Off hiatus

Okay, so I've been away for like a month, but that's okay. I just haven't felt like getting on the computer and blogging, as I really didn't have anything to say. But I do now :)

First off, I have been seriously slacking on my healthy habits. I haven't been drinking as much water and I have been skipping meals again, when it's clearly not beneficial for me to gain weight. I stay up way too late (like I am right now) and then don't eat before I go to class. For the past few weeks I've been eating only like once or twice a day. I don't really have an appetite, but that could be due to the fact that I'm not active. I'm trying to find a gym or something and my mom claims that she's going to get our YMCA membership back. I have a free session of personal training on Monday, and boy am I out of shape. Haven't exercised in months, except for like twice in February. I can't do conventional exercise. It's boring and I don't like it. No, I don't have an mp3 player and I refuse to get on that damn treadmill or elliptical machine. Yawn.....I'd rather be taking Zumba or Sculpt (strength and toning) classes at the Y.

Okay, so. About the hair. I got this new conditioner from Say Yes to Carrots and it is AWESOME! Makes my hair soft, me loves it :). I wanna try the shampoo, but I don't wanna give up my Carol's Daughter Rosemary Mint. That stuff is the BOMB. But I hear its good to rotate your products sometimes. I am trying to fight my product-junkyism but sometimes conditioners call my name. I don't know if a lot of black people use it, but Herbal Essences has a new line called Hydralicious. Its hazard rating is a 5 out of 10 (moderate) on the Cosmetic Safety Database, so I'm not overly concerned. I would probably be using it just for co-washing and the scent anyway. I'm like a conditioner addict. I really only need one or two good shampoos but I can have a million conditioners.

Bottom line: I'm going to get back on the ball and continue eating healthy and finding a gym and all that good jazz. I just wish I had some more motivation or like a buddy, ya know? Maybe I will go to meetup.com and see if there's a group for that.

More meal planning!

So I asked Cathleen over at vegan-nutritionista.com about gaining weight and being vegan. She basically said to stick with heart-healthy fats such as: olive oil, coconut oil and safflower oils. She also recommended nut spreads like almond butter, cashew butter, and soybean butter and to add flax seeds to my diet. I definitely wanna try that. I already cook with olive oil and Earth Balance, which is soy, palm, and olive oil-based.

On my quest to gain weight I googled some other information and this pretty much sums up what I found:

• more starches: potatoes, pasta, rice, bread
• 3 meals a day plus 3 healthy snacks
• more protein: chicken, tofu, peanut butter, legumes, eggs, hummus
• choose drinks with higher calories
• add good sources of fat, as noted above
• fruit: bananas, pineapple, mango, dried fruits, avocado
• calorie-dense foods: oatmeal, granola, bean and barley soups, peas, carrots
  
• exercise to ensure the added weight does not turn into flab

So......I think I could do some of this. Since I work at Smoothie King, I could also drink a Strawberry Hulk, which is about 1000 calories. The original recipe calls for butter pecan icecream, but since I'm intolerant I substitute with vanilla yogurt and it comes out just fine. That is one of my FAVORITE smoothies. I don't know if it's gonna work, but maybe I can add the weight-gain powder to some of my other favorite smoothies so I won't have to get the same thing all the time. Either way, I'm glad I have something to help supplement my weight gaining goal of 120 lbs. I don't care how long it takes to get there, as long as I do.

So lately for breakfast I have been eating 2 eggs and/or an "everything" bagel with Earth Balance. Usually I will drink either water or rice milk with it. Lately I've been having trouble with lunch LOL which is so ironic because I used to skip breakfast. It's really hard to eat 3 meals a day but I guess I have to make some way around the schedule. Like tomorrow I have class from 12:30 to 1:25 and then work from 3 to 10. So I figure I will have breakfast before I go to class tomorrow at around 11 and then have some type of meal at 2 or 2:30 before I leave for work. For my break I might go to Just Fresh and get either the Avocado Turkey Burger or the Veggie Burger. If I'm not in the mood for something hot, then I'll get the Very Veggie sandwich from the deli. Dinner? I have no idea because I'm not sure if/what my mom is cooking so I don't know if I need to make anything. If so, then I will probably make a sandwich or something.

