So last night I fell asleep while drinking my Smooth Move tea, and when I woke up, I didn’t have that usual morning urge. So I decided to have a little Smooth Move tea for breakfast. That wasn’t such a smooth move, as you can imagine what my day was like at school. Yeah, not fun. I had the pleasure of visiting quite a few different bathrooms on campus today.

I’m not sure if I’m drinking enough water. I’m drinking at least 8 cups of lemonade a day, and I’m trying to drink more water, but I just get busy and forget. And I’m not very thirsty. Today I didn’t drink much, but I’m off to have some now. There’s not much else to say about my cleanse.

Weight this morning: 139.2

So, aside from that, the only thing bothering me is having to pee every 5 minutes. That is totally inconvenient. But that’s better than feeling like I’m starving. I haven’t had that at all. I think my body is used to me starving it. lol She only responds to thirst. I get serious headaches when I’m dehydrated, and my legs start to cramp. I haven’t had any of that. I actually feel pretty normal. I could do this for 10 days.

My weight today: 141.4

I had a very important webinar this morning, so I wasn’t committed to started until after that. We finished the webinar and went out for what I’m calling my last supper. I just had a salad and black bean soup. Nothing too major. Then I went shopping for my ingredients. Of course I ended up buying the wrong grade maple syrup. That stuff is expensive. I’ll be returning it tomorrow. Anyway, I did eventually get everything I need, including the non-iodized sea salt for the Salt Water Flush (SWF). I do not know how anyone could do that every night for 10 days. Thank goodness it is not a requirement.

So I waited a few hours for my last supper to digest and then I went and did the SWF. God awful. I sat back down to finish grading papers. An hour later the flush began. I didn’t last long. Enough said.

I didn’t get hungry again until around 7pm, so I mixed up 16 ounces of Lemonade. I put way too much cayenne pepper in it, but it’s actually good. Who’d have thunk it? This might not be so bad.

The first symptoms I’ve noticed is I’m cold. I always get cold when I don’t eat. I get headaches when I’m dehydrated, so I don’t anticipate having headaches with all this drinking I’ll be doing. It’s funny though how I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do if I’m not eating. I think I eat just because I’m bored. Good thing I don’t way 500lbs because of it. Lucky me. But it is altering my life by not being able to eat food. I’m in a quandary about what to do for a dinner date I have with a good friend visiting from out of town. What do people do when they meet up if they don’t eat or drink alcoholic beverages? I have no idea! lol

Starting weight: 144.5

Today is day 1 of my latest 90 day challenge. It’s all about eating right and exercising every day. This is my breakfast after my 4 mile hike in Phoenix Mtn Preserve. I didn’t get up as early as I would have liked, but it’s all good. It wasn’t too hot out there, about 82 when I finished. I did the 304-1A-Irregular-1A-304 Loop to the left. I call that backwards. This is my favorite hike at the moment. I hope to discover others this summer.

This Vegetable Lo Mein & Bean Curd was so good, well the noodles were really good. I should have know they were not vegan. I couldn’t stop eating them. I haven’t been eating a lot of pasta, so I think my body was craving starch. Oh well, this was my first big vegan mess up. I’ll blame it on the take out. Take out is always bad. Lesson learned.

So I only have 10 more days to go. I haven’t blogged much this week because it was C’s turn to cook. She does pretty good since she is already a vegetarian. But she is the biggest cheater. Yesterday she bought fried chicken for our 18 year old, and guess who ate a whole chicken leg? Not me. Her. Such a cheater. lol.

Anyway, all is well. I’m not eating as well, but I’m eating. Here’s some info on the lo mein noodles: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesedishfaqs/f/lomeinchowmein.htm

Curry Tofu Stir Fry from Roy's at Desert Ridge by soul4real

I started a day late, so my days are off, and I’m just going to call today 1 week in the books. I think it was a very successful week for me, vegan wise and exercise wise. Today was another dining out experience, only this time we had lunch in a restaurant. I was expecting a salad again, but we had a special menu for our event and not the full menu at Roy’s at Desert Ridge. The stuff on that menu was devine. Of course there was nothing but edamame on the menu that I could eat. When the waitress came around to take my order, I told her I was vegan. I felt like such a liar, but I’d feel even more ackward saying I’m a temporary vegan. So I went for it. She was very accommodating. They didn’t have their full vegetarian menu, but she offered up what they could make for each course.

