Happy Hump-day everyone! The week is officially more than half way over, and I’m already ready for the weekend!

I have some scary, frightening, what-did-I-get-myself-into but mostly exciting, exhilarating, and happy things in the works now. I can’t wait to share more details with you guys!

Workday Eats

We had some bread on its last legs, so I decided to go ahead and have Power Toast instead of the blueberry oatmeal I was craving.

I had a mini Vega shake (vanilla chai health optimizer + water) for nutrition.

As soon as I got to work today, I was freezing! Instead of using my blankie I put on my teddy bear polar fleece. I think this thing makes me look like a stuffed animal!

I had a lunch date at 12:30 with a co-worker, but I was feeling pretty hungry by 11am. I tried to ignore my hunger, but it wasn’t working! Sometimes, I avoid snacks because I don’t want to take on the calories (though I’m not counting any more, I can easily estimate in my head and I’m such a numbers person!), but lately I’m leaning more towards the thought that…if I’m hungry…I should EAT! It seems so obvious, but when I was employing less-than-healthy methods to “get skinny”, I used to think being hungry was good. I know now that while a little hunger is good, the way I was approaching it was not so good.

Luckily, my new approach to eating is much more intuitive! I mean, your body is smart, right? It tells you what it wants. If it’s saying it’s hungry, then you should probably give it something, right? So while logic told me that the numbers weren’t adding up the way I wanted, my body said…FEED ME!

So feed myself I did – with a half KIND Fruit + Nut bar in Almond & Apricot. I saved the other half for later. I only went with half so I wouldn’t spoil my appetite for lunch. It was just the right size to tide me over.

For lunch, my co-worker and I got something I’ve been wanting to eat for MONTHS and haven’t been able to talk hubby into getting – Thai.

We started with soup.

I also got a Thai tea – delicious!

My co-worker gave me a bite of her green curry. It was freakin delicious! I tasted coconut, cream, and lemongrass…yum yum yum!

I got the pud wun sen but only managed to down about half this plate. There were so many noodles on that plate!

I picked up some of those yummy donut holes on my way home so I could give some friends a sample later…details further down post.

Project Yard Beautification

Hubby and I don’t know what most of the plants in our yard are. Our neighbor and my mom pointed out some, but we’re still, for the most part, completely clueless!

There are a couple things I’d like to do with our yard:

• Learn what we already have
• Beautify our yard with more fabulous plants and flowers
• Take care and nurture our yard and plants

Today I swung by a local nursery on my way home and picked up just a couple little things. While I’d like to do one big project and have a giant, fantastic post about it, the truth is that biting off small pieces of projects will probably be the easiest.

When I got home, I quickly planted our new goodies. There are two large, white, plastic planters that contained existing plants, but I wanted to add some other colors and textures to them. Well, honesty, I don’t care much for plastic planters and would prefer to replace them with ceramic, but have you seen how much large ceramic planters are?! They’re like $100-300 depending on how nice they are. Yowsa! So, I just stuck with what we had and added my cheap-o little plants.

Reader Question: Anyone know where I can get nice, cheap planters? I’m thinking maybe Lowers or Target? Ideas?

To each pot, I added petunias and sweet potato vines. I love the pink of the flowers and the chartreuse of the vines. I can’t wait till these grow out some more.

I picked the petunias because they are a good companion plant for both deterring bad pests and attracting good ones. Granted, I didn’t plant them in my garden, this pot is right near my herbs, so hopefully that helps. I figure, the more good plants the merrier, right?

I have many more spots in the yard where I’d like to add flowers and other plant-life. I think I have more spots than money unfortunately!

Edible Garden Update

Something is eating my purple basil!!! It’s putting tons of little holes in the leaves and it’s really pissing me off. I even tried companion planting a marigold with the basil to deter pests, but I guess it’s not deterring the right ones!

Does anyone know what might be eating my plant?

