So... we're not very good vegans. I think, unless you're eating this way out of an ideological viewpoint, it's really difficult to do perfectly. Like, its difficult to even care enough to do it perfectly. For example, many kinds of beer, though you'd think they would be vegan, use animal products somewhere in the refining process. (Don't ask what animal products, you don't want to know.) But so many products have these hidden animal products. It won't be mentioned on the label, because after all, you aren't actually consuming those products, but because they were used, it's not vegan. So, unless you really want to look up the entire process of making Product X, its hard to say 100 percent that it's vegan. Also, honey, because it's made by bees, is not considered vegan. I have a really hard time accepting this. So you don't want to kill the cute little sheep and cows and baby chicks. I get that. They're adorable. Also delicious, but thats beside the point. Bees on the other hand, are not adorable. They suck. I'll steal all their honey. All day long. And its better for me than sugar, after all. And cheaper than agave nectar. So I'm just gonna keep using it.
Anyway, that rant over. The point is, I just don't care to be a perfect vegan. And with some of the big changes I've been dealing with this week, I've been caring less and less lately. It was easy to contemplate being vegan when all I had to do all day was sit around and look at vegan recipes. Now though, when I have to be ready to go out the door, having eaten breakfast, with lunch in hand at 7:15 am? Its a little more difficult. And then I get home just in time to make dinner. Its like my entire life revolves around food. So, we've gone off track a bit. But today before taking a shower, I stepped on the scale, out of curiosity, and guess what? I've lost 10 pounds. I was shocked. I haven't even been eating diet food, nonetheless vegan for the last few days, and I'd about given up on the diet. But now I'm down 10 pounds! I'm back below the 200 mark! Finally! And I think this is giving me just the push I needed to get back on track. I guess it just goes to show that even small changes can add up to make a big difference.
So, maybe if you'd like to be healthier, but you don't want to go vegan. Try cutting out dairy, and see how that goes. There are milk alternatives which, in my opinion, taste even better in cereal. (Coconut milk? yum!). And the rest of dairy products  (cheese, sour cream, ice cream) are just added fats that you don't need anyway!

Vegan day 1, Interviews, and Jobs, and Stuff

So, today was our first real day going vegan. I know, it was supposed to be the beginning of the month, but.. well.. we don't get food stamps till the 2nd. And the beginning of the month is always pretty tight financially. So I figured one day wouldn't hurt anything. However, it ended up being on like the busiest day I've had in ages, which never bodes well for any kind of healthy eating. I woke up thinking I had an interview at 9, but they ended up moving it to 11, so in the spare time we had, we did our grocery shopping. Then, I had just enough time to grab an apple and head out to the interview. This was the second interview at the day care I talked about before, this time with the owner. It went well, and she basically hired me on the spot. She told me the director would call me about starting my orientation soon. So after that, I went home, had a chance for breakfast/lunch. (I had both. Couldn't decide which I wanted, so I went with both) Breakfast was a mix of shredded wheat, grape nuts, old fashioned oats, lots of fruit, and some walnuts. And I mean lots of fruit. Everything sounded good, so it had bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches and grapes. It was pretty darn good too. Then I also made myself a veggie wrap with lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, sauteed onions and mushrooms with a little balsamic vinaigrette on top. I think it would have been better with a little hummus in there, but I haven't made my homemade hummus yet, so that'll have to wait. After eating, we had to rush across town to get the man to his interview, at a jewelry store. He thinks it went pretty well, but we won't hear back for two weeks. Fingers crossed! Then after that, we had to battle trains, power outages and slow drivers to try to get me to work on time. We didn't do so well. But my boss was understanding, so it's okay. Worked till nine and then finally got to come home and cook dinner. Which was... PIZZA! Without cheese, obviously. I made mine with a tomato/BBQ sauce and then put spinach, onion, bell pepper and fresh pineapple on top. It's definitely gonna be a repeat dinner. Pretty easy, and quite yummy. By the way, if you are not eating fresh pineapple right now, you should be. Go get some. Now.
Overall, it has been easier than I expected. Especially considering that I spent 6 hours of the day in an ice cream shop. And didn't have time to pack a healthy snack! But luckily, we had some granny smith apples laying around from a caramel apple exploit a few weeks ago. So I had one of those with some peanut butter. Yes, I know, peanut butter is high in fat. And since it was Skippy, it also had added sugar and hydrogenated oils. But I was pretty impressed with myself for not breaking down and having some ice cream. But, lesson definitely learned. Pack a snack! The other thing I noticed was how well my lunch stuck with me. Normally, around three or four I'm already starting to get hungry again, and I'm counting down till dinner time. But for lunch, I ate a smaller portion than normal, and still wasn't really hungry till about 7:30. I've always had the mindset that protein was what kept me feeling full through the day, but it turns out fiber is much more important. And fiber comes from plant sources. :)    Basically, I'm feeling really optimistic about this change. It's so much easier than counting points or calories or fat or whatever.
In other news, I got that call from the director of the day care earlier today, asking if I can start tomorrow. I really like the way this job is working out. Everything has moved so quickly. I applied Wednesday, and I'm starting work Friday. I'm really excited. The job means that I'll be graduating later than I had hoped, as I'll only be taking online or night classes this year, but I think the experience will make it worth it. The owner and the director both seem really nice and supportive, so it should be a great place to start out my teaching career!
Much love. I'll be in touch again soon!