After devouring half the bowl of edamame, I was served a nice sushi roll with rice, avocado and asparagus. For my entree, pictured above, I had a curry tofu stir fry over white rice, and for dessert I was served a fresh bowl of fruit. It was so good. I would have never ordered any of that before this kickstart, but today I was glad I did. I was hard to pass up the wine though. I know some wine can be vegan, but I’m passing on the alcohol for this 21 day cleanse.

I made Gardein for dinner. We call it Ficken (fake chicken). More on that later. I still need to add all my food into my diary and workout.

Vegan Lunch Out

Originally uploaded by dr.coop

Okay, I know. My workout blog is turning into a cooking blog. Don’t worry; it won’t last long. So today was my first real test for eating out vegan. Up until today I’ve been lucky enough to be vacationing from home, so I could plan and prepare all my meals. Today I had an all day meeting at a resort here in Phoenix. I packed leftovers just in case, but I really didn’t need to worry. McGraw-Hill, the hosts of my meeting today, did it up right. They had fresh fruit and water everywhere. I could have just eaten that all day alone, but the Mexican themed lunch was surprisingly healthy. I had this wonderful salad with a vinagarette dressing, grilled vegetables and a Jicama salad. I don’t think I’ve ever had jicama before. It was really good with the roasted corn. I need to find that recipe.

It was a bit chilly in the building. I swear they had the air conditioners on. I was really hoping for some soup. Surprisingly they had tomato tortilla soup. The server swore up and down that it was vegan. I didn’t really believe she understood what I meant, so I rattled off all the culprits I thought might be in the soup. She said nope to meat, chicken broth, milk and cream. Of course, she’s probably trained to tell me whatever I want to hear. So I figured if there wasn’t any obvious meat in the dish, I’d give it a try. It’s not like I’m going to keel over and die if I slip up here and there. The soup was really tasty.

So I survived another day in vegan land. For dinner I roasted butternut squash and soy sauce & lime tofu with some long grain and wild rice. Yum! I’m getting pretty good at this.

Hoppin’ John Salad & Steamed Collards

Originally uploaded by dr.coop

Tried making the Hoppin’ John Salad again. This time I made the steamed collard greens to go with it. I’m starting to figure there’s something to the pairings on the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart website. I’ve just been randomly choosing things off the menu and making it for either dinner or lunch. I think I’ll pay attention now to why foods are prepared together. It might just be taste.

One thing I’ve noticed for sure is I’m loving Fresh & Easy all of a sudden. Before I despised it because of all the plastic, but now I”m loving it for it’s convenience. I’m in and out of there in 10 minutes. Sweet! And the vegetables appear to be fresh and they taste good. Everything I need is one aisle.

Tomorrow will be a real test, as I have to work all day. I’m planning to pack my lunch just in case the provided lunch is not vegan. I’m thinking they have to have salad, but you never no. I’m also skipping breakfast and showing up right at start time. I’m almost certain there will not be anything for me eat there for breakfast, especially since I’m not eating bread either for 21 days.

So today was another success: 1434 calories =
Fat(g) Carbs(g) Fiber(g) Prot(g) KCals
31.11 227.02 39.8 65.47 1434

Vegan Stir Fry Tofu

Originally uploaded by dr.coop

Up until today I was not getting enough protein or calories in my body. I was worried because I wasn’t really working out, but today I started P90X again. I need as much protein and calories as I can get now. What I ended up doing is using a vegan protein powder – Naturade Total Soy Meal Replacement. It’s not as good tasting as my normal protein powder, but it’s doable for 21 days. I also added Soy milk to my breakfast cereal and the protein shake, and dinner included about 5 oz of tofu.

So I’m learning how to get more protein in the diet. I just have to keep reminding myself that the ratios are a little different since all my carbs are vegetable and beans instead of bread, pasta and what not. It’s okay to have a lot more carbs when that is the case. My biggest problem is that I’m never hungry and I can’t seem to eat enough at one time, so I’m doing my usual every 3 hours thing. Since I’m sleeping in right now, that’s only 4 meals. Once I start getting up earlier I’ll be able to add the 5th meal and get the needed calories.

Total calories today: 1614, 78g protein, 262g carbs, 47g fiber and 39g fat.