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Offbeat Bride | vegan wedding
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
My Daddy Makes Me Proud
While I was back home over the holidays my Dad gave me a wicked gift: The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook: 125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Jump-Start Weight Loss and Help You Feel Great by Dr. Neal Barnard.
I started flipping through it immediately and was tossing out quotes here and there. A few times my Dad showed some interest in what I was saying so I ran with it and started talking about all the health benefits of a plant based, vegan diet. See, my Dad suffers from Type II Diabetes and has been struggling to get it under control for some time now. Over a few days I talked more and more about it, cooked him a few things from the book and by the end of my visit my Dad had committed not only to going more veg, we had gone grocery shopping and stocked his kitchen with yummy, vegan friendly foods AND he had signed up for the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program. I WAS SHOCKED AND SO SO SO HAPPY!
So on January 3rd, Dad kicked animal products to the curb. I got a few text messages and emails that week asking about foods and substitutes and it made my heart sing each time they pop up on my BB.
Today I sent out a congrats email to him on his first week vegan and his reply brought tears to my eyes:
I don't know how to explain how I feel right now. I am overwhelmed with happiness and love for my Dad. I knew that this change would have positive effects but I wasn't sure if it would happen fast enough for him to stick with it.
I hope that if he reads this he can see just how proud I am of him making this step and how amazing it is to see him start this journey.
xoxoxoxoxox
I started flipping through it immediately and was tossing out quotes here and there. A few times my Dad showed some interest in what I was saying so I ran with it and started talking about all the health benefits of a plant based, vegan diet. See, my Dad suffers from Type II Diabetes and has been struggling to get it under control for some time now. Over a few days I talked more and more about it, cooked him a few things from the book and by the end of my visit my Dad had committed not only to going more veg, we had gone grocery shopping and stocked his kitchen with yummy, vegan friendly foods AND he had signed up for the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program. I WAS SHOCKED AND SO SO SO HAPPY!
So on January 3rd, Dad kicked animal products to the curb. I got a few text messages and emails that week asking about foods and substitutes and it made my heart sing each time they pop up on my BB.
Today I sent out a congrats email to him on his first week vegan and his reply brought tears to my eyes:
Feeling good. Stayed at L's for dinner last night. They had roast beef dinner - I had all the veggies and no gravy. Keeping my protein up with Soy shakes/kale/chick peas etc. Tacos for dinner tonight with no meat. Different. Blood sugar is down to the perfect zone.
I don't know how to explain how I feel right now. I am overwhelmed with happiness and love for my Dad. I knew that this change would have positive effects but I wasn't sure if it would happen fast enough for him to stick with it.
I hope that if he reads this he can see just how proud I am of him making this step and how amazing it is to see him start this journey.
xoxoxoxoxox
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
2011 - The Year of the Food Sensitivity
Well, well, well. It would appear that today is the start of a new Me. And not just because its January 2011.
After a hour long session with my new and amazingly fantastic new Naturopath and a very thorough food sensitvity and digestion analysis, it is now the case that I am no longer able to enjoy the following:
Poor P. He was just getting used to organic vegan shopping and now I am tossing all this at him (me, I am not so fussed other than the wine and chocolate!)
After a hour long session with my new and amazingly fantastic new Naturopath and a very thorough food sensitvity and digestion analysis, it is now the case that I am no longer able to enjoy the following:
- Wheat
- Spelt
- Gluten
- Potatoes (but yams are OK!)
- Peanuts, peanut butter (no worries with almonds and cashews and almond/cashew butters - phew!)
- Corn on the cob, frozen corn, popcorn, corn oil, corn nuts (mind me while I mourn the loss of my huge movie popcorn love-ins)
- Red Wine and all other alcohols (no big deal, really! I am "on the wagon" for 2011 anyway)
- Caramel
- Chocolate (Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!)
- Coffee (Again, no big deal, I prefer green and herbal teas)
- Sugar (meh, I have been living without it for years as it is)
- MSG
- Soy Sauce (Braggs only now)
- Tofu (none, whatsoever, this will be a tricky one)
- Soy Milk (no issues with this. I'll just alternate between enriched almond and rice milks)
- ALL FAKE MEATS (Again, nothing huge really as they didn't factor into my diet much any ways and they do contain nasty sodium nitrate and sodium nitrites, but I did just cook my first and very yummy Tofurkey for Christmas so I am glad I got that in when I did)
Poor P. He was just getting used to organic vegan shopping and now I am tossing all this at him (me, I am not so fussed other than the wine and chocolate!)
