Two Weeks of Whole Foods

I'm still struggling with things to write about. I've been wanting to put together a post of the dinners Jerry and I have been eating lately but I was hoping to wait until I have more photos. I'm starting to forget what some of these recipes even were, so I'll just go ahead and post them.

The main goal (for our two-week challenge) was to eat more vegetables, but it kind of turned into eating mainly whole foods. Both of us really loved doing this! It was interesting to see how much better we felt--physically and mentally--when eating foods our bodies like. And that was only two weeks!

I made most of the recipes from the How Not To Die and How Not To Diet cookbooks. I don't think there were any that we didn't like; both of those cookbooks have been awesome. Keep in mind that I am not-even-a-little-bit-good at food photography, so my pictures aren't exactly appealing, hahaha. There were actually a few that I'm not even going to post because it will make people never want to try things like black lentils and black bean soup!

Anyway, here are some of the ways we got more vegetables in...

Sweet Potato Waffles (I discovered that I use far less syrup if I put it in a little ramekin and dip the waffles as I eat rather than pouring it on top; I only used half of what is pictured)

I didn't mean to include this, but I definitely ate all of these Asian pears before they went bad! Haha. 

Sweet Potato Taco Bowl (brown rice, sweet potatoes, corn, black beans, seasoning)

Millet "Risotto" with mushrooms, spinach, and white beans (we didn't like this dish only because we didn't like the flavor of the millet itself; this would be good with a different grain)

I forget what this was called--I think it was some sort of stew--but it had barley, mushrooms, peppers, onions, carrots, and chickpeas.

Lentil & Quinoa Chili

I actually forget what this was, but it reminded me of a broccoli/cheese/rice casserole. It was good!

Sweet Potato Shawarma Bowl (quinoa with seasoned sweet potatoes and cauliflower; topped with lettuce, onions, cucumbers, and a homemade tahini dressing.

Stew with butternut squash, red beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. There is quinoa under there, too ;)

This was kind of our "junk food" dinner--tofu in a sriracha marinade and baked, along with baby potatoes with "chili cheese" seasoning. 

Again, I forget what this was called. But it had sweet potatoes, cauliflower, peas, peppers, and raisins (it sounded odd to me with the raisins, which is why I picked it from the book). I don't remember what grain was under there, but it was probably brown rice. This was really good!

Well, that was the start of Jerry's and my year of being grown-ups and eating our veggies. I had really hoped that this challenge would help Jerry to like vegetables more, and he discovered that he does like sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and cauliflower (when prepared certain ways). He even admitted the cucumber in the shawarma bowls actually worked well. He has never liked cucumbers because he said that they overpower everything else and all you can taste is cucumber. I happen to love them. I think I'll make some hummus today and have cucumbers and hummus for a snack--that sounds delicious.

Now, I'm going to write up a meal plan for the week. I used to hate meal planning, but this vegetable challenge kind of made me excited to meal plan again. I'm going to try kale again this week--it's been YEARS since I tried it--and I'm hoping I'll like it better this time around. When cooking with greens, I usually go for spinach or collard greens. Yesterday, Jerry and I decided to do another two weeks of eating (mostly) whole foods. We both felt gross from eating poorly after eating really well for two weeks.

Anyway, if you have a favorite recipe that uses lots of vegetables, please share!

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Three Things Thursday: Veggies

I feel like the past couple of weeks I've been pretty zealous about getting vegetables into my diet. Remember when I first became vegan and *everything* seemed foreign to me? I had no clue what I was doing, but I had to learn fast. And once I started cooking with new ingredients, my eyes were opened to an enormous world of food prepared in ways I'd never tried.

Cooking became FUN again!

Eventually, I fell into a pretty good routine, although I still liked to cook new recipes. And now that my main goal is getting in more vegetables, I've gotten to that "Ohmygosh, I want to try *everything*!" phase. I bought the "How Not To Die" cookbook (as well as the "How Not To Diet" cookbook) and I've loved all of the recipes I've made so far. Soon, I'll do a whole post on what I've cooked.

I'm just so excited to have that fun attitude back. I actually really enjoy cooking; a couple of years ago, I never would have said that.

My focus now is making recipes with lots of veggies. So, I thought I'd write three things that have happened or habits I've made in respect to vegetables...

1. I eat a salad before every dinner.

This was taken from Dr. Gregor's list of 21 tweaks for weight loss (proven tidbits that have been show to elevate weight loss). One of them is to start each meal with a "negative calorie" food--he suggests a small salad or an apple--that is less than 100 calories. So, even though I'm not a huge salad person, I know I can handle two cups of greens. I just add some spring mix to a bowl and top with a little of a dressing that I made (again from his recipe).

The reason for this isn't just "to fill you up" so you eat less dinner. There are studies that show there are several benefits to doing this (it would take a lot to explain here, so I suggest reading the book How Not To Diet. There is even a difference in eating before the meal versus during the meal.

This has actually been really great! I enjoy the salad, which I never though I would--maybe because of its simplicity--and I feel like it completes the meal. This is a habit I think I'll continue beyond the two week challenge between Jerry and me.

2. I sit down at the table for my dinner meals.

This has always been SO hard for me, especially when I'm home alone. I want to sit in front of the tv. However, I realized that I was spending too much time trying to figure out what to watch rather than just eating. Also, having the salad *and* my meal seemed like too many dishes to eat at the coffee table. Instead, I sit down and eat my salad and then my meal. And most of the time, I'm too full to even finish the meal. (All the fiber and veggies are so filling!)

3. I have never found it so easy to NOT snack at night!

This is something I never expected to happen. I eat dinner pretty early--5:00 or so--and I always worry that I'm going to be ravenous by 7:00 or 8:00 and then I'll go digging for more food. However, because of the filling foods I've been preparing, snacks don't even really cross my mind. If I'm very hungry, I might have a single date or a couple of prunes.

Overall, I'm so glad that we're doing this experiment! It's MUCH cheaper than I thought it would be, even when I count the new spices that I got. A whole week's worth of produce was only $50.

My very favorite meal so far was a sweet potato shawarma bowl--sweet potatoes, cauliflower, shawarma seasonings, on top of quinoa, with toppings of onions, cucumber, and lettuce. Drizzled with an amazing tahini dressing. This BLEW MY MIND.

Not all mine! Just the bowl on the left. I then topped it with the good stuff :)

And last but not least, I have to mention the taste of all these recipes I've been cooking. Because what good is all that without it tasting good? I will say that probably 7 out of 9 or so recipes have been very good! There were only a couple that I didn't like (and one of them was very overcooked).

