Usually I only meal plan for when we are going on a family trip or camping. But to be successful in our vegan experiment meal planning is a necessity. I posted a pic of our first week meal plan in my last blog post, The Vegan Experiment - The Beginning. There are a few meal and supplies I will need to make ahead of time like: almond milk, cashew cream, banana coconut muffins, a hearty stew and pasta salad.
I have made nut milk in the past so that part is easy. A batch of almond milk for breakfast cereal and oatmeal. The almond milk is on the left. I had to purchase a new blender and decided to go with the Ninja that is available at crappy tire. It is a fabulous blender! I highly recommend it. On the right is the cashew cream for coffee and sometimes tea. Because the blender is so awesome I didn't have to strain the cashew cream. Thanks Maurie for the tip on the blender. Paid $80 for 1000w.
For lunches we are having quinoa, kale and bean stew. It is very hearty and tasty!
Banana & coconut muffins for snacks. I made them with whole wheat flour so they would be filling. This is the first time using an egg substitute. Just mixed a little ground flax seed with some water & it made a small bowl of sticky goop. And it is a great source of omega 3s!
I have been making my own sprouts for years. It is very easy and I don't have to worry about contaminated sprouts from the store. I put them in a mason jar with cheese cloth stretched over the lid. The first day they soak in water then for the following 3 days I rinse and drain the water in the morning and before bed. From start to finish about 4 days and yummy sprouts!
As long as I have something to put in my mouth when I am hungry or just need a snack I should survive. The prep was not hard and there is so much info on the internet. I can look up anything! Anything!
I am stuck in a world of comfort food and becoming dependant on having comfort food for every little let down or disappointment of the day. A container of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream feels really good when I just went through a session of mentally beating myself up. And we have to have chips and pop to watch Hell's Kitchen and Masterchef. Comfort junk food has become our norm and that's not good.
My biggest addiction is burgers and fries.
The crazy thing is that I love to cook. I love the prep time, getting everything ready to put together into a fabulous dish. I love meals that are full of colour and vibrant from many different types of veggies. I just don't have the drive or energy to do it when I have a house full of easy to eat comfort junk food around. It is a vicious circle.
Last year Craig, my husband, and I went on the 4 Hour Body diet. It was an intense change as we couldn't eat anything white, no fruit and had to eat every 4 hours. So no rice, bread, milk, cheese, sugar or yummy fruit. We lived on beans, meat and veggies for about eight months. We lost a lot of weight and fast! But as soon as we stop we gained it all back. Craig gained more than he lost and I gained most of it back less ten pounds. It was another fad diet telling us that it wasn't a fad diet. But if you need to loose weight fast it is a great way to go. I cannot look at another can of refried beans.....which is what I ate for lunch or dinner everyday. Refried beans with a piece of chicken or a small beef steak and a huge mound of peas.
A couple of months ago there was a huge release of the movie "Hungry for Change". It was all over Facebook and Twitter. I watched the movie online and ended up ordering it and the cookbook. It was great motivation and a big eye opening for me. The one thing that stuck in my head after watching it was that when people eat comfort junk food that they are always hungry. The body is searching for nutrients and healthy sustenance. It just rang true with my new lazy food lifestyle. I was always hungry and I wasn't getting any nourishment.
My body needs a restart! Craig's too. So we are going vegan for 30 days starting on Monday, July 23. I am all about extremes.
Craig and I are going to sign a 30 day vegan pledge through PETA. I have set the meal plan for the first week. Purposefully not adding any meat substitute for the first week for me as this will not go over well. Craig can handle tofu but I cannot. I probably won't add it into my meal plan for the whole 30 days if I can get away with it.
Week One Meal Plan
I will be preparing a few of the meals ahead of time so that I don't get overwhelmed once the detoxing from junk happens. I will be weak at the beginning and I am sure that second week is going to be a bitch!
I am planning to keep this blog up to date with our adventure. I hope you enjoy it.
