Wednesday, February 26, 2014
The Transition: My Vegetarian Story
The Transition: My Vegetarian Story: When I was 17 or 18 years old (turning 42 later this year), a friend of mine shared with me the horrors of animal farm factories and about t...
Happily Vegetarian, But Ran Out of Nutrisystem Food
Transition Complete
I have to say, I have been feeling quite wonderful without eating any meat. The power of emotions, especially guilt, can wreak havoc on a body.
Unfortunately for my weight loss journey on Nutrisystem, a Midwest winter storm has slowed the delivery of my latest package of food. The package originated from Pennsylvania and has to get to California. Sunday marked the last day of my Nutrisystem food supply. Usually, my order processes on a Thursday and I get it on Friday or Saturday at the latest. This was wildly unexpected. I had purposely delayed an order two shipment ago to keep from having so much overlap, and well, I screwed myself!
Luckily I have found alternatives and have essentially kept the weight off. Okay, I did order a vegetarian delight pizza Monday night and ate way too much of it. I think I missed what it felt like to be really full, and I far exceeded that feeling. Yuck. I also gained a pound for a day, but I am happy to report that I am back down to my pre-pizza weight. Whew!
I had Dr. McDougall's vegan split pea soup for lunch and a Lean Cuisine mushroom ravioli for dinner yesterday. I have to say after eating the Lean Cuisine entree, that Nutrisystem does pack in some more fiber and/or protein, because it didn't keep me full for long. The split pea soup requires one to add water, and it actually has two servings in it. Since I had sort of skipped breakfast, I felt the 230 calorie lunch wouldn't hurt.
A trip to the local grocery store showed me how widely available packaged vegetarian and vegan options are out there. Of course, eating fresh, unprocessed foods is ideal, but for many of us, life is fast paced with too many obligations to be hanging out in the kitchen preparing healthy meals all day every day. As a Nutrisystem dieter, I do add fresh vegetables and fruits throughout my day, so I do not merely nosh on packaged foods all day long.
I would love to be reviewing the vegetarian plan by Nutrisystem, but I guess it is going to have to wait a while longer. My package is estimated to arrive Friday, fingers crossed.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Officially Veggie Today
Yesterday I really only ate one non-vegetarian item from Nutrisystem: The Loaded Baked Potato; it contains real bacon bits. But that was the last meat-containing entree in my cupboard or freezer. Today I am officially not eating anything from a pig, a chicken, a cow--no meats whatsoever, and I am feeling very at peace with myself. I will, for the time being, continue to eat some dairy (sorry cows). I am not a dairy addict at all, but as a Nutrisystem dieter, the vegetarian food still has milk products in them. Although, not too much. The Vegetable Lasagna has no visible cheese--rather it is blanketed in marinara sauce.
My latest 28 day Nutrisystem order was processed and shipped out on Thursday, and normally it would arrive on Friday or Saturday. With the winter weather conditions in the Midwest, though, my expected arrival date is Friday the 28th. Eek! I only have enough Nutrisystem food to last through tomorrow. What's a woman to do?!
This is something of a problem that has me in a quandary of sorts. But if I am going to be honest, I don't think I'll mind the break. I have become accustomed to eating minute, er, smaller portions, and I do have a diet buddy to help keep me motivated. Since starting Nutrisystem, I have lost close to 20 pounds. It does work when I stick to it.
Back to the quandary... I work near a Chipotle grill, and I have kind of been dying to try their Sofritas (tofu) since reading a rave review of them on Yelp! a few months back. A coworker of mine, a vegan, has tried the Sofritas in a burrito and says they're is amazing. She answers my question, "Have you tried the Sofritas?" by rolling her eyes back into her head, holding her heart, and then nodding with a smile on her face as she reminisces over the flavor. Wow.
I am not going to lie, I am seriously considering getting one on my dinner break today. Since their burritos are about 100% bigger than anything I get to eat on Nutrisystem, I was thinking I would offer half of the burrito to my coworker. And if in my usual state of pre-meal starvation I still have some diet sensibility, I will only eat half of my portion of the burrito, saving the rest for the next day.
