Day 8-11....feelin good

This week has gone by too fast! I am glad though because if I feel the week is going by fast than that means I have been busy and productive which is alot more than I can say about last week. My first five days of going vegan my body was in detox mode and I felt like crap most of the time. This week however I have noticed a marked difference in the amount of energy and overall general lightness or cleanness. In fact I feel like I would love to burst out of the door at times and just run......and I don't run......ever.....unless maybe I was being chased by a killer zombie or something. With temperatures being in the negatives however, running will have to wait.

Overall I have noticed my edema(severe water retention and swelling) is pretty much gone, my belly which always had some swelling (not counting the fat) has gone down and even though I have not stepped on the scale once, I am positive I have lost weight. The one thing that has gotten worse has been my scalp. It is dry and has flaky red spots that itch. My nurse friend says this could be from my body still detoxing a bit or simply the new shampoo I am trying out. If it doesn't improve I will have it checked out but for now I am just dealing with it.

Although I have not slipped and have eaten pure 100% vegan this entire time I have slipped and ate some vegan items that were higher in fat like nut butters and a little oil in my cooking. Of course the amount of fat I have eaten over these entire 11 days has been less than I use to eat in only one or two days so I feel I am making progress anyway. I know I feel better and that is what counts.

I find that mornings are when I crave something sweet the most so I did myself a favor and made me a vegan friendly chocolate smoothie in my new Ninja. It is basically just some bananas, a little vegan friendly sugar, vanila, unsweetened cocoa and ice. Simple but satisfying.

I did make some vegan lasagna this week as well but it was not that big of a hit with myself or the family so I will try a different version next time. One thing that did make a big hit was a yellow split pea soup curry type dish. I got the recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly except I used yellow mustard seeds since I couldn't find the black mustard seeds. Also I used white sweet potatoes by accident. I will say that this soup smells fantastic cooking and simmering on the stove. My youngest was even willing to try it for lunch because she had smelled it for a few hours cooking and thought it smelled yummy. We had a bowl for lunch  and then since I had such a huge pot leftover, I served it over rice for dinner that night. Hubby and son both liked it as well and I have a new found love of yellow split peas. 

Day 5,6,7.....woot woot! a whole week eating vegan!

Sorry for the lack of posting these past few days. I got lazy over the weekend plain and simple. Here is a recap of the past few days....

Day 5

I had a smoothie for breakfast, leftovers for lunch and for dinner I made what we call Squashed Squash. Squashed Squash is more like a squash soup or stew I suppose but it is an old family recipe that we often eat as a side dish but it is so good we like to eat it as our main with maybe a side of bread. To make Squashed Squash all you do is peel some yellow squash, cut it up into chunks and boil until soft. Next drain most of the water off then add a little salt, pepper, sugar non dairy milk and mash a little with potato masher. That's it. :)

Day 6

Saturday we slept in which was wonderful. By the time we woke up it was almost lunch but I made breakfast anyway. I used this recipe here for vegan pancakes. The only difference I made was that I used almond milk instead of soy and applesauce instead of oil. These were light and fluffy and really quiet yummy. I am thinking I may pre mix my dry ingredients and keep in a container so I can make this quickly in the future.

We ended up running some errands Saturday afternoon so we went out to eat. I was a little nervous about finding something on the menu that would actually  fill me up since I was starving by then. We choose Red Robin and I ordered their vegan burger with quacamole and substituted fruit for fries. I must say it was very tasty and satisfying. I was very thrilled once again that I could still go out with my family and eat at one of our favorite places.

Part of running errands included picking up this beauty!

I don't have a food processor, my blender is on the fritz and I don't have a stand mixer. A great deal of the vegan recipes I find include using one of these and this Ninja Kitchen System 1100 does it all. I made homemade dog food, smoothies and brownies in it already and it works perfect!

Day 7
I made breakfast burritos yesterday morning. They were not fancy burritos but they were still tasty. All I did was cook some onions and peppers, then added some crumbled extra firm tofu to act as my "eggs". When that was all cooked I moved them to the side and added my hash browns.

Once the hash browns were cooked I mixed it all together and heated up the whole grain tortillas by simply placing them on top of the mixture for about 30 seconds.

