Day 9 - Vegan Junkfood

There are MANY Vegan Junk food options out there. There is actually an entire store devoted to it in Portland which we've mentioned before Food Fight. I've had the vegan gummy bears, ice cream, chocolate cookies, skittles and beer - what am I doing?! I dont even like skittles! I decided to become vegan not for the junkfood, but for the healthy benefits.

Believe it or not, I think I've eaten more empty calories in the past week than I have in months. My meals have been very well balanced with veggies, protein, fiber, and healthy fats, but it is those sweet treats and microbrews that win me over. I started Weight Watchers 3 months ago and I have been continually tracking my food with the point system all weight watchers love and hate. The program is not a diet, but a way of living. This has been a great experience and essentially has led me to going beyond watching portions and calories, to the point where I want to become a Vegan. This was a big step that I was so proud of and suddenly I feel like I'm going backwards. Ive gotten wrapped up in the novelty of these items that one would never think are Vegan. Ive quickly learned that Vegan does not equal healthy. It's as simple as that.

I can live a vegan lifestyle and take awesome care of my body, but only if I keep measuring my portions, minimizing the sweets, avoiding carb overloads, and knowing that a healthy entree is always better than tasty beer. This week Im starting with a fresh outlook.

-Katie

Day 8 - A tearful day

Weddings are beautiful events full of emotion and most likely a few tears. Most tears are joyful expressions of the powerful love between two people. For us, we were choking up over cheese and meat covered entrees.

What do you do when there is only ONE vegan choice offered in the meal? You plan ahead. We knew this would be the situation, we knew we would be stuck watching everyone enjoy there buttery salmon and cheesy pasta salad. We knew it would happen, but it still seemed unfair. This wedding was in Corvallis, another Vegan friendly city in Oregon. Before the event we went to Nearly Normal's for a late lunch. We chowed down on veggie burritos and burgers - yum yum. At the wedding we were able to eat spinach salad with coconut and strawberries, it was tasty but not quite filling. By the time the wedding was over I was ravished! Before heading over to the "afterparty" we picked up hummus, pita, pretzels, and other snacks to quickly fill the void in our bellies before alcohol accidentally took its place. Maybe it wasn't the most balanced meal, but it did fill the need before we made bad decisions.

We thought we would be safe bringing our own food/drinks to the party, but I messed up. While chatting to friends a I grabbed a couple of honey roasted peanuts and popped them in my mouth. Did you hear that?! HONEY Roasted Peanuts - it says it right there in its name! It was a mistake, a tasty-tasty mistake. This is my first slip up in 8 days - I will forgive myself.

-Katie

Day 7 - Soy Delicious

I have been an advocate of Soy Ice cream for quite some time. Like many people out there (and for good reason!) dairy has never settled well with me. Not to say I would pass up chocolate espresso gelato if placed in front of me, but for the past few years Ive done what I can to avoid the dairy scene.

Friday night we went to a campfire gathering and brought along some ice cream. We brought two versions of soy cream one being So Delicious Mint Marble Fudge which I highly recommend. We also brought along some god old fashioned cookie dough icecream. I avoided eye contact with the carton the entire night, a vegan can never be too safe around such a thing!

This afternoon I was sitting in the backseat of the car mindlessly snacking on triscuits when I remember the fat content of the soy cream. Was I really eating anything any better for me? Realizing my mistake I threw down the triscuits and grabbed my bag of cherries and grapes. Ive learned to NEVER leave the house without sweet fruit for snacking.

Roasted Tomato & Olive Oil Triscuits
120 Calories
4 g Fat
1 g Saturated Fat
3 g Dietary Fiber
0 Sugar

Soy Delicious Mint Marble Fudge
140 Calories
3 g Fat
.5 g Saturated Fat
2 g Dietary Fiber
17 Sugar

The triscuits were delicious, but of course they were! It's that salt and saturated fat that tastes so wonderful. Just something to think about next time you pick up a snack. If you're eating out of boredom, as I often do, go for veggies or fruit and you can eat to your hearts desire.

-Katie

Day 6 - Playing Catchup

Comcast stole my internet Thursday night. I called up to cancel my cable, but they disconnected my lifeline as well! After four days of no blogging I rode my bike to starbucks in desperation to borrow their connection for a bit. I'm promised that I will be reconnected next saturday morning... this will be a rough week.

Let's start with last thursday nights events. We went a first thrusday event held by Fit Right Northwest. It's a running scavanger hunt where you pick up raffle tickets at different locations, the more tickets the better chance to win an awesome prize! Brendan volunteered at the event, I ran the run and worked up a nice sweat, but no prizes this time. The run was finished with a free IPA from our hometowns own Captured by Porches. I have to say the stuff wasnt half bad, possibly because I had just ran four miles and was dying for liquids.

We knew we'd be eating dinner late so we had to do a little research for find a place open until 10pm. We went to Laughing Planet which serves lots of yummy Vegan food. I went for the Thai-Me-Up burrito, followed with a big fat double chocolate cookie. Let's just say I deserved it after that run. Much of our success so far has been contributed to planning ahead! We eat a filling breakfast every morning, bring our lunches to work everyday, and if we wont be in the safety of our kitchen for dinner we make a plan!



-Katie

Day 5 - What I Miss

I know, it hasn't even been a week yet. All things considered, I think we have done well with finding lots of varied foods to eat. It's definitely helped that we ate a lot of healthy stuff to start, which made the transition to veganism pretty seamless.