This has been such a refreshing experience. I feel happy and excited to be cooking again!

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 137

This has been quite the week, as far as my eating habits go! I wrote about the challenge that Jerry and I made for each other, but in a nutshell: I have to make recipes for dinner that I really want, but that I don't think Jerry will like because of the vegetables; and for his part, Jerry has to eat them and see if his tastebuds adapt to eating veggies he doesn't think he likes.

It sounds odd, right? I "have" to cook things that I really want? (Honestly, though, this is actually very hard for me; I feel super guilty making meals with ingredients--typically vegetables--that I know Jerry won't like.)  Jerry had said that he's tired of eating like a child (avoiding vegetables). He's always eaten what I make, but I have always tried to make things that I know he likes. Soooo, this was good for both of us.

We went grocery shopping together to pick out a bunch of vegetables, and it was actually kind of funny. I got so excited to put things in the cart that I don't normally buy--mushrooms, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, purple cabbage, and more. I looked through my vegan cookbooks for recipes that use a lot of the vegetables that Jerry's not into.

HE was actually very excited about this challenge as well--it was his idea! I've tried to make a good variety of food all week. It's no surprise that *I* have been loving it ;)  However, I did not expect Jerry to like it as much as he does; he even surprised himself. He was hesitant to try sweet potatoes, but he really liked them.

One of his most hated foods is cucumber, so I said I wouldn't make anything with cucumber. But I made a sweet potato shawarma bowl and cucumber was one of the toppings. I told him he could just skip that topping, but he insisted that he wanted to try to like cucumber. AND HE DID. He didn't like it when trying a piece on its own, but when it was mixed with all of the mediterranean food, he said it went together very well. (I kept raving about the whole bowl because it was soooo delicious.)

Since I've been trying to work Dr. Gregor's Daily Dozen into my diet for the most part, I've been eating almost all whole foods. So that's kind of what this challenge has turned into--eating whole foods for two weeks. It's been a week so far, and Jerry has already lost six pounds!

As far as my weight, well... I was really excited to see that the scale was actually moving down. On Monday, I was down about three pounds. On Monday night, we went to La Pita for Eli's birthday dinner. I think the last time I'd gone out to eat was when Jerry and I went to Rockford, IL last March! And you know that I *love* La Pita.

Eating vegan at a Lebanese/mediterranean restaurant is super easy--so many options. However, since I want to eat whole foods and get my weight back down, I skipped the pita bread and garlic sauce. I didn't want to eat more than I would normally eat at home. So, I got herb roasted potatoes and a side of hummus. Their hummus is mind-blowing, so I knew I wanted that; I just needed something to dip in it, haha. They were really good! And I felt good about what I'd eaten. (I actually ate a small salad at home before we left so that I would get in my leafy greens.)

La Pita has jumped on board with extra plant-based options, including Impossible "meat" substitutions! Jerry was thrilled to see that. So, he got kafta made with the Impossible "meat" instead of beef. I tasted a bite of it and it was *really* good--I didn't expect that at all. Jerry loved it, to say the least.

On the way home, we had to stop and get some frozen blueberries (I eat them with breakfast every morning and we were out). While walking through the store, I saw a Lindt chocolate bar made with Oat Milk and I just couldn't resist--I wanted to try it so badly! Since I had been eating so well all day, I figured Jerry and I could share the chocolate. (It was AMAZING. If you're vegan or plant-based, and you don't like dark chocolate, give it a try.)

Anyway, the whole point is, my weight was back up the next morning--by three pounds! I know it's not because of excess calories, so it's likely water weight. I was just hoping it would have come off before my weigh-in. Unfortunately, it did not.

It's still down from last week's 144.4, but I had been excited when I was seeing so much progress! Anyway, I'm still doing good with everything--I've eaten about 95% whole foods this week and it makes a huge difference in how I feel. I really love eating so many vegetables, and I even get excited about cooking. Jerry likes trying all the new foods, so he wants to continue to do it. It's been a fun experiment! Jerry wants to start writing on Tuesdays again, so maybe he'll write about this next week.

The year is off to a pretty decent start so far--let's hope it continues! ;)

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One Year Vegan, Part 2: Tidbits, Staple Ingredients, Positive Changes

This is continued from One Year Vegan, Part 1, where I wrote about things I wish I knew before becoming vegan as well as tips (that would have helped me in the beginning) for vegan-curious or new vegans. (You can find Part 1 here.)

Again, I didn't write this post to try to "covert" people, nor do I guilt trip or write about the ethical issues surrounding using animals for food or products. It's simply about my own experience over the last thirteen months of doing something I never thought I'd do!

Interesting tidbits I've learned:

Vegan and plant-based are not the same thing. When I first became vegan, I used the words "plant-based", because I assumed that was the new term for vegan (I see it everywhere now). A reader actually emailed me and helped me understand the difference. Vegan is to avoid all animal products and animal by-products mainly for ethical reasons, while plant-based is dietary (no meat, dairy, eggs, or honey--the typical things you imagine with a vegan diet). I chose to become vegan for ethical reasons regarding animals, factory farming, and the environmental impact of factory farms.

Cashews are a wonder-nut. I had NO IDEA the magic that happens when you blend cashews and water in a high-powered blender. Depending on the ratio of cashews and water, you can get everything from cashew milk to a thick cashew cream. And it's tasteless! You can add your own flavors to make it sweet or savory, or you can use it to add creaminess to all sorts of things from pasta to soup to vegan cheese.

Cashews + Water + Blender

White sugar is not technically vegan. What?! I was shocked by this. There aren't any animal products IN it, but white sugar is stripped of its color by filtering with animal bone char--so it's more of an ethical issue, rather than a plant-based one. Brown sugar and powdered sugar are usually made from white sugar, so they aren't vegan either. Now I buy raw sugar so that it isn't processed with bone char; and I can make my own brown sugar (vegan sugar + molasses) and powdered sugar (vegan sugar in a high powered blender). 

Aquafaba is the liquid that is left over from a can of chickpeas. And this liquid can be used as an egg replacement! I had never heard of aquafaba, let alone cook/bake with it. You can even sweeten and whip it into a vegan whipped cream. I've only used it a few times (like in a pumpkin pie that turned out amazingly well), but the last time I opened chickpeas, I saved the liquid and poured it into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, I moved them to a freezer bag. Now, when I need an egg substitute, they are waiting in small portions in the freezer.

