Vegan week 1

Well, this was an interesting week to start because it began with the holiday of all summer holidays...MEMORIAL DAY! The holiday to began the barbecue season. I would always look forward to Memorial Day for that reason...make my absolutely DELICIOUS baked beans with pineapple rings, coffee (one year I used vanilla cause that was all I had and people still liked it - lol) and...bacon. Baked beans were a favorite of mine so it was a no-brainer that I would be the one to bring it to all the family cookouts. Every time I would cook the bacon, I would end up practically eating all of it, making sure I left some for the beans. I wasn't easy ;-). Last Memorial Day, I was new to this "vegan" thing so I cheated and ate a couple small ribs (Mom always cut them) and one or two brats. Brats are my ABSOLUTE favorite grilled meat so last summer was rough, but rougher on my intestines. I could eat one earlier that day - afternoon - and by the time I was gettin in the bed, it was still there knockin on my stomach or at the least my intestinal tract, somewhere. The last straw, was when I ate some grilled meat - most likely at the Parents' - it was sittin on my stomach at bedtime, when I woke up, all day, and at bedtime again. I think that meat sat on my stomach for THREE WHOLE DAYS! I had gas that had an odor that was killin my whole family! OMG! It was awful. That was the end of our relationship - me and meat. So, this Memorial Day it was only a brief spark of that old feeling when I smelled them babies grillin and when my Dad brought 'em in. Mmm-mm. Then, old memories "flood my mind" and I had no problem findin something else to eat - I'd brought my own lettuces, tomatoes, and dressing. The second part of my struggle with food on any holiday, at anyone's house - including my own - is breads. On Memorial Day, I ended up eating 2 biscuits and 3 cookies; none of which were vegan. Desserts are tough to ignore at my parents' because my Mom is GREAT baker. And I do usually end up with my face broke out by the time I get home, but it's worth it cause I don't eat much of whatever she made and I don't go back for seconds - I've trained myself. Since, the holidays are mostly about family and having fun, I still had an enjoyable Memorial Day.

Another addiction of mine is chips. I truly, truly, TRULY love a bag of plain Ruffles, or blue corn tortilla chips by Garden of Eatin, or some pita chips, or Kettle flavored Popcorners...sometimes it's the crunch, sometimes it's the potato and salty; but as I paid more attention to how I'm feelin when I have these craving, I realize that I crave these when I'm anxious, worried or nervous - and that's what some books say too, right? I run into this problem usually AFTER work and only occasionally during the work day. Now, that I'm talkin about work, lemme tell ya...I work at such an awesome place, and lunch is never an issue there'son Tuesday, I had 3 bagels and on the way home cheerful about havin a couple dollars bought a bag of chips and ate majority of the bag.

always really good stuff available...jus not much vegan and definitely NOT ORGANIC. I've been there almost a year so I make due. I just about gained all my weight back - I was 126lbs - I'm teetering between that and 130lbs! I don't like it. The big issue at work is when I get sleepy. When that happens I get up and walk around and end up in the kitchen where someone has brought: Krispy Kreme, or bagels, or homemade bread, or some homemade sweet goodie...and I have one and back to my desk. But depending on what time THAT was I was eventually back in there havin a small piece of something else. Small pieces add up, thus my weight fluctuates. Good thing I was making this change on a short work week cause at work

Keeping my goal in mind, I did a little better at work the next day, having 1 Krispy Kreme doughnut, 1/2 a plain bagel and at home the few chips left in the bag by my kids. And my Thursday, no bread or chips jus those crispy things for salads - on my salad that I had seconds on (it was a great salad!)

I'm not being had on myself anymore but this is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE which is why I can't be too easy either - I've been at this a year. I'm embarrassed to mention the workout I was trying for 7 days...I couldn't even make the 7 days because I was so sore after 2!!! Humiliating. My muscles from the crotch down were so sore I had to focus to not walk like I'd jus had a night of rough sex...so embarrassing.  Anyway, so far today, I've had 1 piece of whole wheat toast (I'm out of vegan butter so it was naked toast) and an average cereal bowl of blue corn tortilla chips.

I'll be starting my butt challenge over again, I should be able to make it a whole week so we'll see how it turns out.

                          "LET FOOD BY THY MEDICINE"