Some Things and Some Stuff

After ripping my last contact lens in Pittsburgh, I pulled out my phone to call my eye doctor and order a new box. I scrolled down to "D" for "Dr. Geri Bauer" (first name necessary because I used to see a Dr. Bauers when I lived with my parents...7 years ago. Okay, no longer necessary). 

"How many doctors is it appropriate for a 29-year-old woman to have in her phone?" I asked Tom (shout out). 

"If you have any more than 6, there's something wrong," he said.

I have 8. And a physical therapist. There's something wrong. And it's eating up too much of my time. 

I tutored right after work today and then rushed to my appointment with my rheumatologist. I waited for so long I had to cancel my next appointment, which was with my physical therapist. The bottom line: All of these mediocre health "issues" are taking up way too much of my time. 

The rheumatologist stands by his initial diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which I had hoped was maybe a bit premature. I definitely have hip bursitis, which is the only thing that's currently bothering me. Bursitis, he says, is actually common in people with fibro. So, according to him, the pain in my hip is a symptom, not the actual issue.

Since my stomach is still reeling from my weekend and my late-night hankerings, I'm not only going to try to stick to a vegan diet, but I am going to be mindful of eating foods that also aid in anti-inflammation (is that the correct terminology?):

Minus the meat, dairy, and unlimited cooked Asian mushrooms

Going to the doctor today also meant an encounter with the dreaded scale, something I've avoided since around the Super Bowl. I asked the nurse if I could not look at the scale. I didn't. However, as she was putting information into the computer, she mentioned that I weighed less than I did at my last visit...I knew that, but I also know that I weigh more than I did at the peak of my weight loss...which was still shy of my ultimate goal. 

When she left the room, I quickly snuck on the scale before the doctor arrived. Okay, it's not so bad. I'm up 5 lbs, but that also means I'm still down 5 lbs. Some pants are too tight, but none are so tight that they actually feel shorter. My gut may feel bloated, but it's not as roll-y as it was before. There is still hope.

The new bottom line: I need to get back on the horse. That means: the weekends are my time for recreation, but that doesn't mean I can go crazy with food. I'm officially back on the vegan horse, which seems like an oxymoron (speaking of which, just found a leak of Schoolboy Q's new album...can't wait to see him in 2 weeks).  

Okay, that was slightly irrelevant. Time to get back on track in more ways than one:

MONDAY = GYM AND COUNTING CALORIES. This week doesn't count because Monday was a holiday. 

Not much interesting food news to post (other than I've been stuffing my face in bed late at night), but I did try to recreate my Pittsburgh golden oat smoothie yesterday. 

I made this with one banana, a cup (I think? It was too early for memories) of oats, a cup of almond milk, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger. And ice. No perfume, although it's in the photo. The result: Too watery. Needs less milk and more banana. Do over!

I also managed to stay vegan at Surf Taco yesterday. 

Costa Rican burrito bowl, no cheese, add guac

I was also excited to come home to a case of Brad's Raw Crunchy Kale from Laura!!! (I think I ate 3 already).

Nom nom nom...my bestie is the best

I got back in the kitchen today, too, because I was inspired by some Simple Veganista recipes. 

For dinner today, I made roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with mustard dressing. 

This was very easy and much more tasty than I expected - I mixed a head of cauliflower (cut into florets) and a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans with 2 tablespoons of EVOO and some salt and roasted it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes (stirring every 15). I kept checking the recipe to see what I forgot. No seasonings?! Surely you must be mistaken, Simple Veganista!

Meanwhile, I prepared two very uninvolved things: a cup of quinoa on the stove and mustard dressing. The dressing calls for a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and a tablespoon of whole grain mustard, and of course I chose today to bring my Dijon mustard to work and leave it there (it's always something - but better mustard than my wallet). I used 2 tablespoons of whole grain Dijon mustard (mind-blowing, right? Thanks, Trader Joe), 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and a tablespoon of EVOO. I mixed this dressing with the beans and cauli when they were done roasting and had cooled for a few minutes. Oh, I also chopped up very little parsley and mixed that in, too. Whenever I go to chop parsley, I'm like "Why the F did I buy this?! I hate this!" ...but it was pretty unnoticeable in this mustardy goodness (I could eat mustard with a spoon).

I don't have nutrition facts yet, but this is supposed to make 2 servings with some leftover quinoa (yeah, serve this on top of the quinoa, BTW). This was a great portion size, absolutely delicious, and sometimes sinus-clearing (and almost a parallel sentence). I give it an A.

I also finally made rustic apple and pear crisp. 

This was also really easy: wash, core, and dice 3 apples and 3 pears. If you're like me, laugh at yourself and how inept you are at coring and dicing things.

Mix with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of cornstarch, a tablespoon of sugar, and a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon (crap, I used a heaping tablespoon). This goes into a 9 x 9 baking pan...or, if you're like me, an 8 x 8 baking pan and also a loaf pan.

Then mix together 1 3/4 cup oats, a cup of chopped walnuts (crap, I bought a half cup...improvised with another half-ish cup of sliced almonds), 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla extract (imitation for me), and some salt. This goes on top of the apple-pear mixture, but it didn't seem to make enough for me. The recipe calls for an optional 1/4 cup of almond meal and it probably needs it.

This bakes at 350 for 35-40 minutes. I went with 35 since the oven was still cooling down from 400 degrees.

No nutrition facts here, either, but this serves 6. I mean...one. Because I'm about to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Day Sixteen: Back on the Wagon!

