Caroveggie's Training Journal

[Caroveggie]

I'd been running recently and now taking time off from that to heal the body and protect from injuries. My plans to buy new running shoes have been blocked by my broken car, driving ticket, traffic school, and contact lenses purchases... which are all in varying states of progress to be paid. Nevertheless, I still have SF beaches and so I've been thinking of running barefoot on them. Thinking, but haven't done it yet, usually because by the time I think of it or remember, it's a bit late and I'm doing something else. I don't think my current shoes are too bad, although I do notice my hips tighten up and it makes be very cautious about getting whatever I had last time when I was hobbling for months. insert sigh.

Foodwise, I've been trying new things and went through a couple pitfalls.

But, I do have in mind a lot of good recipes and ideas for healthy meals. Today I bought a hand mixer which I can use to make a great butternut squash soup with shittake mushrooms (once I get the mushrooms). I'll post the recipe once I make it. I've made it before and it's really good.

My sis is doing Weight Watchers and has lost 30 pounds in 3 months. She won't do McDougall but I think Weight Watchers is helping her see it's easier to eat more of plant foods and they're healthier. I hope she's getting that at least. She's eating a salad for lunch every day. It's a program with her work and she's also wearing a pedometer.

So now, considering the hip issues I have and my desire to have better shoes, I'm thinking of wearing a pedometer too. I walk to work and back and do generally a lot of walking (especially now since my car's at the mechanic's) so it'd be nice to get some feedback on how much walking I'm doing.

By the way, some meals I've recently enjoyed include:

white sweet potato with curry lentils on top
salad with heirloom tomato, onion, and portabellos (cooked in balsamic)
my usual chickpeas with anything generally

I'm craving cherries, which I stupidly missed this year. So I'll have to wait on that one.

[f1jim]

It's great to hear from you Carolyn.
f1jim

[StarchBeet]

I can't wait for that recipe...I was wondering this morning what I should do with my butternut squash. And I have shitakes...

Thanks ahead of time for the recipe.

[Caroveggie]

Sorry I took a while to post!

Here's the recipe ~ my friend made it and it's from the vegan cookbook Veganomicon. Except I think they add sliced pear and use acorn squash, not butternut.

What you do is boil chopped butternut squash in veggie broth with:

~ red bell pepper small slices
~ purple onion
~ pear slices

I forget anything else, except you're supposed to use a spice called Chinese 5 Spice. I live near one of the best Chinatowns in the world and I couldn't find it. My friend got it from somewhere in SF though.. I did find something called 7 Spice, which is close I guess.

The shittake mushrooms you cook in a little (low sodium) soy sauce in a small pan. Blend part of the soup (like half) with a blender or hand-held blender and then put it in the serving bowls. Add a few shittake and cilantro for garnish. It's very yummy. The shittake add saltiness from the soy sauce. To make it heartier, I guess you could add brown rice too.

So that's the recipe which I think I'll make tonight. I still haven't bought the shittake but I can get them on my way home from work.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I'm wearing my brand new small pedometer. I biked to work (with the pedometer) and also jogged this morning (without the pedometer) and walked a bit at lunch for a dentist appointment. Total steps so far: 6,449. Not bad.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Happy McDougalling

[StarchBeet]

Cool!! I have to get pears, but I have everything else. I even have the 5 spice, which I haven't used yet. I am planning on doing the Barnard challenge next month to learn about Indian cooking though. I bet I'll find occasion to use it then.

Thanks for your help!

[Caroveggie]

I forgot to add that the recipe calls for lemon or lime also. It adds a bit more flavor. If you only blend a part of the soup then it will be chunky enough to go well on top of rice or quinoa. I hope it turns out for you. This time I forgot the lemon (until the end) and I need to cook more mushrooms. I think I had too much water. Also, I didn't have cilantro, which I like to add. Good luck with your challenge!

[Caroveggie]

I'm having a really yummy breakfast of steel cut oatmeal, strawberry soy yogurt, and fresh raspberries with lots of cinnamon on top. I recommend it; it tastes indulgent, like breakfast at a vegan hotel.

I woke up early so I had time to cook it, but I also found a recipe online for making steel cut oats overnight. It's not that hard in the morning anyway, since I just let the oats simmer on low while I went and got ready. Anyway, I recommend this kind of breakfast, it's pretty yummy and hearty. The soy yogurt takes the place of soymilk and adds a bit of tang to the flavor.

[sksamboots]

Hey good to have you back. Keep it up

[Caroveggie]

I had the steel cut oatmeal with soy yogurt and raspberries and cinnamon again. I think I might get plain, unsweetened yogurt next time I see it.

I haven't done heavy exercise. My muscles are just getting off the soreness and I want them to feel all better.

Thinking about doing yoga or something like that to get more flexible.

Also working on keeping 100% compliant with McDougall.

Not sure what my meals will be today as I have a bridal shower to attend and not sure what they have on the menu. I'll try to work around it.

[sksamboots]

Yoga sounds good. I just gotta find a cheap place. I guess I could try it at home too. Hope your day is good

[Caroveggie]

Did poorly today Owning up.

