Bodyrockin

I'm back to the grindstone, two days have already gone by in a flash! It's good to be busy but sometimes it's so exhausting. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out for a quick 3.5 miles last night. I don't think I would have gone if I hadn't agreed it early in the day with Eamonn. By the end of the run I was sprinting, it was great to shake the day off. I wasn't particularly hungry though, as I'd had a big pile of sunday dinner leftovers at lunch, so I had a tiny bowl of Quorn (fake 'chicken' made out of microscopic fungi) in tomato sauce, topped with nooch.

Later on I was peckish though, and that resulted in cake. Not the healthiest thing to eat in the evening, but it's sitting there!

Today started with Ready Brek made with soya milk and topped with frozen berries and a scoop of plain yogurt.

I had a really great lunch with a grated carrot and red pepper (I meant to turn the grating plate over to slice, but I was rushing so got grated pepper!), lots of lettuce, some Quorn and a scoop of cottage cheese, oh, and a few sundried olives, mmm.

I snacked on bananas (2) and had a few cups of coffee and lots of water.

I got home and tried some Bodyrock, the epic burpees one- I only got 200 reps done (half the workout) and it took me 35 mins which isn't too bad I guess although I did have to switch to press ups from the knees early on (I suck at press ups which is why I'm trying to do more strength training).

Dinner was baked brown rice, sauteed mushrooms and onions, boiled broccoli and a little blue goat cheese.

There was more cake...it was really tasty but I didn't feel so good after. I have been thinking of giving myself a break from desserts/sugar/refined carbs or something in March, but I haven't worked it out yet. I am happy with my main meals but I think my snacking could be 'smarter'. I am definitely going to challenge myself to improved eating habits next month so stay tuned!

Healthy Mondays

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After yesterday's chocolate indulgence, I was a little off kilter today. Weird appetites- I woke up ravenous, which only happens when I eat something sugary, and I didn't want coffee AT ALL- I made peppermint tea and had some granola. Then my tummy was upset most of the day, I knew it would be awful if I ate anything much, so I just nibbled on fruit and a scoop of hummus at lunchtime to keep me from gnawing my monitor. I drank plenty of water to try to calm my tum down. I was craving something simple when I got home, so I had made some brown rice, mmm! I had it with steamed collards and onions and a nut patty. I really enjoyed I did have chocolate brownie again tonight, without the soy ice-cream though. It was too sugary for me, and I just feel weird after. I am craving savoury things, like greens and brown rice. I'm tempted to give macrobiotics another shot, but more emphasis on adding macro food to my diet rather than take away i.e. I'm not going to make a conscious effort to eat less nightshade veggies or fruit, however I am going to do my very best to cut out caffeine and sugar.
For that reason, Maggie's article on cutting out sugar today was very timely. She also is a macro flirt and has some good ideas for healthy food that doesn't play havoc with tummies or metabolism.

Although the temperature has dropped a fair bit here, when I got home from work, I threw on my warm running gear (including my No Meat Athlete t-shirt!) and headed out the moment I got home. It was windy and started raining heavily, but I felt great! I didn't try to run to any tempo or for any distance or length of time, my only aim was to meet my boyfriend coming out of work. After running for about half an hour, we met and started walking. About ten minutes from home, I ran again to get in and out of the shower before he got home and then put the rice on for dinner. It felt so good running again, especially just for the pure enjoyment of it. I was bouncing along grinning like an idiot! I don't feel like I've lost any fitness and while I had no aims for speed or distance, I did as well as when I'd be pushing myself. I'm thinking I'll probably run this way through the winter- just set out to get my blood pumping and be outdoors. Although I really need to get back in the pool! That's this week challenge...

