De-Railed: The American Experience

How many times have we all felt super motivated to achieve a health goal, started the task with full gusto and then been completely, totally, 100% de-railed?

Our American culture is so often dominated by desires for instant gratification and expectations of all gain with no pain. Time after time we commit to that goal of losing weight, exercising more, or fitting in that ideal dress (pant) size, and time after time we fail. In the immediate face of the chocolate cake at your best friend's birthday party, the queso dip at your favorite restaurant, or the chance to skip the gym for a movie with loved ones, it is too easy to lose sight of those goals hanging so far in the distance.

After a fantastic first week committing to my Whole30:Vegan plan, I decided to visit my family at home in Houston. As I wound my way along the now familiar curves of highway 71, I visualized the challenges I would face and reminded myself to stick to the plan and remain devoted to my goals. In the beginning, I succeeded, but the comfort and festivities of being with family seeped in like the evil sludge in Ferngully, corrupted my good intentions and loosened my inhibitions. I began to slide further and further off of my health and wellness path, until I was right back where I started at the beginning of this attempt - shamelessly shoveling down a wheel of soft, gooey, delectable French cheese.

After a few days stuffing myself with refined grains, cheese, cheese products, pork fat laced refried beans and tortilla chips, I was reminded how it only takes one lowered inhibition and I'm off to the race tracks of unhealthy indulgences. After all the reading I've been doing about the ill-effects of eating animal products, I knew exactly what sort of awful things I was doing to myself with each and every bite. Still, I couldn't help myself.

Until this second failed attempt at returning to my usually healthy lifestyle, I had forgotten how important things like a strict schedule and consistent concrete evidence are for me to achieve my goals. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have recently obtained some very important concrete evidence. The strict schedule will follow quickly, as school is about to start (and then I can kiss any leisure time for the rest of my life good-bye).

I recently went to the doctor for my annual check up. My blood was drawn, and my cholesterol levels were checked. This was about a month ago, when I was still firmly within the tracks of my whole foods plant based lifestyle. At the time, my total cholesterol was 186. 186 seemed rather high for someone who, as a general rule, does not consume animal products, but I thought maybe I had just gone to the doctor on an unlucky day. Furthermore, because this test had not been taken under fasting conditions, I thought maybe the results were a little falsely elevated.

I decided to have my levels re-tested under fasting conditions. Since my doctor wasn't worried about my cholesterol levels, she would not re-test my blood, so, this morning, after fasting for 12 hours, I went to the People's Pharmacy in Austin and had my cholesterol checked. The People's Pharmacy is incredible. The woman who drew my blood was very nice, perfectly professional and extremely helpful. I paid a measly 35$ for the test, and I got the results back in less than 10 minutes.

Lo and behold, after only four weeks of indulging in a few animal products, my total cholesterol had risen to 192. Now, this is still below the target number of 200; however, studies have found that it is actually the small to medium buildups of plaque that blocks less than 50% of the artery that are actually the most lethal (Campbell, The China Study). In The China Study, Dr. Campbell explains that evidence shows that 35% of heart attacks occur in individuals with total cholesterol levels between 150 and 200.

Here is the concrete evidence I really needed. I have been reading all of these texts thinking happily to myself that because I usually followed a vegan diet, I must be safe from the ills described in my studies. Nope. I am just as vulnerable and making many of the same mistakes as the average American. Wake up call! Sometimes, we need a reminder that we are not the exception. This was mine.

Now, I realize that I would be a statistical outlier if I suffered a heart attack at the age of 24, but statistical improbability is not the point. The point is that heart damage now means a weekend cardiovascular system for the rest of my life. My great-great aunt is celebrating her 100th birthday today. I want that to be me in 75 years, 3 weeks and 2 days. Plus, who wants to play Russian Roulette with statistics anyway?

I'm planning on having many, many more of these. 

So, now I have some major concrete evidence to motivate me to stick to my whole foods plant based diet guns consistently. I simplified my goals and streamlined my process. Basically, I am following the Forks Over Knives and Engine 2 Diet program.

For the next 28 days, I WILL:

1. Not eat any animal products

2. Not eat any refined oils

3. Not eat any refined sugars

4. Not eat any processed grains

5. Not drink more than one alcoholic beverage per day

6. Not drink more than one caffeinated beverage per day

7. Exercise at least 5 times per week

8. Get at least 8 hours of sleep per night

9. Drink at least 64 ounces of water per day

10. Meditate daily

I'm going to use this space to help hold me accountable. At the end of 28 days, I will have my cholesterol levels re-checked. Hopefully, we will see that Campbell, Esselstyn, Ornish, R. Esselstyn, Fuhrman et. al. are right, and that a whole foods plant based diet will reduce your risk of heart disease wholly and quickly. 

