Caroveggie's Training Journal

[Caroveggie]

yes, I will do that but for now I'm all souped out. I have plenty to last a while and I froze it. My next encounter with it I'll post what I've done differently to improve it.

Here's something I've been having lately at lunch that I've really enjoyed:

I had a bunch of shittake mushrooms that I had sauteed in soy sauce in a little container in the fridge at my work. Since I got sick of the soup I had made and wanted a salad, I ended up using the rest of the sticky brown rice I had as a base and putting the soy sauce shittakes in (chopped 'em up a bit) and then a salad on top with the lemon tahini dressing. The only thing in the salad was red bell pepper and lettuce. It was great! Good mix. You have to be careful about the dressing because it is higher fat even though it's watered down. But a little goes a long way and the soy sauce adds some moisture too. After I finished the rice I made quinoa and finished up the salad and mushrooms with it. Great salad.

I've been working on this memory course and it's been stressing me out a little. I went through half the course before (it's very intensive) and you get better and better at it as you go. But when you stop and come back to it after some time, you lose a bit of the skill if you haven't been practicing. So it's frustrating to have to struggle with the visualizations. I just have to keep working on it. I recommend the course but it's very intensive. A med student who's using it says it took him a full year of using it and learning it to reach the point where he felt he completely got it as a skill. I consider it a skill like typing. Once you have practiced and learned it you can get very good so you no longer have to spell out everything and your thoughts can flow freely as you type. Anyway, I have to work on it some more. I've been busy with that, learning the language section.

[Caroveggie]

I had Amy's lentil soup with potatoes for breakfast and Amy's alphabet soup with potatoes for lunch. The Amy's soups were gifts from my friend for my bday dinner which was last night at Cafe Gratitude. I had "tacos" for dinner. It was pretty good, although not like regular tacos, of course.

Now that I have lemon tahini dressing at my fingertips, I want to make kale, quinoa, and black beans bowl a la the grateful bowl from Cafe Gratitude. But I haven't yet. Still don't have the dome cooking lid for cooking kale. And I have a lot of food stocked up now that I want to get to before buying more stuff.

That is my current goal. Save money. So I will finish up the food I have as much as possible and not spend money on new food until I'm through with what I have. And no more restaurants which is better for my health anyways. I will have to cook.

I'm not sure what I'll make for dinner. I have some errands to run after work anyways. But I want to get through the sucky stuff like the stew frozen veggies I don't like and the mixed veggie bag first and then have the stuff I like left.

I've been thinking about sweet potato with red bell pepper hummus lately and I'll have to wait on that. Likewise on my kale.

I'll try to be creative with the meals I'll be having and see how long I can drag this out. I have a ton of bills to pay. My mechanic, I need a tooth implant soon, my stupid Invisalign braces, bills from last year (minimal employment year), a driving ticket, driving school (not too bad), and the holidays and lots of December birthdays. There was the possibility of going to Ohio and getting certified for CHIP, but I think that's just out of my price range this year. This is the year of debt and toothcare. Pricey stuff.

So it's not just with food ~ I'm going to try not to spend any money for a while, unless I have to. Deeeepressing. The good news is I have a job. After I fix my car I might sell it, which should help a little. There are a lot of transportation options in SF where I live.

Instead of spending money, I will be concentrating on Creative Cupboard Meals and developing a phenomenal memory and then learning French. And once I have finished the School of Phenomenal Memory course (it's very intensive), I will reward myself with a guitar. (I am donating a little money toward it each time I finish more of the course until I am all done.)

At least I have swimming to look forward to. I don't have a razor scooter but I am going to hold off buying one and try to get one discounted with a gift card or something like that.

[f1jim]

HBTY HBTY HBDC HBTY
f1jim

[Caroveggie]

Yes, today is my birthday. So thank you! I am older and wiser.

For my birthday breakfast, I had:

quinoa with soy-sauced shittake mushrooms on the bottom of a salad with lettuce and red bell pepper and Jeff Novick's lemon tahini dressing. It was really good.

I had the same thing for lunch because I be lazy.

I had lettuce and a little dressing for snack because I be so lazy that's all the food I had at work.

Now tonight, for my birthday dinner, I'm making curry with rice.

