Day 7: The Tease of Temptation

Why, oh why, does the office bring so many temptations?!?!

Homemade brownies.  Giant cinnamon rolls with nuts sprinkled on top.  Cupcakes.  Coworkers emailing photos of big juicy hamburgers.  Sonic runs.  Hearing comments all day about “Oh, I could never give up meat…or cheese…or my grease…or this…or that…or (fill in the blank here)”.

But the cupcake being taunted in front of your face is just plain mean I tell ya. Seriously.  It is  plain evil.

So just when you think it is getting easier… and that the cravings are finally letting up…then life throws you a curve ball.  I was so tempted today.  It took all the self control I could muster.  After a while, you just have to tune those voices out, or seriously, it will make you crazy.

On the bright side of my day, I woke up at the butt crack of dawn this morning and did speed work at the track with a running buddy.  Felt so good.  Energy was just fine. Never mind the fact it was in the lower 30′s this morning and that no one else was crazy enough to join us.

Went to see my “Hood to Coast” movie tonight and came home with pure inspiration.  Yes, it makes me want to find 12 running friends to do a relay now.  How about in 2012, the Texas Independence relay!?

I was able to enjoy a little Italian restaurant tonight called Raia’s.  It tasted so good.  When they say your taste buds change on a diet like this, it is so true.  All of a sudden, you start to taste the subtleties of the marinara sauce instead of it being masked by the cheese.  I am finally glad that I am started to see some of the benefits of this diet…whew!  Because after all I went through today, I was starting to wonder if they even existed.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal with blueberries, bananas, and cinnamon
• Tall Toffee Nut Latte with soy milk

Lunch

• Leftover Lentil Pasta from last night
• Orange
• Dark Chocolate Nugo Protein bar
• Pint of blackberries

Dinner

• Spring salad mix, tomatoes, cucumbers with a balsamic vinaigrette
• Linguine pasta with marinara and mushrooms
• 2 pieces of Sourdough bread and olive oil
• A glass of red wine

Day 6: Serious Motivation

Okay, today did not start out as I planned.  I wanted to go to my first Masters swim class but could not get out of bed.  So my whole day seemed off.  No workout for me.  I am going to go to bed early tonight, and try my 5am speed work session tomorrow instead.

Tomorrow night I am going to go see the new Hood-to- Coast movie.  I am expecting some serious motivation afterward, and I mean SERIOUS motivation.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon
• Pint of blackberries

Lunch:

• Leftover vegan mac & cheese with kidney beans
• Leftover apple, celery and chickpea salad
• Peach

Snack:

• Bowl of Almond Honey Bunches of Oats with lite soy milk
• Handful of almonds

Dinner:

• Lentil Pasta with carrots, celery, diced tomato, black olive, onion (courtesy of Charlie)
• Pizza Crust (Yeah, I went to a Houston Racing Triathlon Club tonight and they had free pizza.)

Day 5: Vegan Feast!

Okay, my sister-in-law Erin, is an amazing cook.  This vegan feast was the BOMB!  I was in heaven.  I wish I could eat like this every day.  Too bad she can not open a vegan restaurant in Houston.  Is there any???  I know in California, they are everywhere.  But in Houston?   We are so in need of a healthy place to eat.  And I mean really healthy.  Sigh.

So those of you who do not know Erin, she is a science guru (among her many talents) and our dinner topics sometimes take a scientific turn.  So of course I had to bring up the beans and the flatulence issue as I was still curious.

I learned that beans break down into a sugar that the body can not digest.  So to help digest this sugar, we need the help of a bacteria or enzyme.  Now if you do not eat beans on a  regular basis this bacteria/enzyme is in low supply.  As a result, there will be an increase in the amount of gas byproduct during the breakdown process since the bulk of the work  will have to take place in the large intestine.  When you start eating beans on a more frequent basis, the bacteria grows again in numbers and efficiently helps the body digest the beans before it hits the large intestine with less gas byproduct.  So yippee!  There is hope with this diet.  Feel free to share this new found knowledge at your next mealtime conversation.

