One Year “Vegan” Anniversary!!!

Hello and welcome to the Skinny Bitch Vegan Lifestyle.

I made it!!! Some people thought I could not survive being a vegan for a whole month let alone one year, but I proved them all wrong. What’s my plan now? Well, as I have mentioned before I will be a vegan with a twist, and incorporate fish into my lifestyle (fish is the only food I have missed this past year). In fact, this Saturday I am going to San Diego for the weekend and eating lobster at one of my favorite seafood restaurants…Let’s hope I don’t get sick. If fish doesn’t agree with me and doesn’t taste they way I remember, then I will go back to being a full fledged vegan. Oh yes, I will have a glass of champagne on Saturday to celebrate, but alcohol consumption will have to be minimal in order to maintain my weight.

My final weight loss: 12 pounds, waist – 2 inch loss, and hips – 1 inch loss. On average my dress and jean size is a size 4.

The best part about being a vegan this past year is my blood pressure, and cholesterol level are considered healthy. My energy level is awesome, I sleep well, and I am not a chronic pill popper as I use to be. My body and I are in sync. We are finally working together as one and not at war with one another as we use to be. The days of me popping a pill to shut my body up are in the past. Because I now know my body better and what I can and cannot consume.

Am I happy with my weight? YES. I did give up a lot of my favorite foods and beverages, and honestly thought I would have lost more weight. However, I feel I have the best of both worlds; happy with my weight, without starving myself. Seriously, I am a size 4, what is there to complain about…nothing!!! The time has finally come in my life where I can relish in the fact I know my body and how to maintain a weight I am happy with. Now I can move on and enjoy life and my family, without the burden of my weight going up and down constantly.

Some people might believe life is to short to eat healthy everyday of the year, and if I was in my 20′s or even 30′s I might agree. When I reflect back on my twenties, I remember rarely exercising and eating whatever I desired. Then the thirties came along when I had children, and exercise soon became a regular part of my life. Although in my thirties I began noticing changes in my body. The catch was I could eat anything and everything as long as I ran 20 miles a week on a treadmill. Then my forties showed up and all of the sudden my body began demanding a group effort between my food/beverage consumption and exercise routine…so not fair, but that’s the cycle of life.

What I have learned this past year being a vegan?

Vegans eat a lot of salad.

Too much soy is not good for you.

Not everyone knows what a vegan is.

My husband is very understanding and a good cook.

Vegans pee a lot.

Dairy is fattening.

I can survive without eating jelly donuts.

God bless soybeans!!!

Meat being barbecued still smells good.

Vegans MUST take their daily vitamins.

Unless everyone in your home is a vegan it is tricky cooking multiple meals.

Majority of restaurants do not offer a wide variety on their menus for vegans.

Vegans are misunderstood.

Vegans are asked this question frequently, “where do you get your protein from?”

Vegans are the bunt of most food and animal jokes.

My children fear I will force them to be a vegan.

Not many “friends”  invite a vegan over for dinner.

Having a chef cook vegan meals would be ideal.

People tend to believe a vegan and a vegetarian are the same.

Vegans bring their own prepared meals with them to most dinner parties and outings.

Vegans tend to eat a lot of side dishes (fruit, salad, and veggies).

Dairy and egg ingredients are in a lot of food items.

Amusement parks do not have much for a vegan to eat.

Vegan friends are hard to come by if you’re not a celebrity.

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Just being a vegan will not keep your weight under check. You must exercise and give up the high in sugar sodas and desserts too…remember sugar is addictive. A vegan lifestyle gave me a “mental weight vacation” this past year. After the first three months of being a vegan, I seemed to be on autopilot there after. Minus the few hiccups along the way by accidentally eating non-vegan items like bread, veggie rolls, and granola. It has been years since I have been happy with my weight for a whole year. The best part was never experiencing the feeling that I was starving. Maybe I felt deprived some days, for example, on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I didn’t gain weight over the holidays which was a first for me.