Vegan does not mean healthy. There are hundreds of vegan junk food products--french fries, non-dairy ice cream, Sour Patch Kids, Oreos, Skittles, and a lot more. It's even possible to be vegan without eating a single fruit or vegetable (not that I'm advocating that!). 

BROWNIES!! These were amazing. Not at all healthy, but very tasty.

Gelatin is in a LOT of items you wouldn't expect. (Gelatin is produced from boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones, usually from cows and pigs.) Even medicinal pill capsules are made with gelatin! There are several items that I guessed were probably vegan but when looking at the ingredients, I could see that there was gelatin in it.

Ingredients I NEVER would have imagined would become staples:

Nutritional Yeast- While the name of it makes it sound disgusting, nutritional yeast is called for in SO many vegan recipes. It doesn't look or taste like the yeast you put in bread or anything. You know the look and texture of fish food flakes? Well, nutritional yeast looks and feels like that, except it's a mustard-yellow color and it tastes nothing like fish food (or at least I don't think so).

I use nutritional yeast in almost all of the seasoning blends I make, pasta dishes, cashew cheese, pretty much anything that typically has cheese in it. When I read about it, people always mention sprinkling it on popcorn and basically using it as a condiment. I literally gagged when I tried eating popcorn this way--it was an ingredient I wasn't at all used to, an ingredient that tastes like nothing I've had before. Once I started adding it to things, I started to recognize the flavor and I'm not at all grossed out by it now. I buy this in bulk on Amazon--it's so much cheaper than the grocery store!

Turmeric- I don't think I'd ever used turmeric in my life until I became vegan. Then it seemed like I was using it all the time (for recipes). I've gone through 3-4 jars of it, so I recently bought a bulk-sized container that I refill my spice jar with. Turmeric is used for yellow color in a lot of vegan recipes.

Cashews- Like I wrote above, cashews are amazing. I buy these from Amazon as well.

Tofu- I can't even describe my obsession with tofu. I was missing out for 40 years! I keep silken tofu on hand in my pantry (I use this for tofu scrambles, desserts, and making seitan). I keep extra-firm tofu in my freezer and always have a couple of packages in my fridge. I use the extra-firm tofu for lots of dishes--but my favorite is to marinate it, then bake for about 45-50 minutes until it's crispy on the outside and kind of meaty on the inside. Then I heat a sauce (making an Asian-style sauce is SO fast and easy in a mason jar) until it thickens, stir in the tofu, and serve it over rice or another grain. I like to add vegetables when making the sauce--usually peppers or broccoli, but I just consider whatever I have to use before it goes bad.

This is so accurate for me. Before I started eating tofu, I saw it as the top picture!

Vital Wheat Gluten- I had never heard of this before, and the name of it makes it sound like it may cause cancer in the future or something, but it's used to make seitan--a faux meat that is actually pretty healthy! AND it's been around for centuries. Despite the "wheat" in its name, it's actually low in carbs (although we all know I don't avoid carbs) and has as much protein as meat. 

Miso Paste- I'd never heard of this before, either, but I use it SO frequently when cooking. It's described as adding a savory umami taste to things. I use it mostly in dishes where cheese is typically found.

Soy Milk- I used to buy almond milk when I was counting calories way back in the day because it was so low in calories compared to cow's milk. However, I decided to try soy milk for a few reasons that I won't get into, but I liked it so much more! It's thicker, like comparing whole cow's milk vs. skim, and possibly a little sweeter? I buy plain, unsweetened Silk brand soy milk and use it everywhere that I would have previously used cow's milk.

Pure Maple Syrup- This one was very surprising to me. Maple syrup is used to sweeten things and I use it everywhere from sauces to desserts. You can't taste the maple--it gets blended with more powerful ingredients--but it sweetens like sugar. I've also discovered that I get bloated when I eat regular sugar, but maple syrup doesn't bother my digestive system at all. Even when recipes call for brown or white sugar, I almost always replace it with maple syrup (since baking is so finicky, I don't substitute anything there; then again, I rarely bake).

Soy Curls- I'd never heard of these until I discovered Plant Power Couple, who raves about them. While a name like "soy curls" sounds like a very processed fake food, they are actually very minimally processed--they are even compliant with a Whole-Food Plant-Based diet. Soy curls are a meat substitute that are made of just whole soybeans that have been cooked, pressed, and dried--soybeans are the only ingredient. I use these anywhere that I would normally use chunks or strips of chicken. My favorite is in a stir-fry. When I get down to the really small bits at the bottom of the bag, I prepare them with barbecue sauce and it reminds me so much of pulled chicken or pork.

Black Salt- This is very common in vegan dishes that are meant to taste like eggs. I use this in tofu scrambles (the seasoning mixture that I make flavors the silken tofu). It absolutely reminds me of eggs--I would never try to fool someone, because it's not *that* similar, but I used to eat scrambled eggs frequently, and I don't miss them at all. A tofu scramble with veggies and toast with vegan butter makes a perfect meal when I'm on my own for dinner.

A few positives I've noticed from becoming vegan:

Lipid Profile: My LDL cholesterol dropped by 57 in eight month, and my HDL increased by 8! High cholesterol runs in my family, and by continuing to eat vegan, I'm hoping to prove that it can be lowered by diet alone.

My chronic fibromyalgia pain is gone. That happened within a few months of eating vegan--probably less than two months. I still keep waiting for it to come back, because it seems too good to be true, but so far, it hasn't flared back up.

When sweetening foods with maple syrup rather than sugar, I don't get bloated and gassy. It must have something to do with the unprocessed, natural maple syrup not being so hard on my body to digest.

I have an overall sense of wellbeing. It's hard to explain, but I just *feel* healthier. Even when I eat a relatively heavy meal, I don't feel gross and tired. I have more energy in general.

I've started really paying attention to the products I buy, and I learn new things all the time. I've switched brands of things like shampoo to a "cruelty free" brand (the product hasn't been tested on animals). I haven't gotten rid of my clothing and household items that have been made with animal products or by-products, because I feel that would be wasteful, but I will no longer buy them. I don't think I'll ever be a total extremist, but I do like to make positive changes wherever I can.

