Day ten already....

....and I can't believe that means I've had ten main meals with no meat or animal products at all. Ai far I'd say it's been a bit time consuming but not hard.

"Every time I run I try and remember to appreciate that I'm strong enough and well enough to run."

Jonathan Cairns, The Plant-Based Runner

A great inspirational quote that, and I still sat on my fat arse this evening instead of going to club. I cooked a lovely chickpea curry, care of another five minute Happy Pear recipe (with a wee adaptation or two,  coconut oil instead of olive, spinach added at the end and a bit of maple syrup to make it more like a korma)

https://thehappypear.ie/recipes/chickpea-curry/

I really enjoyed the fruits of my labour,  as did the OH, but I could still have gone to club too.

Sausages?

My heel was very sore last night after club, and again this morning when I got out of bed. It's been a problem for a few months now. Is it a bit of plantar fasciitis? I don't know. It certainly feels like it according to what I've read. It's plausable too, given it can come on through weight gain. Damn me for starting to chub up again! Yet another reason to keep going with the weight loss attempts. The sooner I'm lighter, the less pressure I'll be putting on my body as I run.

So far, all my food has been really tasty. I'd say some of it hasn't turned out as it really should have, but there have been no disasters, and nothing inedible. My cupboards are starting to come down with ingredients I'd never heard of before. Thank goodness for mail order. Everything is generally so accessible these days, available and arriving within a day or two. My biggest revelation (I've said it before) is nutritional yeast. I've already ordered more, and I've only been using it for eight days. But I just don't want to run out of it. I've verry tempted to add it to recipes just for the sake of it, it's so yummy.

Today I tried out a recipe by The Happy Pear. It was a five minute sausage recipe, and it appealed because a) it was quick and b) I had all the ingredients. It's not unusual for a recipe to have some very exotic sounding stuff in it. It's not as off putting as it would have once been, given how easy it is to get things on line, but it's no good if I want to try a recipe the same day. I will start to put things in my on line basket and wait till there are a few things to get before sending for them.

Anyway, Happy Pear five min sausages. Delish! Easy and simple ingredients. Yummy! Not at all sausagey mind you, but that might have just been me. I will most certainly be making them again. The OH loved them too. I've subscribed to their YouTube channel. A girl in running club has talked about them a lot. I can see why. So I'll be sussing them out some more.

Tasted better than it might look)

The other main part of dinner was my own take on baked beans. They were great! Red onion and red pepper sweated off in a neutral coconut oil, not extra virgin coz it tastes very strongly of coconut, which would be fab in a curry, but not necessarily baked beans, then garlic granules, oregano, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, salt and pepper added. Add haricot beans to that, then a tin of chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Maple syrup to taste and let it all cook down till there's a thick sauce. Somethign else I'll be doing again.

I got out of bed late this morning, slept in, so I'd no time to lift anything to eat. I bought clemintines for lunch and some unsweetened cocnut milk to make "milky" coffee. Thus far, my day is in the green!

174lb

Wow! Despite eating like a hallion last week, over calorie allowance every day, I LOST a pound! Amazing. Could be a fluke or it could be because they were good quality calories. Who knows? It doesn't change the fact that I still ate too much and I won't get away with it for long. Medjool dates alone were an issue. Three full 500g boxes at the end of the week! Ridiculous and greedy, that's all that was. And it was just enabling my sweet tooth, which is something I need to get a handle on. That's going to change this week.

I ate soup, bread, roasted veg pate, a banana, an apple, 13g almonds and two portions of potato and broccoli bake today, approximately 1850 cals, with about 400 of running earned, since I went to running club. Not a bad day all in, and if I leave it there, I'll end up in the green for the first time in eight vegantastic days.

End of the first week

I've overeaten this week. Substantially. It's all been healthy and vegan, but too many calories is too many calories, regardless of the form they're in. I'm eating as if I'm still running six days a week. And I'm so not! I need to eat less, or, and here's a drastic idea, actually start running regularly again! 

