I'm BACK!!

I was planning on posting at least weekly once my cleanse was over. That was 6 weeks ago.

I have found that there are very few blogs of VEGAN ATHLETES, so I am going to try to commit to keeping this blog alive.

So here is a brief update of how my life has gone over the last six weeks:

On February 21st the successful Quantum Wellness cleanse officially was complete. I reintroduced alcohol (once or twice per week), caffeine (with a mix of half decaf and half caff beans in the grinder), gluten (although continue to try to keep it to a minimum) and sugar (my downfall).

I continued to keep all meat out of my diet. As far as dairy and other animal products, I am keeping them out of my diet but not being too extreme about it. I will have bread that may contain some whey products or eggs, and when out to dinner I have had to choose some things that had dairy sauces.

The more I research and experience this lifestyle, the more I believe it is the best way for me. So now I am trying to take it to the next level. Get more extreme about keeping the animal products out, but even more importantly, get the sugar out, get all processed foods out, and work at getting to be consuming as HEALTHY a vegan diet as possible.

I will never be perfect. But my motto is NOT PERFECTION, BUT PROGRESS.

I have tried to use Thrive Diet and The Kind Diet as guides to, as The Kind Diet describes, Superhero diet. Lots of greens, grains, sea vegetables and other super foods.

I will try to regularly post the new foods I am trying, along with how my workout routine is going.

A little on the training. Boston marathon is less that 3 weeks away. I have received my bib number and the packet of info (so exciting). I had a little hamstring strain a little over a week ago, but did a 7 mile tempo run yesterday and all was well.
I have 6 miles easy today, and a 20 mile bike ride tonight and then on Friday a true test --> 22 mile long run. The weather is looking beautiful, almost too hot.

After that long run I am in taper mode. After Boston, with a week or so of recovery we then go straight into half ironman training. I REALLY want to get the weights back into my routine at that time.

Day 21-what's next?

First a little debriefing of day 19 (Friday) and 20 (Saturday):
Friday was a typical day. Donuts at school which are not even an issue anymore. Ate the typical and had some leftovers from the week for dinner. I did have a 2 by 2 piece of the family's homemade whole wheat pizza, so a little gluten and a little cheese.

I had been a little apprehensive for Saturday to come all week long. I had a 16 mile run planned and the furthest I had run since Columbus marathon in the Fall was 12 miles. The turned out to be sunny and about 30 degrees, and I have to say my run was a JOY. I ran out in Amish country, very few cars, a few Amish buggies. I felt great until the last 1-2 miles. Pace was better than expected. No issues with my knees or hips. I think this diet is helping with the inflammation. I was a little sore the rest of the day and this morning, but after 16 miles that is to be expected.
Of course, after burning over 2000 calories on my run, I needed a little extra as the day went on. I had a chocolate almond smoothie from the Thrive Diet book in the afternoon and a homemade energy bar.
We went to 5pm Mass and then had to go directly to see my neice in a play at 7pm, so dinner was a bit of an issue. I brought an apple and a Larabar and a bottle of water, but was starving...so I had stopped at Subway for my daughters. Lizzie got a veggie delite and so I had about a third of her foot long. Again gluten, and it had ranch dressing so some dairy. I also then had some popcorn at the theatre, with butter so more dairy.

I think to take care of those problems I just needed to bring more food with me, especially after a long run day.

So here we are on the morning of DAY 21.
When I started I was hoping to:
* get control of my cravings, which I feel I have for the most part

*lose a little weight, as of this morning I have lost about 7 pounds in these 21 days

*become more conscious of what I was eating before putting it in my mouth. I think I have improved on this. I want to continue making progress on this.

*see how some changes in my diet would make me feel. I feel like I have MORE energy, my skin is clearer, my body seems like it is recovering quicker from workouts, I feel lighter and my mood is better.

OTHER things that I did not expect:
I did not expect to feel like I wanted to give up all animal products for good. It had never crossed my mind that I would become a Vegan. Because of how I feel, and because I am immersed in reading The China Study, The Thrive Diet, and Quantum Wellness I do not feel like I should go back to animal products. It is partly for humane reasons, but mainly for health reasons.

I am not going to be an EXTREME vegan, which may offend vegans out there. I may have a piece of cheese pizza every once in a while. I may have soup that is made with Chicken Stock, or has cream in it every once in a while. I may have buttered popcorn. But in general these will be things I will avoid.


So...what's next?
When day 22 comes tomorrow, I will have 50%caf/50%decaf coffee beans in my coffee maker (Actually I am trying it out right now as I type this) and so reintroduce that small amount of caffeine into my diet.

I will reintroduce a glass of wine once or twice a week.

I will still avoid added sugar as much as possible. I will keep gluten to a minimum, but will reintroduce a piece of whole wheat bread now and then.

So for the most part, things will not change. My typical day will continue to be:
oatmeal
almonds/dried apricots
Big leafy salad
apple/energy bar
dinner of lots of vegetables and a little bit of grain (quinoa/brown rice...)