Compost Update

The worms seem to be settling into their compost bin. Tonight I fed them their first scraps – some romaine lettuce (that I had put in the freezer a few days ago so it didn’t spoil). Eat up boys!

Tonight’s Theme = BEER!

And now we get to the fun part!

Matt came over after work and took hubby and me to The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. Here are some photos from our trip:

We stopped by to drop off the beer Matt and hubby brewed a few weeks ago and to sample the new OMB beer – Mecklenburger.

To celebrate the new beer, they tapped it out of a wooden keg. Neat-o!

As for the beer – I really liked it. It was nice and smooth. I’m far from an expert beer drinker, so for me – the smoother the better. I like some hoppy (sp?) beers, but my palate isn’t as refined as it could be for beers. Guess I need to drink more! Good thing hubby is getting into home-brewing.

After our quick trip to OMB, we headed to Dilworth Neighborhood Grill for a home brew meeting.

Kath and I shared a summer ale.

Bottoms up!

We also shared a hummus trio appetizer. It was served with yummy, tender pita bread. I love pita bread with hummus, though I think Ellie’s is still my fave style with her spiced pita chips.

I also had a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

And, I had a crab cake appetizer as my entree. It looked kind of silly on the mostly empty plate, but it tasted good. I picked it out because I read on the restaurant’s web site that they won a prize for “Best Appetizer” for Taste of Charlotte in 2009!

We sampled lots of beers, including many flavored ones: mint, coconut, and raspberry (ok, TWO raspberries!)

After our beer tasting fun was over, Kath and I had a donut tasting!

I must have eaten a dozen of these today…Oy! So wrong, but so right.

After the meeting, Matt dropped us off and stepped inside for a quick minute – just long enough to taste-test the fruit of their labors – to sample their home brew they made a few weeks ago. I got to try a sip, too, and I’m happy to say it was awesome! Go team hubby and Matt!

So much fun hanging out with Kath + Matt – they’re fun friends!

Break-up Recovery Week

Here are more tips for my friend who is recovering from a recent, and very difficult break-up. If you have some tips to share, I’m sure they’d love to read them and they will really help. Please leave them in a comment and I’ll blog them later this week.

• Jessica – I always think getting a new hair cut and a new outfit helps. Once when I felt like I was going to be single forever, I went out and bought a gorgeous ring!!! A big blingy ring… it made me smile!!
• Andrea – i love pedicures, long sweaty runs and trips to whole foods or tjmaxx to cheer me up
• Cindy – What worked best for me was hitting the gym. Working out was a great distraction and it made me feel and look great. Just concentrate on what empowers you, whatever that may be.
• Faith – As far as breakup tips, I think it’s so important to focus on your positives. We usually dwell on negatives – how the relationship went downhill, the irritating things about the partner, but it’s much more mood-boosting to remind yourself of why you are an amazing woman definitely make a list of things you love about yourself!
• RunnerForever – After any hardtime, like a break up, I go run my heart out!
• Emily – Gosh, I’d love to help your friend but all I can think of is to just revel in all that life offers. Being single and having that independence is just as fantastic as being with someone. Be okay with how you’re feeling now, and truly feel it. And then be glad to have known and loved.
• Marie – What I would do if it was me going through a breakup is either make an actual list or a mental list of all the things that person did that I didn’t like, approve of, or hated. This makes you realize that you are better off without him and may lessen the hurt. Think about & plan all the things you have wanted to accomplish but could not because of this other person and immerse yourself in them. Whether its taking a class to learn a new language, a hobby, joining a gym, getting a pet, or going back to school to get a degree. The upside of this is while you are doing what you want, you are in a social setting and the potential for meeting a new mate is there. Good luck to your friend – it’s true — time heals all wounds and everything happens for a reason!

Wow – what great tips guys! You’re like our own Dr. Phil! haha

I do have some other emailed, twittered, and commented tips, which I’m saving for the Thursday and Friday. I do need some more, though, so please send your tips in! I know they’ll love them!

