Vegan Cookbook!

New Books I'm Loving!

Do you watch Ellen?  I'm such a big fan of hers, it's kind of ridiculous.  Love her show, love her, love her attitude, etc, etc, etc.  And I love that I can watch her show with my 9-year-old son who also is a crazy fan of hers.  We never miss it.  I get him from the bus at 2:55 and we get home just in time for Ellen.  Anyway, because I'm such a fan/believer/cult member, I'd pretty much buy anything she told me to.  Which is why, last week, I picked up Vegan Cooking for Carnivores.  The author, Roberto Martin, is Ellen and Portia's personal chef and has made appearances on Ellen's show several times (hit up YouTube if you haven't seen him).  I love this book because it's very beginner-vegan friendly.  It is also great for someone like me who is the only veg in the house.  I can easily pass a lot of this stuff off to my family and friends and not have them turn their noses at me. 

Hellllooooo Beautiful!

My favorite recipe so far is the Asian Chopped Salad.  How beautiful is that salad??  And this is probably the first time in my life where I've made something that ended up looking as beautiful as the photo.  It was so good.  I ate it for lunch and with dinner for 3 days straight.  Yum!  Next up, I'm going to try the mac and cheese.  Should be interesting because I am not a fan of any of the vegan cheeses.  I've tried a bunch and decided that it's easier to just omit cheese all together. 

Another book I picked up last week is The Athlete's Book of Home Remedies.  It is written by Dr. Jordan D. Metzl who is a marathoner and Ironman so he clearly understands both athlete's pain and their urgent desire to get back to their sport.  The book is broken up into different sections of the body, ie: Feet, Ankles & Lower Legs; Knees; Hamstrings, Hips, Glutes & Groin, etc.  Then within each section, different symptoms are given a two page summery of 'what's going on in there?', how to fix it and how to prevent it.  It is written in very easy to understand language, quick and to the point.  I personally have dug deep into the hamstrings, hips, glutes and groin section because of hip/glut pain that I just can't seem to get rid of.  Unfortunately my pain is not gone yet and I have a trail half marathon on Sunday...panic time!  My husband used it to better understand what is going on with his shoulder/chest problems from baseball and this weekend, when he sprained his ankle playing baseball with the kids, I tossed it at him as he iced it on the couch!  I highly recommend this one!

Hiatus

It's been so long since I've blogged.  So long that I can't even remember how long it's been!  I mentioned a few times, a while back, that my father was having some health issues.  Things got worse and everything in my life got put on hold.  It has been a very, very difficult time for my family going back as far as two years but more intensely since Thanksgiving.

It's time for me to try and pick up and get back on track.  Start to try and live my life again which is really, really hard.  I take great comfort in working out with my friends, talking/reading/learning all things nutrition and just generally learning how to live a healthier life.  My father's illness and my desire to learn from it and try and help him is what led me to choose to ditch animal proteins and go forward living a plant based diet.  I hate to say vegetarian or vegan because I don't care to be judged by others, but that's what has happened.  And, since my last posting, it's how things have remained.  It's not easy.  Well, that's not exactly true.  For the most part, it is easy.  It's only hard when I go out.  Seriously.  Why offer sauteed veggies only to saute them in butter AND chicken broth??  But I digress.  And I ramble.  It's what I do.  I feel great and don't miss meat or fish or dairy in the least.

My point is, I'm trying to get back to the things I love and that make me feel a little better, a little more in control of life: fitness, nutrition, blogging.   It's good to be back!

What to Expect When Having a Colonoscopy

I finally had my endoscopy and colonoscopy two weeks ago.  I have the follow up appointment with my GI doc today and am very anxious to hear what he has to say.  I threw all my eggs in this basket and really hope to find out what my problem is.  If you have never had these procedures done, I'm going to tell you about my experience so you have a better idea of what to expect. 

First of all, I've been dealing with GI issues for close to 5 years now.  I've spent the better part of 2 of the last 5 of those years trying to self diagnose rather than go to a doctor for two reasons: the first being that I had two different doctors (when seeing them for other reasons and just kind of mentioning it to them) tell me that it is probably "just" IBS and the second is to avoid a colonoscopy.  I had this huge mental block when it came to having that procedure done.  No matter what anyone told me, "It's so easy!!", I just wasn't buying it. 