Oh yes, exercise. I need to push myself very hard in this area because I really don't like to do it. But once I get into it, then I start enjoying it. I don't have weights or anything so I don't know how I'm going to do strength training unless I just do pushups and crunches in my room. Not really my ideal thing, but I suppose it's better than nothing.

By the way, is turkey considered red meat?

Exercise, Food and Etc

Okay, so I know that in order to fully reach my on-going health goals exercise is a MUST. Honestly, I hate exercising. It's not so much that I am too lazy to do it, it's just that I really feel overwhelmed when it comes to that. I've been looking at various places for gym memberships but the sites don't have the most important information on there: THE PRICE. That just totally turns me off because I don't want you to call me and try to con me into joining your gym. All I want is the information right in front of me so I can make my own decision.

Another reason why I'm afraid of exercise is because I don't want to lose weight. I am tired of being 105lbs. I'm 5'3 and I know I'm not that underweight, but I still am and I don't like it. I don't think I consume enough carbs and protein to give me some weight and yet not become fat. So if anyone knows any tips so that I can gain/maintain a healthy weight, I am SO there and yes I KNOW I have to do some type of exercise.

So I was looking online and I found a few kool websites with information regarding lactose intolerance and certain cheeses. Basically what they were saying is that I may be able to consume aged cheeses such as parmesan, romano, and cheddar because the lactose is gradually turned into lactic acid, which they say has no effect on people who are intolerant. Apparently I can eat feta and other goat cheeses too because they have a different form of lactose and protein that doesn't irritate those who are lactose intolerant.

I had spaghetti again for dinner but it was plain this time. I was in a lazy mood. However, I did make some celery-carrot-spinach juice, sweetened with one apple and one pear. It was really good. I think I will stop being afraid to make nasty juice and incorporate more veggies and leave out the fruit sometimes. Not that the fruit is bad, I just want to experiment with more veggie juices.

I added a bunch more books that I want to read. They are mostly vegan/vegetarian (as are the blogs I read), but I haven't quite made the committment to do that yet. At this point I don't think I'm going to be vegan; it's more like I'm deciding between a vegetarian or a flexitarian, but I'm open to all the healthy meal options.

OH YEAH. I remember what I wanted to talk about. So I started training at my new job, Smoothie King. It's not just a smoothie bar, but a nutrition center. They use all natural products, including turbinado instead of processed white sugar, and honey as sweeteners. And if you don't want the sugar at all, you can "Make it Skinny," which also takes off 100 calories. It seems like a lot, but I think most of the smoothies are designed to be meal replacements. Check out the website, they pretty much have a smoothie for everyone and I am so excited to be working there and I can't wait till we open on Sunday. We get one free smoothie per shift, so I will most definitely be doing reviews.

Shopping Trip!

So after work, me and the bf went to Trader Joe's and I picked up a buncha stuff. I got:

• 3 containers of TJ's quick cooking steel cut oats (I really wanted to try the regular steel cut oats, but that's not convenient for me right now)
• 2 guacamole kits
• granny smith apples
• brown pears
• celery
• 2 bags of baby spinach
  
• 2 bags of whole carrots
• Ezekiel bread (sesame)
  
• flaxseed tortilla chips
• desert mesquite honey (never had it, thought I'd give it a try)
• clover honey
  

I'm soooo excited that I have some stuff to juice with and some breakfast stuff. I asked if they had millet, but they didn't so oats for me! Or I can probably go to Earth Fare or something, but I think I have enough oats to last me a while. As usually, I didn't really spend that much money, a lttle under $50. I know I broke, but I think my health is worth the investment :). Man, I should have bought some berries! Oh well, I think I'm just gonna go to the farmers market on Saturday. Everything has been grown within 50 miles of my town and they have a lot of organic stuff, so that will be really kool. Damn, nevermind, I just looked at the site and berries are not in season, so Trader Joe's I go. At least I can get my kale from there and get some other greens.