After a month off these foods we will start testing them in smaller doses to see if I have developed a tolerance for them and if so, then it should be OK in small amounts. But if not, they are out for good.
And if my acne clears up (as I have been promised) then I don't care what I have to ditch, it will be worth all the emotional relief and stress. Being almost 32 and having suffered with acne for over half my life has taken a toll on me like nothing else. It is time for it to come to an end.
So off to the kitchen and cookbooks I go.
Its a new year and a new adventure!
Canucks Take on Their Bad Eating Habits
As a proud Canadian Gal I also found this little gem on cbc.ca interesting.
It would appear that even thought we as a nation are still overwrought with health issues and engaged in a never ending battle of the bulge we are keen and eager to do something about it.
It would appear that we are now eating the equivalent of an ENTIRE extra meal per day in calories as opposed to just 30 years ago. Jebus, that a whole heck of a lot of food! No while I may have been surprised by that information, I was not however surprised to that most of those calories are coming from sugar and salt.
Its sad to realize that most people just don't know the facts and are simply uneducated in food science and therefore unable to make good, healthy choices. But that is not to say that they dont want to know, want to be educated and want to make the right choices. They just havent been given the tools
For example, how many people think chocolate milk is "good for you"? Lots! But the reality is far from it
"People believe chocolate milk is a very healthy beverage, but yet chocolate milk has double the calories, double the sugar of Coca-Cola, drop per drop," he said.
YIKES!
So now it is time for everyone to take responsibility and be accountable for their own food and heath education and get on track. Its the start of a new year, a new decade. Start it right!
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/31/con-live-right-now-portions.html#ixzz1A8PnYM3K
It would appear that even thought we as a nation are still overwrought with health issues and engaged in a never ending battle of the bulge we are keen and eager to do something about it.
It would appear that we are now eating the equivalent of an ENTIRE extra meal per day in calories as opposed to just 30 years ago. Jebus, that a whole heck of a lot of food! No while I may have been surprised by that information, I was not however surprised to that most of those calories are coming from sugar and salt.
Its sad to realize that most people just don't know the facts and are simply uneducated in food science and therefore unable to make good, healthy choices. But that is not to say that they dont want to know, want to be educated and want to make the right choices. They just havent been given the tools
For example, how many people think chocolate milk is "good for you"? Lots! But the reality is far from it
"People believe chocolate milk is a very healthy beverage, but yet chocolate milk has double the calories, double the sugar of Coca-Cola, drop per drop," he said.
YIKES!
So now it is time for everyone to take responsibility and be accountable for their own food and heath education and get on track. Its the start of a new year, a new decade. Start it right!
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/31/con-live-right-now-portions.html#ixzz1A8PnYM3K
New View of Obesity
A very interesting article today on cbc.ca regading the outlook and reality of today's growing overweight and obesity issues/
Its a stright forward slap in the face kind of article and this is why I like it. Its time to stop pulling punches and to be honest about diet, health and exercise.
Here are some of the highlights from Dr. Arya Sharma of the University of Alberta
On YoYo Dieting:
"The minute you go on a diet, the minute you start losing weight the first thing that happens is your body says, 'OK we're going to shut down the furnace, there's not enough fuel coming in, we're not going to be shifting to fourth gear anymore,' and it happens automatically," he said.
On Stereotypes:
"We keep hammering home the stereotype of the fat, lazy slobs who are eating fast food all the time who are not moving, not exercising or not taking care of themselves, making poor choices, when there's very little science that actually backs this up."
On Exercise:
"'There's a million benefits of exercise. It does everything including improving depression, preventing cancer; it'll do a million things for you. The one thing it does not do is help you lose weight.'"
Read the full article here: CBC News - Health - Doctor urges new view of obesity
Its a stright forward slap in the face kind of article and this is why I like it. Its time to stop pulling punches and to be honest about diet, health and exercise.
Here are some of the highlights from Dr. Arya Sharma of the University of Alberta
On YoYo Dieting:
"The minute you go on a diet, the minute you start losing weight the first thing that happens is your body says, 'OK we're going to shut down the furnace, there's not enough fuel coming in, we're not going to be shifting to fourth gear anymore,' and it happens automatically," he said.
On Stereotypes:
"We keep hammering home the stereotype of the fat, lazy slobs who are eating fast food all the time who are not moving, not exercising or not taking care of themselves, making poor choices, when there's very little science that actually backs this up."
On Exercise:
"'There's a million benefits of exercise. It does everything including improving depression, preventing cancer; it'll do a million things for you. The one thing it does not do is help you lose weight.'"
Read the full article here: CBC News - Health - Doctor urges new view of obesity
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