And lend him a book if I still have it. I think it walked out with my last coworker. Not a problem, they're popular.

Going to do a little research on veg 5Ks, putter around, get the Longevity recipe, etc..

This would be Day 4 of 100% McDougalling Magnificence.

[Caroveggie]

By the way I added nutritional yeast to the rice and bean mix and it's delicious now. The salsa is too spicy.

[Caroveggie]

B ~ green tea (usually not hungry for breakfast)
L ~ white sweet potato and red bell pepper hummus
D ~ 2 small potatoes with nutritional yeast, can of chickpeas with cilantro on top and sprinkle of Herbamare, 1 small heirloom tomato with Herbamare and pepper, and pomegranate arils

Flaked out of a dinner tomorrow evening with my friends and feeling not good about flaking.

[Caroveggie]

I'm having a small bowl of the mixed brown and wild rice with a little Herbamare, lots of cilantro, and nutritional yeast. It is quite delish. A little dry. I might try Bragg's amino acids or soy sauce to moisten it..

Herbamare ~ herb seasoning salt
Serving Size 1 g (1/8 teaspoon)
Servings per container 250
Sodium 340mg

I watched a movie I found in the Lounge called Planeat that was interesting.

Remembered to take my Vitamin B-12. I take it in a "food" pill that also has Vitamin D. Once I finish these I'll go back to just Vitamin B-12 and try to get more sun exposure.

Having the second bowl with Bragg's (no Herbamare). It's better. I also put in even more cilantro.

[Caroveggie]

The weekend came and I was busy but didn't get much accomplished. I did get to hang out with some fellow McDougallers, and that part was great. Eating-wise I did well Saturday and not so great Sunday. I ate healthy food with the McDougallers, but I must confess I was at my parents' Saturday and this morning and I had a bunch of rich, junk, vegetarian food, not healthy. .. and then tonight for dinner I had rich vegan food at a veg restaurant.

What am I at? Day 7?

Unimpressive percentage McDougall compliance.

On a good note, I did start rereading The China Study and that book is very motivating.

I've also decided to incorporate more healthy recipes into my diet. I like to eat fast, simple, and easy, but I think I just need more recipes in my head, so I have more options. Not only that, I think once I lose a little weight and can get into my smaller clothes it'll be that much easier for me to maintain the healthy lifestyle.

I did find that picturing "pimples" and "festoring sores" in my arteries, along with remembering pics I've seen of fat-in-blood and cholesterol plaques being removed from a vein (or artery?) ~ all that really helps me to keep my motivation strong as far as no oil, no dairy, etc. (Except this morning. Nope, this morning was about lounging around in a sleepy state, willfully ignoring any prudent reasoning my mind wanted to throw at me.)

Let me tell you, getting into a regular habit of healthy living really does work, I've done it before. But I also have a lot of experience having trouble when I visit my parents' house. They have just nothing (but junk), and an uncooperative stove to boot, no blender, etc. etc. etc.. I'm going to have to do better.

I'd also like to incorporate more greens into my diet. So the turnip greens didn't pan out. However I want to try kale, chard, and bok choy more. I like all of those, just need to get them into recipes.

Tomorrow after work one of my goals is to organize my fridge (no time this weekend). Also tomorrow, it'd be good if I could start my day with a run.

Here's to "picking up the fight".

[Chile]

My MIL never has anything healthy to eat at her house either and her current place has a really crappy stove. No blender, dull knives, and an old, old microwave. Our solution has been to haul all our own food there when we go to visit, whether for an afternoon or several days. And yes, I take my own knife as well!

Sometimes I take the ingredients to make a meal, trying to make sure it is something I can do on the stovetop rather than in the oven. Other times, I take food I've already prepared that we can either assemble and eat cold or microwave, keeping in mind how low power her microwave is. It's a PITA but it's better than being frustrated there with nothing to eat.

She lives in a small town with no restaurants where we can pick up a fast and easy meal. There is a grocery store where I've sometimes bought food to prepare and a natural food store, but the latter is extremely expensive so I try to avoid it. Easiest to just pack up the ice chest and a small food box each time. HTH!

[Caroveggie]

Hi again.

Yes, I know the pain of limited choices environment. I'm just not always good about planning ahead. They live in the suburbs so what I ended up doing was going to the regular grocery store over there and getting:

can of chickpeas; can of sliced potatoes; can of diced tomatoes that had oregano, basil, and garlic added; and can of corn. Then I drained/rinsed things and put them in a casserole and microwaved it.

The potatoes cut the over-seasoned taste of the tomatoes. Overall it was pretty good and filling. I chose canned potatoes because I thought the whole meal would be faster (it was, not having to pre-cook a potato), their microwave doesn't have a turny table in it, and I thought it would be unlikely to see green potatoes in the can (not one). Safeway keeps their potatoes right on top under the flourescent light so whatever that green condition is that happens when potatoes are exposed to light happens a lot with them. I'm thinking about writing out comment cards and letting stores know to keep their potatoes covered..hm..

It was the first time I tried canned potatoes. They worked for that meal. Precooked, easy.

The rest of the week I've been busy or busy doing stuff, so I haven't posted. Need to improve my McDougalling. I really need to concentrate on improving my repertoire of recipes. Usually I get by with simple eating but I think it'll help me really stay 100% to know more recipes so I can always satisfy cravings with healthy food.

Gotta get to bed.

[Caroveggie]

This weekend was the San Francisco Veg Festival, which always falls on the first weekend of the month as October 1st is World Vegetarian Day. This weekend I was also hit with a mammoth cold. I went through 1 box of Kleenex in 1 night. But, thanks to my vegan diet (especially no diary, I think) I am already on the mend. Whereas yesterday I woke up and suffered through a day with a stuffed nose that was runny, today my nose is clear and I only have an occasional dry cough. I noticed a long time ago that colds were rare and the duration of them much shorter on a plant food, no dairy diet. I just called my cold "mammoth" 'cause of all the sleep I lost Friday night when I couldn't breath except through my mouth and I had to keep blowing my nose. Yeesh.