Today was finally a good day.  I slept in really late today and was completely lazy but I enjoyed every minute of it since I plan to hit it hard with the workouts this week.

Brunch:

• Flax Oatmeal with bananas, blueberries, & cinnamon
• Toast with hummus
• Toast with almond butter

Snack:

• Cup of pomegranates
• Apple juice

Dinner (photos and titles courtesy of Erin with recipes to come):

• Two kinds of crostini: a dill nut cheese spread with roma tomato and canelli bean spread with pickled red onions
• Marinated tofu on a bed of sauteed Swiss chard from my garden and farro salad
• Armoniche with veggies and a white wine lemon sauce
• Vegan chocolate almond cupcakes (These were so mouthwatering good!!)

If I ever win the lottery, I would hire Erin to be our personal vegan chef or help her open her own restaurant.  What a delicious treat!  I am a revived woman in this challenge again.

Day 4: Emotions Rear Ugly Head

Short entry today.  More of the same phooey withdrawal symptoms so I do not want to talk too much negative dribble tonight.

Mostly I discovered today how I use food to deal with stress.  When you don’t have the numbing effects of comfort food, you are left to deal with the emotions. Yeah.  Fun stuff.

Ran 8.1 miles this morning.  I did not feel any significantly different than usual on the run.  I had fatigue toward the last half mile of run. Still having a hard time getting up in the morning.  Blah. Blah. And blah.

Breakfast:

• Dark Chocolate Nugo Protein bar
• Chocolate Bliss Protein drink
• Tall toffee nut iced coffee with soy milk

Lunch

• Chickpea Salad (apple, celery, chickpeas, lemon juice and salt)
• Whole wheat toast with hummus
• Dark Chocolate Nugo Protein bar
• Apple juice

Snack

• Whole wheat toast with apple butter
• Banana
• Peach

Dinner

• Vegan Mac & Cheese & beans (Soy milk, whole wheat pasta, red beans, vegan butter and Nutritional yeast)
  • This was okay considering it was missing the fat and sodium.  I will make it with mushrooms next time to add that extra something-something.
• A bowl of pomegranates

Still waiting for that boundless energy to appear.  Any day now.  Any day.

Day 3: The Bear Comes Out

Today was a struggle.  It started out as a normal day.  I am on vacation so I slept in until I had to take the dog to the groomer.  I started out on a mission to eat more…but I had this appetite that would not be satiated.  Which has been my fear–too little calories will make you want to binge when you finally give your body more food.  Luckily, the food I binged on was high density nutritious food and I ate until I was full this time.  So at least I had that going for me.

Oh, but the cravings…the cravings kicked my butt today.

Breakfast:

• Herbalife Shake vanilla with cinnamon, banana and soy milk
• A bowl of flax oatmeal with cinnamon and blueberries
• Pink grapefruit sprinkled with a pinch of sugar
• Glass of apple juice

Lunch

• A bowl chickpea salad (can of chickpeas, chives, rice, lemon juice, cucumber, salt, pepper & EVOO)
• Nugo Dark Chocolate Protein Bar
• Handful of Almonds

Dinner

• Veggie burger on whole wheat toast, tomato, lettuce, hummus and avocado.
• Baked pita chips (handful)
• Avocado and tomato salad with salt and lemon juice

Between lunch and dinner, Charlie and I went to Barnes and Noble.  The cravings were so bad, and that when we saw a Starbucks. I thought “If I could just have an ice coffee with soy milk, it would at least get my mind of my other cravings”. Well, I decided to pass on it and save it for after tomorrow’s run. I had became so sleepy, that I laid down for a nap and woke up an hour and half later. I had missed spinning class.  And I turned into a BEAR.  It was not a pretty picture.

What have I learned so far?