Reader Question: Do you let yourself eat when you’re hungry or do you try to stick to a diet, calorie count, etc. that sometimes leaves you hungry?

Happy Thursday The Chic Life readers!!!

Thursday Eats

I woke up early enough to repay hubby for all his thoughtfulness yesterday by whipping up a quick breakfast – one of his faves – fried (cage-free) eggs!

I toasted up a piece of spelt bread to go with the egg for hubby.

As for moi, I still had one remnant from hubby’s treats yesterday – a Great Harvest muffin!!! I’ve been CRAVING one ever since having that delicious berry muffin awhile back. *drool*

Fresh Market Spring Blend. So nice to wake up to this in the morning.

This muffin was chocolate chip banana almond. It wasn’t quite as good as that berry one, but it was still fantastically delicious!

Work eats:

Over the day: 2 mugs yerba mate tea, GIANT romaine salad with cucumber, orange bell pepper, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds plus Drew’s rosemary balsamic, and leftover spaghetti.

Hubby and I got Mexican after work – chips and salsas…

Cheeeeeeezzzzzeeeee dip. Yep, with a ‘z’.

We split chicken fajitas.

I only managed one chicken fajita…must have had too many chips!

For dessert, I made a healthy “shake” and had the last two of my Nicobella organic vegan truffle samples (*) – Pumpkin Chai and Sunflower Banana Butter. SO tasty! I can’t wait to write up my full review for you guys!

Vega Health Optimizer Review

After work today, I was so excited to pick up my Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer in Vanilla Chai. They ran out of this at the seminar last week (yes, I still owe notes on that, sorry!), so I had to wait till a new shipment came in. They had 3 other flavors – natural, chocolate and berry ,but I really think the Vanilla Chai will be the most versatile.

I like how Vega is Green.

Note servings. 7! Eek!

Look at all those goodies!

Product and nutrition info.

I know him! Ok, not really, but I did meet him and get his autograph.

Nice, detailed suggested use info.

More packaging info.

Look how much space is in there!

Giant scoop

Since my eats were semi-decent today but not as nutritious as I think they could be, I decided to up my nutrition with a mini Vega shake using 3/4 a scoop of Vega powder…

…plus Almond Breeze vanilla almond milk.

Delicious! I loved it! A little sweet because of the sweetened almond milk, but I enjoyed it. Especially since it was sort of like dessert.

For my review, let’s start with my dislikes:

• Only 7 servings in a giant-looking tub. Granted, the servings are quite large (did you see the size of that scoop!?), but still. Not to mention at roughly $42 for the jug, that’s $6 a pop…or $3 per scoop.
• Larger container than contents – there were like 3 inches of vertical space in the jug. There may be some packaging reason behind this that I’m just not familiar with, but it seems like the container could be smaller (or more full).

Ok, so we know this stuff isn’t cheap, but if you believe you get what you pay for, then you may see why it’s a little on the pricey side…

My likes:

• The product is made exclusively with natural, plant-based whole foods (great for people who read ingredient labels like me).
• Great flavor.
• Great protein – 26 g and from great sources – hemp, yellow pea, brown rice, flax and chlorella (not just any old proteins – carefully selected ones).
• 100% recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals.
• Dairy-free probiotics.
• Green.
• No artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners.
• No GMO.
• No pesticides.
• Supports small and local farms.
• Gluten-free.

I’m a quality of quantity kind of girl, so though this stuff is expensive, I think it’s worth the money. Also, I like to stretch my dollar a bit, and when I took vitamins, I was supposed to take 4 a day and only did one. I think I can apply the same idea here by using smaller portions of the mix and trying to get the rest of my nourishment from fruits, vegetables, and food sources.

Overall, I’ve been working harder and harder to move towards eating food closer to the source, and in a sea of sports / protein shakes, supplements, and mixins made with all kinds of crazy, fake sweeteners and quasi-food ingredients, it’s nice to see something made with real food.