The rest of yesterday we just kind of snacked around all day. I had mostly fruit and leftovers.

So that brings us to today and I have been on a vegan diet for a whole week! I think I am pretty much over the detox and honestly I feel pretty good. I feel lighter and cleaner than I did before going vegan and my thyroid and insulin resistance side effects have been less than normal.

Today school was canceled due to it being too cold so I will be trying to get my Monday housework done while keeping the kids under control. lol

Have a marvelous Monday everyone!

Day Four- Shut the front door "meat" loaf recipe!!!

Yesterday was Day Four of my vegan year and it was such a good day. It blew snow all day yesterday so my daughter and I just stayed home and hung out which was exactly what I needed. I even got to sleep late which was also sorely needed. This is going to be a short post today I am afraid because unlike yesterday I have gobs of stuff to do.

For breakfast I put some bananas, frozen pineapple, vanilla, a smidge of almond milk and water in a blender and  made me a quick smoothie. It was very satisfying and quick.

Lunch was leftover enchiladas, also satisfying and quick. lol

Dinner was fabulous! My family adores my meatloaf and one of our favorite meals is meatloaf, mashed taters and peas. I wanted to replicate this meal as best as possible so when I found this recipe online I was excited to give it a go.

At first it seemed daunting, way more steps than my traditional meatloaf, but it was actually pretty easy. The smell of the lentils, bay leaf and veggie stock cooking on the stove was soooo delightful. I normally don't let my daughter help me when I prepare meatloaf because I have this phobia of food borne bacteria and such being transferred from the meat to other parts of my kitchen or that she won't wash her hands well enough and will get some sort of horrible e coli or something. I get very paranoid when handling raw meats and so I just don't let anyone else in my kitchen when doing so. One thing I am loving about preparing vegan foods is that I don't have to worry about this anymore! It is a surprise advantage that I had not really considered until last night when my daughter asked to help make dinner.

My daughter mixing the loaf

This really was an easy recipe once I got everything organized and it smelled wonderful cooking as well. 

Here is the loaf right out of the oven

We always have mashed taters with our meatloaf so I made them vegan friendly by leaving a little of cooking water from boiling in place of the milk and added nutritional yeast instead of butter. After taste testing the taters I added a little salt and pepper too. They were just as yummy as the butter and milk filled ones I normally make. 

last nights dinner plate, lentil loaf, mashed taters and peas

My daughter was the first one to taste the lentil loaf since traditional meat loaf is one of her favorite foods. She went nuts for it and proclaimed her love for lentil loaf right away. Touch down Mom!!!

Hubby tried it next and he also really liked it although he said it was a bit drier than my traditional meatloaf but he still really liked it and said he would like for me to make it again. My son said he couldn't tell much difference between the lentil loaf and the regular meatloaf so I take that as a success too. 

Myself, I thought it tasted absolutely wonderful! I raved about it the whole meal which was bragging yes but I really enjoyed the meal. I really think any meat lover would go ga ga over this lentil loaf, its just that good. 

Stay tuned to tomorrow when I discuss eating vegan on a budget. :-)

Day Three- OMG they are everywhere!.....a knock out dish my family even loved

Yesterday was Day Three of my vegan year and I came to really harsh realization......it is almost impossible to get away from meat and dairy and processed foods in our nation today. Whats a vegan to do when they have little choice but to eat at one of these establishments or not eat?

I awoke yesterday morning early and ready to tackle the world. As I hopped out of the shower I noticed my   little furbaby(your pet that is like your own child to you) staring at me. I didn't have my contacts in yet but I could tell something didn't look right about her sweet little face. As I bent down to further inspect her face I was alarmed to see that the bottom portion of her eyelid was basically hanging opening and there was a deep puncture like hole right below that. I will spare you the gory details but lets just say it was gross and pretty bad. I began to fuss over my poor eldest furbaby when our new furbaby appeared and then directly ran into her kennel to hide. That is when I knew what had happened. Our fur children like our human children fight over their stuff and our dogs in particular will get into spats every once in a while over chew bones. They have never hurt each other but it appears this time was the exception.