Going from omnivore to vegan made me love cooking again. There are SO many cooking techniques that I'd never heard of, ingredients that were totally unfamiliar, and flavor profiles that I enjoyed but couldn't quite place; I also started using my blender nearly every day, if not twice a day. And there is a vegan version of just about everything you can think of. I don't think I've ever come across a non-vegan food that there wasn't a vegan recipe for. I've used more spices and dried herbs than ever before! Each new recipe I make is an adventure--I haven't felt like that while cooking in at least a decade.

Eating vegan eliminates a LOT of the junk food I used to eat. Namely ice cream! Yes, there is vegan/non-dairy ice cream (and some of them are delicious!) but where I live, good luck finding vegan desserts. If I want something sweet, I generally have to make it myself. Being vegan also eliminates a lot of junk from menus at restaurants. There are definitely unhealthy vegan foods--a lot of them!--but it's nice to have some boundaries now.

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If you've been reading my blog for a while, you can see that my diet has made HUGE changes over the last year. It's hard believe it myself sometimes! I don't always eat healthy, but my choices are much healthier than they used to be.

This past year (I started a vegan diet on January 30, 2022) has been a huge culinary adventure and learning experience for me--and I hope that I continue to learn and experience more in the upcoming year as well :)

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One Year Vegan, Part 1: Tips for Vegan-Curious and What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming Vegan

It was really hard to title this. I wanted to wrap up a full year of all sorts of things that I learned since becoming vegan in January 2022, but there is SO MUCH. I've learned more than I could have imagined about animals, the environment, health, food, cooking, ingredients, and more. I learned a ton about MYSELF, even.

I have said from the beginning that I don't want to be one of the vegans that tries to push it on other people, share horrifying videos of factory farms, and guilt-tripping people as they eat a burger. Becoming vegan was a personal decision that I made for ethical reasons. If anyone wants to know anything about it they can always ask me, but I don't like to bring it up myself.

Occasionally, though, I may write a post like this one--this post is NOT those guilt-tripping things I mentioned, but rather a list of random "stuff" about being vegan for over a year now: what I wish I knew beforehand, unusual-to-me food I started eating, tips for other new vegans that I probably would have found helpful, etc.

I'll try not to make this *too* long, but you know me... ;)

(Edit: It was too long, hahaha. So I'm dividing it into two parts.)

What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming Vegan

It's so much easier than I thought it would be! I used to dismiss the idea immediately because I thought there was no way I could ever cut that many foods out of my life. I especially thought it would be difficult to eat a vegan diet in an omnivore family. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have done it decades ago. (It's crazy to me that I'm old enough to say "decades" ago when referring to my lifetime, haha.)

My digestive system would feel a million times better. I never knew my digestive system wasn't really feeling okay until I started eating a vegan diet--the difference was very noticeable. No bloating or stomachaches, very "regular", and just generally a feeling of well-being.

My chronic pain (which had been diagnosed as fibromyalgia) would completely go away. This is what is the most stunning to me out of everything. The chronic fibromyalgia pain started in (I think) 2018, and it was horrible. About a month or so--I can't remember exactly--after I started eating vegan, I realized that I was able to get out of bed easily. Then I realized it had been a while since I felt the pain. It hasn't come back! (I do still have chronic back pain, but it's confined to one vertebra that is messed up. I also still have occasional knee pain from when I knelt on a screwdriver--I think that will be a lifelong injury.)

That most of the "weird" foods I said I wasn't interested in trying have become staples in my house, haha. I'll write more about this later but, basically, a HUGE world of food was opened to me after I'd been vegan for a couple of months and was interested in experimenting with new recipes. I had NO IDEA the amount of dishes you can make with tofu, for example. I started to really enjoy cooking again!

My first attempt at cashew cheese. It's under the toppings, I promise!

A high-powered blender is pretty much a necessity. I had absolutely no idea just how often I would use my blender (I use the blender probably 6-10 times a week--prior to becoming vegan, I probably used the blender 20 times in a decade). On Cyber Monday, I managed to get a Vitamix for a GREAT deal--$225, when it's regularly $300. It's the least expensive model; I didn't need bells or whistles, just a blender that would completely pulverize things like cashews until it's so smooth you would have no idea that cashews were even in there. I still use my previous blender for making seitan because it has a dough blade, but I use the Vitamix for everything else. If I had known how much I'd use my blender, I would have gotten a Vitamix from the very beginning.

You don't have to eat "weird" or unfamiliar foods on a vegan diet. When I first became vegan, I was just trying to figure out how to swap things out for already-familiar ingredients. I cut out animal products cold-turkey without any sort of planning, so I just had to wing it for a little while before I started experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. 

Something I ate very frequently in the beginning was some sort of grain (rice is simple and familiar to everybody), some sort of bean (chick peas work well when replacing meat because they don't get soft like other beans do), whatever veggie(s) I may have on hand, and a sauce (I make sauces by putting the ingredients in a mason jar and shaking well, then heating on the stove until it thickens (I use cornstarch as a thickener in sauces). These are all things that can be made ahead of time, so I could just grab them from the fridge and assemble a bowl. It wasn't until I was in a good routine with familiar foods that I decided to try things like nutritional yeast and tofu.

Tips for new vegans or vegan-curious (from a new vegan myself):

Have a short list of go-to meals you can make that you always have the ingredients for. It may not be an ideal balanced meal, but it's nice to have a few recipes up your sleeve that you don't have to put much thought into when you're in a pinch. When you're having a busy day and are stressing about dinner, just pick a go-to. My favorite is Truffle Mac & Cheese--I always have the stuff on hand and it's DELICIOUS. It's not very healthy, so I try not to rely on it *too* much ;)

Don't get intimidated to try the "weird" vegan foods, but introduce them slowly. I would start with things you're used to eating, only "veganized"--swap out meat for beans, for example. Plant-based milk instead of cow's milk. Vegan butter instead of regular.

When you come across unfamiliar ingredients in recipes you want to try, find a few recipes with one unusual ingredient they have in common so that you're not buying a (potentially pricey) ingredient for just one dish. I buy most unusual ingredients (like vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, spices that I can't find at the grocery store, etc) on Amazon. It's almost always cheaper, especially when I buy a larger container of it. (Rather than continuing to buy the small jars of turmeric, for example, I bought a bag of it that will refill my turmeric jar probably 6-8 times. It was only a few dollars more than a single jar.)

If you have an omnivore family, there are lots of ways to make mealtime easier. I listed several tips on my post called "Meal Compromises to Please Everybody". And for more food ideas, I have a huge post full of photos, called "What I've Been Eating Since Becoming Vegan".