Starting Stats:

Total Cholesterol: 192

HDL: 52

LDL: 107

Triglycerides: 164

Weight: 128 

What sort of things de-rail you from you health goals? How do you get back on track? What are your motivators?

 

Music Monday:Erin Ivey

Another new Austin artist - Erin Ivey. I love this girl! Just bought her album Dreamy Weather on iTunes. Her songs are folksy, sultry, and sweet all in one place. Yum.

(BTWs the video is a little weird. Dont' look. Just listen)

Music Monday: Granger Smith

You can't ignore music if you live in Austin, so I've been trying to brush up and pay attention by browsing sites like ReverbNation.  They list Granger Smith as one of the top local artists in the Austin.
He's cute. This tune is catchy. Check him out.

Whole30:Vegan Days 4-7

Wow - it's good to chew! So glad to be off the juice.

For the rest of this first week, I decided to eat raw. For those of you who don't know what that means - in a nut shell, eating raw means you don't eat anything that has been heated to over 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The idea is that unprocessed, raw food is full of all kinds of awesome nutrients that get broken down when the food is cooked. Perhaps irresponsibly, I hadn't done a tone of research, but it's supposed to be super healthy and a good way to continue the cleansing theme for this week. Sounded good to me.

Turns out, I'm not sure my body liked this too much. I felt a little slow and lethargic. Then again, I'm not sure I can blame that on the diet. Since finding myself in the in-between period between work ending and school starting, I don't have a ton of motivators or obligations, so it's really easy to hang out, read, surf the interwebs, and do nothing ... also things that make me feel slow and lethargic if done too many days in a row.

Either way, I got a few new great recipes out of the raw experience, and surely my body is clean as a whistle now. I'll share with you my absolute favorite.

Tu-nut Salad Wraps

When I was very little I hated canned tuna fish. The smell grossed me out. The texture was repulsive, and the worst, my baby brother loved it - so, I figured it must be awful. As I grew up some, I began to appreciate the occasional deliciousness of a mayonnaise laden tuna salad on soft white bread with the crusts cut off. How's that for healthy?  Crusts cut off were an especially special treat. My mother rarely did that. Anyway, as I grew older and more health conscious, I ditched the mayo and the white bread for balsamic vinegar and Wasa Crackers. Much better. Since becoming vegan, I have not had the pleasure of this treat, and I was absolutely shocked and thrilled with the results of this recipe inspired by Happy. Healthy. Life. I think this was one of my most favorite lunches in a very very long time. 

Ingredients

1 cup of almonds (soaked overnight)

1/2 cup - 1 cup water from almonds

1 Tbsp capers

1 Tbsp caper liquid

Juice from 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Kathy at Happy.Healthy.Life recommended adding some chopped celery, which would have been a delectable addition. I was out, so I skipped it and went for chopped tomatoes instead. 

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency is reached. The more liquid added to the mixture, the creamier the tu-nut becomes. 

This delectable dish can be served in lettuce wraps, on sandwich bread or as a tasty side. Use your imagination and enjoy some happy nostalgia! 

What are some of your favorite childhood lunches? 

The Nerd Comes Out

As part of our orientation schedule for law school, we have a book discussion. Obviously, this isn't like those days in high school or undergrad when you bought the book, flexed the spine a few times to make it look read and then hit the spark notes hard. I'm pretty sure spark notes aren't going to cut it in law school... And, since I'm a super nerd, I've pulled out my crazy, cool reading glasses and stepped into study mentality already to make sure I kill this book discussion. Law School here I am!

As I recall from my previous study days, I don't study at home so well. There's always something to distract me - the cat, dishes, a nap - you name it. Quiet, but not too quite, coffee shops are usually what do the trick for me, so yesterday I went to find a cool place to study, errm, read. I had read about Flight Path Coffee House when I was doing some research for a friend's trip to town, and thought I'd check it out. It was perfecto! The barista was super nice, the atmosphere was kinda funky, and it was the perfect study atmosphere - a delicate balance between library quiet, where keyboard punching is a MAJOR distraction, and cafe buzz, where you just want to know what everyone is laughing about. I had a lovely hibiscus mint iced tea while I read and got a lot done. I'm sure I'll be hitting this place up again soon for a good study session.