The last year has been very hard for me with my stomach issues so I finally bit the bullet and went to see a doctor.  Sure enough, he wanted to do a colonoscopy.  But in addition to that, he wanted to do a endoscopy as well.  When he initially said this, I went into panic mode....you are going to stick a camera down my throat??  But then he said the magic words: "Since I'll be doing both procedures, we will put you totally under."  I didn't hear a thing after that.  I'll be totally asleep??  Do whatever the hell you want then!

The prep.  Ah yes, the prep.  Wow.  First of all, five days before procedure day (Valentine's Day by the way....so romantic), I was to stop eating all raw veggies, nuts and seeds.  Dude.  That is the bulk of my diet!  Then a day and a half before, I was put on clear liquids only.  My family wanted to run for the hills by that point because I was pretty damn cranky.  Then the day before, at 2:00pm, I was to take 2 ducolax tablets.  Let me first say that I believe based on talking to other people who have prepped for a colonoscopy, that my reaction/experience was not 'normal' although I'm going to talk to the doctor about that today.  Anyway, I took the ducolax at 2:00 and by 5:00, I was having major, major pain.  Gas pain but in a really horrible way.  I was on the couch and couldn't do anything.  At 6:00, I had to start the liquid portion of the prep.  I had a 64oz jug of lemon lime Gatorade mixed with a bottle of myrlax and had to drink 8oz every 15 minutes.  The fun began instantly.  Bathroom trips every couple of minutes.  I will spare you the details.  Where I don't think my experience was the norm is that I had a lot of pain in the beginning (turned into dull cramping from then on out) and that I continued to run to the bathroom throughout the night (I was up 6 times during the night) and the next morning before we left the house at 8:15am, went 4 times then again twice when we got to the hospital.  I'm sorry but that cannot be normal!

Once in the room, the nurse started an IV and fairly quickly I was wheeled into the procedure room.  I don't think it took more than 3 or 4 minutes for me to fall asleep once the medication was started.  I kept asking how quickly I would fall asleep because I was so worried I'd be in a drunk-like stupor that I'd say something inappropriate.  I know, I worry about strange things.  I remember them saying, "You should start to feel sleepy any minute now." and me trying to tell them that I wasn't feeling a thing but couldn't get my mouth to form the words. 

Next thing I knew, I was awake back in the first room where the nurse started my IV.  I was super groggy and generally out of it.  The doctor had already been in and talked to my husband - this was where he apparently told him that he didn't see anything major but did several biopsy's.  He did see esophagitis and gastritis and did a biopsy of both areas and then for celiacs as well.

We were out of the hospital very quickly and back home.  For the rest of the day, I was super tired but generally felt fine.  The next day, I could feel that my throat was sore but not anything major....just a little annoying when I would swallow.  Similar to how you would feel if you had a sore throat/cold coming on.  The biggest issue was that I had a lot of gas-like pain for the rest of the week.  I tried to get back to the gym on Wednesday and had to leave in the middle of a class because I felt so off.  Then still on Thursday, same thing happened.  Tried to take a class and while I made it through this time, felt uncomfortable.  Running was out of the question for the entire week because of stomach pain.  By Saturday, I was able to get a 6 mile run in although felt crampy all the way through.  I have read that some discomfort after a colonoscopy is to be expected but I'm not sure I get why my discomfort lasted so long.

So.  Here we are two weeks later and it's finally time for my follow up.  I'm interested to hear what he has to say although I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't see anything during the procedures that would explain outright what is going on.  I have this feeling that he is going to recommend I see an allergist but we'll see.

Superbowl Sunday Eats!

Needless to say, I'm not out doing a long run today.  One of the things that I do not miss in the least about training for a full or half marathon is spending my Saturdays prepping (resting, worrying about food and hydration) for long run Sunday and spending my Sunday waking up at the crack of dawn, running in the freezing cold then spending the rest of the day in recovery mode.  Not that it doesn't feel damn good finishing a nice long run, it really, really does but so does chilling with the Sunday paper, a cup of tea followed by a massive green smoothie and time with my family.

And speaking of Saturday, yesterday I had to run to the mall for my all time favorite Clinique facial soap (kinda wish I could pick it up at the drug store, but oh well, it's so worth the trip) and as I was zipping past the food court, I noticed a kiosk for Sweetz Bakery.  They have gluten free, dairy free, AND vegan cupcakes.....holla!!!  Unfortunately, you could either get gluten free, dairy free OR vegan.  Why can't they do GF, DF and vegan in the same cupcake?  Weird.  Because I know for a fact that my stomach does not handle dairy, I decided to go with the double chocolate GF, DF instead of vegan.  And yes, I felt guilty knowing that there were eggs in my cupcake.  So why did I even bother?  Because I am always interested in trying new gluten free products especially those not containing dairy. 

