Everyday Vegans: MEET DREW

I met Drew a few years ago when we were on a Worship Team together at a church here in the Austin area. He commented on my very 1st post and told me how excited he was that I was making this lifestyle change! He shared his blog with me, and i was SO excited to have him share the 1st 28 days of his Vegan switch with all of you! His point of view is obviously different than the LVL but it is very entertaining and enlightening! I hope you enjoy! Be sure and visit Drew's Blog (Link Below). 

**We would LOVE to hear from you. Please share your story with us lovely.vegan.ladies @ {gmail}.com**

LVL

Amy 

This Ain’t a Diet; It’s a Lifestyle!

It occurs to me as I write this that I am neither a lady, nor am I what most people would consider “lovely,” but I am in fact a vegan. I guess one out of three at least qualifies me to be a part of the discussion, and I’m happy to have the opportunity to share some valuable information that my wife and I have discovered during our journey. Hopefully most of the readers here will be able to overlook my complete lack of fashion sense and will find some form of encouragement by reading about my family’s recent lifestyle overhaul.

We are vegans . . . and I can personally testify that it is a responsible, affordable, and practicable way of life. A few months ago, I probably would have been among those who tend to categorize veganism as weird  attention-seeking behavior or an idealistic, but unsustainable, life choice. As Amy wrote in her initial post, very few people are well informed about what it means to be a vegan, and because of that, there’s a stigma attached to it. To be brutally honest, the fear of what people would think was my wife’s and my biggest cause for hesitation, and even as we wrap up month two of the transformation, we still aren’t quite sure how to broach the subject with certain friends and family. I guess that will get better with time as we discover new ways to communicate the reasons behind our choice.
That brings me to a description of our particular brand of veganism. You will not find us at a local PETA rally advocating for animal rights. In fact, I might be one of the world’s only vegan hunters (more on that in a moment*). We did not make this decision to save the planet, though I’m always pleased when I read the statistics on the reduced carbon footprint, the additional grain available for impacting third world hunger, and the many other environmental benefits made possible by a vegan lifestyle. [This is a good source: http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/environment.html]

My wife and I initially  made this choice for health reasons alone when we became aware of the overwhelming body of medical  research that suggests a plant-based diet as the single most effective way to avoid heart disease,  hypertension, Type II diabetes, most types of cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. If you haven’t yet seen the documentary, Forks Over Knives, I strongly suggest checking it out. This stuff has been out there for decades, but the American marketing machine is so distracting that very few people are aware of it. As I write this, my family and I have been living a low-fat
vegan lifestyle for the past six weeks, and though you can learn more about the back story on my blog at http://www.risetomanhood.com/plantbaseddiet/, my main goal is to share some of the most helpful things that we’ve learned as we’ve made the transition to a low-fat, plant strong diet:

1. Being a vegan takes planning and forethought.
After our insecurities about how we would be viewed when we “came out” to the non-vegan
world, practicality was our next biggest concern. I was really doubtful that we could plan and prepare four to five meal/snack options per day without completely busting our household budget. The catalyst that finally helped me to view it as possible was Rip Esselstyn’s book, The Engine 2 Diet. Rip includes recipes for vegan versions of everyday meals, he offers guidance regarding pantry and
fridge makeovers, and he even provides a meal-planner and accompanying grocery list for those
who need extra support to get through his 28 day plant strong challenge.

Though the first shopping trip was significantly more expensive than what we had been used to
(about double) because we had to stock up on necessary but longlasting
staples, we’ve found that our weekly grocery bill is now very close to what it had been before. Sometimes it’s even less. Every Sunday afternoon my wife and I sit down to peruse vegan cookbooks, checked out from the library or loaned to us by friends, and we plan out breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, and sometimes dessert for each day of the upcoming week. We tally the necessary ingredients, and one of us makes the trip to the local H.E.B. grocery store, where we’ve been able to find almost everything that we need. Every now and then we have to make a run to a specialty grocery store for an item or two, but these are elective items that we could forgo if we wanted to.

