Month: January 2013

I found Alan in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of my vegan superdrink.

“You’re eating all my vegan stuff.”

“I’ll buy the next one,” he said.  “I used to drink this kind of stuff all the time.  Here, I’ll make yours for you.”

“That’s $89 bucks per tub,” I pointed out, watching him dole out the powder.

“I know, they’ve got a lock on this market.  If it’s green, has a nutrition promo and a nice looking label, people will buy anything.   They want to be healthy.”

“If you don’t believe it, why are you drinking all my vegan superfood?”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t worth it, I just said it’s a racket.”  He handed me mine, all frothy and green. “You have to drink it fast,” he advised.  “It won’t taste as bad.”

Since consuming that first less-than-ideal vegan superdrink (our best strategy was hiding the flavor in orange juice), I have become privy to some truly delicious smoothy recipes from fellow gal pal vegans.  And non-vegans as well.  Turns out everyone likes smoothies, and most smoothies are vegan unless you want to put a chicken wing in with your blended fruit.

My friend Nicole whipped me up a smoothie using the Vega protein powder as a base and adding in her own smoothie bling, so to speak.  (The new Vega products by the way are delicious: chocolate, 25 grams of protein and 130 calories?  Ah, YES please.)  Protein smoothies are a great way to get your protein so you don’t have to max out on soy.  And since I seem sensitive to eating too many nuts and beans, getting a steady and easy protein source makes me happy.

So IS this stuff a racket?  Or is it worth the hefty price tag?  Word on the street is that the Vega products are really the best quality around.  So,while the pricing might seem daunting, I’m jumping on the bandwagon gratefully.

“I live on it,”  Nicole says.  “Every morning.  The only downside is having to pick berries and chia out of your teeth afterwards.”

I can deal with that.

Nicole’s AM Smoothie:

• 1 packet Vega chocolate protein powder
• 1 cup frozen berries
• ground flax seeds (Grind them!  Or you’ll just poo them out.)
• chia
• hemp
• cinnamon (covers up the slight taste of Stevia, which may be the only drawback to the Vega powder)

Make it the night before and you’re ready to roll in the morning.

My dedicated omnivore friend, Liz, had invited me over for a vegan lunch.  Now, Liz is one of the best cooks I know.  She is spectacular.  To watch her throw ingredients together in the kitchen is to watch a form of art.

This was the first time I’ve seen her since the cyber-fight with Steph on Facebook.

“By the way,” I said, as she finished preparing the meal, “Obviously, I know you love and support me.”

“With all the lard running through my veins.”

I grinned.

“You know,” she paused from chopping the cucumber, “I did try to go vegetarian for a couple years.”

“You did?”

She nodded thoughtfully, threw the cucumber into a bowl and then snagged a red onion to start cutting up. “Yep.  Then I went to Holland to visit my aunt.  I hadn’t told her I was vegetarian and she had made me a meal.  I didn’t want to NOT eat it.”  Liz looked up for a moment from her dicing,  “I hate people like that: ‘Oh, did you not know that I’m vegetarian? I can’t possible eat the food that you’ve spent all this money and time preparing for me.’”  She shook her head and looked back down to finish chopping, “So I tucked in.”

“It was Tournedos with a green peppercorn sauce and frites au jus.  The meat came from her local butcher, slaughtered from his local grass fed herd which lives in the same village as her, the butcher who is a third generation butcher in the exact same shop his grandfather opened 100 years ago.”  She sighed, “The meat tasted like something out of my deep childhood…sweet rich and my body shouted YES.”  She finished the onions, threw them in the bowl with the cucumber, and started to enfold the dressing,  “I didn’t look back EVER again.”

I nodded, “Alan has that too.  When he has meat, he just loves it.  I think he calls himself a vegetarian so that he doesn’t eat it all the time.”

Liz heaped a big bowl of quinoa veggie goodness together on a plate and placed it before me.  “But for you, my dear…voila.”

Liz’s Delicious Cucumber Cabbage Quinoa Salad with Lime Pickle Dressing

Dressing:

• olive oil
• good balsamic vinegar
• apple cider vinegar
• grainy mustard
• lime pickle

Directions:

• Cook up quinoa of choice
• Chopped red onion to taste
• Chopped parsley to taste
• Cucumber

Mix all together and let flavour soak or devour right away.

Editor’s Warning: this recipe presume you have a good sense of taste.

My friend Steph came over for a vegan feast.  She offered to jump in the kitchen teach us how to make great vegan food.

Alan was excited.  “Teach her everything,” he said, pointing at me.  “Just lock yourselves in there and don’t come out until she knows how to cook.”