~ white rice (since I don't have enough quinoa or brown rice to make a go of it in my rice cooker and I be lazy)

curry:
~ frozen cauliflower
~ frozen peas
~ frozen collard greens
1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas
1 can diced tomatoes, blended
1 can sliced potatoes, drained and rinsed
~ Madras curry powder after everything cooks

It's all cooking right now. That's how I like to cook. Set things up and leave for a bit. (Because I be lazy.)

(This line "I be lazy" my friend says a lot so I'm thinking of her. Or maybe it's me who says it a lot. )

My birthday resolution is to eat healthier this year, to get out of debt, to finish pmemory, and maybe some others things also. Those are the important ones for right now.

Still haven't gone swimming, but hey, it's my birthday.

And I be lazy.

[blondie]

Enjoyed reading about your "lazy" birthday! Hope you had a great day!

[Caroveggie]

Thank you I certainly did!

My boss was out traveling and the receptionist and he have devised a plan to get a vegan chocolate cake for everyone tomorrow, when he'll be back and when we'll celebrate my birthday 2 days after the fact. That's really nice of them. So tomorrow I will be indulging in delicious Whole Foods vegan chocolate cake. Mmmm....

Then Saturday I'm going to the East Bay to celebrate with my family, and they're pretty much admittedly clueless about vegan desserts, so I said I'd bring something vegan. I might just get the same cake. Maybe I'll be so caked out I won't want any though.

So I have been jumping around this forum and I found there is now an Ask A Star-McDougaller section which I think is a good idea. I started a thread requesting they post their favorite recipes. This should help me out. I've run into a creative roadblock sometimes.

My stupid cupboard idea* isn't working. It just doesn't jive with my soul, that's all I can say. I already have plans to chuck** the frozen soup I don't like and donate the frozen stew veggies to my roommates. Why suffer? I'd much rather actually eat healthier and enjoy my food than rebel because all I have are cans of beans in the house. (And frozen stew veggies which I don't like.) Now I love beans, that's not what I'm saying, they just have to have something to go with them (unless they're chickpeas).

*that would be the "finish everything in my cupboard because I'm so broke" idea

**compost

On that note this morning on the walk to work I bought 2 white sweet potatoes. If only I had had a red bell pepper last night, I could've made my hummus. That combo is really good. Alas.

So my "eat everything in the cupboards" (which also included the freezer) only lasted exactly 1 day. However, I'm much happier knowing I'm going to be buying only stuff I really like in the future. And anyway what I buy is usually pretty cheap. So I guess I will slowly finish everything in the cupboard.

I also found there is a Mike Teehan excursion thread in the MWL forum where people post their weight loss or weigh ins on Friday. I am thinking of joining that. The accountability will be tremendous for me, for one. And for two, I'll finally lose that 1 or 2 dress sizes so all my old clothes will fit. Gonna be lookin' good soon.

I have to wait until Friday to post. I hope they don't mind me joining a little bit late. I missed the first Friday weigh in. This will also be good because I've already forgotten to weigh myself everyday for the spreadsheet I made (what can I say? I'm busy) and I'll only have to weigh myself once a week.

Think I'll post my meals and exercise here though. I am going to try and find Sactobob's food blog for some ideas.

I haven't swum and have only walked a bit to and from work. It got suddenly cold so I'll just hold onto my swim tickets until the sun should peek out again. In fact, I'm thinking of walking to CVS and buying myself another heater. Mine is a year old and it feels a bit slow to heat up the room.

[Caroveggie]

Oo! I just found McDougall Moments. I will have to check those out. When I'm at home that is.

Yesterday my coworker introduced me to longans. They're really good little berries. Actually not too little. Their nickname is dragon eyes because inside is a dark red seed and around the seed is a jelly-ish clear-ish berry that you eat, so it looks like a dragon eye. I'm really liking these. They're something like a lightly sweet, healthy candy. My coworker says they're healthy for blood. He'll specify tomorrow about exactly how they're healthy for blood. Right now he says in the Doaist Tonic Herbalism system they're classified as a blood builder.

My meals today so far:

B ~ steel cut oats, soyogurt (decided to finish it off), blueberries, and cinnamon

L ~ 1 white sweet potato

birthday dessert ~ vegan chocolate cake, 2 small slices

snacks ~ longans

Dinner plans.... not sure.

Exercise is walking. Not feeling super athletic. Besides it's abruptly and unwelcomely cold.

Looking forward to the McDougall Moments.

Happy McDougalling everyone!