Savouring the savoury

I'm still struggling with the sugar thing, but tasty savoury dishes like the above are helping- that was collards and aduki beans with a coconut, coriander, lemongrass and ginger sauce, served with millet. I made so much of this that there were leftovers for both lunch and dinner today.
Breakfast didn't win me top marks with the sugar police (I had some sugar and chocolate soy milk in my coffee, the jam on my oatmeal was sugar free, sweetened with apple concentrate instead), but I was off work as it was Ireland's national holiday, so I don't particularly care. That said, I actually preferred my next cup of coffee, which had no sugar added, just the tiny bit left at the bottom of the cup. It was the sugar we call demerara in the UK, but I think might be called Sucanat in the US. Not sure though. Before brekkie I had intended to go for a run, but realised just as I had climbed into my Skins and running skirt that I'd left my trainers in my parent's house. So I hopped on the exercise bike and then did some weights and squats, but I wasn't really feeling it. It didn't help that my tummy was upset this morning, it's still a bit iffy after all the soy milk and coffee I drank last week.
My skin is still really dry. This is it on a good day, it often cracks and bleeds. I reckon I should just moisturise more often, I use Lush's Dream Cream. I don't think there's much more I can do diet-wise to help with this problem. It sure does itch though, and it's hell doing the dishes (my get out clause, hehe) nevermind squeezing lemons. Ouch.
This was lunch, leftover collards, beans and millet from last night, grated carrot with toasted seeds, za'atar and lime juice and a big dollop of hummus. It shouldn't have worked, with the Morrocan spices in the hummus and the coconut/ginger of the beans and collards, but it was great. After this I went for a two hour walk and found some new places, but couldn't get any further along as the path got boggy and involved crossing a stream, and E didn't have the right shoes. It was fun. It was quite cloudy and still today though, so I felt really sleepy when we got back.
Being St Patrick's day, I had to eat green for dinner, so I made courgette (zucchini) pancake. It's basically just 3-4 courgettes grated and mixed with 1 cup of gram/chickpea/besan flour and spices of your choice. I did freshly ground coriander seeds and some garlic and smoked chilli mix that I had, plus a little salt and black pepper, oh, and 1/4 cup of nooch. The moisture in the courgette is enough to bind the mix together, then I cooked it in a little hemp oil in a large skillet. I steamed some green beans and tossed them in loads of fresh ginger, lime juice, sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil. I had the last of the coconutty collards/millet/beans and carrot salad from lunch. Delish! I sneaked a soy chocolate pudding after though...but I did turn down a raspberry beer.

I'm going to do Meghan Telpner's How Low Can You Go low GI challenge starting on sunday. I'm actually slightly terrified by this, it's going to be quite hard. But I think if I do it, it will make me feel AMAZING. All that said, until today I was viewing this whole sugar problem the wrong way. I was worried it would make me put on weight more than anything. And while that's not impossible, it's not that important, not as important as my actual health. I realised today that I *am* happy with my body now, I had actually set an even lower weight target of 112lbs and got down to 114lbs. I'm back to 116 and I know that feels healthy, and realistic to maintain. I don't want to have to live off fruit until lunch every day, I need my oatmeal, and I can't do without some healthy fats, like nuts and seeds, and I certainly can't do without the odd square of dark choc. I guess I'm just scared I'll go back to what I was before. I am a little bit of a control freak, surprise surprise. Keeping sugar out of my morning meal should help keep me on an even keel.

Sometimes, though, I do still have 'fat' days, but it's not that I'm actually fat- those days are the days when my bowels are playing up, when I'm bloated and crampy, and there's nothing like being crampy and windy to make you feel ugly, fat and decidedly unsexy. I really want to go for a colonic, so I'm going to try and get one organised for next month. I'm broke at the moment but I'd love to have one before I go on my walking trip in May. For now, trying to eat a bit more low GI, no sugar in the morning and going easy on the soy and coffee, as well as eating smaller meals, and maybe more often if necessary, is the way to go.

Phew! The sugar train has ground to a halt

Finally, I think my body has decided to tell the sugar to get lost- my cravings have finally chilled out, and the IBS bout I've had for the past week is easing. I'm surprised my skin didn't suffer for the binge more- I've been off the pill for 3 months now and I expected I'd be more vulnerable to break outs if I didn't eat properly. But I seem to have gotten away with it. The past two days I've been craving greens and grains, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, brown rice and oats. I want them with nuts and miso and I can take or leave dessert, but I am loving snacking on crispy sweet apples, they seem to satisfy my sweet tooth without making it go crazy.

I've been reading a lot this weekend about overeating, it seems to be all over the media at the moment. But it does seem that the problem is our inability to self-regulate, to stay centred- it's just that it's way easier to overeat than it is to undereat because food is everywhere, although plenty of people, especially women it seems, have become obsessed with self starvation and calorie counting. I wonder is it our lifestyles, do we just take too much on and that leaves us all off balance. It's got to be part of it at least. It seems to me that the major effect of this lack of balance is our poor eating habits, which has major consequences for health. It's well acknowledged that stress is a key factor in IBS and that it appears to affect more women than men (although men may just not speak to their doctor about it). Woman gets stressed, she eats stuff that don't agree with her, she gets sick, she gets more stressed. It's becoming more and more obvious to me that there's not much point obsessing about eating certain foods or amounts of foods, you have to go right back and address the stress. Plenty of times I know I reach for something soothing to put in my mouth instead of working out why I need soothing and doing something more effective about it- cutting out the source at its root. I don't really get stressed about particular things, I just rush around without wondering if it's really that important. I guess I just need to take a few seconds to BREATHE every now and again, and it can mean the difference between a happy week or two weeks of protesting bowels.