Within an hour I had dropped our oldest child off at school and we were on our way to the vets office. It wasn't until we were waiting for the vet to return to tell us the news that I realized myself and my youngest had not eaten breakfast at all. I was in such in a hurry to get the dog to the vet I had completely forgotten about eating! Whoops!

It turns out the injury to our beloved pet wasn't as serious it looked. The vet didn't want to put stitches in it because of it's location so they used some skin glue and ointments and put her back together again. We were sent home with cleaning instructions and a prescription of antibiotics. Once in the car my daughter reminded me that we had not eaten breakfast yet. I had a list of errands I had to run so I didn't have time to go all the way across town and eat breakfast at home so I looked for other alternatives. I needed something fast and something I could get without leaving the car because I couldn't leave the dog in the car. Fast food wins again! After doing a quick search on my phone for fast food chains that had vegan options for breakfast we went to chic-fil-a. My daughter ordered those wonderful yummy chicken minis that use to be a favorite of mine too. I ordered the oatmeal bowl which came with separate packages of dried fruit, nuts and brown sugar. After stirring in the dried fruit I dug in. Honestly it was not that spectacular, the oatmeal I make at home is ten times better BUT it was good enough and I felt good that I could still eat at "normal" food places and have a vegan option.

Once home I had set up the two dogs in separate areas since I was unable to supervise them at the time and was just about to get some housework done when hubby called. He was on his lunch break and running some errands and wanted to know if my daughter and I wanted to meet him for lunch. He didn't have much time so it would have to something quick...fast food wins a second time in one day....grrrrr! Sure I could have said "no thanks" to his invitation for lunch but ya see I kinda love that man a ton and I truly cherish any opportunity I have to spend extra time with him....I am kinda sappy that way. Hubby offered up a few suggestions but I couldn't think of anything on the menus of those places that I could eat or would want to eat. I could tell he was beginning to be put out with me for being so difficult and then I remembered Wendy's, they have baked potatoes on their menus!

On the way over to meet hubby at Wendy's I started feeling like when you are a vegan in a typical american town it feels kinda lonely. I felt like I couldn't eat at any of the places my friends and family eat at and began to really get down about my future social life. Honestly it is pathetic that more places don't have something decent on the menu that a vegan can eat. Pretty much every item on menus these days contains either dairy, meat or both....and all contain added oils. I suppose if I liked salads it would be easier, hopefully one day I will learn to like salads and can bring my own dressing from home. I wonder if this is how other vegans feel? Like they are some weird out crowd that can't participate in normal societal traditions or conveniences. Seems funny that I am eating the most natural diet for a human beings while other drink the milk of another species and yet I am the weird one.

Anyway, at lunch with hubby I ordered a baked potato with only chives and sea salt, a garden side salad(figured I would at least try) and a lemonade. The tater was really good and very satisfying and I kinda of picked at my salad but since I am determined to eat more greens I managed to swallow down half of it. Hubby ordered a bacon cheeseburger and it really smelled good but I could also see the poor pigs and cows being slaughtered to make that burger every time hubby or anyone else around me took a bite. Whatever desire I had to eat a burger too was quickly put to rest when I remembered the images I have seen on videos of how they really treat those poor animals going to slaughter. Of course the images of all that lovely animal protein feeding cancer cells also helped to curb those cravings too.

Our dogs have made up it seems after the eye injury incident yesterday morning. They are now happily growling and barking together at every squirrel, cat and leaf that crosses our yard.