Breakfast: TJ's Goldenflax cereal
Lunch: none, I woke up late yet again and had to go to work. I did drink a lot of water with lemon though while I was there.
Dinner: Veggie sandwich from work on dry pita (they usually slather a bunch of butter on it) with lettuce, extra tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and greek olives. No dressing
Snack: 4 oz Odwalla green drink

Now that I have some of the basic foods I need, I can have more complete meals. For tomorrow, this is just a preliminary meal plan, it may or may not change.

Breakfast: oatmeal with some honey
Lunch: apple-carrot-spinach juice OR a turkey salami sandwich w/ vegenaise
Dinner: veggie sandwich from work OR brown rice I made earlier this week topped with TJ's Pav Bhaji (indian food)
Snack: Raw trail mix or gucamole w/ flaxseed tortilla chips (if I am not too lazy to make it)

Well, I'm off to bed, it's almost 3am. I really should stop going to bed so late. I also have not been to my chiropractor in two weeks, I think I'm gonna go on Monday after class.

New Years Resolution Time!

I know I'm a bit late, but Happy New Year! My resolution this year is to give up pork and I am going to try to stand firm by that. It's not really that hard for me because I really haven't had pork in weeks and haven't had the desire for even pepperoni pizza. My next resolution, which is probably everyone's, is to eat healthier.

I work at a really crappy restaurant and make NOTHING, but I already had money from Christmas and stuff so I decided to take my whole paycheck and buy some healthy things. I went to both Trader Joe's and Earth Fare because those are two of the only health food stores in the area. Trader Joe's is cheaper so I always go there first and try to find everything I need and then I go to Earth Fare to buy the remainder.

From Trader Joes (total cost $31):

• Trader Joe's spelt bread
• TJ's Honey Nut O's
  
• some other honey flake cereal I can't remember the name
  
• TJ's guacamole kit
• TJ's Go Raw Trek Mix (pack of 10)
  
• Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
  
• TJ's pita crackers
• I'm probably forgetting something, but if so, I will update the list later
  

From Earth Fare (total cost $37):

• Odwalla Original Superfood Micronutrient Fruit Juice Drink (the half gallon)
  
• Soy Delicious Almond Pecan frozen dessert
• Two containers of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (the non-hydrogenated one. I don't understand why they made their other products with hydrogenated oils, being a "healthy" company and all)
• Vegenaise Original
  
• EF turkey salami
• Rice Vegan Pepper Jack flavored Cheese (soy, lactose, gluten, and casein free)
• Multigrain and cinnamon raisin bagels (forgot the brand, but I think they're organic)

So that is my list. Now I am able to have breakfast and snacks and stuff with no problem. My mom coincidentally went grocery shopping today too, so she brought all the fruit. We have green apples, pears, oranges, and tangerines. She also bought me two more rice milks so I am set at least for the next month or so.

The boyfriend and I made guacamole dip from the TJ's kit (2 rip avocados, 2 tomatoes, garlic clove, and an onion) and just added a few pinches of Celtic sea salt and it was THE BOMB! We didn't eat all the rest, but I put in in the fridge so I can eat it as a snack for the rest of the week with my pita chips.

So for my next shopping trip I would like to buy more vegetables but I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I can't see myself just sitting at the table eating some kale and cabbage by itself. I want to incorporate more vegetables in my diet (because those are like those most important thing besides protein) but some vegetables are just gross. I need a juicer, but all the good ones cost money. What I REALLY want is a Vita-Mix 5200, but I know that's not going to happen anytime soon. If anyone knows of a good juicer that is not $450 that I can use until I hit the lottery, please feel free to let me know.