Mega Update - 30 day Vegetarian trial post-mortem, miscellaneous updates

It's been quite some time since I've updated my blog. I apologize for my lack of updates. It's been a very busy couple of weeks - I have some major projects going on at work which have rigid deadlines.

Right now, I'm comfortably lounging on my couch while my wife is busy exercising to EA Active. It's a lot of fun and it keeps you from getting bored by varying the routine. You can also customize your workout. It's nice to see a workout program that doesn't emphasize what your weight on the scale is. Instead, it keeps an eye towards building your fitness. Focus on the keyword "building" - it doesn't start you out in a Biggest Loser-style kick-your-butt-to-Mars workout pattern. You slowly progress to more demanding exercises.

My status update for my 30 day Vegetarian trial is also overdue. For that I apologize as well. I did very well with the trial and I am planning on continuing with Vegetarian lifestyle. The major obstacle has been divining the inspiration for preparing varied meals. I haven't quite found my menu planning groove yet, but I'm getting there. A major difficulty I am running into is what I can only interpret as a lack of adventurousness in the kitchen. I look at the fruits and vegetables in the fridge, then I look at the beans, rice, and canned goods in the pantry and I find myself wondering what I can prepare with those ingredients. Infrequenty, I am overwhelmed with several ideas, none of which has an evident appeal over any other. This greatly adds to the complexity of meal time. If anyone has a strategy they use for planning meals, I would love to hear about it.

This brings me to another object of contention. Tofu. It is so insanely flexible, promising and endless array of possibilities. So what is my problem with it? I have not mastered the block of bean curd. I learned a decent method of draining the block of tofu from VeganYumYum (a blog I follow) which involves wrapping the tofu in a couple of layers of paper towel and then in a terrycloth, and THEN placing a heavy object like a cast iron skillet on top for 15 minutes or so.

Treating the tofu in this way yielded better results than what I did the first couple of times I handled the curd; I just wrapped it in paper towels and pressed it by hand. Not terribly efficient. Like I said, I am a total tofu n00b. If anyone has tried and true methods for draining and seasoning tofu, I would be most grateful to hear about them.

I also recently acquired a Chicago Cutlery santoku for $15 at Wal-Mart. Oh marvel of marvels! I never knew slicing and dicing could be so miraculously easy. I always watched the way hibachi chefs sliced through steaks like they were warm sticks of butter and having a sense of awe come over me. Now I have that same sense of awe as I watch the blade pass through the object of my cutting like silk. Pure delight. That was, of course, until I foolishly tried to use the santoku to cut the stem off of a tomato using it like a pearing knife.

Big mistake.

The knife glided its way through the flesh of the tomato and into the flesh of my thumb. Fantastic, clean cut. It was such a clean cut that it soaked through two layers of bandages within seconds so I had to be find something to use as a styptic. Yahoo answers to the rescue! I found a post by a veterinary assistant suggesting that corn starch will do in a pinch. It worked like a charm. I am pleased to say that the cut has healed nicely.

I'm glad I took the time to make this update, and I am glad you took the time to read it.

Until next time,
Charles

Making up for lost time - the Vegetarian Experiment

Woah! I missed a few days worth of updates here. No, I have not fallen off of the wagon and abandoned my experiment. I have been busy the past few days and have not made the time to make an update to my journal here.

This dietary shift has been an absolutely fascinating experience for me. I am climbing over the first small foothill - my body is detoxifying and this will take some time. My severe meat-eating ways surely must have built up a large store of toxins in my body! Already I am starting to feel more energetic and clear-minded.

I have to say that after a little over a week on this diet, I have consumed very little tofu. Most people think that by eating vegetarian, your only source of protein is tofu. This is patently untrue, as I have come to find out. Virtually every plant or fruit found in nature provides at least some small amount of protein. As it happens, the FDA guidelines provide for a very small amount of protein indeed. From their website:

Whatever the calorie level, DRVs for the energy-producing nutrients are always calculated as follows:

• fat based on 30 percent of calories
• saturated fat based on 10 percent of calories
• carbohydrate based on 60 percent of calories
• protein based on 10 percent of calories. (The DRV for protein applies only to adults and children over 4. RDIs for protein for special groups have been established.)
• fiber based on 11.5 g of fiber per 1,000 calories

Source: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/special/foodlabel/dvs.html

Let's extrapolate that into a real-world scenario. Let's say your daily calorie intake is approximately 2000 calories. This means you should only need a maximum of 200 calories from protein. One gram of protein provides four calories, therefore you need at most 50 grams of protein on a 2000 calorie diet. The FDA recommended daily value of protein provides quite a large buffer.

Another interesting thing I've learned is the importance of vitamin B12 - it is needed for blood cell production, heart health, and brain function. Here is some information about B12 so you can read up about it.

I've been interrupted about a hundred times while I've been writing this, so I'm going to take that as my cue to wrap up.

Wishes for a wonderful day,
Charles

Day 4: The Vegetarian Project

Today was another good day for my experimental 30 day vegetarian diet. I've noticed another interesting development which I believe to be a direct result of this diet: the circles under my eyes aren't so dark anymore. I've had dark circles under my eyes for as long as I can remember. After four days, that darkness is starting to fade. I'm sure my Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung practice is also speeding this progression along.

Today's breakfast menu consisted of three whole-wheat "buttermilk" pancakes along with a single scrambled egg using rice milk and half a wedge of Laughing Cow herb & garlic cheese. I got the recipe for the pancakes from Nava Atlas' book, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. They have a texture reminiscent of pancakes from IHOP, which is great, because IHOP's pancakes are my favorite.

For lunch, we used some Morningstar Farms original grillers crumbles to make sloppy joe's which we had with mixed vegetables. Delicious! Many tasty snacks also ensued.

And for dinner, we had some breaded tofu nuggets. This was my first experience with tofu, and I must confess that I enjoyed it! I prepared these from a recipe from the same book that I got my breakfast recipe. So simple and so tasty! The texture was a bit rubbery; I'm not sure if that is just because that's how tofu is when baked, or if I just didn't drain and blot the tofu well enough. Any thoughts on this one?

I know I said I was going to try something using TVP today, but that just didn't happen. The Morningstar Farms crumbles are essentially TVP that's ready to go, though.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other positive health effects this diet holds for me. Hey, maybe I'll even lose some of my excess poundage!