PUSH

A couple of years ago I was on 3FC under a different name (britomart) and entered some kind of drawing. Now, I never win anything, door prizes, lotteries, contest, races, nada. I am just not a terribly lucky kind of person. Well, somehow the 3FCers managed to draw my name out of a hat (I tell myself perhaps I was the only one who entered, this is the only way that would happen) and I won a pretty nifty little pedometer, a signed copy of the 3FC book, and a 6-month subscription to PUSH. The 3FC announcement was also the #1 return if you googled my name for a while (it has since been pushed back to #7 or so). I felt like a celebrity!

Anyhow, I never really kept going with PUSH. I enjoyed it but I get bored with strength training easily - there is so much sitting still involved, I get antsy with all the reps… It feels good, don’t get me wrong, I love feeling stronger, but when faced with the choice between cardio and strength, I’ll take the cardio. Last night I found the stack of DVDs again, many of them unopened. So more out of curiosity than anything else, I popped in the 1st month and went to down.

Yeah, somebody remind me to do the floor exercises on my freakin’ yoga mat next time, okay? Somehow that didn’t occur to me and now I have rug burn on my knees and elbows - yeah, explain THAT to my coworkers. I keep telling them my husband didn’t have anything to do with it… Sigh…

Anyhow, I think it would be a good idea for me to keep up the strength exercises this time. We’ll see how far that resolution goes (I sound excited, don’t I?).

PUSH is kind of an interesting program if you had never heard of it. It’s a subscription service, and $19.95 per month will get you a DVD with two brand new strength routines with a trainer of your choice, set to music of your choice (to a degree), focusing on an area of your choice. You also get a cardio routine to do alongside the strength, and you get to choose what kind of cardio you get. You can also tell them what kind of equipment you have at home and they will choose exercises that allow you to utilize it. For instance, I have some handweights at home, so a few of the strength routines have me holding the handweights. It’s an interesting approach to the fitness DVD market. There are things I like and things I really kind of dislike about the way it is set up… But I’m hesitant to go into that because I don’t know how much they have changed the service since I last received DVDs in the fall of 2006. Anyway, if you’re looking for something new, it might be worth checking out…

Contradiction - slower, stronger??

Went for a run tonight and ended up with a bit of a conundrum when I arrived back home to check on my progress. We went for what felt like a great long run. We both thought we had run at least 3 miles but, upon checking the route on mapmyrun and gmap-pedometer, we actually ran only 2.38 miles - which is 0.22 miles shorter than last time. Okay, well, time doesn’t always move in a linear fashion when you’re distracted, so we were willing to accept that the run just didn’t get the distance we were hoping for. However, when checking on the time - this is what bothers me - we ran 5 minutes MORE than we have ever run in one run, yet we ended up on a shorter route coming in four minutes slower than we did on the longer route. What the heck does that mean? I don’t think we were going slower. I don’t feel like we were, anyhow. And last time we had that horrendous hill to contend with which by all means should have slowed us down. I don’t understand why running more of the route = taking longer on a shorter distance.

If anyone has some insight aside from “you must be running slower,” I’d love to hear it. Any known time vortexes occurring last night? Alien abductions? Otherworldly possession? Because the (rational) alternative is frustrating…….

EDIT: For anyone who thinks the difference isn’t all that much, keep in mind that once you do the math that means we added a whole 4 MINUTES to our mile time tonight. 4 freakin’ minutes! That’s nearly a lifetime!

Progress report

WW meeting was this morning, I am up 0.8 lbs. Eh. Not gonna try to make excuses for it, just know that I will be working extra hard to make next week count. Ultimately it may not be hard to get it off since I was seeing 193’s all week until just this morning, so maybe it’s a daily whatever. This would be the problem with going by one day’s weight out of the week - but it sure keeps me saner to do it this way than to agonize over every decimal each morning.

I have updated my measurements (off to the left) which hadn’t been done in a while. I think it’s been a month and a half since I last measured, made some decent progress but nothing spectacular.

Today’s food has consisted of mostly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I’m gonna get in the kitchen and whip up that fantastically orgasmic quinoa and green vegetables dish I posted a recipe to the other day, if anything can get me back into eating whole grains and vegetables it is that dish. Then tonight, off to see Wall-E (we were going to see it at 7:30 but wanted to get in a run beforehand - ran out of time, so we’re going at 10) in celebration of Leo getting his green card approval :)

Sweat!