Hoping to keep out between 'meal' snacks and after dinner snacks. After dinner I will have Teavana tea as my evening 'treat'.

Hoping to lose another 7-8 pounds for vanity and to help me run faster.

I also want to continue to make progress on making my diet healthier. In the Thrive Diet Brazier talks about trying to stay as RAW as possible. He also suggests NO soy. He has some very different recipes in there. I want to continue making progress toward eating HEALTHIER. even more leafy vegetables, less of anything that is not WHOLE foods...there are lots of improvements I can make.

I would highly suggest people that are out there thinking about trying this to JUST DO IT. 21 days is such a small percentage of your life. You can do this for three weeks. Plan your meals, prepare some things on Sunday, as you walk out the door have something that you can eat if you are going to be out for a while.
See how you feel.

as I posted on my facebook status yesterday...not perfection, just progress!

day 17 and 18-crusing along

Wednesday workout: 6 mile run with 4 mile Tempo (8:23 pace)

Thursday workout: 4 mile run

nutrition:

same as usual for the day, dinner Wednesday was leftover Brown Rice and roasted broccoli, red pepper and green beans

Dinner Thursday: rice noodles with a sauce of Roma tomatoes, pesto, broccolini, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, garlic (recipe from Tosca Reno's Clean Eating Cookbook which I love. It is not Vegan, but has lots of recipes that are very vegetable based)

Feeling great. I really feel like my recovery is easier. I am not feeling sore at all from my runs. This Saturday is a big test. I have a 16 mile long run. Hoping to have a good one.

This weekend is the 'end' of the cleanse. It has been everything I had imagined and more. When Monday and day 22 comes along. I don't think my nutrition will change.

I want to be 90 years old, taking NO medications and very active!! Hoping good decisions made TODAY will help make that possible.

Day 16-just a quick check in

I feel like this is getting to be routine. I really don't feel much like I am 'on a cleanse' these days. The only thing I am really missing is my morning coffee. Other than that and a glass of wine here or there, I won't change anything when day 22 arrives.

workout: rest day

nutrition:

bf: the usual steel cut oats w/ protein powder/ blueberries/ agave/slivered almonds and V8

morning: the usual almonds and a few dried apricots

lunch: big salad/ homemade salad dressing/ and cup of celery root soup (all very tasty, I totally enjoyed my lunch)

afternoon: apple/ larabar

dinner: leftover risotto/half sweet potato/unsweetened applesauce (could have used more vegetables here between the sweet potato and risotto dinner felt carb-filled)

getting ready to head off to be and read so I guess that is it for the day. Scale has been stuck at about a total of 6+ pounds lost in the 15 days, but clothes are looser fitting and I believe that as I continue this plan, the pounds will continue to slowly move in the right direction. I would be very happy to lose about 10 more pounds over the next few months, preferably before I run Boston in April.

As I said in my opening sentence, this is becoming routine. I don't miss the dairy/eggs/meat at all. I NEED to keep the sugar away. I believe that eating added sugar causes sugar cravings and so I do not want to fall back into that habit. I will try to keep sugar only for a special occasion here and there.

Lizzie has decided to try vegetarian for the 40 days of Lent, which start tomorrow. She is not a big meat eater anyway.

Day 15

workout: 5 miles outside, on a hilly route about 9:40 pace felt good, although I didn't feel as fast as I would like.

nutrition:
bf: steel cut oats/v8/decaf coffee

before run: gluten-free bread/almond butter

lunch: big salad and leftover celery root soup

afternoon: smoothie from Thrive Diet chocolate/almond

dinner: roasted broccoli/redpepper/green beans and brown rice, unsweetened applesauce

after dinner: blue corn chips/salsa

I spent most of the morning making two batches of energy bars. one of them were Bree's Puaoko bars filled with walnuts, blueberries, maca powder, flax, cocoa nibs, and a few other things baked for 40 minutes.

The other were from the Thrive diet, pear/grated ginger/ hemp powder/and a few other things just processed in the food processor and then rolled out sprinkled with sesame seed and cut into bars/wrapped in plastic and put in the freezer.

I can post recipes if anyone out there is interested, let me know.

I also spent almost and hour preparing 7 big salads. Four of them for my lunches at school this week and the other three for Liz, Meg and I for lunch today. They include beet greens, kale, arugula, romaine and then topped with beets, tomatos, avocado, artichoke hearts, olives, chickpeas, red pepper. I had to take a picture because they looked so good. I also made some tomato basil vinegraitte from the Thrive Diet book. With enough leftover for the week at school.

Confessions-Liz made brownies for school tomorrow and I stole a spoonful of batter. why? who knows.

Other than that, and I really am now wishing that I would have had something other than the blue corn chips for a snack this evening. my stomache is already protesting. They are not agreeing with me.

We are now starting the third week. When day 21 comes, I will be reintroducing a moderate amount of alcohol, a little gluten (but I want to keep that really low), and maybe some added sugar here and there (I would also like to keep that very low). I also REALLY miss my morning coffee. Decaf is just not the same and my Teavana tea is just not the same. I would really like the taste that I get from my strong, dark coffee without the caffeine that comes along with it. I think that I will be allowing myself 1 big mug of caffinated every few days.

