Saturday, June 16, 2012
Mystery Baby Problem...Help, Please!
I am desperate for help with this issue, so I appreciate any moms or dads who can read through this quickly and let me know if they've experienced anything similar with any of their children and can guide me with what to do.
BabyG has been a spitter-upper from day one, but was not anywhere as bad as her reflux-ed older brother. She's also been notorious for not having the greatest latch during nursing and often sputters/sucks in air while nursing (I'm hoping to talk to my aunt, who's a lactation consultant, at my awesome cousin Amy's bridal shower next Saturday).
However, last Thursday or Friday(so when she turned five weeks old, basically) there was a sudden change in BabyG and I just can't figure out why. Symptoms that all began simultaneously and continue now include the following:
1. She went from pooping regularly (several times a day) to going a day or two in between.
2. She started being extremely gassy. I don't recall her having gas at all before but now she has it all the time, sometimes almost explosively.
3. Her spitting up increased (I would venture to say it doubled or even tripled) in both frequency and quantity. It also can be very explosive and projectile in nature. She now rivals LG in his spitting-up glory days.
4. From number 2 and 3, she seems extremely uncomfortable a lot of the time. Sometimes during nursing, sometimes afterward, sometimes in between feedings.
5. I don't think this one started at the same time as numbers 1-3 but is likely a result of them - she hesitates to nurse and sometimes won't start for a full minute or more. She obviously will WANT to nurse but will resist latching on.
This doesn't seem like reflux to me - I don't see a ton of tongue-thrusting or back-arching (though she has done a bit of each in the past). I've been able to put my finger on dairy, chocolate, and raw tomato bothering her, so I already avoid those. I thought initially that all of this behavior change was due to my having hummus a couple of times (and her reacting badly to trying to digest beans), but I haven't had hummus since Monday.
I think it's chiefly a gassiness issue - she sucks in air all the time. When she spits up, she gags and sucks LOTS of air in.
I think that covers everything. I'd really like to get this solved so she's not miserable so much of the time. I guess it could all come down to that poor latch that I hope to fix, but it's just weird to me that this all came on at once. I will likely take her to the pediatrician next week if I can't figure anything out.
Thanks for any help or wisdom you can provide in advance!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Vegan Days 12-13
Weights:
Day 12 - 137
Day 13 - 136.2
Workouts:
Day 12 - Level 3 of 30-day Shred (20 min)
Day 13 - No More Trouble Zones (a 55-min workout - finally!). Between yesterday and today I finally am starting to see some good definition again in my abs. I can't tell you how motivating that is!
Dinner on Day 11: Vegan Vegetable Dumpling Soup (adapted from Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup from melskitchencafe.com):
Vegetables:
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 large carrots, sliced (12-14 baby carrots)
2 onions, chopped
Put the above in a large frying pan with 1-2 cups water and saute until the vegetables are tender. In the meantime, put 9 cups vegetable broth in a large stock pot and heat to boiling. While that's heating, chop about 8 medium red potatoes into 1" cubes. Add potatoes, vegetables and the following seasonings to the stockpot:
3 t salt
2 t dried thyme (ground is best)
1/2 t ground black pepper
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup cold water and 1/2 cup flour until smooth. Whisking the stockpot mixture vigorously, slowly pour the flour mixture in. Add 1 cup frozen peas to the stockpot and stir gently.
Dumplings: Mix dry ingredients first, then add and mix in the wet until combined. Don't overmix.
1 c white flour (we might trade 1/4 of this for flaxseed meal next time - Will's mom's idea)
1 c whole wheat flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t dried thyme or sage
1 c almond milk + (add enough until the consistency is like a very thick pancake batter)
2 T oil (we used canola)
With the stockpot mixture boiling, drop the dumpling dough by teaspoons onto the surface of the stockpot mixture in a single layer - should cover the entire surface. Reduce the heat to simmering, cover, and cook for 15 minutes (don't lift the lid during this!).
This was ever so yum. I am not exaggerating when I say it was tastier than 70% of the non-vegan recipes I've made for dinner. Will's mom pointed out that the broth can be thickened with plain whole wheat flour (not mixed into liquid) - we did that to make some additional broth last night (Day 12), and with the salt, pepper and thyme, it made a DELICIOUS vegan gravy that we'll have to use in the future on mashed potatoes.