I have been maintaining a page in this blog for running progress, but I think I will concurrently post about it as well so I can keep some narrative about it. Otherwise the Running page tends to just be stats.

Anyway.

Just back from my run (literally just got in the door, still covered in sweat, working down some water while I wait for my body to find equilibrium again). This is the first time I have ever done two runs in a row - usually I have only given myself enough credit to perform once every other day. Granted, yesterday’s run felt so half-assed, only out for 1.2 miles, only out for 19 minutes… My heart just wasn’t in it, and I was mentally exhausted from our recent trials with the government.

Today was 2.7 miles, at least according to gmap-pedometer.com. I have to add, however, that about a quarter of a mile was spent at an approximately 65 degree angle - the steepest, most daunting hill in our neighborhood, and it completely wore me out. I would love to find out what the distance actually is - I have a feeling online pedometers are somewhat inaccurate as they probably only measure flat distance. When you’re working with as many hills as I am, it becomes an issue. Of course, wearable pedometers become slightly less effective on hills as well, so I guess that’s not a winning situation. Perhaps best I could do would be to drive it and mark my odometer. Or get a bike computer and bike it. Or get a better pedometer.

Peak HR 186

Avg HR 163

Time 42 m

Running 7:57 m

Distance 2.7 mi

Temp 90.2 F, 47% humidity

6:22 - 7:04 pm

Route: Oxford loop, up Bruce, down to lights and down Rugby to Greenway, Amherst, and Rose Hill, to Rugby again and back up Wellford

Okay. Moving forward.

I am having too much fun with the vegan experiment to stop now. 7 days was not long enough to really explore the possibilities of this lifestyle! I am going to do my best to keep this up, and not assign an end date to it. Just see where it naturally goes. I do know that my next weight-related reward (191, no longer obese by BMI, 3.8 pounds from here) will be the Veganomicon, because I keep hearing about it and yum! vegan cooking!

I was reading Joe’s blog (the aptly titled Vegan Experiment) earlier this afternoon, and one of his entries mentioned being contacted by a rather militant vegan who berated him about his calling himself vegan while he follows the spirit of a vegan diet, while not necessarily eschewing all other animal products in his life. I don’t understand that. I mean, he is making an effort, just as I am, to remove animal products from his diet and thereby his life on a gradual basis. I am throwing this out there because I don’t want to be in that situation - I don’t want people to have misconceptions about exactly what it is I am doing. I may get to a point where I am strong enough/ready enough to remove all animal products from all facets of my life, but I think for now, the food part is hard enough for me to tackle. So militant vegans, back off, there is no room for you here. Thankfully I have not yet met any of these sorts of people - but I know they exist. I am still going to call this a vegan experiment, even if my shoes still have leather uppers.

Baked Eggplant Stacks with Roasted Tomato Sauce

This recipe took me about an hour from start to finish. That’s a little longer than I typically spend on a weeknight meal, you may want to save this one for a weekend if time is an issue. I wasn’t terribly hungry this evening so didn’t mind investing the time in it. This recipe originates from Cooking Light.

Baked Eggplant Stacks with Roasted Tomato Sauce

8 plum tomatoes (about 1 pound)
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups diced onion, divided
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sliced onion
1/2 cup dry white wine
20 garlic cloves, peeled (about 2 large heads)
1 cup canned vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
18 (1/2-inch-thick) slices eggplant (about 2 medium)
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeezed dry
Oregano sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°. Place tomatoes in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes. Set aside.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup diced onion; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, red wine, oregano, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Place tomato mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Set aside; keep warm.

Place a saucepan coated with cooking spray over high heat. Add sliced onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add wine and garlic. Bring to a boil; cook 5 minutes. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Place garlic mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Set aside; keep warm.

Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over eggplant. Place half of eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; broil 5 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant; set aside.

Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup diced onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add spinach; cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 425°.

Arrange 6 eggplant slices, 2 to 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet. Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons spinach mixture over each slice. Stack each with another eggplant slice, an additional 2 1/2 tablespoons spinach mixture, and remaining slices. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Arrange 1 eggplant stack on each of 6 plates; spoon 1/3 cup tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons garlic sauce on each plate. Garnish with oregano, if desired.