I remember waiting for the world to end in Y2K. Midnight hit and everything was the same. The first thing I did when I got back to my apartment that night was turn on my computer and it worked just fine. I really feel for those sushi restaurants that named themselves after such an uneventful moment. Sushi Y2K.....oh yeah, nothing happened. Planes did not fall out of the sky and every computer in the world didn't fail. Some of the worst things that happened was 150 slot machines stopped working at the racetracks in Delaware and the U.S. Naval Observatory, which runs the master clock that keeps the USA's official time, gave the date on its website as Jan. 1, 19100.
But now 2012 is here. This is going to be it for sure! There are so many theories floating around out there that this is going to be our last year.
Here is a link to a great video from a guy at Nasa that explains many of the false theories: http://www.space.com/12564-days-2012-nasa-scientist.html
(On a side note. If you want your brain to explode and have an hour to spare, there is another theory about 2012 out there. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2395498051948678069Terence McKenna - Alien DreamTime I cannot even try to explain what he is saying or trying to describe.You have to be pretty openminded to understand or to even watch this video.)
Let's pretend that December 21, 2012 is going to be the end of the world. Or even better, let's pretend that 2012 is going to be a great year of transformation for humanity. What do I want to accomplish in my last days? What do I want to do to make the next 12 months stand out in my timeline?
I have made a list.
I want:
- to do a backbend, a handstand and a headstand. Need a healthy spine.
- to read at least 12 books. More would be better but let's start with 12.
- to travel to Europe with my wonderful husband, Craig.
- to participate in the Easter Seals Drop Zone in September. I will have to raise at least $1500 to do this, so be prepared to be asked for sponsorship.
- to improve my cardio health.
- to have a Mysore practice of at least 3 times a week.
- to spend more time with my family.
- to complete at least one of my home reno projects.
- to lose another 20 pounds.
I am sure that throughout this year this list will change and grow. But this is what I have so far.
It is going to be a great year!
"Do it! Do it now!"
My morning alarm rings and I hit snooze at least three times. Slowly and reluctantly I roll out of bed, the the backs and bottoms of my feet so painfully stiff that I can hardly stand. Being careful not to look in the mirror, I put on the only pair of pants that fit me and a big hoodie to hide the jelly roll. Avoiding all the mirrors in the house is a difficult task because I have collected so many gold framed ones over the years. But I have an image in my mind of the way I look, and that is not what the figure in the mirror looks like at all.
Sitting at the breakfast table with my family, I can hardly keep my eyes open while I down the first of today's many coffees. It will give me a little boost to leave the house and get to work. I am going to be late again and I really don't care. Driving to my dead-end job, I have to keep the inside of the car cool and take care not to play any soothing music or else I will fall asleep. I put the local morning show on the radio so my annoyance with local, provincial and federal politics will keep me awake.
When I finally get to work, I plop down at my desk and get my slouch on, resting my chin on my left palm with my elbow propped up on the desk. I down another extra large coffee with three cream and three sugar like it's water, after 40 days of wandering in the desert. This is how I will stay for the next 8 hours, only moving to get more coffee, get lunch or slightly move my hand to answer the phone. I have zero motivation and am a slave to my internal mind chatter all day, which is the only part of me that doesn't tire out.
This is how I lived my life for almost two years.
I was pre-diabetic, overweight and had a hypo-thyroid. Being in this state of health really tried to slow me down but I still kept the pace up. Working, volunteering, partying, planning, teaching and parenting. I didn't get the message to slow down because I was too busy not slowing down. There was a battle in my body that I had no idea was happening.
I tried to loose weight with commercial diet plans, counting calories, cardio and raw food. Nothing worked! Of course not, I had a slow thyroid which controls your metabolism. Slow thyroid equals slow metabolism.
I could not concentrate because my mind was so cloudy. The fog was slowly making me crazy. I would beat myself up inside, telling myself that I was lazy cause I couldn't stay awake or that I was regressing to my teenaged years because I had no motivation. The internal slapping myself in the face while I lived in my car driving to a bunch of activities I didn't want to do. The voice of Sri K Pattabhi Jois, "Everyone can practice yoga, except lazy people" pouring on the guilt that I couldn't wake up to do my yoga practice.