The animal products are going to stay gone. I am not going to get extreme about it, at least for now. But I am going to really give this Vegan lifestyle a try. I am not missing it. And I feel better without it. And I think it is the healthiest way to go. And I think it will help me keep my weight where I would like it to be. And the ethical reasons.

Day 14-2 weeks done

workout: 1 hour 20 minutes of AeroBaseBuilder Spinervals workout with Coach Troy
After doing a 14 week bike trainer plan, and working my butt off on the bike, I can say that working out with Coach Troy has become much more managable for me. I used to be DEAD by the end of the workouts, and he would say something like, "this is our easy day" I felt like I could keep up with the Cadence and the gear ratios pretty well today.

nutrition:
bf: steel cut oats and the usual with V8 and one piece of gluten free bread w/ almond butter

snack: Larabar

lunch: 1/2 cup brown rice/roasted vegetables

bike ride: 2 scoops of Accelerade in water bottle

dinner: AMAZING! I used two recipes the The Conscious Cook and they both were soooo good.
The first I was a little scared of, but it turned out great--> Celery Root Soup
and the second was a Lemon Asparagus Risotto, I am not sure if the risotto is gluten free but the recipe looked good and I couldn't resist.

My whole family enjoyed both of them and I made some chicken breast for them also. Lots of leftovers so I will be eating them as the week goes on.



I spent three hours grocery shopping today. After reading parts of the Thrive Diet I made another trip to the local health food store Mustard Seed Market. I stocked up on Hemp protein, Hemp Oil, amaranth, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, roasted carob, pumkin seeds, Quinoa, and more.

I am going to make some more energy bars tomorrow, and my lunch salads for the week. I am excited to try out for greens in the salad some beet greens and Kale along with romaine and arugula. I will top them with chickpeas, beets, red pepper, cucumber and avocado.

I started reading some of The China Study today. I have warned my family that after I read this I may not be able to with a concsious buy them any animal products to consume anymore. I was only half kidding. The book really gives all the research that animal products are cause for many diseases.

I felt like I had plenty of energy for the bike today. And one other thing I noticed today is that I had no residual soreness from my run yesterday. Even going up or down stairs my quads and hamstrings didn't feel sore.

Some Teavana tea for the evening, watching the Olympics, the All-Star game and grading some Geometry tests.

Day 12 and 13-getting through some tough nutrition obstacles

I have gotten behind a few days because of being at swimming sectionals the last two evenings. The title of this post comes from some of the obstacles that I overcame in the last two days, and the hope and promise that these provided to me that maybe I have FINALLY gotten close to the point where I am going to make good nutrition decisions for myself beyond the 21 days and on into the rest of my hopefully long, healthy life.

On Friday, we had inservice day at school and were served contintental breakfast of muffins/bagels/etc...I had already had my steel cut oats for breakfast and so had no problem staying away. In the past I would have definitely had some.

For lunch, we were served pizza, salad, chocolate chip cookies and brownies. I had planned ahead and brought my own salad and vegetable soup. The thing that really struck me is that I did not miss the pizza at all. I feel like many of my cravings are really totally under control. I enjoyed my salad.

Friday evening we had boys' swimming sectionals. The bus left at 4:30 and we didn't get back until 11pm. The have a hospitality room for the coaches where they had taco salad, meatball subs, just to name a few things. I knew there would be nothing in there that I would want to eat and so I brought almonds and a bowl of quinoa w/ sundried tomatoes. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt very satisfied and not hungry at all.

This all starts over again on Saturday. My niece's birthday party was at 11:30. I did my long run for the week (only 9 miles because this is a recovery week) and had a gluten-free English muffin with almond butter for recovery after the run. I brought some roasted vegetables in case I was hungry at the party, but didn't even bring it in to the house because I didn't feel very hungry. They had pizza and salad for their meal. I had some salad with craisins and balsamic vinegraitte and noone even noticed that I was not eating the pizza. I declined on the cake and ice cream later in the party and made it through that obstacle.

Repeat of the evening when we had Girls sectionals. (still waiting to see if Lizzie made it to districts after finishing 7th at our sectional)

I had a good meal of quinoa and roasted vegetables at 3pm, and then was satified with some dried fruit and almonds during the evening.

I have always wanted to be the person that could stay away from the foods that the 'shouldn't' have, but always seemed to be the one that always ate what was offered. I feel like I have finally gotten some of these cravings totally under control.

In all the above situations, there was not 'self-talk' to stay away from the junk food. I just didn't want it. I had a plan to get through. I didn't let myself get too hungry. And I really think staying away from the sugar helps with the sugar cravings.

I am almost done with two weeks. I have definitely made the decision to stay Vegan for an extended trial. I am reading through the Thrive Diet and trying to incorporate some of the ideas in there, slowly. I have also gotten The China Study book on my kindle and will be reading that over the next few weeks.

my goal: a LONG, HEALTHY life To be able to compete faster would be nice too :)