Another interesting note about this vegan thing is that I got SUPER full on one bowl of soup (a bit unusual as I've been known to be capable of packing a LOT of food in my tummy in one sitting) - then in a couple of hours, I was getting hungry again. I've been noticing that phenomenon in general, actually - my body wants to eat smaller amounts more frequently. This is something I've been told to do time and time again (but I've ignored the advice in the past, partly because I grew up with two 6-foot-4-and-up brothers and became a competitive eater from trying to keep up with them at mealtime). With the vegan lifestyle, though, it's just naturally occurring that my body WANTS to eat that way. I find that very intriguing!
Last note for today is a hearty thank you to my awesome visiting teachee, Alyssa Woolstenhume, for recommending foodgawker.com to me. LIFE-SAVER! This is my new favorite website. Allrecipes.com, my old comfy go-to for recipes, has a LOUSY vegan selection. Very disappointing. But at foodgawker, I can type in a single main ingredient in the searchbox like broccoli or mango or blackberries, limit the search to vegan recipes only, and see at LEAST a dozen mouth-watering pics of recipes that I can link right to to get the recipe from a blog. I have to sift through a few (no soy, and no "vegan buttery spread" - the latter must be for people who are vegan for moral reasons instead of health reasons, because I've seen the nutrition info on that buttery spread and it is appalling!!), but so many of the recipes are fairly simple, many are RAW (wow!), and there's just an endless resource to turn to for keeping interest and variety in what we're eating. Just knowing this is there makes me think that a vegan lifestyle could be sustainable for me long-term (overall. I still think we'll have some meat/eggs/dairy every now and then, but far less of it and far less often). The one thing I wish is that the blogs had more reviews of the recipes (most comments are, "wow, this looks delicious! I can't wait to try it!"), but in many ways not having the comments as a fallback makes me rely on my own skills and instincts in deciding what to change in a recipe to make it suit our tastes and needs. So maybe it will make me a better cook in the long run. I hope so!
Day 12 - 137
Day 13 - 136.2
Workouts:
Day 12 - Level 3 of 30-day Shred (20 min)
Day 13 - No More Trouble Zones (a 55-min workout - finally!). Between yesterday and today I finally am starting to see some good definition again in my abs. I can't tell you how motivating that is!
Dinner on Day 11: Vegan Vegetable Dumpling Soup (adapted from Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup from melskitchencafe.com):
Vegetables:
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 large carrots, sliced (12-14 baby carrots)
2 onions, chopped
Put the above in a large frying pan with 1-2 cups water and saute until the vegetables are tender. In the meantime, put 9 cups vegetable broth in a large stock pot and heat to boiling. While that's heating, chop about 8 medium red potatoes into 1" cubes. Add potatoes, vegetables and the following seasonings to the stockpot:
3 t salt
2 t dried thyme (ground is best)
1/2 t ground black pepper
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup cold water and 1/2 cup flour until smooth. Whisking the stockpot mixture vigorously, slowly pour the flour mixture in. Add 1 cup frozen peas to the stockpot and stir gently.
Dumplings: Mix dry ingredients first, then add and mix in the wet until combined. Don't overmix.
1 c white flour (we might trade 1/4 of this for flaxseed meal next time - Will's mom's idea)
1 c whole wheat flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t dried thyme or sage
1 c almond milk + (add enough until the consistency is like a very thick pancake batter)
2 T oil (we used canola)
With the stockpot mixture boiling, drop the dumpling dough by teaspoons onto the surface of the stockpot mixture in a single layer - should cover the entire surface. Reduce the heat to simmering, cover, and cook for 15 minutes (don't lift the lid during this!).
This was ever so yum. I am not exaggerating when I say it was tastier than 70% of the non-vegan recipes I've made for dinner. Will's mom pointed out that the broth can be thickened with plain whole wheat flour (not mixed into liquid) - we did that to make some additional broth last night (Day 12), and with the salt, pepper and thyme, it made a DELICIOUS vegan gravy that we'll have to use in the future on mashed potatoes.