2. If there’s not at least one person in your household who is willing to cook A LOT, it’s going
to be tougher to live as a healthy vegan.
We’ve found a few good options around town for dining out, but these only account for about one
meal in thirty. Chipotle, Subway, and Jason’s Deli have some great vegan options that we’ve really
enjoyed. However, if you also want to keep an eye on fat content, processed ingredients, and your
pocketbook, start compiling a list of homecooked recipes that you really enjoy. Some of my
favorites are listed in the comments section of my blog. Rip’s guideline for every ingredient you purchase at the grocery store is that the ratio of total fat/calories cannot exceed 2.5 grams/100 calories. The real work is done while reading labels in the grocery aisles.

3. Vegans can be serious athletes.

Tough Mudder 2013

If you read Rip’s book, you’ll discover that he was a top triathlete while eating a vegan diet. Several
other high profile athletes have also discovered the benefits of eating this way: Dave Scott, Carl
Lewis, Martina Navratilova, Tony Gonzalez, Venus Williams . . . need I go on?
I CrossFit twice a week, I play indoor soccer in a local league, and I’m training for my second Tough
Mudder obstacle race in October of 2013. I cannot afford to eat in a manner that does not
adequately support muscle growth and maintenance. My CrossFit coach was initially very
concerned about my protein intake when I told her about our choice to go vegan, so I started
counting daily protein grams to appease her. Though there are a lot of differing opinions about the
level of protein intake that is truly necessary for an active person, I’ve settled on 1.3 grams of
protein/kilogram of body weight as my target**. This means that as a 195 pound
man, I try to eat 115 grams of protein daily. This goal is easily achievable most days, and I do not use supplements of any kind to get there***. If this is a concern of yours, it just needs to be a factor in your meal-planning process.

4. Young children can adapt to a vegan lifestyle.

 Drew & Family at Disney World

We simply are not willing to have our kids (ages 9, 8, and 6) eating different meals than we are eating just to avoid a potential conflict. That’s not how we parent. When we decided to go vegan, we sat them down and discussed that we were going to eat much more healthy meals as a family. We asked them to be willing at least to try everything that we put in front of them, knowing that we would quickly find out if each recipe would be a winner or a loser. We promised them that we would not repeat the recipes that they really did not enjoy, and we let each of them request specific meals during our weekly planning sessions. We have been remarkably surprised at how adaptable they have been and how their palates have changed along with ours. My kids LOVE tofu “yogurt” parfaits, veggie chili dogs, and baked vegan chimichangas! Just remember, kids will tend to rise to your expectations of them. Give them the opportunity to surprise you. We have not forced our kids to refuse conventional meals when they are eating at parties or with
friends and family who are not vegans. We allow them to eat whatever they are served, but we feed
them vegan meals at home and pack vegan lunches and snacks for school.

5. You can be healthier than you ever imagined by making this single change.
Though my family’s goal in changing the way we eat was never motivated by weight loss or
appearance, those things have absolutely changed for the better. In six weeks, I dropped from 208
to 195, while gaining significant strength, endurance and recovery ability! I’m killing CrossFit
workouts on a weekly basis, I can recover adequately enough to go play an indoor soccer game a
few hours after having completed a CrossFit workout, and I’m running like I never knew I could. The
other day I went out for an impromptu run because I had a bunch of pent up energy. Before I knew
what had happened, I had run about 6 miles. I wasn’t really all that tired, but it shocked me so
much that I forced myself to stop. It’s amazing what eating real, wholesome food can do for your
level of fitness! Granted, I was already training regularly, but the fuel that I was putting into my body
catapulted me to the next level.

I could probably keep writing for several additional pages detailing how excited I am about this change in our lives, but I’ll force myself to stop once again.

I’ll leave you with some incredible resources on which we’ve come to rely for meal-planning support:

http://engine2diet.com/
http://happyherbivore.com/
http://ohsheglows.com/
Visit the sites, and get the cookbooks.

You’ll find out just how easy and tasty vegan cooking can be!

Disclaimers:
* I have been a hunter for years, and I am convinced that eating the meat from wild game is 1000%
healthier than eating most of the factory farmed junk in your grocery store’s meat and dairy sections.
No growth hormones, no genetically modified organisms, no forced cannibalism, no cramped living
conditions. Because we believe that animals taken in the field have lived a healthier, more peaceful life than your average chicken or dairy cow, we feel OK about supplementing our vegan diet with wild game ONCE OR TWICE PER MONTH. It still contains saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal proteins that we are trying to avoid in our daily regimen, so we use it very sparingly.

