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Monday, November 30, 2009

Start Now

No big secret: My stomach is a hot mess. It always has been and I’m working on the fact that it hopefully won’t always be. Nine days ago marked the countdown to the last 40 days of 2009. The number 40 is obviously highly symbolic in many religious cultures as well as in the astronomy community. So the timing seemed particularly apropos to really clean things up in my life. One way this has manifested is in the form of what I eat. My stomach problems are not going to get better the longer this goes so in some potentially short-side lapse in judgment, I’ve tried to eliminate all delicious things from my diet. This includes but is not limited to:

Wheat (breads, pastas, brownies, cake, cookies, pizza, pie, muffins, scones, etc.)
Meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc.)
Dairy (cheese, butter, yogurt, milk, etc.)
Eggs (Eggs…)

Additionally, I rarely drink soda (for the main reason that it makes me burp) or eat candy (I prefer quality chocolate) or eat soy (hello skin problems). Not a huge fan of seafood (sans mahi mahi fish tacos from Anthony’s, good halibut and crab). I quit alcohol about 2 years ago and never looked back. So those are all out by personal preference default. On a whole I try to avoid sugar, but c’mon, a sister needs a vegan breath mint every once in a while.

I recognize this is approximately 90% of the food pyramid and about 99% of the standard American diet.

THE TINY GLITCH: I do love me some baked goods. This baby didn’t get no back by just staring at baked morsels of goodness. Homemade bake good are particularly superior to my willpower. So in full disclosure I did not quite make it through Thanksgiving weekend without some animal products given the butter and eggs that were likely in the pie crusts and rolls that I willfully enjoyed. Slap on the wrist, moving along….

So, what do I eat? Vegetables. Fruit. Beans. Rice. Oats. Nuts. Water. Tea. End.

You can actually do a lot of remarkable things with these few products. You can roast (personal favorite), bake, sauté, steam just about any vegetable. Salads make great lunches packed with nutrient rich colors and flavors. Rice can be made even more delicious when cooked in vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Plus there are tons of varieties. Bean make wonderful chilies, salad toppers, fillers in soups, or spreads. Oats are great with breakfast with berries and almond milk. My morning smoothie consists of frozen berries, a banana, fresh ground peanut butter and almond milk. Delicious. I cook with a lot of extra-virgin olive oil, seasonings, flavored oils and spices.

I recognize that this may be crazy and potentially extreme. But this morning I woke up in excruciating pain gasping waiting for the pain to pass. I’m done with waking up like that. Done and over it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So here I go for the next 31 days: a wheat free, soy-free vegan.

Do you have a life-style change you’re waiting to make? Why wait until the new year? Start now.

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