Go Vega and go Brendan!

Thrive in 30
Speaking of Brendan, have you seen the Thrive in 30 program available online? The Vega team tweeted the link to me a couple days ago and I think I’m going to sign up for it…probably this weekend. I wanted to first extend an invitation out to you guys to see if any one was interested in joining me.

I figured if anyone else signed up with me, we could chat about the experience on my Facebook page, share tips, lessons learned…all that fun stuff!

New Faves in my OpenSky

I’m SO EXCITED to tell you guys that TWO more of my product requests have been filled in my OpenSky shop!!! Squeeee!

Both of these products are locally made in my town and I’m so happy to extend them to you:

• Some of my fave doggie treats, baked by a local baker that are healthy and natural. If I’m eating more healthy, Bailey should, too. Check out this package for a great birthday party purchase for your pooch.
• My fave whipped body butter (made with organic ingredients) – omg, the Sundress scent is divine! If you want a body moisturizer that will nourish without overdoing it, check this stuff out!

My shop is looking better and better and I can’t wait to do my grand opening. I have some fun promotion ideas in the works, so I hope they work out!

Are Scales Over-Rated?

So, I realized today that I haven’t weighed myself on a scale in…well, I can’t remember the last time I weighed myself. I think this is pretty fabulous. Scales are so over-rated! Right?

I learned a long time ago that scales aren’t always the best way to gauge your health.

When I was in middle school, we had to get weighed in PE class. I remember people were really shocked by how much I weighed and they kept saying that I didn’t look like I weighed that much. I didn’t know how much was “a lot” or “a little.” Was my weight above average? I was so clueless. The explanation I was given – “muscle weighs more than fat.” I had pretty big figure skater’s leg muscles, so they must have made me weigh more than I looked…or something.

Who knows…but…

Thanks to that experience, I never paid much attention to scales. (My issues with weight/size have been measured in other ways, but more on that another day). In general, I don’t think scales give you a good picture of health since they don’t take into account muscle, body fat, and other factors. I see that scales have a purpose, but I don’t pay much attention to mine. Instead, I try to focus on how my clothes fit and how I feel.

I found a couple supplementary articles here and here and here and here that have some more info.

Weigh in: What do you think? Are scales over-rated or essential?

After yesterday’s fantastic day stopping by some of my fave Durham spots (click), more great eats…

Hubby and his bro talked their mom into trying dim sum for her first time. The last time we got dim sum it was for Chinese New Year’s (click)!

We were very excited to take her there this morning for brunch/lunch.

We selected several different things in hopes she’d find something she liked.

Hot tea for me and hubby’s brother.

My first plate – taro shrimp, tiny piece of calamari, and shrimp roll. All delicious!

I tried the shrimp roll instead of the har gow (shrimp dumplings) I normally get…I think I prefer the dumpling though they are both very tasty.

I had some of this yummy sticky rice (sans sausage/egg).

Plus a steamed BBQ pork bun (they didn’t have the baked version today).

I think I had half this plate of Chinese broccoli. It is one of my faves at dim sum and was really popular at the table, too. We polished it off no problem.

For dessert, we got a couple things.

The famous sesame balls.

Plus some coconut pudding. I tried a bite of this stuff and it was surprisingly really good. Not so much surprising because it looks bad, but I typically don’t love coconut. Guess I do now! I may even get this over the sesame balls since it’s a little on the lighter side.

For today, though, I favored my usual – sesame ball with sweet bean filling! Yummers!

Hubby’s mom seemed to really enjoy the meal, so DIM SUM WIN! Yay! Hubby’s sister will be very happy as she’s a big dim sum fan, too.

We hit the road after lunch.

After we got back in town, I gathered some materials for a project with my friend Megan…

A HEALTHY PANTRY MAKEOVER!!!

