I have to say, sharing a blog with Mike who obviously missed his calling as a monk in a silent order when it comes to depriving himself of things is looking tougher by the minute, but anyway...
Two things to do here: share my learnings and give you my top tips for food variety.
How did I go?
Here are my food variety counts for the 16 straight days I tracked and some notes where useful: 18 (just starting), 20(on a plane), 36 (in harness!), 31, 31, 26, 28, 14 (followed my dad's diet - see below), 30, 30, NA, 18 (missed a meal), 21 (no snacks), 19 (missed a meal), 30 (thai meal), 30 (salad lunch and curry), 18 (traveling). (These scores are 'raw' scores, not using the Food Variety Checklist. I will post about that in the next couple of days).
Not bad, hitting the magic 30 about 50% of the time. I am feeling well, I have energy for training and I have found that a focus on variety has no downsides and a surprising side-benefit: one of the great things I learnt is that if you aim for variety, you never eat huge calorie loads of pasta etc so this is compatible with calorie control if that's what you are after.
A big challenge this month has been that I have been in the UK looking after my dad who is on chemo. My main job there is to feed him up with hi-cal (fatty) foods and while this was problematic as I am trying to lose some weight it also presented challenges with variety. I deliberately followed his diet one day and it gave me my lowest food variety. The worrying thing is that our diet that day was pretty typical: fish, chips, steak etc. Without adding the fruit that I did my food variety would have been in single digits. I realised that loads of people eat this diet evry day and without varying it over the weeks and months: high calorie, high salt, few micronutrients - a time bomb...
Top tips
Here's what I learnt this month.
- Eat well! Sounds obvious but when you choose health you choose variety (see note on my dad's diet). Striving for food variety should be part of every lifestyle.
- Put nuts, fruit and live yog on your cereals
- Eat muesli! With yog, milk and banana on top you can be over 10 on variety before you get up from breakfast.
- A smoothie could also be good: add wheat germ , spirulina etc and you could be into variety heaven.
- Don't skip meals - we know that, right?
- Snack healthily: a great chance to get different fruit, veg, nuts and seeds into you. We know that too, right?
- Eat Thai and other foods that focus on variety and the abundance of veggies.
- Have a meal where you eat from the fridge: huge variety and delicious!
- Beware of repeating days - I think it's worthwhile trying to eat different stuff through the week rather than repeating the same 30 day after day.
- Eat with the seasons: for real variety through the year, eat what's in season. This is also cheaper and you can eat from local suppliers thus saving the planet as you tuck in!
- Travelling makes things tough so pack some varied snacks and seek variety.
Final tip is: live a varied life. Eat with vegans, visit the ocean and buy fish, go into an area of the supermarket you don't normally visit, when you see odd foods - buy them, go to some ethnic areas of your city and get into the local nosh. It has been great to see Mike also discovering this on the Vegan diet. If we are what we eat, then let's be varied, different and exciting!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Speaking of food and being mindful of the way you eat, we saw a great interview on The 7:30 Report last week with Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma".
You can view the transcript and watch the interview here. These were my favourite quotes from the interview:
You know, if the whole world tries to eat meat the way the Americans and the Aussies do, we'll need 2.3 more worlds to feed them.
You've got to distinguish the real foods from the edible food like substances.
We also can look to other cultures that have learned how to navigate a culture of abundance. The Japanese, for example, they have a rule called hara hachi bu, eat until your four-fifths full. What a radical idea to not eat until your full. But many cultures have that rule.
You can view the transcript and watch the interview here. These were my favourite quotes from the interview:
You know, if the whole world tries to eat meat the way the Americans and the Aussies do, we'll need 2.3 more worlds to feed them.
You've got to distinguish the real foods from the edible food like substances.
We also can look to other cultures that have learned how to navigate a culture of abundance. The Japanese, for example, they have a rule called hara hachi bu, eat until your four-fifths full. What a radical idea to not eat until your full. But many cultures have that rule.
Review of Vegan May
We have about 3 hours left of Vegan May and I think I can saefly say WE DID IT!
It's been fantastic too, the thing which has been the biggest eye opener is how many of the foods we eat contain animal products. Why is this necessary? Why do some sliced loaves of bread contain milk solids? Why are lollies made from ground up hooves? Just becoming aware of what goes into various processed foods has been an extremely useful exercise.
Eating a vegan diet was not difficult and I would recommend anyone to try it for a month. I can honestly say there was absolutely no downside for me. I wouldn't say it was difficult either, it just required:
a) Creativity. Coming up with new dishes to cook or substitute ingredients) which was a very good thing to bring me out of the rut of always cooking the same meals
b) Awareness. Always looking at the ingredients in processed foods, asking questions in restaurants, actively enquiring about what is in the things you put into your body. This is also an incredibly helpful practice to develop.
c) Planning. Only going to restaurants you know have a vegan option. If you're going to dinner at someone's house either informing them or bringing your own food if you feel it would be a hassle or an imposition on them.
