Days 7 & 8: All-in-one meal & Get spicy!

Oh man, okay so it looks like yesterday was one of those 20% days where I fail at something… posting on this blog! Luckily I did not fail on the ’31 Changes in 31 Days’ thing. Only day 8? That would be tragic!

Yesterday was day 7, Try to Eat an All-in-One Meal. By the way, if you’re confused about what I’m doing, click here to read about my VegNews New Year’s challenge

My all-in-one meal yesterday was kind of a repeat of the past couple of days… more quinoa:

Plus a Tandoor vegetable samosa

(source)

Okay, so maybe not the most clever thing (and certainly not the “massaged kale salad” that VegNews recommend– btw, wth is a massaged kale salad? Do I have to rub down my kale?), but it worked. Yesterday was super busy, and today will be busy as well!

Yesterday I also hit the gym, but it was all cardio yesterday (plus some crunches) because today was my first ever boot camp class!!! Hooray! And oh my gosh, did it kick my BUTT!! We started off freaking running the STAIRS– there were at least 10 sets of stairs!! I finished about 7 before I was absolutely dead… it wasn’t that my legs were hurting, they’re not hurting at all, but the cardio absolutely killed me! I really need to improve that More stair running for me!

Today we also did:

• 25 inchworms
• 50 back extensions (ow!)
• 50 scissor crunches
• 50 deadlifts
• 30 push ups
• 50 rows
• 50 crunches

And then I did a plank for 30 seconds… owwie! Cross your fingers I can amp it up when I go again on Thursday!

Today’s challenge from VegNews is: Get spicy. Luckily, I made more of Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip, and there’s a healthy dash of chili pepper plus a jalapeno, so it is plenty spicy for me! I plan on eating it on a burrito today for lunch, before class.

Due to the fact that the boiler in our apartment complex broke (and was broken for 4 days, DURING A SNOWSTORM), so there was NO heat when it was 15 degrees outside, I have a tiny cold (sore throat, runny nose.) Thanks a lot, living in a crappy apartment. Oh, to be a poor grad student! So I’m going to try to eat healthy and filling:

Breakfast: two slices toast with peanut butter and banana, orange juice

Lunch: Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip with lettuce and tomato, side of water or milk

Dinner: Finishing up the rest of the quinoa, making more sauteed broccoli with garlic

Snacks: Apple at class, strawberries and blueberries mixed with yogurt for dessert

Question for you all: Seriously, what is massaged kale?? Also, have you ever done a boot camp class, or had to run stairs? Any tips on how I can survive this cardio butt-kicking?

Day 5: Get enough vitamin B12

Today’s challenge from VegNews magazine’s ’31 Changes in 31 Days’ was a little confusing to me. Today’s challenge is: Get enough vitamin B12. I have a confession to make… before I started reading up on B12, I honestly did not know that much about it, and I didn’t even think it was that important.

(source)

Lucky for me, VegNews has put this vitamin on my radar, and I have to say, I could not have been more wrong about the importance of B12. For one, although a vegan diet is completely healthy and you can get everything you need from it, B12 is a little different/screwy. Back “in the old days”, our ancestors would eat fruits and veggies straight from the ground. Being that it was the old days, often times these veggies weren’t completed cleaned properly and still had dirt on them. Since B12 comes from the soil, this was how our ancestors got their B12. Nowadays, our food arrives so sanitized that we don’t get the same amount of B12, if we get any at all. People who eat meat, however, do get B12 from the cow that ate from the ground (B12 is a bacteria that lives in the ground).

Now, why is B12 important?

• B12 is imperative for cell division and blood formation. (source)
• B12 is also necessary for your red blood cells, which transport oxygen and carbon dioxide around your body. (source)
• If you aren’t ingesting adequate amounts of B12, you could suffer from anemia or nervous system damage

Where can I get vitamin B12?

• nutritional yeast
• fortified cereals/milks/mock meats
• B12 supplements

(source)

For more information, check out Vegan Health.

Thankfully, I’ve been cooking a lot from Happy Herbivore‘s cookbook, and Lindsay uses a lot of nutritional yeast, so I think I’m doing fine for now. However, because of this challenge, I am much more aware of B12 than I ever was before, and my plan is to go out and purchase a vegan-friendly supplement of vitamin B12 at my natural grocery store.

This was perhaps the most eye-opening of all the days so far, and I’m glad I read up on B12!