** Formula for protein target: Weight in pounds/2.2 = weight in kilos. Multiply by 0.8 for a sedentary
lifestyle. Multiply by 1.0 to 1.5 to range from active to hardcore
strength or endurance training.

*** Though I do not use protein supplements, I make sure that our whole family gets a supplement of
nutritional yeast mixed into regular meals several times per week. It provides several important
nutrients, but the main concern is adequate intake of Vitamin B12, which cannot be obtained from plant sources.

Juicing for 2 - The cost, recipes, weight loss and more!

Good evening wonderful readers! 

Cali, here and I hope you have all had a lovely week. Last month, my hubby and I ate at home for EVERY meal, ALL MONTH LONG. Now to most people this may not sound like much of a feat, but cooking for every single meal and snack requires much more time, effort, and planning than the average day. 

We embarked on this journey for a few different reasons. We wanted to see how much money we could save on food, open ourselves up to new recipes, and see if we could lose any weight. We threw a week of juicing in the middle to give our system a reboot during this month. 

If you don't know much about juicing, I strongly suggest you watch the very popular documentary- Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. The documentary features two stories of overweight men who completely turn their lives around and revitalize their health through juicing. You can check out the video here:

I think of juicing like this- every day since you were born, your body has been working non-stop to digest the food that gets put in it. Unless you stop stuffing food (and unhealthy food most likely) in your mouth, your body just never gets a break. So, how do you get all the nutrients you need and more without actually eating? By juicing!! The juice from fruits and veggies contains all of the goodness your body requires. Fact of the matter is, most of us don't even get all of the vitamins and nutrients we need in our food because what we put in isn't actually that great for us. That being said, if you aren't comfortable doing a "Juice Cleanse" alone, I would suggesting trying to add at least one fresh juice to your daily diet. 

So, how did I plan for this week of juicing? Well, my weeks generally go from Monday-Sunday in terms of meal planning. I sat down on Sunday and spent about an hour looking through juice recipe books and online recipes. My favorite book to choose from is The Big Book of Juices.   

  

Buy this book on Amazon.com!

I wrote down the juices that we would drink every day- breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Approximately 4-6 juices every day. After writing down the recipes, I totaled up the amount of produce that was need and headed to the store. Now grocery shopping like this takes some time as a lot of produce is required. I spent about an hour at the store and about 90% of what I purchased was ORGANIC. The total cost for hubby and I to juice for one week was $110. This came out to about $8 a day for each of us. Surprising? It should be! Juicing gets a bad rep for being way expensive, especially if you buy organic. Planning is key! That hour I spent writing out our recipes and tallying up how much of each fruit/veggie we needed, saved us a lot of $$$ as we did not purchase food that would get wasted or spoil in the fridge. I will list the juice recipes we used at the bottom of the post. 

We have a Breville Juice Fountain Elite that we use to make our juices. It works great and is relatively easy to clean. We bought this juicer as a combined Christmas gift to each other and used a Visa gift card a family member had given us to knock down the price. It pays to save in every way! You may notice the plastic bag on the pulp container. We use our plastic produce or left over grocery bags as a liner to make the clean up process much quicker and cleaner! 

If you do decide to try out juicing, be prepared to have your fridge and counter tops covered/filled with goodies. I like to organize my fridge by using dishes to separate them by color.

 It makes for a pretty looking fridge. :)

During this wonderful week of juicing, I was hungry a lot the first two days, but then the hunger passed and the juices, water, and green tea was sufficient. I don't just limit myself to the juices I make- I still drink water and tea as well. I lost 6 lbs for the week and my hubs lost 8! I'm going to juice again this next week so this post makes for great inspiration once more! I hope you'll try juicing for yourself and see the amazing benefits it has in store. Not only will you lost weight, but you'll also experience clearer skin, that "healthy glow", and feel energized (after the initial detox which can take 3-5 days if it is your first time juicing). 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns- please share! I'd love your feedback and to hear your experiences with juicing as well. Cheers!