Where to from here? Milk I wasn't drinking anyway, sucking on a cow's teat seems too weird and I prefer soy anyway. I don't think I'll go back to yoghurt. I love it, but I don't feel like I need it anymore. Same with eggs. They were an essential part of my diet, but I've broken the habit of eating them so why go back? I wasn't eating meat anyway and I'm not about to go back to that. I had a terrible sweet tooth and awful self control when it came to cakes, muffins and other baked treats, so I think sticking to not eating these can only be good for me.
Cheese? Hmmm. I'm going to try my very best! But I will have a pizza tomorrow in the name of science to see how I feel about the dairy and also take careful note about how my body reacts to it.
On a sidenote I also gave up alcohol for the entire month of May. That wasn't so hard, I wasn't drinking a lot anyway, but of the two "deprivations" I felt like a drink more often than I felt like eating cheese or yoghurt or eggs.
In summary - energy levels high, looking and feeling healthy. Training has picked up again - I did two really hard runs this week and just got back from a 110km bike ride this morning and have been feeling strong and recovering well.
Back with the "return to cheese" report soon!
It's been fantastic too, the thing which has been the biggest eye opener is how many of the foods we eat contain animal products. Why is this necessary? Why do some sliced loaves of bread contain milk solids? Why are lollies made from ground up hooves? Just becoming aware of what goes into various processed foods has been an extremely useful exercise.
Eating a vegan diet was not difficult and I would recommend anyone to try it for a month. I can honestly say there was absolutely no downside for me. I wouldn't say it was difficult either, it just required:
a) Creativity. Coming up with new dishes to cook or substitute ingredients) which was a very good thing to bring me out of the rut of always cooking the same meals
b) Awareness. Always looking at the ingredients in processed foods, asking questions in restaurants, actively enquiring about what is in the things you put into your body. This is also an incredibly helpful practice to develop.
c) Planning. Only going to restaurants you know have a vegan option. If you're going to dinner at someone's house either informing them or bringing your own food if you feel it would be a hassle or an imposition on them.
Where to from here? Milk I wasn't drinking anyway, sucking on a cow's teat seems too weird and I prefer soy anyway. I don't think I'll go back to yoghurt. I love it, but I don't feel like I need it anymore. Same with eggs. They were an essential part of my diet, but I've broken the habit of eating them so why go back? I wasn't eating meat anyway and I'm not about to go back to that. I had a terrible sweet tooth and awful self control when it came to cakes, muffins and other baked treats, so I think sticking to not eating these can only be good for me.
Cheese? Hmmm. I'm going to try my very best! But I will have a pizza tomorrow in the name of science to see how I feel about the dairy and also take careful note about how my body reacts to it.
On a sidenote I also gave up alcohol for the entire month of May. That wasn't so hard, I wasn't drinking a lot anyway, but of the two "deprivations" I felt like a drink more often than I felt like eating cheese or yoghurt or eggs.
In summary - energy levels high, looking and feeling healthy. Training has picked up again - I did two really hard runs this week and just got back from a 110km bike ride this morning and have been feeling strong and recovering well.
Back with the "return to cheese" report soon!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Eating out as a vegan in Sydney
Without any effort at all we've managed to eat out at three fantastic vegan restaurants over the last week! Having a long and extensive menu where you can absolutely eat anything you choose is pretty damn good.
Last Sunday after the Sydney Morning Herald half marathon we met up with a friend at the finish in Hyde Park and were thinking about where to go for brunch. Easy solution - across the road about 15 metres and into the yum cha vegan paradise of Bodhi! With three of us, and every dish coming with three portions, we feasted roundly.
Then last night we went out for dinner with a couple of friends at Green Gourmet in St Leonards (there's another one in Newtown). Peking Not-Duck pancakes to start. Crispy rainbow shredded delight, black bean stir fried veges and I'm not sure what the third thing was, all with brown rice with sprouts mixed in, absolutely yum.
Today we were in Cabramatta and saw at least 3 good looking Vietnamese vegetarian restaurants. Grabbed one and had a fake meat Pho soup and some sauteed greens and fresh rice paper rolls and tea. Hoo-boy, $20 for both of us and we were full as can be and our tastebuds were thrilled.
Last Sunday after the Sydney Morning Herald half marathon we met up with a friend at the finish in Hyde Park and were thinking about where to go for brunch. Easy solution - across the road about 15 metres and into the yum cha vegan paradise of Bodhi! With three of us, and every dish coming with three portions, we feasted roundly.
Then last night we went out for dinner with a couple of friends at Green Gourmet in St Leonards (there's another one in Newtown). Peking Not-Duck pancakes to start. Crispy rainbow shredded delight, black bean stir fried veges and I'm not sure what the third thing was, all with brown rice with sprouts mixed in, absolutely yum.
Today we were in Cabramatta and saw at least 3 good looking Vietnamese vegetarian restaurants. Grabbed one and had a fake meat Pho soup and some sauteed greens and fresh rice paper rolls and tea. Hoo-boy, $20 for both of us and we were full as can be and our tastebuds were thrilled.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Going out on the vegan diet
Vegan May is over halfway and still going strong!