Lately, before going veg (which is technically today), I have been getting very lightheaded and weak while following the Nutrisystem plan. It's been two solid months that I have stuck to the diet (this time). This is not a new phenomenon for me. After the excitement wears off from fantasizing about a smaller, leaner me, I feel plain hungry. People who are born with the innate ability to control their weight have always said things like, "Just eat less to lose weight," or "Only have a little dessert now and then."
My experience is that for my body to lose weight, I have to be hungry and never really satisfied. The proof of this for me is the dizzy, weak, lightheaded sensations that go with a 1200 calorie diet. I am a massage therapist, and so you can imagine feeling weak and dizzy is far from ideal.
I am hoping to go off Nutrisystem soon and make all of my own healthy foods. I wholeheartedly believe that the vegan diet is amazing so long as you choose healthful options. As I mentioned in My Vegetarian Story blog, it is possible to be a junk food junkie no matter if you are a vegetarian or an omnivore. For me, it is all about making the time to wash and chop numerous vegetables and fruits every day, and to avoid processed sugars.
But, I started this blog to review and give my opinion of Nutrisystem's Vegetarian Plan for those out there considering it. When I get my new box of food and follow their veg food plan for a solid week, I will report back. For now, to anyone looking to try Nutrisystem, be prepared to eat lots of non-starchy vegetables to keep your stomach full-ish. There is definitely an adjustment period going from the feeling of a full tummy to a fed-enough-to-sustain-life feeling tummy.
My latest 28 day Nutrisystem order was processed and shipped out on Thursday, and normally it would arrive on Friday or Saturday. With the winter weather conditions in the Midwest, though, my expected arrival date is Friday the 28th. Eek! I only have enough Nutrisystem food to last through tomorrow. What's a woman to do?!
This is something of a problem that has me in a quandary of sorts. But if I am going to be honest, I don't think I'll mind the break. I have become accustomed to eating minute, er, smaller portions, and I do have a diet buddy to help keep me motivated. Since starting Nutrisystem, I have lost close to 20 pounds. It does work when I stick to it.
Back to the quandary... I work near a Chipotle grill, and I have kind of been dying to try their Sofritas (tofu) since reading a rave review of them on Yelp! a few months back. A coworker of mine, a vegan, has tried the Sofritas in a burrito and says they're is amazing. She answers my question, "Have you tried the Sofritas?" by rolling her eyes back into her head, holding her heart, and then nodding with a smile on her face as she reminisces over the flavor. Wow.
I am not going to lie, I am seriously considering getting one on my dinner break today. Since their burritos are about 100% bigger than anything I get to eat on Nutrisystem, I was thinking I would offer half of the burrito to my coworker. And if in my usual state of pre-meal starvation I still have some diet sensibility, I will only eat half of my portion of the burrito, saving the rest for the next day.
Lately, before going veg (which is technically today), I have been getting very lightheaded and weak while following the Nutrisystem plan. It's been two solid months that I have stuck to the diet (this time). This is not a new phenomenon for me. After the excitement wears off from fantasizing about a smaller, leaner me, I feel plain hungry. People who are born with the innate ability to control their weight have always said things like, "Just eat less to lose weight," or "Only have a little dessert now and then."
My experience is that for my body to lose weight, I have to be hungry and never really satisfied. The proof of this for me is the dizzy, weak, lightheaded sensations that go with a 1200 calorie diet. I am a massage therapist, and so you can imagine feeling weak and dizzy is far from ideal.
I am hoping to go off Nutrisystem soon and make all of my own healthy foods. I wholeheartedly believe that the vegan diet is amazing so long as you choose healthful options. As I mentioned in My Vegetarian Story blog, it is possible to be a junk food junkie no matter if you are a vegetarian or an omnivore. For me, it is all about making the time to wash and chop numerous vegetables and fruits every day, and to avoid processed sugars.
But, I started this blog to review and give my opinion of Nutrisystem's Vegetarian Plan for those out there considering it. When I get my new box of food and follow their veg food plan for a solid week, I will report back. For now, to anyone looking to try Nutrisystem, be prepared to eat lots of non-starchy vegetables to keep your stomach full-ish. There is definitely an adjustment period going from the feeling of a full tummy to a fed-enough-to-sustain-life feeling tummy.
