amazing...

to each their own...

Happy beautiful Saturday! It's a little chilly in Toronto, but absolutely lovely with the sunshine!

A few days ago, my mama asked me how long I was going to be on this cleanse and, without a second's hesitation, I immediately answered, "Forever! I want to be a vegan!" There it was, I had said it, and it made me so happy! My mom, being a bit of a crunchy granola type herself, completely understood and I know she will always be supportive.

My dad on the other hand, although extremely supportive in every way he can, just doesn't get the whole vegetarian thing, let alone the vegan thing. He was raised on a good Polish diet of meat and potatoes and thinks these are absolutely essential to human existence.

This post is dedicated to my dad and all the other nay-sayers. Here is my humble explanation of why I have made the decision to be mostly vegan (I'll explain why mostly in a bit) but certainly, entirely vegetarian.

While I have always flirted with vegetarianism, I have also always loved meat, not all of it, but certainly most. Give me a burger, a nice steak or anything chicken, and I'd eat it any day. But in the last few months, my body was craving it less and less, and as I started reading countless books, something in me changed. Seeing Food Inc. was the absolute tipping point. I finally decided to give up meat two months ago for four main reasons:

• Health. There are countless scientific studies which reveal meat to be bad for the heart, a contributor to cancer and osteoporsis, and generally bad for your health. Most meat is chock-full of hormones and antibiotics, so that it can be produced more efficiently, and these really aren't good for us (or the animals!) to be digesting. In moderation, consciously raised meat isn't bad for us at all. Just 60 - 70 years ago, meat was a nice treat families would enjoy once or twice a week, or on special occasions, and it was completely healthy. Fast forward a couple of decades, when meat consumption doubles in North America, and so too do health problems. This same pattern is being repeated in developing countries now, like Japan, who for centuries has had very few health problems on it's primarily plant-based diets. None of this sits well with me, at all. There are no serious negative side-effects to a well-balance plant-based diet, at least not that I have read about yet, so vegetarianism just makes more sense to me.

• Environment. Surprisingly, this one hit me the most simply because I knew so little about it. The meat industry is one of the main contributes to global warming and climate change, more than landfills and waste treatment plants, and it certainly gives the transportation industry a run for it's money. The amount of methane and toxic sludge produced is outstanding, and the amount of oil and water consumed to produce meat may be even worse. To produce one 16oz steak requires six months of showering water (compared to about one shower for a pound of carrots)! This just isn't okay with me.

• Cruelty. I whole-heartedly consider factory farming to be cruelty to animals. Several images from Food Inc. still haunt me. While I know there are other far more kind ways of raising meat, at this point in my life, I just don't even want to go there.

• Enough is enough. I didn't want it any more and once I learned I didn't need it, the deed was done. Yes, meat may be a "complete" protein, but there is nothing in meat that you can't get elsewhere, in even greater quantities.

This is just my humble explanation to everyone in my life (very few, thankfully!) who need to understand why I'm finally on this path. Before I end, I would like to add one very important value I hold: to each their own. This is just my opinion, my journey; let yours be your own. However, at the very least, we all need to make sure our choices really are our own and not something we have adopted without very little thought or consideration.

Blah, blah, blah... have a wonderful weekend! :)

mxo

oh my goodness...

I am in love! I have discovered the most, MOST delicious vegan pizza... oh my goodness!

Oh, how happy I am! :)

mxo

29 gifts...

I have always believed that one of the best ways to help yourself is to help another. Help those less fortunate and inevitably, you will help yourself in the process. Problem is, this isn't always the easiest thing to remember - or believe - when things feel topsy turvy. It's hard to not give into self-pity and wallowing when things aren't working, at least it is for me. The last few days have been hard for a number of reasons and just when I needed it the most, I got a little reminder of how I can instantly make things better.

Today, I started reading Cami Walker's 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life. The book is an autobiographical account of Cami's fight with MS and a "prescription" a close friend gave her when she was in her lowest life-hating, woe is me stump. The concept was simple: give something away each day for 29 days. The gifts didn't have to be grand or material; they could be as simple as offering a smile or kind word to a strange, but they had to be sincere. The effects, as in Cami's case, were profound. No, it didn't cure her of MS, but she stepped out of herself and realized just how much she has to be grateful for, and it has profoundly helped her cope. 100 pages in, I absolutely adore Cami and I'm inspired to start my own 29 days... and I have!