I was shocked, totally, completely shocked at how good it was!  I'm kind of glad that I can't get GF, DF and vegan in the same cupcake or I'd be buying them by the bus load!

Today is even more fun because it's Superbowl Sunday - woot!  Not that I have care about either team....my poor Redskins are home watching on t.v....again, but I love, love, love the Superbowl and all the obnoxious hype that goes along with it. 

My husband had to leave for a business trip today so our normal Superbowl party had to get canned.  It's just me and my two boys.  We hit Harris Teeter for game day treats - loads of crunchy carbs for them (it's the Superbowl, I may have spoiled them a bit) and veggies for me.  Today I'm going to try my first recipe out of my newest cookbook, Cooking with Trader Joe's: Skinny Dish.  The book is filled with beautiful vegan eats and I have a ton marked to try.

I decided to keep it simple today and go with the Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip.  I've got my spinach all thawed and the rest of the ingredients prepped and ready to go. 

The recipe says you can serve it cold but I prefer my spinach artichoke dip hot so I'm going to bake it for 25 minutes or so.  This is my first attempt at a vegan spinach artichoke dip so my fingers are crossed!  I've got a bunch of cut up veggies to go with it along side millet and flax crackers.  Bring on game time!  Later I'm going to have a roasted veggie filled quesadilla (my all time favorite food) and make the boys pasta.  Now this is what I call an easy Sunday!

Have We Talked About Pinterest?

I don't think I've brought up Pinterest before.  Are you on it?  Can I just tell you how stinking obsessed with it I am??  It has been the BEST thing ever for me during this transition to a plant based diet.  I have been discovering so many yummy dishes both on Pinterest (a search for "vegan" results in a ton good stuff) and on foodie blogs and now, I have them all 'pinned' in one, easy to find, totally organized place.  I love it.  I added a 'follow me' button right over there on the right if you want to check it out.

Recently I found a new-to-me blog Bev Cooks.  It is such a great blog!  I spent a crazy amount of time on her site and pinned a ton of things to try (she is not vegan or vegetarian but has a lot of veggie dishes as well as some that I could easily make veg).  The other night, I decided to give her Red Quinoa with Mushrooms and Kale recipe a try and I am so glad I did!

After mixing the cooked quinoa with the sauteed kale

Another kale hit - yahoo!  The only difference between her recipe and what I did was that I didn't have red quinoa so I used my regular Costco white and I only had a small package of pre-sliced shiitake  mushrooms which was less than what she called for.

Plated up with another favorite, squash with spinach and cranberries

Next time, I'll use the full amount of mushrooms if not more because I love me some mushrooms and I felt like they got a little lost under all that quinoa.  It turned out really great.  It's a nice change up from the Cosmic Kale that I've become obsessed with because it's not creamy so you get more of a crunch from the kale.

Yesterday I was at Harris Teeter and they had their Planters Peanuts on sale - buy one get one free - I'm a sucker for BOGO deals and for peanuts although I don't think my stomach loves peanuts!  Anyway, they had a flavor I hadn't seen before, Five Alarm Chili.

Being a lover of all things spicy, I decided to push my fear of too much sodium aside and buy them.  Oh mamma.  So stinking good.  This is the last jar I'll ever buy because seriously, they are like crack!

Still haven't run since the half marathon on Sunday.  My stomach is still not back to normal which has me a wee bit concerned.  I'm hoping I'll feel better by the weekend....I miss my cardio!

3M Half Marathon - Austin, TX

Sunday was like a blur.  I managed to run the 3M Half Marathon despite having major stomach issues in the days leading up to it.  First, the race.  I was very impressed with 3M's organization.  There were regular email updates and whoever was in charge of the Facebook page did an incredible job answering each and every question.  Everything, in my opinion, was very, very smooth.  It is billed as a 'fast, downhill' course and while it is downhill, it's certainly not noticeable.  It felt more flat to me than anything else.  It's such a gradual descent that you really don't notice that you are going down.  Having said that, it's better than 13.1 miles of a gradual uphill because I'm sure I would have felt that!

Check out that goodie bag FULL of 3M products!