I really want to start properly in the morning, and go to club tomorrow night. It's hard enough at the moment to get motivated, never mind the fact that it's so cold leaving the hose in the evening.

Anyway, regardless of how pants I am at running at the mo, I've had a great vegan first week. This is the end of day seven, and I've made my own bread twice, made a great chilli and burgers fron Scott Jurek's book "Eat and Run", soup, fritters, cheesy potato bake ( https://www.ilovevegan.com/cheesy-vegan-potato-broccoli-casserole/ ) and vegetable pate ( http://laurencariscooks.com/vegan-pate-everyone-will-love/ ) I've also discovered nutritional yeast, and amazing piece of dietary kit! I'm very pleased with myself. I wouldn't be surprised if I've gained weight this week, with the way I've eaten, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself for that. Next week I'll get the amounts more in line with what my calorific needs actually are.

Today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen,

 trying a couple of mayo recipes, using unsweetened almond milk, avocado oil and the brine from chick peas, aquafaba as it's known. Both attempts taste good enough,  but are more like a salad cream consistency than a mayo. Worth a try though. The recipes both say that soya milk would give a thicker result,  but I'm trying to steer clear of soy products. 

When Terry met Mary

Last night was a special night for my running club Ward Park Runners. We had an evening with Dame Mary Peters and Mike Bull. I can't lie, except for the OH knowing who he was, and telling me so, I'd never heard of Mike Bull, but I now know he's a thoroughly lovely bloke and was a training partner of Mary Peters, and a successful athlete in his own right, a pole vaulter. It's fuuny, OH says he'd pay good money to see me attempt the pole vault. That man's got no respect for me :-)

They spoke together about their days as training partners and what it was like to be an elite athlete. It was warm and funny, inspirational and such a wonderful thing for our club. It really came across as if they both enjoyed themselves and I hope they did. 

Dame Mary had a book for sale, to aid her foundation which helps young people in sport, so loads of us bought a copy and got it signed. I asked if it woud be bad form to ask for "Get your arse in gear " and she only went and wrote it!

I genuinely think it will help me to get back on the horse. Lovely evening!

Day Four

I'm forty-five pounds away from the weight I'd like to be. Sounds like an awful lot, doesn't it. But I remind myself that in comparison to 287lb, 175lb is pretty manageable. A size 14 rather than a 28. Big difference. I still look well within what's considered "normal" so to look at me, a random stranger would never know that I have this obsession with my weight. 

I've been way off my form, running wise, doing hardly any for months now, meaning my exercising is way down. I'm not expending the calories that I was. At least if I'm eating healthily,  I'm mitigating any weight gain a wee bit. As to eating unhealthy foods,  as a vegan, my choices are a lot more limited, no ice cream, or full tubs of Quality Street,  or three typea of cheese at one time any more, but there are still things I will need to go easy on. Medjool dates for one! They taste like caramel, and a whole box (500g) has more calories than a tub of Ben & Jerry's,  and I could eat it just as easily. Certain good quality dark chocolates too. 

I love that I'm eating leftovers for breakfast. I've always liked a savoury brekkie, and this morning's minestrone and bread was yummy. Convenient too, since I just whack it in the micro at work.  

I tried out sweetcorn fritters this evening and had them with some of the lentil burgers. A bit too much salt, but otherwise,  really good. Like the minestrone,  a few tweeks, and it'll be a really good recipe.

And on the third day....

....Terry made her own bread! 

Yes. I thank you. I am a domestic goddess. Soda bread type thingy. It was very nice. It smelled amazing, as fresh baked stuff does. I will keep it in the oven five minutes longer next time, as it was a touch stodgy in the middle, but otherwise,  A for effort, I'd say!

Minestrone soup for the main component of dinner, and I sort of made it up as I went along. Onion, garlic, chilli, tinned tomatoes, courgette, carrot, green beans, haricot beans, wholemeal pasta, oregano,  salt and pepper. Wholesome and hearty!

I wonder if I can really make this adjustment, go vegan. I have to say, thus far, it feels like I can.