College, or the job I went to college to get?

So, I had this dream a few weeks ago. I dreamt that I was down in Medford visiting my family, and while I was there, I stopped by a new bar with a few friends. The bar was awesome. It was like a vegas casino, right in little old Medford. The service, however, was not so great. Except for the owner. So, near the end of the night, I got into a conversation with the owner, and asked if she happened to be looking to hire anyone. She said that, yes, in fact, she was, and practically promised me a management position with good pay and benefits, if I moved back to Medford and started work immediately. This put me in quite the predicament. I needed to decide whether I would rather move back to Medford and take the career opportunity, or finish out my last year of school. I woke up before I decided.

Apparently, my dream was just a little bit of foreshadowing, because here I am, in the same predicament. I applied yesterday for a teaching position in a preschool. I never thought they would really give me a second look, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. Turns out they did give me a second look, and wanted to interview with me this morning. Unfortunately, when the subject of my class schedule was brought up, we realized that there was no way I could take the job and take my planned class schedule at the same time. The director seemed to be really bummed out by it. She promised to put my application at the top of the pile in case anything part time opened up, but it was not likely, as their business hours are pretty much my class schedule. I kept thinking while I was driving home. This doesn't make any sense. I'm going to school to be a teacher. I was just practically offered a teaching position. And I have to turn it down.. so I can go to school.. to get the job I want.. which was just offered to me? Not to mention, in light of some recent financial events, I'm fairly certain that the only way I can go to school this fall is by taking out a nice fat loan, which I'm trying to avoid. Wouldn't it make sense, then, to take this job, even if only for a year, while saving up, and getting my financial aid in line? Maybe take online classes or night classes if I can afford them, but also get to work a full-time job, in my field? I mean, that work experience is going to take me so much further in my career than whatever minimum wage part-time food service job I could find to work around my schedule. It'll ultimately make me much more competitive for the Peace Corps. And I'm not talking about dropping out of school and never looking back. If I took the job, I would still finish, just more slowly, and with less debt and more experience than otherwise. Yes, part of me just wants to plow through and finish my degree, but taking the job seems to make so much more sense. I don't know what to do here.

Almost there....

