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? 

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!