However, I am inspired again by Dr. Fuhrman's talk on TV (it's on right now).. he mentioned top groups of foods that fight cancer ~ "GOMBS" ~ greens, onions, mushrooms, beans/berries, seeds. So I want to add more of those, just take note. I already eat a lot of onions. I like all the rest, like baby shittakes are so yummy... anyway..

Want to get a large pot cover dome to cook greens more easily. I saw one of the veg Dr.'s wife cook kale with one. Think it was Mrs. Esselstein, maybe on Planeat movie?

Still feel bad about today! I can do better! And I will!

[Caroveggie]

I've had a little kale salad and my oatmeal with raspberries. I'm going to have to get blueberries. Later on I might have some homemade curry. Going to get out and enjoy the park or beach or something, the weather's great today.

[Caroveggie]

Sunday was near perfect. The weather here was gorgeous and Baker Beach wasn't crowded at all. It was great to be out. I enjoyed a lovely mango on the beach on Sunday. I also ran barefoot on the beach which felt wonderful. Ahhhh....

Now I'm enjoying my chickpea, cilantro, and chopped purple onion mix. This is really quite good. It's a mix, not blended, I'm eating the chickpeas whole.

The little grocery where I bought my cilantro sells nearly only produce (which I like) so I prefer to frequent them. They also have a lot of variety, weird stuff (to me) you won't find in regular stores since they are catering to the Asians (and me ). (I live near "little Chinatown" in SF, my neighborhood has Asian and Russian influences..and others too.) So I want to start trying some of these other items, like recently I tried jujubes. I don't think they're all that wonderful, but at least I tried them.

I bought the plain soyogurt, and the oatmeal is still delish. Mostly I am having it with blueberries (and lots of cinnamon).

Less running, only some jogging. I've been walking a bit though and biking.

s i g h . . . I have a lot of expenses coming up. I be a pricey girl.

I am looking into the CHIP program also. It's a bit high but I'd like to do that. I also want to take T. Colin Campbell's courses eventually. Mostly I'm delaying because I'm busy and also paying off bills from my year of minimal employment.

Here is an update from a previous post:

My optometrist blurted out my eyesight is -12.0! But on the prescription it says something like -13.5! Horrible! I can tell it's no longer perfect. SIGH.

I have ordered Meir Schneider's book.

[Caroveggie]

Today I woke up very very early. I didn't go running since my body didn't feel like it wanted it. I mean, I felt like I might injure my hip or something. I think I want to get generally a bit more fit before adding running into the mix.

I'm also thinking that I will try to have this good mindset:

There are plenty of healthier alternatives that I enjoy so I don't have to miss or eat this, I can eat this (something healthier).

Because I am realising there are some foods that I've become stuck on that I want to replace with healthier meals and snacks so I will fit into my smaller clothes.

My exercise is generally going to be walking and some biking. I looked into yoga but I'm going to wait until a special comes up for the Bikram one near where I live. I may start swimming again, just haven't committed to the $40-something charge for that (can't remember how many swim sessions you get with that... also, you have to swim at specific times.) I no longer belong to the Y because I'm saving money. Or trying to.

For breakfast I had oatmeal, soyogurt, blueberries, and cinnamon again. I figured out the soyogurt has 18.75% fat calories. sigh... I think I'll keep this as a treat rather than daily thing, at least until I can fit into my regular jeans, not my larger ones.

Overall will try to be tighter with whole plant foods McDougalling.

This morning I also did Lesson 1 of the memory training from http://pmemory.com which is excellent and I recommend. Only 59 more lessons to go.

[Caroveggie]

This morning again I rose early. I made a healthy hummus to replace a not-so-healthy hummus trio purchase I made last night. Here's the recipe for mine:

1 can chickpeas, rinsed
lemon juice instead of water
lots of cilantro
almost all of 1 cooked garlic head

Blend

Make yours in the open kitchen at a decent hour, not huddled in your closet so you don't wake the roommates!

I also started a spreadsheet to record my weight, body fat percentage, BMI, calories needed, and date (and day ~ like today is "Day 1"). I have a scale that tells me all these things. So now I'll be able to see the change that happens since I decided to commit to MWL'ing since I've been coasting along at maintaining style but not seeing the weight go away. I sometimes have had slip-ups into dairyland which hasn't helped any. On a side note, I think my experience of McDougall's revenge from dairy recently is what has kick-started my renewed commitment.

I've started reading the MWL threads too and bought the MWL book again. (I had lent it to a friend and let's just say it's now a gift ) I'm going to try to follow ETeSelle's path of eating just MWL and from the book or from SNAP meals. There are quite a lot of MWL recipes.

Right now I'm waiting for my potatoes to cook and then I'm going to have them with my lemony, fresh tasting, absolutely zero oil or dairy hummus. Like a good MWL'er.

I'm really happy with the spreadsheet I made. I even took before pictures. I'll fill in the spreadsheet every day.

Going to check on my taters...

EDIT: The hummus is too lemony. I'll use less lemon juice and more water next time.