We've been out of the house for dinner the last four days and have still managed no problem, it just takes a bit of creativity.
Thursday
Went over to Erin and Emma's place for dinner and I totally forgot to tell them we're vegan this month. Thankfully Emma is vegetarian and knows I am too, so when I emailed her the day before she was like "No worries, what I'm going to make is vegan anyway!"
It was awesome, she made an indian daal curry and another cauliflower, mushroom and potato curry, along with fried rotis and basmati rice. I couldn't stop eating it all, my mouth is watering just thinking about it now!
Friday
We had our friends Luke and Jenn over for dinner at our place. I needed to make vegan food that is still palatable (and hopefully better than that) for omnivores, with very little time (less than an hour between me getting home from work and them arriving).
Solution - baked enchiladas (inside: mushroom, red capsicum, broccoli, kidney beans, taco seasoning) with homemade guacamole and salsa! They didn't even know it was vegan until we told them and they loved it. Then dessert of maple walnut brownies which took about 5 mins to throw together and bake. Mmmmmm.
Saturday
We were invited out to dinner at James and Sal's new place for James's birthday. It turned out to be a dinner party of about 30 people with huge platters of beef and chicken (which did look pretty good). I told them we'd gone vegan a few days before and offered to bring our own food because I really didn't want to be a burden. They took me up on that, so I made us stuffed eggplant (with chickpea, tomato, coriander, moroccan seasoning) as well as vietnamese rice paper rolls (fresh mint leaves, vermicelli, tofu, carrot, cucumber and red capsicum).
Of course we got to have vegan-related conversations with the people around us at dinner, but everyone was sweet and very supportive.
Sunday
Vegan yum cha at Bodhi!
Now I'm starving, time for Sunday night dinner.
We've been out of the house for dinner the last four days and have still managed no problem, it just takes a bit of creativity.
Thursday
Went over to Erin and Emma's place for dinner and I totally forgot to tell them we're vegan this month. Thankfully Emma is vegetarian and knows I am too, so when I emailed her the day before she was like "No worries, what I'm going to make is vegan anyway!"
It was awesome, she made an indian daal curry and another cauliflower, mushroom and potato curry, along with fried rotis and basmati rice. I couldn't stop eating it all, my mouth is watering just thinking about it now!
Friday
We had our friends Luke and Jenn over for dinner at our place. I needed to make vegan food that is still palatable (and hopefully better than that) for omnivores, with very little time (less than an hour between me getting home from work and them arriving).
Solution - baked enchiladas (inside: mushroom, red capsicum, broccoli, kidney beans, taco seasoning) with homemade guacamole and salsa! They didn't even know it was vegan until we told them and they loved it. Then dessert of maple walnut brownies which took about 5 mins to throw together and bake. Mmmmmm.
Saturday
We were invited out to dinner at James and Sal's new place for James's birthday. It turned out to be a dinner party of about 30 people with huge platters of beef and chicken (which did look pretty good). I told them we'd gone vegan a few days before and offered to bring our own food because I really didn't want to be a burden. They took me up on that, so I made us stuffed eggplant (with chickpea, tomato, coriander, moroccan seasoning) as well as vietnamese rice paper rolls (fresh mint leaves, vermicelli, tofu, carrot, cucumber and red capsicum).
Of course we got to have vegan-related conversations with the people around us at dinner, but everyone was sweet and very supportive.
Sunday
Vegan yum cha at Bodhi!
Now I'm starving, time for Sunday night dinner.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Food variety: the facts. Well, sort of...
In case things get a bit too diety, here's a pic of me having a foodie moment. Best egg tart ever -in Hong Kong and a favourite of last British Governor, Chris Patten, who clearly had excellent taste.I have taken some time to do a little online research on Food Variety (did I mention I have a month off work? Oh, I did. That must be annoying if you are reading this at work. So sorry.) Anyway, the point is that what I have learnt from my research will make a real difference to how I eat in future.
The basics I had picked up before I started the month were that the concept of there being 12 vitamins was outdated and that over 12,000 'micro-nutrients' had now been identified. As dietary supplements are unlikely to provide such a range of molecules, Food Variety is essential for getting all the little stuff your body needs. So, I thought, tuck in and make sure you eat lots of different things.
As you can tell from the last post, I was having little trouble eating 30 foods a day. However, a couple of concerns had started to creep in. First, there was a real danger that I was not going to learn anything from this month except 'keep doing what you're doing'. Secondly, I had started to question the logic of measuring your food variety each day when you could simply eat almost the same thing each day, achieve your 30 score but surely not be eating the variety you need in the long term. Here's what I know now...