Today is day one. It was a bit difficult to come up with a gift as I'm at home feeling snotty and phlegmy... BUT I decided to muster up whatever strength I had (not much) and walk one block to deliver flowers to my lovely friend on her birthday. She was on lunch (thankfully, as I didn't want to also give the gift of germs)... but I'm pretty sure they brightened her day just a little. :)

So, faithful reader, I am excited about 28 more days of this! :) If you'd like to participate or read more about the challenge, check out Cami's website: http://givingchallenge.ning.com/

Wouldn't it be grand if thousands of people focused a little bit of their energy each day to giving and being nice... oh, the possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by!

mxo

Facts, germs and soup...

Fact: I am sick. It's 10:13am, I'm in my pjs at home, my chest hurts, my throat scratches, my nose is training for a marathon, and my head is puffy like a marshmellow. I am sick, there's no doubt about it.

Fact: it's painfully obvious how true the mind-body-spirit cliche is. While making to sure to eat very consciously, for the last few weeks I have also been running around at full speed, triple booked and working late, so stressed out that I've forgotten how to sleep, completely ignoring exercise and relaxation (no time!), and so it's not entirely surprising that I finally collapsed in a heap of germs.

Fact: I now have to work on the two other aspects of true health: mind and spirit. So I'm embarking on a consciousness cleanse - 21-days of being a bit more mindful, forcing myself to relax, detoxing from TV and other time snatchers, upping the yoga and meditation component, etc (and I'm throwing exercise back in the mix to enhance the trifecta). Stay tuned! :)

I leave you with one my new favourite, super tasty, super quick recipes.

Simple Vegan French Onion Soup (yes, I have even learned to appreciate onions, my former nemesis, on this cleanse)

Cut up three onions into thin half moons (I like red onions because they are sweet)

Cut up the white parts of two leeks.

In a pan, heat about 1-2tbsp of olive oil on medium heat.

Toss the onions and leeks into the pan and stir, making sure they don't stick or burn.

Heat for about 30 seconds on medium heat, then turn down the heat enough to simmer/ steam the veggies, but not enough to brown or burn them. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to make sure nothing sticks. If the veggies are starting to stick, add a little water.

In the meantime, cut up some mushrooms and toss them in with the onions and leeks. The mushrooms are totally optional, I just like the added flavour.

Continue to cook the veggies for another 10-15 minutes on low heat until everything is nice and soft (and smells divine).

After about 15-20 minutes of total cooking time, throw in the following:

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp shoyu or tamari soy sauce

1 tsp fresh tarragon

1 tsp sea salt

1 litre (4 cups) veggie broth or water. I love Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth. It is yummy!

Stir and simmer the mixture for another 5 minutes.

Serve hot with a piece of garlic bread floating on the top.

Perfectly delicious and super healthy soup in about 30 minutes... most of which is stirring (and reading magazines, if you're me). :)

Happy rainy Tuesday... thanks for stopping by!

mxo

Happy almost Friday!

an interlude: bad days...

Today ends (I hope!) a week of bad days so it's only fitting that I cover this subject now. When it comes to making a lifestyle change, there are at least three different types of bad days that I have discovered:

1. Days when you want to throw in the towel and return to old ways out of exhaustion, bad moods, pms, temptation, cravings, etc...
2. Days when you choose to regress in order to not offend or not be that pain-in-the-ass vegan guest at a dinner party, and
3. Days when you accidentally cheat and end up paying for it with guilt, digestive problems or a combination of the two.

As though to make up for all of the great days I've been having, life threw me all three situations this past week. I woke up early last Monday night with intense nausea and didn't fully recover for two days. The culprit: accidentally consuming raw-ish ground beef as I was cooking dinner. One pot was my vegan creation. One pot was Matt's meaty creation. There were separate spoons which somehow got mixed up and in the process of tasting my vegan creation, I tasted Matt's not-yet ready meat. Eight hours later, I was painfully unhappy. An accidentally cheat.