Another interesting note about this vegan thing is that I got SUPER full on one bowl of soup (a bit unusual as I've been known to be capable of packing a LOT of food in my tummy in one sitting) - then in a couple of hours, I was getting hungry again. I've been noticing that phenomenon in general, actually - my body wants to eat smaller amounts more frequently. This is something I've been told to do time and time again (but I've ignored the advice in the past, partly because I grew up with two 6-foot-4-and-up brothers and became a competitive eater from trying to keep up with them at mealtime). With the vegan lifestyle, though, it's just naturally occurring that my body WANTS to eat that way. I find that very intriguing!
Last note for today is a hearty thank you to my awesome visiting teachee, Alyssa Woolstenhume, for recommending foodgawker.com to me. LIFE-SAVER! This is my new favorite website. Allrecipes.com, my old comfy go-to for recipes, has a LOUSY vegan selection. Very disappointing. But at foodgawker, I can type in a single main ingredient in the searchbox like broccoli or mango or blackberries, limit the search to vegan recipes only, and see at LEAST a dozen mouth-watering pics of recipes that I can link right to to get the recipe from a blog. I have to sift through a few (no soy, and no "vegan buttery spread" - the latter must be for people who are vegan for moral reasons instead of health reasons, because I've seen the nutrition info on that buttery spread and it is appalling!!), but so many of the recipes are fairly simple, many are RAW (wow!), and there's just an endless resource to turn to for keeping interest and variety in what we're eating. Just knowing this is there makes me think that a vegan lifestyle could be sustainable for me long-term (overall. I still think we'll have some meat/eggs/dairy every now and then, but far less of it and far less often). The one thing I wish is that the blogs had more reviews of the recipes (most comments are, "wow, this looks delicious! I can't wait to try it!"), but in many ways not having the comments as a fallback makes me rely on my own skills and instincts in deciding what to change in a recipe to make it suit our tastes and needs. So maybe it will make me a better cook in the long run. I hope so!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Vegan Days 7-11 (Catch Up)
Workouts:
Day 7 - Six Week Sixpack Level 1
Day 8 - 30-day Shred Level 1
Day 9 - 30-day Shred Level 2
Day 10- Sunday
Day 11- Six Week Sixpack Level 2. I know these are all the shorter workouts - I really need to discipline myself to get to bed earlier, because I want to do the hour-long ones but I also don't want to get sick from sleeping less than 7 hours a night all the time. I got sick in mid-June and it TOTALLY threw off a 10-week streak of consistent workouts and decent eating, and it sure seems like a lot of tummy flab came back in a very short amount of time as a result. So although working out six days a week is a very high priority for me right now, so is getting as close to 8 hours of sleep a night as I can. There's this nasty time-vortex when I come home from work each night, though, and I always find myself getting to bed after 11PM. Rats!
Weights:
Day 7 - I forget, but I guess it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?
Day 8 - 136.8
Day 9 - 136.6
Day 10- 136.4
Day 11- 137.4 (yes, I weighed it twice to make sure - and yes, you bet I'm annoyed. I know the .2/day decrease is little, but it was consistent and I was hoping things would keep going in that direction. It's not like I pigged out yesterday!)
Food:
- Continued leftovers
- Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers from Costco. (MorningStar veggie burgers and black bean burgers are not vegan, in case you didn't know, and Boca Burgers are made of soy.) Will grilled these patties and we piled on the condiments - pickles for Will, tomatoes for Gretel, and romaine, non-high-fructose-corn-syrup ketchup, mustard, and Daiya shredded cheese on top for both of us (one patty each on a bun). With all the fixins, these were really good. If you didn't have fixins, they'd be nasty. I also made some Sweet Potato Fries (no dip, of course) which were good but not as good as the last time I made them - I think it was the potato quality.