Ok, so it wasn’t so much a makeover as a stocking up event since she recently moved to a new place and didn’t have much in the way of food, but details, details…

We hit up three of my faves:

• Trader Joes – for staples, frozen foods, produce, cereal, and vino
• Fresh Market – for Barney Butter (it’s the only place in town that sells it! It was a dollar off, too!)
• Earthfare – two words – BULK BINS! Plus some frozen entrees, canned soup, yogurt, and other pantry basics.

We went ahead and got food at Earthfare.

I got a kid’s Earthburger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion, plus local sweet potato fries, with a side salad (spinach, romain, purple cabbage, sprouds, bell pepper, broccoli and balsamic/olive oil dressing) and a Virgil’s Real Cola (good-good stuff!!!).

Thanks to some savvy shopping, we got a TON of stuff AND came way under budget. Score!

Happy eating and cooking Megan!! Enjoy!

Click here for some of my pantry tips and ideas.

Reader Question: What are your pantry staples?

Happy Saturday! I’m sooo glad the weekend is here!

My appetite is coming back bit by bit. This morning, I decided to continue my avoidance of dairy (afraid it will upset my sicky-stomach) in favor of rice-milk-stove-top oats with bananas, chia seeds, flaxseed meal and mate yerba to drink.

RICE MILK OATS…where have you been all my life?! You are deeeelicious!

*

*

*

The Truth About Food

Has any one else been watching the show The Truth About Food ? It’s A-mazing! I’ve been trying to DVR this for forever but my darn DVR box is full! (Hmmm ….TV show marathon tonight? eh eh?). Anywho, I’ve caught this show a couple times on Fit TV and it’s too cool! They show all these experiments, discoveries, theories, and studies about food. Dr. Oz is a featured speaker.

I wanted to share some of the stories I saw last night, so I took some notes for you. Each show, they cover a different topic. Last night’s was about being skinny. They featured different areas related to the main topic with experiments and case studies.

Metabolism

I caught this part of the show late, but they had given two different ladies (one overweight and one underweight) some special liquid to drink that tracked their consumption and movement. They found that one lady was 10 kilos overweight and the other was 10 kilos underweight. Was a difference in metabolism to blame? No. It turns out – they have the same metabolism. They also had the same amount of movement – not much exercise. So what was the cause of their difference in weight? One was consuming about 50% more food than the other. One was eating too much and one was eating too little.

Satiety

They did an experiment on the show to see which food type would make you feel fullest – carbs, protein, or fats.

They had 3 self-proclaimed snackers fast for 12 hours. The snackers thought they were going to the Ritz Carlton for dinner, but instead they were subjected to a test.

Each was given a different meal for each food type:

• Carbs – pasta with tomatoes
• Protein – pasta with chicken
• Fats – pasta with a rich, cream sauce

2 hours after they ate, they did a check in to see how their hunger level was.

4 hours later, they gave each of the subjects a pizza to snack on. The one who consumed the protein meal ate the least amount of pizza.

The show went on to explain that it’s important for your satiety to include a lean protein in each meal: chicken, fish, and low-fat dairy were suggested options.

Additionally, the show pointed out that people who ate protein ate less the next meal!

I always try to include some protein in each meal just so that I don’t get hungry too fast, but I still thought this study was great to back up my habit.

Portion-Size

They did another study on 150 movie goers. 1/2 of the movie goers were given a medium 4 oz tub of popcorn. The other half were given a large 8 1/2 oz tub. 1/2 of each group was given stale/2-week-old popcorn.

The group with the large tubs ate 45% MORE! Even the ones who had stale popcorn.

Conclusion = people overeat foods in large containers. Try using smaller plates, bowls, etc.

They also pointed out that eating a large lunch doesn’t mean you’ll eat lighter the next meal.

Visual Cues

Two groups of evenly distributed people in height, weight, sex, etc. were given chicken wings.

Half the group had their bowls for their finished bones left in front of them. The other half had the bones removed immediately.

The group who had their bowls removed ate 10% more meat!