Monday, February 17, 2014
My Vegetarian Story
When I was 17 or 18 years old (turning 42 later this year), a friend of mine shared with me the horrors of animal farm factories and about the cruelty involved in testing so many personal products we find lining the shelves of our grocery and drug stores. I joined her in becoming a vegetarian, and I stopped eating all meat. I continued to eat dairy products and eggs that were used as ingredients in cakes, cookies, and other recipes. I am not sure why now, but the cruel realities of dairy and hen farming were not known to me then.
I was very young, and as much as I love my mother, I have to tell you she didn't then and doesn't now have very healthy eating habits. I really knew nothing about cooking, and my favorite vegetables were potatoes. So, I became a junk food vegetarian. I felt good about what I was doing for the animals, but it wasn't great for my health.
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That stretch of junk food vegetarianism lasted about seven to eight years. I ate a ton of processed foods, minimal vegetables, and I was losing my health. I learned of the blood type diet, which said that as a blood type O person I ought to be eating some meat (animal protein in general), and that I should stay away from wheat products. I was doing the exact opposite, and since I didn't feel healthy (in fact I was very lethargic and run down) I figured there must be something to this blood type diet thing.
After a lot of thought and consideration I changed my diet back to one that included animal proteins. I vowed to give thanks to the animals whose lives were sacrificed for my survival. I also essentially gave up junk food, because the diet recommended O's eat tons of vegetables with their 4-6 ounces of animal flesh. And guess what? I felt better and stronger. It must be the meat! My parents and I were convinced that was the case, never taking into account the fact that I had started eating more vegetables--both in quantity and variety--and little to no junk food.
I continued on like that for a while, but the junk food crept back in. My weight fluctuated, I dieted, and I managed to keep my weight in the higher range of what was considered healthy for my height and build.
Flash forward to the year my husband and I moved in together. I had learned a thing or two about cooking, and I really enjoyed making large, scrumptious dinners for us. I then proceeded to gain 30-40 pounds, and I did not feel so strong or healthy any longer even though my diet included meat, poultry, and fish.
In the back of my mind, I was always haunted by the feeling that I should follow a vegetarian diet. Preparing meat, poultry, or fish ALWAYS grossed me out, and I never felt I could create anything from scratch meat-wise. I always needed a recipe to follow or it all just tasted like rubber. But vegetable dishes on the other hand, I can make up a recipe and 99% of the time get rave reviews.
I stopped eating meat again in 2009 or 2010, but this time something in me snapped. I wanted to join PETA and protest, educate and convert every meat eater. I was fanatical, and by my own admission, probably very irritating. I was obsessed. I was also increasingly depressed and hopeless, because no one was listening, and no one seemed to care. In fact, most people went out of their way to tell me how much they loved eating meat and how since hearing what I had to say, have begun to eat even more meat.
.JPG)
Feeling isolated and plain devastated, I took a step back. I love animals, but I wasn't helping them much, plus I was making myself miserable. It was a sad time for my spirit, and I was tired of fighting. After all, my goal was peace, yet it felt as though I had opened the door to immeasurable strife and conflict. I blended back in and began eating meat.
In the last few months of 2013, that vegetarian consciousness started to poke at my heart again. I felt like a fake. When I would see a picture of a cow or cows grazing along the highway, there would be a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was following the Nutrisystem diet, and although I wanted to lose weight, a lot of their foods have meat in them. I was prepared to quit altogether until January when a college friend posted on Facebook that she was just starting on Nutrisystem.
Eager to lose these many pounds I have been carrying around for a little over 5 years now, I decided to stick with Nutrisystem. And it has been going great. My friend and I talk almost daily about the diet, supporting each other while we drop the pounds. But guilt continued to gnaw at my heart, until one day I was perusing the different plan options offered by Nutrisystem and discovered they have a vegetarian plan.
I changed my next order, arriving later this week, to the vegetarian plan. I still have about five lunches and a dinner with meat in them. Come Saturday, I will be able to follow a vegetarian diet again. I plan to eventually transition to vegan, but I need to get my portion sizes under control first. If there is one thing I have learned about myself, it is that I need to transition into things slowly.