Don't expect vegan foods to taste the same as the animal products you are replacing. There are very few foods that I would say taste almost *exactly* the same as the animal product it may be trying to replicate. You will be disappointed if you expect tofu to taste and feel just like chicken! That's why I don't like it when recipes are titled "Vegan Chicken Nuggets" or something similar--yes, maybe it sounds better than "Tofu Nuggets", but it sets unrealistic expectations for omnivores or new vegetarians/vegans. Instead, I look at vegan animal product-alternatives as entirely different foods. I can make the vegan and non-vegan version look and/or taste very similar to each other, but there are few vegan dishes that I think would actually fool omnivores into thinking they are eating a familiar meat.

I asked Jerry if he had any ideas for this post, and he echoed everything I just wrote about about replacing meat. It's not going to taste exactly the same, but why does it have to if it tastes just as good? He also said that it drives him crazy when people add the word "vegan" in front of everything--"vegan bean dip", "vegan chili", etc. For someone who isn't vegan, hearing that word can automatically be a turn-off to even tasting something. I would never try to trick someone by lying, but I don't add the word "vegan" in front of things, either. I make "bean dip" and "chili". I do add "vegan" in front of something that just can't be avoided--"vegan cheese", for example. If I just called it "cheese", then I feel like it would be too misleading. This was a big tangent, so let's move on...

As time goes by, your tastebuds change. You realize that you don't miss the foods you thought you would because you are perfectly happy having similar plant-based foods. I'll use the Truffle Mac & Cheese as an example. I call it Creamy Truffle Mac or just Truffle Mac (macaroni noodles with a creamy truffle sauce). I used to make homemade macaroni and cheese frequently--it was one of my go-to's--and now I make the Truffle Mac. They don't taste alike, but for me, the Truffle Mac is absolutely an acceptable replacement for mac and cheese. I don't miss the cheese at all when there is an amazing creamy sauce to stir into the noodles.

Homemade vegan food tastes so much better than the prepared vegan food you can buy at the store. There are a lot of vegan convenience foods available, and I've tried a few that were pretty good, but I 100% prefer to make my own stuff. And most of the time when I look at the ingredients list on the package, I already have most, if not all, of the stuff at home already. Sometimes I'll even take a picture of the package and ingredients, then try to replicate it at home. Also, there are a million different recipes for the same dishes--so if I try one and don't like it, I can always just pick another. There are recipes for vegan versions of everything you can think of.

Just for fun: What is odd about this picture?

August 2022

A. Katie is wearing a dress.
B. Katie is drinking a mocktail.
C. Katie has salad on her plate.
D. All of the above.

Hahaha! Answer is D, of course. But seriously, who even am I?!

Okay, I'm going to end this post here and continue on Part 2 (which I hope to post tomorrow)!

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Harder Than I Thought!

After my recent attempt at doing the 75 Hard challenge and then subsequently quitting, I really wanted to set a more "doable" goal for December. Just 31 days of something that required effort, but not too challenging. So, I decided to try eating only whole foods for the month.

This nifty little chart from the Forks Over Knives website explains the difference between a vegan diet, a plant-based diet, and a whole-food plant-based diet:

Being vegan, I already don't eat animal products. And I thought I was eating mostly whole foods--everything I was making was so much healthier than the things I used to eat, and I haven't been eating many pre-packaged foods (other than a few things that have only whole food ingredients--like Grape Nuts, which have four simple ingredients). And I have occasional vegan "junk" food, but nowhere near as often as I used to.

Anyway, the day before I started this challenge, I was making a menu for the month and as I was reading about a whole-foods plant-based diet online, I discovered that oils and salt aren't included! (A very small amount of sea salt may be used.) This may not sound like a big deal, but I use oil and salt in almost everything when I cook. I make oil-based marinades for tofu, which is my favorite food; I use sesame oil in a lot of the Asian sauces I make; I sauté and roast vegetables with olive oil; I even use coconut oil when I bake.

Edit: I should have clarified that you can still get plenty of fat in your diet--with whole-food plant-based eating, you're just aiming to get fat from nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut, etc., rather than refined oils. I eat a LOT of fat on a vegan diet, mostly from nuts and seeds (but also from oil!).

Still, I wanted to give this a try. I got a new non-stick skillet (which I am going to hide from my family, so it *stays* non-stick! haha) and the Forks Over Knives cookbook (all whole-food plant-based recipes). I felt prepared.

Then the day I started, I felt totally lost! I was realizing that several ingredients I use for various dishes don't actually fit into the whole-food plant-based diet. To do this would require a huge overhaul of most of the recipes I've been enjoying.

I wanted to quit the whole idea, because it was overwhelming; however, I was embarrassed to quit because I'd just quit 75 Hard. I really do want to try to work my way toward eating the healthiest I can, so came up with a compromise: For December, I'll start learning a some different cooking techniques (like cooking without oil, and learning substitutes for foods that aren't whole-food plant-based) and I'll try some new recipes from the Forks Over Knives cookbook.

In January, I'll start with a small goal like like sautéing vegetables in water instead of oil, while still using oil in things like marinades and sauces. Then in February, I can try another small change, like cutting back on salt. Doing it this way, rather than diving right in, will probably work better for me. A lot of times, I *like* jumping right into a big change; but this is just overwhelming. Especially because I was expecting it to be much easier than it is! If not for the salt and oil, I would have no problem with it.

I made tofu a couple of days ago without using the oil-based marinade, and it definitely wasn't as good. It was kind of dry and there wasn't much flavor, since I also didn't add salt. So I'm going to try out some recipes this month that have different techniques (either for marinades or preparation) to avoid the oil and see if I can find something I like. I can also cut back on the amount of oil I use, and maybe I'll start to get used to it.

The Forks Over Knives cookbook looks like a great resource and I think it will be fun trying some new ingredients and techniques for cooking in order to make things whole-food plant-based. While I can certainly see myself being vegan forever, I don't think it's realistic to aim for only eating a strict whole-food vegan diet. Reading "How Not To Die" by Dr. Michael Greger (Amazon affiliate link) has me motivated to make some healthy changes, though. I just learned that I need to do it gradually if I have any shot at making it stick! (or *not* stick, in the case of sautéing without oil, hahaha)

I think something that I have a very hard time with is all-or-nothing thinking. I'm either all-in or not at all. It's something I *know* is a problem, especially when it comes to diet, so I think it'll be good for me to find a good compromise!