A good introduction to food variety is on the Victorian Government's disability website: http://www.disability.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Food_variety_and_a_healthy_diet?OpenDocument
Another useful article is on the Nutrition Australia website: http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Food_Facts/Fact_Sheets/food_variety_fs.asp#Test%20your%20food%20variety%20for%20a%20week
The big learning for me is the Food Variety Checklist: http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Food_Facts/Fact_Sheets/food_variety_fs.asp#Test%20your%20food%20variety%20for%20a%20week
The Food Variety Checklist tells me that I am going to have to work harder to achieve a 30 score and to do so will give me a truly varied diet, every day. I will go start using this scoresheet now and report back in the next post.
By the way, you may be wondering why my sources are Australian. As I write this I am in the UK and even when I have my Google preference set to 'UK pages' it still finds Australian content. I think the sunburnt country may be leading the world in this field...
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Food Variety - the spice of life?
I finally decided that I would kick off with a month focusing on Food Variety. Research is showing that you should eat 30 different types of food each day for health and longevity. I will write some more background in the next post but here'san update on how it has been going...
5 days in
So how did I go? I set the first day as a huge day in my life: the day I left my corporate job for a more balanced and fulfilling life. More of that later but it also co-incided with an event that I had spent less time planning: a bout of food poisoning. This manifested itself as severe stomach cramps every time I ate anything which is not ideal when you are trying to eat 30 things a day (and they should really be limited to dry bread and water. variety count: 2). I then flew to the UK so was at the mercy of the airline... Despite this, I am now in my stride and this clearly a great 'diet' to be on while travelling. I feel I am at the other end of the spectrum from Mike: if someone offered me a piece of dolphin to eat now my first thought would be 'great, that's one more!' Of course, I would then come to my senses and realise that with the caper and lemon sauce it is actually three ... but I digress...
Food variety results to date:
7 May - 18
8 May - 20
9 May - 33
10 May - 30
11 May - 30
Physically, feeling the same as ever but jetlagged.
My weight has gone up about 3kg to 84.4 ni the last 8 weeks and focusing on food variety will not help me to get this off! Starting to get my exercise back on track so that should be no problem.
However, it is certainly helping me to think about my food and easy ways to add variety. It is not trivial to hit 30 a day and here are my Top Tips.
Top tips
- east muesli with fruit for breakfast rather than a single grain such as All Bran or Special K.
- add nuts and fruit to breakfast cereal
- what my wife calls the 'bottom of the fridge meal' is a winner. This is a smorgasbord of all the little things you have in the house: cheese, pickles, veggies in oil, tuna, cut up veggies, cold cuts etc. Followed by fruit, this can give you 12 food varieties and also get some stock turnover in the kitchen which will mean less waste of out-dated foods.
More coming up soon!
5 days in
So how did I go? I set the first day as a huge day in my life: the day I left my corporate job for a more balanced and fulfilling life. More of that later but it also co-incided with an event that I had spent less time planning: a bout of food poisoning. This manifested itself as severe stomach cramps every time I ate anything which is not ideal when you are trying to eat 30 things a day (and they should really be limited to dry bread and water. variety count: 2). I then flew to the UK so was at the mercy of the airline... Despite this, I am now in my stride and this clearly a great 'diet' to be on while travelling. I feel I am at the other end of the spectrum from Mike: if someone offered me a piece of dolphin to eat now my first thought would be 'great, that's one more!' Of course, I would then come to my senses and realise that with the caper and lemon sauce it is actually three ... but I digress...
Food variety results to date:
7 May - 18
8 May - 20
9 May - 33
10 May - 30
11 May - 30
Physically, feeling the same as ever but jetlagged.
My weight has gone up about 3kg to 84.4 ni the last 8 weeks and focusing on food variety will not help me to get this off! Starting to get my exercise back on track so that should be no problem.
However, it is certainly helping me to think about my food and easy ways to add variety. It is not trivial to hit 30 a day and here are my Top Tips.
Top tips
- east muesli with fruit for breakfast rather than a single grain such as All Bran or Special K.
- add nuts and fruit to breakfast cereal
- what my wife calls the 'bottom of the fridge meal' is a winner. This is a smorgasbord of all the little things you have in the house: cheese, pickles, veggies in oil, tuna, cut up veggies, cold cuts etc. Followed by fruit, this can give you 12 food varieties and also get some stock turnover in the kitchen which will mean less waste of out-dated foods.
More coming up soon!
Lenny approves
I figure my cat is happy with Vegan May, she seems to be getting into "The Ethics of What we Eat"
Mothers Day
Vegan May - Day 11
STill going strong, not feeling much different although I seem to have more energy at night. Normally I'm beat by 9pm but lately I've been bright and full of energy up until 11pm and end up having to force myself to go to bed. Although that could be correlated with notbeing nearly as knackered because of drastically cutting my weekly ride and run mileage over the last month.
Anyhoo we got through another weekend.
Dinner Friday with no food in the house? Grabbed a moroccan vegetable soup on the way home and had steamed broccoli and brussel sprouts with soy sauce on the side and mountain bread wraps with chery tomato, tofu and humous.
Needed to grab a quick lunch on the bike in the city on Saturday because I was STARVING, bingo sushi rolls with avocado, asparagus, mushroom, tofu.
