Resolutions update

I'm about to shut down my computer for Yom Kippur. It's something I've been doing for the past five or ten years, and I find it helps me to spend a day offline. With that restriction, I have to rest, or think, or read a book, or talk to my family when I'm not at Temple, and that's a good restriction to put on myself once in a while.

Last year, I wrote this post about what it's like to celebrate Yom Kippur as a Humanist.

This year, I thought it might be a good time to check in on my New Year's resolutions, and how I started this blog. I've been keeping it up (pretty well) for nine months now, after all, so let's see how I'm doing.

So here's my Resolutions post. I'm not doing that well.

I'm glad I'm still writing, and this week I re-committed to writing every day, and except for Wednesday, which was 9/11 and I had a migraine and I just couldn't, I've done that. I'm pleased that I'm writing now, even though Hopper and Boo will be home any second and Yom Kippur will start and I will turn off my computer and there are dozens of excuses I could come up with not to write. But I'm about 100 posts below where I would have been if I'd written every day. Sometimes I think about posting more than once a day so that I can catch up, but I'm not sure how I feel about that, and I know it feels like cheating to post from work. If I posted every work day and then twice on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, that would go a long way to catching me up, though. For now, I'll forgive myself if I write mostly every day for the rest of the year.

Skipping to number three, I'm doing okay in the taking care of myself area. I'm pretty much sticking to the VB6 diet, although Hopper is getting lazy about cooking again since school has started. I need to step up in the cooking area, and with cooler weather coming and me no longer working on Sundays, I'll hopefully be able to cook a big pot of soup or something like that once a week. That would go a long way toward making our meals healthier and helping Hopper balance his workload.

I've been exercising a bit more lately, too. I'm really trying hard to make absolutely sure I exercise on non-work days, because it's pretty hard to get any (other than walking the 10 blocks between the bus station and work, and up and down the stairs) on work days. Hopefully it will be enough. Wonderdog is certainly enjoying it.

But I haven't done much beyond slacktivism to fight for what's right. There's a day of action coming up in my town, so maybe I'll get political. Unfortunately, it's the day after Hopper and I get to see Wil Wheaton vs. Paul and Storm so I'll probably be tired...

Resolutions are hard.

But these three things are still important to me, so I'm going to redouble my efforts. I have already done so on the working, eating and exercising fronts. I just have to get out there and change the world. Who's with me?

Another VB6 Update

I've been on the VB6 diet since May 28th. That's 3 1/2 weeks. Already I've lost about a dress size. The weight around my middle that was worrying my mother is just about gone. I'd say I'm about where I was at the end of last summer.

I have never lost weight this quickly. And I've even been losing this week while I was on "staycation" with Boo, so I have been having quite a few treats.

It has been a bit difficult to keep to the diet this week, since I've been out and about quite a bit with Boo.  But on the whole, I've made it work. I had two desserts on Monday, but I shared one of them with my dad. On Tuesday I made a point of sticking strictly to the diet and having no treats. Wednesday I had pizza for lunch (though I had only one slice and a salad) and then an egg cream and some of Boo's ice cream for a snack.

Come to think of it, that's all the violating I did, which is not bad for someone on vacation.

Still, I'm really noticing the difference in my body. I keep surprising myself by putting my hand somewhere and finding there isn't as much fat there as there used to be. I'm no longer uncomfortable when I bend at the waist, and some of my newest clothes are getting too big (like my new bathing suit) and I'm able to squeeze into some older clothes that I hadn't dared to try on recently.

I'm not saying I looked great in the shorts I had on today, but I got them on, and that was a good thing since my sloppy shorts that always, always fit got a hole in them yesterday and I had to throw them out.

So I have to say I really like VB6 so far. Hopper has got the hang of grocery shopping, so we have enough fruits and veggies around. When I'm hungry, I have a glass of water and some fruit (between meals, I mean.) If I'm really hungry, I grab a handful of nuts. At meals I eat lots of veggies with nuts or beans or tofu. If it's a salad, I throw in some olives or avocado so that I get enough fat. At dinner, more of the same, with maybe some fish if I feel like it.

Thanks again, Mr. Bittman!

Time for an update!

I figured it was time for a VB6 update, plus I got inspired.

I've noticed since I've been mostly vegan that I'm eating less at meals. Even when I'm really, really hungry (which can happen on a vegan diet) I can't eat as much dinner as I was before I started the diet (er, lifestyle.) I was wondering about that this morning and I came up with a theory.