Steph’s Amazing Yam and Lentil Stew

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Da’al….ish

Steph instructs:

• Chop up one onion and some fresh ginger in a large saucepan.
• Add in two heaping tablespoons of Patak’s Mild Curry sauce; it’s great in many flavours so choose your favorite.
• Add about 2-3 cups of red lentils or brown lentils, washed and sorted; it’s all eyeballing here, folks.
• Throw in a large can of diced organic tomatoes or whole tomatoes and mash them up, but I prefer diced
• Add the same amount of water- fill the can- this is to help cook the lentils and to add more volume as they expand.
• I throw in a diced sweet potato now, too and a few dollops of tomato paste for thickening.
• Bring to a slow boil, get it simmering for at least 20 minutes so the lentils expand and the sweet potato gets cooked
• I also throw in a can of chick peas and some fresh chopped kale in the last few minutes
• Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and/or add more curry sauce….it’s that easy.

Steph says, “It makes a ton, gets better over the days, freezes like a dream and is chock full of everything- really simple and flexible- I’ve used different lentil/bean combos, too. Plus, you can add fresh baby spinach when you reheat it as well. I serve it over quinoa…yummy! And I eat it cold- I bring it to work for dinner and I never use a microwave; it tastes great cold too.”

We dig in.

It IS amazing.  This is a kick ass dinner.  Just throw it into the pot and cook her up.  We have more than enough for us plus a ton of leftovers.

“It freezes really well,” says Steph.  “Just pull it out and let it thaw when you want more.  Throw in some fresh kale or spinach leaves once it’s hot and there you go.”

After dinner, we make a new vegan brownie recipe that Steph is psyched about.  The secret ingredient is black beans, so the brownies are high in protein.  You can almost justify eating the whole pan.

Um.  Scratch the almost. I can justify it.

I’ve been away from my precious, precious juicer since before my Christmas vacation, but today had the opportunity to whip up something delicious thanks to my SPUD delivery.  I ordered their “Organic Detox Juicing Box”  delivered to my home and opened up a bin full of veggie goodness.  OH!  I’d forgotten how yummy these juices are!   At the first taste, my body instantly made a happy face.  AND, it’s the perfect addition to “Total Health Month.”  What an excellent way to get a blast of vitamins first thing in the AM.

Today’s juice was kamikaze style: basically I pulled out a bunch of thing from the box and threw them into my juicer.  I made a bigger whack of juice than I usually do, as life is busy these days and I wanted to have two days worth.  Now, ideally you should drink your juices ASAP after juicing them, but sometimes we gotta make some compromises.

Kamikaze Juice

• 1 lemon
• 4 carrots
• 4 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• handful of parsley
• slice ginger

The lemon, carrot and ginger keep it sweet and zippy, while the cucumber and celery add a” clarity” taste that I really like.

Nutritional Info (this is for two servings, keep in mind )

• 100 g of lemon (about 1) yields:
  • 88% of RDA Vitamin C (53 mg)
  • calories 30
• 400 g carrot (about 4):
  • a whopping 1320% RDA Vitamin A  (66,000 IU)
  • 40% RDA Vitamin C (12 mg)
  • 36% Potassium (640 mg)
  • 64% Vitamin K (16.4 mcg)
  • also some B6, Folate, Vitamin E, Thiamin, Manganese
  • calories 160
• 200 g of celery (roughly 4 stalks, though this can vary)
  • 18% RDA Folate (72 mg)
  • 72% RDA Vitamin K (60 mg)
  • 14% RDA Potassium (520 mg)
  • 6% RDA Magnesium (22 mg)
  • calories = 30
• 100 g cucumber (1/2 medium cucumber)
  • 9% RDA vitamin K (7.2 mcg)
  • trace elements manganese, copper, potassium
  • calories = 20
• Total calories: 240 for 2 servings

I noticed I was feeling a little sick.  The left tonsil (still got ‘em) felt swollen.

“Apparently begin vegan doesn’t mean you don’t get sick,” observes Alan cutely.

“Apparently not,” I say.  “But maybe I’m detoxing.  When you eat better, an the fat starts to melt away, bad stuff that was stored in there starts to come out of you.”

He looks unconvinced, “Maybe.”

“It’s a healing crisis,” I insist.  “All the toxins in your cells come out and you feel bad for a day or two and then you get better.”

“Or maybe being vegan has weakened your immune system and you just got a cold.”

I pause.  I have to do some research on this.

