New Year's resolution - vegan for one year

Week 2:

My second week went well. First real craving yesterday (hypnotized by the golden arches) but otherwise not experiencing any particular challenge eating animal product free. Did experience a day of feeling quite spacey, which I think may have been related to weight loss related issues.

Down 4.2 pounds this week to 227.4, total of 9.8 over first two weeks. I typically lose a fair bit on the first couple of weeks of a new diet - I call them my "see ya soon" pounds, 'cause I know I will be seeing them again within a couple of weeks.

New restaurant this week:

Indigo Age Cafe, indigoagecafe.com/ukrainian-food/#. Specializes in Ukranian vegan food. Owner is big into raw food, which is not an issue of any particular interest either way for me. Small operation, restaurant opens up just below street level - very interesting set up. The place smelled unbelievably good. Chatted briefly with the gracious but busy owner.

Had the Ukranian Feast - pirogues, cabbage roll, borscht, and a raw, vegan key lime pie that smell exactly right, looked really close to the real thing but whose texture did not work for me (probably the psyllium husks).

New recipe this week:

I intended to cook more this week, but was very busy and only wound up making Crispy Tofu (http://minimalistbaker.com/quick-easy-crispy-tofu/. Pretty good - seasoned with chilli powder and cumin powder, fried in coconut oil.

Goal for coming week:

Continue to work at increasing diversity of food - made some progress this week, including introducing quinoa in place of pasta and broadening the nuts and beans consumed, but a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks Jenny, that is very kind of you!!

jennyi27 wrote: »

I live in Wisconsin, and the only other "food" that maybe comes before cheese is beer.

lol! yep, I expect surroundings can certainly make adopting a plant-based, animal-free diet easier or harder. I believe Vancouver (BC, not WA) is quite vegetarian and vegan-friendly compared to other cities in Canada and compared to many cities in the States, and I expect that makes it easier for me to find both vegan-friendly restaurants as well as some of the new ingredients I have been discovering since adopting a vegan diet (broader range of oils and nut butters, tempeh, etc.)

I recall a number of years ago when a musician from the Cdn province of Alberta (with its significant cattle industry) began promoting vegetarianism and animal rights. Her music was essentially banned from a number of country music stations, and the provincial minister of agriculture became involved to express that it was "extremely unfortunate" and a betrayal that she had "decided to side with animal rightists."

In Vancouver, our mayor Gregor Robertson (dubbed "Moonbeam" by some, unfairly) is publically supportive of vegetarianism, including the annual vegan Veg Fest festival.

Best wishes with wherever your eating direction may go. For what it may be worth, I was pretty sure I would not stick with plant-based eating for long, but it has proven surprisingly easy (so far).

Week 4:

Down 2.6 pounds this week to 221.6, total of 15.8 pounds over first four weeks. This is faster than intended and going forward I would like, at my current (temporary!) weight, to keep it around 2 pounds/week, so perhaps my body is working toward that already.

Over the past week, average daily calories of 1412 (below my target of 1500, but honestly, I just have not felt the need to eat more), and an average macro ratio of 52% carb / 25% fat / 23% protein. Averaging 41g fibre per day, well above target of 30g.

New restaurant this week:

Meet on Main (http://meetonmain.com/), a fun, very comfortable vegan restaurant with really friendly staff. It would be a good place to go for a beer and snacks with friends. I had the Main burger, description not provided of its composition. The bun and condiments were tasty, the vegan patty was to my taste sort of average (but perhaps I was still spoiled from the delicious tempeh burger from last week). Fries were great, and I had a taste of another dish, the Noodle-y Thai bowl ("rice noodles, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, marinated tofu, tossed in our almond Thai sauce, finished with fresh cilantro, sesame seeds, cashews, scallions & a wedge of lime") which was ridiculously delicious. Will be going back for that again soonish.

New recipe this week:

Marinated Peanut Tempeh (http://minimalistbaker.com/marinated-peanut-tempeh-7-ingredients/). Turned out a little below where I had expected, but that may just have been me or the tempeh I was able to source (which was already pre-flavoured), so I will give it another try. Did not care to eat it on its own, but good in the "Goop" which is my standard go-to food preparation: some commercially prepared spaghetti sauce (currently using Newmans's Own), a plant-based protein (canned beans, lentils, tofu or now tempeh), plus all the vegetables I have time to chop and throw it. Super easy to prepare, and it winds up tasting good through the day, even without re-heating.

Goal for coming week:

I was able to work out 5 of the last 7 days, dividing each workout into cardio (stationary bike, elliptical and swimming badly), and resistance training (weights - mostly keiser weight machines with some dumbbells - as well as a limited range of calisthenics), plus 15 minutes or so of stretching.

Goal this coming week: to expand my range of weight lifting and body weight calisthenics.

BonnieDundee78 wrote: »

Glad it's going well! My two fave vegan recipe sources: Thug Kitchen (if you enjoy your food with extra cursing), and Oh She Glows (which is by a far more polite Canadian lady!)

Thanks very much Bonnie! I bought one of the Thug Kitchen books (Thug Kitchen 101) last weekend and am looking forward to trying out its recipes (and taking a black felt pen to all the salty language - may need more than one felt pen). I will definitively give ohsheglows.com a try as well, thanks for the recommendation!