I was glad to be home away from all the overwhelming reminders of how out of societal norm my diet is. Makes me think I need to make some vegan friends so I can enjoy a nice social dinner ever once in a while.
I was reminded again however when I had to run to wal-mart while my kids were at basketball practice since I ran out of foil and milk for the family. Grabbing my shopping cart I set out for the grocery section and again it hit me. Pretty much 75% of the items were not vegan friendly. Of the remaining 25% only half of those were unprocessed and didn't contain extra added oils and sugars. I found the foil, placed it in my basket and headed to the dairy section. I never realized how large the dairy section is, I mean seriously! Aisle of stuff that as I vegan and informed person I wouldn't dare put in body! At the milk freezers I  decided to forgo buying the cows milk and bought almond and rice milk for my family instead. They have had it before when I tried to force the whole family to go vegan last year and they didn't mind it too much so I figured why not. If they complained I would get them their beloved cow's milk because as you may remember I don't want to force them into anything. Once the plant based milk was in my cart it was a long straight shot to the produce section passing aisle after aisle of foods that I now know aren't really food. I didn't buy anything in the produce section since I had already gone shopping on Monday but I wanted to look at the only section in a huge store that I could eat from. There really is a wonderful amount of dishes one can make only from the produce section. Eating only from the produce section doesn't upset me or make me feel deprived, it makes me feel concerned and sad that all that other "food" in the store isn't fit for people to eat and live healthy lives. In line I felt it again. The family in front of me was all overweight as myself. Their cart was filled with piles of meat packages, lots of dairy products and heaps of processed foods like chips, cereals, sauces, boxed meals and snacks. Not one single fruit or vegetable. The mother was chatting with the cashier and I overheard her say they were doing their twice a month grocery run. All of that filth was the only thing this family would be eating for the next two weeks until they did yet another grocery run.....not a single vegetable or fruit....so sad. As I looked around me though all the other carts pretty much looked the same.

Last night I made very very yummy dish! I had planned on lasagna again but with the time constraints I needed something faster so enchiladas it was. I remembered an enchilada recipe I had made last year off of the Dr. McDougal website and although I didn't remember the exact recipe I remember it had potatoes at the main filling so I just went from there. The result was a knock out fabulous dish that everyone liked and I will definitely be making again. I can even see taking these to a pot luck. Here is my "recipe" or rather instructions.

I took a medium sized mixing bowl and filled it half with left over mashed taters(vegan of course) and then added a bag of frozen corn, a can of fat free vegan pinto beans(drained and rinsed), some chopped up  leftover sauted peppers, about three large tablespoons of nutritional yeast and mixed it all up. Next I took some whole grain fat free tortillas and filled each one with the filling, rolled them up and placed them in my casserole dish that before hand I had put a thin layer of enchilada sauce on. Last I poured the remaining enchilada sauce on top and covered it with foil and baked it for about 35-45 minutes on 350.When it started bubbling I knew it was done. My one compliant was that the red enchilada sauce was really spicy and added more heat than I prefer but they were still really really yummy. In the future I will use a much milder sauce when making these.

The great thing about enchiladas is that are some easy to try lots of different fillings and sauces on to make a completely different dish. These are going into my meal rotation when I get one set up for sure.

At the end of Day Three I was feeling better physically but a little sad over the realization that meat and dairy industry are literally everywhere you turn your head in the form of fast food chains and aisles of super market fake foods. I was very encouraged however that I managed to eat at two fast food chains in one day and still was able to eat vegan and also that I made a vegan dish my whole family loved for dinner that night.

I am on Day Four today and so far it has been great with a new breakfast item I made today.......but more on that in my next post.

Have an amazing day everyone!

Day Two- Detox Headaches!!! Grrrrr

After the way I slept last night....or didn't sleep rather....I am not sure if I can call this Day Two of my vegan year or just a long continuation of Day One. I am not sure how long I was asleep last night before the headaches started but I know they didn't really stop until around 10:00 am this morning. Sleep never really occurred and so it is hard to feel like this is a separate and new day when yesterday never seemed to end.

I have never been one to get headaches very often. Ever once in a while I may get some sinus or tension headaches but nothing very serious and certainly nothing that ever lasted for hours. I feel truly blessed in this because I know many people that get debilitating headaches on a regular basis. Today I got a little taste of what that might be like. I couldn't really do anything except lay there and think about how bad my stupid head hurt, nothing helped and everything made it worse. Finally after taking some pain meds and getting some oatmeal in my stomach, the pain began to be manageable and I was able to to get on with my day. I had stay on top of my headaches the rest of the day by taking some more pain medicine throughout the day but  it wasn't too bad most of the time.