Conclusion = visual clues are very important. Try keeping a food diary to note what you’re consuming.

Calcium = Less Fat?

A Denmark study determined that dairy can help you absorb less fat. Their theory – Calcium binds to fat, reaches intestine, forms a soap-like substance, which is hard to absorb.

They did a study on a participant who for two weeks consumed a high calcium diet, then for 2 weeks consumed a low calcium diet.

The result – during the high calcium diet, the participant excreted 100% more fat!

Random Point

Dr. Oz said if you want to look thin, then diet. If you want to be healthy, then exercise.

* * *

If you haven’t seen this show, I highly recommend it! It’s awesome!! There are some videos available online here (click). Check em out!

Our Meatless for Lent Guest Post series continues with the fantastic Tasha of The Clean Eating Mama!! Tasha shares some tips and a great vegan recipe perfect for your next Meatless Friday meal. Take it away Tasha!
—————————————

Hey lovely Chic Life readers!

My name is Tasha, aka The Clean Eating Mama. Diana contacted me a few days back asking me if I could write a guest post on her blog; I was so excited! I have been reading TheChicLife for a while now and absolutely love her, her blog, her healthy lifestyle, and of course Bailey. =) I can see why she has so many fans!

She wanted me to write about my experiences eating a vegan and vegetarian lifestyle, as she and many others have given up meat for Lent. She thought it would be a perfect time for me to share some experiences and tips – thanks for this opportunity, Diana!

First, a little about me: I am a mama and a wife, living in the beautiful Seattle area, and also a lover of Mother Earth and all that she provides for us. Being a hippy at heart, I appreciate and celebrate my existence on Earth each and everyday. I recycle, compost, garden and tread as lightly as I can. I admit there are plenty of actions I can improve on but I know that even thought the small steps I am taking right now has a huge impact on Her.

So this post is not about Going Green - but I wanted to share those thoughts with you because they directly impact why I eat the way I do.

I want to start off by saying I am not here to preach that everyone NEEDS to be vegan or vegetarian. While I am very passionate about the way I live, everyone is different and leads lives to fit their personalities and beliefs; and you should never feel guilty about that. This is why I am not a fan of PETA, but I will save that for another day.

Let me just say for the record that I am very new at being vegan, and while I am learning to perfect this way of living, I am not perfect. An occasional slip of cheese here or there has made its way in my mouth, but I made that decision and I don’t feel too guilty. But I am 100% vegetarian, and have been for a while now. It has been a long road of transitioning but I feel wonderful about my decision and know that I am not only doing my own body good, I am also doing Mother Earth good, too.

I first started my blog last summer, and just like most, I once started reading healthy living blogs in my free time. l was learning to live a healthy lifestyle and was amazed by the support of others in this HUGE blog-o-sphere. I had my son in October of 2008 and wanted to lead a healthy lifestyle for not only myself but for him.

I had always perceived food as the enemy. I was an over weight child, due to the lack of nutrition and poor food choices that I was around. This led to teasing in school, low self esteem and a horrible self image problem. As I got older and was able to make my own decisions, I lost that weight and felt great! However, I wanted to keep losing and I was never good enough for myself. Spiraling out of control, I resorted to binging ad purging, diet pills and a mindset that ALL food was the enemy, except if it was sugar free, low fat or fat free. I hardly ate fresh food yet for some reason I thought I was eating healthy. I was so low that I avoided all social gatherings that involved food and would not eat in front of other people, other than family.

What was my turning point? My son. I did not want him growing up in a house that had candy, junk food and soda. I wanted him to learn at an early age that eating healthy, nutritious food is important for our bodies and mind. So I started making small changes and educating myself.