It must be that my body, when determining fullness, takes into account not just what's in my stomach, but also what's in the rest of my gut. My stomach is saying it's hungry, and it is, but my gut is full of lovely water and roughage from all the fruits and vegetables I've been eating. So when my stomach is full, my brain says, "stop eating." Before I started eating so many fruits and veggies, my gut didn't feel full, so my brain got unclear messages.

It's just a theory, but it makes sense. Because now I find myself taking smaller portions and sometimes I can't finish them. I just ate half a sweet potato with navy beans, avocado and tomato on it* and just as I was finishing the last few bites, I was totally satisfied. I intend to pack a few snacks when I head out to work this afternoon, but it was nice to eat fresh food and enjoy it and feel sated. That hasn't happened to me too often in my life so I hope it's the start of something new and healthy for me.

Also, I'm pretty sure based on how my clothes are fitting that I'm losing weight, so that's good. I'm really tempted to weigh myself but I know nothing good comes of that so I won't. Eventually I'll go to the doctor for something and they will weigh me and then I'll know my weight. In the meantime, I'll go by how I feel and how my clothes fit, which is better and better right now. I'll take it.

So far, so good! Thanks, Mr. Bittman!

*This potato recipe comes from the VB6 book, and you can top the potato with pretty much anything, as long as it's vegan (if you're eating it before 6. After 6,  go crazy!) Last night, Hopper made baked sweet potatoes for dinner, and put out beans, spinach and cheese as toppings. Boo loves baked potatoes and she enjoyed topping her own with butter and cheese, with some spinach on the side. When he baked the potatoes, he threw a few extra potatoes into the oven, so now we have baked sweet potatoes in the fridge. I put one in a bowl, topped it with beans, salt and pepper, and threw it into the microwave. While it was in there, I cut up some avocado and tomato, then threw that on top of the potato with lots of salt and pepper. Lunch done. This combo is probably a bit messy to bring to work, but the spinach and beans could just be thrown on top in a container and then nuked at work. I intend to do that tomorrow.

Mood swings

It seems I picked a really good time of year to become mostly a vegan. Summer fruit is coming in, the farmer's markets are opening, and salad is literally popping out of the ground. So far, I'm enjoying being mostly vegan. We'll see what happens.

I've also been having an easier time exercising lately. The pool is open, the weather is nice for taking Wonderdog on walks, and Boo wants me to spend my afternoons playing frisbee with her.

And all this healthy eating and activity is working--at my doctor's appointment on Friday I discovered that I've lost 5 pounds. At first, this was a nice surprise. I haven't noticed any differences in the way my clothes fit or the way my body feels (weight-wise.  I do feel pretty healthy since starting the new diet.) So I was expecting my weight to be about the same as it was the last time I was weighed, which was in March, or maybe a little more.

But then I started feeling resentful, and that surprised me. Shouldn't I feel vindicated? Since that doctor's appointment in March, I've been trying to eat more vegetables and to move more. In the month of May, I definitely started moving more and for the past week I've been mostly vegan. So shouldn't I feel vindicated? My plan is working!

Nope. I was pissed. Part of me doesn't want eating less and moving more to work. I guess if it didn't, then I could go back to eating more and lying around with a clear conscience. After all, if I can't do anything about my health, then I needn't try, right? Alas, this IS something I can control and so I'll have to keep at it.

Remember, though, this was Friday. Since then, I've been working at this VB6 diet. We did some shopping over the weekend and bought more fruits and veggies and more silken tofu. This morning I stopped at the market on the way to work and bought some grape tomatoes and a whole lot of nuts to keep in my office. I'll finish the tomatoes this week, and the nuts should last me at least through the summer. I actually enjoyed snacking all day on fruit and tomatoes today, and when I got a bit peckish in the afternoon, I had a handful of walnuts and then I felt fine.

I think this diet will be fairly easy to stick to for the rest of the growing season. The winter will be harder, but I can worry about that then. For now, I'm in veggie heaven.