• We are forced to be creative and try new recipes.  I am not a fan of chives.  But without grease and salt to flavor things, you start looking for other ways to jazz up food.  I ate a salad with onions…and it wasn’t so bad.
• You really have to read the ingredients…all of them.  Today I noticed that the Herbalife protein shake I had been drinking has milk ingredients.  Doh!  I wont be drinking that anymore until after the challenge.
• Chocolate cupcake commercials on TV are pure evil.  I drooled all over the couch.
• I am also surprised that I am so tired.  I thought this diet would give me boundless energy.  Still waiting for that to kick in.  Maybe it has to get worse before it gets better.  Only time will tell.

Day 2: Beans, Beans Good for the Heart…Ahem

Okay, here goes day 2…I had to increase the protein and what better way to do it than add…BEANS! If only I can get used to the famous unfortunate side effect of beans. Sigh.  I tried rinsing them thoroughly before eating to no avail. There has to be some kind of trick out there besides taking Beano?  I will have to Google it tonight.  I will share any new findings tomorrow.

By the way, sweets are not out of the picture…I am allowed to eat dark chocolate since it does not have milk.  But dark chocolate covered with any kind of cake made with milk and eggs is off the menu.  I still have the most evil sweet tooth that knows how to take over the world, so I am definitely trying to limit sweets during this challenge.  They tend to make me weak.

Breakfast:

• Honey Bunches of Oats with a cup of lite soy milk
• Handful of red grapes

Lunch:

• 1 cup of Chocolate Bliss (Raw Food Protein Shake)
• 1 Nugo Dark Chocolate Protein Bar

Dinner:

• A big bowl of black beans, brown rice, corn, sauteed mushrooms and onions (EVOO)
• A pint of blackberries

The beans were so filling and I had a generous helping.  I did not intentionally skip lunch, I just happened to run a 4- miler in the middle of the day and I do not like to eat too much before and after a workout.  So to make up for it, I ate an early dinner.  My run went well but midway I could feel my sugar level dropping.  That feeling went away before I finished.  My analysis: my sweet tooth has previously ruled my world, and by shutting it out almost completely, my body is naturally adjusting to the change  so I should expect some withdrawal symptoms here and there.

When I write down my menu for you all to see, it kinda freaks me out on how little I am eating.  If my body thinks I am starving, it is going to hold on to every fat calorie I have like it is end of food as we know it.  My goal for tomorrow will be to increase the snacks.

In case you are wondering, Charlie has not turned into the Tasmanian Devil.  Whew.  Yet.  I am still alive and kicking.  He is eating more calories than me though.  Smart man.

Day 1: My 21 Day Vegan Adventure

So after reading book after book on eliminating meat and dairy, I am finally giving it a shot.  For the next 21 days, I am giving up all animal products.  I am using this site as my launch pad: http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/.  I am so lucky that Charlie is joining me.  It will be so easier not to smell the food I am missing.  He is my added motivation to complete this challenge…although I did have to put a bet on the line. For the next 21 days, I plan to blog about this adventure and post my menus.

Here was my food list:

Breakfast:

• Herbalife Vanilla Shake with banana and cinnamon
• Half cup of coffee with non-dairy creamer

Lunch:

• Carrot and Ginger Soup with brown rice
• Pint of blackberries

Dinner:

• Whole wheat spagehetti with marinara sauce
• Handful of red grapes
• Mandarin oranges (mini snack can)

How did I feel today?  Well, I think I need to increase my calorie count.  The plan is to eliminate fat and cholesterol found in animal foods not to starve myself.  I am craving sweets more than anything.  I miss cheese and chocolate.  At the office today, I turned down my favorite chocolate chip cookies and a hunk of chocolate.  Ugh. Tomorrow I will try some new recipes to have ready in the fridge to eat at a moments notice when these cravings strike.

