It was an up and down day. Went to a "vegan friendly" restaurant listed on a Kansas City vegan website... Was looked at like I was from Plant Freakizoid when I asked for vegan food.
I improvised. Then I got some real food.
More later...
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
First Vegan Weekend--Day 1
Why I decided to be vegan on the same weekend I moved I'll never know. Still, the move is over(ish). All the furniture that is coming is here and so is most of crap.
I feel pretty good. Well, I feel exhausted, but I think that is to be expected.
All in all, this going vegan thing has been pretty easy, though I know that I owe a debt to the vegans who have come before me. If they had not created the demand for vegan products in the stores and in restaurants, I might very well have found this task impossible.
The one, I would say major slip up I had was vegan ice cream. I found this banana-fudge ice cream that is hands down the best ice cream I ever had. Despite my attempts to only have one ice cream per week...I could not resit.
Vegan Exercise Report
Why I decided to start strength training the same week I was going to move I'll never know.
So for exercise today...I moved. Isn't that enough??? :)
Tomorrow, I hope to get in a good jog. We have a trail here that runs by Turkey Creek. I think I am going to put the boy into the jog stroller and go sight seeing.
I feel pretty good. Well, I feel exhausted, but I think that is to be expected.
All in all, this going vegan thing has been pretty easy, though I know that I owe a debt to the vegans who have come before me. If they had not created the demand for vegan products in the stores and in restaurants, I might very well have found this task impossible.
The one, I would say major slip up I had was vegan ice cream. I found this banana-fudge ice cream that is hands down the best ice cream I ever had. Despite my attempts to only have one ice cream per week...I could not resit.
Vegan Exercise Report
Why I decided to start strength training the same week I was going to move I'll never know.
So for exercise today...I moved. Isn't that enough??? :)
Tomorrow, I hope to get in a good jog. We have a trail here that runs by Turkey Creek. I think I am going to put the boy into the jog stroller and go sight seeing.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Day 5 Recap
Tonight, we had dinner at Aladdin's Cafe, a Mediterrean restaurant that has a good grasp on what is vegan and how to modify dishes to be vegan.
We ate family style with three entrees between us (our friend joined us.) We have a cauliflower dish that was okay, a rice/lentil dish that was pretty good, but the star of the show was the falafel (yes, it's fried, I only had 1/2 of a piece.) It was the best falafel I've ever had bar none, hand's down. The Baba ghanoush was also suprisingly good.
The dolmas were good, but a bit minty. The hummus was excellent.
And it was all vegan.
The odd thing was that both Indian food and Mediterrean food use a lot of olive oil. However, after eating tonight I didn't feel sick after eating the food. Either I had too much fried food at Rucci or there's something about the fact that the olive oil is drizzled on the food rather than heated. I am not sure. Either way, my stomach does not feel like it is trying to crawl out of my body right now.
I consider that a good thing.
Exercise Report
Today was arm day and I actually made it down there. I was really pleased with myself.
When it comes to strength training, I think I hate arms the most, mainly because my arms are so weak. Compared to my legs and chest and back, my arms are puny. Even when I was benching 250 and deadlifting and squatting well north of 425, I was curling maybe 95 pounds.
Still I try to use that as motivation.
I've also decided to work my obliques more, which I started today.
Guess what...I'm sore!
We ate family style with three entrees between us (our friend joined us.) We have a cauliflower dish that was okay, a rice/lentil dish that was pretty good, but the star of the show was the falafel (yes, it's fried, I only had 1/2 of a piece.) It was the best falafel I've ever had bar none, hand's down. The Baba ghanoush was also suprisingly good.
The dolmas were good, but a bit minty. The hummus was excellent.
And it was all vegan.
The odd thing was that both Indian food and Mediterrean food use a lot of olive oil. However, after eating tonight I didn't feel sick after eating the food. Either I had too much fried food at Rucci or there's something about the fact that the olive oil is drizzled on the food rather than heated. I am not sure. Either way, my stomach does not feel like it is trying to crawl out of my body right now.
I consider that a good thing.
Exercise Report
Today was arm day and I actually made it down there. I was really pleased with myself.
When it comes to strength training, I think I hate arms the most, mainly because my arms are so weak. Compared to my legs and chest and back, my arms are puny. Even when I was benching 250 and deadlifting and squatting well north of 425, I was curling maybe 95 pounds.
Still I try to use that as motivation.
I've also decided to work my obliques more, which I started today.
Guess what...I'm sore!
I Am Not Hungry
Yes...this comes as a huge surprise to me as well.
I've done some research into weight loss and everyone says eat smaller meals so I decided I would go with the 6 meals per day plan. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacks in between.
On Monday, 6 was about 20 too few. Tuesday, the 2 hour intervals could not come fast enough. Wednesday was Indian food day and I felt good.
