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pancake fun!
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If only...
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Between Merida and Cancun, Mexico
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Salmon BLT Sliders with Chipotle Mayo by howsweeteats #Salmon #Bacon #Chipotle #Sliders #howsweeteats
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Lamb Sliders with Tzatziki by fotocuisine #Lamb #Sliders #fotocuisine
It ain’t easy bein’ Green!
VS
So I recently completed my 30 days of going Vegan. Some said it couldn’t be done, but I managed to cheat only twice and boy did I pay the price for that!
In the beginning it was hard. Over the years I have learned to listen to my body; paying attention to when and what I wanted to eat. With this diet it was different then my normal ritual, I would find myself starving for hours at a time! You see, everything that I ate would take over an hour to cook, so when I would get hungry, I would have to wait for it to be ready. I started getting in the habit of cooking large batches of brown rice, quinoa, black and kidney beans so I could just scoop, add vegetables and microwave!
The first two weeks I felt really….ummm…How do I put it nicely? I felt VERY “cleaned out” on the inside. I think within the first week I lost about 3 pounds. Then I started to get lazy and found myself not eating as many greens, more rice and beans and I packed on 6 pounds. I can still remember my second day of work and fell asleep about 7 times throughout the day, the waves of tiredness attacking me while staring at the computer. My mother and I determined it was the lack of iron in my diet, mostly because of the continuous menstrual cycle and no longer eating big hunks of meat. I had to adjust and started eating tons of spinach in my breakfast and taking a multiple vitamin which caused the weight to drop and my brain to perk up. I did only cheat twice, once was with fish tacos (so worth it) and other was a big hunk of carrot cake. I will tell you I learned my lesson that night! Between the fat, oil, egg, and cream cheese frosting, I barely made it home before it all came back up. Who would have thought that my body would become so adjusted to an organic vegan lifestyle.
I really enjoyed the diet because my body was feeling good, but I hated going out to dinner. I couldn’t eat out! Do you know what it is like to order a salad then tell them to take the fun stuff off (goat cheese, chicken, bacon, etc) and try and get them to add additional items like beans, other vegetables or nuts? Sometimes my salad would end up costing me $15! Not to mention that I felt bad for the server and kitchen for having to put up with a “picky” customer!
In the end, it didn’t change anything…I still have the same problem that I started with. But luckily the new health insurance kicks in next week so I can be on the road to finding a new doctor who might be able to get to the root of the problem. I am still glad that I did it, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I will ever go back, but I now think even more about what I am consuming and how much of it. My body now craves leafy greens and fresh vegetables; that I will probably stick to being dairy free (except my favorite cheeses, goat and feta), gluten will rarely cross my path, and I view meat more like a rotting rock, sitting in my body. Don’t get me wrong, the first day out of the diet, I ate bacon, beef and chicken (tapas) but I don’t think you’ll be seeing me jumping in on a 30oz steak anytime soon. I am glad that I did it but I SO happy to being able to go into a restaurant and sit down to a “normal” meal… the foodie is back! Now, the question is, what new restaurant should I take myself to? Any places that you are looking for a review on?
“I give you a week!”
Those are the words that I heard come out of Luisa’s mouth today at lunch. You see, if you remember back almost two months ago, I had a big “feminine problem”. Well, it still continues… that is correct folks! I am going on four months of being constantly on my period. Some of you make think this is impossible, but I guess I am going against the natural pattern of nature. I have taken my pills every single day on the exact hour; I have doubled up on them and am getting to a point where I don’t know what to do. After racking up over $1,500 worth of negative tests and my doctor told me “not to worry”, I want to pull my hair out.
You have to understand, with my disease, it is BETTER for me NOT to have a period, to where my doctor prescribed me to have only 3-4 periods A YEAR! Now that I have been bleeding continuously for four months, I can’t help but wonder what is going on inside my body. The past two weeks have really accelerated the worry wart inside me. I have had severe heartburn off and on, the kind that makes you feel like you have a large chunk of food stuck right above your stomach. When it comes, it last for about 48 hours with nothing I take stopping it. I want to drink the entire bottle of antacid hoping the pain would stop. Of course it doesn’t help that my hormones are riding the rollercoaster wave right now, but I can’t help but worry that maybe my heartburn is caused by the internal bleeding? It is my only explanation! I have never gone to bed with it, only to wake up with the same feeling.
This brings me back to lunch today. You see, what I told Luisa was “I am going on a vegan/macrobiotic diet for a month”. She said, “I give you a week!” If anyone knows me, you know that food is my passion! I am always out at one of the newest restaurants trying the newest things! I LOVE FOOD! This diet change means an entirely different lifestyle. But right now, I feel like it is my only choice. My better health insurance (I’ll explain that in a later post) doesn’t start for another month and a half. I can’t go get a second opinion without it costing me thousands of dollars and obviously my current OBGYN doesn’t think anything is an issue.
Why the decision to change my diet? I had recently picked up an issue of Natural Solutions Magazine. In it Alicia Silverstone recently wrote a book “The Kind Diet” about her vegan lifestyle along with how she makes it green! Now, I am not going to turn into to some hippy freak and start going around hugging trees, but I do believe in doing what you can for the earth and for yourself; body, mind and spirit. I learned some things from the article which then pushed me to buy her book. Don’t judge me for taking diet advice from a celebrity, but it was her realistic attitude toward the change and all the facts to back up her opinion. I struggle to get through books that don’t keep my attention, but it was her ability to make things so short and simple that I enjoyed reading. I am still making my way through the book but I will be making my diet change this week. Wish me luck! Hopefully I will start to feel better and possibly make my bleeding uterus stop, especially since I am cutting out hormone stimulated proteins that might be affecting my own hormone levels. I am also looking into acupuncture this weekend as well. Who would have ever thought that a surgery having, pill popping girl would have turned all holistic and natural? I’ll let you know all the details as I struggle enjoy this new life style.
