Month: June 2015

Okay, I know I’m not that old but I think having lived a quarter of a century grants you at least some opinions on youth and what it means to be an adult. …Bare with me here.

The Veg Voyage (so far) has mostly chronicled my food journey  – what I eat and why I eat it – but what about life’s other entanglements? Lately, I’ve been thinking how so much of what you hear about being older while you are growing up is true and how your perceptions over the years change.

For example, when I was younger, I heard people talk about how they just wanted to be happy and, in my little girl mind, I was like, is that really that hard though? Just turn on your favorite show, order a pizza, and voilà!, happiness! I thought happiness was the default and you didn’t need to go out searching for it like a long lost friend.

Except when you’re older, you eventually realize happiness is not the default setting. And even the things that should/do make you happy, may come with tiny punches of unpleasant thoughts…

I should be exercising instead of just watching TV.

Pizza! Calorie BOMB! Should’ve got the salad… 

Being older means you have to WORK for your happiness. In my life, the key ingredient to happy is to be grateful. The trouble is – for me, at least – being grateful comes with a HUGEassHELPING of worry. I’m SO grateful for my health, my family, my boyfriend, my job, my friends, my apartment. I’m even grateful for my struggles because, comparatively, they are nothing.

However, for everything I am grateful for, comes worry. Worry that it will all be taken away. Worry that it isn’t even. Worries that I didn’t have as a little one. Being older, you realize how lucky you are. And being grateful leads to happiness but it also leads to worrying………. Worrying about the bills and health and organic vs. local and a career and am I fulfilled in life? am I drinking too much? eating enough vegetables?

Other things have emerged for me to. I used to stress, analyze, and obsess that my personality should be straightforward and streamlined. Every part of me had to fit perfectly with the other parts of me. I thought that I was either high strung or laid back and was confused at the notion of being both. Which I believe I actually am. Both. High stung and laid back. Depending on so many factors; who I’m with, what time of day it is, if I’m hungry or not..

It was hard for me to understand that your personality doesn’t have to be perfectly packaged. It can be messy. It is messy. I wanted my identity to be a linear thing.

No parts were supposed to be jagged, raw, or rub another aspect of my personality in a way that destabilized something else I believed to be true.

For example, in college, I wanted to be a INDEPENDENT WOMAN (!) but I also wanted a boyfriend and I seemed to fall over and over again, harder and harder, for guy after guy. How could these two traits exist simultaneously in the same person!? It really confused me.

I still have perplexing loopholes in my personality… like why am I so neurotic in my relationship but pretty chill in my friendships? Or why do I love socializing and taking control of making plans but get completely worn out and stressed when doing so? But basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just because I do. *insert shrug*

It is who I am and who am I to question it?

Every year, the less important stuff melts away. Just like they tell you when you’re younger.

Until next time…

Stay tuned and eat your greens.

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** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes; which aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards. It’s all about your vibe **

I am starting my  second week of the Skinny Mint 14 day teatox + sugar detox and wanted to share my experience so far. Below is a list of what I ate during the first week and I think we should just agree now not to use the weekend as a stellar example for what these challenges are all about…

During the week, it actually wasn’t too hard to give up sugar. I didn’t get super crazy and give up fruit like some people do, and it was really helpful to have nature’s candy available! Especially in the mornings! Aside from the sugar in fruit, I did have 6 tiny pieces of chocolate over the week.

You’ll notice that I completely skipped my Morning Boost tea on both Saturday and Sunday and that is because, in my opinion, the weekend isn’t complete without coffee! Which, sadly, ended up being my biggest offender of the weekend but more on that below!

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Note: Food eaten out in a restaurant is italicized 

Monday

• Breakfast – Irish oats with sliced strawberries and cinnamon w/morning boost tea
• Snack – Handful of cashews
• Lunch – Cheese, hummus, spinach and olive quesadilla with (no sugar!) salsa and carrots with (no sugar!) spicy black bean dip
• Snack – Peppermint tea and one piece of bubblegum  sugar free gum*
• Dinner – Mixed greens salad with side OO + lemon slice (for dressing) and roasted green peppers**
• Dessert – ½ sugar free chocolate cake and a handful of cherries w/nighttime tea

* I’m really not even much of a gum-chewer and realized after I chewed for (tops) a minute, that there was probably some terrible other ingredient in the gum to make it ‘sugar-free’

**I met some girlfriends from high school for dinner at a PIZZA place and, sadly, had to stick with a salad and an app for dinner. In all honesty, if this wasn’t my first day of the challenge, I can’t say I wouldn’t have caved for some pie

Tuesday

• Breakfast – Morning boost tea + 2 scrambled eggs with green onions and sm bowl of cherries
• Lunch – Trader Joe’s Al Polo corn crust pizza and an iced coffee*
• Dinner – 6 shrimp over rice with sautéed bok choy and mushrooms
• Dessert – A peach

* This pizza did have 2 grams of sugar in it AND the half and half I used in my coffee also had a gram of sugar but both are diary; which has natural sugars in it. As a reminder, I was only avoiding added sugar

Wednesday

• Breakfast – Morning boost tea with ½ banana, 6 strawberries, grapes and apricot
• Lunch – 2 corn tortillas with hummus and avocado dipped in salsa + carrots and black bean dip and* a handful of cashews with an iced tea
• Snack – Baby bell cheese + handful of corn chips
• Dinner – Elk with couscous and raisins + a side salad with cucumbers, black olives and onions
• After dinner drink – Gin with lime

* My lunch was initially not enough food (at all!) so about ~20 minutes later, I was reaching for my cashews. Also, during summer months, I’m OBSESSED with iced tea –especially after lunch.