Went to my friend Sarah's birthday party at her house in the afternoon and on the table of food the only things we couldn't eat were a slab of cheese and one (our of 4) dips. The rest was (unintentionally) vegan. Yum!
Then tonight we had dinner with mum and dad at an Italian restaurant in the Rocks. A little nerve-wracking considering what might be on the menu... but both Sarah and I found exactly what we felt like. I tried a vegetarian pizza (artichokes, olives, etc) without cheese and it was delicious! Sarah grabbed the spaghetti with garlic and olive oil and added mushrooms. I tried it and it was damn good.
I'm so pleasantly surprised by how easy it's been so far! I'm shocking when it comes to choice on menus, I could stare at the thing for hours and want to eat everything on there and by paralysed by choice, so it's kind of liberating to be reduced to only a couple of choice, and also to have to be a little creative to fashion something you can eat.
Couldn't find a single dairy-free cheese in the giant Coles at Neutral Bay today - boo!
I did get soy yoghurt though and tried it tonight. The verdict - gross.
STill going strong, not feeling much different although I seem to have more energy at night. Normally I'm beat by 9pm but lately I've been bright and full of energy up until 11pm and end up having to force myself to go to bed. Although that could be correlated with notbeing nearly as knackered because of drastically cutting my weekly ride and run mileage over the last month.
Anyhoo we got through another weekend.
Dinner Friday with no food in the house? Grabbed a moroccan vegetable soup on the way home and had steamed broccoli and brussel sprouts with soy sauce on the side and mountain bread wraps with chery tomato, tofu and humous.
Needed to grab a quick lunch on the bike in the city on Saturday because I was STARVING, bingo sushi rolls with avocado, asparagus, mushroom, tofu.
Went to my friend Sarah's birthday party at her house in the afternoon and on the table of food the only things we couldn't eat were a slab of cheese and one (our of 4) dips. The rest was (unintentionally) vegan. Yum!
Then tonight we had dinner with mum and dad at an Italian restaurant in the Rocks. A little nerve-wracking considering what might be on the menu... but both Sarah and I found exactly what we felt like. I tried a vegetarian pizza (artichokes, olives, etc) without cheese and it was delicious! Sarah grabbed the spaghetti with garlic and olive oil and added mushrooms. I tried it and it was damn good.
I'm so pleasantly surprised by how easy it's been so far! I'm shocking when it comes to choice on menus, I could stare at the thing for hours and want to eat everything on there and by paralysed by choice, so it's kind of liberating to be reduced to only a couple of choice, and also to have to be a little creative to fashion something you can eat.
Couldn't find a single dairy-free cheese in the giant Coles at Neutral Bay today - boo!
I did get soy yoghurt though and tried it tonight. The verdict - gross.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Vegan May - one week in
It was last Thursday I kicked off the month of veganism and one week later let's review.
Feeling?
I feel... exactly the same! I haven't been hungrier or had less energy or anything.
Other physical factors?
I'm judging by both myself and my colleague Sarah and a couple of days ago Sarah pointed out that she had suddenly had a couple of pimples come up on her face, which she hasn't had for years. Her theory is that it's the toxins leaving her body. I wasn't sure but then today, low and behold up came a spot on my face! Maybe it is those toxins. I'll keep monitoring
The other thing is that she noticed her skin has been drier and thought mine looked drier too. It is true, but there isn't necessarily a correlation. My skin gets drier in winter when suddenly we've got more blankets on the bed, I sweat more at night and wake up a bit dehydrated, and we got out the blankets about a week ago too.
Variety?
No problem, to be honest we've been eating pretty much the same. Dinners have been:
- Thai green curry with coconut milk, baby corn, broccoli, red capsicum and shiitake mushrooms
- Korean Bibimbap on jasmine rice (mixed vegetables, sprouts)
- Mexican wraps (broccoli, red capsicum, kidney beans, mushrooms)
- Vegetable stir fry with tofu on rice noodles
- Pasta (tomato based sauce, basil, mushrooms, tofu, borlotti beans, black olives, garlic and red wine)
- Ramen noodle soup with kimchi and shiitake mushroom dumplings
- Tikka curry (potato, onions, brussel sprouts, mushroom and chick peas) on basmati rice
Lunch has been leftover dinner, and once a wrap with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, baby spinach, homous, avocado and olives
Going out?
I went to a BBQ on Sunday and found 3 delicious vegan friendly salads (one of which was mine!)
I also went out to a function after work last night and ate some things before going there (plus I went with Sarah from work and we kept each other strong) so I didn't even feel like eating the treats being handed out.
Temptations?
To be honest I'm feeling very positive about all my choices. We've had milk chocolate on offer in the office a few days this week and I haven't even felt like it (saying that, I've scoffed a block of dark dairy-free chocky over the week at home after dinner so I'm no saint!) There's been delicious looking cheesey salads at the BBQ, but somehow I'm feeling like although I could eat it and it would taste good, I don't need to and don't really want to. I'm going to do this thing!