So, tomorrow the great adventure that is veganism begins. In preparation, I've been feverishly going through my vegan cookbooks, trying to decide which recipes I'm brave enough to try. (And which ones I can trick my man into eating). The problem that I keep encountering is this. Just because a recipe is vegan, doesn't necessarily mean it's healthier than a non-vegan meal. I mean, sure, you cut out cheese and meat, but there are still cheese substitutes and meat and dairy substitutes that are still quite high in fat. Not to mention, so many times these vegan substitutes are way more processed and "fake" than the real thing! I don't want to cut one type of junk out of my diet, only to replace it with an equally bad junk. And there's also the fact that I'm a bit unsure when it comes to meat substitutes.. I know a lot of vegetarians and vegans love them, but honestly, I think I'd rather just eat grilled or roasted veggies than try to choke down tofu, tempeh, seitan, or textured vegetable protein. (Seriously, could they think of less appetizing names for these things?) So trying to find recipes has been a challenge, because most often, vegan cookbooks are chock full of normal recipes with vegan meat substitutes instead of real meat. And then there are the cooking methods. There are so many recipes that look so yummy, but they're fried! And yes, I love french fries as much as the next girl, and it's great that they're vegan but.. umm.. I'm trying to lose weight here!

I have found one book that has been super helpful, and that is the Engine 2 diet book. It's written by a former triathlete and current firefighter who eats only a plant based diet, and trust me, he's still got plenty of muscle. He's also the son of one of the scientists cited in the documentary Forks over Knives, which is what drew me to him. Not only does he advocate eating a plant based diet, but also cutting out all added oils (gasp!), refined sugars, and eating only whole grains. I actually haven't read the entire book.. cause I wasn't looking for just another diet. But in the back, he's got quite a collection of recipes. Some are also on his website, here, if you're interested. Some of these recipes look really great, and so easy to do! There are simply weekday breakfasts and lunches (you know, for those normal people who have school and jobs to go to, and don't have time to spend all day cooking) and some really good looking dinner recipes too. He uses tofu a little bit, but not too often, and hardly ever as the main dish. He also has some awesome looking recipes for oil-free, egg-free, dairy-free salad dressings! Yeah, I didn't know it was possible either.  I'll definitely be reviewing some of those for you here soon! He's even got quite a collection of desserts! The book has definitely been worth the price, even if only for the recipes. 

In other news, I'm still looking for a job. Which sucks. Interviewed last week at Red Robin (Ha! It'd suck to work there and be vegan), but I haven't heard back from them yet. Applied for an administrative assistant job, which pays up to 22 dollars an hour (!), and I'm hoping to hear back from them this week. The man had an interview with Target on Monday, and I have one tomorrow with a daycare, and Friday with a caregiving company. So hopefully something comes out of one of these leads. If not.. well, I guess we'll just keep plugging away. For the moment, I guess I'm off to do laundry and make myself a grocery list. Being grown up is not all its cracked up to be. 

In which our heroine goes on a rant.

You know what I hate? Well.. there's a few things. And I'm about to tell you some of them.
1) People who hold grudges. Maybe its because I'm a Sagittarius, so holding grudges is just not in my nature, but seriously, I don't get it. Get over it, or get the fuck out of my life. I don't have time to deal with your pissy pants. Sometimes, I wish I could hold a grudge, just to get back at them. Cause I want to show them how ridiculous and bratty they're being. But I can't. If you want to hold a grudge against me, you go right ahead. I'm not gonna grovel to get you back. I'll apologize once. And that's it. Then I'll leave you to throw your tantrum, and when you're over it, I'll welcome you back with open arms.
2) People who always think they know what is best for everyone else. For instance, if you've been reading, you'll know that I'm planning on going vegan in T-minus 3 days. (Really, only three days? Jeesh! I'm starting to get anxious!) Now, as I've been announcing this among my friends and family, I've gotten mixed reactions. Some of my friends and family have been really supportive, and I appreciate that support so much! I know this is going to be a tough journey, and I'll need all the encouragement I can get. But there are other friends who have been.. not so helpful. "What, oh my god, you can't do that, it's so unhealthy" "You should do the paleo diet instead, its so much better for you." "But its totally impossible to get enough protein without animal products!" My answer, in all these cases is "'Scuse me. Have you done the research? Are you a nutritionist? Do you realize that there are dissenting views about vegan nutrition even among the world's leading nutritionists? No? Then shut up. Its my body, my decision. If your opinion wasn't requested, you should probably keep it to yourself. Kthanks.
3) Job hunting. I really, really, really hate job hunting. It should not be this hard to find a dead-end minimum wage job that a retard could do. Seriously. How am I ever gonna find a GOOD job, if its this hard to get a bad one!? And job applications too. I mean.. I already went through the work of writing a resume with all the same information. Can't you just read that? Why do you want to read it twice? Doesn't it get redundant?
4) People who insist on coming to a complete stop before turning. If there is no traffic symbol there, it's unnecessary! And those people alway seem to be so old! Shouldn't they be in more of a hurry? I mean, time's running out, do you really want to spend what's left of it making that right turn?