After talking with my best friend who happens to be very knowledgeable about natural foods/remedies and has also done lots of research about how horrible the american diet has become, I think I know the reason for my headaches. (Oh and did I mention that she and her husband were/are both nurses) She suggested that my body was most likely in the detox stage of getting all that yuck and filth I have been putting in my body out my system. I have experienced this kind of detox many times before but not with such intense headaches but I have eaten worse in these past few months than I have in a long long time, so my filth more detox I suppose. My friend warned me that day two is when the detox symptoms start but that days three and four are the worse but by day five I should be feeling much better and probably even better than I have in a long time. Bring on day five!!!! :-)

Due to the headaches and my general state of uselessness, my menu for today was pretty easy and bland which with the way I was feeling I didn't really care. For breakfast it was oatmeal again with the apples and cinnamon cooked in it (I will post the recipe soon) and for lunch I made my old McDougall diet stand by, the tater sandwich. I first learned of this simple but delish sandwich in the first Dr. McDougall book I ever read. I made it one day and it was an instant hit with the family plus it is very satisfying. The recipe can be found on the Dr. McDougall website but I will give it to you here as well.

First you simple wash a few taters, yukon golds taste the best in my opinion. After you wash them just prick them with a fork all over and nuke them in the microwave for a few minutes until soft. If you don't like to use a microwave you can bake them in the oven but of course that will take longer. Once they are soft slice them up and "fry" them in a pan. I use my cast iron pan and never have to use any oil, a non stick pan would work as well.

Once your tater slices are "fried" I put them on some toasted bread with whatever healthy condiments and fixings you like. My kids love it with just a healthy bbq sauce on the toast with the taters. The best thing is you can add all sorts of veggies you want to really personal and mix this simple sandwich up. I think it would taste amazing with some carmelized onions, peppers and mushrooms or some humus and sprouts.....definitely gonna try those two in the near future. One thing that makes it so good is the bread as well. We have a really excellent bakery here that makes vegan friendly bread with wonderful whole grains and none of the junk. I use this break when making sandwiches all the time even when I am not eating vegan.

Here are the sandwiches I made for my kids before I put on the top piece of bread. They look pretty bland and I should have taken a picture of mine which was much more colorful but by the time I got it assembled I was so hungry I gobbled it down without a second thought. hahaaha! They are soooo yummy!

This afternoon and evening we got hit with more snow and because I was unable to do any of my errands earlier today I got stuck running around town in the weather. My husband had to work late which was fine since I ended up not getting home until later as well. Once home the headaches started again and the yummy vegan lasagna I had planned for tonight seemed like a huge chore....honestly a bowl of cereal would have felt like a huge chore with the way I was feeling. My family decided to heat up some stuff I had in the freezer instead(I know I am a horrible mother/wife and yes I feel guilty that they had to heat something up rather than have me prepare them a fresh meal, but they are such troopers, I am so lucky) and I made myself another tater sandwich and called it good.

As I write this I am already in my pj's and ready for bed, I missed so much sleep last night I figure going to bed early and catching up would be a good idea. My hope is that tomorrow I feel better and don't have the headaches. I am planning on a yummy kale salad for lunch tomorrow and that vegan lasagna I didn't get to tonight for tomorrows evening meal. I am hoping my friend is wrong and that day three is not worse than day two but I am afraid she is usually right on most things. Perhaps being prepared for it will help though this time because today I was totally thrown off by my headaches and lack of sleep......speaking of which I need to get to bed. Goodnight everyone out in blog land and check in tomorrow for day three of my vegan year.

Day 1 Of My Vegan Year!!!!!

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 Yep it's true! As of today I am officially a vegan. No I didn't wake up to streamers and recycled confetti falling all around me but I was excited to start my journey just the same.

 This morning was a whirl of activity since our oldest child returned back to school after Christmas vacation today. I decided to let him stress over where he last left his back pack, locker combo and shoe while I sat down and enjoyed a hot bowl of oatmeal and fruit. I was hungry enough I could have eaten a seven course meal but time did not allow and besides I had yet to go grocery shopping .