NOTES:

A lot of the prep work can be done ahead of time in order to cut down on day-of prep. Both sauces, actually, can be made beforehand. Blend them and toss them in tupperwares, reheat when you make the dish. Also, I’m not sure why they tell you to bake the eggplant in two separate phases; all 18 slices of eggplant can in fact go in at once, saving you 10 minutes.

One thing that doesn’t make sense to me about this recipe is that ultimately you need 12 tablespoons of the garlic sauce (equal to 3/4 cup), but with the onion, garlic, wine, and broth, you end up with nearly double that. Perhaps I didn’t let mine reduce far enough, but seeing as how the tomato sauce came out in the perfect amount and I simmered them for the same time, I think it might just be a problem with the recipe. I would cut the garlic sauce items in half (so 1/2c broth, 1/4c wine, 1 head of garlic, 1/2 onion), that would be plenty.

The tomato sauce for this was fantastic. It was a rich, purple-red color, very fragrant. I would be tempted to keep the recipe for the tomato sauce and use it in other dishes, it was so good. Too bad I don’t have any of that left over!

Also, forgive the fact that I am not a food photographer of any quality :) I do my best with my little Canon point-and-shoot.

Spring Green Quinoa

I fell in love with this recipe I found on fatfreevegan.com. Since I am not an advocate of the fat-free diet (and how can anyone be, really? Healthy fat plays such an integral role in our bodies, protecting our organs and keeping our hair and nails healthy, among other things), I used a couple Tbsps of a nice olive oil in place of some of the broth below and just modified the nutritional value to reflect what I added. I think it only added an extra WW point. The best thing about this recipe is that it’s super quick - from start to finish it doesn’t take much more time than it takes to cook the quinoa.

Spring Green Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
4 (about 1 ounce) sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped
10 ounces frozen edamame (2 cups)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
3 -4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon oregano (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon basil (more to taste)
1 generous pinch red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice (more to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste

Rinse the quinoa well in a fine-mesh strainer. Put it in a pot with the water, 1 clove of minced garlic, and the sun-dried tomato and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and cook until water is absorbed and grain is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered.

While the quinoa is cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil (Dutch oven sized, about 1/2 full). When it reaches a boil, add the frozen edamame. Return to boil and cook for 4 minutes. Add the asparagus and zucchini and cook until they are tender but still crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large serving bowl. Add the quinoa and toss well.

In a small non-stick pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable broth (or EVOO for some healthy fat). Add the minced garlic and cook for one minute. Add the remaining broth, oregano, basil, and red pepper. Simmer, stirring, for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over quinoa and mix well. Taste and add additional seasonings, including lemon juice, as needed. Serve warm.

Makes 4 large servings. Per serving: 270 Calories (kcal); 6g Total Fat; (19% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 168mg Sodium; 8g Fiber. Weight Watchers CORE/ 5 Flex Points.

***If you are unsure what quinoa is, it is a wonderful grain that is worth experimenting with. I cannot find it in my regular grocery store; I have to make an occasional run to Whole Foods where they sell it in bulk for about $1.50 per pound. It is unusual (and rather wonderful) in that it is a complete protein, making it very useful to someone following a vegetarian or vegan diet and looking to increase their protein consumption. Wikipedia

This is the end?

I’m thinking of extending TVE until at least the end of today, since yesterday got kind of messed up with the sudden onslaught of immigration-related stress. So far it’s been fine anyhow; somewhere along the way I stopped needing to think about what I grab for breakfast and lunch and snack in order to eat vegan. It’s the evenings that have been getting me in trouble. I mean, the extent of my transgression last night was an egg and a non-vegan cookie from Whole Foods. Nothing terrible, but not what I was aiming for. So we’ll go with this one more day.

Run yesterday didn’t happen either, also due to aforementioned immigration stress. Too bad too, since it was so nice out. I’ll just have to go tonight!

Days 3-5

The weekend was tough. I tried to stick to eating vegan the best I could, but last night ended up involving ordering pizza… Which is very not-vegan. Otherwise I think I’ve done well to stick with it, especially considering eggs are a pretty big Sunday staple for me and Leo. The experiment continues on. I have two more days to round out my 7-day trial period.