Depression was starting to settle in and I was fully aware of it. The constant negative mind chatter became the normal and I was fully aware of it. The pounds of fat adding inches to my waistline and I was fully aware of it. The anger I felt and expressed was overwhelming because I was fully aware of what was happening to me. There was one thing I had to do to stop all of this and I was fully aware of it. My attachment to this unfulfilling life was strong. I wanted to stay in this rut because at least I knew it kept a roof over my head and food on my table.
I held on to this life with all my might and I would have done it for many more years. Finally God took over and dealt a card that ended the game. It was the choice I was looking for....it was the sign I was waiting for......I knew what I had to do and this time I did it. I had to choose between taking a job at work that would have continued my attachment to the this wrong life or get laid off. Knowing with my whole being that it was the right thing to do, I decided to get laid off.
This started a huge domino effect on all my decisions. I looked at things differently. No I was not going to that thing in the desert because I felt like I had to complete a project that I could no longer support. Instead I am going to stay home to support my son and his new journey into grade one. No I am not going to support a community of people that consistently trampled on me over the past five years. Instead I am going support my family and watch them grow in confidence and love over a lifetime. No I am not going to do a job just to bring home the bread and butter. Instead I am going to do my Dharma....do what I am meant to do. That is to teach yoga and critical alignment therapy.
This has made all the difference. I have lost more than 30 pounds, no longer pre-diabetic, healed my thyroid and am closer to my family. By not fulfilling my Dharma, I was slowly killing myself. Now I feel alive, loved and connected to my True Self. By listening and making that leap of faith I have come into a life of happiness that I only used to read about in my yoga books. It is there and it can exist. Listen to the whispers of the Divine. If you choose not to listen those whispers will become louder. If you still choose not to listen instead making your mind chatter louder to drowned out the messages, the Divine will turn your world upside down. Making it very uncomfortable for you until you listen.
I discovered Buddhism before Ashtanga Yoga. The simple messages of the Buddha appealed to me after 12 years of Catholic school and several years as a born again Christian. My mother was very committed to the church and my family were all involved at church; sister played in the band at mass and all my brothers were altar boys. Spirituality has been modelled for me in many different ways.
The first Noble Truth of Buddhism, life is suffering, hit home after being divorced at 22. But it wasn't until I hit my 30s did it really make sense to me. The simplicity of Life is Suffering states the obvious which can get your mind away from your life's drama for even one second. When the mind quiets maybe you can connect to that inner light that lives in all of us. This cannot not be forced...it just happens. And it may only last a few seconds or minutes. The the drama returns....the tragedy begins again. You get distracted by life. But a small tunnel to this inner light has remained open and a new awareness has been sparked. Now you know you are distracted and you know the little things you do to stay in the unaware state. Over time this grows if you nurture it and do practices to support it.
This scene from Eclipse can distract me and yes it is suffering.
Do you remember that Friends episode when they made their list of famous people they would be allow to sleep with if they had a chance even though they were in a relationship?
Here is a reminder:
I think every couple has talked about the freebie list. There is always one person that seems to stand out as an odd choice on the list. I am sure everyone's list changes a bit over time. For example, Matthew Mcconaughey use to be on my list but he has slowly been moved down the line to make way for new eye candy. Some of my freebies are characters actors have played but I would settle....I guess...for the actor if I had a chance.
5 Guys
1. Alexander Skarsgard - Oh yes! The bad boy vampire from True Blood. He made it on the list immediately after first seeing him on the show. He shot up to the top with one glance. I do love vampires and have since I was in high school. This is not the only vampire that has made my list, either. Alexander has a lot going for him other than his looks. He is tall; standing at 6'4". One very big plus in my books as I am a very tall lady. A lot of what I am attracted to with Alex is his character from True Blood. How he holds himself, the pale skin, his voice and his calm, dirty bad boyness! ( is that a word?)
2. John Cusack - Most women I know have John on their list or at least as an honourable mention. It may be because he was in teen movies in the 80s and have remained in our hearts since then. He has continued to be handsome over the years. My favourite part of his is from Grossed Pointe Blank (1997). This is the role that did it for me and he was on the top of my list until Alex appeared. I think it was the black hair and black suits that put the cherry on top. But even his role in Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity and Serendipity were very dreamy. Though, if I had him for one night he would be done up as his character from Grosse Pointe Blank.