- Last night Will's mom made a YUMMY dinner that I think I will crave at least weekly, and which is entirely guilt free (we've had similar stuff before, I just need to remember how much I love it and make it more often). About a dozen red potatoes, sliced really thin, six carrots also sliced thin, two chopped onions (we could even do more next time), salt and pepper. Dump all in a LARGE frying pan (potatoes on bottom, then carrots and then onions on top) with 1-2 cups water. Cover tightly and cook on medium/high I think until you hear it start to dry out, then uncover and move things around frequently so they don't burn on the bottom (much, anyway - I like them a little burnt!). When the water has mostly cooked off, serve 'em up with some ketchup. The potatoes just melt in your mouth and the flavor is fantastic.
- For lunch today, I had a lettuce/tomato/hummus sandwich, and I absolutely LOVED it. Might not ever need to pay for lunchmeat again...SO good!
DESSERTS:
I have found that I absolutely must have some kind of dessert to look forward to at night. If I don't, I think I honestly will go crazy. Here are two FABULOUS vegan recipes that I challenge non-vegans to try and tell me they're not delicious. I also want to note that I replaced the oil with applesauce in both recipes and they were STILL amazing. Will and I make sure to keep our portions small, but just something little to reward ourselves helps us carry on with this stuff.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pudding Cake (very close to the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake from America's Test Kitchen. I say it rivals the richer cousin, but Will would want to try them side-by-side. I think that was a hint.) I used almond milk instead of soy.
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (I doubled this, used half whole wheat flour and it ended up needing more flour at the end. Possibly because I used agave instead of evaporated cane juice?).
-Currently cooking up (still) some Apple Butter (used agave and brown sugar instead of white sugar, and at Will's mom's suggestion included some lemon juice and apple cider vinegar). We had a huge bag of apples from Costco that we weren't eating and were taking up room in the fridge, so that's why I decided to make this. It's throwing me off, though, because the kitchen/house smells like Autumn! Whoops! :-)
Lastly to report, I got our first Bountiful Baskets order on Saturday morning. Excited to get started on it! Bananas, honeydew, tomatoes, nectarines (I think), kale, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, blackberries, and mangoes. YUM!
Day 7 - Six Week Sixpack Level 1
Day 8 - 30-day Shred Level 1
Day 9 - 30-day Shred Level 2
Day 10- Sunday
Day 11- Six Week Sixpack Level 2. I know these are all the shorter workouts - I really need to discipline myself to get to bed earlier, because I want to do the hour-long ones but I also don't want to get sick from sleeping less than 7 hours a night all the time. I got sick in mid-June and it TOTALLY threw off a 10-week streak of consistent workouts and decent eating, and it sure seems like a lot of tummy flab came back in a very short amount of time as a result. So although working out six days a week is a very high priority for me right now, so is getting as close to 8 hours of sleep a night as I can. There's this nasty time-vortex when I come home from work each night, though, and I always find myself getting to bed after 11PM. Rats!
Weights:
Day 7 - I forget, but I guess it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?
Day 8 - 136.8
Day 9 - 136.6
Day 10- 136.4
Day 11- 137.4 (yes, I weighed it twice to make sure - and yes, you bet I'm annoyed. I know the .2/day decrease is little, but it was consistent and I was hoping things would keep going in that direction. It's not like I pigged out yesterday!)
Food:
- Continued leftovers
- Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers from Costco. (MorningStar veggie burgers and black bean burgers are not vegan, in case you didn't know, and Boca Burgers are made of soy.) Will grilled these patties and we piled on the condiments - pickles for Will, tomatoes for Gretel, and romaine, non-high-fructose-corn-syrup ketchup, mustard, and Daiya shredded cheese on top for both of us (one patty each on a bun). With all the fixins, these were really good. If you didn't have fixins, they'd be nasty. I also made some Sweet Potato Fries (no dip, of course) which were good but not as good as the last time I made them - I think it was the potato quality.
- Last night Will's mom made a YUMMY dinner that I think I will crave at least weekly, and which is entirely guilt free (we've had similar stuff before, I just need to remember how much I love it and make it more often). About a dozen red potatoes, sliced really thin, six carrots also sliced thin, two chopped onions (we could even do more next time), salt and pepper. Dump all in a LARGE frying pan (potatoes on bottom, then carrots and then onions on top) with 1-2 cups water. Cover tightly and cook on medium/high I think until you hear it start to dry out, then uncover and move things around frequently so they don't burn on the bottom (much, anyway - I like them a little burnt!). When the water has mostly cooked off, serve 'em up with some ketchup. The potatoes just melt in your mouth and the flavor is fantastic.