Feeling?
I feel... exactly the same! I haven't been hungrier or had less energy or anything.
Other physical factors?
I'm judging by both myself and my colleague Sarah and a couple of days ago Sarah pointed out that she had suddenly had a couple of pimples come up on her face, which she hasn't had for years. Her theory is that it's the toxins leaving her body. I wasn't sure but then today, low and behold up came a spot on my face! Maybe it is those toxins. I'll keep monitoring
The other thing is that she noticed her skin has been drier and thought mine looked drier too. It is true, but there isn't necessarily a correlation. My skin gets drier in winter when suddenly we've got more blankets on the bed, I sweat more at night and wake up a bit dehydrated, and we got out the blankets about a week ago too.
Variety?
No problem, to be honest we've been eating pretty much the same. Dinners have been:
- Thai green curry with coconut milk, baby corn, broccoli, red capsicum and shiitake mushrooms
- Korean Bibimbap on jasmine rice (mixed vegetables, sprouts)
- Mexican wraps (broccoli, red capsicum, kidney beans, mushrooms)
- Vegetable stir fry with tofu on rice noodles
- Pasta (tomato based sauce, basil, mushrooms, tofu, borlotti beans, black olives, garlic and red wine)
- Ramen noodle soup with kimchi and shiitake mushroom dumplings
- Tikka curry (potato, onions, brussel sprouts, mushroom and chick peas) on basmati rice
Lunch has been leftover dinner, and once a wrap with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, baby spinach, homous, avocado and olives
Going out?
I went to a BBQ on Sunday and found 3 delicious vegan friendly salads (one of which was mine!)
I also went out to a function after work last night and ate some things before going there (plus I went with Sarah from work and we kept each other strong) so I didn't even feel like eating the treats being handed out.
Temptations?
To be honest I'm feeling very positive about all my choices. We've had milk chocolate on offer in the office a few days this week and I haven't even felt like it (saying that, I've scoffed a block of dark dairy-free chocky over the week at home after dinner so I'm no saint!) There's been delicious looking cheesey salads at the BBQ, but somehow I'm feeling like although I could eat it and it would taste good, I don't need to and don't really want to. I'm going to do this thing!
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Concept 2
It was spooky. Mike and I talking the usual nonsense on a long-ish bike ride on Sunday and found we had both come up with the same idea - so here it is.
My path to a total lack of enlightenment had several beginnings:
1. First, the Atkins Diet. Yes, shock horror! We are trying to get serious about nutrition and I go and mention that fad diet whose inventor died of heart disease? Bear with me. This was the first experience I had of cutting out a whole food group from my diet and (apart from the fact that I did lose weight) I realised a while after reverting to my normal diet that it had really taught me something about the food that I eat and in particular, the prevalence of carbs in most of what we eat. Having been brought up to think that low fat is good so a huge plate of pasta with little sauce would be good for me, the science behind this diet also got me thinking. The ideal Atkins meal is grilled fish and steamed vegetables, adding carb if you are exercising so put away your prejudices and check it out! www.atkins.com
There are certainly dangers lurking here and I will attempt to explore these in my Atkins month.
2. The book Skinny Bitch - lent to me by a colleague who is really into nutrition. Admittedly, another odd starting point on the face of it but this is an excellent book and I will be referring to it as I embark on different diet adventures. Check it out and be ready for some straight talking on what we eat without thinking about it. This book really challenged my belief that I could be an environmental and caring person AND eat supermarket meat. www.skinnybitch.net
3. Finally, two quotes from fellow triathletes. Mike: "coffee made me paranoid" (Mike - you know that they might still be out to get you even though you gave up java). Mark: 'Life's better without caffeine.' These comments really made me think about the drugs I was consuming and not giving it as second thought. Another area to explore...
I really would like to find a way to keep weight off so I am tracking that element in addition to how I feel, what it is like to be a vegan at a barbie etc. The global food shortage also makes it the right time to think about food - even if we are doing it in a privileged (read spoilt) Western way.
So... I am kicking off with a warm-up month - getting my diet back to moderation and my exercise back to plan (moving jobs so a month of excess means I'm not ready to start and also I am going to the UK for a month so visiting too many folks to make it practical. Onward to June - my Dairy Free month!
The concept
Dan and I have both independently come up with the same idea at the same time. I went for a walk in Pitt Street Mall one lunchtime and saw a demonstration which involved a full sized fake plastic dairy cow with a man in a business suit lying on the ground suckling at its teat. The message – cow milk is supposed to be for baby cows, not for adult humans.
It was a poignant statement and it did spark something off in me, as I’ve often thought that it’s a little unnatural and probably not the healthiest thing in the world to have so many foods (a whole ‘food group’ in fact) based on baby cow juice. As much as cheese and yoghurt are my two favourite foods in the world, I thought it would be an interesting exercise at least to take a month off dairy altogether and see whether my body feels any different.
Anyway I then came up with a whole list of other things to try for a month! Why a month?