If you are someone who enjoys the food binges here and there…great. But for me I never knew when to stop and would continue to make excuses like;  “oh, it’s my birthday.”  or “oh, it’s so and so’s birthday.” or “oh, it’s the weekend.” or “oh, it’s that time of the month.” Before you know it, there is an excuse to eat badly everyday of the month and then you are a goner. Because you are already addicted to the sugary crap. Bottom line, I enjoy how I look and feel versus the instant satisfaction of how good something tastes momentarily. Let’s not forget there are loads of vegan alternative recipes if a sweet tooth arises.

Back in February 2010, I blogged about my younger son Hayden writing Skinny Bitch on the back window of my dirty minivan (I now have a new car). In that same blog I wrote about my theory of being topless and no one would even notice because of the fact I would be driving a minivan. So I had an idea for my one year vegan anniversary. Since me and my friend Roxie both had healthy mammograms in 2010, I believe we should both drive topless in the old minivan as a celebration. Why not…Roxie and I did just make a vow last week that we would both have more fun in 2011.

Dr. Oz says we have 70% control of our aging destiny due to the right choices we make. This leaves the other 30% to chance and genetics. 70% are huge odds in our favor, in Las Vegas people gamble with far less odds. How am I going to live my life? The same way I have been this past year…living a fit and fab lifestyle by being kind to my body.

Update as of 2/4/11: After attempting to incorporate fish into my diet, I ended up getting really sick with strep throat and the stomach flu. This must have been a sign, so I decided to remain a vegan.

Up at 7:10 am

Exercised for 75 minutes

Breakfast: 1 oz. wild Alaskan blueberry drink, and granola cereal with rice milk

Snack: Decaf herbal tea and a whole wheat bagel with vegan butter

Lunch: Soybeans with low sodium soy sauce, and a smoothie

Snack: Macadamia nuts 

Dinner: Vegan fondue

Snack: Tropical soy frozen dessert

67oz of water

Daily Vitamins Include: Omega 3, Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, B12, and Super B complex

Another day towards a fit and fab life….Peace Out

Lisa

Day 365

Hello and welcome to the Skinny Bitch Vegan Lifestyle.

Well, tomorrow will be officially my one year anniversary of being a vegan and blogging about my journey. A few days ago I asked Hayden, my nine year old, if I should stay a vegan and he said, “yep…I don’t want you to be fat.” After I thought about Hayden’s answer I then asked him, “why don’t you want me to be fat?” Hayden then said, “so you will be my mom for a really long time.” If my kids have learned anything about me being a vegan this past year, it’s that eating healthy and exercising is a lifestyle to live by for as long as humanly possible.

Up at 7:00 am

Day off from exercising

Breakfast: 1 oz. wild Alaskan blueberry drink, and a banana with peanut butter

Snack: Decaf herbal tea and a whole wheat bagel with vegan butter

Lunch: Vegan Greek salad

Snack: Macadamia nuts 

Dinner: Vegan butternut squash soup and vegan tacos

Snack: Granola cereal with rice milk

67oz of water

Daily Vitamins Include: Omega 3, Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, B12, and Super B complex

Another day towards a fit and fab life!!!

Lisa

Day 364

Hello and welcome to the Skinny Bitch Vegan Lifestyle.

Suzanne Somers has a new book out entitled Sexy Forever, and on Monday she appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly. At the age of 64, Suzanne says she feels amazing. Let’s be honest, Suzanne looks better than some twenty, thirty, or even forty something year olds I see at the gym every week.  Though Suzanne is not a vegan, she eats healthy and exercises religiously. Amongst other daily rituals, Suzanne consumes 60 vitamins a day, 40 in the morning with a smoothie, and the remainder in the evening. Suzanne also revealed that one day she noticed eggs were not agreeing with her, so she gave them up and as a result she dropped 11 pounds.