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A Goal For December

I've mentioned several times that I've been struggling hard with food lately--eating too much and too frequently. A couple of months ago, I was doing great! I had zero cravings for junk food and probably 95% of what I ate was unprocessed. I felt awesome, too.

Over the last several weeks, I'm not sure what happened, but I started craving junk food again. I noticed that once I eat something sweet, I crave sweets for about three days--and it's SO hard to get through those few days without feeding the craving. I know that if I can power through, the cravings will stop; it just feels so hard in the moment!

You all know I love goals and challenges--sometimes I get too ambitious and I quit (like 75 Hard), but sometimes I really enjoy them and I finish whatever it is that I set out to do (like a blogging streak--I haven't missed a day since December 2019).

I've been thinking this week about how badly I want to get back to feeling in control and not having any sugar cravings, and just feeling my best. I've been reading (very slowly, but surely) the book "How NOT to Die" by Dr. Michael Greger (Amazon affiliate link). It's all about how diet relates to our health and how "food is medicine" (it sounds really boring by my description, but it's actually very interesting!).

The book inspired me to want to try eating whole-food plant-based for a month. I'm currently still eating a vegan diet, but there are a LOT of junk foods that are vegan. I think challenging myself to eat whole foods for a month might be just what I need to get rid of the sweet cravings and feel good about my choices again.

Jerry made my favorite whole-food recipe last night--beans and greens! The first time he made this, I must have been having a rough day (or week or month) and it was SO good and comforting. And now it's a big-time comfort food for me. Thankfully, it's super healthy! Here is the recipe that he follows. (He uses collard greens instead of kale, and great northern beans--I like it better that way--and he adds an extra can of beans in there, too.) 

Of course, I'd love to eat whole foods all the time and not just for a month, but I think setting my sights on a short-term goal will help me to work on long-term goals afterward. (Does that make sense?) I can pretty easily control myself with "junk" foods that aren't sweet--like tortilla chips, for example--so after the challenge I may add stuff like that back in. I love lentil tortilla soup topped with some tortilla chips! It's the sweets that do me in.

I already know a ton of recipes that are made with whole foods, so it will just take some time to put together a menu for the month. I like the idea of a menu for the whole month so that I don't have to figure things out on the fly. I can make extra sauces and things to freeze for later in the month, too. I also like to prep ingredients here and there throughout the day so that I can cook dinner super fast, and it obviously helps to know what I'll be making.

As far as what is considered a "whole food"... I am just going to use my best judgment. There isn't a black and white list as to what is a whole food and what is not, so I may eat some foods that other people may not consider to be "whole" (nutritional yeast, for example). Something like maple syrup is controversial, too--it has a ton of sugar--but because it's one of the least processed sweeteners out there, I'll still use it to add to sauces (a lot of Asian sauces that I make call for some sort of sweetener) and things like that.

So anyway, I'm just going to use my best judgment and not be ridiculously strict. The whole point is to eat food that makes me feel good! I'm going to keep a simple journal, too--hopefully that will help me figure out the effect certain foods have on my body and cravings, etc. I'm looking forward to doing this challenge! Let's just hope that I stick with it ;)

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Q&A About My Recent Weight Loss: Part 1 of 2

I've been working on this post for way too long, and I'm sure I'm overthinking everything. I really need to just post it now before I drone on and on! I'm actually splitting this into two posts because it got very, very long--even for me. And you know I am wordy as it is.

A quick recap: In May of 2021, I reached my highest weight since losing 125 pounds in 2009-2010. I gained quite a bit in 2018 and it steadily climbed (aside from some weight loss attempts that didn't last long) until I saw that I was nearly 200 pounds again. I was shocked to see 197 on the scale and I immediately decided that this was it--I was done. I was going to do something about it.

I didn't even care if I got back down to my desired/goal weight of 133; I would have been happy if I'd gotten back down to 170 or so at that point. I started counting calories and the weight began to come off. I lost steadily at first, and then I was in a pattern of lose a little, lose a little, gain a little... repeat for months. In January 2022, I became vegan (for ethical reasons, not for weight loss or health). My weight was still moving slowly downward, and a year after I started losing weight, I had lost about 50 pounds.

For some reason, toward the middle of August, my weight started to drop really quickly. I honestly have no idea why! I went from 140-ish to 125 in less than two months. I hadn't really changed anything about my diet, but I had a TON going on in my personal life and I felt extremely overwhelmed. I can only guess that the stress had something to do with it, but I'm not sure. Or maybe my body was just trying to catch up to the changes I'd made when I started eating a vegan diet.

Anyway, I've been asked a lot of questions about my recent weight loss, and while I don't think I have anything profound to respond with, I put together this Q&A post to hopefully answer the questions.

How did you make the change? All at once or a little bit at a time?

I'm assuming this is referring to my current diet (note: when I reference "diet", I'm talking about my day to day eating habits--not a weight loss diet or program).

I like to make goals each year and one of my goals for 2022 was to focus on adding fiber to my diet. I didn't want to eat fiber just for the sake of fiber, though. Fibrous foods are generally much more nutritious, so I thought that could help me to eat healthier without focusing on eliminating food groups or getting rid of things that I enjoy.

I continued to count calories, but I switched up foods wherever I could in order to add fiber. (I only eat fiber from whole foods, though; I wasn't looking at eating Fiber One bars or anything like that. I'm not even sure if those are still a thing!)

This is something I ate frequently: barley with chickpeas and broccoli with stir fry sauce. It has nearly 19 grams of fiber--that's 70% of the recommended dietary intake!

I wrote a whole post about how fiber has changed my eating habits, which may be helpful.

I had absolutely no intention of becoming vegan; it wasn't even something I was interested in experimenting with. I thought I could never do it because I have a husband and two boys and I wouldn't want them to have to eat the way I did. And besides, I ate a LOT of dairy. I couldn't even imagine giving up milk, cheese or eggs, because those ingredients are in everything! (Or so I thought.)

Becoming vegan actually had nothing to do with weight loss. I was just up late one evening down the YouTube rabbit hole, and came across a documentary called Dominion, which is about the consequences of factory farming on animals and the environment. I was only able to watch about 30 minutes of it before I had to turn it off. I didn't have a "one last hurrah" meal or anything. I just haven't eaten any animal products since then.

I think it was the fact that I became vegan for reasons *other than* weight loss that made the change almost too easy for me. It wasn't like a weight loss diet, where the reasons were always about myself and my body; this was about the animals. Because my reasons were focused on that, I never had that battle in my head about whether I should eat something or not. If it was made out of animal products, I just didn't want it.