3. Steve Martin - Alright, here is the odd one on my list. You read it right.....I am talking about the comedian. Can't really explain it, either. He is just on the list. I think he is very attractive. He is the oldest man on my list being 66. Did you know that he plays the banjo? Steve has staying power as he has been on the list for a long time but not as long as the next man.
4. Agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper - Agent Cooper has had a special place in my heart since I was 14 years old. He strange but overly sexy character from Twin Peaks played by Kyle MacLachlan. Once again the black hair and black suits. I would prefer to have Agent Cooper over Kyle but I would settle for the actor in this case. This choice may tell you a lot about my character. I love the show Twin Peaks and all of it's crazy. My husband, also, loves the show and it was one of our main topics when we went on our first coffee date.
5. The Vampire Armand - Armand played by Antonio Banderas. There would be no substituting Antonio the actor! It has to be Armand!!! I read all of Anne Rice's books and, yes, I know that this is not a true depiction of Armand but I don't care. Antonio did a good job and boy howdy he was hot. I have a soft spot for vampires. With Armand, it was the long black hair, the pale skin, the clothes and the voice. Antonio himself is way too short for my taste and I do not like his choice of women.
There are a few honourable mentions to this list. Edward Cullen (yet another vampire), Joaquin Phoenix & Matthew Mcconaughey.
In the Mysore room every morning, I see many students effortlessly go up into headstands, Salamba Sirsasana. They set their hands up, put their crown of their head on the floor and lift their legs. Just like that. Breathe 20 breaths, legs come down half way, breathe some more then come down to child's pose. Simple right? We are Ashtanga Yogis and this is what you do.
I wish!
I get to that part of the closing sequence and first do a few modified handstands without putting my head on the floor....arm balances really. I do this to feel the connection to my shoulders and to make sure I am moving the shoulder blades down the back towards my hips. It is a nice prep posture; a modified dolphin pose.
This is what I imagine I look like trying to do a headstand.
Feeling confidant, I put my crown on the floor sink the shoulder blades and come up to my toes. Good so far. Good to go a little further, I start to walk my toes in while bending my knees and JAM JAM JAM!!! Those yoga fairies put cement in my spine again while I was sleeping! Damn you yoga fairies!!!! They come at night, they can either sprinkle you with the 'Amazing Practice' dust or the 'Cement' dust. They are tricky little tricksters! It's always nice to put the blame on someone else.....as long as you are aware you are doing it. Don't fool yourself.
The Green Absinth Fairy from Moulin Rouge
So I will try a couple of times lifting one foot then the other off the floor and that is it....child's pose. Defeated! Once again the yoga fairies won. You can almost hear their little, muffled giggles.
The other day, after teaching 3 classes, I thought it would be a good idea to try doing a headstand with the assistance of the wall. Try something new. Approach it with a clear mind. Wipe out any preconceived ideas about the pose. There is no Jam, Cement or Fairy Dust this time. I pump myself up.
My back is not to the wall but my feet are. My intention is to walk up the wall with my feet. I get set up. Placing couch pillows around me just in case I fall. My son is watching cartoons across the room, focused on the tv and has no idea what I am doing. I set up, doing the modified dolphin pose and ready to do a headstand. Determined to do a headstand. I picture myself in my mind doing a headstand. I know this time for sure.
I walk up the wall....pressure on the top of my head is still 10%. Good! Ok time to lift one foot away from the wall and point it up to the ceiling. My leg is moving in slow motion....foot points to the ceiling. OMG I feel balanced!!!! Freak out!!! Tense my upper back and neck and come down.
Child's pose....I hear no fairy giggling.
.........
.....
...
What the heck just happened? I freaked out! But I felt balanced? I could have brought my other foot up. But instead I freaked out because I felt balanced.
I get up, put all the pillows away and sit on the couch with my little boy.
The yoga fairies paid me a visit that night.
Yup.
I will tell you all about it in my next post.