Some naturopathic websites extol the “healing crisis” as a sign that you’re actually improving your health:

• “The healing crisis is a process in which the body undergoes an intense period of cleansing and rebuilding.  It is called a “healing” crisis because the body is healing itself and becoming stronger.  It is referred to as a “crisis” because the symptoms can be dramatic and rather unpleasant during this time.  Because the healing crisis is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms it is often mistaken as a sickness.  In reality, it is just the opposite.  It is a process in which the body is overcoming ill health and becoming healthier and stronger.”

• “Also known as the “Herxheimer Reaction”, this reaction occurs when the body tries to eliminate toxins at a faster rate than they can be properly disposed of. The more toxic one’s bodily systems are, the more severe the detoxification, or healing crisis. It is characterized by a temporary increase in symptoms during the cleansing or detox process which may be mild or severe. You may feel worse and therefore conclude that the treatment is not working. But these reactions are instead signs that the treatment is working and that your body is going through the process of cleaning itself of impurities, toxins and imbalances.”

• “A healing crisis is the body’s sign of being overloaded and overwhelmed with the changes that are taking place on the road to becoming healthier.  This is often due to the body suddenly recognizing and eliminating toxins that otherwise had just been sitting there.  Donna Gates in The Body Ecology Dietrefers to healing crises as something that the body does as it’s organizing a major cleanse:

The first time I saw a healing crisis was when I put my daughter on a gluten free casein free diet (prior to GAPS); one of her cheeks turned bright red with the removal of gluten, which was acting like a toxin (or feeding toxins) in her body.  As we went through the GAPS Intro I saw the same red cheeks.  When I started her on B12 injections (B12 plays a huge roll in detoxification, which many GAPS kids have trouble with) she got night terrors/has trouble sleeping.  Night terrors and trouble sleeping are other signs of her healing crises, though these also are signs that she’s gotten food she shouldn’t have or has been exposed to a toxin.  This is where it gets tricky figuring out what is what.”

Okay, this last one freaked me out.  Seriously, there’s a mom taking her kid off gluten and giving her B12 injections?  Maybe the kid is hungry and doesn’t like being stuck with a needle?

So, what is the medical opinion on healing crises?

Hmmmm, I couldn’t find any.

That made me nervous.

I asked my nurse friend Ashley about it.

“I don’t know about this healing crisis thing,” I said.  “Am I detoxing here or do I just have a cold.”

“It shouldn’t make you sick,” Ashley said, “your body’s major routes for detoxing are breathing, urination, and defecation.”

I blinked.  “Not sweating?  Yoga teachers talk all the time about the detoxifying properties of sweating.”

She shook her head, “Sure, but that’s mostly salt.  Sweating’s good for your circulation.  And yeah, sure, stuff can get stored in your fat, but I don’t buy the healing crisis thing.”

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made.  It seemed to me that if your body was being properly supported by your diet and your nutrition, then it would feel better, not worse.  If you went off of caffeine, you likely just felt worse because you were having withdrawal symptoms or because your body was was getting used to a new diet.  This train of thought of course brought to mind the obsession with doing “cleanses.”  More on that later.

So what exactly is “detoxification?”   And what exactly are we detoxing from?  While “Detoxification” has become a buzz word for alternative health, that also doesn’t diminish the fact that we are truly exposed to a crazy number of chemicals that are probably not good for us.

Here’s the answer on our toxin exposure in part.  And a fairly sensible sounding article from the Huffington Post about “detoxing.”

Ah, the Bridal Shower!

I didn’t think to ask in advance if there would be vegan goodies.  As it turns out, the event was beautifully catered.  But the only thing I could eat besides the crackers were the bananas that the sex educator brought for us to practice our “hand strokes” on.

When the food was laid out, I timidly approached Anne, the very kind and well-dressed gal who hosted the event.  She was doling out a delicious looking butternut squash soup.

“Hi,” I said.   “Is that vegetarian?”

She smiled, “Yes!”

“Um,” I said, not wanting to be a pain in the ass, “Is it non-dairy?”

She paused, “Yes, I think so.  No, well there was a dribble of something white on it.  Yoghurt or something?”

“Ah, that’s okay.  That’s fine.”  I started to back away, “That’s okay, I’m good.”

She got concerned, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No, I know, it’s fine.  I’m not hungry.”

“There are mushroom popovers?”  She looked hopefully at the table laden with little catered delicacies.

I shrugged, a little pained, “Butter.”  I don’t want her to worry about it.

“What about those?”

“Those are salmon.”

“Oh,” she seemed crestfallen.  Then she brightens, “I made a soup for myself, you can have it.  It has nothing in it, just lentils.  No dairy, nothing like that.  It’s in the fridge.”