Check it out! Pretty funky, right? Lots of space - front, back and outside.

By the way, the book is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Anyone read it? 

Whole30:Vegan Day 3

Oh man, I am so glad this was the last day of juicing. Every time I juice, I am always amazed that I don't feel hungry, but it sure will be nice to chew something! Still, I'm really proud of myself for sticking to all three full days of this. I definitely feel clean and refreshed from this experience, and that was the goal.

I was running out of vegetables to juice but wanted to use up the last of my store, so I got a little desperate. Let's just say, in case you were wondering, kale and carrots do not a yummy juice make!

Still, today was a peaceful and relaxing day. I felt a little bit like you do on the first day that you're well after a long cold. You know - when you have energy and verve for life and everything is wonderful, but if you do too much at once you get tired? That's exactly what day three was like (I swear it was a good thing, kind of), so I listened to my body and took it easy.

I painted my toes (got a little on me, whoops); took a nice, meditative, stretching yoga class online from Priscilla at The Black Swan Yoga; and finished my day off with this yumalicious, pretty-in-pink, watermelon and grape juice recipe.

Recipe:

1/2 of a very small watermelon with rind removed

30 or so red or purple grapes

a little bit of raw ginger

Throw it all in your juicer and enjoy! 

*Since this juice is pretty sugary, you don't want to drink too much of it, and you don't want to do it too often, but it's a nice little reward at the end of a long day or a tedious juicing session. 

Eewie, Gooey, Chewy Bars

I am a power bar fanatic. I have a little bit of a fear of hunger - I blame my mother - and power bars are an awesome way to keep hunger and my fear in check. I always have at least one on me and a few around the house, but man, are they expensive! I was perusing the ingredients list on the label of one of my go-to bars trying to figure out what all the weird unpronounceable, no-no-food words were, when it occurred to me that I could make myself a power bar at home. I could save myself from ingesting some weird-o ingredients and save my wallet from thinning. So, I got in the kitchen and started concocting. What I ended up with was like a Larabar, but cheaper and yummier due to it being filled with homemade goodness. 

Plus, these babies are raw, vegan, gluten free and paleo!

How about that!? 

These days, it seems like everyone has special diet requirements (me included), and these delicious, energy filled bars can be made to satisfy just about any dietary regimen that someone may follow. Woopie. Here's to eating good food for not too much money no matter what our needs are!

I literally eat them all the time. 

Ingredients:

1 pound of dates pitted

1 Tbsp nut butter (I used almond)
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp coco nibs
1 Tbsp hydrated chia seeds
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts this time)

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and process until it holds together.

Then, dump the mix onto parchment paper, and use your fingers or a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula (though your mix may stick to the tools) to press the mix into a rectangular shape (you could use a casserole dish as a mold, but it's not necessary.

Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After they set a little, you can cut them up however you like: lots of mini sized bars, a few big-daddy sized bars, or maybe some mama-bear sized bars.

Store in the fridge. 

Eat and enjoy as desired!

You could easily alter this any way you like. You can add in more nuts or seeds (or take them out), dried fruit, coconut flakes ... The sky is the limit! Also, not hydrating the chia seeds would make them a little firmer.

Whole30:Vegan Day 2

Today was a much better juicing day, but I always forget that I've got to take it a little easy when juicing. I went to a vinyasa yoga class at my new FAVORITE yoga studio downtown, Wanderlust, and boy was it hard! I was a little embarrassed about the amount of sweat dripping off of me from trying to all those downward dogs. I'm supposed to be stronger than this!

Still, in spite of, and perhaps because of, my morning yoga session, yesterday was a nice peaceful day. Maybe I was feeling peaceful because I was too tired to think or move too much due to lack of food! Anyway, if you're visiting in town or new in town, definitely check out Wanderlust. They have great drop-in rates and an awesome first time member package. I'm planning to go back again tomorrow, but for a more gentle session - haha.

Namaste

Whole30:Vegan Day 1

Let's just talk about how much I need this reboot. July has been a crazy, out of control month! I started the month out with a move to a brand new city. While I managed to stay mostly healthy and happy during the car ride from Houston to my new home in Austin (I scored some of my favorite Larabars and lots of water), things went downhill from there. There are just way too many awesome vegan and vegan friendly eateries around here and that means way too many chances to make not so great choices. Guero's, Tacodeli, Mother's Cafe, and Magnolia Cafe have all quickly made their way to the top of my Yum List. I also live dangerously close to the amazebells flagship Whole Foods where, I admit, I have been purchasing lots and lots of prepared foods. Plus, home cooking means settling in enough to plan out a grocery list and then stay in town to eat the groceries!

