Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Gearing up for the New Year

Gearing up for the vegan kickstart:

  1. I am looking forward to my morning scrambled tofu again. That stuff is just damned-tasty.


  2. I think I'll probably make some Indian dishes:

    • I remember making Cauliflower and red lentils in balti sauce, and although it was tasty, the recipe needed some tweaking.

    • Aloo gobhi will likely make an appearance as well. I'll have to peruse some vegetarian Indian recipes & blogs for more ideas.

    • Oh! There are those spicy chickpea dishes, Channa Masala (chickpea curry) or Aloo Chhole (chickpeas with potatoes). One of my local Indian restaurants makes killer Aloo Chhole. I could just eat that with garlic naan and call it a meal.

    • I know that there are some excellent vegetarian curries with spinach as well. I need to hunt those up.

    • I've got a few recipes for naan and onion-stuffed kulchas, and will give those a whirl to accompany the Indian dishes.

  3. I don't want to rely as much on the fake meats & soy cheeses; they seem to be every bit as over-processed as any sodium-filled crap out of a box or a can. More reliance on pulses and beans for protein. The goal is to eat the least -processed foods as possible. I'll make some exceptions for tofu and tempeh. Those are pretty great.

  4. I can't even begin to count how many different rice and beans recipes I have, from the outstanding Cuban-style black beans and rice from Dinosaur BBQ, to Mexican-style, to a great Cajun red beans and rice recipe. More rice and beans. More Beano, too. ;-)

  5. Now is as good a time as any to cut out my Diet Coke habit. It's insane, really. I have been drinking hardly any water at all, and that is just not good. 6 - 8 glasses of water a day is my new goal.

  6. Again, for snacks, I'll opt for nuts and fruit, but if I feel hungry, I'll start with a tall glass of water. I recall reading somewhere reputable that lots of us are so over-fed that we mistake signs of thirst for hunger. So when we're reaching for a bag of potato chips or something else fairly laden with empty calories and salt, what we really ought to be doing is downing a glass of water.

Monday, December 28, 2009

I'm Back

I fell off the wagon this fall.

No, actually, that's not quite right. I didn't fall off so much as jumped off the wagon.

Right into wheelbarrow filled with sausage and cheese.


I've talked about lapses with other vegetarians and vegans, so I know that it happens. Still, I could only describe myself as a self-loathing omnivore. With every bite I took I was torn between the decadent taste and the suffering behind it. I wanted the cruelty-free ethical lifestyle, but not as much as the taste of the food I grew up with.

I didn't realize I could be that weak.

I don't know if I had trouble sticking to a vegan diet because I dived in feet-first, going straight from omnivore to vegan instead of easing in gently.


I resolve to try again.

Starting January 1, I'll be climbing back in the wagon via the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart.

I suppose I'll take it from there and see how it goes.
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