Sorry about the rants. There are just some things that drive me crazy. And I've been experiencing too damn many of them lately. I'm sure you all know how that can go.

Prepping for the switch

So for the last few weeks, I've been spending a good deal of time compiling useful vegan tips and recipes. Hopefully, in a week, all this work will pay off by making my life much easier.
I'm actually getting pretty excited for the switch. I guess all this planning is at least helping to mentally prepare me. I had the idea in my head at first that this was all going to be about limiting what I could eat. No meat. No cheese. No ice cream! And I would sit around, trying to think about things I could cook. This is how my thought process would go.

Omnivore Songbird: Ooh, I could do eggplant parmesan. That's vegan right? With just a marinara sauce, not a meat sauce, obviously. -feels so proud of herself-

Herbivore Songbird: Actually... the whole.. parmesan thing kinda makes that not vegan at all.

And it just continued to spiral through my head like that, until I was starting to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Now, I know that I only agreed to this for one month, but in my head, I think of it lasting well... forever. I don't know if I really will be vegan for the rest of my life, and I won't know till after next month. But if, after this month, I feel as good as I hope I will, I don't see myself wanting to change back. Which started to freak me out even more. No pizza. Forever? No mac and cheese? For the rest of my life? And I know in my head that its only food, and as long as I'm getting enough to eat, I'm doing better than most of the world. But it's very difficult to maintain that mindset in the culture we life in. Food is so much a part of our culture. Think about it. Every holiday has it's own menu. For our birthdays, get together and eat. To catch up with friends, we get together and eat. For business meetings, we get together and eat! We live in a world where food is synonymous with pleasure. We live to eat, rather than realizing that we should eat to live. It's a very difficult mental transition to make. Moving on. After having my minor meltdown, I started looking for vegan alternatives to the foods I love. Some of them have really great alternatives, which I'm eager to try. Some.. well.. they have alternatives.. but I'm not sure I trust them. And honestly, I'd rather just eat grilled veggie sandwiches every day than try to recreate a vegan mac and cheese and have it turn out awful. Call my unadventurous, but I don't like being disappointed with things I cook.

But as I looked for alternatives, I came to another conclusion. There are a lot of awesome looking recipes here that I never would have even thought of! You ever feel like you get stuck in a rut, as far as your cooking goes? Like.. "Well, we have ground beef. We can have tacos, spaghetti or meatloaf". I always feel like my weeks go in an unending rotation of mexican, italian, american, italian, american, with maybe a sprinkling of indian or thai in there. Once you get so used to cooking a certain way, its easy to just get stuck using the same recipes over and over. And cookbooks are so often full of variations of the same old stuff! However, vegan cookbooks are different. Because of the limitations of possible ingredients, vegan cookbooks take their inspiration from all over the world. And, they find some really creative ways to use ingredients you are already familiar with. For example, a ricotta cheese substitute made from ground cashews and tofu with some spices? I don't know if I trust it, but its extremely well reviewed! Another upside of the vegan diet is the sheer variety of friuts and vegetables out there! With meat, you have beef, pork, chicken, and maybe seafood occasionally, if you roll that way. And whatever meat you choose, you're limited to building a dish around that. With vegan food though, there are so many opportunities to work with ingredients I've never used before. Like eggplant or collard greens or spaghetti squash or a pumpkin! I've never worked with a whole pumpkin, unless you count carving a face into it, and there's a pumpkin ziti recipe I'm really excited to try. =)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, whenever you're dieting, whether cutting out animal products, or just trying to cut some calories, it is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking about everything you can't have anymore. The key is to change that mindset and focus on all the wonderful things you can have! And the other key, is to be creative! Just because you're cutting calories doesn't mean you have to eat a bowl of plain oatmeal every morning! Take note of all the ingredients at your disposal and put them together to make something better than the scrambled eggs and bacon you would be eating!