I have loads of leftovers to eat, so I won't be making something new tomorrow. I had some of the chilli for breakfast. Sooooo good. Lunch was cucumber and cherry tomatoes and dinner was the minestrone and bread. 

So far, the OH has partaken of two of the three meals. And loved them! I don't want him to give up meat, but it's not a bad thing to go meat free a bit.

Day Two

Day two, and today's lesson is that Alpro Almond Milk's third ingredient on the list is sugar. I should have realized that anything that has a dedicated "unsweetened" variety is going to be very sweet in its original version. It's not unpleasant, but it's sweeter than I'd chose. I'll know in future. I'm not even sure why I bought it, as I don't normally even use milky milk. It's a good rule of thumb to get things that have as few ingredients as possible. Rule two would be to ensure that sugar is way down the ingredients list. I see a recipe in Scott Jurek's "Eat and Run" for hemp milk. I might try that. And it's not a big thing to make almond milk either from what I've read, so lots to try. Homework! I'll be looking at easy bread recipes too. My old paleo one has eggs and honey in it, so far from vegan.

A delivery arrived today with tricolour quinoa, vitamin B12 suppliments and nutritional yeast in it. I forgot to add bulgar wheat. Darn! I was surprised to find ASDA didn't have any, when I locked yesterday.  

I used the nutritional yeast this evening in my lentil burger recipe. It's a revelation! Cheesy and salty. Yummy! I made Scott Jurek's lentil and mushroom burgers. I can tell I'm going to be saying his name a lot. But damn, the man is good! 

That's two recipes in a row that were great. I had them with pitta pockets, and a spinach,  red pepper and tomato salad, with homemade vinaigrette. I feel like a proper domestic goddess 😁

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175lb

If there's a band wagon out there, I'll jump on it. Renowned for my mad phases in my family, I am. So it's no real surprise to anyone who knows me that when I get enthusiastic about something, I go a bit gung ho. That's great, while it lasts, but can lead to burn out. My general period of time for something long standing is about two years. Then it's usually on to the next thing. I can't seem to help it. I'm hoping this won't be the case here.

Recently I've become hyper aware of veganism. Not a new thing obviously, it's been around for thousands of years, but am I wrong in thinking it's "trending" at the mo? With the popularity of the film, "The Game Changers" I know of a few runners, in my club and others, who are either already taking up this new life style choice, or are seriously thinking about it. I'm conscious of abstinence from all flesh and by product foods now being referred to as being on a "plant based diet." Is that coz "vegan" sounds too militant? I wonder. "Plant based" definitely sounds a bit fluffier to me, less CND, flaky, political activist student, more middle aged, middle income, middle of the road office worker (i.e. me, I suppose - and exactly when did I become middle aged???)

 

So here I was this morning. My cheese and chocolate levels were at the max, not to mention my ice cream level. My final fling with dairy was done yesterday,  along with a sausage sandwich. Today was about starting to try going vegan. No. "Do or do not, there is no try." Thank you George Lucas. 

If I do this, will it fill me? My factory setting is to be a greedy ballix, will plants satisfy me? Will I get bored? Will I take enough care to eat healthily?

I suppose I'm going to become an expert at checking food labels now. Today it was rice cakes and vegetable stock cubes I was looking in to. I haven't been using stock cubes for a while, but when the OH cooks, he does, so he wanted to know which ones he could use. It looks like Knnor vegetable ones are dead on. I've very lucky with how supportive he is. 

I wish I could forget about food, if you know what I mean, lose my obsession with it. Forget about it as recreation and think of it purely as fuel. Then, I would only eat what I need. Then, I wouldn't be at least thirty pounds off what should be my heaviest weight. And my running wouldn't have suffered. Still, getting on the scales shows me where I stand. 

Breakfast: avocado, cucumber, cannelinni beans and rice cake

Lunch: apple, almonds, walnuts, cherry tomatoes 

Tea: chilli made with three types of tinned beans, brown basmati rice 

Black coffee, water

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