On top of having just moved in, I have been back and forth from Austin to Houston lots starting with 4th of July weekend. Need I explain the amount of excessive consumption that happened during that weekend? I didn't think so.

I have fallen so far off the wagon that, when a friend came to visit last weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed a chopped beef sandwich at Iron Works. I know. I know. It was a very big cheat. And it was incredible. But it is time to pull it together.

I decided to start with a juice cleanse. It seemed like a good way to get all the cheats cleaned out of my system and get in some much needed plant nutrients. Plus, nothing hits the reset button on clean living quite like a good juice cleanse.

A juice cleans really just isn't my favorite thing. People who love them just can't seem to get enough of them, but I have not had that juice cleanse bliss experience yet - and this isn't my first rodeo. Anyway, to start this cleanse, I went to juicing guru Joe Cross and was pleased to see that he had updated things since I last visited his website. I downloaded the 3 day quick start plan and turned on my juicer.

I've had all the classic symptoms that juicers claim are your body detoxing - fatigue, dizziness, headache, digestive lovelies... I certainly had a lot to detox from, but I just can't decide if I buy the detox theory or if I just think my body is hungry! Also, juicing makes my teeth stick together and feel a little fuzzy. I guess its the sugar. Anyone else have this problem or other juicing woes, thoughts or feelings?

I had planned to head to my awesome new gym, Danes Body Shop, but knew I couldn't handle the intensity on just juice, so I went for a nice walk in Pease Park instead.

I can't believe I live here!

Day 1 of 30 - over and out. 

Whole30:Vegan

My Sister is pretty cool. 

But she's going to kill me for this. 

She has been getting into eating paleo for a while now and recently started a Whole30 program. For those of you who don't have a cool sister to teach you about these things, the Whole30 program is a program designed as a nutritional reset to calm, heal and restore your body and to help you create a healthy, happy relationship with food.

Happy Food

Now, this nutritional reset is based on the paleo diet. While I am not paleo and don't really endorse the paleo diet (for reasons we wont go into here), there are some things I really like about the paleo mindset and about this program in particular. I love the idea of eating cleanly, of eating in a way that is most healthy for your body and of eating so that you feel your best. Although whole foods plant based campers (Campbell, Esselstyn, Fuhrman, et. al) and paleo campers usually get there different ways, we both are of the healthy lifestyle camp and are striving to live our best lives with optimally functioning bodies.

My sister has been raving about how great she has been feeling during her Whole30 experience. She has also enjoyed expanding the idea from a purity of body to a purity of body AND mind experience by committing to limit her "plugged in" time by not watching TV and by refraining from using technology after a certain time. Listening to her got me thinking - there's no reason that this same concept of committing 30 days to reset and focus on obtaining a pure mind and body couldn't be applied to a vegan diet, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I made up some goals to aspire to for the next 30 days:

1. No alcohol

2. No peanuts, soy, gluten or refined oils

3. No packaged foods, frozen foods, imitation meet or cheese

4. No added sweeteners

5. Aim to make as much from scratch as possible

6. Buy local and organic when possible

7. Consider limiting or eliminating legumes and grains

8. No TV

9. No technology after 9:00 pm

10. Exercise for 30+ minutes 5 times per week

11. Drink 64 ounces of water

12. Meditate at least once per day

13. Eat when you're hungry

14. Stop when you're full

15. Maintain a pure whole foods plant based diet

Here we go!

A New Adventure, A New Reason to Blog

As my blog's title suggests, I'm all for new experiences, new chances and new challenges. Well, after almost two years working as a caseworker at the incredible organization Casa De Esperanza de los Ninos, Inc. in Houston, TX, I will be starting law school at the University of Texas in the fall.

In other updates, I have begun following a mostly vegan, whole foods, plant based diet and have been working on improving my health and fitness. I am down right determined to live my best life in my best body. While I have only been living in Austin for about three weeks now, I am loving exploring this new city and all that it has to offer, and the healthy life attitude that abounds here is right up my alley.

I can't wait to see how things unfold in my new life here:

actually, more like here:

and here:

I know it's going to be just like this:

I will be using this space to keep track of my thoughts and ideas including all things Austin, law school and mostly-vegan related. Stay tuned.