~Cali via LVL~

P.S. It'd be a great idea to brush your teeth after each juice you have as the sugars can be hard on your teeth. :) Keep it all healthy y'all! 

***Note for all the MAMAs out there: If you are breastfeeding, I advise against juicing as I personally noticed the "fat/nutrient" layer of milk had diminished. If you are looking to lose some additional weight while nursing, I suggest drinking two green smoothies a day, one cooked meal a day, and the rest raw fruits and veggies. Happy nursing, happy babies!

Juice Recipes for my buddies J

Orange Basic: 2 oranges, 1 apple, 3 carrots, 1 celery stick, and 1 in. ginger root

Capple Kiwi: 3 carrots, 1 apple, 2 kiwis

Minty Peach: 2 peaches, 1 apple, 1 lime, 1 bunch of mint

Carrot Deep Cleanser: 6 carrots, 1 apple, 1 beet, 2 celery sticks, 6 kale leaves

Water apple: 3 apples, 2 thick slices of watermelon, 1 lime

Apple Cleanser: 4 apples, 1 beet, 4 kale leaves, 2 celery sticks, 2/3  cucumber {my favorite}

Carrot Lift: 4 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 bunch of parsley, ½ lemon

Celery Jointaid: 3 celery, ½ pineapple, 1 in. ginger toot, 1 tbsp flaxseed oil

(^^^I didn’t try this one)

Williams Orange: 2 oranges, 2 pears

Digestaid: ½ pineapple, 1 thick slick of white(green) cabbage, 1 in. ginger root, 1 bunch of mint, 1 pear

Water, Water, Everywhere: 1 cucumber, 1 thick slice of watermelon

Blue Pear: 2 pears, 1 handful of blueberries, 1 handful of blackberries {hubby's favorite}

Pear Dream: 3 pears, 4 apricots

Veggie Carotene Catapult: 3 carrots, 1 red bell pepper, 1 broccoli spear, ½ sweet potato

Green n’ Pearit: 8 broccoli spears, 3 celery sticks, 2 pears

Green Citrus: 2 handfuls of spinach, 2 celery sticks, 2 oranges

Green Piney Hit: 1 lg handful of spinach, 1 handful of parsley, 1 handful of mint, ½ pineapple

Green Waldorf: 5 kale leaves, 2 apples, 2 celery sticks, ½ tbsp. flaxseed oil

Three Day Challenge Pt. 1

 As I stated in my About Me Post, I am a "wanna-be" Vegan.

My husband is completely supportive and is on board with me, which makes it easier. Since we are having a hard time, going 100% into the lifestyle, my husband decided it would be best if we did a 3 Day Challenge. We decided that we work best with small goals. We planned to juice 2 meals a day and have healthy snacks between meals (nuts, peanut butter, and fruit) and for dinner we would eat a sensible NEW vegan dish!  The reason i decided to cook new meals was because i found myself stuck in a rut. We were eating the same old things over and over again. And i needed a change.

Before the challenge, we mainly ate Red Beans and Rice, Vegan Pizza, and a Broccoli Orzo Dish.

I went to Barnes and noble before my yoga class and researched some cookbooks. I also went to my Pinterest Board as well. I have one completely devoted to Vegan Recipes or Recipes that i want to try and convert.

The Three Recipes i decided on were:

Vegan Fajita Soup (From the book: Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats) (I will have a picture of this on tomorrow's  post) (Let me tell you, you dont want to miss this recipe! It was DIVINE!!!!)

Skinny Mediterranean Pasta Toss (Minus the Feta Cheese)

Source

 

Kung Pao Tofu and Broccoli 

Source

Over the next few days, I will share with you my successes and failures along with the pricing and ingredients for each dish.

If you want to give being Vegan a try, I suggest starting small if you can't take the full plunge. For some people, they have to just jump all in, but for me, I work best in baby-steps!Or even if you don't think a vegan lifestyle is for you, i think you will still enjoy these recipes! Trust me, this is coming from the worlds pickiest eater. You definitely want to try these recipes! 

Find what works for you!

If you are Vegan, how hard was it for you to transition? If you are a "wanna-be" Vegan like me, what do YOU think is keeping you from taking the plunge?  I would love to hear from you!

LVL

Amy