I can't say it is perfect though. Most people advocate for a "break-in period" before taking the vegan plunge. They advise making small adjustments to your diet and lifestyle so that you don't go into some kind of tofu-fueled shock. It's a great idea, but I definitely didn't do it.

The day before the experiment, I had TWO sausage, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, a french dip, and a massive plate of tandoori chicken. My plan was to make myself sick of meat so I wouldn't be tempted before starting my month. Good idea? I wouldn't recommend it, but I definitely wasn't too keen on meat the next day.

That being said, there are a few things Katie and I actually do (and will) miss. Things that we won't get for at least a month. We pulled a list together of what we will (and won't) miss during our month.

WHAT WE WILL MISS

Pizza

This will be tough. We don't eat it very often, but I freakin' LOVE pizza. Vegan alternatives are available, but it's just not the same. We'll probably avoid it.

Sushi

Yeah, sushi can be vegan. You can have cucumber rolls or asparagus rolls, but it's tought to beat the tuna/avocado combo. And when you add in the sriracha/mayo on top... don't get me started. We both love and will miss Sushiland, which we have visited almost weekly for months.

Desserts

For some reason, there are brownies in the lunch room at work at least once a week. I don't know how this happens (or who the heck keeps bringing them), but passing them up will be tough. We can always make our own if we get too desperate. Vegan baking is actually pretty easy and there are some killer recipes out there. How about chocolate mousse? Serve it to people and wait till they're done before you tell them it's tofu. They won't believe you. I sure didn't.


WHAT WE WON'T MISS

Saturated Fats - Not too many of these in veggies...

"Bad" Cholesterol - Only found in animal products.

Lethargy - Ever notice how lions and tigers are always sleeping? You don't see giraffes and antelope laying around all the time, right? Which ones are the herbivores?

Feeling Sick - Lactose is rough on a lot of people, since they lose the enzyme to digest it as they age. Take out the dairy, lose the lactose.


With all the alternatives out there, we will be able to find a replacement for almost everything. Even my customary midnight snack. Good thing vodka's vegan ;)

Be Healthy,
-Brendan

Day 4 - All Downhill Now

Alright, four days down, 26 to go in our little experiment. So far we've killed lots of zucchini, butchered the heck out of garbanzo beans, and the soy?

Poor stuff never had a chance.

So maybe it's not as exciting as hunting wild boar with throwing knives, but it's still been an interesting few days. We have learned a ton about plant-based diets and have hopefully helped others learn a little too. I'm really excited for the next couple weeks and seeing how we can make it work.

Big lifestyle changes often bring a lot of curiosity from people, which is one reason we are blogging our experiment. I'm also hoping to dispell some rumors about veganism. One major rumor being that vegans are weak, sickly little people who are desperately malnourished.

Yes, it is possible to starve yourself by using veganism. Yes, it's possible to eat unhealthy and deprive yourself of important nutrients.

HOWEVER, it is also possible to be a hugely successful runner, NBA player and professional MMA fighter.

Who am I talking about? Well, the runner is Scott Jurek.


He's pretty much the best at what he does, which is running really really far. The picture above is him running (and later winning) a 135 mile race through Death Valley in the summer. I can't think of a good gas-mileage pun with meat, so let's just say he doesn't need it to be awesome.

The NBA player is Salim Stoudamire.

Cousin to our beloved (sorta) Damon and Oregon native, this guy is pretty much anything but weak and frail.

Finally, we come to the MMA fighter, none other than Mac Danzig. He's the one on top.

All I can say is that I'm not making him eat anything he doesn't want to.

So there you go, a regular vegan-mythbusters. Now you have a couple names to drop when you are mentioning vegans. These guys show that vegans can run, jump, and beat others unconscious with the very best.

Be Healthy,
-Brendan

Booze Part 1 - Beer

Ah, my true lifeblood. A close second only to water, its praises are spoken the world over.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-Benjamin Franklin

"He was a wise man who invented beer."
-Plato

So for those who choose a non-animal diet, what could possibly be in beer (water, hops, malt, yeast) that's not ok to love and consume? Well, the two main reasons for non-vegan beer are the ingredients and the brewing process.

Beers with honey or milk added, like in a milk stout, will obviously have animal products and are therefore off-limits. These are usually special beers and will say "honey" or "milk" somewhere on the label, so don't worry about your Coors Light. If you stick with a regular ol' lager or ale, you will almost never have to worry about it.

Some beers with honey or lactose added:
- Dogfish Head Brewery's Midas Touch Ale (honey)
- Kalamazoo Brewery's Suzie's Sweet Stout (lactose)

Some old-school brewers, especially British ones, will use isinglass as a refining and clarifying agent in beer. Isinglass comes from fish swim bladders, so anything refined with it is off the menu. Luckily, the practice has been replaced largely with Irish Moss, a type of seaweed.

A couple beers filtered with isinglass or gelatin, another animal product:
- Boston Beer Company's Cask Conditioned Ale (isinglass)
- Dogwood Brewing's IPD (gelatin)

So how do you know who brews the good stuff and who makes the fish-beer? There are a couple sites that will point you in the right direction. They've compiled lists of vegan-friendly breweries and beers. Some of them are:

barnivore.com

veganvanguard.com

Cheers!



Oh yeah, one more little tidbit. A lot of breweries send their used grains to livestock yards for high-protein cattle feed. If you REALLY want to nitpick, you could call that non-vegan too, though I tend to think of it as recycling.

Be Healthy
-Brendan