I was a nutritionist at a local hospital here in Washington a few years back; long before I had Jordan. I learned so much while working with the Registered Dietitian, and seeing helpless adults infected with diseases and health problems made me realize that food has such a dramatic impact on our lives. I am a firm believer that our health is directly linked to what we eat. Over the past few years I have learned a vast amount of information, but believe me – you never stop learning and there is always something to research. I am a huge advocate on Childhood Obesity, too. As adults and parents, we need to be leading and teaching the youth, our ONLY hope for a good future, what is best for us as humans, our health and what is best for our environment.

When I first started my blog I was neither vegan nor vegetarian, but my eating had cleaned up and I was enjoying eating fresh produce and thought I would be a great asset to the blogging community, and clean eaters alike. I am sure most of you have heard the term Clean Eating – it has become very popular. Clean Eating – to me – simply means “To eat from the Earth”. That’s it. I eat food with ingredients that I know what they are, AND ones that are the most nutritious for my body. Sure, we all know what sugar and white flour are BUT nutritionally they are pretty crappy for our bodies. I enjoy finding alternatives to the current staples that are so popular in our Western Diet, and making healthy, nutritious YET delicious meals.

I started to become aware of what I was putting in my body, seeing how I reacted to certain foods and how they changed my mood. The results were AMAZING! Less bloat, no headaches, digestion was great and I had an overall sense of well being that I had never experienced before. I looked at life and eating in a completely different light.

The more I researched, the more passionate I became. Then I watched a movie that forever changed me – Food Inc. It was then that I decided I wanted to make a difference for not only myself, but for Mother Earth AND innocent animals. I was never ignorant of the fact that animals were being violently executed for our own enjoyment and food cravings, but I never really KNEW how bad it was. Or how bad it was on our environment – water, air, soil and so on. And it does go beyond meat; dairy and all animal bi-products are treated the same way.

I feel GREAT about eating food that was not murdered, or treated inhumanly. True, there are morally conscious farms that do an AMAZING job by treating animals with dignity and respect. And I have respect for those farmers and farms. But I simply see no need for meat in my life, or animal products.

Transitioning my diet has been a a very smooth trail to follow. I don’t believe drastically changing the way you eat over night is healthy, and it only leads to frustration. This is why I DO NOT believe in diets. Eating healthy is a life style change, a change for life. I have finally mastered my brain into realizing that I need to eat this way for life and there are no “cheat days”, guilty eating or feelings of failure. I have chocolate and non-dairy ice cream on a daily basis and I love it! I enjoy eating now and I enjoy seeing the positive outcome it has made not only on my physically, but mentally.

Right now is the best time to be a vegetarian or vegan. There is pretty much an “alternative” to every kind of ingredient imaginable – faux meats, cheeses, spreads, desserts, milk… And with organic and sustained farming methods on the rise, it has never been easier to eat healthy, meat and dairy included. Because my diet revolves around mostly plants, buying the freshest is very important to me. Who wants to eat a salad with no taste, biting into a juiceless tomato or finding out your apple is mealy? Not me.

I continue to learn each and every day. I am far from perfect but strive to be the best person I can. There is a wealth of information out there right at your fingertips. I challenge each and every one of you to do a little research about food and nutrition. If nothing else, it will bring awareness and help you understand a little about why we should strive to eat healthy.

I hope that you are able to see just how passionate I am about eating as healthy as possible. You have one body, feed it well!

——————————————————————————-

I want to share some simple ways to start transitioning to eat less meat and animal products. Again, my goal is not to turn everyone into a vegan, but to bring awareness and show that it is quite simple to do. Even if it was simply one meal a week, that is a huge step! And these steps can be used to simply clean up your way of eating to a healthier one.

