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.