My plan is also to lead by example, not by words. If anyone is interested in what I am eating, great. But I will not try to convince anyone to go vegetarian ever again. I am living for me and feeling good about my contribution to this life.
I was very young, and as much as I love my mother, I have to tell you she didn't then and doesn't now have very healthy eating habits. I really knew nothing about cooking, and my favorite vegetables were potatoes. So, I became a junk food vegetarian. I felt good about what I was doing for the animals, but it wasn't great for my health.
That stretch of junk food vegetarianism lasted about seven to eight years. I ate a ton of processed foods, minimal vegetables, and I was losing my health. I learned of the blood type diet, which said that as a blood type O person I ought to be eating some meat (animal protein in general), and that I should stay away from wheat products. I was doing the exact opposite, and since I didn't feel healthy (in fact I was very lethargic and run down) I figured there must be something to this blood type diet thing.
After a lot of thought and consideration I changed my diet back to one that included animal proteins. I vowed to give thanks to the animals whose lives were sacrificed for my survival. I also essentially gave up junk food, because the diet recommended O's eat tons of vegetables with their 4-6 ounces of animal flesh. And guess what? I felt better and stronger. It must be the meat! My parents and I were convinced that was the case, never taking into account the fact that I had started eating more vegetables--both in quantity and variety--and little to no junk food.
I continued on like that for a while, but the junk food crept back in. My weight fluctuated, I dieted, and I managed to keep my weight in the higher range of what was considered healthy for my height and build.
Flash forward to the year my husband and I moved in together. I had learned a thing or two about cooking, and I really enjoyed making large, scrumptious dinners for us. I then proceeded to gain 30-40 pounds, and I did not feel so strong or healthy any longer even though my diet included meat, poultry, and fish.
In the back of my mind, I was always haunted by the feeling that I should follow a vegetarian diet. Preparing meat, poultry, or fish ALWAYS grossed me out, and I never felt I could create anything from scratch meat-wise. I always needed a recipe to follow or it all just tasted like rubber. But vegetable dishes on the other hand, I can make up a recipe and 99% of the time get rave reviews.
I stopped eating meat again in 2009 or 2010, but this time something in me snapped. I wanted to join PETA and protest, educate and convert every meat eater. I was fanatical, and by my own admission, probably very irritating. I was obsessed. I was also increasingly depressed and hopeless, because no one was listening, and no one seemed to care. In fact, most people went out of their way to tell me how much they loved eating meat and how since hearing what I had to say, have begun to eat even more meat.
Feeling isolated and plain devastated, I took a step back. I love animals, but I wasn't helping them much, plus I was making myself miserable. It was a sad time for my spirit, and I was tired of fighting. After all, my goal was peace, yet it felt as though I had opened the door to immeasurable strife and conflict. I blended back in and began eating meat.
In the last few months of 2013, that vegetarian consciousness started to poke at my heart again. I felt like a fake. When I would see a picture of a cow or cows grazing along the highway, there would be a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was following the Nutrisystem diet, and although I wanted to lose weight, a lot of their foods have meat in them. I was prepared to quit altogether until January when a college friend posted on Facebook that she was just starting on Nutrisystem.
Eager to lose these many pounds I have been carrying around for a little over 5 years now, I decided to stick with Nutrisystem. And it has been going great. My friend and I talk almost daily about the diet, supporting each other while we drop the pounds. But guilt continued to gnaw at my heart, until one day I was perusing the different plan options offered by Nutrisystem and discovered they have a vegetarian plan.
I changed my next order, arriving later this week, to the vegetarian plan. I still have about five lunches and a dinner with meat in them. Come Saturday, I will be able to follow a vegetarian diet again. I plan to eventually transition to vegan, but I need to get my portion sizes under control first. If there is one thing I have learned about myself, it is that I need to transition into things slowly.
My plan is also to lead by example, not by words. If anyone is interested in what I am eating, great. But I will not try to convince anyone to go vegetarian ever again. I am living for me and feeling good about my contribution to this life.
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