She was a very nice person.

“It’s okay, I’m really not hungry.  I’m great.”

“Okay, “she eyed me, “You just tell me.”

I slunk away and ate some crackers, figuring on stopping at home for some vegan potato leek soup before the dancing.

One of the fellow revelers, who happened to be a kick ass Australian triathelete with a heart of gold – Tash – had brought a couple vegan dips.  One is butternut squash and tahini.  It’s good, and I am happy.

Tash extolled the virtues of quinoa:

“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” she said.  “It’s great savory or sweet.  A little maple syrup on it, fruit, nuts for breakfast?   I can eat it all day.  So I’ll have it for breakfast with roasted yam, avocado, pine nuts and cottage cheese. It sounds weird but is so good.”  She looked at me, “Since you can’t do dairy, you could take the cottage cheese and do it with banana and tahini and some cinnamon.”

“That does sound weird, but good.”

“One of the best things about quinoa is that it’s great with veggies and with fruit.   A great dressing is apple cider vinegar and flax seed oil.  Same proportions as balsamic dressing and it’s so good for you.”

“Why are you going vegan?” one of the other girls chimed in.

I thought about it.  I appreciated the curiosity.   “It just felt like the right thing for me to do.  It’s not for everyone, and I don’t know how long it will last.  But it feels right for me right now.”  And with a bellyful of Tash’s dips, it really did.

Tash’s kick ass quinoa salad:

• Grated carrot and beets
• Steamed kale and asparagus
• Chick peas
• Sunflower seeds and pine nut
• Artichoke hearts
• Cherry tomatoes
• Fresh herbs (parsley and dill in this one)
• Cut everything up smallish, mixed all together with lemon juice and dressing made from flax seed oil and apple cider vinegar (same proportions as balsamic dressing)

My head hurts.

As part of Total Health Month (THM), I have decided to forgo caffeine.  This is doubly hard after spending a week with my “always-have-a-pot-on” family over the holidays.

Going caffeine free means that rather than ordering my tall Americano, I got a tall decaf Americano (okay, okay, I know that decaf has some caffeine in it – but have some pity, people!).  Being a flavor slave and something of an addict, I also have been drinking coffee substitutes.  Krakus and Grain Gourmet are my favorites in Canada – they are comprised of some miraculous combination of barley, rye, chicory, and beet root.  Throw it with with some Soy Delicious creamer or a MimicCreme and it’s vegan, too!

But my head still hurts.

Withdrawal is a bitch.  Which is probably why it’s 9 pm and I’m going to shortly crawl into bed.

However, before I pass out, I must share that tonight I made some exciting vegan goodies.  I made them while my roommate was out teaching, so I would have ample time to clean the kitchen before she got home.

Sundried Tomato Cashew Cheese

• cup of soaked cashews
• container of sundried tomatoes (including oil)
• Water as needed.
• Blend it in a food processor.

That’s it.  And you can tell my ingredient measurements aren’t too exact, so use your judgment and blend until you have a nice thick texture.  The fellow that gave me this recipe also adds in a whole bunch of basil, which I will try next time.  The phrase, “cashew cheese” sounds pretty gross to me (evoking “toe cheese” or something – ew), but the result is spectacular.  Delicious, and so easy to make – even for me.

Chocolate something or other

Okay, I wanted something chocolate to be able to dip into in times of trouble.  Something that would adhere to my THM intentions.  So I whipped this up in my Vitamix (I love my Vitamix) based on inspiration from my friend Steph.  I added in lots of “good for you” stuff, too, to get this in under THM rules.

• raw cocoa nibs – about 2-3 cups
• raw almond butter – about 1 cup
• spoonful of chlorella
• tablespoon of maca
• tablespoon of chia
• water to blend (probably 1/2 cup)
• cinnamon to taste

Blend this all up, then add:

• about 2 handful of dates

Again, it’s not an exact science.  And you’ll need a hard core food processor as the mixture gets quite thick.  I spooned it out and put it into a tupperware container and put it in the fridge to “set”.  My intention was that it would make bars or something of the sort.

My roommate came home and I proudly showed her my chocolate creation.  Susan is also doing the THM this month.

She looked at it, “”Can we find some cake to put under it?”  She dabbed a finger in and tasted.  Her brows lifted.  “What did you use for sugar?”

“Dates.”

She slowly nods, “This could work.”

This is high praise.

“It’s even got chlorella in it.  And chia,” I say proudly.

“So what’s the plan for this,” she says, nodding to my tupperware.

I look down at it.  “I don’t know.  That it will eventually get cold and I can cut into bars.”