The omnivore is converted

      For the last few years, my weight has been a real struggle for me. What with college class schedules, working two, sometimes three jobs at a time, and trying to find time for a social life and a boyfriend, life gets pretty hectic. And I know thats no excuse to not find time to work-out and eat healthy, but seriously.. I just want to sleep when I can, eat something without the invested time of shopping and cooking, and when I don't have responsibilities, I just want to veg out in front of my computer or tv. But that has to stop. Over the last few months, I've slowly been building up to a change in lifestyle. First, my friend Rachel made the decision to run a half-marathon, and she's been training her butt off to get there. So with that bit of inspiration, I started spending a bit more time on Pinterest looking at the fitness pins rather than the recipe pins. Though I still haven't actually made the changes I need to, I've slowly been storing up my willpower and inspiration. Then, Rachel made a new group on facebook for people who are trying to get fit and be healthier, which I have joined. So now I've got the support group I need and some motivation. I just needed a plan.
      And I believe I found that today. My grandparents have been vegan now for a few years, and they've been begging me to read "The China Study", which is the book they base their lifestyle on. Today, I started reading it, and found some really interesting things. He details a lifetime worth of scientifically based experiments dealing with the relationship between consumption of animal proteins and the occurrence of various diseases including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. The results are pretty compelling. For example, in one study, they took two different groups of rats and exposed both of them to equal amounts of a certain dangerous carcinogen known to cause liver cancer. To one group, they fed a diet of 20% animal protein (approximately the amount of animal protein the average American eats) and to the other, they fed a diet of only 5% animal protein. In the group consuming 20% animal protein, 100% of the rats got liver cancer or cancerous lesions. In the group consuming only 5%, none of the rats exhibited signs of cancer. Isn't that amazing? Especially in the environment we live in today!? Its nearly impossible to limit our exposure to carcinogens completely, but if we can limit our chances of actually getting cancer from those sources? By something as simple as diet? It seems worth a shot, right?
      If you're interested in looking into this book, its kind of a difficult read. Very scientific, but more readable than I expected it to be. However, if you're more interested in the abbreviated version, there is a documentary on Netflix that addresses this study called "Knives over Forks"
      And I'm curious to see how this kind of diet will affect my body. I don't have diabetes, or high cholesterol, or heart disease, like so many cases cited in this book, but I do have a few bothersome ailments that I'd like to see disappear. I've had headaches almost every day for longer than I care to remember. I've tried documenting them to find the root of the cause, but I can't seem to find a common thread. I have them whether I get 5 hours of sleep or 12. I have them whether I drink caffeine or not. I have them whether I read or look at a screen or not. I have them inside or outside. I just can't figure out why. But who knows? Maybe its diet related. I already addressed my complete lack of motivation and energy in my last blog, and I'm really hoping this dietary change will improve those problems as well.
      So yes. For the month of August, I will be vegan. Not because I'm concerned about the exploitation of animals, but out of curiosity. And if it doesn't do anything by the end of the month, I can always go back.  I'll use the time between then and now to continue planning and learning more about this lifestyle. Including how to cook! Its a whole new culinary art for me. Hopefully by the first I'll be able to gather up some good vegan recipes and inspiration! If some of you are wondering, no, the carnivore I live with will not be joining me in this venture. The man loves his steak way too much. But maybe I can convince him to try a few vegan meals at least.
        If anyone has some good vegan recipes that they want to share, share them in the comments! I'll need a whole month of them, and salad is gonna get old real fast!