Fast forward to Wednesday or Thursday. After suffering through a few days of digestive hell, I was ready to throw in the towel. I was angry at the fact that despite eating so well and feeling so great, I got so sick. It felt like a slap in the face after so much hard work - though I did remind myself that the work wasn't really hard at all and it wasn't the diet that made me sick. Raw meat would have made me sick even before my cleanse. Nevertheless, old ways were starting to seem like a lot less trouble and thus, far more appealing.

Finally, we come to Saturday night and my almost mother-in-law's 60th birthday feast. I had always planned on being very relaxed with my eating regimen on this day because I have not yet figured out the social etiquette of eating a healthy, primarily vegan diet. So we went out to a restaurant and I ordered the delicious veggie spankiopita with ricotta and feta (it was that or a mushroom pasta in a bechamel sauce). It went down just fine. Then it was back to the house for an absolutely delicious homemade dessert. It was, alas, cheesecake. Despite being asked and assured it was no big deal to turn it down, I partook in the cheesecake. 12 plus hours later, I am finally recovering (note to reader: I am also quite lactose intolerant).

So yes, it was a week of cheating and of days when my stomach didn't feel all too wonderful. BUT, that being said, yesterday's post was not one bit of a lie. I am still loving my diet and here's why: it was precisely the conscious return to more healthier ways that healed me this week. After the raw meat debacle, I stuck primarily to brown rice, steamed fruits (especially apples) and veggies, and a lot of ginger. I recovered quickly and without any drugs. When the mid-week attitude reared it's ugly head, I treated myself to a delicious vegan lunch at Urban Herbivore and a few scrumptious vegan desserts. 24 hours later, the attitude was gone. Finally, when I woke up today feeling less than stellar from last night's dairy and white sugar explosion, I went straight for the macrobiotic cure-all tea (see recipe below) and had a delicious roasted vegetable and hummus sandwich for breakfast. It's now 2:45pm and I am back to normal.

So what are the lessons here? Humbly, this is what I have learned:

• Everyone has bad days. Even when you're 100% committed and never choose to stumble, the accidental cheats are hard to avoid, especially when you eat out. It's hard to know what chefs use in all of their dishes, which brings me nicely to my second lesson...

• Ask! If you're not sure about something, simply ask. No one will get offended when you choose to take charge of your diet at a restaurant, and as I learned yesterday, even family won't be offended. True, I may turn something down but they understand and even if they don't, no one who loves me wants to see me suffer through my post-dairy agony like I did last night. In hindsight, it probably made my lovely sister-in-law feel much worse to see me take tums after her truly DELICIOUS cheesecake than it would have if I had just said no when she first asked!

• When you feel like throwing in the towel, indulge in something naughty, and use your judgment on this. It's much better to have one cheat than to throw in the towel all together. Lean into changes; don't force them cold turkey.

• If you feel awful after stumbling, drink the following tea. I won't lie, it's pretty weird tasting, but it honestly works wonders... even after hangovers!

Alicia's cure-all tea:

• One bag of kukicha tea. Prepare it as per the instructions on the package.
• Throw in 1/4 to 1/2 of a finely dished umeboshi plum (see note below).
• Add two or three drops of shoyu (a type of soy sauce).
• My addition to help with the taste: 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup.
• Steep the mixture for a few minutes and drink hot. You can also throw in the umeboshi plum pit and suck on that after.

What on earth are umeboshi plums? Umeboshi's are Japanese pickled ume fruits (like plums). You can get these salty little buggers in most health food stores. They are really expensive (almost $20 for a jar of about 20) BUT they keep for a very long time and you use them sparingly. I've had my jar for two months and I've used only two plums. They truly are magical little fruits that provide a nice salty taste in recipes and which re-mineralize you and make you feel good ag

ain!

I hope that this post provided some decent information on what to do when reality bites... or at the very least, established that I am absolutely human and despite my love for the last six weeks of my life, I too stumble backwards. If you stumble, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to it!

Have a lovely week everyone... I hear we will have a few gorgeous sunny days!

mxo

eat food. mostly plants. not too much...

Happy rainy weekend to all! I am happily approaching week six of my new lifestyle (at least I think it's week 6... I'm starting to lose track) and yes, I'm still loving it. :)

I promised a bit more detail on what exactly it is that I am putting in my mouth these days. In order to simplify the process, I have adopted Michael Pollan's mantra: "eat food, mostly plants, not too much" (I still struggle with the 'not too much' part!)

So here's what that meant for food yesterday:

Breakfast:

Spelt bagel (by Stickings Bakery) with organic peanut butter and Eden Organics Apple & Cherry Butter... yuuummm! (And the bagels only have 160 calories each!)

Lunch:

Homemade grain bowl with red quinoa, steamed kale, collards, and bok choy, tofu, grated carrots and toasted sunflower seeds. I added a bit of hummus and it was yuuuuuuuuummy! Also, it's the perfect brown bag lunch!

Snack:

One organic apple and two brown rice cakes (Charlie, my cat, fights me for these every time they come out!)

Dinner:

Mushroom soup with kamut soda noodles, shitake mushrooms, bok choy and other lovely greens, texturized soy (sounds odd but tastes amazing) and two vegan buns stuffed with carrots, cabbage, ginger and other herbs. I have my mom to thank for this meal - sooo good!

Dessert: (I will never give up dessert!)

Vegan banana bread from Kensington (again, thanks mom)

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious! Instead of coffee, I am drinking buckets of bancha green tea and kukicha tea. In the evenings I like ginger tea - helps me digest everything - and warm vanilla rice milk before bed (I sound like a five year old!) :)

Next time: recipes!

Have a lovely weekend! Thanks for stopping by...

mxo

balance...

Morning! I hope you are well on this lovely spring Sunday. I am quickly approaching week five of my "diet" (see last week's post on how I'm choosing to define this word), and I'm still loving every minute of it. I had my first "bad" day this past week. I contemplated throwing in the towel for a return to simpler, less narcissistic, more 'stuff your face with whatever is available' way of life, but I survived, and without any dietary damage... but more on that another time.

With the formalities out of the way, I thought today might be a good time to get down to the nitty gritty. What exactly is a macrobiotic diet and more importantly, what on earth am I eating?!

The foundations of the macrobiotic lifestyle date back thousands of years to the teachings of several eastern sages, but it was not until the late 19th century that it evolved into what it is today. Around the turn of the 19th century, a Japanese army doctor, named Sagen Ishizuka, devised a dietary regime which combined the teachings of these ancient sages with Western theories of biochemistry, biology, and physiology. His aim was to cure patients, including himself, of several "incurable" diseases and return their health to a more balanced state. Ishizuka believed that food is the absolute foundation of health and happiness and that for the body to properly heal itself, one's diet must be energetically and nutritionally balanced (between yin and yang). This remains the core of the macrobiotic diet.

While no foods are strictly prohibited on the macrobiotic diet, certain foods, such as sodium, potassium, white sugar, meats, and processed foods, are believed to be too antagonistic (either too much yin or too much yang) to the body and should thus be avoided. Put very simply, the dietary guidelines are as follows:

• Eat often (daily): grains (the absolute foundation of the macrobiotic diet), vegetables (except certain nightshade veggies and those that are not local or in season), sea vegetables, and beans.
• Eat occasionally (2-3 times per week): soy products (tofu, tempeh, etc), certain fish, fruit, seeds and nuts, and natural juices.
• Eat sparingly or just outright avoid: refined flour products, sugars, red meat, dairy, vegetables such as asparagus, eggplants, and tomatoes, tropical fruits (bananas and coconuts), caffeine, and anything processed.

Food should also be locally grown and eaten in season. The macrobiotic diet is conscious not only of what you eat but how you affect your environment in the process (eating bananas and grapes during the winter in Toronto is neither good for the environment or for our bodies).

So yes, it's fairly complex and there are a lot of rules (well, more guidelines), many of which I am intentionally breaking so that I can happily stick to the foundational principles without feeling deprived. My eating day consists of a lot of grains (wild and brown rice, barley, quinoa), greens (and I do make an effort to avoid the "bad" vegetables only because it's forcing me to learn about so many other wonderful vegetables like kale... yum!), beans and tofu, and natural desserts (I break the tropical fruit rule with the copious amounts of dates I eat, nuts, natural fruit spreads, dark dark dark unrefined chocolate), and lots of kukicha, bancha, and ginger teas. It sounds complicated but in all honesty, it's not. It just takes prep.

Next time: more on my daily eating plan and this illusive 'prep' I'm referring to.

Thanks for stopping in!

mxo

P.S. Check out this great website for more info: http://www.macrobiotics.co.uk