Why am I doing this?  One of my goals is to complete a half Ironman (70.3).  The Half Ironman triathlon involves  swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and then running a half marathon (13.1 miles).

The two things I need to work on most to accomplish this goal are to improve my nutrition habits and my swimming skills.

Being vegan will help me cut back on excess fat and drop the extra pounds.  Since I dropped 25lbs in 2010, I have noticed a huge difference in my running speed.  I also have less aches and pains with less weight on my bones.  Nutrition has a huge impact on energy.  Just by cutting back on dairy and meat last year (not eliminating them completely) has given me huge results.  I am curious to see what happens after 3 weeks of cutting it out completely.  I want to see the best results, and from the many sources I have read, they all seem to point in the same direction.   I tend to balk at the mainstream and search for road less traveled.  So this path feels right to me.  Let us see where it takes me.

Happy Mother’s Day!

My mom is currently spending time with her mom so we did not get to officially celebrate but we will make up for it when she returns home.

Well, the Master Cleanse lasted one day.  Obviously, I was weak.  Funny, I told one person at work I was doing it.  I forgot I had told her until Wednesday when I ate a doughnut and I was ratted out.  The first day I was doing it, I had the hardest time focusing.  I would like to try it again but maybe without having such a challenging work assignment in front of me.

I did pretty good with my workouts this week though.   I am finally coming to terms with not running another half marathon this summer.  It is just hard to let go, all this conditioning I have built up.  But it is summer…and it is hot.  Do I really want to be running 10 miles in July?  Not particularly.  I ordered the Total Immersion DVD to teach myself to swim freestyle.  I will focus on really cross training this summer with spinning and swimming, and start  running those long runs again in the fall when the weather is cooler.  I have signed up for a couple of trail runs (10Ks) one in San Antonio or Houston.  They are the Chupacubra night runs, where you wear head lights and the trail is marked with glow lights.  That will have to satiate me until the fall.

May Day!

Ok, how can I resist?  One of my favorite days of the year…a childhood holiday.  I still have that urge to leave flowers for random people.  Sigh.  Don’t think that will ever go away for me.

Today was my day of rest.

Ever go so fast for so long, that one day, it all catches up to you?  The past 2 weeks have been amazing but quite the whirlwind.  Two weeks ago, we flew to Ohio to watch my beautiful happy-go-lucky cousin, Kelly, get married.  We were out in the Appalachian mountains, hiking, running and star gazing.  It was so breathtakingly beautiful.  We stayed in a quaint little cabin in the forest.  It was so nice, but so short.

We had to fly back since I had to be back at work.  Big day with the CMI Evac.  After a 3 day work week, I was back on vacation again.  This time I went to Big Sur, California with the same girls who ran with me in Bisbee.  Our trip could have not gone smoother.  We had such a blast.  It was the most beautiful run I have ever experienced.  For the first time in my life, I am considering running a full marathon…but it would have to be in Big Sur.  With that gorgeous eye candy, I could run for miles!

Another 3 day week of work, but for some reason, it was the most stressful.  We are short handed and it has been a rough ride.  But the week has come to an end, and we are planning to go up to Dallas tomorrow for the Warrior Dash. I cant believe I am saying this, but I think I am ready to go back to a solid routine again.

So first in line, is my friggin’ diet.  I am ready to do another 10 day Master Cleanse.  I need to detox and get rid of the cravings.  Then I need to eat more a vegetarian based diet.  Honestly, I think that this is one of the biggest reasons why I am so tired.  My diet has really gone downhill the past 2 weeks.  Fast food, and heavy meals–the unfortunate side effect of  life of on the road and being off of a normal routine.  I am working out 6 times a week, but the weight loss has plateaued.  I am ready for a jump start.  Spiritually and physically.  I will be ready to begin after a day of debauchery at the Warrior Dash.  Monday morning will be a clean slate.