What did Suzanne’s husband of 33 years give to her this past Christmas? A life size doll where the internal organs can be taken apart and reassembled. Suzanne said it was one of the best gifts she ever received and that the doll can be either male or female, so she named it Fred and Ethel.

Up at 7:05 am

Exercised for 75 minutes

Breakfast: 1 oz. wild Alaskan blueberry drink, and a banana with peanut butter

Snack: Decaf herbal tea and a whole wheat bagel with vegan butter

Lunch: Soybeans with low sodium soy sauce and a smoothie

Snack: Salad with Italian dressing

Dinner: Vegan fajitas

Snack: Soy frozen tropical dessert

67oz of water

Daily Vitamins Include: Omega 3, Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, B12, and Super B complex

Another day towards a fit and fab life!!!

Lisa

Day 363

Hello and welcome to the Skinny Bitch Vegan Lifestyle.

************Vegan diets becoming more popular, more mainstream

(The Washington Post – By MICHAEL HILL, The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2011; 2:47 PM)

“– You’ve come a long way, vegan.

Once mocked as a fringe diet for sandal-wearing health food store workers, veganism is moving from marginal to mainstream in the United States.

The vegan “Skinny Bitch” diet books are best-sellers, vegan staples like tempeh and tofu can be purchased at just about any supermarket, and some chain restaurants eagerly promote their plant-only menu items. Today’s vegans are urban hipsters, suburban moms, college students, even professional athletes.

“It’s definitely more diverse. It’s not what you would picture 20 years ago, which is kind of hippie, crunchy,” said Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of vegan cookbooks like the new “Appetite for Reduction.” She says it’s easier being a vegan now because there is more local produce available and more interesting ways of cooking.

“It’s not just steamed vegetables anymore and brown rice and lentils,” she said.

Veganism is essentially hard-core vegetarianism. While a vegetarian might butter her bagel or eat a cake made with eggs, vegans shun all animal products: No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no honey, no mayonnaise. Ethical vegans have a moral aversion to harming animals for human consumption, be it for a flank steak or leather shoes, though the term often is used to describe people who follow the diet, not the larger philosophy.

It’s difficult to come up with hard numbers of practicing vegans. There’s a blurry line between people who define themselves as vegan and vegetarian and some eaters dip in and out plant-only diets. For instance, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has described his “vegan till 6″ health plan, in which he becomes more omnivorous in the evening.

In a 2009 survey, advocates at the not-for-profit Vegetarian Resource Group reported about 1 percent of Americans are vegan, roughly a third of the people who reported being vegetarians. A separate survey released last year by the same group found a similar breakdown for Americans aged 8 to 18.

That makes veganism something short of a fad sweeping the nation like low-carb once did. Consider that while Kraft Foods reports that it shipped out more Boca Original Vegan Burger Patties and Boca Ground Crumbles last year, the increase was a modest 1 percent. Still, there are plenty of signs that vegans have pushed beyond their old, exclusive cocoon that once inspired celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain to mock them as the “Hezbollah-like splinter faction” of vegetarians.

Exhibit A would be the “Skinny Bitch” diet books, which provide vegan lifestyle tips in a blunt, girlfriend-on-the-phone style (Sample passage: “Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil.”). Actress Alicia Silverstone added a dose of star power to the vegan cause more recently with “The Kind Diet,” a No. 1 best-seller. Vegan diets also have been touted by other celebrities, including Emily Deschanel in “Bones” and Lea Michele of “Glee.”

Veganism has been buoyed by the same health-conscious wave that has drawn Americans in unprecedented numbers to low-fat, vegetarian and organic foods. The idea of eating lower on the food chain is especially attractive to environmentally conscious consumers, since large-scale meat production is a major source of greenhouse gases.

Veganism also provides a safe harbor for the growing number of people concerned about where their supermarket meat comes from. Critics of industrial-scale food processing like writer Michael Pollan have been gaining a wider audience in recent years.

