Tripping

Somehow I have managed to gain back a few pounds.. well lets face it, its not "somehow" its because I got lazy. Even though we are not eating meat, it was easy for me to slip back into the lazy cooker mode. Spinach and mushroom pizza, fries, cheese pizza rolls, etc. I knew what was happening when it was going on, but this season is always so busy and throwing a pizza in the oven sounded so much easier then cutting up veggies for a stir fry or something of that sort. I need to get a cookbook that caters to vegetarian/vegan meals in 30 mins or less. Anyone know of any? I have thought about cutting up most of the veggies and just leaving a couple bell peppers whole for stuffed peppers so that way when I am ready to cook or juice everything is already cut up and it lowers my prep time.. but I can also see this interfering with a receipe or what not. Does anyone else pre cut the veggies? You know what other ideas I need from you folks.. a good, easy receipe to make my own pasta sauce. The jarred ones from the store are full of sodium and the like and the few times I tried to make it from an internet receipe they came out watery.. like tomatoe sauce. I want a good, healthy, hearty pasta sauce. Can anyone help me out with this?

Rewind 6 weeks - I would have never actually taken blame for gaining the weight back and I wouldnt have changed the way I ate.

I feel accomplished for at least awknowleding the fact that I did this to myself and it happened because the choices I made. I tripped, but I am back up and willing to fight again!

thanks for reading folks

FOoOoOOD

Who doesnt love food?

Before I changed to being a vegetarian I dreaded going to the grocery store. I didnt make alot of new receipes and we ate out at the same places. I loved food, but I didnt embrace it by any means, which is sad coming from a girl who had a world renowned chef (who even cooked for the president) as a grand father. Today was a whole different ball game. I woke up early to go to the grocery store (dont get use to this tho) and I enjoyed every minute of shopping. Didnt even look at the time once! So I have my dinner plan made up for the week... wanna know what it is??

Tonight (monday)  -
Chowder over biscuits

Tues - Lentils over rice

Wends - MorningStar chicken strips and kale/spinach salad

Thurs - Stuffed Bell Peppers with veggie meat

Friday- Soft Taco's

I am excited about the meal plan! Couldnt venture to far into new receipes because this is a tight week for us so I was on a strict budget! I did good tho, planned ahead and got 14 days of food for two people on $130 and that includes extra veggies and fruit for my juicer! Speaking of which, I am gonna go juice up a Green Lemonaide. I haved tried it yet but sounds good! You just throw in kale, cucumber, granny smith apple and lemon and you got yourself a super juice.

And just for shits and giggles... I have lost 7 pounds so far. Even though this change wasnt primarily for weight los.. I cant help but smile as I watch the pounds fall off. Now I just need to work on drinking more water and working out!

Temptation

Thanksgiving has come and gone with no hiccups. The turkey was not tempting at all and I have an amazing father who went out of his way to ensure there was no meat added to any of the side dishes and even made vegan dishes because he knew we are trying to stay away from dairy. Thanksgiving was delightful! We had such a good time. I was not feeling very well for most of it but it was still a very good day. Played the Wii with the hubby and dad... Glad that dang turkey didn't ruin my vegetarian diet plan.

Funny thing is... I have a turkey sandwich sitting right next to me right now. Its staring at me, yelling out to be eaten. Today at work, my manager bought Bagel Brothers for the store and they brought an amazing spread of sandwiches. I don't even like turkey but for whatever reason this shaved turkey bagel sandwich looks appealing!

**lifesaver**

my sister called me back! (i called her in my moment of weakness... she didn't answer) Perfect timing, Kayla! Thankfully, she gave me the strength to think through the decision and the sandwich is currently sitting {strategically} in the outside trashcan. pheww... that was close!

I sure wish some of you that are reading this can help give me advice on how you overcame your cravings and temptations. My sister is awesome, but she has been a vegetarian since she was 8 so she honestly doesn't remember life with meat. I haven't been to a restaurant since we starting this process but tomorrow we are going to Golden Corral. I am thinking that is a safe enough place for me. The original plan was Red Lobster, but Lord knows I cant handle that yet!

Dazed & Confused

I suppose my brain was as much of a meat eater as my mouth. I find myself still thinking about eating meat, although the cravings for it have not been extreme. This weekend, there was a BBQ fest and it was something I wanted to go to for the last few weeks. For whatever reason, my brain still planned on going! Up until yesterday afternoon, I still planned on attending today. Thank God I did not go. I don't think I am strong enough to resist an entire festival of BBQ quite yet! BBQ is my absolute favorite food "group". Well, it was anyways. I am going to have to figure out how to incorporate BBQ sauce into one of these new veggie recipes... maybe on a portebello mushroom burger or eggplant steak?

The number on the scale is going down.. a little bit anyways. 3.4 pounds so far. For my husband as well. He was so happy to see that number change.. he thanked me for finally deciding to eat healthier! I believe it is helping with my PCOS as well.. its still early but I haven't had my monthly visitor in 4 months & there appears to be traces of her this morning!

Yesterday I made something new, something I had never even heard of! Spaghetti Squash! I tossed it with a little bit of pasta sauce, feta cheese, oregano and black olives. It was fantastic! I had my neighbor try it & she really enjoyed it! Even asked for the recipe for that and the portebello mushroom burger I made her last week. I am excited that someone besides my husband and I are enjoying these new recipes as well.  She does not plan on eliminating meat entirely, but said if eating healthy tastes this good then she has no excuse not to eat better!

Thanks for reading -
xo Jenn

Why Now?