Arizona Vacation Recap

My vacation is coming to an end and here I am spending the day at the Tucson airport waiting to get on our delayed plane home.  The trip was incredible.  First it started out with Bisbee, then a day trip to Sedona and ended with a birthday bash/Halloween party.  Charlie and I slept in the trailer with weather that dropped down to the 50′s every night.  We slept with the windows open.  It was bliss.

So when I arrived, I picked up the girls and headed out to Bisbee.  I have not hung out with just the girls in so long that I did not realize how much I missed it.  We had a wonderful meal at the Bisbee Grille and then headed out to try and map out our route.  Unfortunately, we got lost too many times and did not make it even a quarter of the way.  We decided to at least tackle the “Ice Man” stairs and were breathing so hard with the altitude I thought we were going to pass out.  I thought to myself “Dear Lord, what have I signed us up for?!”  Me and my great ideas….

We took a nap and then headed out for dinner and the Bisbee Ghost Tour.  I had the best tacos at Santiagos.  Oh and let me just say, the hotel we stayed at, the San Ramon, was just awesome!  A historic hotel with modern furnishings and so much CHARM.  The owner, Tamara, was super sweet and kind.  In fact everyone in Bisbee was just so friendly.  The hotel only had 6 rooms.  A definite place to stay again.  So we met for the ghost tour at 7pm.  Renee was our ghost host and we walked around the town.  She told us stories of the history of Bisbee.  Half of a street  burned down in 1908 so the town is filled with haunted hotels, bars, art gallerys and even the city park.  The city park used to be a cemetary so sightings of children have been seen playing on the stairs. One of my favorite ghosts stories was about a Calico cat.  I am not going to spoil it for you in case you are ever in Bisbee…you may want to take the tour.

SO the next morning we are up and at ‘em.  The race is 1034 stairs and 4.3 miles.  The stairs are broken up in 9 stairwells, ranging from 80 to over 200 steps.  Jil and Jennifer are nervous.  I have it in my head that I am going to walk the whole thing if I have to.  We grabbed our t-shirts and strapped on our monster timing chips to our ankles.  It is not until we corralled at the starting line waiting for the gun to go off when the butterflies start to flutter in my tummy.  Finally, we are off.  Jenn and Jil start out  ahead of me but I am determined to go slow.  We reach the first set of stairs when I noticed everyone lined up to walk the stairs.  Well, at this rate, the stairs are somewhat a rest from running.  I am able to catch up to Jil but Jenn is long gone.  Jil and I run together the rest of the race and finish in 1 hour and 13 minutes.  The toughest stairwell was #8.  After you complete that set you have to run up a steep hill.  That knocked me out.  I had to walk to catch my breath, actually, I had to do that several times.  Once I did though, I was able to start running again.  But overall it was not so bad…and I definitely want to do it again next year.  It looks like we have a new tradition.  But at least next year we will know what to expect and we will dominate.

Next stop Sedona.  I have always wanted to go and now I definitely want to go back. This was a day trip. My aunt Lourdes drove us all up in her van with her four children, me and her sister Coyo.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  Sedona is a small town with red, orange and yellow rocks, but within 10 miles, the land completely changes.  Soon you feel like you are in Colorado, with the smell of wood surrounded by mountains, the sound of a trickling streams in the background, and the changing color of the leaves.  I would love to camp and explore the trails by foot.  I am now going to have to add that to my list of 1001 goals.

The rest of the week was spent getting ready for the party.  I loved seeing the happiness on my mom’s face.  It was so worth it to make the trek here.  What a way to celebrate a milestone!  Coyo and I saw a cute movie called the “Ugly Truth” and I discovered close hiking trails within walking distance of where I slept.  I managed to get my running done although I did not get my 9 mile long run in.  I was hoping to do that today when I get back to Houston..but it looks like it will be a short run at the rate we are going.  Que sera! At least  I will have one more day to recover from such a fabulous trip.  I am already looking forward to doing it again next year, but hopefully next time I can add the camping trip in Sedona.