Anyway, I'm glad to be better. Because I wasn't feeling all that wonderful though I ended up going to the Veg Festival rather late. I left my house at 2pm and walked over there on Saturday. I still enjoyed what I did see and ran into a friend. I noticed, as did others there, that most of the veg foods were not no oil and that was the usual disappointment, but I did pick up another 2 books. Also enjoyed the eye exercises presented by Meir Schneider, who runs a healing school near Ocean Beach. I'd heard of him before and what he does is teach exercises for your eyes that gets them to relax and thus improve your vision naturally. So a bunch of us at one point were outside doing all these funny exercises but they actually worked! I'm sure they did because people near me were saying things like "I can read number 7 now!" and stuff like that (regarding the paper they were holding in their hands, that had writing on it with different text sizes.) I was wearing my contact lenses so I was sneaking in the group since (Dr.?) Schneider wouldn't let you wear glasses. Anyways, his story is very interesting and inspiring. He reclaimed his eyesight on his own after being blind with cataracts and having 5 failed surgeries when he was a child. He did his school work in braile and was discouraged against seeing anything. But he found the Bates method and did these exercises, can see now, and has spent his life teaching others these things along with a lot of other interesting body work to help people use all their thousands of muscles in the right way. I don't think he's veg but he does work with MS patients and I was thinking how great the impact of his work would be especially for MS patients if he also taught them low fat whole plant food a la Dr. Swank and Dr. McDougall. So that was Saturday.

Today I was feeling much better, but barred from my friend's baby's bday party ('cause of the cold), I went to the Veg Festival again. This time I saw much more since I left my house around noon. I enjoyed the presentations, particularly T. Colin Campbell whose personality I like a lot. He will be coming out with a new book which sounds very interesting, maybe in January. It's "the book [he] wanted to write" and it's about the history of why veg eating isn't really common knowledge, I think... he's considering title-ing it "Control". I'm looking forward to it (as I am Dr. McDougall's Starch Solution book.)

Now for your update on my personal efforts regarding McDougalling...

I can't remember everything, but I've been eating pretty healthy. Unfortunately today at the Veg Fest I did have veggies that were sauteed in oil. Over brown rice. I should've remembered to bring something but I had ended up sleeping in quite a bit, and yaddayaddayadda...

Exercise-wise I went for a long jog/run sometime midweek that rather surprised me. I've been recovering from it a bit, but not that I injured myself, just that I did quite a bit more than easing myself back into running.

Here are some things I've been considering this week:

~ I like heirloom tomatoes and dry-farmed tomatoes. I have the idea that I'll try to use higher quality tomatoes (and other foods) which make simple eating yummy. For instance, I have chickpeas a lot because they're tasty, filling, and easy (quick and cheap too). I often have them with sliced bananas. I think they'll be great with a dry-farmed tomato sliced on top. mmmmm...

~ I'd like to try barefoot running on grass or sand (have both the beach and the Golden Gate Park nearby, so I'm lucky as I have lots of options). It will use more muscles in my feet and no chance of blisters (although, since improving my socks, I rarely get them from running any more).

~ Also, I'd like to do sideways running and backwards running which will keep more muscles rarely used active.

~ I'd like to get one of Meir's books for natural eyesight improvement and work on improving my vision as my eyesight is pretty bad. It's prescription -10.5. It might be unlikely that my vision will improve 100% but even if it only improves a small amount, that would be helpful. I do wear contact lenses or glasses that bring my eyesight to 20/20, but I like that I can improve my eyesight naturally. I don't know how practical this will be since I use a computer extensively at work and without my glasses I'm hopeless, but I want to look into Meir's books.

~ My friend and I at the Veg Fest were talking about what we could do to spread the "eat a healthy whole plant food diet and reverse/prevent many diseases" message. I'm going to look into the CHIP program, as I hear it is community based. I'd like to see how it works as far as outreach, education, etc. Personally I think it is a bad name though. Because if the average person hears CHIP or googles CHIP...?

~ I have also thought of starting some sort of ongoing meeting in the SF library where I would share info about this using Dr. McDougall's books, other books, etc.

I'm pretty tired and I forgot to pick up more chickpeas so I'll have to worry about lunch tomorrow on the walk to work. At the rate I'm going with this cold tomorrow should be a day of simply clearing my throat and by Tuesday, let's hope it's all gone.

Time for bed. Happy McDougalling!

[Caroveggie]

Well it's Tuesday and I still have the cough. The nose is pretty clear though. I hope I get over this soon.

I had a orange yam for lunch for the Vitamin C to help fight the cough. Yesterday my coworker made me a green tea souped up with some kind of bark and cloves, claiming it would help my immune system. I should also eat shittake mushrooms, I hear AIDS patients eat them to help their immune systems, but I haven't got any yet.

I also had chickpeas, a tomato, and chopped onion mix. It was pretty good but the tomato wasn't excellent as in heirloom or dry-farmed. I need to stock up on the good kind, they make everything taste good.

Busy at work. I feel OK but sleepy since I was up late last night.

Haven't run since I've decided to protect my hips and run barefoot on the beach once the weather is good again, or the park (barefoot), or wait until I get better shoes. ... unless I really feel like doing it..

Notice I skip breakfast without a problem. Maybe if I were less sleepy at breakfast and didn't end up eating late at night I'd be hungry for it.

Have a good Tuesday. Check out the Wheat Grain thread on here, lots of funny comics.

[f1jim]

Hey! I want an update!!!!
f1jim