It's been a while since my last post.  Life carried me away for a while, but I am finally back on track.  With company for 3 weeks this summer, a high stress environment, and the lack of time I needed to keep myself on my journey, I found it very difficult to continue with the plant based diet.   I did the best I could.  The trouble I am having is managing the time required to maintain this lifestyle with the prep time needed for each meal.  With only so many hours in the day, I was becoming exhausted trying to make my meals each night.  I wouldn't be eating my dinner until 8pm, while the rest of my family were eating their meals.  My family is in a transition period.  Because we have a 3 and 5 year old, they are not real big veggie eaters and it is difficult finding foods that they approve of.  No matter how hard I try to incorporate veggies into their diet, they can sniff out when veggies are present on their plate and put their nose up in disgust.  Kind of reminds me of when I was a child and my mom would sneak moose meat into our meals and try to trick us saying it was beef!  I always could taste the difference.  With our children, we just take it one day at a time.  Some days they will do really well and try it, and some days they are not so receptive.

Since my last post, I have consistently maintained being a vegetarian, but mostly I have been vegan. I have had some dramatic changes in my overall well being.  Besides becoming vegan with a plant based diet, I have quit drinking coffee as well.  It was to be the most pronounced change my body has undergone.  The first week was hell, I won't lie.  To help alleviate the head aches and overall bitchiness, I started drinking yerba mate and plenty of green tea.  The headaches toned down to a dull ache and my moods started to pick up.  By week two I was really starting to feel fantastic.   I remember waking up one morning thinking how awesome I felt.  WOW! I wasn't tired! I had energy and had no want to drink coffee, or shall I say... "reach for that cup"!   I had started running with my best friend whenever we could, maybe every other night.  I couldn't believe how great my runs were!   I had so much extra energy... sustained energy.  Even when I hit a wall, when I gave my body the rest it needed to recoup, I could still manage to push myself a little further.   That was never how I felt before, especially when I was boxing.   Once I gassed out, that was it.  I was done.

My girlfriend showed me a workout when I first moved down here several months ago.  We dubbed it our "prison" workout because it could be done in a minimal amount of space. Man did you get a good workout in!  It's a series of reps of things like burpees, jumping jacks, push ups, etc.  Each morning I was doing three reps of the whole workout.  I sweated like a pig and I loved it!  I would also try to get as much yoga in as I can.   I also work with bands and am working on getting some weights into the house.  All I have right now are some hand weights, but at this point its all I need. I have now lost a solid 10 pounds.  I still want to loose another 20, but I am not really concerned about that anymore.  What I am more concerned about is optimal nutrition.  Screw counting calories! 

I had done some research about the raw diet and found a place in our area where you could become certified to be a raw food chef.   I went and took the first part of the course with the hopes that maybe I would find direction on how to prepare meals in a timely manner.  All I really got out of it is an awesome spirooli (used to make things like zucchini noodles), and told to make all your meals only twice a week.  Hmm... seemed reasonable enough.  I did get a few other great tidbits of information and some good recipes, but it just wasn't for me.   Never cooking anything seemed a little far off for me.  I still struggle with the term Raw.  Nothing is supposed to be cooked, yet a dehydrator is used at a low temperature heat to aid in the drying process.   Hmmm.. darn this analytical brain of mine.   I did more research and found that the issue surrounds the plant proteins and how they break down in high heat.  When anything is cooked at a low temperature, you are not breaking down those all important proteins. After trying the raw recipes at home, I found that my IBS would get irritated.  I wasn't getting a flare up, but my guts where not exactly happy and I was gassy.   My intestines these days are a good measure of what kind of clean, healthy living I should be doing.  Honestly, I was all ramped up about the Raw thing. I really wanted it to be the direction I would be going in, but I kept getting pulled back to just a plant based diet.  No left winging it here.   

Since going back, my insides are happy once again and for the first time in a long time I have not really felt the "pillow" around me.   I actually was looking at my ankles today thinking how tiny they are looking!  Wow, could a thin person actually be inside me?  AWESOME!  I more than focused on learning more about holistic nutrition, plant based diets, exercise, and incorporating it all into our family life. Today I am going to plan out my meals for the week and tomorrow will be grocery day.  It has been costly to get the stuff I need to make my meals, but both my husband and I have been scoping out grocery stores and specialty stores to see where we can get what we need for reasonable prices.  My biggest find was the Thrifty Foods store just a little off the beaten path not far from where we live.  They carry all the oils I need (hemp, flax and pumpkin), the Vega lineof products,  a large selection of organic produce,  and all the nuts and seeds I need, etc.. I will also still be hitting up Howard Wongs, the farmers market close to me. 

I have to say that moving to this area has been a blessing.  I feel like I was picked up and plunked right in the middle of produce heaven.  My freezer is starting to fill with strawberries and blueberries and the red peppers and tomatoes are to die for! 

So, onward and upward! 

Namaste