Thursday

• Breakfast – Morning boost tea and Irish oats with sliced strawberries and cinnamon
• Lunch – HUGE salad (romaine + spinach) with chickpeas, kidney beans, corn, carrots and cucumber
• Snack – Corn chips with homemade guacamole
• Dinner – Grilled zucchini with chicken enchiladas
• Dessert/snack – Sm bowl of cherries + 2 tiny chocolate morsels* and nighttime tea

*This is the first time I cheated all week!

Friday

• Breakfast – 2 rice cakes with peanut butter and sliced strawberries
• Snack – Sm bunch of grapes
• Lunch – HUGE salad (romaine + spinach) with chickpeas, kidney beans, corn, carrots and cucumber and avocado
• Snack – Iced coffee with sm bag of Skinny POP
• Dinner – 1 chicken sausage with sauerkraut and lentils
• Snack – 1 Big A$$ Beer and a couple bites of nachos*

*Thinking about it, the nachos probably had some sort of added sugar in them, which is frustrating! Sugar is basically unavoidable when eating out. 😦

Saturday

• 4 apricots with ¼  chocolate muffin*
• Spinach, tomato and mushroom omelet with sourdough toast and fruit and Black Tie iced coffee**
• Handful of cashews
• Chips, guacamole and salsa + 1 beer
• Salad with carrots and chicken + side of asparagus and 1 glass of red wine***

*sugar!

**more sugar!!

***sugar again!!!

Soooooo, let’s break down this semi-mess of a day… Mike had a race in Livermore EARLY in the morning. We were up and out of the house by 6:30am and I’m just not hungry that early. I grabbed some apricots to take with us and ate them while Mike was racing. After the race I was starving and ate 1/4 of a chocolate muffin to tide me over until we could go to breakfast.

We went to a cute cafe for breakfast and I really wanted the homemade cinnamon toast (!!!) but I remembered my muffin, was “good,” and ordered an omelet. After we were done eating, I NEEDED coffee and found out there was a Peet’s nearby. I remembered what a friend posted on Facebook about Peet’s new Black Tie iced coffee and decided to try it. Word to the wise, when you’re on a sugar detox (and don’t particularly like sweet drinks anyway), ASK what is in any new beverage you order. I took one sip of that sugary concoction and, let’s just say the barista offered to make me another one right after seeing my face… I asked for a revised drink with only .5 pumps (instead of the 3 it normally comes with) of chicory infused simple syrup.

YES (!) SIMPLE SYRUP (!) on a SUGAR DETOX (!). Ugh.

I was honestly too embarrassed to order it without the syrup because, hello, wasn’t that the point of the entire DRINK!? To add insult to injury, I discovered later that condensed milk has a TON of sugar in it too, so I pretty much bombed Saturday with one drink. Cool cool cool.

Since breakfast was so late, I had cashews for lunch. That night we went to meet our close friends brand new baby and brought over chips, guac, salsa and a roasted chicken to pair with a salad and asparagus that my girlfriend (and new mama!) made.  Let’s just forgive the glass of red wine I had with dinner. After all, I was celebrating a new life. 😉

Sunday

• Breakfast – 2 apricots and 1 blue corn pancake with strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup* + scrambled eggs and potatoes
• Snack – Iced coffee with salami, cheese and grapes
• Lunch – Green salad, mac salad, Spanakopita, small potato with cheese and bacon + roast beef
• Snack – Some olives, sm piece of cheese and a nectarine
• Dinner – Leftover nachos
• Nighttime tea and 4 tiny chocolate morsels**

*sugar!

**more sugar!!

Better than Saturday but still not great for a NO sugar challenge… On Sunday, Mike and I rode our bikes to the farmers market and had brunch at Aqui – a favorite restaurant of mine. I ordered a kids meal with one blue corn pancake, eggs, and potatoes and couldn’t resist a drizzle of maple syrup. Which was a lot better than the fresh baked bear-claws and muffins they were selling at the market so let’s just call this one even.

We had a graduation party to attend that afternoon and let’s face it, most bets are off at parties. I did, however, stick to sparkling water (over wine) to try to make up for my previous drink indulgences over the weekend.

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Overall, I found it was easier to eat better during the week, when there is more structure. I’m bummed that I had sugar here and there but at least I didn’t throw caution to the wind and quit the whole thing altogether! (Something I’ve been known to do…)

On a parting note, you might have notice I only had 3 nighttime teas and that’s because, oh, I HATE them.

The morning tea is actually delicious (and satisfying, even for me – a hard coffee lover!) but I’m not a fan of the nighttime teabags. Instead of having one every other night, like you’re supposed to, I’m having them every other other night. Besides, so far, they haven’t even made me more …regular, so what’s the point anyway? (TMI?!?!)

Stay tuned and eat your greens.

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** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes; which aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards. It’s all about your vibe **