- For lunch today, I had a lettuce/tomato/hummus sandwich, and I absolutely LOVED it. Might not ever need to pay for lunchmeat again...SO good!
DESSERTS:
I have found that I absolutely must have some kind of dessert to look forward to at night. If I don't, I think I honestly will go crazy. Here are two FABULOUS vegan recipes that I challenge non-vegans to try and tell me they're not delicious. I also want to note that I replaced the oil with applesauce in both recipes and they were STILL amazing. Will and I make sure to keep our portions small, but just something little to reward ourselves helps us carry on with this stuff.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pudding Cake (very close to the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake from America's Test Kitchen. I say it rivals the richer cousin, but Will would want to try them side-by-side. I think that was a hint.) I used almond milk instead of soy.
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (I doubled this, used half whole wheat flour and it ended up needing more flour at the end. Possibly because I used agave instead of evaporated cane juice?).
-Currently cooking up (still) some Apple Butter (used agave and brown sugar instead of white sugar, and at Will's mom's suggestion included some lemon juice and apple cider vinegar). We had a huge bag of apples from Costco that we weren't eating and were taking up room in the fridge, so that's why I decided to make this. It's throwing me off, though, because the kitchen/house smells like Autumn! Whoops! :-)
Lastly to report, I got our first Bountiful Baskets order on Saturday morning. Excited to get started on it! Bananas, honeydew, tomatoes, nectarines (I think), kale, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, blackberries, and mangoes. YUM!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Vegan Day 6
Weight: 137.8
Workout: Level 3 of 30-Day Shred (20 minutes). Amazed at how Jillian can make doing 30 more seconds of something feel like an eternity. Yowzah.
Food throughout the day: Leftovers from the past several days. I think we finished just about all of them up today, so it's time to look at making something else.
Not an overly exciting day - and not much time to post. I'd better figure out what I'm making next.
Workout: Level 3 of 30-Day Shred (20 minutes). Amazed at how Jillian can make doing 30 more seconds of something feel like an eternity. Yowzah.
Food throughout the day: Leftovers from the past several days. I think we finished just about all of them up today, so it's time to look at making something else.
Not an overly exciting day - and not much time to post. I'd better figure out what I'm making next.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Vegan Day 5
Weight: 137.2
Workout: Level two Six-week Sixpack (35 min.). Such a good workout for the short length.
Breakfast: Shake
Second Breakfast (11AM): Whole wheat bagel and hummus (from Sunday), and some banana chips.
Lunch (3PM - been a weird day): 1/2 cup or so of the couscous salad (the end of it). LG asked for and liked a few bites of it this time. Seems like the best way to get him to eat new food is to feed him his normal food while we eat something else. Grass is always greener, haha! Because I'd enjoyed the hummus so much, I had some more on a piece of whole wheat bread. Few more banana chips (those things are addicting!!).
What a day. I came into work to discover that I'd won the Provo mayor's blog drawing for a $500 voucher on Frontier Airlines - NO WAY! Out of 363 comments, mine was the one randomly chosen. I've never won anything that big before - so exciting! Yee-haw! (Thanks, Mayor Curtis!)
Then, we found out the carpet's being installed (in the former "blue room") tomorrow morning. That room has been primed but not painted yet. There's no way in Hades that Will could get it painted with LG following him around today. So I took a last-minute day off work, came home and removed all the staples in the particle board, then took LG shopping for bedding for that room. Due to my indecisiveness and the fact that both our twin beds are extra-long, it took me an hour to decide what to get. Comforter: Normally $80, on sale for $30, with an extra 20% off that AND an extra 20% off with my Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon = $19.19. Sheet set: Normally $20, on sale for $15, with an extra 20% off that = $11.99. Sham: Normally $50 (I find that hard to believe, but that's what the tag says), on sale for $10, plus 50% off of that = $5. Total = $36.18. Add the other coupon I had for $5 off a purchase of $15 or more to all that for a grand total of $31.18 for what would normally supposedly be $150. NOT TOO SHABBY! And it's a good thing, because I then proceeded to spend $400 on blinds/shades for that room and the other upstairs bedrooms. Yikes. Add that to the carpet cost and it's been quite a month financially. But the house is looking more and more like grown-ups actually live here, and that's pretty exciting.