This picture is at least a decade old! But I had no idea what photo to use here, haha.

Something that really helped when I first became vegan was that I was already eating a ton of fiber--including lots of whole grains, beans, lentils, and I started adding more vegetables where I could. As a vegan now, the bulk of my diet comes from those kinds of foods.

In a nutshell, the dietary change for my weight loss over the past 17 months was pretty simple: 1) Count calories from May 2021 until early spring 2022; 2) Add more fiber; 3) Vegan for ethical reasons.

How long are you intending to eat vegan? Do you feel this is sustainable year round? 

I can't see myself ever eating animal products again. I don't like to say "never", because I can't predict the future, but I have every intention of eating vegan forever. If I was doing it for health reasons, I don't think I would have lasted even a week, let alone a year ;)  I believe it's definitely sustainable year-round--but of course, that could be completely different for other people.

You mention you eat the same breakfast and lunch. Can you link to your post where you have the recipes for those? Also any plans of changing it up?

Breakfast: I have always loved Grape Nuts cereal (or any kind of cereal, really), so I started eating that for breakfast. I added blueberries for more fiber. And at the time, I used dairy milk (I switched to almond milk when I became vegan, and now I like soy milk). Cereal is super convenient and I will never get sick of it!

Lunch: Oatmeal has always been a favorite food of mine (well, since I started losing weight 13 years ago), and I really like cold oats soaked in milk for lunch. I have a basic recipe with a bunch of different combinations on this post: 10 Summertime Mason Jar Oatmeal Recipes. Again, I love the convenience. I make a bunch of jars of the oats (just the dry ingredients) and keep them in the pantry. Every couple of days, I'll take some out and add the milk (I use soy milk now), then put them in the fridge.

So when I want to eat lunch, I just grab one from the fridge. I usually have a piece of fruit, too. It doesn't sound like a filling meal, but it's actually about 500 calories. It keeps me full all afternoon.

I've tried switching this up a bit and eating other things for lunch, but I always get hungry afterward. The oatmeal is satisfying all afternoon and I don't get hungry again until dinner. I'm not married to these meals, though! If I get tired of them, I'll switch to something else. But I really like them--they have a ton of nutrition (including nearly a whole day's worth of fiber), they are super convenient, and they're tasty!

Do you do any type of intermittent fasting?

I don't do any intermittent fasting. Actually, I recently started eating more frequently--I usually eat a banana right when I wake up, then breakfast an hour or so later. I also eat something in the late afternoon if I have cross country practice, and then dinner when I get home.

I find going out to eat is the hardest. Or when kids are busy and I just wanna order pizza or get drive thru. How do you manage those days?

I'm probably abnormal in this situation because I don't really like to eat out. I used to love it! But when the pandemic started, the restaurants were closed for a while and I got used to eating at home. I can actually count on one hand the number of times I've eaten out in the last 2-1/2 years. I started keeping convenient foods at home--like frozen pizzas--for days that we were busy.

Now, we still have busy days--even busier, actually--but I try to keep some convenient food on hand. I think it helps to have one particular go-to meal and always have the ingredients for it on hand. One of our favorites is quesadillas--we always have flour tortillas in the pantry. I keep cooked taco meat in the freezer for the kids, so I just have to microwave a small portion of it for the quesadillas.

I lay a tortilla flat on a skillet on medium-low heat (dry skillet--no oil), sprinkle on the taco meat and cheese, then top with another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is browned, I flip it over and cook for another couple of minutes until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are nicely browned. (For my vegan version, I use black beans, corn, and vegan cheese). We use salsa for dipping (and sour cream for the boys). It's super fast and easy, and everybody loves them.

I make them when my kids have friends over, too, and teenagers love them. Below is taco meat and cheese, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream.

If you think of a meal or two that you really like and keep the ingredients on hand, it's that much easier to throw together. You can even freeze cooked pasta or rice or other things that you normally have to wait for water to boil. Then just pull them out when you want to make something quickly.

I know you use to count calories. Did you stop since you became vegan, or just because you hit maintenance?

I stopped counting calories about a month or two after becoming vegan. I didn't do it on purpose; I realized I'd stopped logging anything past breakfast and lunch. I was making a lot of new-to-me food and I didn't take the time to input the recipes on the food tracker, so it was basically out of laziness that I stopped tracking. I was very surprised (and excited) when I discovered I could still lose weight without tracking my food! I'd never been able to do that before.

You haven’t mentioned bingeing in a long time. Is the urge to do that just gone?

I haven't binged in a very long time. I really can't remember the last time! The urge became far less frequent when I was diagnosed with bipolar and started a mood stabilizer, which makes me think that my binge eating was related to my moods/compulsive behavior. Now that my mood is stabilized, the urges are few and far between. (I still have periods of depression and hypomania, but nothing like they used to be.)

Would you say it's your running regime or the going vegan that has had the most impact on recent weight loss?

I can say with 100% certainty that it's from my diet and not from running. Why am I so sure? Because I've been terrible at sticking with a running routine! I was doing good with it last year and here and there this year--I want to run, and I always plan to run, but I just haven't made it the priority like it used to be. After the excitement of racing wore off, I've a hard time pushing myself to run.

From the very beginning in 2009, though, it's always been my diet rather than exercise that helped me lose weight. I started exercising because I know it's good for my body (and then I got hooked on races for several years). My weight went up and down based on what I was eating and not if or how much I was running.

June 2021 - one of my first runs when I got back to running last year

Has eating vegan increased your food costs?

Actually, it's been quite the opposite! The grocery bill is much lower than it used to be. Some of the foods or ingredients I enjoy now are kind of expensive and it was hard to justify at first; but when I saw the total amount spent on groceries overall, it was the meat and dairy that made the bill so high.

A few days ago, I made a couple of dinners for my friend who just had a baby, and they aren't vegetarian or vegan. As much as I didn't want to buy meat or dairy, I chose to do so for her family. The two dinners added up to $40--I was stunned. I can make several vegan meals for that much.

I’ve been struggling with IBS crap (pun intended) for a long time and I know that my offenders are fructans and fructose. I’m considering giving up gluten to cut down on my fructan consumption. But my husband is the one who primarily does the cooking. Any suggestions on how to navigate that if I don’t want to force him and my son to be gluten free also?

I wrote a post recently about meals ideas that can make everyone happy (when people have different preferences or restrictions). While I don't pay any attention to gluten, I imagine you can come up with some meals that are naturally gluten free and wouldn't be considered an alternative.