Grocery shopping was alot more stressful than I had anticipated. The last few times I had gone vegan I still ate "vegan junkfood" and it was easy to find a fake version of my favorite foods because I didn't care much about the fat content or all the chemicals that were in the products. This time I had to look at every single label over and over. Sherlock Holmes would have been proud of my investigative skills I am sure! More than  once I held up traffic in the grocery store aisle because I was taking so much time discerning over which items to buy. One man actually threw his hands up in the air and said some not so nice words under his breath as he pushed past me with his cart full of steaks and chips. Honestly I didn't mean to be such a nuisance to my fellow shoppers but I was on a mission and I could care less who I made mad.

In the end it took three different grocery stores to find every item on my list and it was as I was leaving the third store that I realized I was probably over complicating this whole vegan thing.

Once home I was famished and suffering from a caffeine headache. I normally have a soda pop everyday between breakfast and lunch and my body was missing the sugar and caffeine rush it was use to. To be totally honest and fair I will admit to wanting so very badly to eat one of my kid's pop tarts and chase it with a cold soda pop. Or even better, heat up the leftover mac and cheese sitting in the fridge with my name on it.
I knew I had to do something quick before I broke so I made the fastest thing I could think of.....bean burritos.

Trust me it taste better than it  looks

Luckily I had found the low fat whole grain vegan tortillas on my list today so I grabbed a can of no fat vegan refriend beans and decided they would do. I should have loaded this burrito down with some yummy veggie extras but I had little time and will power to chop, dice or even wash any sort of produce so plain bean burritos it was and you know what they were actually very satisfying. I ended my simple lunch with a large handful of red grapes and I was full.

By the time dinner rolled around I was pretty hungry again and my afternoon had been non stop activity. I decided to try the Chili Mac recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

For the sake of trying to get my kids to even think about eating this I left the Kale out. I had meant to add it only to mine but I forgot completely. This was a simple one pot kind of dish which is just what was in order on a busy day as today had been. My daughter didn't like hers at all but I think that is because I made it a bit spicier than the recipe calls for. To my husbands I added mushrooms since that man will eat anything you put a mushroom on. In the future I will add the Kale and less onion and spice but I will definitely be making it again because it so darn easy and perfect for an evening that you just want something simple.

Overall my first day of my vegan year was actually less colorful and rich than I had planned but it was still ok.  Now that my fridge is stocked with more vibrant foods I am looking forward to some more interesting and exciting meals this coming week. Health wise I am feeling so so . I know there is alot junk that my body is trying to get rid of right now so I don't expect like a million bucks just yet. I definitely don't feel worse or even the same as normal, just slightly better than average. At least it is a step in the right direction.

Well I am off to look up a recipe for steel cut oats cooked overnight in the crock pot. I adore hot cereals in the mornings but my kids like something with a little more kick in the morning so I am hoping that waking to the yummy smell of breakfast cooking will entice them to give it a try. And if they don't more for me later! hahahaaha

Goodnight and I will see you all tomorrow on Day 2!!!!

How is this Vegan Year going to work?

So here I am about to start my year of only vegan eating and I thought I lay a few ground rules to start with.

First off my 365 days of eating only vegan starts tomorrow January 7, 2013. Why didn't I start this on the first day of the new year? To be honest I wasn't sure if I really wanted to embark on this endeavor and 2nd is that we were on the road traveling home after Christmas break on the first day of the new year. I also knew that if I was going to be successful I have to set myself up for success right from the beginning. One doesn't just wake up in a typical american home with a typical american fridge filled with the foods a typical american family eats and go vegan. I needed time to prepare, make a plan, go over a list and really make sure I do my best to set myself up to avoid failure.

As part of my preparations I have had to decide how far I would take this vegan thing in our home and daily life. What I decided is that I will not drag my husband and kids into this new way of eating. All attempts to do so in the past have ended up with everyone being mad at me and lots of sneaking banned food into the house. I would love for my entire family to be healthier but I know my family and I know they need to be gently exposed to changed and that they don't react well to anything that is forced. So, with that said I plan to make many vegan dishes for all of us to enjoy but I will by no means tell them they can not have their other  favorite foods. There will be some meals where we can all eat the same foods and others where I eat a modified vegan version of what I prepare for my family. I am sure there will also be meals where I prepare something totally different for myself. For example my family loves chili dog night but I don't like any of the vegan versions of chili dogs so that night I may just make myself something totally different. It will be a pain on days that I have to make two separate meals at a time but I feel it is worth it to not be the kind of parent or spouse that forces their family to do something they do not want to do. Of course I will be thrilled if they come to like  many of the vegan dishes I prepare but I am not crossing my fingers.