[f1jim]

Carolyn where do you buy longans?
f1jim

[Caroveggie]

I got the longans from my coworker who says you can get them on Clement. Clement St. is our second little Chinatown in SF. The regular Chinatown probably has them also but that's downtown and Clement is known for it's cheaper prices. There are a lot of produce stores I frequent on Clement since it's close to my work and home and the prices and variety are good.

Here's a pic of the longanberry so you'll know what to look for and how to eat them.

http://happyveg.blogspot.com/2011/11/longanberry.html

It connects to my (somewhat forgotten) veg blog.

He also gave me a podcast from Best Day Ever website to listen to about the longanberries. He says Best Day Ever used to be a free site but then they started charging a membership fee. I've listened to about half of the podcast (I am at work) and I can list some of the benefits attributed to the longanberry below. The longanberry is known for the info below, I'm not sure if it's actually been studied extensively by Western science.

~ recommended to eat as a whole berry rather than pills
~ known as a beauty berry for thousands of years, good for the skin, helps to make the eyes radiant, because it's a "blood builder"
~ builds the blood with its high iron content
~ helps reproductive health
~ "tonifies" the heart since it builds the blood
~ calms the brain and emotions
~ builds blood and chi
~ helps with heart palpitations
~ used for forgetfulness and anxiety
~ for those chronically iron or "Chi" deficient, can be weak so longan strengthens them by building up their blood
~ used with a little ginseng for insomnia, helps sleep
~ good to take on high altitude hikes

By the way, he gets a big bag but keeps them in the fridge since they can go bad like any berry and become too soft.

They're lightly sweet and pretty good. Should be eaten when the jelly inside is more firm than soft.

[f1jim]

Sounds great. I'll check them out.
f1jim

[Caroveggie]

well I did a quick search to find out how much iron is in a longanberry and it doesn't look like it's that much compared to other fruits:

http://www.ironrichfood.org/iron-content-of-longans-raw/

In fact, it looks like loganberries have a higher iron content. Although they are also low compared to other fruits...

http://www.ironrichfood.org/iron-content-of-loganberries-frozen/

?

I think I will get my iron from "beans and greens":

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm

[Caroveggie]

At my parents' and the usual situation. The healthiest I can eat is a salad here, but then, no starch!

I'm going to hop on over to Safeway and get some healthy ingredients and make something yummy. Not sure just what yet.. something potato-y with ketchup sounds good..

I've been busy lately so I weighed myself yesterday morning at home. I think Saturday morning weigh-ins work better for me.

I think I'd like to incorporate more lentils and greens into my diet since I like them a lot. I'm going to try and get a dome cooking lid today also. For cooking greens.

[Caroveggie]

So for my breakfast/lunch I had:

can of sliced potatoes
frozen spinach
corn
onions
ketchup

Simple and yummy.

[Spiral]

Caroveggie,

The great thing about the McDougall program (in addition to the others) is that it is an ideal diet for endurance athletes. While some endurance athletes worry about "carb loading" before a 5k race or marathon, McDougallers carb loading 24/7, all the time.

By the way, your journal inspired me to start my own, once I decided to sign up for a half marathon.

So, have you been at least 90 percent McDougall compliant since starting this journal of yours?

[Caroveggie]

Yes, I've been at least 90% compliant. I never have dead animals, but sometimes have dairy, which is really what I want to cut out. It maketh me congested and it groweth cancer cells. Darn it for being so tempting!

Just when I've been thinking about starting up running again (slowly), Spiral comments in my journal and so I read his journal. I think I'll try to start soon. I also happen to have some comfy shoes that should work. I'm going to take it nice and slow of course. I haven't even gotten fit from swimming yet, but I think I'll try some light jogs. It's a bit cold to swim but I now have 10 swim tickets to burn. I didn't get the Razor scooter yet. I'm not sure where to get one in the city.

My coworker gave me farro the other day so tonight I tried it. It's my first time trying it. I gotta say, it's pretty good. I think it's a keeper.

I'm going to try to get to bed earlier so I can wake up early enough to get a little jog in. A no-stress, walk-when-I-want, just-starting-again kinda jog. No injuries.

I was reading the interesting threads about true hunger and all that. I think I do better with that kinda stuff when I'm exercising regularly. I really ate better overall when there was exercise in my life, since I never wanted to run on a full stomach and I wanted my blood clean and non-sludgy.

Going to go pack up the farro (1 cup goes a long way) and tidy up and things and then call it a night. I'm feeling tired and it's only 7:30pm.