Dinner: Non-quesadilla with refried beans and romaine lettuce. A little bit of ambrosia salad and the typical banana cookies with flaxmilk. Those are getting a bit dry. :)
Workout: Level two Six-week Sixpack (35 min.). Such a good workout for the short length.
Breakfast: Shake
Second Breakfast (11AM): Whole wheat bagel and hummus (from Sunday), and some banana chips.
Lunch (3PM - been a weird day): 1/2 cup or so of the couscous salad (the end of it). LG asked for and liked a few bites of it this time. Seems like the best way to get him to eat new food is to feed him his normal food while we eat something else. Grass is always greener, haha! Because I'd enjoyed the hummus so much, I had some more on a piece of whole wheat bread. Few more banana chips (those things are addicting!!).
What a day. I came into work to discover that I'd won the Provo mayor's blog drawing for a $500 voucher on Frontier Airlines - NO WAY! Out of 363 comments, mine was the one randomly chosen. I've never won anything that big before - so exciting! Yee-haw! (Thanks, Mayor Curtis!)
Then, we found out the carpet's being installed (in the former "blue room") tomorrow morning. That room has been primed but not painted yet. There's no way in Hades that Will could get it painted with LG following him around today. So I took a last-minute day off work, came home and removed all the staples in the particle board, then took LG shopping for bedding for that room. Due to my indecisiveness and the fact that both our twin beds are extra-long, it took me an hour to decide what to get. Comforter: Normally $80, on sale for $30, with an extra 20% off that AND an extra 20% off with my Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon = $19.19. Sheet set: Normally $20, on sale for $15, with an extra 20% off that = $11.99. Sham: Normally $50 (I find that hard to believe, but that's what the tag says), on sale for $10, plus 50% off of that = $5. Total = $36.18. Add the other coupon I had for $5 off a purchase of $15 or more to all that for a grand total of $31.18 for what would normally supposedly be $150. NOT TOO SHABBY! And it's a good thing, because I then proceeded to spend $400 on blinds/shades for that room and the other upstairs bedrooms. Yikes. Add that to the carpet cost and it's been quite a month financially. But the house is looking more and more like grown-ups actually live here, and that's pretty exciting.
Dinner: Non-quesadilla with refried beans and romaine lettuce. A little bit of ambrosia salad and the typical banana cookies with flaxmilk. Those are getting a bit dry. :)
Monday, July 11, 2011
Vegan Day 4
Weight: 138. Am I surprised that this hasn't changed much in a few days? Honestly I am a bit. For the past few weeks prior to starting this vegan thing, I had fallen off the wagon and wasn't eating very well or exercising consistently. But it might be that I'm building muscle with my workouts. But regardless, we're only on Day 4 - daily weight fluctuations are normal (but I'm OCD about checking every day), so it's no big deal. Another potentially influential piece of information is that I finally weaned LG a week ago and switched at that time from the mini-pill to the regular pill. So there may be some hormonal issues at work here as well.
Workout: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism (55 minutes). This really is one of the hardest workouts I have. I have several moments throughout it where I'm not sure I can make it 5-10 more seconds of whatever exercise Jillian is having me do. But she pushes me through it. I pretty much hate this workout until the cooldown, at which point I feel amazing and so proud of myself. It's one of those that I can't let myself think about much prior to starting it. I have to turn off my brain momentarily while I get it out of the case and put it in the player...can't give myself a choice, haha! (That's the same thing I have to do with getting up in the morning sometimes - can't give myself a choice or I'll skip my workout.)
Breakfast: Shake.
11AM Snack: Orange
Lunch: I was really looking forward to my leftover couscous salad from yesterday, especially because I'd felt famished most of the morning. But it wasn't nearly as good as yesterday. Boo! The flavor just wasn't as good. My six strawberries were delightful, at least. Still missing my animal crackers. Knowing this is only a three-week thing is what's carrying me through right now.