The rest of my preparations involve just deciding what I will and will not eat. Obviously I will be eating vegan but there are actually some different variations of vegan eating I have learned through experience. First of all I have yet to decide about the honey issue so until I do I will just avoid honey. I also don't want to fill my meals with lots of "vegan junk food", those processed chemistry experiments that come in the form of traditional foods but are actually not they are suppose to imitate. Sure these products are vegan but they are also mostly chemicals and additives and are about as much as food as twinkies are. I plan to eat foods that are close to their natural form as possible. Also unlike many vegans I will no be overloading on soy products.   They jury is still out on how soy effects those with thyroid issue and would rather just not risk it until I have more information and research on the matter. I will use tofu however since it isn't made from soy bi products like most soy products but because tofu can be high in fat I won't use it all the time. This leads me to my next guideline for my vegan journey....I will be eating a mostly fat free or low fat vegan diet. Ever wonder why so many vegans are still fat, its because of all the fat they still eat in the form of oils and such. So I will be using very little to no oil in my cooking. For more information about low fat vegan eating check out Dr. McDougall's website. It is mostly his plan that I will be following.

Now for what I will be eating. Yippee! I will be eating lots of veggies particularly the starchy ones and the green ones. Also on my menu will be plenty of wholesome grains, rice and pasta....yes carbs but the good kind. Oh and fruit also! Love me some yummy fruit. So really all I am "missing" is meat and dairy products and eggs. Before when I was eating this way and felt so wonderful my typical daily menu would be something similar to this....
Breakfast- a bowl of oatmeal or breakfast buritto(taters and veggies only) and some fruit
Lunch- baked tater or  pasta with veggies
Dinner- whole grain rice with veggies or just a big plate of my favorite veggies like mashed taters, corn, peas and carrots.
Snacks- fruit, veggies, rice balls, smoothies, etc,....

I also made lots of vegan style casseroles since we love casseroles. One dish I prepared was the enchilada recipe I got off of Dr. McDougalls website, my family really really loved it so I made it alot since it was great eaten as leftovers too.

As far as drinks go, I very very rarely drink any type of alcohol although I do cook with it at times. I will pretty much be drinking water mostly,  fruit juices and my beloved ice tea as well as my  hot herbal teas.

I think my biggest challenge will be eating out. We enjoy eating out and I know it is going to be very hard finding something on the menu that is vegan or that I can have the chef veganize for me. If I liked salads I would just order a salad but I don't like salads so..............
I figure Asian type places will be easy since I can just order some plain rice and veggies. Mexican will be hard because most places put loads of fat in their spanish rice and beans which is what I would normally order when trying to eat vegan. Typical American style establishments will not be too horrible hard so long as somewhere on their menu is a baked potato that I can order plain. It will be a challenge for sure but I am up for it and hopefully will find some new places to eat that we had not considered before.

I have not gone shopping for my new food stuffs as of yet but I have some oatmeal I am planning on having for breakfast tomorrow and then I will head out and go grocery shopping. Today I am working on finishing up my menu and grocery list for this week so I will be prepared.  I plan on posting my menus and recipes on this blog to share with everyone as well.

Admittedly I can't decide if I am excited or scared about this new challenge I am giving myself. I know I am excited because I have already gotten a taste of amazingly better I feel when I eat this way but at the same time I know how hard it is going to be simply because it is hard to alter your way of life. I am a southern gal who loves real southern food after all.

I think it is important that I clarify right now that this is not weight loss diet. It's not really a "diet" at all just a change in the way I eat with hopes of achieving better health and to be more environmentally friendly. I have deeply held beliefs that make it very easy to be an ethical vegan as well which I will share in more detail on this blog at a later date.

So tomorrow is the first day of my vegan year and hopefully the first day of better health.