• Start slow. Like I just mentioned, make small adjustments. It can be as simple as buying organic apples rather than regular. Or ordering a veggie burger instead of a bacon cheeseburger.
• Get organized. You come home from work and your fridge is a mess, your pantry is out of sorts, your STARVING and all you want to do is grab the phone and order take out. Plan meals, prep ahead and make it easy on yourself! If you are starting slow with Tuesday nights dinner being vegetarian, plan it out. Have the ingredients in front of the fridge so it’s easy for you.
• Let’s cook! Visit a vegan/vegetarian website and print off the best looking meal you can find, then START COOKING! People just do not understand how simple vegetarian cooking is, nor do they realize how scrumptious it can taste!
• Educate yourself. Chances are if you have never looked into a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, you probably have a lot of questions, concerns and comments. Google is your friend! Start typing away and let the links take you to your answers. I did my fair share of research before taking the vegan pledge – years and years I had dreamed of being vegan but never knew how to start. I needed answers to my questions. Knowledge is a powerful thing!
• Get veggie friends! I’m not saying to dump your old friends but make friends with someone that is a vegetarian or vegan. They will show you an entire world of eating and it will get you excited to try new things. Spend the evening together cooking a meal and enjoying each others company. Meetup.com is a great place to start. Search for groups that are focused on veggie diets and healthy living.

———————————————————————————————–

I wanted to share a recipe that is not only vegan but I guarantee the meat eater in your life will also love it – my husband really likes it and he is far from vegetarian!

Vegan Lentil Loaf

Ingredients

• Ketchup or homemade tomato topping (see below)
• 1 1/3 cup plain oatmeal
• 1/2 block firm tofu
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms, button’s are fine
• 2 tablespoons tomato mixture or ketchup
• 3 tablespoons corn meal
• 1 cup cooked lentils
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, or a combination of thyme, oregano and rosemary
• 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Tomato Sauce Topping

• 1 6oz can Tomato Paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• pinch of salt

Cook lentils – I always have leftover lentils, but I love lentils so I don’t mind! Be sure to rinse and sort lentils as they could have stones or debris in them. Add 2 cups water to one cup of lentils in a pot and turn burner on high. Once boiling, turn heat to medium low and let simmer for 30 – 45 minutes. The lentils should still be whole yet mushy.

Make tomato topping while lentils are cooking. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix with a spoon. Taste to see if it may need more salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Chop onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. In a large skillet add one tablespoon olive oil and put on medium heat, then add chopped vegetables and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook until onions are soft and transparent – about 5-8 minutes.

In a food processor, pulse oats for a few seconds until oats are small.

Drain tofu well and press between a towel or a few paper towels until all moister is gone. Place in a large mixing bowl and break up with a fork. You want to make sure they are in small crumbles.

In the same mixing bowl, add oats, lentils, vegetables, 2 tablespoons of tomato mixture and the rest of the ingredients. Mix until it is all combined – if it is too dry you can always add small amounts of water. You don’t want it too wet, but it should be able to stick together nicely.

A note about the spices – I know there are a lot of spices but I just took what I had in my cabinet and threw it in. You really do not need to add ALL of my suggested spices, but since there is no meat flavor you want to try to make is as flavorful as possible. I found that the poultry seasoning tasted great in it! Taste the mixture before you put it in the pan, making sure it tastes good and is seasoned to your liking.

Spray a loaf pan or small baking dish with non-stick spray. Spoon mixture in dish, then spread the rest of the tomato topping on top evenly. If you are using ketchup, use enough to cover the top evenly.

Cook for 20 minutes, then cover with foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Let cool, slice and serve.

This loaf makes a great meal when pared with a green salad or sautéed kale, and a baked sweet potato.

———————————————————————————————–

I have many more recipes that you can view here, and I seem to update my list more and more frequently now that I have been cooking and baking everything from scratch. I basically live in my kitchen!

I hope you all have enjoyed my (long) guest post and I hope it has inspired you to try going meatless more often. I love hearing feedback and answering questions so please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime!

And again, thank you so much Diana, for allowing me to open up to your readers! You are such an inspiration to so many people out there! xoxoxo

Healthy eating,

Tasha

—————————————
You are too kind! Thank you again Tasha for sharing your story, tips, and recipe with us!

Click here to view the other Meatless 4 Lent guest posts for more meatless meal ideas and tips!