By the way, I think I've neglected to update that I have indeed been feeling my knee again after Friday. I don't think it's as bad as it was previously, but Friday was an unusually good day and it hasn't been like that since.
4PM Snack (if you can call it that): Low-sodium V8
530PM Snack (because I was going to be very grouchy otherwise): Mindee, I have to eat my words in the very same day. I came home, heated up the last waffle, and put a little bit of peanut butter on it with my pure maple syrup. I needed something that felt more substantial! Also had a few banana chips.
Dinner: Leftover soup, and three cookies with flaxmilk.
Workout: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism (55 minutes). This really is one of the hardest workouts I have. I have several moments throughout it where I'm not sure I can make it 5-10 more seconds of whatever exercise Jillian is having me do. But she pushes me through it. I pretty much hate this workout until the cooldown, at which point I feel amazing and so proud of myself. It's one of those that I can't let myself think about much prior to starting it. I have to turn off my brain momentarily while I get it out of the case and put it in the player...can't give myself a choice, haha! (That's the same thing I have to do with getting up in the morning sometimes - can't give myself a choice or I'll skip my workout.)
Breakfast: Shake.
11AM Snack: Orange
Lunch: I was really looking forward to my leftover couscous salad from yesterday, especially because I'd felt famished most of the morning. But it wasn't nearly as good as yesterday. Boo! The flavor just wasn't as good. My six strawberries were delightful, at least. Still missing my animal crackers. Knowing this is only a three-week thing is what's carrying me through right now.
By the way, I think I've neglected to update that I have indeed been feeling my knee again after Friday. I don't think it's as bad as it was previously, but Friday was an unusually good day and it hasn't been like that since.
4PM Snack (if you can call it that): Low-sodium V8
530PM Snack (because I was going to be very grouchy otherwise): Mindee, I have to eat my words in the very same day. I came home, heated up the last waffle, and put a little bit of peanut butter on it with my pure maple syrup. I needed something that felt more substantial! Also had a few banana chips.
Dinner: Leftover soup, and three cookies with flaxmilk.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Vegan Day 3
Weight: 138.4
Some more thoughts from yesterday (it was late and I was needing to get to bed): LG and I went to Sunflower Market to stock up on some vegan stuff, and it took forever. Why not call sesame butter what it is (and not tahini)? How the heck am I supposed to know that tahini is sesame butter and not a fish (well, of course it's not a fish or it wouldn't be on a vegan recipe, but if I didn't know that I think a fish would have been my first thought) or some kind of seasoning?? I ask you. Also, after finding all their packaged counterparts, I ended up getting the cous cous, chia seeds, and quinoa from the bulk foods section (where I also discovered nutritional yeast [hurray! because there was no nutritional variety by the NORMAL yeast. That would be too easy...any insight as to what nutritional yeast is, btw? Haven't had a chance to google it yet], and vegetable broth mix [the liquid variety is expensive!).
And I splurged for vegan cheese ($4 per 2-c bag) and coconut ice cream ($4 per teeny tiny container). Sanity savers. But can I say how annoying it is that if you're looking at trying to add variety in your vegan diet as far as recipes, so many of the options that look good at first always end up having a ton of soy-based food in the recipe?? What is UP with that? Tofu, tempeh, cream cheese, you name it. Soy, soy, soy. Thanks to Alena (Will's sister), I know that soy has a lot of estrogen in it. Add some Internet research to that basic knowledge, and I find that the plant estrogen is not good for females (I wouldn't think males would want any to begin with!) because it interferes with the natural estrogen the body makes and needs. So I don't want soy, thank you very much. And most of the yummy looking recipes I've found that are vegan use it in some form or another. Blech.
Last thought from yesterday is that two bean-based meals in one day is too many. It felt like that's all we ate!
Breakfast: two waffles, pure maple syrup and flaxmilk.
Lunch: One cup worth of this salad. I left out the red cabbage, used green pepper instead of red (is there any nutritional advantage to one color pepper over another?), and also substituted cilantro for the parsley (which I highly recommend if you're a cilantro fan). I didn't use all of the sauce because of the lack of 1-2 cups of red cabbage, and we were both glad I did that. I wasn't feeling too hopeful that this was going to be tasty, but I was very wrong! Will really liked it, too. I think we both agree that this is something we will continue to make beyond our vegan trial (if that ends). Yep, that good. We also had 5 strawberries each and two banana cookies with flaxmilk.