I've mentioned my stomach problems many times on this blog.  Its been an ongoing issue for 4 years now and is as of right now, undiagnosed.  I've gotten the, "Oh, it's probably just IBS." talk from 3 different doctors.  They have had me convinced that it's no big deal, and to just live with it.  I'm not a big fan of going to the doctor, I typically have to be pretty ill before I'll go get checked out and part of the reason is that I (this is very strange) always assume I'll get in there, they'll tell me nothing is wrong with me and I will have wasted every one's time.  However, this intestinal issue for me has pushed itself into the forefront of my life and messed with my day to day living.  I've missed many morning plans because I just can't leave the house yet.  I've had days where I'm in pain for the entire day.  I've had days where there is no pain, I just need to be close to the bathroom - TMI.  I've tried going gluten free although to be perfectly honest, I can't say that I was ever 100% GF because it is in stinking everything and I didn't quiz servers when we went out to eat.  I did notice that I felt a bit better off gluten but I think only in the way that most people would - bloating eased, pain got more manageable, I was way less puffy, etc.  But I still felt bad so I took out dairy.  That made a big difference.  Then I took out all animal products.  I did, though, ease gluten back into my diet although made every effort to keep it at a minimum.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  I had finally had it and went to see a GI dr.  He ran blood work and scheduled me for both an endoscopy and a colonscopy.  The blood work showed that I am vitamin D deficient so he put me on a prescription to get that back on par.  It also showed that I have immunoglobulin A deficiency which apparently made my celiacs panal non diagnostic.  Awesome.  So.  He is planning on doing a biopsy to check for celiacs and is hoping to rule out crohn's and colitis.  And I get to have that fun stuff done on Valentines Day....so romantic!

Back to the race.  I have no idea what happened but starting late Friday night, my stomach started acting up in a major way.  By mid-day Saturday, I was in so much pain, I could hardly stand up straight.  I know it sounds dramatic, but I really am actually pretty good with pain and am able to just deal most of the time but this time it was bad, real bad.  I don't know if it was something I ate - being away from home it's so hard to control what you are eating.  But whatever it was, it scared me.

I got up Sunday at 4:00am and finally made the call to go ahead and run at 5:30 so we headed up to the start.  I had many issues that morning and after that plus the day before, I was feeling pretty spent.

I felt ok for about 6 miles then I started feeling more tired than I should.  Then at mile 7, my watch ran out of batteries.  I know, I know....rule of racing number one - make sure all your shit is charged.  I totally slept on that one - completely forgot to even check it.  So from mile 7 on, I was running blind.  Had no idea how my pacing was....one minute I would feel like I was running way too fast, then the next, too slow.  By mile 10, the nausea kicked in.  I'm assuming that was dehydration.  I carried water and drank regularly but I think the day before and that morning had taken it's toll and I just hadn't caught up with my fluids.

I finished the race in 1:46:38 and given how I felt, I'm ok with that (but, ugh, could I get out of the 1:46's??).  I probably shouldn't have even run it because I still am not back to normal.  I'm still dragging and still dealing with cramping although much milder now.  It's good to be back home with my veggies and hopefully by this weekend, I'll feel much better.

Wow.  Longest, and probably the most boring, post ever!

I am leaving bright and early tomorrow morning....my father-in-law is picking me up at 6:15am, ouch - so today is my pull-everything-out-of-the-closet-and-attempt-to-jam-it-all-in-the-suitcase-day.  I'm pretty sure I'm the worst packer ever.  For some reason, I can't put together an outfit to save my life.  It's very strange because I consider myself a very organized person.  But all of a sudden, I'm going to be in a hotel without access to everything and I panic!  I keep walking into my closet to pull out more stuff then I stare at it all on my bedroom floor and have to walk out.  This obviously means I'll pack way more crap than I'll ever need.

Race day is hard to pack for too.  The race starts at 6:45 (wha??) and the sun doesn't even come up until 7:24 (yes, I checked)! 

I've for sure settled on carpi tights but from the waist up, I'm still clueless.  I almost always dress too warm for races and end up regretting it so I'm trying to not do that this time.  I think I may wear exactly what I wore for Richmond because it was very cold at the beginning but I never felt too cold or got too hot.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?  For the record, right now they are calling for a low of 44 and a high of 62.  I know 44 is perfect but my thought is that since we wont even see the sun until 45 minutes into the race, it's probably going to be quite chilly for most of the 13 miles.  Ugh.  Just decide!!