She shakes her head, “That’s not going to set.”

“Then we’ll eat it with a spoon.”

She laughs, “Okay, fine with me, just checking to see if there was an end game here.”   I make a note to check in with Steph and see how she gets hers to set into bars.  But seriously, I’m pretty happy with the spoon thing.

She starts unpacking her grocery bag and pulls out a bag of potato chips.

She looks at me, and pauses.  “They’re baked.”

We all have our cheats.

Time for a digestive check in

Still flatulent.  Not as much.  But think about it: I’m not a very creative vegan yet, so my idea of a meal is a head of broccoli and some hummus.   Hmmmm, raw veggies and beans!  What a great combination!

So it’s not surprising that another Facebook trail about vegetarianism struck a chord.  The exchange was entitled “Vegetarian Gas and Bloat.”  Apparently vegetarians deal with this a lot.

However, it’s not just the personal discomfort that’s such a problem; the final exchange is a bit chilling:

“One final word: Did you all know that methane (from cows) is far worse for global warming than car emissions? Isn’t it interesting how governments won’t even consider going after (or even exposing) the agriculture industry to encourage more vegetarianism? Regardless, it’s just one more thing we can all feel GREAT about.”

My response

Hey all, I just started being vegan. Mucho flatulence, just outrageous stinky town. Getting better, but thanks for all the resources. It will help me explain to my boyfriend that this is only temporary 😉

A word about the methane

I was suspicious about the claim that methane was worse for global warming than car emissions, so I decided to do some recon and find out.

According to the EPA, it turns out, that yes, “mobile emissions” (which include cars, airplanes, trucks, ships, trains, etc…and your weedwacker) rated just 2 while “Enteric fermentation” (fermentation that takes place in the digestive track of domesticated livestock – doesn’t include emissions from stinky vegetarians) measured a whooping 139.8 in 2009.*  Manure management adds another 49.5.  The only other source that beats the animals is “Natural Gas Systems,” which comes in at 221.2.

Um, wow.

My vegan friend Steph spends time on a farm (not a working farm, but where farm animals have been rescued to).  I mentioned my shock about methane emissions to her.

“Oh yeah,” she nodded,  “One cow can output 150 pounds of manure per day.”

Holy…cow.

*And these numbers are teragrams of CO2 equivalents, where 1 teragram = 1 million metric tons.   Good lord.

Over the holidays, my family and I hold our full tummies and moan things like, “When January hits, you better believe that we’re not going to eat like this anymore.”  The guilt about eating an extra serving of pie or an additional glass of wine is tempered by the impending doom of a January that will no doubt turn us back (?) into the lean fighting machines we were sometime before Thanksgiving.  In January, we think, we will eat celery, drink only water, and run 5 miles daily to slough off the holiday torpor.  We will be perfect.  And healthy. And thin.

I love having a good time over the holidays, but this kind of all or nothing thinking leads to a roller coaster of extreme health habits.   It also reinforces the idea that health is about how much you weigh, rather than about all the factors that play into a deeper and lasting wellness.

This year, my brother-in-law Dave and I hatched a new kind of health intention for 2013.

Rather than only focusing on weight and diet (the usual defaults after the holidays), we decided to take a broader view of health and wellness and instead encourage small, incremental changes through all areas of our life.  Making small changes to your daily habits will do more for your long-term health and well-being than focusing on dropping holiday pounds.  Change your habits, change your lifestyle, change your life.

Total Health Month

Rather than setting a poundage goal, widen your health horizons.  Consider the following factors (whichever are the most potent for you!) to reassess as you embark on your 2013:

• nutrition – what kinds of food are you nourishing your body with? Do you feel good about what you’re eating?
• portions – how much do you really need, are you really eating because you’re hungry, or is there something else going on?
• when you eat, can you focus entirely on what you’re eating (ie: no more eating at your desk)
• can you limit caffeine and alcohol?
• exercise  – is it balanced  (a good combo of cardio, strength, and stretching)
• exercise – can you do a little every day?
• making small daily choices to get your body happy (walk up the stairs, take a 5 minute stretch break at work)
• water – are you getting 2  L a day?
• rest – are you sleeping 7-9 hours?
• mind – can you meditate 5 minutes a day?
• can you take a short nature walk every day?
• supplements – how can you support your body every day?
• do you floss daily?

Let yourself slow down and assess how your current lifestyle choices are supporting the person that you want to be. Even choosing five factors to focus on for January will transform your sense of well-being.  Create a simple way to track whether you meet your daily goals as a way to be accountable for these small changes.  And above all, celebrate your success!

Happy January!