And – sign of the times – some famous guys are eating vegan now, too.

Bill Clinton, known for his burger-loving ways when president, has credited his trim build at his daughter Chelsea’s wedding this summer to a “plant-based diet” (though he eats a little fish sometimes). Even former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has talked up his vegan diet.

And vegan cookbooks, once a niche product, are coming out at such a fast clip that there are now sub-niches. Da Capo Press’ 20 vegan cookbooks in print include one on vegan soul food and another with Latin vegan recipes. A book of vegan recipes containing alcohol, “The Tipsy Vegan” is upcoming.

Abstaining from animal products is an ancient practice found in cultures worldwide. But veganism never got traction in meat-loving America. Tracye McQuirter, a vegan for 23 years and author of “By Any Greens Necessary,” a vegan guide aimed at black women, said things were different until about a decade ago. While she was part of a vegan community in her hometown of Washington, she says there was little understanding beyond it.

“People did not know what it meant,” McQuirter said. “There were not a lot of options in terms of grocery stores. There was no Whole Foods… We had to basically cook everything for ourselves.”

That’s changed. More than half the 1,500 chefs polled by the National Restaurant Association for its new “What’s Hot in 2011″ list included vegan entrees as a hot trend. Vegan entrees came in at No. 71 out of 226 trends (beating out organic beer and drinkable desserts) – that’s far from No. 1, but evidence of veganism making inroads beyond urban strongholds like New York City and Los Angeles. Some chain restaurants like Souplantation and Pizza Fusion even mark vegan items on their menus.

In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Roseann Marulli Rodriguez, a blogger for the SuperVegan website, said while there are not many vegan restaurants in her area, her local supermarket has “fake” chicken tenders and “fake” bacon.

“It’s definitely widening in scope,” said Rodriguez, a recent New York City transplant who has been eating vegan for five years, “and I think that’s why more people are doing it, because it’s getting easier.”

 

Up at 7:15 am

Exercised for 75 minutes

Breakfast: 1 oz. wild Alaskan blueberry drink and a whole wheat bagel with vegan butter

Snack: Decaf herbal tea and a banana

Lunch: Soybeans with low sodium soy sauce and a smoothie
 

Snack: Green beans

Dinner: Vegan fajitas and a salad with Italian dressing

Snack: Apple with peanut butter

67oz of water

Daily Vitamins Include: Omega 3, Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, B12, and Super B complex

Another day towards a fit and fab life!!!

Lisa

Day 362

Hello and welcome to the Skinny Bitch Vegan Lifestyle.

Since January 2011 rolled upon us, the big talk right now on television and radio is, how to loose all the weight that was gained over the holidays. My answer…try being a vegan, you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Another hot topic right now is personal finances. Did you know statistically, new year’s resolutions are broken by the end of January. However, the best way for people to keep their resolutions is if they attach a monetary value to the resolution.

Also, you can save approximately $2,200 a year by simply quitting cigarette  smoking, cutting back on alcoholic beverages, and reducing those overpriced specialty coffees at trendy coffee houses.

Note: The $2,200 calculation is based on someone who smokes less then a pack of cigarettes a day. So depending on how much alcohol and coffee is purchased throughout the year, that $2,200 could add up to additional savings. Not only could you save money, but better health and fewer calories would also be achieved.

(Information obtained from Live with Regis and Kelly on 1/10/11)

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Up at 7:30 am

Day off from exercising

Breakfast: 1 oz. wild Alaskan blueberry drink, whole wheat bagel with vegan butter, and a banana

Snack: Decaf herbal tea and an apple with peanut butter

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with organic sauce, and a glass of lemonade

Snack: A few pickles

Dinner: Roasted potatoes, veggies, and a salad with a raspberry vinaigrette

Snack: Tropical soy frozen dessert

67oz of water

Daily Vitamins Include: Omega 3, Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, B12, and Super B complex

Another day towards a fit and fab life!!!

Lisa