- One month is not an excessive amount of time, you can give up anything for a month!
- It will probably take a couple of weeks at least for one’s body to clear out whatever excess it has of the thing you are giving up. So in order for you to actually notice a difference in how you feel, it would probably take close to a month
- Apparently it takes 3 weeks to make or break a habit and since a lot of the way we eat is based on habit, you need at least that much time to get rid of the psychological habitual craving so then you can notice whether there is an actual physiological craving underneath that
The aim is not to become a self-flagellating monk or to deny ourselves, it’s not about weight-loss and it’s not a politically motivated statement on the treatment of farmed animals (although I do have personal feelings on that subject). It’s about AWARENESS of what we put into our mouths.
There are so many unquestioned assumptions when it comes to what we eat and drink, we follow patterns set from childhood, what our parents told us or what we hear in the media (often with facts drawn from industry-funded research) or through advertising. This way not only do we get to experiment with what it actually feels like for our bodies to have a diet change, but also get a sense of how difficult it is socially – attitudes of restaurants when we are eating out, how friends and family react, etc.
So what can we cut out of our diets for a month? Dan and I came up with similar lists:
- dairy
- meat
- eggs
- wheat / gluten (why is this almost the only grain used in western society?)
- alcohol
- simple sugars (cakes, chocky, processed sweet treats)
It was a poignant statement and it did spark something off in me, as I’ve often thought that it’s a little unnatural and probably not the healthiest thing in the world to have so many foods (a whole ‘food group’ in fact) based on baby cow juice. As much as cheese and yoghurt are my two favourite foods in the world, I thought it would be an interesting exercise at least to take a month off dairy altogether and see whether my body feels any different.
Anyway I then came up with a whole list of other things to try for a month! Why a month?
- One month is not an excessive amount of time, you can give up anything for a month!
- It will probably take a couple of weeks at least for one’s body to clear out whatever excess it has of the thing you are giving up. So in order for you to actually notice a difference in how you feel, it would probably take close to a month
- Apparently it takes 3 weeks to make or break a habit and since a lot of the way we eat is based on habit, you need at least that much time to get rid of the psychological habitual craving so then you can notice whether there is an actual physiological craving underneath that
The aim is not to become a self-flagellating monk or to deny ourselves, it’s not about weight-loss and it’s not a politically motivated statement on the treatment of farmed animals (although I do have personal feelings on that subject). It’s about AWARENESS of what we put into our mouths.
There are so many unquestioned assumptions when it comes to what we eat and drink, we follow patterns set from childhood, what our parents told us or what we hear in the media (often with facts drawn from industry-funded research) or through advertising. This way not only do we get to experiment with what it actually feels like for our bodies to have a diet change, but also get a sense of how difficult it is socially – attitudes of restaurants when we are eating out, how friends and family react, etc.
So what can we cut out of our diets for a month? Dan and I came up with similar lists:
- dairy
- meat
- eggs
- wheat / gluten (why is this almost the only grain used in western society?)
- alcohol
- simple sugars (cakes, chocky, processed sweet treats)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Day 4 - socialising for the first time
I had the first real test today, eating out.
I went to a barbie with a bunch of people at a friend's house. It was a potluck with everybody bringing something. I mde a roast vegetable & lentil salad (roast pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, garlic and red onion. Along with a few baby spinach leaves, fresh shallots and a tin of brown lentils. Dressed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil).
It was a fantastic vegetarian barbie, most people had brought along delicious looking salads (tomato & bocconicini, olive and feta) and a spinach pie, but of course for a vegan things were a bit more difficult. However alongside my own salad I managed a coucous and cashew salad, as well as an iceberg, green bean and avocado salad. All with very different textures and flavours and all delicious, so although it was bloody dificult turning away from all the amazing looking veggie options, I felt satisfied.
Of course I had no chance with dessert - pavlova and cheesecake. But then again I thought I don't normally eat dessert after lunch and it can only do me good not to have cake in the middle of the day... and hell yes I would have tucked heartily into both otherwise!
Success! I'm still feeling great about it on day 4. I am starting to get a cold, sneezing all day today, which was obviously brewing from last week. Not an issue, but I'm concerned that it might make it difficult for me to properly assess the feelings of my body on being vegan. For example if I feel tired and with no energy, is it the cold or a nutritional deficiency?
However I assume that it will take my body a few days to a couple of weeks to notice any real difference from my normal diet (which to be honest is not markedly dissimilar) so by then I'll be healthy again. The real test I believe is how I'll feel at the end of the month.
By the way - nobody at the BBQ noticed or said anything, and I didn't mention I was vegan so it never came up as an issue. I wasn't avoiding it, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to say anything about it.
I went to a barbie with a bunch of people at a friend's house. It was a potluck with everybody bringing something. I mde a roast vegetable & lentil salad (roast pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, garlic and red onion. Along with a few baby spinach leaves, fresh shallots and a tin of brown lentils. Dressed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil).