While LG was still in his crib (napping? Nope!), I quickly threw together this recipe for hummus to use later.
You may notice a theme in these recipes. I'm using the 21-day Vegan Kickstart meal plan for most of our meals. Just nice to have a one-stop shop of sorts for recipe ideas, and the site is supposedly run by physicians, so I'm hoping they know what they're doing. We of course have concerns about making sure we're getting all the protein and iron and everything we need.
Snack: Dried banana chips.
Dinner: Curried Lentil Soup (I didn't have crushed tomatoes. The soup was good, but the tomatoes might have made it better) and Ambrosia. Two banana cookies and flaxmilk.
I feel good with all the things I was able to make today and the resulting leftovers. I like that we're trying totally new things (I've never had lentil soup before), and finding that they're all quite good.
Some more thoughts from yesterday (it was late and I was needing to get to bed): LG and I went to Sunflower Market to stock up on some vegan stuff, and it took forever. Why not call sesame butter what it is (and not tahini)? How the heck am I supposed to know that tahini is sesame butter and not a fish (well, of course it's not a fish or it wouldn't be on a vegan recipe, but if I didn't know that I think a fish would have been my first thought) or some kind of seasoning?? I ask you. Also, after finding all their packaged counterparts, I ended up getting the cous cous, chia seeds, and quinoa from the bulk foods section (where I also discovered nutritional yeast [hurray! because there was no nutritional variety by the NORMAL yeast. That would be too easy...any insight as to what nutritional yeast is, btw? Haven't had a chance to google it yet], and vegetable broth mix [the liquid variety is expensive!).
And I splurged for vegan cheese ($4 per 2-c bag) and coconut ice cream ($4 per teeny tiny container). Sanity savers. But can I say how annoying it is that if you're looking at trying to add variety in your vegan diet as far as recipes, so many of the options that look good at first always end up having a ton of soy-based food in the recipe?? What is UP with that? Tofu, tempeh, cream cheese, you name it. Soy, soy, soy. Thanks to Alena (Will's sister), I know that soy has a lot of estrogen in it. Add some Internet research to that basic knowledge, and I find that the plant estrogen is not good for females (I wouldn't think males would want any to begin with!) because it interferes with the natural estrogen the body makes and needs. So I don't want soy, thank you very much. And most of the yummy looking recipes I've found that are vegan use it in some form or another. Blech.
Last thought from yesterday is that two bean-based meals in one day is too many. It felt like that's all we ate!
Breakfast: two waffles, pure maple syrup and flaxmilk.
Lunch: One cup worth of this salad. I left out the red cabbage, used green pepper instead of red (is there any nutritional advantage to one color pepper over another?), and also substituted cilantro for the parsley (which I highly recommend if you're a cilantro fan). I didn't use all of the sauce because of the lack of 1-2 cups of red cabbage, and we were both glad I did that. I wasn't feeling too hopeful that this was going to be tasty, but I was very wrong! Will really liked it, too. I think we both agree that this is something we will continue to make beyond our vegan trial (if that ends). Yep, that good. We also had 5 strawberries each and two banana cookies with flaxmilk.
While LG was still in his crib (napping? Nope!), I quickly threw together this recipe for hummus to use later.
You may notice a theme in these recipes. I'm using the 21-day Vegan Kickstart meal plan for most of our meals. Just nice to have a one-stop shop of sorts for recipe ideas, and the site is supposedly run by physicians, so I'm hoping they know what they're doing. We of course have concerns about making sure we're getting all the protein and iron and everything we need.
Snack: Dried banana chips.
Dinner: Curried Lentil Soup (I didn't have crushed tomatoes. The soup was good, but the tomatoes might have made it better) and Ambrosia. Two banana cookies and flaxmilk.
I feel good with all the things I was able to make today and the resulting leftovers. I like that we're trying totally new things (I've never had lentil soup before), and finding that they're all quite good.
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