Yesterday and today...nothing. I've had to remind myself to eat.
I think this is a good thing, especially if I don't gorge tonight at dinner. (We're trying Aladdin Cafe, which is very veg friendly.)
I don't know, if any weight loss gurus are reading this, tell me. Should I eat when I'm not hungry? Probably so I don't eat too much when I do, right?
I've done some research into weight loss and everyone says eat smaller meals so I decided I would go with the 6 meals per day plan. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacks in between.
On Monday, 6 was about 20 too few. Tuesday, the 2 hour intervals could not come fast enough. Wednesday was Indian food day and I felt good.
Yesterday and today...nothing. I've had to remind myself to eat.
I think this is a good thing, especially if I don't gorge tonight at dinner. (We're trying Aladdin Cafe, which is very veg friendly.)
I don't know, if any weight loss gurus are reading this, tell me. Should I eat when I'm not hungry? Probably so I don't eat too much when I do, right?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Indian Food: 100 Me: 0
Last night Tina and I went to dinner at Rucci, our favorite Indian place.
I had always suspected that Indian food could veganize rather easily, then I saw this link. http://www.vegkansascity.com/restaurants.html
In it, the site says that Rucci has the largest vegan menu in the city. I was hooked.
The only problem, and it's one that I cannot seem to get around, is that even when vegan, Indian food is NOT healthy. The samosans are fried. The fried veggies...fried (shocker, I know.) But even the food, though not cooked in ghee or coconut oil (a.k.a. vegetarian ghee), is heavy and greasy.
I could barely enjoy my meal. I just felt heavy. My stomach was upset and my feet hurt. I don't know why they hurt, I fear it's a condition, but being an American male, I refuse to go to the doctor. I do know that when I don't eat like crap, they don't hurt.
Exercise
I exercised today. That's two days in a row. As long as I hit the gym tomorrow, I am going to count moving on Saturday as a day of lifting exercise. That will be four days of weight training with Monday spent cardio for a total of five.
Week 1...Mission Accomplished.
I had always suspected that Indian food could veganize rather easily, then I saw this link. http://www.vegkansascity.com/restaurants.html
In it, the site says that Rucci has the largest vegan menu in the city. I was hooked.
The only problem, and it's one that I cannot seem to get around, is that even when vegan, Indian food is NOT healthy. The samosans are fried. The fried veggies...fried (shocker, I know.) But even the food, though not cooked in ghee or coconut oil (a.k.a. vegetarian ghee), is heavy and greasy.
I could barely enjoy my meal. I just felt heavy. My stomach was upset and my feet hurt. I don't know why they hurt, I fear it's a condition, but being an American male, I refuse to go to the doctor. I do know that when I don't eat like crap, they don't hurt.
Exercise
I exercised today. That's two days in a row. As long as I hit the gym tomorrow, I am going to count moving on Saturday as a day of lifting exercise. That will be four days of weight training with Monday spent cardio for a total of five.
Week 1...Mission Accomplished.
Cheerleader? Sure. Zealot? No.
My buddy Ryan IMed me yesterday and we got to talking about being vegan. Like everyone I have told about going veganism, he was a little surprised that I would take the plunge as it were.
And then he said it. The undercurrent that has gone unspoken between several of my firends and spoken with several others. Basically, he was concerned that I was going to become one of those vegans. The in-your-face, meat-is-murder, die-and-go-to-Hell-sinner type. To be honest, I wasn't ready to deal with this question due in no small part because I had to deal with when I became a vegetarian. I thought it was behind me.
It is important for me to say that I will NEVER condemn someone for eating meat. It is just not in my make up to go on the offensive like that. However, I do strongly believe that eating commerically farmed meat fully of antibotics and crap is the probably the worst dietary choice short of the Doritos and Pepsi plan. This has led me to want to hold dialogues, cook, and basically do the whole more-flies-with-honey-than-bugspray thing and not even towards the goal of ending the consumption of meat. I just want people to eat better.
And then he said it. The undercurrent that has gone unspoken between several of my firends and spoken with several others. Basically, he was concerned that I was going to become one of those vegans. The in-your-face, meat-is-murder, die-and-go-to-Hell-sinner type. To be honest, I wasn't ready to deal with this question due in no small part because I had to deal with when I became a vegetarian. I thought it was behind me.
It is important for me to say that I will NEVER condemn someone for eating meat. It is just not in my make up to go on the offensive like that. However, I do strongly believe that eating commerically farmed meat fully of antibotics and crap is the probably the worst dietary choice short of the Doritos and Pepsi plan. This has led me to want to hold dialogues, cook, and basically do the whole more-flies-with-honey-than-bugspray thing and not even towards the goal of ending the consumption of meat. I just want people to eat better.
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