It was a fantastic vegetarian barbie, most people had brought along delicious looking salads (tomato & bocconicini, olive and feta) and a spinach pie, but of course for a vegan things were a bit more difficult. However alongside my own salad I managed a coucous and cashew salad, as well as an iceberg, green bean and avocado salad. All with very different textures and flavours and all delicious, so although it was bloody dificult turning away from all the amazing looking veggie options, I felt satisfied.
Of course I had no chance with dessert - pavlova and cheesecake. But then again I thought I don't normally eat dessert after lunch and it can only do me good not to have cake in the middle of the day... and hell yes I would have tucked heartily into both otherwise!
Success! I'm still feeling great about it on day 4. I am starting to get a cold, sneezing all day today, which was obviously brewing from last week. Not an issue, but I'm concerned that it might make it difficult for me to properly assess the feelings of my body on being vegan. For example if I feel tired and with no energy, is it the cold or a nutritional deficiency?
However I assume that it will take my body a few days to a couple of weeks to notice any real difference from my normal diet (which to be honest is not markedly dissimilar) so by then I'll be healthy again. The real test I believe is how I'll feel at the end of the month.
By the way - nobody at the BBQ noticed or said anything, and I didn't mention I was vegan so it never came up as an issue. I wasn't avoiding it, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to say anything about it.
Vegan May
Hey here's what I wrote in my blog last week on Wed 30 April, the night before VEGAN MAY commenced:
I saw a fascinating piece on the 7.30 Report tonight about the world food crisis and one line which struck me was this: There is enough food for everybody in the world, however the distribution is completely inequitable. One of the reasons is that as populations get wealthier and move towards middle class, their diet contains proportionally a lot more dairy and meat, and both of these take up a hell of a lot more food energy and land to produce than diets which are primarily based of grains and vegetables.
Very timely advice seeing that tomorrow, on the 1st May I have declared VEGAN MONTH! Yes for the month of May I'm showing my solidarity with (as my work colleague Sarah so delightfuly put it) the debeaked chickens and the raped cows!
I've been reading an amazing book given to me on my birthday this year, called "The Ethics of What We Eat", exploring the real impact of our food choices. It is fascinating and sometimes disturbing stuff, but riveting and a great read too. I think some of this information should be mandatory in the school health curriculum. How can we be making proper choices on what we put in our mouths when we have no real understanding of the effect these choices have on animal welfare, environmental and human labour issues around the world? Check out this article on it and I highly recommend the book.
After getting halfway through this I thought why not try it, just for a month. I had been considering giving up dairy for a month anyway to see how my body felt as I've never thought it was natural for an adult human to be suckling the teat of a cow. The only problem is that I'm addicted to cheese and yoghurt! But for 4 weeks I can do it and see how I feel.
I'm also a dessert / cake / chocolate hog and I was considering trying to go cold turkey for a month on overly sugary junk treats too. So why not go the whole hog (turkey? hog? Is is a coincidence that I'm using so many animal-related figures of speech?) and try veganism for a month.
Sarah (my wife) is on board too after getting started on the book, and my colleague Sarah from work got all excited when I told her yesterday as it's something she's wanted to try for a while but needed a push. At the moment it's just the three of us, but VEGAN MONTH HERE WE COME!
I saw a fascinating piece on the 7.30 Report tonight about the world food crisis and one line which struck me was this: There is enough food for everybody in the world, however the distribution is completely inequitable. One of the reasons is that as populations get wealthier and move towards middle class, their diet contains proportionally a lot more dairy and meat, and both of these take up a hell of a lot more food energy and land to produce than diets which are primarily based of grains and vegetables.
Very timely advice seeing that tomorrow, on the 1st May I have declared VEGAN MONTH! Yes for the month of May I'm showing my solidarity with (as my work colleague Sarah so delightfuly put it) the debeaked chickens and the raped cows!
I've been reading an amazing book given to me on my birthday this year, called "The Ethics of What We Eat", exploring the real impact of our food choices. It is fascinating and sometimes disturbing stuff, but riveting and a great read too. I think some of this information should be mandatory in the school health curriculum. How can we be making proper choices on what we put in our mouths when we have no real understanding of the effect these choices have on animal welfare, environmental and human labour issues around the world? Check out this article on it and I highly recommend the book.
After getting halfway through this I thought why not try it, just for a month. I had been considering giving up dairy for a month anyway to see how my body felt as I've never thought it was natural for an adult human to be suckling the teat of a cow. The only problem is that I'm addicted to cheese and yoghurt! But for 4 weeks I can do it and see how I feel.
I'm also a dessert / cake / chocolate hog and I was considering trying to go cold turkey for a month on overly sugary junk treats too. So why not go the whole hog (turkey? hog? Is is a coincidence that I'm using so many animal-related figures of speech?) and try veganism for a month.
Sarah (my wife) is on board too after getting started on the book, and my colleague Sarah from work got all excited when I told her yesterday as it's something she's wanted to try for a while but needed a push. At the moment it's just the three of us, but VEGAN MONTH HERE WE COME!
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