Thanksgiving's exactly a week away. Great. I couldn't possibly have picked a worse time to give up meat. What was I thinkig? I am not much of a turkey eatier myself, but my husband loves it. Last Thanksgiving I did'nt eat any turkey. I am all about the side dishes. So what makes this year any different? It's all mind over matter. But either way. I wish I would have had this bright idea after Thanksgiving. I have been thinking about my favorite side dishes today and none of them contain any meat so that seemed like a relief! Honestly, I really hope Junior can last through the meal without giving in to turkey. I need him to be strong for me right now. As odd as it sounds to me, I feel like I am in the early stages of withdrawl...from meat. Wow! Even though I don't usualy eat turkey, I am hoping this withdrawl feeling goes away by Thanksgiving, so don't cave in and eat the bird.

I plan on making a few side dishes... what is your favorite vegetarian holiday side dish?

I would love to get some ideas!

Thans ya'll!  *Jenn

Emptiness

I have noticed the last few mornings that when I wake up, I am more hungry then usual for it being first thing in the morning. I figure it may have something to do with my body processing the plant based foods much quicker then the typical western diet I have indulged in for 27 years. It feels good tho. Usually in the mornings I grab a McDonalds McMuffin or McSkillet Burrito on the way to work and that fills me up for the next 5 or 6 hours until lunch. I never really thought that the reason I could eat such a small, grease filled breakfast that fills me up for hours at a time is because I am physically being filled with the grease and fillers that come in the breakfast.

I am hungry a lot more often now. My stomach feels empty more throughout the day then it has ever before but I know my stomach has been stretched out as far as it can possibly go so until my stomach gets smaller, I know I will feel hungry. But honestly, the hunger doesn't bother me. It makes me feel like I am finally on a healthy path. Mind you, I am not starving myself. I am eating a lot more actually. Snaking on carrot sticks, fresh banana and strawberry fruit smoothies, hummus and crackers... I am eating but my body just isn't use to actually processing the food and burning it off in the same day. Usually after a nice juicy steak dinner, with mashed potatoes and a veggie, I instantly go for the ice cream or cookies and milk. Even if I was full from the dinner. I was thinking about dessert while I was eating my meal. Now, my meals are so much smaller in calories and full of nutrients and my deserts are fresh fruit. I don't have that "heavy" feeling after a meal now. I promise you, at least twice a week I would eat such a big helping of dinner and dessert, I would physically feel sick and would have to go straight to the bed because it hurt to move. I don't know why I did that to myself. I am positive I have an eating problem. My mind doesn't know when my belly is full and I just didn't have the self worth to stop it myself.
Its only been 3 days... we are still in the very infancy of this transition. It is easy to do anything for a week so the real test will come next week. Right now, we are embracing the fact the we seem to have more energy, regardless if it is true or we merely perceive it to be true. I enjoy knowing that how I am eating now will have a good effect on my body. And honestly, I just can't wait to see the number on the scale go down, even just a little bit.
I am not doing this just to lose weight... we are making a lifestyle change but I'm not gonna lie, one of the best parts in this is the fact that I should see the weight start to melt off.

I am looking forward for today, for every new day that comes is a day that I can start to repair the damages I have done to my body in the past.

Thanks for reading-
Jenn

The Decision

I have been a meat eater my entire life. I love all types of meat and eat it with nearly every meal. I enjoy the taste of a juicy London broil, the zest of lemon pepper chicken and the delicacy of hot lobster dipped in warm butter. Ironically enough, my younger sister has been a vegetarian for most of her life. She made the decision when she was 8 or 9 years old. I am not sure what exactly prompted her to make such a bold decision at such a young age but she stuck with it for the last 10 or 11 years. I never understood it. Why would you not want to eat meat? I supported her decision and respected it, but I never wanted any part of it. A few days ago, Kayla text messages me and asks me to watch a film called Forks Over Knives. I figured it had something to do with vegetarians so I wasn't exactly looking forward to watching it but as her big sister, I figured I would appease her.
Sunday night (11/13/11) my husband and I watched the film. Talk about an eye opener! I have always known that the food you put into your body effects your health and weight but never did I actually take it seriously I guess. As a 27 year old, over weight female diagnosed with PCOS, pre-diabetes and thyroid dysfunction, the last thing I want is to pop pills every day and have no control over my own fertility. I have known managing my weight would help reduce some of these issue's but not matter how much I want to change, I wanted to eat even more. PCOS makes it hard to lose weight and very eary to gain so I have to work extra hard to work the weight off but I just couldn't make the right eating choices. It is something I have struggled with my entire life. Thankfully, this film may have come  into my life at the exact right time. I have gained 30 pounds this year.. I am at the heaviest I have ever been and I am well aware of the body image problems I have along with depression, anxiety and shame. This may be my life saver. Forks Over Knives really lit a fire under my butt and half way thru the film my husband and I decided we are no longer going to be meat eaters. And we will strive to eventually only eat a whole food plant based diet.
We are doing this a little bit at a time. We want to make a lifestyle change and I know I am no good at quitting anything cold turkey. So our first stage is eliminating beef, chicken, milk, soda and eggs. I have noticed in the last two days that since we are focusing on these four things, neither one of use want to ruin what we ate for the day by indulging in fries or sweets. So even though at this point we haven't completely eliminated these foods, the changes are happening.
I stopped at the local produce stand and stocked up on veggies and fruit and threw out the beef and chicken in my freezer. Yesterday for breakfast I ate an apple and pumpkin muffin. For lunch was carrots, an orange and crackers with hummus. Dinner consisted of a delish stir fry over rice. Today I made toast and fruit with almond milk for breakfast and lunch was a raw kale and spinach salad loaded with veggies and fat free Italian dressing. For dinner I am making portobello mushroom burgers and another kale salad for us and a friend.
So far this is exciting. We are both enjoying learning about new foods and making new recipes and really changing our life's. I know this won't be easy tho which is why I decided to start a blog. Maybe having some sort of accountability from the virtual world will help us stay on this path of healthy eating.