I made up a pot of red lentil and artichoke stew last night at 11pm just so I’d have something to bring for lunch today. Haven’t tried it yet, but I’m kind of in love with artichokes at the moment so I think it’ll be fantastic. The quinoa & green veg recipe is back on the menu for this week (and forever as far as I’m concerned), along with a barley and black bean salad, pita pizzas, and a white bean and sundried tomato concoction.

I haven’t decided what I am going to do with myself after this personal challenge ends. I am generally enjoying focusing on non-animal product food, and am perfectly happy to decrease my consumption of animal products permanently. However, I am doubting my ability to stick with it for good. Maybe that’s just because I’m still new at it and it seems kind of daunting. I wouldn’t miss meat per se, but I do enjoy scrambled eggs (I hear tofu can be scrambled with great success?)… going out for frozen yogurt… ordering a pizza from time to time. I will just have to take it day by day after my 7 day commitment is up and see what happens.

On the weight loss front, I lost 2.2 this week (or 3.4 if you go by my official WW weight - my 3FC BL Challenge weight and my WW weight diverged for a couple weeks while I was away from meetings and weighed at home). I have finally lost my first 10%! I have less than 3 pounds until I am no longer obese by my BMI! I will be in the 180’s soon! :D All wonderful things.

Tonight I am going to try to drag the husband on a 5k. I have been sucking at endurance lately because of all the gddamned hills in our area (thank you, Thomas Jefferson), they just kill me. There is a relatively flatter area we can jog, but it is a much shorter route than my longer 1.3- and 2-mile tracks so we will have to circle it five times to get a good distance on it. I think I can handle the repitition for now if it means hitting a distance goal. Eventually I’ll start looking into out-and-back treks but for now the circles are nice, even if I have to do them over and over and over….

Day 2. Give a little, take a little.

Day 2 was pretty similar to Day 1 in that there were multiple transgressions, but I still feel pretty good about how I’ve been doing. I also did some reading yesterday on the ethical position behind adopting a vegan lifestyle and… well, there sure are some great reasons out there for avoiding animal products. Yikes. Not going to get into them on this blog, but if you’re curious it’s easy to find the info.

Anyway, here are the items that I did not avoid yesterday:

-soy yogurt, made with milk proteins.

-1/3c non-vegan white wine in my stew (which made 6 servings, so very little made it into my dinner)

-1 cup of egg noodles - okay, this was totally my stupid fault. I checked my box of pasta and saw that it was vegan, so assumed that my other kind of pasta would be too - the fact that they are EGG noodles totally didn’t register. D’oh.

-square of dark chocolate, “may contain” milk.

-And, finally - I went to a friend’s house last night to do a little rocking out to Rock Band and his girlfriend had made this big thing of dip for everybody. I caved into the pressure. I had about 2 tablespoons and a small handful of Tostitos. The dip is about as far from vegan as you can possibly get - sour cream, ground beef, cheese. It’s also about as far away from healthful as you can get. But I only had a bit. I am forgiving myself for this, I am totally unprepared to face social situations while trying to eat vegan.

This “transition” thing is hard work. I assume it gets easier as you get used to making these choices. I’m still kind of incredulous that I managed not to realize EGG noodles have egg in them - I just assume that wouldn’t happen to someone who is used to making vegan choices. Or someone with half their brain turned on!

I was thinking yesterday about what I am aiming to carry forward from this. I have to say, I am loving the way I’m eating so far, and my body is loving it too (hello, 194 this morning!). My conscience thanks me too. But - can I really make this a livable, sustainable change? I don’t think I would miss animal-derived food products necessarily… But it’s just kind of difficult right now, and to think of dealing with this for the foreseeable future is kind of daunting.

So maybe I shouldn’t think about the future yet and just focus on my 7 days. If nothing else, I’ll be happy to have completed my experiment successfully :)

This is the vegan plan for today:

Breakfast: steel cut oats, almond milk, blueberries, cinnamon, agave nectar

Snack: nectarine, perhaps some soy milk from next door if I am still hungry

Lunch: leftover mediterranean veg stew, two plums

Snack: apple with natural peanut butter

Dinner: chana masala with brown rice