A cheerful post

I'm feeling much more positive today. For one thing, I survived my fast. I was weighed at the doctor and I'm losing weight, which certainly provides motivation. My doctor was intrigued by the VB6 diet and is going to get the book to check it out. And while I still haven't decided whether I want to stick to VB6 long-term, I did stop at Whole Foods on the way home to buy some oat milk because the only breakfast I could contemplate preparing in my fast-induced delirium was cereal. So I had cereal with oat milk on it and a banana, which is a kosher, if lazy, breakfast on VB6.

Then for lunch I decided I'd have some leftover rice and beans, and then on a whim thought I'd add salad to that, and that's when my mood seriously improved. I went out to the garden and picked a generous handful of greens including a few leaves of mint and some sage, and I tossed it into a bowl with some carrot and cucumber and a few olives and some dressing. It was heavenly. The greens are so fresh and the herbs add some interest to the bowl.

If every day was a day off, I'd eat like this all the time. I used to eat like this when the Kid was home. I'd make her something interesting and then she'd take a nap and I'd make something interesting for myself. It's part of the reason I love growing edibles in my garden. I threw seeds into the ground and now I've got a huge patch of greens that I can just eat from every day. Soon the berries will be in and I'll have both strawberries and raspberries to snack on. And the herbs are inspiring.

I did look up my hunger problem and Bittman recommends snacking all day long on fresh fruits and vegetables and on nuts. So I've got to get more snacks to carry around. Sunday we'll go to the farmer's market and I'll stock up on some goodies and that will help, too. And if some fresh mozzarella falls into my car, I can eat that for dinner!

As with most diets, the most important part of this one is to shop well. Hopper isn't terribly creative with weekday cooking--he wants to make something easy (which is understandable) and he grew up with what Bittman calls the SAD (Standard American Diet) so he tends toward making more meat and fewer veggies. Hopefully we can get our diet into a better balance if we work together. If I make a nice veggie soup each week and we keep growing veggies it should help. Then Hopper can just make whatever he wants, but heat up the soup and throw a salad together and we'll have good, healthy dinners. And if we prep more veggies when we get home from the farmer's market, we'll have snacks ready to hand.

Ooh! And the summer fruits come in soon. Yum.

VB6 Update #3

I'M STARVING!!!!

I clearly did something wrong today. I ate my yummy tofu breakfast, my apple and rice treats, my delicious (if soggy) tofu lunch, and a salad with nuts and seeds in it. I even bought myself a soy milk as an afternoon snack, and yet I feel as if death is imminent.

Fortunately, work is over and Hopper will have dinner ready when I get home, so I probably won't die today.

Probably.

Oh, and I'm having a blood test for my physical at 9AM so no breakfast tomorrow.

But probably I won't die.

VB6 Update #2

Holy olive spread, Batman!

I had left over tofu, so I've mixed it with olives and olive oil to make a spread that will be my lunch tomorrow (on a sandwich with grilled veggies.) I tasted it to make sure I had the proportions right and it is heavenly. Plus, I think the healthy fat in the olive oil will help me feel full.

In other news, my leftover banana mash is looking mighty gross as it blackens in the fridge, but I think I'll bite the bullet and eat it for breakfast tomorrow anyway. There's nothing dangerous about black bananas and it should be super-sweet, too. Watch out, strawberries!

So far, so good. I think the banana-tofu parfait is a good vegan breakfast option for me, so that makes one healthy alternative.

I'm also making great headway at cleaning out the fridge. I made a soup for dinner tonight with some leftover broth from when I wasn't feeling well this weekend, carrot juice (I also had some juice for a snack this afternoon,) beans and Swiss chard. All those things came out of the fridge (well, the carrots came out and I juiced them) and will hopefully be completely consumed tonight, plus the leftover tofu will be made into sandwiches with leftover grilled veggies, and the leftover banana mash will go with the remaining berries in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.

Go, me!

VB6 Update #1

I at the banana-tofu parfait for breakfast today. It was a nice, big bowl of food--bananas mashed with silken tofu, blueberries, and a handful of high-fiber cereal. I didn't actually make it a parfait because I didn't have a suitable glass, so I just threw it all into a bowl. I'm not sure I used enough blueberries.

I feel incredibly virtuous, but not as satisfied as I usually do when I eat yogurt. We'll see how the day goes. I saved half of the banana mash so I can have it again tomorrow. Since I won't have to make banana mash, I'll have time to slice strawberries. I think that may be more filling because of the added fiber.

I also have half a box of silken tofu that has to get eaten within 48 hours.

So far, so good, but I have a lot to work out here.