I've done things like keeping food diaries and not buying foods I'm likely to eat too much of or that I seem to have relative trouble digesting. And that's kind of a sticking plaster. This week I'm going to try eat *consciously*. To eat when I'm hungry, to eat just what I need and to avoid stimulating things or 'mood enhancing' foods or just wanting to try a bit of everything for the sake of it. One of my bad habits is wanting to do everything at once, this includes wanting to try out every recipe and food I come across. But I know this sort of behaviour doesn't help my tummy, it's not a calm approach. So I suppose the upside of money being a little tight this month due to paying for a holiday is that I can't just buy a whole pile of speciality foods. I have to eat plain- cheap season greens, and work my way through all the brown rice and oats I've accumulated. I have sugar free whole peanut butter and plenty of tasty spices to keep things interesting but I'm going to resist the urge to buy new things or make new things, even though I'd love to try HEAB's coconut butter. However, I did get a red cabbage (fairly cheap in this country and at this time of year) to turn into raw sauerkraut...mmmm.

Last night's dinner: all the greens I had (collards, sprouts, broccoli and not technically 'greens' but green edamame) with a few leftover potatoes, lots of garlic, a few sundried tomatoes and nutritional yeast:

Getting back on track

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land-grab

Isn't this so scary? I realised after reading this that the odd time I've bought African food, usually green beans or squash, but now I've realised I probably shouldn't- it's almost certain that no African gets the profit...except may be the rich Ethiopian-born Saudi business man. Imagine exploiting the very country that bore you...anyway, the whole thing really made me realise just what a ethical mine field food choices can be, it's been Fairtrade Fortnight here too, and even the merits of Fairtrade have been brought into doubt by some people. Every mouthful has an effect on at least some person or animal. It makes me feel pretty guilty that my tummy problems are usually down to overeating when for most people in the world, the problem is not getting enough to eat....

Things are going well though, I have been walking to and from work and walking on my lunch break as it's really sunny and clear and I'm lapping it up while it lasts. The increased daylight has done wonders for my mood, which in turn has made my tummy feel better. Still eating too much sugar, but I've haven't binged in the last few days, so I hope I'm getting things under control.

Dinner tonight was some tasty olive, caper and tomato sauce on collard greens and a little pasta, although I'd have been happy with the collards alone; I rolled up the leaves perpendicular to the stalk (after I cut it out if it was very thick) so the strips were really long, like collard spaghetti!!

I have started drinking more coffee though...nothing obsessive, two large mugs a day, tops. Still, I will probably get bored in a couple of weeks and cut way back, and then in a few weeks or months I'll be drinking it again like it's going out of fashion. I used my electric handblender to foam up my soya milk, instead of buying a dedicated milk foamer. It totally worked! In fact it was a bit too foamy...

The coolest thing I've read in the blog world today was Heather Eats Almond Butter's Coconut Butter. I've never seen coconut butter for sale here, so I think this would be fun to try making, not to mention tasty to eat! Mm, I like coconut. I made a collard and noodle coconut soup at the weekend, which I topped off with some tofu. It had loooads of ginger, chilli and lemongrass in it. Basically I just chopped up those with some garlic and onion, sauteed over a low heat until soft, then stirred in 1 tablespoon of crushed coriander seeds and some turmeric. In went the collards and the cooked noodles, then 2 cups of water and a can of coconut milk. I would have put some fresh coriander but I couldn't find it in the shop.

I really should eat out of a different bowl every now and again!

Two steps foward one step back

I was going so well for the last 2-3 months, but things have taken a backward slide in the last two weeks. I've been eating more chocolate, bicuits and sugar in my coffee than I had been, and I've sat down to some big plates of dinner a couple of times too. All of which have contributed to havoc in the bowel department and my mood is pretty crap too. Still, I am surprised that my skin has stayed clear, although all those cakes have found their way onto my hips, and I've put a kilo back on (I think, it's hard to gauge weight gain when you're constipated too...).

As bad an idea it was for my tummy, I made killer vegan burgers last night. I cooked 1 cup red lentils and maybe 1/4 cup oatmeal chucked in, and whizzed up some turnip, kale, onion, celery and garlic in the food processor until finely chopped. I mixed everything up with 1/2 cup of gram flour and 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, 1 tsp each dried rosemary and oregano and 2 tsp of smoked paprika as well as two tbsp of tomato paste. I shaped the mix into patties and dipped them in gram flour before frying and finishing in the oven. There was loads of mix left, so I shaped it all into burgers and froze them for another time. I had a rather upset stomach all evening and most of today, so I ate very little; a bit of oatmeal, an apple, licorice tea, a few oatcakes and I had a coffee too...hehe. Feeling a little easier now, but I know if I eat anything substantial I'll be set off again. I'm quite hungry now, but can't decide what to eat.