To let you all know about yesterday… it turns out there was another vegan at my friend’s potluck, and she brought a minestrone soup, so I actually had a lot of yummy things to eat. My meal for dinner yesterday was:

Dinner (Day 4): Minestrone soup and bread, tortilla chips and my Mexican Bean Dip, my friend’s dark chocolate cherry nut no-bake cookies (dark chocolate! I’m crossing my fingers it was vegan… still think dark chocolate is better than milk!) Yum! I even have a tiny bit left over bean dip, which I plan on putting into a burrito today

For today, my food intake has been a little weird, but here goes:

Breakfast: One slice toast w/ Earth Balance butter, big green drank

Lunch: Rice “chex” (the cheap version) with blueberries and Silk soymilk

Dinner: (I haven’t had it yet but I’m planning on a whole wheat burrito w/ the red of my Mexican Bean Dip, lettuce, tomatoes, and some black beans if there’s not enough Bean Dip left)

Tonight, I’m going out to a bar with my friends to meet up for the new year and to discuss our classes. I’m hoping to Barnivore the beers I like before I go, so I can already be prepared!

Question for you all: Did you recognize the importance of B12 before, or were you as unaware as I was? Do you take multivitamins or supplements?

Day 4: Work Out & customized work out plans

I have to say, out of all the 31 changes in VegNews‘ ’31 Changes in 31 Days’, Day 4: Work out has to be the easiest for me. Luckily, I was already planning on working out, and I got my work out done with earlier this morning.

In today’s explanation, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke says “consistency and application” are the ways to succeed at exercising, and boy is that true. Over the holiday break, for the few days I didn’t go to the gym (because of travel, or the holidays, or family obligations), I felt lethargic and definitely not in the mood to work out the next day. If anything, I kinda wanted to never work out again.

Lucky for me, I’m surrounded by people who value health and exercise. While I was with my parents, my Mom motivated me to work out and go to the gym with her for our health. I would say my family background is moderately healthy– we don’t have anything too crazy that runs in our family, just the normal things. But for some family members, we’ve seen them deteriorate quite rapidly because they didn’t take care of themselves at all- overweight, smoked, drank, you name it, they did it. And they died fairly young because of it.

Since Mom and I have way too many things we want to do in the future (traveling!), we motivated each other and encouraged each other to go to the gym. It’s always fun having a work out buddy, and it’s even better when that work out buddy is your Mom

Today’s work out was devoted to arms, and consisted of:

• 15 min. warm up on the elliptical (1 mile)
• 5 min. bike “warm up”
• 3 sets of 12 bicep curls (8 lb. weights)
• 3 sets of 10 tricep kickbacks (8 lbs.)
• 3 sets of 12 dumbbell shoulder presses (8 lbs.)
• 3 sets of 10 push ups
• 3 sets of 12 “tree hugs” (8 lbs.)
• 5 min. on the rowing machine

Again, crossing my fingers I feel it tomorrow! There weren’t as many people at the gym today, probably because I went earlier (8 am vs. 10 am). There were, however, a lot of people there with individual personal trainers. Looks like a lot of people are taking their New Year’s Resolutions seriously…

I actually found something really cool from Shape – a customized work out plan! Basically, you choose 8 work outs from their selection of videos (lots to choose from!) and then create your own “play list”. It seems really cool! I can’t wait to play around with this and learn some new routines.

Tonight I can’t exactly share with you everything I’m eating/drinking… I’m going to a friend’s potluck in a few hours, and I have no idea what will be there. I can, however, show you what I’m bringing to this potluck…

Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip! Yum! It was such a big hit the last time I brought it to a party, I figured I absolutely had to do it again. It’s quickly becoming one of my go-to party foods! You might notice it looks a little strange in the middle… yeah well, when I took it out of the oven, I couldn’t resist trying a little bit… you know, to make sure it tasted okay

So run down of my meals thus far:

Breakfast: Green drank and half a peanut butter sandwich

Lunch: Happy Herbivore’s Mock Tuna Sandwich and a glass of milk

Dinner: (guessing): Mexican dip and my corn tortilla chips… maybe some soup, if someone brings it (I heard they were)… and wine… and we’ll see!

Snacks: I finished up the rest of the green drank because I needed the blender, and then I’m going to have an apple and some almonds before hitting the fiesta tonight.

Tomorrow’s ‘challenge’ is: Get enough vitamin B12. Looks like I’ll be reading up on exactly what B12 is tomorrow…

Until then! A question for you all: What is your favorite dish (vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore) to bring to potluck parties? Or do you usually stop at the grocery store and buy something pre-made? (We’ve all done it!

Move in day & Happy Herbivore cooking!

All right, so tonight’s blog post is going to be super short because I am exhausted. As you’ll notice by the title, September 1st was move in day for my roommate, Kelly, and me. I unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) did not get pictures of the debacle, but I’m okay with that. We had asked a couple of friends for move-out help (we offered bribes!) but come move-out day, only one of our friends was able to help us. So it was just us and him… and let me tell you, moving a bed, dresser, TV, couch, desk, etc. is HEAVY when there are only three people!