You could also cook any ingredients with gluten separately and, after you've taken your portion, add the gluten ingredient(s) to the portions for your husband and son. I do this with meat and/or dairy--I make meals where most ingredients are vegan, but if my kids want meat or dairy, I keep it separate from mine and Jerry's. Yesterday's post has several examples of how I do this. So I'm guessing it could work in your situation!

...to be continued tomorrow...

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Plant-Based Diet

I didn't want to mention this sooner, because I wasn't sure how it was going to go or even exactly what I wanted to do. As you know, I've been dealing with chronic pain for for several years now and it got to the point where it was unbearable. I started seeing a rheumatologist, who has tested me for everything you can possibly imagine.

The symptoms sound very much like rheumatoid arthritis, but there isn't a specific test for that, so it's more of process of elimination and looking at other tests to make a diagnosis. For now, she gave me the diagnosis of "fibromyalgia"--I really don't like that, because so many doctors don't think it's a "real thing" and don't take it seriously. It's basically a way of saying that I have pain for unknown reasons.

And the pain is so hard to describe. It travels around my body--I mostly feel it in my hands, neck, shoulders, hips, and back. My lower body isn't affected as much, which is probably why I can still run. Pain killers (even narcotics) don't help much (not that doctors prescribe them anymore anyways!).

During my last couple of appointments with her, she mentioned that a vegan or plant-based diet has showed promising results with autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (and even fibromyalgia). I'm not at all opposed to being a vegetarian (I've never been a big fan of meat anyway) but I thought it might be helpful to try a full-on vegan diet at least to see if it helps my symptoms.

My main goal was to eat "normal" foods that I already eat and just modify them a bit to eliminate animal-based products. I didn't want to start eating tofu or tempeh or things like that. That's too big of a change and it's overwhelming to me. (Also, the times I've tried it, I haven't like it.) I want to keep my diet as "normal" as possible so it won't feel like such a big change for me.

This was a few weeks ago, and so far, I've found it pretty easy. I still eat the same breakfast and lunch; I switched my milk to almond milk, and chocolate chips to vegan chocolate chips (which I found taste nearly identical), so that takes care of both of those meals. For my snack in the evening, I usually have almonds and dried cherries (or lately, tapenade on plain Triscuits).

Cooking dinner is a little more complicated, because I don't want to force the family to eat this way. So I've been making some things separately. Like yesterday, I made chili. I cooked the ground turkey for the boys and set it aside. Then I made a big pot of vegan chili (my regular recipe, only adding an extra can of beans). I took out my portion, then put the ground turkey into the pot for the boys. In my portion, I added TVP (texturized vegetable protein, which resembles ground meat). It wasn't necessary, but I wanted to try it because it's been years since I used it.

Vegan Chili

Fun Fact: I don't remember where I got this info from and I can't find it anymore; but do you remember those rectangle pizzas from elementary school? Well, I remember reading that the "meat" on them was actually TVP! I could be mistaken because I can't find this info again, but I remember being really interested in that.

And the day before that, I made Sesame Chicken over rice. I cooked the chicken for the boys, then set it aside. I made just the sauce in another pan (which is vegan). And then I drained a can of chick peas for my portion. So, I made my bowl with rice, then the chick peas, and then topped with the sauce. 

Sesame Chick Peas with Rice

Then I dumped the rest of the sauce in with the chicken for the boys. I don't feel like I missed out on anything; the chili was SO good!

When we did pizza one night, we each made our own mini pizzas and I just chose to make mine with hummus and olive tapenade. It was SO GOOD and I didn't feel like I was "giving up" pizza.

Hummus and Tapenade Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

I don't want to buy the vegan cheese and stuff like that (at least not now). Like I said, I just want to use my regular ingredients, to keep everything as "normal" as possible. I have a few vegan veggie burgers in the freezer in case I get in a pinch for dinner, but other than that (and the TVP and almond milk) I haven't had to buy anything "special".

One of the reasons I wanted to take a vitamin in the mornings was to ensure I was getting at least vitamin B12--the only vitamin you must get from animal products--and I'd chosen a vegan multivitamin that focuses on the vitamins vegans tend to be deficient in. However, after looking at my food intake and checking out the vitamins there, I realized that I really don't need a multivitamin.

I definitely need B12, and I should take calcium, but between my fortified cereal and chia seeds (holy cow, chia seeds are full of everything good for you! Even a tablespoon a day, which is what I use) I'm getting enough of most things. So, I just ordered a vitamin that supplements the main vitamins/minerals I feel the need to supplement. I'm *really* hoping that it doesn't make me nauseous, like the multivitamin did, considering it doesn't have iron in it!

So far, all of this has been an easy transition. The hardest thing for me to give up is cheese; I used to eat vegetarian meals pretty frequently, but to get rid of the cheese is a little stifling. Regardless, I am willing to go all-in and give this a shot. The chronic pain over the last year or two has gotten to be so bad, and none of the arthritis medications I've tried were working, so I decided to give this a shot.

Since I was looking through the heritage recipes and there are VERY few that are vegan, I was tossing around the idea of trying out a new vegan recipe each week instead--maybe take one of my old recipes that I've made for a long time and making a few changes to remove animal products, then write about that (like the chili or the sesame chicken above). For these recipes, I'd be willing to try anything! Even tofu and nutritional yeast and jackfruit and all of that "weird" stuff ;)  (So, if you have a "must try" vegan recipe that you want me to try out on my blog, please email it to me and I might do that!)

So, I've been doing work-arounds like that for my meals. It's a little more work, but not bad at all. 

I am going to try to keep a food + pain journal to see if I notice any improvement over time with my pain levels. If this actually works, I will be so relieved!

---

Here is today's random fact of the day:

After reading this, I realized I know nothing about St. Valentine. So I did a quick google search and landed on Historydaily.org. It's actually a really interesting read! Here is the gist:

Valentine was an ancient Roman Catholic Bishop who had a soft-spot for love. He was secretly marrying Christian couples, which got him in trouble with Emperor Claudius. A married man could not be drafted into military service, so Claudius wasn't happy about the secret marriage ceremonies (because he needed his army). He gave Valentine a choice: renounce your faith or be executed (by being beaten with clubs and beheaded). Valentine chose to be a martyr for his beliefs and was executed on February 14th (the year is unclear, but it was between 269 and 280 BC).

And here is the info on the above fact of the day:

Source: History Daily

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