I think the problem is that the sweetie stuff I've been eating has made me overeat, and when I eat anything high fibre, it just sits in my gut which has been made lazy by the slow-moving low fibre sugariness. I probably need to just keep the oatmeal and apple until I'm right as rain again, almost like clearing the decks!

No photos of food as I haven't really been taking time over any preparation. Normal blog service will resume soon, promise! I guess I'm still recovering from the loss of my aunt.

On a happier note, I booked my summer holiday! I'm going walking in the Lot Valley, just north of Toulouse. I'm going in mid-May, so not that long to wait! I think the break and all that walking will do me the world of good. France can be a bit of a pain for vegans, further complicated by having to walk with all my belongings, so I have to pack light. I'm up for the challenge though- tasty, healthy, portable vegan food. Now it's time to make dinner before I take a bite out of my computer! Then it's off out to the pub, but it'll be ginger beer and water for me. Unless I can think of a healthy mocktail:)

Still here...and full of sugar

I haven't been posting for a few days because my aunt passed away on monday and was buried yesterday. Not many people who know me will have known as my poor aunt only found out she had pancreatic cancer in mid January, so it has all happened frighteningly quickly. So I obviously haven't had time to blog, and the thought of talking about myself with everything that's been going on just seemed a bit weird. Anyway, it's likely when I get something up in the next few days it'll be about trying to cut out sugar and caffeine. I've more or less lived off the stuff in the last few days. Lots of cake. A fair amount of chocolate. Two cups of coffee a day. I'm all fidgety and off-balance. My tummy isn't great either. Funny, my brother seems to have the same symptoms. All the sugar we've been eating instead of proper meals not to mention the stress and upset will be to blame. It's strange how comforting it is though, especially when you haven't had much for a while and you really feel it kicking in. Chocolate especially is like a soft warm brain massage. But by yesterday evening I was quite sickened really.

As I'm writing this, I'm sipping on some soy milk and coffee. Oops.

Not really sure yet how I'm going to wean myself off and cleanse a bit. Probably plenty of water and lightly steamed greens, plain oatmeal or brown rice, and a little gomashio or umeboshi to perk it up. Simple food to heal the mind and the body.

Sugar feast, sugar fast

That's me about to chow down a vegan creme egg. The appeal of the creme egg will be well known to British and Irish readers, but not sure they're easy found in the US. They're a thick shelled Cadbury chocolate egg with a fondant filling (dyed white and yellow like an egg). The fondant is probably dairy free, but the choc isn't of course. And Cadbury chocolate, as any European who even vaguely likes chocolate will tell you, is more milk than chocolate. It's also just sold itself to Kraft. Yuck. Anyway, my boyfriend loves a creme egg, and as a treat for going vegan with me, I sourced some vegan ones. And they were better than the Cadbury ones (duh). Here's the filling:

Probably a bit off putting if you're not an egg fan..but they're soooo good. One is definitely the ceiling, sweet and chocolate together...yum..

As yesterday was pancake tuesday, and we reckoned they were better as dessert than dinner, we ate light- just some red cabbage, black beans and a bit of leftover quinoa

The extra space was filled with these pancakes- I made them with wholewheat flour and oat milk, and made a chocolate ganache. This was liberally spread on the pancakes and topped with Swedish Glace Raspberry Ripple and Chocolate, and black cherries. It was super yummy, but my tummy hurt all evening after. It wasn't anything in the food, I just ate too much. So today I went really light, just a little bit of oatmeal and an apple and a kiwi in the afternoon. I was pretty hungry when I got home, so chowed down some toast with homemade very lemony coriander hummus:)

Anyway, after the sugar indulgences of the last few days, I've decided to cut out sugar for the next two weeks. By no sugar I mean no sugar, syrup, agave nectar, maple syrup etc. Also anything with sugar in it, like jam, cake, biscuits, chocolate etc. Although I won't say no to fruit, some fruit juice sweetened jam, or biscuits sweetened with rice malt, or some amazake. Although I know where to get vegan sugar free chocolate, I'm going to give choco a miss too. All this is by way of a clearing out of my system, to give it a rest from stimulants.

Sweet really is the order of the day, check out my guest post on my friend's blog:

http://writenoiseni.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/guest-blog-from-vegan-dukka-girl/