Although I probably won't get any work done, I plan on using my day off for more than just binge watching the last season of Gossip Girl on Netflix. And rather than spend an hour writing one post before bed, I'm going to start now and update throughout the day. 

Even though I have off, my body still woke me up in time for work. I finally fell back to sleep and woke up around 8. After bumming around for a while, I made my way to Stop & Shop to get groceries for the week. Then I headed to the gym for a half hour on the elliptical. My neck and shoulder pain has been bad so I figured I would go easy on myself. 

Then I got started and this song came on:

How encouraging of you, Ice Cube! It was easier than I thought. I don't think I looked at the timer until I was 13 minutes in. The arm motions actually helped ease my shoulder pain. I didn't feel winded or anything. As I neared the 30 minute mark, I decided to up my time to an hour. Forty minutes in, this song came on:

Nothing motivates me more than this song. It makes me feel like Mystikal is chasing me and yelling in my ear. I was still feeling good. At 57:00, this song came on:

Another huge motivator for me! And perfect timing - I ended my workout going even faster. And finally, my cool down consisted of this gem from Zumba class:

About 18 months ago, I used to go to the gym and do an hour on the elliptical 7 days a week. I'm not back to my old speed, but I was pretty close. After my workout, I felt better - and more pain-free - than I had in a long time.

I felt like doing a victory lap around the gym

Looking a mess but feeling fabulous

At this point, I had had more than 2 bottles of water, but no food. Yesterday I committed to starting my detox today, so I decided to whip up a green smoothie. I'm not sure what this is going to do to my stomach yet, so I figured for today, the earlier I tried it, the better. 

Brunch: Green Smoothie

I realize that it's not Sunday. I'm not sure what else to call it when a day's first meal happens around 1:00. I was intimidated to begin this whole process, but I had to start sometime.

I am using the Raw Green Organic's 2 Week Detox system. It's vegan, caffeine-free, soy-free, and gluten-free (wait, we have issues with soy now?). The smoothie recipe I used consisted of 3 tablespoons of vegan protein powder, 1 tablespoon of organic super greens powder, and then from my own kitchen: 1 banana (I added this, totally randomly, to hopefully cover up the stank taste that I assumed would go along with the stank smell of these powders), 1 cup of almond milk, 1/4 teaspoon of (imitation) vanilla extract (since I realized the recipe that comes with the system advises using vanilla-flavored almond/soy/rice milk), and 3/4 cup ice. 

Ignore the trash in the corner

The initial sound of ice crushing in my Ninja damn near gave me a heart attack, but everything blended together quickly. As I began to pour the green sludge into a pint glass and saw that it was amounting to just over a pint (I guess because of the banana), my heart sank a little. I poured the excess into a small juice glass and started there.

...it wasn't as bad as I expected! 

It took me a while to drink these down because it wasn't fantastic...I really don't know how to describe it. Then I took the recommended supplements that came with the system - 1 capsule of super aloe ("a natural laxative and stool softener"), 1 capsule of vegan probiotic (which led me to question my regular probiotic, but it's safe), and 1 capsule of super fiber (another natural laxative). All of the above worry me. I took note of the time - 1:27 - expecting the smoothie and supplements to work something like this: 

Shortly thereafter, my eyelids started getting heavy. I got into bed around 2:00 for a lovely 2-hour nap. It's currently 5:08 and my insides are still intact.

Snack: I don't want to get started on dinner just yet, and I know I have a lot of calories to intake today. I went for my leftover artichoke heart and tomato salad.

Dinner: Israeli Couscous with Peas, Carrots, and Red Wine Vinegar and Seared Cauliflower with Garlic and Tamari

Oh, what a disappointment this is. Also, the nutrition facts on the Kickstart website are way off - 168 calories when this is really 347 - but luckily I could really eat in excess today.

I started by boiling 1 1/4 cups of vegetable broth and then adding a cup of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pearl couscous. I removed that from the heat and stirred it every now and then. It never really fully absorbed. I have never used whole wheat Israeli couscous before so maybe it just needed more time.

I mixed this together with 1/4 cup of peas, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, a diced stalk of celery, 1/2 red bell pepper - diced, 1/8 red onion - diced, 1/4 cup of shredded red cabbage, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. This makes 2 servings.

The cauliflower recipe called for a head of cauliflower, cut into florets, but I already had a bag of frozen, steam-in-bag cauliflower florets. I steamed them in the microwave and then sauteed them on medium for a few minutes. I added 2 tablespoons of tamari and cooked that for about 2 minutes, and then added 3 minced cloves of garlic and cooked it for about 3 more.

The verdict:

At first I was like, yesssssss this is so much food! I started with the cauliflower - I love cauliflower - and it was okay, but something about it tasted a little fishy to me. Maybe I'm used to using soy sauce on sushi so I just made the association.

Now the couscous, to put it plainly, sucked. I don't know why I continue to buy/use red pepper because I really don't like it. The cinnamon was totally out of place and the red wine vinegar was overpowering. 

I could only eat half of this. I have another serving for lunch tomorrow and I'm already dreading it. 

These are today's totals, although I may end up eating something else since I barely ate today and can't stomach my dinner.

Totals	654	100	13	34	1,685	19
Your Daily Goal	1,701	213	57	85	2,300	64
Remaining	1,047	113	44	51	615	45
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

My Fitness Pal is telling me that if every day was like today, I'd be 4 lbs away from my goal in 5 weeks. Every day is not going to be like today, but did I mention that I'm officially 5 lbs. down and only 15 days in to this diet? 

I'll leave you with this: