Since I have started this blog back a few years ago now, I have gone through many changes with my eating habits. I initially meant this blog to be a food diary, but due to foreseen circumstances, given my poor time management and general organization skills, I just wasn't able to keep up. But I have been overcome with vigor (perhaps my new change in diet?), and it's high time that I went back to my original idea, which is to write a food diary of sorts. So without further adieu...
First of all, my food diary is going to consist of a certain format for simplification purposes. I am just going to simply write down what I have eaten at what time, and then commentary will follow, with or without links. Each post will be updated in real time throughout the day, since I have nothing better to do.
Newfegan refers to the fact that I am an honorary Newfoundlander and vegan (though I do break the rules here because I am not an extremist about it. I am vegan enough to call myself a vegan.) Hence the term Newfegan. To any Newfoundlanders who are offended by the derogatory term "Newfie," it is at this time I hope to clarify that the two terms are not related, and thus should not be considered offensive to any Newfoundlander who might be reading this.
Day One
Update: 9:06 P.M.
Here's the last update, just as I threatened. So now I'm eating dessert, a pineapple coconut cup (See
Vegan Diner.) Instead of gelatin, which is ground up horse hooves and such, we use agar agar which essentially does the same thing as gelatin, but it's from the sea!
That's it, what a day. Seems like all I did was type and eat! Hopefully, this diary will give you an idea of how to eat once you have insanely decided to stop eating everything you've eaten your whole life. I really must be mad...
Peach out.
Update: 8:06 P.M.
Whoo, boy, I'm full. I had me some Sweet Brown rice w/ mung beans (Terry Walters'
Clean Food) and Saag Aloo (
Chloe's Kitchen), an Indian dish with baby kale and baby spinach, with potatoes. I had two helpings, and washed it all down with some coconut milk, to take my vitamins. My naturopath recommends I take some supplements, so there you go. His name is
Mark Kibyuk. Tell him Veggontherock sent you.
There's pineapple coconut pudding for dessert, but I am full at present. I usually don't eat dessert until about an hour after dinner, so expect an update then. Are you supposed to eat before bed? Nope, but I often do, and it doesn't seem to affect me. Some people really can't sleep if they eat before bed, and all the pundits say you shouldn't eat before bed, but one of my jobs is to break the mold, so there you go! I'm going to go wash the dishes...
Update: 6:08 P.M.
Another hour until dinner. I was hungry again, so I had an organic apple (always organic as they're one of the dirty dozen), with almond butter. My 5 yr. old had the same.
I am now drinking some bizarre concoction I made: some coconut milk, chia seeds, and raw cacao powder. Normally you wait 20 minutes for the chia seeds to absorb the liquid and become a pudding, but I am just swallowing as is. The things I do for health!
Actually, I am ramping up my intake of chia seeds ever since I found out how many amazing properties they have. They're a complete food! So I am going to eat them with just about everything, about 2-4 tablespoons/day. I am being intense and not adding any sweeteners!
I am going to go grind some sesame seeds now so we can have some
gomashio, a macrobiotic condiment that I absolutely love love.
Update: 4:27 P.M.
Hungry. Snack. Eat a snack with Brown and Black. Eating more cashews...
Update: 3:26 P.M.
Holy Schmoly, I am still a bit hungry. What a surprise, considering I'm not eating any damn food, no gluten, dairy, meat, eggs, cheese, toast, cereal. Argh! Okay, I just downed a glass of So Delicious coconut milk, with the last of our chia seeds. That should do the trick. We used to buy Silk but ever since they didn't sign that anti-GMO bill/prop, we are a bit pissed at them, so So Delicous it is!
Chia seeds. I found some brown ones in the brand we were using, so we're not going to get that brand anymore, the organic ones at Costco. There aren't supposed to be any brown ones, because those are actually weeds or something. So it's an inferior product. Granted, it was the bottom of the can, but I don't like getting stuff at Costco if I can avoid it.
Update: 3:07 P.M.
Yep, I am still hungry. I peeled another carrot and I am eating more hummus. This should work. Normally, I would have eaten the hummus on bread, but I cut out gluten, so...carrots. I also have Mary's brand gluten-free crackers, but I eat these in very limited portions.
Update: 2:42 P.M.
My god, it's Daylight Savings! Arrgh, a whole hour gone. What's happened to the day???
So I have just made my youngest her lunch. She loves my go-to food, the hummus. We were buying hummus from Costco, but I was concerned when I learned that their hummus used canola oil. Yuck. You don't need canola oil in your hummus! And it's probably GMO to boot, because I emailed the hummus company about their using GMO canola oil, and they never responded. To me, that's an admission of guilt, so I don't buy it anymore. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!
So here's her lunch.
Don't ask me what this is, I have no idea, but I do know those are carrots and olives, and a blob of white bean hummus for the head. The hummus jellyfish olive monster is coming to get you!
I was still hungry after the soup, so I just munched on olives, carrots and hummus myself. If I am still hungry, I will eat some more cashews to take any edge off.
Update: 1:55 P.M.
I am starving! I am eating some roasted unsalted cashews right now as I wait for my soup to heat up. I am trying to not microwave as much, so I am actually heating up last night's minestrone in a pan.
Yeah, there's some brown rice pasta in there, but not much. It's got kale, broccolette (kale meets broccoli), kidney beans, frozen green beans, peas, carrots, etc. Green beans and carrots, upward and downward growing vegetables support liver energy, which is the organ that is on the same frequency as the Spring! I told you I was a madman...
I seem to have unbalanced liver energy which apparently comes out in the eyes, so I am trying to eat more foods that address the liver.
I am going to sprinkle some hemp and chia seeds on top for good Omega 3 fats and protein. And I am eating cashews, which also has good fats and protein. Very important when you don't eat animals.
I just recently learned that another huge cause of inflammation can be an improper ratio of Omega 6 fats to Omega 3 fats. And I didn't know this, but Omega 3 fats are anti-inflammatory! So when I heard this, I have begun to ramp up these fats in my diet, while simultaneously reducing the Omega 6's.
Update: 1:30 P.M.
I am done stretching, and I had to stop because I'm freaking starving! I haven't the faintest clue what I am going to eat since I have cut out gluten, sugar, refined flour grains (though I had pancakes as a treat), eggs, dairy, meat, peanuts...Jesus Christ!
I am thinking about what's in the fridge. I had made a white bean hummus which is absolutely scrumptious, and hummus is one of my go-to foods. This recipe can be found in Kris Carr's
Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Her
other book is amazing, and perhaps in the summer I am going to try her detox program. I don't dare do this in the winter, what with all the fresh produce lacking in the stores and gardens.
I am also thinking about making a
blueberry hemp smoothie. I've been craving one for some reason.
Update: 12:34 P.M.
Since you can't be healthy by just eating, you also have to exercise. I have been doing the Miranda Esmond White's
Classical Stretch program for two weeks now, and I'm already noticing benefits. And so now I am going to stretch. It's on PBS and if you have a PVR, you can just record it!
Update: 12:10 P.M.
The chia seeds seem to be working. I am not hungry anymore, and all I did was have some chia seeds in some water. Amazing...
Update: 11:16 A.M.
Gluten-free banana and chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup
Glass of water with chia seeds
We have just had breakfast. Wife made gluten-free chocolate-chip and banana pancakes with brown rice flour. They were still fluffy! When you add the maple syrup, that's a heavy dose of sugar, but there was no white refined sugar--we don't use that anymore. She got the recipe from the macrobiotic-leaning cookbook
Blissful Bites.
How ironic, that I'm trying to be healthy and then I go and eat these! Flour of any kind is probably not good for us, but what the hey, we usually have some form of pancakes on Sunday mornings. Tradishuuuuuuuuun, Tradition!
Chia Seeds
Since I am now obsessed with the power of chia seeds, I have taken 1/2 tablespoon of chia seeds and added them to a glass of water. I am still hungry after eating five pancakes.
Chia seeds are supposed to make you feel much fuller for longer because they are loaded with...everything! Protein, fiber, omega 3's, they are a complete food! They're great for weight loss, apparently, not that I need to lose any. At about 6 feet tall, I weigh anywhere between 145-150 lbs. Skinny!
People say it's because I don't eat meat that I'm so skinny. So I guess all the ice cream and cookies and meat and cheese and butter that I constantly ate my whole life was making me skinny, too. I have been skinny my whole life. Only now has my metabolism started to slow way down. Now I don't look as anorexic as I used to, just a healthy kind of skinny, lean machine.
My youngest, she ate a bowl of almond yogurt with chia and hemp seeds and frozen blueberries. This is her favorite. Then she had some pancakes later. We're trying to take her off gluten, too.
9:36 A.M.
One cup of lemon water.
I am going to start my day how I always do, with a nice hot steaming mug of lemon water.
I drink lemon water every single morning because I am trying to cut coffee completely out of my diet. I find when I drink this, my desire for coffee disappears completely. I can't say the same for my wife, who still likes her morning coffee, even after she drinks the lemon water.
Lemon water is alkalinizing so is optimal to drink in order to counterbalance the acidity that many of us have in our blood. I usually squeeze half a lemon and half a lime, since lemons tend to be on the expensive side. Ginger is good to add because it has anti-inflammatory properties.
Inflammation
Inflammation seems to be the word of the year. It seems like 1 in 3 of us are suffering from it. Is this a coincidence? Nope. Which foods cause inflammation? Well, since the answer is pretty much everything, it's easier to write a list of what doesn't cause inflammation.
List of foods that aren't really known to cause inflammation:
- fruits, except citrus
- vegetables, except nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants)
- nuts and seeds (not peanuts--they're not nuts!)
- lean meats (I'm not sure about this one, but I haven't read anything to the contrary)
Note: Meat is an issue because when you fry it, you get all those carcinogens, and these then cause inflammation, and
cured and processed meats are linked to tons of problems, so there are very few meats that don't cause inflammation/problems. I am just going to stay away from them entirely.
That's about it. So it's no wonder we have inflammation everywhere, especially with GMO foods and alien-lifeform foods that we put into our bodies on a daily basis. I also suffer from inflammation, and I have been doing my own experimenting and researching to deal with it. I have been suffering from it since 2006.
Apparently, dairy and gluten are the two largest offenders for inflammation (according to Mark Hyman, anyway).
When I got the chronic pain in my tendons, I was eating a very SAD vegetarian diet, but I ate meat whenever we went out to eat, and I would even eat a lot of the PC brand frozen Indian dishes, so I wasn't really a vegetarian at all. And then I got the chronic pain. So I ventured to change many things in my lifestyle, and I still suffer from the pain. I am 38 years old. Nothing I have done has really done anything, except maybe time. Time has probably done the most good, but unfortunately time has a way of crawling by when you don't want it to. And so I have to accept what is happening, since I cannot control time, but I can control what I eat.
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." This was our mantra we had when I had unconsciously engaged in a pyramid multi-marketing scheme in New York back in '98. Thank God I had the wisdom to get the hell out of there and live my own life, rather than telling people how they should live theirs.
My uncle has had incredible success with Mark Hyman's
Blood Sugar Solution, and told my mom about it. My mom told me about it, so I just got the book from the library, and since I have read the book, I have been inspired to make some major changes: cutting out gluten and sugar.
My naturopath has told me that I am sensitive to gluten, corn, and soy. Great. What the hell do I eat then? I haven't cut out corn or soy, but I am cutting out gluten to see how I feel. It's been three weeks now, and I can say I feel better, my irritated eyes don't seem to be so irritated--but the main consequence of cutting gluten is that you now have to eat more of something else to compensate for the loss in calories. And once you cut out gluten, you can then identify if any other foods are causing any problems. Since you're not eating gluten, you know it's not gluten that becomes the offender.
I used to eat a lot of organic corn chips, but I noticed my eyes got pretty irritated, so I'm thinking it could be corn. We had tacos over the weekend, and again my eyes got red and itchy, so is it corn? Who knows...we'll see what happens when I reintroduce gluten back in and see how I feel.
Eat B(right),
Veggie Daddy
Very often we can make these amazing dishes like this one from Zsu Dever's Vegan Bowls. But what to do with all the leftovers? Do you just microwave it all again? You can or you can...
